Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 9:25
Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.
25. Now my days ] Better, and my days under the weight of this unjust and oppressive Force ( Job 9:5-24).
than a post ] i. e. a courier, 2Sa 18:22; 2Sa 18:24.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Now my days are swifter than a post – Than a courier, runner, or racer, ruts. Vulgate, cursore; Septuagint, dromeos, a racer. The word is not unfrequently applied to the runners or couriers, that carried royal commands in ancient times. It is applied to the mounted couriers of the Persians who carried the royal edicts to the distant provinces, Est 3:13, Est 3:15; Est 8:14, and to the body-guard and royal messengers of Saul and of David, 1Sa 22:17; 2Ki 10:25. The common rate of traveling in the East is exceedingly slow. The caravans move little more than two miles an hour. Couriers are however, employed who go either on dromedaries, on horses, or on foot, and who travel with great rapidity. Lady Montague says that after the defeat; at Peterwaradin, they (the couriers on dromedaries) far outran the fleetest horses, and brought the first news of the battle at Belgrade. The messengers in Barbary who carry despatches, it is said, will run one hundred and fifty miles in twenty-four hours (Harmers Observa. ii. 200, ed. 1808), and it has been said that the messengers among the American savages would run an hundred and twenty miles in the twenty-four hours. In Egypt, it is a common thing for an Arab on foot to accompany a rider, and to keep up with the horse when at full gallop, and to do this for a long time without apparent fatigue. The meaning of Job here is, that his life was short, and that his days were passing swiftly away, not like the slow caravan, but like the most fleet messenger compare the note at Job 7:6.
They see no good – I am not permitted to enjoy happiness. My life is a life of misery.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 9:25-26
Now my days are swifter than a post . . . as the swift ships.
Illustrations of life
I. The text teaches us the brevity of human life. My days are swifter than a post. They are as swift-footed messengers, as couriers, as the medium of communication from one province to another. They are swifter than the swift ships; than the eagle hastening to his prey. There are illustrations from earth, and sea, and sky. We often speak of the brevity of life; it is only now and then we are really impressed with the fact. Our days are brief as the preface to a new and undying life. Our days are brief as the period for the culture of our whole nature. How great a portion of the present life is necessary as the introduction to the remainder. Our physical nature requires growth and development. How slowly our mental faculties open themselves. The culture of our spiritual nature seems to demand a longer period than the present life, for it is the education of a nature that dies not; that will take with it all the training of earth. Our days are brief, when we think of the solemn realities with which they have to do. Our days are brief, because our destiny depends on them. On these days that pass so quickly, all the future hangs; these days give a colouring to a whole eternity.
II. The text teaches us the unsatisfactory nature of life. They see no good. What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue.
1. Our days bear with them the freshness and joyousness of life. Our days rob us of the freshness and beauty of youth, and as they pass they carry with them all that we deemed most precious–friends, kindred, joys, hopes.
2. Life is unsatisfactory, because of the fragmentary and unfinished character of its work. Gods providence is in strong contrast with mans.
3. If the present be all, life must be most unsatisfactory, for we can see no good.
III. Our text suggests to us the importance of life. Our days are as a post.
1. They carry with them the records and impressions of our minds. Thoughts for good or for evil must live–must live to be a blessing or a curse.
2. Our days carry with them the treasures of our hearts. What treasures the swift ships convey from one land to another; how they enrich one country with the wealth of others. Our days carry the wealth, the priceless affections of our nature. (H. J. Bevis.)
The fleetness of life
I. As a prophetic fact. Can it be that this short life is the end of our existence?
1. We quit this life with unwrought powers. The tree grows on until it exhausts its latent powers, and animals die not (unless they are destroyed) until they are worn out. But man has to quit this life just as some of his powers are beginning to bud, and others without measure undeveloped and unquickened.
