Job 17:6

_HE HATH MADE ME ALSO A BYWORD OF THE PEOPLE; AND AFORETIME I WAS AS A TABRET._ He - God. The poet reverentially suppresses the name of God when speaking of calamities inflicted. BYWORD - (Deuteronomy 28:37; Psalms 69:11). My awful punishment makes my name execrated everywhere, as if I must have been superlatively had to have earned it. AFORETIME ... TABRET - as David was honoured (1 Samuel 18:6) [from _ TOP_ (H8596), a drum]. Rather, from a different Hebrew root х_ TOPET_ (H8611), from tuwp], the sound expressing the act of spitting-`I am treated to my face as an object

1-9 Job reflects upon the harsh censures his friends had passed upon him, and, looking on himself as a dying man, he appeals to God. Our time is ending. It concerns us carefully to redeem the days of time, and to spend them in getting ready for eternity. We see the good use the righteous should make of Job's afflictions from God, from enemies, and from friends. Instead of being discouraged in the service of God, by the hard usage this faithful servant of God met with, they should be made bold to proceed and persevere therein. Those who keep their eye upon heaven as their end, will keep their feet in the paths of religion as their way, whatever difficulties and discouragements they may meet with....

Verse Job 17:6. _HE HATH MADE ME ALSO A BY-WORD_] My afflictions and calamities have become a subject of general conversation, so that my poverty and affliction are proverbial. _As poor as Job, As_ _afflicted as Job_, are proverbs that have even reached our times and are still in use. _AFORETIME I WAS AS A TABRET._] This is not the translation of the Hebrew ותפת לפנים אהיה _vethopheth lephanim eheyeh_. Instead of לפנים _lephanim_, I would read לפניהם _liphneghem_, and then the clause might be translated thus: _I shall be as a furnace_, or _consuming fire_ (Topheth) _before them_. They shall have little reason to mock when they see the end of the Lord's dealings with me; my example will be a consuming fire to them, and my false friends will be confounded. COVERDALE translates thus: _He hath_ made me as it were a byworde

HE HATH ALSO - That is, God has done this. ALSO A BY-WORD - A proverb (משׁל _mâshâl_); a term of reproach, ridicule, or scorn. lie has exposed me to derision. AND AFORETIME - Margin “before them.” The margin is the correct translation of the Hebrew, פנים _pânı̂ym_. It means, in their presence, or in their view. I WAS AS A TABRET - This is an unhappy translation. The true meaning is,” I am become their “abhorrence,” or am to them an object of contempt.” Vulgate, “I am an exampie (“_exemplum_”) to them.” Septuagint, “I am become a laughter (γέλως _gelōs_) to them.” The Chaldee renders it, “Thou hast placed me for a proverb to the people, and I shall be Gehenna ...

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

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, to whom an example might be set by one or more of Job's friends. The name of Job is to this day a byword or proverb among men, both for his poverty and his patience; if a man is described as very poor, he is said to be as poor as Job; or if very patient under his afflictions, he is said to be as patient as Job; but as neither of these are to the disgrace of Job, something else seems rather intended here, even something to his reproach; as when a man was represented as a very wicked man, or an hypocrite, it used to be said, such an one is as wicked a creature, and as arrant an hypocrite, as Jo...

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?...

AFORETIME. in former times. Compare Ruth 4:7, TABRET. a drum. Hebrew. _topheth._ To the sound and warning of which people gave heed. See note on 1 Samuel 10:5. After this verse imagine. pause....

Job 16:18 to Job 17:9. Job, dying a martyr's death, beseeches God that He would uphold his right with God and against men, and give him a pledge that He will make his innocence appear In Job 16:12 Job described the terrible hostility of God, who dashed him to pieces, laid him in ruins and poured out his soul to the ground brought him unto death. Then the other thought rose in his mind that all this befell him though he was innocent both in life and in spirit. Here he comes to the point at which he always loses self-control when he realizes that in spite of his innocence he is held guilty. This is an overwhelming feeling, and under it Job either wildly challenges the rectitude of God, as in the first cycle of speeches; or he flings off from him