{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"JOB","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Job","commonName":"Job","introduction":"JOB A REAL PERSON.--It has been supposed by some that the book of Job is an allegory, not a real narrative, on account of the artificial character of many of its statements. Thus the sacred numbers, three and seven, often occur. He had seven thousand sheep, seven sons, both before and after his trials; his three friends sit down with him seven days and seven nights; both before and after his trials he had three daughters. So also the number and form of the speeches of the several speakers seem to be artificial. The name of Job, too, is derived from an Arabic word signifying repentance.\n\nBut Eze 14:14 (compare Eze 14:16, Eze 14:20) speaks of \"Job\" in conjunction with \"Noah and Daniel,\" real persons. St. James (Jam 5:11) also refers to Job as an example of \"patience,\" which he would not have been likely to do had Job been only a fictitious person. Also the names of persons and places are specified with a particularity not to be looked for in an allegory. As to the exact doubling of his possessions after his restoration, no doubt the round number is given for the exact number, as the latter approached near the former; this is often done in undoubtedly historical books. As to the studied number and form of the speeches, it seems likely that the arguments were substantially those which appear in the book, but that the studied and poetic form was given by Job himself, guided by the Holy Spirit. He lived one hundred and forty years after his trials, and nothing would be more natural than that he should, at his leisure, mould into a perfect form the arguments used in the momentous debate, for the instruction of the Church in all ages. Probably, too, the debate itself occupied several sittings; and the number of speeches assigned to each was arranged by preconcerted agreement, and each was allowed the interval of a day or more to prepare carefully his speech and replies; this will account for the speakers bringing forward their arguments in regular series, no one speaking out of his turn. As to the name Job--repentance (supposing the derivation correct)--it was common in old times to give a name from circumstances which occurred at an advanced period of life, and this is no argument against the reality of the person.\n\nWHERE JOB LIVED.--\"Uz,\" according to GESENIUS, means a light, sandy soil, and was in the north of Arabia-Deserta, between Palestine and the Euphrates, called by PTOLEMY (Geography, 19) Ausitai or Aisitai. In Gen 10:23; Gen 22:21; Gen 36:28; and Ch1 1:17, Ch1 1:42, it is the name of a man. In Jer 25:20; Lam 4:21; and Job 1:1, it is a country. Uz, in Gen 22:21, is said to be the son of Nahor, brother of Abraham--a different person from the one mentioned (Gen 10:23), a grandson of Shem. The probability is that the country took its name from the latter of the two; for this one was the son of Aram, from whom the Arameans take their name, and these dwelt in Mesopotamia, between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Compare as to the dwelling of the sons of Shem in Gen 10:30, \"a mount of the East,\" answering to \"men of the East\" (Job 1:3). RAWLINSON, in his deciphering of the Assyrian inscriptions, states that \"Uz is the prevailing name of the country at the mouth of the Euphrates.\" It is probable that Eliphaz the Temanite and the Sabeans dwelt in that quarter; and we know that the Chaldeans resided there, and not near Idumea, which some identify with Uz. The tornado from \"the wilderness\" (Job 1:19) agrees with the view of it being Arabia-Deserta. Job (Job 1:3) is called \"the greatest of the men of the East\"; but Idumea was not east, but south of Palestine: therefore in Scripture language, the phrase cannot apply to that country, but probably refers to the north of Arabia-Deserta, between Palestine, Idumea, and the Euphrates. So the Arabs still show in the Houran a place called Uz as the residence of Job.\n\nTHE AGE WHEN JOB LIVED.--EUSEBIUS fixes it two ages before Moses, that is, about the time of Isaac: eighteen hundred years before Christ, and six hundred after the Deluge. Agreeing with this are the following considerations: 1. Job's length of life is patriarchal, two hundred years. 2. He alludes only to the earliest form of idolatry, namely, the worship of the sun, moon, and heavenly hosts (called Saba, whence arises the title \"Lord of Sabaoth,\" as opposed to Sabeanism) (Job 31:26-28). 