CHAPTER XVII _Job complains of the injustice of his friends, and compares his_ _present state of want and wo with his former honour and_ _affluence_, 1-6. _God's dealings with him will ever astonish upright men; yet the_ _righteous shall not be discouraged, but hold on his way_, 7-9. _Asserts... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:2. ARE THERE _NOT MOCKERS WITH ME?_] This has been variously translated. The VULGATE: "I have not sinned, and yet my eye dwells upon afflictions." SEPTUAGINT: "I conjure you, labouring under afflictions, what evil have I done? Yet strangers have robbed me of my substance." Mr. GOOD: "B... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:3. _LAY DOWN NOW_] Deposit a pledge; stake your conduct against mine, and your life and soul on the issue; let the cause come before God, let him try it; and see whether any of you shall be justified by him, while I am condemned.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:4. _FOR THOU HAST HID THEIR HEART_] This address is to _God_; and here he is represented as _doing_ that which in the course of his providence he only _permits_ to be done. _SHALT THOU NOT EXALT THEM._] This was exactly fulfilled: not one of Job's friends was exalted; on the contrary,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:5. _HE THAT SPEAKETH FLATTERY_] There is a great variety of meaning given to the terms in this verse. The general sense is, The man who expects much from his friends will be disappointed: while depending on them his children's eyes may fail in looking for bread.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:6. _HE HATH MADE ME ALSO A BY-WORD_] My afflictions and calamities have become a subject of general conversation, so that my poverty and affliction are proverbial. _As poor as Job, As_ _afflicted as Job_, are proverbs that have even reached our times and are still in use. _AFORETIME I... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:7. _MINE EYE ALSO IS DIM_] Continual weeping impairs the sight; and indeed any affliction that debilitates the frame generally weakens the _sight_ in the same proportion. _ALL MY MEMBERS_ ARE _AS A SHADOW._] Nothing is left but _skin_ and _bone_. I am but the _shadow_ of my _former sel... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:8. _UPRIGHT_ MEN _SHALL BE ASTONIED_] In several of these verses Job is supposed to speak prophetically of his future restoration, and of the good which religious society should derive from the history of his original affluence, consequent poverty and affliction, and final restoration t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:9. _THE RIGHTEOUS ALSO SHALL HOLD ON HIS WAY_] There shall be no doubt concerning the dispensations of the Divine providence. My case shall illustrate all seemingly intricate displays of God's government. None shall be stumbled at seeing a godly man under oppression, knowing that God ne... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:10. _BUT AS FOR YOU ALL_] Ye are too proud, and too full of self-importance, to profit by what ye see. _Return _- enter into yourselves, consider your ways, go again to school, get back to your own houses, and endeavour to acquire humility and knowledge; for there is not one wise man am... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:11. _MY DAYS ARE PAST_] Job seems to relapse here into his former state of gloom. These _transitions_ are very frequent in this poem; and they strongly mark the struggle of piety and resignation with continued affliction, violent temptation, and gloomy providences. _THE THOUGHTS OF MY... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:12. _THEY CHANGE THE NIGHT INTO DAY_] These purposes and thoughts are so very gloomy, that they change day into night. _THE LIGHT_ IS _SHORT BECAUSE OF DARKNESS._] אור קרוב מפני חשך _or_ _karob mippeney choshek_, "The light is near from the face of darkness." I have scarcely any light:... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:13. _THE GRAVE_ IS _MINE HOUSE_] Let my life be long or short, the grave at last will be my _home_. I expect soon to lie down in darkness - there is my end: I cannot reasonably hope for any thing else.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:14. _I HAVE SAID TO CORRUPTION_] I came from a corrupted stock, and I must go to corruption again. The Hebrew might be thus rendered: _To the ditch I have called, Thou_ art _my father. To the_ _worm_, Thou art _my mother and my sister_. I am in the nearest state of affinity to _dissolut... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:15. _AND WHERE_ IS _NOW MY HOPE?_] In the circumstances in which I am found, of what use can _hope_ be? Were I to form the expectation of future good, who could ever see it realized? Is it then any wonder that I should complain and bemoan my wretched lot?... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 17:16. _THEY SHALL GO DOWN TO THE BARS OF THE PIT_] All that I have must descend into the depths of the grave. Thither are we all going; and there alone can I _rest_. בדי baddey, which we translate _bars_, signifies also _branches,_ _distended limbs_, or _claws_, and may here refer either... [ Continue Reading ]