16. They shall go down to the bars of the pit.] Those hopes you speak of shall go down with me to the bottom of the grave, and shall rest with me together in the dust. Bp. Hall. You see me dying, and yet you bid me hope for better days; (see chap. v. 19—26; viii. 5—7, 20—22; xi. 15—20;) instead of comforting me with a prospect and hope of a reward hereafter, for mine integrity here. Bp. Wilson. — the bars of the pit.] Or, the hidden recesses of the grave: the same with "the gates of death," chap. xxxviii. 17; and "gates of the grave," Isai. xxxviii. 10. Chappelow. Chap. XVIII. Bildad has nothing to add to the argument, that misery is the lot only of the wicked, except Before CHRIST about 1526. Bildad reproveth him of presumption. CHAP. XVIII. The calamities of the wicked. Before CHRIST about 1520. seal. Or, lamp. hidden. 16. His roots shall be dried up beneath.] He shall be like a withered tree, whose roots being once dried up below, the branches are presently cut down for firewood. Bp. Hall. 17. — he shall have no name in the street.] Perhaps an allusion is here made to the custom of placing monumental inscriptions near the road. Dr. Durell. The word rendered "street," means "an out-place;" "a field:" and it is so translated in the text and margin of chap. v. 10. It seems to allude to the want of a sepulchral monument; for the Eastern nations still bury their dead without their cities, in the fields. Parkhurst. Job complaineth of his friends' cruelty. about 1520. with him. hold on horror. 20. — at his day.] The word "day," without any addition, is frequently used in Scripture to signify an eminently evil day, as in Ps. cxxxvii. 7, "Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem." The meaning of the whole verse is this: As they who lived at the time when God brought those evils upon him were affrighted, so they who come after shall be astonished at him; the former were terrified by the sight of the judgments, the latter shall be astonished at the report of them. Caryl. An allusion is here made to the eighth verse of the former chapter: men will be astonished, not, as Job observed, at the fate of the innocent, but at the severe judgment that befalls the wicked. Michaelis. 21. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked.] Though all these observations concerning affliction are true of the wicked, yet they must not be applied to all that are visited with affliction: for affliction is sometimes the portion of God's children, as it was in this case of Job. Bp. Wilson. Chap. XIX. Wearied with incessant reproaches and accusations, Job, in his reply to Bildad, laments the estrangement of his friends and family in the most pathetic terms; and attributes it to the Divine wrath; and despairing of redress, or the vindication of his innocence in this life, he makes a solemn appeal to his Redeemer; and professes his belief, that he shall be acquitted at his resurrection, in the general judgment: and bids his friends beware, lest God should afflict them with those common visitations here of the sword, &c. which were designed to shew God's judgments on sinners. Dr. Hales. Ver. 3. — ye make yourselves strange to me.] You act as strangers, not as friends. You reproach me, as thrown me, and hath compassed me with his net. — the sword:] The sword in the hand of earthly magistrates is the emblem of punitive justice. The Scripture accordingly puts a sword into the hand of God, the supreme Magistrate, to signify His retributive justice. And the greatest of all Teachers represents the future punishments of wicked men in terms of allusion to the punishments inflicted by the courts of human judicature, Matt. v. 22. Scott. Chap. XX. Zophar retorts upon Job for the threat at the close of his last speech, by declaiming like the rest on the transient prosperity and fearful end of great wicked men, insinuating covertly, that Job had all along deserved to be reckoned in this class, although Heaven had not till now been pleased to reveal his guilt. Bp. Stock. The flaw in Zophar's discourse is this, (which was common to him with all the rest,) that he imagined God never varied from this method, and that therefore Job was, without doubt, a bad man, though it did not appear that he was so any other way but by his misfortunes. Bp. Patrick. Ver. 2. Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, &c.] Because of thy contumelious words and threatenings, (which I have fully weighed,) I have bethought myself what to answer. Clark. 3. I have heard the check of my reproach, &c.] What Zophar calls "the check of his reproach," was probably Job's stiffness, and persistence in his opinion, still dissenting from his friends, and refusing to be brought over to their judgments. Caryl. 4—7. Knowest thou not this of old, &c.] It seems thou dost not yet understand, though it is a truth as old as the world, that the happiness boasted of by the wicked, and by him who counterfeits piety, is of no long standing, and will continue but for a few moments. Though he should be advanced to the highest pitch of human greatness, he shall at last be cast out with contempt. Bp. Patrick. 17. My breath is strange to my wife.] She will not listen to my words. Caryl. 20. My bone cleaveth to my skin &c.] I am become a very skeleton. Bp. Wilson. The latter part of the verse may be rendered, "And I have shed (the hair), or have become bald on the skin of, or which covers, my teeth; that is, My mustaches are, or the hair is, shed or fallen off from my emaciated lip; which was one symptom of the elephantiasis, Job's distemper. Michaelis, Parkhurst. 22. Why do ye persecute me as God.] Why should you persecute me as God, or claim to yourselves the prerogative, like Him, to know the very secrets of my heart? Are the miseries you see me suffer in my flesh too little to satisfy you, that you are resolved to pierce my very soul with your unjust reproaches? Peters. — and are not satisfied with my flesh? That is, why are ye not satisfied with the reproaches and slanders with which ye have already worried me? To "eat the flesh" of another is an Arabian phrase for calumniating him. Schultens, Scott. 23. Oh that my words were now written! &c.] It has been supposed, that Job alludes in this passage to letters hollowed in the rock with the iron pen or chisel, and filled up with melted lead, in order to be more legible. The Septuagint, however, seem to have supposed, that he meant the recording of things by engraving accounts of them on sheets of lead. "Who will cause my words to be written, to be put in a book that shall last for ever; with an iron pen and lead," (that is, upon lead,) "or to be engraved on the rocks?" Which cutting of letters on lead marks out an ancient method indeed of perpetuating the memory of things. Harmer. 23, 24. Oh that my words &c.] "Oh that my words were engraved in a memorial with an iron pen and lead;" the lead being to grave upon with the iron pen or style. Pliny informs us, that writing on lead, rolls of lead, was of high antiquity, and came in practice next after writing on the barks and leaves of trees, and was used in recording publick transactions. And "the cutting or sculpturing in the rock for ever," seems to be here mentioned as a different and more durable method than even the engraving on lead. Scott, Parkhurst. It is easy to imagine, that the first inscriptions on stones were engraved on some places of the rocks which were accidentally smoothed and made pretty even. And in fact we find some, that are very ancient, engraved on the natural rock, and, what is remarkable, in Arabia, where it is supposed that Job lived. The Prefetto of Egypt describes some such inscriptions, cut in the hard marble rock, in none of the characters now in use in the East, nor in any of those in which ancient inscriptions before known are found written in those countries. By the expression rendered "printed" in our translation, Job meant to convey the idea of perpetuating his words, as is apparent from the twenty-fourth verse. Harmer. — oh that they were printed in a book! Oh that they were noted in a register! He wishes that his memorable words might be transmitted to posterity; first, by writing, the usual method of preserving past transactions; secondly, by the still safer method of lodging this writing in the public archives; thirdly, by inscribing them on lead, as more durable than linen or paper; and lastly, by engraving them in the natural rock, as the most durable of all. Scott. 25. For I know that my redeemer liveth.] However I am judged by you, yet this is my comfort, that I know I have a Judge and a gracious Redeemer to come, who lives eternally when ye shall be gone to dust, and shall one day come down to judge the quick and the dead; and shall in that last day of our general account present Himself here upon earth to the eyes of all flesh. Bp. Hall. 26, 27. And though after my skin, &c.] And though after my skin, which you see so miserably affected, this whole frame shall be dissolved and turned to dust; yet I believe that I shall live again hereafter, as truly and as certainly as I do now, and shall appear personally before my Judge, whom I shall see for myself, or in my own cause, prepared to do me justice; and, conscious of my innocence, shall look up to Him with joy and hope; whilst others, my accusers, unable to behold Him, shall look down with shame and confusion. Peters. That Job spoke not of any sudden restitution, or any change in his temporal condition, is evident from the remarkable preface which ushers in this expression, "Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!" He desires that his words may continue as long as his expectation; that they may remain in the rock, together with his hope, so long as the rock shall endure, even to the day of his resurrection. The same appears from the objections of his friends, who urged against him that he was Job believeth the resurrection. Zophar sheweth Before CHRIST about 1520. stranger. boom. what root of matter is found in me? 27. — my reins be consumed within me.] I feel my very vitala fail me, and am hastening on space towards that death, which shall consign me to a future judgment. Peters. 28. But ye should say, &c.] But ye should rather say, Alas! why do we persecute this distressed man any more, since we find, if we look to the very root and bottom of this our dispute, that he is upright, and innocent of those things whereof we have accused him. Bp. Hall. 29. Be ye afraid of the sword.] Job bids his friends beware, that they were not convinced to their cost of the certainty of a righteous judgment hereafter, by the experience of some one or other of those common THEN answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, 10. His children shall seek to please the poor.] This is much stronger than if he had said, "they shall become poor." It is placing them below poverty itself. They shall court the goodwill and assistance of the most destitute and abject. Scott, Parkhurst. God many times suffers an estate got by oppression to prosper for a little while: but there is a curse attends it, which descends upon the estate like an encumbrance; and parents, when they think they entail an estate, often entail poverty upon their children. Abp. Tillotson. 