Job 9:11 - Exposition

Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not . Near as God is to us, close as he comes to us, we cannot directly see him, or feel him, or perceive his presence. We know it by faith, we may feel it in our inmost spirits; but there is no manifestation of it to our senses. A sharp line divides the visible and invisible worlds; and this line, if it is ever crossed, is very rarely crossed. Job possibly reflects upon the pretension of Eliphaz to have had a physical consciousness of the visitation of a spirit ( Job 4:15 , Job 4:16 ), and asserts, with a tinge of sarcasm, that it is otherwise with him—the spirit-worm passes him by, and he receives no light, no illumination, no miraculous direction from it. He passeth on also . The same verb is used by Eliphaz ( Job 4:15 ) in speaking of his spiritual visitation. But I perceive him not . Eliphaz perceived the presence of the spirit ( Job 4:15 , Job 4:16 ) and heard its voice ( Job 4:16-21 ). Job seems to mean that he is not so favoured.