Job 19:26

andthough after my skinworms destroy See trans. above. The word destroymeans to break off, strike down or off, as branches from a tree (Isaiah 10:34). The words literally run, and after my skin which they have destroyedeven this(probably pointing to himself). The indeterminate construction which they have destroyedis equivalent to our passive, which has been destroyed. The Heb. construction must be given somewhat freely in English, as above. The words "worms" and "body" have nothing corresponding in the original.

yet in my flesh Better, as above, and without my flesh. The margin, out of(or, from) my flesh, suggests the explanation how such opposite senses may be arrived at. The Heb. prep. fromhas the same ambiguity as fromin English. When Regan in Lear11. 1 says,

"Our father he hath writ, so hath our sister,

Of differences, which I best thought it fit

To answer from our home,"

her words most naturally perhaps suggest the meaning that she thought it best to answer athome, her home being the place from which the answer was sent. Her meaning, however, is that she thought it best to answer when she was away fromhome. Similarly when Job says, from (or, out of) my flesh shall I see God, the meaning may be, that (looking) from his flesh he shall see God, i. e. as A. V. inhis flesh; or that he shall see God, (when) away from his flesh, i. e. withouthis flesh. The context and general scope of the passage decides for the latter sense. For a similar use of the Heb. prep. see ch. Job 11:15, away from(=without) spot; Job 21:9, margin; Job 28:4, they hang (far) away from men, they swing; cf. Genesis 27:39, away from (without) the fatness; Numbers 15:24, marg. The whole expression "after this my skin has been destroyed and without my flesh" means "when I have died under the ravages of my disease." The words do not express inwhat condition precisely, but afterwhat events Job shall see God.

shall I see God The connexion is, But I know that my Redeemer liveth, and he who shall be after me shall stand upon the dust, and … I shall see God. The last words explain who Job's Redeemer or Goel is, and who He is who remaineth or shall come after him, viz. God. After his skin is destroyed and without his flesh he shall see God. Before death he shall not see Him, for he shall die under His afflicting hand (cf. ch. Job 23:14), but he shall yet behold Him. To seeGod is to see Him reconciled and in peace, for this is implied in seeing Him at all, because now He hides. His face (ch. Job 23:3 seq., 8 seq., ch. Job 24:1 seq.).