B.—Job: His misery is well-deserving of sympathy; it will, however, all the more certainly end in his conspicuous vindication by God, although not perchance till the life beyond
Job_19:1-29
(Introduction: Reproachful censure of the friends for maliciously suspecting his innocence:)
Job_19:1-5
1 Then Job answered, and said:
2 How long will ye vex my soul,
and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times have ye reproached me;
ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.
4 And be it indeed that I have erred,
mine error remaineth with myself.
5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me,
and plead against me my reproach:
1. Sorrowful complaint because of the suffering inflicted on him by God and men:
Job_19:6-20
6 Know now that God hath overthrown me,
and hath compassed me with His net.
7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard;
I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
8 He hath fenced up my way, that I cannot pass,
and He hath set darkness in my paths.
9 He hath stripped me of my glory,
and taken the crown from my head.
10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone;
and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.
11 He hath also kindled His wrath against me,
and He counteth me unto Him as one of His enemies.
12 His troops come together,
and raise up their way against me,
and encamp round about my tabernacle.
13 He hath put my brethren far from me,
and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.
14 My kinsfolk have failed,
and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger;
I am alien in their sight.
16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer;
I entreated him with my mouth.
17 My breath is strange to my wife,
though I entreated for the children’s sake of mine own body.
18 Yea, young children despised me;
I arose, and they spake against me.
19 All my inward friends abhorred me;
and they whom I loved are turned against me.
20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and my flesh,
and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
2. A lofty flight to a blessed hope in God, his future Redeemer and Avenger
Job_19:21-27
21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends!
for the hand of God hath touched me.
22 Why do ye persecute me as God,
and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 O that my words were now written!
O that they were printed in a book!
24 —that they were graven with an iron pen
and lead in the rock for ever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26 and though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flash shall I see God;
27 whom I shall see for myself,
and mine eyes shall behold, and not another,
though my reins be consumed within me.
3. Earnest warning to the friends against the further continuance of their attacks:
Job_19:28-29
28 But ye should say, Why persecute we him,
seeing the root of the matter is found in me?
29 Be ye afraid of the sword;
for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword,
that ye may know there is a judgment.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Deeply grieved by the warnings and threatenings of Bildad’s discourse, which in these respects was but an echo of that of Eliphaz, Job, on the one side, advances his complaint even to the point of imploring pity from his opponents in view of his inexpressible misery; on the other hand, for the very reason that he, being innocent, finds himself deprived, of all human help and sympathy, he lifts himself up to a more courageous confidence in God’s assistance than he has ever yet exhibited. He expresses the well-defined hope of a vindication awaiting him—if not on this side of the grave, then at least beyond it—through the personal intervention of God, appearing to him in visible form. That anguished complaint concerning his unspeakably severe suffering (Job_19:6-20) is preceded by a sharp word, addressed by way of introduction to the friends, as having maliciously suspected his innocence (Job_19:2-5). That inspired declaration of his hope in the divine vindication which was to take place in the Hereafter (Job_19:21-27) is in like manner followed by a short but forcible and impressive warning to the friends in view of their sinning against him (Job_19:28-29). The whole discourse, accordingly, which is characterized by vivid emotion and decided contrarieties of feeling, contains four principal parts, which embrace five strophes of unequal length. The three longest of these strophes, each being of 7–8 verses, fall into the second and third parts, of which the former contains two strophes, the latter one. The short introductory and concluding strophes are identical with the first and fourth parts.
2. Introduction: Reproachful censure of the friends for their malicious suspicion of his innocence (Job_19:2-5).
Job_19:2. The discourse begins—like that of Bildad, with a Quousque tandem (
òַãÎàָðָä
), which, however, is incomparably more emphatic and significant than that of his accuser, because it has more to justify it How long will ye vex my soul and crush me with words?—
úֹּâְéåּï
is fut. energicum of
äåֹâָä
, with the third radical retained (Gesen. § 75 [§ 74], Rem. 16). In regard to the form
úְּãַëְּàåּðַðִé
(with suffix appended to the
åּï
of the fut. energ. and with the union-vowel a), see Gesen. § 60 [§ 59], Rem. 3 [Green, § 105 c].
Job_19:3 gives the reason for the
òַãÎàָðָä
. Now already ten times is it that ye reproach me, viz., by assailing my innocence—
æֶä
here in the sense of “already, now already,” comp. Ewald, § 183 a [Gesen. § 122, 2, Rem.; Lex. 3. It may, however, be equally well regarded as a pronoun, in its usual demonstrative sense, in the singular with
òֶùֶׂø
, with perhaps an interjectional force—“Lo! these ten times do ye reproach me.” So Renan: Voilà, la dixième fois que vous m’ insultez. Comp. Gen_27:36.—E.] “Ten times” stands naturally for a round number, or ideal perfection; Gen_31:7; Lev_26:26; Num_14:22, etc. [“Ten, from being the number of the fingers on the human hand, is the number of human possibility, and from its position at the end of the row of numbers (in the decimal system), is the number of that which is perfected; as not only the Sanskrit dacan is traceable to the radical notion ‘to seize, embrace,’ but also the Semitic
òùø
is traceable to the radical notion, ‘to bind, gather together’ (cogn.
