Job 31:40

Job 31:40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

Ver. 40. Let thistles grow instead of wheat] This was a piece of that first curse, Gen 3:8, under which the earth hath lain bedridden, as it were, ever since, waiting for the coming of the Son of God, that it may he delivered from the bondage of corruption, Rom 8:20; and Job wished it as due to him, Ex lege Talionis, if he should be guilty of the forementioned cruelty, Jas 2:13, αρουρα et Arvum ab Heb. Arur, accursed.

And cockle instead of barley] Lolium et lappae, stinking stuff the word signifieth; as those were stinking grapes, Isa 5:2; Isa 5:4, rotten, corrupted, vitiated; and as that was blasted corn, yielding nothing better than dust and chaff, Mat 13:25, ζιζανιον, Frumentum adustum. Whereas wheat and barley are the precious fruits of the earth, Jas 5:7, whereof when the Metapontines had one year a great crop, they dedicated to their god Delphos, in token of thankfulness, a harvest graven in gold, Cρυσουν θερος (Strabo).

The words of Job are ended] i.e. His conference with his three friends, whom having before silenced, and now for himself sufficiently apologized, he putteth a period to that discourse; having (as Octavius once said to Decius) to the understanding spoken sufficient, and to the ignorant or obstinate too much, had he said less.

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.

Job_31:40

The words of Job are ended.

Jobs final position

Running like a golden thread through all this vehement and passionate language, we have seen a vein of thought which has given this half-rebellious questioner a claim upon our sympathy, and which even had the book ended here, would have prevented thoughtful men from joining his opponents, and from abandoning the solitary and tortured sufferer to the reproaches of his friends, and to the condemnation of the future readers of this great controversy. His soul, ripened by the hot blast of cruel affliction, is being prepared for a step, a long step forward, in that progressive revelation of God Himself to man, given us in Holy Scripture. He sickens at the sight and sense of wrong, and clinging to the conviction that, in spite of all appearances, God must be just--juster than his friends, or his own creed, or his own experience have declared Him to be--he struggles to be true, at once to himself, to his conscience, and his God. He yearns for a clearer sight of, and a nearer approach to the Divine Being against whom, as seen in the insufficient light given him, he has launched so vehement an indictment, so terrible a flood of fervid and poetic wrath. And while he has no sure and certain hope of a life beyond the grave, such as was revealed to the world in Christ, yet his pathetic moans at the finality of death give place, once to a dim aspiration, and once and again to a more loud assertion of his conviction--bursting forth like a flash of light from his darkest mood--that even if he is to die, die in his misery and desolation, God will yet be his Goel, his Vindicator; that somehow, he knows not how, he shall even after the shock of death have sight of God, and have his wrongs redressed; and therefore that he who has once been so dear to Him, and who has fallen so low in this life, will not be left to be of all men most miserable. And we have noticed how, in his description of his early life, he moves in a serene and lofty atmosphere, puts before us a moral standard of practice and even of thought which a Christian might be thankful to attain and realise And now, he and his friends are alike silent, silent but unconvinced. Neither the one side nor the other have won the adhesion of those against whom they argue. They cannot point to any guilt on Jobs part. He cannot convince them of his innocence. Neither one side nor the other have, we cannot but feel, laid their hands upon the whole truth. Yet each has exhausted his store of arguments, shot his arrows, and emptied his quiver. And deep as is the hold which Job has gained upon our interest and sympathy, yet the light and shade has been so graduated that those sympathies are not entirely confined to one side. (Dean Bradley.)

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

31:40 let thistles grow: Job’s curse on himself echoed God’s primal curse on Adam (Gen 3:17-18; cp. Isa 7:25; Zeph 2:9).

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

That is, the talk which he had with his three friends.

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

thistles--or brambles, thorns.

cockle--literally, "noxious weeds."

The words . . . ended--that is, in the controversy with the friends. He spoke in the book afterwards, but not to them. At Job 31:37 would be the regular conclusion in strict art. But Job 31:38-40 are naturally added by one whose mind in agitation recurs to its sense of innocence, even after it has come to the usual stopping point; this takes away the appearance of rhetorical artifice. Hence the transposition by EICHORN of Job 31:38-40 to follow Job 31:25 is quite unwarranted.

