B.—Job’s Reply: Instead of Comfort, the Friends bring him only increased Sorrow
Job_6:1 to Job_7:21
1. Justification of his complaint by pointing out the greatness and incomprehensibleness of his suffering
Job_6:1-10
1 But Job answered and said:
2 Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed,
and my calamity laid in the balance together!
3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;
therefore my words are swallowed up.
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me,
the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit;
the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.
5 Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass?
or loweth the ox over his fodder?
6 Can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt?
or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7 The things that my soul refuseth to touch
are as my sorrowful meat.
8 Oh that I might have my request,
and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!
9 Even that it would please God to destroy me;
that He would let loose His hand, and cut me off!
10 Then should I yet have comfort:
yea, I would harden myself in sorrow; let Him not spare;
for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.
2. Complaint over the bitter disappointment which he had experienced at the hands of his friends
Job_6:11-30
11 What is my strength that I should hope?
and what is mine end that I should prolong my life?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones?
or is my flesh of brass?
13 Is not my help in me?
and is wisdom driven quite from me?
14 To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend;
but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
15 My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook,
and as the stream of brooks they pass away;
16 which are blackish by reason of the ice,
and wherein the snow is hid.
17 What time they wax warm, they vanish;
when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.
18 The paths of their way are turned aside;
they go to nothing, and perish.
19 The troops of Tema looked,
the companies of Sheba waited for them.
20 They were confounded because they had hoped;
they came thither and were ashamed.
21 For now ye are nothing;
ye see my casting down, and are afraid!
22 Did I say, Bring unto me?
or, Give a reward for me of your substance?
23 Or, Deliver me from the enemy’s hand?
or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty?
24 Teach me, and I will hold my tongue;
and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
25 How forcible are right words!
but what doth your arguing reprove?
26 Do ye imagine to reprove words,
and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?
27 Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless,
and ye dig a pit for your friend.
28 Now therefore be content, look upon me;
for it is evident unto you if I lie.
29 Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity;
yea, return again, my righteousness is in it.
30 Is there iniquity in my tongue?
cannot my taste discern perverse things?
3. Recurrence to his former complaint on account of his lot, and accusation of God
Job_7:1-21
1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth?
are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
2 As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow,
and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work;
3 So am I made to possess months of vanity,
and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
4 When I lie down, I say,
When shall I arise and the night be gone?
and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms, and clods of dust;
my skin is broken, and become loathsome.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and are spent without hope.
7 O remember that my life is wind!
mine eye shall no more see good.
8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more;
Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.
9 As the cloud is consumed, and vanisheth away,
so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.
10 He shall return no more to his house,
neither shall his place know him any more.
11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I a sea, or a whale,
that Thou settest a watch over me?
13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me,
my couch shall ease my complaint;
14 then Thou scarest me with dreams,
and terrifiest me through visions;
15 So that my soul chooseth strangling,
and death rather than my life.
16 I loathe it, I would not live alway;
let me alone; for my days are vanity.
17 What is man, that Thou shouldest magnify him?
and that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon him?
18 And that Thou shouldest visit him every morning?
and try him every moment?
19 How long wilt Thou not depart from me,
nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
20 I have sinned; what shall I do unto Thee, O Thou preserver of men?
why hast Thou set me as a mark against Thee,
so that I am a burden to myself?
21 And why dost Thou not pardon my transgression,
and take away mine iniquity?
for now shall I sleep in the dust;
and Thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. This discourse of Job, the first formal reply which proceeded from him, attaches itself immediately to that which was one-sided, erroneous, and unjust in the discourse of Eliphaz (comp. above, page 327. It rebukes these defects, and justifies the complaints which Job had previously uttered in regard to his miserable condition, in part repeating with increased emphasis the reproaches which in his despair he had brought against God. The tone of his discourse however is so far changed that instead of the wild and doubting agony of his former utterance he exhibits rather a spirit which may be characterized as mild, plaintive, and in some measure composed.
The discourse falls into three divisions: (1) A justification of the previous lamentation, as entirely corresponding to the fearful greatness of Job’s suffering, Job_6:2-10. (2) A sharp criticism of the friends’ conduct as unreasonably hard, as demonstrating indeed the deceptiveness of their friendship, Job_6:11-30. (3) Renewed lamentation over his inconsolable and helpless condition, together with an arraignment of God, Job_7:1-21. These three principal divisions have the same relative proportions, both as to the length and sub-divisions of each, as the three divisions of the discourse of Eliphaz; the first consisting of one, the two following consisting each of two long strophes. It is only in the last two, however, of these five long strophes (to wit, Job_7:1-21) that we find double-strophes composed of the longer strophes extending over 5–7 verses. The first three double-strophes on the contrary are composed of shorter strophes, including now three, and now four masoretic verses.
2. First Division (and Long Strophe). Justification of his former lamentation by a reference to the greatness and incomprehensibility of his suffering, Job_6:2-10.
First Strophe. Job_6:2-4. [His grief was not excessive when compared with his suffering].
