91 lines
15 KiB
HTML
91 lines
15 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
|
|
<head>
|
|
<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
|
|
<script src="../../../js/basepath.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/nav.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script src="./js/MainHeader.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
<script type="text/javascript">
|
|
PriorBook = 'Esther';
|
|
PriorBookURL = './Comm/jfb/Est/Est001.html';
|
|
PriorChapter = 'Job 20';
|
|
PriorChapterURL = './Comm/jfb/Job/Job020.html';
|
|
NextBook = 'Psalms';
|
|
NextBookURL = './Comm/jfb/Psa/Psa000.html';
|
|
NextChapter = 'Job 22';
|
|
NextChapterURL = './Comm/jfb/Job/Job022.html';
|
|
Title = 'The Book of Job';
|
|
SubTitle1 = 'Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET';
|
|
SubTitle2 = '';
|
|
SubTitle3 = 'CHAPTER 21';
|
|
SubTitle3Cased = 'Chapter 21';
|
|
Author = ' Jamieson, Fausset & Brown';
|
|
imageMasthead = 'jfb.gif';
|
|
authorCite = 'Robert Jamieson; A.R. Fausset; and David Brown';
|
|
</script>
|
|
<script src="./js/Comms/JFB.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
|
|
</head><body>
|
|
<p id="Chapter21" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 21
|
|
<p id="Job21_1">SECOND SERIES.
|
|
<p><a onclick="return mV('Job',21,'1-34');">Job 21:1-34</a>. JOB'S ANSWER.
|
|
<p id="Job21_2"><b>2. consolations</b>—If you will listen calmly to me, this will be regarded as "consolations"; alluding to Eliphaz' boasted "consolations" (<a onclick="return mV('Job',15,11);">Job 15:11</a>), which Job felt more as aggravations ("mockings," <a onclick="return mV('Job',21,3);">Job 21:3</a>) than consolations (<a onclick="return mV('Job',16,2);">Job 16:2</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_3"><b>3.</b> literally, "<i>Begin</i> your mockings" (<a onclick="return mV('Job',17,2);">Job 17:2</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_4"><b>4.</b> Job's difficulty was not as to <i>man,</i> but as to <i>God,</i> why He so afflicted him, as if he were the guilty hypocrite which the friends alleged him to be. <i>Vulgate</i> translates it, "my disputation."
|
|
<br><br><b>if it were</b>—rather, "since this is the case."
|
|
<p id="Job21_5"><b>5. lay...hand upon...mouth</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',30,32);">Pro 30:32</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jdg',18,19);">Jdg 18:19</a>). So the heathen god of silence was pictured with his hand on his mouth. There was enough in Job's case to awe them into silence (<a onclick="return mV('Job',17,8);">Job 17:8</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_6"><b>6. remember</b>—Think on it. Can you wonder that I broke out into complaints, when the struggle was not with men, but with the Almighty? Reconcile, if you can, the ceaseless woes of the innocent with the divine justice! Is it not enough to make one tremble? [UMBREIT].
|
|
<p id="Job21_7"><b>7.</b> The answer is <a onclick="return mV('Rom',2,4);">Rom 2:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Ti',1,16);">1Ti 1:16</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',73,18);">Psa 73:18</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',8,'11-13');">Ecc 8:11-13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',2,'35-52');">Luk 2:35-52</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',16,4);">Pro 16:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',9,22);">Rom 9:22</a>.
|
|
<br><br><b>old</b>—in opposition to the friends who asserted that sinners are "cut off" early (<a onclick="return mV('Job',8,12, 14);">Job 8:12, 14</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_8"><b>8.</b> In opposition to <a onclick="return mV('Job',18,19);">Job 18:19</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',5,4);">5:4</a>.
