Exposition of the Whole Bible

I live a dying life, being,in’fuch pain of body, and diftreis of mind; and fo other verfions’: J will leave my complaint upon myfelf, not that he would leave complaining, or lay it afide, though fome * render it to this fenfe; rather give a loofe'to it, and indulge it, than» atcetnpt to eafe himfelf, and give vent to his grief and forrow by it; but it Should be upon bim/elf, a burden he would take upon himfelf, and not trouble others with it; he would not burden their ears with his complaints, but privately and fecretly ucter them to himfelf; for the word * ufed fignifies meditation, private difcourfe with himfelf,.a fecret andinward bemoaning of his cafe; but he did not continue long in this mind, as appears by the following claufe: or fince I can do no other but contplain; if there is any blame in it, Pll take it wholly upon myfelf, complain 1 mutt, let what will be confequence of it, fee ch. xiii, 13, though the phrafe may be rendered, as it is fometimes, within myfelf, {ee Hof. xi. 8. ° and then the fenfe may be, fhall I leave my inward moan within myfelf, and no longer contain? Pll give | myfelf vent; and though I have been blamed for faying fo much as I have, V’ll fay yet more: Z twill [peak in the bitterne/s of my foul, as one whofe life is made bitter, againft whom God had wrote and faid bitter things, and had brought bitter affictions upon him, which had occafioned bitter complaints in him, as well as he had been bitterly ufed by his friends; and amidft all this bitternef3, he is determined to {peak out his mind freely and fully 5,or to fpeak of the ditterne/s‘ of his foul, and declare by words what he in his mind and-body at leaft not at firft, or as foon as the ‘controverfy or contention is begun; when God afflicts, it is either for fin, to prevent it, or purge from it,’ or to bring his people to a fenfe of it, to repent of it, and forfake it, or to try their graces, and make them more partakers of his holinefs; and when good. men, as Fob, are at’a lofs about this, not being confcious of any grofs iniquity committed, or a courfe of fin continued in, it is lawful, and right, and commendable to enquire the reafon of it, and learn, if poffible, the end, defign and ufe of {uch difpenfations.;

yr. 3. Is it good unto thee that thou fbouldeft opprefs? 8c.) This God does not approve of in others; he dehorts men from it, he threatens to, punifh thofe that do fo, and to be a fwift witnefs againft them; he promites to arife to the help of the opprefled, and to bea refuge for them, and -herefore will never do the fame himfelf; it can never be pleafant to him, nor right and juft in his fight, nor is it of any advantage to him: od here ugeefts, that his afflictions were an oppreffion to him, and indeed no affliction is joyous, but grievous; and fometimes the hand of God preffes hard and fore, bat then there is no injury nor any injuftice done, as the word * here ufed fignifies; and he intimates alfo, as if God took fome feeming delight and pleafure in thus oppreffing him, and therefore expoftulates with him about it, as if fuch condu& was not fit and becoming him, not agreeable to his perfections, and could afford neither pleafure nor profit. This, and what follows in this verfe, are expoftulations too bold and endured. daring, and in which 70d ufes too much freedom y. 2. I will fay unto God, do not condemn me, &c.] Not that he feared eternal condemnation; there is none to them that are in Chrift, and believe in him as Yoo did; Chrift’s undertakings, fufferings, and death fecure his people from the condemnation of law and juftice; nor indeed are the afflictions of God’s people a condemnation of them, but a fatherly chaftizement, and are in order to prevent their being condemned with the world; yetthey may look as if they were, in the eyes of the men of the world, and they-as very wicked perfons; and fo the word may be rendered, do not account me wicked*, or treat me as a wicked man, by continuing thine afflicting hand upon me; which as long as it was on him, his friends would not believe but that he was a wicked man; wherefore, as God knew he was not fuch an one as they took him to be, he begs that. be would not ufe him as fuch, that fo the cenfure he lay under might be removed; and though he was condemned by them, he intreats that God would make it appear he was not condemned by him: and whereas’ he was not con{cious to himfelf of any notorious wickednefs done by him, which deferved fuch ufage, he farther prays, foew me wherefore thou contendeft with me 5 afflictions are the Lord’s controverfy with his people, a ftriving, a contending with them; which are fometimes fo. fharp, thac were they continued long, the {fpirits would, fail before him, and fouls that he has made: now there is always a caufe or reafon for them, which God has in his own breaft, though it is not always known to man, with the Almighty, and in which he is not fo modeft as in the preceding verfe: that thou fhouldft de/pife the work of thine bands? which he tacitly infinuates he did. ‘40 means himfelf, who as to his body, and the feveral members of it, were the work of God’s hands, curioufly and wonderfully made by him, as is afterwards exprefled; and as to his foul, and the powers and faculties of it, they were his make, who is the Father of fpirits; and moreover, as a new man he was made by him, was the workmanthip of God, and a curious piece indeed, created after his image in righteoufnefs and true holinefs jvand he was in every fenfe the work of his hands, or the labour of bis hands‘; wrought with great care and labour, even with the palms of bis bands, as is the word® ufed; and could Fob think that God de/pifed fuch a work? he who upon a furvey of his works faid they were all very good; who forfakes not the work of his hands, nor defpifes the day of {mall things, could never do this; nor are afflictions to be interpreted — in fuch a manner, as if God was indifferent’ unto, * lighted and thought meanly of what he himflf has wrought; fince thefe are fo far from having fach a meaning, that they flow from that great re- {pect he has for his own’ work, and are for the good of it: and fhine upon the coun/el of the wicked? either the couniel of the wicked one Satan, - the! who moved God to afflict him in the manner he had; or of the Sabeans and Chaldeans, who throve and profpered, notwith{tanding the injury they had done him; or of his friends, who confulted to brand if Feb had obferved, that fince God was omnifcient, and knew and faw all perfons and things, his eyes not being like men’s eyes, eyes of ficth j and fince he was eternal, and wanted not for time, there was no need for him to take fuch methods as he did with him, through afflilive providences, to find out his fin; fince, if he was guilty, it was at once known to him; nor ‘need he be in fuch hafte to do it, fince his time was not fhort; as it is with an envious and ill-natured man, who is for lofing no time to find out and take an advantage of him he bears an ill-will unto. '

¥. 6. That thou enquiref after mine iniquity, and Jearcheft after my fin?| Narrowly examined every action of his lite, to find fomething amifs in them; and took notice of every weaknefs and infirmity, and aggravated it, to make it appear as finful as it could be, and watched every halting and failing, that he might have fomething againft him asa reafon why he afflited him; dealing with him as if there was no Meffiah, no Mediator, Redeemer, and Saviour, provided, appointed, and promifed ¢ and as if there was no forgivenefs of fin through him, for him; fin pardoned for his fake is covered, that when it is fought for it fhall not be found; fo that when it is not pardoned, or not thought to be fo, it lies open, and upon enquiry to be found, charged and punifhed for; fee ch. vii. 21. this fearch and enquiry feerns to have been made by afflictions; at leaft 7od imagined, that the defign of God in them was to put him upon the rack and bring him to a confeffion of fin, and in this way find an occafion againft him: now fuch a method as this, 70d thought, was unbecoming the greatnefs, majefty, and perfections of God; and was quite needlefs, fince his eyes were not human, nor fhort-fighted, that obliged him to pore and pry into things, but were omnifeient, and could fee at once whether there was any evil way in him or no; nor was he as men, fhort-lived, which obliged him to make ufe of his time while he had it, to get an advantage of another; and befides, fuch a method of acting feemed to him very extraordinary, when he full well knew he was an innocent perfon, as

¥. 7. Thou knoweft that I am not wicked, &ec.} Or, in, or upon thy knowledge? it is that I am not wicked; it is a thing well known, quite clear and manifeft, without. making fuch a fearch and enquiry: not that he thought himfelf without fin, and could appeal to the omnifcience of God for the truth of that; for he had confeffed before that he was a finner, and wicked, as to his nature and birth and the many infirmities of life; fee ch. vit. 20. and ix. 29. but that he was not that wicked mutable in his nature, purpofes, promifes, and affections: but od fuggelts as if his difpenfations towards him fhewed the contrary; one day {miling upon him, and heaping his favours on him, and the next frowning on him, and ftripping him of all: but this was a wrong way of judging; for though God may change the difpenfations of his providence towards men, and particularly his own people; his nature changes not, nor does he change his will, his purpofes and defigns, nor his love and affection: are thy years as man’s days? as few as they, or fail like them?

this in fuch fenfe, in connection with what perfon, and an hypocrite, as his friends took hint to be, and as might be concluded from the fore afflictions that were upon him; he did not live in fin, nor indulge himfelf in a vitious courfe of life; fin had not the dominion over him, and he had not fecretly cherifhed any reigning iniquity, and lived in the commiffion of it: and for the truth of this he could appeal to the fearcher of hearts; and yet he fo clofely purfued, and fo ftri€tly examined him as if he fufpected he was thus guilty: and there is none that can deliver out of thine band; that is, our no, he is the fame, andjof his afflicting hand, until he pleafe to releafe him tolfrom it himfelf; for this is not to be underftood of deliverance from the avenging hand of juftice from fome underftand alljhell and wrath, and everlafting deftrugtion; for follows, as there is one that can and does deliver his people his years fail not; and has the fame good will his people, in adverfe, as well as in profperous difpenfations of his providence:

his charaéter with hypocrify; or rather, of wicked men in general, on whofe counfel God may be thought to /hine, when it fucceeds, and God feems to file upon them in his providence, and they are ji profperous circumftances; and have what heart can with, when good men are greatly afflicted; which fometimes has been a temptation, and greatly diftrefling to the latter; fee Pf Ixxiii. 2—14. Fer. xii. 1, 2. but this-is not always the cafe; the counfel of the froward is fometimes carried headlong, the counfel of the wife counfellors of Pharaoh 1s made brutifh, and that of Abitophel was defeated by him; and whenever he feems to countenance it, it is to anfwer fome ends of his glory.

y¥. 4. Hajt thou eyes of flefo? 8&c.] God has eyes, but not flefhly ones; he has eyes of love, grace, and mercy, which are always upon his people for good, and are never withdrawn from them; and he has eyes of difpleafure and wrath on finful men, to deftroy them; thefe are not made of flefh, or like the eyes of flefh and blood, or of men; flefhy eyes cannot fee at any great diftance, and only in one place at a time, and only one object after another; they cannot fee in the dark, and what they are, and only outward objects; and in thefe they are fometimes deceived, and at length fail: but the eyes of God fee all things, at the greateft diftance; he looks down from heaven and beholds all the children of men on earth, and all their actions; his eyes are in every place, -beholding the evil and the good; he can fee in the dark as well as in the light, the darknefs and the light are both alike to him; he beholds not only outward actions, and vifible objects, but the hearts of men, and,all that is in them; nor is he ever deceived, nor will his fight ever fail: though 730d perhaps may mean carnal eyes; that is, evil ones, as efpecially envious ones are; is thine evil? Matt. xx. 15. that is, envious; and it is as if Yod fhould fay, Doft thou envy me my former profperity and peace, that thou fearcheft fo narrowly into my condué& to find iniquity in me, and take advantage againft me? or feeft thou as man feeth? look with hatred and envy, as one man does upon another: fo feemed the difpenfations of God towards Yo, as if he did, as he fuggelts.

¥. 5. Are thy days as the days of man? &c.] No, they are not: not fo few; the days of the years of man’s life in common are threefcore years and ten; but a thoufand years with the Lord are but as one day; his days are days, not of time, but of eternity: nor fo mutable, or he fo mutable in them; man is of one mind to-day, and of another to-morrow; but the Lord is in one mind one day as another; he is the Lord that changes not; im- from fin and Satan; from the world, the, law, its curles and condemnation, and from wrath to come; _ and fo from the hands of juftice, having made full fatisfaction to it: but what Yod oblerves that God knew, was, that neither he himfelf, nor any angel, nor man, nor any creature, could take him out his hand in which he was;