Job_6:2. Oh that my grief might be but weighed, and my calamity be laid up over against it in the balances—[The use of the Inf. Absol.
ùָׁ÷åֹì
with the Fut.
éִùָּׁ÷ֵì
(used optatively after
ìåּ
) shows the emphasis which Job’s mind laid on the complete exact balancing of his vexation against his suffering.—E.]
ëַּòַùׂ
, grief, discontent, despondency, is that with which Eliphaz had reproached him [see Job_5:2. “Vexation, impatience, either the inner irritation, or outward exhibition of it, or both.” Dav.]
äַéָּúִé
(for which the K’ri has
äַåָּúִé
, as also in Job_30:13
ìְäַåָּúִé
for
äַéָּúִé
) “my calamity, my ruin;” comp. the plur.
äַåּåֹú
used elsewhere in the same sense, Job_6:30; Psa_57:2 [1]; Psa_91:3; Psa_94:20; Pro_19:13. The two expressions are not synonymous (Kamph.), but are related to each other as subjective and objective, or as an effect produced in Job’s emotional experience, and the cause of the same. Accordingly
éִùְׂàåּ éַçַã
can not signify: “that it might be laid up (weighed) all at once, altogether,” i.e., my entire woe, in which case indeed we should also expect the plur.
äַéּåֹúָé
(
äַåּåֹúָé
). But
ðùà éçã
denotes a simultaneous weighing of the despondency and the calamity, a balancing of either over against the other (comp. Job_17:16; Psa_141:10; Isa_45:8). The whole is a wish or a yearning prayer to God, to show clearly to his friends that his violent grief was most assuredly proportioned to the severity of his sufferings. [Conant objects to the view here given: “that it is not an appropriate answer to Eliphaz, whose admonitions were not based on the disproportion of the sufferer’s grief to its cause.” To which Davidson replies: “Job is not here replying to Eliphaz’s whole charge, but only to the beginning of it (as was fit in the beginning of his reply), the charge of unmanliness, to which the words are an appropriate answer”].
Job_6:3. For now is it heavier than the sand of the seas, i.e., heavy beyond measure. For the use of the expression “sand of the sea,” as a figure to set forth a weight or burden of extreme heaviness (as elsewhere it is used to set forth an innumerable multitude), comp. Pro_27:3; Sir_22:15.—
éַîִּéí
, “seas,” poetic plural, used like the sing.
éָí
in Gen_49:13.—
ëִּé òַúָּä
is rendered by Delitzsch, “for then” (as in Job_3:13), and the whole sentence he takes to be an inference from Job_6:2 : “then would it be found heavier than the sand, etc.” But this “it would be found” is simply interpolated into the text. Most modern expositors rightly render it: “For now, as the case now stands, especially in consequence of your unfriendly conduct,” etc.—Therefore do my words rave.—
ìָ
ֽòåּ
, with the tone on the penult, cannot be derived from
ìòä
[Ges.], but either from
ìòò
, or
ìåּòַ
, but not in the sense of sucking down, or swallowing, but in the sense, for which we have the warrant of the Arabic, of stammering, raving, [Fürst]. Job therefore admits that he has heretofore “spoken foolishly” (comp. 2Co_11:17; 2Co_11:21; 2Co_11:23), but he justifies himself by appealing to his insupportable sorrow. [The translation of the Eng. Ver. “my words are swallowed up,” implying that he had been unable to speak from grief, is less significant, and less suitable to the connection than the confession that he had spoken madly: neither is it consistent with the usage of the verb elsewhere in an active sense; Oba_1:16.—E.]
Job_6:4. For the arrows of the Almighty are in me, whose poison my spirit drinks up.—More specifically giving the reason for 3a. By “the arrows of the Almighty” are meant the sickness, pains, and plagues which God inflicts on men: [“the emphasis lies on Almighty, the arrows of the Almighty; there was enough in that fact, in the awful nature of his adversary, to account and more than apologize for all his madness.” Dav.] comp. Psa_38:3 [2]; Deu_32:23; Eze_5:16; also below in our book, Job_16:12 seq.—
òִîָּãִé
i.e., lit. “with me,” not “in my body” (
ἐõ ôῷ óþìáôß ìïõ
, LXX. Pesh.). The form of expression is chosen to represent the arrows of God as something which has hurt and wounded not only his body, but also his soul, and which accordingly is ever “with him,” continually present to him (comp. Job_9:35; Job_10:13).—
àֲùֶׁø çֲîָúָí
, not the subj. of the relative clause (LXX., Pesh., Vulg., Rosenm. [E. V., Noy., Lee, Con., Carey], but its object, the subj. of which is rather
øåּçִé
“my spirit.”
