Job 37:23

[Touching] the Almighty,.... Or with respect to God, who is almighty; with whom nothing is impossible; who can do and does do all things he pleases, and more than we can ask or think; and who is all

Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.

We cannot find him out, to wit, to perfection, as it is expressed, . We cannot comprehend him; his being, power, wisdom, justice, and his counsels proceeding from them, are past our finding out; and therefore it is most absurd and intolerable that thou, O Job, presumest to censure what thou dost not understand. He is excellent in power; and therefore as he doth not need any unrighteous action to advance himself, so he cannot do it, because all such things are acts and evidences of impotency or weakness. In judgment, i.e. in the just and righteous administration of judgment, as this word is oft used, and as the thing itself and the following words plainly evince. And this he adds, to intimate that although God had indeed a power to crush Job, or any other man, yet he never did nor can exercise that power unjustly or tyrannically, as Job seemed to insinuate. In plenty of justice; in great and perfect justice, such as no man can justly reproach. He will not afflict, to wit, without just cause, and above measure; as it may and must be limited, both from the foregoing words, and from Job’ s complaint, which was of that very thing; and from the nature of the thing, because otherwise this proposition, that God will not afflict, is not simply and universally true. Or these last words may be joined with the former; and so some render the place, he is excellent in power, and, or but, or yet, he will not afflict any man with judgment and much (i.e. too much) justice, i.e. with extremity or rigour of justice.

Job 37:23 [Touching] the Almighty, we cannot find him out: [he is] excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.Ver. 23. Touching the Almighty we cannot find him out] Heb. The Almighty. The nominative case put absolute; q.d. in short, as for the Almighty (that nomen Maiestativum, majestic name, as Tertullian phraseth it), we cannot comprehend him, any more than we can the main ocean in a cockle shell. And whereas we can say, as here, that he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice, Ista de Deo dicimus, quia non invenimus melius quod dicamus (August.); We say these things of God, because we have nothing better to say of him, and must owe the rest unto our thoughts, although, indeed, he is above all name and above all notion. In searching after God, saith Chrysostom, I am like a man digging in a deep spring, I stand here, and the water riseth upon me, and I stand there, and still the water riseth upon me. To Thomas Aquinas, busy in this search, was showed (they say) a deep pit in the edge of the sea (which empty it, and carry away the water as oft as they will), it is still filled with other. It is a knowledge that passeth knowledge, Ephesians 3:19. That which in measure is pleasant and profitable, being too much inquired into, proves unsavoury and unsafe. He will not afflict] viz. Willingly, Lamentations 3:33, or causelessly, 1 Peter 1:6; or, He will not answer; viz. every one that questioneth the justice of his proceedings, as Job, in his heat, had done. The Seventy render the question, Will he not answer? sc. those that call upon him in truth, since he is excellent in power and in judgment? &c. Sure he will.

(23) Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out.—He is excellent, or mighty, in power and justice, &c.

Verse 23. Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out] This is a very abrupt exclamation, and highly descriptive of the state of mind in which Elihu was at this time; full of solemnity, wonder, and astonishment, at his own contemplation of this "great First Cause, least understood." The ALMIGHTY! we cannot find him out. Excellent in power and in judgment] We must not pretend to comprehend his being, the mode of his existence, the wisdom of his counsels, nor the mysteries of his conduct. He will not afflict.] לא יענה la yeanneh, he will not ANSWER. He will give account of none of his matters to us. We cannot comprehend his motives, nor the ends he has in view.

14–23. Elihu’s own imagination kindles at the thought of the wonders which he is unfolding, and he beseeches Job to observe them with a reverent awe, and learn from them the unsearchableness of Him who is their Author.

Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out - See the notes at Job 11:7-9. This sentiment accords with all that Elihu had said, and indeed is what he designed particularly to enforce.

23. Touching the Almighty… he will not afflict — The Almighty! We cannot find him out; great (is he) in power, but right and the fulness of justice he will not pervert. A most worthy ascription to Deity.