Exposition of the Whole Bible

imprudent; the counfels, {chemés and methods he {takes to hurt others, iffue in his own ruin; the pit he digs for them, he falls and finks into himfelf; and the net which he has fpread and. hid for others, in it is his own foot taken; and the ways and means he takes to do himfelf good; to amafs riches and advance his family, being illicit ones, prove fnares and nets unto him, thofe leading him into many foolifh and hurtful lufts, which bring him to perdition, Pf ix. 15: 1 Tim. vi. g. ever the various fins and tranfgreffions he commits are {nares unto him, by which he is enticed and drawn in: for in the tranfgrefion of an evil man there is ¢ Jnare, Prov. xxix. 6. thefe promife him peace, and pleafure, and liberty, but give neither; they are nets in which he is entangled, and cords by whick he is held, P/- ix. 15, 16. into which his own feet carry him: fome render it, be goes with a net at bis feet", or with his feet in a net; he can’t go where he would, or do as he pleafes;_he is reftrained by the providence of God; as the devils are held in chains, fo the feet of wicked men are entangled in a net,. that they cannot move and act as they are defirous of: and he walketh upon a nares laid for him, and hidden to him, and therefore walks on boldly and unconcerned, not being apprehenfive of any danger, though greatly expofed to it; he walks on as on firm and good ground, and in a broad road, but deftruétion and mifery are in his ways; yet he walks on of himfelf willingly, and with all his ftrength, pleafing himfelf. E the path he treads, not dreaming of the mifchief that awaits him; or apon a thicket ° of thorns and briars, his fins and iniquities with which he is entangled, and out of which he can’t extricate himfelf, or afflictive providences with which his way is hedged up; though che former fenfe feems beft; Mr. Broughton renders it, @ platted gin. ¥.g. The gin fhall take bim by the heel, &c.} And hold him faft, fo that he fhall not be able to get away, efpecially out of fuch as are fet by God himfelf; for God has his nets, and fnares, and gins for wicked men, and fuch plenty of them, that. he even is faid to rain them on them; yea, he himfelf is a gin and a fnare unto them, and out of his hands there is no efcaping, wherefore it is a terrible thing to fall into them, fee Ezek. xii. 13. and xxxil. 3. Pf. xi. 6. I/vili. 14,15. and the robber foall prevail againft him, either robbers literally taken, fuch as the Sabeans and Chaldeans, to whom Bildad may have reference, who prevailed againft Fob, and plundered him of his fubftance; and fuch as thefe, as the word fignifies, are thir ty ones ®, who thirft after the wealth and riches of men, and after their blood for the fake thereof, blood thirfty ones; Mr. Broughton-renders it, the favage, barbas rous, wild and uncivilized, that lived in defart places, and were like wild beafts, let their hair grow long, to make them look more terrible and tormidable, which fome take to be the fignification of the word, and render it orrid* or terrible, fee the note on ch. v. 5. or elfe the devil may be meant, who is like a roaring lion, terrible and frightful, and who, as he was a murderer from the beginning, fo a thief and robber, that comes to kill and deftroy, and whom God fuffers to prevail over the children of difobedience, and in whoni he works powerfully, being the {trong man armed, that has poffeffion of them and their goods, and keeps them in peace; and who has his {nares, which he

: in which they are taken alive, as/from the gets Fen and are azine by him at his|and pleafure, 2 Tim. ii. 26.

