Exposition of the Whole Bible

® Calce tinxilti pedes meos, Gufletius, p. 550. fo fome in Ben Melech.

fuggefting as a man’s fteps in lime, are marked and eafily difcerned, fo were his bythe Lord; but this feems to be foreign from the mind of Fob, who would not make fuch a conceffion as this, as if his fteps taken amifs were fo vifible: and looketh narrowly into all my paths; fo that there was no poflibility of efcaping out of his troubles and afflictions; fo ftriét a watch was kept over him; fee chap. vii. t2. according to Ben Gerfom, this refers to the ftocks, it keeps all my ways; kept him within from going abroad about the bufinefs of life, and fo may refer to the difeafe of his body, his boils and ulcers, which kept him at home, and fuffered him not to ftir out of doors; but the former fenfe is beft: shou fette t a print upon the heels of my feet; either it, the ftocks, made a mark upon his heels, with which they were prefled hard, as Gerfom or rather God fet one upon them, afflicting him very forely and putting him to an excruciating pain, fuch as is felt by criminals, when heavy blows are laid upon the foles of their feet, to which the allufion may be; or elfe the fenfe is, that he followed him clofely by the heels, that whenever he took a ftep, it was immediately marked and obferved by the Lord, as if he trod in his fteps, and fet his own foot in the mark that was. left.

ae having turned himfelf from his friends to God, continues his addrefs to him in. this chapter; wherein he difcourfes of the frailty of. man, the fhortnefs of his life, the troubles that are in it, the finfulnefs of it, and its limited duration, beyond which it cannot continue; all which he makes ufe of with God, that he would not’ therefore deal rigoroufly with him, but have pity on him, and ceafe from feverely afflicting him, till he came to the end of his days, which could not be long, ¥. 1— 6. he obferves of a tree, when it, is cut down to the root, yea, when the root is become old, and the ftock dies, it will, by means of being watered, bud and, fprout again, and produce boughs and branches; but man, like the failing waters of the fea, and the decayed and dried-up flood, when he dies, rifes not, till the heavens be no more, y¥. 7—12. and then he withes to be hidin the grave till that'time, and expreffes hope and belief of the refurrection of the dead, ¥. 13—15. and goes on to complain of the ftri€t notice God took of his fins, of his fevere dealings with men, deftroying their hope in life, and removing them by death; fo that they fee and know not the cafe and circumftances of their children they leave behind, and whilft they live have continual pain and forrow, ¥. 16—22.

y.1. Man that is born of a woman, &c.| Man, Adam; not the firlt man fo called, for he was made and created out of the duft of the earth, and not born of a woman; the woman was made out of him, and not he of her; earthly man, as Mr. Broughton tranflates it, as every defcendant of Adam is; as is the earthy, fuch are they that are earthy, every one of which is born of a woman; yet not as oppofed unto and diftinguifhed from the heavenly one, or the Lord from heaven, for he alfo as man was made and born of a woman: this, though a proper defcription of all mankind, there being

¥.28. And he as a rotten ihing confumeth &c. This. « by fome Fewi/h writers” is. referred to, and conneéted with the driven leaf, and dry ftubble, ob compares himfelfto y. 25. and fo the fenfe is, that’ body, which for its frailty and weaknefs, is comp red to fuch things, is like any rotten thing, a rotte tree, as Ben Melech; or any thing elfe that is rotten, that is confuming and wafting away, as fod’s body was, being clothed with worms, and clods of duft: as a garment that is moth-eatens a woollen garment, which gathers duft, out of which moths arife; for duft, in wool and woollen garments produces ment eaten by them, flowly, gradually, and infenfibly, yet certainly, decays, falls to pieces, becomes ufelefs,and not to be recovered; fuch was 7ob’s body, labouring under the difeafes it did, and was every day more and more decaying, crumbling into duft, and juft ready to drop into the grave; fo that there was no need, and it might feem cruel, to lay greater and heavier afflictions on it: fome interpreters make this he to be God himfelf, who fometimes is as rottenefs and a moth to men, in their perfons families, and eftates; fee Hof. v. 12.;

none but what are born of a woman, fee Aa##. xi. tr. yet Fob chiefly defigns himfelf; for having fpoken of his wafting circumftances in which he was, in the laft verfe of the preceding chapter, gocs on in this to treat of his frailty and mortality, and to improve it into an argument with God for pity and mercy, as appears from ¥. 3. where he {peaks of himfelf in the firft perfon, as here in the third, and all along: he may have refpeé in this claufe to Eve, the mother of all living, from whom all defcend, and of whom, in a fenfe, they may be faid to be born; or elfe to his immediate parent, he and every man being born of a woman $ no man, but the firft, ever came into the world in any other way; there is one that came into the world without an earthly father, and that is ourLord Jefus Chrift, but none without a mother; nor he who indeed was born of a virgin, and fo in an ex. traordinary and miraculous manner; and this is obferved, not fo much on account of natural defcent, or to denote that, as being reckoned from the mother, fhe having fo great a concern in the production of man, conceiving, bearing, and bringing him forth; nor to remark the finfulnefs of nature, though one born of a finful woman, muft needs be fo too, fince this is exprefled clearly in a following verfe; but the weaknefs and frailty of man; as is the creature that generates, fuch is that that is generated; creatures born of ftrong ones, are ftrong, and of weak ones, weak, a creature born of a lion, is a ftrong one; and man, born of a woman, muft be weak and feeble, did ‘no wonder he is fhort-lived, as follows: is of days; or foort of days‘; comes fhort of the days he might have lived if man had never finned; and comes fhort of the days the firft man did live, and which thofe before the flood generally lived. y moft of them lived upwards off ie ts on whereas now, and ever fince the times of 1%: and about which od lived, the days of the of man are but threefcore and> ten; and fuch are fhorter of days ftill, who live not more than half this time, who are cut off in the bloom and prime of life, the days of whofe youth are fhortened, who die in their youth, or in their childhood and in- _ fancy; and fuch efpecially are fhort of days who are carried from the womb to the grave, or die as foon as born; and thofe that live the longeft, their days are but few, when compared with the days of eternity, or with thofe, men fhall live in another world, either good men in heaven, or wicked men in hell, which will be forever; and efpecially with refpect to God, with whom one day is as a thoufand years, and a_ thoufand years as one day, and therefore the days and age of man are as nothing before him. od has here alfo a refpect to himfelf, whofe days in his own apprehenfion were very few, and juft at an end, and therefore craves pity and compaffion, fee ch. x. 20. and what aggravates the fhortnefs of mans days is, as it follows: and full of trouble, man is born to it, being born in fins fin and trouble go together, where there is fin, there is trouble; fin entered into the world, and death by it, with the numerous train of afflictions and miferies which iffue in it: all men have their troubles, fome of one fort,,and fome of another; wicked men are not indeed in trouble as other men, as good, men are; they have not the fame fort of trouble, yet are not exempt from all; they are full of com- motion *, difquietude and uneafinefs, as thé word fignifies; they are reftlefs, and ever in motion; they are like the troubled fea that cannot reft, but is continually cafting up mire and dirt; fome are of fuch tempers and difpofitions, that they can’t fleep unlefs they do mifchief; and though they are many of them profperous in their wordly circumftances, there-are others that are reduced to poverty and diftrefs, are attended with difeafes and diforders, pains and fores, and blafpheme that God that that has power over them; and thefeare of all men the moft miferable, having no intereft in God, in his loving-kindnefs, nor any enjoyment of his ‘prefence, and fo nothing to fupport them in, and carry them through their troubles; and though they are generally without any fenfe of fin or danger, have no remorfe of confcience, and their hearts are hardened; yet at times they are full of trembling“, as fome render the words; are feized with a panic through the judgments of God that are upon them, or are coming upon them, of when death is made the king of terrors to them: and good men they have their troubles; befides thofe in common with others, they have inward troubles arifing from the vanity of their minds and thoughts, the impurity of their hearts, and the power of indwelling fin in them, and efpecially from the breaking forth of it in words and deeds; from the weaknefs of their graces, from the hidings of God’s face, and the temptations of Satan: in fhort, ¥0d’s meaning is, that men in the ordinary courfe of things meet with fo much trouble, that there is no need of any extraordinary afflictions to be laid on them, fuch as his were.

y.2. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut’

down, 8c.) As the flower comes from the earth, fo does man; as it comes out of the ftalk, fo man out of his mother’s womb; as the flower flourifhes yor a while, and looks gay and beautiful, fo man doubtlefS has refpe&t to his own cafe before his troubles came upon him, when he was poffefled of all that fubftance, which made him the greateft man of the eaft; when his children were like oliveplants around his table, and his fervants at his command, and he in perfeé&t health of body: and as a flower flourifhes for a little while, and then withers; no fooner is it comé to its full blow, but prefently decays; fuch is the goodlinefs of man, it fades away whenever God blows a blaft upon it; yea he is eafily and quickly cut down by death, like a beautiful flower cut with the knife, or cropped by the hand, or trampled upon by the foot, fee Pf. ciii. 15. and xc. 5, 6. I. xl. 6, 7. be fleeth alfo as a foadow, and céntinueth not; either as the fhadow of the evening, which is loft when night comes On; or the fhadow on a dial-plate, which is continually moving on; or, as the Fewifh Rabbins fay, as the fhadow of a bird flying, which’ ftays not, whereas the fhadow of a wall, or of a tree, continues: a fhadow is an empty thing, without fubftance, dark and obfeure, variable and uncertain, declining, fleeting and paffing away; and fo fitly refembles the life of a man, which is but a vapour, a bubble, yea as nothing with God; is full of darknefs, of ignorance, and of adverfity, very fickle, changeable, and inconftant, and) at moft but of a fhort continuance.

¥.3. And doft thou open thine eyes on fach an one, &c.] So frail and feeble, fo fhort-lived ‘and forrowful, fo foon and eafily cut down and deftroyed: and by opening of his eyes, is not meant his providential care of men; whofe eyes indeed aré every where, run to and fro throughout the earth, and are careful of, and provident for all forts of men, which is very wonderful, P/- viii. 4. nor the dif plays of -his fpecial grace ‘and favour towards his own peculiar people, on whom his eyes ‘of love, grace and mercy are opefied, and are never withdrawn from them, which is marvellous lovingkindnefs; but the exercifé of rigorous juftice in punifhing, afflicting and chaftizing with fo much feverity, as Fob thought to be his own cafe; the eyes of God, as he thought, were fet on him for evil, and not for good 3 he looked wiftly on him, and in a very frowning manner; he fharpened his eye upon him, as the phrafe is, ch. xvi. g. and as fome render the word‘ here, looked narrowly into all his ways, and watched every motion and every ftep he took, and purfued him with great eagernefs, and jufed him with great ftrictnefs in a way'of juttice, which he a poor, weak creature was not able to bear 5 which fenfe is confirmed by what follows: and bringeth me into judgment with thee? by this it ap» pears Fob has a view to himfelf all along, and to the procedure of God againft him, which he took to be in ftrict juftice, and that was what he was not able to bear; he was not a match for God, being fuch a frail, weak, finful, mortal creature; nor was God a man as he was, that they fhould come together in judgment, or be fit perfons to contend togethér upon the foot of ftrict juttice 5 finful man can never be juft with God upon this bottom, or be able to anfwer to one objection or charge of a thoufand brought againft him; and therefore as every fenfible man will deprecate God’s entering into. judgment with him, fo “fod here exoftulates with God, why he fhould bring him into hilft in youth, in health and profperity. fod 2939 YAY fatur commotione, Junius & Tremellius, judgment with him; when as he fledto his grace Pifcator, Cocceins, Schmidt, Michaelis.

and © Saturus tre- Ppyy NNPD fuper illo acais oculos tuos, Cocceius; fuper and. mercy, he fhould rather fhew that to him, than in a rigorous manner deal with him.

y¥. 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? &c.| Either produce a clean perfon from an unclean one? it is not to be expected that one perfectly free from fin, fhould be generated by, or brought out of one that is defiled with it; which is the cafe of all men: the firlt man, though made upright, finned, and by finning defiled himfelf, and all human nature in him; and fo thofe that immediately defcended from him were polluted likewife, and fo on in all generations, every man being conceived and fhaped in iniquity; fo that it is not poffible that man that is born of a woman, finful and unclean, fhould be clean himfelf, or be free from fin; by which it is manifeft, that the finfulnefs of human nature is unavoidable; it is natural and neceffary, and cannot be otherwife, fuch being the cafe and circumftances of immediate parents, from whom men defcend; and that this is the cafe of all men that come into the world by ordinary and natural generation; there is none righteous or pure from fin: no not one; and things being fo, *Zob thought it hard that he fhould be fingled out, and fo feverely chaftized, when the ‘fintulnefs of nature was from and by his birth, and was natural and unavoidable, and when there was not a fingle perfon on earth free from it. “There never was but one inftance of one clean being brought out of an unclean perfon, and that was our Lord Jefus Chrift of the virgin Mary; which was not in the ordinary way of generation, but by a fupernatural and extraordinary production of his human nature, through the power of the Holy Ghoft, whereby it efcaped the original contagion and pollution of mankind: or elfe in confequence of this the fenfe is, who can bring forth or produce a good work from an impure perfon? or how can it be expeéted that a man that is defiled with fin fhould do a good work perfeétly pure? for there is not even a juft and good man that doth good and finneth not; and much lefs is it to be looked for, that men in a mere ftate of nature, that are as they come into the world, finful and impure, fhould ever be able to perform good works; it may as well be thought that grapes are to be gathered of thorns, or figs of thiftles; men muft be born again, created in Chrift Jefus, have faith in him, and the Spirit of God in them, ere they can do that which is truly good from right principles, and with right views; and man at moft and beft muft be an imperfect creature, and deficient in his duty, and cannot bear to be ftrictly examined, and rigoroufly profecuted: or the meaning is, who can make * an unclean man a clean one, mo not one; a man can’t make himfelf clean by any thing he can do, by his repentance and humiliation, by his good works, duties and fervices; none can do this but God; and to this fenfe fome render the words, who can— is there one? there is, that is, God, he can. do it, and he only: tho” men are exhorted to cleanfe themfelves, this does not fuppofe a power in.them to do it; this is only defigned to convince them of the neceflity of being cleanfed, and to awaken a concern for it; and fuch as are made fenfible thereot will apply to God to purge them, and make them clean, and create a clean heart within them; and this God has promifed to do, and does do; he

* pOyi Pye relpice aliorfum ab eo, Junius & Tremellius, Pifcat fprinkles the clean water of his grace, and purifies the heart by faith in the blood of Jefus, which cleanfes from all fin, and is the fountain opened to wafh in, for fin and uncleannefs: the Targum is, ‘¢ who can give a clean thing out of a man that is. defiled with fins, except God who is one, and can forgive him?” none can pardon fin but God, or juftify a finner befides him; and he can do both in a way of juftice, upon the foot of the blood. and righteouinefs of Chrift. mike

¥. 5. Seeing bis days are determined, &c.) Or cut out*, exactly and precifely, how many he fhall live, and what fhall befal him every day of his life; whofe’ life, becaufe of the fhortnefs of it, is rather meafured by days than years: the number of bis months are with thee, before him, in his fight, in his account, and fixed and fettled by him: thou haft appointed his bounds that he cannot pafs, the boundaries of his life, the period of his days, beyond which he cannot go; the term of man’s life is fo peremptorily fixed by God, that he cannot die fooner, nor live longer than he has determined he fhould; as the time of a man’s birth, fo the time of his death, is according to the purpofe of God; and all intervening moments: and articles of time, and all things that befal a man throughout the whole courfe of his life, all fall underthe appointment of God, and are according to his determinate will; and when God ‘requires of man his foul, no one has power over his fpirit to retain it one moment; yet this hinders not the ufe of means for the prefervation and comfort of life, fince thefe are fettled as well as the end, and are under the divine direction: the word for bounds fignifies fometimes fiatutes*; tho” not to be underftood of laws appointed by God, either of a moral or ceremonial, nature; but here it fignifies fet, ftated, appointed times’. Seneca ™ fays the fame thing; ‘‘ there is a boundary fixed for every man, which always remains where it is fet, nor can any move it forward by any means whatfoever.??

¥. 6. Turn from him that be may ref, &e.] From this fhort-lived afflicted man, whofe days are litrited, and will foon be at an end, meaning himéfelf; not that he defires he would withdraw his gracious prefence, nothing is more agreeable than this to a good man, and there is: nothing he more deprecates than the withdrawment of it; befides, this was 7ob’s cafe, and one part of his complaint, ch. xill. 24. nor to with-hold his fupporting prefence, or his providential care of him, without which he could not fubfift, but muft die and drop into the duft; though fome think this is the fenfe, and render the words, turn from him, that be may ceafe™; to be, or to live, and fo a with for death, that he might have reft in the grave from all his labours, pains and forrows:. but rather the meaning is, that he would turn away from affli€ting him in this extraordinary manner; fince according to the ordinary courfe of things he would meet with many troubles and affli€tions, and had but a little time to live,.and therefore intreats he would take off his. and grant him a hand which prefied: him forely, little refpite: or Jeok off from bim®, not turn away his eye of love, grace, and mercy, that is not reafonable to fuppofe; that was what he wanted, th God would look upon him, and have compa on him under his affliction, and abate it; but that he would turn away his angry, frowning countenance from him, which he could not bear; he had opened his eyes upon him, y¥. 3. and looked very fternly, and with great feverity in his countenance, on him, and it was very diftreffing, and even intolerable to him.; and therefore begs that he would take off his eye from him, that he might have re/ from his adverfity, that he might have fome eafe of body and mind, fome intervals of peace and pleafure: or that be might ceafe® from murmuring, as Aben Ezra; or rather from affliction and trouble; not that he expected to be wholly free from it in this life, for man is born to it, as he full well knew; and the people of God have always their fhare of it, and which abides and waits for them while in. this world; but he defires he might be rid of that very fore and heavy affliction now upon him; or that it might ceafe*, the affliction he laboured under, which would be the cafe if God would turn himfelf,. remove his hand, or look another way, and not fo fharply upon him: ¢7// be fhall accomplifh as an bireling his day, an hireling, as if he fhould fay, that is hired for any certain time, for a year, or more, or leis, he has fome relaxation from his labours, time for eating and fleeping to refrefh nature; or he has fome time allowed him as a refpite from them, commonly called holy-days; or if he is hired only for a day, he has time for his meals; and if his mafter’s eye is off of him, he flackens-his hand, and gets fome intermiffion from his labour; wherefore at leaft Fob begs, that God would let him have the advantage of an hireling.. Moreover, to accomplife kis day, is either to do the work of it, or to get to the end of it; every man has work to do whilft in this world, in things natural, civil and religious, and is the work of his day or generation, and what muft be done while it is day; and a good man is defirous of finifhing it; to which the recompence of reward, though it is not of debt, but of grace, is a great encouragement, -as it isto the hireling: or tJ as an bireling be fhall will, or defire with delight and pleafure’ bis day.; that is, his day to be at anend, which he withes and longs for; and when it comes is very acceptable to him, becaufe he then enjoys his reft, and receives his hire: fo as there is a fixed time for the hireling, there is for man on earth; and as that time is fhort and laborious, fo is the life of man; and at the clote of it, the good and faithful fervant of the Lord, like the hireling, in fome fenfe refts from his labours, and receives the reward of the inheritance, having ferved the Lord Chritt; which makes this day a grateful and acceptable one to him, what he defires, and with pleafure waits for, being better than the-day of his birth; and efpecially when his life is worn out with trouble, and he is weary of it through old age, and the infirmities thereof, thofe days being come. in which he has no pleafure. od therefore intreats that God would give him fome intermiffion from his extraordinary troubles, till his appointed time came, which then would, be as welcome to him as the clofe of the day is to an hireling, fee ch. vii. 1,2. | ¥.7. For there is hope of a tree if it be cut down, that it «will /prout again, &c.|] Thatis, if it be cut down to the root, and only the ftump of the root is left in the ground, as the tree in Nebuchadnez- zar’s dream, yet the owner of it may: entertain a hope that it is not utterly deftroyed, but will bud 4 out again; or change * its ftate and condition, and become flourifhing again; or renew * itfelf, and its - ftrength, and put out new fhoots and branches; either it will rife up into a new body, as the lau— rel, as Pliny relates, or produce new fprouts as the willow, alder-tree, and others; for this is not true of every tree, though it may be of many; for it is “reported of the cyprefs-tree, when cut down, it never fprouts out any more, unlefs in one place, in Azaria; but fince this is the cafe of fomes it is fufficient to Yob’s purpofe: and that the tender branch thereof will not ceafe; from fhooting out; or dts fuckers will not ceafe”, which may be obferved frequently to grow. out of the roots of trees, even of thofe, that are cut down, fuch as above-mentioned,

¥. 8. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, &c.] Lies long there, and is become dry, and feems to be confumed, on which account there may be the lefs hope of its fourifhing: and the ftock thereof die in the ground; which may make it ftill more improbable; for this is not to be underftood with fome interpreters * of the ftock or trunk of the tree cut down, and lying along on the earth, and in the duft of it; though it may be obferved; that even fuch a ftock or trunk, feparated from. the recor, and as it lies along, will fprout again, as particularly in elms: but itmay rather mean, fince it is faid to be im the ground, that part of the ftock or ftump left in the ground, from whence: the. roots part and {pread in the earth-; and even though this dies, or at leaft fo feems, yet there being ftill life and vigour in the roots, they fend forth fuckers.

¥. 9. Yet through the fcent of water it will bud, &c.] As foon as. it. fmells it, or perceives it, is fenfible of it, or partakes of its efficacy; denoting both how fpeedily, and how eafily, at once as it were, it buds forth. thro’ the virtue either of rainwater that defcends upon it, or river-water by which it is planted, or by any means conveyed unto it; particularly this is true of the willow, which delights in watry places; and when it is in the circum- {tances before defcribed,will by the benefit of water bud out again, even when its ftock has been feemingly dead: and bring forth boughs like a plants as if it was a new plant, or juft planted; fo the ul- gate Latin verfion, as when it was firft planted 5. or as a plant that fends forth many branches: the defign of this fimile is to fhew, that man’s cafe is worfe than that of trees, which when cut down {prout out again, and are in the place where they were before; but man, when he is cut down by death, rifes up no more in the fame place; he is feen no more in it, and the place that knew him, knows him no more; where he falls he lies until the general refurrection; he rifes not. before without a miracle, and fuch inftances are very rare, and_never either before or at the refurrection, but by the omnipotence of God; whereas a tree, in the above circumftances, fprouts out of. itfelf, according. to its nature, and in virtue of a natural power which God has put into it; not fo man’,

¥. 10. But man dieth, and wafteth away, &c.| All men, every man, Geder the mighty man, the {trong man; fome die in their full ftrength; the

¥ Matat terra vices-———= nos ubi deci.

wife man, notwithftanding knowledge, and even fill in the rich man with all his riches, all his wifdom and the art of medicine;

cannot bribe death, nor keep it off; the great and ed, or comes not out the honourable, emperors, kings, princes,: nobles, all die, and their honour is Jaid in the duft; yea, good men die,though{Chrift has died for them; even thofe that are the moft ufeful and beneficial to men, the prophets of the Lord, and the minifters of his word 5 and it is no wonder that wicked men fhould die, though they put the evil day far from them, make an agreement with death, or bid it defiance, their wickednefs fhall not deliver from it; all men have finned, and death pafiés on them, it is ap- a bed, and takes his reft from all his labours, ‘toil - and troubles, and lies afleep, and continues fo till — with which he|the refurrection-morn: and rifeth not, from off his:

of his grave into this world, to the place where he was, and to be engaged in the’ affairs of life he was before, and never by his own power; and whenever he will rife, it will be by-the power of God, and this not till the laft day, when Chrift fhall appear in perfon to judge the world;) and then the dead in Chrift will rife firft, -ac’ the beginning of the thoufand years, and’ the wicked at thé end of them: ¢é// the heavens be mo more, they fhall not awake, nor be raifed out of their fleep; for fo the words aré to be read, not in connexion’

pointed for them to die, not their fouls, which are with thofe thac go before, but with the laft claufes 5 which return to duft, death is a difunion immortal, but their bodies, and are only the mortal part; or feparation of foul and body: is made, the body waffeth away in the grave, and becomes rottennefs, duft, and worms, and does not by the ftrength of nature {pring up again, as a tree though the fenfe is much the fame either way, which is, that thofe who are fallen afleep by death, and now when this{and lie fleeping in their graves, and on their beds, thefe fhall neither awake of themfelves, nor be awaked by others, s2// the beavens be no more, that is, never, fo as to awake and arife of themfelves, does; though fome underftand, by an inverfion of and to this natural life, and to be concerned in the phrafes, a wafting before death through difeafes, the bufinefs of it; which fometimes feems to be as if the words were to be read, but man wajfteth the fenfe of this phrafe, fee Pf Ixxxix.-29. Matt.

away and dieth® {trength is weakened in the way, and when he dies there is none left in him; he is cut off *, as fome chufe to render it, or cut down as a tree is; but then there is no force or natural ftrength in hin to rife again, as in a tree: yea, man giveth up the ghoft, and where is be? not in the fame place he was; not in his houfe and habitation where he lived; nor in his family, and among his friends, with whom he converfed, nor inthe world, and on the earth where he did bufinefs; -he is indeed fomewhere, but where is he? his body is in the grave, his foul where is that? if a good man, it is in the prefence of God, where is fulnefs of joy; it is with Chrift, which is far better than to be here;

it is with the fpirits of juft men made perfect; it js in Abrabam’s bofom, feafting with him and other faints; it is in heaven, in paradife, endlefs joy and happinefs: if a wicked man, his foul is in hell, in the Jake which burns with fire and brimftone, with the devil and his angels, and _ other damned fpirits; in a prifon, from whence there is no releafe, and in the uttermoft mifery and diftrefs, banifhed from the divine prefence,

; he is enervated by ficknefs, hisjv. 18. of as in a ftate of| and everlafting contempt.

fome render it, <#if the heavens are qwore out, or waxen old*, as they will likea garmient, and be folded up, and laid afide, as to their prefent ufe, Pf cii. 26. or till they fhall vanif’ away and be no moré, as to their prefent form, quality and ulé, though they may exiftas to fubftance; and when this will be the café, as it will be when the judge fhall appear, when Chrift thall come a fecond time to judge the world; ‘then the earth and heaven’ will flee away from his face, the earth and its works fhall be burnt up, and the heavens fhall pafs away with great noife; and then, and not till then, will the dead, or thofe that are afléep in their graves, be awaked by the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, and they fhall be raifed from their fleepy beds, awake and atife, fomhe to everlafting life, and fome to fhame

¥. 13. And that thou wouldft hide me in the grave, &¢c.] The houle appointed for all living, which fome underftand by the chambers in If, xxvi. 20. The ccemetaries or dormitories of the faints, where they lie and fleep until the indignation of God againft a wicked world is over and paft 5 ‘orin Hades, _ and under a continual fenfe of the wrath of} the 2 So the Tigurine verfion, Vatablus; tate of the dead, where they aré infenfible of and fome in Drufius; and fome Hebrews in Ramban and Bar Tzemach he

Schmidt; -at vir, Cocceius. roved of by him as ungrammatical.

what is done in this world, what calamities and that will be preferved as hidden treafure: until thy sorath be paft, either with refpect to others, an ungodly world, to punifh whom God fometimes comes out of his place in great wrath and indignation; and to prevent his dear children and people from being involved in common and publick calamities, he takes them away before-hand, and hides them in his chambers, J/. xxvi. 19, 20. and Ivii. 1. or with refpect to himfelf, as to his own apprehenfion of things, who imagined that the wrath of God was upon him, being feverely afflicted by him, all the effects of which he fuppofed would not be removed until he was brought to the duft, from whence he came, and until his body was changed at the refurrection; ull that time there are fome appearances of the difpleafure of God againit fin: and then follows another petition, that thou would? appoint me a fet time, and remember me either for his going down to the grave, and being hid there, for which there is an appointed time; for as that is the place appointed for man, it is appointed for man to go unto it, and the time when, as appears from ¥.5. or his coming out of the grave, for his refurrection from thence, which alfo is fixed, even thelaft day, the day God has appointed to judge the world in righteoufnefs by Chrift, at which time the dead will be raifed; tho’ of that day and hour no man knows: unlefs he fhould mean a time for deliverance from his afflictions, which alfo is fet; for God, as he fettles the bounds of an affliction, how far it fhould go, and no fartner, fo likewife the time when it fhould end; and either of thefe od might call a remembering of him, who thought himfelf, in his prefent cafe, as a dead man, out of mind, as thofe that lie in the grave, remembered no more.

y¥. 14. If a man die, &c.] This is faid not as if it was a matter of doubt, -he had before afferted it; as fure as men have finned, fo {ure fhall they die; nothing is more certain than death, it is appointed by God, and is fure; but taking it for granted, the experience of all men, and the in- {tances of perfons of every age, rank and condition teftifying to it; the Targum reftrains it to wicked men, ‘‘ if a wicked man die:” /hall be live again? no, he fhall not live in this earth, and in the place where he was, doing the fame bufinefs he once did; that is, he fhall not live here; ordinarily fpéaking, the inftances are very rare and few; two or three inftances there have been under the Old Teftament, and a few under the New; but this is far from being a general and ufual cafe, and never through the ftrength of nature, or of a man’s felf, but by the mighty power of God: or it may be anfwered to affirmatively, he fhall live again at the general refurrection, at the laft day, when all fhall come out of their graves, and there will be a general refurrection of the jutt, and of the unjuft; fome will live miferably, in inexprefiible and eternal torments, and wifh to die, but cannot, their life will be a kind of death, even the fecond death; others will live comfortably and happily an endlefs life of joy and pleafure with God, Father, Son and Spirit, angels and glorified faints: hence, in the faith of this is the following refolution, all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come; there is an appointed time for man on earth when he fhall be born, how long he fhall live, and when he fhall die, fee ch. vii. 1.

2.93 and xiv. 5. or of my warfare’, for the life of man, — e{pecially of a good man, is a ftate of warfare with many enemies, fin, Satan, and the world; at the end of which there will be a change; for not a change of outward circumftances in this life is meant; for though there was fuch a change befel Job, yet he was, efpecially at this time, in no expectation of it; and though his friends fuggefted it to him, upon his repentance and reformation, he had no hope of it, but often expreffes the contrary: but either a change at death is meant; the Targum calls it a change of life, a change of this life for another; death makes a great change in the body of a man, in his place here, in his relations and connexions with men, in his company, condition and circumftances: or elfe the change at the refurrection, when this vile body will be changed, and made like unto Chrift’s; when it will become an incorruptible, glorious, powerful and fpiricual body, which is now corruptible, difhonourable, weak and natural; and till one or other of thefe fhould come, 7od is determined to wast, to live in the conftant expectation of death, and to be ina readinefs and preparation for it; in the mean while to bear afflictions patiently, and not fhew fuch marks of impatience as he had done, nor defire to die before God’s time, but whenever that fhould come, quietly and chearfully refign himfelf into the hands of God; or this may refpeét the frame and bufinefs of the foul in a feparate ftate after death, and before the refurrection, believing, hoping and waiting for the refurreétion of. the body, and its union to it, fee Pf xvi. ro.

