Exposition of the Whole Bible

N this chapter Bi/dad enters the lifts with fod, proceeding upon the fame plan with Eiphaz, he reproves him for his long and loud talk, y. 1,2. afferts the juftice of God in his providence, of which the taking away of ¥od’s children by death for their tranfgreffion, was an inftance and proof, y. 3, 4..and fuggefts, that if %0d who had not finned fo heinoufly as they had, ‘and therefore was {pared, would make his fubmiffion to God, and afk forgivenefs of him, and behave for the future with purity and uprightnefs, he need not doubt but God would immediately appear and exert himfelf on his behalf, and blefs him and his with profperity and plenty, ¥. 5—7. for this was his ordinary way of dealings with the children of men, for the truth of which he refers him to the records of former times, and to the fentiments of ancient men, who lived longer, and were more knowing than he and his friends, on whofe opinion he does not defire him to rely, ¥. 8—10. and then by. various fimilies ufed by the ancients, cr taken from them by Bildad, or which were of his own inventing and framing, are fet forth the fhort-lived enjoyments, and vain hope and confidence of hypocrites and wicked men; as by the fudden withering of rufhes and flags of themfelves, that grow in mire and water, even in their greennefs, before they are cut down, or cropt by any hand, ¥. 11—13. and by the fpider’s web, which can’t ftand and endure when leaned upon and held, v.14, 15. and by.a flourifhing tree deftroyed, and feen no more, y. 16—19g. and the chapter is concluded with an obfervation and maxim, that he and the reft of his friends fet out upon, and were tenacious of; that God did not afflict good men in any fevere manner, but filled them with joy and gladnefs; and that he would not long help and profper wicked men, but bring them and their dwelling-place to nought; and this being the cafe of fod, he fuggefts that he was fuch an one, ¥. 20—22.

¥. 1. Then anfwered Bildad the Shubite, and faid.

This was the fecond of ‘od’s friends that came to vifit him, ch. ii, 11. and is mentioned next to Eiiphaz there, and takes his turn in this controverfy in the fame order; which no doubt was agreed upon among themfelves, as well as the part each fhould bear, and the general fentiment they fhould purfue, which was the fame in them all.. Some have ’ obferved, that‘¥od’s friends were like the meffengers that brought him the tidings of his lofies, before one had done fpeaking another came; and fo as foon as one of his friends had delivered his difcourfe, and betore 0 could well finifh his reply, up ftarts another. to charge him afrefh, as here Bildad did, who faid as follows. ¥.2. How long wilt thou [peak thefe things? &c. | Either what he had delivered in the ¢dird chapter in. curfing the day of his birth, and withing for death, in which fentiments he ftill continued, and refolutely defended; or thofe exprefied in the two preceding chapters, in anfwer to E/iphaz; this he faid, as wondering that he fhould be able to continue his difcourfe to fuch a length, and to exprefs himfelf with fuch vehemence, when his {pirits might be thought to be fo greatly depreffed by his sos Soon nugaberis hee, Cocceius; talia, Tigurine verfion; talk after this fort? Broughton,

* Ch. viii gga: Kw Peet ee scat afflictions, and his bedy enfeebled by difeafes sor as angry with him for his blafphemy againft God, as_ he was ready to term it, his bold and daring fpeeches _ of him, and charge of unrighteoufnels on him, and for his difregard to what Eliphaz had faid, his contempt of it, and oppofition to it; or as im- — patient at his long reply, wanting him to ceafe fpeaking, that he might return an anfwer, and therefore breaks in upon him before he had well done, fee ch. xviii, 2. or as defpifing what he had faid, reprefenting it as idle talk, and as mere trifling; and fo fome render the words, ow Jong wilt thou trifle after this fort®? or throw out fuch nonfenfe and fabulous ftuff 4s this? and how long, fhall the words of thy mouth be like a ftrong wind? bluftering, boifterous and noify, to which paffionnate words, expreffed in a loud and fonorous manner, may be compared; and fo we fay of a man in a paffion and rage, that he jforms. Bildad thought that his fpeeches were hard, and rough, and ftout againft God, and very indecent and un-— becoming a creature to his maker, and not kind and civil to them his friends; and yet they were like wind, vain and empty, great {welling words, but words of vanity; they were fpoken, and feemed big, but had nothing folid and fubftantial in them, ~ as Bildad thought. ae * ¥. 3. Doth God pervert judgment? 8&c.] In his dealings with men in the way of his providence;~ no, he does not; here Bi/dad oppofes himfelf to Fob, who he thought had charged God with in-~ juftice in dealing with him, and his children, in.

the manner he had done: the fame thing is intended in the following queftion, doth the Almighty pervert jupfice? for judgment and juftice are the - fame, and often go together in fcripture, as being done either by God or men, when righteoufnefs is executed by them, and this is never perverted by the Lord; there is no unrighteoufnefs in him, neither in his nature, nor in his ways and works, €¢i-— ther of providence or of grace; he is the judge of all the earth, that does and will do right; to fubvert a man in his caufe, he approves not of in others, ~ and will never do it himielf; to juflify the wicked, and condemn the juft, are both an abomination to him, and therefore neither of thefe can ever be thought to be done by him; for though he juftifies the ungodly, he does not juftify their ungodlinefs, nor them in it, but from it, and that by the perfect righteoufnefs of his Son; whereby the. law. is. fulfilled, and juftice fatisfed, and fo he is. juft whilft he is the juftifier of him that believes in- Jefus; though he is gracious and merciful, he is alfo righteous, and will not clear the guilty, or pardon. fin without fatisfaction to his juftice; and fuch as are truly juft or righteous, he never condemns here or hereafter; he may. affliét them, but he delivers them out of their afflictions, nor are they ever forfaken by him; and, on the contrary, he punifhes wicked men in this world, and in that the old to come, as he has the angels that finned, world, Sodom and Gomorrah, and many others and all wicked men will be punifhed with everlafting deftruction; yea, eyen fo ftrict. is his punitive juttice, that the fins of his own people being laid: and found on his Son as their furety, he has “moft:

Ch, vii. ¥. 4—6. F OB feverely punifhed him for them; he awoke the {word of juftice againft him, fpared him not, but delivered him to death for us all; and tho’ he forgives the iniquities of his children, he takes vengeance on their inventions, and chaftizes them for their fins, that they may not be condemned with the world; and, on the other hand, he is not unrighteous to forget their work and labour of love, which he rewards in a way of grace, as well as it is a righteous thing with him to render tribulation to them that trouble them:. the righteoufnefs of God is known by the judgments he executes on wicked men, and efpecially will be manifeft in his judgments on Antichrift; and though the juftice of God in the courfe of his providence, in fome inftances, may not now be fo clear, his judgments will be made manifeft, and efpecially at the great day of judgment, when every thing fhall be brought to account, and God will judge the world in righteoufnefs; all which we may be affured of, is and will be executed by him, from the confideration of his nature and perfections, and particularly from the name he goes by in this paflage, being £/, the mighty God, who is able to fave and to deftroy, to fave the righteous, and deftroy the wicked; and is Shaddai, all-fufficient, ftands in need of nothing, norcan he receive any thing that is not his own, and therefore uncapable of being bribed to the perverfion of juftice and judgment. » y. 4. Tf thy children have jinned againft him, &c.