÷ùׁø
). They have already exhausted what is possible in reproaches—they have done their utmost.” Del.]. Comp. my Theologia Naturalis, p. 713 seq.; also Leyrer’s Art. “Zahlen bei den Hebräern” in Herzog’sReal-Encyclop. XVIII. p. 378 seq.). Are not ashamed to stun me.—The syntax of
ìֹàÎúֵáùׁåּ úַּäְëְøåּ
(“ye stun [me] without shame, shamelessly”), as in Job_6:28; Job_10:16. Comp. Gesen. § 142 [§ 139], 3 b [Green, § 269].—
úַּäְëְøåּ
is a shortened Imperf. Hiph. for
úַּäְëִéøåּ
(Gesen. § 53 [§ 52], Rem. 4, 5 [see also Green, § 94 c]), of a verb
äëø
, which does not appear elsewhere, which, according to the Arabic, signifies “to stun,” obstupefacere. The rendering “to maltreat, to abuse grossly,” which rests on the authority of the ancient versions (LXX.:
ἐðßêåéóèÝ ìïé
, Vulg. opprimentes), and which is adopted by Ewald, Hirzel, Dillmann, etc., gives essentially the same sense. [The rendering of E. V.: “ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me” seems to have been suggested by the use of
ðëø
in the sense of “not to know.” The Hiph. form of the verb, however, is not found in that sense, which is, moreover, less suitable to the context than the renderings given above.—E.]
Job_19:4. And verily even if I have erred (comp. Job_6:24) [
àַóÎàָîְðָí
, double intensive, “yea, verily, comp. Job_34:12], my error remains (then) with me, i. e., it is then known only to me (
àִúִּé
, “with me=in my consciousness,” comp. Job_12:3; Job_14:5), and so does not fall under your jurisdiction, does not call for your carping, unfriendly criticism; for such a wrong, being known to myself alone (and for that reason being of the lighter sort), I have to answer only to God. [“I shall have to expiate it, without your having on this account any right to take upon yourselves the office of God, and to treat me uncharitably; or what still better corresponds with
àִúִּé úָּìִéï
: my transgression remains with me, without being communicated to another, i. e., without having any influence over you or others to lead you astray, or involve you in participation of the guilt.” Del.]. So in substance—and correctly—Hirzel, Schlottmann, Hahn, Delitzsch, Dillmann [Renan, Carey, Rod-well], while Ewald and Olshausen, failing to perceive the relation of the first member as a hypothetical antecedent to the second member as its consequent and opposite, translate: “I have erred, I am fully conscious of my error.” [If this be understood as a confession by Job of moral guilt, it is premature and out of place. According to Ewald, it is a confession of intellectual error (to wit, that he had vainly put his confidence in the justice of God), uttered with the view of softening the hostility of the friends, by the indirect admission, on the one hand, that their charges had some justification in the non-appearance of God; by the reminder, on the other hand, that his complaint was against God rather than them. But such a thought would be too obscurely expressed, and would imply too sudden a change from the tone of bitter reproach which pervades this opening strophe.—E.]
Job_19:5. Will ye really boast yourselves against me, and prove against me my reproach?—
àִí
is to be taken, with Schultens, Ewald, Hirzel, Dillmann [Renan: “By what right do you dare to speak insolently to me, and do you pretend to convince me of disgrace?”], as an interrogative particle (=an), and the whole verse as a question, with the chief emphasis resting on the verbs
úַּâְּãִּéìåּ
(“will you [magnify] boast yourselves,” exhibit yourselves against me as great rhetoricians and advocates, by your elaborate accusations?) and
úּåֹëִéçåּ
(“will you judicially prove, demonstrate” my disgrace [
òָìַé
against me]? comp. Job_13:3; Job_13:15, and often). This is the only construction which properly completes Job_19:4. There is no such completing of the sense obtained, if we take
àִí
as a conditional particle—“if,” whether we take the whole of the fifth verse as a hypothetical protasis, and Job_19:6 as apodosis (so Clericus, Olshausen, Delitzsch) [E. V., Lee, Carey, Rodwell, Merx], or regard Job_19:5 a as protasis, and b as apodosis (so Umbreit, Stickel, Schlottmann [Noyes, Wemyss, Conant], etc. [Schlottmann exhibits the connection as follows: “In Job_19:4 Job says—‘Granted that I have erred, you need give yourselves no concern about the matter.’ In Job_19:5 he adds—‘If, nevertheless, you will concern yourselves about it, and in pride look down on me, it is at least incumbent on you not to assume without further proof that I have brought disgrace on myself by such an error, but to prove it against me with good arguments.’ The repetition of
àָîְðָí
seems to correlate Job_19:4-5, so that if, as all agree, the first and second members of Job_19:4 are related to each other as protasis and apodosis, the same would seem to be true of Job_19:5.—E.]
First Division: First Strophe. Job_19:6-12. Lamentation over his sufferings as proceeding from God.
Job_19:6. Know then (
àֵôåֹ
as in Job_9:24) [“elsewhere in questions, here strengthening the exclamation”—Schlott.] that Eloah has wrested me, i. e., has treated me unjustly, done me wrong,
òִåְּúָðִé
. for
òִåֵּú îִùְׁôָּèִé
, comp. Job_8:3; Job_34:12; Lam_3:36. And compassed me round about with His net—like a hunter who has entirely robbed a wild beast of its liberty by the meshes of the net which envelop him around, so that he can find no way of escape.—The expression describes the unforeseen and inexorable character of the dispensations which had burst on Job as the object of the Divine persecution; comp. Bildad’s description, Job_18:8 seq. [“Bildad had said that the wicked would be taken in his own snares. Job says that God had ensnared him.” Elzas.]
