Job 36:16

16 Likewise, he would have removed thee out of the mouth of anguish into a broad place where there is no distress and should have set thy table full of fatness.

Job 36:16 Meaning and Commentary

Job 36:16

Even so
Here Elihu accommodates what he had said to the case of Job; that had he hearkened and been obedient to the voice of God in his rod, and had submitted to his chastening hand, and patiently bore his afflictions;

he,
God,

would have removed thee out of the strait [into] a broad place, where
[there is] no straitness:
that is, out of the strait circumstances in which he was, into liberty; would have brought him into a large place, where he might walk at liberty, as David experienced, ( Psalms 4:1 ) ( 18:19 ) ( 119:45 ) ; and may be understood both in a temporal and spiritual sense. In a temporal sense; he was now in great straits, in poverty and affliction; these pressed him hard on every side, so that his way, as he says, was "fenced up, that he could not pass", ( Job 19:8 ) . Now had he been rightly humbled under his affliction, God would have taken him out of the straits of adversity, and set his feet in a large room of prosperity; see ( Psalms 31:7 Psalms 31:8 ) . In a spiritual sense; persons are as in a strait place and pent up, when they cannot come forth in the free exercise of grace and duty; their souls are as it were in prison, they are shut up, and have not freedom with God nor man; their faith is ready to fail, their hope is sunk very low, they are straitened in their own bowels or affections, in their love to God and his people: and then they are removed into a large place, when it is the reverse with them; when they are favoured with the free spirit of the Lord, for where he is there is liberty; and when their hearts are enlarged with the love of God, and in the exercise of grace; and then they can run cheerfully the ways of his commandments;

and that which should be set on thy table [should be] full of fatness;
which in a temporal sense denotes, that he should have had a plentiful table, spread with the best of provisions, the richest dainties, the finest of the wheat, and the fattest of the creatures; and these should rest and remain upon his table, or be constantly renewed there: and in a spiritual sense, that his soul should have been satisfied with the love of God, shed abroad in his heart; with the blessings of the everlasting covenant of grace applied unto him; and with the goodness of the house of God, his word and ordinances, as with marrow and fatness; see ( Psalms 63:5 ) ( 36:8 ) .

Job 36:16 In-Context

14 Their soul shall die in youth, and their life is among the male pagan cult prostitutes.

15 He shall deliver the poor from his poverty, and in affliction shall open their ears.

16 Likewise, he would have removed thee out of the mouth of anguish into a broad place where there is no distress and should have set thy table full of fatness.

17 But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked, against the judgment and the justice that sustain everything.

18 Therefore it is to be feared that he take thee away with a stroke, which cannot be avoided even with a great ransom.