Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 6:20
They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed.
They were confounded because they had hoped – The caravans of Tema and Sheba. The word confounded here means ashamed. It represents the state of feeling which one has who has met with disappointment. He is perplexed, distressed, and ashamed that he had entertained so confident hope; see the notes at Isa 30:5. They were downcast and sad that the waters had failed, and they looked on one another with confusion and dismay. There are few images more poetic than this, and nothing that would more strikingly exhibit the disappointment of Job, that he had looked for consolation from his friends, and had not found it. He was down-cast, distressed, and disheartened, like the travelers of Tema and of Sheba, because they had nothing to offer to console him; because he had waited for them to sustain him in his afflictions, and had been wholly disappointed.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
They were confounded, i.e. the troops and companies. Because they had hoped; they comforted themselves with the expectation of water there to quench their thirst.
Were ashamed; as having deceived themselves and others with vain and false hopes.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. literally, “each hadhoped”; namely, that their companions would find water. Thegreater had been their hopes the more bitter now theirdisappointment;
they came thithertothe place.
and were ashamedliterally,”their countenances burn,” an Oriental phrase for the shameand consternation of deceived expectation; so “ashamed” asto disappointment (Ro 5:5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And they were confounded because they had hoped,…. When they came to the places where they hoped to find water, finding none were ashamed of their vain hope, and reflected upon themselves for being so foolish as to raise their expectations upon such a groundless surmise:
they came thither, and were ashamed; which is the same thing expressed in different words; and aptly enough describes Job’s disappointment in not meeting with that relief and comfort he expected from his friends, to whom he makes application of all this in the following words.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(20) They were confounded.Comp. Jeremiahs description of the famine (Jer. 14:3). (See margin.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. They were confounded, etc. Rather, They were ashamed because they trusted; they came thither and reddened with shame. Job now closes a most striking description of the failure of human friendship. He leads us to the mountain torrent, swollen by wintry storms, boisterous, impetuous. While we gaze, the voice of the torrent ceases to be heard; for the summer sun is on the sky. With a master stroke Job fixes our eye on the toiling, thirsting, dying hosts of a caravan who have turned aside that they may find water and life in the hour of their distress. Again a single touch shows us their confusion and despair as they sink down in the dreary wastes and die. Such is friendship, loud in its professions and strong in the day of prosperity. Such was the thirst of Job’s soul for the pure streams of friendship; but he thirsted in vain.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 6:20 They were confounded because they had hoped; they came thither, and were ashamed.
Ver. 20. They were confounded because they had hoped, &c. ] Heb. They blushed, or they were abashed, because disappointed and defeated of their hope and expectation. See Jer 14:3-4 Joe 1:10-11 . God’s people have a promise, that hoping in him they shall never be ashamed, Joe 2:26 Rom 10:11 . Their hope is infallible, Rom 5:5 , because founded upon faith unfeigned, 1Ti 1:5 . Hence they are commanded to rejoice in hope, Rom 12:12 , and to conceive gaudium in re, gaudium in spe, gaudium de possessione, gaudium de promissione, &c., joy for what they have in hand, and in present possession; joy also for what they have in hope, and in reversion. Wicked men’s hopes may hope headless (as the proverb is, and as these troops of Tema experimented), they come to the world’s felicities as they do to a lottery, with heads full of hopes, but return with hearts full of blanks: not so the saints; God will be better to them than their hopes; and when at worst, they can confidently say, it is well for the present, and it will be better hereafter.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
confounded: Jer 14:3, Jer 14:4, Jer 17:13, Rom 5:5, Rom 9:33
Reciprocal: Isa 20:6 – whither Isa 21:15 – from the swords Jer 49:20 – Teman
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 6:20. They were confounded That is, the troops and companies were miserably disappointed; because they hoped Comforted themselves with the expectation of water there to quench their thirst; they came, and were ashamed To think that they should expect relief from such uncertain streams, and had deceived themselves and others. Thus we prepare confusion for ourselves by our vain hopes: the reeds break under us because we lean upon them.