Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 23:16
For God maketh my heart soft and the Almighty troubleth me:
16. For God maketh ] Or, and God. The emphasis is on God; it is God, the thought that God should act in this unrighteous manner that makes his heart “soft,” i. e. makes him faint-hearted and terror-stricken.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For God maketh my heart soft – That is, faint. He takes away my strength; compare the notes at Isa 7:4. This effect was produced on Job by the contemplation of the eternal plan and the power of God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 23:16
God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me.
God the softener of the heart
This is not a Jewish idea. The dispensation of Moses was a religious state, in which the harder features of the Divine countenance were brought to light, and by which the severer characteristics of the Divine nature were developed before the people, rather than their opposites. The ideas with which the dispensation familiarised their minds were more especially those of justice, judgment, retribution, and punishment. To speak of the softening of the heart, and to ascribe, as Job doth, the process and the operations by which it is softened unto God, must project our thoughts to other days which the prophets and kings have desired to see, but, except by faith, did not see them. It directs us to the days of the Son of Man; it leads us to think of the humanity of God, with all its consequent and concurrent tendernesses towards our own. Hardness of heart or spiritual insensibility is no isolated evil. It hath a numerous progeny. Hardness of heart, let it take what shape it will, is something to be prayed against. There is a moral ossification of the heart, as well as a physical The Pharisees of our Lords day were thus morally diseased. These hard bones, these intractable sinews of a perverse disposition and a rebellious will, these horns of the ungodly, must be broken, dissolved, ground to powder. Let it not be supposed that this softness of heart can be any reproach to us, or is in any way derogatory to moral and intellectual manliness. Our nature cannot be too tender so long as it is not weak. The sensibility of woman, joined with the intellect of man, would not render us too sensitive. Piety is softness of heart, tenderness of affection, sensitiveness of conscience to Godward. But how does God make the heart soft? He doth it by the influence of His Holy Spirit. This is so obvious as to need no proof. But the Spirit useth different means, and operateth upon us in a variety of ways, not only through the particular channels which He hath ordained, but in all manner of ways. Some other methods may be mentioned.
1. God maketh the heart soft by the influence upon us of the natural world.
2. By His Holy Word. This is an agency whereby the Spirit of God more peculiarly worketh upon the soul; and the natural objects to which the Word is compared show how softening its influences are. Dew; showers; small rain; snow; honey out of a rock; all which similitudes bespeak its tender, melting, mollifying power.
3. By the discipline of life. Trouble is a mighty mollifier of the heart. Trouble prepareth us for the sympathies of Nature and the consolations of Gods Word. Next to the Lord Jesus it is humanitys best friend, and the more as it is no mans flatterer. (Alfred Bowen Evans.)
God maketh my heart soft
Prosperity is often a curse, adversity is often a blessing. Observe the advantages of affliction. Confine attention to the softening of the heart.
1. The Scriptures speak of the hardness of the heart as the cause of impenitence and unbelief. Suppose that you were offered, on the one hand, temporal prosperity with a stony heart, or temporal prosperity with a new and softened heart, what would be your choice? If you are in adversity it may be that God saw prosperity to be dangerous for you. It is the Almighty that troubleth you. Thank Him for having troubled you. Pray Him to soften your heart wholly.
2. Since God certainly designs affliction for your profit, have a care that you do profit by it.
3. How are we to profit by affliction? To this end, we must repent us truly of our sins past, and resolve, by Gods grace, to abandon them. Our good resolution must not be impulsive and evanescent, it must be deliberate and decided, in order that it may be permanent. God has promised to help us, and He alone can give us the strength to succeed; but He requires a concurrent will. If you would profit by affliction, you must be instant in prayer, and diligent in the study of Gods Word. Learn, then, to look at affliction in the true light, and from a Christian point of view. It is designed by God to make your heart soft. (James Mackay, B. D.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. For God maketh my heart soft] Prostrates my strength, deprives me of courage, so that I sink beneath my burden, and I am troubled at the thought of the Almighty, the self-sufficient and eternal Being.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Soft, or tender. He hath bruised, and broken, or melted it, so that I have no spirit, nor courage, nor strength in me, as this or the like phrase is used, Deu 20:3; Psa 39:11; Isa 7:4; Jer 51:46.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. softfaint; hath melted mycourage. Here again Job’s language is that of Jesus Christ (Ps22:14).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For God maketh my heart soft,…. Not tender as Josiah’s was,
2Ki 22:19, or as the heart of every penitent is, when God makes it humble and contrite by his spirit and grace, or takes away the stony heart, and gives an heart of flesh; though Job had such an heart, and God made it so; but he means a weak, feeble, fearful heart, pressed and broken with afflictions, that could not endure and bear up under the mighty hand of God; but became as water, and melted like wax in the midst of him, and was ready to faint, and sink, and die away:
and the Almighty troubleth me; by afflicting him; afflictions cause trouble, and these are of God; or he “astonishes” a, amazes me, throws me into the utmost consternation, the reason of which follows.
