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 GENERAL EDITOR 
 
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 J. J. S.PEROWNE,D.D. 
 
 DEAN OF PETERBOKOUGH 
 
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 THE LIBRARY 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
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 anU CoUeflts* 
 
 THE BOOK OF JOB.
 
 Sontion : C. J. CLAY and SONS, 
 
 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, 
 
 AVE MARIA LANE. 
 
 CTambritfge : DEIGHTON, BELL, AND CO. 
 ILeipjig: F. A. BROCKHAUS.
 
 CI)e Cambritige BSible for ^tI)CioI^ 
 aiitr Colltcits. 
 
 General Editor :— J. J. S. PEROWNE, D.D., 
 Dean of Peterborough. 
 
 THE BOOK OF 
 
 J O B. 
 
 WITH NOTES, INTRODUCTION AND APPENDIX 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. A. B. DAVIDSON, D.D., LL.D. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF HEBREW AND OLD TESTAMENT EXEGESIS IN THE 
 
 NEW COLLEGE, EDINBURGH. 
 
 EDITED FOR THE SYNDICS OF THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 Grnmbrttrge : 
 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 1889 
 
 [All Rights reserved.}
 
 Cambritigc 
 
 IKINTEI) IIY C. J. CLAV MA. AND SONS 
 AT THK UNIVEKSrrV I'KESS
 
 PREFACE 
 BY THE GENERAL EDITOR. 
 
 The General Editor of TJie Cambridge Bible for 
 Schools thinks it right to say that he does not hold 
 himself responsible either for the interpretation of 
 particular passages which the Editors of the several 
 Books have adopted, or for any opinion on points of 
 doctrine that they may have expressed. In the New 
 Testament more especially questions arise of the 
 deepest theological import, on which the ablest and 
 most conscientious interpreters have differed and 
 always will differ. His aim has been in all such 
 cases to leave each Contributor to the unfettered 
 exercise of his own judgment, only taking care that 
 mere controversy should as far as possible be avoided. 
 He has contented himself chiefly with a careful 
 revision of the notes, with pointing out omissions, with 
 
 11048i.4 '
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 suggesting occasionally a reconsideration of some 
 question, or a fuller treatment of difficult passages, 
 and the like. 
 
 Beyond this he has not attempted to interfere, 
 feeling it better that each Commentary should have 
 its own individual character, and being convinced 
 that freshness and variety of treatment are more 
 than a compensation for any lack of uniformity in 
 the Series. 
 
 Deanery, Peterborough.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 II. 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 Chapter I. Contents of the Book ix — xii 
 
 Chapter II. The nature of the Composition xiii — xxii 
 
 Chapter III. The Idea and Purpose of the Book xxiii — xxix 
 
 Chapter IV. The Integrity of the Book xxix — liv 
 
 Chapter V, The Age and Authorship of Job ... Iv — Ixviii 
 
 Text and Notes i — 290 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 Additional Note on ch. xix. 23— 27 291 — 6 
 
 Index of,7__:^oo 
 
 The Text adopted in this Edition is that of Dr Scrivener's 
 Cavibridge Paragraph Bible. A few variations from the ordi- 
 nary Text, chiefly in the spelling of certain words, and in the 
 use of italics, will be noticed. For the principles adopted by 
 Dr Scrivener as regards the printing of the Text see his In- 
 troduction to the Paragraph Bible, published by the Cambridge 
 University Press. 
 
 b2
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Contents of the Book. 
 
 The Book of Job is so called from the name of the man whose 
 history and afflictions and sayings form the subject of it. As it 
 now lies before us it consists of five parts: — 
 
 1. The prologue, written in prose, ch. i. — ii. This introduces 
 to us a man named Job, living in the land of Uz ; and describes 
 in rapid and dramatic touches his piety and wealth and the suc- 
 cessive and extraordinary calamities that befell him. This man 
 was "perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschew- 
 ed evil" ; and his piety was reflected in the great prosperity that 
 attended him, in his family felicity and wide possessions. A 
 trait from his ordinary life is given which illustrates the happi- 
 ness and affection to one another of his children, and the father's 
 scrupulous godliness (ch. i. i — 5). Then the narrative describes 
 how the disinterestedness of Job's piety was called in question 
 in the Council of Heaven by the Satan, or Adversary, that 
 one of God's ministers whose office is to try the sincerity of men, 
 and oppose them in their pretensions to a right standing before 
 God. This angel insinuated that Job's religion was insincere, 
 and only the natural return for the unprecedented blessings 
 showered on him by God ; if these blessings were withdrawn he 
 would disown God to his face. The Satan receives permission 
 to afflict Job, with the reservation that he must not touch him 
 in his person. In one day Job is stripped of all his possessions 
 and bereaved of his children : robber hordes carry away his 
 asses and camels, and slay his servants with the sword ; the fire
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of heaven falls on his flocks and consumes them ; and his children 
 are buried beneath the ruins of the house where they were 
 feasting. When the calamitous tidings are brought to him, Job 
 manifests the liveliest tokens of grief, but his reverent submission 
 to God remains unshaken — "In all this Job sinned not nor 
 ascribed wrong to God" (ch. i. 6 — 22). 
 
 Again the heavenly Council convenes, and again the Satan 
 is present. The Lord speaks of His servant Job with approval 
 and with compassion, and upbraids the Adversary with insti- 
 gating Him to bring undeserved suffering upon him. The 
 Satan's answer is ready: the trial did not touch Job close 
 enough ; let the hand of God touch him in his own bone and 
 flesh and he will disown Him to His face. The Adversary 
 receives permission to afflict Job himself, with the reservation 
 that he shall spare his life. Straightway Job is smitten with sore 
 boils, the leprosy called Elephantiasis; and he flings himself 
 down among the ashes, taking a potsherd to scrape himself 
 withal. The deeper affliction only reveals greater deeps in Job's 
 reverent piety. In his former trial he blessed God who took 
 away the good He had added to naked man ; this was strictly 
 no evil : now he bows beneath His hand when He inflicts positive 
 evil : "We receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not 
 also receive evil?" In all this Job sinned not with his lips; 
 he let no sinful murmur against God escape him (ch. ii. i — 10). 
 
 Then the narrative informs us how Job's three friends, 
 Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the 
 Naamathite, having heard of his great misfortunes, come to 
 condole with him. They are struck dumb at the sight of his 
 terrible calamity, and sit with him upon the ground seven days 
 and seven nights, none of them speaking a word. Moved by 
 the presence and the sympathising gestures of his friends. Job 
 loses his self-control, and breaks out into a passionate cry foi 
 death (ch. ii. 11 — ch. iii.). 
 
 2. The debate between Job and his friends, ch. iv.— xxxi., 
 written in poetry. This comprises a series of speeches in which 
 the problem of Job's afflictions, and the relation of external evil 
 to the righteousness of God and the conduct of men, are
 
 INTRODUCTION. xi 
 
 brilliantly discussed. The theory of the friends is that affliction 
 implies previous sin on the part of the sufferer, though in the 
 case of a good man such as Job it is chastisement meant to 
 wean him from evil still cleaving to him ; and they exhort him 
 to repentance, and hold up a bright future before him. Job 
 denies that his sufferings are due to sin, of which he is innocent ; 
 God wrongly holds him guilty and afflicts him. And, taught by 
 his own history, he is led to look more narrowly at the course of 
 providence in the world, and he fails to perceive that inseparable 
 connexion in every instance between sin and suffering which the 
 three friends insisted on : the providence of God is not in fact 
 administered on such a principle. The discussion between Job 
 and his friends consists of three circles of speeches, (i) ch. iv. — 
 xiv. ; (2) ch. XV. — xxi. ; and (3) ch. xxii. — xxxi. Each of these 
 three circles comprises six speeches, one by each of the three 
 friends in succession, with a reply from Job. In the last round, 
 however, Zophar, the third speaker, fails to come forward. 
 This is a confession of defeat ; and Job, left victor in the strife, 
 resumes his "parable," and carries it through a series of chapters, 
 in which, with a profound pathos, he contrasts his former great- 
 ness with his present humiliation, protests before heaven his 
 innocence of all the offences that have been insinuated or may be 
 suggested against him, and adjures God to reveal to him the 
 cause of his afflictions. 
 
 3. The speeches of Elihu, ch. xxxii. — xxxvii. A youthful 
 bystander, named Elihu, who had been a silent listener to the 
 debate hitherto, here intervenes, not without manifold apologies 
 for presuming to let his voice be heard in the midst of such wise 
 and venerable counsellers, and expresses his dissatisfaction 
 both with Job and his friends. He is shocked at Job's impious 
 demeanour and the charges which he has made against God, 
 and indignant with the three friends because they have allowed 
 themselves to be brought to silence by Job, and failed to bring 
 home to him the wrong against God of which he has been 
 guilty. Job ought not to have been allowed to carry off the 
 victory: he may be shewn to be in the wrong, though with 
 different arguments from those employed by the three friends.
 
 xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Elihu then in a long discourse expresses his abhorrence of the 
 sentiments uttered by Job, controverts his views in regard to 
 God's providence and the meaning of afflictions, and on this 
 latter point suggests a theory in some respects different from 
 that advanced by Job's friends. 
 
 4. The speeches of the Lord out of the storm, ch. xxxviii. 
 — xlii. 6. In answer to Job's repeated demand that God would 
 appear and solve the riddle of his life, the Lord ans^^ers Job out 
 of the storm. The answer is altogether unlike what Job had 
 expected. The divine speaker does not condescend to refer to 
 Job's individual problem, He makes no charge of sin against 
 his former life, and gives no account of his afflictions. The 
 intellectual solution of problems can never be the question 
 between Jehovah and His servants; the question is the state of 
 their hearts towards Himself. He asks of Job, "Who am I?" 
 and "What art thou?" In a series of splendid pictures from 
 inanimate creation and the world of animal life He makes all 
 the glory of His Being to pass before Job. Job is humbled and 
 lays his hand upon his mouth in silence; such thoughts of God 
 as he had never had before fill his heart ; his former knowledge 
 of Him was like that learned from hearsay, dim and imperfect, 
 now he saw Him eye to eye, and he repents his former words 
 and demeanour in dust and ashes. 
 
 5. The epilogue, also in prose, ch. xlii. 7 — 17. This de- 
 scribes how Job, having thus humbled himself before God, is 
 restored to a prosperity double that which he enjoyed before ; 
 his former friends and acquaintances again gather around him ; 
 he is anew blessed with children ; and dies, old and full of 
 days. 
 
 With the exception of the discourses of Elihu, the connexion 
 of which with the Poem in its original form may be liable to 
 doubt, all these five parts appear essential elements of the 
 work as it came from the hand of the author, although it is 
 possible that the second and fourth divisions may betray in 
 some parts traces of expansion by later writers.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xiii 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Nature of the Composition. 
 
 Under the enquiry as to the nature of the composition two 
 questions may be embraced: (i) the question, Is the Book 
 historical, or is it a pure creation of the mind of the writer.'' 
 and (2) the question, To what class of literature does the Poem 
 belong? may we call it a drama, or assign it to any understood 
 class of writing? 
 
 On the former question various opniions have prevailed and 
 are still entertained, (i) The Book has been considered by 
 some to be strictly historical, both in the narrative and poetical 
 portions. (2) Others have maintained a view directly opposed, 
 regarding the work as wholly unhistorical and in all its parts a 
 creation of the Poet's mind, and written with a didactic purpose. 
 (3) And a third class assumes a middle position between these 
 two extremes, considering that, though mainly a creation of 
 the author's own mind, the Poem reposes on a historical tradi- 
 tion, which the writer adopted as suitable for his moral purpose, 
 and the outline of which he has preserved. 
 
 Among the Jews in early times the Book appears to have 
 been considered strictly historical. This was probably the 
 opinion of Josephus, who, though he does not quote Job in any 
 of his works S appears to embrace it among the thirteen pro- 
 phetical books forming one division of his Canon 2. The same 
 was the generally received opinion among the Rabbinical 
 writers. There were exceptions, however, even anterior to the 
 age of the Talmud. A certain Rabbi Resh Lakish sitting in the 
 school before Samuel bar Nachmani gave expression to the 
 opinion that "a Job existed not, and was not created; he is a 
 parable." To this Bar Nachmani replied, "Saith not the 
 
 1 Bleek, Introduction, ii. p. 309. ^ Contra Apw7i. i. 18.
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 scripture, There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name 
 was Job?" Resh Lakish answered, "But how is it then with 
 that place 2 Sam. xii. 3, The poor man had nothing, save one 
 little ewe-lamb which he had bought, &c.? What is that but a 
 common simiHlude? and so Job is a simple parable." Bar 
 Nachmani could but reply that not only the name of Job but 
 that of his country was mentioned, an answer that probably did 
 not go far to convince his opponent ^ Resh Lakish was most 
 likely not alone in his opinion, though his view appears to have 
 given scandal to others. A later scholar. Rabbi Hai, the last 
 who bore the title of Gaon (died 1037), maintains that the 
 Talmudic passage reads, "Job existed not and was not created 
 except in order to be a parable (or type, i.e. a model to the 
 children of men), for that he actually existed the passage of 
 scripture proves" (Ezek. xiv. 14) 2. With this view Rashi agrees, 
 and Ibn Ezra in the beginning of his commentary refers to the 
 passage in Ezekiel as evidence that Job was a real person. 
 Maimonides (died 1204) refers to the difference of opinion 
 existing on the question whether Job was "created," that is, 
 was a real person, and advances the opinion that "he is a 
 parable meant to exhibit the views of mankind in regard to 
 providence^." The historical existence of Job appears thus to 
 have been to some extent an open question among the Jewish 
 scholars, though probably up to recent times the belief that the 
 Book was strictly historical continued to be the prevailing one. 
 
 The same appears to have been the general view of Christian 
 Avriters up till the time of the Reformation, when Luther with 
 his usual freedom and sound instincts expressed another opinion. 
 The Reformer was far from denying the existence of Job him- 
 self, nor did he doubt that there was history in the Book; it was 
 history, however, poetically idealised. In his Table-talk he 
 expresses himself to that effect: "I hold the Book of Job to be 
 real history; but that everything so happened and was so done 
 I do not believe, but think that some ingenious, pious and 
 
 1 Talmud, Baba Bathra, fol. 15, in Magnus, Comm. on Job, ^. 29S. 
 - Ewald and Dukes, Beitrdge, ii. p. 166. 
 ' March Ncvochim, part iii. ch. 22.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xv 
 
 learned man composed it as it is^" Even during the preceding 
 centuries some dissentient voices had let themselves be heard. 
 More than a thousand years before Luther's day a much freer 
 judgment than his had been passed upon the Book by Theodore 
 bishop of Rlopsuestia in Cilicia (died 428), a great name in the 
 Antiochean school of Exegesis, and a man who resembled 
 Luther in some points, especially his free handling of the Canon, 
 though he was without the Reformer's geniality and sound 
 hermeneutical instincts. Theodore, equally with Luther, be- 
 lieved in the existence of Job himself, but he regarded the 
 Book as a fiction, written in imitation of the dramas of the 
 heathen by an author familiar with the Greek wisdom, and 
 nothing short of a slander upon the godly Patriarch. The 
 dialogue between the Almighty and Satan in the Prologue gave 
 offence to Theodore ; but much worse was what he found in the 
 Epilogue, where according to the Sept., from which alone the 
 bishop derived his knowledge of the Book, Job names his third 
 daughter "Horn of Amalthea" (see on ch. xlii. 14). Such a 
 name must have been invented by the author of the Book from 
 love to the heathen mythology, for what could an Idumean like 
 Job know of Jupiter and Juno and the heathen gods? And if 
 he had known would he have bestowed upon a child given him 
 in such circumstances by God a name borrowed from the history 
 of the deities of Greece, or thought it any distinction to her? 
 The whole cast of the Book, however, gave offence to Theodore, 
 as injurious to Job, a godly man whose history was in every 
 mouth and known far beyond the borders of Israel, and whose 
 fame the Prophet (Ezekiel) had further enhanced. Hence he 
 condemned alike the irreverent language put into Job's mouth, 
 the unjust attacks made on him by his friends, and the injurious 
 and insulting speeches of Elihu. The whole, in his opinion, 
 gave a distorted view of Job's character, detracted from the 
 moral value of his history, and gave occasion to blame not only 
 the pious sufferer but also the Book^. Theodore, though not 
 
 ^ Works, Walch, xxii. p. ■2093. The passage appears to exist under 
 various forms. 
 
 2 Kihn, Theodor von Mopsiicstia, p. 68 scq.
 
 xvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 without insight, as his rejection of the headings to the Psahns 
 indicates, was apt to be hasty and narrow in his judgments. 
 His views naturally compelled him to remove the Book of Job 
 from the Canon. Though condemned as a heretic after his 
 death, the censure does not seem to have fallen upon him for 
 his critical opinions ; he fell under suspicion from his exegetical 
 writings, in which the seeds of the Nestorian heresy were detected, 
 as some of the chief adherents of that error were his pupils and 
 friends. 
 
 The comparativ^ely free judgment of Luther regarding the 
 Book naturally gave a handle to the Catholics which they were 
 not slow to seize, and was not appreciated by Protestant writers 
 in the succeeding ages. In his Commentary concerning the 
 Antiquity, &c. of the History of Job (1670) Fred. Spanheim 
 maintains that if Job be not history it is a fraud of the writer, 
 ni Jiistoria sit, fraus scriptoris. Such a judgment would con- 
 demn as wilful frauds not only the majority of modern composi- 
 tions but the dramas and parabolic writings of all ages. It is 
 hard to see even how an exception could be made in favour of 
 the parables of our Lord. Happily a juster conception of the 
 nature of scripture now prevails, and we are prepared to find in 
 it any form of literary composition which it is natural for men 
 to employ. The view of Spanheim was shared by Albert 
 Schultens, and defended by him in various writings, particularly 
 in his great Commentary on Job (1736). Schultens was pre- 
 pared to accept even the speeches of Job and his friends as 
 literal transcriptions of what was said, appealing to the remark- 
 able skill in improvising at all times exhibited by the Arabs and 
 other Eastern peoples. The same opinion was maintained by 
 J. H. Michaelis, professor at Halle (died 1738). According to 
 him Job was descended from Nahor, and everything narrated in 
 the Book is literal history, as taught in James v. 11 — notwith- 
 standing the Talmud, the Rabbins and Luther. The Patriarch 
 lived between the death of Joseph and the Exodus ; and the 
 Book was written by Moses in Midland 
 
 ^ Adnotationes in Ha<^os^. Vet. Test. Libros, vol. ii. p. 5 seq.; comp. 
 Diestel, Hist, of the 0. T. in the Christian Church, p. 417.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xvii 
 
 Yet even those times were not left without a witness in 
 favour of different views. Grotius (died 1645) reproduced the 
 opinion of Luther that the history in Job was poetically handled, 
 res vere gesta, scd poetice tractaia. And another Michaelis, 
 John David, grand nephew of John Henry and the most dis- 
 tinguished of his name, professor of Oriental Languages at 
 Goettingen (1750), expressed a judgment regarding Job very 
 different from that of his older relative, and one which shews 
 that critical opinions are scarcely subject to the law of heredity. 
 According to him Job is a pure poetical creation : " I feel very 
 little doubt that the subject of the poem is altogether fabulous, 
 and designed to teach us that ' the rewards of virtue being in 
 another state, it is very possible for the good to suffer afflictions 
 in this life ; but that, when it so happens, it is permitted by 
 Providence for the wisest reasons, though they may not be 
 obvious to human eyes\"' The rise in this age of the critical 
 spirit, which indeed had been partially awakened to life in the 
 preceding century by the publication of Richard Simon's O'ltical 
 History of the Old Testament (1678), naturally led to free 
 discussion of the Book and prepared the way for the compara- 
 tively unanimous verdict regarding it of modern times. The 
 history of this discussion need not be pursued here. There are 
 perhaps few scholars now who consider the Book strictly 
 historical in all its parts. The prevailing view, which is no 
 doubt just, is that it reposes on a historical tradition, which the 
 author has used and embellished, and made the vehicle for 
 conveying the moral instruction which it was his object to 
 teach. There are still some, however, who regard the Poem 
 as wholly the creation of the author's invention ; and this view 
 is not confined to any critical school, for it numbers among its 
 adherents men so widely apart from one another in their critical 
 positions as Hengstenberg and Reuss. 
 
 That the Book is not literal history appears, (i) from the 
 
 ^ See his note in Giegory's Trans, of I.otvth on the Sacred Poetry of 
 the Hebrews, Lect. 32. Lowth himself (1753) adhered to the view of 
 Luther and Grotius.
 
 xviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 scenes in heaven exhibited in the Prologue (ch. i., ii.), and from 
 the lengthy speeches put into the mouth of the Almighty (ch. 
 xxxviii. st'q.). (2) From the symbolical numbers three and seven 
 used to describe Job's flocks and his children ; and from the 
 fact that his possessions are exactly doubled to him on his 
 restoration, while he receives again seven sons and three daughters 
 precisely as before. (3) From the dramatic and ideal nature 
 of the account of the incidence of Job's calamities (ch. i. 13 scq.), 
 where the forces of nature and the violence of men alternate in 
 bringing ruin upon him, and in each case only one escapes 
 to tell the tidings. (4) From the nature of the debate between 
 Job and his friends. Both the thought and the highly-wrought 
 imagery of the speeches shew that, so far from possibly being 
 the extemporaneous utterances of three or four persons casually 
 brought together, they could only be the leisurely production of 
 a writer of the highest genius. 
 
 On the other hand, it is probable that the Book is not wholly 
 poetical invention, but that it reposes upon a historical tradition, 
 some of the elements of which it has preserved, (i) The allusion 
 of the prophet Ezekiel to Job, where he mentions Noah, Daniel 
 and Job (ch. xiv. 14), appears to be to a tradition regarding him 
 rather than to the present Book. The prophet's knowledge of 
 Daniel must have been derived from hearsay, for the present 
 book of that name cannot have been known to him. And the 
 manner of his allusion suggests that the fame for piety of the 
 three men whom he names was traditional and widely celebrated. 
 
 (2) Pure literary invention on so large a scale is scarcely to be 
 looked for so early in Israel. Even considerably later the 
 author of Ecclesiastes attaches his work to the name of Solomon ; 
 and later still the author of the book of Wisdom does the same. 
 
 (3) The author of Job has a practical object in view. He does 
 not occupy himself with discussing theories of providence that 
 have only philosophic interest. He desires to influence the 
 thought and the conduct of his generation. And this object 
 would certainly have been better gained by making use of some 
 history that lay slumbering in the popular mind, the lesson 
 of which, when the story was awakened and set living before
 
 INTRODUCTION. xix 
 
 men, would commend itself more to the mind from not being 
 altogether unfamiliar. 
 
 When we enquire, however, what elements of the Book 
 really belong to the tradition, a definite answer can hardly be 
 given. A tradition could scarcely exist which did not contain 
 the name of the hero, and the name "Job" is no doubt historical. 
 A mere name, however, could not be handed down without some 
 circumstances connected with it ; and we may assume that the 
 outline of the tradition included Job's great prosperity, the 
 unparalleled afflictions that befell him, and possibly also his 
 restoration. Whether more was embraced may be uncertain. 
 A vague report may have floated down that the mystery of Job's 
 sufferings engaged the attention of the Wise of his country and 
 formed the subject of discussion. It may also be argued that no 
 reason can be suggested for making Uzthe country of Job unless 
 there was a tradition to that effect ; and that the names of his 
 friends, having nothing symbolical in them, must also belong to 
 the story. This is doubtful. Eliphaz is an old Idumean name, 
 and Teman was famed for wisdom ; and "Eliphaz of Teman" 
 might suggest literary combination. The other two names, not 
 occurring again, do not awaken the same suspicions. They 
 might be part of the tradition ; but it is equally possible that 
 they are names which the author had heard among the tribes 
 outside of Israel. Even more liable to doubt is the episode of 
 Job's wife, and the malady under which the Patriarch suffered. 
 We can observe three threads running through the Book. One 
 is that of the original tradition ; another is the poetical em- 
 beUishment of this tradition in the Prologue and Epilogue, Job 
 being still treated as an individual. To this belong, for example, 
 the names of Job's daughters, a touch of singular geniality from 
 the hand of a writer who employs such sombre colours in the 
 rest of the Book, and shewing that though crushed under the 
 sorrows of his time he was not incapable on occasions of rising 
 above them. In many places, however. Job appears to outgrow 
 the limits of individual life ; his mind and language reflect the 
 situation and feelings of a class, or even of a people. He is the 
 type either of the class of suffering righteous men, or of that
 
 XX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 afflicted, godly kernel of the people (Is. vi. 13), to which the 
 nationality of Israel was felt still to adhere, and which is known 
 in the Exile under the name of the Servant of the Lord. The 
 history of this suffering remnant under the trials of the Exile has 
 not been written ; but that it had a history, marked by great 
 trials and great faith, commanding the attention and kindling 
 the enthusiasm of prophetic men, appears abundantly from the 
 latter part of the Book of Isaiah. It is not easy to say with any 
 certainty to which of these three elements any particular episode 
 or point in the Book ought to be referred. The story of Job's 
 wife may be thought to be just the kind of trait which the popular 
 imagination would retain, or what is the same thing, which 
 it would invent ; the inference being that it should be considered 
 part of the tradition. On the other hand, it is possible that her 
 falling away under her sorrows may be but the reflection of the 
 apostasy of many of the people under their trials, the sight of 
 which put so severe a strain upon the faith of those still remain- 
 ing true. And when we read in Deuteronomy, "The Lord will 
 smite thee with the botch of Egypt. ..the Lord shall smite thee 
 in the knees and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be 
 healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head " 
 (ch. xxviii. 27, 35), and then in Job that Satan "went forth and 
 smote Job with sore boils, from the sole of his foot unto his 
 crown" (cli. ii. 7); and when further we find in Isaiah (ch. 
 lii.— liii.) the Servant of the Lord represented as afflicted with 
 leprous defilement, the impression can hardly be resisted that 
 the three representations are connected together. Even in 
 Deuteronomy the threat has ideal elements in it ; in the Prophet 
 the representation becomes wholly ideal ; and the same is 
 probably the case also in the Poet. In Deuteronomy the subject 
 threatened is the people of Israel ; in Isaiah the subject is the 
 same, though with the modifications which history since the 
 Exile had introduced, being the godly kernel of the people in 
 captivity, to which the nationality and name and idea of Israel 
 still belonged. And though we may not go so far as to say that 
 Job is Israel or the Servant of the Lord under another name, it 
 can scarcely be doubted that the sufferings of Israel are reflected
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxi 
 
 in those of Job, and that the author designed that the people 
 should see their own features in his, and from his history forecast 
 the issue of their own. These are considerations that make us 
 hesitate to regard Job's malady as part of the tradition regarding 
 him, even though that view be supported by names so dis- 
 tinguished as that of Ewald. 
 
 The Book of Job has been called an Epic by some, by others 
 a Drama, or more specifically a Tragedy, and by others still a 
 Didactic Poem. That the Poem has a didactic purpose is 
 unquestionable. It is equally evident that it contains many 
 elements of the drama, such as dialogue, and a plot with an 
 entanglement, development and solution. The action, however, 
 is internal and mental, and the successive scenes are representa- 
 tions of the varying moods of a great soul struggling with the 
 mysteries of its fate, rather than trying external situations. 
 Much in the action may rightly be called tragic, but the happy 
 conclusion is at variance with the conception of a proper tragedy. 
 Any idea of representing his work on a stage never crossed the 
 author's mind ; his object was to instruct his countrymen and 
 inspire them with hope in the future, and it is nothing to him 
 that he detracts from the artistic effect of his work by revealing 
 beforehand in the Prologue the real cause of Job's afflictions, 
 the problem which is the subject of the dialogue, and the cause 
 of the successive tragic phases of Job's feeling, in which the 
 action chiefly consists. A more skilful artist according to 
 western ideas might have concealed the explanation of Job's 
 afflictions till the end, allowing it to transpire perhaps in the 
 speeches of the Almighty. If he had allowed God to explain to 
 Job the meaning of the sufferings with which He afflicted him, 
 whatever addition to his hterary renown he might have won, the 
 author would have shewn himself much less wise and true as a 
 religious teacher, for the experience of men tells them that they 
 do not reach religious peace through the theoretical solution of 
 the problems of providence ; the theoretical solution comes later, 
 if it comes at all, through their own reflection upon their history 
 and the way in which God has led them. And if Job ever knew 
 the meaning of his afflictions he learned it in this way, or he 
 
 JOG C
 
 xxii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 learned it throuc;h the teaching of some other man wiser than 
 himself, as we have learned it from the author of this Book. 
 
 The Book of Job can hardly be named a drama, though it 
 may justly be called dramatic. The dramatic movement is seen 
 in the varying moods of Job's mind, and in his attitude towards 
 Heaven. The dialogue with his friends partly occasions these 
 moods and partly exhibits tlicm. The progressive advance of 
 the debate, however, is not to be considered as constituting the 
 dramatic action. The commencement, culmination, and ex- 
 haustion of the debate do not run parallel with the rise, the 
 increase and climax, and the composure of Job's perplexity of 
 mind and war with Heaven. It is in the latter that the dramatic 
 movement lies, in which the debate is a mere episode, for the 
 state of Job's mind, twice signalised in the Prologue, lies before 
 it, and the perfect composure to which he is brought by the 
 divine speeches lies far behind it. Such a representation there- 
 fore as that of Delitzsch can hardly be accepted, who says "the 
 Book of Job is substantially a drama, and one consisting of 
 seven divisions: (i) ch. i. — iii., the opening; (2) ch. iv. — xiv., 
 the first course of the controversy, or the beginning of entangle- 
 ment; (3) ch. XV — xxi., the second course of the controversy, or 
 the increasing entanglement ; (4) ch. xxii. — xxvi., the third 
 course of tlie controversy, or the increasing entanglement at its 
 highest ; (5) ch. xxvii. — xxxi., the transition from the entangle- 
 ment to the unravelling ; (6) ch. xxxviii. — xlii. 6, the conscious- 
 ness of the unravelling; (7) ch. xlii. 7 scq., the unravelling in 
 outward reality".^ This representation confuses two things 
 quite distinct, and which do not move parallel to one another, 
 namely the gradual thickening of the conflict between Job and his 
 friends, ending at last in their directly imputing heinous offences 
 to him, and the religious tension of Job's mind under his trials. 
 It is not till the last round that the climax of the debate is 
 reached (ch. xxii.), but the perplexity and violence of Job attain 
 their height in the first round (ch. ix. — x.). Already in ch. xiv. 
 the strain is considerably relieved, and it decreases still more in 
 the speeches culminating in ch. xix., being wholly removed by 
 the interposition of the Almighty. 
 
 ^ Trans, i. p. 15.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxiii 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Idea and Purpose of the Book. 
 
 The Book of Job, as we possess it, conveys the impression 
 that it is a finished and well-rounded composition. Its form, 
 Prologue, Poem and Epilogue, suggests that the writer had a 
 clear idea before his mind, which he started, developed and 
 brought to an issue in a way satisfactory to himself. The Book 
 has not the appearance of a mere fragment, or what might be 
 called a contribution to the ventilation of a great problem, on 
 which the author feels that he has something that may be useful 
 to say, though nothing very definite or final; although this is a 
 view of the Book that some have taken. The author being 
 assumed, however, to have a distinct idea, this idea still remains 
 so obscure, and the question, What is the purpose of the Book? 
 has been answered in so many ways, that a judgment regarding 
 it must be put forth with the greatest diffidence. Almost every 
 theory that has been adopted has found itself in collision with 
 one or more of the parts of which the Book now consists, and 
 has been able to maintain itself only by sacrificing, these parts 
 upon its altar. With the exception of the speeches of Elihu 
 there is no great division of the Book to which valid objections 
 can be made, except on the ground that it does not harmonise 
 with the idea of the Poem. The Elihu speeches occupy their 
 right place between the discourses of the friends and the answer 
 of Jehovah. They maintain the ground of the former, though 
 they perhaps advance and refine upon it ; and they prepare for 
 the speeches of the Almighty, being the expression from the 
 reverent religious consciousness of man of that which the Al- 
 mighty expresses, if such language may be used, from His own 
 consciousness of Himself. Whether, therefore, these speeches be 
 held original or considered a later insertion they import no new 
 principle into the Book, and may be neglected when the general 
 conception of the Poem is being sought for. It seems fair, how- 
 ever, to take into account all the remaining divisions of the Book. 
 
 c 2
 
 xxiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I. Though the author of the Book does not identify himself 
 with Job, whom, on the contrary, he allows to assume positions 
 which are extreme, and to utter language which is unbecoming, 
 Job is undoubtedly the hero of the piece, and in the sentiments 
 which he expresses and the history which he passes through 
 combined, we may assume that we find the author himself 
 speaking and teaching. Even the exaggerated sentiments 
 which he allows Job to utter are not to be considered mere 
 extravagances ; they are not incoherencies which Job flings out 
 in one line, and retracts in the next ; they are excesses, which 
 men under trials such as he suffered are driven to commit, and 
 with which the author, amidst the questionings in regard to 
 providence which the terrible sufferings of the time forced on 
 men, was no doubt too familiar, if he had not himself perhaps 
 fallen into them ; and as we observe Job's mind gradually and 
 naturally approaching the state in which he commits them, so 
 we see it naturally recovering its balance and effecting a retreat. 
 The discussion of the question of suffering between Job and his 
 friends runs through a large part of the Book (ch. iv. — xxxi.), 
 and in the direction which the author causes the discussion to 
 take we may see revealed one of the chief didactic purposes of 
 the Poem. When the three friends, the representatives of 
 former theories of providence, are reduced to silence and driven 
 off the ground by Job (ch. xxi.. xxiii., xxiv.), we may assume 
 that it was the authors purpose to discredit the ideas which 
 they support. The theory that sin and suftering are in all cases 
 connected, and that suffering cannot be where there has not 
 been previous sin to account for the measure of it, is a theory of 
 providence which cannot be harmonised with the facts observed 
 in the world. Job traverses this theory on both its sides. He 
 himself is an instance of suffering apart from previous sin; and 
 the world is full of examples of notoriously wicked men prosper- 
 ing and being free from trouble till the day of their death. Job 
 offers no positive contribution to the doctrine of evil; his posi- 
 tion is negative, and merely antagonistic to that of his friends. 
 Now without doubt in all this he is the mouthpiece of the author 
 of the Book.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxv 
 
 Is it natural now to suppose that the author contemplated 
 only this negative result? Would he have thought his task 
 sufficiently fulfilled by pulling down the old fabric under which 
 men had found friendly shelter and comfort for ages, and strew- 
 ing its ruins on the ground, without supplying anything in its 
 place, beyond perhaps the good advice which he is supposed to 
 give in ch. xxxviii. seq. ? So far as the rest of the Poem is con- 
 cerned no further light is cast on the question. Job is left in 
 darkness, and the divine speeches do not touch the point. The 
 author exhibits Job reaching the conclusion that the righteous- 
 ness of God, as he in common with his friends had always 
 understood it, cannot be detected in the world as God actually 
 rules it. And he exhibits the terrible perplexity into which the 
 discovery threw him. To miss God's righteousness in the world 
 was equivalent to missing it in God Himself, and Job's idea of 
 God threatened to become wholly transformed. He is filled 
 with terror and despair, and in his wrestling with the question 
 he forces his way across the confines of this world, and first 
 demands (ch. xiv., xvi. — xvii.) and then assures himself (ch. xix.) 
 that, if not in his life here, beyond his life here, God's righteous- 
 ness shall be manifested. By allowing Job to rise to such a 
 thought the author probably meant to signalise it as one of the 
 solutions to which men or himself had been forced. But the 
 time was not yet come, and the darkness that overhung all 
 beyond this hfe was too thick for men to find repose in this 
 great thought. Hence Job is made to renew his demand for a 
 solution in this life of the riddle of his sufferings (ch. xxxi. 35— 
 2n). Does then the author offer no solution? He does not, and 
 no solution is offered to us, unless the Prologue supplies it. 
 This passage, however, when naturally read, teaches that Job's 
 sufferings were the trial of his righteousness. If then we bring 
 the Prologue and the debate into combination we perceive that 
 it was the author's purpose to widen men's views of God's 
 providence, and to set before them a new view of suffering. 
 With great skill he employs Job as his instrument to clear the 
 ground of the old theories, and he himself brings forward in 
 their place his new truth, that sufferings may befall the innocent,
 
 xxvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and be not a chastisement for their sins but a trial of their 
 righteousness. 
 
 This may be considered one great purpose of the Book. 
 This purpose, however, was in all probability no mere theo- 
 retical one, but subordinate to some wider practical design. 
 No Hebrew writer is merely a poet or thinker. He is always a 
 teacher. He has men before him in their relations to God. 
 And it is not usually men in their individual relations, but as 
 members of the family of Israel, the people of God. It is con- 
 sequently scarcely to be doubted that the Book has a national 
 scope. The author considered his new truth regarding the 
 meaning of affliction as of national interest, and to be the truth 
 needful to comfort and uphold the heart of his people in the 
 circumstances in which they were. 
 
 2. But the direct teaching of the Book is only half its con- 
 tents. It presents also a history — deep and inexplicable affliction, 
 a great moral struggle, and a victory. Must not this history also 
 be designed to teach? Is it not a kind of apologue the purpose 
 of which is to inspire new conduct, new faith, and new hopes? 
 In Job's sufferings undeserved and inexplicable to him, yet 
 capable of an explanation most consistent with the goodness 
 and faithfulness of God, and casting honour upon His faithful 
 servants; in his despair bordering upon apostasy, at last over- 
 come; in the higher knowledge of God and deeper humility to 
 which he attained, and in the happy issue of his afflictions — in 
 all these Israel may see itself, and from the sight take courage, 
 and forecast its own history. What the author sets before his 
 people is a new reading of their history, just as another new 
 reading is set before them by the Prophet in the latter part of 
 Isaiah. The two readings are different, but both speak to the 
 heart of the people. Job, however, is scarcely to be considered 
 Israel, under a feigned name. He is not Israel, though Israel 
 may see itself and its history reflected in him. It is the elements 
 of reality in his history common to him with Israel in affliction, 
 common even to him with humanity as a whole, confined within 
 the straitened limits set by its own ignorance ; wounded to 
 death by the mysterious sorrows of life; tortured by the un-
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxvii 
 
 certainty whether its cry finds an entrance into God's ear; 
 alarmed and paralysed by the irreconcileable discrepancies 
 which it discovers between its necessary thoughts of Him and 
 its experience of Him in his providence; and faint with longing 
 that it might come unto His place, and behold Him not girt 
 with His majesty but in human form, as one looketh upon his 
 fellow — it is these elements of truth that make the history of 
 Job instructive to the people of Israel in the times of affliction 
 when it was set before them, and to men in all ages^. 
 
 The manifold theories of the purpose of the Book that have 
 been put forth cannot be mentioned here. The construction 
 of Ewald, brilliant and powerful though it be, has not been 
 accepted by any other writer. Bleek, unable to find any single 
 idea giving unity to the Rook, contents himself with stating 
 three truths which the Book appears to teach, (r) That even a 
 pious man may be visited by God with heavy and manifold 
 afflictions without it being necessary to consider these as 
 punishment on account of special sinfulness and as a sign of 
 special divine displeasure ; that it is wrong to reproach such a 
 one with his sufferings as if they had their origin in the divine 
 displeasure, seeing they may rather be inflicted or permitted by 
 God in order that his piety may be tried and find suitable 
 opportunity of approving itself (Prologue). (2) That it is foolish 
 presumption on the part of men to strive with God on account 
 of the sufferings befalling them, and to seek to call Him to a 
 reckoning, seeing no man is in a position to fathom the wisdom 
 and counsel of God, man's true wisdom being rather to fear the 
 Lord and eschew evil (Poem). (3) That Jehovah will at last 
 surely have compassion on the pious sufferer and bless and 
 glorify him, if he perseveres in his piety and cleaves to God, or if, 
 having transgressed in his impatience, he repents (Epilogue)^. 
 
 An attractive theory, in some degree a modification of that of 
 Hupfeld and others, has more recently been put forth by some 
 acute writers in Holland. It is to the effect that the author's 
 
 ' Encydop. Britann. Art. "Job." 
 
 * Introduction, 4 Ed. p. .534, Trans, ii. p. 277.
 
 x::viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 design is merely to cast some light upon an acknowledged 
 problem. The problem is the sufferings of the innocent — how 
 they are to be reconciled with the righteousness of God. This 
 problem is presented in the Prologue, which exhibits a righteous 
 man subjected to great calamities. The Prologue gives no ex- 
 planation of these calamities; Job's demeanour under his suc- 
 cessive troubles merely shews his rectitude ; here is undoubtedly 
 a righteous man. In Job's person the problem is embodied and 
 presented. Even the debate between him and his friends has 
 no further effect or purpose than to set the problem in a strong 
 light. The friends attempt an explanation of Job's afflictions, 
 and if they had succeeded the problem would have been at an 
 end. By their failure it is only seen more clearly to be a 
 problem. Job contributes no solution, but his perplexity and 
 despair and danger of apostasy shew how terrible the problem 
 is. The whole point of the Book, therefore, lies in the divine 
 speeches. All the rest is mere fact, or brilliant exhibition of a 
 fact, that there is a terrible problem. The divine speeches do 
 not solve the problem, for the problem is insoluble, but thcv 
 give some satisfaction: they teach why it is insoluble, namely, 
 because God and His ways are inscrutable. They say in effect 
 two things : man cannot do what God does ; and he cannot 
 understand why He docs what He does. And the conclusion is 
 that nothing remains for him but acquiescence in the unsearch- 
 able providence of God. This is the great lesson which the 
 author designed to teach his generation and mankind i. 
 
 There are difficulties in the way of this theory, i. Besides 
 that the line of thought found in the Book is rather modern, the 
 reader has difficulty in believing that the author's purpose went 
 no further than to present a problem, pronounce it insoluble, 
 and recommend resignation. 2. The reading of the Prologue 
 which finds in its language no explanation of Job's afflictions is 
 unnatural; and this reading of it leaves the function of the 
 Satan entirely unexplained, who becomes a mere "evil spirit", 
 
 ^ Kuenen, Ondcrzock, in. 125. More fully and genially Matthes in 
 Ills excellent commentary, lid Bock Job, Deel I.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxix 
 
 in no connexion with the providence of God. 3. According to 
 this theory Job's afflictions narrated in the Prologue, and these 
 are all his afflictions, have merely the purpose of shewing his 
 righteousness, which only comes to light by them. But in this 
 way the author becomes guilty of a strange inconsequence. He 
 meant to put forward the terrible problem of the sufferings of a 
 righteous man ; but these sufferings were necessary to shew that 
 the man was righteous, and thus they are explained, and there 
 is no problem. 4. The reading of the divine speeches is 
 narrow and not natural. 5. The epilogue is an irrelevancy, or 
 hangs in the loosest way to the Poem. It is added merely 
 because "poetic justice" demanded it, or because the author 
 "could not" let his hero die in misery, or for some similar senti- 
 mental reason. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Integrity of the Book. 
 
 With the exception of the speeches of Elihu there is none of 
 the five great divisions of the Book (Introd. ch. i.) against which, 
 as a whole, serious objection can be brought, though some 
 portions of the second and fourth divisions may be liable to 
 doubt. The idea or purpose of the Poem has been very dif- 
 ferently understood, and objections to particular parts of the 
 Book have generally arisen from the feeling that these parts 
 were not in harmony with the idea of the author as the main 
 body of the Poem revealed it. One of the latest writers on 
 the Book has found it necessary to amputate every limb from 
 the Poem, leaving it a mere trunk, consisting of ch. iii. — xxxi., 
 and even this trunk is so misshapen that its shoulders are found 
 in the region of its bowels ^ 
 
 ^ Studer, who brings forward ch. xxix. xxx. to the beginning of the 
 roem.
 
 XXX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I. The Prologue and Epilogue. 
 
 It may be remarked in general that without some introduc- 
 tion the discussion between Job and his friends would not have 
 been intelligible, just as without some conclusion such as the 
 Epilogue the Poem would have been left in a condition very- 
 unsatisfactory and incomplete. Some introduction and conclu- 
 sion must have accompanied the Poem, and there is no evidence 
 or probability that any others, different from those now found, 
 ever existed. 
 
 1. Several of the objections urged against the Prologue and 
 Epilogue are of no weight, such as the following : that the Pro- 
 logue and Epilogue are written in prose, while the body of the 
 Book is poetry ; that the name Jehovah is employed in the Pro- 
 logue while other names are used in the Poem; and that 
 sacrifices are referred to in the Prologue and Epilogue but never 
 in the body of the Book. 
 
 All narrative in Hebrew is in proge. The author writes in 
 prose when introducing the speakers even in the body of the 
 Poem, e.g. ch. xxxviii. i. Even in the episode of Elihu the 
 passage of some length (ch. xxxii. i — 5) which brings that 
 speaker upon the stage is prose. As to the divine names, the 
 author, an Israelite, employs the name usual in Israel; the 
 speakers whom he introduces, belonging to the patriarchal time, 
 use the divine names more current then. That this is part of 
 the antique disguise maintained by the author appears from his 
 allowing the name Jehovah to escape from Job's mouth on 
 more than one occasion (ch. i. 21, xii. 9), and from his own 
 use of this name even in the Poem when introducing a new 
 speaker (ch. xxxviii. i). The sacrifice referred to in the Pro- 
 logue and Epilogue is the patriarchal burnt-offering, and that 
 Job himself offers it is in keeping with the usages of that early 
 time. There is no evidence that the Prologue has a more 
 ritualistic colour than the Poem, for even in the Poem priests 
 (ch. xii. 19) and vows (xxii. 27) are referred to. 
 
 2. Hardly of more consequence is the averment that the 
 Prologue and Epilogue are in disagreement with the Poem,
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxxi 
 
 first, in regard to Job's children, whom the Prologue represents 
 as perishing, while in the Poem they are spoken of as alive ; 
 and secondly, in regard to the Almighty's treatment of Job, 
 whom He commends in the Epilogue, biit severely blames in the 
 Poem. 
 
 Not only in the Prologue but twice in the Poem Job's sons 
 are referred to as having perished (ch. viii. 4, xxix. 5). The 
 passage ch. xix. 17 is of doubtful meaning (see notes). Even if 
 we felt compelled to assume that the children of Job's body there 
 referred to were his sons, the writer would merely be guilty of 
 an inconsequence (no great matter in a Poem which is not strict 
 history), no inference could be drawn against the originality of 
 the Prologue, because the same argument would remove two 
 chapters from the Poem. 
 
 The Lord blames Job in the Poem (ch. xxxviii. seq.) and com- 
 mends him in the Epilogue (ch. xlii. 7). But He does not blame 
 and applaud him at once and for the same reason. In the 
 speeches out of the storm Job is reproved for the irreverence to- 
 wards God into which he had been betrayed ; and in the Epilogue 
 he is commended for perceiving that the theory upheld by the 
 three friends was no true theory of God's providence as it is in 
 fact administered, and for maintaining at all hazards and under 
 every obloquy what he perceived to be the truth. Neither is 
 there any weight in the allegation that Job's unsubmissive beha- 
 viour in the Poem contradicts what is said of his godly patience 
 in the Prologue. Job is able to exhibit pious resignation to the 
 will of God on the first incidence of his calamities, but under 
 the prolonged agony of his sufferings and in the sympathising 
 presence of his friends he loses his self-control and breaks out 
 into a despairing cry for death. The transition from the one 
 mood to the other is made in the most natural manner. 
 
 3. Of more importance is the objection that the doctrine of 
 the Satan in the Prologue belongs to an age later than that to 
 v/hich the Poem can be referred. 
 
 It is very difficult to say to what age the Poem ought to be 
 referred. It is true that the name, the Satan, occurs here for 
 the first time ; that in i Kings xxii. iq. where a scene in heaven
 
 xxxii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 somewhat similar to that in the Prologue is presented, mention 
 is made only of "the spirit" ; and that in Zech. iii., a post-exile 
 writing, where the name again occurs, the Adversary performs 
 a part very similar to that which he plays in Job, and probably 
 the two books do not stand at a very great distance from one 
 another. There is, however, a certain difference between the 
 representations in Job and Zechariah. In the prophet the 
 Satan appears in somewhat darker colours, and in somewhat 
 stronger opposition to the merciful purposes of God in regard 
 to men ; hence while in Job he is merely reproached by God 
 for setting Him on against His servant, he is rebuked by Him 
 in Zechariah. We must be careful not to impose upon the 
 Book of Job or this prophet conceptions belonging to a more 
 advanced period. The Satan of these books is no mere "evil 
 spirit," the real enemy of God though His unwilling subject. There 
 is no antagonism between God and the Satan. The idea that the 
 "attacks of Satan are aimed primarily at the honour of God" ; 
 that his purpose is to deny that God is "ever disinterestedly 
 served and sincerely loved by any being whatever"; and that 
 "the object of the trial of Job is precisely to demonstrate to 
 him the contrary^" — such an idea is altogether at variance with 
 Old Testament conceptions. The Satan is the servant of God, 
 representing or carrying out His trying, sifting providence, and 
 the opposer of men because he is the minister of God ; hence 
 Job's afflictions, represented as inflicted by the Satan in one 
 place, are spoken of as due to the hand of God in another, "thou 
 hast set me on against him to destroy him" (ch. ii. 3), just as 
 Job's friends " came to condole with him over all the evil which 
 the Lord had brought upon him" (ch. xlii. 11), and of course 
 everywhere in the Poem the Almighty is assumed to be the 
 author of Job's calamities both by the sufferer and his friends. 
 The angels and Satan among them are the ministers of God's 
 providence. The Satan being the minister of God's trying 
 providence, which is often administered by means of afflictions, 
 it was an easy step to take to endow him with the spirit of 
 
 1 Godet, Biblical Studies, p. 229,
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxxiii 
 
 hostility to man which such afflictions seemed to reflect. This 
 step is taken in the Book, though not very decidedly. It was 
 another and natural step to take, though in a somewhat 
 different direction, to represent him as acting in opposition to 
 the gracious mind of God towards men. This is httle more 
 than if a conflict had been imagined between God's attribute 
 of mercy and His resolution to try. A movement towards this 
 step is made in Job, and a certain further advance in the 
 direction is observable in Zechariah. But all this is very far 
 short of a conflict between God and Satan. The Satan is a 
 mere instrument in the economy of God's providence, and 
 though represented as a person, his personal standing is only 
 of the slightest consequence. Hence he docs not appear in the 
 Epilogue. His part was, in the service of God, to try Job ; that 
 done he disappears, having no place assigned to him among the 
 dramatis persoiice of the Poem. There is nothing, therefore, 
 in this conception of the Satan which implies a very late age, 
 or which brings the Prologue into disagreement with the Poem. 
 4. It is objected to the Prologue that it gives an explanation 
 of Job's calamities, while no such explanation is known in the 
 Poem, being alluded to neither in the divine speeches nor those 
 of any other speaker, nor yet even in the Epilogue ; and that 
 in fact the idea of an explanation of calamities such as Job's 
 is opposed to the whole drift of the divine speeches, which 
 teach that God's ways are inscrutable, and instead of offering 
 an explanation to man demand from him submission and faith. 
 It is evident that this objection hangs by a particula;- con- 
 ception of the idea or purpose of the Book. This idea is as- 
 sumed to be revealed in the speeches of the Almighty, for no 
 doubt the author puts into the mouth of the highest speaker 
 the ultimate truth; and this truth is considered to be that just 
 stated, namely, that God's ways are incomprehensible, and that 
 man must believe in His righteousness though he cannot per- 
 ceive it, and find refuge from his doubts in faith. But first, this 
 reading of the meaning of the divine speeches is certainly not 
 natural ; they have a broader purpose than to teach that God's 
 providence is inscrutable, or what does Job mean when he says,
 
 xxxiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 "Now mine eye seeth thee"? Does he mean that now he saw 
 Him to be wholly incomprehensible? Secondly, the fact that 
 in the Epilogue, which no one has ever doubted to come from 
 the same hand as the Prologue, no reference is made to the 
 cause of Job's calamities, is a warning against making much 
 of the silence of Job or the other speakers. How could they 
 refer to the cause of Job's sufferings of which they were entirely 
 ignorant, and when their ignorance was the very condition of 
 their disputing the question? The explanation of Job's calami- 
 ties is the secret of the author alone, and is the truth which he 
 erects on the ruins of the old theory of providence, which he 
 causes Job to demolish. And if Job's afflictions were a trial of 
 his righteousness, it belongs to the very idea of a trial that he 
 should be in perplexity why he is afflicted. And thirdly, it would 
 have been altogether unbecoming that God should enter upon 
 a discussion of His particular providences with Job, and con- 
 trary to His manner of teaching men, which is not to com- 
 municate immediate intellectual light to them, but to fill their 
 minds with such a sense of Himself that even amidst the dark- 
 ness they will take their right place before Him. The object of 
 the divine speeches is not primarily to teach, but to impress. 
 The panorama of creation brings before Job's mind so vividly 
 what God is that he feels he now "sees" Him, and the sight 
 leads him back to the position which he had been able to 
 maintain at the end of each of his first trials; or perhaps with 
 his higher knowledge of God and his deeper humility now 
 attained his position was securer than before. 
 
 5. It is objected to the Epilogue that it is in contradiction 
 with the Poem, because in crowning Job with a double pro- 
 sperity the author falls back into the old doctrine of retribution, 
 the falsehood of which is demonstrated in the Poem. 
 
 The author, however, does not desire to question the general 
 doctrine of retribution, but to shew that there are cases or 
 at least one case which it does not explain. He desires to add 
 another explanation of afflictions to those existing. 
 
 If the drama be the trial of the righteous, the author must 
 bring it to some conclusion. Job's faith projected a vindication
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxxv 
 
 for himself after death, but it was impossible for the author, 
 even if he had wished, to bring this to view. Such an idea as that 
 which we now possess of "heaven " did not exist in his day. In 
 the consummation of the Church's history, when God and His 
 people are in perfect fellowship, they are not translated into 
 heaven to be with God, God comes down to earth and abides 
 with men. The author had no stage for concluding his drama 
 on the "other side." The most that the efforts of pious spirits 
 had attained in his day was in occasional flights of faith to 
 pierce the darkness beyond this life, and assure themselves 
 that their life with God here should not be interrupted there. 
 But there was no such clearness of knowledge as to afford 
 room for a scene between God and the pious soul. Job pre- 
 sented such a scene to himself as a necessity, because he was 
 assured that he should die under his malady. The religious 
 truth contained in Job's anticipation the author causes to be 
 realized, though he does it on this side of death. 
 
 Moreover, though Job be an individual, he is more than an 
 individual. The national history reflects itself in his. And his 
 restoration, if it was to set forth that of the people, must be to 
 worldly prosperity. 
 
 2. The Passage cli. xxvii. 7 — ch. xxviii. 
 
 This passage has been the source of great perplexity to com- 
 mentators. The difficulties in connexion with it are two: first, to 
 reconcile the sentiments expressed by Job in these two chapters 
 with those expressed by him both before this passage and after it ; 
 and secondly, to discover any link of connexion between chaps, 
 xxvii. and xxviii. On the one hand, while no doubt the state of 
 Job's feeling towards God fluctuates, or rather gradually changes, 
 he consistently maintains throughout the same view of provi- 
 dence and the same opinion as to the issue of his own afflictions, 
 and to impute to him contradictory extravagances, or as one 
 writer says even " incoherences," on these two points is out of 
 the question. On the other hand, the reader is very averse to 
 entertain the idea of a later addition to the Book at this point ;
 
 xxxvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 any way of overcoming the difficulties that is possible is to be 
 preferred. 
 
 Inch, xxvii. ii scq. Job undertakes to teach his friends re- 
 garding the fate of the wicked what they had always affirmed ; 
 and in giving them this lesson he entirely retracts what he had 
 formerly said in regard to the prosperity of the wicked till their 
 death, and expresses himself in a way which implies that at the 
 moment he takes a view of his own sufferings different from the 
 view taken by him both before this chapter and after it. 
 
 Three solutions of the difficulty have been proposed : (i) It 
 has been thought that the speeches in this part of the book have 
 suffered some dislocation, and that the passage in ch. xxvii., now 
 attributed to Job, is really the missing third speech of Zophar. 
 (2) Others think that in this passage Job is not expressing his 
 own sentiments, but parodying or representing those of his friends, 
 — " Why are ye thus altogether vain, saying, This is the portion 
 of the wicked man with God" &c. (ch. xxvii. 12 scq.). (3) The 
 passage is a later insertion into the Book. 
 
 It may be confidently said that if the passage do not express 
 the proper sentiments of Job there is no alternative but to con- 
 sider it a later addition, from ch. xxvii. 7 onwards. For as to (i), 
 although the argument that the party addressed here is spoken 
 to in the plural whWc Job is always addressed in the singular^, 
 may not go for much, as the statenient is not quite exact (ch. 
 xviii. 2 — 3, XXXV. 4), the brevity of the speech put into Bildad's 
 mouth (ch. XXV.) shews that the author designed to indicate that 
 the arguments on the side of the friends were exhausted ; and 
 therefore another reply from Zophar is not to be expected. This 
 natural exhaustion of the controversy is what brings it to an end, 
 not any modification of his views by Job, without which it has 
 been said that it rnight have gone on forever-. The dispute on 
 the side of the friends comes to an end because they can find 
 nothing more to urge against Job — such at least Elihu under- 
 stands to be the state of the case (ch. xxxii. 5); and it comes to 
 
 ^ Kuenen, Ondcrzocl', in. 143. 
 
 * Umbreit, quoted with approval by Uclitzsch.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxxvii 
 
 t> 
 
 an end before Job makes the modification which he is under- 
 stood to make, for the place left vacant by the missing reply of 
 Zophar lies between chaps, xxvi. and xxvii. 
 
 Then as to (2). The assumption that Job is here reciting 
 the theories of his friends is supposed both to remove the diffi- 
 culty of the language ch. xxvii. 13 j-^^., and to afford a connexion 
 with ch. xxviii., which then attaches itself to the words, " I will 
 teach you concerning the hand of God " (ch. xxvii. 1 1-12). There 
 is nothing, however, in the passage to suggest that the senti- 
 ments are not those of the speaker himself. On the contrary, 
 when he undertakes to teach concerning the hand of God, it 
 cannot be doubted that the following verses contain the lesson, 
 namely, God's way of dealing with the wicked. If vv. 11-12 be 
 connected with ch. xxviii. the teaching must be sought in that 
 chapter. But there is really no teaching regarding the " hand" 
 of God in ch. xxviii., though much regarding the ingenuity of men. 
 The intermediate passage, ch. xxvii. 13 — 23, hides the incon- 
 gruity of this view; but if these verses be removed and ch. xxviii. 
 read in connexion with ch. xxvii. il — 12, what Job says to his 
 friends is this : " I will teach you regarding the hand of God ! 
 — It is simply incomprehensible" ! 
 
 In regard to (3) these remarks may suffice : — 
 
 1. Job's protestation of innocence, ch. xxvii. 2 — 6, is quite in 
 place, but the connexion between vv. 2 — 6 and v. 7 scq. appears 
 loose, and the change of tone in the two passages is difficult to 
 account for (see on ch. xxvii. 7). 
 
 2. The meaning suggested by vv. 7—10 is difficult to recon- 
 cile with the condition of Job at this stage of his history, or 
 with the view which he takes of the meaning of his afflictions, 
 and of the certain issue of them, both before and after the pre- 
 sent chapter (see on ch. xxvii. 10 — 12). 
 
 3. The supposition is made by most writers that in ch. xxvii. 1 3 
 seq. Job is modifying his former extravagant expressions regard- 
 ing the wicked, and conceding that as a rule they come to a dis- 
 astrous end at the hand of God. The limitation, however, " as a 
 rule " under which the passage has to be read is conveyed into it ; 
 the language is as absolute as that of Zophar or any of the three. 
 
 d 
 
 JOB
 
 xxxviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Besides, far too much is made of the extravagances of Job. He 
 has really nothing to retract except his unbecoming words in 
 regard to God (ch. xl. 3—5, xlii. i — 6). He never said anything 
 so absurd as that the wicked were always happy, it was enough 
 for his purpose to give instances of their happiness. His con- 
 tention from beginning to end, stated with perfect plainness, ch. 
 xxi. 22 scq., and ch. xxiv. i with the illustrations that follow, was 
 that in God's rule of the world no clear distinction was to 
 be observed between the lot of the righteous and that of the 
 wicked. And it is the undoubted purpose of the author to allow 
 Job successfully to maintain this contention. The consideration 
 urged so universally that Job, though here modifying his former 
 extreme statements about the felicity of the wicked, abates not 
 one jot of his own claim to rectitude, is rather beside the point. 
 It is not Job altogether but the author of Job with whom we 
 have to do. Job is merely his instrument, and he has used him 
 with the advance of the dispute to raise a much more general 
 question than that involved in his own case, namely, the ques- 
 tion of God's providence on the whole as it is observed in the 
 lot of men. Job's innocence is merely one key of the situation, 
 the prosperity of the wicked is the other; and it is highly impro- 
 bable that the author should allow Job to evacuate either of his 
 positions, for it is the maintenance of these very positions to 
 which he sets the seal of God's approval in the Epilogue (ch. 
 xlii. 7 scq}j. 
 
 Even assuming that Job should desire to modify his former 
 language in regard to the wicked, his modification is now more 
 
 exaggerated on the one side than his former statements were on 
 the other. He is to the full 
 
 as extreme in submission 
 As in offence. 
 
 Ewald puts in a caution against taking the words " too sla- 
 vishly." But this representation of Job as indulging first on one 
 side in extravagant language, which he retracts only to indulge 
 in language more extravagant on the opposite side, can scarcely 
 be true to the author's conception. In addition, the language
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxxix 
 
 of ch. xxvii. 13 seq. presents what might be called a psychologi- 
 cal difficulty. When describing the fate of the wicked at God's 
 hand, Job uses the same figures and even the same words as 
 he employs when speaking of his own destruction by God (see 
 on ch. xxvii. 21 seq.). There is something unlikely in this. 
 
 On the other hand, two things must be remembered : first, 
 there is nothing in the literary character of the passage which 
 suggests another speaker than Job ; and second, it was not the 
 author's design to deny the doctrine of the retributive righteous- 
 ness of God out and out, and he might have allowed Job to 
 modify his statements. 
 
 Ch. xxviii. suggests some points for reflexion, apart from its 
 loose connexion with ch. xxvii. 
 
 1. The Poet appears more conscious of his art here than the 
 author of the preceding chapters has hitherto shewn himself to 
 be, and we have a daintier piece of work from his hand than any 
 we have yet met with. Job's fierce moral earnestness, too, seems 
 to have deserted him ; he is diverted by the activities and inge- 
 nuities of mankind, while before he was fascinated by the over- 
 whelming thought of God, and spoke of man chiefly as God's 
 terrible power exhibited itself upon him (ch. ix., xii. and often). 
 
 2. The meaning of the speaker here can be no other than 
 that stated in the notes, namely that to understand the princi- 
 ples that rule in the world and the histories of men is beyond 
 the reach of man's mind. Man has his wisdom, which is to 
 fear the Lord; that Wisdom, which is comprehension of the 
 world, is beyond him. This is very unlike the spirit of Job. 
 He shews no such contentment in the face of the problems 
 of his history. He demands knowledge. He is a chained 
 eagle, who spreads his wings and dashes himself against the 
 bars of his cage; he would soar unto God's place and pluck the 
 mystery out of the darkness (ch. xxiii. 3). And, though with less 
 of passion, this continues to be his temper to the end (ch. xxxi. 
 35 seq.). That he should here acquiesce in the incomprehensi- 
 bility of God's way and a little further on again demand to 
 comprehend it is very strange. 
 
 3. Such a subdued and reflective frame of mind at this stage 
 
 d 2
 
 xl INTRODUCTION. 
 
 anticipates the effect produced by the manifestation of God and 
 His words on Job (ch. xxxviii. scq^j, and it is hardly to be 
 thought that the author would have allowed him to descend 
 from his previous agitation into such calm apart from the influ- 
 ence of the Almighty's interposition. Besides, the passage 
 seems to go beyond the teaching of the divine speeches, for 
 these hardly contain the formal doctrine of the inscrutableness 
 of God's ways, though they teach that submission to God is due 
 from men even when they cannot comprehend them. And there 
 is another point. The ironical tone of the divine speeches is un- 
 suitable if adopted towards one in the frame of the speaker in 
 this chapter. This tone is hard enough to understand in any case, 
 but it is doubly hard if assumed towards one who avows with 
 such devoutness his intellectual bankruptcy. 
 
 After all the efforts that have been made to relieve the diffi- 
 culties of these two chapters they still to a considerable extent 
 remain. 
 
 3. The Speeches of Elihit. 
 
 A brief review of these speeches is necessary in order to 
 imderstand the reasons that have been adduced for believing 
 that the passage does not belong to the original cast ot the 
 Book. There are three points that require to be looked at : (i) 
 the motive which Elihu has for speaking; (2) the position which 
 he takes towards the three friends and their doctrine ; and (3) 
 the position which he takes towards Job and his sentiments. 
 
 (i.) That which moves Elihu to speak and the purpose he 
 has in his discourses are described by the writer who introduces 
 him, and repeated by himself. The three friends left off speak- 
 ing because Job was right in his own eyes : they could not 
 move him from his assertion that God afflicted him wrongly. 
 Therefore the anger of Elihu was kindled against both Job and 
 his friends — against Job because he made himself in the right 
 at the expense of the rectitude of God ; and against the friends 
 because they had allowed themselves to be silenced, and had 
 failed to convict Job of the wrong of which he was guilty against 
 God. In other words, indignation at the position towards God
 
 INTRODUCTION. xli 
 
 which Job had assumed was what moved Elihu to speak, and of 
 course the purpose of his speech was to shew Job to be in the 
 wrong. His anger against the friends arose simply from their 
 faihng to do what they ought to have done. He was dis- 
 appointed in their arguments ; he had looked for something 
 better from their gray hairs. He does not appear to express 
 dissatisfaction with them on any other ground. Hence, after 
 giving vent to his indignation that "they found no answer to 
 condemn Job" (cli. xxxii. 3), that "there was no answer in the 
 mouth of these three men" (ch. xxxii. 5, 12), and his astonishment 
 that they had allowed themselves to be silenced by Job (ch. xxxii. 
 15), and after excusing himself for venturing to let his youthful 
 voice be heard among such venerable counsellors (ch. xxxii. 6 j^^.), 
 he no more alludes to them. His contention is with Job alone, 
 and his purpose is to justify God against his unbecoming 
 charges. 
 
 Elihu is of a very devout nature ; his reverence of God and 
 awe and fear before Him are very great. It is this feeling that 
 makes him come forward to meet the assertions of Job : he 
 "will ascribe right to his Maker" (ch. xxxvi. 3). The irreverence 
 of Job shocks him ; the hardihood with which he confronts the 
 Almighty marks him out to his mind as the most godless of 
 men — "who is a man like Job, drinking in scorning like water" ? 
 (ch. xxxiv. 5 — 7). This feeling is not strange, for undoubtedly 
 the speeches of Job exceed in boldness almost anything that 
 has ever been written (ch. vii., ix — x). To judge Job fairly, it is 
 true, his other expressions of ineradicable faith in God must be 
 taken into account. But these being allowed their due weight, 
 his language still remains an offence to reverent feeling. How 
 much it does so in our own day may be inferred from the painful 
 assiduity with which it is toned down in modern commentaries. 
 This reverent sensitiveness in regard to God constitutes the 
 chief charm of Elihu's speeches, and the Book would be de- 
 cidedly poorer for the want of them. At the same time the 
 contrast between it and the spirit of Job's speeches, in which 
 the human conscience asserts its equality with God or even its 
 .superiority over Him, may suggest a doubt whether both concep-
 
 xlii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tions be the creation of the same author. It is in this spirit of 
 reverence that Elihu addresses himself to the refutation of Job's 
 charges. Hence he usually meets them first by an appeal to that 
 which is "becoming" God, to the common reverent thoughts of 
 Him inherent in the human mind. To Job's assertion that God 
 displayed an arbitrary hostility to him, he replies, "Nay, God is 
 greater than man"; "God is great and despiseth not any" 
 (ch. xxxiii. 12 ; xxxvi. 5, cf. xxxvi. 24 — 25,xxxvii. 24). But his whole 
 contention with Job is in defence of God's righteousness against 
 his imputations. Having this great general object before him, 
 Elihu does not enter much into Job's circumstances. He makes 
 a general question out of Job's complaints, which he argues on 
 general considerations. This is particularly the case in his first 
 three speeches (see the headings to ch. xxxiii. xxxiv. xxxv.) ; it 
 is only in the last that his argument assumes a more directly 
 practical tone. 
 
 (2.) So far as Elihu's relation to the three friends is concerned, 
 it is not easy to find any great difference between his concep- 
 tions and theirs, or almost any difference whatever in principle; 
 and when his sharp censure of the friends is considered this 
 apparent agreement with them in principle suggests the question 
 whether his speeches have yet been clearly understood. Per- 
 haps the explanation may be that to the ancient mind different 
 details, which we should refer to one principle, may have seemed 
 as large and distinct as different principles now do to us. i. 
 Elihu agrees with the three comforters, in opposition to the 
 Prologue and Epilogue, in referring all suffering or affliction to 
 sin. He quotes Job's claims to innocence with marks of ad- 
 miration (ch. xxxiii. 9, 10), and says that "he adds rebellion to 
 his sin," for which he was afflicted (ch. xxxiv. 37). Any sufferings 
 not having reference to sin he does not recognise. God afflicts, 
 and if in the midst of affliction there be an angel to shew man 
 "what is right," then He is gracious and says, "save from going 
 down to the pit," and the ransomed sinner sings before men and 
 says, I sinned and perverted right (ch. xxxiii. 23 — 27). Again, 
 in another passage on affliction, it is said that God "shevveth 
 imto them their (evil) deed, and their transgressions, that they
 
 INTRODUCTION. xliii 
 
 deal proud/y" (ch. xxxvi. 9). 2. Elihu agrees with the friends 
 further in insisting on the rectitude of God, and on the principle 
 that His dealings with men everywhere illustrate it : "Far be it 
 from God that He should do wickedness,/(3r //z^ work of a man 
 shall He render unto him, and cause every one to find according 
 to his ways'' (ch. xxxiv. jo, ii). And if the prayer of the righteous 
 be not answered it is because sin impairs its effect: "None 
 saith, Where is God my Maker" ! "Surely God heareth not 
 vanity" (ch. xxxv. 10—13). And again: "He preserveth not the 
 life of the wicked, but giveth his right to the poor" (ch. xxxvi. 6). 
 Though Elihu be in these passages defending the rectitude of 
 God in general, he nowhere gives any intimation that he con- 
 siders affliction employed by God except in connexion with sin. 
 3. Elihu is certainly also at one with the friends in his judgment 
 on Job. Though in the main directing his attention to Job's 
 demeanour under his trials, he goes behind these when he says 
 that Job adds rebellion to his sin (ch. xxxiv. y]), and when he 
 represents God's chastisements as meant to allure him out of 
 the jaws of distress (ch. xxxvi. 16). He no doubt drew Job's 
 afflictions, for he must have explained them in some way, under 
 his general principle, enunciated in his last speech, "if men are 
 bound in the cords of affliction He sheweth unto them their 
 deed and their transgressions, that they deal proudly" (ch. xxxvi. 
 9). And he is equally in agreement with the friends in regard 
 to the issue of afflictions, which depends upon the sufferer's 
 behaviour under them : " If they hear, they spend their days in 
 prosperity; if they hear not, they perish by the sword" (ch. 
 xxxvi. 8 — 12). 4. Finally, Elihu is in agreement with the friends 
 in regarding afflictions as chastisement, inflicted with the 
 gracious design of weaning the sufferer from his evil (ch. iv. v.). 
 This is the great purpose of God when speaking to men by or 
 in afflictions : "Lo, all these things workethGod oftentimes with 
 man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with 
 the light of life" (ch. xxxiii. 29, 30 ; cf v. 19 seq). If men are 
 bound in the cords of affliction, God is shewing them their 
 transgressions, a7id commanding them that they return from 
 iniquity (ch. xxxvi. 8—10). And this is the meaning of Job's
 
 xliv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 distresses (ch. xxxvi. i6 seq.) and of God's purpose in thcni — 
 "Who is a teacher hkc Him"? (ch. xxxvi. 20 — 22). 
 
 It is at this last point that whatever difference exists be- 
 tween the views of Ehhu and those of the three friends bej,nns 
 to appear. The difference does not amount to much, and is apt 
 to be exaggerated. Ehhu in propounding his views has not the 
 friends but Job present to his mind, and his theory of suffering 
 is intended to be set in contrast with what he conceives to be 
 the tenets of Job. The latter had complained that God per- 
 secuted him and counted him as His enemy (ch. xix. 11, 22) ; 
 that He tore him in His anger (ch. xvi. 9), and had resolved 
 upon his death (ch. xxiii. 14, xxx. 23) ; in other words he regarded 
 his afflictions as the expression of the divine wrath and meant 
 for his destruction. The theory of Elihu meets this view directly 
 in the face : affliction is the expression of the divine goodness, 
 designed to save man's soul from the pit (ch. xxxiii. 29 seq.), 
 into which but for God's gracious interposition his sins would 
 have cast him. This, however, though in distinct opposition to 
 Job's contention, is virtually what the friends had always main- 
 tained. Their exhortations to Job all proceeded on the sup- 
 position that God was shewing His mercy towards him, and 
 smiling only in order to heal. It is true that the friends, more 
 and more convinced of Job's sins by his hardened demeanour 
 under his afflictions, tend to drift away from this position, and 
 begin to express the fear that God's final judgment on him may 
 be visible in his calamities ; yet they do not altogether desert their 
 first ground, to which Eliphaz returns in his last speech (ch. xxii.). 
 It is possible, however, that in one or two points EUhu makes 
 an advance on the doctrine of the three. They appear to regard 
 afflictions as always following sins committed, while he perhaps 
 regards them as sometimes divine warnings to men against sins 
 into which they are in danger of falling. In the one case suffering 
 would be exclusively curative, in the other it might be pre- 
 ventive. This would certainly widen the idea of the friends by 
 multiplying the points in the sinner's life at which the divine 
 interposition through affliction might fall. The passage,. ch. xxxiii. 
 17, may express this idea: "that he may withdraw man from
 
 INTRODUCTION. xlv 
 
 his deed, and hide pride from man"— the deed being only 
 meditated or in danger of being perpetrated. The words, how- 
 ever, might bear the sense, "that man may put away a deed" ; 
 and in all the other passages where Elihu's view is stated, the 
 evil against which the sinner is warned by God appears to be 
 already at least begun. The term "pride" might suggest to the 
 reader that Elihu has a more inward conception of evil than the 
 three friends, that while they speak of "sins" he refers to "sin- 
 fulness" of heart, and spiritual self-confidence and presumption. 
 There may be something in this, but when Old Testament phrase- 
 ology is considered there is less than might be supposed. " Pride, 
 in the Old Testament, stands as the distinctive characteristic of 
 ungodliness, in opposition to humility, the distinctive trait of 
 true piety, nor is there anything to shew that it is used otherwise 
 here (ch. xxxiii. 17). To 'deal proudly' (ch. xxxvi. 9) is to 
 manifest in daring acts of rebellion against God the inward 
 spirit of resistance to His will, a very different thing from a vain 
 conceit of perfect conformity to it"i. In all this, therefore, 
 Elihu occupies in principle the same ground with the friends, 
 and his views may be regarded as the legitimate expansion of 
 theirs. 
 
 In another point Elihu may differ from Job's friends. His 
 great principle that afflictions are the expression of God's good- 
 ness seems to be a universal theory of providence, embracing 
 the incidence of evil both on the righteous and the wicked. 
 This idea may be closely connected with his profoundly reve- 
 rential and devout conceptions of God. The point is not very 
 clear, but he does not anywhere refer to afflictions which are 
 strictly penal and intended to destroy ; they become destructive 
 only when the sinner "lays up wrath," that is, rebels against 
 them. The three friends, while taking this view of the afflictions 
 of the righteous (ch. iv — v), insist upon a kind of calamity which 
 in its first purpose is penal and judicial. 
 
 (3.) It has been seen that Elihu agreed with the other speakers 
 in explaining Job's sufferings by his sins (ch. xxxiv. 7, 8, 36, 
 
 ^ Conant, Job, Introd. p. xxvi.
 
 xlvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 27). In his reply to Job there are two things to be noticed, his 
 arguments in behalf of the divine rectitude, and his positive 
 explanation of the sufferings that befall men. The former are 
 given chiefly in ch. xxxiv. — xxxv ; and the latter in ch. xxxiii., 
 xxxvi. (see the headings to these chapters). His explanation of 
 afflictions, as stated above, is to the effect, that they are the 
 expression of the divine goodness, designed to warn men from 
 their sin and save them from death. Along with this principle 
 has to be taken the very interesting passage in ch. xxxv., in 
 which an answer is given to the difficulty that the righteous 
 often cry to God in vain. The answer is, that sin in them or in 
 their supplication impairs its efficacy, and there is none that 
 answereth. If now the two questions be put, Is this theory of 
 affliction and of unanswered prayer a theory that will admit of 
 universal application and comprehend every particular? and. Is 
 there anything in what Elihu advances that ought to bring Job 
 to silence or compose the troubles of his heart.'' an affirmative 
 answer can hardly be given. The sinfulness of man is such 
 that in a multitude or in the majority of cases afQictions may 
 be supposed due to it, but the Prologue teaches that the con- 
 nexion is not invariable. In a multitude of instances prayer 
 maybe unanswered because the suppliant prays amiss. But to 
 say that this is always the case is extremely harsh, and is to 
 measure providence by a very narrow gauge. The arguments 
 of Elihu just like those of the three friends are general principles 
 of wide application ; they are considerations which if a man 
 would, weigh them and apply them /<? liiiiisclf would perhaps 
 prevent such complaints as those into which Job fell. But 
 when put forth, as they are here, as an all-sufficient measure 
 of God's providence, they are obviously defective. Again, 
 although the prominence given by Elihu to the goodness of 
 God when He afflicts might have given another turn to Job's 
 thoughts, there is no reason why he should have acquiesced in 
 Elihu's view more than in that of the friends. For both views 
 agreed in connecting his sufferings with his sin, and Job in- 
 stinctively felt that he was not afflicted for his sin. If Elihu 
 differs from the friends in considering affliction an instance of
 
 INTRODUCTION. xlvii 
 
 preventing grace, while they regarded it as a medicine intended 
 to cure, the difference is not essential. There was no reason to 
 suppose that Job meditated evil or was in danger of falling into 
 it more than to suppose that he was already guilty of it. He 
 would have resented the one insinuation as equally unjust with 
 the other. 
 
 The arguments that have been used to shew that the episode 
 of Elihu did not form part of the original Poem are chiefly the 
 following : 
 
 1. That Elihu is unknown both to the Prologue and 
 Epilogue. 
 
 2. That Job makes no reply to him. 
 
 3. That he addresses Job by name, and that his citations 
 from the Book are so minute as to betray a reader of the Poem 
 rather than a listener to the debate. 
 
 4. That his speeches destroy the connexion between the 
 challenge of Job and the reply of the Almighty, and weaken the 
 dramatic effect of the divine manifestation. 
 
 5. That the language of the piece betrays signs of de- 
 terioration, marking a later age ; and that both Elihu and his 
 speeches are characterized by a mannerism too great to be the 
 creation of the author of the rest of the Poem. . 
 
 6. That Elihu virtually occupies the same ground with the 
 friends, and there is no probability that the original author 
 would have created a fourth speaker to say in effect what the 
 three had already saic'. And further that where Elihu differs 
 from the friends it is rather in deeper reverence and a some- 
 what more advanced view of sin, both things betraying a later 
 age, and suggesting that the original Book perplexed pious 
 minds by its extraordinary boldness. 
 
 Some of these arguments have little weight, while others are 
 of considerable force. 
 
 I. The argument that Elihu does not appear in the Pro- 
 logue has little value. The author introduces the speaker with 
 ample details when he has need of him, and certainly at the 
 right place. He was not one of Job's friends, calling for mention 
 along with them, but a bystander. On the other hand, it is
 
 xlviii INTRODUCTION 
 
 remarkable that his name does not appear in the Epilogue. It 
 is urged that there was nothing in his discourses caUing for 
 mention : he did not discover the truth, and could not therefore 
 be praised ; but his views being just so far as they went, he 
 could not be included in the censure pronounced upon the 
 three friends. The answer is not quite satisfactory, for on 
 that point in regard to which the friends are condemned 
 for not speaking "that which was right" Elihu shared their 
 opinions. 
 
 2. The author of the speeches of Elihu certainly means them 
 to be such an answer to Job that he cannot reply to them 
 (ch. xxxiii. 32, xxxiv. 35, xxxv. 1 6, xxxvi. 4). The question is, 
 Would the author of the rest of the Poem have regarded them 
 as a conclusive answer to Job? This question, however, runs 
 into objection 6. 
 
 3. There is not much weight in the argument that Elihu 
 addresses Job by name, though the name of "Job " is certainly so 
 often in his mouth as to constitute a peculiarity of his manner 
 (ch. xxxiii. I, 31, xxxiv. 5, 7, 35, 36. &c.). Elihu interposes as 
 a third party and addresses Job or speaks of him in distinction 
 from the three friends. The other speakers do not do so, for 
 they have not the same reason ; and although the Lord does not 
 appeal to Job by name in addressing him from the storm, He 
 speaks of "my servant Job" when He has to distinguish him 
 from the three friends (ch. xlii. 7, 8). On the other hand, the 
 full and verbatim reproduction of Job's words at the head of the 
 several speeches of Elihu does suggest that he was the reader of 
 a book rather than the listener to a debate, though the argu- 
 ment does not amount to much. 
 
 4. The words of the Lord, "Who then is obscuring counsel 
 by words without knowledge?" addressed to Job without naming 
 him, naturally suggest that Job had just been speaking, or that 
 the divine voice broke in upon him before he had ceased ; they 
 are not natural if Job had been long silent, while another speaker 
 had been proceeding with a discourse extending through six 
 chapters. The feeling has been expressed by some thoughtful 
 writers that it would not have been becoming for the Lord to
 
 INTRODUCTION. xHx 
 
 reply to Job's challenge without the intervention of some pause. 
 This observation may be perfectly just, but it does not meet the 
 point of the objection, which is that the words of the Almighty 
 suggest that the connexion between His reply and Job's challenge 
 was immediate. And perhaps if the author allowed Jehovah to 
 reply to Job in any manner, he might not have been sensible of 
 any incongruity in His replying immediately. 
 
 5. The body of the Poem, though undoubtedly exhibiting 
 some Aramaisms, is comparatively pure in language and lucid 
 in expression, notwithstanding the obscurity of a few passages, 
 in some of which the text may probably be corrupt. The style 
 is terse, nervous and pointed, and hardly anywhere marked by 
 such breadth as to be enfeebled or become prolix. The speeches 
 of Elihu are marked by a deeper colouring of Aramaic ; are 
 frequently very obscure ; and not seldom descend almost to the 
 level of prose. The touches of the author's hand in the other 
 parts of the Poem, particularly in the divine speeches, are easy, 
 vigorous and graphic ; in the speeches of Elihu the figures are 
 laboured and the thought strained. Renan says, not without 
 truth, that " in the other parts of the Poem the obscurity arises 
 from our own ignorance; here it arises from the style itself"^, 
 though his further remark, that we might almost believe that 
 Elihu's speeches belong to a time when Hebrew had become a 
 dead language, goes rather far. The difficulties of other parts 
 of the Poem arise from the occurrence of words which, owing 
 probably to the small compass of the literature, are not found 
 again, and from allusions which we have not the means of 
 understanding, such as the astronomical references in the 
 speeches from the storm, though it must be confessed that some 
 parts of ch. xxx. are obscure for other reasons. In Elihu's 
 speeches there are not only unknown words, there is an un- 
 known use of known words, as well as a manner of joining 
 familiar words together to form phrases which have no parallel 
 — in short, the author speaks a language which in some parts 
 is not quite that of any other Old Testament writer. 
 
 ^ Le Livre de Job, j&tude, p. 54.
 
 1 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The deeper Aramaean colour has been supposed intentional 
 on the part of the author, who makes Ehhu, "of the family of 
 Ram," speak a more decidedly Aramcean dialect than the 
 others. It is not certain, however, that Ram is the same as 
 Aram ; and even if it were so, it is to ascribe to the author a pro- 
 ficiency in the dramatic art scarcely probable in his age, to 
 imagine that he makes Elihu talk Aramaean as Shakespeare 
 makes Captain Jamy talk something supposed to be Scotch. If 
 this were the case, however, the older dramatist would appear 
 to have the advantage of the modern one. 
 
 The circumstantial way in which Elihu is introduced (ch. 
 xxxii. 2) is unlike the curt and general statements regarding the 
 other three speakers (ch. ii. 11), and his somewhat self-con- 
 fident and boisterous manner of comporting himself differs 
 greatly from the bearing of Job's other antagonists. This dis- 
 similarity is so great as to suggest that Elihu is the creation of 
 a writer of less severe taste and feebler dramatic power than the 
 author of the other characters manifests. Some of those, indeed, 
 who consider Elihu the creation of the original author suppose 
 that he intended the character for a burlesque. But this is alto- 
 gether improbable. When we consider the devout nature of 
 Elihu, the purpose which he sets before him in his speeches, 
 "to ascribe right to his Maker," and the many lofty thoughts to 
 which he gives expression in regard to God, it is impossible to 
 believe that the original Poet, unparalleled for religious bold- 
 ness though he be, would have set such a character upon the 
 stage to play a burlesque part and provoke ridicule. This would 
 have been to mock religion, when his design went no further 
 than to shew the insufficiency of certain religious opinions 
 current among men. The conclusion to which these objections 
 have led the majority of modern writers on the Book is, that 
 the author of the Elihu speeches was one who was not endowed 
 with the brilliant powers of the writer who composed the body 
 of the Poem, or, to use the more appropriate language of 
 Delitzsch, that he was "one whose charisma did not come up to 
 that of the older poet." 
 
 6. If the analysis given above of the general meaning of
 
 INTRODUCTION. li 
 
 Elihu's speeches be moderately correct, this objection has con- 
 siderable force. It is natural to suppose that in the three 
 speakers whom he introduces, whether the number three be his 
 own creation or came down to him in the tradition, the author 
 found sufficient means for expressing all that he desired to 
 bring forward on the side opposed to Job. It may be said 
 that the three friends all advance one and the same opinion. 
 This would only shew that this opinion was what the author 
 intended to set forth in its most persuasive form, with the view 
 of proving that even when presented to the best advantage 
 it could not be sustained. At all events, a fourth speaker 
 would be introduced only if he were to occupy ground entirely 
 distinct from the other three. And it cannot be said that Elihu 
 does so. See above, p. xlvi. 
 
 Some positive arguments have been presented in favour of 
 the originality of the speeches of Elihu. It is argued, for in- 
 stance, that the close and natural connexion between the last 
 speech of Elihu and the answer of the Lord from the storm 
 appears in this, that the rising thunder-cloud which Elihu 
 graphically describes, and at the sound from which his heart 
 leaps up out of its place, is just the storm out of which Jehovah 
 speaks. If this were the case it might merely indicate that the 
 later writer skilfully took advantage of the elements of the 
 original poem to make a frame to set his own piece within. It is 
 not certain, however, that Elihu in referring to the storm, has 
 any thought of the storm out of which Jehovah speaks. If he 
 had he ought to have closed his speech with the description of 
 it, but instead of doing this he passes away from it to other 
 celestial marvels, such as the balancing of the cloud, the sultry 
 stillness of the earth from the south wind, the burnished summer 
 sky like a molten mirror, and the dazzling light in the clear 
 heavens (ch. xxxvii. i6 seq?). 
 
 What is really the greatest difficulty in the way of considering 
 these speeches a later insertion is just one of the facts which 
 has been adduced to shew that they are an insertion, namely 
 the opposition between them and the Prologue. If Elihu spoke 
 like the three friends in ignorance of the Prologue and the cause
 
 lii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of Job's calamities which it reveals, his position is natural. 
 But if he was a reader of the Book, the way in which he com- 
 pletely ignores the Prologue with its view of affliction and 
 substitutes a theory radically different is extraordinary. In such 
 a case his censure would extend to the whole cast of the Book^ 
 The motive of this censure might be twofold, namely, partly 
 his profound conviction of the sinfulness and presumption of 
 the human mind (too well illustrated in Job's demeanour under 
 his afflictions), which made him dislike the conception of a 
 perfectly "righteous" man presented in the Book; and partly 
 his exalted idea of the goodness of God, which could not 
 reconcile itself to the view that God might afflict a man merely 
 to try his righteousness, and though He found no sinfulness 
 in him. 
 
 The question certainly occurs to any reader of the Poem 
 whether Job's afflictions did not stand in some relation to his 
 religious state. The Book itself suggests the question. When 
 Job is represented as falling into sin, when he attains to a higher 
 knowledge of God and a deeper humility, and when he is 
 crowned with blessings twofold greater than he enjoyed before, 
 all through his afflictions or in connexion with them, we can 
 perceive that they served wider purposes than merely to try. 
 The trials of the righteous are not mere barren experiments 
 made on them by God for His own satisfaction, or that He may 
 derive glory from their stedfastness to Him to the confusion of 
 the powers of Evil, they are fruitful of good to the minds 
 of those who are tried (Rom. v. 3 scq., Jam. i. 2, 12). At the 
 same time this view has not received much elaboration from the 
 author of the Book, and, though it be the view to which our 
 minds most readily turn, wc must beware, when constructing 
 a theory of the Book, of giving it greater prominence than the 
 author has assigned it, and especially of allowing it to push his 
 idea that Job's afflictions were a trial altogether out of sight. 
 
 ^ This is felt by Delitzsch, who characterizes his speeches as "less a 
 criticism of Job than of the Book in general." Art. "Hiob," in 
 Ilerzog.
 
 INTRODUCTION. liii 
 
 4. The Speeches of the Almighty. 
 
 Objection has been taken to these speeches as a whole, and 
 particularly to the long passage which describes Behemoth and 
 Leviathan. 
 
 The passage referred to may raise some suspicions, but it 
 may be said with certainty that the divine speeches belong to 
 the original form of the Book, and that they come from the hand 
 of the author of the Prologue. In fact, if we could obliterate from 
 our minds the dialectical conflict between Job and his friends, 
 and carry with us nothing but the general impression that under 
 his prolonged sufferings Job had been betrayed into sinful 
 murmuring against God and doubts of His righteousness and 
 impatient demands to know the cause of his afflictions, we 
 should be in the best position to understand the divine speeches, 
 which would then follow the Prologue at an interval occupied by 
 the impression produced on us by Job's altered demeanour. 
 At the end of his first trial the author says, "In all this Job 
 sinned not nor imputed wrong to God" (ch. i. 21). At the end 
 of the second trial Job says, " We receive good at the hand of 
 God, and shall we not receive evil?" (ch. ii. 10), and the author 
 adds, " In all this Job sinned not with his lips." Job's reverent 
 thought of God was such that amidst his complete darkness he 
 let no murmur against Him escape his lips. This is what the 
 author demands of men in the name of religion. This is the 
 idea of true religion suggested by the suspicion of the Satan, 
 namely, that men should cleave to God, from their sense of what 
 God Himself is, though receiving nothing from His hand. As 
 another sufferer expresses himself in circumstances similar to 
 those of Job, " Nevertheless I am continually with thee. Whom 
 have I in heaven ? and on earth I desire nought beside 
 thee" (Ps. bcxiii. 23 — 25). The following chapters e.xhibit Job 
 drifting away from this position maintained on the first inci- 
 dence of his calamities, wrestling with doubts of God's righte- 
 ousness, and ready to disown Him, though ever coming back to 
 JOB e
 
 liv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Him, and assured that His righteousness will yet reveal itself. 
 It is the object of the divine speeches to bring Job back to that 
 position which he was able to occupy at the beginning. Obvi- 
 ously, according to the author's view of religion, this could be 
 effected by nothing but a revelation of God, filling Job's mind 
 with such a sense of Him that he should quiet his heart before 
 Him, even amidst the intellectual darkness that remained 
 around him. Such a revelation of God is given in the divine 
 speeches: " Now mine eye secth thee ! " 
 
 The objections that have been made to the long passage ch. 
 xl. 15 — xli. 34, describing Behemoth and Leviathan, are briefly 
 such as these : that the description of these animals would have 
 been in place in the first divine speech beside the other animal 
 pictures, but is out of harmony with the idea of the second 
 speech ; that the description swells the second speech to a 
 length unsuitable to its object, which is fully expressed in ch. 
 xl. 6 — 14 ; and that the minuteness and heaviness of the repre- 
 sentation betray a very different hand from that which drew 
 the powerful sketches in ch. xxxviii., xxxix. 
 
 The last-mentioned point is not without force. The rapid, 
 light and expressive lines of the former pictures make them 
 without parallel for beauty and power in literature ; the two 
 latter belong to an entirely different class. They are typical 
 specimens of Oriental poems, as any one who has read an 
 Arab poet's description of his camel or horse will feel. These 
 poets do not paint a picture of the object for the eye, they schedule 
 an inventory of its parts and properties. So the poet of Levia- 
 than says, "I will not be silent concerning his parts" (ch. xli. 
 12). There is a certain awkwardness in these words, coming 
 from the mouth of the divine speaker, which has led some 
 scholars to miss here the artistic power and dexterity of the 
 former poet. Other writers, however, are at a loss to find 
 language to express their admiration of the beauty and poetical 
 grace of these descriptions. The maxim, De gustibus, absolves 
 from the obligation of arguing the point.
 
 INTRODUCTION. Iv 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Age and Authorship of Job. 
 
 As there is nothing in the Book which fixes its date at once 
 with certainty, a great variety of opinion has prevailed upon the 
 question. There is almost no age of the world, from the 
 patriarchal times down to the period after the Captivity, to 
 which the Book has not been assigned. The juster concep- 
 tions, however, which now prevail regarding the history of 
 Israel and the advancement in the ideas of the people, occasion- 
 ed in part by the progress of this history and accompanying it, 
 have considerably narrowed the limits within which such a work 
 can reasonably be supposed to have appeared. And a more 
 careful examination of the allusions which, in spite of the 
 antique and patriarchal colour thrown over the Book, may be 
 detected in it to the circumstances and events of later times, 
 has still further reduced the range of plausible conjecture. 
 The Book can hardly have been written before the decline and 
 fall of the northern kingdom, nor later than the return of the 
 exiles of Judah from Babylon. 
 
 The question of the age of the Book must not be confounded 
 with that of the age of Job himself. Job is represented as living 
 in the patriarchal times. The author has skilfully thrown the 
 colours of this age over his composition and preserved its 
 general features. Thus, though employing the Israelitish name 
 Jehovah himself, he allows the speakers in the Book to use the 
 divine names peculiar to patriarchal times, as El, Eldah (Arab. 
 iidh, God), Almighty. No doubt he betrays his own nationality, 
 which he has no desire to conceal, by letting the name Jehovah 
 escape two or three times from the mouth of Job, in current 
 
 e 2
 
 Ivl INTRODUCTION. 
 
 formulas into which the name entered (ch. i. 21, xii. 9; cf. xxviii. 
 28). Again, like the great forefathers of Israel, Job is re- 
 presented as rich in cattle and flocks (ch. i. 3, xlii. 12, comp. 
 Gen. xii. 16, xxiv. 35, xxvi. 13, xxx. 43). In like manner Job, 
 the head of the family, is also its priest and offers sacrifice (ch. 
 i. 5, xlii. 8; comp. Gen. xxii. 13, xxxi. 54), although in another 
 place he is made to say of God that "He leadeth priests away 
 stripped" (ch. xii. 19). Further, the sacrifice in use is the 
 "burnt-ofifering", as in ancient times, before the more developed 
 ritual in Israel came into operation. The great age, too, to 
 which Job attains is patriarchal (ch. xlii. 16; comp. Gen. xxv. 7, 
 XXXV. 28), though Bildad speaks as if the age of men of his day 
 was greatly reduced in comparison with former standards (ch. 
 viii. 8). The money referred to is the ancient kesitah (ch. xlii. 
 II; comp. Gen. xxxiii. 19, Josh. xxiv. 32); and the musical 
 instruments named are the simple ones of primitive times (ch. 
 xxi. 12, xxx. 31 ; comp. Gen. iv. 21, xxxi. 27). And, to mention 
 no more, historical allusions of any directness are usually to 
 the great events of the patriarchal world (ch. xviii. 15, xxii. 15 
 
 Nevertheless, the features of the author's own time may often 
 be perceived beneath this patriarchal disguise. Job betrays 
 familiarity with the Law, or at least with the social customs and 
 moral ideas of Israel. When he refers in his speeches to 
 pledges (ch. xxiv. 9, see on xxii. 6), and to landmarks (ch. xxiv. 
 2; comp. Deut. xix. 14, xxvii. 17, Hos. v. 10, Prov. xxii. 28, xxiii. 
 10) ; or when he alludes to judicial procedure against those 
 guilty of special forms of idolatry, such as adoration of the sun 
 and moon (ch. xxxi. 26, comp. Deut. iv. 19, xvii. 3 — 7, Ezek. viii. 
 16), or against those guilty of adultery (ch. xxxi. 9, comp. Deut. 
 xxii. 22), the voice is the voice of a godly child of Israel 
 although the hands may be those of a son of Edom. The 
 allusions to judicial practices found only as legal enact- 
 ments in Deuteronomy are remarkable. There is even verbal 
 coincidence in the two passages, ch. xxxi. 26 and Deut. iv. 19 ; 
 and those who consider Deuteronomy a late book might feel 
 justified in fixing the eighteenth year of Josiah (620) as the
 
 INTRODUCTION. Ivii 
 
 point above which the composition of Job cannot be carriecU. 
 At all events there is abundant evidence to shew that the age 
 assigned to Job and the age of the author of the Book lie widely 
 apart. The statements of Renan that "not one allusion is made 
 to Mosaic customs, nor to beliefs peculiar to the Jews," that 
 " the atmosphere of the Book is not more specially Hebrew 
 than Idumean or Ishmaelite," and that "in a very real sense 
 these precious pages have transmitted to us an echo of the 
 ancient wisdom of Teman-", are exaggerations and part of the 
 romance with which this brilliant writer delights to invest the 
 sacred subjects which he treats. The author of Job is a true 
 Israelite, and betrays himself to be so at every turn, however 
 wide his sympathies be with the life of other peoples, and how- 
 ever great his power of reanimating the past. The idea that 
 the Poem is a production of the Desert, written in another 
 tongue and translated into Hebrew, is more than destitute of a 
 shadow of probability, it is absurd. The Book is the genuine 
 outcome of the religious life and thought of Israel, the product 
 of a religious knowledge and experience possible among no 
 other people. 
 
 The date of such a Book as Job, which deals only with re- 
 ligious ideas and general questions of providence, and contains 
 no direct allusions to the events of history, can be fixed only 
 approximately. Any conclusion on the subject can be reached 
 only by an induction founded on matters that do not afford 
 perfect certainty, such as the comparative development of 
 certain moral ideas in different ages; the pressing claims of 
 certain problems for solution at particular epochs of the history 
 of the people ; points of contact which the Book may offer with 
 other writings the age of which may with more certainty be 
 determined; and indirect allusions which may betray a con- 
 dition of the national life known to be that of a particular 
 period of its history. These are all lines of reasoning more or 
 
 1 Comp. Job ii. 7 with Deut. xxviii. 35 ; v. 14 with xxviii. 29; v. 18 
 with xxxii. 39 ; vii. 4 with xxviii. 67 ; viii. 8 with iv. 32 ; xx. 4 with 
 iv. 32. 
 
 ^ Le Livre de Job, Etude, p. 10, 27.
 
 Iviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 less precarious. Only when several of them unite in pointing 
 to the same result can we feel much confidence in its justness. 
 The comparison of passages in different books is apt to be 
 rather barren of fruit. There is such a general unity of thought 
 and language pervading the books of Scripture that similar ex- 
 pressions or even identical phraseology in two writers cannot in 
 all cases be held evidence of literary dependence. The writers 
 of Scripture are for the most part men of the people and speak 
 the popular language, and the same phrase in several books 
 may be original in them all. And even when we cannot escape 
 the conviction that there is dependence, it is usually very dif- 
 ficult to decide which is the original and which the imitator. 
 The argument, on the other hand, founded on the connexion of 
 the thought and literature of Israel with the successive develop- 
 ments of its history, though still a delicate one, is more solid. 
 The mind of the people was intensely national, and the spirit of 
 its literature is for the most part national rather than individual. 
 This is no doubt less true of the poetry and the wisdom. But 
 the truth holds even of a very great part of the poetry, it 
 reflects the consciousness of the nation ; and it holds of the 
 wisdom to this extent, that the vicissitudes of the people's 
 history suggested the successive aspects under which the 
 questions reflected on by the Wise presented themselves to 
 their minds. 
 
 The opinion expressed in the Talmud, and followed by some 
 writers, that Moses was the author of Job is unworthy of any 
 attention. The thin antique colour of the Book suggested to 
 uncritical minds that it was an ancient composition, and such 
 minds, impatient of uncertainty, everywhere seek to satisfy them- 
 selves byascribinganygrcat anonymous work to some well-known 
 name. But the conjecture is more than improbable. It is the 
 part of the founder of a constitution like Moses to project prin- 
 ciples and ideas which are of general truth, and to sketch an 
 outline which succeeding ages may be left to fill up ; it is 
 scarcely his part to subject the general principles upon which 
 his constitution is founded to questionings which would under- 
 mine them, or to introduce alongside of them the modifications
 
 INTRODUCTION. lix 
 
 which future generations or society in altered conditions may 
 find needful to make on them. Neither the author of the Law 
 which describes God as " visiting the iniquity of the fathers 
 upon the children unto the third and fourth generation " (Ex. 
 XX. 5), nor any of his contemporaries was likely to have written 
 the words of Job (ch. xxi. 19), 
 
 God (say ye) layeth up his iniquity for his children. — 
 Let Him recompense it unto himself that he may know it ; 
 Let his own eyes see his destruction. 
 
 The principle enunciated in the Law may have raised difficulties 
 in some minds at an early time, but the first expression of dis- 
 satisfaction with it in any composition to which we can assign 
 a date appears in the prophecies of Jeremiah (ch. xxxi. 29 ; 
 comp. Ezek. xviii. 2). 
 
 The centuries after the Exodus down to the end of the reign 
 of David, times of stirring enterprize and warfare and conquest, 
 were not favourable for the production of a work of deep re- 
 flection like Job. Nor, in spite of the repeated humiliations 
 to vi'hich the nation was subjected in those ages, can the spirit 
 of the people ever have sunk to that state of exhaustion and 
 despair which appears in this Book. There is evidence too in 
 the Poem that the author was familiar with some of the wri- 
 tings usually ascribed to the Davidic age. There is a distorted 
 reflection of the ideas of Ps. viii. in the passage ch. vii. 17, which 
 is scarcely due to Coincidence. 
 
 The earliest period to which the Book can be assigned with 
 any propriety is the age of Solomon. A good many general 
 considerations suggest this period. Unless history and tra- 
 dition are to be alike discredited (i Kings iv. 29 seq.) a strong 
 current of thought sprang up in this age in the direction of 
 reflexion upon human life and the laws of man's well-being, 
 upon God and the ways in which His providence rules the 
 destinies of men. These are the questions which, in a par- 
 ticular form, are discussed in Job. Again, it was at this period 
 that Israel became to some extent a commercial people, and 
 entered into relations with distant lands, with Egypt, the farther 
 East and even the West ; and these relations might seem
 
 Ix INTRODUCTION. 
 
 reflected in many allusions in the Book, the author of which 
 is familiar with foreign countries and their products, with the 
 arts and customs of many strange peoples, and draws his illus- 
 trations from many distant sources. These considerations have 
 led a number of writers of distinction, such as Delitzsch, to 
 conclude that the Book is a production of this age ; and such 
 appears to have been the view of Luther. 
 
 If, however, we examine the Book of Proverbs, much in 
 which may be referred to the age of Solomon, particularly the 
 sayings in ch. x. — xxii., though much even in this division may 
 be later, we find scarcely a trace of the problems and ques- 
 tionings that fill the Book of Job. The same general subjects 
 are treated in both books, but in Job they have entered upon 
 a new phase. In Proverbs the teaching on God's providence 
 is still entirely positive. The law stated with such beauty and 
 simplicity in Ps. i., that it is well with the righteous and ill with 
 the wicked, is insisted on in a thousand forms, but not once 
 subjected to doubt. In the settled, well-ordered life of Israel 
 in this peaceful time the general principles of man's well-being 
 were receiving their brightest illustration, and it was the delight 
 of the wise to recognise them and give them expression in 
 compressed and polished aphorisms. Such problems as burn 
 in the pages of Job, the miseries of the just, the prosperity and 
 peaceful end of the ungodly, appear unknown. They were not 
 likely to attract men's attention at such a time. Only later, 
 when the state began to stagger under the blows which it 
 received from without, and when through revolution and civil 
 discord at home great and unmerited sufferings befell the best 
 citizens in the state, would such problems arise, or at least 
 present themselves with an urgency which demanded some 
 solution. It is only in those parts of Proverbs which are later 
 than the great central division that we find allusion to disquie- 
 tude occasioned to the righteous by the prosperity of the un- 
 godly, and even these references are slight ; the difficulty hardly 
 engages a moment's attention (Prov. iii. ii, 31, xxiii. 17 scq.\ 
 
 xxiv. 19). 
 The relation of Job to most parts of the Book of Proverbs
 
 INTRODUCTION. Ixi 
 
 is closed The elements of that Book probably belong to 
 different ages. Part of it at least was not published earlier than 
 the days of Hezekiah (ch. xxv. seq.) ; and the first division, 
 ch. i. — ix., though its date may be difficult to determine with 
 exactness, can hardly be earlier than this age, if so early. But 
 even this division as well as the central portion, ch. x. — xxii., ap- 
 pears to be anterior to the Book of Job. A pair of instances may 
 suffice as examples. In Prov. xiii. 9 we read, " the lamp of the 
 wicked shall be put out " ; and the same formula appears again 
 in another division, ch. xxiv. 20. The principle is stated in all 
 its generality, and nowhere modified in the Book. In this form 
 it continues to be upheld by Bildad, the representative in Job 
 of theories of Providence which the author considers cannot 
 any longer be maintained (ch. xviii. 6). Job, therefore, comes 
 clean athwart it with his demand (ch. xxi. 17), 
 
 How often is the lamp of the wicked put out ? 
 And how often cometh their destruction upon them? 
 
 Again in Prov. i. — ix. Wisdom earnestly presses herself upon 
 men : she loves them that love her. Even when she rises to 
 the highest conception of herself as architect of the world she 
 still offers herself to men and may be embraced by them (ch. viii. 
 32). But the speaker in Job xxviii. despairs of wisdom : it can 
 nowhere be found, neither in the land of the living nor in the 
 place of the dead, neither by man nor by any creature. The 
 divine thought in creation, the world-plan, effectuating itself 
 in nature and human life, lies beyond the intellectual reach of 
 man. Two such opposing representations can hardly be con- 
 temporaneous ; that in Job shews an approach towards the 
 position taken by the Preacher (Eccles. iii. 11), and is no doubt 
 the later of the two. Great difficulty, it is true, has been felt in 
 fitting ch. xxviii. into the Book, and it may belong to a time 
 somewhat further down. But even in Job xv. 8 seg. the per- 
 
 1 Comp. Job V. 17 with Prov. iii. 11 ; xi. 8 with ix. 18; xv. 7 with 
 viii. 25; xviii. 6 and xxi. 17 with xiii. 9 and xxiv. 20; xxii. 28 with iv. 
 18; xxviii. 18 with iii. 14 and viii. 11 ; xxviii. 28 with i. 7 ; xxxviii. 10 
 with viii. 29. There are also some peculiar terms common to the two 
 books; see Davidson's Introduction, Vol. il. p. 193.
 
 Ixii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 sonification of Wisdom in Prov. viii. seems alluded to, or at 
 least there is allusion to personifications similar. Such personi- 
 fications mark the highest point to which Hebrew thought on 
 the world rose, and cannot belong to an early age. Wisdom, 
 pausing in the work of expounding providence and the laws of 
 human happiness, which she had long instinctively pursued 
 with self-forgetful fascination in her task, becomes self-con- 
 scious, and, turning her eyes upon herself, displays her own 
 graces and beauty before the eyes of men. They who attain to 
 her and live as she directs attain to the thought of God Himself 
 and fulfil His purpose; human thought and life coincides with 
 or even coalesces in the divine thought and will. In Proverbs the 
 fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, in Job xxviii. it is 
 all the wisdom possible to man. 
 
 The conclusion to which the remarks just made would lead is 
 that the Book of Job cannot be assigned to an earlier date than 
 the yth century. The coincidences between the Book and the 
 earlier prophets are not very conclusive, though perhaps they 
 confirm the inference just drawn. The phraseology in several 
 passages is so similar to that in Amos that some have con- 
 cluded that the author like this prophet was a native of the south 
 of Judah^ ; but the similarities hardly justify any inference as to 
 the priority of either book. The same may be said of most of 
 the coincidences between Job and the prophets Hosea and 
 Isaiah. The passage Is. xix. 5, however, compared with Job 
 xiv. II, perhaps affords some evidence of the priority of Isaiah. 
 In Job the verse reads, 
 
 The waters fail from the sea, 
 
 And the stream decayeth and dricth up; 
 
 and in Isaiah, "and the waters shall fail from the sea, and the 
 stream shall decay and dry up." In the prophet the "sea" is 
 the Nile, and the "stream" the same or its larger branches, and 
 the verse is closely connected with the context, which contains a 
 threat against Egypt. In Job the term "sea" is used of any 
 
 ^ Stickel, Hioh, p. 263. Comp. Job ix. 8 witli Am. iv. 13; ix. g 
 with V. 8; xii. 15 with ix. 6; xviii. 16 with ii. 9; xxx. 31 with 
 viii. io.
 
 INTRODUCTION. Ixiii 
 
 inland water, and the words are made to express a general fact 
 of experience, which finds a parallel in the complete extinction 
 of the hfe of man. In Isaiah the term rendered "fail" is some- 
 what unusual, while in Job there stands for "fail" a word which, 
 though not greatly more in use in the Bible, would certainly be 
 much more common in the mouths of the people in the later 
 period of their history ^ 
 
 The most weighty arguments, however, for assigning the 
 Book to an age not earlier than the 7th century are the two 
 facts, closely related together, first, that questions of providence 
 have entered upon a new phase : its laws are no longer calmly 
 expounded but subjected to doubt ; from being principles se- 
 curely acquiesced in they have become problems painfully 
 agitated ; and secondly, that a condition of great disorder and 
 misery forms the background of the Poem. These two circum- 
 stances naturally go together, and they both point to the same? 
 comparatively late period. Even in some of the Psalms which 
 treat of these questions the "ungodly" oppressor, whose felicity 
 occasions disquietude to the religious mind (comp. Job xii. 6), 
 is probably the heathen conqueror. But these shorter pieces in 
 all likelihood preceded in time the more elaborate treatment to 
 which such problems are subjected in Job. But the situation 
 reflected in these pieces and in Job alike is one of suffering and 
 despondency. When we read such words as, "Wherefore giveth 
 He life to the bitter in soul, who long for death and it cometh 
 not, and search for it more than for hid treasures ?" (ch. iii. 20) ; 
 " Is there not a time of hard service to man upon the earth ? 
 are not his days also hke the days of an hireling?" (ch. vii. i) ; 
 " The earth is given into the hand of the wicked : he covereth 
 the faces of the judges thereof" (ch. ix. 24) ; "The tabernacles of 
 robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure, they 
 who carry their god in their hand" (ch. xii. 6 ; cf. Hab. i. 1 1, 16) ; 
 "Out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded 
 crieth out, yet God regardeth not the wrong" (ch. xxiv. 12)— we 
 feel that the points in the picture are too distinct and in too 
 
 ^ Other similarities are Job xii. 24 with Is. xix. 13; xvii. 12 with 
 
 V. 20.
 
 Ixiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 full relief to be the mere reflection of the gloom that hangs over 
 the mind of the sufferer even in an ordinary condition of society. 
 The passage ch. xii. 17 seq. is remarkable, 
 
 He leadeth counsellers away stripped, 
 
 And maketh the judges fools. 
 
 He looseth tlie bond of kings, 
 
 And girdeth their loins with a girdle. 
 
 lie leadeth priests away stripped, 
 
 And overthroweth the long-established caste, &c. 
 
 Such a passage might have been written by an eyewitness of 
 the captivity, or as Job says that he learned such details from 
 "ancient" men (ch. xii. 12), it might have been written by one 
 who had heard the han^owing events of that time described by 
 one who had himself seen them. Behind the author's time there 
 probably lay some great public calamity, which reduced multi- 
 tudes of men to a wretchedness more unendurable than death, 
 and forced the questions of evil and the righteousness of God 
 upon men's minds with an urgency that could not be resisted. 
 Such a calamity could be nothing short of deportation or exile. 
 The question remains whether it was the exile of the northern 
 nation or of Judah. 
 
 Some writers, as Hitzig, think that the author of Job, from his 
 bold handling of questions of providence, must have belonged 
 to the northern kingdom, where the attitude of men's minds 
 
 towards religion was freer. There is not, perhaps, much in 
 this ; but some of the ablest writers on the Book, such as 
 Ewald, connect it more or less closely with the fall of the 
 northern state. This judgment might be acquiesced in at once 
 were there not several things which suggest the question whether 
 the Book may not rather reflect the circumstances of the Baby- 
 lonian Captivity. These points briefly are : (i) the extremely 
 developed form both of the morality and the doctrine of God in 
 the Book ; (2) the points of contact which it presents with Jere- 
 miah and the ideas of his age ; and (3) the strange parallel 
 existing between Job and the "Servant of the Lord" in the 
 second part of Isaiah. 
 
 The first point can hardly be drawn out in detail, but the 
 teaching of Eliphaz regarding human nature (ch. iv. 17 seq.) and
 
 INTRODUCTION. Ixv 
 
 the inwardness of the moral conceptions of Job (ch. xxxi.) are 
 very surprising. The doctrine of God is much the same in 
 principle throughout the whole Old Testament, the later writers 
 differing from the earlier more in the breadth with which they 
 express the common conceptions. In Job these conceptions are 
 expressed with a breadth and loftiness without parallel, except 
 in the second part of Isaiah and some of the later psalms (e.g. 
 Ps. cxxxix.). It is true it is chiefly what might be called the natural 
 attributes of God that are dwelt upon, and this has created in 
 some minds the feeling that the God of the Book of Job is not 
 the God of the Old Testament^. He is certainly without some 
 of the attributes ascribed to Him in such prophets as Hosea and 
 the later chapters of Isaiah. He is God and not man — so en- 
 tirely not man that He seems not altogether God. The author's 
 conception of God is austere and lofty, and we readily under- 
 stand how its features in a particular light cast that spectral 
 shadow before Job's eye which he calls God and which he is in 
 danger of renouncing. 
 
 Apart from the Psalms, the date of which is uncertain, the 
 problems discussed in Job first shew themselves in the prophets 
 of the Chaldean age. Jeremiah says, "Let me talk with thee of 
 thy judgments : wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? 
 wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?" 
 (ch. xii. I ; cf. Hab. i. 13 seq.). Similarly, the other question of 
 visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children occupies the 
 minds of the people (Jer. xxxi. 29 ; Ezek. xviii.). The history of 
 the nation and its sufferings forced these questions on the 
 attention, and there is a certain probability that a Book like 
 Job devoted to their discussion is the creation of this time. 
 The parallels in thought and language between Job and 
 Jeremiah are numerous, but they strike different minds very 
 differently. Most writers have felt that Job iii. and Jer. xx. 14 
 seq. are not altogether independent of one another, but the 
 question of priority is difficult to settle. The argument that the 
 passage in Job is fresher, more vivid and powerful, and there- 
 fore the original has little force. The author of Job was cer- 
 ^ Luzzatto, quoted in Del.
 
 Ixvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tainly a greater literary artist than Jeremiah, as Shakespeare 
 was superior to the earlier dramatists whose materials he used, 
 but the possible analogy neutralizes the argument for priority. 
 If the author of Job used Is. xix. 5, as is probable, he has recast 
 some of the expressions into the more strict poetical form, and 
 he may have dealt with the language of the other prophet in the 
 same way. Job iii. is highly elaborate and finished, while the 
 impression which the passage in Jeremiah makes on the reader, 
 just on account of its disjointed character and defect in literary 
 grace, is that it is independent. The strong positive state- 
 ments in Ezekiel that "the soul that sinneth shall die", and 
 that the children shall no more be visited for their fathers' 
 iniquity, might seem to imply that the question had advanced a 
 stage beyond that of debate in which it appears in Job. This 
 is less certain, because it is the peculiarity of the Book of Job 
 that all its new truths are presented through the medium of 
 controversial dialogued 
 
 The affinity of the Book of Job to Is. ch. xl. scq. is remark- 
 able, and appears in two points, coincidences of expression and 
 thought, and the parallel between the figure of Job and that of 
 the Servant of the Lord. Thus the same lofty conception of 
 God is expressed in both in identical words, who sprcadcth out 
 the heavens alone (ch. ix. 8, Is. xliv. 24; cf xlv. 12). Again 
 comp. ch. xxvi. 12—13, "He quelleth the sea with His power, 
 and by His understanding He smiteth through Rahab," with 
 Is. li. 9, "Art thou not it which hath cut Rahab and pierced 
 the dragon?" Compare also Job xiii. 28 with Is. 1. 9; xv. 35 
 with hx. 4; XXX. 21 with Ixiii. 10. These similarities of phraseo- 
 logy might be due to dependence of the one writer upon the 
 other. There are, however, many conceptions common to the 
 two writers not expressed in the same phraseology, and the 
 more probable explanation is that they lived surrounded by the 
 same atmosphere of thought. 
 
 1 Comp. Job iii. with Jer. xx. 14; vi. 15 with xv. i8; ix. 19 with 
 xlix. 19 (Is. 1. 8); xii. 4 with xx. 7 ; xix. 23 with xvii. i ; Job xix. iS 
 with Lam. iii. i.s ; xvi. 9 with iii. 46 ; xvi. 13 with iii. 12 ; xix. 8 with 
 iii. 7 ; xxx. 9 with iii. 14.
 
 INTRODUCTION. Ixvii 
 
 The similarities between the figure of Job and that of the 
 Servant are numerous and striking. Both are innocent suf- 
 ferers — "my servant Job, a perfect and upright man" (Job i. 8), 
 "my righteous servant" (Is. hii. ii) ; both are afflicted in a way 
 that strikes horror into the beholders, and causes them to deem 
 them smitten of God (Is. lii. 14, liii. ^,]oh passim); both are 
 forsaken of men and subjected to mockery and spitting (Job 
 xix. 4 scg., xvi. 10, xxx. 9 scq. ; Is. 1. 6, liii. 3) ; both are restored 
 and glorified and receive "double", as they both continued 
 faithful, assured that He was near that should justify them 
 (Job xiii. 18, xvi. 19, xix. 25 ;• Is. 1. 8). The points of agreement 
 might be greatly multiplied 1, and, notwithstanding the important 
 differences in the two representations, they suggest some relation 
 between the two figures. The difficulty is to ascertain whether 
 the relation be one of similarity merely or of identity. If Job 
 were the type of the righteous individual sufferer or of the class 
 of individuals, and the servant the suffering righteous Israel, that 
 is, the godly remnant to which the nationaUty and name be- 
 longed, seeing these two subjects are virtually the same under 
 different conceptions, the author of the one picture might have 
 transferred some features from the canvas of his predecessor to 
 his own 2. The probability is as great that the two authors 
 worked up common conceptions into independent creations; 
 and there are many parts of Job that appear to reflect national 
 feeling and conditions, though of course the author could not 
 allow the formal conception of the nation to appear. 
 
 The question enters a region here which is not that of 
 argument but of impressions ; but upon the whole probabilities 
 point to the age of the captivity of Judah as that to which the 
 Book belongs. 
 
 ^ See Dr Cheyne's interesting Essay, Isaiah, il. p. 244. Kuenen 
 has an exhaustive paper on the subject in the Thcolog. Tijds., 1873. 
 
 " This is the later opinion of Kuenen, who considers that the col- 
 lective or national representation in Isaiah has served in some respects 
 as the model of the individual portrait in Job. In this case Job would 
 be later than the Restoration. It is difficult, however, to beheve that 
 the sohuion of the problem of suffering innocence given in Job could be 
 posterior to the more profound solution found in the prophet.
 
 Ixviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 As to the Author of the Book we are in complete ignorance. 
 He has been supposed to be Job himself, Elihu, Moses, 
 Solomon, Heman the Ezrahite, author of Ps. Ixxxviii., Isaiah, 
 Hezekiah, author of the hymn Is. xxxviii., Baruch the friend of 
 Jeremiah, and who not? There are some minds that cannot 
 put up with uncertainty, and are under the necessity of deluding 
 themselves into quietude by fixing on some known name. 
 There are others to whom it is a comfort to think that in this 
 omniscient age a few things still remain mysterious. Un- 
 certainty is to them more suggestive than exact knowledge. No 
 literature has so many great anonymous works as that of Israel. 
 The religious life of this people was at certain periods very 
 intense, and at these periods the spiritual energy of the nation 
 expressed itself almost impersonally, through men who forgot 
 themselves and were speedily forgotten in name by others.
 
 T 
 
 THE BOOK OF JOB. 
 
 HERE was a man in the land of Uz, whose name icas 1 
 Job ; and that man was perfect and upright, and one 
 
 Ch. I. 1 — 3. Job's name and arode ; nis piety, and conse- 
 quent FAMILY FELICITY AND WORLDLY PROSPERITY. 
 
 1. the land of Uz\ This word occurs several times in the Old 
 Testament : (i) as the name of a son of Aram, Gen. x. 23 ; (2) as the 
 name of the eldest son of Nahor, the brother of Abraham, Gen. xxii. 21 ; 
 and (3) as that of a descendant of Seir, Gen. xxxvi. 28. These re- 
 ferences would point either to .Syria on the north-east of Palestine or to 
 the region of Edom, further south. From the Book itself we learn that 
 Job's flocks were exposed on the east to inroads on the part of the 
 Chaldeans, the tribes between Syria and the Euphrates, i. 17; and in 
 another direction to attacks from the Sabeans, i. 15. The most prominent 
 man among his friends was from Teman, which belonged to Edom, 
 ii. II (comp. Gen. xxxvi. 15; Jerem. xlix. 7, 20), and he himself is 
 named the greatest of all the children of the East, i. 3. In Lam. iv. 21 
 it is said : Rejoice O daughter of Edom that dwellest in the land of Uz. 
 These words do not imply that Uz is identical with Edom, but they 
 imply that Edomites had possession of Uz, which could not have been 
 the case unless the lands bordered on one another. The land of Uz, 
 therefore, probably lay east of Palestine and north of Edom. This 
 general position is already assigned to it in the Sept. which, in some 
 verses added to the end of the Book, and embodying the tradition of 
 the time, says that the land of Uz lay "on the borders of Edom and 
 Arabia." 
 
 There is nothing in .Scripture that defines the position of Job's home 
 more precisely. An interesting tradition, as old at least as the early 
 centuries of the Christian era, has been investigated by Wetzstein. 
 This tradition places the home of Job in the Nukra, the fertile de- 
 pression of Bashan at the south-east foot- of Hermon. Near the town 
 of Nawa, about 40 miles almost due south of Damascus, a little to the 
 west of the pilgrim route from this city to Mecca, and about the lati- 
 tude of the north end of the sea of Tiberias, there still exist a Afakdtn, 
 that is, place, or tomb, and monastery of Job. Wetzstein assigns the 
 building to the end of the third century. See his Excursus at the end 
 of Delitzsch's Comm. on Job. 
 
 whose name was Job} The Heb. form of the name is lyycl), which 
 does not occur again in the Bible. There is no play on the name or 
 
 JOB I
 
 2 JOB, I. [v^. 
 
 that feared God, and eschewed evil. And there were born 
 
 allusion to its significance in the Book. It does not seem, therefore, to 
 have been coined by the Author of the Poem, but probably came down 
 to him with other fragments of the tradition on which he worked. The 
 way in which Ezekiel alludes to Job, in company with other renowned 
 names such as Noah and Daniel, seems to imply that this prophet drew 
 his information regarding lob from a more general source than the 
 present Book : " Though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were 
 in it (the sinful land), they sliould deliver but their own souls by their 
 righteousness," xiv. 14. The tradition regarding Job and his sufferings 
 was probably well known in the East, and the name of the suffering 
 hero was part of the tradition. It is of little consequence, therefore, to 
 enquire what the name means of itself. If the word be Hebrew it 
 might mean the "assailed" or "persecuted," that is, by Satan (or God). 
 In Arabic the form of the word is .■lyyfib, and if derived from this 
 dialect the name might mean the "returning," that is, peniUnt, or more 
 generally, the "pious." Job is several times spoken of in the Kor'an. 
 In Sur. xxxviii. 44 he is called awwAb, which means "ever returning to 
 God," i.e. pious rather than penitent, but there seems no allusion in 
 the term to the etymology of his name, for in the same chapter both 
 David and Solomon receive the same epithet. 
 
 that man was pcrfcct\ The term "perfect" means properly "com- 
 plete," without defect. It does not imply that the man was sinless, for 
 Job never puts forward any such pretension, but that he was a righteous 
 man and free from specific sins such as were held to bring down the 
 chastisement of heaven. That he was so is the very foundation of his 
 trial and the first principle of the Book. Job's "perfection" is affirmed in 
 heaven : " Ilast thou considered my servant Job... a perfect and an upright 
 man?" i. 8, ii.3 ; it is understood by his wife : Dost thou still hold fast 
 thy perfection? ii. 9; and it is persi'stently claimed for himself by Job, 
 not only in moments of excitement when stung by the insinuations of 
 his friends: I am perfect, ix. 21 (see notes), but also when the heat of 
 the conflict is over and under the most solemn oaths : As God liveth 
 who hath taken away my right,... I will not remove my perfection from 
 me ; my righteousness I hold fast, xxvii. 2, 5, 6. The word occurs 
 again, xxxi. 6, and in another form, xii. 4 : The just, perfect man is 
 laughed to scorn. Even the three friends admit Job's perfectness in 
 general, although they are under the impression that he must have been 
 guilty of some serious offences to account for his calamities, and they 
 urge it upon Job as a ground of confidence in his ultimate recovery : Is 
 not thy hope the perfectness of thy ways? iv. 6 ; and again : "God will 
 not cast away a perfect man," viii. 20. One of the objects the writer of 
 the Book had in view was to teach that sufferings may fall on men for 
 reasons unconnected with any sin on their own part; and using the 
 history of Job for this purpose, it was necessary that he should lay 
 emphasis in all parts of the Book upon Job's perfection. The term 
 "perfect" is used of Noah in the same sense: Noah, a just man, 
 was perfect in his generation ; that is, he was righteous and exempt 
 from the sins of his contemporaries, Gen. vi. 9.
 
 V-3-] JOB, I. 3 
 
 unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance 3 
 
 feared Co<f\ Job was not only just and upright, with a high morah'ty, 
 he was also godfearing. These two things are never separated in the 
 Old Testament. For as God was the author of all the movements in 
 the world and human history, so right thoughts of Him and right 
 relations to Him lay at the foundation of all right human conduct. The 
 fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ; and wisdom includes both 
 just thinking and right conduct. 
 
 2, 3. Job's family and wealth. A first principle in the Oriental 
 Wisdom, which corresponds in part to our Ethics, was, that it is well 
 with the righteous and ill with the wicked, Is. iii. lo, ii. This prin- 
 ciple is set at the head of the Psalter in Ps. i., and is reiterated in 
 many shapes as an unalterable law in the Book of Proverbs. Ac- 
 cording to this principle Job and all acquainted with him would see his 
 piety reflected in his worldly prosperity, and regard this as God's bless- 
 ing upon him on account of it. It is not the intention of the writer of 
 the Book to break with this principle absolutely. On the contrary 
 when he lets Job at the end of his trials be restored to a prosperity 
 double that which he enjoyed before, he gives in his adhesion to the 
 principle in general. If he had not done so his position would have 
 been more false than that of Job's friends, who asserted that the 
 principle prevailed in the world without exceptions. The Author's 
 design goes no further than to teach that the principle is subject to 
 great modifications, and that sufferings may arise from causes more 
 general than any connected with the sufferer's own life. His object, 
 however, in teaching this doctrine cannot have been the limited one of 
 correcting a false theory of Providence, he must have had before him 
 the wider purpose of sustaining individuals or most probably his nation 
 under severe and inexplicable trials and encouraging them v/ith brilliant 
 hopes of the future. 
 
 The round numbers 7, 3, 5, by which Job's children and his flocks 
 are described, express, according to the ideas connected with such 
 numbers in the East, their perl'ection and complete sufficiency. They 
 teach at the same time that what we have before us here is not actual 
 history, but history idealized by the Poet and Teacher, that he may 
 convey by it more vividly the moral lessons which he desires to in- 
 culcate. Job's sons were seven and his daughters three, for sons were 
 mpre esteemed in the East than daughters, partly for reasons connected 
 with the state of society, one of which is alluded to in the Psalm : "They 
 shall not be ashamed, they shall speak with the enemies in the gate," 
 Ps. cxxvii. 5. Mohammed expresses the feelings of the Arabs when 
 he says : For when any one of them is informed of the birth of a 
 daughter a black shadow falls upon his face and he is wroth, and with- 
 draweth himself from men because of the evil tidings, uncertain whether 
 he shall keep it with disgrace or bury it (alive) in the dust, Kor. xvi. 60 ; 
 and even the modern Jew in his prayers gives thanks in this way : 
 Blessed art thou, O king of the universe, who hast not made me a 
 woman.
 
 4 JOB, I. [vv- 3-5. 
 
 also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, 
 and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, 
 and a very great household; so that this man was the 
 greatest of all the men of the east. And his sons went and 
 feasted in their houses, every one his day ; and sent and 
 called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 
 , And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone 
 
 As a great Eastern Emeer, Job was rich in camels. These were 
 used for riding when the journey was long, and for transporting produce 
 and mercliandise to the distant cities. They were also eaten by the 
 Arabs. She-asses, the price of one of which is said to be three times 
 tliat of a male, were esteemed not on account of their milk, but for the 
 sake of their foals. In a country where wheeled carriages are un- 
 known, they were used not only for riding, but for all ]')urposes of home 
 and agricultural carriage. Oxen were used for labouring the fields, for 
 which the horse is not employed in the East. The amount of arable 
 land was measured by the number of yoke, that is, pairs, of oxen re- 
 quired to cultivate it. Job's rich and extensive fields were plowed by a 
 thousand oxen, v. 14. Such wide possessions implied a very great 
 "household," that is, body of servants. And the writer fmishes his 
 picture of Job by saying that he "was the greatest of all the men (lit. 
 children) of the East." His "greatness" did not lie in his wealth 
 alone, but in the respect in which he was held and in his influence. 
 See the pathetic picture which he draws of his own former estate, 
 ch. xxix. On the general phrase "children of the East" see Gen. 
 xxix. 1 ; Jud. vi. 3, vii. 12, viii. 10; i Kings iv. 30; Jer. xlix. 28; Ezek. 
 XXV. 4, 10. 
 
 4, 6. A TRAIT FROM Job'S ORDINARY LIFE, ILLUSTRATING THE 
 HAPPINESS AND UNITY OF HIS CHILDREN AND THE FATHER'S 
 SCRUPULOUS PIETY. 
 
 4. in their houses, every one his dayl lit. f?iade a feast at the house of 
 each on his day, or, at the house of him 'whose day it 7vas. The seven 
 sons had homes of their own. The daughters probably lived in the 
 house of their father. It does not appear with certainty from the Book 
 whether any of Job's children were married. Each son made a feast at 
 his house on his day, to which the other six brothers and the three 
 sisters were invited. When the cycle of seven feasts had gone round, 
 the father sent and purilied his children and offered sacrifice on their 
 behalf. What seems meant is that, as there were seven sons, there was a 
 feast at the house of one of them in succession each day of the week, 
 and that at the end of the week, when all the seven liad given their feast, 
 the father sent, possibly on the morning of the first day of the week, and 
 sanctified them. Thus week after week was passed ; their life was a 
 continual feast. It is to be remembered that wc do not stand on the 
 ground of mere history here. The idea shapes its materials to its own 
 ends ; and what is presented to us is the higliest earthly joyousness and 
 affection combined with the most sensitive piety.
 
 V. 5-] JOB, I. 5 
 
 about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early 
 in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the 
 number of them all : for Job said, It may be that my sons 
 have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did 
 Job continually. 
 
 5. sent and sanctified thcni\ that is, most likely, sent/^r them. The 
 sanctification or purification consisted probably in washings and change 
 of garments, Gen. xxxv. 2, and similar rites, and was preparatory to the 
 sacrifice or religious service immediately to be engaged in, as Samuel 
 said to the family of Jesse, ' ' Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the 
 sacrifice," i Sam. .\vi. 5. The act of worship was the sacrifice. As was 
 customary in the Patriarchal age, to which Job belonged, and even far 
 down in the history of Israel, the father was priest of the family, and the 
 sacrifice offered was the burnt-offering. This offering contained in it the 
 germs which afterwards expanded into the various distinct kinds of 
 sacrifice, such as the sin-offering. Job used it as a sacrifice of atone- 
 ment. 
 
 number of them all] Whether Job offered ten burnt-offerings, including 
 his daughters in his atoning sacrifice, which would seem likely, or only 
 seven, one corresponding to each feast day, is a point that cannot be 
 settled with certainty. 
 
 sinned, and cursed God in their hearts] Rather, sinned and disowned 
 God, that is, sinned by disowning or renouncing God in their hearts. 
 Job himself was not present at the youthful festivities. He did not any 
 longer care for such things, but he did not wish to impose his own gravity 
 upon those whose years it did not suit. His desire was to see his children 
 happy, provided their happiness was innocent. What he feared in them 
 was not any open excess, or outbreak into coarse vice, but a momen- 
 tary turning away of the heart from God in the midst of social enjoyment, 
 as if they felt that this enjoyment was better than religion or might fill 
 its place in ones life. 
 
 The word translated " curse " means in usage to bless, hence to salute, 
 I Sam. XXV. 14, either at meeting or parting, as the Oriental wishes the 
 peace (salam) or blessing of God upon one whom he meets or parts from. 
 Gen. xlvii. 7, 10. From this use of the word in taking leave it may have 
 come to mean, to bid farewell to, and hence to disown or renounce. A 
 similar secondary use is found in our own and the classical languages. 
 Thus : 
 
 Valeat res ludicra. 
 Good bye the stage. HoR. 
 Farewell faint-hearted and degenerate King, 
 In whose cold blood no spark of honour bides. 
 
 A'. Henry VI. 
 
 Si maxime talis est Deus, ut nulla gratia, nulla hominum caritate 
 teneatur, valeat. Cic Nat. Dear. I. 44. See Aesch. Agam. 572 ; Plat. 
 Phaedr. 58. These and other examples will be found in the commentaries. 
 Others, assuming that the radical sense of the word is to kneel, I's. xcv.
 
 6 JOB, I. [v. 6. 
 
 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to 
 
 6, have supposed tli.it the sense of ciase niiglit arise from a person's 
 knechiig to imprecate evil. But tliis is a far-fetched idea. Besides, the 
 sense of cursc' is unsuitable in this passage as well as in the other places 
 where the word occurs. .Some such sense as "renounce" suits all the 
 passages in Job and the only other passage where the sense of the word 
 must be similar, i Kings xxi. lo. 
 
 It is curious that the sin which Job feared in his children as the con- 
 sequence of drinking too deeply of the joys of life was the sin to which 
 he himself was almost driven by the acuteness of his misery. So sur- 
 rounded are we of God on every side. 
 
 6—12. The disinterestedness of Joii's piety brought under 
 
 SUSPICION BY THE ADVERSARY IN THE COUNCIL OF HeAVEN. 
 
 After the scene of happiness and piety presented by Job's home 
 on earth, the Poet draws the veil aside and shews us a scene in heaven. 
 The Council of the Most High convenes. Around the throne of the 
 King, whose subject and servant Job is, stand " his ministers that do 
 liis pleasure," Fs. ciii. 21. Their offices are various. The office of one 
 of them is to try the sincerity of men, and put their religion to the proof. 
 Job's piety is commended on the part of God, but suspicions regarding 
 its disinterestedness are insinuated on the part of this angel. He receives 
 permission to try Job, with the reservation that he must not afllict him 
 in his person. 
 
 6. j\'o7a there was a day 7a/ie!i] lit. no7ci it fell on a day that the sotts 
 of God presented themselves. ..and Satan came. The meaning is not that 
 there was a set time for the sons of God presenting themselves, but that 
 they did on a certain day convene and Satan came among them. He 
 came because one of thenT — not, although not one of them. The phrase 
 is the same in i. 13; ii. i ; 2 Kings iv. 18.. 
 
 the sons of God] Rather perhaps, sons of the EloMm, i.e. ang^els. 
 The word Elohini usually means God, but this is scarcely its meaning here. 
 The angels are not called "sons of God "as if they had actually derived 
 their nature from Him as a child from its father; nor in a less exact way, 
 because though created they have received a nature similar to God's, 
 being spirits ; nor yet as if on account of their stedfast holiness they had 
 been adopted by grace into the family of God. These ideas are not 
 found here. The name Eloliiin or sons (i.e. members of the xo.cQ)ofthe 
 Elcliivi is a name given directly to angels in contrast with men. The 
 word means proliably "powers," "mights," and the name is given to 
 God and angels in common ; He is the lilohim preeminently, they are 
 Elohim in an inferior sense. The name describes their nature or stand- 
 ing in contrast to what is human ; the name angels, that is, messengers, 
 is descriptive of the duties which they fulfil. The same Beings are called 
 "sons of Elim," Ps. Ixxxix. 6 ("sons of the mighty"), and Ps. xxix. 
 I ("ye mighty"), and there as here they stand in the temjile or palace 
 of the Lord, xxix. 9; Ixxxix. 6 — 8. Angels are referred lo several
 
 V. 6.] JOB, I. 7 
 
 present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also 
 
 times in the Book of Job. In v. i the supposition is put that men might 
 appeal to them for sympathy or a hearing amidst sufferings judged to be 
 undeserved. In xxxiii. 23 they fuHil the office of interpreter between 
 God and men. They form the Council of God, xv. 8. They are not 
 said to have been created, but were present when the earth was formed, 
 xxxviii. 7. They are called the "holy ones," v. i ; xv. 15, where, how- 
 ever, " holy " is not a moral term, but means attending on God. Though 
 pure like the heavens and all contained in its sphere, in contrast with 
 God they are impure and unwise, iv. 18; xv. 15; xxv. 5. 
 
 P'or a scene in heaven similar to that presented in this verse see 
 I Kings xxii. 19 seq. ; Comp. Is. vi. ; Ps. Ixxxix. 6 seq., also Zech. iii. 
 
 an.i Satan came also^ Or, and the Adversary, or Opposer, as in the 
 viargin. The Heb. is the Satan, where the presence of the article shews 
 that the word has not yet become a proper name. The word Satan 
 means one who opposes another in his purpose, Numb. xxii. 22, 32, or 
 pretensions and claims, Zech. iii. i ; i Kings xi. 14, 23, 25, or generally. 
 The Satan is that one of God's ministers whose part it is to oppose men 
 in their pretensions to a right standing before God, Zech. iii. i, and 
 here ; that is, who represents God's trying, sifting providence. He is one 
 of God's messengers and presents himself before God to report, or to 
 receive commissions, parts of God's will which he is to execute. 
 
 God's providence is over all; He doeth whatsoever is done in heaven 
 or on earth. But He makes use of agents in His operations. Hence the 
 same act, such as instigating David to number the people, may be in 
 one place ascribed to God directly, 2 Sam. xxiv. i, and in another to 
 Satan, i Chron. xxi. i. God's purposes are usually l)eneficent and 
 gracious, hence the angels are comprehensively designated as "minister- 
 ing spirits, sent forth to minister for the sake of them who shall be heirs 
 of salvation," Heb. i. 14. But He has also purposes of judgment and 
 chastisement, which are executed by those called the " destroyers," 
 Job xxxiii. 22; Ex. xii. 23. In all these operations, whether of mercy 
 or of judgment, the angels are simply servants. They do God's behests. 
 Their own moral character does not come into question. They are 
 neither good nor bad angels. The spirit from the Lord that troubled 
 Saul is called "evil," [ Sam. xvi. 14 seq., not in reference to its own 
 character, but to the effect produced on Saul's mind. In like manner 
 the spirit that came forth and undertook to delude Ahab to his destruc- 
 tion, was not a false spirit in himself, he merely became a lying spirit in 
 the mouth of Ahab's prophets, i Kings xxii. 19 seq. In all such cases 
 the spirit is characterized according to the influence which he exerts. 
 Neither is the Satan represented here as a fallen or evil spirit. Yet 
 undoubtedly a step towards this is taken. He shews an assiduity slightly 
 too keen in the exercise of his somewhat invidious function. He rather 
 usurps the initiative in marking out Job for trial, even though he might 
 feel sheltered under his general commission. The Author lets us know 
 that this is his view of him when he puts into God's mouth the words : 
 Thou didst set me on against him, ii. 3. And in the parallel passage 
 Zech. iii. his cold-blooded cruelty in the exercise of his office against the
 
 9 
 
 8 JOB, I. [vv. 7— II. 
 
 7 among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence 
 comest thou ? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, 
 From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up 
 
 8 and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast 
 thou considered my servant Job, that there is none hke him 
 in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth 
 God and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord, 
 and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou 
 made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about 
 all that he hath on every side ? thou hast blessed the work 
 of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 
 
 II But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, 
 
 miserable and in a moral sense the somewhat ragged Church of the 
 Restoration stands rebuked before the spirit of Divine compassion : "The 
 Lord rebuke thee Satan, is not this a brand plucked from the burning?" 
 Subsequent revelation made advances on the doctrine of Satan, the 
 discussion of which, however, does not belong here. 
 
 7. From going to and fro'] As the word is used by the Satan of 
 himself there is, naturally, no shade of self-condemnation in it : rather 
 the reverse, he speaks with a certain consciousness of his assiduous 
 faithfulness. The term is used of " the eyes of the Lord, that go to and 
 fro," 2 Chron. xvi. 9. What is suggested is the swiftness and ubiquity 
 of his survey of men. Similarly 7i<alkiiig up and down is said of those 
 benevolent emissaries sent forth f^iom heaven in the interest of the suffer- 
 ing righteous of the earth, Zech. i. 10, 11 ; vi. 7. The growing light of 
 revelation cast the figure of Satan into deeper shade, and his restless 
 activity receives a corresponding deepness of tint, "Your adversary, as a 
 roaring lion, vvalketh about, seeking wliom he may devour," x Pet. v. 8. 
 
 8. The integrity and godliness attributed to Job by the author of the 
 Poem are confirmed by God Himself. 
 
 9. fornoiightl Satan does not dispute Job's piety; only, the devo- 
 tion of the rich landowner to the Bountiful Giver of all good is not ill 
 to understand ! A different estimate of what trae religion is and of the 
 things that are difficulties in the way of it was formed by Another, who 
 said : "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of 
 God !" A subtle turn is given to the words of Satan by Gcdet in his 
 Essay on Job, who thinks that wliile they are openly a slar upon man, 
 they are covertly a sarcasm on the Most High Himself, implying that 
 no one truly loves Him, He is served only for the benefits He confers. 
 The Essayist may do no injustice to Satan, but he does to the Old 
 Testament conception of him. The Satan of this Book may shew the 
 beginnings of a personal malevolence against man, but he is still rigidly 
 suijordinated to heaven, and in all he does subserves its interests. His 
 function is as the minister of God to try the sincerity of man ; hence 
 when his work of trial is over he is no more found, and no place is 
 given him among the dratiiatis persona of the poem.
 
 vv. 12, 13.] JOB, I. 9 
 
 and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto 12 
 Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power ; only upon 
 himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth 
 from the presence of the Lord. 
 
 And there was a day when his sons and his daughters 13 
 were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house : 
 
 11. curse thee to thy face'] that is, renounce thee openly. See on 
 vers. 5. The phrase and he 7vill curse thee has the form of an oath in 
 the Heb. Satan so little believes in the sincerity of human religion that 
 he is not afraid to take his oath that it is hollow. 
 
 12. Satan receives permission to try Job, but the length he can go is 
 rigidly bounded by the will of the Most High. Having received his 
 commission he immediately "goes forth," glad to appearance in the 
 opportunity of doing mischief and confident in the result. 
 
 13—22. Job's first trial; and its issue: his reverence to- 
 wards God remains unshaken. 
 
 Between w. 12 and 13 there is an interval, an ominous stillness like 
 that which precedes the storm. The poet has drawn aside the curtain 
 to us and we know what is impending. Job knows nothing. His chil- 
 dren are about him and he thinks the Almighty is yet with him, xxix. 5. 
 The earth smiles to him as it was wont by day; and by night the 
 Bear, Orion and the Pleiades come forth in their silent procession, and 
 the Dragon trails his glittering folds across the heavens overhead, and 
 he looks with wonder into the deep chambers of the South. All is 
 glorious with a constant glory because it is an unchanging hand that 
 leads them forth, the hand of the Holy One from whose words he has 
 never declined, vi. 10, and whose candle as he deems still shines upon 
 his head, xxix. 3. He does not know that he is being played for like a 
 pawn. Suddenly the catastrophe overtakes him. Messenger after mes- 
 senger, each taking up his tale of ruin before the other has concluded 
 his, announce that all he had has been taken from him. Heaven and 
 earth have combined to overwhelm him. The forces of nature and the 
 destructive violence of men have united to strip him bare. 
 
 The description has many features of the ideal. First, the catastrophe 
 befell on the day when Job's children were feasting in their eldest 
 brother's house, v. 13, the day on the morning of which Job had sent 
 for his children and sanctified them and offered sacrifices on their behalf. 
 Job's godliness and his calamity are brought into the closest contrast. 
 He felt this, and as he regarded every event as wrought by the hand 
 of God immediately, his afflictions threw his mind into the deepest per- 
 plexity regarding the ways of God. Again, while heaven and men alter- 
 nate their strokes upon him, these strokes follow one another with 
 increasing severity, and in each case only one escapes to bring the 
 grievous tidings. The rapid touches of the Author do not suggest any 
 struggle or rising rebelliousness in Job's mind. He manifests the 
 liveliest grief, but maintains his self-control. And the scene closes
 
 lo JOB, I. [vv. 14—20. 
 
 14 and there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen 
 
 15 were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them : and 
 the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they 
 have slain the servants with tlie edge of the sword ; and 
 
 16 I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he luas yet 
 speaking, there came also another, and said. The fire of 
 God is fallen from heaven, and hath burnt up the sheep, 
 and the servants, and consumed them ; and I only am 
 
 17 escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, 
 there came also another, and said. The Chaldeans made out 
 three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried 
 them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the 
 
 i3 sword ; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While 
 he 7uas yet speaking, there came also another, and said. 
 Thy sons and thy daughters 7vere eating and drinking wine 
 
 19 in their eldest brother's house: and, behold, there came a 
 great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners 
 of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are 
 
 20 dead ; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. Then 
 
 upon the sufferer, a solitary man, worshipping God amidst the waste 
 where his rich possessions once liad Hen. 
 
 14, 15. The first stroke, the loss of the oxen and she-asses, with 
 the slaughter of the servants. Job's servants were probably armed, as 
 is usual in the East, and offered resistance, for the Bedawin do not 
 usually shed blood unless opposed. The Sabeans were an Arab tribe, 
 or possibly different tribes bore the name (Gen. x. 7, 28 ; xxv. 3). In 
 vi. 19 they are represented as trading with caravans. They are men- 
 tioned in connexion with Dedan, and probably detachments of them 
 encamped on the borders of Edom, and these would be the assailants 
 of Job's servants. The raid came from the direction of the South, and 
 the fact that the oxen were plowing indicates that the disaster befell in 
 winter. 
 
 16. The second stroke. The fn-e of God can hardly have been the 
 sultry, poisonous Samoom, or hot wind of the desert, nor any rain of 
 sulphur such as destroyed Sodom, but was most likely lightning ; see 
 I Kings xviii. 38; 1 Kings i. iz. 
 
 17. The third stroke. The name Chaldeans was perhaps given 
 generally to the tribes that roamed between the cultivated land on the 
 east of the Jordan and the Eu[ihrates. Dividing an attacking force into 
 several bands, so as to fall on the enemy on several sides, was a common 
 piece of Oriental tactics, Judges vii. 16, ix. 43 ; i Sam. xi. 11. 
 
 18. 19. The fourth stroke, the death of Job's children. The wind 
 struck the four corners of the house, being a whirlwind. It came from 
 the side or region of the desert.
 
 VV. 21, 22.] JOB, T. TI 
 
 Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and 
 fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, : 
 
 Naked came I out of my mother's womb. 
 
 And naked shall I return thither : 
 
 The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; 
 
 Blessed be the name of the Lord. 
 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. : 
 
 20. 21. Job's demeanour under his sorrows. As became a man of 
 his rank lob had received the messengers sitting. When the full 
 extent of his miseiy came home to him he arose and gave way to the 
 Hvehest expressions of grief. He rent his mantle, in token that his 
 heart was rent with sorrow, as Joel ii. 13 says, " Rend your heart and not 
 your garments;" he shaved his head, putting off, in token of his 
 mourning, every adornment, even that wliich nature had supplied ; and 
 he cast himself upon the ground, laying his forehead on the dust, in 
 deepest submission before God. Grief has its rights, which religion 
 stands by to see fulfilled, and then comes forward to hallow it and cast 
 its peace over it. — The " mantle " (me'eel) was not a detached garment 
 as the word might suggest, but a tunic, the uppermost of the garments 
 proper. It was worn by women of the higher rank, 2 Sam. xiii. 18, as 
 well as men; was of linen or later of cotton, with arms, and reaching to 
 the ankles. It was often either richly embroidered or perhaps made up 
 of pieces of cloth of various colo'irs. Gen. xxxvii. 3. 
 
 21. naked shall / return thither\ The general sense is plain, though 
 the precise idea is obscure. The words " my mother's womb " must be 
 used literally, and return thither somewhat inexactly, to describe a 
 condition similar to that which preceded entrance upon life and 
 light. Or, as growth in the womb is described, Ps. cxxxix. 15, as 
 " being curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth," the womb 
 and the bosom of the earth, "the mother of all," may be compared 
 together. " We brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can 
 carry nothing out," i Tim. vi. 7. All that man has is a gift of God 
 which He may recall. Job blesses God alike who gave and who 
 recalled. 
 
 the name of the Lor(T\ The Author here lets the Israelitish name 
 Jehovah fall from the lips of his hero, contrary to his usual habit of 
 putting the names God, Almighty, which were not distinctively Hebrew, 
 into the mouths of the speakers. Perhaps the phrase was a general one 
 which alteration would have spoiled ; or more likely, the writer was 
 so much in sympathy with the sentiment put into Job's mouth that it 
 escaped him for the moment that it was not himself or his nation but 
 one foreign to Israel that was uttering it. 
 
 22. The Writer's judgment on Job's demeanour. 
 
 In all this\ Both in what he suffered and in what he said and did. 
 Job's expressions of grief were no sin. 
 
 charged God foolishly'] Rather as margin, attrihuted folly to God. 
 The word "folly" hardly expresses the idea, though a better word is
 
 12 JOB, II. [vv. 1—3. 
 
 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to 
 present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also 
 among them to present himself before the Lord. And the 
 Lord said unto Satan, From whence comcst thou ? And 
 Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and 
 fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And 
 the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant 
 Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and 
 an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil ? 
 and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou 
 
 not easy to find. The adj. signifies insipid, without savour, vi. 6 (un- 
 savoury), and the term here means moral impropriety ; Job attributed 
 no want of right moral savour to God's actions in His dealing with him. 
 Others prefer the meaning: Gave God no cause of displeasure ; a sense 
 less suitable to the meaning of the word and to the connexion, for the 
 action of the poem turns immediately on the estimate which Job will 
 form of God, and whether in consequence he will renounce Him, and 
 only indirectly on what God shall find in Job. But comp. ii. 10. 
 The confident predictions of the Satan are wholly falsified. 
 
 Cii. II. 1—10. Job's second trial and its issue: he sinned 
 
 NOT WITH HIS LIPS. 
 
 How long time intervened between Job's first trial and the second 
 is not stated. The Targum seems to conjecture a year. The new 
 trial is introduced like the first by a scene in heaven. The Council 
 of God convenes. His ministers stand before Him, and among them 
 the one whose office is, as the Targum says, to scrutinize the deeds 
 of men. The Lord speaks of His servant Job with apjiroval and with 
 compassion, reproaching the Satan with instigating Him to bring un- 
 deserved afllicticm upon^him. Satan's answer is ready : the trial did not 
 touch lob near enough ; safe himself, his children may perish ; if the 
 hand of God would touch him in his own bone and llesh, he would 
 renounce Him to his face. Satan receives permission to alfiict Job him- 
 self, with the reservation that he shall spare his life. Straightway Satan 
 o-oe's forth and smiles Job with sore boils, the leprosy called Elephantiasis 
 or botch of Egypt, Dcut. xxviii. 27, 35- 'I'lie deeper aflliclion only 
 opens or reveals greater deeps in Job's reverent piety. In his former 
 trial he blessed God who took away the good He had added to naked 
 man: this was strictly no evil : now he bows beneath His hand when 
 He inlhcts positive evil, " We receive good at the hand of God and shall 
 we not also receive evil?" And again the Writer sums up the issue of 
 the trial with the words, " In all this Job sinned not." 
 
 3. still he hohldh fast his iiiti'grity] Or, Ms perfectness, see oni. r. 
 Satan had insinuated that Job's religiousness was interested, he served
 
 vv. 4—7-] JOB, II. 13 
 
 movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. 
 And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, 4 
 all that a man hath will he give for his hfe. _ But put forth 5 
 thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he 
 will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, 6 
 Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. So went ^ 
 Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job 
 with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. 
 
 God for the benefits He conferred. That he maintained his godly fear 
 when the benefits were taken away refuted the suspicion, and shewed 
 that his trials were without cause. 
 
 4. The Satan's reply is that the trial was not suflliciently close, it 
 left the man himself untouched. 
 
 Skin for skw, yea, a/l] Rather, skin for skin, and all that a man 
 hath will he give for himself. The second half of the sentence is an 
 application to the subject in hand of the general truth expressed in the 
 words, Skin for skin. These words seem proverbial, though the origin 
 of the proverlj is obscure. The meaning seems to be, Like for like, 
 so all &c. Others take the expression in a less general sense. The 
 Targum translates, Member for member, one member of the body in 
 behalf of, or to cover another member, as the arm the head. The word 
 skin is used in our Book once or twice for the body, xviii. 13, 
 xix. ■26. If this sense could be adopted here the meaning would be, 
 Skin or body of others for one's own, all that a man has &c., in which 
 case the second clause would merely repeat the first. This is prosaic, 
 though adopted by Jerome, pro corio suo coria obtulit filiorum. The 
 verse would then run : Others for oneself, all that a man hath will he 
 give for himself. See the different interpretations discussed at length 
 in Conant's Job, p. 8 seq. 
 
 7. 'd'iih sore boils'] It is generally agreed that the disease of Job was 
 the leprosy called Elephantiasis, so named because the swollen limbs 
 and the black and corrugated skin of those affiicted by it resemble those 
 of the elephant. It is said by ancient authors, as Pliny, to be peculiar 
 to Egypt, but it is found in other hot countries such as the Hijaz, and 
 even in northern climates as Norway. It is said to attack the limbs 
 first, breaking out below the knees and gradually spreading over the 
 whole body. We are probably to consider, however, that Job was smitten 
 "from the sole of his foot unto his crown" all at once. Full details of 
 its appearance and the sensations of those affected may be gathered 
 from the Book, though, being poetically coloured, they will hardly bear 
 to be read like a page from a handbook of Pathology. The ulcers were 
 accompanied by an itching so intolerable that a piece of potsherd was 
 taken to scrape the sores and remove the feculent discharge, ii. 8. The 
 form and countenance were so disfigured by the disease that the sufferer's 
 friends could not recognise him, ii. 12. The ulcers seized the whole 
 body both without and inwardly, xix. 20, making the breath fetid, and
 
 U JOB, II. [vv. 8,9. 
 
 8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal ; and 
 
 9 he sat down among the ashes. Then said his wife unto 
 
 emitting a loathsome smell that drove every one from the sufferer's 
 presence, xix. 17, and made him seek refuge outside the village upon 
 the heap of ashes, ii. 8. The sores, which bred worms, vii. 5, alternately 
 closed, having the appearance of clods of earth, and opened and ran, 
 so that the body was alternately swollen and emaciated, xvi. 8. The 
 patient was haunted with horrible dreams, vii. £4, and unearthly terrors, 
 iii. 25, and harassed by a sensation of choking, vii. 15, which made his 
 nights restless and frightful, vii. 4, as his incessant pains made his days 
 weary, vii. i — 4. His bones were filled with gnawing pains, as if a 
 fire burned in them, xxx. 30, or as if his limbs were tortured in the 
 stocks, xiii. 27, or wrenched off, xxx. 17. He was helpless, and 
 his futile attempts to rise from the ground provoked the merriment 
 of the children who played about the heap where he lay, xix. 18. The 
 disease was held incurable, though the patient might linger many 
 years, and his hopelessness of recovery made him long for death, iii. 10 
 and often. Delitzsch and Dillmann refer to various treatises on the 
 subject, in particular, to one published at the cost of the Norwegian 
 Government, Danielsen et Boeck, Traitc de la SpJJalskhcd oil £le- 
 fhantiasis des Grecs (with coloured plates), Paris, [S48. 
 
 8. a>td he sat down among the ashcs\ Rather, as lie sat among. 
 By the "ashes" is possibly meant (as the Sept. already understands, 
 which translates iirl rrjs Koirpla<!) the Mdzbalah, the place outside the 
 Arabic towns where the zi7>/, that is, dung and other rubbish of the 
 place is thrown. "The dung which is heaped up upon the Mezbcle of the 
 Hauran villages is not mixed with straw, which in that warm and dry 
 land is not needed for litter, and it comes mostly from solid-hoofed 
 animals, as the Hocks and oxen are left over night in the grazing places. 
 It is carried in baskets in a dry state to this place before the village, 
 and usually burnt once a month... The ashes remain... If the village has 
 been inhabited for centuries the Mezbele reaches a height far overtopping 
 it. The winter rains reduce it into a compact mass, and it becomes by 
 and bye a solid hill of earth... The Mezliele serves the inhabitants for 
 a watchtower, and in the sultry evenings for a place of concourse, be- 
 cause there is a" current of air on the height. There all day long the 
 children play about it; and there the outcast, who has been stricken 
 with some loathsome malady, and is not allowed to enter the dwellings of 
 men, lays himself down, begging an alms of the passers-by by day, and 
 by night sheltering himself among the ashes which the heat of tlie sun 
 has warmed. There too lie the village dogs, perhaps gnawing a fallen 
 carcase, which is often flung there." Wetzstein in Delitzsch, Comm. on 
 Job, 2 Ed. p. 62 (Trans, vol. 11, p. 152). 
 
 9. Then said his wife] The incident related of Job's wife is not in- 
 troduced for her sake, but for the purpose of exhibiting through it the 
 condition of Job's mind, around which the drama turns. The author 
 did not indicate the impression which Job's personal afTliction pro- 
 duced upon him. What thoughts he had are concealed ; he is represented
 
 V. 9-] JOB, II. 15 
 
 him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity ? curse God, and 
 
 as sitting silent in his seclusion. The full impression of his miseries is 
 brought home to him reflected from the mind of another, that other 
 being the one fitted to influence him most powerfully. It is probable 
 that the episode of Job's wife is brought in with a double purpose, first, 
 to shew how all around Job, those nearest to him, gave way under the 
 severity of his trial, and thus by contrast to enhance the strength of his 
 faith and the grandeur of his character ; and second, to shew how, 
 though subjected to the keenest trial from the example and repre- 
 sentations of his wife, he still remained true. 
 
 The name Dinah given to Job's wife by theTargum or ChaldeeTrans- 
 lation most probably rests on no tradition, but is a mere child's fancy. 
 The Sept. introduces her speech, which it gives in a greatly amplified 
 form, with the words "when a long time had passed." The amplifica- 
 tion is not unsuitable to the circumstances, but the curt phrases of the 
 original are truer to art and nature, for grief is possessed of few words. 
 Much animated dispute has taken place over the character and conduci 
 of the woman. The Ancients were not favourably impressed by her. 
 Augustine calls her roundly Diaboli adjitlrix. The Geneva Version 
 discerns a sad and universal principle in lier conduct, "Satan useth the 
 same instrument against Job as he did against Adam." As was to be 
 expected the present age has espoused her cause, and labours hard to 
 put a face upon her words. The only question of importance is, what 
 sense the Author intended her words to convey ; and the key to this is 
 found in the way in which her husband takes them up. He does not 
 directly call her a "fool," that is, a godless person (Ps. xiv. i), but 
 with mild circumlocution says that she speaks as one of the foolish 
 women speaks. The Eastern writer lets the woman act in character 
 (Eccles. vii. 26 seq.). He would have probably smiled at the elaborate 
 analysing of the female mind to which Westerns devote themselves, 
 thinking it a waste of time. As the weaker Job's wife fell first into 
 the snare of the Devil, and used her influence, as in the beginning of 
 history, to draw her husband after her. Her story, however, is not told 
 for her sake, but to shew how those around Job fell away, and to set 
 in a strong light the strain to which his faith was put by such an 
 example and the solicitations that accompanied it. 
 
 curse God, and die\ Rather as before, renounce God and die. From 
 a modern point of view many extenuations may be pleaded for Job's 
 wife, but her religion is represented here as precisely of the T<ind which 
 Satan said Job's was of. She wonders that Job still maintains his 
 pious resignation ; and counsels him, as he gets no good from God but 
 only evil, even the extreme evil of death, to renounce an unprofitable 
 service, and die, as he must, for nothing else awaits him. This is pro- 
 bably the meaning of the words "and die." The words might have a 
 different meaning. When two imperatives come together the second 
 often expresses the consequence of the first, as do this and live. And, 
 "renounce God and die" might mean, renounce Him and bring down 
 His final stroke of death at once. The other is more probable.
 
 i6 JOB, II. [v. lo. 
 
 to die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the 
 foolish womoi speaketh. What? shall we receive good at 
 
 10. one of the foolish zuomen] The fear of the Lord is the l)cginning 
 of wisdom. " Wise" is less an intellectual than a moral term; and its 
 opposite "foolish" means godless, Ps. xiv. i. To "work folly in 
 Israel " is to infringe any of the sacred laws of natural or consuetudinary 
 morals, Judg. xix. 23; 2 Sam. xiii. 12. 
 
 ivhatl shall we rerehr] Or, we receive i:;ood... and shall %ve not also 
 receive (i.e. accept) evil? Job's words might mean, we receive much 
 good at the hand of God, shall we not also out of thankfulness for the 
 good, accept evil when He sends it? But this hardly goes to the root of 
 the counsel given by his wife. Therefore rather : we receive good from 
 God, not due to us, but in which we see the gift of His sovereign hand 
 (i. 21), shall we not also do homage to His absoluteness when He brings 
 evil upon us? Here Job reaches the utmost height of the religious 
 feeling. He is in danger of drifting away from this feeling under the 
 irritation of his friends' misdirected counsels, but he is led back again 
 to it with a deeper peace through the appearance and words of the Lord 
 (ch. xxxviii..f£Y-)- 'Hie Author lets us know what in his view true religion 
 is, whether in a man or in a nation, and doubtless amidst the troubles 
 and perplexing darkness of his time he had seen it exemplified both in 
 individual men and in that godly kernel of the nation which kept up 
 the true continuity of Israel and conserved its true idea. 
 
 The Writer adds his emphatic testimony to Job's sinlessness. In all 
 this, under this severe affliction of body, and exposed to this searching 
 temptation on the part of his wife, jfol) did not sin with his li/s, that is, 
 in any particular. Thinking and speaking hardly differ in the East, and 
 the words mean, let no sinful murmur escape him ; comp. Ps. xvii. 3. 
 
 Though the Writer professedly paints the sufferings and mental trou- 
 bles of an individual, and though it may be certain that he has the 
 sorrows of individuals before his mind, it is scarcely po^sible to doubt 
 that he is writing history also on a large scale. He has his nation with 
 its calamities and the various impressions these made upon the religious 
 mind in his view. The national calamity could be nothing less than 
 deportation or exile. As not one but several successive and diverse 
 waves of feeling pass over Job's mind in regard to his afilictions, we may 
 assume that the \Vriter did not stand close behind the great blow that 
 fell upon his people, but lived at a considerable distance from it. The 
 people had not only been stripped of their possessions, but subjected to 
 severe treatment themselves, and the apostasy of many was a sore trial 
 to the faith of those who remained constant, and the evil had lasted long 
 enough to produce various impressions on men's minds and give rise to 
 many attempts to solve the problem which it raised. These solutions are 
 reflected in the debate between Job and his friends. The Author has a 
 solution which is new, to the effect, namely, that the calamity is not a 
 punishment or chastisement on account of sin, as others held, but a trial 
 of righteousness. This view he invests in all the dramatic splendour that 
 distinguishes the Prologue. Though living long after the calamity had
 
 vv. II, 12.] JOB, ir. 17 
 
 the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil ? In all this 
 did not Job sin with his lips. 
 
 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that n 
 was come upon him, they came every one from his own 
 place ; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and 
 Zophar the Naamathite : for they had made an appointment 
 together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. 
 And when they lift up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, 12 
 
 befallen his fellow-citizens, the Author must have written previously to 
 the happy turn of affairs that restored them to prosperity and to a higher 
 plane of religious life. This restoration was the great hope he desired 
 to inspire. Such a hope was the counterpart of the other half of his 
 theory of evil. If suffering be the trial of righteousness, the trial, if 
 patiently borne, must bring an accumulation of spiritual gain. This 
 part of the theory vv'as necessary also in another view, in order to justify 
 the ways of God in subjecting the innocent to trial. 
 
 11 — 13. Job's three friends, having heard of his misfortunes, 
 
 COME TO condole WITH HIM. 
 
 How long time intervened between Job's second affliction and the 
 arrival of his friends cannot be accurately ascertained. From the allu- 
 sions in chaps, vii., xix., and xxx. , it is probable that a considerable time 
 elapsed. A man of Job's rank would not choose his friends from the 
 men of inferior station around him ; they would be, like himself, Eastern 
 princes, all but his equals in rank and influence. Their abodes would 
 therefore be distant from one another, and more distant from his, and 
 travelling in the East is slow. The tone of Job's mind, too, as reflected 
 in ch. iii., has undergone a change, the effect, no doubt, of protracted 
 sufferings. 
 
 Eliphaz is an old Idumean name (Gen. xxxvi. 4), and Teman, the 
 place of his abode, is frequently mentioned in connexion with Edom. 
 The place was famed for the wisdom of its inhabitants (Am. i. 
 12; Obad. 8; Jerem. xlix. 7; Ezek. xxv. 13). Shuah was a son of 
 Abraham by Keturah. The descendants of this wife were sent by 
 Abraham to the East (Gen. xxv. 2, 6). Bildad may be connected by 
 the Author with this family. Naamah, the dwelling-place of Zophar, 
 means, perhaps, pleasant abode {Beatisgour, Reuss). A place of this 
 name is mentioned. Josh. xv. 41, but this, being in Palestine, can hardly 
 have been the home of Zophar. The place is doubtless supposed by the 
 Writer to lie east of the Jordan. 
 
 11. fo)- tluy had made an appointme}it\ Or, and they met together. 
 They came each from his own place and met at one point to go to visit 
 Job together. 
 
 to mourn with hhri] Or, condole with him, and shew their sympathy 
 with him in his sufferings. 
 
 12. knew him not] He was so altered and disfigured by the disease. 
 
 JOB 2
 
 i8 JOB, II. [v. 13. 
 
 they lifted up their voice, and wept ; and they rent every 
 one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward 
 13 heaven. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven 
 days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him : 
 for they saw that his grief was very great. 
 
 As Job perhaps lay outside the town they may have seen him at a 
 distance. 
 
 sprinkled dust upon their heads'] that is, they threw dust upwards 
 towards heaven, wliich fell upon their heads, the gesture intimating 
 perhaps that they were laid in the dust by a calamity sent from heaven ; 
 comp. Josh. vii. 6; i Sam. iv. 12; Lam. ii. 10. See on i. 20. 
 
 13. nojie spake a 7vord] Being overwhelmed by the affecting sight 
 before them ; as the Author adds : they saw that the grief, i.e. the pain 
 or affliction, was very great. Comp. Ezek. iii. 15. The length of tmie 
 during which they sat in silence, seven days and seven nights (the time 
 of mourning for the dead, Gen. 1. 10; i. Sam. xxxi. 13), shews the pro- 
 found impression made upon them. 
 
 Ch. III. Moved by the sympathising presence of his friends. 
 Job loses his self-control, and breaks out into a pas- 
 sionate CRY FOR death. 
 
 The expressive gestures of Job's friends betokened the liveliest 
 sympathy, and their silence of seven days indicated how awful they 
 felt his calamity to be. And we often learn how to estimate our own 
 situation from the countenances of others, and the passing movements on 
 the faces around us rule the tide of feeling in our own breasts. From 
 the sentiments which the three friends gave utterance to afterwards we 
 know that very mixed feelings may have led to their silence and 
 dismay, but if so, such a thing was unsuspected by Job. He was so 
 conscious of his own innocence that he never supposed" that others could 
 suspect it, and he saw only sympathy and friendship and the reflection 
 of his great misery in his friends' demeanour. Formerly he was able to 
 rebuke the suggestions of the woman, his wife, and restrain himself. But 
 now he is in the presence of men his fellows, the companions of his 
 former prosperity, and his self-control deserts him, and he breaks out 
 into a passionate cry that he might die. 
 
 This cry of misery is thrice repeated in the chapter : 
 
 1 — 10. Would God I had never been conceived or bom. 
 
 11 — 19. Would God I had died from my birth. 
 
 20—26. Why does God continue life to the wretched, who long for 
 death? 
 
 1 — 10. Would God I had never been conceived or born. 
 
 This is the idea really expressed when Job curses his day and wishes 
 it blotted out of existence. First he curses the day of his birth and the 
 night of his conception together, v. 3, and then each separately, the 
 day in two verses and the night in four. Let darkness seize that
 
 vv- I -5-] JOB, III. 19 
 
 After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day. 3 
 And Job spake, and said, » 
 
 Let the day perish wherein I was born, 3 
 
 And the night in which it was said, 
 There is a man child conceived. 
 Let that day be darkness; 4 
 
 Let not God regard it from above, 
 Neither let the light shine upon it. 
 
 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain It; s 
 
 Let a cloud dwell upon it; 
 Let the blackness of the day terrify it. 
 
 day ; let not God from above seek after it ; let thick darkness and the 
 shadow of death claim it as part of their heritage ; let clouds and all 
 that maketh black the day, eclipses, ominous obscurations, affright it, 
 vv. 4, 5. Let darkness swallow up that night that it be not reckoned 
 nor come in among the joyful troop of nigdits in their glittering pro- 
 cession ; while other nights ring with birth-day gladness let it sit barren ; 
 let enchanters curse it ; let it be endless, waiting always for a dawn that 
 never breaks, vv. 6 — 10. 
 
 1. cursed hisdayl The day of his birth. Reverent minds have always 
 found difficulty in accommodating themselves to the religious boldness 
 of the Book of Job. A curious instance of this is given in the Catena 
 of Greek interpreters on Job, where one writer interprets Job's "day" 
 to be the day when man fell from righteousness to sin. The same 
 feehng has influenced the translation of xiii. 15 and xix. 25. 
 
 _ 3. night in ivhich it ^uas said] Rather, tlie night wliicli said. The 
 night is_ personified and cursed as a conscious agent, responsible for 
 Job's existence, comp. v. 10. 
 
 There is a man child conceived] Rather, a man; "A woman when she 
 is in travail hath sorrow ; but as soon as she is delivered of the child 
 she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into 
 the world," John xvi. 21, 
 
 4. regard it] lit. seek after it, or care for it. Let it perish from His 
 mind that He cause no sun to rise upon it. 
 
 5. shadow of death stain it] Rather, claim it, lit. redeem it. Let it 
 become part of the possession of darkness. The word, however, does 
 not mean reclaim, as if the idea were that the day had been won from 
 darkness by light and was to be reconquered. The translation "shadow 
 of death" possibly rests on a false etymology; at the same time it is 
 perhaps the best that can be given, and Hitzig's conjecture that the 
 Hebrews themselves came to see the word "death" in the termination 
 of the form may not be far astray, comp. Job xxxviii. 17. The word 
 originally means " deepest darkness." 
 
 the blackness of the day] lit. blacknesses. The word probably means 
 "all that makes black the day," eclipses, supernatural obscurations and 
 the like — all ominous darknesses that terrify a day. 
 
 2 — 2
 
 20 JOB, III. [vv. 6—9. 
 
 i 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. 
 
 Lo, let that niglit be solitary. 
 
 Let no joyful voice come therein. 
 : Let them curse it that curse the day, 
 
 Who arc ready to raise up their mourning. 
 
 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; 
 
 6. Id it not he joined unto] Rather, let it not rejoice among'. Let 
 it not enter the joyful troop of days, glad in its existence and its beauty. 
 Another way of spelling the word gives the meaning, let it not be 
 joined unto. 
 
 7. be soUtaryi\ Rather perhaps, barren, as Is. xlix. i\. Let it not 
 experience a parent's joy, and let nought that lives date its birth from it. 
 
 no joyful z'oicc\ of birthday rejoicing. 
 
 8. The most probable sense of this verse is, 
 
 Let them that curse days curse it. 
 Them tliat are skilled to rouse up the Dragon. 
 They that curse days or the day are enchanters and magicians, who were 
 Ijelicved to have power to cast their spells upon a day and overwhelm it 
 with darkness and misfortune. Perliaps, however, the first half of the 
 verse is explained by the second, and only one species of enchantment 
 referred to, namely, rousing up the Dragon. The Heb. word is leviathan. 
 This name is given in ch. xli. to a sea or river monster, probably, the 
 crocodile, but it is difficult to find any logical connexion between rousing 
 up the crocodile and cursing days. The word leviathan means twisted 
 or having folds, and is an epithet for a serpent. In Is. xxvii. i we read : 
 In that day Jehovah with his sore and great and strong sword shall 
 visit leviathan the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the serpent with coils. 
 The key to the meaning of the verse, however, is found in Job xxvi. 13, 
 which rightly rendered means, 
 
 By His breath the heavens become bright, 
 
 His hand pierceth the fleeing serpent. 
 Here piercing the fleeing serpent and making the heavens clear are 
 I)arallel acts. The fleeing serpent, therefore, was the cause of tlie 
 darkness. In both passages in Job there is an allusion to the popular 
 mythology, according to which the darkening or eclipse of the sun and 
 moon was caused by the serpent throwing its folds around them, or 
 swallowing them up. In its origin this mythology is probably nothing 
 more than a stroke of the poetic imagination, which turned the dark 
 cloud or eclipsing shadow into a huge Dragon. Enchanters were sup- 
 posed to have power to set this Dragon in motion, and cause the lights 
 of day or night to be swallowed up. 
 
 9. the twilight thereof] that is, the morning twilight of that night. 
 Let its morning stars, that should herald its day, go out — as the next 
 clause explains : let it look for the light of a day that never breaks.
 
 vv. 10—14] JOB, III. 21 
 
 Let it look for light, but have none; 
 
 Neither let it see the dawning of the day: 
 
 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, 10 
 
 Nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. 
 
 Why died I not from the womb? n 
 
 Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the 
 
 belly ? 
 Why did the knees prevent me ? \% 
 
 Or why the breasts that I should suck ? 
 For now should I have lien siill and been quiet, 13 
 
 I should have slept : then had I been at rest. 
 With kings and counsellers of the earth, 14 
 
 Which built desolate places for themselves; 
 
 see the dawning of the day'\ lit. behold the eyelids of the morning. This 
 beautiful figure looks like an idea from Western poetry, just as the 
 chamber of the Sun, Ps. xix. 5. All commentators quote the parallel 
 from Sophocles, xp'^'^^"-^ dfi^pas ^\i(papov, Antigone, 103. 
 
 10. the doors of my viothcr''s woi)ili[ to hinder conception or fruit- 
 fulness. Gen. XX. iS ; i Sam. i. 5. The crime of the night is deferred 
 to the last, and the curse closes with the mention of it. 
 
 11 — 19. Would God I had died from my birth. 
 
 If he must be born. Job asks. Why he did not die from the womb? 
 his eye turning to the next possibility and chance of escaping sorrow. 
 Had he died he would have been at peace; and the picture of the pain- 
 less stillness of death fascinates him and he dwells long on it, counting 
 over with a minute particularity all classes, kings and prisoners, slaves 
 and masters, small and great, who there drink deep of a common 
 peace, escaping the unquietness of life, for life upon the earth, however 
 lived, is full of a painful restlessness. The thought of this stillness of 
 death brings a certain calm to the sufferer's mind, and the passionate- 
 ness of his former words subsides. 
 
 12. the knees prevent /;/e] Rather, receive, or meet me. The 
 reference may be to the father's knees, on which the nevi^ bom child 
 was laid, or more general. As to the expression, see Gen. 1. 23 ; 
 Is. Ixvi. 12. The sufferer's eye runs over all the chances of death 
 which he had miserably lost, when he came from the womb, was laid 
 upon the knees, and pressed to the breasts. The sorrow of his later 
 years transmutes (as it does still with others) the tender affections and 
 solicitudes lavished on his infancy, and makes them seem bitter cruelties. 
 
 13. The words receive their pathos from the contrast of his present 
 anguish, v. 26. 
 
 14. which built desolate places'] The expression seems to be that 
 which occurs several times in Scripture, e.g. Is. Iviii. 12, Ixi. 4; Ezek. 
 xxxvi. 10, T,i ; Mal. i. 4, and means to build up or rebuild ruins, i. e.
 
 ■22 JOB, III. [vv. 15— iS. 
 
 15 Or with princes that had gold, 
 Who filled their houses ivii/i silver: 
 
 16 Or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been; 
 As infants zoJiich never saw light. 
 
 17 There the wicked cQ:x?,Qfroin troubling; 
 And there the weary be at rest. 
 
 18 There the prisoners rest together; 
 
 They hear not the voice of the oppressor. 
 
 cities or habitations desolated or abandoned, and make them again in- 
 liabited. If this be the meaning the phrase must l^e used in a general 
 way to indicate the greatness of those l<ings and counsellors when they 
 were alive and the renown they won. To this idea the words in v. 15, 
 princes who had gold, form a parallel. The speaker wishes to indicate 
 that instead of lying in squalor and being the contempt of the low-born 
 race of men as he now is (ch. xxx.), if he had died he would have been 
 in company of the great dead who played famous parts in life. This 
 appears to be the general idea of the words, but the phrase " built 
 desolate places for themselves " is too vague in such a connexion, and 
 the words "for themselves" suggest something definite and well-known 
 as that which they built, as does the parallel expression "who filled 
 their houses with silver." The Hebrew word " desolate places " has a 
 distant resemblance in sound to the Egyptian word Pyramids, and some 
 adopt this sense here. There may be some corruption of the Text. 
 
 15. their houses ivith silver'\ There is no reason for supposing that 
 "houses" means mausoleums or tombs. The reference is not to the 
 practice of burying treasures along with the dead, nor to the idea that 
 the pomp of riches could thus be perpetuated in death. It is those who 
 were famous in this life with whom Job, had he died, would have been 
 in company in death. 
 
 16. With strong revulsion from the anguish of life Job desires even if 
 possible a deeper death than to have died when born, even the death of 
 having been dead born, scarcely to be distinguished from non-existence 
 itself. Comp. Eccles. iv. 2, 3, with Plumptre's notes and citations from 
 the classics. 
 
 17. cease from iroiibliiig\ That is, probably, not from troubling others, 
 but from the unquiet of their own evil. Verses 17 — 19 contain the two 
 main ideas, first, that all, evil and good, great and small, are the same in 
 the place of the dead; and seconil, that this common condition is one of 
 profound rest. Even the wicked there are no more agitated by the 
 turbulence of their passions. Comp. Is. Ivii. 20. 
 
 the iveary\ lit. the wearied as to strength, the exhausted. 
 
 18. the prisoners rest together'\ Tlie "prisoners" are not those 
 immured in prison, but captives driven to forced labour. 
 
 the oppressor^ The taskmaster, Ex. iii. 7. The prisoners are there all 
 together, and they hear not the voice, the shouts and curses of the driver 
 (ch. xxxix. 7).
 
 vv. 19—23.] JOB, III. 23 
 
 The small and great are. there; 19 
 
 And the servant is free from his master. 
 
 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, 20 
 
 And life unto the bitter in soul ; 
 
 Which long for death, but it cometh not; 21 
 
 And dig for it more than for hid treasures; 
 
 Which rejoice exceedingly, =2 
 
 Atid are glad, when they can find the grave? 
 
 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, 23 
 
 And whom God hath hedged in ? 
 
 19. small and gi-eat are there] i.e. are there alike, the same. 
 
 20 — 26. Why DOES GoD continue life to the wretched, who 
 
 LONG FOR DEATH? 
 
 The vision of the peacefulness of death passes away, and Job 
 awakens again to the consciousness of his real condition, and his words, 
 which had sunk into cahnness as he contemplated the peace of death, 
 now seem to rise again like the storm after a lull, Wherefore gives He 
 light to him that is in misery ? He does not name though he alludes to 
 God, and the indirect reference though partly due to reverence betrays a 
 rising alienation in his heart. His question is one of anguish and im- 
 patience. His own condition throws its gloom over all human life, and 
 he puts the question first generally, vv. 20 — 22 ; there are many like him 
 seeking death and unable to find it, who would exult for joy if they 
 could find the grave. Then he comes to the individual, v. 23, meaning 
 himself. Wherefore gives He life to the man whose way is hid ? the man 
 who cannot see and cannot move, who can discover no solution of the 
 riddle of his life, and find no course of action to relieve himself, who 
 lies in the grasp of a calamity which has too surely come from God, and 
 which has introduced confusion among all the principles of religion 
 which he has hitherto held and into the relation to God in which he has 
 hitherto stood, v. 23. And finally he adds some touches to the pic- 
 ture of his misery, his constant moaning, and the unbroken succession 
 of troubles that afflict him, which come so thick that he has no respite 
 from one before another overtakes him, w. 24 — 26. 
 
 20. Wherefore is light given] This is a possible translation, but more 
 probably we should render, wherefore gives He light? the Author of 
 light and life being alluded to obliquely and not named. The bitter is 
 plur., those that are bitter in soul. Job's eye looks over mankind and 
 sees many in the same condition of miseiy as himself. Comp. ch. vii. 
 I seq. 
 
 22. rejoice exceedingh'X Vit. rejoice ez'en to exultation, Hos. ix. i. 
 
 23. whose way is hid] Job now narrows his view from the general 
 sorrows of mankind to himself. His way is hid or lost, the clear path 
 of his former life has suddenly broken off, or as the second clause of the 
 verse expresses it, has been shut in by a hedge, set by God across it.
 
 24 JOB, III. [vv. 24—26. 
 
 24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, 
 
 And my roarings are poured out like the waters. 
 
 25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, 
 And that which I was afraid of is come unto me. 
 
 26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I 
 
 quiet; 
 Yet trouble came. 
 
 The reference is not merely to his physical calamities, but much more to 
 the speculative and religious perplexities which his calamities wove 
 about his mind, and from which he can find no outlet, cf. xix. 8. 
 
 24. before / eai\ lit. before my meat, as margin. The temporal 
 meaning of before gives no sense here. In i Sam. i. 16 the same ex- 
 pression occurs, "Count not thine handmaid y^r a daughter of Belial." 
 Therefore render, my sighing comethyi;;- (instead of, or, like) my meat; 
 it is his constant, daily food. 
 
 like the waters] Rather, lilce water, i.e. a broad, unbroken stream. 
 
 25, 26. the thing which I feared] These two verses read thus, 
 
 For let me fear an evil, and it cometh upon me, 
 And whatsoever I dread, it overtakes me; 
 I have no ease, neither quiet nor rest, 
 But trouble cometh. 
 
 The whole passage from v. 20 describes Job's present condition. The 
 speaker says, if he but imagines an evil, if he but " fears a fear," it is 
 immediately upon him. The words are put hypothetically in the past 
 tense : Have I feared a fear, it cometh upon me ; but the reference 
 cannot be to the real past, as in the English Version, because it would 
 be contrary to the idea of the poem to suppose that Job even in the days 
 of his golden prime was haunted with indefinite fears of coming misfor- 
 tune. On the contrary the picture he gives of himself, ch. xxix., shews 
 that his piety reflected itself in a full and trustful peace of mind; see his 
 own words ch. xvi. 12, xxix. 18 sej. 
 
 Verse 26 means that Job has no pause between the waves of his 
 affliction, no time to recover from one before another overwhelms him. 
 " Trouble " here is the fit or paroxysm of trouble. 
 
 Job's three friends sat silent before him seven days. Then Job spake 
 and cursed his day. His speech opened his friends' mouths and pro- 
 bably also their eyes. Job's language and demeanour v/ere not what 
 they would have looked for from one in his condition. Ilis violent 
 complaints and his indirect allusions to Heaven were not only unbecom- 
 ing in themselves, but cast an unwelcome light upon his past life. Job 
 speaks no doubt with the passion of despair and in the bitterness of his 
 misery, and his indirect allusions to God betray impatience and are 
 uttered with a tone of resentment, though there is as yet no direct 
 charge of injustice against God, only an impatient demand why He con- 
 tinues life to one in such misery. His tone of mind is very different from 
 that exhibited whea his trials had newly befallen him or when he replied
 
 JOB, IV. 25 
 
 to the suggestions of his wife. And it is this tone, suggesting so much 
 more than it expressed, that the three friends lay hold of and attach 
 their exhortations to, and which is thus the point out of which the 
 whole succeeding debate developes itself. 
 
 Cii. IV. — XXXI. The debate between Job and his friends 
 
 ON THE QUESTION OF HIS SUFFERINGS AND ON THE MEANING 
 OF EVIL IN GENERAL. 
 
 This Debate occupies the whole body of the Book. It attaches 
 itself to Job's passionate cry for death and his impatient allusions to 
 Heaven "in ch. iii. The tone of this speech the friends cannot refrain 
 from reprobating — they must speak (ch. iv, '2) ; and thus the warfare of 
 words commences. The subject to begin with is Job's sufferings, but 
 naturally the discussion widens out, so as to embrace the whole question 
 of the meaning and purposes of calamity or evil in general. As the 
 debate on the meaning of suffering occupies so large a portion of the 
 Book, we must assume that one of the main intentions of the Author in 
 writing his poem was to let light in upon this question from various 
 sides and present ancient and current as well as new views regarding it. 
 And as he allows the three friends to be brought to silence by Job, we 
 may be sure that it was his purpose to discredit the theories which they 
 represented and to teach that they could not any longer be maintained. 
 Job in his speeches has no theory, he contributes nothing positive. The 
 part he plays is merely negative and destructive. But in confuting the 
 friends he clears the ground of the old encumbrances, and in their place 
 the Author himself brings forward his new truth regarding the meaning 
 of suffering, which he exhibits in a highly dramatic form in the Pro- 
 logue. Both Job and his friends debate the question ignorant of the 
 real cause of Job's calamities, and neither they nor he approach the 
 true solution. The Author allows us who watch the debate to know 
 that Job's sufferings were a trial of his righteousness. Thus the Pro- 
 logue serves the same purpose as the prologue in the Greek drama, 
 it introduces the actors, and supplies the spectators with the informa- 
 tion needful to understand the action. 
 
 The Author allows three persons to confront Job and maintain against 
 him the traditional beliefs. It is possible that the number as well as 
 the names of Job's friends may belong to the tradition upon which the 
 Author worked. If not, he may mean to indicate by the number three 
 the widespread currency and general acceptance of the views they ad- 
 vocate. The friends have each a well-marked individuality, and repre- 
 sent distinct aspects of religious conviction among mankind. Eliphaz, 
 who on each occasion opens the debate, is the most dignified, the 
 calmest and most considerate, and perhaps the oldest of Job's friends. 
 He is a man almost of Prophetic rank, who speaks with the composure 
 and authority and clear eye of a seer, as one to whom revelations by 
 vision have been granted from Heaven (iv. 12 se^.). Bildad, a man of 
 less consideration, is a representative of the class of the Wise (Jerem. 
 xviii. 18; Prov. i. 6); an observer of life, one who generalizes on the 
 ways of God to man, whose mind is stored with the priceless moral
 
 26 JOB, IV. 
 
 precedents of past ages, and who reposes upon the conclusions of 
 thoughtful men of all times (ch. viii.). While Zophar is the private 
 religious man of strong personal conviction, who doubtless lives by the 
 truth he believes, and cannot imagine how any one should question it ; 
 who gets irritated and indulges in unworthy imputations against any 
 one who disputes the truth of his principles. All three were sincere 
 men, though their sincerity had never perhaps been put to the proof as 
 Job's had been. 
 
 The three friends come to the contemplation of Job's sufferings, and 
 to the discussion of the meaning of them, with a principle which they all 
 agree in holding. Like all Shemitic thinkers they have no idea of what 
 we call second causes. In their view God is in immediate relation to 
 the world and the lives of men, and does all directly that happens. 
 Evil and Good come immediately from His hand ; and being a righteous 
 ruler every event of His providence must be either a reward of good or a 
 retribution on evil. It is invariably well with the righteous and ill with 
 the wicked, or perhaps more strictly, it is invariably well with righteous- 
 ness and ill with wickedness. For even the righteous may do evil, for 
 what man is he that sinneth not? and his evil will bring down punish- 
 ment upon it. But God is far from being an impersonal moral balance, 
 weighing out happiness and adversity according to the deserts of men, 
 with no interest in their fate. On the contrary. His eyes are on the 
 righteous, and though lie chastens them for their sin, His chastisement 
 is not in order that they may perish (iv. 7), it is correction, meant to 
 wean them from their evil and turn them again in humility and re- 
 pentance unto righteousness. Therefore "happy is the man whom God 
 correcteth" (ch. v. 17) ; such correction is an arrest laid upon him in 
 his way of evil. Calamity therefore is not in itself decisive of the 
 character of a man, though it is decisive of the fact that he has sinned. 
 The issue of calamity only can shew what a man really is. If he is a 
 righteous man, he accepts it as the warning of God and turns from his 
 evil, and his future life is filled with blessings from God, and he shall 
 enjoy length of days and all prosperity (v. 19 — 27). If he is evil he 
 murmurs and rejects the divine correction, and brings wrath upon him- 
 self and perishes (v. 2). These principles explain the course pursued by 
 the three friends towards Job. However strange it might seem to them 
 they had no help but to conclude that Job, though a righteous man as 
 they had always thought him, and continued to think him, had been 
 guilty of acts of sin very displeasing unto God. And the temper he 
 displayed under his afflictions alarmed them : it was the very temper of 
 the ungodly (v. 2). Hence one after another they earnestly warn and 
 exhort him to turn in humility and repentance unto God ; and they draw 
 bright pictures of the happy future which he shall yet enjoy. 
 
 As for Job he agreed with his three friends in believing that all 
 events occurred through the immediate agency of God ; good and evil 
 came directly from His hand. Further he agreed with them that evil or 
 suffering was inflicted by God on those whom He held guilty of having 
 sinned. But Job's consciousness of his own innocence forbad his drawing 
 the conclusion with his friends that he had lieen guilty of great and 
 specific offences. He knew he had not. He was driven therefore to
 
 JOB, IV. 27 
 
 the conclusion that, though he was not guilty, God had resolved to hold 
 liim guilty (ix. 29 and often), and treat him as if he were so. Hence he 
 is led to cliarge God with injustice. This feeling shines dimly through 
 Iiis words in cli. iii., and his friends detected it, but under their provo- 
 cations and insinuations of his guilt he boldly avows his conviction of 
 God's injustice, and throws it out with a passionate fury appalling to a 
 reverent mind. This however is but one side of the conflict going on in 
 his mind. There are other currents of feeling that run side by side 
 with this one. The action of the drama is nothing else than the pro- 
 gress of feeling in Job's mind under his sufferings and the views re- 
 garding them presented by his friends. This progress, however, will be 
 better understood when the chapters are read. 
 
 It is evident that the alienation of Job's mind from God was increased 
 and his feelings embittered by the insinuations and the misdirected 
 advice of his friends. We should be deviating, however, from the line 
 of the Author's conception if we were to regard the provocations of the 
 friends as a third or separate temptation. Job's trial was merely his 
 afflictions, narrated in the prologue. This trial continued. The friends 
 only set it in a particular light. Before they arrived, or at least before 
 they spoke, Job's mind had already drifted away from the attitude of 
 reverent submission which he took up when his afflictions newly befell 
 him. The friends add to his perplexity, but they are little else than 
 voices that give body to the thoughts that must have risen and struggled 
 in his own mind. It is to be noticed that the Satan no more appears. 
 With the infliction of Job's calamities his part is ended. The super- 
 natural agencies of the Prologue are no more called into requisition. It 
 is plain indeed that the scenes in the Prologue are nothing but a splendidly 
 dramatic form adopted by the Author for putting before us his new 
 truth that calamities may befall the righteous not for any evil they have 
 done but in order to try their righteousness and through the trial to 
 perfect it. 
 
 The great debate is divided into three circles of speeches : (i) ch. iv. — 
 xiv. ; (2) ch. XV. — xxi. ; (3) ch. xxii. — xxxi. Each of these three circles 
 contains six speeches, one by each of the three friends in succession, with a 
 reply from Job. In the last round, however, the third speaker, Zophar, 
 fails to come forward. This is a confession of defeat ; and Job, re- 
 suming the thread of his reply to Bildad, carries it through a series of 
 chapters, in which, with a profound pathos, he contrasts his former 
 greatness with his present misery, protests his innocence before Heaven, 
 and adjures God to reveal to him the cause of his afflictions. 
 
 Ch. IV. — XIV. The first circle of speeches. 
 
 Ch. IV. V. The speech of Eliphaz. 
 
 Eliphaz attaches his speech to Job's despairing cry in ch. iii. The 
 tone of Job's words and his state of mind seem to him strange and very 
 far from right. And though he would gladly be silent and spare one 
 in Job's condition, yet he is constrained to speak (iv. 2). Proceeding 
 to speak, Eliphaz gives expression to three thoughts, each of which
 
 cS JOB, IV. [ 
 
 vv. 
 
 4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, 
 
 3 If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? 
 
 bears on the tone and temper displayed by Job in his cry of despair 
 (ch. iii.). 
 
 1 — 11. First, Eliphaz wonders that Job, who had comforted so many 
 in trouble, and who was a righteous man, should fall into such despair 
 under his afflictions, forgetting the great principle that the righteous 
 never perish under affliction. Calamity destroys only the wicked ; the 
 affliction of the righteous is designed to have a very different issue. 
 
 12. — V. 7. Second, — proceeding with deeper earnestness — he must 
 advert to Job's murmurs against Heaven and warn him from them. For 
 can any man have right on his side in complaining of God? Only the 
 ungodly resent the dealing of God with them. By their impatience 
 imder affliction they bring down God's final anger upon them, so that 
 they perish. 
 
 8 — 27. Third, surely instead of despairing and murmuring under his 
 afflictions Job should follow a very different way. I, says Eliphaz, 
 putting himself in Job's place, would seek unto God, all whose doings 
 are directed to the saving of the meek and disappointing the devices of 
 the evil. When He smites. He smites only that He may the more pro- 
 foundly heal. Happy should the man count himself whom God corrects, 
 for his correction is meant to awaken him out of his dream of evil and 
 lead him into a broader, clearer life, rich in blessings, and to be crowned 
 with a ripe and peaceful end. 
 
 This beautiful speech consists of three parts, of which the first contains 
 a single division, ch. iv. i — ii ; the second, two divisions, ch. iv. 12 — 
 21, and ch. v. i — 7; and so also the third, ch. v. S — 16, and ch. v. 
 17-27. 
 
 Cir. IV. 1—11. El.IPIIAZ WONDERS THAT JOB, WHO HAD COM- 
 FORTED SO MANY IN TROUBLE, AND WAS A RIGHTEOUS MAN, 
 SHOULD FALL INTO SUCH DESPAIR UNDER HIS AFFLICTIONS. 
 
 Eliphaz would gladly have kept silence in the circumstances of his 
 friend, but the tone of Job's words constrains him to speak (z;._ 2). He 
 wonders at the despondency of Job, one who had shewn himself so 
 skilful in comforting other good men in affliction {vv. 3, 4), and wtio was 
 himself a righteous man. He should place confidence in his righteous- 
 ness, and remember that the righteous never perish under affliction. 
 God does not send trouble upon them to destroy them, but for very 
 different ends {^m. 6, 7). It is only the wicked whom He chastises unto 
 death, and causes to reap the trouble which they sow (vv. 8, 9), and 
 perish like beasts of prey (z't/. 10, n). Eliphaz's doctrine of the mean- 
 ing of suffering or evil comes out in the very forefront of his remon- 
 strance with Job. 
 
 2. If we assay to commune] lit. if one should assay a tuordwith thee. 
 
 be grieved] This word is rendered thou faintest, v. 5. It means to 
 
 be weary ; this may be equivalent either to be impatient. Is. i. 14, or to
 
 vv. 3— 7-] JOB, IV. 29 
 
 But who can withhold himself from speaking ? 
 Behold, thou hast instructed many, 
 And thou hast strengthened the weak hands. 
 Thy words have upholden him that was falling, 
 And thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. 
 But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; 
 It toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. 
 Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, 
 Thy hope ; and the uprightness of thy ways ? 
 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being in- 
 nocent ? 
 
 be exhausted. It is difficult to decide here. We may render, leaving 
 the ambiguity, will it be too 7mich for thee ? Eliphaz speaks unwillingly, 
 and would spare Job, but he is compelled by the frame of mind in which 
 he sees his friend. 
 
 3. the weak hands] lit. the hands hanging down, a sign of helpless- 
 ness and despondency, 1 Sam. iv. i ; Is. xiii. 7. Comp. Job's words 
 of himself, ch. xxix. 15, 16. 
 
 4. the feeble knees'] lit. as margin, the bowing, or tottering, knees ; 
 the figure being that of one tottering under a heavy load, which he is 
 ready to sink beneath. See Is. xxxv. 3, 4 ; Heb. xii. 12. 
 
 5. it is come upoti thee] Rather, it cometli. Jt is the calamity, 
 which Eliphaz does not care further to particularize. 
 
 art troubled] Or, art confounded, losest self-possession, as Job had 
 indeed described himself as one wholly perplexed, "whose way was 
 hid," iii. 23. 
 
 We must beware of supposing that there is any flavour of sarcasm in 
 the words of Eliphaz, as if he hinted that Job found it an easier thing to 
 administer comfort to others than to take home the comfort to himself. 
 Such a thing is wholly foreign to the mood of Eliphaz at starting, who, 
 though he does find something to blame in Job's state of mind, is per- 
 fectly sincere and friendly. It is equally irrelevant to the connexion. 
 
 Those whom Job had consoled are to be supposed pious men under 
 trials. Job, as a man of deep religious experience, was able to set before 
 them such views of providence, and of the uses of adversity in God's 
 hand, and open up such prospects to them, that he upheld and confirmed 
 them. The verses 3 — 5 are incomplete, and form the foreground to 
 vv. 6, 7, which express the real point of the statement of Eliphaz. 
 
 6. Is 7iot this thy fear?] This verse should read, 
 
 Is not thy fear of God thy confidence ? 
 
 And thy hope, is it not the perfection of thy ways? 
 
 When Job comforted others he no doubt would refer to their god- 
 fearing life as a ground of hope that God would give them a happy issue 
 out of their afflictions. Eliphaz desires that Job should apply the same 
 medicine to himself. He assumes that Job is a god-fearing man.
 
 30 JOB, IV. [vv. S— II. 
 
 Or where were the righteous cut off? 
 
 Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, 
 
 And sow wickedness, reap the same. 
 
 By the blast of God they perish, 
 
 And by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. 
 
 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion. 
 
 And the teeth of the young lions, are broken. 
 
 The old lion perisheth for lack of prey. 
 
 And the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad. 
 
 7. Eliphaz would have Job remember that the afflictions of tlie 
 righteous are disciplinary, and not designed for their destruction — who 
 ever perished being innocent? He puts his principle first negatively, 
 the righteous do not perish under affliction; and then positively, it is 
 the wicl<ed, they who plough iniquity that reap it, v. 8 sei/. 
 
 8. even as I have secn'\ Rather, as I liave seen. The words might 
 be also rendered, when I saw those that ploughed iniquity... they reaped 
 it. Eliphaz draws a distinction between two classes of men, on both of 
 whom affliction may come — the righteous, who may no doubt sin and be 
 chastised for their sin, but who do not perish under their chastise- 
 ments (see ch. v. 17 seq.), and the wicked, wliose sinning is, so to speak, 
 a business which they practise as the tiller ploughs and sows his field, 
 and whose harvest is unfailing. The words iniquity and wickedness 
 may mean also affliction and trouble. The two pairs of things correspond 
 to one another. That whicli the wicked plougli and cast into the 
 ground may be iniquity and wickedness, they reap it in the form of 
 affliction and trouble. For the figure comp. llos. viii. 7; x. 13. 
 
 9. by the blast of God\ Belter, 
 
 By the breath of God they perish. 
 
 And by the blast of his anger are they consumed. 
 
 The destructive judgment of God upon the wicked is described as a 
 fiery breath coming from His mouth, as the hot wind of the desert 
 withers and burns up the grass, cf. Is. xl. 7 ; Am. i. 2. 
 
 10. 11. The sudden destruction of the wicked is thrown by Eliphaz 
 into another graphic figure, the breaking-up and dispersion of a den of 
 lions. There arc i\st. words used for lion in these verses, some of which are 
 epithets taken from the characteristics of the lion; they are: lion, 
 roaring lion (rather than, fierce lion), young lion, v. 10, and strong (or, 
 old) lion, and lioness — the whelps of the lioness, v. 11. Between the 
 lion and the wicked whom Eliphaz describes there are two points of 
 resemblance; first, their strength or power; and second, their inherent 
 violence of nature. This is the kind of men on whom afflictions 
 fall that are final. The picture of the breaking-up of the lion's home is 
 very graphic; in the midst of the strong lion's roaring and tearing of his 
 prey by a sudden stroke his roaring is silenced and his teeth dashed out; 
 thus disabled he perishes for lack of prey ; and the whelps having no
 
 JOB, IV. 31 
 
 provider are scattered abroad. The reality of the figure is seen in the 
 breaking-up of the home of the wicked, ch. v. 2 — 5. 
 
 12. — V. 7. Turning to Job's murmurs against heaven, Eliphaz 
 
 POINTS TO THE UNAPPROACHABLE PURITY OF GOD AND THE 
 IMPERFECTION OF ALL CREATURES, AND WARNS JOB AGAINST 
 SUCH COMPLAINTS. 
 
 Having expressed his wonder that a righteous man like Job should 
 fall into such utter despair under afflictions, forgetting that to the 
 righteous affliction is but a discipline, Eliphaz seeks to draw Job back 
 to consider what is the real cause of all affliction. This is the imperfec- 
 tion of man, an imperfection which he shares indeed with all created 
 beings, in the highest of whom to God's eye there is limit and possible 
 error. And this being so, murmuring can only aggravate his affliction 
 by provoking the anger of God. 
 
 The passage falls into two divisions. In the first, vv. 12 — 21, Eliphaz 
 contrasts the holiness of God with the imperfection of all creatures, even 
 the pure spirits on high, and much more a material being like man, and 
 thus indirectly suggests to Job the true secret of his troubles. In the 
 second, ch. v. i — 7, having laid this broad foundation, he builds on it a 
 warning to Job against his murmurs. Only the wicked resent God's 
 dealing with them, and by doing so bring increased wrath upon them- 
 selves till they perish. 
 
 With great delicacy and consideration Eliphaz, instead of impressing 
 the imperfection of man on Job directly, narrates how this truth was 
 once impressed upon himself by a voice from lieaven. It was in the 
 dead of night, when all around were in deep sleep. His mind was 
 agitated by perplexing thoughts arising out of visions of the night. 
 Suddenly a great terror fell upon him. Then there passed before his lace 
 a breath. And there seemed to stand before him a form, too dim to dis- 
 cern, from which came forth a still voice, which said. Can man be 
 righteous with God ? Or, Can a man be pure with his Maker? Even 
 to the holy angels He imputeth error, how much more to frail and 
 earthly man? vv. 12 — 21. 
 
 Applying to Job this truth, so impressively taught to himself, Eliphaz 
 asks. If Job appeals against God, whether any of the holy beings, who 
 minister between God and men, will listen to his appeal? (ch. v. i). 
 Nay, it is only the wicked who resent the afflictions of God, and 
 by their rebellious impatience increase their afflictions till they are 
 destroyed. Such an instance he had himself seen. He saw a fool, a 
 rebellious murmurer against Heaven, spreading forth his roots and 
 giving promise for a moment of prosperity. But suddenly destruc- 
 tion came upon him. His harvest was seized by the hungry robber; 
 the rights of his children were trampled upon ; and his home was 
 broken up and desolate [;vv. 2 — 5). And finally, Eliphaz condenses into 
 a vivid aphorism his teaching in this section : for trouble springs not out 
 0/ the ground — it is not accidental nor a spontaneous growth of the soil. 
 But man is born unto trouble — it is his nature so to act that by his evil 
 deeds he brings trouble upon himself. Out of his heart rises up evil as 
 naturally as the fire sends forth sparks (z^. 6, 7J.
 
 J- 
 
 JOB, IV. [vv. 12— 16. 
 
 12 Now a thing was secretly brouglit to me, 
 And mine ear received a little thereof. 
 
 13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, 
 When deep sleep falleth on men. 
 
 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 form thereof: 
 An image ivas before mine eyes, 
 
 There was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, 
 
 12. Now a thing\ Or, and a word. Eliphaz proceeds to another 
 point, but he introduces it cahnly, though with deepening earnestness in 
 his tone; it is something additional, and he appends it by the 
 simple and. 
 
 a little thereof] Rather, tlie whisper thereof. His ear caught it all, 
 but the whole of it was but a whisper. 
 
 13. This revelation which came to him secretly or "stealthily," as 
 the word means, was given in the dead of night. He had had visions on 
 his bed, and perplexing, tangled thoughts filled his heart. God's provi- 
 dence and ways to man, no doubt, were the subject of his thoughts. 
 
 The night was recognised of old as favourable to deeper thought from 
 its stillness. Then the mind was less distracted and ranged more freely 
 in the regions of higher truth. And revelations from heaven often came 
 to men in the night-season ; cf. Zech. i. 8, and the story of Nathan's 
 oracle to David in regard to building the Temple, 2 Sam. vii. 3, 4; also 
 the words of the Psalmist, " My reins also instruct me in the night-sea- 
 sons," Ps. xvi. 7. 
 
 14. Eliphaz depicts graphically the circumstances in which he re- 
 ceived the message from heaven. In the dead night, in the midst of his 
 perplexing thoughts upon his bed, a supernatural terror suddenly seized 
 him. Then he was conscious of a breath passing before him, v. 15. 
 Then he seemed to perceive a figure in his presence, too dim, however, 
 to be discerned ; and at last a whisper of a voice gave utterance to the 
 awful words that expressed the relations of man to God, v. 16. So 
 awful were the impressions of that night, that Eliphaz in recalling the 
 circumstances almost feels himself in the midst of them again, and he 
 falls into the present tense in describing them : a breath passeth before 
 my face. ..an imrge is before mine eyes. ..and I hear a voice, &c. 
 
 15. then a spirit] Ratlicr, a breath. It was something which he 
 felt; that which he saw follows in v. 16. The word spirit does not 
 seem used in the Old Testament in the sense of an apparition. 
 
 16. it stood still] It is the mysterious object in his presence. 
 
 there was silence, and I heard a voice] lit. stilhtess and a voice I 
 heard, i.e. probably, I heard a still voice; cf. "whisper," v. 12.
 
 vv. 17— 1 9-] JOB, IV. 33 
 
 Shall mortal man be more just than God? 17 
 
 Shall a man be more pure than his Maker ? 
 
 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; 
 
 And his angels he charged with folly : 
 
 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, 19 
 
 Whose foundation is in the dust. 
 
 Which are crushed before the moth ? 
 
 17. be more just than God] This translation is possible. It is very 
 unnatural, however; for though, if a man were found complaining of 
 God's ways, the immediate inference might be that he was making him- 
 self more righteous (at least in the perception of moral rectitude) than 
 God, such an inference does not seem drawn by any of the speakers, the 
 idea of a man being more righteous than God being too absurd to sug- 
 gest itself. The charge brought against Job was that he made God 
 unrighteous, not that he claimed to be more righteous than He. Two 
 senses seem possible, either, 
 
 Can man be righteous before God ? 
 Can a man be pure before his Maker ? 
 
 a sense which the phrase has Numb, xxxii. 22, and is adopted by the 
 Sept. ; or, can man be in the right in his plea against God ? a meaning 
 which the phrase has in the speeches of Elihu, ch. xxxii. 2. This latter 
 sense is less suitable to the second clause of the verse. The first and 
 more general sense is the more probable because, of course, the vision 
 appeared to Eliphaz before Job's calamities befell him and had no 
 direct reference to them. This sense also suits the scope of the fol- 
 lowing verses, and the general aphorism ch. v. 6, 7 with which Eliphaz 
 sums up this paragraph of his speech, and is most in harmony with the 
 studiously general tone of Eliphaz's first discourse. 
 
 18. he put no trust] Better, he putteth. 
 
 he charged with folly] Rather, be cliargeth witli error. The 
 "servants" of God are here His heavenly ministers, as the parallel, 
 " angels", indicates. The word "folly" {toholah) does not occur again 
 in Heb., and its meaning must be in some measure conjectural. 
 Dillmann has drawn attention to an Ethiopic root tahala, to err, and 
 the word may be connected with this stem and mean error. 
 
 19. houses of clay] The verse refers to men, and their " houses of clay " 
 are their bodies, which are of the dust, Gen. ii. 7 ; iii. 19 ; 2 Cor. v. i. 
 
 whose foundation] Men's bodies being compared to houses are now 
 spoken of as, like houses, having a foundation. They are not only 
 of earth, they are founded on earth — of the earth earthy. They are 
 built of earth, derived from earth, limited to earth. The accumulation 
 of terms enhances the material nature of man in opposition to the 
 spirits on high. Yet even these spirits are limited, and, as creatures, 
 not absolute in their holiness, and to God's eye even erring. No words 
 could more strongly express God's unapproachable holiness. 
 
 before the moth] The words may mean : sooner, easier, than the moth 
 
 JOB 3
 
 34 JOB, IV. [vv. 20, 21. 
 
 They are destroyed from morning to evening: 
 They perish for ever without any regarding /'/. 
 Doth not their excellency tt'Jiich is in them go away? 
 They die, even without wisdom. 
 
 is crushed. They can hardly mean in the connexion, by the moth ; 
 although the moth is usually elsewhere spoken of as the destroyer, 
 ch. xiii. 28 ; Is. I. 9 ; li. 8, and not as the object of destruction. The 
 phrase before might have a sense similar to what it has in ch. iii. 24, like 
 the moth ; so the Sept. 
 
 20. from mortiing to evening] i.e. from a morning to an evening, in 
 the course of a single day, cf. Is. xxxviii. 12. They are short-lived 
 as ephemefids. 
 
 ■without any regardi)ig\ i.e. without any one noticing it; so insignifi- 
 cant and of no account are they, that they pass away unobserved, like 
 ephemeral insects. The words might mean, without any of them laying 
 to heart ; they are thoughtless in their sinful levity, an idea parallel to 
 "without wisdom" in the next verse. Verse 19 described \\o\^ easily 
 men are destroyed, this verse describes how soon. All is meant to 
 widen the chasm between men and God, and by giving Job right 
 thoughts of God, and of himself a man, to bring back his mind to a 
 becoming attitude towards Heaven. 
 
 21. their excellency go away] This verse is obscure. The word 
 rendered go away means to pull out, as a pin or the posts of a gate, 
 Judg. xvi. 3, 14 (English version, went away with), or the stake of a 
 tent. Is. xxxiii. 20 (be removed). This is probably the original meaning. 
 Then the word is used in a secondary, more general sense, to break up 
 an encampment, to remove or journey, to depart, e.g. very often in 
 Numb, xxxiii. In the present verse the verb is pass., and probably 
 has its original sense, plucked up, or torn out. The word translated 
 excellency has that meaning, e.g. Gen. xlix. 3 ; Prov. xvii. 7. In other 
 places the word means a cord, Judg. xvi. 7 — 9, the string of a bow, 
 Ps. xi. 2 ; and similarly Job xxx. 11. The figure in the Poet's mind 
 here is the pulling down of a tent, to which the death of man is com- 
 pared ; so in Is. xxxviii. 12, where the meaning is, my habitation is 
 removed. The meaning cord suits this figure better than excellency, and 
 the sense would be, their tent-cord is torn aivay. As to the relation 
 of the two clauses of the verse to one another, the construction is 
 probably the same as in ch. iv. 2, if one should venture. ..wilt thou 
 be grieved ? ThcreR)re, 
 
 If their tent-cord is torn away in them, 
 Do they not die, and not in wisdom? 
 
 There is an emphasis on die ; the moment the tent falls, through the 
 tearing-away of the cord that upheld it, the inhabitant wholly perishes. 
 It is not necessary to ask what the tent-cord is. The cord belongs 
 to the figure, and is scarcely to be interpreted of the soul. 
 
 They die without attaining unto wisdom. This trait heightens the
 
 vv. I, 2.] JOB, V. 35 
 
 Call now, if there be a?iy that will answer thee; 5 
 
 And to which of the saints wilt thou turn ? 
 For wrath killeth the foolish man, s 
 
 And envy slayeth the silly one. 
 
 darkness of the picture of man's condition. He is not only frail, his 
 frailty is but another side of his moral imperfection, and this cleaves 
 to him to the very end. 
 
 There is something very wise and considerate as well as profoundly 
 reverential in these words of the aged speaker. He does not touch 
 Job's murmurs directly, but seeks to reach them by suggesting other 
 thoughts to Job. First, he speaks of the exalted purity of God, to 
 awaken reverence in Job's mind. Then he descends to the creatures 
 and seeks to look at them as they appear unto God. In His eyes, so 
 sublime is He in holiness, all creatures, angels and men, are erring. 
 Thus Eliphaz makes Job cease to be an exception, and renders it more 
 easy for him to reconcile himself to his history and acknowledge the 
 true cause of it. He is but one where all are the same. There is 
 nothing strange in his having sinned (ch. v. 6, 7). Neither, therefore, 
 are his afflictions strange. But it will be something strange if he 
 murmurs against God. 
 
 Ch. V. 1 — 7. Having laid this broad ground, Eliphaz proceeds to 
 apply the principle to Job. 
 
 1. Call now, if there be any\ Rather, call then, is there any...? 
 The imperative call then is not ironical, but merely a very animated way 
 of putting a supposition : if thou appeal then against God is there any 
 that will hear thee or aid thee? 
 
 which of the saints'] Better, the holy ones, that is, the angels, as 
 ch. XV. 15 ; Ps. Ixxxix. 6 — 7 ; will any of these exalted beings receive thy 
 complaint against God? In ch. xxxiii. 23 the angels are interpreters, 
 conveying the meaning of God's providences to men. But the converse 
 idea that they convey men's representations to God or intercede for 
 them with Him is not found here, because the reference is to a complaint 
 against God. There underlies the passage the idea that the angels are 
 helpful to men, and the question is asked. If Job appeals to any of them 
 against God will they hear his appeal and aid him? The question 
 is only a vivid way of saying that they would turn away from him, 
 abhorring his folly. Being holy, they know, for that very reason, the 
 unapproachable holiness and rectitude of God, and the distance of all 
 creatures from Him. 
 
 2- _ Verse i asked, Will any one answer thy complaint? will com- 
 plaining bring any deliverance ? This verse gives the other side — nay, 
 rather, such murmuring betrays a mind "most incorrect to heaven," 
 and such a fool will by his impatience but bring upon himself increased 
 calamity till he altogether perish. 
 
 Nay, rather, the foolish man impatience killeth, 
 And the silly one his passion slayeth. 
 The meaning, of course, is not that the fool and silly one vex them- 
 
 3—2
 
 36 JOB, V. [vv. 3, 4. 
 
 I have seen the foohsh taking root : 
 But suddenly I cursed his habitation. 
 His children are far from safety, 
 
 And they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to 
 deliver them. 
 
 selves to death, but that their rebellious impatience and resentment 
 of the chastisements of heaven bring down upon them more grievous 
 chastisement, under which they perish. There are several words for 
 "fool" in the Old Testament. Two characteristics of the fool here 
 spoken of are mentioned : he rejects instruction or correction, Prov. i. 7 ; 
 xii. 15 ; and he openly exhibits his chagrin or angry impatience, 
 Prov. xii. 16 {ka'as as here). The last word describes impatient bearing 
 under al'fliction, or under that which offends, such as an affront. These 
 words of Eliphaz hurt Job deeply, and in the very first sentence of his 
 reply he alludes to them, "Oh that my impatience (/J'a'aj-) were weighed 
 and laid in the balances against my affliction," ch. vi. 2. The word in 
 the second half of the verse means properly heat, hence any strong 
 passion, as jealousy, the wild ardour of battle, Is. xlii. 13, and the like. 
 On the use of "fool" and similar words in a moral sense to denote 
 wicked, that is, without true insight into the ways of God and right 
 feeling towards Heaven, see on ch. ii. 10. 
 
 3. the foolish^ Rather perhaps, a foolish man, the same word as 
 \ViV. 1. Eliphaz cites an instance from his own experience confirming 
 the truth stated in v. 1. He saw a man of this character taking root, 
 and for the moment appearing to give promise of prosperity. 
 
 but suddenly I cursed] The meaning is not that Eliphaz cursed his 
 habitation before-hand, foreseeing that destruction would certainly over- 
 take him ; but that, though this fool appeared prosperous and seemed 
 preparing for enduring happiness, suddenly God's judgment fell on him, 
 and Eliphaz, seeing his desolation and knowing the true meaning of it, 
 pronounced his hal^itation accursed; and this he did "suddenly," so 
 speedily in the midst of his apparent luxuriance did the curse of God 
 wither up the prosperity of the fool. 
 
 4, 5. These verses describe the desolation tliat befell the home and 
 family of the man who hardened himself against God. The speaker 
 falls here into the present tenses because, though he is describing an 
 instance which he saw, the instance illustrates a general truth. 
 
 4. t/iey are crushed in the ^^(Tte] The gate of the town is the seat of the 
 Oriental court of law, where justice is administered, ch. xxix. 7, xxxi. 
 21 ; Ps. cxxvii. 5. The words are crushed might be reciprocal, " crush 
 one another;" more likely the word me.ans exactly, "must let them- 
 selves be crushed," as the last clause indicates : having none to deliver 
 them. In the East he has right who has power (ch. xxii. 8), and the 
 poor, who cannot bribe the judge or find powerful men to speak for 
 them, go to the wall. 
 
 The iniquity of the father is visited upon the children, Exod. xx. 5, 
 a law of providence which does not quite meet Job's approval, ch.
 
 vv- 5-7-] JOB, V. 37 
 
 Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, ; 
 
 And taketh it even out of the thorns, 
 
 And the robber swalloweth up their substance. 
 
 Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, i 
 
 Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground ; 
 
 Yet man is born unto trouble, 
 
 As the sparks fly upward. 
 
 xxi. 19, 20. That this principle created difficulty to thoughtful men 
 about this time appears also from Ezek. xviii. 19 seq. 
 
 5. even out of the thor7is\ i.e. from within the enclosed field, pro- 
 tected by the thorn-hedge. The roving, hungry Bedawin carry their 
 thievish depredations up to the very homestead and in-fields of the 
 ruined estate of the wicked man. 
 
 the robber\ This word occurs again ch. xviii. 9, in the certain mean- 
 ing of sna7-e ; and the sense would thus be, and the snare gapes for 
 their substance, the general idea being that their substance falls a prey 
 to the greed of every crafty and cunning one. This is rather vague and 
 colourless. The ancient versions by alteration in the punctuation give 
 the meaning of the thirsty. This agrees with the parallel " the hungry " 
 in the preceding clause, and therefore naturally suggested itself. While 
 " the thirsty " suits " gapes " very well, it is less suitable to " substance." 
 On the whole, as the meaning snare is assured from ch. xviii. 9, it is 
 safer to rest content with this sense. The whole forms a very graphic 
 picture of desolation. 
 
 6, 7. Eliphaz now sums up into an aphorism the great general 
 principle which he seeks to illustrate in this section of his speech, ch. 
 iv. 12 — V. 7. It is that affliction is not accidental, nor a spontaneous 
 growth of the earth, but men acting after the impulses of their evil 
 nature bring it on themselves. 
 
 6. Although affliction] Rather, for aflliction. The foregoing ex- 
 amples, the general evil and imperfection of man, ch. iv. 12 seq., and 
 the particular rebelliousness of the fool, ch. v. 2 seq., shew how affliction 
 
 arises, and Eliphaz confirms the whole with his general maxim, ^or 
 
 Eliphaz reverts here to his principle already enunciated. They that sow 
 trouble reap the same, ch. iv. 8. Affliction does not spring out of the 
 earth like weeds, it is not a necessary product of the nature of things, 
 turned out by the friction of the universe, it is due to the evil nature of men. 
 
 7. Yet man is bom unto trouble'] Rather, but man. The true ex- 
 planation of affliction is now given, as the false explanation was denied 
 in V, 6. The words "man is born unto trouble" mean, it is his nature 
 through his sin to bring trouble upon himself; evil rises up out of his 
 heart as naturally as the sparks fly up out of the flame. Cf. the words 
 of Christ, "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts," and the appalling list 
 which follows. Eliphaz is severe on human nature, but the broad 
 generality of his doctrine is fitted to enable Job to find himself in his 
 history and let himself be led back to a more devout demeanour. See 
 the concluding remark to ch. iv.
 
 38 JOB, V. [vv. 8— lo. 
 
 I would seek unto God, 
 
 And unto God would I commit my cause: 
 
 Which doeth great things and unsearchable; 
 
 Marvellous things witliout number: 
 
 Who giveth rain upon the earth, 
 
 8—27. Elipiiaz, in Job's place, would seek unto God, all 
 
 WHOSE WAYS are MARKED BY ONE PURPOSE, TO DO GOOD, AND 
 WHOSE CHASTISEMENTS, THEREFORE, BUT OPEN THE WAY TO A 
 RICHER BLESSING. 
 
 The passage attaches itself to the picture of man's evil nature just 
 given, and suggests where man should find refuge from himself, even in 
 God. Eliphaz in Job's place would seek unto God for help — God who 
 is so great in power, and wonderful in His ways (vv. 8, 9). His ways 
 are not only surpassingly wonderful, but one purpose of goodness runs 
 through them, for even the thirsty wilderness where no man dwells He 
 satisfies with rain, and sets the humble on high {vv. 10, 11). So on 
 the other hand He disappoints the devices of the crafty and delivers the 
 poor from their hand, and the end is reached towards whicli all His 
 working tends : the poor hath hope, and evil, ashamed, shuts her mouth 
 [vv. ii — 16). 
 
 And under this general purpose of universal goodness fall even the 
 chastisements of GoJ, and in this light happy should Job consider him- 
 self in being afflicted, for God afflicts only that He may be able the 
 more richly to bless [vv. 17, 18). And, anticipating that his afflictions 
 will "yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness," Eliphaz draws a 
 brilliant picture of Job's restoration and happy future, — the divine pro- 
 tection {vv. 18, 19), the plenty and security {vv. 20 — 23), the peaceful 
 homestead {v. 24), the offspring numerous as the grass {v. 25), and the 
 ripe and peaceful end of all {v. 26). 
 
 The passage like the preceding section has two divisions, z'v. 8 — 16 
 describing the purpose of goodness running through all God's ways; 
 and vv. 17 — 26 applying this to Job's calamities and jjainting his restora- 
 tion ; to which is added a concluding verse, in which Eliphaz beseeches 
 Job to ponder his words {v. 27). 
 
 8. / would seek loito God] Rather, But I would seek ; i. e. in 
 humility, and for help and light. 
 
 9. This description of God as great in power and wonderful in 
 working supports the implied exhortation in v. 8. Eliphaz in Job's 
 place would commit his cause, or exactly as we say colloquially, his case, 
 unto God, for He, being great and wonderful in His ways, is capable of 
 dealing with it, perplexed and mysterious though it be. A touch of 
 humanity seems here almost to get the better of the moral and religious 
 severity of Eliphaz. 
 
 10. upon the eartK\ lit. upon the face of the earth ; and so next 
 clause, i//'on the face of the fields. He watereth the earth when it is 
 thirsty, with a universal goodness.
 
 vv. 10—15.] JOB, V. 39 
 
 And sendeth waters upon the fields: 
 
 To set up on high those that be low; it 
 
 That those which mourn may be exalted to safety. 
 
 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, 12 
 
 So that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. 
 
 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: 13 
 
 And the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. 
 
 They meet with darkness in the daytime, 14 
 
 And grope in the noonday as in the night. 
 
 But he saveth the poor from the sword, 15 
 
 From their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. 
 
 11. to set «/] If this construction be adopted, the watering of the 
 earth, v. 10, must be regarded as the means to this which is eftected in 
 V. II. He watereth the fields, giving abundant pasture and harvest, 
 that the humble may be set on higli. God's operations in the lower 
 creation, though instances of goodness to it, have the wider end of 
 blessing man in view. The words, however, may mean, setting up, 
 and be another operation of benevolence parallel to that in v. 10. This 
 view is rather confirmed by the second clause of the verse. 
 
 that those which mourn may i>e] Or, and those which mourn are. 
 
 12 — 16. Verses 10, 11 describe how the stream of God's goodness 
 acts when it moves directly, bearing up upon it the humble and those 
 that mourn towards safety or salvation. These verses describe how the 
 stream moves when it meets with obstacles, such as craft and evil. 
 
 he disappointeth'] The same word is rendered, hefrustratcih. Is. xliv. 25. 
 
 their enterprise'] A difficult word to translate. It is a technical term 
 of the Hebrew Wisdom or Philosophy, and, except in Is. xxviii. 29, 
 Mic. vi. 9, occurs only in Job and Proverbs. It seems to mean that 
 which is essential. Hence it is said of a state or action when it cor- 
 responds to the idea ; and conversely of thought when it corresponds to 
 the reality, as ch. xi. 6, xii. 16. It is used here in the former sense (cf. 
 ch. vi. 13), and the words mean, their hands perform nothing effectual 
 (Sept. true), or nothing to purpose. 
 
 13. in their own craftiness] Quoted by St Paul, i Cor. iii. 19. This 
 is the only quotation from the Book of Job in the New Testament, 
 though Rom. xi. 35 seems a reminiscence of Job xli. 11. Phil. i. 19 
 contains language similar to ch. xiii. 16. 
 
 carried headlong] lit. hastened, i.e. precipitated before it be ripe, and 
 so frustrated. 
 
 14. A picture of the perplexity and bewilderment of those crafty 
 men whose counsels God has come athwart, v. 13. 
 
 15. but He saveth] Rather, so He saveth. The salvation of the poor 
 is the consequence of defeating the devices of the crafty, as it is the 
 object in view. 
 
 from the sword, from their mouth] It is evident that this verse 
 wants the usual balance of clauses, and probably there is some cor-
 
 40 JOB, V. [vv. 16—23. 
 
 t6 So the poor hath hope, 
 
 And inicjuity stoppeth her mouth. 
 17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: 
 
 Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Al- 
 mighty: 
 >8 For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: 
 
 He woundeth, and his hands make whole. 
 
 19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles: 
 
 Yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. 
 
 20 In famine he shall redeem thee from death: 
 And in war from the power of the sword. 
 
 21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue : 
 Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it 
 
 Cometh. 
 S2 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh : 
 
 Neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. 
 23 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field : 
 
 ruption in it. Some MSS omit from before mouth, "from the sword of 
 tlieir mouth." The omission wants support, but the sense is probably 
 that of the words as they stand : from the sword (which cometh) from 
 their mouth ; or the two expressions may be in apposition : from the 
 sword e\en from their mottth. Others have proposed to point the word 
 from-the-s-vord differently, making it to mean the desolate. This restores 
 balance to the verse : thus he saveth the desolate from their mouth, and 
 the poor from the hand of the mighty. The word "desolate" occurs 
 Ezek. xxix. 12, said of cities, and the verb is often applied to lands, 
 mountains, &c., but does not seem used of persons. 
 
 16. The end contemplated and reached by the all-embracing sweep 
 of God's benevolent purpose and providence. 
 
 17 — 27. The imagination of Eliphaz himself kindles as he con- 
 templates the universal goodness of God. And Job seems to him happy 
 in being made the object even of God's afllictions, for He afflicts only 
 with the purpose of more abundantly blessing. 
 
 17. The idea of this verse occurs often in Scripture, cf. Ps. xciv. 12, 
 Prov. iii. 11, Heb. xii. 5. 
 
 18. maketh sore and bindeth up] Makclh sore in order to bind uji, 
 smiteth in order more perfectly to heal. If this physician induce dis- 
 ease, it is in order to procure a sounder health. 
 
 "19. "Six" and "seven" are round numbers meaning "many" or 
 "all," like "three" and "four" and other numbers, elsewhere, cf. 
 Prov. vi. 16; see Am. i. 3 seq., Mic. v. 5. Eliphaz assumes that God's 
 afflictions will have their due effect on Job, he will turn unto the Lord, 
 whose hands will "make him whole," and the care and protection 
 specified in this and the following verses shall mark his restored liie.
 
 vv. 23—27.] JOB, V. 41 
 
 And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. 
 And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; 24 
 And thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin. 
 Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, 25 
 
 And thine offspring as the grass of the earth. 
 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, 25 
 
 Like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. 
 
 23. ^Yhen man is at peace with God he is at peace with all God's 
 creation, he has a league with all nature and every creature: "We 
 know that all things work together for good to them that love God," 
 Rom. viii. 28. 
 
 24. Verses 19 — 23 describe the immunity which Job himself, re- 
 stored to peace with God, would enjoy from every evil, the evils 
 specified being those which God in His judgments brings upon men or a 
 people, cf. Ezek. v. 17, xiv. 21 ; this verse describes the safety and 
 peace of his homestead, or rather the perfect confidence which he 
 would feel in regard to his possessions, — thou shalt know that thy tent is 
 in safety. 
 
 tabernacle shall be in peace'] Or, tent (i. e. dwelling) is in peace. 
 
 visit thy habitation] Or, perhaps, mtister, look over, thy homestead ; 
 the reference is to his cattle and possessions. 
 
 shalt not sin] lit. shalt not miss or fail ; that is, probably, he shall 
 find that his actual possessions correspond to what he expected. The 
 general meaning is, thou shalt miss nothing. 
 
