_A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520._ Job complains of the hardships he was under, Job 10:1. Pleads with God, that he is his workmanship, Job 10:8. Complains again, that God deals severely with him, Job 10:14. Comforts himself with the thoughts of death, Job 10:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
_My soul is weary of my life_ My soul is weary of dwelling in this rotten and miserable body; or, I am, from my heart or soul, weary of my life. Sol. Jarchi's comment is, _My soul loathes itself because I am alive._ The Hebrew, however, נקתה נפשׁי בחיי, _naketa napshi bechaji_, may be properly rende... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will say unto God, Do not condemn me_ Hebrew, אל תרשׁיעני, _al tarshigneeni, Do not pronounce me to be a wicked man;_ as my friends do; neither deal with me as such, as I confess thou mightest do, by thy sovereign power, and in rigorous justice: O discover my integrity by removing this stroke, fo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Is it good unto thee?_ Dost thou take any pleasure in it, _that those shouldest oppress?_ By thy absolute and irresistible power, without regard to that justice and clemency by which thou usest to govern mankind. _Shouldest despise the work of thy hands_ Show thy contempt of thy creatures, either b... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hast thou eyes of flesh?_ No. Eyes of flesh cannot see in the dark: but darkness hideth not from God. Eyes of flesh are but in one place at a time, and can see but a little way. But _the eyes of the Lord are in every place_, and _run to and fro through the whole earth._ Eyes of flesh will shortly b... [ Continue Reading ]
_Are thy days as the days of man?_ Man's time is short and uncertain, and therefore he must improve it, and diligently search out the crimes of malefactors, lest by death he lose the opportunity of doing justice: but thou art eternal, and seest at one view all men's hearts, and all their actions, pr... [ Continue Reading ]
_That thou inquirest, &c., and searchest after my sin_ Keeping me so long upon the rack, to compel me to accuse myself. _Thou knowest I am not wicked_ That is a hypocrite, or an ungodly man, as my friends account me. _There is none that can deliver_, &c. Thou art the supreme ruler of the world; ther... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy hands have made me, &c., round about_ That is, all of me; all the faculties of my soul, and all the parts of my body, which are now overspread with sores and ulcers; I am wholly thy creature and workmanship, made by thee and for thee. _Yet thou dost destroy me_ Hebrew, תבלעני, _teballegneeni, s... [ Continue Reading ]
_Remember, thou hast made me as the clay_ I was formed by thee as a potter makes a vessel of clay; so this may note both the frailty of man's nature, which of itself decays and perishes, and doth not need such violent shocks to overthrow it; and the excellence of the divine artifice commended from t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hast thou not poured me out as milk?_ Thus he modestly and accurately describes God's admirable work in forming the fœtus in the womb, out of a small and liquid substance, gradually coagulated and condensed, as milk is curdled into cheese, into the exquisite frame of man's body.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou hast clothed me with skin_ Covered my inward and more noble parts, which are first formed. So he proceeds in describing man's formation gradually. _And fenced me with bones_ The stay and strength of the body; and some of them, as the scull and ribs, enclose and defend its vital parts.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou hast granted me life_ Thou didst not only give me a curious body, but also a reasonable soul: thou didst at first give me life, and then maintain it in me: both when I was in the womb, (which is a marvellous work of God,) and afterward, when I was unable to do any thing to preserve my own life... [ Continue Reading ]
_These things hast thou hid in thy heart_ Both thy former favours and thy present frowns. Both are according to thy own will, and therefore undoubtedly consistent with each other, however they seem. When God does what we cannot account for, we are bound to believe there are good reasons for it _hid... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I sin_ If I commit the least sin; _then thou markest me_ Thou dost not connive at, or pass by my sins, but dost severely and diligently observe them all, that thou mayest punish me. _And thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity_ Wilt not pardon, pity, and help me, but art resolved to punish me... [ Continue Reading ]
_If I be wicked_ That is, an ungodly hypocrite, as my friends esteem me; _wo unto me_ I am truly and extremely miserable; and, if I continue wicked, must be eternally so. _And if I be righteous_ An upright man; _yet will I not_, or _yet can I not, lift up my head_ Yet I have no comfort, nor hope of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou huntest me as a fierce lion_ Which hunteth after his prey with eagerness, and, when he overtakes it, falls upon it with great fury. _Again thou showest_ Hebrews ותשׁב תתפלא בי, _vetashob tithpalla bi, Thou turnest again: Thou art marvellous_, or, _thou showest thyself marvellous upon, in, or a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou renewest thy witnesses_ Thy judgments, which are the evidences both of my sins and of thy wrath; _and increasest thine indignation_ That is, my miseries, the effects of thine indignation. _Changes and war_ Or, changes and an army, that is, many miseries succeeding one another, like companies o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Are not my days few? Cease then_, &c. My life is short, and of itself hastens to an end; there is no need that thou shouldest grudge me some ease for so small a moment. _Let me alone_ Or lay aside, or remove thy hand or anger from me. _That I may take comfort a little_ Hebrews אבליגה, _abligah, et... [ Continue Reading ]