Commentaire sur Job 23:9
שְׂמֹ֣אול בַּעֲשֹׂת֣וֹ וְלֹא־אָ֑חַז יַעְטֹ֥ף יָ֝מִ֗ין וְלֹ֣א אֶרְאֶֽה׃
Exerce-t-il son action au Nord? Je ne le vois pas; se retire-t-il au Sud? Je ne l’aperçois pas.
Rashi on Job
north Heb. שמאוֹל, lit. left.
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Malbim on Job
When He made the north, He did not roof it over;3Malbim takes the word אחז as meaning to roof as it does in 1Kings 6:10.
but the south He covered, so I cannot see through it.4The Hebrew text has שמאול - left, and ימין - right. However, Malbim interprets them as referring, respectively, to north and south, thus completing the four points of the compass. Malbim adds that the ancients imagined the north as being open; that God had not completed Creation in this direction. This notion appears in Bamidbar Rabbah 2:19 and Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer 3 where the reason He left the northern quarter unfinished was so that anyone who claims to be God could prove he was by completing it. Expanding on this theme, Malbim writes:
He had left this side [the north] uncovered, without ramparts and walls. Like someone who builds a house without cedar-beam supports and without enclosing it with wooden planks or walls. Taking up this metaphor, Job says that he cannot see God there even though that direction is wide open. However, though the north may have been left exposed, the southern side was enclosed. The upshot is that he cannot perceive God in any direction.
Malbim continues: Perception of God by reason of Himself is designated 'Frontal Perception.' No human being can perceive this or have any conception of it. Humans can only perceive Him from behind, namely, by virtue of the Creation that ensues from Him. That through His Creations we can appreciate the Creator; and through the effects, the Prime Cause. As is written: 'You will see My back, but My face shall not be seen.' (Exodus 33:23). Accordingly, Job states that looking east, i.e., looking for the truth of God's Self as He really is, He appears not to exist, for this view is hidden from human intelligence and so the Creator is never found there. He can only be detected from the reverse side, where His existence is manifest and can be perceived; yet He remains inscrutable, His ways being beyond human understanding. Now, in the Holy Texts [Scripture], governance of the world by Nature is designated 'Governance of the Left' and governance by means of wonders and miracles is designated 'Governance of the Right,' as is written everywhere. Accordingly, he [Job] states that if he investigates Nature's governance, he finds it to be an unroofed and unfinished structure, for there is no proper order to its governance, there being righteous persons who have a hard time of it and wicked ones who have it good. And if he looks right, i.e., towards His miraculous Governance, where governance is perfect, he sees nothing for all he is capable of perceiving is the natural governance ordained from the six days of Creation, that decreed by the stars - 'incoherent shadows of death'.
but the south He covered, so I cannot see through it.4The Hebrew text has שמאול - left, and ימין - right. However, Malbim interprets them as referring, respectively, to north and south, thus completing the four points of the compass. Malbim adds that the ancients imagined the north as being open; that God had not completed Creation in this direction. This notion appears in Bamidbar Rabbah 2:19 and Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer 3 where the reason He left the northern quarter unfinished was so that anyone who claims to be God could prove he was by completing it. Expanding on this theme, Malbim writes:
He had left this side [the north] uncovered, without ramparts and walls. Like someone who builds a house without cedar-beam supports and without enclosing it with wooden planks or walls. Taking up this metaphor, Job says that he cannot see God there even though that direction is wide open. However, though the north may have been left exposed, the southern side was enclosed. The upshot is that he cannot perceive God in any direction.
Malbim continues: Perception of God by reason of Himself is designated 'Frontal Perception.' No human being can perceive this or have any conception of it. Humans can only perceive Him from behind, namely, by virtue of the Creation that ensues from Him. That through His Creations we can appreciate the Creator; and through the effects, the Prime Cause. As is written: 'You will see My back, but My face shall not be seen.' (Exodus 33:23). Accordingly, Job states that looking east, i.e., looking for the truth of God's Self as He really is, He appears not to exist, for this view is hidden from human intelligence and so the Creator is never found there. He can only be detected from the reverse side, where His existence is manifest and can be perceived; yet He remains inscrutable, His ways being beyond human understanding. Now, in the Holy Texts [Scripture], governance of the world by Nature is designated 'Governance of the Left' and governance by means of wonders and miracles is designated 'Governance of the Right,' as is written everywhere. Accordingly, he [Job] states that if he investigates Nature's governance, he finds it to be an unroofed and unfinished structure, for there is no proper order to its governance, there being righteous persons who have a hard time of it and wicked ones who have it good. And if he looks right, i.e., towards His miraculous Governance, where governance is perfect, he sees nothing for all he is capable of perceiving is the natural governance ordained from the six days of Creation, that decreed by the stars - 'incoherent shadows of death'.
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Rashi on Job
when He made it When He created it, He did not make the place of His throne there, that I should see it there.
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Rashi on Job
see Heb. אחז, the Aramaic translation of אֶרְאֶה, I will see. Proof of this is that the accent is under the “aleph.” Now, if it were an expression of holding (אחיזה), the accent would be at the end of the word, under the “cheth.”
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Rashi on Job
He wraps up the south He covers the face of the south before me in order that I should not see Him.
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