Глава 6

Job's response to Eliphaz's speech. 1–7. The naturalness of the murmur. 8–27. A desire for death due to the inability to endure suffering, especially without support from friends. 28–30. I ask my friends to be more attentive and thoughtful about his speeches. Job 6:1. And Job answered and said: Job 6:2. Oh, that my cries would be correctly weighed, and that my suffering would be put on the scales along with them! Job 6:3. It would surely pull over the sand of the seas! That is why my words are furious. Since Eliphaz begins his first speech by reproaching Job for cowardice (Job 4.5), the latter tries first of all to free himself from such accusation. His “words are furious” (“ῥὴματὰ φαῦλα” LXX – evil; “λόγοι κατάπικροι “Symmachus” - full of bitterness, but in no case “nonsense”, “unreasonable”, as Delitzsch translates, cf. Art. 28–30); they are full of ardor, irritability (v. 1, Hebrew “kasi”, “ὀργὴ” LXX cf. Job 5.2), but this is quite understandable. Job’s complaints are natural in view of their extraordinary suffering; their severity exceeds the weight of the sand of the sea (Proverbs 27.3; Sir 22.15), innumerable. the latter (Gen. 22:17, 32:12, 41:49; Jer. 33.22; Hab. 1.9). Therefore, if you compare his impatience and ardor with disasters, then it will turn out to be small in comparison with them. Job 6:4. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; my spirit drinks their poison; the horrors of God have taken up arms against me. The reason for such extraordinary suffering is that God himself rebelled against him, Job. He, as a “fighter” (Jer 20.11), causes him such terrible suffering as is inflicted by poisoned, “scorching” arrows (Ps 7.14). Job 6:5. Does a wild donkey bray on the grass? Does a bull moo at his mash? Job 6:6. Do people eat tasteless things without salt, and is there any taste in egg whites? Job 6:7. What my soul did not want to touch is my disgusting food. A figurative expression of the idea of ​​the naturalness of complaints. If irrational animals (donkey and bull) do not express dissatisfaction without reason, then all the more so will not a person, a rational being, do this. Just as bread and egg whites are unpleasant without salt, so are complaints. And if Job nevertheless complains, it is obviously because he is forced to. He is forced by the fact that all the time he lives with an unbearably difficult (“disgusting” – v. 7) thought about the grief that has befallen him, the possibility of which he did not even imagine (“my soul did not want to touch”) in the days of former happiness (Job 29.18–20). Job 6:8. Oh, if only my wish would come true and God would fulfill my aspirations! Job 6:9. Oh, that God would deign to crush me, would stretch out His hand and strike me down! In view of the severity of his suffering, Job’s complaints are natural and understandable, and the desire for death associated with them (Job 3.3–11, etc.) is natural. The sooner it comes, the better, which is why Job wants to die from the quickly striking hand of God (v. 9 cf. Is 38.12–13). Job 6:10. This would still be a joy to me, and I would strengthen myself in my merciless illness, for I did not reject the sayings of the Holy One. A close, quick death would be a consolation for Job: he would die with the consciousness that “he did not reject the sayings of the Holy One,” he remained faithful to His commandments (Job 23.12), and this consciousness is a joy for him, as a pious person (Ps. 119.50). Job 6:11. What strength do I have that I should hope? and what is the end to prolong my life? Job 6:12. Is the hardness of stones my hardness? and is my flesh copper? Job 6:13. Is there help for me within me, and is there any support for me? Expressed in Art. 9 the desire for a speedy death is also motivated by the fact that Job does not have enough strength to endure suffering (v. 13). He is an ordinary mortal man with flesh sensitive to illness (“not stone” and “not brass” - v. 12), his patience may be exhausted. He could still endure, wish for the continuation of life, if some outcome from grief was foreseen; but he is not (v. 11). Patience cannot be maintained by either physical or mental strength. Job 6:14–21. Not finding the strength to endure suffering, Job hoped to gain it from the sympathetic attitude of his friends, but he was deceived. The desire for death continues unabated. Job 6:14. There should be pity for the sufferer from his friend, unless he has given up fear of the Almighty. The synodal reading of the second half of the verse represents an incorrect rendering of the text: the conjunction “ve” “and” is translated by the expression “unless”, and the negation “not” (did not leave), which is absent in the original text, is inserted. Literally translated, the entire verse reads: “The one who suffers should have pity from his friend, and he leaves fear to the Almighty.” The remaining unintelligibility of the original even with such a transmission forces exegetes to resort to different interpretations. Delitzsch understands the conjunction “and” to mean “otherwise” and translates the entire passage as follows: “the sufferer must be shown compassion by his friend, otherwise he will leave the fear of the Lord,” that is, the sufferer without support from friends may fall into despair. Others suggest the following reading: “the sufferer must be shown pity, even (and) the one who has abandoned the fear of the Almighty,” that is, he was truly guilty (Viguru. Guide to reading and studying the Bible. Translation from the French edition with additional notes by V.V. Vorontsov. 2 vol., issue 2, p. 265). But such an understanding is not confirmed in the book. Job. His friends directly state that the suffering of the guilty does not evoke compassion, but a feeling of horror and trembling (Job 18.20). And if they hold a similar view at the moment of Job’s speech, ch. VI (Job 6.20), then he would hardly have asked them for compassion. It is more natural to read and understand Delitzsch: Job seeks sympathy and support from friends, so as not to fall into complete despondency and despair; he is close to him, since he himself is not able to encourage himself (cf. 11-18). Job 6:15. But my brothers are unfaithful, like a stream, like fast flowing streams, Job 6:16. which are black with ice and in which snow is hidden. Job 6:17. When it gets warm, they diminish, and during the heat they disappear from their places. Job 6:18. They turn away from the direction of their paths, enter the desert and get lost; Job’s hopes for his friends were not justified: they were “unfaithful” - they deceived his expectations. Their inconstancy in feelings is reminiscent of the inconstancy of streams (χειμάρρους LXX - “winter stream”), which are full of water only when the snow melts, and with the onset of heat they become shallow and during the heat completely disappear, being lost without a trace in the sands of the desert. Job 6:19. The roads of Themaia look at them, the roads of Savea hope for them, Job 6:20. but remain ashamed in their hope; They come there and blush with shame. Waterless in the summer, they deceive the caravans waiting to meet them with water (Heb., the expressions “archot” and “galikot”, translated “roads”, “paths”, mean “train of travelers”, “caravan”) of the Sabeans (see interpretation 15, article 1, chapter 1) and Themas (descendants of Ishmael from the son of this name, who lived in Arabia and traded with Egypt) (Gen. 25.15, 37.25; Isa. 21.14). Job 6:21. So now you are nothing: you saw something terrible and were afraid. Just like that, the friendship of former friends turned into nothing: at the sight of Job, stricken by a terrible illness, they were frightened, recognizing him as a sinner (Job 18.10), whose situation cannot evoke sympathy. Job 6:22. Did I say: give it to me, or pay for me from your wealth; Job 6:23. and deliver me from the hand of the enemy, and ransom me from the hand of the tormentors? Job did nothing to cause such a change in the attitude of his friends towards himself: he did not and does not demand from them any sacrifice that would put an end to friendship (Proverbs 25.17). Job 6:24. Teach me and I will shut up; indicate what I did wrong. Job 6:25. How powerful are the words of truth! But what do your accusations prove? Job 6:26. Are you making up diatribes? You are throwing your words into the wind. Job 6:27. You attack an orphan and dig a hole for your friend. Friends are wrong in betraying the feelings of friendship, and they are also wrong in their role as Job’s accusers. Job would have agreed with his friends if they had pointed out the real errors in his speeches and words. He would be silent before righteousness (vv. 24–25). But friends condemn the words that belong to the wind, the words of the despairing (the exact translation of Article 26 will be: “Do you think that you should condemn the words? But the words of the despairing belong to the wind”), that is, they think to prove his guilt by words accidentally bursting out in a state of despair, ardor, the exaggeration of which is obvious. Based only on such expressions, the friends treat Job as ruthless creditors treat the young orphan, the heir of their debtor (“you attack the orphan” - v. 27, more precisely: “you cast lots for the orphan”); they are even ready to sell it (Hebrew “tikru”, translated “dig a hole”, comes from the verb “kara”, meaning “to buy” - Deut. 2.6; Hos. 3.2. The likening of friends to merchants in the second part of Article 27 is fully consistent with the likening of them to creditors in the first). Job 6:28. But please, look at me; shall I speak lies before you? Job's words are full of fervor, but they are certainly true. Job 6:29. Reconsider, is there any untruth? reconsider - my truth. Job 6:30. Is there any untruth in my tongue? Can’t my larynx discern bitterness? Confident in his rightness, fully capable of distinguishing lies from truth (v. 30), Job demands that his friends “reconsider” - change their attitude towards him. You might be interested in: