John Gill Commentary Job 6:16

"Which are black by reason of the ice, [And] wherein the snow hideth itself:" — Job 6:16 (ASV)

Which are blackish by reason of the ice
When frozen over, they look of a blackish colour, which is called a black frost; and these either describe Job and his domestics, as some ^F8 think, whom Eliphaz and his two friends compared to the above streams, from which water passed away, or which passed by and neglected, and showed no friendship to; who were in black, mournful and rueful circumstances, through the severe hand of God upon them.

The word is rendered, "those which mourn", (Job 5:11). Or rather, the friends of Job are compared to foul and troubled waters frozen over, which cannot be so well discerned, or which were black through being frozen. This describes the inward frame of their minds, the foulness of their spirits, the blackness of their hearts, though they outwardly appeared otherwise, as follows:

[and] wherein the snow is hid ;
or "on whom the snow" falling, and lying on heaps, "hides" ^F9 , or covers; so Job's friends, according to this account, were, though black within as a black frost yet white without as snow; they appeared, in their looks and words at first as candid, kind, and generous, but proved the reverse.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F8: So Michaelis.
• F9: (glv Mlety wmyle) "super quibus accumulatur nix", Beza, "tegit se, q. d. multa nive teguntur", Drusius; "the frost is hidden by the snow", so Sephorno; or rather "the black and frozen waters".