Job 10:8

In these verses we may observe,

I. How Job eyes God as his Creator and preserver, and describes his dependence upon him as the author and upholder of his being. This is one of the first things we are all concerned to know and consider.

1. That God made us, he, and not our parents, who were only the instruments of his power and providence in our production. He made us, and not we ourselves. His hands have made and fashioned these bodies of ours and every part of them (Job 10:8), and they are fearfully and wonderfully made. The soul also, which animates the body, is his gift. Job takes notice of both here. (1.) The body is made as the clay (v. 9), cast into shape, into this shape, as the clay is formed into a vessel, according to the skill and will of the potter. We are earthen vessels, mean in our original, and soon broken in pieces, made as the clay. Let not therefore the thing formed say unto him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? We must not be proud of our bodies, because the matter is from the earth, yet not dishonour our bodies, because the mould and shape are from the divine wisdom. The formation of human bodies in the womb is described by an elegant similitude (v. 10, Thou hast poured me out like milk, which is coagulated into cheese), and by an induction of some particulars, v. 11. Though we come into the world naked, yet the body is itself both clothed and armed. The skin and flesh are its clothing; the bones and sinews are its armour, not offensive, but defensive. The vital parts, the heart and lungs, are thus clothed, not to be seen - thus fenced, not to be hurt. The admirable structure of human bodies is an illustrious instance of the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Creator. What a pity is it that these bodies should be instruments of unrighteousness which are capable of being temples of the Holy Ghost! (2.) The soul is the life, the soul is the man, and this is the gift of God: Thou hast granted me life, breathed into me the breath of life, without which the body would be but a worthless carcase. God is the Father of spirits: he made us living souls, and endued us with the power of reason; he gave us life and favour, and life is a favour - a great favour, more than meat, more than raiment - a distinguishing favour, a favour that puts us into a capacity of receiving other favours. Now Job was in a better mind than he was when he quarrelled with life as a burden, and asked, Why died I not from the womb? Or by life and favour may be meant life and all the comforts of life, referring to his former prosperity. Time was when he walked in the light of the divine favour, and thought, as David, that through that favour his mountain stood strong.

2. That God maintains us. Having lighted the lamp of life, he does not leave it to burn upon its own stock, but continually supplies it with fresh oil: "Thy visitation has preserved my spirit, kept me alive, protected me from the adversaries of life, the death we are in the midst of and the dangers we are continually exposed to, and blessed me with all the necessary supports of life and the daily supplies it needs and craves."

II. How he pleads this with God, and what use he makes of it. He reminds God of it (Job 10:9): Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me. What then? Why, 1"Thou hast made me, and therefore thou hast a perfect knowledge of me (Psa 139:1-13), and needest not to examine me by scourging, nor to put me upon the rack for the discovery of what is within me." 2. "Thou hast made me, as the clay, by an act of sovereignty; and wilt thou by a like act of sovereignty unmake me again? If so, I must submit." 3. "Wilt thou destroy the work of thy own hands?" It is a plea the saints have often used in prayer, We are the clay and thou our potter, Isa 64:8. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me, Psa 119:73. So here, Thou madest me; and wilt thou destroy me (Job 10:8), wilt thou bring me into dust again? Job 10:9. "Wilt thou not pity me? Wilt thou not spare and help me, and stand by the work of thy own hands? Psa 138:8. Thou madest me, and knowest my strength; wilt thou then suffer me to be pressed above measure? Was I made to be made miserable? Was I preserved only to be reserved for these calamities?" If we plead this with ourselves as an inducement to duty, "God made me and maintains me, and therefore I will serve him and submit to him," we may plead it with God as an argument for mercy: Thou hast made me, new - make me; I am thine, save me. Job knew not how to reconcile God's former favours and his present frowns, but concludes (Job 10:13), "These things hast thou hidden in thy heart. Both are according to the counsel of thy own will, and therefore undoubtedly consistent, however they seem." When God thus strangely changes his way, though we cannot account for it, we are bound to believe there are good reasons for it hidden in his heart, which will be manifested shortly. It is not with us, or in our reach, to assign the cause, but I know that this is with thee. Known unto God are all his works.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Job 10:8 Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.

