y. 10. Becau’e it fout not up the doors of my mother’s womb, &c.] Or of my belly™, or womb, which Aben Ezra interprets of the navel, by which the infanc receives its food and nourifhment before itis born, and which, if clofed, he muft have died in embryo; but rather it is to be underftood of his mother’s womb, called his, becaufe he was conceived and bore in it, and was brought forth from it; and the fenfe is, that he complains of the night, either that it did not clofe his mother’s womb, and hinder the conception of him, as Gerfom, Sephorno, Bar Tzemach, and others, and is the ufual fenfe of the phrafe of clofing the womb, and which is commonly aferibed to God, Gen, xx. 17, 18. 1 Sam.i. 5, 6. which 70d here attributes to the night, purpofely avoiding to make mention of the name of God, that he might not fee to complain of him, or directly point at him; or elfe the blame laid on that night is, that it did not fo fhut up the doors of his mother’s womb, that he might not have come out from thence into the world, wifhing that had been his grave, and kis mother always big with him, as Yarchi, and which fenfe is favoured by Fer. xx. 17. a wifh cruel to his’ mother, as well as unnatural to himlelf: nor hid forrow from mine eyes; which it would have done, had it done that which is complained of it did not; had it, he could not have pefceived it experimentally, endured the forrows and afflictions he did from the Chaldeans and Sabeans, from Satan, his wife, and friends; and had never known the trouble of lofs of fubftance, children, and health, and felt thofe pains of body and anguifh of mind he did; thefe are the reafons of his curfing the day of his birth, and the night of his conception.
y. 11. Why died I not from the womb? &c.] That is, as foon as he came out of it; or rather, as foon as he was in it, or from the time that he was in it; 6r however, whilft he was init, that fo he might not have come alive out of it; which fenfe feems beft to agree both with what goes before and follows after; for fince his conception in the womb was not hindered, he wifhes he had died in it; and fo fome verfions render it to this fenfe*: why. did I not give up tie ghoft when I came out of the belly? fince he died not in the womb, which was defireable to him, he wifhes that the moment he came out of it he had expired, and is difpleafed becaufe it was not fo,, fee Fer. xx. 17. Hof. ix. 11. thus what is the fpecial favour of providence to be taken out of the womb alive, and preferved, he wifhes not to have enjoyed, fee P/. xxii. g.._
_ ¥.12. Why did the knees prevent me, &c.| Not of the mother, as Farchi, but of the midwite, who received him into her lap, and nourifhed and cherifhed him, wafhed him with water, falted, and {waddled him; or it may be of his father, with whom it was ufual to take the child on his knees as foon as born, fee Gen. 1, 23. which cuftom obtained among the Greeks and Romans °; hence the goddefs Levana” had her name, caufing the father in this way to own his child; his concern is, that he did not fall to the ground as he came out of his mother’s womb, and with that fall die; and that he was prevented from falling by the officious knees of the midwife; that he was not fuffered to fall, and be left there, without having any of the ufual things done to him for the comfort and prefervation of life, which was fometimes the cafe, Ezek. xvi. 4. or why the breafts that I fhould fuck? fince a mifcarrying womb was not given, and death did not feize him immediately upon birth, but all - proper care was taken to prevent it, he afks, why was there milk in the breafts of his mother or nurfe to fuckle and nourifh him? why were there not dry breafts, fuch as would afford no milk, that fo he might have been ftarved? thus she wifhes the kindeft things in nature and providence had been withheld from him.
y¥. 13. For now fhould I have lien fill, and been quict, &c.] Signifying, that if the above had been his cafe, if he had died as foon as born, or quickly after, then he would have been laid in the grave, where he would have lain as ftill as on a bed; for fuch is the grave to dead bodies, as a bed is to thofe that lie down and fleep upon it; a place of eafe and quiet, where there is freedom from all care and thought, from all trouble, anxiety, and diftrefs; nay, more fo than ona bed, where there is often toffing to and fro, and great difquietude, but none to the body in the grave, that is ftill and! filent, where there is no uneafinefs nor difturbance, fee ch. xvii. 13. Jf Ivii. 2. I fhould have flept; foundly and quietly, which perfons do not always upon their beds; fometimes they cannot fleep at all, and when they do, they are frequently di- {trefied with uneafy thoughts, frightful dreams, and terrifying vifions, ch. iv. 13, 14. and vii. 14. but death is a found fleep until the refurrectionmorn, which od had knowledge of, and faith in, and fo confidered the {tate of the dead in this light; death is often in fcripture expreffed by fleeping, Dan, xii. 2. Fobn xi, 11. 1 Cor. xv. 18. 20. 51. which refers not to the foul, which in a feparate {tate is active and vigorous, and always employed; but to the body, which, as in fleep, fo in death, is deprived of the fenfes, and the exercife of them; on which account there is a great likenefs between fleep and death, and out of which a man awakes — brifk and chearful, as the faints will at the time of their refurrection, which will be like an awaking out of fleep: then had I been at ref; from all col and labour, from all difeafes and pains of body, from all troubles of whatfoever kind, and particularly from thofe he now laboured under, fee the note on ¥. 17.
Peritzol, and Simeon bar Tze-
Ye 14. With the kings and counfellors of the earth, pérfection, yet fhould have been like infants, which,
&c.] From whom he might defcend, he being a perfon of great diftinétion and figure; and fo, had he died, he would have been buried in the fepulchres of his anceftors, and have lain in great pomp and ftate: or rather, this he fays, to obferve that death fpares none, that neither the power of kings, who have long hands, nor the wifdom of couniellors, who have long heads; can fecure them from death; and that after death they are upon a level with others; and even-he fuggefts, that children that die as foon as born, and have made no figure in the world, are equal to them: which built defolate places for themfelves, either that rebuilt houfes and cities that had lain in ruins, or built fuch in defolate places, where there had been none before, or formed colonies in places before uninhabited; and all this to get a name, and to perpetuate it to pofterity: or rather fepulchral monuments are meant, fuch as the lofty pyramids of the Egyptians, and fuperb maufoleums of others; which, if not built in defolate places, yet are fo themfelves, being only the habitations of the dead, and fo they are called the defolations of old, Ezek. xxvi. 20. and this is the fenfe of many interpreters‘; if,any man delires, fays Vanjleb', a profpect and defcription of fuch antient burying-places, let. him think on a boundlefs champain, even, and covered with fand, where ‘neither trees, nor grafs, nor houfes, nor any fuch thing is to be feen, y. 15. Or with princes that bad gold, &c.) A large abundance of it whilft they lived, but now being dead, were no longer in the poffeffion of ir, but ona level with thofe that had none; nor could their gold, whilft they had it, preferve them from death, and now, being dead, it was no longer theirs, nor of any ufe unto them; thefe princes, by this defcription of them, feem to be fuch who had not the dominion over any particular place or country, but their riches lay in gold and filver, as follows: who filled their houfes with filver; had an abundance of it, either in their coffers, which they hoarded up, or in the furniture of their houfes, which were much of it of filver; they had large quantities of filver-plate, as well as of money; but thefe were of no profitin the hour of death, nor could they carry them with them; but in the grave, where they were, thofe were equal to them, af whom it might have been faid, filver and gold they had none.
y. 16. Or as an hidden untimely birth, &ce.1 Or hid, as one born out of time, as Mr. Broughton reads it; the Septuagint ule the fame word as the apoftle does, when he fays the like of himfelf, 1 Cor. xv. 8. the word has the fignification of falling *, and defigns an abortive, which is like to fruit that falls from the tree before it is ripe; and this may be faid to be hidden, either in the belly, as the Zargum, or however from the fight of man, it being not come to any proper fhape, and much lefs perfeétion; now Feb fugeefts, that if he had not lain with kings, counfellors, and princes, yet at leaft he fhould have been as anabortion, and that would have been as well tohim: then J bad not been; or fhould have been nothing, not reckoned any thing; fhould not have been numbered among beings, but accounted as a non-entity, and fhould have had no fubfiftence or ftanding in the world at all: as infants which never faw light; and if not like an untimely birth, which is not come to any labores roboris, Michaelis.
|though their mothers have gone their full time with them, and they have all their limbs in perfection and proportion, ‘yet are dead, or ftill-born, their eyes have never been opened to fee any light; meaning not the light of the law, as the Targum, but the light of the fun, or the light of the world, fee Eccl. vi. 3, 4, 5. infants ufed to be buried in the wells or caves of the mummies *.
