Job 29:1
_MOREOVER JOB CONTINUED HIS PARABLE, AND SAID,_ Job pauses for a reply. None being made, he proceeds to illustrate the mysteriousness of God's dealings, as set forth (Job 28:1) by his own case.... [ Continue Reading ]
_MOREOVER JOB CONTINUED HIS PARABLE, AND SAID,_ Job pauses for a reply. None being made, he proceeds to illustrate the mysteriousness of God's dealings, as set forth (Job 28:1) by his own case.... [ Continue Reading ]
_OH THAT I WERE AS IN MONTHS PAST, AS IN THE DAYS WHEN GOD PRESERVED ME;_ Preserved me - from calamity.... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHEN HIS CANDLE SHINED UPON MY HEAD, AND WHEN BY HIS LIGHT I WALKED THROUGH DARKNESS;_ Candle - when His favour shone on me (note, 18:6; Psalms 18:28). DARKNESS - by His safeguard I passed secure through dangers. Perhaps alluding to the lights carried before caravans in nightly travels through des... [ Continue Reading ]
_AS I WAS IN THE DAYS OF MY YOUTH, WHEN THE SECRET OF GOD WAS UPON MY TABERNACLE;_ Youth - rather х_ CHOREP_ (H2779) autumn], the time of the ripe fruits of my prosperity. The Vulgate, as the English version, applies it to youth, as the Orientalists began their year with autumn, the most temperate... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHEN THE ALMIGHTY WAS YET WITH ME, WHEN MY CHILDREN WERE ABOUT ME;_ No JFB commentary on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHEN I WASHED MY STEPS WITH BUTTER, AND THE ROCK POURED ME OUT RIVERS OF OIL;_ Butter - rather, cream-literally, thick milk. Wherever I turned my steps the richest milk and oil flowed in to me abundantly. Image from pastoral life. Literal washing of the feet in milk is not meant, as the second cla... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHEN I WENT OUT TO THE GATE THROUGH THE CITY, WHEN I PREPARED MY SEAT IN THE STREET!_ The great influence Job had over young and old, and noblemen. THROUGH ... STREET - rather, 'when I went out of my house in the country (see Job 1:1, prologue) to the gate, (ascending) up to х_ `ªLEEY_ (H5921)] ... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHEN THE EAR HEARD ME, THEN IT BLESSED ME; AND WHEN THE EYE SAW ME, IT GAVE WITNESS TO ME:_ Blessed - extrolled my virtues (Proverbs 31:28). Omit me after heard; whoever heard of me in general, not in the market-place (7-10), praised me. I was praised not only by those who saw me, but also by thos... [ Continue Reading ]
_BECAUSE I DELIVERED THE POOR THAT CRIED, AND THE FATHERLESS, AND HIM THAT HAD NONE TO HELP HIM._ The grounds on which Job was praised (Job 29:11) - his helping the afflicted (Psalms 72:12), who cried to him for help, as a judge, or as one possessed of means of charity; Translate, The fatherless, w... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEN I SAID, I SHALL DIE IN MY NEST, AND I SHALL MULTIPLY MY DAYS AS THE SAND._ I said - in my heart (Psalms 30:6). IN - rather, 'with my nest:' as the second clause refers to long life. Instead of my family dying before me, as now, I IN - rather, 'with my nest:' as the second clause refers to l... [ Continue Reading ]
_MY ROOT WAS SPREAD OUT BY THE WATERS, AND THE DEW LAY ALL NIGHT UPON MY BRANCH._ Literally, opened to the waters: continually irrigated by them. Opposed to Job 17:16. "His roots shall be dried up beneath." Vigorous health.... [ Continue Reading ]
_MY GLORY WAS FRESH IN ME, AND MY BOW WAS RENEWED IN MY HAND._ My renown, like my bodily health, was continually fresh. BOW - metaphor from war, for My strength, which gains me 'renown,' was ever renewed (Jeremiah 49:35).... [ Continue Reading ]
_UNTO ME MEN GAVE EAR, AND WAITED, AND KEPT SILENCE AT MY COUNSEL._ Job reverts with perculiar pleasure to his former dignity in assemblies (Job 29:7).... [ Continue Reading ]
_AFTER MY WORDS THEY SPAKE NOT AGAIN; AND MY SPEECH DROPPED UPON THEM._ Not again - did not contradict me. DROPPED - effected their minds, as the genial rain does the soil on which it gently drops (Amos 7:16; Deuteronomy 32:2; Song of Solomon 4:11).... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND THEY WAITED FOR ME AS FOR THE RAIN; AND THEY OPENED THEIR MOUTH WIDE AS FOR THE LATTER RAIN._ Image of Job 29:22 continued. They waited for my salutary counsel, as the dry soil does for the refreshing rain. OPENED ... MOUTH - panted for; Oriental image (Psalms 119:131). The "early rain" is in... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF I LAUGHED ON THEM, THEY BELIEVED IT NOT; AND THE LIGHT OF MY COUNTENANCE THEY CAST NOT DOWN._ When I relaxed from my wonted gravity (a virtue much esteemed in the East), and smiled on them, they could hardly credit it; and yet, notwithstanding my condescension, they did not cast aside reverence... [ Continue Reading ]
_I CHOSE OUT THEIR WAY, AND SAT CHIEF, AND DWELT AS A KING IN THE ARMY, AS ONE THAT COMFORTETH THE MOURNERS._ I chose ... their way - i:e., I willingly went up to their assembly from my country residence (Job 29:7). (Maurer.) 'If I chose to go in their way' - i:e., if their ways pleased me, I then... [ Continue Reading ]