Job 20:17

King James Version (KJV)

He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

He shall not see the rivers - Mr. Good has the following judicious note on this passage: "Honey and butter are the common results of a rich, well-watered pasturage, offering a perpetual banquet of grass to kine, and of nectar to bees; and thus loading the possessor with the most luscious luxuries of pastoral life, peculiarly so before the discovery of the means of obtaining sugar. The expression appears to have been proverbial; and is certainly used here to denote a very high degree of temporal prosperity." See also Job 29:6. To the Hebrews such expressions were quite familiar. See Exodus 3:8; Exodus 13:5; Exodus 33:3; 2 Kings 18:32; Deuteronomy 31:20, and elsewhere. The Greek and Roman writers abound in such images. Milk and honey were such delicacies with the ancients, that Pindar compares his song to them for its smoothness and sweetness: -

Χαιρεπ

Φιλος. Εγω τοδε τοιπ

Πεμπω μεμιγμενον μελι λευκῳπ

Συν γαλακτι· κιρναμενα δπ 'εερςπ 'αμφεπει πομπ 'αοιδιμον, Αιολισιν εν πνοαισιν αυλων .

Pind. Nem. iii., ver. 133.

"Hail, friend! to thee I tune my song;

For thee its mingled sweets prepare;

Mellifluous accents pour along;

Verse, pure as milk, to thee I bear;

On all thy actions falls the dew of praise;

Pierian draughts thy thirst of fame assuage,

And breathing flutes thy songs of triumph raise."

J. B. C.

Qui te, Pollio, amat, veniat, quo te quoque gaudet;

Mella fluant illi, ferat et rubus asper amomum.

Virg. Ecl. iii., ver. 88.

"Who Pollio loves, and who his muse admires;

Let Pollio's fortune crown his full desires

Let myrrh, instead of thorn, his fences fill;

And showers of honey from his oaks distil!"

Dryden.

Ovid, describing the golden age, employs the same image: -

Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant;

Flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella.

Metam. lib. i., ver. 3.

"Floods were with milk, and floods with nectar, fill'd;

And honey from the sweating oak distill'd."

Dryden.

Horace employs a similar image in nearly the same words: -

Mella cava manant ex ilice, montibus altis;

Levis crepante lympha desilit pede.

Epod. xvi., ver. 46.

"From hollow oaks, where honey'd streams distil,

And bounds with noisy foot the pebbled rill."

Francis.

Job employs the same metaphor, Job 29:6; : -

When I washed my steps with butter,

And the rock poured out to me rivers of oil.

Isaiah, also, Isaiah 7:22, uses the same when describing the produce of a heifer and two ewes: -

From the plenty of milk that they shall produce,

He shall eat butter: butter and honey shall he eat,

Whosoever is left in the midst of the land.

And Joel, Joel 3:18; : -

And it shall come to pass in that day,

The mountains shall drop down new wine,

And the hills shall flow with milk;

And all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters.

These expressions denote fertility and abundance; and are often employed to point out the excellence of the promised land, which is frequently denominated a land flowing with milk and honey: and even the superior blessings of the Gospel are thus characterized, Isaiah 51:1.

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

He shall not see the rivers - That is, he shall not be permitted to enjoy plenty and prosperity. Rivers or rills of honey and butter are emblems of prosperity; compare Exodus 3:17; Job 29:6. A land flowing with milk, honey, and butter, is, in the Scripture, the highest image of prosperity and happiness. The word rendered “rivers” (פלגה pelaggâh ), means rather “rivulets small streams - or brooks,” such as were made by “dividing” a large stream (from פלג pâlag to “cleave, divide”), and would properly be applied to canals made by separating a large stream, or dividing it into numerous watercourses for the purpose of irrigating lands. The word rendered “floods,” and in the margin, “streaming brooks” (נחלי נהרי nâhârēy nachalēy ), means “the rivers of the valley,” or such as flow through a valley when it is swelled by the melting of snow, or by torrents of rain.

A flood, a rapid, swollen, full stream, would express the idea. These were ideas of beauty and fertility among the Orientals; and where butter and honey were represented as flowing in this manner in a land, it was the highest conception of plenty. The word rendered “honey” (דבשׁ debash ) may, and commonly does, mean “honey;” but it also means the juice of the grape, boiled down to about the consistency of molasses, and used as an article of food. The Arabs make much use of this kind of food now, and in Syria, nearly two-thirds of the grapes are employed in preparing this article of food. It is called by the Arabs “Dibs which is the same as the Hebrew word used here. May not the word mean this in some of the places where it is rendered “honey” in the Scriptures? The word rendered “butter” (חמאה chem'âh ) probably means, usually, “curdled milk.” See the notes at Isaiah 7:15. It is not certain that the word is ever used in the Old Testament to denote “butter.” The article which is used still by the Arabs is chiefly curdled milk, and probably this is referred to here. It will illustrate this passage to remark, that the inhabitants of Arabia, and of those who live in similar countries, have no idea of “butter,” as it exists among us, in a solid state. What they call “butter,” is in a fluid state, and is hence compared with flowing streams. An abundance of these articles was regarded as a high proof of prosperity, as they constitute a considerable part of the diet of Orientals. The same image, to denote plenty, is often used by the sacred writers, and by Classical poets; see Isaiah 7:22:

And it shall come to pass in that day

That a man shall keep alive a young cow and two sheep,

And it shall be that from the plenty of milk which they shall give,

He shall eat butter

For butter and honey shall every one eat,

Who is left alone in the midst of the land.

See also in Joel 3:18:

And it shall come to pass in that day,

The mountains shall drop down new wine,

And the hills shall flow with milk,

And all the rivers of Judah shall flow with water.

Thus, also Ovid, Metam. iii.

Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant.

Compare Horace Epod. xvi. 41.

Mella cava manant ex ilice; montibus altis

Levis crepante lympha desilit pede.

From oaks pure honey flows, from lofty hills

Bound in light dance the murmuring rills.

Boscawen.

See also Euripides, Bacch. 142; and Theoc. Idyll. 5,124. Compare Rosenmuller‘s Alte u. neue Morgenland on Exodus 3:8, No. 194.

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

The miserable condition of the wicked man in this world is fully set forth. The lusts of the flesh are here called the sins of his youth. His hiding it and keeping it under his tongue, denotes concealment of his beloved lust, and delight therein. But He who knows what is in the heart, knows what is under the tongue, and will discover it. The love of the world, and of the wealth of it, also is wickedness, and man sets his heart upon these. Also violence and injustice, these sins bring God's judgments upon nations and families. Observe the punishment of the wicked man for these things. Sin is turned into gall, than which nothing is more bitter; it will prove to him poison; so will all unlawful gains be. In his fulness he shall be in straits, through the anxieties of his own mind. To be led by the sanctifying grace of God to restore what was unjustly gotten, as Zaccheus was, is a great mercy. But to be forced to restore by the horrors of a despairing conscience, as Judas was, has no benefit and comfort attending it.

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