Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?
Ver. 4. Will he reprove thee for fear of thee?] Doth he plague and punish thee thus, for fear that in time thou mayest grow so overly good, that he cannot reward thee, or so overly great, that he cannot command thee? No such matter. Others read it thus: Would he reprove thee for thy religion? Vox timoris sire religionis active sumitur, &c. (Merlin), Would he come into judgment with thee? q.d. Surely God would not deal thus harshly with thee if thou didst truly fear him; but thou art a wicked wretch, as Job 22:5. Either God punisheth thee for thy piety or thy sinfulness. Not for the former, doubtless (for piety is profitable to all things, &c.), therefore for the latter. This is Eliphaz's argument here. But Austin makes answer (besides what Job doth in the two following Chapter s), Tract. in Joan. 124, God chastiseth his best children sometimes for his own glory, as John 9:3, sometimes for their good; as, namely, for prevention, probation, purgation, preparation, either to the performance of some special service or to the receipt of some special blessing, &c., Vel ad demonstrationem debitae miseriae, vel ad emendationem labilis vitae, vel ad exercitationem necessariae patientiae.
Will he enter with thee into judgment?] This seemeth to be the same in sense with the former hemistich; The half or section of a line of verse, as divided by the cæsura or the like; also, a line of less than the usual length. spec. Such a half-line or line in Old English verse. and then it shows Eliphaz's confidence, though he were in an error.