Job · Chapter 13

V. 1. Lo-All this which either you or I have discoursed concerning the infinite power and wisdom of God. I know, both by seeing it, by my own observation and experience, and by hearing it from my ancestors.

Verse 1. Lo, mine eye hath seen all this] Ye have brought nothing new to me; I know those maxims as well as you: nor have you any knowledge of which I am not possessed.

Verse 1. Lo, mine eye hath seen all this — All this which either you or I have discoursed concerning the infinite power and wisdom of God, I know, both by seeing it, by my own observation and experience, and by hearing it from my ancestors.

2. Inferior unto you — See on Job 12:2.

V. 3. Surely-I had rather debate the matter with God than with you. I am not afraid of presenting my person and cause before him, who is a witness of my integrity.

Verse 3. Surely I would speak to the Almighty] אולם ulam, O that:—I wish I could speak to the Almighty!

I desire to reason with God.] He speaks here to reference to the proceedings in a court of justice. Ye pretend to be advocates for God, but ye are forgers of lies: O that God himself would appear! Before him I could soon prove my innocence of the evils with which ye charge me.

Verse 3. Surely I would speak to the Almighty — I had rather debate the matter with God than with you. I am not afraid of presenting my person and cause before him, who is a witness of my integrity, and would not deal so unmercifully with me as you do.

3. Zophar (Job 11:5) had thought to silence Job by calling upon God to appear against him. Job now takes Zophar at his word, by a summons for God to the controversy. This furnishes the clew to this chapter. God, and he alone, can arbitrate upon the cold, cruel judgments of men.

Verse 4. Ye are forgers of lies] Ye frame deceitful arguments: ye reason sophistically, and pervert truth and justice, in order to support your cause. Physicians of no value.] Ye are as feeble in your reasonings as ye are inefficient in your skill. Ye can neither heal the wound of my mind, nor the disease of my body. In ancient times every wise man professed skill in the healing art, and probably Job’s friends had tried their skill on his body as well as on his mind. He therefore had, in his argument against their teaching, a double advantage: Your skill in divinity and physic is equal: in the former ye are forgers of lies; in the latter, ye are good-for-nothing physicians. I can see no reason to depart from the general meaning of the original to which the ancient versions adhere. The Chaldee says: “Ye are idle physicians; and, like the mortified flesh which is cut off with the knife, so are the whole of you.” The imagery in the former clause is chirurpical, and refers to the sewing together, or connecting the divided sides of wounds; for ylpc topheley, which we translate forgers, comes from lpc taphal, to fasten, tie, connect, sew together. And I question whether ylpc topheley here may not as well express SURGEONS, as yapr ropheey, in the latter clause, PHYSICIANS. Ye are CHIRURGEONS of falsity, and worthless PHYSICIANS.

Verses 4, 5. Ye are forgers of lies — That is, authors of false doctrine, namely, that great afflictions are peculiar to hypocrites and wicked men. All physicians of no value — Unfaithful and unskilful; prescribing bad remedies: and misapplying good ones. O that ye would altogether hold your peace — The best proof of your wisdom would be never to say a word more of these matters; for then your ignorance and folly would be concealed, which are now made manifest by your speaking concerning what you do not understand. Thus Solomon, Proverbs 17:28, “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.”

Verse 4. Forgers of lies, misconstruing the ways of providence.

4. Forgers of lies — Taphal, “to forge,” “to stitch upon or together,” primarily means to “glue together,” (Gesenius,) or “smear over.” The lie needs no “glueing” to bind it fast to its victim. To save the good name of God they fasten upon Job the imputation of guilt. Physicians of no value — The Talmud strangely calls them healers of the jugular artery, the cutting of which produces death, hence the healers of the incurable. (Delitzsch.) A friend has been called the physician of the soul; in some such sense the word is used here. They failed in all the offices of friendship, and hence were worthless. Of no value — The word in the original thus rendered, signifies also idols, thus indicating their nothingness — worthlessness. Hence the apostle says, We know that an idol is nothing. 1 Corinthians 8:4.

Verse 5. Hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.] In Proverbs 17:28 we have the following apophtheym: “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise; and he that shutteth his lips, a man of understanding.” There is no reason to say that Solomon quotes from Job: I have already expressed my opinion that the high antiquity attributed to this book is perfectly unfounded, and that there is much more evidence that Solomon was its author, than there is that it was the composition of Moses. But, whenever Job lived, whether before Abraham or after Moses, the book was not written till the time of Solomon, if not later. But as to the saying in question, it is a general apophthegm, and may be found among the wise sayings of all nations.

I may observe here, that a silent man is not likely to be a fool; for a fool will be always prating, or, according to another adage, a fool’s bolt is soon shot. The Latins have the same proverb: Vir sapit, qui pauca loquitur, “A wise man speaks little.”

Verses 4, 5. Ye are forgers of lies — That is, authors of false doctrine, namely, that great afflictions are peculiar to hypocrites and wicked men. All physicians of no value — Unfaithful and unskilful; prescribing bad remedies: and misapplying good ones. O that ye would altogether hold your peace — The best proof of your wisdom would be never to say a word more of these matters; for then your ignorance and folly would be concealed, which are now made manifest by your speaking concerning what you do not understand. Thus Solomon, Proverbs 17:28, “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.”