 25. Another much-desired joy he shall feel that God has given him, 
 a numerous offspring. 
 
 26. And finally he shall receive the crowning blessing of man on 
 earth, to live long and die old and full of years; cf. Ps. cii. 24; Is. 
 xxxviii. 10; Numb, xxiii. 10. The Speaker's Co/nm. quotes the follow- 
 ing from Milton, 
 
 So mayest thou live, till, like ripe fruits, thou drop 
 Into thy mother's lap ; or be with ease 
 Gathered, not harshly plucked; for death mature. 
 
 The speech of Eliphaz is one of the masterpieces of the Book. The 
 surprising literary skill of the Author is hardly anywhere so conspicuous. 
 (See remark at the end of ch. iv.) 
 
 Nevertheless, if we follow the clue which the Author himself puts into 
 our hand in the reply which he causes Job to make, we must infer 
 that Eliphaz erred in two particulars. If his religious tone was not too 
 lofty, it was at least too cold, and too little tempered with compassion 
 for the sufferings of men. The moral impropriety of Job's murmurs 
 and despair so engrosses his mind that he forgets the unbearable misery 
 of the sufferer before him, and the just claims of sentient life not to be 
 put to the torture. The consequence is that he will have to hear from 
 Job language still more shocking to his religious feeling (ch. vii. il scq-). 
 This error was due to another, his theory of suffering (see prelimi-
 
 42 JOB, V. [v. 27. 
 
 27 Lo this, we have searched it, so it is ; 
 Hear it, and know thou ;'/ for thy good. 
 
 nary remarks to ch. iv. — xiv.). This theory <;ave a full explanation 
 to his mind of Job's afflictions and compelled him to take the tone 
 towards him which he did. However true his theory might be as a 
 general principle of moral government, it was not universal and did not 
 include Job's case. Job's conscience told him this. Hence the ad- 
 monitions of Eliphaz fell wide of the mark, and he only aggravated the 
 evil which he sought to heal. 
 
 Ch. VI. — vn. Job's reply to Eliphaz. 
 
 Job's reply to the first of his three friends falls into three great 
 sections : — 
 
 First, vi. i — 13. He defends against the remonstrances of Eliphaz 
 the bitterness of his complaining and his despair. 
 
 Second, vi. 14 — 30. He laments with sorrowful disappointment the 
 attitude his friends have taken up towards him. 
 
 Third, ch. vii. He falls anew into a bitter lamentation over his 
 sorrowful destiny, and appeals against God's treatment of him in 
 language much more direct and keen than that used in ch. iii. 
 
 '&'■ 
 
 Ch. VI. I — 13. Job defends the violence of his complaints 
 
 AND HIS DESPAIR. 
 
 Eliphaz had made no reference directly to sin on Job's part ; but he 
 drew dark pictures of the evilness of human nature before the 63^6 of 
 his friend, and for his advantage. Job shews a dislike to touch this 
 point. His dislike is that of a man conscious of his innocence, and who 
 can hardly believe that his friends seriously mean what their indirect 
 allusions seem to imply. Hence he attaches his reply to what Eliphaz 
 had openly expressed, namely, his wonder at the despair of Job and his 
 blameable impatience. The idea of his having sinned he touches only 
 in passing and with strong repudiation of it (ch. vi. 28 — 30). 
 
 Eliphaz had used the word " confounded " of Job's hopeless despair 
 (ch. iv. 5); he had spoken of "impatience," and "passion"; and had 
 referred to the "fool" or godless man, as shewing this kind of temper 
 under affliction (v. 2). All this wounds Job deeply, and he first of 
 all replies to it, justifying the bitterness of his complaints by the over- 
 whelming heaviness of his sorrow. 
 
 First, he wishes that his impatience and his calamity were laid against 
 one another in the balance. His calamity is heavier than the sand 
 of the sea. For that which gives it its terror is that it is from God. 
 The arrows of the Almighty are in him, and his spirit drinks in their 
 poison and is paralysed, vv. i — 4. 
 
 Second, a more kindly judgment, he thinks, would have reasoned the 
 other way from his friends, namely, from the violence of his complaints 
 to the greatness of his sufferings. So men reasoned with regard to 
 beasts even. No creature complained if it had no want or no pain ;
 
 vv. 1-4.] JOB, VI. 43 
 
 But Job answered and said, 6 
 
 Oh that my grief were throughly weighed, a 
 
 And my calamity laid in the balances together ! 
 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: 3 
 Therefore my words are swallowed up. 
 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, 4 
 
 The poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: 
 The terrors of God do set themselves in array agamst me. 
 
 neither would he complain if what was unbearable were not thrust upon 
 him, vv. 5 — 7. 
 
 Third, so far he goes in his defence. But so keenly does he realize 
 as he describes it (^vv. 6, 7) the misery and loathsomeness of his state 
 that here he breaks out into a passionate cry for death, his mind passes 
 into a momentary frenzy, and he says he would leap for joy in the 
 midst of unsparing pain, if it brought death with it. This is the 
 consolation that he seeks. And this consolation he can look for, for 
 he has never denied the words of the Holy One. And no other can he 
 look to, for his flesh is not brass that it should resist his exhausting 
 afflictions; and what issue has he to expect that he should be patient? 
 w. 8 — 13. 
 
 2. my grief] Rather, my impatience (ch. iv. 2). The word ex- 
 presses the whole demeanour which in ch. iii., and to the eyes of his 
 friends, he shews under his trouble. He desires that it were weighed 
 and also his calamity. Naturally he wishes them weighed against one 
 another. It is not certain that this is expressed in the word together; 
 that word may mean, and my whole calamity laid in the balances. 
 
 3. the sand of the sea] A frequent figure for that which is infinite 
 in weight, Prov. xxvii. 3, or number. Gen. xxxii. 12, or measure, Jer. 
 xxxiii. •22. 
 
 are s'lualloived up] Rather, have been 'wild, or perhaps vain or idle. 
 Probably the word is allied to an Arabic root that signifies to speak, 
 and also, to speak wrongly and foolishly. Job with transparent 
 simplicity concedes a certain extravagance in his language, although 
 he excuses it (z/. 4 seq.). Elsewhere he says in ref'erence to himself that 
 the words of one that is desperate go into the wind {v. 26). 
 
 4. the arroivs of the Almighty] This explains his bearing and excuses 
 it. Everywhere Job says that it is not his afflictions in themselves that 
 terrify him, it is that they come from God ; it is the moral problem that 
 lies under his calamities and that God has become his enemy that makes 
 his heart "soft" (ch. xxiii. 15 seq.). The "arrows" of God are the 
 plagues, diseases and pains with which He assails men, ch. xvi. 12 seq.; 
 cf. Ps. xxxviii. 2 seq.; Deut. xxxii. 23. So Hamlet, 
 
 The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. 
 
 the poison whereof drinketh] Rather, the poison of which my spirit 
 drinketh in. God's arrows are poisoned arrows, the poison of which 
 the spirit sucks in and becomes enervated and paralysed. This is the
 
 44 JOB, VI. [vv. 5— lo. 
 
 Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass ? 
 
 Or loweth the ox over his fodder? 
 
 Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? 
 
 Or is there any taste in the white of an egg ? 
 
 The things that my soul refused to touch 
 
 Are as my sorrowful meat. 
 ; O that I might have my request; 
 
 And that God would grant inc the thing that I long for ! 
 , Even that it would please God to destroy me : 
 
 That he would let loose his hand, and cut me off ! 
 > Then should I yet have comfort; 
 
 Yea, I would harden myself in sorrow; let him not spare: 
 
 For I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. 
 
 idea, rather than maddened. The figure in the end of the verse is that 
 of a beleaguering army ; this host is composed of " terrors" from God. 
 The reference is again not to Job's mere physical pains, but to the 
 perplexing thoughts and fears which they occasioned. 
 
 5, 6. Job's complaints are proof of his pain, for does any creature 
 complain when it has what its nature desires? The "braying" and 
 " lowing " here are those expressing discontent or want. 
 
 be eaten without salt^ Rather, can that be eaten wMch is unsavoury 
 and saltless ? 
 
 the white of an egg\ This is the traditional interpretation and is perhaps 
 the most probable. Others think of some insipid herb, and render : 
 the slime (broth) of purslain. The reference in the passage is to Job's 
 afilhctions, which he compares here to an insipid, and in next verse to a 
 loathsome, food, cf. ch. iii. 24. Others have thought that the reference 
 was to the insipid harangues of the friends. But such a reference 
 entirely breaks the connexion. 
 
 7. This verse may be rendered not quite literally, 
 
 My soul refuseth to touch them ! 
 
 Such things are like loathsome food to me. 
 Literally, like my corrupted, or, diseased food. Job does not name his 
 afillictions but refers to them indirectly as "they" and "such things." 
 He compared his sufferings to food in ch. iii. 24. 
 
 8, 9. So keenly does Job realize the loathsomeness of his sufferings 
 that he forgets his defence and breaks out into a passionate cry for 
 death, which he calls the thing that he longs for. 
 
 10. This verse reads, 
 
 And I should yet have my comfort, 
 
 And I would leap (for joy) amidst unsparing pain ; 
 
 For I have not denied the words of the Holy One. 
 
 His comfort or consolation that he would have is death, the only 
 one he seeks or can receive {v. 11). The second clause betrays a rising
 
 vv. 11—13.] JOB, VI. 45 
 
 What is my strength, that I should hope? n 
 
 And what is mine end, that I should prolong my life ? 
 
 Is my strength the strength of stones? 12 
 
 Or is my flesh of brass ? 
 
 Js not my help in me ? 13 
 
 And is wisdom driven quife from me ? 
 
 frenzy in the sufferer's mind. The third clause is thrown in almost in 
 parenthesis. It expresses Job's feeling that there is nothing that would 
 impair his comfort or mar his joy in death, for he has never denied or 
 disobeyed the words, or commands, of the Holy One. Perhaps the 
 words may be flung out also against a thought which Job felt might rise 
 in the minds of his friends. They serve at least to give an emphatic 
 contradiction to their suspicions, by shewing how fearlessly he looks at 
 death. 
 
 Others render the verse somewhat differently: and it should still be 
 my consolation. ..that I have not denied, etc., making his consolation in 
 death to consist in the thought that he had never disobeyed the words 
 of the Holy One, cf ch. xiii. 16; xxvii. 8 seq. But this gives a pro- 
 minence to the innocence of Job which is not suitable in this place, and 
 makes his words too reflective and self possessed for the rest of the 
 passage. 
 
 11 — 13. With more calmness Job proceeds to describe his hopeless 
 condition, carrying out in this indirect way his defence of his despair. 
 
 11. This verse should read, 
 
 What is my strength that I should wait? 
 
 And what is mine end that I should be patient? 
 
 His impatient cry for death and his despair are justified by his 
 condition. "Mine end" — i.e. what can the end of my afflictions be 
 but death ? Why then should I wait ? 
 
 12. Unless his strength were that of stones or his flesh brass he could 
 not hold out against the exhausting afflictions which he has to bear, or 
 recover from them. 
 
 13. This verse reads something as follows, 
 
 Is not my help within me gone, 
 
 And recovery driven away from me? 
 Both clauses seem to refer to the exhaustion caused by his disease. 
 He feels that all resource within himself and all possibility of recovery 
 is gone. The word "recovery" is that used in ch. v. 12, "anything 
 effectual " (see notes), and probably signifies substance, or powers of 
 recovery. The word might also be applied, as in ch. xi. 6, to a condition 
 of the mind and signify mental resource, but this sense does not seem to 
 suit the connexion. 
 
 14 — 30. Job's sorrowful disappointment at the position 
 taken up towards him by his three friends. 
 
 Job had freely expressed his misery in ch. iii., believing that the 
 sympathies of his friends were entirely with him. He is
 
 46 JOB, VI. [v. 14. 
 
 14 To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his 
 friend ; 
 But he forsaketh the fear of the Ahnighty. 
 
 a brother noble, 
 "Whose nature is so far from doing harms 
 That he suspects none. Lear, i. 2. 
 
 And more sorrowful to him than any cold, critical words which they 
 have uttered is the feeling tliat his friends have taken up such a position 
 against him. This was what he had not looked for. And his dis- 
 appointment is like that of the thirsty caravan that finds the long- 
 looked-for waters dried up in the heat. Every emotion seems now to 
 find a place in Job's mind in succession. First, his disappointment, ex- 
 pressed in this beautiful figure, is mixed with the feeling how unworthy 
 his friends' conduct was. They had not acted to him as men do to one 
 who is, as he describes himself, "despairing" and "losing hold of the 
 fear of the Almighty." Kindness is due to such a one, but they had 
 turned against him from sheer feebleness of spirit, because they saw 
 that his calamity was from God, vv. 14 — 21. 
 
 Second, this mixed sadness and contempt passes into sarcasm when 
 he tells them that he could have understood their fear if he had asked 
 anything from them — even one's friends must not be put under that 
 strain — but he sought only sympathy, w. 22, 23. 
 
 Third, this sarcasm then gives place to a direct appeal of great 
 severity, in which he demands that they should shew him the sins at 
 which they had indirectly hinted, and wonders at their superficial cap- 
 tiousness in fastening on the mere excited words of a man in despair ; 
 adding in terms of bitter invective that their disposition was so hard 
 that they would cast lots for tlie orphan and make market of their own 
 friend, vv. 24 — 27. 
 
 Finally, he challenges them to seek the explanation of his afflictions 
 on other principles than the supposition of his guiltiness, asking them 
 whether, in asserting his innocence, he would lie in their faces, and if 
 he was not able to say whether his calamities were deserved or not? 
 w. 28 — 30. 
 
 14. The most probable sense of the verse is this : — 
 
 Kindness from his friend is due to him that is despairing. 
 To him that is forsaking the fear of the Almighty. 
 
 The sense of the second clause proposed by some, else he will forsake the 
 fear, is good in itself, but the language hardly admits it. The word 
 "kindness" has the s&nseoi reproach, Prov. xiv. 34 (the verb, Prov. xxvi 
 10, put to shame), and some adopt this sense here: if reproach from 
 his fiend fall upon him that is despairing, he ■will forsake the fear, &c. 
 The word, however, is not used elsewhere in the Book of Job in this 
 sense, and the interpretation destroys the strong antithesis between this 
 verse and the opening words of the next, my brethren, &c.
 
 vv. 15—21.] JOB, VI. 47 
 
 l\Iy brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, is 
 
 Ajid as the stream of brooks they pass away; 
 
 Which are blackish by reason of the ice, ic 
 
 And wherein the snow is hid : 
 
 What time they wax warm, they vanish: 17 
 
 When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. 
 
 The paths of their way are turned aside; >8 
 
 They go to nothing, and perish. 
 
 The troops of Tema looked, 19 
 
 The companies of Sheba waited for them. 
 
 They were confounded because they had hoped; 2° 
 
 They came thither, and were ashamed. 
 
 For now ye are nothing; 21 
 
 15. they pass away] Better, that pass away, cf. ch. xi. 16. The 
 other sense, t/iat overjicnv (their banks), is improbable. 
 
 16. are blackish] Rather, are black, that is, turbid. 
 is hid] lit. hides itself, that is, dissolves. 
 
 Pleasures are like poppies spread. 
 You seize the flower, its bloom is shed ; 
 Or like the snow-falls in the river — 
 A moment white, then melts for ever. 
 
 18. they go to nothing] Rather, they go up into the waste. The 
 expression go tip in Heb. is used when no ascent in the strict sense is 
 meant; it signifies to go inland, into the interior of a region. The 
 streams of these brooks flow out and wind into the desert and are con- 
 sumed by the heat or lost in the sand. A somewhat different sense is 
 drawn from the words by many writers. The word paths, v. 18, is the same 
 as troops or caravans, v. 19, and they assume that the reference to the 
 caravans is already made in v. 18, rendering : the caravans that go by 
 the way of them (the streams) turn aside, they go jip into the desert and 
 perish. In favour of this interpretation it is urged that there is some- 
 thing unnatural in the use of the same word in different senses in two 
 consecutive verses ; and that it is customary in the Poets to express a 
 general idea first [v. 18) and then to particularize and exemplify it 
 (^. 19). On the other hand Ibn Ezra has already remarked that it is 
 not usual for caravans to leave the route and "turn aside" in search of 
 water, a route is selected and formed rather because water is found on 
 it. The danger of the caravan is that it be exhausted before it reach 
 the place where water is known to be, or, as here, that the water may 
 be found dried up. 
 
 19. Tema lies in the northern highlands of Arabia, towards the Syrian 
 desert. Is. xxi. 14 ; Jer. xxv. 23. On Sheba see i. 15. 
 
 21. ye arc nothing] Or, are become nothing. Job applies his com- 
 parison. Another reading is : ye are become it, i. e. the deceitful, dis- 
 appointing brook. The general sense remains the same.
 
 48 JOB, VI. [vv. 22—25. 
 
 Ye see i>iy casting down, and are afraid. 
 
 22 Did I say, Bring unto me ? 
 
 Or, Give a reward for me of your substance ? 
 
 23 Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand ? 
 
 Or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty ? 
 
 24 Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: 
 
 And cause me to understand wherein I have erred. 
 
 25 How forcible are right words ! 
 
 But what doth your arguing reprove ? 
 
 my casting doum^ lit. ye see a terror. Job's comparison of his friends 
 to the brook is graphic and telling. In winter these brooks are full, 
 but in summer when the thirsty caravan needs them and looks for them 
 they are found to have disappeared before the heat. And Job's friends 
 may have been effusive in their offers of friendship wiien friendships 
 were abundant, but now when he needs their aid, the sight of his 
 terrible aflliction, like the summer heat, dissipates their sympathy and 
 makes them "nothing," without power to help. In the words "ye see 
 a terror and are afraid" Job insinuates more than that his friends are 
 paralysed at the sight of his calamity, he means probably that, judging 
 his calamity to be from God, they have not courage to shew him sym- 
 pathy, cf. xiii. 7 seq. 
 
 22, 23. lie had not asked anything very great from his friends, which 
 would have been too severe a strain on their friendship, only sympathy, 
 and straightforward dealing, and that they should consider him the 
 truthful man whom they knew him to be. 
 
 22. a 7-c:i'ard] Rather, a gift. 
 
 23. hand of the vii^htyl that is, the powerful robber, who held his 
 captives to ransom. 
 
 24 — 27. In answer to their covert insinuations Job demands that 
 they should bring home to him the sins of which they suspected him. 
 
 26. how forcible are right words] Or, words of uprightness, that is 
 honest, straightforward, close dealing with a man about himself, or his 
 offences, sign of true friendship, Ps. clxi. 5 ; cf. ch. xxxiii. 3, where 
 Elihu claims to speak out of this rectitude of mind. The word rendered 
 forcible is of rather uncertain meaning. It occurs again i K. ii. 8, a 
 grievous curse, Mic. ii. 10, a sore destruction, antl in Job xvi. 3, what 
 eniboldeneth thee that thou answerest? The fundamental sense of the 
 word is assumed to be to be sharp, hence, to be strong, vehement. This 
 is conjectural. What may be but another form of the word occurs in 
 Ps. cxix. 103, horo szoeet are thy words unto my taste ! And many 
 prefer that meaning here : ho'w sweet are words of upriglitness. 
 
 your arguing reprove] lit. what doth reproving from you, the kind 
 of reproving that comes from you, insinuations and captious laying hold 
 of more excited language, repivve? In v. 24 Job demanded to know 
 from his friends directly what sins they laid to his charge. He would 
 welcome straightforward dealing that went into his circumstances.
 
 vv. 26—29.] JOB, VI. 49 
 
 Do ye imagine to reprove words, 26 
 
 And the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as 
 
 wind ? 
 Yea, ye overwhelm the fatherless, 27 
 
 And you dig a pit for your friend. 
 
 Now therefore be content, look upon me; 28 
 
 For // is evident unto you if I lie. 
 
 Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; 29 
 
 Yea, return again, my righteousness is in it. 
 
 28. do ye imagine] that is, is it your purpose? think ye? 
 and the speeches... \v\\\c\\ :\xi as toind] Rather, though the speeches 
 of one that is desperate go into the wind. 
 
 27. This verse probably reads, 
 
 Yea, ye would cast lots upon the fatherless, 
 And bargain over your friend. 
 
 A strong invective against their unfeeling behaviour. The words are 
 severe ; the preceding passage, however, in which their refusal of 
 sympathy {vv. 22, 23), and their petty faultfinding with Job's language 
 (vv. 25, 26), are referred to, naturally leads up to the idea. The same 
 phrase to cast lots occurs i Sam. xiv. 42, and the phrase, bargain over 
 or make merchandise of, occurs again. Job xli. 6 (Heb. xl. 30), "will 
 the partners bargain over him?" The "fatherless" is probably the 
 child of the debtor. After his death the ruthless creditors cast lots 
 for possession of the child as a slave. 
 
 28. The verse means as a whole, 
 
 Now, therefore, be pleased to look upon me, 
 I will not surely lie to your face ! 
 
 " Be pleased," or, as we say, be good enough. " To your face," as in 
 ch. i. II. Job desires that instead of speaking at him with averted 
 faces they would look him in the face, and judge from his countenance 
 whether he would lie directly in asserting his innocence — a test that 
 only conscious honesty would propose^ 
 
 29. Return., I pray yotiX The verse means, 
 
 Turn, I pray you, let there be no injustice ; 
 Turn again, I say ; my cause is righteous. 
 
 The word "turn "appears to mean not "begin anew," but "adopt another 
 course," that is, proceed on other suppositions than that of my guilti- 
 ness, and seek another explanation of my calamities. Hence, he adds, 
 let there be no injustice, or wrong, that is, on the part of his friends in 
 imputing guilt to him. The phrase "my cause is righteous" means 
 literally my right is in it, that is, is here, is present ; in other words, 
 I have a righteous cause. In it can hardly mean, in the matter under 
 discussion, as if the meaning were : the question is one that concerns 
 my rectitude. By his right or righteous cause Job means his plea 
 
 JOB 4
 
 30 
 
 50 JOB, VI. [v. 30. 
 
 Is there iniquity in my tongue? 
 
 Cannot my taste discern perverse things? 
 
 against God in reference to his afflictions ; in this plea he has right on 
 
 his side. „• • ^^ 
 
 30. In V. 28 Job asseverated that he spoke truth in affirming his 
 innocence. In v. 29 he affirmed that he had right on his side in his 
 plea against God, in other words that he was wrongly afflicted. This 
 verse, therefore, can hardly he a new assertion that he speaks the truth 
 when he affirms his innocence ; it must refer to a point further back, 
 and be, in the form of a question, an affirmation of his ability to say 
 whether he is innocent or not, and to judge rightly regarding the nature 
 of his afflictions. The question. Is there iniquity in my tongue ? means 
 Is my tongue perverted that it cannot distinguish? In the second 
 clause "taste "or "palate" is not referred to as an organ of speech 
 but of perception (ch. xii. 11). 
 
 The expression "perverse things" may mean wickednesses. This 
 may be used generally and the question in the second clause have the 
 same meaning as that in the first, viz. whether Job had lost moral 
 sense and could not distinguish wrong from right? And the whole 
 would be an affirmation of the soundness of his moral judgments, meant 
 to support the asseveration of his innocence and the righteousness of 
 his cause [vv. 28, 29). The phrase "perverse things" is that rendered 
 "calamity " v. 2, and this might be the meaning here : " cannot my taste 
 discern calamities?" i.e. the true nature of my afflictions, and perceive 
 that they are undeserved and unjust? 
 
 Either of the above meanings forms a fitting and pathetic transition 
 to the renewed cry of despair in ch. vii. For that which makes Job's 
 condition so crushing to him is that though innocent he feels himself in 
 the hands of a ruthless and arbitrary fate, which, regardless of his 
 innocence, is bent on destroying him. For this fate he has no other 
 name but God ; cf. ch. ix. 22 sej., xxiii. 13 seg. 
 
 Cii. VII. Renewed outburst of despair at the thought 
 
 OF HIS sorrowful DESTINY. 
 
 With a deeper pathos than any that had gone before, this innocence 
 of his and this capacity to form true moral judgments regarding his 
 history (ch. vi. 28 — 30) being his starting-point. Job turns to the broad 
 world, to contemplate how helpless man is with these qualities against 
 that fated, inexorable misery called human life. His view is general, 
 though he himself is the centre of it, and his own history gives colour 
 to that of man. 
 
 First, vv. I — 10, his complaint is that human life is short and evil, in- 
 exorably short and arbitrarily evil. It is a soldier's " campaign," and 
 a hired labourer's "day," a time of heavy, forced toil at the stern will 
 of another, in which one longs for discharge, and pants for the shadow, 
 —the release and the night of death. The toil of this_ time and the 
 fated compulsion of it Job chiefly describes in vz/. 2 — 5 ; its brevity and
 
 V. I.] JOB, VII. S\ 
 
 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth ? ' 
 
 the regrets that accompany having lived and ceasing to live, in w. 
 6 — -lo. 
 
 Second, zw. ri — 21. It is dangerous dwelling on misery, it usually 
 but adds to it. The misery of feeling we are miserable is exquisite. 
 With too fertile a fancy Job had heaped images together to picture out 
 the fatal brevity of life,— the motion of the shuttle (v. 6), the wind 
 {v. 7), the glance of the eye {v. 8), the cloud of vapour gorgeous for a 
 moment but dissolved by the very light that illuminates it (v. 9) — and 
 the inexorable "nevermore" that death writes on things, on one's 
 "home" and "place" {v. 10) when he is carried from it; and these 
 regrets combine with that impatience of coercion natural to the mind 
 and drive him on with a certain recklessness to utter his feelings in the 
 face of that Power whose irresistible constraint presses upon him. He 
 is not unconscious of the meaning of what he is going to do, for that 
 which binds him in such chains of misery is not a power but a Person. 
 Nevertheless he will not be deterred — I also will not refrain my 
 mouth (z'. 11). 
 
 Thus commences a remonstrance with God, who disposes all, which 
 is only saved, if it be saved, from being too bold by that reverential 
 hesitation and half pause which marks the commencement of it. 
 First, he asks if he be dangerous to the peace and stability of the 
 universe that he needs to be so restrained and subdued with plagues by 
 God? In the description of these plagues his tone rises into the 
 sharpest despair and he begs for death, desiring only that God would 
 leave him alone and give him a little respite before he departs, vv, 
 II — 16. 
 
 Then he asks whether man is not too mean a thing for God to 
 torment ? appealing to the Almighty's sense of His own greatness and 
 the unworthiness of distressing so slight a thing as man ; and travestying 
 with a surprising acuteness of mind and bitterness of irony the admiring 
 gratefulness of the Psalmist that God "made so much "of man (Ps. viii.), 
 V. 17 — 19. 
 
 Finally he comes to that to which perhaps he would rather not come 
 at all, the supposition, which he will hazard though scarcely concede, 
 that he has sinned, and asks. If so, what can I do unto ihee? how can 
 I by my sin injure thee? Even in hazarding this supposition he casts a 
 side-glance of discontent on God, naming Him watcher or spy of fnen, 
 as if it was due to Him if not that sin was at least that it was raked to 
 the surface. And he concludes with asking why God does not take 
 away his sin and spare him — for soon it will be too late, vv. 20, 21. 
 
 1. The connexion is with the preceding verses ch. vi. 2S — 30, which 
 express the thought of Job's innocence, and the thought that in spite of 
 his innocence he is miserably plagued. Under this feeling he throws 
 his eye over all mankind, and sees them also doomed by an inexorable 
 destiny to a life that is brief and filled with pain. 
 
 an appointed time] Or, a time of service. The reference is to the 
 hard service of the soldier, in which there are two elements, the fixed 
 
 4—2
 
 52 JOB, VII. [vv. 2—4. 
 
 A}'e not his days also like the days of a hireling? 
 
 As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, 
 
 And as a hireling looketh for the reward of his work: 
 
 So am I made to possess months of vanity, 
 
 And wearisome nights are appointed to me. 
 
 When I lie down, I say. 
 
 When shall I arise, and the night be gone? 
 
 period and the hard toil of the campaign. Both are laid on man by a 
 power to which he is subject ; cf. Isai xl. 2 ; Job xiv. 14. 
 
 days of a hireling^ The " hireling " might be the mercenary soldier, 
 whose fate, far from home and at the disposal of an alien power, might 
 be thought harder even than that of the ordinary soldier. The word is 
 used in this sense, Jer. xlvi. -21, and the verb, 2 Sam. x. 6. In v. 2, 
 however, the word has its ordinary sense of a hired labourer, and this is 
 probably its meaning here. 
 
 2. With slight change the verse reads, 
 
 As a slave who panteth for the shadow. 
 
 And as an hireling who looketh, &c. 
 The slave in the heat and under his hard toil pants for the shadow of 
 evening, the day's end ; and the hireling looks for his wages, that is, 
 the close of the day ; cf Prov. xxi. 6. 
 
 3. fuade to posscss\ lit. niade to inherit. They are laid on him by 
 the will of another. Job narrows his view here from the lot of men in 
 general to his own. He is one of an afflicted race, but the universal 
 misery does not alleviate his own, it rather increases it. 
 
 That loss is common would not make 
 
 My own less bitter, rather more; 
 
 Too common ! Never morning wore 
 To evening, but some heart did break. 
 
 A sorrowing Arab poet gives expression to a different feeling : 
 
 Did not a common sorrow console me I would not live an 
 
 hour among men. 
 But whenever I will, they in like condition with myself re- 
 spond to me. Ha/nasa, p. 389, 396. 
 
 The point of comparison between Job's life and the day of the hireling 
 lies in their common toil and their common longing for the end of it. 
 ]ob describes his day as "months of vanity" and "nights of trouble," 
 indicating that his disease had already endured a long time. He refers 
 to "nights" perhaps because his pains were severest then (cf v. 4, I4, 
 ch. XXX. 17) ; although in the East the method also of counting by 
 nights instead of days was common. 
 
 4, 6. A grapiiic account of his condition under his malady. Verse 4 
 should probably be rendered. 
 
 When I lie down I say. When shall I arise? 
 
 And the night stretches out, and I am full of tossings, &c
 
 vv- 5-9-] JOB, VII. 53 
 
 And I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of 
 
 the day. 
 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; ; 
 
 My skin is broken, and become loathsome. 
 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, ( 
 
 And are spent without hope. 
 
 O remember that my life is wind : . 
 
 Mine eye shall no more see good. 
 
 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: \ 
 Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. 
 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: t 
 
 So he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no 
 
 more. 
 
 At evening he longs for morning (Deut. xxviii. 67), but the night seems 
 to him to prolong itself, and he tosses restlessly till the daybreak. 
 
 5. with worms and clods of dust'] His ulcers bred worms ; and the 
 hard earthy-like crust of his sores he calls lumps of dust. 
 
 is broken, and become loathsome] Rather, my skin closes and breaks 
 afresh — the allusion being to the alternate gathering and running of his 
 sores, which went on continually. 
 
 Verses i — 5 describe the pain of life ; the following verses, 6 — 10, its 
 brevity and utter extinction in death. There is no break, however, in 
 the connexion, for it is the exhausting pains described in vv. 3 — 5 that 
 naturally suggest the hopeless brevity of his life. Job has been thought 
 inconsistent in complaining that life being evil is also brief. But in 
 his view life itself is the highest good ; it should be free of evil and 
 prolonged. And his complaint is that human life has been made by 
 God both evil and brief; cf. ch. xiv. i seq. 
 
 6. By his "days" is meant his life as a whole, not his individual 
 days, which are far from passing quickly (z'. 4) ; and "are spent" 
 means, have been consumed (as v. g), or, are come to an end (Gen. xxi. 
 15). He regards his life as near a close, for his disease was incurable; 
 this is expressed by "without hope," i. e. hope of recovery or relief. 
 
 7. This feeling of the hopeless brevity of his life overwhelms the 
 sufferer, and he turns in supplication to God, beseeching Him, the Ever- 
 lasting, to think how swiftly his mortal life passes, cf. Ps. cii. 11. 
 
 see good] i.e. happiness or prosperity. He means in this life; but 
 then the state of the dead, though not extinction, was not to be called 
 life, it was but a dreary, dreamy shadow of life, having no fellowship 
 with the living, whether men or God; cf. ch. x. 21 seq.\ Ps. vi. 5; 
 Eccles. ix. 5 seq. ; Is. xxxviii. 18. 
 
 8. are upoti me, and I am not] Perhaps rather, shall be upon me and I 
 shaU not be ; God will look for him, enquiring, it may be, after the 
 work of His hands, but he shall be gone ; ci. v. 11. 
 
 9. goeth down to the grave] Heb., doivn to She'd!, the place of de- 
 parted persons. This is never in the Old Testament confounded with
 
 54 JOB, VII. [vv. 10—13. 
 
 10 He shall return no more to his house, 
 Neither shall his place know him any more. 
 
 11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; 
 I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; 
 
 I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 
 
 12 Am I a sea, or a whale, 
 
 That thou settest a watch over me ? 
 
 13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, 
 My couch shall ease my complaint; 
 
 the grave, although, being an ideal place and state, the imagination 
 often paints it in colours borrowed from the grave and the condition of 
 the body in death ; of ch. iii. 13 scq., x. 21 seq. 
 
 11. Job heaps image upon image to set before himself and the eye 
 of God the brevity of life, the weaver's shuttle (v. 6), the wind (v. 7), 
 the morning cloud [v. 9, Hos. vi. 4), ending with a pathetic reference 
 to his home which shall see him no more {v. 10). These regrets alto- 
 gether overmaster him and, combining with his sense of the wrong 
 which he suffers and his impatience of the iron restraints of human 
 existence, hurry him forward, and he resolves to open the floodgates to 
 the full stream of his complaint {v. 11): Therefore I luill not 7-efrain 
 tny mouth, i.e. therefore I also, I on ?iiy side, will not refrain. 
 
 12. First, he asks with bitter irony if he is t/ie sea or the viojister of 
 the sea, that he must be watched and subdued with plagues lest he 
 prove dangerous to the universe ? The proud waves of the sea must be 
 confined and a bound which they cannot pass set to them (ch. xxxviii. 8 
 seq.; Jer. v. 22); has he a wild, untameable nature like this? The 
 monster of the sea here is no real creature such as the crocotlile, "sea" 
 being used in the sense of the river. The connexion shews that the 
 reference is to the half poetical, half mythological conception of the raging 
 sea itself as a furious monster, for it is God that sets a watch over 
 it. Studer boldly renders, "am I the sea, or the sea serpent ?" His sea 
 serpent, however, is not that of the modern mariner and the mythology 
 of our own day, but that of a more ancient mythology. The serpent of 
 the sea — which was l)ut the wild stormy sea itself — wound himself 
 around the land and threatened to swallow it up, as the serpent of the 
 sky swallowed up the heavenly luminaries (ch. xxvi. 12, see on iii. 8). 
 God sets a watch upon the one, as His hand pierces the other, lest the 
 fixed order of the world be disturbed and land and sea or light and 
 darkness be confused. Job enquires if he must be watched and plagued 
 like this monster lest he throw the world into disorder? 
 
 13. 14. Further description of the plagues employed to subdue him. 
 ease my complaint^ Complaint always means complaining, not malady; 
 
 ch. ix. 27, x. I, xxi. 4, xxiii. 2. When he looks for sleep 
 That knits up the ravelled sleeve of care, 
 iJalm of hurl minds, 
 
 instead of finding it he is scared with dreams and terrified through
 
 w. 14—18.] JOB, VII. 55 
 
 Then thou scarest me with dreams, 14 
 
 And terrifiest me through visions: 
 
 So that my soul chooseth strangUng, is 
 
 A7id death rather than my hfe. 
 
 I loathe //; I would not live alway: 16 
 
 Let me alone; for my days are vanity. 
 
 What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him ? 17 
 
 And that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him ? 
 
 And t/iat thou shouldest visit him every morning, is 
 
 And try him every moment ? 
 
 visions. Such distressing dreams and terrors in sleep are said to be one 
 of the symptoms of Elephantiasis. 
 
 15. Consequence of the preceding, v. 14. 
 
 chooseth strangling] A sense of choking is one of the accompaniments 
 of the disease, which is said to end sometimes in actual suffocation. Job 
 refers to this symptom, saying that he is driven to desire that it might 
 be really fatal. The parallel word death in the next clause shews that 
 this is what he is driven to wish for, but he selects this form of death as 
 one incidental to his disease, and one with which he had perhaps felt 
 himself more than once threatened. 
 
 death rather than my life] lit. death rather than these my bones. So 
 he describes the emaciated skeleton to which he was reduced. 
 
 16. So keenly does he realize the misery of his condition and the 
 intolerable painfulness of his life, that he breaks out into a passionate 
 cry that he hates and is weary of life — / loathe it. The object of his 
 loathing is not expressed, but it is rather life in general, as the words, 
 / would not live alway, indicate, than what he calls his " bones," cf. 
 X. 21. No emphasis falls on alway, the phrase "I would not live 
 alway" is rather an exclamation of revulsion, meaning I desire not life. 
 
 let me alone] i.e. cease from paining me with such afflictions. Job 
 like his friends regarded his sufferings as inflicted directly by the hand 
 of God, and if God would leave him his pains would cease. The 
 words here are hardly a prayer, but something like an imperious com- 
 mand, to such a height of boldness is the sufferer driven by the keen- 
 ness of his pains. The last words, "for my days are vanity," support 
 his demand that God would let him alone, by a reference to the short- 
 ness of his life ; he seeks a little respite ere he die, cf x. 20 seq. This 
 reference to his life as "vanity" or a breath forms the natural transi- 
 tion to the next question. 
 
 17 — 19. Second, Job asks, If man be not too mean a thing for God 
 thus to busy Himself with and persecute ? cf. ch. xiv. 3. 
 
 set thine heart] that is, thy mind; as magnify means, to think great, 
 to consider of importance. 
 
 18. The words of this verse recall Ps. viii. 5, cxliv. 3, the former of 
 which passages at least must have been in the Author's mind. The 
 admiring gratefulness of the Psalmist that God condescended to visit
 
 56 JOB, VII. [vv. 19, 20. 
 
 19 How long wilt thou not depart from me, 
 
 Nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle ? 
 
 20 I have sinned ; what shall I do unto thee, 
 O thou preserver of men ? 
 
 man and gave him such a place in His estimation is paroclicd by Job, 
 and the Psahnist's words are made with bitter irony to express his 
 wonder that God should occupy Himself continually with so slight a 
 thing as man, and make him the object of His unceasing persecution. 
 
 19. depart from vie\ \\i. look away from me ; an impatient demand 
 that God would turn away His plaguing glance ; cf. "watcher of men," 
 V. 20. 
 
 yivallow down my spittle] A proverbial phrase like "twinkling of an 
 eye," signifying a moment, as we might say "till I let over"; cf. 
 "draw my breath," ch. ix. 18. To let one swallow his spittle is to 
 give him a moment's respite or time. The ]ihrase is not unusual among 
 the Arabs. In De Sacy's Notes to Hariri, p. 164, a person tells the 
 following: "I said to one of my Sheichs (teachers). Let me swallow 
 my spittle ; to which he replied, I will let you swallow the two Con- 
 fluents"(the Tigris and Euphrates). 
 
 20, 21. Third, Job makes the supposition that he has sinned, and 
 asks, how such a thing can affect God ? and, why He does not take 
 away his sin instead of plaguing him unto death because of it? 
 
 20. The first half of the verse reads, 
 
 Have I sinned : what do I unto thee, O thou watcher of men ? 
 
 / have sinncd'\ Rather as above, have I sinned ; the words being 
 put as a supposition, equivalent to, if I have sinned. Job makes the 
 supposition, he hardly concedes the fact, which is not meantime the 
 point. His object is to pursue the idea that even sin (supposing it) on 
 man's part cannot affect God, and ought not to be the reason for such 
 unsparing pains as man has to suffer. In ch. xiv. 3, 4, where Job is 
 calmer and more self-possessed, the same argument occurs, but is there 
 supported by a reference to the universal sinfulness of mankind, which 
 descends to the individual by inheritance and makes him more excusable 
 and pitiable. Here the moral relations of men and God are less before 
 his mind, it is God's natural Greatness in contrast with the natural 
 littleness of man that engages his attention, and he thinks that in this 
 there is a reason why men even if sinful should be less severely reckoned 
 with. 
 
 what shall I do unto thee f] Rather, what do I unto thee? that is, 
 how do I affect thee by my sin? The itlea is repeatedly expressed in 
 the Poem that God is too high to be affected by men's actions, whether 
 sinful or righteous, cf. ch. xxii. 2 seq., xxxv. 5 seij. 
 
 thou preserver of men] Rather, thou watcher, or keeper, of men. 
 " Watcher" or keeper, elsewhere a word of comfort to the godly (Deut. 
 xxxii. 10; Ps. xxxi. 23, cxxi. 4), is here used in an invidious sense to 
 express the constant espionage exercised by God over men, that He may 
 detect their sin and bring them to a reckoning, cf. ch. xiii. 27, xiv. 16.
 
 V. 21.] JOB, VII. 57 
 
 Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, 
 So that I am a burden to myself? 
 
 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, •■■ 
 
 And take away mine iniquity? 
 For now shall I sleep in the dust; 
 
 And tliou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall 
 not be. 
 
 a mark against thee"] lit. 7into thee. The word maik here does not 
 mean a target at which to discharge arrows (eh. vi. 4, xvi. 4), but a 
 stumbling-block or obstacle against which one strikes. Job feels that 
 he is continually in the way of God, an obstacle against which the 
 Almighty is always of set purpose striking Himself. The thought is 
 one of unprecedented boldness. 
 
 am a burden to 7nysclf\ Or, am become a burden, &c., that is, weary 
 of myself and of my life, cf. 2 Sam. xv. 33. The Septuagint seems to 
 have read, " a burden 2into thee" ; and according to Jewish tradition this 
 was the original reading, but was corrected by the scribes as savouring 
 of impiety. 
 
 21. seek me in the morning\ Rather, seek me, simply, or, seek me 
 earnestly ; the addition "in the morning" (just as " betimes," ch. viii. 
 5) rests upon a mistaken etymology. Job concludes his speech by a 
 pathetic reference to what must be the speedy issue of God's stringent 
 watching of him : he will lie down in the dust and even should God 
 enquire for him it will be too late. 
 
 There is something very open and engaging in the character of Job 
 as it appears in this speech. He confesses the impatience that Eliphaz 
 found fault with, though he excuses it by the incalculable weight of his 
 affliction (ch. vi. 2). He admits that his words have been wild, though 
 he thinks this was but natural when a creature found himself in conflict 
 with God (ch. vi. 4). He even suggests to his friends the worth at 
 which to estimate his language when he says that the words of one that 
 is desperate go into the wind (ch. vi. 26). And he goes so far as to 
 speak of himself as losing hold of the fear of the Almighty under the 
 trial of his calamities (ch. vi. 14). There is something simple too and 
 childlike in his defence of his cry of despair by the example of the 
 lower creatures, which also express their pain or want by cries of 
 distress (ch. vi. 5). 
 
 In keeping with this openness in regard to himself is his impatience 
 and resentment of the covert insinuations of his friends through their 
 first spokesman. He demands that they should shew him what they 
 are hinting at by the pictures they are drawing and the blind parables 
 they are narrating at him (ch. vi. 24) ; he himself will look them in 
 the face and affirm his innocence (ch. vi. 28). And even the one bitter 
 sentence which he utters against their hard-heartedness (ch. vi. 27) is 
 quite in harmony with the honest directness of the rest of his words. 
 
 The state of Job's mind in ch. vii., when he turns away from his
 
 58 JOB, VIII. 
 
 friends and casts his eye over the life of man as a whole, is more diffi- 
 cult to estimate. It appears to him that God has made man's condition 
 upon the earth full of painfulness and bounded within iron limits. The 
 world wears many aspects according to the eye that beholds it. It was 
 natural for one in Job's condition to view it on its dark side. His view, 
 however, has deeper grounds than mere sul)jective feeling. Tlie view 
 which Eliphaz presented of a scheme of universal goodness linking all 
 events into a unity and making good the end even of ill may be the 
 view which we ultimately rest in. Yet we believe in such a scheme 
 rather than observe it. And the reasons of our belief, though various, 
 are instinctive and ideal oftener than inductive. There are moments 
 when another view forces itself upon the mind. And Scripture has 
 here given this experience a place in its picture of man's life. It may be 
 said that Job spoke under a mistake. Men so often make mistakes 
 even in the highest things. It may also be said that enough was 
 revealed to Job to correct his false impressions. But men so often are 
 either unable or unwilling to receive that which is revealed. 
 
 There is this difference between us and Job : where we can say 
 " the world," he was obliged to say " God." In this chapter he regards 
 God almost exclusively on the physical side of His Being. He speaks 
 out of the agony of suffering and from the abjectness of his own whole 
 condition, and contrasts these with the natural Greatness of the Being 
 who has plunged him into them. It is the physical claim of sentient 
 life, which he urges, not to be tortured on any grounds whatsoever they 
 be. In this mortal agony of the creature, and in view of the Greatness 
 of God, moral considerations are almost mocked at, and sin is sneered 
 out of reckoning as an irrelevancy. 
 
 Ch. VIII. The speech of Bildad. 
 
 Eildad passes over in complete silence both Job's defence of his 
 despairing cry (ch. vi. i — 13) and his assault upon the cruel behaviour 
 of his friends (ch. vi. 14 — 30), and comes directly to the main issue, viz. 
 Job's plea against God. The first speaker who thinks it necessary to 
 defend the attitude taken up by the three friends towards Job is Eliphaz, 
 who, in his second discourse (ch. xv.), speaks of their advices to Job as 
 "the comforts of God ami a word gently spoken" (ch. xv. 11), to which 
 Job retorts, "miserable comforters are all of you" (ch. xvi. 2). 
 
 Bildad attaches his speech to what seemed the general drift of Job's 
 words, particularly to two points where his drift more plainly shewed 
 itself: first, his assertion that he had right on his side against God (ch. 
 vi. 2^), which implied a denial of the rectitude of Ciod in his own case ; 
 and second, his assertion that the race of mankind were bound within 
 the chains of a cruel force which bore upon them universally with an 
 iron pressure (ch. vii. i se^., v. 17 seq.). In the last point Job went far 
 beyond his own individual instance. To meet these assertions Bildad 
 affirms the rectitude of God, not merely in general but on both its sides, 
 as a discriininating rectitude, which rewards the righteous and punishes 
 the wicked.
 
 vv. 1—3.] JOB, VIII. 59 
 
 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, 8 
 
 How long wilt thou speak these t/n'/igs? 2 
 
 And how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a 
 
 strong wind ? 
 Doth God pervert judgment? 3 
 
 Or doth the Almighty pervert justice? 
 
 This double-sided action of the divine rectitude, its discrimination as 
 opposed to Job's cruel force that bore on mankind as a whole, is the 
 chief point in Bildad's discourse. 
 
 The other point of importance is that he supports his doctrine not as 
 Eliphaz did from revelation and religious feeHng, but from the moral 
 traditions of the fathers of humanity and the wisdom of the ancients. 
 
 The speech has three short sections : 
 
 First, vv. I — 7. Bildad's affirmation of the discriminating righteousness 
 of God, one side of which was illustrated in the destruction of Job's 
 children for their sin, and the other (as all good men hope) will be seen 
 illustrated in the restoration of their father (for God is no respecter of 
 persons) for his righteousness' sake to a prosperity greatly surpassing 
 what he before enjoyed. 
 
 Second, vv. 8 — 19. This doctrine, especially that side of it which bears 
 on the destruction of the wicked, is supported from the proverbial 
 Wisdom of the Ancients. The moral maxims of the ancient time are 
 thrown into gorgeous similes drawn from the rank and luxuriant vegeta- 
 tion of the swamps and river brakes of the semi-tropical East. The 
 downfall of the wicked when God turns away from him is as rapid and 
 complete as the sinking and withering of the stately reed when water is 
 withdrawn from it. 
 
 Third, vv. 20 — 22. Bildad finally repeats his principle on both its 
 sides, drawing from the beneficent side of it the assurance of a happy 
 future for Job. 
 
 1 — 7. The discriminating rectitude of God. 
 
 2. Before coming to his principle and by way of introducing it Bildad 
 expresses his wonder that Job should allow himself to speak such things 
 as his discourse contained. These things are such things as ch. vi. 29, 
 vii. I, 2, 12 — 21, and perhaps even ch. vi. 10. He refers to the general 
 drift of Job's speech, which appears to him to be an assertion that God 
 was unjust {v. 3). 
 
 a sh'ong ivind^ Violent, and empty, cf ch. xv. 2, xvi. 3. 
 
 3. doth God pervert] Or, will God J>ervert... will the Almighty, &'c.? 
 This is what Bildad means by his reference to these things. Job's 
 speech put briefly is an assertion that God perverts justice. God is 
 referred to in his character of ruler of the world. By the question 
 Bildad expresses his astonishment and abhorrence of what seems the 
 drift of Job's language. The words "God" and "Almighty" stand 
 first in the sentence for the sake of emphasis, will God...? and the same 
 word "pervert" is also used in both clauses with an intonation of 
 astonishment.
 
 6o JOB, VIII. [vv. 4— 6. 
 
 If thy children have sinned against him, 
 And he have cast them away for their transgression; 
 ; If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, 
 And make thy suppHcation to the Ahiiighty; 
 If thou ivcrt pure and upright; 
 Surely now he would awake for thee, 
 
 4 — 7. In opposition to Job's impious principle Bildad brings forward 
 his doctrine of the Divine rectitude on both its sides, the one ilhistrated 
 in the fate of Job's children {v. 4), the other, as he hopes, to be illustrated 
 in the history of Job himself {vv. 5 — 7). 
 
 4. The construction of the English version is possible, which makes 
 the whole of v. 4 the supposition or protasis and begins the second 
 member of the sentence with v. 5. But more probably v. 4 is complete 
 in itself: if thy children have sinned so (or, then) he hath, Sffc. 
 
 cast them away for] Rather lit., lie hath sent them away, or, let 
 them go, into the hand of their transgression. The idea is that evil 
 carries its own retribution with it, and that a sinner is destroyed by the 
 very sin which he commits, a common idea in the Book, cf. ch. iv. 8, 
 ^v. 31, 35, xviii. 7, 8, XX. 12 set/. Though Bildad puts his reference 
 to the children of Job hypothetically there is great harslmess in the 
 allusion, and we may understand how the father would smart under it 
 from his own reference later in the Book to the time when his children 
 were yet alive : "When my boys were about me," ch. xxix. 5. A wiser 
 and more human-hearted Teacher than Bildad has instructed us from 
 the instances of the affliction of blindness (John ix. 2 — 3) and the 
 accident in the tower of Silfjam (Luke xiii. 4) that calamity is no proof 
 of guilt in those on whom it falls, and that evil may serve in the hand of 
 God wider uses than the chastisement of individuals. This is the very 
 lesson of the Book of Job, though it seems that men in the days of our 
 Lord had not yet learned it. The verse refers back to ch. i. 19, and is 
 evidence that the Prologue forms an integral part of the Book. 
 
 6. Bildad saw in the fate of Job's children not only proof that they 
 had sinned but that their sin was deadly. He saw in Job's afllictions 
 proof equally decisive that he had sinnetl, but the fact that he was still 
 spared, however severe his afllictions, gave a different complexion to his 
 sin, and also suggested a different meaning for his afllictions. They 
 were chastisements meant for his good, and Bildad is enabled to hope 
 the best for Job, if he will rightly lay his trials to heart. 
 
 ivoiildest seek unto God t'e/iwcs] Rather, if thou wilt seek earnestly 
 unto God. Thou is emphatic in antithesis to "thy cliiUben," ?'. 4. 
 
 6. i/ thou wert pure] Or, if tlion be pure, cf. subjunctive in 
 ch. xi. 15. 
 
 surely now he would awake] Rather, surely now he will awake. 
 The words, if thou wilt seek, v. 5, suggest the right point of view from 
 which to look at the words, if thou be pure, &^c. The whole passage 
 refers to the conduct which Bildad ho|)rs for from Job. The meaning, 
 therefore, docs not seem to be, If thuu be pure, as thou sayest, and as
 
 vv. 7— lo.] JOB, VIII. 6l 
 
 And make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. 
 
 Though thy beginning was small, j 
 
 Yet thy latter end should greatly increase. 
 
 For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, j 
 
 And prepare thyself to the search of their fathers: 
 
 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, c 
 
 Because our days upon earth are a shadow:) 
 
 Shall not they teach thee, atid tell thee, i 
 
 And utter words out of their heart ? 
 
 we have supposed thee; but rather, If thou become pure, through 
 penitence, and by letting afflictions work the fruits of righteousness, of. 
 ch. xi. 13 seq. 
 
 make the Iiahitation of thy nghtcoitsness prosperons\^ Or, restore thy 
 righteous habitation, that is, restore the lost prosperity (cf. Joel ii. 25) of 
 thy habitation, now become the abode of righteousness. Bildad comes 
 out with his suspicions of Job's guilt much more explicitly than Eliphaz 
 did ; and similarly Zophar, ch. xi. 13. 
 
 7. thy beginning'] i.e., thy former estate, before affliction; simi- 
 larly "latter end " (read : thy latter end shall greatly increase) is said of 
 his future condition of prosperity; see the same use of the words ch. 
 xlii. 12. The verse means that his former estate shall seem small in 
 comparison with the splendour of his renewed prosperity. It is curious 
 that the Author here allows Bildad to utter a prophecy, the literal 
 fulfilment of which, though not through the means suggested by Bildad, 
 he takes care expressly to chronicle. 
 
 8 — 19. The moral wisdom of the ancients. 
 
 Bildad, having laid down his moral principle, invites Job to reflect that 
 it is a principle resting on the research and the generalized experience 
 of men of generations long past, whose long lives enabled them to weigh 
 and balance and infer from the multitude of cases the general truth. It 
 is no new theory of his or of the short-Hved men of to-day, who are but 
 of yesterday and know nothing. These maxims of the ancient world 
 are clothed in rich and gorgeous similes drawn from the luxuriant plant- 
 life of the sultry East. 
 
 8. prepare thyself to the search] i.e., give heed to the research, or, 
 to that which their fathers have searched out. By referring to a former 
 age, and then to the fathers of that age or generation, Bildad intimates 
 that his truth was recognised through all antiquity backwards till history 
 loses itself in the beginnings of time. 
 
 10. luords out of their heart] Words not the result of hasty and super- 
 ficial generalizing, but of an experience which the lengthened lives of 
 these men had enabled them to pass through, and the principles learned 
 in which had sunk into their heart. The "heart" is in Heb. the 
 deepest part of human nature, whether intellect or feeling. There is an 
 implied condemnation in all this of the new principles which Job was
 
 62 JOB, VIII. [vv. II— 15. 
 
 11 Can the rush grow up without mire? 
 Can the flag grow without water? 
 
 12 Whilst it t's yet in his greenness, and not cut down, 
 It withereth before any other herb. 
 
 13 So are the paths of all that forget God; 
 And the hypocrite's hope shall perish: 
 
 14 Whose hope shall be cut off, 
 
 And whose trust sha/l be a spider's web. 
 
 15 He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: 
 He shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. 
 
 setting forth, what a subsequent speaker calls his "doctrine," ch. xi. 
 4, principles based on nothing but his own single experience and 
 instance. 
 
 11. The ancient wisdom itself. This wisdom is plainly not that of 
 the Arabs or Idumeans, but is Egyptian. The ri(sh is most probably 
 the Papyrus, which is said to attain a growth twice the height of a man. 
 The fiag is the Nile-reed, or Nile-grass (only here and Gen. xli. 2). 
 
 12. and not cut down] lit. and 7iot to be cut down (or, plucked, ch. 
 XXX. 4), that is, in its full luxuriance, not ripe nor ready for cutting, 
 and therefore with no trace of withering or decay in it. In this state of 
 full freshness, when water is withdrawn from it, it sinks and collapses, 
 withering sooner than any herb. 
 
 13. Application of the simile. When men forget God, and His 
 sustaining grace is withdrawn from them, they sink down suddenly and 
 perish like the luxuriant water-reed. 
 
 the hypocrite] This word is difficult to translate, it means rather the 
 godless, or, profane, cf. Jer. xxiii. 1 1 ; hypocrisy in the ordinary sense is 
 not at all the idea of the term. The verl) is rendered in the English 
 Version mostly "defile" or "pollute," but "profane" would suit 
 most of the passages. 
 
 14. shiill be cut off] Perhaps rather, goeth in sunder, though the 
 meaning is not quite certain. One would have expected a noun here 
 parallel to "spider's web" in the second clause, but no efforts to find a 
 noun have been successful. Saadia in his Arabic Translation rendered 
 gossamer, the filmy thread-like substance that floats in the air, or the 
 thread-like shimmer of the air itself when sultry and moist. This is 
 a very suitable sense but is without sufficient support. 
 
 a spidcr''s ivcb] lit. sjjider's house, cf. "house" in v. 15. The 
 flimsiness of the spider's house is proverbial in the East. Mohammed 
 compares idolaters to the spider : The likeness of those who take to 
 themselves patrons beside God is as the likeness of the spider who taketh 
 to herself a house ; and verily the frailest of houses is the spider's house, 
 if they did but know, Kor. xxix. 40. See also Job xxvii. 18. 
 
 15. hold it fast] i.e. hold fast by it. The meaning of course is not 
 that he tries to uphold his house, but that he tries to support himself by 
 holding on to it. Tliis is true both of the spider and the man.
 
 vv. 16—20.] JOB, VIII. 63 
 
 He is green before the sun, 16 
 
 And his branch shooteth forth in his garden, 
 
 His roots are wrapped about the heap, 17 
 
 And seeth the place of stones. 
 
 If he destroy him from his place, 18 
 
 Then // shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee. 
 
 Behold, this is the joy of his way, 19 
 
 And out of the earth shall others grow. 
 
 Behold, God will not cast away a perfect mafi, 20 
 
 16 — 19. A new figure of a spreading, luxuriant plant, suddenly 
 destroyed, and leaving not a trace of itself behind. 
 
 before the suti] This scarcely means openly, in broad day and in the 
 face of the sun, but, under the fostering heat of the sun. 
 
 17. seeth the place 0/ stones'] This translation can hardly mean that in 
 his high growth he looks down upon the stone heap, or bends over it, 
 but rather that he chooses it, fixes himself upon it. Others prefer the 
 sense : he pierces between the stones, that is, with his roots, or, he pierces 
 the place of stones, the word which ordinarily means to see having it is 
 said in the dialect of the Hauran the sense of cut, or split (Wetzstein 
 in Delitzsch, note, p. 120). This affords a more distinct sense. The 
 luxuriance of the plant and its hold of the soil are graphically de- 
 scribed. It is fresh and green under the heat of the sun ; its suckers 
 spread out and run over all the garden ; its shoots clasp the heap of 
 stones and weave themselves about it; and, finally, its roots thrust 
 themselves down and pierce the stony soil, grasping the heart of the 
 earth. 
 
 18. if he destroy hini\ The subject is God. The words might be 
 rendered, if he be (when he is) destroyed. This is perhaps better, as the 
 plant is spoken of. The point of the verse is not who destroys him, but 
 that he is destroyed, and when destroyed utterly disappears, so that his 
 place says, I never saw thee. In spite of his luxuriance and hold 
 of the soil he is suddenly and wholly swept away and his place denies 
 ever having known him. 
 
 19. joy of his way] way may be " fate," as often, and the words 
 would be ironical; or "way" may be " course of life "—so ends what 
 was to him the joy of his course of life. 
 
 shall others grow] Or, do others grow. Who the others are or what 
 quality they are of is not the point, which is that his place is occupied 
 by others as if he had never been. He leaves no trace, no blank, and 
 no memory. 
 
 20—22. Finally Bildad repeats his general principle and augurs from 
 the one side of it a happy and brilliant future for Job. 
 
 cast away a perfect man] This word " perfect " is the title given to Job 
 by the Author, and acknowledged due to him by God, see on ch. i. i. 
 The phrase, God will not cast off a "perfect" man, becomes almost the 
 text of Job's reply, cf. ch. ix. 20, 21 ; x. 3.
 
 64 JOB, VIII. [vv. 21, 22. 
 
 Neither will he help the evil doers: 
 2r Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, 
 
 And thy lips witli rejoicing. 
 22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; 
 
 And the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to 
 nought. 
 
 hdp the evildoers] lit. hold by the Iiand of Q\A\-Aocrs, cf. Is. xli. r 3, xlii. 6. 
 
 21. //// he fill] If this rendering be adopted, the word " till " is used 
 somewhat generally to express what God's practical rectitude, as 
 described on both its sides v. 20, will issue in. Others prefer to read, 
 he vi\\\ yd fill — making a stop at the end olv. 20. 
 
 22. In his concluding words Bildad puts himself and his friends 
 right with Job, and desires to put Job right with himself and God. By 
 referring to Job's haters he intimates that he and his friends are none of 
 them; and by identifying these haters with the wicked (v. 22), he lets 
 Job know that he regards him as at heart one who belongs to quite 
 a different class. 
 
 The position of Job's friends cannot be understood at all unless we 
 consider that they assumed Jolt's piety at heart, but concluded from his 
 calamities that he had been guilty of some great sins. And as Eliphaz 
 had already brought to bear on Job's mind the influence of a revelation, 
 the next strongest argument was the consent of mankind. And to some 
 minds, especially in that condition of perplexity and confusion on religious 
 experience in which Job's was, the general accord of mankind speaks 
 with a more persuasive voice than anything called revelation. Bildad 
 clearly enough perceived the drift of Job's words in ch. vii. ; they were 
 to the effect that the government of the world and the supreme Power in 
 it was un-moral. And his reply, that mankind everywhere, and especially 
 in circumstances that gave their judgment weight, had perceived a moral 
 law ruling the universe, was conclusive as a general principle. His 
 error lay in supposing that this was the only principle on which the 
 universe was ruled, and in imagining that this principle operated always 
 in a manner direct and immediate. Hence the jirinciple lost its effective- 
 ness in his hands by being stretched to uses which it did not cover. 
 
 Ch. IX. — X. Job's reply to Bildad. 
 
 The Discourse though formally a reply to Bildad seems to touch also 
 upon things said in the speech of Eliphaz. It is rather difficult to 
 divide into paragraphs, not being calm and logical but passionate and 
 hurried and passing on by rapid steps from one point to another all 
 more or less connected, and fusing all together in the glow of a fire the 
 colours of which are awe before an omnipotent Power, and moral terror 
 and indignation mixed with piteous despair at the indiscriminate severity 
 with which it crushes men. 
 
 Job starts with a sneering adhesion to the maxim of his friends, How 
 can man be righteous with God ? by which he means, How can man 
 make his righteousness appear, though he has it, seeing God's might
 
 JOB, IX. 6$ 
 
 will overpower him in all attempts to substantiate it ? This idea is 
 carried on throughout ch. ix. At the end of this chapter there is a 
 pause. The sufferer has exhausted his idea in his terrible pictures of 
 the Divine might and the hopeless paralysis of the Creature before His 
 Majesty in any meeting with Him to vindicate its own innocence. 
 
 But now as he pauses for a moment and looks around on his condition, 
 the idea returns with a new force and tills his mind, and pushes him out 
 upon a new stream of complaint. And as in ch. vii. 12 — 7i he had 
 exhausted possibility in speculating what it could be in man or himself 
 that provoked the Almighty's hostility to him, he now boldly enters the 
 Divine mind itself and explores every corner of it in the hope of 
 discovering what thought or feeling or defect in God it could be that 
 led Him thus to afHict and destroy him in a way in such contradiction 
 to His former gracious treatment of him. Baffled in every effort he leaps 
 to the desperate conclusion that His present treatment of him reveals 
 God's real character, and that His former favour and care had been 
 lavished on him only that at the last He might the more effectually 
 torment him. 
 
 Thus the Discourse falls into two great sections : 
 
 Ch. ix. God's might and the terror of His Majesty will prevent man 
 from substantiating his innocence in his plea with God. 
 
 Ch. X. Job's efforts to discover in the Divine mind the secret of the 
 terrible afflictions with which God visited him. 
 
 Ch. IX. God's Might and the Terror of his Majesty will 
 
 PREVENT MAN FROM ESTABLISHING HIS INNOCENCE IN HIS 
 
 PLEA WITH God. 
 
 Starting with the question, How can man substantiate his innocence 
 in the face of God's overpowering might (w. 2, 3), Job passes on to a 
 delineation of this Divine power, which he conceives as a terrible 
 irresistible Force, which moves mountains, and shifts the earth from its 
 place ; which dictates to the sun that he shine not ; which made 
 the mighty constellations of the sky ; and whose workings are beyond 
 the compass of the human mind to grasp (vv. 4 — 10). 
 
 Then passing from the material world to creatures he imagines 
 this Power coming, say, upon himself, unseen, beyond intelligence 
 {v. 11), irresistible, irresponsible {v. 12), and cites as an instance good 
 for all the memorable defeat of the abettors of Rahab, i/ie helpers 
 of Rahab succumbed to him, how then should I answer him ? [vv. 1 3, 
 14). What Job describes is a meeting of God and man that the 
 latter may uphold his innocence against Him, or perhaps any meeting 
 of God and man ; and such a meeting has Job to face in the attempt to 
 establish his innocence. He must be overpowered and fail though 
 guiltless : — if I were innocent I could not assert my innocence, I must 
 fall down and supplicate my omnipotent Opponent [v. 15). This feeling 
 of helplessness before a crushing power altogether overmasters Job and 
 rouses him to a recklessness which is t'nat of despair, and going back 
 upon his words, if I ivere innocent, he cries, I am innocent, innocent 
 and guilty He destroys alike ; the earth is given into the hands of the 
 
 JOB e
 
 66 JOB, IX. [vv. 1—3. 
 
 9 Then Job answered and said, 
 a I know /'/ is so of a truth : 
 
 But how should man be just with God? 
 3 If he will contend with him, 
 
 wicked, He covers the faces of the judges thereof— if it is not He, who 
 then is it? {zjv. 16 — 24). 
 
 But now the paroxysm being over Job proceeds more calmly to speak 
 of his own condition, which is but an illustration of what is everywhere 
 seen, but sorrow and perplexity now prevail over indignation. He 
 describes the pitiful brevity of his life {I'V. 25, 26). And with a touch- 
 ing pathos he tells how he sometimes resolves to leave off his sad 
 countenance and brighten up, but the thought that God has resolved 
 not to hold him innocent again crushes him, he /las to be guilty, and all 
 his efforts to shew himself to be clear are vain (fv. 27—31). And he 
 rounds off his speech with a reference to that with which he began, the 
 central difficulty : God is not a man that man might answer Him; there 
 is no umpire between Him and man to impose his authority on both; 
 but if He would lift His afiiicting rod from Job and not affright him with 
 His Majesty, he would speak without fear, for his conscience is void of 
 offence (zw. 32 — 35). 
 
 2. It is not quite easy to see what form of the maxim of the friends 
 it is to which Job gives his sneering assent in this verse, when he says, 
 7^0 be sure I kmnu that it is so. In v. 10 he quotes words from Eliphaz, 
 ch. V. 9, verbatim, and he may refer to the form in which this speaker 
 put forward the principle common to them all. Shall man be righteous 
 before God ? ch. iv. 1 7. In this case the second member of the verse 
 merely explains the words t/iat it is so, 
 
 Of a truth I know that it is so : 
 
 How shall man be righteous with God? 
 
 Job, however, gives a different turn to the words, meaning by them, 
 How shall man substantiate his righteousness, and make it to appear, 
 when he has to maintain it in the face of the overpowering might 
 of God? (v. 3). Or, Job may attach his reply to Bildad's question, 
 Will God pervert right? (ch. viii. 3). To which he replies : Of course 
 — but how shall man have right with God? God's power makes right. 
 Job does not quibble with words. He speaks from the point of view of 
 his own circumstances and the construction which he put on them. 
 His afflictions were proof that God held him guilty, while his own 
 conscience declared his innocence. But he was helpless against God's 
 judgment of him. In the view of his friends and all men, and even 
 himself, his aftlictions were God's verdict against him. And his answer 
 is that man must be guilty before God because he cannot contend with 
 an omnipotent power resolved to hold him guilty. 
 
 3. if /le will contend] Or, if he would; if he (man) should desire 
 to contend with God. "To contend " is a legal term meaning to enter 
 a plea with, the idea of a court or judge being in the mind of the speaker.
 
 vv. 4— 8.] JOB, IX. 67 
 
 He cannot answer him one of a thousand. 
 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength : 4 
 
 Who hath hardened himself against him, and hath pros- 
 pered ? 
 Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: 5 
 
 Which overturneth them in his anger. 
 Which shaketh the earth out of her place, 6 
 
 And the pillars thereof tremble. 
 
 Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; 7 
 
 And sealeth up the stars. 
 
 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, 8 
 
 And treadeth upon the waves of the sea. 
 
 Here man is supposed to have a plea with God on the question of his 
 innocency, or on any question involving his righteousness. The question 
 in V. 4, " Who hath hardened himself against Him?" makes it probable 
 that man is here considered the appellant. Others take the subject to 
 be God: if He "were pleased to contend with him (man), cf. vv. 14, 16. 
 This suits the second half of the verse, but seems less suitable to the 
 general connexion. 
 
 he catiiwt answer hini] Or, he (man) could not answer him (God) one 
 of a thousand of the questions with which in His infinite wisdom {v. 4) 
 He would ply him. 
 
 4. wise in heart'] i.e. in mind, corresponding to " mighty in power." 
 hardened hi?>iself] Probably hardened his neck, i.e. braved him, Prov. 
 xxix. r. 
 
 hath prospered] lit. been safe, or as we say, "with impunity." 
 5 — 10. Description of God's omnipotent power as it displays itself in 
 the material world. 
 
 they know not] Suddenly and unexpectedly, Ps. xxxv. 8 ; Jer. 1. 24. 
 
 6. The reference is probably to earthquakes. The earth is conceived 
 as a structure supported on pillars, ch. xxxviii. 6 ; Ps. Ixxv. 3. The 
 conception was poetical ; if the pillars were supposed anything actual, 
 they were probably the roots of the great mountains which extended 
 downwards and bore up the earth, as the part of them above the earth 
 supported the heavens. 
 
 7. The reference may be to days when from storm and darkness the 
 sun seems not to rise, or to eclipses and sudden obscurations of the 
 heavenly bodies. 
 
 8. The point lies in the gigantic power of God who " alone " and of 
 Himself stretched out the heavens; cf. the expression of the same idea 
 of power. Is. xl. 12, xliv. 24. In Is. xl. 22 it is said that God stretches 
 out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell 
 in. Our "firmament" is a relic of a false astronomy for which scripture 
 is not responsible. 
 
 waves of the sea] lit. heights of the sea, cf. heights of the earth, Amos 
 iv. 13. The "sea" here is scarcely the celestial waters, Ps. xxix. 3. 
 
 5—2
 
 68 JOB, IX. [vv. 9—13. 
 
 9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, 
 
 And Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. 
 
 10 Which doeth great t/uJigs past finding out; 
 Yea, and wonders without number. 
 
 It Lo, he goeth by me, and I see hi?n not: 
 He passeth on also, but I perceive him not. 
 
 12 Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him ? 
 Who will say unto him. What doest thou ? 
 
 13 If God. will not withdraw his anger, 
 
 God is represented as walking on the sea when its waves mount up to 
 heaven, and His voice may be heard in the thunder. 
 
 9. The Hebrew names are \ish ('ajis/i ch. xxxviii. 32), kese£l,a.nd kee- 
 mah. These names may possibly denote the Bear, Orion and the 
 Pleiades or seven stars ; there is, however, considerable uncertainty. 
 The word kescel means "fool," which is to be interpreted as the Syr. 
 and Chal. in this place, giant, cf. Gen. vi. 4, that is, some heaven-daring 
 rebel, who was chained to the sky for his impiety. Such mythological 
 ideas belong to a time anterior to authentic history, though as still 
 lingering in the popular mind they are alluded to in such poems as Job. 
 In Is. xiii. 10 the word is used in the general sense of constellations. 
 Keemah perhaps means heap, and is a natural name for the Pleiades. 
 Others have interpreted the expressions differently (see Delitzsch 
 Comment, p. 127). 
 
 the chambers of the soitthl are probably the great spaces and deep 
 recesses of the southern hemisphere of the heavens, with the constella- 
 tions which they contain. These being known to exist, but only suggested 
 to the eye, are alluded to generally. 
 
 10. The description of the operation of God's might in the material 
 world concludes with a general statement that this operation surpasses 
 all power of comprehension by the human mind. The words are exactly 
 those of Eliphaz ch. v. 9, but while to Eliphaz all God's operations have 
 an ethical meaning and subserve one great purpose of goodness, to Job 
 they seem the mere un-moral play of an immeasurable Force. This 
 force was of course a Person, for an impersonal force is an idea un- 
 known to the Shcmitic mind. But this force seemed all the more tre- 
 mendous to Job from his having no idea of second causes or of what we 
 call laws of nature ; the phenomena of the universe, even the most 
 stupendous, were the immediate work of this mighty agent. 
 
 11 — 24. From the operation of this terrible force in the physical 
 world Job passes on to describe its display among creatures, and to shew 
 how it paralyses and crushes them. 
 
 11. This power is subtle and invisible in its presence, felt but im- 
 possible to grasp. 
 
 12. It is irresistible and irresponsible. 
 
 taketh away] Carries off, as a beast of prey its booty. 
 ivho can hinder him] Or, turn hivi back. 
 
 13. // God will not withdraio] Rather, God withdraws not. His
 
 vv. 14, 15.] JOB, IX. 69 
 
 The proud helpers do stoop under him. 
 
 How much less shall I answer him, 14 
 
 Atid choose out my words io reason with him ? 
 
 Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, 15 
 
 But I would make supplication to my judge. 
 
 fury is persistent and inexorable till it has accomplished its purpose, 
 of. ch. xxiii. 13 — 14. 
 
 the pivud helpers do stoop] Rather, the helpers of Rahab did stoop. 
 The "helpers" are the abettors, the partizans and company of Rahab; 
 and the clause illustrates by an example, the highest example that could 
 be chosen, the statement in the first clause, God withdraws not his 
 anger; to this wrath even the aiders of Rahab succumbed, (i) "Rahab" 
 means pride or arrogancy. But the "helpers of pride" or the "proud 
 helpers" is an expression too indefinite to occur in the present con- 
 nexion, where, in addition, the perf. bowed beneath him, points to a 
 distinct historical event, adduced as an illustration. (2) In Ps. Ixxxvii. 4 
 Rahab is a name for Egypt; so Ps. Ixxxix. 10, Is. xxx. 7 (for, "their 
 strength" read Rahab), Is. li. 9. Any historical illustration, however, 
 from the history of Egypt in connexion with Israel is not to be looked 
 for in this Book, the scene of which is laid in an age anterior to the 
 Exodus. Direct allusions do not occur to the history of Israel. Allusions 
 of any kind are rare, but such as are made are to the general history of 
 mankind before Israel became a nation, cf. ch. xxii. i6, a reference to 
 the flood or the cities of the Plain. (3) In Is. li. 9 the parallel clause 
 to "cut Rahab (Egypt) in pieces," is, "wounded the Dragon^ Again 
 in Ps. Ixxiv. 13 — 14 the parallel to "didst divide the sea" is "brakest 
 the heads of Leviathan. " From this it appears that Egypt was called 
 Rahab, Dragon or Leviathan with reference to its native monster, which 
 was taken as the symbol of the nation and its character (cf. Ps. Ixviii. 30 
 margin). All this leads finally to the conclusion that Rahab is the 
 monster of the sea, which is probably nothing but the sea itself, as 
 appears from Job xxvi. 12. In the poetical nature-myth this stormy 
 sea, assaulting heaven with its waves, was personified as a monster 
 leading his helpers on to wage war with heaven, but was quelled 
 (ch. xxvi. 12) by the might of God. This is the instance of God's power 
 adduced by Job. That the Poet makes use of the floating fragments 
 of superstition and mythology still existing in the popular mind has 
 nothing surprising in it. 
 
 14. Job now draws an inference from this instance to his o\vn — how 
 much less should he meet God in a hostile plea? 
 
 choose oict my words] In a plea against God circumspection and careful 
 selection of language would be needful, but the self-possession and 
 calmness requisite for this would be destroyed by His overbearing might, 
 and the terror of His majesty. 
 
 15. though I were righteous] i. e. though I were in the right, though 
 my cause was just against Him. 
 
 viake supplication to my judge] Rather, to mine adversary, or op- 
 ponent. Had Job right on his side he could not maintain it; over-
 
 70 JOB, IX. [vv. i6— 21. 
 
 16 If I had called, and he had answered me; 
 
 Ye^ would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my 
 voice. 
 
 17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, 
 
 And multiplieth my wounds without cause. 
 
 18 He will not suifer me to take my breath, 
 But filleth me 7v///i bitterness. 
 
 19 If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: 
 
 And if of judgment, who shall set me a time to pleadi 
 
 20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: 
 Jf I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. 
 
 21 Thotigh I were perfect, _)r/ would I not know my soul: 
 I would despise my life, 
 
 powered by the irresistible and awful might of his opponent he would 
 desert his own just plea and supplicate his adversary. 
 
 16. In vv. 14, 15 the plea against God is not supposed actually 
 entered upon ; the idea of such a plea presents itself to Job's mind and 
 he pictures the results that would follow upon himself; in v. 16 he 
 assumes the plea entered upon, that he had actually cited God, who 
 had appeared, and he describes what would follow at this stage. 
 
 if I had called^ i.e. cited God as a party in my plea against ITim. 
 
 that he had hearkened] Rather, that lie ■would hearken. Mad Job 
 with a superhuman courage cited God, and had God appeared. Job 
 would not believe that He would listen to him, cf. v. 35, ch. xiii. 21 seq., 
 xxiii. 6 seq, 
 
 17 — 21. These verses describe what would ensue in the supposed 
 case that God had actually responded to Job's citation. He would not 
 listen to Job's plea but would crush him with His infinite power. The 
 . words do not describe what Job actually suffers at present or has 
 suffered, but what he would have to endure then, though the colours of 
 the terrible picture are drawn from his actual sufferings. 
 
 17. he breaketh] Rather, lie would break. Similarly, and mul- 
 tiply. The word translated break may mean to seize and swallow up, 
 that is, to sivcep away, cf ch. xxx. 11. 
 
 18. will not suffer] Rather, would not suffer. And so, but fill. 
 19 — 21. These three verses read as follows, 
 
 If you speak of the strength of the mighty, Here I am ! (saith He) 
 If of judgment. Who will set me a time? 
 
 20. Were I in the right, mine own mouth would condemn me, 
 W'ere I perfect, He would prove me perverse: 
 
 21. I am perfect ! I regard not myself, 
 I despise my life. 
 
 The speaker in v. 19 is God, at least it is He who uses the words, "Here 
 I am," and "Who will set me a time?" The rest may be words of 
 Job, in which case the words "saith He" must be supplied to these two
 
 vv. 22, 23.] JOB, IX. 71 
 
 This is one i/iifig, therefore I said ;/, 22 
 
 He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. 
 If the scourge slay suddenly, 23 
 
 He will laugh at the trial of the innocent. 
 
 phrases alone. It gives a more vigorous sense to suppose the whole 
 verse spoken by God. The frightened imagination of Job with much 
 dramatic force represents God as suddenly flinging Himself into the 
 arena before all, with a consciousness of irresistible might and irrespon- 
 sibility, ready for any encounter of strength and defying any to bring 
 Him to law. The action of "appointing one a time'"' or ordaining a day, is 
 of course not the action of the plaintiff but of a judge, and the words 
 imply the irresponsibility and superiority to all law of the speaker. 
 
 20. In V. 20 Job is the speaker ; he describes the effect upon him of 
 the might of God, — though he had right on his side his own mouth 
 would make him out wrong ; out of terror he would speak at random 
 or say the opposite of what he should say. The word perfect is used as 
 in ch. i. I, not in an absolute sense, but to mean upright and free from 
 transgression. The subject in the second clause is more probably God 
 than ?V, i.e. my mouth; were Job perfect the effect of God's power 
 would be that he would appear perverse or wicked. 
 
 21. This feeling of being helpless in the hands of an overmastering 
 might, which has no regard to his innocence, drives Job on to a reckless 
 defiance of his adversary, and he will assert his innocence in His face 
 though it should cost him his life. Going back upon the words, "if 
 I were perfect," he cries, I am perfect, I regard not myself, I despise 
 my life. The phrase, I regard not, care not for, myself, is lit. / kno-iu 
 not myself, cf. Gen. xxxix. 6, Ps. i. 6. On the last words cf. ch. vii. 20. 
 The speaker feels that his bold assertion of his innocence may provoke 
 liis adversaiy altogether to destroy him, but he proclaims his in- 
 difference. 
 
 22. This verse reads, 
 
 It is all one, therefore I say. 
 
 He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked, 
 
 that is, indiscriminately. Here there is not only the former statement 
 of ch. vii. that the destiny of man at the hands of God is hard and 
 crushing, but in addition an express denial of the position of Bildad that 
 God's dealing with men was discriminating. An emphasis falls on He. 
 It is not quite easy to decide what is meant by it is all one. The close 
 connexion with £». 21 makes it most natural to understand : it is all one 
 whether I live or die ; so that the verses 21 — 24 are all one outburst, in 
 which the Almighty is described as a crushing force that bears down on 
 all good and bad without distinction. 
 
 23. Further illustration of this character of God. 
 
 the scoiirge\ i.e. the plague, as pestilence, famine, war, and the like, 
 Is. xxviii. 15. 
 
 will hutgh at the tnal'\ Or, Jiiocks at the despair, cf. vi. 14. 
 
 2i. The same illustrated on the widest scale. Verse 23 spoke of
 
 72 JOB, IX. [vv. 24-26. 
 
 34 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: 
 He covereth the faces of the judges thereof; 
 If not, where, mid who is he ? 
 
 25 Now my days are swifter than a post: 
 They flee away, they see no good. 
 
 26 They are passed away as the swift ships: 
 
 particular calamities afflicting portions of the earth. At the despair of 
 the innocent under these God mocks, distant and indiflferent. Now Job 
 makes the sweeping statement that the earth is one scene of injustice. 
 The wicked prevail in it, it is given into their hand, to rule and dominate 
 within it. Comp. ch. xxiv. 
 
 covereth the faces of the Judges] that they cannot see the right, to give 
 the innocent justice. It is God wlio covereth their face';; He not only 
 does not hinder wrong, He ensures that it prevail and have tlie upper 
 hand. 
 
 if not, 7vhere, and who is he] Rather, if not He, who then is it — who 
 does all this {v. 24), if it is not He ? Others besides Job have asked 
 such questions. 
 
 In this passage Job's spirit reaches the lowest abyss of its alienation 
 from God. From this time onwards his mind is calmer and the moral 
 idea of God begins to reassert its place in his thoughts. Here God 
 appears to him as a mere omnipotent power, with a bias, if He have one, 
 to evil and cruelty, and he speaks of Him distantly as "he" (cf. ch. 
 iii. 20). His conception is but the reflection of his own case, as 
 he conceived it, flung over the world, though his conception of his 
 own case was false. To a Shemitic mind who had no conception of 
 second causes or of general laws or of a scheme of providence, but 
 regarded God as the immediate author of eveiy single occurrence, the 
 danger must always have been imminent of being driven to conclude 
 that God was the author of the misery and wrong and cruel hardship 
 under which men groaned. 
 
 In these verses Job traverses directly the maxim of his friends in 
 regard to the discriminating righteousness of God, and the examples 
 which he cites he might have used to demolish their theory. But he is 
 little concerned with their theory here ; later he does use his examples 
 to drive them from tlie fielil. But here he is occupieil with himself, 
 with the impossibility of making his innocence which he is conscious 
 of to a])pear and be admitted ; for, of course, to himself and to all others 
 his afflictions were the testimony of God to his guilt. And thus, though 
 in the last verses his view extends to the world in general, he comes back 
 ixvv. 25 to himself. 
 
 26. No-w my days] Better, and my days— under the weight of this 
 unjust and oppressive Force {w. 5 — 24). 
 
 than a post] i.e. a courier, 2 Sam. xviii. 22, 24. 
 
 26. the swift ships] the ships of reed. These skiffs, constructed of a 
 wooden keel and the rest of reeds, are the "vessels of bulrushes" of 
 Is. xviii. 2. Tliey carried but one or two persons, and being light were
 
 vv. 27-31.] JOB, IX. 7Z 
 
 As the eagle i/iat hasteth to the prey. 
 
 If I say, 1 will forget my complaint, «/ 
 
 . I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself: 
 I am afraid of all my sorrows, ss 
 
 I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. 
 ^ I be wicked, S9 
 
 Why then labour I in vain ? 
 
 If I wash myself with snow water, 30 
 
 And make my hands never so clean; 
 Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, 31 
 
 extremely swift. The ancients were familiar with them ; Plin. xiii. 11, 
 ex ipso quidem papyro navigia texunt ; and Lucan, Fhars. iv. 36, 
 
 conseritur bibula Memphitis cymba papyro, 
 (quoted in Gesenius, Com. on Is. i. p. 577). Job as usual heaps images 
 together to picture out the brevity of his life, cf. ch. vii. 6 scq. Here 
 the images are new, a runner, a skiff of reed, an eagle swooping on his 
 
 27. my complaint] i. e. as always, my complaining, ch. vii. 1 3. 
 my heaviness] lit. my faces, my sad mien, i Sam. i. 18. 
 
 comfort t?iyself] lit. brighten tip, ch. x. 20; Ps. xxxix. 13. The word in 
 Arab, (balija) means to have a space clear of hair between the eyebrows, 
 hence to have an open, bright countenance. A certain woman described 
 the Prophet (Mohammed) as ablaju'Iwajhi, bright in countenance. 
 Then the word came to mean also to be bright, of the dawn or the day. 
 
 28. As Job's afflictions were the proof of his guilt in the estimation 
 of God, "to hold him innocent" means to remove his afflictions, as the 
 first clause suggests. 
 
 29. if I be wicked] Rather, I shall 1)6 guilty, that is, I have to be, 
 shall be held, guilty; God has resolved so to consider me. Everywhere 
 in these verses guilt and afflictions mean the same thing, the one being 
 the sign of the other. 
 
 30. with S7t07u water] This is according to one reading {bemS). 
 According to another (bemo), with snow. The latter is better; snow- 
 water is turbid and foul, ch. vi. 16; snow is the symbol of the most 
 perfect purity. Is. i. 18, Ps. li. 7. Locman's 23rd fable illustrates this 
 Oriental idea very well : " A negro stripped himself of his clothes one day 
 and began rubbing his body with snow. He was asked, Why do you rub 
 yourself with snow ? He answered. Perhaps I shall become white. 
 A wise man passing by said to him. You fellow, don't fatigue yourself, 
 your body may well make the snow black, but it will never make you 
 white. The moral is &c." 
 
 7nake my hands never so clean] lit. cleanse my hands with lye, or, 
 potash. 
 
 31. An expressive figure for, to cover again with uncleanness. The 
 naked body [v. 30) is supposed plunged in the ditch, and the clothes 
 refuse to cover so foul an object.
 
 74 JOB, IX. [vv. 32- 35. 
 
 And mine own clothes shall abhor me. 
 
 32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, 
 A7id we should come together in judgment. 
 
 33 Neither is there atiy daysman betwixt us, 
 That might lay his hand upon us both. 
 
 34 Let him take his rod away from me, 
 And let not his fear terrify me: 
 
 35 T/ien would I speak, and not fear him ; 
 But // is not so with me. 
 
 32—34. The preceding verses described how unavailing all Job's 
 cfTorts were to make out his innocence in the face of the fixed resolution, 
 of God to hold him guilty. Now Job comes back to what is the real 
 difficulty, — God is not a man like himself. 
 
 33. atty daysman] i.e. any umpire, or, arbiter. The word possibly 
 comes from the Lat. diem dicere, to fix a day for hearing a cause. 
 
 For what art thou 
 That mak'st thyself his dayes-man to prolong 
 The vengeance prest? Spenser, Fac. Q. ii. 8. 28. 
 
 (Wright, Bible Word-Book.) 
 
 lay his hand] i.e. impose his authority on both, and do justice 
 between the two. There is no prophecy of the incarnation in these 
 verses. But there is a cry of the human heart amidst its troubles that it 
 might meet and see God as a man. Then man's relations to Him might 
 be understood and adjusted. That the cry is uttered under a mis- 
 conception of God and of the meaning of His providence does not make 
 the expression of man's need any the less real or touching, for in our 
 great darkness here misconceptions of God prevail so much over true 
 conceptions of Him. 
 
 34. The -subject is God, not the daysman — let God remove His rod, 
 His afflictions. 
 
 his fear terrify me] Or, his terror affright me. The " terror " of God 
 is His overawing majesty, cf. ch. xiii. 21, xxxiii. 7, the last passage 
 with direct reference to the present one. 
 
 35. If God would meet Job as a man, removing His afflicting rod and 
 In.ying aside His awful majesty, Job would speak out his innocence and 
 plead his own cause without fear. 
 
 but it is 7iot so with me] Rather, for I am not so in myself — in my 
 own consciousness I am not so, or such, that I should fear Him. "In 
 myself" \%\\\..iuith myself, cf.ch.x. 13, xxiii. 14, xxvii. 11, and St Paul's 
 by myself, i Cor. iv. 4. 
 
 Cn. X. Job's new Appeal to God, in the form of an effort 
 
 TO DISCOVER WHAT IN THE DiVlNE NATURE IT CAN BE THAT 
 WILL EXPLAIN HIS TERRIBLE SUFFERINGS. 
 
 The chapter attaches itself closely to the last words of ch. ix., pre- 
 cisely as ch. vii. to the end of ch. vi. Ch. ix. ended with the expression
 
 V. 1.] JOB, X. 75 
 
 My soul is weary of my life ; 10 
 
 I will leave my complaint upon myself; 
 I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. 
 
 of the feeling on Job's part of his own innocence, and at the same time 
 of the feeling that God had determined to hold him guilty. Added to 
 this was the feeling of his helplessness to make his innocence appear 
 against God's power and majesty. After a slight pause, perhaps, these 
 mixed feelings gather new volume in his mind and he breaks out, per- 
 plexed and baffled, viy soul is weary of_ my life. Then commences an 
 appeal unto God in which one supposition after another is hazarded as 
 to what in God's nature it is that is the secret of Job's sufferings, each 
 supposition being refuted by being seen to be in contradiction to God's 
 true nature. The whole thus forms a very impassioned argument with 
 God founded on His own nature. 
 
 First, Job appeals to God not to make him guilty by mere arbitrary 
 will, but if He have cause against him to reveal it, v. i. Then with a 
 strong feeling of his own innocence he asks if it be a pleasure to God to 
 oppress and reject the just and smile upon the wicked? Can it be that 
 God finds pleasure in this ? v. 3. Then he wonders if God have eyes of 
 flesh, subject to illusion and error, so that He mistakes the innocent for 
 the guilty ; or if He be short-lived like men and must gratify His ven- 
 geance on suspicion lest His victim should escape Him — though in truth 
 none of this could be, for He knew Job's innocence, and none could 
 deliver from His hand, zt'. 4—7. 
 
 Then the mention of His "hands" suggests to Job, and he brings it 
 before God, the strange contradiction in God's treatment of him — His 
 hands fashioned Him once like a precious vessel and now He reduces 
 him to dust again ! v. 8. 
 
 This contradiction vividly put in v. 8 is then enlarged upon. Job 
 recalls God's remembrance to past times, how He wonderfully began his 
 being in the womb, and with a careful and minute tenderness fashioned 
 all his parts, forming him with a prodigal expenditure of skill; 
 and then when a living man hedged him about with loving kindness 
 and guarded his spirit with constant oversight, vz'. 9 — 12. The con- 
 tradiction between this gracious guidance in the past and God's present 
 treatment of him utterly baffles Job, and he leaps to the desperate con- 
 clusion that all that he now suffers had always been designed by God, 
 and that even while expending His greatest skill upon him He had been 
 cherishing this deep purpose of plaguing him. With an elaborate 
 minuteness Job goes over this divine scheme, w. 13 — 17, and as he 
 realizes it to himself in detailing it, 
 
 He finally cries out in despair, why God ever gave him life at all, 
 z'v. 18, 19? and begs for a little easing of his pain before he goes into 
 the land of darkness, vv. 10, 21 ; concluding with some terrible touches 
 concerning that gloomy land, where the light is as darkness, v. 22. 
 
 1. leave my complaint upon my self \ Rather, give free course to my 
 complaint^ cf. ch. vii. 1 1 seq.
 
 76 JOB, X. [vv. 2—8. 
 
 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; 
 
 Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me. 
 
 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, 
 
 That thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, 
 
 And shine upon the counsel of the wicked ? 
 
 Hast thou eyes of flesh ? 
 
 Or scest thou as man seeth ? 
 
 A?-e thy days as the days of man ? 
 
 Are thy years as man's days. 
 
 That thou inquirest after mine iniquity, 
 
 And searchest after my sin ? 
 
 Thou knowest that I am not wicked; 
 
 And t/ure is none that can deliver out of thine hand. 
 
 Thine hands have made me and fashioned me 
 
 Together round about; yet thou dost destroy me. 
 
 2. Do not condemn me] Or, ma/ce me not guilty; that is, by mere 
 arbitrary will. Job felt himself "made guilty" by his alflictions, which 
 to all were proofs that God held him guilty. 
 
 thou co7itcndest with me] Job's afflictions were proof that God had a 
 contention or plea against him, Job desires to know the ground of it. 
 Perhaps the afflictions themselves may be called the contention. 
 
 3. is it good iiJtto thee] The usual meaning of the phrase is. Is it thy 
 pleasure, does it seem right to thee? Deut. xxiii. 17. The words might 
 also mean, Is it becoming thee? Ex. xiv. 12. The former sense suits 
 the connexion better, because Job is groping after the discovery of some 
 characteristic or quality in God to account for his afflictions. 
 
 the work of thine hands] No doubt both Job and the wicked were all the 
 work of God's hands, but the righteous are in such a special sense the 
 work of His hands that here they are so described in opposition to the 
 wicked. 
 
 4. Job hazards the supposition that God has eyes like men and may 
 see amiss, to account for His mistaken treatment of him. 
 
 5—7. Then he asks if God's life be brief like human life, that by 
 the inquisition of chastisements He seeks to bring Job's sin to light, lest 
 His victim should outlive Him, and liurries on his punishment lest some 
 one should rescue His captive from His hand. 
 
 7. thou kno'cest] Rather, though tliou knowest. All these sup- 
 positions are vain; for as to the first {v. 4), God knew that Job was 
 guiltless, and as to the other, none could rescue from His hand. The 
 suppositions are but a subtle mode of appealing from God to God Him- 
 self, from God's dealing in providence to God's inner heart and being. 
 
 8. According to the Hebrew punctuation this verse reads, 
 
 Thine hands have fashioned me and made me, 
 Together round about ; and thou dost destroy me !
 
 vv. 9— 14-] JOB, X. n 
 
 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as 9 
 
 the clay; 
 And wilt thou bring me into dust again ? 
 Hast thou not poured me out as milk, 10 
 
 And cruddled me like cheese ? 
 
 Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, ^ 
 
 And hast fenced me with bones and sinews. 
 Thou hast granted me life and favour, ^ " 
 
 And thy visitation hath preserved my spirit. 
 And these things hast thou hid in thine heart: 13 
 
 I know that this is with thee. 
 
 If I sin, then thou markest me, ... '■* 
 
 And thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity. 
 
 Mention of God's hand, v. 7, suggests how of old God's hand fashioned 
 him with lavish expenditure of skill on all his parts, and he brings the 
 contradiction of God's present dealing with him before God— exclaiming, 
 Thou dost destroy me ! 
 
 9. The figure is that of a potter who has lavished infinite care upon 
 his vessel, and now reduces his work of elaborate skill and exquisite 
 ornament into dust again. 
 
 10 — 12. These verses refer to the formation of the child in the womb, 
 from conception to full growth, cf. Ps. cxxxix. 13 — 16. 
 
 11. fenced me\ Rather, woven, or, knit me. 
 
 12. granted ?ne life and faz'oin-] i.e. granted me life and shewn me 
 loving kindness. The verse speaks of God's dealing with Job from the 
 time he was born and became a living man. 
 
 thy visitation'] i. e. thy providence. 
 
 13 — 17. The contradiction between this dealing with Job in the womb 
 and since his birth and God's present treatment of him is only to be 
 reconciled by the supposition that God's present severe treatment of Job 
 had been resolved on trom the first, and that His careful fashioning of him 
 and care over him had been in order the better to carry out His pur- 
 pose. The details of this cruel purpose are given in the following verses. 
 
 13. and these things hast thou hid\ Better perhaps, but these things 
 didst thou hide. 
 
 this is -with thee] Rather, this was with thee, — was thy purpose, and 
 in thy thoughts, cf. ch. ix. 35. "These things" and "this" refer to 
 the details about to be given [vv. 14 — 17) of God's deep purpose cherished 
 beforehand of plaguing Job. 
 
 14. If I sin, then thou markest] Rather, if I sinned then thou wouldst 
 mark. Similarly, wouldst not acquit. "To sin" here appears to 
 mean, to be guilty of trivial sins (ch. vii. 20, xiii. 26) ; if he sinned even 
 venially his sin would be held in remembrance against him and not 
 remitted. This is the first supposition included in the Divine purpose 
 with Job.
 
 78 JOB, X. [vv. 15-17. 
 
 15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; 
 
 And //"I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. 
 
 I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction; 
 
 16 For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion : 
 And again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me. 
 
 17 Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, 
 And increasest thine indignation upon me ; 
 Changes and war are against me. 
 
 15. if I be wicked^ Better, were I wicked — guilty of jjreat offences. 
 Job cannot express what would be the punishment of greater sins were 
 he guilty of them, but indicates its incalculable severity by the ex- 
 clamation, Woe unto me ! This is the second supposition. 
 
 and if I be rightioiis\ Rather, and were I righteous. 
 
 yet will I not lift tip'] Or, yet t/iust I not lift up my head. 
 
 I aiit full of confusion'] The words to the end of the verse must mean, 
 being filled with shame and beholditig (or, and with the sight of) 7nine 
 affliction. Were Job righteous he must not lift up his head in the 
 consciousness of innocence or to protest against his being held guilty. 
 This is the third supposition, which is further illustrated in the next 
 verse. 
 
 16. Tliis verse reads, and if it (i.e. my head) should lift itself up, 
 tliou wouldst hunt me as a fierce lion, and again shew ..K;c. Cf. the 
 figure of a wild beast again, ch. xvi. g. There is a touch of sarcasm 
 in the words "shew thyself marvellous upon me," — marvellous in the 
 variety and nature of His plagues, and in plaguing such an object. 
 
 17. thoti renewest] wouldst renew. Similarly, and increase. All 
 the verbs in these verses {vv. 14 — 17) are to be translated from the 
 point of view of God's intention cherished beforehand with regard to 
 Job. This intention has, of course, been carried out, and has been 
 fulhlled in Job's present condition, and this condition supplies the 
 colours in which the intention is painted. God's "witnesses" are His 
 plagues and afflictions, as the margin explains, which testified to Job's 
 guilt, cf. ch. xvi. 8. 
 
 changes and 7i>ar are against me'\ Or, changes and a host ivith me. 
 The words are either an exclamation, in which the preceding statements 
 oiv. 17 are summed up; or are in apposition to "indignation," being a 
 description of how this indignation shews itself. The expression 
 "changes and a host" means most naturally, an ever-changing, or, 
 renewed host, the figure being that of an attacking army which makes 
 continually fresh and renewed assaults. This army is composed of his 
 afflictions sent against hint by God, ch. vi. 4, xvi. 14, xix. 12. Others 
 regard the "changes" as the successive new attacks, and the "host" as 
 the abiding old army of afflictions, — which seems artificial and puerile. 
 The word "change" occurs ch. xiv. 14 in the sense of release, and the 
 ■word "host" in the general meaning of warfare, ch. vii. i, xiv. 14. If 
 these meanings were adopted here the sense would be : releases and
 
 vv. 18—22.] JOB, X. 1() 
 
 Wherefore then hast thou brought me forth out of the .8 
 
 womb? 
 Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen 
 
 me ! 
 I should have been as though I had not been ; 19 
 
 I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. 
 Are not my days few? cease then, 20 
 
 And let me alone, that I may take comfort a Httle, 
 Before I go whence I shall not return, 21 
 
 Eve?i to the land of darkness and the shadow of death; 
 A land of darkness, as darkness itself; 22 
 
 AndofihQ shadow of death, without any order. 
 And where the light is as darkness. 
 
 warfare with me, i. e. brief intervals and then terrible conflict. Job, 
 however, usually represents his afflictions as without intermission. 
 
 18, 19. Perplexed even to despair by this idea of the purpose of 
 God Job asks, Why God ever gave him existence at all? and as in 
 ch. iii. II secj. wishes he had never seen life. 
 
 hast thou b7'oiight\ didst thou bring'. 
 
 Oh that I had given] I should have given. 
 
 20 — 22. He begs for a little easing of his pain ere he departs to the 
 land of darkness. 
 
 are not my days ft'w\ The same argument as ch. vii. 16. 
 
 cease then, and let me alone] Another reading is, let him cease then, 
 &c. In the last case the speaker turns away from God and speaks of 
 Him. In the rest of the chapter, however, Job everywhere addresses 
 God. 
 
 take comfort] The same word as ch. ix. 27, brighten up. 
 
 22. without any order] There Chaos reigns ; cf. the beautiful de- 
 scription of the effect of light upon the earth, ch. xxxviii. 12 — 14. 
 
 the light is as dark?tess] The light in that region is 
 
 No light, but rather darkness visible. 
 
 Job's three friends, strong in their traditional theory and unobservant 
 of facts or indifferent to them, maintained that God's rule of the world 
 was righteous, by which they meant that He rewarded the righteous 
 with outward good and dispensed severe suffering only to the great 
 sinner. Job agreed with them that this ought to be the way in which 
 God governed the world, and would be the way in which a just ruler 
 would govern it. But his own experience and much that he could 
 perceive taking place in the world convinced him that the world was 
 not governed in this way in fact. This feeling not only disturbed but 
 threatened to transform Job's whole idea of God. His unbearable 
 sufferings and this thought of God's injustice together suggested to his 
 mind the conception of the supreme Power in the world as an omnipo-
 
 So JOB, X. XI. 
 
 tent, cruel Force, that crushed all, good and evil, alike, and mocked 
 at the despair of the innocent. This is the tone of Job's mind in ch. ix., 
 in which he does not address God but speaks of Ilim in a kind of 
 agitated soliloquy, as if fascinated by the omnipotent unmoral spectre 
 \vhich his imagination has conjured up. The difference between Job's 
 ■ways of thinkhig and those prevailing in our own day can readily be 
 seen. In our day we have reached an ideal of God, to which, if there 
 be any God, he must correspond. And even if we took the same pessi- 
 mistic view of the world as Job did we should hesitate to believe that 
 the conception was embodied in anj' Being ; we should probably con- 
 clude that there v/as no God. But such a conclusion could not suggest 
 itself to an Oriental mind. God's existence and personality were things 
 which Job could not doubt. Hence he had no help but invest God 
 with the attributes of evil which he thought he saw reflected in the 
 world. 
 
 It might seem that Job is now on the high road to renounce God, as 
 Satan had predicted he would do. But Job does not find renouncing 
 God quite so easy a thing. And he enters upon a course in ch. x. 
 which, though at first it appears to take him a step further in this 
 direction, is really the beginning of a retreat. He endeavours to set 
 before his mind as broad a view of God as he is able, in order that by 
 thinking of all that he knows of God he may catch the end of some clue 
 to his calamities. This makes him realize how much he is still sure of 
 in regard to God. And first, he cannot doubt that He is all-knowing 
 and omnipotent (x. 3 — 7). But he goes further. He cannot help seeing 
 in the carefulness and lavish skill with which he was fashioned round 
 about in all his being by the hands of God, not only wisdom, but 
 a gracious Benevolence, and in the preservation of his spirit a Provi- 
 dence which was good. And he dwells on these things, not in the cold 
 manner of a philosopher making an induction, but with all the fervour 
 of a religious mind, which felt that it had fellowship with the Being 
 whose goodness it experienced, and still longed for this fellowship. 
 Yet God's present treatment of him seemed in contradiction to all this. 
 Thus Job balances God against Himself. Others have done the same, 
 asking the question whether the order of the world inclines to the side 
 of benevolence or of evil ; and some have professed themselves unable 
 to answer. So strong is Job's present sense of misery that he con- 
 cludes that the universal Ruler is evil. His present treatment of him 
 displays His real nature, and His former goodness was but apparent 
 (x. 13 — 17). Thus this singular method adopted by Job of balancing 
 God against God seems to have led him further into darkness. Yet 
 there is no other method by which he can reach the light ; and though 
 the balance inclines in one direction meantime, by and by it will incHne 
 in another. See notes on chap. xvi. 18 sc-t/, 
 
 Ch. XI. The Speech of Zophar. 
 
 In ch. iii. Job did not assert his innocence, but only lamented his 
 fate. And it was possible for Eliphaz tacitly to assume his guilt with-
 
 vv. 
 
 1,2.] JOB, XI. 8i 
 
 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, 11 
 
 Should not the multitude of words be answered ? 2 
 
 And should a man full of talk be justified ? 
 
 out alluding to it, and admonish him in regard to his complaints. Even 
 in chaps, vi. vii. Job only threw out here and there a spasmodic affirma- 
 tion of his innocence, being occupied with other things, and being 
 deterred by his own sense of rectitude from condescending to clear 
 himself. And Bildad could suppose himself entitled to disregard Job's 
 passing claims to innocence, they were natural but perhaps scarcely 
 seriously meant. But in chaps, ix. x. Job had denied his guilt with 
 a vehemence which made it impossible not to take his denial into 
 account. Here was a new element introduced into the strife, which the 
 three friends had to reckon with. It was plain that Job seriously be- 
 lieved in his own innocence. But it was equally plain from his afflictions 
 that God regarded him as guilty. This is the state of the question 
 as Zophar feels he has to face it. Naturally he does not range himself 
 on Job's side. No, Job may be unaware of his sins, but the Divine 
 Omniscience knows them and is bringing them to remembrance. And 
 if God would appear and speak, as Job seems to wish, he too would be 
 made to know them. This is the new application which Zophar makes 
 of the doctrine of the three friends. Job is setting up his knowledge of 
 himself against God's knowledge of him. 
 
 The speech falls into three short sections : — 
 
 First, w. 2 — 6, after some preliminary personalities of a more de- 
 preciatory kind than those used by Bildad (ch. viii. 2), Zophar expresses 
 his wish that God would appear and speak with Job, as he had desired 
 (ch. ix. 34), and reveal to him the depths of the Divine Wisdom or 
 Omniscience, then Job would be made to know his sins. 
 
 Second, vv. 7 — 12, this thought leads Zophar into a panegyric of 
 the Divine wisdom ; and this wisdom it is, which, detecting men's 
 hidden sin, accounts for the sudden calamities which they suffer. 
 
 Finally, vv. 13 — 20, from this Zophar passes to an exhortation to Job 
 to put away his evil, with a promise, if he will do so, of great pros- 
 perity and unclouded happiness in the time to come. 
 
 2. Should not the tnultilitde of words'] Or, shall not...! Zophar 
 probably did not demand the parole immediately on Job's ceasing to 
 speak. A pause was allowed to intervene, and the words with which 
 he commences form his apology for speaking — he replies to Job only 
 lest Job should fancy that by his much speaking he has shewn himsel f 
 to be in the right, cf. Pro v. x. 19. 
 
 should a man full of talk] Or, shall a man full of talk, lit. a man of 
 lips, Zophar insinuates that Job's words come merely from his lips ; 
 they could not come, as the words of the ancients did, from the heart, 
 ch. viii. 10; they were mere empty phrases, cf. ch. viii. 2 ; Is. xxxvi. 5. 
 Job, it must be confessed, had made a long and in some parts vehement 
 oration. 
 
 JOB . 6
 
 82 JOB, XI. [vv. 3—6. 
 
 Should thy Hes make men hold their peace ? 
 
 And when thou mockest, shall no man make //z^^ ashamed? 
 
 For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, 
 
 And I am clean in thine eyes. 
 
 But O that God would speak, 
 
 And open his lips against thee ; 
 
 And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, 
 
 3. Should thy lics\ Or, Shall thy boastings, or, as Rcuss, " ton 
 verbiage." The reference is probably to Job's assertions of his own 
 innocence, or perhaps the general scope of his speech. The word 
 " men " is as we should say " people " — shall thy boastings put people 
 to silence ? 
 
 and tuhcn thou 7nockesi\ Or, 80 that thou mockest, none putting 
 thee to shame. Job's "mockery" or irreligious, sceptical talk is 
 summed up in v. 4. This mockery is called "scorning," ch. xxxiv. 6. 
 
 4. For thou hast said] Better, and sayest, explaining what his 
 mockery consists in. 
 
 Jl/y doctrine is pure] Job had not used precisely such words. Zophar 
 gives what he understands as the gist of his contention. 
 
 and I am clean in thine eyes] Perhaps rather, I was clean, when 
 plunged into my afflictions. The words are those of Job addressed to 
 God, which Zophar recalls, cf. ch. ix. 21, x. 7. It is probable that this 
 clause explains what Zophar means by the preceding clause, "my 
 doctrine is pure." Job's "doctrine," which Zophar considers an ex- 
 ample of "mockery," is not his general principles, but this particular 
 point, that God afflicts a man whom He hnows to be righteous. Zophar 
 quite justly discovers here a novel doctrine to which he certainly had 
 not been accustomed. But connected with this particular assertion of 
 Job's were his views on human destiny in general, ch. vii. i, and on the 
 character of God's government, ch. ix. i — 23. The two preceding 
 speakers had assumed that Job's principles were identical with their 
 own, and anticipated that a few good advices in the line of these prin- 
 ciples would bring the man to a right mind. Zophar begins to surmise 
 that they have a more obstinate disease to cure than they had looked 
 for, and that Job's principles, instead of being identical with theirs, cut 
 clean athwart them. This discovery accounts for the rather unworthy 
 tone of his language. His irritation was natural. He had never met 
 a man with such ideas as those of Job before, and he is driven out of 
 patience and decorum by his new theories. Elihu is even more shocked, 
 and thinks that such another as Job does not exist, ch. xxxiv. 6. 
 
 5. Job had expressed his readiness to meet God and plead his cause 
 before Him.ch. ix. •zs ; Zophar, with reference to this, exclaims. Would 
 that God would speak ! The result would be different from what Job 
 anticipated, his guilt would be laid before him. 
 
 6. shew thee the secrets of wisdom] IVisdom here is God's omni- 
 science. Its secrets are not the things known to it, such, for example, 
 as Job's sins, but its own profound depths and insight.
 
 w. 7, 8.] JOB, XI. _83 
 
 That they are double to that which is. 
 
 Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine 
 
 iniquity deserveth. 
 Canst thou by searching find out God ? _ 7 
 
 Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? 
 // is as high as heaven; what canst thou do ? 8 
 
 that they are double to that which is] Or, that it (wisdom) Is double 
 In (true) understanding. By double or twofold in regard to true under- 
 standing is not meant, double of man's wisdom or that of the creature in 
 general, but rather, twofold what Job conceived of it, in other words, 
 that, in regard to its true insight, it far exceeded all conception. _ This 
 translation presents the smallest deviation from the A.V. and is simple. 
 It is an objection to it that it makes "understanding" a quality of 
 "wisdom," while the former word (on which see note on ch. v. 12) 
 would more naturally be but another name for the "wisdom," as it is in 
 Job's reply to all this, ch. xii, 16, cf. v. 13. Hence others assume that 
 the word twofold Ta.ea.ns "many folds," translating: that folds, compli- 
 cations, belong to (true) understanding, — that is, that (God's) under- 
 standing is manifold. 
 
 Know therefore] i.e. then shouldst thou know. The imperative is a 
 more vivid way of expressing the future, see on ch. v. i. 
 
 exacteth cf thee less, &c.] This gives the general sense, though the 
 translation seems to rest both on a false etymology and a false idea of 
 construction. Literally the words mean : God bringeth into forgetfulness 
 for thee some of thy guilt, that is, remembereth not against thee all thy 
 guilt. Others (e.g. Hitz.) : God causeth thee to forget thy guilt. The 
 general meaning is, that if God would appear and speak and reveal His 
 knowledge of Job's sins. Job would be brought to know that he was 
 guilty — perhaps even that his afflictions were far below his guilt. This 
 is a harder word than has yet been uttered against Job. 
 
 7 — 12. Panegyric on the Divine Wisdom or Omniscience. This 
 wisdom cannot be fathomed by man (v. 7). It fills all things {vv. 8, 9). 
 And this explains the sudden calamities that befall men, for God per- 
 ceives their hidden wickedness {vv. 10, 11). But man is of no under- 
 standing [v. 12). 
 
 7. The verse means. Canst thou fathom or conceive God ? The 
 special side of God's being, which Zophar declares to be unfathomable, 
 is His wisdom or omniscience. This is the point in question, for it is 
 this which discovers Job's heart and his sins; and Zophar desires to put 
 this omniscience before Job to bring him to take a right place before it, 
 just as Eliphaz brought the holiness of God before him. Literally the 
 verse reads : Canst thou find the deeps of (or, that which has to be 
 searched out in) God, canst thou reach to the perfection (the outmost, 
 the ground of the nature) of the Almighty ? Cf. ch. xxvi. 10, xxviii. 3. 
 
 8. His wisdom is immeasurable, unfathomable. The words are an 
 exclamation : heights of heaven ! what canst thou do ? — thou art im- 
 potent before it, to scale it or reach it.
 
 84 JOB, XI. [vv. 9—12, 
 
 Deeper than hell; what canst thou know? 
 
 The measure thereof is longer than the earth, 
 
 And broader than the sea. 
 
 If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together. 
 
 Then who can hinder him ? 
 
 For he knoweth vain men : 
 
 He seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider /// 
 
 For vain man would be wise, 
 
 Though man be born like a wild ass's colt. 
 
 deeper than hell'\ i. e. than Sheol, the place of the dead — canst thou 
 fathom it, penetrate with thy knowledge to it ? 
 
 10. This omniscience in its operation among sinful men. 
 
 Jf he cut off] if he pass by. Zophar uses Job's own word and illus- 
 tration, ch. ix. 1 1 (passeth on). 
 
 and shut tip] i.e. arrest, and put in ward. 
 
 or gather together] i.e. call an assembly for judgment, which took 
 place in full concourse of the people; cf the graphic picture Prov. v. 
 3 seq., esp. v. i^. 
 
 who can hinder hitn] Or, turn hivi back, again Job's own words, 
 ch. ix. 12. 
 
 11. Job had used these words to describe God as an irresistible, 
 unaccountable force ; Zophar indicates what account is to be given of 
 God's actions — He knoweth vain (wicked, Ps. xxvi. 4) men. His 
 action is the reflexion of His omniscient insight. 
 
 will he not then consider it] Rather, without considering it. The 
 words are closely connected with the preceding : he seeth wickedness 
 also, without needing to consider it, that is, with a knowledge imme- 
 diate and requiring no effort, cf. ch. xxxiv. 23, notes. So already Ibn 
 Ezra. Another meaning is possible : and that which they (men) con- 
 sider not. But tliis is a useless repetition. 
 
