John Trapp on Job 4:9

Verſe 9. By the blaſt of God they periſh] He puts himſelf to no great pain to puniſh them: but blowes them away as ſo many duſt-heaps: he nods them to deſtruction, ſaith the Pſalmiſt, Pſ 80.16. he can as eaſily do it, as bid it to be done.Sic Caeſar Metello. Pſal. 64.1. If the Lord do but ariſe, his enemies ſhall be ſcattered: and all that hate him flye before him. If he but put his head out of the windows of heaven, as it were, and ſay, Who is on my ſide, who? all the creatures (who for fear of him had hid themſelves, as worms wriggle into their holes in time of thunder) ſhall look out preſently, and offer him their ſervice: ſo that he cannot poſſibly want a weapon to tame his rebels, or a way to bring the wicked to condign puniſhment. He is Eloah, as he is here called; that is, The puiſſant One, the mighty ſtrong God, as Iſa. 9.6. before whom all Nations are as the drop of a bucket, or as the duſt of the balance: No more able to ſtand againſt him,Iſa. 40.15. then is the glaſſe-bottle againſt a Cannon ſhot; or down-thiſtle before a whirl-wind. Behold, I will ſend a blaſt upon him (ſaith God concerning Sennacherib, 2 King. 19.7.) and ſo ſet him going. So elſewhere, he threatneth to tread down his ſtouteſt enemies, as ſtraw is troden down to the dung-hill. Neither ſhall he much trouble himſelf in doing this: For he ſhall onely ſpread forth his hands in the midſt of them, as he that ſwimmeth, ſpreadeth forth his hands to ſwim, &c. Iſa. 25.11, 12. to ſignifie, that he ſhall do it with greateſt facility. The motion in ſwimming is eaſie, not ſtrong; for ſtrong violent ſtrokes in the water would rather ſink then ſupport. It is ſaid, that by a look of his out of the pillar of fire and of the cloud, he troubled the hoaſt of the Egyptians, Exod. 14.24. and as the Rocks repelled the boyſterous waves, —Co[illegible: 1 letter]antia frangere, frangunt; ſo did He the enemies of his people.

By the breath of his noſtrils they are conſumed.] Heb. By the wind of his noſtrils. This is the ſame with the former. Onely it is conceived, that Eliphaz here alludeth to the manner of the death of Jobs children by a mighty wind; ſo ſtrong as if God himſelf had breathed it out. By the breath of his mouth He made the world, Pſalm 33.6. and by the ſame breath can He as ſoon, and as eaſily unmake it againe; as he did in the generall Deluge, whereunto the Chaldee Paraphraſt holdeth that Eliphaz here referreth: the remembrance of which ſtanding monument of Gods wrath was freſh and well known when this was ſpoken.