5. Wisdom — The Arabs say, “The wise are dumb, and silence is wisdom,” “Silence gains love,” “To repent after silence is better than to repent after wisdom.” — Cited by Erpenius.

Verse 6. Hear now my reasoning] The speeches in this book are conceived as it delivered in a court of justice, different counsellors pleading against each other. Hence most of the terms are forensic.

Verses 6-8. Hear now my reasoning — Attend to it, and consider it more seriously than you have done; and hearken to the pleadings of my lips — That is, to the arguments which I shall produce. Will ye speak wickedly for God? — Will you utter falsehoods upon pretence of pleasing God, or of maintaining God’s honour or righteousness? Doth he need such defences? Will ye accept his person? — Not judging according to the right of the cause, but the quality of the person, as corrupt judges do. Will ye contend with God? — Or, will ye plead, as the word, ˆwbyrt, teribun, is rendered, Judges 6:31. He means, is his cause so bad as to call for your assistance to defend it? Will you plead for him, as one person pleads for another, making use of little arts and subtle contrivances in his defence? He wants no such crafty, unprincipled advocates. “Job here convicts his friends of wickedness, in taking upon them to defend God in an improper manner, as if he needed their rash censures to vindicate the ways of his providence. This was such a fault, as they had but too much reason to fear might one time or other draw down his severe chastisements on their own heads.” See Peters.

6. Reasoning — Better, reproof.

Second strophe — Such is Job’s fiery indignation at the dishonesty and arrogance of the friends in assuming to be God’s advocates, that he still turns aside from his main purpose of appeal that he may chide them anew, 7-12.

Verse 7. Will ye speak wickedly for God?] In order to support your own cause, in contradiction to the evidence which the whole of my life bears to the uprightness of my heart, will ye continue to assert that God could not thus afflict me, unless flagrant iniquity were found in my ways; for it is on this ground alone that ye pretend to vindicate the providence of God. Thus ye tell lies for God’s sake, and thus ye wickedly contend for your Maker.

Verses 6-8. Hear now my reasoning — Attend to it, and consider it more seriously than you have done; and hearken to the pleadings of my lips — That is, to the arguments which I shall produce. Will ye speak wickedly for God? — Will you utter falsehoods upon pretence of pleasing God, or of maintaining God’s honour or righteousness? Doth he need such defences? Will ye accept his person? — Not judging according to the right of the cause, but the quality of the person, as corrupt judges do. Will ye contend with God? — Or, will ye plead, as the word, ˆwbyrt, teribun, is rendered, Judges 6:31. He means, is his cause so bad as to call for your assistance to defend it? Will you plead for him, as one person pleads for another, making use of little arts and subtle contrivances in his defence? He wants no such crafty, unprincipled advocates. “Job here convicts his friends of wickedness, in taking upon them to defend God in an improper manner, as if he needed their rash censures to vindicate the ways of his providence. This was such a fault, as they had but too much reason to fear might one time or other draw down his severe chastisements on their own heads.” See Peters.

7. Deceitfully — In the sense of sophistically. Their sophism assumed the form of a dilemma — either Job is a transgressor or God is unjust. But the dilemma necessarily failed in the latter condition, and thus the whole fell to the ground.

V. 8. Accept-Not judging according to the right of the cause, but the quality or the person.

Verse 8. Will ye accept his person?] Do you think to act by him as you would by a mortal; and, by telling lies in his favour, attempt to conciliate his esteem?

Verses 6-8. Hear now my reasoning — Attend to it, and consider it more seriously than you have done; and hearken to the pleadings of my lips — That is, to the arguments which I shall produce. Will ye speak wickedly for God? — Will you utter falsehoods upon pretence of pleasing God, or of maintaining God’s honour or righteousness? Doth he need such defences? Will ye accept his person? — Not judging according to the right of the cause, but the quality of the person, as corrupt judges do. Will ye contend with God? — Or, will ye plead, as the word, ˆwbyrt, teribun, is rendered, Judges 6:31. He means, is his cause so bad as to call for your assistance to defend it? Will you plead for him, as one person pleads for another, making use of little arts and subtle contrivances in his defence? He wants no such crafty, unprincipled advocates. “Job here convicts his friends of wickedness, in taking upon them to defend God in an improper manner, as if he needed their rash censures to vindicate the ways of his providence. This was such a fault, as they had but too much reason to fear might one time or other draw down his severe chastisements on their own heads.” See Peters.

8. Accept his person — Literally, face: that is, be partial for God. They gave a distorted view of the divine administration. They glossed over two unmistakable facts: the prosperity of the wicked and the sufferings of the innocent. This they did that they might relieve, as they thought, the character of God.

Verse 9. Is it good that he should search you out?] Would it be to your credit if God should try your hearts, and uncover the motives of your conduct? Were you tried as I am, how would you appear? Do ye so mock him?] Do ye think that you can deceive him; and by flattering speeches bring him to your terms, as you would bring an undiscerning, empty mortal, like yourselves?

