10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as | and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and one of the foolish women speaketh. What? wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and shall we receive good at the hand of God, and 2 sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. shall we not receive evil? In all this did not 13 So they sat down with him upon the ground Jobsin with his lips. a seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great. CHAPTER III. 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zo-Job curses the day of his birth, and regrets that he ever saw the light, 1-12 Describes phar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him, and him. W the empire of death and its inhabitants, 13-19. Regrets that he is appointed to live in the midst of sorrows, for the calamities which he feared had overtaken him, 20---26. FTER this opened Job his mouth, nd to comfort they lifted up their eyes afar off, and cursed his day. 8 Ch. 1. 21. Rom. 12. 12. James 5. 10, 11.-t Ch. 1. 22-u Psa. 39. 1.-v Prov. 17. for the hope of my salvation.' Behold thy memorial is Here it seems to be a strong irony. Job was exceedingly afflicted; and apparently dying, through sore disease: yet his soul was filled with gratitude to God. His wife, destitute of the salvation which her husband possessed, gave him this ironical reproof. Bless God and dieWhat! bless him for his goodness, while he is destroying all that thou hast! bless him for his support, while he is casting thee down and destroying thee! Bless on, and die. The Targum says, that Job's wife's name was Dinah, and that the words which she spake to him on this occasion were 2 berich meymra dayai umith. Bless the WORD of the Lord, and die. Ovid has such an irony as I suppose this to have been: Quid vos sacra juvant? quid nunc Egyptia prosunt Cum rapiant mala fata bonos, ignoscite fasso Vire pius; moriere pius. Cole sacra, colentem Amor, lib. iii. Eleg. ix. ver. 33. Verse 10. Thou speakest as one of the foolish] Thou speakest like an infidel: like one who has no knowledge of God, of religion, or of a future state. The Targum, who calls this woman Dinah, translates thus: "Thou speakest like one of those women who have wrought folly in the house of their father." This is in reference to an ancient rabbinical opinion, that Job lived in the days of the patriarch Jacob, whose daughter Dinah he had married. Shall we receive good] This we have received in great abundance, for many years: And shall we not receive evil?] Shall we murmur when he afflicts us for a day, who has given us health for so many years? Shall we blaspheme his name for momentary privations, who has given us such a long succession of enjoyments? His blessings are his own; he never gave them to us; they were only lent. We have had the long, the free, the unmerited use of them; and shall we be offended at the owner, when he comes to reclaim his own property! This would be foolish, ungrateful, and wicked. So may every one reason who is suffering from adversity. But who, besides Job, reasons thus? Man is naturally discontented and ungrateful. In all this did not Job sin with his lips] The Chaldee adds, But in his heart he thought words. He had surmisings of heart, though he let nothing escape from his lips. Verse 11. Job's three friends] The first was Eliphaz, the Temanite; or, as the Septuagint has it, Exipag & Daipavov Baridevs, Eliphaz the king of the Thaimanites. Eliphaz was one of the sons of Esau; and Teman, of Eliphaz, Gen. xxxvi. 10, 11. Teman was a city of Edom, Jer. xlix. 7-20. Ezek. xxv. 13. Amos i. 11, 12. Bildad the Shuhite] Or, as the Septuagint, Baldad, 8 Ever Tuparvos, Baldad, tyrant of the Suchites. Shuah was the son of Abraham, by Keturah; and his posterity is reckoned among the Easterns. It is supposed he should be placed with his brother Midian, and his brother's sons Ante I. OL cir. 744. A. U.C. cir. 767. x Gen. 25. 2.-y Ch. 42 11. Rom. 12. 15.-z Neh. 9. 1. Lam. 2. 10. Ezek. 27. 30. a Gen. 50. 10. Sheba and Dedan. See Gen. xxv. 2, 3. Dedan was a city of Edom, see Jer. xlix. 8. and seems to have been situated in its southern boundary as Teman was in its western, Ezek. xxv. 13. Zophar the Naamathite] Or, according to the Septuagint, Ewpap Miraton Barilevs, Sophar king of the Minaites. He most probably came from that Naamah, which was bordering upon the Edomites to the south, and fell by lot to the tribe of Judah, Josh. xv. 21-41. These circumstances which have already been mentioned in the introduction, prove that Job must have dwelt in the land of Edom; and that all his friends dwelt in Arabia Petræa, or in the countries immediately adjacent. That some of those Eastern people were highly cultivated we have at least indirect proof in the case of the Temanites, Jer. xlix. 7. Concerning Edom thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Is wisdom no more in Teman? Is counsel perished from the prudent? Is their wisdom vanished? They are celebrated also in Baruch iii. 22, 23. Speaking of wisdom, he says, "It hath not been heard of in Chanaan; neither hath it been seen in Theman. The