 12. Having finished his brilliant picture of God's omniscient wisdom, 
 Zophar adds further brilliancy to it by contrasting it with the brutish- 
 ness of man. The verse perhaps should read, 
 
 But an empty man will become wise 
 When a wild ass colt is born a man, 
 
 the one thing will happen when the other happens. The verse seems to 
 be in the shape of a proverb, and is full of alliterations which cannot be 
 reproduced in translation. The word "empty" is properly "hollow;" 
 and "to become wise" is literally "to get heart,' i.e. understanding 
 or mind (ch. ix. 4, xii. 3). The last phrase was understood by Gese- 
 nius to mean "to be without heart " or understanding. Following this 
 view, many translate : But empty man is void of understanding, yea, 
 man is born (like) a wild ass colt. Gesenius objects to the other that 
 it offends against dignity. The verse has been interpreted in a great 
 variety of ways. 
 
 13 — 20. Zophar turns to Job in exhortation and promise.
 
 vv. 1 3-18.] JOB, XI. 85 
 
 If thou prepare thine heart, '3 
 
 And stretch out thine hands toward huu; 
 
 If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, 14 
 
 And let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles. 
 
 For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; ts 
 
 Yea, thou shalt be steadfast, and shalt not fear. 
 
 Because thou shalt forget thy misery, 16 
 
 And remember it as waters that pass away; 
 
 And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; 17 
 
 Thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning. 
 
 And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; is 
 
 13. If thou prepare thine hearf] Thoic is emphatic, and meant by 
 the speaker to place Job in a different class from the "hollow man" 
 described mv. 12. Job hardly accepted the good intention, cf. ch. xii. 
 3. "To prepare the heart" may mean, to bring it into a condition of 
 right thought and feeling towards God. . The word might also mean 
 " fix thy heart," let it no more be driven to and fro amidst false feelings 
 and views, Pss. x. 17, li. 10, Ivii. 7, Ixxviii. 37. 
 
 and stretch out] In prayer, and seeking help, Ex. ix. 29 ; Is. i. 15; 
 cf. Job viii. 5. 
 
 14. The reformation which Zophar impresses on Job has several 
 steps : first, the preparation of his heart ; then, prayer unto God ; then, 
 the putting away of his personal sins ; and finally, those of his home. 
 These are enumerated, one after another, but nothing lies in the order 
 of enumeration. 
 
 15. for then shalt thou] Or, surely then shalt thou, ch. viii. 
 6. 
 
 lift up thy face without spot] The word lift up is selected to meet Job's 
 complaint that he must not lift up his head, ch. x. 15 ; and the words 
 "without spot" meet his words "filled with shame." Then he shall 
 lift up his face in conscious innocence and disfigured with no signs of 
 God's anger on account of his guilt. 
 
 be steadfast, and shalt not fear] Said in reference to Job's fluctuating 
 feelings and condition as he describes them, ch. ix. 27 — 28. 
 
 16. because thou shalt forget] Or, for tliou shalt forget trouble. 
 that pass away] that are passed away. 
 
 17. and thine age] Or, as we should say, and life, Ps. xvii. 14, 
 xxxix. 5. 
 
 thou shalt shine forth] Rather, if there be darkness, it shall be as 
 the morning. Even should temporary darkness occur it will not be 
 utter, but light like the morning. This seems said in opposition to 
 Job's mournful words, ch. x. 22, "where the light is as darkness." The 
 present words might also mean that the darkness shall be not a con- 
 tinual obscurity but one which a morning comes to dispel. 
 
 18. because there is hope] In opposition to Job's desponding pictures 
 of his liie, ch. vii. 6 scq., ix. 25 seq., x. 20 seq.
 
 86 JOB, XI. [vv. 19, 20. 
 
 Yea, thou shalt dig about ihee^ and thou shalt take thy 
 rest in safety. 
 
 19 Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid ; 
 Yea, many shall make suit unto thee. 
 
 20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. 
 And they shall not escape, 
 
 And their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost. 
 
 thou shalt dig about thee] Rather, thou shalt look, or search, about 
 thee, cf. ch. xxxix. 29 ; Deut. i. 22. Job, as one naturally does before 
 retiring to rest, will look around to see if there be any danger near or 
 cause of disquietude, and seeing none will take his rest in safety. 
 
 19. make suit unto thee] The phrase means literally : shall stroke thy 
 face, i.e. supplicate or flatter thee. Prov. xix. 6 ; Ps. xlv. 12. 
 
 The picture which Zophar draws of Job's restored prosperity is 
 beautiful, (i) Trouble shall be forgotten, or remembered as waters 
 that are passed away ; and the memory of a past trouble that cannot 
 recur but makes the present happiness greater {v. 16). (2) And the 
 future shall rise brighter than noon, or, it may be, shall increase 
 towards brightness more than the noon does, shewing an ever-growing 
 clearness ; and if it be at any time clouded, as in any life however clear 
 there are clouds, the darkness shall only be a lesser light like that of 
 the morning; or as the words may mean, the darkness shall only be 
 like the fixed changes of nature and shall give place like the night to a 
 fair and hopeful morning (r'. 17). (3) Thus restored to the fixed order 
 of a life with God he shall be trustful because there is hope, and he 
 shall look about, surveying ail things, and finding nothing to dread 
 shall lie down in confidence [v. 18) ; and when lain down he shall rest 
 peacefully. (4) And his security and prosperity shall draw to him the 
 homage of many, who (as before) shall seek his favour [v. 19). 
 
 20. Zophar concludes by setting in opposition to this picture another, 
 the fate of the wicked. 
 
 their hope shall be as the giving] Rather, shall be the grivlng up of 
 the ghost ; death is what they have to look for. Perhaps Zophar adds 
 these words by way of warning to Job. Eliphaz allowed no streak of 
 darkness to cloud the brightness of the prospect he anticipated for Job, 
 ch. V. 19 — 26 ; Bildad spoke of perishing, but it was of Job's enemies, 
 ch. viii. 22 ; Zophar throws out his warning more generally, and Job 
 may accept it if it fits him. 
 
 The problems that trouble us are not new. These ancient dis- 
 putants graze at least the edges of most of them. Under Zophar's 
 speech lies the question. If the affirmations of a man's conscience or of 
 his consciousness be contradicted by the affirmations of God, what does 
 it become a man to do? Job's conscience declared that he had not 
 been guilty of sins, while God by his affiictions was clearly intimating 
 that he had. — It may be safely concluded that a real contradiction of 
 this kind will never occur. Both Zophar and Job were under a false
 
 JOB, XL XII.-XIV. S; 
 
 impression when they supposed that God by His affliction of Job was 
 affirming his guilt. They put a wrong meaning on his afflictions. 
 Zophar, however, thought that a man must bow to God. But as Job's 
 consciousness spoke to a fact, which was to him indubitable, he felt 
 that he was unable to submit. The history of Job teaches us that the 
 wise course in such circumstances is to raise the prior question. Is this 
 supposed affirmation of God really His affirmation ? It may be that we 
 are putting a wrong construction on His words or providence And as 
 such supposed contradictions will not usually be, as in Job's case, in 
 regard to simple facts but to moral judgments and the like, there is 
 much room always to raise the prior question also on the other side, Is 
 this affirmation of conscience, which seems opposed to the intimations 
 of God, a true affirmation of conscience? the affirmation of an enlight- 
 ened, universal conscience ? As none of us, unfortunately, is in pos- 
 session of this universal conscience of mankind, but only of our own 
 particular one, which must, however, be our guide, perplexities may 
 occasionally arise in our actual religious experience. 
 
 Ch. XII.— XIV. Job's Reply to Zophar. 
 
 The distinctive point in Zophar's discourse was his prominently ad- 
 ducing the omniscient wisdom of God against Job, before the judgments 
 of which, as seen in the providences that befall men^ anything called 
 individual conscience ought to be silent. This led Zophar into an eulogy 
 of God's wisdom, the greatness of which was to him the explanation 
 of the sudden and destructive interferences of God among men (ch. xi. 
 lo, ii). And in contrast with this insight of God Zophar spoke of 
 men as "hollow." 
 
 All this stung Job deeply, for it implied not only ignorance of himself 
 (ch. xi. 6), but ignorance of God, and he felt keenly the assumption 
 over him (a thing only ventured on because he was afflicted, ch. xii. 4, 5) 
 of these men, who thought themselves entitled to give him instructions 
 regarding the wisdom and the power of God (ch. xii. 3,_xiii. 2). 
 Hence there runs through his reply a continual sarcasm against their 
 assumed superiority, mixed with pathetic references to the lowness into 
 which he had sunk — he whose past life had been one of close fellowship 
 with God, ch. xii. 4 — when such men took it on them to give him 
 lessons; and he is never weary ringing changes on the "wisdom" which 
 was the key-note of Zophar's unfortunate oration — No doubt ! wisdom 
 will die with you (ch.xii.2); "I have understanding as well as you... who 
 knoweth not such things as these ?" (ch. xii. 3) ; " With God is wisdom " 
 (ch. xii. 13); and, with a half-concealed reference to the proverb, he 
 wishes at iast that they would hold their tongue and it should be their 
 "wisdom" (ch. xiii. 5). In this speech Job for the first time really 
 turns upon his friends in earnest, and he reads them some severe lessons 
 not only on the mental superficiality with which they took in hand his 
 problem, which they thought to unravel by citing a few old saws and 
 "maxims of ashes" (ch. xiii. 12), but also on the moral onesidedness 
 which they shewed. They took the part of God against him not as true 
 men who had really planted their feet on the bottom of things as the
 
 88 JOB, XII. 
 
 world presented them, but from a shallow religiosity which was but 
 partiality for God ; and, as they had invoked the rectitude and the om- 
 niscience of the Almighty against him, he sists them before the same 
 bar, reminding them that the God before whom they shall have to 
 answer is God of the universe, according to the facts which the universe 
 reveals, and bidding them fear His resentment and chastisement for their 
 very pleading in His behalf, because that pleading was made ignorantly 
 and not in true sincerity (ch. xiii. 4 — 12, cf. the result, ch. xlii. 7 sft/.). 
 
 The speech falls into three large sections, which coincide generally 
 with the three chapters, although the limits between the second and 
 third are not very well marked. 
 
 First, ch. xii. Job resents the assumed superiority of his three friends 
 in regard to knowledge of the operation of the Divine power and 
 wisdom in the world, and shews by a lofty delineation of them that he 
 is a far greater master in this knowledge than they are. 
 
 Second, ch. xiii. i — 22. But this Divine wisdom and power do not, 
 as the friends imagine, explain his calamities. On the contrary, it is 
 against this very action of God in the world that he desires to appeal to 
 God. And their defence of it is false, and from no better reason than 
 out of servility to God. He desires to meet God on the question of his 
 innocence, and challenges Him to appear and answer him. 
 
 Third, ch. xiii. 23 — xiv. The challenge remains unanswered. And 
 again, as before, the thought of his sad condition and of the riddles in 
 which he is involved gels the better of Job, and he sinks into a sorrow- 
 ful wail over the wretchedness of man, his weakness and God's rigid 
 treatment of him, and the complete extinction of his life in death. But 
 just when the folds of darkness which the mysteries and the pathos of 
 human life wrap around him are thickest, there suddenly arises in his 
 mind, like a star struggling through the clouds, the surprising thought 
 that after this life there might be another, and that God, when His 
 wrath is overpast, might call His creature back to Him again in friendship. 
 The star comes out but for a moment, but Job has once seen it, and on 
 eveiy occasion when it appears again it shines with greater brilliancy. 
 
 Ch. xii. In reply to Zoi'har's Appeal to the Divine Wis- 
 dom AND Power, Joii shews by a brilliant drlineation 
 
 OF TIIEM that he IS A GREATER MASTER IN THE KNOW- 
 LEDGE OF these than HIS FRIENDS ARE. 
 
 First, vv. I — 6. Job gives sarcastic expression to his admiration of 
 the wisdom of his friends (z: 2). Then, passing into earnestness, he 
 laments the depth to which he has sunk when men take it on them to 
 inflict such common places on him about God's wisdom and power — 
 on him whose life had been lived with God. This was how men 
 treated one, though righteous, when afiliclions befell him ; the prosper- 
 ous wicked man was dilTerently regarded (vv. 4 — 6). 
 
 Second, vv. 7 — 25. Coming to the matter itself, the display of God's 
 ]iower and wisdom in the world, especially in the world of life, with 
 its sufferings, the knowledge of which the friends boasted of as exclu- 
 sively their own (cf. shew thee the secrets of wisdom, ch. xi. 6), Job
 
 vv. 
 
 1-4.] JOB, XII. 89 
 
 And Job answered and said, 12 
 
 No doubt but ye are the people, 2 
 
 And wisdom shall die with you. 
 
 But I have understanding as well as you; 3 
 
 I am not inferior to you : 
 Yea, who knoweth not such things as these? 
 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, _ 4 
 
 Who calleth upon God, and he answereth him : 
 The just upright man is laughed to scorn. 
 
 (i) intimates that this knowledge is so common that anyone may 
 learn it who opens his eyes and looks upon the life and fates of the 
 lower creatures — all shew that God moves among them with an abso- 
 lute power and sway {vv. 7 — 10). 
 
 (2) The same may be learned by anyone who has ears to hear what 
 aged men tell of God's ways in the world. Thus Job introduces a 
 brilliant picture (in which much history both of catastrophes in nature 
 and revolutions among men is condensed) of the uncontrolled move- 
 ment of God in the affairs of the world : — the natural world {vv. 14, 
 15); those highest in rank among men, the wise, the rulers, the 
 eloquent {vv. 16 — 22); and nations {vv. 23 — 25). Zophar had sought 
 to shew that a moral purpose directed the action of God's wisdom and 
 iTiight — "he knows wicked men" (ch. xi. 11); Job, on the other harid, 
 brings out their immeasurable greatness and the absoluteness with 
 which they dominate among men, and how they confound with an 
 ironical destructiveness everything human that bears any likeness to 
 themselves, " making fools " of judges, and "pouring contempt" upon 
 princes {vv. 17, 21). 
 
 2. ye are the people"] Sarcastic admiration of the wisdom of his three 
 friends, cf. ch. xi. 6. "The people" does not seem to mean the right 
 people, persons worthy of the name of " people ;" rather " the people " 
 is used as three other persons, well known to history, employed it, 
 when they said, "We, the people of England." It means the whole 
 people ; hence Job adds, " Wisdom will die with you." 
 
 3. But I have understanding] Rather, I also have understanding, 
 lit. heart ; cf. on ch. xi. 12, to the depreciating words of which Job refers. 
 
 who knoweth not such thi)igs as these] lit. ivith 7vhom are not such 
 things as these? i.e. such knowledge as this. The reference is to 
 Zophar's exhibition of the Divine wisdom and might, ch. xi. 7 — 12. 
 
 4. 5. Job laments how low he had fallen when men thought to in- 
 struct him, a man of God, with such primary truths regarding God's 
 operation in the world. Yet it was but an illustration of the general 
 truth — righteousness when unfortunate was held in contempt. The 
 verses read, 
 
 4. I am to be one that is a laughing-stock to his friends, 
 I, who called on God and he answered me : 
 A laughing-stock the just and perfect man !
 
 90 JOB, XI r. [vv. 5—8. 
 
 He that is ready to slip with his feet 
 
 Is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at 
 
 ease. 
 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, 
 And they that provoke God are secure; 
 Into whose hand God bringeth abundantly. 
 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; 
 And the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee : 
 ; Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee : 
 And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. 
 
 5. There is contempt for misfortune in the thought of him that is at 
 
 ease, 
 It awaiteth them who are slipping with their foot. 
 Zophar's references for Job's advantage to the Divine wisdom and 
 might implied that Job was ignorant of all this, and took no account of 
 Job's past life spent in the fellowship of God and in meditation on His 
 ways. It is to this last that Job refers when he says : I who called on 
 God, &c. He feels keenly the pass he has come to when men inculcate 
 such commonplaces upon him ; this feeling he expresses by saying, 
 
 I am to be, I must be, or have to be a laughing-stock. 
 
 Verse 5 means. But such is the treatment which those who fall into 
 misfortune, even though they be righteous men, receive at the hands of 
 those that are at ease and prosperous. The word rendered " misfor- 
 tune" or calamity occurs again, ch. xxx. 24, xxxi. iq, Prov. xxiv. 21. 
 On the slipping of the foot, cf. Ps. xxxviii. 16, Ixxiii. 2. 
 
 6. The other side of the picture, the peace of the wicked. 
 
 into whose hand God bringeth abundantly'] The words might also 
 mean : they who carry {their} god in their hand, the idea being that 
 their god is their own strong hand or the weapon in it ; cf what the 
 prophet says of the Clialdeans, This their power is their god, Hab. i. 
 
 II with V. 16. The commentators quote from Vergil the words of the 
 contemptor deorum, dextra mihi dens, and Hitzig refers to Ammianus, 
 17. 12, who says of some Scythian tribes, mucrones pro jtuminibiis 
 colunt. In V. 5 Job said that the afilicted righteous were despised ; the 
 strict antithesis would have been that the prosperous wicked received 
 respect ; but Job, wiili tlie keen eye which he has at present for the 
 anomalies of the Divine government, attributes the peace of the wicked 
 to God, though they recognise no God but their own strong arm. 
 Cf ch. V. 24. 
 
 7 — 10. Such knowledge as the friends possessed of God's wisdom 
 and power and their action in the world could be learned by any one 
 who had eyes to observe the life and fate of the lower creatures. In 
 all may be seen God's absolute might and sway prevailing {v. 10). 
 
 8. speak to the earth] The " earth" here includes all the forms of 
 lower life with which it teems. 
 
 9. in all these] Or, by all these, Gen. xv. 8.
 
 vv. 9—14.] JOB, xir. 91 
 
 Who knoweth not in all these 9 
 
 That the hand of the Lord hath wrought this ? 
 
 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, 10 
 
 And the breath of all mankind. 
 
 Doth not the ear try words ? n 
 
 And the mouth taste his meat ? 
 
 With the ancient is wisdom; 12 
 
 And in length of days understanding. 
 
 With him is wisdom and strength, 13 
 
 He hath counsel and understanding. 
 
 Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: h 
 
 hath wrought this'] Rather, doeth this, viz. as Zophar had taught 
 and as v. 10 explains, rules with an absolute sway in all the world of 
 life upon the earth, men and creatures. We sliould say in English 
 here, acts thus (as Zophar had said), cf. Is. xli. 20, though the point 
 prominently referred to is the infliction of suffering. 
 
 10. This verse rounds off the statement in v. 7 seq. that God moves 
 among the living creatures upon the earth, dispensing life and death, in 
 a way absolute and uncontrolled. 
 
 11 — 25. Verses 7 — 10 referred to what one could see of God's power 
 and wisdom in the world, these verses refer to what one might learn of 
 them by hearing ancient men discourse regarding them. In ch. xiii. i, 
 where Job looks back upon this chapter, he refers to both channels o£ 
 knowledge, his eye and his ear. He does not despise knowledge 
 learned from the observation of others when it is pertinent, cf. ch. xxi. 
 29. And it is obvious that the description in vv. 13 — 25 contains many 
 allusions to catastrophes, both in nature and in human society, which 
 Job could not have seen himself, but must have learned from tradition. 
 
 11. and the inouth taste his meaf] Rather, as the mouth (lit. palate) 
 tasteth his meat. Does not the understanding ear discern and appro- 
 priate sound knowledge, as the palate discerns and relishes wholesome 
 food ? The ear (as well as the eye, vv. 7 — 10) is a channel of sound 
 information. 
 
 12. As z'. II indicated the instrument, the ear, through which one 
 learned, this verse refers to the source from which the information was 
 to be obtained, viz. the ancients, that is, the aged men. 
 
 13. With him is wisdom and strength] i.e. with God, him being 
 emphatic. There is no antithesis however between His wisdom and 
 that of the aged referred to v. 12. The passage that follows to the end 
 of the chapter describes God's power and wisdom as their operations 
 had been observed by men, though naturally the picture receives its 
 colour from the state of Job's mind. "Strength" is rather might or 
 power to execute what wisdom devises. These attributes of God's con- 
 found and bring to nought everything bearing the same name among men. 
 
 14. breakdh dozvn] e.g. fenced cities, devoting them to ruin, cf. 
 ch. XV. 28.
 
 92 JOB, XIL [vv. 15—20. 
 
 He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. 
 
 15 Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: 
 Also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth. 
 
 16 "With him is strength and wisdom: 
 The deceived and the deceiver are his. 
 
 17 He leadeth counsellers away spoiled, 
 And maketh the judges fools. 
 
 i3 He looseth the bond of kings, 
 
 And girdeth their loins with a girdle. 
 
 19 He leadeth princes away spoiled. 
 And overthroweth the mighty. 
 
 20 He removeth away the speech of the trusty, 
 
 shutteth jip a ma>i] In prison, as captive kings and the like, cf. Jercm. 
 xxii. 24 se(/., 1 Kings xxv. 27 seq. 
 
 15. ivitliholdcth the ivaters\ In droughts. The second half of the 
 verse refers to floods and cataclysms. 
 
 16. The word "wisdom" in this verse is that in ch. v. 12, 
 xi. 6. 
 
 the deceived and the deceiver] lit. he that errs and he that leads into 
 ery-or, he that is ruled and he that rules oppressively. These are dis- 
 tinctions among men ; to God both are the same, or both are equally 
 in his hand, cf Prov. xxii. 2. 
 
 17. aivay spoiled] The word is rendered "stripped" Mic. i. S, the 
 meaning being, deprived of their outer garments, and clothed as slaves 
 and captives. The word might perhaps mean "barefooted" (so Sept. 
 Mic. i. 8), also a condition of those in destitution and mourning, 
 2 Sam. XV. 30. 
 
 On secon<l clause "maketh judges fools," turns them into fools, and 
 shews them as fools, cf Is. xliv. 25, xix. 11 seq, 
 
 18. he looseth the bond of kings] The verse probably means, he re- 
 laxes, removes the authority of kings, destroys their bond or power 
 over men ; and as a consequence their own loins are girt with a 
 girdle, i.e. either the common girdle of the labourer, or the cord of the 
 captive. 
 
 19. leadeth princes away spoiled] Rather, priests. In antiquity 
 priests occupied influential places ; cf. what is said of Melchizedek, 
 Gen. xiv., of Jethro, priest of Midian, Ex. ii. 16 seq., and of the in- 
 fluence of the priests in several crises of the history of Israel. On 
 "spoiled " see v. 17. 
 
 the might)'] lit. the established or perennial i being in apposition with 
 priests, usually a hereditary caste, the word describes those who occupied 
 high permanent place among men. 
 
 20. the speech of the trusty] Eloquent men, able to recommend and 
 carry their plans. The word "understanding" means sense or dis- 
 cretion (Prov. xi. 22).
 
 vv. 21—25.] JOB, XIL 93 
 
 And taketh aiuay the understanding of the aged. 
 
 He poureth contempt upon princes, 21 
 
 And weakeneth the strength of the mighty. 
 
 He discovereth deep t/iiiigs out of darkness, 22 
 
 And bringeth out to light the shadow of death. 
 
 He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them : 23 
 
 He enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again. 
 
 He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the 24 
 
 earth, 
 And causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there 
 
 is no way. 
 They grope in the dark without light, 25 
 
 And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man. 
 
 21. contempt upon princes] Or, nobles, ch. xxxiv. 18; cf. Vs. 
 cvii. 40. 
 
 weakeneth the strength of the might}'] lit. looseth the gij'dle of the 
 strong. As the garments were girt up for active labour or battle, to 
 loose the girdle means to incapacitate ; Is. v. 27. 
 
 22. he discovereth deep things] In the A. V. to "discover" is to 
 reveal, to bring to sight. The verse means that God through His wisdom 
 sees into the profoundest and darkest deeps, and brings what is hidden 
 to light. "Shadow of death" means the deepest darlvness, ch. iii. 3. 
 The reference is not to be limited to the deep and concealed plans of 
 men, which God exposes and frustrates (ch. v. 13, Is. xxix. 15), though 
 this may be included. The verse can hardly mean that God reveals or 
 manifests His own profound deeps (ch. xi. 6; Is. xlv. 15), though such a 
 sense would give the parallelism desirable to the two other commencing 
 verses, 13 and 16. 
 
 23. God's rule among the nations and direction of their fate. 
 
 and straiteneth them again] Perhaps, and Icadeth thet?i away, cf. 
 ■2 Kings xviii. 17. The clause is obscure, it may not be a direct, but an 
 inverse parallel to the first clause, and mean : he spreadeth abroad (or, 
 scattereth, cf. Jer. viii. 2; Numb. xi. 32), and givcth them settlements 
 again. 
 
 24. he taketh away the heart] i.e. the understanding; cf. on ch. 
 xi. 12. 
 
 in a wilderness] Same word as in ch. vi. 18. The word is that rendered 
 "without form," Gen. i. 2 ; Jer. iv. 23, i.e. chaos. The reference is to 
 the confusion and perplexity into which the chiefs are thrown. The 
 word is finely used Is. xlv. 19, I said not to the seed of Jacob seek ye 
 me in the waste, i.e. in uncertain conditions (A. V., in vain). 
 
 25. Further description of their perplexity. Cf. ch. v. 14. 
 maketh them to stagger] Or, to wander. Cf. Is. xix. 14 ; Ps. cvii. 
 
 27, 40.
 
 94 JOB, XI 1 1. [vv. 1—4. 
 
 13 Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, 
 
 Mine ear hath heard and understood it. 
 
 2 What ye know, the same do I know also. 
 I a7n not inferior unto you. 
 
 3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, 
 And I desire to reason with God. 
 
 4 But ye are forgers of lies. 
 
 Ye are all physicians of no value. 
 
 Cii. XIII. 1—22. Job knows the Divine Wisdom and Might 
 
 AS WELL AS THE FrIENDS ; THEIR APPLICATION OF THESE TO 
 HIM IS FALSE. He DESIRES TO PLEAD HIS CaUSE BEFORE 
 
 God. 
 
 Having finished his delineation of God's might and wisdom as they 
 act in the world, Job looks back upon his picture, saying that he knows 
 all this as well as his friends {vv. i, 2) ; but his calamities receive thereby 
 no solution. In spite of this knowledge he desires to plead his cause 
 before God [^j. 3). 
 
 And they who sought to use this wisdom and might of God against 
 him, were mere forgers of lies, who gave a false as well as feeble ex- 
 planation of his troubles (^jv. 4, 5). They were nothing but partizans 
 for God. And as they had invoked the omniscience of God against him 
 he will threaten them with the judgment of the same God, who will 
 search out their hidden insincerity, and before whom their old maxims 
 will be but " proverbs of ashes" {vv. 6—12). 
 
 With this stinging rebuke to his friends Job turns from them unto 
 God. He will adventure all and go into His presence to plead his cause 
 come what may {w. 13 — 15). This courage which he feels is token to 
 him that he shall be victorious, for a godless man would not dare to 
 come before God. He knows he shall be found in the right (^uv. 16 — 19). 
 Only he will beg for two conditions, That God would remove His hand 
 from him, and, That he would not terrify him by His majesty; then he 
 is ready to answer if God will call, or to speak if God will answer 
 [vv. 20—22), 
 
 1 — 2. Looking back to his delineation of the Divine wisdom and 
 might as they dominate among men and in the world (ch. xii. 7 — 25), 
 J ob says that his knowledge of them is not inferior to that of the friends — 
 a final answer to Zophar, ch. xi. 6 ; cf. as to v. 2 ch. xii. 3. 
 
 3. But this knowledge neither helps nor hinders him. In spite of 
 this knowledge, if not because of it, he desires to reason with God. 
 
 surely I would speak'] Rather, but I would (same word in v. 4). 
 
 4. hut ye are forgers of lies] The bid in v. 3 had for its background 
 the knowledge of the Divine wisdom {w. 1, 2) ; Job knows this well, 
 I'ut for all his knowledge of it he desires to plead his cause before God, 
 he will speak unto the Almighty. This desire and purpose, however,
 
 vv. 5-8.] JOB, XIII. 95 
 
 O that you would altogether hold your peace, s 
 
 And it should be your wisdom. 
 
 Hear now my reasoning, ^ 6 
 
 And hearken to the pleadings of my lips. 
 
 Will you speak wickedly for God ? 7 
 
 And talk deceitfully for him ? 
 
 Will ye accept his person ? 8 
 
 Will ye contend for God .'* 
 
 are crossed by the thought of the use which his friends make of the 
 Divine wisdom against him, and he is diverted from his great object to 
 administer a rebuke to them— ^«/ ye are forgers of lies. Verses 4 — 12 
 are therefore a digression, the main object being resumed in v. 13 ; the 
 digression, however, is profoundly interesting. In clause one Job tells 
 his friends that their assumptions of his guilt and the application which 
 they made to his case of the Divine omniscience are false ; in the 
 second he compares them to ignorant physicians, who take in hand a 
 disease which they are incompetent to treat. 
 
 6. This verse is suggested by the last clause of the preceding — their 
 impotence to help was such that their silence would be the most helpful 
 thing they could offer. There is a final sarcasm at Zophar's speech in 
 the reference to "wisdom"; cf. Prov. xvii. -28, Even a fool when he 
 lioldeth his peace is counted wise; and the si taadsses, philosophus 
 mansisses, quoted by all the commentators. 
 
 6 — 12. Severe rebuke of the three friends, in which (i) they are 
 charged with partiality for God, and with acting the advocate for Him 
 (^jy, 6 — 8) ; and (2) they are threatened with the chastisement of God 
 for their insincerity, and for falsely pleading even in God's behalf 
 [VV. g — 12). 
 
 6. /lear now my reasoning] Rather, hear now my rebuke. The 
 reference is not to Job's cause with God, this is not resumed till v. 13. 
 He utters a formal indictment against his friends which he commands 
 them to hear. 
 
 the pleadings of my lips'] i.e. the reproofs of my lips, their plead- 
 ings against you, or their controversy with you, cf. Deut. xvii. 8. These 
 reproofs now follow, vv. 7 — 9. 
 
 7. speak wickedly] Or, wrongously, lit. speak iniquity, ch. v. 16, cf. 
 Zophar's recommendation to Job, ch. xi. 14. For God means in His 
 behalf, in His defence; and the words/t^r God Sixe. emphatic. 
 
 8. The same charge put more explicitly. To accept the person of 
 one is to be partial on his side, cf. v. 10. 
 
 contend for God] i.e. will ye play the advocate for God? The 
 charge made against his friends by Job is that they had no knowledge 
 of his guilt, and merely took part for God against him out of servility 
 to God. This servility was nothing but a superficial religiousness, 
 allied to superstition, which did not lorm its conception of God from 
 the broad facts 01 the universe.
 
 96 JOB, XIII. [vv. 9—12. 
 
 Is it good that he should search you out ? 
 
 Or as otie man mocketh another, do ye so mock him ? 
 
 He will surely reprove you, 
 
 If ye do secredy accept persons. 
 
 Shall not his excellency make you afraid ? 
 
 And his dread fall upon you ? 
 
 Your remembrances are like unto ashes, 
 
 Your bodies to bodies of clay. 
 
 9. Ts it good] The words may mean, will it be well (for you) that He 
 should search (or, when He shall search) ? or as ch. x. 3, do you like 
 that He should search you out ? The second clause should read, 
 
 Or as one deceiveth a man will ye deceive Him ? 
 When God searches you out and looks into the secret springs of your 
 actions do you expect to be able to deceive Him by representations or 
 demeanour or look as one imposes on a man, who cannot "read the 
 mind's construction in the face "? 
 
 10. God's rectitude and impartiality are such that He will punish par- 
 tiality shewn even for Himself — a statement which, when taken along 
 with the imputations whicli Job has cast on God, shews a singular con- 
 dition of his mind. 
 
 11. his cxceHciicy'] His majesty affright you. They shall be paralyzed 
 when they stand before God who searches the heart. 
 
 12. This verse reads. 
 
 Your remembrances shall be proverbs of ashes. 
 Your defences defences of dust. 
 
 The term "remembrances" means their traditional sayings, remembered 
 from antiquity, their maxims, such as Bildad adduced, ch. viii., and 
 Eliphaz with his Remetnber now I ch. iv. 7 ; these shall be found to be 
 but ashes, easily dissipated, and not able to resist. The word "de- 
 fences" is used of the boss of the buckler, ch. xv. 26, and may refer to 
 some sort of breastwork or cover from which men assailed the enemy. 
 These shall turn out defences of dust, lit. clay, i.e. dried clay, which 
 crumbles into dust. "Defences" here are not works for defence strictly 
 but for offence, they are the arguments of the friends ; cf. Is.xli. 21, "strong 
 reasons." These great arguments which the friends used in defence of 
 God against Job shall be found by them, when God searches them out, 
 to be mere ashes and crumbling clay. So it turned out, cf. ch. xlii. 7 seq. 
 13 — 22. Job now turns from his friends, whom he commands to be 
 silent, to his great plea with God, resuming the intention expressed in 
 V. 3. The passage has two parts, one preliminary, vv. 13 — 16, ex- 
 hibiting a singular picture of the conflict between resolution and fear 
 in Job's mind. He will go before God come upon him what will (t'. 13). 
 Yet he cannot hide from himself that it may be at the hazard of his 
 life. Yet he will not be deterred; he will defend his ways to God's 
 face (z'Z'. 14, 15). And yet again, this very courage which he has, 
 arising from his sense of innocence, is a token to him that he shall be
 
 vv. 13—15-1 JOB, XIII. 97 
 
 Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, 13 
 
 And let come on me what 7uilL 
 
 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, 14 
 
 And put my life in mine hand ? 
 
 Though he slay mz, yet will I trust in him: 15 
 
 But I will maintain mine own ways before him. 
 
 victorious {v. 16). The second part, w. 17 — 22. Feeling that the 
 victory is already his he commands his friends to mark his pleading of 
 his cause. He knows he shall be found in the right. Nay, no one 
 will even plead against him (^v. 17—19). Only he begs two condi- 
 tions of God, That He would lift His afflicting hand from him, and, That 
 He would not affright him with His terror {vv. ^o — 22). 
 
 13. iJiat I may speak\ Emphasis on /, — //?a^ / m^iw may speak. The 
 last clause intimates his resolve to speak at all risks. 
 
 14. Wherefore do I take] Or, should I take. This and the following 
 verse are surrounded with difticulties. The meaning of the second 
 clause of v. 14 is well ascertained from usage, it is : to expose one's life 
 to jeopardy, Judg. xii. 3, i Sam. xix. 5, xxviii. 21, Ps. cxix. 109. The 
 meaning of the tirst clause is doubtful, as the expression does not occur 
 again. It is held by many that the figure is borrowed from the action 
 of a wild beast, which seizes its prey in its teeth and carries it off to a 
 place of security; in which case the meaning would be. Why should 
 I seek anxiously to preserve my life? If this be assumed to be the 
 meaning the interrogation must end with the first clause. Why 
 should I take my Jlesh in my teeth ? nay, J will pttt my life in mine 
 hand. This is not quite satisfactory. Hence an endeavour is made by 
 many to extract a sense from the second clause difterent from that sanc- 
 tioned by usage, a sense indeed to appearance the opposite of it, and 
 corresponding to the first clause. It is assumed that the phrase properly 
 means to commit one's life to his hand to carry it through, to fight one's 
 way through ; in other words, to make strenuous efforts to save one's 
 life. This is rather a hazardous mode of dealing with language the 
 meaning of which is established by usage. The obscurity of the first 
 clause makes it impossible to be certain of the construction of the 
 verse. 
 
 15. The general meaning of v. 14 must be the same however the 
 verse is construed, though it may be expressed in two ways, viz. either. 
 Why should I painfully strive to preserve my life? or, I am ready to 
 risk my life (or in both ways). Verse 15 reads most naturally, 
 
 Behold he will slay me : I will not wait : 
 Yet will I defend my ways to his face. 
 
 The words "he will slay me" refer to what Job anticipates may be the 
 result of his daring to maintain the rectitude of his life to God's face, as 
 the second clause intimates. These two clauses are in close connexion, 
 and the words "I will not wait" are almost parenthetical — behold he 
 will slay me (I will not wait for a more distant death), notwithstanding 
 
 JOB 7
 
 98 JOB, XIII. [vv. 16—19. 
 
 16 He also shall be my salvation : 
 
 For a hypocrite shall not come before him. 
 
 17 Hear diligently my speech, 
 
 And my declaration with your ears, 
 is Behold now, I have ordered my cause; 
 
 I know that I shall be justified. 
 19 Who is he that will plead with me ? 
 
 For now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost. 
 
 I will defend, &c. Others refer the words "behold he will slay me" 
 to Job's certainty of speedy death from his disease. And again, some 
 render the words " I will not wait," I have no hope ; and thus a variety 
 of meanings all more or less suitable arises. The word to wait hardly 
 has the sense of to hope, at least in this Book, cf. ch. vi. 11, xiv. 14, 
 xxix. 21, XXX. 26, and in another form in the mouth of Elihu, ch. xxxii. 
 II, 16. 
 
 Instead of the word not before ivait another reading gives for him, 
 or for it. This is the reading of many ancient versions ; and the ren- 
 dering of the Vulgate, ctiamsi occiderit vie in ipso sperabo, has been 
 followed by most modern translations, as by our own. Such a sense, 
 however, does not suit the connexion. If this reading be adopted, some 
 such sense must be given to the clause as that preferred by Delitzsch : 
 Behold he will slay me — I wait for him : only I will defend, &c. ; that 
 is, I wait for His tinal stroke. 
 
 16. He also shall be] Rather, this also. 
 
 for a hypocrite shall not] Rather, that a godless man will not; 
 see on ch. viii. 13. A godless man will not dare to go before God; but 
 Job dares and desires ; and this courage, sweet evidence to himself of 
 his innocence, he says will be his salvation, that is, will secure him 
 victory in his plea with God. He hardly distinguishes between his own 
 ■consciousness of innocence and his innocence itself and the proof of it. 
 He is so conscious of it that he is sure it will appear before God, 
 cf. V. 18 and the passage ch. xxvii. 8 foil. 
 
 17 — 22. Assured of victory, he commands his friends to mark his 
 pleading of his cause. 
 
 18. I know that I shall be justified] i.e. be found in the right, ch. 
 xi. 2. 
 
 19. Who is he that will plead with me] i. e. plead against me, 
 enter to oppose me \A\\\ good reasons — who will bring a valid argu- 
 ment against me? The words are a triumphant expression of the 
 feeling that no one will or can, cf. Is. 1. 8. 
 
 for now if I hold my tongue, &c. ] Rather, for then would I hold 
 my peace, and give up the ghost ; that is, in case any one should 
 appear against him with proof of his sin. The words form a splendid 
 climax to the declaration of his consciousness of innocence. He is sure 
 he shall be found in the right, nay, none will be found to contend with 
 him ; if he thought any one could he would be silent and die.
 
 vv. 20—22.] JOB, XIII. 99 
 
 Only do not two i/ii/igs unto me : 2 
 
 Then will I not hide myself from thee. 
 
 Withdraw thine hand far from me : 2 
 
 And let not thy dread make me afraid. 
 
 Then call thou, and I will answer: 2 
 
 Or let me speak, and answer thou me. 
 
 20, 21. Yet the thought recurs before whom he is to appear and 
 against whom he has to maintain his plea, and he begs God to grant 
 two conditions, cf. ch. ix. 34, 35. 
 
 22. With these conditions he is ready to appear either as respondent 
 or as appellant. 
 
 Ch. XIII. 22— XIV. Job pleads his cause before God. 
 
 Having ordered his cause and challenged his friends to observe how 
 he will plead, Job now enters, with the boldness and proud bearing of 
 one assured of victory, upon his plea itself. There is strictly no break 
 between the passage which follows and the foregoing ; the division is 
 only made here for convenience' sake. It would scarcely be according 
 to the author's intention to make z'. 23 the plea, and assume that, as 
 God did not answer the demand there made, Job's plea took another 
 turn. The question whether Job actually did expect that he would be 
 replied to out of heaven can hardly be answered. We must, however, 
 take into account the extreme excitation of his mind, and the vividness 
 with which men in that age realized the nearness of God and looked for 
 His direct interference in their aftairs and life. According to the modes 
 of conception which appear everywhere in the Poem, there was nothing 
 extravagant in Job's expecting a direct reply to his appeal; for that 
 such an answer might be given is evidently the meaning of Zophar's 
 words, ch. xi. 6 ; and in point of fact the Lord does at last answer Job 
 by a voice from heaven, ch. xxxviii. scq. 
 
 The plea itself has a certain resemblance to that in chaps, vii. and x., 
 but is more subdued and calm. The crisis is now really over in Job's 
 mind. Though he has not convinced his friends, he has fought his way 
 through any doubts which their suspicions and his afflictions might have 
 raised in his own thoughts. The courage with which he is ready to go 
 before God he feels to be but the reflection of his innocence ; and this 
 feeling throws a general peace over his spirit, which regrets over the 
 brevity of his life, and perplexity at beholding God treat so severely so 
 feeble a being as himself, are able only partially to disturb. After the 
 few direct demands at the beginning to know what his sins are {v. 23), 
 his plea becomes a pitiful appeal unto God, from which the irony of 
 former appeals is wholly absent. As before, he contrasts the littleness 
 of man and the greatness of God, but his conception both of God and 
 man is not any more, so to speak, merely physical, but moral. He 
 speaks of the sins of his youth (ch. xiii. 26), and of the universal sinful- 
 ness of man (ch. xiv. 4), and appeals to the forbearance of God in 
 dealing with a creature so imperfect and shortlived. 
 
 7—2
 
 loo JOB, Xlir. [vv. 23, 24. 
 
 23 How many are mine iniquities and sins ? 
 ]\Iake me to know my transgression and my sin. 
 
 24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, 
 And holdest me for thine enemy ? 
 
 First, Job demands to know what his sins are, and wonders that God 
 who is so great would pursue a withered leaf like him, and bring up 
 now after so long the sins of his youth — one who wastes away like 
 a garment that is moth-eaten (ch. xiii. 23 — 28). 
 
 Second, this reference to his own natural feebleness widens his view 
 to the condition of the race of man to which he belongs, whose two 
 characteristics are : that it is of few days, and filled with trouble. 
 And he wonders that God would bring such a being into judgment with 
 Him ; when the race of man is universally imperfect and a clean one 
 cannot be found in it. And he founds an appeal on the fated shortness 
 of man's life that God would not afflict him with strange and uncom- 
 mon troubles, but leave him to take what comfort he can, oppressed 
 with only the natural hardships of his short and evil "day" (ch. xiv. 
 I -6). 
 
 Third, this appeal is supported by the remembrance of the inexorable 
 "nevermore" which death writes on man's life. Sadder is the fate of 
 man even than that of the tree. The tree if cut down will bud again, 
 but man dieth and is gone without return as wholly as the water 
 which the sun sucks up from the pool ; his sleep of death is eternal 
 {vv. 7 — 12). 
 
 Fourth, step after step Job has gone down deeper into the waters of 
 despair — the universal sinfulness of mankind and the inexorable severity 
 of God ; the troubles of life of which one must sate himself to the full ; 
 its brevity; and last of all its complete extinction in death. The 
 waters here reach his heart ; and human nature driven back upon itself 
 becomes prophetic : the vision rises before Job's mind of another life 
 after this one, and he pursues with excited eagerness the glorious 
 phantom {v7'. 13 — 15). 
 
 Finally, the prayer that such another life might be is supported by 
 a new and dark picture which he draws of his present condition 
 {yv. 16 — 22). 
 
 23. Job begins his plea with the demand to know the number of his 
 sins — how many iniquities and sins have I ? — and in general to be made 
 aware of them, lie means what great sins he is guilty of, sins that 
 account for his present afflictions. He docs not deny sinfulness, even 
 sins of his youth {v. 26) ; what he denies is special sins of such magni- 
 tude as to account for his calamities. Job and his friends both agree in 
 the theory that great afflictions are evidence that God holds those whom 
 He afilicts guilty of great offences. The friends believe that Job is 
 guilty of sucli offences; he knows he is not, and he here demands to 
 know what the sins are of which God holds him guilty. 
 
 24. Wherefore hidest thou thy /ace] This does not mean. Wherefore 
 dost thou refuse to answer me nora? the reference is to God's severity
 
 vv. 25— 2S; I.] JOB, XIII. XIV. loi 
 
 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro ? ?s 
 
 And wilt thou pursue the dry stubble ? 
 
 For thou writest bitter things against me, 25 
 
 And makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth. 
 
 Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, c; 
 
 And lookest narrowly unto all my paths; 
 
 Thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet. 
 
 And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, zs 
 
 As a garment that is moth-eaten. 
 
 Man that is born of a woman 14 
 
 in afflicting him, as is shewn by the words "holdest me for thine 
 enemy," cf. ch. xix. 5, xxxv. 1 seq. 
 
 25. Wilt ilioii breali^ Or, Wilt thou afifright, that is, chase. The 
 "driven leaf" and the "dry stubble" are figures for that which is so 
 light and imsubstantial that it is the sport of every wind of circum- 
 stance. So Job describes himself, in contrast with God, and asks, 
 Is thy determination to assail this kind of foe the explanation of my 
 aftlictions ? 
 
 26. for thou ivritesf] Or, that thou writest. To "write" is to 
 prescribe, or ordain, Is. x. i ; Hos. viii. 12. 
 
 makest me to possess] Or, inherit. Job acknowledges sins of his youth, 
 not of his riper manhood, and he conceives that his present afflictions 
 may be for his former sins, which in his past fellowship with God he 
 had deemed long forgiven. It is not to be supposed that he looks 
 back on gi'oss youthful sins, but on such as youth is not free from, and 
 as he feared in his own children, ch. i. 5. Cf. the prayer of the 
 Psalmist, Ps. xxv. 7. 
 
 27. Thou pattest'] Rather, and puttest my feet in &c. The verse 
 describes his afflictions under three figures, all denoting arrest, im- 
 possibility of movement or escape, and chastisement. The first words 
 are brought up by EUhu, ch. xxxiii. 11, cf. Jerem. xx. 1 ; Acts xvi. 24. 
 
 settest a print tipon the heels] Rather, and drawest thee a line 
 around the soles of my feet. The figure means that God rigidly pre- 
 scribed his movements, drawing bounds, which he must not overstep, 
 around his feet. He is a prisoner under rigid surveillance. 
 
 28. And he as a rotten thing] Or, one Who as a rotten thing. Job 
 no more speaks of himself in the first person, but in the third, because 
 he thinks of himself as one of the human race in general, which is feeble 
 and short-lived. 
 
 Ch. xiv. 1. In the last verse of ch. xiii. Job thought of himself as 
 one of the race of men, and now he speaks of the characteristics of this 
 race. 
 
 born of a rvoman] The ofispring of one herself weak and doomed to 
 sorrow (Gen. iii. 16) must also be weak and doomed to trouble, cf. 
 ch. XV. 14, xxv. 4.
 
 I02 JOB, XIV. [vv. 2—6. 
 
 Js of few days, and full of trouble. 
 
 He Cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: 
 
 He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. 
 
 And dost thou open thine eyes upon such a one. 
 
 And bringest me into judgment with thee? 
 
 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? 
 
 Not one. 
 
 Seeing his days are determined. 
 
 The number of his months are with thee, 
 
 Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass; 
 
 Turn from him, that he may rest, 
 
 Till he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day. 
 
 2. and is cut datvn'] Rather, and witberetli, cf. similar figures 
 Is. xl. 6 seq. ; Ps. xxxvii. 2, xc. 6, ciii. 15 scq. 
 
 3. A question of astonishment at the severity of God's dealing with 
 a creature of such weakness as man. "To open the eyes" is to loolc 
 narrowly to, to watch in order to punish. 
 
 4. The question of astonishment in v. 3 supported by reference to 
 the universal sinfulness of man. The verse reads. 
 
 Oh that a clean might come out of an unclean ! 
 There is not one. 
 
 The phrase who will give (as margin) is a mere optative expression. 
 Job throws his idea of the universal uncleanness of man, and that there 
 is not one without sin, into the form of a wish that it were otherwise. If 
 the race of men were not universally infected with sin, which each 
 individual inherits by belonging to the race, God's stringent treatment of 
 the individuals would not be so hard to understand. For similar ideas 
 of the universality of the sinfulness of mankind cf Gen. vi. 5 ; Is. vi. 5 ; 
 Ps. li. 5, also the words of Eliphaz ch. iv. 17 scq. Job urges the ad- 
 mitted fact as a plea for forbearance on the side of God. 
 
 5. 6. Man being of few days and full of trouble Job pleads that God 
 would not load him with uncommon afflictions, but leave him oppressed 
 w ilh no more than those natural to his short and evil life. 
 
 6. turn from hiiii\ lit. look away from him, cf ch. vii. 19, x. 20. 
 —turn thy keen scrutiny away from him. 
 
 may rest\ i.e. have peace, frimi unwonted affliction. 
 
 till he shall accomplishi Or, so that he may enjoy — so that he may 
 have such pleasure as is possible in his brief and evil life, which is of no 
 higher kind than the joy of the labourer during his hot and toilsome 
 "day," cf ch. vii. i scq. The sense given by the A. V., "to pay off," 
 is, however, possible (Is. xl. 2), and not unsuitable here. 
 
 7 — 12. The irreparable extinction of man's life in death. His 
 destiny is sadder even than that of the tree. His sleep in death is 
 eternal.
 
 vv. 7—12.] JOB, XIV. 103 
 
 For there is hope of a tree, ^ 7 
 
 If it be cut down, that it will sprout again, 
 
 And that the tender branch thereof will not cease. 
 
 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, 8 
 
 And the stock thereof die in the ground ; 
 
 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, S 
 
 And bring forth boughs like a plant. 
 
 But man dieth, and wasteth away: » 
 
 Yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he ? 
 
 As the waters fail from the sea, ' 
 
 And the flood decayeth and drieth up : 
 
 So man lieth down, and riseth not : • 
 
 Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake^ 
 
 Nor be raised out of their sleep. 
 
 7. For there is hope of a free, if] Yit.for a tree hath hope; if it he cut 
 do%V7t it ivill sprout again &c. 
 
 9. like a plant^ i. e. a fresh and new plant ; it begins a new life 
 again. 
 
 10. wasteth away"] lit. is laid prostrate. 
 
 11. fail from the sea'X i. e. the inland sea or pool, of. Is. xix. 5 ; so 
 in Arabic bahr, sea, is any mass of water whether salt or fresh, and 
 also a river. 
 
 theflood\ the stream. A graphic figure for complete extinction. 
 
 12. till the heavens be no more'] i.e. never; cf. Ps. Ixxii. 7, Till 
 there be no moon. The heavens are eternal, cf. Jer. xxxi. 35, 36; 
 Ps. Ixxxix. 29, 36, 37. . 
 
 13—15. Having pursued the destiny of man through all its steps 
 down to its lowest, its complete extinction in death, Job, with a revulsion 
 created by the instinctive demands of the human spirit, rises to the 
 thought that there might be another life after this one. This thought is 
 expressed in the form of an impassioned desire. 
 
 To understand these verses the Hebrew conception of death must be 
 remembered. Death was not an end of personal existence : the dead 
 person subsisted, he did not live. He descended into Sheol, the abode 
 of deceased persons. His existence was a dreamy shadow of his past 
 life. He had no communion with the living, whether men or God ; 
 comp. iii. 12 — 19; x. 21, 22, xiv. 20 — 22. This idea of death is not 
 strictly the teaching of revelation, it is the popular idea from which 
 revelation starts, and revelation on the question rather consists in 
 exhibiting to us how the pious soul stniggled with this popular con- 
 ception and sought to overcome it, and how faith demanded and realized, 
 as faith does, its demand, that the communion with God enjoyed in this 
 life should not be interrupted in death. This was in short a demand 
 and a faith that the state of Sheol should be overleaped, and that the 
 believing soul should be "taken" by God in death to Himself, cf.
 
 I04 JOB, XIV. [vv. 13—15. 
 
 13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, 
 
 That thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be 
 
 past, 
 That thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember 
 
 me. 
 M If a man die, shall he live again? 
 
 All the days of my appointed time will I wait, 
 
 Till my change come. 
 ^5 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: 
 
 Thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands. 
 
 Vs. xvi. 10, xlix. IS, Ixxiii. ■34. This was the soUition that generally 
 presented itself to the mind v.'hcn death was contemplated. The present 
 passage differs in two particulars. It does not exhibit such assured 
 faith as these passages in the Tsalms. The problem before the Psalmists 
 was a much simpler one than that before Job. They were men who, 
 when they wrote their words of faith, enjoyed God's fellowship, and 
 their faith protested against this fellowship being interrupted in death. 
 But Job has lost the sense of God's fellowship through his afflictions, 
 which are to his mind proof of God's estrangement from him, hence he has 
 so to speak a double obstacle to overcome, where the Psalmists had only 
 one, and this makes him do no more here than utter a prayer, while 
 the Psalmists expressed a firm assurance. In the followmg chapters, 
 especially ch. xix.. Job also rises to assurance. In another particular 
 this passage differs from these Psalms. It contemjilates a different and 
 much more complete solution of the problem. In both the hope of 
 immortality has a purely religious foundation. It springs from the 
 irrepressible longing for communion with God. The Psalmists, in the 
 actual enjoyment ol" this communion, either protest against death ab- 
 solutely (Ps. xvi.), and demand a continuance in life that this fellowship 
 may continue— that is, they rise to the idea of true immortality ; or, con- 
 templating death as a fact, they protest against the popular conception 
 of it, and demand that the deceased person shall not sink into Sheol, 
 but pass across its gulf to God. Job's conception is different from 
 either of these, because his circumstances are different. He does not 
 enjoy the fellowship of God, his afflictions are evidence of the contrary. 
 His firm conviction is that his malady is mortal, in other words, that 
 God's anger will pursue him to the grave. On this side of death he has 
 no hope of a return to God's favour. Hence, contemplating that he 
 shall die under God's anger, his thought is that he might remain in 
 Sheol till God's wrath be past, for He keepeth not His anger for ever; 
 that God would appoint him a period to remain in death and then 
 remember him with returning mercy and call him back again to His fellow- 
 ship. But to his mind this involves a complete return to life again of 
 the whole man {v. 14), for in death there is no fellowship with God 
 (Ps. vi. 5). Thus his solution, though it appears to his mind only as a 
 momentary gleam of light, is broader than that of the Psalmists, and
 
 vv. i6— 18.] JOB, XIV. 105 
 
 For now thou numberest my steps : 16 
 
 Dost thou not watch over my sin ? 
 
 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, 17 
 
 And thou sewest up mine iniquity. 
 
 And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, i3 
 
 And the rock is removed out of his place. 
 
 corresponds to that made known in subsequent revelation. It is pro- 
 bable that this conception, which the Author of the Poem allows Job to 
 rise to out of the very extremity of his despair, was one not unfamiliar to 
 himself (cf. Is. xxiv. 22). The verses read as a whole : — 
 
 13 Oh that thou wouldst hide me in Sheol, 
 
 That thou wouldst keep me secret till thy wrath be past, 
 That thou wouldst appoint me a set time and remember me — 
 
 14 If a man die shall he live again? — 
 
 All the days of my appointed time would I wait 
 Till my release came ; 
 
 15 Thou wouldst call and I would answer thee, 
 
 Thou wouldst have a desire to the work of thine hands. 
 
 As Job follows the fascinating thought, the feeling forces itself upon his 
 mind how much is implied in it, nothing less than that a man when 
 dead should live again {v. 14), but he will not allow himself to be 
 arrested in his pursuit of the glorious vision — he describes how he would 
 wait all the period appointed to him (his "warfare," cf. ch. vii. i) till 
 his release came, and dwells upon the joy and readiness with which he 
 would answer the voice of his Creator calling him to His fellowship again 
 when He longed after the work of His hands long estranged and hidden 
 from Him (ch. x. 3). The words "call" and " answer," z/. 15, have 
 here naturally quite a different sense from the forensic or judicial one 
 which belongs to them in ch. xiii. 22 and similar passages. 
 
 16 — 22. This prayer for a second life is supported by a picture of 
 the severity with which God deals with man in tliis life and the mourn- 
 ful consequences of it. 
 
 16. Figures expressing the keen scrutiny with which God watches ' 
 man's life in order to detect his false steps and observe his every sin, cf. 
 ch. xiii. 27. 
 
 17. Figures expressing the carefulness with which God treasures up 
 a man's sins lest any of them should be lost, in order to visit the full 
 tale of them upon him. 
 
 18 — 22. Under this severe treatment man must perish. For even 
 the greatest and the firmest things in nature, and those most capable of 
 resistance, are worn down by the influence of constant forces, and how 
 much more man's life under God's continued severity. 
 
 18. And siin'ly'] Rather, but; cf. ch. xiii. 3, 4. 
 
 The " mountain falling " is the mountain from which great forces 
 detach pieces — as man is subjected to the shattering strokes of God. 
 The second clause shews this to be the meaning.
 
 19 
 
 io6 JOB, XIV. [vv. 19—22. 
 
 The waters wear the stones: 
 
 Thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust 
 
 of the earth; 
 And thou destroyest the hope of man. 
 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: 
 Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away. 
 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth // not; 
 And they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of 
 
 them. 
 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, 
 And his soul within him shall mourn. 
 
 19. The turbulent waters wear away the stones of the brook by their 
 constant action. 
 
 thoH washest away, &c.] Rather, the floods thereof (i.e. of the 
 waters) do wash away the soil of the earth. 
 
 and thou destroyest^ i.e. so thou destroyest. The "hope" of man 
 which God destroys is not the specific hope of a renewed life {v. 7) — 
 this idea is dismissed — but more general, the hope of life. 
 
 20. thou changest his countenance] A graphic and pathetic descrip- 
 tion of death. The word "prevailest against," i.e. overpowerest him, 
 refers to the last conflict and the final stroke, cf. ch. xv. 24. 
 
 21. "The dead know not anything ... also their love ... is now 
 perished," Eccles. ix. 5, 6. 
 
 22. But his flesh"] Or, only. The prep, rendered here " upon him " 
 is the same as that rendered "within him," it means with him or in 
 connexion with him, and the verse differs little from this, Only his flesh 
 hath pain and his soul viourneth. The dead knoweth nothing of the 
 upper world, only this can be said of him that his flesh hath pain and his 
 soul mourneth ; but the Hebrew expresses the idea more distinctly that 
 his flesh and soul do these things in connexion with him. There are 
 two ideas expressed : (i) that the body in the grave, being that of a still 
 existing person, feels the gnawing and the wasting of corruption, cf. Is. 
 Ixvi. 24, and that the soul in Sheol leads a mournful and dreary exist- 
 ence ; and (2) that these elements of the person though separated still 
 belong to the person. 
 
 The first circle of speeches, now completed, started from Job's com- 
 plaints in ch. iii. Job did not there name God nor make any open 
 imputation against Him, but his bitter maledictions of the day of his 
 birth and his impatient cry. Why gives He life to him that is in misery, 
 (iii. 20), shewed too well against whom it was that he "turned his 
 spirit " (xv. 12.) 
 
 Hence the three friends conceive that the first thing to aim at is to 
 
 bring Job back to just and reverent thoughts of God. Therefore they 
 
 . dwell upon the attributes of God and contrast Him with man, hoping 
 
 by this great thought of God to still the tumult in Job's breast and 
 
 bring him to take his right place before the Creator.
 
 JOB, XIV. XV. 107 
 
 The friends all impress this thought of 6'^a'upon Job, each, however, 
 doing it in his own way. The oldest and most thoughtful of the three, 
 Eliphaz, lays hold of the moral purity of God and His universal good- 
 ness. Bildad insists on the discriminating rectitude of God in His rule 
 of the world. While Zophar magnilies the omniscience of the Divine 
 insight, which guides God's dealings with men. Each of these views is 
 designed to meet some side of Job's feeling as expressed in his com- 
 plaints. Job answers these arguments for the most part indirectly. His 
 own unmerited afflictions furnished the answer to them, and he mainly 
 dwells on this. Only at last is he driven by the form in which Zophar 
 puts the common argument of the friends directly to meet it. To their 
 great argument of " God," with which they thought to terrify and silence 
 him, he replies that he does need to be taught regarding God. He is 
 not inferior to them in knowledge of God ; but it is just God that he 
 desires to meet. He will go before Him to maintain his rectitude. He 
 challenges God to make known the sins of which he has been guilty 
 (xiii. 23). 
 
 However irreligious Job's demeanour might seem to his friends (xv. 
 4), it is obvious that he has struck from their hands the weapon they 
 have hitherto been using against him. Their argument of " God " is 
 exhausted. Job's passionate proclamation that what he desires above 
 all things is to meet God and maintain his ways to His face has convinced 
 them that he is not to be vanquished with this weapon. Hence they 
 are obliged to look about for others. 
 
 Ch. XV. — XXI. The Second Circle of Speeches. 
 
 The laudable attempts made by Job's friends to bring him to acknow- 
 ledge his sins and humble himself before God have signally failed. The 
 sublime truths they have sought to impress on him regarding God have 
 been without effect. He has found means to turn the point of every one 
 of their weapons. And his passionate declarations of his innocence, 
 and challenge of the Divine omniscience itself, with which the three 
 friends had thought to silence him, convince them that they have to do 
 with a man on whom just and reverent thoughts of God make no 
 impression. The argument from the attributes of God has, indeed, been 
 exhausted ; and even if it had not, Job's violent assault upon his friends 
 for their use of it, and his charge that they were insincere and moved 
 only by partizanship for God (xiii. 4 seq.), might have deterred them from 
 arguing further in this direction. Hence the argument takes now a 
 somewhat different form. 
 
 Job's protestations of his innocence did not convince his friends, nor 
 yet his challenge of God and attempt to force an answer from Him (xiii. 
 ■23 seq.). The manner of the latter shocked them by its irreverence, and 
 the former appeared to them nothing but a crafty attempt on Job's part 
 to conceal his guilt. And of this guilt they were now more firmly 
 convinced than ever (xv. 4 — 6). Job's demeanour under his sufferings 
 only confirmed the conclusions which his sufferings themselves com- 
 pelled them to draw. Perhaps his abortive appeal to heaven persuaded
 
 loS JOB, XV. 
 
 them that God was casting him finally off. At all events his behaviour 
 explained to them with sufficient distinctness his afflictions, as well as 
 made them dread a terrible issue to them, seeing Job under them could 
 so tempt God and defy His righteousness (xv. 6). However unwillingly, 
 they are forced to conclude tliat they see in Job a type both of the 
 calamities that befall the wicked and of their rebellious impatience 
 under them. In this way the thoughts of the friends are drawn away 
 from heaven to earth. God is no more their theme, but man, especially 
 the wicked matt as history and experience sheio him to be dealt with in 
 the providence of God. The effect of this change is naturally to draw the 
 arguments of the friends closer around Job, and bring the debate to a 
 crisis. For though the object of the three friends in drawing their 
 dark pictures of the heaven-daring sinner and his fate is to awaken 
 Job's conscience and alarm him, tliat he may turn from his evil, their 
 arguments are now of a kind that can be brought to the test of 
 experience, and Job so soon as he can be induced to grapple with them 
 has little difficulty in disposing of them. 
 
 When Job fully realizes this new turn that things are taking he is 
 overwhelmed by it. He had anticipated that his sincere protestations of 
 his innocence v.'ould carry conviction to the mind of his friends. But 
 when he sees them regarding these protestations as nothing but a crafty 
 cover of his guilt he realizes for the first time his true position. His 
 isolation and misery come home to him in their full and bitter meaning. 
 Men and God alike are against him and hold him guilty. For a long 
 time Job is too much occupied with his new position to be able to turn 
 his mind to the arguments of his friends. He is absorbed in the thought 
 of his isolation, and dwells witli affecting pathos on the thouglit how 
 men hate him and flee from him. Only in his very last speech, after he 
 has fought his way through to more composure of mind, does he seem to 
 awaken to what the argument is which his friends are using against him, 
 and then he deals it some crushing blows which effectually demolish it 
 (ch. xxi.). 
 
 Cii. XV. The Second SrEECii of Eliphaz. 
 
 As before Eliphaz takes the lead in the debate, and his speech strikes 
 the key in which all the friends conduct it. His discourse attaches itself 
 to Job's last speech (ch. xii. — xiv.), two things in which Eliphaz lays 
 hold of, first, Job's contemptuous deriding of the opinions of his friends 
 and his claim to a higher wisdom (ch. xii. 3, 7 scq., xiii. 1) ; and 
 second, his irreverence and the impiety of his sentiments (ch. xiii. 23 
 scq., xii. 6). By the first the amour propre of Elipliaz is deeply hurt ; 
 and this very aged (ch. xv. 10) and dignified counsellor, a man of pure 
 and noble blood (ch. xv. 19), betrays by a number of allusions to himself 
 and his former speech (ch. xv. 10 seq.) his sense of having been unwor- 
 thily treated. Besides his irreverence in challenging God's omniscience 
 and seeking to thrust himself into God's very presence. Job had spoken 
 words destructive of all godliness, saying, that the tents of robbers were 
 in peace, and that they that yirovoked God were secure (ch. xii. 6). 
 In opposition to sucii sentiments Eliphaz will shew him the truth ia
 
 vv. 1—3.] JOB, XV. log 
 
 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, 15 
 
 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, 2 
 And fill his belly with the east wind ? 
 
 Should he reason zvith unprofitable talk ? 3 
 
 regard to the feelings and the fate of the wicked man. The speech thus 
 falls into two parts : — 
 
 First, w. 2 — 16, Eliphaz's rebuke of Job's contemptuous treatment 
 of his friends and assumption of superior wisdom, and his irreverence. 
 
 Second, -vv. 17 — 35, the doctrine of Eliphaz regarding the wicked 
 man's conscience and fate. 
 
 2—16. Eliphaz rebukes Job's contemptuous treatment of 
 the opinions of his friends, and his irreverence 
 TOWARDS God. 
 
 First, starting with Job's claim to a wisdom beyond that of his friends 
 (ch. xii. 3, 7 scq., xiii. 2), Eliphaz asks if it be in the manner of a wise 
 man to use loud and empty words as arguments {vv. 1 — 3). But in 
 truth Job was more than unwise, he was impious. His demeanour and 
 sentiments did away with all devoutness and religion. Such language 
 as he uttered could be inspired only by deep evil in his heart ; and was 
 proof enough without anything more of his wickedness [vv. 4 — 6). 
 
 Second, then coming back upon these two points. Job's claim to 
 wisdom and his irreverence, Eliphaz developes each of them separately. 
 
 (i) This claim to wisdom, which he puts forth, whence has he it? 
 Was he the first man born ? Did he come straight from God's hand ? 
 Did he sit in the council of heaven and appropriate wisdom to himself? 
 And how came he, a man not yet old, to have such preeminence in 
 wisdom over them, some of whom were old enough to be his father, 
 that he thought himself entitled to put away from him admonitions 
 which were consoling truths of God's revelation and spoken to him in 
 gentleness and temperance? {vv. 7 — 11). 
 
 (2) And why did he allow his passion to carry him away into making 
 charges of unrighteousness against God ? For how can a man be pure 
 in God's sight ? In His eyes the heavens are not clean, much less man, 
 whose avidity for evil is like that of a thirsty man for water {vv. 
 12 — 16). 
 
 2. Should a zvise man zttter vain hiowlcdge] Or, will a wise nian 
 ans7uer with vain, &c. , lit., li7iozvledge of wind, i.e. empty and loud, cf. 
 ch. viii. 2, xvi. 2. The word wwi? refers back to Job's claims to superior 
 wisdom, ch. xii. 3, xiii. 2. Eliphaz asks, Is this the manner of one pos- 
 sessed of wisdom ? 
 
 Jill his belly with the east wind] i.e. puff himself up and then bring out 
 of his mouth violent blasts of mere barren words; cf. Hos. xii. i. 
 
 3. Should he reason] Or, will he reason, or better, reasoning' -with 
 unprofitable talk. The verse is subordinate to the last, carrying out 
 its idea.
 
 no JOB, XV. [vv. 4— 7. 
 
 Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good ? 
 
 Yea, thou easiest off fear. 
 
 And restrainest prayer before God : 
 
 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, 
 
 And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. 
 
 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not \\ 
 
 Yea, thine own Hps testify against thee. 
 
 Art thou the first man that was born ? 
 
 Or wast thou made before the hills ? 
 
 4. Job was more than unwise, he was doing away with all fear 
 of God. 
 
 easiest off fear\ Or, as margin, makest void, doest away with, the 
 fear of God. 
 
 restrainest prayer] Rather, impairest reverence or devotion. The 
 charge of Eliphaz is not merely that Job was irreligious himself, but 
 that the tendency of his conduct and principles must be to diminish and 
 do away devoutness and religion among men. 
 
 5. for thy month uttereth thine iniipdty] Rather, for thine iniquity 
 (or, guilt) teacheth thy mouth ; the meaning being that his mouth was 
 prompted by his iniquity, used as its instrument. His inquity taught 
 his mouth what to say. 
 
 choosest the tongue of the crafty] i.e. choosest and makest use of, — 
 speakest as the crafty do. The charge of Eliphaz is that Job's com- 
 plaint of unrighteousness in God's treatment of him and his assertions 
 of his own innocence, and such words as those in ch. xii. 6, were mere 
 crafty pretences put forward to cover his own wickedness. If the first 
 clause have precisely the same sense as the latter, the word "iniquity" 
 must be translated "guilt." 
 
 6. But in truth such utterances of his mouth clearly suggested the 
 source which inspired them, other proof of his guilt than they was 
 not needed. Thus in v. 5 Job's language and sentiments are ex- 
 plained by his guilt, and in v. 6 his guilt is proved by his language; 
 and both verses support the charge in v. 4 that he was doing away, 
 breaking with, the fear of God. 
 
 7 — 11. But coming back to Job's assumption of superior wisdom, 
 Eliphaz must ask on what it rests ? 
 
 7. Art thou the first man] lit. wast thou born a man first? The 
 first man that came from God's hand would naturally be endowed with 
 preeminent wisdom and otlier attributes. Schlottmann (p. 303) quotes 
 an ironical proverb current in India, " Yes, yes, he is the first man, no 
 wonder that he is so wise." The second clause of the verse, however, 
 as well as v. 8, seems to express the conception of a Being formed 
 before the earth, either the Wisdom of Pro v. viii. 22 seq., or a Being 
 similar, cf. especially Prov. viii. 25; and the query of Eliphaz is. Art 
 thou the very Wisdom of God? or, Art thou such a Being as the 
 Wisdom of God ?
 
 vv. 8— II.] JOB, XV. Ill 
 
 Hast thou heard the secret of God ? s 
 
 And dost thou restrain the wisdom to thyself? 
 
 What knowest thou, that we know not ? s 
 
 IF/ia^ understandest thou, which is not in us ? 
 
 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, i 
 
 Much elder than thy father. 
 
 Are the consolations of God small with thee ? i 
 
 Is there a/zy secret thing with thee ? 
 
 8. I/as( thouheard the secrei\ Rather, didst thou listen in the coun- 
 cil of God ? Cf. Jer. xxiii. 22, Ps. Ixxxix. 7 (assembly = council). 
 
 dost thou restrai7i the wisdofii] Rather, didst thou draw wisdom to 
 thyself? i.e. appropriate or absorb wisdom. The " wisdom " here is 
 the highest, divine wisdom. The question put is, whether Job was a 
 a member of the Divine council, so as to have full knowledge of the 
 mysteries of God? The Mohammedan conception of evil spirits 
 (satans) listening and overhearing the Divine secrets is quite different 
 from the idea here. Such spirits have no access to heaven, and seek 
 only to filch fragments of God's counsels. The shooting stars are bolts 
 which God hurls at these intruding eavesdroppers; Kor. xxxvii. 6 — 10. 
 
 9. Abandoning irony Eliphaz comes to the facts, which hardly bear 
 out Job's pretensions. His words recall those of Job, ch. xii. 3, 
 xiii. 3. 
 
 10. This verse should probably read. 
 
 Among us is one both grayheaded and very aged. 
 One older in days than thy father. 
 
 Eliphaz with a dignified indirectness in which, however, a certain 
 personal feeling is displayed, alludes to himself. Others take the words 
 "grayheaded" and "very aged" as collectives — among us are both the 
 grayheaded and the very aged ; in which case "among us" must mean 
 "belonging to our tribes." But in reproving Job's demeanour a 
 reference to persons absent seems out of place. 
 
 11. small with thee] Rather, are the consolations of God too small 
 for thee ? do they seem to thee beneath thy deserts and notice ? 
 Numb. xvi. 9; Is. vii. 13. 
 
 is there any secret thing with thee] Rather, and a word that dealt 
 gently with thee ? The consolations or comforts of God are such as 
 proceed from God and are authorized by Him. Eliphaz so describes his 
 own teaching, e.g. the oracle, ch. iv. 12 seq., which came directly from 
 God ; but also, no doubt, such consoling views of God's providence 
 as he shewed ch. v. 8 seq. In the phrase "a word that dealt gently 
 with thee " he describes the gentle and conciliatory manner of his own 
 first speech. He may include his friends with him in all this, but there 
 runs throughout this discourse an under-current of references to himself. 
 
 12 — 16. Turning from Job's arrogant claims to superior wisdom 
 Eliphaz must rebuke his violent and irreverent behaviour towards God : 
 What is man that he should be clean ?
 
 112 JOB, XV. [vv. 12— 16. 
 
 12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away ? 
 And what do thine eyes wink at, 
 
 13 That tliou turnest thy spirit against God, 
 And lettest such words go out of thy mouth ? 
 
 H What is man, that he should be clean ? 
 
 And he which is born of a woman, that he should be 
 righteous? 
 15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; 
 
 Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. 
 i6 How much more abominable and filthy 
 
 Is man, which drinketh iniquity like water ? 
 
 12. ivJiat do thine eyes wink at\ Rather, Wherefore do thine eyes 
 ■wink? i.e., flash or roll, sign of violent passion. In the first clause 
 " heart" is the excited mind under strong feeling. 
 
 13. turnest thy spirit\ "Spirit" may be breath, i.e., anger, fury, 
 eh. iv. 9 "blast"; cf. Prov. xvi, 32; Is. xxv. 4. The words against 
 God are emphatic. 
 
 lettest such words go out'] lit. bringest forth T^/^r^j out of thy mouth. 
 The reference is less to the kind of words spoken than to the passionate 
 manner in which they are uttered. 
 
 14. What is there to justify such passion — thy ]5rctended innocence? 
 What is man that he should be clean? cf. ch. xiv. i. Eliphaz recurs 
 again to his principles formerly enunciated, ch. iv. 17 scq., for his 
 former speech is in his mind throughout. 
 
 15. his saints] his holy ones, i.e. His angels, cf. on ch. v. i. 
 
 the heavens] These are here the material heavens, not the celestial 
 inhabitants, cf. ch. xxv. 5. So Ex. xxiv. 10, " And they saw the God of 
 Israel, and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a 
 sapphire stone, and as it were the very heaven in its clearness" ; see also 
 Ezek. i. 22. 
 
 16. According to the Hebrew punctuation the verse runs, 
 
 IIow much less the abominable and corrupt, 
 Man, which drinketh in iniquity like water. 
 The word " corrupt," only here and Ps. xiv. 3 (liii. 3), occurs in Arab, 
 in the sense of "turned," sour, of milk; it is used in Heb. only in 
 a moral sense (A. V. fdthy). "Man" here is said, of course, of man- 
 kind, not specially of Job, and Elijihaz declares that his greedy avidity 
 for evil is like that of a thirsty man for water. The words strongly 
 indicate to Job the view which Eliphaz takes of him and his sufferings, 
 and thus naturally form the transition to the second half of his speech. 
 
 17 — 35. Eliphaz instructs Job regarding the troubled con- 
 science AND THE DISASTROUS FATE OF THE WICKED MAN. 
 
 Having sufficiently rebuked Job's presumption and irreverence Eliphaz 
 proceeds to take up his principles, which " did away with the fear of
 
 vv. 17—21.] JOB, XV. 113 
 
 I will shew thee, hear me; 17 
 
 And that which I have seen I will declare; 
 
 Which wise men have told 18 
 
 From their fathers, and have not hid it: 
 
 Unto whom alone the earth was given, 19 
 
 And no stranger passed among them. 
 
 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, 20 
 
 And the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. 
 
 A dreadful sound is in his ears : 2x 
 
 God," V. 4. They are such principles as Job gave forth ch. ix. 22 seq., 
 xii. 6. The passage has two parts : — 
 
 First, vv. 17 — 19, a brief preface, in which Eliphaz states that his 
 doctrine is that of the wise of all times among the pure-blooded races of 
 men, who have never been contaminated by mixture with foreign tribes, 
 and whose traditions are uncorrupted. 
 
 Second, vv. 20 — 35, the doctrine regarding the wicked man itself, in 
 which there are three points: (i) the troubled conscience and presenti- 
 ments of coming evil that continually haunt the evil man, vv. 20 — 24 ; 
 (2) the cause of this, his defiance of God and sensual hfe, vv. 25 — 28 ; 
 and (3) finally, a picture of his punishment and disastrous end, 
 vv. 29—35. 
 
 17. / will shew thee\ Eliphaz assumes a high tone with Job ; one is 
 entitled to do so with a man in his unfortunate condition. 
 
 18. The doctrine of Eliphaz is no novelty, — it is his {v. 17), but it 
 is the consistent moral tradition of the wise from generation to genera- 
 tion. The phrase "have told. ..and have not hid" means, have told 
 openly, it is matter of public consent and teaching among them ; 
 cf. Is. iii. 9, where the same words occur. 
 
 19. And it is a tradition pure and uncorrupted by admixture of 
 foreign elements, for it is the moral wisdom of races to whom alone 
 the land has been given, who have dwelt always in the same seats, and 
 never been displaced, and among whom foreign and inferior races have 
 never penetrated. 
 
 20 — 35. This doctrine itself. The passage gives a picture of the 
 conscience of the wicked man filled with presentiments of evil, in 
 opposition to such statements as that of Job, ch. xii. 6, and to his 
 whole claims regarding himself. 
 
 20. The sense is, 
 
 All the days of the wicked man he is in pain. 
 
 And the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor, 
 
 i.e., constantly and throughout his whole life, as long as it endures, the 
 wicked man is in pain (or, torments himself). The word "laid up" 
 means appointed, reserved, for the oppressor. This is said against 
 Job's statement, xii. 6, that the tents of robbers were in peace. 
 
 21. A dreadful sound] A sound of terrors ; he continually thinks he 
 hears the sound of coming destruction. 
 
 JOB 8
 
 114 JOB, XV. [vv. 22— 27. 
 
 In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. 
 
 22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, 
 And he is waited for of the sword. 
 
 23 He wanderetlr abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? 
 
 He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. 
 
 24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; 
 
 They shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the 
 battle. 
 
 25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, 
 And strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. 
 
 26 He runneth upon him, eveti on his neck, 
 Upon the thick bosses of his bucklers : 
 
 27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, 
 
 in prospcj-ity the destroyer shall come] A picture of the wicked man's 
 anticipations. 
 
 22. rettern otit of darkncss'\ " Darkness " is calamity, and the words 
 mean that the wicked man anticipates a calamity which shall be final, 
 and from which, when it befals him, there shall be no escape. 
 
 he is waited for of the s-cdord] So he feels in regard to himself; he is 
 marked out for the sword, i.e., the hostile sword or the avenging sword 
 of God, ch. xix. 29 ; Is. xxxi. 8. 
 
 23. He anticipates the time when he shall be a hungry wanderer, 
 roving in search of bread and crying, Where is it? The picture of the 
 rich oppressor tormented by visions of famine is very graphic. 
 
 ready at hand] Or, at his side ; the dark day of calamity stands 
 constantly beside him ready to envelop him in its shadows. Such 
 is his own foreboding (" he knows "). 
 
 24. shall make him afraid] Rather, make Mm afraid. 
 ready to the battle] Fully prepared and therefore irresistible. 
 
 25 — 28. Reason of these terrors of conscience and presentiments 
 of evil — his defiance of heaven and sensual life. 
 
 25. he stretcheth out] Rather, stretched. The tenses in the following 
 verses would all be better put in the past, as they describe either 
 distinct or continued past actions. So strengthened, or emboldened 
 himself, lit. behaved himself mightily (Is. xlii. 13 margin), or, proudly. 
 
 26. The whole verse means, 
 
 He ran upon him with stift neck, 
 With the thick bosses of his bucklers. 
 
 The words describe the wicked man's demeanour towards God. The 
 figure is that of a warrior making an assault. The Heb. is " he ran 
 upon him with neck," Vulg., erecto collo, cf. Ps. Ixxv. 5. The "bosses" 
 are the convex sides of the bucklers, the sides turned to the foe, who 
 here is God. 
 
 27. he covereth] Rather, he covered ; and similarly, he made collops. 
 The words express the idea of falling into a brutish fleshliness, which
 
 vv. 28— 32.] JOB, XV. 115 
 
 And maketh collops of fat on his flanks. 
 
 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, 28 
 
 And in houses which no man inhabiteth. 
 
 Which are ready to become heaps. 
 
 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, 29 
 
 Neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the 
 
 earth. 
 He shall not depart out of darkness; 30 
 
 The flame shall dry up his branches, 
 And by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. 
 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: 31 
 
 For vanity shall be his recompence. 
 It shall be accomplished before his time, 32 
 
 causes insensibility to .al! that is spiritual and resistance of it, cf. Deut. 
 xxxii. 15 ; Ps. Ixxiii. 7. 
 
 28. and he dwellctliX and he dwelt. 
 
 ■which no vian inhabitclh\ wMch should not be inhabited. 
 
 a7-e ready to beco}nc\ wMch were destined to be heaps. The idea 
 seems to be that the wicked man settled in and rebuilt places that were 
 under the curse of God, and destined by Him for perpetual desolation. 
 Such places in the East are those on which God's judgment has fallen 
 because of some great wickedness perpetrated there. To settle in and 
 rebuild such ruins indicates the extreme of impiety, cf. Deut. xiii. 13 
 seq.; Josh. vi. 26 ; 1 K. xvi. 34. 
 
 29 — 35. The disastrous end of the wicked man. 
 
 29. neither shall he prolotig the perfectio7i\ Perhaps, neither shall 
 their produce bend doiun to the ground ; the figure being that of heavy 
 grain, or branches thickly laden with fruit, bending down to the earth. 
 The word rendered produce or gain is not found again and is of some- 
 what uncertain meaning. 
 
 30. Advance on v. 29, describing the sinner's actual destruction. 
 The figures are common; on darkness, cf. -vv. 22 — 23; \ht flame \?, the 
 scorching sun or glowing wind; breath of his mouth, i.e., God's mouth, 
 cf. ch. iv. 9. 
 
 31. The verse reads, 
 
 Let him not trust in vanity : he is deceived : 
 
 For vanity shall be his recompence. 
 Similarly, "they that plow iniquity reap the same," ch. iv. 8 ; v. r.^. 
 Eliphaz returns as in other passages to his former speech. "Vanity" 
 or evil means both wickedness (first clause) and calamity or trouble 
 (second clause). The word "recompence" means exchange, that re- 
 ceived in barter or return. 
 
 32. Before his time'] lit. before his day, that is, the natural day of his 
 death, cf. ch. xxii. 16 ; and the clause means, in the midst of his years 
 (Ps. Iv. 23) his recompence, or exchange, is fulfilled and goes into
 
 ii6 JOB, XV. XVI.— XVII. [vv. 33— 35. 
 
 And his branch shall not be green. 
 
 33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, 
 And shall cast off his flower as the olive. 
 
 34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, 
 And fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. 
 
 35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, 
 And their belly prepareth deceit. 
 
 accomplishment — he is cut off. The words might also mean that his 
 recompence accrues to him in its fulness. In the second clause 
 "branch" is the palm-branch, or crowning tuft (Is. ix. 14), and the 
 figure is that of such a tree withered and dead. 
 
 33. It is doubtful if the A. V. expresses a meaning which is true to 
 nature ; the vine does not shake off its unripe grapes. The words must 
 rather express the meaning that the grapes are not brought to maturity. 
 The word "shake off" means to "wrong" Prov. viii. 36, and probably 
 the idea is that the vine fails to nourish its grapes and leaves them to 
 dry and wither. This carries out the conception of v. 32. The 
 general idea of these verses is that the wicked man is "subject to 
 vanity," his branch prematurely withers {v. 32), he puts forth grapes 
 but cannot ripen them, he flowers but he fails of fruit. His endeavours 
 in all directions come short. 
 
 34. The same truth as that expressed in vv. 31 — 32 now taught 
 without figure, and reduced to a general principle. 
 
 congregation of hypoirites\ Or, company of the ungodly, c\\. viii. 13; 
 xiii. 16. "Desolate" is barren (ch. iii. 7), unfruitful. The households 
 of the godless are unfruitful, under God's curse they come to nought ; 
 but it is puerile to make the grapes and flowers of v. 33 figures for 
 children. 
 
 tabernacles of bribery'] Bribery, a common method of perverting 
 justice in the East, is here a general name for wrong and injustice. 
 
 35. Finally Eliphaz condenses into an expressive figure the general 
 doctrine both of this and his former discourse, namely, that suffering 
 and disaster follow, as by a law of nature, doing evil and wrong. In 
 iv. 8, "They that sow wickedness reap the same"; in this verse, "They 
 that conceive mischief bring forth trouble". The word rendered 
 "vanity" here is "affliction" in v. 6 ; see notes there and on iv. 8. 
 Comp. Ps. vii. 14; Is. xxxiii. 11 ; lix. 4. 
 
 Ch. XVI.— XVII. Job's Reply to Eliphaz. 
 
 Job's appeal to God (ch. xiii. •23 seq.) remained unanswered. God is 
 resolved to hide His face from him. His friends, instead of seeing in 
 his appeal to Heaven and his protestations of innocence proof that he 
 is innocent, regard these as but a crafty attempt to hide his guilt, and 
 as the must convincing evidence of it (ch. xv. 5, 6). Thus Job beholds 
 God and men alike turned against him and holding him guilty. God 
 of the world and of the present inexorably turns away from him ; and
 
 JOB, XVI.— XVII. 117 
 
 God's turning away from him causes men to avert their faces too. His 
 isolation is complete. And to him who had once stood so high in the 
 estimation of men, and as a man of deep liuman feelings yearned for 
 men's sympathy (cf. the picture in ch. xxix), the thought comes home 
 ■with a crushing effect. This is the new thought in Job's mind, and it 
 is this thought that gives such a tragic pathos to his speeches in the 
 second cycle of debate. In the first circle of speeches it is God's 
 enmity alone of which Job complains (ch. vi. 4, <S:c.), but now there is 
 added to this the universal alienation (ch. xvi. 7) and abhorrence of 
 mankind. This feeling gives tone to all his speeches, and in ch. xix., 
 which forms the climax of this division, finds its fullest expression in 
 the words, Pity me, pity me, O ye my friends, why do ye persecute me 
 like God? (w. 21, 22, cf. z/. 13 St'//.). And this overmastering feeling 
 forces its way to expression almost in spite of him (xvi. 6) in the first 
 part of the present speech (w. 7 — 17). 
 
 Nothing now remains to him but his own sense of his innocence; 
 and to this he clings all the more tenaciously. He shall never be 
 acknowledged in this life ; he shall die under God's hand and go down 
 to the grave numbered with the transgressors, for the hopes which the 
 friends held out of restoration were but the veriest folly (xvi. 22 seq., 
 xvii. 10 seq.). But it is a martyr's death that he shall die. And so 
 strong is his sense of his innocence that he rises to the assurance that it 
 cannot remain unrecognised for ever. His innocent blood will appeal 
 unto heaven with an unceasing cry till it finds a response (xvi. 18). And 
 even now he has a Witness who will testify for him, even God as He is in 
 Himself in heaven. And to this Witness he makes his appeal. Men 
 mock him, but he lifts his tearful face (xvi. 20) to God, God as He is in 
 truth and as He must reveal himself in the future, begging that He would 
 uphold his right with God, who now is unjustly bringing him to death, 
 and do justice between him and his fellows, whose suspicions so craelly 
 wrong him (xvi. 21, xix. 3). And if he may not ask or expect (xiii. 
 18 seq.) that God would appear for him in this life, yet he will beseech 
 God to give him some pledge even here, that afterwards, when he shall 
 have gone the way whence he shall not return, He will make his inno- 
 cence to appear (xvi. 22, xvii. 3). 
 
 The Discourse consists of four somewhat unequal sections : — 
 
 First, w. I — 5, Job expresses his weariness of his friends' monoton- 
 ous speeches, which contained nothing ; and justifies against the com- 
 plaint of Eliphaz (xv. 11) his rejection of them. 
 
 Second, vv. 6 — 17, he gives a touching picture of his sorrowful 
 isolation, and of the enmity with which God and men pursued him, 
 though he was innocent of all wrong. 
 
 Third, w. 18— xvii. 9, but this cruel fate, which both brings him to 
 death and affixes to him the stigma of wickedness, cannot for ever 
 prevail over him. He shall die under the imputation of guilt, but his 
 blood will cry for reparation, filling earth and heaven with its voice, 
 until he be vindicated. He has a Witness in heaven who will testify 
 lor him, even God as He is in heart ; and he appeals unto God that He 
 would do justice to him with God and between him and men — and even
 
 ii8 JOB, XVI. [yy. i— 4- 
 
 16 Then Job answered and said, 
 
 2 I have heard many such things : 
 Miserable comforters are ye all. 
 
 3 Shall vain words have an end ? 
 
 Or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? 
 
 4 I also could speak as ye do : 
 
 If your soul were in my soul's stead, 
 I could heap up words against you, 
 And shake mine head at you. 
 
 that He would not let him die without some token to this efTect (xvi. 2 r, 
 xvii. 3). 
 
 Fourth, w. 10 — 16, coming back to what is the ground tone of this 
 speech, his certainty of a speedy death under God s hand, Job repu- 
 diates as mere folly the glowing hopes of restoration in this life which 
 his friends held out to him. lie knows better ; he shall die, his hope 
 ii in the grave. 
 
 Ch. xvi. 1 — 5. Job expresses his weariness of the monotony of his 
 friends' speeches, and rejects their consolation, which is only that of the 
 
 lip- 
 
 2. 7riany such things] Job cannot help expressing his impatience of 
 
 the sameness and the amount of his friends' talk, and lis uselessness or 
 even worse. 
 
 miserable comforters'] The margin is, troublesome comforters, lit. com- 
 forters of trouble, whose comfort brings no ease but only more trouble. 
 The words are a reply to the query of l':iiphaz, Are the comforts of God 
 too small for thee? xv. 11. Their comforts were all founded on a false 
 ■assumption of his guilt, and contained the condition of his repentance. 
 Such words only increased his perplexity and misery. 
 
 3. Shall vaiti words have an end] lit. is there any end to words of 
 wind? To retort their charge of " windy knowledge" (ch. xv. 1], Job 
 cannot help fearing that there is no end to such empty harangues on 
 their side, thougli he cannot imagine what provokes them to reply 
 instead of letting the controversy drop, as he had long ago besought 
 them (ch. xiii. 5). For emboldeneth provoketh is better. 
 
 4. 5. Job then, with the supercilious contempt peculiar to him and 
 in justification of his rejection of their " comfort," holds up a picture of 
 it before them : their method is not a difficult one, he also could adopt 
 it, if his case were theirs ; he could shake his head over them and give 
 them lip-comfort enough. 
 
 4. / could heap up words] Rather, I could compose words. By 
 "composing" or joining together words Job means making formal, 
 artificial and heartless speeches ; cf. the string of traditional sayings put 
 together by Eliphaz, ch. xv. 20 seq. 
 
 shake mine head at you] " A gesture of astonishment, as much as to 
 say ' Eh 1 I would not have thought that the pious man, as it appears
 
 V. 5.] JOB, XVI. 119 
 
 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, : 
 
 And the moving of my Hps should asswage your grief. 
 
 from his misfortunes, had been so great a sinner' " (Hitzig), cf. Ps. xxii. 
 7, Is. xxxvii. -22. 
 5. The verse no doubt carries on the idea of the preceding : 
 I could strengthen you with my mouth, 
 And the condolence of my lips could assuage your grief. 
 The emphasis falls on inotitk and lips. Job could give them lip-comfort 
 enough, pour out abundance of words in whicli lay no power to uphold 
 the heart as they did not proceed from the heart. "Condolence" as 
 ch. ii. II. 
 
 6 — 17. Job realizes to himself his new condition : God and 
 
 MEN combine to PURSUE HIM WITH THEIR ENMITY, THOUGH 
 HE IS INNOCENT OF ALL WRONG. 
 
 In V. 5 Job flung back with scorn the "comforts of God" which the 
 friends proftered him. And now there seems to occur a pause, and the 
 excited sufferer looks about him and realizes both the extremity of the 
 evil in which he is held, and the new and unexpected trial, added to all 
 others, of the judgment of men being against him. And he hardly 
 knows whether he shall speak or be silent, so overcome is he and so 
 unavailing to help him or make men judge truly of him are both speech 
 and silence — if I speak my grief is not asstiaged, and if I forbear luhat 
 am I eased? v. 6. 
 
 Yet this new condition in which he realizes that he is, which makes 
 speech useless, forces him to speak, and he sets before himself in an 
 excited soliloquy the combined enmity to him of men and God. 
 
 First, vv. 7 — II, he realizes to himself the complete estrangement 
 from him of all familiar friends ; God's enmity to him has turned men 
 also into foes {vv. 7, 8). This combined enmity of God and men is 
 represented under what seems the figure of a creature hunted by one 
 great lion-like assailant, leading on a host of minor, ignobler foes. 
 The chief adversary is first described, his rending anger, and gnashing 
 teeth, and flashing eyes (w. 9) ; and then the pell-mell rout of baser foes 
 that howled behind him, their open mouth and shameless gestures, 
 and full cry after the prey, which is flung over into their hands 
 {vv. 10, 11). 
 
 Second, vv. 12 — 17, then the hostility of God Himself is particu- 
 larly dwelt upon in graphic figures, which express its unexpected sud- 
 denness, its violence and destructiveness. One figure is that of a man 
 suddenly grasped by another of overwhelming strength and tossed 
 about and dashed to pieces {v. 12). Then the figure changes, and this 
 shattered frame is set up as a mark, and God's arrows hiss around him 
 and split his reins and pour out his life to the ground {v. 13). Again 
 the figure changes, and this body seems some fair edifice or fort which 
 God dismantles by breach upon breach till it lies a sorrowful ruin 
 (z/. 14). And finally the condition of humiliation to which the sufferer
 
 I20 JOB, XVI. [vv. 6— lo. 
 
 6 Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: 
 And t/iough I forbear, what am I eased ? 
 
 7 But now he hath made me weary: 
 
 Thou hast made desolate all my company. 
 3 And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness 
 against me : 
 
 And my leanness rising up in me 
 
 Beareth witness to my face. 
 ) He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: 
 
 He gnasheth upon me with his teeth; 
 
 Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. 
 3 They have gaped upon me with their mouth; 
 
 is brought is described ; and all this befell him though he had done no 
 wrong {vv. 15 — 17). 
 
 6. my grief '\ i.e. my pain ; see on ch. ii. 13. 
 
 •what am I ease J] lit. as margin, za/iat {of my pain or trouble) goefA 
 fro7n me? 
 
 7. made me wearyl i.e. exhausted mt', and no7u describes the new 
 situation which he realizes. The second clause indicates in what way 
 he had been wearied or exhausted, all his "company," his familiar 
 friends, all on whom he could rely, or hope in, had been removed 
 from him, and turned into his enemies and haters, cf. ch. xix. 13 — • 
 19; every resource was taken from him, cf. ch. xv. 34. In the first 
 clause he is God, to whom as his emotion rises the speaker turns 
 directly in the second clause — thou hast made desolate. 
 
 8. The verse reads, 
 
 Thou hast laid hold of me, and it is become a witness against me ; 
 
 And my leanness riseth up against me ; it beareth witness to 
 my face. 
 By God's seizing or laying hold of him Job means his afflictions. These 
 afflictions sent by God were assumed by all to be witnesses of his guilt ; 
 his emaciation from disease rose up and testified to his face that he was 
 a sinner. Such was the construction all men put on his calamities, and 
 under this impression they all turned away from him, thinking him one 
 stricken of God and afflicted (Is. liii. 4). See on ch. i. 11, and cf. Is. 
 iii. 9. 
 
 9. Picture of God's hostility to him. The figure is that of a beast 
 of prey. 
 
 who hateth me] lit. and hateth me, or, and is hostile to me, i.e. 
 assaileth me. The picture of the lion-like assailant, his rending fury, 
 and gnashing teeth, and flashing eyes, is graphic. 
 
 10. Picture of the hostility of men — the pack of petty foes that howl 
 at the heels of his greater enemy. 
 
 have gaped] Rather, they gape. Similarly, they smite. The figm-e 
 of wild beasts is not strictly maintained, but passes in the second clause
 
 vv. 11-15.] JOB, XVI. 121 
 
 They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; 
 
 They have gathered themselves together against me. 
 
 God hath delivered me to the ungodly, ti 
 
 And turned me over into the hands of the wicked. 
 
 I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: 12 
 
 He hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to 
 
 pieces, 
 And set me up for his mark. 
 
 His archers compass me round about, 13 
 
 He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; 
 He poureth out my gall upon the ground. 
 He breaketh me with breach upon breach, 14 
 
 He runneth upon me like a giant. 
 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, is 
 
 into the reality. The gestures described are those of contempt and 
 destructive hatred, see Ps. xxii. 13, Is. Ivii. 4, Mic. v. 1, Lam. iii. 30; 
 of. John xviii. 22, xix. 3, Acts xxiii. 2. 
 
 they have gathered the7nselves\ they gather. The phrase means pro- 
 bably that they fling themselves in one body upon him, they combine 
 in their attack against him. 
 
 11. hath delivered^ delivereth. Similarly, turneth or casteth me 
 into. By the "ungodly" Job does not mean his friends, but the low 
 rabble of men, such as are described in ch. xxx. 
 
 12 — 14. More particular description of the hostile attack of God, its 
 unexpectedness and destructiveness. 
 
 12. The figure of a man seized by another of overwhelming strength 
 and dashed to pieces. This attack was sudden and unexpected, when 
 Job was at ease and in security cf. ch. xxix. 2 seq. This meets what 
 Eliphaz said of the forebodings of conscience, ch. xv. 20 seq. 
 
 13. The second figure — ^Job has been set up by God as a mark for 
 His arrows. 
 
 his archers'] Rather, his arrows, cf. ch. vi. 4. These arrows fly 
 about him and cleave his vital parts and pour out his life to the ground. 
 The Oriental speaks of the gall and gall-bladder where we might refer 
 to the blood and the heart. 
 
 14. Another figure, that of an edifice or fort overthrown by repeated 
 breaches, and stormed by warriors. Giant is a mighty man, or warrior. 
 Is. xlii. 13. 
 
 15 — 17. Condition to which the sufferer was brought by these de- 
 structive attacks of God in His hostility. 
 
 15. Putting on sackcloth was the sign of mourning ; it was worn 
 next the skin, 2 Kings vi. 30. By sewing it on Job indicates that it is 
 his habitual garment, which he never puts off; though the word may 
 also suggest the closeness with which it adheres to his shrunk and 
 emaciated frame.
 
 1'22 JOB, XVI. [vv. 1 6, 17. 
 
 And defiled my horn in the dust. 
 
 16 INIy face is foul with weeping, 
 
 And on mine eyelids is the shadow of death; * 
 
 17 Not for any injustice in mine hands: 
 Also my prayer is pure. 
 
 di filed viy /lOfii] The word "defiled " or fouled may also mean, thrust 
 my horn into the dust ; the sense remains the same. To lift up the 
 horn is to increase in power or emmence, or to shew a proud sense of 
 greatness (Ps. Ixxxix. 17, 24, xcii. 10, Ixxv. 4, 5); to thrust it into the 
 dust, or to foul it in the dust, is to feel the sense of deepest humiliation. 
 Job's once honoured head which he held erect was brought down low 
 in shame. 
 
 16. Aly face ts foitl'\ The word may mean inflamed, from a root 
 signifying to be red ; or the root of the word may mean to ferment, and 
 the reference be to the swollen and blurred appearance of the face from 
 excessive weeping. Involuntary weeping is said to be a symptom of 
 Elephantiasis. The second clause expresses another effect of this 
 weeping, his eyes became dim (ch. xvii. 7, Ps. vi. 7, Ixix. 3), and there 
 lay thick darkness upon them — though this was also a sign of diminish- 
 ing vitality ; comp. Goethe's dying cry, More light 1 
 
 17. Not for any injustice'] i. e. though there is no wrong in my hands, 
 cf. Is. liii. 9. The first clause denies that he had done anything amiss 
 in action; and the second affirms that his "prayer," i.e. his whole 
 religious walk with God, was pure. The last words give a reply to the 
 insinuations of Eliphaz, ch. xv. 4, and the former to his allusion ch. xv. 
 34- 
 
 Ch. XVI. 18— XVII. 9. Job, dying a martyr's death, be- 
 seeches God that He ^vouLD ui'hold his right \vith 
 God AND against men, and give him a pledge that He 
 
 WILL MAKE HIS INNOCENCE APPEAR. 
 
 In VV. 12 — 14 Job described the terrible hostility of God, who dashed 
 him to pieces, laid him in ruins and poured out his soul to the ground — 
 brought him unto death. Then the other thought rose in his mind that 
 all this befell him though he was innocent both in life and in spirit. 
 Here he comes to the point at which he always loses self-control — when 
 he realizes that in spite of his innocence he is held guilty. This is an 
 overwhelming feeling, and under it Job either wildly challenges the 
 rectitude of God, as in the first cycle of speeches ; or he flings off froni 
 him altogether the form of things in the present world, and forces his 
 way into another region, where such perversions cannot prevail and 
 where the face of God, clouded here, must be clear and propitious. 
 This second direction, entered upon first in ch. xiv., is pursued in the 
 present passage, and reaches its highest point in ch. xix. Already in 
 ch. x. Job had drawn a distinction between God of the present, who 
 persecuted him as guilty though he was innocent, and God of the past, 
 whose gracious care of him had been wonderful ; though there he
 
 V. iS.] JOB, XVI. 123 
 
 O tarth, cover not thou my blood, 18 
 
 And let my cry have no place. 
 
 grasped at a frightful reconciliation of the contradiction: God of the 
 present, who destroyed him, seemed the real God, and His past mercies 
 were no true expression of His nature (see on x. 13 so/.). In ch. xiv. 
 Job readied out his hand into the darkness and ckitched at another 
 idea, a distinction between God of the present who would pursue him 
 unto death, and God of the future — God when His anger should be over- 
 past and He would yearn again towards His creature, the work of His 
 hands (see on xiv. 13 sft/.). This God of the future was God as He is in 
 truth, true to His own past dealing and to man's conceptions of Him. It 
 is on this line of thought that the present passage moves. 
 
 The two great ideas which fill Job's mind in all this discourse are, 
 first, the certainty of his speedy death under God's afflicting hand ; and 
 second, the moral infamy and the inexplicable contradiction to his con- 
 science which death in such circumstances carries with it. The first, 
 his speedy death. Job accepts as inevitable, and he cannot restrain 
 his contemptuous indignation at the foolishness of his friends, who 
 talk as if something else were possible (xvii. 2 — 4, 10 — 16). But such 
 a death under the hand of God meant to Job the reprobation of 
 God and the scorn and abhorrence of men. And it is against this idea, 
 not his mere death, that Job wrestles with all his might. This is the 
 meaning of such a death ; but it cannot be that God will allow this 
 obloquy and injustice to overwhelm His innocent creature for ever. His 
 blood will utter a ceaseless cry for reparation. And even now he has 
 in heaven one who will witness to his innocence. And he prays to 
 God that He would maintain his right with God and against men. 
 
 It is impossible to escape the conclusion that Job prays or hopes for 
 this vindication not before but after death. For he contemplates dying 
 an unjust death — his blood will cry for vengeance. His present unjust 
 afflictions will bring him to the grave. But these fatal afiiictions are 
 just God's witness to his guilt. Any interference of God, therefore, to 
 declare his innocence cannot take place in this life, for an intervention 
 of God to declare his innocence, all the while that He continued to 
 declare him guilty by His afflictions, could not occur to Job's mind. 
 
 The passage xvi. 18 — xvii. 9 embraces two sections similar to one 
 another, each of which contains a fervent appeal to God, followed by 
 words which support it, xvi. 18 — xvii. 2, and xvii. 3 — 9. 
 
 18. God's destructive enmity will bring Job to death, though there is 
 no wrong in his hands and his prayer is pure (xvi. 17). This feeling 
 makes him appeal to the earth not to cover his innocent blood. He 
 shall die, but it is an unjust death, and his blood shall lie on the 
 bosom of the earth open, appealing to heaven for vindication, and utter- 
 ing an unceasing cry for justice. 
 
 let mv cry have no place\ i.e. no resting place, where it should cease 
 and be dumb and penetrate no further. His "cry" is his cry for 
 reparation, as in Gen. iv. 10 "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth 
 unto me from the ground." His "blood" is, cf course, a figure; it does
 
 124 JOB, XVI. [vv. 19—21. 
 
 19 Also now, behold my witness is in heaven, 
 And my record is on high. 
 
 20 My friends scorn me : 
 
 But mine eye poureth out tears unto God. 
 
 21 O that one might plead for a man with God, 
 As a mdiW pleadeth for his neighbour. 
 
 not imply actual bloodshed, but merely a wrongful death ; but it cannot 
 mean anything short of death, because the figure is taken from a violent 
 death. The word is used in a similar way, Ps. xxx. 9, "What profit is 
 there in my blood, in my going down to the pit"? where death at God's 
 hand from sickness seems referred to. On the idea that uncovered 
 blood is blood calling for reparation see the remarkable passage Ezek. 
 xxiv. 7, 8; cf. Is. xxvi. 21. 
 
 19. If his blood is to cry with an unceasing voice for reparation 
 until it find it, there must be some one to take up the cry and see 
 reparation made. Job is assured that already he has such a Witness 
 and sponsor in heaven. The verse reads, 
 
 Even now, behold my witness is in heaven. 
 And he that voucheth for me is on high. 
 
 my record] This is inexact ; the word describes a person and means 
 precisely the same as Witness, being the Aramean equivalent to the 
 Heb. in the first clause. The word occurs again in the expression 
 Jegar SaAadntha., heap of witness, Gen. xxxi. 47, as the Hebrew word 
 does in the corresponding phrase, Gal-'Z;V. It is difficult to find a cor- 
 responding noun in English ; perhaps advocate or sponsor comes pretty 
 near, as there was no difference between advocate and witness in the 
 Hebrew courts, the part of a witness being to testify in behalf of one 
 and see justice done to him, as z'. 21 describes what part Job desires 
 his witness to play for him. "Witness" does not mean merely one 
 who knows Job s innocence, but one who will testify to it and see it 
 recognised, just as in xvii. 3 surely is one who undertakes to see right 
 maintained. 
 
 20, 21. Job now names his Witness and states what he hopes for 
 from Him. 
 
 20. My friends scorn me : 
 
 Mine eye poureth out tears unto God, 
 
 21. That he would maintain the right of a man with God, 
 And of a son of man against his neighbour. 
 
 20. scorn vie] lit. are my scorners, or, mockers — instead of being my 
 witnesses, cf. xii. 4, xvi. 4, 5.- Because his friends mock him and no 
 sympathy or insight is to be looked for from them (xvi. 7, xvii. 4), his 
 eye droppeth — he appeals with tears to God ; cf. Is. xxxviii. 14. What 
 Job desires of his Witness is that he would see right done him both 
 with God and with men — with God who wrongly held him guilty, and 
 against men, his fellows, who founding on God's dealing with him held 
 him guilty also and were his mockers. On first clause ol v. 21 cf.
 
 vv. 22; 1,2.] JOB, XVI. XVir. 125 
 
 When a few years are come, 22 
 
 Then I shall go the way whence I shall not return. 
 
 My breath is corrupt, 17 
 
 My days are extinct, 
 
 The graves are ready for me. 
 
 Are there not mockers with me ? 2 
 
 And doth not mine eye continue in their provocation ? 
 
 xiii. 15, xxiii. 7. The "man" and "son of man" to whom Job refers 
 is himself; there is nothing mystical in the phrase "son of man, "which 
 means merely "man," Hebrew poetry requiring for its parallelism such 
 variety of expression. 
 
 22 — xvii. 2. What Job sought with tears was that God would cause 
 his innocence to be acknowledged by God, and made manifest against 
 men. Now he adds words in support of his prayer, or gives the reason 
 for it. He so prays, for here in this life he has no hope of restoration. 
 God's anger will pursue him to the grave, which is already his portion. 
 22. For a few years shall come. 
 
 And I shall go the way whence I shall not return ! 
 xvii. I. My spirit is spent, 
 
 My days are extinct. 
 The grave is ready for me ! 
 2. Surely mockeries encompass me, 
 
 And mine eye must dwell on their provocation ! 
 
 22. It is doubtful whether Job means bv "a few years" his whole 
 life, or the years that are still to run of it. The last sense is fairest to 
 the language. His disease though mortal was not immediately fatal ; 
 but at least his days were consumed "without hope." 
 
 1. 77iy breath^ Rather as margin, my spirit is spent, i.e. con- 
 sumed. The "spirit" is the principle of life. 
 
 the graves are ready for me] lit. graves are mme ; the meaning being : 
 the grave is my portion ; cf v. 1 3 seq. Coverdale : I am harde at 
 deathes dore, 
 
 2. Are there not mockers rvith me] lit. 7?iockety. The interrogative 
 form is possible, but more likely the verse is a strong asseveration, 
 uttered in a tone of indignant impatience. The connexion indicates 
 that the reference is to the illusory hopes and promises of restoration in 
 this life which the friends held out to Job. He complains that he is 
 beset with such mockeries. This seems also the meaning of the "provo- 
 cation" on which his eye has to dwell, though in this their offensive 
 exhortations to repentance may also be included. This provocation of 
 theirs his friends were always inflicting upon him, troublesome com- 
 forters as they were (xvi. 1). The true state of things Job knows very 
 well {w. I, 10 — 16); their delusive hopes are not things he can hope 
 for; and he turns in impatience from them with a greater importunity unto 
 God, and appeals to Him for that which may yet be attained, and which 
 above all things he longs for (z'. 3).
 
 126 JOB, XVII. [vv. 3,4. 
 
 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; 
 
 Who is he t/iat will strike hands with me ? 
 
 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding : 
 
 3 — 9. New appeal to God that He would undertake for Job or give 
 him a pledge that he would cause his innocence to be acknowledged by 
 God, V. 3 ; with the grounds for this prayer as before, w. 4 — 9. 
 
 3. The verse reads, 
 
 Give a pledge now ! be surety for me with thee ! 
 Who is there (else) that will strike hands with me? 
 
 Lay down no-iu] i.e. lay or put in a pledge. Now is not temporal, but 
 a particle of importunate entreaty. 
 
 put me in a surety'] As above, be surety for me with thee. The first 
 expression, give a pledge, is more fully expressed by the second, be 
 surety for me with thee ; and the question, Who (else) will strike hands 
 with me? refers to the gesture or action by which suretyship was under- 
 taken, viz. by striking hands; cf. Prov. vi. i, xi. 15 (margin), xvii. 18, 
 xxii. 26. First, Job beseeches God to become surety for him ; that is 
 something to be done in the present. But second, a suretyship neces- 
 sarily refers to the future ; though undertaken in the present it is to be 
 fulfdled later. This is expressed by the words ivith thee, i.e. with God. 
 Job beseeches God to undertake now that He will cause his innocence 
 to be yet acknowledged with God. The same division of God into two 
 parties, God who persecutes Job and wrongs him and God who be- 
 comes surety for Job and undertakes to see his cause riglited with God, 
 appears here as before in xvi. 21 ; see something similar Hen. vii. 22. 
 The phrase be surety for me is translated undertake for me, Is. xxxviii. 14, 
 cf. Ps. cxix. 122; and it might be made a question whether the sup- 
 pliant went so far as to expect any visible or audible sign from heaven. 
 
 4 — 9. These verses support the fietition in v. 3. If God will not 
 undertake for Job none else will, for the hearts of his friends have been 
 blinded. This thought of the perverse obstinacy and cruelty of his 
 friends leads Job again to a gloomy survey of his whole condition (cf. 
 xvi. 22 — xvii. 2). He is become a public contempt to mankind and 
 brought to the lowest ebb of mortal weakness and humiliation {vv. 6, 7). 
 Such moral perversions on the earth astonish the righteous and rouse 
 them to indignation against the wicked in their prosperity [v. 8). Yet 
 they will not permit themselves to be misled by such things to err from 
 the paths of rectitude. Full of moral terror as these perversions are 
 the righteous will in spite of ihcm cleave to his righteousness. He will 
 feel that he is in possession of the only true good, and even because of 
 them and though he sees the world under the rule of God given over to 
 wrong, he will wax stronger and stronger in well doing [v. 9) — an 
 astonishing passage. 
 
 4. This verse answers the question in v. 3, Who (else) will strike 
 hands with me? None else will, for the hearts of the three friends and 
 all others have been blinded, and can take no true view of the sufferer's 
 cause.
 
 vv. 5, 6.] JOB, XVII. 127 
 
 Therefore shalt thou not exalt thcin. 
 
 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, \ 
 
 Even the eyes of his children shall fail. 
 
 He hath made me also a byword of the people; ( 
 
 3xall them'] i. e. give them the upper hand or victory ; cf. xlii. 7, 8. 
 To give the triends the upper hand would be to give an issue to Job's 
 cause such as answered their expectations. The connexion may be : 
 give a pledge now, none else will, for thou hast blinded them, and 
 having blinded them thou wilt not give an issue that meets their ex- 
 pectations. 
 
 6. This verse is very obscure. In some way or other it must cany 
 on Job's severe reflection on the conduct of his friends (v. 4), and ex- 
 press it in a stronger way. The word rendered in A. Y.Jiattcry usually 
 means a portion or share, that which falls to one on a division of land, 
 booty, and the like, or that which is one's possession. This must be 
 the meaning here. The sense may be. 
 
 They give over (their) fellow for a prey, 
 While the eyes of his children fail. 
 
 The expression seems to be of the nature of a proverb, which illustrates 
 the cruel treatment to which men are subjected — they are given over, 
 lit. assigned or declared, as a prey or possession to others (to whom, as 
 debtors and the like, they are sold), while no pity is had for their 
 perishing children. The language is general, though the conduct of 
 Tob's friends towards him furnishes an illustration of the truth. The 
 word "fellow" is plun, "fellows" 01 friends, the plur. being used to 
 express the general idea ; the sing., referring to each individual, appears 
 in his children. Job regards his own treatment as an instance of similar 
 ruthlessness, and his friends and those around him as shewing a similar 
 cruelty. The passage expresses a sentiment similar to that in ch. vi. 37. 
 Others render, he that bctrayeth (or, denounceth) friends for a prey, 
 tiiay the eyes of his children fail, or, the eyes of his children shall Jail. 
 But a malediction or a threat on Job's part does not suit his tone at 
 this moment, nor the general scope of the passage, in which he is 
 drawing a gloomy picture of his own treatment at the hands of men and 
 God. 
 
 6. This verse reads, 
 
 I am made also a byeword oi the peoples, 
 And am become one to be spit on in the face. 
 
 The words, / am made might mean, as A. V., He hath made me, the 
 reference being to God. Undoubtedly Job turns away here from men 
 and refers to a broader evil, the mexplicable course of the world in 
 God's hand. But probably the allusion to God is made in this indirect 
 way. By the "peoples" Job means mankind in its various tribes, for 
 his calamity and the wickedness that was inferred from it would be 
 widely known. Comp. what is said by Job of his treatment by the 
 debased races of men about him, ch. xxx. 9 scij.; and see a similar 
 statement in Bildad's reply, ch. xviii. 20.
 
 128 JOB, XVII. [vv. 7— 9. 
 
 And aforetime I was as a tabret. 
 
 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, 
 
 And all my members are as a shadow. 
 1 Upright mc7i shall be astonied at this, 
 
 And the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. 
 I The righteous also shall hold on his way. 
 
