Job 19:6

Know now that God hath overthrown me,.... He would have them take notice that all his afflictions were from the hand of God; and therefore should take care to what they imputed any acts of his, whose

Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net. Compassed ... net - alluding to Bildad's words (Job 18:8).

Know now; consider what I am now saying. Hath overthrown me; hath grievously afflicted me in all kinds; therefore it ill becomes you to aggravate my miseries; and if my passions, hereby raised, have broken forth into some extravagant and unmeet expressions, I might expect your pity and favourable construction, and not such severe censures and reproaches. Heb. God hath perverted me, i.e. either my state or condition, as was now said, or my right and cause. He oppresseth me with power, and will not give me a fair hearing, as it follows, . He giveth me very hard measure, and dealeth worse with me than I might in reason and justice expect from so wise and good a God. This is a harsh reflection upon God; but such passages have sometimes come from good men, when under sore afflictions and temptations, which was Job’ s case. With his net, i.e. with afflictions on every side, so that I cannot escape, nor get any freedom to come to him and plead with him, as I desire.

Job 19:6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.Ver. 6. Know that God hath overthrown me] Do not you therefore add affliction to the afflicted, which is so odious a thing to God, Psalms 41:2; Psalms 69:26; but regard the greatness of mine evils, which draw these complaints from me that seem so immoderate to you. See Job 6:2 (Diodati). And hath compassed me with his net] Hath encompassed me round with affliction, that I can get out no way. A hunting term, Job 10:16 Lamentations 1:13 Ezekiel 12:13 Hosea 7:12. Bildad had made much mention of nets and gins, wherein God ensnareth and ensnarleth the wicked, Job 18:8-9. Job granteth that God’ s net had encompassed him; but withal denieth himself to be wicked, or that his friends should therefore reproach him, but rather pity him.

(6) Know now that God hath overthrown me.—Bildad had spoken a great deal about the wicked being snared by his own sin, and now Job, without actually quoting his words—for he uses a word for net that Bildad had not used—speaks to their substance. It is God who has taken him in His net and compassed him about therewith. This is the assertion he has made before (Job 16:7; Job 13:27, &c.).

Verse 6. Know now that God hath overthrown me] The matter is between him and me, and he has not commissioned you to add reproaches to his chastisements. And hath compassed me with his net.] There may be an allusion here to the different modes of hunting which have been already referred to in the preceding chapter. But if we take the whole verse together, and read the latter clause before the former, thus, "Know, therefore, that God hath encompassed me with his net, and overthrown me;" the allusion may be to an ancient mode of combat practised among the ancient Persians, ancient Goths, and among the Romans. The custom among the Romans was this: "One of the combatants was armed with a sword and shield, the other with a trident and net. The net he endeavoured to cast over the head of his adversary, in which, when he succeeded, the entangled person was soon pulled down by a noose that fastened round the neck, and then despatched. The person who carried the net and trident was called Retiarius, and the other who carried the sword and shield was termed Secutor, or the pursuer, because, when the Retiarius missed his throw, he was obliged to run about the ground till he got his net in order for a second throw, while the Secutor followed hard to prevent and despatch him." The Persians in old times used what was called [Persic] kumund, the noose. It was not a net, but a sort of running loop, which horsemen endeavoured to cast over the heads of their enemies that they might pull them off their horses. That the Goths used a hoop net fastened to a pole, which they endeavoured to throw over the heads of their foes, is attested by Olaus Magnus, Hist. de Gentibus Septentrionalibus, Rom. 1555, lib. xi., cap. 13, De diversis Modis praeliandi Finnorum. His words are, Quidam restibus instar retium ferinorum ductilibus sublimi jactatione utuntur: ubi enim cum hoste congressi sunt, injiciunt eos restes quasi laqueos in caput resistentis, ut equum aut hominem ad se trahant. "Some use elastic ropes, formed like hunting nets, which they throw aloft; and when they come in contact with the enemy, they throw these ropes over the head of their opponent, and by this means they can then drag either man or horse to themselves." At the head of the page he gives a wood-cut representing the net, and the manner of throwing it over the head of the enemy. To such a device Job might allude, God hath encompassed me with his NET, and overthrown me.

6. Know now] Or, as we say, know then. The word God is emphatic. overthrown me] More probably, perverted my right (Job 19:7); this, not his guilt, is the explanation of his afflictions. By his reference to the “net” of God Job repudiates the statements of Bildad, ch. Job 18:8 seq.; it was not his own feet that led him into the net, God had thrown it about him.

Know now that God - Understand the case; and in order that they might, he goes into an extended description of the calamities which God had brought upon him.

6. Overthrown me — Others read, perverted, wrested me. With his net — The net was frequently used in ancient warfare for the purpose of entangling, and thus more easily destroying, an enemy. Kitto (Pict.