Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 6:3
For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.
3. the sand of the sea ] A frequent figure for that which is infinite in weight, Pro 27:3, or number, Gen 32:12, or measure, Jer 33:22.
are swallowed up ] Rather, have been wild, or perhaps vain or idle. Probably the word is allied to an Arabic root that signifies to speak, and also, to speak wrongly and foolishly. Job with transparent simplicity concedes a certain extravagance in his language, although he excuses it ( Job 6:4 seq.). Elsewhere he says in reference to himself that the words of one that is desperate go into the wind ( Job 6:26).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Heavier than the sand of the sea – That is, they would be found to be insupportable. Who could bear up the sands of the sea? So Job says of his sorrows. A comparison somewhat similar is found in Pro 27:3.
Heavy is a stone, and weighty the sand of the Sea,
But a fools wrath is heavier than them both.
My words are swallowed up – Margin, I want words to express my grief. This expresses the true sense – but not with the same poetic beauty. We express the same idea when we say that we are choked with grief; we are so overwhelmed with sorrow that we cannot speak. Any very deep emotion prevents the power of utterance. So in Psa 77:4 :
Thou holdest mine eyes waking:
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
So the well-known expressions in Virgil,
Obstupui, steteruntque comae, et vox faucibus haesit.
There has been, however, considerable variety in the interpretation of the word here rendered swallowed up – lua. Gesenius supposes that it means to speak rashly, to talk at random, and that the idea is, that Job now admits that his remarks had been unguarded – therefore were my words rash. The same sense Castell gives to the Arabic word. Schultens renders it, therefore are my words tempestuous or fretful. Rosenmuller, my words exceed due moderation. Castellio, my words fail. Luther, therefore it is vain that I speak. The Septuagint, but my words seem to be evil. Jerome, my words are full of grief. In this variety it is difficult to determine the meaning; but probably the old interpretation is to be retained, by which the word is derived from lua, to absorb, to swallow up; compare Pro 20:25; Oba 1:16; Job 39:30; Pro 23:2. The word does not elsewhere occur.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. Heavier than the sand of the sea] This includes two ideas: their number was too great to be counted; their weight was too great to be estimated.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
It would be heavier, i.e. my grief or calamity,
than the sand of the sea, which is heavier than dry sand.
Swallowed up, as this verb is used, Pro 20:25; Oba 1:16. My voice and spirit faileth me. So far am I from speaking too liberally of it, for which I am now accused, that I cannot find nor utter words sufficient to express my sorrow or misery; but my groanings are such as cannot be uttered, as is said in another case, Rom 8:26. When I would express it, the words stick in my throat, and I am forced, as it were, to swallow them up.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. the sand (Pr27:3).
are swallowed upSeeMargin [that is, “I want words to express my grief”].But Job plainly is apologizing, not for not having had words enough,but for having spoken too much and too boldly; and theHebrew is, “to speak rashly” [UMBREIT,GESENIUS, ROSENMULLER].”Therefore were my words so rash.“
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea,…. Or “seas” z; all sand is heavy in its own nature, Pr 27:3; especially the sand of the sea, that which is immediately taken out of it; for that on the shore is lighter, being dried by the winds and heat of the sun, but the other is heavier, through the additional weight of water; and much more especially how heavy must all the sand of the sea be, and of all the seas that are in the world: yet Job suggests by this hyperbolical expression, exaggerating his case, that his affliction was heavier than it all, a most intolerable and insupportable burden; the afflictions of God’s people are but light when compared with what their sins deserve, with the torments of the damned in hell, with the sufferings of Christ in their room and stead, and with everlasting, happiness, the eternal weight of glory, 2Co 4:17; but in themselves they are heavy, and press hard; they are so to flesh and blood, and especially unless everlasting arms are put under men, and they are supported and upheld with the right hand of God’s righteousness; they are heavy when attended with the hidings of God’s face, and a sense of his wrath and displeasure, which was Job’s case, see Job 13:24; some render “it more copious”, or “numerous” a, and indeed the word has this signification, as in Nu 20:20; and the metaphor is more frequently used to express a multitude, even what is innumerable, Ho 1:10; yet the notion of heaviness best agrees with the preceding figure of weighing in balances, and therefore at least is not to be excluded some learned men take in both, as the sense of the word, the number of afflictions, and the bulk and weight of them:
