He asserts his own innocence, A. M. cir. 2484. B. C. cir. 1520. Ante 1. Ol. cir. 744. Aate U.C.c.767. 17 Not for any injustice in | poureth out tears unto God. pure. b 18 O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place. 19 Also now, behold, my witness is in hea'my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. 20 My friends d scorn me: but mine eye b g A. M. cir. 2484. B. C. cir. 1520. Ante I. Ol. cir. 744. Ante U.C. c. 767 22 When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. Ch. xxvii. 9. Ps. Ixvi. 18, 19.- b Rom. i. 9. c Heb. 35. Eccles. vi. 10. Isai. xlv. 9. Rom. ix. 20. in the high places- d Heb. are my scorners. eCh. xxxi. | friend. - Heb. years of number.- b Eccles. xii. 5. Death is now fast approaching me; already his shadow is projected over me. Verse 17. Not for any injustice] I must assert, even with my last breath, that the charges of my friends against me are groundless. I am afflicted unto death, but not on account of my iniquities. Also my prayer is pure.] I am no hypocrite, God kroweth. Verse 18. O earth, cover not thou my blood] This is evidently an allusion to the murder of Abel, and the verse has been understood in two different ways: 1. Job here calls for justice against his destroyers. His blood is his life, which he considers as taken away by violence, and therefore calls for vengeance. Let my blood ery against my murderers, as the blood of Abel cried against Cain. My innocent life is taken away by violence, as his innocent life was; as therefore the earth was not permitted to cover his blood, so that his murderer should be concealed, let my death be avenged in the same way. 2. It has been supposed that the passage means that Job considered himself accused of shedding innocent blood; and, Conscious of his own perfect innocence, he prays that the earth may not cover any blood shed by him. Thes Mr. Scott: "O earth, the blood accusing me reveal; And this notion is followed by Mr. Good. But, with all deference to these learned men, I do not see that this meaning can be supported by the Hebrew text; nor was the passage so understood by any of the ancient Versions. I therefore prefer the first sense, which is sufficiently natural, and quite in the manner of Job in his impassioned querulousness. f Or, Verse 19. My witness is in heaven] I appeal to God for my innocence. Verse 20. My friends scorn me] They deride and insult me, but my eye is towards God; I look to him to vindicate my cause. Verse 21. O that one might plead] Let me only have liberty to plead with God, as a man hath with his fellow. Verse 22. When a few years are come] I prefer Mr. Good's Version : "But the years numbered to me are come, And I must go the way whence I shall not return." Job could not, in his present circumstances, expect a few years of longer life; from his own conviction he was expecting death every hour. The next verse, the first of the following chapter, should come in here: My breath is corrupt, &c. He felt himself as in the arms of death: he saw the grave as already digged which was to receive his dead body. This verse shows that our translation of the twenty-second verse is improper, and vindicates Mr. Good's Version. I have said on ver. 9 that a part of Job's sufferings probably arose from appalling representations made to his eye or to his imagination by Satan and his agents. I think this neither irrational nor impro-, bable. That he and his demons have power to make themselves manifest on especial occasions, has been credited in all ages of the world; not by the weak, credulous, and superstitious only, but also by the wisest, the most learned, and the best of men. persuaded that many passages in the Book of Job refer to this, and admit of an easy interpretation on this ground. I am CHAPTER XVII. Jub complains of the injustice of his friends, and compares his present state of want and woe with his former honour and affluence, 1-6. "God's dealings with him will even astonish upright men; yet the righteous shall not be discouraged, but hold on his way, -9. Asserts that there is not a wise man among his friends, and that he has no expectation but of a speedy death, 10—16. Job complains of A. M. cir. 2484. B. C. cir. 1520. Aute I. Ol. cir. 744. MY breath is corrupt, my even the eyes of his children days are extinct, the shall fail. b Ante U.C. c.767. graves are ready for me. 2 Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their d provocation? C NOTES ON CHAP. XVII. Verse 1. My breath is corrupt] Rather, My spirit is oppressed, nanm ruchi chubbalah: My days are extinct, and the sepulchral cells are ready for me.PARKHURST. There is probably a reference here to cemeteries, where