_AFTER THIS OPENED JOB HIS MOUTH, AND CURSED HIS DAY._ Opened Job his mouth. The Orientals speaks seldom, and then sententiously. Hence, this formula, expressing deliberation and gravity (Psalms 78:2). _ Formally began._ CURSED HIS DAY - the strict Hebrew word for cursing х_ WAYªQALEEL_ (H7043)]; n... [ Continue Reading ]
_AND JOB SPAKE, AND SAID,_ SPAKE - Hebrew, answered - i:e., not to any actual question that preceded, but to the question virtually involved in the case. His outburst is singularly wild and bold (Jeremiah 20:14). To desire to die, so as to be free from sin, is a mark of grace; to desire to die, so a... [ Continue Reading ]
_LET THE DAY PERISH WHEREIN I WAS BORN, AND THE NIGHT IN WHICH IT WAS SAID, THERE IS A MAN CHILD CONCEIVED._ The night in which - rather, 'the night which said.' The words in italics are not in the Hebrew. Night is personified, and poetically made to speak. So in Job 3:7 and Psalms 19:2. The birth... [ Continue Reading ]
_LET THAT DAY BE DARKNESS; LET NOT GOD REGARD IT FROM ABOVE, NEITHER LET THE LIGHT SHINE UPON IT._ Let not God regard it - rather, more poetically, Seek it out х_ DAARASH_ (H1875)]. 'Let not God stoop from his bright throne to raise it up from its dark hiding-place.' The curse on the day in Job 3:3... [ Continue Reading ]
_LET DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH STAIN IT; LET A CLOUD DWELL UPON IT; LET THE BLACKNESS OF THE DAY TERRIFY IT._ Let ... the shadow of death (deepest darkness, Isaiah 9:2) STAIN IT. This is a later sense of the verb х_ GAA'AL_ (H1350)] (Gesenius); better the old and more poetic idea, 'Let dar... [ Continue Reading ]
_AS FOR THAT NIGHT, LET DARKNESS SEIZE UPON IT; LET IT NOT BE JOINED UNTO THE DAYS OF THE YEAR, LET IT NOT COME INTO THE NUMBER OF THE MONTHS._ Seize upon it - as its prey; i:e., utterly dissolve it. JOINED ONTO THE DAYS OF THE YEAR - rather, by poetic personification, 'Let it not rejoice [yichal... [ Continue Reading ]
_LO, LET THAT NIGHT BE SOLITARY, LET NO JOYFUL VOICE COME THEREIN._ Solitary - rather, unfruitful. 'Would that it had not given birth to me' (Maurer and Umbreit).... [ Continue Reading ]
_LET THEM CURSE IT THAT CURSE THE DAY, WHO ARE READY TO RAISE UP THEIR MOURNING._ Them ... that curse the day. If mourning be the right rendering in the latter clause of this verse; these words refer to the hired mourners of the dead (Jeremiah 9:17). But the Hebrew for mourning х_ LIWYAATAAN_ (H388... [ Continue Reading ]
_LET THE STARS OF THE TWILIGHT THEREOF BE DARK; LET IT LOOK FOR LIGHT, BUT HAVE NONE; NEITHER LET IT SEE THE DAWNING OF THE DAY:_ Dawning of the day - literally, eyelashes of morning; х_ Bª`AP`APEEY_ (H6079)] eyelashes, х_ SHAACHAR_ (H7837)] morning. The Arab poets call the sun the eye of day. His... [ Continue Reading ]
_BECAUSE IT SHUT NOT UP THE DOORS OF MY MOTHER'S WOMB, NOR HID SORROW FROM MINE EYES._ No JFB commentary on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHY DIED I NOT FROM THE WOMB? WHY DID I NOT GIVE UP THE GHOST WHEN I CAME OUT OF THE BELLY?_ Died ... from the womb - why died I not as soon as I came forth from the womb?... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHY DID THE KNEES PREVENT ME? OR WHY THE BREASTS THAT I SHOULD SUCK?_ WHY DID THE KNEES PREVENT ME? - old English for anticipate my wants. The reference is to the solemn recognition of a newborn child by the father, who used to place it on his knees as his own, whom he was bound to rear (Genesis 30... [ Continue Reading ]
