Job 15:16

16. How much more Much less is he, the abominable and filthy man, that drinketh iniquity like water. Man’s pollution seems the greater by contrast.

Abominable נתעב . Man is a being detestable because of his corruption. The original implies both. The more pure a nature is, the more it loathes moral corruption. An infinitely pure being regards it as infinitely abominable.

Filthy אלח , to be muddy, dirty, spoken of water; hence, to be corrupt in a moral sense. (Furst.) The word in the Arabic means to turn sour, as in the case of milk or wine. The same word is used in Psalms 14:3; Psalms 53:3.

Drinketh iniquity like water It is supposed by Dr. Good that this is a “proverbial expression, with a direct allusion to the prodigious draught of water swallowed by a camel.” A custom connected with the Arabic dance, described by Burckhardt, favours this view. In the exclamations with which the men standing in line animate the girl who dances, they do not address her by name, which would, according to Bedouin etiquette, be a breach of politeness, but style her “camel,” affecting to suppose that she advances toward them in search of food or water. This fiction is continued during the whole dance. “Get up, O camel,” “walk fast,” “the poor camel is thirsty,” and similar expressions, are used on the occasion. Notes on the Bedouins, 1:254. The expression of the text, considered from any point of view, indicates an exceeding fondness for sin. Semper nitimur in vetitum, “We always strive for the forbidden.” ( Ovid.) Evil takes the form of thirst. This thirst is abnormal it conflicts with man’s entire being. Its indulgence only increases its power; the more the soul drinks of evil the more it demands. “In divine speech water is the hieroglyphic for abundance.” Corderus. The soul drinks iniquity abundantly. Everywhere this holds true of man: “No one is born without vices.” Horace, Sat., Job 3:1. Society, education, custom, manners, civilization, may do much to disguise the diseased condition of the soul, but it is everywhere man’s inalienable heritage, though the soul be, in the words of Sakuntala, (Sanscrit drama,) “like a deep well whose mouth is covered over with smiling plants.”