Ver. 8. Thine hands have made me] Or, throughly and accurately wrought me, as it were, with much pains and labour; thou hast exactly fashioned all my members: not that God either hath hands, or putteth himself to pains; for he doth his work without either tool or toil, Isa 40:28. But this is attributed to him after the manner of men, to show the curious workmanship showed in man’s creation, the masterpiece of all his works of wonder. This David sweetly singeth of, Psa 139:1-24, and Galen admireth in that excellent book of his, De usu partium humani corporis, setting forth the praises of that God whom he knew not, and singing a hymn unto him. Man, saith one, is cura divini ingenii, he is God’s escutcheon, wherein he hath portrayed all the titles of the most excellent beauties of the world. The sun, moon, and stars are but the works of God’s fingers, Psa 8:3, but man is the work of his hands, Psa 139:14. He is the most beautiful building of a most wise architect, saith Euripides; the bold attempt of daring nature, saith another heathen; the greatest of all miracles, saith a third. David, speaking of him, and of God’s goodness to him, begins to wonder before he speaketh, and stops speaking, but not to wonder, Psa 8:1; Psa 8:9.

And fashioned me together round about] A metaphor from potters, who make their work by turning it around till it be all finished, Jer 18:3. Thou hast fashioned me, and made me in every point, so Broughton rendereth it. Totum me, non dimidium, Thou hast made the whole, and every part of me, from top to toe, not my nails excepted (as Mercer hath it), with extraordinary care and cunning, bestowing upon me mercies enough between head and foot to till a volume. Who is there, saith Galen, which, looking but upon the skin only of man’s body, wondereth not at the artifice of the Creator? but especially he was amazed at the manner of the motion of the lungs by systole and diastole, and would needs offer hecatombs to that God, whosoever he were, that was author of so admirable and excellent a piece of work.

Yet thou dost destroy me] And this seemeth strange to me. Dost thou yet destroy me? so some read this text; wilt thou swallow me up quick and devour me, as the greater fishes do the lesser? See the note on Job 10:3. Carest thou not that I am tby workmanship, created unto good works? Eph 2:10; one in whom thou hast erected the fair fabric of the new man? for this also Job may here very likely refer to.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thine hands have made me - Job proceeds now to state that he had been made by God, and that he had shown great skill and pains in his formation. He argues that it would seem like caprice to take such pains, and to exercise such amazing wisdom and care in forming him, and then, on a sudden, and without cause, dash his own work to pieces. Who makes a beautiful vase only to be destroyed? Who moulds a statue from marble only to break it to pieces? Who builds a splendid edifice only to pull it down? Who plants a rare and precious flower only to have the pleasure of plucking it up? The statement in Job 10:8-12, is not only beautiful and forcible as an argument, but is especially interesting and valuable, as it may be presumed to embody the views in the patriarchal age about the formation and the laws of the human frame. No inconsiderable part of the value of the book of Job, as was remarked in the Introduction, arises from the incidental notices of the sciences as they prevailed at the time when it was composed.

If it is the oldest book in the world, it is an invaluable record on these points. The expression, “thine hands have made me,” is in the margin, “took pains about me.” Dr. Good renders it, “have wrought me;” Noyes, “completely fashioned me;” Rosenmuller explains it to mean, “have formed me with the highest diligence and care.” Schultens renders it, Manus tuae nervis colligarunt - “thy hands have bound me with nerves or sinews;” and appeals to the use of the Arabic as authority for this interpretation. He maintains (De Defectibus hodiernis Ling. Hebr. pp. 142, 144, 151), that the Arabic word atzaba denotes “the body united and bound in a beautiful form by nerves and tendons;” and that the idea here is, that God had so constructed the human frame. The Hebrew word used here (עצב ‛âtsab) means properly to work, form, fashion. The primary idea, according to Gesenius, is, that of cutting, both wood and stone, and hence, to cut or carve with a view to the forming of an image. The verb also has the idea of labor, pain, travail, grief; perhaps from the labor of cutting or carving a stone or a block of wood. Hence it means, in the Piel, to form or fashion, with the idea of labor or toil; and the sense here is undoubtedly, that God had elaborated the bodies of men with care and skill, like that bestowed on a carved image or statue. The margin expresses the idea not badly - took pains about me.

And fashioned me - Made me. The Hebrew here means simply to make.

