Call now, if there be any that will answer thee
That is, call upon God, which, if seriously, and not ironically
spoken, was good advice; God is to be called upon, and especially
in times of trouble; and invocation is to be made in faith, in
sincerity, and with fervency, and to be accompanied with
confession of sin, and repentance for it; and sooner or later God
hears and answers those that call upon him; but Eliphaz suggests,
that if Job did call upon him, it would be in vain, he would not
hear him, he going upon the same maxim that the Jews did in
Christ's time, "God heareth not sinners": ( John 9:31 ) ; or call
upon him to give him an oracle from heaven, to favour him with a
vision and revelation, and see if he could get anything that
would confront and confute what he had delivered as coming that
way; which, if it could be done by him, would appear to be a
falsehood and an imposture, since one revelation from God is not
contradicted by another: or else the sense is, "call" over the
catalogue and list of good men that have been from the beginning
of the world, and see if there be any that "answers to thee"
F14, whose case, character, and
behaviour, correspond with thee; if ever any of them was
afflicted as thou art, or ever behaved with so much indecency,
impatience, murmuring, and blasphemy against God, as thou hast
done; that ever opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his
birth, and reflected upon the providence and justice of God as
thou hast, as if thou wert unrighteously dealt with: or rather,
"call now", and summon all creatures together, angels and men,
and get anyone of them to be thy patron, to defend thy cause, and
plead for thee, to give a reply to what has been said, from
reason, experience, and revelation: and shouldest thou obtain
this, which is not likely, "lo, there is one that can answer
thee" F15, as some render the words, meaning
either God or himself; thus Eliphaz insults Job, and triumphs
over him, as being entirely baffled and conquered by him, by what
he had related as an oracle and revelation from heaven:
and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?
or "look", or "have respect" {p}, that will be of any service to
thee? meaning either the Divine Persons in the Godhead, sometimes
called Holy Ones, as in ( Joshua 24:19
) ; ( Proverbs
9:10 ) ( 30:3 ) (
Hosea 11:12 )
; the Holy Father, the Holy Son, and the Holy Spirit, who may and
should be turned and looked unto; God the Father, as the God of
providence and grace for all good things; Jesus Christ his Son,
as the Redeemer and Saviour for righteousness and eternal life;
the blessed Spirit, as a sanctifier to carry on and finish the
work of grace; but it is suggested, it would be in vain for Job
to turn and look to any of these, since he would be rejected by
them as a wicked man, nor would any of them plead his cause: or
else the holy angels, as the Septuagint express it, and who are
called saints and Holy Ones, ( Deuteronomy
33:2 ) ( Daniel 8:13 ) (
Zechariah 14:5 ) ; and
it is asked, which of those he could turn or look to, and could
expect relief and protection from? signifying, that none of these
would vouchsafe to converse with him, nor take him under their
care, nor undertake to plead his cause: or rather holy men, such
as are sanctified or set apart by God the Father, to whom Christ
is made sanctification, and in whose hearts the Holy Spirit has
wrought principles of grace and holiness, and who live holy lives
and conversations; and it is insinuated, that should he turn and
took to these, he would find none of them like him, nor in the
same circumstances, nor of the same sentiments, or that would
take his part and plead for him; but that all to a man would
appear of the same mind with Eliphaz, that none but wicked men
were afflicted by God as he was, and that he was such an one, and
that for the reason following: the Papists very absurdly produce
this passage in favour of praying to departed saints, when not
dead but living ones are meant, and even turning to them is
discouraged; and besides, this would contradict another tenet of
the Papists, that the Old Testament saints, until the coming of
Christ, were in a sort of purgatory, called Limbus Patrum, and
therefore incapable of helping saints on earth that should apply
unto them.