Job_19:7. Lo! I cry—“Violence!” (
äָîָí
as an interjectional exclamation, found also Hab_1:2; comp. Jer_20:8) and am not heard (Pro_21:13); I call out for help, and there is no justice—i. e., no justice shown in an impartial examination and decision of my cause.—
ùִׁåַּò
, lit. “to cry aloud for help, to send forth a cry for deliverance” (comp. Psa_30:3 [Psa_30:2]; Psa_72:12; Psa_88:14 [Psa_88:18]), from
ùָׁåַò
, or
ùׁåּòַ éָùַׁò
=
, “to be wide, to be in a prosperous situation.”
Job_19:8. He has hedged up my way, that I cannot pass, and He has set darkness on my paths.—Comp. Job_3:23; Job_13:27; also, as regards
âָּãַã
, “to fence up, to hedge up,” Lam_3:7; Lam_3:9; Hos_2:8 [6].
Job_19:9. He has stripped me of mine honor;i. e., of my righteousness in the eyes of men; comp. Job_29:14. The “crown of my head” in the parallel second member signifies the same thing; comp. Lam_5:16. The same collocation of a “raiment of honor,” and a “crown of the head,” occurs also in Isa_61:10; Isa_62:3; and suggested by these passages we find it often in evangelical church hymns [e. g., in the following from Watts:
“Then let my soul march boldly on,
Press forward to the heavenly gate,
There peace mid joy eternal reign,
And glittering robes for conquerors wait.
There shall I wear a starry crown,
And triumph in Almighty grace,
While all the armies of the skies
Join in my glorious Leader’s praise”].
Job_19:10. He breaks me down on every side: like a building doomed to destruction, for such is the representation here given of Job’s outward man together with his state of prosperity; comp. Job_16:14; [so that I pass away], and uproots, like a tree, my hope: i. e., he takes entirely away from me the prospect of a restoration of my prosperity, leaves it no foundation or bottom, like a plant which is uprooted, and which for that reason inevitably withers (comp. Job_14:19; Job_17:15). As to
äִñִּéòַ
, lit. “to tear out, to pluck up wholly out of the ground,” comp. Job_4:21, where the object spoken of is the tent-stake.
Job_19:11. [He makes His anger burn against me, and He regards me as His foes], comp. Job_13:24. The Imperfects alternating with Imperfects consecutive are, as above in Job_19:10, and in what follows, used for the present, because present and continuous sufferings are described; comp. Job_16:13-14. [The plural in
áְּöָøָéå
, either for the class, of which Job is one; or, as Delitzsch suggests, “perhaps the expression is intentionally intensified here, in contrast with Job_13:24; he, the one, is accounted by God as the host of His foes; He treats him as if all hostility to God were concentrated in him”].
Job_19:12. Together all His troops advance.—
âְּãåּãִéí
, armies, synonymous with
öָáָà
, Job_10:17, and denoting here, as there, the band of calamities, sufferings, and pains, which rush upon him.—And cast up their way against me.—
éָñֹìּåּ
, lit. “to heap up” their way, which is at the same time a rampart for carrying on the attack, a mound for offensive operations (
ñֹìְìָä
, comp. 2Sa_20:15; 2Ki_19:32; Eze_4:2) against Job, who is here represented as a besieged fortress. In regard to this figure comp. above Job_16:14; also in regard to the technics of siege operations among the ancient orientals, see Keil’s Bibl. Archäol. § 159.
First Division: Second Strophe:Job_19:13-20. Lamentation over his sufferings as proceeding from man.
Job_19:13. My brethren He drives far away from me: to wit God, to whom here, precisely as in Job_17:6, even the injustice proceeding from men is ascribed. For this reason the reading
äִøְçִé÷
is perfectly in place, and it is unnecessary after the
ἀðÝóôçóáí
of the LXX. to change it to
äִøְçִé÷åּ
. To the term “brethren” (which as in Psa_69:9 [Psa_69:8], is to be understood literally, not in the wider sense of relatives), who are described as turning away from him, corresponds in Job_19:14 a the term
÷ְøֹáִéí
, “kinsmen” (Psa_38:12 [11]). In like manner we find as parallel to the
éֹãְòִéí
, i. e., “knowers, confidants,” in Job_19:13 b, the
îְéֻãָּòִéí
, i. e., those familiarly known, intimate friends, in Job_19:14 b (comp. in regard to it Psa_31:12 [Psa_31:11]; Psa_88:9 [Psa_88:8]. As synonyms in the wider sense there appear in the sequel
âָּøֵéÎáֵéú
, “house-associates, or so-journers” in Job_19:15 (Vulg., inquilini domus meæ) and finally
îְúֵéÎñåֹã
(Job_19:19), those who belong to the circle of closest intimacy, bosom-friends, (comp. Job_29:4; Psa_55:15 [14]), so that the notion of friendship is here presented in six different phases and gradations, comp. on Job_18:8-10.—As for the rest
àַêְ æָøåּ
Job_19:13 b is lit., “are become only [or, nothing but] strange to me,” i. e., entirely and altogether strange; and
çָֽãְìåּ
, Job_19:14 a, means “they cease,” i. e., to be friends, they leave off, fail (comp. Job_14:7), withdraw from me.
Job_19:15. My house associates [= “they that dwell in mine house,” E. V.], and my maids (this doubled expression denoting all the domestics, including hired servants and the like; comp. above) are become strange to me[properly, “count me for a stranger,” E. V.]. The verb
úַּçְùְׁáåּðִé
is governed as to gender by the subject next preceding: comp. Gesen. § 60; Ewald, § 339 c [Green, § 276, 1].
Job_19:16. I call to my servant, and he answers not.—Whether this disobedient servant is to be viewed as the overseer, or house-steward, like Eliezer in the house of Abraham, Genesis 24. (Del.), is in view of the simplicity of the language at least doubtful.—With my mouth must I entreat him.—For the Imperf. in the sense of must, comp. Job_15:30; Job_17:2.
áְּîåֹ ôִé
(comp. Psa_89:2 [Psa_89:1]; Psa_109:30), expresses here not, as in Job_16:5, a contrast with that which proceeds out of the heart, but with a mere wink, or any dumb intimation of what might be desired of him.
Job_19:17. My breath is offensive to my wife.—
æøä
, from
æåּø
, to be strange, to be estranged, expresses simply by virtue of this signification the idea of “being repugnant, repulsive,” so that we need not derive it from a particular verb
æéø
, “to be loathsome;” and
øåּçִé
assuredly signifies here the breath (stinking according to b), having the same meaning as
ðֶôֶùׁ
in the partly parallel passage Job_7:15; hence not “my discontent” (Hirzel) [“my spirit, as agitated, querulous” Gesen.; “depression,” Fürst]; nor “my sexual impulse” Arnh.; nor “my spirit” (Starke, [Carey] and ancient commentators); nor “my person” (Pesh., Umbreit, Hah) [Renan].—Jerome already correctly: halitum meum exhorruit uxor mea, and in the same sense most of the moderns [so E. V.], and my ill savor to the sons of my body.—
åְäַðּåֹúִé
, can neither signify: “my prayers, my entreaties” (Gesen., with a reference to his Gram., § 91, 3—against which however compare Ewald, § 259) [Noyes, Lee, Words., Elzas]; nor “my caresses (Arnh.) [Bernard, Rodw., Green, Chrestom., and Gram. § 139, 2—Kal Inf. of
çðï
(with fem. termination
Îåֹú
) to be gracious]; nor “my lamentations, my groanings” (Hirzel, Vaih.) [Fürst]; nor yet finally—“and I pray to the sons of my body” (LXX., Vulg., Luth., etc. [E. V., with different construction of the
ìְ
—“though I entreated for the children’s sake of my own body”]; for all these constructions are alike opposed to the language and to the context. The word is rather (with Schär., Rosen. Ew., Hahn, Schlott., Del., Dillm.), to be derived from the root
çåï
, “to stink,” which does no appear elsewhere indeed in Heb., but which is quite common in Arab, and Syr., and is to be construed either as first pers. sing. Perf. Kal (“and I smell offensively to the sons of my body”), or, which is better suited to the parallelism, as Infinitive substantive,
æָøָä
in a being still the predicate. This stench suggests in particular the fetid matter which issues from the festering and partially rotting limbs of the victim of elephantiasis. Comp. on Job_2:7; Job_7:14.—That by “the sons of my body” (
áְּðֵé áִèְðִé
) we are not of necessity to understand the legitimate sons of Job, and hence that there is no contradiction between this passage and the prologue, has already been shown in the Introd., § 8, 3. We need not therefore follow the critics who are there refuted in deciding that the prologue is not genuine; nor assume (with Eichhorn and Olsh.) that the poet has here for once forgotten himself, and lost sight of his scheme as set forth in Job_1:18-19. We are rather to suppose (with Ewald, 1st Ed., Hirz., Heiligst., Hahn, Dillmann, etc.), that the reference is to grandchildren, the offspring left behind by the unfortunate sons—in favor of which may be cited the similar use of
áָּðִéí
in a wider sense in Gen_29:5; Gen_31:28, etc.: or else (with the LXX., Symmachus, J. D. Michaelis, Schär., Rosenm., Dathe, Ewald, 2d Ed.) to his children by concubines (
õἱïõò ðáëëáêßäùí ìïõ
, LXX.) a supposition however with which Job_31:1 seems scarcely to agree, however true it may be that in the patriarchal age, to which our poet assigns Job, rigid monogamistic views did not prevail. The explanation of Stuhlm., Gesen., Umbr., Schlott., Del., [Noyes, Conant, Elzas, Merx] is also linguistically possible, that
áִּèְðִé
stands for
áֶּèֶï àִîִּé
(after Job_3:10), so that
áðé áèðé
would mean accordingly Job’s natural brothers. This theory however is inconsistent with the circumstance that Job has already made mention above, Job_19:13, of his brothers; and that immediately following the mention of his wife, the mention of his descendants would be more suitable than that of his brothers. [To which add this from Bernard, that above, in Job_3:10, no ambiguity whatever could arise from the employment of
áèðé
in the sense of “mother’s womb,” whereas “here, by using it in this sense, Job would have run such risk of having his meaning misunderstood, as
áִּèְðִé
might fairly be considered synonymous with
çֲìָöַé
, my loins, or
îֵòַé
, my bowels, that we find it quite impossible to believe that if he had really wished to speak here of his brethren, he would have applied to them such a very ambiguous epithet.” It has also been suggested as a relief of the difficulty that children had been born to Job in the interval between the first series of calamities, and the infliction of the disease, but such a conjecture is too precarious. Others regard the expression as general. So Wordsworth: “He is speaking of the greatest wretchedness in general terms”].
