Teks -- Job 30:26-31 (NET)

30:26 But when I hoped for good, trouble came; when I expected light, then darkness came. 30:27 My heart is in turmoil unceasingly; the days of my affliction confront me. 30:28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; in the assembly I stand up and cry for help. 30:29 I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches. 30:30 My skin has turned dark on me; my body is hot with fever. 30:31 My harp is used for mourning and my flute for the sound of weeping.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Job 30:26 - Upon me

Yet trouble came upon myself, when I expected it not.

Wesley: Job 30:27 - Affliction

Came upon me suddenly, and unexpectedly, when I promised myself peace and prosperity.

Wesley: Job 30:28 - Without the sun

Heb. black, not by the sun. My very countenance became black, tho' not by the sun, but by the force of my disease.

Wesley: Job 30:29 - A brother

By imitation of their cries: persons of like qualities are often called brethren.

Wesley: Job 30:29 - Dragon

Which howl and wail mournfully in the deserts.

JFB: Job 30:26

I may be allowed to crave help, seeing that, "when I looked for good (on account of my piety and charity), yet evil," &c.

JFB: Job 30:26 - light

(Job 22:28).

JFB: Job 30:27 - bowels

Regarded as the seat of deep feeling (Isa 16:11).

JFB: Job 30:27 - boiled

Violently heated and agitated.

JFB: Job 30:27 - prevented

Old English for "unexpectedly came upon" me, "surprised" me.

JFB: Job 30:28 - mourning

Rather, I move about blackened, though not by the sun; that is, whereas many are blackened by the sun, I am, by the heat of God's wrath (so "boiled," Job 30:27); the elephantiasis covering me with blackness of skin (Job 30:30), as with the garb of mourning (Jer 14:2). This striking enigmatic form of Hebrew expression occurs, Isa 29:9.

JFB: Job 30:28 - stood up

As an innocent man crying for justice in an assembled court (Job 30:20).

JFB: Job 30:29 - dragons . . . owls

Rather, "jackals," "ostriches," both of which utter dismal screams (Mic 1:8); in which respect, as also in their living amidst solitudes (the emblem of desolation), Job is their brother and companion; that is, resembles them. "Dragon," Hebrew, tannim, usually means the crocodile; so perhaps here, its open jaws lifted towards heaven, and its noise making it seem as if it mourned over its fate [BOCHART].

JFB: Job 30:30 - upon me

Rather, as in Job 30:17 (see on Job 30:17), "my skin is black (and falls away) from me."

JFB: Job 30:30 - my bones

(Job 19:20; Psa 102:5).

JFB: Job 30:31 - organ

Rather, "pipe" (Job 21:12). "My joy is turned into the voice of weeping" (Lam 5:15). These instruments are properly appropriated to joy (Isa 30:29, Isa 30:32), which makes their use now in sorrow the sadder by contrast.

Clarke: Job 30:27 - My bowels boiled

My bowels boiled - This alludes to the strong commotion in the bowels which every humane person feels at the sight of one in misery.

Clarke: Job 30:28 - I went mourning without the sun

I went mourning without the sun - חמה chammah , which we here translate the sun, comes from a root of the same letters, which signifies to hide, protect, etc., and may be translated, I went mourning without a protector or guardian; or, the word may be derived from חם cham , to be hot, and here it may signify fury, rage, anger; and thus it was understood by the Vulgate: Maerens incedebam, sine furore , I went mourning without anger; or, as Calmet translates, Je marchois tout triste, mais sans me laisser aller a l’ emportement ; "I walked in deep sadness, but did not give way to an angry spirit."The Syriac and Arabic understood it in the same way.

Clarke: Job 30:29 - I am a brother to dragons

I am a brother to dragons - By my mournful and continual cry I resemble תנים tannim , the jackals or hyenas

Clarke: Job 30:29 - And a companion to owls

And a companion to owls - בנות יענה benoth yaanah , to the daughters of howling: generally understood to be the ostrich; for both the jackal and the female ostrich are remarkable for their mournful cry, and for their attachment to desolate places - Dodd.

Clarke: Job 30:30 - My skin is black

My skin is black - By continual exposure to the open air, and parching influence of the sun

Clarke: Job 30:30 - My bones are burned with heat

My bones are burned with heat - A strong expression, to point out the raging fever that was continually preying upon his vitals.

Clarke: Job 30:31 - My harp also is turned to mourning

My harp also is turned to mourning - Instead of the harp, my only music is my own plaintive cries

Clarke: Job 30:31 - And my organ

And my organ - What the עגב uggab was, we know not; it was most probably some sort of pipe or wind instrument. His harp, כנור kinnor , and his pipe, עגב uggab , were equally mute, or only used for mournful ditties

This chapter is full of the most painful and pathetic sorrow; but nevertheless tempered with a calmness and humiliation of spirit, which did not appear in Job’ s lamentations previously to the time in which he had that remarkable revelation mentioned in the nineteenth chapter. Job 19:25 After he was assured that his Redeemer was the living God, he submitted to his dispensations, kissed the rod, and mourned not without hope, though in deep distress, occasioned by his unremitting sufferings. If the groaning of Job was great, his stroke was certainly heavy.

TSK: Job 30:26 - When I looked // light

When I looked : Job 3:25, Job 3:26, Job 29:18; Jer 8:15, Jer 14:19, Jer 15:18; Mic 1:12

light : Job 18:6, Job 18:18, Job 23:17; Psa 97:11; Isa 50:10

TSK: Job 30:27

Psa 22:4; Jer 4:19, Jer 31:20; Lam 1:20, Lam 2:11

TSK: Job 30:28

Psa 38:6, Psa 42:9, Psa 43:2; Isa 53:3, Isa 53:4; Lam 3:1-3

TSK: Job 30:29 - a brother // owls

a brother : Job 17:14; Psa 102:6; Isa 13:21, Isa 13:22, Isa 38:14; Mic 1:8; Mal 1:3

owls : or, ostriches, Benoth yaanah , in Arabic, bintu naamatin , not owls, but ostriches, so called from their doleful and hideous noises. ""I have often,""says Dr. Shaw, ""heard them groan as if they were in the greatest agonies.""

TSK: Job 30:30 - my skin // my bones

my skin : Psa 119:83; Lam 3:4, Lam 4:8, Lam 5:10

my bones : Psa 102:3

TSK: Job 30:31

Psa 137:1-4; Ecc 3:4; Isa 21:4, Isa 22:12, Isa 24:7-9; Lam 5:15; Dan 6:18

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Job 30:26

Instead of the return of the like pity to me, which I might justly challenge and expect whensoever I should stand in need of it, I meet with a sad disappointment, and my pity is recompensed with others’ cruelty to me.

Poole: Job 30:27 - Prevented me

My inward parts boiled without ceasing. The bowels are the seat of passion and of compassion; and therefore this may be understood, either,

1. Of his compassionate and deep sense of others’ miseries; which is oft expressed by bowels, as Isa 16:11 Col 3:12 , and elsewhere, of which he spoke Job 30:25 , to which he subjoins the contrary usage which he met with, Job 30:26 . And then, in this first part of Job 30:27 , he renews the mention of his compassion to others, and in the latter part he adds, by way of antithesis or opposition, that his mercy was requited with cruel afflictions. Or,

2. Of the grievousness of his troubles, which is sometimes expressed by the troubling or boiling of the bowels, or inward parts; as Lam 1:20 .

Prevented me i.e. came upon me suddenly and unexpectedly, when I promised to myself peace and prosperity, as the usual recompence which God promiseth and giveth to such as fear and please him, as I have done.

Poole: Job 30:28 - I went // Mourning without the sun // I stood up // I cried // In the congregation

I went or, I walked hither and thither as I could. Or, I converse or appear among others.

Mourning without the sun spending my days in mourning, without any sun-light or comfort; or so oppressed with sadness, that I did not care nor desire to see the light of the sun. Heb. black not by the sun . My very countenance is changed and become black, but not by the sun, which makes many other persons black, Son 1:5,6 ; but by the force of my disease and deep melancholy, which ofttimes makes a man’ s visage black and dismal. See Psa 119:83 Lam 5:10 . And this he repeats in plainer terms, Job 30:30 , as an eminent token of his excessive grief and misery.

I stood up either because my disease and pain made me weary of other postures; or that others might take notice of me, and be moved with pity towards me.

I cried with a loud and direful clamour, through great and sudden anguish.

In the congregation where prudence and modesty taught me to forbear it, if extreme necessity and misery had not forced me to it.

Poole: Job 30:29 - A brother // To dragons

A brother to wit, by imitation of their cries: persons of like qualities are oft called brethren, as Gen 49:5 Pro 18:9 .

To dragons which howl and wail mournfully in the deserts, Mic 1:8 , either through hunger or thirst, or when he fights with and is beaten by the elephant. To owls ; whose sad and mournful noises are known. Or, ostriches ; which also is noted to make lamentable outcries.

Poole: Job 30:30 - My skin is black upon me // My bones are burned with heat

My skin is black upon me either by his dark-coloured scabs, wherewith his body was in a manner wholly overspread; or by grief, as before.

My bones are burned with heat the effect of his fever and sorrow, which dried up all his moisture, and caused great inflammations and burning heats within him.

Poole: Job 30:31

Either,

1. I have now nothing but bitter lamentations instead of my former expressions of joy. Or,

2. Those very things which formerly were occasions and instruments of my delight, do now renew and aggravate my sorrows.

Haydock: Job 30:28 - Mourning // Indignation

Mourning. Hebrew, "blackened without the sun." (Haydock) ---

Bile has disfigured my countenance, through excessive sorrow, ver. 30. The dark olive complexions of the Jews and Arabs would be more susceptible of these effects. (Calmet) ---

Indignation. I have not given way to passion, though I allowed full scope to my groans. (Septuagint) (Haydock)

Haydock: Job 30:29 - Brother of dragons

Brother of dragons, &c. Imitating these creatures in their lamentable noise. (Challoner) -- I was like those beasts which retire in order to lament. (Worthington) ---

The dragons his dreadfully, when crushed by the elephant; (St. Jerome) and the young ostriches, being abandoned, make great lamentations. (Menochius) (Delrio, t. ii. adag. 18.) ---

This comparison occurs, Micheas i. 8. Natural history does not, however, represent these animals as very plaintive. The former term may denote sea monsters, or crocodiles; thannim: (Septuagint, syrens) and "the daughters of the yahana, " signify "swans," (Isaias xiii. 21.) though commonly rendered ostriches, as they are by the Septuagint, &c. (Calmet) ---

Protestants have, "owls." But we may adhere to the Vulgate. (Haydock)

Haydock: Job 30:31 - Weep

Weep. I have exchanged my sons of joy for mourning. (Menochius)

Gill: Job 30:26 - When I looked for good // then evil came unto me // and when I waited for light // there came darkness

When I looked for good,.... As he thought he might reasonably expect it, since he had shown such a sympathizing spirit to persons in trouble, and such pity and mercy to the poor: in the time of his prosperity, he looked for a continuance of the good things he enjoyed, and expected to have had them for many years to come, and to have died in the possession of them, Job 29:18; and even in his adversity, though he had received evil things at the hand of God, which he took patiently; yet at first he did not think they would always continue, but that there would be a turn of affairs, and he should again receive good at his hands; and he had been looking for it, as good men have reason to expect it; since God is good and does good, and especially to his own people, and has laid up goodness for them that fear him, and such an one Job was; and has promised good things unto them, both temporal and spiritual; for godliness and godly men have the promise of this life, and of that which is to come: but Job was disappointed in his expectation; for, says he,

then evil came unto me, the evil of affliction, one upon the back of another, even when in the height of his prosperity; and since repeated evil, new afflictions, came upon him by the appointment, order, and direction of God:

and when I waited for light; for the light of outward prosperity, such as he had formerly enjoyed; and for the light of God's countenance, which he most earnestly sought after, and longed for, and was in a waiting posture for it, as good men have reason to be; since light is sown for them in the purposes and decrees of God, in his counsel and covenant, in his Gospel, and the promises of it; and therefore should wait for the springing of it up, as the husbandman does for the springing up of the corn sown in the earth, and lying under the clods; and seeing that to the upright there arises light in darkness; and though God hides his face from them, for a moment, he will have mercy on them, and therefore should wait his time to be gracious to them; but Job had waited long, and, as he thought, to no purpose: for

there came darkness; the darkness of adversity, still thicker and darker, and no appearance of spiritual light and favour, or any discoveries of the love of God to him, or enjoyment of his presence; see Jer 8:15.

Gill: Job 30:27 - My bowels boiled, and rested not // the days of affliction prevented me

My bowels boiled, and rested not,.... All contained within him, his heart, lungs, and liver, in a literal sense, through a violent fever burning within him; or figuratively, being under great distress and trouble, by reason of his afflictions, outward and inward, see Jer 4:19;

the days of affliction prevented me; came sooner upon him than he thought; he did not expect the evil days to come, and the years draw nigh in which he should have no pleasure, until he was more advanced in years, and the time of his dissolution was at hand; they came at once, and unawares, upon him, when he looked not for them: some render the word "met me" ^o, unexpectedly; or rather, they "rushed upon me" ^p, in an hostile way; came in troops, and invaded and surrounded him, see Job 19:12.

Gill: Job 30:28 - I went mourning without the sun // I stood up, and I cried in the congregation

I went mourning without the sun,.... So overwhelmed with grief, that he refused to have any comfort from, or any advantage by the sun; hence Mr. Broughton renders it, "out of the sun"; he did not choose to walk in the sunshine, but out of it, to indulge his grief and sorrow the more; or he went in black attire, and wrapped and covered himself with it, that he might not see the sun, or receive any relief by it: or "I go black, but not by the sun" ^q; his face and his skin were black, but not through the sun looking upon him and discolouring him, as in Son 1:6; but through the force of his disease, which had changed his complexion, and made him as black as a Kedarene, or those that dwell in the tents of Kedar, Son 1:5; and he also walked without the sun of righteousness arising on him, with healing in his wings, which was worst of all:

I stood up, and I cried in the congregation: either in the congregation of the saints met together for religious worship, where he cried unto God for help and deliverance, and for the light of his countenance, Job 30:20; or such was the extreme anguish of his soul, that when a multitude of people got about him to see him in his distressed condition, he could not contain himself, but burst out before them in crying and tears, though he knew it was unbecoming a man of his age and character; or he could not content himself to stay within doors and soothe his grief, but must go abroad and in public, and there expressed with strong cries and tears his miserable condition.

Gill: Job 30:29 - I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. Or ostriches, as the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; either he was obliged to dwell with such persons as were comparable to these creatures for their devouring words, hissing noise, and venomous speeches, or for want of compassion, and for their cruelty, as David is said to be among lions, Psa 57:4; or also, he was like unto them, being solitary and alone, all his friends and acquaintance standing at a distance from him, as these creatures love lonesome and desolate places; or because of the wailing and howling noise they make, to which his mournful notes bore some resemblance; see Gill on Mic 1:8; or because, when these creatures cry and howl, and make a noise, no mercy is shown to them, none pities or regards them; and so it was with him; though he stood and cried in ever so public a manner, none had any compassion on him.

Gill: Job 30:30 - My skin is black upon me // and my bones are burnt with heat

My skin is black upon me,.... Either through deep melancholy, as may be observed in persons of such a disposition, through grief and trouble; or rather through the force of his disease, the burning ulcers and black scabs with which he was covered, as the Jews were through famine, in their captivity, Lam 4:8;

and my bones are burnt with heat; with the heat of a burning fever; which not only made his inwards boil, but reached to his bones, and dried up the marrow of them. Galen says ^r that bones may become so dry as to be crumbled into sand: the Syriac version is

"my bones are burnt as his who is in a hot wind;''

such as were common in the eastern countries, which killed men at once, and they became as black as a coal ^s.

Gill: Job 30:31 - My harp also is turned to mourning // and my organ into the voice of them that weep

My harp also is turned to mourning,.... Which he used, as David, either in religious worship, expressing praise to God thereby, or for his recreation in an innocent way; but now it was laid aside, and, instead of it, nothing was heard from him, or in his house, but the voice of mourning:

and my organ into the voice of them that weep; another instrument of music, which had its name from the pleasantness of its sound, and was of early use, being first invented by Jubal, Gen 4:21; but not that we now so call, which is of late invention: those instruments which Job might have and use, both in a civil and in a religious way, were now, through afflictions, become useless to him, and neglected by him; or these expressions in general may signify, that, instead of mirth and joy he was wont to have, there were nothing now to be heard but lamentation and woe; see Lam 5:15.