3. The number of oxen and rams sacrificed, seven, as in the case of Balaam. God would not have sanctioned this after the giving of the Mosaic law, though He might graciously accommodate Himself to existing customs before the law. 4. The language of Job is Hebrew, interspersed occasionally with Syriac and Arabic expressions, implying a time when all the Shemitic tribes spoke one common tongue and had not branched into different dialects, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic. 5. He speaks of the most ancient kind of writing, namely, sculpture. Riches also are reckoned by cattle. The Hebrew word, translated \"a piece of money,\" ought rather be rendered \"a lamb.\" 6. There is no allusion to the exodus from Egypt and to the miracles that accompanied it; nor to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (PATRICK, however, thinks there is); though there is to the Flood (Job 22:17); and these events, happening in Job's vicinity, would have been striking illustrations of the argument for God's interposition in destroying the wicked and vindicating the righteous, had Job and his friends known of them. Nor is there any undoubted reference to the Jewish law, ritual, and priesthood. 7. The religion of Job is that which prevailed among the patriarchs previous to the law; sacrifices performed by the head of the family; no officiating priesthood, temple, or consecrated altar.\n\nTHE WRITER.--All the foregoing facts accord with Job himself having been the author. The style of thought, imagery, and manners, are such as we should look for in the work of an Arabian emir. There is precisely that degree of knowledge of primitive tradition (see Job 31:33, as to Adam) which was universally spread abroad in the days of Noah and Abraham, and which was subsequently embodied in the early chapters of Genesis. Job, in his speeches, shows that he was much more competent to compose the work than Elihu, to whom LIGHTFOOT attributes it. The style forbids its being attributed to Moses, to whom its composition is by some attributed, \"whilst he was among the Midianites, about 1520 B.C.\" But the fact, that it, though not a Jewish book, appears among the Hebrew sacred writings, makes it likely that it came to the knowledge of Moses during the forty years which he passed in parts of Arabia, chiefly near Horeb; and that he, by divine guidance, introduced it as a sacred writing to the Israelites, to whom, in their affliction, the patience and restoration of Job were calculated to be a lesson of especial utility. That it is inspired appears from the fact that Paul (Co1 3:19) quotes it (Job 5:13) with the formula, \"It is written.\" Our Savior, too Mat 24:28), plainly refers to Job 29:30. Compare also Jam 4:10 and Pe1 5:6 with Job 22:29; Rom 11:34-35 with Job 15:8. It is probably the oldest book in the world. It stands among the Hagiographa in the threefold division of Scripture into the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa (\"Psalms,\" Luk 24:44).\n\nDESIGN OF THE BOOK.--It is a public debate in poetic form on an important question concerning the divine government; moreover the prologue and epilogue, which are in prose, shed the interest of a living history over the debate, which would otherwise be but a contest of abstract reasonings. To each speaker of the three friends three speeches are assigned. Job having no one to stand by him is allowed to reply to each speech of each of the three. Eliphaz, as the oldest, leads the way. Zophar, at his third turn, failed to speak, thus virtually owning himself overcome (Job 27:1-23). Therefore Job continued his reply, which forms three speeches (Job 26:1-14; Job 27:1-23; Job 28:1-28; Job 29:1-31:40). Elihu (Job 32:1-37:24) is allowed four speeches. Jehovah makes three addresses (Job 38:1-41:34). Thus, throughout there is a tripartite division. The whole is divided into three parts--the prologue, poem proper, and epilogue. The poem, into three--(1) The dispute of Job and his three friends; (2) The address of Elihu; (3) The address of God. There are three series in the controversy, and in the same order. The epilogue (Job 42:1-17) also is threefold; Job's justification, reconciliation with his friends, restoration. The speakers also in their successive speeches regularly advance from less to greater vehemence. With all this artificial composition, everything seems easy and natural.\n\nThe question to be solved, as exemplified in the case of Job, is, Why are the righteous afflicted consistently with God's justice? The doctrine of retribution after death, no doubt, is the great solution of the difficulty. And to it Job plainly refers in Job 14:14, and Job 19:25. The objection to this, that the explicitness of the language on the resurrection in Job is inconsistent with the obscurity on the subject in the early books of the Old Testament, is answered by the fact that Job enjoyed the divine vision (Job 38:1; Job 42:5), and therefore, by inspiration, foretold these truths. Next, the revelations made outside of Israel being few needed to be the more explicit; thus Balaam's prophecy (Num 24:17) was clear enough to lead the wise men of the East by the star (Mat 2:2); and in the age before the written law, it was the more needful for God not to leave Himself without witness of the truth. Still Job evidently did not fully realize the significance designed by the Spirit in his own words (compare Pe1 1:11-12). The doctrine, though existing, was not plainly revealed or at least understood. Hence he does not mainly refer to this solution. Yes, and even now, we need something in addition to this solution. David, who firmly believed in a future retribution (Psa 16:10; Psa 17:15), still felt the difficulty not entirely solved thereby (Psa. 83:1-18). The solution is not in Job's or in his three friends' speeches. It must, therefore, be in Elihu's. God will hold a final judgment, no doubt, to clear up all that seems dark in His present dealings; but He also now providentially and morally governs the world and all the events of human life. Even the comparatively righteous are not without sin which needs to be corrected. The justice and love of God administer the altogether deserved and merciful correction. Affliction to the godly is thus mercy and justice in disguise. The afflicted believer on repentance sees this. \"Via crucis, via salutis\" [\"The way of the cross, the way of deliverance\"]. Though afflicted, the godly are happier even now than the ungodly, and when affliction has attained its end, it is removed by the Lord. In the Old Testament the consolations are more temporal and outward; in the New Testament, more spiritual; but in neither to the entire exclusion of the other. \"Prosperity,\" says BACON, \"is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity that of the New Testament, which is the mark of God's more especial favor. Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost has labored more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes.\" This solution of Elihu is seconded by the addresses of God, in which it is shown God must be just (because He is God), as Elihu had shown how God can be just, and yet the righteous be afflicted. It is also acquiesced in by Job, who makes no reply. God reprimands the \"three\" friends, but not Elihu. Job's general course is approved; he is directed to intercede for his friends, and is restored to double his former prosperity.\n\nPOETRY.--In all countries poetry is the earliest form of composition as being best retained in the memory. In the East especially it was customary for sentiments to be preserved in a terse, proverbial, and poetic form (called maschal). Hebrew poetry is not constituted by the rhythm or meter, but in a form peculiar to itself: 1. In an alphabetical arrangement somewhat like our acrostic. For instance, Lam. 1:1-22. 2. The same verse repeated at intervals; as in Psa 42:1-11; Psa. 107:1-43. 3. Rhythm of gradation. Psalms of degrees, Psa. 120:1-134:3, in which the expression of the previous verse is resumed and carried forward in the next (Psa 121:1-8). 4. The chief characteristic of Hebrew poetry is parallelism, or the correspondence of the same ideas in the parallel clauses. The earliest instance is Enoch's prophecy (Jde 1:14), and Lamech's parody of it (Gen 4:23). Three kinds occur: (1) The synonymous parallelism, in which the second is a repetition of the first, with or without increase of force (Psa 22:27; Isa 15:1); sometimes with double parallelism (Isa 1:15). (2) The antithetic, in which the idea of the second clause is the converse of that in the first (Pro 10:1). (3) The synthetic, where there is a correspondence between different propositions, noun answering to noun, verb to verb, member to member, the sentiment, moreover, being not merely echoed, or put in contrast, but enforced by accessory ideas (Job 3:3-9). Also alternate (Isa 51:19). \"Desolation and destruction, famine and sword,\" that is, desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword. Introverted; where the fourth answers to the first, and the third to the second (Mat 7:6). Parallelism thus often affords a key to the interpretation. For fuller information, see LOWTH (Introduction to Isaiah, and Lecture on Hebrew Poetry) and HERDER (Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, translated by Marsh). The simpler and less artificial forms of parallelism prevail in Job--a mark of its early age. \n\n\n\nNext: Job Chapter 1\n\n","order":18,"numberOfChapters":42,"sha256":"e28c73d19b068ae7148f623bfa79b3c43dd6e60e7a803672cdd5f8a7d5080b3a","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JOB/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JOB","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":42,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JOB/42.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JOB","chapter":42},"totalNumberOfVerses":954},"chapter":{"number":36,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["from afar--not trite commonplaces, but drawn from God's mighty works. \n\nascribe righteousness--whereas Job ascribed unrighteousness (Job 34:10, Job 34:12). A man, in enquiring into God's ways, should at the outset presume they are all just, be willing to find them so, and expect that the result of investigation will prove them to be so; such a one will never be disappointed [BARNES].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["I will not \"speak wickedly for God,\" as the friends (Job 13:4, Job 13:7-8) --that is, vindicate God by unsound arguments. \n\nhe that is perfect, &c.--Rather, as the parallelism requires, \"a man of integrity in sentiments is with thee\" (is he with whom thou hast to do). Elihu means himself, as opposed to the dishonest reasonings of the friends (Job 21:34).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["Rather, \"strength of understanding\" (heart) the force of the repetition of \"mighty\"; as \"mighty\" as God is, none is too low to be \"despised\" by Him; for His \"might\" lies especially in \"His strength of understanding,\" whereby He searches out the most minute things, so as to give to each his right. Elihu confirms his exhortation (Job 35:14).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["right . . . poor--He espouses the cause of the afflicted.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["(Pe1 3:12). God does not forsake the godly, as Job implied, but \"establishes,\" or makes them sit on the throne as kings (Sa1 2:8; Psa 113:7-8). True of believers in the highest sense, already in part (Pe1 2:9; Rev 1:6); hereafter fully (Rev 5:10; Job 22:5). \n\nand they are--that they may be.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["If they be afflicted, it is no proof that they are hypocrites, as the friends maintain, or that God disregards them, and is indifferent whether men are good or bad, as Job asserts: God is thereby \"disciplining them,\" and \"showing them their sins,\" and if they bow in a right spirit under God's visiting hand, the greatest blessings ensue.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["work--transgression. \n\nthat . . . exceeded--\"In that they behaved themselves mightily\" (literally, \"great\"); that is, presumptuously, or, at least, self-confidently.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["(Job 33:16-18, Job 33:23).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["serve--that is, worship; as in Isa 19:23. God is to be supplied (compare Isa 1:19-20).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["(Job 33:18). \n\nwithout knowledge--that is, on account of their foolishness (Job 4:20-21).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["Same sentiment as Job 36:11-12, expanded. \n\nhypocrites--or, the ungodly [MAURER]; but \"hypocrites\" is perhaps a distinct class from the openly wicked (Job 36:12). \n\nheap up wrath--of God against themselves (Rom 2:5). UMBREIT translates, \"nourish their wrath against God,\" instead of \"crying\" unto Him. This suits well the parallelism and the Hebrew. But the English Version gives a good parallelism, \"hypocrites\" answering to \"cry not\" (Job 27:8, Job 27:10); \"heap up wrath\" against themselves, to \"He bindeth them\" with fetters of affliction (Job 36:8).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["Rather (Deu 23:17), Their life is (ended) as that of (literally, \"among\") the unclean, prematurely and dishonorably. So the second clause answers to the first. A warning that Job make not common cause with the wicked (Job 34:36).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["poor--the afflicted pious. \n\nopeneth . . . ears-- (Job 36:10); so as to be admonished in their straits (\"oppression\") to seek God penitently, and so be \"delivered\" (Job 33:16-17, Job 33:23-27).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["Rather, \"He will lead forth thee also out of the jaws of a strait\" (Psa 18:19; Psa 118:5). \n\nbroad place--expresses the liberty, and the well-supplied \"table\" the abundance of the prosperous (Psa 23:5; Isa 25:6).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["Rather, \"But if thou art fulfilled (that is, entirely filled) with the judgment of the wicked (that is, the guilt incurring judgment\" [MAURER]; or rather, as UMBREIT, referring to Job 34:5-7, Job 34:36, the judgment pronounced on God by the guilty in misfortunes), judgment (God's judgment on the wicked, Jer 51:9, playing on the double meaning of \"judgment\") and justice shall closely follow each other [UMBREIT].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["(Num 16:45; Psa 49:6-7; Mat 16:26). Even the \"ransom\" by Jesus Christ (Job 33:24) will be of no avail to wilful despisers (Heb 10:26-29). \n\nwith his stroke-- (Job 34:26). UMBREIT translates, \"Beware lest the wrath of God (thy severe calamity) lead thee to scorn\" (Job 34:7; Job 27:23). This accords better with the verb in the parallel clause, which ought to be translated, \"Let not the great ransom (of money, which thou canst give) seduce thee (Margin, turn thee aside, as if thou couldst deliver thyself from \"wrath\" by it). As the \"scorn\" in the first clause answers to the \"judgment of the wicked\" (Job 36:17), so \"ransom\" (\"seduce\") to \"will he esteem riches\" (Job 36:19). Thus, Job 36:18 is the transition between Job 36:17 and Job 36:19.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["forces of strength--that is, resources of wealth (Psa 49:7; Pro 11:4).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":20,"content":["Desire--pant for. Job had wished for death (Job 3:3-9, &c.). \n\nnight-- (Joh 9:4). \n\nwhen--rather, \"whereby.\" \n\ncut off--literally, \"ascend,\" as the corn cut and lifted upon the wagon or stack (Job 36:26); so \"cut off,\" \"disappear.\" \n\nin their place--literally, \"under themselves\"; so, without moving from their place, on the spot, suddenly (Job 40:12) [MAURER]. UMBREIT'S translation: \"To ascend (which is really, as thou wilt find to thy cost, to descend) to the people below\" (literally, \"under themselves\"), answers better to the parallelism and the Hebrew. Thou pantest for death as desirable, but it is a \"night\" or region of darkness; thy fancied ascent (amelioration) will prove a descent (deterioration) (Job 10:22); therefore desire it not.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":21,"content":["regard--literally, \"turn thyself to.\" \n\niniquity--namely, presumptuous speaking against God (Job 34:5, and above, see on Job 36:17-18). \n\nrather than--to bear \"affliction\" with pious patience. Men think it an alleviation to complain against God, but this is adding sin to sorrow; it is sin, not sorrow, which can really hurt us (contrast Heb 11:25).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":22,"content":["God is not to be impiously arraigned, but to be praised for His might, shown in His works. \n\nexalteth--rather, doeth lofty things, shows His exalted power [UMBREIT] (Psa 21:13). \n\nteacheth-- (Psa 94:12, &c.). The connection is, returning to Job 36:5, God's \"might\" is shown in His \"wisdom\"; He alone can teach; yet, because He, as a sovereign, explains not all His dealings, forsooth Job must presume to teach Him (Isa 40:13-14; Rom 11:34; Co1 2:16). So the transition to Job 36:23 is natural. UMBREIT with the Septuagint translates, \"Who is Lord,\" wrongly, as this meaning belongs to later Hebrew.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":23,"content":["Job dared to prescribe to God what He should do (Job 34:10, Job 34:13).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":24,"content":["Instead of arraigning, let it be thy fixed principle to magnify God in His works (Psa 111:2-8; Rev 15:3); these, which all may \"see,\" may convince us that what we do not see is altogether wise and good (Rom 1:20). \n\nbehold--As \"see\" (Job 36:25), shows; not, as MAURER, \"sing,\" laud (see on Job 33:27).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":25,"content":["See--namely, with wondering admiration [MAURER]. \n\nman may behold--rather, \"(yet) mortals (a different Hebrew word from 'man') behold it (only) from afar off,\" see but a small \"part\" (Job 26:14).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":26,"content":["(Job 37:13). God's greatness in heaven and earth: a reason why Job should bow under His afflicting hand. \n\nknow him not--only in part (Job 36:25; Co1 13:12). \n\nhis years-- (Psa 90:2; Psa 102:24, Psa 102:27); applied to Jesus Christ (Heb 1:12).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":27,"content":["The marvellous formation of rain (so Job 5:9-10). \n\nmaketh small--Rather, \"He draweth (up) to Him, He attracts (from the earth below) the drops of water; they (the drops of water) pour down rain, (which is) His vapor.