Notes on the Old and New Testaments

upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the " dust.

The horn was usually worn by females, but in the cut which I annex, it is also a part of the ornament on the head of a male, and as such would be regarded doubtless as an emblem of honor. The custom is prevalent at the present day among the Druses of Lebanon, the Egyptian cavalry, and in some parts of Russia bordering on Persia. Dr. Macmichael, in his "Journey," says: "One of the most extraordinary parts of the attire of their females (Druses of Lebanon), is a silver horn, sometimes studded with jewels, worn on the head in various positions, distinguishing their different conditions. A married woman has it affixed to the right side of the head, a widow on the left, and a virgin is pointed out by its being placed on the very crown. Over this silver projection the long veil is thrown, with which they so completely conceal their faces as to rarely have moie than an eye visible." The horn worn by females is a conical tube, about twelve inches long. Col. Light mentions the horn of the wife of an emir, made of gold, and studded with precious stones. The two male figures in the engraving, represent Abyssinian chiefs with horns. They are worn by them in military reviews, or on parade after a victory. They are much shorter than those of the females, and are about the size and shape of a candle-extinguisher, fastened by a strong fillet to the head, which is often made of metal: they are not easily broken off This peculiar kind of horn is undoubtedly the kind made by the false prophet Zedekiah for Ahab, to whom he said, when Ahab was about to attack the enemy, " With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou hast conquered them." 1 Kings xxii. 11. 2 Chron. xviii. 10. Comp.Deut. xxxiii 17. The following cut illustrates its usual appearance.

16 My face is foul with weep- | ing, and on my eyelids is the

The idea here is, that whatever once constituted the reliance or the glory of Job, was now completely prostrate. It was as if it were buried in the earth.

16 My face is foul with loeeping.

17 Not " for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer ^ is pure.

18 O earth, cover not thou

The Hebrew word (*>^n!) means to boil up, to ferment, to foam. Hence it means to be red, and the word is often used in this sense in Arabic — from the idea of becoming heated or inflamed. Here it probably means either to be swelled^ as any thing does that ferments, or to be red as iHieated — the usual effect of weeping. The idea of being defiled is not in the word. IT And on my eyelids is the shadow of death. On the meaning of the word rendered ' shadow of death' sec Notes on ch. iii. 5. The meaning is, that darkness covered his eyes, and he felt tliat he was about to die. One of the usual indications of the approach of death is, that the sight fails, and every thing seems to be dark. Hence Homer so often describes death by the phrase, ' and darkness covered his eyes;' or the form 'a cloud of death covered his eyes' — &a.vdrov rtq)oq oaoB ixahixprj. The idea here is, that he experienced the indications of approaching death.

17. JS'ot for any injustice, Slc. Still claiming that he does not deserve his sorrows, and that these calamities had not come upon him on account of any enormous sins, as his friends believed. ^ My prayer is ptire. My devotion; my worship of God is not hypocritical — as my friends maintain.

18. O earth. Passionate appeals to the earth are not uncommon in the Scriptures. See Notes on Isa. i. 2. Such appeals indicate deep emotion, and are among the most animated forms of personification. H Cover not thou my blood. Blood here seems to denote the wrong done to him. He compares his situation with that of one who had been murdered, and calls on the earth not to conceal the crime, and prays that his injuries may not be hidden, or pass unavenged.

my blood, and let my cry have no place.

19 Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is ' on high.

Aben Ezra, Dr. Good, and some others, however, suppose that he refers to blood shed by him, and that the idea is, that he would have the earth reveal any blood if he had ever shed any; or in other words that it is a strong protestation of his inno cence. But the former interpretation seems to accord best with the connexion. It is the exclamation of deep feeling. He speaks as a man about to die, but he says that he would die as an innocent and a much injured man, and he passionately prays that his death may not pass unavenged. God had crushed him, and his friends had wronged him, and he now earnestly implores that his character may yet be vindicated. "According to the saying of the Arabs, the blood o one who was unjustly slain remained upon the earth without sinking into it until the avenger of blood came up. It was regarded as a proof of innocence." Eichhorn, in loc. That there is much of irreverence in all this must, I think, be conceded. It is not language for us to imitate. But it is not more irreverent and unbecoming than what often occurs, and it is designed to show what the human heart 2oill express when it is allowed to give utterance to its real feelings. If And let my cry have no place. Let it not be hid or concealed. Let there be nothing to hinder rny cry from ascending to heaven. The meaning is, that Job wished his solemn protestations of his innocence to go abroad. He desired that all might hear him. He called on the nations and heaven to hear. He appealed to the universe. He desired that the earth would not conceal tho proof of his wrongs, and that his cry might not be confined or limited by any bounds, but that it mighr

20 My friends ' scorn me; hut mine eye poureth out tears unto God.

19. Mij witness is in heaven. That is, I can appeal to God for my sincerity. He is my witness; and he will bear record for me. This is an evidence of returning confidence in God — to which Job always returns even after the most passionate and irreverent expressions. Such is his real trust in God, that though he is betrayed at times into expressions of impatience and irreverence, yet he is sure to return to calmer views, and to show that he lias true confidence in the Most High. The strength, the power, and the point of his expressions of passion and impatience are against his friends; but they sometimes terminate on God, as if even he was leagued with them against him. But he still had permanent or abiding confidence in God. TI My record is on high. Marg. in the high places. It means, in heaven. Luther renders this, und dor mich kennet, ist in der Hohe — and he who knows me is on high. The Hebrew is "^IJ^^ — m.y witness; properly an eye-witness. Tlie meaning is, that he could appeal to God as a witness of his sincerity.

20. Mij friends scorn me. Marg. are my scorners. That is, his friends had him in derision and mocked him, and he could only appeal with tears to God. H Mine eye poureth out tears imto God. Despised and mocked by his friends, he made his appeal to one who he knew would regard him with compassion. This shows that the heart of Job was substantially right. Notwithstanding all his passionate exclamations; and notwithstanding his expressions, when he was urged on by his sorrov/s to give vent to improper emotions in relation to God; yet he had a firm confidence for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his '^neighbour!

22 When ^a few years are come, then I shall go ^ the way whence I shall not return.

in him, and always returned to right feelings and views. The heart may sometimes err. The best of men may sometimes give expression to improper feelings. But they will return to just views, and will ultimately evince unwavering confidence in God.

21. Oh that one might plead for a man. A more correct rendering of this would be, ' Oh that it might be for a man to contend with God;' that is, in a judicial controversy. It is the expression of an earnest desire to carry his cause at once before God, and to be permitted to argue it there. This desire Job had often expressed. Sec Notes on ch. xiii. 3, 18-22. On the grammatical construction of the passage, see RosenmOller. M £s a man pleadcth/or his neighbor. Heb. 'the son of man;' that is, the off"- spring of man. Or, rather, as a man contendeth with his neighbor; as one man may carry on a cause with another. He desired to carry his cause directly before God, and to be permitted to argue the case with him, as one is permitted to maintain an argument with a man. See Notes on ch. xiii. 20, 21.

22. When a feio years are come Marg. years of number; that is, numbered years, or a few years. The same idea is expressed in ch. vii. 21. See Notes on that place. The idea is, that he must soon die. He desired, therefore, before he went down to the grave, to carry his cause before God, and to have, as he did not doubt he should have, the divine attestation in his favor. Comp. Notes on ch. xix. 25-27. Now he was overwhelmed with calamities and reproaches, and was about to die in this condition. He did not wish to die thus. He wished that the re- proaclies might be wiped off, and that his character might be cleared up and made fair. He believed assuredly that if he could be permitted to carry his cause directly before God, he might be able to vindicate his character, and to obtain the divine verdict in his favor; and if he obtained that, he v^as not unwilling to die. It is the expression of such a wish as every man has, that his sun may not go down under a cloud; that whatever aspersions may rest on his character may be wiped away; and that his name, if remembered at all when he is dead, may go untarnished down to future times, and be such that his friends may repeat it without a blush.

lyTY 'breath is corrupt, my -'-*-*- days are extinct, the graves " are ready for me.

1. My breath is corrupt. Marg. or, spirit is spent. The idea is, that his vital powers were nearly extinct; his breath failed; his power was weakened, and he was ready to die. This is connected with the previous chapter, and should not have been separated from it. There was no necessity of making a new- chapter here, and we have one of those unfortunate breaks in the middle of a paragraph, and almost of a sentence, which are too common in the Scriptures. Ii TJte graves are ready for me. The Hebrew is plural, but why so used I know not. The Vulgate is singular — sepulchrum. The LXX render it, "I pray for a tomb (sing. Ta9^^;),but I cannot obtain it." Possibly the meaning is, ' 1 am about to be united to the graves, or to tombs.' Schultens remarks that the plural form is common in Arabic poetry, as well as in poetry in general

2. J37id doth not mine eye continve in their provocation? Marg. lodge. This is the meaning of the Hebrewword here used — 'i^ri. It jroperly denotes to pass the night, or to lodge

^ continue in their provocation 1 3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he thai will strike hands with me?

in a place, as distinguished from a permanent residence. The idea here seems to be, that his eye rested on their provocations. It remained fixed on them. It w^as not a mere glance, who had encamped for a time, and had an opportunity of looking around him with care, and seeing things as they were. Thus explained, there is much poetic beauty in the passage

4 For thou hast hid their heart

to bring his cause directly before him. See ch. xiii. 3. The whole passage here is obscure, because we are in a great measure ignorant of the ancient practices in courts of law, and of the ancient forms of trial. The general sense seems to be, that Job desires the Deity to enter into a judicial investigation, and to give him ti pledge — or, as we should say, a bond^ or security— that he would not avail himself of his almighty power, but would place him on an equality in the trial, and allow him to plead his cause on equal terms. See Notes on ch. xiii. 20-22. The phrase ' lay down now ' means, lay down a pledge, or something of that kind; and may have referred to some ancient custom of giving security on going to trial, that no advantage would be taken, or that the parties would abide by the decision in the case. T[ Ptd me in a surety icith thee. The word used here (135'!:^) is from S']^, to mix, mingle; to exchange, to barter; and then to become surety for any one — that is, to exchange places with him, or to stand in his place. Gen. xliii. 9, xliv. 32. Here the idea seems to be, that Job wished the Deity to give him some pledge or security that justice would be done, or that he would not take advantage of his power and majesty to overawe him. Or, as has been remarked, it may refer to some custom of furnishing security on a voluntary trial or arbitration, that the award of the referees would be observed. I think it most probable that this is the idea. The controversy here was to be voluntary. In a voluntary trial, or an arbitration, there is a necessity of some security by the parties that the decision shall be submitted to — a pledge to each other that they will abide by it. Such a pledge Job desired in this case. All this is language taken from courts, and should not be pressed too much, nor should Job be hastily charged with irreverence. Having once suggested the idea of a trial of the cause, it was from understanding: therefore natural for him to use the language which was commonly employed in reference to such trials; and these expressions are to be regarded as thrown in for the sake of keeping, or verisimilitude If Who is he that will strike hands icith 7ne? Striking hands then, as now, seems to have been one mode of confirming an agreement, or ratifying a compact. The idea here is, ' Who is there that w^ill be surety to me for thee.''' that is, for the faithful observance of right and justice. There is an appearance of irreverence in this language, but it arises from carrying out the ideas pertaining to a form of trial in a court. In entering into sureties, it was usual to unite hands. SeeProv, vi. 1:

My son. if thou be surety for thy friend,

If thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger.

