Matthew Poole and continuators on Job 22:30

30. He shall deliver the Island of the innocent : and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands .

i. e. God, as v. 29. whose Prerogative it is to give deliverances.

To wit, upon thy request, as the following Clause sheweth: God will hear thy prayers even for others: which is a great honour and comfort; and much more for thy self.

Not onely thy self, when thou shalt become innocent and pure, but for thy sake he will deliver the whole Island (or Country, that word being oft used not onely for such Lands or Countries as were separated from Canaan by the Sea, as is commonly observed, but also for such as were upon the same Continent with it, as appears from Gen. 10 5, &c. Psalm 72. 10. & 97. 1. Isa. 41. 5.) in which thou dwellest▪ Or, the guilty, or him that is not innocent: For the word here rendred Island, is sometimes used for not, both in Scripture, as 1 Sam. 4. 21. Prov. 31. 4. So the sense is, God will have so great a respect to thy innocency and purity, that for thy sake he will deliver those that belong to thee, or live with thee or near thee, though in themselves they be sinful Creatures and ripe for destruction. See Gen. 18. 32.

To wit, the Island. Or, he, i. e. the guilty person.

i. e. By thy prayers proceeding from a pure heart and conscience, when thou shalt lift up pure hands to God in prayer, as it is expressed, 1 Tim. 2 8. Whereby as he asserts the prevalency of the righteous man's prayers with God▪ for mercy both for himself and others; and by this Argument he perswadeth Iob to repentance: so withal he alledgeth this as an Argument or evidence that Iob did not stretch out pure hands to God in prayer, as he pretended, because his prayers could not prevail for the preservation of himself or his Children, and much less for others at a greater distance.

Marginal references: ‖ Or, the innocent shall deliver [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word]