Job 42:5 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

But now mine eye seeth thee “It is plain,” says Dr. Dodd, “that there is some privilege intended here that Job had never enjoyed before, and which he calls a sight of God. He had heard of him by the hearing of the ear, or the tradition delivered down from his forefathers; but he had now a clear and sensible perception of his being and divine perfections; some light thrown in upon his mind, which carried its own evidence with it; and which to him had all the certainty and clearness even of sight itself.” Poole thus paraphrases his words: “The knowledge which I had of thy nature, perfections, and counsels, was hitherto grounded chiefly upon the instructions of men; but now it is clear and certain, as being immediately inspired into my mind by this thy glorious appearance and revelation, and by the operation of thy Holy Spirit, which makes these things as evident to me as if I saw them with my bodily eyes.” “When,” adds Henry, “the mind is enlightened by the Spirit of God, our knowledge of divine things as far exceeds what we had before, as knowledge by ocular demonstration exceeds that by common fame.”