A man void of understanding striketh hands, And liecometli surety in the presence of his friend.

Comp. Prov. xi. 15, xxii. 26. The same custom prevailed in the times of Homer and of Virgil, Thus Homer (Iliad, /5. 341) says: ^ TVov Jj) ■

4. For thou hast hid their heartfront understanding. That is, the heart of his professed friends. Job says that they were blind and perverse, and indisposed to render him justice: and he therefore pleads that he may carry his cause directly before God. He attributes their want of understanding to the agency of God in accordancewith the doctrine which prevailed in early times, and which is so often expressed in the Scriptures, that God is the source of light and truth, and that when men are blinded it is in accordance with his wise purposes. See Isa. vi. 9, 10. It is because they were thus blind and perverse, that

5 He that speaketh flattery " to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

he asks the privilege of carrying the cause at once up to God — and who could blame him for such a desire? II Therefore thou shalt not exalt them. By the honor of deciding a case like this, or by the reputation of wisdom. The name of sage or icise man was among the most valued in those times; but Job says that that would not be awarded to his friends. God would not exalt or honor men thus devoid of wisdom.

5. He that speaketh flattery to his friends. Noyes renders this, " He that delivei's up his friend as a prey, the eyes of his children shall fail." So W emyss, " He who delivers up his friends to plunder." Dr. Good, " He that rebuketh his friends with mildness, even the eyes of his children shall be accomplished." The LXX, " He announces evil for his portion; his eyes fail over his sons." The Vulg. " He promises spoil to his companions, and the eyes of his sons fail." The word rendered " flattery " (Pr.D) properly means that which is smooth, smoothness (from P?n to be smooth); and thence it denotes a lot or portion, because a smooth stone was anciently used to cast lots in dividing spoils. Deut. xviii. 8-. Here it is synonymous with plunder or spoil; and the idea is, that he who betrayeth his friends to the spoil or to the spoiler, the eyes of his children shall fail. The meaning in this connexion is, that the friends of Job had acted as one would who should announce the residence of his neighbors to robbers that they might come and plunder them. Instead of defending him, they had acted the part of a traitor. Schultens says that this verse is " a Gordian knot;" and most commentators regard it as such, but the above seems to give a clear and consistent meaning. It is evidently a proverb, and

6 He hath made me also a by-word of the peopie, and ' aforetime I was as a tabret.

is designed to bear on the professed friends of Job, and to show that they bad acted a fraudulent part towards him. In ver. 4, he had said that God had hid their heart from understanding, and that wisdom had failed them. He here says that in addition to a want of wisdom, they were like a man who should betray his neighbors to robbers. H Even the eyes of his children shall fail. He shall be punished. To do this is a crime, and great calamity shall come upon him, represented by the failure of the eyes of his children. Calamity is not unfrequently expressed by the loss of the eyes. See Prov. xxx. 17.

6. He hath also. That is, God has done this. *T Also a hy-icord. A proverb {'■'^.^); a term of reproach, ridicule, or scorn. He has exposed me to derision. 1[ And aforetime. Marg. before them. The margin is the correct translation of the Hebrew, C^SB^. It means, in their presence, or in their view. ^ / icas as a tabret. This is an unhappy translation. The true meaning is, ' I am become their abhorrence, or am to them an object of contempt.' Vulg. " I am an example (exemplum) to them." Sept. "1 am become a laughter (yf).ojq) to them." The Chaldee renders it, " Thou hast placed me for a proverb to the people, and I shall be Gehenna (DSiI^)) to them. The Hebrew word r^Sri — thopheth, or Tophet, is the name which is often given in the Scriptures to the valley of Hinnom — the place where children were sacrificed to Moloch. See Notes on Matth. v. 22. But there is no evidence or probability that the word was so used in the time of Job. It is never used in the Scriptures in the sense of a tabret, that is, a tabor or small drum; though the word t|Pl — toph is thus used. See Notes onlsa.v. 12. TUq

7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my ' members are as a shadow.

word here used is derived, probably, fVom the obsolete verb Jj^lH — to spit out; and then to spit out with contempt. The verbis so used in Chuldee. Castell. The meaning of the word probably still lives in the Arabic.

The Arabic word \„^sJij means to spit out with contempt; and the various forms of the nouns derived from the verb are applied to any thing detested, or detestable; to the parings of the nails; to an abandoned woman; to a dog, &c. See Castell on this word. I have no doubt that is the sense here, and that we have here a word whose true signification is to be sought in the Arabic; and that Job means to say that he was treated as the most loathsome and execrable object.

7. Mine eye is dim hy reason of sorrow. Schultens supposes that this refers to his external appearance in general, as being worn down, exhausted, defaced by his many troubles; but it seems rather to mean that his eyes failed on account of weeping. H And all my mevihers are as a shadow. ' I am a mere skeleton, I am exhausted and emaciated by my sufferings.' It is common to speak of persons who are emaciated by sickness or famine as mere shadows. Thus Livy (L. xxi. 40) says. Effigies, imo, umhrcz hominum; fame, fiigore, illuvie, squalore enecti, contusi, debilitati inter saxa rupesque. So ^schylus calls CEdipus — OldiTiov yy.iav — the shadoic of (Edipus

8. Upright men shall he astonished at this. At the course of events in regard to me. They will be amazed that God has suffered a holy man to be plunged into such calamities, and to be treated in this manner by his friends. The fact at which he supposes they would be so much astonished was, that the good were afflicted

nied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.

9 The righteous " also shall

in this manner, and that no relief was furnished. IT Jind the innocent shall stir up himself Shall rouse himself, or assume vigor to resist the wicked. ^ The hypocrite. The wicked— alluding probably to his professed friends. The idea of hypocrisy which the sentence conveys, arises from the fact, that they professed to be his friends, and had proved to be false; and that they had professed to be the friends of God, and yet liad uttered sentiments inconsistent with any right views of him. He now says, that that could not go unnoticed. The world would be aroused at so remarkable a state of things, and a just public indignation would be the result.

9. The righteous also shall hold on his loay. The meaning of this verse is plain; but the connexion is not so apparent. It seems to me that it refers to Job himself and is a declaration that he, a righteous man, who had been so grievously calumniated, would hold on his way, and become stronger and stronger, while they, would sink in the public esteem, and be compelled to abandon their position. It is the expression of a confident assurance that he would be more and more confirmed in liis integrity, and would become stronger and stronger in God. Though Job intended, probably, that this should be applied to himself, yet he has expressed it in a general manner, and indeed the whole passage has a proverbial cast; and it shows that even then it was the settled belief that the righteous would persevere. As an expression of the early faith of the pious in one of the now settled doctrines of Christianity, "the perseverance of the saints," this doctrine is invaluable. It shows that that doctrine has travelled down from the earliest ages. It was one of the ele

hold on his way, and he that 1 return, and come now for I hath clean "hands shall be strong- I cannot find one wise man among

10 But as for you all, do you

mentary doctrines of religion in the earliest times. It became a proverb; and was admitted among the undisputed maxims of the wise and good, and it was such a sentiment as was just adapted to the circumstances of Job — a much tried and persecuted man. He was in all the danger of apostacy to which the pious are usually exposed; he was tempted to forsake his confidence in God; he was afflicted for reasons which he could not comprehend; he was without an earthly friend to sustain him, and he seemed to be forsaken by God himself; yet he had the fullest conviction that he would be enabled to persevere. The great principle was settled, that if there was true religion in the heart, it would abide; that if the path of righteousness had been entered, he who trod it would keep on nis way. IT And he that hath dean hands. The innocent; the friend of God; the man of pure life. See Notes ch. ix. 30. Comp. Ps. xxiv. 4. ' Clean hands' here, are designed to denote a pure and holy life. Among the ar}cients they were regarded as indicative of purity of heart. Porphyry remarks (de antro Nympharum) that in the 'mysteries,' those who were initiated were accustomed to wash their hands with honey instead of water, as a pledge that they would preserve themselves from every impure and unholy thing. See Burder, in Rosenmfiller's Alte u. neue Morgenland, in loc. TI Shall he stronger and stronger. Marg. as in Heb. add strength. He shall advance in the strength of his attachment to God. Tills is true. The man of pure and blameless life shall become more and more established in virtue; more confirmed in his principles; more convinced of the value and the truth of religion. Piety, like every thing else, becomes stronger by ex-

11 My days are past, my pur-

ercise. The man who speaks truth only, becomes more and more attached to truth; the principle ot benevolence is strengthened by being practised; honesty, the more it is exhibited, becomes more the settled rule of the life; and he who prays, delights more and more in his approaches to God. The tendency of religion in the heart is to grow stronger and stronger; and God intends that he who has once loved him, shall continue to love him for ever.

10. But as for you all., do you return? This may mean, either, 'return to the debate;' or, ' return from your unjust and uncharitable opinion concerning me.' The former seems to accord best with the scope of the passage. Tindal renders it, " Get you hence." Dr. Good, "Get ye hence, and begone, I pray." Wemyss, *' Repeat your discourses as often as you may, I do not find a wise man among you." It is doubtful, however, whether the Hebrew will bear this construction. IT For I cannot find one wise man among you. Perhaps the idea here is, ' I have not yet found one wise man among you, and you are invited, therefore, to renew the argument. Hitherto you have said nothing that indicates wisdom. Try again, and see if you can say any thing now that shall deserve attention.' If this is the meaning, it shows that Job was willing to hear all that they had to say, and to give them credit for wisdom, if they ever evinced any.

