I am [as] one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright [man is] laughed to scorn.
Ver. 4. Iam as one mocked of his neighbour] Those that should countenance and comfort me contemn and scorn me. I am their laughter and pastime; so he took it, since they sat so heavily upon the skirts of his conscience, and would not weigh his reasons brought in his own defence.
Who calleth upon God, and he answereth him] i.e. I, Job, do make God my refuge when these jeering neighbours of mine do shame my counsel, Psalms 14:6, and would mock me out of my religion; but God favoureth me though men frown; and where human help faileth Divine appeareth. Or thus rather: I am derided by those who profess to call upon God, and to hear often from heaven. They are hard hearted to me, though themselves have liberally tasted of God's tenderness; and they pull up the bridge of mercy before me, which themselves have oft gone over.
The just upright man is laughed to scorn] "Shame shall be the promotion of fools," Proverbs 3:35, and such a dissembler as Doeg may well be derided, Psalms 52:6,7. But what hath the righteous done? And why should just, upright Job be laughed to scorn? But this is no news. Christ and his people have ever been for signs and for wonders in this mad world, always beside itself in point of salvation. "He that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey," or is accounted mad, Isaiah 59:15. If he will needs be a just upright man, if he will live godly in Christ Jesus (if he be so set upon it, that none shall hinder him), he shall suffer persecution, this of the tongue howsoever, 2 Timothy 3:12. A wolf flieth not upon a painted sheep. We can look upon a painted toad with delight; it is the reality of godliness that is hated.