 And he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and 
 stronger. 
 
 aforetime 1 7vas as a talret\ Rather as above; lit. I am (must be) a 
 spitting-in-the-face. A tabret is a timbrel or tambourine (comp. tabering, 
 i.e. beating, upon their breasts, Nah. ii. 7); the Heb. word topheth 
 (spitting) has been wrongly assumed by tlie A.V. to be of the same 
 meaning as toph (timbrel). 
 
 7. The sorrowful condition to which Job was reduced by his 
 afflictions. 
 
 8. 9. Effect produced on religious minds by the sight of such suffer- 
 ings inflicted on the godly. Such moral perversions in the rule of the 
 world "confound" religious men, and rouse their moral indignation 
 against the wicked, who are prosperous ; cf. similar thoughts Ps. xxxvii. 
 I seq., Ixxiii. 2 seq. The word this refers to Job's case as an instance 
 of the moral wrong that is observed in the rule of the world. On 
 "hypocrite," i.e. godless, see ch. viii. 13. 
 
 9. The righteous also shall hold on} Or, But the righteous shall 
 hold on. The righteous will not allow themselves to be misled from 
 the path of rectitude by these moral wrongs which they see prevail in 
 God's rule of the world, they will cling in s])ite of them to their righteous 
 life. Nay such obscurities and wrongs will but make the joy which 
 they possess in righteousness the dearer and deeper, and instead of 
 faltering they will be (rather, will wax) stronger and stronger. Though 
 Job speaks here in the name of the "righteous" and "clean of hands" 
 it is his own sentiments and resolution that he gives expression to, and 
 the passage is perhaps the most surprising and lofty in the Book. In 
 ch. xix. "25 Job, conscious of his innocence and assured by his heart 
 that he is a God-fearing man, is enabled to reach out his hand to grasp 
 what must yet in the future be the solution of the riddle of his 
 present life. And, no doubt, a similar thought precedes the present 
 passage (ch. xvi. 18 srq.). It does not appear, however, that this thought 
 is present to his mind here. Rather lie is again completely enveloped 
 in the darkness of his present life, the awful problem of which con- 
 founds him and all religious men. But no mysteries or wrongs shall 
 make him falter in the way of righteousness. And the human spirit 
 rises to the height of moral grandeur, when it proclaims its resolution to 
 hold on the way of righteousness independently both of men and God. 
 
 10 — 16. Final repudiation by Job of the false hopes of recovery 
 which the friends held out to him. lie knows better, his hope is in the 
 grave.
 
 vv. lo— 12.] JOB, XVII. 129 
 
 But as for you all, do you return, and come now: 
 
 For I cannot find one wise man among you. 
 
 My days are past, i 
 
 My purposes are broken off, 
 
 Even the thoughts of my heart. 
 
 They change the night into day : : 
 
 The light is short, because of darkness. 
 
 Turning with a last word to his friends Job bids them renew as often 
 as they chose their attempts to explain his condition, they should only 
 shew themselves ignorant and incapable (z/. 10). The hopes they held 
 out were vain ; his days were at an end and all the enterprises and 
 dearest purposes of his life for ever broken off {vv. 11, 12). His hope 
 was in the grave, where alone he would find rest (z/z/. 13 — 16). 
 
 10. do ye return., and conie^ Job bids them renew, if they please, their 
 attempts to solve his problem or deal with his case ; as often as they 
 did so they only revealed their incapacity and foolishness, 
 
 for I cannot find one wise man\ Rather, I shall not find. Their re- 
 newed attempts would have no better success than their former ones, 
 they would be found by Job as foolish as before. 
 
 11. Very different from their delusive anticipations was the truth 
 in regard to Job's condition. His days were past, and his life with all 
 its cherished purposes cut off. The thoughts of his heart is lit. as margin, 
 the possessions, i.e. the enterprises and purposes which he cherished 
 and clung to as that dearest to him. 
 
 12. This verse appears to be a description by Job of the delusive 
 and foolish proceeding of his friends. 
 
 They change the night into day] The night of calamity and death in 
 which Job is enveloped and into which he is entering more deeply they 
 change into the day of life and renewed prosperity. While in truth the 
 shadows of the final night encompass Job the friends are for ever pre- 
 tending that the bright day of restoration is going to dawn (cf. ch. v. 17 
 sej., viii. 20 se^. &c.). The second clause of the verse is obscure. 
 
 the light is short because of dai-kness] The meaning of the A. V, is not 
 easy to perceive. The words most naturally continue Job's account of 
 the representations of his friends, and express what they hold out. The 
 fair literal rendering is either, the light is near the face of darlaiess ; or, 
 the light is nearer than the face of darkness. The light, the same as the 
 "day" of the first clause, is life and prosperity; this the friends make 
 out to be near, close upon, the face of darkness — Job's present con- 
 dition of affliction. The other translation, "nearer than the face of 
 darkness," gives a fuller sense to the phrase /ar^^ darkness. By this 
 expression Job means the darkness of death, whose face was visible and 
 manifest, so close was it upon him. 
 
 13 — 15. The natural sense and connexion of these verses is as follows : 
 13. If I wait for the grave as mine house; 
 
 If I have spread my bed in the darkness ; 
 
 JOB Q
 
 I30 JOB, XVII. XVIII. [vv. 13—16. 
 
 13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: 
 
 I have made my bed in the darkness. 
 
 14 I have said to corruplion, Thou art my father: 
 To the worm, TIion art my mother, and my sister. 
 
 .5 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. 
 
 14. If I have said to the pit, thou art my father, 
 
 To the worm, thou art my mother, and my sister : 
 
 15. Where then is my hope? 
 
 And as for my hope, who shall see it? 
 
 13. If I wait, the graz'c] Rather as above. The p-ave is in Ileb. 
 SJieol, the place of the departed. The word zoait is the same as Iiope, 
 V. 15. 
 
 14. to corruption'] Rather as above, tlie pit, or grave, Ps. xvi. 10. 
 The words father, mother and sister, expressing the nearest relationship, 
 indicate how closely Job now feels himself connected with the grave, he 
 wholly belongs to it, and he greets it as taking the place of all related 
 to him on earth. 
 
 15. If in fact and in his own feeling Job so surely belongs to death, 
 where is the brilliant hope which his friends hold out, and who shall 
 ever see such a hope realized ? or, who can perceive a trace of it ? His 
 hope in truth is another {v. 13). 
 
 16. The truth in regard to his hope is this, something different from 
 the tale of his friends, 
 
 It shall go down to the bars of the pit, 
 Wlien once there is rest in the dust. 
 
 The pit is in Heb. Sheol. As a great subterranean prison-house it has 
 bars or bolts, for it has also gates, ch. xxxviii. 17; cf. Is. xxxviii. 10, 
 Ps. ix. 13. In the New Test, its "keys" are spoken of, Rev. i. 18. 
 The word together vaz'dXii perhaps, "at tiie same time"; his hope shall go 
 down to the grave, when at the same time, or, "when once" he himself 
 finds rest in the dust. 
 
 See the Additional Note to ch. xix. in the Appendix. 
 
 Ch. XVIII. The Second Speech of Bildad. 
 
 Eliphaz with more inwardness than his fellows had made the punish- 
 ment of the sinner to come greatly from his own conscience (ch. xv. 20 
 scq., cf Job's reply as to himself ch. xvi. 12) ; Bildad attributes it to 
 the order of nature and the moral instinct of mankind, botli of which 
 rise up against the sinner (ch. xviii ) ; while Zopliar, with a certain 
 variation on both views, explains it from the retributive operation of sin 
 itself (ch. xx). Interesting points of contact may be observed between 
 these views and the first speeclies of the three friends.
 
 vv. I, 2.] JOB, XVIII. T31 
 
 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, 18 
 
 How long will it be ere you make an end of words ? 
 Mark, and afterwards we will speak. 
 
 Several things in Job's last discourse deeply offended Bildad : — 
 
 1. Job had used very hard words regarding his friends ; he had 
 called them annoying comforters (ch. xvi. 2) and scomers (ch. xvi. 20), 
 and complained of being beset by their illusory mockeries (ch. xvii. 2) ; 
 and said that God had sent blindness and want of understanding upon 
 them, and that there was not one wise man among them (ch. xvii. 4 — 10). 
 
 But he had gone further. He had appeared to regard himself and 
 them in their treatment of him as types of two classes — himself as the 
 type of the "upright" and "innocent" and "clean of hands" (ch. xvii. 
 8, 9), exposed to the contumely and spitting of the "peoples," the "god- 
 less" (ch. xvii. 6—8) and the ruthless (ch. xvii. 5). 
 
 2. Then he spoke impiously of God, saying that He tore him in His 
 anger (ch. xvi. 9), and appealed to the earth and nature to rise up on 
 his side (ch. xvi. 18). 
 
 Such things provoke the personal and moral indignation of Bildad 
 alike. It seems to him that Job holds his brethren and him little 
 higher than the beasts (although it was Job himself that was destitute of 
 understanding), and that in his extravagant self-righteousness he flings 
 them away from him as belonging to the class of the " unclean " (^v. 
 
 2—3)- 
 
 And it is not God that tears him in His anger ; rather in his out- 
 rageous fury he is tearing himself. And does he suppose, as his appeal 
 to the earth might suggest, that the eternal flow of law and order in the 
 universe is to be interrupted for his sake — that he may be reputed inno- 
 cent, or that being guilty he may not suffer the penalty of his evil, and 
 that his principles may prevail ? {v. 4). 
 
 This question naturally leads over to the principal theme of the dis- 
 course, the certainty of the destruction of the wicked through the 
 operation of the fixed order of the world and the moral instincts of 
 mankind (f. 5 — 21). 
 
 ere yotc make an end of words^ Rather, how long will ye hunt for 
 words, lit. set snares for words. Bildad begins with the same ex- 
 clamation of impatient astonishment that he used on a former occa- 
 sion, ch. viii. 2, how long? quoiisqite tandem abutere patientia nostra? 
 By "hunting for words" he means making subtle and artificial attempts 
 at finding arguments — which were only words. He probably refers to 
 the distinctions which Job, in wrestling with his great problem, drew 
 between God and God, and his appeals to the one against the other. 
 Such things seem subtleties to Bildad and but the theme of speakers; 
 man's destiny in the world of God is a thing of more solid stuff, and its 
 principles not so intangible. 
 
 mark, and afterwards'] Rather, understand. Bildad gives back 
 Job's words. Thou hast hid their heart from understanding, ch. xvii. 4. 
 It was not they but he that was without wisdom, and until he came to 
 some admission of first principles talking was of little avail. In 
 
 9—2
 
 132 JOB, XVIII. [vv. 3, 4. 
 
 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, 
 
 And reputed vile in your sight ? 
 
 He tearcth himself in his anger: 
 
 Shall the earth be forsaken for thee ? 
 
 And shall the rock be removed out of his place ? 
 
 answering Job Bildad uses here the plur. ye, with reference no doubt to 
 Job's identifying himself with the class of righteous sufferers persecuted 
 by the wicked, ch. xvii. 6 seq. 
 
 The circumstances of the Author's time perhaps shine out through 
 these allusions— the collision of classes, the conflicting claims of parties 
 to represent the true people of God, and the diverse solutions which 
 various minds sought for the hard problem of the national afihction, 
 which turned the servant of the Lord over into the hands of the wicked 
 (ch. xvi. 11) and made him the servant of rulers (Is. xlix. 7). 
 
 3. and reputed vile] lit. and are unclean. Bildad describes what 
 Job's treatment of his friends suggests to him as Job's idea of them. 
 The reference is to the passages, ch. xvii. 4, 10, and the words " clean 
 of hands" ch. xvii. 9, which Job had used of himself and other unjustly 
 persecuted men, cf. Ps. Ixxiii. 22. 
 
 4. The first clause must be rendered in English, 
 
 Thou who tearest thyself in thine anger. 
 
 The Heb. uses in preference the objective form, One who teareth him- 
 self in his anger, shall the earth be forsaken for thee? See on ch. xii. 
 4. The words refer to ch. xvi. 9 — it is not God who tears him, it is 
 Job who tears himself in his insensate passion, cf. ch. v. 2. 
 
 shall (he earth be forsaken} i.e. depopulated and made a wilderness, 
 where no man dwells; Lev. xxvi. 43; Is. vi. 12, vii. 16. The desolation 
 of the earth, which God has not created a waste but made to be in- 
 habited (Is. xlv. 1 8), and the removal of the fixed rock from its place, 
 are figures which mean, overturning the fixed moral order of the universe 
 established by God. Bildad asks if the current of the moral order of 
 the world is to be interrupted or turned back for Job's sake, that he may 
 escape the imputation of wickedness, or the penalty of it, and that his 
 principles may be accepted? cf. ch. xvi. 18. 
 
 6_2i. The disastrous end of the wicked, in the moral 
 
 ORDER OF THE WORLD, IS CERTAIN. 
 
 The last verse naturally led over to this idea, which is the theme of 
 the speech. The idea is set out in a great variety of graphic figures, 
 and the speech is studded with sententious and proverbial sayings in 
 the manner of the speaker's first discourse (ch. viii). The histoiy of the 
 wicked man's downfall is followed through all its stages: — 
 
 w. 5 — 7. The principle — the sinner's light goes out. 
 
 vv. 8 — II. The progress of his downfall. 
 
 w. 12 — 14. The final scenes. 
 
 j,^^. 15 — ly. The extinction of his race and name. 
 
 vv. 18 — 21. Men's horror of his fate and memory.
 
 vv. 5-9.] JOB, XVIII. 133 
 
 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, 5 
 
 And the spark of his fire shall not shine. 
 
 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, 6 
 
 And his candle shall be put out with him. 
 
 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, 7 
 
 And his own counsel shall cast him down. 
 
 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, 8 
 
 And he walketh upon a snare. 
 
 The grin shall take Jmn by the heel, 9 
 
 And the robber shall prevail against him. 
 
 5 — 7. The principle — the sinner's light goes out. The word yea 
 means "notwithstanding" — in spite of Job's struggling against the law, 
 the law remains and verifies itself universally. The bright beacon light 
 on the sinner's tent goes out, and the cheerful flame on his hearth shines 
 no more. His home is desolate. The word " light" lends itself in all 
 languages for such general use, as the Arab proverb says, Fate has put 
 out my light — extinguished my prosperity. The picture here however 
 is scarcely to be so generalized. 
 
 6. his camilc shall be put out rvith hivi\ The meaning is either: his 
 lamp shall be put out over him, the idea being that it was hung in his 
 dwelling above him or shone upon him, cf. ch. xxix. 3, "when God's 
 lamp shined upon my head"; or, his lamp shall be put out to him, the 
 prep, being the same reflexive, untranslateable word referred to on ch. 
 xiv. 22. 
 
 7. Another figure for the same thought. His firm, wide steps of 
 prosperity and security, when he walked in a wide place (Ps. iv. i), 
 become narrowed and hampered. Widening of the steps is a usual 
 Oriental figure for the bold and free movements of one in prosperity, as 
 straitening of them is for the constrained and timid action of one in 
 adversity, cf. Prov. iv. 12 and Ps. xviii. 36. The figure hardly describes 
 the consequences of the sinner's light going out, it is rather independent 
 and parallel to that figure. Cf. ch. xiii. 27. 
 
 his own cotmsel'\ Tlie evil principles that guide his conduct, ch. x. 3, 
 Ps. i. I. These inevitably lead him into calamity, cf. ch. iv. 8. 
 
 8 — 11. All things hasten on his ruin; the moral order of the world 
 is such that wherever he moves or touches upon it it becomes a snare to 
 seize him. " Snares " do not mean temptations, they are hidden instra- 
 ments of destruction that seize and hold the hunted creature. His 
 " counsel," and his own feet {v. 8), his evil nature and its outcome, his 
 evil conduct, carry him into these snares — laid for wickedness in the 
 constitution of things. 
 
 9. the robber shall prevail] Rather, the trap layeth hold of him, 
 as all the verbs in this passage should be put in the present tense. 
 The word is that occurring ch. v. 5. The world of God is one net- 
 work of snares for the wicked man, he walks upon snares, in the field 
 and in the way alike. The idea that the world is a moral constitution
 
 134 JOB, XVIII. [vv. 10—14. 
 
 10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, 
 And a trap for him in the way. 
 
 11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, 
 And shall drive him to his feet. 
 
 12 His strength shall be hunger-bitten, 
 And destruction shall be ready at his side. 
 
 13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: 
 
 JEven the firstborn of death shall devour his strength. 
 
 14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, 
 And it shall bring him to the king of terrors, 
 
 is very prominent in the Old Testament, a mere physical constitution of 
 things is an idea unknown to it. 
 
 11. This verse does not seem to give a picture of the sinner's con- 
 science, but rather of his consciousness at last. The preceding verses 
 described how he walked on snares unwitting that they were there; now 
 he awakens to the perception of his condition, he feels the complications 
 that surround him, and would flee from the terrors that he has come to 
 realize. 
 
 and shall drive him to his fed] Rather, and drive Mm away at 
 his heels. A spectral host of terrors pursue close behind him. 
 
 12 — 14. The closing scenes in three steps : his strength is weak- 
 ened; his body consumed by a terrible disease; he is led away to the 
 dark king. 
 
 12. hunger-bitten] A word formed like "frost-bitten," "canker- 
 bit " (Lear, v. 3). The word literally means " hungry," and the figure 
 expresses the idea that his strength shall diminish and become feeble, as 
 one does that is famished; cf. a similar strong figure, Joel i. 12, "Joy is 
 withered away from the sons of men." On the figure in the second 
 clause cf. ch. xv. 23. 
 
 13. The verse reads, 
 
 It shall devour the members of his body. 
 
 Even the firstborn of death shall devour his members. 
 
 The subject it in clause one is the " firstborn of death " in clause two; 
 cf. a similar construction, Judg. v. 20, " they fought from heaven, the 
 stars in their courses fought against Sisera". " Members of his body" is 
 literally Xht pieces ("parts" ch. xli. 11) of his skin. The firstborn of 
 death is the strongest child of death (Gen. xlix. 3) ; or else, less naturally, 
 the "deadliest death," cf. firstborn of the poor ( = the very poorest) Is. 
 xiv. 30; in any case the phrase means the most terrible and fatal disease. 
 The Arabs call deadly diseases "daughters of destiny" — destiny, as the 
 bacchanal fatalist sings. 
 
 Ordained for us and we ordained for it. 
 
 14. The meaning is, 
 
 He shall be plucked out of his tent wherein he trusted, 
 And he shall be brought to the king of terrors.
 
 15 
 
 vv. 15—18.] JOB, XVIII. 135 
 
 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his : 
 
 Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation. 
 
 His roots shall be dried up beneath, 16 
 
 And above shall his branch be cut off. 
 
 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, 17 
 
 And he shall have no name in the street. 
 
 He shall be driven from light into darkness, 18 
 
 And chased out of the world. 
 
 In the phrase "his tent wherein he trusted " Bildad goes back to his 
 former figure of the sinner's house which he grasps to maintain himself, 
 ch. viii. 15. The "king of terrors " is death. In Ps. xHx. 14 a some- 
 what different figure is employed, that of a shepherd : The wicked "like 
 sheep are put in Sheol, Death herds them," of. Is. xxviii. 15. Death is 
 personified as rex trevieiid?/.';, Virg. Geo. IV. 469 (Hitzig); there is no 
 reference to Satan, who has rule in the realm of death, Heb. ii. 14, nor 
 to any mythical personage like the Pluto of classical antiquity. The 
 last scenes of the sinner's fate have been described : he sought to flee from 
 terrors, he is brought at last to the king of them. Then the fate of 
 those belonging to him is stated. 
 
 15 — 17. The extinction of his name and race. 
 
 15. The sense probably is, 
 
 There shall dwell in his tent they that are not his, 
 Brimstone shall be showered upon his habitation. 
 
 So Conant excellently. The two clauses of the verse are not to be 
 taken logically together, they describe the destiny awaiting the sinner's 
 possessions and dwelling under different conceptions — in the one case 
 they pass into the hands of strangers, in the other they are accursed of 
 God, like Sodom, (Gen. xix. 24) and Edom (Is. xxxiv. 9 seq-), and over- 
 whelmed with a rain of brimstone from heaven. 
 
 16. shall his branch be cut off] Rather, his branches shall wither, 
 see on ch. xiv. i. The tree is not a figure for the sinner as a single 
 p^on, but as the centre of a family, widely ramified and firmly 
 established (his roots), and numerous (his branches). These all perish 
 with him, cf. Bildad's former plant-life lore, ch. viii. 11 seq., 16 seq. 
 
 17. perish from the earth] Rather, from the land. 
 
 in the street] Rather, on the face of the earth. The word means 
 the outlying places (marg. to ch. v. 10), as opposed to the cultivated 
 land, and "earth" as a word expressing wideness and distance seems 
 nearest here. 
 
 18—20. Men's hoiTor of his fate and memory. 
 
 Bildad now introduces the moral instinct of mankind and the part it 
 takes in the sinner's downfall. The words go back somewhat on the 
 ideas of the previous verses. 
 
 18 He shall be driven] lit. they shall driiie {ox, they drive) him. The 
 subject is mankind, men; and the sinner himself is referred to, hardly, 
 his name (z/. 17).
 
 136 JOB, XVIII. XIX. [vv. 19—21. 
 
 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, 
 
 Nor any remaining in his dwellings. 
 
 They that come after him shall be astonied at his day. 
 
 As they that went before were affrighted. 
 
 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, 
 
 And this is the place of him that knoweth not God. 
 
 19. son nor nephrcv\ i.e. son nor p-a7idson. So the word nephew 
 (Lat nepos, through Fr. neveii) means in the EngUsh of the time — 
 
 O thou most auncient grandmother of all, 
 Why suffredst thou thy nephews dear to fall. 
 
 Spens. Fa. Q. i. 5. ^^a, 
 
 (Michie, Biile Words and Phrases). In Gen. xxi. 23 the word is ren- 
 dered son's son. The Heb. expression is more general, he shall neither 
 have offspring nor desce?idant. 
 
 20. They thai come after him'] The word "him" must be omitted; 
 the expression refers to the later generations of men, as they that went 
 before does to the earlier, those nearer the sinner's day, but, of course, 
 both expressions describe generations living after the wicked man. 
 Others take the two phrases to mean, they of the West, and they of the 
 East. In the one case the idea is that men's horror of his memory and 
 fate is eternal, lasting through all generations ; in the other that it is 
 universal, — both in the West and in the East. His day is the day of 
 his downfall, Ps. xxxvii. 13; Jer. 1. 27. Job had complained that he 
 was made a "byword of the peoples" ch. xvii. 6; Bildad, with a sin- 
 gular hardness, rejoins, It is true, the deep moral instinct of mankind 
 rises up against such a man. 
 
 Ch. XIX. Job's Reply to Bildad. 
 
 Eildad wrote under the picture which he had drawn, these are 
 the habitations of the xvickcd, and held it up before Job. It was 
 meant for him, for all that is specific in it is borrowed from the cir- 
 cumstances of his case. The terrible distemper, the " firstborn 'cf 
 death," that consumes the sinner's limbs, is too plain an allusion to his 
 leprosy to be misunderstood by him {v. 13). The brimstone that burns 
 up the sinner's habitation {v. 15), though there may lie in it a distant 
 reference to the cities of the plain, is also the fire of God that fell on 
 Job's cattle and their keepers (ch. i. 16). The tree dried up at the roots 
 and withered in the branches {v. 16) reminds Job easily enough of his 
 own wasted state and of the sad calamities that had blighted his home. 
 The horror and detestation of men (v. 20) is but a picture of what was 
 passing before the eyes of the disputants, and is a touch of ruthless 
 severity, which brings Job utterly to the dust; for while in his former 
 speech (ch. xvi. — xvii.) he is able in the strong sense of his innocence to 
 resent the treatment of men he is here wholly broken by it (ch. xix. 21). 
 Every sentence of Bildad's speech carries with it the charge. Thou art 
 the man.
 
 vv. I, 2.] JOB, XIX. 137 
 
 Then Job answered and said, 19 
 
 How long will ye vex my soul, a 
 
 And break me in pieces with words ? 
 
 Against this application Job's whole soul protests. Yet he realizes 
 from Bildad's words, more clearly than ever he had done before, his 
 dreary isolation, God and men being alike estranged from him, which he 
 laments in most pathetic words. But so profound and unalterable is his 
 consciousness of his innocence, that at the moment when he has entered 
 step after step into the thickest darkness he makes a sudden leap out 
 into the light, and rises by an inspiration, whether from above or from 
 the depths of the human spirit, to the assurance that his innocence shall 
 yet be revealed, that God will yet publicly appear for him, and that he 
 shall see God — and he melts away, overcome by the joyful anticipation. 
 
 The order of thought is well marked : — 
 
 First, vv. 1 — 6, some preliminary words, as usual, of a personal kind, 
 though these are here fewer, the speaker's mind being filled with greater 
 things. He gives brief expression to his impatience of his friends' dia- 
 tribes, and repudiates the inferences they drew from his calamities : his 
 calamities were due to God, who had perverted his right. 
 
 Second, vv. 7 — 27. This reference to God leads over to the theme of 
 the whole chapter, which is nothing but God. The sufferer's mind 
 wTCstles with his thought of God — the thought of Him as the author of 
 his present terrible fate, from which he rises by a sudden revulsion to 
 the thought of Him as One who must yet appear as his vindicator and 
 joy. This part has three steps : — 
 
 1. vv. 7 — 12. A dark picture of the desertion of God and His 
 terrible hostility to him. 
 
 2. vv. 13 — 22. Then even a more touching complaint of the alien- 
 ation of men from him — which God has caused. 
 
 3. w. 23 — 27. Hopeless in the present he turns his eye to the 
 future. He desires that his protest of innocence might find indelible 
 record in the rock, that the generations to come might read it. Yet 
 how small a thing that would be to hitii, whose chief sorrow lay in the 
 alienation of God from his spirit. He shall have more. He knows 
 that God shall yet appear to vindicate him, and that he shall see Him 
 with his eyes — in peace. 
 
 Third, w. 28 — 29. Finally he adds a brief threat to his friends. 
 
 Job, forsaken of God and men, and without hope in this 
 
 LIFE, RISES TO the ASSURANCE THAT GOD WILL YET APPEAR 
 TO VINDICATE HIM, AND THAT HIS EYES SHALL SEE HIM ON 
 HIS SIDE IN JOY. 
 
 2 — 5. Job expresses his impatience of his friends' words; and repu- 
 diates the inferences of his guilt which they draw from his calamities, 
 declaring that his calamities are due to the unjust dealing of God. 
 
 2. There is more than impatience expressed in the words vex (afflict) 
 and "break in pieces"; the words suggest the crushing effect which 
 the friends' insinuations of wickedness had on Job's spirit.
 
 138 JOB, XIX. [vv. 3—8. 
 
 These ten times have ye reproached me : 
 
 You are not ashamed that you make yourselves strange 
 
 to me. 
 And be it indeed that I have erred, 
 Mine error remaineth with myself. 
 If indeed ye will Ya'3.Q;c(\{^ yotirselves against me, 
 And plead against me my reproach : 
 Know now that God hath overthrown me, 
 And hath compassed me with his net. 
 Behold, I cry out ^ wrong, but I am not heard: 
 I cry aloud, but there is no judgment. 
 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, 
 
 3. Ten times is a round number for often. Gen. xxxi. 7; Numb. 
 xiv. 22. 
 
 make yourselves strange to me\ An expression of uncertain meaning, 
 as the word does not occur again, unless, as some suppose, it be found 
 in Is. iii. 9. The meaning may be, ye wrong me, the root having some 
 resemblance to an Arabic verb rendered by Lane " to wrong," also " to 
 be persistent in contention." E\v., ye are unfeeling towards me. 
 
 4. In this verse Job must mean to repudiate the offences insinuated 
 against him. The precise force of the second clause, however, is 
 obscure. It might mean, "my error is my own and no matter for your 
 intermeddling"; or, " I alone am conscious of it and you can know 
 nothing regarding it," — in either case a mere passing rejection of the 
 charges of his friends. Or, "had I indeed sinned my error would 
 remain with myself, I should be conscious of it," cf. ch. ix. 36. Ewald's 
 idea that the "error" which Job alludes to is his mistaken hope of 
 judgment and righteousness on God's part is less suitable to the con- 
 nexion. 
 
 5. If his friends mean in earnest to found inferences on his calamities 
 then he will tell them that it is God who hath brought these on him 
 unjustly {v. 6). 
 
 6. Know now] Or, as we say, know then. Tlie word God is em- 
 phatic. 
 
 overthrown me] More probal)ly, perverted my right (v. 7) ; this, 
 not his guilt, is the explanation of his afllictions. By his reference to 
 the "net" of God JoId repudiates the statements of Bildad, ch. xviii. 8 
 set/.; it was not his own feet that led him into the net, God had thrown 
 it about him. 
 
 7 — 12. God's hostility to him and destructive persecution of him. 
 
 In V. 6 the transition is already made to the account of God's hos- 
 tility. I'he picture is sufficiently graphic. First there was the general 
 feeling of being entangled, as a creature snared. 
 
 7. This drew from him in his helplessness cries of wrong, which 
 were unheeded. 
 
 8. No outgo or escape was possible, for there rose a wall before
 
 vv. 9—14.] JOB, XIX. 139 
 
 And he hath set darkness in my paths. 
 
 He hath stript me of my glory, 9 
 
 And taken the cxo^w from my head. 
 
 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone : 10 
 
 And mine hope hath he removed hke a tree. 
 
 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, n 
 
 And he counteth me unto him as oJie of his enemies. 
 
 His troops come together, 12 
 
 And raise up their way against me, 
 
 And encamp round about my tabernacle. 
 
 He hath put my brethren far from me, 13 
 
 And mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. 
 
 My kinsfolk have failed, 14 
 
 him if he would move ; neither was there any outlook, for thick dark- 
 ness fell close about him. These images are common to express the 
 extremes! perplexity. 
 
 9. Then came the consciousness of the meaning of his calamities — 
 they were evidence that he was a transgressor. God took thus his 
 crown of righteousness from his head, and stripped the glory of godliness 
 from him, cf. ch. xxix. 14. 
 
 10. He hath destroyed] Rather, he breaketh me down ; the figure 
 of a building. In the second clause the image is that of a great tree 
 torn up by the roots, whose fall is pitiful. The words, and J am gone, 
 refer to his inevitable death from his disease, which he regards as already 
 virtually come, as is expressed in the next clause — his hope (of life or 
 recovery) is removed like a tree. 
 
 11 — 12. Figures of hostile assault; God directs charge after charge 
 of His army against Him. The reference is to his afllictions, cf. ch. 
 X. 17. 
 
 12. raise up their way] i.e. cast up a way or high bank on which to 
 advance againt the beleaguered fort or city. 
 
 13—19. The estrangement and abhorrence of men. 
 
 Job's complaint now is even more touching than before: God not 
 only afflicted him with trouble but removed far from him all human 
 sympathy. And there is something more breaking to the heart in the 
 turning away of men from us than in the severest sufferings. It crushes 
 us quite. We steel ourselves against it for a time and rise to it in bitterness 
 and resentment, but gradually it breaks us and we are crushed at last. 
 And this seems the way whether men frown on us with justice or no. 
 And there came on Job when he contemplated his complete casting off 
 by men, by his friends and his household and even by the little chil- 
 dren, a complete break-down, and he cries, Pity me, O ye my friends 
 {v. 21). This alienation of men was universal : — 
 
 13 — 14. First, his relations outside his own immediate circle and his 
 acquaintances stood aloof from him.
 
 I40 JOB, XIX. [vv. 15—17. 
 
 And my familiar friends have forgotten me. 
 
 15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maidens. 
 Count me for a stranger: 
 
 I am an alien in their sight. 
 
 16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; 
 I intreated him with my mouth. 
 
 17 My breath is strange to my wife, 
 
 Though I intreated for the children'.? sake of mine own 
 body. 
 
 15 — 16. Then those unrelated to him within his house, the menials 
 and slaves. Those who, as Oriental servants, used to be subservient 
 and observant of the slightest sign from their master (Ps. cxxiii. 2) — these 
 "ducking observants" now refuse to answer when he calls, and must 
 be besought for their service. Very soon the reflection of one's fall is 
 thrown from the countenances of those higher in rank down upon the 
 faces of the servants, where it shows itself without any delicacy or 
 reserve. Verse 16 reads, I call my servant and he giveth me no ansivcr: 
 I must entreat him with my mouth. 
 
 17. Once more, if possible an acuter misery — he is become in- 
 tolerable to those most dear to him. 
 
 though I intreated] Perhaps, and I am loathsome to the children 
 of — . The word as known in Heb. means to be gracious to, to pity 
 (v. 21), in the simple form (here), and to seek favour to oneself, or 
 beseech, in the reflexive [v, 16), but the simple form has nowhere the 
 meaning of "beseech" or entreat. The Arab, has a root of the same 
 spelling, which means to smell badly, to stink, — a sense parallel to the 
 meaning of the first clause, where " strange " means offensive. 
 
 The last words of the verse " children of mine own body " are 
 difficult ; they mean literally, children of my womb. The word usually 
 rendered womb is used occasionally of the father, Ps. cxxxii. 11; 
 Mic. vi. 7. The Prologue narrates the death of Job's children, and the 
 same assumption is made in the Poem, ch. viii. 4, xxix. 5, and it is not 
 to be thought that another mode of representation appears here. In 
 ■vv. 15 — 16, however, Job has still maids and servants, though his 
 servants are represented in the Prologue as having perished. As he has 
 other servants he might have other children. These might be children 
 of concubines, as Job lived in the patriarchal age, though no allusion is 
 made to such connexions, and the references to his wife are of such a 
 kind as to suggest that Job lived in a state of strict monogamy. Or the 
 expression "children of my body " might be used somewhat loosely to 
 mean grandchildren — children of his sons. The impression conveyed 
 by the Prologue is that the seven sons were unmarried, though this is 
 left uncertain. Others consider the phrase " children of my womb" to 
 mean, children of my mother — children of the same womb with myself. 
 
 18. Another affecting touch— the little children mock his ineflectual 
 attempts to rise from the ground.
 
 vv. 18—22.] JOB, XIX. 141 
 
 Yea, young children despised me; is 
 
 I arose, and they spake against me. 
 
 All my inward friends abhorred me: 19 
 
 And they whom I loved are turned against me. 
 
 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, 20 
 
 And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. 
 
 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; ?.i 
 
 For the hand of God hath touched me. 
 
 Why do ye persecute me as God, , 22 
 
 And are not satisfied with my flesh ? 
 
 cJiildrai despised^ Better, despise. 
 
 I arose, and they spa ke\ Better, if I -would arise they speak — they 
 jeer at his painful efforts to rise. 
 
 19. my inward friends\ A fine expression, lit. the men of my 
 cojtncil. ' ' Inward " means intimate : 
 
 "Who is most inward with the royal duke?" Kick. III. 
 
 The reference is to such as his three friends, men whose high converse 
 and fellowship seemed to Job, as a thoughtful godly man, something 
 almost better than relationship, Ps. Iv. 14. See Prelim, Remarks to 
 ch. iii. 
 
 abhon-ed] Better, abhor. 
 
 20. The desertion and loathing of mankind is universal, and to this 
 is added his exhausted state from disease. 
 
 My bone cleaveth to my skin] The words describe his emaciated con- 
 dition, cf. Lam. iv, 8; Ps. cii. 5, My bones cleave to my skin (marg. 
 flesh); Ps. xxii. 17, I may tell (count) all my bones, 
 
 escaped zvith the skin of my teeth] i.e. with nothing else. The "skin 
 of my teeth" is usually lield to mean the gums, which Job represents as 
 still sound, otherwise he would be unable to speak ; the last stage of 
 his disease has not yet been reached. \nv. 17 however he referred to 
 his fetid breath, and in such distempers the mouth and throat are usually 
 rapidly affected. Besides, such a sense is prosaic and flat. The 
 phrase is probably proverbial ; the meaning of Job being that he is 
 wholly fallen a prey to his disease, cf Am. iii. 12. 
 
 21, 22, Overcome by his sense of the terrible enmity of God, Job 
 piteously cries out for the compassion of men. There is a strong anti- 
 thesis between "ye my friends" and the "hand of God," "God" (z/. 22). 
 The whole speech, even when the enmity of men is referred to (z/. 13 
 seq.)i is occupied with the thought of God, He is regarded as the cause 
 of men's abhorrence. Job for a moment seeks refuge with men from 
 God's severity, 
 
 22, satisfied -with my flesh] Why cannot ye be sated with devouring 
 me? The figure is sufficiently plain. In Oriental phrase "to devour 
 or eat the parts or pieces of one " is to calumniate him, to accuse him, 
 Dan. iii. 8, vi. 34. Job asks why they will not cease to bring accusa- 
 tions against him ?
 
 142 JOB, XIX. [vv. 23, 24. 
 
 23 O that my words were now written ! 
 O that they were printed in a book ! 
 
 24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead 
 In the rock for ever ! 
 
 23 — 27. Job turns to tlie future. He desires that his protestation of 
 innocence could find indelible record in the rock, that it might stand a 
 perpetual witness to all generations. But he shall have something 
 greater : he knows that God will yet appear for his vindication, and 
 that he shall see Him with joy. 
 
 The passage should probably be read something as follows : 
 
 23 Oh now that my words were written, 
 Oh that they were inscribed in a book ; 
 
 24 That with a pen of iron and lead 
 They were graven in the rock for ever. 
 
 25 But I know that my redeemer liveth, 
 
 And in after time he shall stand upon the dust, 
 
 26 And after this my skin is destroyed 
 And without my flesh I shall see God : 
 
 27 Whom I shall see for myself. 
 
 And mine eyes shall behold and not another — 
 My reins consume within me ! 
 
 In vv. 21, 22 Job in his terror of God appealed to his friends for pity, 
 but probably he saw no signs of relenting there. They could not relent; 
 their friend might be dear, but truth and religion were greater. Secure 
 in their principles, their countenances shewed but austere reprobation of 
 ihcir wicked friend. They will be more austere because they are 
 putting down humanity and sacrificing themselves in being austere. 
 And turning from them the desire suddenly seizes Job to make his 
 appeal to posterity, to record in writing his protestation of his innocence, 
 or to grave it in the rock, that when he is gone men might read it to all 
 time. Yet this thought satisfies him but for a moment. Even if the 
 generations to come should pass a more gentle sentence upon him than 
 his own time, being better able to estimate his circumstances and no 
 more warped by the heats of controversy, and more inclined amidst the 
 acknowledged mystery of his life to allow weight to the persistent testi- 
 mony of his conscience, as that behind which it is impossible to go — 
 even if they should not only mitigate but reverse the judgment of his 
 contemporaries, how small a thing that would be to him. And his 
 mind rebounds from this thought forward to a greater — he knows that 
 his redeemer liveth and shall appear for his vindication and peace. 
 
 23. in a book\ The Heb. says in Ihe book, using the Art. to indicate 
 \\\Q kind of record, Ex. xvii. 14; Numb. v. 23; i Sam. x. 25. The 
 phrase means merely to "commit to writing." The "words" which 
 Job desiies written are not those in v. 25 seq., but his general and oft 
 repeated protestations of his innocence. 
 
 24. In V. 23 Job longed that his words were written. But ordinary 
 writing is perishable. And now he desires that his words were hewn
 
 V. 25-] JOB, XIX. 143 
 
 For I know that my Redeemer liveth, 2s 
 
 And that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth : 
 
 in indelible characters upon the ruck. The "lead" was probably run 
 into the traces cut in the stone. It need not be said that "the rock" 
 like "the book" means merely rock, and not any particular rock. 
 
 25. For 1 know\ Rather, but I know. Tliis is now something 
 higher to which his mind rises. He desires no doubt to be vindicated 
 before men, and would wish that all generations to come should know 
 his claim to rectitude, when he no more lived himself to make it {vv. 2^, 
 24) ; but what he desires above all things is that he might see God who 
 now hides His face from him, and meet Him, for the meeting could not 
 but be with joy (cf. ch. xxiii. 6 set/.). Job's problem is first of all 
 a problem of religious life, and only in the second place a speculative 
 one. And the speculative elements in it have no further meaning than 
 as they aggravate the practical religious trouble. A solution of his 
 problem, therefore, was possible in only one way, viz. by his seeing 
 God (cf. ch. xlii. 5) — for to see God is to see Him in peace and recon- 
 ciliation. And it is to grasp the assurance of this that Job's heart now 
 reaches forth its hand. 
 
 7ny Redeemer liveth^ " Liveth" means more than is, exists. Job uses 
 the word in opposition to himself — he dies but his redeemer lives after 
 him. The term redeemer (Heb. go'el) is frequently used of God as the 
 deliverer of His people out of captivity, e.g. very often in Is. xl. seq. (ch. 
 xlix. 7, 26, liv. 5, 8), and also as the deliverer of individuals from distress, 
 Gen. xlviii. 16 ; Ps. xix. 14, ciii. 4. Among men the Gael was the nearest 
 blood-relation, on whom it lay to perform certain offices in connexion 
 with the deceased whose Goel he was, particularly to avenge his blood, 
 if he had been unjustly slain (Ruth ii. 20, &c. ; Numb. xxxv. 19). Job 
 here names God his Goel. The passage stands in close relation with 
 ch. xvi. 18, 19, where he names God his "witness" and "sponsor" or 
 representative. It is probable, therefore, that there is an allusion to 
 the Goel among men — Job has in God a Goel who liveth. This Goel 
 will vindicate his rights against the wrong both of men and God 
 (vv. 3, 7). At the same time this vindication is regarded less as an 
 avenging of him, at least on others (though cf. vv. 28, 29), than as 
 a manifestation of his innocence. This manifestation can only be made 
 by God's appearing and shewing the true relation in which Job stands 
 to Him, and by Job's seeing God. For his distress lay in God's hiding 
 His face from him, and his redemption must come through his again 
 beholding God in peace. Thus the ideas of Goel and redeemer virtu- 
 ally coincide. 
 
 Ae shall stand at the latter day] To stand means to arise and appear, 
 to cojue forzvard (as a witness, Deut. xix. 15; Ps. xxxvii. 12), or to inter- 
 pose (as a judge, Ps. xii. 5). The word day has no place here. The 
 expression "the latter" means either last or later. It is used of God 
 as the first and the last (Is. xliv. 6, xlviii. 12), but also otherwise in a 
 comparative sense, later, to come, following (Ps. xlviii. 13, Ixxviii. 4; 
 Ecc. iv. 16; Job xviii. 20). Here the word is an epithet of God and
 
 144 JOB, XIX. [v. 26. 
 
 26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, 
 Yet in my flesh shall I see God: 
 
 can hardly describe Him as the last, for Job certainly does not contem- 
 plate his vindication being put off till the end of all things. The ex- 
 pression is parallel to "my Goal "in the first clause, and literally rendered, 
 means : and he who cometh after (me) shall stand ; or, and as one who 
 cometh after (me) he shall stand. The trans., in after time he shall 
 stand, is nearly equivalent. Ewald and other high authorities render, 
 ati afterman, i.e. a vindicator. 
 
 upon the earthy Better, the dust. The word does not mean earth in 
 opposition to heaven ; such an antithesis did not need to be expressed ; 
 if God came forward or interposed in Job's behalf He must do so upon 
 the earth. The word "dust" carries rather an allusion to the earth as 
 that wherein Job shall have been laid before God shall appear for him 
 — the same allusion as is carried in the words "Goel" and "he who 
 cometh after me ;" cf ch. vii. 21, xvii. 16, xx. 11, xxi. 26, &c. 
 
 26. and though after my skin worms destroy\ See trans, above. 
 The word destroy means to break off, strike down or off, as branches 
 from a tree (Is. x. 34). The words literally run, and after my skin 
 which they have destroyed even this (probably pointing to himself). 
 The indeterminate construction ivhich they have destroyed is equivalent 
 to our passive, ivhich has been destroyed. The Heb. construction must 
 be given somewhat freely in English, as above. The words "worms" 
 and "body" have nothing corresponding in the original. 
 
 yet in my fteshl Better, as above, and without my flesh. The 
 m:yxg\n, oiit of {or, from) tny flesh, suggests the explanation how such 
 opposite senses may be arrived at. The Heb. prep, from has the same 
 ambiguity d^sfrom in English. When Regan in Lear il. i says, 
 
 "Our father he hath writ, so hath our sister, 
 Of differences, which I best thought it fit 
 To answer from our home," 
 
 her words most naturally perhaps suggest the meaning that she thought 
 it best to answer at home, her home being the place from which the 
 answer was sent. Her meaning, however, is that she thought it best to 
 answer when she was away from home. Similarly when Job says, from 
 (or, out of) my flesh shall I see God, the meaning may be, that 
 (looking) from his flesh he shall see God, i.e. as A. V. in his flesh; or 
 that he shall see God, (when) away from his flesh, i.e. without his 
 flesh. The context and general scope of the passage decides for the 
 latter sense. For a similar use of the Heb. prep, see ch. xi. 15, away 
 from (=without) spot; xxi. 9, margin; xxviii. 4, they hang (far) away 
 from men, they swing ; cf Gen. xxvii. 39, away from (without) the 
 fatness; Numb. xv. 24, marg. The whole expression "after this my 
 skin has been destroyed and without my flesh" means "when I have 
 died under the ravages of my disease." The words do not express in 
 what condition precisely, but after what events Job shall see God. 
 
 shall I sec God] The connexion is, But I know that my Redeemer 
 liveth, and he who shall be after me shall stand upon the dust, and...
 
 vv. 27—29.] JOB, XIX. 145 
 
 Whom I shall see for myself, 27 
 
 And mine eyes shall behold, and not another; 
 
 Though my reins be consumed within me. 
 
 But ye should say, Why persecute we him ? is 
 
 Seeing the root of the matter is found in me; 
 
 Be ye afraid of the sword : 29 
 
 I shall see God. The last woi-ds explain who Job's Redeemer or Goel 
 is, and who He is who remaineth or shall come after him, viz. God. 
 After his skin is destroyed and without his flesh he shall see God. 
 Before death he shall not see Him, for he shall die under His afflicting 
 hand (cf. ch. xxiii. 14), but he shall yet behold Him. To see God is to 
 see Him reconciled and in peace, for this is implied in seeing Him at all, 
 because now He hides His face (ch. xxiii. iseq., 8 sec/., ch. xxiv. i set/.). 
 
 27. ir/iom I shall see for /iiyself} These words might mean merely, 
 whom I myself shall see ; or, for myself may mean, favourable to me, 
 on my side and to my joy. 
 
 a)id not another'] i. e. I and not another (shall see). Job heaps up 
 phrases to express his assurance that he shall see God, " I shall see for 
 myself," "mine eyes shall behold," "I and not another." The whole of 
 his misery might be expressed in saying that God hid Himself from him, 
 and the whole of his redemption and joy will consist in seeing God. 
 Others take the words "not another," lit. not a stranger, to refer to 
 God — whom I shall see not as a stranger, i. e. no more estranged or 
 hostile. The position of the words, however, close beside the phrase 
 "mine eyes," is rather in favour of the other view. 
 
 though my 7-eins be consumed] Rather, my reins consume within 
 me, lit. in my bosom (marg.). The words are an exclamation, meaning 
 I faint, cf. Ps. Ixxiii. 26, Ixxxiv. 2, cxix. 81, 123. The reins are the 
 seat of the deepest feelings and experiences, especially of those toward 
 God. Job began with expressing his assurance that he should see God, 
 but as he proceeds so vivid is his hope that it becomes almost reality, 
 the intensity of his thought creates an ecstatic condition of mind in 
 which the vision of God seems almost realized, and he faints in the 
 presence of it. See Additional Note on ch. xix. 23 — 27 at the end of 
 the Volume. 
 
 28, 29. Brief threat to his three friends. God's appearance, which 
 will bring joy to Job, will carry terror to those who persecute him and 
 fasten false charges of guilt upon him. The language in these verses is 
 in some parts obscure, and there may be faults in the text. Verse 28 
 reads in connexion with v. 29, 
 
 If ye say, How we will pursue him ! 
 
 And the root of the matter is found in me : 
 
 Be ye afraid of the sword, &c. 
 
 Verse 28 forms the supposition and v. ig states the consequence, the 
 penalty of the conduct referred to on the part of Job's friends. If they 
 shall continue their unjust persecution of him, asserting that the "root 
 
 JOB 10
 
 146 JOB, XIX. XX. [v. 29. 
 
 For wrath br'mgdh the punishments of the sword, 
 That ye may know there is a judgment. 
 
 of the matter," i.e. the real cause of his afflictions, is found in himself, 
 in his transgressions, then Job warns them that they will bring on 
 themselves the " sword " of Divine vengeance. 
 
 29. for wrath bringeth the punishments of the siuord] This transla- 
 tion seems to assume that " wrath " here is that of men, such wrath as 
 Job's friends shewed towards him. 15ut the word is too strong to be 
 taken in this sense. The Divine "wrath" or fury is meant. The 
 phrase " punishments of the sword " means most naturally, the punish- 
 ments inflicted by the sword. The whole expression would thus mean, 
 for wrath (i.e. in wrath, or, wrathful) are the punishme7its of the sword 
 — the "sword" being as before God's judicial sword. Others render, 
 ^'■transgressions of the sword," i.e. such transgressions as bring down 
 the Divine sword; but the phrase "transgressions of the sword are 
 wrath," i.e. have to 'near wrath as their reward or chastisement, 
 (Delitzsch) is exceedingly cumbrous. 
 
 that. ..there is a judgment^ The reference is not to any final or general 
 judgment, but to the fact that God does in truth judge and punish in- 
 justice, such as the friends were guilty of; cf. xiii. 10 seq. The trans- 
 lation assumes a form of the relative conjunction that which nowhere 
 else occurs in the Book of Job, and there may be some fault in the text. 
 Ewald and others by a slight change of spelling obtain the meaning, 
 that ye may know the Almighty. 
 
 Ch. XX. Zopiiar's Second Speech. 
 
 Zophar breaks in upon the close of Job's speech with a fiery haste 
 and passionateness not quite easy to account for. No doubt Job had 
 spoken of his friends as persecuting him and devouring his flesh. Then 
 he had turned away from them and appealed to posterity against them 
 (ch. xix. 23 seq.). And finally he had threatened them with the sword 
 and judgment of God (ch. xix. 29). These and former reproaches 
 (ch. xvii. 4) may rankle in Zophar's breast, and he may not have for- 
 gotten the sarcastic treatment which Job gave his first speech. Perhaps, 
 however, his irritation is clue less to personal than to moral reasons. 
 Job's last speech was certainly ill to understand, as it has been found 
 ever since. He had accused God of "wronging" him and being his 
 enemy and with bringing him though innocent to the grave. And yet 
 he had affirmed that he knew that God would vindicate his right after 
 his death, and that he should see Him with his eyes in peace. In all 
 this there seems to Zophar a lack of common understanding. Hence 
 he draws an answer to it out of the "sjiirit" and "understanding" 
 within himself [v. 3). Cf. Elihu's references to his "spirit," ch. xxxii. 8. 
 
 Bildad (ch. xviii.) had enlarged upon the certainty of the sinner's 
 downfall from the moral order in the world and the moral sense in men, 
 which rose up against wickedness. Zophar's point is slightly different, 
 it is the brevity of the wicked man's prosperity, which arises from the
 
 vv. 1—3.] JOB, XX. 147 
 
 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, 20 
 
 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, 2 
 
 And for this I make haste. 
 
 I have heard the check of my reproach, 3 
 
 And the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer. 
 
 fact that wickedness brings about its own retribution — sin, sweet in the 
 mouth, turns into the poison of asps in the belly. 
 
 The Gods are just, and of our pleasant vices 
 Make instruments to scourge us. 
 He illustrates this theme by drawing the picture of a rapacious, op- 
 pressive man of power suddenly brought to destruction and destitution 
 in the midst of his days, with the hand of every one that is wretched 
 against him, and forced to disgorge that which he had greedily swallowed. 
 Job may understand that the fable is narrated of him. Zophar is too 
 much of the " plain blunt man " ; his meaning is so transparent that he 
 commits himself and his friends into his adversary's hands. 
 
 One general idea pervades the speech, the brevity of the wicked man's 
 prosperity. 
 
 w. 2, 3. Zophar, in a brief preface, acknowledges that he is roused. 
 
 vv. 4 — II. This is because of Job's reproaches, and because he seems 
 unaware of the acknowledged principle that the triumphing of the 
 wicked is brief. 
 
 znf. 12 — 22. Sin brings its own retribution — after the manner of a 
 man's evil doings so is his chastisement. 
 
 zv. 23 — 29. God sates at last with his judgments the sinner's in- 
 satiable greed for wrong-doing. 
 
 Ch. XX. The prosperity of the wicked is brief ; sin, sweet 
 IN the mouth, becomes the poison of asps in the belly. 
 
 2, 3. Zophar is roused to indignation by Job's perverse blindness to 
 unalterable principles experienced since the world was. The verses 
 should perhaps read, 
 
 2. Therefore do my thoughts make answer to me, 
 And because of this have I haste within me : 
 
 3. I hear the rebuke that putteth me to shame — ■ 
 
 But the spirit out of my understanding answereth me. 
 
 The words "therefore" and "because of this" refer to the first clause 
 oiv. 3. — I hear the rebuke that puts me to shame (i.e. Job's last words), 
 therefore do my thoughts make answer to me, and because of this have 
 I inward haste, i. e. strong feeling. The speaker means that he feels 
 driven to answer Job by the exasperating words of the latter, but he 
 distinguishes between himself and his thoughts and speaks of them 
 answering him. So (v. 3) his "spirit" answers him, drawing the 
 answer out of his "understanding." The attswer furnished to Zophar 
 by his spirit follows v. 4 seq. The last words of v. 2 are lit. "is my 
 
 10 2
 
 148 JOB, XX. \vv. 4— lo. 
 
 Knowest thou fio^ this of old, 
 
 Since man was placed upon earth, 
 
 That the triumphing of the wicked ts short, 
 
 And the joy of the hypocrite />2i^ for a moment? 
 
 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, 
 
 And his head reach unto the clouds; 
 
 y^/ he shall perish for ever like his own dung: 
 
 They which liave seen him shall say. Where is he ? 
 
 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found : 
 
 Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. 
 
 The eye also 7o/ni:/i saw him shall see him no more; 
 
 Neither shall his place any more behold him. 
 
 His children shall seek to please the poor, 
 
 And his hands shall restore their goods. 
 
 haste within me;" cf. their cord in them, iv. 21, my help within me, 
 vi. 13. The word "checlc" in A. V. v. 3 means reprocif ; 
 
 "Now, by my life. 
 Old fools are babes again ; and must be used 
 With checlss, as flatteries." Lear, I. 3. 
 
 "Clieclv'd lilie a bondman; all his faults observed." 
 
 J. Caesar, iv. 3. 
 
 4 — 10. The prosperity of the wicked is brief. 
 
 4. Knowest thoii not this of old'\ i.e. knowest tliou not this to be or to 
 have been of old, \\i. from for ever. "This" whicli is from of old and 
 from the time man has been upon the earth is the fact that the felicity 
 of the wicked is brief {v. 5). On "hypocrite" see ch. viii. 13. 
 
 6. his cxcellenry'\ Or, liis height, or rising up (Ps. Ix.xxix. 9) ; cf. 
 Is. xiv. 13 — 15, Obad. v. 4. 
 
 7. like his o'vn dung] Zophar is not the most refined of the tln-ee, 
 cf. 1 Kings ix. 37. On the last words of tlie verse cf. ch. xiv. 10. 
 
 8. as a dream] Comp. Ps. Ixxiii. 20, "As a dream when one awaketh ; 
 so, O Lord, when thou awakest thou shalt despise their image"; 
 Is. xxix. 8, of the enemies of Israel. "" 
 
 9. See ch. vii. 8 — 10 ; viii. 18; Ps. ciii. 16. 
 
 10. //is cliildrcn shall seek to please] Or, seek the fiTour cf. The 
 margin is possible, The poor sliall oppress liis cliililren, but less 
 suitable. 
 
 restore their goods] Rather, Ms goods. He sliall give back his wealth 
 which he has gotten by unlawful and violent means. The first clause 
 of V. 10 is closely connected with v. 9, and paints the abject condition 
 of the sinner's children after his death ; the second clause oi v. 10 and 
 V. 1 1 return to the idea of the sinner's destruction and assume that he is 
 in life.
 
 vv. 11—18.] JOB, XX. 149 
 
 His bones are full of the sin of\\\% youth, n 
 
 Which shall lie down with him in the dust. 
 
 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, i: 
 
 Though he hide it under his tongue; 
 
 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; 13 
 
 But keep it still within his mouth : 
 
 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, 14 
 
 // is the gall of asps within him. 
 
 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them 13 
 
 up again: 
 God shall cast them out of his belly. 
 
 He shall suck the poison of asps : t6 
 
 The viper's tongue shall slay him. 
 
 He shall not see the rivers, 17 
 
 The floods, the brooks of honey and butter. 
 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not is 
 
 swallow // down : 
 
 11. full of the sin of his youth^ Rather, his bones are full of Ms 
 youth, but it shall lie down, &c.; in the midst of his years, when liis 
 bones are full of his youthful strength, like a vigorous marrow, he shall 
 be cut off, and his youth go down to the grave with him. 
 
 12 — 22. His sin changes into his punishment. 
 
 12. Sin is spoken of under the figure of a dainty which tickles 
 the palate, and which one retains and turns in his mouth with de- 
 light. 
 
 13. forsake it not] i. e. do not let it go — do not swallow it. 
 
 14. is turned] i.e. is changed, — it becomes the poison of asps in his 
 belly. 
 
 15. The same general figure of a delightful food particularized. 
 The ill-gotten riches which he amassed do not abide with him ; the 
 wealth that he swallowed up he must disgorge. The figure is perhaps 
 that of a food which the stomach cannot retain. 
 
 16. A slight change of the figure. The meaning is : that which he 
 sucks shall prove the poison of asps. 
 
 17 — 22. That long time of enjoyment which he promised himself 
 shall never come ; according to his insatiable lust and greed shall be his 
 utter destitution at last. 
 
 17. the floods, the brooks oflioney] The marg. the streaming brooks is 
 unnecessary. The words "Ironey and butter" apply both to "floods" 
 (streams) and brooks. The figure is common for fulness of blessings, 
 Cf. Ex. iii. 8, "A land flowing with milk and honey." 
 
 18. That which he labotired for] i. e. that which he has acquired — the 
 fruit of his labour; this he shall restore and shall not swallow down, or 
 enjoy.
 
 I50 JOB, XX. [vv. 19—23. 
 
 According to his substance shall the restitution be, and he 
 
 shall not rejoice therein. 
 t9 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; 
 Because he hath violently taken away a house which he 
 
 builded not; 
 
 20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, 
 He shall not save of that which he desired. 
 
 21 There shall none of his meat be left; 
 Therefore shall no man look for his goods. 
 
 22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: 
 Every hand of the wicked shall come itpon him. 
 
 23 When he is about to fill his belly, 
 
 according to his substance] This half verse reads : according to the 
 wealth which he has gotten he shall not rejoice, lit. according to the 
 wealth of his exchange (cf. ch. xv. 31). The meaning is, however great 
 the substance be which by his evil he has acquired he shall not have the 
 joy of it he promised himself. 
 
 The following verses read most naturally, 
 
 19. Because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor. 
 
 The house which he hath violently taken away he shall not 
 build up ; 
 
 20. Because he hath known no rest in his belly, 
 
 He shall not deliver himself with that wherein he delightcth ; 
 
 21. There was nothing left that he devoured not, 
 Therefore his good shall not abide. 
 
 19. and hath forsaken'] Abandoned them, after oppressing them, to 
 their destitution. Thus, though joining house to house (Is. v. 8) and dis- 
 possessing the poor, the houses which he robs he shall not build up — as 
 Is. says, Many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair without 
 inhabitant (ch. v. 9). 
 
 20. quietness in his belly] Rather as above. The belly is the seat of 
 appetite; the words mean, because he felt and displayed a restless 
 insatiable greediness. 
 
 21. his goods] This may mean his prosperity. In all these verses 
 the retribution corresponds to the sin— the insatiable greediness is 
 recompensed by utter loss and want. 
 
 22. In the moment of his great abundance his straitness comes sud- 
 denly upon him. .. 
 
 every hand of the ivichcd] Rather, of the wretched (ch. lu. -20, him 
 that is in misery). All those in destitution, and the lawless, both those 
 whom he has oppressed and those perhaps who make common cause 
 with them, shall rise up against him and make him their prey. The 
 picture is similar to that drawn by Eliphaz, ch. v. 5. 
 
 23—29. llis insatiable greed shall be satisfied at last. God shall 
 fill him full of his judgments.
 
 vv. 24— 27.] JOB, XX. 151 
 
 God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, 
 
 And shall rain // upon him while he is eating. 
 
 He shall flee from the iron weapon, 24 
 
 And the bow of steel shall strike him through. 
 
 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; 25 
 
 Yea, the glistering sword cometh out of his gall : 
 
 Terrors are upon him. 
 
 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places : 26 
 
 A fire not blown shall consume him; 
 
 It shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle. 
 
 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; 27 
 
 And the earth shall rise up against him. 
 
 23. His belly shall be filled ! 
 
 God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, 
 And shall rain upon him his food. 
 
 The food which the sinner shall be sated with is the terrible rain of 
 judgments which God shall shower upon him ; cf. Ps. xi. 6, Upon the 
 wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone and a burning tempest : 
 this shall be the portion of their cup. 
 
 24. His inevitable destruction : seeking to escape one form of death 
 he shall flee into another. The figure changes. The judgment of God 
 is no more a rain from heaven, it is an attack on all hands of armed 
 inexorable foes ; cf. the same idea of inevitable destruction set forth 
 under different figures, Am. v. 19. For bow of steel read bow of brass. 
 
 25. It is draioii\ Rather, he drawetti it forth — that is, the arrow 
 {v. 24). 
 
 the glistering s7vord\ Rather, the glittering shaft (Is. xlix. 2), or, more 
 generally, the glittering steel ; what is meant is the arrow that strikes 
 the sinner through {v. 24). He draws it out hoping to save himself, not 
 knowing that he is mortally stricken, but with the drawing of it out 
 there fail on him the terrors of death. The picture, particularly the last 
 isolated sentence "terrors are upon him," is graphic. 
 
 26. All darkness is laid up for his treasures ; 
 A fire not blown shall consume him. 
 
 It shall devour him that is left in his tent. 
 
 "Darkness" is a figure for calamity; cf. ch. xv. 22, 23. "Laid up," 
 i.e. reserved, destined, for. "Him that is left" may also mean "that 
 which is left," v. i\. A fire "not blown" by mortal breath or man's 
 mouth, but the fire of God, consumes him ; or, it may be a fire which 
 kindles itself, — an allusion to the self-avenging nature of sin ; cf. 
 ch. XV. 34. 
 
 27. Heaven and earth conspire together against the sinner. There 
 maybe allusion to Job's appeal to the earth, ch. xvi. 18, and his pre- 
 tended assurance of having a witness in heaven, ch. xvi. 19, xix. 25. 
 Heaven "reveals" his iniquity in the chastisements, e.g. the fire of
 
 152 JOB, XX. XXI. [vv. 28, 29. 
 
 28 The increase of his house shall depart, 
 
 And his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath. 
 
 29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, 
 And the heritage appointed unto him by God. 
 
 heaven, ch. i. \6, that fall on him ; and earth rises up against him in the 
 hostihty of men, ch. i. 15, 17, cf. ch. xvii. 6. 
 
 28. The increase] i.e. the gain, possessions. 
 
 his goods shall floio azvay] Ht. things washed a'vay; his possessions 
 shall be swept away with a flood in the day of God's wrath. 
 
 29. Like all the speakers in this second round of debate Zophar 
 concludes by pointing with an impressive gesture to the picture he has 
 drawn. Job should see himself there. He finishes by saying "from 
 God." This forces Job into the arena; lie has no help, however un- 
 willing he may be, Ijut face this argument (ch. xxi. 27), and he shews 
 that that which comes "from God" (ch. xxi. 22) is something very 
 different. 
 
 Ch. xxi. Job's Reply to Zophar. 
 
 It is part of the Poet's art no doubt to make Job wait till all the three 
 have spoken and fully developed their case before he replies to it. But 
 his art is also nature. Job at the beginning of each round of speeches 
 is too much occupied with himself, with the broad general impressions 
 which his condition and the conduct of his friends make on him, to be 
 able for a time to attend to their special arguments. In the earlier part 
 of the first colloquy he is overpowered by the thought tiiat God has 
 become his enemy. In the beginning of the second the thought that 
 men also have turned against him crushes him to the ground. And 
 under the weight of these feelings he seems unable to fix his mind 
 on mere points of argument, he only knows that his friends are 
 arguing against him. There is mucli humanity in Job, and his mind 
 moves by preference in the region of human feelings, the rights of the 
 wretched, the claims of sentient life, the mysteries of human existence 
 and the riddles of the world, and it is unwillingly that he descends from 
 this region into the arena of disputation. It is only the corrosive 
 language of Zopiiar that awakens iiim on each occasion to the par- 
 ticular meaning of his friends' addresses. Both times his challenge 
 brings Job into the field, the first time with all the bitterness of 
 sarcasm (ch. xii.), and now with the trenchant force of an argument 
 from facts. 
 
 Zophar began his speech with the astonished query, Dost thou know 
 this to have been from of old that llie triumphing of the wicked is short ? 
 (ch. XX. 4, 5), and closed his history of the wicked man suddenly cut 
 down in the vigour of his life {v. 11) with the words, Lo ! this is the 
 portion of the wicked man from God {v. 29). These words frotn God 
 call up before Job's soul the great mystery with which he is struggling. 
 According to his own former faith as well as that of his friends this 
 should have been a true account of God's rule of the world. But Job's 
 vision had been sharpened as well as widened by his own history, and
 
 vv. 1,2.] JOB, XXI. 153 
 
 But Job answered and said, 21 
 
 Hear diligently my speech, 2 
 
 And let this be your consolations. 
 
 he now observed much in the world which had formerly escaped him. 
 He saw that this was no true statement of God's deahng witli wicked- 
 ness. God dealt with it quite otherwise ; and the mystery overwhelms 
 him, and instead of chiding his friends he can only appeal to them to 
 contemplate the awful riddle of providence, at the thought of which he 
 himself trembles (v. 6). This riddle, the prosperity of the wicked in 
 God's hand (v. 16), their peaceful death [v. 13), and even the renown 
 of their memory [v. 33), he then proceeds to unfold. The passage has 
 these parts : 
 
 First, w, 2 — 6, some words of introduction, in which Job bids his 
 friends be silent till he unfolds before them the mystery which weighs 
 down his own soul and the thought of which makes him tremble — then 
 they may mock if they have a mind. 
 
 Second, w. 7 — 34, the mystery itself, the prosperity of the wicked, in 
 four turns : — 
 
 w. 6 — 16. The wicked are prosperous, themselves, their children, 
 their possessions, and they die in peace. This is an undeniable fact of 
 experience. 
 
 vv. 16 — 21. On the other side. How often is it that they are seen 
 overwhelmed by calamity? There is no such invariable principle. 
 They do not die sudden and violent deaths as the friends represented. 
 
 vv. 12 — 26. Why then should men— the friends — be wiser than God? 
 Why should they impose their petty principles on God's providence, and 
 prescribe methods to Him which He does not follow ? 
 
 vv. 27 — 34. Finally Job turns to the insinuations of his friends — he 
 knows the meaning of their indirect allusions, when they say, Where is 
 the house of the prince [v. 28) ? but they only shew their ignorance of 
 the testimony of those who have travelled {v. 30), and their little 
 sense of the unfathomableness of God's ways, and even if possible less 
 sense of the ways of men, who have no such horror of the v.'icked as 
 the friends pretend, but who press forward in their footsteps, admiring 
 their prosperity and forgetting their wickedness [v. 34). 
 
 Ch. XXI. The great Mystery of Providenxe, the Prosperity 
 
 OF the Wicked. 
 
 vv. 2—6. Job begs his friends to give audience till he speak. This is 
 the consolation he seeks from them meantime ; when he has spoken 
 they may mock, if they are able {vv. 2, 3). It is not of men that he 
 complains, it is a deeper divine mystery, at which his flesh trem'oles 
 when he thinks of it, and which will till them with astonishment when 
 he discloses it {vv. 4 — 6). 
 
 2. yotir consolations\ They believed they were offering him the con- 
 solations of God (ch. XV. 11); the consolation he seeks from them is 
 that they listen to him.
 
 154 JOB, XXI. [vv. 3-8. 
 
 I Suffer me that I may speak; 
 
 And after that I have spoken, mock on. 
 I 4s for me, is my complaint to man ? 
 
 And if // 7vcre so, why should not my spirit be troubled ? 
 i Mark me, and be astonished. 
 
 And lay your hand upon your mouth, 
 i Even when I remember I am afraid. 
 
 And trembling taketh hold on my flesh. 
 
 Wherefore do the wicked live, 
 
 Become old, yea, are mighty i?i power? 
 i Their seed is established in their sight with them, 
 
 3. viock on] This last word is sing, and seems addressed to Zophar 
 the last speaker, whose pictures of the fate of the wicked deeply wounded 
 Job. Having heard his account of the prospetity of the wicked, they 
 shall have leave then to proceed with their bitter taunts and insinuations 
 if they have a mind. 
 
 4. zs m_y complaint to man] Rather, of, or, concerning man. Tlie 
 whole first clause means, Is my complaint about man ? 7>iy emphatic. 
 The words may express a reason for their listening to liim, it is not of 
 them nor of men at all that he complains ; it is of another, and of a 
 moral riddle and evil that may well excuse his impatience. 
 
 And if it were so... troubled] Rather, or wherefore should I not be 
 impatient ? lit. should not my spirit be short? 
 
 5. The mystery which he will lay before them if they will mark it 
 will strike them dumb. To "lay the hand upon the mouth" is a gesture 
 of awe-struck silence, cf. ch. xl. 4. 
 
 6. When Job himself reflects on it he trembles. When I remember 
 means, When I think of it. 
 
 7 — 21. Tiiis great mystery ol the prosperity of the wicked in God's 
 providence Job now unfolds on both its sides : first, they and all be- 
 longing to them prosper, and they die in peace, although in conscious 
 godlessness they bade the Almighty depart from them, vv. 7 — 16; and 
 second, negatively, examples of calamity befalling them are few, vv. 
 17 — 21. 
 
 7 — 16. The mystery is, WHiy do the wicked prosper? They live 
 long, they see their children grow up, and tlieir homes are peaceful 
 (vv. 7 — 9). Their cattle thrives (v. 10). Their children and they pass 
 a mirthful life with music and dance {i:iv. 11, 12). And with no pain at 
 last they die, though they had openly renounced God {vv. 13 — 15). 
 Yet it is God who bestows this prosperity upon them (v. 16). 
 
 7. Wherefore do the wicked live] Tiie question scarcely means. How 
 is it, if your principles be true, tliat the wicked live ? Job's mind is 
 engrossed with the great prol^lem itself, and he asks. Why in the govern- 
 ment of a rigliteous God do tlie wicked live? They not only live, they 
 live to old age, and wax mighty in tlie earth. 
 
 8. They have the additional felicity of seeing their children grow up
 
 vv. 9— 15-] JOB, XXr. 
 
 33 
 
 And their offspring before their eyes. 
 
 Their houses are safe from fear, 9 
 
 Neither is the rod of God upon them. 
 
 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; 10 
 
 Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf. 
 
 They send forth their little ones Uke a flock, n 
 
 And their children dance. 
 
 They take the timbrel and harp, 12 
 
 And rejoice at the sound of the organ. 
 
 They spend their days in wealth, 13 
 
 And in a moment go down to the grave. 
 
 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; 14 
 
 For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. 
 
 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? 13 
 
 And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him ? 
 
 beside them — a pathetic touch from the hand of the man whose sons had . 
 been taken from him. 
 
 9. Not merely themselves and their children but their homes and all 
 in them are full of peace — another allusion to the rod of God which had 
 fallen on all belonging to Job. 
 
 10. Their cattle thrives — no failure or barrenness assails them. 
 
 11. Their children, numerous like the flock and happy like the 
 lambs, skip in their glee and sport. 
 
 12. And they themselves pass their days in gladness, surrounded 
 with all the charms of life. 
 
 They take the timbrel] Rather, they sing to, i.e. to the accompani- 
 ment of, the timbrel and the lute; lit. they lift up the voice, of. Ps. 
 xlix. 4. The timbrel is the tambourine. 
 
 the sound of the orga}i\ 'Rather, of the pipe, Gen. iv. 21, cf. 
 Is. V. 12. 
 
 13. in wealth^ i.e. 'cueal, prosperity. The word has not here its 
 modem meaning of riches, but its older, more general sense: — " in all 
 time of our tribulation, in all time of our wealth... good Lord deliver 
 us." The Litany. 
 
 to the grave'] Heb., to Sheol. They die in a moment without pain — 
 there are no bands in their death, Ps. Ixxiii. 4. This idyllic picture of a 
 joyous untroubled life, rich in possessions and filled with all that gives 
 a chann to existence, and having a peaceful close, forms the coun- 
 terpart to the picture drawn by the friends of the troubled conscience, 
 XV. 20, the early death, xx. ri, the childless solitariness, xviii. 19, and 
 the disastrous end, xx. 24, of the wicked man. 
 
 14. 15. All this joy and prosperity they enjoyed though they had 
 bidden God depart from them and renounced His service. 
 
 Therefoi-e they say^ Rather, though (lit. and) they said. Their god- 
 lessness was not merely that of passion, it was almost formal and reasoned.
 
 10 JOB, XXI. [vv. 1 6- 1 8. 
 
 i6 Lo, their good is not in their hand: 
 
 The counsel of the wicked is far from me. 
 17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out ! 
 
 And /io7c.f oft Cometh their destruction upon them ! 
 
 God distributeth sorrows in his anger. 
 i8 They are as stubble before the wind, 
 
 And as chaff that the storm carrieth away. 
 
 Coverdale's rendering of the words, Who is the Almighty? is quaint 
 and vigorous, " What manor of felowe is the Ahnightie that we shulde 
 serve liim?" 
 
 16. Finally Job adverts to the mystery : this prosperity of theirs does 
 not depend upon themselves, it is not of their own making; it comes 
 from another, from God. God prospers the wicked, and Job had else- 
 where said that He mocked at the despair of the innocent, ix. 23. 
 
 the counsel of the wicked is far] Or, perhaps, the counsel of the 
 wicked be far from me! Having drawn in such attractive colours the 
 prosperity of the wicked, a prosperity given from the hand of God, Job, 
 even in the midst of his own misery, which is also from God, cannot 
 refrain from repudiating their principles— far be from me the counsel (see 
 ch. X. 3, xviii. 7) of the wicked, cf. ch. xxii. 18. The above seems the 
 most simple and effective way of understanding this verse. Others take it 
 as an objection of the three friends, which Job anticipates and answers; 
 Lo! say ye, t/icir good is not in their own hand ; the meaning beino- 
 that they cannot retain it, they have no certainty of tenure of it,"' it will 
 speedily desert them (Hitzig). To this Job is then supposed to reply 
 in the following verses : Hoiv often, then, is it seen to desert them ? This 
 gives a very good sense. 
 
 17 — 21, The negative side of his theme is now illustrated by Job. 
 In zrd. 7—16 he shewed that the wicked enjoy great, life-long prosperity; 
 now he shews that they are free from calamity; such sudden and dis- 
 astrous visitations of God do not come upon them as the friends inces- 
 santly insisted on. The interrogation, How often? means. What examples 
 can be produced of such a thing? and goes to the end of v. 18. 
 
 17. How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? 
 
 And how often doth their destruction come upon them, 
 And God distribute sorrows in his anger? 
 
 18. How often are they as stubble before the wind 
 And as chaff that the storm carrieth away? 
 
 The A. v., by making Ifo2u oftl an exclamation, gives a sense the 
 opposite of that expressed by the speaker. The question in the first 
 clause of s*. 17 runs athwart Bildad's assertions ch. xviii. 5, 6, The light 
 of the wicked shall be put out; the second clause contradicts ch. xviii. 
 12; with the third clause compare ch. xx. 23. 
 
 The images in v. 18 are familiar for utter destraction. They are 
 taken from the threshing-iloor, whicli was high and open that the force 
 of the wind might be caught in winnowing, cf. i's. i. 4; Is. xvii. 13,
 
 vv. 19—21.] JOB, XXI. 157 
 
 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: 19 
 
 He rewardeth him, and he shall know it. 
 
 His eyes shall see his destruction, 20 
 
 And he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 
 
 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, 21 
 
 When the number of his months is cut off in the midst ? 
 
 19 — 21. A conceivable objection, and its answer by Job. The 
 verses read, 
 
 19. God (say ye) layeth up his iniquity for his children. — 
 
 Let liim recompense it unto himself, that he may know it; 
 
 20. Let his own eyes see his destruction, 
 
 And let him drink of the wratli of the Almighty; 
 
 21. For what concern hath he in his house after Irim, 
 When the number of his months is cut off? 
 
 To his argument that the wicked suffer no calamities Job supposes 
 that his friends may object, founding on the old doctrine of retribution, 
 that if the man himself do not suffer, his children shall be visited for his 
 iniquity (Ex. xx. 5); and his answer is. Let the man himself suffer. The 
 expression "that he may know it " means "that he may feel it." 
 
 The word "concern" means "pleasure "as A. V., but also, interest 
 in, care for ; so Coverdale, For what careth he what become of his 
 household after his death? The phrase "when the number of his 
 months is cut off" means, when his life is ended. The words m.ight also 
 mean, when the (fullj number of his months is dealt out, distributed to 
 himself — when his own life is prolonged to its full measure. But it is 
 not necessary to regard the wicked man as so abandoned as to be 
 destitute of interest in his children even in his life-time, and indifferent 
 to their fate provided his own days be prolonged. Job's objection to 
 the doctrine that a man's iniquity is visited on his children is that this is 
 no punishment of the wicked man himself for he hath no concern in 
 or knowledge of his children's fate after his death (ch. xiv. 21). From 
 the Prophetic Books of this age it appears that the ancient doctrine of 
 retribution, the doctrine that the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the 
 children's teeth are set on edge (Ezek. xviii. 2), had begun to awaken 
 questionings, cf. Jerem. xxxi. 29 seq.., and in this book such doubts are, 
 naturally, brought to a point. 
 
 22 — 26. By insisting on a doctrine of providence which did not cor- 
 respond to God's providence as actually seen in facts, Job's friends were 
 making themselves wiser than God and becoming His teachers — Will 
 any teach knowledge unto God ? Shall we insist on His method of 
 government being what it plainly is not ? This is what it is : One man 
 dieth in his full prosperity, — wholly at ease and quiet. Another man 
 dieth in the bitterness of his soul and has not tasted pleasure. They lie 
 down alike in the dust and the worm covers them. Their different 
 fortune is not determined by their different character. The one is not 
 good and the other wicked. But God distributes to them as He chooses. 
 22. The emphasis falls on God — Shall any teach knowledge unto
 
 158 JOB, XXI. [vv. 22—26. 
 
 22 Shall any teach God knowledge ? 
 Seeing he judgeth those that are high. 
 
 23 One dieth in his full strength, 
 Being wholly at case and quiet. 
 
 24 His breasts are full ^milk, 
 
 And his bones are moistened with marrow. 
 2s And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, 
 
 And never eateth with pleasure. 
 26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, 
 
 And the worms shall cover them. 
 
 God ? The principles of providence insisted on by the friends were not 
 those according to which God's actual providence was administered. 
 They were substituting their principles for His. 
 
 seeing he Judgeth] Tlie clause emphasises the word God: Shall any 
 teach knowledge unto God — God who judges those that are high? 
 "Those that are high" are the inhabitants of the heavens; and to 
 "judge" means to decide in regard to, to bring His judicial power to 
 bear upon; the word does not mean to condemn. God judges the 
 heavens, and shall one teach Him how to rule the affairs of earth ? Cf. 
 ch. xxii. 13. 
 
 23. /;; /us full strengtli] lit. in his very ferfeclion, or completeness, 
 meaning, in the full enjoyment of all that made his lot cojnplete, wanting 
 nothing — as the second clause explains. 
 
 24. His breasts are full of millil Perhaps, his vessels are full of 
 milk; but the meaning is uncertain, the word rendered "breasts" not 
 occurring again. The word however has analogies in the cognate 
 languages, and may mean vessels, or troughs, marg. ijiilkfails, the 
 reference being to the plenty and richness of the man's herds and posses- 
 sions, though this is a figure for plenty in general. By a slight alteration 
 in spelling the word ' ' milk " means fat, and llic ancient versions so 
 read, translating, his inwards, or sides, are full of fat. 
 
 his bones are moistened with tnarrozii] Rather, and the marrow of 
 his bones is moistened, lit. watered, i.e. made fresh and strong. If 
 the first clause be translated with the ancient Versions this clause is 
 parallel in sense ; otherwise, it describes the effect of his plenty on the 
 man himself 
 
 25. A different history ; cf Job's words of himself, ch. iii. 20, 
 vii. II. 
 
 never eateth with pleasure] Rather, and hath not tasted (lit. eaten) 
 of good. 
 
 26. Wholly different in life the two are alike in death ; cf Eccles. 
 ii. 1 5 seq. 
 
 They shall lie down] They lie down. Similarly, the worms cover. 
 
 27 — 34. Finally, still pursuing his argument. Job turns to the in- 
 sinuations of his friends against himself, which lie under their descrip- 
 tions of the fate of the wicked. He knows what they mean when they
 
 w. 27— 3T.] JOB, XXr. T59 
 
 Behold, I know your thoughts, _ _ 27 
 
 And the devices lohich ye wrongfully imagine against me. 
 
 For ye say. Where is the house of the prince ? 28 
 
 And where are the dweUing places of the wicked ? 
 
 Have ye not asked them that go by the way ? 29 
 
 And do ye not know their tokens. 
 
 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction ? 30 
 
 They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath. 
 
 Who shall declare his way to his face ? 31 
 
 And who shall repay him what he hath done ? 
 
 say, Where is the house of the prince? But their conclusions were 
 against the testimony of those who had travelled far and seen much. 
 These testified that the wicked man was preserved in the day of destruc- 
 tion ; that he came to an honoured grave, and the clods of the valley 
 lay softly on him ; and that his example, so far from being shunned, was 
 followed by the mass of men, as there were multitudes that preceded 
 him in the way he walked. 
 
 27. Job knows the covert meaning that lies under his friends' talk of 
 the fate of the wicked man. 
 
 28. house of the prince] " Prince" here perhaps in a bad sense like 
 the classical " tyrant," cf. Is. xiii. 2. 
 
 the divelling places of the ivicked] Or, the tents in wliioli the 
 wicked dwelt, lit. the tent of the dwellings of ike zvicked. The question, 
 Where is the house of the prince? implies that it has been swept away 
 and has disappeared. 
 
 29. 30. Travellers give a different account of the fate of the wicked ; 
 they tell that he is spared in the day of destruction : 
 
 29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way, 
 And do ye not regard their tokens, 
 
 30 That the wicked is spared in the day of destruction, 
 That they are led forth in the day of wrath? 
 
 29. them that go by the way] The travellers ; here those who have 
 travelled far, or come from a distance, and are full of experience. 
 
 do ye not know their tokens] Or, regard. Their "tokens" are no 
 doubt the proofs, or examples which they bring forward. The word 
 "regard," or have respect to, is so used ch. xxxiv. 19. In other places 
 it means " not to acknowledge," to repudiate ; with this sense the 
 meaning would be, and ye will not (surely) reject their tokens. 
 
 30. they shall be brought forth to] Rather, they are led forth 
 in, i.e. led away in safety Irom the destroying wrath, parallel to 
 "spared" or v/ithholden, in the first clause; cf. Is. Iv. 12 {led forth), 
 or "conducted," Ps. xlv. 14. 
 
 31. The person spoken of in this verse seems most naturally the 
 wicked man. It is doubtful however whether the testimony of the 
 travellers is here still carried on, or whether the present words are not 
 those of Job himself. The history of the evil man is proceeded with :
 
 i6o JOB, XXI. [vv. 32, 33. 
 
 32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, 
 And shall remain in the tomb. 
 
 33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, 
 
 his power makes him irresponsible and extorts the liomage of men, 
 who do him honour in deatli {v. 32). Others suppose the verse to be 
 spoken of God, in wliicli case the words are ahnost parenthetical, the 
 history of the sinner being resumed in v. 32. If said of God the verse 
 refers to the inscrutable dealings of His omnipotent power {z'. 30), 
 dealings against which the moral sense of mankind reclaims indeed, 
 but of what avail are the reclamations of the moral sense against om- 
 nipotence? cf. ch. ix. 12, xxiii. 13. The language, however, seems 
 less appropriate if spoken of God. 
 
 32, 33. The wicked man is buried in honour ; and his example 
 followed. 
 
 32 And he is carried to the grave, 
 And they keep watch over his tomb ; 
 
 33 The clods of the valley are sweet unto him ; 
 And all men draw after him, 
 
 As there were innumerable before him. 
 
 32. Yd shall he be brought] Rather, and lie is carried, as above. 
 Comp. ch. X. 19, where Job uses the same language of his own burial. 
 The word is that used in v. 30 (led forth, cf. reft".), and suggests the 
 pomp and slow solemnity of his interment. 
 
 shall remain in the to/nb] Rather, as above, keep ■watcli over his 
 tomb, lit. his heap (ch. v. 26 of a heap of sheaves), meaning the 
 monument raised over him. This may have been first a heap of stones, 
 but naturally the word might be used in a wider sense of any sepulchral 
 monument. This is watched against desecration. In the Sidonian 
 inscription on the tomb of Eslinuni'azar that monarch utters deep 
 curses against any who shall violate his grave. Instead of " they keep 
 watch" others render "he watches," considering the reference to be to 
 the effigy of the deceased graven upon his sarcophagus. The practice 
 of making such an effigy was common in Egypt, and the Author of the 
 Book might be fixmiliar with it. But the practice was not unknown 
 elsewliere. The sarcophagus of Eshmun'azar has such an effigy, the 
 inscription of 22 lines being cut upon the breast and l:)ody of the figure, 
 and again in part around the head. The Author of the Book is fond 
 of alluding to customs and things not specifically Hebrew. At the 
 same time, whether we render "they watch over," or "he watches 
 upon," the words might be used in a less precise sense, meaning in 
 the one case that they looked with respect or reverence to his place of 
 sepulture, and in the other that his memory and life were perpetuated 
 in the monument upon his tomb. 
 
 33. After life's fever he sleeps well. Eurip. Alces. 462, 
 
 Kov(pa aoi 
 X0o3V iTrdvu) iriiyeLe yvvai. 
 
 Sit tibi terra levis. Light fall the dust upon thee.
 
 34.] JOB, XXI. XXII. i6i 
 
 And every man shall draw after him, 
 
 As there are innumerable before him. 
 
 How then comfort ye me in vahi, 34 
 
 Seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood ? 
 
 draw after him'\ The prosperous wicked man has innumerable suc- 
 cessors and imitators, just as he was preceded by countless others 
 whom he resembled, Eccles. iv. 15, 16. 
 
 34. Job feels he has refuted the theories of his friends in regard to 
 the pretended calamities and misery of the wicked man, whether in life 
 or death. Hence their attempts to comfort him by this line of thinking 
 are vain. 
 
 there remaineth falsehood] i.e. there is left {only) falsehood. When 
 Job's proofs to the contrary are subtracted from the answers of his 
 friends, there is left in them only the wrongful, false disposition they 
 shew towards him. 
 
 Ch. XXII. —XXXI. The Third Circle of Speeches. 
 
 In the first round of speeches the three friends exhausted the argu- 
 ment from the general conception of God. In the second they exhausted 
 the argument from the operation of His providence in the world, as 
 observed in the fate of the wicked. To the last Job had replied by a 
 direct contradiction, adducing facts and testimony in proof that the fate 
 of the wicked man in God's providence was in no way so uniformly 
 miserable as the three friends had represented (ch. xxi.) There is, 
 manifestly, now left but one weapon in the hands of the three friends, 
 namely, to express openly what they had hinted at formerly in a veiled 
 manner, and charge Job directly with great sins. This charge is made 
 by Eliphaz in the opening speech of the third round of debate 
 (ch. xxii.) 
 
 As in the two preceding circles of debate, Job's mind is too much 
 absorbed in the contemplation of the great mystery of providence, which 
 he had set before himself in ch. xxi., to be able for a time to give heed 
 to the shameful charges of Eliphaz against him. He dwells in his 
 reply still, continuing the thought of ch. xxi., upon the riddle of God's 
 rule of the world. He misses rectitude in this rule, and can observe no 
 principle of moral government as he understands it. This is true not 
 only in his own instance (ch. xxiii.), but also on the broad field of tire 
 world in general (ch. xxiv.) God, though He knows his innocence, 
 has resolved to destroy him (ch. xxiii. 13). It is this feeling about God 
 that terrifies and paralyses him, not his mere calamities in themselves 
 (ch. xxiii. 15 — 17). But the same absence of righteousness in the rule 
 of the world is observed everywhere. Men cannot perceive God doing 
 judgment and dispensing righteousness among them (ch. xxiv. i). 
 
 Bildad in his reply (ch. xxv.) passes by the facts adduced by Job, 
 and touches only his arrogance in assuming to be innocent before God : 
 How should man, who is a worm, be pure before the omnipotent ruler 
 of the world ? Such words in no way help Job. He knows God's 
 
 JOB II
 
 i62 JOB, XXII. 
 
 power and greatness not less than Bildad, and he replies by rivalling 
 this speaker in extolling the greatness of God (ch. xxvi.). 
 
 Then he comes to what he had not yet directly touched upon, the 
 charges of wickedness made against him. These he denies under a 
 solemn oath (ch. xxvii. i — 6). Here follow in ch. xxvii. 7 scq. and ch. 
 xxviii. two passages which are difiicult to fit into this part of the Book. 
 
 Finally Job takes a comprehensive survey of his mysterious history as 
 a whole, ch. xxix. — xxxi : — 
 
 First, looking back with pathetic regret upon his former days, when 
 his children were about him and he was prosperous and honoured 
 among men, ch. xxix.; 
 
 Second, contrasting with this happier past his present abasement, 
 the contempt in which he is held by the lowest of mankind, and the 
 mysterious afllictions of God upon him, ch. xxx.; 
 
 And third, protesting that this affliction had come upon him for no 
 sin of which he had been guilty; and ending with the impassioned cry 
 that God would make known to him the charge which He has against 
 him, ch. xxxi. 
 
 Ch. XXn. Eliphaz i>irectly charges Job with 
 GREAT Wickedness. 
 
 Nothing now remains for the Friends but to make against Job 
 openly the charge of great wickedness which they had hitherto only 
 covertly insinuated. Eliphaz makes this charge in the present chapter. 
 The charge, however, arises naturally out of Job's last speech. He 
 had there spoken as if no moral principle could be detected in God's 
 treatment of men (xxi. ■23 — 26). He had said the like of this, indeed, 
 before, but only in the heat of debate (ix. ■22) : now he propouixled the 
 theory as part of a settled conviction, and sustained it by arguments. 
 Moreover, his fascinating pictures of the felicity and joyous existence of 
 the wicked, who bade God depart from them, were painful to a 
 righteous mind, and naturally suggested that, in spite of his professed 
 repudiation of them (xxi. 16), he was in secret sympathy with the prin- 
 ciples of such men (xxii. 15). To these two points in Job's speech 
 Eliphaz attaches his rejoinder. 
 
 First, to Job's statement that he missed all principle of righteousness 
 in God's providential rule of men Eliphaz replies that there must be 
 some principle in it. The cause of God's afflicting a man is not to be 
 sought for in God Himself, as if it arose out of any self-seeking on 
 His part, or any respect He had to Himself, for a man's riglitcousness 
 is no profit to God, neither is his wickedness any loss to Him. The 
 reason of God's treatment of men is therefore to be sought in them- 
 selves. But it is inconceivable that He should chastise a man for his 
 piety. It must therefore be for his sins (^v. 2 — 5). 
 
 Having by means of this syllogism confirmed his conviction of Job's 
 guiltiness, Eliphaz proceeds to suggest what sins Job must have com- 
 mitted, which are those that a powerful, irresponsible, rich ruler of his 
 time might most naturally be guilty of {;vv. 6 — 10).
 
 vv. 
 
 I— 4.J JOB, XXII. 163 
 
 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, 22 
 
 Can a man be profitable unto God, » 
 
 As he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? 
 Is if atiy pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous ? 3 
 Or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect ? 
 Will he reprove thee for fear of thee ? 4 
 
 Will he enter with thee into judgment ? 
 
 Then Job's pictures of the joyous life of the wicked man suggest to 
 EHphaz the kind of feehng under which, no doubt, Job committed the 
 sins which he must be guihy of. It was under the feeling that God was 
 enthroned on high in heaven and took no note of the affairs of earth — 
 How doth God know ? This was the state of mind of the ancient 
 sinners who were carried away by a flood, and Ehphaz earnestly warns 
 Job against such a feeling {vv. 12 — 20). 
 
 Finally he exhorts Job to reconcile himself with God, making Him 
 his treasure and casting away earthly treasures. Then shall he have 
 peace and great prosperity [vv. 11 — 36). 
 
 2 — 5. God's treatment of men cannot be due to any respect which 
 He has to Himself, for He is too lofty to be affected by anything 
 human. He deals with men according to their ways, and Job's afflic- 
 tions can be due only to his sin. 
 
 2. This verse reads. 
 
 Can a man be profitable unto God ? 
 
 Nay, he that is wise is profitable unto himself. 
 
 A man's actions cannot affect God ; the advantage of wisdom, that is, 
 prudent and right conduct, can only accrue to a man himself 
 
 3. Is it any plcasHre\ Or, advantage, concern ; see on ch. xxi. 21. 
 The idea that men's actions cannot affect God is common in the 
 Book, see ch. vii. 20, xxxv. 5 — 8. Verses 2, 3 go together, and express 
 this single conception that God's treatment of men is not due to any 
 respect He has to Himself, but is strictly according to the character 
 of men. 
 
 4. God's treatment of men being for their sakes and according to 
 what they are, it is inconceivable that He should chastise them for their 
 piety. 
 
 for fear of thee ^ Rather, for thy (godly) fear, thy piety; conip. ch. 
 iv, 6, XV. 4 for this use of the word/'ar by Eliphaz. The words scarcely 
 contain the idea that if God derived advantage from men's piety He 
 might be supposed to afflict them in order to increase their godliness 
 (Ew.). The simple thought is that man's conduct does not affect God. 
 If God deals with man it is on account of man himself. Can it be sup- 
 posed then that God would afflict a man because he is pious? {v. 4). 
 This is too extravagant a suggestion, therefore if Job is afflicted it is for 
 his sins {v. 5). V. 4 forms a mere foreground to v. 5 seq.., in order to 
 suggest by contrast the real cause of Job's calamities. 
 
 6 — 9. Job's afflictions are because of his sins — sins which Eliphaz 
 
 II 2
 
 i64 JOB, XXII. [vv. 5— II. 
 
 Is not thy wickedness great? 
 
 And thine iniquities infinite? 
 
 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, 
 
 And stripped the naked of their clothing. 
 
 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, 
 
 And thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. 
 
 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; 
 
 And the honourable tnan dwelt in it. 
 
 Thou hast sent widows away empty, 
 
 And the arms of the fatherless have been broken. 
 
 Therefore snares are round about thee, 
 
 And sudden fear troubleth thee; 
 
 Or darkness, that thou canst not see; 
 
 And abundance of waters cover thee. 
 
 now suggests and enumerates. They are such sins as a powerful Ori- 
 ental ruler naturally falls into, inhumanity, avarice, and abuse of 
 power. 
 
 6. Compare the laws, Ex. xxii. iG ; Deut. xxiv. lo. The "naked " 
 are those poorly clad. See Job's reply to this, cli. xxxi. 19, 
 
 7. Compare Job's answer, ch. xxxi. 16, 17. 
 
 8. The "mighty man," lit. 7Jtan of arm, i.e. the powerful (Ps. x. 15), 
 and the " honourable," lit. man of respect, i.e. high in rank (Is. iii. 5), is 
 of course Job himself. 
 
 he had the earth] Or, his is the land. 
 
 dwelt in it] Or, sha/t d^uell in it. 
 
 These words describe the feeling that, according to the supposition 
 of Eliphaz, pervaded Job's conduct — -his idea was that the land or earth 
 belonged to him, and under this feeling he oppressed the poor and 
 drove them from it. 
 
 9. His treatment ot widows — he ejected them empty; or when they 
 came seeking redress, or pleading their rights, he let them go unheard. 
 Comp. Job's own language as to himself, ch. xxix. 13, xxxi. 16. 
 
 The "arms" of the fatherless are their helps or rights, on which they 
 relied, and by which they were supported. 
 
 10. 11. The consequence of this inhumanity and injustice is seen in 
 the snares and terrors from God that surround Job. 
 
 11. This verse should probably be read. 
 
 Or seest thou not the darkness, 
 
 And the floods of waters that cover thee? 
 
 i.e. dost thou not perceive the true meaning of the darkness and the 
 overwhelming calamities that have come on thee ? On the figures comp. 
 ch. xviii. 18; xi. 16; xxvii. 10. See Job's reply, ch. xxiii. 16, 17. 
 
 12 — 20. Eliphaz, having in vv. 6 — 10 suggested what Job's offences 
 must have been, now suggests under what feeling in regard to God he
 
 w. 12—18.] JOB, XXII. 165 
 
 Is not God hi the height of heaven ? 12 
 
 And behold the height of the stars, how high they are. 
 
 And thou sayest. How doth God know ? 13 
 
 Can he judge through the dark cloud? 
 
 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; 14 
 
 And he walketh in the circuit of heaven. 
 
 Hast thou marked the old way is 
 
 Which wicked men have trodden ? 
 
 Which were cut down out of time, 16 
 
 Whose foundation was overflown with a flood : 
 
 Which said unto God, Depart from us: 17 
 
 And what can the Almighty do for them ? 
 
 Yet he filled their houses wiih good things.' is 
 
 But the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 
 
 must have committed them. He thought God so far removed from the 
 world that He did not obsen^e men's conduct. 
 
 12, 13. Eliphaz points to God's place of abode in the lofty heavens 
 (v. 12) ; and under this feeling of His infinite distance from the earth 
 job said. How doth God know? Men's conduct was not observed by 
 Him ; the thick clouds obscured His vision. 
 
 And thoic sayest\ Rather, and tliou saidst. On this mode of thought 
 comp. Ps. xciv. 7 ; Is. xxix. 15 ; Ezek. viii. 12. 
 
 14. in the circuit of /leaz/en] Rather, on the circle, i. e. the arch of 
 heaven that overspans the earth, Is. xl. 22. 
 
 15. It was under a similar feeling in regard to God that the great 
 sinners before the Flood filled the earth with violence, and Eliphaz asks 
 Job whether he will go the length of accepting the principles and 
 following the conduct of such men? Compare the words of Elihu, 
 ch. xxxiv. 8. 
 
 Hast thoii marked the old way] Rather, wilt thou keep. . . ? i. e. follow 
 the path they walked in. 
 
 16. out oftime\ i.e. before their time, prematurely, by the judgment 
 of God for their sin. Comp. xv. 32. 
 
 whose foundation was overthj-own] lit. whose fotindation was poured 
 away and became a flood — that on which they stood became a flood in 
 which they sank. The reference is probably to the Deluge, though 
 others, e.g. Ewald, think of the Cities of the Plain. 
 
 17. do for theni\ Rather, do unto them. 
 
 18. Eliphaz expresses his abhorrence of the ingratitude and evil 
 principles of such men, repeating the words employed by Job, ch. xxi. 16 
 (far be from me the counsel of the wicked) ; but while Job referred to 
 the worldly prosperity of such persons, in spite of their ungodliness, 
 Eliphaz lays stress upon their sure destruction, and how the righteous 
 see in their downfall an illustration of God's righteous rule of the world 
 (z/z/. 19, 20).
 
 1 66 JOB, XXII. [vv. 19—23- 
 
 19 The righteous see //, and are glad: 
 
 And the innocent laugh them to scorn, 
 ffo Whereas our substance is not cut down, 
 
 But the remnant of them the fire consumeth. 
 
 21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: 
 Thereby good shall come unto thee. 
 
 22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, 
 And lay up his words in thine heart. 
 
 23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, 
 Thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. 
 
 19, 20. These two verses are connected together, 
 
 19. The righteous see it and are glad, 
 And the innocent laugh them to scorn, 
 
 20, Sayi?!g, Surely our adversaries are cut off, 
 
 And that which they have left the fire hath consumed. 
 
 The "remnant" of the wicked, or "that which they leave," is their 
 substance and possessions. 
 
 21 — 30. Eliphaz exhorts Job to reconcile himself with God; assuring 
 him of restoration and great felicity if he will do so. 
 
 The passage consists of two parts, first, a series of exhortations, each 
 of which is accompanied by a promise [vv. 21 — 25); and second, a 
 series of great promises simply (w. 26 — 30). The exhortations are : (i) 
 that Job should reconcile himself with God and receive His words into 
 his heart — thus should he be in peace and good would come to him 
 [vv. 21, 22); (2) that he should put away his evil — then should he be 
 restored {v. 23) ; (3) that he should set his heart no more on earthly 
 treasure, but fling it to the dust and among the pebbles of the brooks — 
 then should the Almighty be his treasure (vv. 24, 25). The promises 
 are : (i) that, delighting himself in the Almighty, he would be able to 
 lift up his face to God in confidence, unashamed by afflictions (v. 26) ; 
 (2) he would pray unto God with the assurance of being heard, and the 
 vows which he made to God when presenting his request he would 
 have cause to pay, his request being fulfilled (v. 27) ; (3) his purposes 
 in regard to the future would stand and be realized, for the light of God 
 would be on his ways {v. 28) ; (4) any casting down that might happen 
 to him would speedily be turned by God into up-raising, because of his 
 meekness and humility (?'. 29) ; and finally, even others who had 
 incurred guilt would be saved through his availing prayer {v. 30). 
 
 21. and be at peacc\ i. c. thus shalt thou have peace, or, safety. 
 
 22. the la%v\ Or, instruction, 'the word is a general expression for 
 "every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," as the parallel 
 "his words" in the next clause indicates. Comp. Job's reply to this 
 advice, ch. xxiii. 11, 12. 
 
 23. built tip\ i. e. probably rebuilt, or, restored. 
 
 thou shalt put away] Or, if thou put away. The words take up " if 
 thou return" of the first clause.
 
 vv. 24—29.] JOB, XXII. 167 
 
 Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, 24 
 
 And the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. 
 
 Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, 25 
 
 And thou shale have plenty of silver. 
 
 For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, 26 
 
 And shalt lift up thy face unto God. 
 
 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear 27 
 
 thee. 
 And thou shalt pay thy vows. 
 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established 28 
 
 unto thee: 
 And the light shall shine upon thy ways. 
 When me7i are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is 29 
 
 lifting up; 
 And he shall save the humble person. 
 
 24, 25. These verses read, 
 
 24. And lay thou thy treasure in the dust, 
 
 And gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks ; 
 
 25. Then shall the Almighty be thy treasure. 
 And silver in plenty unto thee. 
 
 The word rendered "treasure" means properlyo;r. The expression "silver 
 in plenty" is obscure, meaning perhaps "silver in bars," a phrase which 
 may signify "precious" rather than plentiful silver. The word occurs 
 again, Numb, xxiii. 22,xxiv. S, of the "horns" of the "unicorn" (wild- 
 ox), and in Ps. xcv. 4, of something pertaining to mountains, probably 
 the "towering heights." The Arabic poets compare the glittering 
 peaks of distant mountains suddenly appearing to gleaming swords 
 brandished upright. The word seems to express the idea of rising up 
 in great length. Most interpreters think oi bars of silver; the A. V. has 
 uniformly strength, as here in marg. 
 
 Eliphaz exhorts Job to fling earthly treasures away from him, making 
 God his treasure. Comp. the reply of Job, ch. xxxi. 24, 25. 
 
 26. lift lip thy face unto God\ i. e. in confidence, and no more 
 asliamed by God's afllictions. Cf. x. 15 and xi. 15. 
 
 27. pay thy vows\ In making requests in prayer it was customary to 
 make a vow to sacrifice or offer unto the Lord if the prayer was granted. 
 Job shall have cause to fulfil his vows, his prayers being heard. 
 
 29. When men are cast down] The words must mean either : when 
 they (i.e. thy ways, v. 28) go downwards, when decline or misfortune 
 befalls thee ; or, when men cast thee doavn. 
 
 there is Ufting up] The word " lifting up " or simply, " Up !" is that 
 which Job shall utter in prayer. The " humble person, " lit. him that 
 is lowly of eyes, is of course Job himself.
 
 i68 JOB, XXII. XXIII. [v. 30. 
 
 He shall deliver the island of the innocent: 
 
 And it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands. 
 
 30. the island of the innocent^ Rather, him that is not innocent. 
 Even others who are blameworthy shall be saved tlirough Job's inter- 
 cession, because of the cleanness cf his hands, for the effectual fervent 
 prayer of a righteous man availeth much. The curious translation 
 "island of the innocent" arose from confounding '/, an -unusual form of 
 the privative particle "not," with '/, an island. This form of the priva- 
 tive appears occasionally in proper names as, /-chabod, "not glory" 
 (inglorious). For and it is, better, yea, he shall be. 
 
 The charges of unrighteousness (vz'. 5 — u) and ungodliness {w. 12 — 
 17), which Eliphaz allows himself to make against Job, furnish a singular 
 illustration of the length to which good men will suffer their theoretical 
 opinions in religion to caiTy them. His concluding words, however 
 (vv. 21 — 30), are conciliatory and humane, and not unworthy of the 
 very aged and very devout speaker. 
 
 Ch. XXIII.— XXIV. Job's Reply to the Third Speech of 
 Eliphaz. Job continues to miss any Mqi^al Government 
 OF THE World by God. 
 
 As before, in the two preceding cycles of debate, Job's mind is too 
 much absorbed in contemplation of the painful mystery of God's pro- 
 vidence, which he had set before his view in ch. xxi., to be able yet 
 to turn away from it and give attention to the direct charges of wicked- 
 ness which Eliphaz made against him (ch. xxii. i — 10). The riddle of 
 the painful earth still fascinates him, the injustice and cruel wrong that 
 goes unpunished, the misery of the poor and innocent, and the peaceful 
 end of tlagrant transgressors, who are "of those who rebel against the 
 light" (ch. xxiv. 13). What he misses in the world is any true retri- 
 butive rule of God (ch. xxiv. 1), who "gives no heed to wrong" (ch. 
 xxiv. 12). The two chapters give broad expression to this thought, 
 first, in reference to Job himself, ch. xxiii.; and second, in regard to 
 the world of mankind in general, ch. xxiv, 
 
 Ch. XXIII. The mysterious injustice suffered by Job at 
 
 THE HAND OF GOD. 
 
 First, z'V. 2—7, with his mind full of the sense of his own innocence, 
 and of the mysterious wrong which he suffers from God, Job gives new 
 and importunate expression to the wish that he knew where to find 
 God, and that he could come to His tribunal and judgment-seat. Then 
 he would set his cause fully before Him, and hear from the Almighty 
 His plea against him, sure that his innocence would appear .and that he 
 would be delivered for ever from his judge. 
 
 Second, vv. 8 — 12, from this dream of a judgment-seat of God such 
 as the judgment-seat of a human judge who would "give heed" to him, 
 Job suddenly awakens to the feeling of what his actual position is. 
 He cannot find God, whose presence he feels ; He everywhere eludes
 
 vv. 1—3.] JOB, XXIII. 169 
 
 Then Job answered and said, 23 
 
 Even to day is my complaint bitter: 2 
 
 My stroke is heavier than my groaning. 
 O that I knew where I might find him ! 3 
 
 That I might come even to his seat ! 
 
 him. Nay, He does this of purpose, knowing Job's innocence and that 
 if He tried him he would come forth as gold, for all his life long he has 
 kept His way and not departed from the commandments of His lips. 
 
 Third, vv. 13 — 17. But He is unchangeable in His purpose. He 
 has resolved to destroy Job, and who can turn Him from that on which 
 He has set His mind? It is this arbitrary, mysterious way of God that 
 confounds and paralyses Job's mind, not his calamities or his death in 
 itself. 
 
 2. The A. V. is almost certainly wrong in its rendering of this verse, 
 though a more satisfactory rendering is hard to give. The text is pro- 
 bably faulty. Literally rendered according to the usual meaning of the 
 words the verse reads, even to-day is my complaint rebellion, my hatid 
 is heavy upon my groaning. The A. V. has assumed, after the Vulgate, 
 that the word usually meaning "rebellion" {mri) is a form of the word 
 "bitter" {mar), or that the latter word should be read. It has also 
 assumed that "my hand" may mean the hand {o^ God) upon me, i.e. 
 "my stroke." But this is scarcely possible; "my arrow," ch. xxxiv. 6, 
 being no true parallel. Further, it has assumed that the well-known 
 phrase "to be heavy upon," e.g. Ps. xxxii. 4, may mean "to be heavy 
 above," i.e. heavier than my groaning. This also is scarcely to be be- 
 lieved. On the other hand it is difficult to extract sense from the 
 literal rendering given above. The expression " my complaint is rebel- 
 lion " may be used from the point of view of the three friends: eve7i 
 to-day (still) is my complaint accounted rebellion, though my hand lies 
 heavy upon my groaning, i.e. represses it ; the meaning being, that Job 
 was accounted rebellious by his friends, while in fact his complaint and 
 groaning in no way came up to the terrible weight of his calamities — 
 the same idea as in ch. vi. 2. Then the following verses proceed to 
 describe the cause he has for complaint. Or the words " my complaint 
 is rebellion" may express Job's own feeling: " I refuse to submit to my 
 afflictions, or acknowledge that they are just." In this case the next 
 words: "my hand lies heavy on my groaning" must mean " my hand 
 presses out my groaning in a continual stream." But this is an ex- 
 traordinary sense to put on the phrase "to lie heavy upon." Others, 
 assuming that the text is corrupt, make alterations more or less serious 
 in words, as "His hand" for " wj/ hand " in the second clause. So 
 already the Sept. 
 
 3 — 7. Job ardently desires that he could come to God's judgment- 
 seat to plead his cause before Him ; and that God would give heed to 
 him and answer him. Then assuredly his innocence would be esta- 
 blished. 
 
 3. his seafl i.e. His judgment-seat, or tribunal.
 
 I70 JOB, XXIII. [vv. 4— lo. 
 
 I would order my cause before him, 
 
 And fill my mouth with arguments. 
 
 I would know the words which he would answer me, 
 
 And understand what he would say unto me. 
 
 Will he plead against me with his great power? 
 
 No; but he would put strength in me. 
 
 There the righteous migJit dispute with him; 
 
 So should I be delivered for ever from my judge. 
 
 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; 
 
 And backward, but I cannot perceive him : 
 
 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot be- 
 hold him : 
 
 He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see 
 him : 
 
 But he knoweth the way that I take : 
 
 5. Job would not only plead his own cause, but he would hear from 
 the Almighty what charges He had to make against him; comp. ch. x. 
 2, xiii. •23, and especially ch. xxxi. 35 — 37. 
 
 6. This verse runs : 
 
 Would he plead against me in the greatness of his power ? 
 Nay, but he would give heed unto me. 
 
 The words express the thought which the idea of appearing before God's 
 judgment-seat immediately suggests to Job — "Do I mean that God 
 should exhibit His almighty power against me? far from that, but 
 that He would listen to me." His wish is that God would hear his 
 arguments and answer him as a human judge who gives heed to the 
 jilea of the accused, laying aside His omnipotent power with which He 
 now crushes him; comp. ch. ix. 32, xiii. 20. 
 
 7. This verse, as rendered in the A.V., seems to mean that in such 
 circumstances {^ov. 3 — 6) a righteous man might plead his cause before 
 God. Rather the words run literally, then a righteous man would be 
 pleading wit Ii him, i.e. then it would appear that the man who pleads 
 with Him (i.e. Job) is righteous. This sense lits into the parallelism of 
 the second clause. 
 
 8—9. from this fascinating dream of a Divine tribunal after the 
 manner of that of a human judge, Job awakens to realise the actual 
 circumstances in which he is placed. God, everywhere present, every- 
 where eludes him; he feels His omnipotent power, but in vain seeks to 
 see His face. 
 
 10. The reason of God's thus hiding Himself and refusing to allow 
 Himself to be approached is that He knows Job's innocence, but is 
 resolved to treat him as guilty and bring him to death [v. 13). 
 
 But he kno'cveth the tuay that I take] Rather, for He knoweth, &c.; 
 lit. the way that is with >iie, i.e. the conduct I pursue, and the thoughts I 
 cherish. Job refers in these words to his innocency {vv. 11, 12).
 
 vv. II— 16.] J OB, XXIII. 171 
 
 IV/ien he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. 
 
 My foot hath held his steps, " 
 
 His way have I kept, and not declined. 
 
 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his 12 
 
 lips; 
 I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my 
 
 necessary 7^^^. 
 But he is in one 7/n';id, and who can turn him ? 13 
 
 And w/iaf his soul desireth, even t/iaf he doeth. 
 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: 14 
 And many such f/ii/igs are with him. 
 
 Therefore am I troubled at his presence : is 
 
 When I consider, I am afraid of him. 
 For God maketh my heart soft, 16 
 
 •when he hath tried me I shall] Rather, if He tried me I should 
 come forth as gold. God refuses to permit Job access to Him, or to 
 plead his cause before Him, because He knows his innocence, and that 
 if He tried him he would come forth as pure gold. 
 
 11 — 12. Fuller particulars given by Job of "the way that is with 
 him " — his innocent, upright life. 
 
 11. hath held his steps] Or, held fast to His steps, i.e. followed 
 closely His footsteps; comp. Is. ii. 3. 
 
 12. more than my neeessary food] Lit. more than (or, above) my 
 cnvn law; i.e. perhaps, more than the law of my own mind or inclina- 
 tion. The words recall the exhortation of Eliphaz, ch. xxii. 22. Any 
 reference X.ofood seems out of place. 
 
 13 — 17. Job's innocency though known to God is disregarded by 
 Him. He is unchangeable in His resolution, and He has resolved to 
 destroy him. 
 
 14. For he perfoi-meth] Or, Yea He will perform, or, accomplish. 
 The "thing appointed" for Job is his death through his malady, which 
 the Almighty has resolved upon. This is the profound enigma to Job ; 
 but it is far from being a solitary one: "many such things are with 
 Him " — the instance is but one out of many similar ones that happen 
 under God's rule of the world of mankind; como. ch. xxi. 23 seq. 
 
 15. It is this thought of the moral riddle which his history pre- , 
 sents, and of the moral iniquity that characterizes God's government, 
 that perplexes and paralyses Job. 
 
 at his presence] Or, before him, i.e. because of Him, or, at the 
 thought of Him; comp. "when I consider" in next clause. The 
 thought that God acts in such a manner confounds Job. 
 
 16. For God jiiaketh] Or, and God. The emphasis is on God ; it 
 is God, — the thought that God should act in this unrighteous manner — 
 that makes his heart "soft," i.e. makes him faint-hearted and terror- 
 stricken.
 
 172 JOB, XXIII. XXIV. [v. 17. 
 
 And the Almighty troubleth me: 
 17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, 
 
 Neither hath he covered the darkness from my face. 
 