Together round about - סביב יחד yachad sâbı̂yb. Vulgate, totum in circuitu. Septuagint simply, “made me.” Dr. Good, “moulded me compact on all sides.” The word יחד yachad rendered “together,” has the notion of oneness, or union. It may refer to the oneness of the man - the making of one from the apparently discordant materials, and the compact form in which the body, though composed of bones, and sinews, and blood-vessels, is constructed. A similar idea is expressed by Lucretius, as quoted by Schultens. Lib. iii. 358:

- Qui coetu, conjugioque

Corporis atque anirnae consistimus uniter apti.

Yet thou dost destroy me - Notwithstanding I am thus made, yet thou art taking down my frame, as if it were of no consequence, and formed with no care.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Job_10:8

Thine hands have made me.

Creation, the pledge of Gods guardianship

Though Job reached a wrong conclusion, he was arguing on a right principle. The patriarchs argument is this--As we are the creatures, the workmanship of Almighty God, we may expect Him to take care of us, and that as God, any opposite conduct may justly excite surprise, and be thought at variance with the acknowledged fact that the Divine hands have made us and fashioned us together round about. This argument is susceptible of being wrought out into many and instructive shapes. The remembrance of our creation should animate us to expect supplies of grace and instruction. To the benevolence and goodness of God must be referred the production of the multiplied tribes of living things. God caused life to pervade immensity because, as He Himself is everywhere, He would that everywhere there should be objects of His bounty, beings with capacity and provision for enjoyment. Every creature may trace its origin to the benevolence of God, and therefore every creature might infer, from its having been formed, that its Maker was ready to satisfy its wants, yea, to fulfil its desires, so far as those desires might be lawfully entertained. What is creation to me, but a register of the carefulness of the Almighty in providing for my happiness during my sojourn here below? Shall I think it unlikely that God would take measures for my good in reference to that eternity on which I must enter at death? Job seems to reason that, in place of destroying him, God who had made might have been expected to save him. It is an argument from what had been done for him in his natural capacity, to what might have been looked for in his spiritual capacity. And Jobs reason is every way accurate. (Henry Melvill, B. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 10:8. Thy hands have made me, &c., round about — That is, all of me; all the faculties of my soul, and all the parts of my body, which are now overspread with sores and ulcers; I am wholly thy creature and workmanship, made by thee and for thee. Yet thou dost destroy me — Hebrew, תבלעני, teballegneeni, swallow me up; namely, without any eminent provocation of mine; as if thou didst delight in doing and undoing, in making and then destroying thy creatures.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

b. Such hostile procedure of God toward Job is in contradiction to the blended love and wisdom displayed in the creation of man, seeing that God ruthlessly destroys what he has lovingly and artistically formed, Job_10:8-12.

8. Made me — עצב, ‘hatsab, primary sense, cut or carve. Hence to elaborate with toil or care. The psalmist (Psa_139:15) likens the work of God upon our frame to embroidery, curiously wrought. Epictetus, the Stoic, saw in the human body “the symbols of God.” — the clear marks of a divinity working most wisely and most powerfully.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8 Thy hands have formed and perfected me

Altogether round about, and Thou hast now swallowed me up!

9 Consider now, that Thou has perfected me as clay,

And wilt Thou turn me again into dust?

10 Hast Thou not poured me out as milk,

And curdled me as curd?

11 With skin and flesh hast Thou clothed me,

And Thou hast intertwined me with bones and sinews;

12 Life and favour Thou hast shown me,

And thy care hath guarded my breath.

The development of the embryo was regarded by the Israelitish Chokma as one of the greatest mysteries (Ecc 11:5; 2 Macc. 7:22f.). There are two poetical passages which treat explicitly of this mysterious existence: this strophe of the book of Job, and the Psalm by David, Psa 139:13-16 (Psychol. S. 210). The assertion of Scheuchzer, Hoffmann, and Oetinger, that these passages of Scripture "include, and indeed go beyond, all recent systemata generationis," attributes to Scripture a design of imparting instruction, - a purpose which is foreign to it. Scripture nowhere attempts an analysis of the workings of nature, but only traces them back to their final cause. According to the view of Scripture, a creative act similar to the creation of Adam is repeated at the origin of each individual; and the continuation of development according to natural laws is not less the working of God than the creative planting of the very beginning. Thy hands, says Job, have formed (עצּב, to cut, carve, fashion; cognate are חצב, קצב, without the accompanying notion of toil, which makes this word specially appropriate, as describing the fashioning of the complicated nature of man) and perfected me. We do not translate: made; for עשׂה stands in the same relation to ברא and יצר as perficere to creare and fingere (Gen 2:2; Isa 43:7). יחד refers to the members of the body collectively, and סביב to the whole form. The perfecting as clay implies three things: the earthiness of the substance, the origin of man without his knowledge and co-operation, and the moulding of the shapeless substance by divine power and wisdom. The primal origin of man, de limo terrae (Job 33:6; Psa 139:15), is repeated in the womb. The figures which follow (Job 10:10) describe this origin, which being obscure is all the more mysterious, and glorifies the power of God the more. The sperma is likened to milk; the חתּיך (used elsewhere of smelting), which Seb. Schmid rightly explains rem colliquatam fundere et immittere in formam aliquam, refers to the nisus formativus which dwells in it. The embryo which is formed from the sperma is likened to גּבינה, which means in all the Semitic dialects cheese (curd). "As whey" (Ewald, Hahn) is not suitable; whey does not curdle; in making cheese it is allowed to run off from the curdled milk. "As cream" (Schlottm.) is not less incorrect; cream is not lac coagulatum, which the word signifies. The embryo forming itself from the sperma is like milk which is curdled and beaten into shape.

