Job 16:6-17

2. Though innocent, he suffers the hostility of God and man. (Job 16:6-17)

TEXT 16:6-17

6 Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged;

And though I forbear, what am I eased?

7 But now he hath made me weary:

Thou hast made desolate all my company.

8 And thou hast laid fast hold on me, which is a witness against me:

And my leanness riseth up against me,
It testifieth to my face.

9 He hath torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me;

He hath gnashed upon me with his teeth:
Mine adversary sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth;

They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully:
They gather themselves together against me.

11 God delivereth me to the ungodly,

And casteth me into the hands of the wicked.

12 I was at ease, and he brake me asunder;

Yea, he hath taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces:
He hath also set me up for his mark.

13 His archers compass me round about;

He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;
He poureth out my gall upon the ground.

14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach;

He runneth upon me like a giant.

15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin,

And have laid my horn in the dust.

16 My face is red with weeping,

And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

17 Although there is no violence In my hands,

And my prayer is pure.

COMMENT 16:6-17

Job 16:6In Job 16:5, your grief is unexpressed in the Hebrew text. Here the noun is expressed and also a passive form of the verb. Job here presents his alternatives by forcibly depicting his dilemma. Neither vehement protestation nor silence would bring him healing. Both his physical and mental anguish tenaciously hold his soul in a state of unwelcome torture. Here we have mah as a negative rather than interrogativeJob 31:1. Job is not asking What? but rather strongly asserts that nothing eases his suffering.

Job 16:7The subject of this verse is probably my sorrow rather than God (he hath made A. V.) Though the second line does have thou hast made (note the change of person and shift to the third person in Job 16:8), the best sense seems to be my pain hath made me weary (the same verb is intransitive in Job 4:2, verb translated weary is used with sense of appall or devastate).[184] Some commentaries emend --'adatimy companyto ra-'atimy calamityat least this emendation has the dubious honor of making sense, which is not a characteristic of the Hebrew text as it now stands.

[184] See Dhorme, Job, p. 231, though his reconstruction is unnecessary.

Job 16:8Job's calamity has seized (Heb. kamatseize, grasp tightly) him (A. V. laid fast hold) and is a witness against him. In the eyes of his friends, his suffering was evidence of his sin. The witness of his calamity has risen against me (Heb. phrase stands immediately after witness and should remain there in translation), my gauntness or leanness is evidence to men of my guiltPsalms 59:12; Nahum 3:1; Hosea 7:3; and Hosea 10:13.

Job 16:9Job here pictures God as a ferocious animal tearing him apart with His teeth. The verb satam means to bear a grudge or sustain hate againstJob 30:21; Genesis 49:23; Genesis 50:15; Psalms 55:3. The hate was so intense that he gnashed his teethPsalms 37:12in angerMatthew 8:12 and Acts 7:54. The imagery of sharpness comes from a verb used of sharpening a swordPsalms 7:12. Here it means looking sharply as does an animal for its prey. God, like an animal pursuing its prey, is concentrating His hostility on Job.[185]

[185] For analysis of the phrase sharpeneth his eyes, see M. Dahood, Psalms, Vol. I, Anchor, note on Psalms 7:13; Vol. II third note on Psalms 89:44. His reference to Ugaritic cognate wordswhetted sword their eyes.

Job 16:10There is no expressed subject in this verse, but these are the people who like jackals follow God's attack by their assaults. All the figures in this verse are human actions wide mouthdesire or greedJob 29:23; Isaiah 5:14. They insult or talk openly behind (struck meA. V. has smitten me) his back and mobilize[186] against him1 Kings 22:24; Micah 5:1; Matthew 5:39; Luke 6:29.

[186] D. W. Thomas, Journal of Semitic Studies, III, 1952, 47ff, for defense of military connotation, i.e., mobilize.

Job 16:11Job says that God has delivered him to the ungodly (Heb. young boys-'awil), perhaps a sarcastic denial of their status as wise men and supposed accumulation of wisdom because of their age. Their behavior toward Job is described in Job 30:9 ff. The word translated casteth is the verb ratah which means to wring out (see Brown, Driver, Briggs). He is asserting that God has cast him into the hands of wicked men who wring him out.

Job 16:12Suddenly and unexpectedly God attacks him. How? Through whom? This verse makes a couplet with Job 16:13 a, both emphasizing the archer and targetJob 6:4; Psalms 64:7; Lamentations 3:12. God is directing the attack on Job, though the volleys come from human archers.[187] He is the target1 Samuel 20:20.

[187] G. R. Driver, Vetus Testamentum, HI, 1955, 78.

Job 16:13The word for archersrabbimis also found in Jeremiah 50:29. Here we are faced with mixed metaphors. Job is a target; God shoots arrows at him. His reins is a metaphor of the most sensitive and vital part of the body, his kidneys. He slashes me open. He pours out my gall (used only here and stands for liver, i.e., seat of emotions in Hebrew psychology) upon the ground. In other words, God has dealt him a death blow.

Job 16:14Now Job metaphorically compares his body to that of a fortress which is being repeatedly assailedJob 30:14. He feels like a stronghold being stormed by warriors, not giants as A. V.

Job 16:15Here appears the same word as in Genesis 3:7 for sewed. Sackcloth is the symbol of mourning and was worn next to the body2 Kings 6:30. The sewing of it on his skin was a sign of permanent mourning. Literally the text says I have caused my horn to enter, which is a symbol of pride or strength[188]Psalms 75:5; Psalms 89:17; Psalms 92:10; and Psalms 112:9.

[188] Svi Rin, Biblische Zeitschrift, VII, 1963, 23, for Ugaritic evidence for his translation I shall lower, or dip my horn in the dust.

Job 16:16Involuntary weeping is a symptom of leprosy, which could be Job's physical ailment. His face is red, i.e., inflamed (verb chamar) from crying. Eyelids stand for his eyes. The word salmawet should not be translated as the shadow of death as in A. V., but possibly as the blackness around the eyes of a sick person. There is no allusion to death in this verse, so the translation should conform to the basic theme of the verse.

Job 16:17This cruel suffering has come upon me, though I have done no violenceIsaiah 53:7. He completely rejects the possibility of his guilt; thus he once more asserts that his suffering is unmerited. When the hands are unclean, prayer is unacceptable to GodIsaiah 1:15; Job 11:13 ff. In Job 31:7 he affirms that his hands are clean, and here that his prayer is pure. Job's last possession is the certainty of his integrity before God.