*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The troops of Tema looked - That is, looked for the streams of water. On the situation of Tema, see Notes, Job 2:11. This was the country of Eliphaz, and the image would be well understood by him. The figure is one of exquisite beauty. It means that the caravans from Tema, in journeying through the desert, looked for those streams. They came with an expectation of finding the means of allaying their thirst. When they came there they were disappointed, for the waters had disappeared. Reiske, however, renders this, "Their tracks (the branchings of the flood) tend toward Tema;" - a translation which the Hebrew will bear, but the usual version is more correct, and is more elegant.
The companies of Sheba waited for them - The "Sheba" here referred to was probably in the southern part of Arabia; see the notes at Isaiah 45:14. The idea is, that the caravans from that part of Arabia came and looked for a supply of water, and were disappointed.
The troops of Tema looked - The caravans coming from Tema are represented as arriving at those places where it was well known torrents did descend from the mountains, and they were full of expectation that here they could not only slake their thirst, but fill their girbas or water-skins; but when they arrive, they find the waters totally dissipated and lost. In vain did the caravans of Sheba wait for them; they did not reappear: and they were confounded, because they had hoped to find here refreshment and rest.
The troops of Tema (l) looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them.
(l) They who pass by it to go into the hot countries of Arabia, think to find water there to quench their thirst but they are deceived.
The troops of Tema looked,.... A city in Arabia, so called from Tema a son of Ishmael, Genesis 25:15; these troops or companies were travelling ones, either that travelled to Tema, or that went from thence to other places for merchandise, see Isaiah 21:13; these, as they passed along in their caravans, as the Turks their successors now do, looked at those places where in the wintertime they observed large waters frozen over, and covered with snow, and expected to have been supplied from thence in the summer season, for the extinguishing of their thirst:
the companies of Sheba waited for them: another people in Arabia, which went in companies through the deserts, where being in great want of water for their refreshment, waited patiently till they came to those places, where they hoped to find water to relieve them, which they had before marked in the wintertime.
the troops--that is, "caravans."
Tema--north of Arabia-Deserta, near the Syrian desert; called from Tema son of Ishmael (Genesis 25:15; Isaiah 21:14; Jeremiah 25:23), still so called by the Arabs. Job 6:19-20 give another picture of the mortification of disappointed hopes, namely, those of the caravans on the direct road, anxiously awaiting the return of their companions from the distant valley. The mention of the locality whence the caravans came gives living reality to the picture.
Sheba--refers here not to the marauders in North Arabia-Deserta (Job 1:15), but to the merchants (Ezekiel 27:22) in the south, in Arabia-Felix or Yemen, "afar off" (Jeremiah 6:20; Matthew 12:42; Genesis 10:28). Caravans are first mentioned in Genesis 37:25; men needed to travel thus in companies across the desert, for defense against the roving robbers and for mutual accommodation.
The companies . . . waited for them--cannot refer to the caravans who had gone in quest of the waters; for Job 6:18 describes their utter destruction.
Tema - This place and Sheba were both parts of the hot and dry country of Arabia, in which waters were very scarce, and therefore precious and desirable, especially to travellers. Companies - Men did not there travel singly, as we do, but in companies for their security against wild beasts and robbers.
*More commentary available at chapter level.