¥. 8. Thine hands have made me, and fafbioned|or me together round about, &cc.) This and what foljow are an illuftration of, and an enlargement upon the work of God’s hands, made mention of in y. 3. and fuggeft reafons why it fhould not be defpifed by him, as well as confirm what was juft now faid, that none could deliver him out of his hands; fince his hands had made him, and therefore had fuch power over him’-as none elfe had: and the whole {eems defigned to move to pity and compaffion of him; for not he himfelf, nor his parents, but only had made him; he was his workmanfhip only, and a curious piece it was, which his hands of power and wifdom had nicely formed; for, though the Son and Spirit of God are not to be excluded from the formation of man, yet it feems a too ftrain of the words to interpret bands of them, as fome do; and much lefs are they to be underftood literally, of the hands of the Son of God, appearing in an human form at the creation of man, fince fuch an appearance is not certain; nor is 0d fpeaking of the formation of the firft man, but of himfelf: the firft word‘, rendered made, has the fignification of labour, trouble, grief, and care; and is ufed of God after the manner of men, who, when things are done well by them, take a great deal of pains, and are very folicitous and careful in doing them,; and from hence is a word which is fometimes ufed for an idol, as Gerfom obferves, becaufe much labour and kill are exercifed to form it in the moft curious and pleafing manner; many interpreters, as Aben Ezra obferves, from the ufe of the word in the Arabic language, explain it of God’s creating the body of man with nerves, by which it is bound, compacted, and ftrengthened*; and the latter word denotes the form and configuration of it, the beautiful order and proportion in which every part is fet; and the whole is intended to obferve the perfection of the human body, and the exquifite ikill of the author of it; and what pity is it that it fhould be fo marred and fpoiled! and this is faid to be made and fafhioned ¢ogetber, or all at once; the feveral parts of it being in the feed, in the embryo, all together, tho’ gradually formed or brought into order; or rather, this denotes the unity and compactnefS of the feveral members of the body, which are fet in their proper place, and joined and fitted together, by joints and bands, and by that which every joint {upplieth: and this is done round about, on all fides, in every part; or, as Mr. Broughton renders it, iz every point; the whole of it, and every member, even the moft extreme and minute, are curioufly formed and fafhioned by the Lord; or rather, thine hands ate together round about me; ofjembracing, fuftaining, and prefetving him ever and therefore fuggetts, fince he was made: yet thou doft deftroy me; this di- body fo extremely well wrought, by boils or ulcers; or /wallow me‘, asa lion, to which he compares him, y. 16. or any other ravenous arid large creature, fee Lam. ii. 2, 5. fome connect the words more agreeable to the accents, yet thou dof? deffroy me together round about’; or on every fide, as in ch. xix. 10. having {mitten him with boils from the crown of the head to the fole of the feet, and tripped him of his fub{tance and his family all at once; and fo it denotes utter deftruction: fome and wilt thou deftroy wallow me*? after thou haft taken fo much pains, and been at fuch labour and treuble, {peaking after the manner of men, to make fuch a cufious piece of work, and yet with one ftroke deftroy it and dafh it in pieces, or fwallow it up as a more {el at once.

not only that his condition was-extremely bad, fireffed, and miferable, but that there was no neceflity for God to be fo quick upon him, and fo ftrié& in his inquiry into him; nor of inclofing him about on all hands with afflictions, fince there was no danger of his efcaping from him, or of others affifting him in, and facilitating fuch an attempt: and this he full well knew; for fo the words are in connection with the preceding 3 and thou knowe/ft chat there is none, &c.” as well as with what follows, as fome think. read the words interrogatively,

¥. 9. Remember, I befeech thee, that thou baft made me as the clay, &c.] Not of the clay, though man was made originally of the duft of the earth, and the bodies of men are houfes of clay, earthen Godjvefféls, and earthly tabernacles, but as the clay; either as the clay is wrought in the hand of the potter, and worked into what form, and made into what veffel he pleafes, fo are men in the hand of God, made by him in what form, and for what greatjufe and end he thinks fics or rather, this denotes not the likenefs of the operation, but the likenefs o the matter of the human body to clay: not for the impurity of ic; for though man is ina ftate and condition comparable to the mire and clay, this he has brought himfelf into by fin, and not the Lord; he made man upright, but man has made himfelf finful and polluted; but for the brittlenefs of it; as a vefiel made of clay is brittle and eafily broke to pieces, and cannot bear much weight, or any heavy {troke; fo the body of man is weak and frail, and feeble; its ftrength is not the ftrength of ftones, and its flefh brafs, but clay: and this 70 humbly intreats the Lord would remember, and that now"; immediately; and deal mildly and mercifully with him, fince he was not able to bear the weight of his hand, which would foon crufh him and break him to pieces; not that God forgets. this, for he remembers man’s frame and compofition, that he is but duft; that he is flefh, and a wind or vapour that pafles away: but he may feem to do fo, when he forely afflicts and his hand lies heavy, and he does not remove it, but continues it, and rather increafes the affliction; and therefore, as the Lord allows his people to put him in remembrance, ‘70d here defires that he would fhew himfelf in his providential dealings with him, that he was mindful of his natural frailty and infirmity; fee ch. vii. 12. P/. Ixxviii. 3. and Ixxxix. 47. and cili. 14. and wilt thou bring me into duft again? to the duft of death; to the original of which he was made; and that fo foon, and at once; or, and unto duft wilt return me? as Mr. Broughton and others’, accord+ ing to the original fentence, duft thou art, and unto e nei og t Be: oe / 260: Mg O B.; Ch. x. ¥.1 O12, duft foalt thou return, Gen, iii, 1g. expected, and will be the cafe of all men, Zec 7. and therefore he thoughe that this might that it was enough that he fhould die in a while through the courfe of nature, and therefore defires he might have fome refpite and eafe whilft he did live; he could not fee there was any occafion to prefs him fo hard, and follow him fo clofe with afflictions one after another, or be fo rough with him and quick upon him; fince in a fhort time his brittle clay would break of itfelf, and fhould drop into the duft and lie mouldering there, as it was of old decreed he fhould.

pared to cloaths which are without a man, and put about him, Porphyry” calls the body the cloathing of the foul; fee 2 Cor. v. 4. the fpiritual cloathing of ob was the righteoufnefs of his living Redeemer, who was to partake of the fame fefh anc blood with him, and ftand on the earth in the fulnels of time, and work out and bring in a righte-! and which 7¢)oufnefs for him, confifting of his obedience “in® life. xii.jin the days of his fleth, and of his fufferings and fuffice;jdeath, or blood, by which he and every believer littlejare juftified, before God; and with haga: | cloathed, fhall not be found naked: and ba/t fene me with bones and finews, the bones are faid by philofophers® to be the fences of the marrow, and the fiefh the covering of them; the bones yare the ftrength and» ftability of the human’ body; the finews or nerves bind arid hold the feveral parts of hejit together, and are of great ufe for its ftrength and motion: the bones, fome of them are’ as pillars to fupport it, as thofe of the legs and thighss and Jothers are of ufe to act for it, offenfively and’ des fenfively, as thofe of the hands andi arms; and others are.a ‘cover and fence of the inward parts,'as the ribs» Guffetius? feems inclined, could: he have found an inftance of the word beingrufed for mak+ curdjing a tent; which it has the:fignification of, 10 have receivejrendered the words, ‘* with bones and fnews, thou haft given me the form: of a tabernacle; or, thou haft made me to be a tent; fo'the human body is. called.a tabernacle, 1 Cor. v. ». and 2 Pet. i. 135 r4. the fkin and flefh being like veils or curtains, which cover; the bones are in the room of ftakes, and fo thisjand the nerves inftead of cords, the breaft and belly a cavity: in a fpiritual fenfe, a believer’s ftrength lies in the grace of Chrift, in the Lord, imagejand in the power of his might; his defencelis the’ whole armour of God provided for him, particularly the helmet of falvation, the fhield of faith, ofjand the breaft-plate of righteoufnefs, with which he is fenced and protected from every {piritual orlenemy; and will God fuffer fuch an one to be de- {troyed, whom he hath taken fuch caresof, both in natural and fpiritual manner? i 7 ops y¥. 10. Haft thou not poured me out as milk, cc. ’ Exprefling, in modeft terms, his conception. from the feed of his parents, comparable to milk, from being a liquid, and for its colour: and crudled me like cheefe? that of the female being mixed with, and heated by the male, is hardened like the of which a cheefe is made, and begins to a form as-that, and becomes an embryo; -and naturalifts * make ufe of the fame expreffions when {peaking of thefe things;-and in this way moft interpreters carry the fenfe of the words but Schultens. obferves that milk is an.emblem of purity and holinefs, fee Lam, iv. 7.