Job_19:18. Even youngsters act contemptuously towards me.—
òֲåִéìִéí
, plur. of
òָåִéì
, puer (root
òåּì
, comp. Job_21:11) are little children, such namely as are rude and impudent mockers, like those children of Bethel, 2Ki_2:23 seq, which may be expressed by the word “youngsters” [Germ. “Buben”: Bernard—“wicked-little-children”], here as also above in Job_16:11.—It will also guard in particular against the mistake of supposing that Job’s grandchildren are intended by these
òåéìéí
, (Hahn).—If I rise up (conditional clause, as in Job_11:17 [not as E. V., “I arose”]), they speak about me, make me the butt of jeering talk (
ãִּáֶּø áְּ
, as in Psa_50:20; Num_12:1; Num_21:5).
Job_19:19. My bosom friends abhor me:—(comp. above on Job_19:13 seq.), and those whom I loved(
æֶä
relative, as in Job_15:17) have turned against me.—This verse points particularly at Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, the once trusted friends, who are now become his violent opponents.
Job_19:20. My bone cleaves to my skin and my flesh (comp. Job_10:11), i. e., through my skin and my extremely emaciated flesh may be seen my bones, which seem to cleave, as it were, to that poor and loathsome integument. Comp. Lam_4:8; Psa_102:6 [5], and I am escaped only with the skin of my teeth:—i. e., thus far only my gums (the flesh of my teeth, here called the skin of my teeth, because of their skinlike thinness and leanness of muscle) have been spared by this fearful disease,—so that I am able at least to speak, without having my mouth full of internal boils and sores (as is wont to be the case in the extreme stages of elephantiasis). This is the only satisfactory explanation, to which most moderns give in their adherence (Rosenm., Umbreit, Ewald, Hirzel, Vaih., Heil., Schlottm., Dillm.). This explanation of “the skin of the teeth” as the “gums,” is undoubtedly the most obvious, simple, and natural. [Yet simpler, perhaps, is the view of Umbreit, Wordsworth, Noyes, Renan, Elzas, that it is a proverbial expression, describing a state in which one is stripped to the very minimum of possession, or emaciated to the last point. Wordsworth: “A proverbial paradox. I am reduced to a mere shadow, I am escaped with nothing, or next to nothing, so that my escape is hardly an escape. I am escaped with the skin of what has no skin, the skin of bone; comp. the Latin proverbs, Lana caprina (Horat., 1 Ep. xviii. 15), and Totum nil (Juvenal 3, 209).” To which may be added the humorous English proverb: “As fat as a hen in the forehead.”—E.]. Other explanations are in part against the language, in part too artificial: such as a. That of Jerome, and many Catholic commentators, that by the skin of the teeth we are to understand the lips. b. That of Delitzsch, which explains it to mean particularly the periosteum (in distinction from the gums—as if such a distinction could have been known to the ancient Hebrews! [and “as though the poet had written for doctors!” Dillm.]).—c. That of Stickel and Hahn, who translate: “I am escaped with the nakedness of my teeth,” [i. e., with naked teeth].—d. That of Le Clerc, who understands it of the gums as alone remaining, when the teeth have fallen out.
5. Second Division:Job_19:21-27. A lofty flight to a blessed hope in God, his future Redeemer and Avenger, introduced by a pathetic appeal to the friends, that they would be mercifully disposed towards him, as one who had been so deeply humiliated, and so heavily smitten by the hand of God.
Job_19:21. [“Job here takes up a strain we have not heard previously. His natural strength becomes more and more feeble, and his tone weaker and weaker. It is a feeling of sadness that prevails in the preceding description of suffering, and now even stamps the address to the friends with a tone of importunate entreaty which shall if possible, affect their hearts. They are indeed his friends, as the emphatic
àַúֶּí øֵòָé
affirms; impelled towards him by sympathy, they are come, and at least stand by him while all other men flee from him.” Del. Pity me, pity me (pathetically repeated) O ye my friends!] For the hand of Eloah hath touched me.—An allusion to the nature of his frightful disease, being a species of leprosy, i. e., of a
ðֶâַò
(2Ki_15:5), a plaga Dei “wherefore the suffering Messiah also bears the significant name
çִåָּøָà ãְּáֵé øַáִּé
, ‘the leprous one from the school of Rabbi,’ in the Talmud, after [Isa_53:4; Isa_53:8.”]. One who is already treated with enough severity through the infliction of such a plague from God, ought not to be smitten also by men through the exercise of a merciless disposition, unfriendly words, etc.
