Job 17

Ver. 4, 5. — shall the earth be forsaken for thee? &c.] As if Bildad had said, What is this wonderful man, that he expects to see all things destroyed, the earth and the heavens to pass away, that there may be a proper time to do him justice? Is it not more reasonable to think that God will do justice here, than that all the works of nature should be destroyed to make way for judgment? “Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.” Bp. Sherlock.

Job 17:2

2—4. Are there not mockers with me? &c.] As in the fourth verse Job addresses his speech to God, so in the two preceding he points at and addresses himself to his mistaken friends. “Are there not mockers with me? lay down now (some pledge), put me in a surety with

Job 17:4

4. And be it indeed that I have erred, &c.] If I have erred, I am the sufferer, not you. Rosemüller.

4—6. And be it indeed &c.] Let it be granted that I am in an error; if ye upon that ground “magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach,” then “know that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with His net:” this answer may put you to silence. As if he had said, The hand of God is upon me; why do you lift up your heads against me? doth it become you to magnify yourselves, because God hath brought me low? Caryl.

Job 17:5

5. [He that speaketh flattery to his friends, &c.] This is to be understood as an apology for the contemptuous mention of his friends just before. I cannot flatter you, says Job: the man that will give up truth for a compliment, deserves to be punished even in his posterity. Bp. Stock.

Job 17:6

6. — aforetime I was as a tabret.] I was in good repute, was as welcome as a tabret. Caryl. Or, “He,” namely Eliphax, “has made me a byword of the people, and I shall be,” or “that I may be, an example before them.” The word, rendered “tabret” in our version, may signify a sign or example to others, according to the Latin Vulgate. Parkhurst.

7. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, &c.] The houses of Egypt, according to Maillet, are never without lights in the night-time. If such was the ancient custom, not only of Egypt, but of the neighbouring countries of Judea and Arabia, it will strongly illustrate this passage, chap. xxi. 17; Ps. xviii. 28; cxxxii. 17; Jer. xxv. 10; and other passages. In chap. xxix. 3, there is probably an allusion to the lamps, which hung from the ceiling in the banqueting rooms of the wealthy Arabs. Parkhurst.

An Arabian poet expresses the permanent prosperity of his family, almost in the very words of Bildad: “Neither is our fire, lighted for the benefit of the night stranger, extinguished.” There is an allusion to the Arabian fires of hospitality, or beacons lighted on the tops of hills by Arabians of distinction, to direct and invite travellers to their houses and tables. Scott.

Job 17:7

7. Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow.] It is evident even to common observation, that great sorrow and weeping will have nearly the same effect on the eyes as old age. Compare Ps. vi. 7; xxxi. 9. Parkhurst.

8. — there is no judgment.] There is no one to judge between me and my brethren in this case. Caryl.

Job 17:8

8. Upright men shall be astonished at this.] Upright men hereafter will be astonished at the cruel sentence which my friends pass upon me; and the innocent will

9. — he walketh upon a snare.] Or, “he runneth to and fro in the toils.” The metaphor is taken from a beast, which the hunters have driven into the toils. He runs here and there striving to find a way out, till at length it fastens upon him. The word “robber” in the next verse having no relation to the preceding metaphor, it would be rendered more properly, “and the noose fasteneth close upon him.” Heath.

Job 17:9

9. The righteous also shall hold on his way.] Shall not leave the ways of piety, notwithstanding his crosses, or your wrong censures. Bp. Wilson. Notwithstanding this scandal of my sufferings, and all other discouragements which he may meet with. Clark.

10. — the crown] This may mean the richer kind of turban, which is worn by persons of distinction among the Arabs at this day. It appears to have been the same with the tiara or diadem. Or the expression may be metaphorical; and the “glory” and “the crown” may denote his dignity, and the honours paid to his authority, justice, and beneficence. Scott.

Job 17:10

10. — do ye return, and come now:] Give up your unjust opinion of me, and listen to my words, which declare the truth, and contain wholesome instruction. Rosemüller.

11. He hath destroyed me on every side.] He hath brought me to such utter ruin, that, like a tree plucked up by the roots, I have not so much as hope remaining, which is the only comfort of the wretched. Bp. Patrick.

Job 17:11

11. — the thoughts of my heart.] Literally, the possessors of my heart: that is, thoughts or purposes, which had taken entire possession of it. Parkhurst.

12. — shall drive him to his feet.] They shall make him flee or run; force him to have recourse to his feet. Caryl.

Job 17:12

12. They change the night into day.] My great afflictions change my night into day; causing me to pass over that time of darkness without any rest, so that my thoughts are no less busy than in the day; and so great is the darkness of my misery, that it eclipseth my day, and makes it either short or none. Bp. Hall.

13. And where is now my hope? Where is my hope of future prosperity, with which you seek to delude me? Clark.

14. His strength shall be hungerbitten.] Shall decay for want of food. Clark.

15. His troops come together.] Whole armies of evils, by His order, have at the same time invaded me, and laid so close a siege to me, that not the smallest comfort that I had could escape their fury. Bp. Patrick. These metaphors are borrowed from the works cast up by a besieging army, for the annoyance of a city with their arrows and engines of war, Isai. xxxvii. 33. Scott.

Job 17:13

13. — even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.] The most cruel and painful death shall make an end of all his power and glory. Bp. Hall.

The sentence of death, pronounced on all mankind, gave birth to diseases; which therefore by a sublime allegory are styled the offspring of death: and the most horrible disease, that which hath the pre-eminence in cruelty, is called his “firstborn,” his might and the beginning of his strength. Scott.

Job 17:14

14. His confidence &c.] That is, his hopes, his fortune, his family. Heath.

— it shall bring him to the king of terrors.] His broken confidence shall bring him to death: the ruin of all his hopes shall hasten his death. Caryl.

Job 17:15

15. It shall dwell in his tabernacle.] Yes, this terrour shall dwell and continue in his tabernacle, which, though he possesses it, his conscience tells him is not his own, since he has gained it by extortion and violence; and God shall rain down brimstone upon it, as He did upon Sodom. Bp. Hall.

The Hebrew poets and Prophets used the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah as an image of all other desolating judgments of God. Bp. Lowth.

15. They that dwell in mine house.] The clients of about 1520.

Job 17:16

16. They shall go down to the bars of the pit.] Those hopes you speak of shall go down with me to the bottom of the grave, and shall rest with me together in the dust. Bp. Hall.

You see me dying, and yet you bid me hope for better days; (see chap. v. 19—26; viii. 5—7, 20—22; xi. 15—20;) instead of comforting me with a prospect and hope of a reward hereafter, for mine integrity here. Bp. Wilson.

— the bars of the pit.] Or, the hidden recesses of the grave: the same with “the gates of death,” chap. xxxviii. 17; and “gates of the grave,” Isai. xxxviii. 10. Chappelow.

Chap. XVIII. Bildad has nothing to add to the argument, that misery is the lot only of the wicked, except

Before CHRIST about 1526. Bildad reproveth him of presumption. CHAP. XVIII. The calamities of the wicked. Before CHRIST about 1520. seal. Or, lamp. hidden.

16. His roots shall be dried up beneath.] He shall be like a withered tree, whose roots being once dried up below, the branches are presently cut down for firewood. Bp. Hall.

Job 17:17

17. — he shall have no name in the street.] Perhaps an allusion is here made to the custom of placing monumental inscriptions near the road. Dr. Durell.

The word rendered “street,” means “an out-place;” “a field:” and it is so translated in the text and margin of chap. v. 10. It seems to allude to the want of a sepulchral monument; for the Eastern nations still bury their dead without their cities, in the fields. Parkhurst.

Job complaineth of his friends’ cruelty. about 1520. with him. hold on horror.

Job 17:20

20. — at his day.] The word “day,” without any addition, is frequently used in Scripture to signify an eminently evil day, as in Ps. cxxxvii. 7, “Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem.” The meaning of the whole verse is this: As they who lived at the time when God brought those evils upon him were affrighted, so they who come after shall be astonished at him; the former were terrified by the sight of the judgments, the latter shall be astonished at the report of them. Caryl.

An allusion is here made to the eighth verse of the former chapter: men will be astonished, not, as Job observed, at the fate of the innocent, but at the severe judgment that befalls the wicked. Michaelis.

Job 17:21

21. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked.] Though all these observations concerning affliction are true of the wicked, yet they must not be applied to all that are visited with affliction: for affliction is sometimes the portion of God’s children, as it was in this case of Job. Bp. Wilson.

Chap. XIX. Wearied with incessant reproaches and accusations, Job, in his reply to Bildad, laments the estrangement of his friends and family in the most pathetic terms; and attributes it to the Divine wrath; and despairing of redress, or the vindication of his innocence in this life, he makes a solemn appeal to his Redeemer; and professes his belief, that he shall be acquitted at his resurrection, in the general judgment: and bids his friends beware, lest God should afflict them with those common visitations here of the sword, &c. which were designed to shew God’s judgments on sinners. Dr. Hales.

Ver. 3. — ye make yourselves strange to me.] You act as strangers, not as friends. You reproach me, as

thrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.