aris TO) Dit
Eliphaz had done fpeakirigs'Fob ftood up, ‘and made Ril, DOW) Giou 2PGsD 02 HO tthe“ Sali nifies thofe Elipbaz has been difcourfing of, concerning the kind; fothat there was nothing newdelivered, nothing but what was. crambe ‘ millies- coffa,:' {prings from God by, Chrift, thro’. the application of nothing;. for if any,;comfore &e] As Ebae be hdd goin day others.he would.not b he is'called, the God of pies Be ie have nothin int } the fame thing phaz had infinuated concerning shim, and his words, y. 20 Dbave heard many fueb sbings':
. |. TT, ANNO? JVUIINLSG eo 2s DoS yy PRAT ais Al th yaa over andover again; infomuch that'it was not only ch. xv. “2° 3. and, he intimates ee Batibo dif- ated or provoked thee! to make «reply A here ‘¥ob feems to have thought that he had faid: was irritating, tho’ it is notorious he ‘had; fuch were his grief,and troubles;.and:fo well: affured: of his being inthe right,’ that the harfh and fevere words and.expreffions he had ufed, were not by him to have exceeded «due bounds, fuchiass ch. ‘may Xie (263. and xiii2hi query | diftrefsy whether y. 5+ But J, woinld gob ed 7 eal eich ie numben mouth,!8ec!}i Comfortnthém! with theowordsiof hi¢ nothing that mouth; fo.God ftrengthens hispeople »withiftrenetht in their: fouls, when he ‘ahfwers them with good and he was comfortable PRUNE 3 ant ‘angel ftrengthened ‘Chriftt jas. man? whemin’ an‘agonyy comforting himyfug’ thought Igetting comfortable things l:to ‘him; fo'one “faint? trengthen «and: comfort: another when * in! of foubor body; fee ‘Pf *cxxXxviii.
¥. 40 Lalfa ‘could peck as ye da, Bec. ‘Asi big words, with: as high a tone, with as dtiffi sa: aod as haughtily and loftily,; or ought I:to\ asyou do"? that L ought not, nor would you think L ought, if\you, were in my: cafe;
3. Luke Xxii. 43.32. and thus fod" had) ftrengthen~ fens ed andicomforted:others;'* with‘his. words in former’ peak jcimes, as Eltphaz himfelf owns, ‘ch. ‘ivi 3.4. and! fo he would againy were ‘there a*change’ in‘ his ‘cir! or being fo, would cumftances,. and objects prefented's and themoving my confcience of my lips: fhould\affwage your grief 5 5 words uttered by him, which are done by the moving of the’ lips; fhould be fuch as ‘would have‘a tendency: tovallay grief, to ftop, reftrain, forbid and leffen fortow; at ‘for a good leaft thatiit might not break’ out in an extravagant only:he fappo: Way, and exceed bounds, and that-his friends: might not-be {wallowed up with overmuch forrow.
would -notifuffer mez if your foul were:in my fouls fread;sin, the‘fame afflicted ftate and condition, in the fame-diftrefied cafe and. circumftances’; not that he withed iit,as:fome render:the words,: man will.not:with hurt: to-another;
fes this, as it was a cafe {uppofeabe, and not impof' fible to be a fact, fome timeor another, in this ftate of uncertainty, and changé; however.it is «right:to put ourfelves; in the calé of others in ‘our own imaginations» that. fo. it «may ibe confidered in‘the proper, point/of view, and:we may. better) judge how we fhould chufe to be treatedvourfelves in-fuch circumftances,iand-fo teach us'to do that to-others, as we would have done to ourfelves: J could‘beap up words againft you; talk:as fatt'as you to me, and run you down with.a great torrent of words.;°'7ob had a great fluency, he:talked a'gréat deal in his afflicted ftate,too much as-his ‘friends thought, who reprefent him: as dealing in.a multitude of «words, and asa very talkative many. ch. viii. 2. and xi. 2. and what could«he have done, had he-his health, and, in» profperous circumftances as formerly? he could have brought, many, charges and accufations againft them, as they«had again{ft him: or would [ heap up words againft you, or ought J &c.°° no, itwould not. be my:duty, nor would Ido it humanity and good fenfe would) never have allowed me to do it; but on the contrary; J would bave joined myfelf with you, in a focial free~and. familiar manner in words,? in. a: friendly conjunétion with you, fo the words ‘may be read and paraphrafed; I would have come and paid you a vifit, and fat down by you, and entered into a kind and compaffionate confabulation: with you about your'cafe and condition, and done all I could to comfortryou; would have framed and compofed.