Agarenes that seek wisdom upon earth, the merchants of Meran and of Theman, the expounders of fables, and searchers out of understanding, none of these have known the way of wisdom." It is evident enough from these quotations, that the inhabitants of those districts were celebrated for their knowledge; and the sayings of Job's three friends are proofs that their reputation for wisdom stood on very solid foundations. Verse 12. They rent every one his mantle] I have already had frequent occasions to point out, and illustrate by quotations from the ancients, the actions that were used in order to express profound grief, such as wrapping themselves in sackcloth, covering the face, strewing dust or ashes upon the head, sitting upon the bare ground, &c. &c. significant actions which were in use among all nations. Verse 13. They sat down with him upon the ground seven days] They were astonished at the unprecedented change which had taken place in the circumstances of this most eminent man: they could not reconcile his present situation with any thing they had met with in the history of divine providence. The seven days mentioned here were the period appointed for mourning. The Israelites mourned for Jacob seven days, Gen. 1. 10. And the men of Jabesh mourned so long for the death of Saul, 1 Sam. xxxi. 13. 1 Chron. x. 12. And Ezekiel sat on the ground with the captives at Chebar, and mourned with and for them seven days, Ezek. iii. 15. The wise son of Sirach says, "Seven days do men mourn for him that is dead." Ecclus. xxii. So calamitous was the state of Job, that they considered him as a dead man; and went through the prescribed period of mourning for him. They saw that his grief was very great.] This is the reason why they did not speak to him: they believed him to be suffering for heavy crimes; and, seeing him suffer so much, they were not willing to add to his distresses by invectives or reproach. Job himself first broke silence. NOTES ON CHAPTER III. Verse 1. After this Job opened his mouth] After the seven days' mourning was over, there being no prospect of relief, Job is represented as thus cursing the day of his birth. Here the poetic part of the book begins; for most certainly there is nothing in the preceding chapters either in the form or spirit of Hebrew poetry. It is easy, indeed, to break the sentences into hemistichs; but this does not constitute them poetry: for, although Hebrew poetry is in general in hemistichs, yet it does not follow that the division of narrative into hemistichs must necessarily constitute it poetry. In many cases the Asiatic poets introduce their compositions with prose narrative; and, having in this way prepared the reader for what he is to expect, begin their deevans, cassidehs, gazels, &c. This appears to be the plan followed by the author of this book. Those who still think, 2 And Jobspake, and said, 3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a manchild conceived. 4 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above; neither let the light shine upon it. 5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it: let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. b Heb. answered-c Ch. 10. 18, 19. Jer. 15, 10. & 20. 14.- Ch. 10. 21, 22. & 16. 16 & 25.3. P. 23. 4. & 44. 19. & 107. 10, 14. Jer. 13. 16 Amos 5. 8.- Or, chalLenge it. after examining the structure of those chapters, and comparing them with the undoubted poetic parts of the book, that they also, and the ten concluding verses, are poetry, have my consent, while I take the liberty to believe most decidedly the opposite. Cursed his day] That is, the day of his birth: and thus he gave vent to the agonies of his soul; and the distractions of his mind, and his execrations have something in them awfully solemn, tremendously deep, and strikingly sublime. But let us not excuse all the things which he said in his haste, and in the bitterness of his soul, because of his former well-established character of patience. He bore all his privations with becoming resignation to the divine will and providence: but now, feeling himself the subject of continual sufferings, being in heaviness through manifold temptation, and probably the light of God withdrawn from his mind, as his consolations most undoubtedly were, he regrets that ever he was born; and, in a very high strain of impassioned poetry, curses his day. We find a similar execration to this in Jeremiah, chap. xx. 14-18. and in other places; which, by the way, are no proofs that the one borrowed from the other; but that this was the common mode of Asiatic thinking, speaking, and feeling, on such occasions. Verse 3. There is a man-child conceived.] The word harah, signifies to conceive: yet here, it seems, it should be taken in the sense of being born, as it is perfectly unlikely that the night of conception should be either distinctly known or published. Verse 4. Let that day be darkness] The meaning is exactly the same with our expression, "Let it be blotted out of the calendar." However distinguished it may have been, as the birthday of a man once celebrated for his possessions, liberality, and piety, let it no longer be thus noted; as he who was thus celebrated is now the sport of adversity, the most impoverished, most afflicted, and the most wretched of human beings. al Let not God regard it from above] yidreshehu, “Let him not require it"-let him not consider it essential to the completion of the days of the year: and, therefore, he adds, neither let the light shine upon it. If it must be a part of duration, let it not be distinguished by the light of the sun. Verse 5. Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it] mber yigaluhu, “pollute or avenge it," from ↳ gaal, to vindicate, avenge, &c. hence, a goel, the nearest of kin, whose right it was to redeem an inheritance, and avenge the death of his relative by slaying the murderer. Let this day be pursued, overtaken, and destroyed. Let natural darkness, the total privation of the solar light, rendered still more intense by death's shadow projected over it, seize on and destroy this day, exλabot avrny, Septuagint, alluding, perhaps, says Mr. Parkhurst, to the avenger of blood seizing the offender. Let a cloud dwell upon it] Let the dymme cloude fall upon it. Coverdale. Let the thickest clouds have there their dwelling-place; let that be the period of time on which they shall constantly rest, and never be dispersed. This seems to be the import of the original my by pɔwn tishcan âlair ânanah. Let it be the place in which clouds shall be continually gathered together, so as to be the storehouse of the densest vapours, still in the act of being increasingly condensed. Let the blackness of the day terrify it.] And let it be lapped in with sorrowe.-Coverdale. This is very expressive: lap signifies to fold up, or envelope any particular thing, with fold upon fold, so as to cover it every where, and secure il in all points. Leaving out the semicolon, we had better translate the whole clause thus: "Let the thickest cloud have its dwelling-place upon it, and let the bitternesses of a day fill it with terror." A day similar to that, says the Targum, in which Jeremiah was distressed for the destruction of the house of the sanctuary; or like that in which Jonah was cast into the sea of Tarsis. Such a day as that on which some great or national misfortune has happened: probably in allusion to that in which the 6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months. 7 Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein. h 8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up i their mourning. 9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day : f Or, let them terrify it, as those who have a bitter day. Amos 8. 10.-g Or, let it not rejoice among the days.h Jer. 9. 17, 18.—i Or, a leviathan.-k Heb. the eyelids of the morning. Ch. 41. 18. darkness that might be felt enveloped the whole land of Egypt; and the night in which the destroying angel slew all the first-born in the land. Verse 6. As for that night, let darkness seize upon it] I think the Targum has hit the sense of this whole verse: "Let darkness seize upon that night; let it not be reckoned among the annual festivals; in the number of the months of the calendar let it not be computed." Some understand the word SDN ophel, as signifying a dark storm: hence the Vulgate, tenebrosus turbo, "a dark whirlwind." And hence Coverdale, Let the darck storme overcome that night, let it not be reckoned amonge the Dapes off the yeare, nor counted in the monethes. Every thing is here personified, day, night, darkness, shadow of death, cloud, &c. And the same idea of the total extinction of that portion of time, or its being rendered ominous and portentous, is pursued through all these verses, from the third to the ninth, inclusive. The imagery is diversified, the expressions varied, but the idea is the same. Verse 7. Lo, let that night be solitary] The word hinneh, behold, or lo! is wanting in one of De Rossi's MSS. nor is it expressed in the Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, or Arabic. The word no galmud, which we translate solitary, is properly Arabic. From ghalama or jalama, signifying to cut off, make bare, amputate, comes al jalmud, a rock, a great stone; and jalameedet, weight, a burden, trouble, from which we may gather Job's meaning-"Let that night be grievous, oppressive, as destitute of good as a bare rock is of verdure.' The Targum gives the sense, In that night let there be tribulation. Let no joyful voice come therein] Let there be no choirs of singers; no pleasant music heard; no dancing or mer riment. The word renannah, signifies any brisi: movement, such as the vibration of the rays of light, or the brisk modulation of the voice in a cheerful ditty. The Targum has, Let not the crowing of the rural or wild cock resound in it. Let all work be intermitted; let there be no sportive exercises; and let all animals be totally silent. Verse 8. Let them curse it that curse the day] This translation is scarcely intelligible. I have waded through a multitude of interpretations, without being able to collect from them such a notion of the verse as could appear to me probable. Schultens, Rosenmüller, and after them Mr. Goode, have laboured