Albert Barnes Commentary Job 6:15

"My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, As the channel of brooks that pass away;" — Job 6:15 (ASV)

My brethren – Namely, the three friends who had come to condole with him. He uses the term "brethren" to intimate what he had a right to expect from them. It is common in all languages to give the name "brethren" to friends.

Have dealt deceitfully – That is, I have been sadly disappointed. I looked for words of condolence and compassion, for something to cheer my heart and to uphold me in my trials. My search was like that of weary and thirsty travelers who look for water, only to be sadly disappointed when they come to the place where they expected to find it and discover the stream has dried up. The simile used here is exquisitely beautiful, considered merely as a description of an actual occurrence in the deserts of Arabia. But its chief beauty consists in its exact adaptation to the case before him, and the point and pith of the reproof which it administers: “The fullness, strength, and noise of these temporary streams in winter answer to the large professions made to Job by his friends in his prosperity. The dryness of the waters at the approach of summer resembles the failure of their friendship in his time of affliction.” (Scott, as quoted by Noyes).

As a brook – That is, like a stream that is swollen by winter torrents and is dry in summer. Such streams abound in Arabia and in the East generally. The torrents pour down from the hills in times of rain, or when swollen by melting ice; but in summer they are dry, or their waters are lost in the sand. Even large streams are absorbed in this way; the river Barrady, which waters Damascus, for instance, after passing a short distance southeast of the city toward the Arabian deserts, is lost in the sand or evaporated by the heat of the sun.

The idea here is that travelers in a caravan would approach a place where water had previously been found, expecting refreshment, but would find the fountain dried up or the stream lost in the sand, encountering only disappointment.

In Arabia, there are not many rivers. In Yemen, indeed, there are a few streams that flow year-round, and in the East, the Euphrates has been claimed as belonging to Arabia. But most of the streams are winter torrents that become dry in summer, or rivulets that are swollen by heavy rains.

An illustration of the verse before us occurs in Campbell’s Travels in Africa: “In desert parts of Africa, it has been a source of much joy to come upon a brook of water, especially when running in the direction of the journey, as one expects it to prove a valuable companion. Perhaps before it accompanied us two miles, it became invisible by sinking into the sand; but two miles farther along, it would reappear and raise hopes of its continuance; yet after running a few hundred yards, it would sink finally into the sand, never to rise again.”

A comparison of a man who deceives and disappoints one to such a stream is common in Arabia and, according to Schultens, has given rise to many proverbs. For instance, they say of a treacherous friend, “I put no trust in your torrent”; and, “O torrent, your flowing subsides.”

Similarly, the Scholiast on Moallakat says, “A pool or flood was called Gadyr, because travelers when they pass by it find it full of water, but when they return they find nothing there, and it seems to have treacherously betrayed them. So they say of a false man, that he is more deceitful than the appearance of water” – referring, perhaps, to the deceitful appearance of the mirage in the sands of the desert (see the notes on Isaiah 35:7).

And as the stream of brooks they pass away – This refers to the valley stream, the stream that runs along in the valley, filled by the mountain torrent. They pass away on the return of summer, or when the rain ceases to fall, and the valley is again dry. So it is with the consolations of false friends. They cannot be depended on. All their professions are temporary and evanescent.