11. My days are past. ' I am about to die.' Job relapses again into sadness— as he often does. A sense of his miserable condition comes over him like a cloud, and he feels that he must die. 11 My purposes are broken off. All ni}' plans fail, and my schemes of life coms to an end. No

poses " are broken off, even the ^ thoughts of my heart.

12 They change the night into day: the light is ^ short because

matter what they could say now, it was all over with him, and he must die. Comp. Isa. xxxviii. 12:

" My habitation is takea away, and is removed from me like a shepherd's tentj My life is cut off as by a weaver Who sevoreth the web from the loom; Between the morning and the night tfiou wilt make an end of me."

TT Even the thoughts of my heai-t. Marg. possessions. Noyes, " treasures.'' Dr. Good, ^'^ resolves.'' Dr. Slock, ^'thc tenants of my heart.'' Vulg, '■'■ torqucnles cormeum." Sept., ret and-ija rf^q y.andtaq fiov — the strings of my heart. The Hebrew word (^'li^) means properly possession ^^roxn ^"^^, to inherit); and the word here means the dear possessions of his heart; his cherished plans and schemes; the delights of his soul — the purposes which he had hoped to accomplish. All these were now to be broken off by death. This is to man one of the most trying things in death. All his plans must be arrested. His projects of ambition and gain, of pleasure and of fame, of professional eminence and of learning, all are arrested midway. The farmer is compelled to leave his plough in the furrow; the mechanic, his work unfinished; the lawyer, his brief half prepared; the student, his books lying open; the man who is building a palace, leaves it incomplete; and ho who is seeking a crown, is taken away when it seemed just within his grasp. How many unfinished plans are caused by death every day! How many unfinished books, sermons, houses, does it make! How many schemes of wickedness and of benevolence, of fraud and of kindness, of gain and of mercy, are daily broken in upon by death! Soon, reader, all your plans and mine will be ended — mine, perhaps, before

13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

these lines meet your eye; yours soon afterwards. God grant that our purposes of life may be such that we shall be zcilling to have them broken in upon — all so subordinate to the GRKAT PLAN of being prepared for heaven, that we may cheerfully surrender them at any moment, at the call of the Master summoning us into his awful presence!

12. They change. The word ' they' in this place, some understand as referring to his friends; others, to his thoughts. Rosenmiiller supposes it is to be taken impersonally, and that the meaning is, " night is become day to me." Wemyss translates it, " night is assigned me for day." So Dr. Good renders it. The meaning may be, that tlie night was to him as the day. He had no rest. The period when he had formerly sought repose, was now made like the day, and all was alike gloom and sadness. IT The light is short because of darkness. Marg. near. The meaning is, probably, ' even the day has lost its usual brilliancy and cheerfulness, and has become gloomy and sad. It seems to be like night. Neither night nor day are natural to me; the one is restless and full of cares like the usual employments of day, and the other is gloomy, or almost night, where there is no comfort and peace. Day brings to me none of its usual enjoyments. It is short, gloomy, sad, and hastens away, and a distressing and restless night soon comes on.'

13. If I IV ait. Or more accurately, ' truly I expect that the grave will be my home.' The word rendered ' if (D5<) is often used in such a sense. The meaning is, ' I look certainly to the grave as my home. I have made up my mind to it, and have no other expectation.' TF The grave. Heb. ^'i!!^''^. It may mean here either the

14 I have ' said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the

grave, or tlie region of dep.-irted spirits, to w'licli lie expected soon to descend. 11 Mine house. My home; my permanent abode. U / have made imj bed. I am certain of making my bed there. I sliall soon lie down there. IT In the darkness. In the grave, or in the dark world to which it leads. See Notes on eh. x. 21, 22. 14. / have said. Marg. Cried^ or called. The sense is, ' I say,' or ' I thus address the grave.' IT To cor. ruption. The word here used (rH;:;) means properly a pit, or pit-fall, Psvii. 16, ix. 16; a cistern, or a ditch, Job. ix. 31; or the scpnlchre, or grave, Ps. XXX. 10, Job xxxiii. 18, 30. The LXX render it here by x9ardTn) — death. Jerome (Vulg.), putredini dixi. According to Gcsenius (Lex.), the word never has the sense of corruption. Schultens, however, Rosenmiiller, and others, understand it in the sense of corruption or putrefaction. This accords, certainly, with the other hemistich, and better constitutes a parallelism with the ' worm' than the word '■grave' would. It seems probable that this is the sense here; and if the proper meaning of the word is a pit, or the grave, it here denotes the grave, as containing a dead and mouldering body. IT Thou art my father. ' I am nearly allied to it. I sustain to it a relation like that of a child to a father.' The idea seems to be that of famibj likeness; and the object is to present the most striking and impressive view of his sad and sorrowful condition. He was so diseased, so wretched, so full of sores and of corruption (see ch. vii. 5), that he migiit be said to be the child of one mouldering in the grave, and was kindred to a tamily in tbe tomb! IT To the worm. The worm that feeds upon the dead. He belonged to that sad family where the body was putrifying, and where it was covered with worms. See Notes on

Isa. xiv. 11. IT Mij mother. I am so nearly allied to the worms, that the connection may be compared to that between^a mother and her son. IT And my sister. " The sister here is mentioned rather than the brother, because the noun rendered worm in the Hebrew, is in the feminine gender." Rosenmiiller. The sense of the whole is, that Job felt that he belonged to the grave. He was destined to corruption. He was soon to lie down with the dead. His acquaintance and kindred were there. So corrupt was his body, so afflicted and diseased, that he seemed to belong to the family I of the putrifying, and of those coverj ed with worms! What an impressive I description; and yet how true is it j of all! The most vigorous frame,! the most beautiful and graceful form, I tJie most brilliant complexion, has a ' near relationship to the worm, and will soon belong to the mouldering family beneath the ground! Christian reader! such are you; such am I. Well, let it be so. Lei us not repine. j Be the grave our home; be the! mouldering people there our parents, and brothers, and sisters. Be our! alliance wuth the worms. There is i a brighter scene beyond — a world j where we shall be kindred with the j angels, and ranked among the sons j of God. In that v/orld we shall be clothed with immortal youth, and shall know corruption no more. Then our eyes will sliine with undiminished brilliancy for ever; our cheeks glow with immortal health; our hearts beat with the pulsations of eternal life. Then our iiands shall be feeble and our knees totter with disease or age no more; and then the current of health and joy shall flow on through our veins for ever and ever! Allied now to worms we are, but we are allied to the angels too; the grave is to be our home, but so also is heaven; the worm is our brother, but so also is

15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?

the Son of God! Such is man; such are Ijis prospects here,sucli his hopes mid dcvstiny in the world to come. He dies here, but he lives in glory and honor hereafter for ever. b'liall man, O God of light and life,

The trump shall sound, the dead shall wake. From the cold tomb the slumbercrs spring;

'J'hrough heaven with joy these myriads rise, And hail their Saviour and their King.

15. JJnd where is noiv viy hope? What hope have I of life.^ What possibility is there of my escape from death ^ T[ Who shall sec it.? That is, who will see any hopes that I may now cherish fulfilled. If I cherish any, they will be disappointed, and no one will see them accomplished.

16. They shall go down. That is, my hopes shall go down. All the expectations that I have cherished of life and happiness, will descend there with me. We have a similar expression when we say, that a man 'has buried bis hopes in the grave,' when he loses an only son. II To the bars of the pit. ' Bars of SheoV — Vi<t i-na. Vulg., " Profoundest deep.'^ Sept, fiq udr^v — to Hades. Sheol, or Hades, was supposed to be under the earth. Its entrance wms by the grave as a gate that led to it. It was protected by bars — as prisons are — so that those who entered there could not escape. See Notes on Isa. xiv. 9. It was a dark, gloomy dwelling, far away from light, and from thp comforts which men enjoy in this lift.. See Job x. 21, 22. To that

16 They shall go down to the bars " of the pit, when our rest ' together is in the dust.

dark world Job expected soon to descend; and though he did not regard that as properly a place of punishment, yet it was not a place of positive joy. It was a gloomy and wretched world — the land of darkness and of the shadow of death; and he looked to the certainty of going there not with joy, but with anguish and distress of lieart. Had Job been favored with the clear and elevated views of heaven which we have in the Christian revelation, death to him would have lost its gloom. We wonder, often, that so good a man expressed such a dread of death, and that he did not look more calmly into the future world. But to do him justice, we should place ourselves in his situation. We should lay aside all that is cheerful and glad in the views of heaven which Christianity has given us We should look upon the future world as the shadow of death; a land of gloom and spectres; a place beneath the ground — da:rk, chilly, repulsive; and we shall cease to wonder at the expressions of even so good a man at the prospect of death. When we look at Am, we should remember with thankfulness the different views which ice have of the future world, and the source to which we owe them. To us-^ if we are pious in any measure as Job was, death is the avenue, not to a world of gloom, but to a world of light and glory. It opens into heaven. There is 710 gloom, no darkness, no sorrow. There all are happy; and there all that is mysterious in this life is made plain — all that is sad is succeeded by eternal joy. These views we owe to that Gospel which has brought life and immortality to light; and when we think of death and the future world, when from the midst of woea and sorrows we are compelled to look out on eternity, let us rejoice that we are 4 not constrained to look forward with the sad forebodings of the Sage of Uz, but that we may think of the grave, cheered by the strong consolations of Christian hope of the glorious resurrection. IT When our rest together is in the dust. The rest of me and my hopes. My hopes and myself will expire together.

This second discouise of Bildad is made up almost entirely of a string of proverbial expresiions, sliowing what must befeill the wicked. The design is to prove that tiie wicked must be punisheil, and to portray the various kinds of calamities that will come upon them. The inference which he manifestly designs should be drawn from his discourse, is, that where great caLimities come upon a man, tliere is the most conclusive evidence that he is wicked. The speech contains some particulars peculiarly adapted to the circumstances of Job, and were doubtless intended to be ajjplied to him; and they arc such as to leave no doubt that he regarded Job as an eminently wicked man.

I. A re{uoof of Job for the manner in which he had spoken, vs. ]-4. He accuses him of being lonir-windcd and interminable in his speecli, ver. 2. He complains that he and his friends had been overlooked and despised, and had been regarded as beasts, ver. 3. He accuses Job of insufferable pride and arrogance, as if even the most firm principles of the divine administration were to be changed to accommodate him, ver-. 4.

II. A highly wrouglit description of the calamities which must come upon a wicked man, vs. &-21. His light in his dwelling would bo put out (vs. 5, G); his own plans would destroy him, and he would be taken in a net which he himself had spread (vs. 7, 8); he would soon be seized by robbers, who would spring a net unexjjectedly upon him (vs. 9, 10); terrors on every side would alarm him (ver. 11); his strength would be wasted (vs. 12, 13); he would be brought to the king of terrors, and brimstone would I)c sprinkled on his dwelling (vs. 14, 15); he would bo like a tree whose roots and branches were dead (ver. 16); his memory would perish from the earth (ver. 17), and he would be chased out of the world (vor. 18); his family and name would become extinct, so thai there would be no one to perpetuate his memory on earth (ver. 19); and they who should come after him would be astonished at the total ruin which had come upon the wicked man. That Rildad meant to apply all this to Job, there can be no doubt; and that it would add greatly to his trials is equally clear. He felt it; and his reply in the following chapter is replete with expressions indicative of his intolerable anguish.

2. Ho70 long will it be ere ye niahe an end of tcords? It has been made a question to whom this is addressed. It is in the plural number, and it is not usual in Hebrew wlien addressing an individual to make use of the plural form. Some have supposed that it; is addressed to Job and to Eliphaz, as being both ' long-winded' and tedious in tlieir remarks. Others have supposed that it refers to Job and the members of his faniihj^ who possibly interposed remarks,

2 How long will if be ere ye make an end of words? mark,

and joined Job in hi.s complaints. Others suppose that it refers to Elipliaz and Zophar, as being silent during the speech of Job, and not arresting his remarks as they ought to have done. Rosenniiiller supposes that it refers to Job and those similar to him, who were mere feigners of piety, and that Bildad means to ask how long it would be before they would be effectually silenced, and their complaints hushed. I see no great difficulty in supposing that the and afterwards we will speak.

3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight 1

reference is to Job. The whole strain of the discourse evidently supposes it; and there is no evidence that any of the family of Job liad spoken, nor does it seem at all probable tliat Bildad would reprove his own friends either for the length of their speeches, or for not interrupting another. The custom in the East is to allow a man to utter all tiiat he has to say without interruption. II Mark. Heb. ^inderstand; or be intelligent — ^-'^■?^; that is, either speak distinctly, clearly, intelligently; or consider and weigh our arguments. The former is tlie interpretntion of Schultens, and seems to me to be the true one. Tlie idea is tliis: 'You, Job, have been uttering mere words. They are words of complaint, without argument. Speak now in a difl'erent manner; show that you understand tlie case; advance arguments that are worthy of attention, and then we will reply.'

3. fVherefore are toe counted as beasts? 'Why are we treated in your remarks as if we had no sense, and were unworthy of sound argument in reply to what we say.'" It is j)ossiblc that there may be reference hereto what Job said (ch.xii.7) — that even the beasts could give them information about God. But the general idea is, that Job had not treated their views with the attention whicli they deserved, but had regarded them as unworthy of notice IT And rejjutcd vile. The word here used (ni3D) means to be unclean, or polluted; and the idea is, that Job regarded them as worthless or impious.

4. He teareth himself. More correctly, ' thou that tearest thyself in anger!' It is not an athrmation about Job, but it is a direct address to him. The meaning is, that he was in the naroxysms of a violent rage; he

4 He " teareth ' himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?

acted like a madman. IF Shall the earth be forsaken for thee? A reproof of his pride and arrogance. ' Shall every thing be made to give way for you.' Are you the only man in the world, and of so much importance, that the earth is to be made vacant for you to dwell in.? Are the interests of all others to be sacrificed for you, and every thing else to give place for you.? Are all the laws of God's* government to be made to yield rather than that you should be punished.'' Similar modes of expression to denote the insignificance of any one who is proud and arrogant, are still used among the Arabs. " Since Mohammed died, the Imams govern." " TJie world will not sufier loss on your account." "The world is not dependent on any one man." T. Hunt, in Lowth'.s' Lectures on Hebrew Poetry. Rosenrniiller's Morgenland. in loc. M And shall the rock he removed out of his place? ' Shall the most firm and inmiutable things give way for your special accommodation.? Shall the most important and settled principles of the divine administration be made to bend on your account.=" These were not the principles and feelings of Job; and great injustice was done to him by this supposition. He was disposed to be submissive in the main to the divine arrangement. But this will describe the icelings of many a man of pride, who supposes that the divine arrangements should be made to bend for his special accommodation, and that the great, eternnl principles of justice and right should give way rather than that he should be dealt with as common sinners are, and rather than that he should be cast into hell. Such men wish a special place of salvation for themselves. They are too proud to be saved as others are. They complain in theii

5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall " be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

6 The light shall be dark in

nearts that they are made to suffer, to lose their property, to be sick, to die — as others do. They would wish to be treated with special mercy, and to have special enactments in their favor, and would have the eternal laws of right made to bend for their special accommodation. Such is the pride of the human heart!

5. Yea. Truly; or, behold. Bildad here commences his remarks on the certain destiny of the wicked, and strings together a number of apparently proverbial sayings, showing that calamity in various forms would certainly overtake the wicked. There is nothing particularly new in his argument, though the use of the various images which he employs shows how deep was the conviction of this doctrine at that time, and how extensively it prevailed. H The light of the tcic/ced shall be put out. Light here is an emblem of prosperity. IT The sjjark of his fire. Heb. the flame of his fire. Tliere may be an allusion here to the customs of Arabian hospitality. This was, and is, their national glory, and it is their boast that no one is ever refused it. The emblem offire or flame here may refer to the custom of kindling a fire on an eminence, near a dwelling, to attract the stranger to share the hospitality of the owner of it; or it may refer to the fire iii his tent, which the stranger was alvv^ays at liberty to share. In the collection of tlie Arabian poems, called the Hamasa, this idea occurs almost in the words of Bildad. The extract was furnished me by the Rev. Eli Smith, It is a boast of Salamiel, a prince of Tenia. In extolling the virtues of his tribe, he says, " I\o fire of ours was ever extinguished at night without a guest; and of O'ur guests never did one disparage us." The idea here his tabernacle, and his ^ candle shall be put out with him.

7 The steps of his stre.igth shall be straitened, and his own ^ counsel shall cast him down.

is, that the wicked woujd attempt to show hospitality, but the means W'ould be taken away. He would not be permitted to enjoy the coveted reputation of showing it to the stranger, and the fire which might invite the traveller, or which might confer comfort on him, would be put out in his dwelling. The inability to extend the offer of a liberal hospitality would be equivalent to the deepest poverty, or the most trying affliction.

6. Aid his candle. Marg. lamp. The reference is to a lamp that was suspended from the ceiling. The Arabians are fond of this image. Thus they say, " Bad fortune has extinguished my lamp." Of a man whose hopes are remarkably blasted, they say, "He is like a lamp which is immediately extinguished if you let it sink in the oil." See Schulte.ns. The putting out of a lamp is to the Orientals an image of utter desolation. It is the universal custom to have a light burning in their houses at night. "The houses of Egypt, in modern times, are never without lights; they burn lamps all llie night long, and in every occupied apartment. So requisite to the comfort of a family is this custom reckoned, and so imperious is the power which it exercises, that the poorest people would rather retrench part of their food than neglect it." Paxton. It is not improbable that this custom prevailed ',n former times in Arabia, as it does now in Egypt; and this consideration will give increased beauty and force to this passage.

7. The steps of his strength. Strong steps. ' Steps of strength' is a Hebraism, to denote firm or vigorous steps. IT Shall be straitened. Shall be compressed, embarrassed, Jiindcred. Instead of walking freely and

8 For he is cast into a net " by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.

9 The gin shall take him by

nt large, he sliall be compressed and limited in his goings. " Large steps," ♦' free movement," &lc. are proverbial expressions among the Arabs, to denote freedom, prosperity, &c. Rosenmilller. Schultens quotes the following illustrations from the Arabic poets. From Ibn Doreid, " He who does not confine himself within human limits, his vast strides shall be straitened." And from Taurizius, " After the battle of Bedrense, the steps were straitened." The meaning here is, that he would be greatly impeded in his movements, instead of going forth at large and in full vigor as he had formerly done. H j9ud?iis own counsel. His own plans shall be the means of his fall.

8. For he is cast into a net hxj his oicn feet. He is caught in his own tricks, as if he had spread a net or dug a pitfall for another, and had fallen into it himself The meaning is, that he would bring ruin upon himself while he was plotting the ruin of others. See Ps. ix. 16, " The wicked is snared by the work of his own hands," Comp. Note ch. v. 13. The phrase "by his own feet" here means, that he walks there himself. He is not led or driven by others, but he goes himself into the net. Wild animals are sometimes driven, but he walks along of his own acc^ord into the net, and has no one to blame but himself.!I jind he walketh upon a snare. Or a pitfall. This was formerly the mode of taking wild beasts. It was done by excavating a place in tlie earth, and covering it over with turf, leaves, &c. supported in a slender manner; so that the lion, or elephant, or tiger that should tread on it, would fall through. These methods of taking v/ild beasts, have been practised from the earliest times, and are practised every where.

tlie heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.

10 The snare is ^ laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.

9. The gin. Another method of taking wild beasts. It was a snare so made as to spring suddenly on an animal, securing him by the neck or feet. We use a trap for the same purpose. The Hebrew word (HS) may denote any thing of this kind— a snare, net, noose, &c. with which birds or wild animals are taken. 'll By the heel. By the foot. IT And the robber shall prevail. He shall be overpowered by the highwayman; or the plunderer shall make a sudden descent upon him, and strip him of his all. The meaning is, that destruction would suddenly overtake him. There can be no doubt that Bildad meant to apply all this to Job. 10. The snare is laid. All this language is taken from the modes of taking wild beasts; but it is not possible to designate with absolute certainty the methods in which it was done. The word here used (^5^)) means a cord, or rope; and then a snare, gin, or toil, such as is used by hunters. It was used in some way as a noose to secure an animal. This was concealed (Hebrew) "in the earth" — so covered up that an animal would not perceive it, and so constructed that it might be made to spring upon it suddenly. H jind a trap. We have no reason to suppose that at that time they employed steel to construct traps as we do novv, or that the word here has exactly the sense which we give to it. ' The Hebrew word (n'lSbTO) is from "^5^ — to take, to catch, and means a noose, snare, spring — by which an animal was seized. It is a general term; though undoubtedly used to denote a particular instrument, then well known. The general idea in all this is, that tPe wicked man would be suddenly seized by calamities, as a wild animal or a bird is taken in a snare. Independently of the interest of the entire passage (vs. 8-10) as a part of the argument of Bildad, it is interesting from the view which it gives of the mode of securing wild animals in the early periods of the world. They had no guns as we have; but they early learned the art of setting gins and snares by which they were taken. In illustrating this passage, it will not be inappropriate to refer to some of the modes of hunting practised by the ancient Egyptians, and to introduce here some cuts vyhich may illustrate that mode. The cuts will show that substantially the same methods were practised then in catching birds and taking wild beasts as now, and that there is little novelty in modern practices. The ancients had not only traps, nets, and springs, but also bird-lime smeared upon twigs, and made use of stalkinghorses, setting-dogs, &c. The various methods in which this was done, may be seen described at length in Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii. pp. 1-81. The following cuts will illustrate some of those methods.

The noose was employed to catch the wild ox, the antelope, and other animals. The following cuts are taken from drawings atBeni Hassan

The following specimens of birdtraps also are found in the drawings at Beni Hassan. This seems to be a self-acting net, so constructed that the birds, when coming in contact with it, close it upon themselves.

The following figure (Z) is very similar to this, except that it is oval; it had probably a net like the former. It is is composed of two arcs, which, being kept open by machinery in the middle, furnish the oval frame of the net; but when the bird flies in, anf* knocks out the pin in the centre, the arcs collapse, as is shown in fig. 4, inclosing the bird in the net:

One instance occurs, in a painting at I is caught, and carried on the shoulders Thebes, of a trap, in which a hyaena | of two men.

It was a common method of hunting to enclose a large tract of land by a circle of nets, or to station men at convenient distances, and gradually to contract the circle by coming near to each other, and thus to drive all the wild animals into a narrow enclosure, wh<!re they could be easily slain. Some idea of the extent of those enclosures may be formed from the by no means incredible circumstance related by Plutarch, that when the Macedonian conquerors were in Persia, Philotos, the son of Armenio, had hunting-nets that would enclose the space of an hundred furlongs. The Oriental sovereigns have sometimes employed whole armies in this species of hunting. Pict. Bib.

11. Terrors shall make him afraid. He shall be constantly subject to alarms, and shall never feel secure " Terrors here are represented as al legorical persons, like the Furies in the Greek poets." JYoyes. The idea here is substantially the same as that given by Eliphaz, ch. xv. 21, 22. IT And shall drive him to his feet. Marg. scatter. This is a literal translation of the Hebrew. The idea is,

12 His strength shall be hunger-bitten, and destruction shall he ready at his side.

13 It shall devour the 'strength of his skin: even the first-born

ihat he will be alarmed by such terrors; Jiis self-composure will be dissipated, and he will ' take to his heels.'

12. His strength shall he hunger-hitten. Shall be exhausted by hunger or famine. ^\Jind desiruction shall be ready at his side. Heb. " Shall be fitted" CliSS) " to his side." Some have supposed that this refers to some disease, like the pleurisy, that would adhere closely to his side. So Jerome understands it. Schultens has quoted some passages from Arabic poets, in which calamities are represented as hreaking the side. Bildad refers, probably, to some heavy judgments that would crush a man; such that the rihs., or the human frame, could not bear; and the meaning is, that a wicked man would be certainly crushed by misfortune.

13. It shall devour the strength of his skin. Marg. bars. The margin is a correct translation of the Hebrew.

The word used C^*^.^, construct with lulls' — his skin) means bars, staves^ branches, and here denotes his limbs, members; or, more literally, the hones, as supports of the skin, or the human frame. The bones are regarded as the bars, or the frameicork, holding the other parts of the body in their place, and over which the skin is stretched. The word " it " here refers to the " first-born of death" in the other hemistich of the verse; and the meaning is, that the strength of his body shall be entirely exhausted. IT The first-born of death. The " first-born " is usually spoken of as distinguished for vigor and strength. Gen. xlix. 3, " Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength;" and the idea conveyed here by the " first-born of 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, death " is the most fearful and destructive disease that death has ever engendered. Comp. Milton's description of the progeny of sin, in Paradise Lost. Diseases are called '^ the sons or children of death " by the Arabs, (see Schultens in loc.,) as being begotten by it.

14. His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle. Security shall forsake his dwelling, and he shall be subject to constant alarms. There shall be nothing there in which he can confide, and all that he relied on as sources of safety shall have fled. IF And it shall bring him. That is, he shall be brought. TI To the king of terrors. There has been much variety in the explanation of this verse. Dr. Noyes renders it, " Terror pursues him like a king." Dr. Good, " Dissolution shall invade him like a monarch." Dr. Stock says, "I am sorry to part with a beautiful phrase in our common version, the king of terrors, as descriptive of death, but there is" no authority for it in the Hebrew text." Wemyss renders it, " Terror shall seize him as a king." So Schultens translates it, " Gradientur in eum, instar regis, terrores.' RosenmUller renders it as it is in our version. The Vulgate, Ei calcet super eum, quasi rex, interitus — ' destruction shall tread upon him as a king.' The LXX, " and distress shall lay hold on him with the authority of a king" — alrCc^ ^aoUixfj. The Chaldee renders it, "shall lie brought to the king of terrors" — i^nTTJiri'l M^.'?^ • It is not evident, therefore, that we are to give up the beautiful phrase, the king of terrors. The fair construction of the Hebrew, as it seems to me, is that which ifl conveyed in our common versionmeaning, that the wicked man would

15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

be conducted, not merely to death, but to that kind of death where a fearful king would preside — a monarch infusing terrors into his soul. There is something singularly beautiful and appropriate in the phrase, " the king of terrors."" Death is a fearful monarch. All dread him. He presides in regions of chilliness and gloom. All fear to enter those dark regions where he dwells and reigns, and an involuntary shudder seizes the soul on approaching the confines of his kingdom. Yet all must be brought there; and though man dreads the interview with that fearful king, there is no release. The monarch reigns from age to age — reigns over all. There is but one way in which he will cease to appear as a terrific king. — It is by confidence in Him who came to destroy death; that great Redeemer who has taken away his "sting," and who can enable man to look with calmness and peace even on the chilly regions where he reigns. The idea here is not precisely that of the Roman and Grecian mylholoi^ists, of a terrific judge, like Rhadamanthus, presiding over the regions of the dead; but it is of death personified — of death r- presented as a king fitted to inspire, awe nnd terror.

15. It shall dwell in his tabernacle. It is uncertain what is to be understood as referred to here. Some suppose that tlie word to be understood is soul, and that the meaning is " his soul," i. e he himself, " shall dwell in his tent.' Rosenmaller, Noyes, Wemyss, and others, suppose that the word is terror. " Terror (•^•^^5) shall dwell in his tent," the same word which is used in the plural in the previous verse. This is undoubtedly the correct sense; and the idea is, that his forsaken tent shall be a place of terror — somewhat, perhaps.

16 His roots " shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.

as we speak of a forsaken house as haunted. It may he that Bildad refers to some such superstitious fear as we eometimes, and almost always in childhood, connect with the idea of a house in which nobody lives. H Because it is none of his. It is no longer his. It is a forsaken, tenantless dwelling. ^ Brimstone shall be scattered. Brimstone has been always the image of desolation. Nothing will grow on a field that is covered with sulphur; and the meaning here is, that his house would be utterly desolate and forsaken. RosenmUller and Noyes suppose that there is an allusion here to a sudden destruction, such as was that of Sodom and Gomorrha. Grotius doubts whether it refers to that or to lightning. Others suppose that lightning is referred to both here and in Gen. xix. 24. Deut. xxix. 23. I can see no evidence here, however, that there is any reference to Sodom and Gomorrha, or that there is any allusion to lightning. If the allusion had been to Sodom, it would have been more full. That was a case jiist inpoint in the argument; and the fact that it was exactly in point, and would have furnished to the friends of Job such an irrefragable proof of the position which they were defending, and that it is not inwrought into the very texture of their argument, is full demonstration, to my mind, that tiiat re' markable event is not referred to in this place. The only thing necessarily implied in the language before us is, that sulphur, the emblem of desolation, would be scattered on his dwelling, and that his dwelling would be wholly desolate.

16. His roots shall be dried vp. Another image of complete desola tion — where he is compared to a tree that is dead — a figure whose meaning is obvious, and which often oc-

17 His remembrance " shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.

18 ' He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

19 He shall neither ^ have

curs. See Notes, ch. xv. 30, viii. 12, 13. U Above his branch. Perhaps referring to his children or family. All shall be swept away — an allusion which Job could not well hesitate to apply to himself.

17. His remembrance shall perish. His name — all recollection of him. Calamity shall follow him even after death; and that which every man desires, and every good man has, an honored name when he is dead, will be denied him. Men will hasten to forget hun as fast as possible. Comp. Prov. X. 7, " The name of the wicked shall rot." IT JYo name in the street. Men when they meet together in liighways and places of concourse — when traveller meets traveller, and caravan caravan, shall not pause to speak of him, and of the loss which society has sustained by his death. It is one of the rewards of virtue that tlie good will speak of the upright man when he is dead; that they will {)ause in their journey, or in their ousiness, to converse about him; and that the poor and the needy will dwell with affectionate interest upon their loss. This blessing, Biidad says, will be denied the wicked man. The world will not feel that they have any loss to deplore when he is dead. No great plan of benevolence has been arrested by his removal. The poor and the needy fare as well as they did before. The widow and the fatherless make no grateful remembrance of his name, and the world hastens to forget him as soon as possible. There is no man, except one who is lost to all virtue, who does not desire to be remembered when he is dead — by his children, his neighbors.

son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.

