Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 10:9
Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
9. The figure is that of a potter who has lavished infinite care upon his vessel, and now reduces his work of elaborate skill and exquisite ornament into dust again.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay – There is evident allusion here to the creation of man, and to the fact that he was moulded from the dust of the earth – a fact which would be preserved by tradition; see Gen 2:7. The fact that God had moulded the human form as the potter moulds the clay, is one that is often referred to in the Scriptures; compare Rom 9:20-21. The object of Job in this is, probably, to recall the fact that God, out of clay, had formed the noble structure, man, and to ask whether it was his intention to reduce that structure again to its former worthless condition – to destroy its beauty, and to efface the remembrance of his workmanship? Was it becoming God thus to blot out every memorial of his own power and skill in moulding the human frame?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 9. Thou hast made me as the clay] Thou hast fashioned me, according to thy own mind, out of a mass of clay: after so much skill and pains expended, men might naturally suppose they were to have a permanent being; but thou hast decreed to turn them into dust!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
As the clay, i.e. of the clay; the note of similitude here expressing the truth of things, as it doth Joh 1:14, and elsewhere, as hath been before observed. Or, as a potter maketh a vessel of the clay; and so this may note both the frailty of mans nature, which of itself decays and perisheth, and doth not need such violent shocks and storms to overthrow it; and the excellency of the Divine artifice, commended from the meanness of the materials out of which it was made; which is an argument why God should not destroy it.
Wilt thou bring me into dust again? wilt thou now causelessly and violently destroy thy own work? But the words are and may be read without an interrogation, and
thou wilt bring me into dust again, out of which I was made: I must die by the course of nature, and by the sentence of thy law; and therefore whilst I do live give me some ease and comfort.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. clayJob10:10 proves that the reference here is, not so much to theperishable nature of the materials, as to their wonderfulfashioning by the divine potter.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay,…. Not of the clay, though man was made originally of the dust of the earth, and the bodies of men are houses of clay, earthen vessels, and earthly tabernacles, but “as the clay”; either as the clay is wrought in the hand of the potter, and worked into what form, and made into what vessel he pleases, so are men in the hand of God, made by him in what form, and for what use and end he thinks fit; or rather this denotes not the likeness of the operation, but the likeness of the matter of the human body to clay: not for the impurity of it; for though man is in a state and condition comparable to the mire and clay, this he has brought himself into by sin, and not the Lord; he made man upright, but man has made himself sinful and polluted; but for the brittleness of it; as a vessel made of clay is brittle and easily broke to pieces, and cannot bear much weight, or any heavy stroke; so the body of man is weak and frail, and feeble; its strength is not the strength of stones, and its flesh brass, but clay: and this Job humbly entreats the Lord would “remember”, and that “now” h; immediately; and deal mildly and mercifully with him, since he was not able to bear the weight of his hand, which would soon, crush him and break him to pieces; not that God forgets this, for he remembers man’s frame and composition, that he is but dust; that he is flesh, and a wind or vapour that passes away: but he may seem to do so, when he sorely afflicts, and his hand lies heavy, and he does not remove it, but continues it, and rather in creases the affliction; and therefore, as the Lord allows his people to put him in remembrance, Job here desires that he would show himself, in his providential dealings with him, that he was mindful of his natural frailty and infirmity; see Job 7:12
Ps 78:3;
and wilt thou bring me into dust again? to the dust of death; to the original of which he was made; and that so soon, and at once; or, “and unto dust will return me?” as Mr. Broughton and others i, according to the original sentence, “dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return”, Ge 3:19; and which Job expected, and will be the case of all men, Ec 12:7; and therefore he thought that this might suffice, that it was enough that he should die in a little while through the course of nature, and therefore desires he might have some respite and ease while he did live; he could not see there was any occasion to press him so hard, and follow him so close with afflictions one after another, or be so rough with him and quick upon him; since in a short time his brittle clay would break of itself, and he should drop into the dust and lie decaying there, as it was of old decreed he should.
h “nunc”, Drusius; so the Targum. i “reducturus”, Schmidt, Schultens; “reduces me?” V. L. Beza, Michaelis; “redire facies me?” Pagninus, Montanus, Bolducius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(9) Into dust.Comp. Psa. 22:15.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. As the clay A favourite figure of the Scripture, Job 33:6; Isa 29:16; Isa 45:9; Jer 18:6; Rom 9:20-21. The idea of destroying him naturally calls to the mind of Job the case of a potter, who, after skilfully elaborating some work of beauty, prizes it too highly to dash it wantonly to the earth. The mystery of death evidently presses upon his mind. God has made him out of clay a masterpiece of skill, wisdom, and power why should he bring him into dust again? Job recalls the sentence against Adam, and uses substantially the same words “Unto dust shall thou return.” Gen 3:19.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 10:9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
Ver. 9. Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay ] Remembrance and foreknowledge are not properly in God. See Trapp on “ Job 10:4 “ But he is said to remember us when he relieveth us, Psa 136:23 ; Psa 9:18 1Sa 1:19 . “That thou hast made me,” &c., viz. in those protoplasts, my first parents, formed out of the ground, Gen 2:7 , whence the heathen philosopher could say, that man is nothing else but a piece of clay weakly made up: or thou hast wrought me like clay, sc. in the womb, where thou hast framed and formed my body, as the potter worketh his clay, well tempered, into an earthen vessel, (Arrian. in Epict.). Here, then, Job inminds the Lord (by the matter whereof he was made) of the frailty, vility, and impurity of his nature ( Lutum enim conspureat omnia, sic et. caro ), to move him to a mitigating of his misery. See Psa 103:14 ; Psa 78:39 .
Wilt thou bring me into the dust again?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Remember: Job 7:7, Psa 25:6, Psa 25:7, Psa 25:18, Psa 89:47, Psa 106:4
thou hast: Gen 2:7, Gen 3:19, Isa 45:9, Isa 64:8, Jer 18:6
into dust again: Job 17:14, Psa 22:15, Psa 90:3, Ecc 12:7, Rom 9:21
Reciprocal: Job 4:19 – dwell Job 33:6 – I also Psa 31:7 – for Psa 103:14 – we are dust Psa 139:13 – For thou Psa 139:15 – when I Ecc 3:20 – all are Lam 5:1 – Remember
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 10:9. Remember, thou hast made me as the clay I was formed by thee as a potter makes a vessel of clay; so this may note both the frailty of mans nature, which of itself decays and perishes, and doth not need such violent shocks to overthrow it; and the excellence of the divine artifice commended from the meanness of the materials; which is an argument why God should not destroy it. And will thou bring me? &c. Or, rather, without an interrogation, thou wilt bring me into dust again Out of which I was made: I must die by the course of nature, and by the sentence of thy law; and, therefore, while I do live, give me some ease and comfort.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10:9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as {l} the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
(l) As brittle as a pot of clay.