Job 9:25-31

3. He will be held guilty in spite of everything. (Job 9:25-31)

TEXT 9:25-31

25 Now my days are swifter than a post:

They flee away, they see no good.

26 They are passed away as the swift ships;

As the eagle that swoopeth on the prey.

27 If I say, I will forget my complaint,

I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer;

28 I am afraid of all my sorrows,

I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.

29 I shall be condemned;

Why then do I labor in vain?

30 If I wash myself with snow water,

And make my hands never so clean;

31 Yet wilt thou plunge me in the ditch,

And mine own clothes shall abhor me.

COMMENT 9:25-31

Job 9:25ComplainComplain. Job returns to a preoccupation with his own condition. From cosmic disorder to personal disorder, how pathetic. Life is passing so rapidly. It is no longer the weaver's shuttle but the runner who serves as point of contrastJob 7:6. The courier refers to a fast runner with the royal messenger service2 Samuel 18:21-23; Isaiah 41:27; Isaiah 52:7.

Job 9:26Reed means papyrus. (For different word, see Job 8:11.) Reed boats are very light and fast.[129] Isaiah refers to reed vessels (kele gome)Isaiah 18:1-2. The imagery from the second clause speaks of speed. The word swoop (TWS) refers in falconry to the swift swoop of the bird on the prey. The falcon can attain a speed in excess of 150 mph in such a swoop (for eaglesJob 39:27-30; Deuteronomy 28:49; Jeremiah 4:13; Habakkuk 1:8; and Lamentations 4:19.[130] The prey (-okel) is the general word for food.

[129] Pliny, Natural History, Loeb Classic XXIII.22 where he discusses the fact that the Egyptians used papyrus for boat construction; also recent experimentation with these craft see T. Heyerdahl's The Ra Expeditions, 1971.

[130] For such imagery in Job, see W. L. Michel, The Ugaritic Texts in the Mythological Expressions in the Book of Job (Univ. of Wisconsin Ph.D. thesis, 1970).

Job 9:27Literally, Job says I will abandon my face,[131] i.e., I will change my countenance. His entire attitude will be changed. He will be of good cheer (Heb. brighten my face). Here we see change in two dimensions: (1) psychic, and (2) physical appearance.

[131] See G. R. Driver, Vetus Testamentum Supplement, III, 1955, 76; M. Dahood, JBL, LXXVIII, 1959, 304, for analysis of this verse.

Job 9:28He no sooner decided to cheer up than he became afraid (same word in Job 3:25dread). The dread fear haunted him with such intensity that his agony was only magnified.

Job 9:29Guilty without trial. (Read Kafka's The Trial and compare). All of his efforts are futile.

Job 9:30The Hebrewselegmeans both soap and snow or snow waterIsaiah 1:16; Isaiah 1:18, I will make my hands never so cleanbor, lye. In Malachi 3:2 the same word borit means the fuller's lye soap. Lye is a vegetable alkali made from the ashes of plantsJob 22:30; Psalms 18:20; Psalms 18:24; Isaiah 1:25.[132]

[132] On handwriting, see R. Press, Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 51, 1933, 246-7.

Job 9:31The A. V. has ditchsahatwhich can mean the netherworldJob 17:14; Job 33:22; Job 33:28. The context calls for filth;[133] and the root suggests repulsive matter and slime, i.e., a characteristic of the netherworld. Job is saying if I wash my body, God would make it so filthy that my clothes would refuse to cover me.

[133] Several etymologies are possible, but see M. Pope, JBL, 83, 1964, 276; D. Hiller's Interpretations, 19, 1965, 468; and M. Dahood, Psalms, I-II, on Psalms 13:5; Psalms 66:9; and Psa. 121:13.