Job 8:17 - Exposition

His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth (rather, he seeth ) the place (literally, house) of stones . This passage is very obscure The word gal , translated heap, means sometimes a spring or stream of water ( Song of Solomon 4:12 ); and many of the best Hebraists regard it as having that meaning here (Buxtorf, Lee, Stanley Leathes, Revised Version). In this case we have to regard the rapidly growing plant as having its roots wrapped about the perennial spring, which was a not uncommon, and always a much-desired, feature of an Eastern garden. Thus nourished, it naturally increased and spread itself, and "was green before the sun." May we suppose that it "saw the house of stones," because the spring which nourished it gushed forth from the native rock so that its roots were in contact with both?