may refpect the original pure formation of man, who came out of his Maker’s hands a, pure, holy, and upright creature, made after his and in his likenefs, created in righteoufnefs. and holinefs, and fo, like milk, pure and white; or rather, the regeneration and fanctification Job perfonally, and which might be very early, as in Yeremiah, John the Baptifi, and others; however, he was filled and adorned with the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God, was wafhed andJa cleanied, and fanctified and juftified; and had his converfation in the world, in all fimplicity, andjOr godly fincerity, being preferved from grofs-enormities in life; was a man that feared God and chewed evil, and had not only the form of nefs, but the power of it; and was eltablifhed and confirmed in and by the grace of God, and was {trong in the exercife of it; and from hence he argues with God, fhould fuch a veffel of grace,Jand whom he had made fo pure and holy, and had confolidated and ftrengthened in a fpiritual and religious way, be crufhed and deftroyed at once. ~ ¥. 11. Thou haft clothed me with fkin and flefb, &c.] The bones with flefh, which is the undergarment, and the flefh with fkin, which is the upper; which is artificially compofed of curious little arteries, veins, nerves, and glands, through the blood continually circulates, and through numerable pores, and tran{pires, of which pores 125,000 may be covered with a fmall grain of fand ’, amazing! Yimeus Locrus” calls them fible little mouths; fee Ezek. xxxvii. 6, the order of generation feems to be obferved; after the femen is hardened and confolidated, the inward parts are formed, and then the outward parts, the flefh and fkin, to protect and defend them;

y.12, Thou boft granted me life and favour, 8¢.]. ives*; natural life; both in the womb, where and when he was quickened, and at his birth, when ef-jhe was brought into the world, and begam-to live godli-Jin it; the rational foul may be intended, by which he lived; which, when created and infufed into man, and united to his body, he becomes a living man; it is the prefence of that which caufes life, the abfence or removal of. that which caufes fojdeath; and this is a grant or gift’ from God, who gives to all his creatures life and breath, and all things; fee Job xxxiii. 4. Ads xvii. 25. and is a favour alfo; a mercy, the chief of mercies; it is more than meat; yea all a man has he will give for his life: befides this, ‘fod had a fpiritual life, a principle of it implanted in him; God had quickwhichjed him when dead in trefpaffes and fins; the {pirie in-Jof life from Chrift had entered into him, and he ~ was become a living fpirirual man: this likewife was a grant from God, a freegrace-gift of his; it invi-fis he that gives the living water, and gives it freely, or it would not be grace; for it isa favour which flows from the free grace and good will of God; it is owing to the great love wherewith he loves men, that he quickens them; his time is a and fo are com-jtime of love, and fo of life; and éternal life is the confequent of this, and is infeparably conneéted with it; and ¥od had an intereft in it, a right usto it, and a meetnefs for it; he had winiaeeeaten faith in it, and hope of enjoying it, and knew that— after death he fhould live this life; fee ch. xix. 26, 27. and this is a gift of God.through ie ing to his good pleafure, the fruit’ of his 1 vou

Ch. x. ¥. £3—15. Po (OL Bi ~ abt “and loving-kindnefs': though by favour may be, meant fomething diftiné from life; either the care of him ins the womb, ahd the taking of him oyt from thence, which are fornétimes obferved as fingular mercies and favours 3, fee Pf. xxii. 9. and Ixxi. 6. or the beatty and comelinels of his body, fuch as was on Mo/és, David, and others; fee Prov. xxxi. 30. or,rather, it intends in general all the temporal bleffings of life, food and raiment, every thing neceffary for. the comfort and. fupport of life; and which are all mercies and favours, and what men are undeferving of; and efpecially {piri tual bleffings, or the bleffings of grace; and the word here uled is often ufed for grace and mercy, and may fignify the feveral graces of the Spirit beftowed in regeneration, as faith, hope, love, &¥c. which are all the gifts of God, and the effects of his favour and good-will; as alfo the blefiings of juftifying, pardoning, and adopting grace; all| which ‘70d was favoured with, as well as with fupplies of grace from time to time, and the frefh difcoveries of the favour and loving-kindnefs of God to him, which is better than lite: axd thy vifitation bath preferved my Jpirit; kept him alive, in a natural fenfe, while in the womb, as Yarchi, where he was in.a wonderful manner nourifhed; he came out from thence,‘ expofed to many difficulties and dangers, and during his helplefs and infant-ftate, and amid{t a variety of troubles through- * out the whole ‘of his life thitherto; and which was owing to God’s vifitation of him in a way of every morning; and. which was no other than his providence or daily care of him, and concern for him; and fo Mr., Broughton renders it thy providence’, and fo fome others: likewife he preferved his foul or fpirit in a fpiritual fenfe, in in whofe hands he put him;_ he hid his life in him, _ and bound it up in the bundle of life with him; he kept him by. his power as in a garrifon, and preferved him fafe to his kingdom and glory; and this is to be afcribed to his vifitation of him way of grace, through the redemption of Chrift, and the effectual vocation ofthe bleffed Spirit, - the conflant fupplies of grace vouchfafed from time to time; the Targum is, thy remembrance, for it is owing to God’s remembrance of his people that he vifits them, either in providence or grace; when he vifits them with his providence, or with his gracious prefence and protection, it is plain he remembers them: now, fince God had favoured him with fuch bleffings of nature, providence, and grace, he reafons with him about his prefent circumftances; that, after all this, furely he would not deftroy him and cut him.off;

not how well to reconcile paft favours with fuch hard and fevere ufage as he thought he met with from him. * id ek SP 9 fight of men, and behave y¥. 13. And thefe' things thou haft bid in thine heart, &c.] Meaning, either the mercies and favours he had indulged him with; thefe he feemed to conceal and fupprefs the memory of, as if they had_ never been, by a different conduct and behaviour; or rather, thefe he had laid up in his mind and memory, and had full knowledge andjand remembrance, of; though he dealt with him in the manner he did, he could not forget his former fayours to him, which, when compared with his!the prefent dealings, were very unlikéé or it may be beft to underltand thefe things of his afflictions and troubles, which, notwithftanding his being the work of his hand fo curioufly formed, and notwithftanding’all his temporal and {piritual mercies, jhe had in his heart purpofed, and decreed in hig mind, and laid up in his treafures, in order to be brought forth in due time, and to exercife him with; thefe were the things he had appointed for him, and many fuch things were with him; as ie follows: 1 know that this is with thee; either that he was not ignorant and forgetful of what he had done in a kind way; or rather, that he had this in his mind; and it was an eternal purpofe of his to afflict him in the manner he-had done: fome connect thefe words with the following verfe, as if the fenfe was, thefe are what thou haft hid in thine heart, and this is what I know is with thee, I im, &c’.