¥. 15. Thou foalt call, and I will anfwer thee, &c.] Hither at death, when the foul of man is required of him, and he is fummoned out of time into eternity, and has fometimes previous notice of it; though not by a prophet, or exprefs meflenger from the Lord, as Hezekiah had, yet by fome difeafe and diftemper or another, which has a voice, a call in it toexpect a remove fhortly; and a good man that is prepared for it, he anfwers to this call readily and chearfully; death is no king of terrors to him, he is not reluctant to it, yea defirous of it; intreats his difmiffion in peace, and even longs for it, and rejoices and triumphs in the views of it: or elfe at the refurreétion, when Chrift fhall call to the dead, as he did to Lazarus, and fay, come forth; and when they fhall hear his voice, even the voice, of the archangel, and hall anfwer to it, and come forth out of their graves, the fea, death, and the grave being obliged to deliver up the dead that are therein; though fome think this refers to God’s call unto him in a judicial way, and his anfwers to it by way of defence, as in ch, xiii, 22. but the other fenfes feem more agreeable to the context: thou wilt have a defire to the work of thine bands; meaning his body, which is the workmanfhip of God, and a curious piece of workmanfhip it is, wonderfully and fearfully made, and curioufly wrought;' and though it may feem to be marred and fpoiled by death, yet God will have a defire to the reftoration of it at the refurreCtion to a better condition; even the bodies of his people, and that becaufe they are veffels chofen by him, given to his Son, redeemed by his blood, united to his perfon, and fanctified by his Spirit, whofe temples they are, and in whom he dwells: wherefore upon thefe confiderations, ic may be reafonably defire to the refurreétion of the bodies of the faints, and in which they will have a concern; and from which it may be conclyded, it will be certainly effeéted, fince God isa rock, and his work is perfeét, or will be, both upon the bodies and fouls of his people; and the work of fanétification will not be properly compleated on them, until their vile bodies are changed, and made like to the glorious body of Chrift; which muft be very defireable to him, who has fuch a fpecial love for them, and delight in them. Some render the words with an interrogation, wilt thou defire to deftroy the work of thine kands*? farely thou wilt not; or, as Ben Gerfom, “ is it fit that thou fhouldft defire to deftroy the work of thine hands?” -furely it is not becoming, it cannot be thought that thou wilt do it; but the y. 16. For now thou numbereft my fteps, &c. | Or but now‘, at this prefent time thou feemeft to have no defire to me, or affection for me, but the reverfe. mind a little before, having in view his laft change, and the glorious refurrection; but on a fudden he returns to his former complaints of God, and here of the rigour and ftri€tnefs of his juftice in marking his fteps, and correcting him for his fin; fo very uncertain are the beft of frames: the outward converfation of men, whether good or bad, is often in {cripture expreffed by walking, and the actions of men, ‘good or evil, are the fteps taken therein; here they fignify evil ones, irregular fteps, fteps ‘out of the way of God’s commandments, aberrations, ftrayings from thence, falfe fteps; thefe Feb fuppofed God not only had knowledge of, as he has of all the ways, paths, and goings of men, but took very exact notice of his wrong fteps; looked very narrowly to his paths, as in ch. xiii. 27. and ftrictly marked them; yea, told them one by one, that he might mifs none, and make up a large account, which he put down in his book, in order to produce againft him; in which od was miftaken: he thought God dealt with him, as he does with wicked men, whofe evil actions are not only known and obferved, but are counted and put down in the book of his remembrance, which will be opened at the laft day, and produced againft them; but God has blotted out of his book the firs of his people, and will remember them no more; he has a book of remembrance for their good works, words and thoughts, but none for their évil ones: doft thou not watch over my fin? of error, infirmity and weaknefs; obferve it, mark it in a {trict and rigorous way, which, when God does, who can ftand before him? or watch for my Jin*? as Feremiah’s enemies watched for his halting 5 fo ‘Fob here reprefents God very wrongly, as if he watched for an opportunity again{t him, to take the advantage of it, and feverely chaftize him: or ¢hou doft not wait for my fin®; that is, the punifhment of it, as many of the Fewifh writers‘ carry the fenfeé, which is, that God did not defer the punifhment of fin, or give hin any refpite or breathing time, but as foon as ever he committed any offerice, immediately, at once, he was rough with him, and ufed him with great feverity.

' Aben Ezra inferts the word only, as explanative of the meaning of the words, thus, thou watcheft only ably fuppofed, that Father, Son and Spirit have a|

Fob was in a pretty good frame of

|haft joined it to my iniquities.” © over my fin, or oeft not mark and obferve “any — thing but my fins; not my good'deeds, only my evil ones; which is a wrong charge, for God takes notice of the good works of his people; and rewards them in a way of grace, though not of debt, as well as of their evil works, and chaftizes for them ina fatherly way: others render the words to this fenfe, what is not; or of no moment or confequence, thou keepeft for me in mind and memory; as fin*; that which is not fin, or at leaft notknown to me to be fin, or however fomething very trifling, fcarce to be called a fin, yet I am dealt with for it as if a very. heinous one; or I] am afflicted for I know not what, or, which is all one, for what is not known to me. Some take the words to be a petition, do not obferve my fin; or mark it ftriétly, or keep it in mind, or referve it againft another time, but hide thy face from it, and remember it no more, nor never againft me.

y.17. My tranfgreffion is fealed up in a bag, &e¢. Denoting either the hiddenefs of it, as in Ho

12. not from God; nor in fuch fenfe, fealed up, as fin is by the facrifice and fatisfaétion of Chrift, who has thereby removed it out of the fight of divine juftice; fo that when it is fought for it fhall not be found, nor any more feeh; which is the fenfe of the phrafe in Daz. ix, 24. where the words, to make an end of fin, may be rendered, to /eal them #p; but this '7o would not have complained of; he means it was hid as in a bag from himfelf, or he knew not what it was; the tranfgreffion was fealed up from him, he was intirely ignorant of, and unacquainted with what it was, for’ which he was feverely afflicted: or elfe his fenfeis, that God had taken ftrict notice of his tranfgreffions, and had, as it were, put them up in a bag, and fet a feal upon it, that none might be loft, but might be ready to be produced againft him another day; in allufion, as it is thought, to bills of in= diétment put up in bags fealed, to be brought into courts of judicature at a proper time, for which they are referved: and thou feweft up miné iniquity 5 in the bag in which it is fealed; not only did he feal up the bag, but fewed a cloth over it thus fealed, for greater fecurity: or thou feweft te mine iniquity™, or adds iniquity to iniquity, as in P/- lxix. 27. as arithmeticians do, who add one number to another until it becomes a great fum; thus God, according to 7ob, tacked and joined one fin to another, till it became one Jarge heap and pile, reaching to the heavens, and calling for vengeance; or, as Sepborno interprets it, joined fins of ignorance to fins of prefumption; or rather fewed or added the punifhment of fin to fin, or punifhment to punifhment; the Zargum is, * my tranfgreffion is fealed up in a book of remembrances, and thou ai

¥.18. And furely the mountain falling, cometh to nought, 8c.) Fob here returns to his former fubject of the irreparable ftate of man at death, which he illuftrates by various other fimilies, as before;

and firft by a mountain falling, which may be fuppofed, and has been fact, and when it does, it. comes to nought, it crumbles into duft, and where’ it falls there it lies, and never rifes up to a mountain, or to the height it had, any mores or it withers *, as fome render it, the plants, — marcefcit, Tigurine verfion,

! Nec ferves, id eft, obferves peccatum meum 5. fon and trees that grow upon it wither away, fee Naham, i

Mercerus; emarcefcit, Schultens.

or it is diffalued, or flows, and {preads itfelf over the face of the green earth it covers, and deftroys. with its duft and fand, which is never more gathered up to form a mountain again; fo man, like unto a mountain, as kingdoms, and ftates, and kings, and princes, and great men are; the Targum inttances in Lot; as a man may be faid to be, that is in good health of body, and in profperous circumvtances in his.family; when he falls, as he does by death, which is exprefled by falling, 2 Sam. iii. 38. he comes to nought, he is not any more in the land of the living, nor in the place and circumftances in which he was before: aud the rock \

- gs removed out of bis place; from the mountain, of which it was a part; or elfewhere, by earthquakes, by force of winds, or ftrength of waters; ‘and which, when once removed, is never returned to its place any more; fo man, who in-his full ftrength feems like a rock immoveable, when death comes, it fhakes and moves him out of his place, and that never knows him any more.

¥. 19. Lhe waters wear the flones, &c.] Either by continual running in them, or conftant dropping upon them’; and the excavations or hollow places they make are never filled up again, thefe impreffions are never effaced, nor- the ftones reduced to their ancient form; fo man, though ‘he may have the ftrength of ftones, yet the waters of afflictions will gradually wear him away, and bring him to the duft of death, and where he mutt lie till the heavens be no more: thou wa/heff away the things which grow out of the duft of the earth; herbs, plants and trees, which a violent inundation of water tears up by the roots, and carries away, and they are never reftored to their places any more. The word m'DD, which we render, the things which grow out, the fpontaneous productions of the earth, as inZev.xxv.5. <Aben £zra interprets of floods of water; and fo Schultens, from the ufe of the word in the Arabic language, tranflates it, sheir effufions; that is, the effufions of waters before-mentioned, the floods and inundations of them overflow, and waj/h away the duft of the earth s not only that which is on the fuperficies of it, the foil of it; but, as the fame learned man obferves, they plow and tear up the earth itfelf, and carry it away, and it is never repaired; fo men at death are carried away as with a flood, and are no more, fee Pf. xc. 5. and or fo * thou deftroyeft the hope of man, not the hope of a good man about his eternal ftate, and of enjoying eternal happinefs; which is the gift of God’s grace, which is without repentance, never revoked, called in, or taken away or deftroyed; it is built upon the promife of God, who cannot lie; it is founded on the perfon, blood, and righteoufnefs of Chrift; and tho’ it may bebrought low, it is never loft; the hope of carnal men, in an arm of flefh, in the creature and creature-enjoyments, is indeed deftroyed; and fo is the hope of- external profeffors of religion, that is formed on their own works of righteouinefs, and profeffion of religion; but of this 7d is not fpeaking, but of the hope of man of living again in this world after death; for this is a reddition or application of the above fimilies ufed to illuftrate this point, the irreparable ftate of man at death, fo as that he fhall never return to this life again, and to the fame ftate and circumftances of things, as before; and next follows a defcription of death, and the ftate of the dead

* Multi vel graves funt, Drufius; graves erunt et onutti, Mercerus.

¥. 20. Thou prevailet for ever againft him, 8cc.))

