Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 9:17
For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.
17. he breaketh ] Rather, he would break. Similarly, and multiply. The word translated break may mean to seize and swallow up, that is, to sweep away, cf. ch. Job 30:22.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
17 21. These verses describe what would ensue in the supposed case that God had actually responded to Job’s citation. He would not listen to Job’s plea but would crush him with His infinite power. The words do not describe what Job actually suffers at present or has suffered, but what he would have to endure then, though the colours of the terrible picture are drawn from his actual sufferings.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For he breaketh me – He is overwhelming me with a tempest; that is, with the storms of wrath. He shows me no mercy. The idea seems to be, that God acted toward him not as a judge determining matters by rule of law, but as a sovereign – determining them by his own will. If it were a matter of law; if he could come before him as a judge, and maintain his cause there; if the case could be fairly adjudicated whether he deserved the calamities that came upon him, he would be willing to enter into such a trial. But where the matter was determined solely by will, and God acted as a sovereign, doing as he pleased, and giving no account of his matters to anyone, then it would be useless to argue the cause. He would not know what to expect, or understand the principles on which an adjudication would be made. It is true that God acts as a sovereign, but he does not act without reference to law. He dispenses his favors and his judgments as he pleases, but he violates none of the rules of right. The error of Job was the common error which people commit, that if God acts as a sovereign, he must of course act regardless of law, and that it is vain to plead with him or try to please him. But sovereignty is not necessarily inconsistent with respect for law; and He who presides with the most absolute power over the universe, is He who is most directed by the rule of right. In Him sovereignty and law coincide; and to come to Him as a sovereign, is to come with the assurance that supreme rectitude will be done.
And multiplieth my wounds without cause – That is, without sufficient reason. This is in accordance with the views which Job had repeatedly expressed. The main ground of his complaint was, that his sufferings were disproportionate to his faults.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. He breaketh me with a tempest] The Targum, Syriac, and Arabic have this sense: He powerfully smites even every hair of my head and multiplies my wounds without cause. That is, There is no reason known to myself, or to any man, why I should be thus most oppressively afflicted. It is, therefore, cruel, and inconsequent to assert that I suffer for my crimes.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This is the reason of his foregoing diffidence, that even when God seemed to answer him in words, yet the course of his actions towards him was of a quite contrary nature and tendency.
With a tempest; as with a tempest, i.e. unexpectedly, violently, and irrecoverably.
Without cause; not simply without any desert of his, or as if he had no sin in him, for he oft declares the contrary; but without any evident or special cause of such singular afflictions, i.e. any peculiar and extraordinary guilt, such as my friends charge me with.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
For he breaketh me with a tempest,…. Which rises suddenly, comes powerfully, and carries all before it irresistibly; hereby signifying the nature of his present sore afflictions, which came upon him at once, pressed him down, and utterly destroyed him, against which there was no standing: perhaps he may have some reference to the storm of wind that blew down the house, by which his children were destroyed. Schultens renders it, “a burning tempest” s, such as is common in the eastern countries, which Thevenot t often makes mention of; which kills a man at once, and his flesh becomes as black as a coal, and comes off of his bones, and is plucked off by the hand that would lift him up; with which a man is broken to pieces indeed, to which Job may allude:
and multiplieth my wounds without cause; referring, it may be, to the many boils and ulcers upon his body; though it may also respect the multiplicity of ways in which he had wounded or afflicted him, in his person, in his family, and in his substance, and which he says was done “without cause”; not without a cause or reason in God, who does nothing without one, though it may not be known to men; particularly in afflicting men, it is not without cause or reason; it he punishes men, it is for sin; if he rebukes and chastises his people, it is for their transgressions; to bring them to a sense of them, to humble them for them, to bring them off from them, or to prevent them, or purge them away, and to try their graces, wean them from the world, and fit them for himself: but Job’s afflictions were without any such cause intimated by his friends; it was not hypocrisy, nor any notorious sin or sins he had been guilty of, and secretly lived and indulged himself in, as they imagined. Job here suggests his innocence, which he always insisted upon, and refers his afflictions to the sovereign will of God, and to some hidden cause in his own breast, unknown to himself and others: however, so long as he dealt with him after this manner, he could not believe his prayers were heard by him.
s “in turbine ardenti”, Schultens. t Travels, par. 2. B. 1. c. 12. p. 54. B. 3. c. 5. p. 135.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(17) He breaketh me . . .This is one of the three passages in which this word is found, the other two being Gen. 3:15, It shall bruise, &c., and Psa. 139:11, If I say the darkness shall cover me.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Strophe b In the ravings of his despair, (see Job 6:3,) Job declares his sufferings to be a tangible proof that God may be almighty but not just, Job 9:17-20.
17. Breaketh me , same as in Gen 3:15, bruise; the word also signifies “rub in pieces” destroy. “He who would crush me in a tempest, and multiply my wounds without cause, will not suffer me to take my breath, but would surfeit me with bitterness.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 9:17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.
Ver. 17. For he breaketh me with a tempest ] q.d. This is one thing also that maketh me think I am not heard, because I am not helped; but after my prayer I am in as bad a case as before and seem to have a repulse from God. Afflictions continued are no evidence that prayer is not heard; yet usually it is very inevident to an afflicted person that his prayer is heard. The Hebrew (and so the Vulgate) hath it, He will break me, that is, saith one, If I should plead before him as pure, although I might temporally, or for a time, be delivered, yet I should not finally escape destruction, although I should give him none other cause. Whereby we may see upon what danger of being torn in pieces by God’s judgments our justiciaries put themselves that will needs go to God in their own righteousness, as the proud Pharisee, Luk 18:11-12 The calamity of these merit mongers shall rise suddenly. Behold, a whirlwind, or a tempest of the Lord, goeth forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind; it shall fall grievously upon th e head of these wicked ones, Jer 23:19 . This St Paul knew, and, therefore, did his utmost that he might be found in Christ ( sc. when sought for by the justice of God), not having his “own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith,” Phi 3:9 .
And multiplieth my wounds without cause
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
For he: Job 16:14, Psa 29:5, Psa 42:7, Psa 83:15, Isa 28:17, Jer 23:19, Eze 13:13, Mat 7:27, Mat 12:20
multiplieth: Job 1:14-19, Job 2:7, Job 2:13
without cause: Job 2:3, Job 16:17, Job 34:6, Psa 25:3, Joh 9:3, Joh 15:25
Reciprocal: Job 6:4 – the terrors Job 33:9 – clean Job 34:5 – God Job 35:2 – My Job 40:2 – he that reproveth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 9:17. For he breaketh me with a tempest As with a tempest; that is, unexpectedly, violently, and irrecoverably. This is the reason of his forementioned diffidence, that even when God seemed to answer his supplication in words, yet the course of his actions toward him was of a quite contrary nature and tendency. And multiplieth my wounds without cause He does not mean, simply without any desert of his, as if he had been free from all sin, and perfectly innocent and holy, the contrary to which he oft declares; but without any special cause of such singular afflictions; without any peculiar and extraordinary guilt, such as his friends charged him with.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
9:17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds {m} without cause.
(m) I am not able to feel my sins so great, as I feel the weight of his plagues; and this he speaks to condemn his dullness and to justify God.