12. — though he hide it under his tongue;] As a glutton that gets a sweet morsel between his teeth is loth to lose the taste of it, and therefore does not hastily swallow it down; thus does the carnal man deal with his sin: he keepeth it close, and hideth it under his tongue. Caryl. 14. Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, &c.] As meat mixed with poison, his sin will at last be his ruin. Bp. Wilson. — the gall of asps] Ælian says, that the poison of asps is extremely subtle, and extends its effects very rapidly over the whole body. Hence the proverb, "bite of an asp," to express an incurable wound. With this verse is connected ver. 16, where "the viper" answers to several Eastern names, which are very near to the original Hebrew word, and which signify a serpent remarkable for a quick and penetrating poison. Script. illust. Expos. Ind. 15. He hath swallowed down riches,] The original word is very forcible: it denotes vast avidity and rapacity; being a metaphor from a ravenous beast devouring his prey. Compare Jer. li. 34. Scott. — he shall vomit them up again.] He shall be forced to restore with sorrow his ill-gotten riches. God, by His providence, shall take them away, with plagues that will attend the loss of them. Bp. Wilson. 16. He shall suck the poison of asps:] His ill-gotten riches shall prove as great and as deadly a torture, 17. He shall not see the rivers, &c.] He shall not see the plenty and happiness which he proposed to himself. He shall have no satisfaction in what he gets by his industry. Such is the certain fruit of injustice and oppression. Bp. Wilson. — the brooks of honey and butter.] We in these cooler countries have no great notion of butter being described as so extremely liquid: it appears among us in a more solid state. But as the plentiful flowing of honey, when pressed from the comb into jars, in which it is wont to be kept, may be compared in strong language to a little river; so, according to the Eastern management, butter is equally fluid, and may be described in the same way, when poured from the skin, in which it is made, into jars for the purpose of being preserved. Harmer. The Eastern butter is a kind of thick cream, not solid, like our lumps of butter. This butter and honey compose the same mess of food, and are eaten mixed together. D'Arvieux says of the Arabs, "One of their chief breakfasts is cream, or fresh butter, mixed in a mess of honey: these do not seem to suit very well together, but experience teaches that this is no bad mixture, nor disagreeable in its taste, if one is a little accustomed to it." Thevenot also says, "The Arabs knead their bread-paste afresh, adding thereto butter, and sometimes also honey." See the same mixture noticed in Isai. vii. 15, 22. Fragments to Calmet. 20. — he shall not feel quietness in his belly,] "Neither is his belly satisfied," as the Latin Vulgate translates it. His vice is described: it is an insatiable appetite of rapine. Scott. 22. In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits:] The greater his supply of worldly goods, the more he shall be distressed. Bp. Patrick. The state and portion of the wicked. Before CHRIST about 1520. belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating. 24. He shall flee from the iron weapon, &c.] When he desires and hopes to avoid a less danger, he shall fall into a greater. Bp. Hall. "He would flee from the weapons, but the brasen bow shall strike him through." The word rendered "weapons," signifies arms, or weapons of every sort, as the bow, shield, arrows, &c. Ezek. xxxix. 9; and is here put for the armed host, that is, of evils. God is at war with him. The Scripture arms the Divine Being with a sword, a bow, and arrows, to represent His vengeance, Ps. vii. 12, 13. Compare chap. vi. 4; xv. 24; see also the note on chap. xviii. 14. All his efforts to ward off the calamities which fall upon him will be ineffectual. The Arabian writers are very fond of the idea of a bow, and frequently use it to represent extraordinary, inevitable, and destructive calamities, from the hand of God. Scott. 25. It is drawn and cometh out of the body; &c.] He is mortally wounded by these judgments: horrors of conscience seize upon him, because he cannot live, and dares not die. Clark. 26. All darkness shall be hid in his secret places.] Unforeseen danger shall arise, which he never suspected; and none of his house shall prosper. Bp. Wilson. Rather "a total darkness shall be reserved for his treasures;" that is, he shall for ever be as much deprived of them, as if they were still buried in the bowels of the earth; see ver. 21. Dr. Durell. — a fire not blown shall consume him.] A fire not kindled by man, but sent down from heaven, in the just judgment of God, shall consume him, as thou, O Job, hast, not long since, had lamentable proof. Bp. Hall. 27. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity;] The heaven, by thunder, lightning, or tempests, shall declare itself his enemy; and the earth, by wild beasts or serpents, or some other way, shall make war against him. Bp. Patrick. 28. — in the day of his wrath.] That is, of God's wrath upon him: perhaps more properly, though less strictly, "in the day of his sufferings;" that is, of the criminal's punishment. Script. illust. Expos. Ind. 29. This is the portion of a wicked man from God, &c.] The posterity of the wicked do many times inherit the fruit of their fathers' sins and vices; and that, not only by a just judgment of God, but from the natural course and consequence of things. And in this sense that expression of Job in the following chapter is often verified, that "God layeth up the iniquity of wicked men for their children," chap. xxi. 19. And experience tes- Ver. 2. Hear diligently my speech.] Let me prevail with you to attend to my discourse: do me this kindness, and it shall serve instead of those consolations which I promised myself from you. Bp. Patrick. 4. As for me, is my complaint to man? If I had only to do with man in this my misery, and had no other to make my complaint to, I should have just reason to be utterly dejected; but now, I have a God to make my moan unto. Bp. Hall. &c.] There he lies quietly in the earth, and none disturbs his ashes. He suffers nothing but what all men shall suffer after him, as innumerable have suffered before him. See then how ill you discharge the office of comforters, whose answers have so little truth in them! For you maintain, that prosperity is the inseparable companion of piety; when every one can tell you, that none flourish more than the wicked, and that calamities are common to all mankind. Bp. Patrick. The liveliness of Eastern poetry here represents the dead as having the same perceptions as if they were alive in their sepulchres: "He shall watch in the heap" of earth or stones that cover him; for such, the margin of our translation tells us, is the more exact import of the Hebrew: "the clods" around him, like those in some pleasant valley, or on the border of some torrent, "shall be sweet unto him;" alluding probably to the manner of ornamenting their sepulchres, by planting on or about them flowers and odoriferous herbs or shrubs. Harmer. Chap. XXII. Job having constantly affirmed, in opposition to his friends, that God equally afflicts the righteous and the wicked; and having intimated, chap. xxii. 4, that his complaint was not to man but to God, Eliphas asks him, whether God hath any interest in refusing to bring him to that trial which he is so ready to call for. If, Eliphas adds, God declines Job's challenge, it can be for no other reason, but that He is already fully aware of Job's misconduct, and needs not to investigate the matter. This seems to be the intent of the whole chapter, which may be divided into two distinct parts: the first is reprehensory; for Eliphas reproves Job severely to the end of ver. 20: the second is hortatory, Eliphas earnestly moving Job to repentance by many promises, and by assurances that his repentance will not be in vain, from ver. 20 to the end of the chapter. Bp. Stock, Caryl. Ver. 3. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? If thou art as upright as thou pretended to be, still God is not indebted to thee for thy righteousness. Clark. These words teach us that man, by doing good, cannot be profitable to God; that there is no accession of happiness to the Almighty, when we are righteous and walk in integrity; but that the advantage is all to ourselves. If God gives us laws, and commands us to observe them, He only does it for our good; and if 5—13. Mark me, and be astonished, &c.] As Job well knew, that this account of the prosperity of the wicked, however necessary to his argument, would have something shocking in it to the ears of those to whom it was addressed, the delicacy with which he introduces it is inimitable. Ver. 5—7, as if he had said, That thus it is in fact, is plain. It is with awe and reverence I speak it. But as for you, I am persuaded, that you will never be able upon your principles to account for it. Peters. 7—13. Wherefore do the wicked &c.] We have here a lively description of worldly felicity, drawn from the manners of Arabia, and adapted to the mode of wealth and sensual gratification in ancient times. Scott. 12.—the organ.] The instrument here spoken of seems to have resembled the modern organ, so far as it consisted of a number of pipes set close, or joined together. We can hardly imagine it was very like the modern organ; it appears rather, from Esek. xxxiii. 18. They are as stubble before the wind.] In order to perceive the beauty and propriety of these images, we should recollect the practice in the East of threshing their corn in the open field, so that, if the wind happen to rise, the shattered straw and chaff are easily carried away. Scott. 24. His breasts are full of milk.] Rather, "his pastures are full of milk;" that is, of flocks and herds; he dies in opulence. Scott. Or, "his bowels" or intestines "are full of," or abound with, "fat." Parkhurst. 