|
|
<p id="Job21_9"><b>9.</b> Literally, "peace from fear"; with poetic force. Their house is <i>peace itself,</i> far removed from fear. Opposed to the friends' assertion, as to the bad (<a onclick="return mV('Job',15,'21-24');">Job 15:21-24</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',20,'26-28');">20:26-28</a>), and conversely, the good (<a onclick="return mV('Job',5,23,24);">Job 5:23-24</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_10"><b>10.</b> Rather, "their cattle conceive." The first clause of the verse describes an <i>easy conception,</i> the second, a happy <i>birth</i> [UMBREIT].
|
|
<p id="Job21_11"><b>11. send forth</b>—namely, out of doors, to their happy sports under the skies, like a joyful flock sent to the pastures.
|
|
<br><br><b>little ones</b>—like lambkins.
|
|
<br><br><b>children</b>—somewhat older than the former.
|
|
<br><br><b>dance</b>—not formal dances; but skip, like lambs, in joyous and healthful play.
|
|
<p id="Job21_12"><b>12. take</b>—rather, "lift up the voice" (sing) to the note of [UMBREIT].
|
|
<br><br><b>timbrel</b>—rather, "tambourine."
|
|
<br><br><b>organ</b>—not the modern "organ," but the "pipe" (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',4,21);">Gen 4:21</a>). The first clause refers to stringed, the latter, to wind instruments; thus, with "the voice" all kinds of music are enumerated.
|
|
<p id="Job21_13"><b>13. wealth</b>—Old <i>English Version</i> for "prosperity."
|
|
<br><br><b>in a moment</b>—not by a lingering disease. Great blessings! Lengthened life with prosperity, and a sudden painless death (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',73,4);">Psa 73:4</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_14"><b>14. Therefore</b>—rather, "<i>And yet</i> they are such as say," etc., that is, say, not in so many words, but virtually, by their conduct (so the Gergesenes, <a onclick="return mV('Mat',8,34);">Mat 8:34</a>). How differently the godly (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',2,3);">Isa 2:3</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>ways</b>—The course of action, which God points out; as in <a onclick="return mV('Psa',50,23);">Psa 50:23</a>, <i>Margin.</i>
|
|
<p id="Job21_15"><b>15.</b> (Compare <a onclick="return mV('Jer',2,20);">Jer 2:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Pro',30,9);">Pro 30:9</a>, <i>Margin,</i> <a onclick="return mV('Exd',5,2);">Exd 5:2</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>what profit</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Job',35,3);">Job 35:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mal',3,14);">Mal 3:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',73,13);">Psa 73:13</a>). Sinners ask, not what is <i>right,</i> but what is for the <i>profit of self.</i> They forget, "If religion cost self something, the want of it will cost self infinitely more."
|
|
<p id="Job21_16"><b>16. not in their hand</b>—but in the hand of God. This is Job's difficulty, that God who has sinners prosperity (good) in His hand should allow them to have it.
|
|
<br><br><b>is</b>—rather, "may the counsel of the wicked be far from me!" [UMBREIT]. This naturally follows the sentiment of the first clause: Let me not hereby be thought to regard with aught but horror the ways of the wicked, however prosperous.
|
|
<p id="Job21_17"><b>17.</b> Job in this whole passage down to <a onclick="return mV('Job',21,21);">Job 21:21</a> quotes the assertion of the friends, as to the short continuance of the sinner's prosperity, not his own sentiments. In <a onclick="return mV('Job',21,22);">Job 21:22</a> he proceeds to refute them. "How oft is the candle" (lamp), etc., quoting Bildad's sentiment (<a onclick="return mV('Job',18,5,6);">Job 18:5-6</a>), in order to question its truth (compare <a onclick="return mV('Mat',25,8);">Mat 25:8</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>how oft</b>—"God distributeth," etc. (alluding to <a onclick="return mV('Job',20,23,29);">Job 20:23, 29</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>sorrows</b>—UMBREIT translates "snares," literally, "cords," which lightning in its twining motion resembles (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',11,6);">Psa 11:6</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_18"><b>18.</b> Job alludes to a like sentiment of Bildad (<a onclick="return mV('Job',18,18);">Job 18:18</a>), using his own previous words (<a onclick="return mV('Job',13,25);">Job 13:25</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_19"><b>19.</b> Equally questionable is the friends' assertion that if the godless himself is not punished, the children are (<a onclick="return mV('Job',18,19);">Job 18:19</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',20,10);">20:10</a>); and that <i>God rewardeth him</i> here for his iniquity, and that <i>he shall know</i> it to his cost. So "know" (<a onclick="return mV('Hsa',9,7);">Hsa 9:7</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_20"><b>20.</b> Another questionable assertion of the friends, that the sinner sees his own and his children's destruction in his lifetime.