y. 6. Though L\/peak; my grief is not affwaged, Bcc. } Tho” he: fpoke to Godin prayer, and intreated ‘for fome abatement of his: forrows, he got no'relief; and tho’ he {poke to himfelf in foliloquies; his:forrow was not repreffed’ nor leflened’; he could notadminifter.comfort to himfelf inthe prefent cafe, tho’ he mighb-to others in like circumftances, if Hig own were changed; and though J forbear fpeaking, hold. my peace, «and fay nothing, »abat am I eased? or what goes from me‘? nov) any “thing of my trouble or grief;{ometimes a man {peaking of his troubles to his friends gives vent to his grief, and he is fomewhat eafed; and on the other hand being filent about it, he forgets it, and it goes off; but in neither of thofe ways could) 70d be releafed: or it may be his fenfe is, that when he {pake of his affliction, and attempted to vindicate his character, he was reprefented as an impatient.and paffionate man, if not as blafphemous, fo that his grief was rather increaf;jed, than affwaged 5: and:if) he*-was filent that was interpreted a conftioufnels of his guilt; fo'that let him take» what courfe' he would,? twas. much ‘the fame, he could get no eafe nor ccomforti!
¥. 7. But now he hathmade: me weary,’ &ci} Orr 7t bath made) me weary "s that is, my grief, a8 it ‘may be fupplied from the former verfe; or rather'God, as appears from the next: claute, and from ‘the follow: ing. verfe,~ where hei is manifeftly addreffed 5 - who 1 by: raffiicting him had made. him weary of the world, (as the wotd!and all things i in! it,evenvof his very: life; ‘ch. oxo 17 I would)his: afflictions were: fo heavy: upon himy and prefled him fovbard, that his life;was a burden to him’; they were heavierythan the fand of the - fea, and his made ftrength was not equal to thems he could fcarcely drag along, was ready to fink’:and lie \down! under the. ‘weight of them: thou'haft made: defolate’ all'my company, ot congregation “; the: congrepation of faints -:|that met at his: houle for religious worfhip,.asfome think, which now thro’ his‘affliction was brokeup, whom ‘Efiphaz had called a*congregation: of: hypo~ crites,: ch. xv.34. which paffage Job may’ have re- \pect untoyor rather his, family,-hischildreny which’ were taken away from him: the Jews fay *, ten’ perfons im any place make a congregation’ this was jutt of Fob’s gh ag {even fons: and three ufed fignifies) a fet. difcourfe on purpole; haye fought out all the acceptable words, and put them together in the beft. manner I could for you %; had | the tongue of the learned, I would have ule. of it, to have fpoken a word in feafon to you: and foakemine bead at you by way of fcorn and derifion, that is, he could have done it as:well as they-; fhaking the head is ufed as a fign of contempt, P _ xxii. 8. Lameiii ng..0r would I, or ought] to yhake my bead at you" if in my cafe?\no, I would not, as.1 ought not, I. would:have feorned:to have done it; or the fenfe:may be, J would have foook my head at you, in a way of pity; bemoaning, lamenting, and condoling your cafe’; fee Fod xii, 11. Nahum iii. 7.
nettere deberem nexus contra vos verbis? Schmidt. “. ® Adjangerem’ me faperyos in fermonibus, Montanus, Bolde- eH ty rey Pagninus;* conventum meum, Montanas, BOR ais, ee Be ea Vid, Drofiat in loc. ere daughters; or it may be hémay have réfpeét to his friends, that came to vifit him, who were moved and ftupified as it were at the fight of him and his afflictions, as the word” is: by fome tranflated, and who were alienated from him; were not friendly to him, nor adminiftered to him any comfort; fo that they were as if he had none, or worfe. y¥. 8. And thou haft filled me with wrinkles, &c.j Not thro’ old age, but thro” affliction, which had funk his flefh; and made furrows in him, fo that he looked older than he was, and was madeold thereby - before his time; fee Lam. iii. 4.