much to make it plain. They think the custom of sorcerers, who had execrations for peoples, places, things, days, &c. is here referred to; such as Balaam, Elymas, and many others were: but I cannot think that a man who knew the Divine Being, and his sole government of the world, so well as Job did, would make such an allusion, who must have known that such persons and their pretensions were impostors and execrable vanities. I shall give as near a translation as I can of the words, and subjoin a short paraphrase, in any yikkibehu orirey yom, ha âtidim ôrer leviathan, “Let them curse it who detest the day; them who are ready to raise up the leviathan." That is, Let them curse my birthday who hate daylight, such as adulterers, murderers, thieves, and banditti, for whose practices the night is more convenient; and let them curse it who being, like me, weary of life, are desperate enough to provoke the leviathan, the crocodile, to tear them to pieces. This version is nearly the same as that given by Coverdale, Let them that curse the daye give it their curse also, even those that be ready to rapse up leviathan. By leviathan some understand the greatest and most imminent dangers; and others the devil, whom the enchanters are desperate enough to attempt to raise by their incantations. Calmet understands the whole to be spoken of the Allantes, a people of Ethiopia, a people who curse the sun, because it parches their fields and their bodies; and who fearlessly attack, kill, and eat, the crocodile. This. seems a good sense. Verse 9. Let the stars of the twilight thereof] The stars of the twilight may here refer to the planets Venus, Ju stars. Let it look for light] Here the prosopopia or personification is still carried on. The darkness is represented as waiting for the lustre of the evening star, but is disappointed and then for the Aurora or dawn, but equally in vain. He had prayed that its light, the sun, should not shine upon it, ver. 4. and here he prays that its evening star may be totally obscured, and that it might never see the dawning of the day. Thus his execration comprehends every thing that might irradiate or entiren it. 16 Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light. 17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the P weary be at rest. 18 There the prisoners rest together, they hear not the voice of the oppressor. 19 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master. 20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul; 21 Which long " for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures; 22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave? r Jer. 20. 18.-s 1 Sam. 1. 10. 2 Kings 4. 27. Prov. 31. 6-t Heb. wait.-u Rev. 9. 6. Prov. 2. 4. with silver, left all behind, and had nothing reserved for themselves but the empty places which they had made for their last dwelling; and where their dust now sleeps, devoid of care, painful journeys, and anxious expectations. He alludes here to the case of the covetous, whom nothing can satisfy, as an Asiatic writer has observed, but the dust that fills his mouth when laid in the grave. SAADY. Verse 16. Or as a hidden untimely birth] An early miscarriage, which was scarcely perceptible by the parent herself and in this case he had not been; he had never had the distinguishable form of a human being, whether male or female. As infants] Little ones; those farther advanced in maturity, but miscarried long before the time of birth. Verse 17. There the wicked cease] In the grave the oppressors of men cease from irritating, harassing, and distressing their fellow-creatures, and dependants. And there the weary be at rest] Those who were worn Verse 10. Because it shut not up the doors] Here is the reason why he curses the day and night in which he was conceived and born; because, had he never been brought into existence, he would never have seen trouble. It seems, however, very harsh that he should have wished the destruction of his mother, in order that his birth might have been prevented and I rather think Job's execration did not extend thus far. The Targum understands the passage as speak-out with the cruelties and tyrannies of the above. The ing of the umbilical cord, by which the fetus is nourished troublers and the troubled; the restless and the submissive; in its mother's womb: had this been shut up, there must the toils of the great, and the labours of the slave, are here have been a miscarriage, or he must have been dead born; put in opposition. and thus sorrow would have been hidden from his eyes. This seeming gloss is much nearer the letter and spirit of the Hebrew than is generally imagined. I shall quote the words, kilo sagar daltey bitni, because it did not shut up the doors of my belly. This is much more consistent with the feelings of humanity, than to wish his mother's womb to have been his grave. Verse 11. Why died I not from the womb?] As the other circumstance did not take place, why was I not stillborn, without the possibility of revivescence? or, as this did not occur, why did I not die as soon as born? These three things appear to me to be clearly intended here:- 1. Dying in the womb; or never coming to maturity, as in the case of a miscarriage. 