My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves [are ready] for me. Ver. 1. _My breath is corrupt_] Which argueth that my inwards are imposthumated and rotten, so that I cannot in likelihood have long to live; Oh therefore that I might have a day of hearing and clearing before I die! But Job... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 17:2 [Are there] not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation? Ver. 2. _Are there no mockers with me?_] Heb. If there be not mockers with me, _q.d._ _despeream,_ let me be punished, or let me be blamed for wishing to argue it out with God; so some Jewish doctors sens... [ Continue Reading ]
Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who [is] he [that] will strike hands with me? Ver. 3. _Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee_] This Job speaketh not to Eliphaz (as R. Moses, Beza, and some others would have it), but to God himself, as Job 16:7, whom be desireth to lay down or appoi... [ Continue Reading ]
For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt [them]. Ver. 4. _Thou hast hid their heart from understanding_] That is, thou hast hidden understanding from their heart, thou hast left them in the dark, destitute of a right judgment, while they condemn me to be a wi... [ Continue Reading ]
He that speaketh flattery to [his] friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail. Ver. 5. _He that speaketh flattery to his friends_] As you, my friends, do to and for God, in seeming to assert his justice in punishing me for my wickedness, so soothing and smoothing up the Almighty (_quod ipsum... [ Continue Reading ]
He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret. Ver. 6. _He hath made me also a byword of the people_] Here Job returns to his old task of setting forth his own misery; for what men are most sensible of that their tongues do most of all run upon. Job is a byword, or a... [ Continue Reading ]
Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members [are] as a shadow. Ver. 7. _Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow_] Not only is my good name blasted, but my body also is wasted; the nerves of mine eyes are contracted, the visual faculty decayed, Psalms 6:7. "Mine eye is consumed bec... [ Continue Reading ]
Upright [men] shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. Ver. 8. _Upright men shall be astonied at this_] They shall silently admire and adore the fathomless depth of the divine administration when they see a man so upright to suffer such heavy pressure... [ Continue Reading ]
The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. Ver. 9. _The righteous also shall hold on his way_] Stumble he may for a time at his own calamity, and worse, men's felicity; but as he that stumbleth, and yet falleth not, gets ground, so fareth... [ Continue Reading ]
But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find [one] wise [man] among you. Ver. 10. _But as for you all, do you return, &c._] Change your minds, as Malachi 3:18, and close with me, lay aside your prejudiced opinions, deliver up yourselves to my discipline, who am ready to teach y... [ Continue Reading ]
My days are past, my purposes are broken off, [even] the thoughts of my heart. Ver. 11. _My days are past_] _q.d._ It is past time of day for me to hope for a return of a prosperous condition, since I am irrecoverably diseased, and cannot be long of life. _ My purposes are broken off_] Or, My thoug... [ Continue Reading ]
They change the night into day: the light [is] short because of darkness. Ver. 12. _They change the night into day_] _i.e._ My troubled thoughts render my nights restless, filling me with confusion. When the mind is unsettled the man cannot rest. _ The light is short because of darkness_] _i.e._ C... [ Continue Reading ]
If I wait, the grave [is] mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. Ver. 13. _If I wait, the grave is mine house_] In that congregation house of all living (as it is called, Job 30:23) both I and my hopes must be suddenly lodged. Some render it thus, If I build, the grave is my house. Solomon... [ Continue Reading ]
I have said to corruption, Thou [art] my father: to the worm, [Thou art] my mother, and my sister. Ver. 14. _I have said to corruption, Thou art my father_] See how he speaks of corruption and the worms, _Ac si iam iuris illorum, et domesticus esset,_ as if he were of family with them, and nearest... [ Continue Reading ]
And where [is] now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? Ver. 15. _And where is now my hope? &c._] Heb. And where is my hope? _sc._ of restoration to my pristine prosperity, which you have so often promised me, who am now ready set upon the confines of death? Job was past the Cape of Good Hope... [ Continue Reading ]
They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when [our] rest together [is] in the dust. Ver. 16. _They shall go down to the bars of the pit_] That is, I and my things, or I and my hopes of prosperity, Job 17:15, and they that will see the good I hope for must pass through the gates of death to behold... [ Continue Reading ]