The consecutio temporum, moreover, must be observed here. It is, for example, incorrect to translate, with Ewald: Dost Thou not let me flow away like milk, etc. Job looks back to the beginning of his life; the four clauses, Job 10:10, Job 10:11, under the control of the first two verbs (Job 10:8), which influence the whole strophe, are also retrospective in meaning. The futt. are consequently like synchronous imperff.; as, then, Job 10:12 returns to perff., Job 10:11 describes the development of the embryo to the full-grown infant, on which Grotius remarks: Hic ordo est in genitura: primum pellicula fit, deinde in ea caro, duriora paulatim accedunt, and by Job 10:12, the manifestations of divine goodness, not only in the womb, but from the beginning of life and onwards, are intended. The expression "Life and favour (this combination does not occur elsewhere) hast Thou done to me" is zeugmatic: He has given him life, and sustained that life amidst constant proofs of favour; His care has guarded the spirit (רוּח), by which his frame becomes a living and self-conscious being. This grateful retrospect is interspersed with painful reflections, in which Job gives utterance to his feeling of the contrast between the manifestation of the divine goodness which he had hitherto experienced and his present condition. As in Job 10:8., ותּבלּעני, which Hirzel wrongly translates: and wilt now destroy me; it is rather: and hast now swallowed me up, i.e., drawn me down into destruction, as it were brought me to nought; or even, if in the fut. consec., as is frequently the case, the consecutive and not the aorist signification preponderates: and now swallowest me up; and in Job 10:9 (where, though not clear from the syntax, it is clear from the substance that תשׁיבני is not to be understood as an imperfect, like the futt. in Job 10:10.): wilt Thou cause me to become dust again? The same tone is continued in the following strophe. Thus graciously has he been brought into being, and his life sustained, in order that he may come to such a terrible end.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

10:8-11 A succession of images describes God’s role in creating Job. • You formed me with your hands . . . made me from dust: This was how a potter made a vessel (Isa 45:9; Jer 18:1-12). Although the potter has incontestable sovereignty over the clay (Isa 45:9; Jer 18:5-12; Rom 9:20-25), Job was questioning God. • back to dust: This common motif in Job represents the temporary nature of life (Job 4:19; 7:9-10, 21; 14:1-2, 10; see Gen 3:19). • You guided my conception and formed me in the womb: The Hebrew terminology (literally You poured me out like milk and curdled me like cheese) evokes graphic images of a newborn baby still covered with the creamy substance called vernix.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

In these eight verses following he describeth the mercy of God, in the wonderful creation of man: and thereon groundeth that God should not show himself rigorous against him.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Made--with pains; implying a work of difficulty and art; applying to God language applicable only to man.

together round about--implying that the human body is a complete unity, the parts of which on all sides will bear the closest scrutiny.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 8. Thine hands have made me] Thou art well acquainted with human nature, for thou art its author.

And fashioned me together round about] All my powers and faculties have been planned and executed by thyself. It is thou who hast refined the materials out of which I have been formed, and modified them into that excellent symmetry and order in which they are now found; so that the union and harmony of the different parts, (יחד yachad,) and their arrangement and completion, (סביב sabib,) proclaim equally thy wisdom, skill, power, and goodness.

