Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 17:3

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 17:3. Lay down now — Deposit a pledge; stake your conduct against mine, and your life and soul on the issue; let the cause come before God, let him try it; and see whether any of you shall be justified by him, while I am condemned.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Job’s reply to Eliphaz (16:1-17:16)

Tired at this repetition of the friends’ unhelpful teaching, Job says he could give similar ‘comfort’ if he were in their position and they in his (16:1-5). His argument with God may not have brought relief from his pain, but neither has his silence. In fact, his physical condition only becomes worse (6-8). God opposes him and people insult him. Some deliberately try to do him harm (9-11). He feels like a helpless victim that wild animals attack, like a target that archers fire at, like a weak city wall that enemy soldiers smash to pieces (12-14). He mourns and suffers, though he is innocent (15-17).
For a moment Job’s faith grows strong again despite his bitter anguish. His innocent blood has been spilt on the earth, and he asks the earth to cry to heaven that justice might be done on his behalf (18). He believes he has a heavenly witness who knows he is not guilty of the wrongdoing of which people accuse him (19-21). Although he is confident that this witness hears his cries and affirms his innocence, he nevertheless fears that he is on the way to his death (22-17:2).
Job asks God himself to guarantee that in the end he will be declared righteous. He has given up expecting any understanding from those who have closed their minds to reason. He feels they have betrayed him (3-5). Job is sad that he, a godly person, must suffer such pain and insults, but his sufferings make him the more determined to do right and oppose wrong (6-9).
As he returns to consider the so-called comfort of his friends, Job becomes discouraged again. There is no wisdom in what any of them say (10). It is useless for them to try to comfort him by saying that the night of suffering will soon be past and a new day of joy will dawn. He expects only the greater darkness of death (11-16).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

AGAIN JOB APPEALS TO GOD FOR VINDICATION

“Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself; Who is there that will strike hands with me? For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: Therefore shalt thou not exalt them. He that denounceth his friends for a prey, Even the eyes of his children shall fail.”

“Be surety for me with thyself” The next clause demands a negative answer; and since Job’s friends who normally should be his surety are not willing to do so, Job prays that God Himself will be his surety in the day of Judgment. Here again we have that magnificent leap of faith which envisioned God Himself as surety for Job against God Himself in the Judgment. What a marvelous premonition (rather inspiration) of God the Son being Surety for his saints against God the Father’s Judgment! As Kline expressed it, “This was Job’s prayer for God to establish Job’s integrity at the Judgment.”Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, Job, p.475. “Job 17:3 is clearly Job’s appeal for God his Judge to be also God his Witness or Advocate as well.”Layman’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 95.

“For thou hast hid their heart from understanding” Job here stated that his friends’ blindness was due to God’s having blinded them, and therefore they thought Job was guilty. But, since they were most certainly wrong, their error would prevent God’s exalting them. Driver complained that the text here is “hopelessly corrupt.”International Critical Commentary, Job, p. 151. Nevertheless, the rendition we have here (American Standard Version) makes excellent sense. Not only will God be unable to exalt Job’s mocking friends (serving in this great drama as prime agents of the devil); but they will also incur the penalty pointed out in Job 17:5.

“He that denounceth his friends for a prey” It is not clear exactly what particular sin against Job is meant by this; but whatever it was, a severe penalty would overtake them, exactly the same penalty mentioned above in Job 17:2 (Deuteronomy 19:15 ff). “This verse (Job 17:5), as translated here, is a threat to Job’s friends that their denunciations of him will be punished by the sufferings of their children.”Arthur S. Peake, A Commentary on the Bible (London: T. C. and E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1924), p. 27.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Lay down now - This is evidently an address to God - a repetition of the wish which he had so often expressed, that he might be permitted to bring his cause directly before him; see Job 13:3. The whole passage here is obscure, because we are in a great measure ignorant of the ancient practices in courts of law, and of the ancient forms of trial. The general sense seems to be, that Job desires the Deity to enter into a judicial investigation, and to give him a “pledge” - or, as we should say, a “bond,” or “security” - that he would not avail himself of his almighty power, but would place him on an equality in the trial, and allow him to plead his cause on equal terms; see the notes at Job 13:20-22. The phrase “lay down now” means, lay down a pledge, or something of that kind; and may have referred to some ancient custom of giving security on going to trial, that no advantage would be taken, or that the parties would abide by the decision in the case.

