Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 17:3
Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who [is] he [that] will strike hands with me?
3. The verse reads,
Give a pledge now! be surety for me with thee!
Who is there (else) that will strike hands with me?
Lay down now ] i. e. lay or put in a pledge. Now is not temporal, but a particle of importunate entreaty.
put me in a surety ] As above, be surety for me with thee. The first expression, give a pledge, is more fully expressed by the second, be surety for me with thee; and the question, Who (else) will strike hands with me? refers to the gesture or action by which suretyship was undertaken, viz. by striking hands.; cf. Pro 6:1; Pro 11:15 (margin), Pro 17:18, Pro 22:26. First, Job beseeches God to become surety for him; that is something to be done in the present. But second, a suretyship necessarily refers to the future; though undertaken in the present it is to be fulfilled later. This is expressed by the words with thee, i. e. with God. Job beseeches God to undertake now that He will cause his innocence to be yet acknowledged with God. The same division of God into two parties, God who persecutes Job and wrongs him and God who becomes surety for Job and undertakes to see his cause righted with God, appears here as before in Job 16:21; see something similar Heb 7:22. The phrase be surety for me is translated undertake for me, Isa 38:14, cf. Psa 119:122; and it might be made a question whether the suppliant went so far as to expect any visible or audible sign from heaven.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
3 9. New appeal to God that He would undertake for Job or give him a pledge that he would cause his innocence to be acknowledged by God, Job 17:3; with the grounds for this prayer as before, Job 17:4-9.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lay down now – This is evidently an address to God – a repetition of the wish which he had so often expressed, that he might be permitted to bring his cause directly before him; see Job 13:3. The whole passage here is obscure, because we are in a great measure ignorant of the ancient practices in courts of law, and of the ancient forms of trial. The general sense seems to be, that Job desires the Deity to enter into a judicial investigation, and to give him a pledge – or, as we should say, a bond, or security – that he would not avail himself of his almighty power, but would place him on an equality in the trial, and allow him to plead his cause on equal terms; see the notes at Job 13:20-22. The phrase lay down now means, lay down a pledge, or something of that kind; and may have referred to some ancient custom of giving security on going to trial, that no advantage would be taken, or that the parties would abide by the decision in the case.
Put me in a surety with thee – The word used here ( arabyn) is from arab, to mix, mingle; to exchange, to barter and then to become surety for anyone – that is, to exchange places with him, or to stand in his place; Gen 43:9; Gen 44:32. Here the idea seems to be, that Job wished the Deity to give him some pledge or security that justice would be done, or that he would not take advantage of his power and majesty to overawe him. Or, as has been remarked, it may refer to some custom of furnishing security on a voluntary trial or arbitration, that the award of the referees would be observed. I think it most probable that this is the idea. The controversy here was to be voluntary. In a voluntary trial, or an arbitration, there is a necessity of some security by the parties that the decision shall be submitted to – a pledge to each other that they will abide by it. Such a pledge Job desired in this case. All this is language taken from courts, and should not be pressed too much, nor should Job be hastily charged with irreverence. Having once suggested the idea of a trial of the cause, it was natural for him to use the language which was commonly employed in reference to such trials; and these expressions are to be regarded as thrown in for the sake of keeping, or verisimilitude.
Who is he that will strike hands with me? – Striking hands then, as now, seems to have been one mode of confirming an agreement, or ratifying a compact. The idea here is, Who is there that will be surety to me for thee? that is, for the faithful observance of right and justice. There is an appearance of irreverence in this language, but it arises from carrying out the ideas pertaining to a form of trial in a court. In entering into sureties, it was usual to unite hands; see Pro 6:1 :
My son, if thou be surety for thy friend,
If thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger.
