Job 21:1
_BUT JOB ANSWERED AND SAID,_ No JFB commentary on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
_BUT JOB ANSWERED AND SAID,_ No JFB commentary on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
_HEAR DILIGENTLY MY SPEECH, AND LET THIS BE YOUR CONSOLATIONS._ Consolations. If you will listen calmly to me, this will be regarded by me as "consolations;" alluding to Eliphaz' boasted "consolations" (Job 15:11), which Job felt more as aggravations ('mockings,' Job 21:3; Job 21:34) than consolati... [ Continue Reading ]
_SUFFER ME THAT I MAY SPEAK; AND AFTER THAT I HAVE SPOKEN, MOCK ON._ 'Then you may go on with your mockings' (Job 17:2).... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 -... [ Continue Reading ]
_MARK ME, AND BE ASTONISHED, AND LAY YOUR HAND UPON YOUR MOUTH._ Lay ... hand upon ... mouth - (Proverbs 30:32; Judges 18:19). So the pagan god of silence was pictured with his hand on his mouth. There was enough in Job's case to awe them into silence (Job 17:8). Cease to try to explain these anoma... [ Continue Reading ]
_EVEN WHEN I REMEMBER I AM AFRAID, AND TREMBLING TAKETH HOLD ON MY FLESH._ Remember - think on it. Can you wonder that I broke out into complaints, when the struggle was not with men but with the Almighty? Reconcile, if you can, the ceaseless woes of the innocent with the divine justice. Is it not... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHEREFORE DO THE WICKED LIVE, BECOME OLD, YEA, ARE MIGHTY IN POWER?_ Wherefore do the wicked live. The answer is (Romans 2:4; 1 Timothy 1:16; Psalms 73:18; Ecclesiastes 8:11; Luke 2:35, end; Proverbs 16:4; Romans 9:22). OLD - in opposition to the friends who asserted that sinners are "cut off" ea... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEIR SEED IS ESTABLISHED IN THEIR SIGHT WITH THEM, AND THEIR OFFSPRING BEFORE THEIR EYES._ In opposition to Job 18:19; Job 5:4; Jeremiah 12:1; Psalms 73:3, etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEIR HOUSES ARE SAFE FROM FEAR, NEITHER IS THE ROD OF GOD UPON THEM._ Literally, peace from fear: with poetic force. Their house is peace itself, far removed from fear. Opposed to the friends' assertion as to the bad (Job 15:21; Job 20:26), and, conversely, the good (Job 5:23).... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEIR BULL GENDERETH, AND FAILETH NOT; THEIR COW CALVETH, AND CASTETH NOT HER CALF._ Their cattle (i:e., cows) conceive. The first clause of the verse describes an easy conception, the second a happy birch (Umbreit). I prefer the English version.... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEY SEND FORTH THEIR LITTLE ONES LIKE A FLOCK, AND THEIR CHILDREN DANCE._ Send forth - namely, out of doors, to their happy sports under the skies, like a joyful flock sent to the pastures. LITTLE ONES - like lambkins. CHILDREN - somewhat older than the former. DANCE - not formal dances, but... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEY TAKE THE TIMBREL AND HARP, AND REJOICE AT THE SOUND OF THE ORGAN._ Take - rather, lift up the voice (sing) to the note of х_ NAASAA'_ (H5375)] (Isaiah 42:11). (Umbreit.) TIMBREL - rather, tambourine. ORGAN - not the modern "organ," but the 'pipe' (Genesis 4:21). The first clause refers to... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEY SPEND THEIR DAYS IN WEALTH, AND IN A MOMENT GO DOWN TO THE GRAVE._ Wealth - old English for prosperity. IN A MOMENT - not by a lingering disease. Great blessings! Lengthened life, with prosperity, and a sudden painless death (Psalms 73:4; "There are no bands in their death;" cf. Job 24:24).... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEREFORE THEY SAY UNTO GOD, DEPART FROM US; FOR WE DESIRE NOT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THY WAYS._ Therefore - rather, And yet they are such as say, etc. - i:e., say, not in so many words, but virtually, by their conduct (so the Gergesenes expressly, Matthew 8:34). How differently the godly! (Isaiah 2:3.)... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHAT IS THE ALMIGHTY, THAT WE SHOULD SERVE HIM? AND WHAT PROFIT SHOULD WE HAVE, IF WE PRAY UNTO HIM?_ (Cf. Jeremiah 2:20, "I will not serve" (God), margin; Proverbs 30:9; Exodus 5:2, Pharaoh, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice? I know not the Lord.") WHAT PROFIT - (Job 35:3; Malachi 3... [ Continue Reading ]
_LO, THEIR GOOD IS NOT IN THEIR HAND: THE COUNSEL OF THE WICKED IS FAR FROM ME._ Not in their hand - but in the hand of God. This is Job's difficulty, that God, who has sinners' prosperity (good) in His hand, should allow them to have it. Maurer translates, 'Lo, is not their good in their hand!' Do... [ Continue Reading ]
_HOW OFT IS THE CANDLE OF THE WICKED PUT OUT! AND HOW OFT COMETH THEIR DESTRUCTION UPON THEM! GOD DISTRIBUTETH SORROWS IN HIS ANGER._ Job in this whole passage, down to verse 21, quotes the assertion of the friends as to the short continuance of the sinner's prosperity, not his own sentiments. In J... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEY ARE AS STUBBLE BEFORE THE WIND, AND AS CHAFF THAT THE STORM CARRIETH AWAY._ Job alludes to a like sentiment of Bildad (Job 18:18), using his own previous words (Job 13:25). CHAFF - (Psalms 1:4; Psalms 35:5).... [ Continue Reading ]
_GOD LAYETH UP HIS INIQUITY FOR HIS CHILDREN: HE REWARDETH HIM, AND HE SHALL KNOW IT._ Equally questionable is the friends' assertion, that if the godless himself is not punished, the children are (Job 18:19; Job 20:10); and that God rewardeth him here for his iniquity, and that he shall know it to... [ Continue Reading ]
_HIS EYES SHALL SEE HIS DESTRUCTION, AND HE SHALL DRINK OF THE WRATH OF THE ALMIGHTY._ Another questionable assertion of the friends, that the sinner sees his own and his children's destruction in his lifetime. DRINK - (Psalms 11:6; Isaiah 51:17; Lamentations 4:21).... [ Continue Reading ]
_FOR WHAT PLEASURE HATH HE IN HIS HOUSE AFTER HIM, WHEN THE NUMBER OF HIS MONTHS IS CUT OFF IN THE MIDST?_ The argument of the friends, in proof of Job 21:20. What pleasure can he have from his house (children) when he is dead? (Ecclesiastes 3:22, "after him.") WHEN THE NUMBER, ETC. - (Job 14:21).... [ Continue Reading ]
_SHALL ANY TEACH GOD KNOWLEDGE? SEEING HE JUDGETH THOSE THAT ARE HIGH._ Reply of Job.-`In all these assertions you try to teach God how He ought to deal with men, rather than prove that He does in fact so deal with them. Experience is against you. God gives prosperity and adversity as it pleases Hi... [ Continue Reading ]
_ONE DIETH IN HIS FULL STRENGTH, BEING WHOLLY AT EASE AND QUIET._ Literally, in the bone х_ `ETSEM_ (H6106)] of his perfection - i:e., the full strength of unimpaired prosperity (Umbreit).... [ Continue Reading ]
_HIS BREASTS ARE FULL OF MILK, AND HIS BONES ARE MOISTENED WITH MARROW._ Breasts - rather, skins or vessels for fluids (Lee). But Umbreit has 'stations or resting-places of his herds near water:' in opposition to Zophar (Job 20:17), the fist clause refers to his abundant substance, the second to hi... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND ANOTHER DIETH IN THE BITTERNESS OF HIS SOUL, AND NEVER EATETH WITH PLEASURE._ (Cf. Job 3:20; Job 9:23.) (Ecclesiastes 9:2.)... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEY SHALL LIE DOWN ALIKE IN THE DUST, AND THE WORMS SHALL COVER THEM._ his guilt, as if proved by his sufferings.... [ Continue Reading ]
_BEHOLD, I KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS, AND THE DEVICES WHICH YE WRONGFULLY IMAGINE AGAINST ME._ Their wrongful thoughts against Job are stated by him in Job 21:28. They do not honestly name Job, but insinuate... [ Continue Reading ]
_FOR YE SAY, WHERE IS THE HOUSE OF THE PRINCE? AND WHERE ARE THE DWELLING PLACES OF THE WICKED?_ Ye say - referring to Zophar (Job 20:7). THE HOUSE - referring to the fall of the house of Job's oldest son (Job 1:19), and the destruction of his family. PRINCE. The parallel "wicked" in the second... [ Continue Reading ]
_HAVE YE NOT ASKED THEM THAT GO BY THE WAY? AND DO YE NOT KNOW THEIR TOKENS,_ Job, seeing that the friends will not admit him as an impartial judge, as they consider his calamities prove his guilt, begs them to ask the opinion of travelers (Lamentations 1:12), who have the experience drawn from obs... [ Continue Reading ]
_THAT THE WICKED IS RESERVED TO THE DAY OF DESTRUCTION? THEY SHALL BE BROUGHT FORTH TO THE DAY OF WRATH._ Their testimony (referring perhaps to those who had visited the region where Abraham, who enjoyed a revelation, then lived) is, "the wicked is (now) spared (reserved) against the day of destruct... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHO SHALL DECLARE HIS WAY TO HIS FACE? AND WHO SHALL REPAY HIM WHAT HE HATH DONE?_ i.e., Who dares to chirp him openly with his bad ways? namely, in this present life. So powerful is the wicked man now. He shall, I grant (Job 21:30), be 'repaid' hereafter.... [ Continue Reading ]
_YET SHALL HE BE BROUGHT TO THE GRAVE, AND SHALL REMAIN IN THE TOMB._ Yet - rather, And, brought-with solemn pomp (Ps. 14:15). Not only when alive, but even when dead, he is treated with honour. GRAVE - literally, graves; i:e., the place where the graves are. REMAIN IN - rather, watch on х_ YIS... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE CLODS OF THE VALLEY SHALL BE SWEET UNTO HIM, AND EVERY MAN SHALL DRAW AFTER HIM, AS THERE ARE INNUMERABLE BEFORE HIM._ As the classic has it: 'The earth is light upon him.' His repose shall be "sweet." DRAW - follow. As in Judges 4:6. He shall share the common lot of mortals: no worse off th... [ Continue Reading ]
_HOW THEN COMFORT YE ME IN VAIN, SEEING IN YOUR ANSWERS THERE REMAINETH FALSEHOOD?_ Falsehood - literally, wickedness. Your boasted "consolations" (Job 15:11) are contradicted by facts ("vain"); they therefore only betray your evil intent ("wickedness") against me. Remarks: (1) It has often been a... [ Continue Reading ]