CHAPTER XXX _Job proceeds to lament the change of his former condition, and_ _the contempt into which his adversity had brought him_, 1-15. _Pathetically describes the afflictions of his body and mind_, 16-31. NOTES ON CHAP. XXX Verse Job 30:1. _BUT NOW_ THEY THAT ARE _YOUNGER THAN I HAVE ME I... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:2. _THE STRENGTH OF THEIR HANDS_ PROFIT _ME_] He is speaking here of the fathers of these young men. What was the strength of their hands to me? Their old age also has perished. The sense of which I believe to be this: I have never esteemed their strength even in their most vigorous you... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:3. _FLEEING INTO THE WILDERNESS_] Seeking something to sustain life even in the barren desert. This shows the extreme of want, when the desert is supposed to be the only place where any thing to sustain life can possibly be found.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:4. _WHO CUT UP MALLOWS BY THE BUSHES_] מלוח _malluach_, which we translate _mallows_, comes from מלח _melach, salt_; some herb or shrub of a salt nature, sea-purslane, or the salsaria, salsola, or saltwort. _Bochart_ says it is the αλιμος of the Greeks, and the _halimus_ of the Romans.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:5. _THEY WERE DRIVEN FORTH_] They were persons whom no one would employ; they were driven away from the city; and if any of them appeared, the hue and cry was immediately raised up against them. The last clause Mr. _Good_ translates, "They slunk away from them like a thief," instead of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:6. _TO DWELL IN THE CLIFFS OF THE VALLEYS_] They were obliged to take shelter in the most dangerous, out-of-the-way, and unfrequented places. This is the meaning.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:7. _AMONG THE BUSHES THEY BRAYED_] They cried out among the bushes, seeking for food, as the wild ass when he is in want of provender. Two MSS. read ינאקו _yinaku, they groaned_, instead of ינהקו _yinhaku, they brayed_. _UNDER THE NETTLES_] חרול _charul_, the _briers_ or _brambles_, un... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:8. _CHILDREN OF FOOLS_] _Children of nabal; children without_ _a name_; persons of no consideration, and descendants of such. _VILER THAN THE EARTH._] Rather, _driven out of the land_; persons not fit for civil society.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:9. _NOW AM I THEIR SONG_] I am the subject of their mirth, and serve as a proverb or by-word. They use me with every species of indignity.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:10. _THEY ABHOR ME_] What a state must civil society be in when such indignities were permitted to be offered to the aged and afflicted!... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:11. _BECAUSE HE HATH LOOSED MY CORD_] Instead of יתרי _yithri, my cord_, which is the keri or marginal reading, יתרו _yithro, his cord_, is the reading of the text in many copies; and this reading directs us to a metaphor taken from an archer, who, observing his butt, sets his arrow on... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:12. _UPON_ MY _RIGHT_ HAND _RISE THE YOUTH_] The word פרחח _pirchach_, which we translate _youth_, signifies properly _buds_, or the _buttons_ of _trees_. Mr. _Good_ has _younglings_. _Younkers_ would be better, were it not too colloquial. _THEY PUSH AWAY MY FEET_] They trip up my heel... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:13. _THEY MAR MY PATH_] They destroy the _way-marks_, so that there is no safety in travelling through the deserts, the _guide-posts_ and _way-marks_ being gone. These may be an allusion here to a besieged city: the besiegers strive by every means and way to distress the besieged; _sto... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:14. _THEY CAME_ UPON ME _AS A WIDE BREAKING IN_] They _storm_ me on every side. _IN THE DESOLATION THEY ROLLED THEMSELVES_] When they had made the _breach_, they _rolled in_ upon me as an _irresistible torrent_. There still appears to be an allusion to a besieged city: the _sap_, the _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:15. _TERRORS ARE TURNED UPON ME_] Defence is no longer useful; they have beat down my walls. _THEY PURSUE MY SOUL AS THE WIND_] I seek safety in flight, my strong holds being no longer tenable; but they pursue me so swiftly, that it is impossible for me to escape. They follow me like a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:18. _IS MY GARMENT CHANGED_] There seem to be here plain allusions to the effect of his cruel disease; the whole body being enveloped with a kind of elephantine hide, formed by innumerable incrustations from the ulcerated surface. _IT BINDETH ME ABOUT_] There is now a new kind of cover... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:20. _I CRY UNTO THEE_] I am persecuted by man, afflicted with sore disease, and apparently forsaken of God. _I STAND UP_] Or, as some translate, "_I persevere_, and thou lookest upon me." Thou seest my desolate, afflicted state; but thine eye doth not affect thy heart. Thou leavest me... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:21. _THOU ART BECOME CRUEL TO ME_] Thou appearest to treat me with cruelty. I cry for mercy, trust in thy goodness, and am still permitted to remain under my afflictions. _THOU OPPOSEST THYSELF_] Instead of _helping_, thou opposest me; thou appearest as my _enemy_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:22. _THOU LIFTEST ME UP TO THE WIND_] Thou hast so completely stripped me of all my substance, that I am like _chaff_ lifted up by the wind; or as a _straw_, the sport of every breeze; and at last carried totally away, being _dissipated_ into particles by the continued agitation.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:23. _THOU WILT BRING ME_ TO _DEATH_] This must be the issue of my present affliction: to God alone it is possible that I should survive it. To _THE HOUSE APPOINTED FOR ALL LIVING. _] Or to the house, מועד _moed_, the _rendezvous_, the place of general assembly of human beings: the grea... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:24. _HE WILL NOT STRETCH OUT_ HIS _HAND TO THE GRAVE_] After all that has been said relative to the just _translation_ and true _meaning_ of this verse, is it not evident that it is in the mouth of Job a _consolatory_ reflection? As if he said, Though I suffer _here_, I shall not suffer... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:25. _DID NOT I WEEP FOR HIM THAT WAS IN TROUBLE?_] Mr. _Good_ translates much nearer the sense of the original, לקשה יום _liksheh_ _yom_. "Should I not then weep for the _ruthless day_?" May I not lament that my sufferings are only to terminate with my life? Or, Did I not mourn for thos... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:27. _MY BOWELS BOILED_] This alludes to the strong commotion in the bowels which every humane person feels at the sight of one in misery.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:28. _I WENT MOURNING WITHOUT THE SUN_] חמה _chammah_, which we here translate _the sun_, comes from a root of the same letters, which signifies to hide, protect, c., and may be translated, _I_ _went mourning without a protector_ or _guardian_ or, the word may be derived from חם _cham_,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:29. _I AM A BROTHER TO DRAGONS_] By my mournful and continual cry I resemble תנים _tannim_, the _jackals_ or _hyenas_. _AND A COMPANION TO OWLS._] בנות יענה _benoth yaanah_, to the _daughters of howling_: generally understood to be the _ostrich_; for both the _jackal_ and the _female o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:30. _MY SKIN IS BLACK_] By continual exposure to the open air, and parching influence of the sun. _MY BONES ARE BURNED WITH HEAT._] A strong expression, to point out the raging fever that was continually preying upon his vitals.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 30:31. _MY HARP ALSO IS_ TURNED _TO MOURNING_] Instead of the _harp_, my only music is my own _plaintive cries_. _AND MY ORGAN_] What the עגב _uggab_ was, we know not; it was most probably some sort of _pipe_ or _wind instrument_. His _harp_, כנור kinnor, and his _pipe_, עגב uggab, were e... [ Continue Reading ]