As no doubt they had, and as Bildad thought, in a very notorious manner, and therefore were righteoufly punifhed for them; this inftance is produced as a proof of God’s not perverting, but doing juftice, and the rather, becaufe it was on account of this, that it was fuppofed that od charged, or was ready to charge God with injuftice,; this was {fo far from it, that it was a righteous thing to do it, if or eeing his children had finned; or decaufe they have finned, or though they have finned, as the words "are by fome differently rendered; and either way fhews that God did not pervert juftice, but acted agreeably to it. Mr. Broughton renders them, as thy children have finned againft him, fo bath be fent them into the hand of their trefpa/s 5 as a righteous retaliation for it: that 0d’s children had finned, there is no queftion to be made of it; they were born in fin, though born of godly parents; and though they had a religious education, yet no doubt were suilty of fin in their younger years, as well as when grown up; and even though good men, as there may be reafon to conclude, they were, yet daily finning, for there are none without fin; and alfo it is true, that all fin is againft God, contrary to his nature and will, a breach and tranfgreffion of his law, and an act of: hoftility againft himfelf, and a trampling under foot, or at leaft a neglect, of his legiflative power and authority,which is an aggravation of it; yet it does not appear that Fob’s children were guilty of any notorious fins, or atrocious crimes, or lived a finful courfe of life, for which the judgments of God came upon them; nor is it a clear cafe that they were taken away by death in the manner they were, on account of their fins, but rather purely for the trial of %0d’s integrity, faith and patience: and be have caft them away for their tranfgrefion; or by the band of it'; by means of it, becaufe of ‘it, being provoked with

439. it. Baildad veprefents them as abandoned finnersy as caftaways and reprobates, rejected of God with abhorrence, and utterly ruined. Some render it, hath fent them into the band of their tranfgreffion *, or trefpafs; that is, delivered theni up to the power and dominion of fin, gave them up to their hearts lufts, and to vile affections, to do things not convenient, and which they purfted to their ruin; the Targum is, ‘* he fent them into the place of their tranfereffion';” into hell, which their tranfgreffions deferved, and for which they were fitted by them. Some a little more mildly render the words, be fent them away™, that is, difmiffed them out of the world, took them out of it by death; which difmiffion is fometimes in peace, as good old Simeon prayed for, and fometimes in wrath; as Saul was taken away, fee Luke ii. 29. Hof. xiii. 11. the latter is the meaning here. ¥. 5. If thou wouldft feek unto God betimes, &c.} Here Bildad feems to think more mildly, and fpeak: more kindly to ¥od, that though he had finned, yet not in fo grofs a manner as his children, fince he was fpared, and they were not; and therefore if he would apply himfelf to God, and fupplicate his grace and mercy, and live a godly life, it might yet be well with him, and he be reftored to his former or to better circumftances; his fenfeis, that he would advife him, as L£/iphaz had done before, ch. v. 8. to feek unto God Zy prayer, as the Targum adds, and of which it is explained in the next claufe, and that he would do this detzmes, or. in the morning "; which is a proper time for prayer, and was one of the feafons good men in former times made ufe of for that purpofe; fee P/al. v. 3. and lv. 17. or that he would feek him in the firft place; and above all things, take the firft opportunity to do it, without any procraftination of it, and that with eagernefs and earneftnefs, with his whole heart and foul; for God is a rewarder of them that diligently feek him, and thofe that feek him early fhall find him: and make thy [upplication to the Almighty; not pleading any merit of his own, as deferving of any bleffing on account of what he had done; but afk what he fhould as a favour, as a free gift, in a way of grace and mercy, as the word ° fignifies; call for the pity of the Almighty, as Broughton renders it. ¥. 6. Lf thou wert pure and upright, &c.] By which he tacitly intimates that he was neither; though, the character given of himis, that he was perfect and upright, feared God and efchewed evil, and which is confirmed by God himfelf, and even after he had been tried by fore afflictions. Bildad’s meaning is, if he was pure in heart, and upright in his lite and converfation, then things would be well with him. Men’s hearts are naturally impure; nO man is pure of himfelf, or can make his heart pure; nor is there any good man that is fo pure, as to be entirely free from fin; but fuch are pure in heart, who, have clean hearts created, and _ right fpirits renewed in them; or have new hearts and new {pirits given them; have their hearts prinkled from an evil confcience, and fo keep the faith in a pure confcience; having their hearts purified by faith in the blood of Chrift, whofe blood cleanfes from all fin; and in this fenfe fod was pure, having an intereft in a living Redeemer, and in his blood, and a partaker of his grace; and that he? was was upright is before teftified of him, though called in queftion, an if being put upon it, as well as on the former, having in the courfe of his life walked uprightly, according to the will of God revealed unto him: /urely now; directly at once, without delay, as Sepborno interprets it, it need not be &c. doubted of, verily fo it would be: de would awake for thee; who though he neither flum-jhis bers nor fleeps, yet feems to be afleep when he fuffers his people to be afflicted, diftreffed, and opprefied, and therefore they cry unto him to awake to their judgment, and their caufe; fee P and xxxv. 23. and xliv. 23. the fenfe is, that he would ftir up and exert himfelf, and fhew himfelf ftrong on his behalf, and appear to be on his fide, and work deliverance and falvation for him; or awake his mercy, grace, and goodnefs, as ‘¥ewifo commentators ‘ interpret it;

y¥. 7. Though thy beginning was fmall, &c.| When he firft fet out in the world; and which though it greatly increafed, and he was the greateft man in all the eaft, yet Bildad fuggefts, fhould he behave well, that was comparatively {mall to what it would be with him hereafter; and which was fact, for he meaning is, though thy beginning fhould be fmiall®; bé it fo that itis; or rather that though he fhould begin again in the world with very little, as indeed at prefent he had nothing to begin with, and when he did, it was but with little; one gave him a piece of money, and another an ear-ring of gold: yet thy latter end fhould greatly increafe; the Lord bleffed his latter end, and he had more than at the beginning, even double to what he had in his moft flourifhing circumftances; fee ch. xlii. IT, 12, &c. Bildad feems to have fpoken under ipirit of prophecy, without being fenfible of it, and not imagining in the leaft that fo it would etfi fuerit, fo fome in Michaelis, ® Emaueoos, now in fac; for he only affirms it on fuppofition of ¥0b’s good behaviour for the future, ‘putting it entirely upon that condition, which he had no greag expectation of it ever being performed. hae

Y. 8. For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, With refpect to the truth of what “he had - faid or fhould fay; he does not defire Yo to take — word for it, but enquire how it was in former | times; by which it would appear, that when good men have been in affliction and trouble, and have _ behaved well under it, as became them, they have |: vii. 8.) been delivered out of it, and have been afterwatds _ in more flourifhing and comfortahle circumftances, as Noah, <Abrabam, Lot, and others; and that - wicked men and hypocrites, though they have flourifhed for a while, yet deftruction has fooner or later _ fomejcome upon'them, and they have utterly perifhed, © thatis, beftowjas the defcendants of Cain, the builders of Babel, | and the men of Sodom, and others; whereas good | and upright men are never caft away by the Lord, no inftance can be given of it; all which would appear, if enquiry was made into what had happened in the former age; not the Jirjt age, as the Sepiuagizt verfion, the age or generation in which the firft man and woman lived; for who were their fathers, mentioned in the next claufe? but the age or ge— neration preceding that in which od and his friends lived; and the knowledge of things done in that might with fome application and diligence be more _ eafily obtained: and prepare thyfelf to the featch of * their fathers; of the fathers of the men of the formerage, who lived in the age preceding: that, and from whom theif pofterity had received the knowledge of many things by tradition, as they had received from their fathers that lived before them, and fo upwards; things being handed down in a hadjtraditionary way from father to fon; and though thefe fathers were dead, yet by their traditions that. wete preferved, they were capable of. teaching and inftructing men; and their fayings and fentiments deferved regard, and were had in much efteem, but yet being uninfpired and fallible men, were not to be received without examination; for though truth but Fob had alis of the greateft antiquity, and to be revered on that account, yet error is almoft as old as that; and therefore great care is to be taken how any thing is received purely upon the fcore of antiquity; and great pains, diligence, and circumfpection are neceflary to a due fearch of the fathers, and coming at their fenfe and fentiments; and fo as to diftinguifh between truth and error, and get a trué knowledge of facts done in antient times; fucha fearch is to be made in like manner as one would’ fearch for gold and filver, ‘and hidden treafures. y¥. 9. For we are but of yeferday™, &c.] Which. thers, who lived the far gteater part of them upwards of 900 years; otherwife Bildad and his twa friends were men in years; Eliphaz fays, that with them were the gray-headed and very aged men, much older than the father of ‘¥od, and Blu {peaks of himfelf as a young man, and of them as very asit did, forjold; feech. xv. 10. and xxxii. 6. and khow nothing; which is not to be taken in an abfolute fe fe, for they knew much of the things of nature, providence, and grace; they were men of great underajftanding in things natural, civil, and religious, as appears by their difcourfes; but in eeorpaeaeiye be. Y ith the long: live Pindar, Pythia, Ode 8.