27. Behold, I know your thoughts.] I know what you would insinuate by the speeches which you make, such as this which follows, ver. 28, "For ye say, &c." As if you should say, What is become of the house of Job, who lived like a prince? or what, in general, is the portion of the wicked? Does not a great and sure destruction overtake them? This is evidently the meaning of the question. The answer follows immediately, ver. 29, 30. Now if they were meant of a temporal destruction, it directly confirms the insinuation of the Before CHRIST about 1520. slenteth away. punishment of his iniquity. very perfection, or, in the strength of his perfection. palls. The wicked are judged in another world. Man's goodness profiteth not God. Before CHRIST about 1520. tent of the takerunies of the wicked? 30. - the day of destruction - the day of wrath.] By the "day of destruction" and the "day of wrath," it will appear from the context, that no other can be meant than the future day of judgment; which to the wicked and ungodly is every where represented in Scripture as a day of wrath, a day of destruction. "They shall be punished (says St. Paul) with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power," 2 Thess. i. 9. And so St. Peter (2 Pet. iii. 7.) calls the day of judgment, "the day of perdition of ungodly men." And it is remarkable, that where Job declares to his friends, that he had been all along withheld from sinning by a pious awe of the Divine justice, (meaning, probably, the thought of a future judgment,) he uses a similar expression, chap. xxxi. 23, "Destruction from God was a terror to me." The Hebrew word, as well as that in our translation, is the same that is used here. To understand it of a temporal destruction, is to suppose Job to cut the neck of his own argument at once, and to fall in with the meaning of his friends. Peters. 33, 34. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, draw after him, as there are innumerable before him. nought, &c.] Amongst Job's many and grievous afflictions, as it is hard to say which was the greatest, so we are sure this was not the least, that he was to wrestle with the unjust and bitter upbraidings of unreasonable and incompassionate men. They came to visit him as friends, and as friends they should have comforted him. But sorry friends they were, and "miserable comforters," chap. xvi. 2; indeed not comforters, but tormentors; and accusers, rather than friends. Seeing God's hand heavy upon him, for want of better or other proof, they charge him with hypocrisy. And because they would not seem to deal all in generalities, for against this general accusation of hypocrisy it was sufficient for him as generally to plead the truth and uprightness of his heart, they therefore go on more particularly, but as falsely, and as it were by way of instance, to charge him with oppression. Thus Eliphaz by name taxes him in this chapter. Against these foul aspersions, the good man defends himself something largely in the twenty-ninth chapter, in which he declares how he demeaned himself in the time of his prosperity in the administration of his magistracy, far otherwise than was laid to his charge. Bp. Sanderson. — stripped the naked of their clothing.] The Arabs call their upper garment a hyke; which is a blanket, or gown, five or six yards long, and five or six yards broad. This is wrapped over the tunic, or close-bodied frock, which is the inner garment, and girded about their waist in time of work or action. Persons, who have no hyke or upper garment, but only their tunic and shirt, may be said to be "naked," according to the mode of speaking in the East. Dr. Shaw, Scott. The sense is, Thou hast stripped of their garments even those, who had no more but just enough to cover their nakedness. Bp. Patrick. Chap. XXIII. ver. 2, 3. Even to day is my complaint bitter:] Job, being provoked to a high degree by the freedom Eliphaz had taken with him in his last speech, in charging him directly with the most enormous sins, (chap. xxii. 5, 6,) turns to God, according to his custom, and earnestly begs that He would bring him to this trial; that he would hear the matter fully, and determine between him and his friends. "Oh that I knew where I might find Him! (that is, God;) that I might come even to His seat!" (or tribunal.) Peters. Even still I have every day more cause than another to complain of my great affliction, and the stroke that I feel from God is more heavy than my groaning can express. Bp. Hall. 3—10. Oh that I knew where I might find him! &c.] What exalted and sublime conceptions Job entertained 7. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink.] Thou hast been hard-hearted to the weary traveller, when thou sawest him ready to die with thirst or hunger. Bp. Patrick. Entertainment of travellers, and charity to the poor, were looked upon by the Arabs, and by the ancient Greeks, as duties of the most sacred obligation. The Odyssey of Homer has some noble sentiments on this subject; and the poems of the Arabs abound with them. The vilest of all characters among them was the inhospitable and avaricious man. Scott. 13. And thou sayest, How doth God know? &c.] It may be you are so wicked as to imagine, that God cannot, or that He will not, see the wickedness done upon earth: but consider how he drowned the world for their wickedness. Bp. Wilson. 15. Hast thou marked the old way, &c.] This was the way of reasoning in the old world, till God convinced them of their error by destroying them with a deluge of water. Let me therefore advise you not to follow these men's steps, but make your peace with God by a timely repentance, ver. 21. Bp. Wilson. 15, 16. Hast thou marked, &c.] As the universal deluge was a most signal and memorable instance of God's displeasure against wickedness and wicked men, Eliphaz takes occasion here to enlarge upon it as a proper lesson (so he thought it) for his friend, and then closes it with the mention of another destruction either past or to be expected, which is described to be as general, and as fatal to the wicked; see ver. 20. Peters. 16. — whose foundation] Whose habitation; denominated here from its essential part, the better to express the durable materials of which their palaces were formed. Scott. Eliphaz exhorteth Job to repentance, with promises of mercy. Before CHRIST about 1520. Or, salute. Or, their excellency. That is, with God. d Chap. 8. 5. Or, on the dust. Or, gold. Heb. silver of strength. 20. Whereas our substance is not cut down, &c.] This is the lot of wicked men; whereas we, who are righteous and godly, speed otherwise; our substance is both continued and multiplied; but as for them, that which remains of their riches, together with their persons, shall be consumed with the fire of God's displeasure. Bp. Hall. 21. Acquaint now thyself with him.] To "acquaint ourselves with God," is a phrase of the same import with coming to God, and seeking for Him, and many other expressions in Scripture, which signify nothing else but to become religious. Abp. Tillotson. 23. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, &c.] Thou shalt soon feel the comfortable fruits of it: for if thou return to the Almighty, who hath laid thee thus low, He will return to thee, and raise thee up as high as ever: He will pardon thine iniquity, and remove the punishment of it far from thee and thine. Bp. Patrick. 29. When men are cast down.] When thou seest good men cast down, then shalt thou, by the strength of thy faith, say, There shall be an exaltation for these men; and God will find a time to deliver and honour the humble person. Bp. Hall. 30. He shall deliver the island of the innocent:] Rather, "He," that is, God, "shall deliver the habitation of the innocent;" see Isa. xx. 6, and the note there. Parkhurst. Or, "The innocent shall deliver a country, and it shall be delivered by the pureness of his hands." Men of exemplary piety and virtue are sometimes the preservers of a whole people, by means of their favour with God. This grand idea of the efficacy of true religion, and the vast utility of virtuous men, is derived from the patriarchal history; see Gen. xviii. 23, &c. Scott. Yea, a whole country shall owe its safety to thy innocence; it shall be delivered by thy pious prayers and blameless actions. Bp. Patrick. It is "the innocent that delivereth the land," and reprieveeth it from destruction, when the sentence of desolation is pronounced against it; "and it is delivered by the pureness of his hands." How great was the goodness of God, which would have spared the five 2. Some remove the landmarks;] As in these countries the pastures and corn fields were not enclosed, they had no other way of distinguishing the limits of each other's grounds but by boundary stones. He here describes that sort of injustice which the Prophet complains of, Mic. ii. 2. Scott. 3. — the ass of the fatherless, — the widow's ox] This is another species of wrong. They deprive the fatherless and widow of their only means of supporting themselves: for they could not prepare their little farm for sowing without an ox, or beeve, to till it; or bring in their corn, if they had any, without an ass to carry the burden. Scott. 5. — as wild asses in the desert, &c.] Robbers are here well compared to wild asses, as they lie hid in solitary places. Grotius. Bochart observes, that a robber can be compared to a wild ass in no other respect, than as he lives in the desert; for a wild ass is not a rapacious animal. Dr. Durell. 6, 7. Will he plead against me &c.] I know He is gracious: He would not stand either upon His rigour or His power over me; but would mercifully sustain me, and give me courage and ability to stand out in the maintenance of my sincerity before Him. Upon these terms, a man of upright heart might hold a lowly contention with Him; which once done, being absolved by His most just sentence, I should be delivered for ever from the slanders and condemnations of my unjust censurers. Bp. Hall. 6. They reap every one his corn in the field: &c.] The following is a more intelligible reading of this verse, "they reap corn in the field which is not their own: and the wicked gather the vintage of others." Rosemüller. "Corn," in the Hebrew, "mingled corn, or dredge," says the margin. Job apparently alludes to the proven- rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children. 7. — they have no covering in the cold.] Irwin found the cold of the desert which he passed through very severe at times: and very cold rains and snow descend in some of the hilly parts of these southeastern countries. Harmer. — in the cold.] In Arabia Petrea, Job's country, the day is intensely hot, and the night intensely cold. Dr. Shaw. See the note on Gen. xxxi. 40. 