Put me in a surety with thee - The word used here (ערבני ‛ârabı̂yn) is from ערב ‛ârab, to mix, mingle; to exchange, to barter and then to become surety for anyone - that is, to “exchange” places with him, or to stand in his place; Genesis 43:9; Genesis 44:32. Here the idea seems to be, that Job wished the Deity to give him some pledge or security that justice would be done, or that he would not take advantage of his power and majesty to overawe him. Or, as has been remarked, it may refer to some custom of furnishing security on a voluntary trial or arbitration, that the award of the referees would be observed. I think it most probable that this is the idea. The controversy here was to be voluntary. In a voluntary trial, or an arbitration, there is a necessity of some security by the parties that the decision shall be submitted to - a pledge to each other that they will abide by it. Such a pledge Job desired in this case. All this is language taken from courts, and should not be pressed too much, nor should Job be hastily charged with irreverence. Having once suggested the idea of a “trial” of the cause, it was natural for him to use the language which was commonly employed in reference to such trials; and these expressions are to be regarded as thrown in for the sake of “keeping,” or verisimilitude.

Who is he that will strike hands with me? - Striking hands then, as now, seems to have been one mode of confirming an agreement, or ratifying a compact. The idea here is,” Who is there that will be surety to me for thee?” that is, for the faithful observance of right and justice. There is an appearance of irreverence in this language, but it arises from carrying out the ideas pertaining to a form of trial in a court. In entering into “sureties,” it was usual to unite hands; see Proverbs 6:1 :

My son, if thou be surety for thy friend,

If thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger.

So Proverbs 17:18 :

A man void of understanding striketh hands,

And becometh surety in the presence of his friend

Compare Proverbs 11:15; Proverbs 22:26. The same custom prevailed in the times of Homer and of Virgil. Thus, Homer (Iliad, β b. 341) says:

Ποῦ δὴ -

- δεξιαὶ ἦς ἐπέπιθμεν -

Pou Deuteronomy 4:0 -

- dexiai hēs epepithmen -

And so Virgil (Aeneid 4:597) says;

- en dextra fidesque.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 17

My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me. Are there not mockers with me? and doth not my eye continue in their provocation? Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me? ( Job 17:1-3 )

Who will be my friend?

For you have hid your heart from understanding: therefore thou shalt not exalt them. He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail. He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret ( Job 17:4-6 ).

Before, I was actually a song to them. Now I'm a curse.

My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow. Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you. My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness. If I wait, the grave is my house: I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, You are my father: to the worm, You are my mother, and my sister. And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust ( Job 17:7-16 ).

I mean, this is really a dirge of the lowest you can imagine. "I've had it. You know, I'm just waiting for the grave. It's my house. I've made my bed in darkness. I've said to the corruption, 'Hey, corruption, you're my dad.' To the worms, 'You're my mother, eat me up.' You know, waiting for the maggots to come along and just destroy me, and then I'll be at rest." "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Job’s disclaimer of his friends 17:3-5

Evidently in legal cases of this sort, each litigant would give the judge a bond (money or some personal possession) before the trial. This bond would guarantee that the litigant would be fair and honest during the trial. If one of the litigants was not, the judge would not return his bond to him at the trial’s end. [Note: Zuck, Job, p. 79.] Job called on God to lay down His pledge (as the prosecutor) with Himself (the Judges 17:3 a; cf. Psalms 119:121-122). The guarantor (Job 17:3 b) was one who provided the bond if the person on trial could not. Job’s supportive friends would normally have provided his bond, but they had turned against him. Job lay the ultimate responsibility for his friends’ blindness and rejection at God’s feet because God had withheld understanding from them. Consequently he believed God would not lift them up (Job 17:4). Job may have believed part of his friends’ motive in not helping him was that they could obtain a portion of his property when he died (Job 17:5). However, since Job 17:5 is a proverb, he may have only been reminding his friends of the serious consequences of slander. [Note: Smick, "Job," p. 933.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Lay down now,.... A pledge that thou wilt provide a surety, appoint and admit one to plead for me, and that thou wilt hear my cause, and determine it; or "put now", or "put, I pray thee" r, thy heart and mind to me and my case, to my petition and request, and grant it:

put me in a surety with thee; appoint, provide, and place a surety for me with thee, and let him appear to do his work and office: such an one Jesus Christ is; he is of God the Father's appointing to be the Mediator between God and men, and who himself voluntarily engaged and agreed to be the surety of the better testament; and this was known to the Old Testament saints, and to Job; and his prayer was the prayer of faith: and this work and office Christ performs; he was surety for his people from eternity, he drew nigh to God on their account, and struck hands with his Father, or covenanted and agreed with him about the salvation of his people, and the manner of it; he gave his word, his bond, to his Father for them, that he would save them; and upon that suretyship engagement of Christ all the Old Testament saints were pardoned, justified, and glorified; he promised and bound himself to pay all their debts, to satisfy for all their sins, to bring in an everlasting righteousness for them, and to bring them all safe to heaven and happiness; in order to which, he put himself in their room and stead, and laid down his life a ransom for them; upon which Job might say, and so may every believer, what follows,

who [is] he [that] will strike hands with me? that will enter the lists, litigate and dispute the point with me, or bring any charge or accusation against me, having such a surety to answer for me, such an advocate to plead my cause, such a Mediator between God and man, who has made reconciliation for sin, brought in everlasting righteousness, and satisfied law and justice, see Romans 8:33; or else the sense is, "who [is] he", besides him that is a surety of God's appointing and providing, "can strike bands with me?" or be a surety for me? there is no other Mediator, Saviour, or Redeemer, besides him; if he had not undertaken the cause of his people, and the redemption of them, it must have ceased for ever, no other was equal to such a work; so that here is another reason used with the Lord to provide a surety, since no other could to any purpose.

r שימה נא "pone nunc", Montanus; "poae quaeso", Pagninus, Piscator, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schmidt; "sub cor tunm", Vatablus.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.   2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?   3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?   4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.   5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.   6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.   7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.   8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.   9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.

      Job's discourse is here somewhat broken and interrupted, and he passes suddenly from one thing to another, as is usual with men in trouble; but we may reduce what is here said to three heads:--

      I. The deplorable condition which poor Job was now in, which he describes, to aggravate the great unkindness of his friends to him and to justify his own complaints. Let us see what his case was.

      1. He was a dying man, Job 17:1; Job 17:1. He had said (Job 16:22; Job 16:22), "When a few years have come, I shall go that long journey." But here he corrects himself. "Why do I talk of years to come? Alas! I am just setting out on that journey, am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. My breath is already corrupt, or broken off; my spirits are spent; I am a gone man." It is good for every one of us thus to look upon ourselves as dying, and especially to think of it when we are sick. We are dying, that is, (1.) Our life is going; for the breath of life is going. It is continually going forth; it is in our nostrils (Isaiah 2:22), the door at which it entered (Genesis 2:7); there it is upon the threshold, ready to depart. Perhaps Job's distemper obstructed his breathing, and short breath will, after a while, be no breath. Let the Anointed of the Lord be the breath of our nostrils, and let us get spiritual life breathed into us, and that breath will never be corrupted. (2.) Our time is ending: My days are extinct, are put out, as a candle which, from the first lighting, is continually wasting and burning down, and will by degrees burn out of itself, but may by a thousand accidents be extinguished. Such is life. It concerns us therefore carefully to redeem the days of time, and to spend them in getting ready for the days of eternity, which will never be extinct. (3.) We are expected in our long home: The graves are ready for me. But would not one grave serve? Yes, but he speaks of the sepulchres of his fathers, to which he must be gathered: "The graves where they are laid are ready for me also," graves in consort, the congregation of the dead. Wherever we go there is but a step between us and the grave. Whatever is unready, that is ready; it is a bed soon made. If the graves be ready for us, it concerns us to be ready for the graves. The graves for me (so it runs), denoting not only his expectation of death, but his desire of it. "I have done with the world, and have nothing now to wish for but a grave."