his favours upon him: and make the habitation of thy righteoufnefs profper; which fome underftand of his body, the earthly houfé of his tabernacle, which if his foul was pure and upright that dwelt * init, might be called the habitation of righteoufnefs; which, were this the cafe, would become healthful that was now covered with worms, and clods of duft: others interpret it of the foul, as Aben Ezra and Ben Gerfoin, the feat of righteoufnefs, and of all the graces of the fpirit; which Ws in a profperous condition, when thefe graces are ‘in lively exercife, and the prefence of God, and the light of his countenance, and communion with him are enjoyed; but rather his dwelling houfe in a literal fenfe, and all his domeftic affairs are here meant; and it is fignified that all would be again in peace and profperity, and he fhould enjoy great plenty of goodthings fhould he behave well; and here is a tacit intimation as if his habitation not been an habitation of righteoufnefs, but had been filled with the mammon of unrighteoufnefS, with goods ill gotten, fuch as were obtained by rapine and oppreffion, and neither he nor his family righteous; a very unjuft and iniquitous infinuation: the Targum paraphrafes it, and fall make the beauty of thy righteoufne/s perfec’;

more beautiful righteoufnefs than his own, his was but as rags, and neither pure nor perfect; even the righteoufnels of Chriff, which is perfect and beautiful, and makes fuch fo, that are arrayed with it; fee Pf. l.2. Ezek. xvi. 14.

fenfe, or when compared. with the long- ac ot tsb aimeloioaga Zz

“triarchs, who through the length of their days had much time and opportunity to make their obfervations on things, to learn the arts and fciences, and improve themfelves in all ufeful knowledge, human and‘ divine; for which reafon od is fent to enquire of them; whereas they had been but a little while jn the world, and knew but little, to whom might be applied that faying as now to men fince, ars) lenza, vita brevis, and efpecially they knew.nothing as it is to be known, or nothing perfectly, #0 compar,fon of the faints in heaven; for they that know moft here, know but in part, fee through glafs darkly; but in the other world, they fee face to face, and know as they are known, Mreover Bildad might fay this of himfelf, and his friends, in a modeft manner, having learned to know themfelves, their weaknefs, and their folly; and the firft and great leffon of wifdom is to become fools in mens own apprehenfion, in order to be truly wife, having the like fenfe of themfelves as Agur had, Prov. xxx. 2. fee 1 Cor, iii. 18. or rather this might be faid as being the fenfe of ob concerning them, who had a very mean and indifferent opinion of them; fee ch. xii. 2. and xiii. 2. and therefore Bildad would not have him take their fenfe of things but enquire of perfons older and wifer: decaufe our days upon earth are a foadow; man’stime israther mieafured by days than by months and years, being fo fhort; and thefe are called days on earth, to ftingvifh them from the days of heaven, which are one everlafting day, in which there is no night of darknefs, either in a literal or figurative fenfe, and which will never end; but the days of this life are like a foadow, dark and cbfcure; full of the darknefs of adverfity and trouble, as well as greatly deficient in the light of knowledge; there is nothing in them folid and fubftantial;

¥. 10. Shall not they teach thee, and teil &c.} That is, the men of the former age, andjand their fathers before them, ‘fod is directed to enquire of, and to prepare for a fearch into their records and traditions; from whom he might reafonably expect to be taught and told things that would be very inftructive and ufeful to him in his prefent circumftances: and utter words out of heart? fach as were the effect of mature judgment and long obfervation, and which they had laid up in their hearts, and brought out from their there; and, with the greateft faithfulnefs and fincerity, had either committed them to writing, or delivered them in a traditionary way to their pofterity, to be communicated to theirs; and which might be depended upon as true and genuine, being men of probity, uprightnefs, and finglenefs of heart; who declared fincerely what they.knew, and fpoke not with a double heart, having no intention to deceive, as it cannot be thought they would impofe upon their own children; and therefore ¥ob might fafely receive what they uttered, and depend upon it, as truth and fact: and what they faid, as ‘farchi obferves, is as follows; or what follows Bi/dad collected from them, and fo might od, and think he-heard them faying, as Pi/cator fupplies the text, what is exprefled ia the next verfes, if not in their-words, yet as their fenfe.

¥. 11. Can the rub grow up without mire 2 &c. | No, at leaft not long, or fo as to lift up his head orjon high, as the word fignifies*; the ruth, or bulrufh, which feems to be meant, delights in watry ajplaces, and has its name in Hebrew from its ab- ° forbing or drinking up water; it grows in moift and watry clay, or in marfhy places, which ¥archi fays isthe fenfe of the word here ufed; the Septuag7zt underftands it of the paper-reed, which, as P/imy’ obferves, grows in the marfhy places of Egypt, and by the ftill waters of the river Nile: can the flag grow without water? or the fedge*; which ufually grows in moift places, and on the banks of rivers; this, unlefs in fuch places, or if without water, cannot grow long, or make any very large increafe, or come to maturity; fo fome 4 render it, if the rufh foould grow up without, &c. then it would be with it as follows.

y. 12.. Wbilft it is yet in its greennefs, 8&c.| Before it is come to its full height, or toa proper ripenefs; when as yet it has not flowered, or is di-jabout it; before the time ufual for it to turn and change; it being without moifture, water, or watry clay, will change; and mot cut down by the fcythe, or cropt by the hand of man, it withereth defore any other herb, of itfelf; rather fooner than fuch that don’t require fo much moifture; or in the fight and prefence of them, they looking on as it were, and deriding it; a poetical reprefentation, the greateft and beftjas Schultens obferves: next follows the accommodation of thefe fimilies to wicked and hypocritical men.

things of this life are but a vain fhow; in heaven there is a better and more enduring fubftance: every thing is mutable and uncertain here; man is fubject to a variety of changes in his mind and body, in his family and outward eftate and circumftances: and life itfelf is but a vapour, which appears a while and foon vanifhes away; or rather like a fhadow, that declines, is fleeting, and quickly gone; fee » Chron. xxix. 15. perfections;

yy. 13. So are the paths of all that forget God, &c.] Who forget that there is a God; he is not in all, and fcarce in any of their thoughts, and they live without him in the world; wN forget the works of God, of creation, and providence, in which there is a glorious difplay of his being and who forget the benefits and bleffings thee,jof his goodnefs they are every day partakers of, are not thankful for them; dnd who forget the word, worfhip, and ordinances of God, and follow after and obferve lying vanities, idols, and the works of men’s hands, and worfhip them, being unmindful of the rock of their falvation: now fuch men, as well as the hypocrites in the next claufe, theirjare like bulrufhes and flags, or fedge, being unfruitful, ufelefs, and unprofitable; and, for their fenfuality and worldly mindednefs, ftanding in the, treafurej mire and clay of an unregenerate’ftate, and of carnal and worldly lufts; and though, efpecially the latter, may carry their heads high in a profeffion of religion, and make a fair fhew in the flefh whiltt it is a time of outward profperity with them, but when. tribulation arifes on the account of religion, they are prefently offended, and apoftatize; being deftitute of the true grace of God, and not having the root of the matter in them, they wither of themielves; they foon drop their profeffion in the view of all good men, comparable to herbs and green grafs, which abide in their verdure, when the other are gone and are feen no more: and the hypocrites hope fhall perio; who are either the fame with thofe before detcribed, being in profperous circumftances, forget the God of their mercies they make a profeffion of, like Yefoarun of old; or different perfons, as Bar Tzemach thinks, the former defigning open profane finners; thefe fecret ones, under the appearance of good men: an hypocrite is one whofe infide is not as his outfide, as the Fews fay; who is outwardly righteous but inwardly wicked, has a form of godlinefs but not the power of it, a name to live but dead; makes a thew of religion and devotion, attending the fpider or the hypocrite, or the hypocrite as the whol fpider; that is, that which is the ground of his —. confidence, which is as the fpider’s. houfe, on that he fhall depend, either on his riches and outward profperity, which he promifes himfelf a long continuance of, and from whence he’ concludes, himfelf to be high in the favour and good-will of God; or on his works of righteoufnefs, his outward profeffion of religion, attendance on external worfhip, and a round of duties performed_by him; in thefe thatthe trufts, on thefe he depends,’ in fuch webs he enwraps himfelf, in fuch a houfe he dwells, and ima- the worfhip and ordinances of God in an external | way, as if he had great delight in him and them, ‘when his heart is removed far from him: and fuch have their Hope for the prefent, of being in the favour' of God, and of future happinefs, which is founded on their outward profperity, their efteem among men, and more efpecially their external righteoufhefs, and profeffion of religion; but this will peri/b, even both the ground of their hope, their riches and righteoufnefs, which come to nothing, and the hope that is built thereupon finks jito defpair; if not in life, as it fometimes does, yet always ‘at death, fee ch, xi. 20. and xxvii. 8.