çֵîָä
’ “heat,” here equivalent to “poison;” comp. Job_21:20; Psa_7:14 [Psa_7:13]; Psa_58:5; Deu_32:24; Deu_32:33. [“Some prefer: the poison of which drinketh up my spirit, a meaning that would account for Job’s prostration, the poison of God’s arrows was like a burning heat that dried up and drank in his spirit. It was rather, however, his violence and vehement recrimination against God which he has to excuse; impetuosity, not impotence, has to be accounted for. It is thus better to make spirit nom., the spirit drinks in the Divine virus, which works potently, as Divine poison will, excites, inflames, maddens the spirit.” Dav.].—The terrors of Eloah storm me.
éַòַøְëåּðִé
, an elliptical expression for
éòøëå îìçîä òìé
, they set themselves in battle array against me, they assail me like an army: comp. Jdg_20:30; Jdg_20:33; 1Sa_4:2. Böttcher singularly attempts to render it (Neue Exeget. Æhrenlese, No. 1397): “the terrors of God cause me to arm myself—compel me to put myself in the right.” Against this it may be urged that the “terrors of God” signify not Job’s sufferings and distresses in themselves, and objectively considered, but his subjective experiences of the same, his consciousness of the fact that his suffering proceeds from the attacks and persecutions which God in His wrath directs against his life and his happiness in life (comp. Job_23:16 seq.). [They are “the conscious voluntary terrors which He actively originates, which He gathers from the ends of His dominion and the outlying posts of His power, and marshals like a sable infinite host against Job.” Dav.].
Second Strophe:Job_6:5-7. [The demand that he should submit without a murmur unnatural].
Job_6:5. Does the wild ass bray by the fresh grass, or doth an ox low at his fodder?i.e., I would certainly not lament without sufficient cause; far less would I be disposed to complain than an irrational beast, which is contentedly provided with fodder. The form of the comparison vividly reminds us of Amo_3:4-6.—For
ðä÷
, to moan, to groan, to utter doleful cries, comp. Job_30:7. Concerning the wild ass see the fuller description in Job_39:5-8.—
áְּìִéì
, maslin, farrago, a compound of various kinds of grain.
Job_6:6. Is that which is tasteless eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg?i.e., can it be expected of me that I should freely and joyously relish the unsavory food of suffering, and especially of that loathsome disease, which has seized upon me? That Job uses tasteless, loathsome food as a figure for the sufferings which afflict him, appears both from Job_6:2-4, and from Job_6:8-10, where the burden of these self-same sufferings prompts him to desire death. The interpretation which refers the figure to the discourses of the friends (LXX. and other ancient expositors, also Rüetschi, Stud, und Krit., 1867) is at variance with the connection. It suits indeed the expression in the first member of the verse (
úָּôֵì
tasteless; comp. rem. on Job_1:22), but not the expression “slime of the yolk of an egg,” which is altogether too strong for unsuitable and harsh discourses, and which is most naturally referred to the nauseous filth, dust, and ulcerous matter of the leprosy (comp. Job_7:5). [Observe that the point of the illustration lies in the tendency of an agreeable quality, or the opposite, to produce content or discontent. Now as that which occasioned Job’s discontent was his suffering, it is doubtless this suffering which in this verse he describes negatively as tasteless, and therefore to be complained of in the next verse as positively loathsome, and therefore to be refused.—Moreover, it is not until later (Job_6:25 sq.) that Job comes to speak of the nature of his friends’ remarks. He is here justifying his complaint which had been uttered before his friends had spoken at all, and which had been prompted by their silence, of which silence, as indicating a failure of sympathy, he again complains (Job_6:15-21).—E.].—
øִéø çַìָּîåּú
, “the slime of the yolk,” i.e., the liquid saliva which encloses the solid part, the yellow yolk of an egg, hence the white of an egg, which was esteemed by the Hebrews to be particularly nauseating, or at least as altogether insipid. So, following the Targ. and some of the Rabbis, Rosenm., Umbreit, Ewald, Stickel, Del., Dillmann, [E. V., Hengst., Dav., Fürst, Schlottmann, Good], etc., and in general most modern writers, while the Pesh., Arab., Gesen., Heiligst., Böttcher, [Renan, Merx], translate
øִéø ç×
“portulacca-broth, purslainslime,” a rendering, however, which assigns to
øִéø
the sense, elsewhere unknown, of slime, broth, or soup.