      2. He was a despised man (Job 17:6; Job 17:6): "He" (that is, Eliphaz, so some, or rather God, whom he all along acknowledges to be the author of his calamities) "has made me a byword of the people, the talk of the country, a laughing-stock to many, a gazing-stock to all; and aforetime (or to men's faces, publicly) I was as a tabret, that whoever chose might play upon." They made ballads of him; his name became a proverb; it is so still, As poor as Job. "He has now made me a byword," a reproach of men, whereas, aforetime, in my prosperity, I was as a tabret, deliciæ humani generis--the darling of the human race, whom they were all pleased with. It is common for those who were honoured in their wealth to be despised in their poverty.

      3. He was a man of sorrows, Job 17:7; Job 17:7. He wept so much that he had almost lost his sight: My eye is dim by reason of sorrow,Job 16:16; Job 16:16. The sorrow of the world thus works darkness and death. He grieved so much that he had fretted all the flesh away and become a perfect skeleton, nothing but skin and bones: "All my members are as a shadow. I have become so poor and thin that I am not to be called a man, but the shadow of a man."

      II. The ill use which his friends made of his miseries. They trampled upon him, and insulted over him, and condemned him as a hypocrite, because he was thus grievously afflicted. Hard usage! Now observe,

      1. How Job describes it, and what construction he puts upon their discourses with him. He looks upon himself as basely abused by them. (1.) They abused him with their foul censures, condemning him as a bad man, justly reduced thus and exposed to contempt, Job 17:2; Job 17:2. "They are mockers, who deride my calamities, and insult over me, because I am thus brought low. They are so with me, abusing me to my face, pretending friendship in their visit, but intending mischief. I cannot get clear of them; they are continually tearing me, and they will not be wrought upon, either by reason or pity, to let fall the prosecution." (2.) They abused him too with their fair promises, for in them they did but banter him. He reckons them (Job 17:5; Job 17:5) among those that speak flattery to their friends. They all came to mourn with him. Eliphaz began with a commendation of him, Job 4:3; Job 4:3. They had all promised him that he would be happy if he would take their advice. Now all this he looked upon as flattery, and as designed to vex him so much the more. All this he calls their provocation,Job 17:2; Job 17:2. They did what they could to provoke him and then condemned him for his resentment of it; but he thinks himself excusable when his eye continued thus in their provocation: it never ceased, and he never could look off it. Note, The unkindness of those that trample upon their friends in affliction, that banter and abuse them then, is enough to try, if not to tire, the patience even of Job himself.

      2. How he condemns it. (1.) It was a sign that God had hidden their heart from understanding (Job 17:4; Job 17:4), and that in this matter they were infatuated, and their wonted wisdom had departed from them. Wisdom is a gift of God, which he grants to some and withholds from others, grants at some times and withholds at other times. Those that are void of compassion are so far void of understanding. Where there is not the tenderness of a man one may question whether there be the understanding of a man. (2.) It would be a lasting reproach and diminution to them: Therefore shalt thou not exalt them. Those are certainly kept back from honour whose hearts are hidden from understanding. When God infatuates men he will abase them. Surely those who discover so little acquaintance with the methods of Providence shall not have the honour of deciding this controversy! That is reserved for a man of better sense and better temper, such a one as Elihu afterwards appeared to be. (3.) It would entail a curse upon their families. He that thus violates the sacred laws of friendship forfeits the benefit of it, not only for himself, but for his posterity: "Even the eyes of his children shall fail, and, when they look for succour and comfort from their own and their father's friends, they shall look in vain as I have done, and be as much disappointed as I am in you." Note, Those that wrong their neighbours may thereby, in the end, wrong their own children more than they are aware of.

      3. How he appeals from them to God (Job 17:3; Job 17:3): Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee, that is, "Let me be assured that God will take the hearing and determining of the cause into his own hands, and I desire no more. Let some one engage for God to bring on this matter." Thus those whose hearts condemn them not have confidence towards God, and can with humble and believing boldness beg of him to search and try them. Some make Job here to glance at the mediation of Christ, for he speaks of a surety with God, without whom he durst not appear before God, nor try his cause at his bar; for, though his friends' accusations of him were utterly false, yet he could not justify himself before God but in a mediator. Our English annotations give this reading of the verse: "Appoint, I pray thee, my surety with thee, namely, Christ who is with thee in heaven, and has undertaken to be my surety let him plead my cause, and stand up for me; and who is he then that will strike upon my hand?" that is, "Who dares then contend with me? Who shall lay any thing to my charge if Christ be an advocate for me?" Romans 8:32; Romans 8:33. Christ is the surety of the better testament (Hebrews 7:22), a surety of God's appointing; and, if he undertake for us, we need not fear what can be done against us.