arm, leaning upon a broken reed, and building an houfe upon the fand: the Septuagint verfion is, if he prop up bis houfe, by repeated outward aéts of religion: but it fhall not ftand; whether it be riches, thefe are uncertain things, of no continuance; there are no riches durable, but the unfearchable riches of Chrift and his grace; or whether it be a man’s own righteoufnefs, which he endeavours to eftablifh, or make to fland, as the phrafe is, in Rom.- x. 3. but in vain; it is but a fandy foundation to build on; or the hope and confidence, Jaid upon it is like a houfe built on the fand, and when. rain Bildad feems to have Fob in ‘view here, whom efteeined an hypocrite. and, great is the fall of

¥. 14. Whofe hope fball be cut off, &¢.]. The| fame thing as before, exprefied in different words, and repeated for the certainty of it; fignifying that it fhould be of no manner of ufe, fhould be wholly loft, and iffue in black defpair: the word has the fignification of loathing, and is differently rendered, either, wham his hope foall loath*, or, who fhall loath bis hope’; he hall fret and teaze, and vex himfelf that he fhould be fuch a fool to entertain fuch a vain hope, or to place his hope and confidence in fuch vain things, finding himfelf moft fadly difappointed:: and whofe iruft thall be a@ ders webs or a Jpider’s houfe*, and fuch its web is to it; having made it, it inclofes itfelf in it; and dwells fecurely: very fitly is the hope and confidence of an hypocrite compared to a fpider’s web, which is a very nice and curious piece of workmanfhip, as are the outward works. of righteoufnefs, done by hypocrites, they are wrought out and fet off to the beft advantage, to be feen of men; yet very flight and thin, and will bear no weight, fuch are the beft works of carnal profeffors, they make a fine appearance but have no fubftance, don’t fow from principles of grace, nor are done in the ftrength of Chrift, or to the glory of God; are but {plendida peccata, as one calls them, and fall nitely fhort of bearing the weight of the falvation of the foul: as the fpiders web is fpun out of its own bowels, fo the works of fuch perfons are wholly of themfelves; they are their own, done without the grace of God and 4pirit of Chrift; and fuch webs are not fit for garments, are too thin cover naked fouls; infufficient to fhelter from vine wrath and vengeance; ‘can’t bear the befom of juftice, one ftroke of which will fweep them all away; and though they may think themfelves fafe inclofed in them as ina houfe, they will find felves in the iffue wretchedly miftaken; for there is no fhelter, fafety, and fecurity, in fuch cobwebs; there is none but in Chrift and his righteoufnefS. helfalls, floods come, and winds beat upon it, it falls; it, Matt. vii, 26 29. be hall bold it fajt.; as the worldling does his wealth /his gold, and“his filyer, but it is inatched out: of his hand, by one providence or another, or how= ever at laft death obliges him to part dichsies and the felf-righteous man holds faft his righteoufnefs, it is his own, ‘he is fond of, an houfe of his own building, and can’t bear to have it demolifhed; an idol of his own fetting up, and to take it away is to take away his gods; and what has he more? wherefore he holds it as faft as he can, and will not let it go till he can hold it no longer; or, be pi-\hall fortify himfelf in it*, asin a caftle or ftrong hold, which he thinks impregnable, yet will foon and eafily be battered down by divine juftice: but. it /hall not endure; gold perifhes, riches come to nought, wealth is no enduring fubftance, ner is a man’s righteoufnefs lafting, only Chrift’s righteoufnefs is everlafting; true grace endures to eternal life, and iffues in it; but external gifts fpeculative and rational knowledge, and a mere profeffion of religion, fail, ceafe, and vanith away.

y. 16, He is green before the fun, Sc. | Which fome underftand of the ruth or flag, of which a farther account is given, as fetting forth more full the cafe of wicked men and hypocrites; but wa infi-Jeither of thefe do not agree the fituation of it ina garden, the fhooting forth of. its branches, and the height of it, and its ftrikine its roots dee in ftor places: Cocce‘us interprets A of the pa. or he before which the flag withers, ¥. 12 but the’ | ™ objections, or mott of pri lie acdinitiabet alee: tojrather, from the defcription of it 2 tall 1 eee di-Jis defigned, to which hypocrites e sleeta =. rifhing circumftances are compared, and yet ‘come to nothing, P/. xxxvii. 353 30 thats, en in its leaves, and looks beautiful, fo they iss acento them-Jof religion, which is like green leaves without ui they make in it a fair thew in the flefh, take and trim the lamp of a profesliaeds enakigeinae a= bright and fair for a time; or, like a tree full of gy. 15. He fhall lean upon bis houfe, &c.| Either te gines himfelf fafe; which is only making flefh his..

fap, or juicy’; or, as Mr. Broughton renders it, juiceful, denoting, not a fulnefs of the fpirit andj his grace, or of faith, hope, love, ec. and of|p righteoufnefs and goodnefs, but of outward rity, having as much as heart could with, great plenty of good things laid up for many years: and this tree is. faid to be green and juicy the fun either in.the prefence, and through the in-l fluence of it, as hypocrites flourifh; gious way, while the fun of profperity fhines upon them, and no longer; or openly and publickly, the fight of all men, as this phrafe is ufed, 2 Sam. xii. 11, 12. and as fuch men do, in the view of men, profeffors and profane, doing all they do be feen of men, and before whom they are outwardly righteous, and reckoned good:men; or, before the fun rifes, as the Yargum and Aven Ezra, fo hypocrites flourifh, before the fun of perfecution arifes and {mites them, becaufe of their and then they drop it; fee Matt. xiii. 6, 21. and bis branch fhooteth forth in bis garden, or over* it; and branch may be put for branches, which in-a flourifhing tree fpread themfelves to cover’a-confiderable piece of ground: Mr. Broughton renders it, and bis fuckers fprout over his orchard; all which may denote the increafe of a wicked man, in his family, in his wealth and fubftance, and particu- Jarly in his pofterity, which are as branches fuckers from him; and Si/ded, if thefe are his own words, may have.refpect to fob, and to his large fubftance and number of.children- he had in his profperity, when he had an hedge fet about him, and was inclofed as in a garden: and whereas the church of God is fometimes compared to a garden, Cant. iy..12. it. agrees very well with hypo-jall crites, who have a place there, and are called hypocrites in Sion, where they have a name, andjand flourith for.a while: many interpreters, both Fewi and Chriftian.™, interpret this, and what follows, of truly righteous and good men undervafflictive providences,. who. notwithftanding «continue, are not the worfe, but the better for them; their leaf of profeffion is always greez, and. withers’ not; and that defore the fun, even of adverfity and affliction; and though that beats upon them, and fimites them feverely, they are like green olive trees, or the cedars of God, full of fap, full of the grace of God,; and:continually fupplied'with it;’and:fo patiently endure temptation and affliction, bear the heat and burden of the day, and arenot careful in the year of drought; fee Cant.i. 6. Pf. lit. 8. Fer. xvii. 8. fuch are planted in the garden and houfe of the Lord by himfelf, and fhall never-be rooted up; where their branches fpread and they grow. in grace and in the knowledge of all divine things, and are filled with the fruits of righteoufnefs.