were several niches, in each of which a corpse was deposited. See on ver. 16. For ban chubbalah, corrupted or oppressed, some MSS. have non chalah, is made weak; and one has is worn down, consumed: this is agreeable to the Vulgate, Spiritus meus attenuebatur; "My spirit is exhausted." Verse 2. Are there not mockers with me?] This has been variously translated. The VULGATE: "I have not sinned, and yet my eye dwells upon afflictions." SEPTUAGINT: "I conjure you, labouring under afflictions, what evil have I done? Yet strangers have robbed me of my substance." Mr. GOOD: "But are not revilers before me? Alas, mine eye penetrateth their rebukes." CALMET thinks the Hebrew might be translated thus: "If I have not been united in friendship with the wicked, why are my eyes in bitterness?" COVERDALE translates both verses thus: My breth fayleth, my dayes are shortened, E um harde at deathes dore. E have disceabed no man, yet must myne eye continue in hevpnesse. Mr. HEATH: "Were it not so, I have sarcasms enow in store; and I could spend the whole night unmoved at their aggravations." The general meaning is sufficiently plain, and the reader has got translations enough. Verse 3. Lay down now] Deposit a pledge; stake your conduct against mine, and your life and soul on the issue; let the cause come before God; let him try it; and see whether any of you shall be justified by him, while I am condemned. Verse 4. For thou hast hid their heart] This address is to God; and here he is represented as doing that which in the course of his providence he only permits to be done. Shalt thou not exalt them.] This was exactly fulfilled not one of Job's friends was exalted; on the contrary, God condemned the whole; and they were not received into the divine favour till Job sacrificed, and made intercession for them. Verse 5. He that sperket: flattery] There is a 6 He hath made me also a by-word of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret. A. M. cir. 2484, B. C. cir. 1520. Ante I. Ol. cir. 744. Ante U.C. c. 767. 7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow. 8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. e 9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, -g Or, Prov. vi. 1. xvii. 18. xxii. 26. f Ch. xxx. 9.before them. Ps. vi.7. xxxi. 9.—Or, my thoughts. great variety of meaning given to the terms in this verse. The general sense is, The man who expects much from his friends will be disappointed: while depending on them his children's eyes may fail in looking for bread. Verse 6. He hath made me also a by-word] My afflictions and calamities have become a subject of general conversation, so that my poverty and affliction are proverbial. As poor as Job, As afflicted as Job, are proverbs that have even reached our times, and are still in use. Aforetime I was as a tabret.] This is not the translation of the Hebrew vethopheth lephanim eheych. Instead of □ lephanim, I would read liphneyhem, and then the clause might be translated thus: I shall be as a furnace, or consuming fire (Topheth) before them. They shall have little reason to mock when they see the end of the Lord's dealings with me; my example will be a consuming fire to them, and my false friends will be confounded. COVERDALE translates thus: He hath made me as it were a byworde of the comon people. I am his gestinge stocke amonge them. Verse 7. Mine eye also is dim] Continual weeping impairs the sight; and indeed any affliction that debilitates the frame generally, weakens the sight in the same proportion. All my members are as a shadow.] Nothing is left but skin and bone. I am but the shadow of my former self. Verse 8. Upright men shall be astonied] In several of these verses Job is supposed to speak prophetically of his future restoration, and of the good which religious society should derive from the history of his original affluence, consequent poverty and affliction, and final restoration to health, peace, and prosperity. The upright will receive the account with astonishment, and wonder at the dispensations of the Almighty; while hypocrites-false professors and the sour-headed godly, shall be unmasked, and innocent men, whether in affliction or affluence, shall be known to be favourites of the Almighty. Verse 9. The righteous also shall hold on his way] There shall be no doubt concerning the dispensations of the divine providence. My case shall illustrate all seemingly intricate displays of God's government. Job anticipates A. M. cir. 2484. and he that hath B. C. cir. 1520. Ante L. Ol. cir. 744. Ante U.C. c. 767. CHAP. XVII. clean hands | have made my bed in the dark'shall be stronger and stronger. с 