derftood of his body, for as for his foul, that thro’ the graceof God, and righteoufnefs of Chrift, was without fpot or wrinkle, or any fuch thing: which is a witne/s againft me; as it was improved by his friends, who reprefented his afflictions as proofs and teftimonies of his being a bad man; tho’ thefe wrinkles were witnefles for him, as it may be as well fupplied, that he really was an afflicted man: and my leanne/s rifing up in me; his bones ftanding up, and ftanding out, and having fearce any thing on them but fkin, the fiefh being gone: deareth witnefs to my face; openly, manifeltly, to full conviction; not that he was a finful man, but an afflicted man; Eliphaz had no reafon to talk to Fob of a wicked man’s face being covered with fatnefs, and of collops of fat on his flanks, ch. xv. 27. ¥. g. He teareth me in bis wrath, who bateth me, &c.] By whom is meant not fatan as Farchi,tho’ he is an enemy to, and an hater of mankind, efpecially of good men; nor L£iiphaz, asothers, who had, fallen upon Fob with a great deal of wrath and fury, tearing his character in pieces, which od attributed to his hatred of him; but it rather appears from the context, that God himfelf is intended, of whom 7ed had now a miftaken notion and apprehenfion; taking him for his enemy, being treated by him, as thought, as if he had an averfion to him, and an hatred of him; whereas God hates none of his creatures, being his offspring, and the objects of his tender care, and providential regard: indeed fin is hateful to him, and makes men odious in hisfight, arid he hates all the workers of iniquity, and thofe whom he paffed by, when he chofe others; tho’ they are faid to be hated by him as E/auz was, yet not with a pofitive but a negative hatred; that is, are not loved by him; and confidered as profane and ungodly perfons, and as fuch fore-ordained to condemnation; for fin may be faid to be hated, but good men never are; God’s chofen ones, his children and fpecial people, are the objects of his ing love; and tho’ he may be angry with them, and fhew a little feeming wrath towards them, yet never hates them; hatred and love are as oppofite as any two'things can poffibly be; and indeed ftriétly and properly {peaking, there is no wrath nor fury in God towards his people; tho’ they deferve it, they are not appointed to it, but are delivered from it by Chrift; and neither that nor any of the effects of it thallever light on them; but Fb concluded this from the providence he was under, in which God appeared terrible to him, like a lion or any fuch fierce and furious creature,to which he is fometimes compared, and compares himfelf, which feizes on its and tears and rends it to pieces; I/. xxxviii. 13. Hof- Vv. 14. thus God permitted 7o2’s fubftance to be ta- ‘ken from him by the Chaldeans and Sabeans; his children by death, which was like tearing off his limbs; and his fkin and his fleth to be rent and brojan unguarded manner, yet perhaps we fhall not find is any part of this book, things exprefléd, and the language in which they are exprefled, more fimilar and to be accommodated to the: cafe, and forrows, and fufferings of Chrift, than in this context; for tho’ he was the fon of God’s love, his dear and well beloved fon, yet as he was the furety of his people, and bore and fuflered punifhment in their ftead, juftice behaved towards him as tho’ there was a refentment unto him, and an averfion of him yea, hé fays shite baft caft off and abborrid, thou baft been for this isto be un-|wroth with thine Anointed or Meffiah, Pf. Ixxxix. 38. and indeed he did bear the wrath of God, the vengeance of juftice or curfe of the righteous law; and was fuffered to be torn in every fenfe, his temples with a crown of thorns, his cheeks: by thote. that plucked off the hair, his hands and feet by the nails driven in them, and his fide by the {pear; and his life was torn, fnatched and: taken’away from him in a violent manner: be gnajheth upon me with dis teeth; as men do when they are full of wrath and |fury: this is one way of fhewing it, as the enemies of David, a type of Chrift, and the flayers of Stephen his proto-martyr did, Pf xxxv. 16. Ads vii. 34. and as beafts of prey, fuch as the lion, wolf, 8c. do: mine enemy foarpeneth bis eyes upon me;, the Targum adds as-a