So Pro 17:18 :
A man void of understanding striketh hands,
And becometh surety in the presence of his friend
Compare Pro 11:15; Pro 22:26. The same custom prevailed in the times of Homer and of Virgil. Thus, Homer (Iliad, b. 341) says:
–
– –
Pou de4 –
– dexiai hes epepithmen –
And so Virgil (Aeneid 4:597) says;
– en dextra fidesque.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. Lay down now] Deposit a pledge; stake your conduct against mine, and your life and soul on the issue; let the cause come before God, let him try it; and see whether any of you shall be justified by him, while I am condemned.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He turneth his speech either to Eliphaz, who spoke last; or rather to God, as is evident from the matter and scope of the words, and from the next verse. These words contain either,
1. A humble desire to God that he would appoint him a surety, who should undertake for his friends; that they should refer the cause in difference between them to God or to some other person, who should determine the matter in Gods name, and according to Gods will; or that God would be his Surety, or appoint him a surety who should maintain his righteous cause against his opposers; for so this phrase is oft used, as Psa 119:121,122; Isa 38:14. And some expound this, as they did Job 16:21, of Christ Jesus, who was called our Surety, Heb 7:22; appoint, I pray thee, my Surety (i.e. Christ, who is now) with thee, to plead my cause. Or rather,
2. An appeal from God unto God, or a kind of challenge or desire of debating his cause with God; which, though it savoureth of too much boldness and irreverence to God, yet seeing Job expresseth the same desire almost in the same manner, Job 9:33,34, and is sharply reproved by God for contending with him, Job 40:2, I know no inconvenience of ascribing the same thing to him here. So the sense is, Because I am not able to deal with thee immediately, considering the dread of thy majesty, my only desire is, that thou wouldst deal with me upon fair and equal terms, as if thou wert a man like myself, and appoint some man who shall in thy name and stead determine the time and place for the trial of my cause with thee. And this suits well enough with the two following verses, because his friends were without understanding, Job 17:4, and partial, Job 17:5; therefore he desires to cease discoursing with them, and to debate his cause with God, who was just and impartial, and also would be favourable to him.
Strike hands with me, i.e. agree and promise, or be surety to me; whereof that was the usual gesture, Pro 6:1,2; 17:18; 22:26.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. Lay down nownamely, apledge or security; that is, be my surety; do Thou attest myinnocence, since my friends only mock me (Job17:2). Both litigating parties had to lay down a sum as securitybefore the trial.
put me in a suretyProvidea surety for me (in the trial) with Thee. A presage of the “surety”(Heb 7:22), or “oneMediator between God and man” (see on Job16:21).
strike hands“whoelse (save God Himself) could strike hands with me?” that is, bemy security (Ps 119:122).The Hebrew strikes the hand of him for whom he goes security(Pr 6:1).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Lay down now,…. A pledge that thou wilt provide a surety, appoint and admit one to plead for me, and that thou wilt hear my cause, and determine it; or “put now”, or “put, I pray thee” r, thy heart and mind to me and my case, to my petition and request, and grant it:
put me in a surety with thee; appoint, provide, and place a surety for me with thee, and let him appear to do his work and office: such an one Jesus Christ is; he is of God the Father’s appointing to be the Mediator between God and men, and who himself voluntarily engaged and agreed to be the surety of the better testament; and this was known to the Old Testament saints, and to Job; and his prayer was the prayer of faith: and this work and office Christ performs; he was surety for his people from eternity, he drew nigh to God on their account, and struck hands with his Father, or covenanted and agreed with him about the salvation of his people, and the manner of it; he gave his word, his bond, to his Father for them, that he would save them; and upon that suretyship engagement of Christ all the Old Testament saints were pardoned, justified, and glorified; he promised and bound himself to pay all their debts, to satisfy for all their sins, to bring in an everlasting righteousness for them, and to bring them all safe to heaven and happiness; in order to which, he put himself in their room and stead, and laid down his life a ransom for them; upon which Job might say, and so may every believer, what follows,
who [is] he [that] will strike hands with me? that will enter the lists, litigate and dispute the point with me, or bring any charge or accusation against me, having such a surety to answer for me, such an advocate to plead my cause, such a Mediator between God and man, who has made reconciliation for sin, brought in everlasting righteousness, and satisfied law and justice, see Ro 8:33; or else the sense is, “who [is] he”, besides him that is a surety of God’s appointing and providing, “can strike bands with me?” or be a surety for me? there is no other Mediator, Saviour, or Redeemer, besides him; if he had not undertaken the cause of his people, and the redemption of them, it must have ceased for ever, no other was equal to such a work; so that here is another reason used with the Lord to provide a surety, since no other could to any purpose.
r “pone nunc”, Montanus; “poae quaeso”, Pagninus, Piscator, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schmidt; “sub cor tunm”, Vatablus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3 Lay down now, be bondsman for me with Thyself;
Who else should furnish surety to me?!
4 For Thou hast closed their heart from understanding,
Therefore wilt Thou not give authority to them.
5 He who giveth his friends for spoil,
The eyes of his children shall languish.
It is unnecessary, with Reiske and Olsh., to read ( pone quaeso arrhabonem meum = pro me ) in order that may not stand without an object; has this meaning included in it, and the which follows shows that neither (Ralbag) nor (Carey) is to be supplied; accordingly here, like Arab. wd ( wad ), and in the classics both and ponere , signifies alone the laying down of a pledge. Treated by the friends as a criminal justly undergoing punishment, he seeks his refuge in God, who has set the mark of a horrible disease upon him contrary to his desert, as though he were guilty, and implores Him to confirm the reality of his innocence in some way or other by laying down a pledge for him ( ). The further prayer is , as word of entreaty which occurs also in Hezekiah’s psalm, Isa 38:14, and Psa 119:122; seq. acc. signifies, as noted on the latter passage, to furnish surety for any one, and gen. to take the place of a mediator (comp. also on Heb 7:22, where is a synon. of ). Here, however, the significant is added: furnish security for me with Thyself; elsewhere the form is , to furnish security for (Pro 6:1), or before, any one, here with of the person by whom the security is to be accepted. The thought already expressed in Job 16:21 receives a still stronger expression here: God is conceived of as two persons, on the one side as a judge who treats Job as one deserving of punishment, on the other side as a bondsman who pledges himself for the innocence of the sufferer before the judge, and stands as it were as surety against the future. In the question, Job 17:3, the representation is again somewhat changed: Job appears here as the one to whom surety is given. , described by expositors as reciprocal, is rather reflexive: to give one’s hand (the only instance of the med. form of ) = to give surety by striking hands, dextera data sponsionem in se recipere (Hlgst.). And is not to be explained after the analogy of the passive, as the usual of the agents: who would allow himself to be struck by my hand, i.e., who would accept the surety from me (Wolfson), which is unnatural both in representation and expression; but it is, according to Pro 6:1 (vid., Bertheau), intended of the hand of him who receives the stroke of the hand of him who gives the pledge. This is therefore the meaning of the question: who else ( ), if not God himself, should strike (his hand) to my hand, i.e., should furnish to me a pledge (viz., of my innocence) by joining hands? There is none but God alone who can intercede for him, as a guarantee of his innocence before himself and others. This negative answer: None but Thou alone, is established in Job 17:4. God has closed the heart of the friends against understanding, prop. concealed, i.e., He has fixed a curtain, a wall of partition, between their hearts and the right understanding of the matter; He has smitten them with blindness, therefore He will not (since they are suffering from a want of perception which He has ordained, and which is consequently known to Him) allow them to be exalted, i.e., to conquer and triumph. “The exaltation of the friends,” observes Hirzel rightly, “would be, that God should openly justify their assertion of Job’s guilt.” Lwenthal translates: therefore art thou not honoured; but it is not pointed = , but , whether it be that is to be supplied, or that it is equivalent to (Ew. 62, a, who, however, prefers to take is as n. Hithpa. like in the unimproved signification: improvement, since he maintains this affords no right idea), according to the analogy of similar verb-forms (Job 31:15; Isa 64:6), by a resolving of the two similar consonants which occur together.
