John Trapp on Job 11:7

Verſe 7. Canſt thou by ſearching find out God?] i. e. The nature of God, or the courſe of his providence, and the reaſon of his proceedings? thou canſt never do it: Neither did Job ever take upon him to do it, but had excellently and accurately ſet out the ſame things chap. 9.4. &c. that Zophar here doth; ſo that he might well have ſpared his pains in this diſcourſe as to Job; but that being too pertinacious in his evil opinion of him, he choſe rather to thwart him, then to cloſe with him, as contentious people uſe to do.

Canſt thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?] No nor the brighteſt Angel in heaven, the higheſt graduate in glory. Find him we may poſſibly, but not find him out, much leſſe find him out to perfection. Tantum recedit, quantum capitur, Orat. 1. ſaith Nazianzen. The nearer you draw unto God, the further off he is from you,De mirabil. auſcult. and you are as much to ſeek as ever: he is indeed like the pool Polycritus writeth of (cited by Aristotle) which in compaſſe at the firſt ſcarce ſeemed to exceed the breadth of a ſhield, but if any went in to waſh, it extended it ſelf more and more. A Country fellow thinks, if he were upon ſuch a mountain, he could touch heaven, and take a ſtar in his hand; but when he comes thither, heaven is as far off as it was &c. So it is here; eye hath not ſeen, nor ear heard &c. 1 Cor. 2.9. Chryſostome ſpeaking of Gods love in Chriſt, ſaith, I am like a man digging in a deep ſpring: I ſtand here, and the water riſeth up upon me, and I ſtand there, and ſtill the water riſeth upon me. What the Apoſtle ſaith of this infinite love of God, that it paſſeth knowledge, as having all the dimenſions Epheſ. 3.18, 19. the ſame is true of the wiſedome of God, as Zophar ſetteth forth in the following verſes.