Job_19:22. Why do ye persecute me as God, “by which he means not merely that they add their persecution to God’s, but that they take upon themselves God’s work, that they usurp to themselves a judicial divine authority; they act towards him as if they were superhuman, and therefore inhumanly.” Del. And are not satiated with my flesh?i. e., continually devour my flesh, figuratively speaking, by false accusations, slanders, suspicions of my innocence, etc., gnaw me incessantly with the tooth of slander [comp. Engl. “backbiting”]. Comp. the equivalent figurative expression “slander” (
äéáâÜëëåéí
) in the Aram. of the book of Daniel (Job_3:8; Job_6:25) [“to eat the pieces of any one”], in the Syriac, where the devil is called ochel-karso =
äéÜâïëïò
, and in Arab. where “to eat the flesh, or a piece of any one” is equivalent to “slandering, backbiting.”
Job_19:23 seq. As though despairing of the possibility of influencing the friends to withdraw from their attacks on his innocence, he now turns with ardent longing for the final vindication of the same to God, first of all uttering the wish that his own asseverations of the same might be preserved to the latest generations. [Ewald imagines a pause after Job_19:22. Job waits to see what response the friends would make to his pitiful appeal. They are silent, show no signs of relenting. Job sees that he has nothing to hope for either from men, or the God of the present. But in his extremity he obtains a glimpse of the far-distant future, after his death, which fills him with a new and wonderful courage]. Oh that my words were but written (
îִéÎéִúֶּï
here followed by
å
consec. before the voluntative [future], on account of the intervening
àֵôåֹ
, comp. Deu_5:26), that they were but inscribed (
éֻçָ÷åּ
, pausal form for
éֻçֲ÷åּ
[see Ewald, § 193, c, and Gesen., § 67 (§ 66) Rem. 8], Hoph. of
ç÷÷
) in a book!—
áַּñֵּôֶø
, with the Art., as this expression is always written—comp. Exo_17:14; 1Sa_10:25, etc.—although no particular book is meant, but only in general a skin of an animal prepared for writing [
ñôø
], a writing-roll). These words of his, which he thus desires to see transmitted for remembrance by after generations, are, as it is most natural to suppose, not those contained in Job_19:25 seq.. (Hahn, Schlottm.) [Scott, Good, Bernard, Words., Rodwell, Barnes], but the sufferer’s former protestations of innocence, the assurances which from Job 6. on he has continually put forth, that he suffers innocently. [In favor of this view, and against the other, Delitzsch argues: (1) It is improbable that the inscription would begin with
å
.—(2) It is more likely that Job would wish to see inscribed that which was the expression of his habitual consciousness, than that which was but an occasional and transient flash of light through the darkness].
Job_19:24. That with an iron pen [or style] and with lead—i. e., in letters engraved by means of an iron style, or chisel, and then filled in with lead, in order to make them more imperishable—they might be graven in the rock forever! Instead of
ìָòַã
the LXX. read here, as also in Isa_30:8 :
ìְòֵã
, “for a witness, as testimony,” (
åἰò ìáñôýñéïí
), an emendation however which is unnecessary, for the rendering “forever” gives here a meaning that is quite suitable. The monumental inscription is indeed preferred to that on parchment just because of its greater durability, which is the reason why Job wishes for it here. In regard to the use of both methods of writing already in the Pre-Mosaic age, see Introd., § 2, No. 4, p.. [For accounts of such inscriptions see Robinson’sBibl. Researches in Palestine, I., 169, 188 seq., 552; Wilson’sLands of the Bible, I., 184 seq.; Princeton Review, 1870, page 533 seq. “This wish was not in truth too high on Job’s part; for we now know sufficiently well that of old in those lands it was sought to perpetuate by means of inscriptions in stones and rocks not only short legal precepts, but also longer documents, memorable historical events, public requests, prayers, etc. Such costly works it is true could in general be completed only by kings and princes; Job was however a man of power in his age, who might well express such a wish.” Ewald].
Job_19:25. Not because he despairs of the possibility of realizing this last wish (Dillm.), but because he knows for a certainty that God will not allow his testimony to his innocence to pass down to posterity without His absolute confirmations of it, and hence because he regards that wish for the eternal perpetuation of his testimony as by no means a vain one, he continues:—And I know my Redeemer lives, etc. The
å
in
åàðé éãòúé
is thus not used in an adversative sense (Luther, Ewald, Vaih., Dillm. [Conant, Noyes, Lee], etc., but simply continuative, or, if one prefers it, ascensive, introducing the end to which the realization of the preceding wish is to lead. [“The progressive rendering seems to be preferable (to the adversative), because the human vindication after death, which is the object of the wish expressed in Job_19:23 seq. is still not essentially different from the Divine vindication hoped for in Job_19:25, which must not be regarded as an antithesis, but rather as a perfecting of the other, designed for posterity. Job_19:25 is, however, certainly a higher hope, to which the wish in Job_19:23 seq. forms the stepping stone.” Del.] The causal rendering (LXX., Vulgate, Stickel [E. V., Good, Carey, Renan],) is less probable, although not altogether meaningless, as Dillmann affirms. [The rendering: “yea, verily,” adopted by Schlottm., Words., Elzas, Merx, etc., is probably designed to express the ascensive meaning referred to above.] Forasmuch as
ëִé
is wanting after
éãòúé
(as in Job_30:23; Ps. 9:21), we should translate simply in the oratio directa: “My Redeemer lives.”
