Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 31:22

[Then] let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

22. The imprecation is closely connected in form with the preceding verse if I have lifted up mine hand, then let mine arm, &c.

mine arm fall ] Or, my shoulder fall.

from the bone ] Marg. the chanel bone, “an old term for the collar bone” (Wright, Bible Word-Book). The word is lit. tube, or shaft.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Then let mine arm – The strong language which Job uses here, shows his consciousness of innocence, and his detestation of the offences to which he here refers, Job 31:16-22. The word rendered arm here ( katheph) means properly the shoulder. Isa 46:7; Isa 49:22; Num 7:9; compare the notes at Isa 11:14. There is no instance, it is believed, unless this is one, in which it means arm, and the meaning here is, that he wished, if he had been guilty, his shoulder might separate from the blade. So Herder, Rosenmuller, Umbreit, and Noyes render it; and so the Vulgate and the Septuagint.

From my shoulder-blade – The scapula – the flat bone to which the upper arm is attached. The wish of Job is, that the shoulder might separate from that, and of course the arm would be useless. Such a strong imprecation implies a firm consciousness of innocence.

And mine arm – The word arm here denotes the forearm – the arm from the elbow to the fingers.

From the bone – Margin, the chanelbone. Literally, from the reed – miqaneh. Umbreit renders it, Schneller als ein Rohr – quicker than a reed. The word qaneh means properly a reed, cane, calamus (see the notes at Isa 43:24), and is here applied to the upper arm, or arm above the elbow, from its resemblance to a reed or cane. It is applied, also, to the arm or branch of a chandelier, or candlestick, Exo 25:31, and to the rod or beam of a balance, Isa. xlvi. 6. The meaning here is, that he wished that his arm should be broken at the elbow, or the forearm be separated from the upper arm, if he were guilty of the sins which he had specified. There is allusion, probably, and there is great force and propriety in the allusion, to what he had said in Job 31:2 l: If his arm had been lifted up against an orphan, he prayed that it might fall powerless.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 22. Let mine arm fall] Mr. Good, as a medical man, is at home in the translation of this verse: –

“May my shoulder-bone be shivered at the blade,

And mine arm be broken off at the socket.”

Let judgment fall particularly on those parts which have either done wrong, or refused to do right when in their power.

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

I am contented that that arm which hath been so wickedly employed may either rot off, or fall out of joint, and so be useless and burdensome to me.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

22. Apodosis to Job 31:13;Job 31:16; Job 31:17;Job 31:19; Job 31:20;Job 31:21. If I had done thosecrimes, I should have made a bad use of my influence (“my arm,”figuratively, Job 31:21):therefore, if I have done them let my arm (literally) suffer. Joballudes to Eliphaz’ charge (Job22:9). The first “arm” is rather the shoulder.The second “arm” is the forearm.

from the boneliterally,”a reed”; hence the upper arm, above the elbow.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

[Then] let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade,…. With which the upper part of it is connected; let it be disjointed from it, or rot and drop off from it; a dreadful calamity this, to lose an arm and the use of it, to have it full off immediately, as a judgment from God, and in just retaliation for lifting up an hand or arm against the fatherless; as Jeroboam’s arm withered when he put it forth from the altar, and ordered hands to be laid upon the prophet for crying against the altar, 1Ki 13:4; and mine arm be broken from the bone; from the channel bone, as the margin of our Bibles, or rather from the elbow, the lower part of the arm and so may be rendered, “or mine arm”, c. Eliphaz had brought a charge against Job, that the arms of the fatherless had been broken, and suggests that they had been broken by him, or by his orders, Job 22:9 and Job here wishes, that if that was the case, that his own arm was broken: such imprecations are not to be made in common, or frequently, and only when a man’s innocence cannot be vindicated but by an appeal to the omniscient God; an instance somewhat like this, see in Ps 137:5.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

22. Mine arm There is a striking grandeur in this imprecation on the arm that was lifted up to threaten an orphan in the court of justice. (Scott.)