2. We quit this life with unfulfilled plans.
II. As a terrific fact. To whom is it terrible? To all whose hearts are centred in this world.
1. That their wealth relatively becomes less valuable to them every day.
2. That eternity becomes relatively more awful to them every day.
III. As a cheering fact. To whom is it cheering? To those who, though they are in the world are not of the world, those who are born into the Divine kingdom of Christly virtues and imperishable hopes. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. Swifter than a post] minni rats, than a runner. The light-footed messenger or courier who carries messages from place to place.
They flee away] The Chaldee says, My days are swifter than the shadow of a flying bird. So swiftly do they flee away that I cannot discern them; and when past they cannot be recalled. There is a sentiment like this in VIRGIL, Geor. lib. iii., ver. 284: –
Sed FUGIT interea, CUBIT IRREPARABILE tempus!__
“But in the meanwhile time flies! irreparable time flies away!”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
What he had said of the calamities which God usually inflicted upon good men, he now exemplifieth in himself.
My days; the days, either of my prosperity; for the time of affliction is commonly described by the night; or rather, of my life, as the last clause showeth; for it were an absurd and contradictious speech to say that his prosperous days saw no good.
A post; who runs or rides upon swift horses.
They see no good; I enjoy no good in them. Seeing is oft put for experiencing either good or evil, Job 7:7; Psa 34:12; Joh 3:36; Joh 8:51.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. a posta courier. In thewide Persian empire such couriers, on dromedaries or on foot, wereemployed to carry the royal commands to the distant provinces(Est 3:13; Est 3:15;Est 8:14). “My days”are not like the slow caravan, but the fleet post. The “days”are themselves poetically said to “see no good,” instead ofJob in them (1Pe 3:10).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now my days are swifter than a post,…. Or “than a runner” a in a race, in order to obtain the prize; or than one that rides post, or runs on foot to carry a message, such as were Cushi and Ahimaaz; and such are generally swift of foot, or ride on swift horses, who are so employed; and yet Job says his days are swifter, or passed away more swiftly thorn such; meaning either his days in general; or rather particularly his prosperous days, as Mr. Broughton interprets it; these no sooner came but they were gone:
they flee away; like a shadow, or a dream, or a tale that is told:
they see no good; or he saw, perceived, or enjoyed no good in them; not but that he did see and enjoy much good, even much temporal good, which is what is intended; but this was no sooner had than it was taken away, that it was as if it had never been; the evil days of trouble and sorrow, in which he had no pleasure, came so quick upon him.
a – “cursore”, Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, &c.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
25 My days were swifter than a runner,
They fled away without seeing prosperity,
26 They shot by as ships of reeds,
As an eagle which dasheth upon its prey.
27 If my thought is: I will forget my complaint,
I will give up my dark looks and look cheerful;
28 I shudder at all my pains,
I feel that Thou dost not pronounce me innocent.
Such, as described in the preceding strophe, is the lot of the innocent in general, and such (this is the connection) is also Job’s lot: his swiftly passing life comes to an end amidst suffering, as that of an evil-doer whom God cuts off in judgment. In the midst of his present sufferings he has entirely forgotten his former prosperity; it is no happiness to him, because the very enjoyment of it makes the loss of it more grievous to bear. The days of prosperity are gone, have passed swiftly away without , i.e., without lasting prosperity. They have been swifter . By reference to Job 7:6, this might be considered as a figure borrowed from the weaver’s loom, since in the Coptic the threads of the weft ( fila subteminis ) which are wound round the shuttle are called ”runners” (vid., Ges. Thesaurus); but Rosenmller has correctly observed that, in order to describe the fleetness of his life, Job brings together that which is swiftest on land (the runners or couriers), in water (fast-sailing ships), and in the air (the swooping eagle). , Job 9:26, signifies, in comparison with, aeque ac. But we possess only a rather uncertain tradition as to the kind of vessels meant by . Jerome translates, after the Targ.: naves poma portantes , by which one may understand the small vessels, according to Edrisi, common on the Dead Sea, in which corn and different kinds of fruits were carried from Zoar to Jericho and to other regions of the Jordan (Stickel, S. 267); but if were connected with , we might rather expect , after the form (from ), instead of . Others derive the word from , avere : ships of desire, i.e., full-rigged and ready for sea (Gecatilia in Ges. Thes. suppl. p. 62), or struggling towards the goal (Kimchi), or steering towards (Zamora), and consequently hastening to (Symmachuc, ), the harbour; but independently of the explanation not being suited to the description, it should then be accented beh, after the form , , instead of bh. The explanation, ships of hostility (Syr.),
(Note: Luther also perhaps understood pirate ships, when he translated, “ wie die starcken Schiff .”)
i.e., ships belonging to pirates or freebooters, privateers, which would suit the subject well, is still less admissible with the present pointing of the text, as it must then be ( ), with which the Egyptian uba , against, and adverse ( contrarius ), may be compared. According to Abulwalid (Parchon, Raschi), is the name of a large river near the scene of the book of Job; which may be understood as either the Babylonian name for river Arab. ‘bby , or the Abyssinian name of the Nile, ab; and may be compared with in relation to the Arabic, lubna . But a far more satisfactory explanation is the one now generally received, according to the comparison with the Arabic aba’un , a reed (whence abaa – t – un , a reed, a so-called n. unitatis ): ships made from reeds, like , Isa 18:2, vessels of papyrus, . In such small ships, with Egyptian tackling, they used to travel as far as Taprobane. These canoes were made to fold together, plicatiles , so that they could be carried past the cataracts; Heliodorus describes them as .
(Note: There is no Egyptian word which can be compared to , whereas han ( hani ) or an ( ana ) in Egyptian, like the Hebrew , means a ship (vid., Chabas, Le Papyrus magique Harris, p. 246, No. 826, cf. pp. 33, 47); it is written with the sign for set = downwards, since they fastened a stone at the front of the vessel, as was even known to Herodotus, in order to accelerate its speed in descending the river. From this one might conjecture for the passage before us = swift sailers.)
The third figure is the eagle, which swoops down upon its prey; , like Chaldee , by which the Targ. translates , Hab 1:8; Grtz’ conjecture of (which is intended to mean flutters) is superfluous. Just as unnecessary is it, with Olshausen, to change into : “if my saying (thinking)” is equivalent to, “as often as I say (think).” is here (as in the German phrase, ein Gesicht machen ) an ill-humoured, distorted, wry face. When Job desires to give up this look of suffering and be cheerful ( , like Job 10:20, hilaritatem prae se ferre, vultum hilarem induere ), the certainty that he is not favoured of God, and consequently that he cannot be delivered from his sufferings, all his anguish in spite of his struggles against it comes ever afresh before his mind. It is scarcely necessary to remark that is addressed to God, not to Bildad. It is important to notice that Job does not speak of God without at the same time looking up to Him as in prayer. Although he feels rejected of God, he still remains true to God. In the following strophe he continues to complain of God, but without denying Him.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
25 Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. 26 They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey. 27 If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself: 28 I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. 29 If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain? 30 If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; 31 Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. 32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. 33 Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both. 34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me: 35 Then would I speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.
Job here grows more and more querulous, and does not conclude this chapter with such reverent expressions of God’s wisdom and justice as he began with. Those that indulge a complaining humour know not to what indecencies, nay, to what impieties, it will hurry them. The beginning of that strife with God is as the letting forth of water; therefore leave it off before it be meddled with. When we are in trouble we are allowed to complain to God, as the Psalmist often, but must by no means complain of God, as Job here.
I. His complaint here of the passing away of the days of his prosperity is proper enough (Job 9:25; Job 9:26): “My days (that is, all my good days) are gone, never to return, gone of a sudden, gone ere I was aware. Never did any courier that went express” (like Cushi and Ahimaaz) “with good tidings make such haste as all my comforts did from me. Never did ship sail to its port, never did eagle fly upon its prey, with such incredible swiftness; nor does there remain any trace of my prosperity, any more than there does of an eagle in the air or a ship in the sea,” Prov. xxx. 19. See here, 1. How swift the motion of time is. It is always upon the wing, hastening to its period; it stays for no man. What little need have we of pastimes, and what great need to redeem time, when time runs out, runs on so fast towards eternity, which comes as time goes! 2. How vain the enjoyments of time are, which we may be quite deprived of while yet time continues. Our day may be longer than the sun-shine of our prosperity; and, when that is gone, it is as if it had not been. The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards; so will not the remembrance of our having got a great deal of worldly wealth when it is all lost and gone. “They flee away, past recall; they see no good, and leave none behind them.”
II. His complaint of his present uneasiness is excusable, Job 9:27; Job 9:28. 1. It should seem, he did his endeavour to quiet and compose himself as his friends advised him. That was the good he would do: he would fain forget his complaints and praise God, would leave off his heaviness and comfort himself, that he might be fit for converse both with God and man; but, 2. He found he could not do it: “I am afraid of all my sorrows. When I strive most against my trouble it prevails most over me and proves too hard for me!” It is easier, in such a case, to know what we should do than to do it, to know what temper we should be in than to get into that temper and keep in it. It is easy to preach patience to those that are in trouble, and to tell them they must forget their complaints and comfort themselves; but it is not so soon done as said. Fear and sorrow are tyrannizing things, not easily brought into the subjection they ought to be kept in to religion and right reason. But,
III. His complaint of God as implacable and inexorable was by no means to be excused. It was the language of his corruption. He knew better, and, at another time, would have been far from harbouring any such hard thoughts of God as now broke in upon his spirit and broke out in these passionate complaints. Good men do not always speak like themselves; but God, who considers their frame and the strength of their temptations, gives them leave afterwards to unsay what was amiss by repentance and will not lay it to their charge.
1. Job seems to speak here, (1.) As if he despaired of obtaining from God any relief or redress of his grievances, though he should produce ever so good proofs of his integrity: “I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. My afflictions have continued so long upon me, and increased so fast, that I do not expect thou wilt ever clear up my innocency by delivering me out of them and restoring me to a prosperous condition. Right or wrong, I must be treated as a wicked man; my friends will continue to think so of me, and God will continue upon me the afflictions which give them occasion to think so. Why then do I labour in vain to clear myself and maintain my own integrity?” v. 29. It is to no purpose to speak in a cause that is already prejudged. With men it is often labour in vain for the most innocent to go about to clear themselves; they must be adjudged guilty, though the evidence be ever so plain for them. But it is not so in our dealings with God, who is the patron of oppressed innocency and to whom it was never in vain to commit a righteous cause. Nay, he not only despairs of relief, but expects that his endeavour to clear himself will render him yet more obnoxious (Job 9:30; Job 9:31): “If I wash myself with snow-water, and make my integrity ever so evident, it will be all to no purpose; judgment must go against me. Thou shalt plunge me in the ditch” (the pit of destruction, so some, or rather the filthy kennel, or sewer), “which will make me so offensive in the nostrils of all about me that my own clothes shall abhor me and I shall even loathe to touch myself.” He saw his afflictions coming from God. Those were the things that blackened him in the eye of his friends; and, upon that score, he complained of them, and of the continuance of them, as the ruin, not only of his comfort, but of his reputation. Yet these words are capable of a good construction. If we be ever so industrious to justify ourselves before men, and to preserve our credit with them,–if we keep our hands ever so clean from the pollutions of gross sin, which fall under the eye of the world,–yet God, who knows our hearts, can charge us with so much secret sin as will for ever take off all our pretensions to purity and innocency, and