to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
potsherd
חֶ֔רֶשׂChe.res
H2789
a piece of pottery · noun, common masculine singular absolute
scrape
לְהִתְגָּרֵ֖דle.hit.ga.Red
H1623
to abrade · preposition + verb, hithpael infinitive construct
down
יֹשֵׁ֥בyo.Shev
H3427
properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
among
בְּתוֹךְbe.tokh-
H8432
a bisection · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
ashes
הָאֵֽפֶרha.'E.fer
H665
ashes · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Job 42:6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
Ezekiel 27:30 And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow the…
Jonah 3:6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat…
Matthew 11:21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they wo…
Psalms 38:5 My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.
Luke 16:20-21 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
2 Samuel 13:19 And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colours that was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying.
Job 19:14-17 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 2:7-10
The devil, having got leave to tear and worry poor Job, presently fell to work with him, as a tormentor first and then as a tempter. His own children he tempts first, and draws them to sin, and afterwards torments, when thereby he has brought them to ruin; but this child of God he tormented with an affliction, and then tempted to make a bad use of his affliction. That which he aimed at was to make Job curse God; now here we are told what course he took both to move him to it and move it to him, both to give him the provocation, else he would not have thought of it: thus artfully in the temptation managed with all the subtlety of the old serpent, who is here playing the same game against Job…
a potsherd--not a piece of a broken earthen vessel, but an instrument made for scratching (the root of the Hebrew word is "scratch"); the sore was too disgusting to touch. "To sit in the ashes" marks the deepest mourning (Jon 3:6); also humility, as if the mourner were nothing but dust and ashes; so Abraham (Gen 18:27).
John Gill on Job 2:8
And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal,.... His mouth was shut, his lips were silent, not one murmuring and repining word came from him, amidst all this anguish and misery he must be in; much less anything that looked like cursing God and blaspheming him, as some are said to do, because of their pains and their sores, Revelation 16:11; but Job bore his with the utmost patience; he took a piece of a broken pot, which perhaps lay in the ashes among which he sat, and scraped himself with it; either as some think to allay the itching, or rather to remove the purulent matter that ran from his boils; which he used instead of linen rags to wipe them with, having no surgeon to come near…
The Working Out of the Commission:
7, 8 Then Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah, and smote Job with sore boils, from the sole of his foot to his crown. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself with, and sat in the midst of ashes.
The description of this disease calls to mind Deu 28:35 with Deu 28:27, and is, according to the symptoms mentioned further on in the book, elephantiasis so called because the limbs become jointless lumps like elephants' legs), Arab. jḏâm, ‛gudhâm, Lat. lepra nodosa, the most fearful form of lepra, which sometimes seizes persons even of the higher ranks. Artapan (C. Mller, Fragm. iii. 222) says, that an Egyptian king was the first man who died of e…
The Church Fathers
He seizes the debris of a vase, in order to remove the pus from his wounds. Figure of the Passion of the Lord; by it sins are erased to those who confess them.
HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes. What is a potsherd made from, excepting mud? and what is the humour of the body, but mud? Accordingly he is said 'to scrape the humour with a potsherd,' as if it were plainly said, 'he wiped away mud with mud.' For the holy man reflected, whence that which he carried about him had been taken, and with the broken piece of a vessel of clay he scraped his broken vessel of clay. By which act we have it openly shewn us, in what manner he subdued under him that body of his when sound, which even when stricken he tended with such slight regard; how softly he dealt with his flesh in its sound state, who applied neither clothing, nor fingers, but only a potsherd to its very wounds. And thus he scraped the humour with a potsherd, that seeing himself in the very broken piece, he might even by the cleansing of the wound be taking a remedy for his soul. But because it often happens that the mind is swelled by the circumstances that surround the body, and by the way men behave toward us the frailty of the body is removed from before the eyes of the mind, (as there are some of those that are of the world, who while they are buoyed up with temporal honours, whilst they rule in elevated stations, whilst they see the obedience of multitudes yielded to them at will, neglect to consider their own frailty, and altogether forget, nor ever take heed, how speedily that vessel of clay which they bear, is liable to be shattered,) so blessed Job, that he might take thought of his own frailty from the things about him, and increase the intensity of his self-contempt in his own eyes, is described to have seated himself not any where on the earth, which at most in every place is found clean, but upon a dunghill. He set his body on a dunghill, that the mind might to its great profit consider thoroughly what was that substance of the flesh, which was taken from the ground. He set his body on a dunghill, that even from the stench of the place he might apprehend how rapidly the body returneth to stench. But see, while blessed Job is undergoing such losses in his substance, and grieving over the death of so many children whereby he is smitten, while he is suffering such numberless wounds, while he scrapes the running humour with a potsherd, whilst, running down in a state of…
Dictionary and topics
Medicine — Egypt was the earliest home of medical and other skill for the region of the Mediterranean basin, and every Egyptian mummy of the more expensive and elaborate sort involved a process of anatomy.…
Potsherd — A “shred”, i.e., anything severed, as a fragment of earthenware (Job 2:8; Prov. 26:23; Isa. 45:9).
Diseases · Regarded as visitations — Regarded as visitations
Job · .Trial of, by affliction of Satan — .Trial of, by affliction of Satan
Potsherd · Fragment of earthenware — Fragment of earthenware
Resignation · Should be exhibited in: Bodily suffering — Should be exhibited in: Bodily suffering
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Job might have scraped his skin to relieve itching; the Greek Old Testament says that it was “to scrape away the pus.” • The ashes might refer to a place where lepers were quarantined, but Job was probably demonstrating his grief and dismay (30:19; Gen 18:27; 2 Sam 13:19; Isa 58:5; Jon 3:6).
Rashi on Job 2:8
to scratch himself with Heb. להתגרד. This word is spelled with a “dalet.” It is a Mishnaic expression (Rosh Hashanah 27b): “If he scraped it (גרדו) and reduced it to its normal size,” but גורר with a “reish” is only an expression of dragging, like (Shabbath 29b), “A person may drag a bed or a bench.”
ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATION. And he took him a potsherd to scrape the humour withal. For what is the potsherd in the hand of the Lord, but the flesh which He took of the clay of our nature? For the potsherd receives firmness by fire. And the Flesh of our Lord was rendered stronger by His Passion, in so far as dying by infirmity, He arose from death void of infirmity. And hence too it is rightly delivered by the Prophet, My strength is dried up like a potsherd. For His 'strength was dried up like a potsherd,' Who strengthened the infirmity of the flesh which He took upon Him by the fire of His Passion. But what is to be understood by humour saving sin? For it is the custom to denote the sins of the flesh by flesh and blood. And hence it is said by the Psalmist, Deliver me from blood. Humour then is the corruption of the blood. And so what do we understand by humour but the sins of the flesh, rendered worse by length of time? Thus the wound turns to humour when sin, being neglected, is aggravated by habit. And so the Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, in giving up His Body into the hands of those that persecuted Him, scraped the humour with a potsherd, forasmuch as He put away sin by the flesh; for He came, as it is written, in the likeness of sinful flesh, that He might condemn sin of sin. And whilst He presented the purity of His own Flesh to the enemy, He cleansed away the defilements of ours. And by means of that flesh whereby the enemy held us captive, He made atonement for us whom He set free. For that which was made an instrument of sin by us, was by our Mediator converted for us into the instrument of righteousness. And so 'the humour is scraped with a potsherd,' when sin is overcome by the flesh. It is rightly subjoined; And he sat down upon a dunghill. Not in the court in which the law resounds, not in the building which lifts its top on high, but on a dunghill he takes his seat, which is because the Redeemer of man on coming to take the flesh, as Paul testifies, hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty. Does not He, as it were, sit down upon a dunghill, the buildings being ruined, Who, the Jews in their pride being left desolate, rests in that Gentile world, which He had for so long time rejected? He is found outside the dwelling all in His sores, Who herein, that He bore with Judaea, which set itself against…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
