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87 lines
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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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Title = 'The Book of Job';
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SubTitle3 = 'CHAPTER 19';
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<p id="Chapter19" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 19
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<p id="Job19_1">SECOND SERIES.
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<p><a onclick="return mV('Job',19,'1-29');">Job 19:1-29</a>. JOB'S REPLY TO BILDAD.
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<p id="Job19_2"><b>2. How long,</b> etc.—retorting Bildad's words (<a onclick="return mV('Job',18,2);">Job 18:2</a>). Admitting the punishment to be deserved, is it kind thus ever to be harping on this to the sufferer? And yet even this they have not yet proved.
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<p id="Job19_3"><b>3. These</b>—prefixed emphatically to numbers (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',27,36);">Gen 27:36</a>).
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<br><br><b>ten</b>—that is, often (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',31,7);">Gen 31:7</a>).
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<br><br><b>make yourselves strange</b>—rather, "<i>stun</i> me" [GESENIUS]. (See <i>Margin</i> for a different meaning [that is, "harden yourselves against me"]).
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<p id="Job19_4"><b>4.erred</b>—The <i>Hebrew</i> expresses <i>unconscious error.</i> Job was unconscious of wilful sin.
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<br><br><b>remaineth</b>—literally, "passeth the night." An image from harboring an unpleasant guest for the night. I bear the consequences.
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<p id="Job19_5"><b>5. magnify,</b> etc.—Speak proudly (<a onclick="return mV('Oba',1,12);">Oba 1:12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',35,13);">Eze 35:13</a>).
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<br><br><b>against me</b>—emphatically repeated (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',38,16);">Psa 38:16</a>).
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<br><br><b>plead...reproach</b>—<i>English Version</i> makes this part of the protasis, "if" being understood, and the apodosis beginning at <a onclick="return mV('Job',19,6);">Job 19:6</a>. Better with UMBREIT, If ye would become great heroes against me in truth, ye must <i>prove</i> (evince) against me my <i>guilt,</i> or <i>shame,</i> which you assert. In the <i>English Version</i> "reproach" will mean Job's <i>calamities,</i> which they "pleaded" against him as a "reproach," or proof of guilt.
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<p id="Job19_6"><b>6. compassed...net</b>—alluding to Bildad's words (<a onclick="return mV('Job',18,8);">Job 18:8</a>). Know, that it is not that I as a wicked man have been caught in my "<i>own</i> net"; <i>it is God</i> who has compassed me in His—why, I know not.
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<p id="Job19_7"><b>7. wrong</b>—violence: brought on him by God.
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<br><br><b>no judgment</b>—God will not remove my calamities, and so vindicate my just cause; and my friends will not do <i>justice</i> to my past character.
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<p id="Job19_8"><b>8.</b> Image from a benighted traveller.
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<p id="Job19_9"><b>9. stripped...crown</b>—image from a deposed king, deprived of his robes and crown; appropriate to Job, once an emir with all but royal dignity (<a onclick="return mV('Lam',5,16);">Lam 5:16</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',89,39);">Psa 89:39</a>).
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<p id="Job19_10"><b>10. destroyed...on every side</b>—"Shaken all round, so that I fall in the dust"; image from a tree uprooted by violent shaking from every side [UMBREIT]. The last clause accords with this (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',1,10);">Jer 1:10</a>)
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<br><br><b>mine hope</b>—as to this life (in opposition to Zophar, <a onclick="return mV('Job',11,18);">Job 11:18</a>); not as to the world to come (<a onclick="return mV('Job',19,25);">Job 19:25</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',14,15);">Job 14:15</a>).
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<br><br><b>removed</b>—uprooted.
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<p id="Job19_11"><b>11. enemies</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Job',13,24);">Job 13:24</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Lam',2,5);">Lam 2:5</a>).
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<p id="Job19_12"><b>12. troops</b>—Calamities advance together like hostile troops (<a onclick="return mV('Job',10,17);">Job 10:17</a>).
