Job 8:10

Job 8:10 Shall not they teach thee, [and] tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?

Ver. 10. Shall they not teach thee, and tell thee] They, that is, the forefathers, Job 8:8, these, though dead and gone, yet by their records and monuments, by their apopthegms and oracles (for the words of dying men are living oracles), do still teach us and tell us their minds, as if they were yet living, Heb 11:4 Luk 16:29. Books are mute matters, silent voices. The way to be wise, said a heathen, is to converse with the dead, τοις νεκροις συγχρωτιζειν. Histories are faithful counsellors, and by the reading of them many young men have attained to more understanding than their elders; as Augustus, Theodosius, Macarius, who was surnamed παιδαριογερων, the old youth, for his wisdom and gravity above his years, gotten by reading and prayer, as saith Nicephorus.

And utter words out of their heart?] Discourses dug out of their own hearts, things new and old, thrown out of that good treasure, e cordibus, non e codicibus, they were egregie cordati homines, hearty good men, and their speeches were heart sprung, dipped in their hearts, and there recalled ad limam, priusquam ad linguam, weighed before uttered. They spake not as thou dost, Job, rashly and at random; judiciously, solidly, oraculously conduct them therefore, and as they speak from their own heart, so let them speak to thine. With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days understanding, Job 12:12.

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 8:10. Shall not they teach thee? — Assuredly they will inform thee that it is as we say. And utter words out of their heart — Not partially, but sincerely, speaking their inward thoughts; not rashly, but from deep consideration; not by hearsay from others, but their own knowledge and experience.

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

teach thee-- Job 6:24 had said, "Teach me." Bildad, therefore, says, "Since you want teaching, inquire of the fathers. They will teach thee."

utter words--more than mere speaking; "put forth well-considered words."

out of their heart--from observation and reflection; not merely, from their mouth: such, as Bildad insinuates, were Job's words. Job 8:11-13 embody in poetic and sententious form (probably the fragment of an old poem) the observation of the elders. The double point of comparison between the ungodly and the paper-reed is: 1. the luxuriant prosperity at first; and, 2. the sudden destruction.

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 10. Shall not they teach thee] Wilt thou not treat their maxims with the utmost deference and respect? They utter words from their heart - what they say is the fruit of long and careful experience.

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

10. words out of their heart] Words not the result of hasty and superficial generalizing, but of an experience which the lengthened lives of these men had enabled them to pass through, and the principles learned in which had sunk into their heart. The “heart” is in Heb. the deepest part of human nature, whether intellect or feeling. There is an implied condemnation in all this of the new principles which Job was setting forth, what a subsequent speaker calls his “doctrine,” ch. Job_11:4, principles based on nothing but his own single experience and instance.

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.

Can the rush grow up without mire?.... No, at least not long, or so as to lift up his head on high, as the word signifies (a); the rush or bulrush, which seems to be meant, delights in watery places, and has its name in Hebrew from its absorbing or drinking up water; it grows in moist and watery clay, or in marshy places, which Jarchi says is the sense of the word here used; the Septuagint understands it of the "paper reed", which, as Pliny (b) observes, grows in the marshy places of Egypt, and by the still waters of the river Nile:

can the flag grow without water? or "the sedge" (c); which usually grows in moist places, and on the banks of rivers; this unless in such places, or if without water, cannot grow long, or make any very large increase, or come to maturity; so some (d) render it, "if the rush should grow up without", &c. then it would be with it as follows.

(a) "an attollit se", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; "an superbiet", so some; Beza, Schultens. (b) Nat. Hist. l. 13. c. 11. (c) "carectum", V. L. "ulva", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schmidt, Michaelis, Schultens. (d) Sic Bar Tzemach & Belgae.

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

Shall not they teach thee - The results of human conduct, and the great principles on which God governs the world.

And utter words out of their heart - Dr. Good renders this,

“And well forth the sayings of their wisdom,”

And supposes it means that the words of wisdom would proceed from them as water bubbles from a fountain. But this, I think, is a mere conceit. The true sense is, that they would not speak that merely which comes from the mouth, or that which comes upper most, and without reflection - as the Greeks say, λέγειν πᾶν ὅ τι ἐπὶ στόμα ἔλθῃ legein pan ho ti epi stoma elthē; or, as the Latins, Quicquid in buccam venerit loqui - to speak whatever comes in the mouth; but they would utter that which came from the heart - which was sincere, and the result of deep and prolonged reflection. Perhaps, also, Bildad means to insinuate that Job had uttered what was uppermost in his mind, without taking time for reflection.

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

Assuredly they will inform thee that it is as we say.

Out of their heart; not partially, but sincerely, speaking their inward thoughts; not rashly, but from deep consideration; not by hearsay from others, but their own knowledge and experience.

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

10. Shall not they teach thee — Job had confidently said, (Job_6:24,) Teach me, and Bildad adduces a most remarkable passage out of the heart of ancient times. He summons the fathers, that they may deal Job a crushing blow. In the early history of most nations knowledge was preserved in the form of proverbs, maxims, and apothegms. Lacking the advantage of circulated books for the transmission of thought, they compressed it into as small a compass as possible, that it might be more easily remembered, and thus preserved for the generations to come. We have before us fragments of a poem (Job_8:11-19) that probably came to Bildad from a very remote age. Some have conjectured that they may be relics of some primeval revelation. The imagery employed, as well as the Egyptian words gome, (Coptic, kam,) reed, (papyrus,) and ahhou, (flag,) satisfy Carey and others that this ancient lay was composed in Egypt.

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

Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart (see the comment on ver. 8).

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

Utter - Not partially, but sincerely, speaking their inward thoughts; not rashly, but from deep consideration; not by hearsay, but their own knowledge.

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