---
title: "Clarke"
description: "trespass, 24-30. NOTES ON CHAP. VI Verse Job 6:2. O that my grief were thoroughly weighed — Job wished to be dealt with according to justice; as he was wi"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/job/6"
---

*trespass*, 24-30.
NOTES ON CHAP. VI

Verse [Job 6:2](../../../kjv/job/6/2). ***O that my grief were thoroughly weighed*** — Job wished to be dealt with according to justice; as he was willing that his sins, if they could be proved, should be weighed against his sufferings; and if this could not be done, he wished that his sufferings and his complainings might be weighed together; and it would then be seen that, bitter as his complaint had been, it was little when compared with the distress which occasioned it.

Verse [Job 6:3](../../../kjv/job/6/3). ***Heavier than the sand of the sea*** — This includes *two* *ideas*: their *number* was too great to be counted; their *weight* was too great to be estimated.

Verse [Job 6:4](../../../kjv/job/6/4). ***The arrows of the Almighty*** — There is an evident reference here to *wounds inflicted by poisoned arrows*; and to the burning fever occasioned by such *wounds*, producing such an intense parching thirst as to dry up all the moisture in the system, stop all the salivary ducts, thicken and inflame the blood, induce putrescency, and terminate in raging mania, producing the most terrifying images, from which the patient is relieved only by death. This is strongly expressed in the fine figure: *The POISON* *DRINKETH UP my SPIRIT; the TERRORS of GOD SET THEMSELVES in ARRAY* *against me*. That *calamities* are represented among the Eastern writers as the *arrows of the Almighty*, we have abundant proofs. In reference to this, I shall adduce that fine saying attributed to *Aaly*, the son-in-law of *Mohammed* in the *Toozuki Teemour*; which I have spoken of elsewhere. "It was once demanded of the fourth caliph (*Aaly*,) 'If the canopy of *heaven* were a *bow*; and if the *earth* were the *cord thereof*; and if *calamities* were the *arrows;* if *mankind* were the *mark* for those arrows; and if *Almighty God*, the tremendous and glorious, were the unerring *Archer*; to whom could the sons of Adam flee for protection?' The califf answered, 'The sons of Adam must flee unto the Lord.'" This fine image Job keeps in view in the eighth and ninth verses [Job 6:8](../../../kjv/job/6/8); [Job 6:9](../../../kjv/job/6/9), wishing that the *unerring marksman* may *let fly* these arrows, *let* *loose his hand*, to destroy and cut him off.

Verse [Job 6:5](../../../kjv/job/6/5). ***Doth the wild ass*** — פרא *pere*, translated *onager*, by the *Vulgate*, from the ονος αγριος of the *Septuagint*, which we properly enough, translate *wild ass*. It is the same with the *tame* *ass*; only in a wild state it grows to a larger size, is stronger, and more fleet. The meaning of Job appears to be this: You condemn me for complaining; do I complain without a cause? The *wild ass* will not *bray*, and the *ox* will not low, unless in *want*. If they have plenty of provender, they are silent. Were I at rest, at ease, and happy, I would not complain.

Verse [Job 6:6](../../../kjv/job/6/6). ***Can that which is unsavoury*** — Mr. *Good* renders this verse as follows: *Doth insipid food without a mixture of salt,* *yea, doth the white of the egg give forth pungency*? Which he thus illustrates: "Doth that which hath nothing of seasoning, nothing of a pungent or irritable power within it, produce pungency or irritation? I too should be quiet and complain not, if I had nothing provocative or acrimonious, but, alas! the food I am doomed to partake of is the very calamity which is most acute to my soul - that which I most loathe, and which is most grievous or trying to my palate." Some render the original, *Is there any* *dependence on the drivel of dreams*?
There have been a great variety of interpretations given of this verse. I could add another; but that of Mr. *Good* is as likely to be correct as that of any other critic.

Verse [Job 6:8](../../../kjv/job/6/8). ***O that I might have*** — As Job had no hope that he should ever be redeemed from his present helpless state, he earnestly begs God to shorten it by taking away his life.

Verse [Job 6:9](../../../kjv/job/6/9). ***Let loose his hand*** — A metaphor taken from *an archer* *drawing his arrow to the head*, and then *loosing his hold*, that *the* *arrow may fly to the mark*. See on [Job 6:4](../../../kjv/job/6/4).

Verse [Job 6:10](../../../kjv/job/6/10). ***Then should I yet have comfort*** — Instead of עוד *od*, YET, three of *Kennicott's* and *De Rossi's* MSS. have זאת *zoth*, THIS. *And THIS should be my comfort*. The expectation that he will speedily make an end of me would cause me to rejoice with great joy. This reading is supported by the *Vulgate* and the *Chaldee*.
***I would harden myself in sorrow*** — To know that I should shortly have an end put to my miseries would cause me to endure the present with determinate resolution. *Let him not spare*- let him use whatever *means* he chooses, for I will not resist his decree; he is *holy*, and his decrees must be just.

Verse [Job 6:11](../../../kjv/job/6/11). ***What*****is*****my strength*** — I can never suppose that my strength will be restored; and, were that possible, have I any comfortable prospect of a happy termination of my life? Had I any prospect of *future* happiness, I might well bear my *present* ills; but the state of my *body* and the state of my *circumstances* preclude all hope.

Verse [Job 6:12](../../../kjv/job/6/12). ***Is my strength the strength of stones?*** — I am neither a *rock*, nor is my flesh *brass*, that I can endure all these calamities. This is a proverbial saying, and exists in all countries. Cicero says, *Non enim est e saxo sculptus, aut e ROBORE* *dolatus HOMO; habet corpus, habet animum; movetur mente, movetur* *sensibus*. "For man is not chiselled out of the *rock*, nor hewn out of the *oak*; he has a body, and he has a soul; the one is actuated by intellect, the other by the senses." Quaest. Acad. iv. 31. So *Homer*, where he represents Apollo urging the Trojans to attack the Greeks: -
Νεμεσησε δ' Απολλων,
Περγαμου εκκατιδων· Τρωεσσι δε κεκλετ' αυσας·
Ορνυσθ', ἱπποδαμοι Τρωες, μηδ' εικετε χαρμης
Αργειοις· επει ου σφιλιθος χρως, ουδε σιδηρος,
Χαλκον ανασχεσθαι ταμεσιχροα βαλλομενοισιν.
ILLIAD, lib. iv., ver. 507.

But Phoebus now from Ilion's towering height
Shines forth reveal'd, and animates the fight.
Trojans, be bold, and force to force oppose;
Your foaming steeds urge headlong on the foes!
Nor are their bodies ROCKS, nor ribb'd with STEEL;
Your weapons enter, and your strokes they feel.
POPE.

These are almost the same expressions as those in Job.

Verse [Job 6:13](../../../kjv/job/6/13). **Is*****not my help in me?*** — My help is all in myself; and, alas! that is perfect weakness: *and my subsistence*, תושיה tushiyah, all that is *real, stable*, and *permanent, is driven* *quite from me*. My *friends* have forsaken me, and I am abandoned to *myself*; my *property* is all taken away, and I have no *resources* left. I believe Job neither said, nor intended to say, as some interpreters have it, *Reason is utterly driven from me*. Surely there is no mark in this chapter of his being deranged, or at all impaired in his intellect.

Verse [Job 6:14](../../../kjv/job/6/14). ***To him that is afflicted pity*** should be showed *from* *his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.*] The *Vulgate* gives a better sense, *Qui tollit ab amico suo* *misericordiam, timorem Domini dereliquit*, "He who takes away mercy from his friend, hath cast off the fear of the Lord." The word למס *lammas*, which we render *to him who is AFFLICTED*, from מסה *masah, to dissolve*, or *waste away*, is in thirty-two of Dr. *Kennicott's* and *De Rossi's* MSS. למאס *lemoes*, "to him that *despiseth* his friend;" and hence the passage may be read: *To him* *who despiseth his friend, it is a reproach; and he will forsake* *the fear of the Almighty*: or, as Mr. *Good* translates,
*A FRIEND IN NEED is a FRIEND INDEED*
Job's *friends*, so called, supported each other in their attempts to blacken the character of this worthy man; and their hand became the heavier, because they supposed the hand of God was upon him. To each of them, individually, might be applied the words of another heathen: -
_____________ Absentem qui rodit amicum,
Qui non defendit alio culpante; solutos
Qui captat risus hominum, famamque dicacis,
Fingere qui non visa potest; commissa tacere
Qui nequit; hic niger est; hunc tu, Romane, caveto.
HOR. Satyr. lib. i., s. iv., ver. 81.

He who, malignant, tears an absent friend;
Or, when attack'd by others, don't defend;
Who trivial bursts of laughter strives to raise,
And courts, of prating petulance, the praise;
Of things he never saw who tells his tale,
And friendship's secrets knows not to conceal;__
This man is *vile*; here, Roman, fix your mark;
His *soul's* as *black* as his complexion's dark.
FRANCIS.

Verse [Job 6:15](../../../kjv/job/6/15). ***Have dealt deceitfully as a brook*** — There is probably an allusion here to those *land torrents* which make a sudden appearance, and as suddenly vanish; being produced by the rains that fall upon the mountains during the rainy season, and are soon absorbed by the thirsty sands over which they run. At first they seem to promise a *permanent stream*, and are noticed with delight by the people, who fill their tanks or reservoirs from their waters; but sometimes they are so large and rapid as to carry every thing before them: and then suddenly fail, so that there is no time to fill the tanks. The approach of Job's friends promised much of sympathy and compassion; his expectations were raised: but their conduct soon convinced him that they were physicians of no value; therefore he compares them to the *deceitful torrents* that soon *pass away*.

