Job 22:10

Job 22:10 Therefore snares [are] round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;

Ver. 10. Therefore snares are round about thee] Flagitium et flagellum sunt sicut acus et filum, Sin and punishment are tied together with chains of adamant. Eliphaz having with more earnestness than truth set forth Job’s sins, now discourseth about his snares. Four punishments he assureth him of, and every one worse than the other. 1. He shall be ensnared; 2. Frightened; 3. Benighted; 4. Overwhelmed, if repentance step not in and take up the matter, as Job 22:22. And it is as if he should say, Seek not after any other cause of thy calamities than thy before mentioned wickedness; neither seek any other way to get off than by confessing and forsaking them, that thou mayest have mercy.

And sudden fear troubleth thee] Fear is a troublesome passion; and sudden evils are very terrible, because they expectorate a man’s abilities, and render him helpless, shiftless, comfortless. See this in Saul, who, surprised with sudden horror at his destiny read him by the devil, fell straightway all along on the earth like an ox, and was sore afraid, and there was no strength in him, 1Sa 28:20. Job also had his fears, but then he had his cordials too, that kept him from falling under them.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 22:10-11. Therefore snares are round about thee — For these and the like crimes thou art encompassed with dangers and calamities. And sudden fear troubleth thee — Besides thy present miseries, thou art tormented with the dread of further and greater judgments. Or darkness, that thou canst not see — Such confusion and perplexity of mind that thou canst not discern the true cause and use of thy sufferings; or grievous calamities, often called darkness, which are such that thou canst see no way or possibility of escaping; and abundance of waters cover thee — That is, a variety of sore afflictions, frequently compared to waters.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

snares--alluding to Job's admission (Job 19:6; compare Job 18:10; Pro 22:5).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. Therefore snares] As thou hast dealt with others, so has God, in his retributive providence, dealt with thee. As thou hast spoiled, so art thou spoiled. Thou art taken in a net from which thou canst not escape. There is an allusion here to the hunting of the elephant: he is driven into an inclosure in the woods, passing from strait to strait, till brought into a narrow point, from which he cannot escape; and then his consternation is great, and his roaring terrible. God hath hunted thee down, as men hunt down those wild and dangerous beasts. See on Job 18:21

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(10, 11) Snares . . . about thee.—That is, Fear troubleth thee, or darkness, &c. “If darkness and abundance of waters cover thee so that thou canst not see, is not God in the high heavens, though thou canst not see Him. God is too great to take note of the affairs of men, their sin or their good deeds. He is so far off that He cannot see what goes on in the earth, for His dwelling-place is in heaven.” Eliphaz attributes to Job the kind of sentiments that he had himself attributed to the wicked man in the last chapter, Job_22:14, &c.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10, 11. The consequence of this inhumanity and injustice is seen in the snares and terrors from God that surround Job.

11. This verse should probably be read,

Or seest thou not the darkness,

And the floods of waters that cover thee?

i. e. dost thou not perceive the true meaning of the darkness and the overwhelming calamities that have come on thee? On the figures comp. ch. Job_18:18; Job_11:16; Job_27:20. See Job’s reply, ch. Job_23:16-17.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Or darkness, that thou canst not see,.... Or darkness is round about thee, thou art enveloped in it; meaning either judicial blindness, and darkness, and stupidity of mind, which must be his case, if he could not see the hand of God upon him, or the snares that were about him, or was not troubled with sudden fear; or else the darkness of affliction and calamity, which is often signified hereby, see Isa 8:22; afflictive dispensations of Providence are sometimes so dark, that a man cannot see the cause and reason of them, or why it is he is brought into them; which was Job's case, and therefore desires God would show him wherefore he contended with him, Job 10:9; nor can he see, perceive, or enjoy any light of comfort; he is in inward darkness of soul, deprived of the light of God's countenance, as well as he is in the outward darkness of adversity, which is a most uncomfortable case, as it was this good man's; nor can he see any end of the affliction, or any way to escape out of it, and which were the present circumstances Job was in:

and abundance of waters cover thee; afflictions, which are frequently compared to many waters, and floods of them, because of the multitude of them, their force and strength, the power and rapidity with which they come; and because overflowing, overbearing, and overwhelming, and threaten with utter ruin and destruction, unless stopped by the mighty hand of God, who only can resist and restrain them; Eliphaz represents Job like a man drowning, overflowed with a flood of water, and covered with its waves, and in the most desperate condition, see Psa 69:1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Therefore snares are round about thee - “Snares” were used for catching wild animals and birds, and the word then came to denote any sudden calamity; see Job 18:8-10. Eliphaz here says, that it “must be” that these calamities came upon Job in consequence of such sins as he had specified. About that he took it for granted there could be no dispute.

And sudden fear - The calamities of Job came upon him suddenly Job 1. It was to this, doubtless, that Eliphaz alluded.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For these and the like crimes. The cause of thy ruin is not secret from God’s sovereign power, and unsearchable judgments, (as thou pretendest,) but plain and manifest, even thy own crying sins.

Snares are round about thee; thou art encompassed with dangers and calamities.

Sudden fear: beside thy present miseries, thou art tormented with the dread and expectation of further and sorer judgments.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Therefore snares are round about thee. As Bildad had threatened, (Job_18:8-10) and as Job himself had acknowledged. (Job_19:6) And sudden fear troubleth thee. (comp. Job_3:25 Job_7:14 Job_13:21, etc.)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10 Therefore snares are round about thee,

And fear terrifieth thee suddenly;

11 Or percievest thou not the darkness,

And the overflow of waters, which covereth thee?

On account of this inhuman mode of action by which he has challenged the punishment of justice, snares are round about him (comp. Bildad's picture of this fate of the evil-doer, Job 18:8-10), destruction encompasses him on every side, so that he sees no way out, and must without any escape succumb to it. And the approaching ruin makes itself known to him time after time by terrors which come suddenly upon him and disconcert him; so that his outward circumstances being deranged and his mind discomposed, he has already in anticipation to taste that which is before him. In Job 22:11, לא תראה is by no means to be taken as an eventual circumstantial clause, whether it is translated affirmatively: or darkness (covers thee), that thou canst not see; or interrogatively: or does darkness (surround thee), that thou seest not? In both cases the verb in the principal clause is wanting; apart from the new turn, which או introduces, being none, it would then have to be explained with Lwenthal: or has the habit of sinning already so dulled thy feeling and darkened thine eye, that thou canst not perceive the enormity of thy transgression? But this is a meaning forced from the words which they are not capable of; it must have been at least או חשׁך בּעדך, or something similar. Since או חשׁך (to be accented without Makkeph with Mnach, Dech) cannot form a principal clause of itself, תראה is without doubt the verb belonging to it: or (או as Job 16:3) seest thou not darkness? Because, according to his preceding speeches, Job does not question the magnitude of his sufferings, but acknowledges them in all their fearfulness; therefore Hahn believes it must be explained: or shouldst thou really not be willing to see thy sins, which encompass thee as thick dark clouds, which cover thee as floods of water? The two figures, however, can only be understood of the destruction which entirely shrouds Job in darkness, and threatens to drown him. But destruction, in the sense in which Eliphaz asks if Job does not see it, is certainly intended differently to what it was in Job's complaints. Job complains of it as being unmerited, and therefore mysterious; Eliphaz, on the other hand, is desirous that he should open his eyes that he may perceive in this darkness of sorrow, this flood of suffering, the well-deserved punishment of his heinous sins, and anticipate the worst by penitence. לא תכסּךּ is a relative clause, and belongs logically also to חשׁך, comp. Isa 60:2, where שׁפעת is also found in Job 22:6 (from שׁפע, abundare; comp. Arab. šf‛, ספק, Job 20:22). Eliphaz now insinuates that Job denies the special providence of God, because he doubts the exceptionless, just government of God. In the second strophe he has explained his affliction as the result of his uncharitableness; now he explains it as the result of his unbelief, which is now become manifest.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)