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<br><br><b>raise up...way</b>—An army must <i>cast up a way</i> of access before it, in marching against a city (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',40,3);">Isa 40:3</a>).
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<p id="Job19_13"><b>13. brethren</b>—nearest kinsmen, as distinguished from "acquaintance." So "kinsfolk" and "familiar friends" (<a onclick="return mV('Job',19,14);">Job 19:14</a>) correspond in parallelism. The Arabic proverb is, "The brother, that is, the true friend, is only known in time of need."
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<br><br><b>estranged</b>—literally, "turn away with disgust." Job again unconsciously uses language prefiguring the desertion of Jesus Christ (<a onclick="return mV('Job',16,10);">Job 16:10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',23,49);">Luk 23:49</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',38,11);">Psa 38:11</a>).
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<p id="Job19_15"><b>15. They that dwell,</b> etc.—rather, "sojourn": male servants, sojourning in his house. Mark the contrast. The stranger admitted to sojourn as a dependent treats the master as a stranger in his own house.
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<p id="Job19_16"><b>16. servant</b>—born in my house (as distinguished from those sojourning in it), and so altogether belonging to the family. Yet even he disobeys my call.
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<br><br><b>mouth</b>—that is, "calling aloud"; formerly a <i>nod</i> was enough. Now I no longer look for <i>obedience,</i> I try <i>entreaty.</i>
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<p id="Job19_17"><b>17. strange</b>—His breath by elephantiasis had become so strongly altered and offensive, that his wife turned away as estranged from him (<a onclick="return mV('Job',19,13);">Job 19:13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',17,1);">17:1</a>).
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<br><br><b>children's...of mine own body</b>—literally, "belly." But "loins" is what we should expect, not "belly" (womb), which applies to the woman. The "mine" forbids it being taken of his wife. Besides their children were dead. In <a onclick="return mV('Job',3,10);">Job 3:10</a> the same words "my womb" mean, <i>my mother's womb:</i> therefore translate, "and I must entreat (as a suppliant) the children of my mother's womb"; that is, my own brothers—a heightening of force, as compared with last clause of <a onclick="return mV('Job',19,16);">Job 19:16</a> [UMBREIT]. Not only must I entreat suppliantly my <i>servant,</i> but my own <i>brothers</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',69,8);">Psa 69:8</a>). Here too, he unconsciously foreshadows Jesus Christ (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',7,5);">Jhn 7:5</a>).
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<p id="Job19_18"><b>18. young children</b>—So the <i>Hebrew</i> means (<a onclick="return mV('Job',21,11);">Job 21:11</a>). Reverence for age is a chief duty in the East. The word means "wicked" (<a onclick="return mV('Job',16,11);">Job 16:11</a>). So UMBREIT has it here, not so well.
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<br><br><b>I arose</b>—Rather, supply "if," as Job was no more in a state to stand up. "If I stood up (arose), they would speak against (abuse) me" [UMBREIT].
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<p id="Job19_19"><b>19. inward</b>—confidential; literally, "men of my secret"—to whom I entrusted my most intimate confidence.
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<p id="Job19_20"><b>20.</b> Extreme meagerness. The bone seemed to stick in the skin, being seen through it, owing to the flesh drying up and falling away from the bone. The <i>Margin,</i> "as to my flesh," makes this sense clearer. The <i>English Version,</i> however, expresses the same: "<i>And</i> to my flesh," namely, which has fallen away from the bone, instead of firmly covering it.
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<br><br><b>skin of my teeth</b>—proverbial. I have <i>escaped with</i> bare life; I am whole <i>only with the skin of my teeth;</i> that is, my gums alone are whole, the rest of the skin of my body is broken with sores (<a onclick="return mV('Job',7,5);">Job 7:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',102,5);">Psa 102:5</a>). Satan left Job his speech, in hope that he might therewith curse God.
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<p id="Job19_21"><b>21.</b> When God had made him such a piteous spectacle, his friends should spare him the additional persecution of their cruel speeches.
