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Selected Verse: Job 1:20 - Strong Concordance
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Job 1:20 |
Strong Concordance |
Then Job [0347] arose [06965], and rent [07167] his mantle [04598], and shaved [01494] his head [07218], and fell down [05307] upon the ground [0776], and worshipped [07812], |
|
King James |
Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
Job arose--not necessarily from sitting. Inward excitement is implied, and the beginning to do anything. He had heard the other messages calmly, but on hearing of the death of his children, then he arose; or, as EICHORN translates, he started up (Sa2 13:31). The rending of the mantle was the conventional mark of deep grief (Gen 37:34). Orientals wear a tunic or shirt, and loose pantaloons; and over these a flowing mantle (especially great persons and women). Shaving the head was also usual in grief (Jer 41:5; Mic 1:16). |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Then Job arose - The phrase to arise, in the Scriptures is often used in the sense of beginning to do anything. It does not necessarily imply that the person had been previously sitting; see Sa2 13:13.
And rent his mantle - The word here rendered "mantle" מעיל me‛ı̂yl means an upper or outer garment. The dress of Orientals consists principally of an under garment or tunic - not materially differing from the "shirt" with us - except that the sleeves are wider, and under this large and loose pantaloons. Niebuhr, Reisebescreib. 1. 157. Over these garments they often throw a full and flowing mantle or robe. This is made without sleeves; it reaches down to the ankles; and when they walk or exercise it is bound around the middle with a girdle or sash. When they labor it is usually laid aside. The robe here referred ire was worn sometimes by women, Sa2 13:18; by men of birth and rank, and by kings, Sa1 15:27; Sa1 18:4; Sa1 24:5, Sa1 24:11; by priests, Sa1 28:14, and especially by the high priest under the ephod, Exo 28:31. See Braun de vest Sacerd. ii. 5. Schroeder de vest. muller.
Hebrew p. 267; Hartmann Ilcbraerin, iii. p. 512, and Thesau. Antiq. Sacra. by Ugolin, Tom. i. 509, iii. 74, iv. 504, viii. 90, 1000, xii. 788, xiii. 306; compare the notes at Mat 5:40, and Niebuhr, as quoted above. The custom of rending the garment as an expression of grief prevailed not only among the Jews but also among the Greeks and Romans. Livy i. 13. Suetonius, in "Jul. Caes." 33. It prevailed also among the Persians. Curtius, B. x. c. 5, section 17. See Christian Boldich, in Thesau. Antiq. Sacra. Tom. xii. p. 145; also Tom. xiii. 551, 552, 560, xxx. 1105, 1112. In proof also that the custom prevailed among the Pagan, see Diod. Sic. Lib. i. p. 3, c. 3, respecting the Egyptians; Lib. xvii. respecting the Persians; Quin. Curt. iii. 11; Herod. Lib. iii. in Thalia, Lib. viii. in Urania, where he speaks of the Persians. So Plutarch in his life of Antony, speaking of the deep grief of Cleopatra, says, περίεῤῥηξατο τοῦς πέπλους επ ̓ αὐτῷ perierrēcato tous piplous ep' autō. Thus, Herodian, Lib. i.: καῖ ῥηξαμένη εσθῆτα kai rēcamenē esthēta. So Statius in Glaucum:
Tu mode fusus humi, lucem aversaris iniquam,
Nunc torvus pariter vestes, et pectora rumpis.
So Virgil:
Tune pins Aeneas humeris abscindere vestem,
Auxilioque vocare Deos, et tendere palmas.
Aeneid v. 685.
Demittunt mentes; it scissa veste Latinus,
Conjugis attonitus fatis, urbisque ruina,
Aeneid 12:609.
So Juvenal, Sat. x.:
ut primos edere planctus
Cassandra inciperet, scissaque Polyxena palla.
Numerous other quotations from the Classical writers, as well as from the Jewish writings, may be seen in Ugolin's Sacerdotium Hebraicum, cap. vi. Thesau. Antiq. Sacrar. Tom. xiii. p. 550ff.