razor. Here again fod i confiders God as his enemy though he was not, mifinterpreting his dealings with him; he reprefents him as looking out fharp after him, infpecting narrowly into all his ways and works and actions, ftriétly obferving his failings and infirmities, calling him to an account, and afflicting him for them, and dealing rigidly and feverely with him for any {mall offence: his eyes feemed to him to be like flames of fire, to fparkle with wrath and revenge 3 his face, as he imagined, was fet againft him, and hejhis eyes upon him to deftroy him; and thus the eye of vindictive juftice was upon Chrift his antitype, when he was made fin and a eurfe for his people, and the fword of juftice was awaked againft him, and thruft in him.;;
. y. 10. They have gaped upon me with their mouth, &c.] Here 70d fpeaks of the inftruments which God fuffered to ufe him ill; and he has refpeét to his friends who came with open mouth againft him, loading him with calumnies and reproaches, laying charges to him he was not confcious of; and treating him with fcorn and contempt, which fuch a gefture is fometimes a token of, Lams. iii. 46. and ii. 15. and in which manner alfo Chrift was ufed everlaft-| by men, on whom the reproach of them that reproached God and his people fell, and who exhibited falfe charges againft him of various forts; and he was the reproach of men and the contempt of the people, who laughed him to fcorn, opened their mouths in derifion; they thot out the lip and fhook the head, and mocked and fcoffed at him; yeay they gaped upon him with their mouth as a ravening and a roaring lion, Pf. xxii. 6—7—13 3 to whicly the allufion is here, when they cried out themfelves and called upon others to join them, faying, Crucify him, crucify him: they have /mitten me on tht cheek reproachfully; to be {mitten on the cheek is 2 prey, reproach itfclf, and is a fuffering not very patiently endured. Hence Chrift, to teach his followers patience, advifed when they were fmitten on the one cheek to turn the other, that is, to take the blow. patiently; and it is not the frnart of the ftroke that is fo much regarded as the fhame of it; the affront.
given, and the indignity offered; fee 2 Cor. xi ken by boils and ulcers: Fob was a type of Chrift in his forrows and fufferings;
now in the beft frame of mind, the flefh prevailed, and corruptions worked, and he expreffed himfelf in ‘ and tho’ he was not 20, 21. Mat. v. 39. {othat the phrafé may be taken: for reproaching him; and indeed it may be rendiag We
“dered, they have finitten on the cheek with reproach *; they reproached him, -which was the fame as if they had {mitten him on the cheek; they fmote him with their tongues, as Feremiah’s enemies {mote him; they threw the dirt of fcandal and calumny at him, and which is the common lot of God’s people; and tho” fince they are reproached for Chrift’s fake, for the gofpel’s fake, and for righteoufnefs-fake, they fhould not be difturbed at thar, but rather reckon themfelves happy, as they are faid to be, and bind thefe reproaches about their necks as chains of gold, and efteem them greater riches than all the treafures of Egypt. This was literally true of Fob’s antitype, the Meffiah, for as it was foretold of him that he fhould give his cheek to thofe that plucked off the hair, and they fhould {mite the judge of J/rae/ with a rod upon his cheek, Jf. 1.6, Mit. vy. i. fo this was done unto him by the fervants of the high-prieft in his hall, and by others, Matt. xxvi. 67, Fobn xviii. 22. they have gathered themfelves together againft me,; Fob’s friends got together in order to vifit him and comfort him, but it proved otherwife, and he viewed it in no other light than as a combination againft him: the words may be rendered, they filled them/felves againft me”; their hearts with wrath and anger, as the Targum; their mouths with reproaches and calumnies, and their eyes with pléafure and delight, and fatisfaction at his mileries and afflictions; and fo the Vulgate Latin verfion, ‘+ they are fatiated with my punifh. ments; though rather this may refpect the high fpirits they were in, the boldnefs and even impudence, as Fed interpreted it, they fhewed in their conduct towards him, their hearts being fwelled with pride and haughtinefs and paffion*; fee E th.
