Page:03.BCOT.KD.HistoricalBooks.B.vol.3.LaterProphets.djvu/1147

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calls it, imper. futuri, similar to Gen 20:7; 2Sa 21:3): thou must then perceive that God has dealt far more leniently with thee than thou hast deserved. The causative השּׁה (in Old Testament only this passage, and Job 39:17) denotes here oblivioni dare, and the מן of מעונך is partitive.

Verses 7-9

Job 11:7-9 7 Canst thou find out the nature of Eloah,
And penetrate to the foundation of the existence of the Almighty? 8 It is as the heights of heaven-what wilt thou do?
Deeper than Hades-what canst thou know? 9 The measure thereof is longer than the earth,
And broader than the sea.
The majority of modern commentators erroneously translate חקר searching = comprehension, and תּכלית perfection, a meaning which this word never has. The former, indeed, signifies first in an active sense: finding out by search; and then also objectively: the object sought after: “the hidden ground” (Ewald), the depth (here and Job 38:16; also, according to Ew., Job 8:8, of the deep innermost thought). The latter denotes penetrating to the extreme, and then the extreme, πέρας, itself (Job 26:10; Job 28:3). In other words: the nature that underlies that which is visible as an object of search is called חקר; and the extreme of a thing, i.e., the end, without which the beginning and middle cannot be understood, is called תכלית. The nature of God may be sought after, but cannot be found out; and the end of God is unattainable, for He is both: the Perfect One, absolutus; and the Endless One, infinitus.

Verses 8-9


The feminine form of expression has reference to the divine wisdom (Chokma, Job 11:6), and amplifies what is there said of its transcendent reality. Its absoluteness is described by four dimensions, like the absoluteness of the love which devised the plan for man's redemption (Eph 3:18).