make us see ourselves odious in the sight of the holy God. Paul, while a Pharisee, made his hands very clean; but when the commandment came and discovered to him his heart-sins, made him know lust, that plunged him in the ditch. (2.) As if he despaired to have a fair hearing with God, and that were hard indeed. [1.] He complains that he was not upon even terms with God (v. 32): “He is not a man, as I am. I could venture to dispute with a man like myself (the potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the earth), but he is infinitely above me, and therefore I dare not enter the lists with him; I shall certainly be cast if I contend with him.” Note, First, God is not a man as we are. Of the greatest princes we may say, “They are men as we are,” but not of the great God. His thoughts and ways are infinitely above ours, and we must not measure him by ourselves. Man is foolish and weak, frail and fickle, but God is not. We are depending dying creatures; he is the independent an immortal Creator. Secondly, The consideration of this should keep us very humble and very silent before God. Let us not make ourselves equal with God, but always eye him as infinitely above us. [2.] That there was no arbitrator or umpire to adjust the differences between him and God and to determine the controversy (v. 33): Neither is there any days-man between us. This complaint that there was not is in effect a wish that there were, and so the LXX. reads it: O that there were a mediator between us! Job would gladly refer the matter, but no creature was capable of being a referee, and therefore he must even refer it still to God himself and resolve to acquiesce in his judgment. Our Lord Jesus is the blessed days-man, who has mediated between heaven and earth, has laid his hand upon us both; to him the Father has committed all judgment, and we must. But this matter was not then brought to so clear a light as it is now by the gospel, which leaves no room for such a complaint as this. [3.] That the terrors of God, which set themselves in array against him, put him into such confusion that he knew not how to address God with the confidence with which he was formerly wont to approach him, Job 9:34; Job 9:35. “Besides the distance which I am kept at by his infinite transcendency, his present dealings with me are very discouraging: Let him take his rod away from me.” He means not so much his outward afflictions as the load which lay upon his spirit from the apprehensions of God’s wrath; that was his fear which terrified him. “Let that be removed; let me recover the sight of his mercy, and not be amazed with the sight of nothing but his terrors, and then I would speak and order my cause before him. But it is not so with me; the cloud is not at all dissipated; the wrath of God still fastens upon me, and preys on my spirits, as much as ever; and what to do I know not.”
2. From all this let us take occasion, (1.) To stand in awe of God, and to fear the power of his wrath. If good men have been put into such consternation by it, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (2.) To pity those that are wounded in spirit, and pray earnestly for them, because in that condition they know not how to pray for themselves. (3.) Carefully to keep up good thoughts of God in our minds, for hard thoughts of him are the inlets of much mischief. (4.) To bless God that we are not in such a disconsolate condition as poor Job was here in, but that we walk in the light of the Lord; let us rejoice therein, but rejoice with trembling.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
3. He will be held guilty in spite of everything. (Job. 9:25-31)
TEXT 9:2531
25 Now my days are swifter than a post:
They flee away, they see no good.
26 They are passed away as the swift ships;
As the eagle that swoopeth on the prey.
27 If I say, I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer;
28 I am afraid of all my sorrows,
I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.
29 I shall be condemned;
Why then do I labor in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow water,
And make my hands never so clean;
31 Yet wilt thou plunge me in the ditch,
And mine own clothes shall abhor me.
COMMENT 9:2531
Job. 9:25ComplainComplain. Job returns to a preoccupation with his own condition. From cosmic disorder to personal disorder, how pathetic. Life is passing so rapidly. It is no longer the weavers shuttle but the runner who serves as point of contrastJob. 7:6. The courier refers to a fast runner with the royal messenger service2Sa. 18:21-23; Isa. 41:27; Isa. 52:7.
Job. 9:26Reed means papyrus. (For different word, see Job. 8:11.) Reed boats are very light and fast.[129] Isaiah refers to reed vessels (kele gome)Isa. 18:1-2. The imagery from the second clause speaks of speed. The word swoop (TWS) refers in falconry to the swift swoop of the bird on the prey. The falcon can attain a speed in excess of 150 mph in such a swoop (for eaglesJob. 39:27-30; Deu. 28:49; Jer. 4:13; Hab. 1:8; and Lam. 4:19.[130] The prey (okel) is the general word for food.
