JOB'S PAST GREATNESS AND HAPPINESS Job mournfully recalls the days of God's favour, and the prosperity and honour he once enjoyed. In this chapter we have the picture of a great and worthy chieftain looked up to and respected by all. It confirms the description of Job's importance in Job 1.... [ Continue Reading ]
CANDLE] RV 'lamp'; a figure of God's favour.... [ Continue Reading ]
DAYS OF MY YOUTH] RV 'ripeness of my days.' Secret] RM' friendship.' TABERNACLE] RV 'tent.'... [ Continue Reading ]
A figure of prosperity: cp. Deuteronomy 33:24.... [ Continue Reading ]
THROUGH THE CITY] RV 'unto the city.' Job went with other elders to administer justice at the city gate. Observe that Job did not live in the city; his usual abode was in his camp. But he was influential in the city, just as a great Arab prince is sometimes in our own times.... [ Continue Reading ]
HID THEMSELVES] because of the awe which Job inspired.... [ Continue Reading ]
GAVE WITNESS TO ME] i.e. to my goodness, which it saw.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lit. 'Justice clothed itself in me.' He was the very personification of justice. DIADEM] RM 'turban.'... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CAUSE _which_ I knew not] RV 'the cause of him that I knew not.'... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE SAND] RM 'as the phœnix.' This was a fabulous bird alluded to in Egyptian, Hebrew, and Arabian tradition. It was supposed to be immortal, burning itself in its nest every thousand years and renewing its life in the flames. 19, 20. The verbs should be read in the future tense.... [ Continue Reading ]
BY] RV 'to': cp. Psalms 1:3. DEW] cp. Proverbs 19:12; Deuteronomy 32:2; The dew was an emblem of prosperity in a land where rain was infrequent. 20A. The respect paid him would not fail him. 20B. His physical powers should endure: cp. Genesis 49:24, 'His bow abode in strength.' 21-25. These vv.... [ Continue Reading ]
DROPPED UPON THEM] as refreshing rain: cp. Deuteronomy 32:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LATTER RAIN] the spring rains as contrasted with those of the autumn.... [ Continue Reading ]
_If_ I LAUGHED, etc.] RM 'I smiled on them when they had no confidence,' i.e. to encourage them. 24B. They failed to remove his cheerfulness.... [ Continue Reading ]
Job speaks as if he used to be the natural guide and comfort of his fellow-men. THE THIRD SERIES OF SPEECHES (JOB 22-31) Having failed to convince Job by the argument derived from God's greatness and wisdom, and to make good their assertion that it fared ill with the wicked, the friends have only o... [ Continue Reading ]