Verse [Job 6:16](../../../kjv/job/6/16). ***Blackish by reason of the ice*** — He represents the waters as being sometimes suddenly frozen, their foam being turned into the semblance of snow or hoar-frost: when the heat comes, they are speedily liquefied; and the evaporation is so strong from the heat, and the absorption so powerful from the sand, that they soon disappear.

Verse [Job 6:18](../../../kjv/job/6/18). ***The paths of their way*** — They sometimes forsake their *ancient channels*, which is a frequent case with the river *Ganges*; and growing smaller and smaller from being divided into numerous streams, *they go to nothing and perish*- are at last utterly lost in the sands.

Verse [Job 6:19](../../../kjv/job/6/19). ***The troops of Tema looked*** — The *caravans* coming from *Tema* are represented as arriving at those places where it was well known torrents did descend from the mountains, and they were full of expectation that here they could not only slake their thirst, but fill their *girbas* or *water-skins*; but when they arrive, they find the waters totally dissipated and lost. In vain did the caravans of Sheba *wait for them*; they did not reappear: and they were *confounded, because they had hoped* to find here refreshment and rest.

Verse [Job 6:21](../../../kjv/job/6/21). ***For now ye are nothing*** — Ye are just to me as those deceitful torrents to the caravans of Tema and Sheba; they were *nothing* to them; ye are *nothing* to me.
***Ye see*****my*****casting down*** — Ye see that I have been hurried from my eminence into want and misery, as the flood from the top of the mountains, which is divided, evaporated, and lost in the desert.
***And are afraid.*** — Ye are terrified at the calamity that has come upon me; and instead of drawing near to comfort me, ye start back at my appearance.

Verse [Job 6:22](../../../kjv/job/6/22). ***Did I say, Bring unto me?*** — Why do you stand aloof? Have I asked you to bring me any presents? or to supply my wants out of your stores?

Verse [Job 6:23](../../../kjv/job/6/23). ***Or, Deliver me*** — Did I send to you to come and avenge me of the destroyers of my property, or to rescue my substance out of the hands of my enemies?

Verse [Job 6:24](../../../kjv/job/6/24). ***Teach me*** — Show me where I am mistaken. Bring proper arguments to convince me of my errors; and you will soon find that I shall gladly receive your counsels, and abandon the errors of which I may be convicted.

Verse [Job 6:25](../../../kjv/job/6/25). ***How forcible are right words*** — A well-constructed argument, that has truth for its basis, is *irresistible*.
***But what doth your arguing reprove?*** — Your *reasoning* is defective, because your *premises* are false; and your *conclusions* prove nothing, because of the falsity of the premises whence they are drawn. The last clause, literally rendered, is, *What reproof,* *in a reproof from you*? As you have *proved no fault* you have consequently *reproved* no *vice*. Instead of מה נמרצו *mah* *nimretsu*, "how forcible," מה נמלצו *mah nimletsu*, "how savoury or pleasant," is the reading of two MSS., the *Chaldee*, and some of the *rabbins*. Both senses are good, but the common reading is to be preferred.

Verse [Job 6:26](../../../kjv/job/6/26). ***Do ye imagine to reprove words*** — Is it some expressions which in my hurry, and under the pressure of unprecedented affliction, I have uttered, that ye catch at? You can find no flaw in my conduct; would ye *make me an OFFENDER for a WORD*? Why endeavour to take such advantage of a man who complains in the bitterness of his heart, through despair of life and happiness?

Verse [Job 6:27](../../../kjv/job/6/27). ***Ye overwhelm the fatherless*** — Ye see that I am as destitute as the most *miserable orphan*; would ye overwhelm such a one? and would you *dig a pit for your friend*- do ye lay wait for me, and endeavour to entangle me in my talk? I believe this to be the spirit of Job's words.

Verse [Job 6:28](../../../kjv/job/6/28). ***Look upon me*** — View me; consider my circumstances; compare my words; and you must be convinced that I have spoken nothing but truth.

Verse [Job 6:29](../../../kjv/job/6/29). ***Return, I pray you*** — *Reconsider the whole subject. Do* *not be offended. Yea, reconsider the subject; my righteousness is* *in it*- my argumentation is a sufficient proof of my innocence.

Verse [Job 6:30](../../../kjv/job/6/30). ***Is there iniquity in my tongue?*** — Am I not an *honest* man? and if in my haste my tongue had uttered *falsity*, would not my conscience discern it? and do you think that such a man as your friend is would defend what he knew to be wrong?
I HAVE done what I could to make this chapter plain, to preserve the connection, and show the dependence of the several parts on each other; without which many of the sayings would have been very obscure. The whole chapter is an inimitable apology for what he had uttered, and a defence of his conduct. This might have ended the controversy, had not his friends been determined to bring him in guilty. They had prejudged his cause, and assumed a certain position, from which they were determined not to be driven.

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