Job 30:7

30:1-14 Job contrasts his present condition with his former honour and authority. What little cause have men to be ambitious or proud of that which may be so easily lost, and what little confidence is to be put in it! We should not be cast down if we are despised, reviled, and hated by wicked men. We should look to Jesus, who endured the contradiction of sinners.

Among the bushes they brayed,.... Like wild asses; so Sephorno, to which wicked men are fitly compared, Job 11:12 ; or they "cried", or "groaned" (m), and "moaned" among the bushes, where they lay lurking; either they groaned through cold, or want of food; for the wild ass brays not but when in want, Job 6:5 ; under the nettles they were gathered together; or "under thistles" (n), as some, or "under thorns", as (o) others; under thorn hedges, where they lay either for shelter, or to hide themselves, or to seize upon a prey that might pass by; and so were such sort of persons as in the parable in Luke 14:23; it not being usual for nettles to grow so high as to cover persons, at least they are not a proper shelter, and much less an eligible one; though some render the words, they were "pricked" (p), blistered and wounded, a word derived from this being used for the scab of leprosy, Leviticus 13:6; and so pustules and blisters are raised by the sting of nettles: the Targum is, "under thorns they were associated together;'' under thorn hedges, as before observed; and if the juniper tree is meant in Job 30:4, they might be said to be gathered under thorns when under that; since, as Pliny (q) says, it has thorns instead of leaves; and the shadow of it, according to the poet (r), is very noxious and disagreeable. (m) "clamabant", Vatablus, Mercerus; so Ben Gerson; "gemebant", Michaelis; so Broughton. (n) "sub carduis", Vatablus. (o) "Sub sentibus", V.

L. "sub vepreto aliquo", Tigurine version; "sub vepribus", Cocceius; "sub spina", Noldius, p. 193. Schultens. (p) "pungebantur", Junius & Tremellius; "se ulcerant", Gussetius, p. 565. so Ben Gersom; "they smarted", Broughton. (q) Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 24. (r) "Juniperi gravis umbra----" Virgil. Bucolic. Eclog. 10.

(7) Among the bushes they brayed. —Herodotus says their language was like the screeching of bats, others say it was like the whistling of birds. This whole description is of the mockers of Job, and therefore should be in the present tense in Job 30:5 ; Job 30:7-8 , as it may be in the Authorised Version of Job 30:4 .

Job 30:7 . Among the bushes they brayed — Like the wild asses, ( Job 6:5 ,) for hunger or thirst. They brayed, seems to be an improper translation here; because, though נהק , nahak, signifies to bray, when applied to an ass, yet when spoken of men in difficult circumstances, as in this verse, we should rather say with the Targum and LXX., they sighed, cried out, or made their moan. So Heath and Houbigant render it. Under the nettles they were gathered — The word חרול , charul, here rendered nettles, is by some translated thorns, or thistles, the nettle being too small a plant, as Bochart observes, for men to gather themselves under. Dr. Waterland, however, renders it, Among the nettles were they tormented, or burned. The meaning is, that they hid themselves under the thorns, or among the nettles, that they might not be discovered when they were sought out for justice.

7 . they brayed ] Rather, they bray . were gathered ] Better, are gathered , or perhaps rather, stretch themselves , i. e. fling themselves down. Their cries are like those of the wild ass seeking for food (ch. Job 6:5 ), and they throw themselves down like wild beasts under the bushes in the desert.

Verse 7. - Among the bushes they brayed. The sounds which came from their mouths sounded to Job less like articulate speech than like the braying of asses. Compare what Herodotus says of his Troglodytes: "Their language is unlike that of any other people; it sounds like the screeching of bats." Under the nettles (or, wild vetches ) they were gathered together ; rather, huddled together . Job 30:7

7. brayed—like the wild ass (Job 6:5 for food). The inarticulate tones of this uncivilized rabble are but little above those of the beast of the field. gathered together—rather, sprinkled here and there. Literally, "poured out," graphically picturing their disorderly mode of encampment, lying up and down behind the thorn bushes. nettles—or brambles [Umbreit].

They brayed, like the wild asses, Job 6:5 , for hunger or thirst. Under the nettles, which seem not proper for that use. This Hebrew word is used but twice in Scripture, and it is acknowledged both by Jewish and Christian writers, that the signification of the Hebrew words which express plants, or beasts, or stones, &c. is very uncertain; and therefore this is by others, and may well be, understood of some kind of thorns; and so this is the same thing with the bushes in the former branch of the verse, under which they hid themselves, that they might not be discovered when they were sought out for justice.

Among the bushes - Coverdale, "Upon the dry heath went they about crying." The Hebrew word is the same which occurs in Job 30:4 , and means bushes in general. They were heard in the shrubbery that grew in the desert. They brayed - ינהקו yinâhaqû. The Vulgate renders this, "They were concealed." The Septuagint, "Amidst sweet sounds they cry out." Noyes, "They utter their cries." The Hebrew word properly means to "bray." It occurs only here and in Job 6:5, where it is applied to the ass. The sense here is, that the voices of this vagrant and wretched multitude was heard in the desert like the braying of asses. Under the nettles - Dr. Good, "Under the briers." Prof. Lee, "Beneath the broom-pea." Noyes, "Under the thorns." The Hebrew word חרול chârûl, occurs only here and in Zephaniah 2:9, and Proverbs 24:31, in each of which places it is rendered "nettles." It is probably derived from חרל equals חרר, to burn, to glow, and is given to nettles from the burning or prickling sensation which they produce. Either the word nettles, thistles, or thorns, would sufficiently answer to its derivation. It does not occur in the Arabic. Castell. Umbreit renders it, "unter Dornen - under thorns." They were gathered together - Vulgate, "They accounted it a delicacy to be in a thorn-hedge." The word used here (ספח sâphach) means "to add;" and then to be added or assembled together. The idea is, that they were huddled together quite promiscuously in the wild-growing bushes of the desert.