vii. 5. 44s vy. 3.. or elfe their. numbers that came againft him; fo Mr. Broughton, renders the words, they came by full troops upon me; ‘Fob’s three friends being great perfonages, very probably brought a Jarge retinue and train of fervants with them; who obferving their mafter’s conduct, behaved in an indecent manner towards him themfelves, to whom he may have refpect, ch. xxx. 1. this was verified in Chrift Bis antitype, whom Fudas, with a multitude of men, with fwords and ftaves, even with a band of foldiers, came to apprehend in the garden; and when Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and people of J/rael, were gathered againft him to do what God had determined fhould _ be done, Matt. xxvi. 46. Fobm xviii. 3. Alfs iv. 27,28. 2 11. God bath delivered me up to the ungodly, &c.] The evil or wicked one, for it is in the finular number; and defigns either Satan, into whofe hands God had not only delivered his fubftance, but his perfon, excepting his life; though it may be, and which is an objection to this fenfe, Fob as yet knew it not; or elfe E/iphaz, or the fingular number being put for the plural, as the next claufe explains it, all his friends, whom he in turn calls evil and wicked men, becaufe of their treatment of him; or elfe the Sabeans and Chaldeans are intended, who were fuffered to plunder him of his fubftance: the words are very applicable to Chrift, who was delivered to the Gentiles, and into the hands of finners and wicked men, and that by the determinate counfel and foreknowledge of God,
" — ’ 2 Shon who with wicked hands took him, and crucified him, Matt. xx. 19. and xxvi..45. ds ii. 23. or God /hut him up, or delivered him’ bound *, as the word fignifies; which was literally true-of Chrift, who was bound by the Fews, and delivered firft to the high-prieft, and then to the Roman governor, in fuch circumftances, Fobn Xvill. 12, 13. Matt. xxvii. 2. and turned me over into the bands of the wicked; fignifying the fame as before, unlefs it fhould be rendered, and caufed me to decline, or come down by the hands of the wicked*; that is, from his former ftate of profperity and happinefs, into the low circumftances in which he was, and which he was brought into by the means of wicked men, God fuffering ic fo to be.
¥.12. [was at eafe, but he bath broken me afunder, &c.] He was in eafy and affluent circum- {tances, abounding with the good things of this life, lay in his neft, as his expreffion is, ch. xxix.
18. quietly and peaceably, where he expected he fhould have died; and he was eafy in his mind, had peace of conicience, being a good man that feared God, and trufted in his living Redeemer, enjoying the prelence of God, the light of his countenance, and the difcoveries of his love, fee ch. xxxix. 2,
3, 4, 5. but now he was broken to pieces, he was
{tripped of his worldly fubftance; his family was broken up, and not a child left him; his body was broken, and full of ruptures through boj!; and ulcers; and his fpirits were broken with his amictions, and a fenfe of divine difpleafure; the arrows of God’s wrath, in his apprehention, ftuck in him, and the poifon thereof drank up his {pirits. ton renders it, I was wealthy, and be hath undone me though once fo opulent, he was now broken, and become a bankrupt.
It may be applied to Chrift, his antitype, who, though rich, became poor to make his people rich, 2 Cor. viii. 9. and whofe body was broken for them and he was wounded and bruifed for their tranfgreffions, and whofe heart was broken with reproach: he bath alfo taken me by the neck, and fhaken me to pieces;
as a combatant in wreftling, who is ftronger than his antagonift, ufes him; or as a giant, who takes a dwarf by his neck or collar, and fhakes him, as if he would fhake him to pieces, limb from limb; or hath dafbed or broken me to pieces’; or to fhivers; as glafs or earthen veflels dafhed againft a wall, or can never be put together again; fo ob reckoned of his ftate and condition as irrecoverable, that his health, his fubftance, his family could never be re- {tored as they had been: and fet me up for bis mark; to fhoot at, of which he complains ch. vii. 20. a like expreffion is ufed by the church in Lam. iii. 12, 13, and a phrafe fimilar to this is ufed of Chrift, Luke ii. 34. and in confequence of this are what follow. ¥. 13. His archers compafs me round about, &c.] Satan and his principalities and powers cafting their fiery darts at him; or rather his friends fhooting their arrows,.even bitter words, reproaches and calumnies; or the various difeafes of his body, his boils and ulcers, which were fo many arrows fhot into him, in every part of him all around, and gave him exquifite pain and anguifh; befides the arrows of the Almighty, or that painful fenfation; he he had of the wrath of Géd. This alfo is true fome, ch. vii. 5. now to have fackcloth put on fuch of Chrift, the antitype of Fob and of Fo/eph; of the latter of which it is faid, the archers forely grieved him, and foot at him, but his bow abode in frrength, Gen. xlix. 23, 24. fo Satan and his minifters threw their fiery darts at Chrift when on the crofs, and the fcribes and priefts, his emiffaries, furrounded him there, and fhot out their reproachful and blafphemous words at him, and the juftice of God {mote him, and the law of God caft its curfes on him. Gufftius renders the words, his great ones *; and fuch od’s friends were, men of great fubftance, and lived in great credit and honour; fome have fuppofed them to be kings, and fuch were thofe that oppofed Chrift, and diftreffed him, the rulers of the people, civil and ecclefiaftic: be cleaveth my reins afunder; by caufing his arrows to enter into them, Lam, iii. 13. the confequence of which muft be death; a man cannot live, at leaft long, after this is his cafe; though fome think this is to be underftood of the diforder of the ftone in his reins or kidneys, which was very diftrefling to him: and doth not fpare; fhews no mercy or pity, tho” in fuch fad circumftances and dreadful agonies; thus God {pared not his own Son, Rom. vili. 32. be poureth out my gall upon the ground; which is done by piercing the gall-bladder with a fword, or any fuch inftrument, fee.ch. xx. 25. which mutt iffue in death; and the defign of both thefe claufes is to fhew, that Fob looked upon his cafe irretrievable, and he here makes ufe of hyperbolical expreffions to fet it forth by.
