Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 42:6
Wherefore I abhor [myself], and repent in dust and ashes.
6. The effect of this deeper knowledge of God upon Job’s heart.
I abhor myself ] The word myself is not expressed; what has to be supplied as the object of “abhor” is rather it, that is, my former language and demeanour. The word means, I retract, or repudiate.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Wherefore I abhor myself – I see that I am a sinner to be loathed and abhorred. Job, though he did not claim to be perfect, had yet unquestionably been unduly exalted with the conception of his own righteousness, and in the zeal of his argument, and under the excitement of his feelings when reproached by his friends, had indulged in indefensible language respecting his own integrity. He now saw the error and folly of this, and desired to take the lowest place of humiliation. Compared with a pure and holy God, he saw that he was utterly vile and loathsome, and was not unwilling now to confess it. And repent. Of the spirit which I have evinced; of the language used in self-vindication; of the manner in which I have spoken of God. Of the general sentiments which he had maintained in regard to the divine administration as contrasted with those of his friends he had no occasion to repent, for they were correct Job 42:8, nor had he occasion to repent as if he had never been a true penitent or a pious man. But he now saw that in the spirit which he had evinced under his afflictions, and in his argument, there was much to regret; and he doubtless saw that there had been much in his former life which had furnished occasion for bringing these trials upon him, over which he ought now to mourn.
In dust and ashes – In the most lowly manner, and with the most expressive symbols of humiliation. It was customary in times of grief, whether in view of sin or from calamity, to sit down in ashes (see the notes at Job 2:8; compare Dan 9:3; Jon 3:6; Mat 11:21); or on such an occasion the sufferer and the penitent would strew ashes over himself; compare Isa 58:5. The philosophy of this was – like the custom of wearing black for mourning apparel – that the external appearance ought to correspond with the internal emotions, and that deep sorrow would be appropriately expressed by disfiguring the outward aspect as much as possible. The sense here is, that Job meant to give expression to the profoundest and sincerest feelings of penitence for his sins. From this effect produced on his mind by the address of the Almighty, we may learn the following lessons:
(1) That a correct view of the character and presence of God is adapted to produce humility and penitence; compare Job 40:4-5. This effect was produced on the mind of Peter when, astonished by a miracle performed by the Savior which none but a divine being could have done, he said, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord; Luk 5:8. The same effect; was produced on the mind of Isaiah after he had seen Yahweh of Hosts in the temple: Then said I, Wo is me, for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of Hosts; Isa 6:5. No man can have any elevated views of his own importance or purity, who has right apprehensions of the holiness of his Creator.
(2) Such a view of the presence of God will produce what no argument can in causing penitence and humility. The friends of Job had reasoned with him in vain to secure just this state of mind; they had endeavored to convince him that he was a great sinner, and ought to exercise repentance. But he met argument with argument; and all their arguments, denunciations, and appeals, made no impression on his mind. When, however, God manifested himself to him, he was melted into contrition, and was ready to make the most penitent and humble confession. So it is now. The arguments of a preacher or a friend often make no impression on the mind of a sinner. He can guard himself against them. He can meet argument with argument, or can coolly turn the ear away. But he has no such power to resist God, and when he manifests himself to the soul, the heart is subdued, and the proud and self-confident unbeliever becomes humbled, and sues for mercy.
(3) A good man will be willing to confess that he is vile, when he has any clear views of God. He will be so affected with a sense of the majesty and holiness of his Maker, that he will be overwhelmed with a sense of his own unworthiness.
(4) The most holy men may have occasion to repent of their presumptuous manner of speaking of God. We all err in the same way in which Job did. We reason about God with irreverence; we speak of his government as if we could comprehend it; we discourse of him as if he were an equal; and when we come to have any just views of him, we see that there has been much improper boldness, much self-confidence, much irreverence of thought and manner, in our estimation of the divine wisdom and plans. The bitter experience of Job should lead us to the utmost carefulness in the manner in which we speak of our Maker.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. I abhor myself] Compared with thine, my strength is weakness; my wisdom, folly; and my righteousness, impurity.
“I loathe myself when thee I see;
And into nothing fall.”
Repent] I am deeply distressed on account of the imaginations of my heart, the words of my tongue, and the acts of my life. I roll myself in the dust, and sprinkle ashes upon my head. Job is now sufficiently humbled at the feet of Jehovah; and having earnestly and piously prayed for instruction, the Lord, in a finishing speech, which appears to be contained in Job 40:1-14, perfects his teaching on the subject of the late controversy, which is concluded with, “When thou canst act like the Almighty,” which is, in effect, what the questions and commands amount to in the preceding verses of that chapter, “then will I also confess unto thee, that thy own right hand can save thee.” In the fifth verse of the fortieth chapter, Job says, “ONCE have I spoken.” This must refer to the declaration above, in the beginning of this chapter, (xlii.) And he goes on to state, Job 40:5: “Yea, TWICE; but I will proceed no farther.” This second time is that in which he uses these words: after which he spoke no more; and the Lord concluded with the remaining part of these fourteen verses, viz., from Job 40:7-14, inclusive. Then the thread of the story, in the form of a narration is resumed at Job 42:7.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I abhor, i.e. dislike, and detest, and loathe
myself, or my former words and carriage. One of these or some like supplement is necessary to complete the sense, and is clearly gathered from the following words.