      III. The good use which the righteous should make of Job's afflictions from God, from his enemies, and from his friends, Job 17:8; Job 17:9. Observe here,

      1. How the saints are described. (1.) They are upright men, honest and sincere, and that act from a steady principle, with a single eye. This was Job's own character (Job 1:1; Job 1:1), and probably he speaks of such upright men especially as had been his intimates and associates. (2.) They are the innocent, not perfectly so, but innocence is what they aim at and press towards. Sincerity is evangelical innocency, and those that are upright are said to be innocent from the great transgression,Psalms 19:13. (3.) They are the righteous, who walk in the way of righteousness. (4.) They have clean hands, kept clean from the gross pollutions of sin, and, when spotted with infirmities, washed with innocency,Psalms 26:6.

      2. How they should be affected with the account of Job's troubles. Great enquiry, no doubt, would be made concerning him, and every one would speak of him and his case; and what use will good people make of it? (1.) It will amaze them: Upright men shall be astonished at this; they will wonder to hear that so good a man as Job should be so grievously afflicted in body, name, and estate, that God should lay his hand so heavily upon him, and that his friends, who ought to have comforted him, should add to his grief, that such a remarkable saint should be such a remarkable sufferer, and so useful a man laid aside in the midst of his usefulness; what shall we say to these things? Upright men, though satisfied in general that God is wise and holy in all he does, yet cannot but be astonished at such dispensations of Providence, paradoxes which will not be unfolded till the mystery of God shall be finished. (2.) It will animate them. Instead of being deterred from and discouraged in the service of God, by the hard usage which this faithful servant of God met with, they shall be so much the more emboldened to proceed and persevere in it. That which was St. Paul's care (1 Thessalonians 3:3) was Job's, that no good man should be moved, either from his holiness or his comfort, by these afflictions, that none should, for the sake hereof, think the worse of the ways or work of God. And that which was St. Paul's comfort was his too, that the brethren in the Lord would wax confident by his bonds,Philippians 1:14. They would hereby be animated, [1.] To oppose sin and to confront the corrupt and pernicious inferences which evil men would draw from Job's sufferings, as that God has forsaken the earth, that it is in vain to serve him, and the like: The innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite, will not bear to hear this (Revelation 2:2), but will withstand him to his face, will stir up himself to search into the meaning of such providences and study these hard chapters, that he may read them readily, will stir up himself to maintain religion's just but injured cause against all its opposers. Note, The boldness of the attacks which profane people make upon religion should sharpen the courage and resolution of its friends and advocates. It is time to stir when proclamation is made in the gate of the camp, Who is on the Lord's side? When vice is daring it is no time for virtue, through fear, to hide itself. [2.] To persevere in religion. The righteous, instead of drawing back, or so much as starting back, at this frightful spectacle, or standing still to deliberate whether he should proceed or no (allude to 2 Samuel 2:23), shall with so much the more constancy and resolution hold on his way and press forward. "Though in me he foresees that bonds and afflictions abide him, yet none of these things shall move him," Acts 20:24. Those who keep their eye upon heaven as their end will keep their feet in the paths of religion as their way, whatever difficulties and discouragements they meet with in it [3.] In order thereunto to grow in grace. He will not only hold on his way notwithstanding, but will grow stronger and stronger. By the sight of other good men's trials, and the experience of his own, he will be made more vigorous and lively in his duty, more warm and affectionate, more resolute and undaunted; the worse others are the better he will be; that which dismays others emboldens him. The blustering wind makes the traveller gather his cloak the closer about him and gird it the faster. Those that are truly wise and good will be continually growing wiser and better. Proficiency in religion is a good sign of sincerity in it.