y.14. He breaketh me with breach upon breach, &c.] Upon his fubftance, his family, and the health of his body, which came thick and faft, one after another; referring to the report of thofe things brought by one meffenger upon the back of another, fee Ezek. vii. 26. be runneth upon me like a giant; with great fury and fiercenefs, with great ftrength and courage, with great fpeed and fwiftnefs, caufing great terror and diftrefs; he not being able to refift him, any more than a dwarf a giant, and no more, nor fo much a match for him; fee J/ xlii. 13.
y.15. Ihave fewed fackcloth upon my frin, &c. ] Which he very probably put on when he rent his mantle, or fat in afhes; which actions were ufually performed together in times of diftrefs and forrow, fee Gen. xxxvii. 34. and this was no doubt a voluntary action of his, like that of the king of Niniveh and his fubjeéts; though fome have thought that Fob was-fo reduced, that he had no cloaths to wear, and was obliged to put on fuch coarfe raiment, which is not probable; and it feems, that he put this next to his fkin, which muft be very uneafy to one that had been ufed to fuch foft apparel, as it feems did alfo the kings of J/rae/ in time of mourning, 1 Kings xxi. 27. 2 Kings vi. 30. it is not only obferved by feveral Fewi/h writers, that the word here ufed in the Arabic language fignifies fkin, as we render it, as Aben Ezra, Ben Melech, and others; but the fkin of the wound, the thin fkin which is drawn over a wound when it is healing, as Ben Gerfom and Bar Tzemach; which being tender, muft be very unfit to bear fuch rough raiment upon it; nay, Schultens obferves, that the Arabic word more properly fignifies torn fein", as Fob’s fkin muft be full of ruptures thro’ the boils and ulcers upon him; he him- a {kin muft be intolerable: the phrafe of /ewing it to it, is very unufual; though it may fignify no more than an application of it, a putting it on him, and clothing himfelf with it; yet it feems to denote its flicking clofe to him, as if it was fewed to his fkin, through the purulent matter of his boils clotting and cleaving to it; for he fays in the above place, that his fle/a was clothed with.
worms and clods of duff, and thofe running into one another, were like one fcab, and, as it: were, a garment to him; his difeafe bound him about as the collar of bis coat, and his /kin was as black as fackcloth itfelf, ch. xxx. 18—3o. the defign of the expreffion is both to fhew the wretched and miferable condition he was in, and his great humiliation on account of his prefent circumftances; and that he was not that proud and haughty man,~ or behaved under his affliction in the infolent manner Lliphaz had fuggefted, ch. xv. 12, 13,25, 26. but was one that humbled himfelf under the mighty hand of God, which is farther confirmed by the next claufe: and defiled my horn in the duft; as he did when he fat in afhes, as he afterwards repented in duft and afhes; and it was ufual in the times of mourning to put duft or afhes upon the head; which may be meant by his horn, the horn of a beaft, to which the allufion is, being in the head; and this may be put for the whole body, which fometimes, on fuch occafions, was rolled in duft and afhes, fee Yoh. vii. 6. Mic. i. 10. and the horn being an emblem of grandeur, power and authority, may denote that 70d now laid afide all the enfigns of it, and was content to have his honour laid in the duft, and lie low before God, and not lift up his horn unto him, and much lefs ftretch out hls hand againft him; the Zargum is, * I fprinkled my glory in or with duft.”
