Will he plead against me with [his] great power? No; but he would put [strength] in me.
Ver. 6. Will he plead against me with his great power?] No; for then you were in a woe-case. For if God's breath blow us to destruction, as so many dust heaps, Job 4:9, if he frown us to death, and nod us to destruction, Psalms 80:16, what shall we think of his Almighty power, which none can abide or avoid? Dittleile est contra eum scribere, qui potest proseribere. It is dangerous dealing with him who hath at his command thirty legions, saith the philosopher to the emperor, who would needs crack an argument with him. And should Job dare to do it with the Lord of hosts, as if stronger than he? The thunder of his power, who can bear? The stoutest men quake before him; and as the worms, when it thundereth, wriggle into the corners of the earth, ready to run, as Caligula did, under any bed or any bench hole.
No; but he would put strength in me] Sic enim ex fidei πληροφορια persuasus, saith Merlin. Thus was Job persuaded, out of the full assurance of his faith, that God would deal with him as a loving Father, and not as a severe Judge: for who can stand before his wrath, or withstand his will? No man surely can contend with God unless he put strength in him, as he did into Jacob, Genesis 32:24, whom he upheld with the one hand, as he strove against him with the other. This foregoing wish, therefore, of Job hath an excellent commendation in it of his faith and integrity, yet so as that in some things it is blameworthy. For who can come to God's seat, since he dwelleth in light unapproachable? neither can any one see God and live, Exodus 34:5,8. For this boldness, therefore, of his he shall be hereafter sharply reproved; first by Elihu, and then also by God himself, stepping forth as it were from behind the hangings, overhearing him, and saying, Who is this that talks thus? how now? Job 38:2,3 .