God is an overmatch for man, in any thing, in every thing;:there is no contending with him; or ftanding again{t him; he is ftronger than he, and. always prevails; there is no withitanding any difeafe, and the force of it, when he fends it; it is a meffenger and fervant of his; it goés at his command, and does what he bids it do; and all the art and power of man cannot refiftit, or hinder what God would have done by it; and fo death itfelf isirrefiftible; what’s ftronger than death? it isa king that reigns with a defpotic power; it reigns irrefiftibly, victorioufly, and triumphantly; it prevails over all men, in all ages, and will do to the end of the world; no man has power over his fpirit to retain ic one moment, when death comes to feparate it from the body: and this prevalence of God by death over men, will be for ever; the graveis man’s long home, to which he is brought by death, and he will never return from it more, to come again into this world, and be about the bafinefs of itas now; and he pafleth out of the world, andis feen no more in it; death is a going the way of all flefh, a departure out of this life, and to it man never ufually returns more; he goes to Hades, to the invifible place, and makes his appearance no more here; fee P/: xxxvii. 35, 36. thou changeft bis countenance at death; the forerunners of death will change’a man’s countenance, pains and difeafes of body; by thefe God makes man’s beauty to confume like the moth; the fear of death will change a a man’s countenance, as the hand-writing on the wall did Bel/bazzar’s; even fuch who have outbraved death, and pretended to have made acovenant and agreement with it, yet when the king of terrors is prefented to them, they are feized with a panic, their hearts ache, and their countenances turn pale; but O! what a change is made by death itfelf, which for this reafon is reprefented as ridingon a pale horfe; Rev. vi. 8. when the rofy florid looks of man are gone, his comelinefs turned into corruption, his countenance pale and meagre, his eyes hollow and funk, his nofe fharp pointed, his ears contracted, and jaws fallen, and his complexion altered, and ftill more when laid in the grave, and he is turned to rottennefs, duft and worms: and fendeth him away; giveth him a difmiffion from this world; fendeth him out of it, from his houfe, his family, friends and acquaintance: his birth is expreffed

‘often by his coming into the world, and his death by going out of it; for here he has no continuance, no abiding, no reft; and yet there is no remove, till God gives him difmiffion by death, then he fends him away from hence; fonie in wrath, whom he fends to take up their abode with devils and damned fpirits; others in love, to prevent their being involved in evils coming upon the earth, and to be in better company, with God and Chrift, with angels, and the fpirits of juft men made perfect: Maimonides interprets this of 4dam*, who when he changed the object of his countenance, and looked on the forbidden fruit, was fent out of Paradife. y¥. 20. His fons come to honour, &c.} Or are multiplied,’ fee Nahum, iii. 15.'their families increafe like a flock, become very numerous, which was reckoned a great blefling; or decome heavy’; being loaded with gold and filver, with richesand honour, raifed to great grandeur and dignity, and poffeffed of much wealth and large eftates: and be knoweth it not; the man whofe countenance is changed and fent away into another world; for the dead know nothing of the affairs of this life; a good man indeed after death knows more of God and Chrift, of the doctrines of grace; and myfteries of providence; but he knows nothing of the affairs of his family he has left behind: fome underftand this of a man on his death-bed whilft alive, who when he is toldof the promotion of his fonstohonour, or of the increafe of their worldly fubftance, takes no notice of it; ei- Either he fhall be chaftened with ftrong pains on his’ fick and dying bed; which is the reafon why he neither rejoices atthe happinels of his family, nor is di- {trefled at their misfortunes; having fo much pain | in his fleth and bones to endure himfelf; or as Gufe-" fias * renders it, for this his flefh and foul fhall have pain and grief, while he lives, becaufe he cannot know how it will be with his family, when he is” dead; but rather this is to be underftood of a man ther being deprived of his fenfes by the difeafe vpon him; or thro’ the greatnefs of his pains and agonies, or the intenfenefs of his thoughts about a future ftate, does not advert to what is told him, nor rejoice at it; which in the time of health would have been pleafing to him: but the firft fenfe feems beft: and they are brought low, that is, hisfons; or are diminifbed"; \effened in their numbers, one taken off after another, and {o his family decreafes; or they come into low cireumftances of life, arereduced in the world, and brought to {traits and difficulties, to want and poverty: but be perceiveth it not of them; he is not fenfible of their troubles, and fo not grieved at them; fee Jj. Ixiii. 16. or when he is told of them an his death-bed, he does not advert to them, or regard them, having enough to grapple with himfelf, and when dead; and fo it is a continuation of thedefcription of death, or of the ftate of the dead; thus Aden Ezra interprets it, of his flefh upon him, that is, his body fhall melt away, rot and corrupt, meaning in the grave; fothe word is ufed of marring anddeftroying, in 2 Kings, iii. 19. to which the Targum inclines, ‘but his flefh, becaufe of worms upon him, fhall grieve;” and fo Yarchi, troublefome is the worm to a dead man, as aneedle in quick flefh; pain and grief are by a profopopeia attributed to a dead body; fignifying, that could it be fenfible of its cafe, it would be painful and grievous to it: and his foul within him foall mourn; either whilft he lives, becaufe of his afflictions and terrors, the days being come, in which he has no pleafure, and the time of death drawing nigh; or his dead body, as his mind intent on his everlafting ftate, or carried above them in the views of the love, grace, and' the word is ufedin P/, xvi. 10. faid to mourn by the ame figure; or his foul, becaufe of his body being v.22. But bis flefo upon bim fall have pain, 8ec.

dead; or rather his breath, which at death fails and pines away ”.

70 B’s three friends having in their turns attacked him, and he having given anfwer refpectively tothem; H/ipbeaz who began the attack firft enters y. 1. Then anfwered Eliphaz the Temanite, 8ec.} Or, who was of Zeman, as the Targum, the firft of

Fob’s friends and comforters, the oldeft of them, the lifts with him again, and proceeds upon the fame plan as before, and endeavours to defend his former fentiments, falling upon Yod with greater vehemence and feverity; he charges him with vanity, imprudence and unprofitablenefs in his talk, and acting aj part unbecoming his charaéter asa wife man; yea with impiety and a neglect of religion, or at leaft as a difcourager of it by his words and doétrines, of who firft began the difpute with him; which was carried on by his two other companions, who had {poken in their turns; and now in courfe it fell to him to anfwer a iecond time, as he here does, and aid, as follows.

y. 2. Should a wife manutter vain knowledge, 8¢c.] As ob had been thought to be, or as he himfelf thought he was, which he might fay fareafti- which his mouth and lips were witnefles againft him, y. 1, 6. he charges him with arrogance anda high conceit of himfelf, as if he was the firft man that was made, nay as if he was the eternal wifdom of God, and had been in his council; and, to check his vanity, retorts his own words upon him, or however the fenfe of them, ¥. 7.—10. and alfo with flight- cally; or as he really was, not worldly wife, nor merely wife in things natural, but in things divine; being one that had the fear of God, which is the beginning of wifdom, and wifdom itfelf; believed in Chrift, and walked wifely and circumfpectly before men; now it is not becoming fuch a man to utter vain knowledge, or fuch knowledge as is like ing the confolations of God; upon which he warmly expoftulates with him, ¥. 11.13. and in order to convince: him of his felf-righteoufnefs, which he thought he was full of, he argues from the angels, the heavens, and the general cafe of man, ¥.14—16. and then he declares from his own knowledge, and from the relation of wife and antient men in former times,who madeit their obfervation, that wicked men are afflicted all their days, attended with terror and defpair, and liable to various calamities, ¥. 17—24, the reafons of which are their infolence to God, and hoftilities committed againft him, which they are encouraged in by their profperous circumftances,

¥.25, 26, 27. notwithftanding all, their eftates, riches, and wealth, wiil come to nothing, ¥. 28— 3o. and the chapter is clofed with an exhortation to fuch, not to feed themfelves up with vain hopes, or truft in uncertain riches, fince their deftruétion would befure, fudden, and terrible, ¥. 31—35, — the wind, or as the Targum, windy knowledge; empty, not folid, nor fatisfying, but {wells and puffs /up, and is knowledge falfly fo called; but it does not appear that od did utter fuch vain and fruitlefs things, as deferved to be compared to the wind: and fill bis belly with the eaft-wind; which is noify and blufterous, rapid and forcible, bearing all before it, and very infectious in hot countries; and fuch notions Yob according to El/iphaz fatisfied himfelf with, and endeavoured to infinuate them into others; which were nothing but great fwelling words of vanity, and tended to fubvert the faith of men, and overthrow all religion, and were very unwholfome, infectious and ruinous to the minds of men, as fuggefted. © ites y. 3. Should he reafon with unprofitable talk, &c.}— That is, the wife man, fuch a man as Fob; does it become him to talk fuch idle ftuff? that which is falfe, and foolifh, and frothy, that doesnot minifter grace to the hearer, and is not for the ufe of edifying; as whatever is untrue, unwife, vain, and empty, mutt be ufclefs and anfwer no good end; nothing is pro- ped Scns aha ee words™ likethe tautologics of the heathen; or he diminifhed prayer, as others *, leflened the times of prayer, and the petitions in it: or rather it may fitable but what tends to increafe folid wifdom and refpect others,” not that it cari be thought he ‘fhould

{piritual knowledge, and to exercife grace, and influence an holy lite; wherefore what are profitable lay his injunctions on thofe over whom he had any authority, forbidding his fervants, or thofe about to the fouls of men, are the doctrines of the word of himto pray; but that by his manner of reafoning he

God, and the experiences of the grace of God, commiunicated by his people one to another; and nothing but thefe, or what agrees with-them, fhould come out of the mouth of a wife and good man; nor can fuch an one expect to convince men of their errors, orreprove them for their fins with fuccefs, who deals in words of no profit; or with fpeeches where- difcouraged prayer, as £/ipbaz thought, asa ufelefs thing; for ifGod laughs at the trials and afflictions of the innocent, and fuffers wicked men ‘to profper, who would pray to him, or ferve him? fee ch. x. 23. and xii. 6.; Sa)

¥. 5. Kor thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, &c.] Which was in his heart, and fo was an evidence with be can dono good, but may do a great deal of againft him, and proved him perverfe, and made hurt both to himéelf and others; but the fame thing is here fignified in different words.

¥. 4. Yea, thou cafteft off fear, &c.| Not of man; a flavifh fear of man is to be caft off, because that brings a fnare, deters men from their duty, and leads into fin; tho’ there is a fear and reverence of men which ought to be given to them, fear to whom fear, Rom. xiii. 7. but here the fear of God is meant, good the above charges exhibited againft him: or thine iniquity teaches thy mouth’, the wickednefs that was in his heart prompted his mouth to fpeak the things he did, fee Mart. xii. 34. and this, as it was an inftance of his folly, Prov. xv. 2. fo a proof of his cafting off the fear of the Lord; for if that had been before his eyes, he would have bridled his lips, and not uttered all the wickednefs which is to be underftood of the grace of fear, ofjof his heart: for he that dridleth not bis tongue, his which 7od was poffeffed; that could not be caft off, for this is not what is in a man naturally, or is by the light of nature, and arifes from natural conviction, which may be caft off as was by Pharaoh; butthis is a bleffing of the covenant of grace, fure and firm, and is one of the gifts of grace, that are without repentance; it is a part of internal grace, which can never be loft; it is improved and increafed by frefh difcoveries of the grace and goodnefs of God, and is an antidote and prefervative againft apoftacy: perhaps the whole worfhip of God may be meant, external worfhip, or outward religion in the form of it, which is fometimes fignified by the fear of God; Eccl. xii.14. Jf xxix. 13. and it is caft off when it is neglected and not attended to, or when men become prophane, after they have made a profeffion of religion; butas neither of thefe can be thought to be religion is vain, James i. 26. and thou chufeft the tongue of the crafty; coloured over things under fpecious pretences of religion and godlinefs, fo that the fimple and ignorant took him’for‘a holy good man, when he was at heart an hypocrite; in this light Zliphaz puts ‘fob, as One that walked and talked in craftinefs, and was a deceitful worker, and impofed upon men with falfe gloffts and plaufible pretences.

¥. 6. Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not [, &c.] Or fhews thee to be a wicked perfon, guilty of things charged upon thee; out of thine own mouth thou art convicted, there needs no other evidence to be brought againft thee, that is fufficient; and thou faveft me, and any other the trouble of paffing the fentence of condemnation upon thee; thou haft done it thyfelf, thine own mouth is the cafe of Fed; rather the meaning of E/iphaz may be, that Fo did not fhew that reverence to God he fhould, as his words may feem, in ch. xiii. 20,21,225 or that by his way of talk and reafoning, and bythe notions he had imbibed and gave out, and the affettions he laid down, all religion would be made void among men; for if, as he had faid, God de/frays the perfect and the wicked, and. the tabernacles of rebbers profper, and the juft men are laughed to fcorn, 22, and xii. 4. 6. who would fear God? it might be inferred from hence, that it is a vainthingto ferve him, and there can be no profit got by keeping his ordinances, and walking before him; this is the way to put an end to all religion, as if E/phaz fhould fay, and difcourage all regard unto it: and refiraineft prayer before God;

to God and to him only, it is a part of religious fhip, direéted to by the light of nature; and ought to be performed by every man; itis a fpecial privilege of the faints, who have a covenant-God on a throne of grace to go to, and can prayin a fpiritual manner for fpiritual things; and efpecially is to be obferved in times of trouble, in which ¥od now was, and neverto be difufed: now this charge either refpects Yob himfelf, that he left off praying, which can hardly be fuppofed; or that he drew out prayer to a great length, as fome underftand the judge and jury, and brings in the verdidt, and pronounces it, as well as is the witnefs, as follows, and is inftead of a thoufand witneffés, ch. ix. 20. yea, thine own lips teftify againft thee, and therefore there were no need of producing any other teftimony; what he had faid, fhewed that his talk was vain and unprofitable, unbecoming a wife man; and tending to make null and void the fear of God ch. ix.)among men, to difcourage all religious exercifes, and particularly prayer before God.

y. 7. Art thou the firft man that was born? &c.] The firft dam, who was created in wifdom and knowledge, and had a large fhare of underftanding in things natural, civil, and moral; knew much of God and his perfections, of the works of nature, prayer is to be madejand of the wifdom and power of 'God difplayed in wor-jthem; one inftance of which is his giving names |to the creatures; doft thou think thou art that felf-fame individual perfon, the father of all mankind, who had fuch a ftock and fund of knowledge, until, by feeking after more, and that unlawful, he loft much of what he had? doftthou imagine that thou haft lived ever fince, and feen or known every thing that was done in all ages from the beginning, and haft gathered a large fhare of knowledge from long experience, and by making ftrigt obfervations on men and things in fuch a length of time? or, as the Targum, “ Walt thou born with the firfl man, without father and mother?’ and haft thou exifted ever fince? or, Wajt thou born before Adam? before the firft man #? Art thou the wifdom,and fon of God, who was before Abrabam, before Adam, before any creature whatever, was in the beginning with God, and was God? What doft thou make thyfelf to be, ¥ob? thou a mere man, doft thou make thyfelf to be the eternal God? to be before the firft man, or to be the firft-born of every creature, or to be born before every creature, is expreffive of eternity, as is the following phrafe: or waft thou made before the bills? or exifted before they did? as is faid of the Son of God, Prov. viii. 25. what is before the hills and mountains is eternal; the eternal God and his eternity are thus defcribed, P/: xc. 2. is not a like degree of hitnfelf, as if he was the only wife man in the world thus what he charged his friends with, Elipbaz retorts upon himfelf, ch. xii. 2. as he does his own words in the following verfe. nye

¥.9. What knoweft thou that we know not? ‘&e.J Which are pretty near the words of ed to his friends, ch. xii. 3. and xiii. 2. and to the fame fenfe is what follows: what underftandeft thou, which is notin us? in our hearts, minds, and underftanding, or among us, which one or other, forjor all ot us, have not: yet all men have not knowledge alike; fome that profefs themfelves to be wife, and to have a large thare of knowledge, are fools; and fuch who think they know fomething extraordinary, and more than others, know nothing as they ought to know; and fuch who have gifts of real knowledge, have them different one from another; even of the things known there knowledge, and particularly in fpiritual things; fome are little children in under{tanding, fome are young men and know more, and fome are fathers, and know moft of all; an equality in knowledge belongs to another ftate, to alljthe latter day-glory, when the watchmen fhall fee eye to eye, and all thall know the Lord, front the leaft to the greateft, and efpecially to the ultimate glory, when faints will know as they are known. — y. 8. Haft thou heard the fecret of God? &c.}j Or, in the fecret of God*, in his cabinet-council, what was faid and done there? haft thou ftood in the council of God? haft thou been one of his privy-council, or counfellors, and been let into the fecrets of God, of his purpofes and providence, and into the reafons of all his adminiftrations, that thou talkeft fo freely, and boldly, and confidently as thou doft? Indeed Chrift, the Son of God, was the Angel of the great council; the counfel of peace was between him and his Father; yea, he was in his bofom, and privy to all his thoughts, defigns, and decrees, and knew every thing, what! would be, and the reafons thereof;

y. 10. With us are both the grey-beaded, &c.} The grey-headed man, or one that is fo, it is in the fingular number; grey hairs area fign of old age, and an emblem of wifdom, fee ch. xii. 12. to which words Eiipbaz may be thought to refer; as well as the! ‘70d there fuggefting as if wifdom was with him, being an antient man: and very aged men, of mah rather; Mr. Broughton renders it, and all grey, as In-jif the other word only fignifies one that has a mixture of grey hairs on him, but this one all whofe hairs are turned grey: much elder than thy father, fuch asthejor greater, as the fame learned man renders it; and fo Aben Ezra and Bar Tzemach fay in the Ara- éic language the word fignifies, and may defign a third perfon. Ben Gerfom thinks that Eliphaz was older than od, and that his other two friends were younger than he, or Zephar only was younger than he; one of the Targums paraphrafes the words thus, ‘* but Eliphax who is grey, and Bildad who is aged, are with us, and Zopbar who is greater in days than thy father',;” it appears that they were very old men by what E/ibu fays, ch. xxxti. 6, 7. though it may be, E/ipbax may not barely have refpect to themfelves and their age, but to their anceftors, their fathers, from whom they had their knowledge, when they were but of yefterday, and knew little, and fo pleads antiquity on their fide; fer-jand it has been obferved that Temen, from whence Eliphaz was, was famous for wifdom, and wife men in it, at leaft it was fo in after-times; and if fo early, the obfervation would be more pertinent, and the fenfe might be thoughr to be; that we have at Temen men as antient and as wife as at Uz, in the fchools of the one as in the fchools of the other, and fo have the opportunity of gaining as much wifdom and knowledge as ‘fod: or it may be, the meaning only is this, that we have on our fide the queftion as many antient and learned men, as men or more, than od can pretend to; and thus, as but before, antiquity is pleaded; but is not a fure rule to go by, at leaft by trufting to it men may be led afide; for though truth is the good old way, he reckoned fo highly ofjand is the oldeft way, yet error is almolt as old as. truth; it follows fo clofe upon the heels of it, that’ it is difficult, in fome cafes, to difcera which is.

nature of his Father, his perfections, mind, andj will, which he has declared: but could ¥oé pretend to this, or any thing like it? no furely. deed there are fome fecrets of God which he makes! known to his people, and no doubt, in fome meafure, ob was acquainted with them;

fecrets of God’s love, and of the covenant of his! grace which are with them that fear him; and juch an one Yod was, and with whom, in times paft at leaft, the fecret of God was, even his everlafting love in the open manifeftation of it to him; which is a fecret in the heart of God, till revealed and fhed abroad in the hearts of his people; and fo the myfleries of God, as fome render the word °, the doétrines of the gofpel, the myfteries of the kingdom of heaven, the knowledge of them, is given to the fons of men; od was acquainted with them, with the incarnation of Chrift, redemption by him, and the refurreétion of the dead; the fecrets of providence, though they may not always be known now, they will be hereafter; yea, God does nothing but he reveals his fecrets to his vants the prophets, as he did to Abraham his friend; and as for the purpofes of God, which are the fecret things that belong to him, and can never be known unleis revealed, and when fulfilled, even thofe, fuch as relate to the election of men, their redemption by Chrift, and effeétual vocation, are made known by God’s faving and calling them according to them: and doft thou reftrain wifdom to thyjelf? not keep it to himfelf without communicating it to others, which to do is to imprifon the truth, and detain it in unrighteoufnefs; have freely received, they fhould freely give; he arrogated and afcribed wifdom to himfelf, monopolized it, and would allow no man to have any fhare of it but himfelf;

firft, though truth always is; there is the old way which wicked men have trodden; and a pretence to antiquity, if not carefully obferved, may lead into it, fee Fer. vi. 16. Fob xxii. 15.

vy. at. Are the conjolations of God fmall with thee? &c.] Meaning either thofe which Elipbaz and his friends had adminiftred, when, upon his repentance and reformation, they promifed him great and good things that fhould befall him and his family, and that his latter end fhould be greater than his beginning; which ¥0d flighted, took no notice of, nor entertained any hope concerning it; and thefe they called the confolations of God, not only becaufe great, as things excellent have the name of God added to them to expref$ their excellency, but becaufe they were adminiftred in the | name of God, and were according to the word and will of God, at leaft as they thought: Ben Gerfom renders it, the confolations of thefe, thefe were Bildad and Zopbar; fo Bar Tzemach; or, as others, thefe confolations ® which I and my friends fuggefted; but not human, rather divine confolations are meant; and this is a frefh charge againft ‘fob, that he made light of fuch, even the confolations of God, Father, Son, and Spirit, who are each of them comforters; faints may,and fhould comfort one.another, and minifters of the gofpel are Barnabafes, fons of confolation; but,God is the great comforter, it is he only can fpeak apply comfort to purpofe; and his confolations are not to be accounted /mall, if it be confidered from whence they come, from the great God, thej Creator, to creatures, duft and afhes, finful ones, on whom they are beftowed, fuch as are undeferving of them, yea, deferving of the wrath of God, and the curfes of his law; and alfo the nature of comforts, as that they are {trong confolations, and effectual through the power and grace of God, and are everlafting, the matter and foundation of them being fo; and though they may be refufed through unbelief, as being too great in the view of a creature for himfelf, yet they can never be accounted fimall, or flighted and defpifed by a gracious foul, nor can it be thought they were by od, fince he was fo diftreffed with the arrows of Almighty, a fenfe of divine wrath, and was fo defirous of the divine prefence, and even begged he might take comfort a little: és there any fecret thing with thee? any fecret wif{dom and knowledge which they were {trangers to; or any fecret way of conveying comfort to him they knew not of; or any fecret finin him, any 4chax in the camp, that hindered him from receiving comfort, or put him upon flighting what was offered to him.

