Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Job 14:21

יכבד יי R. Moses Hakkohen says, that it means, the Lord is heavy; that is, it is difficult to them to remember Him and to keep His commandments; as a proof of the correctness of this explanation he adds, that only the Niphal of כבד is found in the meaning of to be honoured, as e.g. נכבדת Thou art glorified (26:15); but he did not think of יִבְבְּדוּ they are honoured, which is the opposite of יצערו they are little (Job 14:21). According to this explanation the sense of the verse is clear.¹⁰Comp. Kimchi ad locum: The wicked say to those that are anxious to fulfil the word of the Lord, ‘Certainly, the Lord is too hard for us with His commandments,’ but, says the prophet to the good, He will appear in the midst of your rejoicings, and they will be ashamed. This is probably also the explanation of R. Moses Hakkohen, partly quoted by I. E. After יכבד יי the Lord is heavy the word yet must be supplied^10aThe Hebrew text has the words ותחסר מלת זמן, which either mean, and an adverb of time is wanting, as, e. g., once, yet, or are the corruption of ותחסר מלת עוד, as adopted for the translation., as if the prophet said, yet a time will come, when we shall see your¹¹The good, that tremble at His word, are addressed by the prophet. rejoicing, while they, that cast you out, will be confounded. But I think that¹²These words are added in the translation; the corresponding Hebrew phrase, ולפי דעתי is missing. That he approves of the explanation that follows is clear from the words, In this way there is a connection between this verse and the next. these are the words of your brethren that cast you out, and that the whole verse must be explained thus: Your brethren say, For my name’s sake let the Lord be honoured [יכבד being derived from כבוד honour (11:10)], we wish it that the Lord be honoured, then we shall see your rejoicing and be ashamed; this is the meaning of the words והם יבשו and they shall be ashamed.¹³According to this explanation this would be one of the very rare instances of the oratio indirecta in Hebrew; the oratio directa would be ואנחנו נבוש, and we shall be ashamed. They say it ironically and mean to indicate, that God will not be able to show His glory. In this way there is a connection between this verse and the next. Those that take these words, not as uttered by your brethren etc., but spoken by God, understand the plural in נראה as pluralis majestatis, like the plural in נעשה let us make (Gen. 1:26), or^13aואחיכם of the Hebrew text gives no sense, and must be corrected into ואחרים, and others. refer it to both, to God and the prophet together.

כי קלו המים, that they had decreased in quantity. When something is in short supply it is often referred to as being קל, whereas when something is in ample supply it is called כבד. Examples of this are found in Job 14,21 יכבדו בניו,”his sons become ‘heavyweights’ (important, of consequence) We have the expression מקנה כבד, a great deal of cattle (Exodus 12,38) or חיל כבד, an army of numerous soldiers (Kings II 18,17). Why did the pigeon choose a leaf from an olive tree? Perhaps it was the first tree it encountered after flying away from the ark. Or, seeing that the leaves of the olive tree stay on the tree all year round it was the most likely leaf available. According to Sanhedrin 108 the pigeon reasoned that even a bitter tasting leaf eaten in freedom was preferable to being cooped up in luxurious surroundings. In the final analysis, the pigeon preferred to entrust its future to G’d rather than to man.