Job 8:11

“Can the rush grow up without mire? etc.] No, at least not long, or so as to lift up his head on high, as the word signifies f349; the rush or bulrush, which seems to be meant, delights in watery places, and has its name in Hebrew from its absorbing or drinking up water; it grows in moist and watery clay, or in marshy places, which Jarchi says is the sense of the word here used; the Septuagint understands it of the “paper reed”, which, as Pliny f350 observes, grows in the marshy places of Egypt, and by the still waters of the river Nile: can the flag grow without water? or “the sedge” f351; which usually grows in moist places, and on the banks of rivers; this unless in such places, or if…”

“rush--rather, "paper-reed": The papyrus of Egypt, which was used to make garments, shoes, baskets, boats, and paper (a word derived from it). It and the flag, or bulrush, grow only in marshy places (such as are along the Nile). So the godless thrives only in external prosperity; there is in the hypocrite no inward stability; his prosperity is like the rapid growth of water plants.”

“Can the rush - This passage has all the appearance of being a fragment of a poem handed down from ancient times. It is adduced by Bildad as an example of the views of the ancients, and, as the connection would seem to imply, as a specimen of the sentiments of those who lived before the life of man had been abridged. It was customary in the early ages of the world to communicate knowledge of all kinds by maxims, moral sayings, and proverbs; by apothegms and by poetry handed down from generation to generation. Wisdom consisted much in the amount of maxims and proverbs which were thus treasured up; as it now consists much in the knowledge which we have of the lessons taught by the past, and in…”

“Can, &c. - The hypocrite cannot build his hope, without some false, rotten ground or other, any more than the rush can grow without mire, or the flag without water. Job 8:12”

“8:11 Papyrus reeds grow as high as ten to fifteen feet.”

“the rush: Exo 2:3; Isa 19:5-7 Job 8:12”

“11 Doth papyrus grow up without mire? Doth the reed shoot up without water? 12 It is still in luxuriant verdure, when it is not cut off, Then before all other grass it with 13 So is the way of all forgetters of God, And the hope of the ungodly perisheth, 14 Because his hope is cut off, And his trust is a spider's house: 15 He leaneth upon his house and it standeth not, He holdeth fast to it and it endureth not. Bildad likens the deceitful ground on which the prosperity of the godless stands to the dry ground on which, only for a time, the papyrus or reed finds water, and grows up rapidly: shooting up quickly, it withers as quickly; as the papyrus plant, (Note: Vid., Champollion-Figeac,…”