MANY SUCH THINGS - That is, either things fitted to provoke and irritate, or sentiments that are common-place. There was nothing new in what they said, and nothing to the purpose. MISERABLE COMFORTERS - Compare Job 13:4. They had come professedly to condole with him. Now all that they said was adap... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL VAIN WORDS? - Margin, As in Hebrew words of wind; that is, words which were devoid of thought-light, trifling. This is a retort on Eliphaz. He had charged Job Job 15:2 with uttering only such words. Such forms of expression are common in the East. “His promise, it is only wind.” “Breath, breat... [ Continue Reading ]
I ALSO COULD SPEAK AS YE DO - In the same reproachful manner, and stringing together old proverbs and maxims as you have. IF YOUR SOUL WERE IN MY SOUL’S STEAD - If you were in my place. The idea is, that there is no difficulty in finding arguments to overwhelm the afflicted - a truth which most per... [ Continue Reading ]
(But I would strengthen you with my mouth With that which proceeds from the mouth - words. AND THE MOVING OF MY LIPS - My speaking - implying that it would have been done in a mild, gentle, kind manner - so that the lips would appear just to move. Others, however, have given a different interpretat... [ Continue Reading ]
THOUGH I SPEAK, MY GRIEF IS NOT ASSUAGED - “But for me, it makes now no difference whether I speak or am silent. My sufferings continue. If I attempt to vindicate myself before people, I am reproached; and equally so if I am silent. If I maintain my cause before God, it avails me nothing, for my suf... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NOW HE HATH MADE ME WEARY - That is, God has exhausted my strength. This verse introduces a new description of his sufferings; and he begins with a statement of the woes that God had brought on him. The first was, that he had taken away all his strength. ALL MY COMPANY - The word rendered “comp... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU HAST FILLED ME WITH WRINKLES - Noyes renders this, “and thou hast seized hold of me, which is a witness against me.” Wemyss, “since thou hast bound me with chains, witnesses come forward.” Good, “and hast cut off myself from becoming a witness.” Luther, “he has made me “kuntzlich” (skillful... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TEARETH ME IN HIS WRATH - The language here is all taken from the ferocity of wild beasts; and the idea is, that his enemy had come upon him as a lion seizes upon its prey. Rosenmuller, Reiske, and some others suppose that this refers to God. Cocceius refers it to Satan. Schultens, Dr. Good, and... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY HAVE GAPED UPON ME - Changing the form from the singular to the plural, and including “all” his pretended friends. Such a change in the number is not uncommon. His mind seems to have passed from the particular instance which he was contemplating, to “all” his friends, and he suddenly felt that... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD HATH DELIVERED ME - Margin “shut me up.” The meaning is, that God had committed him to their hands as a prisoner or captive. They had power over him to do as they pleased. TO THE UNGODLY - Into the hands of wicked people - meaning undoubtedly his professed friends. AND TURNED ME OVER - The wor... [ Continue Reading ]
I WAS AT EASE - I was in a state of happiness and security. The word used here (שׁלו _shâlêv_) means sometimes to be “at ease” in an improper sense; that is, to be in a state of “carnal security,” or living unconcerned in sin (Ezekiel 23:42; compare Proverbs 1:32); but here it is used in the sense... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS ARCHERS - He does not come alone to shoot at me; he has employed a company of bowmen, who also direct “their” arrows against me. The word used here רב _rab_ means properly “much, large,” great; and is applied to that which is powerful or mighty. It is nowhere else used in the sense of “archers,”... [ Continue Reading ]
HE BREAKETH ME - He crushes me. WITH BREACH UPON BREACH - He renews and repeats the attack, and thus completely overwhelms me. One blow follows another in such quick succession, that he does not give me time to recover. HE RUNNETH UPON ME LIKE A GIANT - With great and irresistible force - as some... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SEWED SACKCLOTH - I have put on the badges of humiliation and grief; see the notes at Isaiah 3:24. This was the usual emblem of mourning. In order more deeply to express it, or to make it a “permanent” memorial of sorrow, it would seem that it was “sewed” around the body - as we “sew” crape o... [ Continue Reading ]
MY FACE IS FOUL WITH WEEPING - Wemyss, “swelled.” Noyes, “red.” Good, “tarnished.” Luther, “ist geschwollen” - is swelled. So Jerome. The Septuagint, strangely enough, ἡ γαστήρ μον συνκέκαυται, κ. τ. λ. _hē_ _gastēr_ _mou_ _sunkekautai_, etc. “my belly is burned with weeping.” The Hebrew word ... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT FOR ANY INJUSTICE ... - Still claiming that he does not deserve his sorrows, and that these calamities had not come upon him on account of any enormous sins, as his friends believed. MY PRAYER IS PURE - My devotion; my worship of God is not hypocritical - as my friends maintain.... [ Continue Reading ]
O EARTH - Passionate appeals to the earth are not uncommon in the Scriptures; see the notes at Isaiah 1:2. Such appeals indicate deep emotion, and are among the most animated forms of personification. COVER NOT THOU MY BLOOD - Blood here seems to denote the wrong done to him. He compares his situati... [ Continue Reading ]
MY WITNESS IS IN HEAVEN - That is, I can appeal to God for my sincerity. He is my witness; and he will bear record for me. This is an evidence of returning confidence in God - to which Job always returns even after the most passionate and irreverent expressions. Such is his real trust in God, that t... [ Continue Reading ]
MY FRIENDS SCORN ME - Margin “are my scorners.” That is, his friends had him in derision and mocked him, and he could only appeal with tears to God. MINE EYE POURETH OUT TEARS UNTO GOD - Despised and mocked by his friends, he made his appeal to one who he knew would regard him with compassion. This... [ Continue Reading ]
OH THAT ONE MIGHT PLEAD FOR A MAN - A more correct rendering of this would be, “Oh that it might be for a man to contend with God;” that is, in a judicial controversy. It is the expression of an earnest desire to carry his cause at once before God, and to be permitted to argue it there. This desire... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN A FEW YEARS ARE COME - Margin “years of number;” that is, numbered years, or a few years. The same idea is expressed in Job 7:21; see the notes at that place. The idea is, that he must soon die. He desired, therefore, before he went down to the grave, to carry his cause before God, and to have,... [ Continue Reading ]