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Job Chapter
Nineteen
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO JOB 19
This
chapter contains Job's reply to Bildad's second speech, in which he complains
of the ill usage of his friends, of their continuing to vex him, and to beat,
and bruise, and break him in pieces with their hard words, and to reproach him,
and carry it strange to him, Job 19:1; which he
thought was very cruel, since, if he was mistaken, the mistake lay with
himself, Job 19:4; and if
they were determined to go on at this rate, he would have them observe, that
his afflictions were of God, and therefore should take care to what they
imputed them, since he could not get the reasons of them, or his cause to be
heard, though he vehemently and importunately sought it, Job 19:5; and then
gives an enumeration of the several particulars of his distress, all which he
ascribes to God, Job 19:8; and he
enlarges upon that part of his unhappy case, respecting the alienation of his
nearest relations, most intimate acquaintance and friends, from him, and their
contempt of him, and the like treatment he met with from his servants, and even
young children, Job 19:13; all
which, with other troubles, had such an effect upon him as to reduce him to a
mere skeleton, and which he mentions to move the pity of these his friends, now
conversing with him, Job 19:20; and yet
after all, and in the midst of it, and which was his great support under his
trials, he expresses his strong faith in his living Redeemer, who should appear
on the earth in the latter day, and be his Saviour, and in the resurrection of
the dead through him, which he believed he should share in, and in all the
happiness consequent on it; and he wishes this confession of his faith might be
written and engraven, and be preserved on a rock for ever for the good of
posterity, Job 19:23; and
closes the chapter with an expostulation with his friends, dissuading them from
persecuting him any longer, since there was no reason for it in himself, and it
might be attended with bad consequences to them, Job 19:28.
Job 19:1 Then
Job answered and said:
YLT
1And Job answereth and
saith: --
Then Job answered and said. Having heard Bildad out,
without giving him any interruption; and when he had finished his oration, he
rose up in his own defence, and put in his answer as follows.
Job 19:2 2 “How long will you torment
my soul, And break me in pieces with words?
YLT
2Till when do ye afflict my
soul, And bruise me with words?
How long will ye vex my soul,.... Which of all
vexation is the worst; not only his bones were vexed, but his soul also, as
David's was, Psalm 6:2. His body
was vexed with boils from head to feet; but now his soul was vexed by his
friends, and which denotes extreme vexation, a man's being vexed to his very
heart: there are many things vexations to men, especially to good men; they are
not only vexed with pains of the body, as others, and with loss of worldly
substance; but even all things here below, and the highest enjoyment of them,
as wealth, wisdom, honours, and pleasures, are all vanity and vexation of spirit,
as they were to Solomon; but more especially truly good men are vexed with the
corruptions of their hearts, which are as pricks in their eyes and thorns in
their sides, and with the temptations of Satan, which are also thorns in the
flesh and fiery darts, and with the conversation of wicked men, as was the soul
of righteous Lot, and with the bad principles and practices of professors of
religion; and sometimes, as Job was, they are vexed by their own friends, who
should be their comforters, but prove miserable ones, as his did, and even
vexations, and continued so to the wearing him out almost; and so some render
the words, "how long will ye weary my soul"F3תגיון "defatigabitis", Schmidt, Michaelis. ? with
repeating their insinuations that he was a wicked and hypocritical man, and
therefore was afflicted of God in the manner he was; and which, knowing his own
innocency, extremely vexed him:
and break me in pieces with words? not his body, but his
spirit; which was broken, not by the word of God, which is like an hammer that
breaks the rocky heart in pieces; for such a breaking is in mercy, and not an
affliction to be complained of; and such as are thus broken are healed again,
and bound up by the same hand that breaks; who has great, regard to broken
spirits and contrite hearts; looks to them, and dwells with them, in order to
revive and comfort them: but by the words of men; Job was smitten with the
tongues of men; as Jeremiah was, and was beaten and bruised by them, as
anything is beaten and bruised by a pestle in a mortar, as the wordF4תדכאונני "obtundetis", Vatablus, Piscator,
Schmidt; so Michaelis, Schultens. signifies, and is sometimes rendered, Isaiah 53:5; these
must be not soft but hard words, not gentle reproofs, which being given and
taken in love, will not break the head, but calumnies and reproaches falsely
cast, and with great severity, and frequently, which break the heart. See Psalm 69:20.
Job 19:3 3 These ten times you have
reproached me; You are not ashamed that you have wronged me.[a]
YLT
3These ten times ye put me
to shame, ye blush not. Ye make yourselves strange to me –
These ten times have ye reproached me,.... Referring
not to ten sections or paragraphs, in which they had done it, as Jarchi; or to
the five speeches his friends, in which their reproaches were doubled; or to
Job's words, and their answer, as Saadiah; for it does not denote an exact
number of their reproaches, which Job was not so careful to count; but it
signifies that he had been many times reproached by them; so Aben Ezra, and in
which sense the phrase is often used, see Genesis 31:7; it is
the lot of good men in all ages to be reproached by carnal and profane sinners,
on account of religion, and for righteousness' sake, as Christians are for the
sake of Christ and his Gospel; and which Moses esteemed greater riches than all
the treasures of Egypt; but to be reproached by friends, and that as an hypocrite
and a wicked man, as Job was, must be very cutting; and this being often
repeated, as it was an aggravation of the sin of his friends, so likewise of
his affliction and patience:
ye are not ashamed, so that ye make yourselves strange to
me; they looked shy at him; would not be free and friendly with him,
but carried it strange to him, and seemed to have their affections alienated
from him. There should not be a strangeness in good men one to another, since
they are not aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the
covenants of promise, to the grace of God, and communion with him; since they
are fellow citizens, and of the household of God; belong to the same city,
share in the same privileges, are of the same family, children of the same father,
and brethren one of another, members of the same body, heirs of the same grace
and glory, and are to dwell together in heaven to all eternity; wherefore they
should not make themselves strange to each other, but should speak often,
kindly, and affectionately, one to another, and freely converse together about
spiritual things; should pray with one another, and build up each other on
their most holy faith, and by love serve one another, and do all good offices
mutually that lie in their power, and bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil
the law Christ: but, instead of this, Job's friends would scarcely look at him,
much less speak one kind word to him; yea, they "hardened themselves
against" him, as someF5תהכרו לי "indurastis facies vestras contra me",
Vatablus; so Broughton. render the word; had no compassion on him or pity for
him in his distressed circumstances, which their relation to him obliged unto,
and was due unto him on the score of friendship; nay, they "mocked"
at him, which is the sense of the word, according to Ben GersomF6"Erubescitis
subsannare me", Pagninus. ; and of this he had complained before, Job 12:4; and with
someF7Drusius; so Schultens. it has the signification of impudence
and audaciousness, from the sense of the word in the Arabic language, see Isaiah 3:9; as if
they behaved towards him in a very impudent manner: or, though they
"knew" him, as the Targum paraphrases it, yet they were "not
ashamed" to reproach him; though they knew that he was a man that feared
God; they knew his character and conversation before his all afflictions came
on, and yet traduced him as an hypocrite and a wicked man. Whatever is sinful,
men should be ashamed of, and will be sooner or later; not to be ashamed
thereof is an argument of great hardness and impenitence; and among other
things it becomes saints to be ashamed of their making themselves strange to
one another. Some render it interrogativelyF8So Junius &
Tremellius, Piscator. , "are ye not ashamed?" &c. you may well be
ashamed, if you are not; this is put in order to make them ashamed.
Job 19:4 4 And if indeed I have
erred, My error remains with me.
