Job 10:13

10:8-13 Job seems to argue with God, as if he only formed and preserved him for misery. God made us, not we ourselves. How sad that those bodies should be instruments of unrighteousness, which are capable of being temples of the Holy Ghost! But the soul is the life, the soul is the man, and this is the gift of God. If we plead with ourselves as an inducement to duty, God made me and maintains me, we may plead as an argument for mercy, Thou hast made me, do thou new-make me; I am thine, save me.

And these things thou hast hid in thine heart,.... Meaning, either the mercies and favours he had indulged him with; these he seemed to conceal and suppress the memory of, as if they had never been, by a different conduct and behaviour; or rather, these he had laid up in his mind and memory, and had full knowledge and remembrance of; though he dealt with him in the manner he did, he could not forget his former favours to him, which, when compared with his present dealings, were very unlike: or, it may be best to understand these things of his afflictions and troubles, which, notwithstanding his being the work of his hand so curiously formed, and notwithstanding all his temporal and spiritual mercies, he had in his heart purposed, and decreed in his mind, and laid up in his treasures, in order to be brought forth in due time, and to exercise him with; these were the things he had appointed for him, and many such things were with him, as it follows: I know that this is with thee; either that he was not ignorant and forgetful of what he had done in a kind way; or rather, that he had this in his mind, and it was an eternal purpose of his to afflict him in the manner he had done: some connect these words with Job 10:14, as if the sense was, these are what thou hast hid in thine heart, and this is what I know is with thee, "if I sin", &c. (s). (s) So Coceeius, Schmidt.

(13) These things hast thou hid in thine heart. —Job implies that his sense of God’s goodness is embittered by the thought that while showing him such kindness, He had in reserve for him the trials and sorrows under which he was then labouring: while showering good upon him, He intended eventually to overwhelm him with affliction. This was the purpose He had hidden in His heart.

Job 10:13 . These things hast thou hid in thy heart — Both thy former favours and thy present frowns. Both are according to thy own will, and therefore undoubtedly consistent with each other, however they seem. When God does what we cannot account for, we are bound to believe there are good reasons for it hid in his heart. It is not with us, or in our reach, to assign the cause; but I know this is with thee.

13 . and these things hast thou hid ] Better perhaps, but these things didst thou hide . this is with thee ] Rather, this was with thee ,—was thy purpose, and in thy thoughts, cf. ch. Job 9:35 . “These things” and “this” refer to the details about to be given ( Job 10:14-17 ) of God’s deep purpose cherished beforehand of plaguing Job. 13–17 . The contradiction between this dealing with Job in the womb and since his birth and God’s present treatment of him is only to be reconciled by the supposition that God’s present severe treatment of Job had been resolved on from the first, and that His careful fashioning of him and care over him had been in order the better to carry out His purpose. The details of this cruel purpose are given in the following verses.

Verse 13. - And these things hast thou hid in thine heart ; rather, get these things didst thou hide in thine heart ; i.e. "Yet all the while, notwithstanding thy protecting care and gracious favour, thou wert hiding in thy heart the intention to bring all these evils upon me; thou couldst not but have known what thou wert about to do, though thou didst conceal thy intention, and allow no sign of it to escape thee." I know that this is with thee ; rather, I know that this was with thee ; i.e. this intention to destroy my happiness was "with thee" - present to thy thought - even while thou wert loading me with favour. Job's statement cannot be gainsaid; but it involves no real charge against God, who assigns men prosperity or suffering as is best for them at the time. Job 10:13

This place may be understood either, 1. Of Job’s present afflictions. So the sense is this, Yet in the midst of all those manifestations of thy grace and kindness to me, thou didst retain a secret purpose of changing thy course and carriage towards me, and of bringing these dreadful calamities upon me. Or rather, 2. Of his former mercies, these things, to wit, last mentioned; thou hast hid them in thy heart, i.e. thou dost exactly remember them, as this phrase is used, Psalm 119:11 Luke 2:51 . So the argument is this, Let the remembrance of thy former great favours vouchsafed to me move thee to give me further blessings, and a speedy deliverance. For this is usual both with God and men, to choose and delight to do more good to those to whom they have done much good already; which is the ground of that known passage, Matthew 13:12 . To him that hath shall be given . With thee , i.e. in thy mind and heart; thou hast not forgot it: so the same thing is here repeated in other words.