Verses 9, 10. Is it good that he should search you out? — Will it be to your credit and comfort, that he should narrowly examine your hearts and discourses, whether you have uttered truth or falsehood, and whether your speeches have proceeded from true zeal for the glory of God, or from your own prejudices and passions? Do ye so mock him? — By covering your uncharitableness and corrupt affections with pretences of piety, as if God could not discern your artifices; or, by pleading his cause with weak and foolish arguments, which is a kind of mockery of him, and an injury to his cause; or, by seeking to flatter him with false praises, as if he distributed the things of this world with exact justice, prospering only the good, and severely afflicting none but wicked men. He will surely reprove you — Hebrew, jkwy jkwh, hocheach, jocheach, redarguendo redarguet, in confuting, he will confute you; that is, he will surely confute, or punish you, as the word often means. “He will severely chastise you, for designing to gratify him by condemning me.” — Bishop Patrick. If ye do secretly accept persons — Though it be concealed in your own breasts, and no eye see it; yea, though your own minds and consciences, through ignorance or inadvertency, do not perceive it; yet he, who is greater than your consciences, sees and knows it.

9. Search you out — Better, Search you through — to the bottom. The natural heart, like birds of the night, abhors the light. It closes its every avenue against God. Its “chambers of imagery” are so filled with deceit, passion, lust, pride, envy — its idolatrous walls so traced with every form of creeping thing, (Ezekiel 8:12,) — as to render God’s searching presence the greatest of conceivable evils. A good man, on the other hand, desires to know the worst of himself. His prayer is: “Search me, O God, and know my heart.”

Verse 10. He will surely reprove you] You may expect, not only his disapprobation, but his hot displeasure.

Verses 9, 10. Is it good that he should search you out? — Will it be to your credit and comfort, that he should narrowly examine your hearts and discourses, whether you have uttered truth or falsehood, and whether your speeches have proceeded from true zeal for the glory of God, or from your own prejudices and passions? Do ye so mock him? — By covering your uncharitableness and corrupt affections with pretences of piety, as if God could not discern your artifices; or, by pleading his cause with weak and foolish arguments, which is a kind of mockery of him, and an injury to his cause; or, by seeking to flatter him with false praises, as if he distributed the things of this world with exact justice, prospering only the good, and severely afflicting none but wicked men. He will surely reprove you — Hebrew, jkwy jkwh, hocheach, jocheach, redarguendo redarguet, in confuting, he will confute you; that is, he will surely confute, or punish you, as the word often means. “He will severely chastise you, for designing to gratify him by condemning me.” — Bishop Patrick. If ye do secretly accept persons — Though it be concealed in your own breasts, and no eye see it; yea, though your own minds and consciences, through ignorance or inadvertency, do not perceive it; yet he, who is greater than your consciences, sees and knows it.

Ver. 10, He will surely reprove you, though under a specious veil you accept of persons.

Verse 11. His dread fall upon you?] The very apprehension of his wrath is sufficient to crush you to nothing.

Verses 11, 12. Shall not his excellency — His infinite wisdom, which sees your secret falsehood, and his justice and power, which can and will punish you for it; make you afraid? — Of speaking rashly or falsely of his ways and counsels. Your remembrances — Hebrew, µkynrkz, zichronechem, your memorials; or, as Chappelow translates it, memorabilia vestra, your remarkable things, your discourses, and arguments, and memorable actions; are like unto ashes — Contemptible and unprofitable, Hebrew, rpa ylvm, mishle epher, are parables or speeches of dust or ashes, mouldering, as it were, and coming to nothing. All that is most excellent and memorable in you; your wealth, and dignity, and wit, and reputation, or whatsoever it is for which you expect to be remembered, it is all but poor despicable dust and ashes; for, your bodies are like to bodies of clay — Though they be not full of sores and biles as mine is, yet they are but dust, and to dust they shall return, as well as mine. The consideration of our mortality should make us afraid of offending God.

11. His dread fall upon you — Pineda gives, in this place, a Spanish proverb, The hill and the stones are God’s: that is, the vantage ground is his.

V. 12. Remembrance-Mouldering and coming to nothing. And the consideration of our mortality should make us afraid of offending God. Your mementos are like unto ashes, contemptible and unprofitable.

Verse 12. Your remembrances are like unto ashes] Your memorable sayings are proverbs of dust. This is properly the meaning of the original: אפר משלי זכרניכם zichroneycem mishley epher. This he speaks in reference to the ancient and reputedly wise sayings which they had so copiously quoted against him.

Your bodies to bodies of clay.] This clause is variously translated: Your swelling heaps are swelling heaps of mire. That is, Your high-flown speeches are dark, involved, and incoherent; they are all sound, no sense; great swelling words, either of difficult or no meaning, or of no point as applicable to my case.

Verses 11, 12. Shall not his excellency — His infinite wisdom, which sees your secret falsehood, and his justice and power, which can and will punish you for it; make you afraid? — Of speaking rashly or falsely of his ways and counsels. Your remembrances — Hebrew, µkynrkz, zichronechem, your memorials; or, as Chappelow translates it, memorabilia vestra, your remarkable things, your discourses, and arguments, and memorable actions; are like unto ashes — Contemptible and unprofitable, Hebrew, rpa ylvm, mishle epher, are parables or speeches of dust or ashes, mouldering, as it were, and coming to nothing. All that is most excellent and memorable in you; your wealth, and dignity, and wit, and reputation, or whatsoever it is for which you expect to be remembered, it is all but poor despicable dust and ashes; for, your bodies are like to bodies of clay — Though they be not full of sores and biles as mine is, yet they are but dust, and to dust they shall return, as well as mine. The consideration of our mortality should make us afraid of offending God.