Job_6:7. My soul refuses to touch, such things are to me as putrid food.—Rosenm., Welte, Delitzsch, (as before them the Vulg., Luther) [so also E. V., Noy., Ren., Elz.], take the first member as an antecedent relative clause without
àֲùֶׁø
, “that which my soul refuses to touch, etc.” But such an antecedent position for the relative clause when
àֲùֶׁø
is wanting, is a rare construction, and in order to obtain for the consequent clause a tolerable sense we should be obliged to amend
ëִãְåִéִ
to
ëְּãֵé
(as Rosenm. and Welte do in opposition to all the MSS. and Vsns.). Such a construction, moreover, destroys the progression of thought from a to b. The object of
ìðâåò
is supplied of itself in that which from Job_6:2 on stands forth as the prominent conception, to wit, the suffering or calamity of Job, to which also the
äֵîָּä
, which stands at the head of the second member, points back, “they,” i.e., things of that sort, such things.—
ëִãְåֵé ìַçְîִé
, lit “as the disease of my bread;” i.e., as though my food were diseased, putrid, loathsome:
ãְּåֵé
constr. state of
ãְּåַé
, “sickness, disease,” comp Psa_41:4 [3] (so rightly Gesenius, [Fürst], Ewald, Olsh., Hahn, Schlottmann, Dillmann, etc.). Others (Cocceius, Schultens, Heiligstedt, Delitzsch) take
ãåé
as constr. st. plur. of
ãָּåֶä
, “sick, unclean” (comp. Isa_30:22), according to which derivation, however, we should expect to read
ãְּååֹú
. Umbreit and Hirzel (2d Ed.) explain “the disease of my bread” as meaning, “the disease which is my daily bread” [so also Wordsworth and Renan]; Böttcher would read
ëִּãְåַé
: “they are according to the disease of my food;” Hitzig, after the Arabic, explains: “the crumbs of my food”—purely arbitrary evasions, and less natural than the construction followed by us.
Third Strophe:Job_6:8-10. [He longs for death, and even in death would rejoice in his integrity.]
Job_6:8. Oh that my request might be fulfilled [lit. might come], and that Eloah would grant my longing! This prayer and longing are for death, as that which would bring release from his misery, which is all that he desires: see the verse which follows.
îִé éִúֵּï
he well-known optative formula, governing also the verbs of the following verse. [“It occurs quite frequently in the Book of Job, almost altogether, however, in. Job’s discourses, in the friends’ discourses only in Job_11:5, not once in those of Elihu and God. This indicates purpose in the linguistic structure of the argument. Job’s destiny gives him much to wish for.” Hengst.] Hupfeld’s emendation,
åְúַàֲåָúִé
for
åְúִ÷ְåָúִé
, is uncalled for.
Job_6:9. That it might please Eloah to destroy me, that He would let down His hand to cut me off: lit. “that He would let loose His hand, and cut me off;” for
äִúִּéø
, Hiph. of
ðúø
, “to spring,” signifies “to cause to spring, to unbind, set loose” (comp. Isa_58:6; Psa_105:20; Psa_146:7); the hand of God is thus conceived of as having been hitherto bound—bound, that is, by His own will.—
åִéáַöְּòֵðִé
, “and cut me off,” (not: “and crush me,” Luther, comp. the LXX.:
ἀíåëÝôù ìå
). Job’s soul, his Ego or his life, is, after the analogy of Job_4:21, regarded as an internal cord, a string, or thread, the cutting off of which is synonymous with death: comp. also Job_27:8; Ps. 76:13, also the well-known Greek representation of the Parcæ.
Job_6:10. So would it ever be my comfort.… Delitzsch rightly: “With
åּúְäִé
begins the conclusion, exactly as in Job_13:5.” Most expositors extend the influence of the
îִé éúֵּï
, Job_6:8, over this sentence, and construe the verbs here also as optatives: “and that so my comfort may still be to me,” etc. The comfort, according to this latter construction, would be Job’s speedy death. But how a speedy death could in and of itself bring any comfort is not made to appear in this connection. It is more natural with Hupf., Schlottmann, Delitzsch [Bernard, Conant, Rodwell, Hengst., Renan], especially on comparing this with the analogous passage in Psa_119:50, to find the statement of that which would bring comfort in the words of the last member: “that I have not denied the words of the Holy One,” thus treating the second member,
åַàֲñַìְּãָä åâå×
, as a parenthesis.—I would leap in unsparing pain. For the use of the cohortative (
åַàֲñַìְãָä
) in a subjunctive sense in a parenthesis, comp. e.g.Psa_40:6; Psa_51:18.—
ñìã
is to be explained after the Arab. zalada (“to stamp the ground, tripudiare”) [to beat hard; hence the E. V.: “I would harden myself in sorrow,” and so Lee, who explains: “Because there still is, or remains consolation,… I will not give way, whatever may be laid on me: or even though He cut me entirely off”], as also after the
ἡëëüìçí
of the LXX. and the
ìֶàֱáåּòַ
(“I will exult”) of the Targum. It is accordingly to be taken in the sense of a jubilant expression of joy, not in the sense of “being tormented” (Rosenm, after some of the Rabbis [who explain the verb to mean “burning;” and so Bernard]), nor: “to spring up through pain” (Schlottmann, who accordingly takes the parenthesis in a concessive sense: “although I leap up for pain”).—
ìֹàéַçְîåֹì
(comp. Isa_30:14 seq.), a relative clause, with the omission of the adverbial
àֲùֶׁø
: “wherewith he spares me not,” namely, God, who is to be understood as the subject here (Rosenm., Ewald [who makes the omitted relative the direct object of the verb—“pain which he spares not;” a construction, however, which does not harmonize so well with the usage of
çîì
, which generally has a personal object. E.], Hirzel, Heiligstedt, Hahn, Schlottmann, Dillmann) [Renan, Hengst.]. Possibly
çִéìָä
might be taken as the subject (so Umbreit, Vaih., Stickel) [Gesen., Rodwell, Conant]: “in pain which spares not,” against which, however, it may be urged that, while
çִéìָä
is most simply treated as fem., the verbal form used,
éçîì
, is masc. In any case, the translation; “in unsparing pain,” corresponds to the sense of the poet.—That I have not denied the words of the Holy One. This fact—that he had been guilty of no denial (comp. Job_1:22; Job_2:10)—constitutes the firm confidence which Job possessed in the midst of all his distress and misery, and which he felt assured would show itself, even in death. The meaning is not essentially different which results from the other and more common construction of our verse, according to which the second member is not treated as a parenthesis, and
ëִּé
is regarded as introducing a reason for that which precedes: “for I have not denied,” etc.
