Job 11

— deeper than hell.] The concealed or unseen place of the dead: see the note on chap. xxvi. 6. But it may be a question, whether the word, translated “hell,” does not signify sometimes a great invisible depth under ground, without any reference to the dead. See Deut. xxxii. 22; Ps. cxxxix. 8; Ezek. xxxi. 17; Amos ix. 2. Parkhurst.

Chap. XII. ver. 2. No doubt but ye are the people, &c.] This is ironically spoken. Ye are the only wise; with you shall all wisdom expire. Capellus.

3. — yea, who knoweth not such things as these? Even the meanest understand that God is infinite in wisdom, power, and justice: but that is not the question between us. Clark.

4. I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: These are the words of one entertaining good hopes of God’s assistance. As if he had said, God has heard me before, when I have called upon Him: He will do the same now. Nevertheless you deride me. Poole.

Job 11:5

5. He that is ready to slip with his feet] To slip with the feet is to fall into affliction. A despised lamp is of the same signification with a smoking firebrand, which last is a proverb for that which is almost spent, and therefore despised and thrown away as useless. Caryl, Poole.

Job 11:7

7—9. But ask now the beasts, &c.] The connexion here is to be traced back to the end of the third verse: “yea, who knoweth not such things as these?” Rosenmüller.

This beautiful apostrophizing of the inanimate and brute creation is only a poetical way of saying, that the great Author and Disposer of life had given into the hands of robbers the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven, &c. Such men, he complains, possess the largest property and use of the brute creation, and of the produce of the earth; which they abuse to the purposes of luxury and riot. Scott.

7. But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee;] The creatures teach us that there is a God, and much of that which God is—they teach us also ready obedience to the will of God: all creatures obey the law of their creation: they teach us also dependence upon God: the eyes of all wait or look up unto God (Ps. cxlv. 15.) that they may receive good. Caryl.

8. — hath wrought this? Has by His Divine power and providence disposed of all things that concern them. Clark.

9. Doth not the ear try words? We may read these words comparatively, (as we find them, chap. xxxiv. 3.) “the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat.” Caryl.

Job 11:10

10. — shut up, or gather together.] Deliver into the enemies’ hand, Ps. xxxi. 8, or bring them back after they had been scattered abroad. Clark.

Job 11:11

11. For he knoweth vain men.] For he knows vain men, (who mind not what they say or do,) He sees their most hidden wickedness; and will He not punish it? Bp. Patrick.

11—13. Doth not the ear try words? &c.] Doth not the understanding judge of the truth of what is spoken? therefore do not rashly condemn me or my doctrine without a due trial; much more may they who have lived to a great age attain the knowledge of Divine truths: and though these should want it, still with Him, ver. 13, that is, with God, “is wisdom, &c.” Clark.

“Doth not the ear try words, as the palate tasteth food?” Job, being about to speak of the supreme and absolute dominion of God over His creatures, begins with two proverbial expressions, in which he seems to insinuate that he wished for other judges of what he had to say; who, endued with a more mature and solid

Job 11:12

12. — though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.] That is, were he left to himself, and suffered to take his own course without being controlled, did he follow the dictates of his natural appetites, and, void of discipline and instruction, yield to the dominion of headstrong passions, he is then in effect no better than a wild ungovernable creature. This is true in a general sense, but it is said, with a particular view, we may suppose to Job. The reflection is perhaps the more severe, because robbers and plunderers are distinguished by the odious title of “wild asses in the desert, rising betimes for a prey,” chap. xxiv. 5. It was moreover a common reproach among the Arabians, when they spoke of a perverse obstinate man, tenacious of his own ways, and a despiser of other people’s advice, to say, “Such an one is a young wild ass by himself.” Chappelow.

Job 11:14

14. — tabernacles.] Tents having been the ancient dwellings of men, the term was retained after the invention of more durable and fixed habitations. Job, it is certain, lived in a city, chap. xxix. 7; yet his house is called a “tabernacle,” or tent, chap. xxix. 4. Scott.

Job 11:15

15. — without spot.] This is a scriptural phrase to denote innocence and integrity, Numb. xix. 2; Heb. ix. 14; Eph. v. 27. “Fair in calamity” is a character, among the Arabians, of one, who bears his misfortunes with a composed steadiness. They likewise distinguish a man of honour, true nobility, and figure, as having

Job 11:16

16. — remember it as waters that pass away.] That is, thou shalt not remember it at all. The memory of thy afflictions will be wholly effaced, like the winter torrents, which are utterly evaporated in the beginning of summer, chap. vi. 15, 17. Scott.

Job 11:17

17. And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday.] That is, thy latter end shall be full of comfort, and thou shalt rejoice in the serenity of thy condition. Caryl.

Job 11:18

18, 19. And thou shalt be secure, &c.] These two verses contain, if I mistake not, a pleasing rural scene; green pastures, wells of water, flocks and herds couched around them, and a little camp of Arabian shepherds enclosing the whole. The expression “thou shalt dig,” refers most probably, as Heath remarks, to digging of wells or springs, a circumstance frequently mentioned in the patriarchal history. The word translated “thou shalt lie down,” denotes properly the decumbent posture of cattle, after they have well fed, and when they repose at night. As to the encampment, it was the custom, as Heath observes, of the Eastern people to pitch their tents nigh wells, for the conveniency of water for their cattle. The security also, here promised, expresses the protection wanted to defend them from wild beasts, and from the incursions of the thirivish Arabs of the desert. The “hope,” mentioned in the former of these two verses as the ground of security, can be no other than hope in God; that firm dependence on Divine Providence, which good men are warranted to entertain. Scott.

Job 11:19

19. — many shall make suit unto thee.] Shall court thy friendship, as in the instances of Abraham and Isaac, Gen. xxi. 22; xxvi. 28. Grotius.

Job 11:20

20. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail.] By being intently fixed on thy happiness, which they cannot enjoy; as the sight is dimmed, while we gaze incessantly on one object. Michaelis. “Failing of the eyes” is one of those expressions in Scripture to be admired for their beautiful simplicity. It represents a very eager and passionate desire to obtain that which we are in pursuit of, and at the same time the great uneasiness which must unavoidably follow from a disappointment. One of the appeals which Job makes in vindication of his integrity, is, “If I have caused the eyes of the widow to fall,” chap. Job maintaineth himself against his friends that reprove him. Before CHRIST about 1530. # CHAP. XII.