y. 17. His roots are wrapped about the beap, &c.] The heap of ftones where the tree ftands; it {trikes its roots among them, and implicates and twifts them about them, and fecures itfelf and grows up notwithftanding them: and this exprefles the feeming ftable ftate and condition of hypocrites for a feafon, who not only flourifh, but feem to take root; and who maintain their:ground: amid{ft _fome difficulties, this fitly agrees with, and deferibes fuch hearers of the word, and profeffors of religion, comparable to the feed fown on ftoney ground, Mast. xiii. 5,6, 20. 21. and he feeth the ace of ftones; or, the houfe of fones"; a houfe built profpe-jof ftonés, high and ftately; yet this tree rifes higher andjthan that, overtops and overlooks it; and is reprefented as viewing it thoroughly, or looking down défore upon it, and all around it, being fo high and fo preading; the Targum renders it implicateth the even in a reli-jhoufe ot ftones; platteth, as Mr. Broughton, ot twifts about them, and fo many of the Jewifh wriinjtets;» but this feems to be defigned in the former’claufe: all this fuits wery well with good allimen, whofe roots are wrapped about the fountain®, tolas the words may be rendered; about the love of God, in which they are rooted and grounded, and are like trees planted by rivers of water, the river of divine love, which refrefhes, revives, and makes {them fruitful; and about Chrift, the fountain of profeffion,)gardens and well of living waters; in whom they are rooted and built up, increafe, flourifh, and are eftablifhed; and though they are among ftones, and attended with many diffieulties, yet they abide and furmount all; believe in hope againft hope, and fee and enjoy, yea even dwell in the houfe of ftones, the church of God, built on a rock, againft which the gates of hell cannot prevail.

y. 18. If be deftroy him from bis place, &c.] If andjthe fun when he is rifen {trikes the tree with fuch vehement heat that it withers and utterly perifhes from the place where it grew; or roots it up, fo the Targum and Nachmanides, or, if God deftroys the hypocrite from his place, or he is by one means or another removed out of the garden, the church, being detefted and reje¢ted by good men; or from his worldly enjoyments, his honour, credit, ‘and efteem with men, which are all precarious, fickle, inconftant; or out of the world, being cut h'|down as a cumber-ground: then it fall deny him, {aying, J bave not feen thee; thatis, either the tree fhall deny that it ever was planted in fuch a place, andjor’ rather, the place fhall deny that the tree ever was planted there; the fenfe is, that it fhall be fo utterly deftroyed, that neither root nor branch fhall be left, nor any thing to fhew that it ever grew there; its place fhall know it no more, fee ch. vii. 10, arid xx. g. or God fhall deny the hypocrite, and ay he never faw him nor knew him; he never belonged to him, nor was under his care; he never looked upon him with a look of love, grace, and mercy; he never had:any delight ‘and pleafure in him, nor regarded him as one of his; he was no tree of his planting, watering, and keeping, fee Matt. vii. 23. this feems moft difficult to accommodate to a good man, and thofe who carry it that way feem to be moft puzzled with this; fome render it, /hall be be fwallowed; or, fhall any one fwallow him up’; deftroy, or root him out of his place? none fhall: the root of the righteous cannot be moved, nor they from that; not from the eyerlafting love of God, in which they are rooted, nor from Chrift, in whom they are fixed: others underftand this of the digging up of a tree, and tranfplanting ‘it to another place, where it grows as well, or better; and fo the people of God, though they have many ftripping providences, and are removed from place to place, and from one conditi to another, fo that their former ftate and place know them no more; yet all things work together tempt; he will not caft him out of his covenant, which is ordered in all things and fure; nor out of - for their good. the hands of his Son, where he has put him, and y.19. Bebold, this is the joy of his.way, &c.] Of the ftate and condition of the hypocrite, who, whilft he is in outward profperity, exults and rejoices, but his joy is but fhort, it is but for a moment, ch xx. 5. and this is what it comes to laft, and iffues in, even entire deftruétion from his place; which, becaufe it may feem ftrange and wonderful, and is worthy of notice and confideiation, as well as to exprefs a certainty of it, the word bebold is prefixed; though this alfo is underftood by fome, of good men who have much fpirituallor joy in their prefent ftate and condition, be it what it will; they have joy and peace in believing, even joy unfpeakable, and full of glory; they have joy in the Lord, and in his ways in which they walk, from whence none can pluck; nor out of his family, where the fon abides for ever; or fo as to perith eternally, this would be contrary to his love, to his fore-knowledge, and to his covenant; fo far atfis he from it, that he has the greateft regard for fuch, delights in them, admits them to nearnefs to himfelf, fets them as a feal on his heart, keeps them as the apple of his eye, and preferves them fafe to his kingdom and glory: xeizher will be help. the evd doers; meaning, not every one that does evil, fins, but fuch who live in fin, make a trade of f{tnning, are frequent and conftant in’ the commiffion of it; fuch God will not help, or take by the 4end*, in order to deliver from evil, as Gerfom ob- {erves; to help them ‘out of mifchief and trouble when they have trouble in the world; they rejoice and even glory in tribulation, and are chearful be they where they will, though removed from their native place and country; and efpecially this will be their cafe, when they are tranfplanted from earth their fins have brought upon them; or to ftrengthen them, fupport and uphold them in their prefenc circumftances; and much lefs, fo as to admit them to -fdllowfhip, and communion with him: thefe words, with what follow, are Bildad’s conclufion to heaven, the better and heavenly country: avd out of the earth foall others grow; in their room and upon the fayings and fentiments of the antients, which may be fuppofed, and are thought by fome, ftead; where the tall, flourifhing tree once ftood, but now utterly deftroyed, other trees fhould grow; fignifying, either the children of the hypocrites and wicked men, that fhould fpring up in their place and imitate them, and come to the fame end; of rather, fuch’ as were ftrangers to them, to end at the preceding verfe, > ay

¥. 21. Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing. Dire&ting himfelf to Fob; and fuggefting, that.if he was a perfeét, fincere, and upright man, Godwould not caft hint away utterly, but help him out of his prefent circum- that fhould inherit their fubftance and eftates; and it may be good men that fhould fucceed them, come into the poffeffion of all their wealth, even fuch as were before in mean circumftances, and fo ftances, and reftore him to profperity; and not andjleave him, until he had filled his heart with fo much joy, that his mouth and lips being alfo full mayjof it, fhould break forth in ftrong expreffions of it, be faid to come out of the earth: it may be rendered, out of another duft or earth fhall they grow"; fignifying, that the wicked fhould be utterly de- and in the moft exulting ftrains, as if it was a time of jubilee with him; fee Pf. cxxvi. 2. but Bildad tacitly infinuates that 7ob was not a perfect and ftroyed, they and theirs; and that fuch as were of another family, and as it were of another and country, fhould ftand in their place; fee ch. xxvii. 16, 17. this may be interpreted of good men, who, though they die, others are raifed up in ftead; God will have a feed to ferve him, as as the fun and moon endure; tho’ they are forced to fly from their native place, being perfecuted ftrange cities, or removed into the heavenly regions, yet God raifes up others to fill up their places, and oftentimes out of other families, even of the ungodly, to fupport his caufe and intereft; and underttanding the whole of truly righteous perfons, feems beft to connect the fenfe with the good man, but an evil-doer, whom God had caft earthjaway and would not help; and this he concluded from the diftreffed circumftances he was now in 5 which was no rule of judgment, and a very unfair’ theirjway of reafoning, fince love and hatred are not to longjbe known by outward profperity and adverfity £ccl. ix. 1. Bar Tzemach interprets Jaaghing as a tojhis own goodnefs, and rejoicing as at the evil of the wicked. Fe y. 22. Dhey that bate thee foall be clothed ob /hame, &c.] The Chaldeans and Sabeans, who had plundered him of his fubftance, when they fhould fee him _ reftored to his former profperity, beyond fol-jall hope and expectation, and themfelyes liable to lowing words. his refentment, and under the difpleafure of provi:

¥. 20. Bebold, God will not caft away a perfed man, &ec.] A -fincere, upright, good man; one that is truly gracious; who, though he is not perfec in himlelf, yet in Chrift; and though not with refpect to fanétification, which is as yet imperfect in him, yet’with refpect to juftification, being perfectly jultified by the righteoufnefs of Chrift, and all his fins pardoned for his fake: fuch an one God will never ca/t away, not out of his fight, being engraven on the palms of his hands, nor out of his heart’s love; or will not /oath* him, as the Yardence: the phrafe denotes utter cénfufion and fuch as is vifible as the cloaths upon a marie -bagdeb fee Pf cxxxii. 18. and the dwelling-place of the: wicked hall come to nought; or, fhall not be fhall be no more; be utterly deftroyed, and: Bo eee built up again; even fuch dwelling-places ‘they fancied would continue for ever, - and perpetuate. their names to the lareft pofterity; but the curfe of God being in them, and upon them, they aiaete nothing, and are no more: thus ends Bélded’s fpeech; Yod’s anfwer to it follows. = —° - gum, or reject him with abhorrence and con-. Oi OOM, friends, and infifts upon it, that God afflicts both

Si ih HIS and the following chapter contain 70d’s anfwer to Bildad, and in this he afferts the {trict juftice of God; which is fuch, that no man can be juft in his fight, not being able to anfwer to one charge, or for one fin; of a thoufand he is guilty of, ¥. 1—3. and that fuch are his wifdom and power, that the moft daring man cannot expect to fucceed in an oppofition to him, y. 4. inftances are given of his power in the works of nature and providence, ¥. 5—10. notice is taken of the imperceptiblenefs of his actions and motions, and of his fovereignty in all his ways, ¥. r1, 12. and of his fierce wrath and anger, which is fuch as obliges the proudeft of men to ftoop under him; and therefore Fob chofe not to contend in a judicial way with him, but in a fuppliant manner would intreat him, fince his hand was fo heavy upon him, y. 13—21. he affirms, in direct oppofition to Bildad and his themfelves, and with refpeét to their own righteoufnefs: for, to de ju/t, is not to be fo through an infufion of righteoutnefs and ‘holinefs into men, which in the beft of men is their fanctification and not their juftification; but this is a law-term, and ftands oppofed to condemnatien, and fignifies a man’s being adjudged and pronounced righteous in a judiciary way; fo a man cannot be adjudged, reckoned, or accounted by God upon the foot of works of righteoufnefs done by him; fince his beft works are imperfeét, not anfwerable to the law, but very defective, and fo not juftifying 5 are oppofite to the grace of God, by which, in an evangelic fenfe, men are juftified; thefe would encoutage boafting, which is excluded in God’s way of juftifying finners; and could juftification be by them, the death of Chrift would be in vain, and there would have been no need of him and his juftifying righteoufnefs: efpecially, it is a certain thing, that a man can never be ju/t, or juftified with Ged, in fuch a way, or through any righteoufnefs wrought out by him; that is, either, he is not and cannot be juft in comparifon of God; for, if the inhabitants of the heavens are not pure in his fight, the holy angels; and if man, at his beft eftate, was altogether vanity when compared with him, what mutt finful mortals be? or not be juft at his bar; fhould he mark their iniquities, enter into judgment with them, or an action againft them, fummon them before him to anfwer to charges he has to exhibit; they could not fland before him, or go off acquitted or difcharged: orin his account; for his judgment is according to truth; he can never reckon that a perfect righteoufnefs which is an imperfect one: or in his fight; for, though men may be juft in comparifon of others, or at an human bar, in an human court of judicature, and in the account of men, and in their fight, to whom they may appear outwardly righteous, as well as in their own fight; yet not in the fight of God, who fees all things, the heart and all in it, every action, and the {pring of it; fee Pf. cxliii. 2. Rom. iii. 20. in this fenfe, a man can only be juft with. God thro’ the imputation of the righteoufnefs of Chrift, accounting that to him, putting it upon him, and. cloathing him with it, and fo reckoning and pronouncing him righteous through it; and which is entirely confiftent with the juftice of God, fince by it the law is fulfilled, magnified, and ‘made honourable, and juftice fatisfied; fo that God is juft, whilft he is the juftifier of him that believes in Fefus, Rom. iii. 26.

¥. 3. If he will contend with him, &c.| If God will contend with man, fo Sephorno, enter into a controverly with him, litigate and difpute the point in law, whether he is juft or no, man cannot an~ {wer to the allegations he will produce; or if man fhould contend with God, a pottherd ftrive with its maker, to what purpofe would it be? he could never avail himfelf by fuch a procedure; the match is unequal, there is no ftriving or contending with God in a judicial way: be cannot anfwer bim one of a thoufand; which fome underftand, that God will not anfwer men; he will not vouchfafe to give an an- {wer to fuch that plead with him, or talk with him the righteous and the wicked; yea, gives the earth to the latter when he flays the former, ¥. 22—24. he then obferves the fhortnefs of his days, and complains of his heavy afflictions, ¥. ¢5—28. and con cludes, that it was in vain for him to expect his caufe to be heard before God, there being no daysman between them; and wifhes that the dread of the divine majefty might be taken from him, and then he would freely and without fear fpeak unto him, y. 1. Then Fob anfwered and faid,| Without taking notice of Bi/daa’s harfh expreffions and fevere cenfures, or his unfriendlinefs to him; he enters directly into the argument, grants fome things, confutes others, and defends hinifelf and his conduct.

¥. 2. I know it is fo of a truth, &c.] That is, that God is juft, and does not pervert juftice and judgment, as Bildad had obferved, ch. viii. 3. Yod was a man of great natural parts and capacity; he had a large fhare of knowledge of things, natural, civil, and moral; and he was a good man, in whom the true light of grace fhined; and being enlightened by the ipirit of wifdom and revelation, in the knowledge of divine things, he knew much of God, of his being and perfeétions, and of the methods of his grace, efpecially in the juftification of nien, as appears by various paffages in this chapter; he knew that God was juft and holy in all his ways and works, whether of providence or grace; and this he kept in fight amidft all his afflictions, and was ready to acknowledge it: he knew this of a truth; that is, moft certainly; for there are fome truths that are fo plain and evident that a man may be affured of, and this was fuch an one with Fod; he had no need to be inftruéted in this article; he was as knowing in this point, as well as in others, as Bildad or any of his friends; nor did he need to be fent to the ancients to enquire of them, or to prepare himfelf for the fearch of the fathers, in order to acquire the knowledge of this, to which Bildad had adviled: yet, though this was fo clear a point, about which there was no room for farther conteft; du¢ then the matter is, how fhould man be juft with God? if not angels, if not man in his belt eftate, in which he was vanity when compared with God; then much lefs frail, feeble, mortal, finful men, even the beft of men, confidered in Jof his judgments in providence, or pretend to vindicate them{elves, their ways, and their works, before: him; but this fenfe feems contrary to Fer. xii. 1, 5

