Job 23:3-9
3. The same wish as in Job 13:3 (compare Heb 10:19-22).
Seat—The idea in the Hebrew is a well-prepared throne (Ps 9:7).4. order—state methodically (Job 13:18; Isa 43:26).
fill, &c.—I would have abundance of arguments to adduce.5. he—emphatic: it little matters what man may say of me, if only I know what God judges of me.
6. An objection suggests itself, while he utters the wish (Job 23:5). Do I hereby wish that He should plead against me with His omnipotence? Far from it! (Job 9:19, 34; 13:21; 30:18).
strength—so as to prevail with Him: as in Jacob's case (Ho 12:3, 4). UMBREIT and MAURER better translate as in Job 4:20 (I only wish that He) "would attend to me," that is, give me a patient hearing as an ordinary judge, not using His omnipotence, but only His divine knowledge of my innocence.7. There—rather, "Then": if God would "attend" to me (Job 23:6).
righteous—that is, the result of my dispute would be, He would acknowledge me as righteous. delivered—from suspicion of guilt on the part of my Judge.8. But I wish in vain. For "behold," &c.
forward . . . backward—rather, "to the east—to the west." The Hebrew geographers faced the east, that is, sunrise: not the north, as we do. So "before" means east: "behind," west (so the Hindus). Para, "before"—east: Apara, "behind"—west: Daschina, "the right hand"—south: Bama, "left"—north. A similar reference to sunrise appears in the name Asia, "sunrise," Europe, "sunset"; pure Babylonian names, as RAWLINSON shows.9. Rather, "To the north."
work—God's glorious works are especially seen towards the north region of the sky by one in the northern hemisphere. The antithesis is between God working and yet not being beheld: as in Job 9:11, between "He goeth by," and "I see Him not." If the Hebrew bears it, the parallelism to the second clause is better suited by translating, as UMBREIT, "doth hide himself"; but then the antithesis to "behold" would be lost. right hand—"in the south." hideth—appropriately, of the unexplored south, then regarded as uninhabitable because of its heat (see Job 34:29).Job 30:20
20. stand up—the reverential attitude of a suppliant before a king (1Ki 8:14; Lu 18:11-13).
not—supplied from the first clause. But the intervening affirmative "stand" makes this ellipsis unlikely. Rather, as in Job 16:9 (not only dost thou refuse aid to me "standing" as a suppliant, but), thou dost regard me with a frown: eye me sternly.Job 34:29
29. (Pr 16:7; Isa 26:3).
make trouble—rather, "condemn" (Ro 8:33, 34). MAURER, from the reference being only to the godless, in the next clause, and Job 34:20 translates, "When God keeps quiet" (leaves men to perish) Ps 83:1; [UMBREIT] from the Arabic (strikes to the earth), "who shall condemn Him as unjust?" Job 34:17. hideth . . . face— (Job 23:8, 9; Ps 13:1). it be done—Whether it be against a guilty nation (2Ki 18:9-12) or an individual, that God acts so.Lamentations 3:44
44. (La 3:8). The "cloud" is our sins, and God's wrath because of them (Isa 44:22; 59:2).