Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 6:27
Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig [a pit] for your friend.
27. This verse probably reads,
Yea, ye would cast lots upon the fatherless,
And bargain over your friend.
A strong invective against their unfeeling behaviour. The words are severe; the preceding passage, however, in which their refusal of sympathy ( Job 6:22-23), and their petty faultfinding with Job’s language ( Job 6:25-26), are referred to, naturally leads up to the idea. The same phrase to cast lots occurs 1Sa 14:42, and the phrase, bargain over or make merchandise of, occurs again, Job 41:6 (Heb. 40:30), “will the partners bargain over him?” The “fatherless” is probably the child of the debtor. After his death the ruthless creditors cast lots for possession of the child as a slave.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless – Job undoubtedly means that this should be applied to himself. He complains that they took advantage of his words, that they were disposed to pervert his meaning, and unkindly distorted what he said. The word rendered fatherless yathom properly denotes an orphan; Exo 22:22; Deu 10:18; Deu 14:29. But it is possible that it is not to be taken in this limited signification here. The word is still retained in the Arabic language – the language spoken in the country where Job lived, – where the word yathom means to be lonely, bereaved, etc. It may be that this idea occurs under the form of the word used here, that Job was lonely and bereaved; that he was as desolate and helpless as a fatherless child; and especially that they manifested a spirit like that of those who would oppress an orphan. The word overwhelm tapylu means properly, ye fall upon; that is, you deal with him violently. Or, it may mean here, in the Hiphil, you cause to fall upon, referring to a net, and meaning, that they sprung a net for the orphan. So Rosenmuller and Noyes understand it. To do this was, in Oriental countries, regarded as a crime of special enormity, and is often so spoken of in the Bible; see the notes at Isa 1:17.
And ye dig a pit for your friend – You act toward your friend as hunters do toward wild beasts. They dig a pit and cover it over with brushwood to conceal it, and the hunted animal, deceived, falls into it unawares. So you endeavor to entrap your friend. You lay a plan for it. You conceal your design. You contrive to drive him into the pit that you have made, and urge him on until you have caught him in the use of unguarded language, or driven him to vent expressions that cover him with confusion. Instead of throwing a mantle of charity over his frailties and infirmities, you make the most of every word, take it out of its proper connection, and attempt to overwhelm him in shame and disgrace. On the method of hunting in ancient times, see the notes at Job 18:8-10.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 27. Ye overwhelm the fatherless] Ye see that I am as destitute as the most miserable orphan; would ye overwhelm such a one? and would you dig a pit for your friend – do ye lay wait for me, and endeavour to entangle me in my talk? I believe this to be the spirit of Job’s words.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Yea; your words are not only vain, and useless, and uncomfortable to me, but also grievous and pernicious.
Ye overwhelm, Heb. you rush or throw yourselves upon him. For words in hiphil are oft put reciprocally as Hebricians know. You fall upon him with all your might, and say all that you can devise to charge and grieve him. A metaphor from wild beasts, that fall upon their prey to hold it fast and devour it. You load him with censures and calumnies.
The fatherless, or, the desolate, i.e. me, who am deprived of all my dear children, and of all my estate; forsaken by my friends, and by my heavenly Father; which should have procured me your pity rather than your censure.
Ye dig a pit for your friend; or, you feed or feast (for so this Hebrew word is oft used, as 2Sa 3:35; 2Ki 6:23; Job 40:15) upon your friend, i.e. you insult and triumph over me whom sometimes you owned for your friend.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. literally, “ye cause”(supply, “your anger”) [UMBREIT],a net, namely, of sophistry [NOYESand SCHUTTENS], to fallupon the desolate (one bereft of help, like the fatherless orphan);
and ye dig (a pit) for yourfriendthat is, try to ensnare him, to catch him in the use ofunguarded language [NOYES].(Ps 57:6); metaphor fromhunters catching wild beasts in a pit covered with brushwood toconceal it. UMBREIT fromthe Syriac, and answering to his interpretation of the firstclause, has, “Would you be indignant against yourfriend?” The Hebrew in Job41:6, means to “feast upon.” As the first clause asks,”Would you catch him in a net?” so this follows upthe image, “And would you next feast upon him, and hismiseries?” So the Septuagint.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless,…. Meaning himself; who was like a fatherless child, stripped of all his mercies, of his children, his substance, and his health; and was in a most miserable, helpless, and forlorn condition; and, moreover, deprived of the gracious presence and visible protection of his heavenly Father, being given up for a while into the hands of Satan; and now it was unkind and barbarous to overwhelm such a man, who was overwhelmed with overmuch sorrow already: or, “ye cause to fall upon the fatherless”; either their wrath and anger, as the Targum and many others d instead of doing him justice; or a wall, or any such thing, to crush him, as Aben Ezra; or a lot, as Simeon bar Tzemach; see Joe 3:3; or rather a net, or a snare to entrap him in, seeking to entangle him in talk, so Mr. Broughton, which agrees with what follows:
and ye dig [a pit] for your friend; contrive mischief against him; sought to bring him to ruin; and which is aggravated by his having been their old friend, with whom they lived in strict friendship, and had professed much unto, and still pretended to have respect for; the allusion is to digging of pits for the catching of wild beasts: some render it, “ye feast upon your friend” e; so the word is used in 2Ki 6:23; this sense is taken notice of by Aben Ezra and Bar Tzemach; and then the meaning is, you rejoice at the misery of your friend; you mock him and that, and insult him in his distress, with which the Septuagint version agrees; which was cruel usage.
