IX. Then Job answered... — Job’s reply to Bildad differs from that to Eliphaz, inasmuch as he exposes the hollowness of Bildad’s position by sapping his foundation. Admitting the general propriety of all he has said, he confronts him with the anterior question, “How can weak man be just with God?”... [ Continue Reading ]
IF HE WILL CONTEND WITH HIM. — IF man choose to contend with God, he cannot answer Him one question of A thousand, once in a thousand times.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SEALETH UP THE STARS — Comp. Job 41:15. The idea of shutting up, taking away the power of, &c., is contained in the expression “sealing.”... [ Continue Reading ]
WAVES OF THE SEA. — Literally, _high place of the sea:_ the sea when and where it runs _mountains high._ The various physical phenomena of earthquake, eclipse, and hurricane are here described as the field of Divine action and the operations of His hands.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH MAKETH ARCTURUS... — This shows us that in the time of this writer, whoever he was, his fellow-countrymen had attained to such knowledge of astronomy as is here implied in the specific names of definite constellations. The Great Bear is the glory of the northern hemisphere, Orion of the southe... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH DOETH GREAT THINGS. — He adopts the very words his former antagonist, Eliphaz, had used in Job 5:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE PASSETH ON ALSO. — This, again, is an expression Eliphaz had used in Job 4:15. Here in words of great sublimity Job depicts the unapproachable majesty of God omnipotent, but invisible, and shows the utter hopelessness of entering into judgment with Him. Unfortunately, though this is a proposition... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT DOEST THOU? — Putting the case even that God were, so to say, in the wrong, and the assailant, yet even then He would maintain His cause from sheer might, and crush His adversary.... [ Continue Reading ]
PROUD HELPERS. — Literally, _helpers of Rahab._ (See Isaiah 30:7; Psalms 87:4.) But whether Rahab was Egypt, or a poetical name for the lost archangel, it is impossible to say. If the former, then there is a probable allusion here to the overthrow of Pharaoh and his hosts; but we lack evidence to ma... [ Continue Reading ]
THOUGH I WERE RIGHTEOUS. — He now puts the alternative case: that he were actually righteous; yet even then supplication, and not assertion, would best become him.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE BREAKETH ME... — This is one of the three passages in which this word is found, the other two being Genesis 3:15, “It shall _bruise_,” &c., and Psalms 139:11, “If I say the darkness shall _cover_ me.”... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE MY BREATH. — The action being that of breathing again after complete exhaustion — recovering breath and the power to breathe, &c. “If I say I am perfect, it also shall prove me perverse by the very act of saying so; because for man to maintain his righteousness before God is at once to proclaim... [ Continue Reading ]
IF I SPEAK OF STRENGTH. — All this is the most uncompromising acknowledgment of the absolute inability of man to stand in judgment before God. The whole of this is so very abrupt and enigmatical that it is extremely difficult to be sure of the argument, though naturally the general drift of it is ob... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SCOURGE SLAY SUDDENLY. — Probably meaning that in the case of hidden calamity overtaking an innocent man, He, God, will laugh at it: that is to say, take no more notice of it than if it furnished Him with sport. The very fact of such calamity befalling, as it often does, the innocent is at all e... [ Continue Reading ]
SWIFTER THAN A POST. — The runner, with his messages and dispatches. He now turns away from the contemplation of God and His dealings to that of his own misery.... [ Continue Reading ]
SWIFT SHIPS. — What is meant by the swift ships, or ships of Desire, no one knows. Literally, _ships of Eveh,_ probably a proper name, and perhaps referring to a particular kind of boat in use on the Nile; if so, this is one instance out of many of Job’s acquaintance with Egypt. The Vulgate has, _na... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE IS NOT A MAN, AS I AM... — Is not that confession, if we believe that such a daysman as Job longed for has been given, itself a witness that it came from God, and was given by God? The light that has shined upon us was shining then in the heart of Job, and shines for ever in the pages of his... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS NOT SO WITH ME. — Literally, _I am not so with me._ The words are variously understood: “It is not so with me,” _i.e._, “I am not thus without fear,” as the former part of the verse supposes; or, “I am not so as ye suppose,” _i.e.,_ guilty, but innocent; or, “Am I not right with myself?” _i.e.... [ Continue Reading ]