Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comJamieson Fausset Brown Commentary - Job 6:19 - 6:19
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
the troops - that is, “caravans.”
Tema - north of Arabia-Deserta, near the Syrian desert; called from Tema son of Ishmael (Gen 25:15; Isa 21:14; Jer 25:23), still so called by the Arabs. Job 6:19, Job 6:20 give another picture of the mortification of disappointed hopes, namely, those of the caravans on the direct road, anxiously awaiting the return of their companions from the distant valley. The mention of the locality whence the caravans came gives living reality to the picture.
Sheba - refers here not to the marauders in North Arabia-Deserta (Job 1:15), but to the merchants (Eze 27:22) in the south, in Arabia-Felix or Yemen, “afar off” (Jer 6:20; Mat 12:42; Gen 10:28). Caravans are first mentioned in Gen 37:25; men needed to travel thus in companies across the desert, for defense against the roving robbers and for mutual accommodation.
The companies ... waited for them - cannot refer to the caravans who had gone in quest of the waters; for Job 6:18 describes their utter destruction.