¥.16. My face is foul with weeping, &c.] On account of the lofs of his fubftance, and efpecially of his children; at the unkindnefs of his friends, and over his own corruptions, which he felt working in him, and breaking forth in unbecoming language; and becaufe of the hidings of the face of God from him: the word ufed in the Arabic language’has the fignification of rednefs in it, as Aben Ezra, and others obferve; of red wine, and as Schultens adds, of the fermentation of it; and is fitly ufed to exprefs a man’s face in exceffive weeping, which looks red, and fwelled, and blubbered: and on my eyelids is the fhadow of death; which were become dim through weeping, fo that he could fcarcely fee out of them, and like a dying man could hardly lift them up; and fuch was his forrowful condition, that he never expected deliverance from it, but that it would iffae in death; and which he fuppofed was very near, and that he had many fymptoms of it, of which the decay of his eye-fight was one; and he was fo far from winking with his eyes in a wanton and ludicrous way, as Elipbaz had hinted, ch. xv. 12. that there was fuch a dead weight upon them, even the fhadow of death itfelf, that he was not able to lift them up.
y. 17. Not for any injuftice in my hands, &c.]
Came all thofe affiiétions and calamities upon him, _ which occafioned fo much forrow, weeping, mourning and humiliation; he does not fay there was no fin in him, not any in his heart, nor in his life, nor
{elf fays, that his /éin was broken, and become loathany iniquity done by him, he had acknowledged thefe things before, ch. vii. 20. and ix. 20, 30, 31. but that there was nothing in his hands gotten in an unjuft manner; he had taken away no man’s property, nor injured him in the leaft in a private way; nor had he perverted juftice as a public magiftrate, by taking bribes.or accepting perfons, and could challenge any to prove he had, as Samuel did, 1 Sam. xii. 3. al/o my prayer is pure; he prayed, which difproves the calumny of Z/iphaz, ch. xv. 4. and his prayer was pure too; not that it was free from failings and infirmities, which attend the beft, but from hypocrify and deceit; it came not out of feigned lips, but was put up in fincerity and truth; it {prang from an heart purified by the grace of _ God, and fprinkled from an evil confcience; it was put up in the faith of Chrift, and as a pure offering through him; od lifted up pure and holy hands, and with thefe a pure and holy heart, and for pure and holy things; fo that it was not for want of doing juftice to men, nor for want of de- -yotion towards God, that he was thus afflicted by him; compare with this what is faid of his antitype, J/. lili. 9. ¥.18. O earth, cover not thou my blood, &c.) This is an imprecation, wifhing that if he had been guilty of any capital crime, of fuch aéts of injuftice that he ought to be. punifhed by the judge, and even to “die for them; that his blood when fpilt might not be received into the earth, but be licked up by dogs, or that he might have no burial or interment in the earth; and if he had committed fuch fins as might come under the name of blood, either the fhedding of innocent blood, though that is fo grofs a crime, that it can hardly be thought that ‘700’s friends even fufpected this of him; or rather other foul fins, as injuftice and oppreffion of the poor; the Zigurine verfion is, my capital fins, fee If. i. 15, 18. then he wifhes they might never be covered and concealed, but difclofed and fpread abroad every where, that all might know them, and he fuffer fhame for them; even as the earth difclofes the blood of the flain, when inquifition is made for it, J/. xxvi. 21. and let my cry have no place; meaning, if he was the wicked man and the hypocrite he was faid to be, or if his prayer was not pure, fincere and upright, as he faid it was, then he defired that when-he cried to God, or to man, in his diftrefs, he might be re- “garded by neither; that his cry might not enter into the ears of the Lord of hofts, but that it might be fhut out, and he cover himfelf with a cloud, that it might not pafs through, and have any place with him; and that he might not meet with any pity and compaffion from the heart, nor help and relief from the hand of any man. ¥.19. Alfo now, bebold, my witne/s is in heaven, &c.] That is, God, who dwells in the heavens, where his throne is, and which is the habitation of his holinefs, and from whence he beholds all the fons of men, and their aétions, is the all-feeing and all-knowing Being; and therefore ‘fod appeals to him as his witnefs,, if he was guilty of the things laid to his charge, to bear witnefs againft him, but if not to be a witnefs for him, which he believed he would, and defired he might: for my record is on high, or my teftimony, that can teftify for me; who is an eye-witne/s*, as fome render it, before whom all things are naked and open; who has feen all my actions, even the very inmott receffes of my mind, all the thoughts of ‘my heart, and all the principles of my actions, and him defire to bear record of me; fuch appeals are lawful in fome cafes, which ought not to be common and trivial ones, but of moment and importance, and which can’t well be determined in any in other way; fuch as was the charge of hypocrify againft 70d, and fufpicions of his having been guilty of fome notorious crime, though it could not be pointed at and proved; fee 1 Sam. xii. 3, 4. 2 Cor.i. 13. Pbil. i. 8.