- 4 = o T 246 wy ©.S. Chix. ¥e4; 52 ]:,: Ezek, xviii. 25. but the meaning is, that man cannot anfwer God; either not one man out of a thgufand, that is, none at all; unlefs, by.one ofa thouland, is meant the interpreter, on¢é among a thoufand, even the Meffiah, the chiefeft among ten thoufand; the one man of a thoufand, Solomon found upon fearch $ fee Job xxxiii. 23. Cant. v. 10, Eccl. vii. 28. he indeed has made himfelf refponfible for his people; as their furety, and was able to anfwer for them; and he has anfwered for them, and niade fatisfaction for their fins; it was exacted, or required, that is, a full payment of their debts, of a plenary Satisfaction for their fins, and be anfwered, according to J/. lili. 7. but rather the fenfe is, that a man cannot anfwer, either one time of a thoufand ", or one argument to one article exhibited, or to one objection or charge of a thoufand brought againft him by the law orjuitice of God; thatis, forone fin of a thoutand he has committed; fo Mr. Brougbton renders it, to one thing of a thoufand™; this fugeetts that the fins of men are numerous their debts are many, they are more than ten thoufand talents, which they are not able to anfwer to, or pay off, no not one of them; their iniquities are more than the hairs of their head, they cannot be underftood or reckoned: and now a man cannot anfwer for one of a thoufand, or the millions:ot fins he is guilty of 5: he cannot deny them, he cannot excufe.them, he cannot make fatisfaction for any one of them; they-are committed againft: an infinite Being, and. require an ‘infinite fatisfaction, which man cannot«give; they are violations of a Jaw, and injuries to divine juftice, that no man is able to atone for; whatever obedience he is capable of, or does perform, God has a prior right unto it, and therefore can never anfwer for former tranfereffions; this being the cafe, finful man cannot be juft with God upon the foot of his works, which is the thing this obfervation is made to illuftrate:

is the Almighty; he has a mighty arm and ftrong rand; and unle/s a man had a ftrong arm like him, ris own right hand can never fave him, or his own - ighteoufnels juftify him; wherefore, to what purpofe is it for a feeble man to contend and ftrive with fhould- they come together in judgment?’ and what a vain thing muft it be to fet a time for it, fince, if we fpeak of ftrength, lo he is ftrong? fee y. 19, 32. and ch. xl. g—14. who hath hardened himfelf againft him, and bath profpered? either by behavin proudly and infolently to him, as Pharaoh, Sennarherib, and others, by {peaking hard words againft him, as the Yews in the times of Malachi; and fuch hard fpeeches ungodly finners utter againft God, Chrift, his gofpel, ordinances, people, ways} and ‘worfhip, of which they will be convinced, and. for which they will be condemned at'the laft jud _ ment; and by bold and daring aéts of fin, running pon the thick bofies of his buckler, giving themfelvesyup to commit all uncleannefs with greedinels. and making a covenant with hell and an abresment. with death, and fo'think themfelves {af and fecure ceeded as they promifed themfelves, buf"¢ame to ruin and deftruction: or bad peace*, or found quiefnefs,as Mr. Broughton: there is no peace to wicked men, true, folid? peace, either here’ or’ heteafter when they cry: Pah ctyton Prout themfelves much of it, deftruétion comes;"and if God *¥fets’ home the guilt of fin upon their confciences, the load of it is intolerable; it finks them into defpair, and what then will be the worm that diethnot? ¥. 5. Which removeth the mountains, &e.] eTh * and what follow are inftances of the power of God and are full proofs of his being mighty in ftrength; and may be underftood, either literally, ‘not onl: of what God is able to do if he will, but of what he has done; and hiftory’ furnifhes us with inman’s obedience is fo fhort, and God’s command-|} ment or law fo very broad, that thefe two can never be brought to meet, agree together, or anfwer to one another; and therefore it may be ftrongly concluded thata man is juftified, if ever he is at allin thefight of God, by faith in Chrift and his righteoufnefs, without the deeds of the law, tances of mountains being removed from one place to another; and Scheuchzer* makes mention of 4 village in Helvetia,-called Plurium, which, in 1618 was covered with the fudden fall of a mouncain juftifiedjand fwallowed up in the earth, with 1800. thRALAC tants, and not the leaft trace of it to be feen any more; and in the facred’ feriptures is a prediction of Maik

Rom. ii. 28. mount of Olives being removed from its place, one

¥.4. He is wifelin heart, &c.] Originally, effentially, truly, really, and perfectly fo; he is the only, and the allwife'God; his underftanding is infinite; he is able to traverfe all the fchemes of men, in things civil or religious, and difappoint all their devices; for though there be ever fo many of them, or be ever fo deeply laid; the counfel of the Lord, that fhall ftand;

underftanding, ' or counfel againft him; and therefore it is in vain to contend with him: he is fo wife and knowing, that he fees and knows all that is in man, or is: done by him, whether in public or in private; there is not athought in his heart, nor word’on his tongue, nor:an action in his life and converfation, but whatvhe is thoroughly acquainted with; and every one of thefe he will bring into judgment: how therefore is it poffible that finful men fhould be juft in the fight‘of fach a ‘wife and: half to the north and the other to the fouth, Zech, xiv. 4. and ‘fofephus* gives a relation much like it, as in fact; befides, Fob’ may have refpect to what had been done in his times, or before them, and particularly at the univerfal deluge, which Cover the tops of the higheft’ ‘mountains and hills, and very probably wafhed away fome from their lacee for there isno wifdom, jorelic it may be underftood proverbially, Me ie Lord’s doing things marvellous and furptifin and which are impoffible and impracticable ee He fee Mast. xvii. 20. 1 Cori xiii. 2.!or rather fie 3 tively; of kingdoms and mighty kings, as the Taralgwm, comparable to mountains fot'their héig t and ftrength, who yet are removed by God’ at his pleafure 5: fee Zech. iv. 7. Rev. xvi.Zo. and they | ] #or-, when they are removed, ‘and how'it is done j it is’ imperceptible’; either he iba ae holy Henfible of it, - or the inhabitants of the’‘mountains, him? and fince he is not a man, as’ he is, how.

at all events; but fuch never profpered and fuc- ©

Being, upon the fcore “of his own righteoufhefs? and mighty in flrength; he is the moft mighty; he as. Bar Tzemach; ‘or men, the ‘common fort of ~~ men, ‘the multitude, as’ Gerfom:"R. Saadiab Gaon interprets it/of removing the men of the ‘mountains, dnd they know it not: which overturneth them in his anger, for the fins of men, which was the’ cafe of the old world: Mr. Broughton renders it, that men cannot mark bow be bath removed them out of their place in bis anger.

before, or about’ the time of Jods or rather,» i¢ refers to the‘ general’ flood, “in the times of when it rained’ forty days and forty nights, during which time’the fan appeared‘not, and fo feerned as from its being expanded, fpread, and ftretched out, jover the earth and all around it; and feems chiefly to defign the zther or atmofphere;. which is a fine, thin matter and fubftance {fpread around us, and which is fometimes fpread with clouds; this is {aid to be {tretched out like a curtain and a tent to dwell in, tents being made of curtains fpread out, J/. xl: 21. and the allufion may be toa military tent, the pavilion ofa general of an army, as Pineda ob- {erves, from whence’ Jehovah plays his artillery alupon his enemies, thunder, lightening, hailftones, thatjand. coals of fire fee Pf xviii. rr—14. this ref{peéts not fo much the firft creation, or fpreading of the air or the heavens, as the continuance thereof; God continues to ipread them, er to keep them /{pread, that they may not be rolled up as a fcroll, flood, jor folded up as a garment, as they will be, Hed. i. 12. and this he does alone, without the help of any creature, angels or men; any piece of tapeftry fuggeftsjor carpet, that is large, is not eafily fpread alone 5 but what power muft the vait expante of the heavens require, to be fpread alone and continued fo? nothing lefs than infinite; fee J. xliv. 24. fome ren- /der it which boweth the beavens*, as the fame word is rendered’in P/. xviii. gs which he does when he ~ |}fills them with clouds, fo that they feem to hang low, and to be inclined towards the earth: and tveadeth upon the waves of the fea*; which he did at the firft creation, when the waters that covered the face of the earth were, by his order, colle¢ted into. 4baz,injone place, and there fhut up, and reftrained from rifles overHowing the earth andowhich reftraint, “as is an acty of power over them, is defigned by treading upon’ them, and: a-continued a& may ‘be the rather meantoheres fee Gen. i. 8, 9. Fob'xxxviiid 10, 11. Fer.v. 221 and when:the waves of it lare with clouds in lifted up as high as they fometimes. are, by ftrong toge- and ftormy winds, the Lord on high is mightier than they,*he treads upon:themand reprefles'them; he rules their raging, itills theirnoife, and makes which was a littlejthem fimooth, calm, and quiet, Pf. Ixv. ‘7. and Ixxxix. 9. ‘and xeiii.. 3, 4. ‘this none ‘but God. can Joab, do: the-£gyptian hieroglyphic’ of ‘doing’ a’ thing impoffible, ‘was a man’s walking upon water®; the heathens chofe not'to deferibe even their god: of the

