But you are forgers of lies. You are all physicians of no value.
Oh that you would be completely silent! Then you would be wise.
Hear now my reasoning. Listen to the pleadings of my lips.
Will you speak unrighteously for God, and talk deceitfully for him?
Will you show partiality to him? Will you contend for God?
Is it good that he should search you out? Or as one deceives a man, will you deceive him?
He will surely reprove you if you secretly show partiality.
Shall not his majesty make you afraid, and his dread fall on you?
Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes. Your defenses are defenses of clay.
“Be silent! Leave me alone, that I may speak. Let come on me what will.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv4, 7, 12 You do not well apply your medicine to the…
You do not well apply your medicine to the disease.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–13 Job 13:4 But ye [are] forgers of lies, ye…
Job 13:4 But ye [are] forgers of lies, ye [are] all physicians of no value.
Ver. 4. But ye are forgers of lies] i.e. Ye create false maxims to judge me by; ye gather up without any order, and to no purpose, whatsoever cometh in your way to strengthen and maintain your false accusation against me. You are not only cencinnatores, forgers, but compactors, botchers, such as, by sewing one lie to another, do patch up a false and frivolous discourse, Mendacia mendaciis assuitis. So David, Psa 119:69, The proud have forged (or pieced together, made it up as of many shreds) a lie against me. David saith of hypocrites, that their tongue frameth deceit, Psa 50:19; and of Doeg, that his tongue devised mischief, like a sharp razor, doing deceit, Psa 52:2. Jeremiah saith of his countrymen, that they had taught their tongues to speak lies, and were grown artists at it, Jer 9:5; yea, that they had taken fast hold of deceit, and could not be got off without striving, Jer 8:5. But these countrymen of Job were none such, for God said, "Surely they are my people, children that will not lie," Isa 63:8. And although every man be a liar, either by imposture or by impotence; yet it must be understood that these good men aimed at truth, and intended not to deceive Job, but to undeceive him rather. They maintained errors, but unwittingly; they charged him also (but unjustly) with hypocrisy. Hence this so severe a high charge, Ye are forgers of lies, such as our ruffians would revenge with a stab. But we must know, saith Merlin, that in those better times it was not so harsh a business in a serious disputation to call that a lie which was safely alleged by an adversary as today it is in this corrupt age of ours, wherein the greatest liars, though taken in the manner, yet take it extremely ill to be told of their fault. Besides, in the defence of God’s cause, and the labouring truth, plain-dealing, even with our best friends, is best; so that the apostle’s rule, Eph 4:31, be observed, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice."
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Ye are all physicians of no value] Because you go to work upon wrong principles, and mistakenly ministered. Physicians he acknowledgeth them, and that they came with a good intent to comfort him; but, for lack of skill, instead of curing, they had well nigh killed him, because they judged amiss of his disease, and used corrosives instead of cordials. By the way, observe that God’s word is not only the food, but the medicine of the soul, and may far more fitly be so called than the library of Alexandria was of old: for as the diseases of the body are healed by medicine seasonably and rightly used, so are the distempers of the soul by Scriptural consolations; neither shall we ever have cause to complain of them, as Cicero did of philosophical comforts, Nescio quomodo, &c., I know not how it cometh to pass, but this I find, that the disease is too hard for the medicine; or as the Romans did of Sulla’s bloody government, that the remedy was worse than the malady. "How forcible are right words!" said Job, Job 6:25. And fair words, as physicians, cure the mind distempered with passion, saith the poet, Oργης νοσουσης εισιν ιατροι λογοι (Aeschyl.). Once, when Luther was in a great heat about something that had crossed him, Melancthon pacified him by repeating this verse,
Vince animos, iramque tuam, qui caetera vincis.
But Job’s friends, as they were botchers of lies, so they were bunglers at healing him; they did, saith Lavater, as a surgeon who applieth a plaister to the hand of him whose grief is in his foot; or as that country mountebank in France, who was wont to give in writing to his patients for curing all diseases (Becan. sum. Theol., part 1, cap. 16),
Si vis curari de morbo nescio quali,
Accipias herbam, sed qualem nescio, nec quam:
Ponas neseio quo, curabere nescio quando.