 17. Tliis verse reads, 
 
 For I am not dismayed because of the darkness, 
 Nor because of myself whom thick darkness covereth. 
 The words refer back to the language of Eliphaz, ch. xxii. 11, "or 
 secst thou not the darkness?" The "darkness" is the fatal calamity 
 that has overtaken Job, a frequent use of the word. What dismays 
 Job, or strikes him dumb with moral awe, is not his calamity in itself, 
 no-r himself (or, his face) marred and distorted by disease, but this, that 
 it is God who has inflicted the calamity upon him, not because he is 
 guilty, but in the arbitrary and unjust exercise of His almiglity power. 
 This is the point in this whole speech, both in ch. xxiii. and ch. xxiv.; 
 Job misses any true moral rule in the world. The A. V. seems to 
 make the enigma consist in this, that Job was not removed by death 
 before such afflictions overtook him. But this would at best have sub- 
 stituted one enigma for another. 
 
 Ch. xxiv. The Divine Rectitude w^hich Job misses in his 
 own instance he equally misses on the broad field of 
 THE World. 
 
 The same thought of the absence of any righteous rule of the world 
 is carried through this chapter and illustrated by many examples. Job 
 turns from his own history and surveys that of the people around him, 
 and as his own instance illustrated the misery of the just, the instances 
 about him illustrate the felicity, the long-continued power, the freedom 
 from visitation by God, and the natural death of the wicked. Thus 
 both sides of his thesis are supported, that God's rule of the world is not 
 retributive, and that the pri<nciples insisted on by his friends find no 
 justilication in the world as it is. 
 
 Job begins by asking, W' hy are not times (of assize) appointed by the 
 Almighty? and, Why do they that know Him not see His days (of 
 judgment)? This is Job's complaint, that God the judge and ruler of 
 the world fails to judge and rule it in righteousness. Men do not 
 behold Him appointing times and holding days for doing judgment on 
 wrong, and righting the oppressed. On the contrary, the powerful 
 tyrants oppressand the miserable poor are oppressed 'svv. 3— 11), and 
 God regards not the wrong (v. 12). 
 
 Besides these public wrongdoers, there are other transgressors who 
 shun the light. The murderer, the adulterer, and the robber ply their 
 unhallowed trade in the darkness {yv. 13 — 17). And all of them, 
 instead of being visited by God with sudden judgments, as the Friends 
 insisted and as the popular literature described {w. 18 — 21), are upheld 
 in power by God, matle to dwell in safety, and at last brought in peace 
 to a natural death " like all others " iyv. 22 — 24).
 
 w. 1—4.] JOB, XXI V^ 173 
 
 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, 24 
 
 Do they that know him not see his days? 
 
 Some remove the landmarks; 2 
 
 They violently take away flocks, and feed thereof. 
 
 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, 3 
 
 They take the widow's ox for a pledge. 
 
 They turn the needy out of the way : 4 
 
 The poor of the earth hide themselves together. 
 
 Finally Job, too sure of his facts, exclaims, WTio will make me a 
 liar ? Who will disprove the things now advanced ? {v. 25). 
 1. This verse reads, 
 
 Why are not times appointed by the Almighty ? 
 And why do they that know him not see his days ? 
 
 By "times" and "days" Job means diets of assize for sitting in 
 judgment and dispensing right among men. The speaker complains 
 that such times and days are not appointed by the ruler and judge of 
 the world; He fails to exercise a righteous rule; they that know Him 
 (the godly) and look for the manifestation of His righteousness are dis- 
 appointed. The A. V. -why, sccmg titiu-s are not hidden, &c., appears 
 to mean, Why, seeing God has appointed judgment-days known to 
 Himself, are the godly not permitted to perceive them ? The complaint 
 in this case does not touch the Divine rectitude itself, but only laments 
 that it does not manifest itself to men. But the distinction is one not 
 drawn by Job. When he complains that God does not make visible 
 His righteous rule, his meaning is that God does not exercise such a 
 rule. This is the thought about God that alarms him, and makes his 
 heart soft (ch. xxiii. 16]. 
 
 2 — 4. Job now proceeds to illustrate his complaint of the absence of 
 righteousness in God's rule of the world. The instances are in the first 
 place general. 
 
 2. Some remove] Or, tbere are wlio remove. In the absence of 
 hedgerows or walls, the landmark defined the boundary of a man's field 
 or estate. Its removal was equivalent to violent appropriation of the 
 property of another; see Deut. xix. 14; Hos. v. 10. 
 
 and feed thereof] Rather, and feed them. They are open and 
 defiant in their violent wrong, they seize a flock and publicly graze it as 
 their own. 
 
 3. By "the ass" and "the ox" is meant the single ass and ox 
 which the fatherless and widow possess, needful for working their small 
 field or affording them scanty nourishment. When deprived of these 
 they are brought to complete destitution, and removed from the land. 
 
 4. "Turning the needy out of the way" is a general expression for 
 doing them wrong, hindering them of their just rights; comp. Am. v. 
 12. The last clause "the poor hide themselves together" seems to 
 sum up the general effect of the preceding wrongs. The poor, violently 
 dispossessed of what belonged to them, or stripped through forms of law
 
 174 JOB, XXIV. [vv. 5—8. 
 
 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, 
 
 Go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: 
 
 The wilderness yiddeth food for them and for their 
 
 children. 
 They reap evoy one his corn in the field: 
 And they gather the vintage of the wicked. 
 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, 
 Tliat they have no covering in the cold. 
 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, 
 
 little different from violence ("for a pledge," z'. 3), and deprived of 
 their fields, are forced to hide tliemselves away from men, among 
 whom they had formerly lived in respect, and huddle together in 
 obscure haunts. 
 
 5 — 8. Job now directs his attention to a particular class of outcasts, 
 giving a pathetic description of their flight from the abodes of men and 
 their herding together lilvC wild asses in the wilderness ; their destitution, 
 and the miseries they endure from cold and want, having only the rocks 
 and caves to cover them, and only the roots and garbage of the desert 
 to sustain them. The class of miserablcs here referred to are, no doubt, 
 as Ewald first pointed out, the aboriginal races of the regions east of the 
 Jordan, whose land and homes had been seized by more powerful 
 tribes, and who had fled from the bitter oppressions to which they were 
 subjected by their conquerors. Another detailed reference is made to 
 them in ch. xxx. 
 
 5. The comparison to wild asses expresses their herding together, 
 their flight far from the dwellings of men, and that they find their home 
 and sustenance in the wilderness. 
 
 go forth to their work ; rising Ivtimes for a prcy\ Rather, they go 
 forth to their work, seeking diligently for food. Their "work" is 
 explained by "seeking for food." 
 
 for them and for their childreii] Rather, food unto them for their 
 children. The roots and herbage of the desert are the only nourishment 
 they can find for their children ; comp. ch. xxx. 3 — 4. 
 
 6. The verse reads. 
 
 They reap their fodder in the field, 
 And glean the vineyard of the wicked. 
 
 The coarse food which they can possess themselves of is called by 
 the poet "their fodder" ; it is scarcely grain ; and for fruit they have only 
 the forgotten or neglected late gleanings of the vineyard of the wicked. 
 The term "wicked" seems to mean here the rich, inhumane lords of the 
 soil; comp. the converse use of " rich " for " wicked," Is. liii. 9. 
 
 7. The verse means. 
 
 They lie all night naked, without clothing, 
 They have no covering in the cold. 
 
 8. The mountain rains, more violent than even those in the plain.
 
 vv. 9— 12.] JOB, XXIV. 175 
 
 And embrace the rock for want of a shelter. 
 
 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, 9 
 
 And take a pledge of the poor. 
 
 They cause him to go naked without clothing, i 
 
 And they take away the sheaf //vw the hungry; 
 
 Which make oil within their walls, i 
 
 And tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. 
 
 Men groan from out of the city, i 
 
 And the soul of the wounded crieth out: 
 
 Yet God layeth not folly to them. 
 
 drench these thinly-clad outcasts; and they "embrace the rock," i.e. 
 huddle in closely under its ledge. 
 
 9 — 12. These verses describe the miseries of another class, those who 
 have allowed themselves to be subjected, and become serfs and bond- 
 men attached to the estates of the rich. Probably they are but a 
 portion of the same aboriginal tribes mentioned in vv. 5 — 7. 
 
 9. T/u-y pluck] Or, there are who pluck. The reference is to the 
 ruling class who, for some debt perhaps of the dependent, seize the 
 infant of the debtor, in order by selling it or bringing it up as a slave to 
 repay themselves. 
 
 take a pledge of the poor'\ The words might mean " take in pledge that 
 which is on the poor," i.e. their scanty clothing. Others refer the words 
 to the preceding inhuman act of plucl<ing the child from the breast and 
 render: "and take this pledge of the poor" (Ew.). 
 
 10. The verse carries on the idea expressed by " the poor " (z'. 9) — 
 the poor 
 
 Which go naked without clothing; 
 
 And hungry they carry sheaves. 
 The point lies in the antithesis between "hungry" and "carry 
 sheaves " ; though labouring amidst the abundant harvest of their 
 masters they are faint with hunger themselves. 
 
 11. A similar contrast between " tread the winepresses " and " suffer 
 thirst." The expression " within their walls " refers to the walled, well- 
 protected vineyards of the rich nobility, within which these miserable 
 serfs tread out abundant wine all the while that they themselves pant 
 with thirst. 
 
 12. Men gi-oan from out of the cityl Rather, according to the point- 
 ing, /;vw out of the populous city they groan. In this, however, there is 
 no parallelism to the ' ' soul of the wounded " in next clause. By a slight 
 change of pointing, and as read by the Syriac, the sense is obtained : 
 from out tlie city the dying groan. The phrase " from out " means 
 merely "in connexion with" or in the cities, comp. Ps. Ixxii. 16. 
 Reference is made to the cities in order to indicate that this injustice 
 and cruel oppression suffered by men is universal, in city and country 
 alike. 
 
 layeth 7iot folly to theni^ Rather, regardeth not the folly, or, wrong.
 
 176 JOB, XXIV. [vv. 13—1-. 
 
 13 They are of those that rebel against the Hght; 
 
 They know not the ways thereof, 
 
 Nor abide in the paths thereof. 
 M The murderer rising with the light 
 
 Killeth the poor and needy, 
 
 And in the night is as a thief. 
 
 15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight. 
 Saying, No eye shall see me: 
 
 And disguiseth his face. 
 
 16 In the dark they dig through houses, 
 
 Which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: 
 They know not the light. 
 
 17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: 
 If ofie know thejti, they are in the terrors of the shadow of 
 
 death. 
 
 The same word occurred in ch. 1. 22, see note. All this oppression is 
 manifest on the face of the earth among men, but God giveth no heed 
 to the wrong — He appointeth no days {v. i) for doing judgment and 
 staying the injustice. 
 
 13 — 17. The outrages perpetrated by a different class of wrong- 
 doers, the murderer [v. 14), the adulterer (v. 15), and the robber {v. 16). 
 Those described in former verses pursued their violent course openly, 
 they had law or at least custom on their side, and their cruelties did no 
 more than illustrate the rights of property; those now mentioned are 
 "rebels against the light" and operate under cover of the darkness. 
 
 13. They are of those] Rather, these are of them that rebel. The 
 speaker introduces a new class of malefactors. The " light " here is of 
 course the light of day, with the implication, however, that he that 
 is righteous "cometh to the light." 
 
 14. with the light] i.e. toward day-break, while it is still partially 
 dark. At such an hour the murderer waylays the solitary traveller. 
 
 is as a thief] i.e. acts the thief, becomes a thief. 
 
 15. The adulterer waits for the " twilight," i.e. of even. Then he 
 disguises himself, or puts a cover on his face, that he may enter unde- 
 tected the house of his neighbour. 
 
 16. which they had viarlced] Rather, they shut (lit. seal) themselves 
 up in the daytime. In the dark the housebreaker digs through the 
 wall, which in many Eastern houses is of clay or soft brick ; in the day- 
 time he abides close in his own retreat; he is unacquainted with 
 the light. 
 
 17. This verse expands the last clause of v. 16 : — 
 
 For the morning is to them as the shadow of death, 
 For they know the terrors of the shadow of death. 
 
 The "shadow of death " is equivalent almost to "midnight;" see
 
 V. i8.] JOB, XXIV. 177 
 
 He is swift as the waters; is 
 
 Their portion is cursed in the earth : 
 
 He beholdeth not the way of the vineyards. 
 
 note ch. iii. 5. These malefactors know not the light {v. 16), the 
 morning seems to them midnight, so much do they fear and shun it ; 
 but they know, they are familiar with, the terrors of midnight, for this 
 is their day. Others make " morning " predicate, for midnight is to 
 them (like) the morning. This, however, does not connect so closely 
 with V. 16. "Shakespeare has the same thought — as indeed what 
 thought has he not ?— and tells us that ' when the searching eye of 
 heaven, that lights this lower world, is hid behind the globe,' 
 ' Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen, 
 In murders and in outrage... 
 But when from under this terrestrial ball 
 He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines, 
 And darts his light through every guiUy hole, 
 Then murders, treason, and detested sins, 
 The cloak of night being plucked from off their backs, 
 Stand bare and naked, trembling at themselves.' " 
 
 (Cox, Commentary on jfob, p. 317.) 
 
 18—24. This detailed and graphic picture of the enormities of 
 wicked men [vv. 2 — 17) suggests the question, What then is the fate of 
 such men ? Are they seized by the sudden judgments of God and 
 delivered into the hand of their own transgression (ch. viii. 4)? or, are 
 they prolonged in the possession of their power, protected in their 
 wickedness, and brought to a natural and peaceful end at last like men 
 in general? The following passage gives both answers, one in vv. 
 18 — 21, and the other in vv. 22 — 24. The former answer is that of 
 Job's friends, and perhaps of the common mind, a passage or fragments 
 "from a poetical expression of whose creed Job seems to cite. This 
 answer is only introduced ironically and in order to supply the back- 
 ground to the true picture which Job himself draws of the history of 
 these violent and wicked m.en. And this picture is a very different one. 
 
 18 — 21. The popular creed regarding the fate of the wicked in God's 
 government of the world. 
 
 18. //e ts swift as the waters] Rather, he is swift upon tlie face of 
 the waters. The person spoken of is the wicked man, especially such 
 a tyrannical, proud oppressor as is alluded to in vv. 2 — 4 ; and what is 
 said of him is, that he is like a waif or spray on the surface of the 
 water, swept rapidly away, and disappearing in a moment from 
 the eyes of men in destruction; comp. ch. xx. 28, flos. x. 7, "As for 
 Samaria, her king is cut off like foam (or, a twig) upon the face of the 
 waters." 
 
 their portion] i.e. their fields and possessions. A curse is pronounced 
 over the estates of such men by those who behold their downfall ; comp. 
 ch. v. 3. 
 
 h£ beholdeth not] Or, he turneth not unto the way of the vineyards— 
 
 JOB 12 
 
 t>
 
 178 JOB, XXIV. [vv. 19—21. 
 
 19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: 
 So doth the grave those which have sinned. 
 
 20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly 
 
 on liim; 
 He shall be no more remembered; 
 And wickedness shall be broken as a tree. 
 
 21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not : 
 And doeth not good to the widow. 
 
 lie shall no more return unto the smiling vineyards in which he de- 
 lighted. The joys of his luxurious life shall no more be his, misery and 
 destruction have overtaken him. The general meaning of the phrase is 
 the converse of that expressed by "sitting under his vine and tigtree," 
 I Kings iv. 25 ; Mic. iv. 4. 
 
 19. As the fierce heat and drought evaporate the abundant waters of 
 the dissolving winter snow, leaving no trace of them, so doth Sheol 
 engulf the sinners, that they disappear without a renmant from the 
 world; comp. ch. vi. 15 scq., xiv. 11 ; Is. v. 14. 
 
 20. Even she whose womb bore the sinner shall forget him ; none 
 shall find pleasure in him but the worm, to whose taste he shall be 
 sweet. 
 
 21. This verse is closely connected with the last clause of the pre- 
 ceding. 
 
 And wickedness shall be broken like a tree — 
 Even he that devourcth the barren that beareth not, 
 And doeth not good unto the widow. 
 The "tree" is a frequent object of comparison, e.g. ch. xix. 10, "re- 
 moved or plucked up like a tree," here "broken" like a tree. The 
 "barren that beareth not" is she that is lonely, having no sons to up- 
 hold her right, Ps. cxxvii. 3, cf. Is. li. 18. I'leading for, or upholding 
 the cause of the widow is often enjoined, as in Is. i. 17, and the Lord 
 Himself is said to be her "judge," Ps. Ixviii. 5. 
 
 The broad and somewhat exaggerated colours of the preceding picture 
 (z^. 18 — 21) indicate that it is either actually in part the work of a 
 popular hand, or that it is a parody after the popular manner by Job 
 himself. 
 
 22 — 24. The other picture drawn by Job's own hand to exhibit the 
 actual truth. Such {w. 18—21), according to the popular imagination, 
 is the fate and history of the wicked; the following {vv. 22 — 24) is 
 their history according to facts : 
 
 22. Nay, he continueth the mighty by his power, 
 
 They rise up, though they believed not that they should live. 
 
 23. He giveth them to be in safety, and they are upheld, 
 And his eyes are upon their ways. 
 
 24. They are exalted : in a moment they are not ; 
 
 They are brought low, and gathered in as all others. 
 And are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
 
 vv. 22—25.] JOB, XXIV. 179 
 
 He draweth also the mighty with his power: 22 
 
 He riseth up, and no man is sure of Ufe. 
 
 Though it be given him to he in safety, whereon he resteth; 23 
 
 Yet his eyes are upon their ways. 
 
 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone 24 
 
 And brought low, they are taken out of the way as all 
 
 other. 
 And cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. 
 And if // be not so now, who will make me a liar, 23 
 
 And make my speech nothing worth ? 
 
 22. he dra7veth also the inightyi\ Rather as above, lie continueth 
 the migMy, i.e. He (God) prolongeth their life and continueth them in 
 their place. The "mighty" are the oppressive lords of the soil, z/. 2 
 seq. And it is God that upholds them by His power ; comp. ch. ix. 24. 
 
 he riseth up, and no man is sure of life\ Rather as above. Even 
 when they fall under calamity or sickness and " believe not that they 
 shall live," i.e. despair of recovery or of regaining their former pros- 
 perity, they are raised up again, their life and power being prolonged. 
 
 23. though it be giveu] Rather, he giveth them to be in safety. 
 God makes the tents of the violent men to be secure, ch. xii. 6; He 
 watches over them, His eyes being upon their ways ; comp. ch. x. 3, 
 " He shines upon the counsel of the wicked." 
 
 24. To be translated as above. The wicked are exalted, rise high 
 in life, and suddenly, with no pain, they die; comp. ch. xxi, 13, Fs. 
 Ixxiii. 4. And when they are brought low at last in death, it is a 
 natural death that overtakes them, like that of all others,— men in 
 general ; and they are cut off (or, wither) like the tops of the ears of 
 corn, not prematurely, but having attained to full ripeness; comp. 
 V. 26. 
 
 25. Job alas ! is only too sure of his facts, and conscious that he 
 has history and experience at his back he victoriously exclaims, Who 
 will make me a liar ? 
 
 Job has gained his victory over his friends, but he has received, or 
 rather inflicted on himself, an almost mortal wound in achieving it. 
 He has shewn that God's rule of the world is not just, in the sense in 
 which the friends insisted that it was just, and in the sense in which his 
 own moral feeling demanded that it should be just. God is not right- 
 eous, in the sense that he punishes wickedness with outward calamity 
 and rewards the righteous with outward good. So far the three friends 
 are defeated, and with their defeat on the general question their in- 
 ferences from Job's calamities as to his guilt fall to the ground. To 
 this extent Job has gained a victory. But his victory, if it secures the 
 possibility of his own innocence, leaves to his mind a God whom he 
 believes to be unrighteous. For his view of what could be called 
 "righteousness" in the Ruler of the world coincides entirely with the 
 view of his friends. 
 
 12—2
 
 iSo JOB, XXV. [vv. 1—3. 
 
 25 Then answered Bildad the Shuhitc, and said, 
 
 2 Dominion and fear are with him, 
 He maketh peace in his high places. 
 
 3 Is there any number of his armies ? 
 
 Ch. XXV. Bildad's third speech. 
 
 IIow SHOULD Man, who is a Worm, ee pure before the 
 Omnipotent Ruler of the Universe? 
 
 Bildad perhaps feels himself unable to reply to the facts of expe- 
 rience adduced by his opponent, and he will not continue the dispute. 
 Yet he will not retire without at least uttering a protest against the 
 spirit of his adversary and in behalf of reverential thought concerning 
 God. Let the facts of history brought forward by Job be as they may, 
 the spirit in which they are brought forward, and the conclusions in 
 legard to God founded on them, must be for ever false. 
 
 Bildad does not appear to touch Job's argument as to God's rule of 
 the world. He only seeks to subdue the immeasurable arrogance of 
 Job in thinking that he would be found guiltless if placed before the 
 judgment-seat of God (ch. xxiii. 3 — 7), and in challenging the rectitude 
 of God's rule of the world. With this view he contrasts the exalted 
 Majesty of God and His universal power, which the countless hosts on 
 high obey, and the purity of God in wliose eyes the moon is dark and 
 the stars are not pure, with the littleness and the earthly nature of 
 man — who is a worm. 
 
 These thoughts had already been expressed by other speakers in the 
 controversy, as by Eliphaz, ch. iv. 17 seq., and ch. xv. 14 seq., and the 
 brief and simple repetition of them by Bildad indicates that the contro- 
 versy has exhausted itself. 
 
 2. dominion and fear] To God belongs rule, and His majesfy 
 inspires terror; He is the Omnipotent ruler over all. 
 
 his high places'] i.e. the heavens where He dwells. There He 
 "maketh peace" through the dominion and fear belonging to Him. 
 The idea of "making peace in his high places " is suggested first per- 
 haps by the atmospheric phenomenon, the stilling of the warring ele- 
 ments in the tempest on high. When God intervenes the storm becomes 
 a calm. But probably the idea was extended, and the words may 
 include a reference to traditional discords among the heavenly hosts, 
 comp. ch. xxi. 22, xl. 10 scq.; Is. xxiv. 21; Rev. xii. 7. . . „ 
 
 3. his armies] The words still amplify the idea of the " dominion 
 and omnipotence of God. The armies that obey Him are innumerable. 
 The reference is probably to the phenomena of the heavens by night ; 
 comp. Is. xl. 26, " He bringcth out their host by number, he calleth 
 them all by their names ; by the greatness of his might, for that he is 
 strong in power, not one faileth." There was a tendency in Oriental 
 thought to identify the angels with the stars, or at least to regard the 
 stars as animated.
 
 vv. 
 
 4—6.] JOB, XXV. i8i 
 
 And upon whom doth not his light arise ? 
 
 How then can man be justified with God? 
 
 Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman ? 
 
 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; 
 
 Yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. 
 
 How much less man, that is a worm ? 
 
 And the son of man, which is a worm ? 
 
 /lis light arisc\ The reference is probably to the heavens or world by 
 day; and the words express the pervading universality of God's in- 
 fluence and rule. The sun as a body is not directly alluded to, for the 
 word "arise" is not that which ordinarily expresses rising or coming 
 above the horizon; the meaning is rather "on whom doth not his light 
 shine?" By "his light " is not meant the nature of God as essential 
 light ; the meaning rather is that by His light which He sends forth God 
 reaches all (Ps. xix. 6) and brings all under His sway, though there 
 may be in " his light " a reference to the light of day as symbolizing 
 what He is. It is out of the question to limit the words "upon whom " 
 to the "armies" of the iirst clause, making the query of Bildad to 
 mean. Which of the bright heavenly hosts does not His light outshine? 
 or, Which of them does not shine with a light which falls on it from 
 Him and reflect not its own but His light? The reference in the 
 words "on whom" is not limited to the heavenly host, but is uni- 
 versal. 
 
 4 — 5. Such is the Majesty and the universal power of God. How 
 then should a man be righteous before Him ? 
 
 be jiistified with God] i.e. be just or righteous before God; comp. 
 iv. f7 seq., xiv. i, xv. 14. 
 
 5. The thought of v. 4 amplified. Even the moon, the brightest 
 star, does not shine, is dark, when He looks upon it, and the stars are 
 not pure, how much less man, which is a worm ? The contrast drawn 
 by Eliphaz between man and the angels is drawn here between man 
 and the heavenly bodies; comp. ch. xv. 15. The Hebrew has two 
 words for " worm " here, the one the worm of decay and corruption 
 (ch. vii. 5, xvii. 14, xxi. 26, xxiv. 20; Ex. xvi. 24; Is. xiv. ri), the 
 other in the second clause, used to express the utmost abasement and 
 abjectness, "Fear not thou worm Jacob," Is. xli. 14, "But I am 
 a worm and no man," Ps. xxii. 6, though occasionally occurring also in 
 the sense of the other word. We have only one word in English, for 
 though Shakespeare speaks of "Grubs and eyeless skulls," such a term 
 can hardly be used now in language of any elevation. 
 
 Ch. XXVI. Job rivals Bildad in magnifying the 
 
 GREATNESS OF GOD. 
 
 Bildad in his short speech magnified the greatness of God, and His 
 purity, before which even the heavens are not clean. Job had heard 
 all this before, it did not touch the enigma of his life and of providence.
 
 iS2 JOB, XXVI. [vv. 1—4. 
 
 26 But Job answered and said, 
 
 2 How hast thou helped him that is without power? 
 How savest thou the arm that hath no strength ? 
 
 3 How hast thou counselled him that hafh no wisdom ? 
 And ho7C' hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is ? 
 
 4 To whom hast thou uttered words ? 
 
 Hence, first, he pours out the full vials of his sarcasm on Bildad's 
 irrelevant statements, ch. xxvi. 2 — 4. He knows God's greatness not 
 less than Bildad, if knowledge of it only helped him in any way or 
 had any bearing on the dispute, which was not concerning the Great- 
 ness of God, but concerning His Justice. 
 
 And second, to shew that he does not need to be taught concerning 
 God's greatness, he proceeds to give a far more brilliant picture of it 
 than Bildad had attempted, shewin;^' how it manifests itself, 
 
 ( 1 ) in the underworld of the Shades, w. 5 — 6 ; 
 
 (2) in the world above, the earth and heavens, w. 7 — 13; ending 
 with the sublime thought that, mighty and majestic as the operations of 
 God are which are seen in these parts of the universe, they are but the 
 fringes or outskirts of His ways, only a whisper in comparison to the 
 fulfthunder of His power. 
 
 2—4. Job sarcastically expresses his admiration of Bildad s speech, 
 and gratitude for the help it has been to him. 
 
 2. Jioiu savest thou ?] Rather, how hast thou saved? i.e. succoured. 
 
 3. plentifiiUv declared the thing as it is\ Rather, plentifully, or, 
 abundantly, declared knowledge, or, wisdom. The word is that which 
 occurs in ch. v. 12; sec notes. "Him that is without power," "that 
 hath no wisdom" &c., is of course Job himself; and he expresses his 
 admiration of the contribution made by 15ildad to the clearing up of his 
 perplexities and the solution of the riddle of his life. It is not quite 
 clear whether Job means to say : "I am weak and unnerved, perplexed 
 and ignorant, and how mightily in all this thou hast helped me!" or, 
 whether he is not thinking with Bildad's mind and giving bitter ex- 
 pression to the thoughts which that speaker doubtless entertained of 
 his own performance, and of the effect it should have on the person 
 whom he addressed: "Doubtless thou hast abundantly instructed and 
 strengthened the weak and ignorant man before thee !" The former 
 sense^is the more natural, the other fits better into connexion with v. 4. 
 
 4. to ivhom kast thou uttered words r\ Job refers to himself and asks. 
 Who is it that thou hast spoken such tilings to? The same feeling of 
 conscious superiority to his friends and disdain of the instructions they 
 were giving him reappears here, which came out already in ch. xii. 4. 
 It is the same feeling as was expressed by the magnates of Jerusalem in 
 reference to the continual harping of Isaiah: "Whom will he teach 
 knowled"-e, and whom will he make to understand doctrine? them that 
 are wean'ed from the milk and drawn from the breast?" Has he chil- 
 dren before him that he gives precept upon precept, line upon line, &c.? 
 Is. xxviii. 9.
 
 vv. 
 
 5-7.] JOB, XXVI. 183 
 
 And whose spirit came from thee ? 
 
 Dead thi/igs are formed _ : 
 
 From under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. 
 
 Hell is naked before him, < 
 
 And destruction hath no covering. 
 
 He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, : 
 
 and whose spirit came from thee ?] Or, came forth from thee. Job 
 asks, Under what lofty inspiration hast thou spoken ? Is it, indeed, 
 the very spirit of God that has found expression through thy mouth? 
 The words carry a sarcastic reference to the poverty of Bildad's speech, 
 possibly also to the oracular air with which it was uttered. 
 
 5 — 13. That Job has no need to be instructed regarding the great- 
 ness of God he now shews, by entering upon an exhibition of its 
 operations in every sphere of that which exists, Hades, the Earth and 
 Heaven, in which he far outstrips the feeble effort of Bildad. 
 
 5. 6. God's presence and power in the underworld. Verse 5 reads 
 according to the pointing, 
 
 The Shades tremble 
 
 Underneath the waters and their inhabitants. 
 
 The "Shades" (Heb. Refdim, the flaccid) are the departed persons, 
 whose place of concourse is Sheol. Comp. Is. xiv. 9, where "the 
 dead" are the shades, so Is. xxvi. 14 (the deceased). This abode of 
 deceased persons lies deep down under the waters of the sea and all 
 the inhabitants of these waters, for the sea belongs to the upper world. 
 Yet the power of God is felt even at this immeasurable distance from 
 His abode on high. Bildad had referred to the power of God as 
 "making peace" on high; Job points to what is a more wonderful 
 illustration of His power, it pervades the underworld, and the dead 
 tremble under its inihience. Whether the statement is general, or 
 whether perhaps there may not be allusion to great convulsions in 
 nature, shaking the earth, and rousing up out of their lethargy even the 
 drowsy, nerveless, shades with terror, may be doubtful. 
 
 6. Hell\ is in Heb. Sheol, the place where deceased persons con- 
 gregate, the world beneath. It is not a place of pain, though a dark 
 and dreary abode, ch. x. 21, 22. Those there are the dead, who still 
 subsist, though they do not live. "Destruction," Heb. abaddon, is a 
 synonym for Sheol, ch. xxviii. 22. This as well as all things is naked 
 to the eyes of Jehovah. Comp. Am. ix. 2 ; Ps. cxxxix. 8. 
 
 7 — 13. God's power and greatness in heaven and earth. 
 
 7. It maybe doubtful whether "the north" refers to the northern 
 part of the earth or to the northern heavens. In favour of the latter 
 reference is the fact that the expression "stretch out," often said in 
 regard to the heavens (e.g. ch. ix. 8), is not elsewhere used with 
 reference to the earth, and it is scarcely probable that "the earth" 
 would be used as a parallel to "the north," a part of the earth. 
 The northern region of the heavens also, with its brilliant constella- 
 tions clustering round the pole, would naturally attract the eye, and
 
 i84 JOB, XXVI. [vv. 8, 9. 
 
 And hangcth the earth upon nothing. 
 
 He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; 
 
 And the cloud is not rent under them. 
 
 He holdeth back the face of his throne, 
 
 And spreadeth his cloud upon it. 
 
 seem to the beholder, who looked up to it through the transparent 
 atmosphere, to be stretched out over the "empty place," that is, the 
 vast void between earth and heaven. That a different mode of repre- 
 sentation is found elsewhere, the arch of the heavens being spoken of as 
 reposing on the earth (Is. xl. 22), is of Httle consequence. Where 
 religious wonder and poetical feeling, not scientific thought, dictate the 
 language in which nature and its phenomena are described, uniformity 
 of conception or expression is not to be looked for. And the words 
 seem to refer to the appearance of the heavens by night, when the 
 horizon is not so visible, and the dark "void" between earth and 
 heaven more impressive. Others think of the northern region of the 
 earth, the region where lofty mountains rise, and whose stability without 
 support seems most wonderful. It is difficult in this case, however, to 
 conjecture what the void is over which the "north" is stretched; the 
 opinion of Ewald that it is the abyss of Sheol is too adventurous. 
 
 hatigeih the eartli tipon nothing] To hang "upon" is to \\z.\-\g from ; 
 the representation, therefore, is that the earth is suspended, attached to 
 nothing above it which sustains its weight, not that it hangs with no 
 support under it. The representation obviously is the other side of 
 that in reference to "the north" in the first clause. The eye was im- 
 pressed by the great void between earth and the starry heavens. The 
 latter were stretched over this abyss, upheld by nothing under them, a 
 striking instance of the power of God ; while the broad face of the 
 earth lay firm below this void though hung from no support that upheld 
 it. The idea of modern astronomy that the earth is a ball, poised free 
 on all sides in space, is of course not found here. 
 
 8. The wonder of the clouds, floating reservoirs of water, which do 
 not burst under the weight of waters which they contain. Men bind up 
 water in skins or bottles, God binds up the rain floods in the thin, gauzy 
 texture of the changing cloud, which yet by His power does not rend 
 under its burden of ^^ aters. Comp. Prov. xxx. 4 ; Job xxxviii. 
 
 9. he holdeth back] Or, he shutteth up, or, enshrouds. The "face 
 of his throne " is perhaps the outside of it, or that view which it would 
 present if seen ; and the meaning is that He enshrouds His throne so 
 that it is not seen by those below. The idea cannot be that this is an 
 occasional phenomenon, as if sometimes His throne could be seen, for 
 though He has set His glory on the heavens, Ps. viii. 2 (comp. Ex. xxiv. 
 10; Ps. xviii. 12), this is but a reflection of the inner glory. The con- 
 ception rather is that clouds are ever about Him, in His lofty abode, and 
 even accompany and enshroud Him in all His movements; ch. xxxviii. 
 I ; Am. ix. 6; Ps. civ. 3 — 13.
 
 vv. 10-13.] JOB, XXVI. 185 
 
 He hath compassed the waters with bounds, 10 
 
 Until the day and night come to an end. 
 
 The pillars of heaven tremble " 
 
 And are astonished at his reproof. 
 
 He divideth the sea with his power, 1= 
 
 And by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. 
 
 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; ' 13 
 
 His hand hath formed the crooked serpent. 
 
 10. The verse reads, 
 He hath drawn as a circle a bound upon the face of the waters, 
 At the confines of light and darkness. 
 The second clause is literally, even to the confines of light with (or, by) 
 darkness, i. e. as far as where the utmost bound of light borders with 
 darkness. The idea seems to be this : around the surface of the earth 
 flows the ocean ("the face of the waters"); upon this like a circle all 
 around the earth the arch of heaven comes down ; all within this bound 
 is light, for the sun rises on one side of it and goes down at the 
 other ; beyond this circle lies the utter darkness. Comp. ch. xxxviii. 
 19 seq. 
 
 11." The " pillars " of the heavens, if the conception be not wholly 
 ideal, may be the lofty mountains on which the heavens seem to rest, 
 and which, as they are lost in the clouds, are spoken of as belonging to 
 heaven. At God's rebuke, when His voice of thunder rolls, or when 
 earthquakes shake the earth, they tremble with terror of His majesty. 
 
 12, 13. These verses probably read, 
 
 12. He quelleth the sea with his power, 
 
 And by his understanding he smiteth through Rahab. 
 
 13. By his breath the heavens are bright, 
 His hand pierceth the fleeing serpent. 
 
 Others for "quelleth" or stilleth, prefer the meaning " stirreth up." 
 Comp. Is. li. 15 ; Jerem. xxxi. 35. The word means "to terrify," and 
 the parallelism of the second clause "smiteth through Rahab," which 
 refers to the subduing of a raging monster, suggests that the sea when 
 "terrified" or rebuked is in a state of fury, and is quelled by the power 
 of God. So already the Sept. KariTvavcrev. This sense is also more 
 suitable to the words " by his power." On Rahab see notes, ch. ix. 13. 
 
 13. by his spirit he hath garnished^ Rather as above. The reference 
 is to the clearing away of storm clouds, that darken the heavens, by the 
 breath of God. 
 
 hath fontied] Rather as above, pierceth. The words express the 
 half poetical, half mythological conception that the darkening in storm 
 or in eclipse of the heavenly bodies was caused by the Dragon swallowing 
 them up. See on ch. iii. 8, vii. 12. There is no reason to identify the 
 swift or fleeing serpent with the constellation of the Dragon. Comp. 
 Is. xxvii. I, with Mr Cheyne's excellent note.
 
 iS6 JOB, XXVI. [v. 14. 
 
 14 Lo, these ore parts of his ways: 
 
 But how httle a portion is heard of him ? 
 
 But the thunder of his power who can understand ? 
 
 14. The verse reads, 
 
 Lo these are the outskirts of his ways ; 
 
 And how small a whisper is that which we hear of him ! 
 
 But the thunder of his power who can understand ? 
 The power of God is illustrated in the mighty works described in 
 vv. 5 — 13. Yet what we see of Him in these is but the ends, the out- 
 skirts of His real operations. And what we hear of Him is but as a 
 faint whisper; the thunder of the full unfolding of His power who can 
 understand? The nervous brevity and sublimity of these words are 
 unsurpassable. 
 
 Cii. XXVII. Job protests his innocence. 
 
 The third speaker, Zophar, fails to come forward ; and Job, after a 
 pause, resumes his discourse. This discourse is necessary in order to 
 give this third cycle of speeches the same form as the previous two had. 
 In each case Job in his third speech directly attacks the previous argu- 
 ments of his opponents. In ch. xxii. Eliphaz had made against him 
 plain charges of great wickedness. Job now meets these by a solemn 
 protestation before God of his innocence (ch. xxvii. i — 6). 
 
 As the chapters are at present arranged Job's tinal discourse consists 
 of two parts, one occupying chap, xxvii. — xxviii., and the other ch. xxix. 
 — xxxi., at the close of which stands the formula, The -words of yob are 
 ended. The exposition of ch. xxvii. — xxviii. is beset with difficulty, 
 partly because the line of thought is hard to trace, and partly because 
 the sentiments expressed by Job seem to be in contradiction to the 
 position he has hitherto maintained and which he again resumes in the 
 following chapters. Hence doubts have been entertained by very many 
 writers whether these two chapters ought really to be ascribed to Job, 
 some considering that the discourses in this part of the Book have 
 fallen into disorder and been attributed to the wrong speakers, and 
 others that the main part of the passage ch. xxvii. — xxviii. is an alto- 
 gether foreign element, which has been introduced into the Book after 
 it left the hand of the original writer. See the Introduction. 
 
 Chap, xxvii. consists of two main parts. 
 
 First, vv. I — 6, a solemn protestation before God by Job of his 
 innocence ; 
 
 And second, w. 7 — 23, a picture of the condition of the wicked man, 
 in two divisions, (i) his dreary and desolate condition of mind, having 
 no hope in God, when death or aftlictions overtake him, vv. 7 — 10; and 
 (2) the terrible external destruction that befalls him at the hand of God, 
 w. II — 23. 
 
 2 — 6. Job with the solemnity of an oath by God declares that he 
 speaks in sincerity when affirming his innocence. Till he die he will
 
 vv. 
 
 1—6.] JOB, XXVII. 187 
 
 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said, 27 
 
 As God liveth, 7C'/io hath taken away my judgment; 
 And the Ahnighty, 7a/io hath vexed my soul; 
 All the while my breath is in me, 3 
 
 And the spirit of God is in my nostrils; 
 My lips shall not speak wickedness, 4 
 
 Nor my tongue utter deceit. 
 
 God forbid that I should justify you: s 
 
 Till I die I will not remove my integrity from me. 
 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go : 6 
 
 My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live. 
 
 not admit his guilt; his conscience reproaches him for no part of 
 his Hfe. 
 
 Verses 2 — 4 read, 
 
 2. As God liveth who hath taken away my right, 
 And the Almighty who hath made bitter my soul, 
 
 3. (For my life is yet whole in me, 
 
 And the breath of God is in my nostrils), 
 
 4. My lips do not speak unjustly. 
 Neither doth my tongue utter deceit. 
 
 2. my judgment^ As above, my right. God has taken this away by 
 afflicting Job unjustly. The state of Job's mind here is altogether the 
 same as before. He still cleaves to God and swears by His name, and 
 still charges Him with iniquity in His treatment of himself. 
 
 vexed viy sohP\ lit. embittered, i.e. by his mysterious afflictions ; comp. 
 Ruth i. -20 ("dealt bitterly"). 
 
 3. all the iuhile\ The sense is rather as given above, according to the 
 parallel passage, 2 Sam. i. 9. The phrase "my life " in the first clause 
 is lit. my breath. The words are parenthetical, and are thrown in to 
 add weight to the affirmation of his rectitude which Job is about to 
 make (?7. 4) ; they imply that, though reduced by disease, he is in pos- 
 session of all his powers, and flings the whole force of his being into 
 his affirmation. 
 
 4. my lips shall not'\ Rather, do not. These words contain Job's 
 oath. He swears that he is sincere and speaks truly; comp. ch. vi. 28. 
 The words refer to his utterances in general, especially in regard to 
 himself, but naturally in the main, as the connexion requires, to his 
 assertions in regard to his innocence of wrong-doing (z>v. 5, 6). 
 
 5. should justify you] i.e. concede that you are in the right, viz. in 
 charging me with evil. 
 
 remove my integrity'] i.e. give up my blamelessness — refrain from 
 asserting my innocence. 
 
 6. The second clause of v. 6 reads. 
 
 My heart reproacheth not one of my days, 
 or, my heart reproaches {me) not since I was alive, i.e. during all my life.
 
 i88 JOB, XXVII. [vv. 7, 8. 
 
 Let mine enemy be as the wicked, 
 
 And he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous. 
 
 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath 
 
 gained, 
 When God taketh away his soul? 
 
 Of course the words have reference to the kind of charges laid against 
 Job by his friends (e.g. ch. xxii. 6 — 9), and not to the sinfuhiess of 
 nature common to all men, ch. xiv. 2. The "heart" in Heb. is the 
 conscience or consciousness. Luther expresses the meaning vigorously 
 when he translates: "My conscience bites me not in respect of my 
 whole life." Comp. the whole of ch. xxxi., which is but an expansion 
 of these words. 
 
 7 — 10. The dreary and desolate condition of the mind of the wicked 
 man in affliction. 
 
 7. In vv. 1 — 6 Job protested his sincerity in affirming his innocence. 
 With V, 7 commences a description of the misery of mind, and the out- 
 ward destruction at the hand of God, which are the portion of the 
 unrighteous. The "wicked" is the subject throughout to the end of 
 the chapter; therefore in the words " let mine enemy be as the wicked " 
 the emphasis falls on "wicked." The words express the speaker's 
 abhorrence of the "wicked," they do not imprecate evil on his 
 "enemy." It it understood that he wishes his "enemy" ill, and he 
 can wish him nothing worse than that he should be as the " wicked " — 
 so much does he himself shrink from the thought of being as the wicked 
 are. Others (e.g. Uelitzsch) put the emphasis on "enemy," taking that 
 expression to mean "him who accuses me of iniquity" — mine enemy 
 must appear an evil-doer, inasmuch as he charges me falsely. This 
 makes the verse a mere parenthetical imprecation by Job on his friends, 
 for the words taken in this sense have no connexion with vv. 8 — 10. 
 The speaker, rather, repudiates the idea of his being one of the wicked, 
 and he does so because he shudders to think that the condition of the 
 mind of the wicked man, who has no hope in God, should be his — his 
 condition of mind is very different {vv. 8 — 10). Still even when taken 
 in this, their only natural sense, the words ol v. 7 have no strict logical 
 connexion with vv. 2 — 6. The connexion is : "I will never cease to 
 maintain that I am a righteous man, for how comfortless in calamity is 
 the condition of the wicked!" while .strictly it should be: "I will 
 never cease holding on to the way of righteousness, for how comfortless 
 in affliction is the wicked man, having no hope in God ! " So far as 
 the mere language of w. 5, 6 is concerned, the expressions " I will 
 not remove mine integrity from me," " and my righteousness I hold fast," 
 might have the meaning "I will continue to live a righteous life" 
 (comp. ch. ii. 9), but such a meaning is absolutely excluded here by the 
 connexion and general scope of vv. 2 — 6. 
 8. The verse most probably means, 
 
 For what is the hope of the godless man when God cuttetli off, 
 When he taketh away his soul?
 
 vv. 9, lo.] JOB, XXVII. 189 
 
 Will God hear his cry c 
 
 When trouble cometh upon him ? 
 
 Will he delight himself in the Almighty ? 1 
 
 Will he always call upon God ? 
 
 lit. when Hecutteth off, when God draweth out his soul. The comfortless 
 state of the ungodly man (A. V. hypocrite, see on ch. viii. 13), who has 
 no trust in God, is described in three conditions of his history, first, 
 when he is at the moment of death, when God " cutteth (him) off" and 
 " draweth out his soul " {v. 8) ; second, when calamity overtakes him 
 (z^. 9) ; and in general, in his whole life {v. 10). 
 
 10, will he delight himself ?\ Or, dotli he delight himself? The 
 wicked man has no consolation, no resource, in the manifold conditions 
 of life when men need higher help than their own ; he has no pleasure 
 in God nor fellowship with Him, and cannot appeal to Him. 
 
 It is manifest that in these verses the speaker means to contrast his 
 own condition of mind with that of the godless man. He has hope in 
 God, in death and in trouble, for he delighteth himself in God at all 
 times. Such words as those in vv. 8, 10, are not out of place in the 
 mouth of Job, comp. ch. xvi. 19 seq., xix. 25 seq., xxiii. 10 seq., xxxi. 
 2 — 6. It is less easy, however, to combine what is implied in the 
 words oiv. 9, " Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him ? " 
 with Job's repeated complaints that God refused to hear him, e. g. ch. 
 xiii. 24, xix. 7, and many other passages. The only solution would be 
 to consider that he had fought his way through to an assured trust in 
 God, such as he had cherished during his past life (ch. xii. 4 seq.), or 
 rather, that such a trust here suddenly broke upon him and filled his 
 mind, and enabled him to look now for release from his calamities and 
 restoration — in a word to anticipate that issue of his aftlictions which 
 actually ensued. And such is the construction which some of the 
 ablest commentators (e. g. Ewald) put upon the language. Such a 
 change of view in regard to the issue of his afflictions implies a com- 
 plete revolution in Job's mind, for he had hitherto consistently and even 
 pertinaciously (ch. xvii. i — 2, 10 — 16) contended that his malady was 
 mortal, and continued to do this even so late as ch. xxiii. 14, " For he 
 will perform the thing appointed for me." Such a revolution, how- 
 ever, may be conceived and admitted, provided Job's subsequent 
 utterances are in harmony with it. Unfortunately, however, they are 
 not ; for in ch. xxx. 20 he exclaims, " I cry unto thee and thou dost not 
 hear me, I stand up and thou gazest at me " ; and in v. 23 of the same 
 chapter he says, " For I know that thou wilt bring me unto death " (i.e. 
 through his present afflictions). Here he is found again occupying the 
 same position in regard to his malady under the hand of God as he had 
 consistently maintained throughout. It is very hard to reconcile such 
 expressions with ch. xxvii. 7 — 10, on the assumption that the last- 
 named passage really belongs to Job. 
 
 11 — 23. The disastrous fate of the wicked man at the hand of God. 
 
 Verses 7 — 10 drew a contrast between the internal state of the mind 
 of the speaker and that of the sinner ; in these verses the contrast is
 
 igo JOB, XXVII. [vv. n, i: 
 
 I will teach you by the hand of God : 
 
 That which is with the Almighty will I not conceal. 
 
 Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it ; 
 
 Why then are ye thus altogether vain ? 
 
 pursued in a terrible picture of the external history and fate of the 
 sinner at the hand of God. From Job's hand such a picture can have 
 no meaning, unless either he now anticipates for himself a happy issue 
 out of his afflictions, and restoration to prosperity, while the calamities 
 that befall the wicked are final ; or regards his own afflictions, even 
 though they should bring him unto death, as altogether different in their 
 character and marks from those that bring the wicked man to destruc- 
 tion. Either side of the alternative sets Job in complete contradiction 
 to his position in the chapters that precede and follow this one. On 
 the former side see on v. lo. The latter side supposes Job now to take 
 a view of his afflictions entirely opposed to that which he has hitherto 
 taken and continues to take, namely that they are due to the enmity and 
 hostility of God (ch. xiii. 24, xvi. 9, xix. 11, 22, but also ch. xxx. 21, 
 and even the present chap. vv. 1 — 6) — a view which Elihu severely 
 animadverts upon, ch. xxxiii. 10 scq. And the idea that to become the 
 prey of pestilence and sword {vv. 14 — 15) is a sure mark of a wicked 
 man, while to be the victim of a fatal and loathsome malady is no such 
 proof of wickedness (Delitzsch), is one which it is difficult to treat with 
 seriousness. 
 
 11. by the hand of God^ Rather, concerning the hand of God. In a 
 brief preface Job intimates that he will instruct his friends regarding the 
 hand of God, that is, His operation, His method of dealing with the 
 wicked. 
 
 with the Almightyl There is no just ground for restricting the phrase 
 with the Almighty to the meaning, the plans or purposes of the 
 Almighty, the general principles of His government, which continue to 
 be His principles though they may not for a time appear in actual 
 operation. Such a limitation is interpolated into the text, and is con- 
 trary to the parallelism of the first clause. In v. 13 the same phrase 
 occurs, "the portion of the wicked man with God," which is inter- 
 preted in the next clause as " the heritage which they xcce\\efro>n the 
 Almighty." The words refer to no ideal of moral government, such as 
 always exists and 7!iay always manifest itself; they describe God's actual 
 treatment of the wicked man, apart from all limitation. This is the 
 doctrine of the three friends; that of Job in ch. xxi., and even ch. xxiv. 
 was very different. 
 
 12. are ye thus altogether vain?] i.e. wherefore do ye cherish and ex- 
 press opinions regarding me so foolish ? " Two things are surprising 
 here," says Uillmann, " first, that Job should undertake to teach the three 
 friends what they had always affirmed ; and second, that he should say 
 the opposite of what he had maintained in ch. xxi. and xxiv. of the 
 prosperity of the wicked even to their death," A third thing might also 
 seem surprising, namely that Job, while now coinciding with his friends 
 in opinion, should reproach them with folly. To appropriate their
 
 vv. 13—17.] JOB, XXVII. 191 
 
 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, 13 
 
 And the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive 
 
 of the Almighty. 
 If his children be multiplied, // is for the sword : 14 
 
 And his offspring shall not be satisfied 7vith bread. 
 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: 15 
 
 And his widows shall not weep. 
 
 Though he heap up silver as the dust, 16 
 
 And prepare raiment as the clay; 
 He may prepare //, but the just shall put // on, 17 
 
 sentiments and cover the operation by calling them foolish persons 
 was not generous. The connexion, however, of the two clauses in this 
 verse implies that what the three friends had seen of the fate of the 
 wicked (as now to be described by Job, vv. 13 — 23) ought to have 
 prevented them from coming to such conclusions regarding Job's cha- 
 racter as they had expressed or insinuated. Obviously to make such a 
 reproach appropriate there must have been a difference clear to the eye 
 between Job's case and the fate of the wicked. But wherein lay the 
 difference, in Job's present condition ? The three friends might be 
 excused if they did not perceive it. The words do not seem to fit the 
 condition in which Job still remains at the stage of development which 
 the Poem has up to the present reached. 
 
 13 — 23. The utter destruction of the wicked man is exhibited in 
 three turns : his children and descendants are destined for the sword, 
 and become the prey of famine and pestilence (vv. 13 — 15); his wealth 
 and possessions pass into the hands of the righteous, and his home 
 perishes (vv. 16 — 18) ; and he himself is cut off suddenly by awful 
 calamities at the hand of God, and amidst the execrations of men 
 (vv. 19—23). 
 
 14. With the sentiment of this verse compare Job's former words in 
 regard to the wicked, " Their seed is established in their sight with 
 them, and their offspring before their eyes. They send forth their little 
 ones like a flock, and their children dance. They spend their days in 
 wealth," ch. xxi. 8 seq. 
 
 15. buried in dcath'\ " Death " is here, as often (Jer. xv. 2, xviii. 21, 
 xliii. \\) pestilence. Those that sword and famine spare (v, 14) become 
 the prey of the pestilence, and their burial shall be such as those so 
 dying receive, without funeral rites and with no accompaniment of la- 
 menting women. This idea is more distinctly expressed in the next 
 clause, "his widows shall not weep"; comp. Ps. Ixxviii. 64. Comp. 
 Job's previous words as to the "burial " of the wicked, ch. xxi. 32, 
 
 16. The "dust" and "clay" or mire are images that express 
 extreme abundance, Zech. ix. 3, i Kings x. 27. Great wardrobes of 
 costly garments are a usual element of Oriental wealth. Gen. xxiv. 53, 
 Josh. vii. 21, 2 Kings vii. 8, Matth. vi. 19. 
 
 17. When the ungodly are swept away the righteous remain and
 
 192 JOB, XXVII. [vv. i8— 21. 
 
 And the innocent shall divide the silver. 
 i3 He buildeth his house as a moth, 
 
 And as a booth that the keeper maketh. 
 
 19 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be 
 
 gathered : 
 He openeth his eyes, and he is not. 
 
 20 Terrors take hold on him as waters, 
 
 A tempest stealeth him away in the night. 
 
 21 The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth : 
 And as a storm hurleth him out of his place. 
 
 enter into their possessions, and the meek inherit the earth, Ps. xxxvii. 
 
 29. 34- 
 
 18. The "booth" of the "keeper" referred to is the flimsy hut 
 erected in the vineyard or other gardens as a post for the watchman, 
 who protects the fruit from theft or destruction by wild beasts. As 
 described by Wetzstein (Del. Comm. on yob, Trans, ii. p. 74, 2nd ed. 
 p. 348), it is built of four poles struck into the ground in the form of a 
 square. About eight feet from the ground cross slicks are tied to these 
 poles, over which boards are laid, and thus a couch is formed for the 
 keeper. Some feet higher up other cross pieces of wood are fixed, and 
 over these boughs or malting is thrown to form a roof. Such a booth is 
 called a " lodge " Is. i. 8, and its unsubstantial character is indicated 
 when it is said to " swing to and fro," Is. xxiv. -20. 
 
 19. the rich man shall lie dozuii] " Rich " is equivalent to " wicked," 
 Is. liii. 9. The words might be rendered, he lieth down rich. 
 
 shall not be gathered^ The parallel in the next clause, he is not, 
 suggests the general sense, he shall rise no more. Perhaps the most 
 probable sense is that he shall not "be gathered and buried," according 
 to the passages, Jer. viii. 2, xxv. 33, Ezek. xxix. 5 ; he shall have no 
 funeral solemnities but shall be carried away by a sudden destruction. 
 Others assume (after the Sept.) a different vocalization, he shall do it 
 (lie down) no more. This is rather flat. 
 
 he openeth his eyes, and he is not] The words describe the suddenness 
 of his destruction. The phrase is no more remarkable than that in 
 2 Kings xix. 35, " When they arose early in the morning behold they 
 were all dead corpses." It is hardly necessary to circumscribe the 
 words, " Hardly shall the sinner open his eyes, to view his destruction, 
 when he is swept away." 
 
 20. The figure of overwhelming waters is a natural one in the East 
 and common in Scripture, Ps. xviii. 16, Nah. i. 8. Comp, the language 
 of JEliphaz to Job, ch. xxii. 1 1. 
 
 21. The east wind is gusty and tempestuous, ch. xxxviii. 24, Ps. 
 xlviii. 7. See Wetzstein's note in Del. 
 
 and as a storm hurleth] Or, and in storm hurleth. With this which 
 Job says of the sinner compare what he says of himself, ch. ix. 17, xxx. 
 22, "Thou liftest me up to the wind ; thou causcst me to ride upon it,
 
 vv. 22, 23; I.] JOB, XXVII. XXVIII. I93 
 
 For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: 22 
 
 He would fain flee out of his hand. 
 
 Jlfen shall clap their hands at him, s.-? 
 
 And shall hiss him out of his place. 
 
 Surely there is a vein for the silver, 28 
 
 And a place for gold za/icre they fme //. 
 
 and dissolvest me in the tempest " ; and see his former query regarding 
 the wicked, ch. xxi. 18. 
 
 22. s/iaH cast upon hint] i.e. shall shoot down upon him His de- 
 stroying arrows, Numb. xxxv. 20. Comp. again what Job says of 
 himself, ch. vi. 4, xvi. 13, "His arrows compass me round about, he 
 cleaveth my reins and doth not spare.'" 
 
 23. meji shall clap their hands} Clapping the hands is a token of 
 malignant gladness. Lam. ii. 15, and "hissing" a token of sconi and 
 dislike, Jer. xlix. 17. See ch. xviii. 18, xx. 27. Comp. what Job says 
 of his own treatment by men, ch. xvii. 6, xxx. 9 — 14. 
 
 Ch. XXVIII. Wisdom can nowhere be found by man; God 
 
 ALONE IS IN POSSESSION OF IT; THE WISDOM OF MAN IS TO 
 FEAR THE LORD. 
 
 The chapter contains a single thought, viz. that Wisdom cannot be 
 reached by man. The thouglit, however, is set forth and illustrated in 
 many ways and with much poetical adornment. 
 
 First, V. I — 14, the precious ores and stones haz'e a place where they 
 may be found, to which men penetrate and from wliich they bring them 
 forth to the light ; but Wisdom has no place where it can be found in 
 all the land of the living. 
 
 Second, vv. 15 — 22, Wisdom is not to be seen in the marts of man- 
 kind ; it cannot be purchased though gold and all precious things were 
 offered for it. It is not found even in the world below, the realm of 
 the dead. 
 
 Third, vv. 23 — 28, God alone knoweth the way to it and is in 
 possession of it, for He is the Creator of the World. The Wisdom of 
 man is the Fear of the Lord. 
 
 1. surely there is} Rather, for there is. The connexion, however, 
 with the preceding is difficult to perceive (see at the end of the 
 chapter). 
 
 tliere is a vein] lit. an issne or source. The emphasis falls on is — 
 there is a place from which silver comes forth, it lias a source out of 
 which it may be gotten. 
 
 where they fine it} Rather, whicli they (men) refine. The most 
 precious ores, both silver and gold, have a place where they may be 
 found ; however distant and dark and deep in the earth their place be, 
 such a place is known, men penetrate to it, and bring them forth. The 
 antithesis is presented in v. 12, But whence shall Wisdom be found? 
 and where is the place of understanding ? It hath no place known to 
 man. 
 
 JOB 13
 
 194 JOB, XXVIII. [w. 2—5. 
 
 Iron is taken out of the earth, 
 
 And brass ts molten out of \}c\q. stone. 
 
 He setteth an end to darkness, 
 
 And searcheth out all perfection, 
 
 The stones of darkness, and the shadow of death. 
 
 The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; 
 
 Even the waters forgotten of the foot: 
 
 They are dried up, they are gone away from men. 
 
 As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: 
 
 And under it is turned up as it were fire. 
 
 2. brass is molfat oiit of the sfone\ lit. ihey (men) melt the stone into 
 brass, i. e. copper. Men know how to possess themselves of the metals. 
 
 3 — 11. Description of mining operations. 
 
 he setteth'] To prevent ambiguity it is better to translate, man setteth, 
 or, men set. The phrase "setteth an end to darkness " hardly refers 
 to the light shed by the miner's lamp ; the expression is more general, 
 meaning that men penetrate into what is dark and deep in the earth 
 as if it were light and above ground — as the next clause explains. 
 
 searcheth oiit all perfection] Rather, searcheth out to the very end, 
 or, utmost limit, the stones of darkness and the shadow of death, 
 that is, the darkest recesses in the bowels of the earth. The word, 
 very end or utmost limit is that occurring, ch. xxvi. 10 (see notes) and 
 ch. xi. 7. On "shadow of death" see on ch. xxiv. 17. 
 
 4. This verse reads as a whole. 
 
 They break a shaft away from man's abode ; 
 
 They are forgotten of the foot ; 
 
 Far away from men they hang, and swing. 
 
 The first clause, lit. a'ii'ay fro??i the dweller or inhabitant, describes 
 how the miners sink their shaft deep down below and away from the 
 abode of men above. There they are forgotten by the foot of those 
 overhead, who walk oblivious of them. And the last clause describes 
 how they "hang and swing," i.e. swing suspended in cages or from 
 ropes as they pursue their unnatural operations — 
 
 half way down 
 Hangs one that gathers samphire — dreadful trade. 
 
 6. The same idea of the distance from the life of men and the 
 unnaturalness of the miner's ^^'ork is pursued in the fine contrast between 
 the peaceful, cultivated and fruitful face of the earth above and the 
 destructive operations carried on in her bowels, which leave a confusion 
 and devastation like that caused by fire. The second clause must be 
 rendered. 
 
 And underneath it is overturned as if by fire. 
 The reference is hardly to actual blasting ; rather to the overthrow 
 and confused ruin that follows the miner's operations.
 
 vv. 6— II.] JOB, XXVIII. 195 
 
 The stones of it are the place of sapphires : 
 
 And it hath dust of gold. 
 
 There is a path which no fowl knoweth, 
 
 And which the vulture's eye hath not seen : 
 
 The lion's whelps have not trodden it, 
 
 Nor the fierce lion passed by it. 
 
 He putteth forth his hand upon the rock ; 
 
 He overturneth the mountains by the roots. 
 
 He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; 
 
 And his eye seeth every precious thing. 
 
 He bindeth the floods from overflowing; 
 
 And the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light. 
 
 6. Through these operations which carry ruin into the bowels of the 
 earth men, however, find the richest reward. The stones of the heart 
 of the earth are the place of sapphires, and of auriferous dust. 
 
 it hath duit of gold} "It" refers to the "place" in the first clause, 
 hardly to the sapphire, although a particular kind of sapphire is described 
 as being grained or striated with gold. This, however, can hardly be 
 what is meant by "dust of gold." Instead of it hath dust we might 
 render he hath — i. e. man ; he finds his way to the place of sapphires 
 and possesses himself of the auriferous earth. 
 
 7. there is a path] Rather, that path no eagle knoweth, lit. — afath 
 which no eagle &c., the words taking up what is said in v. 6, — the way 
 to the place of sapphires. The sharp-sighted birds of prey have not 
 seen that path. 
 
 8. Neither have the proud wild beasts, which fearlessly penetrate 
 into the darkest places, ever trodden that path. 
 
 the lion's whelps] Rather, the proud laeasts, lit. so7is of pride , 
 ch. xli. 34. 
 
 passed by it] i. e. passed over it, walked it. 
 
 9 — 11. Some further touches regarding the irresistible force and 
 the skilful ingenuity with which man conducts his operations, with the 
 result at last of bringing that which is hidden forth to light. 
 
 9. upon the rock] Or, the flinty rock; man puts forth his hand 
 upon the rock either to break it or pierce a way through it. Plis force 
 makes the hardest obstacle give way before him. 
 
 10. ctttteth out rivers] The word " rivers " is that commonly used to 
 denote the canals into which the Nile was divided, and might be 
 translated canals or channels. Such canals might be intended for 
 drawing off the water accumulating in the mine. The second clause 
 suggests, however, that the word rather means passages or galleries, cut 
 in order to pursue the vein, for it is said, "his eye seeth every precious 
 thing." 
 
 11. he bindeth the floods from overflowing] Rather, he bindeth up 
 the streams that they drip not, lit. that they weep not. The reference 
 is to the use of lime or clay to prevent water percolating into the mine. 
 
 ^1—2
 
 195 JOB, XXVIII, [vv. 12—14. 
 
 T2 But where shall wisdom be found? 
 
 And where is the place of understanding? 
 
 13 Man knoweth not the price thereof; 
 Neither is it found in the land of the liviu":. 
 
 14 The depth saith, It ts not in me: 
 And the sea saith, // is not with me. 
 
 " The picturesque phrase (' that they weep not ') may have been a 
 technical term among miners in ancient times, just as our colliers name 
 the action of the water that percolates through and into tlieir workings 
 ivct'ping, and our navvies call the fine sand which percolates through 
 the sides of a tunnel r;j/«^sand" (Cox, Comm. 011 Job, p. 360). 
 
 These references to mining operations shew that the Writer was 
 familiar with them. The frequent allusions to Egypt indicate that the 
 Author of the Book was well acquainted with that country, and possibly 
 the mines that were extensively worked in the peninsula of Sinai would 
 be an object of interest to travellers from Palestine to Egypt. It appears, 
 however, that mining was in ancient times carried on in the Ilauran 
 and even in the Lebanon ; and in Deut. viii. 9 Palestine is described as 
 "a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig 
 brass." 
 
 12 — 14. The precious ores and costly stones though hidden have 
 a place where they may be found, and man knows how to reach it and 
 bring that which is hid to light, but where can Wisdom be found? and 
 where is the place of understanding? It has no place and is unattain- 
 able by man ; it is not to be found in the laud of the living, in the deep 
 nor in the sea. 
 
 13. the price t/ienvfl For "price" the Sept. read zuay — man 
 knoweth not the way thereof (cf. v. ■23), i.e. the 'way to it, and very 
 many commentators adopt this reading, which gives a more direct 
 answer to the question in v. 12. li price be read, the phrase "man 
 knoweth not the price thereof" does not mean that " it is too precious 
 to be bought with money," but that it is no article of merchandise in 
 the markets of mankind, in other words, it has never been found and 
 is unknown among men. This meaning is clearly expressed in the 
 second clause, " neither is it found in the land of the living." 
 
 14. Three great regions are mentioned, none of which is the 
 "place" of Wisdom, the land of the living, the deep, and the sea. 
 These three exltaust the extent of the upper world. The "land of 
 the living" is the earth as the abode of living beings, more especially 
 of men, Fs. lii. 5. The "deep" is the primeval abyss, out of which 
 perhaps the sea is fed, lying under the earth, Gen. i. 1, Ps. xxiv. 1 — an 
 almost mythological conception. Down under all these, however, lies 
 the underworld of the dead, ch. xxvi. 5. 
 
 15—19. As the preceding verses (i — 14) expressed the idea that 
 there was no "place" of Wisdom where men could find it and from 
 which they could bring it forth, these verses express the idea that it 
 can be acquired by no price which men can ofter for it. It is alto-
 
 vv. 15—20.] JOB, XXVIII. 197 
 
 It cannot be gotten for gold, 13 
 
 Neither shall silver be weighed y^r the price thereof. 
 
 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, 16 
 
 With the precious onyx, or the sapphire. 
 
 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: 17 
 
 And the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold. 
 
 No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: 13 
 
 For the price of wisdom is above rubies. 
 
 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, 19 
 
 Neither shall it be valued with pure gold. 
 
 Whence then cometh wisdom ? 20 
 
 And where is the place of understanding ? 
 
 gether unattainable. The passage may contain the additional idea 
 of the preciousncss or desirableness of Wisdom (see v. i8j, but the 
 purpose of these verses is not to set forth wisdom as a good or as 
 the chief good, for which one might willingly give all that he holds 
 most precious ; the thought of the passage is that though one should 
 offer gold and precious stones for Wisdom it cannot be procured, 
 being nowhere to be found. That the Writer's purpose is to express 
 this conception mainly is evident from the refrain which closes the 
 passage, as a similar one closed the preceding passage : But Wis- 
 dom whence cometh it? and where is the place of understanding? 
 (v, 20). 
 
 15. for gold'] Probably, as margin, f tie gold, i.e. purified gold; 
 comp. I Kings vi. 20, where a word somewhat similar occurs. 
 
 be cveighed] In ancient times money was weighed, not counted, 
 Gen. xxiii. 16. 
 
 16. it cannot he vahted] lit. weighed for gold of Ophir. W'isdom is 
 conceived as put in the balance as other articles are that are sold, the 
 price given for it being gold of Ophir. The meaning is, it cannot be 
 purchased for gold of Ophir. The word weighed here differs from that 
 in V. 15, though it has the same meaning. 
 
 17. and the crystal] Probably glass, which was rare and counted 
 precious in ancient times. 
 
 cannot equal it] The word means to arrange, to set over against, to 
 compare with. The idea here is that gold and glass cannot be set 
 against Wisdom by way of barter, as the next clause distinctly states. 
 
 18. or of pearls] Rather, of crystal. 
 
 price of wisdom is above riibics] Or, the possession of wisdom is 
 above (or, more than) pearls, i.e. pearls cannot acquire it or give 
 possession of it. The meaning is scarcely that Wisdom is a more 
 precious thing to possess than pearls. 
 
 19. eqnal it] See on z'. 17. 
 be valued] See on v. 16. 
 
 20 — 22. The preceding verses indicated that Wisdom cannot be 
 acquired by man though he should bid for it the most precious things
 
 198 JOB, XXVIII. [vv, 21—24. 
 
 21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, 
 And kept close from the fowls of the air. 
 
 22 Destruction and death say, 
 
 We have heard the fame thereof with our cars. 
 
 23 God understandeth the way thereof, 
 And he knoweth the place thereof. 
 
 24 For he looketh to the ends of the earth, 
 
 that he possesses, in other words that it is unattainable ; these verses 
 state that idea again explicitly. The question v. 20 implies a negative 
 answer — nowhere by man. 
 
 21. seeing it is /lid] Rather simply, it is hidden. V. 20 as sum- 
 ming up vv. 15 — 19 meant, i/iits Wisdom is nowhere to be attained; v. ii 
 proceeds, it is hidden &c. 
 
 kept close'] i.e. it is concealed from, unknown to the fowls of the air 
 (conip. V. 7) — no creature can attain to it. 
 
 22. destruction and death] Heb. Abaddon and Death. Abaddon is 
 Sheol, the realm of the dead, here personified, as also is Death. Comp. 
 Rev. i. 18, ix. 11, and see on ch. xxvi. 6. 
 
 the fame thereof] i. e. the report or rumour thereof. Destruction and 
 Death have only heard of Wisdom, they have no knowledge of it, 
 much less is it to be found with them. It is not true, alas ! in this 
 
 sense that 
 
 There must be wisdom with great Death. 
 
 The words "we have heard the report thereof" ascribe neither a less 
 nor a greater knowledge of Wisdom to Death than the living possess. 
 Bolhareequally ignorant of it, and equally without it. As verses 13—14 
 told how Wisdom was nowhere to be found in the upper world so 
 V. 12 states that it is not to be found in the under world. The process 
 of exhaustion is complete : Wisdom is nowhere to be found, neither in 
 the bowels of the earth nor in the markets of mankind, in the deep nor 
 in the sea ; neither in the land of the living nor in the place of the 
 
 dead. 
 
 23 28. W^isdom can nowhere be found either by man or by any 
 
 creature {v. 21), only by the Creator. God knoweth the place of it and 
 is in possession of it, for He is the maker and upholder of the universe 
 with all its agencies. And lie has assigned to man as his wisdom the 
 fear of the Lord. 
 
 23. God understandeth the luay thereof] i. e. the way thereto (ch. 
 xxiv. 18, Gen. iii. 24). The word Ct^r/ stands emphatically fust in the 
 sentence, in opposition to "all living" {v. 21); Jle is in possession of 
 Wisdom. It need not be said that the words "place" and "way" are 
 merely parts of the figure ; the verse means, Wisdom is with God alone. 
 
 24. God is in possession of Wisdom for He is the upholder and 
 creator of the world. 
 
 for he looketh to the ends of the earth] His glance as creator and 
 ruler of all extends over all, to the ends of the earth and to all that lies 
 under the whole heavens.
 
 vv. 25— 27.] JOB, XXVIII. 199 
 
 And seetli under the whole heaven; 
 
 To make the weight for the winds; 25 
 
 And he weigheth the waters by measure. 
 
 When he made a decree for the rain, 26 
 
 And a way for the hghtning of the thunder: 
 
 Then did he see it, and declare it; 27 
 
 25. io inahe the weight for the zvinds] Or, malung (when he made), 
 appointing the winds their greater or less force. The idea is of course 
 that God weighed the winds themselves, i. e. defined their bulk exactly, 
 not that, in modern language, he gave to each its weight or pressure, 
 though the sense is little different. 
 
 and he 'iveigheth the -waters by measure'] Or, and he meted out the 
 waters fey measure. The "waters" are the rains, v. 26. The "winds" 
 and "waters" are examples, taken to represent all, of the agencies and 
 forces of creation. These were and continue all weighed and measured, 
 adjusted and directed by God. The second half of the verse explains 
 the first. In the first half it is not God's abstract omniscience that is 
 referred to, but His universal oversight as Creator; and the sense of the 
 whole verse, which supports the assertion that God has Wisdom {v. ■23), 
 is not that God f/ii/st be in possession of Wisdom in order to be Creator, 
 which without Wisdom He could not be, but rather that His being 
 Creator enables us to understand how Wisdom is or comes to be in His 
 possession. 
 
 Wisdom in this passage, as in other parts of Scripture where it is 
 spoken of, is properly the idea or conception lying behind or under the 
 fixed order of the universe, the world-plan. This fixed order itself 
 with all its phenomena and occurrences is nothing but God fulfilling 
 Himself ^n many ways, but these ways may be reduced to one conception, 
 and this is Wisdom, which is thus conceived as a thing having an objec- 
 tive existence of its own. Naturally such an objective thing is apt to ,be 
 personified and may be "seen," "established," "searched out" and the 
 like. In the same way the question may be put, Where is Wisdom 
 to be found? and the answer given that it can be found nowhere. 
 This question and answer merely mean that man cannot attain to z'w- 
 telleetttal apprehension of the idea of the universe, nor understand the 
 principle underlying the phenomena and events of the world and human 
 life. 
 
 26 — 27. The idea of the preceding verse taken up anew and ex- 
 panded — in creation God saw Wisdom and searched it out. 
 
 26. a decree for the rain] This "decree" comprises all the laws that 
 regulate the rain, appointing its measure and its seasons as early and 
 latter rain. 
 
 27. then did he see it] then, i. e. when He made a decree for the rain 
 — in the act or at the time of creation, when He gave material agencies 
 their laws. Then He "saw" Wisdom, she presented herself to His 
 view. 
 
 and declare it] The margin number or count (ch. xxxviii. 37) gives a
 
 200 
 
 JOB, XXVI 1 1. [v. 28. 
 
 He prepared it, yea, and searched it out. 
 28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that 
 IS wisdom; 
 
 very good sense, the meaning being that God went over, enumerated or 
 surveyed the parts and complex powers of Wisdom. The meaning will 
 not be greatly different if the rendering "declare" be retained and 
 taken in the sense of uttered. This might be done by pronouncing the 
 name of Wisdom, as God presents before His own mind the meaning 
 of any servant or agent of His by calling him by his name (Is. xliii._ i, 
 xlv. 3). Others take "declare" in the sense that Gud gave expression 
 to Wisdom in the varied works of creation. This is a very unnatural 
 sense in which to take "declare." Besides, of the four expressions 
 used, "saw," "declared," "established," "searched out," the first and 
 last refer exclusively to acts of the Divine mind and it is improbable 
 that the middle terms should refer to acts or operations of God's creative 
 hand. Nor is there allusion to any to whom the declaration was made, 
 God alone being referred to in the verse. 
 
 he prepared //] Or, established it. The sense appears to be the 
 same as in Prov. viii. 11 "the \^QXi\ formed me," i.e. gave me existence. 
 The Writer conceives Wisdom, if not as a person, at least as something 
 that has being or existence of its own. According to Prov. viii. 23 seq. 
 Wisdom received its existence prior to the creation of the world. In 
 the present passage it is not quite easy to say whether the idea be that 
 Wisdom received existence in creation or before it, at least it did so in 
 connexion with creation ("then"). It is unnecessary, however, and 
 contrary to the Poet's vivid conception of Wisdom as a real thing or 
 being, to suppose that it was "established" when embodied inthe 
 stable, permanent order of created things, as if, being merely an idea 
 before, with wavering outlines, it then became fixed. Neither can the 
 meaning be that God "set up" Wisdom before Him merely as an object 
 of contemplation; much less that He set it upas a "model" after which 
 to work in creating the world, or constituted it "the conductor of 
 the whole general order of the world." These are all additional ideas, 
 hardly warranted by the expression employed. 
 
 yea, and searched it out] The word yea implies that this searching out 
 of Wisdom was something higher than the preceding acts. God ex- 
 plored Wisdom, lie saw through it, and brought before Himself the 
 full idea of all that was in its nature and its powers. The word can 
 hardly mean He prcroed it, e. g. to see whether it was suitable or able 
 for its great function, the guidance of the course of things in the world. 
 This again is an additional idea, which the word does not express.^ 
 
 28. and unto viati he said] This ortliiiance in regard to man is also 
 considered contemporary with creation ; then God saw and searched 
 out Wisdom, and at the same time, as suitable to man's place, He 
 ordained for him his Wisdom, which is the fear of the Lord and to 
 depart from evil. 
 
 The Wisdom spoken of throughout the chapter is a possessionof 
 God alone, it is His who is Creator ; man has a wisdom also, which
 
 V. 28.] JOB, XXVIII. 20 1 
 
 And to depart from evil zs understanding. 
 
 is that of the creature, to fear the Lord. Tliere is not, however, in 
 all the chapter the shadow of a complaint; there is no turning of the 
 spirit against God (ch. xv. 13) under the feeling that the "envious" 
 Creator has reserved the higher insight for Himself, and only bound on 
 mankind the heavy burden of "fearing" Him. Such a thought is 
 %Yholly at variance with the spirit of the passage. The speaker is calm 
 and reflective and, to all appearance, satisfied that things are as we see 
 them because they could not be otherwise. 
 
 Wisdom is the idea or principle lying under the order of the Universe, 
 the world plan. This order of the world, however, is not a mere 
 physical one, an order of "nature." Such an idea as "nature" was 
 foreign to the Hebrew mind. Equally unknown was the idea of a 
 mere physical constitution of things. The constitution of the world 
 was moral, and hence the life and destinies of men, no less than the 
 phenomena of the world, were comprised under Wisdom. 
 
 When it is said that Wisdom has no place where it can be found 
 and can be purchased for no price, the language is based upon the 
 conception of Wisdom as an objective thing ; but the meaning is that 
 intellectual apprehension of the scope of the phenomena of the world 
 and the events of man's life is beyond the reach of man ; such know- 
 ledge belongs only to God, who made the world. 
 
 To inculcate this truth and the other truth related to it, that man's 
 wisdom is the fear of the Lord, is the object of the chapter. 
 
 It seems an entire misapprehension of the meaning of the passage 
 when it is regarded as teaching that "Wisdom, unlike earthly treasures, 
 is nowhere to be found in the visible, sensible world"; that "not in 
 the world of sense, but only from and with God can it be acquired, 
 through the fear of God." The distinctions introduced here are 
 modern. The passage teaches that Wisdom cannot be found either 
 in the visible or the invisible world (v. 22), neither by man nor by 
 any creature {v. 2t). It is a thing possible to God alone; and man does 
 not attain to it through the fear of the Lord, — the fear of the Lord is 
 the substitute ordained for man instead of it ; for as the absolute 
 Wisdom belongs to the Creator, so the fear of the Lord is the wisdom 
 that befits the creature. 
 
 The connexion between chapters xxvii. and xxviii. is difficult to 
 perceive. Very many suggestions have been offered, of which two may 
 be noticed. 
 
 Chap, xxvii. ends with a dark picture of the fate of the wicked at 
 "the hand of God," and ch. xxviii. begins, '■^for there is a vein for the 
 silver. ..but where shall Wisdom be found?" As Job in ch. xxvii. is 
 understood to be modifying his former statements he is supposed by 
 some to speak thus: "I concede that such (ch. xxvii. 13 — 23) is the 
 fate of the wicked [but all riddles of Providence are not thereby solved, 
 for example the afflictions of just men like myself, nor can they be 
 solved] for, though men may attain to much by their skill and insight, 
 Wisdom is beyond them." This makes the whole of ch. xxviii., intro-
 
 202 JOB, XXVIII. XXIX. 
 
 duced hy for, the support of a thought wliich is not expressed nor even 
 hinted at, but merely interpolated from the mind of the commentator. 
 
 Others, assuming Job to be the speaker, connect thus : "such 
 (ch. xxvii. 13 — 23) is the disastrous fate of the wicked [and it must be 
 so] for Wisdom [which is the way to prosperity in life] can be reached 
 only through the fear of the Lord [which such men have rejected"]. 
 Apart from the strong interpolations needful to help out the thought, 
 the extraordinary circumlocution, in the shape of the long disquisition 
 on Wisdom, which the speaker is supposed to em.ploy in order to ex- 
 press his idea, marks this attempt to construct a bridge between the two 
 chapters as desperate. Besides, if the remarks made above in regard 
 to the general meaning of ch. xxviii. have any worth, the attempt is 
 based upon a reading of the sense of that chapter which is entirely 
 wrong. 
 
 See further on these two chapters in the Introduction. 
 
 Ch. XXIX XXXI. Job's final survey of his whole cir- 
 cumstances AND CAUSE. 
 
 The passage falls into three parts, corresponding to the separate 
 chapters : 
 
 First, ch. xxlx., a sorrowful and regretful retrospect of his past hap- 
 piness. 
 
 Second, ch. xxx., a contrasted picture of his present abject condition. 
 
 Third, ch. xxxi., a solemn repudiation of all offences that might 
 account for such a change, and a new entreaty that God would reveal 
 to him the cause of his aillictions. 
 
 Ch. XXIX. A PATHETIC PICTURE OF Job's FORMER PROSPERITY 
 
 AND RESPECT. 
 
 The passage has these parts : 
 
 First, vv. 2 — 10, a sorrowful review of the happhiess of former days, 
 in which the things tliat made up this happiness, now departed, are 
 enumerated: (i) God's keeping of him (v. 1), His light upon his path 
 {v. 3), and His intimacy and protection over his tent (v. 4) ; {2) the 
 presence of his children about him (v. 5) ; (3) the prosperity, almost 
 more than natural, that llowed in upon him in ways unsought {v. 6) ; 
 and (4) above all the respect and reverence paid him by his fellow 
 citizens, as he sat in their council and went among them {vv. 7 — 10). 
 This last is the great thought that fills the chapter and forms the con- 
 trast to the wretchedness and the contempt from the meanest of man- 
 kind which he now endures (ch. xxx.). 
 
 Second, vv. 1 1 — 1 7, the reason of this universal reverence of men for 
 him^iis benevolence and impartial justice. 
 
 Third, vv. iS— 20, an almost involuntary reference to his calm and 
 sure outlook into the future amidst this universal respect. 
 
 Fourth, vv. 2 1 — 25, after which the great thought of the passage, his 
 high place among men and the delight which his benevolent inter- 
 course with them was to him, again rushes into his mind.
 
 vv. 1—7.] JOB, XXIX. 
 
 20' 
 
 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said, 29 
 
 O that 1 were as in months past, 2 
 
 As in the days ^uhen God preserved me; 
 When his candle shined upon my head, 3 
 
 And when by his light I walked through darkness; 
 As I was in the days of my youth, 4 
 
 When the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; 
 When the Almighty was yet with me, 5 
 
 JVhen my children were about me ; 
 
 When / washed my steps with butter, 6 
 
 And the rock poured me out rivers of oil; 
 When I went out io the gate through the city, 7 
 
 2. Job begins with a pathetic expression of regret as he remembers 
 happier times. His former happiness was due to God's preserving or 
 watching over him, and the loss of it was due to God's forsal^ing him. 
 
 3. This verse expands "preserved" or "watched over" in v. 2. 
 
 his candle shined upo}i\ Or, his lamp shined over. God's lamp shone 
 above him, and lighted his path, so that the darkness before him was 
 made to be light. Is. xlii. 16. God's "lamp" is a figure for His favour 
 and enlightenment and prospering of him. 
 
 4. days of my yoiith\ lit. days of tiiy autumn. It is doubtful if Job 
 means to describe by this expression any period of his own age, namely 
 his manhood. He rather compares his former time of prosperity to the 
 season of the year, the autumn, the time of fruit-gathering and plenty 
 and joy, and also thankfulness to God (clause second). 
 
 the secret of God] i.e. the intimacy and friendship of God ; comp. on 
 ch. xix. 19. God's friendship or intimacy watched over his tent. 
 
 5. Naturally the first element in Job's happiness in those past days 
 was the presence of his children. 
 
 6. The second, though a less, element of his happiness was his 
 overflowing abundance. 
 
 when I -washed my steps'] Or, when my steps were washed in butter, 
 i. e. bathed — a figure for the overflowing abundance amidst which he 
 walked. 
 
 the rock poured me out] As marg., poured out with me or beside me. 
 The unfruitful rock poured out rivers of oil beside him ; his blessings 
 were so abundant that they came unsought and seemed above nature. 
 
 7. The third and chiefest element of his past happiness was the 
 respect of men, and the joy of intercourse with them. This is the main 
 subject of the chapter. 
 
 the gate through the city] Or, the gate by the city. Job, a rich land- 
 owner, probably did not live in the city but on his estate that adjoined 
 it. He took part, however, in all the life of the city, and sat in the 
 council that guided its affairs. The "gate" is spoken of as the place 
 where the Council or Assembly of the town met. Such a "gate" is
 
 204 JOB. XXIX. [vv. 8—14. 
 
 ]]7ic/i I prepared my seat in the street; 
 
 8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves: 
 And the aged arose, atid stood ///. 
 
 9 The princes refrained talking, 
 
 And laid i/ieir hand on their mouth. 
 
 10 The nobles held their peace. 
 
 And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth. 
 
 11 When the ear heard Jiie, then it blessed me; 
 And when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: 
 
 12 Because I delivered the poor that cried, 
 
 And the fatherless, and /ii>?i that had none to help him. 
 
 13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon 
 
 me: 
 And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 
 
 14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: 
 
 usually a building of considerable size, like an arcade, and hence It is 
 spoken of here as an independent edilice by or beside the city. Others 
 render up to the city, supposing that the city, as not unusual, was built 
 on an eminence. 
 
 in the street] Y\\.. broad place, i.e. market place, a synonym for "gate." 
 
 8. hid theniselvcs] The young men withdrew out of reverence, not 
 knowing perhaps how to meet and rightly salute one so great as Job 
 was. 
 
 arose, and stood up] The aged are supposed already met in the gate 
 and seated; on Job's approach they rise and remain standing till he has 
 sat down. 
 
 9, 10. The meaning seems to be that Job's arrival put a stop to 
 speech and discussion already going on, which was not resumed until 
 he should be heard. 
 
 11 — 17. The ground of this universal reverence — ^Job's benevolent 
 care of the poor and his strict justice to their cause. 
 
 11. This verse may read, 
 
 For the car that heard of me blessed me, 
 And the eye that saw me gave witness to me. 
 Those who had only heard of him by report "blessed" him, that is, 
 "called him happy," as one whom blessing and pros]5erity must follow 
 because of iiis benevolence and mercy to the needy; and they who saw 
 him as he lived among men bore testimony to his goodness — as v. 12 
 indicates. 
 
 12. a7id him that had none to help him] Perhaps, the fatherless, that 
 had none to help him, only two classes being referred to, the "poor" 
 and the "fatherless." 
 
 14. and it clothed vie] Rather, and it clothed Itself in me. Job 
 clothed himself with righteousness, so that as a man he was lost in the
 
 vv. IS— 19.] JOB, XXIX. 205 
 
 My judgment 7C'as as a robe and a diadem. 
 
 I was eyes to the blind, 15 
 
 And feet was I to the lame. 
 
 I laas a father to the poor: i5 
 
 And the cause 7ci/iic/i I knew not I searched out. 
 
 And I brake the jaws of the wicked, 17 
 
 And pluckt the spoil out of his teeth. 
 
 Then I said, I shall die in my nest, 18 
 
 And I shall multiply my days as the sand. 
 
 My root raas spread out by the waters, 19 
 
 And the dew lay all night upon my branch. 
 
 justice that clothed him ; nnd justice clothed itself in him— he on the 
 other hand was justice become a person. 
 
 15. The blind he enabled to see that which of themselves they could 
 not perceive ; the lame he enabled to attain to that which of themselves 
 they were unable to reach. 
 
 16. t/i'e cause which I knew not] Rather, the cause of Mm whom I 
 knew not. Not merely the poor about him, to whom he might feel 
 that he owed help, but even strangers who had a cause that needed un- 
 ravelling he aided by his wisdom and justice. 
 
 17. The figure is that of a beast of prey, who has its booty already 
 in its teeth. The verse carries on v. 16 ; even when the unjust oppressor 
 seemed already to have triumphed and carried off his prey, it was torn 
 from his jaws. 
 
 18—20. Job's outlook on the future, amidst this benevolent and 
 active life. He anticipated length of days and continued prosperity. 
 
 18. in my nest'\ i. e. surrounded by those belonging to him ; he should 
 die before them, not they before him, and in the midst of his possessions. 
 
 7iiy days as the sa>id'\ Sand is the usual rendering of the word_ oc- 
 curring here — an image of countless number. Most modern writers 
 translate as the Phccnix, in accordance with Jewish tradition. The 
 Sept. renders as the branch of the palm ((poluLKos). The Heb. word 
 however can hardly have been translated paim, a meaning which does 
 not belong to it, and the present Sept. text may have arisen from a 
 misunderstanding of its original reading, tihe the Fhcenix. ^ The word 
 "nest" in the tirst clause favours this translation. This bird was 
 fabled to live 500 years, and to consume himself and his nest with fire, 
 only to arise anew to life out of the ashes. Hence the name became a 
 proverb, expressing the highest duration of life, 4>oivLKos Itt] §lovv, to 
 live as long as the Phoenix. The fable being current in Egypt the 
 author of the Book might readily become acquainted with it. 
 
 19. 20. These verses continue the description of Job's outlook into 
 the future in those happy days. They read better thus, 
 
 19. My root shall be spread out to the waters. 
 
 And the dew shall lie all night upon my branch;
 
 2o6 JOB, XXIX. [vv. 20—25. 
 
 20 My glory 7i'as fresh in me, 
 
 And my bow was renewed in my hand. 
 
 21 Unto me j?ien gave ear, and waited, 
 And kept silence at my counsel. 
 
 22 After my words they spake not again; 
 And my speech dropped upon them. 
 
 23 And they waited for me as for the rain; 
 
 And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain. 
 
 24 Jfl laughed on them, they believed // not; 
 
 And the light of my countenance they cast not down. 
 
 25 I chose out their way, and sat chief, 
 And dwelt as a king in the army. 
 As OJie that comforteth the mourners. 
 
 20. My glory shall be fresh in me, 
 
 And my bow shall be renewed in my hand. 
 
 19. Comp. the image, ch. xiv. 8, 9. The dew lying all night upon 
 his branch would keep it fresh and green. 
 
 20. His "gloiy," i.e. high respect and rank, would continue "fresh," 
 lit. new, never be tarnished or diminished. His bow, symbol of strength 
 and power, would like a tree renew its freshness and suppleness in his 
 hand. 
 
 21 — 25. Return to the main thought of the passage, his place among 
 men, his brothers. 
 
 22. dropped 7ipon them'] i.e. like a refreshing, quickening rain, when 
 they were wearied and perplexed in counsel. 
 
 24. The verse means rather, 
 
 I laughed on them, when they had no confidence, 
 And the light of my countenance they cast not down. 
 
 Job, with his broader insight and more capable counsel, smiled on 
 those who were perplexed and despondent ; what seemed insurmount- 
 able difficulty or threatened disaster to them, seemed to him a thing 
 easy to overcome and nothing to create alarm ; while on the other hand 
 the despondency of others was never able to cloud the cheerfulness 
 of his countenance, so full was his mind of resource. 
 
 25. A concluding picture of the joy which he had in the fellowship 
 of men, and how they recognised his worth and set him as a king 
 among them, and yet how he with his high advantages and great wealth 
 felt towards them, being among them as one that comforteth the 
 mourning. 
 
 / chose 07it their it'ay\ The words probably mean that Job "chose" 
 the way that led to the society of men, he gladly sought intercourse 
 with them, and delighted himself in their fellowship. The other sense, 
 I chose out the way for theni to go, is less natural.
 
 1—3.1 JOB, XXX. 2C7 
 
 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, 30 
 
 Whose fathers I would have disdained 
 
 To have set with the dogs of my flock. 
 
 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, 2 
 
 In whom old age was perished ? 
 
 For want and famine they were solitary; 3 
 
 Flying into the wilderness 
 
 In former time desolate and waste. 
 
 Ch. XXX. The contrasted picture of Job's present abject 
 
 CONDITION. 
 
 The chapter forms a contrast to ch. xxix. ; and as in that picture 
 of Job's past felicity the brightest part was the high respect he enjoj'ed 
 among men, sitting a prince in the midst of them, so in this the darkest 
 part is the contumely and indignity he now suffers from the basest and 
 most abject of mankind. Ch. xxix. ended with a reference to his former 
 high place among men, and the present chapter starts with the antithesis 
 to this, the contempt in which the base-born races now hold him. The 
 subjects touched upon in the chapter are the same as those in ch. xxix., 
 though they are pursued in the reverse order. 
 
 First, vv. I — 8, a picture of the base and miserable race of men who 
 now hold him in contempt. 
 
 Second, vv. 9 — 15, description of the indignities to which he is 
 subjected at their hands. 
 
 Third, w. 16 — 23, account of the condition to which he is reduced ; 
 his despondency of mind, his gnawing pains, and the terrible severity 
 of God under which he suffers. 
 
 Fourth, vv. 24 — 31, a iinal contrast between his present unpitied, 
 joyless condition and former days, when he himself was full of compassion 
 for them in trouble and when his life was filled with music and 
 gladness. 
 
 1. yoiinger thait /] Comp. what was said of the demeanour of 
 the youths in former days, ch. xxx. 8. 
 
 wotcld have disdained to have set\ Or, I disdained to set. 
 
 2. The verse refers to the fatheis {v. 1 ), and gives the reason why 
 Job did not employ them, or consider them worthy of a treatment equal 
 to that of his dogs — they were enfeebled and fallen into premature 
 decay. Yet the children of these miserable people now have him 
 in derision. In the East the "dogs of the flock " have only one use, 
 viz. to guard the flock and the encampment from attacks by night. 
 
 3 — 8. Description of this wretched class of outcasts. The tetises 
 should all be put in the present. The race of people referred to appears 
 to be the same as that in ch. xxiv. 
 
 3. The verse reads, 
 
 "With want and hunger they are gaunt, 
 
 They gnaw the desert, in former time desolate and waste.
 
 2o8 JOB, XXX. [vv. 4— 'O- 
 
 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, 
 
 And juniper \oois for their meat. 
 
 They were driven forth from among men, 
 
 (They cried after them as after a thief;) 
 
 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, 
 
 In caves of the earth, and in the rocks. 
 
 Among the bushes they brayed; 
 
 Under the nettles they were gathered together. 
 
 They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: 
 
 They were viler than the earth. 
 
 And now am I their song. 
 
 Yea, I am their byword. 
 
 They abhor me, they flee far from me, 
 
 And spare not to spit in my face. 
 
 The first clause refers to the "shrivelled" appearance of these out- 
 casts from want ; the second to their devouring the roots which they 
 can gather in the steppe [v. 4), which has for long been desolate and 
 unproductive. The word rendered " they gnaw " occurs again of Job's 
 gnawing pains, v. 17. For "in former lime," i.e. for Ions;, others 
 translate darkness : the darkness of desolation and waste — a description 
 of the desert. 
 
 4. /y i/ie bushes'] i.e. beside or among the bushes. The " mallows " 
 or "salt-wort" which they pluck as food is found among the bushes, 
 which cover it from the heat and drought, and under the shadow of 
 which it thrives. 
 Juniper roots'] Or, roots of the broom. 
 
 5 — 6. Such creatures when they approach civilized dwellings are 
 driven forth and pursued with cries as men do a thief. 
 They are driven forth from among men. 
 They cry after them as after a thief, 
 And they must dwell in the clefts of the valleys, &c. 
 The word "cliffs" in the ordinary texts here is either a misprint for 
 " clifts " or clefts, or is used in that sense. 
 
 7. ikcy brayed] Rather, they bray. 
 
 were gathered] Better, are gathered, or perhaps rather, strcteh them- 
 selves, i.e. fling themselves down. Their cries are like those of the 
 wild ass seeking for food (ch. vi. 5), and they throw themselves down 
 like wild beasts under the bushes in the desert. 
 
 8. The verse reads in close connexion with v. 7, 
 
 Children of fools, yea chiUlren of base men, 
 
 They are scourged out of the land. 
 Children of "base men," lit. of no name, i.e. base born, they are 
 beaten or " crushed " out of the land. 
 
 9—10. Job's treatment now at the hands of these outcasts.
 
 vv. II— 13.] JOB, XXX. 209 
 
 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, : 
 
 They have also let loose the bridle before me. 
 
 Upon my right hand rise the youth; i 
 
 They push away my feet, 
 
 And they raise up against me the ways of their destruction. 
 
 They mar my path, : 
 
 With "spit in my face " comp. cli. xvii. 6. In ch. xxiv. Job referred 
 to this miserable race with compassion ; they had often no doubt 
 excited his pity, and he saw in their lot and in the injustice and cruelties 
 which they suffered at the hands of more prosperous men a strange 
 mystery of providence. Now he speaks of their conduct to himself 
 with resentment ; for it was no requital of any injury he had ever done 
 them. Yet though they might mistake Job's individual feeling to 
 them, he was one of the class that had robbed them and that continued 
 the robbery and oppression, and they avenged their wrongs on him 
 with a malicious delight in the calamities that had overtaken him. 
 
 11 — 14. Further description of the outrageous insults of these base 
 outcasts. 
 
 11. F. 1 1 is very variously understood ; it may mean, 
 
 For they have loosed their rein and humbled me. 
 
 They have cast off the bridle before me. 
 So taken, the two clauses have much the same meaning, each being a 
 figurative manner of saying that the low rabble have cast off all restraint, 
 and subject the sufferer to painful humiliations. The verb in the first 
 clause is JzV?^., but may distribute to each the conduct of the whole. 
 Others, however, make the subject to be God, rendering : Because 
 he has loosed his rein and humbled me, they also have cast off the 
 bridle before me (A. V.). There is nothing, however, to indicate such 
 an antithesis between two different subjects m the two clauses. Another 
 reading gives 7}iy rein or cord (A. V.), but no help comes from adopting 
 this. 
 
 12. This verse reads. 
 
 Upon the right hand riseth up a (low) brood, 
 
 They push away my feet. 
 
 And they cast up against me their ways of destruction. 
 By "pushing away" his feet, appears to be meant thrusting him away 
 from place to place. The last clause refers to the practice of besiegers 
 casting up a "mount" or raised way on which to approach the be- 
 leaguered town and carry destruction to if, such " mounts " are here 
 called "their ways of destruction." 
 
 13. They mar my path] Or, they break up my path. The reference 
 can hardly be to the path or way leading to the besieged place [v. 12), 
 so that the approach of succour is cut off; if the figure be continued the 
 path must rather be the way of escape. Perhaps the figure is departed 
 from in this clause, and the words may be taken more generally as 
 meaning the path o/his life, which they make it impossible to go in. 
 
 JOB 14
 
 2IO JOB, XXX. [vv. 14—17. 
 
 They set forward my calamity, 
 They have no helper. 
 J4 They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: 
 In the desolation they rolled themselves upon me 
 
 15 Terrors are turned upon me: 
 They pursue my soul as the wind : 
 
 And my welfare passeth away as a cloud. 
 
 16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; 
 The days of affliction have taken hold upon me. 
 
 17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: 
 And my sinews take no rest. 
 
 set forward my calamity] i.e. help on my downfall — aggravate my 
 afflictions and advance the issue of them. 
 
 tluy have no helper] Or, they who have no helper. The phrase "to 
 have no helper " means to be one shunned and despised of all. Yet 
 such persons now persecute him with injurious insult. The words are 
 an involuntary exclamation. The phrase might mean: against whom 
 there is 110 helper ; i.e. none to rescue Job from them, or to interfere in 
 his behalf against them. 
 
 14. The verse reads, 
 
 They come in as through a wide breach, 
 Amidst the crash they roll themselves upon me. 
 
 The figure is that of a stormed fastness. The "crash" is that of the 
 falling walls. 
 
 15. Terrors are turned against me, 
 
 They chase away my honour like the wind ; 
 And my welfare is passed away as a cloud. 
 
 He is assailed by terrors. The words "like the wind" mean, like as 
 the wind chases away (the chaff, &c.). On the figure of the dissolving 
 cloud comp. vii. 9. The expression "terrors" indicates that, though 
 Job is here speaking of his injurious treatment at the hands of this 
 rabble, it is not merely the external ignominy that fdls his mind ; it is 
 the deeper moral problem which such abasement raises. Such ex- 
 pressions, however, have suggested to several writers that what Job 
 describes in vv. 11 — 15 is not the outrageous insults of the base-born 
 outcasts referred to in vv. i — 10, but his afflictions, under the figure of 
 an assailing army sent against him from God, comp. ch. xvi. 12 — 14, 
 xix. 12. The passage is difficult, but upon the whole this view is less 
 natural. 
 
 16. The condition of despondency to which Job was reduced. 
 
 17. His tormenting pains. 
 
 In the night season my bones are pierced (and fall) off from me, 
 And my gnawing pains take no rest. 
 
 The first clause refers to his tormenting pains, severest in the night,
 
 vv. 18—23.] JOB, XXX. 211 
 
 By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: i3 
 
 It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. 
 
 He hath cast me into the mire, 19 
 
 And I am become like dust and ashes. 
 
 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear mc: 20 
 
 I stand ?//, and thou regardest me not. 
 
 Thou art become cruel to me: => 
 
 With thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. 
 
 Thou Hftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride 22 
 
 upon it. 
 And dissolvest my substance. 
 
 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, 23 
 
 And to the house appointed for all living. 
 
 under which his bones seem pierced and his limbs to be wrenched 
 from him. " My gnawing pains" is lit. my gnaivcrs. 
 
 18. The verse is obscure. 
 
 the great force of 7ny disease^ Or, by his great power ; i. e. God's 
 power, put forth in Job's afflictions. 
 
 my garment changed\ lit. disguised or disfigured. 
 
 it bindeth Pie] The meaning may be : it clingeth to me like the neck 
 of my itiner garment. Tiie reference is supposed to be to his emaciated 
 condition ; his outer garment hangs on him disfigured, clinging to him 
 like the neck or opening of the close-fitting inner tunic. The connexion 
 and the phrase "by His great power," i.e. the power that causes in- 
 tolerable agonies, might suggest that the reference in the verse is to Job's 
 writhing under his pains till the clothes are twisted tightly about 
 him. 
 
 19 — 23. God's great severity. 
 
 19. The verse probably refers to the appearance which Job's body 
 presented in its leprous condition; this was due to God, who is repre- 
 sented as causing it by plunging Job as it were into the mire. 
 
 20. This verse reads, 
 
 I cry unto thee and thou dost not hear me, 
 I stand up, and thou lookest at me. 
 
 The second clause describes Job's importunity in his appeal, but the 
 only reply is that God "looketh" at him, i.e. with silent indifference, 
 or in stern severity. 
 
 22. dissolvest my substance] Rather, dissolvest me in the tempest; 
 lit. in the roar of the storm. He is carried away and dissolved or 
 dissipated, that is, destroyed in the whirlwind. 
 
 23. This verse explains v. i^ and supports it. Job knows that his 
 afflictions can end in nothing but his death. 
 
 house appointed for] Or, house of meeting for all living, i.e. the 
 grave, or Sheol, the place of the dead. 
 
 14-2
 
 212 JOB, XXX. [vv. 24—29. 
 
 24 Howbcit Jie ■will not stretch out Jiis hand to the 
 
 grave, 
 Though they cry in his destruction. 
 
 25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble ? 
 Was 7iot my soul grieved for the poor? 
 
 26 When I looked for good, then evil came unto vie: 
 And when I waited for light, there came darkness. 
 
 27 My bowels boiled, and rested not : 
 The days of afihction prevented me. 
 
 28 I went mourning without the sun : 
 
 I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. 
 
 29 I am a brother to dragons, 
 
 24. This obscure verse may mean, 
 
 Yet doth not one stretch out the hand in his fall? 
 
 When he is destroyed doth he not because of this utter a cry ? 
 
 The word fall is lit. heap, i. e. ruin. The verse, so interpreted means, 
 Does not one stretch out his hand for help in his downfall? does he 
 not when being destroyed, or, in his misfortune, utter a 017? Job 
 explains how in his misery he cries unto God, it is the instinct of 
 mankind. The following verse, referring to Job's compassion when he 
 saw others in trouble, suggests that he naturally looked for the same 
 compassion to himself. The word cry (second clause), if referred to a 
 different root, might mean riclus (so ch. xxxvi. 19), and the verse would 
 mean, surely one stretches not out his hand against a heap (of ruins), or, 
 hath he riches from another'' s (lit. Iiis, or its) destruction? Job cha- 
 racterizes himself as a heap of ruins, and, appealing to the Almighty, 
 argues that against such a thing one does not stretch out a hostile 
 hand ; neither does one derive advantage to himself from another's 
 calamity. This sense fits into v. 25 very well — Job, so fiir from in- 
 creasing misfortune which he saw, commiserated and helped it. 
 
 25. The compassion which Job seeks in his affliction it was his 
 practice and nature to bestow. 
 
 26. This being his feeling towards those in trouble he looked that 
 his own prosperity would continue ; his afflictions were unexpected. 
 
 27 — 30. Further details of his sufferings in his time of affliction. 
 The tenses should be put in the present. 
 
 27. ]\Iy boivels boiled] Rather, boil. 
 
 prrocnted me\ i.e. are come before me, have overtaken me. The 
 bowels are the seat of feeling; and the words "my bowels boil" de- 
 scribe the tumult of feelings, griefs, regrets and pains, that worked 
 within him. 
 
 28. / 'd'ent mourning'] Better perhaps, I go blackened, not by the 
 Bun. The reference is to his aj^pcarance from his disease : he is black, 
 but his blackness is not due to the sun, comp. Song i. 6. 
 
 29. The verse expands the words "I cry" in v. 28,
 
 vv. 30, 31 ; I.] JOB, XXX. XXX r. 213 
 
 And a companion to owls. 
 
 My skin is black upon me, 30 
 
 And my bones are burnt with heat. 
 
 My harp also is turned to mourning, 31 
 
 And my organ into the voice of them that weep. 
 
 I made a covenant with mine eyes; 31 
 
 I am a brother to the jackals, 
 And a companion to the ostriches. 
 
 'I'he mournful howl of the jackals is elsewhere referred to, Mic. i. 8; 
 the ostrich also sends forth a weird, melancholy cry, particularly by 
 night; hence in ch. xxxix. 13 the female ostrich receives the name of 
 "waller." 
 
 30. is black upon me\ Or, is black zxi^ falls /;-^;« inc. The "heat" 
 in his bones refers to his burning pains. 
 
 31. The joyous music of his former life is turned into wailing. The 
 "organ" is \htpipe, ch. xxi. 12; comp. Lam. v. 15. 
 
 Ch. XXXI. Job solemnly clears himself of all offences. 
 
 The chapter consists of a series of protestations on the one hand, ac- 
 companied on the other by curses on himself if these protestations of 
 innocence are not true. Occasionally appeals are made to God to judge 
 him; and in some instances the considerations are stated which weighed 
 with him and restrained him from the sins of which he protests his inno- 
 cence. In Job's present condition, when he now speaks, some of these 
 imprecations appear unsuitable. But we must consider that as he is 
 reviewing his past life, his mind throws him back into the circumstances 
 in which he was then living, and this brings before him the considerations 
 and feelings which then weighed with him. 
 
 The chapter falls into three sections. 
 
 First, vv. I — 1-2, Job clears himself of all those secret sensual desires 
 of the heart which seduce men into shameful conduct. 
 
 Second, vv. 13 — 23, he repudiates all abuse of his power in reference 
 to those inferior in rank, and all selfish indifference to the sufferings and 
 wants of the unfortunate. 
 
 Third, vv. 24 — 40, he clears himself of every secret feeling that would 
 be accounted dishonourable, whether in regard to men or God. 
 
 1 — 12. Job clears himself of cherishing or yielding to sensuous 
 desires. This idea is pursued through a series of instances ; (i) simple 
 desire, excited by the eye, vv. i — 4; (2) actual yielding to such desire 
 in word or deed, vv. 5 — 8 ; (3) the grossest form of sensual sin, vv. 9 — 12. 
 
 1. The " eye," the lusts of which are frequently spoken of in scrip- 
 ture, is the great inlet through which that which is without affects the 
 heart and stirs evil desire. Job made a "covenant" or agreement with 
 his eyes, that they should obey his mind, or act always in harmony with 
 his higher self.
 
 214 JOB, XXXI. [vv. 2—6. 
 
 Why then should I think upon a maid ? 
 
 For what portion of God /s there from above ? 
 
 And what inheritance of the Almighty from on high ? 
 
 Is not destruction to the wicked ? 
 
 And a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity ? 
 
 Doth not he see my ways, 
 
 And count all my steps } 
 
 If I have walked with vanity, 
 
 Or //my foot hath hasted to deceit; 
 
 Let me be weighed in an even balance, 
 
 That God may know mine integrity. 
 
 why then slwichi I think'] Or, how then should I look? Under 
 liis contract with his eyes such sinful looking upon .a woman (Matt. 
 V. 28) was impossible; comp. Rom. vi. 2, We that died to sin, how 
 shall we live any longer therein? 
 
 2 — 4. The considerations that restrained him from such a sin. These 
 are recited as they then influenced his mind. 
 
 2. And what is the portion from God above? 
 
 And what the heritage from the Almighty on high ? 
 
 3. Is it not destruction to the wicked, 
 And calamity to the workers of iniquity? 
 
 4. Here "ways" and "steps" are said of things so slight as the 
 glance of the eye. These are "seen" and "counted" by God. The 
 thought of God in these verses is as lofty as the conception of morality 
 is close and inward. 
 
 5—8. These verses continue to amplify the thought that Job refused 
 to give way to any evil desire. The protestation lies in v. 5 and v. 7, 
 the curse imprecated on himself in v. 8, while v. 6 is parenthetical, 
 thrown in to confirm the denial implicitly contained in v. 5. 
 
 5. If I have walked with falsehood, 
 And my foot hath hasted after deceit 
 
 6. (Let him weigh me in an even balance. 
 And let God know mine integrity), 
 
 7. If my step hath turned out of the way, <S;c. 
 
 5. "Falsehood" or vanity, which is not merely in word but in 
 thought, and "deceit" are here treated as persons; with the one Job 
 denies that he has "walked," i.e. accompanied it, and the other he 
 denies that he "hasted after," i.e. followed it. He has made no com- 
 panion of falsity nor followed after deceit, to do aught that they would 
 seduce him to. From the imprecation in v. 8, Let me sow and another 
 eat I it is probable that what Job clears himself of is all false dealing 
 prompted by cupidity. 
 
 6. A solemn assertion before God the judge that his denial in v. 5 is 
 true. The words are parenthetical.
 
 vv. 7— 12.] JOB, XXXI. 215 
 
 If my step hath turned out of the way, 3 
 
 And mine heart walked after mine eyes, 
 
 And if any blot hath cleaved to my hands; 
 
 Then let me sow, and let another eat; J 
 
 Yea, let my offspring be rooted out. 
 
 If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, c 
 
 Or ifl have laid wait at my neighbour's door; 
 
 Then let my wife grind unto another, j 
 
 And let others bow down upon her. 
 
 For this is a heinous crime; 3 
 
 Yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. 
 
 For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, 1 
 
 And would root out all mine increase. 
 
 7. out of the tvay] i.e. the way of rectitude, set before him by God, 
 ch. xxiii. 1 1. This going out of ihe way is amplitied in the next words, 
 if tnine heart walked after mine eyes, i. e. if my mind consented and 
 yielded to the lust of the eye. By such yielding he would have fallen into 
 deeds that would have left a "blot" or stain upon his hands; comp. 
 Ps. xxiv. 4. 
 
 8. The imprecation. 
 
 let my offspring be rooted out] Rather, let my produce, i.e. what 
 springs out of that which I have planted or sown ; comp. Lev. xxvi, 16 ; 
 Deut. xxviii. 33. 
 
 9 — 12. The grossest sensual sin, adultery. 
 
 heart have been deceived'] Or, befooled, infatuated. 
 
 10. To "grind unto another," i.e. at the mill, is to be the slave of 
 another. Is. xlvii. 2. The slave was at the same time usually the con- 
 cubine of her master, and the curse means, Let my wife be the slave 
 (first clause) and the concubine (second clause) of others. It is pro- 
 bable, however, that in usage the language of the first clause carried the 
 same sense as the second. 
 
 11. a heinous crime] Or, an enormity, Hos. vi. 9 marg.; cf. Lev. 
 xviii. 17. Adultery was a capital crime in Israel, Deut. xxii. 22; 
 John viii. 5. 
 
 12. to destruction"] Heb. abaddon, i.e. Sheol or Death, as a place, 
 ch. xxvi. 6, xxviii. 22. As to the complete ruin which this sin entailed 
 comp. the passage Prov. vi. 24 — 35, particularly the last verses ; see also 
 Prov. V. 8 — 14, vii. 26, 27. 
 
 13 — 23. Job repudiates all misuse of the power which his rank gave 
 him, denying (i) that he treated contemptuously his servants when they 
 had a cause against him, vv. 13 — 15 ; (2) that he was indifferent to the 
 wants of the unprotected, or refused to bestow on them of his own bread 
 and raiment, vv. 16 — 20; (3) that he violently wronged any, even 
 though he could have secured a judgment favourable to him before the 
 tribunal, v, 21 ; after which follows the imprecation, vv. 22, 23.
 
 2i6 JOB, XXXI. [vv. 13—21. 
 
 13 If" I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my 
 
 maidservant, 
 When they contended with me; 
 
 14 What then shall 1 do when God riseth up? 
 And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? 
 
 15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him ? 
 And did not one fashion us in the womb ? 
 
 16 If I have withheld the poor from ///eir desire, 
 Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; 
 
 17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, 
 And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; 
 
 i3 (For from my youth he was brought up 7C'i//i nie, as ?<:'//// 
 a filth er, 
 And I have guided her from my mother's womb;) 
 
 19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, 
 Or any poor without covering; 
 
 20 If his loins have not blessed me, 
 
 And //he were nof warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 
 
 21 If I have lift up my hand against the fatherless, 
 When I saw my help in the gate : 
 
 13. Job refers to what he miqht have done in Ins high position ; he 
 might have "despised" or slighted the cause of his servants vvlien they 
 had ground of comijlaint against liim. He treated them not as possessions 
 but as persons, wiio had rights as well as himself, 14, 15. This treat- 
 ment of them was forced on him by the feeling that all men, his servant 
 and himself alike, are children of the same one God, who will avenge 
 wrong done to any, whether slave or free ; Ephes. vi. 9. 
 
 14. 7i'/h->i God riseth tip] i.e. to judge, as the expression "visiteth" 
 in the next clause suggests. 
 
 16. eyes of the 'vidow to fail] i.e. with looking in vain for help, 
 Ps. Ixix. 3. 
 
 18. he was broiis;ht jip with me] Rather, he (the fatherless) grew up 
 ■with me. Job probably did not achieve his greatness, he was born to 
 it. And possibly he inherited the traditions of a great and benevolent 
 house. And thus even from his youth he took the place toward the 
 poor of a patron and father. 
 
 19. seen any perish] Rather, perishing, or ready to perish, ch. 
 xxix. 13. 
 
 21. if I have lift up my hand] i. e. to strike him down. The ex- 
 pression is figurative, meaning to oppress violently. 
 
 I sazv viy help in the gate] i.e. because he saw that if the cause came 
 before the judges (the gate) he could secure from them, by his in- 
 fluence, a verdict favourable to himself.
 
 vv. 22— 28.] JOB, XXXT. 217 
 
 Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, 23 
 
 And mine arm be broken from the bone. 
 
 For destruction from God was a terror to me, 23 
 
 And by reason of his highness I could not endure. 
 
