Job 6

The special significance of suffering, therefore, remains unexplained. Its importance as a test of character, its value as a means of discipline and training, and the far more exceeding reward by which it shall be abundantly compensated, are not once suspected. Eliphaz alleges that man suffers because he is a sinner; he knew not that a man may likewise suffer because he is a saint; that he may thus exhibit more distinctly his saintly character; that he may be ripened still more in holiness; and that his final recompense may be proportionately increased. Suffering, to Eliphaz, was ever and only a punishment, a judgment for sin, an infliction of the Divine displeasure. He knew not that it might also be a token of love, a means of grace, a blessing in disguise; that whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. W. H. G.

1. THEN Job answered and said,

2. Oh that my vexation were but weighed, And all my calamity laid in the balances!

3. For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas: Therefore have my words been rash.

4. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, The poison whereof my spirit drinketh up: The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.

5. Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? Or loweth the ox over his fodder?

6. Can that which hath no savour be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

7. My soul refuseth to touch them; They are as loathsome meat to me.

8. Oh that I might have my request; And that God would grant me the thing that I long for!

9. Even that it would please God to crush me; That he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

10. And be it still my consolation, Yea, let me exult in pain that spareth not, That I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11. What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is mine end, that I should be patient?

12. Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass?

13. Is it not that I have no help in me, And that wisdom is driven quite from me?

14. To him that is ready to faint kindness should be shewed from his friend; Even to him that forsaketh (or, Else might he forsake) the fear of the Almighty.

15. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, As the channel of brooks that pass away;

16. Which are black by reason of the ice: And wherein the snow hideth itself:

17. What time they wax warm, they vanish: When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

18. The caravans that travel by the way of them turn aside; They go up into the waste, and perish.

19. The caravans of Tema looked, The companies of Sheba waited for them.

20. They were ashamed because they had hoped; They came thither, and were confounded.

21. For now ye are nothing; Ye see a terror, and are afraid.

22. Did I say, Give unto me? Or, Offer a present for me of your substance?

23. Or, Deliver me from the adversary’s hand? Or, Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?

24. Teach me, and I will hold my peace: And cause me to understand wherein I have erred. 25 How forcible are words of uprightness! But what doth your arguing reprove? 26 Do ye think to reprove words? Seeing that the speeches of one that is desperate are as wind.

JOB’S reply to the first of his three friends falls into three great sections: First, 6:1-13. He defends against the remonstrances of Eliphaz the bitterness of his complaining and his despair. Second, vs. 14-30. He laments with sorrowful disappointment the attitude his friends have taken up toward him. Third, chap. 7. He falls anew into a bitter lamentation over his sorrowful destiny, and appeals against God’s treatment of him in language much more direct and keen than that used in chap. 3. A. B. D.—Job excuses his impatience by the greatness of his sufferings, which his friends have not duly appreciated. He rejects the consolation offered by Eliphaz. He declares expressly that he does not expect a cure, and that a speedy death is his only desire; he complains that his friends do not sympathize with him; he laments the general lot of human nature, and his own in particular; he confesses at last that he is not unjustly punished, but complains that God should so strictly observe and so rigidly punish offences that cannot injure Him. Michaelis.

Chap. 6. There is something very open and engaging in the character of Job as it appears in this speech. He confesses the impatience that Eliphaz found fault with, though he excuses it by the incalculable weight of his affliction (v. 2). He admits that his words have been wild, though he thinks this was but natural when a creature found himself in conflict with God (v. 4). He even suggests to his friends the worth at which to estimate his language when he says that the words of one that is desperate go into the wind (v. 26). And he goes so far as to speak of himself as losing hold of the fear of the Almighty under the trial of his calamities (v. 14). There is something simple, too, and childlike in his defence of his cry of despair by the example of the lower creatures, which also express their pain or want by cries of distress (v. 5). In keeping with this openness in regard to himself is his impatience and resentment of the covert insinuations of his

27. Yea, ye would cast lots upon the fatherless, And make merchandise of your friend. 28 Now therefore he pleased to look upon me; For surely I shall not lie to your face. 29 Return, I pray you, let there be no injustice; Yea, return again, my cause is righteous. 30 Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern mischievous things?

friends through their first spokesman. He demands that they should show him what they are hinting at by the pictures they are drawing and the blind parables they are narrating at him (v. 24); he himself will look them in the face and affirm his innocence (v. 28). And even the one bitter sentence which he utters against their hard-heartedness (v. 27) is quite in harmony with the honest directness of the rest of his words. A. B. D.

