XVI. (1) THEN JOB ANSWERED. — Job, in replying, ceases to continue the argument, which he finds useless; but, after complaining of the way his friends have conducted it, and contrasting the way in which they have treated him with that in which he would treat them were they in his case, he proceeds... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE HEARD MANY SUCH THINGS. — Trite rather than true, or at least the whole truth. “Common is the common-place, And vacant chaff well meant for grain.”... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL VAIN WORDS HAVE AN END? — The English idiom rather requires, “Shall _not_ vain words have an end? for if not, what emboldeneth or provoketh thee that thou answerest?” Eliphaz had contributed nothing to the discussion in his last reply; he had simply reiterated what had been said before.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YOUR SOUL. — _i.e., person=“_ If you were in my place, I could heap up words,” &c. It is doubtful whether this is in contrast to what comes afterwards in the fifth verse, as in the Authorised Version, or whether it may not be in parallelism with it; thus: “I would make myself a companion to you —... [ Continue Reading ]
THOUGH I SPEAK... — “I cannot but reply, though to reply gives me no relief.”... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT NOW HE HATH MADE ME WEARY. — He turns again, in his passionate plaint, to God, whom he alternately speaks of in the third person and addresses in the second. “Thou hast made desolate all my company,” by destroying all his children and alienating the hearts or his friends.... [ Continue Reading ]
WITNESS AGAINST ME. — As in Job 10:17. The wrinkles in his body, caused by the disease, were a witness against him; and certainly, in the eyes of his friends, they furnished unquestionable proof of his guilt.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TEARETH ME IN HIS WRATH. — Terrible as the language is that Job has used against God, he seems here almost to exceed it, for he calls Him his adversary. It is hardly possible not to understand the expression of God, for though he immediately speaks of his friends, yet just afterwards he openly me... [ Continue Reading ]
THE UNGODLY and THE WICKED are the terms he retorts upon his friends, and they have certainly earned them. Now follows —... [ Continue Reading ]
I WAS AT EASE. — A highly poetical passage, in which Job becomes, as it were, a St. Sebastian for the arrows of God. It is hardly possible to conceive a more vivid picture of his desolate condition under the persecuting hand of the Almighty.... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SEWED SACKCLOTH UPON MY SKIN. — Referring, probably, to the state of his skin, which had become hard and rugged as sackcloth. As the second half of the verse must be figurative, there seems to be no reason to understand the first half otherwise.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOUL. — Rather, perhaps, _red,_ as with wine.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT FOR ANY INJUSTICE. — Literally, _for no injustice,_ just as in Isaiah 53:9 : “because he had done no violence,” should be “not because he had done any violence, or because deceit was in his mouth.”... [ Continue Reading ]
LET MY CRY HAVE NO PLACE. — That is, “Let there be no place in the wide earth where my cry shall not reach: let it have no resting place: let it fill the whole wide earth.”... [ Continue Reading ]
MY WITNESS IS IN HEAVEN. — It is very important to note passages such as these, because they help us to understand, and serve to illustrate, the famous confession in Job 19. This is surely a wonderful declaration for a man in the position of Job. What can the believer, in the full light of the Gospe... [ Continue Reading ]
MY FRIENDS SCORN ME. — Or, as an apostrophe, “Ye my scorners who profess and ought to be my friends: mine eye poureth out tears unto God that He would maintain the right of man with God, and of the son of man with his neighbour;” or, “that one might plead for man with God as the son of man pleadeth... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN A FEW YEARS ARE COME. — Literally, _years of number,_ which means either “years than can be easily numbered,” as _men of number_ (Genesis 34:20) is used to express _few men;_ or “years that are numbered,” that is, allotted, determined. It is strange to find Job speaking, in his condition, of _y... [ Continue Reading ]