 If I have made gold my hope, 24 
 
 Or have said to the fine gold, Thoic art my confidence; 
 
 If I rejoiced because my wealth zvas great, 25 
 
 And because mine hand had gotten much; 
 
 If I beheld the sun when it shined, 26 
 
 Or the moon walking in brightness; 
 
 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, 27 
 
 Or my mouth hath kissed my hand: 
 
 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: 23 
 
 For I should have denied the God tJiat is above. 
 
 22. The imprecation is closely connected in form with the pre- 
 ceding verse — if I have lifted up mine hand, then let mine arm, &c. 
 
 7nine arm fall] Or, my shoulder fall. 
 
 from the bone\ Marg. the chattel bone, " an old term for the collar 
 bone" (Wright, Bible Word-Book). The word is lit. tube, or shaft. 
 
 23. highness I could not endure] Or, majesty I was powerless, lit. 
 / tvas unable. The verse closes the whole passage vv. 16 — 22, ex- 
 pressing the feeling by which Job's conduct was regulated ; his awe 
 before the majesty of God and fear of His judicial anger restrained him, 
 so that he was "powerless" to commit any of the wrongs to which he 
 has just made reference. 
 
 24 — 34. Repudiation of another class of secret sins, that would have 
 dishonoured him : (i) secret joy in the possession of wealth — that love 
 of gain which is idolatry (Col. iii. 5), vv. 24, 25 ; (2) a momentary im- 
 pulse to salute the rising sun or the moon in her splendour and thus be 
 false to the true spiritual God on high, vv. 26 — 28; (3) secret joy of 
 heart at the misfortune of his enemy, vv. 29, 30 ; (4) narrowness of 
 soul and niggardliness, vv. 31, 32 ; and finally, hypocrisy, vv. 33, 34. 
 
 27. or my mouth hath kissed my hand] lit. and my hand hath kissed 
 my month. The meaning is, if his hand touched his mouth "in order 
 to wave the homage of the lips towards the object of adoration" (Con.). 
 Pliny (quoted in Del.) says, Ittter adorandicm dexteram ad oscithtm 
 referimus et totum corpus circtimagimus. The worship of the heavenly 
 bodies was widely spread in the East and in Arabia. The remarkable 
 passage, Jer. xliv. 17 seq., shews that before the Exile worship of the 
 "queen of heaven" had long been practised among all classes and in 
 all the towns of Israel ; comp. Ezek. viii. 16. 
 
 28. Comp. Deut. iv. 19, xvii. 3 — 7. Such adoration would have been 
 a "denial" of, or a being false to, God, the one spiritual God, above. 
 Much more than a thousand years later Mohammed has still to say to 
 his Arabs, "Worship not the sun, neither the moon : but worship God
 
 2i8 JOB, XXXI. [vv. 29-31. 
 
 eg If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated nne, 
 Or Hft up myself when evil found him: 
 
 30 (Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin 
 By wishing a curse to his soul.) 
 
 31 If the men of my tabernacle said not, 
 
 O that we had of his flesh ! we cannot be satisfied. 
 
 who created them," Kor. ch. xli. A pretty fable is told also of Abraham — 
 " When night closed over him he saw a star, and said, This is my Lord ; 
 but when it set he said, I love not those that set. And when he saw 
 the moon appearing he said. This is my Lord ; but when it set he said. 
 Surely if my Lord direct me not aright I shall be of the people that go 
 astray. And when he saw the sun rising he said, This is my Lord, this 
 is the greatest ; but when it set he said, O my people, verily I am clear 
 of what ye associate with God ; verily I have turned my face towards 
 Him who hath created heaven and ea)th," &c. Kor. ch. vi. 76. 
 
 29. at the destruction] Or, at the misfortune, ch. xii. 5. 
 tift tip myself] Or, exiilted. 
 
 30. The verse, which is parenthetical, reads, 
 
 (Yea, I suffered not my mouth to sin, 
 
 To ask, with a curse, his life). 
 He was so far from rejoicing in the evil that befell his enemy that he 
 had never permitted himself even in hasty anger to throw out an impre- 
 cation against him. On the obligation of love to enemies comp. 
 Prov. xxiv. 17 seq., xxv. 21 se(/. 
 
 31. The verse appears to mean, 
 
 If the men of my tent have not said, 
 
 Would that we could llnd any not filled with his flesh ! 
 
 The men of his tent are of course his servants. The verse describes 
 Job's princely hospitality ; his servants are represented as expressing 
 the wish that they could find any one who has not yet (like others) been 
 filled from Job's rich table — hence the particular word flesh is used 
 instead of the more general "meat," flesh jjeing served chiefly on occa- 
 sions of entertainment in the East. The servants were well aware of 
 their master's generosity, and did their best to give it effect. The 
 language might appear exaggerated were it not a question of Oriental 
 manners. In the story of the Banker of Bagdad in the Arabian 
 NiglUs the servants are introduced speaking in the same way. The 
 Caliph Elmo'taddid and his companion Ibn Hamdoon went out one 
 day, disguised as merchants, to divert themselves among the people ; and 
 being overpowered by the heat of the sun they sat down to rest at the 
 door of a large mansion. Out of this house there came a servant, ac- 
 companied by another, like a piece of the moon ; and the one said to 
 the other, Our master will be sad to-day, for it is already this time of 
 day and no one has come to him, and he loves to have guests. The 
 Caliph was surprised at his words and said, This is proof of the 
 generosity of the owner of this mansion, we must go in, &c.
 
 vv. 32—35.] JOB, XXXI. 219 
 
 The stranger did not lodge in the street: 32 
 
 But I opened my doors to the traveller. 
 If I covered my transgressions as Adam, 33 
 
 By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom : 
 Did I fear a great multitude, 34 
 
 Or did the contempt of families terrify me, 
 • That I kept silence, atid went not out ^the door? 
 
 O that one would hear me ! 35 
 
 32. to the tmvellei-'] The word might mean to the way, the street ; 
 the general sense is the same. The verse confirms Job's universal 
 hospitality and liberality. 
 
 33 — 34. The verses should probably be read, 
 
 33. If I have covered my transgressions like men. 
 Hiding mine iniquity in my bosom, 
 
 34. Because I feared the great multitude, 
 
 And the contempt of the families terrified me. 
 
 So that I kept still and went not out of the door. 
 
 33. as Adani] This is possible, and so Hos. vi. 7 ; such a reference, 
 however, seems without motive here. The words rather mean, like 
 common 7!ien, like the luorld (Ew.), Ps. xvii. 4. 
 
 34. a great viultitude\ i.e. the general mass, or the assembly, of 
 the people. 
 
 co7itempt of families] i.e. the great clans or tribes. The verse 
 gives the reason why Job, if he had been conscious of sins, would have 
 refrained from going "forth at the door, — fear of the contempt of men 
 would have deterred him. The passage ch. xxix. 7 seq. shews that he 
 was deterred by no such fear, he constantly frequented the assembly 
 and " sat as king " in the midst of the people. 
 
 What Job affirms in these verses is not of course that, when he was 
 guilty of any transgressions, he did not conceal but openly acknowledged 
 them. On the contrary he affirms that he had no sins which he needed 
 to conceal. He lived in the broad day and without fear confronted all 
 (ch. xxix. 7 seq.) because he had nothing to hide. Job repudiates all 
 hypocritical conduct or secret transgression. This was the charge his 
 friends made against him. And this consciousness of purity of heart, 
 struggling with false accusations of hypocrisy, forces from him a new 
 appeal to God to make known to him the sins laid to his charge, 
 ■vv. 35 — 37. The verses are closely connected with vv. 33, 34. 
 
 35. Oh that I had one who would hear me ! — 
 
 Behold my signature ! Let the Almighty answer me !— 
 And that I had the charge which mine adversary had written ! 
 
 36. Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder, 
 I would bind it as a crown unto me ; 
 
 37. I would declare unto him the number of my steps. 
 As a prince would I go near unto him. 
 
 35. The words "one that would hear me," though spoken generally,
 
 JOB, XXXI. [vv. 36— 3S. 
 
 Behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, 
 
 And that mine adversary had written a book. 
 3$ Surely I would take it upon my shoulder. 
 
 And bind it as a crown to me. 
 37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; 
 
 As a prince would I go near unto him. 
 33 If my land cry against me, 
 
 refer of course to God. It is He tliat Job desires to liear him. In the 
 third clause he names Him his adversary, i.e. opponent in the plea 
 concerning his innocence. And he desires that he had the charge, Heb. 
 book, i.e. the libcUus, libel or indictment, which his accuser had written 
 and handed in against him. The middle clause consists of two exclama- 
 tions which force themselves in between the two parts of the wish 
 which he expresses. By the first, behold my sigitatitrc, Jol) means to say 
 that he affixes his signature to all the protestations of his innocence just 
 made in the preceding verses of the chapter, and attests them as his 
 plea on his side. By the other, let the Almighty ansiver me, he challenges 
 God, his accuser, to put in His plea in answer to his own. The language 
 is evidently taken from the judicial practice of the time, according 
 to which both charge and defence were laid before the court in writing. 
 This is known to have been the practice in Egypt, though perhaps 
 in many parts of the East the proceedings may have been oral. The 
 \woiAsignatuj-e or sign (Ezek. ix. 4) is tav in Heb. This is the name of 
 the letter T, the old form of which was a cross, but the inference 
 that Job's signature, or that signatures in his time, had the form of 
 a cross is scarcely warranted. 
 
 36. ji/>on my sIionHer\ If Job but possessed the Almighty's indict- 
 ment against him he would not hide it as a thing that caused him 
 shame, lie would bear it in triumjih before the world as that which was 
 his greatest honour. He would even wear it as a diadem upon 
 his brows, as that which would give him kingly dignity and adornment. 
 The language expresses the strongest assurance of innocence and 
 that the indictment could in truth contain nothing against him. 
 
 37. the niiuiber of my stems'] i.e. every act of my life. 
 
 as a prince^ In the consciousness and pride of true nobility ; with the 
 confident step and erect bearing of one who knows that nothing dis- 
 honouring can be laid to his charge. 
 
 38 — 40. Job resumes his protestations, imprecating a curse upon his 
 lands if he have acquired them unjustly, and wishing that they 
 may bring forth weeds instead of grain. 
 
 38. If my land cry out against me. 
 
 And the furrows thereof weep together; 
 
 39. If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, 
 And caused the soul of its owners to expire : 
 
 40. Let thistles, &c. 
 
 38. The literal meaning of the figurative expressions in this verse
 
 vv. 39, 40.] JOB, XXXI. XXXII. 221 
 
 Or that the furrows Hkewise thereof complain; 
 
 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, 39 
 
 Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: 
 
 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, 40 
 
 And cockle instead of barley. 
 
 The words of Job are ended. 
 
 is given in v. 39. The land, unjustly seized, is supposed to cry out to 
 heaven against the cruelty and wrong done its true owner from whom it 
 had been robbed ("without money," v. 39). The land and its rightful 
 owner have a common cause, it feels and weeps over the injury he has 
 suffered. 
 
 39. to lose their life\ lit. if I have caused the soul of the oivners 
 thereof to b7-cathe out. The reference may be either to oppressions 
 which brought the owners to death, after which their land was seized 
 without money, or to oppressive appropriation of the land so that the 
 rightful owner was brought to death through penury and misery. 
 
 40. For "thistles" perhaps thorns is more accurate. The word 
 translated "cockle" means perhaps any noisome weed. The concrete 
 expressions, however, add to the vigour of the passage. 
 
 Some have thought that these last verses (38 — 40) have been misplaced, 
 and ought to be introduced at some other point in the chapter, allowing 
 Job's challenge vv. 35 — 37 to be the last words which he utters. 
 To modern feeling the passage would thus gain in rhetorical effect ; 
 but it is not certain that the Author's taste would have coincided with 
 modern feeling in this instance. And it is difficult to find in the 
 chapter a suitable place where the verses could be inserted. If the 
 verses belong to the passage at all, which there is no reason to doubt, 
 they seem to stand in the only place suitable for them. 
 
 The concluding statement "the words of Job are ended" hardly 
 belongs to the Author of the Book. It is the remarlc of some 
 editor or copyist, who drew attention to the fact that Job's connected 
 discourses here come to an end. It is rather hazardous to draw any 
 critical conclusion from it in reference to the immediately following 
 speeches of Elihu. 
 
 Ch. XXXII.— XXXVII. The speeches of Elihu. 
 Ch. XXXII. Introduction of Elihu, a new speaker ; with 
 
 HIS REASONS FOR TAKING PART IN THE CONTROVERSY. 
 
 The Chapter contains three parts : 
 
 First, V. I. The reason why Job's three friends refrained from 
 speaking further — they failed to make any impression on Job : he was 
 right in his own eyes. 
 
 Second, w. 2 — 5. The Author in his own words introduces Elihu, 
 stating the reasons which constrained this speaker to take part in the 
 dispute. The anger of Elihu was kindled, frst, against Job, because 
 he justified himself as against God, held himself in the right at the ex-
 
 JOB, XXXII. [vv. I- 
 
 32 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was 
 
 2 righteous in his own eyes. Then was kindled the wrath of 
 Ehhu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of 
 Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justi- 
 
 3 fied himstlf rather than God. Also against his three friends 
 
 pense of God's righteousness ; and second, against the three friends 
 because they failed to bring forward such arguments as effectively to 
 condemn Job, that is, shew him to be in the wrong in his complaints of 
 God. In other words, the sole point which Elihu has in view is justi- 
 fication of God, and towards this point all his reasoning is directed. 
 Job is guilty of wrong against God, and the three friends are to blame 
 because they have not been able to bring this wrong home to Job. 
 
 These five verses are in prose, though curiously enough they are 
 pointed with the Poetical Accentuation. 
 
 Third, vv. 6 — 22. Elihu is then introduced speaking in his own 
 person, and stating the reasons which hitherto have kept him from 
 speaking, and those which induce him now to take part in the contro- 
 versy. He would have spoken sooner had he not been a youth in the 
 midst of aged and presumably wise men. But he reflects, and indeed 
 present events shew it, that wisdom is not the prerogative of mere age ; 
 it is a gift of God, and therefore he will advance his opinion. It is 
 intolerable to him {v. 19) that a man like Job, who utters such perverse 
 and godless sentiments (ch. xxxiv. 7), should not be put to silence ; 
 and he is conscious of ability {vv. 8, 18) to answer him and all his class 
 (ch. XXXV. 4). 
 
 1. heivas rigJitcoi(s\ i.e. would admit no guilt, or, was in the right 
 in his plea against God. Job's friends abandoned further argument 
 with him because they could not move him from his assertion that God 
 afflicted him wrongly and unjustly; comp. ch. xxvii. 2 — 6. 
 
 2 — 5. Introduction of Elihu, a new speaker, who appears to have 
 been a listener during the progress of the former debate. The descent 
 of Elihu is given with fuller details than in the case of the other 
 speakers. Tlie name Elihu, meaning probably viy God is he, occurs 
 elsewhere, i Sam. i. i ; i Chron. xii. 20. lie is named the Buzite. 
 Buz was brother of Uz, Gen. xxii. 21, and son of Nahor. In Jerem. 
 XXV. 23 Buz is mentioned along with Tema (cf. Job vi. 19), and reckoned 
 among the Arab tribes. The name Ram, therefore, which does not 
 occur elsevv-here, is scarcely to be taken as a contraction for Aram or 
 Syria (though comp. 2 Chr. xxii. 5, where Ramites = Aramites). 
 
 justified Itimself rather than CJod] The meaning appears to be, justi- 
 fied himself as against God, in his plea with God and at the expense of 
 God's justice. The sense is given in ch. xl. 8, where the Lord says to 
 Job, "Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be righteous"? 
 There are two points to be attended to in these passages when the 
 question of I'ight is raised, the one a formal point and the other a 
 material one. God had aftlicted Job and thus, in Job's view and the 
 view of his time, passed a verdict of wickedness on him. Against this 
 verdict Job reclaims, God does him wrong in this. This is the formal
 
 vv. 3—8.] JOB, XXXIT. 223 
 
 was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, 
 and yd had condemned Job. Now Elihu had waited till 4 
 Job had spoken, because they ivere elder than he. When 5 
 Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these 
 three men, then his wrath was kindled. 
 
 And EUhu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and 6 
 said, 
 
 I ai?i young, and ye are very old; 
 
 Wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine 
 opinion. 
 
 I said, Days should speak, 7 
 
 And multitude of years should teach wisdom. 
 
 But there is a spirit in man: 8 
 
 And the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them under- 
 standing. 
 
 question of right between Job and God. But this naturally goes back 
 into the material question of Job's past life. Elihu, defending the 
 righteousness of God, keeps before him chiefly the formal question. 
 He touches little upon Job's life and history, differing in this entirely 
 from the three friends. He makes a general, abstract question out of 
 Job's complaints against God, which he argues on general lines with 
 almost no reference to Job's particular case. Job's complaints do 
 little more than suggest to him the question, Can God be justly com- 
 plained of? 
 
 3. had found 710 answer, and yet had condemned^ Rather, had not 
 foimd an answer and condemned, i.e. found no answer wherewith to 
 condemn Job. Elihu's anger was kindled against the three friends 
 l)ecause they had not found such an answer as efilectively to put Job in 
 the wrong in his charges against God ; comp. vv. 5, 12. Elihu is more 
 deeply pained and offended by Job's charges against God than even 
 the three friends were (ch. xxxiv. 7 seq., v. 35 scq.) ; he is far from 
 blaming them for condemning Job ; neither does he hold the balance 
 between Job and them and blame them for condemning him without 
 good reasons ; he blames them for not finding such good reasons as 
 effectively to condemn him, as he deserves. Coverdale : because they 
 had found no reasonable answer to overcome him. 
 
 4. waited till Job had spoken'l Rather, waited to speak unto Job, 
 lit. waited for Job with words. Elihu had waited (till the friends 
 spoke) prepared to address Job, as he now does. 
 
 6 — 10. Elihu, being a youth, shrank from interfering in a dispute in 
 which aged men were engaged ; but he perceived that wisdom did not 
 always accompany grey hairs; it is a gift of God, and, conscious of 
 possessing it, he desires now to be heard. 
 
 8. the inspiration of the Almighty^ lit. the breath of the Almighty, 
 as ch. xxxiii. 4. Both "spirit" and "breath" refer to God's spirit of
 
 JOB, XXXII. [vv. 9—14. 
 
 9 Great men are not always wise : 
 
 Neither do the aged understand judgment. 
 
 10 Therefore I said, Hearken to me; 
 I also will shew mine opinion. 
 
 11 Behold, I waited for your words; 
 I gave ear to your reasons. 
 
 Whilst you searched out what to say. 
 
 12 Yea, I attended unto you, 
 
 And behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, 
 Or that answered his words: 
 
 13 Lest ye should say. We have found out wisdom : 
 God thrusteth him down, not man. 
 
 14 Now he hath not directed his words against me: 
 Neither will I answer him with your speeches. 
 
 life breathed into man when he is brought into existence (Gen. ii. 7), 
 there is no alkision to any extraordinary iUumination given to Elihu at 
 the moment when he speaks. This spirit of God is a spirit of intelH- 
 gence as well as of life (ch. xxxiii. 4), and under the impulse of the 
 crowding thoughts which rush into his mind at this instant Elihu feels 
 that this spirit has been given to himself in great fulness. 
 
 9. Great 7/ien] Or, old men — great in age, as the parallel in the 
 second clause explains; cf. Gen. xxv. 23 (lit. the greater shall serve 
 the less). 
 
 H — 14. Elihu, directly addressing the three friends, states more 
 clearly his reasons for taking upon him to speak : he had hoped to 
 hear them confute Job, and was disappointed in their arguments ; Job 
 may be shewn to be in the wrong, though with different arguments 
 from those they had employed. In Elihu's opinion the cause of the 
 three friends was much better than their advocacy of it. 
 
 11. / gave car to your reasous\ Or, I listened for your reasons, 
 until ye should searcli out what to say. The meaning seems to be 
 that Elihu looked for further and different arguments from the three 
 friends. 
 
 13 — 14. These verses mean, 
 
 13. Say not, We have found wisdom, 
 God may thrust him down, not man ; 
 
 14. For he hath not directed his words against me, &c. 
 
 Elihu refuses to let the three friends excuse themselves for their failure 
 to answer Job by the plea that they had found an unexpected wisdom 
 in him, against which human logic was of no avail, and which only 
 God could overcome. Job's wisdom was not so invincible. It re- 
 mained to be seen how it would come out of the encounter with another 
 wisdom, different from that of the Friends : — ^Job had not yet replied to 
 Elihu's arguments, he has not directed his words against me {v. 14, cf. ch.
 
 vv. 15—21.] JOB, XXXII. 
 
 They were amazed, they answered no more : 15 
 
 They left off speaking. 
 
 When I had waited, (for they spake not, 16 
 
 But stood still, and answered no more:) 
 
 I said, I will answer also my part, 17 
 
 I also will shew mine opinion. 
 
 For I am full (3/" matter, 18 
 
 The spirit within me constraineth me. 
 
 Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; 19 
 
 It is ready to burst like new bottles. 
 
 I will speak, that I may be refreshed: 20 
 
 I will open my lips and answer. 
 
 Let me not, I pray you, accept ajiy man's person, 21 
 
 Neither let me give flattering titles unto man. 
 
 xxxiii. 5), and these arguments would be found of another kind fiom 
 those of the three friends. 
 
 15 — 22. Turning from the tlrree friends Elihu seems to speak in 
 soliloquy and present to his own mind the singular situation : the 
 three friends are discomfited before Job and reduced to silence ; this 
 should not be ; therefore he will express his convictions. His breast 
 is filled with thoughts and emotions that will not be repressed : he 
 must speak, that he may find relief. And he will speak fearlessly and 
 in sincerity, not regarding the person of any man. 
 
 15. they left off speaking] lit. words have removed, or, are gone from 
 them (Gen. xii. 8) — they are reduced to silence. 
 
 16 — 17. V. 16 is most naturally to be taken as a question, 
 
 16. And shall I wait because they speak not, 
 Because they stand still and answer no more ? 
 
 17. I will answer also my part, &c. 
 
 The discomfiture and silence of the three friends shall not have the 
 eft'ect of imposing silence on him. 
 
 18 — 19. Elihu feels a crowd of thoughts and arguments fermenting 
 in his bosom and pressing for utterance with a force not to be resisted. 
 The word " belly " corresponds to the English " breast " or bosom. 
 What stirs the spirit of Elihu is not only his eagerness to express his 
 convictions on the question, but also indignation at the retreat and 
 silence of the three friends. 
 
 20. be refreshed] Rather, find relief ; lit, ^^^ czV or z'i?«^. The figure 
 is still that of fermenting wine, v. 19. 
 
 21. neither let me give] Rather, neither will I give flattery. The 
 words express the speaker's resolution to be sincere and fearless, to 
 have regard to the question itself solely, and not to allow himself to be 
 influenced by respect to the persons interested in it. Elihu does not 
 refer here to impartiality between Job and the three friends. There is 
 no allusion to the friends. He speaks generally, saying that he will 
 
 JOB 15
 
 226 JOB, XXXII. [v. 22. 
 
 For I know not to give flattering titles; 
 
 In so doing my Maker would soon take me away. 
 
 have respect to truth only; comp. the language, ch. xxxiii. 3, xxxiv. 
 2 — 4. Coverdale goes far enough when he renders : " no man wil I 
 spare." Ilitzig oversteps the line when he says that Eliliu "intimates 
 his intention ot being rude to Job." 
 
 22. Elihu is conscious of sincerity; it is not in his nature to flatter. 
 His fear of God also and sense of His rectitude would deter him frona 
 such a thing ; comp. Job's language, ch. xiii. 7 scq. 
 
 These last words and many other things which Elihu says enable us 
 to judge rightly of the part which the author intends him to play. 
 There are some things in his manner of introducing himself and in the 
 way in which he speaks of his own arguments, which seem to offend 
 against modesty and almost shock our sense of decorum. We must 
 not, however, apply Western standards of taste to the East. There 
 was nothing further from the intention of the author of these Chapters 
 than to make Elihu play a ridiculous part. This speaker is meant to offer 
 what the writer judged a weighty contribution to the discussion, and 
 to the vindication of the ways of God to man. It is just this fact, how- 
 ever, that Elihu is a serious speaker and yet so characterized by man- 
 nerisms that raises the question whether the author of such a character 
 possessed the severe taste and high dramatic genius which so con- 
 spicuously belong to the author of the other characters ; in other 
 words, the question whether these chapters are not the composition of a 
 different writer (see the Introduction). 
 
 Chap. XXXIII. Eliiiu's First Reply to Job. Job's complaint 
 THAT God displays an arbitrary hostility to him, and 
 
 REFUSES TO HEAR ANY APPEAL OF MEN IS UNFOUNDED. GOD 
 SPEAKS TO MEN IN MANY WAYS. 
 
 The following may be taken as an outline of the chapter : 
 First, vv. I — 7, Elihu in some introductory words bespeaks Job's 
 attention. He addresses Job by name, and, full of confidence in his 
 ability to answer his complaints, invites him to attend to his words 
 {vv. I, 1), and assures him of his sincerity [vv. 3, 4). He desires Job to 
 reply to him, for he is a man like himself, and has no imposing authority 
 or presence to overpower Job, who had often complained that God's 
 power overawed him and prevented him from justifying himself 
 
 (z^r 5—7)- 
 
 Second, zv. 8 — 13, Elihu then refers to Job s complaint against God, 
 reproducing passages from his speeches in which he said that God 
 afllicted him unjustly, tho\igh he was innocent; that He displayed an 
 arbitrary hostility to him ; and refused to hear any appeal. Elihu re- 
 futes these charges by the general consideration (a favourite one with 
 him) that to act in such a way is unworthy of God, who is greater than 
 men, and whose ways are unlike theirs. 
 
 Third, vv. 13 — 28, taking up more formally Job's complaint that God 
 refuses to answer man, Elihu leplies that God does speak to man in
 
 vv. 1—5.] JOB, XXXIII. zz^ 
 
 Wherefore, Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches, 33 
 
 And hearken to all my words. 
 
 Behold now I have opened my mouth, 2 
 
 My tongue hath spoken in my mouth. 
 
 My words shall be of the uprightness of my heart: 3 
 
 And my lips shall utter knowledge clearly. 
 
 The Spirit of God hath made me, 4 
 
 And the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. 
 
 If thou canst, answer me, 5 
 
 Set thy words in order before me, stand up. 
 
 many ways; first {vv. 14 — 18) in dreams, to instruct him and turn him 
 away from pride and from sin that might end in death ; and second 
 {vv. 19—28) by angehc messengers in the midst of afflictions, who shew 
 to man what is right. If the sinner thus warned takes his instruction 
 to heart, he is restored to health and prosperity, and in his thanl<fulness 
 shews publicly to men God's mercy, who hath not rewarded him ac- 
 cording to his work. 
 
 Finally, vv. ?.g — 33, Elihu sums up the general lesson of his teaching 
 regarding God in the preceding verses and invites Job to reply to it, or 
 if he cannot to listen in silence to further instruction. 
 
 1 — 7. Introductory appeal to Job to listen to Elihu, who will speak 
 in all honesty, and who being a man like Job himself may be argued 
 with. 
 
 1. Elihu, unlike the other speakers, addresses Job by name. 
 
 2. The somewhat formal and circumstantial way in which he inti- 
 mates that he is going to speak indicates his feeling of the importance 
 of what he is going to say, and bespeaks Job's attention. 
 
 3. Reiteration of the speaker's sincerity; he possesses what Job had 
 desiderated on the part of his three friends, uprightness (ch. vi. 25). 
 
 mj' lips shall utter knowledge clearly'] lit. and the knoivledge of 7)ty lips 
 they shall titter purely, with no mixture of falsehood ; his lips will ex- 
 press truly the sincere convictions of his mind. 
 
 4. On the language of this verse see ch. xxxii. 8. The verse seems 
 connected with v. 3. Elihu will utter his sincere conviction, and it 
 is a conviction flowing from that spirit of God given him in his 
 creation ; this is a guarantee of its worth as well as its sincerity. The 
 appeal is to common reason (ch. xxxiv. 2, 3), which is a divine illu- 
 mination (the lamp of the Lord, Prov. xx. 27), but in his animated zeal 
 for God against the charges of Job Elihu feels that this spirit of God is 
 within him in a powerful degree and gives him a higher wisdom than 
 ordinary. 
 
 5 — 7. Full of this feeling Elihu invites Job to measure himself with 
 this wisdom {v. 4). Let the matter be reasoned out as it may be on 
 equal terms, for in Elihu a man like himself Job will have no rea- 
 son to complain of being overawed and hindered from pleading his 
 cause. 
 
 15—2
 
 JOB, XXXIII. [vv. 6—12. 
 
 Behold, I am according to thy wish in God's stead: 
 
 I also am formed out of the clay. 
 
 r>ehold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, 
 
 Neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee. 
 
 Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, 
 
 And 1 have heard the voice of thy words, saying, 
 
 I am clean without transgression, 
 
 I am innocent ; neither is there iniquity in me. 
 
 Behold, he findeth occasions against me, 
 
 He counteth me for his enemy, 
 
 He putteth my feet in the stocks, 
 
 He marketh all my paths. 
 
 Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, 
 
 That God is greater than man. 
 
 6. according to tJiy toish in God's s/iaii'\ Rather, as already Cover- 
 dale, beliold, before God I am even as thou ; that is, in relation to God in 
 the same position as Job, a man like himself. The words in God's 
 stead suggest the false conception that Elihu was in some extraordinary 
 way the representative of God. 
 
 7. Job had often complained that the terror and majesty of God 
 overpowered him and made it impossible for him to plead his cause and 
 shew his rectitude ; comp. ch. ix. 34, xiii. 21. 
 
 my hand be heavy~\ The term hand may be an uncommon form of the 
 Ileb. word having that sense, or it may perhaps mean burden, pressure; 
 comp. ch. xiii. ii. 
 
 8 — 12. To Job's complaint that God shewed a hostility to him which 
 was arbitrary and without cause Elihu replies that such a thing was un- 
 becoming God and not to be thought of, for God is greater than man. 
 
 9. For the expressions cited in this verse comp. ch. ix. 21, x. 7, 
 xvi. 17, xxiii. 10, xxvii. 5. 
 
 10. See ch. x. 13 scq.., xiii. 24, xix. 11, xxx. 21. 
 
 he findeth occasions] lit. enmities, i.e. grounds of enmity or hostility; 
 he "findeth" is almost equivalent to He "invents." Coverdale quaintly, 
 "he hath pyked a quarell agaynst me." 
 
 11. See ch. xiii. 27. 
 
 12. The verse probably reads, 
 
 Behold in this thou art not in the right, I will answer thee. 
 
 For God is greater than man. 
 The W'ords T tvill answer thee are equivalent to, "Behold, 7ny answer 
 is, in this thou art not right," &c. The answer to Job's charges which 
 Elihu contents himself with giving meantime is simply: "in this thou 
 art not in the right, for God is greater than man." Elihu, as he does 
 often, e.g. ch. xxxiv. 10, xxxvi. 3 — 5, 24 — 25, falls back on man's 
 necessary thoughts of God. Job's charges are incompatible with just
 
 vv. 13—16.] JOB, XXXIII. 229 
 
 Why dost thou strive against him ? 13 
 
 For he giveth not account of any of his matters. 
 
 For God speaketh once, 14 
 
 Yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. 
 
 In a dream, in a vision of the night, 15 
 
 When deep sleep falleth upon men. 
 
 In slumberings upon the bed; 
 
 Then he openeth the ears of men, 16 
 
 And sealeth their instruction. 
 
 conceptions of God. The three friends had argued in the same way, 
 though they hardly gave the idea the same important place that Elihu 
 does ; comp. ch. viii. 3. 
 
 13 — 28. When Elihu gives the general answer to Job's c?iarges 
 against God that "God is greater than man" he means that the moral 
 loftiness of God's nature made it impossible that He should act in the 
 arbitrary, hostile manner charged against Him by Job (comp. ch. 
 xxxvi. 5). It was but another form of the same charge of arbitrary 
 hostility to man when Job affirmed that God was deaf to all appeal and 
 refused to speak to man; comp. ch. xix. 7, xxx. 20, and often. To 
 this general form of the charge Elihu directs his attention and replies 
 that God speaks to man in many ways, though He may not answer 
 when challenged as Job had challenged Him ; comp. ch. xxxv. 14. He 
 speaks to man in ways becoming His greatness, ways that shew that 
 His goodness is over all His works. Verse 13 probably reads 
 
 Wliy dost thou contend against him 
 
 That he giveth not account of any of his matters ? 
 
 that is, Job's contention or plea against God is that He deals arbitrarily 
 and refuses all account of His dealing. 
 
 14 — 18. To Job's charge Elihu replies that God speaks to man in 
 many ways, as in dreams and visions of the night, by which He in- 
 structs men and seeks to turn them away from doing evil that would de- 
 stroy them. 
 
 14. yet 7iian perceiveth it not] Or, when man regardeth it not. 
 
 15. The language recalls the vision of Eliphaz, ch. iv. 13 se(/. 
 
 16. sealeth tlicir instnictioii] The instruction is that communicated 
 when the ear is opened, and a revelation given (comp. ch. xxxvi. 10, 15 ; 
 I Sam. ix. 15 ; Ps. xl. 6) ; and "to seal" it is to confirm it and give it 
 abiding efficacy. This is done partly by the impressive circumstances 
 and manner of the dream ; compare the impression produced on 
 Eliphaz, after the model of whose vision the passage seems moulded. 
 Perhaps the figure of "sealing" the instruction arises from the idea of 
 closing up again the opened ear over the divine communication. 
 
 Others understand by "instruction" here the chastisement of afflic- 
 tion, assuming that the person to whom the vision was sent was one 
 under trouble. " Instruction" is possibly used in this sense by Elihu,
 
 230 JOB, XXXIII. [vv. 17—23. 
 
 17 That /le may withdraw va^mfrotn his purpose, 
 
 And hide pride from man. 
 is He keepeth back his soul from the pit, 
 
 And his hfe from perishing by the sword. 
 19 He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, 
 
 And the multitude of his bones with strong pai/z: 
 23 So that his life abhorreth bread, 
 
 And his soul dainty meat. 
 ai His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; 
 
 And his bones thai were not seen stick out. 
 
 22 Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, 
 And his life to the destroyers. 
 
 23 If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, 
 
 ch. xxxvi. [o ; but in this chap, the case of aflliction seems introduced 
 first in v. 19. 
 
 17, 18. The object of this intervention of God is the gracious one 
 of anticipating the sinner in the evil wliich he meditates and hindering 
 it, and withdrawing him from his sinfid purpose, f. 17 ; and the effect 
 of it is that man is preserved from committing deadly sin, wdiicli would 
 have brought destruction upon him, v. 18. 
 
 The "sword" or javelin, v. iS, is a figure for God's destructive 
 judgments; comp. ch. xxxvi. 12. 
 
 19 — 28. These verses may describe another instance of God's dealing 
 with man, or a further discipline of the same person (vv. 15 — 18), the 
 result stated in z^. 18 not having been attained. The passage has four 
 steps : 
 
 (i) The affliction, graphically presented, z'Z'. 19 — 22. 
 
 (2) The intervention of the Divine messenger, who interprets to the 
 sufferer what it becomes him to do ; and God's gracious pardon of 
 him, vv. ■23, 24. 
 
 (3) The restoration to prosperity and righteousness of him who 
 was afflicted, vv. 25, 26. 
 
 (4) His thankfulness, publicly shewn among men, vz'. 27, 28. 
 
 19. viidtihtdc of his bones zuilh strong pain^ Rather, and. with a 
 continual strife in Ms bones — the word "strife" meaning "conflict 
 of pain." This is the reading of the Heb. text. The A. V. has adopted 
 the Heb. margin ; but if this be taken the sense must be : while the 
 multitude of his bones is stronq, in his freshness and youth. Besides 
 putting a doubtful meaning on some of the words, this sense is less to 
 the purpose here. 
 
 20. his life'] Or, desire (appetite, ch. xxxviii. 39). The words mean 
 lit. his desire makcth him abhor. 
 
 22. the destroyers] that is, perhaps, the angels that bring death; 
 2 Sam. xxiv. 16 ; i Chron. xxi. 15; Ps. Ixxviii. 49. 
 
 23, 24. The intervention of the heavenly messenger. 
 
 23. a messenger] Or, angel. Such an angel is called an interpreter,
 
 vv. 24—27.] JOB, XXXIII. 231 
 
 One among a thousand, 
 
 To shew unto man his uprightness: 
 
 Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, S4 
 
 Dehver him from going down to the pit: 
 
 I have found a ransom. 
 
 His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: 's 
 
 He shall return to the days of his youth: 
 
 He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto 26 
 
 him: 
 And he shall see his face with joy: 
 For he will render unto man his righteousness. 
 He looketh upon men, and if any say, _ =7 
 
 I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, 
 And it profited me not; 
 
 that is, as the last clause of the verse explains, one who interprets to 
 man God's providential treatment of him, and shews him what is right 
 for him to do— /^w tiprightness, that is, wherein uprightness will consist, 
 and what his duty is. 
 
 oj^e amo)ig a thousandl lit. one of a thousand. The words do not 
 ascribe any superlative position to this angel ; he is one of the thousand 
 (cf. Rev. V. 11) ministering spirits sent forth to do service on behalf of 
 the heirs of salvation (Heb. i. 14). 
 
 24. then he is gracious'] God is gracious ; God, not the angel, is the 
 speaker in the rest of the verse. It is assumed that when the sufferer is 
 shewn what is right [v. 1^) he follows it ; then God is gracious unto 
 him, and commands that he be delivered from his affliction and saved 
 from death. It is hardly of consequence to enquire what the ransom is 
 which God has found. It may be the sinner's repentance and return to 
 rectitude; or it may be that the affliction is held sufficient (Is. xl. 1; 
 Job xxxvi. 18); or possibly the words may mean nothing more than 
 that God is pleased of His goodness to hold the sinner as ransomed and 
 delivered from the consequences of his sin. 
 
 25, 26. The sufferer's restoration. For the future tenses of A. V. 
 present tenses would be better in these two verses. 
 
 25. His restoration out of his affliction to health is like the freshness 
 of a new childhood and the strength of a new youth. 
 
 26. His restoration to the fellowship of God with its joy. 
 
 for he will render] Rather, and lie restoreth unto man Ws righteous- 
 ness. God restores to him his righteous standing before Him with its 
 joys, regards him again as righteous, and admits him to all the blessings 
 of righteousness. The clause generalizes the ideas of the rest of the verse. 
 
 27. 28. The restored sinner's thankfulness : 
 
 27. He singeth before men and saith, 
 
 I sinned and perverted that which was right. 
 And it was not requited imto me ;
 
 JOB, XXXIII. [vv. 28— 33 
 
 28 He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, 
 And his life shall see the light, 
 
 29 Lo, all these things worketh God 
 Oftentimes with man, 
 
 30 To bring back his soul from the pit, 
 
 To be enlightened with the light of the living. 
 
 31 Mark well, O Job, hearken unto me: 
 Hold thy peace, and I will speak. 
 
 32 If thou hast any thing to say, answer me : 
 Speak, for I desire to justify thee. 
 
 33 If not, hearken unto me : 
 
 Hold thy peace, and I shall teach thee wisdom. 
 
 a8. He hath redeemed my soul from going into the pit, 
 And my life shall see the light. 
 
 On account of the construction the sense "singeth" is more probable 
 than lookcth jipon of A. V., though the form of the word is unusual. 
 
 28. The li;^ht which the sinner sees is the light of life {v. 30), for he 
 is redeemed from the darkness of the pit. The A. V. has followed the 
 Heb. margin and read his soul, his life. If this reading were adopted 
 the words would be a general statement by Elihu, but this unnaturally 
 anticipates vv. 29, 30. 
 
 29, 30. Elihu sums up his doctrine regarding the gracious purpose 
 and effect of God's methods of speaking unto man. 
 
 31 — 33. The speaker requests Job to hear his further arguments 
 {v. 31) ; or if he can reply to what has been said, by all means let him 
 do so, for Elihu desires that he should be in the right {v. 32) ; but if 
 not let him listen and learn wisdom (?'. 33). 
 
 31. mark well] These words do not mean, 'weigh and apply, but 
 listen, namely, to that which Elihu will further say. 
 
 32. to justify thee] EHIni could not say that he desired to justify Job 
 in his plea against God ; the words must refer to the cause between 
 Job and himself. Elihu would be glad if Job could give such a reply 
 to his arguments that he could say he thought him in the right. The 
 words seem to imj^ly little more than the sjicaker's desire to be fair, and 
 to conduct the argument on equal terms witli Job ; comp. vv. 6, 7. 
 
 Chap. XXXIV. Eliuu's Second Reply to Job. Jon's complaint 
 THAT God afflicts him unjustly is without reason. A 
 
 MOTIVE FOR INJUSTICE IN IIlM WHO IS CREATOR OF ALL ALIKE 
 CANNOT BE FOUND; AND INJUSTICE IN THE HIGHEST RULER 
 IS INCONCEIVABLE. 
 
 Having in ch. x.xxiii. replied to Job's charge that God's afflictions 
 were examples of an arbitrary hostiUty to men, Elihu in this chapter 
 replies to another cliarge, that God \\as unjust in the afflictions which 
 He laid on him. His answer is, That a motive for injustice in Him
 
 vv, I, 2.] JOB, XXXIV. 233 
 
 Furthermore Elihu answered and said, 34 
 
 Hear my words, O ye wise men; a 
 
 who is Creator of all cannot be found ; and, That uijustice in the Ruler 
 of all is inconceivable — shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ? 
 
 The line of thought in the chapter is something as follows : 
 
 First, vz'. I — 4, in a brief introduction Elihu invites his intelligent 
 hearers to listen further to him, and to unite with him in seeking to 
 discover what was the right, the just state of the case, in Job's cause 
 with God and his charges against Him. 
 
 Second, vv. 5 — 9, these charges he then recites : Job had said that 
 God perverted his right, and that he was incurably afflicted though he 
 had done no wrong [vv. 5, 6). Elihu cannot mention such charges 
 without expressing his detestation of them : Job has not his parallel for 
 impiety {w. 7, 8). He has even gone the length of saying that it was 
 no advantage to a man to be religious {v. 9). This last sentiment Elihu 
 does not deal with in the present chapter, its discussion follows in 
 ch. XXXV. 
 
 Third, vv. 10 — 20, coming to his argument, Elihu, first expresses 
 his reprobation of such sentiments as those of Job, they are contrary to 
 right thoughts of God ; such ways of acting are not to be thought of 
 in connexion with the Almighty (j'<7. 10 — 12). Second, this reproof of 
 Job's charges from God's nature in general Elihu then particularizes 
 into two distinct thoughts: (i) a motive for injustice in Him who is the 
 Creator of all cannot be discovered ; on the contrary His calling all 
 things into being and upholding them by sending forth His spirit is 
 evidence of unselfish goodness, for were He to set His mind on Himself 
 and withdraw His spirit all flesh would perish {vz'. 13 — 15). (2) The 
 foundation of government is justice, without which rule would come to 
 an end. Injustice in the highest Ruler is inconceivable. And in truth 
 His rule approves itself, by its impartiality, to be just {vv. 16 — 20). 
 
 Fourth, vv. 2 1 — 28, this justice is secured by God's omniscient insight 
 into men, and by His goodness which is the spring and motive of His 
 rule of mankind. 
 
 Fifth, w. 29 — 33, shall any one then murmur at this absolute dis- 
 posing of all things by the hand of God ? To murmur is to usurp the 
 rule of God, and to claim to dictate how He should dispense His 
 recompences. 
 
 Finally vv. 34 — 37, Elihu, having shewn what is involved in Job's 
 charges of injustice against God, draws the conclusion, in which he 
 is confident all reflecting minds who listen to him will concur with him, 
 that Job speaks without wisdom ; to the sin of his life he has added a 
 defiant and mocking impiety, which one must wish to see purified out 
 of him in the furnace of severer afflictions. 
 
 2 — 4. Elihu invites the wise among those who listen to him to 
 attend to what he further says, and to unite with him in seeking to 
 discover the right in this cause between Job and God. 
 
 2. The wise men are not the three friends, but the bystanders who 
 hear Elihu ; cf. v. 34.
 
 234 JOB, XXXIV. [vv. 3—9. 
 
 And give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge. 
 
 For the ear trieth words, 
 
 As the mouth tasteth meat. 
 
 Let us choose to us judgment: 
 
 Let us know among ourselves what t's good. 
 
 For Job hath said, I am righteous : 
 
 And God hath taken away my judgment. 
 
 Should I lie against my right ? 
 
 My wound is incurable without transgression. 
 
 What man t's like Job, 
 
 JV/io drinketh up scorning like water ? 
 
 Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity, 
 
 And walketh with wicked men. 
 
 For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing 
 
 That he should delight himself with God. 
 
 3. Elihu makes his appeal to his hearers /or the ear trietli words. 
 His appeal is to the common reason, or to the common reverent and 
 just thoughts of God in men. The "ear" is the inner ear, the under- 
 standing, which is a judge of sentiments as much as, or like as, the 
 palate is a judge of meats, ch. xii. 11. 
 
 4. The word judgment means right, or, the right, the just decision 
 in the cause under consideration, Job's plea witli God. 
 
 5 — 9. Elihu recites Job's statement of his cause against God, ex- 
 pressing his abhorrence of Job's sentiments. 
 
 6. / am righteous] Or, in the right, I have right on my side. 
 
 my judgment] As before means my right, what is rightly due to me — 
 God has dealt with me unjustly ; comp. ix. 15, 20, xiii. iS, xxvii. 2, 6. 
 
 6. should I lie against my right?] This sense is possible, the 
 meaning being, "sliall I admit guilt when I am not guilty but \s'rongly 
 afilicted"? Perhaps the sense is rather: against {or, notwithstanding) 
 my right / am made to lie: when I affirm my rectitude God's treatment 
 of me belies my alhrmations by malting me guilty, and this against my 
 right; comp. ch. ix. 20, xvi. 8. 
 
 my wound] lit. ;;// arro~v, the arrow of divine afiliction infixed in 
 me, comp. ch. vi. 4, xvi. 13. 
 
 7. Elihu cannot restrain his abhorrence of Job's sentiments. By 
 scorning is meant impiety and scepticism. On the figure comp. ch. 
 XV. 16. 
 
 8. In expressing such opinions Job goes over to the camp of the 
 professed ungodly; comp. xxii. 15; Ps. i. i. 
 
 9. Job had nowhere used this precise language, though the idea is 
 not an unnatural inference from much that he had said ; comp. ch. 
 ix. 22, xxi. 7, xxiv. I, and ch. xxi. throughout. This charge that a 
 man is nothing bettered by being religious Elihu refutes in ch. xxxv.,
 
 vv. 10—13.] JOB, XXXIV. 235 
 
 Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: 10 
 
 Far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; 
 
 Arvd from the Ahiiighty, that he should commit iniquity. 
 
 For the work of a man shall he render unto him, n 
 
 And cause every man to find according to his ways. 
 
 Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, « 
 
 Neither will the Almighty pervert judgment. 
 
 Who hath given him a charge over the earth? 13 
 
 Or who hath disposed the whole world ? 
 
 directing his attention in the meantime to the general charge of in- 
 justice so far as it bore on God Himself. 
 
 10 — 19. This charge of injustice Elihu rebuts, first, on the general 
 ground of its impiety: God cannot be thought of as acting in the way 
 Job asserted — He rewardeth every man according to his works (vv. 
 10 — 12) ; and second, he then resolves the general idea into two distinct 
 thoughts, w. 13 — 15, and vv. 16 — 19. 
 
 10 — 12. Ehhu's argument in these verses is the truest answer that 
 can be given: injustice on the part of God is inconsistent with the idea 
 of God. The three friends had urged the same plea. And Job would 
 have accepted the argument had his friends or himself been able to take 
 it up as a general principle and keep it clear from complications with 
 the events of actual providence. When, however, they combined it 
 with their other theory that good and evil befell men solely according 
 to the principle of retribution, and that this latter principle was that 
 according to which God's actual providence was entirely administered, 
 Job could not consent to their reasoning. And as he agreed with 
 them that retributive righteousness was or ought to be the principle of 
 God's rule of the world, he was obliged, as he entirely failed to 
 perceive such a principle adhered to, to charge God with injustice. It 
 is not easy to see how Elihu differs from the friends in the position 
 which he takes up here and in vv. 20 — 33. He is concerned in the 
 meantime, however, with a theoretical defence of God's justice. 
 
 13 — 15. The first thought of Elihu is that the earth, the world, is 
 not entrusted to God by another; He himself arranged it all as it is; 
 there is therefore no motive to injustice. This is one side of his idea ; 
 the other [v. 14) is that the fact of the creation and sustaining of all things 
 and creatures by God is proof of unselfish benevolence, for if God 
 thought of Himself and ceased to send forth His spirit, all flesh would 
 perish. 
 
 The Oriental thinker was not a pessimist ; to his mind life was not 
 an evil but the highest good, and its continuance proof of goodness in 
 God who gave it and continued it. Neither would it occur to such a 
 thinker, when he argued that there was no temptation to injustice in 
 the Creator, that a temptation might be found in His own malevolent 
 nature. A first cause that was evil could not be supposed by any one 
 in the position of the speakers in this Book, Even when Job touches
 
 236 JOB, XXXIV. [vv. 14—19- 
 
 14 If he set his heart upon man, 
 
 If he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; 
 
 15 All flesh shall perish together, 
 
 And man shall turn again unto dust. 
 
 16 If now t/iou hast understanding, hear this : 
 Hearken to the voice of my words. 
 
 ,7 Shall even he that hateth right govern? 
 
 And wilt thou condemn him that is most just? 
 18 Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked ? 
 
 And to princes. Ye arc ungodly ? 
 J3 How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of 
 princes, 
 
 Nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? 
 
 For they all are the work of his hands. 
 
 upon such an idea, as in ch. vii. 17 scq., x. 3 seq., it is for the purpose of 
 shewing the inconsistency of malevolence with God's necessary attri- 
 butes. Comp. remarks at the end of ch. x. 
 
 14. if he set his heart ttpon maii\ lit. as marg. upon him. The 
 interpretation of the A. V. is possible, the meaning being, if God should 
 set His mind strictly on man, to mark iniquity and the like (ch. vii. 17). 
 More probably the meaning is : set His mind jipon Himself ; — if He were 
 the object of His own exclusive regard and consideration. If God 
 thought alone of Himself and ceased to think of all creatures with a 
 benevolent consideration, giving them life and upholding by His spirit, 
 all flesh would perish. 
 
 16 — 19. The second thought : without justice rule is impossible ; 
 and therefore injustice in the supreme Ruler is inconceivable. The 
 thought is one that finds repeated expression in Scripture, as in the 
 words of Abraham, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" 
 Gen. xviii. 25, and in those of St Paul, "Is God unrighteous...? God 
 forbid ; for then how shall God judge the world?" Rom. iii. 5 ; coinp. 
 Matt. xii. 25. 
 
 17. condemn him that is most just] Or, condemn tlie just, the 
 mighty One. 
 
 18. The verse reads, 
 
 Is it fit to say to a king. Thou wicked ! 
 
 Or to princes. Ye ungodly ! 
 The word "wicked" means ^cortk/ess, Heb. delial. No doubt many 
 kings, whether in the past or the present, might be justly enough ad- 
 dressed as "wicked," and princes in abundance as "ungodly," but the 
 speaker is thinking here less of persons than of the offices which they 
 fill as rulers. If earthly rule implies righteousness, how much more the 
 rule of the Supreme (v. 19). 
 
 19. Partiality or injustice is not to be thought of in God, for all men, 
 rich and poor, are alike the work of His hands. In these words the
 
 vv. 
 
 :5.] JOB, XXXIV. 237 
 
 /// a moment shall they die, ^o 
 
 And the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass 
 
 away : 
 And the mighty shall be taken away without hand. 
 For his eyes are upon the ways of man, 21 
 
 And he seeth all his goings. 
 
 There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, 22 
 
 Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. 
 For he will not lay upon man more tJian right; 23 
 
 That he should enter into judgment with God. 
 He shall break in pieces mighty men without number, 24 
 And set others in their stead. 
 Therefore he knoweth their works, 25 
 
 disputant makes the transition from his principle to the illustration of 
 it ni God's actual rule of men, and this illustration he pursues at 
 length. 
 
 20 — 28. God's strict justice may be seen in His government of the 
 peoples and their princes alike. His justice is unerring, for it is guided 
 by omniscient insight. Punishing oppression, it avenges the cause of 
 the poor and afflicted. 
 
 20. Display of God's just rule over people and princes. According 
 to the punctuation the verse is thus divided, 
 
 In a moment they die and at midnight ; 
 The people are shaken and pass away, 
 And the mighty are taken away without hand. 
 The phrase at midnight means suddenly and without anticipation, comp. 
 V. 25; Ps. cxix. 62. IVithotit hand, i.e. through no human agency, by 
 an unseen power, the nding hand of God ; comp. ch. xx. 26; Dan. ii. 
 34, 35; Zech. iv. 6. The mighty are the princes, opposed to "the 
 people " in the second clause. 
 
 21 — 24. This just rule of God operates unfailingly, being guided by 
 infallible insight. 
 
 23. The verse reads probably, 
 
 for he needeth not to consider a man further. 
 That he should come before God in judgment. 
 The meaning is that no inquisition on God's part is needed of a man, 
 beyond his evil deed, with the view of bringing him before God in 
 judgment. God beholds all, and His insight and judgment operate 
 simultaneously. 
 
 24. he shall break... Tuithotd numbcr\ Rather, he breaketh... with- 
 out inquisition. The verse amplifies the conception of the preceding 
 verse. 
 
 25 — 27. Armed w^ith such omniscient insight {therefore, v. 25) He 
 knoweth men's works, and His judgment overtakes them without fail.
 
 JOB, XXXIV. [vv. 26—29. 
 
 And he ovenurneth tliem in the niglit, so that they are 
 destroyed. 
 
 26 He striketh them as wicked men 
 In the open sight of others; 
 
 27 Because they turned back from him, 
 And would not consider any of his ways: 
 
 28 So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, 
 And he heareth the cry of the afflicted. 
 
 2? When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? 
 And when he hideth Ids face, who then can behold him ? 
 Whether it be done against a nation, 
 Or against a man only: 
 
 28. so that they cause the cry] Rather, thus lie causeth the cry of 
 the poor to come before Him ; lit. to cause (or, causing) to come. The 
 words sum up the general purpose (or, effect) of God's destructive 
 judgments on the oppressors; He thus brings before Him and hears the 
 cry of the afllicted. 
 
 29 — 33. The connexion of the following verses is rather uncertain. 
 The sense oiv. 30 might suggest the connexion of vv. 29 — 30 with the 
 preceding. In this case z'. 31 would make a new start, and the con- 
 nexion would be maintained to the end of the chapter. It is probable, 
 however, that vv. 34—37 should be taken by themselves. In v. ic) the 
 word he is emphatic ; similarly in v. 31 an emphasis falls on God. This 
 common emphasis, in vv. 29 — 30 on the absohitcness of God's opera- 
 tion and in vv. 31 — 33 on the presumption of any one who questions it, 
 seems to bind these two groups of verses together. The verses read as 
 a whole, 
 
 29. When he giveth quietness, who shall condemn him ? 
 And when he hideth his face, who shall behold him ? 
 ^Vhether it be done to a nation or to a man aUke : 
 
 30. That the godless man reign not. 
 That the people be not ensnared. 
 
 31. For hath any said unto God, 
 
 I have borne (chastisement) though I offend not, 
 
 32. That which I see not teach thou me. 
 
 If I have done iniquity I will do it no more? — 
 
 33. Shall God's recompense be according to thy mind 
 That thou ilost reject it? 
 
 For thou must choose, and not I ; 
 Therefore speak what thou knowest. 
 29. Here he, God, is emphatic. Elihu while upholding the recti- 
 tude of God conjoins with it Ilis sovereignty. To give quietness or rest 
 seems to mean to give peace and security from oppression, when the 
 oppressed cry unto Him (Judg. v. 31; Is. xiv. 7). The antithesis to 
 this is He hides His face, words which always mean, He withdraws His
 
 vv- 30-33-] JOB, XXXIV. 239 
 
 That the hypocrite reign not, 3° 
 
 Lest the people be ensnared. 
 
 Surely it is meet to be said unto God, 3' 
 
 I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more: 
 
 Thai which I see not teach thou me : 32 
 
 If I have done iniquity, I will do no more. 
 
 SJioiihi it be according to thy mind? he will recompense it, 33 
 
 Whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose; and not 1; 
 
 Therefore speak what thou knowest. 
 
 favour or help in anger, ch. xiii. 24 ; and to hcJioId Him has of course 
 a sense the opposite of this, viz. to obtain His favour, to make Him 
 gracious. God acts in both ways in His sovereign rule, and when He 
 acts in the one way who shall condemn Him, and in the other who 
 shall compel Him to alter His aspect? And thus He acts on the 
 widest stage and in the most particular instance, with nations and men 
 alike. 
 
 30. His operations are directed by the great purpose of the good of 
 men, that the nations be righteously and mercifully ruled. 
 
 31 — 33. Elihu gradually approaches the conduct of Job. He sup- 
 poses the case of one animadverting on the Divine procedure and com- 
 plaining of unjust affliction. This is presumption and implies that one 
 usurps the government of the Most High. 
 
 31, 32. A supposition is put : Has any one said unto God ? where 
 God is emphatic, the emphasis implying the unseemliness and presump- 
 tion of the act. -The case is put generally, but the case is that of Job, 
 as V. 33 reveals. The meaning of the passage is that the complainer 
 under affliction protests his innocence {v. 31); disclaims knowledge of 
 any offence; desires, as Job frequently expressed his desire, to know 
 what his sin was ; and professes his readiness to desist from it, when it 
 is made clear to him {v. 32). 
 
 33. Elihu's answer to this complaint is that it is a claim to regulate 
 the government of God, to give laws to Him how He shall act, and to 
 decide how He shall recompense. Such a position the complainer 
 takes — but for himself Elihu repudiates it: I'hou must choose, not I. 
 In the concluding words, speak that which thozt knowest, Elihu invites 
 Job to state that method of "recompense" which shall be "according 
 to his mind" and better than that observed in God's rule of the 
 world. 
 
 The above seems the most natural interpretation to put on this diffi- 
 cult passage. The A. V., in rendering surely it is meet to be said {v. 31), 
 assumes an irregularity of punctuation which is very improbable. And 
 to regard vv. 31, 32 as a serious confession and example of how a right- 
 minded man would speak greatly impairs the vigour of the passage, and 
 gives a much looser connexion with v. 33. 
 
 34 — 37. _ The verdict regarding Job's demeanour which all men of 
 understanding and those who listen to Elihu will give,
 
 240 JOB, XXXIV. [vv. 34—37. 
 
 .-4 Let men of understanding tell me, 
 And let a wise man hearken unto me. 
 
 35 Job hath spoken without knowledge, 
 And his words luere without wisdom. 
 
 36 My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end 
 Because of his answers for wicked men. 
 
 37 For he addeth rebellion unto his sin, 
 He clappeth his hatids amongst us, 
 And multiplieth his words against God. 
 
 34. Men of understanding will say unto mc, 
 And the wise man who heareth me : 
 
 35. Job speaketh without knowledge, 
 And his words are without wisdom. 
 
 36. Would that Job were tried unto the end, 
 
 Because of his answers in the manner of wicked men. 
 
 36. It is not certain whether v. 36 he a continuation of the judg- 
 ment of Elihu's hearers or be his own words. The sentiment is ex- 
 cessively harsh, and probably Elihu, though of course concurring in it, 
 puts it forth indirectly as the judgment of others. The wish is ex- 
 pressed that Job might be tried unto the end, constantly — that his afflic- 
 tions might be continued till he should give over answering in the 
 manner of wicked men. His "answers" are his speeches in reply to 
 the three friends, which are characterized as such as only ungodly men 
 would utter. 
 
 37. Job's sin is that of his former life, for which he has been cast 
 into afflictions ; his rebellion is his unsubmissive, defiant demeanour 
 against God in his speeches. This "rebellion" is further described as 
 clapping of the hands, a gesture of open mockery and contempt. The 
 next clause, "multiplieth his words against God," that is, his rebellious 
 speeches, indicates that it is against God that Job "claps his hands," 
 not against his friends and counsellors — he shews his defiant scorn of 
 God among them. 
 
 The passage is decisive as to the position taken by Elihu towards 
 Job. His judgment of Job extends far beyond tlie mere bearing of the 
 latter under his afflictions; it eml:)races Job's former life. And the 
 language exceeds in harslmcss almost anything that the three friends 
 had said. 
 
 Ch. XXXV. Elihu's Third Reply to Job. Job's complaint 
 that a man is in no way profited by his righteousness 
 more than if he had sinned is made without knowledge. 
 Neither righteousness nor sin affects God; their in- 
 fluence MUST be felt AMONG MEN. APPARENT EXCEPTIONS 
 CAN BE EXPLAINED. 
 
 Job's complaint that under God's government of the world it availed
 
 vv. 1—3.] JOB, XXXV. 241 
 
 Elihu spake moreover, and said, 35 
 
 Thinkest thou this to be right, 2 
 
 That thou saidst, My righteousness is more than GodV ? 
 For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee ? 3 
 And, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my 
 sin? 
 
 a man nothing to be righteous, to which Elihu had referred, ch. xxxiv. 
 9, is now taken up and disposed of. 
 
 The passage has three parts : — 
 
 First, vv. I — 4, Elihu states Job's complaint that godliness avails 
 a man nothing, and undertakes to answer it. 
 
 Second, vv. 5 — 8, his answer. Neither godliness nor irreligiousness 
 can affect God, who is too exalted to be touched by anything human. 
 Their influence therefore must be on men, to their advantage or hurt. 
 
 Third, w. 9 — 16, having made this philosophical retort, Elihu pro- 
 ceeds to dispose of some cases that might seem exceptions to his prin- 
 ciple or anomalies. There are cases where apparently religious men 
 are not heard when they cry to God : men cry out because of oppres- 
 sion and there is no answer. But why? Because they cry amiss. 
 Their appeal to heaven is the mere instinctive cry of suffering like that 
 of the lower creatures, without trust in God^they say not, Where is 
 God my Maker? 
 
 And the controversialist ends as in ch. xxxiv. with a charge of foolish 
 talk against Job. 
 
 2 — 4. Statement of Job's charge against God that under His rule of 
 the world to be righteous is no advantage to a man. The verses 
 read, 
 
 2. Thinkest thou this to be thy right, 
 
 And call est thou it, My just cause against God, 
 
 3. That thou sayest. What advantage hast thou ? 
 
 And, What am I profited more than if I had sinned? 
 
 Throughout Elihu's speeches there runs the idea of a cause or plea 
 between Job and God. Job is regarded by him as maintaining that he 
 has a right or just cause against God. Elihu here asks if Job considers 
 that the rectitude of his cause will appear in his maintaining that god- 
 liness profits a man nothing? — the word this in v. 2 refers to the ques- 
 tions in V. 3. If Job could successfully maintain this contention his cause 
 against God would be good. Therefore Elihu controverts his assertion, 
 contending that righteousness does avail a man, as it must. Both parties 
 conduct the dispute in a somewhat external way, meaning by the 
 "advantage " of religion the possession of outward goods and immunity 
 from suffering. Job does this of necessity, because he is still entangled 
 in the old theory of retribution, though he is breaking through its 
 meshes on one side. And Elihu in his theoretical argument naturally 
 follows him, without referring to the deeper comforts of religion, the joy 
 in God, with which some of the Psalmists delight themselves in afflic- 
 tion, Ps. xvii. 15, Ixxiii. 23 seq. 
 
 JOB 16
 
 242 JOB, XXXV. [vv. 4—9. 
 
 I will answer thee, 
 
 And thy companions with thee. 
 
 Look unto the heavens, and see; 
 
 And behold the clouds ivhich are higher than thou. 
 
 If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him ? 
 
 Or if thy transgressions be multiplied, wliat doest thou 
 
 unto him ? 
 If thou be righteous, what givest thou him ? 
 Or what receiveth he of thine hand ? 
 Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art ; 
 And thy righteousness may profit the son of man. 
 By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the 
 
 oppressed to cry : 
 
 4. The "companions" of Job referred to in this verse can hardly 
 be the three friends, for Eliphaz (ch. xxii. i) had advanced substantially 
 the same answer to Job as is here given, which even Job himself had 
 touched upon, ch. vii. 10, though with a different purpose. Most pro- 
 bably Job is considered here the centre of a circle of persons who che- 
 rished the same irreligious doubts in regard to God's providence as 
 he did. 
 
 5—8. The reply of Elihu to Job's complaint. A glance at heaven, 
 the infinitely exalted abode of God, must tell us that our conduct whe- 
 ther good or bad cannot affect Ilim. Our righteousness confers no 
 profit on Him, neither does our wickedness entail any loss. It is men 
 themselves that their conduct affects. It is in human life that the 
 influence of righteousness or evil-doing is seen. And being so eternally 
 unlike they cannot have the same effect. 
 
 Elihu does not contemplate any one going so far as to maintain that 
 godliness and unrighteousness do not differ in themselves. Job as- 
 sumes and most strongly asserts their difference. He even rises to the 
 sublime height of resolving to adhere to righteousness though God and 
 men should shew their indifference to it (ch. xvii. 9). And what he 
 complains of is that God is indifferent to it, and that in His government 
 the righteous is treated as the wicked. This is the point which Elihu 
 touches. 
 
 8. The verse reads literally : thy wickedness is to (touches, affects) 
 a man as tliou art, and thy rii^htcousness is to one of mankind, i.e. thy- 
 self who art a man ; for it cannot touch God who is e.xalted above such 
 influence. 
 
 9 — 15. Having laid down his principle Elihu now proceeds to clear 
 away some anomalies which seem to support Job's contention. There 
 are instances where godliness does not seem to advantage men, where 
 oppressed innocence cries in vain for redress. The reason is that the 
 cry is merely the natural voice of suffering ; it is no true devout appeal 
 to heaven — none saith, Where is God my maker ? 
 
 9. they make the oppressed to cry] Rather, men cry out because
 
 vv. 10—14.] JOB, XXXV. 243 
 
 They cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty. 
 
 But none saith, Where is God my Maker, 10 
 
 Who giveth songs in the night; 
 
 Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, n 
 
 And maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven ? 
 
 There they cry, but none giveth answer, 12 
 
 Because of the pride of evil men. 
 
 Surely God will not hear vanity, 13 
 
 Neither will the Almighty regard it. 
 
 Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, 14 
 
 y;?/ judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him. 
 
 of tlie multitude of oppressions— wliich powerful and cruel men lay 
 upon them {v. 12). This is the anomaly. 
 
 10. The explanation of the anomaly. 
 
 Where is God] The language of one devoutly seeking God. 
 
 songs in the night'] They seek not God in truth, who by sudden de- 
 liverances (comp. ch. xxxiv. 20, 25) fills the mouth of the afflicted with 
 singing, Ps. xxxii. 7. 
 
 11. God has given to men a higher wisdom than to the beasts, and 
 communicates to them a continuous instruction through His fellowship 
 and ways. Their appeal to heaven should not be the mere instinctive 
 cry of suffering, but the voice of trust and submission. 
 
 12. The first and last words of the verse are in connexion : " they 
 cry because of the pride of evil men, but none giveth answer." They 
 remain unheard because their cry is "vanity" (v. 13). 
 
 14 — 16. The interpretation and connexion of these verses is difficult. 
 V. 14 might carry on the idea of z'. 13, 
 
 13. Surely God will not hear vanity, 
 Neither will the Almighty regard it ; 
 
 14. Much less when thou sayest, Thou seest him not, 
 The cause is before him and thou waitest for him. 
 
 God refuses to answer the cry which is vanity, not the voice of true 
 religious trust; much less will He hear one who like Job complains 
 that he cannot see Him (ch. xxiii. 8 and often), who misses His right- 
 eous government in the world and charges Him with refusing to receive 
 his just appeal (ch. xiii. 18 sec/., xxiii. 3, xxxi. 35 seq.). There are ob- 
 jections to this interpretation, such as that much less lohen is not a 
 natural translation of the words in v. 14, though in the elliptical and 
 rather strained style of Elihu this might not go for much. Or, v, 14 
 might stand apart from v. 13, 
 
 Yea, when thou sayest, Thou seest him not. 
 The cause is before him; therefore wait thou for him. 
 the meaning being that though God appears indifferent to the cry of 
 the distressed {vv. 9, 12) He is not unaware of the evil, the cause has come 
 before Him, or, His judgment upon it is determined, and therefore He 
 
 16 — 2
 
 244 JOB, XXXV. [vv. 15, 16. 
 
 13 But now, because // is not so, he hath visited in his anger; 
 
 Yet he knoweth // not in great extremity : 
 j6 Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; 
 
 He niultipheth words without knowledge. 
 
 is to be waited for till He manifest Himself by His just interposition. 
 Though the second person thou be used, Job's own case does not 
 appear to be referred to ; Elihu speaks generally, and Job is merely 
 addressed as an example of persons who complain of God's indifference 
 to wrong-doing. 
 
 15. This verse is very obscure, and the A. V. competes worthily 
 with the original in darkness. The word translated extremity does 
 not occur again, and, if it be a word at all and not a mere erroT: of 
 copyists (the Sept. read ^'transgression^'), its meaning can only be 
 guessed at. The connexion, however, suggests what general meaning 
 the expression must have. Perhaps the easiest way to construe the verse 
 is to take it in connexion with v. 16, 
 
 15. But now because his anger visiteth not, 
 And he doth not strictly regard transgression, 
 
 16. Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vanity, 
 He multiplieth words without knowledge. 
 
 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily (Eccles. 
 viiL. 11), and God seems as if He took no knowledge of wrong and 
 oppression, therefore Job draws the futile conclusion (inj. 2, 3), that 
 there is no advantage in being righteous more than in sinning. Elihu 
 has already accounted for God's refusal to interpose on very different 
 grounds (vv. 10 — 13), grounds which Job would do well to lay to heart. 
 The word rendered "extremity" {fash) may have a correspondent in 
 the Arab, fashsha of which Lane says, '■'■fashsha is syn. with fdsha 
 as meaning. He gloried or boasted and magnified himself, imagining 
 {in himself) what he did not possess." This would suggest such a 
 meaning as pride or arrogancy. 
 
 Though this construction q>{ v. 15 is simple it is doubtful if it be the 
 true one. V. 16 certainly looks independent, and if so v. 15 is also 
 complete in itself, 
 
 But now because his anger visiteth not. 
 Therefore he careth nothing for transgression ! 
 the second clause expressing the conclusion which Job draws from 
 God's inactivity and His refraining to punish (first clause), namely that 
 God was indifferent to evil, or as expressed in w. 1, 3, that righteous- 
 ness was of no profit to a man more than sin. The sense remains the 
 same as on the other construction. And v. 16, as before, expresses 
 Elihu's verdict regarding Job, 
 
 Nay, Job openeth his mouth in vanity. 
 He multiplieth words without knowledge. 
 
 Chap. XXXVL— XXXVH. .Elihu's Fourth Speech, 
 
 Tn his former speeches Elihu was more theoretical, being intent upon 
 correcting the false principles in regard to God enunciated by Job (see
 
 vv. I, 2.] JOB, XXXVI 245 
 
 Elihu also proceeded, and said, 36 
 
 Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee 2 
 
 That I have yet to speak on God's behalf. 
 
 headings to ch. xxxiii., xxxiv., xxxv.); in his present speech he is more 
 practical and hortatory. He keeps still before him the same great 
 object, namely to present just thoughts of God ; but having in the 
 former speeches corrected the false ideas of Job he proceeds now, more 
 positively, to present his own elevated conceptions of the Creator. 
 
 The object of the passage is to extol the greatness of God in all His 
 operations, both among men and in the world. Thus the passage falls 
 into two parts. 
 
 First, ch. xxxvi. i — 25; in which the greatness of God in His provi- 
 dential treatment of men is extolled. Here the speaker gives a fuller 
 statement of his theory of the meaning of the afflictions sent on men by 
 God {vv. I — 15); and exhorts Job to recognise God's purpose in his 
 sufferings, and to unite with all men in exalting Him. 
 
 Second, ch. xxxvi. 26 — ch. xxxvii. ; in which the greatness and 
 wisdom and unsearchableness of God, as these are manifested in the 
 phenomena of the heavens, are magnified (ch. xxxvi. 26 — xxxvii. 13); 
 and Job is exhorted to lay these great wonders to heart, and bow 
 beneath the wisdom and power of God, who far transcends man's com- 
 prehension (ch. xxxvii. 14 — 24). 
 
 Chap. XXXVI. i — 25. God's gracious designs in afflicting 
 
 MEN; AND EXHORTATION TO JOB TO UNITE WITH ALL MEN 
 IN EXTOLLING HiS GREATNESS. 
 
 First, vv. I — \. In some words of introduction Elihu beseeches Job 
 to listen to him still further, for he has yet something to say on God's 
 behalf; and he will speak what is true, for he has perfect knowledge. 
 
 Second, vv. 5 — 15. Then he proceeds to his theme, the greatness of 
 God. This is a greatness of mind and understanding, which does not 
 despise the weak, but rules all with goodness and wisdom. Afflictions 
 are but instances of this gracious wisdom, for by them He opens the ear 
 of men to instruction. 
 
 Third, vv. 16 — 25, application of this doctrine of the meaning of 
 afflictions to Job — God is through them alluring him into a prosperous 
 and happy life. And the speaker adds a warning against murmuring, 
 and an exhortation to adore and magnify as all men do the great God. 
 
 1 — 4. Introductory : Ehhu desires Job to hear him still further. He 
 has still more to say in God's behalf; and it is not trivial or common- 
 place, either in its object— for he will ascribe right to his Maker; nor 
 in itself, for he is one perfect in knowledge. 
 
 2. The verse reads, 
 
 Suffer me a little and I will shew thee; 
 For I have somewhat still to say on God's behalf. 
 The first words are lit. wait for me a little.
 
 246 JOB, XXXVI. {vv. 3—7. 
 
 I will fetch my knowledge from afar, 
 
 And will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. 
 
 For truly my words s/ia// not l>e false: 
 
 I/e that is perfect in knowledge is with thee. 
 
 Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any : 
 
 He is mighty in strength and wisdom. 
 
 He preserveth not the life of the wicked : 
 
 But giveth right to the poor. 
 
 He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous : 
 
 But with kings are they on the throne; 
 
 Yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted. 
 
 3. from a/ar] He will speak comprehensively, embracing the distant 
 parts of the subject in his survey, or throwing light upon it from far-off 
 regions. 
 
 righteousness to my Maker'\ Elihu gives here in a word the ruling 
 idea of his discourses : they are all meant to ascribe righteousness or 
 right to God; they are a defence of God against the charges of Job. 
 The expression rendered my Maker does not occur elsewhere in the 
 Old Testament. 
 
 4. The speaker makes a higher claim than to sincerity here; he 
 claims the character of absolute truth for his teaching — he is perfect in 
 knowledge. In a slightly different form the phrase " perfect in know- 
 ledge" is applied to God, ch. xxxvii. 16 ; cf. i Sam. ii. 3. 
 
 5—25. Elihu 's doctrine is in a word: God is great and despiseth 
 not, He is great in strength of heart. His greatness is that of under- 
 standing, which enables Him to estimate all rightly, to see through all 
 right and wrong, and to adapt His providence to the strong and to the 
 weak, the evil and the good. This thought with the illustrations of it, 
 w. 6 — 15, and the application of it to Job, w. 16 — 25, exhaust the 
 first half of this concluding speech. 
 
 6. and despiseth not] Though God is mighty He despiseth or dis- 
 daineth not. He gives the weakest his rights as much as the most 
 powerful, for they are all the work of His hand, ch. xxxiv. 19. The words 
 express Elihu's conception of God, which He opposes to the conception 
 of Job (e.g. ch. vii. and often). 
 
 in strength and wisdom] Rather, In strength of understanding; lit. 
 of heart. It is this perfection of understanding, in which God's great- 
 ness consists, that makes it impossible that He should "despise" any. 
 To know life, however mean, is to love it. 
 
 6. Illustration of the operation of God's understanding, giving to all 
 conditions of men their due. 
 
 right to the poor] Rather, his right; poor may be, as marg., afflicted. 
 
 V. The second half of the verse reads. 
 
 But with kings upon the throne 
 
 He setteth them for ever, and they are exalted.
 
 vv. 8—14.] JOB, XXXVI. 247 
 
 And if they be bound in fetters, s 
 
 Aiid be holden in cords of affliction; 
 
 Then he sheweth them their work, 9 
 
 And their transgressions that they have exceeded. 
 
 He openeth also their ear to discipline, _ 10 
 
 And commandeth that they return from iniquity. 
 
 If they obey and serve him, u 
 
 They shall spend their days in prosperity. 
 
 And their years in pleasures. 
 
 But if they obey not, " 
 
 They shall perish by the sword. 
 
 And they shall die without knowledge. 
 
 But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath : 13 
 
 They cry not when he bindeth them. 
 
 They die in youth, '4 
 
 And their life is among the unclean. 
 
 God's careful providence especially keeps the righteous, whom He 
 exalts to the loftiest stations, i Sam. ii. 8; Ps. cxiii. 7 seq. 
 
 8 — 10. If life often appears to present a different picture and men 
 are seen in affliction, this affliction is a discipline, needful to warn them 
 and bring their evil before them. 
 
 8. The expression "fetters" is rather to be taken figuratively, 
 meaning affliction or adversity, as "cords of affliction" in the next 
 clause suggests. 
 
 9 — 10. The meaning of afflictions — they are a divine warning and 
 stimulus to rouse men out of a sinful lethargy and bring their sin to their 
 remembrance. 
 
 9. that they have exceeded] Or, have dealt proudly, ch. xxxiii. 17. 
 
 11, 12. Such afflictions, though graciously meant, may have dif- 
 ferent issues according as men receive them. On the expression "the 
 sword" in v. 12 see ch. xxxiii. 18. 
 
 13, 14. Such afflictions indeed are sometimes the means of revealing 
 what character men are of, ch. v. 2. 
 
 13. hypocrites in heart] Rather, godless in heart; comp. ch. viii. 
 13. 
 
 heap up wratli] Rather, lay up anger, i.e. in their hearts, Ps. xiii. 1 ; 
 Prov. xxvi. 24 ; they cherish anger at the Divine discipline (ch. v. 1). 
 The " wrath" or anger referred to is their own, not that of God (Rom. ii. 
 5). The phrase does not occur elsewhere. 
 
 14. They die] lit. their soul dieth. They perish in the midst of their 
 days. 
 
 is among the unclean] Or, perlaheth among the unclean, i.e. Kke 
 the unclean. They die prematurely or in debasement like the hierodouloi 
 in the temples of Baal comp. i Kings xiv. 24, xv. 12.
 
 248 JOB, XXXVI. [vv. 15—17. 
 
 15 He delivereth the poor in his affliction, 
 And openeth their ears in oppression. 
 
 16 Even so would he have removed thee out of the strait 
 j7ito a broad place, where there is no straitness; 
 
 And that which should be set on thy table should be full 
 of fatness. 
 
 17 But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked: 
 Judgment and justice take hold on tJice. 
 
 15. The verse goes back to the great general principle of the use of 
 aflliction in God's hand \v. 8 scq^, in order to connect with it the case 
 of Job, and to found an exhortation to him upon it (t/. 16 scq.). The 
 word in affliction, in oppression, might mean (hroui^h affliction, &c. 
 
 16 — 25. AppHcation to Job of the principles in regard to aflliction 
 just enunciated by EHhu. 
 
 Verses 16—19 are difficult and have been understood in a great variety 
 of ways. The general sense expressed by the A. V. is protjably correct, 
 unless probabihty be considered too strong a term to employ of any 
 rendering. 
 
 16. Even so doth he allure thee out of the mouth of distress 
 Into a broad place, where there is no straitness ; 
 
 And that which is set on thy table shall be full of fatness. 
 
 17. But if thou art filled with the judgment of the wicked, 
 Judgment and justice shall keep hold on thee. 
 
 18. P'or beware lest wrath entice thee into scorning, 
 
 And let not the greatness of the ransom lead thee astray. 
 
 19. Will thy riches suffice, without stint? 
 Or all the forces of wealth? 
 
 Many objections may be urged against this rendering, as may be against 
 any rendering that can be proposed. 
 
 16. The words even so connect Job's case with the general principles 
 in regard to suffering just inculcated by Elihu. The figures of "strait- 
 ness" and " broad place" are usual for affliction and prosperity, of. 
 ch. xviii. 7. The figure of a plenteous table is also common, Ps. xxiii. 5. 
 The speaker does not say by what means God is alluring the sufferer 
 out of the moutli or jaws of distress into a broad place. He means 
 probably the disciplining effects of the distress itself, unless the "dis- 
 tress" here refer to a future, greater evil, from which Job's present 
 affliction is designed to save him. Comp., however, ch. xxxiii. 14 — 28. 
 
 17. The A. V. takes this verse positively ; it is more suitable to the 
 connexion and purpose of the speaker to understand it conditionally — 
 if tJioti art filled with, or as A. V. fulftUcst. To be full of, or to fulfil, 
 the judgment of the wicked, is to join the wicked in their judgment of 
 God when He afflicts, to lay up wrath against God {v. 13), an idea 
 immediately taken up in v. 18. If Job acts in this way, as he is too 
 much inclined (f. 21), then judgment and justice shall keep hold on 
 him. God's condemnation of him will reveal itself in the continuance
 
 vv. 18—20.] JOB, XXXVI. 249 
 
 Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away 18 
 
 with his stroke : 
 Then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. 
 Will he esteem thy riches ? no, not gold, 19 
 
 Nor all the forces of strength. 
 
 Desire not the night, 20 
 
 When people are cut off in their place. 
 
 and increase of his chastisement (cf. vv. 13, 14, ch. v. 2 seq.). The 
 word "judgment" is used in the one clause of man's, and in the other 
 of God's judgment, making a forcible antithesis. 
 
 18. In this verse wrath appears to be that of Job, as " anger," v. 11. 
 Elihu warns him against allowing it to entice him into rebellion against 
 God, comp. ch. xxxiv. 37. The A. V. takes "wrath" as that of God, 
 visible in Job's afflictions. This gives a good parallel to the "great- 
 ness of the ransom" in the next clause. Elihu's doctrine, however, is 
 that afflictions are not the expression of God's wrath but of His dis- 
 ciplinary mercy; and his great object is to warn Job against putting 
 this false construction on God's dealing with him ; cf. ch. xxxiii. through- 
 out, ch. xxxvi. 5. 
 
 In the second clause he warns Job against being led astray by the 
 greatness of the 7ansom, by which he means Job's severe afflictions ; 
 cf. ch. xxxiii. 24. 
 
 19. No other ransom will avail, — not riches nor all the power of 
 wealth. Only the purification of suffering will cleanse him from his 
 evil (cf ch. xxxiv. 36), and deliver him. Elihu demands with emphasis 
 whether all his riches will be accepted as a ransom ? It need not be 
 said that the question is put merely for the purpose of heightening the 
 effect of the idea in v. 18, that suffering is the only ransom possible. A 
 similar thought is expressed in Ps. xlix. 7 : " None of them can by any 
 means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him ; for the 
 redemption of their soul is too precious and it ceaseth for ever." 
 
 The word translated "without stint" (Conant) is lit. without strait- 
 ness. The word is oft^n used for distress {v. 16), and the clause might 
 be rendered : will thy riches suffice (lit. be equal to it, ch. xxviii. 19), 
 without distress, i.e. such afflictions as those now suffered? This is 
 rather flat. The A. V. assumes that the expression is the word ore or 
 gold, ch. xxii. 24, differently spelled. This assumption is both im- 
 probable in itself and contrary to the balance of the verse. 
 
 20 — 21. Elihu continues his warning to Job. 
 
 20. Desire not that night 
 
 When the peoples are cut off in their place ; 
 
 21. Take heed, turn not unto iniquity, 
 
 For this thou choosest rather than affliction. 
 
 20. The "night" is as usual a figure for destruction and judgment. 
 By this destroying judgment of God nations are "taken away" 
 in their -place, Le. on the spot, suddenly and without power of escape ;
 
 =3 
 
 24 
 
 250 JOB, XXXVI. [vv. 21—25. 
 
 Take heed, regard not iniquity: 
 
 For this hast thou chosen rather than affliction. 
 
 Behold, God exalteth by his power: 
 
 Who tcacheth Uke him ? 
 
 Who hath enjoined him his way? 
 
 Or who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity ? 
 
 Remember that thou magnify his work, 
 
 \Vhich men behold. 
 
 Every man may see it ; 
 
 Man may behold it afar off. 
 
 and Job is warned against desiring, lit. panting for, such a judg- 
 ment. Job had often desired to meet God in judgment, and there 
 may be a reference to this in the words, but the passage contains a 
 general warning against Job's rebellious words and demeanour towards 
 God, and means "Act not as if thou soughtest to bring on thyself the 
 dark and sudden judgment day of calamity when nations are swept 
 away in their place." 
 
 21. The verse continues the warning against a rebellious mind under 
 affliction, called here "turning unto iniquity"; for Job shews himself 
 more inclined to this than to submission to God's cliastening hand. 
 
 22 — 25. Instead of murmuring Job should bow under the mighty 
 hand of God, who through the operations of His providence is a great 
 teacher of men {v, 22) ; who is supreme {v. 23) ; and whose work all 
 men celebrate {v. 24), looking to it with admiration and awe {v. 25). 
 
 22. exalidh by his potuer] Rather, God doeth loftUy in liis power. 
 '.i'ho teachdh'] Or, wlio is a teacher. 
 
 23. The verse expresses the idea that God is supreme ; none enjoins 
 or appoints Him His way; lie is "God over all;" and hence none 
 can pass judgment upon His doings. 
 
 24. which men behold] Rather, which men do sing, that is, cele- 
 brate with praise. 
 
 25. The verse is better without the "may" of the A. V. 
 
 All men look thereon, 
 Man beholdcth it afar off. 
 Men look on God's work, His operations, with wonder and awe. 
 
 Chap. XXXVI. 26— XXXVII. The greatness and unsearch- 
 
 ABLENESS OF GOD, SEEN IN HiS MARVELLOUS OPERATIONS IN 
 THE SKIES ; AND EXHORTATION TO JOB TO ALLOW THESE 
 WONDERS DULY TO IMPRESS HIM, AND TO BOW BENEATH THE 
 GREATNESS OF GOD, WHO SURPASSES ALL COMPREHENSION. 
 
 The passage has two sections : 
 
 First, ch. xxxvi. 26— xxxvii. 13, the incomprehensible greatness of 
 God, seen in the phenomena of the atmosphere : in the fprmation of
 
 vv. 26— 28.] JOB, XXXVI. 251 
 
 Behold, God is great, and we know /ih?i not, iS 
 
 Neither can the number of his years be searched out. 
 For he maketh small the drops of water: 17 
 
 They pour down rain according to the vapour thereof: 
 Which the clouds do drop £3 
 
 A?id distil upon man abundantly. 
 
 the rain-drops (ch. xxxvi. 26 — 28); in the thunder-storm (ch. xxxvi. 29 — 
 xxxvii. 5) ; in snow and ice, which seals up the hand of man and 
 makes him powerless before the mighty power of God {w. 6 — 10) ; 
 in His lading the cloud with moisture, and guiding it to the fulfilment of 
 His varied behests upon the whole earth (vv. 11 — 13). 
 
 Second, ch. xxxvii. 14 — 21, Elihu exhorts Job to consider these 
 marvels of Him which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working, 
 and to let them duly impress him ; bidding him behold the wonderful 
 balancing of the summer cloud in the heavens, when the earth is still 
 with the south wind (w. 14 — 17), and the burnished sky is stretched 
 out like a molten mirror (v. 18). With what words shall man come 
 before the Omnipotent to contend with Him ! Man, who is dazzled by 
 the light of the sky, how should he behold the terrible glory around 
 God ! Therefore all men do fear Him ; and He hath not respect to 
 those that are wise in their own understanding [vv. 19 —21). 
 
 Ch. xxxvi. 26 — xxxvii. 13, The greatness of God and the wonderfulness 
 of His operations in the phenomena of the atmosphere. 
 
 26. we know him not\ He is so great as to transcend all knowledge 
 of man. The Eternity of God is referred to in the second clause in 
 order to fill the mind more completely with the sense of His greatness. 
 
 27, 28. The wonder of the rain-drops. 
 
 27. For he maketh small the rain-drops ; 
 They distil the rain of his vapour ; 
 
 28. Which the clouds pour down. 
 
 And drop upon the multitude of mankind. 
 
 27. he maketh small\ lit. he draweth away, the reference being 
 probably to the formation of the rain, which God draweth away in 
 drops from the great mass of waters above. Others render, he draweth 
 up, supposing the reference to be to the ascent of the rain in the form 
 of vapour, as it then comes down in rain-drops. But this is rather 
 scientific and complete ; neither does the word mean to draw tip. 
 
 28. tipo7i matt abundantly\ This is possible, but the more natural 
 meaning is as above, the reference being to the universal reach of the 
 rain, and its fall on all mankind. 
 
 29 — xxxvii. 6. The marvel of the thunder-storm. 
 
 29. 30. Verse 30 needs some modification — 
 
 29. Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, 
 And the crashings of his pavilion? 
 
 30. Behold, he spreadeth his light around him. 
 
 And covereth him over with the deeps of the .sea.
 
 -5- 
 
 JOB, XXXVI. [vv. 29—33. 
 
 29 Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, 
 
 Or the noise of his tabernacle ? 
 33 Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it. 
 
 And covereth the bottom of the sea. 
 
 31 For by them judgeth he the people; 
 He giveth meat in abundance. 
 
 32 With clouds he covereth the light; 
 
 And commandeth it not to shine by the cloud that cometh 
 betwixt. 
 ;«3 The noise thereof shevveth concerning it, 
 The cattle also concerning the vapour. 
 
 29. The "spreadings" of the clouds refers probably to the accumu- 
 lation and diffusion of the storm clouds over the heavens ; and the 
 second clause to the loud thundering within the dark cloud, where God 
 is enshrouded, and which is therefore called His "pavilion." So the 
 word is rendered Ps. xviii. 11, where the representation is similar. 
 
 30. Though God is enveloped in the dark cloud. He is there en- 
 circled with His light, which, though the masses of waters cover Him, 
 manifests itself to men's eyes in the lightning that shoots from the cloud 
 and illumines it. 
 
 the bottom of the sed\ lit. the roots of the sea, a singular figure, which 
 must mean the deeps or recesses of the sea. The reference is no doubt 
 to the masses of water in the thunder clouds which enshroud the 
 Almighty, but the precise idea of the poet is uncertain. Either he 
 must call the heavenly waters the "sea" (cf. Ps. xxix. 3), and mean by 
 its "roots" its densest recesses; or if he refer to the sea on earth, his 
 idea must be that it has been, as it were, dravi^n up from its bottom in 
 cloud and vapour to form the pavilion of the Lord. This second idea 
 has a certain extravagance which makes it less probable. 
 
 31. For by them judgeth he the people] Rather, the peoples. He 
 judges the peoples by the lightning and the rain cloud. Uy the one 
 He "scatters" and "discomfits" His enemies (Ps. xviii. 14), and by 
 the other He watereth the earth and makes it fruitful (Is. Iv. 10). 
 
 32—33. The verses read, 
 
 32. He covereth over his hands with light, 
 
 And giveth it commandment against the adversary; 
 
 33. His thundering telleth concerning him; 
 
 Unto the cattle, even concerning him that cometh up ; 
 
 32. The "light" here is the lightning, which grasped in His hands 
 illuminates them. Hitzig refers to Hor. Od. I. ■2, 
 
 et rubente 
 dextera sacras jaculatus arces 
 terruit urbem. 
 
 33. the cattle also] The A. V. makes " cattle " subject — they also tell 
 of God ; in which case the reference would be to their presentiments uf
 
 vv. 1—6.] JOB, XXXVII. 253 
 
 At this also my heart trembleth, 37 
 
 And is moved out of his place. 
 
 Hear attentively the noise of his voice, 2 
 
 And the sound that goeth out of his mouth. 
 
 He directeth it under the whole heaven, 3 
 
 And his lightning unto the ends of the earth. 
 
 After it a voice roareth : 4 
 
 He thundereth with the voice of his excellency; 
 
 And he will not stay them when his voice is heard. 
 
 God thundereth marvellously with his voice; 5 
 
 Great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend. 
 
 For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; 6 
 
 Likemse to the small rain, 
 
 And to the great rain of his strength. 
 
 a coming storm. The context, however, describes a storm actually 
 present, and it is more natural to repeat the words "it telleth" from 
 the first clause and render, (it telleth) mito the cattle ; for the reference 
 throughout appears to be to the impression produced on all creatures by 
 God's mighty thunderings and how these reveal His majesty — even the 
 cattle hearing with terror His awful voice ; just as in ch. xxxvii. i 
 Elihu describes the effect produced on himself. 
 
 concerning the vapour\ Rather as above, concerning Him that cometh 
 up, i.e. approaches or advances in the thunder cloud. 
 
 The above rendering assumes that the present Heb. text is correct. 
 Others by alterations in the pointing elicit various senses. 
 
 xxxvii. 1. This verse reads. 
 
 Yea, at this my heart trembleth, 
 And leapeth up out of its place. 
 
 2. the sound that goeth\ Or, the muttering. The thunder is the 
 voice of God, going forth out of His mouth. 
 
 3. he directeth^ Rather, assuming another derivation of the word, lie 
 sendeth it forth, lets it loose. 
 
 4. with the voice of his excellency] Rather, witli Ms voice of 
 majesty. 
 
 he will not stay them] Rather, he stayeth them not ; He restrains 
 not His lightnings. The words describe the play of the lightning, 
 rapidly succeeding the thunder. When God's presence is announced 
 by His terrible voice, there also are His awful ministers, the lightnings, 
 swift to do His commandments against His adversaries (ch. xxxvi. 32). 
 
 6 — 10. Another wonder of God's power, snow and frost. 
 
 6. The verse reads as a whole. 
 
 For he saith to the snow, Fall thou on the earth ; 
 
 Likewise to the showers of rain, 
 
 Even to tlie showers of his mighty rains.
 
 254 JOB, XXXVII. [vv. 7— II. 
 
 He sealeth up the hand of every man; 
 
 That all men may know his work. 
 
 Then the beasts go into dens, 
 
 And remain in their places. 
 
 Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: 
 
 And cold out of the north. 
 
 By the breath of God frost is given: 
 
 And the breadth of the waters is straitened. 
 
 Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud : 
 
 He scattereth his bright cloud : 
 
 The reference in the second and third clauses is probably to the heavy 
 rainfall of the winter season. 
 
 7. He sealeth up the hand] Effect of the winter rains and snow on 
 men : all lajjour in the field is suspended ; the hand of man is as it were 
 "sealed up." 
 
 that all men may hnow his Tvorh] The Ileb. must be rendered : that 
 all men whom lie hatli made may know, lit. all men of his workman- 
 ship. The meaning is, that men by their enforced inactivity through 
 His operations in nature may know His sovereign power and that they 
 are subject to it. The sense given by the A.V. is that of some of the 
 ancient Versions, but implies a different reading. 
 
 8. their places] Their coverts or lairs. The reference is to the 
 hibernation of the animals, or to their retreat into their coverts for 
 shelter from the snow and rains. 
 
 9 — 10. Frost and ice. 
 
 9. The rendering of this verse in the A.V. is free and in some mea- 
 sure conjectural. 
 
 the south] lit. the chavtber. In ch. ix. 9 reference was made to the 
 " chambers of the south," and it has been assumed that the same is the 
 meaning here. There is no reason, however, why the southern heavens 
 should be called "chamber" more than any other quarter of the sky; 
 and the passage appears to refer to the season of winter, while the 
 south wind brings heat, v. 17. The term "chamber" is most probably 
 used in the sense of "treasury" (ch. xxxviii. 22), as Ps. cxxxv. 7, " He 
 briugeth the wind out of his treasuries." The meaning probably is, 
 out of its (or, liis) cliainher cometh the luhirlwind. 
 
 the north] The wortl is of uncertain meaning. It may signify, the 
 scatteri}ig (winds), that is, possibly the north winds that scatter the 
 clouds and bring frost. 
 
 10. By the breath of God frost] Rather, ice. The wind is the breath 
 of God as the thunder is His voice. This cold breath gives ice. 
 
 11 — 13. The wonderful movements of the clouds directed by the 
 guidance of God, and fulfilling His several behests. 
 These verses read, 
 
 II. Also he ladeth the thick cloud vrith moisture. 
 He spreadeth his lightning-cloud abroad ;
 
 vv. 12—17.] JOB, XXXVII. 255 
 
 And it is turned round about by his counsels: 12 
 
 That they may do whatsoever he commandeth them 
 Upon the face of the world in the earth. 
 He causeth it to come, whether for correction, 13 
 
 Or for his land, or for mercy. 
 
 Hearken unto this, O Job: 14 
 
 Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. 
 Dost thou know when God disposed them, 15 
 
 And caused the light of his cloud to shine ? 
 Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, 16 
 
 The wondrous works of him which is perfect in know- 
 ledge ? 
 How thy garments are warm, i; 
 
 When he quieteth the earth by the south wind? 
 
 12. And it is turned round about by his guidance, 
 That it may do whatsoever he commandeth it 
 Upon the face of the whole earth ; 
 
 13. Whether it be for correction, or for his earth. 
 Or for mercy that he causeth it to come. 
 
 12. In the second clause the words are lit. " that they may do," the 
 plur. relerring to "cloud" (v. 11) collectively. Others make the pro- 
 noun tJiey refer to men, which is very unnatural. The expression "the 
 whole earth" is lit. the ivoi'ld of the earth, Prov. viii. 31. 
 
 13. This is the natural rendering of the Heb. If right the words 
 "correction" (rod, ch. xxi. 9) and "mercy" must refer to God's pur- 
 poses in regard to men, while the words "for his earth" refer more to 
 the inanimate world, as God "causeth it to rain on the earth, where no 
 man is," ch. xxxviii. id. Many have felt, however, that the balance of 
 the verse requires only two objects to be stated, namely " correction " 
 and "mercy," and would render the first line, whether it be for correc- 
 tion, when due to his earth. 
 
 14 — 23. Elihu's own imagination kindles at the thought of the won- 
 ders which he is unfolding, and he beseeches Job to observe them with 
 a reverent awe, and learn from them the unsearchableness of Him who 
 is their Author. 
 
 15. ivhen God disposed iheni] Rather, how God layeth his com- 
 mand upon them, and causeth, &c. ? 
 
 16. the ia/ancitigs] That is, how the clouds are poised in the hea- 
 vens (comp. ch. xxvi. 8), which Elihu regards as an unspeakable marvel. 
 
 17. how thy garments are warm] Rather perhaps, thou whose 
 garments are warm, when the earth is still because of the south 
 wind. Verse 15 referred to the storm cloud ; vv. 16, 17 refer rather to 
 the sultry summer cloud. The words express how feeble man has no 
 part in causing these wonders, but only passively feels the effect of them. 
 " This sensation of dry, hot clothes is only experienced during the
 
 256 JOB, XXXVII. [vv. 18—21. 
 
 is Hast thou with him spread out the sky, 
 
 Which is strong, and as a molten looking glass ? 
 
 19 Teach us what we shall say unto him; 
 
 For we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness, 
 
 20 Shall it be told him that I speak ? 
 
 If a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up. 
 SI And now men see not the bright light 
 Which is in the clouds : 
 But the wind passeth, and cleanseth them. 
 
 siroccos" (Thomson, Land and the Book). In reference to the stillness 
 of the earth under such a wind, this writer says, " There is no living 
 thing abroad to make a noise. The birds hide in thickest shades, the 
 fowls pant under the walls with open mouth and drooping wings, the 
 flocks and herds take shelter in caves and under great rocks, and the 
 labourers retire from the fields and close the windows and doors of their 
 houses.... The very air is too weak and languid to stir the pendent 
 leaves even of the tall poplars." 
 
 18. The present tense is better in this verse, 
 
 Canst thou with him spread out the skies, 
 Strong, as a molten mirror ? 
 
 "With Him" may mean "along with Him," or rather like Him. 
 The comparison of the clear, dry, burnished summer skies of the East 
 to "brass" is made in other parts of Scripture. The Eastern mirrors 
 were plates of metal, Ex. xxxviii. 8. 
 
 19. This thought of the strong expanse of heaven stretched out by 
 God suggests to Elihu His unspeakable greatness and unsearchableness, 
 and he demands of Job with what words of man such a Being is to be 
 addressed, if one sought to contend with Him. 
 
 by reason of darkness] That is, of understanding — in presence of the 
 unsearchableness of God. 
 
 20. The verse means, 
 
 Shall it be told him that I would speak ? 
 
 Or shall a man wish that he should be swallowed up? 
 
 Elihu recoils from the thought of going into God's presence to strive 
 with Him ; such daring presumption would be voluntarily to court 
 destruction. The words "shall a man wish?" are lit. lias a man said 
 or commanded? i.e. has any one ever voluntarily ordered his own anni- 
 hilation? Nothing other than this does the man do who ventures to 
 contend with the Almighty. 
 
 21. The natural meaning of this verse is, 
 
 And now men cannot look upon the light, 
 
 When it is bright in the skies, 
 
 And the wind liath passed and cleansed them. 
 
 The "light," here the sunlight, is too great to look upon, it dazzles the 
 beholder, when the wind has passed over and cleared the heavens.
 
 vv. 22, 23.] JOB, XXXVII. 257 
 
 Fair weather cometh out of the north: 22 
 
 With God is terrible majesty. 
 
 Touching the AUnighty, we cannot find him out : he is 23 
 
 excellent in power, 
 And i7i judgment, and i7i plenty of justice: he will not 
 
 afflict. 
 
 Others render, as A.V. in the main, and 7tow men see not the light, 
 though it is bright in the clouds (i.e. behind X\\e. clouds); but the wind 
 passeth over and cleareth them. It is difficult to reconcile this transla- 
 tion of the third clause with grammar. The idea supposed to be sug- 
 gested by this rendering is, that just as behind the clouds there is light, 
 which will by and by appear, so the darkness around God's face and 
 ways will speedily clear away. But such a thought remains altogether 
 unexpressed ; and besides, the whole passage refers to the unsearchable- 
 ness of God and the terrible majesty that surrounds Him and makes 
 Him unapproachable (vv. 22, 23). The verse is evidently incomplete 
 in sense, expressing but half the idea; the other half is given in 
 V. 22. 
 
 22. fair tueathcr] lit. gold, that is, probably, golden brightness or 
 splendour, the reference being to the light (v. 21). This is said to come 
 from the North because the north wind {v. 21) clears away the clouds 
 and reveals it. With this sense the verse carries oa the thought of 
 V. 21, and the antithesis is expressed in the second clause oiv. 22, with 
 God is terrible glory— a men cannot look upon the light when it shines 
 in the cloudless heaven, how much less shall they bear to look upon the 
 majesty of God, surrounded with terrible glory. 
 
 Others adhere to the literal sense of gold, considering the general 
 meaning to be, that men may penetrate into the furthest and darkest 
 regions of the earth and bring out to view whatever precious things they 
 contain, but around God is a terrible majesty which exalts Him above 
 all comprehension. However good this meaning be in itself, it leaves 
 V. 2 1 isolated and incomplete in sense. And although to Classical An- 
 tiquity the North may have been the region of gold, no trace of such a 
 conception appears in the Old Testament, for any identification of 
 Havilah (Gen. ii. 11) with Colchis is more than adventurous. The 
 comparison too of the light to gold is common in the poetry of all lan- 
 guages. 
 
 23, 24. Elihu sums up his teaching regarding the greatness of God, 
 which is ever conjoined with righteousness. It is befitting men, there- 
 fore, not to judge Him, but to fear Him, for He regards not them that 
 are wise in their own understanding. 
 
 23. According to the original the members of the verse stand thus : 
 
 The Alniighty ! we cannot find him out ; who is great in power, 
 
 And in justice and fulness of righteousness : he will not afflict. 
 
 The connexion shews that a^ici has the sense of afflict unjustly, or 
 
 oppress. Taken thus the verse has a certain halting movement. Hence 
 
 others take the word "afflict" in the sense of wrest or do violence to, 
 
 JOB jy
 
 2 + 
 
 / 
 
 258 JOB, XXXVII., XXXVIII. [v. 24. 
 
 Men do therefore fear him: 
 
 He respecteth not any that are wise of heart. 
 
 rendering the second clause, and justice and fulness of righteousness he 
 will tiot pervert (K\y.). r^ j 
 
 Elihu returns here at the end of his discourse to the thought of (jod 
 with which he started, eh. xxxvi. 5, "Behold God is mighty, and 
 despiseth not any." This is the thought of God that fills all his dis- 
 courses ; God's power is ever conjoined with righteousness, and He 
 unjustly afflicts or oppresses none. 
 
 24. 2uise of heart] That is, wise in their own thoughts. God has 
 respect unto the humble— a final exhortation to Job to abstain from 
 presumptuous complaints of God, and to unite with mankind every- 
 where in fearing Him. 
 
 Ch. XXXVIII.— XLII. 6. The Lord answers Job out of the 
 
 bTORM. 
 
 We are now to witness the last net of the drama. And to under- 
 stand it we have to go back to the starting-point and recall the idea of 
 the Poem. This idea is expressed in the question, Doth Job serve God 
 for 7tought? Or, as otherwise put, the idea is, I'ke trial of t/ie Righteous. 
 This trial has been observed proceeding throughout the whole Book. 
 Now it approaches its conclusion. The Lord, who caused it or per- 
 mitted it, and has watched it from afar, must now interpose to bring it 
 to an end, and bestow on Job the fruits of it. The trial has been suc- 
 cessfully borne : for though Job has sinned under it, his sin has not 
 been of the kind predicted by the Adversary; he has continued to 
 cleave to God, and even sounded deeps of faith profounder than ever 
 he had reached before (ch. xix.), and tasted the sweets of righteousness 
 with a keener delight than during his former godly life (ch. xvii. 9). 
 
 At the point at which we are now arrived tiie sole object of interest 
 is Job's mind in its relations to God. The speculative question dis- 
 cussed between him and his friends concerning the incaning of his 
 sufferings, or the meaning of evil in general in the providence of God, 
 has no importance, except so far as the conclusions which Job has 
 arrived at have left his mind in a condition of perplexity in regard to 
 the ways of God. The Author's didactic purpose in raising the dis- 
 cussion between Job and his friends has been served (ch. xxi. xxiii. — 
 xxiv.). Job himself now remains the problem. 
 
 Though the trial has been successfully borne upon the whole. Job 
 has not come out of it scatheless. His demeanour towards God, 
 especially in presuming to contend with Him, has been at many 
 points profoundly blameworthy. And the thought, which he refuses 
 to abandon (ch. xxvii. 2—6, xxxi. 35 seii-), that God is unjust in His 
 rule of the world, even though he maintains it more as a theory and 
 necessary construction of facts as he observes them, without allowing 
 it much to influence his life, or destroy his larger faith in God, is a 
 thought not only derogatory to God, but one that must cripple every
 
 JOB, xxxviir. 239 
 
 religious movement of Job's heart. So long as such a feeling remains 
 his trial cannot be said to be ended. But nothing that Job himself can 
 do, nor anything that his friends can urge, is able to remove it. It was 
 God, by His mysterious providence, who raised this dark doubt in His 
 servant's mind, and He must interpose to drive it away. 
 
 It might be supposed at first that the simplest way of restoring Job 
 to peace would have been to reveal to him that his afflictions were not 
 due to his sin, but were the trial of his righteousness, and in this way 
 solve the problem that perplexed him. But the elements of blame- 
 worthiness in Job's conduct forbade this simple treatment. The disease 
 had spread in his mind, and developed moral symptoms, which required 
 a broader remedy. Besides, it is God who now speaks to Job ; and in 
 His teaching of men He never moves in the region of the mere under- 
 standing, but always in that of the religious life. He may remove 
 perplexities regarding His providence and ways from men's minds, 
 but He does not do so by the immediate communication of intellectual 
 light, but by flushing all the channels of thought and life with a deeper 
 sense of Himself. Under the flow of this fuller sense of God per- 
 plexities disappear, just as rocks that raise an angry surf when the '.ide 
 is low are covered and unknown when it is full. This is the meaning 
 of God's manifestation to Job out of the storm. He brings Himself 
 and His full glory near to Job, and fills his mind with such a sense 
 of Him as he had never had before — "Now mine eye seeth thee" 
 (ch. xlii. 5). At this sight of God his heart not only quivers with an 
 unspeakable joy, but he abhors his past thoughts of Him, and his 
 former words, and repents in dust and ashes. 
 
 The object of the Lord's answer to Job out of the storm is twofold, 
 to rebuke Job, and to heal him — to bring home to his heart the blame- 
 worthiness of his words and demeanour towards (iod, and to lift him 
 up out of his perplexities into peace. The two things hardly difter ; 
 at least both are effected by the same means, namely by God's causing 
 all His glory to pass before Job. 
 
 The Lord's answer to Job out of the storm consists of two parts, or 
 contains two questions : — 
 
 First, ch. xxxviii. i — xl. 5, Shall mortal man contend with God? 
 
 Second, ch. xl. 6 — xlii. 6, Shall man charge God with wrong in His 
 rule of the world ? 
 
 The two questions, however, are hardly kept apart, for the first 
 implies the second, inasmuch as a man's contention with God will 
 naturally be because of His unjust treatment of himself. And Job, 
 in his final words of penitence (ch. xlii. 1 — 6), refers back to ch. 
 xxxviii. 2. 
 
 In the beginning of His first address Jehovah invites Job to enter 
 upon that contention with Him which he had so often sought, "Gird 
 up thy loins like a man ; and I will demand of thee, and answer thou 
 me" (ch. xxxviii. 3). The point aimed at by the Divine Speaker is the 
 presumption of Job in desiring to contend with the Almighty. Then 
 the Lord causes a panorama of creation, both inanimate and living, to 
 pass before Job (ch. xxxviii. 4 — xxxix. 30). Having done so He de- 
 mands, "Will he that reproveth the Almighty contend with Him"? 
 
 ry — 2
 
 JOB, XXXVIII. 
 
 / 
 
 (ch. xl. 2.) Does Job, now that the glory of God has been made to 
 pass before his eyes, continue to desire to contend with Him ? To 
 which Job replies, "Behold 1 am too mean; how sliall 1 answer thee? 
 I lay mine hand upon my mouth" (ch. xl. 4). The exhibition of the 
 great panorama of creation was but a method of revealing God, not in 
 one attribute but in all His manifoldness and resource of mind. It was 
 designed to abase Job before God, and rebuke his presumption. And 
 this was its effect: "Behold I am too mean"! But the revelation of 
 God had another design besides abasing Job. It was given to Job that 
 he might know God, and be at peace (ch. xxii. 21). 
 
 The process, however, is not yet complete. In a second address the 
 Lord again commands Job to gird up his loins and answer Him. But 
 now He is more specific : "Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be 
 in the right"? (ch. xl. 8.) And He ironically invites Job to clothe 
 himself with the attributes of the Supreme l\uler, and conduct the rule 
 of the world himself. The invitation brings home to Job a still deeper 
 feeling of that which the Almighty is, ami he exclaims, "I had heard 
 of thee with the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee " 
 (ch. xlii. 5). And in this light of God his own past thought of Him 
 seems the darker: "I abhor it, and repent in dust and ashes." 
 
 Thus the solution to Job's problem given in God's answer from the 
 storm is a religious solution, not a speculative one. It is a solution to 
 the heart, not to the intellect. It is such a solution as only God could 
 give; a solution which does not solve the perplexity but buries it under 
 the tide of a fuller life and joy in God. It is a solution as broad as Job's 
 life and not merely the measure of his understanding; the same solu- 
 tion as was given to the doubting Apostle, making him to exclaim, " My 
 Lord and my God ! " and leaching him that not through his sense of 
 touch or his eyesight, but through a broader sense, God makes himself 
 felt by man. 
 
 Ch. XXXVIIL i— XL. 5. The Lord's First Answer to Job 
 OUT of the Storm. Shall mortal Man contend with 
 God? 
 
 The passage has three general divisions: 
 
 First, ch. xxxviii. i — 3b, a review of inanimate nature, the wonders 
 of earth and sky, all revealing the manifoldness of the Divine mind, 
 and suggesting by contrast the littleness of man. 
 
 Second, ch. xxxviii. 39 — xxxix. 30, a review of the world of animal 
 life, having the same object as the former division. 
 
 Third, ch. xl. 1 — 5, the impression produced on Job by this vision of 
 the glory of God in creation — he is abased and brought to silence. 
 
 This first address to Job touches simply the presumption of a man 
 seeking to contend with God. Hence it is taken up with presenting 
 God and man in opposition to one another. The vivid pictures of the 
 inanimate creation, with its wonders, and the world of animal life, 
 with its instincts and properties — all of them originated and bestowed 
 by God — are but the means used for displaying God. And the sharp, 
 ironical questions put to Job, where he was when God laid the
 
 vv. 1—4.] JOB, XXXVIII. 261 
 
 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 38 
 Who ts this that darkeneth counsel 2 
 
 By words without knowledge ? 
 
 Gird up now thy loins like a man; 3 
 
 For I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. 
 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ? 4 
 Declare, ii thou hast understanding. 
 
 foundations of the earth ; whether he hunts her prey for the lioness; or 
 combined such contradictory qualities in the ostrich ; or created that 
 wonder of beauty and fierceness, the war-horse — these questions but 
 serve to bring out by contrast with God the feebleness and meanness of 
 man. 
 
 1. out of the 'whirhvind'l Rather, out of the Storm. Jehovah, 
 even when condescending to speak with men, must veil Himself in the 
 storm cloud, in which He descends and approaches the earth. Even 
 when He is nearest us, clouds and darkness are round about Him. 
 His revelation of Himself to Job, at least, was partly to rebuke him, 
 for he had sinned against His majesty, and He veils Himself in terrors. 
 The storm is not necessarily that which Elihu describes; the Art. is 
 rather generic, the meaning being that thus Jehovah spoke, namely, out 
 of storm. 
 
 2. 7vho is this that darkeneth counsel^ lit. 7vho then is darkening 
 counsel? The word then merely adds the emphasis of impatience or 
 astonishment to the question, who...} The expression C(7?<;m^/ suggests 
 that the Lord had a plan or meaning in Job's afflictions, which the per- 
 verse and ignorant construction put on them by Job obscured. The 
 word might have a wider sense and refer to sound wisdom in general in 
 reference to man's life, which Job, by his particular utterances on God's 
 providence, only darkened. The participle darkening is thought by 
 many to imply that the Divine Speaker broke in upon Job when in the 
 act of darkening, that is, when speaking. If so, the speeches of Elihu 
 are an interpolation. It is rather to strain the argument from the use 
 of the participle to say that this must be the meaning. 
 
 3. for I zuill demand] Rather, and I will. Jehovah now invites Job 
 to prepare for that contention with Him which he had so often desired, ■ 
 ix. 35, xiii. 20 seq. ; and as Job had said, " Then call thou and I will 
 answer, or let me speak and answer thou me" (ch. xiii. c!?), Jehovah, 
 as becomes Him, chooses the former half of the alternative, it may be 
 that when He has "called " Job will be less ready than he thought to 
 "answer" (ch. xl. 3 — 5). 
 
 4 — 38. A SURVEY OF THE INANIMATE CREATION, THE WONDERS 
 OF EARTH AND SKY — THE EARTH, VV. 4 — 18 ; THE HEAVENS, VV. 18 
 -38. 
 
 4 — 11. Earth and sea. 
 
