Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 33:21
His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones [that] were not seen stick out.
His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen – He wastes away. His flesh, once vigorous, beautiful, and fair, now disappears. This is not a mere description of the nature of his sickness, but it is a description of the disciplinary arrangements of God. It is an important part of his affliction, as a part of the discipline, that his flesh vanishes, and that his appearance is so changed that he becomes repulsive to the view.
And his bones that were not seen, stick out – His bones were before invisible. They were carefully concealed by the rounded muscle, and by the fat which filled up the interstices, so that they were not offensive to the view. But now the protuberances of his bones can be seen, for God has reduced him to the condition of a skeleton. This is one of the common effects of disease, and this shows the strength of the discipline which God contemplates. The parts of the human frame which in health are carefully hid from the view, as being unsightly, become now prominent, and can be hidden no longer. One design is to humble us; to take away the pride which delighted in the round and polished limb, the rose on the cheek, the ruby lip, and the smooth forehead; and to show us what we shall soon be in the grave.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 21. His flesh is consumed away] As in atrophy, marasmus, and consumptive complaints in general.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
His flesh is consumed away, through pain and pining sickness.
That it cannot be seen; because there is none left to be seen; but he who before was fat and flourishing, is now become a mere skeleton.
That were not seen, formerly, because they were covered with flesh and fat. But this clause, is and may be rendered thus, and his bones are broken, and are not seen; which is to be metaphorically understood.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. His flesh once prominent”can no more be seen.” His bones once not seen now appearprominent.
stick outliterally,”are bare.” The Margin, Hebrew (Keri)reading. The text (Chetib) reads it a noun “(are become)bareness.” The Keri was no doubt an explanatory readingof transcribers.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen,…. All being gone, none left to be seen, nothing but skin and bones; and this partly through the vehemence of strong pain, and partly through the nausea of food; not being able to take anything for nourishment and the support of the fluids, and so quite emaciated:
and his bones [that] were not seen stick out: which before were covered with flesh and fat, so that they could not be seen; but now the flesh and fat being wasted, they seem as if they rose up in an eminence, and stood out to be beheld; this was also Job’s case, being reduced to a mere skeleton, Job 19:20. Elihu, in this description of an afflicted man, seems to have Job chiefly in view, and by this would intimate to him that God had been, and was speaking to him by those afflictions, which he would do well to advert unto.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
21. Bones that were not seen “Wasted are his bones, they no more are seen” thus the Kethib.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 33:21 His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones [that] were not seen stick out.
Ver. 21. His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen ] He that was habilior paulo, corpulent and well lined within, as we say, is so pined with long sickness, that you can hardly know him for the same man, and he may well cry out with the prophet, My leanness, my leanness! Of Christ it is said (though not through sickness), that he had “no form nor comeliness” (and yet he was the fairest among men, Psa 45:2 ), through grief and sufferances, “neither was there any beauty left that we should desire him,” for his outside, Isa 53:2 . And of Mr Fox, the martyrologue, it is reported, that having with infinite pains finished that elaborate work of his, the Acts and Monuments of the Church, in eleven years’ time, never using the help of any other man, he grew thereupon so lean and withered, that his friends knew him not (Mr Clark in his Life). Now if sorrow and hard study will so macerate a man, what marvel if long and sharp sickness, and thereby extreme stomachlessness, cause leanness and deformity?
And his bones that were not seen
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
His flesh: Job 7:5, Job 13:28, Job 14:20, Job 14:22, Job 19:20, Psa 32:3, Psa 32:4, Psa 39:11, Psa 102:3-5, Pro 5:11
his bones: Psa 22:15-17
Reciprocal: Psa 22:17 – I may Lam 4:8 – their skin Heb 2:15 – deliver