Job 9:26

_THEY ARE PASSED AWAY AS THE SWIFT SHIPS: AS THE EAGLE THAT HASTETH TO THE PREY._ Swift ships, х_ 'ªNIYOWT_ (H591) _ 'EEBEH_ (H16)] - rather, canoes of reeds, or papyrus-skiffs, used on the Nile, swift from their lightness - "vessels of bulrushes" (Isaiah 18:2)....

25-35 What little need have we of pastimes, and what great need to redeem time, when it runs on so fast towards eternity! How vain the enjoyments of time, which we may quite lose while yet time continues! The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards; so will not the remembrance of having got worldly wealth, when it is all lost and gone. Job's complaint of God, as one that could not be appeased and would not relent, was the language of his corruption. There is a Mediator, a Daysman, or Umpire, for us, even God's own beloved Son, who has purchased peace for us with the blood of his cross, who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through him. If we trust in his name, our sins will be buried in the depths of the sea, we shall be washed from all our filthiness, and made whiter than snow, so that none can lay any thing to our charge. We shall be clothe...

Verse Job 9:26. _AS THE SWIFT SHIPS_] אניות אבה _oniyoth ebeh_. _Ships_ _of desire_, or _ships of Ebeh_, says our _margin_; perhaps more correctly, _inflated ships_, the sails bellying out with a fair brisk wind, tide favourable, and the vessels themselves lightly freighted. The _Vulgate_ has, _Like ships freighted with apples. Ships laden_ _with the best fruits_. - TARGUM. _Ships well adapted for_ _sailing_. - ARABIC. _Shipes that be good under sale_. - COVERDALE. Probably this relates to the light fast-sailing ships on the Nile, which were made of _reeds_ or _papyrus_. Perhaps the idea to be seized is not so much the _swiftness_ of the passage, as their leaving _no trace_ or _track_ behind them. But instead of אבה _ebeh_, איבה eybah, hostile ships or the _ships_...

THEY ARE PASSED AWAY AS THE SWIFT SHIPS - Margin, Ships of desire; or ships of Ebeh. Hebrew אבה אניה _'onı̂yâh_ _'êbeh_. Vulgate, _Naves poma portantes_. Septuagint, “Is there any track left by ships in their passage?” The Chaldee renders it as the Vulgate, “Ships bearing good fruit;” that is, as such fruit was perishable, haste was required in order to reach the place of destination. Our translators were evidently perplexed by the word אבה _'êbeh_, as appears by their placing two different phrases in the margin. “Ships of desire,” denotes the value or desirableness of such ships; and the phrase, “Ships of Ebeh,” denotes their confession of ignorance as to the meaning of the word. Gesenius explains the word to mean reed, bulrush, or papyrus - from an Arabic use of the word, and supposes that the reference is to the light vessels made of t

EXPOSITION JOB 9:1 Job, in answer to Bildad, admits the truth of his arguments, but declines to attempt the justification which can alone entitle him to accept the favourable side of Bildad's alternative. Man cannot absolutely justify himself before God. It is in vain to attempt to do so. The contest is too unequal. On the one side perfect wisdom and absolute strength (verse 4); on the other, weakness, imperfection, ignorance. guilt (verses 17-20). And no "daysman," or umpire, between them; no third party to hold the balance even, and preside authoritatively over the controversy, and see that justice is done (verses 33-35). Were it otherwise, Job would not shrink from the controversy; but he thinks it ill arguing with omnipotent power. What he seems to lack is the absolute conviction expressed by Abraham in the emphatic words'"_ _Shall not the Judge of al

THEY ARE PASSED AWAY AS THE SWIFT SHIPS,.... Those that are lightest built, and run swiftest. Bar Tzemach thinks such vessels as are rowed with oars are meant, which may be called "ships of will or desire" b, as the words may be rendered, because they may be rowed at pleasure, and be carried to any place where and when a man thinks fit; whereas those that are not depend upon the wind, and that must be waited for; or they design such ships that are so swift in their motion, that they arrive to the haven as soon as men can well wish for and desire. Some render it "pirate ships", or "ships of enmity" c; such as are designed for spoil and plunder, and which are light ones, not loaded with goods, and therefore move swiftly: the Targum is, "ships burdened with precious fruits;'' and the Vulgate Latin version is, "ships carrying apples:'' now ships loaded with such sort of goods, with peris...

CHAPTER S 9-10 JOB ANSWERS BILDAD _ 1. The supremacy and power of God (Job 9:1)_ 2. How then can Job meet Him? (Job 9:11) 3. He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked (Job 9:22) 4. Confession of weakness and the need of a daysman (Job 9:25) 5. Murmuring against God (Job 10:1) 6. Welcoming death (Job 10:18) Job 9:1. The final words of Bildad seemed to have had a momentary soothing

Job again takes up his complaint, but in a quieter tone, so that he is able to imagine after all a way in which he might maintain his cause before God. He complains first of the shortness of his life. His time runs swiftly as a runner, as the light papyrus boats used on the Nile, as an eagle in its flight (Job 9:25 f.). If he should resolve to brighten up and treat his misery as a bad dream, what use? God will again put him on the rack. (We may associate Job's quieter moods with temporary relief from paroxysms of pain, which he knows full well, however, to be only temporary). All purifications are useless (Job 9:30 f.). God and he cannot come together on equal terms. If only there were an umpire between them, who could lay his hand upon both disputants, and enforce his decision upon them ...

SWIFT SHIPS. ships of _ebeh._ Hence vessels of bulrush _(eb)_. vessels of desire _('abeh),_ i.e. desiring to reach their haven; vessels of enmity _('eybah),_ i.e. pirate vessels; or vessels of the Nile _('abai,_ Abyssinian for Nile). Others, vessels of Joppa. Perhaps the last is best....

_the swift ships the ships of reed_. These skiffs, constructed of a wooden keel and the rest of reeds, are the "vessels of bulrushes" of Isaiah 18:2. They carried but one or two persons, and being light were extremely swift. The ancients were familiar with them; Plin. xiii. 11, ex ipso quidem papyro navigia texunt; and Lucan, _Phars_, iv. 36, conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro, (quoted in Gesenius, _Com. on Is_. i. p. 577). Job as usual heaps images together to picture out the brevity of his life, cf. ch. Job 7:6 _seq_. Here the images are new, a runner, a skiff of reed, an eagle swooping on his prey....