Yet thou dost destroy me.] ותבלעני vatteballeeni, "and thou wilt swallow me up." Men generally care for and prize those works on which they have spent most time, skill, and pains: but, although thou hast formed me with such incredible skill and labour, yet thou art about to destroy me! How dreadful an evil must sin be, when, on its account, God has pronounced the sentence of death on all mankind; and that body, so curiously and skilfully formed, must be decomposed, and reduced to dust!

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. According to the Hebrew punctuation this verse reads,

Thine hands have fashioned me and made me,

Together round about; and thou dost destroy me!

Mention of God’s hand, Job_10:7, suggests how of old God’s hand fashioned him with lavish expenditure of skill on all his parts, and he brings the contradiction of God’s present dealing with him before God—exclaiming, Thou dost destroy me!

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay,.... Not of the clay, though man was made originally of the dust of the earth, and the bodies of men are houses of clay, earthen vessels, and earthly tabernacles, but "as the clay"; either as the clay is wrought in the hand of the potter, and worked into what form, and made into what vessel he pleases, so are men in the hand of God, made by him in what form, and for what use and end he thinks fit; or rather this denotes not the likeness of the operation, but the likeness of the matter of the human body to clay: not for the impurity of it; for though man is in a state and condition comparable to the mire and clay, this he has brought himself into by sin, and not the Lord; he made man upright, but man has made himself sinful and polluted; but for the brittleness of it; as a vessel made of clay is brittle and easily broke to pieces, and cannot bear much weight, or any heavy stroke; so the body of man is weak and frail, and feeble; its strength is not the strength of stones, and its flesh brass, but clay: and this Job humbly entreats the Lord would "remember", and that "now" (h); immediately; and deal mildly and mercifully with him, since he was not able to bear the weight of his hand, which would soon, crush him and break him to pieces; not that God forgets this, for he remembers man's frame and composition, that he is but dust; that he is flesh, and a wind or vapour that passes away: but he may seem to do so, when he sorely afflicts, and his hand lies heavy, and he does not remove it, but continues it, and rather in creases the affliction; and therefore, as the Lord allows his people to put him in remembrance, Job here desires that he would show himself, in his providential dealings with him, that he was mindful of his natural frailty and infirmity; see Job 7:12 Psa 78:3,

and wilt thou bring me into dust again? to the dust of death; to the original of which he was made; and that so soon, and at once; or, "and unto dust will return me?" as Mr. Broughton and others (i), according to the original sentence, "dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return", Gen 3:19; and which Job expected, and will be the case of all men, Ecc 12:7; and therefore he thought that this might suffice, that it was enough that he should die in a little while through the course of nature, and therefore desires he might have some respite and ease while he did live; he could not see there was any occasion to press him so hard, and follow him so close with afflictions one after another, or be so rough with him and quick upon him; since in a short time his brittle clay would break of itself, and he should drop into the dust and lie decaying there, as it was of old decreed he should.

(h) "nunc", Drusius; so the Targum. (i) "reducturus", Schmidt, Schultens; "reduces me?" V. L. Beza, Michaelis; "redire facies me?" Pagninus, Montanus, Bolducius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Sudden, like a potter’s vessel? Job was reduced to misery all at once. (Calmet) --- He acknowledges that God may destroy him as his creature; but that character encourages him to hope for mercy, grace, and glory. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Together round about, i.e. all of me; all the faculties of my soul, and all the parts of my body, which are now overspread with sores and ulcers; I am wholly thy creature and workmanship, made by thee and for thee.

Thou dost destroy me, or swallow me up, to wit, without cause, or any eminent provocation of mine; as if thou didst delight in doing and undoing, in making and then destroying thy creatures; which doth not become thy wisdom or goodness.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 8-12. Here we have an expansion of the plea in ver. 3, "Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest despise the work of thine own hands?" Job appeals to God, not only as his Greater, but as, up to a certain time, his Supporter and Sustainer. Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about. (comp. Psa_139:12-16, "My reins are thine; thou hast covered me in my mother"s womb. I will give thanks unto thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well My bones are not hid from thee, though I be made secretly, and fashioned beneath in the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in thy book were all my members written, which day by day were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them Canon Cook observes with much truth, "The processes of nature are always attributed in Scripture to the immediate action of God. The formation of every individual stands, in the language of the Holy Ghost, precisely on the same footing as that of the first man" ("Speaker"s Commentary," vol. 4. p. 50). Yet thou dost destroy me; literally, devour me. (Job_9:17, Job_9:22)

Vers. 8-17. Job to God: the progress of the third controversy: An inexplicable contradiction.

I GOD"S FORMER LOVING CARE.

1. Minutely detailed.

(1) In Job"s creation. This is first stated generally, the patriarch describing himself as having been made directly, by God"s hand: "Thine hands have made me and fashioned me;" perhaps in allusion to Gen_1:26; (cf. Deu_4:32Jo Deu_12:10 Deu 34:19 Psa_33:15 Isa_45:12) completely, in all his parts: "together "literally," all of me round about"; (Psa_139:15, 16 Exo_4:11Jo Exo_27:3 Psa_94:9) carefully, with exquisite skill: "Thou hast made me as the clay, possibly an echo of Gen_2:7, though most probably the image is that of a potter moulding an exquisite vessel And certainly man is God"s noblest handiwork, whether we have regard to his physical structure or to his mental and moral organization, and much more if we include both in our contemplation (cf. "Hamlet," act 2. sc. 2). The process of man"s formation is then sketched in four particulars, showing a remarkable acquaintance with the physiological phenomena connected with this mysterious subject: the generation of the child; the production of the embryo; the gradual development of the foetus; and the actual birth of the child (vers. 10-12); for further information on which points the Exposition may be consulted.

(2) In Job"s preservation. "Thy visitation literally, "thy providence hath preserved my spirit" (ver. 12). Man s continued existence on earth is as much a miracle of Divine power as his first introduction into life. Only Divine care constantly exercised could keep a delicate organism like the human body, and much more a complicated instrument like the human mind, from falling into disrepair, and eventually into dissolution. Man, too, has so many wants, that unless Divine goodness waited on him daily, he would speedily succumb beneath the stroke of death. Hence Scripture assigns our sustenance no less than our formation to God. (Deu_8:3 Psa_36:6 Act_17:28)

2. Skilfully employed. As Job recalls the time when he was thus an object of God"s paternal solicitude, he cannot help lingering over the sweet memories with which it floods his soul. Setting up, too, these tender reminiscences against the dark background of his present sorrow, he feels melted and softened. The thought of that Divine love which had fashioned him and favoured him enkindles in his soul a strange yearning for its return, which makes him try, as it were, by recalling old times to God, to excite a touch of pity in the Divine heart. "Thine hands have made me; and yet thou destroyest me!" "Thou hast made me as clay; and yet thou reducest me to dust again!" There are few arguments that touch the heart of God so powerfully as the remembrance of former mercies. "Put me in remembrance," says God. (Isa_43:26) "Forget not all his benefits," says David. (Psa_103:2; cf. Psa_42:6 Psa_77:10 Psa_143:5)

II GOD"S PRESENT CRUEL TREATMENT.

1. The Divine plot. "And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: I know that this is with thee" (ver. 13). Job conceived that his terrible afflictions were the outcome of a dark and deep design which God had formed concerning him before he was born; that, in fact, God had summoned him into existence precisely in order to persecute him in the way about to be described. That God worketh all things on earth according to the counsel of his will, that every event in history, as well as every incident in individual experience, has its place in an eternally existing and universe-embracing plan, is a truth of natural religion no less than of Divine revelation. (Act_15:18 Eph_1:11) But that God created any soul expressly for the purpose of rendering it miserable, either in time or eternity, is s simple perversion of truth, inconsistent alike with man"s fundamental notions of the Deity and Scripture"s explicit teachings as to the import of predestination. God never plots against either saint or sinner; but he never fails to plan for both in which there should be comfort for the one, (Rom_8:28) and a caution for the other. (Pro_15:3,ps Pro 33:15)

2. The fourfold net. Job unfolds the nature of that plot which he conceives God to have devised against him.

(1) On the supposition of his sinning, God had determined to mark it against him: "If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity" (ver. 14). The hypothesis was natural, since "there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not". (1Ki_8:46 Rom_3:12) The inference was also correct in the sense that God observeth all men"s sins, (Psa_33:13-15 Psa_69:5 Pro_15:3 Heb_4:13) and can by no means acquit the guilty; (Nah_1:3 Exo_20:5 Rom_6:23) but as insinuating that God lay in wait to catch men in transgression, or that he was swift to note and punish sin, it was decidedly incorrect. (Neh_9:17 Exo_34:6 Psa_78:38) It is God"s highest glory that, though he sees, he is now able not to mark, iniquity; that he can both remit the trespass and acquit the sinner in consequence of Christ"s propitiation. (Rom_3:25, Rom_3:26)

