MY BREATH IS CORRUPT - Margin or “spirit is spent.” The idea is, that his vital powers were nearly extinct; his breath failed; his power was weakened, and he was ready to die. This is connected with the previous chapter, and should not have been separated from it. There was no necessity of making a... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DOTH NOT MINE EYE CONTINUE IN THEIR PROVOCATION? - Margin “lodge.” This is the meaning of the Hebrew word used here - נלן _tālan_. It properly denotes to pass the night or to lodge in a place, as distinguished from a permanent residence. The idea here seems to be, that his eye “rested” on their... [ Continue Reading ]
LAY DOWN NOW - This is evidently an address to God - a repetition of the wish which he had so often expressed, that he might be permitted to bring his cause directly before him; see Job 13:3. The whole passage here is obscure, because we are in a great measure ignorant of the ancient practices in co... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT SPEAKETH FLATTERY TO HIS FRIENDS - Noyes renders this, “He that delivers up his friend as a prey, the eyes of his children shall fail.” So Wemyss, “He who delivers up his friends to plunder.” Dr. Good, “He that rebuketh his friends with mildness, even the eyes of his children shall be accomp... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HATH ALSO - That is, God has done this. ALSO A BY-WORD - A proverb (משׁל _mâshâl_); a term of reproach, ridicule, or scorn. lie has exposed me to derision. AND AFORETIME - Margin “before them.” The margin is the correct translation of the Hebrew, פנים _pânı̂ym_. It means, in their presence,... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE EYE IS DIM BY REASON OF SORROW - Schultens supposes that this refers to his external appearance in general, as being worn down, exhausted, “defaced” by his many troubles; but it seems rather to mean that his eyes failed on account of weeping. AND ALL MY MEMBERS ARE AS A SHADOW - “I am a mere s... [ Continue Reading ]
UPRIGHT MEN SHALL BE ASTONISHED AT THIS - At the course of events in regard to me. They will be amazed that God has suffered a holy man to be plunged into such calamities, and to be treated in this manner by his friends. The fact at which he supposes they would be so much astonished was, that the go... [ Continue Reading ]
THE RIGHTEOUS ALSO SHALL HOLD ON HIS WAY - The meaning of this verse is plain; but the connection is not so apparent. It seems to me that it refers to “Job himself,” and is a declaration that “he,” a righteous man, who had been so grievously calumniated, would hold on his way, and become stronger an... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT AS FOR YOU ALL, DO YOU RETURN - This may mean, either, “return to the debate;” or, “return from your unjust and uncharitable opinion concerning me.” The former seems to accord best with the scope of the passage. Tindal renders it, “Get you hence.” Dr. Good, “Get ye hence, and begone, I pray.” We... [ Continue Reading ]
MY DAYS ARE PAST - “I am about to die.” Job relapses again into sadness - as he often does. A sense of his miserable condition comes over him like a cloud, and he feels that he must die. MY PURPOSES ARE BROKEN OFF - All my plans fail, and my schemes of life come to an end. No matter what they could... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CHANGE - The word “they” in this place, some understand as referring to his friends; others, to his thoughts. Rosenmuller supposes it is to be taken impersonally, and that the meaning is, “night is become day to me.” Wemyss translates it, “night is assigned me for day.” So Dr. Good renders it.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF I WAIT - Or more accurately, “truly I expect that the grave will be my home.” The word rendered “if” (אם _'ı̂m_) is often used in such a sense. The meaning is, “I look certainly to the grave as my home. I have made up my mind to it, and have no other expectation.” THE GRAVE - Hebrew שׁאול _sh__e... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SAID - Margin, cried, or called. The sense is, “I say,” or “I thus address the grave.” TO CORRUPTION - The word used here (שׁחת _shachath_) means properly a pit, or pit-fall, Psalms 7:15; Psalms 9:15; a cistern, or a ditch, Job 9:31; or the sepulchre, or grave, Psalms 30:9; Job 33:18, Job 33:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHERE IS NOW MY HOPE? - What hope have I of life? What possibility is there of my escape from death? WHO SHALL SEE IT? - That is, who will see any hopes that I may now cherish fulfilled. If I cherish any, they will be disappointed, and no one will see them accomplished.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL GO DOWN - That is, my hopes shall go down. All the expectations that I have cherished of life and happiness, will descend there with me. We have a similar expression when we say, that a man “has buried his hopes in the grave,” when he loses an only son. TO THE BARS OF THE PIT - “Bars of S... [ Continue Reading ]