Next: Job Chapter 32

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 40. Let thistles grow instead of wheat] What the word חוח choach means, which we translate thistles, we cannot tell: but as חח chach seems to mean to hold, catch as a hook, to hitch, it must signify some kind of hooked thorn, like the brier; and this is possibly its meaning.

And cockle] באשה bashah, some fetid plant, from באש baash, to stink. In Isa 5:2; Isa 5:4, we translate it wild grapes; and Bishop Lowth, poisonous berries: but Hasselquist, a pupil of the famous Linnaeus, in his Voyages, p. 289, is inclined to believe that the solanum incanum, or hoary nightshade is meant, as this is common in Egypt, Palestine, and the East. Others are of opinion that it means the aconite, which [Arabic] beesh, in Arabic, denotes: this is a poisonous herb, and grows luxuriantly on the sunny hills among the vineyards, according to Celsus in Hieroboticon. [Arabic] beesh is not only the name of an Indian poisonous herb, called the napellus moysis, but [Arabic] beesh moosh, or [Arabic] farut al beesh, is the name of an animal, resembling a mouse, which lives among the roots of this very plant. "May I have a crop of this instead of barley, if I have acted improperly either by my land or my labourers!"

The words of Job are ended.] That is, his defence of himself against the accusations of his friends, as they are called. He spoke afterwards, but never to them; he only addresses God, who came to determine the whole controversy.

These words seem very much like an addition by a later hand. They are wanting in many of the MSS. of the Vulgate, two in my own possession; and in the Editio Princeps of this version.

I suppose that at first they were inserted in rubric, by some scribe, and afterwards taken into the text. In a MS. of my own, of the twelfth or thirteenth century, these words stand in rubric, actually detached from the text; while in another MS., of the fourteenth century, they form a part of the text.

In the Hebrew text they are also detached: the hemistichs are complete without them; nor indeed can they be incorporated with them. They appear to me an addition of no authority. In the first edition of our Bible, that by Coverdale, 1535, there is a white line between these words and the conclusion of the chapter; and they stand, forming no part of the text, thus: -

Here ende the wordes of Job.

Just as we say, in reading the Scriptures "Here ends such a chapter;" or, "Here ends the first lesson," c.

Or the subject of the transposition, mentioned above, I have referred to the reasons at the end of the chapter.

Dr. Kennicott, on this subject, observes: "Chapters xxix., xxx., and xxxi., contain Job's animated self-defence, which was made necessary by the reiterated accusation of his friends. This defense now concludes with six lines (in the Hebrew text) which declare, that if he had enjoyed his estates covetously, or procured them unjustly, he wished them to prove barren and unprofitable. This part, therefore seems naturally to follow Job 31:25, where he speaks of his gold, and how much his hand had gotten. The remainder of the chapter will then consist of these four regular parts, viz.,

"1. His piety to God, in his freedom from idolatry, Job 31:26-28.

"2. His benevolence to men, in his charity both of temper and behaviour, Job 31:29-32.

"3. His solemn assurance that he did not conceal his guilt, from fearing either the violence of the poor, or the contempt of the rich, Job 31:33; Job 31:34.

"4. (Which must have been the last article, because conclusive of the work) he infers that, being thus secured by his integrity, he may appeal safely to God himself. This appeal he therefore makes boldly, and in such words as, when rightly translated, form an image which perhaps has no parallel. For where is there an image so magnificent or so splendid as this?

Job, thus conscious of innocence, wishing even God himself to draw up his indictment, [rather his adversary Eliphaz and companions to draw up this indictment, the Almighty to be judge,] that very indictment he would bind round his head and with that indictment as his crown of glory, he would, with the dignity of a prince, advance to his trial! Of this wonderful passage I add a version more just and more intelligible than the present: -

"Ver. 35. O that one would grant me a hearing!

Behold, my desire is that the Almighty would answer me;

And, as plaintiff against me, draw up the indictment.

With what earnestness would I take it on my shoulders!

I would bind it upon me as a diadem.

The number of my steps would I set forth unto Him;

Even as a prince would I approach before Him!"

I have already shown that Eliphaz and his companions, not GOD, are the adversary or plaintiff of whom Job speaks. This view makes the whole clear and consistent, and saves Job from the charge of presumptuous rashness. See also Kennicott's Remarks, p. 163.

It would not be right to say that no other interpretation has been given of the first clause of Job 31:10 than that given above. The manner in which Coverdale has translated the 9th and 10th verses is the way in which they are generally understood: Yf my hert hath lusted after my neghbour's wife, or yf I have layed wayte at his dore; O then let my wife be another man's harlot, and let other lye with her.

In this sense the word grind is not unfrequently used by the ancients. Horace represents the divine Cato commending the young men whom he saw frequenting the stews, because they left other men's wives undefiled!

Virtute esto, inquit sententia dia Catonis,

Nam simul ac venas inflavit tetra libido,

Hue juvenes aequum est descendere, non alienas

Permolere uxores.

SAT. lib. i., s. 2., ver. 32.

"When awful Cato saw a noted spark

From a night cellar stealing in the dark:

'Well done, my friend, if lust thy heart inflame,

Indulge it here, and spare the married dame.'"

FRANCIS.

Such were the morals of the holiest state of heathen Rome; and even of Cato, the purest and severest censor of the public manners! O tempora! O mores!

I may add from a scholiast: - Molere vetus verbum est pro adulterare, subagitare, quo verbo in deponenti significatione utitur alibi Ausonius, inquiens, Epigr. vii., ver. 6, de crispa impudica et detestabili: -

Deglubit, fellat, molitur, per utramque cavernam.

Qui enim coit, quasi molere et terere videtur. Hinc etiam molitores dicti sunt, subactores, ut apud eundem, Epigr. xc., ver. 3.

Cum dabit uxori molitor tuus, et tibi adulter.

Thus the rabbins understand what is spoken of Samson grinding in the prison-house: quod ad ipsum Palaestini certatim suas uxores adduxerunt, suscipiendae ex eo prolis causa, ob ipsius robur.

In this sense St. Jerome understands La 5:13: They took the young men to GRIND. Adolescentibus ad impudicitiam sunt abusi, ad concubitum scilicet nefandum. Concerning grinding of corn, by portable millstones, or querns, and that this was the work of females alone, and they the meanest slaves; See Clarke on Ex 11:5, and on "Jdg 16:21".

The Greeks use μυλλας to signify a harlot; and μυλλω, to grind, and also coeo, ineo, in the same sense in which Horace, as quoted above, alienas PERMOLERE uxores.

So Theocritus, Idyll. iv., ver. 58.

Ειπ' αγε μοι Κορυδων, το γεροντιον η ῥ' ετι μυλλει

Τηναν ταν κυανοφρυν ερωτιδα, τας ποτ' εκνισθη·

Dic age mihi, Corydon, senecio ille num adhuc molit,

Illud nigro supercilio scortillum, quod olim deperibat?

Hence the Greek paronomasia, μυλλαδα μυλλειν, scortam molere. I need make no apology for leaving the principal part of this note in a foreign tongue. To those for whom it is designed it will be sufficiently plain. If the above were Job's meaning, how dreadful is the wish or imprecation in verse the tenth! Job 31:10

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

40. For “thistles” perhaps thorns is more accurate. The word translated “cockle” means perhaps any noisome weed. The concrete expressions, however, add to the vigour of the passage.

Some have thought that these last verses (38–40) have been misplaced, and ought to be introduced at some other point in the chapter, allowing Job’s challenge Job_31:35-37 to be the last words which he utters. To modern feeling the passage would thus gain in rhetorical effect; but it is not certain that the Author’s taste would have coincided with modern feeling in this instance. And it is difficult to find in the chapter a suitable place where the verses could be inserted. If the verses belong to the passage at all, which there is no reason to doubt, they seem to stand in the only place suitable for them.

The concluding statement “the words of Job are ended” hardly belongs to the Author of the Book. It is the remark of some editor or copyist, who drew attention to the fact that Job’s connected discourses here come to an end. It is rather hazardous to draw any critical conclusion from it in reference to the immediately following speeches of Elihu.

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.

Let thistles grow; - Gen 3:18. Thistles are valueless; and Job is so confident of entire innocence in regard to this, that he says he would be willing, if he were guilty, to have his whole land overrun with noxious weeds.

