1 Then Job H347 answered H6030 and said, H559
2 Even to day H3117 is my complaint H7879 bitter: H4805 my stroke H3027 is heavier H3513 than my groaning. H585
3 Oh that H5414 I knew H3045 where I might find H4672 him! that I might come H935 even to his seat! H8499
4 I would order H6186 my cause H4941 before H6440 him, and fill H4390 my mouth H6310 with arguments. H8433
5 I would know H3045 the words H4405 which he would answer H6030 me, and understand H995 what he would say H559 unto me.
6 Will he plead H7378 against H5978 me with his great H7230 power? H3581 No; but he would put H7760 strength in me.
7 There the righteous H3477 might dispute H3198 with him; so should I be delivered H6403 for ever H5331 from my judge. H8199
8 Behold, I go H1980 forward, H6924 but he is not there; and backward, H268 but I cannot perceive H995 him:
9 On the left hand, H8040 where he doth work, H6213 but I cannot behold H2372 him: he hideth H5848 himself on the right hand, H3225 that I cannot see H7200 him:
10 But he knoweth H3045 the way H1870 that I take: H5978 when he hath tried H974 me, I shall come forth H3318 as gold. H2091
11 My foot H7272 hath held H270 his steps, H838 his way H1870 have I kept, H8104 and not declined. H5186
12 Neither have I gone back H4185 from the commandment H4687 of his lips; H8193 I have esteemed H6845 the words H561 of his mouth H6310 more than my necessary H2706 food.
13 But he is in one H259 mind, and who can turn H7725 him? and what his soul H5315 desireth, H183 even that he doeth. H6213
14 For he performeth H7999 the thing that is appointed H2706 for me: and many H7227 such H2007 things are with him.
15 Therefore am I troubled H926 at his presence: H6440 when I consider, H995 I am afraid H6342 of him.
16 For God H410 maketh my heart H3820 soft, H7401 and the Almighty H7706 troubleth H926 me:
17 Because I was not cut off H6789 before H6440 the darkness, H2822 neither hath he covered H3680 the darkness H652 from my face. H6440
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Job 23
Commentary on Job 23 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 23
THIRD SERIES.
Job 23:1-17. Job's Answer.
2. to-day—implying, perhaps, that the debate was carried on through more days than one (see Introduction).
bitter—(Job 7:11; 10:1).
my stroke—the hand of God on me (Margin, Job 19:21; Ps 32:4).
heavier than—is so heavy that I cannot relieve myself adequately by groaning.
3. The same wish as in Job 13:3 (compare Heb 10:19-22).
Seat—The idea in the Hebrew is a well-prepared throne (Ps 9:7).
4. order—state methodically (Job 13:18; Isa 43:26).
fill, &c.—I would have abundance of arguments to adduce.
5. he—emphatic: it little matters what man may say of me, if only I know what God judges of me.
6. An objection suggests itself, while he utters the wish (Job 23:5). Do I hereby wish that He should plead against me with His omnipotence? Far from it! (Job 9:19, 34; 13:21; 30:18).
strength—so as to prevail with Him: as in Jacob's case (Ho 12:3, 4). Umbreit and Maurer better translate as in Job 4:20 (I only wish that He) "would attend to me," that is, give me a patient hearing as an ordinary judge, not using His omnipotence, but only His divine knowledge of my innocence.
7. There—rather, "Then": if God would "attend" to me (Job 23:6).
righteous—that is, the result of my dispute would be, He would acknowledge me as righteous.
delivered—from suspicion of guilt on the part of my Judge.
8. But I wish in vain. For "behold," &c.
forward … backward—rather, "to the east—to the west." The Hebrew geographers faced the east, that is, sunrise: not the north, as we do. So "before" means east: "behind," west (so the Hindus). Para, "before"—east: Apara, "behind"—west: Daschina, "the right hand"—south: Bama, "left"—north. A similar reference to sunrise appears in the name Asia, "sunrise," Europe, "sunset"; pure Babylonian names, as Rawlinson shows.
9. Rather, "To the north."
work—God's glorious works are especially seen towards the north region of the sky by one in the northern hemisphere. The antithesis is between God working and yet not being beheld: as in Job 9:11, between "He goeth by," and "I see Him not." If the Hebrew bears it, the parallelism to the second clause is better suited by translating, as Umbreit, "doth hide himself"; but then the antithesis to "behold" would be lost.
right hand—"in the south."
hideth—appropriately, of the unexplored south, then regarded as uninhabitable because of its heat (see Job 34:29).
10. But—correcting himself for the wish that his cause should be known before God. The omniscient One already knoweth the way in me (my inward principles: His outward way or course of acts is mentioned in Job 23:11. So in me, Job 4:21); though for some inscrutable cause He as yet hides Himself (Job 23:8, 9).
when—let Him only but try my cause, I shall, &c.
11. held—fast by His steps. The law is in Old Testament poetry regarded as a way, God going before us as our guide, in whose footsteps we must tread (Ps 17:5).
declined—(Ps 125:5).
12. esteemed—rather, "laid up," namely, as a treasure found (Mt 13:44; Ps 119:11); alluding to the words of Eliphaz (Job 22:22). There was no need to tell me so; I have done so already (Jer 15:16).
necessary—"Appointed portion" (of food; as in Pr 30:8). Umbreit and Maurer translate, "More than my law," my own will, in antithesis to "the words of His mouth" (Joh 6:38). Probably under the general term, "what is appointed to me" (the same Hebrew is in Job 23:14), all that ministers to the appetites of the body and carnal will is included.
13. in one mind—notwithstanding my innocence, He is unaltered in His purpose of proving me guilty (Job 9:12).
soul—His will (Ps 115:3). God's sovereignty. He has one great purpose; nothing is haphazard; everything has its proper place with a view to His purpose.
14. many such—He has yet many more such ills in store for me, though hidden in His breast (Job 10:13).
15. God's decrees, impossible to be resisted, and leaving us in the dark as to what may come next, are calculated to fill the mind with holy awe [Barnes].
16. soft—faint; hath melted my courage. Here again Job's language is that of Jesus Christ (Ps 22:14).
17. Because I was not taken away by death from the evil to come (literally, "from before the face of the darkness," Isa 57:1). Alluding to the words of Eliphaz (Job 22:11), "darkness," that is, calamity.
cut off—rather, in the Arabic sense, brought to the land of silence; my sad complaint hushed in death [Umbreit]. "Darkness" in the second clause, not the same Hebrew word as in the first, "cloud," "obscurity." Instead of "covering the cloud (of evil) from my face," He "covers" me with it (Job 22:11).