In dust and ashes; sitting in dust and ashes; which hitherto I have done in token of my grief for my affliction; but now I desire and resolve to do in testimony of my penitence for my sins.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. myselfrather “Iabhor,” and retract the rash speeches I made against thee(Job 42:3; Job 42:4)[UMBREIT].
Job42:7-17. EPILOGUE, inprose.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Wherefore I abhor [myself],…. Or all my words, as Aben Ezra; all the indecent expressions he had uttered concerning God; he could not bear to think of them; he loathed them, and himself on account of them: sin is abominable in its own nature, and makes men so; it is loathsome to God, and so it is to all good men when they see it in its proper light; am especially when they have a view of the purity and holiness of God, to which that is so very contrary, and also of his grace and goodness in the forgiveness of it; see Isa 6:3
Eze 16:63;
and repent in dust and ashes; which was an external ceremony used by mournful and penitent persons; see Job 2:8; and is expressive of the truth and sincerity of repentance; and never do any more truly mourn for sin and repent of it, are more ashamed of it, or have a more godly sorrow for it, or more ingenuously confess it, and heartily forsake it, than those who with an eye of faith behold God in Christ as a sin forgiving God; or behold their sins through the glass of pardoning grace and mercy; see Zec 12:10.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
6. I abhor myself . As in Job 7:16, (which see,) the object of the verb abhor is not given. Hengstenberg conceives the object of his loathing (“despising,” or “recantation,” thus Zockler and Hitzig) to be his earlier speeches. The Septuagint and Vulgate, with more reason, supply myself, the former of which adds, by way of explanation, , I am dissolving, (compare Job 19:27,) such is the violence of his emotion.
In dust and ashes “In a sense that is absolutely proper the book forms a , a period or circuit.” Vilmar. The trial found Job a spiritual monarch seated upon his throne of ashes resigned, submissive to the will of God. “He sat down among the ashes.” Job 2:8. Now, as the purifying fires have burned their utmost, we find him brought around to his former ground of supremacy. The last recorded words “ashes” that fall from his lips are of the deepest significance the same Hebrew word, epher, being employed as in Job 2:8. The allotment of the divine will he accepts, though it be but dust and ashes. Hengstenberg interprets it: “I, who have sat until now in dust and ashes because of grief on account of my misfortunes, will continue so to do, but from another reason, because of grief on account of my sin.” “Here,” says the quaint Thomas Adams, “we may consider three degrees of mortification the sickness, the death, and the burial of sin. ‘I abhor myself’ there sin is sick and wounded; ‘I repent’ there it is wounded and dead; ‘in dust and ashes’ there it is dead and buried.” Sermon in loc., entitled, “The Sinner’s Mourning Habit.” See also University Sermons of W.H. Mill “Job Penitent.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 42:6. Wherefore I abhor myself Wherefore I am ready to drop into dissolution. Heath. See the note on chap. Job 3:24. As a supplement to which, we add here, that the Chaldee paraphrast had such a sense of the greatness of Job’s affliction, with respect to the loss of his children, that he thinks of it sometimes where Job did not. His paraphrase on the present verse is this, “Now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore I have cast away my riches, and am comforted for my sons, which are as dust and ashes.” Nevertheless, at Job 42:13 to make amends to Job for this part of his suffering in the happy turn of his condition, he bestows upon him no less than fourteen sons, and perhaps would have doubled the number of his daughters too, had not their names, expressly mentioned, set bounds to his liberality. The reader will see from what is here represented to him as a specimen, that these Targums, to which the Jews attribute the same authority, in a manner, as to the Hebrew Scriptures, are not without their errors and reveries. However there are two things for which they are greatly valuable; as they help to ascertain the meaning of the Hebrew text; and, as they give us, interspersed, the common opinions of the Jews of those times wherein the paraphrases were made. Peters.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 42:6 Wherefore I abhor [myself], and repent in dust and ashes.
Ver. 6. Wherefore I abhor myself ] Aspernor illa, so Tremellius. I utterly dislike those my former base and bald conceits of thee, my hard and unsavoury speeches, mine impatient and imprudent carriages. Horreo quicquid de meo est, ut meus sim, as Bernard expresseth it. Reprobo meipsum, so Brentius; I do utterly reject myself, I condemn mine own folly: I eat those words of discontent at thy righteous proceedings. Digna sane quae per iugulum redeant. Abiecio vitam meam, so Mercer and Lavater render it. I cast away my life, and look upon it as lost, if thou shouldest take the forfeiture: I humbly put myself into the hands of justice, yet in hope of mercy, Displiceo mihimetipsi, ac pervelim ut aliter dixissem ae fecissem (Lavat.).
