Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
Ver. 24. Wherefore hidest thou thy face] Who wast wont to shine upon me, Job 29:2,3. He that hideth his face showeth that he neither pitieth nor purposeth to relieve. God seemed to look upon Job no otherwise than as under Satan's cloak, said that martyr. But he hideth his love sometimes out of increasement of love, as Joseph did to his brethren; and is never so near us as when, with Mary Magdalene, we are so bleared with tears for his absence, that we cannot see him, though at hand. A child of light may walk in darkness, Isaiah 50:10, which, when he doth, he must resolve, as Isaiah 8:17, I will wait upon the Lord, who hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look tbr him: he must also in that dark condition cast anchor, as they did in the shipwreck, Acts 27:29,30, and pray still for day, waiting till the day star arise in their hearts, and all clear up.
And holdest me for thine enemy?] Which if God should have doue indeed, it would have been wide with Job, and far worse than ever yet it had been; for if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? 1 Samuel 24:19. I think not, unless it be for a greater mischief at another time. But Job was out when he judged himself hated of God, because afflicted, since he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, Hebrews 12:5. See my Love tokens, pp. 23, 54.