Job 9:13 [If] God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.
Ver. 13. If God will not withdraw his anger] That is, of his own free accord forbear to execute his judgments, the stoutest must stoop; for "he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth even that be doth," Job 23:13, his power is altogether irresistible. Men, though never so puissant, may be withstood and out matched, as Asa was, 2 Chronicles 14:8,9. Nature may be resisted, and her power suspended, as when the fire burned not the three worthies, the Red Sea drowned not the Israelites passing through it. In the creatures there is an essence, and a faculty whereby they work; between these God can separate, and so hinder their working. In the angels there is an essence, and an executive power; God comes between these sometimes, and hinders them from doing what they would. But God is most simple and entire, and, therefore, the strong helper, qui portant orbem, saith the Vulgate, that bear up the pillars of the world (which some understand to be angels, others to be saints, who stand in the gap, Ezekiel 22:30, and others, again, to be carnal combinations), shall not hinder him, but shall stoop and buckle under him, or under it, viz. his wrath, as not able to bear up; helpers shall prove no helpers against the mind and purpose of God; no, though they be as potent and as proud as Egypt (such an allusion there may be in the Hebrew text), or although they be helpers of latitude, as one rendereth it, that is, of the largest extent, either in power, or by an elate mind; and so the meaning is, None are so mighty, or so highly conceited with their own ability, but, if he be angry, he will make them to stoop under, as not being able to bear his wrath.