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The young men saw me, and hid themselves - From all classes of persons I had the most marked respect. The Young, through modesty and bashfulness, shrunk back, and were afraid to meet the eye of their prince; and the Aged rose from their seats when I entered the place of judgment. These were the elders of the people, who also sat with the judge, and assisted in all legal cases.
The young men saw me, and hid themselves - That is, they retired as if awed at my presence. They gave place to me, or reverently withdrew as I passed along.
And the aged arose, and stood up - They not merely rose, but they continued to stand still until I had passed by. “This is a most elegant description, and exhibits most correctly the great reverence and respect which was paid, even by the old and the decrepit, to the holy man, in passing along the streets, or when he sat in public. They not only rose, which in men so old was a great mark of distinction, but they stood; and they continued to do it, though the attempt was so difficult.” Lowth. The whole image presents a beautiful illustration of Oriental manners, and of the respect paid to a man of known excellence of character and distinction.
God has given in His word a picture of a prosperous man—one whose life was in the truest sense a success, a man whom both heaven and earth delighted to honor. Of his experiences Job himself says: Ed 142.1
“In the ripeness of my days,
When the secret of God was upon my tent;
When the Almighty was yet with me,
And my children were about me; ...
When I went forth to the gate unto the city,
When I prepared my seat in the broad place [margin],
The young men saw me and hid themselves,
And the aged rose up and stood;
The princes refrained talking,
And laid their hand on their mouth;
The voice of the nobles was hushed....
Ed 142.2
“For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me;
And when the eye saw me, it gave witness unto me;
Because I delivered the poor that cried,
The fatherless also, and him [margin], that had none to
help him.
Ed 142.3