--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 523 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/523/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 523. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/523/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2. ## 523. Job · 50 of 73 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/523/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/523/#p-N ### Verse 6 [¶1] Mine integrity - תמתי tummathi, my perfection; the totality of my unblameable life. ### Verse 7 [¶3] If my step hath turned out of the way - I am willing to be sifted to the uttermost - for every step of my foot, for every thought of my heart, for every look of mine eye, and for every act of my hands. ### Verse 8 [¶5] Let me sow, and let another eat - Let me be plagued both in my circumstances and in my family. [¶6] My offspring be rooted out - It has already appeared probable that all Job's children were not destroyed in the fall of the house mentioned [Job 1:18], [Job 1:19]. ### Verse 9 [¶8] If mine heart have been deceived by a woman - The Septuagint add, ανδρος ἑτερου, another man's wife. ### Verse 10 [¶10] Let my wife grind unto another - Let her work at the handmill, grinding corn; which was the severe work of the meanest slave. In this sense the passage is understood both by the Syriac and Arabic. See [Exo 11:5] (note), and [Isa 47:2] (note); and see at the end of the chapter, [Isa 31:8] (note). [¶11] And let others bow down upon her - Let her be in such a state as to have no command of her own person; her owner disposing of her person as he pleases. In Asiatic countries slaves were considered so absolutely the property of their owners, that they not only served themselves of them in the way of scortation and concubinage, but they were accustomed to accommodate their guests with them! Job is so conscious of his own innocence, that he is willing it should be put to the utmost proof; and if found guilty, that he may be exposed to the most distressing and humiliating punishment; even to that of being deprived of his goods, bereaved of his children, his wife made a slave, and subjected to all indignities in that state. ### Verse 11 [¶13] For this is a heinous crime - Mr. Good translates, "For this would be a premeditated crime, [¶14] And a profligacy of the understanding." [¶15] See also [Job 31:28]. That is, It would not only be a sin against the individuals more particularly concerned, but a sin of the first magnitude against society; and one of which the civil magistrate should take particular cognizance, and punish as justice requires. ### Verse 12 [¶17] For it is a fire - Nothing is so destructive of domestic peace. Where jealousy exists, unmixed misery dwells; and the adulterer and fornicator waste their substance on the unlawful objects of their impure affections. ### Verse 13 [¶19] The cause of my man-servant - In ancient times slaves had no action at law against their owners; they might dispose of them as they did of their cattle, or any other property. The slave might complain; and the owner might hear him if he pleased, but he was not compelled to do so. Job states that he had admitted them to all civil rights; and, far from preventing their case from being heard, he was ready to permit them to complain even against himself, if they had a cause of complaint, and to give them all the benefit of the law. ### Verse 15 [¶21] Did not he that made me - make him? - I know that God is the Judge of all; that all shall appear before him in that state where the king and his subject, the master and his slave, shall be on an equal footing, all civil distinctions being abolished for ever. If, then I had treated my slaves with injustice, how could I stand before the judgment-seat of God? I have treated others as I wish to be treated. ### Verse 17 [¶23] Or have eaten my morsel myself alone - Hospitality was a very prominent virtue among the ancients in almost all nations: friends and strangers were equally welcome to the board of the affluent. The supper was their grand meal: it was then that they saw their friends; the business and fatigues of the day being over, they could then enjoy themselves comfortably together. The supper was called coena on this account; or, as Plutarch says, Το μεν γαρ δειπνον φασι κοινα δια την κοινωνιαν καλεισθαι· καθ' ἑαυτους γαρ ηριστων επιεικως οἱ παλαι ρωμαιοι, συνδειπνουντες τοις φιλοις. "The ancient Romans named supper Coena, (κοινα), which signifies communion (κοινωνια) or fellowship; for although they dined alone, they supped with their friends." - Plut. Symp. lib. viii., prob. 6, p. 687. But Job speaks here of dividing his bread with the hungry: Or have eaten my morsel myself alone. And he is a poor despicable caitiff who would eat it alone, while there was another at hand, full as hungry as himself. ### Verse 18 [¶25] This is a very difficult verse, and is variously translated. Take the following instances: - For from his youth he (the male orphan) was brought up with me as a father. Yea, I have guided her (the female orphan) from her mother's womb - Heath. [¶26] Nam a pueris educavit me commiseratio; jam inde ab utero matris meae illa me deduxit - Houbigant. "For commiseration educated me from my childhood; [¶27] And she brought me up even from my mother's womb." [¶28] This is agreeable to the Vulgate. "Behold, from my youth calamity hath quickened me; [¶29] Even from my mother's womb have I distributed it." [¶30] This is Mr. Goods version, and is widely different from the above. [¶31] For mercy grewe up with me fro my youth, [¶32] And compassion fro my mother's wombe. [¶33] Coverdale. Ὁτι εκ νεοτητος μου εξετρεφον ὡς πατηρ, και εκ γαστρος μητρος μου ὡδηγησα - Septuagint. "For from my youth I nourished them as a father; and I was their guide from my mother's womb." [¶34] The Syriac. - "For from my childhood he educated me in distresses, and from the womb of my mother in groans." The Arabic is nearly the same. [¶35] The general meaning may be gathered from the above; but who can reconcile such discordant translations? ### Verse 20 [¶37] If his loins have not blessed me - This is a very delicate touch: the part that was cold and shivering is now covered with warm woollen. It feels the comfort; and by a fine prosopopoeia, is represented as blessing him who furnished the clothing. ### Verse 21 [¶39] If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless - I have at no time opposed the orphan, nor given, in behalf of the rich and powerful, a decision against the poor, when I saw my help in the gate - when I was sitting chief on the throne of judgment, and could have done it without being called to account. There are sentiments very like these in the poem of Lebeid, one of the authors of the Moallakhat. I shall quote several verses from the elegant translation of Sir William Jones, in which the character of a charitable and bountiful chief is well described: - "Oft have I invited a numerous company to the death of a camel bought for slaughter, to be divided with arrows of equal dimensions." "I invite them to draw lots for a camel without a foal, and for a camel with her young one, whose flesh I distribute to all the neighbors." "The guest and the stranger admitted to my board seem to have alighted in the sweet vale of Tebaala, luxuriant with vernal blossoms." "The cords of my tent approaches every needy matron, worn with fatigue, like a camel doomed to die at her master's tomb, whose venture is both scanty and ragged." "There they crown with meat (while the wintry winds contend with fierce blasts) a dish flowing like a rivulet, into which the famished orphans eagerly plunge." "He distributes equal shares, he dispenses justice to the tribes, he is indignant when their right is diminished; and, to establish their right, often relinquishes his own." "He acts with greatness of mind, and nobleness of heart: he sheds the dew of his liberality on those who need his assistance; he scatters around his own gains and precious spoils, the prizes of his valor." - Ver. 73-80. ### Verse 22 [¶41] Let mine arm fall - Mr. Good, as a medical man, is at home in the translation of this verse: - "May my shoulder-bone be shivered at the blade, [¶42] And mine arm be broken off at the socket." [¶43] Let judgment fall particularly on those parts which have either done wrong, or refused to do right when in their power.