therefore my words are swallowed up; either by his friends, as Kimchi, who heard them, and put a wrong construction on them, without thoroughly examining the true sense of them; as men that swallow down their food greedily, do not chew it, nor take the true taste of it, and so are no judges whether it is good or bad; but this sense seems to have no connection with what goes before; rather they were swallowed up by himself, and the meaning either is, that such was the weight and pressure of his afflictions, that he wanted words to express it; his words “failed” him, as the Targum: or they “come short”, as Mr. Broughton renders it; they were not sufficient to set forth and declare the greatness of his troubles; or he faltered in his speech, he could not speak out plainly and distinctly, because of his grief and sorrow, see Ps 77:4; what he had said was delivered amidst sighs and sobs, through the heaviness of the calamity on him; they were but half words, attended with groanings that could not be uttered; by which he would signify, that though his friends had charged him with speaking too much and too freely, he had not spoken enough, nor could he, by reason of the greatness of his affliction; and also to excuse his present answer, if it was not delivered with that politeness and fulness of expression, with that eloquence and strength of reasoning and discoursing he at other times was capable of: or rather the words may be rendered, “therefore my words break out with heat” b; in a vehement manner, in a hot and passionate way I am blamed for; but this is to be imputed to the burden of affliction and sorrow upon me, which, if considered, some allowances would be made, and the charge be alleviated.
z “marium”, Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus, Piscator, Michaelis, Schultens. a “copiosior et gravior est”, Michaelis; so Schultens. b – “propterea verba mea aestuantia sunt”, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(3) Swallowed up.That is. words are useless and powerless to express it. (See the margin.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. Sand of the sea A figure also common in the classic writers for what cannot be measured or numbered. Compare Hos 1:10. Swallowed up . Better, Therefore do my words rave. A candid admission! The proper acknowledgment of one’s error is a mark of a truly noble mind. Castell gives the meaning of the cognate word in Arabic as, “to be rash,” which Gesenius ( Thesaurus, 758) and Furst both accept as the basis and meaning of the word here. The secret of his wild words lies in his inexpressible, unweighable misery.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 6:3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.
Ver. 3. For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea ] How light soever thou, O Eliphaz, esteemest it, as being in a prosperous condition. It is easy to swim in a warm bath; and every bird can sing in a sunshine day. But grief lieth like a load of lead upon the soul, heavy and cold; afflicting it, as an unsupportable burden doth the body. It so oppressed the poor Israelites in Egypt, that they had no mind to hearken to Moses, Exo 6:9 . Solomon cries out, “A wounded spirit who can bear?” Pro 18:14 . My soul is very heavy, and exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, saith our blessed Saviour, Mat 26:37-38 , then when the Father made all our sins to meet upon him, and he bare our griefs and carried our sorrows, Isa 53:4 ; Isa 53:12 . Sure it is, that had he not been God as well as man, he had been utterly crushed by that inconceivable weight of sin and wrath that he then groaned under. Oh what will all Christless persons do in hell, where God shall lay upon them and not spare! they would fain fly out of his hand, Job 27:22 , but that cannot be.
Therefore my words are swallowed up
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
heavier: Pro 27:3, Mat 11:28
my words are swallowed up: that is, I want words to express my grief, Job 37:19, Job 37:20, Psa 40:5, Psa 77:4
Reciprocal: 1Sa 1:16 – out of Job 1:18 – there came Job 3:10 – hid Psa 21:9 – the Lord
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 6:3. For now it That is, my grief or calamity; would be heavier than the sand of the sea Which is much heavier than dry sand. Therefore my words are swallowed up My voice and spirit fail me. I cannot find or utter words sufficient to express my sorrow or misery.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
6:3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are {b} swallowed up.
(b) My grief is so great that I lack words to express it.