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job 31:22. Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder-blade May my shoulder-blade fall from my shoulder, and my arm be broken from my elbow. Heath and Houbigant.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Job 31:22 [Then] let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

Ver. 22. Then let mine arm fall from the shoulder blade ] That unworthy arm of mine (as Cranmer cried out of that unworthy right hand of his, which he therefore burnt first), so injuriously lifted up against the fatherless, Job 31:21 , let it never be useful to me any more, but let me be punished with that wherewith I have sinned. God sometimes takes notice of the offending member; as in Jeroboam’s withered hand, Abimelech’s head, which had stolen the crown, Samson’s eyes, the rich man’s tongue, the adulteress’s thigh, Num 5:27 . This Job knew, and therefore subjoineth this imprecation, Diris se devovens, thereby to clear himself from Eliphaz’s false imputations, Job 22:6-7 . The like may be done by us, but sparingly, and not without great necessity, for the helping of the truth in necessity, lest if we do it falsely or rashly, God say, Amen, and set his fiat to it; as he had done in sundry instances in several ages; witness Alexander, the cruel keeper of Newgate, and his son-in-law, John Peter, who rotted above ground, according to their wish. So Anne Averies, in Queen Elizabeth’s days; Sir Gervaise Elloways, in King James’s, hanged on the Tower hill, which he confessed was just upon him, for that in carding and dicing he had often wished himself hanged, if it were not so and so.

And mine arm be broken from the bone ] Broken to shivers, as the word signifieth, and by the infamous hands of the hangman, for a terror to all false judges, as some do sense it; Rumpar medius, saith Brentius, as Judas burst in the midst with a huge crack, Act 1:18 , his guts gushing out; as did likewise Foxford’s, a great persecutor in Henry VIII’s time. Some men’s sins go before to judgment, God hanging them up, as it were, in gibbets, that others may hear and fear, and do no more so.

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

the bone. Authorized Version margin, “the chanel bone”. Obsolete Eng. for channel = what is channelled or scooped out: i.e. the socket.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

let: Job 31:10, Job 31:40, Jos 22:22, Jos 22:23, Psa 7:4, Psa 7:5, Psa 137:6

bone: or, chanel bone

Reciprocal: Exo 23:6 – General Num 5:22 – the woman Deu 16:19 – wrest

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

A DARING APPEAL

If then!

Job 31:16; Job 31:22

I. Job protests the even-handedness of his dealings with his servants, alleging the principle which underlies the whole Christian teaching on the point, that we all have been made by the same Creator, as we have been redeemed by the same precious blood. He also insists on his benevolence to the widow and fatherless. He is careful to show that he had not failed in doing all the good that was within his reach. Alas! how few of us can say as much. How many occasions are drifted to our feet every day, which we heedlessly let pass!

II. Job had not boasted in his wealth, or worshipped the sun and moon, or rejoiced in the calamity of others, or failed in hospitality, or concealed known evil: in none of these things was he conscious of wrong. Instead of examining ourselves in a general way, it is wholesome to divide our life into compartments, and cross-question ourselves on each.

III. With this appeal he goes into the presence of God, and asks for a reply.In the strong Gospel light we are too convicted of sin to dare to do this, and must rely upon the merits of Christ. In these alone can we approach the uncreated light.

Illustration

If I have eaten my morsel alone

The patriarch spoke in scorn;

What would he think of the Church, were he shown

Heathendom, huge, forlorn,

Godless, Christless, with soul unfed,

While the Churchs ailment is fullness of bread,

Eating her morsel alone?

I am debtor alike to the Jew and the Greek,

The mighty Apostle cried;

Traversing continents, souls to seek,

For the love of the Crucified.

Centuries, centuries since have sped,

Millions are famishing, we have bread,

But we eat our morsel alone.

Ever of them who have largest dower

Shall Heaven require the more;

Ours is affluence, knowledge, power,

Ocean from shore to shore;

And East and West in our ears have said,

Give us, give us your living Bread;

Yet we eat our morsel alone.

Freely as ye have received, so give,

He bade Who hath given us all;

How shall the soul in us longer live,

Deaf to their starving call,

For whom the Blood of the Lord was shed,

And His Body broken to give them Bread,

If we eat our morsel alone?

Archbishop Alexander.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

31:22 [Then] let mine {p} arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

(p) Let me rot in pieces.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes