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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Job 29:7 - 29:7
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
7 When I went forth to the gate of the city,
Prepared my seat in the market,
8 Then the young men hid themselves as soon as they saw me,
And the aged rose up, remained standing.
9 Princes refrained from speaking,
And laid their hand on their mouth.
10 The voice of the nobles was hidden,
And their tongue clave to their palate.
When he left the bounds of his domain, and came into the city, he was everywhere received with the profoundest respect. From the facts of the case, it is inadmissible to translate quum egrederer portam after Gen 34:24, comp. infra, Job 31:34, for the district where Job dwelt is to be thought of as being without a gate. True, he did not dwell with his family in tents, i.e., pavilions of hair, but in houses; he was not a nomad (a wandering herdsman), or what is the same thing, a Beduin, otherwise his children would not have been slain in a stone house, Job 1:19. “The daughter of the duck,” says an Arabian proverb, “is a swimmer,” and the son of a Beduin never dwells in a stone house. He was, however, also, not a citizen, but a hadarı̂ (חֲצָרִי), i.e., a permanent resident, a large landowner and husbandman. Thus therefore שַׁעַר (for which Ew. after the lxx reads שַׁחַר: “when I went up early in the morning to the city”) is locative, for שַׁעְרָה (comp. צֵא הַשָּׂדֶה, go out into the field, Gen 27:3): when he went forth to the gate above the city; or even, since it is natural to imagine the city as situated on an eminence: up to the city (so that צֵאת includes in itself by implication the notion of עֲלֹות); not, however: to the gate near the city (Stick., Hahn), since the gate of a city is not situated near the city, but is part of the city itself. The gates of cities and large houses in Western Asia are vaulted entrances, with large recesses on either side, where people congregate for business and negotiations.
(Note: Vid., Layard, New Discoveries, p. 57.)
The open space at the gate, which here, as in Neh 8:1, Neh 8:3, Neh 8:16, is called רְחֹוב, i.e., the open space within the gate and by the gate, was the forum (Job 5:4).
Job 29:8
When Job came hither to the meeting of the tribunal, or the council of the elders of the city, within which he had a seat and a voice, the young men hid themselves, conscious of his presence (which εἰρομένῃ λέξει, or, is expressed paratactically instead of as a period), i.e., they retired into the background, since they feared his look of salutation;
(Note: Comp. jer. Schekalim ii. 5 (in Pinner's Compendium des Thalmud, S. 58): “R. Jochanan was walking and leaning upon R. Chija bar-Abba, R. Eliezer perceived him and hid himself from him (ומטמר לח מקמי). Then said R. Jochanan: This Babylonian insulted him (R. Chija) by two things; first that he did not salute him, and then that he hid himself. But R. Jakob bar-Idi answered him, it is the custom with them for the less not to salute the greater, - a custom which confirms Job's words: Young men saw me and his themselves.”)
and old men (hoary heads) stood up, remained standing (ἀσυνδέτως, as Job 20:19; Job 28:4). קוּם signifies to stand up, עָמַד to advance towards any one and remain standing. They rose in order not to seat themselves until he was seated. שָׂרִים are magnates (proceres) of the city. These עָֽצְרוּ בְּמִלִּים, cohibebant verba (עצר with Beth of the obj., as Job 4:2; Job 12:15), and keeping a respectful silence, they laid their hand on their mouth (comp. Job 21:5). All stepped back and desisted from speaking before him: The speech of illustrious men (נְגִידִים from נגד, Arab. njd, to be visible, pleasant to the sight, comp. supra, p. 510) hid itself (not daring to be heard), and the tongue of the same clave (motionless) to their palate. We do not translate: as to the voice illustrious men hid themselves, for it is only the appearance produced by the attractional construction Ges. §148, 1 that has led to the rendering of קול־נגידים as an acc. of closer definition (Schult., Hahn: quod ad vocem eminentium, comprimebantur). The verb is construed with the second member of the genitival expression instead of with the first, as with מספר, Job 15:20; Job 21:21; Job 38:21, and with ראשׁ, Job 22:12; a construction which occurs with קול not merely in such exclamatory sentences as Gen 4:10; Isa 52:8, but also under other conditions, 1Ki 1:41, comp. Job 14:6. This may be best called an attraction of the predicate by the second member of the compound subject, like the reverse instance, Isa 2:11; and it is sometimes found even where this second member is not logically the more important. Thus Ew. transl.: “the voice of the nobles hides itself;” whereas Olsh., wrongly denying that the partt. in passages like Gen 4:10; 1Ki 1:41, are to be taken as predicative, wishes to read נחבא, which is the more inadmissible, as even the choice of the verb is determined by the attractional construction.
The strophe which follows tells how it came to pass that those in authority among the citizens submitted to him, and that on all sides the people were zealous to show him tokens of respect.