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<p id="Job19_22"><b>22. as God</b>—as God has persecuted me. Prefiguring Jesus Christ (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',69,26);">Psa 69:26</a>). That God afflicts is no reason that man is to add to a sufferer's affliction (<a onclick="return mV('Zec',1,15);">Zec 1:15</a>).
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<br><br><b>satisfied with my flesh</b>—It is not enough that God afflicts my flesh literally (<a onclick="return mV('Job',19,20);">Job 19:20</a>), but you must "eat my flesh" metaphorically (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',27,2);">Psa 27:2</a>); that is, utter the worst calumnies, as the phrase often means in <i>Arabic.</i>
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<p id="Job19_23"><b>23.</b> Despairing of justice from his friends in his lifetime, he wishes his words could be preserved imperishably to posterity, attesting his hope of vindication at the resurrection.
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<br><br><b>printed</b>—not our modern printing, but engraven.
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<p id="Job19_24"><b>24. pen</b>—graver.
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<br><br><b>lead</b>—poured into the engraven characters, to make them better seen [UMBREIT]. Not on leaden plates; for it was "in the rock" that they were engraved. Perhaps it was the hammer that was of "lead," as sculptors find more delicate incisions are made by it, than by a harder hammer. FOSTER (<i>One Primeval Language</i>) has shown that the inscriptions on the rocks in Wady-Mokatta, along Israel's route through the desert, record the journeys of that people, as Cosmas Indicopleustes asserted, A.D. 535.
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<br><br><b>for ever</b>—as long as the rock lasts.
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<p id="Job19_25"><b>25. redeemer</b>—UMBREIT and others understand this and <a onclick="return mV('Job',19,26);">Job 19:26</a>, of God appearing as Job's avenger <i>before his death,</i> when his body would be wasted to a skeleton. But Job uniformly despairs of restoration and vindication of his cause in this life (<a onclick="return mV('Job',17,15,16);">Job 17:15-16</a>). One hope alone was left, which the Spirit revealed—a vindication in a future life: it would be no full vindication if his soul alone were to be happy <i>without the body,</i> as some explain (<a onclick="return mV('Job',19,26);">Job 19:26</a>) "<i>out of</i> the flesh." It was his body that had chiefly suffered: the resurrection of his body, therefore, alone could vindicate his cause: to see God with <i>his own eyes,</i> and in a renovated body (<a onclick="return mV('Job',19,27);">Job 19:27</a>), would disprove the imputation of guilt cast on him because of the sufferings of his present body. That this truth is not further dwelt on by Job, or noticed by his friends, only shows that it was <i>with him</i> a bright passing glimpse of <i>Old Testament</i> hope, rather than the steady light of <i>Gospel assurance; with us</i> this passage has a definite clearness, which it had not in <i>his</i> mind (see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Job/Job021.html#Job21_30">Job 21:30</a>). The idea in "redeemer" with Job is Vindicator (<a onclick="return mV('Job',16,19);">Job 16:19</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Num',35,27);">Num 35:27</a>), redressing his wrongs; also including at least with <i>us,</i> and probably with <i>him,</i> the idea of the predicted Bruiser of the serpent's head. Tradition would inform him of the prediction. FOSTER shows that the fall by the serpent is represented perfectly on the temple of Osiris at Philae; and the resurrection on the tomb of the Egyptian Mycerinus, dating four thousand years back. Job's sacrifices imply sense of sin and need of atonement. Satan was the injurer of Job's body; Jesus Christ his Vindicator, the Living One who giveth life (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',5,21,26);">Jhn 5:21, 26</a>).
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<br><br><b>at the latter day</b>—Rather, "the Last," the peculiar title of Jesus Christ, though Job may not have known the pregnancy of his own inspired words, and may have understood merely <i>one that comes after</i> (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',15,45);">1Cr 15:45</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',1,17);">Rev 1:17</a>). Jesus Christ is <i>the last.</i> The day of Jesus Christ <i>the last day</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',6,39);">Jhn 6:39</a>).
