Job 17:1-16

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 17:1-9

Job's discourse is here somewhat broken and interrupted, and he passes suddenly from one thing to another, as is usual with men in trouble; but we may reduce what is here said to three heads:? I. The deplorable condition which poor Job was now in, which he describes, to aggravate the great unkindness of his friends to him and to justify his own complaints. Let us see what his case was. 1. He was a dying man, Job 17:1. He had said (Job 16:22), ?When a few years have come, I shall go that long... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 17:10-16

Job's friends had pretended to comfort him with the hopes of his return to a prosperous estate again; now he here shows, I. That it was their folly to talk so (Job 17:10): ?Return, and come now, be convinced that you are in an error, and let me persuade you to be of my mind; for I cannot find one wise man among you, that knows how to explain the difficulties of God's providence or how to apply the consolations of his promises.? Those do not go wisely about the work of comforting the afflicted... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 17:1

My breath is corrupt ,.... Through the force of his disease, which made it have an ill smell, so that it was strange and disagreeable to his wife, Job 19:17 ; passing through his lungs, or other parts, which were affected with some disorder, or as frequently is the case of dying persons, and so Job thought himself to be. The word F14 Pineda. used has the signification of pain, even of the pains of a woman in travail; and so may signify, that Job drew his breath with great pain, as... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 17:2

Are there not mockers with me ?.... Meaning not irreligious persons, such as make a mock at sin, a jest of religion, a laugh at good men, sneer at the doctrines and ordinances of God, and scoff at things future, as the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and a future judgment; with whom it is very uncomfortable to be, as well as with any sort of profane men, and such there were no doubt in Job's time; but he seems to design his friends, by whom be thought himself mocked, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 17:3

Lay down now ,.... A pledge that thou wilt provide a surety, appoint and admit one to plead for me, and that thou wilt hear my cause, and determine it; or "put now", or "put, I pray thee" F18 שימה נא "pone nunc", Montanus; "poae quaeso", Pagninus, Piscator, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schmidt; "sub cor tunm", Vatablus. , thy heart and mind to me and my case, to my petition and request, and grant it: put me in a surety with thee ; appoint, provide, and place a surety for me with thee,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 17:4

For thou hast hid their heart from understanding ,.... That is, the hearts of his friends, and therefore they were unfit to undertake his cause, or be sureties for him, or be judges in it. It is the same thing as to hide understanding from their hearts, which God sometimes does in a natural sense; when men like not the knowledge of him, as attainable by the light of nature, he gives them up to reprobate minds, minds void of knowledge and judgment in things natural; and sometimes, in a... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 17:5

He that speaketh flattery to his friends ,.... As Job's friends did to him when they promised great outward prosperity, and a restoration to his former state, and to a greater affluence upon his repentance and reformation; or when they spoke deceitfully for God, pretending great regard to the honour of his justice and holiness, and therefore insisted on it that he must be a wicked man and an hypocrite, that was afflicted by him, as Job was: even the eyes of his children shall fail ; so... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 17:6

He hath made me also a byword of the people ,.... Either Eliphaz, or God; for whatsoever befell him, whether more immediately by the hand of God, or by any instrument, the ascribes it to him, as being suffered in Providence to befall him; as when he became a byword or proverb to the people in common, to whom an example might be set by one or more of Job's friends. The name of Job is to this day a byword or proverb among men, both for his poverty and his patience; if a man is described as... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 17:7

Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow ,.... Through excessive weeping, and the abundance of tears he shed, so that he had almost lost his eyesight, or however it was greatly weakened and impaired by that means, which is often the case, see Psalm 6:7 ; and all my members are as a shadow ; his flesh was consumed off his bones, there were nothing left scarcely but skin and bone; he was a mere anatomy, and as thin as a lath, as we commonly say of a man that is quite worn away, as it... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 17:8

Upright men shall be astonished at this ,.... Such as were upright in heart, and in their walk conversation, sincere and honourable in their profession of religion, these would be amazed at the afflictions of Job, and the unkindness of his friends; it is hereby suggested, that it would be then, and in ages to come, a matter of surprise to truly gracious persons, when they should hear of such sore afflictions laid upon so good a man, and he told what censures, calumnies, and reproaches, were... read more

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