Job 21:4

_AS FOR ME, IS MY COMPLAINT TO MAN? AND IF IT WERE SO, WHY SHOULD NOT MY SPIRIT BE TROUBLED?_ Job's difficulty was not as to man, but as to God, why He so afflicted him, as if he were the guilty hypocrite which the friends alleged him, to be. Vulgate translates it, 'my disputation.' IF IT WERE - rather, since this is the case. TROUBLED - literally 'short:' rendered impatient....

1-6 Job comes closer to the question in dispute. This was, Whether outward prosperity is a mark of the true church, and the true members of it, so that ruin of a man's prosperity proves him a hypocrite? This they asserted, but Job denied. If they looked upon him, they might see misery enough to demand compassion, and their bold interpretations of this mysterious providence should be turned into silent wonder....

Verse Job 21:4. _AS FOR ME_] האנכי _heanochi_, "Alas for me!" Is it not with a man that I speak? And, if this be the case, why should not my spirit be troubled? I do not reply against my _Maker_: I suffer much from God and man; why then may I not have the privilege of complaining to creatures like myself?...

AS FOR ME, IS MY COMPLAINT TO MAN? - There is some difficulty in the interpretation of this verse, and considerable variety of explanation may be seen among expositors. The “object” of the verse is plain. It is to state a reason why they should hear him with patience and without interruption. The meaning of this part of the verse probably is, that his principal difficulty was not with his friends, but with God. It was not so much what they had said, that gave him trouble, as it was what God had done. Severe and cutting as were their rebukes, yet it was far more trying to him to be treated as he had been by God, “as if” he were a great sinner. That was what he could not understand. Perplexed and troubled, therefore, by the mysteriousness of the divine dealings, his friends ought to be willing to listen patiently to what he had to say; and in his anxiety to find out “why” God had treated h...

EXPOSITION JOB 21:1 Job answers Zophar, as he had answered Bildad, in a single not very lengthy chapter. After a few caustic introductory remarks (verses 2-4), he takes up the challenge which Zophar had thrown out, respecting the certain punishment, in this life, of the wicked (Job 20:4), and maintains, "in language of unparalleled boldness'' (Cook), the converse of the proposition. The wicked, he says, live, grow old, attain to great power, have a numerous and flourishing offspring, prosper, grow rich, spend their time in feasting and jollity—nay, openly renounce God and decline to pray to him—yet suffer no harm, and when they die, go down to the grave without suffering, "in a moment" (verses 5-15). To the suggestion that from time to time they are cut off suddenly in a signal wa

AS FOR ME, [IS] MY COMPLAINT TO MAN?.... Job had been complaining, and still was, and continued to do so after this, but not to them, his friends, nor any other man; his complaint was made to God, and of him he thought he was hardly dealt with by him, he could not tell for what; he had desired to know the reason why he contended with him in such a manner, but could get no satisfaction; when his friends came first to visit him, they said nothing to him, nor he to them; and when he did speak, it was not to them, but to God, of whom he complains; and expostulates with him why he had ever been born, or had not died as soon as born, and not have lived to have seen such unhappy days, and endured so much affliction and trouble: AND IF [IT WERE SO]; that he had made his complaint to man, since it would have been in vain, and to no purpose, he should have got no relief, nor obtained any satisfac...

CHAPTER 21 JOB'S REPLY _ 1. Hear my solemn words--then mock on (Job 21:1)_ 2. His testimony concerning the experiences of the wicked (Job 21:7) 3. Your answers are nothing but falsehoods (Job 21:27) Job 21:1. This answer shows that Job gets the upper hand over his accusing friends in this controversy. In a masterly way he meets their arguments. He wants them to hear diligently, and if they choose, after he has spoken, they may mock on. He is not complaining to man, or making his appeal to these human friends. He begins to look for another helper, even to God....

JOB 21. JOB'S REPLY. Zophar was graphic and vigorous, but had nothing to say. Nevertheless his speech suggests to Job his next argument. The facts are quite the opposite of what Zophar has said: the wicked do not die prematurely. Is the doctrine of Providence true? JOB 21:1. Job invites the friends to listen in silence (Job 21:5) at the terrible truths he has to disclose (Job 21:6). In Job 21:4 read of man (_mg.) :_ the meaning is that Job complains of God. JOB 21:7. The prosperity of the godless. In...

MAN. Hebrew. _'adam._ App-14. WHY... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis._ App-6. MY SPIRIT. myself. Hebrew. _ruach_ (App-9). Put by Figure of speech _Synecdoche_ (of the Part), App-6, for the whole person, for emphasis....

_is my complaint to man_ Rather, OF, or, CONCERNING man. The whole first clause means, Is _my_complaint about man? _my_emphatic. The words may express a reason for their listening to him, it is not of them nor of men at all that _he_complains; it is of another, and of a moral riddle and evil that may well excuse his impatience. _And if it were so … troubled_ Rather, OR WHEREFORE SHOULD I NOT BE IMPATIENT? lit. _should not my spirit be short?_...