Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 18:16
His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
16. shall his branch be cut off ] Rather, his branches shall wither, see on ch. Job 14:2. The tree is not a figure for the sinner as a single person, but as the centre of a family, widely ramified and firmly established (his roots), and numerous (his branches). These all perish with him, cf. Bildad’s former plant-life lore, ch. Job 8:11 seq., 16 seq.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
His roots shall be dried up – Another image of complete desolation – where he is compared to a tree that is dead – a figure whose meaning is obvious, and which often occurs; see Job 15:30, note; Job 8:12-13, notes.
Above his branch – Perhaps referring to his children or family. All shall be swept away – an allusion which Job could not well hesitate to apply to himself.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. His roots shall be dried up – his branch be cut off.] He shall be as utterly destroyed, both in himself, his posterity, and his property, as a tree is whose branches are all lopped off, and whose every root is cut away.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. He shall be destroyed, both root and branch, i.e. both himself and his posterity. Compare Mal 4:1.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. Rootshimself.
branchhis children(Job 8:12; Job 15:30;Mal 4:1).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
His roots shall be dried up beneath,…. Wicked men are sometimes compared to trees; to trees of the wood, barren, and unfruitful; to trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; and sometimes to green bay trees, very flourishing for a while, and which on a sudden perish, and come to nothing, see So 2:3 Jude 1:12; and such a simile is here used; and by his roots may be meant his family, from whence he sprung, which now should be extinct with him, see Isa 11:1; or his substance, which being greatly increased, he seemed to take root in the earth, and not only to be in a prosperous, but in a stable settled condition; but now, like Ephraim, he should be smitten, and his root dried up; all his wealth, and all the resources of it, should be exhausted, be no more, see Jer 12:2;
and above shall his branch be cut off; his children that sprung from him, as branches from a tree, and were his glory and beauty, these should be cut off; referring no doubt in both clauses to Job’s present circumstances, whose root in the time of his prosperity was spread out by the waters, but now dried up, and on whose branches the dew lay all night, but now cut off, Job 29:19; so the Targum,
“his children shall be cut off out of the earth, and from heaven his destruction shall be decreed;”
both clauses signify the utter destruction of the family of the wicked man, root and branch, see Mal 4:1. It is a beautiful description of a tree struck with thunder and lightning, and burnt and shattered to pieces, and agrees with Job 18:15.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
16 His roots wither beneath,
And above his branch is lopped off.
17 His remembrance is vanished from the land,
And he hath no name far and wide on the plain;
18 They drive him from light into darkness,
And chase him out of the world.
19 He hath neither offspring nor descendant among his people,
Nor is there an escaped one in his dwellings.
The evil-doer is represented under the figure of a plant, Job 18:16, as we have had similar figures already, Job 8:16., Job 15:30, Job 15:32.;
(Note: To such biblical figures taken from plants, according to which root and branch are become familiar in the sense of ancestors and descendants (comp. Sir. 23:25, 40:15; Wisd. 4:3-5; Rom 11:16), the arbor consanguineitatis , which is not Roman, but is become common in the Christian refinement of the Roman right, may be traced back; the first trace of this is found in Isidorus Hispalensis (as also the Cabbalistic tree , which represents the Sephir-genealogy, has its origin in Spain).)
his complete extirpation is like the dying off of the root and of the branch, as Amo 2:9; Isa 5:24, and “let him not have a root below and a branch above” in the inscription on the sarcophagus of Eschmunazar. Here we again meet with , the proper meaning of which is so disputed; it is translated by the Targ. (as by us) as Niph. , but the meaning “to wither” is near at hand, which, as we said on Job 14:2, may be gained as well from the primary notion “to fall to pieces” (whence lxx ), as from the primary notion “to parch, dry.” (whence , formed after the manner of the Arabic IX. form, usually of failing; vid., Caspari, 59) offers a third possible explanation; it signifies originally to be long and lax, to let anything hang down, and thence in Arab. ( amala ) to hope, i.e., to look out into the distance. Not the evil-doer’s family alone is rooted out, but also his memory. With , a very relative notion, both the street outside in front of the house (Job 31:32), and the pasture beyond the dwelling (Job 5:10), are described; here it is to be explained according to Pro 8:26 ( ), where Hitz. remarks: “The lxx translates correctly . The districts beyond each persons’ land, which also belong to no one else, the desert, whither one goes forth, is meant.” So seems also here (comp. Job 30:8) to denote the land that is regularly inhabited – Job himself is a large proprietor within the range of a city (Job 29:7) – and the steppe traversed by the wandering tribes which lies out beyond. Thus also the Syr. version transl. ‘al apai barito , over the plain of the desert, after which the Arabic version is el – barrje (the synon. of bedw , badije , whence the name of the Beduin
(Note: The village with its meadow-land is el – beled wa ‘l – berr . The arable land, in distinction from the steppe, is el – ardd el – amira , and the steppe is el – berrje . If both are intended, ardd can be used alone. Used specially, el – berrje is the proper name for the great Syrian desert; hence the proverb: el – hhurrje fi ‘l – berrje , there is freedom in the steppe (not in towns and villages). – Wetzst.)).