3. Second Division: A lament over the bitter disappointment which he had experienced from his friends: Job_6:11-30.
First Long Strophe:Job_6:11-20 (consisting of three short strophes, of 3, 4, and three verses respectively). [“In view of his broken strength and hopeless condition, he must reject their advice to trust in the future, and openly declare to them that he is completely disappointed in his expectations as to their friendship.” Dillmann.]
a.Job_6:11-13. [His helplessness, and consequent hopelessness. Ewald and Hengstenberg put this strophe in the First Division, to which, however, as Schlottmann has shown, there are two objections. First, it mars the completeness which the preceding long strophe possesses, when regarded as closing the triumphant declaration by Job of his integrity and confidence in God contained in Job_6:10.—Secondly, the picture which this short strophe gives of his helplessness and hopelessness is preparatory to the picture which immediately follows of the deceptiveness of his friends, and in that position adds greatly to the pathos and effectiveness of his complaint. E.]
Job_6:11. What is my strength that I should persevere [wait], and what mine end that I should be patient? The answer to this question which Job’s meaning would require is of course a pure negative: my strength is completely gone, and death is the only end which I look for, in all its nearness, nay more, with impatience. [“Two things are necessary that one may bear misfortune patiently; first, that the strength of the sufferer is in some proportion to the power of the suffering; and, secondly, that he sees before him an end, which, when reached, will reward the present struggle. Job denies both these things of himself, the first in Job_6:12, the second in Job_6:13.” Schlottmann.] For
äֶàֶøִéêְ ðֶôֶùׁ
, “to prolong the soul, to lengthen it,” i.e. to be patient, comp. Pro_19:11; Isa_48:9. [The rendering of E. V., “prolong my life,” would rather require
àַàֲøִéêְ éîַé
].
Job_6:12. Or is the strength of stones my strength, or is my flesh of brass?—[The first “or” tends rather to mar the connection. E.] A poetic illustrative expansion of the thought in Job_6:11 a. [According to Hengstenberg, “stones” and “brass” are mentioned here because of their invulnerability. Rather, according to the connection, because of their power of endurance. Schlottmann says: “
ðçåù
is properly always ‘copper,’ which the ancients, however, as is known, had learned to harden, so that in firmness it resembled iron.” E.]
Job_6:13. Verily, is not my help in me brought to nought? lit.: “Is not the nothingness of my help with me?”
äֲàִí
, which occurs elsewhere only in Num. 17:28 [Num_17:13], is neither a strengthened interrogative
àִí
(Schlottmann), nor an inversion for
àִí äֲ
(Delitzsch), nor a collocation of the interrogative particle
äֲ
with the conditional particle
àִí
(whether, if my help is destroyed, etc., Köster), but simply equivalent to
äֲìֹà
, in the sense of vivid interrogation or asseveration: “verily not” (Ewald, Dillmann). And well-being driven away from me?
úּåּùִׁéּä
essentially the same as in Job_5:12, well-being, enduring prosperity. The sense of the verse as a whole is: My condition is hopeless, and all promises for the future are therefore useless and null. [It is doubtless best to give to
úåùéä
here the sense which, as Zöckler has elsewhere shown, belongs to it in the Chokma-Literature. Other interpretations are partial, and so far enfeebling: e.g. “wisdom,” E. V., or “insight” (Hengst.), “deliverance” (Noyes), “solace” (Rosenm.), “restoration” (Conant). What Job says is that every element of real and substantial good had been driven away from him. Davidson is more nearly right when he says, that not only was recovery driven away from him, “but that the possibility of it, anything which could spring, and be matured into health again, all inner strength and resource—the very base of recovery—was driven away or out of him.” The word, however, is broader even than this, including all external as well as internal resources, a man’s entire establishment of good.—E.]
b.Job_6:14-17 : [He has been disappointed in the friendly sympathy which is accorded to every one in misery, but which, in his case, has proved as deceptive as a summer brook.]
Job_6:14. To the despairing gentleness (is due) from his friends (or, is shown by his friends), and [or, even] should he have forsaken the fear of the Almighty.—[“The prep. in
ìַîָּí
does not express so much what is due … as what is actually given in affliction. Job’s friends failed, not in giving what was due, the world and even friendship often does, but in giving what was actually and always given.” Dav.]
îָí
from
îñí
, liquefieri, denotes literally one “who is inwardly melted, disheartened” (Delitzsch)—a term strikingly descriptive of Job’s condition as one of complete depression, helpless prostration to the very ground.—
çֶñֶã
, “gentleness, friendliness, kindness” (comp. the
ðíåῦìá ðñáý
̈
ôçôïò
of Gal_6:1), not “reproach,” as Seb. Schmidt, Hitzig, and others would explain it, after Pro_14:34; for in Job_10:12 our poet again uses
çֶñֶã
in its ordinary sense, and the translation: “If reproach from his friends falls on one who is despairing, he will then give up the fear of God,” gives a thought which is foreign to the context, and withal incorrect in itself. Equally untenable on grammatical grounds is the translation of Luther [and Wemyss; also of Merx, who however alters the text from
ìַîָּí
to
îֹðֵòַ
]: “He who withholds mercy from his neighbor, he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.”—This rendering, however, although resting on the authority of the Targ., Vulg., and Pesh., is to be rejected on account of the singularly harsh construction of the
ìְ
as a designation of the absol. case, as well as on account of its giving to the Partic.
îí
the unheard-of signification: “he who withholds, or refuses.” The second member cannot be regarded as the conclusion of the first,—not even by taking
åְ
in the sense of alioqui, and so translating with Schnurrer, Delitzsch [Noy., Words., Rod., Hengst.], “otherwise he might forsake the fear of the Almighty” (alioqui hic reverentiam Dei exuit). Rather, if no corruption of the text be assumed, it will be found most simple and natural to regard the first member as an ardently expressed formula of desire, with an omitted jussive from the verb
äéä
, or to supply “is due to, belongs to,” [or “is given to”], and to find in the second member simply the continuation of the principal notion
îָí
, introduced by a concessive
åְ
: “and even if he should have forsaken” [Schlott., Dill., Ren., Lee, Dav.] (comp. Ges., § 134 [Con.-Roed., § 131] Rem. 2; Ewald, § 350, b).—Ewald, without necessity, would supply between a and b lines which, he assumes, had fallen out.—The whole verse is evidently an expression of resentment at the fact that Eliphaz had exhibited no trace of gentle forbearance or sympathy for Job; he claims this sympathy for himself, even in case he had in his suffering departed from the fear of God, which case, however, he presents only as possible, not as actual. [Conant translates: “ready to forsake the fear of the Almighty;” Davidson: “to one losing hold of the fear of the Almighty.” “Job,” says the latter, “would not admit that he had forsaken, rather that he was forsaking, in danger of forsaking the fear of the Almighty.” And again: “in his terrible collision in darkness and doubt with the unspeaking nameless (Gen_32:25) Being he was alone—absolutely—for the Father was against him, and when one is losing hold (
éַòֲæåֹá
) of God, he sorely enough needs a human hand to grasp, and the sufferer’s pathos is overwhelming, when he sees God and man alike estranged.”—The continuation of the participial construction by the Imperfect, with omitted relative (see Ewald, § 338, b), fully justifies this construction, which is at once most simple and expressive. “To one whose inner man is dissolving, whose faith and life are giving way, and who in that fearful dissolution is in danger of losing hold on God, to him surely sympathy from friends is meet.”—E.]
Job_6:15-17. The conduct of Job’s three friends in disappointing his hopes, illustrated by the comparison of a torrent, which in spring rushes along full and strong, but in summer is entirely dried up, an
àַëְæָá
, or “lying stream,” as the same is described in Jer_15:18 (comp. the paronomasia in Mic_1:14,
áָּúֵּé àַëְæִéá ìְàַëְæִá
, “the houses of Achzih are become a lying stream to the kings of Israel”).
Job_6:15. My brethren have been false as a torrent, i.e., my friends, whom I have loved as brothers [
àַçַéּ
, placed first with special emphasis],—he mentions them all, because Eliphaz had spoken in the name of all (Job_5:27)—have borne themselves treacherously towards me, have ministered to me an empty semblance of comfort, like the dried-up water of a wadi.—As the bed of torrents which overflow.
éַòֲáֹøåּ
not, “which vanish away” (Hirzel, Delitzsch [Hengst., E. V., Con., Dav., Noy., Carey, Ren.]), for while “passing away,” or “vanishing,” may indeed be predicated of the water of a brook, it cannot be used of the brook itself. Moreover, the continuation of the description given in the following verse, assumes the torrents to be full, not as yet in course of disappearing [and so Ewald, Dillmann, Schlott. Wemyss].
Job_6:16. Turbid are they from ice:
÷ֹãְøִéí
black, foul, dark; here in the literal or physical sense, different from Job_5:11.—The snow hides itself in them; or: “down upon which (
òַìֵéîåֹ
) the snow hides itself;” a constr. prægnans, comp. Gesen., § 141[§ 138].
