Albert Barnes Commentary Job 21

Hear diligently - Hebrew “Hearing hear” - that is, hear attentively. What he was about to say was worthy of their solemn consideration.

And let this be your consolations - That is, “You came to me for the professed purpose of giving me consolation. In that you have wholly failed. You have done nothing to sustain or comfort me; but all that you have said has only tended to exasperate me, and to increase my sorrow. If you will now hear me attentively, I will take that as a consolation, and it will be in the place of what I had a right to expect from you. It will be some comfort if I am permitted to express my sentiments without interruption, and I will accept it as a proof of kindness on your part.”

Suffer me that I may speak — Allow me to speak without interruption, or bear with me while I freely express my sentiments—it is all that I now ask.

And after that I have spoken, mock on — Resume your reproaches, if you will, when I am done. I ask only the privilege of expressing my thoughts on a very important point. When that is done, I will allow you to resume your remarks as you have done before, and you may utter your sentiments without interruption.

Or it may be that Job utters this in a kind of triumph, and that he feels that what he was about to say was so important that it would end the “argument;” and that all they could say after that would be mere mockery and reviling.

The word rendered “mock on” (לעג lâ‛ag) means, originally, “to stammer, to speak unintelligibly”—then, “to speak in a barbarous or foreign language”—then, “to deride or to mock, to ridicule or insult.” The idea is that they might mock his woes and torture his feelings as they had done, if they would only allow him to express his sentiments.

As for me, is my complaint to man? - There is some difficulty in the interpretation of this verse, and considerable variety of explanation may be seen among expositors. The purpose of the verse is plain. It is to state a reason why they should hear him with patience and without interruption. The meaning of this part of the verse probably is, that his principal difficulty was not with his friends, but with God. It was not so much what they had said that gave him trouble, as it was what God had done. Severe and cutting as were their rebukes, yet it was far more trying to him to be treated as he had been by God, as if he were a great sinner.

That was what he could not understand. Perplexed and troubled, therefore, by the mysteriousness of the divine dealings, his friends ought to be willing to listen patiently to what he had to say; and in his anxiety to find out why God had treated him so, they ought not at once to infer that he was a wicked man, and to overwhelm him with increased anguish of spirit.

It will be recollected that Job repeatedly expressed the wish to be permitted to carry his cause at once up to God, and to have his adjudication on it (see Job 13:3, note; Job 13:18, notes). It is that to which he refers when he says here, that he wished to have the cause before God, and not before man. It was a matter which he wished to refer to the Almighty, and he ought to be allowed to express his sentiments with entire freedom.

One of the difficulties in understanding this verse arises from the word “complaint.” We use it in the sense of “murmuring,” or “repining;” but this, I think, is not its meaning here.

It is used rather in the sense of “cause, argument, reasoning, or reflections.” The Hebrew word שׂיח śı̂yı̂ch means, properly, that which is “brought out”—from שׂיח śı̂yach—“to bring out, to put forth, to produce”—as buds, leaves, flowers; and then it means “words”—as brought out, or spoken; and then, meditations, reflections, discourses, speeches; and then it “may” mean “complaint.”

But there is no evidence that the word is used in that sense here. It means his reflections, or arguments. They were not to man. He wished to carry them at once before God, and he ought, therefore, to be allowed to speak freely.

Jerome renders it, “disputatio mea.” The Septuagint, ἔλεγξις elengcis—used here, probably, in the sense of “an argument to produce conviction,” as it is often.

And if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled? - Margin, “shortened,” meaning the same as troubled, afflicted, or impatient. A more literal translation will better express the idea which is now lost sight of: “And if so, why should not my spirit be distressed?” That is, since my cause is with God—since my difficulty is in understanding his dealings with me—since I have carried my cause up to him, and all now depends on him—why should I not be allowed to have solicitude in regard to the result? If I manifest anxiety, who can blame me? Who would not, when his all was at stake, and when the divine dealings toward him were so mysterious?

Mark me – Margin, "look to." Literally, "Look upon me." That is, look attentively at me, at my sufferings, at my disease, and at my losses. See if I am a proper object of reproach and mockery—see if I do not have abundant reason to be in deep distress when God has afflicted me in such an unusual and mysterious manner.

And be astonished – Silent astonishment should be shown instead of censure. You should wonder that a man whose life has been one of piety should exhibit the spectacle that you now behold, while so many proud despisers of God are permitted to live in affluence and ease.

And lay your hand upon your mouth – As a sign of silence and wonder. So Plutarch, de Iside et Osiride, “Therefore, he had laid his finger on his mouth as a symbol of silence and admiration—ἐχεμυθίας καὶ σιωπῆς σύμβολον echemuthias kai siōpēs sumbolon.”

Even when I remember, I am afraid - I have an internal shuddering and horror when I recall the scenes through which I have passed. I am myself utterly overwhelmed at the magnitude of my own sufferings, and they are such that they should arouse commiseration in your hearts. Some, however, have connected this with the following verse, supposing the idea to be that he was horror-stricken when he contemplated the prosperity of wicked people.

But there seems to me to be no reason for this interpretation. His object is undoubtedly to show them that there was enough in his case to awe them into silence; and he says, to show this, that the recollection of his sufferings perfectly overwhelmed “him” and filled him with horror. Those who have passed through scenes of special danger, or of great bodily suffering, can easily sympathize with Job here. The very recollection will make the flesh tremble.