YLT
4And also -- truly, I have
erred, With me doth my error remain.
And be it indeed that I have erred,.... Which is
a concession for argument's sake, but not an acknowledgment that he had erred;
though it is possible he might have erred, and it is certain he did in some
things, though not in that respect with which he was charged; "humanum est
errare", all men are subject to mistakes, good men may err; they may err
in judgment, or from the truth in some respect, and be carried away for a while
and to some degree with the error the wicked, though they shall be turned from
it again; they may err in practice, and wander from the way of God's
commandments; and indeed their strayings and aberrations of this sort are so
many, that David says, "who can understand his errors?" Psalm 19:12; and
they may err in words, or make a mistake in speech; but then no man should be
made an offender for a word for he must be a perfect man that is free from
mistakes of this kind: now Job argues that supposing this to be his case in any
of the above instances; yet, says he,
mine error remaineth with myself; I only am chargeable
with it, and answerable for it; it is nothing to you, and why should you
trouble yourselves about it? it will not be imputed to you, nor will you suffer
on account of it; or, admitting I have imbibed an error, I do not publish it abroad;
I keep it to myself; it lies and lodges in my own breast, and nobody is the
worse for it: or "let it remain", or "lodge with me"F11אתי תלין "mecum
maneat", Beza; to the same sense Mercerus, Schmidt, Junius and Tremellius,
Piscator, Michaelis, Schultens. ; Why should my mistakes be published abroad,
and all the world be made acquainted with them? or else this expresses his
resolution to abide by what his friends called an error; and then the so is, if
this is an error which I have asserted, that God afflicts both good and bad
men, and that afflictions are no argument of a man's being an hypocrite and a
wicked man, I am determined to continue in it; I will not give it up, I will
hold it fast; it shall remain with me as a principle never to be departed from;
or it may be rather his meaning is, that this notion he had imbibed would
remain with him, and was likely to do so, for anything they had said, or could
say to the contrary.
Job 19:5 5 If indeed you exalt yourselves
against me, And plead my disgrace against me,
YLT
5If, truly, over me ye
magnify yourselves, And decide against me my reproach;
If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me,.... Look and
talk big, set up themselves for great folk, and resolve to run him down; open
their mouths wide against him and speak great swelling words in a blustering
manner; or magnify what they called an error in him, and set it out in the worst
light they could:
and plead against me my reproach; his affliction which he
was reproached with, and was pleaded against him as an argument of his being a
wicked man; if therefore they were determined to go on after this manner, and
insist on this kind of proof, then he would have them take what follows.
Job 19:6 6 Know then that God has
wronged me, And has surrounded me with His net.
YLT
6Know now, that God turned
me upside down, And His net against me hath set round,
Know now that God hath overthrown me,.... He would
have them take notice that all his afflictions were from the hand of God; and
therefore should take care to what they imputed any acts of his, whose ways are
unsearchable, and the reasons of them not to be found out; and therefore, if a
wrong construction should be put upon them, which may be easily done by weak
sighted men, it must be displeasing to him. Job had all along from the first
ascribed his afflictions to God, and he still continued to do so; he saw his
hand in them all; whoever were the instruments, it was God that had overthrown
him, or cast him down from an high to a very low estate; that had taken away
his substance, his children, and his wealth: or "hath perverted me"F12עותני "pervertit me", Montanus, Mercerus; so
Vatablus, Drusius, Schultens. ; not that God had made him perverse, or was the
cause or occasion of any perverseness in him, either in his words or in his
actions, or had perverted his cause, and the judgment of it; Job could readily
answer to those questions of Bildad, "doth God pervert judgment? or doth
the Almighty pervert justice?" and say, no, he doth not; but he is to be
understood in the same sense as the church is, when she says, see Lamentations 3:9;
"he hath made my path crooked"; where the same word is used as here;
and both she and Job mean that God had brought them into cross, crooked, and
afflictive dispensations:
and hath compassed me with his net; and which also designs
affliction, which is God's net, which he has made, ordained, and makes use of;
which he lays for his people, and takes them in, and draws them to himself, and
prevents them committing sin, and causes to issue in their good; see Lamentations 1:13.
Job 19:7 7 “If I cry out concerning
wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice.
YLT
7Lo, I cry out -- violence,
and am not answered, I cry aloud, and there is no judgment.
Behold, I cry out of wrong,.... Or of
"violence"F13חמס
"violentiam", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c.
"injuriam", Montanus. , or injury done him by the Sabeans and
Chaldeans upon his substance, and by Satan upon his health; this he cried out
and complained of in prayer to God, and of it as it were in open court, as a
violation of justice, and as being dealt very unjustly with:
but I am not heard; his prayer was not heard; he could get no
relief, nor any redress of his grievances, nor any knowledge of the reasons of
his being thus used; see Habakkuk 1:2;
I cry aloud, but there is no judgment;
notwithstanding his vehement and importunate requests; and which were repeated
time after time, that there might be a hearing of his cause; that it might be
searched into and tried, that his innocence might be cleared, and justice done
him, and vengeance taken on those that wronged him; but he could not obtain it;
there was no time appointed for judgment, no court of judicature set, nor any
to judge. Now seeing this was the case, that the hand of God was in all his
afflictions; that he had complained to him of the injury done him; and that he
had most earnestly desired his cause might be heard, and the reasons given why
he was thus used, but could get no answer to all this; therefore it became them
to be cautious and careful of what they said concerning the dealings of God
with him, and to what account they placed them; of which he gives a particular
enumeration in the following verses.
Job 19:8 8 He has fenced up my way,
so that I cannot pass; And He has set darkness in my paths.
YLT
8My way He hedged up, and I
pass not over, And on my paths darkness He placeth.
He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass,.... A
metaphor taken from travellers, who not only meet with obstacles and
obstructions in their way, which make it difficult; but sometimes with such
enclosures and fences, that they are at a full stop, and cannot pass on, and
know not what course to steer: the people of God are not inhabitants of this
world, but pilgrims, strangers, and sojourners in it, and travellers through
it; they are bound for another country, and are travelling to it; and though
their way for far most part is indeed troublesome, but generally passable, or
made so; yet sometimes not only is their way hedged up with afflictions, and
they hedged about with them, that they cannot easily get out, and get through
and pass on; and it is with much difficulty, and with being much scratched and
torn, they do brush through; but they also at other times find God has built up
a wall against them, and enclosed them with hewn stones, and so fenced up their
way that they cannot pass on; such difficulties present as seem insurmountable,
and they are at a standstill, and know not what way to take; which was now
Job's case, see Lamentations 3:5;
and this may not only respect the way of his walk in this world, but his way to
God, either to the throne of his grace, or the tribunal of his justice: the way
to God, as on a throne of grace, is only through Christ, the living way; which,
though more clearly revealed under the Gospel dispensation, and therefore
called a new way, yet was known under the former dispensation, and made use of;
in which saints may have access to God with boldness and confidence: but
sometimes this way seems by unbelief to be fenced up, though it is always open;
and especially when God hides his face, and is not to be seen, nor is it known
where to find him, and how to come up to his seat; and which also was Job's
case, Job 23:3; and
whereas he was very desirous of having his cause heard and tried at the
tribunal of God, his way was so shut up, that he could not obtain what he so
much desired, and knew not therefore how to proceed, and what course to take:
and he hath set darkness in my paths; and was like
a traveller in a very dark night, that cannot see his way, and knows not what
step to take next; so good men, though they walk not in the ways of darkness,
in a moral sense, as unregenerate men do; yet even while they are walking in
the good ways of truth and holiness, and while they are passing through this
world, God sometimes withdraws the light of his countenance from them, so that
they walk in darkness, and have no light, which is very uncomfortable walking;
and when God may be said to put darkness into their paths, he not granting them
the light of grace and comfort they have sometimes enjoyed; and so it is with
them when under such dark dispensations of Providence, as that they cannot see
the end of God in leading them in such ways; and then their case is such as it
now was Job's; that they cannot see any way of getting out of it; as the
Israelites at the Red sea, and Paul and the mariners when in a storm, and all
hope of being saved was gone.