Ver. 12. Your remembrances are like ashes. Your treasured wisdom is vain, and profiteth not. Your bodies—of clay; profecto dorsa vestra sunt dorsa luti; truly your backs are backs of clay. The sense is, If God touch you, nothing remains of your glory but ashes; if he lay his rod on your back, you are trampled as clay beneath his feet.

12. Remembrances — Memorable sayings. Like unto ashes — Are maxims of ashes. In the East, ashes are regarded as of no value, fit only to be trodden under foot, (Malachi 4:3,) hence an image of worthlessness, Genesis 18:27. Bodies — Strongholds. The original is bn, gab, a back, the boss of a shield, thence a bulwark, etc. “Bulwarks of clay” were easily demolished. In those days the tower of stone was the symbol of strength. The “old saws” of the friends were “proverbs of ashes,” their glittering bulwarks, “bulwarks of mud;” a strict parallelism of thought. In this contemptuous setting of their “remembrances,” zikronim, in similitudes of ashes and mud, there is a keen verbal thrust at the stately “Remember, I pray thee,” of Eliphaz. (Zekorna, 4:7.) Compare chap. 8:8. Second section — JOB RESOLVES TO APPEAR BEFORE GOD WITH HIS APPEAL, EVEN AT THE RISK OF HIS LIFE, 13-22. (Compare Exodus 33:20; Judges 13:22.) First strophe — His extreme fear of God on the one hand, and his deep-rooted consciousness of innocence on the other, involve him in a painful oscillation of mind ere he reaches the full decision to cite God to judgement, 13-16

Verse 13. Hold your peace] You have perverted righteousness and truth, and your pleadings are totally irrelevant to the case; you have travelled out of the road; you have left law and justice behind you; it is high time that you should have done.

Let come on me what will.] I will now defend myself against you, and leave the cause to its issue.

Verse 13. Hold your peace — Do not now interrupt me in my discourse; which, peradventure, he observed by their gestures, some of them were now attempting; let me alone, that I may speak — That I may freely utter my whole mind; let come on me what will — Whatever the event may be, I am determined to speak in my own defence. My friends may put an unfavourable construction upon it, and think the worse of me for it; but I hope God will not make my necessary defence to be my offence, as they do: he will justify me, (verse 18,) and then nothing can come amiss to me. Those that are upright, and have the assurance of their uprightness, may cheerfully welcome every event. Come what will, they are ready for it.

V. 14. Wherefore-And this may be a reason of his desire of liberty of speech, because he could hold his tongue no longer, but must needs tear himself to pieces, if he had not some vent for his grief. The phrase having his life in his hand, denotes a condition extremely dangerous.

Verse 14. Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth] A proverbial expression. I risk every thing on the justice of my cause. I put my life in my hand, 1 Samuel 28:21. I run all hazards; I am fearless of the consequences.

Verse 14. Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, &c. — The sense, according to some commentators, is, Why do I torment myself? Why do I grieve so immoderately, like those persons who, in their afflictions, rend their garments, and are ready to tear their very flesh? But Bishop Patrick’s paraphrase seems to accord better with the context, namely, “I am so conscious to myself of my innocence, that I must still wonder why I suffer such enraging miseries, and am exposed to so many dangers.” Henry speaks to nearly the same purpose: “Why do I suffer such agonies? I cannot but wonder that God should lay so much upon me, when he knows I am not a wicked man. He was ready, not only to rend his clothes, but even to tear his flesh, through the greatness of his affliction; and saw himself at the brink of death, and his life in his hand; yet his friends could not charge him with any enormous crime, nor could he himself discover any; no marvel then he was in such confusion.” The phrase of having his life in his hand, denotes a condition extremely dangerous. Thus Jephthah tells the Ephraimites, I put my life in my hands and passed over against the children of Ammon, Judges 12:3. That is, I exposed my life to the greatest danger. Thus Jonathan speaks of David: He put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, 1 Samuel 19:5. The words, says Poole, may imply “a reason of his ardent desire of liberty of speech, because he could hold his tongue no longer, but must needs tear himself to pieces, if he had not some vent for his grief.” In which sense the LXX. seem to have understood him.

14. Take my flesh in my teeth — The second member of this verse helps to determine the meaning of the first. The “taking of one’s life in one’s hand” means its voluntary exposure to great danger, (Judges 12:3; 1 Samuel 19:5, etc.) “To take one’s flesh in his teeth” is probably a similar proverb for an imminent risk knowingly incurred; perhaps kindred to that cited by Schultens from the Arabic, “His flesh is on the butcher’s block.” Munster observes, “He who exposes his life to perils does not spare himself; thus he does not spare himself who bites his own flesh with his teeth.”

Verse 15. Though he slay me] I have no dependence but God; I trust in him alone. Should he even destroy my life by this affliction, yet will I hope that when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. In the common printed Hebrew text we have ljya al lo ayachel, I will NOT hope; but the Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, and Chaldee have read wl lo, HIM, instead of al lo NOT; with twenty-nine of Kennicott’s and Deuteronomy Rossi’s MSS., and the Complutensian and Antwerp Polyglots. Our translators have followed the best reading. Coverdale renders the verse thus: Lo, there is nether comforte ner hope for me, yf he wil slaye me.

