Job 21:12

They take the timbrel and harp,.... Not the children, but the parents of them; these took these instruments of music into their hands, and played upon them while their children danced; thus merrily

They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. Take - rather, lift up the voice (sing) to the note of [ naasaa' (H5375)] (Isaiah 42:11). (Umbreit.) Timbrel - rather, tambourine.

Job 21:12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.Ver. 12. They take the timbrel and the harp] They take them, and are taken with them, being melted in sensual delights, which wise men slight. The philosopher told the fiddlers that he could be merry without music. Aristotle said, Jupiter is happy, and yet no musician. One in Plutarch saith of the Scythians, that though they had no music nor vines among them, yet they had God. It is here alleged, as a piece of their lasciviousness and luxury, that they took or touched the timbrel, &c. Not but that music is lawful, for this is the gift of God, and a noble art; but the abuse of it is here noted, as likewise Isaiah 5:12 Amos 6:5. These wicked and their children lived in pleasure upon earth (which is not a place for such a purpose; God did not cast man out of one paradise that he might make himself another), James 5:5, and were like the people of Tombutum, in Africa, who are said to spend their whole time in singing and dancing. It is not good for men to take pleasure in pleasure, to spend too much time in it, as Solomon did, and afterwards Cleopatra. It was not simply a sin in Esau to go a hunting; but yet the more he used it the more profane he waxed, and came at length to contemn his birthright. They rejoice at the sound of the organ] Their mirth was merely carnal; they did rather revel than rejoice. Their cheerfulness did not end in thankfulness; their music made them not more heavenly minded, as it did that late learned and holy Mr Esty, who when he sat and heard a sweet concert of music, seemed upon this occasion carried up for the time beforehand to the place of his rest, saying very passionately, What music may we think there is in heaven! (Dr Hall, Art of Div. Medit.) The instrument here mentioned hath its name (as Mercer noteth) Ab amore, oblectatione, et lusu, from love, delight, and sport. Amabit sapiens, cupient caeteri, saith Seneca.

(11, 12) They send forth their little ones . . .—In striking contrast to the fate of Job’s own children, and in contradiction to what Eliphaz had said (Job 15:29-33).

Verse 12. They take the timbrel and harp] ישאו yisu, they rise up or lift themselves up, probably alluding to the rural exercise of dancing. תף toph, which we translate timbrel, means a sort of drum, such as the tom-tom of the Asiatics. כנור kinnor may mean something of the harp kind. עוגב ugab, organ, means nothing like the instrument now called the organ, though thus translated both by the Septuagint and Vulgate; it probably means the syrinx, composed of several unequal pipes, close at the bottom, which when blown into at the top, gives a very shrill and lively sound. To these instruments the youth are represented as dancing joyfully. Mr. Good translates: "They trip merrily to the sound of the pipe." And illustrates his translation with the following verse: - "Now pursuing, now retreating, Now in circling troops they meet; To brisk notes in cadence beating, Glance their many twinkling feet." The original is intended to convey the true notion of the gambols of the rustic nymphs and swains on festival occasions, and let it be observed that this is spoken of the children of those who say unto God, "Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have if we pray unto him ?" Job 21:14-15. Is it any wonder that the children of such parents should be living to the flesh, and serving the lusts of the flesh? for neither they nor their parents know God, nor pray unto him.

12. And they themselves pass their days in gladness, surrounded with all the charms of life. They take the timbrel] Rather, they sing to, i. e. to the accompaniment of, the timbrel and the lute; lit. they lift up the voice, cf. Psalms 49:4. The timbrel is the tambourine. the sound of the organ] Rather, of the pipe, Genesis 4:21, cf. Isaiah 5:12.

They take the timbrel - They have instruments of cheerful music in their dwellings; and this is an evidence that they are not treated as the friends of Job had maintained.

12. They take- Literally, They lift up (the voice) with the tabret, etc. The timbrel -Toph, (comp. Genesis 31:27,) appears to have been a small hand drum, such as was known among the ancient Egyptians, Assyrians, and Hebrews.