Therefore snares [are] round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;
Ver. 10. Therefore snares are round about thee] Flagitium et flagellum sunt sicut acus et filum, Sin and punishment are tied together with chains of adamant. Eliphaz having with more earnestness than truth set forth Job's sins, now discourseth about his snares. Four punishments he assureth him of, and every one worse than the other. 1. He shall be ensnared; 2. Frightened; 3. Benighted; 4. Overwhelmed, if repentance step not in and take up the matter, as Job 22:22. And it is as if he should say, Seek not after any other cause of thy calamities than thy before mentioned wickedness; neither seek any other way to get off than by confessing and forsaking them, that thou mayest have mercy.
And sudden fear troubleth thee] Fear is a troublesome passion; and sudden evils are very terrible, because they expectorate a man's abilities, and render him helpless, shiftless, comfortless. See this in Saul, who, surprised with sudden horror at his destiny read him by the devil, fell straightway all along on the earth like an ox, and was sore afraid, and there was no strength in him, 1 Samuel 28:20. Job also had his fears, but then he had his cordials too, that kept him from falling under them.