_FOR NOW SHOULD I HAVE LAIN STILL AND BEEN QUIET, I SHOULD HAVE SLEPT: THEN HAD I BEEN AT REST,_ Lain ... quiet ... slept - a gradation. I should not only have lain, but been quiet and not only been quiet, but slept. Death in Scripture is called sleep (Psalms 13:3); especially in the New Testament,... [ Continue Reading ]
_WITH KINGS AND COUNSELLORS OF THE EARTH, WHICH BUILT DESOLATE PLACES FOR THEMSELVES;_ With kings ... which built desolate places for themselves - who built up for themselves what proved to be (not palaces, but) ruins! The wounded spirit of Job, once a great emir himself, sick of the vain struggles... [ Continue Reading ]
_OR WITH PRINCES THAT HAD GOLD, WHO FILLED THEIR HOUSES WITH SILVER:_ Filled their houses with silver. Some take this of the treasures which the ancients used to bury with their dead. But see the last verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
_OR AS AN HIDDEN UNTIMELY BIRTH I HAD NOT BEEN; AS INFANTS WHICH NEVER SAW LIGHT._ Untimely birth (Psalms 58:8) - preferable to the life of the restless miser (Ecclesiastes 6:3).... [ Continue Reading ]
_THERE THE WICKED CEASE FROM TROUBLING; AND THERE THE WEARY BE AT REST._ The wicked - originally meaning those ever restless, full desires (Isaiah 57:20). WEARY - literally, those whose strength is wearied out (Revelation 14:13) with the vexatious caused by the ungodly.... [ Continue Reading ]
_THERE THE PRISONERS REST TOGETHER; THEY HEAR NOT THE VOICE OF THE OPPRESSOR._ There the prisoners rest - from their chains. VOICE OF THE OPPRESSOR - driving them with threats to task work (cf. an instance, Exodus 5:13).... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE SMALL AND GREAT ARE THERE; AND THE SERVANT IS FREE FROM HIS MASTER._ The small and great are there - on the same footing, without distinction of rank (Proverbs 22:2). SERVANT. The slave is there manumitted from slavery.... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHEREFORE IS LIGHT GIVEN TO HIM THAT IS IN MISERY, AND LIFE UNTO THE BITTER IN SOUL;_ Wherefore (seeing that the dead are free from every earthly sorrow) is light given - literally, 'giveth He light,' namely, God. Often omitted reverentially (Job 24:23; Ecclesiastes 9:9). Light - i:e., life. The j... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHICH LONG FOR DEATH, BUT IT COMETH NOT; AND DIG FOR IT MORE THAN FOR HID TREASURES;_ No JFB commentary on these verses.... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHY IS LIGHT GIVEN TO A MAN WHOSE WAY IS HID, AND WHOM GOD HATH HEDGED IN?_ Whose way is hid. The picture of Job is drawn from a wanderer who has lost his way, and who is hedged in, so as to have no exit of escape (Hosea 2:6; Lamentations 3:7; Lamentations 3:9).... [ Continue Reading ]
_FOR MY SIGHING COMETH BEFORE I EAT, AND MY ROARINGS ARE POURED OUT LIKE THE WATERS._ My sighing cometh before I eat - i:e., prevents my eating. Before I begin to eat, my sighs interrupt me, so that I cannot take 'my food' (so the Hebrew, cf. margin) - i:e., my necessary food (Umbreit). Maurer tran... [ Continue Reading ]
_FOR THE THING WHICH I GREATLY FEARED IS COME UPON ME, AND THAT WHICH I WAS AFRAID OF IS COME UNTO ME._ The thing which I ... feared is come upon me. In the beginning of his trials, when he heard of the loss of one blessing he feared the loss of another, and when he heard of the loss of that he fea... [ Continue Reading ]
_I WAS NOT IN SAFETY, NEITHER HAD I REST, NEITHER WAS I QUIET; YET TROUBLE CAME._ I was not in safety ... yet trouble came - referring, not to his former state but to the beginning of his troubles. From that time I have had no rest there has been no intermission of sorrows. And, although I have bee... [ Continue Reading ]