| y¥. 14. If I fin, then thou market me, é&e.} Or od/erveff me‘; that is, he took notice of his fins, {tri€tly inquired into them and all! the circumftances of them, watched the motions and progrefs of them, and carefully laid them up, in order to bring them out againft him another day, and afflict and whenjor punifh him for them; or he fet a watch about him, kept him in", and inclofed him on every fide with affliction, as if he was in a wateh or prifon, as Gerfom; or, wilt thou keep me“? that is, in fuch clofe confinement: Guffetius* renders it, fr mercy have offered a facrifice for fin, as the word is fometimes ufed; fignifying, that though he fhould, as no doubt he did, offer facrifice for himfelf, as it is certain he did for his children, yet even that was not regarded by the Lord; he ftill marked and ob- Chrift Jefus,} ferved him and his fins, and would not forgive him, or abfolve him from his fins, as follows; fee ch. vii. 12, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine zniquity; clear him of it, and difcharge him from it; pronounce him innocent, or pardon him; but in ajon the contrary, hold him guilty; and deal with him as fuch in a rigorous way; or wilt not cleanfe andjor purify me, as the Targum and others’, but let me continue, or treat me as an impure perfon, not fit for communion or converte. - y. 15. /f Pe wicked, wois me, &c.] In this and world, and to all eternity; afflictions will abide me here, and everlafting wrath hereafter: thefe are the woes that belong to a wicked man; that is, a prophane and abandoned finner, that lives in fin, and gives up himfelf to all manner of wickednefs; the Zargum is, ‘* deftruction to me from the great judgment;” utter ruin is my portion, as it is of at leaft he knewjall wicked and unrighteous perfons, J/ iii. 11. and if I de righteous, yet will I not lift up my head; live a holy life and converfation, be righteous in the fo as not to know any thing by himfelf, nor to be confcious of living in any known fin; yet he could not take any comfort from it} or have any pleafure in it, or {peak peace to himfelf on account of it, or glory in it and make his boaft of it; or lift up his head before God with boldnefs and confidence, who is fo pure holy, and his eyes fo quick in difcerning the fins of men: a good man derives his peace and comfort, not from his own righteoufhefs, but from righteoufnefs of Chrift, and puts his confidence

* in that only s hé blofkes, and is afhamed-of his.was taking ness ey aba own; and cannot, nay dare not lift up his head, Mr. Broughton, the Tigurine verfion, and others render it, thro’ fhame, being fenfible that _of his own can ftand before an holy God, or give him joy, pease, and pleafure: there; the Yargum adds, before the ungodly 3 but this a man may do beforé men, when he cannot before God: full of confufion, being in fach a dilemma; let him be what he would, he was fure to have affliction, forrow, and diftrefs, fo that he knew-not what. fay-or'do; or reproach’, which he was loaded with by his friends, and was occafioned by his they judging. from thence that he was a wicked many and juftly punifhed for his fins; the word uled fignifies a burning heat, fuch as a man feels in his breaft, and which flufhes-in his face, he is filled with anger or with fhame: thou mine offliion; not with his eye of that he knewhe did, but with an eye of pity and compaffion, and deliver him from it; or, J am full with feeing mine affifion, as Farchi, or, 1 one that fees affliétion*, that has an it; fees it all around me, and nothing elfe, Lam. r. am a peéfator* of it, as fome render, its but not a mere fpectator, but one that has a, feeling of it: fome take this, and the former claufe both to be an addrefs to God, and render as from- hurting others, and. to. chaftize-h ‘what he had done to them: but it would be nothing bétter to confider this in a:light ‘more ag nes Fod’s character, as a good man, @ right dt who is as bold as.a lion, and fear ‘nothtives Xxviil. 1. and fuch an one was a 1 am profperity lifted. up his, head and al and. contequently not fearing the frowns ¢ nor, the malice of Satan; but now this to hunted by the Lord himfelf, and compaffed net, ch. xix. 6. and to this fenfe is the ve afflictions, Schultens, connecting the words with the’ claufe, bim therefore wha walked high as a lion, 4umblet; he who before carried bis head being afraid of none,-is how hunted down, a when low enough, proftrate and diftrefled:- and ag therefore fee thou foewest thyfelf marvellous upon me, or, thou re omnilcience, turueft' and feeweft, Sc. after he had afflicted him | in one way, “he returned and affliéted him im ano- - ther; and he not only repeated his afflitions, aaa am deviled new ways of affli€ting him, u1 sermon!.- experience of ones, {uch as railed admiration in all behold iil. things rare and uncommon do: 7oé’s afflictions were furprifing ones; to be ftripped atonce of. ey fenfible fubftance, fervantsy children, and health; and it. might be more wonderful to fome, that ‘God, fo gracious and merciful as he is, fhould aff rye ae thern, be fatisfied with confufion> and behold my af- ¢ bre a fevere and rigorous manner; and efpecial fiition, as Broughton and others®; let the prefent he fhould afflict fo good a man, one fo juft a calamity and confufion I am in be fufficient;. let it right as ‘fob was, in fuch a way: and it wa no more be laid upon me; be content with what marvellous to Job himfelf, who was at a lofs has been done, and pity me, and do not lay thine hand heavier upon me, and add to my afflictions, count for it, not being confcious to himfelf of grofs enormity he had committed, or of a as he thought he did, by what follows.;

courfe of life, or of any one’fin he had indulged tc wherefore God fhould come forth againff® himas

AiiGtion increafeth, which is a reafon why pity fhould be fhown him, feeing his troubles inftead of abating enemy, in fo terrible a manner: fo fome re ndet the;

were growing upon him} he had as much, or more than he could well bear, and yet more was added to it; fo that he was an objeét of compaffion: it liftetb itfelf up*; rhefe proud waves of rife, {well, and lift themfelves on high, and threaten to overwhelm and utterly deftroy;

¥. 17. Thou reneweft thy witneffes ‘again “me,. &c.]. Not the devils, as fome, nor Job's friends: or,jas others 5 but rather afflictions, which were da ly affliction renewed, and frequently repeated, new troubles. coming continually one upon another; which were. fome render it brought as frefh witneffes againft him, ‘achich fh ade” that it would;the fuit tirefome to him, the trial to-laft the loréer, ~ |which he’ wifhed was at an end; that ae thes. fentence might be pronounced and executed, and he’ ~. be difpatched at once; but inftead of that thease - fair was protracted by bringing Pgh de ‘ Pe another, or one afifiction upon the back of. another, which were brought as witneffes before Dim ® hg ‘: fome render it; either to accufe him, and canpinen-: of fin, or as proofs of God’s indignation againtt upjhim, as inthe next claufe; or they were witnefies or 7, againtt him. with the prophane world, and e:,: with his friends, who from hence:concluded. have been, and was.a_ wicked man. hee fcripture)many and fuch great affictions laid upon him thefe continued and repeated; of which they jude- 19.Jed. thefe were full and fufficient proofs wi monies.. Sebultens renders it, thy in interprets it of inflruments of huntin the like, to which afflictions may be according to this and increafefh thine indignation upon me as if, in the time of hisjof it, by increafing afflictio; lion, jin his. mind; for trom his aff now the Lord creafe of them, he judged of the ignominia, Pagninus, Montanus, Beza, Vata ide Pekin “i ‘ “a kit pe © TINY) atcollit fefe, Junins & © So Jarchiand Nachmarides }-t0 ‘ "vr & reverteris, agninus, Montanus, Bolducius, _ contra me, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, » 9733 coram come to its height, and quickly and at once put an end to this miferable life of mine: ¥od’s afMi€tion was a lingering one, it proceeded flowly; he wifhed it would make more hatte, and become ftronger, and foon difpatch him 5 fee ch. vi. 9. thow bunteft meas a fierce lion, as the ramping fhakal, as Mr. Broughton; the lion rampant, that is hungry, fierce, and’ ravenous, that purfues its prey with great eagernefs, and never leaves till it comes to it, when ‘it feizes‘and devours it at once 5 the affliction, bunteth me, purfues me clofely, and will not leave, but threatens deftruction to me; or rather, #how, that is God, whois often in compared to a lion, particularly when afflicting, or about to afict the fons of men; fee Jf: xxxviii. Hof, v. 14. and xiii, 7, 8. fome* interpret the words, as if %ob was compared to a lion ‘hunted by men, at which darts were caft, for which nets were prepared, and pits were dug:

fenle ‘ob was dealt with:

_ profperity, he had been like a fierce and cruel preying upon and opprefiing others;

Ch. xe ¥. 18—z0. wees Br: ‘ 263 God upon him, orragainft him”, and the increafe of it; as thele were daily renewed, and were greater and greater, fo was the fenfe he hadof the wrath and difpleafure of God againft him; fee ch, vi. 4. changes and war are againfi me, or with me, or upon me*, by changes are meant the various afflictive) providences which attended.

many and-numerous; and thefe were either repeated, ornew ones fucceeded others 5 different afflictions in their turns came upon him, and particularly an army of vorms were continually running to and fro upon him; feech. vii. 5. the word is rendered an appointed time, ch, vii. 1. and fo fome take it here, and may fignify that all the changes and viciffitudes in life he pafled through, the various afflictions that came upon him, were at the fet and appointed time, as well as there was an appointed time for him on éarth, until his I fhould have died in it, and that would have been my grave; and which would have been more eligible than to come into the world, and live fuch a miferable life as I now live: and no eye bad feen me; no eye would have feen him, had he not been taken out of the womb; or however if he had died dihim, which were re-)reétly, would not have feen him alive; and an abortive or ftill-born child few fee, or care to fee; and had he been fuch an one, he had never been feen’in the circumftances he now was; and by this he fuggefts, that he was now fuch a fhocking fight as was not fit to be feen by men, and which would have been prevented, had he died in the womb. _. y..19. 1 /hould have been as though I had not been, For, though it cannot. be faid abfolutely of wasjfuch an. one, an abortive or untimely birth, thatit corrup-jis a non-entity, or never exifted; yet comparatively ic is. as‘if it never had a being; it being feen by none or very. few, it having had no name, nor any converfation among men; but at once buried, and buried in forgetfulnefs, as if no fuch one had ever been; fee Keclef: vi. 3, 4, 5... This od wifhed for, for fo fome render it, ob, that I bad cen, as tho’ J had never been*; andthen he.would may be rendered, have never been involved in fuch troubles he was, he would have been free from all his affiGions and diftreffes, and never have had any experience of the forrows.that now furrounded him: J /hould have deen carried from the womb to thegrave, if he had not been.brought out of it, the womb had been his grave, ds ia Yer. xx. 17. or if he had. died in it, and had. been ftill-born, he would quickly have been carried to his grave;. he would have feen and known nothing of life and of the world, and the things in it; and particularly of the troubles that. - laft)attend mortals here: his paffage in it and through peated, or fucceeded one another in their turns; great changes he.had undergone in his eftate and fubftance, from the greateft man in the eaft now become the pooreft; in his family, his fervants, and ‘children being deftroyed; in his body, being covered with boils; and in his.mind, being filled with a fenfe of God’s difpleafure, andunder the hidings of his face: and war was againft him onjé&c. every fide, not only the law in -his members warring againit the law of his mind, his tions working powerfully under his afflictions; and he was conflicting with Saéaz, and his principalities and powers; but even his friends were at war with him, yea God himfelf in his opinion counted and streated him as an enemy. Jed was in awarfareftate, and his afflictions came upon him like troops, and charged him one after another; or his afflictions were like an army‘, as the word.