And these things hast thou hid in thine heart - This may either refer to the arrangements by which God had made him, or to the calamities which he had brought upon him. Most expositors suppose that the latter is intended. Such is the opinion of Rosenmuller, Good, Noyes, and Scott. According to this the idea is, that God had purposed in his heart to bring these calamities upon him. They were a part of his counsel and design. To hide in the heart, or to lay up in the heart, is a phrase expressive of a secret purpose. I see no reason to confine it, however, to the calamities which Job had experienced. It may refer to all the plans and doings of the Most High, to which Job had just referred. All his acts in the creation and preservation of man, were a part of his secret counsel, He had formed the plan in his heart, and was now executing it in the various dispensations of his providence. I know that this is with thee - That all this is a part of thy purpose. It has its origin in thee, and is according to thy counsel. This is the language of piety, recognizing the great truth that all things are in accordance with the purposes of God, or that his plans embrace all events - a doctrine which Job most assuredly held.

13 And such Thou hast hidden in Thy heart, I perceive that this was in Thy mind: 14 If I should sin, Thou wouldst take note of it, And not acquit me of my iniquity. 15 If I should act wickedly, woe unto me! And were I righteous, I should not lift up my head, Being full of shame and conscious of my misery. 16 And were I to raise it, Thou wouldst hunt me as a lion, And ever display on me Thy wondrous power, 17 Thou wouldst ever bring fresh witnesses against me, And increase Thy wrath against me, I should be compelled to withstand continuously advancing troops and a host. This manifestation of divine goodness which Job has experienced from the earliest existence seems to him, as he compares his present lot of suffering with it, to have served as a veil to a hidden purpose of a totally opposite character. That purpose - to make this life, which has been so graciously called into existence and guarded thus far, the object of the severest and most condemning visitation - is now manifest. Both אלּה and זאת refer to what is to follow: עמּך זאת used of the thought conceived, the purpose cherished, as Job 23:14; Job 27:11. All that follows receives a future colouring from this principal clause, "This is what Thou hadst designed to do," which rules the strophe.

Thus Job 10:14 is to be rendered: If I had sinned, Thou wouldst have kept me in remembrance, properly custodies me, which is here equivalent to custoditurus eras me. שׁמר, with the acc. of the person, according to Psalm 130:3 (where it is followed by the acc. of the sin), is to be understood: to keep any one in remembrance, i.e., to mark him as sinful (Hirzel). This appears more appropriate than rigide observaturus eras me (Schlottm.). ושׁמרתני, according to Ges. 121, 4, might be taken for לי ושׁמרת (viz., חטּאתי); but this is unnecessary, and we have merely translated it thus for the sake of clearness. His infirmities must not be passed by unpunished; and if he should act wickedly (רשׁע, of malignant sin, in distinction from חטא), woe unto him (comp. οἰαί μοι, 1 Corinthians 9:16). According to the construction referred to above, וצדקתי is praet. hypotheticum (Ges. 155, 4, a); and the conclusion follows without waw apodosis: If I had acted rightly, I should not have raised my head, being full of shame and conscious of my misery. The adjectives are not in apposition to ראשׁי (Bttcher), but describe the condition into which he would be brought, instead of being able (according to the ethical principle, Genesis 4:7) to raise his head cheerfully. ראה constr. of ראה, as שׂבע or שׂבע. It is needless, with Pisc., Hirz., Bttch., and Ewald, to alter it to ראה, since ראה is verbal adjective like יפה, נכה, קשׁה.