Verse 7
7. Like his own dung Hirtzel renders the first clause: “According to his greatness so shall he perish forever.” So that “his destruction is the greater even as he himself is greater,” (Ewald,) which is properly discarded by Dillmann as inconsistent with the Hebrew use of words. In order to relieve the harshness of the figure, Wetzstein tells as that in the Hauran and Arabia the dung of cows is gathered by women and children for fuel. It is mixed with water and chopped straw, pressed into the shape of cakes, which are piled up in a circular form, and used as a kind of storehouse until needed for the fire. The flame is without odour, and the ashes pure as our own wood ashes. Delitzsch and Umbreit read as in the Authorized Version. The figure expresses the utmost contempt for Job, his immortality, and his future vision of God, and, in itself, would not be exceptionable to Oriental ears. 2 Kings 9:37; Ezekiel 4:12; Zephaniah 1:17.
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