change came. it would have been very fhort, or none at all, no y¥. 18. Wherefore then haft thou brought me forth out of the womb? &e.| Into this world; this act is rightly afcribed by ‘od to the Lord, as it is by David, Pf. xxii. 9. and Ixxi. 6. which kind act of God Feb complains of, and wifhes it had. never been, feeing his life was now fo miferable uncomfortable; here he returns to his former complaints, wifhes, and expoftulations, exprefied: with fo much vehemence and paffion in ¥. 3. which his friends blamed him, and endeavoured convince him of his error in fo doing; but it does not appear, that their arguments carried any in them with him, or had any effect upon him; he ftill continues in the fame mind, and by repeating juftifies what he had faid 5. and thought he had fufficient reafon to wifh he had never been born, that he had died in the womb, fince his afflictions were fo very great and increafing, andfince God purfued him as a fierce lion; and, according’to his fenfe of things, his indignation-againft him appeared more and more, and his life was a continued fucceflion of trouble and diftrefs: and that I bad given up the ghoft; that is, in the womb, and had never been brought out of it, atleaft alive; or it may be rendered not as a wifh, but as an affirmation, J /bou have given up the ghof 5 or, foor then lfoould have expired®; if fuch care had not been taken of me, if God had nor been fo officious to me as to take me out of my mother’s womb at the proper time, longer than from the womb to the grave and fo fhould never have known what forrow was, or fuch aMflictions he now endured; fuch an one being in his efteem happier than he; fee Eccl. iv. 3. -y¥.20. Are not my, days few? &c.| They are andjfo, the days of every man are but few; fee ch. xiv. 1. P/- xc. 10. the remainder of 7od’s days were but few; confidering the courfe of nature, and forjand efpecially, the fore afflictions he had on him, tojit could not be thought his days on earth were many; in all likelihood, according, to human proforce) bability, he had but a few days. to live: or are xot my days a fmall little thing ®? it is as an handsbreadth, as nothing befere God, Pf. xxxix. & cea/e then; that is, from afflicting him; fince he had fo fhort a time to live, he requefts there might be fome intermiffion of his trouble; that he might have fome intervals of comfort and refrefhment, that not all his days, which were fo few, fhould be {pent in grief and forrow: fome connect this with the preceding claufe, and which is moft agreeable to the,accents, hall not the fewne/s of my days ceafe*? I have but a few days, and thefe few days will foon ceafe; therefore give me fome refpite from d| my afflictions; and fo the Targum, “‘ are not my \days {wift and ceafing?” and Jet me alone, don’t follow me with afflictions, or difturb and diftrefs /me with them; but take off thine hand, that I may have fome reft and eafe; fee ch. vii. 10. or put tablus, Beza, Mercerus. » An non parum, vel paucitas dierum meorum ceflabit? Cocceius; annon pauxillulum dierum meorum deficiet? Schultens. ve bute. ' from we 4 thine afiger, as Kimchi, or thine army, as Funius and Tremellius,; or thy camp, as Cocceius 5 that is, decamp from me, remove thy treops, the changes and war that are againft me, am. befieged, furrounded, and ftraitened 5 by which I}Not merely like it, but truly fos as grofs thick let me|darknefs, like that of Egypt, that might be felt;

be delivered from them: that I may take comfort a even blacknefs of darknefs, which ‘is as dark as it little; that he might have fome breathing-time, fome refpite from his troubles, fome refreihment to his'fpirit, fome reviving to his fainting foul, fome renewing of ftrength, before he departed this life; fee Pf. xxxix. 13. fo Aben Ezra and Gerfom render it: that I may be ftrengthened; or that his heart might gather ftrength.

y.21. Before I go whence I fball not return, &c.] Before he.went out of the world, the way of all flefh, tothe grave his long home, from whence there is no return to this world, and to the bufinefs and affairs of it; to a man’s houfe, his family and his friends, to converfe with them as before, there willbe no return until the refurrection, which Fob does not here deny, as fome have thought; it was a doétrine he well underftood, and ftrongly afferts in ch. xix. 26, 27. but this muft be underftoodin the fame fenfe as in ch. vil. 9, 10. even ¢o the land of darknefs, and the fhadow of death; which defcribes not the ftate of the damned, as fome Po pif interpreters carry it; for Zod had no thought nor fear of fuch a ftate; but the grave, which is called a Jand, or country, it being large and {pacious, and full of inhabitants; a land of darkne s, a very dark one, where the body feparated from the not only dark, but darknefs, extremely dark: and of the foadow of death; which is repeated for the illuftration and confirmation of it, as having init all kind of darknefs, and that to the greateft degree: without any order, or orders'; or viciffitudes and fucceffions of day and night, fumimer and winter, heat and cold, wet and dry; or revolutions of fun, moon, and ftars, or of the conftellations, as Aben Ezra; and whither perfons go without any order, either of age, fex, or ftation; fometimes a young man, fometimes an old man, and the one before the other; fometimes a man, fometimes a woman; fometimes a king, prince, and nobleman, and fometimes a peafant; fometimes a rich man, and fometimes a poor man;

no order is obferved, but as death feizes them they 4 are brought and laid in the grave, and there is no order there; the bones and duft of one and the other in a fhort time are mixed together, and there is no knowing to whom they belong, only by the omnifcient God: and where the light is as darknefs; were there any thing in the grave that could with any propriety be called light, even that is nothing but darknefs; darknefs and light ate the fame thing there: or when it /bineth it is darkne s *; that foul is deprived of all light; where the fun, moon, and ftars are never feen; nor is there the leaft crevice that light can enter in at, or be feen by thofe that dwell in thofe fhades, which are the /hadow of death itfelf; deadly fhades, thick and grofs ones, the darkeft fhades, where death itfelf is, or is, when the fun fhines brighteft here, “as at noonday, it is entire darknefs in the grave 3; no light is difcerned there, the rays of the fun canhot penetrate there; and could they, there is no vive faculty in the dead to receive them; all darknefs dead Jis in thofe fecret places. ag!

men are, deftitute of light and life; where no ie this chapter Zophar the Naamatbite, Fob’s third friend, attacks him, and that with great acrimony and feverity, and with much indecency; he charges him not only with loquacity, and vain babling, but with lying, and with fcoffing at God, and good men, Y. 1, 2, 3. which he attempts to fupport by fome things 70d had faid, mifreprefented by him, ¥. 4. and wifhes that God would take him in hand, and convince him of the wifdom of the divine proceedings with him, and of his lenity vifit him, ch, ii. 1. fee the note there; and who perhaps might be the youngeft, fince his turn was to fpeak lait; and he appears to have lefs modefty and prudence, and more fire and heat in him, than his other friends; though he might be the more irritated by obferving, that their arguments were baffled by ob, and had no manner of effec on him, to caufe him to recede from his firft fentiments and conduct: and faid; as follows.

