Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked where they stand.
God is still speaking out of the storm, and He hands Job something he never asked for: His own throne. The order to bring every proud man low is not advice for living — it is a test of whether Job can do God's work.
The throne offered
The verse sits inside an invitation. God dresses Job in majesty and tells him to judge the world — the work Job's complaints implied he could do better.
Samuel RidoutSuppose Job really is qualified in this way. Then Jehovah in effect invites him to take his seat on the throne of divine judgment. Let him put on his robes of splendour and dignity. Let him dress himself in grandeur and majesty. Let the outpourings of his wrath flow out on everyone who is proud, and bring him low. What awful, holy irony! And yet how divinely just. If Job can sit in judgment on God, he surely is qualified to run all His affairs better than He does! He can put down the proud rebellion of every evildoer, and bring men into the dust before him. Has he done that with his own proud and rebellious heart? Has he humbled even his friends? How much less the whole world.
The charge exposed
The challenge aims at something Job had said. His complaint carried a conclusion he may never have meant to state.
Samuel RidoutWill he cancel and deny God's righteous judgment, and condemn God, to establish a petty human righteousness? This is really what lay at the bottom of Job's complaints. He was suffering affliction that he did not deserve. He was a righteous man, yet he was treated as though he were unrighteous. The conclusion, then, was unavoidable — the One who was afflicting him was unjust!
Irony aimed at pride
God is not asking Job to try this. He is showing Job what Job is not.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinIt is divine irony, but it was needed to humble Job still further. He had been so proud. He had defended his righteousness so stubbornly, justifying himself and accusing God. How could he do what Jehovah asked him to do?
Job's condition at that moment sharpens the contrast. The man told to put down the wicked of the earth was helpless.
William KellyThere was Job — a poor, miserable man in the greatest possible bodily misery. All his flesh was corrupt, and the worms were already feeding on him before he had died. "Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor." Why do you not put down all the bad people in the world? But he was entirely dependent on God.
Who brings the proud low
The command Job cannot obey is one God carries out Himself — and still does.
Leslie M. GrantThe irony of such words is obvious; Job needed humbling himself. How could he even hope to humble others? But there are many proud people today. We are helpless to humble any of them, but God will bring down the pride of everyone to the dust.
From weakness to grace
The failure runs deeper than judging the proud. It reaches to whether Job can rescue himself at all.
Leslie M. GrantCould Job's right hand save him? No more than he could humble everyone who is proud. Job had to learn that only the living God is the Saviour. He saves — not those who deserve it, but those who are humbled to the dust and know they deserve nothing but judgment. God saves by grace, through the great value of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus at Calvary. Of course, at that time Job knew nothing of that great sacrifice. But he could still know that he was a sinner, dependent only on the grace of God.
Severity that is kindness
On its own the speech sounds harsh. Seen as treatment, it is kindness.
Samuel RidoutIs it cruel of Jehovah to deal like this with a poor, heart-broken creature? Instead, let us ask: would it have been kindness to leave him wearing his pride like a garment, and railing against the Almighty? Pride can be brought low in only one way. It must come face to face with its own nothingness, in the presence of the majesty and boundless goodness of God.
Summary
- Brought low — the throne. God offers Job His seat and His robes. Job's complaints had already assumed he could run God's affairs better.
- Brought low — the charge. Under the complaint lay the claim that God was unjust and Job was right; the challenge drags it into the open.
- Brought low — the irony. The words are irony. Job's own broken body answers them: he cannot humble the proud, for he is one of them.
- Brought low — the reach. No one can bring the proud down, but God will bring the pride of everyone to the dust.
- Brought low — the grace. The hand that cannot save belongs to the very person God saves. He saves those humbled to the dust, who know they deserve nothing.