HEAR DILIGENTLY - Hebrew “Hearing hear” - that is, hear attentively. What he was about to say was worthy of their solemn consideration. AND LET THIS BE YOUR CONSOLATIONS - That is, “You came to me for the professed purpose of giving “me” consolation. In that you have wholly failed. You have done no... [ Continue Reading ]
SUFFER ME THAT I MAY SPEAK - Allow me to speak without interruption, or bear with me while I freely express my sentiments - it is all that I now ask. AND AFTER THAT I HAVE SPOKEN, MOCK ON - Resume your reproaches, if you will, when I am done. I ask only the privilege of expressing my thoughts on a v... [ Continue Reading ]
AS FOR ME, IS MY COMPLAINT TO MAN? - There is some difficulty in the interpretation of this verse, and considerable variety of explanation may be seen among expositors. The “object” of the verse is plain. It is to state a reason why they should hear him with patience and without interruption. The me... [ Continue Reading ]
MARK ME - Margin, “look unto.” Literally, “Look upon me. That is, attentively look on me, on my sufferings, on my disease, and my losses. See if I am a proper object of repreach and mockery - see if I have not abundant reason to be in deep distress when God has afflicted me in a manner so unusual an... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN WHEN I REMEMBER, I AM AFRAID - I have an internal shuddering and horror when I recall the scenes through which I have passed. I am myself utterly overwhelmed at the magnitude of my own sufferings, and they are such as should excite commiseration in your hearts. Some, however, have connected thi... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE DO THE WICKED LIVE? - Job comes now to the main design of his argument in this chapter, to show that it is a fact, that the wicked often have great prosperity; that they are not treated in this life according to their character; and that it is not a fact that men of eminent wickedness, as... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR SEED - Their children - their posterity. IS ESTABLISHED IN THEIR SIGHT - Around them, where they may often see them - where they may enjoy their society. The friends of Job had maintained, with great positiveness and earnestness, that the children of wicked people would be cut off. See Job 18... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR HOUSES ARE SAFE FROM FEAR - Margin, “peace from.” The friends of Job had maintained just the contrary; see Job 20:27; Job 15:21. Their idea was, that the wicked man would never be free from alarms. Job says, that they lived in security and peace, and that their houses are preserved from the in... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR BULL GENDERETH - See Rosenmuller and Lee on this verse; comp Bochart, Hieroz. P. 1, Lib. ii. c. xxx. The general idea is, that the wicked were prospered as well as the pious. God did not interpose by a miracle to cut off their cattle, and to prevent their becoming rich.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SEND FORTH THEIR LITTLE ONES - Their numerous and happy children they send forth to plays and pastimes. LIKE A FLOCK - In great numbers. This is an exquisitely beautiful image of prosperity. What can be more so than a group of happy children around a man’s dwelling? AND THEIR CHILDREN DANCE -... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY TAKE THE TIMBREL - They have instruments of cheerful music in their dwellings; and this is an evidence that they are not treated as the friends of Job had maintained. Instead of being, as they asserted, overwhelmed with calamity, they are actually happy. They have all that can make them cheerfu... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SPEND THEIR DAYS IN WEALTH - Margin, or, “mirth.” Literally, “they wear out their days in good” - בטוב _baṭôb_. Vulgate _“in bonis.”_ Septuagint, ἐν ἀγαθοῖς _en_ _agathois_ - “in good things;” in the enjoyment of good. They are not oppressed with the evils of poverty and want, but they hav... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE - This would seem to indicate that the “result” of their living in this manner was that they rejected God, or that one of the consequences of their being prospered would be that they would cast off his government and authority; that they renounced him “because” they were thus prosperous, o... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT IS THE ALMIGHTY, THAT WE SHOULD SERVE HIM? - compare for similar expressions, Exodus 5:2; Proverbs 30:9. The meaning here is, “What claim has the Almighty, or who is he, that we should be bound to obey and worship him? What authority has he over us? Why should we yield our will to his, and why... [ Continue Reading ]
LO, THEIR GOOD IS NOT IN THEIR HAND - Schultens, Rosenmuller, and Noyes, suppose, I think, correctly, that this is to be understood ironically, or as referring to what “they” had maintained. “Lo! you say, that their good is not in their hand! They do not enjoy prosperity, do they? They are soon over... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW OFT IS THE CANDLE OF THE WICKED PUT OUT? - Margin, “lamp.” A light, or a lamp, was an image of prosperity. There is, probably, an allusion here to what had been maintained by Bildad, Job 18:5, that the light of the wicked would be extinguished, and their dwellings made dark; see the notes at tho... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ARE AS STUBBLE BEFORE THE WIND - According to the interpretation proposed of the previous verse, this may be read as a question, “How often is it that the wicked are made like stubble? You say that God deals with people exactly according to their characters, and that the wicked are certainly su... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD LAYETH UP HIS INIQUITY FOR HIS CHILDREN - Margin, that is, “the punishment of iniquity.” This is a reference evidently to the opinion which “they” had maintained. It may be rendered, “You say that God layeth up iniquity,” etc. They had affirmed that not only did God, as a great law, punish the w... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS EYES SHALL SEE HIS DESTRUCTION - That is, his own eyes shall see his destruction, or the calamities that shall come upon him. That is, “You maintain that, or this is the position which you defend.” Job designs to meet this, and to show that it is not always so. AND HE SHALL DRINK OF THE WRATH O... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHAT PLEASURE HATH HE ... - That is, what happiness shall he have in his family? This, it seems to me, is designed to be a reference to their sentiments, or a statement by Job of what “they” maintained. They held, that a man who was wicked, could have none of the comfort which he anticipated in... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL ANY TEACH GOD KNOWLEDGE? - This commences the reply of Job to the sentiments of his friends to which he had just adverted. The substance of the reply is, that no one could prescribe to God how he should deal with people, and that it; was not a FACT that people were treated as they had supposed... [ Continue Reading ]
ONE DIETH IN HIS FULL STRENGTH - Margin, “very perfection,” or, “in the strength of his perfection.” The meaning is, that he dies in the very prime and vigor of life, surrounded with everything that can contribute to comfort. Of the truth of this position, no one can doubt; and the wonder is, that t... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS BREASTS - Margin, “milk pails.” The marginal translation is much the most correct, and it is difficult to understand why so improbable a statement has been introduced into our common version. But there has been great variety in the translation. The Vulgate renders it, _Viscera ejus plena sunt ad... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL LIE DOWN ALIKE IN THE DUST - The emphasis here is on the word “alike” - יחד _yachad_. The idea is, that they should die “in a similar manner.” There would be no such difference in the mode of their death as to determine anything about their character or to show that one was the friend of... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS - That is, “I see that you are not satisfied, and that you are disposed still to maintain your former position. You will be ready to ask, Where “are” the proofs of the prosperity of the wicked? Where “are” the palaces of the mighty? Where “are” the dwelling places of ung... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR YE SAY, WHERE IS THE HOUSE OF THE PRINCE? - That is, you maintain that the house of the wicked man, in a high station, will be certainly over thrown. The parallelism, as well as the whole connection, requires us to understand the word “prince” here as referring to a “wicked” ruler. The word used... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE YE NOT ASKED THEM THAT GO BY THE WAY? - Travelers, who have passed into other countries, and who have had an opportunity of making observations, and of learning the opinions of those residing there. The idea of Job is, that they might have learned from such travelers that such people were “rese... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THE WICKED IS RESERVED TO THE DAY OF DESTRUCTION? - He is not punished, as you maintain, at once. He is “kept” with a view to future punishment; and though calamity will certainly overtake him at some time, yet it is not immediate. This was Job’s doctrine in opposition to theirs, and in this he... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO SHALL DECLARE HIS WAY TO HIS FACE? - That is, the face of the wicked. Who shall dare to rise up and openly charge him with his guilt? The idea is, that none would dare to do it, and that, therefore, the wicked man was not punished according to his character here, and was reserved to a day of fut... [ Continue Reading ]
YET SHALL HE BE BROUGHT TO THE GRAVE - Margin, “graves.” That is, he is brought with honor and prosperity to the grave. He is not cut down by manifest divine displeasure for his sins. He is conducted to the grave as other people are, not withstanding his enormous wickedness. The “object” of this is... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CLODS OF THE VALLEY SHALL BE SWEET UNTO HIM - That is, he shall lie as calmly as others in the grave. The language here is taken from that delusion of which we all partake when we reflect on death. We think of “ourselves” in the grave, and it is almost impossible to divest our minds of the idea,... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW THEN COMFORT YE ME IN VAIN ... - That is, how can you be qualified to give me consolation in my trials, who have such erroneous views of the government and dealings of God? True consolation could be founded only on correct views of the divine government; but such views, Job says, they had not. W... [ Continue Reading ]