JOB'S SECOND SPEECH (JOB 9:10) Job 9:10 are, perhaps, in their religious and moral aspects the most difficult in the book. Driver in his 'Introduction to the Literature of the OT.' analyses them as follows:—'Job as well as his friends believes suffering to be a mark of God's displeasure for some gr... [ Continue Reading ]
IF HE WILL] RM 'If one should desire to.' CONTEND] argue his cause. ONE OF A THOUSAND] viz. charges against him, or questions with which he might be entrapped.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY KNOW NOT: WHICH OVERTURNETH] RV 'And they know it not when he overturneth.' The catastrophe is so sudden.... [ Continue Reading ]
The v. describes an earthquake. The roots of the mountains were thought of as pillars supporting the earth: cp. Job 26:11; Psalms 75:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
IT RISETH NOT] because of darkness or eclipse. SEALETH UP] i.e. in the abode where the stars were thought to dwell, and where they were brought forth by night to shine in the sky (Isaiah 40:26).... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Isaiah 40:22. The points of resemblance between the book of Job and the latter part of Isaiah are striking and frequent.... [ Continue Reading ]
ARCTURUS] RV 'the Bear.' The Heb. names in this v. are supposed to refer to three well-known constellations, the Bear, the Pleiades, and Orion. CHAMBERS OF THE SOUTH] the southern heavens. So the Babylonians divided the sky into 'lunar mansions.'... [ Continue Reading ]
Job is baffled by the suddenness and mystery of God's actions. There is no escaping Him.... [ Continue Reading ]
RV 'God will not withdraw his anger; the helpers of Rahab do stoop under him.' The word 'Rahab,' which means 'pride,' occurs again in Job 26:12 RV, and is there evidently applied to the raging sea. 'This stormy sea, assaulting heaven with its waves, was personified in ancient myth as a monster leadi... [ Continue Reading ]
WOULD I NOT] i.e. 'would I not dare to.' I WOULD MAKE SUPPLICATION] rather, 'I must ask mercy.' It would be useless to attempt to establish his innocence. JUDGE] rather, 'adversary-at-law.'... [ Continue Reading ]
'If God allowed me to plead my cause, I cannot believe He would condescend to attend to me.' Job feels that God is indifferent to his cry for justice. 17, 18. BREAKETH.. MULTIPLIETH.. WILL NOT SUFFER.. FILLETH] rather, 'would break.. would multiply.. would not suffer.. would fill.'... [ Continue Reading ]
God is represented as speaking. 'If it be a question of strength, it is I who am strong; if of judgment, who would dare appoint me a day?' 'The words imply the irresponsibility and superiority to all law of the speaker' (Davidson).... [ Continue Reading ]
Job speaks. Render, 'Though I am innocent, a word may put me in the wrong; though I am upright, He can pervert me.' It is therefore useless to plead.... [ Continue Reading ]
RV 'I am perfect; I regard not myself; I despise my life.' Job now boldly asserts that he is innocent, even though it may cost him his life. 22-24. Job boldly arraigns the morality of the divine government of the world.... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS _is_ ONE _thing_] RV 'It is all one.' Apparently he means, 'It makes no difference whether I live or die.' God destroys indiscriminately both innocent and guilty. This directly controverts the friends' view (Job 8:20). There is no such thing as a moral government of the world.... [ Continue Reading ]
SCOURGE] e.g. famine, etc. TRIAL] RM 'calamity.'... [ Continue Reading ]
HE COVERETH THE FACES, etc.] so that they are blind to justice. IF NOT, WHERE, etc.] RV 'If _it be_ not _he,_ who then is it?' To whom but God can this state of things be ascribed? 25-31. Job's life speeds away; God will make him out to be guilty however pure he may be. 25, 26. Cp. Wis 5:9-10, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
A POST] RM a 'runner' with messages.... [ Continue Reading ]
SWIFT SHIPS] Heb. 'ships of reed,' light boats made from the papyrus reed, and very swift.... [ Continue Reading ]
Since God is determined to hold Job guilty, it is useless for him to try and establish his innocence. I AM AFRAID OF ALL MY SORROWS] because they seem to be evidences of God's anger. Apparently there were times when the pain was less acute, but the cheerfulness he might have felt was checked by the... [ Continue Reading ]
_If_ I BE WICKED] RV 'I shall be condemned.'... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MAKE, etc.] RM 'And cleanse my hands with lye,' or potash. He means that he is really righteous, but God is deteimined to make him seem wicked. 32-35. Job is conscious that he cannot meet God on his own level and plead his cause on equal terms, nor is there any one to act as mediator.... [ Continue Reading ]
DAYSMAN] an Old English word meaning 'umpire,' or 'arbitrator'; one who mediates between two parties. 33-35. Translate (with Cox): 'There is no arbiter between us to lay his hand upon us both, who would remove His (God's) rod from me so that the dread of Him should not overawe me. If there were, I... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS FEAR] i.e. the fear He causes, as in Exodus 23:27.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT _it is_ NOT SO WITH ME] RV 'For I am not so in myself,' i.e. In my own soul I am not guilty.... [ Continue Reading ]