And they. Hebrew, "doth not their dignity pass away with them? They die without wisdom." (Haydock) --- This is but too frequently the case of the great ones of this world, who never discern true from false riches. (Calmet) CHAPTER IV. Saints. This is a proof of the invocation of the saints (Calmet) and angels. (Haydock) --- The Jews often begged God to have mercy on them for the sake of the patriarchs, 2 Paralipomenon vi. 42. (Calmet) --- Eliphaz, therefore, exhorts Job, if he have any patron or angel, to bring him forward in his defence. (Menochius) --- Septuagint, "Invoke now if any one will hear thee, or if thou perceive any of the holy angels," (Haydock) as I have done. (Menochius) --- He extols himself, to correct the pretended presumption of his friend, (Calmet) and other defects, which none will dare to deny, as he supposes. See St. Gregory, v. 30. (Worthington) Foolish and....little, here denote the wicked, as in the book of Proverbs. (Calmet) --- He accuses Job of anger (Menochius) and folly. (Calmet) And I. Septuagint, "But presently their subsistence was eaten up." I envied not their riches: but judged they would soon end. (Haydock) Gate, in judgment. (Menochius) Ground. If you had not sinned, you would not suffer. (Calmet) Bird. Hebrew, "sparks fly up." (Haydock) --- You can no more then expect to pass unpunished, since it is impossible for man to be innocent! (Calmet) and, at any rate, labour is inevitable. (Menochius) --- We must gain our bread by the sweat of our brow. [Genesis iii. 19. (Worthington) I will, or if I were in your place, I would sue for pardon. (Calmet) --- Protestants, "I would seek unto God," (Haydock) under affliction. (Menochius) Mouth; detraction and calumny. (Calmet) In six, mentioned below; (Menochius) or in many, indefinitely. (Calmet) --- Both during the six days of (Menochius) life, and at death, God's grace delivers us. (St. Gregory) (Worthington) CHAPTER V. Scourge. Ecclesiasticus (xxvi. 9., and xxviii. 21.) has the same expression. See James iii. 6. (Calmet) --- Calamity, from robbers, as the Hebrew shod, (Haydock) intimates. The word is rendered destruction, vastitate, ver. 22. (Menochius) Stones, so as not to stumble; or, the rocks will be a retreat for thee. Beauty does not mean his wife, as some grossly imagine, (Calmet) but a house well ordered. (Menochius) --- Hebrew, "thy habitation." Yet Sanchez adopts the former sentiment. In effect, the habitation includes all the regulation of a wife and family. (Haydock) Abundance. "With loud lamentations." (De Dieu) --- "In full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in its season." (Protestants) --- After a life spent in happiness, thy memory will not be obliterated. Many shall bewail thy loss. (Haydock) Which thou. Septuagint, "And what we have heard: but do thou reflect with thyself what thou hast done." (Haydock) --- What had been revealed to Eliphaz was very true. Yet his conclusions were unwarrantable. (Calmet) --- How confidently does he speak of his own knowledge, and how great must have been his disappointment, when God condemned him of folly, and sent him to be the prayers of that very man whom he now considered as a wretched sinner! (Haydock) My sins, &c. In the Hebrew my wrath. He does not mean to compare his sufferings with his real sins; but with the imaginary crimes which his friends falsely imputed to him: and especially with his wrath or grief, expressed in the third chapter, which they so much accused. Though, as he tells them here, it bore no proportion with the greatness of his calamity. (Challoner) --- Job does not deny but he may have transgressed. (Calmet) See chap. vii. 20. --- But his is not conscious of any mortal offence; such as his friends insisted he must have committed, as he was so cruelly tormented. (Haydock) --- Some deny canonical authority to the words of Job, because God reprehended him. But St. Gregory (Mor. vii.) says, Ab \'e6terno judice casurus laudari non potuit. (Du Hamel) --- "The man who was on the point of falling, could not be praised by the eternal Judge;" (Haydock) and it seems to be a mistake that Job erred, (Houbigant) though asserted by many. See Calmet; Worthington, &c. --- Wrath. Hebrew, "O that my grief (Haydock; or complaints. Calmet) were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together." (Protestants) (Haydock) --- A just man confesses his own sins, but not those which are wrongfully laid to his charge. (Worthington) Heavier. The figure hyperbole is frequently used in Scripture, to give us some idea of what surpasses our understanding. Job intimates that he punishment was incomparably greater than his sins. As he and other saints, particularly our Saviour and the blessed Virgin [Mary], have thus patiently suffered more than they had deserved, these merits form part of that treasure of the Church, out of which the pope and bishops are empowered to dispense indulgences, to release people from the pains due to sin, either in this world or in purgatory. (Worthington) --- Septuagint, "Yea, these (sorrows) are heavier than the sand of the seashore. But, it seems my words are wicked." (Haydock) Rage. Hebrew, "poison," (Haydock) or "venom;" (Chaldean; Menochius) as it was customary to use poisoned arrows. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "When I begin to speak, they pierce me. For what! Does the wild ass continually bray, except when he is in quest of food?" (Haydock) --- It is easy for those to be silent who suffer nothing. The wild asses were so common in those parts, (Calmet) that Herod sometimes slew 40 in a hunt. (Josephus, Jewish Wars i. 16.) --- Many fabulous account have been given of them. Some are still found in Ethiopia resembling a mule, except in the ears, and beautifully striped with grey, black, and reddish colours. (Bernier) Salt. I wonder not that you should consider my lamentations as insipid; I now find some consolation in them, ver. 7. (Calmet) --- Or can. Hebrew, "or is there any taste in the white of an egg?" (Protestants) or in blue milk? (Mercer) or "in the spittle, which a man swallows in a dream?" See Isaias xxviii. 8. If pain did not extort these complaints, should I find any pleasure in them? (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "is there any taste in vain words?" Can I hear your arguments without indignation? (Haydock) (Menochius) --- Some manuscripts add, "For to a hungry soul even bitter things appear to be sweet," from Proverbs xxvii. 7. (Calmet) Off, and release me from this state of misery and danger. (Haydock) --- He is ready to die cheerfully, if it be God's will. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "May the Lord, who has begun, wound me, but not take me away finally. Yea, let my city, over which I have exulted, be my grave. I will not spare, for I have not belied a word of my holy God." (Haydock) End. Septuagint, "time." I am too weak and short-lived to bear all this. (Haydock) --- I can perceive no end. (Menochius) --- Keep. Protestants, "prolong my life." (Haydock) --- "What is the extent of my soul, to reach so far?" (Calmet) --- Longanimity is the characteristic of a great soul. (Haydock) Brass. This is proverbial. Homer (Iliad A) says, "Attack the Greeks; their skin is neither of stone, (Calmet) iron, or brass." Those who are aware of their own frailty, ought not to expose themselves to dangerous company, particularly to those of the other sex. Myself. "Have I not placed my trust in him?" God alone. (Haydock) --- All my other friends have abandoned me, ver. 15. (Calmet) --- Can they wonder if I express my grief? (Haydock) --- Familiar. Hebrew, "is wisdom removed far from me?" (Haydock) --- Has my strength abandoned me, so that I cannot be recognized? (Calmet) Them. They shall run from a less to a greater evil. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "Those who respected me, have now fallen upon me, like snow or ice; as when it is consumed with heat, it is no longer known where it was: thus I have been abandoned by all, lost and expelled from my house." Consider, Hebrew continues, in the comparison of the torrents, "which are hidden by the ice and snow," and are left dry and of no service in summer, when most wanted. (Haydock) --- So these friends stood by me only in the days of my prosperity. (Calmet) --- Luther and the Dutch version follow the Vulgate, Amama says, improperly. He proposes that of Pagnin, "which (torrents) are darkened by the ice. Snow is concealed in (Montanus, upon) them." (Haydock) Entangled. Like meandering streams, my friends act crookedly. (Menochius) While. Till the torrents subside, when the caravans from these towns of Arabia may pass on. Job may also address his friends, (Calmet) and bid them consider how few had taken any notice of him. (Menochius) --- Protestants, "the troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them." I. Hebrew, "they had hoped" to pass along. (Haydock) Come. Hebrew, "are good for nothing." (Calmet) --- Protestant marginal note, " like to them." Why. Hebrew, "How strong are the words of truth!" (Calmet) --- Whereas. Protestants, "But what doth your arguing reprove?" What part of my discourse do you find erroneous? Septuagint, "But it seems the words of the man of truth are deceitful. Yet I do not beg from you (a word or) strength." (Haydock) Wind. Job humbles the vanity of Eliphaz. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "nor shall your rebuke silence my words: for I will not admit the sound of your discourse. Nay, you rush," &c. CHAPTER VI. Mouth. He engages their attention. (Calmet) --- Hebrew, "Cannot my taste discern perverse things," (Protestants; Haydock) or "the evil" which I endure? My complaints are not surely unfounded. (Calmet) Warfare. Hebrew, "is it not determined" (Haydock) for some short space, as the Levites had to serve from 30 to 50 years of age; (Numbers iv. 3., and viii. 25.) and the days of a hireling are also defined and short, Isaias xvi. 14. (Amama) --- No soldier or hireling was ever treated so severely as Job. Yet they justly look for the term of their labours. Septuagint have Greek: peiraterion. Old Vulgate tentatio. "Is not the life of man a temptation?" (Calmet) --- Pal\'e6stra, school, or time given to learn the exercise of a soldier and wrestler; or of one who has to prepare himself for a spiritual warfare, and for heaven. (Haydock) --- Are we not surrounded with dangers? and may we not desire to be set at liberty? The Vulgate is very accurate, (Calmet) and includes all these senses. (Haydock) --- A soldier must be obedient even unto death, and never resist his superior. (Worthington) --- Hireling, who has no rest till the day is spent. (Calmet) And have. Hebrew, "they have appointed for me." (Calmet) --- God treats me with more severity, as even the night is not a time of rest for me, and my months of service are without any present recompense. (Haydock) And again. Hebrew, "and the night be completed, I toss to and fro," (Haydock) or "I am disturbed with dreams, (Calmet) till day break." Vulgate insinuates that night and day are equally restless to a man in extreme pain. (Haydock) --- As I find no comfort, why may I not desire to die? (Menochius) --- I desire to be dissolved, as being much better, said St. Paul. [Philippians i. 23. Web. Hebrew, "the weaver's shuttle," chap. xvi. 23., and Isaias xxxviii. 12. (Haydock) --- The pagans have used the same comparison. But they make the three daughters of Necessity guide the thread of life. (Plato, Rep. xii.; Natal. iii. 6.) --- Septuagint, "my life is swifter than speech." Tetrapla, "than a runner." (Calmet) --- Hope. Heu fugit, &c. Ah! time is flying , never to return! (Haydock) Wind. What is life compared with eternity, or even with past ages? (Calmet) --- "What is any one? Yea, what is no one? Men are the dream of a shadow," says Pindar; "like the baseless fabric of a vision." (Shakespeare) Eyes, in anger, (Calmet) or thy mercy will come too late when I shall be no more. Hell, or the grave. (Menochius) --- He was convinced of the resurrection. But he meant that, according to the natural course, we can have no means of returning to this world after we are dead. More. This may be explained both of the soul and of the body, Psalm cii. 16. The former resides in the body for a short time, and then seems to take no farther notice of it (Calmet) till the resurrection. Mouth. I will vent my bitter complaints before I die. (Haydock) Sea. Ungovernable and malicious. Some of the ancients looked upon the sea as a huge animal, whose breathing caused the tides. (Strabo i.; Solin xxxii.) --- They represented its fury as proverbial. "Fire, the sea, and woman are three evils;" and they call the most savage people sons of Neptune. (Agel. xv. 21.) --- Am I so violent as to require such barriers? Am I capacious, or strong enough to bear such treatment? (Calmet) Hanging. Protestants, "strangling and death, rather than my life," or Marginal note, "bones." (Haydock) --- Any species of Death would be preferable to this misery. (Calmet) --- Who would not entertain the same sentiments, if the fear of worse in the other world did not withhold him? But Job had reason to hope that his sorrows would end with his life. (Haydock) --- It is thought that he was dreadfully tempted to despair. (Calmet) --- Yet he resisted manfully, and overcame all attempts of the wicked one. Hope of surviving this misery. (Haydock) Magnify him, or put his to such severe trials. He is not worthy of thy attention. (Calmet) --- Hebrews ii. 6. (Haydock) Suddenly. During his whole life, he is exposed to dangers; (Calmet) of if, at first, he taste some comfort, that is presently over. The greatest saints have experienced this treatment. (Haydock) Sinned. I acknowledge my frailty. (Menochius) --- How may I obtain redress? (Calmet) --- Job's friends maintained that he was guilty. But he does not acquiesce in their conclusion, that these sufferings were precisely in punishment of some crime, though he acknowledges that he is not without his faults. (Haydock) --- Shall. Hebrew also, "what have I done to thee?" I have only hurt myself. But this reasoning is nugatory. Though God loses nothing by our sins, they are not less offensive to him, as the rebel does his utmost to disturb the order which he has established. The sinner indeed resembles those brutal people, who hurl darts against the sun, which fall upon their own heads, chap. iii. 8. (Calmet) --- Opposite, as a butt to shoot at. (Haydock) --- Myself. Hebrew was formerly "to thee," till the Jews changed it, as less respectful. (Cajetan) --- Septuagint still read, "and why am I a burden to thee?" (Haydock) as I am under the necessity of complaining, in my own defence. (Calmet) --- I throw my grief upon the Lord, that He may support me, Psalm liv. 23., and 1 Peter v. 7. (Pineda) Be. He lovingly expostulates with God, and begs that he would hasten his deliverance, lest it should be too late. (Calmet)