These verses are rendered in English by one in the following way:
Your sore I know not what, do not foreslow
To cure with herbs, which whence I do not know:
Place them (well pounced) I know not where, and then
You shall be perfect whole, I know not when.
Such ουτιδανοι, nullities in the world, such no physicians, such idols, such extreme nothingnesses, good for nothing (as that rotten girdle in Jeremiah, Jer 13:7, those vine branches in Eze 15:6-7, that idol in St Paul, 1Co 8:4), were Job’s friends to him, miserable comforters, Job 16:2, adding to his affliction instead of easing it, and pushing at him as the whole herd of deer doth at that one that is wounded.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv4–13 Forgers of lies, i.e. authors of false doctrine, to…
Forgers of lies, i.e. authors of false doctrine, to wit, that great afflictions are peculiar to hypocrites and wicked men.
Physicians of no value; unfaithful and unskilful; prescribing bad remedies, and misapplying good ones.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v13 Job here takes fresh hold, fast hold, of his…
Job here takes fresh hold, fast hold, of his integrity, as one that was resolved not to let it go, nor suffer it to be wrested from him. His firmness in this matter is commendable and his warmth excusable.
I. He entreats his friends and all the company to let him alone, and not interrupt him in what he was about to say (Job 13:13), but diligently to hearken to it, Job 13:17. He would have his own protestation to be decisive, for none but God and himself knew his heart. "Be silent therefore, and let me hear no more of you, but hearken diligently to what I say, and let my own oath for confirmation be an end of the strife."
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II. He resolves to adhere to the testimony his own conscience gave of his integrity; and though his friends called it obstinacy that should not shake his constancy: "I will speak in my own defence, and let come on me what will, Job 13:13. Let my friends put what construction they please upon it, and think the worse of me for it; I hope God will not make my necessary defence to be my offence, as you do. He will justify me (Job 13:18) and then nothing can come amiss to me." Note, Those that are upright, and have the assurance of their uprightness, may cheerfully welcome every event. Come what will, bene praeparatum pectus - they are ready for it. He resolves (Job 13:15) that he will maintain his own ways. He would never part with the satisfaction he had in having walked uprightly with God; for, though he could not justify every word he had spoken, yet, in the general, his ways were good, and he would maintain his uprightness; and why should he not, since that was his great support under his present exercises, as it was Hezekiah's, Now, Lord, remember how I have walked before thee? Nay, he would not only not betray his own cause, or give it up, but he would openly avow his sincerity; for (Job 13:19) "If hold my tongue, and do not speak for myself, my silence now will for ever silence me, for I shall certainly give up the ghost," Job 13:19. "If I cannot be cleared, yet let me be eased, by what I say," as Elihu, Job 32:17, Job 32:20.
III. He complains of the extremity of pain and misery he was in (Job 13:14): Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth? That is, 1. "Why do I suffer such agonies? I cannot but wonder that God should lay so much upon me when he knows I am not a wicked man." He was ready, not only to rend his clothes, but even to tear his flesh, through the greatness of his affliction, and saw himself at the brink of death, and his life in his hand, yet his friends could not charge him with any enormous crime, nor could he himself discover any; no marvel then that he was in such confusion. 2. "Why do I stifle and smother the protestations of my innocency?" When a man with great difficulty keeps in what he would say, he bites his lips. "Now," says he, "why may not I take liberty to speak, since I do but vex myself, add to my torment, and endanger my life, by refraining?" Note, It would vex the most patient man, when he has lost every thing else, to be denied the comfort (if he deserves it) of a good conscience and a good name.
IV. He comforts himself in God, and still keeps hold of his confidence in him. Observe here,
1. What he depends upon God for - justification and salvation, the two great things we hope for through Christ. (1.) Justification (Job 13:18): I have ordered my cause, and, upon the whole matter, I know that I shall be justified. This he knew because he knew that his Redeemer lived, Job 19:25. Those whose hearts are upright with God, in walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit, may be sure that through Christ there shall be no condemnation to them, but that, whoever lays any thing to their charge, they shall be justified: they may know that they shall. (2.) Salvation (Job 13:16): He also shall be my salvation. He means it not of temporal salvation (he had little expectation of that); but concerning his eternal salvation he was very confident that God would not only be his Saviour to make him happy, but his salvation, in the vision and fruition of whom he should be happy. And the reason why he depended on God for salvation was because a hypocrite shall not come before him. He knew himself not to be a hypocrite, and that none but hypocrites are rejected of God, and therefore concluded he should not be rejected. Sincerity is our evangelical perfection; nothing will ruin us but the want of that.
