Job 22:28

A good reputation. The rich and the poor. The idle. Good habits formed in infancy. Injustice and its effects. The providence of God. The lewd woman. The necessity of timely correction. Exhortation to wisdom. Rob not the poor. Be not the companion of the frowward. Avoid suretyship. Be honest. The industrious shall be favored.

light--success.

When men are cast down,.... Wicked men are brought down from a state of prosperity to a state of adversity, are in low circumstances, great straits and difficulties: then thou shall say, there is lifting up; that is, for himself and his; when others are in adversity, he should be in prosperity; when others are cast down into a very low estate and distressed condition, he should be exalted to a very high estate, and be in affluent circumstances, see Psa 147:6; or else the sense is, when thou and thine, and what belong to thee, are humbled and brought low, then thou mayest promise thyself a restoration and change for the better; and boldly say, they will be lifted up, and raised up again, since God's usual method is to exalt the humble, and to abase the proud, Luk 14:11; or rather, this may respect the benefit and advantage that humble persons wound gain by Job, and his prayers for them, and may be rendered and interpreted thus: "when they have humbled" (q) themselves, and bowed themselves low at thy feet, and especially before God, "then thou shall say", pray unto God for them, that "there may be a lifting up", raising them up out of their low estate, and thou shall be heard: and he shall save the humble person; that is, "low of eyes" (r), humble in his eyes; who is so pressed with troubles and distress, that he hangs down his head, looks upon the ground, and will not lift up his eyes, but is of a dejected countenance; or that is low in his own eyes, has humble thoughts of himself, esteems others better than himself, and lies low before God under a sense of his sinfulness and unworthiness, and casts himself entirely upon the grace and mercy of God; such an one he saves, in a spiritual sense, out of his troubles and afflictions; he does not forget the cry of such humble o…

Eliphaz here leads on a third attack upon poor Job, in which Bildad followed him, but Zophar drew back, and quitted the field. It was one of the unhappinesses of Job, as it is of many an honest man, to be misunderstood by his friends. He had spoken of the prosperity of wicked men in this world as a mystery of Providence, but they took it for a reflection upon Providence, as countenancing their wickedness; and they reproached him accordingly. In this chapter, I. Eliphaz checks him for his complaints of God, and of his dealings with him, as if he thought God had done him wrong (Job 22:2-4). II. He charges him with many high crimes and misdemeanours, for which he supposes God was now punishing him. 1. Oppression and injustice (Job 22:5-11). 2. Atheism and infidelity (Job 22:12-14). III. He compares his case to that of the old world (Job 22:15-20). IV. He gives him very good counsel, assuring him that, if he would take it, God would return in mercy to him and he should return to his former prosperity (Job 22:21-30).