CHAPTER III _Job curses the day of his birth, and regrets that he ever saw_ _the light_, 1-12. _Describes the empire of death and its inhabitants_, 13-19. _Regrets that he is appointed to live in the midst of sorrows,_ _for the calamities which he feared had overtaken him_, 20-26. NOTES ON CHA... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:3. _THERE IS A MAN-CHILD CONCEIVED._] The word הרה _harah_ signifies to _conceive_; yet here, it seems, it should be taken in the sense of _being born_, as it is perfectly unlikely that the night of conception should be either distinctly known or published.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:4. _LET THAT DAY BE DARKNESS_] The meaning is exactly the same with our expression, "Let it be blotted out of the calendar." However distinguished it may have been, as the birthday of a man once celebrated for his possessions, liberality, and piety, let it no longer be thus noted; as he... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:5. _LET DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH STAIN IT_] יגאלהו _yigaluhu_, "pollute or avenge it," from גאל _gaal_, to _vindicate,_ _avenge_, c. hence גאל _goel_, the nearest of kin, whose right it was to _redeem_ an inheritance, and _avenge_ the death of his relative by slaying the murderer... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:6. _AS FOR THAT NIGHT, LET DARKNESS SEIZE UPON IT_] I think the _Targum_ has hit the sense of this whole verse: "Let darkness seize upon that night; let it not be reckoned among the annual festivals; in the number of the months of the calendar let it not be computed." Some understand t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:7. _LO, LET THAT NIGHT BE SOLITARY_] The word הנה _hinneh,_ _behold_, or _lo_, is wanting in one of _De Rossi's_ MSS., nor is it expressed in the _Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac_, or _Arabic_. The word גלמוד _galmud_, which we translate _solitary_, is properly _Arabic_. From [Arabic] _ghal... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:8. _LET THEM CURSE IT THAT CURSE THE DAY_] This translation is scarcely intelligible. I have waded through a multitude of interpretations, without being able to collect from them such a notion of the verse as could appear to me probable. _Schultens,_ _Rosenmuller_, and after them Mr. _G... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:9. _LET THE STARS OF THE TWILIGHT THEREOF_] The stars of the twilight may here refer to the planets _Venus, Jupiter, Mars_, and _Mercury_, as well as to the brighter fixed stars. _LET IT LOOK FOR LIGHT_] Here the prosopopoeia or personification is still carried on. The _darkness_ is rep... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:10. _BECAUSE IT SHUT NOT UP THE DOORS_] Here is the reason why he curses the day and the night in which he was conceived and born; because, had he never been brought into existence, he would never have seen trouble. It seems, however, very harsh that he should have wished the destructio... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:11. _WHY DIED I NOT FROM THE WOMB_] As the other circumstance did not take place, why was I not _still-born_, without the possibility of reviviscence? or, as this did not occur, why did I not _die as soon as born_? These _three_ things appear to me to be clearly intended here: - 1. Dyin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:12. _WHY DID THE KNEES PREVENT ME?_] Why was I dandled on the knees? Why was I nourished by the breasts? In either of the above cases I had neither been received into a mother's lap, nor hung upon a mother's breasts.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:13. _FOR NOW SHOULD I HAVE LAIN STILL_] In that case I had been insensible; _quiet _- without these overwhelming agitations; _slept _- unconscious of evil; _been at rest _- been out of the reach of calamity and sorrow.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:14. _WITH KINGS AND COUNSELLORS OF THE EARTH_] I believe this translation to be perfectly correct. The _counsellors_, יעצי yoatsey, I suppose to mean the privy council, or advisers of kings; those without whose advice kings seldom undertake wars, expeditions, c. These mighty agitators of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:15. _OR WITH PRINCES THAT HAD GOLD_] Chief or mighty men, lords of the soil, or fortunate adventurers in merchandise, who got gold in abundance, filled their houses with silver, left all behind, and had nothing reserved for themselves but the _empty_ _places_ which they had made for thei... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:16. _OR AS A HIDDEN UNTIMELY BIRTH_] An early miscarriage, which was scarcely perceptible by the parent herself; and in this case he _had not been _- he had never had the distinguishable form of a human being, whether _male_ or _female_. _AS INFANTS_] Little ones; those farther advanced... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:17. _THERE THE WICKED CEASE_] In the grave the oppressors of men cease from irritating, harassing, and distressing their fellow creatures and dependents. _AND THERE THE WEARY BE AT REST._] Those who were worn out with the cruelties and tyrannies of the above. The troubles and the troubl... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:18. _THE PRISONERS REST TOGETHER_] Those who were slaves, feeling all the troubles, and scarcely tasting any of the pleasures of life, are quiet in the grave together; and the voice of the oppressor, the hard, unrelenting task-master, which was more terrible than death, is heard no more.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:19. _THE SMALL AND GREAT ARE THERE._] All sorts and conditions of men are equally blended in the grave, and ultimately reduced to one common dust; and between the bond and free there is no difference. The _grave_ is "The appointed place of rendezvous, where all These travellers meet.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:20. _WHEREFORE IS LIGHT GIVEN_] Why is life granted to him who is incapable of enjoying it, or of performing its functions?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:21. _WHICH LONG FOR DEATH_] They look to it as the _end_ of all their miseries; and long more for a separation from life, than those who love gold do for a rich mine.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:22. _WHICH REJOICE EXCEEDINGLY_.] Literally, _They rejoice_ _with joy_, and _exult when they find the grave_. There is a various reading here in one of _Kennicott's_ MSS., which gives a different sense. Instead of _who rejoice_, אלי גיל eley gil, with JOY, it has אלי גל _eley gal, who r... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:23. _TO A MAN WHOSE WAY IS HID_] Who knows not what is before him in either world, but is full of fears and trembling concerning both. _GOD HATH HEDGED IN?_] Leaving him no way to escape; and not permitting him to see one step before him. There is an exact parallel to this passage in... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:24. _FOR MY SIGHING COMETH_] Some think that this refers to the _ulcerated state_ of Job's _body, mouth, hands_, c. He longed for food, but was not able to lift it to his mouth with his hands, nor masticate it when brought thither. This is the sense in which _Origen_ has taken the words.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:25. _FOR THE THING WHICH I GREATLY REARED_] Literally, _the_ _fear that I feared_; or, _l feared a fear_, as in the _margin_. While I was in prosperity I thought adversity might come, and I had a dread of it. I feared the loss of my family and my property; and both have occurred. I was n... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 3:26. _I WAS NOT IN SAFETY_] If this verse be read _interrogatively_, it will give a good and easy sense: _Was I not_ _in safety? Had I not rest? Was I not in comfort? Yet trouble came_. It is well known that, previously to this attack of Satan, Job was in great prosperity and peace. Mr. _... [ Continue Reading ]