Job 7:7, 9:11, 23:3, 8-9 | JFB | STEP | 7. Address to God. Wind-- a picture of evanescence ( ). shall no more see-- rather, "shall no more return to see good." This change from the different wish in , &c., is most true to nature. He is now in a softer mood; a beam from former days of prosperity falling upon memory and the thought of the unseen world, where one is seen no more ( ), drew from him an expression of regret at leaving this world of light ( ); so Hezekiah ( ). Grace rises above nature ( ).

‏ Job 7:7

7. Address to God.

Wind--a picture of evanescence (Psa 78:39).

shall no more see--rather, "shall no more return to see good." This change from the different wish in Job 3:17, &c., is most true to nature. He is now in a softer mood; a beam from former days of prosperity falling upon memory and the thought of the unseen world, where one is seen no more (Job 7:8), drew from him an expression of regret at leaving this world of light (Ec 11:7); so Hezekiah (Is 38:11). Grace rises above nature (2Co 5:8).

‏ Job 9:11

11. I see him not: he passeth on--The image is that of a howling wind (Is 21:1). Like it when it bursts invisibly upon man, so God is felt in the awful effects of His wrath, but is not seen (Joh 3:8). Therefore, reasons Job, it is impossible to contend with Him.

‏ Job 23:3

3. The same wish as in Job 13:3 (compare He 10:19-22).

Seat--The idea in the Hebrew is a well-prepared throne (Psa 9:7).

‏ Job 23:8-9

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).