8—10. Behold, I go forward, &c.] We may observe, that the thought which gives, or ought to give the wicked pain, namely, that the eye of God observes them, and that His power and justice reach to a future and invisible state, is what Job takes refuge in, as the only source of comfort to him in the depth of his distress. The present passage is remarkable to this purpose, where, after expressing the greatest earnestness to come before God and take his trial; turning himself this way and that way, and as it were feeling after Him, to find Him out, but in vain, (ver. 8, 9,) he cheers himself at last with this reflection, (ver. 10,) "But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold." If we compare this with the several passages in Job's speeches, where he absolutely despairs of any temporal deliverance, we must of necessity understand it of the hope he entertained of having his innocence cleared in the day of judgment. There is a passage in the Book of Wisdom, which, if not borrowed from this of Job, affords at least a fine illustration of it, chap. iii. 4—6. Speaking of the happy lot of good men after death, who had been wretched and afflicted here, "Though they be punished," says the author, "in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality. And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for Himself. As gold in the furnace hath He tried them, and received them as a burnt offering." Peters. 8. — embrace the rock for want of a shelter.] They, that is, "the naked," in the preceding verse, are fain to seek shelter of the rock, to keep them from the violence of the weather. Bp. Hall. This exactly agrees with what Niebuhr says of the modern wandering Arabs near mount Sinai: "Those who cannot afford a tent, spread out a cloth upon four or six stakes; and others spread a cloth near a tree, or endeavour to shelter themselves from the heat and the rain in the cavities of the rock." Parkhurst. 9. They pluck the fatherless from the breast,] Nay, the persons of men are not safe from the violence of these outlaws: but they snatch away young children from their mothers' breasts, and carry away the poor, pretending they owe them something, to make them their slaves. Bp. Patrick. — and take a pledge of the poor.] "And take that which is upon the poor for a pledge:" that is, his upper garment or hyke, for security of a debt. See the note on chap. xxii. 6. Scott. 10. — take away the sheaf from the hungry;] They will not suffer him who is ready to starve to eat of the sheaf which he hath gleaned. Bp. Patrick. 11, 12. My foot hath held his steps, &c.] The morality of Job was not less excellent than his theology; in these verses he expresses his undeviating obedience to the law of God, and his delight therein. It is evident from this I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. 11. Which make oil &c.] They cause these miserable creatures to press out their oil and their wine in their cellars, but let them not taste a drop, though they be ready to die with thirst. Bp. Patrick. Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.] Rather, "they work at midday among their walls, they tread winepresses, and suffer thirst." For it is difficult to say what greater hardships attended making oil within walls than in the open air, nor does any contrast appear between their labour as to this and what followed; but a contrast does appear between treading winepresses, and suffering thirst, in Before CHRIST about 1520. mingled corn, or, dredge. wicked gather the vintage. 14. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me.] For what He hath resolved to inflict upon me, that I find He will accomplish. Bp. Patrick. — and many such things are with him.] Many such things, as these proceedings with me, doth He, in His great and unlimited power, and unsearchable wisdom, bring to pass; whereof we can give no reason or judgment. Bp. Hall. 15. Therefore am I troubled at his presence.] These words probably are an answer to an objection; for Job's friends had charged him with fear and trouble of spirit at the presence of God, upon another account, even because of the guiltiness of his conscience, or because of his great wickedness: so (chap. xxii. 10.) Eliphas, having shewed him his sin, presently adds the sad effects which were upon him; "therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee:" as if he had said, Thou hast been very wicked in thy actions, and therefore thou art so unquiet in thy spirit; thou hast been uncharitable and injurious to men, "therefore thou art troubled at the presence of God." No, says Job, my trouble of spirit does not arise from guilt, (though I have iniquity enough to deserve greater chastenings than those which are upon me,) but the cause of my trouble ariseth from the knowledge and apprehensions which I have of God, who "is in one mind, and who can turn Him? He performeth the thing that is appointed for me; and many such things are with Him." This is the spring and ground of my trouble; I am troubled both with the feeling of my present calamities, and with fear of greater; lest the Lord should again act, and put forth His terrible power upon me. Caryl. 16. For God maketh my heart soft, &c.] By a weight of afflictions God hath broken my spirit, and made me Before CHRIST about 1320. kid, or, laid up. appointed portion. a Ps. 115. 3. Wickedness goeth often unpunished. Before CHRIST about 1520. 17. Because I was not cut off before the darkness,] I am astonished at the hand of the Almighty, for I am still upheld by His power in these extremities, and not cut off by death before this darkness of sorrow and misery overwhelmed me; neither yet hath He restrained these intolerable evils from seizing upon me, but hath caused me to feel them, and not to be swallowed up by them. Bp. Hall. Chap. XXIV. ver. 1. Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty,] But to answer a little what you have so often asserted: If punishments from the Almighty be so apparent and visible upon the wicked, why do not they, who are truly pious, see the publick and open judgments? In what follows, Job confutes the rash assertions of his friends about the plagues, which always befall the wicked, by an induction of particulars that prove the contrary. Bp. Patrick. — and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.] Addison describes the misery of the oppressed peasants of Italy with the same beautiful energy: The poor inhabitant of that fruitful country "Barron, in the midst of nature's bounty, cursi. And in the leaden vineyard dies for thirst." Scott. In the East they still "tread" their grapes after the ancient manner. Dr. Chandler says, "August 20th; the vintage near Smyrna was now begun: the juice of the grapes was expressed for wine; a man with feet and legs bare treading the fruit in a kind of cistern, with a hole or vent near the bottom, and a vessel beneath to receive the liquor." Parkhurst. Ver. 2, 3. Dominion and fear are with him, &c.] He is an awful God, who hath the absolute dominion over all the world: He ordereth the very heavens so, that there is a perfect harmony in all the apparently contrary motions thereof: and contriveth all things so, that they agree to glorify Him! What innumerable troops of glorious angels hath He there above, and what infinite armies of His creatures to execute His will upon all occasions! And how gracious is He in sending forth His light into all the corners of the earth! and how wise in searching all the secrets of human actions and counsels! Bp. Hall. Ver. 2. How hast thou helped him that is without power?] What powerful support hast thou given to one (Job himself) who is deprived of all strength? A sarcastic rebuke of Bildad. Rosemüller. 4. How then can man be justified with God?] As to the origin of the general corruption and depravity of mankind, it seems to be here plainly intimated, that all men are corrupt by descent and inheritance. Bp. Sherlock. See chap. xiv. 3, 4; and the note on that passage. 4. To whom hast thou uttered words?] Dost thou think me ignorant of these things? or canst thou pretend to any extraordinary inspiration concerning them? Bp. Patrick. 5. — and it shineth not;] In comparison of Him. Clark. Chap. XXVI. This chapter contains Job's answer to Bildad, in which he derideth Bildad's dealing with worm? and the son of man, which is a worm? # CHAP. XXVI. 5, 6. Dead things are formed from under the waters, &c.] In the Old Testament the region of departed souls, called in the Hebrew "Sheol," was supposed to be divided into two parts, the upper and the lower: David makes mention of the latter, Ps. lxxxvi. 13, "Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell." Gehenna, or the place of perdition, was the name given to this lower part by the later Jews, who, in order to express the great depth to which they conceived it to be sunk, used to describe it as beneath the waters; their notion being, that the waters were placed below the earth, and that the earth floated upon them like a ship. The above statement may seem to explain the following rendering of ver. 5, 6. "The souls of the dead tremble: [The places] below the waters, and their inhabitants. The seat of spirits is naked before Him; And the region of destruction hath no covering." Here "the souls of the dead," and "the inhabitants of the places" below the "abyss of waters," appear to bear to each other the same proportion, that is found in the next verse to subsist between "the seat of spirits" and "the region of destruction;" or the Gehenna of the later Jews: so that the passage, on the whole, conveys this meaning; that nothing is or can be concealed from the all-seeing eye of God: that the souls of the dead tremble under His view, and the shades of the wicked, sunk to the bottom of the abyss, can even there find no covering from His sight. Peters, Dr. Magee, Windel. The Hebrew word "Sheol" signifies "the invisible state of the dead:" and it seems nearly to answer to the Greek "Hades," by which the Septuagint almost con- 12. — out of the city.] The peaceful inhabitants of towna, who have been plundered by these rovers of the desert, cry to Heaven for redress, but in vain. Bp. Stock. — yet God layeth not folly to them.] Doth not presently call them to account, nor charge their sin upon them. Caryl. 13. They are of those that rebel against the light;] They sin shamelessly in the face of the sun, against the light of nature, conscience, and Divine revelation: they neither delight nor will walk in those ways to which by this light they are directed. Clark. "They know not the ways thereof;" either, they do not desire or care to know them, they are willingly ignorant of them; or, they do not approve, nor love, nor choose to walk in them, as "knowing" frequently signifies in the language of Scripture. "Nor abide in the VOL. I. beholdeth not the way of the vineyards. 16. — they dig through houses.] The materials used for building in Job's country seem to have been mud and slime, which are frequently employed in the East for this purpose: these walls of sunburnt brick, when moistened with copious showers, must have been liable to attacks of this kind; at the same time that the thickness of them makes the term digging peculiarly expressive. Harmer. 18. He is swift as the waters; &c.] Thus doeth the evil man: but shall he prosper in his mischief? No: God shall be avenged of him; he shall pass away swiftly, even as a current of waters: and while he continues here, he enjoys what he has with a curse: his lot shall be barrenness, so that he shall not so much as look towards the way of the vineyards; he shall have no hope of receiving the benefit of his seasonable culture of the earth. Bp. Hall. 20. The womb shall forget him;] His mother shall be ashamed to own her relation to him: he shall not be remembered with honour, but consigned to infamy: the wicked oppressor shall be utterly and irrecoverably destroyed, as a tree broken to pieces, which will never grow again. Clark, Poole. 23. Though it be given him to be in safety, &c.] Though the wicked man seems to pass his time in much security and confidence, yet the eyes of God are so open upon his ways, that He observes him to take His advantages against him, and to inflict on him suitable judgments. Bp. Hall. 25. And if it be not so now, &c.] If this be not a truth which I have maintained, namely, that God many times prospers the wicked and afflicts the righteous, let any one confute me if he can, and shew that my arguments are weak. Clark. Job, having first described the impiety, the injustice, the cruelty, and other sins of the wicked, and having then desired his friends to take notice that God does not always display His vengeance upon them, but suffers Ver. 1. — his parable.] See the note on Numb. xxiii. 7. The original word "Mashal" I take to be the general name for poetick style among the Hebrews, including every sort of it, as ranging under one or other, or all of the characters, of sententious, figurative, and sublime; which are all contained in the original notion, or in the use and application, of the word mashal. Parables or proverbs, such as those of Solomon, are always expressed in short pointed sentences; frequently figurative, being formed on some comparison; generally forcible and authoritative, both in the matter and the form. And such in general is the style of the Hebrew poetry. The verb mashal signifies to rule, to exercise authority; to make equal, to compare one thing with another; to utter parables, or acute, weighty, and powerful speeches, in the form and manner of parables, though not properly such. Thus Balaam's first prophecy, Numb. xxiii. 7—10, is called his mashal, though it has hardly any thing figurative in it; but it is beautifully sententious, and, from the very form and manner of it, has great spirit, force, and energy. Thus Job's last speeches, in answer to the three friends, are called mashals; from no one particular character, which discriminates them from the rest of the poem, but from the sublime, the figurative, the sententious manner, which equally prevails through the whole poem, and 6. Hell is naked before him.] The meaning is, not merely that the region of death lies in prospect before Him, but that it is under His eye as part of His dominion. Death is the effect of His moral kingdom; and the consequences of death, the destruction of the body in the grave, and the disposal of unbodied souls in Sheol, are operations of His power. Scott. 7. He stretcheth out the north &c.] He hath spread out this glorious hemisphere of the heavens upon the void and empty space of the light and thin air; and hangeth the great ball of the earth in the midst of heaven without any prop or foundation. Bp. Hall. The "south," in chap. ix. 9, means the southern hemisphere of the heavens: by the "north," therefore, he here intends the northern half of the heavens. The expression "He stretcheth out" is that which the Hebrew poets generally use when they celebrate the formation of the heavens. It is a metaphor from a tent or pavilion. Issi. xl. 22. Scott. — hangeth the earth upon nothing.] This has been formerly questioned by some, and denied by others. But now all agree in it, since so many have sailed round the earth; for that could never have been done, if the earth did not hang in the air, without any thing but the immediate hand of God to support it. But this is no new discovery: for here we see that Job, one of the oldest writers extant in the world, if not the oldest of all, knew it in his day. Bp. Beveridge. 8. He bindeth up the waters &c.] He binds up the waters, and keeps them suspended in the clouds; through which they do not burst all at once, but distil by drops to moisten the earth in due season. Bp. Patrick. This verse comprehends the whole process of Almighty power in making the air, raising the watery vapours, condensing them into clouds, and sustaining them in that form, so that their contents may not burst all at once upon the earth. Scott. 9. He holdeth back the face of his throne.] He keeps the highest heavens, which is His throne, (Issi. lxvi. 1.) from our view, that its lustre and glory (Esek. i. 26.) should not reach us and dazzle our sight. Clark, Michaelis. 11. The pillars of heaven tremble &c.] When God shews Himself angry by sending thunder, tempests, and earthquakes, the very heavens seem to tremble, and the whole universe to be moved by these tokens of His displeasure. Clark. The figurative expression, "the pillars of heaven," seems intended to represent the heavens under the idea of an immense fabric supported on stately columns. Their "trembling" and "astonishment" is the animated style of sublime poetry, to denote violent concussions of the air, and agitation of the clouds. The cause is God's "reproof;" that is, thunder, lightning, and tempestuous winds, which are represented by the heathen, as well as by sacred poets, as effects and tokens of God's displeasure at the sins of men. Scott. 12. He divideth the sea with his power.] This passage probably refers to the separation of the waters at the creation: like the parallel passage chap. xxxviii. 8—11. In both places Rahab or "proud" is an epithet of the sea. Dr. Hales. Or it may be no more than the description of a tempest: and if the former part of ver. 12 mean, that God sometimes by His power raises a violent storm at sea; the latter may be well enough understood of the pride or swelling of the sea itself, allayed again by the same Divine power and will that raised it. Peters. 13. By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; &c.] Finally by His wise contrivance the heavens were adorned and made thus beautiful as we behold them: His power made the celestial signs. Bp. Patrick. "The crooked serpent" may mean an heavenly constellation, called the great dragon or serpent; which being most eminent, as taking up a considerable part of the northern hemisphere, may well be put for all the rest of the constellations or stars, with which the heavens are garnished. Job was well acquainted with the doctrine of astronomy; and knew the nature and names of the stars and constellations, as appears also from chap. ix. 9, and xxxviii. 31. Poole. 14. Lo, these are parts of his ways: &c.] The works of God are many and wonderful: we know but a very small part of them, and we cannot comprehend all the reasons of His conduct in the government of the world. God is so great, so powerful, so just and wise, that we ought not to presume to question any thing that He does, nor pry into His works with too much curiosity. We ought rather to be firmly persuaded that He governs all things with wisdom, justice, and goodness, and humbly submit to all His dispensations. Osterwald. Chap. XXVII. Job, having refuted the principle on 3 Y 2 Job protesteth his sincerity. The hypocrite is without hope. Before CHRIST about 1820. to take up. my soul bitter. breath which God gave him. my days. MOREOVER Job † continued his parable, and said, SURELY there is [a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it.] Or, a wine By these expressions was denoted the happiness or misery of good or bad souls, in the intermediate state between their death and resurrection. Dr. Hales. —where they fine it] Rather, “which (both the silver and the gold) they fine.” Neither silver nor gold is fined in the mine itself. The fining of these metals is mentioned as another instance of man’s ability, distinct from his searching them out in the mine. Arabia Felix had anciently its mines of gold, Ps. lxxii. 15, “to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba;” in the Septuagint and Arabic versions, “the gold of Arabia.” Sheba was the ancient name of Arabia Felix. Job, who dwelt in Arabia Petrea, could be no stranger to the riches of that neighbouring country. Scott. 2. As God liveth, &c.] As God liveth, who hath not yet given any outward and sensible signification that He hath taken notice of my cause, to clear and avenge me; but, on the contrary, hath laid many sore afflictions upon me. Bp. Hall. 2—4. As God liveth, &c.] The whole passage will be equally clear, if literally rendered thus: "The living God hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty hath embittered my soul; but all the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, surely my lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit." Dr. Durell. 2.—brass] He probably means the natural or red brass, which is copper. The modern brass, which the French name yellow copper, is factitious, being made of copper fused with the calamine stone. Scott. —out of the stone.] With which it is mixed and incorporated in the earth; but by fire and the art of the metallist is separated from it, and taken out of it. Poole. 3. He setteth an end to darkness, &c.] “The stones of darkness,” and “the shadow of death,” must surely mean the metallicl ore in the deep and dark parts of the earth. The agent then who searcheth them out must be man. He also it is whose pride and presumption “setteth an end to darkness;” that is, contracts its bounds by carrying light into the subterraneous caverns when he works the mines. Scott. —and searcheth out all perfection:] Or, more clearly, “he searcheth to every extremity the stones of darkness, &c.” that is, he follows the vein of metallicl ore as far as it goes. Scott. 