If thou [wert] pure and upright
By which he tacitly intimates that he was neither; though the
character given of him is, that he was perfect and upright,
feared God and eschewed evil, and which is confirmed by God
himself, and even after he had been tried by sore afflictions.
Bildad's meaning is, if he was pure in heart, and upright in his
life and conversation, then things would be well with him. Men's
hearts are naturally impure; no man is pure of himself, or can
make his heart pure; nor is there any good man that is so pure as
to be entirely free from sin; but such are pure in heart, who
have clean hearts created, and right spirits renewed in them; or
have new hearts and new spirits given them; have their hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and so keep the faith in a
pure conscience; having their hearts purified by faith in the
blood of Christ, whose blood cleanses from all sin; and in this
sense Job was pure, having an interest in a living Redeemer, and
in his blood, and a partaker of his grace; and that he was
upright is before testified of him, though now called in
question, an if being put upon it, as well as on the former,
having in the course of his life walked uprightly, according to
the will of God revealed unto him:
surely now;
directly at once, without delay, as Sephorno interprets it; it
need not be doubted of, verily so it would be:
he would awake for thee;
who though he neither slumbers nor sleeps, yet seems to be asleep
when he suffers his people to be afflicted, distressed, and
oppressed, and therefore they cry unto him to awake to their
judgment, and their cause; see ( Psalms 7:8 ) ( 35:23 ) (
44:23
) ; the sense is, that he would stir up and exert himself, and
show himself strong on his behalf, and appear to be on his side,
and work deliverance and salvation for him; or awake his mercy,
grace, and goodness, as some Jewish commentators F16
interpret it; that is, bestow his favours upon him:
and make the habitation of thy righteousness
prosperous;
which some understand of his body, the earthly house of his
tabernacle, which if his soul was pure and upright that dwelt in
it, might be called the habitation of righteousness; which, were
this the case, would become healthful that was now covered with
worms, and clods of dust: others interpret it of the soul, as
Aben Ezra and Ben Gersom, the seat of righteousness, and of all
the graces of the Spirit; which is in a prosperous condition when
these graces are in lively exercise, and the presence of God, and
the light of his countenance, and communion with him, are
enjoyed; but rather his dwelling house in a literal sense, and
all his domestic affairs, are here meant; and it is signified
that all would be again in peace and prosperity, and he should
enjoy great plenty of good things should he behave well; and here
is a tacit intimation as if his habitation had not been an
habitation of righteousness, but had been filled with the mammon
of unrighteousness, with goods ill gotten, such as were obtained
by rapine and oppression, and neither he nor his family
righteous; a very unjust and iniquitous insinuation: the Targum
paraphrases it, "and, shall make the beauty of thy righteousness
perfect" F17; but Job had a more beautiful
righteousness than his own; his was but as rags, and neither pure
nor perfect; even the righteousness of Christ, which is perfect
and beautiful, and makes such so, that are arrayed with it; see (
Psalms 50:2 )
( Ezekiel
16:14 ) .