HOW LONG WILL IT BE ERE YE MAKE AN END OF WORDS? - It has been made a question to whom this is addressed. It is in the plural number, and it is not usual in Hebrew when addressing an individual to make use of the plural form. Some have supposed that it is addressed to Job and to Eliphaz, as being bo... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE ARE WE COUNTED AS BEASTS? - “Why are we treated in your remarks as if we had no sense, and were unworthy of sound argument in reply to what we say?” It is possible that there may be reference here to what Job said Job 12:7 - that even the beasts could give them information about God. But t... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TEARETH HIMSELF - More correctly, “thou that tearest thyself in anger!” It is not an affirmation about Job, but it is a direct address to him. The meaning is, that he was in the paryoxysms of a violent rage; he acted like a madman. SHALL THE EARTH BE FORSAKEN FOR THEE? - A reproof of his pride an... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA - Truly; or, behold. Bildad here commences his remarks on the certain destiny of the wicked, and strings together a number of apparently proverbial sayings, showing that calamity in various forms would certainly overtake the wicked. There is nothing particularly new in his argument, though the u... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HIS CANDLE - Margin, lamp. The reference is to a lamp that was suspended from the ceiling. The Arabians are fond of this image. Thus, they say, “Bad fortune has extinguished my lamp.” Of a man whose hopes are remarkably blasted, they say, “He is like a lamp which is immediately extinguished if y... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STEPS OF HIS STRENGTH - Strong steps. “Steps of strength” is a Hebraism, to denote firm or vigorous steps. SHALL BE STRAITENED - Shall be compressed, embarrassed, hindered. Instead of walking freely and at large, he shall be compressed and limited in his goings. “Large steps,” “free movement,”... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE IS CAST INTO A NET BY HIS OWN FEET - He is caught in his own tricks, as if he had spread a net or dug a pitfall for another, and had fallen into it himself. The meaning is, that he would bring ruin upon himself while he was plotting the rain of others; see Psalms 9:16, “The wicked is snared b... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GIN - Another method of taking wild beasts. It was a snare so made as to spring suddenly on an animal, securing him by the neck or feet. We use a trap for the same purpose. The Hebrew word (פח _pach_) may denote anything of this kind - a snare, net, noose, etc. with which birds or wild animals a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SNARE IS LAID - All this language is taken from the modes of taking wild beasts; but it is not possible to designate with absolute certainty the methods in which it was done. The word used here (חבל _chebel_) means a cord, or rope; and then a snare, gin, or toil, such as is used by hunters. It w... [ Continue Reading ]
TERRORS SHALL MAKE HIM AFRAID - He shall be constantly subject to alarms, and shall never feel secure. “Terrors here are represented as allegorical persons, like the Furies in the Greek poets.” Noyes. The idea here is substantially the same as that given by Eliphaz, Job 15:21. AND SHALL DRIVE HIM T... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS STRENGTH SHALL BE HUNGERBITTEN - Shall be exhausted by hunger or famine. AND DESTRUCTION SHALL BE READY AT HIS SIDE - Hebrew “Shall be fitted” נכוּן _nākûn_ “to his side.” Some have supposed that this refers to some disease, like the pleurisy, that would adhere closely to his side. So Jerome... [ Continue Reading ]
IT SHALL DEVOUR THE STRENGTH OF HIS SKIN - Margin, bars. The margin is a correct translation of the Hebrew. The word used (בדי _badēy_, construct with עורו _‛__ôrô_ - his skin) means bars, staves, branches, and here denotes his limbs, members; or, more literally, the bones, as supports of the ski... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS CONFIDENCE SHALL BE ROOTED OUT OF HIS TABERNACLE - Security shall forsake his dwelling, and he shall be subject to constant alarms. There shall be nothing there in which he can confide, and all that he relied on as sources of safety shall have fled. AND IT SHALL BRING HIM - That is, he shall be... [ Continue Reading ]
IT SHALL DWELL IN HIS TABERNACLE - It is uncertain what is to be understood as referred to here. Some suppose that the word to be understood is soul, and that the meaning is “his soul,” that is, he himself, “shall dwell in his tent.” Rosenmuller, Noyes, Wemyss, and others, suppose that the word is t... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS ROOTS SHALL BE DRIED UP - Another image of complete desolation - where he is compared to a tree that is dead - a figure whose meaning is obvious, and which often occurs; see Job 15:30, note; Job 8:12, notes. ABOVE HIS BRANCH - Perhaps referring to his children or family. All shall be swept away... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS REMEMBRANCE SHALL PERISH - His name - all recollection of him. Calamity shall follow him even after death; and that which every man desires, and every good man has, and honored name when he is dead, will be denied him. Men will hasten to forget him as fast as possible; compare Proverbs 10:7, “Th... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL BE DRIVEN FROM LIGHT INTO DARKNESS - Margin, “They shall drive him.” The meaning is, that he should be driven from a state of prosperity to one of calamity. AND CHASED OUT OF THE WORLD - Perhaps meaning that he should not be conducted to the grave with the slow and solemn pomp of a respect... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL NEITHER HAVE SON ... - All his family shall be cut off. He shall have no one to perpetuate his name or remembrance. All this Job could not help applying to himself, as it was doubtless intended he should. The facts in his case were just such as were supposed in these proverbs about the wick... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT COME AFTER HIM - Future ages; they who may hear of his history and of the manner in which he was cut off from life. So the passage has been generally rendered; so, substantially, it is by Dr. Good, Dr. Noyes, Rosenmuller, and Luther. The Vulgate translates it _novissimi_; the Septuagint, ε... [ Continue Reading ]
SURELY SUCH ARE THE DWELLINGS OF THE WICKED - The conclusion or sum of the whole matter. The meaning is, that the habitations of all that knew not God would be desolate - a declaration which Job could not but regard as aimed at himself; compare Job 20:29. This is the close of this harsh and severe s... [ Continue Reading ]