1-7. Job meets the arguments of Eliphaz in order. The first point which made Eliphaz doubt the integrity of Job, and on which his argument hinges, was the bitterness of spirit, the “wrath” which Job gave way to in his affliction. Job first addresses himself to this argument. Cook.—The “anger” that Eliphaz has deprecated Job justifies by referring to the unexplained visitation that compels it. Looking into his affliction honestly, and interpreting it according to the only data he has, as God’s especial displeasure, he sees only too much reason for being profoundly disturbed and embittered in soul. J. F. G.

2. He would have his afflictions, inclusive of their distressing impressions on his mind, to be put together in one scale, and weighed against the sand on the seashore in the other scale. This is only a poetical and pathetic manner of saying that his afflictions were insupportable; a consideration which in equitable judgment would at least excuse his intemperate complaint. Scott.

4. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. This is uttered by the patient man, when he would excuse his passion by the terror and agony he was in. He had patience enough for the oppression and rapine of his enemies, for the unkindness and reproach of his friends, and for the cunning and malice of the devil; but he was so transported with the sense of God’s anger, he could not bear that with temper; the apprehension that all these miseries, of so piercing and destroying a nature in themselves, fell upon him not only by God’s permission, to try and humble him, but proceeded directly from His indignation and resolution to destroy him, almost confounded him.

Clarendon.—He saw himself charged by the terrors of God as by an army set in battle-array, and surrounded by them. God, by His terrors, fought against him; as he had no comfort when he retired inward into his own bosom, so he had none when he looked upward toward heaven. He that used to be encouraged with the consolations of God, not only wanted those, but was amazed with the terrors of God. H.

5. Job justifies his complainings by intimating that there is a sufficient reason for them. The wild ass does not bray when it has pasture, nor does the ox low over his fodder, nor would I complain without a cause; but it is not to be expected that I will be silent while either starving or feeding upon bitter or tasteless food. Curry.

6. Can, or do, men use to eat unsavory meats, with delight, or without complaint? That is, Men commonly complain of their meat, when it is unsavory; how much more, when it is so bitter as mine is? Poole.

7. My soul refuseth to touch, they are as loathsome food to me. The translation and meaning of the first clause are clear. Job cannot accept the poison, his soul recoils from it; the sense of the second clause is most probably, “the evils which have come upon me are like diseased or poisonous food,” literally, as disease of my food. This means more than loathsome food—food contaminated and full of disease, food at once disgusting and unwholesome; how, then, can I receive it without such expressions of grief, or wrath, as appear to Eliphaz proofs of sin and unpardonable folly?

8-10. Eliphaz had represented death as the last punishment; Job now declares that it is his only hope. This represents a critical point in the argument; he consoles himself with one thought, that he has not sinned against God; thus, as in all former trials, holding fast his integrity and his allegiance to God. As yet there is no indication of a hope beyond death. Cook,—Job had been courting death, as that which would be the happy period of his miseries (chap. 3). For this Eliphaz had gravely reproved him; but he, instead of unsaying it, says it here again with more vehemence than before; it is as ill said as almost anything we meet with in all his discourses, and is recorded for our admonition, not our imitation. Observe, Though Job was extremely desirous of death, and very angry at its delays, yet he did not offer to destroy himself, nor to take away his own life; only he begged that it would please God to destroy him. H.—In all his sufferings Job never intimates a thought of taking his own life. The old Hebrew mind would have spurned the effeminacy that expresses itself in the “Morals” of Seneca (commending suicide in cases of hopeless afflictions). That mind was strong to bear the ills of life so long as it pleased God. In the entire Old Testament there is no trace of suicide apart from war, except in the case of the miserable Ahithophel. J. S. Burr.

10. The general connection is clear; some words are difficult, but the words may be more clearly expressed, so would it still be my comfort, and in the midst of my unsparing anguish would I exult that I have not denied—that is, renounced, the words of the Holy One. This comfort was not merely that death would end his troubles, but that to the last he has the consciousness of having kept the faith. Cook.—I would set myself to bear the pangs and agonies of death if I had but this hope, that my misery was near expiring; for I have the testimony of a good conscience, which tells me that I have not smothered any light which God hath sent me, but that I have been faithful to Him, His cause, and His truth. Caryl.—Job had the words of the Holy One committed to him. The people of God were, at that time, blessed with Divine revelation. It was his comfort that he had not concealed them, had not received the grace of God therein in vain. He had not kept them from himself, but had given them full scope to operate upon him, and in everything to guide and govern him. He had not kept them to himself, but had been ready on all occasions to communicate his knowledge for the good of others; was never ashamed or afraid to own the Word of God to be his rule, nor remiss in his endeavors to bring others into an acquaintance with it. Those, and those only, may promise themselves comfort in death who are good and do good while they live.

