Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was [not] my soul grieved for the poor?
Ver. 25. Did I not weep for him that was in trouble?] Rursum, per pathos, excandescit (Mercer). Here Job wondereth and is much moved again at his unpitied condition, since he was so full of pity for the afflicted. He could safely say with Cyprian, Cum singulis pectus meum copulo, maeroris et funeris pondera luctuosa participo, cum plangentibus plango, cum deflentibus defico. He had tears ready for the afflicted, and wept with those that weep; not for a compliment, as the Brazilians, who
Ut flerent, oculos erudiere suos (Ovid),
nor out of tender heartedness, as Gordian the emperor, who would weep for the beating of a boy at school; but out of hearty compassion and commiseration, as good Nehemiah, Nehemiah 2:2, and those Christian Hebrews, Hebrews 10:33,34. Now forasmuch as the merciful have the promises of mercy made unto them, Matthew 5:7 James 2:13, and all men say, Ab alio expectes alteri quod feceris, Job marvelleth at others' hard heartedness toward him, and expostulateth the unkindness.
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?] Into whose case good Job put himself, and so became mendicorum maximus, as Salvian saith of Christ, because he shareth with his saints in all their necessities; he drew out not only his sheaf, but his soul to the hungry, Isaiah 58:7; Isaiah 58:10, and satisfied the afflicted soul; this was right. Contrisrata est anima mea super egenum. Some render it, Restagnavit lachrymis anima mea, My soul stood with tears, like a standing pool. Others, ustulatur, πυρουται, My soul burneth: which is agreeable to that of the apostle, 2 Corinthians 11:29, "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?"