Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 23:6
Will he plead against me with [his] great power? No; but he would put [strength] in me.
6. This verse runs:
Would he plead against me in the greatness of his power?
Nay, but he would give heed unto me.
The words express the thought which the idea of appearing before God’s judgment-seat immediately suggests to Job “Do I mean that God should exhibit His almighty power against me? far from that, but that He would listen to me.” His wish is that God would hear his arguments and answer him as a human judge who gives heed to the plea of the accused, laying aside His omnipotent power with which He now crushes him; comp. ch. Job 9:32, Job 13:20.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Will he plead against me with his great power? – Will he make use of his mere power to overwhelm me and confound me? Will he take advantage of omnipotence to triumph over me, instead of argument and justice? No: he will not do it. The discussion would be fair. He would hear what I have to say, and would decide according to truth. Though he is Almighty, yet he would not take advantage of that to prostrate and confound me. When Job Job 13:3 wished to carry the cause directly before God, he asked of Him two conditions only. One was, that he would take off his hand from him, or remove his afflictions for a time, that he might be able to manage his own cause; and the other was, that He would not take advantage of his power to overwhelm him in the debate, and prevent his making a fair statement of his case; see the notes at Job 13:20-21. He here expresses his firm conviction that his wish in this respect would be granted. He would listen, says he, to what; I have to say in my defense as if I were an equal.
No; but he would put strength in me – The word strength is not improperly supplied by our translators. It means that he would enable him to make a fair presentation of his cause. So far from taking advantage of his mere power to crush him, and thus obtain an ascendency in the argument, he would rather strengthen him, that he might be able to make his case as strong as possible. He would rather aid him, though presenting his own cause in the controversy, than seek to weaken his arguments, or so to awe him by his dread majesty as to prevent his making the case as strong as it might be. This indicates remarkable confidence in God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 23:6
Will He plead against me with His great power?
Jobs confidence in God
The idea of a God of power is common to all religions. Job felt that underneath all the mysteries of life there is a Divine righteousness. When any godly man feels that, he can bear a great deal. It is useless shutting our eyes to the great difficulties there are in human history, and indeed in every individual life. We cannot always say that we feel God to be good and wise; but we know Him to be so; and that is all that is required of our faith.
I. Life in its phases of development. In one sense prophecies must fail. We cannot prophesy, from the career and circumstances of the grown man, what the coming days will bring with them, or how they will affect him. The one matter we are sure of is that God will not plead against the souls that love Him. The immediate exercises of the Divine will in providence are as wisely employed as the mediate ones through natural laws. The future can unfold nothing that is not quite as much the work of Divine goodness as of Divine power.
II. God in His fatherly character. The more we understand our own nature in its nobler aspects, the better should we understand Gods relation to His children. If it were not for our human relationships, how could we understand the relationship of God to us? The parental relation is common to all nations. Will a parent plead against his child? Will the Great Father do what the earthly father will not?
III. God in His almighty character. With His great strength. That is all the more reason that He should be delicate, tender, considerate, and kind. The strength of God, if we meditated upon Him apart from His moral perfections, might lead us to the worship, not of a Father, but of infinite power.
IV. The heart in its emphatic No! An emphatic answer that. There are some things that the heart decides at once, and this is one of them. Has God forgotten to be gracious? Let us answer at once, and No.
V. Life in its hidden springs. He would put strength in me. This is what we want. Not absence of temptation or trial. The springs of life, fed by God, need feeding in proportion to the very strain and exercise of our inner life. The Christian who has to struggle up the Hill Difficulty, and who passes through those experiences that tend to exhaust his forces, has much need of the grace and strength of God.
VI. Life in its past histories. We find this truth in experience as well as in the Bible. The ancestry of godliness is not a vain thing. The spiritual escutcheons of our families have symbols of moral victory in them.
VII. Life in its retributive aspects. Here we come to a positive instead of a negative view of the text. Will God plead against us if we live in sin and guilt, neglectful of Christ, and the great salvation? How can He do otherwise? (W. M. Statham.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. Will he plead against me] He would not exhibit his majesty and his sovereign authority to strike me dumb, or so overawe me that I could not speak in my own vindication.