2. Being still-born, without ever being able to breathe. 3. Or, if born alive, dying within a short time after. And to these states, he seems to refer in the following verses. Verse 12. Why did the knees prevent me?] Why was Idandled on the knees? Why was I nourished by the breasts? In either of the above cases I had neither been received into a mother's lap, nor hung upon a mother's breasts. Verse 13. For now should I have lain still] In that case I had been insensible, quiet, without these overwhelming agitations; slept, unconscious of evil; been at rest, been out of the reach of calamity and sorrow. Verse 14. With kings and counsellors of the earth] I believe this translation to be perfectly correct. The counsellors, y yoatsey, I suppose to mean the privy council, or advisers of kings; those without whose advice kings seldom undertake wars, expeditions, &c. These mighty agitators of the world are at rest in their graves, after the lives of commotion which they have led among men : most of whom, indeed, have been the troublers of the peace of the globe. Which build desolate places] Who erect mausoleums, funeral monuments, sepulchral pyramids, &c. to keep their names from perishing, while their bodies are turned to corruption. I cannot think, with some learned men, that Job is here referring to those patriotic princes who employed themselves in repairing the ruins and desolations which others had occasioned. His simple idea is that, had he died from the womb, he would have been equally at rest, neither troubling nor troubled, as those defunct kings and planners of wars and great designs are, who have nothing to keep even their names from perishing, but the monuments which they have raised to contain their corrupting flesh, mouldering bones, and dust. Verse 15. Or with princes that had gold] Chief or mighty men, lords of the soil, or fortunate adventurers in merchandise, who got gold in abundance, filled their houses Verse 18. The prisoners rest together] Those who were slaves, feeling all the troubles, and scarcely tasting any of the pleasures of life, are quiet in the grave together and the voice of the oppressor, the hard unrelenting taskmaster, which was more terrible than death, is heard no more. They are free from his exactions, and his mouth is silent in the dust. This may be a reference to the Egyptian bondage. The children of Israel cried by reason of their oppressors or taskmasters. Verse 19. The small and great are there] All sorts and conditions of men are equally blended in the grave, and ultimately reduced to one common dust: and of the bond and the free there is no difference. The grave is "The appointed place of rendezvous where all Equality is absolute among the sons of men in their "With equal pace impartial Fate Death is that state, "Where they an equal honour share Where Agamemnon knows no more Where fair Achilles and Thersites lie, And why do not the living lay these things to heart? There is a fine saying in Seneca ad Marciam, cap. 20. on this subject, which may serve as a comment on this place: Mors-servitutem invito domino remittit; hæc captivorum catenas levat; hæc è carcere eduxit, quos exire imperium impotens vetuerat. Hæc est in quo nemo humilitatem suam sensit. Hæc quæ nulli paruit; hæc quæ nihil quicquam alicno fecit arbitrio. Hæc ubi res communes fortuna malè divisit, et æquo jure genitos alium alii donavit, exæquat omnia.-"Death in spite of the master, manumits the slave. It looses the chains of the prisoners. It brings out of the dungeon those whom impotent authority had forbidden to go at large. This is the state in which none is sensible of his humiliation. Death obeys no man. It does nothing according to the will of another. It reduces by a just law, to a state of equality, all who, in their families and circumstances, had uneqal lots in life." Verse 20. Wherefore is light given] Why is life granted to him who is incapable of enjoying it; or of performing its functions? Ante I. OL cir. 714. An U. C. eir. 767 THE HEN Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, Chap. 19. 8. Lam. 3. 7.-x Ch. 1. 10-y Heb. before my meat-2 Heb. I feared a fear, and it came upon me.-a Heb. a word. Verse 21. Which long for death] They look to it as the end of all their miseries; and long more for a separation from life than those who love gold do for a rich mine. Verse 22. Which rejoice exceedingly] Literally, They rejoice with joy, and exult when they find the grave. There is a various reading here in one of Kennicott's MSS. which gives a different sense. Instead of who rejoice ali gil, with soy, it has ali gal, who rejoice at the TоMз; and exult when they find the grave. Verse 23. To a man whose way is hid] Who knows not what is before him in either world; but is full of fears and trembling concerning both. Whom God hath hedged in?] Leaving him no way to escape; and not permitting him to see one step before him. There is an exact parallel to this passage in Lam. iii. 7, 9. He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out. He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone. Mr. Goode