Job_6:17. At the time when heat comes to them they are cut off [lit., made silent].—
áְּòֵú éְæֹøְáåֹ
at the time when, or so soon as they are warmed. [
òֵú
in the constr. state, at the beginning of a temporal clause, with omission of the relative: see Ewald, § 286, i; 332 d].
æøַֹá
, Pual of
æøá
, a poetic variant of
öøá
(Eze_21:3; Pro_16:27), “to burn, to parch, to glow;” [and so E. V., Ew., Schlott., Del., Dillm., Dav., Carey, Hengst.—According to Ges., Fürst. Con., the meaning is: “at the time they are poured off,” or “flow off;” i.e., when the heat begins to melt the snow on the mountains. But as the first result of that is filling up the channels, the sense would be somewhat strained.—E.]. When it is hot, they are dried up [lit., extinguished] from their place:
áְּçֻîּåֹ
, in its becoming hot; i.e., when it is hot. The suffix is to be taken as neuter, not (with Hirzel) to be referred to an
òֵú
that is understood; (“when it, the time of the year, becomes hot”); comp. Ewald. § 295, a.
c. Job_6:18-20. A further description of the disappointment he had met with from his friends by a continuation of the simile of the treacherous torrents.
Job_6:18. The paths of their course wind about, they go up into the waste and vanish.—If, with the Masor. text, we read
àָøְçåֹú
, the rendering here given is the only one that is admissible; the “ways” or “paths of their course” are in that case the beds of the torrents, which go winding about, and thus favor the rapid extinction of the torrent; their “going up into the waste” (
òָìָä áַúֹּäåּ
) is their gradual evaporation into the air, their ascent in vapors and clouds; comp. Isa_40:23; so correctly Mercerus: in auras abeunt, in nihilum rediguntur; so also Arnh., Delitzsch [Good, Barnes, Bernard, Words., Elzas]. Most modern expositors, however, correct the text here, and in the following verse to
àֹøçåֹú
, plur. of
àֹøְçַä
(or also
àֳøָçåֹú
, plur. of
àֹøַç
, way, caravan), and translate either: “the caravans of their way turn aside” [a rendering, however, which is founded on the Masoretic text, regarding
àָøְçåֹú
as constr., and the meaning being “the caravans along their way;” so Conant, Davidson, Hengstenberg,—E.], or: “caravans turn aside their course, they go up into the wastes, and perish,” [so Ewald, Schlottmann, Dillmann, Wemyss, Noyes, Carey, Rodwell, Renan, Merx]. The phrase
òָìָä áַúֹּäåּ
seems indeed to harmonize well with this explanation. But in that case Job_6:18 would anticipate Job_6:19-20 in an unprecedented manner; after the statement of this verse, which by the expression
åְéàֹáֵãåּ
has already carried us forward to the complete destruction of the deceived caravans, what is said in those verses would drag along as a flat tautology. According to our interpretation Job_6:18 completes the description of the treacherous torrents begun in Job_6:15, while the two verses following dwell, with that epic repose and breadth which characterize the whole description, on the impression which such dried up torrents make on the thirsty caravans of the desert. [These reasons are certainly not wanting in force, still they are not conclusive. For (1) It is agreed by all that in the next verse
àָøְçåֹú
means caravans, and it is in the highest degree improbable that in two verses, so closely connected, describing the same general idea, and belonging to the same figure, the same word should be used in two different senses. (2). The language used, while most graphically appropriate according to one interpretation, can be adapted to the other only by strained constructions. This is especially true of the secönd member. “Going up into the waste,” and “perishing,” are surely farfetched expressions for the evaporation and disappearance of water. On the other hand they are, as Zockler admits, in admirable harmony with the other interpretation. Nothing indeed can be more exquisite in its pathos than the picture which they bring before the mind of a caravan, weary with travel and thirst, and still more weary with disappointment, winding along the channel of the torrent, wistfully exploring its dry bed for water, following its course upward, hoping that in the uplands, nearer the river’s sources, some little pool may be found; hoping thus from day to day, but in vain, and so wasting away into a caravan of skeletons, until at last in the far off wastes it perishes. (3). The objection that this interpretation anticipates what follows, and thus produces a tame and dragging tautology, is answered by observing that the chief motive of the description just given is not to excite pity for the fate of such a caravan, but to justify Job’s resentment at the treachery of which the dry wady is the type. Hence in the verses following Job emphasizes the disappointment which the caravan of Tema and Sheba (named by way of vivid individualization) would feel in such a plight. This is the burden of his accusation of his friends, they had disappointed, deceived him. This was to him, at this time, a more bitter fate than his destruction would have been; so that from his point of view, Job_6:19-20, so far from being an anti-climax, contain the very climax of his sorrow.—The suggestions to change
éִìָּֽôְúåּ
either to Kal,
éִìְôְּúåּ
(Fürst), or to Piel,
éְìַôְּúåּ
(Ewald) are unfortunate. No species could express more happily than the Niphal the helpless, semi-passive condition of an exhausted caravan, such as is here described, winding around, hither and thither, led by the channel in the search for water.—E.]