10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you. None shall be stumbled at seeing a godly man under oppression, knowing that God never permits any thing of the kind but for the good of the subject, and the manifestation of his own mercy, wisdom, and love. Therefore, whatever occurs to the righteous man, he will take it for granted that all is well and justly managed, and that the end will be glorious. Shall be stronger and stronger.] He shall take encouragement from my case, stay himself on the Lord, and thus gain strength by every blast of adversity. This is one grand use of the Book of Job. It casts much light on seemingly partial displays of divine providence; and has ever been the great text-book of godly men in a state of persecution and affliction. This is what Job seems prophetically to declare. Verse 10. But as for you all] Ye are too proud, and too full of self-importance, to profit by what ye see. Return-enter into yourselves, consider your ways, go again to school, get back to your own houses, and endeavour to acquire humility and knowledge; for there is not one wise man among you. Verse 11. My days are past] Job seems to relapse here into his former state of gloom. These transitions are very frequent in this poem; and they strongly mark the struggle of piety and resignation with continued affliction, violent temptation, and gloomy providences. The thoughts of my heart.] All my purposes are isterrupted; and all my schemes and plans, in relation to myself and family, are torn asunder, destroyed, and dissipated. Verse 12. They change the night into day] These purposes and thoughts are so very gloomy, that they change day into night. ness. a speedy death. A. M. cir. 2484. cir. 744. 14 I have said to corruption, Ante U.C.c.767. Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. 15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it? 16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust. Verse 14. I have said to corruption] I came from a corrupted stock, and I must go to corruption again. The Hebrew might be thus rendered: To the ditch I have called, Thou art my father. To the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister. I am in the nearest state of affinity to dissolution and corruption: I may well call them my nearest relations, as I shall soon be blended with them. Verse 15. And where is now my hope?] In the circumstances in which I am found, of what use can hope be? Were I to form the expectation of future good, who could ever see it realized? Is it then any wonder that I should complain, and bemoan my wretched lot? Verse 16. They shall go down to the bars of the pit.] All that I have must descend into the depths of the grave. Thither are we all going; and there alone can I rest. baddey, which we translate bars, signifies also branches, distended limbs, or claws, and may here refer either to a personification of the grave, a monster who seizes on human bodies, and keeps them fast in his deadly gripe; or to the different branching-off alleys in subterranean cemeteries, or catacombs, in which niches are made for the reception of different bodies. When our rest together is in the dust.] That is, according to some critics, My hope and myself shall descend together into the grave. It shall never be realized, for the time of my departure is at hand. In those times what deep shades hung on the state of man after death, and on every thing pertaining to the eternal world! Perplexity and uncertainty were the consequences; and a corresponding gloom often The light is short because of darkness.] ap dwelt on the minds of even the best of the Old TesTor karob mippeney choshek, "The light is near tament believers. Job's friends, though learned in from the face of darkness." I have scarcely any all the wisdom of the Arabians, connected with the light: what is called light is so near akin to darkness, advantages derivable from the Mosaic writings, and that it is scarcely severed from it. There is either no perhaps those of the earlier prophets, had little clear hight, or merely such as is sufficient to render dark- or distinct in their minds relative to all subjects post visible. A fine picture of the state of his mind mortem, or of the invisible world. Job himself, though -he was generally in darkness; but had occasional sometimes strongly confident, is often harassed with gleams of hope. doubts and fears upon the subject, insomuch that his Verse 13. The grave is mine house] Let my life sayings and experience often appear contradictory. be long or short, the grave at last will be my home. I Perhaps it could not be otherwise; the true light expect soon to lie down in darkness-there is my was not then come: Jesus alone brought life and end: I cannot reasonably hope for any thing else. immortality to light by his gospel. Bildad's uncharitable JOB. CHAPTER XVIII. attack upon Job. Bildad, in a speech of passionate invective, accuses Job of impatience and impiety, 1-4; shows the fearful end of the wicked and their posterity; and apparently applies the whole to Job, whom he threatens with the most ruinous end, 5-21. A. cir. 2484. B. C. cir. 1520. Ante I. Ol. cir. 744. -Ante U.C.c.767. THEN answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, 2 How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak. B. C. cir. 1520. Ante. I. OL 5 Yea, the light of the A. M. cir. 2484. wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not Ante U.C.c.767. shine. e cir. 744. 6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, 3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and his 'candle shall be put out with him. and reputed vile in your sight? 7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down. may be considered as the contracted plural from p kats, a thorn, from rp, kats, to lacerate, rather than y kets, an end, from p katsah, to cut off. Schultens and others have contended that rp kanats, is an Arabic word, used also in Hebrew; that NOTES ON CHAP. XVIII. Verse 1. Then answered Bildad] The following analysis of this speech, by Mr. Heath, is judicious: "Bildad, irritated to the last degree that Job should treat their advice with so much contempt, is no longer able to keep his passions within the bounds of decency. He proceeds to downright abuse; and kanasa, signifies to hunt, to lay snares; finding little attention given by Job to his arguments, he tries to terrify him into a compliance. To that end he draws a yet more terrible picture of the final end of wicked men than any yet preceding, throwing in all the circumstances of Job's calamities, that he might plainly perceive the resemblance; and at the same time insinuating that he had much worse still to expect, unless he prevented it by a speedy change of behaviour. That it was the highest arrogance in him to suppose that he was of consequence enough to be the cause of altering the general rules of Providence, ver. 4. And that it was much more expedient for the good of the whole, that he, by his example, should deter others from treading in the same path of wickedness and folly;" ver. 5-7. Verse 2. How long will it be ere ye make an end] It is difficult to say to whom this address is made: being in the plural number, it can hardly be supposed to mean Job only. It probably means all present; as if he had said, It is vain to talk with this man, and follow him through all his quibbles: take notice of this, and then let us all deliver our sentiments fully to him, without paying any regard to his self-vindications. It must be owned that this is the plan which Bildad followed; and he amply unburdens a mind that was labouring under the spirit of rancour and abuse. Instead of How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? Mr. Good translates :-"How long will ye plant thorns (irritating, lacerating, wounding invectives) among words?" translating the unusual term "kintsey, thorns, instead of bounds or limits. The word op kintsey may be the Chaldee form for Yp kitsey, the nun being inserted by the Chaldeans for the sake of euphony, as is frequently done; and it and hence si maknas, a snare: and that the words should be translated, "How long will you put captious snares in words?" But I prefer op kintsey, as being the Chaldee form for xp kitsey, whether it be considered as expressing limits or thorns; as the whole instance is formed after the Chaldee model, as is evident, not only in the word in question, but also in r lemillin, to words, the Chaldee plural instead lemillim, the Hebrew plural. of Verse 3. Counted as beasts] Thou treatest us as if we had neither reason nor understanding. Verse 4. He teareth himself in his anger] Literally, Rending his own soul in his anger: as if he had said, Thou art a madman: thy fury has such a sway over thee that thou eatest thy own flesh. While thou treatest us as beasts, we see thee to be a furious maniac, destroying thy own life. Shall the earth be forsaken for thee?] To say the least, afflictions are the common lot of men. Must God work a miracle in providence, in order to exempt thee from the operation of natural causes? Dost thou wish to engross all the attention and care of Providence to thyself alone? What pride and insolence! Verse 5. The light of the wicked shall be put out] Some think it would be better to translate the original, "Let the light of the wicked be extinguished!" Thou art a bad man, and thou hast perverted the understanding which God hath given thee. Let that understanding, that abused gift, be taken away. From this verse to the end of the chapter is a continual invective against Job. Verse 6. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle] 10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, of death shall devour his strength. and a trap for him in the way. A. M. cir. 2484. B. C. cir. 1520. Ante I. Ol. cir 744. Ante U.C. c. 767. 14 His confidence shall be rooted out of 11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the side, and shall drive him to his feet. king of terrors. Verse 8. For he is cast into a net] His own condeet will infallibly bring him to ruin. He shall be like a wild beast taken in a net; the more he Sources in order to extricate himself, the more he shall be entangled. He walketh upon a snare.] He is continually walking on the meshes of a net, by which he must soon be entangled and overthrown. Verse 9. The gin shall take him] Houbigant reads the tenth before the ninth verse, thus: "The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way. The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him." From the beginning of the seventh verse to the end of the thirteenth there is an allusion to the various arts and methods practised in hunting. 1. A number of persons extend themselves in a forest, and drive the game before them, still straitening the space from a broad base to a narrow point in form of a triangle, so that the farther they go the less room have they on the right and left, the hunters lining each side, while the drovers with their dogs are coming up behind. "The steps of his strength shall be straitened," ver. 7. 2. Nets, gins, and pitfals are laid or formed in different places, so that many are taken before they come to the point where the two lines close. "He is cast into a net, he walketh upon a snare the trap is laid for him in the way-the share in the ground," ver. 8, 9, 10. 3. The howling of the dogs, with the shouts of the huntsmen, fill him with dismay, and cause him to run himself beyond his strength and out of breath. "Terrors shall make Em afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet," ver. 11. 4. While spent with hunger and fatigue, he is entangled in the spread nets; and the huntsman either pierces him with an arrow or spear, or cuts the sinews of his legs, so that he is easily captured and destroyed. "The robber shall prevail 15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because e Ch. xv. 23.--f Heb. bars.- -g Ch. viii. 14. xi. 20. against him," ver. 9. "His strength is hunger-bitten, and destruction is ready at his side," ver. 12. This latter verse is thus paraphrased by the Chaldee: "Let his first-born son be famished; and affliction be prepared for his wife." Verse 13. It shall devour the strength of his skin] This may refer to the elephant, or to the rhinoceros, whose skin scarcely any dart can pierce: but in the case referred to above, the animal is taken in a pitfal, and then the first-born of death-a sudden and overwhelming stroke, deprives him of life. See the account of hunting the elephant in the East at the end of the chapter. The Chaldee has: "The strength of his skin shall devour his flesh; and the angel of death shall consume his children." Verse 14. His confidence shall be rooted out] His dwelling-place, how well soever fortified, shall now be deemed utterly insecure. And it shall bring him to the king of terrors.] Or, as Mr. Good translates, “And dissolution shall invade him as a monarch." He shall be completely and finally overpowered. The phrase king of terrors has been generally thought to mean death; but it is not used in any such way in the text. For a lemelech ballahoth, to the king of destructions, one of De Rossi's MSS. has kemelech, "as a king;" and one, instead of ballahoth, with vau holem, to indicate the plural, terrors, or destructions, has a ballahuth, with vau shurek, which is singular, and signifies terror, destruction. So the Vulgate seems to have read, as it translates, Et calcet super eum, quasi rex, interitus; "And shall tread upon him as a king or destroyer. Or as a king who is determined utterly to destroy him." On this verse the bishop of Killala, Dr. Stock, says, "I am sorry to part with a beautiful phrase in our common version, the king of terrors, as descriptive of death; but there is no authority for it in the Hebrew text." It may however be stated that death has been denominated by similar epithets both among the Greeks and Romans. So Virgil, En. vi., ver. 100. Dicitur. Quando hic inferni janua regis "The gates of the king of hell are reported to be here." |