11,12. He justifies himself in this extreme desire of death, from the deplorable condition he was now in. Disconsolate spirits will reason strangely against themselves. Is my strength the strength of stones? Are my muscles brass and sinews steel? No, they are not, and therefore I cannot hold out always in this pain and misery, but must needs sink under the load. Had I strength to grapple with my distemper, I might hope to look through it; but, alas! I have not. H.—This note of self-distrust, as Job looks forward to a life of pain, deepens our sense of his heroic loyalty. To be patient without any outlook, to endure without Divine support—Job does not promise it, and he trembles at the prospect; but none the less he sets his feet on the toilsome way. J. F. G.

14-30. Job, having thus briefly disposed of the arguments urged by Eliphaz, takes up another position, and attacks his friends, first for their neglect of the first duty of friends, compassion for the afflicted (14-21); and then for their failure in argument, accompanied by injustice and cruelty, which involve far deeper guilt than idle and hasty words wrung from a sufferer.

14. To him. This expresses the sense of the Hebrew, though not the full force of the words or the conciseness of the phrase, “To the afflicted from his friend pity;” the latter clause means either “should he forsake the fear of the Almighty,” or “lest he forsake.” This gives a satisfactory sense; friends should above all things soothe a man’s feelings lest he be driven to desperation. The word for afflicted is very graphic, “melted down,” “dissolved,” alluding, it may be, to the effect of the poisoned arrows (v. 4). Cook.—Surely those have no fear of the rod of God upon themselves who have no compassion for those who feel the smart of it. Troubles are the trials of friendship. When a man is afflicted, he will see who are his friends indeed, and who are but pretenders; for a brother is born for adversity. H. —Human sympathy is a great help in keeping alive a sufferer’s trust in God. God ministers His own pity often through His servants. It is a Christian truth, illustrated by the highest and most sacred relations; for surely we are encouraged to trust in God’s pity when we remember how the human Christ was and is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. We may, by hardness or lack of sympathy for one in sorrow, alienate him not only from us, but from God. V.

15-21. 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. A. B. D.—The imagery of this passage is taken from a land intersected by ravines, deep wadys dry in summer, and filled suddenly after storms by torrents from neighboring heights. This corresponds most exactly with the descriptions of the Hauran, in which there is no river flowing through the summer; whereas in winter torrents rush with great impetuosity through cavernous ravines from the Jebel Hauran.

15. The channel of brooks. The former word denotes the deep wady or ravine through which the brook or torrent rushes, often with much noise and vehemence, soon passing away, and leaving only a heap of shingle. The simile is remarkably complete: when little needed the torrent overflows, when needed it disappears; in winter it does not fertilize, in summer it is dried up; nor is it merely useless; it deceives, alluring the traveller by the appearance of verdure, promising refreshment and giving none. Such were the friends of Job with their noisy grief and vehement gesticulations, and the absence of genuine sympathy. Cook.

21. For now ye are nothing. Job at length applies the similitude to his friends. Ye are now nothing; ye are of no service in assuaging my affliction; ye have deceived even the lowest expectation of relief, as a torrent, whose waters have passed away, frustrates the hopes of a thirsty traveller. Rosenmüller.

It is from this view of friendship that the way begins to diverge by which Job arrives in time to a point wholly opposite to theirs, where he is fully fixed by faith on God. That God has afflicted him is no reason why friendship should be withdrawn; rather he needs friends the more as he feels himself slipping away from his old moorings in God. He desires simply that their natural affection remain undisturbed by what they see of his disease, and be kept faithful to his essential righteousness. J. F. G.

22,23. His 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. A. B. D.—A bitter irony, implying that he might have been foolish had he counted upon substantial help, but that it was impossible to foresee that his friends would withhold the simple boon of pity, costing neither money nor exertion.

24,25. Job demands that since his friends have neither helped nor comforted him, they should at least convince him of error, pointing out in what his assumed guilt consisted. Eliphaz had inferred his folly, or sin, from the fact

of his wrath. (See 5:2.) With that accusation Job has already dealt, and now calls for more substantial reasons. Cook.—If, instead of invidious reflections and uncharitacle insinuations, you will give me plain instructions and solid arguments, which shall carry their own evidence along with them, I am ready to acknowledge my error, and own myself in a fault; Teach me, and I will hold my tongue, for I have often found with pleasure and wonder how forcible right words are; but the method you take will never make proselytes; what doth your arguing reprove? Your hypothesis is false, your surmises are groundless, your management weak, and your application peevish and uncharitable. H.