4. The flood breaketh out &c.] As the author of the book of Job was perhaps the most concise writer that ever appeared in the world, and his language the most concise; he just gives a glimpse of things, and leaves the rest to be supplied by the imagination of the reader. His thoughts are, like the gold and jewels he speaks of, precious in themselves: but we must sometimes labour hard and go deep for them. Of this we have a farther proof in what follows; where he proceeds to give another instance of the daring spirit and ingenuity of mankind. How they cross the broad rivers and arms of the sea for commerce; where there is no path for the foot of man; where they lessen to the sight, and are tossed upon the waves. This appears to be the meaning of the fourth verse, which may be literally rendered thus; “the flood interrupts from the stranger; forgotten of the foot, they appear less than men, they are tossed;” their feet forget them, and are no longer serviceable to them in this very different way of travelling; they lessen to the sight, as they go off farther and farther from the shores; and, lastly, are tossed up and down upon the billows. The same expression is used, Ps. cvii. 27. Peters. Otherwise, it is evident that this chapter of Job relates to mineralogy and mining: thus then I would explain this difficult verse: “A torrent bursteth forth from the rubbish, forgotten,” not thought of, or in a word unexpectedly. “By the foot,” that is, an engine worked by the foot, “they are drawn off, by man they are removed.” The following quotation from Mr. Catcott’s treatise on the Deluge is an excellent though undesigned of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men. 5—8. God forbid that I should justify you: &c.] Though I am quite cast down, as miserable as it is possible to be, in this life; yet God forbid that I should justify your censures of me, by owning that I have played the hypocrite, or been secretly wicked. No, whatever shall befall me, I am resolved that I will still maintain and still hold fast my integrity: I will sooner die than confess the guilt you charge me with. "Let mine enemy be as the wicked;" let him flourish and prosper here as much as his heart can wish, (and he had before shewn that they often do so;) but "what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul? that is, what can he think will become of him after death? what comfort can such an one possibly entertain in the prospect of futurity?" Peters. 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty? Can he find comfort in God, when the world affords none? which I do now. Will he call upon God in prosperity as well as adversity? There must be a delight in God before there will be any perseverance in duty. Clark. 5. As for the earth, &c.] Here he appears to represent the dangers to which miners are exposed, and which avarice is bold enough to venture through. The surface of the earth produceth corn and other fruits for the sustenance of man and beast: but underneath it is turned to be as it were fire. Its caverns abound with inflammable minerals, for instance sulphur. The sulphurous air in mines has been known sometimes to take fire from the candles of the workmen, and to destroy the miners. Or perhaps he referreth to the “slime pits” in “the vale of Siddim,” near the place which was afterwards turned into a lake, and called the Dead sea. Those slime-pits were holes, out of which issued a liquid bitumen, or naphtha, an oily substance. Hanway, in his Travels into Persia, describes some fountains of naphtha, which were actually burning near Baku on the western coast of the Caspian sea. Chaldea abounded with them. The walls of Babylon were cemented with the bitumen or slime. Scott. 6—11. As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: &c.] Job continues in the following verses to give farther instances of the daring and yet successful attempts of mankind to provide themselves with every necessary and convenience of life: such as corn for bread, ver. 5; fountains of water in the dry places, where they are wanted, cut out of the hard rock, ver. 10; and rapid rivers restrained within their channels to prevent the mischiefs of their overflow, ver. 11: to which he adds again, gold, and sapphire, and other precious stones, dug deep from the caverns of the earth, where “the lion’s foot never trod, nor the vulture’s eye hath reached,” ver. 7, 8. In short, that there is scarcely any thing so concealed but what the industry of man had brought to light, wisdom alone excepted; for all this is designed to introduce the great question, ver. 12, “But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?” Peters. In the notes which follow, to the end of the 11th verse, a different interpretation is given of some parts of this obscure passage. 6. The stones of it are the place &c.] Here is the temptation to risk the aforementioned dangers: the rocky earth in those subterraneous caverns is the country and birth-place of sapphires, and other precious stones. There also men find glebes of gold, or golden ore. Scott. 7, 8. There is a path &c.] These two verses are a poetical illustration of man’s intrepidity in penetrating these dangerous regions of darkness. The fiercest and most daring creatures of prey would not venture into them: “A path which the fowls of prey know not, &c.” He means, the path which leads to the place of sapphires and golden ore; the way into the mines. Scott. 11. I will teach you by the hand of God.] Rather, "I will instruct you in the power of God;" as the word is rendered, Prov. xviii. 21. Dr. Durell. 12. Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it.] Behold, there is not one of you but hath, by his own experience, found what I am about to say to be certainly true: and yet, such is your vanity, you will defend an ungrounded opinion. Bp. Patrick. 13. This is the portion of a wicked man with God.] I grant that a wicked man (but not all wicked men, as you maintain) sometimes receives such punishments from God as he deserves; which might make other Before CHRIST about 1820. a Mact. 16. 26. b Prov. 1. 25. Exch. 8. 15. John 9. 21. Jany. 4. 3. The blessings which the wicked have CHAP. XXVII, XXVIII. are turned into curses. is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. 14. — shall not be satisfied with bread.] Shall be starved for want of food. Clark. 15. — shall be buried in death:] "Shall rot unburied." The learned Schultens seems to have given the true meaning of the passage, "they shall have death for their burial;" that is, they shall be reduced to so great a degree of misery, that where they die, there they shall rot; and no person shall bury them. This is put in contrast with the costly monuments of the rich. Heath. 16. Though he heap up silver as the dust.] Sir J. Chardin tells us, in his note on this passage, that it is customary through all the East to gather together an immense collection of furniture and clothes, for their fashions never alter. They keep them up in wardrobes, as they heap up mud for mortar in building. Harmer. 19. — as a moth.] His house shall be as easily destroyed as the dwelling of the moth, which falls a prey to herself. Grotius. — as a booth] Like a temporary hut in a garden or vineyard to shelter the guard, who suffers it to fall when the season is over. The same image occurs, Isai. i. 8; Lam. ii. 6. Bp. Stock. Job here teaches us, that although worldly men may live in affluence, heap up riches, and leave them to their children, their ill-gotten wealth soon passes away, and their posterity are often exposed to want and disgrace. These are visible marks of God's justice towards the wicked; and should serve as a powerful antidote against injustice, pride, and the love of the world. Ostervald. 19. The rich man shall lie down, &c.] Peters thus ingeniously explains this important passage: "The wicked rich man" (for of such Job was speaking) "shall die, but shall not be gathered" to the assembly of good and pious souls: "he openeth his eyes" in the other world "and is not," or finds himself lost and miserable. He observes, that the phrase of "being gathered to their fathers," or "to their peoples," is confined in Scripture to the eminently good and pious. Thus it is applied to Abraham, Gen. xv. 15; xxv. 8; to Isaac, Gen. xxxv. 29; to Moses, Numb. xxvii. 13; xxxi. 2; to David, Acts xiii. 36; to Josiah, 2 Kings xxii. 20: whereas the general expression applied to good and bad indifferently is, to "lie down," or "sleep with their fathers;" as Jeroboam, 1 Kings xiv. 20; Rehoboam, 1 Kings xiv. 31, &c. To "lie with the uncircumcised" is applied to the wicked; as Pharaoh, Ezek. xxxii. 19—28, &c. for "the uncircumcised shall be cut off from his peoples," Gen. xvii. 14. waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night. 20, 21. Terrors take hold on him] The horror and distraction of a wicked man on his death-bed are here described in a very lively manner. He dies, as most wicked men do, in the utmost tumult and confusion. Peters. A sudden landflood in the night, no uncommon thing in Arabia, and a furious storm of wind, are the strong images by which such a death is represented. Scott. 21. The east wind] This is the most boisterous and the most destructive wind that blows in these countries; see the note on chap. xv. 2. It is most violent in the night. Scott. 23. Men shall clap their hands at him.] The striking of one hand against the other with some smartness, which we mean by the term "clapping of the hands," might, and I believe did, obtain amenity, as an expression of joy; not unfrequently, if not always, of the malignant kind. Compare what Jeremiah says of Jerusalem, when it was destroyed, Lam. ii. 15. Harmer. Chap. XXVIII. This chapter, as it is one of the most beautiful and instructive, so perhaps we might add, it is the most obscure of this book. The subject proposed in it is an inquiry after wisdom; not the wisdom of God, by which we mean the unsearchable depth of His counsels, but wisdom in general, or rather the wisdom proper to man, which therefore, in the last verse, is pointed out as the result of the preceding inquiry. The chapter begins with a fine description of the indefatigable industry and ardour of mankind in searching after other things, which contribute either to the uses or the ornament of life: how they dig into the bowels of the earth for metals, gold, silver, iron, brass. And though the great Creator hath placed a boundary betwixt light and darkness, yet the industry or avarice of man is without bounds. He searcheth into the land of darkness itself for hid treasures. Peters. Ver. 1—11. Surely there is a vein &c.] The first verse speaks of mines: the eleventh verse, which concludes the paragraph, mentioneth man's bringing the riches of them into daylight: the intermediate verses, therefore, may in reason be supposed to relate to the same subject. Scott. — a place for gold] So the Arabians called the mine. "Gold," says one of their poets, "is thrown away like earth in its places:" it has no value in the mine. Scott. Man may search deep into nature. Before CHRIST about 1598. Or, dust. 9-11. He putteth forth &c.] These verses appear to describe the prodigious labour of working a mine: for the effect of the operations here specified is, man's bringing forth to light the thing that is hid; that is, the hidden treasure of the earth. Scott. — he overturneth the mountains &c.] The operation, described here, seems to be the breaking in pieces and dislodging, in order to come at the ore, the hardest flint or marble; which are the roots, that is, the foundation of the mountain. Or perhaps the poet means a still greater work; such as Pliny, quoted by Schultens, strongly paints: "Yet the labour of hewing the rock is comparatively easy. For there is an earth compounded of a kind of clay and grit that is almost impenetrable. This the miners assail with iron wedges and mallets. Nothing is imagined to be harder, except the insatiable hunger after gold, which of all things is the hardest to subdue. Having finished this labour, they cut the props of their arch-work, the prelude and signal of the fall of the mountain. The semitest on the top of the mountain perceiving the ground under his feet to sink immediately gives notice of it to the workmen below by his voice and repeated thumps. Away he flies. The mountain splits, and falls with a continued thundering sound, and an incredible blast of wind. The victorious miners gaze upon the overthrow of nature." Scott. 