CHAPTER XIX _Job complains of the cruelty of his friends_, 1-5. _Pathetically laments his sufferings_, 6-12. _Complains of his being forsaken by all his domestics, friends,_ _relatives, and even his wife_, 13-19. _Details his sufferings in an affecting manner, calls upon his_ _friends to pity... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:2. _HOW LONG WILL YE VEX MY SOUL_] Every thing that was irritating, vexatious, and opprobrious, his friends had recourse to, in order to support their own system, and overwhelm him. Not one of them seems to have been touched with a feeling of tenderness towards him, nor does a kind expr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:3. _THESE TEN TIMES_] The exact arithmetical number is not to be regarded; _ten times_ being put for many times, as we have already seen. See particularly _Clarke's note on "_Genesis 31:7_"_. _YE MAKE YOURSELVES STRANGE TO ME._] When I was in affluence and prosperity, ye were my intima... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:4. _AND BE IT INDEED_ THAT _I HAVE ERRED_] Suppose indeed that I have been mistaken in any thing, that in the simplicity of my heart I have gone astray, and that this matter remains with myself, (for most certainly there is no public stain on my life,) you must grant that this error, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:6. _KNOW NOW THAT GOD HATH OVERTHROWN ME_] The matter is between him and me, and he has not commissioned _you_ to add reproaches to _his_ chastisements. _AND HATH COMPASSED ME WITH HIS NET._] There may be an allusion here to the different modes of _hunting_ which have been already ref... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:7. _I CRY OUT OF WRONG_] I complain of violence and of injustice; but no one comes to my help.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:8. _HE HATH FENCED UP MY WAY_] This may allude to the mode of hunting the elephant, described at the conclusion of the preceding chapter; or to the operations of an invading army. See under Job 19:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:9. _HE HATH STRIPPED ME OF MY GLORY_] I am reduced to such circumstances, that I have lost all my honour and respect.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:10. _MINE HOPE HATH HE REMOVED LIKE A TREE._] There is no more hope of my restoration to affluence, authority, and respect, than there is that a tree shall grow and flourish, whose roots are extracted from the earth. I am pulled up by the roots, withered, and _gone_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:11. _AND HE COUNTETH ME UNTO HIM AS_ ONE OF _HIS ENEMIES._] From the _seventh_ to the _thirteenth_ verse there seems to be an allusion to a hostile invasion, battles, sieges, c. 1. A neighbouring chief, _without provocation_, invades his neighbour's territories, and none of his friends... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:14. _MY KINSFOLK HAVE FAILED_] Literally, _departed_: they have all left my house, now there is no more hope of _gain_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:15. _THEY THAT DWELL IN MINE HOUSE_] In this and the following verses the disregard and contempt usually shown to men who have fallen from affluence and authority into poverty and dependence, are very forcibly described: formerly reverenced by all, now esteemed by none. Pity to those w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:17. _THOUGH I ENTREATED FOR THE CHILDREN'S_ SAKE _OF MINE OWN_ _BODY._] This may imply no more than adjuring her by the tenderest ties, by their affectionate intercourse, and consequently by the _children_ which had been the seals of their mutual affection, though these children were no... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:19. _MY INWARD FRIENDS_] Those who were my greatest _intimates_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:20. _MY BONE CLEAVETH TO MY SKIN._] My flesh is entirely wasted away, and nothing but skin and bone left. _I AM ESCAPED WITH THE SKIN OF MY TEETH._] I have had the most narrow escape. If I still live, it is a thing to be wondered at, my sufferings and privations have been so great. To... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:21. _HAVE PITY UPON ME_] The iteration here strongly indicates the depth of his distress, and that his spirit was worn down with the length and severity of his suffering.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:22. _WHY DO YE PERSECUTE ME AS GOD_] Are not the afflictions which God sends enough? Do ye not see that I have as much as I can bear? When the papists were burning Dr. Taylor at Oxford, while wrapped in the flames, one of the true sons of the Church took a stick out of the faggots, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:23. _O THAT MY WORDS WERE NOW WRITTEN!_] Job introduces the important subject which follows in a manner unusually solemn; and he certainly considers the words which he was about to utter of great moment, and therefore wishes them to be _recorded_ in every possible way. All the modes of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:24. _IRON PEN AND LEAD_] Some suppose that the meaning of this place is this: the _iron pen_ is the _chisel_ by which the letters were to be _deeply cut_ in the _stone_ or _rock_; and the _lead_ was melted into those cavities in order to preserve the engraving distinct. But this is not... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:25. _FOR I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVETH_] Any attempt to establish the _true meaning_ of this passage is almost hopeless. By learned men and eminent critics the words have been understood very differently; some vehemently contending that they refer to the _resurrection of the body, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:26. _AND_ THOUGH _AFTER MY SKIN_ WORMS _DESTROY THIS_ BODY] _My_ _skin_, which is now almost all that remains of my former self, except the bones; see Job 19:20. _They destroy this _- not body. נקפו זאת _nikkephu zoth,_ _they_-diseases and affliction, destroy THIS wretched composition o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:27. _WHOM I SHALL SEE FOR MYSELF_] Have a personal interest in the _resurrection_, as I shall have in the _Redeemer_. _AND MINE EYES SHALL BEHOLD_] That very person who shall be the _resurrection_, as he is the _life_. _AND NOT ANOTHER_] ולא זר _velo zar_, and not a _stranger_, one wh... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:28. _BUT YE SHOULD SAY_] Or, _Then ye shall say_. _WHY PERSECUTE WE HIM_] Or, as Mr. _Good_, How did we persecute him! Alas! we are now convinced that we did wrong. _SEEING THE ROOT OF THE MATTER_] A _pure practice_, and a _sound_ _hope_, resting on the solid ground of _sound faith_,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 19:29. _BE YE AFRAID OF THE SWORD_] Of God's judgments. _FOR WRATH BRINGETH_] Such anger as ye have displayed against me, God will certainly resent and punish. _THAT YE MAY KNOW_ THERE IS _A JUDGMENT._] That ye may know that God will judge the world; and that the unequal distribution of... [ Continue Reading ]