âֹּàֵì
, which according to Job_3:5 means literally “reclaimer, redeemer,” acquires a meaning that is entirely too special, when it is taken by Umbreit and some others [Renan, Rodwell, Elzas] to be =
âֹàֵì äַãָּí
, “the blood-avenger” (Num_35:12; Num_35:19), for the previous discourse was not of Job in the character of one murdered in his innocence, and Job_16:18 is too remote. After the analogy of Pro_23:11; Lam_3:58; Psa_119:154, we are to think in general of the restitution of the honor and right of one who has been oppressed, and are accordingly to take
âֹּàֵì
in the sense of a defender, an avenger of honor—a meaning indeed which approaches that of a “blood-avenger” in so far as the expected deliverance [or vindication] is conceived of as taking place only after the sufferer’s death. For the Goel is
çַé
, is absolutely living (
çַé
, “he lives,” incomparably stronger than
éֵùׁ
, for instance would have been) [
äַé
reminding us of “that name of God,
çé òåìí
, Dan_12:7, after which the Jewish oath per Anchialum in Martial is to be explained,” Del., and indicating here the contrast between Him, the Living One, and Job, the dying one, Dillm.], while the object of His redemptive activity is
òָôָø
, “dust,” and as b shows, at the time when He arises, has long been dust.—And as the Last will He arise upon the dust.—
àַçֲøåֹï
cannot possibly with Böttcher and others [so E. V., Lee, Conant, Renan, Elzas] be construed in the adverbial sense “hereafter, in the latter time [or day].” It is clearly a substantive, used either in apposition to
âֹּàֲìִé
, the subj. of the first member, or as the independent subj. of the second member, identical in meaning with this
âּ×
. The word signifies neither “Next-man” [Next-of-kin, Ger. Nachmann] in the sense of Avenger (vindex: Ewald, Hirzel), nor the “Follower” [Germ. Hintermann, “backer”], “second” (Hahn), but according to Isa_44:6; Isa_48:12, simply the Last, he who survives all, an expression which is used here not with eschatological universality, but with particular reference to Job, who is no longer living (Job_17:11 seq.). [Delitzsch, however, and in a way which seems more suitable to the sublimity and scope o the passage: “as the Last One, whose word shall avail in the ages of eternity, when the strife of human voices shall have long been silent.”] Of this Last One, or this One who is hereafter to come, Job says: “He will stand up, He will arise” (
éָ÷åּí
), viz. for his protection and his deliverance (
÷åּí
, the customary term for the favorable intervention of a judge to help one: Psa_12:6 [5]; Isa_2:19; Isa_2:21; Isa_33:10, or also of a witness). He is thus to appear
òַìÎòָôָø
, “upon the dust;” i. e., according to Job_17:16; Job_20:11; Job_21:26, indisputably—on the dust to which I shall soon return (Gen_3:19; Ecc_3:20), or in which I shall soon be made to lie down, on the dust of my decayed body, or of my grave. This is the only meaning of the expression which suits the context (so Rosenm., Ewald, Vaih., Welte, Del., Dillmann [Conant, Elzas, Merx], etc.). Any other explanation does more or less violence to the language, whether with Umbreit we translate in a way altogether too classic, “in the arena;” or with Hahn, altogether too freely: “above the earth,” i. e. in heaven! or with Jerome, Luther, and most of the ancients, altogether too dogmatically, and withal against the usage of the language, we find expressed an “awakening out of the earth;” or finally with Hirzel and others, we understand it in a way altogether too rationalistic of an “appearing of God on the earth,” in the sense of Job 38., rejecting any reference to the continuance of life hereafter [this last rendering, however, being adopted by not a few of the commentators who refer the passage to the final resurrection: so e. g. Scott, Lee]. In opposition to all these views, Dillmann says truly: “[Had Job intended here simply to express the hope of an appearance of God for the purpose of deciding the controversy in favor of Job,
òìÎòôø
would have been unnecessary (comp. e. g.Psa_12:6), and instead of
é÷åí
he would have said
éֵøֵã
rather, for it is not said elsewhere that God arises on the dust when He appears; besides that God does not appear in Job 38. on the earth, but He speaks His final decision out of the storm. Rather do] the words express the expectation of a
âàì
who lives, even when Job lives no longer, who comes after him, and who for the open vindication of his right arises on the dust in which he is laid, or stands above his grave.” (Analogies from Arabic usage compel us thus to understand the phrase of the grave, or the dust of the grave; see Delitzsch.) “The words thus lead us without doubt into the circle of thought indicated in Job_16:18 (although at the same time beyond the same). He does not yet say whom he intends by this
âàì
, because the main thought here is the certainty that such an one lives; not until Job_19:26, after he has explained himself further, does he surprise the friends and himself by saying that the object of his hope is Eloah Himself.”
Job_19:26. And after my skin, which is broken in pieces, even this.—
àçø
is not a conjunction belonging to
ð÷ôå
, “after that” (Targ., de Dieu, Gesenius [Schlott., Con., Word., Rod.], etc.), but as its position immediately before
òåֹøִé
shows, a preposition [a prepos. when used as a conjunc. being always followed immediately by the verb; see Job_42:7; Lev_14:43. Rendered as a prepos. the meaning of the phrase “after my skin” will be “after the loss of it.” Comp. Job_21:21,
àçøéå
, “after him,” to wit, after his death].