The hope thus expressed Job establishes (Job 17:5) by a principle from general experience, that he who offers his friends as spoil for distribution will be punished most severely for the same upon his children: he shall not escape the divine retribution which visits him, upon his own children, for the wrong done to his friends. Almost all modern expositors are agreed in this rendering of as regards Job 17:5; but must not be translated “lot” (Ewald), which it never means; it signifies a share of spoil, as e.g., Num 31:36 (Jerome praedam ), or even with a verbal force: plundering (from , 2Ch 28:21), or even in antithesis to entering into bond for a friend with all that one possesses (Stick., Schlottm.), a dividing (of one’s property) = distraining, as a result of the surrender to the creditor, to which the verb is appropriate, which would then denote denouncing before a court of justice, as Jer 20:10, not merely proclaiming openly, as Isa 3:9. We have translated “spoil,” which admits of all these modifications and excludes none; the general meaning is certainly: one deserts (instead of shielding as an intercessor) his friends and delivers them up; with a general subj., as Job 4:2 (if any one attempts), Job 15:3; Job 27:23. With respect to the other half of the verse, Job 17:5, the optative rendering: may they languish (Vaih.), to the adoption of which the old expositors have been misled by parallels like Psa 109:9., is to be rejected; it is contrary to the character of Job (Job 31:30). We agree with Mercerus: Nequaquam hoc per imprecationem, sed ut consequentis justissimae poenae denunciationem ab Iobo dictum putamus . For v. 5 b is also not to be taken as a circumstantial clause: even if the eyes of his children languish (Ew., Hlgst. Stick., Hahn, Schl.). It is not , but ; and before supposing here a Synallage num. so liable to be misunderstood, one must try to get over the difficulty without it, which is here easy enough. Hence Job is made, in the intended application of the general principle, to allude to his own children, and Ewald really considers him the father of infant children, which, however, as may be seen from the prologue, is nothing but an invention unsupported by the history. Since it is and not , we refer the suff. to the subj. of . The Waw of Mich. calls Waw consecutivum; it, however, rather combines things that are inseparable (certainly as cause and effect, sin and punishment). And it is , not , because the perf. would describe the fact as past, while the fut. places us in the midst of this faithless conduct. Job says God cannot possibly allow these, his three friends, the upper hand. One proclaims his friends as spoil (comp. Job 6:27), and the eyes of his children languish (comp. Job 11:20), i.e., he who so faithlessly disowns the claims of affection, is punished for it on that which he holds most dear. But this uncharitableness which he experiences is also a visitation of God. In the next strophe he refers all that he meets with from man to Him as the final cause, but not without a presage of the purpose for which it is designed.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(3) Lay down now . . .i.e., Give now a pledge; be surety for me with Thyself. He has declared that he has a witness in the heavens, but he desires some present token of the vindication to come of which he is confident, and so he asks God to give him such a pledge. This is virtually the same prayer that we find Hezekiah using (Isa. 38:14): O Lord, I am oppressed: undertake for me, that is, Be surety for me. (See also Psa. 119:122 : Be surety for thy servant for good.) There is that in man which demands exact and rigorous fulfilment or expiation of non-fulfilment. Job felt that his only hope of this fulfilment or expiation of non-fulfilment lay with God Himself: that same God who had put this sense of obligation within him; therefore he says, Be surety for me with Thyself. He longed for the daysman who should lay his hand upon both him and God; he now longs for that surety with God that God alone can give. The surety must be Divine if his witness is in the heavens; it must be the witness of God to God himself. In this wonderful way does the language of Job fit in with all that we have since and elsewhere learnt of the persons in the Godhead.