Job 19:9 9 He has stripped me of my
glory, And taken the crown from my head.
YLT
9Mine honour from off me He
hath stripped, And He turneth the crown from my head.
He hath stripped me of my glory,.... The metaphor of a
traveller may be still continued, who falling among thieves is stripped of his
clothes, to which the allusion may be: Job was not stripped of his glory in a
spiritual sense, not of the glorious robe of Christ's righteousness, nor of the
graces of the Spirit, which makes saints all glorious within; but in a civil
sense, and is to be understood not merely of his rich apparel, or of his robe,
which he might wear as a civil magistrate, as an ensign of honour, and which
made him look glorious; but either of his wealth, riches, and substance, which
are a man's glory, and which he too often and too much glories in, though Job
might not; see Psalm 49:16; or of
his children, Hosea 9:11, Esther 5:11; and
indeed of everything that made him look magnificent among men; as an abundance
of this world's good, a numerous family, fine clothes, sumptuous living, and a
stately palace; all which Job might have had, but was now stripped of all by
one means or another; and whoever were the instruments, he ascribes it all to
God, as being according to his sovereign will and pleasure; and these things
are very properly and significantly expressed by clothes a man is stripped of,
because they are outward things, as garments are, adorn and make externally
glorious, as they do, and of which a man may be as soon and as easily deprived
as to be stripped of his clothes by one or more of superior power to him:
and taken the crown from my head: meaning much
the same as before, either his wealth and riches, which are the crown of a wise
man, Proverbs 14:24; or
his children, which are the crown of old then, Proverbs 17:6; or
everything that gave him honour, reputation, and esteem with men; all was taken
away from him, and his honour laid in the dust. Some from hence have wrongly
concluded that Job was a king, and wore a royal diadem, of which he was now
deprived, mistaking him for Jobab, a king of Edom, Genesis 36:33; but
he had and wore a better diadem, and which he did not lose, but held fast, even
his righteousness, justice, and integrity, Job 29:14; and much
less could the crown of life, righteousness, and glory, to which he was
entitled, be taken from him.
Job 19:10 10 He breaks me down on every
side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree.
YLT
10He breaketh me down round
about, and I go, And removeth like a tree my hope.
He hath destroyed me on every side,.... To be "troubled
on every side" is much, as the apostles were, 2 Corinthians 4:8;
but to be destroyed on every side, and all around, is more, and denotes utter
destruction; it may have respect to the rein of his substance and family, which
were all demolished at once; his oxen and asses, which were on one side, his
camels on other, his sheep on another, and his children on another, and all
destroyed in one day, and perhaps in a few hours; and also to his body, which
God had made, and had fashioned together round about; but now he had suffered
it to be smitten with ulcers from the crown of his head to the sole of his
feet; and this earthly tabernacle of his was demolishing on every side, and
just falling down; for the allusion is either to the demolition of a building,
or to the rooting up of a tree, and so continued in the next clause; comparing
himself to a tree, that is dug about on all sides, and its roots laid bare, and
these and all their fibres cut off, so that it is utterly destroyed from
growing any more, but becomes dead; and this Job thought to be his case:
and I am gone; or am a dead man, just going out of the
world, the way of all flesh; and because of the certainty of it, and of its
being very quickly, in a few minutes, as it were, he speaks of it as if it
already was: wherefore it follows,
and my hope he hath removed like a tree; not like a
tree that is cut down to its roots, which remain in the ground, and may sprout
out again, Job 14:7; nor like
a tree that is taken up with its roots, and removed to another place, and
planted in another soil, where it may grow as well or better; but like a tree
cut off from its roots, or pulled up by the roots, and laid upon the ground, when
there can be no hope of its ever growing again; and so the hope of Job was like
that; not his hope of salvation, of the resurrection of the dead, and of
eternal life, which was strong and firm, Job 13:15; nor can
a good and well grounded hope be removed; not the grace of hope, which is an
abiding one; nor the ground of hope, which is Christ and his righteousness,
upon which hope, as an anchor, being cast, is sure and steadfast; nor the
object of hope, eternal glory and happiness laid up in heaven: but this is to
be interpreted of Job's hope of a restoration to outward happiness, which his
friends would have had him entertain, in case of repentance and reformation;
but Job, as he was not sensible of his need of the one, as his friends
understood it, he had no hope of the other, see Job 6:11.
Job 19:11 11 He has also kindled His
wrath against me, And He counts me as one of His enemies.
YLT
11And He kindleth against me
His anger, And reckoneth me to Him as His adversaries.
He hath also kindled his wrath against me,.... In this
and some following verses the metaphor is taken from a state of warfare, in
which enemies are engaged in an hostile way, Job 19:12; in which
way Job apprehended God was come forth against him; he imagined that the wrath
of God, which is comparable to fire for its force and fury, was kindled against
him; that it began to appear, and was bursting out in a flame upon him, and all
around him, to consume him; he thought his afflictions were in wrath, which is
often the mistaken apprehension of good men, see Psalm 38:1; and
that the terrors of it were set in battle array against him, Job 6:4;
and he counted me unto him as one of his enemies; all men are
by nature enemies to God, yea, enmity itself, and so are his own people while
unregenerate, until the enmity of their hearts is slain, and they are
reconciled to God by his spirit and grace; but as Job was truly a gracious man,
and possessed of the fruits of the spirit, he must among the rest of his graces
have the love of God in his heart; and he was sensible and conscious to himself
that he was no enemy to God, and could appeal to him, as the searcher of
hearts, that he knew he loved him; nay, he could not believe that God reckoned
him his enemy, when he had given such a testimony of him, and of his fear of
him, that there was none like him; and when Job so strongly trusted in him for
salvation, and believed he should enjoy him for ever: but his sense is, that
God treated him, by afflicting him in the manner he did, as if he was one of
his enemies; had he really been one, he could not have used him, he thought,
more roughly and severely; so that, judging according to the outward appearance
of things, it might be concluded, as it seems it was by his friends, that he
was a wicked man, an hypocrite, an enemy to God and godliness; but whereas Job
thought that God dealt with him as with an enemy, he was mistaken; since when
God afflicts his people, he deals with them as with sons, Hebrews 12:7.
Job 19:12 12 His troops come together And
build up their road against me; They encamp all around my tent.
YLT
12Come in do His troops
together, And they raise up against me their way, And encamp round about my
tent.
His troops come together,.... Afflictions which
are many, and of which it may be said, as was at the birth of God, who had his
name from the word here used, "a troop cometh": Genesis 30:11; and
these sometimes come together, or follow so quick one upon another, that there
is scarce any interval between them, as did Job's afflictions; and they are
God's hosts, his troops, his soldiers, which are at his command; and he says to
them, as the centurion did to his, to the one, Go, and he goes, and to another,
Come, and it comes:
and raise up their way against me; as an army, when it
comes against a place, throws up a bank to raise their artillery upon, that
they may play it to greater advantage; or make a broad causeway, for the
soldiers to march abreast against it; or an high cast up way, as the wordF25ויסלו "aggerant", Cocceius, Schultens;
"straverunt", Montanus, Schmidt; a מסלה
"via strata et elevata", Mercerus, Drusius. signifies, over a ditch
or dirty place in a hollow, that they may the better pass over: some read it,
"they raise up their way upon me"F26עלי
"super me", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Schmidt, Michaelis. ; he
opposing and standing in the way was crushed down by them, and trampled upon,
and over whom they passed as on an highway, and in a beaten path; see Isaiah 51:23; but
most render it, "against me"; for Job looked upon all his
afflictions, as Jacob did Genesis 42:36, to
be against him, to militate against him, and threaten him with ruin, when they
were all working for him, even for his good:
and encamp round about my tabernacle: as an army
round about a city when besieging it. Job may have respect to the tabernacle of
his body, as that is sometimes so called, 2 Corinthians 5:1;
and to the diseases of it; which being a complication, might be said to encamp
about him, or surround him on all sides.
Job 19:13 13 “He has removed my
brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
YLT
13My brethren from me He hath
put far off, And mine acquaintances surely Have been estranged from me.
He hath put my brethren far from me,.... As it is one part of
business in war to cut off all communication between the enemy and their
confederates and auxiliaries, and to hinder them of all the help and assistance
from them they can; so Job here represents God dealing with him as with an
enemy, and therefore keeps at a distance from him all such from whom he might
expect comfort and succour, as particularly his brethren; by whom may be meant
such who in a natural relation are strictly and properly brethren; for such Job
had, as appears from Job 42:11; who
afterwards paid him a visit, and showed brotherly love to him; but for the
present the affliction that God laid upon him had such an influence on theft,
as to cause them to stand aloof off, and not come near him, and show any regard
unto him; and as this was the effect of the afflicting hand of God, Job
ascribes it to him, and which added to his affliction; see Psalm 69:8;
and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me; such as knew
him in the time of his prosperity, and frequently visited him, and conversed with
him, and he with them; but now, things having taken a different turn in his
outward circumstances, they carried it strange to him, as if they had never
been acquainted with him: "si fueris felix", &c.
Job 19:14 14 My relatives have failed, And
my close friends have forgotten me.
YLT
14Ceased have my neighbours
And my familiar friends have forgotten me,
My kinsfolk have failed,.... Or
"ceased"F1חדלו
"desierunt", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Mercerus, Drusius,
Piscator, Schmidt, Michaelis; "cessant", Schultens. , not to be, or
that they were dead, which is sometimes the sense of the word; but they ceased
from visiting him, or doing any good office for him; those that were
"near"F2קרובי "propinqui
mei", Pagninus, Montanus, &c. him, as the word used signifies; that
were near him in relation, and were often near him in place, in his own house,
in company and conversation with him, now ceased to be near him in affection;
or to come nigh him, to converse with him and comfort him, and sympathize with
him, which might be expected from persons nearly related:
and my familiar friends have forgotten me; such as were
well known to him, and he to them, and who not long ago were very loving and
friendly to him, and very freely and familiarly conversed with him; but now
they forgot him; the friendship that subsisted between them, the friendliness
with which they had visited him, and the favours they had received from him;
they so slighted and neglected him, that it seemed as if he was forgotten, as a
dead man, out of mind; or as if they did not remember that there ever was, or
at least that there now was, such a man in the world as Job: these could not be
true friends; for "a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for
adversity", Proverbs 17:17; a
real friend loves, and continues to love, in adversity as well as in
prosperity; and such an one, who sometimes sticks closer to a man than a
brother, is born and designed to be of service to him in a time of trouble; but
so it was ordered by divine Providence, and according to the will of God, that
Job should meet with such treatment from his brethren, relations, acquaintance,
and familiar friends, for the trial of his faith and patience.
Job 19:15 15 Those who dwell in my
house, and my maidservants, Count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their
sight.
YLT
15Sojourners of my house and
my maids, For a stranger reckon me: An alien I have been in their eyes.
They that dwell in mine house,.... Not his neighbours,
as the Septuagint; for though they dwelt near his house, they did not dwell in
it; nor inmates and sojourners, lodgers with him, to whom he let out apartments
in his house; this cannot be supposed to have been his case, who was the
greatest man in all the east; nor even tenants, that hired houses and lands of
him; for the phrase is not applicable to them; it designs such who were
inhabitants in his house. Job amidst all his calamities had an house to dwell
in; it is a tradition mentioned by JeromF3De loc. Heb. fol. 89. M. ,
that Job's house was in Carnea, a large village in his time, in a corner of
Batanea, beyond the floods of Jordan; and he had people dwelling with him in
it, who are distinct from his wife, children, and servants after mentioned; and
are either "strangers"F4גרי
"peregrini", Schmidt, Schultens. as the word sometimes signifies, he
had taken into his house in a way of hospitality, and had given them lodging,
and food, and raiment, as the light of nature and law of God required, Deuteronomy 10:18;
or else proselytes, of whom this wordF5Apud Rabbinos, passim. is
sometimes used, whom he had been the instrument of converting from idolatry,
superstition, and profaneness, and of gaining them over to the true religion;
and whom he had taken into his house, to instruct them more and more in the
ways of God, such as were the trained servants in Abraham's family: these, says
he,
and my maids, count me for a stranger; both the one
and the other, the strangers he took out of the streets, and the travellers he
opened his doors unto, and entertained in a very generous and hospitable
manner; the proselytes he had made, and with whom he had taken so much pains,
and to whom he had shown so much kindness and goodness, and been the means of
saving their souls from death; and his maidens he had hired into his house, to
do the business of it, and who ought to have been obedient and respectful to
him, and whose cause he had not despised, but had treated them with great
humanity and concern; the Targum wrongly renders the word, "my
concubines"; yet these one and another looked upon him with an air of the
utmost indifference, not as if he was the master of the house, but a stranger
in it, as one that did not belong unto it, and they had scarce ever seen with
their eyes before; which was very ungrateful, and disrespectful to the last
degree; and if they reckoned him a stranger to God, to his grace, to true
religion and godliness, this was worse still; and especially in the proselytes
of his house, who owed their conversion, their light and knowledge in divine
things, to him as an instrument:
I am an alien in their sight; as a foreigner, one of
another kingdom and nation, of a different habit, speech, religion, and
manners; they stared at him as if they had never seen him before, as some
strange object to be looked at, an uncommon spectacle, that had something in
him or about him unusual and frightful; at least contemptible and to be
disdained, and not to be spoke to and familiarly conversed with, but to be
shunned and despised.
Job 19:16 16 I call my servant, but he
gives no answer; I beg him with my mouth.
YLT
16To my servant I have
called, And he doth not answer, With my mouth I make supplication to him.
I called my servant,.... His manservant, whom
he had hired into his house, and who waited upon his person, and had been his
trusty and faithful servant, and was dear unto him, and he had shown him much
respect and kindness in the time of his prosperity; him he called to him, to do
this and that and the other thing for him as usual; and of whose assistance and
service he might stand in more need, being so greatly afflicted in body as well
as in other things; and who ought to have been obedient to his call in all
things, and have served him with all readiness and cheerfulness, with all
heartiness, sincerity, integrity, and faithfulness; and given him the same
honour and reverence as before; but instead of all this, it is observed,
and he gave me no answer; whether he would or
would not do what he ordered him to do; he took no notice of him, he turned a
deaf ear to him, and his back upon him; he came not near him, but kept his place
where he was, or walked off without showing any regard to what he said to him;
he neither answered him by words, nor by deeds; neither signified his readiness
to do what he was ordered, nor did it. In some cases it is criminal in servants
to answer again, when they thwart and contradict their masters, or reply in a
saucy, surly, and impudent manner; but when they are spoke to about their
master's business, it becomes them to answer in a decent, humble, and
respectable way, declaring their readiness to do their master's will and
pleasure:
I entreated him with my mouth; which is an aggravation
of his insolence and disobedience; such was the low condition Job was reduced
unto, and such the humility of his mind under his present circumstances, that
he laid aside the authority of a master, and only entreated his servant, and
begged it as if it was a favour, to do this or the other for him; nor did he
signify this by a look and cast of his eye, or by a nod of his head, or by the
direction of his hand; but with his mouth he spake unto him, and let him know
what he would have done; and this not in an authoritative, haughty, and
imperious manner; but with good words, and in submissive language, as it was
something he was beholden to his servant for, rather than obedience to be
performed.
