Job 33:22

Job 33:22 Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.

Ver. 22. Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave] His soul, that is, his body, as Job 33:18, for Elihu was no mortalist, neither dreamed he of a psychopannychia. {All-night sleep of the soul; a state in which (according to some) the soul sleeps between death and the day of judgement.} He is in the very confines of death, and no ways likely to recover; he is free among the dead, as the psalmist hath it.

And his life to the destroyers] Lethalibus malis, to deadly evils, saith Tremellius. Mortiferis, i.e. Morbis, to those messengers of death, deadly diseases, saith Vatablus, Gentiles multa de Parcis fabulati sunt. To those that kill; viz. to the angels, by whom God sometimes destroyeth men, as 2Sa 24:16-17, saith Piscator. To enemies, say other. Pollinctoribus, to the bier carriers, say the Tigurines, and so Beza paraphraseth; so that he stands not in need of any remedy or help of anything more than of those who should carry his carcass unto the grave.

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.

33:22 angels of death wait for them: Cp. Exod 12:23; 2 Sam 24:16; 1 Cor 10:10.

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

To them that shall bury him.

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

destroyers--angels of death commissioned by God to end man's life (Sa2 24:16; Psa 78:49). The death pains personified may, however, be meant; so "gnawers" (see on Job 30:17).

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 22. His soul draweth near unto the grave] נפש nephesh, soul, is here taken for the immortal spirit, as it is distinguished from חיה chaiyah, the animal life. The former draws near to the pit, שחת shachath, corruption; perhaps he meant dissipation, considering it merely as the breath. The latter draws near לממתים lamemithim, to the dead; i.e., to those who are already buried. Mr. Good translates it the Destinies; and supposes the same is meant among the HEBREWS by the Memithim, as among the GREEKS by their Μοιραι; the LATINS, by their Parcae; the GOTHS, by their Fatal Sisters; the SCANDINAVIANS, by their goddess Hela; and the ARABIANS, by Azrael, or the angel of death. I think, however, the signification given above is more natural.

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

22. the destroyers] that is, perhaps, the angels that bring death; 2Sa_24:16; 1Ch_21:15; Psa_78:49.

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.

Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave,.... Not the soul, strictly and properly speaking, for that does not, nor is it laid in the grave at death, but returns to God that gave it; rather the body, for which it is sometimes put, and of which what is here said is true, see Psa 16:10; or the person of the sick man, whose disease being so threatening, all hope is gone, and he is given up by his physicians and friends, and seemingly is at the grave's mouth, and that is ready for him, and he on the brink of that; which were the apprehensions Job had of himself, Job 17:1; see Psa 88:3;

and his life to the destroyers; the destroying angels, as Aben Ezra, and so the Septuagint version: or destroying diseases, and so Mr. Broughton renders it, "to killing maladies"; or it may be to worms, which destroy the body in the grave, and which Job was sensible of would quickly be his case, Job 19:26; though some interpret it of those that kill, or of those that are dead, with whom they are laid that die; or of deaths corporeal and eternal, and the horrors and terrors of both, with which persons in such circumstances are sometimes distressed.

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

Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave - That is, he himself does, for the word soul is often used to denote self.

And his life to the destroyers - - לממתים lammitiym. literally, “to those causing death.” The interpretation commonly given of this is, “the angels of death” who were supposed to come to close human life; compare 2Sa 24:16-17. But it probably refers to diseases and pangs as having power to terminate life, and being the cause of the close of life. The meaning is, that the afflicted man comes very near to those acute sufferings which terminate life, and which by personification are here represented as the authors of death.

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

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Destroyers; the worms in the grave, (Haydock) or to sickness, (Menochius) "which bring on death." Pagnin mortiferis.

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).

He seems to himself and others to be lost, and past all hopes of recovery; which he adds for Job’s comfort in his desperate condition.

To the destroyers; to the instruments of death or destruction, whether it be angels, whom God sometimes useth in those cases; or devils, who have the power of death. Heb 2:14; or diseases, which by God’s appointment are ready to give the fatal blow.

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

22. The destroyers — Many commentators understand them to be angelic powers, to whom is intrusted the work of death. Aben Ezra and Ewald call them “angels of death.” The Septuagint renders the clause, “his life [is] in hades.” Compare Psa_78:49; 2Sa_24:16. Others (Rosenmuller, Schlottman, etc.) understand simply mortal pains; but this explanation, as Delitzsch well says, “does not commend itself, because the Elihu section has a strong angelogical colouring in common with the book of Job.” True penitence may stay the execution of the decree of death. Comp. 1Ch_21:15 and Luk_13:9.

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

Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers. "The destroyers" are probably the angels to whom the task is assigned of ultimately inflicting death, if minor chastisements prove insufficient. (comp. 2Sa_24:16, 17 Psa_78:49, etc.)

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

The destroyers - The pangs of death, here called the destroyers, are just ready to seize him.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.