HAYDOCK CATHOLIC BIBLE COMMENTARY ON THE OLD TESTAMENT

JOB 30

CHAPTER XXX.

Ver. 1. Flock, to watch over them. Sanchez. C. --- I had so little confidence in them, (H.) or they were so very mean. C. --- They were not as well fed as my dogs. Nicetas. --- Job does not speak this out of contempt, as he was affable to all. But this proverbial expression denotes how vile these people were. M. --- Even the most contemptible, and such as were not fit to have the care of dogs, derided him. W.

Ver. 2. And they. Heb. "Their old age is perished." They were good for nothing all their lives. C.

Ver. 3. Who. Heb. "solitary in," &c. Yet these vagabond (H.) people now insult over me. C.

Ver. 4. Grass. "There (in Crete, where no noxious animal, no serpent lives) the herb alimos, being chewed, expels hunger for the day;" admorsa diurnam famem prohibet. Solin. 17. --- The Heb. malliuch, is rendered halima, by the Sept. (H.) and Bochart would translate, "who gather the halima from the bush." C. --- Prot. "who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat." H. --- Yet all agree that the latter is not proper for food. C. --- Rethamim may (H.) designate any "shrubs or wild herbs," as the Sept. and Symmachus have explained it. C. --- Perhaps the very poor people might use the juniper or broom roots for food, (M.) or to burn in order to prepare their victuals. H. --- The Arabs and Spaniards still use the word retama for "the birch-tree." Parkhurst.

Ver. 5. Who. Sept. "through excessive hunger. Robbers rushed upon me." Prot. "They were driven forth from among men; (the cried after them as after a thief.") H.

Ver. 6. Gravel of the torrents. M. --- Heb. "in the rocks," living like the Troglodites. H.

Ver. 7. Pleased. Heb. "brayed." C. --- Briars. Prot. "nettles." They were driven from the society of men and forced to abscond. H.

Ver. 8. And not. Heb. "viler than the earth." Prot.

Ver. 9. Bye-word. "Proverb." H. --- They speak of me with contempt. C. xvii. 6.

Ver. 10. Face. This most people explain literally; while some, (C.) as Job was herein a figure of Christ, (M. Matt. xxvi. W.) think that the expression denotes the utmost contempt; (S. Greg. &c.) or that the people spit upon the ground (C.) for fear of contracting any infection; (H.) and because lepers were held in the utmost abhorrence. C.

Ver. 11. For he. Prot. "Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me," (H.) being no longer under any restraint. Sometimes it was customary to put bits into the mouth of a person who was led to execution. Isai. xxxvii. 29. C. --- The Heb. plural, have put, insinuates the plurality of persons in God, (W.) though it may be as well referred to the enemies of Job.

Ver. 12. Forthwith. Heb. pirchach seems to be translated (H.) by three terms, rising, calamities, and forthwith, as it denotes "a bud" which suddenly appears. C. --- Sept. Blaston, "On the right hand of the bud they rose up." H. --- Heb. "Youth stood up on the right," to accuse me; (Ps. cviii. 6.) or, "Scarcely had I begun to flourish, when they rose up," &c. The days of prosperity soon vanished, (C.) and young men were ready to insult the distressed, and, as it were, to trip them up. M. --- Sept. "they stretched out their feet and trampled upon me, that they might destroy me." H. --- They seem to have read (C.) regliem, "their feet," though the two last letters are now omitted in Heb. H.

Ver. 13. Help them, or me. C. Sept. "they took off my garment." H. --- Job seemed to be besieged, and could not escape. C.

Ver. 14. Down, (devoluti sunt.) They have proceeded to aggravate my misfortunes. H. --- "They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me. Prot.

Ver. 15. Nothing. Heb. "terror." H. --- Desire. Heb. "princess," reason. C. --- Prot. "soul." Sept. "my hope has flown away like wind." H.

Ver. 16. Fadeth. Heb. "is poured out," (H.) ready to take its flight. Ps. xli. 5.

Ver. 17. They that. Heb. "my sinews take no rest." Sept. "are dissolved." H. --- The worms prey upon me, and I am like one in a raging fever. C.

Ver. 18. Coat. The worms are so numerous, (M.) or my enemies pour upon me. C. --- Sept. "with great power He (God; Prot. my disease) has seized me by the garment." Theodotion adds, "He has taken hold of me like the collar of my tunic:" (H.) which corresponds with our shirt, and had an opening at the top. C.

Ver. 19. I am. Heb. "He hat cast me into the mire;" (Prot.) or, "He regards me as dirt; my portion is on the earth and dust." H. --- All look upon me with horror and contempt. C.

Ver. 20. Not is supplied by Prot. in the second part of the verse from the first; (H.) as this construction is not unusual in the Heb. Sept. "they have stood up, and have considered me," (C.) to procure my entire ruin. H.

Ver. 22. Dashed me in pieces, as if I had been raised so high for that purpose. Heb. "thou hast dissolved my substance," wisdom, &c. The signification of tushiova (H.) is very indeterminate. C. v. 12. C. --- "Thou hast cast me far away from salvation." Sept. and Theodot. H.

Ver. 23. Liveth. Death is a relief to a just man in tribulation. W.

Ver. 24. Consumption. Thou dealest mercifully with other people: but all the effects of thy anger fall upon me, even here. Sept. "O that I might lay hands on myself, or desire another to do this for me!" Heb. has nothing similar; but is very obscure: "He will not, however, stretch forth his had to the grave; and when they are wounded, they are healed." C. --- Prot. "grave, though they cry in his destruction." H. --- The grave is more desirable than such a life. There the dead are freed from the miseries of this world. C.

Ver. 28. Mourning. Heb. "blackened without the sun." H. --- Bile has disfigured my countenance, through excessive sorrow, v. 30. The dark olive complexions of the Jews and Arabs would be more susceptible of these effects. C. --- Indignation. I have not given way to passion, though I allowed full scope to my groans. Sept. H.

Ver. 29. Brother of dragons, &c. Imitating these creatures in their lamentable noise. Ch. -- I was like those beasts which retire in order to lament. W. --- The dragons his dreadfully, when crushed by the elephant; (S. Jer.) and the young ostriches, being abandoned, make great lamentations. M. Delrio, t. ii. adag. 18. --- This comparison occurs, Mic. i. 8. Natural history does not, however, represent these animals as very plaintive. The former term may denote sea monsters, or crocodiles; thannim: (Sept. syrens) and "the daughters of the yahana," signify "swans," (Isai. xiii. 21.) though commonly rendered ostriches, as they are by the Sept. &c. C. --- Prot. have, "owls." But we may adhere to the Vulg. H.

Ver. 31. Weep. I have exchanged my sons of joy for mourning. M.