Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 9:4
[He is] wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened [himself] against him, and hath prospered?
4. wise in heart ] i. e. in mind, corresponding to “mighty in power.”
hardened himself ] Probably hardened his neck, i. e. braved him, Pro 29:1.
hath prospered ] lit. been safe, or as we say, “with impunity.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He is wise in heart – Herder renders this,
Even the wise and the powerful,
Who hath withstood him and prospered?
But the more common interpretation is to refer it to God. The meaning of Job appears to be, that God was a sagacious adversary; that he was able to manage his cause; that he could meet and refute all objections which could be urged; and that it would be in vain to engage in a litigation before him. He so well understood the whole ground of debate, and was so entirely skilled in the merits of the controversy, and could so successfully meet all that could be alleged, that it was useless to attempt to hold an argument with him.
And mighty in strength – He is able to execute all his designs, and to carry all his purposes into effect. Man is weak and feeble, and it is hopeless for him to attempt to contend with the Almighty.
Who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered? – To harden oneself, here means to resist or withstand him. It refers to the firmness or resolution which one is obliged to adopt who opposes another. Here it means the opposition which man makes to the law and government of the Most High; and the affirmation is, that no one can make such opposition who will not be ultimately overcome. God is so great, so powerful, and so just, that a successful resistance cannot be made. The arrangements of God will take their course, and man must yield to his claims and his government, or be prostrated. None can successfully resist God; and the true policy of man, as well as his duty, is to yield to him, and be at peace with him.
And hath prospered – Or been successful. He has failed in his opposition, and been obliged to yield. Prosperity is not found in opposing God. It is only by falling in with his arrangements and following his designs. A prosperous voyage is made by falling in with winds and currents, and not in opposing them; prosperous agriculture is carried on by coinciding with the favorable seasons of the year, and taking advantage of the dews, and rains, and sunbeams that God sends, and not in opposing them; prosperity in regard to health is found in taking advantage of the means which God gives to secure it, and not in opposing them. And the sinner in his course has no more chance of success and prosperity, than a man would have who should make it a point or principle of life always to sail against tides, and currents, and head winds; or he who should set at defiance all the laws of husbandry, and plant on a rock, or in the dead of winter; or he who should feed himself on poison rather than on nutritious food, and cultivate the nightshade rather that wheat. The great principle is, that if a man desires prosperity, he must fall in with the arrangements of God in his providence and grace; and wisdom is seen in studying these arrangements, and in yielding to them.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 9:4
Who hath hardened himself against God, and prospered?
Hardened against God
This passage intimates–
I. That appeals are addressed by God to men in order to bring them into allegiance to Him. The conduct which is imputed to men is susceptible of explanation only as the existence of such appeals is assumed.
1. God has appealed to us by the instrumentality of conscience. Conscience is the testimony of secret judgment in the mind of a man as to the moral quality of his own thoughts and actions. The true dictates of conscience are conformable to the extensive principle of the Divine law; and the judgments of the one are substantially the judgments of the other.
2. By the instrumentality of providence, The events which happen under the superintendence of God in the temporal sphere, and affect the temporal interests of man, are intended always to speak powerfully on his behalf. This fact was recognised by Job, when he uttered the language before us.
3. By the instrumentality of revealed truth. All Scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, and for what belongs to righteousness.
II. Men treat the appeals of God with obdurate resistance. The text takes the case of men who harden themselves against God, indicating a habit which is heinous in its nature, and which is progressive in its influence. It is emphatically resistance, the surrender of the heart and life to objects against which God has pleaded, and the retention of the heart and life amidst indulgences which God has protested against, and which He has condemned. This resistance is introduced as voluntary. It is also introduced as continued. That continuance augments the guilt. Such resistance becomes more heinous and aggravated in proportion as the calls addressed by God are solemn and weighty. Resistance is also progressive in its influence. In proportion as it is continued in the indulgence, it exercises increasing power and authority over the soul. It becomes more steady, more settled, more confirmed–this being in accordance with what we know of the tendencies of all habits to strengthen and establish themselves.
