Job 15:12

Why doth thine heart carry thee away?.... To such conceit of thyself, and contempt of others, and even to slight the consolations of God; the heart, being deceitful and wicked, sometimes carries away

Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at, Wink - i:e., why do thy eyes evince passion and pride? (Proverbs 13:1-25; Psalms 35:19.)

Why dost thou suffer thyself to be transported by the pride and lusts of thy heart to use such unworthy and unbecoming expressions, both concerning us, and concerning God and his providence. What do thine eyes wink at, i.e. what dost thou aim at? What benefit dost thou expect from such words and carriages? So it is a metaphor from archers, who wink when they take their aim at a mark. Or, why do thine eyes wink, i.e. why dost thou look with such an angry, supercilious, and disdainful look, expressing both thy contempt of us, and thy rage against God? The eye is observed both by God and men, as the great discoverer of the heart; and winking with the eye is a note of a malicious mind, 10:10.

Job 15:12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,Ver. 12. Why doth thine heart carry thee away?] Violently transport thee; sc. beyond all bounds of reason and modesty, Quis te furor cordis exagitat? (Pineda.) There is another charge, and higher than the former, as if he had been emotae mentis, not well in his wits, but wild and wood, as they call it; or, at least, that his passions were so far too hard for his reason, as they did Rectam de cardine tollere mentem, We are in no small danger of our naughty hearts. It was no ill prayer of one, Lord, keep me from that naughty man myself, Domine, libera me a malo homine, meipso. Nor was it any ill counsel of another, who said, So take heed to thyself, that thou beware of thyself, Ita cave tibi ut caveas teipsum. Though there were no devil, yet our corrupt nature would act Satan’ s part against itself; it would have a supply of wickedness (as a serpent hath of poison) from itself, it hath a spring to feed it. Keep thy heart therefore with all custody, Proverbs 4:24; it will get away else, and carry thee away with it. And what do thy eyes wink at?] Nictant, celeriter scilicet, et subtiliter. Possibly Job, through pain and anguish, might be made to wink while he was speaking to them, or they to him; and this they miscontrue as done in contempt. See Psalms 35:19. Or that he was plotting some mischief, Proverbs 10:10; Proverbs 16:30, or pretending to some extraordinary devotion, and therefore shutting his eyes, that he might be the more reserved to God. The Vulgate hath it, Why doth thine heart lift thee up? and as if thou wert thinking of some great things, why are thine eyes so set? it is for no goodness, sure.

(12) What do thy eyes wink at?—Or, Why do they wink? as though it was only thou who perceivedst it.

Verse 12. Why doth thine heart carry thee away?] Why is it that thou dost conceive and entertain such high sentiments of thyself? And what do thy eyes wink at] With what splendid opinion of thyself is thine eye dazzled? Perhaps there is an allusion here to that sparkling in the eye which is excited by sensations of joy and pleasing objects of sight, or to that furious rolling of the eyes observed in deranged persons. Rosenmuller translates thus: - Quo te tuus animus rapit? Quid occuli tui vibrantes? "Whither does thy soul hurry thee? What mean thy rolling eyes?" Thou seemest transported beyond thyself; thou art actuated by a furious spirit. Thou art beside thyself; thy words and thy eyes show it. None but a madman could speak and act as thou dost; for thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth, Job 15:13. This latter sense seems to agree best with the words of the text, and with the context.

2–16. Eliphaz rebukes Job’s contemptuous treatment of the opinions of his friends, and his irreverence towards God First, starting with Job’s claim to a wisdom beyond that of his friends (ch. Job 12:3; Job 12:7 seq., Job 13:2), Eliphaz asks if it be in the manner of a wise man to use loud and empty words as arguments (Job 15:2-3). But in truth Job was more than unwise, he was impious. His demeanour and sentiments did away with all devoutness and religion. Such language as he uttered could be inspired only by deep evil in his heart; and was proof enough without anything more of his wickedness (Job 15:4-6). Second, then coming back upon these two points, Job’s claim to wisdom and his irreverence, Eliphaz developes each of them separately. (1) This claim to wisdom, which he puts forth, whence has he it? Was he the first man born? Did he come straight from God’s hand? Did he sit in the council of heaven and appropriate wisdom to himself? And how came he, a man not yet old, to have such preeminence in wisdom over them, some of whom were old enough to be his father, that he thought himself entitled to put away from him admonitions which were consoling truths of God’s revelation and spoken to him in gentleness and temperance? (Job 15:7-11). (2) And why did he allow his passion to carry him away into making charges of unrighteousness against God? For how can a man be pure in God’s sight? In His eyes the heavens are not clean, much less man, whose avidity for evil is like that of a thirsty man for water (Job 15:12-16).

Why doth thine heart carry thee away? - Why do you allow your feelings to control you in spite of the decisions of the understanding?

Third strophe — The fundamental error with Job is his ignorance of the true character of sin, Job 15:12-16.12. Thy eyes — Why do thy eyes twinkle?