¥. 12. Why doth thine heart carry thee away, &c.] To fuch conceit of thyfelf, and contempt of others, and even to flight the confolations of God; the heart being deceitful and wicked, fometimes carries away good men to fay and do thofe| things which are unbecoming; and if, in any inftance, this was 70b’s cafe, it was owing to his own heart, which carried him beyond due bounds; for whenever any man is tempted to do evil, be is drawn away of bis own luff, and enticed, James i. 14. and what do thine eyes wink at? conniving at and fhutting his eyes againft his own fins and iniquities, unwilling to fee them, and be convinced of them, and own them; or fhutting them againft the charges and reproofs of his friends, and all the light and evidence with which they came; himfelf againft him, running upon him, on the thick boffes of his buckler, as after expreffed: and etteft fuch words go out of thy mouth? asin ch. ix. 22. and x. 3. and xii. 6. and xiii. 22—27. y¥. 14. What is man that be fhduld be clean? &c.] Frail, feeble, mortal man, or woful man, as Mr. Broughton renders it; fince he is finful, whereby he havelis become fuch a weak and dying creature: this queftion, as well as the following, is put by way of contempt, and as leffening man in a comparative fenfe, and in order to abate any high conceit of himfelf; who is not naturally clean, but the reverfe, being conceived and born in fin; nor can he be fo of himfelf, nor by any means he is capable of; and however clean he may be in, his own eyes, andor in the eyes of others; yet is not clean in the fight of God, and ftill lefs pure than him, his Maker, as in ch. iv. 17. and indeed cannot be clean at all, but through the grace of God, and blood of Chrift, which cleanfes from all fin: and 4e which is born of a woman, a periphrafis of man; ch. xiv. 1. that be fhould be righteous? as no man thefejis naturally; there is none righteous, no not ones; though man originally was made righteous, yet finning he loft his righteoufnefs, and all his pofterity are without any; nor can they become righteous of themfelves, or by any works of righteoufnels finfuljdone by them; and though they may truft in themfelves that they are righteous, and may appear outwardly fo before men, yet by the deeds of the law no flefh can be juftified or accounted righteous theJin the fight of God, and much lefs be more juft than he, as in ch. iv. 17. nor can any of the fons of men be made or reckoned righteous, but by the obedience of Chrift, or by that juftifying righteoufnefs that is in him: what L/ipbaz here fays concerning the impurity, imperfection, and unrighteoufnefs of men are very great truths; but if he aims at 70d, as he feems to do, he miffes his mark, and miftakes the man, and itis in vain with refpect to him, or as a refutation of any notions of his; for Fob afferts the corruption and depravity of human nature as ftrongly as it is expreffed here, ch. xiv. 4. nor does he ever claim, but difclaims finlefs perfection, ch. ix. 20. nor did he expect to be peronally juftified before God by any righteoufnefs of his own, the imperfection of which he was fenfible of, but by the righteoufnefs of his living Redeemer, ch. ix. 30, 31. and xix. 25. but. what he pleaded for was the integrity and uorightnefs of his heart in oppofition to hypocrify he was charged with; and the holinefs and righteoufnefs of his life and converfation, in oppofition to a courfe of living in fin, or to his being guilty of fome notorious fin or fins for which he was afflicted, as was infinuated. £/- pbaz here recurs to his oracle, ch. iv. 17, 18. and or a ag aan it much to the fame fenfe.

ther, as carelefly attending to them, and f coffing and fneering at them: fome render it, what do thine eyes aim at‘? as men, when they take an aim at a mark, wink with or fhut one eye; what are thy defigns? what haft thou in view? what wouldft thou be at, talking and behaving in fuch a manner as thou doft?

¥.13: That thou turnef?t thy /pirit againft God; &c.] Not againft men; his friends only, bur againft God himfelf, being filled with wrath and indignation at him; fhewing the enmity of his heart unto him, and committing hottilities upon him, ftretching out his hand; and ftrengthening

_ 15. Bebold, be putteth uo truft in bis faints, &c.

In holy men, fet apart for himfelf by his grace, whofe fins are expiated by the blood of his Son, and whofe hearts are fanétified by his Spirit, and who live holy lives and converlations, as dbrabam, Iaac, and Jacob, thefe, though he trufts many of them with much, as the prophets of old, with the meflages of his grace and will, and the minifters of the word with treafure, in their earthen veffels, the facred depofitum of the glorious gofpel, with gifts of grace, fitting them for their work, and with the care of the fouls of men; yet he truits ‘none of them with themfelves, with the redemption and falvation of their fouls, with the regenefation and fanétification of their hearts, and with their prefervation to etertial glory 5 he has put thofe into the hands of his Son and Spirit, and keeps them by his power through faith unto falvation: the Targum renders it, in his faints above, in the faints in heaven, in glorified men; he is there.their all in all, as their happinefs fo their fafety and protection; fee an inftance of his care and prefervation of them after the refurreétion, when in a perfeé& ftate, Rev. xx. 8, 9. or this may be underftood of the angels, who fometimes are called faints, Deut. XXxiii. 2. who though they have been trufted with many things to impart to the fons of men, yet not _ with the falvation of men, nor even with the fecret of it; they were not of God’s privy-council when the affair was debated and fettled; nor with’ other fecrets, as the day and hour of the laft judgment, the coming of the Son of Man: or the fenfe» may be, be putteth no perfettion or ftability * in them, that is, perfection in comparifon.of his; for if theirs were equal to his, they would be Gods, which it is impoffible to be, or for God to make them fuch;, and likewife fuch ftability as to have been able to have ftood of themfelves, which it appears they had not, fince many of them fell, and the reft needed confirming grace, which they have by Chriit, the head of all principalities and powers: yea, the heavens are not clean in bis fight; heaven-born men, partakers of the heavenly calling, whofe hearts and affections are fet on heavenly things, and have their converfation in heaven; yet thefe, in the fight of a pure and holy God, and in comparifon of him, are impure and unholy; or they of heaven, as Mr. Broughton renders it, the inhabitants of heaven; the angels on high, as the Targum paraphrafes it; thefe: are charged by him with folly, and they, confcious of their imperfection with refpect to him, cover their faces with their wings, whilft they celebrate the perfection of his holinefs, who is {fo -glorious in it; though the natural heavens may be intended, at leaft not excluded, and the luminous bodies in them, as Bé/- dad feems to explain it, ch.xxv. 5, 6. the ftars are reckoned the more denfe and thick part of the heavens, the moon has its fpots, and by later difcoveries, it feems the fun, is not without them, and the heavens are often covered with clouds and darknefs, and the prefent ones will be purified with fire at the general conflagration, which fuppofes them unclean, and they fhall pafs away, and new ones fucceed, which implies imperfection in the former, or there would be no need of others; this is the proof Eliphaz gives of what he had fugeefted in the preceding verte, “¥. 16. How. much more abominable and filthy is man, &c.| In his natural, corrupt, and unrege- felf, caft out to the loathing of his perfon, down as an harmlefs thing, yet often nerate eftate; man, as a creature, was not abominable, but becoming finful he is; he is fo in him full of wounds, bruifes, and puttifying fores, yea, like a dead corrupted carcafs,. for he is de: trefpafies and fins; ‘and he appears to be corrupt by the abominable works done by him, ‘as all the works of the fiefh are; yea, he is abominable to himfelf, when made fenfible of his ftate”and cafe; he then abhors himfelf, and repents of ‘his fins, he loaths his fins, and himfelf for them; and ‘muft be much more fo in the fight of God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, as man is no-_ thing elfe than a’ mafs of fin, and therefore muft be filthy; for fin is of a defiling nature, it defiles the body and all its members, and ‘the foul with all its powers and faculties: man is naturally and ‘originally filthy, being conceived in fin, and fhapen in iniquity; nor cana clean thing be brought out of an unclean; he is internally and univerfally unclean, ‘his heart is a fink of fin, defperately wicked, and wickednefs itfelf; his mind and confcience are defiled, and there is no place clean; “and this appears outwardly in his actions, in his life and converfation,- which is filthy alfo; for if the plowing of the wicked is fin, and the righteoufhefles of men are filthy rags, how impure muft the immoral actions of wicked men be? man is fo impure, that nothing but the blood of Chrift can purify his heart, and purge his confcience from dead works, and make white his outward converfation-garment: which drinketh iniquity like water; it is as natural to him‘to commit iniquity, as it is for a man to drink water when he is thirfty, and he does it with equal guft, delight, ‘and pleafure 5 as cold water is delightful to a thirfty foul, fo is fin to a finner, a fweet morfel he holds in his mouth; divers lufts are divers pleafures, though thefe pleafurés are but for a.feafon: fin, like water, is eafy*to be come at, it is near at hand, it eafily befets men, and is all around them, and they eafily give into its ever one turns to his wicked courfe as readily as the ~ horfe rufhes into the battle 5, and the phrafe may expreffive of the abundance of fin committed,’ like large draughts of water greedily taken down bya man a-thirft, and repeated again and again; moreover, as water drank enters into men, ahd is taken 1 Prog very hurtful and pernicious to them when drank whilit they are hot, and occafions diforders, which iffue in death; fo fin, though it may feem harmlefs, and be pleafing and refrefhing, going down like water, yet it works like poifon, and is the gall of — afps within a man, and ends in eternal death, if grace prevents not., This is the conclufion and application of the whole to man, arguing from the greater to the leffer, and fo proving the impurity and imperfection of man, and that he cannot clean and righteous before God of himfelf, y. 17. I will foew thee, hear me, 8c.) Here Eliphaz proceeds to illuftrate and make ain, to clear and defend his former fentiment and ropolition, and into which the reft of his fritid cp 1e; that only wicked, and not righteous then ate aE fliéted of God, efpecially in fuch a manner as Fob was; and he propofes to fhew things worthy of his regard, and not fuch vain and appeals things—. which Job had uttered; and in order to ftir upand - engage his attention, he fays what follows: aa that which I have jeen I will declare; what he ha been an eye-witnefs of himfelf; the fame he had obferved, ch. iv. 8. and fuch teftimonies are moft regarded, and reckoned moft authentic and creditable, efpecially when they come from men of character; fee Luke i. 1, 2. 1 Fobsi. 1.

¥. 18. Which wife men have told from their fathers, &c.|] Men wife in the beft fenfe, not to do evil, but to do good; not worldly wife men, but fuch who have wifdom, found wifdom in the inward parts; who are wife to falvation, and who are partakers of divine and ‘fpiritual wifdom; and fuch men, as they would never tell an untruth, fo they would never report a falfe or a foolifh thing they had heard, nor any thing but upon a good teftimony, what they have received from their fathers, who were alfo wife and good men; and therefore fuch a teftimony, though not ocular, but by tradition, deferves regard: and have not hid it, their fathers did not hide it from them, and what they have received from their fathers, they did not hide it from their children; and fo it came to be handed down from one to another with great truth, exactnefs, and certainty, and to be depended upon, fee Pf. xliv. 1. and Ixxviii. 3, 4.