And shaved his head - This was also a common mode of expressing great sorrow. Sometimes it was done by formally cutting off the hair of the head; sometimes by plucking it violently out by the roots, and sometimes also the beard was plucked out, or cut off. The idea seems to have been that mourners should divest themselves of that which was usually deemed most ornamental; compare Jer 7:29; Isa 7:20. Lucian says that the Egyptians expressed their grief by cutting off their hair on the death of their god Apis, and the Syrians in the same manner at the death of Adonis. Olympiodorus remarks on this passage, that the people among whom long hair was regarded as an ornament, cut it off in times of mourning; but those who commonly wore short hair, suffered it on such occasions to grow long. See Rosenmuller, Morgenland, "in loc." A full description of the customs of the Hebrews in times of mourning, and particularly of the custom of plucking out the hair, may be seen in Martin Geier, de Hebraeorum Luctu, especially in chapter viii.
Thesau. Antiq. Sacra. xxxiil. p. 147ff. The meaning here is that Job was filled with excessive grief, and that he expressed that grief in the manner that was common in his day. Nature demands that there should be "some" external expression of sorrow; and religion does not forbid it. He pays a tribute to the nature with which God has endowed him who gives an appropriate expression to sorrow; he wars against that nature who attempts to remove from his countenance, conversation, dress, and dwelling, everything that is indicative of the sorrows of his soul in a time of calamity. Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus; and religion is not designed to make the heart insensible or incapable of grief. Piety, like every kind of virtue, always increases the susceptibility of the soul to suffering. Philosophy and sin destroy sensibility; but religion deepens it. Philosophy does it on principle - for its great object is to render the heart dead to all sensibility; sin produces the same effect naturally. The drunkard, the licentious man, and the man of avarice, are incapable of being affected by the tender scenes of life. Guilt has paralyzed their feelings and rendered tthem dead. But religion allows people to feel, and then shows its power in sustaining the soul, and in imparting its consolations to the heart that is broken and sad. It comes to dry up the tears of the mourner, not to forbid those tears to flow; to pour the balm of consolation into the heart, not to teach the heart to be unfeeling.
And fell down upon the ground - So Joshua in a time of great calamity prostrated himself upon the earth and worshipped, Jos 7:6. - The Orientals were then in the habit, as they are now, of prostrating themselves on the ground as an act of homage. Job seems to have done this partly as an expression of grief, and partly as an act of devotion - solemnly bowing before God in the time of his great trial.
And worshipped - Worshipped God. He resigned himself to his will. A pious man has nowhere else to go in trial; and he will desire to go nowhere else than to the God who has afflicted him. |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
The Conduct of Job:
20, 21 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah.
The first three messengers Job has heard, sitting, and in silence; but at the news of the death of his children, brought by the fourth, he can no longer overcome his grief. The intensity of his feeling is indicated by rising up (cf. Jon 3:6); his torn heart, by the rending of his mantle; the conscious loss of his dearest ones, by cutting off the hair of his head. He does not, however, act like one in despair, but, humbling himself under the mighty hand of God, falls to the ground and prostrates himself, i.e., worshipping God, so that his face touches the earth. השׁתּחוה, se prosternere, this is the gesture of adoration, προσκήνησις.
(Note: Vid., Hlemann's Abh. ber die biblische Gestaltung der Anbetung, in his Bibelstudien, Abth. 1 (1859).)
יצתי is defectively written, as Num 11:11; cf. infra, Job 32:18. The occurrence of שׁמּה here is remarkable, and may have given rise to the question of Nicodemus, Joh 3:4 : μὴ δύναται ἄνθρωπος εἰς τῆν κοιλίαν τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ δεύτερον εἰσελθεῖν. The writer of Ecclesiastes (Ecc 5:14) has left out this difficult שׁמה. It means either being put back into a state of unconsciousness and seclusion from the light and turmoil of this world, similar to his former state in his mother's womb, which Hupfeld, in his Commentatio in quosdam Iobeidos locos, 1853, favours; or, since the idea of אמּי בּטן may be extended, return to the bosom of mother earth (Ew., Hirz., Schlottm., et al.), so that שׁמה is not so much retrospective as rather prospective with reference to the grave (Bttch.), which we prefer; for as the mother's bosom can be compared to the bosom of the earth (Psa 139:15), because it is of the earth, and recalls the original forming of man from the earth, so the bosom of the earth is compared to the mother's, Sir. 40:1: ἀφ ̓ ἡμέρας ἐξόδου ἐκ γαστρὸς μητρὸς ἕως ἡμέρας ἐπιταφῆς εἰς μητέρα πάντων. The writer here intentionally makes Job call God יהוה. In the dialogue portion, the name יהוה occurs only once in the mouth of Job (Job 12:9); most frequently the speakers use אלוה and שׁדי. This use of the names of God corresponds to the early use of the same in the Pentateuch, according to which שׁדי is the proper name of God in the patriarchal days, and יהוה in the later days, to which they were preparatory. The traditional view, that Elohim describes God according to the attribute of justice, Jehovah according to the attribute of mercy, is only in part correct; for even when the advent of God to judgment is announced, He is in general named Jehovah. Rather, אלהים (plur. of אלוהּ, fear), the Revered One, describes God as object; יהוה or יהוה, on the other hand, as subject. אלהים describes Him in the fulness of His glorious majesty, including also the spirits, which are round about Him; יהוה as the Absolute One. Accordingly, Job, when he says יהוה, thinks of God not only as the absolute cause of his fate, but as the Being ordering his life according to His own counsel, who is ever worthy of praise, whether in His infinite wisdom He gives or takes away. Job was not driven from God, but praised Him in the midst of suffering, even when, to human understanding and feeling, there was only occasion for anguish: he destroyed the suspicion of Satan, that he only feared God for the sake of His gifts, not for His own sake; and remained, in the midst of a fourfold temptation, the conqueror.
(Note: In Oliver Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield (vid., Jul. Hamberger, Gott und seine Offenbarung, S. 71), there is much that reminds one of the book of Job, especially the repeated misfortunes which befall the worthy clergyman, his submission under all, and the issue which counterbalances his misfortune. But what is copied from the book of Job appears to be only superficial, not to come from the depth of the spiritual life.)
Throughout the whole book he does not go so far as to deny God (אלהים בּרך), and thus far he does not fall into any unworthy utterances concerning His rule. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
Shaved - Caused his hair to be shaved or cut off, which was then an usual ceremony in mourning. Worshipped - Instead of cursing God, which Satan said he would do, he adored him, and gave him the glory of his sovereignty, of his justice, and of his goodness also, in this most severe dispensation. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Rent his mantle - Tearing the garments, shaving or pulling off the hair of the head, throwing dust or ashes on the head, and fitting on the ground, were acts by which immoderate grief was expressed. Job must have felt the bitterness of anguish when he was told that, in addition to the loss of all his property, he was deprived of his ten children by a violent death. Had he not felt this most poignantly, he would have been unworthy of the name of man.
Worshipped - Prostrated himself; lay all along upon the ground, with his face in the dust. |
16 Make thee bald [07139], and poll [01494] thee for thy delicate [08588] children [01121]; enlarge [07337] thy baldness [07144] as the eagle [05404]; for they are gone into captivity [01540] from thee.
5 That there came [0935] certain [0582] from Shechem [07927], from Shiloh [07887], and from Samaria [08111], even fourscore [08084] men [0376], having their beards [02206] shaven [01548], and their clothes [0899] rent [07167], and having cut [01413] themselves, with offerings [04503] and incense [03828] in their hand [03027], to bring [0935] them to the house [01004] of the LORD [03068].
34 And Jacob [03290] rent [07167] his clothes [08071], and put [07760] sackcloth [08242] upon his loins [04975], and mourned [056] for his son [01121] many [07227] days [03117].
31 Then the king [04428] arose [06965], and tare [07167] his garments [0899], and lay [07901] on the earth [0776]; and all his servants [05650] stood [05324] by with their clothes [0899] rent [07167].
6 And Joshua [03091] rent [07167] his clothes [08071], and fell [05307] to the earth [0776] upon his face [06440] before [06440] the ark [0727] of the LORD [03068] until the eventide [06153], he and the elders [02205] of Israel [03478], and put [05927] dust [06083] upon their heads [07218].
20 In the same day [03117] shall the Lord [0136] shave [01548] with a razor [08593] that is hired [07917], namely, by them beyond [05676] the river [05104], by the king [04428] of Assyria [0804], the head [07218], and the hair [08181] of the feet [07272]: and it shall also consume [05595] the beard [02206].
29 Cut off [01494] thine hair [05145], O Jerusalem, and cast it away [07993], and take up [05375] a lamentation [07015] on high places [08205]; for the LORD [03068] hath rejected [03988] and forsaken [05203] the generation [01755] of his wrath [05678].
40 And [2532] if any man will [2309] sue [2919] thee [4671] at the law [2919], and [2532] take away [2983] thy [4675] coat [5509], let [863] him [846] have [863] thy cloke [2440] also [2532].
31 And thou shalt make [06213] the robe [04598] of the ephod [0646] all [03632] of blue [08504].
14 And he said [0559] unto her, What form [08389] is he of? And she said [0559], An old [02205] man [0376] cometh up [05927]; and he is covered [05844] with a mantle [04598]. And Saul [07586] perceived [03045] that it was Samuel [08050], and he stooped [06915] with his face [0639] to the ground [0776], and bowed [07812] himself.
11 Moreover, my father [01], see [07200], yea, see [07200] the skirt [03671] of thy robe [04598] in my hand [03027]: for in that I cut off [03772] the skirt [03671] of thy robe [04598], and killed [02026] thee not, know [03045] thou and see [07200] that there is neither evil [07451] nor transgression [06588] in mine hand [03027], and I have not sinned [02398] against thee; yet thou huntest [06658] my soul [05315] to take [03947] it.
5 And it came to pass afterward [0310], that David's [01732] heart [03820] smote [05221] him, because he had cut off [03772] Saul's [07586] skirt [03671].
4 And Jonathan [03083] stripped [06584] himself of the robe [04598] that was upon him, and gave [05414] it to David [01732], and his garments [04055], even to his sword [02719], and to his bow [07198], and to his girdle [02289].
27 And as Samuel [08050] turned about [05437] to go away [03212], he laid hold [02388] upon the skirt [03671] of his mantle [04598], and it rent [07167].
18 And she had a garment [03801] of divers colours [06446] upon her: for with such robes [04598] were the king's [04428] daughters [01323] that were virgins [01330] apparelled [03847]. Then his servant [08334] brought [03318] her out [02351], and bolted [05274] the door [01817] after [0310] her.
13 And I, whither shall I cause my shame [02781] to go [03212]? and as for thee, thou shalt be as one [0259] of the fools [05036] in Israel [03478]. Now therefore, I pray thee, speak [01696] unto the king [04428]; for he will not withhold [04513] me from thee.
9 Who knoweth [03045] not in all these that the hand [03027] of the LORD [03068] hath wrought [06213] this?
15 My substance [06108] was not hid [03582] from thee, when I was made [06213] in secret [05643], and curiously wrought [07551] in the lowest parts [08482] of the earth [0776].
14 But those riches [06239] perish [06] by evil [07451] travail [06045]: and he begetteth [03205] a son [01121], and there is nothing [03972] in his hand [03027].
4 Nicodemus [3530] saith [3004] unto [4314] him [846], How [4459] can [1410] a man [444] be born [1080] when he is [5607] old [1088]? can [3361] [1410] he enter [1525] the second time [1208] into [1519] his [846] mother's [3384] womb [2836], and [2532] be born [1080]?
18 For I am full [04390] of matter [04405], the spirit [07307] within [0990] me constraineth [06693] me.
11 And Moses [04872] said [0559] unto the LORD [03068], Wherefore hast thou afflicted [07489] thy servant [05650]? and wherefore have I not found [04672] favour [02580] in thy sight [05869], that thou layest [07760] the burden [04853] of all this people [05971] upon me?
6 For word [01697] came [05060] unto the king [04428] of Nineveh [05210], and he arose [06965] from his throne [03678], and he laid [05674] his robe [0155] from him, and covered [03680] him with sackcloth [08242], and sat [03427] in ashes [0665].