Job 30:1
_JOB GOES ON TO LAMENT THE CHANGE OF HIS FORMER CONDITION, AND SETS FORTH THE CONTEMPT INTO WHICH HIS ADVERSITY HAD BROUGHT HIM._ _Before Christ 1645._... [ Continue Reading ]
_JOB GOES ON TO LAMENT THE CHANGE OF HIS FORMER CONDITION, AND SETS FORTH THE CONTEMPT INTO WHICH HIS ADVERSITY HAD BROUGHT HIM._ _Before Christ 1645._... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA, WHERETO MIGHT THE STRENGTH, &C.— _For of what use was the labour of their hands to me, since all life was destroyed in them?_ Heath. Houbigant renders the last clause, _When all their health or strength was worn out:_ and he renders the next verse, _They led a solitary life in hunger and thirst... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO CUT UP MALLOWS, &C.— Or, _Sea-purslane._ The word rendered _juniper_ signifies the _broom,_ or _birch-tree._ See 1 Kings 19:4. These were, without doubt, the meanest kinds of foods and made use of only when no other could be procured.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY BRAYED— _They made their moan, or cried out._ Heath and Houbigant. The latter part of the verse may be rendered, _Among the nettles were they ..._ {_tormented,_ Hiller, par. 2: p. 196 con.} / {_burned,_ Noldius, 919.} See the Observations, p. 85.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY WERE CHILDREN OF FOOLS— _Foolish men and inglorious, they were driven out of the country in which they lived._ Job 30:9. _But now, I am become their song,_ &c. Houb.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ABHOR ME, &C.— _They abominate me: they hold me in the utmost abhorrence, and fear not to spit in my face._ Houb. Heath reads, _They hold me in abhorrence; they go out at a distance from me; nay, they refrain not from spitting in my face:_ Job 30:11. _Because he hath stripped me of my glory, an... [ Continue Reading ]
UPON MY RIGHT HAND RISE THE YOUTH— _On my right hand their brood start up: they trip up my heels. Their troops of destruction throw up an intrenchment round me:_ Heath: who, instead of, _they set forward my calamity,_ in the next verse, reads, _they triumph in my calamity: there is none who helpeth... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY CAME UPON ME, &C.— _They come on, as to a wide breach; they roll themselves on against me, like desolation._... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOW MY SOUL IS POURED OUT UPON ME— _For now my soul melteth within me._ Houb. See Psalms 42:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
MY BONES ARE PIERCED IN ME, &C.— _My bones are pierced through with pain in the night, and my veins have no rest._ Job 30:18. _With great force he layeth hold of my garment, and enfolds me by the collar of my robe._ Job 30:19. _He hath cast me into the mire,_ &c. Houb.; who observes, that the idea i... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU ART BECOME CRUEL TO ME, &C.— This appears to be one of the most exceptionable passages in all Job's speeches. There seems to be a great want of decency, or of delicacy at least, in the expression, if the Hebrew words carry the same force with the English. But the turn of the sentence in the ori... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU LIFTEST ME UP TO THE WIND— _Thou liftest me up: thou causest me to ride upon the wind; nay, thou dissolvest my very existence._ Heath. Houbigant renders the last clause, _But salvation shall not forsake me;_ which seems to connect well with the next verse, where he says, _For I know that thou w... [ Continue Reading ]
HOWBEIT, HE WILL NOT STRETCH OUT, &C.— Houbigant renders this verse, _Howbeit death shall not extend his hand to my sepulchre; but if to my dissolution, even that shall be for my salvation._ See his note. Heath reads it differently thus: _Howbeit, he will not stretch forth his hand in its might, tho... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN I LOOKED FOR GOOD, &C.— See the note on chap. Job 3:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WENT MOURNING WITHOUT THE SUN— _I go mourning, as if the sun did not shine._ Houb.... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM A BROTHER TO DRAGONS, &C.— _I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches._ See Bochart Hieroz. lib. 2: cap. 14. The _jackal_ and the _female ostrich_ are both remarkable for their mournful cry, and for their inhabiting desolate places.... [ Continue Reading ]
MY BONES ARE BURNED WITH HEAT— _My bones are dried up with heat_ or _drought:_ Heath and Houb. _Organ,_ in the next verse, should be read _pipe._ REFLECTIONS.—1st, We have here a long account of Job's distresses; among the chief of which he reckons the insults that he sustained from the vilest abje... [ Continue Reading ]