Job 19:20-27

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 19:20

My bone cleaveth to my skin - My flesh is entirely wasted away, and nothing but skin and bone left. I am escaped with the skin of my teeth - I have had the most narrow escape. If I still live, it is a thing to be wondered at, my sufferings and privations have been so great. To escape with the skin of the teeth seems to have been a proverbial expression, signifying great difficulty. I had as narrow an escape from death, as the thickness of the enamel on the teeth. I was within a hair's... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 19:21

Have pity upon me - The iteration here strongly indicates the depth of his distress, and that his spirit was worn down with the length and severity of his suffering. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 19:22

Why do ye persecute me as God - Are not the afflictions which God sends enough? Do ye not see that I have as much as I can bear? When the papists were burning Dr. Taylor at Oxford, while wrapped in the flames, one of the true sons of the Church took a stick out of the faggots, and threw it at his head, and split open his face. To whom he calmly said, Man, why this wrong? Do not I suffer enough? And are not satisfied with my flesh? - Will ye persecute my soul, while God is persecuting my... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 19:23

O that my words were now written! - Job introduces the important subject which follows in a manner unusually solemn; and he certainly considers the words which he was about to utter of great moment, and therefore wishes them to be recorded in every possible way. All the modes of writing then in use he appears to refer to. As to printing, that should be out of the question, as no such art was then discovered, nor for nearly two thousand years after. Our translators have made a strange mistake... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 19:24

Iron pen and lead - Some suppose that the meaning of this place is this: the iron pen is the chisel by which the letters were to be deeply cut in the stone or rock; and the lead was melted into those cavities in order to preserve the engraving distinct. But this is not so natural a supposition as what is stated above; that Job refers to the different kinds of writing or perpetuating public events, used in his time: and the quotations from Pliny and Pausanias confirm the opinion already... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 19:25

For I know that my Redeemer liveth - Any attempt to establish the true meaning of this passage is almost hopeless. By learned men and eminent critics the words have been understood very differently; some vehemently contending that they refer to the resurrection of the body, and the redemption of the human race by Jesus Christ; while others, with equal vehemence and show of argument, have contended that they refer only to Job's restoration to health, family comforts, and general prosperity,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 19:26

And though after my skin worms destroy this body - My skin, which is now almost all that remains of my former self, except the bones; see Job 19:20 . They destroy this - not body. זאת נקפו nikkephu zoth , they - diseases and affliction, destroy This wretched composition of misery and corruption. Yet in my flesh shall I see God - Either, I shall arise from the dead, have a renewed body and see him with eyes of flesh and blood, though what I have now shall shortly moulder into dust,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 19:27

Whom I shall see for myself - Have a personal interest in the resurrection, as I shall have in the Redeemer. And mine eyes shall behold - That very person who shall be the resurrection, as he is the life. And not another - זר ולא velo zar , and not a stranger, one who has no relation to human nature; but גאלי goali , my redeeming Kinsman. Though my reins be consumed within me - Though I am now apparently on the brink of death, the thread of life being spun out to extreme... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 19:1-21

An appeal for pity. Job is brought lower and lower By the words of those from whom he might have expected a true consolation. He at length declares they "vex" his "soul," and "break" him "in pieces with words" He appeals for freedom. He would be let atone, for, as he had sorrowfully said, "miserable comforters are ye all. " The great underlying teaching is the insufficiency of those views of human suffering which find its cause only in judgment upon wrong-doing. Job, the typical... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 19:1-22

Job to Bildad: 1. A reply, an appeal, a complaint. I. JOB 'S WRATHFUL REPLY TO HIS FRIENDS . Job accuses his three friends of: 1 . Irritating words. (Verse 2.) Their solemn addresses and eloquent descriptions were an exquisite torture, harder to endure than the miseries of elephantiasis. The cruel insinuations and unkind reproaches contained in their speeches crushed him more deeply and lacerated him more keenly than all the sharp strokes of evil fortune he had lately... read more

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