Continuing my Bible study of Job:
(Job 16:1) Then Job answered and said, (2) "I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all! (3) Shall vain words have an end? Or what emboldens you that you answer?"
With the word translated as "vain", we once again have the original word "ruach" meaning "wind; by resemblance breath". So Job believes his friends are also blowing hot air and wonders aloud if it will ever end. Because they have only empty meaningless words, what on earth emboldens them to continue trying to answer him?
(4) "I also could speak as you do, if your soul were in my soul's place. I could heap up words against you, and shake my head at you; (5) But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should relieve your grief."
Job condemns his friends' response to him in his time of trouble. If the roles were reversed, he says he would have spoken uplifting words and would have been a help to them.
(6) "Though I speak, my grief is not relieved; and if I cease, how am I eased?"
Whether he speaks or whether he is silent, Job's sufferings continue.
(7) "But now He has made me weary; You have made desolate all my company."
Because pronouns referring to God are not capitalized in the KJV, I sometimes just have to assume which person is meant. Judging by the list of sufferings that Job begins here, I believe he is referring to God making him weary, and then he turns his comments directly to God.
(8) "And You have filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me; and my leanness rising up in me bears witness to my face."
Job has been filled with wrinkles, not necessarily by old age, but through affliction; he has been made old before his time. This fact is being used by his friends as a witness against him as they see his afflictions as proof that he must have done something wrong. Because Job has always maintained his innocence, I believe the last part about his leanness bearing witness to his face means that Job can see for himself that he is an afflicted man, not a wicked man in fatness and covered with collops of fat, as Eliphaz had accused.
(9) "He tears me in his wrath, who hates me; he gnashes at me with his teeth; my enemy sharpens his eyes upon me."
The NKJV assumes that the pronouns here are referring to God, but after reading some of the old commentaries, I disagree. Job is a righteous man who, up to this time, has not condemned or cursed God. I see no reason to believe he has started now. I believe he speaks accurately of his enemy, Satan, who seeks to devour him as a roaring lion. Throughout Job's conversation in the book of Job, you see Holy Spirit inspired glimpses into truth and God's true nature. He may question why God did this to him, but he does not condemn God for it. I believe this idea is much more in keeping with the true nature of Job as reflected in this book as a whole.
Wow! What a lesson in context! Before this study, I had a misconception about Job. Oh, I knew he was a good man, but I fell into the belief that he came to speak to God a little uncharitably, to say the least. I was probably led into this thought pattern by incorrect translations of the original Biblical text. I have previously studied how Satan entered into the process of re-translating the Bible, diminishing the character of God and Jesus Christ, and wrote about my thoughts in Which Version of the Truth Will You Use? Consider how the newer translations, including the NKJV, which is supposed to be the same as KJV only with modern words, change the whole idea of this scripture:
He tears me in His wrath, and hates me; He gnashes at me with His teeth; My adversary sharpens His gaze on me. (NKJV)
God hates me and angrily tears me apart. He snaps his teeth at me and pierces me with his eyes. - NLT
God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes. - NIV
What a terrible mean picture of God these scriptures paint! But the very nature of God is love. He IS love; He can be nothing else. He is loving and merciful, and you can be certain He is ALWAYS just. While these could have been the words of a bitter man and not intended to be an accurate reflection of the true nature of God, I don't believe that is the case either. There has been nothing up to this point to indicate that Job has any such bitterness toward God. He only wonders why did these things happen to him. When you read the entire sentence, you can see that Job is speaking of the one who hates him, his enemy, and not of God:
He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. - KJV
(10) "They have gaped at me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me. (11) God has delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over to the hands of the wicked."
With these scriptures, we can see that Job only charges God with delivering him to the wicked and ungodly, but not with the wicked acts themselves.
(12) "I was at ease, but he has utterly broken me; he has also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; and set me up for his target."
Once again it is not perfectly clear to whom Job refers. I would feel better about assuming his intention and capitalizing the pronouns if he had said, "God has utterly broken me", etc. Since the preceding scripture stated that God had turned him over to the wicked, it might be concluded that God set him up as a target to be used by the wicked.
(13) "His archers surround me; he pierces my kidneys and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground."
Once again I believe the meaning is that God has allowed the archers to strike Job. Whether "he" refers to the archer, or to God, who by allowing it, has in reality DONE it, I am not certain of Job's intention. But we get the idea! Innocent Job is being pummeled.
(14) "He breaks me with breach upon breach; he runs at me like a giant."
Paraphrased, "He crushes me and then renews and repeats the attack, with great and irresistible force."
(15) "I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust."
Sackcloth is the symbol of mourning. The horn of a beast is a symbol of its power, so throwing it in the dust would be another sign of mourning.
(16) "My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death; (17) Not for any injustice in my hands; also my prayer is pure."
Job reiterates his innocence.
(18) "O earth, do not cover my blood, and let my cry have no place."
