Job 11:10 Commentary and Bible Study

God can ‘cut off’ – cease to provide for us; he can ‘shut up’ – in a bed of sickness or some other confinement; and he can ‘gather together’ – likely to be the siege of a city. He cannot be resisted: by his children or by anyone else. His judgments come whether men want them to come or not. Death is fixed at the end of life and cannot be moved. God waits long before he judges men for their sins, but when he acts he forgets nothing. Who can interfere with his judgments, or prevent his providence from gathering them up in his net? He encircles them; no matter how ingenious, they will be caught. Since he cannot be resisted, we should be quick to submit to him and ask for his pardon before he moves against us. And yet all this is said to prove an unstated but false conclusion. The verse offers the premise, but leaves out the conclusion. The premise is that God is an irresistible judge; the conclusion is that therefore hypocrites like Job should not think that they will escape from him.