¥. 2. Shouldnot the multitude of words be anfwer- and mercy to him, ¥.5, 6. and then difcourfes of ed? &c.] Zophar infinuates, that ob was a mere the unfearchablenefs of God in his counfels, and conduét; of lis fovereignty, and ef his power, and of the vanity and folly of men, ¥. 7—12. and as his friends before him, having infinuated that ‘Fob was guilty of fome heinous fin, or fins, and efpecially of hypocrify, advifes him to repentance and reformation, and then it would be well with him; and he fhould enjoy much comfort, peace, and fafety, even to old age, ¥. 13—19. and concludes it fhould go ill with the wicked man and the hypoerite, fuch as he fuggefts ‘fod was, ¥.20. ‘ i

¥.1..Then anfwered Zophar the Naamathite, &c.] The third of od’s friends, that came to tus verbis, Mercerus, fo Kimchi & Ben Melech; and moft Hebrew writers take > for an adjective, babler, a talkative man, that had wards, but no matter, faid a great deal, but there was nothin in what he faid; that his words were but wind oe in effect that he was a fool, who is commonly fal of words, and is known by the multitude of them; and whereas he might think to bear down all before’ him in this way, and to difcourage perfons from giving him an anfwer; this Zopbar fuggefts fhould not be the cafe, nor would he be deterred hereb from giving one, which he now undertook: fome fupply it, as Bar Tzemach, foould not a man of a multitude of words’, &c. a verbofe man, a dealer in many words, and nothing elfe, fhould not he be.

anfwered? if he ufes nothing but words, and there’s no argument in them, they feem not to de-

* £937 AWN an abundans verbis, ferve an anfwer, unlefs it be to thew the emptinefs -of them, expofe a man’s folly, and pull down his pride and vanity: and fhould a man full of talk be Jujified? or, a man of lipst, an eloquent man, or one that affects to be fo; a man of a fine fpeech, who artfully colours things, and makes a fhew of wifdom and truth, when there are neither in what he fays; is fuch a. man to be juftified? he would faints at the right hand jeered and fcoffed at:

feem to be in his own eyes at leaft, if not in the eyes of others, if not anfwered; he would be thought to have carried his point, to have had the better of the argument, and to have got the vic: tory by dint of words, and power of oratory; for this is not to be underftood of juftification before God; for as no man is heard and accepted by him for his much /peaking, as was the opinion of the heathens, fo neither are any juftified on account of their many words, any more than their many works; fince, in a multitude of words, there are often not only much folly and weaknefs, but vanities and fins, Prov. x. 19. Eccl. v. 7. there is indeed a fenfe in which a man is juftified by his words, Matt. xii. 37. when he confefles Chrift, and profefles to be juftified by his righteoufnefs, and believes in that, and pleads it as his juftifying righteoufnels; he is juftified by that righteoufnefs which is contained in the confeffion and profeffion of his faith; but this is*not here meant.

¥. 3. Should thy lies make men hold their peace, &c.]. By which he means, either lies in common, untruths wilfully told, which are fins of a fcandalous nature, which good men will not dare to commit knowingly; and to give a man, efpecially fuch a man, the lie, is very indecent; and to charge a man falfely with it is very injurious: or elfe doétrinal ones, errors in judgment, falfhoods concerning good men, is very bad 5 indeed it is the chara¢ter of the worft of men; and fuch fhould be made afhamed, if poffible, by expofing their fin and folly; and if not here, they will be covered with thane hereafter, when they fhall appear before God, the Judge of all, who will not be mocked, and fhall fee the of Chrift, whom they have but this was not ¥od’s true character; he was no mocker of God nor of good men; in this he was wronged and injured, and had nothing of this fort to be made afhamed of,

¥. 4. For thou baft faid, &c.] What follows is produced to fupport the charge, efpecially of lying, which feems to be founded on what he had fzid in ch. vi. 10,39. My doGfrine is pure; free from error, unadulterated, unmixed, not blended with heathenifh principles and human doétrines; but tending to purity of heart and life, as every word of God, and doétrine that comes from him is pure, yea very pure, like filver purified feven times; and fuch was 7ob’s doétrine which he received from God, took’ up and profeffed, taught and delivered to others, fo far-as was agreeable to the will of God, and the revelation he had then made: and it appears that od had very clear and fublime notions of God, of his being and perfeétions, of his works of nature, providence, and grace; of Chrift his living Redeemer, of redemption and juftification by him, and of the refurrection of the dead; and had purer and better notions of divine things than his friends had, and {poke righter things of God than they did, God himfelf being witnefs, ch. xlii. 7, 8. fome interpret this of the purity of his life and converfation: he is farther charged with faying: and I am clean in thine eyes {peaking to God, as Farche obferves; and indeed fo he was, and every be-

God and things divine; which not only are not of liever is, in an evangelic fenfe; as to the new man, the truth, for no lie is of the truth, but are againft it; and indeed where the cafe is notorious in either which is created in righteoufnefs and true holinefs, is without fin, and cannot commit it; and as wathed fenfe, men fhould not be filent, or be as men deaf from-all fin in the blood of Chrift, and as cloathed and dumb, as the word" fignifies, as if they did not hear the lies told them, or ‘were unconcerned about them, or connived at them: David would not fuffer a liar to be near him, nor dwell in his houfe, P/. ci. 7. acommon liar ought to be reproved and rejected; and doétrinal liars and lies fhould be oppofed and refifted; truth fhould be contended for, and nothing be done againft it, but every thing for it: it is criminal to be filent at either fort of lies; nor fhould the bold and bluftering manner in which they are told frighten men from a detection of them, which perhaps is what may be hinted at here”; fome render the words *, Jeould thine iniquity frighten men? they are not fo {trong and nervous as to appear unanfwerable, and deter men from undertaking a reply unto them;

with his righteoufnefs, in which the faints are faultlefs before the throne, and are unblameable and irreproveable in the fight of God: but Zopbar’s meaning is, that od had afferted that he was entirely free from fin in himfelf, was wholly without it, and did not commit any; and had appealed to God, as knowing it to be true; and which he feems to have grounded on what he had faid, ch, x. 7. through a miftake of his fenfe; which was not that he was free from fin, entirely, but from any grofs, notorious fin, or from a wicked courfe of living, and particularly from the fin of hypocrify, his friends fuggefted he was guilty of; otherwife he confefies himfelf a finner, and prays for the pardon of his fins, and difclaims. perfection in himfelf; fee ch. vii. 20, 21. and ix. 20, 3a, 31. and and when thou mockeft, fhall no man make thee afoamed? here Fob is reprefented as a mocker of God, which is inferred from ch. x. 3. friends, and the arguments they ufed, and the advice they gave, which is concluded from his words, in ch. vi. 25, 26. and as one hardened, who was not, and could not be made afhamed of what he had faid againft either, by any thing that bad been offered for his reproof and conviction: to make a mock of God, or a jeft of divine things, or fcoff at indeed there is no creature in itfelf clean in the fight of God, either angels or men; every man is and at his naturally unclean; no good man is without fin, without the being, indwelling, and commiffion of it; nor will any truly gracious man fay he is; he knows otherwife, and acknowledges it; he that fays he is, muft be an ignorant man, or a vain and pharifaical man; yea, mutt not fay the truth: fome have fufpeéted the firft part of the words to be Yob’s, and I am clean; and the other Zopbar’s,