Job compares himself to the murdered, and like them, he wants his innocent blood heard crying out from the earth.
(19) "Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. (20) My friends scorn me; but my eyes pour out tears to God."
I feel these lines indicate again that Job condemns his enemy and his friends, but not God. He knows that God knows the truth about him, and he will make his plea to Him.
(21) "Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleads for his neighbor. (22) When a few years are come, then I shall go the way where I shall not return."
(Job 17:1) "My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me. (2) Are there not mockers with me? And does not my eye continue in their provocation?"
The original word translated as "continue" here is "lun" which literally means to "lodge all night", so Job's sense here is that the mockers with him continue all night, never letting up.
(3) "Now put down a pledge; put me in a surety with You; who is he who will shake hands with me? (4) For You have hidden their heart from understanding; therefore You shall not exalt them."
Job turns his conversation to God. He asks that God be his surety and let his cause come before Him. Obviously, his friends cannot see the truth, so Job reasons God will not give them victory over him in this discussion; his desire is that God will judge him righteously.
(5) "He who speaks flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children will fail."
Job is probably referring to those very friends of his who do not see the truth. The word translated as "flattery" means more accurately "smoothness", so Job refers to the smooth eloquent words they spoke to him which were to him completely wrong, and therefore they were speaking deceitfully for God. Job sees this as a terrible sin, punishable to even their children, perhaps recalling how God hates "deceitful tongues" and "flattering lips".
(6) "He has made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret."
Interestingly, most of the old commentaries believe Job is talking about God here. Personally, I don't see why it isn't reasonable to believe he is continuing his thought about the one who speaks flattery with what turns out to be destructive words. He makes Job a by-word, s satire, an object of ridicule. One meaning of "paniym", the word translated as "aforetime" is "before them" rather than "a time before". The word normally translated as a tabret or a timbrel is "toph" and that means an instrument like a tambourine. Here the word is actually "topheth" which Strong's defines as "smiting" and "contempt". Perhaps the original idea was that he was hit and smote like a tabret. The sense here is that Job has been ridiculed and made an object of contempt in their presence (before them).
(7) "My eye also is dim because of sorrow, and all my members are like shadows."
Another reason I believe that Job is talking about the man with flattering lips in verse 6 rather than about God, is that he now speaks of "my eye also" after he just spoke of the eyes of the flatterer's children. But in contrast to the children's eyes which will fail as a punishment, Job's eyes fail him because of his weeping. His members are his body parts that are probably emaciated and only shadows of what they once were.
(8) "Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir himself up against the hypocrite. (9) The righteous also shall hold to his way, and he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger."
Job probably means that upright men will be astonished at the calamities that God has allowed to come upon such an innocent man as he, but that it will make them rise up all the more against hypocrites. They will hold fast to their righteous ways and will be made stronger. It's as if Job sees his life as a testimony to others, meaning he must have some sense of assurance that whatever happens to him, he knows in the end God is just and it will work out for the best. Would he have said the same thing if he felt in his heart that God Himself had condemned and punished an innocent man? I love the Holy Spiritual insights that Job appears to get throughout the book of Job!
(10) "But as for you all, you turn back and go now; for I cannot find one wise man among you."
Job obviously does not count his friends among the upright and righteous men about whom he just spoke.
I need to clarify my transcription of the above verse. In my study notes, I prefer to use the KJV, but will sometimes use a more modern word, or look to the original meaning of the word to give me the best understanding of the sense of the verse. I do not intend to make new translations, so I will explain why my transcription of verse 10 above differs a little from the KJV:
But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.
It may mean as NKJV and some commentators have supposed, that they should go and come back again with better arguments, but I disagree. Job has tired of hearing their words and has said so on many occasions. Why would he ask them to come back with more? I understand that if they were to come back with wise words, he may want to hear them. But I found something interesting in the meaning of one of the original words of this verse. The word translated as "come" is "bo" and it means "come" or "go". It has been translated as "go" as often in the Bible as it has "come", so I believe the sense is "just go away" for there is not a wise man among his friends.
(11) "My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. (12) They change the night into day; the light is short because of darkness."
Job means he is dying, there is no more purpose to his life, his thoughts incessantly pursue and disturb him day and night, and the darkness of his pain and torment darkens any light of day that may have given him comfort.
(13) "If I wait, the grave is my house; I have made my bed in the darkness. (14) I have said to corruption, 'You are my father', to the worm, 'You are my mother and my sister.'"
The word translated "If" also means "when", "while", "yet", and many other similar words, so I believe the sense is continuing that idea that he is indeed going to the grave. The word translated "corruption" more literally means "pit", which is really what Job means here; he is going to the grave and he will address it with familiarity because he is now so close to it. The worm is the one that feeds upon the dead as seen in other scriptures.
(15) "And where now is my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it? (16) They will go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust."
All of Job's hopes will go down to the grave with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment