B.—Job: Although oppressed by his disconsolate condition, he nevertheless wishes and hopes that God will demonstrate his innocence, against the unreasonable accusations of his friends
Job 16-17
(A brief preliminary repudiation of the discourses of the friends as aimless and unprofitable):
Job_16:1-5
1 Then Job answered and said:
2 I have heard many such things:
miserable comforters are ye all.
3 Shall vain words have an end?
or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
4 I also could speak as ye do;
if your soul were in my soul’s stead,
I could heap up words against you,
and shake mine head at you.
5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
and the moving of my lips should assuage your grief.
1. Lamentation on account of the disconsolateness of his condition, as forsaken and hated by God and men:
Job_16:6-17
6 Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged;
and though I forbear, what am I eased?
7 But now He hath made me weary:
Thou hast made desolate all my company.
8 And Thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me;
and my leanness rising up in me
beareth witness to my face.
9 He teareth me in His wrath, who hateth me;
He gnasheth upon me with His teeth;
mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth;
they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully;
they have gathered themselves together against me.
11 God hath delivered me to the ungodly,
and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but He hath broken me asunder;
He hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces,
and set me up for His mark.
13 His archers compass me round about,
He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;
He poureth out my gall upon the ground.
14 He breaketh me with breach upon breach;
He runneth upon me like a giant.
15 I have sowed sackcloth upon my skin,
and defiled my horn in the dust.
16 My face is foul with weeping,
and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;
17 not for any injustice in mine hands;
also my prayer is pure.
2. Vivid expression of the hope of a future recognition of his innocence:
Job_16:18 to Job_17:9
18 O earth, cover not thou my blood!
and let my cry have no place!
19 Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
and my record is on high.
20 My friends scorn me:
but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.
21 O that one might plead for a man with God,
as a man pleadeth for his neighbor!
22 When a few years are come,
then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
Job_17:1 My breath is corrupt,
my days are extinct,
the graves are ready for me.
2 Are there not mockers with me?
and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?
3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with Thee;
who is he that will strike hands with me?
4 For Thou hast hid their heart from understanding?
therefore shalt Thou not exalt them.
5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends,
even the eyes of his children shall fail.
6 He hath made me also a byword of the people;
and aforetime I was as a tabret.
7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow,
and all my members are as a shadow.
8 Upright men shall be astonished at this,
and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
9 The righteous also shall hold on his way,
and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
3. Sharp censure of the admonitory speeches of the friends as unreasonable, and destitute of all power to comfort:
Job_17:10-16
10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now;
for I cannot find one wise man among you.
11 My days are passed,
my purposes are broken off,
even the thoughts of my heart.
12 They change the night into day:
the light is short because of darkness.
13 If I wait, the grave is mine house;
I have made my bed in the darkness.
14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father;
to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister.
15 And where is now my hope?
as for my hope, who shall see it?
16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit,
when our rest together is in the dust.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Heartlessly repulsed by his friends, and left without comfort, Job turns, more trustfully than in his previous apologies, to the God who evidenced Himself in his good conscience, of whom he cannot believe that He will leave him forever without testifying to his innocence, however cheerless a night of despair may in the meanwhile surround him. It is in the expression of his confidence, and of his inward yearning and waiting for this Divine testimony to his innocence (Job_16:18 to Job_17:9) that the significance of this discourse culminates, so far as it gives pleasing evidence of progress beyond Job’s former frame of mind. Along with this indeed it gives evidence that the spirit of hopeless and bitter complaint is, if not intensified, at least substantially unchanged and undiminished. The first principal division of the discourse (Job_16:6-17) which precedes that expression of yearning confidence in God’s help contains in particular an expression of cheerless lamentation over his condition, as one forsaken by God and men; while a shorter introduction prefaced to this division (Job_16:2-5), as well as the concluding section, or third division (Job_17:10-16) are particularly occupied with a bitter complaint on account of the misunderstanding and heartless conduct of the friends.—The whole discourse comprises six long strophes, the first of which constitutes the introduction, extending through four verses, or ten stichs (Job_16:2-5), while the first and second divisions contain each two strophes (of 6, 7 verses, or 14 stichs), the third division, however, only one strophe (of 7 verses, or 14 stichs).
2. Exordium of the discourse, or introductory strophe: A short preliminary repudiation of the discourses of the friends as aimless, and destitute of all power to comfort: ch Job_16:2-5.
Job_16:2. I have heard (already) many such things (
øַáּåֹú
, multa, as in ch, Job_23:14), and miserable comforters are ye all.
îְðַçֲîֵé òָîָì
, lit. “comforters of distress” [Gen of attribute, Green, § 254, 6] are burdensome comforters (consolatores onerosi, Jer.), who, instead of comfort, minister only trouble and distress; comp. Job_15:11.
Job_16:3. Are windy words (now) at an end? Comp. Job_15:2, where Eliphaz reproaches Job with windy speech—a reproach which Job now pays back in the same coin.—Or what vexes thee [addressed more particularly to Eliphaz] that thou answerest?