translates the verse thus: To the man whose path is broken up, and whose futurity God hath overwhelmed. But I cannot see any necessity for departing from the common text, which gives both an easy and natural sense. Verse 24. For my sighing cometh] Some think that this refers to the ulcerated state of Job's body, mouth, hands, &c. He longed for food: but was not able to lift it to his mouth with his hands, nor masticate it when brought thither. This is the sense in which Origen has taken the words. But perhaps it is most natural to suppose that he means his sighing took away all appetite, and served him in place of meat. There is the same thought in Psa. xlii. 3. My tears have been my meat day and night: which place is not an imitation of Job; but more likely Job an imitation of it; or rather both an imitation of nature. My roarings are poured out] My lamentations are like the noise of the murmuring stream, or the dashings of the overswollen torrent. Verse 25. For the thing which I greatly feared] Literally, the fear that I feared; or, I feared a fear, as in the margin. While I was in prosperity I thought adversity might come, and I had a dread of it. I feared the loss of my family and my property; and both have occurred. I was not lifted up: I knew what I possessed I had from the divine providence; and that he who gave might take away. I am not stripped of my all as a punishment of my self-confidence. Verse 26. I was not in safety] If this verse be read interrogatively, it will give a good and easy sense: Was I not in safety? Had I not rest? Was I not in comfort? Yet trouble came. It is well known that, previously to this attack of Satan, Job was in great prosperity and peace. Mr. Goode translates, I had no peace; yea, I had no rest. Yea, I had no respite as the trouble came on: and refers the whole to the quick succession of the series of heavy evils by which he was tried. There is a similar thought in the psalmist, Deep crieth unto deep at the noise of thy water spouts; all thy waves and thy billows have gone over me, Psa. xlii. 7. One evil treads on the heels of another. In this chapter Job's conflict begins. Now, and not before, Satan appears to have access to his mind. When he deprived him of his property, and what was still dearer, of his sons and his daughters, the hope of his family, he bore all with the most exemplary patience, and the deepest resignation to the divine will. When his adversary was permitted to touch his body, and afflict it in the most grievous and distressing manner, rendered still more intolerable by his being previously deprived of all the comforts and necessaries of life; still he held fast his integrity: no complaint, no murmur, was heard. From the Lord's hand he received his temporal good; and from that hand he received his temporal evil, the privation of that good. Satan was, therefore, baffled in all his attempts; Job continued to be b Heb. who can refrain from words 7-c Isai. 35. 3.-d Isai. 35. 3-e Heb. the bowing knees. Heb. 12 12-f Ch. 1. 1.-g Prov. 3. 26.-h Psa. 37. 25. a perfect and upright man, fearing God and avoiding evil. This was Job's triumph, or rather the triumph of divine grace, and Satan's defeat and confusion. It is very seldom that God ever permits Satan to waste the substance, or afflict the body, of any man; but at all times this malevolent spirit may have access to the mind of any man; and inject doubts, fears, diffidence, perplexities, and even unbelief. And here is the spiritual conflict. Now, their wrestling is not with flesh and blood, with men like themselves; nor about secular affairs: but they have to contend with angels, principalities, and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickednesses in heavenly places. In such cases Satan is often permitted to diffuse darkness into the understanding, and envelope the heavens with clouds. Hence are engendered false views of God and his providence; of men, of the spiritual world, and particularly of the person's own state and circumstances. Every thing is distorted, and all seen through a false medium. Indescribable distractions and uneasiness are hereby induced the mind is like a troubled sea, tossed by a tempest that seems to confound both heaven and earth. Srong temptations to things which the soul contemplates with abhorrence are injected; and which are followed by immediate accusations, as if the injections were the offspring of the heart itself: and the trouble and dismay produced are represented as the sense of guilt, from a consciousness of having, in heart, committed these evils! Thus Satan tempts, accuses, and upbraids, in order to perplex the soul, induce scepticism, and destroy the empire of faith. Behold here the permission of God; and behold also his sovereign control: all this time the grand tempter is not permitted to touch the heart, the seat of the affections; nor offer even the slightest violence to the will. The soul is cast down, but not destroyed; perplexed, but not in despair. It is on all sides harassed: without are fightings; within are fears; but the will is inflexible on the side