Job 23:1
_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 ]
_EVEN TO DAY IS MY COMPLAINT BITTER: MY STROKE IS HEAVIER THAN MY GROANING._ Today - implying, perhaps that the debate was carried on through more days than one (see 'Introduction'). BITTER - (Job 7:11; Job 10:1). BITTER - (Job 7:11; Job 10:1). MY STROKE - the hand of God on me (margin; Job 19:... [ Continue Reading ]
_OH THAT I KNEW WHERE I MIGHT FIND HIM! THAT I MIGHT COME EVEN TO HIS SEAT!_ The same wish as in Job 13:3 (contrast Hebrews 10:19, "Having ... boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His f... [ Continue Reading ]
_I WOULD ORDER MY CAUSE BEFORE HIM, AND FILL MY MOUTH WITH ARGUMENTS._ Order - state methodically (Job 13:3; Job 13:18; Isaiah 43:26). FILL ... - I would have abundance of arguments to adduce.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I WOULD KNOW THE WORDS WHICH HE WOULD ANSWER ME, AND UNDERSTAND WHAT HE WOULD SAY UNTO ME._ He - emphatic: it matters little what man may say of me, if only I know what God judges of me.... [ Continue Reading ]
_WILL HE PLEAD AGAINST ME WITH HIS GREAT POWER? NO; BUT HE WOULD PUT STRENGTH IN ME._ An objection suggests itself while he utters the wish (Job 23:5). Do I hereby wish that He should plead against me with His omnipotence? Far from it (Job 9:19; Job 9:34; Job 13:21; Job 30:18). STRENGTH - so as to... [ Continue Reading ]
_THERE THE RIGHTEOUS MIGHT DISPUTE WITH HIM; SO SHOULD I BE DELIVERED FOR EVER FROM MY JUDGE._ There - rather, Then: if God would 'attend' to me (Job 23:6). RIGHTEOUS - i:e., the result of my dispute would be, He would acknowledge ME as righteous. Job means, by "the righteous," himself, then reco... [ Continue Reading ]
_BEHOLD, I GO FORWARD, BUT HE IS NOT THERE; AND BACKWARD, BUT I CANNOT PERCEIVE HIM:_ But I wish in vain. For "behold," etc. FORWARD ... BACKWARD - rather, 'to the east, to the west.' The Hebrew geographers faced the east - i:e., sunrise: not the north, as we do. So 'before' means east: 'behind,' w... [ Continue Reading ]
_ON THE LEFT HAND, WHERE HE DOTH WORK, BUT I CANNOT BEHOLD HIM: HE HIDETH HIMSELF ON THE RIGHT HAND, THAT I CANNOT SEE HIM:_ Rather, 'To the north.' WORK. God's glorious works are especially seen toward the northern region of the sky by one in the northern hemisphere. The antithesis is between Go... [ Continue Reading ]
_BUT HE KNOWETH THE WAY THAT I TAKE: WHEN HE HATH TRIED ME, I SHALL COME FORTH AS GOLD._ But - correcting himself for the wish that his cause should be known before God. The omniscient One already knoweth the way that is with me (my inward principles: his outward way, or course of acts, is mentione... [ Continue Reading ]
_MY FOOT HATH HELD HIS STEPS, HIS WAY HAVE I KEPT, AND NOT DECLINED._ Held - fast by His steps. The law is in the Old Testament poetry regarded as a way, God going before us as our guide, in whose footsteps we must tread (Psalms 17:5). DECLINED - (Psalms 125:5).... [ Continue Reading ]
_NEITHER HAVE I GONE BACK FROM THE COMMANDMENT OF HIS LIPS; I HAVE ESTEEMED THE WORDS OF HIS MOUTH MORE THAN MY NECESSARY FOOD._ Esteemed - rather, laid up-namely, as a treasure found (Matthew 13:44; Psalms 119:11) х_ TSAAPANTIY_ (H6845)]: alluding to the words of Eliphaz (Job 22:22), There was no... [ Continue Reading ]
_BUT HE IS IN ONE MIND, AND WHO CAN TURN HIM? AND WHAT HIS SOUL DESIRETH, EVEN THAT HE DOETH._ In one mind - notwithstanding my innocence, He is unaltered in His purpose of proving me guilty. WHO CAN TURN HIM? - (Job 9:12). SOUL - His will (Psalms 115:3). God's sovereignty. He has one great pur... [ Continue Reading ]
_FOR HE PERFORMETH THE THING THAT IS APPOINTED FOR ME: AND MANY SUCH THINGS ARE WITH HIM._ Many such - He has yet many, more such ills in store for me, though hidden in His breast (Job 10:13).... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEREFORE AM I TROUBLED AT HIS PRESENCE: WHEN I CONSIDER, I AM AFRAID OF HIM._ God's decrees, impossible to be resisted, and leaving us in the dark as to what may come next, are calculated to fill the mind with holy awe (Barnes).... [ Continue Reading ]
_FOR GOD MAKETH MY HEART SOFT, AND THE ALMIGHTY TROUBLETH ME:_ Soft - faint. Hath melted my courage. Here again Job's language is that of Jesus Christ (Psalms 22:14, "My heart is like wax: it is melted in the midst of my bowels").... [ Continue Reading ]
_BECAUSE I WAS NOT CUT OFF BEFORE THE DARKNESS, NEITHER HATH HE COVERED THE DARKNESS FROM MY FACE._ Because I was not taken away by death from the evil to come (literally, from before the face of the darkness, Isaiah 57:1). Alluding to the words of Eliphaz (Job 22:11, "darkness" - i:e., calamity. ... [ Continue Reading ]