1Job reproveth his friends of inhumanity toward him: 7he pathetically describeth his unhappy case; 17still protesting his innocence, for which he maketh appeal to God.
1THEN Job answered and said,
2I have 1heard many 2such things: 3miserable comforters are yea all.
1 Not only from you and your companions, but also from others.
2 Namely, as ye have presented to me, about the ruin and destruction of the wicked.
3 Hebr. comforters of trouble; which are called in Job 13:4 physicians of no value; see the annotation there.
a Job 13:4.
3Shall 4vain words have an end? or 5what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
4 Hebr. words of wind. Compare Job 15:2, and see the annotations.
5 That is, what solid reasons have ye that make you so resolved, severe and bold in encountering me with such answers? That the Hebrew word, which nowhere else is found in this construction, has the signification of to make strong, may be gathered from a word of the same root, which signifies to be strong or vigorous; see 1 Kings 2:8; Job 6:25; Micah 2:10.
46I also could speak as ye do: 7if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head 8at you.
6 Namely, pretending to be a comforter. Other, I might likewise speak as ye do, if, etc., I might heap words, etc., and I might shake, etc.
7 That is, if your persons were in the place of mine, suffering the same misery which I now endure. Soul for person, see Gen. 12 on verse 5.
8 That is, scorn and mock you, and show forth the same by shaking my head at you. See 2 Kings 19 on verse 21, implying that he would not do such a thing; for, all these question have a force of denying, as appears by the next verse.
5But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should 9asswagebyour grief.
9 Or, be withheld, namely, from so much prating or making so much stir and ado, as ye now practice against me. Other, should you or your grief keep in or restrain. Or thus: compassion should withhold my lips.
b restrain
6Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged:c and though I forbear, 10what am I eased?
c restrained
10 That is, what is my grief the less for it? He wants to say: Whether I speak or hold my peace, it is all the same, there is no advantage; for, if I do speak, my words are misconstrued, and I am nevertheless judged a wicked man by reason of my sufferings; and if I hold my peace, they would think that I have found myself convinced.
7But now 11he hath made me 12weary: thou hast made desolate 13all my company.
11 Namely, God, Who had sent him all this suffering, to Whom he also right away addresses his speech by the immense agitation of his mind in the words following in the second person. Of the suppressing of the Name of God see Job 3 on verse 20. Also below, verse 9. Other, but now it hath tired me, namely, the pain or grief, whereof he had spoken in the previous verse.
12 That is, extremely wearied me with this heavy and manifold affliction.
13 Understand his family, wife, children, friends, retinue and servants, whom the Lord, in several ways, had either bereaved him of, or estranged from him. See Job 1; 2; 19:13, 14, 15, etc.
8And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which 14is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me 15beareth witness 16to my face.
14 Namely, of the greatness of my distress and pain, whereby my spirit is so startled, that my body disappears and withers away little by little.
15 That is, my wrinkled, lean, dry and withered body speaks against me as a witness, taking sides with my adversaries. For, they judged from a man’s godliness, or ungodliness his temporal and outward estate and condition; which if it be granted to be so, his miserably diseased and decayed body was a sufficient witness of God’s indignation and vengeance against him.
16 That is, openly against me. Compare Job 1:11.
9Hed17teareth me in 18his wrath, who 19hateth me: 20he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemye21sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
d Job 10:16, 17.
17 This is a similitude taken from the lions or other ferocious animals to express so much the better how fearful it is to fall into the hands of the living God, when He with seriousness wants to punish, Heb. 10:31. Compare Psalm 50:22; Lam. 3:10, 11; Hosea 5:14; 6:1.
18 Understand the wrath of God. He speaks again of God in the third person.
19 Or, doth hate me inwardly. Also Gen. 49:23; 50:15.
20 The gnashing of teeth, which is done by biting them together and grating them the one against the other, is a behavior of such as are filled with extreme rage and revenge, as Psalm 35:16; 37:12; 112:10; Lam. 2:16. Or, of those who are in extreme pain, trouble and torment, Mat. 8:12; Luke 13:28. Here it is attributed to God in the first sense by similitude to make us the better apprehend the fierceness and fearfulness of His wrath and indignation.
e Job 13:24.
21 That is, casts a fierce and grim look upon me, as if He meant to examine me luminously with His eyes, as with the terrible flashes of lightning.
1022They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the 23cheek reproachfully; they have 24gathered themselves together against me.
22 He means those instruments or devices which God made use of, to try him by all kinds of chastisements; but it would seem he has a special regard here to Eliphaz and his friends, who had opened their mouth against him to condemn him shamefully, as one who was forsaken of God altogether. Compare Psalm 35:21.
23 That is, they scornfully reproach me. See 1 Kings 22 on verse 24.
24 That is, they satisfy their anger, or vent their courage. See similar expression Exod. 15:9 and compare the annotation. Other, they have gathered themselves with multitudes against me.
11God hath 25delivered me to the 26ungodly, and 27turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
25 Other, shut me up with the ungodly, namely, as in a prison, to be vexed and tormented by them.
26 It seems that he means hereby the Chaldeans and Sabeans, spoken of in Job 1:15, 17.
27 That is, made me to fall into their hands.
12I was at ease, but he hath 28broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by 29my neck, and shaken me to pieces, andf set me up 30for his mark.
28 Namely, by fire, by wind, by enemies, Job 1:15, 16, 17, 19.
29 Like when a mighty giant, apprehending a little, weakly man and gripping him by the neck, does therewith fling him to the ground and dash him right away to pieces.
f Job 7:20; Lam. 3:12.
30 Namely, against which He shoots the arrows of His indignation. Compare Job 7:20.
13His 31archers compass me round about, he cleaveth 32my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.
31 Some are of the opinion that by these he means his wife, friends and others, who by perverse judgments, mockeries and taunts did greatly multiply his sufferings. Others understand this of his sores, which pierced and tore his skin and flesh all over. It may also be taken generally for all his plagues and sufferings together.
32 These are hyperbolical expressions to show forth the greatness of the sufferings wherein he was positioned. The meaning is, that God had not only filled his body outwardly with sores and boils and inwardly with pangs and pains, but likewise so pierced and split his spirit with grievous troubles, and cutting perplexities, that it had made him to pour out all his passions or emotions in the great anguish of his senses and agony of his heart.
14He breaketh me 33with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me 34like a giant.
33 Hebr. with breach upon the face of breach. He wants to say, that from the very beginning of his suffering until now he had had no respite at all, to regain his breath a little, but that until now plagues upon plagues had heaped themselves upon him, and still presently they have caught him by surprise.
34 That is, as a mighty, terrible and strongly-armed man of war.
15I have sewed 35sackcloth upon my skin, andg defiled 36my horn in 37the dust.
35 Understand the sackcloth which he put on over his skin, when he heard all those sad tidings of the loss of his cattle and children. The sense is: that the same sackcloth was cleaving now so fast to his skin, by means of the running sores and clammy matter all the skin over, that it seemed to be even sowed on upon him.
g Job 30:19.
36 That is, mine honor, power and authority, the same is reduced to nothing, and changed into shame, contempt, reproach and poverty. Thus the word horn is taken for honor, might, greatness, power and authority, etc. See Deut. 33 on verse 17; and the word dust for shame, contempt, hardship, despicableness, want of ability, low and weak condition; see 1 Kings 16 on verse 2. Or, by the horn may be understood (by way of similitude from beasts) the head, which in their mourning they strewed with dust.
37 That is, soiled.
16My face is 38foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is 39the shadow of death;
38 Or, defiled, besmeared, smudged. The Hebrew word signifies filth that comes from moisture, which is troubled and stirred about, Psalm 46:3; 75:8.
39 That is, a very thick darkness, such as uses to seize on men when they are close to death. See the annotation at Job 3 on verse 5, and Job 10 on verse 21. Job wants to say that his sight was made exceeding dim by reason of his great grief and abundant weeping.
1740Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.
40 The sense is, that he had not wronged his neighbor, and had served God uprightly. Prayer is the most important part of God’s worship.
1841O earth, 42cover not thou 43my blood, and let 44my cry have no place.
41 Here he takes the earth to witness of his innocence and piety, mentioned before, wishing, that if he had committed any wrong or violence, by bloodshed against his neighbor, as his friends laid to his charge, that God would reveal it to light, causing the earth to discover such blood.
42 The earth is said to cover the blood, when wrong, violence and murder remain concealed and unpunished. Contrarily, not to cover it, when they are revealed and punished. Compare Gen. 4:10, 11; Isa. 26:21; Ezek. 24:7.
43 That is, which at any time I may have shed wrongfully.
44 That is, I wish that my prayer may not be heard by God, in case I am such as my friends do describe and picture me.
19Also now, behold, 45my witness is in heaven, and my record is on 46high.
45 He understands herewith God, Who could give a perfect testimony of his conscience and guiltlessness. And he calls Him later my record, that is, my Witness.
46 That is, in the highest place, or highest heavens. Compare Job 25:2; 31:2; Psalm 148:1; Mat. 21:9; Luke 2:14.
20My friends scorn me: but mine eye 47poureth out tears unto God.
47 That is, waits fervently upon God with tears, to bring one day my righteous cause to light, wherefore also I call upon Him without ceasing. Compare Psalm 69:3.
21O that one might pleadh for a man with God, 48as 49a man pleadeth for his neighbour!
h Job 31:35; Eccl. 6:10; Isa. 45:9; Rom. 9:20.
48 Hebr. and. See Job 5 on verse 7.
49 That is, a person. See 1 Kings 8 on verse 39.
22When a 50few years are come, then 51I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
50 Hebr. years of number, that is, few years, namely, of my life. See Gen. 34 on verse 30; likewise Job 15:20. It is as much as if he said: What do I wish to plead with God? It is in vain, for I must ere long die. Other, for the numbering of years shall come on; as if Job gave the reason here, why he was so desirous to enter into mutual plea with God, namely, because his life was near to its end, and he would gladly have this controversy ended before he died.
51 Other thus: the path is there; I shall not return; I shall depart.