(2) On the assumption of his perpetrating heinous wickedness, then his punishment would simply be unspeakable: "If I be wicked, woe unto me!" It is still true that obstinate and impenitent transgressors will not escape the just judgment of Almighty God, (Isa_3:11 Isa_45:9 Pro_11:21Jo Pro_31:3 Mat_21:41 Mat_24:51 Rom_1:18 Rom_4:8) but it is likewise a blessed truth that the most notorious offender may be forgiven. (Isa_1:18 Jer_33:8 1Jn_1:7, 9 1Ti_1:15)

(3) If he should prove to be forensically guiltless, he must still demean himself as if he were a criminal: "If I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head." Job"s language here suggests two important truths that no man, however conscious of innocence, can really lift up his head before God as if he were spotless; and that even those who can lift up their heads, through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, have no room for self-exaltation. (Rom_3:27)

(4) Should he venture to indulge in such a feeling, then God would redouble his attempts to abase him; hunting him like a wild beast, huntest literally, "wouldst hunt me as a fierce lion: and again thou showest thyself marvellous upon me or, "thou wouldst repeat thy miracles upon me prosecuting him like a culprit, renewest thy witnesses against me;" besieging him like a fortress, increasest or, "wouldst increase thine indignation against me, with host succeeding host against me." The imagery may set forth the intensity and variety of Job"s sufferings; but it is likewise fitted to suggest the vehement, relentless, and unceasing opposition which God offers to all attempts on man"s part to vindicate his own righteousness. It is God"s paramount aim, in providence and grace, to reduce man to a position of self-abasement and self-condemnation; and for this end he employs all the supernatural power of his Word and Spirit, all the evidence and testimony of the sinner"s own heart and life, all the vicissitudes and trials of his ordinary providence. God"s object in doing so is that he may be able to lift up the sinner"s bead.

Learn:

1. That if God uses rigour towards man, he doth it not of any cruelty, since man is God"s handiwork.

2. That man, being God"s handiwork, should never cease to praise his Maker.

3. That man"s lowly origin should both keep him humble and remind him of his latter end.

4. That God"s power and grace should be recognized in man"s preservation as much as in man"s formation.

5. That" all things are naked and manifest to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

6. That God, if swift to note, is still swifter to forgive, iniquity.

7. That the royal road to Heaven"s favour and forgiveness is through humility and self-abasement.

8. That the end of all Divine discipline on earth is to humble man in preparation for eternal exaltation.

Vers. 8-12. Man the creature of God.

Job now seeks consolation in other courses of reflection, although arising out of the foregoing. He would fain draw what comfort he can from the knowledge of the fact that he is the creature of God. "Thy hands have made me and fashioned me together round about." Thy skill and patience, thy thought and attention, have been bestowed on me. Wilt thou forsake the work of thine hands? Is it solely for this time of trouble thou hast brought me forth? A calm meditation on the truth, "I am the creature of God, created by the Divine hands, the product of his activity," is calculated to bring consolation, for

I IT IS A PLEDGE OF BLESSING. Even erring man is thoughtful of his own work. Cod"s work is perfect. But it is so because he momentarily guards it. He carries forward all the processes which we moderns call "laws of nature." Job saw the "hand" of God in all the changes of the earth and heavens and of human life, Therefore to know I am a creature of God is to know my life is in his hands. I serve his purpose. He is Lord of all. Every act of his hand is pure blessing. He can do no evil. My creatureship is a sufficient pledge to me of certain blessing. He worketh for the good of all the creatures of his hands sheep and oxen, birds of air and fish of sea. So his work in my limb is the truest warrant of good to me.

II IT IS A SOURCE OF COMFORT. No one can calmly reflect on the fact of his creatureship without finding cause for comfort. Each may leave himself in the hands of his Owner. It is the basis of the truest consolation. "I am thine" must warrant the prayer, "Save me." The human life may be left in the Divine hands. The poor, frail, helpless one may commit himself unto God. There is rich comfort in the knowledge of the fact that the Lord of the whole earth is my Creator. That he should "destroy," or appear to destroy, the poor sufferer is at once acknowledged to be matter of surprise. Under the shadow of the wings of the Almighty Creator every creature may find refuge.

III IT IS AN ASSURANCE OF DIVINE CARE. "Wilt thou then bring me into dust again?" This is the inevitable thought in the heart of him who recognizes himself as the creature of God who says, "Thou hast made me as the clay." It is the instinct of frail man to care for his own. How much more is it the Divine method! Already Job has declared his faith when saying, "Dost thou despise the work of thine own hands?" Thou hast raised me from the dust; wilt thou bring me into dust again? Writ thou frustrate thine own purpose? Thus Job reasons, and wisely. It is the assurance of calm wisdom, the faith which has firm foundation. He who has brought me into life, will care for me, will sustain me, will defend me.

IV SUCH AN ASSURANCE IS A SUFFICIENT GROUND OF CONFIDENT AND CALM REPOSE. Restful is the spirit of faith; and the more simple faith is in its reasonings, the more assured is its peace. Consciousness of sin would lead to distress of mind and to fear when it is remembered, "Thine hands have fashioned me;" but to the heart assured of its integrity, this truth is the ground of calm repose. Prayer may be based upon this. Faith here may find its support; love, its inspiration. R.G.

Creation and its consequences.

Job appeals to God as his Maker. He remonstrates with the Creator for apparently destroying his own work. If God had first made man, why should God turn on his creature to "swallow him up"? This is not so much an appeal to pity or justice, as one to reason and consistency.

I GOD IS THE CREATOR OF EVERY INDIVIDUAL MAN. Theologians were once divided between two theories of the origin of human souls, called respectively "Creationist" and "Traducianist." The Creationists held that each soul was created by God; the Traducianists that souls were derived by descent, were transmitted by birth from ancestral souls, and originally from Adam and Eve, just like the bodies they inhabit. Was it not unfair to confine the name "Creationist" to the former school? The idea of descent from parents does not exclude Divine action. The parent is not the creator. The original great Cause must be the Source of all that follows. If God only created once for all at the beginning of the world, still he created each individual, because each individual simply comes from that original creation. If it could be shown that man was not separately created, but that he derived his origin from lower creatures by evolution, he would be not the less created by God; for how could the marvellous process of evolution originate or progress, unless the Almighty and All-wise had started it? Nay, it is only reasonable to believe that God is ever creating. Not once for all, but in every stage of evolution, the Divine hand is working out the eternal plan. So also each individual life is moulded by that same Creative hand. God is working eternally, for the laws of nature are but the ways of God. He was as truly the Creator of Job as of Adam; and he makes each man now by means of birth as really as he made the first life out of inorganic matter.

II THE FACT THAT GOD IS THE CREATOR OF EVERY MAN MUST AFFECT HIS TREATMENT OF ALL HIS CREATURES.

1. He cannot have predestined them to ruin. To affirm that he could do so is to say that the Creator is not God, but the devil, A god who was merely indifferent to his creatures would not from the first plan their destruction. If it is suggested that God might do this to display his own glory, the reply is that such an action could display no glory, but the reverse. To say that God may do as he will with his own is irrelevant. His absolute rights over his creatures do not exclude moral considerations. Further, the holy, righteous, and loving character of God makes it absolutely certain that he could not planned have their ruin.

2. He can never consent that they should be ruined. "He hateth nothing that he hath made." The very fact of creation gives God an interest in his creatures. The artist cannot be indifferent to the fate of his works. But God is more than an artist; he is a Father, and a father cannot be indifferent to the fate of his children. It may be necessary for the parent to chastise, but no true and worthy parent will ever really wish to hurt his offspring. Can we think that God is less strong in parental love than we are? It is necessary for God to be angry with the wicked and there is a terror in God"s anger which men can only despise at their peril but behind that auger there can be no vindictive temper, much less can there be a spiteful malignity. God only desires the welfare of his children. W.F.A.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Your hands

Here "hands" represent God and his creative action. AT: "You" (See: Synecdoche)

Your hands have framed and fashioned me together round about

Job is using a metaphor of a potter forming clay to describe how God carefully created him. (See: Metaphor)

framed and fashioned me

"shaped and formed me." The words "framed" and "fashioned" are similar in meaning. (See: Doublet)

Call to mind

"Remember"

bring me into dust again

"turn me back into dust again"

translationWords

hand

mind

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

shaped me Heb. עצבוני, They made me a shape, a mold, like “nor straighten (מעצבין) an infant’s limbs,” in Tractate Shabbath (22:6). But now Your hosts are together round about.

and You destroy me These are the worms.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.