Job 16:1
_THEN JOB ANSWERED AND SAID,_ No JFB commentary on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEN JOB ANSWERED AND SAID,_ No JFB commentary on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I HAVE HEARD MANY SUCH THINGS: MISERABLE COMFORTERS ARE YE ALL._ Miserable - burdensome; i:e., annoying. (cf. Job 13:4)... [ Continue Reading ]
_SHALL VAIN WORDS HAVE AN END? OR WHAT EMBOLDENETH THEE THAT THOU ANSWEREST?_ 'Words of wind' (Hebrew). He retorts upon Eliphaz his reproach (Job 15:2). EMBOLDENETH - What wearies (causes annoyance to) thee so that thou dost contradict? i:e., What have I said to provoke you? etc. (Schultetus.) Or... [ Continue Reading ]
_I ALSO COULD SPEAK AS YE DO: IF YOUR SOUL WERE IN MY SOUL'S STEAD, I COULD HEAP UP WORDS AGAINST YOU, AND SHAKE MINE HEAD AT YOU._ If your soul were in my souls stead - if you were in my place, suffering the same adversities. HEAP UP WORDS - rather, marshal together an army of words; literally,... [ Continue Reading ]
_BUT I WOULD STRENGTHEN YOU WITH MY MOUTH, AND THE MOVING OF MY LIPS SHOULD ASSWAGE YOUR GRIEF._ Strengthen with ... mouth - bitter irony. In allusion to Eliphaz' boasted "consolations" (Job 15:11). Opposed to strengthening with the heart and in act - i:e., with real consolation. Translate, 'I also... [ Continue Reading ]
_THOUGH I SPEAK, MY GRIEF IS NOT ASSWAGED: AND THOUGH I FORBEAR, WHAT AM I EASED?_ Eased - Literally, What portion of my sufferings goes from me?-not the smallest portion.... [ Continue Reading ]
_BUT NOW HE HATH MADE ME WEARY: THOU HAST MADE DESOLATE ALL MY COMPANY._ But now - truly now. HE - God. COMPANY - `all my family,' 'all my band of witnesses,'-namely, those who could attest his innocence, his children, servants, etc. So the same Hebrew is translated next verse. Umbreit makes hi... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND THOU HAST FILLED ME WITH WRINKLES, WHICH IS A WITNESS AGAINST ME: AND MY LEANNESS RISING UP IN ME BEARETH WITNESS TO MY FACE._ Filled with wrinkles - rather [as also the same Hebrew word, _ QAAMAT_ (H7059), bound as a captive, in Job 22:16; the English, version, "cut down"] 'thou hast fettered... [ Continue Reading ]
_HE TEARETH ME IN HIS WRATH, WHO HATETH ME: HE GNASHETH UPON ME WITH HIS TEETH; MINE ENEMY SHARPENETH HIS EYES UPON ME._ Image from a wild beast. So God is represented (Job 10:16). WHO HATETH ME - rather, 'and pursues me hard, or in a hostile manner.' Job would not ascribe 'hatred' to God (Psalms... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEY HAVE GAPED UPON ME WITH THEIR MOUTH; THEY HAVE SMITTEN ME UPON THE CHEEK REPROACHFULLY; THEY HAVE GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER AGAINST ME._ Not only doth God assail Job, but also He exposes him to the wanton insults of men, (cf. Job 16:11; Job 30:1, etc.) GAPED - not in order to devour, but... [ Continue Reading ]
_GOD HATH DELIVERED ME TO THE UNGODLY, AND TURNED ME OVER INTO THE HANDS OF THE WICKED._ Turned me over - literally, cast me headlong into, etc. х_ YIRTEENIY_ (H3399)]. THE UNGODLY - namely, his professed friends, who persecuted him with unkind speeches. THE UNGODLY - namely, his professed friend... [ Continue Reading ]