|
|
<br><br><b>drink</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',11,6);">Psa 11:6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',51,17);">Isa 51:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Lam',4,21);">Lam 4:21</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_21"><b>21.</b> The argument of the friends, in proof of <a onclick="return mV('Job',21,20);">Job 21:20</a>, What pleasure can he have from his house (children) when he is dead—("after him," <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',3,22);">Ecc 3:22</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>when the number,</b> etc.—Or, rather, "What hath he to do with his children?" etc. (so the <i>Hebrew</i> in <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',3,1);">Ecc 3:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Ecc',8,6);">8:6</a>). It is therefore necessary that "<i>his eyes</i> should <i>see</i> his and their destruction" (see <a onclick="return mV('Job',14,21);">Job 14:21</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>cut off</b>—rather, when the number of his <i>allotted</i> months is <i>fulfilled</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Job',14,5);">Job 14:5</a>). From an <i>Arabic</i> word, "arrow," which was used to draw lots with. Hence "arrow"—inevitable destiny [UMBREIT].
|
|
<p id="Job21_22"><b>22.</b> Reply of Job, "In all these assertions you try to teach God how He <i>ought</i> to deal with men, rather than prove that He does <i>in fact</i> so deal with them. Experience is against you. God gives prosperity and adversity as it pleases Him, not as man's wisdom would have it, on principles inscrutable to us" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',40,13);">Isa 40:13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',11,34);">Rom 11:34</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>those...high</b>—the high ones, not only angels, but men (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',2,'12-17');">Isa 2:12-17</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_23"><b>23.</b> Literally, "in the bone of his perfection," that is, the full strength of unimpaired prosperity [UMBREIT].
|
|
<p id="Job21_24"><b>24. breasts</b>—rather, "skins," or "vessels" for fluids [LEE]. But [UMBREIT] "stations or resting-places of his herds near water"; in opposition to Zophar (<a onclick="return mV('Job',20,17);">Job 20:17</a>); the first clause refers to his abundant substance, the second to his vigorous health.
|
|
<br><br><b>moistened</b>—comparing man's body to a well-watered field (<a onclick="return mV('Pro',3,8);">Pro 3:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',58,11);">Isa 58:11</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_26"><b>26.</b> (<a onclick="return mV('Ecc',9,2);">Ecc 9:2</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_27"><b>27.</b> Their wrongful thoughts against Job are stated by him in <a onclick="return mV('Job',21,28);">Job 21:28</a>. They do not honestly <i>name</i> Job, but <i>insinuate</i> his <i>guilt.</i>
|
|
<p id="Job21_28"><b>28. ye say</b>—referring to Zophar (<a onclick="return mV('Job',20,7);">Job 20:7</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>the house</b>—referring to the fall of the <i>house</i> of Job's oldest son (<a onclick="return mV('Job',1,19);">Job 1:19</a>) and the destruction of his <i>family.</i>
|
|
<br><br><b>prince</b>—The parallel "wicked" in the second clause requires this to be taken in a bad sense, <i>tyrant, oppressor</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',13,2);">Isa 13:2</a>), the same <i>Hebrew,</i> "nobles"—oppressors.
|
|
<br><br><b>dwelling-places</b>—rather, "pavilions," a tent containing many dwellings, such as a great emir, like Job, with many dependents, would have.
|
|
<p id="Job21_29"><b>29.</b> Job, seeing that the friends will not admit him as an impartial judge, as they consider his calamities prove his guilt, begs them to ask the opinion of travellers (<a onclick="return mV('Lam',1,12);">Lam 1:12</a>), who have the experience drawn from observation, and who are no way connected with him. Job opposes this to Bildad (<a onclick="return mV('Job',8,8);">Job 8:8</a>) and Zophar (<a onclick="return mV('Job',20,4);">Job 20:4</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>tokens</b>—rather, "intimations" (for example, inscriptions, proverbs, signifying the results of their observation), testimony. Literally, "signs" or proofs in confirmation of the word spoken (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',7,11);">Isa 7:11</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_30"><b>30.</b> Their testimony (referring perhaps to those who had visited the region where Abraham who enjoyed a revelation then lived) is that "the wicked is (now) spared (reserved) against the day of destruction (hereafter)." The <i>Hebrew</i> does not so well agree with [UMBREIT] "in the day of destruction." Job does not deny sinners' <i>future</i> punishment, but their punishment <i>in this life.</i> They have their "good things" <i>now.</i> Hereafter, their lot, and that of the godly, shall be reversed (<a onclick="return mV('Luk',16,25);">Luk 16:25</a>). Job, by the Spirit, often utters truths which solve the difficulty under which he labored. His afflictions mostly clouded his faith, else he would have seen the solution furnished by his own words. This answers the objection, that if he knew of the resurrection in <a onclick="return mV('Job',19,25);">Job 19:25</a>, and future retribution (<a onclick="return mV('Job',21,30);">Job 21:30</a>), why did he not draw his reasonings elsewhere from them, which he did not? God's righteous government, however, needs to be vindicated as to <i>this</i> life also, and therefore the Holy Ghost has caused the argument mainly to turn on it at the same time giving glimpses of a future fuller vindication of God's ways.
|
|
<br><br><b>brought forth</b>—not "carried away safe" or "escape" (referring to <i>this life</i>), as UMBREIT has it.
|
|
<br><br><b>wrath</b>—literally, "wraths," that is, multiplied and fierce wrath.
|
|
<p id="Job21_31"><b>31.</b> That is, who dares to charge him openly with his bad ways? namely, in this present life. He shall, I grant (<a onclick="return mV('Job',21,30);">Job 21:30</a>), be "repaid" hereafter.
|
|
<p id="Job21_32"><b>32. Yet</b>—rather, "and."
|
|
<br><br><b>brought</b>—with solemn pomp (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',45,15);">Psa 45:15</a>).
|
|
<br><br><b>grave</b>—literally, "graves"; that is, the place where the graves are.
|
|
<br><br><b>remain in</b>—rather, <i>watch on</i> the tomb, or sepulchral mound. Even after death he seems still to live and watch (that is, have his "remembrance" preserved) by means of the monument over the grave. In opposition to Bildad (<a onclick="return mV('Job',18,17);">Job 18:17</a>).
|
|
<p id="Job21_33"><b>33.</b> As the classis saying has it, "The earth is light upon him." His repose shall be "sweet."
|
|
<br><br><b>draw</b>—follow. He shall share the common lot of mortals; no worse off than they (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',9,27);">Hbr 9:27</a>). UMBREIT not so well (for it is not true of "<i>every</i> man"). "<i>Most</i> men follow in his bad steps, as countless such preceded him."
|
|
<p id="Job21_34"><b>34. falsehood</b>—literally, "transgression." Your boasted "consolations" (<a onclick="return mV('Job',15,11);">Job 15:11</a>) are contradicted by facts ("vain"); they therefore only betray your <i>evil intent</i> ("wickedness") against me.
|
|
</div></div><div class="return"><a href="#top">Return to Top</a></div>
|
|
<script src="./js/MainFooter.js" type="text/javascript"></script> |