20 They that come after hi?u shall be astonied at his day, ' as they that ^ went before ^ were affrighted.

his friends, and by the stranger who may read the record on the stone that marks his grave. Where this desire is wholly extinguished, man has reached the lowest possible point of degradation, and the last hold on him in favor of virtue has expired.

18. He shall be driven from light into darkness. Marg. They shall drive him. The meaning is, that he sliould be driven from a state of prosperity to one of calamity. IT And chased out of the icorld. Perhaps meaning that he should not be conducted to the grave with the slow and solemn pomp of a respectful funeral, but in a hurry — as a malefactor is driven from human life, and hastily committed to the earth. The living would be glad to be rid of him, and would chase him out of life.

19. He shall neither have son, &c. All his family shall be cut off. He shall have no one to perpetuate his name or remembrance. All this Job could not help applying to himself, as it was doubtless intended he should. The facts in his case were just such as were supposed in these proverbs about the wicked; and hence, his friends could not but conclude that he was a wicked man; and hence, too, since these were undisputed maxims, Job felt so much embarrassment in answering them.

20. They that come after him. Future ages; they who may hear of his history, and of the manner in which he was cut off from life. So the passage has been generally rendered; so, substantially, it is by Dr. Good, Dr.Noyos, ItosenmUller, and Luther. The Vulgate translates it novissimi; the Sept. i'oxccToi — " the last " — meaning those

21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is

that should Hve after him, or at a later period. But Schultens supposes that the word here used denotes those in the JVest, and the corresponding word rendered "went before," denotes those in the East. With this view Wemyss concurs, who renders the whole verse,

According to this, it means that those who dwelt in the remotest regions would be astonished at the calamities which would come upon him. It seems to me that this accords better with the scope of the passage than the other interpretation, and avoids some difficulties which cannot be separated from the other view. The word translated in our version, " that come after him" (Q'^?''^n5<) is fi-om ^n^, to be after, or behind; to stay behind, to delay, remain. It then means after., or behind; and as in the geography of the Orientals the face was supposed to be turned to the East, instead of being turned to the North, as with us — a much more natural position than ours — the word after, o'r behind, comes to denote theWest, the right hand the South, the left the North. See Notes on ch. xxiii. 8, 9. Thus the phrase Ti'^J^i<ri S^ri _ the sea behind, denotes the Mediterranean sea — the West. Deut. xxiv. 3. See also Deut. xi. 24, xxxiv. 2. Joel xi. 20, where the same phrase in Hebrew occurs. Those who dwelt in the West, therefore, would be accurately referred to by this phrase. TI Shall be astonied. Shall be astonished— the old mode of writing the word being astonied, Isa. lii. 14. It is not known, however, to be used in any other book than the Bible. H ^5 they that tcent before. Marg. or lived ivith him. Noyes, " his elders fihall be struck with horror." V'ulg.

the place of him that knoweth not " God.

" et primes invadet horror." Sept. '• amazement seizes the first'' — nooj-eovq. But the more correct interpretation is that which refers it to the people of the East. The word D'^j?3'7|5 is from Clf?, to precede, to go before; and then the derivatives refer to that which goes before, which is in front, &c.; and as the face was turned to the East by geographers, the word comes to express that which is in the East, or near the sun-rising. See Joel ii. 20; Job xxiii. 8: Gen. ii. 8, xii. 8. Hence the phrase D'lp ''iS — Bene kedem — so7is of the East — meaning the persons who dwelt east of Palestine, Job i. 3. Isa. xi. 14. Gen. xxv.6, xxix. 1. The word here used, (Q'^ija'lf? — kddmonlm,) is used to denote the people or the regions of the East, in Ezek. xlvii. 8, 18. Zech. xiv. 8. Here it means, as it seems to me, the people of the East; and the idea is, that men every where would be astonished at the doom of the wicked man. His punishment would be so sudden and entire as to hold the world mute with amazement. ir Were affrighted. IVIarg. laid hold on horror. This is a more literal rendering. The sense is, they would be struck with horror at what would occur to him.

21. Surely such are the dicellings of the loicked. The conclusion or sum of the whole matter. The meaning is, that the habitations of all that knew not God would be desolate — a declaration which Job could not but regard as aimed at himself. Comp. ch. XX. 29. This is the close of this harsh and severe speech. It is no wonder that Job should feel it keenly, and that he did feel it is apparent from the following chapter. A string of proverbs had been presented, having the appearance of proof, and as the result of the long observation of the course of events, evidently bearing on his circumstances, and so much in point that he could not well deny their pertinency to his condition. He was stung to the quick, and gave vent to his agonized feelings in the following chapter.

I. Job complains in the most pathetic manner of the want of feehng lu his friends, and of their reo-arding his calamities as undoubted proof of his guilt, vs. 1-4.

II Ho maintains in the most earnest manner, that his calamities had been brought on hm bv a'soverei'-n God, for some cause unknown to him, but which was not to be regarded as proof of his "uilt " Though he could not answer the plausible reasoning of his friends, yet he mamtaincd^that'Cod, and not his sins, had been the cause of his afflictions, vs. 5-20. He then goes into a pathetic description of the afflictions which God had brought upon him, designed to show that such suffering's oiurht to excite the compassion of his friends, and not to be the occasion of reproach God had oveithrownhim(vcr.6); he had refused to hear him (v(^r.7)j he had hedged UP his way (ver. 8); he had stripped him of his gh)ry (ver. 9); he had destroyed him on every side fver 10); lie had kindled his wrath against him (vs. 11, 12); he had made him an alien and a stran<;er to his own family, and even children had refused to render him the respect due towage am ^ran^ J,]-^ihe "afflictions which he had suffered at the hand of God, he calls on his friends, in the most pathetic manner, to have pity on him. He asks them why they join with God in'accumulating sorrows upon him, vs. 21, 22. _ u-r—j j*!,*

IV Perceivin-^ that the representations ot his sufferings had no effect on his friends, and that he was unable t^o rouse them to any sense of his wrongs, or to obtain justice from them, he suddenly turns from them, and expresses the earnest desire that all that he had said might be • en-raven on the solid rock forever, that his case might go down to future times and that he mi^ht obtain in distant ages the justice which was denied him in his own, vs. 23, 24.

V Yet he is not satisfied with the slow and tardy justice which posterity would render him, hut makes his appeal to God, and says that Ae would vindicate his cause. He expresses (he firmest assurance that he would come forth in his fovor, and rescue his nairie from the charges which had been brought against it. 'These sufferings might continue; disease might wholly wrste him awav • all his flesh might be consumed by worms; and the circumstances on which his friends so confidently relied in proof that he was a hypocrite might be more aggravated "till: yet he had the utmost confidence that God would come forth to vindicate him, and Uiat everv thin^ that was dark would be cleared away, vs. 25-27.

Vr Pe clones bv saying, that their treatment of him ought to have been different, vs. 28, 29. Thov could not but have perceived that he had the elements of piety in him, though he ^ya3 thus ov erwhelmed; and they had reason to dread the wrath of Heaven for the manner in which they had treated a pious sufferer.

2 Hoic long- xcill ye vex my soul? Perhaps designing to reply to the taunting speech of Bildad, ch. xviii. 2. He had asked ' how long it would be ere Job would make an end of empty talk?' Job asks, in reply, lioxo long they would torture and afflict his^soul? Or whether thore was no

soul, and break me in pieces with words?

3 These ten " times have ye

hope that this would ever come to an end! IT And hreak me in pieces. Crush me, or bruise me — like breaking any thing in a mortar, or breaking rocks by repeated blows of the hammer. J^'oyes. He says they had crushed him, as if by repeated blows. 3. These ten times. Many times;

reproached me: you are not ashamed that you ' make yourselves strange to me.

4 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remain-

the word ten being used as we often say,<erA, a dozen., or ticenty^ to denote many. See Gen. xxxi. 7. " And your father hath changed my wages ten times.''' Lev. xxvi. 26. " And when I have broken your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven." Comp. Num. xiv. 22. Neh. iv. 6. IT You are not ashamed that you Tnakc yourselves strange to me. Marg. harden yourselves against me. Gesenius, and after him Noyes, renders this, " Shameless ye stun me." Wemyss, " Are ye not ashamed to treat me thus cruelly V The word here used \'ri*^ — hdkhdr) occurs no where else, and hence it is difficult to determine its meaning. The Vulgate renders it, ^'■oppressing me." The LXX, " and you are not ashamed to press upon me' — L^fyno&f /for. Schultens has gone into an extended examination of its meaning, and supposes that the primary idea is that of being stiff, or rigid. The word in Arabic, he says, means to be stupid with wonder. It is applied, he supposes, to those who are stiff or rigid with stupor; and then to those who have a stony heart and an iron forehead— and who can look on the suffering without feeling or compassion. This sense accords well with the connection here. Gesenius, however, supposes that the primary idea is that of beating or pounding; and hence of stunning by repeated blows. In either case the sense would be sub- Btantially the same — that o^ stunning. The idea given by our translators of making themselves '■'■strange" was derived from the supposition that the word might be formed from *^33 — ndkhdr — to be strange, foreign; to estrange, alienate, &c. For a more full

5 If indeed ye will magnify * yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach;

examination of the word, the reader may consult Schultens, or Rosenmiiller in loco.

4, And be it indeed that I have erred. Admitting that I have erred, it is my own concern. You have not a right to reproach and revile me in this manner. IF Mine error abideth icith myself. I must abide the consequences of the error. The design of this seems to be to reprove what he regarded as an improper and meddlesome interference with his concerns. Or it may be an expression of a willingness to bear all the consequences himself. He was willing to meet all the fair results of his own conduct.

5. If\ indeed, ye xcill magnify yourselves against me. This is connected with the next verse. The sense is, 'all these calamities came from God. He has brought them upon me in a sudden and mysterious manner. In these circumstances you ought to have pity upon me, ver 21. Instead of magnifying yourselves against me, setting yourselves up as censors and judges, overwhelming me with reproaches, and filling my mind with pain and anguish, you ought to show to me the sympathy of a friend.'' The phrase, "magnify yourselves," refers to the fact that they had assumed a tone of superiority and an authoritative manner, instead of showing the compassion due to a friend in affliction. H And plead against me my reproach. My calamities as a cause of reproach. You urge them as a proof of the displeasure of God, and you join in reproaching me as a hypocrite. Instead of this, you should have shown compassion to me as a man whom God had greatly afflicted.

overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.

7 Behold, I cry out of ^ wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

might, he goes into an extended description of the calamities which God had brought upon him. He wished them to be fully apprised of all that he Jiad suffered at the hand of God. IT Hath overthroicn me.

The word here used ("^l!^) means to bend, to make crooked or curved; then to distort, pervert; then to overturn, to destroy. Isa. xxiv. 1. Lam. iii. 9. The m.eaning here is, that he had been in a state of prosperity, but that God had completely reversed every thing. IT Jind hath compassed me icith his net. Has sprung his net upon me as a hunter does, and I am caught. Perhaps there maybe an allusion here to what Bildad said in ch. xviii. 8. seq., that the wicked would be taken in his own snares. Instead of that, Job says that God hacl sprung the snare upon him — for reasons which he could not understand, but in such a manner as should move the compassion of his friends. 7. Behold., I cry out of wrong. Mar g. or violence. The Hebrew word (&^ri) means properly violence. The violence referred to is that which was brought upcn him by God. It is, indeed, harsh language; but it is not quite sure that he means to complain of God for doing him injustice. God had dealt with him in a severe or violent manner, is the meaning, and he had cried unto him for relief, but had cried in vain. IF JVo judgment. No justice. The meaning is, that he could obtain justice from no one. God would not interpose to remove the calamities which he had brought upon him, and his friends would do no justice to his motives and character.

9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crownyrom my head.

10 He "■ hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.

8. He hath fenced up my icay. This figure is taken from a traveller, whose way is obstructed by trees, rocks, or fences, so that he cannot get along, and Job says it was so with him. He was travelling along in a peaceful manner on the journey of life, and all at once obstructions were put in his path, so that he could not go farther. This does not refer, particularly, to his spiritual condition, if it does at all. It is descriptive of the obstruction of his plans, rather than of spiritual darkness or distress. ^ And he hath set darkness in my paths. So that I cannot see — as if all around the traveller should become suddenly dark, so that he could not discern his way The language here would well express the spiritual darkness which the friends of God sometimes experience, though it is by no means certain that Job referred to that. All the dealings of God are to them mysterious, and there is no light in the soul — and they are ready to sink down in despair.

9. He hath stripped me of my glory. Every thing which I had that contributed to my respectability and honor, he has taken away. My property, my health, my family, the esteem of my friends — all is gone. IT And taken the crown from m,yhead. The crown is an emblem of honor and dignity — and Job says that God had removed all that contributed to his former dignity. Comp. Prov. iv. 9, xvii. 6. Ezek. xvi. 12. Lam. v. 16.

10. He hath destroyed me on every side. He has left me nothing. The word which is here used is that which is commonly applied to destroying cities, towns, and houses. Rosen.'

11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

12 His troops come together, and raise up their way against

milUer. H And I am gone. That is, I am near death. I cannot recover myself. IT And viine hojje hath he removedlike a tree. A tree, which is plucked up by the roots, and which does not grow again. That is, his hopes of life and happiness, of an honored old age, and of a continuance of his prosperity, had been wholly destroyed. This does not refer to his religious hope — as the word hope is often used novv — but to his desire of future comfort and prosperity in this life. It does not appear but that his religious hope, arising from confidence in God, remained unaffected.

11. He hath also kindled his icrath. He is angry. Wrath in the Scriptures is usually represented as burning or inflamed — because like fire it destroys every thing before it. H And he counteth me nnto him as one o? his enemies. He treats me as he would an enemy. The same complaint he elsewhere makes. See ch. xiii. 24; perhaps also in ch. xvi. 9. We are not to understand Job here as admiting that he was an enemy of God. He constantly maintained that he was not, but he was constrained to admit that God treated him as if he were his enemy, and he could not account for it. On this ground., therefore, he now maintains that his friends ought to show him compassion, instead of trying to prove that he was an enemy of God; they ought to pity a man who was so strangely and mysteriously afflicted, instead of increasing his sorrows by endeavoring to demonstrate that he was a man of eminent wickedness.

12. His troops. The calamities which he had sent, and which are here represented as armies or soldiers to accomplish his work. It is not probable that he refers here to the me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.

13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.

bands of the Chaldeans and the Sabeans, that had robbed him of his property, but to the calamities that had come upon him, as if they were bands of robbers. U And raise up their ivay. As an army that is about to lay siege to a city, or that is marching to attack it, casts up a way of access to it, and thus obtains every facility to take it. See Notes on Isa. xl. 3, Ivii. ]4. H A7id encamp round about my tahernacle. In the manner of an army besieging a city. Often an army encamped in this manner for months or even years, in order to reduce the city by famine. IT My tahernacle. My tent; my dwelling. 13. He hath put my brethren. This is a new source of affliction that he had not adverted to before, that God had caused all his children to be estranged from him — a calamity which he regarded as the crown of all his woes. The word rendered ' my brethren' ("^H^) means properly my brothers — but whether he means literally his brothers, or whether he designs it to be taken in a figurative sense as denoting his intimate friends, or those of the same rank in life or calling, it is impossible now to determine. II And mine acquaintance. My friends — on whom I relied in time of calamity. H Are verily estranged. They have forgotten me, and treat me as a stranger. What an accurate description is this of whet often occurs! In prosperity a mall will be surrounded by friends; but as soon as his prosperity is stripped away, and he is overwhelmed with calamity, they withdraw, and leave him to suffer alone. Proud of his acquaintance before, they now pass him by as a stranger, or treat him with cold civility, and when he needs their friendship, they are gone.

14 My " kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight

14. My kinsfolk have failed. My neighbors C^Silpj, those who were near to-me. It may refer to nearness of affinity, friendship, or residence. TJie essential idea is ihdiio? nearness — whether by blood, affection, or vicinity. In Ps. xxxviii. 11, it denotes near friends. t[ And my familiar friends. Those who knew me — *?'^!''^. The allusion is to those who were intimately acquainted with him, or who were his bosom friends.

15. Tkey that dwell in mine hoiise. The trials came to his very dwelling, and produced a sad estrangement there. The word here used ('^'^J from *^^5) means properly those who sojourn in a house for a little time It may refer to guests, strangers, servants, clients, or tenants. The essential idea is, that they were not permanent residents, though for a time they were inmates of the family. Jerome renders the place, Inquilini domus viea; — the tenants of my house. The LXX, FffToi'sq oiy.idq — neighbors. Schultens supposes it means clients, or those who were taken under the protection of a great man. He quotes from the Arabian poets to show that the word is used in that sense, and particularly a passage from the Hamasa, which he thus translates:

There can be no doubt that Job refers to dependents., but whether in the capacity of servants, tenants, or clients, it is not easy to determine, and is not

16 1 called my servant, and he gave me no answer: I entreated him with my mouth.

17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I entreated for the children's sake of ' mine own body.

material. Dr. Good renders it "50- journers,'^ and this is a correct rendering of the word. This would be clearly the sense if the corresponding member of the parallelism were not " maids," or female servants. That requires us to understand here persons who were somehow engaged in the service of Job, Perhaps his clients, or those who came for protection, were under obligation to some sort of service as the return for his patronage. IF And my maids. Female domestics. The Chaldee, however, renders this ■'rjpnp — my concubines; but the correct reference is to female servants. M I am an alien. That is, to them. They cease to treat me as the head of the family.

16. / called my servant. He lost all respect for me, and paid me no attention. M I entreated him. 1 ceased to expect obedience, and tried to see what persuasion would do. I ceased to be master in my own house.

17. My breath is strange to my icife. Schultens renders this, " my breath is loathsome to my wife," and so also Noycs. Wemyss translates it, "my own wife turns aside from my breath." Dr. Good, " my breath is scattered away by my wife." The literal meaning is, "my breath is strange (iT^;) to my wife," and the idea is, that there had been such a change in him from his disease, that his breath was not that which she had been accustomed to breathe without offence, and that she now turned away from it as if it werQ the breath of a stranger. Jerome renders it, Halitum meum exhorrxdt uxor mea — my wife abhors my breath. It may be worthy of remark here, that but one wife of Job

1 or, the wicked is mentioned — a remarkable fact, as he probably lived in an age when polygamy was common, H 1 entreated her. I appealed to lier by all that was tender in the domestic relation, but in vain. From this it would seem that even his wife had regarded him as an object of divine displeasure, and had also left him to suffer alone. IF For the children's sake of mine own body. Mar g. my helhj. There is considerable variety in the interpretation of this passage. The word rendered " my own body" C*^?^^) means literally, my belly, or uwmb; and Noyes, Gesenius, and some otiiers, suppose it means the children of his own mother! But assuredly this was scarcely an appeal that Job would be likely to make to his wife in such circumstances. There can be no impropriety in supposing that Job referred to himself, and that the word is used somewhat in the same sense as the word loins is in Gen. xxxv. 11, xlvi. 26. Ex. i. 5. 1 Kings viii. 19. Thus understood, it would refer to his own children, and the appeal to his wife was founded on the relation which they had sustained to them. Though they were now dead, he referred to their former united attachment to them, to the common affliction which they had experienced in their loss; and in view of all their former love to them, and all the sorrow which they had experienced in their death, he made an appeal to his wife to show him kindness, but in vain. Jerome renders this, " Orabam filios uteri mei." The LXX, not understanding It, and trying to make sense of it, introduced a statement which is undoubtedly false, though RosenmUller uccords with it. " I called affectionately {y.olay.fvon') the sons of my concubines " — vioxk; 7Ta).).o)y.(do)v fiov. But the whole meaning is evidently that he made a.solemn and tender

19 All 'my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.

2 The men of my secret.

appeal to his wife, in view of all the joys and sorrows which they had experienced as the united head of a family of children now no more. What w^ould reach the heart of an estranged wife, if such an appeal would not.''