a “me attonitum reddidit”, Vatablus; “consternavit me”, Drusius, Mercerus, Cocceius, Michaelis; “externavit me”, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(16) For God maketh my heart soft.That is, He has made it full of apprehension and fear, and the Almighty hath troubled me in these two respects: that He did not cut me off before the darkness, so that I had never been born, or that He did not hide darkness from mine eyes after giving me life. (Comp. Job. 3:11; Job. 3:20, &c.) We may understand this of the physical suffering to which he was subjected, or of the mental distress and perplexity under which he laboured.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. For Better, And.
Soft Faint.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 23:16. For God maketh my heart soft, &c. For God causeth my heart to melt; the Almighty terrifieth me; Job 23:17, Yet so, that my mind doth not despond for that darkness, even that thick darkness, with which I am covered. Houb. Heath observes, that the word darkness is used here, as it is frequently, to denote calamity; and the thick darkness to express death.
REFLECTIONS.1st, Job seems to think it in vain to reason with his friends, resolved as they were to condemn him so unreasonably and cruelly, and therefore rather turns to God in his answer to the accusations of Eliphaz.
1. He justifies his complaints from the bitterness of his anguish, which all their counsels tended nothing to alleviate; even to-day is my complaint bitter, or rebellion; so accounted by his censorious friends; but so far were his complaints from exceeding his sufferings, that his stroke was heavier than his groaning. Note; (1.) They who know not what others feel, are too apt, when at ease themselves, to condemn them for inordinate sorrow. (2.) Though God does not forbid us to complain, yet we need fear, lest we murmur under our afflictions, which were to rebel against his government.
2. He longs to appear before God, and plead his cause; Oh that I knew where I might find him, where at his tribunal I might stand, I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments, I would direct my prayer to him, and plead the prevailing arguments of his grace in a Redeemer; or I would produce the most unexceptionable evidences, how unjustly I am condemned by my friends. I would know the words which he would answer me; far from desiring the darkness to hide me, as suggested, chap. Job 22:14. I should long for his sentence to come forth, and to understand what he would say unto me, who would judge according to truth, and not condemn me unjustly as you do. Note; (1.) A soul under desertion cries after God, O that I knew where I might find him, and such complaints shall not be long unanswered; he will be found in mercy of those who seek him. (2.) It is a comfort to the people of God, that whatever others answer them, or judge concerning them, they expect to appear before Him whose decisions will be according to truth.
3. He expresses his confidence in the issue of such a trial. Would he, God, plead against me with his great power, to crush and oppress me as you do? No; he would put strength in me, encourage me to bear up under every pressure. There the righteous, such as in an evangelical sense, through the grace of God, he might be said to be, might dispute with him, not against him as an adversary, but before him as their judge, so should I be delivered for ever from my judge, from your censures, which, as judges of my case, you have so rashly pronounced; or rather he who is my judge would declare my integrity, and deliver me, through my Redeemer, from present and eternal condemnation. Note; (1.) They who fly to God in their distress, to pray and plead with him, shall find their strength increase with every application to him. (2.) If God acquit us? we need neither fear nor care whose anathemas are upon us.
2nd. Job had said, O that I knew where I might find him; and his were not empty wishes, but earnest labours.
1. He laments his disappointment; on every side he turned his thoughts, deeply revolved in mind his sufferings, and sought to find out their cause, and to acquaint himself with God’s designs in them; but darkness was in all his path, and he was as much as ever at a loss to account for the very singular circumstances of his afflictions, and wherefore God thus visited him. Note; The most beloved saints of God have been exercised with great afflictions and trials, which, however grievous for the time, work blessed fruits for the faithful in the end.
2. He was conscious of his own integrity, and satisfied in the divine Omniscience; and therefore concludes, that, when he had been tried, he should come forth from the furnace as gold, the brighter for the torture. My foot hath held his steps, I have sought to conform step by step with his word and providences; his way have I kept, his worship have I maintained, and his will obeyed in simplicity, and not declined from it, in any known instance, or by allowed guile; neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips, as a backslider, or an apostate; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food, more delightful to my soul, and more necessary for it than even food for my body. Note; (1.) It is a comfort that God knows our ways, and our simplicity before him. (2.) The trials of the faithful are sure to terminate to their honour and advantage. (3.) The word of God is the believer’s daily bread, and he feeds upon it to the comforting and strengthening of his soul.
3rdly. Though he was conscious of his uprightness, and hoped that the issue of his trials should be peace, they were hard to be borne, though bear them he must.
1. It was in vain to think of opposing God. He is in one mind, always the same, and who can turn him from executing his will? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth, without controul, or possibility of effective resistance. He performeth the thing that is appointed for me, according to his holy will; and many such things are with him, many dispensations of his providence, abstruse and unaccountable by mortal worms: or he feared more troubles were in his hand, as if his measure of suffering was not yet full. Note; Though God doth what he will, he cannot but do what is right; and therefore we are ever bound to acquiesce, and, seeing his hand in our afflictions, to be dumb, and not to open our mouth.
2. Though Job quitted not his hope, yet at times his fears prevailed: Therefore am I troubled at his presence; when I consider, I am afraid: What he had already suffered, made him apprehensive lest worst was in store for him, the apprehension of which quite melted him down: for God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me, the fear of his impending visitations, as well as the sense of present anguish; because I was not cut off before the darkness of affliction came, as if he was marked out to suffer; or it may be construed as an expostulation, Why was I not cut off before, or by darkness, by death, from beholding these miseries? neither hath he covered the darkness from my face, which, had I been hid in the grave, I had not seen: or without the word neither, He hath covered the darkness from my face, refuses me the comfort of departing, or suffers me not to see an end of my afflictions. Note; (1.) The consideration of God’s perfections, out of a Redeemer, is big with terror to the soul; but in him our fears remove. (2.) We should not be in such haste to be gone from our troubles into the darkness of death, when we know not how soon the scene may change, and the life which was our burden be made comfortable to ourselves, and serviceable to the cause of God.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 23:16 For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
Ver. 16. For God maketh my heart soft ] Methinks I feel it fall asunder in my bosom like drops of water, and dissolved with manifold afflictions, so that I am hardly able to bear up any longer; I am almost done, as we use to speak, and my heart faileth me. How should it do otherwise when God withdraweth from his own the supplies of his Spirit, Phi 1:19 , that Spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind, 2Ti 1:7 Act 20:22 , saith that great apostle, “And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit up to Jerusalem,” &c. Whereupon Dr Preston gives this good note, The Spirit hemmeth us about, comprehendeth and keepeth us. When a man’s own strength would fall loose, this supernatural strength stayeth and strengtheneth it. Hence that of David, Psa 138:3 , “In the day when I cried unto thee thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.” So Psa 27:14 , “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart,” which else will melt (as did the hearts of the men of Jericho, Jos 2:11 ), like metal melted with fire, or like ice thawed into water and spilt upon the ground, which cannot be taken up again. And this is the soft heart Job here complaineth of. God had dispirited him, and
The Almighty troubleth me
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
GOD. Hebrew El. App-4.
soft = faint, or unnerved. Compare Deu 20:3. Isa 7:4.
THE ALMIGHTY. Hebrew Shaddai. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
For God: Psa 22:14, Isa 6:5, Isa 57:16
Almighty: Job 27:2, Rth 1:20, Psa 88:16, Joe 1:15
Reciprocal: Exo 14:24 – and troubled Job 34:36 – My desire is that Job may be tried Psa 55:5 – Fearfulness Psa 77:3 – I remembered Joh 14:1 – not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 23:16-17. For God maketh my heart soft Or, tender; he hath bruised and broken, or melted it, so that I have no spirit, or courage, or strength in me: so this, or the like phrase, frequently signifies. There is a gracious softness of heart, like that of Josiah, whose heart was tender, and trembled at the word of God: but this is meant of an afflictive and painful softness, which apprehends every thing that is present to be pressing, and every thing that is future to be threatening. Because I was not cut off before the darkness Because God did not cut me off by death before these dark and dismal miseries came upon me. Or, as , mippenei choshech, may be properly rendered, before the face, or, by reason of the darkness; that is, God hath not yet cut me off by these calamities, but prolonged my days under them, to the great increase of my misery. Neither hath he covered the darkness from my face That I might no longer see or feel my miseries, but might be taken out of them by my long-desired death. Thus Job seems to be disposed to quarrel with God, because he did not die before his troubles; and yet, it is probable, that if, in the height of his prosperity, he had received a summons to the grave, he would have thought it hard. It may help to reconcile us to death, whenever it comes, to consider that we do not know from what evil we may be taken away. But when trouble is actually come upon us, it is folly to wish we had not lived to see it; and it is much better to look to God for grace, that we may be enabled to make the best of it; and to remember, amidst the darkness, that frequently to the upright there ariseth a marvellous light in the darkness, and that there is reserved for them a much more marvellous light after it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
23:16 For {k} God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
(k) That I should not be without fear.