IS THERE NOT AN APPOINTED TIME TO MAN UPON EARTH? - Margin, or, warfare. The word used here צבא _tsâbâ'_ means properly a host, an army, see the notes, Isaiah 1:9; then it means warfare, or the hard service of a soldier; notes, Isaiah 40:2. Here it means that man on the earth was enlisted, so to s... [ Continue Reading ]
AS A SERVANT EARNESTLY DESIRETH - Margin, gapeth after. The word here שׁאף _shâ'aph_ means to breathe hard, to pant, to blow, and then to desire earnestly. THE SHADOW - This may refer either to a shade in the intense heat of the day, or to the night. Nothing is more grateful in oriental countries,... [ Continue Reading ]
SO AM I MADE TO POSSESS - Hebrew I am made to inherit. The meaning is, that such sad and melancholy seasons now were his only portion. MONTHS OF VANITY - That is, months which were destitute of comfort; in other words, months of affliction. How long his trials had continued before this, we have no... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN I LIE DOWN - I find no comfort and no rest on my bed. My nights are long, and I am impatient to have them passed, and equally so is it with the day. This is a description which all can understand who have been laid on a bed of pain. AND THE NIGHT BE GONE - Margin, evening be measured. Herder re... [ Continue Reading ]
MY FLESH IS CLOTHED WITH WORMS - Job here undoubtedly refers to his diseased state, and this is one of the passages by which we may learn the nature of his complaint; compare the notes at Job 2:7. There is reference here to the worms which are produced in ulcers and in other forms of disease. Michae... [ Continue Reading ]
MY DAYS ARE SWIFTER THAN A WEAVER’S SHUTTLE - That is, they are short and few. He does not here refer so much to the rapidity with which they were passing away as to the fact that they would soon be gone, and that he was likely to be cut off without being permitted to enjoy the blessings of a long l... [ Continue Reading ]
O REMEMBER - This is evidently an address to God. In the anguish of his soul Job turns his eye and his heart to his Maker, and urges reasons why he should close his life. The extent of his sufferings, and the certainty that he must die Job 7:9, are the reasons on which he dwells why his life should... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EYE OF HIM THAT HATH SEEN ME SHALL SEE ME NO MORE - I shall be cut off from all my friends - one of the things which most distresses people when they come to die. THINE EYES ARE UPON ME, AND I AM NOT - see Job 7:21. Dr. Good renders this, “let thine eye be upon me, and I am nothing.” Herder, “th... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE CLOUD IS CONSUMED AND VANISHETH AWAY - This image is taken from the light and fleecy clouds, which become smaller and smaller until they wholly vanish. For an illustration of a similar phrase, see the notes at Isaiah 44:22. TO THE GRAVE - - שׁאול _sh__e__'ôl_. Septuagint, εἰς ᾅδην _eis_... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL RETURN NO MORE TO HIS HOUSE - He shall not revisit his family. Job is dwelling on the calamity of death, and one of the circumstances most deeply felt in the prospect of death is, that a man must leave his own house to return no more. The stately palaces that he has built; the splendid hall... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE I WILL NOT REFRAIN MY MOUTH - The idea in this verse is, “such is my distress at the prospect of dying, that I cannot but express it. The idea of going away from all my comforts, and of being committed to the grave, to revisit the earth no more, is so painful that I cannot but give vent to... [ Continue Reading ]
AM I A SEA? - That is, “am I like a raging and tumultuous sea, that it is necessary to restrain and confine me? The sense of the verse is, that God had treated him as if he were untamable and turbulent, as if he were like the restless ocean, or as if he were some monster, which could be restrained w... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN I SAY, MY BED SHALL COMFORT ME - The idea in this verse and the following is, that there was no intermission to his sorrows. Even the times when people usually sought repose were to him times of distress. Then he was disturbed and alarmed by the most frightful dreams and visions, and sleep fled... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THOU SCAREST ME - This is an address to God. He regarded him as the source of his sorrows, and he expresses his sense of this in language indeed very beautiful, but far from reverence. WITH DREAMS - see Job 7:4. A similar expression occurs in Ovid: _Ut puto, cam requies medicinaque publica cu... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THAT MY SOUL - So that I; the soul being put for himself. CHOOSETH STRANGLING - Dr. Good renders it “suffocation,” and supposes that Job alludes to the oppression of breathing, produced by what is commonly called the night-mare, and that he means that he would prefer the sense of suffocation exci... [ Continue Reading ]
I LOATHE IT - I loathe my life as it is now. It has become a burden and I desire to part with it, and to go down to the grave. There is, however, considerable variety in the interpretation of this. Noyes renders it, “I am wasting away.” Dr. Good connects it with the previous verse and understands by... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT IS MAN, THAT THOU SHOULDEST MAGNIFY HIM? - That thou shouldst make him great, or that thou shouldst regard him as of so great importance as to fix thine eye attentively upon him. The idea here is, that it was unworthy the character of so great a being as God to bestow so much time and attention... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THAT THOU SHOULDEST VISIT HIM? - That is, for the purpose of inflicting pain. This language Job intends undoubtedly to be applicable to himself, and he asks with impatience why God should take a pleasure in visiting with suffering each returning day a creature like him? EVERY MORNING - Why is t... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW LONG WILT THOU NOT DEPART? - How long is this to continue? The same word occurs in Job 14:6. The word rendered “depart” שׁעה _shâ‛âh_ means to look, to look around, and then to look away from anyone or anything. The idea here is, that God had fixed his eyes upon Job, and he asks with anxiety,... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SINNED - חטאתי _châṭâ'tı̂y_. This is a literal translation, and as it stands in the common version it is the language of a penitent - confessing that he had erred, and making humble acknowledgment of his sins. That such a confession became Job, and that he would be willing to admit that he... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHY DOST THOU NOT PARDON MY TRANSGRESSION? - Admitting that I have sinned Job 7:20, yet why dost thou not forgive me? I shall soon pass away from the land of the living. I may be sought but I shall not be found. No one would be injured by my being pardoned - since I am so short-lived, and so uni... [ Continue Reading ]