18. Fc«, young children. Marg. or the icicked. This difference between the text and the margin arises from the ambiguity of the original word — n^b'^-ISJ. The word '^^^X (whence our;^ord evil) means sometimes the wicked, or the ungodly, as in Job xvi. 11. It may also mean a child, or suckling, (from P'lSJ — to give milk, to suckle, 1 Sam. vii. 7-10. Gen. xxiii. 13. Psalm Ixxviii. 71. Isa. xl. 11; comp. Isa. xlix. 15, Ixv. 20,) and is doubtless used in this sense here. Jerome, however, renders it sttdti — fool^. The LXX, strangely enough, " They renounced me for ever." Dr. Good renders it, " Even the dependents." So Schultens, Etiam clientes egcntissimi — even the most needy clients. But the reference is probabl}' to children who are re])resented as withholding from him the respect which Avas due to age. IT I arose., and they spoke against me. 'When I rise up, instead of regarding and treating me with respect, they make me an object of contempt and sport.' Comp. the account of the respect which had formerly been shown him in ch. xxix. 8.

19. Jlllmyimcard friends. Marg. the men of my secret. The meaning is, those who were admitted to the intimacy of friendship, or who were permitted to be acquainted with his secret thoughts, purposes, and plans. The word here used ("lio) denotes properly a couch., cushion, pillow, on which one reclines; then a divan, a circle of persons sitting together for consultation or conversation: and

20 My " bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am

hence it refers to those wlio are sitting together in intimate counsel, (see Notes on ch. xv.8, xxix. 4,) and tiien familiar intercourse, intimacy. Here tlie phrase " men of my intimacy" ^'^'^iO) denotes those who were admitted to intimate friendship. All such persons had now forsaken him, and turned against him.

20. My hone cleaveth to my s Lin and to my flesh. The meaning of this probably is, ' my skin and flesh are dried up so that the bone seems to adhere to the skin, and so that the form of the bone becomes visible.' It is designed to denote a state of great emaciation, and describes an effect which we often see. IT.^nd I am escaped tcith the skin of my teeth. A very difficult expression, and which has greatly perplexed commentators, and on whose meaning they are by no means agreed. Dr. Good renders it, " and in the skin of my teeth am I dissolved," but what that means is as difficult of explanation as the original. Noyes, " and I have scarcely escaped with the skin of my teeth." Herder, (as translated by Marsh,) " and scarcely the skin in my teeth have I brought away as a spoil." He says that " the figure is taken from the prey which wild beasts carry in their teeth; his skin is his poor and wretched body, which alone he had escaped with. His friends are represented as carnivorous animals which gnaw upon his skin, upon the poor remnant of life;" but the Hebrew will not bear tins construction. Poole observes, quaintly enough, that it means, " I am scarcely sound and whole and free from sores in any part of my skin, except that of my jaws, which holdeth and covereth the roots of my teeth. This being, as divers observe, tne Devil's policy, to leave his mouth untouched, that he might more freely express his mind, and vent his blasphemies against God, which he sup- posed sharp pain would force him to do." Schultens has mentioned four different interpretations given to the phrase, none of which seems to be perfectly satisfactory. They are the following: (].) That it means that the skin about the teeth alone was preserved, or the gums and the lips, so that he had the power of speaking, though every other part was wasted away, and this exposition is given, accompanied with the suggestion that his faculty of speech was preserved entire by Sa-taUjin order that he might be able to utter the language of complaint and blasphemy against God. (2.) That he was emaciated and exhausted completely, except the skin about his teeth, that is, his lips, and that by tlieni he was kept alive; that if it were not for them he could not breathe, but must soon expire. (3) That the teeth themselves had fallen out by the force of disease, and that nothing was left but the gums. This opinion Schultens himself adopts. The image, he says, is taken from pugilists, whose teeth are knocked out by each other; and the meaning he supposes to be, that Job had been treated by his disease in the same manner. So violent had it been that he had lost all his teeth, and nothing was left but his gums. (4.) A fourth opinion is, that the reference is to the enamel of the teeth, and that the meaning is, that such was the force and extent of his afflictions that all his teeth became hollow and were decayed, leaving only the enamel. It is difficult to determine the true sense amidst a multitude of learned conjectures; but probably the most simple and easy interpretation is the best. It may mean, that he was almost consumed. Disease had preyed upon his frame until he was wasted away. Nothing was left but his lips, or his gums; he was j ust able to speak, and that was all. So Jerome renders it, delicta sunt tantummod6 labia

21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; fcr the hand of God hath touched me.

22 Why do ye persecute " me

circa dentes meos. Luther renders it, und kann meine Zahne mit der Haut nicht bedecken — " and I cannot cover my teeth with the skin;" that is, with the lips.

21. Have pity on me. A tender, pathetic cry for sympathy. ' God has afflicted me, and stripped me of all my comforts, and I am left a poor, distressed, forsaken man. I make my appeal to you, my friends, and entreat you to have pity; to sympathize with me, and to sustain me by the words of consolation.' One would have supposed that these words would have gone to the heart, and that we should hear no more of their bitter reproofs. But far otherwise was the fact. H The hand of God hath touched me. Hath smitten me; or is heavy upon me. The meaning is, that he had been subjected to great calamities by God, and that it was right to appeal now to his friends, and to expect their sympathy and compassion. On the usual meaning of the word here rendered '^ hath touched' (■'^^^J from ^J^J), see Notes on Isa. liii. 4.

22. Why do ye persecute me as God? As God has done. That is, without giving me any reason for it; accusing me of crimes without proof, and condemning me without mitigation. That there is here an improper reflection on God, will be apparent to all. It accords^ with what Job frequently expresses where he speaks of him as judging him severely, and is one of the instances which prove that he was not entirely perfect. If And are not satisfied with my flesh. That is, are not contented that my body is subjected to inexpressible torments, and is wholly wasting away, but add to this the torment of the soul. Why is it not enough that my body is thus

as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

23 Oh ' that my words were now written! Oh that they were

23. Oh that my words were noio written. Marg. as in Heb., " Who will give;'' a common mode of expressing desire among the Hebrews. This expression of desire introduces one of the most important passages in the book of Job. It is the language of a man who felt that injustice was done him by his friends, and that he was not likely to have justice done hira by that generation. He was charged with hypocrisy; his motives were called in question; his solemn appeals, and his arguments to assert his innocence, were disregarded; and in this state of mind he expresses the earnest wish that his expression,? might be permanently recorded, and go down to far distant times. He desired that what he had said might be preserved, that future ages might be able to judge between him and his accusers, and to know the justice of his cause. The desire thus expressed has been granted, and a more permanent record has been made than if, in accordance with his request, his sentiments had been engraved on lead or stone. H Oh that they were printed. It is clear that this expression may convey wholly an erroneous idea. The art of printing was then unknown; and the passage has no allusion to that art. The original word (PP.^) means properly, to cut in, to hew; then to cut — e. g.- a sepulchre in a rock, Isa. xxii. 16i"then to cut, or engrave letters on a tablet of lead or stone, Isa. xxx. 8, Ezek. iv. 1, and generally it implies the notion of engraving, or inscribing on a plate witii an engraving tool. Anciently books were made of materials which allowed of this mode of making a record. Stone would probablj be the first material; and then plates of metal, leaves, bark, skins, &c. The notion of engraving, however, is the proper idea here. ^\ In a book — 'nSSS. The word "^StJ is derived from *^S0.

In Arabic the kindred word 6^ means to scratch, to scrape; and hence to engrave, write, record — and the idea was originally that of insculping or engraving on a stone. Hence the word comes to denote a book, of any materials, or made in any form. Pliny, speaking of the materials of ancient books, says, Olim in palmarum foliis scriptitatum, et libris quarundam arborum; postea publica monumenta plumbeis voluminibus, mox et privata linteis confici coepta aut ceris. Lib. xiii. 11. " At first men wrote on the leaves of the palm, or the bark of certain trees; but afterwards public documents were preserved in leaden volumes [or rolls], and those of a private nature on wax or linen." " Montfaucon purchased at Rome, in 1699, an ancient book entirely composed of lead. It was about four inches long and three inches wide: and not only were the two pieces that formed the cover, and the leaves, six in number, of lead, but also the stick inserted through the rings to hold the leaves together, as well as the hinges and nails. It contained Egyptian Gnostic figures and unintelligible writing. Brass, as more durable, was used for the inscriptions designed to last the longest, such as treaties, laws, and alliances. These public documents were, however, usually written on large tablets. The style for writing on brass and other hard substances, was sometimes tipped with diamond." The meaning of the word here is evidently a record made on stone or lead — for so the following verses indicate. The art of writing or engraving was known in the time of Job; but I do not know that there is evidence that the art of writing on leaves, bark, or vellum was yet understood. As boohs in the form in which they are now were then unknown; as there is no evidence that at that time any thing like volumes or rolls were possessed; as the records were probably preserved on tablets of stone or lead; and as the entire description here pertains to something that was engraved; and as this sense is conveyed by the Arabic verb from which the word ^5^, book, is derived, the word tablet, or some kindred word, will better express the sense of the original than book — and I have, therefore, used it in the translation. It may be interesting, however, to see a speeimen of the mode of writing OH papyrus, and accordingly I insert one in this place •

2-i That they were graven

with an n-on pen and lead in the rock for ever!

24. That they rccre graven. Cut in, or sculptured — as is done on stones. That they might become thus a permanent record. H With an iron pen. A styhis, or an engraving tool — for so the word (^?) means.

The instrument formerly used for writing or engraving was a small, sharp-pointed piece of iron or steel, that was employed to mark on lead or stone — somewhat in the form of small graving tools now. When the writing was on wax, the instrument was made with a flat head, that it could be obliterated by pressing it on or passing it over the wax. The following cut from Montfaucon's Paleographia Graeca, will illustrate the ancient use of the stylus-

The reason why Job mentions the iron pen here is, that he wished a pertnanent record. He did not desire one made with paint or chalk, but one which would convey his sentiments down to future times. TI Arid lead. That is, either engraved on lead, or more probably with lead. It was customary to cut the letters deep in stone, and then to fill them up with lead, so that the record became more permanent. This I take to be the meaning here. The Hebrew will scarcely allow of the supposition that Job meant that the records should be made on plates of lead — though such plates were early used, but perhaps not until after the time of Job. ir In the rock. It was common, at an early period, to make inscriptions on the smooth surface of a rock. Perhaps the first that were made were on stones, which were placed as way-marks, or monuments over the dead — as we now make such inscriptions on grave-stones. Then it became common to record any memorable transaction — as a battle — on stones or rocks; and perhaps, also, sententious and apothegmatical re