Job 16 - Introduction
_A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520._ Job upbraids his friends with unkindness, Job 16:1. Bemoans himself, Job 16:6. Appeals from their censure to the righteous judgment of God. 17-22.... [ Continue Reading ]
_A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520._ Job upbraids his friends with unkindness, Job 16:1. Bemoans himself, Job 16:6. Appeals from their censure to the righteous judgment of God. 17-22.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then Job answered and said_ “Job, above measure grieved that his friends should treat him in this cruel manner, expostulates very tenderly with them on the subject. He tells them he should, in the like circumstances, have behaved to them in a very different way, Job 16:2. That he, as well as every... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have heard many such things_ Both from you and divers others; and though you please yourselves with them, as if you had some great and important discoveries, they are but vulgar and trivial things. _Miserable comforters are ye all_ Instead of giving me those comforts which you pretend to do, or o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shall vain words have an end?_ When wilt thou put an end to these impertinent discourses? He retorts upon him his charge, Job 15:2. _And what imboldeneth thee that thou answerest_ Namely, in such a manner, so censoriously, opprobriously, and peremptorily. What secret grounds hast thou for thy confi... [ Continue Reading ]
_I could also speak as ye do_ It is an easy thing to trample upon those that are down, and to find fault with what those say who are in extremity of pain and affliction. _If your soul were in my soul's stead_ If our conditions were changed, and you were in misery like me, and I at ease like you; _I... [ Continue Reading ]
_But I would strengthen you with my mouth_ I would endeavour to direct, support, and comfort you, and say all I could to assuage your grief, but nothing to aggravate it. It is natural to sufferers to think what they would do if the tables were turned; but, perhaps, our hearts may deceive us; we know... [ Continue Reading ]
_Though I speak_ To God by prayer, or to you in the way of discourse; _my grief is not assuaged_ I find no relief or comfort. Job, having reproved his friends for their unkind behaviour toward him, and aggravated it by contrasting therewith his resolutions to have acted in a more friendly manner tow... [ Continue Reading ]
_But now he_ Namely, God; _hath made me weary_ Either of complaining, or of my life. “He hath long since quite tired me with one trouble upon another.” Bishop Patrick. _Thou hast made desolate all my company_ “Thou hast not ceased, O God, till thou hast left me neither goods nor children, no, nor a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou hast filled me with wrinkles_ By consuming my flesh and reducing my body; _which is a witness_ Of the reality and greatness, and just cause of my sorrows. Or, _which is made a witness;_ that is, produced by my friends as a proof of God's anger and my hypocrisy and impiety. _And my leanness ris... [ Continue Reading ]
_He teareth me in his wrath_ Hebrew, אפו שׂר, _appo tarap, His wrath teareth me in pieces_, properly, as a lion or other savage beast tears his prey, of which the word _tarap_ is peculiarly used; _who hateth me _ וישׂשׂמני, _vajistemeni_, rather, _and hateth me;_ that is, pursues me with hatred, or... [ Continue Reading ]
_They_ My friends, the instruments of God's anger; _have gaped upon me with their mouth_ Have opened their mouths wide against me; either, 1st, To devour and destroy me, as a lion which falls upon its pray with open mouth: see Psalms 22:13, where these very expressions are used in the prediction of... [ Continue Reading ]
_God hath delivered me to the ungodly_ Either, 1st, To my friends, who act the part of the wicked in censuring and condemning the righteous, whom God approveth, and in pleading for a false and wicked cause. Or, rather, to the Chaldeans and Sabeans, who were a most ungodly and wicked people, living i... [ Continue Reading ]
_I was at ease_ I lived in great peace and prosperity, and was contented and happy in the comfortable enjoyment of the gifts of God's bounty, not fretful and uneasy, as some are, in the midst of the blessings of providence, who thereby provoke God to take these blessings from them; _but he hath brok... [ Continue Reading ]
_His archers compass me round about_ His plagues or judgments, elsewhere compared to arrows, and here to archers, surround me on all sides, and assault me from every quarter. Whoever are our enemies, we must look on them as God's archers, and see him directing the arrow. _He cleaveth my reins asunde... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin_ I have put on sackcloth, not upon my other garments, but next to my skin; as was done in great calamities. So far am I from _stretching out my hands against God_, whereof I am accused, (Job 15:25,) that I have humbled myself deeply under his hand, and I have eve... [ Continue Reading ]
_Not for any justice in my hands_ And all this is not come upon me for any injurious dealing, but for other reasons, known to God only; _also my prayer is pure_ I do not cast off God's fear and service, Job 15:4. I do still pray and worship God, and my prayer is accompanied with a sincere heart. _O... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, my witness is in heaven_ Besides the witness of men, and of my own conscience, God is witness of my integrity. The witness of men, and even that in our own bosoms for us, will stand us in little stead if we have not a witness in heaven for us also: for God is greater than our own hearts, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_O that one might plead for a man with God_ O that either I or some faithful advocate might be admitted to plead my cause, either with God, or rather with you before God's tribunal, God being witness and judge between us. A different translation of this verse is proposed by some, a translation which... [ Continue Reading ]
_When a few years are come_ The number of years which is determined and appointed to me; _then I shall go the way whence I shall not return_ Namely, to the state and place of the dead, whence men cannot return to this life. The meaning is, my death hastens, and therefore I earnestly desire that the... [ Continue Reading ]