Wesley Corpus

Chapter XXXVI Elihu desires a farther hearing, ver. 1 - 4. Describes the methods of providence, ver. 5 - 15. Warns and counsels Job, ver. 16 - 21. Shews God's sovereignty and omnipotence, ver. 22 - 33. Afar - From remote times, and places, and things. I will not confine my discourse to thy particular case, but wilt justify God by declaring his great and glorious works of creation and providence both in the heaven and in the earth, and the manner of his dealing with men in other parts and ages of the world. Ascribe - I will clear and maintain this truth, that God is righteous in all his ways. He, &c. - Thou hast to do with a God of perfect knowledge, by whom all thy words and actions are weighed. Despiseth - His greatness doth not make him (as it doth men) despise, or oppress the meanest. Wisdom - His strength is guided by wisdom, and therefore cannot do any thing unbecoming God, or unjust to his creatures. But - He will certainly in his time deliver his oppressed ones. He - Never ceases to care for and watch over them. Exalted - They continue to be exalted; they are not cast down from their dignity, as the wicked commonly are. If - Through the vicissitude of worldly affairs, they are brought from their throne into a prison, as sometimes hath been done. Work - Their evil works, by these afflictions he brings them to a sight of their sins. Exceeded - That they have greatly sinned by abusing their power and prosperity; which even good men are too prone to do. Openeth - He inclines them to hearken to what God speaks by the rod. Cry not - Unto God for help. Bindeth - With the cords of affliction. Die - They provoke God to cut them off before their time. Unclean - Or, Sodomites; to whose destruction, he may allude. They shall die by some exemplary stroke of Divine vengeance. Yea, and after death, their life is among the unclean, the unclean spirits, the devil and his angels, for ever excluded from the new Jerusalem, into which no unclean thing shall enter. Openeth - Causeth them to hear, and understand, and do, the will of God. He would - If thou hadst opened thine ear to God's counsels.