Job 11:19

11:13-20 Zophar exhorts Job to repentance, and gives him encouragement, yet mixed with hard thoughts of him. He thought that worldly prosperity was always the lot of the righteous, and that Job was to be deemed a hypocrite unless his prosperity was restored. Then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; that is, thou mayst come boldly to the throne of grace, and not with the terror and amazement expressed in ch. 9:34. If we are looked upon in the face of the Anointed, our faces that were cast down may be lifted up; though polluted, being now washed with the blood of Christ, they may be lifted up without spot. We may draw near in full assurance of faith, when we are sprinkled from an evil conscience, Heb 10:22.

Also thou shall lie down, and none shall make thee afraid,.... Either lie down on his bed, as before, or by his flocks, and where they lie down, and none should disturb him or them; not thieves and robbers, such as the Chaldeans and Sabeans had been to him, nor lions, bears, and wolves; yea, many shall make suit unto thee; make their supplications, present their requests and petitions for relief under necessitous circumstances, or for protection from the injuries and insults of others; as the poor and needy, the widow and fatherless, had done to him in times past, when in his prosperity, and when he was a friend unto them, and the father of them; see Proverbs 19:6; or, "the great ones (z) shall make suit to thee"; to have his favour and friendship, his counsel and advice, his company and conversation; he should be applied unto and courted by men of all sorts, which would be no small honour to him; see Psalm 45:12. (z) "magnates", Vatablus, Bolducius.

19 . make suit unto thee ] The phrase means literally: shall stroke thy face, i. e. supplicate or flatter thee. Proverbs 19:6 ; Psalm 45:12 . The picture which Zophar draws of Job’s restored prosperity is beautiful. (1) Trouble shall be forgotten, or remembered as waters that are passed away; and the memory of a past trouble that cannot recur but makes the present happiness greater ( Job 11:16 ). (2) And the future shall rise brighter than noon, or, it may be, shall increase towards brightness more than the noon does, shewing an ever-growing clearness; and if it be at any time clouded, as in any life however clear there are clouds, the darkness shall only be a lesser light like that of the morning; or as the words may mean, the darkness shall only be like the fixed changes of nature and shall give place like the night to a fair and hopeful morning ( Job 11:17 ). (3) Thus restored to the fixed order of a life with God he shall be trustful because there is hope, and he shall look about, surveying all things, and finding nothing to dread shall lie down in confidence ( Job 11:18 ); and when lain down he shall rest peacefully. (4) And his security and prosperity shall draw to him the homage of many, who (as before) shall seek his favour ( Job 11:19 ).

Verse 19. - Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid ; i.e. there shall be no more raids on the part of Sabeans ( Job 1:15 ) or Chaldeans ( Job 1:17 ) to affright and injure thee. Yea, many shall make suit unto thee . On the contrary, thy aid shall be invoked, thy interference on their behalf prayed for, by many. Job 11:19

Many shall make suit unto thee - Many shall come in a suppliant manner to ask counsel and advice. The meaning is, that he would be a man of distinction, to whom many would look for counsel. This was evidently an honor highly valued in the East, and one on which Job had formerly pridcd himself; see Job 29:7-13 .

16 For thou shalt forget thy grief, Shalt remember it as waters that flow by. 17 And thy path of life shall be brighter than mid-day; If it be dark, it shall become as morning. 18 And thou shalt take courage, for now there is hope; And thou shalt search, thou shalt lie down in safety. 19 And thou liest down without any one making thee afraid; And many shall caress thy cheeks. 20 But the eyes of the wicked languish, And refuge vanisheth from them, And their hope is the breathing forth of the soul. The grief that has been surmounted will then leave no trace in the memory, like water that flows by (not: water that flows away, as Olshausen explains it, which would be differently expressed; comp. Job 20:28 with 2 Samuel 14:14). It is not necessary to change אתּה כּי into עתּה כּי (Hirzel); אתה, as in Job 11:13, strengthens the force of the application of this conclusion of his speech.

Life (חלד, from חלד to glide away, slip, i.e., pass away unnoticed, (Note: Vid., Hupfeld on Psalm 17:14, and on the other hand Bttcher, infer. 275 s., who, taking חלד in the sense of rooting into, translates: "the mildew springs up more brilliant than mid-day." But whatever judgment one may form of the primary idea of חלד, this meaning of חלד is too imaginary.) as αἰών, both life-time, Psalm 39:6, and the world, Psalm 49:2, here in the former sense), at the end of which thou thoughtest thou wert already, and which seemed to thee to run on into dismal darkness, shall be restored to thee (יקום with Munach on the ult. as Job 31:14, not on the penult.) brighter than noon-day (מן, more than, i.e., here: brighter than, as e.g., Micah 7:4, more thorny than); and be it ever so dark, it shall become like morning. Such must be the interpretation of תּעפה. It cannot be a substantive, for it has the accent on the penult.; as a substantive it must have been pointed תּעוּפה (after the form תּקוּדה, תּקוּמה, and the like). It is one of the few examples of the paragogic strengthened voluntative in the third pers., like Psalm 20:4; Isaiah 5:19 continued...

11. (Psalms 94:11). consider —so as to punish it. Rather, from the connection, Job 11:6, "He seeth wickedness also, which man does not perceive "; literally, "But no (other, save He) perceiveth it" [U MBREIT ]. God's "wisdom" (Job 11:6), detects sin where Job's human eye cannot reach (Job 11:8), so as to see any. 12. vain —hollow. ## would be —"wants to consider himself wise"; opposed to God's "wisdom" (see on Job 11:11); refuses to see sin, where God sees it (Romans 1:22). wild ass's colt —a proverb for untamed wildness (Job 39:5, 8; Jeremiah 2:24; Genesis 16:12; Hebrew, "a wild-ass man"). Man wishes to appear wisely obedient to his Lord, whereas he is, from his birth, unsubdued in spirit. 13. The apodosis to the "If" is at Job 11:15. The preparation of the heart is to be obtained (Proverbs 16:1) by stretching out the hands in prayer for it (Psalms 10:17; 1 Chronicles 29:18). 14. Rather, "if thou wilt put far away the iniquity in thine hand" (as Zaccheus did, Luke 19:8). The apodosis or conclusion is at Job 11:15, " then shalt thou," &c. 15. Zophar refers to Job's own words (Job 10:15), "yet will I not lift up my head," even though righteous. Zophar declares, if Job will follow his advice, he may "lift up his face." spot —(Deuteronomy 32:5). steadfast —literally, "run fast together," like metals which become firm and hard by fusion. The sinner on the contrary is wavering. 16.

For thou shalt forget misery; as waters that are passed away shalt thou remember it; And life shall arise brighter than noonday; though thou be enshrouded in darkness, thou shalt be as the morning, And thou shalt have confidence, because there shall be hope; and having searched about [thee], thou shalt take rest in safety. Yea, thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; and many shall seek thy favour. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and [all] refuge shall vanish from them, and their hope [shall be] the breathing out of life. Chapter 12 And Job answered and said, Truly ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you! I also have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you; and who knoweth not such things as these? I am to be one that is a derision to his friend, I who call upon +God, and whom he will answer: a derision is the just upright [man]. He that is ready to stumble with the foot is a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease. The tents of desolators are in peace, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand +God bringeth. But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowl of the heavens, and they shall tell thee; Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these, that the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the spirit of all flesh of man. Doth not the ear try words, as the palate tasteth food?