Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 8:16
He [is] green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.
16 19. A new figure of a spreading, luxuriant plant, suddenly destroyed, and leaving not a trace of itself behind.
before the sun ] This scarcely means openly, in broad day and in the face of the sun, but, under the fostering heat of the sun.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He is green before the sun – Vulgate, antequam veniat sol – before the sun comes. So the Chaldee, before the rising of the sun. So Eichhorn renders it. According to this, which is probably the true interpretation, the passage means that he is green and flourishing before the sun rises, but that he cannot hear its heat and withers away. A new illustration is here introduced, and the object is to compare the hypocrite with a vigorous plant that grows up quick and sends its branches afar, but which has no depth of root, and which, when the intense heat of the sun comes upon it, withers away. The comparison is not with a tree, which would bear the heat of the sun, but rather with those succulent plants which have a large growth of leaves and branches, like a gourd or vine, but which will not bear a drought or endure the intense heat of the sun. This comparison of the transitory nature of human hope and prosperity to the sudden blight which over throws the glory of the forest and of the garden, says the Editor of the Pictorial Bible (on Psa 37:35), is at once so beautiful and so natural, as to have been employed by poets of every age. One such comparison of exquisite finish occurs in Shakespeare:
This is the state of man! Today he puts forth
The tender leaves of hope; tomorrow blossoms,
And hears his blushing honours thick upon him:
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost,
And, when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
His greatness is a ripening, nips his shoot,
And then he falls, as I do.
And his branch shooteth forth … – A comparison of a prosperous person or nation with a vine which spreads in this manner, is common in the Scriptures. See Psa 80:11 :
She sent out her boughs unto the sea,
And her branches unto the river.
Compare the note at Isa 16:8. A similar figure occurs in Psa 37:35 :
I have seen the wicked in great power,
And spreading himself like a green bay tree.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. He is green before the sun] This is another metaphor. The wicked is represented as a luxuriant plant, in a good soil, with all the advantages of a good situation; well exposed to the sun; the roots intervolving themselves with stones, so as to render the tree more stable; but suddenly a blast comes, and the tree begins to die. The sudden fading of its leaves, &c., shows that its root is become as rottenness, and its vegetable life destroyed. I have often observed sound and healthy trees, which were flourishing in all the pride of vegetative health, suddenly struck by some unknown and incomprehensible blast, begin to die away, and perish from the roots. I have seen also the prosperous wicked, in the inscrutable dispensations of the Divine providence, blasted, stripped, made bare, and despoiled, in the same way.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He; either,
1. The perfect man, here understood out of Job 8:20, where it is expressed; or rather,
2. The hypocrite, of whom he hath hitherto treated, to whom this and the following verses very well agree; whom he before compared to a rush, and then to a spiders web, and now to a tree, which is of a more solid substance, and more durable; as if he said, As some wicked men are quickly cut off in the very beginnings of their prosperity, so there are others who seem to be more firmly grounded, and yet they also at last come to ruin.
Is green, i.e. flourisheth in the world.
Before the sun; either,
1. Publicly, and in the view of all men, who observe it with admiration, and applause, and envy: compare 2Sa 12:12. Or rather,
2. Notwithstanding all the scorching heat of the sun, which quickly withers the rushes and herbs, of which he spake before, but doth only cherish and refresh the tree. And so doth many a wicked man secure himself, and thrive and prosper even in times of great danger and trouble, and in spite of all opposition.
His branch; or, his branches; the singular number for the plural; either,
1. Properly, and so this belongs to the description of a flourishing tree, by the spreading of its branches here, as by the depth of its root, Job 8:17. Or,
2. Metaphorically, to wit, his children, which are here mentioned as additions, not only to his comfort, but also to his strength and safety.
In his garden; a place where it is defended from those injuries to which the trees of the field are subject from men and beasts, and where, besides the natural advantages common to all trees, it hath peculiar helps from the art and industry of men, by whom it is watered and assisted as need requires. So he supposeth this man to be placed in the most desirable circumstances.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. before the sunthat is, he(the godless) is green only before the sun rises; but he cannot bearits heat, and withers. So succulent plants like the gourd (Jon 4:7;Jon 4:8). But the widespreadingin the garden does not quite accord with this. Better, “insunshine”; the sun representing the smiling fortune of thehypocrite, during which he wondrously progresses [UMBREIT].The image is that of weeds growing in rank luxuriance and spreadingover even heaps of stones and walls, and then being speedily tornaway.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He [is] green before the sun,…. Which some understand of the rush or flag, of which a further account is given, as setting forth more fully the case of wicked men and hypocrites; but to either of these do not agree the situation of it in a garden, the shooting forth of its branches, and the height of it, and its striking its roots deep in stony places: Cocceius interprets it of the “herb” or grass before which the flag withers, Job 8:12; but the same objections, or most of them, lie against that also; rather, from the description of it, a tall large tree is designed, to which hypocrites in their most flourishing circumstances are compared, and yet come to nothing, Ps 37:35; that is “green” in its leaves, and looks beautiful, so they in a profession of religion, which is like green leaves without fruit; they make in it a fair show in the flesh, take up and him the lamp of a profession, and retain it bright and fair for a time; or, like a tree full of sap, or “juicy” i; or, as Mr. Broughton renders it, “juiceful”; denoting, not a fulness of the spirit and his grace, or of faith, hope, love, c. and of righteousness and goodness, but of, outward prosperity, having as much as heart could wish, and great plenty of good things laid up for many years: and this tree is said to be green and juicy “before the sun” either in the presence and through the influence of it, as hypocrites flourish, even in a religious way, while the sun of prosperity shines upon them, and no longer; or openly and publicly, in the sight of all men, as this phrase is used, 2Sa 12:11; and as such men do, in the view of all men, professors and profane, doing all they do to be seen of men, and before whom they are outwardly righteous, and reckoned good men; or, “before the sun” rises, as the Targum and Aben Ezra, so hypocrites flourish, before the sun of persecution arises and smites them, because of their profession, and then they drop it; see Mt 13:6;
and his branch shooteth forth in his garden; or “over” k it; and branch may be put branches, which in a flourishing tree spread themselves to cover a considerable piece of ground: Mr. Broughton renders it, “and his suckers sprout over his orchard”; all which may denote the increase of a wicked man, in his family, in his wealth and substance, and particularly in his posterity, which are as branches and suckers from him; and Bildad, if these are his own words, may have respect to Job, and to his large substance and number of children he had in his prosperity, when he had an hedge set about him, and was enclosed as in a garden: and whereas the church of God is sometimes compared to a garden, So 4:12; it agrees very well with hypocrites, who have a place there, and are called hypocrites in Sion, where they have a name, and flourish for a while: many interpreters, both Jewish l and Christian m, interpret this, and what follows, of truly righteous and good men under afflictive providences, who notwithstanding continue, and are not the worse, but the better for them; their leaf of profession is always green, and withers not; and that “before the sun”, even of adversity and affliction; and though that beats upon them, and smites them severely, they are like green olive trees, or the cedars of God, full of sap, full of the grace of God, and continually supplied with it; and so patiently endure temptation and affliction, bear the heat and burden of the day, and are not careful in the year of drought; see So 1:6; such are planted in the garden and house of the Lord by himself and shall never be rooted up; where their branches spread, and they grow in grace, and in the knowledge of all divine things, and are filled with the fruits of righteousness.
i “succosus”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Schultens “viridis quidem et succi plenus”, Michaelis. k “supra”, Junius Tremellius, Mercerus, Codurcus “super”, Montanus, Piscator, Schmidt, Schultens. l Saadiah Caon, R. Levi, Ben Gersom. m Vatablus, Beza, Diodati, Cocceius, Gussetius, p. 247.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
16 He dwells with sap in the sunshine,
And his branch spreads itself over his garden.
17 His roots intertwine over heaps of stone,
He looks upon a house of stones.
18 If He casts him away from his place,
It shall deny him: I have not seen thee.
19 Behold, thus endeth his blissful course,
And others spring forth from the dust.
The subject throughout is not the creeping-plant directly, but the ungodly, who is likened to it. Accordingly the expression of the thought is in part figurative and in part literal, ( Job 8:17). As the creeper has stones before it, and by its interwindings, as it were, so rules them that it may call them its own (v. Gerlach: the exuberant growth twines itself about the walls, and looks proudly down upon the stony structure); so the ungodly regards his fortune as a solid structure, which he has quickly caused to spring up, and which seems to him imperishable. Ewald translates: he separates one stone from another; , according to 217, g, he considers equivalent to , and signifies apart from one another; but although = , according to its radical idea, may signify to split, pierce through, still , when used as a preposition, can signify nothing else but, within. Others, e.g., Rosenmller, translate: he marks a place of stones, i.e., meets with a layer of stones, against which he strikes himself; for this also will not do. He who casts away (Job 8:18) is not the house of stone, but God. He who has been hitherto prosperous, becomes now as strange to the place in which he flourished so luxuriantly, as if it had never seen him. Behold, that is the delight of his way (course of life), i.e., so fashioned, so perishable is it, so it ends. From the ground above which he sprouts forth, others grow up whose fate, when they have no better ground of confidence than he, is the same. After he has placed before Job both the blessed gain of him who trusts, and the sudden destruction of him who forgets, God, as the result of the whole, Bildad recapitulates:
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(16) He is green.Here begins, as we understand it, another and an opposite picture, which fact is marked in the Hebrew by an emphatic pronoun. Green is he (see Job. 8:6) before the sun, &c., quite unlike the watery paper-plant. This man is verdant and luxuriant, not in the midst of moisture, but even before the sun. There is not the same promise of verdure, but a greater realisation of it.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Before the sun “In the glow of the sun, where other plants wither, it thrives and remains fresh.” Hirtzel. The poem has spoken of marsh plants; it now suddenly introduces a climbing plant of the garden, probably parasitical. This was more familiar, and would better illustrate Bildad’s theme.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 8:16 He [is] green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.
Ver. 16. He is green before the sun ] Succosus est, saith Tremellius, he is sappy and juicy, having a confluence of all kind of comforts and contentments, even more than heart could wish, as David expresseth it, Psa 73:7 . The hypocrite is all this; the height of whose happiness is here set forth by a third similitude, lest any should think that the two former did not reach home to the thing intended. Look how, saith Bildad, a great and tall tree, having many roots and branches, may be so cut up and thrown down, that no footstep, or sign of it, may any more appear; so may it fare with a wicked man: though he be as a tree green or juiceful before the sun, or when the sun shineth hottest upon him, the rush may then wither, but not the tree. See Psa 37:35 . A hypocrite may abound exceedingly in outward prosperity; yea, he may be green for a while before the sun of persecution, as was Alexander the coppersmith, Act 19:32 2Ti 4:14 . The thorny ground stood out the heat of the sunbeams, and shrank not in the wetting.
And his branch shooteth forth in his garden
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
He. Supply Ellipsis (App-6), “He [like a tree]”. This is the second simile, and the application is in Job 8:20. The first simile is in Job 8:11, with its application in verses: Job 8:13-15.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Job 8:16-19
Job 8:16-19
BILDAD IRONICALLY DESCRIBES THE GODLESS MAN’S JOY
“He is green before the sun,
And his shoots go forth over his garden.
His roots are wrapped about the stone heap,
He beholdeth the place of stones.
If he be destroyed from his place,
Then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.
Behold, this is the joy of his way;
And out of the earth shall others spring.”
“He is green before the sun” (Job 8:16). This is a reference to Job in the days of his prosperity. Then Bildad went on to speak of, “the place of stones,” Job’s rocky road, (Job 8:17), and of his being “destroyed” and “denied” (Job 8:18), adding sarcastically and ironically, “This is the joy” of the way Job was going! We are grateful to Samuel Terrien for his word that, “Behold, this is the joy of his way, should be interpreted ironically.”
All of the Commentators have mentioned the difficulty of the text in these verses, some of it “making little sense”; but we have commented on the words as they stand in our version.
E.M. Zerr:
Job 8:16-17. For a while man may prosper as Job did, and be compared to a green and lively plant.
Job 8:18. But if the false support is taken from the plant it will go down, and the surrounding territory will deny that it ever knew the plant. The argument is that when Job is finally cut down he will be forgotten as was the plant that had been cut off from moisture.
Job 8:19. The man who rests upon false security as Job has been doing will fall and others more worthy will take his place.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
green: Job 21:7-15, Psa 37:35, Psa 37:36, Psa 73:3-12
his branch: Job 5:3
Reciprocal: Job 15:32 – and his branch Isa 25:5 – branch Jer 17:8 – he shall Eze 47:12 – whose
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 8:16. He, &c. The hypocrite, or the secure and prosperous sinner, may think himself degraded when he is compared to a rush or flag. Compare him, then, to a flourishing and well-rooted tree, which spreads its branches in a fair garden. Yet, even then, shall he suddenly wither and come to nothing. Is green before the sun Flourisheth in the world publicly, and in the view of all men. And his branch shooteth forth His children, who are here mentioned as additions, not only to his comfort, but also to his strength and safety. In his garden A place where it is defended from those injuries to which the trees of the field are subject, and where, besides the advantages common to all trees, it hath peculiar helps from the art and industry of men. So he supposes this man to be placed in the most desirable circumstances.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
8:16 He [is] {i} green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.
(i) He compares the just to a tree, which although it is moved from one place to another, yet flourishes: so the affliction of the godly turns to their profit.