¥. 19. Unto whom alone the earth was given, &c.] Who were entrufted with the government of whole kingdoms and nations; and therefore not

* mean men, but perfons of great confequence, and to be credited; being fuch as were appointed by God, and by him’ put into fuch an high office, for which they were qualified by him; and being obferved to be fuch by men, were made choice of by them to take the government of them: this is not to be reftrained to the land of Canaan, and to Abraham, Ifaac, and Facob, to whom it was given, and to their pofterity; and who it is very probable at this time did not yet enjoy it; but it refpedts more and larger tracts of land, and the rulers of them, and at a greater diftance of time, and very Aikely Nea and his fons, to whom the whole earth ‘was given, and by whom it was replenifhed, and among whom it was divided; this feems oppofed to what fob had faid, ch. ix. 24. and no firanger paffed among them, either there was no wicked man among them, a ftranger to God and godlinefs; or an enemy that invaded them, paffed through them, difturbed and difpoffeffed them of their power and fubftance; which fhews how wife and good men are regarded by the Lord, and not diftreffed and) afflicted as wicked men be; as well as ferves to ftrengthen the credit of their character, and the ‘report received and derived from them by tradition, and tacitly glances at Yod’s diftrefs and difturbance by the Chaldeans and Sabeans; next follows the account of the things either feen by Elipbaz, or handed down from fuch credible perfons now de- {cribed.

y. 20. The wicked man travaileth with pain all bis days, &cc.] Either to commit iniquity, which he is at great pains to do, and even to wearinefs; and, agreeable to the metaphor ufed, he conceives it in his heart, he travails with it in his mind, and he brings forth falfhood and alye, what difappoints him, and-which iffues in death, eternal death, fee Pf, vii. 14. Fames i. 14,15. or to get wealth and riches, in obtaining of which he pierces himfelf through with many forrows;

thorns, in ufing them he gets many a fcratch, and has a good deal of trouble, pain and uneafinefs in keeping them, infomuch that he cannot fleep comnone purfues them; they ‘are a Magor Miffabib, a fear to themfelves and all about them’; like Cain, and thefe being like) who fancied and feared, that every mam that met him would flay him; fuch is the effect of a guilty confcience: or real; and: thefe either extraordinary founds, fuch as were made inthe ears‘of the 5 fortably through fear of lofing them; wherefore he does not enjoy that peace, comfort, and happinefs it may be thought he does; and befides all this, he has many an inward pain and gripe of confcience for his many fins and tranfgteffions, which lie at the door of confcience, and when it is opened ruth in, and make fad work, and put him to gréat pain and diftrefs; for otherwife this cannot be faid of every wicked man, that they are in outward pain and diftrefs, or in uncomfortable circumftances, at Jeaft in appearance; for of fome it is faid, they are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men, Pf. \xxiii. 5. they live wholly at eafe, and are quiet, and die fo, at leaft feemingly: fome refttain this to fome particular perfon whom Elphaz mightyhave in view; the Targum pardphrafes it of wicked E/au, who it was expected would repent, but did not; others think that he had in his eye fome notorious oppreffor, that had lived formerly, or in his time, as Nimrod, the mighty hunter and tyrant, or Chedérlaomer; who held for fome years feveral kings in fubjeétion to him; but it is much if he does not defign Fob himielf; however, he forms the defcription of the wicked man im fuch a manner, that it might as near as poffible fuit his cafe, and in many things he plainly refers to it: and this is a fad cafe indeed, for a wicked man to travail in pain all his days in this \life; and in the world to come to fuffer the pains, of hell-fire to all eternity; the pains. of a woman, to which the allufion is; are but fhort at moft, but thofe of the wicked man are for life, yea, for ever; and among: the reft of his pains of mind, efpecially in this world, what follows is one, and which gives much uneafinefs: and the number of years is hidden-to the opprefor, Mr. Broughton renders it, foon numbered years; that is, few, as the years of man’s Jife.at moft are but few, and thofe of the oppreffor fewer {till, fince bloody and deceitful men do not live out half the days of the years of man’s life, but are oftentimes cut off in the midft of their days; and be they more or fewer, they are all numbered and fixed, and the number of them is with God; and him only; they are fixed and fettled by the decree of God, and laid up in his purpofes, and referved for the oppreffor; but they are a fecret to him, he does not know how long he fhall live, or how foon he may die, and then there willybbe an end of his oppreffion and ty-+ ranny, and of his enjoyment of? his:owealth: and riches unjuftly got; and this frets him, and gives him pain, and makes him uneafy; whereas a good man is eafy about it, he. is willing to wait his appointed time, till his change comes; he is not fo much concerned to know: the time of his death, as to be in a -readinefs for it. The Targum paraphrafes this of J/hmael the mighty: the oppreffor is the fame with the wicked man in the preceding claufe.

¥. 21. A dreadful found is in bis ears, &c.]. Or a voice, or found of fears‘, of what caufes fears 5 and which are either imaginary; fometimes wicked men fear when there is no eaufe or occafion for it; they fancy an enemy at their heels, and flee, when hoft, which caufed them to flee, and’ leave their tents, and all their fubftance in them, 2 Kings vii. 6. or ordinary, as the found of the trumpet, the _alarm of war, wars and rumours which are very terrible, efpecially to fome perfons; fears, reports of one calamity after another, which caufe fears; and fo may refpect Fob’s troubles, and the dreadful found of them in his ears, brought by one mefienger of bad tidings after another: bufthere is a more dreadful found than either of thefe, which is fometimes in the ears of wicked men; the terrors of the law of God broken by them, the menaces and curfes of it, and a found of hell and which continually rings in their ears, and fills them with horror and black defpair; and fo the Targum, «« the voice or found of the fearsyin hell is in his ears; and among the reft of his fears what in his. own apprehenfion, he feems to have nothing but drawn fwords about him, or a {word hanging — over his head, or the judgments of God ready to fall upon him for his fins; for he having killed or founds of jothers with the fword, muft expect to be killed with it himfelf. =~. re om

¥. 23. He wandéreth abroad for bread, &c. J Either as a plunderer and robber, he roves about © to increafe his worldly power and fubftance; or rather being reduced to poverty, wanders about from place to place, from door to door, to beg his” bread; which is a curfe imprecated on the pofterity damnation, Jof wicked men, P/. cix. 10. /aying, where is it? where is bread to be had? where fhall I go for it? where lives a liberal man that will give it freely and generoufly? by this queftion it feems as if it fol-jwas difficult for fuch a man to get his bread by lows is one,;and fo fome conneét the words, that * begging; he having been cruel and oppreffive to in profperity the deftrayer foall come upon bim, God the lawgiver, whofe law he has tranfgreffed, _and who is able, as to fave his people, ‘fo to deftroy the wicked, foul and body in hell; and deftruction from the Almighty, ‘od himfelf fays, was a terror to him, ch. xxxi. 23. or a deftroying angel, fuch an one as went through the land of Egypt, either }others, unkind and ungenerous in his time of pro- {perity, now finds but few that care to relieve him; and indeed a man that has not fhewn mercy to the indigent, when in his power to have relieved them, cannot expect mercy will be fhown to him; this he does, wanders about, feeking food, wherefoever be is": be knoweth that the day of darknefs is ready and deftroyed the firft-born, and into the camp of at his band; either that a day of affliction and ad- Jfrael, when they committed fin, and were deftroy- verfity is coming upon him, perceiving his affairs ed of the deftroyer; or fome enemy, plunderer, to grow worfe and worfe, or to be immediately and and robber, fuch as the Sabeans and Chaldeans already on him, which obliges him to wander about were, and to whom refpect may be had; or even for bread; or that the day of death is at hand, the devil himfelf, Apollyon, the deftroyer of the which he is made fenfible of by one fymptom or fouls of men, and who fometimes wicked men fear another 5 or rather it may be the day of everlafting will come and carry them away, foul and body, to darknefs in hell, the wrath of God to the uttermotft hell; or it may be death is meant, which kills and he has deferved; he finds the day of judgment is at ‘deftroys: all men; and wicked men are afraid hand, and the judge at the door, and in a fhort thar in the midft of all their peace and profperity tome he muft receive the reward of eternal venfadden. deftruétion by ‘death fhould ‘come’ upon them, like a thief in the night, and remove them geance for the wicked deeds he has done; for fo the words may be rendered, that the day of dark- from all their enjoyments; and whether they are nefs is prepared by his band*, by the evil works ofnounder any fearful apprehenfions of this, it his hand has wrought, and fo has treafured up to ceftainly will be their cafe.

himfelf wrath again{t the day of wrath, and righ- _ oy. 22. He believeth not that be foall return out of darknefs, &cc.] When he lies down.at night he defpairs of ever feeing the light of the morning through fear of an enemy, a robber, a murderer, teous judgment of God.

¥. 24. Trouble and anguifh fhall make him afraid, &c.] Either his prefent troubles hall frighten him, they being fo very difmal, terrible and diftreffing, or of one difafter or another, Deut. xxviii. 66, and make him fear that others were coming on, 67. or when he is in any affliction and calamity, more dreadful and formidable; or thofe troubles which is often fignified by darknefs, he can’t perhe fears will be his portion hereafter, thefe terrify fuade himfelf that he fhall ever be delivered out of him beyond meafure,. even that indignation and it, and ‘reftored to his former condition again’; andj wrath, tribulation and anguifh that fhall come upon here Eliphaz feems to glance at ob, who had no every foul of man that doth evil, Rom. ii. 8, 9. hope of his being brought into fuch a ftate of sbey shall prevail againft bim as a king ready to ai profperity he had been in; whereas good men, battle; that is, trouble and anguifh fhall prevail when. in darknefs, believe they hall be brought againft him; he will be no more able to refift them, than a very. inferior force, or even a fingle man is or the infidel, who knows he muft be laid in the dark and filent grave; the heathen man, fuch as were many of the neighbours of Eiiphaz, the Idumeans, anong whom he dwelt, who were without able to refift a warlike king, attended with a numerous army, and thefe fet in battle-array; “flch a man’s troubles will come upon him as an armed man, againft which he cannot ftand; the Targum the hope of a glorious refurrection; and which is > is, * they hall furround him as a king prepared an article of pure’revelation, and which the idolafor a footftool;” who being taken by the enemy trous heathen were ftrangers to, and fo believed it feback fhall be ufed asa footftool to mount on horfeback; not, or any deliverance from the grave; or this may refpect the blacknefS of darknefs, the outer and-as the word has the fignification of a globe or ball, fee 7. xxii. 18. fome think it has refpeét to darknefs, the darknefs of hell, which when once a wicked man is ‘caft into, and enveloped with, he the manner of’ kings, when taken captive, put defpairs, as he well may, of ever being delivered into an + iron cage, as Bajazet was by Tamer- Jane, or into an iron hoop, bound hand and foor,

out of it: and he is waited for of the fword, or by '

them that kill with the fword, as the Targum, who and hung up in chains; or, as Ben Gerfom thinks, lie in wait for him, to rob him, and kill him; or