INTRODUCTION JOB 17 In this chapter Job not only enlarges upon the reason given in the preceding chapter, why he was desirous of an advocate with God, and one to plead his cause with him for him, Job 17:1; but adds other reasons taken from the usage of his friends, from the impossibility of any but... [ Continue Reading ]
MY BREATH IS CORRUPT,.... Through the force of his disease, which made it have an ill smell, so that it was strange and disagreeable to his wife, Job 19:17; passing through his lungs, or other parts, which were affected with some disorder, or as frequently is the case of dying persons, and so Job th... [ Continue Reading ]
[ARE THERE] NOT MOCKERS WITH ME?.... Meaning not irreligious persons, such as make a mock at sin, a jest of religion, a laugh at good men, sneer at the doctrines and ordinances of God, and scoff at things future, as the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and a future judgment; with whom... [ Continue Reading ]
LAY DOWN NOW,.... A pledge that thou wilt provide a surety, appoint and admit one to plead for me, and that thou wilt hear my cause, and determine it; or "put now", or "put, I pray thee" r, thy heart and mind to me and my case, to my petition and request, and grant it: PUT ME IN A SURETY WITH THEE;... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOU HAST HID THEIR HEART FROM UNDERSTANDING,.... That is, the hearts of his friends, and therefore they were unfit to undertake his cause, or be sureties for him, or be judges in it. It is the same thing as to hide understanding from their hearts, which God sometimes does in a natural sense; wh... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT SPEAKETH FLATTERY TO [HIS] FRIENDS,.... As Job's friends did to him when they promised great outward prosperity, and a restoration to his former state, and to a greater affluence upon his repentance and reformation; or when they spoke deceitfully for God, pretending great regard to the honou... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HATH MADE ME ALSO A BYWORD OF THE PEOPLE,.... Either Eliphaz, or God; for whatsoever befell him, whether more immediately by the hand of God, or by any instrument, the ascribes it to him, as being suffered in Providence to befall him; as when he became a byword or proverb to the people in common,... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE EYE ALSO IS DIM BY REASON OF SORROW,.... Through excessive weeping, and the abundance of tears he shed, so that he had almost lost his eyesight, or however it was greatly weakened and impaired by that means, which is often the case, see Psalms 6:7; AND ALL MY MEMBERS [ARE] AS A SHADOW; his fle... [ Continue Reading ]
UPRIGHT MEN SHALL BE ASTONISHED AT THIS,.... Such as were upright in heart, and in their walk conversation, sincere and honourable in their profession of religion, these would be amazed at the afflictions of Job, and the unkindness of his friends; it is hereby suggested, that it would be then, and i... [ Continue Reading ]
THE RIGHTEOUS ALSO SHALL HOLD ON HIS WAY,.... He that is righteous, not in appearance but really, not in a legal but in an evangelic sense; who is justified by the righteousness of Job's living Redeemer, who lives by faith on his righteousness, and in consequence of that in holiness of life and conv... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT AS FOR YOU ALL, DO YE RETURN, AND COME NOW,.... This is an address to his three friends, all and everyone of them, who he perceived were nettled with his reply, and were either departing, or preparing for a rejoinder; and being conscious of his innocence, and satisfied of the goodness of his cau... [ Continue Reading ]
MY DAYS ARE PAST,.... Or "passed away", or "passed over" w; not that they passed over the time fixed and appointed by God, for there is no passing the bound settled by him, Job 14:5; but either the common term of man's life was passed with Job, or he speaks of things in his own apprehension; he imag... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CHANGE THE NIGHT INTO DAY,.... Meaning either his friends, by what they had said unto him, or the thoughts of his heart, which comes to the same sense; these being in the night season employed about what had been said to him in the day, insomuch that he could get no sleep, the night was as broa... [ Continue Reading ]
IF I WAIT, THE GRAVE [IS] MINE HOUSE,.... Not that Job put an "if" upon, or made a doubt of waiting upon God in private or public; or of waiting for him, his gracious appearances to him, answers of prayer, performance of promises, and deliverance out of trouble; and especially of waiting his appoint... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SAID TO CORRUPTION, THOU [ART] MY FATHER,.... Not to the corruptible seed, of which he was begotten; nor to the corruption or purulent matter of his boils and ulcers, and the worms his flesh was now clothed with, Job 7:5; but to that corruption his body would turn to in the grave, lying long... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHERE [IS] NOW MY HOPE?.... Not the grace of hope, which was in his heart; and though it might sometimes be low in exercise, it could not be lost; it is an anchor, sure and steadfast, and is one of the graces that always abides, and never disappoints and makes ashamed; nor the object of hope, et... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL GO DOWN TO THE BARS OF THE PIT,.... He himself, and his friends, and the hopes they would have him entertain; these should all go down together to the grave, and there lie barred and locked up; these hopes, so as never to rise anymore, and the bodies of himself, and his friends, till loos... [ Continue Reading ]