Job 27:2 [As] God liveth, [who] hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, [who] hath vexed my soul;
Ver. 2. As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment] Job well knew the nature and end of an oath, which is to put an end to all strife and controversy among men, Hebrews 6:16. For more authority's sake, therefore, to his ensuing discourse, by taking God as witness in a matter of so great moment, and that his friends might the better believe him, he doubteth not to begin his speech with a private oath (for a public is that which is taken before a magistrate, who upon just cause may exact it), which, so it be sparingly and warily used, is not unlawful, as appeareth by the example of Jacob and Laban, Boaz and Ruth, Jonathan and David, sc. to help the truth in necessity, and when the other party will not otherwise be satisfied. But what meaneth Job to say that the God, whom he so solemnly taketh to witness, had taken away his judgment? Can the righteous Judge do otherwise than right? Or doth not the plaintiff know that he is punished less than his iniquities deserved? Ezra 9:13. For answer Job was at present under a sore temptation, and being pressed out of measure above strength, he spake unadvisedly with his lips, and is afterwards barely told of it by Elihu, Job 34:5. The best faith, if long tried, may flag and hang the wing. Moses at Meribah, David at Gath, Elijah under the juniper, sufficiently show that every new man is two men; that the flesh soon lusteth against the spirit, and that the best may have their outbursts; yet so as that the seed of grace still abideth in them, and some way shows itself; Job here, for instance. He complaineth of God's severity, but stormeth not against him. He blustereth, but he blasphemeth not. He holdeth himself hardly dealt with by God; and yet while he so solemnly sweareth by him, he thereby acknowledgeth him a witness of his conscience, a patron of truth, a lover of right, an avenger of perjury, and, lastly, the author and arbiter of his life, which he resolveth rather to let go than his innocence: he can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth, 2 Corinthians 13:8 .
And the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul] Heb. Hath embittered. Job should have remembered that bitter portions bring sweet health, and that το πικρον μικρον, the bitterness would soon be past; but he remembered only at present the affliction and the misery, the wormwood and the gall, Lamentations 3:19. "Now no affliction (but especially soul affliction) for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby," Hebrews 12:11. But patient Job wanted patience to wait for that. Adeo nihil est in nobis magni, quod non queat minui; such failings are found in the very best.