Job 9:30-31

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 9:25-35

Job here grows more and more querulous, and does not conclude this chapter with such reverent expressions of God's wisdom and justice as he began with. Those that indulge a complaining humour know not to what indecencies, nay, to what impieties, it will hurry them. The beginning of that strife with God is as the letting forth of water; therefore leave it off before it be meddled with. When we are in trouble we are allowed to complain to God, as the Psalmist often, but must by no means complain... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 9:30

If I wash myself with snow water ,.... As it came from heaven, or flowed from the mountains covered with snow, as Lebanon, see Jeremiah 18:14 ; or was kept in vessels for such use, as being judged the best for such a purpose; so it was used by the ancients F14 "Discubuimus, pueris aquam nivalem in manus infundentibus", Petronius in Satyr. , as being what whitens the skin, and strengthens the parts by contracting the pores, and hindering perspiration; it signifies, in a figurative... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 9:31

Yet shall thou plunge me in the ditch ,.... In the filthy ditch of sin, the pit wherein is no water, the horrible pit, the mire and clay, in which all unregenerate men are, and to which hypocrites return, as the swine to its wallowing in the mire; and in which impurity self-righteous persons are, and are sooner or later made to appear, notwithstanding all their outward righteousness, holiness, purity, and perfection they boast of; and though Job was neither of these, not an unregenerate man,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 9:30

If I wash myself with snow water - Supposed to have a more detergent quality than common water; and it was certainly preferred to common water by the ancients. Of this we find an example in an elegant but licentious author: Tandem ergo discubuimus, pueris Alexandrinis Aquam in manus Nivatam infundentibus, aliisque insequentibus ad pedes - Petr. Satyr., cap. xxxi. "At length we sat down, and had snow water poured on our hands by lads of Alexandria," etc. Mr. Good supposes that there is an... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 9:31

And mine own clothes shall abhor me - Such is thine infinite purity, when put in opposition to the purity of man, that it will bear no comparison. Searched and tried by the eye of God, I should be found as a leper, so that my own clothes would dread to touch me, for fear of being infected by my corruption. This is a strong and bold figure; and is derived from the corrupted state of his body, which his clothes dreaded to touch, because of the contagious nature of his disorder. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 9:1-35

Job, in answer to Bildad, admits the truth of his arguments, but declines to attempt the justification which can alone entitle him to accept the favourable side of Bildad's alternative. Man cannot absolutely justify himself before God. It is in vain to attempt to do so. The contest is too unequal. On the one side perfect wisdom and absolute strength (verse 4); on the other, weakness, imperfection, ignorance. guilt (verses 17-20). And no "daysman," or umpire, between them; no third party to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 9:21-35

Job to Bildad: 4. The cries of a desparing soul. I. MAINTAINING HIS INNOCENCE . 1 . Attested by his conscience. "Though I were perfect;" or, better, "I am guiltless" (verse 21). Before God Job did not claim to be absolutely spotless, but merely to be free from such transgressions of the moral law as his friends insinuated he must have committed to render him obnoxious to those palpable tokens of Divine displeasure which had overtaken him. Against this, however, he protested as... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 9:25-35

Melancholy reflections. I. SELF - CONTEMPLATION IN REFERENCE TO THE PAST . His life has sped swiftly—like a courier, or the swift boat of the Euphrates or the Nile, or the swooping eagle ( Job 9:25 , Job 9:26 ), and without seeming prosperity. Here he perverts the history of the past; but memory as welt as reason is poisoned. II. IN REFERENCE TO THE FUTURE . ( Job 9:27 , Job 9:28 .) Hope has broken its wing. The effort to remove the gloom from his brow is... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 9:30

If I wash myself with snow-water (comp. Psalms 51:7 ). If I should succeed in purging myself of all guilt, and establishing, so far as words can do it, my spotless innocence even then what advantage should I gain? Snow-water does not really cleanse what is defiled better than any other water, but a lively fancy might suppose it to do so. Job indulges in this fancy, but then checks himself, and adds a prosaic alternative. And make my hands never so clean; rather, and make my hands clean... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 9:30-31

Despair of purification. Job is possessed by a terrible thought. He imagines that God is so determined to have him as an object of condemnation that nothing he can do can set him right; even if he makes himself ever so clean, God will plunge him back in the mire, God will overwhelm him with guilt. This is, of course, a wholly false view of God, though it is not altogether inexcusable with Job in his ignorance and awful distress. I. GOD ONLY DESIRES OUR PURIFICATION . We may not... read more

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