Job 19:23

O that my words were now written!.... Not his things (q), 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

Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!

My words; either, 1. The following and famous confession of his faith, , &c. Or rather, 2. All his foregoing discourses with his friends, which he was so far from disowning or being ashamed of, that he was desirous that all ages should know, that they might judge between him and them, whose cause was better, and whose arguments were stronger.

Job 19:23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!Ver. 23. Oh that my words were now written!] This reiterated wish Job setteth as a preamble to that ensuing memorable testimony of the resurrection, as a matter most weighty and worthy the consideration of all ages; which therefore he wisheth recorded in some public instrument to all eternity; and God said Amen to it. For not only this precious passage, but the whole Book of Job, so full of divine instruction preparatory to the last day, was committed to writing (either by Moses, or some other prophet of that age, or else by Job himself after his restoration), and put among the canonical books of Scripture; concerning which David saith, "For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven," Psalms 119:89. And Christ, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle," &c., Matthew 5:18. Not one hair of that sacred head can fall to the earth. Thus God hath answered Job, ad cardinem desiderii, as a Father speaketh, letting it be to him even as he would (Aug. Confess. 1. 5, c. 8). Oh that they were printed] Or drawn out, that is, written (saith one) in great and capital letters, that every man might read them, Habakkuk 2:2, for there was no printing in those days that we know of. The Chinese indeed tell us that they had the art of printing long before. But in Europe it was not heard of till the year 1440. It begun to be practised at Haarlem, in the Low Countries (by Lawrence Jans, say some, by John Guttenberg, say others), and was perfected at Mentz, where Cicero’ s Offices, the first book that ever was printed, is still kept for a monument. In a book!] That it might be preserved and laid up for the use of posterity, in some Kiriahsepher, or city of books. Let them that are able, be apt and active in setting forth books for the benefit of others, since Paulum sepultae distat inertiae celata virtus - (Horat.), he that buried his talents gave a heavy account to the master, and was therefore called evil, because an idle servant, Matthew 25:26

(23) Oh that my words were now written!—Some understand this to refer to the words he is about to utter; by others they are interpreted generally. The former view is probably owing to the Christian acceptation given to them, and the consequently great importance attaching to them. Since, however, the three verses, Job 19:25-27, are manifestly more emphatic than any he has yet spoken, though they do not stand quite alone, there is no reason why it should not be especially these very words which he desires more than any others to have recorded. Perhaps the “now” = here shows this. Oh that they were printed.—This points us to primitive time, when writing materials and the use of writing involved more or less of engraving, as, for instance, in later times was the case with tablets of wax.

Verse 23. O that my words were now written!] Job introduces the important subject which follows in a manner unusually solemn; and he certainly considers the words which he was about to utter of great moment, and therefore wishes them to be recorded in every possible way. All the modes of writing then in use he appears to refer to. As to printing, that should be out of the question, as no such art was then discovered, nor for nearly two thousand years after. Our translators have made a strange mistake by rendering the verb יחקו yuchaku, printed, when they should have used described, traced out. O that my words were fairly traced out in a book! It is necessary to make this remark, because superficial readers have imagined that the art of printing existed in Job's time, and that it was not a discovery of the fifteenth century of the Christian era: whereas there is no proof that it ever existed in the world before A.D. 1440, or thereabouts, for the first printed book with a date is a psalter printed by John Fust, in 1457, and the first Bible with a date is that by the same artist in 1460. Three kinds of writing Job alludes to, as being practised in his time: 1. Writing in a book, formed either of the leaves of the papyrus, already described, (see on Job 8:11,) or on a sort of linen cloth. A roll of this kind, with unknown characters, I have seen taken out of the envelopments of an Egyptian mummy. Denon, in his travels in Egypt, gives an account of a book of this kind, with an engraved facsimile, taken also out of an Egyptian mummy. 2. Cutting with an iron stile on plates of lead. 3. Engraving on large stones or rocks, many of which are still found in different parts of Arabia. To the present day the leaves of the palm tree are used in the East instead of paper, and a stile of brass, silver, iron, c., with a steel point, serves for a pen. By this instrument the letters are cut or engraved on the substance of the leaf, and afterwards some black colouring matter is rubbed in, in order to make the letters apparent. This was probably the oldest mode of writing, and it continues among the Cingalese to the present day. It is worthy of remark that PLINY (Hist. Nat., lib. xiii., c. 11) mentions most of these methods of writing, and states that the leaves of the palm tree were used before other substances were invented. After showing that paper was not used before the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great, he proceeds: In palmarum foliis primo scriptitatum deinde quarundam arborum libris: postea publica monumenta plumbeis voluminibus, mox et privata linteis confici caepta, aut ceris. "At first men wrote on palm tree leaves, and afterwards on the bark or rind of other trees.

23–27. Job turns to the future. He desires that his protestation of innocence could find indelible record in the rock, that it might stand a perpetual witness to all generations. But he shall have something greater: he knows that God will yet appear for his vindication, and that he shall see Him with joy. The passage should probably be read something as follows: 23 Oh now that my words were written, Oh that they were inscribed in a book; 24 That with a pen of iron and lead They were graven in the rock for ever. 25 But I know that my redeemer liveth, And in after time he shall stand upon the dust, 26 And after this my skin is destroyed And without my flesh I shall see God: 27 Whom I shall see for myself, And mine eyes shall behold and not another— My reins consume within me! In Job 19:21-22 Job in his terror of God appealed to his friends for pity, but probably he saw no signs of relenting there. They could not relent; their friend might be dear, but truth and religion were greater. Secure in their principles, their countenances shewed but austere reprobation of their wicked friend. They will be more austere because they are putting down humanity and sacrificing themselves in being austere. And turning from them the desire suddenly seizes Job to make his appeal to posterity, to record in writing his protestation of his innocence, or to grave it in the rock, that when he is gone men might read it to all time. Yet this thought satisfies him but for a moment. Even if the generations to come should pass a more gentle sentence upon him than his own time, being better able to estimate his circumstances and no more warped by the heats of controversy, and more inclined amidst the acknowledged mystery of his life to allow weight to the persistent testimony of his conscience, as that behind which it is impossible to go—even if they should not only mitigate but reverse the judgment of his contemporaries, how small a thing that would be to him. And his mind rebounds from this thought forward to a greater—he knows that his redeemer liveth and shall appear for his vindication and peace. Additional Note on Ch. Job 19:23-27 In these verses Job anticipates that God will appear and interpose in his behalf to vindicate him, and that he shall see God, and he faints before the joyful vision. The meaning is sufficiently clear except in Job 19:25-26, in regard to which some difference of opinion prevails. The point on which interpreters differ is chiefly the question, When, according to Job’s anticipation, shall this appearance of God on his behalf take place? Shall it be before or after his death? The difference of view arises greatly from the ambiguity of the word umibbesârî, and from my flesh, Job 19:26 (see notes), though other points of construction are also involved.

Oh that my words were now written! - Margin, as in Hebrew, “Who will give;” a common mode of expressing desire among the Hebrews. This expression of desire introduces one of the most important passages in the book of Job.

23. Written — So ancient is the knowledge of writing that Pliny says “it appears to have been in use from all eternity.” It is now conceded that to the parent Semitic tribe belongs the honour to have