He disappointeth the devices of the crafty
Or, "it disappointeth"; that is, the rain, as some Jewish
commentators F13 interpret it, and the whole
paragraph to this sense; the rain coming upon the earth makes it
fruitful, and causes it to produce a plentiful crop, whereby the
schemes of crafty men are disappointed, who in a time of drought
withhold the corn, and enhance the price of it, and distress the
poor; and this in order to make a penny of them, according to (
Amos 8:4 Amos 8:6 ) ; but through
the rain falling are not able to gain their end, but are obliged
to bring out their corn, and sell it at a low price, and so are
taken in their own craftiness; their counsel becomes brutish, and
they are brought into bad circumstances themselves, and the poor
saved from being ground and oppressed by them, and have hope for
the future of plenty of provisions, to the confusion and
astonishment of their oppressors: but the Targum interprets this
of the Egyptians cunningly devising mischief against the
Israelites, without success; and not amiss, since that affair
might be well known to Eliphaz, and he might have it in view: the
fact was this, a new king of Egypt, after the death of Joseph,
observing the great increase of the people of Israel in his
dominions, and fearing, in case of a war, they should join the
enemy, and get out of the land by such an opportunity, calls his
nobles, courtiers, and counsellors together, to form some wise
schemes how to diminish them, ( Exodus
1:8-10 ) ; and the first was to set taskmasters over them,
and afflict them with hard bondage, but this succeeded not, (
Exodus
1:11-14 ) ; for the more they were afflicted the more they
multiplied and grew; another decree was, to order the midwives to
kill the male children of the Israelites, and save alive the
females, ( Exodus 1:15 Exodus 1:16 ) ; but the
midwives, fearing God, obeyed not the order, and the people still
multiplied, ( Exodus
1:17-21 ) ; and then a third project was formed, to cast
every son born to the Israelites into the river, and drown them,
( Exodus
1:22 ) ; but notwithstanding this they were preserved, as
Moses, ( Exodus 2:10 ) , and
doubtless many others; the people increased so, that they went
out of Egypt six hundred thousand men, ( Exodus 12:37
) ; this was a recent thing, it may be in the times of Eliphaz,
and which he might easily call to mind: and he might also have
respect to a more remote case, that of the builders of Babel, who
devised a scheme to build a tower, whose top should reach to
heaven, and secure them from a dispersion of them throughout the
earth, ( Genesis
11:1-9 ) ; when God descended in the display of his power and
providence, confounded their language, so that they were obliged
to desist from their enterprise, and were scattered throughout
the earth, which by their scheme they thought to have prevented:
this may be applied to wicked crafty men in common, who devise
schemes to commit sin, and gratify their lusts, to get for
themselves riches and honour, and to do mischief to others, which
God in his providence breaks, frustrates, and makes of none
effect; and to false teachers, that walk in craftiness, lie in
wait to deceive, and make use of cunningly devised fables, coin
new doctrines, invent new forms of worship, and appoint new
ordinances, and contrive different ways and methods of salvation;
all which is foolishness with God, and to such persons ( Job 5:13 ) is applied by
the Apostle Paul, ( 1
Corinthians 3:19 ) : and this may likewise respect wicked
princes and potentates, with their counsellors and wise
politicians, who in former, as well as in later times, have
formed designs against their neighbours, and to the hurt of the
interest of true religion particularly; but have been baffled and
confounded by Divine Providence, of which, as there were many
instances in Israel of old, so in our British Isles of late:
so that their hands cannot perform [their]
enterprise;
what their heads have contrived, what they have resolved and
determined upon, and what they have began to effect, but could
not go on with; or, "bring it soundly to pass", as Mr. Broughton
renders it; that is, could not complete it, or bring it to
perfection; and indeed not able to do "any thing" F14, as
some translate the word, not anything of what they devised and
contrived: it signifies "that which is", which has a being and
substance, and solidity in it F15, but nothing of this kind
could be done; it is sometimes rendered "wisdom", and "sound
wisdom", ( Proverbs 2:7
) ( Micah 6:9
) ; and so it is here by some F16, and may signify, that
though their counsels were deeply laid, and wisely formed,
according to the best rules of wisdom and prudence, they yet are
not able to bring them to pass; which shows the infinitely
superior wisdom of God, and his overruling providence, and which
therefore must be a great encouragement to seek unto him, and
leave every cause and case with him.