Job 6:14-23

3. Bitter disappointment from his friends, who are unreasonably hard (Job 6:14-23)

TEXT 6:14-23

14 To him that is ready to faint kindness should be showed from his friend;

Even to him that forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.

15 My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook,

As the channel of brooks that pass away;

16 Which are black by reason of the ice,

And wherein the snow hideth itself:

17 What time they wax warm, they vanish;

When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

18 The caravans that travel by the way of them turn aside;

They go up into the waste, and perish.

19 The caravans of Tema looked,

The companies of Sheba waited for them.

20 They were put to shame because they had hoped;

They came thither, and were confounded.

21 For now ye are nothing;

Ye see a terror, and are afraid.

22 Did I say, Give unto me?

Or, Offer a present for me of your substance?

23 Or, Deliver me from the adversary's hand?

Or, Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?

COMMENT 6:14-23

Job 6:14The text of only three words literally says For the faintingfrom his friendloyalty. Job attacks his would-be sympathizers with this chargeyour lack of sympathy reveals your lack of true covenant concern, i.e., righteousness. Kindness (hesedcovenant love) is due to a friend. If his friends really cared, they would treat Job with kindness, not groundless insinuations of his guilt.

Job 6:15Note that Job still calls the three friends brethren, not foes. But he describes them as a brook (nachal), a stream which is a raging torrent during the rainy season, but dried up during the summer, when one really needs help. The streams of sympathy have dried upHer. Job 15:18.

Job 6:16This verse describes a thaw which breaks the ice and sends the waters raging downward. The phrase hideth itself means to melt.[88]

[88] See M. Dahood, Biblical 33,1952, 206; also Biblica, 43, 1962, 65.

Job 6:17The A. V. contains a very obtuse translationwax warm (wax from old German waxento grow, the root zarab is found only here and means seared or scorched). When the snow and ice melt, they (the torrents) disappear,[89] or are extinguished, Job 18:5-6; the friends are as unreliable as a wadi which is empty.

[89] G. R. Driver, Zeitschriftfur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, N. S., XXIV, 1953,216ff.

Job 6:18The travelers (A. V. caravans) expect to find water in the desert, but coming to them they find none; they soon perish under the scorching sun. This is Job's blistering attack on his friends. This disappointment describes Job's despair.

Job 6:19Tema is an oasis Southeast of the head of the Gulf of AqabaIsaiah 21:14; Jeremiah 25:23. Sheba is South Arabia, which is the home of the Sabean raiders (chp. Job 1:15), but here they are merchants.[90]

[90] W. F. Albright, Bulletin the American Society of Oriental Research, 163, 1961, 41, n. 24.

Job 6:20The caravans from the south sift us to dry oases. Job's friends have been compared to dry wadi and now dry oases. There is no possibility that they can be of help to him.

Job 6:21There is a play on words hereyou see (tir-'u) and you fear (tire-'u) 2 Samuel 10:19. The sight of Job in his desperate and horrible condition has frightened his friends out of their wits and caused them to forget their covenant (hesed) of loyalty to him. His oppressors are tyrants who would sell him, but not redeem him.

Job 6:22-23Job has not asked for money (which their covenant would have obliged), only friendship. Jeremiah cries, I have not lent or borrowed, yet everyone curses me, Jeremiah 15:10. Job responds here with strong sarcasm. He has not asked for charity, though he has lost everything; he asks only for concern.