Bible Commentary

And [that] thou shouldest visit him every morning, [and] try him every moment? 18. The words of this verse recall Psa 8:5; Psa 144:3, the former of which passages at least must have been in the Author’s mind. The admiring gratefulness of the Psalmist that God condescended to visit man and gave him such a … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 7:18”

What [is] man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? 17 19. Second, Job asks, If man be not too mean a thing for God thus to busy Himself with and persecute? cf. ch. Job 14:3. set thine heart ] that is, thy mind; as magnify means, to … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 7:17”

I loathe [it]; I would not live always: let me alone; for my days [are] vanity. 16. So keenly does he realize the misery of his condition and the intolerable painfulness of his life, that he breaks out into a passionate cry that he hates and is weary of life I loathe it. The object … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 7:16”

So that my soul chooseth strangling, [and] death rather than my life. 15. Consequence of the preceding, Job 7:14. chooseth strangling ] A sense of choking is one of the accompaniments of the disease, which is said to end sometimes in actual suffocation. Job refers to this symptom, saying that he is driven to desire … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 7:15”

Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions: Then thou scarest me – This is an address to God. He regarded him as the source of his sorrows, and he expresses his sense of this in language indeed very beautiful, but far from reverence. With dreams – see Job 7:4. A similar … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 7:14”

When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint; 13, 14. Further description of the plagues employed to subdue him. ease my complaint ] Complaint always means complaining, not malady; ch. Job 9:27, Job 10:1, Job 21:4, Job 23:2. When he looks for sleep That knits up the ravelled sleeve … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 7:13”

[Am] I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me? 12. First, he asks with bitter irony if he is the sea or the monster of the sea, that he must be watched and subdued with plagues lest he prove dangerous to the universe? The proud waves of the sea must … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 7:12”

Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 11. Job heaps image upon image to set before himself and the eye of God the brevity of life, the weaver’s shuttle ( Job 7:6), the wind ( Job 7:7), … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 7:11”

He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. He shall return no more to his house – He shall not revisit his family. Job is dwelling on the calamity of death, and one of the circumstances most deeply felt in the prospect of death is, that a … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 7:10”

[As] the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no [more]. 9. goeth down to the grave ] Heb., down to She’l, the place of departed persons. This is never in the Old Testament confounded with the grave, although, being an ideal place and state, … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 7:9”