He shall not see the rivers, the floods, &c.— That is, he shall not see them with any pleasure. The most delightful things of this world, and the greatest affluence and plenty of them, shall afford him no enjoyment. Bishop Warburton thinks this to be a proverbial speech, taken from the descriptions of the Holy Land, as a land flowing with milk and honey; but I think that proverbial speeches are usually conveyed in the same forms of words, and here is a great variation in the expression; for there is but one word the same, namely, דבשׁ debash, honey: moreover, supposing to flow with milk and honey, or rivers of honey and butter, were proverbial expressions, to denote a fertile land, yet it might be used (for any thing which appears to the contrary) in Job's time and country before ever Moses wrote. Milk and honey were such delicacies with the ancients, that Pindar, who had none of the lowest opinion of his own performances, compares his song to them for its sweetness:
"Hail, friend! I send to thee this honey mix'd "With whitest milk."———
u924?εμιγμενον μελι λευκω Συν γαλακτι. N em. γ.
See Peters.