III. Obdurate resistance to the appeals made by God exposes to fearful and fatal consequences. No human being placing himself in voluntary and continued opposition against God can escape final punishment and ruin. God will inflict upon those who harden themselves against Him temporal sorrow; and if their resistance be continued till the last, the irremediable loss of their souls. There will be a proportion between punishment and guilt. (James Parsons.)
Fatal issue of final impenitence
These words imply that there is such a thing as for a man so to harden himself as to contend with God.
I. Inquire wherein this hardness of heart consists.
1. The word signifies a spirit that is obstinate and incorrigible.
2. It is descriptive of a rebellious spirit, which discovers itself under the various dispensations of God, both in a way of mercy and judgment.
3. There is also a judicial hardness to which sinners are liable, in a way of righteous judgment for their iniquities. This is not owing to any defect in the Gospel, or in the dispensations of God towards us; but to the depravity of the human heart, which perverts the means of salvation into those of destruction.
II. Notice some of the instances in which this sin is still committed.
1. It appears in indulging hard thoughts of God, of His government and of His holy law; in esteeming Him as a hard master, and in considering sinful propensities as an excuse for sinful actions, though no one thinks of excusing the offence of others against himself on the ground of such a plea. The indulgence of such thoughts lead on to final impenitence.
2. It manifests itself in a rejection or dislike of Gods way of salvation.
3. Persisting in an evil course, amidst many convictions and fears, is another instance of this sort of depravity. Pharaoh knew that he was wrong, and yet he dared to persist.
4. This hardness of heart appears in the resistance that is offered to the hand of God in providence instead of being humbled under it.
5. Presumptuously tempting God, amidst the most affecting means of salvation, is another instance of this hardness of heart. It was thus with Israel in the wilderness.
III. The fatal issue of final impenitence. Who hath hardened himself against Him, and prospered?
1. The longer you continue in this state, the more hardened you will become, till at last you will be past feeling (Eph 4:19).
2. This also is the way in which God punishes men for their impenitence (Isa 6:8).
3. The end of this impenitence and hardness of heart is fearfully described by an apostle, and should warn us of our danger (Rom 2:5-9). (T. Hannam.)
Man hardening himself against God
Every act of sin hardens the heart of man, but the heat of blasphemy at once shows and puts it into the extremity of hardness. Man hardens himself against God four ways especially.
1. Upon presumption of mercy. Many do evil because they hear God is good. They turn His grace into wantonness, and are without all fear of the Lord, because there is mercy so much with the Lord.
2. The patience of God, or His delays of judgment, harden others. Because God is slow to strike, they are swift to sin.
3. Gross ignorance hardens many.
(1) Ignorance of themselves.
(2) Ignorance of God.
He that knows not what he ought to do, cares not much what he doth. None are so venturous as they who know not their danger.
4. Hardness of heart in sinning is contracted from the multitude of those who sin. They think none shall suffer for that which so many do. Man doth not grow hard at once, much less hardest; but when once he begins to harden himself, where he shall make an end he knows not. The first step is, the taking time and leave to meditate upon sin, and roll it up and down in the thoughts. A hard heart lets vain thoughts dwell in it. A holy heart would not let them lodge with it. A second step is, some tastes of pleasure and delight in sin. It proves a sweet morsel under his tongue. The third step is, custom in sinning. It argues great boldness to venture often. By the fourth step of hardness he comes to defend and maintain his sin.
5. The hard heart grows angry and passionate with those who give advice against sin; he is resolved; and a man that is resolved in his way is angry if he be desired to remove out of his way. He that is resolved to sleep, loves not to be awakened.
6. Hard hearts grow too hard for the Word. They are sermon proof; they can sit under the preacher, and hear from day to day, but nothing touches them.
7. The heart is so hard that the sword of affliction doth not pierce it; the man is judgment proof. Let God strike him in his person or estate, let God set the world afire about his ears, yet on he goes. He is like the man of whom Solomon speaks (Pro 23:34), who lies sleeping in a storm upon the top of the mast.
8. The hard heart sits down in the chair of the scorner. He derides the Word, and mocks at the judgments of God. (J. Caryl.)
