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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comJamieson Fausset Brown Commentary - Job 22:24 - 22:24
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Rather, containing the protasis from the last clause of Job 22:23, “If thou regard the glittering metal as dust”; literally, “lay it on the dust”; to regard it of as little value as the dust on which it lies. The apodosis is at Job 22:25, Then shall the Almighty be, etc. God will take the place of the wealth, in which thou didst formerly trust.
gold - rather, “precious” or “glittering metal,” parallel to “(gold) of Ophir,” in the second clause [Umbreit and Maurer].
Ophir - derived from a Hebrew word “dust,” namely, gold dust. Heeren thinks it a general name for the rich countries of the South, on the African, Indian, and especially the Arabian coast (where was the port Aphar. El Ophir, too, a city of Oman, was formerly the center of Arabian commerce). It is curious that the natives of Malacca still call their mines Ophirs.
stones of the brooks - If thou dost let the gold of Ophir remain in its native valley among the stones of the brooks; that is, regard it as of little worth as the stones, etc. The gold was washed down by mountain torrents and lodged among the stones and sand of the valley.