Job 19:17 17 My breath is offensive to
my wife, And I am repulsive to the children of my own body.
YLT
17My spirit is strange to my
wife, And my favours to the sons of my [mother's] womb.
My breath is strange to my wife,.... Being corrupt and
unsavoury, through some internal disorder; see Job 17:1; so that
she could not bear to come nigh him, to do any kind deed for him; but if this
was his case, and his natural breath was so foul, his friends would not have
been able to have been so long in the same room with him, and carry on so long
a conversation with him; rather therefore it may signify the words of his
mouth, his speech along with his breath, which were very disagreeable to his
wife; when upon her soliciting him to curse God and die, he told her she talked
like one of the foolish women; and when he taught her to expect evil as well as
good at the hand of God, and to bear afflictions patiently, or else the sense
may be, "my spirit"F6רוחי
"spiritus meus", Junius & Tremellius, Vatablus, Schmidt,
Schultens; "anima mea", Cocceius. , his vital spirit, his life, was
wearisome and loathsome to his wife; she was tired out with him, with hearing his
continual groans and complaints, and wished to be rid of him, and that God
would take away his life: or else, as some render it, "my spirit is
strange to me, because of my wife"F7לאשתי
"propter uxorem meam", Schmidt. ; and then the meaning is, that Job
was weary of his own life, he loathed it, and could have been glad to have it
taken from him, because of the scoffs and jeers of his wife at him, her brawls
and quarrels with him, and solicitations of him to curse God and renounce
religion:
though I entreated her for the children's sake of mine own
body; this clause creates a difficulty with interpreters, since it is
generally thought all Job's children were dead. Some think that only his elder
children were destroyed at once, and that he had younger ones at home with him,
which he here refers to; but this does not appear: others suppose these were
children of his concubines; but this wants proof that he had any concubine; and
besides an entreaty for the sake of such children could have no influence upon
his proper wife: others take them for grandchildren, and who, indeed, are
sometimes called children; but then they could not with strict propriety be
called the children of his body; and for the same reason it cannot be meant of
such that were brought up in his house, as if they were his children; nor such
as were his disciples, or attended on him for instruction: but this may respect
not any children then living, but those he had had; and the sense is, that Job
entreated his wife, not for the use of the marriage bed, as some suggestF8R.
Levi Ben Gersom; so some in Vatablus. ; for it can hardly be thought, that, in
such circumstances in which he was, there should be any desire of this kind;
but to do some kind deed for him, as the dressing of his ulcers, &c. or
such things which none but a wife could do well for him; and this he entreated
for the sake of the children he had had by her, those pledges of their conjugal
affection; or rather, since the word has the signification of deploring,
lamenting, and bemoaning, the clause may be thus rendered, "and I lamented
the children of my body"F9וחנותי
"deploro", Cocceius; "et miserans lugeo", Schmidt; "et
miseret me", Michaelis; "comploro", Schultens. ; he had none of
those indeed to afflict him; and his affliction was, that they were taken away
from him at once in such a violent manner; and therefore he puts in this among
his family trials; or this may be an aggravation of his wife's want of
tenderness and respect unto him; that his breath should be unsavoury, his talk
disagreeable, and his sighs and moans be wearisome to her, when the burden of his
song, the subject of his sorrowful complaints, was the loss of his children; in
which it might have been thought she would have joined with him, being equally
concerned therein.
Job 19:18 18 Even young children
despise me; I arise, and they speak against me.
YLT
18Also sucklings have
despised me, I rise, and they speak against me.
Yea, young children despised me,.... Having related what
he met with within doors from those in his own house, the strangers and
proselytes in it, his maidens and menservants, and even from his own wife, he
proceeds to give an account of what befell him without; young children, who had
learned of their parents, having observed them to treat him with contempt,
mocked and scoffed at him, and said, there sits old Job, that nasty creature,
with his boils and ulcers; or using some such contemptuous expression, as
"wicked man"; so some translate the wordF11עוילים "iniqui", Pagninus, Montanus;
"homines nequam", Tigurine version; so Ben Gersom. ; he was scorned
and condemned by profane persons, who might tease him with his religion, and
ask, where was his God? and bid him observe the effect and issue of his piety
and strict course of living, and see what it was all come to, or what were the
fruits of it: the Vulgate Latin version renders it "fools", that is,
not idiots, but such as are so in a moral sense, and so signifies as before;
and as these make mock at sin, and a jest of religion, it is no wonder that
they despised good men: the word is rendered by a learned manF12"Clientes
egentissimi", Schultens. , the "most needy clients", who were
dependent on him, and were supported by him; but this coincides with Job 19:15;
I arose, and they spoke against me: he got up from his seat,
either to go about his business, and do what he had to do; and they spoke
against him as he went along, and followed him with their reproaches, as
children will go after persons in a body they make sport of; or he rose up in a
condescending manner to them, when they ought to have rose up to him, and
reverenced and honoured him; and this he did to win upon them, and gain their
good will and respect; or to admonish them, chastise and correct them, for
their insolence and disrespect to him; but it signified nothing, they went on
calling him names, and speaking evil against him, and loading him with scoffs
and reproaches.
Job 19:19 19 All my close friends abhor
me, And those whom I love have turned against me.
YLT
19Abominate me do all the men
of my counsel, And those I have loved, Have been turned against me.
All my inward friends abhorred me,.... Or "the men of
my secret"F13מתי סודי
"viri secreti mei", Montanus; "homines secreti mei",
Cocceius, Schmidt; "viri arcani mei", Beza, Mercerus; "homines
arcani mei consilii", Michaelis. ; who were so very familiar with him,
that he imparted the secrets of his heart, and the most private affairs of
life, unto them, placing so much confidence in them, and treating them as his
bosom friends; for this is always reckoned a great instance of friendship, Job 15:15; and yet
their minds were set against him; their affections were alienated from him;
they abhorred the sight of him, and declined all conversation with him, even
all of them; not one showed respect unto him:
and they whom I loved; or "this whom I
loved"F14וזח "et quem", V.
L. "et hie seu is quem", Mercerus, Drusius. ; this and that and the
other particular friend, that he loved more than others: though all men are to
be loved as the creatures of God, and as fellow creatures, and especially good
men, even all the saints; yet there are some that engross a greater share of
love than others, among natural and spiritual relations; as Joseph was more
loved by his father than the rest of his children; and, even by our Lord, John
was loved more than the other disciples: and so Job, he had some particular
friends that he loved above others; and yet these not only turned away from him
in the time of his adversity, and turned their backs on him, and would have
nothing to say to him for his comfort, nor afford him any relief of any kind in
his distress, but
are turned against men; were turned against him,
and became his enemies; and, as David says of some that he had a love for, for
my love, "they are my adversaries", Psalm 109:4.
Job 19:20 20 My bone clings to my skin
and to my flesh, And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
YLT
20To my skin and to my flesh
Cleaved hath my bone, And I deliver myself with the skin of my teeth.
My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh,.... Or,
"as to my flesh"F15בעורי ובבשרי "cuti meae ut carni meae", Tremellius, in
one edition of his version. , as Mr. Broughton and others render the words; as
his bones used to stick to his flesh, and were covered with it, now his flesh
being consumed and wasted away with his disease, they stuck to his skin, and
were seen through it; he was reduced to skin and bone, and was a mere skeleton,
what with the force of his bodily disorder, and the grief of his mind through
the treatment he met with from God and men, see Lamentations 4:8;
and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth; meaning not,
as some understand it, his lips, which covered his teeth; for those cannot be
properly called the skin of them; rather the fine polish of the teeth, which
fortifies them against the hurt and damage they would receive by what is ate
and drank; though it seems best to interpret it of the skin of the gums, in
which the teeth are set; and the sense is, that Job had escaped with his life,
but not with a whole skin, his skin was broken all over him, with the sores and
ulcers upon him, see Job 7:5; only the
skin of his teeth was preserved, and so Mr. Broughton renders it, "I am
whole only in the skin of my teeth"; everywhere else his skin was broken;
so the Targum,
"I
am left in the skin of my teeth.'
Some
have thought that Satan, when he smote Job from head to feet with ulcers,
spared his mouth, lips, and teeth, the instruments of speech, that he might
therewith curse God, which was the thing he aimed at, and proposed to bring him
to, by getting a grant from God to afflict him in the manner he did.
Job 19:21 21 “Have pity on me, have
pity on me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has struck me!
YLT
21Pity me, pity me, ye my
friends, For the hand of God hath stricken against me.
Have pity upon me, have pity upon me,.... Instead
of calumny and censure, his case called for compassion; and the phrase is
doubled, to denote the vehemence of his affliction, the ardency of his soul,
the anguish of his spirits, the great distress he was in, and the earnest
desire he had to have pity shown him; and in which he may be thought not only
to make a request to his friends for it, but to give them a reproof for want of
it:
O ye my friends; as they once showed themselves to be, and
now professed they were; and since they did, pity might be reasonably expected
from them; for even common humanity, and much more friendship, required it of
them, that they should be pitiful and courteous, and put on bowels of mercy and
kindness, and commiserate his sad estate, and give him all the succour, relief,
and comfort they could, see Job 6:14;
for the hand of God has touched me; his afflicting hand,
which is a mighty one; it lay hard and heavy upon him, and pressed him sore;
for though it was but a touch of his hand, it was more than he could well bear;
for it was the touch of the Almighty, who "toucheth the hills, and they
smoke", Psalm 104:32; and
if he lays his hand ever so lightly on houses of clay, which have their
foundation in the dust, they cannot support under the weight of it, since they
are crushed before the moth, or as easily as a moth is crushed.
Job 19:22 22 Why do you persecute me as
God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?
YLT
22Why do you pursue me as
God? And with my flesh are not satisfied?
Why do ye persecute me as God,.... As if they were in
his stead, or had the same power and authority over him, who is a sovereign
Being, and does what he pleases with his creatures, and is not accountable to
any for what he does; but this is not the case of men, nor are they to imitate
God in all things; what he does is not in all things a warrant to do the like,
or to be pleaded and followed as a precedent by them; they should be merciful
as he is merciful, but they are not to afflict and distress his people because
he does, and which he does for wise ends and reasons; for such a conduct is
resented by him, see Zechariah 1:15. God
persecuted or pursued and followed Job with one affliction after another, and
hunted him as a fierce lion does his prey, Job 10:16; but this
was not a reason why they should do the same. Some read the words, "why do
ye persecute me as those?"F16Ben Gersom. you that profess to be
my friends, why do ye persecute me as those before mentioned, as those wicked
men? or "with those", with such reproaches and calumnies; but the
original will not bear it:
and are not satisfied with my flesh? It was not enough that
he was afflicted in his body, and his flesh was ulcerated from head to feet,
and was clothed with worms and clods of dust; they were not content that his
children, which were his own flesh, were tore away from him, and destroyed; and
that his substance, which is sometimes called the flesh of men, see Micah 3:3; was
devoured, and he was spoiled and plundered of it; but they sought to afflict
his mind, to wound his spirit, by their heavy charges and accusations, by their
calumnies and reproaches, and hard censures of him; he suggests, that they
dealt with him more cruelly than savage beasts, who, when they have got their
prey, are satisfied with their flesh; but they, who would be thought to be his
friends, were not satisfied with his.
Job 19:23 23 “Oh, that my words were
written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
YLT
23Who doth grant now, That my
words may be written? Who doth grant that in a book they may be graven?
O that my words were now written!.... Not his thingsF17מלי "res meae", Polychronius apud Pinedam in loc.
, as some render it, his affairs, the transactions of his life; that so it
might appear with what uprightness and integrity he had lived, and was not the
bad man he was thought to be; nor the words he had delivered already, the apologies
and defences he had made for himself, the arguments he had used in his own
vindication, and the doctrines respecting God and his providence which he had
laid down and asserted; and was so far from being ashamed of them, or
retracting them, that he wishes they had been taken down in writing, that
posterity might read and judge of the controversy between him and his friends;
but rather the words he was about to deliver in Job 19:25,
expressing his faith in Christ, in the resurrection of the dead, and in a
future state of happiness and glory; these he wishes were "written",
that they might remain as a standing testimony of his faith and hope; for what
is written abides, when that which is only spoken is soon forgot, and not
easily recalled:
O that they were printed in a book! not written on loose
sheets, which might be lost, but in a book bound up, or rolled up in a volume,
as was the custom of ancient times; though this cannot be understood of
printing properly taken, which has not been in use but little more than five
hundred years, but of engrossing, as of statutes and decrees in public records;
and the word for "statutes comes" from this that is here used.
Job 19:24 24 That they were engraved on
a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever!
YLT
24With a pen of iron and lead
-- For ever in a rock they may be hewn.
That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for
ever! Or "that they were written with an iron pen and lead, that
they were cut or hewn out in a rock for ever"; not with both an iron and
leaden pen, or pencil; for the marks of the latter are not durable, and much
less could it be used on a rock according to our version; but the sense seems
to be, that they might be written with an iron pen, which was used in writing, Jeremiah 17:1; upon
a sheet of lead, as the Vulgate Latin version; for it was usual in ancient
times, as PlinyF17Nat. Hist. l. 13. c. 11. Alex. ab Alex. l. 2. c.
30. Pausaniae Messenica, sive, l. 4. p. 266. & Boeotica, sive, l. 9. p.
588. and others relate, for books to be made of sheets of lead, and for public
records to be engrossed, as in plates of brass, so sometimes in sheets of lead,
for the perpetuity of them; or else it refers to the cutting out of letters on
stones, as the law was on two tables of stone, and filling up the incisions or
cuttings with lead poured into them, as Jarchi suggests: so Pliny,F18Nat.
Hist. l. 6. c. 28. & 29. speaks of stone pillars in Arabia and the parts
adjacent, with unknown characters on them; also this may have respect to the
manner of writing on mountains and rocks formerly, as the Israelites at or
shortly after the times of Job did. There are now, in the wilderness through
which the Israelites passed, hills called Gebel-el-mokatab, the written
mountains, engraved with unknown ancient characters, out into the hard marble
rock; supposed to be the ancient Hebrew, written by the Israelites for their
diversion and improvement which are observed by some modern travellersF19See
a Journal from Cairo, &c. in 1722, p. 45, 46. and Egmont and Heyman's
Travels, vol. ii. p. 171, 181. . In the last age, Petrus a Valle and Thomas a
Novaria saw them; the latter of which transcribed some of them, some of which
seemed to be like to the Hebrew letters now in use, and others to the
Samaritans; and some agreed with neitherF20Antiqu. Eccles. Orient.
p. 147. ; and Cosmoss the EgyptianF21Apud Montfaucon, tom. 2. p.
