Job 33:8-11 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Surely thou hast spoken in my hearing I shall not charge thee with hypocrisy, as thy friends do, which God only can discern; but with those words which I myself have heard from thee; I am clean without transgression, &c. Job had not affirmed this simply and absolutely, for he had often confessed himself to be a sinner; but no such transgression as might give God just occasion to punish him so severely, as is signified, where he blames God for finding occasions against him, implying that he had given him none by his sins. And thus far Elihu's charge was just, and herein it differs from the charge of Job's three friends, who often accuse him for asserting his own innocence; but they did it because they thought him a hypocrite; whereas Elihu does it upon other grounds, even because Job's justification of himself was accompanied with reflections upon God. Behold, he findeth occasions against me Thou hast said, Behold the Almighty, who, I thought, would have vindicated my innocence, severely marks my defects and faults, that from thence he may take occasion to punish me, notwithstanding my integrity. He counteth me for his enemy Though I have endeavoured to be his faithful servant all my days, yet he treats me like an enemy. He putteth my feet in the stocks He so confines me in the prison of this affliction that I cannot stir: he marketh all my paths Watches me so narrowly that I can find no way to escape. Elihu, though less partial than the other speakers, is, however, too severe in the construction which he puts upon Job's words. The first branch of this passage, Behold, he findeth occasions against me, or, as Heath and others render it, He inventeth cruelties against me, is not to be found in Job's speeches; and as for the other branch, which occurs Job 13:24, we have there observed, that though there may be something faulty in the expostulation, yet it is much alleviated by the expressions of humility which precede and follow it. See the note on that place.