Who is he that will strike hands with me?This was the method of becoming surety; but he knows that there is no one among his friends who will do this, or that could do it if he would. (Comp. Psa. 49:7.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Second strophe That God alone will, or can, guarantee the righteous adjudication of Job’s cause, is evident from the blind and unprincipled conduct of his representative friends; and that God should do this is urged by Job’s own outrageous sufferings, and by the injury that would otherwise result to the cause of virtue. HIS PRAYER STILL IS FOR A MEDIATOR, Job 17:3-9.
3. Lay down . “A pledge” is evidently understood; some kind of security like that which binds a bargain. The clause reads, Lay down, ( a pledge,) I pray.
Put me in a surety Better, Be thou my surety with thee. , ‘ harab, signifies to pledge one’s self for another, and by implication protect or deliver. Comp. Gen 43:9; Psa 119:122; Isa 38:14; ( undertake for me.) In Job 16:21, Job speaks of God in a twofold character: also here, “as a judge and He who gives security before the judge.” Olshausen. The security became liable for his client’s debts in case he failed. Strike hands, etc. The custom of ratifying compacts by the joining or striking together of hands prevailed quite universally in ancient times. Pro 6:1. The “surety” struck hands with the party he represented, “for Solomon warns his son against giving his hand to a stranger, that is, against being surety for a person unknown.” MICHAELIS, Laws of Moses, 2:323. Ewald takes an erroneous view, that “the debtor and surety gave the hand to the creditor,” ( Alt., S. 165,) whereas the surety joined hands with the debtor. (Dillmann, etc.) Job’s prayer, “Be thou my surety with thee,” is urged by the momentous consideration, Who is he? who can be my surety if not thou? If man have hope at all, it must come from the Godhead. Christ, the Son of God, strikes hands with man, assumes his nature, becomes his surety. The prayer of Job became wonderfully prophetic.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 17:3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who [is] he [that] will strike hands with me?
Ver. 3. Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee ] This Job speaketh not to Eliphaz (as R. Moses, Beza, and some others would have it), but to God himself, as Job 16:7 , whom be desireth to lay down or appoint, as Exo 1:11 , and put in Christ as a surety to plead for him; see Heb 7:22 ; and so Brentius expoundeth it: There is one only surety, saith he, one only intercessor, the Lord Jesus Christ, who if he appear not in the eyes of our faith, we have none else that can undertake for us to God; neither is there any creature which can stand in the judgment of God, though he would never so fain be surety for us: thus he. And accordingly our late learned annotators, reading the words thus: Appoint, I pray thee, my surety with thee; who is he then that will strike upon my hand? that is, Appoint Christ, who is with thee in heaven, and hath undertaken to be my surety; appoint him, I say, to plead my cause and to stand up for me, and then no man will dare to contend with me. And so it is suitable to the notes on See Trapp on “ Job 16:21 “ See Trapp on “ Rom 8:33 “ The Vulgate Latin (not altogether from the purpose, saith Brentius) translates the whole verse thus, Put me near thyself, and then let whoso will contend with me.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lay down now = Appoint it so, I pray.
put me, &c. = be thou my bond. Compare Isa 38:14 (“undertake”).
who is he . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6. The answer is given in Job 17:4 by Figure of speech Ellipsis (App-6), “[not they]”.
strike hands. The idiom for making a compact. Compare Pro 6:1; Pro 11:15; Pro 17:18; Pro 22:26, &c.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Job 17:3-5
Job 17:3-5
AGAIN JOB APPEALS TO GOD FOR VINDICATION
“Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself;
Who is there that will strike hands with me?
For thou hast hid their heart from understanding:
Therefore shalt thou not exalt them.
He that denounceth his friends for a prey,
Even the eyes of his children shall fail.”
“Be surety for me with thyself” (Job 17:3). The next clause demands a negative answer; and since Job’s friends who normally should be his surety are not willing to do so, Job prays that God Himself will be his surety in the day of Judgment. Here again we have that magnificent leap of faith which envisioned God Himself as surety for Job against God Himself in the Judgment. What a marvelous premonition (rather inspiration) of God the Son being Surety for his saints against God the Father’s Judgment! As Kline expressed it, “This was Job’s prayer for God to establish Job’s integrity at the Judgment.” ” Job 17:3 is clearly Job’s appeal for God his Judge to be also God his Witness or Advocate as well.”
