Job 23:3, 8-9 | JFB | STEP | 3. The same wish as in (compare ). Seat —The idea in the Hebrew is a well-prepared throne ( ).

Job 23:3

3. The same wish as in Job 13:3 (compare Heb 10:19-22).

Seat—The idea in the Hebrew is a well-prepared throne (Ps 9:7).

Job 23:8-9

8. But I wish in vain. For "behold," &c.

forward . . . backward—rather, "to the east—to the west." The Hebrew geographers faced the east, that is, sunrise: not the north, as we do. So "before" means east: "behind," west (so the Hindus). Para, "before"—east: Apara, "behind"—west: Daschina, "the right hand"—south: Bama, "left"—north. A similar reference to sunrise appears in the name Asia, "sunrise," Europe, "sunset"; pure Babylonian names, as RAWLINSON shows.

9. Rather, "To the north."

work—God's glorious works are especially seen towards the north region of the sky by one in the northern hemisphere. The antithesis is between God working and yet not being beheld: as in Job 9:11, between "He goeth by," and "I see Him not." If the Hebrew bears it, the parallelism to the second clause is better suited by translating, as UMBREIT, "doth hide himself"; but then the antithesis to "behold" would be lost.

right hand—"in the south."

hideth—appropriately, of the unexplored south, then regarded as uninhabitable because of its heat (see Job 34:29).