John Trapp on Job 8:20

Verſe 20. Behold God will not caſt away a perfect man] Epilogus ſermonis Bildad: This is the Epilogue or cloſe of Bildads ſpeech to Job; and it hath been the tartneſſe of a threatning mixed with the ſweetneſſe of the promiſe: ſowre and ſweet, we ſay, make the beſt ſawce. The ſtrong God will not uſe, or rather, abuſe his power, to the rejecting or reprobating (as the Septuagint render it) of an upright perſon: but will help him by taking him by the hand, as it followeth in the next clauſe, and taking it ill if others do not ſo too,Mercer. Iſa 51.18. He will never leave them (or if ſometimes he ſeem to leave them, yet) he will not forſake them, Heb. 13.5. forſake them he may, in regard of viſion, but not of union; deſert them for a time (as he did Chriſt himſelf) but not diſ-inherite them. When they be in the land of their enemies (and ſo may ſeem quite caſt away) I will not caſt them away, neither will I abhor them to deſtroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God, Lev. 26.44. Lo this is the portion of a perfect man. As for hypocrites (who are ſemiperfectae virtutis homines, as Philo calleth them, cakes half-baked, Hoſ. 7.8. Chriſtians almoſt, but not altogether, Acts 26.29.) My God will caſt them away, becauſe they did not hearken unto him, Hoſ 9.15.

Neither will he help the evil doers] Heb. He will not lay hold upon the hand, viz. to help them; or he will not take by the hand the evil-doers that make a trade of ſin;Non porriget manum malignis. Vulg. he will have no communion or commerce with ſuch, he will not ſtrike hands, or joyn hands with them, but waſh his hands of them for ever, ſhake them off with a Diſcedite, Depart ye, be packing: ſo ſhould we. See D[illegible: 1 letter]vids both practice Pſal. 26.4, 5 and prayer, verſe 9. Gather not my ſoul with ſinners &c. It was once the prayer of a good Gentlewoman, when ſhe was to die, being in much trouble of conſcience, O Lord, let me not go to hell where the wicked are; for, Lord, thou knoweſt I never loved their company here.