d “iram”, Vatablus, Mercerus, Cocceius; so Jarchi and Sephorno. e “epulamini”, Piscator; so Beza, Gussetius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(27) Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless.Rather, probably, Ye would cast lots upon the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend. This is more
in accordance with the language, and preserves the parallelism.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. Overwhelm Literally, Cause to fall upon, (as in the margin,) here used elliptically. Accordingly, most moderns render the clause, Ye would even cast lots for the fatherless, in allusion to a custom by which the prey was divided by lot. (See 1Sa 14:42; Jon 1:7.) This is the cruelest charge that Job makes. Carey, however, would supply the word net and read, “ye spring a net.” The ancient Egyptians, as is still seen on the monuments, ensnared birds with a net. The former rendering is better.
Dig a pit . Karah, also bears the meaning of traffic; thus, Ye would traffic in your friend; (Ewald, Furst, etc.;) for instance, as the brethren of Joseph trafficked in him. (Comp. Job 41:6.) According to Hitzig, Job sees in his friends a firm conviction that he has been guilty of some unknown offense. In their uncertainty as to its nature they leave (he says) its determination to chance. Serious objections to this view lie on the surface. Hirtzel and Dillmann suggest a painful thought that the traffic alluded to was in the children of deceased friends, who were sold into captivity to pay the debts of their fathers. (2Ki 4:1.) The reading of the English version is preferred by Rosenmuller and Gesenius. To the present day, among wild nations, the mode mentioned in the text is followed for entrapping wild beasts. The “pit” that has been dug is covered with brushwood and earth. The spot selected is on the wonted path of the animal. Even the elephant falls into such traps. Job, we think, does not mean by this harsh language to charge his friends with having perpetrated these acts; but that their treatment of him contained all the elements of such cruelty.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 6:27. Yea, ye overwhelm, &c. Yes, ye overwhelm the destitute, and make a mock at your friend. Heath and Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 6:27 Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig [a pit] for your friend.
Ver. 27. Yea, you overwhelm the fatherless ] Heb. Ye throw yourselves upon the fatherless, that is, upon miserable me, who am helpless, friendless, comfortless: see Gen 43:18 , that he may roll himself upon us, say they there, as hunters and wild beasts fall upon their prey.
And you dig a pit for your friend
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
overwhelm: Heb. cause to fall upon
the fatherless: Job 22:9, Job 24:3, Job 24:9, Job 29:12, Job 31:17, Job 31:21, Exo 22:22-24, Psa 82:3, Pro 23:10, Pro 23:11, Eze 22:7, Mal 3:5, Jam 1:27
ye dig: Psa 7:15, Psa 57:6, Jer 18:20, Jer 18:22
Reciprocal: Psa 143:4 – is my spirit
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 6:27. Ye overwhelm the fatherless Your words are not only vain, useless, and uncomfortable to me, but also grievous and pernicious. Hebrew, , tappilu, you rush, or throw yourselves upon him. You fall upon him with all your might, and say all that you can devise to charge and grieve him. You load him with censures and calumnies. The word , jathom, here rendered fatherless, means a solitary person in distress, as well as an orphan; or one desolate. Job intends himself by the expression, being deprived of all his children, and of all his estate, and forsaken by his friends. And you dig a pit for your friend You insult and triumph over me, whom once you owned for your friend. I spoke all I thought, as to my friends, and you from thence take occasion to cast me down. There is nothing in the Hebrew for the word pit: it is literally, You dig for your friend; or as Heath and Houbigant render it, make a mock of your friend.