[129] Pliny, Natural History, Loeb Classic XXIII.22 where he discusses the fact that the Egyptians used papyrus for boat construction; also recent experimentation with these craft see T. Heyerdahls The Ra Expeditions, 1971.
[130] For such imagery in Job, see W. L. Michel, The Ugaritic Texts in the Mythological Expressions in the Book of Job (Univ. of Wisconsin Ph.D. thesis, 1970).
Job. 9:27Literally, Job says I will abandon my face,[131] i.e., I will change my countenance. His entire attitude will be changed. He will be of good cheer (Heb. brighten my face). Here we see change in two dimensions: (1) psychic, and (2) physical appearance.
[131] See G. R. Driver, Vetus Testamentum Supplement, III, 1955, 76; M. Dahood, JBL, LXXVIII, 1959, 304, for analysis of this verse.
Job. 9:28He no sooner decided to cheer up than he became afraid (same word in Job. 3:25dread). The dread fear haunted him with such intensity that his agony was only magnified.
Job. 9:29Guilty without trial. (Read Kafkas The Trial and compare). All of his efforts are futile.
Job. 9:30The Hebrewselegmeans both soap and snow or snow waterIsa. 1:16; Isa. 1:18, I will make my hands never so cleanbor, lye. In Mal. 3:2 the same word borit means the fullers lye soap. Lye is a vegetable alkali made from the ashes of plantsJob. 22:30; Psa. 18:20; Psa. 18:24; Isa. 1:25.[132]
[132] On handwriting, see R. Press, Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 51, 1933, 2467.
Job. 9:31The A. V. has ditchsahatwhich can mean the netherworldJob. 17:14; Job. 33:22; Job. 33:28. The context calls for filth;[133] and the root suggests repulsive matter and slime, i.e., a characteristic of the netherworld. Job is saying if I wash my body, God would make it so filthy that my clothes would refuse to cover me.
[133] Several etymologies are possible, but see M. Pope, JBL, 83, 1964, 276; D. Hillers Interpretations, 19, 1965, 468; and M. Dahood, Psalms, I-II, on Psa. 13:5; Psa. 66:9; and Psa. 121:13.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(25) Swifter than a post.The runner, with his messages and dispatches. He now turns away from the contemplation of God and His dealings to that of his own misery.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Second section, in strophes of four, three, and four verses JOB’S CASE A PRE-EMINENT ILLUSTRATION OF THIS MORAL CONFUSION, Job 9:25-35.
Strophe a The premature destruction of his life, and his intolerable burden of sorrows, show God’s estimate of him to be that of an evil-doer, Job 9:25-28.
25. A post A courier. In eastern countries messages are transmitted by couriers, who, having at their command relays of horses, dromedaries, or men, travel with almost incredible speed. Comp. Est 8:10. “Nothing mortal travels so fast as Persian messengers. The entire plan is a Persian invention.” Herodotus. See further, 8, 98. Strabo tells us (xv, chap 2, 10) that the orders for the execution of Parmenio were conveyed a distance of over eight hundred and fifty miles in eleven days.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 9:25 Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.
Ver. 25. Now my days are swifter than a post, &c. ] Not my prosperous days only (as Broughton glosseth), but the whole course of my life; the vanity whereof Job expresseth by many similitudes; and here search is made into three of the four elements, earth, water, and air, to find out a fit one. What is swifter upon earth than a post, who rides without stop or stay, and spares for no horse flesh? indeed, he taketh some time to rest in; but so doth not man’s life; it is ever in motion, and every moment we yield somewhat to death. Animantis cuiusque vita est fuga, saith the philosopher, our last day stands, the rest run. Cum crescit vita, decrescit, to live is but to lie a-dying (Seneca).
