Page:03.BCOT.KD.HistoricalBooks.B.vol.3.LaterProphets.djvu/1231



Verses 25-30
Job 15:25-30 25 Because he stretched out his hand against God, And was insolent towards the Almighty; 26 He assailed Him with a stiff neck, With the thick bosses of his shield; 27 Because he covered his face with his fatness, And addeth fat to his loins, 28 And inhabited desolated cities, Houses which should not be inhabited, Which were appointed to be ruins. 29 He shall not be rich, and his substance shall not continue And their substance boweth not to the ground. 30 He escapeth not darkness; The flame withereth his shoots; And he perisheth in the breath of His mouth. This strophe has periodic members: Job 15:25-28 an antecedent clause with a double beginning (כּי־נטה because he has stretched out, כּי־כסּה because he has covered; whereas ירוּץ may be taken as more independent, but under the government of the כי that stands at the commencement of the sentence); Job 15:29, Job 15:30, is the conclusion. Two chief sins are mentioned as the cause of the final destiny that comes upon the evil-doer: (1) his arrogant opposition to God, and (2) his contentment on the ruins of another's prosperity. The first of these sins is described Job 15:25-27. The fut. consec. is once used instead of the perf., and the simple fut. is twice used with the signification of an imperf. (as Job 4:3 and freq.). The Hithpa. התגּבּר signifies here to maintain a heroic bearing, to play the hero; התעשּׁר to make one's self rich, to play the part of a rich man, Pro 13:7. And בּצוּאר expresses the special prominence of the neck in his assailing God אל רוּץ, as Dan 8:6, comp. על, Job 16:14); it is equivalent to erecto collo (Vulg.), and in meaning equivalent to ὕβρει (lxx). Also in Psa 75:6, בצואר (with Munach, which there represents a distinctive) is absolute, in the sense of stiff-necked or hard-headed; for the parallels, as Psa 31:19; Psa 94:4, and especially the primary passage, 1Sa 2:3, show that עתק is to be taken as an accusative of the object. The proud defiance with which he challengingly assails God, and renders himself