No; but he would put strength in me.] On the contrary, he would treat me with tenderness, he would rectify my mistakes, he would show me what was in my favour, and would temper the rigid demands of justice by the mild interpretations of equity; and where law could not clear me, mercy would conduct all to the most favourable issue.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Will he oppress me with his sovereign and absolute power, as men do those whom they cannot fairly and justly conquer?
He would put strength in me; the word strength, or power, being fitly supplied out of the former branch of the verse, as is very usual in Scripture. He would not use his power against me, but for me; by enabling; me to plead my cause, and giving sentence according to that clemency and benignity, which according to his gracious covenant he useth towards his children. Or, he would put or set his heart (this very verb of putting or setting being elsewhere used in this defective manner for putting or setting the heart, as Job 7:17; Isa 41:10, as it is fully expressed, Isa 57:1; Eze 40:4; 44:5) upon (the preposition beth, in, being sometimes used for al, upon, as Neh 2:12; Isa 21:13) me, to wit, to hear me and all my reasons meekly, and to judge favourably, and to help and deliver me, as that and the like phrases commonly signify in Scripture use.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. An objection suggests itself,while he utters the wish (Job23:5). Do I hereby wish that He should plead against me with Hisomnipotence? Far from it! (Job 9:19;Job 9:34; Job 13:21;Job 30:18).
strengthso as toprevail with Him: as in Jacob’s case (Hos 12:3;Hos 12:4). UMBREITand MAURER bettertranslate as in Job 4:20 (Ionly wish that He) “would attend to me,” that is,give me a patient hearing as an ordinary judge, not using Hisomnipotence, but only His divine knowledge of my innocence.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Will he plead against me with [his] great power?…. God will not plead against his people at all, but for them: much less will he plead against them with his great strength, use all his power to run them down, crush, and oppress them; for he is a great God, and of great power, he is mighty in strength, and there is no contending with him, or answering of him, Job 9:3; nor will he deal with them according to the strict rigour of his justice, nor stir up all his wrath, nor contend for ever with them in such a way; for then the spirits would fail before him, and the souls that he has made; whatever he does with others, making known his power on the vessels of wrath, he will never act after this manner with the vessels of mercy:
no, but he would put [strength] in me: to pray unto him, and prevail with him to lay hold on him, and not let him go without the blessing, as Jacob did, Ho 12:3; or to stand before him, and plead his own cause with him, in such a strong and powerful manner as to bear down all the accusations and charges brought against him: or “he will set [his heart] upon me” d; deal mildly and gently, kindly and graciously, and not with his great strength and strict justice; or “will not put [sins] upon me”, as Jarchi, or lay charges to him, however guilty of them, as his friends did, or impute such to him he never committed: God is so far from doing this to his people, that he does not impute their sins to them they have committed, but to his son, much less will he lay upon them more than is right, Job 34:23. Some take the sense of the words to be this, in answer to the above question, “will he plead against me with his great power?” let him do it, “only let him not set upon me” e, in an hostile way, and then I do not decline entering the debate with him; which expresses great boldness and confidence, and even too much, and must be reckoned among the unbecoming expressions Job was afterwards convinced of; but this he utters in his passion, in order the more clearly to show, and the more strongly to assert, his innocence.
d “ipse apponeret ad me animum”, Junius Tremellius so Piscator, Cocceius, & Aben Ezra. e Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6 Will He contend with me with great power?
No, indeed; He will only regard me!
7 Then the upright would be disputing with Him,
And I should for ever escape my judge.
8 Yet I go eastward, He is not there,
And westward, but I perceive Him not;
9 Northwards where He worketh, but I behold Him not;
He turneth aside southwards, and I see Him not.
The question which Job, in Job 23:6, puts forth: will He contend with me in the greatness or fulness of His strength, i.e., (as Job 30:18) with a calling forth of all His strength? he himself answers in Job 23:6, hoping that the contrary may be the case: no, indeed, He will not do that.