2. With what constancy he depends upon him: Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him, Job 13:15. This is a high expression of faith, and what we should all labour to come up to - to trust in God, though he slay us, that is, we must be well pleased with God as a friend even when he seems to come forth against us as an enemy, Job 23:8-10. We must believe that all shall work for good to us even when all seems to make against us, Jer 24:5. We must proceed and persevere in the way of our duty, though it cost us all that is dear to us in this world, even life itself, Heb 11:35. We must depend upon the performance of the promise when all the ways leading to it are shut up, Rom 4:18. We must rejoice in God when we have nothing else to rejoice in, and cleave to him, yea, though we cannot for the present find comfort in him. In a dying hour we must derive from him living comforts; and this is to trust in him though he slay us.
V. He wishes to argue the case even with God himself, if he might but have leave to settle the preliminaries of the treaty, Job 13:20-22. He had desired (Job 13:3) to reason with God, and is still of the same mind. He will not hide himself, that is, he will not decline the trial, nor dread the issue of it, but under two provisos: - 1. That his body might not be tortured with this exquisite pain: "Withdraw thy hand far from me; for, while I am in this extremity, I am fit for nothing. l can make a shift to talk with my friends, but I know not how to address myself to thee." When we are to converse with God we have need to be composed, and as free as possible from every thing that may make us uneasy. 2. That his mind might not be terrified with the tremendous majesty of God: "Let not thy dread make me afraid; either let the manifestations of thy presence be familiar or let me be enabled to bear them without disorder and disturbance." Moses himself trembled before God, so did Isaiah and Habakkuk. O God! thou art terrible even in thy holy places. "Lord," says Job, "let me not be put into such a consternation of spirit, together with this bodily affliction; for then I must certainly drop the cause, and shall make nothing of it." See what a folly it is for men to put off their repentance and conversion to a sick-bed and a death-bed. How can even a good man, much less a bad man, reason with God, so as to be justified before him, when he is upon the rack of pain and under the terror of the arrests of death? At such a time it is very bad to have the great work to do, but very comfortable to have it done, as it was to Job, who, if he might but have a little breathing-time, was ready either, (1.) To hear God speaking to him by his word, and return an answer: Call thou, and I will answer; or, (2.) To speak to him by prayer, and expect an answer: Let me speak, and answer thou me, v. 22. Compare this with Job 9:34, Job 9:35, where he speaks to the same purport. In short, the badness of his case was at present such a damp upon him as he could not get over; otherwise he was well assured of the goodness of his cause, and doubted not but to have the comfort of it at last, when the present cloud was over. With such holy boldness may the upright come to the throne of grace, not doubting but to find mercy there.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–13 But ye are forgers of lies,.... This is a…
But ye are forgers of lies,.... This is a hard and very harsh saying; Job was now in a passion, provoked by his friends, and retorts upon them what they had charged him with, Job 11:3; so often in controversies and disputes between good men undue heats arise, and unbecoming words drop from their lips and pens; to tell lies is a bad thing, but to forge them, to tell a studied premeditated lie, is dreadfully shocking, contrary to the grace of God, and which good men cannot allow themselves in, it is the character of bad men, see Isa 63:8; but it may be Job may not design lies in a strict and proper sense, but falsehoods and untruths; for though no lie is of the truth, yet every untruth is not a lie; because a man may deliver an untruth, not knowing it to be so, but taking it for a truth, speaks it, without any design to impose upon and deceive others. Doctrinal lies may be intended, such as the false prophets told, whereby they made the hearts of the righteous sad, and were the untempered mortar they daubed with, Eze 13:10; and the word here used has the same signification, and may be rendered, "daubers of lies" (o); that colour over things, and make falsehoods look like truths, and deliver them for such, and like others speak lies in hypocrisy: now those here referred to were these, that God did not afflict good men, at least in any very severe manner, and that Job, being thus afflicted, was a bad man, and an hypocrite; both these Job charges as lies:
ye are all physicians of no value; or "idol physicians" (p); not that pretended to the cure of idols, but were no better than idols themselves, and understood no more how to cure than they, than an Heathen deity, the god of physic Aesculapius, or anyone that might be reckoned such; but was no other than an image of wood or stone, and so could not be possessed of the faculty of healing, and such were Job's friends; an idol is nothing, and is good for nothing, and such were they as physicians, they were idol physicians, like the "idol shepherd", Zac 11:17; of no value at all: the Rabbins (q) say, the word used signifies a nerve or sinew of the neck, which when broken is incurable; and such physicians were they, that could do him no service, no more than cure a broken neck; this is to be understood of them, not as physicians of his body, that they pretended not to be; he was greatly diseased from head to foot, and had no hope of a recovery of his health, nor did they pretend to prescribe for him, nor does he reproach them on that account; but as physicians of his soul, afflicted and distressed, they came to administer comfort to him under his afflictions, but they were miserable comforters, as he elsewhere calls them, Job 16:2; instead of acting the part of the good Samaritan, and pouring in oil and wine into his wounds, Luk 10:34, they poured in vinegar, and made them bleed and smart the more, and added affliction to his affliction; instead of healing, they wounded him yet more and more; and, instead of binding up his wounds, opened them wider, and gave him sensible pain; instead of giving him the cordials of the Gospel, they gave him the corrosives the law; and instead of pointing out unto him the gracious promises of God, for the support of his afflicted soul, they loaded him with charges of sin, and set him to work by repentance and reformation to obtain the forgiveness of them: they said many good things, but misapplied them, being ignorant of the case, and so were physicians of no value; as such are who are ignorant of the nature and causes of a disease, and therefore make wrong prescriptions, though the medicines they prescribe may in themselves be good: indeed, in the cases of souls, or for the healing of the diseases of the soul, which are natural and hereditary, epidemical and universal, nauseous and loathsome, and of themselves mortal, all physicians are of no value; but Jesus Christ, who is the only physician of souls, the able, skilful, and infallible one, that cures all fully freely that apply unto him; bodily physicians are no use in such cases, nor merry companions, nor legal preachers, who direct to supple the wounds with tears of repentance, and bind them up with rags of a man's own righteousness; Christ is the only Saviour, his blood the balsam that heals every wound, and his righteousness that affords peace, joy, and comfort to afflicted minds, and delivers from those weights and pressures of mind with which they are bowed down.
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(o) "incrustatores fuci", Schultens. (p) "curatores idoli", Bolducius; so Ramban; "medici idoli", Pineda; so some in Drusius. (q) Jarchi & Bar Tzemach.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv8, 12 Accept - Not judging according to the right of…
Accept - Not judging according to the right of the cause, but the quality or the person.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4–13 Verse 4. Ye are forgers of lies] Ye frame…
Verse 4. Ye are forgers of lies] Ye frame deceitful arguments: ye reason sophistically, and pervert truth and justice, in order to support your cause.
Physicians of no value.] Ye are as feeble in your reasonings as ye are inefficient in your skill. Ye can neither heal the wound of my mind, nor the disease of my body. In ancient times every wise man professed skill in the healing art, and probably Job's friends had tried their skill on his body as well as on his mind. He therefore had, in his argument against their teaching, a double advantage: Your skill in divinity and physic is equal: in the former ye are forgers of lies; in the latter, ye are good-for-nothing physicians. I can see no reason to depart from the general meaning of the original to which the ancient versions adhere. The Chaldee says: "Ye are idle physicians; and, like the mortified flesh which is cut off with the knife, so are the whole of you." The imagery in the former clause is chirurpical, and refers to the sewing together, or connecting the divided sides of wounds; for טפלי topheley, which we translate forgers, comes from טפל taphal, to fasten, tie, connect, sew together. And I question whether טפלי topheley here may not as well express SURGEONS, as רפאי ropheey, in the latter clause, PHYSICIANS. Ye are CHIRURGEONS of falsity, and worthless PHYSICIANS.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv4, 6, 9, 11, 13 Job 13:4-5. Ye are forgers of lies — That…
Job 13:4-5. Ye are forgers of lies — That is, authors of false doctrine, namely, that great afflictions are peculiar to hypocrites and wicked men. All physicians of no value — Unfaithful and unskilful; prescribing bad remedies: and misapplying good ones. O that ye would altogether hold your peace — The best proof of your wisdom would be never to say a word more of these matters; for then your ignorance and folly would be concealed, which are now made manifest by your speaking concerning what you do not understand. Thus Solomon, Pro 17:28, “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 But ye are forgers of lies - The word…
But ye are forgers of lies - The word lies here seems to be used in a large sense, to denote sophisms, false accusations, errors. They maintained false positions; they did not see the exact truth in respect to the divine dealings, and to the character of Job. They maintained strenuously that Job was a hypocrite, and that God was punishing him for his sins. They maintained that God deals with people in exact accordance with their charactor in this world, all of which Job regarded as false doctrine, and asserted that they defended it with sophistical arguments invented for the purpose, and thus they could be spoken of as “forgers of lies.”
