Job 6

— the arrows — the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit.] This alludes to the custom that prevailed among the ancients, of slipping arrows in poison, which appears to have had the effect of producing thirst. The “poisoned arrows” of Horace are famous: and Homer speaks of “poison for smearing arrows.” The Chaldee Paraphrast on Ps. lxiv. 3, alludes to this practice: for what is in Hebrew, “they bend their arrows, bitter words,” he renders, “they anoint their arrows with poison.” Script. illust.

— do set themselves in array against me.] Make war against me; or, attack me in the order and disposition of a regular army. Chappelow. The thick succession of his past calamities, and his apprehension of many more sufferings still to come, seem to be painted in this high colouring. Scott.

Job 6:4

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

throughly weighed, and my calamity † laid in the balances together!

Job 6:5

5. Doth the wild ass bray &c.] As if he had said, Thou wonderest that my disposition and carriage are so greatly altered from what they were; see chap. iv. 3—5: but thou mayest easily learn the reason of it from the brute beasts, the ass and the ox; which, when they have convenient food, are quiet and contented, but complain when they are in want: see Jer. xiv. 6. And therefore my carriage is agreeable to those common principles of nature, which are both in men and beasts; by which their disposition and deportment are generally suited to their condition. It is no wonder that you, who live in ease and prosperity, do not complain; nor did I, when it was so with me: but if you felt what I feel, you would be as full of complaints as I am. Poole.

Job 6:6

6. Can that which is unsavoury be eaten &c.] Can, or do, men use to eat unsavoury meats with delight, or

Before CHRIST about 1520. lifted up. I want words to express my grief. as grass. Job wisheth for death, wherein he is assured of comfort. Before CHRIST about 1890. expectation.

Job 6:7

7. The things that my soul refused &c.] The words are to be understood metaphorically: the sense may be, Those grievous afflictions, which according to the common inclinations of human nature I dreaded the very touch and thought of, are now my daily though sorrowful bread; I am forced constantly to feed upon them. Compare Ps. lxxx. 5; cii. 9. Poole. 9.—that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! As God made, so doth He still “uphold all things by the word of His power,” Heb. i. 3, inasmuch, that, should He let go His hold of us, and not keep us up in our being, we should immediately fall down into nothing. Job was sensible of this; and it gave occasion to the present exclamation. He knew, that if God did but “let loose his hand,” so as not to support him in his being, he should the same moment be “cut off,” and cease to be. So necessarily do all the creatures upon earth subsist and depend upon the will and power of their Creator. Bp. Beveridge.

Job 6:10

10.—I would harden myself in sorrow.] 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 unorthodoxed any light which God hath sent me, but that I have been faithful to Him, His cause, and His truth. Caryl. —for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.] The great Prophet, the Messiah, appeals to God for His fidelity in similar language, Ps. xl. 10. Scott. His words mean, It has been the business of my life to profess and vindicate piety and religion. So far from concealing those qualities which are peculiar to the Holy One, such as His goodness, kindness, and beneficence; so far not from publishing them to the world, I have laboured, both by precept and example, to influence mankind with becoming sentiments of such Divine excellences. Chappelow.

Job 6:11

11. What is my strength, &c.] What evil can there be in my end? I see little hope of life, and have but little comfort in it to desire it; nor any hurt in death, that I should dread it. Clark.

Job 6:13

13. Is not my help in me? &c.] Do not think that my reason hath forsaken me, and that I do not understand myself. Bp. Patrick. This verse may be rendered, agreeably to the Hebrew, “What if I have no help in me,” that is, if I cannot help myself, if my outward condition be helpless and hopeless, as I confess it is, “is wisdom driven quite from me?” Have I therefore lost my understanding and common reason?

Job 6:14

14. To him that is afflicted &c.] The meaning is, they who treat a friend with such cruelty, will easily cast off the fear of God. Grotius. This verse yields an excellent moral instruction, very proper to introduce the reproof that follows. Scott.