(Note: With this interpretation, should certainly have Rebia mugrasch; its accentuation with Mercha proceeds from another interpretation, probably non ituque ponet in me ( manum suam) , according to which the Targ. translates. Others, following this accentuation, take in the sense of (vid., in Dachselt), or are at pains to obtain some other meaning from it.)
is here followed not by the , which is otherwise customary after a negation in the signification imo , but by the restrictive exceptive , which never signifies sed , sometimes verum tamen (Psa 49:16; comp. supra, Job 13:15), but here, as frequently, tantummodo, and, according to the hyperbaton which has been mentioned so often, is placed at the beginning of the sentence, and belongs not to the member of the sentence immediately following it, but to the whole sentence (as in Arabic also the restrictive force of the Arab. innama never falls upon what immediately follows it): He will do nothing but regard me ( , scil. , elsewhere with of the object of regard or reflection, Job 34:23; Job 37:15; Jdg 19:30, and without an ellipsis, ch. Job 1:8; also with , Job 2:3, or , 1Sa 9:20; here designedly with , which unites in itself the significations of the Arab. b and f , of seizing, and of plunging into anything). Many expositors (Hirz., Ew., and others) understand Job 23:6 as expressing a wish: “Shall He contend with me with overwhelming power? No, I do not desire that; only that He may be a judge attentive to the cause, not a ruler manifesting His almighty power.” But Job 23:6, taken thus, would be purely rhetorical, since this question (shall He, etc.) certainly cannot be seriously propounded by Job; accordingly, Job 23:6 is not intended as expressing a wish, but a hope. Job certainly wishes the same thing in Job 9:34; Job 13:21; but in the course of the discussion he has gradually acquired new confidence in God, which here once more breaks through. He knows that God, if He would but be found, would also condescend to hear his defence of himself, that He would allow him to speak, and not overwhelm him with His majesty.
Job 23:7 The question arises here, whether the which follows is to be understood locally (Arab. tamma ) or temporally (Arab. tumma ); it is evident from Job 35:12; Psa 14:5; Psa 66:6; Hos 2:17; Zep 1:14, that it may be used temporally; in many passages, e.g., Ps. 36:13, the two significations run into one another, so that they cannot be distinguished. We here decide in favour of the temporal signification, against Rosenm., Schlottm., and Hahn; for if be understood locally, a “then” must be supplied, and it may therefore be concluded that this is the expression for it. We assume at the same time that is correctly pointed as part. with Kametz; accordingly it is to be explained: then, if He would thus pay attention to me, an upright man would be contending with Him, i.e., then it would be satisfactorily proved that an upright man may contend with Him. In Job 23:7, , like , Job 20:20 (comp. , to have open, to stand open), is intensive of Kal: I should for ever escape my judge, i.e., come off most completely free from unmerited punishment. Thus it ought to be if God could be found, but He cannot be found. The , which according to the sense may be translated by “yet” (comp. Job 21:16), introduces this antithetical relation: Yet I go towards the east ( with Mahpach, with Munach), and He is not there; and towards the west ( , comp. , occidentales , Job 18:20), and perceive Him not (expressed as in Job 9:11; elsewhere: to attend to anything, Job 14:21; Deu 32:29; Psa 73:17; here, as there, to perceive anything, so that is equivalent to ). In Job 23:9 the left ( , Arab. shemal , or even without the substantival termination, on which comp. Jesurun, pp. 222-227, sham , sham ) is undoubtedly an appellation of the north, and the right ( , Arab. jemn ) an appellation of the south; both words are locatives which outwardly are undefined. And if the usual signification of and are retained, it is to be explained thus: northwards or in the north, if He should be active – I behold not; if He veil himself southwards or in the south – I see not. This explanation is also satisfactory so far as Job 23:9 is concerned, so that it is unnecessary to understand other than in Job 28:26, and with Blumenfeld to translate according to the phrase , Jdg 17:8: if He makes His way northwards; or even with Umbr. to call in the assistance of the Arab. gsa (to cover), which neither here nor Job 9:9; Job 15:27, is admissible, since even then cannot signify: if He hath concealed himself on the left hand (in the north). Ewald’s combination of with , in the assumed signification “to incline to” of the latter, is to be passed over as useless. On the other hand, much can be said in favour of Ewald’s translation of Job 23:9: “if He turn to the right hand – I see Him not;” for (1) the Arab. gtf , by virtue of the radical notion,
(Note: The Arab. verb tf signifies trans. to turn, or lay, anything round, so that it is laid or drawn over something else and covers it; hence Arab. taf , a garment that is cast round one, Arab. taattafa with Arab. b of a garment: to cast it or wrap it about one. Intrans. to turn aside, depart from, of deviating from a given direction, deflectere , declinare ; also, to turn in a totally opposite direction, to turn one’s self round and to go back. – Fl.)