And cockle - Cockle is a well known herb that gets into wheat or other grain. It has a bluish flower, and small black seed, and is injurious because it tends to discolor the flour. It is not certain by any means, however, that this is intended here. The margin is, noisome weeds. The Hebrew word באשׁה bo'shâh is from באשׁ bâ'ash, “to have a bad smell, to stink,” and was given to the weed here referred to on that account, compare Isa 34:3. The cockle however, has no unpleasant odor, and the word here probably means noxious weeds. So it is rendered by Herder and by Noyes. The Septuagint has βάτος batos, bramble; the Vulgate, spina, thorn; Prof. Lee, prunus sylvestris, “a bramble resembling the hawthorn;” Schultens, labrusca, wild vine.

The words of Job are ended - That is, in the present speech or argument; his discussions with his friends are closed. He spoke afterward, as recorded in the subsequent chapters, but not in controversy with them. He had vindicated his character, sustained his positions, and they had nothing to reply. The remainder of the book is occupied mainly with the speech of Elihu, and with the solemn and sublime address which God himself makes.

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

Thorns. Protestants, "cockle." Marginal note, "loathsome weeds." (Haydock) --- The precise import of the word is not known; but it means something "stinking." (Calmet) --- Septuagint, Batos, "a briar." (Haydock) --- Ended. Many Latin editions omit these words with St. Gregory, &c. The old Vulgate has & quieverunt verba Job, as a title. (Calmet) --- Septuagint place at the beginning of the next chapter, "And Job ceased to speak. His three friends also left off contending with Job; for Job was just before them." Grabe substitutes "himself," as they were not perhaps yet convinced. (Haydock) --- Job, however, addresses his discourse no more to them, but only to God, (Calmet) acknowledging some unadvised speeches; (Worthington) or want of information. (Haydock)

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).

To wit, in answer to his friends; for he speaks but little afterwards, and that is to God.

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

40. Thistles — Translated elsewhere thorns.

Cockle — The Hebrew root points to some kind of noxious, ill-smelling weed. The word is also the last in the Hebrew text, and forms a surprising climax to the discourse, and possibly an unsavory reflection on the friends. Among the calamities Sennacherib declares himself to have entailed upon a conquered race was the sowing of thistles over their corn fields. Inscription 30. The words of Job are ended — The poetical accents with which this sentence is marked express the very ancient opinion that these closing words are the words of Job. Hitzig, however, regards them as “a boundary set up by the revisers of Job!” A boundary stone they may be, but, by whomsoever set up, they serve to mark the line between Job’s darkness and despair on the one side, and the rich dawning light of a divine solution on the other, first through Elihu, God’s servant, and then from God himself. “All words,” observes Hengstenberg, “spoken against God come, after a brief season, to an end, either of grace, as in Job’s case, who begs that the folly of his discourses may be forgiven, or of wrath, when the mouth that uttereth great things is closed with violence.”

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

Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockles instead of barley. Then let me be appropriately punished by finding the land, whereof I have wrongfully become possessed, produce nothing but thistles (or thorns) and noxious weeds, such as cockles (Authorized Version) or hemlock (Professor Lee). The words of Job are ended. This may be regarded either as Job"s own conclusion of his long speech, or as a remark of the author"s. On the whole, the former view is to be preferred.

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

noisome weeds Heb. באשה, (a malodorous plant) like בְּאֻשִׁים (Isa. 5:2). And if I did not do so, may thistles emerge instead of wheat. (Rabbi Oshia taught: The Torah teaches you practical advice, that in a field beset with thistles it is advisable to sow wheat, and in a field beset with weeds, it is advisable to sow barley. This is the reading of Yalkut.) Now what is the reason? “Instead of wheat, thistles shall emerge.”

Until this point, he repeatedly prophesies many prophecies, and you say: Job’s words are ended? Rather, Job says as follows, “If I have not done so, may Job’s words be ended, and may he have no pretext for saying before You (Deut. 26:13), ‘I have cleared away what is holy.’” I saw this in the Pesikta of the portion עשר תעשר (ibid. 14), explained in this manner from these verses.

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.