8f6 Chap. 42. tin Expoftionupon the Bookof Jos, Vert; 7, houle, before he judgeth the world : and it is in mercy to his own houfe, that hedoth fo; for when God judgeth thole of his houfe, be ebaftneth them, that theyfhould not be condemned with theworld (i Cor. to. 32.) And as God ufually begins to judge his own houfe before he judgeth the world, fo the necrer and dearer any of bis houle are to him, the fooner he begins with them; as here, fo6s three friends, Eliphaz,, Bildad and Zophar, wereof Gods houle, but fob was more eminent than any of them, and therefore God reproved him, before he reproved them. It was fo,cbat after the Lord hadfpoken theft words unto Jo6, The Lordfail toEliphaz the Temanite, my wrath it handled againft thee, &c. TheLordfail. Thefe words contain the fecond thing to be confidered in this verfe, ro wit, die manner of proceeding, Hefaid ; that is, he openlydeclared ir, he did not whifper it in the ear of Eliphaz, he did not fpeak it to him inwardly by his Spirit (there arc inward reproofs, confcience-checks) he did not fpeak to him in hisfleep, or in a dream (that opinion of one upon this place, that God re- proved Eliphaz in a dream, is but adream) but cpenly, that all might hear, and fó the innocency of fo6, and the fault of his friends, might be manifet} to all. Some are of opinion, that the Lord faid this to Eliphaz, out of the whirlwind, as he fpake to ,job. And though I do noraffert that, yet it cannot be denied, but that as fucka manner of fpeaking did heft fuit the Majef}y of God, fo the matter fpoken, which was a fore reproof, in which the Lord manifei}ed much difplcarure. The Lordfail, openlyand and angerly ToEliphaz the Temanite. He fpake not toBih ad, nor to Zophar, but to Elipbaz the Te- manite, But why did the Lord direa his fpecch tohim perfo- pally, and byname, while the butinefs concerned them all ? I might anfwer as fome do, becaufe what any one of them faid to Job,wasas if faid by them all:And though their opinionsdiffered, yet their perlons did not, all three agreeing in this (though upon feveral grounds) to oppofe fok.And therefore the Lord in (peak- ing to one, [peke to them all. But
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