But I will maintain mine own ways] I am so conscious of my innocence, that I fear not to defend myself from your aspersions, even in the presence of my Maker.

Verse 15. Though he slay me — But though God should yet more and more increase my torments, so that I could bear them no longer, but should perceive myself to be at the point of death, without any hope of recovery; yet will I trust in him — Or, more exactly according to the Hebrew text, Shall I not trust in him? Shall I despair? No; I will not, I know he is a just, a faithful, and merciful God; and he knows that my heart is upright before him, and that I am no hypocrite. But I will maintain mine own ways — Though I trust in him, yet I will humbly expostulate the matter with him. Hebrew, I will argue, prove, or demonstrate my ways; that is, I will make a free and full confession of the whole course of my life, and I will boldly, though submissively, assert my own integrity, which he also, I doubt not, will acknowledge. And, what I have done amiss, I will as freely confess, and make supplication to my Judge for the pardon of it. Before him — Hebrew, wynp la, el panaiv, before his face, in his presence, or before his tribunal, for I desire no other judge but him.

Ver. 15. Though he slay me. So the Vulgate reads; but the LXX read, Though he the Mighty oppress me—yet will I speak, and argue before him. This was a divine confidence, the most surprising in its character. It shows how faith can support the mind in the prospect of death.

15. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him — “This is one of the highest among the notabilia of Scripture,” (Chalmers,) and yet its interpretation is disputed. The question is whether the Hebrew word wl, lo, translated in him, should not be al, lo, signifying not. The manuscripts favour the al, not; but the Masoretes regarded it as an error, and have put into the margin a note called keri. This reforms the reader that the copyists have erred in this one word, and that it should be read as our version has it, in him. There are fourteen other passages in the entire Bible in which the keri substitutes lo, (for him,) for lo, not. See Delitzsch on Isaiah 13:9. Similar to these clerical errors is that one in our own version of the New Testament where at is printed for out: “Strain at a gnat.” (Matthew 23:24.) The old versions, as well as the old Jewish critics, Latin and English commentators, (among those to be excepted are Noyes, Davidson, and Conant,) adopt the reading of in him. On the contrary, lo, not, is defended by most German commentators, yet with such exceptions as Arnheim and Delitzsch. If it be read lo, not, the sense is not necessarily changed. “Whichever way you read it, the sense is the same. For if it is read not, it will be pronounced interrogatively — although he kill me shall I not hope?” — Calvin. The Germans, however, prefer to read it as an affirmation. Thus Ewald, “Yet he will slay me! I hope not.” (A feeble platitude!) With Job, here as elsewhere, (Job 14:14, 15; 19:25,) the deeper the night of gloom and despair the more vivid the lightning gleams of faith and hope. In his Titanic struggles he resembles the ancient giant who, when he touched the earth, is fabled to have gathered new life and hope. The word ljya, translated “trust,” signifies also hope. Death and hope here join hand in hand. Death has no power to slay hope; “Job’s hope almost enlivened his death. He had more life in death than most men have in their lives.” — Caryl. “It is the sign of a great soul always to hope,” said the heathen historian, Florus, (iv, 8;) the child of God goes beyond and plains his standard of faith on the other side of the brink of death. The last movement of the wasted fingers of Grace Aguilar, a Jewess, was to spell the words, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.”

Verse 16. He also shall be my salvation] He will save me, because I trust in him.

A hypocrite] A wicked man shall never be able to stand before him. I am conscious of this, and were I, as you suppose, a secret sinner, I should not dare to make this appeal.

Verse 16. He also shall be my salvation — I rest assured that he will save me out of these miseries, sooner or later, one way or other, if not with a temporal, yet with an eternal salvation after death; of which he speaks Job 19:25. For a hypocrite — Or, rather, But a hypocrite shall not come before him — If I were a hypocrite, as you allege, I durst not present myself before him to plead my cause with him, as now I desire to do, nor could I hope for any salvation from or with him in heaven.

16. He… my salvation — He, God, not this, as some read. “Job reassures himself with the thought that God cannot reveal himself to the wicked.” — Renan. If then God accepts his challenge, it will be a virtual concession of his innocence.

Second strophe — Fixed in his determination to enter the lists with Deity, Job first pleads with God that he should forego the advantages omnipotence gives, so that his servant may have a fair and just trial, 17-22.

V. 17. Hear-He now comes more closely to his business, the foregoing verses being mostly in way of preface.

Verse 17. Hear diligently my speech — This he desired before, (verse 6,) and now repeats, either, because they manifested some dislike of his speech, and some desire to interrupt him; or, because he now comes more closely to the question; the foregoing verses being mostly in the way of preface to it. And my declaration — That is, the words whereby I declare my mind.

V. 18. Behold-I have seriously considered the state of my case, and am ready to plead my cause.

Verse 18. Behold now, I have ordered] I am now ready to come into court, and care not how many I have to contend with, provided they speak truth.

Verses 18, 19. Behold, now, I have ordered my cause — Namely, in my own mind. I have seriously considered the state of my case, what can be said, either for me or against me, and am ready to plead my cause. I know that I shall be justified — Acquitted by God of that hypocrisy and wickedness wherewith you charge me, and declared a righteous person, human infirmities excepted. Who is he that will plead with me? — Let who will come and accuse me, I am ready to answer. If I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost — My grief would break my heart, if I did not give vent to it.

