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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Job 35:9 - 35:9
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
9 By reason of the multitude of oppressions they raise a cry,
They call for help by reason of the arm of the great,
10 But none saith: Where is Eloah my Creator,
Who giveth songs of praise in the night,
11 Who teacheth us by the beasts of the earth,
And maketh us wise by the fowls of heaven?
12 Then they cry, yet He answereth not,
Because of the pride of evil men.
13 Vanity alone God heareth not,
And the Almighty observeth it not.
In Job 35:9 the accentuation of מֵרֹוב with Dechî, according to which Dachselt interprets: prae multitudine (oppressionum) oppressi clamabunt, is erroneous; it is to be written מֵרֹב, as everywhere else, and this (according to Codd. and the editions of Jablonski, Majus, Michaelis, and others) is to be accented with Munach, which is followed by עֲשׁוּקִים with a vicarious Munach: prae multitudine oppressionum (עשׁוקים like Ecc 4:1, and probably also Amo 3:9) edunt clamorem (Hiph. in the intensive Kal signification, as e.g., הִזְנָה, to commit fornication, Hos 4:10). On זְרֹועַ, Job 35:9; רַבִּים are the great or lords (Arab. arbâb). The plur. with a general subj. is followed by the sing. in Job 35:10: and no one says (exactly as in הֶאָמַר, Job 34:31). Elihu weakens the doubt expressed by Job in Job 24:12, that God allows injustice to prevail, and oppressed innocence remains without vindication. The failure of the latter arises from the fact of the sufferers complaining, but not seeking earnestly the only true helper, God their maker (עֹשִׂים, intensive plur., as Isa 22:11; Isa 54:5; Psa 149:2), who gives (to which may be compared a passage of the Edda: “Wuodan gives songs to the Scalds”) songs (זְמִרֹות, from the onomatopoetic זמר) in the night, i.e., who in the night of sorrow puts songs of praise concerning the dawning light of help into the mouth of the sufferers. The singing of the glory of the nightly heavens (Stick., Hahn) is to be as little thought of as the music of the spheres; the night is, as Job 34:20, Job 34:25, the time of unexpectedly sudden change.
In Job 35:11 most expositors (last of all Schlottm.) take the two מִן as comparative. Elihu would then, since he feels the absence of the asking after this God on the part of the sufferers, mean the conscious relation in which He has placed us to Himself, and in accordance with which the sufferer should not merely instinctively complain, but humbly bow himself and earnestly offer up prayer. But according to Job 12:7 (comp. Pro 6:6, וחכם), it is to be translated: who teaches (מַלְּפֵנוּ = מְאַלְּפֵנוּ, comp. 2Sa 22:40, Psalter i. 160) us from the beasts of the earth (so that from them as a means of instruction teaching comes to us), and makes us wise from the birds of heaven. The fut. interchanging with the part. better accords with this translation, according to which Job 35:11 is a continuation of the assertion of a divine instruction, by means of the animal creation; the thought also suits the connection better, for of the many things that may be learned from the animal creation, prayer here comes under consideration, - the lions roar, Psa 104:21; the thirsty cattle cry to God, Joe 1:20; the ravens call upon God, Psa 147:9. It we now determine the collective thought of Job 35:10, that affliction does not drive most men to God the almighty Helper, who will be humbly entreated for help: it is more natural to take שָׁם (vid., on Job 23:7) in the sense of then (τότε), than, with reference to the scene of oppression, in the sense of there (lxx, Jer.: ibi). The division of the verse is correct, and H. B. Starcke has correctly interpreted: Tunc clamabunt (sed non respondebit) propter superbiam (insolentiam) malorum. מִפְּנֵי is not to be connected with יַעֲנֶה in the sense of non exaudiet et servabit, by which constr. praegnans one would expect מִן, Psa 22:22, instead of מפני, nor in the sense of non exaudiet propter (Hirz., Schlottm.), for the arrogant רָעִים are not those who complain unheard: but, as the connection shows, those from whom the occasion of complaint proceeds. Therefore: not allowing themselves to be driven to God by oppression, they cry then, without, however, being heard of God, by reason of the arrogance of evil men which they have to endure. Job 35:13 gives the reason of their obtaining no answer: Only emptiness (i.e., mere motion of the lips without the true spirit of prayer) God heareth not, and the Almighty observeth it not. Hahn wrongly denies אַךְ the significations certo and verumtamen; but we prefer the restrictive signification (sheer emptiness or hollowness) which proceeds from the affirmative primary signification
(Note: Vid., Hupfeld in the Zeitschr. für Kunde des Morgenl. ii. 441f.)
here, to the adversative (nevertheless emptiness), since the adversative thought, verumtamen non exaudit, has found its expression already in וְלֹא יַעֲנֶה.