10. He cutteth out rivers &c.] The next operation is to clear away the stones and rubbish, that "his eye may see every precious thing;" that is, lay bare the precious gems and the gold. The means by which this is accomplished, is turning a large body of water upon the ruins. But so wonderful is man's invention, and so indofatigable his avarice, that he cuts a passage even through rocks to collect and convey a strong stream down to the mine for that purpose. "To wash the ruins," says Pliny, "they bring rivers from the tops of mountains a hundred miles off. They carry aqueducts over the valleys, and sometimes hew a way for those pipes through the rocks: they gather the waters into large reservoirs, make sluice-gates to those reservoirs; then let out such a torrent as bears down the largest stones with the violence of its course." Scott. 11. He bindeth the floods &c.] There remaineth still a third operation to exercise the art of man. The subterraneous waters sometimes burst into the mine in great abundance. These he must thoroughly drain off by machines, before "be can bring forth into light the hidden treasures." Scott. 13-20. Man knoweth not the price thereof; &c.] In the intermediate verses betwixt the first and last proposal of this great question, there is made a beautiful repetition of several of the particulars which had been mentioned before, and a fine turn given to each; "The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me:" as if Job had said, Men may dig into the bowels of the earth, and find gold and treasures there; but they will be as far from finding wisdom as ever: and could they traverse the great sea itself, as they run across a river or a strait, yet they would learn that wisdom is not to be acquired in the way of commerce or exchange. One thing we cannot but remark from this passage, how early the race of men had learned to set a value on those precious trinkets which are here so lavishly exposed to view. Peters. 15. — neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.] Compare Gen. xliii. 21. The practice of weighing money, says Mons. Volney, is customary and general in Syria, in Egypt, and in all Turkey. No piece, however light, is refused: the tradesman takes out his moneyweights, and values it. It is the same as in the time of Abraham, when he bought his burying-ground. Parkhurst. 16. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir.] That is, estimated, or compared with it. The word strictly signifies, to be strewed, or laid on the ground, as the ancient merchants laid their commodities to be bartered or exchanged for others: a method of traffick still practised by some nations to this day; as, for instance, by the Moors and Negroes of Africa, in bartering salt and various trinkets for gold. Parkhurst. — the precious onyx.] It was observed on ver. 1, that Arabia Felix, now called Yaman, had formerly its golden mines. It still boasteth its gems. We are assured by an eye-witness, that precious stones for rings and bracelets are brought thence in great quantities, to the annual fair held at Mecca during the last ten or twelve days of the stay of the pilgrims there. It is doubtful what gem is meant by that which we translate the onyx: the epithet precious, as Schultens remarks, gives a distinction to it; which the onyx, a sort of agate, does not merit. The Chaldee interpreter renders it beryls. The beryl of the ancients was a transparent gem of a sea-green colour. Scott. — the sapphire.] The sapphire is of a beautiful sky blue. Some will have the Hebrew word to signify the ruby; others the carbuncle, which is a stone of the ruby kind, very rare, and of a rich glowing blood colour. Scott. 17. — the crystal] Or glass, according to the Greek, Latin, and Syriack versions: no wonder that it is here mentioned with gold, and other things of great value, since however common and cheap glass now is among us, yet it is very conceivable, that in the age and country of Job, this beautiful artificial crystal was Wisdom is an excellent gift of God. Before CHRIST about 1820. Or, vessels of fine gold. Or, Ramesh. o Ver. 12. Or, hebreu. very scarce, and of consequence highly precious. Parkhurst. —[jewels of fine gold.] Some ornaments or vessels of gold that were of high value for the workmanship as well as for the materials. Scott. 18. No mention shall be made of coral.] According to Pliny, coral was highly esteemed among the ancients. "The Indians value coral as highly as we value pearls, which come from India. The men esteem these gems, as our women do Indian pearls. Their priests and predictors attribute to it something sacred, and affirm that it has the virtue of protecting from dangers those who carry it. So that two things contribute to render it valuable, superstition and beauty." Experience confirms the relation of Pliny: for often in that country a collar of coral sells for a price equal to one of pearls. Script. illustr. Expos. Ind. 22. Destruction and death say, &c.] By "destruction and death" must be meant the dead: this interpretation gives a clear and natural sense to the passage. Job had before told us that wisdom and her place were "hid from the eyes of all living," ver. 21, and therefore whither should we go to look for it, but among the dead? "Death and destruction," two synonymous words, are used probably, after the Hebrew manner, to increase the signification, and to denote a long race of their dead ancestors from the beginning of the world downward. We have here then an answer to the great inquiry, "Where shall wisdom be found, and where is the place of understanding?" "Destruction and death say," that is, the generations of the dead have told us, "we have heard the fame thereof with our ears." We have had something relating to this question about wisdom delivered down to us by tradition from our forefathers: amongst others, these important particulars, that "God understandeth the way thereof," ver. 23; for His knowledge reaches to all things and places: "He looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven," ver. 24; and that with a wisdom so infallible, and a power so uncontrollable, as to give a certain weight and measure to things the most uncertain and inconstant with respect to us, the winds and waters; "to make the weight for the winds; and He weigheth the waters by measure," ver. 25. We have had it moreover delivered down to us, says Job, in the same traditional way, that this infinitely wise and glorious Being, when He made the world, not only displayed His own wisdom in the Ver. 3. When his candle shined upon my head.] The candle or lamp is probably an allusion to the lamps which hung from the ceiling of the banqueting rooms of the wealthy Arabs. The latter clause, "by his light I walked, &c." refers to the Eastern practice of guiding caravans at night by torches, carried aloft before each division of the travellers. Scott. — a diadem.] The usual headdress of the Turks, Persians, Arabs, and other Eastern nations to this day, is the turban, which consists of a cap, and a sash of fine linen or silk wound round the bottom of the cap; and which appears from the present passage to have been worn in the East as early as the time of Job. In Isai. lxii. 3, it is used for the royal turban; and in Zech. iii. 5, for the high priest's. Parkhurst. This beautiful manner of speaking is still preserved among the Arabs. One of their proverbs is, "Knowledge is a diadem to a young person, and a chain of gold about his neck." Scott. Ver. 1.—younger] The vast respect paid to their elders by the Eastern people, quickened their sensibility of contempt from their juniors. Scott. —whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.] Whose fathers I would have disdained to make the keepers of those dogs which tended upon my flocks. Bp. Hall. —and juniper roots for their meat.] Rather, the Genista or Spanish broom. I cannot find any modern instance of the root of this shrub being eaten for food; but it is certain that the shoots, leaves, bark, and roots of other shrubs and trees, have been eaten among many nations in times and places of famine and scarcity. Parkhurst. under the nettles they were gathered together.] The nettle is a plant so low, that no persons could assemble under it: the Latin Vulgate always renders the word brier, bramble, or the like: and Scheuchzer says, We must absolutely have recourse to tall shrubs, which are thorny, prickly, and burning. Dr. Shaw says, "There is no great variety of plants to be met with in these deserts. Those which I have seen are generally indebted to the cleft of some barren rock, or to the sandy plain, for their support, and to the nightly dews for their nourishment." Script. illustr. Expos. Ind. For what portion of God &c.] For if I had suffered my eyes and my heart to rove after these unlawful lusts, what could I have looked up for at the hand of God but due vengeance? Bp. Hall. 2. Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me.] For what use could I make of them, who had wholly lost their time, and lived idly and unprofitably? Bp. Hall. 3. For want and famine they were solitary;] Though they were in want, and ready to perish with hunger, yet no man could look after them, or pay them any regard. Caryl. —fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.] These words would be clearer, if they were rendered thus: Fleeing lately into the wilderness which is desolate and waste; or, into the wilderness, unto desolation and destruction. Dr. Dwell. 4. — when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;] When there was a secret blessing of God upon me and my family, protecting, directing, and prospering us in all our affairs; whereas now there is a visible curse of God on me and mine. Poole. 4. Who cut up mallows by the bushes.] The word, here translated "mallow," seems to signify a herb of a saltish taste, which grows in salt places, whether near the sea, or in the desert. Athenæus says, it is the food of the miserable. Script. illustr. Expos. Ind. The plant is described by Job as "cropped upon the shrub;" which exactly agrees with what the Arab writers say of the Maluck or Halimus, namely, that they ate the tops of it. Parkhurst. 