They flee away
They see no good
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
post = runner, or courier. Compare Est 3:13, Est 3:15.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Job 9:25-35
Job 9:25-35
JOB’S PROPHETIC PLEA THAT THERE MIGHT BE AN UMPIRE
“Now my days are swifter than a post:
They flee away, they see no good.
They are passed away as the swift ships;
As the eagle that swoopeth on the prey.
If I say, I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer;
I am afraid of all my sorrows,
I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.
I shall be condemned;
Why then do I labor in vain?
If I wash myself with snow water,
And make my hands never so clean;
Yet wilt thou plunge me in the ditch,
And mine own clothes shall abhor me,
For he is not a man that I should answer him,
That we should come together in judgment.
There is no umpire betwixt us,
That might lay his hand upon us both.
Let him take his rod away from me,
And let not his terror make me afraid:
Then would I speak and not fear him;
For I am not in myself.”
“I shall be condemned” (Job 9:29). Job was prepared to accept condemnation, even though, in his heart, he was not conscious of having clone any wickedness that deserved it. It is the glory of that patriarch that his attitude toward God remained one of submission and not one of rebellion.
“There is no umpire …” (Job 9:33). This is one of the great lines in the whole book. “Here, when Job’s faith is at its lowest ebb, there emerges in this complaining negative, the conception of the Mediator, which afterward became for Job a positive conviction, a conviction that attained its grandest expression in that marvelous speech of Job 19. which, in a sense, is the glorious climax of the Book of Job.”
“We may view this cry for a daysman (umpire), for God with his majesty laid aside, as an instinctive prophecy of the Incarnation, although Job had no such thing in his mind.” “This passage is strongly looking forward to Bethlehem. There was really no answer to Job’s problem short of the Incarnation. In this cry for an umpire between God and man, we see a prophetic reaching out for that One Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1Ti 2:5).”
“For I am not so in myself” (Job 9:35). The meaning of this is quite obscure; but, “The New English Bible renders it, for I know I am not what I am thought to be, that is, deserving of all his suffering.”
Honoring that immortal hope for an umpire, we wish to close this chapter with these words:
‘Tis the weakness in strength that I cry for! my flesh that I seek
In the Godhead! I seek, and I find it. O Saul, it shall be
A face like my face that receives thee; a Man like to me,
Thou shalt love, and be loved by, forever; a Hand like this hand
Shall open the gates of new life to thee!
See the Christ stand!”
– Robert Browning, Saul.
E.M. Zerr:
Job 9:25-26. This paragraph will take the same comments as Job 7:6.
Job 9:27-28. Job means that it would be useless to try to forget about his troubles. It would be false cheer were he to try making himself think that nothing much was the matter with him, for he might just as well make up his mind that he was “in” for more afflictions. The word innocent is not one with a meaning concerning guilt. Moffatt renders the last words of the verse, “I know thou wilt not let me off.”
Job 9:29. Job never has admitted that his afflictions were a special “judgment” sent on him. Yet he has been free to acknowledge that he partook of the same weaknesses common to man and the same tests of faith were necessary. This verse should be explained on that basis; that since he was like all other men and subject to vanity, it would be useless to expect any exceptions in his favor.
Job 9:30-31. Job’s teaching in this passage is that at best a man would not be worthy of God’s favor if measured on the basis of strict justice.
Job 9:32. God and man are not in the same class of individuals, therefore Job would not estimate the Lord on a human basis.
Job 9:33. Daysman is rendered “umpire” in the margin of some Bibles and the lexicon will sustain the translation. Job means that even if he had an umpire to decide without any par tiality he would decide in favor of the Lord.
