Job 17:15

_AND WHERE IS NOW MY HOPE? AS FOR MY HOPE, WHO SHALL SEE IT?_ And where. Where, then is my hope? The apodosis to Job 17:13. Who shall see at-fulfilled? namely, the "hope" (Job 11:18) which they held out to him of restoration....

10-16 Job's friends had pretended to comfort him with the hope of his return to a prosperous estate; he here shows that those do not go wisely about the work of comforting the afflicted, who fetch their comforts from the possibility of recovery in this world. It is our wisdom to comfort ourselves, and others, in distress, with that which will not fail; the promise of God, his love and grace, and a well-grounded hope of eternal life. See how Job reconciles himself to the grave. Let this make believers willing to die; it is but going to bed; they are weary, and it is time that they were in their beds. Why should not they go willingly when their Father calls them? Let us remember our bodies are allied to corruption, the worm and the dust; and let us seek for that lively hope which shall be fulfilled, when the hope of the wicked shall be put out in darkness; that when our bodies are in the g...

Verse Job 17:15. _AND WHERE_ IS _NOW MY HOPE?_] In the circumstances in which I am found, of what use can _hope_ be? Were I to form the expectation of future good, who could ever see it realized? Is it then any wonder that I should complain and bemoan my wretched lot?...

AND WHERE IS NOW MY HOPE? - What hope have I of life? What possibility is there of my escape from death? WHO SHALL SEE IT? - That is, who will see any hopes that I may now cherish fulfilled. If I cherish any, they will be disappointed, and no one will see them accomplished....

EXPOSITION JOB 17:1 The general character of this chapter has been considered in the introductory section to Job 16:1. It is occupied mainly with Job's complaints of his treatment by his friends, and his lamentations over his sufferings (verses 1-12). At the end he appeals to the grave, as the only hope or comfort left to him (verses 13-16). JOB 17:1 MY BREATH IS CORRUPT; or, _my spirit is oppressed. _But the physical meaning is the more probable one. A fetid breath is one of the surest signs of approaching dissolution. MY DAYS ARE EXTINCT; or, _cut off_. The verb used does not occur elsewhere. The graves are ready for me

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, eternal glory and happiness in another world, that is laid up in heaven, and for which he was looking and waiting by faith; but his hope of outward happiness, and of being restored to his former state of prosperity, or a better, which his friends encouraged him to; this had no place in him, nor did he see any reason to cherish it; all ground and foundation of it was removed, as he apprehended; there was nothing on which he could build such an hope as that, see Job 6:11; AS FOR MY HOPE, WHO SHALL SEE IT? that is, which his friends would have him hope for, a line house, a large estate, a nu

CHAPTER S 16-17 JOB'S REPLY TO ELIPHAZ _ 1. Miserable comforters are ye all (Job 16:1)_ 2. Oh God! Thou hast done it! (Job 16:6) 3. Yet I look to Thee (Job 16:15) 4. Trouble upon trouble; self-pity (Job 17:1) 5. Where is now my hope? (Job 17:13) Job 16:1. How masterfully he meets their wrong accusations and how he brings forth his suffering afresh, yet always with that horrible nightmare, God is not for me, but against me! Such things Eliphaz spoke he had h

JOB 16:22 TO JOB 17:16. Job pleads in favour of his prayer for Divine vindication, that death is before him and he has no hope, if he must now die. JOB 17:2 is obscure; the general sense seems to be that Job complains of the delusive hopes, held out by the friends, of return to health and prosperity (Peake). Job 17:3 continues the idea of Job 16:20 f. God, as Job's advocate, is to give to God as his creditor a pledge that He will in the future vindicate him. Who else will strike hands with Job over such a bargain?...

Final repudiation by Job of the false hopes of recovery which the friends held out to him. He knows better, _his_hope is in the grave. Turning with a last word to his friends Job bids them renew as often as they chose their attempts to explain his condition, they should only shew themselves ignorant and incapable (Job 17:10). The hopes they held out were vain; his days were at an end and all the enterprises and dearest purposes of his life for ever broken off (Job 17:11). His hope was in the grave, where alone he would find rest (Job 17:13)....

AND WHERE IS NOW MY HOPE?— The repetition of the word _hope_ is extremely elegant in this place. The two verses may be thus connoted; _Where now, pray, can be my hope? my hope indeed! whoever have a mind to see it,_ (Job 17:16.) _they must descend to the confines of the grave, seeing we shall go down to the dust together._ Houbigant renders the last verse, _It_ [my hope] _shall descend together with me into the grave: it shall rest with me in the dust._ REFLECTIONS.—1st, Job wished for a fair trial of his case; but it must be soon, or death would prevent him. 1. He speaks of himself, as of one at the point of death, his breath corrupt through his disease, and drawn with difficulty; his days extinct, the last of them just at their end, and the graves of his fathers open, as ready for his reception. _Note;_ (1.) Though the breath of natural life wil