ðִ÷ְּôåּ
, however (which is not to be taken [with Hofmann, Schriftbeweis II., 2, 503] as a Chaldaizing variation of
ðִ÷ְּôåּú
= an envelope, Germ. Umspannung), is an appositional relative clause, referring to
òåֹøִé
. It is found in the third plur. perf. Piel of
ð÷ó
, “to break off” (in Piel used particularly of the hewing down of trees, Isa_10:34. Hence the third plur. here being used impersonally (comp. Job_4:19; Job_7:3; Job_18:18), “after my skin, which is broken off,” i. e. cut off piecemeal, mutilated, broken in pieces [E. V. unnecessarily supplies “worms” as subject]. The reference is to the skin together with the tender parts of the flesh [
áַּãִּéí
] adhering to it, which gradually rot away, so that the meaning is similar to that of Job_18:13. The
æֹàú
added at the end of this member of the verse cannot possibly be interpreted as equivalent to
æֹàú úִּäְéֶä
, “this shall be” (Targ.; Gesen.) [for in that case
æֹàú
should have stood at the head of the clause]. We must either, with Arnheim, Stickel, Hahn, Delitzsch [Lee, Rodwell, and preferred by Green], explain it to mean “so, in this manner,” connecting it in this sense adverbially with
ðִ÷ְּôåּ
“thus torn to pieces,” Del.), or else explain it deictically, as pointing to the skin, or, since
òåֹø
is strictly masc., as pointing to the body as here represented by that term, the totality of Job’s members and organs. [The distinction which the E. V. makes between the “skin” and the “body,” the destruction of the latter being “after” that of the former seems not sufficiently warranted. Such a distinction must have been more clearly indicated. The construction is indeed a peculiar one, and yet exceedingly pathetic in its broken irregularity. “And after my skin—when it is all fallen off by decay—this tattered thing which you now see!”—E.] In respect to the various renderings of the ancients, especially those of the Targ., of Jerome, of Luther, etc., see below [Doctrinal and Ethical] the history of the exposition of the passage.—And free from my flesh, shall I behold Eloah.—If
îִáְּùָׂøִé
be explained “out of my flesh” [or, as in this sense it is rendered by many, “in my flesh,” either referring it to his resurrection-body, E. V., Good, Lee, etc.; or] with a reference to the restored body of the sufferer (Eichh. 5. Cölln, Knapp, Hofmann) [Noyes, Wemyss, Elz., Rod., who render by “in”], it would form an inappropriate antithesis to
òåֹøִé
in a, which would be all the more strange, seeing that only a little before, in Job_19:20, they had been used as in substance synonymous. Neither can the expression signify exactly “from behind, or within my flesh” (against Volck); this meaning would require
áְּòַã
, or
îִáַּòַã
(after Son_4:1; Son_4:3; Son_6:7). Hence
îִï
is to be rendered privatively, “away from, without, free from” (comp. Job_11:15; Job_21:9). In that case, however, the reference is not to the last point of time in Job’s earthly life, when he would be relieved of all his flesh, i. e., would be completely reduced to a skeleton (Chrysost., Umbr., Hirz., Stickel, Heiligst., Hahn, Renan, etc.), but to his condition after departing from this earth, a condition which if not absolutely incorporeal, is at least one of freedom from the body. It refers to the time when, freed from his suffering, miserable, decayed
óÜñî
, he shall behold God as a glorified spirit (Ewald, Vaihinger, Schlottm., Arnheim, Delitzsch, Dillmann [Con., Green]). This latter interpretation is favored decidedly by the Imperf.
àֶçֱæֶä
, which is not to be rendered in the present (as by Mercier, Hahn, H. Schultz [Bibl. Theol. des A. T., Vol. II., 1870], etc.) : “I behold God even now in the spirit;” for then the circumstantial particulars,
àַçַø òåֹøִé
and
îִáְּùָׂøִé
, would appear meaningless, and almost unintelligible, but which is certainly to be construed in the future, expressing the hope in a joyful beholding of God hereafter, (comp. the similar meaning of
àçæä
in Psa_17:15, also of
éֶçֱæåּ
in Psa_11:7), that is to say, as the following verse shows yet more clearly, in such a beholding of God in a glorified state after death (Mat_5:8; 1Jn_3:2, etc ). The expression of such a hope here “does not, after Job_14:13-15; Job_16:18-21, come unexpectedly; and it is entirely in accordance with the inner progress of the drama, that the thought of a redemption from Hades, expressed in the former passage, and the demand expressed in the latter passage for the rescue of the honor of his blood, which is even now guaranteed him by his witness in heaven, are here united together into the confident assurance that his blood and his dust will not be declared by God the Redeemer as innocent, without his being in some way conscious of it, though freed from this his decaying body.” (Delitzsch).
Job_19:27 describes, in triumphant anticipation of the thing hoped for, how Job will then behold God. Whom I shall behold for myself, to wit, for my salvation; the
ìִé
, “for me” (emphatic Dat. commodi, as in Psa_56:10; Psa_118:6) being decidedly emphasized, as also
&