18. Ordered — Set in order, or made ready.

V. 19. The ghost-My grief would break my heart, if I should not give it vent.

Verse 19. Who is he that will plead with me?] Let my accuser, the plaintiff, come forward; I will defend my cause against him. I shall give up the ghost.] I shall cease to breathe. Defending myself will be as respiration unto me; or, While he is stating his case, I will be so silent as scarcely to appear to breathe.

Verses 18, 19. Behold, now, I have ordered my cause — Namely, in my own mind. I have seriously considered the state of my case, what can be said, either for me or against me, and am ready to plead my cause. I know that I shall be justified — Acquitted by God of that hypocrisy and wickedness wherewith you charge me, and declared a righteous person, human infirmities excepted. Who is he that will plead with me? — Let who will come and accuse me, I am ready to answer. If I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost — My grief would break my heart, if I did not give vent to it.

19. He — Hitzig is right in his view that “he” refers only to God. If God seriously question his innocence, poor Job can only keep silent and expire. If I hold my tongue — Tayler Lewis reads as in the text, but a better reading is: I would be silent and die.

Verse 20. Only do not two things unto me] These two things are the following: 1. Withdraw thine hand far from me—remove the heavy affliction which thy hand has inflicted. 2. Let not thy dread make me afraid—terrify me not with dreadful displays of thy majesty. The reasons of this request are sufficiently evident: 1. How can a man stand in a court of justice and plead for his life, when under grievous bodily affliction? Withdraw thy hand far from me. 2. Is it to be expected that a man can be sufficiently recollected, and in self-possession, to plead for his life, when he is overwhelmed with the awful appearance of the judge, the splendour of the court, and the various ensigns of justice? Let not thy dread make me afraid.

Verses 20-22. Let me only beg, O great Judge of all, that thou wilt forbear to make use of two things against me. Then will I not hide myself from thee — Then will I appear confidently to plead my cause before thee. Withdraw thy hand from me — Suspend my torments during the time of my pleading with thee, that my mind may be at liberty. And let not thy dread make me afraid — Do not present thyself to me in terrible majesty, neither deal with me in rigorous justice. Then call thou, and I will answer — Then choose thy own method: either do thou charge me with hypocrisy, or more than common guilt, and I will defend myself. Or let me speak, &c. — I will argue with thee concerning thy extraordinary severity toward me; and do thou show me the reasons of it. This proposal savours of self-confidence, and of irreverence toward God; for which, and the like speeches, he is reproved by God, Job 38:2, 3; 40:2.

20. Two things — Specified in the following verse: 1. That God would grant him a respite from trouble; 2. That he would not overwhelm with his terror.

V. 21. Withdraw-Suspend my torments during the time of my pleading with thee, that my mind may be at liberty. Do not present thyself to me in terrible majesty, neither deal with me in rigorous justice.

Verses 20-22. Let me only beg, O great Judge of all, that thou wilt forbear to make use of two things against me. Then will I not hide myself from thee — Then will I appear confidently to plead my cause before thee. Withdraw thy hand from me — Suspend my torments during the time of my pleading with thee, that my mind may be at liberty. And let not thy dread make me afraid — Do not present thyself to me in terrible majesty, neither deal with me in rigorous justice. Then call thou, and I will answer — Then choose thy own method: either do thou charge me with hypocrisy, or more than common guilt, and I will defend myself. Or let me speak, &c. — I will argue with thee concerning thy extraordinary severity toward me; and do thou show me the reasons of it. This proposal savours of self-confidence, and of irreverence toward God; for which, and the like speeches, he is reproved by God, Job 38:2, 3; 40:2.

21. Thy dread — Thy terror; “the terror of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 5:11.)

V. 22. Then-This proposal savoured of self-confidence, and of irreverence towards God; for which, and the like speeches, he is reproved by God, Job 38:2,3 40:2.

Verse 22. Then call thou] Begin thou first to plead, and I will answer for myself; or, I will first state and defend my own case, and then answer thou me.

Verses 20-22. Let me only beg, O great Judge of all, that thou wilt forbear to make use of two things against me. Then will I not hide myself from thee — Then will I appear confidently to plead my cause before thee. Withdraw thy hand from me — Suspend my torments during the time of my pleading with thee, that my mind may be at liberty. And let not thy dread make me afraid — Do not present thyself to me in terrible majesty, neither deal with me in rigorous justice. Then call thou, and I will answer — Then choose thy own method: either do thou charge me with hypocrisy, or more than common guilt, and I will defend myself. Or let me speak, &c. — I will argue with thee concerning thy extraordinary severity toward me; and do thou show me the reasons of it. This proposal savours of self-confidence, and of irreverence toward God; for which, and the like speeches, he is reproved by God, Job 38:2, 3; 40:2.

22. These phrases are regarded as judicial. He calls upon God to appear either as plaintiff or defendant. “In contrast with God Job feels himself to be a poor worm, but his consciousness of innocence makes him a Titan.” — Delitzsch. The language of Job is that of passion, which he himself in soberer moments condemned.

Third division — THE APPEAL TO GOD, 23-28, and chap. 14. First strophe — As if God stood before him in the character of an accuser, Job plies him for the reasons of his conduct: 1. That he should hide his face; 2. Show himself an enemy; 3. Issue bitter decrees against him; 4. “Punish sins long since passed;” 5. Cruelly hamper and imprison him with disease, 23-28: a gradation Mercerus had observed.

Hitzig supposes that Job here made a pause, in expectation “that God would appear and take up the word.”

V. 23. My sin-That I am a sinner, I confess; but not that I am guilty of such crimes as my friends suppose, if it be so, do thou, O Lord, discover it.

Verse 23. How many are mine iniquities] Job being permitted to begin first, enters immediately upon the subject; and as it was a fact that he was grievously afflicted, and this his friends asserted was in consequence of grievous iniquities, he first desires to have them specified. What are the specific charges in this indictment? To say I must be a sinner to be thus afflicted, is saying nothing; tell me what are the sins, and show me the proofs.

Verses 23, 24. How many are my sins? — That I am a sinner, I confess; but not that I am guilty of such crimes as my friends suppose; if it be so, do thou, O Lord, discover it. Wherefore hidest thou thy face? — Withdrawest thy favour and help, which thou hast been wont to afford me; and holdest me for thine enemy? — That is, dealest as sharply with me as if I were thy professed enemy.

23. He now commences his most pathetic appeal to God, which is continued through the next chapter. He begins to “reason with God,” as he had expressed his desire to do in verse 3. Job does not deny having committed sin, but he does deny sins proportionate to his calamities. Sin of a most heinous character has already been fore-shadowed in the insinuation of Bildad, (Job 8:6,) and in the onslaught of Zophar, (Job 11:11, 12.) In the opinion of some, (see Carey on 2:7,) the disease with which Satan cursed Job spoke of a licentious life. This may account for his insisting so strenuously on the purity of his life, Job 31:1-12.

Verse 24. Wherefore hidest thou thy face] Why is it that I no longer enjoy thy approbation?

Holdest me for thine enemy?] Treatest me as if I were the vilest of sinners?

Verses 23, 24. How many are my sins? — That I am a sinner, I confess; but not that I am guilty of such crimes as my friends suppose; if it be so, do thou, O Lord, discover it. Wherefore hidest thou thy face? — Withdrawest thy favour and help, which thou hast been wont to afford me; and holdest me for thine enemy? — That is, dealest as sharply with me as if I were thy professed enemy.

V. 25. Leaf-One that can no more resist thy power, than a leaf, or a little dry straw can resist the wind or fire.

Verse 25. Wilt thou break a leaf] Is it becoming thy dignity to concern thyself with a creature so contemptible?

Verse 25. Wilt thou break a leaf? &c. — Doth it become thy infinite and excellent majesty to use thy might to crush such a poor, impotent, and frail creature as I am, that can no more resist thy power than a leaf or a little dry straw can resist the fury of the wind or fire? Thus, whatever was irreverent or unbecoming in Job’s expressions, as recorded in verse 22, is greatly alleviated, as Dr. Dodd has observed, from Peters, by the humility and self-abasement manifested in these last three verses. Scarcely ever were the feelings of the human heart, burdened with an extraordinary load of grief, expressed in a more natural, or less blameable way. He first wishes that God would discover to him the particular sins, if there were any, for which he thus afflicted him, intimating his readiness to deplore them, and to correct his errors for the future. Secondly, he accounts it the greatest of his calamities, that God should hide his face from him, and deal with him as an enemy; on whose friendship and favour he had always set the highest value; had endeavoured to preserve it by the integrity of his life, and was resolved never to depart from that integrity. Lastly, he confesses his own meanness, or rather nothingness, in comparison of God; and that in a manner so ingenuous and simple, as to show that his complaints, however passionate and moving, did not proceed from pride or stubbornness of spirit.

Ver. 25. Wilt thou break a leaf. The ancients used the most impressive figures of humiliation in speaking to their Maker, and in addressing princes under afflictive circumstances. David calls himself, in the presence of Saul, a flea—a dead dog.

25. Break — Terrify, agitate, (chase) — Gesenius. A fallen leaf chased hither and thither by omnipotence: such was fallen Job. The figure is one of simplicity and yet one of power. “A glimmering wick shall He not quench.” Isaiah 42:3. “I have heard divines say, that those virtues that were but sparks upon earth shall become great and glorious flames in heaven.” — Izaak Walton.

V. 26. Writest-Thou appointest or inflictest. A metaphor from princes or judges, who anciently used to write their sentences.

Verse 26. Thou writest bitter things against me] The indictment is filled with bitter or grievous charges, which, if proved, would bring me to bitter punishment.

The iniquities of my youth] The levities and indiscretions of my youth I acknowledge; but is this a ground on which to form charges against a man the integrity of whose life is unimpeachable?

Verse 26. For thou writest — That is, thou appointest; bitter things against me — A terrible sentence, or most grievous punishments. It is a metaphor taken from the custom of princes or judges, who anciently used to write their sentences, or decrees, concerning persons or causes brought before them. And makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth — Dost now, at once, bring upon me the punishment of all my sins, not excepting those of my youth, which were committed before I well knew what I did.

