Job 17:4

“For thou hast hid their heart from understanding, etc.] That is, the hearts of his friends, and therefore they were unfit to undertake his cause, or be sureties for him, or be judges in it. It is the same thing as to hide understanding from their hearts, which God sometimes does in a natural sense; when men like not the knowledge of him, as attainable by the light of nature, he gives them up to reprobate minds, minds void of knowledge and judgment in things natural; and sometimes, in a spiritual sense, he hides men’s hearts from the knowledge of things divine and evangelical, and even this he does from the wise and prudent of this world; yea, sometimes he hides the knowledge of his…”

“their heart--The intellect of his friends. shalt . . . exalt--Rather imperative, "exalt them not"; allow them not to conquer [UMBREIT], (Isa 6:9-10).”

“For thou hast hid their heart from understanding - That is, the heart of his professed friends. Job says that they were blind and perverse, and indisposed to render him justice; and he therefore pleads that he may carry his cause directly before God. He attributes their want of understanding to the agency of God in accordance with the doctrine which prevailed in early times, and which is so often expressed in the Scriptures, that God is the source of light and truth, and that when people are blinded it is in accordance with his wise purposes; see Isaiah 6:9-10. It is “because” they were thus blind and perverse, that he asks the privilege of carrying the cause at once up to God - and who…”

“Hid - Thou hast blinded the minds of my friends: therefore I desire a more wise and able judge. Therefore - Thou wilt not give them the victory over me in this contest, but wilt make them ashamed of their confidence. Job 17:7”

“Sa2 15:31, Sa2 17:14; Ch2 25:16; Isa 19:14; Mat 11:25, Mat 13:11; Rom 11:8; Co1 1:20 Job 17:5”