Job 6:15

15.—as a brook.] This simile is exquisitely beautiful, considered as a description of a scene of nature in the deserts of Arabia. But its principal beauty lies in the exact correspondence of all its parts to the thing it is intended to represent. The fulness, strength, and noise of these temporary streams in winter, answer to the large professions made by a man’s friends in his prosperity; the drying up of the waters at the approach of summer, to the failure of their friendship in his affliction; and the confusion of the thirsty caravans, on finding the streams vanished, strongly illustrates his feelings on being disappointed of relief from their friendly counsels. Scott. Though the metaphor from overflowing waters is very frequent in other sacred writers, yet the author of the book of Job never touches upon it but once or twice throughout the whole poem, and that very slightly, though the subject afforded him frequent opportunity to do so. Indeed a different face of nature presented itself to him, if, according to the opinion of several learned men, the book was written in some part of Arabia: an opinion rendered more probable by this remarkable comparison, in which Job likens his three friends to a deceitful torrent, which is manifestly taken from the dry and sandy places of Arabia, and adorned with many images peculiar to that country. Bp. Lowth. The Arabians have several proverbial sayings concerning pretended false friendship. Some are taken from a pool which is filled by sudden hasty showers, and is extremely grateful to a thirsty traveller; but so deceitful, that, when he returns, he finds it quite exhausted. In the same manner they compare a treacherous friend to a torrent, or land flood, which is soon raised, and as soon disappears. Chappelow. —brooks] Or torrents. The beds of those winter rivers are also called torrents: they are deep valleys between high rocks of granite. Bp. Pococke saw several of them perfectly dry in his journey to mount Sinai, in April. One in particular, which he passed through, was a quarter of a mile broad. Scott.

Job 6:16

16. Which are blackish by reason of the ice.] These streams are first formed by the autumnal rains: the Before CHRIST about 1890. brass. him that scalded. He reproveeth his friends of unkindness. Before CHRIST about 1820. are out of. heat thereof. extinguished. now ye are like to them. Heb. is it. are † consumed out of their place.

Job 6:19

19. The troops of Tema looked, &c.] That is, the caravans of travellers and merchants: or the wandering Arabs, who lived in tents, may be here likewise understood, who removed with their cattle from one place to another, for the convenience of pasture and water. Chappelow. The road of the caravans, that went with merchandise from Arabia Felix to Egypt, lay through Arabia Petrea, Job’s country. The yearly caravan, which goes from Grand Cairo to Mecca, in Arabia Felix, passes the same way. Scott. The same thought is expressed, Jer. xiv. 2, 3. Peters.

Job 6:21

21. For now ye are nothing; &c.] Job at length applies the amplitude to his friends. I say this, he observes, because 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.

Job 6:26

26. Do ye imagine to reprove words, &c.] Do you imagine that all your arguments are solid and unanswerable, and all my answers but idle and empty words? Or, do you think it sufficient to cavil and quarrel with some of my words and expressions, without giving allowance for human infirmity, or for my extreme misery, which may easily force from me some unbecoming expressions? Poole.

Job 6:27

27. Yes, ye overwhelm the fatherless.] That is, ye overwhelm me who am a poor, destitute, helpless man, who have no friend, succour, or support. Caryl.

Job 6:29

29. Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; &c.] Bethink yourselves of the wrong you have done me,

Job 6:30

30. Is there iniquity in my tongue? &c.] See whether I utter any thing that is false; and whether I possess not a sound judgment to distinguish between right and wrong. Rosenmüller. Chap. VII. ver. 1. Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? This question appears to mean, in general, that, whereas before the flood men lived many hundred years, and after the flood some held out a considerable time, yet now the general period of human life is determined by God to be much shorter. This passage, as well as that in chap. xiv. 5, has been applied to ill purposes, as if every particular man’s time were so strictly assigned him by God, that nothing could lengthen or shorten it. But, as for particular persons, it does not hereby appear, that God has determined the time of their death by any absolute or unconditional decree; nor does such an interpretation seem consistent with the promises of long life to pious persons, where God sees best for them, and the threatenings of cutting off the lives of the wicked. See Prov. x. 27; Exod. xx. 12; Ps. lv. 23. Collyer. —are not his days also like the days of an hireling?] Who has a set time for his painful service, and longs till night comes to put an end to it. Clark.