205. , who wrote A. D. 535, declares on his own testimony, that all the
mansions of the Hebrews in the wilderness were to be seen in stones with Hebrew
letters engraved on them, which seemed to be an account of their journeys in
it. The inscription on a stone at Horeb, brought from thence by the above
mentioned Thomas a Novaria, and which KircherF23Prodrom. Copt. c. 8.
p. 201, 207. has explained thus,
"God
shall make a virgin conceive, and she shall bring forth a son,'
is
thought by learned men to be of a later date, and the explication of it is not
approved of by them.F24Vide Hottinger. Praefat. ad Cipp. Hebr. p. 6,
7, 8. Wagenseil Carmin. Lipman. Confut. p. 429, &c. Job may have in view
his sepulchre hewn out of a rock, as was usual, and as that was our Lord was
laid in; and so his wish might be that the following words were his funeral
epitaph, and that they might be cut out and inscribed upon his sepulchral
monument, his rocky grave; that everyone that passed by might read his strong
expressions of faith in a living Redeemer, and the good hope he had of a
blessed resurrection.
Job 19:25 25 For I know that my
Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;
YLT
25That -- I have known my
Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For the dust he doth rise.
For I know,.... The particle ו, which is sometimes
rendered by the copulative "and", by an adversative "but",
and sometimes as a causal particle "for", should not be rendered here
by either; but as an explanative, "to wit", or "namely", as
it is by NoldiusF25ואני "nempe
ego", Nold. Ebr. Concord. Partic. p. 696. No. 1750. ; in connection with
the preceding words; in which Job wishes some words of his were written in a
book, or engrossed on sheets of lead, or were cut out on some rock, and
particularly were engraved on his tombstone; "namely", these
following, "I know that my Redeemer liveth", &c. and to this
agrees Broughton, "how that my Redeemer liveth"; let these be the words
written, engraved, and cut out there: by my Redeemer, he means not any mere man
that should rise up and vindicate him; for the account of his then living, and
of his standing on the earth in the latter day, will not agree with such an
one; nor God the Father, to whom the character of a Redeemer is seldom or ever
given, nor did he ever appear or stand on earth, nor was his shape seen at any
time, John 5:37; but the
Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our "Goel", the word here
used, our near kinsman, and so our Redeemer, to whom the right of redemption
belonged; and who was spoken of by all the holy prophets, from the beginning of
the world, as the Redeemer of his people, who should redeem them from all their
sins; from the law, its curses and condemnation; from Satan, and his
principalities and powers; from death and hell, and everlasting destruction;
and that by giving himself a ransom for them; all which was known in the times
of Job, Job 33:24; and
known by him, who speaks of him as living; he then existed not only as a divine
Person, as he did from all eternity, but in his office capacity as Mediator, and
under the character of a Redeemer; for the virtue of his future redemption
reached to all the ages before it, from the foundation of the world; besides,
the epithet "living" points at him as the "living God", as
he is, Hebrews 3:12; and
so equal to the work of redemption, and able to redeem, and mighty to save; of
whom it is said, not that he has lived, or shall live, but "liveth";
ever lives; and so an expression of the eternity of Christ, who is from
everlasting to everlasting, the same today, yesterday, and for ever; and who,
though he died in human nature, yet is alive, and lives for evermore; he has
life in and of himself, as he is God over all blessed for ever; and has life in
him for all his people, as Mediator; and is the author of spiritual life in
them, and the donor of eternal life to them; and because he lives, they shall
live also. Now Job had an interest in him as the living Redeemer, and knew he had,
which is the greatest blessing that can be enjoyed; an interest in Christ is of
infinitely more worth than the whole world, and the knowledge of it exceeds all
others; this knowledge was not merely speculative, nor only approbational and
fiducial, though such Job had, Job 13:15; but the
knowledge of assurance of interest; to know Christ as a Redeemer of men, and
not our Redeemer, is of no avail; the devils know him to be a Redeemer, but not
theirs: men may have an interest in Christ, and as yet not know it; interest is
before knowledge; it is neither knowledge nor faith that gives interest, but
God of his grace gives both interest and knowledge: and such a knowledge as
here expressed is a peculiar favour; it is owing to an understanding given to
know him that is true, and that we are in him that is true; and to the spirit
of wisdom and revelation, in the knowledge of Christ, and to the testimony
which he bears; and such knowledge will support under the greatest afflictions
and sorest trials; under the ill usage of friends, and the loss of nearest and
dearest relations, and in the views of death and eternity; all which was Job's
case:
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the
earth; appear in the world in human nature; be the seed of the woman,
and born of one, be made flesh, and dwell among men, and converse with them, as
Jesus did; who stood upon the land of Judea, and walked through Galilee, and
went about doing good to the bodies and souls of men; and this was in the last
days, and at the end of the world, Hebrews 1:1; as a
pledge of this there were frequent appearances of the son of God in an human
form to the patriarchs; nor need it seem strange that Job, though not an
Israelite, had knowledge of the incarnation of Christ, when it is said toF26Huet.
Alnetan. Quaest. l. 2. c. 13. p. 234. be the opinion of the Indian Brahmans
that God often appeared in the form and habit of some great men, and conversed
among men; and that Wistnavius, whom, they say, is the second Person of the
triune God, had already assumed a body nine times, and sometimes also an human
one; and that the same will once more be made by him; and Confucius, the
Chinese philosopherF1Martin. Sinic. Hist. l. 4. p. 131. , left it in
writing, that the Word would be made flesh, and foresaw the year when it would
be: or, "he shall rise the last out of the earth"F2ואחרון על עפר
יקום "qui postremus ex palvere (terra)
surget", Nold. ib. ; and so it may respect his resurrection from the dead;
he was brought to the dust of death, and was laid in the grave, and buried, in
the earth, and was raised out of it; and whose resurrection is of the greatest
moment and importance, the justification, regeneration, and resurrection of his
people depending on it: but this is not to be understood as if he was the last
that should rise from the dead; for he is the firstfruits of them that sleep,
and the firstborn from the dead, the first that rose to an immortal life; but
that he who, as to his divine nature, is the first and the last; or that, in
his state of humiliation, is the last, the meanest, and most abject of menF3"Novissimus",
i.e. "miserrimus et abjectus", Bolducius; "sic ultimus
miserorum", Ciceron. Orat. pro Flacco 24. ; or rather, who, as the public
and federal head of his people, is "the last Adam", 1 Corinthians 15:45;
and who did rise as such for their justification, which makes the article of
his resurrection an unspeakable benefit: or, "he shall stand over the
earth in the latter day"F4"Supra pulverem", Cocceius,
Schultens. in the last times of all, in the close of time, at the end of the
world, at his appearing and kingdom, when he shall come to judge the quick and
dead; those that will be alive, and those that will be raised from the dead,
who will meet him in the air over the earth, and shall be for ever with him;
and even then "he shall stand upon the earth"; for it is expressly
said, that when he shall come, and all the saints with him, "his feet
shall stand on the mount of Olives", Zechariah 14:4; or,
"he shall stand against the earth at the latter days"F5"Adhibebit
suam vim pulveri", Tigurine version. ; in the resurrection morn, and shall
exercise his authority over it, and command the earth and sea to give up their
dead; and when at his all commanding voice the dead shall come out of their
graves, as Lazarus came out of his, he shall stand then upon the dust of the
earth, and tread upon it as a triumphant Conqueror, having subdued all his
enemies, and now the last enemy, death, is destroyed by the resurrection of the
dead: what a glorious and enlarged view had Job of the blessed Redeemer!
