---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Job 16"
description: "CHAPTER 16   SECOND
SERIES.   :-. JOB"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/job/16"
---

CHAPTER 16

SECOND
SERIES.

. JOB'S REPLY.

**2.** ().

**3.** "Words of wind,"
*Hebrew.* He retorts upon Eliphaz his reproach ().
**emboldeneth**—literally,
"What wearies you so that ye contradict?" that is, What
have I said to *provoke* you? &c. [SCHUTTENS].
Or, as better accords with the first clause, "Wherefore do ye
weary yourselves contradicting?" [UMBREIT].

**4. heap up**—rather, "marshal
together (an army of) words against you."
**shake . . . head**—in
mockery; it means *nodding,* rather than *shaking;* nodding
is not with us, as in the East, a gesture of scorn ([Isaiah 37:22](../../../kjv/isaiah/37/22);
[Jeremiah 18:16](../../../kjv/jeremiah/18/16); [Matthew 27:39](../../../kjv/matthew/27/39)).

**5. strengthen . . . with . . .
mouth**—bitter irony. In allusion to Eliphaz' boasted
"consolations" (). Opposed to strengthening with the *heart,* that is,
with real consolation. Translate, "I also (like you) could
strengthen with the *mouth,*" that is, with *heartless*
talk: "And the moving of my lips (mere lip comfort) could
console (in the same fashion as you do)" [UMBREIT].
"*Hearty* counsel" () is the opposite.

**6. eased**—literally, "What
(portion of my sufferings) goes from me?"

**7. But now**—rather, "ah!"
**he**—God.
**company**—rather, "band
of *witnesses,*" namely, those who could attest his
innocence (his children, servants, &c.). So the same *Hebrew*
is translated in [Job 16:8](../../../kjv/job/16/8).
UMBREIT makes his "band
of witnesses," *himself,* for, alas! he had no other
witness for him. But this is too recondite.

**8. filled . . . with wrinkles**—Rather
(as also the same *Hebrew* word in ; *English Version,* "cut down"), "thou
hast *fettered* me, thy witness" (*besides* cutting
off my "band of witnesses," ), that is, hast disabled me by pains from properly attesting
my innocence. But another "witness" arises against him,
namely, his "leanness" or wretched state of body, construed
by his friends into a proof of his guilt. The radical meaning of the
*Hebrew* is "to draw together," whence flow the double
meaning "to bind" or "fetter," and in *Syriac,*
"to wrinkle."
**leanness**—meaning also
"lie"; implying it was a "*false* witness."

**9.** Image from a wild beast. So
God is represented ([Job 10:16](../../../kjv/job/10/16)).
**who hateth me**—rather,
"and pursues me hard." Job would not ascribe "hatred"
to God ([Psalms 50:22](../../../kjv/psalms/50/22)).
**mine enemy**—rather, "he
sharpens, &c., *as an enemy*" ([Psalms 50:22](../../../kjv/psalms/50/22)). Darts wrathful glances at me, like a foe ([Psalms 50:22](../../../kjv/psalms/50/22)).

**10. gaped**—not in order to
devour, but to mock him. To fill his cup of misery, the mockery of
his friends ([Job 16:10](../../../kjv/job/16/10)) is
added to the hostile treatment from God ([Job 16:10](../../../kjv/job/16/10)).
**smitten . . .
cheek**—figurative for contemptuous abuse ([Lamentations 3:30](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/30);
[Matthew 5:39](../../../kjv/matthew/5/39)).
**gathered
themselves**—"conspired unanimously" [SCHUTTENS].

**11. the ungodly**—namely, his
professed friends, who persecuted him with unkind speeches.
**turned me over**—literally,
"cast me headlong into the hands of the wicked."

**12. I was at ease**—in past
times ([Job 1:1-3](../../../kjv/job/1/1-3)).
**by my neck**—as an animal
does its prey (so [Job 10:16](../../../kjv/job/10/16)).
**shaken**—violently; in
contrast to his former "ease" ([Job 10:16](../../../kjv/job/10/16)). Set me up (*again*).
**mark**— ([Job 7:20](../../../kjv/job/7/20);
[Lamentations 3:12](../../../kjv/lamentations/3/12)). God lets me always
recover strength, so as to torment me ceaselessly.

**13. his archers**—The image of
[Job 16:12](../../../kjv/job/16/12) is continued. God,
in making me His "mark," is accompanied by the three
friends, whose words wound like sharp arrows.
**gall**—put for a vital
part; so the liver ([Lamentations 2:11](../../../kjv/lamentations/2/11)).

**14.** The image is from storming a
fortress by making breaches in the walls ().
**a giant**—a mighty
warrior.

**15. sewed**—denoting the tight
fit of the mourning garment; it was a sack with armholes closely
sewed to the body.
**horn**—image from horned
cattle, which when excited tear the earth with their horns. The horn
was the emblem of power (). Here, it is
**in the dust**—which as
applied to Job denotes *his humiliation* from former greatness.
To throw one's self in the dust was a sign of mourning; this idea is
here joined with that of excited despair, depicted by the fury of a
horned beast. The Druses of Lebanon still wear horns as an ornament.

**16. foul**—rather, "is
red," that is, flushed and heated [UMBREIT
and NOYES].
**shadow of death**—that
is, darkening through many tears (). Job here refers to Zophar's implied charge (). Nearly the same words occur as to Jesus Christ (). So [Job 16:10](../../../kjv/job/16/10) above
answers to the description of Jesus Christ ([Psalms 22:13](../../../kjv/psalms/22/13);
[Isaiah 50:6](../../../kjv/isaiah/50/6); [Job 16:4](../../../kjv/job/16/4);
[Psalms 22:7](../../../kjv/psalms/22/7)). He alone realized what
Job aspired after, namely, outward *righteousness* of acts and
inward *purity* of devotion. Jesus Christ as the representative
man is typified in some degree in every servant of God in the Old
Testament.

**18. my blood**—that is, my
undeserved suffering. He compares himself to one murdered, whose
blood the earth refuses to drink up until he is avenged ([Genesis 4:10](../../../kjv/genesis/4/10);
[Genesis 4:11](../../../kjv/genesis/4/11); [Ezekiel 24:1](../../../kjv/ezekiel/24/1);
[Ezekiel 24:8](../../../kjv/ezekiel/24/8); [Isaiah 26:21](../../../kjv/isaiah/26/21)).
The Arabs say that the dew of heaven will not descend on a spot
watered with innocent blood (compare [Isaiah 26:21](../../../kjv/isaiah/26/21)).
**no place**—no
resting-place. "May my cry never stop!" May it go abroad!
"Earth" in this verse in antithesis to "heaven"
([Job 16:19](../../../kjv/job/16/19)). May my innocence
be as well-known to *man* as it is even now to God!

**19. Also now**—Even now, when I
am so greatly misunderstood on earth, God in *heaven* is
sensible of my innocence.
**record**—*Hebrew,*
"in the high places"; Hebrew, "my witness."
Amidst all his impatience, Job still trusts in God.

**20.** *Hebrew,* "are my
scorners"; more forcibly, "my mockers—my friends!" A
heart-cutting paradox [UMBREIT].
God alone remains to whom he can look for attestation of his
innocence; plaintively with tearful eye, he supplicates for this.

**21. one**—rather, "He"
(God). "Oh, that He would plead for a man (namely, me) against
God." Job quaintly says, "God must support me against God;
for He makes me to suffer, and He alone knows me to be innocent"
[UMBREIT]. So God helped
Jacob in wrestling against Himself (compare [Job 23:6](../../../kjv/job/23/6);
[Genesis 32:25](../../../kjv/genesis/32/25)). *God* in Jesus
Christ does plead with *God* for man ([Romans 8:26](../../../kjv/romans/8/26);
[Romans 8:27](../../../kjv/romans/8/27)).
**as a man**—literally,
"the Son of man." A prefiguring of the advocacy of Jesus
Christ—a boon longed for by Job ([Romans 8:27](../../../kjv/romans/8/27)), though the spiritual pregnancy of his own words, designed
for all ages, was but little understood by him ([Romans 8:27](../../../kjv/romans/8/27)).
**for his neighbour**—*Hebrew,*
"friend." Job himself ([Romans 8:27](../../../kjv/romans/8/27)) pleaded as intercessor for his "friends," though
"his scorners" ([Romans 8:27](../../../kjv/romans/8/27)); so Jesus Christ the Son of man ([Romans 8:27](../../../kjv/romans/8/27)); "for *friends*" ([Romans 8:27](../../../kjv/romans/8/27)).

**22. few**—literally, "years
*of number,*" that is, few, opposed to *numberless*
([Genesis 34:30](../../../kjv/genesis/34/30)).

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