¥. 6. Which foaketh the earth out of ber place, &c.] Cando it, and will do’ ir at the laft day, when it fhall be utterly broken down, clean diffolved, and réel to‘and fré like a drunkard, andj be removed%as a cottage, and’ which ¥obx in vifion faw flee away from the prefence of him fat upon the throne, J/. xxiv. 19; 20. Rev. xx, 11. for this cannot be underftood of earthquakes in common, which are only partial, and don’t remove the earth out of its plac, only fhake fome parts of it; and this may alfo refer to the time of the when the earth received fome change and alteration in its fituation, as Mr. Burnet in his Theory of the Earth obferves; and the apoftle Peter fomething of this kind, when he diftinguifhes 'the prefent earth from the former, which he fays ftood out of the water and in‘it, but the prefent earth not fo, but is referved for fire, 2 Pet. iii. 5,6, 7. and the pillars thereof tremble; the center or lower parts of it, fee Pf. Ixxv. 3.

¥. 7. Which commandeth the fun, and it rifetb not, &c.] Either he could do it if he would, by a - word fpeaking, as he ordered it to ftand ftill in the times of ‘fo/hua, and caufed ‘the fhadow to return ten degrees it had gone back in the dial of the times of Hezekiah; or elfe the fenfe is, it not at' any “other time and place but when and it where‘he conimands it; or he commands it not to rife in the fame place at one time of the year as.at another, ‘and it rifés not; of this may be underftood of eclipfes, ’ oF of its being: covered: tempefttious weather for a confiderable time ther, when it*feems a$ if it was not rifen’:’ fome think this refpects’the three days’ darknefs in Azypt, when the Hraclites were there;

fea; Neptune, by walking’on it, as being too great telates, from the memoirs ‘of ‘the Egyptians, that the fun ‘rofe four times out ofits ‘ufual ‘courfe; twice it’ rofe’ where’ it ‘now fets,- and twice where it now rifes: and fealeth up the ‘fiars’; either by the ‘light ‘of ‘the fun ‘inthe day-time,° which hides then that ‘they’ aré* not vifible, or’by dark clouds arid temhpeftuous weather'in the night; fuch a feafon as that was in whieh: the ‘apoftle Paul and the mariners with“ him weré,? when neither-fun nor ftars appeared for many days; Aé/s'xxvii. 20. fo the Targdm paraphrales “it, ced <* fealeth”up ars with clouds’;” ‘this *nvay alforrefer to the time of the flood, during the® rain“of forty. days and mights, Ger. vii.{4—1 2. or to! the’-annual: motion of the fun throweh ‘the’ ot ee the} 32.: point of the 'fun’s'rifing ‘at “fetting vary, ‘and is the reafOd whyfome fars appear! in fummer and dré fealed up in winter, “and othersthat are feen-in winter’ dre hot-vifible in furnmer’s ‘and fo»Cocceius inderprees ge, YO2 OTD garni) (oo:

for him; but by fwimming '; of Chrift’s walking: upon, the’ fea, fee Matt; xiv. 25. ‘it may-be ren- “it fet dered, the bigh places of ‘the Seas the waves “of. it, when mounted to a great height: by the wind); “fo Mr. Broughton, the high waves. of the fea, fee Pf. cvii. 25, 26. there is a copy, as the lefler Ma/orab obferves, which reads, upom tbe bigh places of the cloud*, fee If, xiv. 14. and.Gerfom interprets thefe high places, of the heavens, and of God’s giving andjrain from-thence. 1m Q9 3d MUIR. 90 the) yg. Which maketh Aréurus, &e.) By which is meant'not’a fingle ftar, but a collection of ftarsy as Bar Tzemach and Ben Melech, a conttellationy hence weitead ‘of Aréurus and his fons, ch. xxxviiiy dbem Ezra underftands it of the feven ftars,? but thefe’are thought to be meant by the Pleiades,: after mentioned;. this ‘conftellation’ is»about: the Arctic or’ northern. pole, in the tail of ‘the »bear, appears! in'the beginning’ of September, ’and \brings ftovrmy -weather, when winter’ is at-hand4 Origa, and Pliades; the former of thefe alfo. is: nota’

= iB. With alone (preaderb-out the heavens, 80.4,: Phe <expaiiey or what wé'¢ommonly tranflate’ frmamebt; but has its name in the Hebrew language, fingle ftar, but.a conftellations by the help of a tele- {cope no lefs than 200 are numbered, and in He- brew it is called Cefil; hence the month Ciflee bas its name, which anfwers to part of November and part of December, at which time this conftellation is feen, and is attended with ftormy weather; hence Virgil calls it Nimbofus Orion’:

what we call the Seven Stars, fometimes by writers called Vergilie, becaufe they appear in the had a ‘concern in all that befel him, but he could neither fee nor comprehend him, nor account for his dealings with him: he had paffed Zy him in his ftate of nature, and had looked gracioufly on him, and the latter are)and had faid unto him live; he had paffed on from him, and hid his face fo that he could not fee him, pring;

and have their name of Pleiades from failing, be- nor find him backward nor forward, on the righthand, nor on the left, where he ufed to work, fee fhips; though fome fay this conftellation is not favourable to them, caufing rains and tempefts *; thefe three divide the whole year: and the chambers of the fouth; the ftars in the fouthern hemifphere, about the 4ntaraic, or fouthern pole; and called chambers, as Aben Ezra obferves, becaufe hidden, and are not feen by thofe in the other hemiiphere, as if they were in a chamber: now the making of thefe is rightly afcribed to God, who made all the ftars, Gen. i. 16. though this may rather regard the continuance of them in their being, who calls them by name, brings out their hoft by number, direéts their courfe, keeps them in their orbs, and preferves their influence. ( y. 10. Which doth great things paft finding out, &c.} In heaven and earth 3 great as to quantity and quality, not to be thoroughly fearched out fo as to tell their numbers, nor explain and exprefs the nature of them to the full; even what he has done, and does in creation, providence and grace: yea, and wonders without number fach as are amazing to men, who cannot account for them, and fo many, that they cannot number them. The fame things are faid by Eliphaz, ch. v. g. where fee the note; and which eb here repeats to fhew, that he agreed with him, and was ready to own what was truth, whenever expreffed by him or his friends, and efpecially fuch as made for the glory of the divine Being.

v.11. Lo, he goeth by me, and I fee him not, &c.] This is expreffive of the invifibility of God; for though the angels in heaven always behold his face, and men in the works of creation, may fee his eternal power and Godhead, and other perfections of it difplayed therein; and faints by faith have a comfortable and delightful view of him, of his countenance, his love, grace and mercy in his word and ordinances, and efpecially in the face and perfon of Chrift, the image of the invifible God, and will in heaven moft clearly fee him as he is, in the greater difplay of his glory, and his grace; yet his effence is invifible, not only not to be feen with corporeal eyes, but not to be comprehended in the mind: he pajfeth on alfo, but I perceive him not, this going and paffing on, as afcribed to God, mutt be underftood in confiftence with his omniprefence; he cannot be thought to move from place to place who is every where, who fills heaven and earth with his prefence, and there is no going from it: local motion cannot be faid of him; but this re- {pects the operations of his providence; he is continually working all around us, by fupporting us in.being, and fupplying us with what we want, and fo is near us, and yet we fee him not: Fob experienced the bounties of his providence, as well as the bleffings of his-grace in the time of his profperity, and now he felt the weight of his afflicting hand upon him; but yet as to his effence, he could not fee him 5 he was fenfible that he was nigh him, and