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<br><br><b>stand</b>—rather, "arise": as God is said to "raise up" the Messiah (<a onclick="return mV('Jer',23,5);">Jer 23:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',18,15);">Deu 18:15</a>).
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<br><br><b>earth</b>—rather, "dust": often associated with the body crumbling away in it (<a onclick="return mV('Job',7,21);">Job 7:21</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Job',17,16);">17:16</a>); therefore appropriately here. Above that very <i>dust</i> wherewith was mingled man's decaying body shall man's Vindicator arise. "Arise above the dust," strikingly expresses that fact that Jesus Christ <i>arose</i> first Himself <i>above the dust,</i> and then is to <i>raise</i> His people <i>above</i> it (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',15,20,23);">1Cr 15:20, 23</a>). The Spirit intended in Job's words more than Job fully understood (<a onclick="return mV('1Pe',1,12);">1Pe 1:12</a>). Though He <i>seems,</i> in forsaking me, to be as one <i>dead,</i> He now truly "liveth" in heaven; hereafter He shall appear also above the <i>dust</i> of earth. The Goel or vindicator of blood was the nearest kinsman of the slain. So Jesus Christ took our flesh, to be our kinsman. Man lost life by Satan the "murderer" (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',8,44);">Jhn 8:44</a>), here Job's persecutor (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',2,14);">Hbr 2:14</a>). Compare also as to <i>redemption of the inheritance</i> by the kinsman of the dead (<a onclick="return mV('Rth',4,'3-5');">Rth 4:3-5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eph',1,14);">Eph 1:14</a>).
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<p id="Job19_26"><b>26.</b> Rather, though after my skin (is no more) this (body) is destroyed ("body" being omitted, because it was so wasted as not to deserve the name), yet <i>from</i> my flesh (<i>from my renewed body,</i> as the starting-point of vision, <a onclick="return mV('Sgs',2,9);">Sgs 2:9</a>, "looking out <i>from</i> the windows") "shall I see God." Next clause (<a onclick="return mV('Job',19,27);">Job 19:27</a>) proves <i>bodily</i> vision is meant, for it specifies "mine eyes" [ROSENMULLER, 2d ed.]. The <i>Hebrew</i> opposes "<i>in</i> my flesh." The "skin" was the first destroyed by elephantiasis, then the "body."
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<p id="Job19_27"><b>27. for myself</b>—for my advantage, as my friend.
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<br><br><b>not another</b>—Mine eyes shall behold Him, but <i>no longer</i> as one <i>estranged</i> from me, as now [BENGEL].
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<br><br><b>though</b>—better omitted.
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<br><br><b>my reins</b>—inward recesses of the heart.
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<br><br><b>be consumed within me</b>—that is, pine with longing desire for that day (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',84,2);">Psa 84:2</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',119,81);">119:81</a>). The Gentiles had but few revealed promises: how gracious that the few should have been so explicit (compare <a onclick="return mV('Num',24,17);">Num 24:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',2,2);">Mat 2:2</a>).
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<p id="Job19_28"><b>28.</b> Rather, "ye will then (when the Vindicator cometh) say, Why," etc.
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<br><br><b>root...in me</b>—The root of pious integrity, which was the <i>matter</i> at issue, whether it could be in one so afflicted, is found in me. UMBREIT, with many manuscripts and versions, reads "in him." "Or how found we in him <i>ground of contention.</i>"
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<p id="Job19_29"><b>29. wrath</b>—the passionate violence with which the friends persecuted Job.
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<br><br><b>bringeth,</b> etc.—literally, "is sin of the of the sword"
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<br><br><b>that ye may know</b>—Supply, "I say this."
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<br><br><b>judgment</b>—inseparably connected with the coming of the Vindicator. The "wrath" of God at His appearing for the temporal vindication of Job against the friends (<a onclick="return mV('Job',42,7);">Job 42:7</a>) is a pledge of the eternal wrath at the final coming to glorify the saints and judge their enemies (<a onclick="return mV('2Th',1,'6-10');">2Th 1:6-10</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',25,8);">Isa 25:8</a>).
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