Contenders with God
A gentleman came to me in the streets of Liverpool a few years ago, and told me of an incident in my fathers ministry, of which he was an eyewitness, many years before. Your father, he said, was preaching on a then vacant spot of ground near where St. Georges Hall now stands. Directly opposite the place where he was standing, an ungodly publican, finding his business interfered with, came out and endeavoured to interrupt the proceedings, mimicking the preachers manner and gestures, and using very horrible language. I remember, said the gentleman, how solemnly your father turned round upon him, and said, Take care, my friend, it is not me, but my Master that you are mocking, and remember you cannot mock God with impunity; take care lest you draw down upon your head His just vengeance. He afterwards announced that he would preach in the same spot the next Sunday afternoon, which he did; and as he gave out his text, you may imagine the feeling of awe that settled down upon the crowd as they saw a hearse draw up to the door of the public house, to carry away the corpse of that very man who one short week before had been defying God, and insulting His messenger. (W. Hay M. H. Aitken, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength] By his infinite knowledge he searches out and sees all things, and by his almighty power he can punish all delinquencies. He that rebels against him must be destroyed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Wise in heart; either,
1. Really and profoundly wise; or,
2. Wise in his mind or understanding, which in Hebrew is oft called the heart, as Pro 2:10; 6:32; Hos 4:11, because the Hebrews make the heart the seat of the understanding, or of the reasonable soul. The sense is, He is infinitely wise, and so knows all things, and searcheth all mens hearts and ways, and discovers a multitude of sins which mens short-sighted eyes cannot see; and therefore can charge them with innumerable evils where they thought themselves innocent, and sees far more malignity than men could discern in their sins: and men cannot conceal any of their sins from him, nor cheat him, as they may other men, with crafty devices and evasions; so that there is no contending with him.
Mighty in strength, i.e. omnipotent; and therefore if men contumaciously persist in contending with him after they are convicted and condemned, he can easily crush them. So that whether men contend with God by wisdom or by strength, (which are the two ways of one mans contending with another,) God will be conqueror.
Who hath hardened himself against him, i.e. obstinately contended with him? Or, spoken hard things towards him; quarrelling with him, opposing and reproaching Gods providence towards him as hard and unjust. Compare Jud 1:15.
Hath prospered, Heb. hath been at peace, i.e. hath not provoked God to his own destruction. A common figure, called meiosis, whereby more is understood than is expressed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. wise in heartinunderstanding!and mighty in power! God confounds the ablest arguerby His wisdom, and the mightiest by His power.
hardened himselfor hisneck (Pr 29:1); that is, defiedGod. To prosper, one must fall in with God’s arrangements ofprovidence and grace.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
[He is] wise in heart,…. Originally, essentially, truly, really, and perfectly so; he is the only, and the all wise God; his understanding is infinite; he is able to traverse all the schemes of men, in things civil or religious, and disappoint all their devices; for though there be ever so many of them, or be ever so deeply laid, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand; for there is no wisdom, understanding, or counsel against him; and therefore it is in vain to contend with him: he is so wise and knowing, that he sees and knows all that is in man, or is done by him, whether in public or in private; there is not a thought in his heart, nor a word on his tongue, nor an action in his life and conversation, but what he is thoroughly acquainted with; and everyone of these he will bring into judgment: how therefore is it possible that sinful men should be just in the sight of such a wise and holy Being, upon the score of his own righteousness?
and mighty in strength; he is the most mighty; he is the Almighty; he has a mighty arm and strong hand; and unless a man had a strong arm like him, his own right hand can never save him, or his own righteousness justify him; wherefore, to what purpose is it for a feeble man to contend and strive with him? and since he is not a man, as he is, how should they come together in judgment? and what a vain thing must it he to set a time for it, since, if we speak of strength, lo, he is strong? see Job 9:19;
who hath hardened [himself] against him, and hath prospered? either by behaving proudly and insolently to him, as Pharaoh, Sennacherib, and others, by speaking hard words against him, as the Jews in the times of Malachi; and such hard speeches ungodly sinners utter against God, Christ, his Gospel, ordinances, people, ways, and worship, of which they will be convinced, and for which they will be condemned at the last judgment; and by bold and daring acts of sin, running upon the thick bosses of his buckler, giving themselves up to commit all uncleanness with greediness, and making a covenant with hell and an agreement with death, and so think themselves safe and secure at all events; but such never prospered and succeeded as they promised themselves, but came to ruin and destruction: or “had peace” x, or “found quietness”, as Mr. Broughton: there is no peace to wicked men, true, solid peace, either here or hereafter; when they cry “Peace”, or promise themselves much of it, destruction comes; and if God sets home the guilt of sin upon their consciences, the lead of it is intolerable; it sinks them into despair, and what then will be the worm that dieth not?
