Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 19:14

My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

My kinsfolk have failed – My neighbors ( qarobay), those who were near to me. It may refer to nearness of affinity, friendship, or residence. The essential idea is that of nearness – whether by blood, affection, or vicinity. In Psa 38:11, it denotes near friends.

And my familiar friends – Those who knew me – myudaay. The allusion is to those who were intimately acquainted with him, or who were his bosom friends.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Job 19:14

My kinsfolk have failed.

Fickleness of friends

What is sweeter than a well-tuned lute, and what is more delightful than a faithful friend, who can cheer us in sorrow with wise and affectionate discourse? Nothing, however, is sooner untuned than a lute, and nothing is more fickle than a friend. The tone of the one changes with the weather, that of the other with fortune. With a clear sky, and a bright sun, and a gentle breeze, you will have friends in plenty; but let fortune frown, and the firmament be overcast, and then your friends will prove like the strings of the lute, of which you will tighten ten before you will find one that will bear the tension, or keep the pitch. (Gotthold.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 14. My kinsfolk have failed] Literally, departed: they have all left my house, now there is no more hope of gain.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

My kinsfolk have failed, to wit, to perform the offices of humanity and friendship which they owe to me.

Have forgotten me, i.e. neglect and disregard me as much as if they had quite forgotten me.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

My kinsfolk have failed,…. Or “ceased” a, not to be, or that they were dead, which is sometimes the sense of the word; but they ceased from visiting him, or doing any good office for him; those that were “near” b him, as the word used signifies; that were near him in relation, and were often near him in place, in his own house, in company and conversation with him, now ceased to be near him in affection; or to come nigh him, to converse with him and comfort him, and sympathize with him, which might be expected from persons nearly related:

and my familiar friends have forgotten me; such as were well known to him, and he to them, and who not long ago were very loving and friendly to him, and very freely and familiarly conversed with him; but now they forgot him; the friendship that subsisted between them, the friendliness with which they had visited him, and the favours they had received from him; they so slighted and neglected him, that it seemed as if he was forgotten, as a dead man, out of mind; or as if they did not remember that there ever was, or at least that there now was, such a man in the world as Job: these could not be true friends; for “a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity”,

Pr 17:17; a real friend loves, and continues to love, in adversity as well as in prosperity; and such an one, who sometimes sticks closer to a man than a brother, is born and designed to be of service to him in a time of trouble; but so it was ordered by divine Providence, and according to the will of God, that Job should meet with such treatment from his brethren, relations, acquaintance, and familiar friends, for the trial of his faith and patience.

a “desierunt”, Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Mercerus, Drusius, Piscator, Schmidt, Michaelis; “cessant”, Schultens. b “propinqui mei”, Pagninus, Montanus, &c.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Job 19:14. My kinsfolk have failed Have departed. Houbigant. He means to say, that his friends had quite deserted him; had ceased from their office, according to the immediate meaning of the Hebrew word chadlu. See Schultens.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

“Handfuls of Purpose”

For All Gleaners

“My familiar friends have forgotten me.” Job 19:14

What does this amount to? As a social fact it was simply ruinous. A man without friends is without fellowship, confidence, hope. What is a house without windows looking out upon the lighted landscape? What is it to have great thoughts, and yet to have no listener, into whose eager ear the high music can be poured? Job is therefore not mourning something that is of no consequence, but is lamenting one of the most serious incidents that can occur in social experience. Still, spiritual advantages may accrue from loss of friends. When friends are gone we begin to inquire what can be left; and if in our desolation we find that God remains behind in all faithfulness and love, we may say with Christ, “I am alone, yet not alone, for the Father is with me.” What a lesson is this upon the whole subject of friendship, not friendship of a common kind, but friendship which involved former familiarity and almost oneness of thought and sympathy! Let us take care upon what staff we lean. We should remember that the best of men are but men at best. We see, in this instance, how friendship was dependent in a large degree upon circumstances. There are fair-weather friends, and there are friends whom no foul weather can drive from our side. There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother. It is the peculiar glory of Jesus Christ that he has promised to be with us for ever, not a casual friend, not a day-long acquaintance, not a mere passer-by, but to abide with us and see us through all the cloud of time and the valley of death, and bring us into the sunlight of eternity. To be forgotten, how sad a case is that! At first, it would appear to be a simple impossibility, yet we have known it as a lamentable fact; the memory has cast out names which it once prized. Let us see to it that when we are forgotten, it is not for moral reasons; let the ingratitude be on the other side. There comes a time when it is right to forget a man who has broken every commandment and turned a deaf ear to every expostulation; even Jesus Christ appoints a time when an offending brother is to become a heathen man and a publican. As to forgetfulness, we ought to search into its quality, lest there be bidden within it anything of the nature of unthankful-ness. Never forget a benefactor or a benefit. To think of the sacred and fruitful past is to make the present glow with a holy influence. God will not forget those who remember him. God is not unrighteous to forget your work of faith and labour of love. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. Our conscious loneliness will be among the chief of our blessings if it lead us to consider whether the blessing of God is not available. Let our friendships be rooted in intelligent conviction, deep moral sympathy, congeniality of spiritual tastes, and even the roughest wind will leave them probably unbent, certainly unbroken.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

Job 19:14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

Ver. 14. My kinsfolk have failed ] scil. In courtesy, as Ruth’s kinsman did. Job had many kinsfolk, but few friends; and this was a great grief to him, as it was afterwards also to David, Psa 31:11 ; Psa 38:11 ; Psa 69:8 ; to Heman, Psa 88:8 ; and to Paul, 2Ti 4:16 .

And my familiar friends ] They whom I favoured, saith Broughton, according to Psa 11:7 .

Have forgotten me ] Out of sight out of mind. A thing forgotten is as if it had never been. All Job’s courtesies were cast away upon these summer birds, who had well nigh forgotten there was ever such a man in the world as Job.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Note the Alternation in Job 19:13-14.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

kinsfolk: Psa 38:11, Pro 18:24, Mic 7:5, Mic 7:6, Mat 10:21

familiar: 2Sa 16:23, Psa 55:12-14, Jer 20:10, Joh 13:18

Reciprocal: Gen 40:23 – but forgat him Job 2:8 – took him Job 2:12 – knew him Job 30:10 – flee far Job 42:11 – all his brethren Psa 31:11 – especially Pro 14:20 – poor Lam 1:2 – all her friends Mar 14:50 – General

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Job 19:14. My kinsfolk Whom nature inclined to love and befriend me; have failed To perform the offices of humanity which they owed me: and my familiar friends To whom I was united by a stronger bond than that of nature; have forgotten me Have neglected and disregarded me as much as if they had quite forgotten the friendship there was between us.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments