Job 5:15

But he saveth the poor,.... Who are so in a literal sense, and whom the Lord saves with a temporal salvation; these being the butt of the crafty, wise, and cunning, on whom their eyes are, for whom

But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. From the sword which proceedeth from their mouth - (Psalms 59:7).

The poor, or helpless; who therefore flee to God for refuge. From their mouth, or, from the sword which cometh out of their mouth, i.e. from all their censures, slanders, threatenings, deceitful insinuations, false swearings of witnesses, unrighteous sentences of corrupt judges, whereby their good names, or estates, or lives may be exposed to the utmost hazards. And this is fitly opposed to the sword of the hand, implied in the next branch of the verse. Or, from the sword by their mouths, i.e. by those wicked men’ s own words against the godly, which God wonderfully overruleth to the working out of their deliverance.

Job 5:15 But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.Ver. 15. But he saveth the poor from the sword] From the woe of war, from the hurt of it, not always from the smart of it; for all such promises as this of temporal deliverance are ever to be taken with exception of the cross, which yet shall be so sanctified, that the saints shall say, It was good for us to have been afflicted; provided that they may be poor in spirit (for God will save the humble person, Job 22:29), and sue in forma pauperis, as spiritual beggars, such as get their living by begging; the word signifieth needy and desirous of relief, very indigent, and therefore humbly suppliant for supply of things necessary. "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him (meaning himself), and saved him out of all his troubles," Psalms 34:6. "Forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever," Psalms 74:19. He will not, he cannot, for they are written upon the palms of his hands, so that he cannot look beside them. Who hath not heard bow graciously poor Geneva hath been preserved? Rochel relieved, as it were, by a miracle? A. D. 1573; Leyden rescued from the duke of Alva’ s sword: that very night that he thought to have stormed it, the winds turned, the tide swelled, and the waters came in, and forced him to raise the siege. How well might these poor saved ones sit and sing with David, Psalms 68:20, "He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death." From their mouth] Which is a sword, so some sense it; God saveth his poor from the sword of their enemies’ mouth, or the sword that comes out of their mouth. A gladio oris eorum, saith the Vulgate. David felt the false tongues of his enemies as a murdering weapon in his bones, Psalms 42:10. The tongue is thin, broad, and long, like a sword, it is also red like a flaming sword; by calumnies and false testimonies many are those that fall down wounded, Proverbs 12:6; Proverbs 18:8; Proverbs 26:22. Korah and his complices stick not to object to the meekest of men with one breath, pride, ambition, and usurpation of authority, but; God vindicated his reputation. Mary was accused three times; the Pharisees accused her of presumption, Luke 7:39; Martha of carelessness, Luke 10:40; Judas of wastefulness, John 12:5; but Christ ever answered for her, and took her part. And was it not so with Job? Job 42:12-17; is there not a promise to all saints? Psalms 37:6.

(15) From the sword, from their mouth.—It is merely a matter of grammatical nicety whether we regard the sword as coming forth from their mouth, or as identical with what comes forth from it, or as the first of three things from which the poor are delivered. It is worthy of special note that the Lord is thus conceived of and represented, as the Saviour, and the Saviour of them who have no saviour. Is not this an idea confined to the circle of the sacred writings? At all events, it so abounds and predominates in them as to be pre-eminently, if not exclusively, characteristic of them.

Verse 15. He saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth] This is rather a harsh construction. To avoid this, some have proposed to render מחרב mechereb, which we translate from the sword, the persecuted, but, I am afraid, on very slender authority. Instead of מחרב מפיהם mechereb mippihem, "from the sword, from their mouth," eleven of Kennicott and De Rossi's MSS. read מחרב פיהם mechereb pihem, from the sword of their mouth; and with these MSS. the Chaldee, Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic agree. The verse, therefore, may be translated thus: - He saveth from the sword of their mouth; The poor from the hand of the mighty. Or thus:- And with a strong hand the impoverished.

15. but He saveth] Rather, so He saveth. The salvation of the poor is the consequence of defeating the devices of the crafty, as it is the object in view. from the sword, from their mouth] It is evident that this verse wants the usual balance of clauses, and probably there is some corruption in it. Some mss omit from before mouth, “from the sword of their mouth.” The omission wants support, but the sense is probably that of the words as they stand: from the sword (which cometh) from their mouth; or the two expressions may be in apposition: from the sword even from their mouth. Others have proposed to point the word from-the-sword differently, making it to mean the desolate. This restores balance to the verse: thus he saveth the desolate from their mouth, and the poor from the hand of the mighty. The word “desolate” occurs Ezekiel 29:12, said of cities, and the verb is often applied to lands, mountains, &c., but does not seem used of persons.

But he saveth the poor from the sword - He shows himself to be the friend and protector of the defenseless. The phrase “from the sword, from their mouth,” has been variously interpreted. Dr.

15. From the sword — ξηψα. Doderlein, Michaelis, and Conant propose to change the pointing of the original, in order to make a direct object of the verb; thus, ξηψα, desolated, and read, “So he