36:16 Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait [into] a broad place, where [there is] no straitness; and {l} that which should be set on thy table [should be] full of fatness.
(l) If you had been obedient to God, he would have brought you to freedom and wealth.
36:16 He would - If thou hadst opened thine ear to God's counsels. Into - A state of ease and freedom.
36:15-23 Elihu shows that Job caused the continuance of his own trouble. He cautions him not to persist in frowardness. Even good men need to be kept to their duty by the fear of God's wrath; the wisest and best have enough in them to deserve his stroke. Let not Job continue his unjust quarrel with God and his providence. And let us never dare to think favourably of sin, never indulge it, nor allow ourselves in it. Elihu thinks Job needed this caution, he having chosen rather to gratify his pride and humour by contending with God, than to mortify them by submitting, and accepting the punishment. It is absurd for us to think to teach Him who is himself the Fountain of light, truth, knowledge, and instruction. He teaches by the Bible, and that is the best book; teaches by his Son, and he is the best Master. He is just in all proceedings.