x “et pacem habuit”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Bolducius; “et pace frueretur”, Cocceius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. Hardened against Bidden defiance, or braved him. Prospered , remained uninjured; that is, unpunished. (Furst.) All opposition to God is not only futile, but dangerous.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 9:4 [He is] wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened [himself] against him, and hath prospered?
Ver. 4. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength ] And must therefore needs be a most just judge, since be neither wanteth wisdom to judge nor power to execute; what then should turn him out of the track of justice? Let God be just and true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome (or be clear) when thou judgest, or when thou art judged, Psa 51:4 Rom 3:4 ; for at the same time that God doth judge, or execute judgment upon any, he may also be said to be judged; whilst men pass their censures, either as applauding or disliking his judgments; and then may he be said to overcome, when judged, when men acknowledge the justice of his judgments; when they conclude him wise in heart, that is, “the only wise God,” 1Ti 1:17 , and mighty in strength, that is, the mighty strong God, Isa 9:6 ; who doth whatsoever he will in heaven and earth, Psa 118:1-29 In speaking of these and others of his most glorious attributes, we speak non quantum debemus, sed quantum possumus, not so much as we ought, but so much as we are able. As for the wisdom of God, Nemo sapientiam Dei immensam in omnem aeternitatem exhauriet (saith Gratian, the emperor, in an epistle to Ambrose), no man shall ever be able to fathom or find it out. And as for his power, so infinite is the distance between God and the greatest noble, that it is an honour that they may be suffered to live in his sight, Exo 24:10-11 . And it is all one with God whether against a man or a nation, Job 34:29 .
Who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
who . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6. Compare 2Ch 36:13. Isa 48:4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
wise in heart: Job 9:19, Job 36:5, Psa 104:24, Psa 136:5, Dan 2:20, Dan 4:34-37, Rom 11:33, Eph 1:8, Eph 1:19, Eph 3:10, Eph 3:20, Jud 1:24, Jud 1:25
who hath hardened: Job 6:10, Job 15:23-27, Job 40:9, Exo 9:14-17, Exo 14:17, Exo 14:18, Pro 28:14, Pro 29:1, Dan 5:20-30, 1Co 10:22
Reciprocal: Exo 9:7 – the heart Exo 9:17 – General Exo 11:10 – the Lord Lev 26:24 – General Num 16:27 – and stood 1Sa 6:6 – harden 2Ch 13:12 – ye shall not 2Ch 14:13 – before the Lord 2Ch 32:21 – cut off all Job 11:10 – If he cut off Job 12:13 – wisdom Job 15:13 – turnest Job 15:25 – strengtheneth Job 33:12 – God Job 34:14 – set Job 37:23 – excellent Job 41:10 – who Psa 66:7 – let Ecc 6:10 – neither Jer 48:26 – for he Jer 50:24 – because Eze 28:6 – Because Dan 4:35 – none Nah 1:3 – great Zec 7:12 – their hearts Mal 1:4 – They shall build Act 9:5 – it is Heb 3:8 – Harden
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 9:4. He is wise in heart He is infinitely wise, and searcheth all mens hearts and ways, and discovers a multitude of sins, which mens short-sighted eyes cannot see; and therefore can charge them with innumerable evils, of which they thought themselves innocent, and sees far more malignity than men can discern in their sins. Mighty in strength So that, whether men contend with God by wisdom or by strength, God will be conqueror. Who hath hardened himself, &c. Obstinately contended with him. The devil promised himself that Job, in the day of his affliction, would curse and speak ill of God. But, instead of that, he sets himself to honour God and speak highly of him. As ill pained as he is, and as much as he is taken up with his own miseries, when he has occasion to mention the wisdom and power of God, he forgets his complaints, and expatiates, with a flood of eloquence, on that glorious subject.