Physicians of no value - The meaning is, that they had come to give him consolation, but nothing that they had said had imparted comfort. They were like physicians sent for to visit the sick, who could do nothing when they came; compare Job 16:2.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 Having. Hebrew, "But ye are sewers of lies." (Calmet)…
Having. Hebrew, "But ye are sewers of lies." (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "unskilful surgeons, (who, instead of sewing up a wound, increase it) and all of you doctors of evil;" vain empirics. --- Maintainers. Protestants, "ye are all physicians of no value." (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 forgers of lies--literally, "artful twisters of vain speeches" [UMBREIT].
forgers of lies--literally, "artful twisters of vain speeches" [UMBREIT].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 4. Forgers of lies — Taphal, “to forge,” “to…
4. Forgers of lies — Taphal, “to forge,” “to stitch upon or together,” primarily means to “glue together,” (Gesenius,) or “smear over.” The lie needs no “glueing” to bind it fast to its victim. To save the good name of God they fasten upon Job the imputation of guilt.
Physicians of no value — The Talmud strangely calls them healers of the jugular artery, the cutting of which produces death, hence the healers of the incurable. (Delitzsch.) A friend has been called the physician of the soul; in some such sense the word is used here. They failed in all the offices of friendship, and hence were worthless.
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Of no value — The word in the original thus rendered, signifies also idols, thus indicating their nothingness — worthlessness. Hence the apostle says, We know that an idol is nothing. 1Co_8:4.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–13 4. but ye are forgers of lies] The but…
4. but ye are forgers of lies] The but in Job_13:3 had for its background the knowledge of the Divine wisdom (Job_13:1-2); Job knows this well, but for all his knowledge of it he desires to plead his cause before God, he will speak unto the Almighty. This desire and purpose, however, are crossed by the thought of the use which his friends make of the Divine wisdom against him, and he is diverted from his great object to administer a rebuke to them—but ye are forgers of lies. Job_13:4-12 are therefore a digression, the main object being resumed in Job_13:13; the digression, however, is profoundly interesting. In clause one Job tells his friends that their assumptions of his guilt and the application which they made to his case of the Divine omniscience are false; in the second he compares them to ignorant physicians, who take in hand a disease which they are incompetent to treat.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 9, 12, 13 (4) Ye are forgers of lies.—He now retorts upon…
(4) Ye are forgers of lies.—He now retorts upon his friends in terms not more deferential than their own, and calls them scrapers together, or patchers up, of falsehood, and physicians who are powerless to heal, or even to understand the case. He feels that they have failed miserably and utterly to understand him.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4–13 But ye are forgers of lies. A harsh expression,…
But ye are forgers of lies. A harsh expression, indicating that Job was thoroughly exasperated. The lies which his friends had forged were, partly, misrepresentations of what he had said, as for example Job_11:4, but mainly statements, more or less covert, which implied that he had brought all his calamities on himself by a course of evil-doing. (Job_4:7, 8 8:13, 14 11:11, 14, 20) Ye are all physicians of no value. Job"s friends had come to him to "comfort" him, (Job_2:11) and act as physicians of his soul. But they had entirely failed to be of the least service. They had not even understood his case.
"Physicians of no value.
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Job"s friends were physicians of no value. They came to heal, but they only aggravated his complaint.
I CONSIDER WHERE WE MEET WITH PHYSICIANS OF No VALUE.