_I WAS AT EASE, BUT HE HATH BROKEN ME ASUNDER: HE HATH ALSO TAKEN ME BY MY NECK, AND SHAKEN ME TO PIECES, AND SET ME UP FOR HIS MARK._ I was at ease - in past times, (Job 1:1.) BY MY NECK - as an animal doth its prey (so Job 10:16). SHAKEN - violently: in contrast to his former "ease" (Psalms 1... [ Continue Reading ]
_HIS ARCHERS COMPASS ME ROUND ABOUT, HE CLEAVETH MY REINS ASUNDER, AND DOTH NOT SPARE; HE POURETH OUT MY GALL UPON THE GROUND._ His archers. The image of last verse is continued. God, in making me His "mark," is accompanied by the three friends, whose words wound like sharp arrows. GALL - put for... [ Continue Reading ]
_HE BREAKETH ME WITH BREACH UPON BREACH, HE RUNNETH UPON ME LIKE A GIANT._ The image is from storming a fortress by making breaches in the walls (2 Kings 14:13). A GIANT - a mighty warrior.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I HAVE SEWED SACKCLOTH UPON MY SKIN, AND DEFILED MY HORN IN THE DUST._ Sewed - denoting the tight fit of the mourning garment: it was a sack with arm-holes, closely sewed to the body. HORN - image from horned cattle, which when excited tear the earth with their horns. The horn was the emblem of... [ Continue Reading ]
_MY FACE IS FOUL WITH WEEPING, AND ON MY EYELIDS IS THE SHADOW OF DEATH;_ Foul, х_ CHAAMARMªRUW_ (H2560)] - rather, 'is very red;' i:e., violently inflamed, flushed and heated (Umbreit and Noyes). SHADOW OF DEATH - i:e., darkening through many tears (Lamentations 5:17).... [ Continue Reading ]
_NOT FOR ANY INJUSTICE IN MINE HANDS: ALSO MY PRAYER IS PURE._ Job here reform to Zophar's implied charge (Job 11:14). Nearly the same words occur as to Jesus Christ (Isaiah 53:9, "He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth"). So Job 16:10 above answers to the description of Jesus... [ Continue Reading ]
_O EARTH, COVER NOT THOU MY BLOOD, AND LET MY CRY HAVE NO PLACE._ Inasmuch as Job is persuaded he shall soon die, he desires that his innocence, which is called in question while he is alive, may be at least acknowledged when he is dead. MY BLOOD - i:e., my undeserved suffering. He compares himsel... [ Continue Reading ]
_ALSO NOW, BEHOLD, MY WITNESS IS IN HEAVEN, AND MY RECORD IS ON HIGH._ Also now - even now, when I am so greatly misunderstood on earth, God in heaven is sensible of my innocence. RECORD - Hebrew, my witness. Amidst all his impatience, Job still trusts in God.... [ Continue Reading ]
_MY FRIENDS SCORN ME: BUT MINE EYE POURETH OUT TEARS UNTO GOD._ Hebrew, more forcibly, 'my mockers-my friends!' A heart-cutting paradox! (Umbreit.) God alone remains to whom he can look for attestation of his innocence; plaintively, with tearful eye, he supplicates for this (Isaiah 38:14, "I mourn... [ Continue Reading ]
_O THAT ONE MIGHT PLEAD FOR A MAN WITH GOD, AS A MAN PLEADETH FOR HIS NEIGHBOUR!_ One - rather, He (God). 'O that, he would plead for a man (namely me) against God.' Job quaintly says, God must support me against God; for He makes me to suffer, and He alone knows me to be innocent (Umbreit). So God... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHEN A FEW YEARS ARE COME, THEN I SHALL GO THE WAY WHENCE I SHALL NOT RETURN._ Few - literally, 'years of number;' i:e., few, opposed to numberless (Genesis 34:30), "I being few in number"). Remarks: (1) Heartless talk and mere lip-comfort offered to a friend in affliction only aggravate his dist... [ Continue Reading ]