Job 30:12

Upon [my] right [hand] rise the youth,.... "Springeth", as Mr.

Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction. Youth - rather, a (low) brood [ pirchach (H6526)].

Upon my right hand. This circumstance is noted, either because this was the place of adversaries or accusers in courts of justice, ; or to show their boldness and contempt of him, that they durst oppose him even on that side where his chief strength lay. Rise, to wit, in way of contempt and opposition, or to accuse and reproach me, as my friends now do; as one who by my great, but secret, wickedness have brought these miseries upon myself. The youth, Heb. young striplings, who formerly hid themselves from my presence, . They push away my feet; either, 1. Properly, they trip up my heels Or rather, 2. Metaphorically, they endeavour utterly to overwhelm my goings, and to cast me down to the ground. The ways, i.e. causeways, or banks; so it is a metaphor from soldiers, who raise or cast up banks against the city which they besiege. Or, they raise up a level, or smooth the path by continual treading it; they prepare, and contrive, and use several methods to destroy me. Of their destruction; either, 1. Passively; so the sense is, they raise or heap upon me, i.e. impute to me, the ways, i.e. the causes, of their ruin; they charge me to be the author of their ruin. Or rather, 2. Actively, of that destruction which they design and carry on against me; which best suits with the whole context, wherein Job is constantly represented as the patient, and wicked men as the agents.

Job 30:12 Upon [my] right [hand] rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.Ver. 12. Upon the right hand rise the youth] Broughton readeth, The springals. The Hebrew hath it, The blossom, or the young birds, Vix puberes, such as are scarcely out of the shell. The youngsters, the boys, scoffed and abused Job. The lawless rout, riding without reins, took a licentious boldness to despise and despite him, because he was ever most severe against their unruly practices. They push away my feet] They trip up my heels, as we phrase it, and lay me along. Vide admirandam humanae sortis varietatem, saith Brentius here; i.e. See the strange turns of human condition. Job was wont to have the chief seats in the temple, and salutations in the market place; now he cannot have a room anywhere to stand in, but every paltry boy is pushing him down. May it not be said of Job, as it was of that emperor, that he was fortunae pila et lusus? But he saw God in all. And they raise up against me the ways of their destruction] Allegoria castrensis. Job borroweth this expression from the camp, as he doth many more from other things, whensoever he speaketh of his great afflictions, and the contempt that was cast upon him. Upon me they tread the paths of their unhappiness, so Beza; that is, they make a path in which they may practise that their malapert boldness in doing mischief. They beat their paths by running up and down therein, to undo me, so Vatablus; they cast upon me the causes of their woe, so Broughton.

(12) The youth—i.e., the young brood, rabble.

Verse 12. Upon my right hand rise the youth] The word פרחח pirchach, which we translate youth, signifies properly buds, or the buttons of trees. Mr. Good has younglings. Younkers would be better, were it not too colloquial. They push away my feet] They trip up my heels, or they in effect trample me under their feet. They rush upon and overwhelm me. They are violently incensed against me. They roll themselves upon me, התגלגלו hithgalgalu, velut unda impellit undam, as waves of the sea which wash the sand from under the feet, and then swamp the man to the bottom; see Job 30:14.

12. This verse reads, Upon the right hand riseth up a (low) brood, They push away my feet, And they cast up against me their ways of destruction. By “pushing away” his feet, appears to be meant thrusting him away from place to place. The last clause refers to the practice of besiegers casting up a “mount” or raised way on which to approach the beleaguered town and carry destruction to it; such “mounts” are here called “their ways of destruction.”

Upon my right hand rise the youth - The right hand is the place of honor, and therefore it was felt to be a greater insult that they should occupy even that place.

12. Right hand — The place of vantage. This was the position of the accuser in court. (Zechariah 3:1.) Evil has the vantage ground here: in heaven, Christ standeth at the right hand of God.