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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Job 29:1 - 29:1
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
1 Then Job continued to take up his proverb, and said:
2 O that I had months like the times of yore,
Like the days when Eloah protected me,
3 When He, when His lamp, shone above my head,
By His light I went about in the darkness;
4 As I was in the days of my vintage,
When the secret of Eloah was over my tent,
5 When the Almighty was still with me,
My children round about me;
6 When my steps were bathed in cream,
And the rock beside me poured forth streams of oil.
Since the optative מִי־יִתֵּן (comp. on Job 23:3) is connected with the acc. of the object desired, Job 14:4; Job 31:31, or of that respecting which anything is desired, Job 11:5, it is in itself possible to explain: who gives (makes) me like the months of yore; but since, when מִי־יִתְּנֵנִי occurs elsewhere, Isa 27:4; Jer 9:1, the suff. is meant as the dative (= מי־יתן לי, Job 31:35), it is also here to be explained: who gives me (= O that one would give me, O that I had) like (instar) the months of yore, i.e., months like those of the past, and indeed those that lie far back in the past; for יַרְחֵי־קֶדֶם means more than עָֽבְרוּ (אֲשֶׁר) יְרָחִים. Job begins to describe the olden times, that he wishes back, with the virtually genitive relative clause: “when Eloah protected me” (Ges. §116, 3). It is impossible to take בְּהִלֹּו as Hiph.: when He caused to shine (Targ. בְּאַנְהָרוּתֵיהּ); either בַּֽהֲהִלֹּו (Olsh.) or even בָּהִלֹּו (Ew. in his Comm.) ought to be read then. On the other hand, הִלֹּו can be justified as the form for inf. Kal of הָלַל (to shine, vid., Job 25:5) with a weakening of the a to i (Ew. §255, a), and the suff. may, according to the syntax, be taken as an anticipatory statement of the object: when it, viz., His light, shone above my head; comp. Exo 2:6 (him, the boy), Isa 17:6 (its, the fruit-tree's, branches), also Isa 29:23 (he, his children); and Ew. §309, c, also decides in its favour. Nevertheless it commends itself still more to refer the suff. of בהלו to אֱלֹוהַּ (comp. Isa 60:2; Psa 50:2), and to take נֵרֹו as a corrective, explanatory permutative: when He, His lamp, shone above my head, as we have translated. One is at any rate reminded of Isa 60 in connection with Job 29:3; for as בהלו corresponds to יזרח there, so לאורו corresponds to לְאֹורֵךְ in the Job 29:3 of the same: by His light I walked in darkness (חֹשֶׁךְ locative = בַּחֹשֶׁךְ), i.e., rejoicing in His light, which preserved me from its dangers (straying and falling).
In Job 29:4 כַּאֲשֶׁר is not a particle of time, but of comparison, which was obliged here to stand in the place of the כְּ, which is used only as a preposition. And חָרְפִּי (to be written thus, not חָרְפִי with an aspirated )פ may not be translated “(in the days) of my spring,” as Symm. ἐν ἡμέραις νεότητός μου, Jer. diebus adolescentiae meae, and Targ. בְּיֹומֵי חֲרִיפוּתִי, whether it be that חריפות here signifies the point, ἀκμή (from חרף, Arab. ḥrf, acuere), or the early time (spring time, from חרף, Arab. chrf, carpere). For in reference to agriculture חֹרֶף can certainly signify the early half of the year (on this, vid., Genesis, S. 270), inasmuch as sowing and ploughing time in Palestine and Syria is in November and December; wherefore Arab. chrı̂f signifies the early rain or autumn rain; and in Talmudic, חָרֵף, premature (ripe too early), is the opposite of אָפֵל, late, but the derivatives of חרף only obtain this signification connotative, for, according to its proper signification, חֹרֶף (Arab. chrı̂f with other forms) is the gathering time, i.e., the time of the fruit harvest (syn. אָסִיף), while the Hebr. אָבִיב (אֵב) corresponds to the spring in our sense. If Job meant his youth, he would have said בִּימֵי אִבִּי, or something similar; but as Job 29:5 shows, he meant his manhood, and this he calls his autumn as the season of maturity, or rather of the abundance of fruits (Schult.: aetatem virilem suis fructibus faetum et exuberantum),
(Note: The fresh vegetation, indeed, in hotter districts (e.g., in the valley of the Jordan and Euphrates) begins with the arrival of the autumnal rains, but the real spring (comp. Son 2:11-13) only begins about the vernal equinox, and still later on the mountains. On the contrary, the late summer, קַיִץ, which passes over into the autumn, חֹרֶף, is the season for gathering the fruit. The produce of the fields, garden fruit, and grapes ripen before the commencement of the proper autumn; some (when the land can be irrigated) summer fruits, e.g., Dhura (maize) and melons, in like manner olives and dates, ripen in autumn. Therefore the translation, in the days of my autumn (“of my harvest”), is the only correct one. If חָרְפִּי were intended here in a sense not used elsewhere, it might signify, according to the Arabic with h, “(in the days) of my prosperity,” or ”my power,” or even with Arab. ch, “(in the days) of my youthful vigour;” for charâfât are rash words and deeds, charfân one who says or does anything rash from lightness, the feebleness of old age, etc. (according to Wetzst., very common words in Syria): חֹרֶף or חֲרֹף, therefore the thoughtlessness of youth, Arab. jahl, i.e., the rash desire of doing something great, which חֵרֵף הנפש למות (Jdg 5:18). But it is most secure to go back to חרף, Arab. chrf, carpere, viz., fructus.)
which, according to Olympiodorus, also with ὅτε ἤμην ἐπιβρίθων ὁδούς (perhaps καρπούς) of the lxx, is what is intended. Then the blessed fellowship of Eloah (סֹוד, familiarity, confiding, unreserved intercourse, Psa 55:15; Pro 3:32, comp. Psa 25:14) ruled over his tent; the Almighty was still with him (protecting and blessing him), His נְעָרִים were round about him. It certainly does not mean servants (Raschi: משׁרתי), but children (as Job 1:19; Job 24:5); for one expects the mention of the blessing of children first of all (Psa 127:3, Psa 128:3). His steps (הֲלִיךְ, ἅπ. λεγ.) bathed then בְּחֵמָה = בְּחֶמְאָה, Job 20:17 (as שֵׁלָה = שְׁאֵלָה, 1Sa 1:17, and possibly גֵּוָה = גְּאֵוָה), and the rocks poured forth, close by him, streams of oil (a figure which reminds one of Deu 32:13). A rich blessing surrounded him wherever he tarried or went, and flowed to him wonderfully beyond desire and comprehension.