of God and truth; and the heart, with all its train of affections and passions, follows it. The man does not wickedly depart from his God: the outworks are violently assailed, but not taken the city is still safe, and the citadel impregnable. Heaviness may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. Jesus is soon seen walking upon the waters. He speaks peace to the winds and the sea; immediately there is a calm. Satan is bruised down under the feet of the sufferer; the clouds are dispersed; the heavens reappear; and the soul, to its surprise, finds that the storm, instead of hindering, has driven it nearer to the haven whither it would be. The reader who closely examines the subject, will find that this was the case of Job. The following chapters show the conflict of the soul; the end of the book, God's victory and his exaltation. Satan sifted Job as wheat; but his faith failed not. NOTES ON CHAPTER IV. Verse 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered] For seven days this person and his two friends had observed a profound silence, being awed and confounded at the sight of Job's unprecedented affliction. Having now sufficiently contemplated his afflicted state, and heard his bitter complaint, forgetting that he came as a comforter, and not as a reprover, he loses the feeling of the friend in the haughtiness of the censor, endeavouring to strip him of his only consolation, the testimony of his conscience, (that, in simplicity and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, he had his conversation among men,) by insinuating that if his ways had been upright he would not have been abandoned to such distress and affliction: and if his heart possessed that righteousness of which he boasted, he could not have been so suddenly cast down by adversity. Verse 2. If we assay to commune with thee] As if he had said, Should I and my friends endeavour to reason 8 Even as I have seen, i they that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. 9 By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. 10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions are broken. 14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. 15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: 16 It stood still, but I could not discern the 11 The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, form thereof; an image was before mine eyes, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, 12 Now a thing was "secretly brought to me, 17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? and mine ear received a little thereof. shall a man be more pure than his Maker? with thee ever so mildly, because we shall have many things to say by way of reprehension, thou wilt be grieved and faint: and this we may reasonably infer from the manner in which thou bearest thy present afflictions. Yet, as thou hast uttered words which are injurious to thy Maker, who can forbear speaking? It is our duty to rise up on the part of God, though thereby we shall grieve him who is our friend. This was a plausible beginning, and certainly was far from being insincere. Verse 3. Thou hast instructed many] Thou hast seen many in affliction and distress, and thou hast given them such advice as was suitable to their state, and effectual to their relief; and by this means thou hast strengthened the weak hands and the feeble knees; the desponding have been encouraged, and the irresolute confirmed and excited to prompt and proper actions, by thy counsel and example. Verse 5. But now it is come upon thee] Now it is thy turn to suffer, and give an example of the efficacy of thy own principles; but, instead of this, behold thou faintest. Either, therefore, thou didst pretend to what thou hadst not; or, thou art not making a proper use of the principles which thou didst recommend to others. Verse 6. Is not this thy fear] I think Coverdale hits the true meaning: There is now thy feare of God, thy stedfastnesse, thy pacience, and the perfectnesse of the life. If these be genuine, surely there is no cause for all this complaint, vexation, and despair. That this is the meaning the next words show. Verse 7. Remember, I pray thee] Recollect, if thou canst, a single instance where God abandoned an innocent man, or suffered him to perish. Didst thou ever hear of a case in which God abandoned a righteous man to destruction? Wert thou a righteous man, and innocent of all crimes, would God abandon thee thus to the malice of Satan? or let loose the plagues of affliction and adversity against thee? m Psa 34. 10-n Heb. by stealth, -o Chap. 33. 15-p Heb. met me. - Hab. 3. 16-8 Heb. the multitude of my bones.—t Or, I heard à still voice-u Chap. 9. 2 fierce lion, old lion, stout lion, and lion's whelps, tyrannous rulers of all kinds are intended. The design of Eliphaz, in using these figures, is to show that even those who are possessed of the greatest authority and power, the kings, rulers, and princes of the earth, when they become wicked and oppressive to their subjects, are cast down, broken to pieces, and destroyed, by the incensed justice of the Lord; and their whelps, their children and intended successors, scattered without possessions over the face of the earth. Verse 11. The old lion perisheth] In this and the preceding verse the word lion occurs five times; and in the original the words are all different. I areiyeh, from marah, to tear off. 2. n shachal; which, as it appears to signify black, or dark, may mean the black lion, which is said to be found in Ethiopia and India. 