Job 6:14

To him that is afflicted pity [should be showed] from his friend,.... An "afflicted" man is an object of pity, one that is afflicted of God; either inwardly with a wounded spirit, with a sense of

To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. Pity - a proverb [ checed (H2617)].

To him that is afflicted, Heb. to him that is melted or dissolved with afflictions, or in the furnace of afflictions; that is, in extreme miseries; for such persons are said to be melted, as 107:26 119:28 . From his friend: his friend, such as thou, O Eliphaz, pretendest to be to me, should show kindness, benignity, and compassion in his judgment of him, and carriage towards him, and not pass such unmerciful and heavy censures upon him, nor load him with reproaches. But he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty; but thou hast no love or pity for thy neighbour and friend; which is a plain evidence that thou art guilty of that which thou didst charge me with, even with the want of the fear of God; for didst thou truly fear God, thou couldst not, and durst not, be so unmerciful to thy brother, both because God hath severely forbidden and condemned that disposition and carriage, and because God is able to punish thee for it, and mete unto thee the same hard measure which thou meetest to me. But this verse is and may be otherwise rendered, Should a reproach (for so the Hebrew chesed oft signifies) be laid upon him that is afflicted by his friend, even that he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty? Should my friend have fastened such a reproach upon me, than which none is worse, that I am an impious man, and destitute of the fear of God, . This he mentions, as that which was most grievous and intolerable to him.

Job 6:14 To him that is afflicted pity [should be shewed] from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.Ver. 14. To him that is afflicted] Heb. melted, viz. in the furnace of affliction, which melteth men’ s hearts, and maketh them malleable, as fire doth the hardest metals, Psalms 22:15 Joshua 7:5. Pity should be shewed from his friend] By a sweet tender melting frame of spirit, such as was that of the Church, Psalms 102:13, and that of Paul, 2 Corinthians 11:29, "Who is weak, and I am not weak?" sc. by way of sympathy; "who is offended, and I burn not?" when others are hurt, I feel twinges: as the tongue complaineth for the hurt of the toe, and as the heart condoleth with the heel, and there is a fellow feeling amongst all the members; so there is likewise in the mystical body. From his friend] Who is made for the day of adversity, Proverbs 17:17, and should show love at all times, and especially in evil times; but poor Job bewaileth the want of such faithful friends, Aφιλοντοδυστυχες, Et cum fortuna statque caditque fides. David also complaineth to God, his only fast friend, of those that would be the causes, but not the companions, of his calamity, that would fawn upon him in his flourish, but forsake him in his misery. My lovers and friends stand aloof, &c., they looked on him, and so passed by him, as the priest and Levite did the wounded passenger, Luke 10:32. But God takes it ill that any should once look upon his afflicted, unless it be to pity and relieve them, Obadiah 1:12-13, and hath threatened an evil, an only evil, without the least mixture of mercy, to such as show no mercy to those in misery, James 2:13. But he hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty] Which wheresoever it is in the power of it, frameth a man to all the duties both of piety and charity. Obadiah feared God greatly, and it well appeared by his pity to the persecuted prophets. Cornelius feared God, and (as a fruit of it) gave much alms, Acts 10:2. Not so Nabal, that sapless fellow, whose heart was hardened from God’ s holy fear; nor Judas the traitor, who had no heart of compassion towards his innocent Master; and therefore he burst in the midst with a huge crack (ελακησεμεσος), and all his bowels gushed out by a singular judgment, Acts 1:18. There are many other readings of this text, as that of the Tigurine translation, It were fit for friends to show kindness to their friend that is in misery: but the fear of the Almighty hath forsaken me, as you please to say. See what Eliphaz had said to this purpose. Others read it thus, to him that is afflicted should reproach be given, that he hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty? q.d. Must a man therefore be reviled as irreligious because he is calamitous?

(14) But he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.—It is difficult to determine the precise relation of dependent clauses in an archaic language like the Hebrew; but the Authorised Version is, at all events, not correct here, the sense rather being, “Even to one that forsaketh the fear of the Almighty;” or, perhaps, better still, “lest he should forsake;” or, “he may even forsake,” &c.

