CHAPTER XV _Eliphaz charges Job with impiety in attempting to justify_ _himself_, 1-13; _asserts the utter corruption and abominable state of man_, 14-16; _and, from his own knowledge and the observations of the_ _ancients, shows the desolation to which the wicked are exposed,_ _and insinuates... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:2. _SHOULD A WISE MAN UTTER VAIN KNOWLEDGE_] Or rather, _Should a wise man utter the science of wind_? A science without solidity or certainty. _AND FILL HIS BELLY WITH THE EAST WIND?_] בטן _beten_, which we translate _belly_, is used to signify any part of the cavity of the body, whe... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:3. _SHOULD HE REASON WITH UNPROFITABLE TALK?_] Should a man talk disrespectfully of his Maker, or speak to him without reverence? and should he suppose that he has _proved_ any thing, when he has uttered words of little meaning, and used _sound_ instead of _sense_?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:4. _THOU CASTEST OFF FEAR_] Thou hast no reverence for God. _AND RESTRAINEST PRAYER_] Instead of _humbling_ thyself, and making _supplication_ to thy Judge, thou spendest thy time in arraigning his providence and justifying thyself. When a man has any doubts whether he has grieved Go... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:5. _FOR THY MOUTH UTTERETH_] In attempting to justify thyself, thou hast added iniquity to sin, and hast endeavoured to impute blame to thy Maker. _THE TONGUE OF THE CRAFTY._] Thou hast _varnished_ thy own conduct, and used _sophistical_ arguments to defend thyself. Thou resemblest tho... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:7. ART _THOU THE FIRST MAN_ THAT _WAS BORN?_] Literally, "Wert thou born before Adam?" Art thou in the pristine state of purity and innocence? Or art thou like Adam in his _first state_? It does not become the fallen descendant of a fallen parent to talk as thou dost. _MADE BEFORE THE... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:8. _HAST THOU HEARD THE SECRET OF GOD?_] "Hast thou hearkened in God's council?" Wert thou one of the _celestial_ _cabinet_, when God said, _Let US make man in OUR image, and in OUR_ _likeness_? _DOST THOU RESTRAIN WISDOM TO THYSELF?_] Dost thou wish us to understand that God's counsel... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:9. _WHAT KNOWEST THOU_] Is it likely that thy intellect is greater than ours; and that thou hast cultivated it better than we have done ours? _WHAT UNDERSTANDEST THOU_] Or, _Dost thou understand_ any thing, _and_ _it is not with us_? Show us any point of knowledge possessed by thyself,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:10. _WITH US_ ARE _BOTH THE GRAY-HEADED_] One copy of the _Chaldee Targum_ paraphrases the verse thus: "Truly Eliphaz the hoary-headed, and Bildad the long-lived, are among us; and Zophar, who in age surpasseth thy father." It is very likely that Eliphaz refers to himself and his friend... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:11. Are _THE CONSOLATIONS OF GOD SMALL WITH THEE?_] Various are the renderings of this verse. Mr. _Good_ translates the verse thus: "Are then the mercies of God of no account with thee?" or, "the addresses of kindness before thee?" The VULGATE thus: - "Can it be a difficult thing for G... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:12. _WHY DOTH THINE HEART CARRY THEE AWAY?_] Why is it that thou dost conceive and entertain such high sentiments of thyself? _AND WHAT DO THY EYES WINK AT_] With what splendid opinion of thyself is thine eye dazzled? Perhaps there is an allusion here to that _sparkling in the eye_ whi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:13. _THAT THOU TURNEST THY SPIRIT AGAINST GOD_] The ideas here seem to be taken from an _archer_, who _turns his eye_ and his _spirit_-his _desire_-against the object which he wishes to hit; and then _lets loose_ his arrow that it may attain the mark.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:14. _WHAT IS MAN, THAT HE SHOULD BE CLEAN?_] מה אנוש _mah_ _enosh_; what is _weak, sickly, dying, miserable_ man, that he should be clean? This is the import of the original word _enosh_. _AND - BORN OF A WOMAN, THAT HE SHOULD BE RIGHTEOUS?_] It appears, from many passages in the sacre... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:15. _BEHOLD, HE PUTTETH NO TRUST IN HIS SAINTS; YEA, THE_ _HEAVENS ARE NOT CLEAN IN HIS SIGHT._] The Vulgate has, "Behold, among his saints, none is immutable; and the heavens are not clean in his sight." _Coverdale_. - _Beholde, he hath found unfaithfulnesse amonge his_ _owne sanctes,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:16. _HOW MUCH MORE ABOMINABLE AND FILTHY_ IS _MAN_] As in the preceding verse it is said, _he putteth no trust in his saints_, it has appeared both to translators and commentators that the original words, אף כי _aph ki_, should be rendered _how much LESS_, not _how much MORE_: How much... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:17. _I WILL SHOW THEE, HEAR ME; AND THAT WHICH I HAVE SEEN_ _L WILL DECLARE_] Eliphaz is now about to quote a whole collection of _wise sayings_ from the ancients; all good enough in themselves, but sinfully misapplied to the case of Job.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:19. _UNTO WHOM ALONE THE EARTH WAS GIVEN_] He very likely refers to the _Israelites_, who got possession of the promised land from God himself; no _stranger_ being permitted to dwell in it, as the old inhabitants were to be exterminated. Some think that _Noah_ and _his sons_ may be inte... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:20. _THE WICKED MAN TRAVAILETH WITH PAIN_] This is a most forcible truth: a life of sin is a life of misery; and he that _WILL sin MUST suffer_. One of the _Targums_ gives it a strange turn: - "All the days of the ungodly Esau, he was expected to repent, but he did not repent; and the n... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:21. _A DREADFUL SOUND_ IS _IN HIS EARS_] If he be an oppressor or tyrant, he can have no rest: he is full of suspicions that the cruelties he has exercised on others shall be one day exercised on himself; for even in his prosperity he may expect the destroyer to rush upon him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:22. _THAT HE SHALL RETURN OUT OF DARKNESS_] If he take but a few steps in the dark, he expects the _dagger_ of the assassin. This appears to be the only meaning of the place. Some think the passage should be understood to signify that he has no hope of a _resurrection_; he can never esc... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:23. _HE WANDERETH ABROAD FOR BREAD_] He is reduced to a state of the utmost indigence, he who was once in affluence requires a morsel of bread, and can scarcely by begging procure enough to sustain life. _IS READY AT HIS HAND._] _Is_ בידו beyado, in his hand - in his possession. As he... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:24. _TROUBLE AND ANGUISH SHALL MAKE HIM AFRAID_] He shall be in continual fear of death; being now brought down by adversity, and stripped of all the goods which he had got by oppression, his life is a mark for the meanest assassin. _AS A KING READY TO THE BATTLE._] The acts of his wic... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:25. _HE STRETCHETH OUT HIS HAND AGAINST GOD_] While in _power_ he thought himself _supreme_. He not only did not acknowledge God, by whom kings reign, but _stretched out his hand_-used his _power_, not to _protect_, but to _oppress_ those over whom he had supreme rule; and thus _strengt... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:26. _HE RUNNETH UPON HIM._] _Calmet_ has properly observed that this refers to GOD, who, like a mighty conquering hero, marches against the ungodly, rushes upon him, seizes him by the throat, which the _mail_ by which it is encompassed cannot protect; neither his shield nor spear can sa... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:27. _BECAUSE HE COVERETH HIS FACE_] He has lived in luxury and excess; and like a man overloaded with flesh, he cannot defend himself against the strong gripe of his adversary. The _Arabic_, for _maketh collops of fat on his flanks_, has [Arabic] _He lays the Pleiades upon the Hyades_,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:28. _HE DWELLETH IN DESOLATE CITIES_] It is sometimes the fate of a tyrant to be obliged to take up his habitation in some of those cities which have been ruined by his wars, and in a house so ruinous as to be ready to fall into heaps. Ancient and modern history afford abundance of exam... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:29. _HE SHALL NOT BE RICH_] The whole of what follows, to the end of the chapter, seems to be directed against Job himself, whom Eliphaz indirectly accuses of having been a _tyrant_ and _oppressor_. The threatened evils are, 1. _He shall not be rich_, though he labours greatly to acqui... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:30. _HE SHALL NOT DEPART OUT OF DARKNESS_] 4. He shall be in continual afflictions and distress. 5. _The flame shall dry up his_ _branches _- his _children_ shall be cut off by sudden judgments. 6. _He_ _shall pass away by the breath of his mouth_; for by the breath of his mouth doth... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:31. _LET NOT HIM THAT IS DECEIVED_] 7. He has many _vain_ _imaginations_ of obtaining wealth, power, pleasure, and happiness; but he is _deceived_; and he finds that he has trusted בשוא _bashshav, in a lie_; and this lie is his recompense.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:32. _IT SHALL BE ACCOMPLISHED BEFORE HIS TIME_] I believe the _Vulgate_ gives the true sense: _Antequam dies ejus impleantur,_ _peribit_; "He shall perish before his time; before his days are completed." 8. He shall be removed by a violent death, and not live out half his days. 9. _An... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:33. _HE SHALL SHAKE OFF HIS UNRIPE GRAPE_] 10. Whatever _children_ he may have, they shall never survive him, nor come to mature age. They shall be like _wind-fall grapes_ and _blasted olive_ _blossoms_. As the _vine_ and _olive_, which are among the most _useful_ trees, affording _win... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:34. _THE CONGREGATION OF HYPOCRITES_] 11. Job is here classed with _hypocrites_, or rather the _impious_ of all kinds. The _congregation_, or _adath, society_, of such, shall be _desolate_, or a _barren rock_, גלמוד galmud. See this Arabic word explained in _Clarke's note on "_Job 3:7_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 15:35. _THEY CONCEIVE MISCHIEF_] The figure here is both elegant and impressive. The wicked _conceive_ mischief, from the seed which Satan sows in their hearts; in producing which they _travail_ with many pangs, (for sin is a sore labour,) and at last their _womb_ produces _fraud_ or _dece... [ Continue Reading ]