He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.
Island - i:e., dwelling. But the Hebrew [cut down from 'eeyn (H369)] expresses the negative (1 Samuel 4:21); translate 'Thus He (God) shall deliver him who was not guiltless'-namely, one who, like Job himself on conversion shall be saved, but not because he was, as Job so constantly affirms of himself, guiltless, but because he humbles himself (Job 22:29): an oblique attack upon Job even to the last.
And it - rather, 'he (the one not heretofore guiltless) shall be delivered through the purity (acquired since conversion) of thy hands:' by thy intercession, (as Genesis 18:26, etc.) (Maurer.) God will deliver even others from death at thy intercession. The irony is strikingly exhibited in Eliphaz unconsciously uttering words which exactly answer to what happened at last: he and the other two were "delivered" by God accepting the intercession of Job for them (Job 42:7-8). Umbreit makes Eliphaz in the latter clause turn from Job to God: 'He (Job) shall be delivered by the pureness of thine hands,' O God, not by his own pureness, such as he once thought he had.
Remarks:
(1) Man's piety is no gain to God: the 'profit' is all to one's self (Job 35:7). We cannot add to God's perfect felicity, nor put Him under an obligation to us. When we have done all that is commanded to us, the truth is, "we are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do" (Luke 17:10). God receives no benefit from man for which He owes us a debt. When He desires us to be holy, it is our happiness that He desires. The cause of men's misery or blessedness is to be looked for in themselves, and is not due to any selfish aim on God's part: for whether we be saved or lost, God shall overrule all things to His own glory (Proverbs 16:4).
(2) God, being Himself the All-merciful and All-just One, takes particular cognizance of sins against the law of justice and the law of love. The poor, the naked, the weary, the hungry, the widow, and the fatherless are His especial clients: He will plead their cause and execute judgment for them, not only on the oppressor, but also on the unmerciful, who have had no sympathy for, and rendered no relief to their brethren in their distress. The Judge shall say, "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these (my brethren), ye did it not to me" (Matthew 25:45). Even in this world retribution in kind often overtakes the unmerciful and selfish. But the full retribution shall be in the world to come.
(3) The worldly and unbelieving are willing to admit the being of a God, provided that He be not supposed to take particular cognizance of all the concerns of this lower world: "Thick clouds" (Job 22:14), say they in their heart, if not in express words, "are a veil to Him, that He seeth not:" it is true "He walketh in the circuit of heaven," but as to what goes on here on earth, nature has her fixed laws, and "all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation" (2 Peter 3:3-4). In direct confutation of all such Epicurean notions stands the fact of God's visitation of man's sin with the overwhelming flood, in the days of Noah (Job 22:15-16; 2 Peter 3:5). The way of wickedness is an "old way," but it is no better and no safer for that. The same God who punished so awfully men's ungodliness and unbelief then, can and will do the same again by fire (2 Peter 3:7).
(4) The practical lesson to be learned by each is, "Acquaint now thyself with God, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee" (Job 22:21). So long as one is unconverted, one is alienated from, and a stranger to God. Whatever else he may know, he knows not Him whom to know is "eternal life" (John 17:3). To be at peace with God, we must come to Him through Christ, who is "our peace;" and then, "being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).
(5) The blessed fruits of this peace with God are, His law becomes henceforth dear to us, so that we no longer put from us Him and His words (Job 22:17), but "lay them up in our heart" (Job 22:22): the love of money gives place to the love of God; gold is henceforth valued by us as but "dust" (Job 22:24-25), when compared with the Almighty. God is the believer's treasures and his "delight" (Job 22:26): no longer does he hang the head in slavish fear, but "lifts up his face unto God" in child-like confidence (Job 22:26): his prayers, too, are heard, being presented through the all-prevailing merits of our great High Priest (Job 22:27): his purposes, being in the main directed to the glory of God, are realized (Job 22:28).
(6) Twenty-ninth verse furnishes us with one great key of God's dealings with us: God is continually abasing the proud and lifting up the humble. He will save none but those who confess themselves "not innocent." He will have none to be esteemed absolutely pure but Himself (Job 22:30; Luke 18:10-14).