Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 13:24
Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
24. Wherefore hidest thou thy face ] This does not mean, Wherefore dost thou refuse to answer me now? the reference is to God’s severity in afflicting him, as is shewn by the words “holdest me for thine enemy,” cf. ch. Job 19:5, Job 35:2 seq.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Wherefore hidest thou thy face – To hide the face, or to turn it away, is expressive of disapprobation. We turn away the face when we are offended with anyone. See the notes at Isa 1:15.
And holdest me for thine enemy – Regardest and treatest me as an enemy.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 24. Wherefore hidest thou thy face] Why is it that I no longer enjoy thy approbation?
Holdest me for thine enemy?] Treatest me as if I were the vilest of sinners?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Hidest thou thy face, i.e. withdrawest thy favour and help which thou didst use to afford me; as this phrase is commonly used, as Deu 31:17; Psa 13:1; 102:2, &c.
Holdest me for thine enemy, i.e. dealest as sharply with me as if I were thy professed enemy.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
24. hidest . . . facea figurefrom the gloomy impression caused by the sudden clouding over of thesun.
enemyGod treated Jobas an enemy who must be robbed of power by ceaseless sufferings(Job 7:17; Job 7:21).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Wherefore hidest thou thy face,…. Not from his cry, because of his sore and grievous afflictions, as Bar Tzemach; nor from helping and saving him from his troubles, as Sephorno; nor from looking on his right ways, as Jarchi; but from his person, withdrawing the manifestation of his face and favour; withholding the discoveries of his love; and denying him the light of his countenance, and sensible communion with him, and enjoyment of him, he had been indulged with; Job formerly had seen the face of God, enjoyed his presence, and walked in fellowship with him; but now he had withdrawn himself from him, and he knew not where to find him; see Job 23:2; a greater blessing cannot be had than the gracious presence of God; nothing gives more pleasure when enjoyed, and nothing more grievous to good men when it is withheld; oftentimes sin is the cause of it, but not always, as in this instance of Job; the end of the Lord in all his afflictions, both inward and outward, was to try his patience, his integrity, and faithfulness; but as Job was for the present ignorant of it, he desires to know the reason of this the Lord’s behaviour towards him; as it is what all good men should do in the like circumstances, nothing being more afflicting and distressing to them, and even intolerable; see
Ps 10:11; some think here is an allusion to the behaviour of judges towards such as were condemned by them, they were prejudiced against, and would neither hear nor see them; or to a rite and custom in former times, as Pineda observes, when judges, at the time of pronouncing sentence on a malefactor, used to draw a curtain between them; or to the covering of the face of the criminal, see Job 9:24;
and holdest me for thine enemy? Job had been an enemy to God, as all men are in a state of nature, yea, enmity itself, as is shown by their wicked works; but he was now reconciled unto God, the enmity of his heart was slain, and he had laid down his weapons of rebellion, and ceased committing hostilities against God, and was become subject to him and to his law, through the power of efficacious grace; a principle of love, which is the fruit of the spirit in regeneration, was implanted in him; and he was a true and sincere lover of God, one that feared him, and trusted in him; whose faith worked by love, and so appeared to be of the right kind; and therefore, since he was conscious to himself that he loved God with all his heart, loved his word, his ways, and worship, his people and all that belonged to him, it was cutting and grievous to him to be thought and accounted, or deal with, as an enemy to him; for so he interpreted his conduct towards him; as he afflicted him, he took it to be in anger and fury, and hot displeasure; and as he hid his face from him, he supposed it was in great wrath, viewing him in this light as his enemy.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Job 13:24. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, &c.? This expression, among some others, has been charged upon Job by a learned writer as very improper and unbecoming. Now, though we might admit that there is something faulty in the expostulation, yet it is very much alleviated by those expressions of humility and self-abasement which immediately precede and follow it. Read the 23rd and 25th verses. Scarcely ever were the feelings of the human heart, burdened with such a load of grief, expressed in a more natural or less blameable way; and I could almost recal the concession that I have made, of any thing at all wrong in it: for, if it be a rule of equity to put upon words and things the best construction that they will bear, Job seems, in the first part, to wish that God would discover to him the particular sins, if any, for which he thus afflicted him, and he was ready to deplore them, and to correct his errors for the future: in the second, the exceptionable part, he seems nevertheless to account it the greatest of his calamities, that God should hide his face from him, and deal with him as an enemy; on whose friendship and favour he had always set the highest value; had endeavoured to preserve it by the integrity of his life, and was resolved never to depart from that integrity. In the last part he confesses his own meanness, or rather nothingness, in comparison of God; and that in a manner so ingenuous and simple, as to shew that his complaints, however passionate and moving, had but a small mixture (for I must not venture to say none) of pride or stubbornness at the bottom of it. Peters.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
Ver. 24. Wherefore hidest thou thy face ] Who wast wont to shine upon me, Job 29:2-3 . He that hideth his face showeth that he neither pitieth nor purposeth to relieve. God seemed to look upon Job no otherwise than as under Satan’s cloak, said that martyr. But he hideth his love sometimes out of increasement of love, as Joseph did to his brethren; and is never so near us as when, with Mary Magdalene, we are so bleared with tears for his absence, that we cannot see him, though at hand. A child of light may walk in darkness, Isa 50:10 , which, when he doth, he must resolve, as Isa 8:17 , I will wait upon the Lord, who hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look tbr him: he must also in that dark condition cast anchor, as they did in the shipwreck, Act 27:29-30 , and pray still for day, waiting till the day star arise in their hearts, and all clear up.
And holdest me for thine enemy?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
hidest thou: Job 10:2, Job 29:2, Job 29:3, Deu 32:20, Psa 10:1, Psa 13:1, Psa 44:24, Psa 77:6-9, Psa 88:14, Isa 8:17
holdest me: Job 16:9, Job 19:11, Job 30:21, Job 31:35, Job 33:10, 1Sa 28:16, Lam 2:5, 2Th 3:15
Reciprocal: Gen 42:14 – General Deu 31:17 – hide my face Deu 32:42 – revenges Deu 32:43 – avenge Job 7:21 – why dost Psa 104:29 – hidest Jer 30:14 – I