I repent in dust and ashes
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I abhor myself, and repent. “The end of the Lord” (i.e. what Jehovah designed as the great lesson of this book) is at length reached. Compare Jam 5:11.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Wherefore I abhor myself
The problem, of which the book of Job is the profound discussion, finds here its solution. Brought into the presence of God, Job is revealed to himself. In no sense a hypocrite, but godly and possessing a faith which all his afflictions could not shake, Job was yet self-righteous and lacking in humility. Chapter 29 fully discloses this. But in the presence of God he anticipates, as it were, the experience of Paul. Php 3:4-9 and the problem is solved. The godly are afflicted that they may be brought to self-knowledge and self-judgment. Such afflictions are not penal for their sins, but remedial and purifying. The book of Job affords a sublime illustration of the truth announced in; 1Co 11:31; 1Co 11:32; Heb 12:7-11. Best of all, such self-knowledge and self-judgment is the prelude to greater fruitfulness.; Job 42:7-17; Joh 15:2. Cf.; Jos 5:13; Jos 5:14; Eze 1:28; Eze 2:1-3; Dan 10:5-11; Rev 1:17-19.
repent (See Scofield “Zec 8:14”) .
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
I: Job 9:31, Job 40:3, Job 40:4, Ezr 9:6, Psa 51:17, Isa 5:5, Jer 31:19, Eze 16:63, Eze 20:43, Eze 36:31, Luk 15:18, Luk 15:19, 1Co 15:8, 1Co 15:9, 1Ti 1:13-16, Jam 4:7-10
repent: Job 2:8, Job 30:19, 1Ki 21:27, Est 4:1-3, Isa 58:5, Dan 9:3, Jon 3:6-10, Mat 11:21, Luk 10:13
Reciprocal: Gen 18:27 – I have Gen 32:10 – not worthy of the least of all Exo 3:6 – hid Exo 10:3 – humble Lev 13:12 – cover all Lev 13:45 – Unclean Deu 8:2 – to humble 1Sa 7:6 – We have sinned 2Sa 6:22 – in mine 2Sa 13:19 – put ashes 2Sa 24:17 – I have sinned Job 15:16 – abominable Job 30:10 – abhor me Job 31:23 – by Job 34:31 – General Psa 139:4 – there is not Pro 18:12 – and Isa 6:5 – said I Isa 64:6 – are all Lam 3:29 – putteth Eze 6:9 – they shall Eze 16:61 – remember Eze 27:30 – they shall wallow Mat 3:2 – Repent Mat 5:3 – the poor Luk 5:8 – I am Luk 9:55 – Ye know Luk 18:13 – standing Act 7:32 – Then Rom 6:21 – whereof Rom 7:14 – but 2Co 7:11 – indignation 2Co 10:5 – and every Gal 3:11 – that Phi 3:9 – not 1Ti 1:15 – of whom
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 42:6. Wherefore I abhor myself, &c. The more we see of the glory and majesty of God, the more we shall see of the vileness and odiousness of sin, and of ourselves because of sin; and the more we shall abase and abhor ourselves for it; and repent in dust and ashes Namely, sitting in dust and ashes. Jobs afflictions had brought him to the ashes, Job 2:8, He sat down among the ashes; but now a sense of his sins brought him thither. Observe, reader, true penitents mourn for their sins as heartily as ever they did for any outward afflictions; for they are brought to see more evil in their sins than in their troubles; and even those who have no gross enormities to repent of, yet ought to be greatly distressed in their souls for the workings of pride, self-will, peevishness, discontent, and anger, within them, and for all their hasty, unadvised speeches; for these they ought to be pricked in their hearts, and in bitterness, like Job. Observe, also, that self- loathing is always the companion of true repentance. They shall loathe themselves for the evils they have committed, Eze 6:9. It is not sufficient that we be angry at ourselves for the wrong and damage we have, by sin, done to our own souls; but we must abhor ourselves, as having, by sin, made ourselves odious to the pure and holy God, who cannot look upon iniquity but with abhorrence. If sin in general be truly an abomination to us, sin in ourselves will especially be so; the nearer it is to us, the more loathsome it will appear to be, and the more we shall loathe ourselves on account of it. We shall conclude our observations on the poetical part of this book with Dr. Youngs excellent paraphrase on the four preceding verses:
Thou canst accomplish all things,
Lord of might;
And every thought is naked to thy sight.
But, O! thy ways are wonderful, and lie
Beyond the deepest reach of mortal eye.
Oft have I heard of thine almighty power;
But never saw thee till this dreadful hour.
Oerwhelmd with shame, the Lord of life I see,
Abhor myself, and give my soul to thee.
Nor shall my weakness tempt thine anger more;
Man was not made to question, but adore.