Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Job 22:21 - 22:21

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Job 22:21 - 22:21


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

21 Make friends now with Him, so hast thou peace;

Thereby good will come unto thee.

22 Receive now teaching from His mouth,

And place His utterances in thy heart.

23 If thou returnest to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up again;

If thou puttest away iniquity far from thy tents.

24 And lay by in the dust the gold ore,

And under the pebbles of the brooks the gold of Ophir.

25 So shall the Almighty be to thee gold ore in abundance,

And silver to thee of the brightest lustre.

The relationship of the verbs סָכַן, שָׁכַן, and Arab. sakana, has been already discussed on Job 22:2 : the Hiph. signifies to be on friendly terms with any one; to enter into, or to stand in, an intimate relationship to any one (Psa 139:3); then also (as the Greek φιλεῖν) to get accustomed to, to be used to (Num 22:30). The second imper. is consecutive, as e.g., Pro 3:4 : and have as the result of it peace (Arab. fa'âslam) = so shalt thou have peace, Ges. §130, 2. In Job 22:21 the first thing to be done is to clear up the form תְּבֹואַתְךָ or (according to another reading which is likewise well attested) תְּבֹואָֽתְךָ. Olshausen (in Hirz. and in his Gramm.) and Rödiger (in Thes. p. 11, suppl.) explain this form the same as the other forms which come under consideration in connection with it, viz., תָּבֹואתָה (veniat), Deu 33:16, and וַתָּבֹאתִי, Keri וַתָּבֹאת (et venisses, addressed to Abigail), 1Sa 25:34, as errors in writing; whereas Ew., §191, c, sees in תְּבֹואַתְךָ the erroneous form תָּבֹואָה = תָּבֹוא with a superfluous feminine termination, in תָּבֹואתָה an extension of the double feminine by the unaccented ah of intention, and in תָּבֹאתִי a transfer of the inflexion of the perf. to the fut. Confining ourselves to the form which occurs here, we refer to what was said above: תבואתך is not a forma mixta from תְּבֹואֲךָ and בָּאַתְךָ, but the mistaken double feminine תָּבֹואָה with suff., the ah of which, although the tone is on the penult., is not He voluntativum, as Isa 5:19, but He femin. The exception of such double feminines is made as certain in Hebrew by the regular form נִגְלְתָה ( = נִגְלַת with a second feminine termination), and by examples like Pro 1:20; Eze 23:20, and also Jos 6:17; 2Sa 1:26; Amo 4:3 (comp. even Olsh. in his Gramm. S. 449), as the double plural and its further formation by a feminine termination in Arabic. It is therefore unnecessary, with Olsh. and Röd., after the precedent of the ancient versions, to read תְּבוּאָֽתְךָ (which is found in 19 Codd. in de Rossi): proventus tuus bonus erit. The suff. in בָּהֶם, as Isa 64:4; Eze 23:18, comp. עֲלֵיהֶם, Isa 38:16, is intended as neuter, as the fem. is used elsewhere (e.g., Isa 38:16, בָּהֶן): by it, i.e., by such conduct, good (prosperity) shall come to thee, and indeed, as the בוא construed with the acc. implies, in a sudden change of thy previous lot, coming about without any further effort on thy part. In the certainty that it is God's word which he presents to his friend (the very certainty which Eliphaz also expresses elsewhere, e.g., Job 15:11), he further admonishes him (Job 22:22) to receive instruction from God's mouth (מִפִּיו as Pro 2:6), and to allow His (God's) utterances a place in his heart, not to let them die away without effect, but to imprint them deeply on his mind.

Job 22:23

If he return to the Almighty (שׁוּב עַד as freq., e.g., Isa 19:22, comp. Isa 45:24, instead of the otherwise usual שׁוב אל, of thorough and complete conversion), he will be built up again, by his former prosperity being again raised from its ruins. בָּנָה, to build, always according to the connection, has at one time the idea of building round about, continuing to build, or finishing building (vid., on Job 20:19); at another of building up again (Job 12:14; Isa 58:12), referred to persons, the idea of increasing prosperity (Mal 3:15), or of the restoration of ruined prosperity (Jer 24:6; Jer 33:7), here in the latter sense. The promissory תִּבָּנֶה is surrounded by conditional clauses, for Job 22:23 (comp. Job 11:14) is a second conditional clause still under the government of אִם, which is added for embellishment; it opens the statement of that in which penitence must be manifested, if it is to be thorough. The lxx translates ἐὰν δὲ ἐπιστραφῇς καὶ ταπεινώσῃς, i.e., תֵּעָנֶה, which Ewald considers as the original; the omission of the אִם (which the poet otherwise in such connections has formerly heaped up, e.g., Job 8:5., Job 11:13) is certainly inconvenient. And yet we should not on that account like to give up the figure indicated in תבנה, which is so beautiful and so suited to our poet. The statement advanced in the latter conditional clause is then continued in Job 22:24 in an independent imperative clause, which the old versions regard as a promise instead of exhortation, and therefore grossly misinterpret. The Targ. translates: and place on the dust a strong city (i.e., thou shalt then, where there is now nothing but dust, raise up such), as if בֶּצֶר could be equivalent to בִּצָּרֹון or מִבְצָר, - a rendering to which Saadia at least gives a turn which accords with the connection: "regard the stronghold (Arab. 'l-ḥṣn) as dust, and account as the stones of the valleys the gold of Ophir;” better than Eichhorn: “pull down thy stronghold of violence, and demolish (הפיר) the castles of thy valleys.” On the other hand, Gecatilia, who understands בצר proportionately more correctly of treasures, translates it as a promise: so shalt thou inherit treasures (Arab. dchâyr) more numerous than dust, and gold ore (Arab. tbr') (more than) the stones of the valleys; and again also Rosenm. (repones prae pulvere argentum) and Welte interpret Job 22:24 as a promise; whereas other expositors, who are true to the imperative שׁית, explain שִׁית ni aestimare, and על־עפר pulveris instar (Grot., Cocc., Schult., Dathe, Umbr.), by falsely assigning to עַל here, as to לְ elsewhere, a meaning which it never has anywhere; how blind, on the other hand, since the words in their first meaning, pone super pulverem, furnish an excellent thought which is closely connected with the admonition to rid one's self of unjust possessions. בֶּצֶר, like Arab. tibr (by which Abulwalid explains it), is gold and silver ore, i.e., gold and silver as they are broken out of the mine, therefore (since silver is partially pure, gold almost pure, and always containing more or less silver) the most precious metal in its pure natural state before being worked, and consequently also unalloyed (comp. Arab. nḍı̂r and nuḍâr, which likewise signifies aurum argentumve nativum, but not ab excidendo, but a nitore); and “to lay in the dust” is equivalent to, to part with a thing as entirely worthless and devoid of attraction. The meaning is therefore: put away from thee the idol of previous metal with contempt (comp. Isa 2:20), which is only somewhat differently expressed in the parallel: lay the Ophir under the quartz (וּבְצוּר agreeing with בצר) of the brooks (such as is found in the beds of empty wâdys), i.e., place it under the rubble, after it has lost for thee its previous bewitching spell. As cloth woven from the filaments of the nettle is called muslin, from Mossul, and cloth with figures on it “damask, דְּמֶשֶׁק” (Amo 3:12), from Damascus,

(Note: We leave it undecided whether in a similar manner silk has its name μέταξα (μάταξα), Armenian metaks, Aramaic מטכסא, מטקסין, from Damascus (Ewald and Friedr. Müller).)

and aloes-wood Arab. mndl, from Coromandel; so the gold from Ophir, i.e., from the coast of the Abhîra, on the north coast of the Runn (Old Indian Irina, i.e., Salt Sea), east of the mouth of the Indus,

(Note: Thus אופיר has been explained by Lassen in his pamphlet de Pentapotamia, and his Indische Alterthumskunde (i. 539). The lxx (Cod. Vat.) and Theodot. have Σωφείρ, whence Ges. connects Ophir with Arrian's Οὔππαρα and Edrisi's Sufâra in Guzerat, especially since Sofir is attested as the Coptic name for India. The matter is still not settled.)

is directly called אופיר. When Job thus casts from him temporal things, by the excessive cherishing of which he has hitherto sinned, then God himself will be his imperishable treasure, his everlasting higher delight. He frees himself from temporal בֶּצֶר; and the Almighty, therefore the absolute personality of God himself, will be to him instead of it בְּצָרִים, gold as from the mine, in rich abundance. This is what the contrast of the plur. (בצרֶך without Jod plur. is a false reading) with the sing. implies; the lxx, Syriac version, Jerome, and Arabic version err here, since they take the בְּ of בְּצַרֶיךָ as a preposition.

The ancient versions and lexicographers furnish no explanation of תֹּועָפֹות. The Targ. translates it תְּקֹוף רוּמָא, and accordingly it is explained by both חסן (strength) and גבה (height), without any reason being assigned for these significations. In the passage before us the lxx transl. ἀργύριον πεπυρωμένον from עף, in the Targum signification to blow, forge; the Syriac versions, argentum computationum (חושׁבנין), from עף in the Targum-Talmudic signification to double (= Hebr. כפל). According to the usage of the language in question, יָעֵף, from the Hiph. of which תועפות is formed, signifies to become feeble, to be wearied; but even if, starting from the primary notion, an available signification is attained for the passage before us (fatigues = toilsome excitement, synon. יְגִיעַ) and Psa 95:4 (climbings = heights), the use of the word in the most ancient passages citable, Num 23:22; Num 24:8, כְּתֹועֲפֹת רְאֵם לֹו, still remains unexplained; for here the notion of being incapable of fatigue, invincibility, or another of the like kind, is required, without any means at hand for rightly deriving it from יָעֵף, to become feeble, especially as the radical signification anhelare supposed by Gesenius (comp. אֹון from the root אן) is unattested. Accordingly, we must go back to the root וף, יף, discussed on Psa 95:4, which signifies to rise aloft, to be high, and from which יפע, or with a transposition of the consonants יעף (comp. עָיֵף and יָעֵף), acquires the signification of standing out, rising radiantly, shining afar off, since יָעֵף, to become weary, is allied to the Arab. wgf, fut. i; this יעף (יפע), on the other hand, to Arab. yf', ascendere, adolescere, Arab. wf‛, elatum, adultum esse, and Arab. wfâ, eminere, and tropically completum, perfectum esse. Thus we obtain the signification enimentiae for תועפות. In Psa 95:4, as a numerical plur., it signifies the towerings (tops) of the mountains, and here, as in the passages cited from Numbers, either prominent, eminent attributes, or as an intensive plur. excellence; whence, agreeing with Ewald, we have translated “silver of the brightest lustre” (comp. יִפְעָה, eminentia, splendor, Eze 28:7).