äîøéõ
, Hiph. of
îøõ
, “to be sick, weak” (see on Job_6:25), signifies “to make sick, to afflict” (Ewald, Schlott., Dillm.), or again “to goad, incite, vex” (Del.) [see the examples in notes on Job_6:25 favoring this definition]: not, “to make sweet, to sweeten,” as the Targ. interprets, as though
îøõ
were without further qualification =
ëִּé
—
ּîìõ
moreover is not = quum (Hirz.), but as in Job_6:11 quod: “what vexes thee that thou answerest,” or “to answer.”
Job_16:4. I also indeed would speak like you, i.e., would be minded to serve you with such like discourses as your own [Dillmann, Conant, Renan, Rodwell, etc., with good reason prefer to render the subjunctive
àֲãַáֵּøָä
“I could,” or “might,” rather than “would”].—If your soul were instead of mine;i.e. in case you had my place, your persons were instead of mine. [Conant, however: “Your soul is not to be taken as a periphrasis of the personal pronoun. Soul, the seat of intelligence, mental activity and emotion, stands as the representative of these faculties in man, and is specially appropriate here, where there is immediate reference to what is thought, felt and suffered. The force of the expression is lost therefore by substituting ye and me.”]—Would [or could] weave words against you.—
äֶçֱáִéø áְּîִìִּéí
is not “to make a league with words” (Gesen. [Rodwell], etc.), nor again: “to affect wisdom with words” (Ewald), but to “combine words, string them together like pearls.” Instead of the simple accus of the object
îִìִּéí
, the more choice construction with
áְּ
instrum. is used; comp. the following member, also Job_16:10; Jer_18:16; Lam_1:17 (Gesen. § 138 [§ 135] 1, Rem. 3). [“When he says: I would range together, etc., he gives them to understand that their speeches are more artificial than natural, more declamations than the outgushings of the heart.” Del.]—And shake my head at you;viz., as a gesture of scorn and malicious pleasure; comp. Psa_22:8 [7]; Isa_37:22; Jer_18:16; Sir_12:18; Mat_27:39. It should be borne in mind that what is hateful in such conduct is not to be charged upon Job (who indeed only states what he could do if he had before him the friends, weak and miserable as he is now, and should then follow the promptings of the natural man), but on the friends, before whom Job here holds up as in a mirror the hatefulness of their own conduct. [In regard to the rendering of
òì
by “against,” and the explanation of
äֵðִéַò
as a gesture of scorn, see below on Job_16:5]
Job_16:5. Would [could] strengthen you with my mouth:i.e. with mere words, instead of with deeds of a love that wins the heart. [On the form
àֲàַîִּֽöְëֶí
with Tsere shortened to Hhirik, see Green, § 104, h.]—And the sympathy of my lips (
ðִéã
, commisseration, sympathy, only here; comp. the phrase, similar in sound,
ðִéáִ ùְׂôָúַéִí
, “fruit of the lips,” Isa_57:19) should assuage, soil, your grief.
çָùַׂêְ
, “to soothe, restrain, check,” here without an obj. as in Isa_58:1. The following verse easily enables us to supply
ëְּàֵá
, as the object. [The E. V., Wem., Bar., Elz., etc., render this as a contrast with Job_16:4, as though Job, after there describing what he might do if they were in his place, describes here what, on the other hand, he really would do. But there is nothing to indicate such a contrast. Job_16:5 is most simply and naturally the continuation of Job_16:4.—The irony of the passage is most keen and cutting. If you were in my place, says Job, if your soul were tried as mine is, I could speak windy words in abundance as you have done, I could string them out one after another, and nod my head to comfort: oh, yes! all such comfort—sympathy of the head, of the mouth, of the lips, I could lavish upon you—that is cheap enough, as your conduct shows—but as for the heart, that is quite another matter! It will be seen from this paraphrase of Job’s language that a somewhat different view is taken of one or two expressions, particularly in Job_16:4, from that given above by Zöckler, It seems unnecessary and unnatural to suppose that Job would in Job_16:4 describe himself as framing words against them, and indulging in gestures of malicious mockery, and then in Job_16:5 as strengthening and soothing them with words—but nothing more. Moreover the expressions of Job_16:4 would thus lose their point, there being no reason to suppose that the friends had shown any such malignity as would be thus suggested. What Job says is, that he could multiply words of cold formal sympathy, that he could string out such words upon them, or towards them; and again that he could make with his head the customary oriental gesture of condolence (
ðåּòַ
here like
ðåּã
, see above, Job_2:11 and comp. Gesen. sub. 5.), this being by implication all the sympathy he had received from them.—E.]
3. First Division. A lamentation concerning the cheerlessness of his condition, as one forsaken and persecuted by God and men. Job_16:6-17.
First Strophe:Job_16:6-11. From the friends, the “miserable comforters,” who leave him in his helplessness, he turns to himself, who is so greatly in need of sympathy, because God has delivered him over to the scorn and the cruelty of the unrighteous.
