Job 8:1
_THEN ANSWERED BILDAD THE SHUHITE, AND SAID,_ No JFB commentary on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEN ANSWERED BILDAD THE SHUHITE, AND SAID,_ No JFB commentary on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
_HOW LONG WILT THOU SPEAK THESE THINGS? AND HOW LONG SHALL THE WORDS OF THY MOUTH BE LIKE A STRONG WIND?_ Like a strong wind - disregarding restraints, vain, rash, and daring against God.... [ Continue Reading ]
_DOTH GOD PERVERT JUDGMENT? OR DOTH THE ALMIGHTY PERVERT JUSTICE?_ Doth God pervert. The repetition of pervert gives an emphasis galling to Job. "Neither will the Almighty pervert judgment" (Job 34:12). 'Wouldest thou have God (as thy words imply) pervert judgment,' by letting thy sins go unpunishe... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF THY CHILDREN HAVE SINNED AGAINST HIM, AND HE HAVE CAST THEM AWAY FOR THEIR TRANSGRESSION;_ If - rather, "Since THY CHILDREN HAVE SINNED AGAINST HIM, and (since) He have cast them away for (Hebrew, by the hand of) their transgression; (Yet) if thou wouldest seek unto God, etc.; if thou wert (sha... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF THOU WOULDEST SEEK UNTO GOD BETIMES, AND MAKE THY SUPPLICATION TO THE ALMIGHTY;_ Seek unto God betimes - early. Make it the first add chief anxiety. "They returned and inquired early after God." (Psalms 78:34; Hosea 5:15; Isaiah 26:9; Proverbs 8:17); "He that loveth (his son) chasteneth him bet... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF THOU WERT PURE AND UPRIGHT; SURELY NOW HE WOULD AWAKE FOR THEE, AND MAKE THE HABITATION OF THY RIGHTEOUSNESS PROSPEROUS._ Wert - translate, 'If thou shalt be (henceforth) pure,' etc. (cf. the remark of Job 8:4). SURELY NOW - translate, 'Surely then;' in that case, as the consequence, "He would... [ Continue Reading ]
_THOUGH THY BEGINNING WAS SMALL, YET THY LATTER END SHOULD GREATLY INCREASE._ Thy beginning - the beginning of thy new happiness after restoration. LATTER END. So it actually came to pass, but not as Bildad supposed; for not the friends, but Job was justified by God after he had humbled himself b... [ Continue Reading ]
_FOR INQUIRE, I PRAY THEE, OF THE FORMER AGE, AND PREPARE THYSELF TO THE SEARCH OF THEIR FATHERS:_ The former age - the age immediately preceding Job. THEIR FATHERS - the fathers pricking that age, and therefore still further back. The sages of the olden time reached an age beyond those of Job's... [ Continue Reading ]
_SHALL NOT THEY TEACH THEE, AND TELL THEE, AND UTTER WORDS OUT OF THEIR HEART?_ Teach thee - Job (Job 6:24) had said, "Teach me." Bildad, therefore, says, Since you want teaching, Enquire of the Fathers; They will teach thee. UTTER WORDS - more than mere speaking: 'put forth well-considered words... [ Continue Reading ]
_CAN THE RUSH GROW UP WITHOUT MIRE? CAN THE FLAG GROW WITHOUT WATER?_ Rush - rather, paper reed: the papyrus of Egypt, which was used to make garments, shoes, baskets, boats, and paper (a word derived from it). It and the flag or bulrush grow only in marshy places such as are along the Nile. So the... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHILST IT IS YET IN HIS GREENNESS, AND NOT CUT DOWN, IT WITHERETH BEFORE ANY OTHER HERB._ Not cut down. Ere it has ripened for the scythe, it withers more suddenly than any herb, having no self-sustaining power, once that the moisture is gone, which other herbs do not need in the same degree. So r... [ Continue Reading ]
_SO ARE THE PATHS OF ALL THAT FORGET GOD; AND THE HYPOCRITE'S HOPE SHALL PERISH:_ Paths - so ways (Proverbs 1:19). ALL THAT FORGET GOD - the distinguishing trait of the godless. "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God" (Psalms 9:17). Bildad in this retorts the c... [ Continue Reading ]
_WHOSE HOPE SHALL BE CUT OFF, AND WHOSE TRUST SHALL BE A SPIDER'S WEB._ Cut off - so Gesenius. Or, to accord with the metaphor of the spider's house (Hebrew for "web"). 'The confidence on which he builds х_ 'ªSHER_ (H834) _ KICLOW_ (H3689)] shall be laid in ruins' х_ YAAQOWT_ (H6990)] (Umbreit). "T... [ Continue Reading ]
_HE SHALL LEAN UPON HIS HOUSE, BUT IT SHALL NOT STAND: HE SHALL HOLD IT FAST, BUT IT SHALL NOT ENDURE._ He shall hold it fast - implying his eager grasp, when the storm of trial comes. As the spider "holds fast" by its web: but with this difference, the light spider is sustained by that on which it... [ Continue Reading ]
_HE IS GREEN BEFORE THE SUN, AND HIS BRANCH SHOOTETH FORTH IN HIS GARDEN._ Before the sun, х_ LIPNEEY_ (H6440) _ SHEMESH_ (H8121)] - i:e., He (the godless) is green only before the sun rises; but he cannot bear its heat, and withers. So succulent plants, like the gourd of Jonah (Jonah 4:7). But the... [ Continue Reading ]
_HIS ROOTS ARE WRAPPED ABOUT THE HEAP, AND SEETH THE PLACE OF STONES._ Seeth the place of stones - Hebrew 'the house of stones' - i:e., clambers up to the top of the wall surrounding the garden (Umbreit). The parasite plant, in creeping toward and over the wall-the utmost bound of the garden-is sai... [ Continue Reading ]
_IF HE DESTROY HIM FROM HIS PLACE, THEN IT SHALL DENY HIM, SAYING, I HAVE NOT SEEN THEE._ If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him. If (as may happen at any moment when he seems most secure) He [God] tear him away [the English version, destroy; properly, to tear away and violently,... [ Continue Reading ]
_BEHOLD, THIS IS THE JOY OF HIS WAY, AND OUT OF THE EARTH SHALL OTHERS GROW._ Behold, is the joy of his way. Bitter irony. The hypocrite boasts of joy. This then is his "joy" at the last. AND OUT OF THE EARTH, х_ `AAPAAR_ (H6083), 'the dust']. "Others" immediately [Hebrew singular, 'always anothe... [ Continue Reading ]
_BEHOLD, GOD WILL NOT CAST AWAY A PERFECT MAN, NEITHER WILL HE HELP THE EVIL DOERS:_ Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man. Bildad regards Job, not as a hardened sinner, but as a righteous man who has fallen into sin. 'God will not cast off for ever a perfect' (or godly man, such as Job was)... [ Continue Reading ]
_TILL HE FILL THY MOUTH WITH LAUGHING, AND THY LIPS WITH REJOICING._ Fill thy mouth with laughing - (Psalms 126:2). Until х_ `AD_ (H5703)] - literally, 'to the point that;' God's blessing on thee, when repentant, shall go on increasing to the point that, or until, etc.... [ Continue Reading ]
_THEY THAT HATE THEE SHALL BE CLOTHED WITH SHAME; AND THE DWELLING PLACE OF THE WICKED SHALL COME TO NOUGHT._ THEY THAT HATE THEE SHALL BE CLOTHED ... The haters of Job are the wicked. They shall be clothed with shame ("We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us," Jeremiah 3:25; "Let th... [ Continue Reading ]