1. In dealing with sorrow. How rare is a truly helpful friend in a time of great sorrow! Many well-wishers try their hand at consolation, but most of them bungle painfully. We endure their visits of condolence because we do not wish to be ungrateful and disagreeable, but we are relieved when they have left us alone with our grief.
2. In treating sin. No human being can cure sin. Men may blame sin, but they cannot cast it out. Here is a disease that no medicine of man"s can touch. But there is room for some action of ours. We ought to be able to bring the Divine remedy. Yet how often we fail to do so! How conscious we must be that our efforts are not reaching the sinner and really helping him!
3. In meeting social trouble. There are plenty of wild theorists, but none of them have been able to set right the disorganized state of society. Philanthropists too often show more zeal than judgment.
II INQUIRE WHY THE PHYSICIANS ARK OF NO VALUE.
1. I gnorance of the state of the patient. If the doctor has not rightly diagnosed his case he is not likely to be successful in his treatment of it. We must understand those whom we would benefit.
2. Lack of skill in the use of remedies. The doctor must understand his drugs, or he will poison his patients. If we would benefit men we must first know them; then we must know the Divine medicine. They who do not apprehend the gospel of Christ themselves cannot be physicians of value to others. We must study truth as well as men; and we must go further, and be familiar ourselves with those great saving ideas which we would apply to others.
3. Absence of sympathy. Here was the secret of Job"s friends" failure, although at first they seemed to have evinced the deepest sympathy. We can never help the miserable till we sympathize with them. The first essential to success in a mission among the poor is brotherliness. If this is wanting, the mission must fail though any amount of energy and money may be expended on it.
III REMEMBER THAT THERE IS ONE PHYSICIAN OF INESTIMABLE VALUE. Christ fulfils all the requisite conditions. He knows us, for he is one of ourselves tempted in all respects as we are, though without sin. He is familiar with the needed remedy, for he is one with God, and is perfectly at home among those great spiritual facts from which the cure of the world"s evil must come. He, too, is full of sympathy. Of old he cured the sick because he was "moved with compassion." The great, tender heart of Christ beats in warm sympathy for all his brother-men. Now we have to see in experience that our good Physician is able to do what the physicians of no value have failed to accomplish. Christ is the Friend to help in sorrow; he alone can cure sin. Christ in the world brings the kingdom of heaven, and so corrects the social troubles. Christ as a living Saviour, as an active Physician now in our midst, can heal, and we know this because we see he does heal wherever he is trusted to do so. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v7 Will ye speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully…
Job_13:7
Will ye speak wickedly for God and talk deceitfully for Him?
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Special religious pleaders
Job finds them guilty of speaking falsely as special pleaders for God, in two respects. They insist that he has offended God, but they cannot point to one sin which he has committed. On the other hand, they affirm positively that God will restore prosperity if confession is made. But in this, too, they play the part of advocates without warrant. They show great presumption in daring to pledge the Almighty to a course in accordance with their idea of justice. The issue might be what they predict; it might not. They are venturing on ground to which their knowledge does not extend. They think their presumption justified because it is for religions sake. Job administers a sound rebuke, and it extends to our own time. Special pleaders for Gods sovereignty and unconditional right, and for His illimitable good nature, alike have warning here. What justification have men in affirming that God will work out His problems in detail according to their views? He has given to us the power to apprehend the great principles of His working. There are certainties of our consciousness, facts of the world and of revelation, from which we can argue. Where these confirm we may dogmatise, and the dogma will strike home. But no piety, no desire to vindicate the Almighty, or to convict and convert the sinner, can justify any man in passing beyond the certainty which God has given him to that unknown which lies far above human ken. (R. A. Watson, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v13 Job’s Comfort and Prayer
Job’s Comfort and Prayer
v. 13. Hold your peace, let me alone, they should desist from their undeserved attacks, that I may speak, and let come on me what will, he was ready to take the consequences of his open speaking.
