Thou hast sent widows away empty
Either out of their own houses, which he spoiled, and devoured,
and stripped, and cleared of all that were in them, as did the
Scribes and Pharisees in Christ's time, ( Matthew 23:14 ) ; or
out of his own house, when they came to him, as a rich man, for
charity; as they came to him wanting relief, they went away so;
if without food and clothing, they were bid to depart without
giving them anything to feed and clothe them with; or if they
came to him as a civil magistrate to have justice done them, and
to be delivered out of the hands of their oppressors, they could
not obtain any, but were dismissed without it; how contrary is
this to ( Job 29:13
) ( 31:16 ) ;
and the arms of the fatherless have been
broken;
not in a literal sense, as if when refusing to go out, when their
mothers, the widows, had their houses spoiled, and they sent
empty out of them; these laid hold on something within them, and
would not depart, and so, had their arms broken by the mighty
man, the man of arms; but, in a metaphorical and figurative
sense, their substance, and goods, and possessions, left them by
their fathers for their support, these were taken away from them,
and so they were as impotent and helpless as if their arms had
been broken; or their friends on whom they relied for their
sustenance, these were either ruined, and so could not help them;
or else their affections were alienated from them, and would not.
This indeed is not expressly charged upon Job, but it is
intimated that it was done with his knowledge and consent, good
will, and approbation; at least that he connived at it, and
suffered it to be done when it was in his power to have prevented
it, and therefore to be ascribed unto him; but how foreign is all
this to Job's true character, ( Job
29:12-17 ) ( 31:16-22
) ?