Job 19:26 26 And after my skin is
destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,
YLT
26And after my skin hath
compassed this [body], Then from my flesh I see God:
And though after my skin worms destroy this body,.... Meaning
not, that after his skin was wholly consumed now, which was almost gone, there
being scarce any left but the skin of his teeth, Job 19:20; the
worms in his ulcers would consume what was left of his body, which scarce
deserved the name of a body, and therefore he points to it, and calls it
"this", without saying what it was; but that when he should be
entirely stripped of his skin in the grave, then rottenness and worms would
strip him also of all the rest of his flesh and his bones; by which he
expresses the utter consumption of his body by death, and after it in the
grave; and nevertheless, though so it would be, he was assured of his
resurrection from the dead:
yet in my flesh shall I see God: he believed, that though
he should die and moulder into dust in the grave, yet he should rise again, and
that in true flesh, not in an aerial celestial body, but in a true body,
consisting of flesh, blood, and bones, which spirits have not, and in the same
flesh or body he then had, his own flesh and body, and not another's; and so
with his fleshly or corporeal eyes see God, even his living Redeemer, in human
nature; who, as he would stand upon the earth in that nature, in the fulness of
time, and obtain redemption for him, so he would in the latter day appear again,
raise him from the dead, and take him to himself, to behold his glory to all
eternity: or "out of my flesh"F6מבשרי
"e carne mea", Tigurine version, Mercerus, Piscator, Cocceius,
Schmidt, Schultens; so Gussetius, p. 446. , out of my fleshly eyes; from thence
and with those shall I behold God manifest in the flesh, my incarnate God; and
if Job was one of those saints that rose when Christ did, as some sayF7"Suidas
in voce" ιωβ,
& Sept. in ch. xlii. 17. , he saw him in the flesh and with his fleshly
eyes.
Job 19:27 27 Whom I shall see for
myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns
within me!
YLT
27Whom I -- I see on my side,
And mine eyes have beheld, and not a stranger, Consumed have been my reins in
my bosom.
Whom I shall see for myself,.... For his pleasure and
profit, to his great advantage and happiness, and to his inexpressible joy and
satisfaction, see Psalm 17:15;
and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; or "a
stranger"F8זר "alienus",
Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Mercerus;
"extraneus", Drusius. ; these very selfsame eyes of mine I now see
with will behold this glorious Person, God in my nature, and not the eyes of
another, of a strange body, a body not my own; or as I have seen him with my
spiritual eyes, with the eyes of faith and knowledge, as my living Redeemer, so
shall I see him with my bodily eyes after the resurrection, and enjoy
uninterrupted communion with him, which a stranger shall not; one that has
never known anything of him, or ever intermeddled with the joy of saints here,
such shall not see him hereafter, at least with pleasure; like Balaam, they may
see him, but not nigh, may behold him, but afar off: though "my reins be
consumed within me"; or "in my bosom";
though; this word may be left out, and be read,
my reins are consumed within me; or, "within my
bosom"F9בחקי "in sinu meo",
Pagninus, Montanus, &c. ; and both being the seat of the affections and
desires, may signify his most earnest and eager desire after the state of the
resurrection of the dead; after such a sight of God in his flesh, of the
incarnate Redeemer, he believed he should have, insomuch that it ate up his
spirits, as the Psalmist says, zeal for the house of God ate up his, Psalm 69:9; it was
not the belief of restoration of health, and to his former outward happiness,
and a deliverance from his troubles, and a desire after that, which is here
expressed; for he had no faith in that, nor hope, nor expectation of it, as
appears by various expressions of his; but much greater, more noble, more
refined enjoyments, were experienced by him now, and still greater he expected
hereafter; and his words concerning these were what he wished were written, and
printed, and engraven; which, if they only respected outward happiness, he
would never have desired; and though he had not his wish in his own way, yet
his words are written and printed in a better book than he had in his view, and
will outlast engravings with an iron pen on sheets of lead, or marble rocks.
The Vulgate Latin version seems to incline to this sense,
"this
here is laid up in my bosom,'
that
is, of seeing God in my flesh; so the Tigurine version, rather as a paraphrase
than a version, "which is my only desire".
Job 19:28 28 If you should say, ‘How
shall we persecute him?’—Since the root of the matter is found in me,
YLT
28But ye say, `Why do we
pursue after him?' And the root of the matter hath been found in me.
But ye should say,.... Here Job directs his friends what use
they should make of this confession of his faith; they should upon this say
within themselves, and to one another,
why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me? Why should we
pursue him with hard words, and load him with censures and reproaches, as if he
was an hypocrite, when it appears, by what he says, that he has truth in the
inward parts, the true grace of God is in him; that he is rooted in the love of
God, and in the person of the Redeemer; that he has the Spirit of God in him,
and the divine seed which has taken root in him, and brings forth fruit: or
that "the root of the word"F11שרש
דבר "radix verbi", Montanus, Mercerus, Schmidt,
Michaelis; "radix sermonis", Cocceius; "fundamenta negotii
salutis", Tigurine version. is in him; the word of God has a place in him,
and is become the ingrafted word; the root doctrines, the principal and
fundamental truths of religion, are believed and professed by him, such as
respect the incarnation of the Messiah, his resurrection from the dead, and
coming to judgment, the resurrection of all the dead in the same body, a future
state of happiness, in which saints will enjoy the beatific vision; since these
things are firmly believed by him, though he may differ from us in some points
about the methods of divine Providence, let us cease from persecuting him any
further; see Romans 10:8.
Job 19:29 29 Be afraid of the sword for
yourselves; For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, That you may
know there is a judgment.”
YLT
29Be ye afraid because of the
sword, For furious [are] the punishments of the sword, That ye may know that
[there is] a judgment.
Be ye afraid of the sword,.... Not of the civil
magistrate, nor of a foreign enemy, but of the avenging sword of divine
justice; lest God should whet the glittering sword of his justice, and his hand
should take hold of judgment, in order to avenge the wrongs of the innocent;
unless the other should also be considered as his instruments:
for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, or "sins
of the sword"F12עונות חרב "iniquitates gladii", Montanus, Schmidt,
Michaelis; so Cocceius, Schultens. : the sense is, either that the wrath of
men, in persecuting the people of God, puts them upon the commission of such
sins as deserve to be punished with the sword, either of the civil magistrate,
or of a foreign enemy, or of divine justice; or else the wrath of God brings on
more punishments for their sins by means of the sword; and to this sense is the
Targum,
"when
God is angry for iniquities, he sends those that slay with the sword:'
that ye may know there is a judgment; that is
executed in the world by the Judge of all the earth, who will do right; and
that there is a future judgment after death, unto which everything in this
world will be brought, when God will judge the world in righteousness by
Christ, whom he has ordained to be Judge of quick and dead; and which will be a
righteous judgment, that none can escape; and when, Job suggests, the
controversy between him and his friends would be determined; and it would be
then seen who was in the right, and who in the wrong; and unto which time he
seems willing to refer his cause, and to have no more said about it; but his
friends did not choose to take his advice; for Zophar the Naamathite starts up
directly; and makes a reply, which is contained in the following chapter.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)