 4. Was Job present, possibly taking part in the operation, when 
 Jehovah laid the foundations of the earth? Let him then "declare"
 
 JOB, XXXVIII. [vv. 5— lo. 
 
 I 
 
 AVho hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest ? 
 
 Or who hath stretched the Hne upon it ? 
 
 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened ? 
 
 Or who laid the corner stone thereof; 
 
 When the morning stars sang together, 
 
 And all the sons of God shouted for joy ? 
 
 Or ivJio shut up the sea with doors, 
 
 When it brake forth, as if\t had issued out of the womb? 
 
 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, 
 
 And thick darkness a swaddling band for it, 
 
 And brake up for it my decreed J)lace, 
 
 And set bars and doors, 
 
 how all was done. The word declare of course refers to the queries 
 in w. 5 — 7. 
 
 5. if I /ton k)W!ivst'\ Rather, that thou shouldest know. Job knew 
 well who laid (rather, fixed) the measures of the earth, but the point of 
 the question is, Was he present to see who fixed them and how they 
 were fixed, so as to be able to speak with knowledge ? 
 
 6. are the foundations fastcncd\ Or, were the foundations sunk? 
 All the tenses here should be put in the simple past. 
 
 The creation of the earth is likened to the rearing of a great edifice, 
 whose extent was determined by line, whose pillars were sunk in their 
 bases, and its corner-stone laid with shoutings and songs of rejoicing 
 among the heavenly hosts (comp. Ezra iii. 10 seq., Zech. iv. 7). 
 Such music, as 'tis said, 
 Before was never made. 
 
 But when of old the sons of morning sung, 
 While the Creator great 
 His constellations set, 
 
 And the well-balanced world on hinges hung; 
 And cast the dark foundations deep, 
 And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep. 
 
 Hymn on the Nativity. 
 
 The stars and the angels are here as usual conjoined, and the morning 
 stars are named as the brightest and most glorious, as also because the 
 earth rose into existence at the morning dawn. 
 
 8 — 10. The sea. 
 
 8. as if it had isstied'\ Rather, and issued out of the womb. 
 
 9. thick darkness] Or, and the thick cloud. 
 
 10. brake tip for it my decreed placi^, Rather, and brake for it my 
 bound, i.e. set it my appointed boundary. The expression " brake " 
 may refer to the deep and abrupt precipices which mark the coast line 
 in many places. 
 
 The figures in these verses are very splendid. First, the ocean is 
 represented as an infant giant, breaking forth from the womb. (It is
 
 vv. II— 16.] JOB, XXXVIII. 263 
 
 And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: n 
 
 And here shall thy proud waves be stayed ? 
 
 Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; 12 
 
 And caused the dayspring to know his place; 
 
 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, 13 
 
 That the wicked might be shaken out of it ? 
 
 It is turned as clay to the seal; 14 
 
 And they stand as a garment. 
 
 And from the wicked their light is withholden, 15 
 
 And the high arm shall be broken. 
 
 Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea ? 16 
 
 not necessary perhaps to ask whether the interior of the earth be 
 thought of as the " womb " of the ocean, or whether " womb " merely 
 belongs to the figure of the ocean's birth.) Then the infant ocean was 
 swathed in clouds and thick clouds were its swaddling bands. Finally 
 the new-born monster must be tamed by almighty power, and an im- 
 passable bound set to its proud fury. 
 
 12 — 15. The dawn that daily overspreads the earth. 
 
 12. since thy days} i.e. since thou wast born, all thy life. The ques- 
 tion, naturally, implies the other query, whether Job be coeval with the 
 dawn? 
 
 the dayspring] i.e. the dawn. 
 
 13. ends of the earth] lit. skirts or wings of the earth. The figure 
 is beautiful ; the dawn as it pours forth along the whole horizon, on 
 both sides of the beholder, lays hold of the borders of the earth, over 
 Avhich night lay like a covering ; and seizing this covering by its extremi- 
 ties it shakes the wicked out of it. The wicked flee from the light. 
 The dawn is not a physical phenomenon merely, it is a moral agent. 
 
 14. Another charming figure. Under the light of morn the earth, 
 which was formless in the darkness, takes shape like the clay under 
 the seal. 
 
 It is changed as clay under the seal, 
 And they stand forth as a garment. 
 
 In the first clause the words are lit. as seal-day. All things with 
 clear-cut impression and vivid colouring stand forth under the light, and 
 together form a various, many-coloured garment, in which the earth 
 is robed. 
 
 15. shall be broken] Rather, is broken. The ' ' light " of the wicked 
 is the darkness, ch. xxiv. 17. The "high arm" is the arm already 
 uplifted to commit violence. Again the moral meaning of the dayspring 
 is expressed. 
 
 16 — 17. The deep and the underworld. 
 
 16. hast thou entered] Perhaps, didst thou enter 7 The whole pas- 
 sage seems under the influence of the first question, v. 4, Where wast 
 thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ? Did Job then explore
 
 / 
 
 264 JOB, XXXVIII. [vv. 17—21. 
 
 Or hast thou walked in the search of the depth ? 
 "7 Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? 
 
 Or hast thou seen tlie doors of the shadow of death ? 
 '8 Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? 
 
 Declare if thou knowest it all. 
 >9 Where is the way ui/iere light dwelleth ? 
 
 And as for darkness, where is the place thereof, 
 2o That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof, 
 
 And that thou shouldest know the paths to the house 
 thereof? 
 " Knowest thou //, because thou wast then born? 
 
 Or because the number of thy days is great ? 
 
 the abysses of the deep, and enter the gates of the underworld ? Did 
 he then survey all parts of the new-born world? 
 walked in the search] Rather, in the recesses. 
 
 17. have the gates of death] Or, were the gates ? Death is per- 
 sonified; it is Sheol, the place of the dead, ch. xxviii. 22. This is a 
 lower deep than the recesses of the sea; Job, no doubt, went down 
 there also. 
 
 hast thou seen] Or, didst thou see 7 
 
 18. Final query, Whether Job surveyed the whole earth, and com- 
 prehended its breadth. 
 
 hast thou perceived] Rather perhaps, didst thou comprehend ? 
 19 — 38. The wonders of the heavens. 
 19 — 21. Tight and darkness. 
 
 19. The first clause reads. 
 
 What is the way to where light dwelleth ? 
 Light and darkness are here regarded as things independent of one 
 another;_they are both real agents, each of which has its place or abode, 
 from which it streams forth over the earth, and to which it is again 
 taken back {v. 20). 
 
 20. take it to the hoinid thereof] The second clause, the path to its 
 house, suggests that the bojind or border of light is not the furthest 
 limit to which it flows forth, but its own place of abode, the bound 
 between it and darkness, from which it issues. Job is asked if he 
 knows the way to the dwelling-place of light and darkness, so that he 
 might take them back to the place of their abode. 
 
 21. The verse is ironical, 
 
 Thou knowest ; for thou wast then born. 
 
 And the number of thy days is great. 
 The words " thou knowest " refer to the question, v. 19, Which is 
 the way...? Job knows the way to the place of light, for he was born 
 contemporary with it ; he is as old as the dayspring which morning by 
 morning has overspread the earth since creation's dawn.
 
 vv. 22—25.] JOB, XXXVIII. 265 
 
 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow ? 22 
 
 Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, 
 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, 23 
 
 Against the day of battle and war ? 
 
 By what way is the light parted, S4 
 
 Which scattereth the east wind upon the earth ? 
 Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of 25 
 waters, 
 
 "Light is considered here, as in Gen. i., to be a natural force, with 
 an independent existence, apart from the heavenly luminaries that 
 transmit it. And in this, as is well known, modern investigation coin- 
 cides with the direct perceptions of antiquity" (Schlottmann, Comm. ott 
 yob, p. 468). To this remark it has to be added that in the present 
 passage " darkness " also, no less than light, is regarded as a natural 
 force, with an independent existence, and a " place " where it abides, 
 contiguous to light. Science, to which Scripture is taught to look 
 so humbly for approval, will no doubt confirm this representation also. 
 
 22, 23. Snow and hail. 
 
 22. the treasures'] That is, the treasuries, the magazines. Snow and 
 hail are represented as having been created and laid up in great store- 
 houses in the heavens or above them, from whence God draws them 
 forth for the moral ends of His government {v. 23). The idea may be 
 suggested by obsei"vation of the vast masses in which snow falls. Job, 
 no doubt, has inspected these treasuries, or was present when at creation 
 the Almighty filled them. 
 
 23. Compare such passages as Josh. x. 11; Ps. Ixviii. 14; Is. xxx. 
 30; Ezek. xiii. 13. 
 
 24 — 27. The stormy wind, rain and lightning. 
 
 24. The verse seems to mean : 
 
 Which is the way to where the light is parted, 
 And the east wind spreadeth over the earth ? 
 
 The phrase in clause first is the same as in v. 19. The words may 
 mean by mhich way, or road, is light parted? The " light " was already 
 referred to in v. 19, and some consider the word to mean lightning 
 here. This, however, comes from above and is spoken of in v. 25. 
 More probably the reference is to the wonderful diffusion of light over 
 the whole earth, and the query concerns the way or path by which this 
 takes place. Such a path appears to lie in the East, from whence also 
 the stormy wind spreads over the earth ; hence the two are brought into 
 connexion. Job, of course, knows the way along which this diffusion 
 of light and wind takes place. 
 
 25. for tlie overflowing of waters] Rather, for the rain-flood. The 
 second clause indicates that by the "watercourse" is meant the conduit 
 (Is. vii. 3) or channel cut through the arch of the heavens, down which 
 the rain-flood pours to the earth. In like manner the lightning follows 
 a track or path prepared for it through the heavens.
 
 266 JOB, XXXVIII. [vv. 26—31. 
 
 Or a way for the lightning of thunder ; 
 
 26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; 
 On the wilderness, wherein there is no man; 
 
 27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; 
 
 And to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth ? 
 23 Hath the rain a father ? 
 
 Or who hath begotten the drops of dew ? 
 
 29 Out of whose womb came the ice ? 
 
 And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it ? 
 
 30 The waters are hid as zcith a stone, 
 And the face of the deep is frozen. 
 
 31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, 
 Or loose the bands of Orion ? 
 
 26, 27. Man is not, as he might think, the only object of God's 
 regard. God is great and His providence very wide. His goodness is 
 over all His worlds. He satisfies with rain the thirsty wilderness where 
 no man is, that the tender grass may be refreshed. 
 
 28 — 30. Rain, dew, frost and ice. 
 
 28. the rain a father'] That is, a human father; does any man, Job 
 perhaps, beget the rain or the drops of dew ? — They are marvels of 
 God's creative power. 
 
 29. who hath gendered it] Rather, brought it forth, or borne it 
 (Is. xlix. 21), as the parallelism of the first clause requires. 
 
 30. as with a stone] lit. the waters hide themselves like a stone, that 
 is, becoming like stone. 
 
 is frozen] lit. cleaveth together. The phenomenon of ice, rare in the 
 East, naturally appeared wonderful. 
 
 31 — 38. The direction of the regular movements of the heavens, and 
 their influence upon the earth. 
 
 31. canst thou bind] Rather, dost thou bind? The questions 
 addressed to Job, throughout the chapter, mean in general, Is it he that 
 effects what is observed to be done? not, Can he undo what is done, or 
 do what is not done ? Hence the questions here imply that the Pleiades 
 are bound and that Orion is loosed, and Job is asked whether it be he 
 that binds in the one case and looses in the other. 
 
 the sweet influences] The idea suggested by "influences" is that 
 man's life on the earth is ruled by the stars, as Shakespeare calls the 
 moon 
 
 the moist star, 
 Upon whose influence Neptune's empire hangs. 
 There is, however, no trace of this idea in the original word. Those 
 who retain this translation suppose the reference to be to the genial 
 influence of spring, of which this cluster of stars, when appearing before 
 the sun in the east, was a joyful herald. Such a reference is too re- 
 mote ; neither does it allow any just meaning to " bind." Besides, the
 
 vv. 32, 33.] JOB, XXXVI 1 1. 267 
 
 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season ? 32 
 
 Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons ? 
 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven ? 33 
 
 Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth ? 
 
 exegetical tradition is that the word rendered "sweet influences" has 
 the same sense as "bands "in the second clause (so Sept. dea-fiov), as 
 the parallelism requires. The verse rather means, 
 
 Dost thou bind the bands of the Pleiades, 
 
 Or loose the cords of Orion ? 
 It is not certain that these are the stars meant, and the allusions are' 
 obscure. As "loosing the cords" or bands of Orion cannot mean 
 dissolving the constellation and separating its stars from one another, 
 so, if the parallelism is exact, "binding the bands" of the Pleiades ought 
 not to refer to the fact that the stars of this constellation always appear 
 as a group in the same form, although this is the idea which most 
 writers consider to be expressed. The word in the second clause, 
 being from a root always meaning to draiv (ch. xli. i, Is. v. 18, Hos. 
 xi. 4), ought to have some such sense as co7-ds, — that by which anything 
 is drawn, rather than that by which it is bound. The reference is pro- 
 bably to the motion of the constellation in the heavens. An Arabic 
 poet, bewailing the slowness of the hours of a night of sorrow, says 
 that, in their immobility and tardiness to turn towards their setting- 
 place, "its stars seem bound by cords to a rock." The same poet, 
 however, compares the Pleiades, including perhaps Orion under the 
 name, when it appears upon the horizon, to a girdle studded with 
 jewels ; and some have supposed that the sense in the present passage 
 is similar, rendering. Dost thou bifid hito a band (or fillet) the Pleiades? 
 This is an improbable conceit. So far as the mere language is con- 
 cerned, the first clause most naturally refers to some star or constella- 
 tion which appears bound to one place, whether it be that it stands 
 always high in the heavens or is unable to rise much above the horizon ; 
 and the second clause to some star or group whose motion in the 
 heavens is free, whether it be that it is able to rise high or that it sets 
 and disappears. 
 
 32. canst thou bring forth'] Rather, dost thou...? and similarly, 
 dost thou guide ? The meaning of Mazzaroth is uncertain. The word 
 has been supposed to be another form oi Mazzaloth, 1 Kings xxiii. 5, 
 which is thought to mean the signs of the Zodiac. The connexion as 
 well as the parallelism of the next clause suggests that some single star 
 or constellation is meant. Others would render the bright stars; the 
 planets, perhaps, or some of them being referred to. 
 
 Arcturus with his sons] Or, the bear tvith her young. The reference 
 is supposed to be to the constellation of the Great Bear. Her " young" 
 are the stars that project from the square ; or, taking the popular con- 
 ception of the constellation as a "plough," they are the bright stars 
 that form the "beam." 
 
 33. cajist thou set] Rather, as before, dost thou set 7 The idea is
 
 268 JOB, XXXVIII. [vv. 34—38. 
 
 34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, 
 That abundance of waters may cover thee ? 
 
 35 Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, 
 And say unto thee, Here we are ? 
 
 36 Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? 
 
 Or who hath given understanding to the heart ? 
 
 37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom ? 
 Or who can stay the bottles of heaven, 
 
 3$ When the dust groweth into hardness, 
 And the clods cleave fast together ? 
 
 that the heavens and the stars exercise an influence over the earth and 
 the destinies of man. 
 
 34, 35. For canst thou it is better, as before, to read, dost thou ? 
 
 36. The verse is obscure, owing to tlie terms "inward parts" and 
 "heart" being of uncertain meaning. The translation of the A.V. 
 may be certainly set aside, (i) because the introduction of a reference to 
 the "inward parts" and "heart" of man in the middle of a description 
 of celestial phenomena is not to be thought of; and (2) any lauda- 
 tory reference to man is out of keeping with the whole drift of the 
 speech, the purpose of which is to abase man before the wonders of 
 God's creation and His operations outside the sphere of man's life. 
 The word rendered "inward parts" may be the same as that so ren- 
 dered, Ps. li. 6. There the parallel word is "hidden part," and the 
 reference may be to the dark and deep cloud-masses. The word "heart " 
 does not occur again ; it may mean, form, Jigtire, and refer to the mani- 
 fold cloud formations or phenomena. These fulfilling the purposes of 
 God seem themselves endowed with wisdom. If this be the sense, the 
 best commentary on the verse would be the words of Elihu, ch. xxxvii. 
 12, "And it (the cloud) turneth about every way by His guidance, that 
 it may do whatsoever He commandeth it upon the face of the whole 
 earth." 
 
 37. The verse carries on the thought of the preceding. 
 
 who can ittimber] Or, who numbereth in wisdom? Who musters 
 or counts off the clouds, that they be sufficient and not in excess for the 
 purpose required of them ? 
 
 The second clause means, 
 
 Or who pourcth out the bottles of the heavens? 
 
 Ch. XXXVIII. 39— Cii. XXXIX. 30. The manifoldness of 
 THE Divine Mind as displayed in the world of animal life. 
 
 The instances chosen are the lion and the raven {vv. 39 — 41); the 
 wild goats and the hinds (ch. xxxix. i — 4); the wild ass (vv. 5 — 8; the 
 wild ox (I'v. g — 12); the ostrich {w. 13 — 18); the war horse"(z^. 19 — 
 25); the hawk and the eagle (w. 26 — 30). 
 
 These bjilliant pictures from the animal world have the same purpose 
 as those given before {w. 4 — 38) from inanimate nature ; they make
 
 vv. 39—41.] JOB, XXXVIII. 269 
 
 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the Hon ? 35 
 
 Or fill the appetite of the young lions, 
 
 When they couch in their dens, <o 
 
 And abide in the covert to lie in wait ? 
 
 Who provideth for the raven his food ? 4« 
 
 When his young ones cry unto God, 
 
 They wander for lack of meat. 
 
 God to pass before the eye of Job, They exhibit the diversity of the 
 animal creation, the strange dissimilarity of instinct and habit in crea- 
 tures outwardly similar, the singular blending together of contradictory 
 characteristics in the same creature, and the astonishing attributes and 
 powers with which some of them are endowed ; and all combines to 
 illustrate the resources of mind and breadth of thought of Him who 
 formed them and cares for them, the manifold play of an immeasurable 
 intelligence and power in the world. 
 
 Yet though each of these pictures utters the name of God with an 
 increasing emphasis, and though the Poet presents them in the first 
 instance that we may hear this name from them, it is evident that his 
 own eye follows each of the creatures which he describes with a 
 delighted wonder and love. The Poet felt like a later poet, 
 
 He prayeth best who loveth best all things both great and small, 
 For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all. 
 
 The words of Carlyle might be quoted, who says of the Book of Job 
 and of these descriptions in particular, "so true every way; true eye- 
 sight and vision for all things ; material things no less than spiritual " 
 {Heroes, Lect. ii), were it not that this writer's raptures are so often 
 founded on intellectual mistake and imperfect appreciation of facts, and 
 are therefore, like all such ideal raptures, only nauseous. 
 
 39, 40. The lion. 
 
 -cuilt thou ]iuni\ Rather, dost tliou ]iunt the prey for the lioness ? 
 That the lioness is enabled to catch her prey is due to some power 
 which brings it into her hand. Is it Job, perhaps, that finds it for 
 her? 
 
 41. The raven. The question extends to the end of the verse, 
 
 Who provideth for the raven his food, 
 
 When his young ones cry unto God, 
 
 And wander without meat ? 
 The raven is one of the commonest birds in Palestine ; by its inces- 
 sant croaking it presses itself upon the attention, and is often alluded to 
 in Scripture. 1 he cry of its young is an appeal unto God (Joel i. ^o), 
 and the feeding of it is proof of His universal providence, which does 
 not overlook even the least of His creatures (Ps. cxlvii. 9, Luke xii. 24). 
 The lion and the raven are here associated perhaps by way of contrast, 
 the one being the most powerful and the otlier one of the least of God's 
 creatures. Their natures too are most dissimilar, — the silent, subtle, 
 self-reliance of the one, couching patiently in his lair, and the clamorous
 
 270 
 
 JOB, XXXIX, [vv. 1—6. 
 
 39 Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock 
 bring forth ? 
 Or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve? 
 
 2 Canst thou number the months that they fulfil ? 
 Or knowest thou the time when they bring forth ? 
 
 3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, 
 They cast out their sorrows. 
 
 4 Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with 
 
 corn; 
 They go forth, and return not unto them. 
 
 5 Who hath sent out the wild ass free ? 
 
 Or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass ? 
 
 6 Whose house I have made the wilderness, 
 And the barren land his dwellings. 
 
 outcry and appeal of the other, wandering over the land in search of 
 food. The raven, of course, is a general name, covering the whole Crow 
 tribe. 
 
 Ch. xxxix. 1 — 4. The goats of the rock and the hinds. 
 
 1. canst thou ?)iark'\ Rather, dost thou. The goats of the rock are 
 the mountain goats, a species of chamois. 
 
 2. ca7ist thou number\ Rather, dost thou. The "months that they 
 fulfil" is the time they go with young. The words "knowest thou", 
 " dost thou marii ", and tlie like, though no doubt referring partly to 
 man's ignorance of the habits of these remote and timid creatures, carry 
 also the question, Is it Job who presides over and determines all con- 
 nected with the life and habits of these solitary creatures? 
 
 3. cast out their sorro-.vs^ That is, their /<2/;m; with the birth of 
 their young they are rid of their pains also. Or "their pains" may 
 mean " their young," by a figure common in all poetry. 
 
 4. in good liking\ i.e. in good condition, strong. 
 
 grow up with com] Rather, they grow up in the open field. 
 
 These shy, solitary creatures, inhabiting the rocks, are without the 
 care and help in bearing their young which domesticated creatures 
 enjoy, yet their bearing is light and speedy; their young are robust; 
 they grow up in the desert and rapidly provide for themselves. The 
 care of God suffices for them. 
 
 6—8. The wild ass. Who gave the wild ass his freedom and his 
 indomitable love of liberty — wlio scorns the noise of cities and laughs 
 at the shouts of the driver, which his tame brother obeys? The point 
 of the questions lies not only in the striking peculiarities of the 
 beautiful creature itself, but in the strange contrast between it and 
 the tame ass, which in external appearance it resembles. 
 
 7. The verse reads, 
 
 He scometh the tumult of the city. 
 
 And heareth not the shoutings of the driver.
 
 vv. 7— 9-] JOB, XXXIX. 271 
 
 He scorneth the multitude of the city, 7 
 
 Neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. 
 
 The range of the mountains is his pasture, 8 
 
 And he searcheth after every green thing. 
 
 Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, 9 
 
 Or abide by thy crib ? 
 
 The wild ass is frequently referred to in the poetry of the Arabs, who 
 were passionately fond of hunting it. Prof. Ahhvardt has collected 
 from his unequalled reading in the Poets a list of statements regarding 
 the creature which is of great interest {Chalef Elahmar, pp. 341 — 360). 
 The colour on the upper part of the body, the neck and higher part of 
 the head is light bay, with a coffee-brown band running down the back 
 to the tuft of the tail; between this band and the bay there is some 
 white. The other parts are of a silver grey, tending to white on tlie 
 under-side of the body. The animal is described as "thick," "thick- 
 fleshed," but also "narrow-built," that is, behind and in front, and 
 hence it is compared to the point of an arrow. The tail is long. Its 
 pace is exceedingly quick, only the fleetest horses being able to over- 
 take it; and when running it holds its head to the side in frolicsomeness 
 and performs all manner of pranks and capers. A troop of wild asses 
 is usually small, consisting of a male, one or two females, and the 
 young. This is confirmed by Tristram, who says, "I have seen this 
 ass wild in the desert of North Africa, in troops of four or five" {Nat. 
 Hist, of the Bible, p. 43). Wetzstein on the contrary speaks of the 
 herd as consisting of "several hundred" {Del. ii. p. 331). The abode 
 of the wild ass is in deserts, untrodden by man (comp. v. 6), hence he 
 is called "the solitary" (comp. Hosea viii. 9, "A wild ass alone by him- 
 self"). In spring he frequents the plains in which there are pools, and 
 later the heights where grass is abundant (comp. v. 8). On these 
 heights he passes the sunmier with the females; and there he stands 
 and keeps watch, spying the approach of foes (comp. Jer. xiv. 6, "The 
 wild asses did stand in the high places (S:c."). The poets compare a 
 deep ravine or abyss to the "belly" of the wild ass, which is often lank 
 and empty from want of food (Jerem. xiv. 6). He is said to live to a 
 great age, over a hundred years. The flesh is delicious, and for this 
 reason, as well as for the excitement of the chase, the creature was 
 eagerly hunted by the Arabs. His vigour and hardiness are testified to 
 in the proverb, "sounder than a wild ass." 
 
 9—12. The wild ox. 
 
 9. ivill the unicorn'] Rather, the Wild ox (Heb. reem, or, rem). 
 From the allusions to this creature in Scripture two things may be 
 inferred with some certainty, (i) that the animal had two horns: 
 Deut. xxxiii. 17 "his horns are like the horns of an unicorn"; comp. 
 Numb, xxiii. 22, xxiv. 8 (where for "strength" some such words 
 as "towering horns" should be read, see on ch. xxii. 25), Ps. xxii. i\ ; 
 and (2) that the animal was considered to belong to the'^ox tribe. This 
 appears from the present passage, where it is contrasted with the
 
 272 
 
 JOB, XXXIX. [vv. 10—13. 
 
 13 
 
 Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow ? 
 
 Or will he harrow the valleys after thee ? 
 
 Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great ? 
 
 Or wilt thou leave thy labour to him ? 
 
 Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, 
 
 And gather // into thy barn ? 
 
 Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks ? 
 
 Or winiis and feathers unto the ostrich ? 
 
 domestic ox, the labours of which it was fitted to perform if its disposition 
 had not been untameable; and from two other passages, in both of 
 which it is brought into connexion with the ox : Ps. xxix. 6, " He maketh 
 them to skip hl<.e a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn", 
 and Is. xxxiv. 7, "And the unicorns shall come down with them, 
 and the bullocks with the bulls." The rccm was probably either 
 the animal called by the Germans Auerochs {Bos primigenuis) or 
 "primitive ox," now extinct all over the world, or the bison, which still 
 lingers in scanty numbers in one or two parts. The Arabs give the 
 name ri'7n to the white antelope. The translation "unicorn" came 
 from the Sept. fiovoKipm. A one-horned animal, though abundantly 
 testified to by travellers, probably exists only in the imagination. 
 Jerome adheres to the general "unicorns" in Ps. xxii. 21 and Is. xxxiv. 
 7, but usually he renders "rhinoceros," the nearest approach to a 
 "unicorn" that exists in the world of reality. "The Unicorne, as 
 Lewes Vartinian testifieth, who saw two of them in the towne of Mecha, 
 is of the height of a yoong horse or colt of 30 moneths old, hce hath 
 the head of a Hart, and in his forehead he hath a sharpe pointed home 
 three cubites long... His home is of a merueilous greate force and vertue 
 against venome and poyson" (see Wright, Bible IVord-Book). 
 
 The point of the passage lies not so much in the terrible attributes of 
 the creature himself, as in the contrast between him and the tame ox, 
 which he externally resembled. He was fitted for all the labour per- 
 formed by the domestic animal, but was wild and untameable. Man 
 uses the one, let him lay his hand upon the other and subdue him to 
 his service 1 Who is the author of this strange diversity of disposition 
 in creatures so like in outward form ? 
 13—18. The ostrich. 
 13. The verse reads, 
 
 The wing of the ostrich beats joyously, 
 Is it a kindly pinion and feather? 
 The word rendered ostrich means lit. crying or wailing, that is, the 
 cryer or waller ; the female ostrich is probably meant, see on ch. xxx. 
 29. The word "kindly," lit. fioics, is the name given to the stork 
 (Ps. civ. 17), whose affection for its young is proverbial, and there may 
 be in the term an allusion to this bird, which the ostrich in some points 
 resembles externally, but from which it differs so strangely in dis- 
 position.
 
 vv. 14—18.] JOB, XXXIX. 273 
 
 Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, 14 
 
 And warmeth them in dust. 
 
 And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, is 
 
 Or tJiat the wild beast may break them. 
 
 She is hardened against her young ones, as though ihey iC 
 
 ivcre not hers: 
 Her labour is in vain without fear; 
 
 Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, 17 
 
 Neither hath he imparted to her understanding. 
 What time she hftetli up herself on high, i3 
 
 She scorneth the horse and his rider, 
 
 15. may break thcnf\ lit, trample them. 
 
 16. she is hardened as;aiust\ Or, sbe treateth hardly. 
 
 her young ones\ The words refer here to her eggs, from which the 
 young come forth, not to the young brood — as the second clause ex- 
 plains. 
 
 in vain without fear'\ The meaning is that she is without fear, has no 
 apprehension of danger, and consequently lier labour is often in vain — 
 "she forgetteth that the foot may crush" her eggs. 
 
 The verses refer to the popular belief that the ostrich did not brood 
 but left her eggs to be hatched in the sun ; hence she is a type of un- 
 natural cruelty, Lam. iv. 3, "Even the sea monsters {\hQ. jaekals, 
 Streane, Jerem. and Lam.) draw out the breast, they give suck to their 
 young ones : the daughter of my people is iDecome cruel, like the 
 ostriches in the wilderness." The belief is not sustained by observation, 
 except to this extent, that the bird does not brood till her complement 
 of eggs (thirty in number) be laid, and that during the early period of 
 incubation she often leaves the nest by clay to go in search of food. 
 It is also said that she lays a number of eggs outside the nest, which 
 are not incubated but serve as food for the poults when they are 
 hatched. 
 
 17. God hath deprived her of zuisdom'] The Arabs have a proverb, 
 "more stupid than an ostrich." A poet suggests the reason of this 
 charge of stupidity, 
 
 Like a bird that abandons her eggs in the desert, 
 And covers the eggs of another with her wings. 
 (Meidani, Prov. i. 405). 
 
 18. lifteth up herself on high} That is, in flight. The flying of the 
 ostrich is properly a very swift running, in which she is helped by her 
 outspread wings and tail. "Its speed has been calculated at twenty-six 
 miles an hour by Dr Livingstone, and yet the South African ostrich is 
 smaller than the northern species ; and I have myself, in the Sahara, 
 measured its stride, when bounding at full speed, from twenty-two to 
 twenty-eight feet" (Tristram, p. 237). 
 
 The cruel disposition of the ostrich and her foolishness have been 
 
 JOB 18
 
 74 
 
 JOB, XXXIX. [vv. 19—24. 
 
 ,9 Hast thou given the horse strength ? 
 
 Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? 
 
 20 Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper ? 
 The glory of his nostrils iS terrible. 
 
 21 He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in /lis strength. 
 He goeth on to meet the armed men. 
 
 22 He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted ; 
 Neither turneth he back from the sword. 
 
 ?3 The quiver ratdeth against him. 
 
 The glittering spear and the shield. 
 24 He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage : 
 
 implanted in her by God, yet in strange contradiction to these qualities 
 are others whicli He has bestowed on her, sucli as her swiftness when 
 pursued, which enables her to laugh at the horse and his rider. This 
 singular union of dissimilar qualities, as if it were the work of creative 
 power at play, shews both the inconceivable freedom and resource of 
 the Mind that operates in creation. 
 
 19—25. The war horse. 
 
 19, 20. The verbs are better put in the present. 
 
 19. Dost thou give strength to the horse? 
 Dost thou clothe his neck with trembling? 
 
 20. Dost thou make hhn leap like the locust? 
 The glory of his snorting is terrible. 
 
 19. The word "trembling" hardly refers to the mane alone, but 
 rather describes the quivering of the neck, when the animal is roused, 
 which erects the mane. 
 
 20. The comparison of the horse to the locust is not uncommon, Joel 
 ii. 4, Rev. ix. 7. The picture of the horse is taken at the moment im- 
 mediately preceding the onset, and thus his " bounding " and " snorting" 
 are brought into connexion. 
 
 21. l/ie armed men] lit. t/ie weapons. 
 
 22. frotn the s-word] lit. because of, or, before the sword. 
 
 23. rattleth against him'] Rather perhaps, upon him. The quiver is 
 that of his rider, the clang of which excites him. 
 
 the shield] Rather, the javelin, or, lance. The Poet does not seek 
 to describe the actual conflict ; it is a picture of the horse that he gives, 
 and the moment before the conflict is that at which the animal's extra- 
 ordinary attributes are most strongly exhibited. " Although docile as a 
 lamb, and requiring no other guide than the halter, when the Arab 
 mare hears the war-cry of the Iribe (cf. v. 25), and sees the quivering 
 spear of her rider (cf. v. 23), her eyes glitter with fire, her blood-red 
 nostrils open wide, her neck is nobly arched, and her tail and mane are 
 raised and spread out to the wind (cf. v. 19). A Hedouin proverb says, 
 that a high-bred mare when at full speed should hide her rider between 
 her neck and her tail " (Layard, Discoveries, p. 330).
 
 vv. 25—30.] JOB, XXXIX. 275 
 
 Neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. 
 
 He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha ; 23 
 
 And he smeUeth the battle afar off, 
 
 The thunder of the captains, and the shouting. 
 
 Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, 26 
 
 And stretch her wings toward the south ? 
 
 Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, 27 
 
 And make her nest on high } 
 
 She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, 28 
 
 Upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. 
 
 From thence she seeketh the prey, 29 
 
 Atid her eyes behold afar off. 
 
 Her young ones also suck up blood : 30 
 
 And where the slain are, there is she. 
 
 24. neither believeth he\ That is, most probably, he hardly trusts his 
 ears for gladness. 
 
 25. he saith among the trumpets] Rather, as oft as the trumpet 
 soundeth he saith, Ha, ha ! The " thunder " of the captains is the roar 
 of command; and the " shouting " is the battle-cry of the soldiery. 
 
 Has Job created this wonder of beauty and fierceness and endowed 
 him with his extraordinary qualities, which make him mingle in the 
 conflicts of men with a fury and lust of battle greater even than their 
 own ? 
 
 26. The hawk. 
 
 her wings toiuard the south] The allusion is to the migration of the 
 bird southward when the cold season of the year begins. Is it Job's 
 wisdom that directs her flight to the south? 
 
 27—30. The eagle. 
 
 Is it at Job's command that the eagle fixes her habitation fearlessly on 
 the dizzy crag? Did he bestow on her her penetrating vision, which 
 scans the wide expanse of country and pierces into the deep ravine ? or 
 did he endow her with her terrible instincts, that shew themselves at 
 once in her young, which " suck up blood "? 
 
 Chap. XL. i — 5. Effect of the Divine Speech on Job. 
 
 As if the purpose of the preceding survey of Creation might be lost 
 in the brilliancy of the individual parts of it, the Divine Speaker gathers 
 up its general effect and brings it to bear on Job directly, demanding 
 whether he will persevere in his contention with Jehovah ; — will the 
 reprover contend with the Almighty? vv. i, 2. 
 
 Job is abased by the glory of God which He has made to pass before 
 him, and brought to silence — I am too mean, what shall I answer thee? 
 I lay my hand upon my mouth; vv. 3—5. 
 
 18—2
 
 276 JOB, XL. [vv. 1—5. 
 
 40 Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said, 
 
 2 Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him ? 
 He that reproveth God, let him answer it. 
 
 3 Then Job answered the Lord, and said, 
 
 4 Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? 
 I will lay my hand upon my mouth. 
 
 5 Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: 
 Yea, twice; but 1 will proceed no furtlier. 
 
 1. ansivered JoU] That is, took up anew His words and directly 
 appealed to Job. 
 
 2. The verse means, 
 
 \\"\\\ the reprover contend with the Almighty? 
 He that disputeth with God let him answer it. 
 The "reprover" or blamer is of course Job; and so is "he that dis- 
 puteth," or, "he that would dispute." The word it refers to the fore- 
 going display of God's glory in creation, which Jehovah has set before 
 Job. And the question means. Will Job now, having God in the mani- 
 foldness of His Being thus set before him, really enter on a contention 
 with the Almighty? 
 
 3_5. Job's answer: he will no more contend; he is silent before 
 
 God. 
 
 4. behold, I am vile] The word vile here is not a moral term, it 
 signifies, mean, small. The verse may be read, 
 
 Behold I am too mean; what shall I answer thee? 
 I lay mine hand upon my mouth. 
 Job is abased before Jehovah ; he feels his meanness and is silent, 
 comp. ch. xxi. 5, xxix. 9. 
 
 5. / ivill proceed no further'] Or, but I will not again. The words 
 "once", "twice", that is, sundry times, refer to what Job had often 
 said in his speeches concerning the Almighty. 
 
 The purpose of making these wonders of creation pass before Job's 
 eyes was to display God before him, and to heal the presumption of his 
 heart. Every one of these wonders utters the name of God with a 
 louder emphasis in Job's ears. It is not any attribute of God that is 
 dwelt upon, it is God in all the manifoldncss of His being that passes 
 before Job's mind. It is entirely to misinterpret the design of these 
 visions of creation presented to Job when we suppose that what is 
 aimed at is to impress on Job the incomprehensibility of the Creator's 
 works, or the mystery that lies in them all ; as if he was bidden consider 
 that not in his own life alone, but everywhere, beneath his feet and 
 around him, there lay unfathomable mysteries. The Lord does not 
 reason with Job after the manner of the author of the Analogy of Re- 
 ligion. He does not say "you complain of darkness in your own 
 history, look into the world and behold darkness everywhere". This 
 would have been soriy reasoning on the part of the Father of lights. 
 On the contrary. He bids Job look away from his own darkness to the
 
 JOB, XL, 277 
 
 world which is luminous with God ; and the exxeeding light about God 
 there, breaking on Job, swallows up his own darkness. 
 
 It is scarcely just to say that what Jehovah demands of Job here is 
 simple submission, that he should bow absolutely and unconditionally 
 under God. If this had been the meaning of Jehovah's speeches out of 
 the storm there was no reason for His speaking. Silence would have 
 been more effective; or if He had spoken, it should have been with the 
 voice of the thunder, terrifying Job into the dust. That the Lord speaks 
 at all implies that He says something that may be understood by the 
 creature of His hand. His speaking may be indirect, and in parables, 
 but it will contain meaning. It is true that the object of the Divine 
 speeches is, partly at least, to bring Job's heart to submission and cause 
 him to assume his right place before the Creator. And this was 
 necessary, for Job, as he acknowledges, had sinned against the majesty 
 of God. But the Lord does not command Job to take this place; He 
 induces him. And he does so by the only means that will ever induce 
 any human spirit to put itself right with God, the revelation of Himself. 
 This revelation given to Job was patient, broad, and manifold. It was 
 anything but a categorical command. IVe, indeed, may feel now that 
 the revelation might have been different, that it might have contained 
 other traits. The traits which we desiderate could hardly, perhaps, 
 have been exhibited on an Old Testament stage. It was not the 
 design of the revelation, if it ever was the design of revelation, to com- 
 municate new truths to Job, but to make him feel the truth which he 
 knew, and enable him to live aright before God. 
 
 Chap. XL. 6— XLII. 6. The Lord's Second Answer to Job 
 
 OUT of the Storm. 
 
 Shall Man charge God with unrighteousness in His Rule 
 
 of the World? 
 
 All that the first speech of the Lord touched upon was the presump- 
 tion of a mortal man desiring to contend with the Almighty. The 
 display from Creation of that which God is had the desired effect on 
 Job's mind: he is abased, and will no more contend with the Al- 
 mighty. 
 
 But Job had not only presumed to contend with God, he had charged 
 Him with unrighteousness in His rule of the world and in His treatment 
 of himself. This is the point to which the second speech from the 
 storm is directed. 
 
 The passage has properly two parts. 
 
 First, vv. 6 — 14, as Job had challenged the rectitude of God's rule of 
 the world, he is ironically invited to clothe himself with the Divine 
 attributes and assume the rule of the world himself. 
 
 Then follows, ch. xl. 15 — xli. 34, a lengthy description of two 
 monsters. Behemoth and Leviathan. 
 
 Second, ch. xlii. i — 6, Job's reply to the Divine challenge. He 
 confesses that he spoke things which he understood not. He had heard
 
 278 JOB, XL. [vv. 6— lo. 
 
 > Then answered the Lord unto Job out of the whirlwind, 
 and said. 
 
 Gird up thy loins now like a man: 
 
 I will demand of ihee, and declare thou unto me. 
 1 Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? 
 
 Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous ? 
 I Hast thou an arm like God ? 
 
 Or, canst thou thunder with a voice like him ? 
 
 Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; 
 
 And array thyself with glory and beauty. 
 
 of God by the hearing of the ear, but now his eye saw Ilim, and he 
 abhorred his former words and demeanour, and repented in dust and 
 ashes. 
 
 6. ///e 'whirlwiiid'\ As before, the storm. 
 8. The verse reads, 
 
 Wilt thou even disannul my right? 
 
 Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be righteous? 
 
 To disannul Jehovah's "right" does not seem to mean, to depose 
 Him from His place as Supreme, but rather to break, or make void, 
 that is, deny His rectitude as Ruler of the world. The second clause 
 suggests this meaning, and also adds the motive under which Job denied 
 the rectitude of God, namely, that he himself might be righteous, or in 
 the right. The word even suggests that this is an offence against God 
 additional to the former one of daring to contend with Him (i;. ■2). 
 
 9 — 14. As Job questions the manner of the Almighty's rule of the 
 world, God invites- him to deck himself with the thunder and majesty of 
 the supreme ruler, and himself undertake the government of the world; 
 and in the execution of this government to bring low all that is proud 
 (comp. Is. ii. 12 scq.), to subdue and keep down the forces of evil, and 
 hide the faces of the wicked in darkness. 
 
 Under this ironical invitation to Job there lie two general thoughts, 
 first, that omnipotence is necessary in the ruler of all ; and second, that 
 rule of the world consists in keeping in check the forces of evil. This 
 is the idea under which rule of the world is conceived; in other words it 
 is regarded as necessarily moral; and it is assumed that God's rule is in 
 fact a rule of this kind. In his present frame of mind Job probably 
 would not now contest this. But if God's rule be moral on the whole, 
 it must be so in every particular ; real exceptions are inconceivable, 
 however like exceptions many things may appear. 
 
 10. This verse reads literally, 
 
 Deck thyself now with excellency and loftiness; 
 And array thyself with honour and majesty. 
 
 The two words in the second clause are so translated, Ps. xxi. 5, xcvi. 
 6, civ. I.
 
 vv. II— 15.] JOB, XL. 279 
 
 Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: ■ n 
 
 And behold every one that is proud, and abase him. 
 
 Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; 12 
 
 And tread down the wicked in their place. 
 
 Hide them in the dust together; 13- 
 
 A7id bind their faces in secret. 
 
 Then will I also confess unto thee 14 
 
 That thine own right hand can save thee. 
 
 Behold now behemoth, 15 
 
 11. cast abroad the rage of thy wrath] Or, send forth the floods of 
 thy wrath; the figure is that of a raging, overflowing stream. 
 
 12. in their place] That is, where they stand ; suddenly and on the 
 spot, comp. ch. xxxiv. 26. 
 
 13. bind their faces i7t secret] lit. bind up their faces in the hidden 
 place, that is, shut them up in the darkness of the prison-house of Death. 
 
 14. The verse reads. 
 
 Then will I also praise thee, 
 
 That thine own right hand can save thee. 
 
 If Job will shew himself worthy of that place to which he aspires 
 when he reproves the rule of God in the universe, then even Jehovah 
 Himself, who elsewhere says, " Is there a God beside me? yea there is 
 no God; I know not any" (Is. xliv. 8), will admit his independent 
 might, and laud him as one whose own right hand can save him, comp. 
 Ps. xcviii. I ; Is. lix. 16, Ixiii. 5. 
 
 15— ch. xli. 34. Description of two monsters. Behemoth and Le- 
 viathan. 
 
 Many writers consider the two passages, ch. xl. 15 — 24 and ch. xli., 
 in which Behemoth and Leviathan are described, to be interpolations 
 (see the Introduction). Whether the passages be interpolations or 
 parts of the original poem, the meaning of their introduction in this 
 place will be the same. 
 
 In ch. xl. 6 — 14 Jehovah invited Job to assume the rule of the world, 
 and to bring low all opposing forces of evil. He is able to do this, 
 seeing he challenges the rule of the Almighty. And to bring to his 
 consciousness whether he is able or not two creatures, the work of God's 
 hand like himself {v. 15), are brought before him and the question put. 
 Is he able to enter into conflict with them and subdue them ? Is he 
 therefore able to assume the rule of the world or to enter into conflict 
 with the Creator of these formidable monsters? — " Who then will stand 
 before me?" ch. xli. 9 — 11. 
 
 15. Behold now behemoth] The word, behemoth, may be a Heb. plur. 
 of intensity, signifying the beast or ox, par excellence ; but probably it is 
 an Egyptian name Hebraized. It has been supposed to be the Egyptian 
 p-ehe-7noHt, i.e. the -water, or river ox. At all events the animal re- 
 ferred to appears to be the hippopotamus, or river-horse, of the Greeks.
 
 28o JOB, XL. [vv. 1 6— 21. 
 
 Which I made with thee; 
 
 He eatetli grass as an ox. 
 i6 Lo now, his strength is in his loins, 
 
 And his force is in the navel of his belly. 
 17 He moveth his tail like a cedar: 
 
 The sinews of his stones are wrapt together, 
 is His bones are as strong pieces of brass; 
 
 His bones are like bars of iron. 
 
 19 He IS the chief of the ways of God: 
 
 He that made him can make his sword to approach u/if(? 
 him. 
 
 20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, 
 ^Vhere all the beasts of the field play. 
 
 21 He lieth under the shady trees, 
 
 I made with tJiec] Or, have made with thee ; tliat is, hnve created, 
 ns well as thee. This strange animal, though fitted by his size and 
 strength to piey upon other creatures, feeds upon grass like the cattle. 
 
 16 — 18. These verses read, 
 
 16. Lo now, his strength is in his loins. 
 And his force in the sinews of his belly. 
 
 17. He bendeth his tail like a cedar; 
 
 The muscles of his thighs are knit together. 
 
 18. His bones are pipes of brass; 
 His limbs arc like bars of iron. 
 
 17. The "tail" of the hippopotamus is short, naked and muscular, 
 resembling that of the hog. The great strength of the animal may be 
 inferred from the muscular stiffness of the tail, which bends like the 
 branch or young stem of a cedar. 
 
 18. strong pieces of bras s\ Rather literally, are pipes of brass. 
 
 19. 20. These verses are connected, 
 
 19. He is the chief of the ways of God; 
 
 He that made him provideth him with his sword; 
 ■20. P'or the mountains, &c. 
 
 Piy "chief," lit. hci^iiitiing, is meant the first in magnitude and power, 
 in whom the full, frcsJi creative force has embodied itself The meanin"' 
 of the second clause is less certain. The reference seems to be to the 
 teeth or the eye-tusks of the hippopotamus, which are said to be two 
 feet long, and with which he shears the vegetation as with a sword or 
 sickle. 
 
 20. The verse seems to mean that in order to satisfy his hunger the 
 animal depastures whole mountains, tracts where all the boasts of the 
 field play. The hippopotamus is said to wander to the higher grounds, 
 at a distance from the river, when food cannot be found in its vicinity. 
 
 21. the sliady lrccs\ Rather, the lotus trees. And so in v. 22.
 
 vv. 22 — 24; I — 3.] JOB, XL. XLI. 
 
 281 
 
 In the covert of the reed, and fens. 
 
 The shady trees cover him with their shadow; 22 
 
 The willows of the brook compass him about. 
 
 Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not : 23 
 
 He trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. 
 
 He taketh it with his eyes: 24 
 
 His nose pierceth through snares. 
 
 Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook ? 41 
 
 Or his tongue with a cord ivhich thou lettest down ? 
 
 Canst thou put a hook into his nose ? 2 
 
 Or bore his jaw through with a thorn ? 
 
 Will he make many supplications unto thee ? 3 
 
 23. The verse means, 
 
 Behold the stream swelleth, he trembleth not; 
 He is careless, though Jordan break forth upon his mouth. 
 The word " swelleth " means lit. oppresses, that is, rushes violently 
 against him. The term "Jordan," or "a Jordan," is used by way of 
 example, meaning a violent outbreak of water. The term "break 
 forth" is that used of the sea, eh. xxxviii. 8. 
 
 24. The meaning probably is. 
 
 Shall they take him before his eyes? 
 
 Or pierce through his nose with a snare? 
 "Before his eyes" or "in his sight" (Prov. i. 17), that is, openly, 
 when the animal is aware. The words might be taken ironically : Let 
 them take him before his eyes ! &.c. (comp. v. 32), but the interrogative 
 form is more natural. Others consider the language to be a statement 
 of fact : they take him before his eyes, &c. But with this sense the 
 whole meaning of the introduction of the creature in this chapter disap- 
 pears. Such a description might have found a place in the gallery of 
 animal portraits in the previous chapter, but as a companion picture to 
 that of Leviathan it is out of place. 
 
 Ch. xli. Leviathan, that is, the crocodile. 
 1—9. The impossibility of capturing the animal. 
 
 1. The second clause appears to mean, 
 
 Wilt thou press down his tongue with a cord ? 
 The " cord " may be that of the hook ; when the hook is swallowed 
 and the cord drawn tightly, it presses down the tongue. 
 
 2. a hook] lit. a cord of rush. 
 a thorn] That is, a spike. 
 
 The reference in the first clause may be to the habit of passing a cord 
 through the gills of fish when caught, and letting them down into the 
 water again, to preserve them in freshness. 
 
 3. Ironical question whether Leviathan will beg to be spared or 
 treated kindly.
 
 282 JOB, XLI. [vv. 4— II. 
 
 Will he speak soft words unto thee ? 
 
 Will he make a covenant with thee ? 
 
 Wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? 
 
 Wilt thou play with him as tinth a bird? 
 
 Or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens. 
 
 Shall the companions make a banquet of him ? 
 
 Shall they part him among the merchants ? 
 
 Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons ? 
 
 Or his head with fish spears ? 
 
 Lay thine hand upon him, 
 
 Remember the battle, do no more. 
 
 IJehold, the hope of him is in vain : 
 
 Shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him ? 
 
 None is so fierce that dare stir him up : 
 
 Who then is able to stand before me ? 
 
 ^Vho hath prevented me, that I should repay him ? 
 
 4. Will he consent to be one of thy domesticated animals, and serve 
 thee ? 
 
 5. Wilt thou make a pet thing of him ? The commentators quote 
 Catullus, passer, delicia: mcic piidla:. 
 
 6. The first clause reads. 
 
 Will the partners bargain over him ? 
 
 This sense is sustained by the second clause; comp. ch. vi. 27. By 
 " the partners " is meant the company of fishermen ; comp. Luke v. 
 7, 10. 
 
 the vierchants'\ lit. the Canaamtcs. The Phoenicians were the great 
 merchants of antiquity; comp. Is. xxiii. 8; Zech. xiv. 21; Prov. 
 xxxi. 24. 
 
 8. The verse is ironical, 
 
 Lay thine hand upon him ! 
 
 Think of the battle : thou shalt do so no more. 
 The last words, thoii shalt do so no more (so the Geneva), refer to the 
 ironical advice given in the first clause, "lay thine hand upon him" ! 
 The thought of the "battle," that is, the conflict, will be sufficient to 
 deter from any attempt to renew it. 
 
 9. the hope of him is in vain\ Rather, behold, one's liope is belied; 
 lit. Ids hope. The hope of the assailant to overcome Leviathan is dis- 
 appointed. 
 
 10. 11. In these verses the speaker turns aside from describing the 
 invincibility of Leviathan to impress the moral which he intends to 
 teach by introducing the monster. If none dare stir up this creature, 
 which God has made, who will stand before God who created him, or 
 Yonlure to contend with Ilim ? 
 
 11. -who hath prevented me] Ralhcr, wlio liath first given to me ?
 
 vv. 12—17.] JOB, XLI. 283 
 
 Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine. 
 
 I will not conceal his parts, " 
 
 Nor his power, nor his comely proportion. 
 
 Who can discover the face of his garment ? 13 
 
 Or who can come to him with his double bridle ? 
 
 Who can open the doors of his face ? ^4 
 
 His teeth are terrible round about. 
 
 His scales are his pride, ^s 
 
 Shut up together as with a close seal. 
 
 One is so near to another, is 
 
 That no air can come between them. 
 
 They are joined one to another, »7 
 
 They stick together, that they cannot be sundered. 
 
 So Tyndale, Or who hathe geven me anye thinge afore hand, that I am 
 bounde to reward him agayne? As none dare contend with God {v. 10), 
 so none have any ground of contention with Him. None hath given 
 aught to God, so as to have a claim against Him, for all things under 
 the heavens are His ; comp. Ps. 1. 10 seq. 
 
 12 — 34. Description of the parts of Leviathan. 
 
 13, 14. The terrible jaws of the animal. 
 
 13. The verse reads, 
 
 Who hath uncovered the face of his garment? 
 Or who will enter into his double jaw? 
 
 The " face of his garment " seems to mean the upper side or surface 
 of his coat of scales, his armour ; and the question is, Who has turned 
 back, or removed this scaly covering? The question seems a general, 
 preliminary one, as the scales are more particularly described in f. 15 
 scq. His "double jaw" is lit. his double bridle, the term "bridle" 
 referring particularly perhaps to the corners of his jaws. 
 
 14. -cvho can o/en] Or, wlio hath opened. The "doors of his face " 
 is an expression for his "mouth" which has something artificial and 
 forced in it. 
 
 his teeth are terriblel The jaws of the crocodile are very extended ; the 
 two rows of long, pointed teeth, thirty-six, it is said, above, and thirty 
 beneath, being bare, as the mouth lias no lips, present a formidable 
 appearance. 
 
 15 — 17. His armour of scales. 
 
 15. his scales are his pride^ Rather, the rows of his shields are 
 a pride. Each of his scales is a shield, and they are disposed in rows, 
 or courses, lit. pipes (ch. xl. i8), so called from their being curved or 
 bossed. Of these rows there are said to be seventeen. The second 
 clause describes the firmness and closeness with which each scale 
 adheres to the body. 
 
 16. 17. These verses refer to the close coherence of the scales to 
 one another.
 
 284 JOB, XLI. [vv. 18—23. 
 
 18 By his neesings a light doth shine, 
 
 And his eyes are hke the eyehds of the morning. 
 
 19 Out of his mouth go burning lamps, 
 And sparks of fire leap out. 
 
 20 Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, 
 As out of Xi seething pot or caldron. 
 
 21 His breath kindleth coals. 
 
 And a flame goeth out of his mouth. 
 
 22 In his neck remaineth strength. 
 
 And sorrow is turned into joy before him. 
 
 23 The flakes of his flesh are joined together: 
 
 They are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved. 
 
 18 — 21. The monster breathes smoke and flame. 
 
 18. The animal is said to inflate itself, as it lies basking in the sun, 
 and then force the heated breath through its nostrils, which in the sun 
 aj^pears like a stream of light. 
 
 tlie eyelids of the t/ionn'no] The reference may be to the shining of the 
 reddish eyes of the animal, which are seen even under the water, before 
 its head comes to the surface. In the Egyptian hieroglyphs the eyes of 
 the crocodile are a symbol of the dawn. 
 
 19—21. These verses refer probably to the animal's emergence 
 from the water, when the long-repressed hot breath is blown out along 
 with water from his mouth, and shines in the sun like a tiery stream. 
 
 19. burning la)nps\ Or, burning torclies. 
 
 20. as out of a seething pot or caldron\ Rather perhaps, like a 
 seething pot with rushes, i.e. with a fire of rushes. 
 
 22 — 24. His strength and hardness of muscle. 
 
 22. The verse means. 
 
 In his neck dwelleth strength, 
 And terror leapeth up before him. 
 
 His neck is the dwelling-place, the home of strength; and wherever 
 he appears terror leaps up. The prosaic meaning in the last words is 
 that in the presence of Leviathan every thing starts up affrighted and 
 seeks escape. 
 
 23. Tlie verse reads. 
 
 The flakes of his flesh cleave fast together; 
 It is firm upon him, it is not moved. 
 
 The "flakes" of his flesh are the parts beneath the neck and belly, 
 which in most animals are soft and pendulous; in him they are firm 
 and hard. In the second clause it refers to his flesh, which is "firm," 
 lit. cast or molten^ and does not move, or shake, with the motions of 
 his body. 
 
 2'i. The second clause reads. 
 
 Yea, firm as the nether millstone.
 
 vv. 24-31.] JOB, XLI. 285 
 
 His heart is as firm as a stone; 24 
 
 Yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone. 
 
 When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid : 25 
 
 By reason of breakings they purify themselves. 
 
 The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold : 26 
 
 The spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. 
 
 He esteemeth iron as straw, 27 
 
 And brass as rotten wood. 
 
 The arrow cannot make him flee : £S 
 
 Slingstones are turned with him into stubble. 
 
 Darts are counted as stubble : 29 
 
 He laugheth at the shaking of a spear. 
 
 Sharp stones aj-e under him: _ 3° 
 
 He spreadeth sharp pointed tilings upon the mire. 
 
 He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: 31 
 
 Gen. "as hard as the nether millstone." The term "firm," lit. 
 cast, is repeated from the first clause (cf. v. 23). The nether millstone, 
 bearing all the pressure upon it, needs to be harder even than the 
 upper stone. 
 
 25. With his "firmness" of heart there naturally goes a correspond- 
 ing courage and fierceness. 
 
 by reason of breakings'] Rather, by reason of terrors they are be- 
 side themselves ; lit. they lose themselves. The Geneva has: for fear 
 they faint in themselves. The expression " lose themselves" seems more 
 naturally said of mental confusion from terror, than of literally losing 
 their way in their attempts to escape (Gesen.). 
 
 26 — 29. He can be subdued by no weapon. 
 
 26. that layeth at hini\ That is, that striketh at him ; lit. he that 
 layeth at him zuith the sword, — // doth not hold. The sword does not 
 hold, or bite, but glances off his adamantine armour. 
 
 the habergeoiiX I'hat is, the mail. " And be ye apparelled or clothed, 
 saith Paul, with the habergeon, or coat armour of justice," Latimer, 
 Serm. p. 29 (Wright, Bible Word-Book). 
 
 29. darts are counted'] Rather, clubs. 
 
 30. The impression left where he has lien. 
 
 Under him he hath sharp potsherds, 
 He spreadeth a threshing-sledge upon the mire. 
 The scales of the belly, though smoother than those on the back, 
 still are sharp, particularly those under the tail, and leave an impression 
 on the mire where he has lien as if a sharp threshing-sledge with teeth 
 had stood on it or gone over it (Is. xli. 15). 
 
 31. The commotion he raises in the deep. 
 
 The second clause of the verse hardly refers to fermentation in the 
 pot of ointment, but rather to the foaming mixture of ingredients.
 
 286 JOB, XLI. XLII. [vv. 32— 34; 1,2. 
 
 He maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. 
 
 32 He maketh a path to shine after him ; 
 One would think the deep to be hoary. 
 
 33 Upon earth there is not his like, 
 Who is made without fear. 
 
 34 He beholdcth all high things: 
 
 He is a king over all the children of pride. 
 42 Then Job answered the Lord, and said, 
 2 I know that thou canst do every thing, 
 
 And that no thought can be withholden from thee. 
 
 32. The verse refers to the shining track which his swift darting 
 through the water leaves behind him. 
 
 33, 34. He has no rival, he is king among the proud beasts. 
 
 33. who is made\ That is, he who is made without fear — so as to 
 fear nothing. 
 
 34. he beholdelh all high tilings^ Or, he looketh on all that is high ; 
 he looks them boldly in the face without terror. 
 
 tJie cliildren of p)'ide\ That is, the proud beasts ; conip. ch. xxviii. 8. 
 
 Ch. XLII. I — 6. Job's reply to the Lord's Second Address 
 
 FROM the Storm. 
 
 The Lord's words make Job feel more deeply than before that great- 
 ness which belongs to God alone, and with deep compunction he re- 
 tracts his past words and repents in dust and ashes. 
 
 2. do every tJiing\ Or, canst do all. 
 
 110 thought can be withholdt'ii'\ That is, no purpose. The meaning is 
 that there is no purpose which the Almighty cannot carry out. Though 
 literally the words seem merely an acknowledgement of power, they are 
 also an admission of wisdom, the plans or purposes of which may be 
 beyond the understanding of man [v. 3). Job does not, as might have 
 been expected, acknowledge the Divine righteousness. His confession 
 corresponds to the Almighty's address to him. That address did not 
 insist on any one Divine aUribute, but rather presented God in the 
 whole circle of His attributes, power and wisdom but also goodness, 
 for He refreshes the thirsty ground where no man is. He feeds the 
 ravens, and presides over tire birth-pangs of the goats of the rock; and 
 His omnipotence goes hand in hand with His moral rule (ch. xl. ^setj.). 
 The Divine nature is not a segment but a circle. Any one Divine 
 attribute implies all others. Omnipotence cannot exist apart from 
 righteousness. Similarly Job's reply reflects the great, general im- 
 pression of God now made on him. The exhibition of the Divine wis- 
 dom as it operates in nature has led him to feel that within his own 
 history also there is a divine "thought" or "counsel," though he is 
 unable to understand it. It can hardly, however, be the Author's 
 purpose to teach the general principle tliat the "counsel" of God is 
 fncomprehensible, because he gives an explanation of it in the Pro-
 
 vv. 3— 6.] JOB, XLir. 287 
 
 Who is he that hideth counsel 
 
 Without knowledge ? 
 
 Therefore have I uttered that I understood not ; 
 
 Things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. 
 
 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: 
 
 I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 
 
 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: 
 
 But now mine eye seeth thee. 
 
 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent 
 
 In dust and ashes. 
 
 logue. He is not teaching general principles here, but shewing the 
 position which just thoughts of God will induce a man to take, even 
 when God's dealings may be beyond his understanding. 
 
 3. who is he that hideth'] That is, that obscures counsel. The words 
 of the Almighty (ch. xxxviii. -2) echo through Job's mind, and he re- 
 peats them, speaking of himself. The rest of the verse expands the 
 idea of "obscuring counsel," or states its consequence. As one that 
 obscured counsel Job had uttered that which he understood not. The 
 reference is to his former judgments regarding God's operations in the 
 world, and the rashness of his own language. 
 
 4. hear, I beseech thee] Or, hear now, and I will speak. The 
 words are not an entreaty on the part of Job that the Almighty would 
 further instruct him; they are a repetition of the words of the Lord 
 (ch. xxxviii. 3, xl. 7). The verse is closely connected with v. 5, which 
 suggests under what feeling Job repeats the words of God to him. 
 He recites the divine challenge and puts it away from him — "Declare 
 unto thee! {v. 4) that be far from me; I had heard of thee with the 
 hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee" (v. 5). This is more 
 natural than to suppose v. 4 uttered with a kind of self-irony, as if Job, 
 in repeating the words of the divine challenge, also entered into the 
 ironical spirit of it. In either case v, 5 has a half-apologetic meaning, 
 accounting for Job's former rashness. 
 
 5. / have heard] Rather perhaps, I had heard. Job's former 
 knowledge of God, though he had prided himself upon it (ch. xii. — xiii.), 
 seems to him now only such a knowledge as one gets by hearsay, con- 
 fused and defective. His present knowledge is that of eyesight, im- 
 mediate and fidl (Is. Hi. 8). 
 
 6. The effect of this deeper knowledge of God upon Job's heart. 
 
 / abhor 7tiyself] The word myself is not expressed ; what has to be 
 supplied as the object of "abhor" is rather it, that is, my former lan- 
 guage and demeanour. The word means, I retract, or repudiate. 
 
 Cii. XLII. 7 — 17. Job, having humbled himself before God, 
 IS restored to a prosperity two-fold that which he 
 
 ENJOYED before. 
 
 7 — 9. Job is commanded to intercede for his three friends lest
 
 288 JOB, XLII. [vv. 7—9. 
 
 7 And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken tliese 
 words unto Job, the Lord said to Ehphaz the Temanite, 
 My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two 
 friends: for ye have not spoken of me the t/iing that is right, 
 
 8 as my servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now 
 seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, 
 and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant 
 Job shall pray for you : for him will I accept : lest / deal 
 with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me 
 
 9 the thing which is right, like my servant Job. So Eliphaz 
 the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and 'Zophar the 
 Naamathite went, and did according as the Lord com- 
 
 Jehovah sliould visit their folly upon tlicm, because they spoke not that 
 which was right concerning Him. 
 
 7. the thing which is right] Tlie Lord blames the three friends for 
 not speaking that which was right concerning Him, not concerning 
 Job ; He also commends Job for speaking what was right concerning 
 Him. It is obvious that the three friends spoke many just and pro- 
 found things concerning God, and thnt Job on the other hand said 
 many things that were both blamewortliy and false, things for wliich he 
 was both rebuked by the Almighty, and expressed his penitence. The 
 reference cannot be to such things as these. Neither can the charge 
 made against the friends here be merely that brouglit against them by 
 fob, that they did not speak in honesty and sincerity (ch. vi. 25, xiii. 
 7), though this may be included. Rather, the friends are blamed for 
 speaking in regard to God that which was not right, or true, in itself; 
 and the reference must be to the theories they put forth in regard to 
 God's providence and the meaning of afflictions. On this point the 
 friends spoke in regard to God what was not right, while Job spoke 
 that which was right (ch. xxi., xxiii. — xxiv.). The Author puts the 
 Divine imprimatur on his own theory of the meaning of suffering, 
 or at least on Job's attacks on the theories advocated by the three 
 friends. 
 
 The three friends "had really inculpated the providence of God by 
 their professed defence of it. l]y disingenuously covering up and 
 ignoring its enigmas and seeming contradictions, they had cast more 
 cfiscredit upon it than Job by honestly holding them up to the light. 
 Their denial of its apparent inequalities was more untrue and more 
 dishonouring to the divine administration, as it is in fact conducted, 
 than Job's bold affirmation of them. Even his most startling utterances 
 wrung from him in his bewilderment and sore perplexity were less 
 reprehensible than their false statements and false inferences" (Green, 
 Book of fob, T^. IK)). 
 
 10 — 16. Job is restored to a prosperity double that which he 
 formerly enjoyed; his former friends gather around him; he is again 
 blessed with children; and dies, old andfuU of days.
 
 w. 10-16.] JOB, XLII. 289 
 
 manded them : the Lord also accepted Job. And the lo 
 Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for 
 his friends : also the Lord gave Job twice as much as 
 he had before. Then came there unto him all his brethren, n 
 and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his 
 acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his 
 house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over 
 all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him : every 
 man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an 
 earring of gold. 
 
 So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his 12 
 beginning : for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six 
 thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a 
 thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three 13 
 daughters. And he called the name of the first, Jemima ; 14 
 and the name of the second, Kezia ; and the name of the 
 third, Keren-happuch. And in all the land were no women 15 
 found so fair as the daughters of Job : and their father gave 
 them inheritance among their brethren. After this lived 16 
 
 10. turned the captivity] The metaphorical use of the phrase 
 would readily arise in a state of society like that in the East. The 
 expression means that Job's afflictions were removed and his pros- 
 perity restored. 
 
 11. Comp. Job's sorrowful lamentations over the alienation of all 
 his friends and acquaintances, ch. xix. 13 seq, 
 
 piece of money] The Heb. is Kesita, probably an uncoined piece of 
 silver, of a certain weight, Gen. xxxiii. 19; Josh. xxiv. 32. 
 
 12. The exact doubling of Job's former possessions shews that we are 
 not reading literal history here. 
 
 13 — 15. The former number of Job's children is restored to him. 
 The name Jemima probably means dove, comp. Song, vi. 9, v. 2 ; 
 Kezia is cassia, the aromatic spice, Ps. xlv. 8, Song, i. 3; and Keren' 
 happiich means horn \ox box) of eyepaint, piich being the paint or 
 powder used by Oriental women to add lustre to the eye. The Sept. 
 curiously renders horn of Amalthea, cornu copicc, horn of plenty. A 
 French commentator considers it important to remark that "les trois 
 noms sont destines a relever les graces de ces filles, et pas le moins du 
 monde leur coquetterie" (Reuss). 
 
 15. inheritance among their brethren] The Hebrew practice was 
 that the daughters inherited only when there was no son, Numb. 
 xxvii. I seq. The disposition of his property made by Job would 
 retain the sisters in the midst of their brethren even after marriage, 
 and allow the affectionate relations existing among Job's children to 
 continue. 
 
 JOB 19
 
 290 JOB, XLII. [v- 17- 
 
 Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and 
 17 his sons' sons, even four generations. So Job died, being 
 old and full of days. 
 
 17. Job dies, old and full of days. "Ye have heard of the patience 
 of Job, and liave seen the end of the Lord ; thai the Lord is very pitiful, 
 and of lender mercy" (James v. 11).
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Additional Note on Ch. xix. ^s— 27. 
 
 In these verses Job anticipates that God will appear and interpose 
 in his behalf to vindicate him, and that he shall see God, and he faints 
 before the joyful vision. The meaning is sufficiently clear except in 
 vv. 25, 26, in regard to which some difference of opinion prevails. 
 The point on which interpreters differ is chiefly the question. When, 
 according to Job's anticipation, shall this appearance of God on his 
 behalf take place? Shall it be before or after his death? 
 
 The difference of view arises greatly from the ambiguity of the word 
 timibbesdi'i, and from my flesh, v. 26 (see notes), though other, points of 
 construction are also involved. It is important to observe the con- 
 nexion of ideas in the passage, and what the great thought is which 
 fills Job's mind. In vv. 23, 24 he desired that his protestations of 
 rectitude were written in a book or rather graven with an iron pen in 
 the rock for ever, that all generations of men to come might read them 
 and know that he died in innocence. Suddenly a higher thought takes 
 possession of his mind, namely the assurance that this innocence shall 
 yet be vindicated by God appearing to uphold it, and that he himself 
 shall see God to his joy. Tiiis seeing of God includes all within it, for 
 now God hides Ills face; and this is the main thought of the passage, as 
 the impassioned reiteration of it, v. 27, indicates. The connexion of 
 vv. 25 and 26 is : I know that my Goel liveth, and that he shall stand 
 
 upon "the dust, and I shall see God. The bulk of v. 26 contributes 
 
 nothing to the main idea of the passage, which is the assurance of 
 seeing God ; it merely describes the circumstances in, or rather, after 
 ■which the vision shall take place. This makes it probable that the con- 
 struction of V. 26 is light, and that its two clauses are parallel and not 
 in antithesis to one another, in other words that the second clause 
 begins with and, not with yet. The word after, too, is a prep, in 
 the original, and this fact increases the improbability of the antithetical 
 construction. 
 
 i. The words /;w;i wj' y^t'j/i might mean, (looking) /row my flesh I 
 shall see God, i.e. as A. V. in my llesh. Two interpretations are then 
 possible, (i) that Job shall see God after his skin is destroyed and he is 
 reduced to a mass of flesh ; or (2) that endowed with flesh anew, in 
 another (resurrection) body he shall see God. In the one case skin is 
 opposed to flesh ; in the other it is taken as denoting Job's present 
 body. Both of these interpretations require the second clause of v. 16 
 to be taken in antithesis to the first, and are liable to the objections 
 
 19 — 2
 
 292 APPENDIX. 
 
 urged above. But in truth the first sense is nothing short of grotesque. 
 A distinction between skin and Jlesh might be made, if the second 
 expressed more strongly the same meaning with the first, but in the 
 circumstances to put ihcm in antithesis seems ludicrous. Considering 
 the nature of [ob's malady he could hardly express its worst ravages by 
 saying that it woukl destroy his s/ciii, leaving his flesh rcniaiuing. He 
 had already said much stronger things than this of his actual condition, 
 among others that he was become a skeleton of bones, ch. vii. 15; that 
 all his members were a shadow, ch. xvii. 7; that his leanness bore 
 witness to his face, ch. xvi. 8, as he says later that his clothes clung to 
 his shrunken frame like the opening of his shirt, ch. xxx. iS; and that 
 he was escaped with the skin of his teeth, ch. xix. 20. Besides, the 
 word rendered destroyed is literally struck off, a meaning which suggests 
 removal of the solid parts of the body. And that the word skin may be 
 used in this general sense of the body appears from ch. xviii. 13. 
 Where flesh is used along with skin the two words express the same 
 general meaning, the accumulation of terms merely serving to intensify 
 the expression, ch. x. 11, xix. 20; Lam. iii. 4; comp. Ps. cii. 5; Lam. 
 iv. 8. 
 
 If therefore we understand the words "from my flesh" in the sense 
 of iti my flesh, we must suppose that Job anticipated being clothed in 
 a new body after death; and this body is what he names his "flesh." 
 Something may be said for this view. Undoubtedly in ch. xiv. 13 seq. 
 Job already conceived the idea of being delivered from Sheol and living 
 again, and fervently prayed that such a thing might be. And what he 
 there ventured to long for he might here speak of as a thing of which he 
 was assured. No violence would be done to the line of thought in the 
 Book by this supposition. Nevertheless several things are against it. 
 The great idea of the passage, as has been said, is that God shall 
 appear and that Job shall see II im. The rest of the words in v. 26 seem 
 unemphatic, and descri|itive of something naturally to be understood. 
 But it is highly improbable that the great thought of the resurrection of 
 the body could be referred to in a way so brief. Even if this idea had 
 been current and a commonplace of belief, a reference to it by the 
 words my flesh would be singular and unnatural. But on Old Testa- 
 ment ground, and in the situation of Job, such a matter-of-course kind 
 of reference is almost inconceivable. We may be certain, had such an 
 idea been alluded to, that it would have been expressed in a manner 
 much more formal and detailed. 
 
 A somewhat different view has been taken by some scholars. 
 Finding it diflicult to accept the meaning without, or, atvay from for 
 the Heb. prep, here, they retain the sensQ from (i.e. in), and consider 
 the words skin and flesh to be each used somewhat generally in the 
 sense of the "body." Hence they translate: and ajler my skin (i.e. my 
 body) has been thus destroyed, yet from my flesh (i.e. in this body of 
 mine) I shall see God. Though not lialjle to the objections urged above, 
 this view is rather unnatural. The words skin and flesh express a single 
 general idea when coupled together by and, but that each of them 
 sh(iuld mean generally the body when separated hy yet is little probable. 
 Though this view agrees in rendering with i. above, it coincides in
 
 APPENDIX. 293 
 
 meaning with ii. (i) just to be mentioned, and is liable to the difficul- 
 ties urged below. 
 
 ii. The words from tny flesh, however, may mean away from, or, 
 without my flesh. In this case the words "after this my skin has been 
 destroyed" are taken up and their meaning repeated in a more intense 
 form in the phrase and without my flesh. This is the natural con- 
 struction. It is to be observed, however, that the language does not 
 state iti what condition precisely Job shall see God, but rather after 
 what events, viz. after his skin has been destroyed and his flesh has 
 been removed. Here, however, again a division of opinion exists. 
 (i) By some the words are taken in a comparative sense, meaning that 
 Job shall see God when his skin and flesh have been (virtually) destroyed 
 by his disease and he is reduced to a skeleton of bones — though still in 
 life. (2) By others the language is taken in an absolute sense, meaning 
 that Job's vision of God shall be after his disease has wholly destroyed 
 his body and brought him to death. The second view is the more 
 natural, does most justice to the language, and is most in harmony with 
 the elevated character of the passage. It is also supported by many 
 considerations suggested by other parts of the Book. 
 
 Before these considerations are referred to another remark may be 
 made. It is always to be remembered what is the main thought here 
 in Job's mind; it is that God shall appear to vindicate his innocence, and 
 that he shall see God to his joy. The question whether this shall be in 
 this life or beyond this life is of subsidiary importance, and not the 
 main point. At present Job's afflictions are proof to him of God's 
 estrangement. God holds him guilty and hides His face from him. 
 And his friends, arguing on his calamities, impute grievous sins to him. 
 His misery was very aggravated in every view. His good name among 
 men was sullied by shameful imputations, intolerable to his lofty mind; 
 for the easy theory of his friends, that one might be a religious man and 
 at the same time a great sinner, he repudiated with abhorrence, so far 
 as his own life was concerned. Then, as a religious man, his heart 
 was crushed by the loss of God's favour. And the inexplicableness of 
 this loss, combined with his unbearable afflictions at God's hand, threw 
 up before his mind great moral riddles which utterly baffled him. In 
 this thick darkness he has nothing but his own consciousness to fall 
 back upon. But his consciousness of his innocence assures him that 
 God knows it also. And this assurance becomes the basis of the other 
 assurance that God from His nature must yet make manifest the relation 
 in which His servant stands to Him, and that he shall see God. Job's 
 assurance is based on his own past experience, on his life with God, on 
 his consciousness of being a God-fearing man, and on his ineradicable 
 convictions in regard to the nature of God and His relations to men. 
 Job's circumstances cause his principle to appear in its barest form : 
 the human spirit is conscious of fellowship with God, and this fellow- 
 ship, from the nature of God, is a thing imperishable, and, in spite of 
 obscurations, it must yet be fully manifested by God. This principle, 
 grasped with convulsive earnestness in the prospect of death, became 
 the Hebrew doctrine of Immortality. This doctrine was but the 
 necessary corollary of religion. In this life on earth the true relations
 
 294 APPENDIX. 
 
 of men and God were felt to be realized; and the Hebrew faiih of 
 Immortality — never a belief in the mere existence of the soul after 
 death, for the lowest popular superstition assumed this (see notes on ch. 
 xiv. 13 seq.) — was a faitii that the dark and mysterious event of death 
 should not interrupt the life of the person with God enjoyed in this 
 world. Job's afflictions make his faith not so much an assurance of 
 the continuation of his fellowship with God as of its renewal or 
 manifestation, and, of course, this might take place in this life. The 
 similarity of the passage, however, to many others in the Old Testa- 
 ment, uttered in the prospect of death, makes it probable that Job 
 speaks with death in view. And the probability is heightened by 
 many other considerations. 
 
 I. The whole of the chapters xvi. , xvii. and xix. are spoken by 
 Job under the feeling that he shall die with his innocence unrecognised. 
 Hence in ch. xvi. 18 he appeals to the earth not to cover his innocent 
 blood; and in ch. xix. 24 he desires that his protestations of his 
 innocence might be graven in the rock for ever, that when he is gone 
 men to all generations might read them. There is not the sligiUest 
 ground to think that in the verses that follow these expressions in ch. 
 xvi. and xix. Job retracts or corrects this anticipation that he shall die 
 an unjust death. The verses that follow proceed on the same assump- 
 tion, but they express the prayer (ch. xvi. — xvii.) or the assurance (ch. 
 xix.) that, though he die with God's face hidden from him and under 
 the reproach of being a transgressor, this perverse and cruel fate shall 
 not for ever prevail over him; God shall yet appear to vindicate his 
 innocence and he shall see Him to his joy. 
 
 On this view every word in ch. xix. 25 scq. becomes full of meaning. 
 Job's Goel is he who shall vindicate him against his wrongful death. 
 The word Iweth derives its meaning from the fact that Job shall have 
 died. The term aharoti, however we render it, whether "he who shall 
 come after me" or with Ewald an after-man, i.e. vindicator, equally 
 implies Job's previous death. Similarly the word dust. On the sup- 
 position that Job's vindication shall be in this life, every one of those 
 words is robbed of its just significance, and no account at all can 
 be given of the use of the term livcth. 
 
 1. Further, it is certain that Job does not anticipate restoration to 
 health and prosperity in this life. Neither in the lofty passages above 
 referred to nor anywhere does he express such an opinion, but always 
 and consistently an opposite one. lie calls such a hope when held out 
 by his friends "mockery," ch. xvii. 2; comp. ch. vi. 11, xvii. \o scq. 
 So certain is he that he shall die under his malady that he does not 
 even pray for recovery, only for a little easing of his pain before he 
 departs, ch. x. 20. If life is to be his portion at all, it must be a new 
 life after this one comes to its rapid close, ch. xiv. 13 seq. This is his 
 tone after ch. xix. as well as before it. In ch. xxiii. 14 he says that 
 God "will perform the thing ai)pointed for him," i.e. bring him to 
 death through his malady. And almost his last words are, "I know 
 that thou wilt bring me unto death," ch. xxx. 23. It seems clear there- 
 fore that God's intervention to declare Job's innocence, ch. xix. 23 seq , 
 if it take place in this life, will not be accompanied by Job's restoration
 
 APPENDIX. 295 
 
 to health. His disease will in spite of it carry him to the grave. But 
 could such a thought have occurred to Job? His disease was to him 
 the seal of God's estrangement from him. It was God's witness to his 
 guilt. It was this moral meaning which his death had that caused him 
 so to wrestle against it (see notes ch. xvi. 18 seq.). It seems impossible 
 that Job could have conceived God declaring to men and to himself his 
 innocence while He continued to afflict him fatally with his disease. 
 To " see God " and to be chastened to death by Him are two things 
 which on Old Testament ground are contradictory of one another. 
 
 The theory that God's intervention in Job's behalf is looked for by 
 him in this life is thought to derive support from the actual dhiouemmi 
 of Job's history (ch. xlii.). But the argument proves too much by 
 a half. The author allows Job to be restored to prosperity in this life 
 in contradiction to Job's uniform and contemptuous rejection of such a 
 hope. And he may equally well have advanced Job's vision of God 
 into this life, though Job pushed it back beyond his death. In truth, 
 as has been said, the two things are inseparable. It would be a strange 
 demand to make of a dramatic writer that he should make his person- 
 ages express only opinions that coincide with his own, and allow them 
 to anticipate the issue of the plot. Certainly the author of Job imposes 
 no such restrictions on himself He never allows Job to come within 
 sight of the true cause of his afflictions, and as little does he permit him 
 to foresee their issue. It was his purpose to bring into a focus the 
 thoughts of men on the question of suffering, the great problem of his 
 day ; and some of the views expressed, particularly by Job, are those to 
 which men were driven by the pressure of the time, or to which they 
 rose out of the distress of their own hearts. 
 
 3. If, however, we must conclude that Job looked for this appear- 
 ance of God on his behalf, and this vision of Him to his joy, not pre- 
 vious to his death, we must not attempt to fill up the outline which he 
 has drawn. We must take care not to complete his sketch out of events 
 that transpired long after his day, or out of beliefs, reposing on these 
 events, that are now current among ourselves. The Engli^h Version 
 has done so at the expense of the original. The great thought which 
 filled Job's imagination was the thought that God would appear to 
 manifest his innocence and that he should see Him in peace and recon- 
 ciliation. This thought was so intense that it almost realized itself. 
 Job's assurance of seeing God was so vivid that it virtually became 
 a vision of God and he faints in the ecstasy of his faith. In such a con- 
 dition of mind the preliminaries and the circumstances that would occur 
 to a mind in a calmer state, or which immediately occur to us, do not 
 obtrude themselves, and if we are rightly to conceive Job's state of 
 mind we must entirely exclude them. We should be wrong to say that 
 he contemplates a purely spiritual vision of God, and further wrong to 
 say that he contemplates being invested with a new body when he shall 
 see God. Neither thought is present to his mind, which is entirely 
 absorbed in the idea of seeing God. The ideas of Old Test, saints 
 regarding the condition of man after death were too obscure to permit 
 of any such formal and precise conception as that which we call a 
 spiritual sight of God. Besides, as the kind of half-ecstasy under which
 
 296 APPENDIX. 
 
 Job here speaks has fallen on him when a living man, it is probable 
 that, like all persons in such conditions, he carries over with him his 
 present circumstances into his vision after death, and seems to himself 
 to be such a man as he is now when he sees God ; comp. ch, xix. 25, 
 26, 28, 29. 
 
 4. The above remarks suggest what elements of truth lay in the 
 traditional interpretation of this passage, in spite of its hardy treatment 
 of the text. The christology of the Book is indirect. There are no 
 express references to the Messiah, though several passages may seem 
 unconscious prophecies of Ilim, as those that express Job's desire to 
 meet and see God as a man, ch. ix. 32, xxiii. 3 seq. Job's Goel or 
 redeemer is God. A distinction of Persons in the Godhead was not 
 present to his thoughts when he used this term ; though the conception 
 of God in the passage and many things said in it may find verilication 
 in God's manifestation of Himself in His Son. The strange distinction 
 which Job draws between God and God, God who persecutes him and 
 God who is his Witness and Redeemer, is, of course, not a christologi- 
 cal distinction, nor one that corresponds to any distinction in the God- 
 head made known to us by subsequent revelation. To suppose so 
 would be a gross perversion not only of this Book but of the whole of 
 Scripture. The distinction was one which Job's ideas almost compelled 
 him to draw. He believed that every event that occurred came imme- 
 diately from God's hand ; and he believed that every event that befell a 
 man reflected the disposition of God's mind toward him : calamity 
 indicated the anger and prosperity the favour of God. This second 
 superstition is the source of all his perplexities ; and the distinction 
 which he draws between God and God is his effort to overcome it. 
 God whom he appeals against is the rule and course of this world, the 
 outer providence of God, to which Job can give no name but "God." 
 God to whom he appeals is the inner mind of God towards His servants, 
 the moral ideal of the human heart. This is God his Witness and 
 Redeemer. Job succeeded in drawing this distinction ; but the recon- 
 ciliation which the distinction demanded he was only partially success- 
 ful in effecting. He could not reach the idea that God, the heart of 
 God, might be towards him, while God — the outer course of the world 
 — afflicted him. These two things could not be at the same time. But 
 they might succeed one another. Hence his reconciliation is temporal : 
 God will bring him unto death, but after his body is destroyed God 
 shall appear to vindicate him antl he shall see God, 
 
 The doctrine of Immortality in the Book is the same as that of other 
 parts of the Old Testament. Jmmorlality is the corollary of Religion. 
 If there be religion, that is, if God be, there is immortality, not of the 
 soul but of the whole personal being of man (Ps. xvi. 9). This teaching 
 of the whole Old Testament is expressed by our Lord with a surprising 
 incisiveness in two sentences — " 1 am the Ci^i/ of Abraham, God is not 
 the God of the dead but of the living."
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ahaddon, 183, 198, 215 
 abhor, 74, 2S7 
 
 aboriginal races, referred to, 174. 175, 207 
 Abraham, Mohamiiiedaii fable about, 218 
 Adam, as, = Hke common men, 219 
 adultery, a capital crime, 215 
 aharcn, 294 
 
 Ahhvardt, referred to, 271 
 Ammianus, quoted, 90 
 Angels, 6, 7, 33, 35. i8o, 230, 262 
 Arabian Niif/its, illustration from, 218 
 arms of the fatherless, 164 
 arrows of God, 43, 121, 151, 193, 234 
 ashes, 14, 96, 211 
 asses, 4, 173; wild, 174, 270, 271 
 astronomical allusions, 184, 267 
 Augiisiitie, S., quoted, 15 
 authorship and date of Book of Job, Iv — 
 Ixviii 
 
 Baal, 247 
 
 bahr, 103 
 
 balija, 73 
 
 bands of Orion, 266 
 
 bars of the pit, 130 
 
 base men, 20S 
 
 Bedawin, 10, 37 
 
 before (not in temporal sense), 24, 33 
 
 behemoth, 279 
 
 belial, 236 
 
 belly, 150, 225 
 
 heme )( betno, distinction between, 73 
 
 betimes, = earnestly, 57, 60, 174 
 
 Bildad, comes to condole with Job, 17 ; 
 his character, 25 ; his first speech, 58 
 — 64; his second, 130 — 136; his third, 
 180 181 
 
 Bleek, referred to, xiii, xxvii 
 
 blood, = death, 123 
 
 boils, 13 
 
 book, 142, 220 
 
 booth, 192 
 
 bosses, 114 
 
 bottom of the sea, 252 
 
 bow, symbolical of power, 206 
 
 bowels, =the seat of feeling, 212 
 
 branch, 116, 135, 205 
 
 breasts, 158 
 
 bribery, 116 
 
 brooks, 47, 48 
 
 build desolate places 21 
 
 Burns, quoted, 47 
 
 Buz, 22 
 
 camels, 4 
 caravans, 47 
 
 Carlyle, quoted, 26(5 
 
 Catullus, quoted, 282 
 
 Chaldeans, 10 
 
 chambers of the south, 68, 254 
 
 chanelbone, a marginal reading, 217 
 
 changes and war, 78 
 
 check, 148 
 
 chief of the ways of God, 280 
 
 children of mine own body, xxxi, 140 
 
 children of the East, 4 
 
 Christology of the Book of Job, 296 
 
 Cicero, quoted, 5, 131 
 
 clapping of hands, token of malignant 
 
 gladness or scorn, 193, 240 
 clay, in various figurative senses, 33, 77, 
 
 96, 191, 263 
 clouds, 184, 210, 252, 2SS, 268 
 cockle, 221 
 collar of my coat, 211 
 conipanions,= partners in occupation, 282 
 coniplaint,= complaining, 54, 73, 75, 154, 
 
 169 
 Conant, referred to, xlv, 13, 135, 217, 249 
 contend, a legal term, 66, 76, 95, 276 
 cords of affliction, 747 
 Coverdale's version quoted, 125, 156, T57, 
 
 223, 226, 228 
 Cox's Comm. o« y^i quoted, 177, 196 
 crocodiles, 20, 283 
 crooked serpent, 185 
 cruddled,=curdled, ch. x. 10 
 curse, 5, 9, 15, 20, 36 
 
 darkness, 79, 93, 114, 113, 129, 139, 151, 
 
 164, 172, 194, 256, 264 
 day, in various senses, 19, 53, 102, 115, 
 
 136, 173, 263 
 daysman, 74 
 death, = pestilence, 191 ; personified, 134, 
 
 135. 198 
 debtors, treatment of, 49, 175 
 declare, in various senses, 182, 199, 261 
 Delitzsch, referred to, xxii, xxxvi, 1, lii, 
 
 Ix, 14, 68, 98, 146, 188, 190 
 De Sacy, referred to, 56 
 desolate, 21, 40, 115, 116, 207 
 destruction, — Sheol, 183, 198, 2i5;=niis- 
 
 fortune, calamity, 212, 218 
 Dillmann, referred to, 14, 33, igo 
 discover, in A. V. = uncover, turn back, 
 
 93. 283 
 dogs. 207 
 double bridle, 283 
 Dragon, the, or Leviathan, of popular 
 
 mythology, Ixvi, 20, 54, 6g, 185
 
 298 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 drink, used metnphorically, 43, 157; 
 
 drink. ..like water, 112, 234 
 dust, an image expressing plenty, igi 
 dust of gold, 195 
 dust, sprinkling of, a sign of grief, 18 
 
 eagles, 275 
 
 ear, = the understanding, 91, 229, 234 
 Egypt, icferred to, 69, 196, 205, 220 
 elephantiasis, its symptoms described, 
 
 12, 13, 55. '22 
 Elihu, meaning of the name, 222; his 
 
 speeches, xi, xl — Hi, 221 — 258 
 Eliphaz, conies to condole with Job, 17; 
 
 his character, 25, 41 ; his first speech, 
 
 27 — 42; his second, 108 — 116; his 
 
 third, 162—168 
 E loll i VI, 6 
 
 end, in various senses, 45, 61, 194 
 enterprise, 39 
 Euripides, quoted, 160 
 Ewald, referred to, xiv, xxi, xxvii, xxxviii, 
 
 Ixiv, 138, 144, 146, 158, 165, 174, 175, 
 
 184, 189, 219, 294 
 excellency, 34, 96, 148, 253 
 extremity, 244 
 eyelids of the morn, 21, 284 
 
 face of his garment, 283 
 /ash, 244 
 
 feasts of Job's children, 4 
 fetters, 247 
 
 filthy, in moral sense, 112 
 fire of God, 10 
 firmament, 67 
 firstborn of death, 134 
 flakes of his flesh, 284 
 flesh, 141, 218, 292 
 folly, II, 33, 175 
 food, allusions to, in figurative sense, 24, 
 
 44. 50. 91. 149. 234, 248 
 fool, 15, 16, 36, 92, 20S 
 foolishly, II 
 forcible, 48 
 
 gall, 121 
 
 gate, place of rendezvous in Eastern 
 
 cities, 36, 203, 216 
 Geneva version quoted, 15, 082, 285 
 Gesenius, referred to, 73, 84, 285 
 giant, = warrior, 121 
 girdles, 92, 93 
 glass, 197 
 
 glistering, = glittering, ch. xx. 25 
 goats, 270 
 
 go away, =be torn out, 34 
 Godet, referred to, xxxii, 8 
 goel, 143, 294, 296 
 Goethe, referred to, 122 
 gold, 257 
 
 grave, =5"/wo/, ■;3, 130, 155 ; = ruin, 212 
 great men, = old men, 224 
 Green, on Book 0/ Job, quoted, 288 
 grief, in various senses, 18, 28, 43, 120 
 
 grin,=gin, ch. xviii. 9 
 grind unto another, 215 
 Grotius, referred to, xvii 
 
 habergeon, 285 
 
 Hainasa, the, quoted, 52 
 
 band, in various senses, go, 97, 156, 217, 
 
 228, 237, 254 
 Hauran, mining in the, ig6 
 Havilah, of doubtful situation, 257 
 heart, in various senses, 5;, 61, 67, 81, 
 
 85. 89. 93, 112, 168,258, 268 
 hell, = 67/tW, 84, 183 
 helpers, 69 
 
 Hengstenberg, referred to, xvii 
 hideth his face, 100, 238 
 hieroiiouloi, 247 
 hippopotamus, 279 
 hireling, 52, 102 
 hissing, a token of scorn, 193 
 historical allusions, Ivi, Ix, 69, 165 
 Hitzig, referred to, Ixiv, 19, 83, 90, 119, 
 
 135. 156, 226, 252 
 Horace, quoted, 5, 252 
 horn, symbol of power, 122 
 horses, 4, 274 
 houses of clay, 33 
 hunger- bitten, 134 
 hypocrite, 62, 98, 116, 128, 148, 189, 247 
 
 Ibn Ezra, referred to, xiv, 47, 84 
 
 idolatry, practised in Israel, 217 
 
 immortality, Hebrew belief in, 103 — 104, 
 143, 291 — 296 
 
 imperatives, two co-ordinate, = a prin- 
 cipal and consecutive clause, 15; used 
 hypothetically, 35; = future, 83 
 
 influences of Pleiades, 266 
 
 inheritance, Heb. practice respecting, 289 
 
 iniquity in my tongue, 50 
 
 in my flesh, 144, 291 
 
 instruction, 229 
 
 inward friends, 141 
 
 inward parts, 268 
 
 island of the innocent, 168 
 
 jackals, 213 
 
 Jcgar Sahiidtifha, 124 
 
 Jehovah, exceptional employment of the 
 
 name, xxx, Iv, 11 
 Jemima, = 'dove,' 289 
 
 ieronie, S., referred to, 13, 272 
 ob, his home, i, 203; his name, i, 2; 
 his 'perfection,' 2; his family and 
 ■wealth, 3, 4; sacrifices on behalf of his 
 children, 5; his first trial, 9 — 12: his 
 second, 12 — 18; his wife 'Dinah,' ace. 
 toTargum.xx, 15 ; visited by friends 17: 
 opens the debate by 'cursing his day,' 
 18 ; his universal respect, 204 ; his 
 Oriental hospitality, 218; restored to 
 twofold prosperity, 288 ; dies, 290 
 
 Jordan, 281 
 
 Josephus, referred to, xiii
 
 INDEX. 
 
 299 
 
 judgment, of God contrasted with that of 
 
 man, 248 
 juniper roots, 208 
 
 keemah, 68 
 
 Keren-happuch, xv, 2S9 
 
 kescel, 68 
 
 kesita, Ivi, 289 
 
 Kezia, = ' cassia,' 289 
 
 king of terrors, 135 
 
 knees prevent me, 21 
 
 Koran, referred to, 2, 62, tii, 218 
 
 Kuenen, referred to, xxviii, xxxvi, Ixvii 
 
 landmarks, 173 
 
 Lane, referred to, 138, 244 
 
 Latimer, quoted, 285 
 
 latter day, 143, 291 
 
 lay. ..hand upon. ..mouth, signifying re- 
 spect or awe-struck silence, 154, 204, 
 276 
 
 Layard, quoted, 274 
 
 lead, 143 
 
 Lebanon, mining in the, 196 
 
 legal customs in the East, Ivi, 36, 84, 99, 
 116, 124, 216, 220 
 
 Leviathan, =the Dragon or storm-cloud, 
 personified in popular mythology, 20, 
 54, 69, 185 ; = the crocodile, 20, 281 
 
 light, in various senses, 13.3, 176, 181, 
 _ 232, 252, 256, 263, 264, 265, 284 
 
 lions, 30, 269 
 
 Locman, quoted, 73 
 
 lots, casting of, 40 
 
 Lovvfth, Robert, Bp, referred to, xvii 
 
 Lucan, quoted, 73 
 
 Luther, referred to, xiv, xv, Ix, i83 
 
 magicians, 20 
 
 ninkdin, i 
 
 mallows, 208 
 
 mantles, 11 
 
 Maimonides, referred to, xiv 
 
 mark, = obstacle, 57 
 
 mark (vb.), 165, 176 
 
 Mazzaroth, 267 
 
 Messianic references, 296 
 
 Michaelis, J. D., referred to, xvH 
 
 Michaelis, J. H., referred to, xvi 
 
 Michie, referred to, 136 
 
 midnight, at,=suddenly, 237 
 
 mighty, in various senses, 48, 92, 164, 
 
 179, 237 
 Milton, quoted, 41, 79, 262 
 mining operations, 194 — 196 
 mirrors, 256 
 
 misprint in present text of A.V., 208 
 Mohammed, referred to, 3, 62, 73, 1 1 1, 217 
 money, weighed not counted, 197, 289 
 moth, before the, 33 
 mouth, 39, 91, 115, 119, 149, 217, 253 
 my Maker, 246 
 my mother's womb, 11 
 mythological ideas, 20, 54, 68, 69, 180, 
 
 i8<i, 196 
 
 Naamah, 17 
 
 naked, 164, 174 
 
 nephew, 136 
 
 night, in various senses, 19, 32, 52, 249 
 
 north, the, 183, 254, 257 
 
 Nukra, the traditional home of Job 
 
 placed in the, i 
 number of.. .days, 264 ;... months, 20, 102, 
 
 157;. ..years, 113, 251 
 number of my steps, 220 
 numbers, symbolism of round, xviii, 3, 
 
 iS, 25, 40, 138 
 
 occasions, = grounds of enmit}'', 228 
 organ, =pipe, 155, 213 
 ostriches, 213, 272 ; Arab proverb regard- 
 ing, 273 
 oxen, 4, 173, 279 
 
 papyrus, 62 
 
 perfect, = righteous, 2, 63, 71 
 
 perfection, 83, 194 
 
 perverse things, 50 
 
 Phoenicians, 282 
 
 Phoenix, fable respecting the, 205 
 
 piece of money, 289 
 
 pillars of heaven, 185 
 
 pleasure, =concern, 157, 163; = good, 158 
 
 plenty of silver, 167 
 
 Pliny, referred to, 13, 73, 217 
 
 Plumptre's Ecclesinstes referred to, 22 
 
 post,= courier, 72 
 
 prepositions, ambiguity in rendering of 
 
 Hebrew, 144 
 present tense, graphic use of, 32 ; gnomic, 
 
 36 
 pride, = ungodliness, xiv 
 priests, ancient dignity of, 92 
 prince, 159, 220 
 proud helpers, 69 
 punishments of the sword, 146 
 
 Rahab, = the mythological Leviathan or 
 
 Dragon, Ixvi, 69, 185 
 Ram, 222 
 ransom, 231, 249 
 ravens, 269 
 
 recompence,= exchange, 115 
 record, = sponsor, 124 
 redeemer, i.e. Gael, 143, 294 — 296 
 recm, 271 
 re/dtm, 183 
 
 reins, = vital parts, 121, 145 
 remembrances, = maxims, 96 
 remnant, 166 
 
 Renan, referred to, xlix, Ivii 
 Reuss, referred to, xvii, 17, 82, 289 
 rich, = wicked, 192 
 rivers, = channels or galleries, 195 
 robber, = snare, 37, 133 
 
 Saadia, referred to, 62 
 Sabeans, 10 
 sackcloth, 121 
 salutations. Oriental, 5
 
 ?oo 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 samoom, the, lo 
 
 sanctitication, preparatory to sacrifice, 5 
 
 sand, image of weight, 43 ; of countless 
 
 number, 205 
 sapphires, 195 
 
 sarcophagus, SiJonian, described, 160 
 Satan, ix, xxxi, 7, 135 
 Schlottmann, referred to, no, 265 
 Schultens, A., referred to, xvi 
 scorning, = iiiipieiy, 234 
 sea, perbonified as Leviathan, 20, 54, 69, 
 
 seal (vb.), 229. 2S4 
 
 seal (subst.), 263 
 
 secret of God, 203 
 
 Septuagint, referred to, xv, i, 14, 15, 33, 
 
 34. 39. 57. 92. 169, 185, 192, 196, 205, 
 
 244, 267, 272, 289 
 serpent, = Dragon or Leviathan, 20, 54, 
 
 69, 185 
 shadow of death, 19, 79, 93, 122,176,194, 
 
 237, 264 
 Shakespeare, quoted, 5, 43, 46, 54, 134, 
 
 141, 144, 148, 160, 177, i8i, 194, 266 
 Sheol, 53, 84, 103. 106, 130, 13s, 155,178, 
 
 183, 184, 198, 211, 215, 204 
 Shuah. 17 
 
 Simon's HiUoryofthe O. T., ref. to, xvii 
 skin of my teeth, 141 
 skin for skin, 13 
 snares, 133 
 snow water, 73, 178 
 son of man, 125 
 sons of God, 6, 262 
 Sophocles, quoted. 2t 
 Spanheim, t., referred to, xvi 
 speak wickedly for God, 95 
 Spenser, quoted, 74, 136 
 spider's web, 62 
 spirit, in various senses, 32, 112, 125, 147, 
 
 183, 223 
 spitting in the face, 127, 128, 209 
 spoiled, = stripped of cl. -tiling, 92 
 spreadings ol the clouds, 252 
 stars, ideas respecting the, 180, 262, 266 
 storks, 272 
 straitness. Oriental figure for adversity, 
 
 133, 248, 249 
 Streaiie's Jeremiah referred to, 273 
 strike hands, = undertake suretyship, 126 
 Studer, referred to, xxix, 54 
 swallow down my spittle, 56 
 swift ships, 72 
 sword, in various senses, 39, 114, 146, 
 
 151, 230, 247, 280 
 
 tabrels, 12S 
 
 Talmud referred to, xiii, Iviit 
 
 Targiim, referred to, 12, 13, 15 
 
 Tenia, 47 
 
 Teni.in, xix, Ivii, 17 
 
 Tennyson, quoted, 52, 198 
 
 tents, 34 
 
 Theodore, Bp of Mopsuest'ia, ref. to, xv 
 
 thieves, 176 
 
 Thomson's Land and Book quoted, 256 
 
 thorns, = thorn-hedge, 37 
 
 thoughts of my heart, 129 
 
 threshing-floors, 156 
 
 timbrels, 128, 155 
 
 time, in various senses, 71, 115, 165, 173 
 
 io/wla/t, 33 
 
 /('//;, = timbrel, 128 
 
 /£)/^'«''/'i =spitting, 128 
 
 trees, frequent objects of comparison, 
 
 115, 116, 135, 139, 178, 205 
 Tristram, referred to, 271, 273 
 Tyndale's version quoted, 283 
 
 umibbesdrt, 291 
 
 understanding, = discretion, 89, 92 
 unicorn, = wild ox, 167, 271 
 Uz, I 
 
 vain, in various senses, 84, log, 118, 190 
 vanity, in various senses, 52, 55, 115, 116, 
 
 214, 243 
 Vergil, quoted, 90, 135 
 vile, not in moral sense, 376 
 vines, 116 
 
 vineyards, 174, 175, 177 
 vision of Eliphaz, 32 
 vows, in connection with requests in 
 
 prayer, 167 
 Vulgate, referred to, 13, 98, 114, 169 
 
 wardrobes, element of Oriental wealth, 
 
 191 . ^ 
 ■waters, in figurative sense, 24, 164, 177, 
 
 I92; = rain, 199, 265 
 way, in various senses, 23, 63, 139, 170, 
 
 198, 206, 209, 214 
 ways of their destruction, 209 
 wealth, = prosperity, 155 
 Wetzstein, referred to, i, 14, 63, 192, 271 
 white of an egg, 44 
 
 wicked, in various senses, 150, 174, 236 
 wilderness, = perplexity, 93 
 wisdom, in various senses, 39, 45, 82, 92, 
 
 163, 197, 200 
 wise, in various senses, 16, 67, 84, 258 
 woman. Oriental ideas respecting, 3, 15 
 worm, Hebrew words signifying, 144, i8i 
 wr.ith, in various senses, 36, 146, 247, 249 
 Wriifht's Bible Word-Book referred to, 
 
 74. 217. 272. 285 
 
 Zophar, comes to condole with Job, 17; 
 his character, 26; fails to come forward 
 in the last round of speeches, 27, 1S6; 
 his first speech, 80 — 80; his second, 
 
 146-152 
 
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 is one of the most valuable yet made. His annotations on Tlie Gospel 
 according to St Luke, while they display a scholarship at least as sound, 
 and an erudition at least as wide and varied as those of the editors of 
 St Matthew and St Mark, are rendered telling and attractive by a 
 more lively imagination, a keener intellectual and spiritual insight, a 
 more incisive and picturesque style. His St Luke is worthy to be ranked 
 with Professor Plumptre's St James, than which no higher commend- 
 ation can well be given." — The Expositor. 
 
 "St Luke. Edited by Canon Farrar, D.D. We have received with 
 pleasure this edition of the Gospel by St Luke, by Canon Farrar. It is 
 another instalment of the best school commentary of the Bible we pos- 
 sess. Of the expository part of the work we cannot speak too highly. 
 It is admirable in every way, and contains just the sort of informa- 
 tion needed for Students of the English text unable to make use of the 
 original Greek for themselves." — The Nonconforinist and Indepetidetii. 
 
 "As a handbook to the third gospel, this small work is invaluable. 
 The author has compressed into little space a vast mass of scholarly in- 
 formation. . . The notes are pithy, vigorous, and suggestive, abounding 
 in pertinent illustrations from general literature, and aiding the youngest 
 reader to an intelligent appreciation of the text. A finer contribution to 
 'The Cambridge Bible for Schools' has not yet been made."— i?a//w/ 
 Magazine. 
 
 "We were quite prepared to find in Canon Farrar's St Luke a 
 masterpiece of Biblical criticism and comment, and we are not dis- 
 appointed by our examination of the volume before us. It reflects very 
 faithfully the learning and critical insight of the Canon's greatest works, 
 his 'Life of Christ' and his 'Life of St Paul', but differs widely from 
 both in the terseness and condensation of its style. What Canon Farrar 
 has evidently aimed at is to place before students as much information 
 as possible within the limits of the smallest possible space, and 
 in this airn he has hit the mark to perfection." — The Examiner.
 
 6 CAMBRIDGE BIBLE FOR SCHOOLS & COLLEGES. 
 
 Tlie Gospel according to St John. "Of the notes we can say with 
 confidence that they are useful, necessary, learned, and brief. To 
 Divinity students, to teachers, and for private use, this compact 
 Commentary will be found a valuable aid to the better understanding 
 of the Sacred Text." — Sc/iool Guardian. 
 
 " The new volume of the ' Cambridge Bible for Schools ' — the 
 Gospel according to St Jolm, by the Rev. A. Plummer — shows as 
 careful and thorough work as either of its predecessors. The intro- 
 duction concisely yet fully describes the life of St John, the authenticity 
 of the Gospel, its characteristics, its relation to the Synoptic Gospels, 
 and to the Apostle's First Epistle, and the usual subjects referred to in 
 an 'introduction'." — The Christian Church. 
 
 "The notes are extremely scholarly and valuable, and in most cases 
 exhaustive, bringing to the elucidation of the text all that is best in 
 commentaries, ancient and modern." — The English Chzirchman and 
 Clerical Journal. 
 
 "(i) The Acts of the Apostles. By J. Rawson Lumby, D.D. 
 (2) The Second Epistle of the Corinthians, edited by Professor Lias. 
 The introduction is jiithy, and contains a mass of carefully-selected 
 information on the authorship of the Acts, its designs, and its sources. 
 
 The Second Epistle of the Corinthians is a manual beyond all praise, 
 
 for the excellence of its pithy and pointed annotations, its analysis of the 
 contents, and the fulness and value of its introduction." — Examiner. 
 
 "The concluding portion of the Acts of the Apostles, under the very 
 competent editorship of Dr LuMBY, is a valuable a<ldition to our 
 school-books on that subject. Detailed criticism is impossible within 
 the space at our command, but we may say that the ample notes touch 
 with much exactness the very points on which most readers of the text 
 desire information. Due reference is made, where necessary, to the 
 Revised Version ; the maps are excellent ; and we do not know of any 
 other volume where so much help is given to the complete understand- 
 ing of one of the most important and, in many respects, difficult books 
 of the New Testament." — School Guardian. 
 
 "The Rev. II. C. G. Moule, M.A., has made a valuable addition 
 to The Camkridge PjIBI.k for Schools in his brief commentary on 
 the Epistle to the Romans. The 'Notes' are very good, and lean, 
 as the notes of a School Bible should, to the most commonly ac- 
 cepted and orthodox view of the inspired author's meaning ; while the 
 Introduction, and especially the Sketch of the Life of St Paul, is a model 
 of condensation. It is as lively and pleasant to read as if two or three 
 facts had not been crowded into well-nigh every sentence." — Expositor. 
 
 "The Epistle to the Romans. It is seldom we have met with a 
 work so remarkable for the compression and condensation of all that 
 is valuable in the smallest possible space as in the volume before us. 
 Within its limited pages we have 'a sketch of the Life of St Paul,' 
 we have further a critical account of the date of the E]iistle to the 
 Romans, of its language, and of its genuineness. The notes are 
 numerous, full of matter, to the point, and leave no real difficulty 
 or obscurity unexplained." — The Examiner.
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 "Tbe First Epistle to the Corinthians. Edited by Professor Lias. 
 Every fresh instalment of this annotated edition of the Bible for Schools 
 confirms the favourable opinion we formed of its value from the exami- 
 nation of its first number. The origin and plan of the Epistle are 
 discussed with its character and genuineness." — The Noncoiiforndst. 
 
 "The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. By Professor Lias. The 
 General Epistles of St Peter and St Jude. By E. H. Plumptke, D.D. 
 We welcome these additions to the valuable series of the Cambridge 
 Bible. We have nothing to add to the commendation which we 
 have from the first publication given to this edition of the Bible. It is 
 enough to say that Professor Lias has completed his work on the two 
 Epistles to the Corinthians in the same admirable manner as at first. 
 Dr Plumptre has also completed the Catholic Epistles." — Noncoiiforinist. 
 
 The Epistle to the Ephesians. By Rev. H. C. G. Moule, M.A. 
 " It seems to us the model of a School and College Commentary — 
 comprehensive, but not cumbersome; scholarly, but not pedantic." — 
 Baptist JSIagazinc. 
 
 The Epistle to the Philippians. "There are few series more valued 
 by theological students than ' The Cambridge Bible for Schools and 
 Colleges,' and there will be no number of it more esteemed than that 
 by Mr H. C. G. Moule on the Epistle to the Philippians:'— Record. 
 
 " Another capital volume of 'The Cambridge Bible for Schools and 
 Colleges.' The notes are a model of scholarly, lucid, and compact 
 criticism." — Baptist Magazine. 
 
 Hebrews. " Like his (Canon Farrar's) commentary on Luke it 
 possesses all the best characteristics of his writing. It is a work not 
 only of an accomplished scholar, but of a skilled teacher." — Baptist 
 Magazine. 
 
 "We heartily commend this volume of this excellent work." — • 
 Sunday School Chronicle. 
 
 "The General Epistle of St James, by Professor Plumptre, D.D. 
 Nevertheless it is, so far as I know, by far the best exposition of the 
 Epistle of St James in the English language. Not Schoolboys or 
 Students going in for an examination alone, but Ministers and Preachers 
 of the Word, may get more real help from it than from the most costly 
 and elaborate commentaries." — Expositor. 
 
 The Epistles of St John. By the Rev. A. Plummer, M.A., D.D. 
 "This forms an admirable companion to the 'Commentary on the 
 Gospel according to St John,' which was reviewed in The Churchman 
 as soon as it appeared. Dr Plummer has some of the highest qualifica- 
 tions for such a task ; and these two volumes, their size being considered, 
 will bear comparison with the best Commentaries of the time." — The 
 Churchman. 
 
 " Dr Plummer's edition of the Epistles of St John is worthy of its 
 companions in the 'Cambridge Bible for Schools' Series. The 
 subject, though not apparently extensive, is really one not easy to 
 treat, and requiring to be treated at length, owing to the constant 
 reference to obscure heresies in the Johannine writings. Dr Plummer 
 has done his exegetical task well." — The Saturday Review.
 
 THE CAMBRIDGE GREEK TESTAMENT 
 
 FOR SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES 
 
 with a Revised Text, based on the most recent critical authorities, and 
 
 English Notes, prepared under the direction of the General Editor, 
 
 The Very Reverend J. J. S. PEROWNE, D.D. 
 
 " Has ac/n'czw/ an excellence 'which /<ii/s it aboz'c crilicism." — Expositor. 
 
 St Matthew. " Copious illustrations, gathered from a great variety 
 of sources, make his notes a very valuable aid to the student. They 
 are indeed remarkably interesting, while all explanations on meanings, 
 applications, and the like are distinguished by their lucidity and good 
 sense. ''—Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 St Mark. ' ' The Cambridge Greek Testament of which Dr ^L\CLEAR's 
 edition of the Gospel according to St Mark is a volume, certainly 
 supplies a want. Without pretending to compete with the leading 
 commentaries, or to embody verj- much original research, it forms a 
 most satisfactory introduction to the study of the New Testament in 
 the original. ...Dr Maclear's introduction contains all that is known of 
 St Mark's life ; an account of the circumstances in which the Gospel 
 was composed, with an estimate of the inlluence of St Peter's teaching 
 upon St Mark ; an excellent sketch of the special characteristics of this 
 Gospel ; an analysis, and a chapter on the te.xt of the New Testament 
 generally. " — Sat unlay Revieio. 
 
 St Luke. "Of this second series we have a new volume by 
 Archdeacon Farrar on St Luke, completing the four Gospels. ...It 
 gives us in clear and beautiful language the best results of modern 
 scholarship. We have a most attractive Introduction. Then follows 
 a sort of composite Greek text, representing fairly and in verj' beautiful 
 type the consensus of modem textual critics. At the beginning of the 
 exposition of each chapter of the Gospel are a few short critical notes 
 giving the manuscript evidence for such various readings as seem to 
 deserve mention. The expository notes arc short, but clear and helpful. 
 For young students and those who are not disposed to buy or to study 
 the much more costly work of Godet, this seems to us to be the best 
 book on the Greek Text of the Third Gospel." — JSIethodist Recorder. 
 
 St John. " We take this opportunity of recommending to ministers 
 on probation, the very excellent volume of the same series on this part 
 of the New Testament. We hope that most or all of our young ministers 
 will prefer to study the volume in the Cambridge Greek Testament for 
 Schools. " — JMethcdist Recorder. 
 
 The Acts of the Apostles. "Professor Lumby has performed his 
 laborious task well, and supplied us with a commentary the fulness and 
 freshness of which Bible students will not be slow to appreciate. The 
 volume is enriched with the usual copious indexes and four coloured 
 maps." — Glasgow Herald. 
 
 I. Corinthians. "Mr Lias is no novice in New Testament exposi- 
 tion, and the present series of essays and notes is an able and helpful 
 addition to the existing books." — Guardian. 
 
 The Epistles of St John. " In the very useful and well annotated 
 series of the Cambridge Greek Testament the volume on the Epistles 
 of St John must hold a high position... The notes are brief, well 
 informed and intelligent." — Scotsman. 
 
 casibridue: fkintkd bv c. j cl.w, .m.a. .\.s"d sons, .•\t the university press.
 
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