3. Kephir, a young lion, from caphar, to cover, because he is said to hide himself in order to surprise his prey which the old one does not. 4. layish, from lash, to knead, trample upon; because of his method of seizing his prey. 5. a labia, from No♫ laba, to suckle with the first milk: a lioness giving suck; at which time they are peculiarly fierce. All these words may point out some quality of the lion and this was probably the cause why they were originally given; but it is likely that in process of time, they served only to designate the beast, without any particular reference to any of his properties. We have one and the same idea, when we say the lion-the king of beasts-the monarch of the forestthe most noble of quadrupeds, &c. Verse 12. Now a thing was secretly brought to me] To give himself the more authority, he professes to have received a vision from God, by which he was taught the secret of the divine dispensations in providence; and a confirmation of the doctrine which he was now stating to Job; and which he applied in a different way to what was designed in the divine communication. Mine ear received a little thereof. Mr. Goode translates, "And mine ear received a whisper along with it." The apparition was the general subject; and the words related ver. 17, &c. were the whispers which he heard when the apparition stood still. Verse 8. They that plough iniquity] A proverbial form of speech drawn from nature. Whatever seed a man sows in the ground, he reaps the same kind; for every seed produces its like. Thus Solomon, Prov. xx. 8. "He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity." And St. Paul, Gal. vi. 7, S. "Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For ne that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; nut he who soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. And of the same nature is that other saying of the apostle, He that soweth sparingly shall reap spar-lation or erection of the hair over the whole body; the ingly, 2 Cor. ix. 6. Verse 13. From the visions of the night] "It is in vain," says Mr. Goode, "to search through ancient or modern poetry for a description that has any pretensions to rival that upon which we are now entering. Midnight; solitude; the deep sleep of all around; the dreadful chill and horripishivering, not of the muscles only, but of the bones themThe same figure is employed by the prophet Hosea, viii. 7. selves; the gliding approach of the spectre; the abruptness They have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirl- of his pause; his undefined and indescribable form; are all wind, and chap. x. ver. 12, 13: Sow to yourselves in powerful and original characters, which have never been righteousness; reapin mercy. Ye have ploughed wick-given with equal effect by any other writer." edness; ye have reaped iniquity. The last sentence contains not only the same image, but almost the same words as those used by Eliphaz. Our Lord expresses the same thing, in the following words-Matt. vii. 16-18. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. So the Greeks, Mr. Hervey's illustration is also striking and natural. "Twas in the dead of night; all nature lay shrouded in darkness; every creature buried in sleep. The most profound silence reigned through the universe. In these solemn moments Eliphaz alone, all wakeful and solitary, was musing on sublime subjects. When lo! an awful being burst into his apartment. A spirit passed before his face. Astonishment seized the beholder. His bones shivered within him, his flesh trembled all over him, and the hair of his head stood erect with horror. Sudden and unexpected was its appearance, not such its departure. It stood still, to present itself more fully to his view. It made a solemn pause, to prepare his mind for some momentous message. After which a voice was heard. ID. Пεprat, ver. 823. A voice, for the importance of its meaning, worthy to be had in everlasting remembrance. It spoke, and these were its words:" Ατης άρουρα θανατον εκκαρπίζεται. ESCH. ERTа Eni Onbais, ver. 607. Υβρις γαρ εξανθους" εκαρτωσε σαχύν "For oppression, when it springs, Potter. The image is common every where, because it is a universal law of nature. Verse 9. By the blast of God they perish] As the noxious and parching east wind blasts and destroys vegetation, so the wicked perish under the indignation of the Almighty. Verse 10. The roaring of the lion] By the roaring lion, Verse 17. Shall mortal man] was enush, Greek ẞporos, poor, weak, dying man Be more just than God] Or, prsi mibnd wunn ha-enosh me-eloah yitsedak. Shall poor, weak, sinful man be justified before God? Shall a man] 2 gaber, shall even the strong and mighty man be pure before his Maker? Is any man, |