Job 22:10

Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(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.

Benson Commentary

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.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:5-14 Eliphaz brought heavy charges against Job, without reason for his accusations, except that Job was visited as he supposed God always visited every wicked man. He charges him with oppression, and that he did harm with his wealth and power in the time of his prosperity.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

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

Matthew Poole's Commentary

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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Therefore snares are round about thee,.... Not what occasion sin, draw into it, and issue in it, as inward corruptions, the temptations of Satan, and the things of this world, but punishments; because of the above sins charged upon Job, therefore evils, calamities, and distresses of various kinds, came upon, him, beset him, and encompassed him all around, so that there was no way left for him to escape; it may refer to the Sabeans and Chaldeans seizing on his cattle, and carrying them away; to the fire that fell from heaven upon his sheep, and consumed them; to the great wind that blew down the house in which his children were, and destroyed them; and to the boils and ulcers that were all over his body:

and sudden fear troubleth thee; those things, at least some of them, were what he feared, and they came suddenly upon him, and gave him great trouble and distress, Job 3:25; and present fear frequently, on a sudden, darted into his mind, and gave him fresh trouble; he was afraid of his present sorrows, and of further and future ones, Job 9:28; and perhaps Eliphaz might think he was afraid of hell and damnation, and of sudden destruction from the Almighty coming upon him, Job 31:23; see Isaiah 24:17.

Geneva Study Bible

Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

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.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - 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.). Job 22:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

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. Isaiah 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.