Job_16:6. [“He bethinks himself whether he will continue, the colloquy further. Already in the lamentation of Job 3. Job had given vent to his grief, and solicited comfort. The colloquy thus far had shown that from them he had no comfort to expect. Should he then speak further, in order to procure at least some alleviation of his grief? but he cannot anticipate even this as the result of his speaking. He must accordingly be silent; yet even then he is no better off.” Dillm.]—If I speak (voluntative after
àִí
, see Ew. § 355, b) my grief is not assuaged; if I forbear (voluntative without
àִí
, as in Job_11:17; Psa_73:16, etc.), what departs from me, viz. of my pain? how much of my pain goes away from me, do I lose? The unexpressed answer would naturally be; Nought! On
éäìêְ
, comp. Job_14:20.
Job_16:7. Nevertheless—now He hath exhausted me, viz. God, not the pain (
ëְּàֵáִé
, Job_16:6), which the Vulg., Aben-Ezra, etc., regard as the subj. The particle
àְַêְ
, which belongs to the whole sentence, signifies neither: “of a truth, yea verily!” (Ew.) nor “only” [=entirely], as though it belonged only to
äìàðé
(Hirz., Hahn, etc.), but it has here an adversative meaning, and states, in opposition to the two previously mentioned possibilities of speaking and being silent, what is actually the case with Job; hence it should be rendered “still, nevertheless,” verum tamen: [Renan: Mais quoi! “He is absolutely incapable of offering any resistance to his pain, and care has also been taken that no solacing word shall come to him from any quarter,” Del. See the next clause].—Thou hast desolated all my circle.
òֵãָä
here not “rabble,” as in Job_15:34, but sensu bono—circle of friends and family dependents (Carey: all my clan). [“This mention of the family is altogether in place, seeing that the loss of the same must be doubly felt by him now that his friends are hostile to him.” Schlott,]. The Pesh. reads “all my testimony” (
òֵãָúִé
), i.e., all that witness in my behalf, all my prosperity (so also Hahn among the moderns), to which however
äֵùֵׂí
is not particularly suitable. Note moreover the transition, bearing witness as it does to the vivid excitement of the speaker’s feelings, from the declarations concerning God in the third person (which we find in the first member, and which appear again Job_16:9 seq.), and the mournful plaintive address to Him here and in Job_16:8, in which the description before us is directly continued.
Job_16:8. And hast seized me (not “Thou makest me wrinkled,” Vulg., Luther [E. V., Lee, Rodwell] or “shrivelest me together, Del.—for
÷îè
signifies “to press together, to fasten firmly together;” comp. Job_22:16. [Wordsworth attempts somewhat peculiarly to combine the two definitions: “Thou hast bound me fast with wrinkles, as with a chain”].—It is become a witness, viz., the fact that thou hast seized me; the circumstance that God makes him suffer so severely is—so at least it seems—a witness of his guilt. [This clause, taken in connection especially with the following parallelism, seems certainly to favor the rendering of the Vulg., E. V., etc. “thou hast filled me with wrinkles.” The witness against Job is naturally something which like his “leanness” is visible. The corrugation of the skin was a feature of elephantiasis more marked even than the emaciation of the body, and would hardly be omitted in so vivid a description of his condition as Job here gives. The primary signification of “seizing,” or “compressing” should not however be lost sight of; indeed it adds much to the terrible, force of the representation to retain it, and, with Wordsworth, to combine the two definitions, only in a somewhat different way from his; the true conception being that God—who in Job_16:12 is represented as seizing Job and dashing him in pieces,—is here represented as seizing, compressing him, until his body is shriveled, crumpled up into wrinkles.—E.]. In opposition to Ewald, who changes
äָéָä
into
äַéָä
(=
äַåָּä
, see Job_6:2; Job_30:13), and translates accordingly: “and calamity seized me as a witness ”—comp. Del. and Dillm. on the passage: [who object that it would leave
ìְòֵã
without much of its force and emphasis, and that the construction would be too condensed and artificial].—And my leanness has appeared against me, accusing me to the face (speaking out against me, comp. Job_15:6 b). On
ëַּçַùׁ
= consumption, emaciation, comp. Psa_109:24. The signification rests on a metaphor similar to that by virtue of which a dried-up brook is called a “liar” (Job_6:15 seq.).
Job_16:9. His anger has torn and made war upon me; He has gnashed against me with His teeth; as mine enemy He has whetted His eyes against me. God, who is now again spoken of in the third person, is imagined as a ferocious beast of prey, who is enraged against Job. So above in Job_10:16.—As to the “tearing,” comp. Hos_6:1; the “making war,” Job_30:21; the “whetting” or “sharpening” of the eyes, Psa_7:13 [12]: also the acies oculorum of the Romans, and the modern expression, “to shoot a murderous look at any one”
Job_16:10. Men also, like God, fall upon Job, as his enemies, resembling beasts of prey.—They have opened wide their mouth against me (a gesture of insolent mockery, as in Psa_22:8 [Psa_22:7]; Jer. 57:4); with abuse (i.e., with abusive speech) they strike me on the cheeks (comp. Mic. 4:14 [Mic_5:1]; Lam_3:30; Joh_18:22; Joh_19:3); together they strengthen themselves against me, or again: they complete; fill themselves up [= fill up their ranks] against me, for
äְúְîַìֵּà
means “to gather themselves together to a
îְìֹà
(Isa_31:4), a heap;” not “to equip themselves with a full suit of armor,” as Hirzel would explain, supplying
áַּøְæֶì
.—The whole of this lamentation, which reminds us of Psalms 22., is general in its form; it contemplates nevertheless the hostile attacks made by the friends on Job, as in particular the word “together” in the third member shows—in hearing which the friends could not help feeling that they were personally aimed at in the strong expressions of the speaker, even as he on his part must have had his sensibilities hurt by such expressions as those of Eliphaz in Job_15:16 (see on the passage).
Job_16:11. God delivers me (comp. Deu_23:16 [15]) to the unrighteous, and casts me headlong into the hand of the wicked.
éִøְֽèֵðִé
, Imperf. Kal. of
éøè
(contracted from
éִéøְèֵðé
, Ges., § 70 [§ 68], Rem. 3). [“The preformative Jod has Metheg in correct texts, so that we need not suppose, with Ralbag, a
øèä
similar in meaning to
éøè
.” Del.], præcipitem me dat; comp. LXX.
ἔῤῥéøå
and Symmachus
ἐíÝâáëå
.—
òֲåéִì
in the first member, “the perverted one, the reprobate, the unrighteous,” or again—“the boy” [der Bube, “or the boyish, childish, knavish one”] as Del. explains it, (referring to Job_19:18; Job_22:11), is used collectively for the plur., as the parallel term
øְùָׁòִéí
in b shows.
Second Strophe: Job_16:12-17. Continuation of the description of the cruel and hostile treatment he had received from God, notwithstanding his innocence.
Job_16:12. I was at ease, and He then shattered me.
ùָׁìֵå
, secure, unharmed, suspecting no evil; comp. Job_21:23; Job_3:26.—
ôַּøְֽôּøַ
, Pilp. of
ôøø
with strong intensive signification—“to shatter, to crush in pieces;” so also the following
ôִּöְôֵּõ
, from
ôöõ
, “to beat in pieces, to dash to pieces.” [“He compares himself to a man who is seized by the hair of his head, and thrown down a precipice, where his limbs are broken. He probably alludes to some ancient mode of punishing criminals.” Wemyss]. Observe the onomatopoetic element of these intensive forms, which furthermore are to be understood not literally or physically, but in a figurative sense of the sudden shattering of prosperity, and peace of soul.—And set me for a mark.
îַèָּøָä
(from
ðָèַø
,
ôçñåῖí
, like
óêïðüò
from
óêÝðôåóèáé
), target, mark, as in 1Sa_20:20; Lam_3:12; comp.
îִôְâַò
above in Job_7:20.
Job_16:13 expands the figure in Job 12. c.—His arrows whirred about me.
øַáָּéå
, not “his troops, his archers” (Rabb. [E. V., Noy., Con., Car., Rod., Elz., etc.]), but according to the unanimous witness of the ancient versions: “his arrows, darts” (from
øîä
,
øáä
–
øáá
, jacere, Gen_49:23; comp. Gen_21:10).—(He cleaves my reins without sparing, pours out on the earth my gall (comp. Lam_2:11). Job here describes more specifically the terrible effect of God’s arrows, i.e., of the ailments inflicted on him by a hostile God (comp. Job_6:4, also the well-known mythological representations of classical antiquity), representing in accordance with the Hebrew conception the noblest and most sensitive of the inner organs of the body as affected, namely the reins, and also the gall-bladder. In view of the highly poetic character of the description, it is not necessary to inquire whether he conceives of the “outpouring” of the gall as taking place inwardly, without being at all perceptible externally, or whether, with a disregard of physiological possibility or probability, he represents it as something that is externally visible. It is moreover worthy of note that according to Arabic notions the “rupture of the gall-bladder” may really be produced by violent painful emotions. Comp. Delitzsch on the passage; also his Biblical Psychology [p. 317, Clark]; also my Theol. Naturalis, p. 618.
Job_16:14. He breaks through me breach upon breach.
ôֶּøֶõ
, comp. Job_30:14, here as accus. of the object, united to its cognate verb; comp. Gesen., § 138 [§ 135] Rem. 1.—He runs upon me like a mighty warrior. In this new turn of the comparison Job, and in particular his body, appears as a wall, or a fortress, which is by degrees breached by missiles and battering-rams, and which God himself assaults by storm.
Job_16:15. I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, i.e. I have girded around myself, and stitched together (about the loins) a closely fitting mourning garment of close hair (comp.