\" \"Vapor\" is in apposition with \"rain,\" marking the way in which rain is formed; namely, from the vapor drawn up by God into the air and then condensed into drops, which fall (Psa 147:8). The suspension of such a mass of water, and its descent not in a deluge, but in drops of vapory rain, are the marvel. The selection of this particular illustration of God's greatness forms a fit prelude to the storm in which God appears (Job 40:1).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":28,"content":["abundantly--literally, \"upon many men.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":29,"content":["(Job 37:5). God's marvels in thunder and lightnings. \n\nspreadings, &c.--the canopy of thick clouds, which covers the heavens in a storm (Psa 105:39). \n\nthe noise--\"crashing\"; namely, thunder. \n\nof his tabernacle--God being poetically said to have His pavilion amid dark clouds (Psa 18:11; Isa 40:22).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":30,"content":["light--lightning. \n\nit--His tabernacle (Job 36:29). The light, in an instant spread over the vast mass of dark clouds, forms a striking picture. \n\nspread--is repeated from Job 36:29 to form an antithesis. \"He spreads not only clouds, but light.\" \n\ncovereth the bottom--roots. \n\nof the sea--namely, with the light. In the storm the depths of ocean are laid bare; and the light \"covers\" them, at the same moment that it \"spreads\" across the dark sky. So in Psa 18:14-15, the discovering of \"the channels of waters\" follows the \"lightnings.\" UMBREIT translates: \"He spreadeth His light upon Himself, and covereth Himself with the roots of the sea\" (Psa 104:2). God's garment is woven of celestial light and of the watery depths, raised to the sky to form His cloudy canopy. The phrase, \"cover Himself with the roots of the sea,\" is harsh; but the image is grand.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":31,"content":["These (rain and lightnings) are marvellous and not to be understood (Job 36:29), yet necessary. \"For by them He judgeth (chastiseth on the one hand), &c. (and on the other, by them) He giveth meat\" (food), &c. (Job 37:13; Job 38:23, Job 38:27; Act 14:17).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":32,"content":["Rather, \"He covereth (both) His hands with light (lightning, Job 37:3, Margin), and giveth it a command against his adversary\" (literally, the one \"assailing\" Him, Psa 8:2; Psa 139:20; Job 21:19). Thus, as in Job 36:31, the twofold effects of His waters are set forth, so here, of His light; in the one hand, destructive lightning against the wicked; in the other, the genial light for good to His friends, &c. (Job 36:33) [UMBREIT].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":33,"content":["noise--rather, He revealeth it (literally, \"announceth concerning it\") to His friend (antithesis to adversary, Job 36:32, so the Hebrew is translated, Job 2:11); also to cattle and plants (literally, \"that which shooteth up\"; Gen 40:10; Gen 41:22). As the genial effect of \"water\" in the growth of food, is mentioned, Job 36:31, so here that of \"light\" in cherishing cattle and plants [UMBREIT]. If English Version, \"noise\" be retained, translate, \"His noise (thunder) announces concerning Him (His coming in the tempest), the cattle (to announce) concerning Him when He is in the act of rising up\" (in the storm). Some animals give various intimations that they are sensible of the approach of a storm [VIRGIL, Georgics, I.373, &c.].\n\n\n\n\nNext: Job Chapter 37\n\n"]}],"introduction":"(Job 36:1-33)\n\nElihu maintains that afflictions are to the godly disciplinary, in order to lead them to attain a higher moral worth, and that the reason for their continuance is not, as the friends asserted, on account of the sufferer's extraordinary guilt, but because the discipline has not yet attained its object, namely, to lend him to humble himself penitently before God (Isa 9:13; Jer 5:3). This is Elihu's fourth speech. He thus exceeds the ternary number of the others. Hence his formula of politeness (Job 36:2). Literally, \"Wait yet but a little for me.\" Bear with me a little farther. I have yet (much, Job 32:18-20). There are Chaldeisms in this verse, agreeably to the view that the scene of the book is near the Euphrates and the Chaldees.\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JOB/36.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JOB","chapter":36},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JOB/37.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JOB","chapter":37},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/JOB/35.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"JOB","chapter":35},"numberOfVerses":31}