In these six chapters, Job gives his final argument to his friends, vindicating himself, lamenting his downfall from greatness, and expressing a desire for his present circumstances to be explained.
In Chapter 26, Job first seeks to dispel any thought in his friends' minds that they might have been helpful in sharing with Job any wisdom (v1-4). He then proceeds to share of the majesty and power of God: that even those under the deep (the inhabitants of sheol-Hell) tremble at God (so "Dead things are formed from under the waters" is to be understood, as most commentators have it), the next verse bearing witness that "Hell is naked before him." Job gives other examples of the great things that God does but then proclaiming "these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him?"
In Chapter 27, Job seems to contradict his earlier arguments about the wicked sometimes prospering. After a further declaration of self-justification in verses 4-7, he begins to chastise his friends that they had not perceived properly the "portion of the wicked man" and the "hope of the hypocrite." He then speaks of the sword that is to fall on the hypocrite's children (v14), how his wealth will fall to the righteous (v16-17) and how destruction overtakes him suddenly (v18-23). What is to be made of this seemingly sudden change of argued position?
Keil and Delitzsch have a great description of this "change":
"The ungodly man, Job goes on to say, has no God to hear his cry when distress comes upon him; he cannot delight himself ( יתענּג , pausal form of יתענג , the primary form of יתענג ) in the Almighty; he cannot call upon Eloah at any time (i.e., in the manifold circumstances of life under which we are called to feel the dependence of our nature). Torn away from God, he cannot be heard, he cannot indeed pray and find any consolation in God. It is most clearly manifest here, since Job compares his condition of suffering with that of a חנף , what comfort, what power of endurance, yea, what spiritual joy in the midst of suffering ( התענג , as Job 22:26; Psa 37:4, Psa 37:11; Isa 55:2; Isa 58:13 (refs5)), which must all remain unknown to the ungodly, he can draw from his fellowship with God; and seizing the very root of the distinction between the man who fears God and one who is utterly godless, his view of the outward appearance of the misfortune of both becomes changed; and after having allowed himself hitherto to be driven from one extreme to another by the friends, as the heat of the controversy gradually cools down, and as, regaining his independence, he stands before them as their teacher, he now experiences the truth of docendo discimus in rich abundance. I will instruct you, says he, in the hand, i.e., the mode of action, of God ( בּ just as in Psa 25:8, Psa 25:12; Psa 32:8; Pro 4:11 (refs4), of the province and subject of instruction); I will not conceal עם־שׁדּי אשׁר , i.e., according to the sense of the passage: what are the principles upon which He acts; for that which is with ( אם ) any one is the matter of his consciousness and volition (vid., on Job 23:10).
Job 27:12 is of the greatest importance in the right interpretation of what follows from Job 27:13 onwards. The instruction which Job desires to impart to the friends has reference to the lot of the evil-doer; and when he says: Behold, ye yourselves have beheld (learnt) it all, - in connection with which it is to be observed that אתּם כּלּכם does not signify merely vos omnes , but vosmet ipsi omnes , - he grants to them what he appeared hitherto to deny, that the lot of the evil-doer, certainly in the rule, although not without exceptions, is such as they have said. The application, however, which they have made of this abiding fact of experience, as and remains all the more false: Wherefore then ( זה makes the question sharper) are ye vain (blinded) in vanity (self-delusion), viz., in reference to me, who do not so completely bear about the characteristic marks of a רשׁע ? The verb הבל signifies to think and act vainly (without ground or connection), 2Ki 17:15 (comp. ἐματαιώθησαν , Rom 1:21); the combination הבל הבל is not to be judged of according to Ges. §138, rem. 1, as it is also by Ew. §281, a, but הבל may also be taken as the representative of the gerund, as e.g., עריה , Hab 3:9.
In the following strophe (Job 27:13) Job now begins as Zophar (Job 20:29) concluded. He gives back to the friends the doctrine they have fully imparted to him. They have held the lot of the evil-doer before him as a mirror, that he may behold himself in it and be astounded; he holds it before them, that they may perceive how not only his bearing under suffering, but also the form of his affliction, is of a totally different kind.
In Chapter 28, as Keil and Delitzsch put it, "Job desires to show that the final lot of the rich man is well merited, because the treasures which he made the object of his avarice and pride, though ever so costly, are still earthy in their nature and origin." Job places these earthly treasures which men may so skillfully mine out of the earth and which even the birds and animals cannot see the way to (v7-8), in contrast to wisdom (v20), which only God can find and give (v23) and which is the fear of the Lord and departing from evil (v28).
In Chapter 29, Job laments his fall from his prior glory, taking note of how God had preserved him (v2-5) and he was given prosperity (v6) and great respect among the people (v7-11,21-25). This respect Job attributes to his righteous conduct as being a defender of the poor and needy (v12-17), for which conduct he thought that his prosperity was sure (v18-20).
Thus, Chapter 30 takes great contrast, noting how Job's prior respect had fallen into derision even among the lowliest of people (v1-14), of whom Job takes special note of their mean and lowly nature (v3-7). Job then returns to his focus on the extent of his sufferings (v15-19) and the One behind his afflictions (v20-23), even calling God cruel in His oppression. Of special note in this chapter is v24, which is difficult to interpret. The verse reads, in the KJV, "Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction," but it would be better rendered as a question, "will he not stretch out his hand in falling, and doth he not raise a cry for help on that account in his ruin?" (Keil and Delitzsch). Job asks this question to note that though he felt assured of destruction by God (v23: "For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living"), yet it would still be normal to yell on the way down. Job finishes by noting his severity in mourning, that he had become brother and companion to animals whose cry is like mourning (v29: "I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls"; most likely dragon = jackal and owl = ostrich).
In Chapter 31, Job finishes by justifying himself once again, in turn describing the wicked things he HAD NOT done and then the punishment he should have received if he HAD done them, so as to emphasize his innocence almost with an oath.
For example:
[Job 31:7-8 KJV] 7 If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands; 8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
[Job 31:9-10 KJV] 9 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door; 10 Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her. (grind to another: let her be the servant/slave of another)
[Job 31:19-22 KJV] 19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; 20 If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: 22 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
Job also once again declares a desire to have a hearing with the almighty:
[Job 31:6, 35-37 KJV] 6 Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. ... 35 Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book. 36 Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me. 37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.
A point of interest - difficulty in understanding - in Job 31, is the section where Job speaks about idolatry:
[Job 31:26-27 KJV] 26 If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; 27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:
I became interested in what it means for the mouth to kiss the hand, and this is what I found in Keil and Delitzsch:
Kissing is called נשׁק as being ajoining of lip to lip. Accordingly the kiss by hand can be described by נשׁקה יד לפה; the kiss which the mouth gives the hand is to a certain extent also a kiss which the hand gives the mouth, since the hand joins itself to the mouth. Thus to kiss the hand in the direction of the object of veneration, or also to turn to it the kissed hand and at the same time the kiss which fastens on it (as compensation for the direct kiss, 1 Kings 19:18; Hosea 13:2), is the proper gesture of the προσκύνησις (worship) and adoratio mentioned; comp. Pliny, h. n. xxviii. 2, 5; Inter adorandum dexteram ad osculum referimus et totum corpus circumagimus. Tacitus, Hist. iii. 24, says that in Syria they value the rising sun; and that this was done by kissing the hand ( τῆν χεῖρα κύσαντες ) in Western Asia as in Greece, is to be inferred from Lucians Περὶ ὀρχήσεως , c. xvii.
Also, Matthew Poole:
Kissed my hand, in token of worship; whereof this was a sign, whether given to men, as Genesis 41:40 Psalms 2:12, or to idols, 1 Kings 19:18 Hosea 13:2. And when the idols were out of the reach of idolaters, that they could not kiss them, they used to kiss their hands, and, as it were, to throw kisses at them; of which we have many examples in heathen writers; of which see my Latin Synopsis on this place.
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