which is also traceable in the Heb. , signifies both trans. and intrans. to turn up, bend aside; (2) Saadia translates: “and if He turns southwards ( atafa gunuban );” (3) Schultens correctly observes: significatione operiendi commodum non efficit sensum, nam quid mirum is quem occultantem se non conspiciamus . We therefore give the preference to this Arabic rendering of . If , in the sense of obvelat se, does not call to mind the , penetralia austri , Job 9:9 (comp. Arab. chidr , velamen, adytum ), neither will point to the north as the limit of the divine dominion. Such conceptions of the extreme north and south are nowhere found among the Arabs as among the Arian races (vid., Isa 14:13);
(Note: In contrast to the extreme north, the abode of the gods, the habitation of life, the extreme south is among the Arians the abode of the prince of death and of demons, Jama (vid., p. 421) with his attendants, and therefore the habitation of death.)
and, moreover, the conception of the north as the abode of God cannot be shown to be biblical, either from Job 37:22; Eze 1:4, or still less from Psa 48:3. With regard to the syntax, is a hypothetical fut., as Job 20:24; Job 22:27. The use of the fut. apoc. , like , Job 23:11, without a voluntative or aoristic signification, is poetic. Towards all quarters of the heavens he turns, i.e., with his eyes and the longing of his whole nature, if he may by any means find God. But He evades him, does not reveal Himself in any place whatever.
The which now follows does not give the reason of Job’s earnest search after God, but the reason of His not being found by him. He does not allow Himself to be seen anywhere; He conceals Himself from him, lest He should be compelled to acknowledge the right of the sufferer, and to withdraw His chastening hand from him.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(6) Plead against me.Rather, Would he plead with me, or contend with me in the greatness of his power? Nay; but he would have regard unto me; he would consider my case. Eliphaz had bidden Job to acquaint himself with God, and return unto Him (Job. 22:23); Job says there is nothing he longs for more than to come into His presence.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Will he plead against me Rather, Would He in great power contend with me? No! surely He would have regard to me.
Would put , place, fix, is elsewhere, as here, used without leb ( heart or mind) when plainly required by the context. Job 24:12; Job 34:23; Isa 41:20. Could he but find God, Job is confident that He would not overwhelm him with His awe; on the contrary, He would give heed to him “fix his mind upon him.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 23:6 Will he plead against me with [his] great power? No; but he would put [strength] in me.
Ver. 6. Will he plead against me with his great power? ] No; for then you were in a woe-case. For if God’s breath blow us to destruction, as so many dust heaps, Job 4:9 , if he frown us to death, and nod us to destruction, Psa 80:16 , what shall we think of his Almighty power, which none can abide or avoid? Dittleile est contra eum scribere, qui potest proseribere. It is dangerous dealing with him who hath at his command thirty legions, saith the philosopher to the emperor, who would needs crack an argument with him. And should Job dare to do it with the Lord of hosts, as if stronger than he? The thunder of his power, who can bear? The stoutest men quake before him; and as the worms, when it thundereth, wriggle into the corners of the earth, ready to run, as Caligula did, under any bed or any bench hole.
No; but he would put strength in me
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
plead: Job 9:19, Job 9:33, Job 9:34, Job 13:21, Isa 27:4, Isa 27:8, Eze 20:33, Eze 20:35
but he would: Psa 138:3, 2Co 12:9, 2Co 12:10
Reciprocal: Job 22:4 – will he enter Job 30:21 – thy strong hand Job 40:9 – Hast Dan 10:18 – he Eph 3:16 – to be
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 23:6. Will he plead against me Hebrew, , jarib gnimmadi, contend with me; with his great power , berob choach, in the greatness, or extent, of his strength. Will he use his sovereign and absolute power to oppress me, as men do those whom they cannot fairly answer? No, but he would put strength in me He would not use his power against me, but for me; by enabling me to plead my cause, and giving sentence according to that clemency which he uses toward his children. The word strength, though not in the text, is rightly added by our translators to complete the sense.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
23:6 Will he {b} plead against me with [his] great power? No; but he would {c} put [strength] in me.
(b) Using his absolute power and saying because I am God, I may do what I will.
(c) Of his mercy he would give me power to answer him.