E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Job 17:16
the pit. Hebrew. Sheol. App-35 . Compare Job 17:13 . read more
the pit. Hebrew. Sheol. App-35 . Compare Job 17:13 . read more
16. They—namely, my hopes shall be buried with me. bars— ( :-). Rather, the wastes or solitudes of the pit (sheol, the unseen world). rest together—the rest of me and my hope is in, &c. Both expire together. The word "rest" implies that man's ceaseless hopes only rob him of rest. read more
2. Job’s second reply to Eliphaz chs. 16-17This response reflects Job’s increasing disinterest in the words of his accusers. He warned them and then proceeded to bewail his isolation. read more
Job’s despair in the face of death 17:6-16Job proceeded to accuse God of making him a byword (proverb) to others (Job 17:6). Perhaps parents were pointing to him as an example of what happens to a person who lives a hypocritical life. One writer suggested that Job 17:6 should read, "Therefore I repudiate and repent of dust and ashes." [Note: Dale Patrick, "The Translation of Job XVII 6," Vetus Testamentum 26:3 (July 1976):369-71.] This statement would express Job’s intention to abandon... read more
Job’s Fourth Speech (concluded)1-9. Job prays God to pledge Himself to vindicate his innocence in the future, for his friends have failed him, and he rejects their promises of restoration in the present life.1. RV ’My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.’ The v. is connected with Job 16:22. 2. Job rejects the delusive hopes of restoration held out by the friends.3. RV ’Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself; who is there that will strike hands with me?’... read more
(16) They shall go down to the bars of the pit.—The last verse of this chapter, which is itself one of the most difficult, is the most difficult of all. The difficulty consists in this: the bars of the grave are masculine, and the verb, they shall go down, is feminine plural; it seems improbable that the bars of the grave should be the subject of the verb (though perhaps not absolutely impossible); but if the bars of the grave are the place to which the going down is, as in the Authorised... read more
Job 17:11 Happy is the man, no matter what his lot may be otherwise, who sees some tolerable realization of the design he has set before him in his youth or in his earlier manhood. Many there are who, through no fault of theirs, know nothing but mischance and defeat. Either sudden calamity overturns in tumbling ruins all they had painfully toiled to build, and success for ever afterwards is irrecoverable; or, what is most frequent, each day brings its own special hindrance, in the shape of... read more
XIV."MY WITNESS IN HEAVEN"Job 16:1-22; Job 17:1-16Job SPEAKSIF it were comforting to be told of misery and misfortune, to hear the doom of insolent evildoers described again and again in varying terms, then Job should have been comforted. But his friends had lost sight of their errand, and he had to recall them to it."I have heard many such things: Afflictive comforters are ye all. Shall vain words have an end?"He would have them consider that perpetual harping on one string is but a sober... read more
CHAPTERS 16-17 Job’s Reply to Eliphaz 1. Miserable comforters are ye all (Job 16:1-5 ) 2. Oh God! Thou hast done it! (Job 16:6-14 ) 3. Yet I look to Thee (Job 16:15-22 ) 4. Trouble upon trouble; self-pity (Job 17:1-12 ) 5. Where is now my hope? (Job 17:13-16 ) Job 16:1-5 . How masterfully he meets their wrong accusations and how he brings forth his suffering afresh, yet always with that horrible nightmare, God is not for me, but against me! Such things Eliphaz spoke he had heard... read more
Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Job 17:1-16
Job’s reply to Eliphaz (16:1-17:16)Tired at this repetition of the friends’ unhelpful teaching, Job says he could give similar ‘comfort’ if he were in their position and they in his (16:1-5). His argument with God may not have brought relief from his pain, but neither has his silence. In fact, his physical condition only becomes worse (6-8). God opposes him and people insult him. Some deliberately try to do him harm (9-11). He feels like a helpless victim that wild animals attack, like a target... read more