Job 22:29

When [men] are cast down,.... Wicked men are brought down from a state of prosperity to a state of adversity, are in low circumstances, great straits and difficulties: then thou shall say, [there is]

When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.

When men are cast down, Heb. When they (i.e. they who do this work. It is an indefinite and impersonal speech, which is very common in the Hebrew language) shall cast down or overthrow; either, 1. Proud and wicked men, as may be guessed by the opposition of the humble and innocent, who should be saved, whilst these were destroyed. So the sense is, When there shall come a general calamity, which shall sweep away all the wicked round about them. Or, 2. Thee, or thine; which pronoun is oft understood. So the sense is, When through God’ s permission thou shalt be brought into some trouble, which God sees fit for thee. Thou shalt say within thyself, with good assurance and confidence. There is lifting up; or, There shall be lifting up, either, 1. For them; if they repent and humble themselves, they shall be preserved or restored. And this thou wilt assure them of from thy own experience. Or, 2. For thee and thine; God will deliver thee, when others are crushed and destroyed. And; or, for; this particle being oft put causally, as hath been formerly noted. So the following words contain a reason why he might confidently say, that there would be such a lifting up for a person so humbled. He, i.e. God, unto whom only salvation belongeth, . Shall save; either, 1. Eternally; or, 2. Temporally, to wit, from the evils here mentioned. The humble person, Heb. him that hath low or cast-down eyes; which phrase may here note, either, 1. Humility and lowliness of mind and disposition, as pride is oft expressed by high or lofty looks, as 101:5 131:1 . And so this is a tacit admonition and reproof for Job, whom for his confident justification of himself, and his contemptuous expressions and censures concerning them, they judged to Job guilty of intolerable pride of heart. Or, 2. Lowness of estate or condition, as . So it notes him whose eyes and countenance are dejected by reason of his great troubles and miseries; as, on the contrary, prosperity makes persons lift up their eyes and faces.

Job 22:29 When [men] are cast down, then thou shalt say, [There is] lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.Ver. 29. When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up] And that by the force of thy faith, the nature whereof is to gather one contrary out of another (as life out of death, assurance of deliverance out of deepest distresses, Deuteronomy 32:36), and to believe God upon his bare word, and that against sense in things invisible, and against reason in things incredible. Because they are humbled, thou shalt say, Exaltation: and saving of him that boweth his eyes down; whereof some make this to be the sense: Job, attaining to such a blessed change, shall be able out of his own experience to comfort others in misery, who likewise humble themselves. Junius rendereth it and the following verse thus: When men shall have cast down any one, and thou shalt think of his lifting up; then will God save the low of eyes, or him that is low in his own eyes: he will deliver that guilty person, and he shall be delivered by the purity of thy hands; that is, saith he, So great shall his love be to thee, and his blessing upon thee, that for thy sake he shall show mercy to others, though they be none of the best, according to the promise made to Abraham, Genesis 12:3; Genesis 18:24. And hence Job’ s intercession is joined with that of Noah and Daniel, Ezekiel 14:14. And he shall save the humble person] Heb. Him that is low of eyes, as was Job at this time; and the publican, Luke 18:13. "A high look and a proud heart" go together, Psalms 101:5. And as God resisteth such, James 4:4 1 Peter 5:5, so he giveth grace to the humble; and not grace only, but glory too, as here; safety here, and salvation hereafter.

(29) There is lifting up.—This may be its meaning, but some understand it in a bad sense: “When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, It was pride that caused their fall.”

Verse 29. When men are cast down] There is a great difficulty in this verse; the sense, however, is tolerably evident, and the following is nearly a literal version: When they shall humble themselves, thou shalt say, Be exalted, or, there is exaltation: for the down-cast of eye he will save. The same sentiment as that of our Lord, "He that exalteth himself shall be abased; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

29. When men are cast down] The words must mean either: when they (i. e. thy ways, Job 22:28) go downwards, when decline or misfortune befalls thee; or, when men cast thee down. there is lifting up] The word “lifting up” or simply, “Up!” is that which Job shall utter in prayer. The “humble person,” lit. him that is lowly of eyes, is of course Job himself.

When men are cast down - The meaning of this is, probably, when people are usually cast down, or in the times of trial and calamity, which prostrate others, you shall find support.

29. Lifting up — Words of cheer; “upwards,” “forwards,” or, as Gesenius has it: “Thou commandest lifting up.” Omit there is. The words of the man of God are words of consolation and of power. The sorrowful are lifted up, and God.