W. 17. There the wicked ceafe from troubling, &c.] At death, and in the grave; fuch who have been fiké the troubled fea, that cannot reft, have always been either devifing or doing mifchief whilft living, in the grave can do neither; there is no work nor device there; fuch who are never eafy, and cannot fleep unlefs they do mifchief, when dead have no power to do any, and are quite ftill and inactive; fuch who have been troublers of good men, as prophane perfons by their ungodly lives, falfe teachers by their pernicious doétrines and blafphemies, cruel perfecutors by their hard {peeches, bitter calumnies and reproaches, and fevere ufage; thofe, when they die themfelves, ceafe from giving farther trouble, or when the righteous die, they can difturb them no more; yea, a good man at death is not only no more troubled by wicked men, but no more by his own wicked heart, nor any more by that wicked one Satan;
there and then all thefe ceafe from giving him any farther moleftation: and there the weary be at reft wicked men, either who here tire and weary themfelves with committing fin, to which they are flaves and drudges, and efpecially with perfecuting and troubling the faints, fhall reft from fuch aéts of fin and wickednefs, of which they will be no more capable;
or elfe good men, who are weary of fin, and long to be rid of it, to whom it is a burden, and under which they groan, and are weary of the troubles and afflictions they meet with in the world; and what with one thing and another are weary of their lives, and defire to depart and be with
Chrift; thefe at death and in the grave are at reft, their bodies from toil and labour, and from all painful diforders and prefling afflictions, and from all the oppreflions and vexations of wicked and ungodly men; their fouls reft in the arms of Fe/us, from fin and all con{cioufnels of it, from the temptations of Satan, from all doubts and fears, and every {piritual enemy, by whom they can be no more annoyed: fore render the words, there reff the labours of firength”; fuch toils are over that break the ftrength of men; or the labours of violence”, which are impofed upon them through violence, by cruel and imperious men; but at death and in the grave will ceafe and be no more, even labour of all forts; fee Rev. xiv. 13.
y. 18. There the prifoners reft together, &c.] Are at eafe, as Mr. Broughton renders the words; fuch who whilft they lived were in prifon for debt, or were condemned to the gallies, to lead a miferable life; or fuch who fuffered bonds and imprifonment for the fake of religion, at death their chains are knocked off, and they are as much at liberty, and enjoy as much eafe, as the dead that never were prifoners; and not only reft together with thole who were their fellow-prifoners, but with thofe who never were in prifon, yea with thofe who caft them intoit.; for there the prifoners and thofe that imprifoned them are upon a level, enjoying equal oe fictions, comparable to the waters of Marai to wormweod -and: gall, which occafion bit of fpirit in them, and bitter complaints fr ee ch. xiii. 26. and xxiii. 16. and xxvij. 2)” ‘y. 21, Which long for death,. but it cc &c.] Who earneftly defire, wittly lool for, and expect it, and’with open mouth it, as a hungry man for his food, or as th for the bait, or the fithermen for the fth, asfome* ~ and liberty: they bear not the voice of the oppreffor; or exaéor*; neither of their creditors.that demanded their debt of them, and’ threatened them with a prifon, or that detained them in it, nor of the jail-keeper thats gave them hard words as well as firipes; nor of cruel tafk mafters, who kept them to hard fervice'in prifon, and threatened them feverely if they did not perform it, like the. tafkmatters in Egypt, Exod. v. 11, 13. but in the grave, the bluftering, terrifying voice of fuch, is not heard. fe tg. The fall and great are there, &c.] Both as to age, and with refpet to bulk and ftrength ~of body, "and alfo to eftate and dignity; children and men, or thofe of low and high ftature, or in a mean or more exalted ftate of life, as to riches and honour, thefe all come to the grave without any difference, and lie there without any diftinétion ”:. dittle and great are there ail one, as Mr. Broughton renders the words, fee Rev. xx. 12. the fervant 1s free from bis mafter; death diffolves all ‘relations among men, and takes away the power that one has legally over another, as the hufband over the wife, who at death is loofed from the law and power of her hufband, Rom. vii. 2. and fo parents over their children, and matters over their fervants; there the mafter and the fervant are together, without any fuperiority of the one to the other: the confideration of all U.e above things made death and the ftate of the dead in the grave appear to ob much more preferable than life in' his prefent circumftances; and therefore, fince it had not feized on him fooner, and as. foon as he before had withed it had, he defires it might not be long ere it came upon him, as in the following verfes. ¥. 20. Wherefore is light given to bim that is in mifery, &c.