Job_6:19. The caravans of Tema looked: to wit, caravans of the Ishmaelitish Arabian tribe of
úֵּîָà
(Gen_25:15), in northern Arabia (Isa_21:14; Jer_25:23), which is mentioned here by way of example; so likewise in the next clause
ùְׁáָà
, as to which see Job_1:15.—[The companies of Sheba hoped for them.
ìָîå
is by most referred to the torrents; by Schlottmann, however, it is regarded as Dat. commodi, and so suggesting the eagerness of their search. E ] The Perfects in this and the following verse give to the whole description the appearance of a concrete historical occurrence.
Job_6:20. They were put to shame by their trust: lit. “because one trusted;” comp. Ewald, § 294, b. The phrase
ëִּé áָèַç
describes by individualization, wherefore it is unnecessary, with Olsh., to amend to the plur.
áָּèָçåּ
, or with Böttcher to read
áָּèָçֻ
(a form which nowhere occurs). They came thither (the fem. suffix in
òָãֶéäָ
in the neuter sense; comp. Job_6:29), and became red with shame; as the result, namely, of their having been disappointed.—Observe the wonderful beauty of this whole illustration, which terminates with this verse. It is no less striking than clear and intelligible. The friendship of the three visitors was once great, like that rushing torrent of melting snow; now, however, in the heat of temptation, it has utterly vanished, so that the sufferer, thirsting for comfort, but meeting instead, first with silence, and afterwards with sharp and heartless censure, finds himself ignominiously deceived, like a company of travellers betrayed by a lying brook.
4. Second Division.—Second Long Strophe (subdivided like the first into shorter strophes of 3, 4, and 3 verses respectively); Job_6:21-30. The complaint concerning the faithlessness of the friends is continued [in simple, non-figurative language], passing over, however, near the close (in strophe c:Job_6:28 seq.) into an appeal for the renewal of their former friendliness.
a.Job_6:21-23. [The illustration applied, and the unfaithfulness of the friends shown from the unselfishness of the demands which Job had made on their friendship].
Job_6:21. Verily, so are ye now become nothing.—
ëִּé òַúָּä
introduces the ground of the preceding comparison of the friends to the treacherous torrents: “for now (for as you now conduct yourselves towards me) you are become a nothing, a nullity,” to wit, for me; I have nothing at all in you, neither comfort nor support. Such is the explanation according to the Masoretic reading:
áִּé òַúָּä äֱéִéúֶí ìֹà
; here
ìֹà
“not” means “nothing,” as in one instance the Chald.
ìָä
(=
ìָà
): Dan_4:32. [Comp.
ìà úçèà
, Job_5:24; also the similar use of
àַì
, Job_24:25]. According to the regular Hebrew usage, we should certainly expect:
ä× ìְàֵéï
or
ìְàֶôֶí
; still the Targ. justifies our construction (adopted among modern expositors by Umbreit, Vaih., Schlottm., Hahn, Delitzsch [E. V., Fürst, Davidson, Noyes, Wordsworth, Rodwell, Renan], etc.). According to the K’ri
ìֹå
, which in many MSS. is the reading even of the text, instead of
ìֹà
, the explanation would be: “ye are become that” [the same]; i.e. ye are become a deceitful
ðçì
, Job_6:15, which, however, hardly gives a tolerable sense. Still more unsatisfactory is the rendering favored by the LXX., Vulg, Pesh., Luth., etc., according to which the reading should be
ìִé
, instead of
ìֹå
, “Ye are become to me.” J. D. Michaelis, Ewald, Olshausen, Dillmann, also read
ìִé
for
ìåֹ
(
ìֹà
), and in addition amend
ëִּé
to
ëֵּï
at the beginning of the verse: “so are ye become to me.” This conjecture certainly yields a complete satisfactory sense; but the sentence as it stands with
ìֹà
commends itself by its bolder and more comprehensive form of expression.—You see a terror, and are dismayed.—The words
úִּøְàåּ
and
åַúִּéøָàåּ
form a paronomasia which cannot well be reproduced in a translation: the same paronomasia between
øָàָä
and
éָøֵà
occurs also in Job_37:24; Psa_40:4 [Psa_40:3]; Psa_52:8 [Psa_52:6]; Zec_9:5. By
çֲúַú
[E. V. “casting down,” but rather from
çúú
to be broken, crushed, metaphorically with fear: hence that which causes terror.—E.] Job means the fearful calamity which has come upon him, in the presence of which his friends stand astonished and dismayed, thinking they had to do with one who was, in some extraordinary sense, an enemy of God.
Job_6:22-23. [“Their cowardice in now renouncing their friendship is all the more striking, forasmuch as he has required of them no sacrifice, or heroic achievement in his behalf, a test before which a false friendship commonly fails, but—for such is his thought—only the comfort of words, and the aid of sympathy.”—Dillmann.]
Job_6:22. Did I ever say then, Give to me, and bring presents to me from your wealth?—[
äֲëִé
, “is it that?&mdash