26. Thou writest — A judicial term, observes Rosenmuller, referring to the custom of writing the sentence of a person condemned, thus decreeing the punishment. Psalm 149:9. Among the Arabs a writing is used to denote a judicial sentence. Bitter things — Prof. Lee mentions an Oriental adage, “Disease and want are two things more bitter than the juice of the colocynth.” Possess — Inherit. Iniquities — Same as in verse 23, from hw[, to be bent or distorted. “Evil is a departure from man’s appointed path.” The iniquities of my youth — Nature is ever slow to punish the transgressor. God’s mercy is thus proclaimed through the constitution of things he has himself founded. Youth is blindly led to presume upon apparent security. Nature, however, never forgets. She “lays up the depths in storehouses;” so all transgressions are housed against a retributive future. At the period of man’s greatest feebleness, amid the infirmities of many years, she lets loose against the transgressor imprisoned evils — the sins of youth. They prove a fearful heritage, upon which the man as naturally enters as a child does upon the estate of a deceased parent. Thus, in a sense vastly different from that, the Italian artist thought, “the remembrance of youth is a sigh.”

Verse 27. Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks] dsb bassad, “in a clog,” such as was tied to the feet of slaves, to prevent them from running away. This is still used in the West Indies, among slave-dealers; and is there called the pudding, being a large collar of iron, locked round the ankle of the unfortunate man. Some have had them twenty pounds’ weight; and, having been condemned to carry them for several years, when released could not walk without them! A case of this kind I knew: The slave had learned to walk well with his pudding, but when taken off, if he attempted to walk, he fell down, and was obliged to resume it occasionally, till practice had taught him the proper centre of gravity, which had been so materially altered by wearing so large a weight; the badge at once of his oppression, and of the cruelty of his task-masters!

And lookest narrowly] Thou hast seen all my goings out and comings in; and there is no step I have taken in life with which thou art unacquainted. Thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.] Some understand this as the mark left on the foot by the clog; or the owner’s mark indented on this clog; or, Thou hast pursued me as a hound does his game, by the scent.

Verse 27. Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks — Thou encompassest me with thy judgments, so that I have no way or possibility to escape. And lookest narrowly unto all my paths — Makest a strict and diligent search into all the actions of my life, that thou mayest find matter for which to condemn me. Thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet — Thou followest me close at the heels, either to observe my actions, or to pursue me with thy judgments; insomuch, that thou dost often, as it were, tread upon my heels, and leave the prints of thy footsteps upon them. Bishop Patrick’s paraphrase here is, “I can no more escape than a malefactor, whose feet are in the stocks, who is encompassed with a vigilant guard, and cannot stir a foot from the place where he is.” Heath thinks there is an allusion, in these words, to the custom of putting a clog on the feet of fugitive slaves, that they might be tracked and found.

Ver. 27. In the stocks: clogs of wood and iron by which the feet of prisoners were held.

27. The stocks — Some kind of clog for the feet, which the culprit shuffled about with him when he moved, perhaps similar to those in more recent times fastened to the feet of malefactors or fugitive slaves. “At Pompeii stocks have been found so contrived that ten prisoners might be chained by the leg, each leg separately, by the sliding of a bar.” — KITTO, Pictorial Bible. Thou settest a print — Literally, Around the roots of my feet thou settest a bound. Thus he was imprisoned against any possibility of escape. Heels — Literally, roots: “that part of the feet through which, standing or going, like a tree through its roots, man is fastened to the earth.” — Stickel. The figures in this verse hinge upon the swollen condition of his feet — a marked feature of the elephantiasis, in the course of which, says WINER, (Rwb., 1:115,) “the feet swell to a horrible extent.” See note 2:7.

V. 28. He-He speaks of himself in the third person, as is usual in this and other sacred books. So the sense is, he, this poor frail creature, this body of mine; which possibly he pointed at with his finger, consumeth or pineth away.

Verse 28. And he, as a rotten thing] I am like a vessel made of skin; rotten, because of old age, or like a garment corroded by the moth. So the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic understood it. The word he may refer to himself.

JOB

Verse 28. And he, as a rotten thing — That is, man, as some commentators suppose, thinking that Job speaks of himself in the third person, and that the sense is, this poor frail creature, this carcass, or body of mine; consumeth — Or wasteth away, and is destroyed; as a garment eaten by moths — Others, however, interpret the words thus: He, that is, God, consumeth me (understanding the verb hlby, jiblee, actively) as rottenness consumeth that in which it is, or, as a rotten thing is consumed, &c. Houbigant’s translation of the verse is, So that I am become like a thing consumed with rottenness; like a garment eaten up by the moth.

Ver. 28. And he, awh ipse. The third person is here, used, in reference perhaps to ver. 25, where man is like a leaf driven by the wind; or as in the next words, consumed like a garment.

28. Rotten thing — Rottenness. Such as caries, or decay, in wood. The most destructive agencies work in silence. “A moth does mischief, and makes no sound; so the minds of the wicked, in that they neglect to take account of their losses, lose their soundness, as it were, without knowing it. For they lose innocency from the heart, truth from the lips, continency from the flesh, and, as time holds on, life from their age.” — ST. GREGORY, Moralia. And he — Thus speaking of himself in the third person, Job paves the way to the sad estate of man as man, which forms the subject of the next chapter.