| That labours under various calamities and afflictions, as Fob did, being, ftript of his fubftance, deprived of his children, and now in great pain of body and diftrefs of minds who, _ fince he died not fo foon as he wifhed he had, expeftulates why his life is protracted, for that is what he means by light, as appears from the: fol: lowing claufe, even the light of the living, or the light of the world; which, though fweet and pleafant to behold toa man in health, yetnot to one in pain of body and anguifh of mind, as he was, who chofe rather to be in the dark and filent- grave; this he reprefents as a gift, as indeed life is, and the gift of God: the words may be~ rendered, wherefore does he give light*; that is God, as fome* fupply it, who is undoubtedly meant, théugh ‘not mentioned through reverence of him, and that he might not feem to quarrel with him; the principle of life is from him, and the continuance and pro. traction of it, and all the means and mercies by which it is fupported; and Fob afks the reafons, which he feems to be at a lofs for, why it fhould be continued to a perfon in fuch uncomfortable circumftances as he was in; though thefe, with refpeét to a good man as he was, are plain and obvious; fuch are continued in the world under afflictions, both for their own good, and for the glory of God that_their graces may be tried, their fins purge _ away or prevented, and they made more partakers of divine holinefs; and be weaned from this world, and fitted for another, and not be condemned with the world of the ungodly: and life unto the bitter obferve the word may fignify; but it comes’ to their wifh and expectation, ‘or fo foon as ft would have it; -the reafon is, becaufe the” time for it.is not come, otherwife it will ¢ come at God’s appointed time, and often in an hour not thought of death is not defireable in it. felf,: being-a diffulution of nature, or as it is the» fanction of the law, or the wages of fin, ora penal evil; and'though it is ahd may be WE A by good men, that they may be free from fin, and be in a better capacity to ferve the Lord, and that they may be for ever with him; yet fuch defites fhould be expreffed with. fubmiffion to the divine will, and the appointed time fhould be Poet waited for, and fhould not be defired merely to be. rid of prefent afflictions and troubles, which was the cafe of Fob, and of thofe he here de ibes 5. fee Rev. ix.6. and dig for it more than for bid ¢; Jures; which are naturally hid im the earth, as gold and filver, ore, with other metals and precious {tones;-or which are of ‘choice concealed there from the plunder of others; the former feems rather to be meant, and in digging for which gteat pains, diligence, and induftry are ufed, fee Prov, ii. 4, ¢ and is expreffive of the very great importunity and ftrong defire of men in diftrefled ‘circumftances after death, feeking diligently, and preffing importunately for it; the fin of fuicide not being known, or very rare, in that early time, or however was fhunned and abhorred even by thofe that te Bi - weary of their lives: fome render it, who dig for it out of hid treafures”; out of the bowels A! 1 7 earth, and the loweft parts of it, could they but e find it there; but the Targum, Farcbi, and others, Ww underfland it comparatively, as wedo, ~"
‘ay till they do fkip again, as Mr. Brougtom renders it, and to the fame purport, others*; Bay:
as to fkip and dance for joy: and are glad when they can find the. grave; which is to be underft either of thofe who dig in the earth for hid treafure, fuch as is laid there by men; when they ftrike and hit upon a grave where they expe to find a booty it being ufval in former times to put much riches into the fepulchres of great perfonages, as Sanét on the place obferves; fo Hyrcanus opening th pulchre of David, found in it 3000 talents of fi as Fofepbus* relates: or rather, this is faid miferable and bitter in foul, who long rand feek after it; who, when they pe fymptoms of its near approach, are pleafed, and rejoice at it; as when the decays of nature, or any diforder and them which threaten with death; fort meant of the dead carrying to the er hh -) it and of their pene y¥. 23. Why is light given fo a is bid, &e.] Sole. aes this with the preceding verfe, thus; who rejoice and are glad when they find a grave for a man, &c. but it fhould be obferved that fuch are faid to rejoice at finding a grave, ‘not for others, but for themfelves; the words ftand in better connection with ¥. 20, from whence the fupplement is taken in our verfion and others; and fo it is a continuation or repetition of the expoftulation, why light and life, or the light of the living, fhould be given to perfons as before defcribed, and here more largely; and ‘Fob himfelf is principally defigned, as is generally thought, whofe way, according to him, was hid from the Lord, neglected and not cared for by him, but overlooked and flighted, and no regard had to the injuries done him, as the church alfo complains, J/ xl. 27. or from whom the way of the Lord was hid; his way in the prefent afflictive difpenfations of providence, the caufes and reafons of which he could not underftand; not being confcious of any notorious fin committed, indulged, and continued in, that fhould bring thefe troubles on him: or the good and right way was hid from him in which he fhould walk; he was at a lofs to know which was that way, fince by his afflictions he was ready to conclude that the way he. had been'walking in was not the right, and all his religion was in vain; and according to this fenfe he laboured under the fame temptation as A/aph did, Pf. Ixxili. 13, 14. or his way of efcape out of his prefent troubles was unknown to him; he faw no way open for him, but fhut up on every fide: or there was no way for others to come to him, at leaft they cared not for it; he who had ufed to have a large levee, fome to have his counfel and advice, and to be inftructed by him, others to afk relief of him, and many of the higheft rank and figure to vifit, carefs, and compliment him; but now all had forfaken him, his brethren and acquaintance, and his kinsfolk and familiar friends kept at a diftance from him, as if they knew not the way to him: and whom God hath hedged in? not with the hedge of his power, providence, and protection, as before; but with thorns and afflictions, and in fuch manner as he could not get out, or extricate himfelf; all avenues and ways of efcape being blocked up, fee Lam. iii. 9, 9. Hof. ii. 6. though after all, the words may be confidered as a conceffion, and as defcriptive of a man the reverfe of himfelf, and be fupplied thus; indeed light may be given to a man, a mighty man, as the word ° fignifies, a man ftrong, hale, and robutt; whofe way is bid, or covered’ who is hid in the fecret of God’s prefence, and in the pavilion of his power; who dwells in his fecret place, and under the fhadow of the Almighty, P/. xxxi. 20. and xci. 1. who is under the fhelter of his providence, prelerved from difeafes of body, and protected from the plunder and depredations of enemies, and enjoys great affluence and profperity, as his three friends about him did, and whom he may point at: and whom God bath hedged in, as he had formerly fet a hedge about him in his providence, though now he had plucked it up; fee ch. i. ro.
y. 24. For miy fighing cometh before I eat, &c.] Or, before my bread, or focd*, before he fat down to eat, or had tafted of his food, there were nothing but fighing and fobbing, fo that he had no appetite for his food, and could take no delight in it; and whilft he was eating his tears mingled with it, fo that thefe were his meat and his drink continually, and he was fed with the bread and water of affliction; and therefore what were light and life to fuch a’ perfon, who could not have the pleafure of one comfortable meal? and my roarings are poured out like the waters; he not only wept privately and in fecret, and cried more publickly both to God and in the prefence of men, but fuch was © the force and weight of his affliction, that he even roared out, and that like a lion; and his afflictions, which were the caufe of thefe roarings, are compared to waters and the pouring of them out; for the noife thefe water-fpouts made, and for the great abundance of them, and for their quick and frequent returns, and long continuance, one wave and billow rolling upon another,
¥.25. For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, &c.\ Some refer this to his fears about his children, left they fhould fin and offend God, and bring down his judgments on them, and now what he feared was come to pafs, ch. i. 5. others take in all his forrows and troubles; which, thro’ the changeablenefs of the world, and the uncertainty of all things in it, and the various providences of God, he feared would come upon him at one time or another; and this he mentions to juftify his expoftulation, why light and life fhould be continued to fuch a man, who, by reafon.of his fear and anxiety of mind, never had any pleafure in his greateft profperity, deftruction from the Almighty being a terror to him; ch. xxxi. 23, but I think it is not reafonable to fuppofe that a man of Fod’s faith in God, and truft in him, fhould indulge fuch fears to fuch a degree; nor indeed that he could ever entertain fucha thought in him, nor ever furmife that fuch fhocking calamities and diftreffes fhould come upon him as did: but this is to be underftood not of his former life, in profperity, but of the beginning of his afflictions; when he heard of the lofs of one part of -his fubftance, he was immediately poffefled with a fear of lofing another; and when he heard of that, he feared the lofs of a third, and even of all; then of his children, and next of his health: and that which I was afraid of is come unto me; which defigns the fame, in other words, or a new affliction; and particularly, the ill opinion his friends had of him: he feared that through thefe uncommon afflictions he fhould be reckoned an ungodly man, an hypocrite; and as he feared, fo it was; this he perceived by the filence of his friends, they not fpeaking one word of comfort to him; and by their looks at him, and the whole of their behaviour to him.
y. 26. Iwas not in fafety, &c.] This cannot refer to the time of his profperity; for he certainly then was in fafety, God having fet an hedge about him, fo that none of his enemies, nor even Satan himfelf, could come at him to hurt him: neither had I ret, neither was I quiet; which alfo was not true of him before his afflictions, for he did then enjoy great peace, reft, and quietnefs; he lay in his neft at eafe, and in great tranquillity; and thought and faid he fhould die in fuch a ftate, fee ch. xxix. 18. &. nor is the fenfe of thefe expreffions, that he did not take up his reft and fatisfaction in outward things, and put his truft and confidence in his riches, and yet trouble came upon him; but this relates to the time of the beginning of his