What is directly said in Job 18:17 is repeated figuratively in Job 18:18; as also what has been figuratively expressed in Job 18:16 is repeated in Job 18:19 without figure. The subj. of the verbs in Job 18:18 remains in the background, as Job 4:19; Psa 63:11; Luk 12:20: they thrust him out of the light (of life, prosperity, and fame) into the darkness (of misfortune, death, and oblivion); so that the illustris becomes not merely ignobilis , but totally ignotus , and they hunt him forth ( from the Hiph. of the verb , instead of which it might also be from , they banish him) out of the habitable world (for this is the signification of , the earth as built upon and inhabited). There remains to him in his race neither sprout nor shoot; thus the rhyming alliteration and (according to Luzzatto on Isa 14:22, used only of the descendants of persons in high rank, and certainly a nobler expression than our rhyming pairs: Germ. Stumpf und Stiel, Mann und Maus, Kind und Kegel). And there is no escaped one (as Deu 2:34 and freq., Arab. sharid , one fleeing; sharud , a fugitive) in his abodes ( , as only besides Psa 55:16). Thus to die away without descendant and remembrance is still at the present day among the Arab races that profess Dn Ibrahm (the religion of Abraham) the most unhappy thought, for the point of gravitation of continuance beyond the grave is transferred by them to the immortality of the righteous in the continuance of his posterity and works in this world (vid., supra, p. 386); and where else should it be at the time of Job, since no revelation had as yet drawn the curtain aside from the future world? Now follows the declamatory conclusion of the speech.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(16) His roots shall be dried up.With tacit allusion to what he had said in Job. 8:12, and also to the destruction of Jobs own offspring, which had already been accomplished.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Be cut off Wither. The sarcophagus of Ashmanasar, king of the Sidonians, discovered in recent times, has inscribed upon it a curse against those who should “disturb him upon his resting place;” “let him not have a root below or a branch above.” In the East, man is often compared to a tree, his destruction to the cutting off of its branches. (See Roberts, in loc.)
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 18:16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
Ver. 16. His roots shall be dried up beneath, &c. ] The meaning is, saith Diodati, he shall be deprived of God’s grace, which is the root of all happiness, and of his blessing, which is the top of it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
roots: Job 29:19, Isa 5:24, Hos 9:16, Amo 2:9, Mal 4:1
shall his branch: Job 5:3, Job 5:4, Job 15:30
Reciprocal: Deu 28:18 – the fruit of thy body 2Sa 14:27 – born 2Sa 18:18 – I have no son Job 8:4 – he have cast Job 8:17 – roots Job 15:32 – and his branch Job 24:20 – wickedness Psa 21:10 – General Pro 2:22 – the wicked Isa 14:20 – the seed Isa 14:22 – the name Isa 40:24 – they shall not be planted Hos 13:15 – his spring Mar 11:20 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 18:16-19. His roots shall be dried up, &c. That is, he shall be destroyed, both root and branch; both himself and his posterity. His remembrance shall perish Instead of that honour and renown which he designed and expected to have, both while he lived, and after his death, he shall not be so much as remembered, unless it be with contempt and reproach. He shall be driven from light into darkness, &c. From a prosperous state to disgrace and misery, and to the grave, the land of darkness. He shall neither have son nor nephew, &c. But if any such survive, they shall be in the hands and power of strangers, or rather of their enemies, and not among his own people.