¥. 20, My friends fcorn me, 8&c.] Not that they fcoffed at his afflictions and calamities, and at his difeafes and diforders, that would have been very brutifh and inhuman, but at his words, the arguments and reafons he made ufe of to defend himfelf with, fee ch. xii. 4. but mine eye poureth out tears unto’God; in great plenty, becaufe of his very great forrows and diftrefles, both inward and outward; and it was his mercy, that when his friends flighted and neglected him, yea bore hard upon him, and mocked at him, that he had a God to go to, and pour out not only his tears, but all his complaints, and even his very foul unto him, from whom he might hope for relief; and what he faid, when he did this, is as follows.
¥.21. Ob that one might plead for a man with God, &c.|] That is, that one might be appointed and allowed to plead with God on his account; or that he be admitted to plead with God for himfelf; or however, that there might be a hearing of his cafe before God, and that he would decide the thing in controverfy between him and his friends, when he doubted not but it would be given on his fide: as a man pleadeth for his neighbour; ufing great freedom, and powerful arguments, and having no dread of the judge, nor fear of carrying the caufe for his neighbour; fo ¥0 wifhes, that either one for him, or he himfelf might be freed from the dread of the divine Majefty, and might be fuffered to fpeak as freely to his cafe, as a counfellor at the bar does for his client. ‘The words will admit of a more evangelic fenfe by obferving that God, to whom ob fays his eye poured out tears, at the clofe of the preceding verfe, is to be under- {tood of the fecond perfon in the God-head, Jehovah, the Son of God, the Meffiah; and then read thefe words that follow thus, aud he will plead for a man with God, and the fon of man for bis friend, which laft claufe perhaps may be better rendered, even the fon of man, &c. and fo they are expreffive of Fob’s faith, that though his friends defpifed him, yet he to whom he poured out his tears, and committed his cafe, would plead his caufe with God for him, and thoroughly plead it, when he fhould be acquitted. The appellation, the fon of man, is a well-known name for the Meffiah in the New Teftament, and is not altogether unknown in the Old, fee Pf. Ixxx. 17. and one part of his work and office is to be an advocate with the Father for his friends, whom he makes, reckons, and ufes as fuch, even all the Father has given him, and he has redeemed by his blood; for thefe he pleads his blood, righteoufnefs and facrifice, to the fatisfaction of the law, and juftice of God, and againft Satan, and all enemies whatever, and for every bleffing they want; and for which work he is abundantly fit, becaufe of the dignity of his perfon, his nearnefs to God his Father, and the intereft he has in him. Guffetius' goes this way, and oblerves, that this fenfe has not been taken notice of by interpreters, which he feems to wonder at; whereas our Englifh annotator on the place had it long ago, and Mr. Caryil after him, though difapproved of by forme modern interpreters.
yt, 22. When a few years are come, &c.] As the years of man’s life are but few at moft, and Yob’s -years, which were yet to come, ftill fewer in his apprehenfion; or years of number”, that are numbered’ by God, fixed and determined by him, ch. ‘xiv. 5. or being few are eafily numbered: foall go the way whence J foall not return x that go the way of all flefh, a long journey; death itefelf is meant, which is a going out of this world this again, to the fame place, condition, cireum- {tances, eftate and employment as now; otherwife there will be a refurrection from the dead, the bodies will rife out of the earth, and fouls will be brought again to be united with them, but not ‘to be in the fame fituation here as now; this Yod obferves either as a kind of folace to him under all his afflictions on himfelf, and from his. friends, that in a little time it would be all over with him; ¢hen J)or as an argument to haften the pleading of his is, caufe, that his innocence might be cleared before he died; and if this was not done quickly, it would be too late. suttg etiam
‘into another, from whence there is no return to