Job 23 · Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
CHAPTER 23 THIRD SERIES. Job 23:1-17 . Job's Answer. 2. to-day-- implying, perhaps, that the debate was carried on through more days than one (see Introduction). bitter-- ( Job 7:11 ; 10:1 ). my stroke-- the hand of God on me (Margin, Job 19:21 ; Psa 32:4 ). heavier than-- is so heavy that I cannot relieve myself adequately by groaning.
3. The same wish as in Job 13:3 (compare He 10:19-22 ). Seat-- The idea in the Hebrew is a well-prepared throne ( Psa 9:7 ).
4. order-- state methodically ( Job 13:18 ; Is 43:26 ). fill, &c.-- I would have abundance of arguments to adduce.
5. he-- emphatic: it little matters what man may say of me, if only I know what God judges of me.
6. An objection suggests itself, while he utters the wish ( Job 23:5 ). Do I hereby wish that He should plead against me with His omnipotence? Far from it! ( Job 9:19 , 34 ; 13:21 ; 30:18 ). strength-- so as to prevail with Him: as in Jacob's case ( Ho 12:3 , 4 ). Umbreit and Maurer better translate as in Job 4:20 (I only wish that He) "would attend to me," that is, give me a patient hearing as an ordinary judge, not using His omnipotence, but only His divine knowledge of my innocence.
7. There-- rather, "Then": if God would "attend" to me ( Job 23:6 ). righteous-- that is, the result of my dispute would be, He would acknowledge me as righteous. delivered-- from suspicion of guilt on the part of my Judge.
8. But I wish in vain. For "behold," &c. forward ... backward-- rather, "to the east--to the west." The Hebrew geographers faced the east, that is, sunrise: not the north, as we do. So "before" means east: "behind," west (so the Hindus). Para, "before"--east: Apara, "behind"--west: Daschina, "the right hand"--south: Bama, "left"--north. A similar reference to sunrise appears in the name Asia, "sunrise," Europe, "sunset"; pure Babylonian names, as Rawlinson shows.
9. Rather, "To the north." work-- God's glorious works are especially seen towards the north region of the sky by one in the northern hemisphere. The antithesis is between God working and yet not being beheld: as in Job 9:11 , between "He goeth by," and "I see Him not." If the Hebrew bears it, the parallelism to the second clause is better suited by translating, as Umbreit, "doth hide himself"; but then the antithesis to "behold" would be lost. right hand-- "in the south." hideth-- appropriately, of the unexplored south, then regarded as uninhabitable because of its heat (see Job 34:29 ).
10. But-- correcting himself for the wish that his cause should be known before God. The omniscient One already knoweth the way in me (my inward principles: His outward way or course of acts is mentioned in Job 23:11 . So in me, Job 4:21 ); though for some inscrutable cause He as yet hides Himself ( Job 23:8 , 9 ). when-- let Him only but try my cause, I shall, &c.
11. held-- fast by His steps. The law is in Old Testament poetry regarded as a way, God going before us as our guide, in whose footsteps we must tread ( Psa 17:5 ). declined-- ( Psa 125:5 ).
12. esteemed-- rather, "laid up," namely, as a treasure found ( Mt 13:44 ; Psa 119:11 ); alluding to the words of Eliphaz ( Job 22:22 ). There was no need to tell me so; I have done so already ( Jr 15:16 ). necessary-- "Appointed portion" (of food; as in Pr 30:8 ). Umbreit and Maurer translate, "More than my law," my own will, in antithesis to "the words of His mouth" ( Joh 6:38 ). Probably under the general term, "what is appointed to me" (the same Hebrew is in Job 23:14 ), all that ministers to the appetites of the body and carnal will is included.
13. in one mind-- notwithstanding my innocence, He is unaltered in His purpose of proving me guilty ( Job 9:12 ). soul-- His will ( Psa 115:3 ). God's sovereignty. He has one great purpose; nothing is haphazard; everything has its proper place with a view to His purpose.
14. many such-- He has yet many more such ills in store for me, though hidden in His breast ( Job 10:13 ).
15. God's decrees, impossible to be resisted, and leaving us in the dark as to what may come next, are calculated to fill the mind with holy awe [Barnes].
16. soft-- faint; hath melted my courage. Here again Job's language is that of Jesus Christ ( Psa 22:14 ).