ùַׂ÷
in Isa_3:24; Isa_20:2; Isa_32:11; 1Ki_21:27; 2Ki_6:30, etc.). The “sewing upon the skin” is doubtless to be understood only figuratively of the laying on of a closely fitting garment, which it is not intended to lay off immediately. Possibly, indeed, there may be an allusion to the cracked swollen skin of one diseased with elephantiasis, in which the hair of the sackcloth (cilicium) must of necessity stick (see my Kritische Gesch. der Ascese, p. 82 seq.). [See also Art. “Sackcloth” in Smith’sBib. Dict. “Job does not say of it that he put it on, or slung it around him, but that he sewed it upon his naked body; and this is to be attributed to the hideous distortion of the body by elephantiasis, which will not admit of the use of the ordinary form of clothes.” Delitzsch]. In any case in referring to this stiff, almost dead skin, as a part of his fearfully distorted body, he chooses the term
âֶּìֶã
, which appears in Hebrew only here (though more common in Aram. and Arab.), and in contrast with
òåֹø
, the “sound, healthy skin,” may be translated “hide;” comp. the
âýñóá
of the LXX.—And have lowered (lit. “stuck,” see below) my horn—the symbol of power and of free manly dignity, comp. 1Sa_2:1; 1Sa_2:10; Psa_89:18 [Psa_89:17], Psa_89:25 [Psa_89:24]; Psa_92:11 [sa 92:10]; etc., Luk_1:69—into the dust:—this being a sign of his humiliation, of his consciousness of the defeat, and of the deep sorrow which he has been called to endure. For this lowering of the horn into the dust of the earth is the direct opposite of “lifting up the horn” (Psa_83:3 [2] as a symbol of the increase of power and dignity.
òåֹìֵì
is with Saad., Rosenm., Ew., Hirz., Dillm., etc., to be derived from
òìì
, introire, of frequent use in the Aram, and Arab., and thus signifies “to stick into, to dig into.” If it were the Pil. of
òìì
, “to act,” meaning accordingly “to abuse,” or “to defile” (Targ., Pesch., Delitzsch [E. V., Schlott.] etc.), the
ìְ
before the object would not be wanting; comp. Lam_1:22; Lam_2:20; Lam_3:51. To be preferred to this is the translation—” I roll my horn in the dust” (Umbr., Vaihing., Hahn), a rendering which is etymologically admissible.
Job_16:16. My face is burning red with weeping.
çֳîַøְîְøָä
(instead of which we ought perhaps with the K’ri to read the plural
çֳîַøְîְøåּ
, unless we explain the fem., like
úִּùְׁèֹó
in Job_14:19, in accordance with Gesen., § 146, [§ 143], 3), Pualal of
çîø
, an intensive passive form, expressing the idea of being exceedingly reddened, glowing red (comp. Lam_1:20; Lam_2:11). [From the same root comes the name Alhambra, applied to the building from its color. See Delitzsch].—And on mine eyelashes is a death-shade, i.e., by reason of continuous weeping, and the weakening thereby of the power of sight, my eyes are encompassed by a gloom of night: [an explanation which Schlottmann characterizes as flat and prosaic. The idea is rather that in Job’s despondent mood he conceived of “the shadow of death” as gathering around. He had well-nigh wept himself out of life].
Job_16:17. Although no violence is in my hands (or clings to them) and my prayer is pure.—Job emphasizes his innocence here in contrast not only with Job_16:16, but with the whole description thus far given of the persecution which he had endured, Job_16:12-16.—
òַì
is used here, as in Isa_53:9, as a conjunction. in the sense of “notwithstanding that, although,” (Ewald, § 222, b), not as a preposition, as Hirzel explains it (“in spite of non-violence”).
4. Second Division. A vivid expression of the hope of a future recognition of his innocence: Job_16:18—Job_17:9.
First Strophe:Job_16:18—ch. Job_17:2. [His confidence in God as his witness and vindicator—his only hope in view of the speedy approach of death].
Job_16:18. Earth, cover not thou my blood. i.e., drink it not up, let it lie open to view, and cry to heaven as a witness to my innocence, Comp. Gen_4:10; Eze_24:7 seq.; Isa_26:21. [“As according to the tradition it is said to have been impossible to remove the stain of the blood of Zachariah, who was murdered in the court of the temple, until it was removed by the destruction of the temple itself.” Delitzsch. “According to the old belief no rain or dew: would moisten the spot marked by the blood of a person murdered when innocent, or change its blighted appearance into living green.” Ewald]. The second member also expresses essentially the same meaning: and let my cry have no resting-place, i.e., let not the cry for vengeance arising from my shed blood (or the cry of my soul poured out in my blood, Gen_9:4, etc.), be stilled, let it not reach a place of rest, before it appears as my
âåֹàֵì
(Job_19:25) to deliver and avenge me. [“Therefore in the very God who appears to him to be a bloodthirsty enemy in pursuit of him, Job nevertheless hopes to find a witness of his innocence: He will acknowledge his blood, like that of Abel, to be the blood of an innocent man. It is an inward irresistible demand made by his faith which here brings together two opposite principles—principles which the understanding cannot unite—with bewildering boldness. Job believes that God will even finally avenge the blood which His wrath has shed, as blood that has been innocently shed.” Delitzsch].
Job_16:19. Even now behold in heaven my witness, and my attestor (
ùָׂäֵã
, LXX.
óõíßóôùñ
, an Aram, synonym of
òֵã
, witness, comp. Gen_31:47) in the heights.—In regard to
îְøåîִéí
as a synonym, of
ùָׁîַéִí
, comp. Job_25:2; Job_31:2.
âַí òַúָּä
, “even now,” (not “now however,” Ewald) sets the present condition of Job, apparently quite forsaken, but in reality still supported and upheld by God as a heavenly witness of his innocence, in contrast with a future period, when he will be again publicly acknowledged and brought to honor. This more prosperous and happy future he does not yet indeed realize so vividly as later in Job_19:25 seq. That of which he speaks here is only the contrast between his apparent forsakenness, and the fact that, as he firmly believes, God in heaven is still on his side. [“If his blood is to be one day avenged, and his innocence recognized, he must have a witness of the same. And reflecting upon it he remembers that even now, when appearances are all against him, he has such a witness in God in heaven.” Dillm.].
Job_16:20. [“The conduct of the friends in denying, nay in mocking his innocence, compels him to cling to this God in heaven.” Dillm.].—They who mock me (lit., “my mockers,” with strong accent on “mockers”) are my friends. [“It is worthy of remark that the word here used, melits, signifies also an interpreter, an intercessor, and is employed in that sense; below, Job_33:23; comp. Gen_42:23; 2Ch_32:31; Isa_43:27; and some, as Professors Lee and Carey, have assigned that sense to the word here, ‘My true interpreters are my friends;’ and they suppose in this word, here and in Job_33:23, a prophetic reference to the Mediator. But the Auth. Ver. appears to be correct; and the similarity of the words serves to bring out the contrast between the unkindness of man, and the mercy of God.” Words.].—To Eloah mine eye poureth tears:i.e. although my friends mock me, instead of taking me under their protection, and attesting my innocence, I still direct to God a look of tearful entreaty that He would do justice, etc.—[“An equally strong emphasis lies here on subj. and predicate: ‘My friends’ stands in contrast with God; ‘my mockers’ in contrast with ‘my witness,’ Job_16:19; and finally also ‘my mockers’ in contrast with ‘my friends.’ ” Schlottm.]. Ew., Dillm., etc., take the first member, less suitably, as assigning the reason for the second: “because my friends are become such as mock me, mine eye pours out tears to Eloah,” etc.
Job_16:21 states the object of the weeping (i.e., the yearning) look which he lifts up to God. This object is twofold: (1) That He would do justice to a man before God: lit. “that He would decide (
åְéåֹëַç
, voluntative expressing the final end, as in Job_9:33) for the man against Eloah, or with Eloah (
òִí
as in Psa_55:19 [18]; Job 94:16 [15] of an opponent); i.e., that before His own bar He would pronounce me not guilty, that He would cease to misunderstand and to persecute me as an enemy, but would rather assist me to my right, and so appear on my side. (2) (That He would do justice) to the son of man against his friend, that He would justify me against my human friend (
øֵòֵäåּ
distributively for
øֵòָéå
), and set me forth as innocent—which would result immediately upon his justification before God’s bar. For the interchange of “man” and “son of man” in poetic parallelism, comp. Psa_8:5. It is not necessary to adopt Ewald’s suggestion (Jahrb. der bibl. Wissenschaft, IX. 38) to read
áֵּéï àָãָí
, instead of
áֶּïÎà×
, in order to acquire a more suitable construction for
çåëéç
. The construction according to the common reading presents nothing that is objectionable, scarcely anything that is particularly harsh. The influence of the
ìְ
of the first member extends forward to
áֶּïÎàָãָí
(as in. Job_15:3), and the
ìְ
before
øֵòֵäåּ
= “in respect to, against,” supplies the place of the
òִí
of the first member. It would be much harsher were we, with Schlottmann, Ewald (in Comm.), and Olsh. to translate the second member: “and judges man against his friend,” a rendering which is condemned by the usage of the language, for
äåֹëִéçַ
with accus. of person never signifies “to judge,” but always “to punish, reprove.” [“Job appeals from God to God: he hopes that truth and love will finally decide against wrath. … Schlottmann aptly recalls the saying of the philosophers, which applies here in a different sense from that in which it is meant: Nemo contra Deum, nisi Deus ipse.” Del. “The prayer of Job is fulfilled in Job_42:7; and that too in a sense quite otherwise than that which Job had ventured to hope for, even in this life. This is again one of the passages where the poet permits his hero, in an exalted moment, to enjoy a presage of the issue.” Dillm.] Concerning the theological significance of the wish here expressed by Job, that he might, be justified by God before God as well as before men; comp. the Doctrinal and Ethical Remarks.
Job_16:22. Giving the reason why Job longs to be vindicated, arising from the fact that his end is near, and that for him who has once died there is no prospect of a return to this life, [This, however, is not to be understood as a reason given why God should interpose speedily to vindicate him before his death. Rather the argument, is drawn from the hopelessness of his physical condition. Death was sure and near; that recovery which the friends promised on condition of repentance was out of the question: hence if he is to be vindicated, it must be by God, who can do it when he is gone.]—For years that may be numbered are coming on, and by a path without return shall I go hence.—The thought is substantially the same as in Job_7:7-10; and Job_10:20 seq.—
ùְׁðåֹú îִñְôַּø
, lit. “years of number” (Gen_34:30; Psa_105:12), are years that may be numbered, i.e. a few years (LXX:
ἔôç ἀñéè ìçôÜ
), by which we are naturally to understand those which still remain before his death, the remaining years of his life (not all the years of his life, as Hahn and Del. explain). For
éֶàֱúָéåּ
(in regard to the form, comp. on Job_12:6) can only mean: “they are coming on, they stand before me,” not: “they are passing away” (transeunt, Vulg., etc.), nor: “their end is coming on” (Hahn, Del.). That Job here announces the sad issue in which the rapid and inevitably fatal course of the elephantiasis generally resulted, is shown by the conclusion of the discourse, Job_17:11-16.
Job_17:1 [the chapter-division here being manifestly errroneous] continues the statement of the reason given in Job_16:22. It consists of abrupt sob-like ejaculations of which it may be truly said with Oetinger that they form “the requiem, which Job chants for himself even while yet living.”—My spirit is disturbed, so correctly most moderns, taking
øåּçִé
in the sense of “the spirit or power.” The translation: “my breath is corrupt,” or “destroyed” (De Wette, Del. [B.V., Rod., Elz., Con., Ber.], etc.), is less suitable here to the connection, which requires, as the subject of Job’s expression, not that single symptom of a short and fetid breath [which would be a much less conclusive indication that his days were numbered than others which he might have mentioned], referred to also in Job_7:15; Job_19:17; but requires rather some sign of the incipient dissolution of the whole psychical bodily organism, a failure of the vital principle.—My days are extinct (
ãòê = æòê
, Job_6:17, which some MSS. exhibit here also); graves await me [Rodney: for me the tombs!]. Comp. the Arabic proverb: “to be a grave-companion (Ssâchib el-kubûr);” also the familiar saying of Luther: “to walk on the grave;” and the modern expression: “to stand with one foot in the grave.”
Job_17:2. Verily mockery surrounds me: and on their quarreling mine eye must dwell.—So substantially Welte, Arnh., Del., Dillm. [Schlott,, Con., Words.], whose rendering of this difficult verse is the most satisfactory; for (1) It is best to take
àִíÎìֹà
, as in Job_1:11; Job_22:20; Job_31:36, etc., as a formula of asseveration=“verily, truly.” (2)
äֲúֻìִéí
(or according to another reading
äֲúֻìִּéí
is an abstract term, formed from
äֵúֵì
= mockery, scoffing (not “deception,” as Hirzel renders it); to render it as a concrete term in the sense of “mockers” [E. V., Noyes, etc.], or “beguiled,” is at variance with the laws governing the formation of Hebrew words (see Ew. § 153, a; 179, a, b).—(3)
äַîְøåֹúָí
is Inf. Hiph. with suffix, from
îøä
, which means in Hiph. “to make refractory,” to incite to strife, to contend with one. The word is written with Dagh. dirimens in
î
, comp. Job_9:18; Joe_1:17, etc.—(4)
úָּìַï
, Jussive or Voluntative form of
ìéï
, to lodge, to tarry (comp. Job_19:4; Job_29:19; Job_31:32), is a pausal form for
úָּìֵï
, which occurs also in Jdg_19:20, the use of which in a non-pausal position seems to be purely arbitrary, or rests possibly on euphonic grounds (the liquids l and n in juxtaposition being treated as though they were gutturals: comp. Ewald, § 141, b, Rem. 2). (5) The sense of the entire verse, according to the construction here given, is decidedly more suitable to the context: Of a truth it is mocking me (
ä× òִîָּãִé
, lit. “mockery is with me, befalls me”) to force me, who am standing on the verge of the grave to confess a guilt from which I know myself to be free; and such hateful quarrelsome conduct it is that I must have continually before my eyes!—Other renderings are e.g.—a. That of the Pesh., Vulg., and recently of Hirzel, which takes
äֲúֻìִéí
in sense of “deception, illusion.” Thus Hirzel’s rendering is: “If deception is not with me, then let them continually henceforth quarrel.” b. That of Rosenmüller: annon illusiones mecum, et in adversando eorum pernoctat oculus meus.—c. That of Ewald (in part also of Eichhorn, Umbr.): “If only I were not mocked and mine eye were not obliged to dwell,” etc.—d. The rendering in part similar to the latter, of Vaih. and Heiligst.—“Oh, that mockery did not surround me! then could mine eye abide in peace with their contention!”—e. That of Stickel and Hahn: “Or are there not around me those who are deluded? must not mine eye dwell on their contention?”—[f. That of Renan: “May it please God that traitors might be far from me, and that mine eye be never more afflicted with their quarrels!”]
Second Strophe: Job_17:3-9. Repetition of the yearning and trustful supplication to God as the only remaining attestor or witness of his innocence now remaining to him in view of the heartless coldness, nay the hostility of his human friends.—Oh, lay down [now], be Thou bondsman for me with Thyself! who else will furnish surety to me? The thought is not substantially different from that in Job_16:21, only that the representation which there predominates of an adjudication in favor of Job’s innocence is here replaced by that of pledging or binding one’s self as security for it. For all the expressions of the verse are borrowed from the system of pledging. With the Imper.