Verse 14. To him that is afflicted pity should be showed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.] The Vulgate gives a better sense, Qui tollit ab amico suo misericordiam, timorem Domini dereliquit, "He who takes away mercy from his friend, hath cast off the fear of the Lord." The word למס lammas, which we render to him who is AFFLICTED, from מסה masah, to dissolve, or waste away, is in thirty-two of Dr. Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS. למאס lemoes, "to him that despiseth his friend;" and hence the passage may be read: To him who despiseth his friend, it is a reproach; and he will forsake the fear of the Almighty: or, as Mr. Good translates, "Shame to the man who despiseth his friend! He indeed hath departed from the fear of the Almighty." Eliphaz had, in effect, despised Job; and on this ground had acted any thing but the part of a friend towards him; and he well deserved the severe stroke which he here receives. A heathen said, Amicus certus in re incerta cernitur; the full sense of which we have in our common adage:- A FRIEND IN NEED is a FRIEND INDEED Job's friends, so called, supported each other in their attempts to blacken the character of this worthy man; and their hand became the heavier, because they supposed the hand of God was upon him. To each of them, individually, might be applied the words of another heathen: - _____________ Absentem qui rodit amicum, Qui non defendit alio culpante; solutos Qui captat risus hominum, famamque dicacis, Fingere qui non visa potest; commissa tacere Qui nequit; hic niger est; hunc tu, Romane, caveto. HOR. Satyr. lib. i., s. iv., ver. 81. He who, malignant, tears an absent friend; Or, when attack'd by others, don't defend; Who trivial bursts of laughter strives to raise, And courts, of prating petulance, the praise; Of things he never saw who tells his tale, And friendship's secrets knows not to conceal;__ This man is vile; here, Roman, fix your mark; His soul's as black as his complexion's dark. FRANCIS.

14–30. Job’s sorrowful disappointment at the position taken up towards him by his three friends Job had freely expressed his misery in ch. 3, believing that the sympathies of his friends were entirely with him. He is a brother noble, Whose nature is so far from doing harms That he suspects none. Lear, i. 2. And more sorrowful to him than any cold, critical words which they have uttered is the feeling that his friends have taken up such a position against him. This was what he had not looked for. And his disappointment is like that of the thirsty caravan that finds the long-looked-for waters dried up in the heat. Every emotion seems now to find a place in Job’s mind in succession. First, his disappointment, expressed in this beautiful figure, is mixed with the feeling how unworthy his friends’ conduct was. They had not acted to him as men do to one who is, as he describes himself, “despairing” and “losing hold of the fear of the Almighty.” Kindness is due to such a one, but they had turned against him from sheer feebleness of spirit, because they saw that his calamity was from God, Job 6:14-21. Second, this mixed sadness and contempt passes into sarcasm when he tells them that he could have understood their fear if he had asked anything from them—even one’s friends must not be put under that strain—but he sought only sympathy, Job 6:22-23. Third, this sarcasm then gives place to a direct appeal of great severity, in which he demands that they should shew him the sins at which they had indirectly hinted, and wonders at their superficial captiousness in fastening on the mere excited words of a man in despair; adding in terms of bitter invective that their disposition was so hard that they would cast lots for the orphan and make market of their own friend, Job 6:24-27. Finally, he challenges them to seek the explanation of his afflictions on other principles than the supposition of his guiltiness, asking them whether, in asserting his innocence, he would lie in their faces, and if he was not able to say whether his calamities were deserved or not? Job 6:28-30.

To him that is afflicted - Margin, “melteth.” The word here used (מס mâs) is from מסס mâsas, to melt, flow down, waste away, and here means one who pines away, or is consumed under calamities.

Second strophe — The withholding of sympathy has been like the failure of a summer brook, Job 6:14-17.14. The pity his condition calls for, they (his friends) have denied him. To him, etc.