I will shew thee, hear me; and that [which] I have seen I will declare;
Ver. 17. I will show thee, hear me] Here Eliphaz useth a short but a lofty preface, calling hard for attention, and raising in Job an expectation of no mean matters. But
Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu - (Horat.)
This is his argument:
This is to be held to be true which experience evinceth, and wise men teach us, just as they have learned it from their religious ancestors.
But, both continued experience and consent of men teach us, that wicked men have terrors within and troubles without.
Therefore this is to be taken for a truth. Therefore also, by consequence, that is false which thou hast spoken concerning the prosperity of wicked men, Job 12:6. Neither canst thou avoid the charge of wickedness who dost suffer the punishments of the wicked. Now what is all this more than Eliphaz had said in a former discourse (so that Job might have cried out, Apage coccysmum?) only there he grounded his argument upon a night vision; here upon the testimony and consent of certain wise men, commended by their power and justice. Some think he meaneth Noah and his pious posterity.
That which I have seen I will declare] Wilt thou not believe an eyewitness? What can be more sure than sight? John 1:1. Surely, if we were well read in the story of our own lives, and had laid up our experiences, we might have a divinity of our own. The ll9th Psalm is made up of experiments; and David oft telleth us what he had seen and observed.