Job 9:34-35. If God should remove all indications of human weakness then Job might feel free to justify himself. But he had no reason to form such a conclusion if his own worthiness constituted his chief basis of thought.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
swifter: Job 7:6, Job 7:7, Est 8:14
a post: Rotz, a runner, or courier; some of whom are said to go 150 miles in less than 24 hours.
they flee away: Psa 39:5, Psa 39:11, Psa 89:47, Psa 90:9, Psa 90:10, Jam 4:14
Reciprocal: 2Ch 30:6 – the posts went 2Ch 30:10 – the posts Est 3:13 – by posts Est 8:10 – by posts Job 10:20 – my days few Job 14:1 – of few days Job 14:2 – fleeth Job 17:11 – My days Isa 38:12 – have cut Jer 51:31 – post 1Pe 3:10 – see
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 9:25. Now my days The days of my life; are swifter than a post Who rides upon swift horses; they see no good I enjoy no good in them; seeing being often put for experiencing either good or evil. Thus Job now exemplifies in himself what he had said of the calamities which God frequently inflicts on good men.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 9:25-35. Job again takes up his complaint, but in a quieter tone, so that he is able to imagine after all a way in which he might maintain his cause before God. He complains first of the shortness of his life. His time runs swiftly as a runner, as the light papyrus boats used on the Nile, as an eagle in its flight (Job 9:25 f.). If he should resolve to brighten up and treat his misery as a bad dream, what use? God will again put him on the rack. (We may associate Jobs quieter moods with temporary relief from paroxysms of pain, which he knows full well, however, to be only temporary). All purifications are useless (Job 9:30 f.). God and he cannot come together on equal terms. If only there were an umpire between them, who could lay his hand upon both disputants, and enforce his decision upon them (Job 9:33). Or if God would cease smiting him with pain, and lay aside His terrifying majesty (Job 9:34). Then Job would speak without fear (Job 9:35).
We may view the cry for a daysman, for God with His majesty laid aside, as an instinctive prophecy of the Incarnation, though the poet has no such thing in his mind. Cf. David in Brownings Saul:
Tis the weakness in strength that I cry for, my flesh that I seek
In the Godhead.
Duhm finely points out the psychological truth, that he only can believe God to be his enemy, who seeks Him as his friend. Jobs invectives, he further says, are very like those of a modern pessimist: yet they impress us very differently, because they spring from a heart that needs God.
Job 9:30. In both cases mg. is better than text. Lye is potash, used for cleansing purposes.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
The unfairness of God 9:25-35
In short, Job believed it was useless for him to try to prove himself upright since God seemed determined to punish him.
The Book of Job uses legal terms and metaphors extensively in the sections that deal with Job’s disputes with God. Job had previously served as a judge in his town (Job 29:7-17), and he wanted justice (Heb. mispat) from God. [Note: See Sylvia H. Scholnick, "The Meaning of Mispat in the Book of Job," Journal of Biblical Literature 101 (1982):521-29.] Therefore he used legal terminology frequently in his dialogues. These legal metaphors are one of the key features of the book since they help us identify its purpose. [Note: Parsons, pp. 147-50.]
Job’s frustration, expressed in Job 9:32-33, is understandable since God was both his legal adversary and his judge. This accounts for his urgent yet hopeless cry for a neutral party (mediator, umpire) to arbitrate a settlement between himself and God. In the ancient Near East this arbitrator was a judge whose verdict was more often a settlement proposal that the litigants could either accept or reject (cf. Job 13:7-12; Job 16:18-21. [Note: Ibid., p. 148. See Wiersbe, p. 25.] Job had no hope of receiving justice from God-only mercy (Job 9:34). He felt that since God was so great, he could not vindicate himself.
"This is the persistent problem, the real problem of the book: not the problem of suffering, to be solved intellectually by supplying a satisfactory answer which explains why it happened; but the attainment of a right relationship with God which makes existence in suffering holy and acceptable." [Note: Andersen, p. 151. Cf. 4:17; 9:2, 3, 14. See also Smick, "Job," p. 912.]
"’I am not like that in myself’ (Job 9:35) means ’that is not the way it is with regard to my case.’" [Note: Zuck, Job, p. 50.]