“For thou hast hid their heart from understanding” (Job 17:4). Job here stated that his friends’ blindness was due to God’s having blinded them, and therefore they thought Job was guilty. But, since they were most certainly wrong, their error would prevent God’s exalting them. Driver complained that the text here is “hopelessly corrupt.” Nevertheless, the rendition we have here (American Standard Version) makes excellent sense. Not only will God be unable to exalt Job’s mocking friends (serving in this great drama as prime agents of the devil); but they will also incur the penalty pointed out in Job 17:5.
“He that denounceth his friends for a prey” (Job 17:5). It is not clear exactly what particular sin against Job is meant by this; but whatever it was, a severe penalty would overtake them, exactly the same penalty mentioned above in Job 17:2 (Deu 19:15 ff). “This verse (Job 17:5), as translated here, is a threat to Job’s friends that their denunciations of him will be punished by the sufferings of their children.”
E.M. Zerr:
Job 17:3. Strike hands means to join hands in support of another. Job pleads with God to give him someone to help him in his burdens instead of making them heavier.
Job 17:4. Thou hast hid is a negative term. It means that God had not given these friends a heart of understanding that they might use better reasoning.
Job 17:5. Job did not want the friends to flatter him, for even the children of flatterers are in danger. What he wanted was for them to speak the plain truth.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
put me: Job 9:33, Gen 43:9, Gen 44:32, Pro 11:15, Pro 20:16, Heb 7:22
strike: Pro 6:11, Pro 11:15, *marg. Pro 17:18, Pro 22:26
Reciprocal: Job 31:35 – Oh
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 17:3. Lay down now Some earnest or pledge. Put me in a surety with thee Let me have an assurance that God will take the hearing and determining of the cause into his own hands, and I desire no more. Who is he that will strike hands with me? That is, agree and promise, or be surety to me, whereof striking or joining hands was the usual sign. But, probably, we ought rather to consider Job as addressing God in these words, and then we must understand them as containing an humble desire that he would be his surety, or would appoint him a surety, who should maintain his righteous cause against his opposers. Our English annotations, says Henry, give this reading of the verse; Appoint, I pray thee, my surety with thee, namely, Christ, who is with thee in heaven, and hath undertaken to be my surety: let him plead my cause, and stand up for me, and who is he then that will strike upon my hand? that is, who dares then contend with me? Who shall lay any thing to my charge, if Christ be an advocate for me? Rom 8:32-33. Christ is the surety of the better testament, (Heb 7:22,) a surety of Gods appointing; and if he undertake for us we need not fear what can be done against us.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
17:3 {c} Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who [is] he [that] {d} will strike hands with me?
(c) He reasons with God as a man beside himself, so that his cause might be brought to light.
(d) And answers for you?
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Job’s disclaimer of his friends 17:3-5
Evidently in legal cases of this sort, each litigant would give the judge a bond (money or some personal possession) before the trial. This bond would guarantee that the litigant would be fair and honest during the trial. If one of the litigants was not, the judge would not return his bond to him at the trial’s end. [Note: Zuck, Job, p. 79.] Job called on God to lay down His pledge (as the prosecutor) with Himself (the Jdg 17:3 a; cf. Psa 119:121-122). The guarantor (Job 17:3 b) was one who provided the bond if the person on trial could not. Job’s supportive friends would normally have provided his bond, but they had turned against him. Job lay the ultimate responsibility for his friends’ blindness and rejection at God’s feet because God had withheld understanding from them. Consequently he believed God would not lift them up (Job 17:4). Job may have believed part of his friends’ motive in not helping him was that they could obtain a portion of his property when he died (Job 17:5). However, since Job 17:5 is a proverb, he may have only been reminding his friends of the serious consequences of slander. [Note: Smick, "Job," p. 933.]