Job 23

Job 23:2

2. Some remove the landmarks;] As in these countries the pastures and corn fields were not enclosed, they had no other way of distinguishing the limits of each other’s grounds but by boundary stones. He here describes that sort of injustice which the Prophet complains of, Mic. ii. 2. Scott.

Job 23:3

3. — the ass of the fatherless, — the widow’s ox] This is another species of wrong. They deprive the fatherless and widow of their only means of supporting themselves: for they could not prepare their little farm for sowing without an ox, or beeve, to till it; or bring in their corn, if they had any, without an ass to carry the burden. Scott.

Job 23:5

5. — as wild asses in the desert, &c.] Robbers are here well compared to wild asses, as they lie hid in solitary places. Grotius.

Bochart observes, that a robber can be compared to a wild ass in no other respect, than as he lives in the desert; for a wild ass is not a rapacious animal. Dr. Durell.

Job 23:6

6, 7. Will he plead against me &c.] I know He is gracious: He would not stand either upon His rigour or His power over me; but would mercifully sustain me, and give me courage and ability to stand out in the maintenance of my sincerity before Him. Upon these terms, a man of upright heart might hold a lowly contention with Him; which once done, being absolved by His most just sentence, I should be delivered for ever from the slanders and condemnations of my unjust censurers. Bp. Hall.

6. They reap every one his corn in the field: &c.] The following is a more intelligible reading of this verse, “they reap corn in the field which is not their own: and the wicked gather the vintage of others.” Rosemüller.

“Corn,” in the Hebrew, “mingled corn, or dredge,” says the margin. Job apparently alludes to the proven-

rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.

Job 23:7

7. — they have no covering in the cold.] Irwin found the cold of the desert which he passed through very severe at times: and very cold rains and snow descend in some of the hilly parts of these southeastern countries. Harmer.

— in the cold.] In Arabia Petrea, Job’s country, the day is intensely hot, and the night intensely cold. Dr. Shaw. See the note on Gen. xxxi. 40.

Job 23:8

8—10. Behold, I go forward, &c.] We may observe, that the thought which gives, or ought to give the wicked pain, namely, that the eye of God observes them, and that His power and justice reach to a future and invisible state, is what Job takes refuge in, as the only source of comfort to him in the depth of his distress. The present passage is remarkable to this purpose, where, after expressing the greatest earnestness to come before God and take his trial; turning himself this way and that way, and as it were feeling after Him, to find Him out, but in vain, (ver. 8, 9,) he cheers himself at last with this reflection, (ver. 10,) “But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” If we compare this with the several passages in Job’s speeches, where he absolutely despairs of any temporal deliverance, we must of necessity understand it of the hope he entertained of having his innocence cleared in the day of judgment.

There is a passage in the Book of Wisdom, which, if not borrowed from this of Job, affords at least a fine illustration of it, chap. iii. 4—6. Speaking of the happy lot of good men after death, who had been wretched and afflicted here, “Though they be punished,” says the author, “in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality. And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for Himself. As gold in the furnace hath He tried them, and received them as a burnt offering.” Peters.

8. — embrace the rock for want of a shelter.] They, that is, “the naked,” in the preceding verse, are fain to seek shelter of the rock, to keep them from the violence of the weather. Bp. Hall.

This exactly agrees with what Niebuhr says of the modern wandering Arabs near mount Sinai: “Those who cannot afford a tent, spread out a cloth upon four or six stakes; and others spread a cloth near a tree, or endeavour to shelter themselves from the heat and the rain in the cavities of the rock.” Parkhurst.

Job 23:9

9. They pluck the fatherless from the breast,] Nay, the persons of men are not safe from the violence of these outlaws: but they snatch away young children from their mothers’ breasts, and carry away the poor, pretending they owe them something, to make them their slaves. Bp. Patrick.

— and take a pledge of the poor.] “And take that which is upon the poor for a pledge:” that is, his upper garment or hyke, for security of a debt. See the note on chap. xxii. 6. Scott.

Job 23:10

10. — take away the sheaf from the hungry;] They will not suffer him who is ready to starve to eat of the sheaf which he hath gleaned. Bp. Patrick.

Job 23:11

11, 12. My foot hath held his steps, &c.] The morality of Job was not less excellent than his theology; in these verses he expresses his undeviating obedience to the law of God, and his delight therein. It is evident from this

I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

11. Which make oil &c.] They cause these miserable creatures to press out their oil and their wine in their cellars, but let them not taste a drop, though they be ready to die with thirst. Bp. Patrick.

Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.] Rather, “they work at midday among their walls, they tread winepresses, and suffer thirst.” For it is difficult to say what greater hardships attended making oil within walls than in the open air, nor does any contrast appear between their labour as to this and what followed; but a contrast does appear between treading winepresses, and suffering thirst, in

Before CHRIST about 1520. mingled corn, or, dredge. wicked gather the vintage.

Job 23:14

14. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me.] For what He hath resolved to inflict upon me, that I find He will accomplish. Bp. Patrick.

— and many such things are with him.] Many such things, as these proceedings with me, doth He, in His great and unlimited power, and unsearchable wisdom, bring to pass; whereof we can give no reason or judgment. Bp. Hall.

Job 23:15

15. Therefore am I troubled at his presence.] These words probably are an answer to an objection; for Job’s friends had charged him with fear and trouble of spirit at the presence of God, upon another account, even because of the guiltiness of his conscience, or because of his great wickedness: so (chap. xxii. 10.) Eliphas, having shewed him his sin, presently adds the sad effects which were upon him; “therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee:” as if he had said, Thou hast been very wicked in thy actions, and therefore thou art so unquiet in thy spirit; thou hast been uncharitable and injurious to men, “therefore thou art troubled at the presence of God.” No, says Job, my trouble of spirit does not arise from guilt, (though I have iniquity enough to deserve greater chastenings than those which are upon me,) but the cause of my trouble ariseth from the knowledge and apprehensions which I have of God, who “is in one mind, and who can turn Him? He performeth the thing that is appointed for me; and many such things are with Him.” This is the spring and ground of my trouble; I am troubled both with the feeling of my present calamities, and with fear of greater; lest the Lord should again act, and put forth His terrible power upon me. Caryl.

Job 23:16

16. For God maketh my heart soft, &c.] By a weight of afflictions God hath broken my spirit, and made me

Before CHRIST about 1320. kid, or, laid up. appointed portion. a Ps. 115. 3. Wickedness goeth often unpunished. Before CHRIST about 1520.

Job 23:17

17. Because I was not cut off before the darkness,] I am astonished at the hand of the Almighty, for I am still upheld by His power in these extremities, and not cut off by death before this darkness of sorrow and misery overwhelmed me; neither yet hath He restrained these intolerable evils from seizing upon me, but hath caused me to feel them, and not to be swallowed up by them. Bp. Hall.

Chap. XXIV. ver. 1. Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty,] But to answer a little what you have so often asserted: If punishments from the Almighty be so apparent and visible upon the wicked, why do not they, who are truly pious, see the publick and open judgments? In what follows, Job confutes the rash assertions of his friends about the plagues, which always befall the wicked, by an induction of particulars that prove the contrary. Bp. Patrick.