ùִׂéîָä
is to be supplied, as the following lowing
òָøִáֵðִé
shows, an accus. of the object, “a pledge, security.” It is not necessary with Reiske and Olsh. to change
òָøְáֵðִé
to
òַøְáֹðִé
, arrhabonem meam. The following
òִîָּêְ
, indicating the person with whom the pledge is deposited, again represents God, precisely as in Job_16:21, as being, so to speak, divided, or separated into two persons. The word of entreaty
òøá
(which appears also in Isa_38:14. and Psa_119:122, and which is here used with the accus. of the person following in the sense of “representing any one mediatorially as
ἔããõïò
or
ìåóßôçò
) is replaced in the second member by the circumstantial phrase
ðִúְ÷ַò ìְéָã
, to give surety by striking hands. For this is the meaning of the phrase, which elsewhere reads
úָּ÷ַò éָã
, or
ëַּó
(Pro_6:1; Pro_17:18; Pro_22:26), or simply
úָּ÷ַò
(Pro_11:15). Here, however, where, instead of the person, the hand of the person is mentioned (
ìְéָãִé
, instead of the simple
ìִé
, which, according to Pro_6:1, we might be led to expect), the reflexive Niphal is used; hence literally: “who will strike himself [scil. his hand] into my hand;” i. e. who will (by a solemn striking of hands, as in a pledge) bind himself to me to vindicate publicly my innocence? What man will do this if Thou, God, doest it not?
Job_17:4 assigns a reason for this prayer for God’s intervention as his security in the shortsightedness and narrow-mindedness of the friends: for Thou hast closed [lit. hid] their heart to [lit. from] understanding (to [from] a correct knowledge in respect to my innocence), therefore Thou wilt not let them prevail: lit. wilt not exalt them, i. e. above me, who am unjustly injured by them, but wilt rather at last confound them by demonstrating my innocence (as actually came to pass, Job_42:7).
úְּøåֹîֵí
, Imperf. Pil. of
øåּí
with plur. suffix, is a contraction of
úְּøåֹîְîֵí
, with omission of Dagh. forte in
î
on account of the preceding long ô. The correction
úְּøֻîֵּí
(suggested by Dillm. with a reference to Job_31:15; Job_41:2 K’ri) is unnecessary, as also the explanation of
úְּøåֹîֵí
as a Hithpael noun, signifying “striving upward, improvement, victory” (Ew.).
Job_17:5 continues the consideration of the unfriendly conduct of the friends. Friends are delivered for a spoil, while the eyes of their (lit. “of his”) children languish.—
çֵìֶ÷
, “a share of booty, spoil” (according to Num_31:36) denotes here in particular, as the word
äִâִּéã
makes probable, mortgaged property, an article in pledge, distrained from a debtor by a judicial execution;
äִâִּéã ìְçֵìֶ÷
(for
ä× ìִäְéåֹú çֵìֶ÷
, comp. 1Ki_14:2; Jer_13:21) signifies to advertise and offer for sale such a pledged article in court; or, more simply and briefly, to distrain, to seize upon by means of a judicial execution. The subject of
éַâִּéã
is indefinite [“one exposes friends,” i. e., “friends are exposed”] (comp. Job_6:20). In the object
øֵòִéí
Job certainly points immediately to himself, for certainly he only was the victim of the heartless conduct of the three. He purposely, however, expresses himself by a general proposition; for his whole description is as yet only ideal, imaginative. In the second member, as the sing, suffix in
áָּðָéå
shows, he again speaks only of himself as the one who was ill-treated, continuing the description (by means of an enallage of number, similar to that in Job_18:5; Job_24:5; Job_24:16; Job_27:23), as though he had in a written
øֵòַ
or
øֵòֵäåּ
. Hence literally: “and the eyes of his children languish,” or “although the eyes of his children languish” (Ewald, Stickel, Heiligst., Hahn, Dillmann, etc.). Many of the ancients, and also De Wette, Delitzsch [Noyes, Con., Renan, Barnes, Wem., Car., Wordsw., Rod.], etc., translate: “Whoso spoileth friends, the eyes of his children must fail” (or, optatively, “may the eyes of his children fail!” So Rosenmüller, Vaihinger). [The E. V. adopts the same view of the general construction, but less appropriately takes
çֵìֶ÷
in the sense of “flattery:” “He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.”] In this way, doubtless, the harshness of that change of number is avoided; but so to predict (or even to wish for) the punishment of the evil-doer seems here too little suited to the context, and especially does not agree with the contents of the following verse. [But it certainly agrees very well with the last member of the preceding verse, the thought of which it both confirms and expands. God would not, could not, favor the friends, for they had betrayed friendship, and thus had incurred judgment in which their posterity would share. Job_17:5 may be, as conjectured by some, a proverbial saying quoted by Job to emphasize Job_17:4 b. The “pining of the eyes” is a frequent figure for suffering. This last construction has in its favor, therefore: (1) That it is suitable to the connection. (2) That it avoids the harshness of the other construction, with its sudden change of number, and its strained introduction of the reference to the betrayed one’s children, which is particularly pointless when applied to the childless Job. (3) It takes away from Job_17:4 the isolation which belongs to it, according to the other construction, and provides a much simpler transition from Job_17:4 to Job_17:5.—E.]
Job_17:6 seq. Continued description of the unfriendly conduct of the friends, only Unit the same is now directly charged on God. And He (viz., God, who is manifestly to be understood here as the subject of the verb) has set me for a proverb to the world.—
