Teach us what we shall say unto him; [for] we cannot order [our speech] by reason of darkness.
Ver. 19. Teach us what we shall say unto him] A notable scoff, a sharp sarcasm. Verba sunt urgentis et insultantis; q.d. Velim ut e tot argumentis, Job 23:4, aliqua nunc proferas, I would that thou wouldst bring out some of those many arguments thou didst brag of; for we are at a fault; neither can we (such is our ignorance) find what to say in thy just defence, had we never so good a mind to it.
For we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness] We are benighted and word bound; forced to acknowledge our ignorance, our infancy, and to complain (as Anaxagoras afterwards did), omnia esse circumfusa tenebris; and (as Empedocles) angustas esse sensuum semitas, that we are far to seek of what to say in this case, and ready to think that silence would be our safest eloquence.