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v. 14. Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, anxious to save his body and life at any price, and put my life in mine hand, seeking to save his soul or life by one final desperate exertion of all his strength? He had no intention of making such efforts because he did not feel himself guilty of the accusations brought against him. He still trusted in the Lord.
v. 15. Though He slay me, namely, through the disease which was now racking him, yet will I trust in Him, he would not give way to dread for the future, hopeless as it seemed; but I will maintain mine own ways before Him, namely, in proving to God the blamelessness of his life.
v. 16. He also shall be my salvation; for an hypocrite shall not come before Him; that was Job’s trust, his pledge of salvation, of final victory in the trial which he was now undergoing, that an unholy person could not come before the Lord. It is the consciousness of his blamelessness which gives him the confidence to appear before God.
v. 17. Hear diligently my speech, they should listen most attentively to his declaration, and my declaration with your ears, his utterance sounding in their ears and demanding the closest application.
v. 18. Behold now, I have ordered my cause, he had prepared all the arguments for his side of the case. I know that I shall be justified, finally be given right in this long trial.
v. 19. Who is he that will plead with me, contending with him, successfully attempting to prove him to be wrong? For now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost, if anyone should succeed in fastening guilt upon him, he would be silent and let death come as a merited punishment.
v. 20. Only do not two things unto me, those mentioned in the next verse, calamities and terror; then will I not hide myself from Thee, rather standing forth boldly to maintain his cause.
v. 21. Withdraw Thine hand far from me, keeping from Job the heavy chastisements under whose burden he was groaning; and let not Thy dread make me afraid, namely, the dread produced by the revelation of His majesty; for these two factors would take the heart from him.
v. 22. Then call Thou, and I will answer; with these two factors removed, he would gladly obey the summons to stand trial; or let me speak, and answer Thou me, for Job intended to maintain the justice of his cause.
v. 23. How many are mine iniquities and sins? Make me to know my transgression and my sin! He was ready to have not only his general transgressions, but especially his graver offenses, any flagrant wickedness, any open apostasy, set forth. He does not mention ordinary, small, and slight offenses, the sins of weakness to which all believers are subject. He is speaking of specific trespasses of a grave nature, such as take away faith out of the heart and are often punished directly.
v. 24. Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, in apparent displeasure and anger, and holdest me for Thine enemy? Such God seemed to him to be, judging from His treatment of Job at that time.
v. 25. Wilt Thou break a leaf driven to and fro, shaking him, who was already broken with misery, with further terrors? And wilt Thou pursue the dry stubble? On account of the fearful visitation which had struck him, Job was like dry chaff.
v. 26. For Thou writest bitter things against me, in written decrees announcing the sentence of punishment, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth, his old age, as it were, inheriting the accumulated usury and consequence of youthful sins, a treatment which seemed unduly cruel to Job.
v. 27. Thou put test my feet also in the stocks, treating him like a prisoner who was tortured by having his feet fastened to a block, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths, watching him so closely as not to permit the slightest freedom of action. Thou set test a print upon the heels of my feet, literally, "around the soles of my feet Thou makest marks, or incisions," setting the boundary over which he dared not pass so close that he was really rooted to the ground, so that he was cruelly and narrowly imprisoned.
v. 28. And he, namely, Job, the persecuted one, as a rotten thing, consumeth, wasting away, falling into nothingness from rottenness, as a garment that is moth-eaten. The defiant mood of Job once more changes to despair, since God did not answer him, the same feeling which takes hold of believers in our days when they think their prayers for relief are not heeded by the Lord.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 9, 11, 13 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Job continues to speak to his friends.
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listen to the pleading of my own lips
Here "lips" represent the person who is speaking. AT: "listen to what I myself plead for" (See: Synecdoche)
Will you speak unrighteously ... deceitfully for him?
Job uses these two questions to rebuke his friends for speaking unrighteously. AT: "You think that you are speaking for God, but you are speaking unrighteously. You are speaking deceitfully." (See: Rhetorical Question and Parallelism and Irony)
talk deceitfully
"lie" or "tell lies"
Will you show him partiality? Will you argue the case for God?
Showing kindness to God represents helping God or defending God against Job's complaints. Job uses these questions to rebuke his friends for thinking that they can defend God. AT: "You think that God need you to defend him? You think that you can argue for God like attorneys in court." (See: Rhetorical Question and Parallelism and Irony)
translationWords
righteous
deceive
court
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 12 13:7-10 defending God with lies: False witnesses were forbidden…
13:7-10 defending God with lies: False witnesses were forbidden even if speaking on God’s behalf (Exod 20:16).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.