5. They were driven forth from among men.] This verse discovers the true cause why the men before spoken of lived solitary in the wilderness; their retirement was not voluntary but compulsory. Caryl. They were cast out of all civil society, as pests not to be endured: and whenever they were discovered lurking about towns, an outcry was raised against them as against the pilfering Arabs of the desert; with whom, it is likely, they herded. Scott. 6. When I washed my steps with butter.] When I abounded in all sorts of blessings, which is often signified by this and the like phrases; as Gen. xlix. 11; Deut. xxxiii. 24; Job xx. 17; Ps. lxxxi. 16. When I had such numerous herds of cattle, and consequently such plenty of butter, that, if I pleased, I might have washed my feet with it. Poole. — and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;] Cattle and olive groves made the principal wealth of the Arabs. The best olives grow upon rocky mountains. Hence these bold figures to express uncommon felicity. Scott. 6. To dwell—in caves of the earth, &c.] St. Jerome says, that the southern parts of Judea are full of caves under ground, and of caverns in the mountains, to which the people retired in time of danger. Compare Judg. vi. 2; 1 Sam. xiii. 6. Parkhurst. The following passage, in which notice is taken of the like circumstances in these deserts, is not inapplicable: "If in the course of our travelling we did not fall in with the hovels of the Kabyles, or the encampments of the Arabs, we had nothing to protect us from the inclemency either of the heat of the day, or the cold of the night, unless we met with some accidental grove of trees, the shelve of a rock, or sometimes by good fortune a grotto. At these times our horses were the greatest sufferers: and as they were always our first care, we gathered for them stubble, grass, boughs of trees, and such like provender, before we sat down and examined what fragments of some former meal were reserved for ourselves." Dr. Shaw. The rocks of Arabia Petrea abound in caves. At this day, the Arabs who dwell in the mountains of that country are a bad people; the worst of all the Arabs, as Bishop Pococka informs us. Scott. 7. When I went &c.] Having described his domestick happiness, he proceeds to represent the honours paid him in publick life. This representation is judiciously intermingled with an account of his impartial and intrapid administration of justice; which is a noble answer to the accusation of Eliphaz, chap. xxii. 6—9. Scott. — the gate] The court of justice, where was the meeting of the elders to try causes. Bp. Stock. See the notes on Gen. xxiii. 10, and on chap. v. 4. — when I prepared my seat in the street!] When I sat on the bench in the open place where the people are wont to have their causes heard. Bp. Patrick. Sitting on a cushion is an expression of honour in the East: and the preparing of a seat for a person of distinction seems to mean, laying things of this kind on a place where such an one is to sit. When Job speaks of "his preparing his seat," it is extremely natural to understand him of his sending his servants to lay a cushion and a carpet on one of the publick seats, or something of that sort, as Sir John Chardin supposes. Harmer. 7. Among the bushes they brayed;] Made a noise like Before CHRIST about 1520. Job's prosperity is turned into calamity. Before CHRIST about 1320. of no name. a Ps. 33. 15. &69. 12. withhold not spittle from my face. under the nettles they were gathered together. 8. — hid themselves:] Being struck with such reverence of Job's person, that they durst not appear openly before him. Caryl. The slavish homage of prostration to princes and great men, which prevailed in Egypt, Persia, and the East in general, and still subsists there, was unknown in Arabia at that time. Though Job was "the greatest of all the men of the East," we do not find any such adoration paid to him by his contemporaries in the zenith of his prosperity, among the marks of respect here so minutely described. "When the young men saw him, they hid themselves," in token of reverence; "the aged arose, and stood up" in his presence: "the princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand upon their mouth; the nobles held their peace," and were all attention while he spoke. All this was highly respectful indeed, but still it was manly, and shewed no cringing or servile adulation. And so Sir William Jones describes the genuine Arabs at the present day as a majestick race, who were never conquered, and who have retained their primitive manners, features, and character, with scarcely any alteration. Peters, Dr. Hales. 11. — it gave witness to me:] They who saw me bore testimony to my uprightness and the integrity of my heart. Chappelow. 11. — loosed my cord,] This seems to be an allusion to the "stretched cords," by which Job's tent was fixed to the ground. Dr. Durell. Because God hath bereaved me of that power and honour which I formerly enjoyed, therefore they let loose the reins of their obedience and respect to me. Bp. Hall. Perhaps, "Because He (God) hath loosened my bowstring," that is, hath made me weak and helpless, in opposition to what he had said by a like image, (chap. xxix. 20,) "and afflicted me, therefore they," my rascally persecutors before described, "have let go the rein," that is, thrown off all restraint, "before me." Parkhurst. Or, the phrase "He hath loosed my cord," seems equivalent to that in chap. xii. 18, "He looseth the bond of kings." Scott. 13. — ready to perish] Through false accusations, whereby his estate or life was in danger. I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy, on account of her great and unexpected deliverance. Clark. 13. — they have no helper ] Rather, there is no helper among them, none ready to assist me. Dr. Durell. 14. They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters:] Rather, They came as a wide torrent: they rolled themselves in order to destroy. Dr. Durell. 14. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: &c.] In all his proceedings, as a magistrate, or a man in authority, Job sought to do justice to all. Caryl. Where silence against foul and false imputations may be interpreted a confession, there the protestation of a man's own innocency is ever just, and sometimes necessary. When others do us open wrong, it is not vanity, but charity, to do ourselves open right: and whatsoever appearance of folly or vain boasting there is in so doing, they are chargeable with all that compel us thereunto, and not we. "I am become a fool in glorying," saith St. Paul, "ye have compelled me," 2 Cor. xli. 11. It was neither pride nor passion in Job, but such a compulsion as this, that made him so often in this book proclaim his own righteousness. See chap. xxii. 6, and the note there. Bp. Sanderson. — it clothed me: &c.] This metaphor of clothing is much used in the Scriptures in this notion, as applied Job calleth to mind the worthy use he had made of his former prosperity. Before CHRIST about 1800. few-teeth, or, the grinders. spread. 15. — they pursue my soul as the wind:] With rapidity and violence, as when a person is attacked by a storm. Rosenmüller. 16. — my soul is poured out upon me:] Job's soul was once a cistern full of strength, liveliness, joy, and comfort; but his long sufferings and afflictions had almost emptied and drawn him dry to the bottom. Caryl. 17. My bones are pierced in me] My substance is bored or corroded from off me, eaten into holes with sores. Michaelis observes, that in the elephantiasis, Job's distemper, "in process of time tumours are formed, and these tumours degenerate at length into incurable sores, which penetrate one after another." Parkhurst. It is too common a spectacle to see even among Europeans, at Rio de Janeiro, as well as native whites and negroes, that dreadful disease, the elephantiasis, which, destroying the sound texture of the integuments of the human frame, swells, distorts, and discolours wherever it attacks; enlarging the patient's mis-shapen limbs to the bulk of those of the huge animal, the resemblance to whom, in that particular, occasioned the appellation which this horrid disorder has received. Sir G. Stauton's Embassy to China. 18. By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: &c.] The passage may be rendered, "with great force He layeth hold of my garment, and enfolds me by the collar of my robe. He hath cast me into the mire, &c." The idea is taken from a man struggling with another, laying hold of his garment, casting him to the earth, and rolling him in the mire. Job compares the disease and affliction which laid hold of him to such a struggle. Houbigant. Or, it requires great force, when I would shift my clothes, to pull them off: my outward garment, by the filthy matter of my sores, being glued as fast to me, as the collar of my shirt. Bp. Patrick. 18. Then I said, I shall die in my nest, &c.] Then did I please myself in the confidence of my continuing happiness; and durst boldly resolve, I shall die in peace and fullness of days in my own house. Bp. Hall. The image is taken from the eagle, who builds his nest on the summit of a rock. Security and ease are the points of resemblance intended. Scott. 19. — the dew lay all night upon my branch.] It is well known that in the hot Eastern countries, where it rarely rains during the summer months, the copious dewa, which fall there during the night, contribute greatly to the nourishment of vegetables in general. And "this dew," says Hasselquist, speaking of the excessively hot weather in Egypt, "is particularly servicoable to the trees, which would otherwise never be and my bow was † renewed in my hand. 20. — I stand up,] I offer myself to Thy view as an object of compassion, and pray to Thee. Clark. Standing was the usual posture of prayer among the Hebrews. Scott. 21. Thou art become cruel to me:] It is remarkable, that the very same word is used, Jer. xxx. 14, where God Himself declares how He had dealt with His own people, and expresses it in the following terms: "I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one." Peters. — with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.] The turn of the sentence in the original is somewhat different, and is literally thus, "With Thy strong hand Thou hatest me;" which gives us a plain direc- Job maketh a solemn protestation Before CHRIST about 1890. mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep. # CHAP. XXXI. Job maketh a solemn protestation of his integrity in several duties. I MADE a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?