y. 11. Terrors foall make bim afraid on every &c.] Make him a Mager Miffabib, as Pa/bur was bis a terror to himfelf, and all his friends about thefe terrors may be either the terrors of the judges of the earth upon wicked men, who are, or fhould be, a terror to evil doers, and of whom wicked men are afraid, left they fhould be taken and nifhed by them; to this fenfe is the note of Sephorno: or elfe the terrors of a guilty confcience, which drive a man to his wit’s end, that he not what to do, nor whither to go; thefe terrify him night and day, and make an hell upon earth unto him; or the terrors of the righteous law of God broken by him, its menaces and curfes threatening him with death and everlafting damnation; or the terrors of the judgments of God on earth, which by their fore-runners appear to be coming on it, by reafon of which mens hearts fail for fear of them; or terrible apprehenfions of the wrath of God for fin, here and hereafter, together with the terrors of death, which fall upon them, and of an awful judgment yet to come. Now Bildad had obferved, that ¥od had faid fome things concerning the terrors he was fometimes poffeffed of, ch. vi. 4. and vii. 14. and ix.28. and therefore would fuggeft from hence, that he muft be a wicked man, fince this is the cafe of fuch; but it is eafy to obferve, that good men are fometimes furfociety of men, and became a f vagabond, and afraid of every one | 18 _ | with, left he fhould kill him; and fometimes wie men flee when none purfue, and even at the fo of a fhaking leaf, Prov. xxviii. 1. Lev. xxvi. 36 or fhall fatter bim at his feet‘, either at the feet the of the robber, or caufe him to fall to. th unc 10 the place where his feet ftood. Mr. Bro renders it, fhall prefs him at his feet, thall. llow at his heels; and keep clofe to bim where-ever he goes, and overtake and feize him. ‘hie - y¥.10. The fnare is laid for him in the ground, &c.] Or hidden* there; for, as Solomon fays, in vain the net is [pread in fight of any bird, Prov. i. 17. and in vain it is to lay a fnare publickly in ficht of any creature, it will not then come near it, but fhun and avoid it; and therefore it is laid under ground, or hid in the earth, or in fome private place, where the creature, it is defigned for, may be) thoucht to come, or into which it is decoyed; or the cord * that which is faftened to the’ fnare net, and which the fowler holds in his hand, and pulls with, as he finds occafion and opportunity offers; but this is hid as much as poffible, that it may not be feen: and a trap for him inthe way; in which he is ufed to walk, by the road-fide, or in it; Mr. Proughton renders it, 4 pitfall on the away-jide, fach as is dug for beafts to fall into be taken. The whole of this is defigned to fhow how fuddenly and fecretly wicked men are taken in nets, and fnares, and gins, either of their or others laying, and whilft they are crying peace, peace, fudden deftruétion comes upon them; Eccl. ix. 12. 1 Theff. v. 3.

¥.12. His firength fall be bunger-bitten, 8cc.] or Or fhall be famine*, or hunger, that is, fhall be weakened by it; famine is a fore evil, and. atly weakens the natural ftrength of men; want of food will foon bring down the ftrength of the ftron¢ man, when the ftay and the ftaff, the fuftenance and fupport of man’s nature is taken from him: man, of the Fewifh writers, by bis Strength, underftand and his children, who are, as Facob faid of Reuben, his might, and the beginning of his ftrength, Gez. xlix. 3. and when grown up are his protection and own; defence; and for thefe to be diftrefled with hunger, or deftroyed by famine, is @ fore judgment; fee fo the Targum paraphrafes it, his firft-born fon; Farchi interprets it, his fon; and Ben Gerjom, his fide, feed or offspring: and de/truétion fhall be ready at fide; or to his rib”; that is his wife, as the Tarhim 5 gum and archi explain it, the Jews calling 2 man’s wife his rib, becaufe the woman was originally made out of one of the ribs of Cp ll if this could be thought to be the fenfe of the word pu-jhere, and what is given by them of the former claufe, both make up a compleat account of the deftruétion of a wicked man’s family, his wife and knows) children: but rather it fignifies fome calamity, diftrefs and trouble at hand, ready prepared for wicked men, juft going to be infli@ted on them; for God has ftores of vengeance for them, and has made ready his bow, and prepared inftruments and arrows of death and deftruction for them, as ell as there is everlafting fire prepared, and blacknefS of darknefs referved for them in the world to come; for it can hardly be thought that this fhould be underftood literally of any difeafe in the fide, as the pleurify, €@c. which is threatening, or any mortal wound or ftab there, fuch as Joab gave Amafa under the fifth rib. is ae.

| ¥. 13., It jhall devour the Strength of bis frin, &e.] Or the bars of bis fkin*, the ftrength and {upport of his body, for which his fkin. may be’ put, as the bones; or the branches of bis frin®, the * veins, which like fo many branches run under,” and may be feen through the fkin: now thele, it, rounded with terrors as well as others, fo that this is no proof of a man’s charaéter and ftate, fee| Pf. \xxxviii. 15, 16. Lam. ii. 22. and fhall drive bim to his feet; to take to his feet and run, in order to get rid of his terrors if poffible, but vain; thefecaufe him not to run to God, to his to the throne and footftool of his grace, but from him, to the rocks and mountains to hide him from his wrath, though there is no going from his rit, nor fleecing from his prefence; alfo have fuch an effect upon wicked men as tolor caufe them to flee from men, as in Caia, who not famine, or want of food, devours, and deft re trength and beauty of the fkin, caufe it to be black like an oven, Lem. iv. 8. and v. 10. bring a man to a mere fkeleton, to fkin and bones, wafte injand confume the members of his body, his flefh,: feet,Jand blood, and bones; the Targum, Fare ben Ezra, by his bars or branches underftar children,which are his bars, the ftrength of hi fpi-jare to him as branches to a tree, proceedit x f and terrors willjhim; and if we render it, as fome dos be fhall de eat, that is, the wicked man, it poir moft horrible fcene in a famine, whi and fhuddering; and yet what has been, as in the of a mar out of it, and even out of the world).

fieges of Samaria and Ferufalem, a parent’s eating fee Pf. li. 5. and it foall bring him to the king of terrors; either famine; by which his ftrength is

Lam. iw. 10. but rather, the it is the firft-born of weakened, or deftruction that is at his fide, or the death, in the next claufe, which is to be fupplied firft-borh of death; or his vain confidence: or this from thence here: even the firjt-born of death fhall may be the fenfe, thou (O God) wilt bring him;

devour bis firength; and fo Mr. Broughton tranflates the whole verfe, ‘* a ftrange death fhall eat all the branches of his body, all its branches fhall it eat;” which the Targum interprets of the angel of death, him which has the power of death: but rather it fignifies not what prefides over death, but what death firft produces, which are corruption and rottennefs, duft and worms; thefe are the firft-born of death, or the firft-fruits and effects of it, and which devour and deftroy not the fkin only, but the whole body and all its members: or the jirjtborn death*; death, which is a firft born, it is the firft-born of fin; fin is its parent, luft conceives fin, and that brings forth death; death is the child of fin, and is its firft-born, and fin entered into the world, and death by fin; and this is what devours and deftroys the ftrength of men. Some underftand by firft-born death, a premature one, death before the ufual time, or common courfe of nature; wicked men don’t live out half their days; and when they are taken off in their youth, in the prime of their days, and ftrength, and amidit all their wealth, riches and pleafures, this is the firit, or firft-born death, as that is a fecondary one which is late, in the time of old age. This is the ingenious thought of Pineda; but perhaps rather,, as the firft-born is the chief and principal; fo here may be meant, the chiefeft of deaths, the moft hard, cruel and fevere; the firft of thoie, that death has under it, which are principally the word, famine, peftilence, and the noifom beaft, fee Rev vi. 8. it is commonly thought that famine is intended, ot caufe bim to go to the king of terrors’; to death; all men are brought unto it, but not all unto it as a king of terrors; as good men, fuch as Simeon,y the apoftle Paul, and others, but wicked men. Death is a king, it reigns, it has a large empire, even the whole world; its fubjeéts are numerous, all, high and low, rich and poor, great and mall;

and the duration of its reign is long, it reigned. from Adam to Mojes, from Mo/es to the coming of Chrift, and from thence to this day; and will to the end of the world, and it reigns with an irrefi- {tible power: and this king is a king of terrors to wicked men; it is, as Ariftotie * calls it, the moft terrible of terfibles.; it is terrible to nature, being a diffolution of it;,and it muft be terrible to mere natural men, who have nothing to fupport them under it, and no views beyond the grave to comfort them, and caufe them to go chearful through it; but, on the other hand, have not only, the bitternefs of death to endure, but have terrible apprehenfions of a future judgment that comes after it. Some render it, the king of darknefs °, extreme darknefs, blacknefs of darknefs, utter darknefs, which. wicked men at death are brought unto. archi interprets it of the king of daemons, the devil; and to be brought to him is to be brought to hell and eternal damnation: fo fome render it, zerrors foall bring him to bis king‘, the devil; or rather, terrors foall come upon him like a king®, in a very grand, powerful and formidable manner.

¥. 15. It foall dwell in his tabernacle, &c.} What fhall dwell in it is not faid; there are various con- fpoken of in the context; but why not rather fome jecturesabout it, and different fupplements. are thing diftiné&t from it, and particularly the peftilence? fince that is emphatically called death by the ews, and in the paffage laft referred to, and is the terror by night, and the arrow that flies by day, even the peftilence that walks in darknefs, and the deftruétion that waftes at noon-day; by means of which thoufands, and ten thoufands of wicked men fall at the fides of good men, when it does not affeét them; and fo may be the evil particularly threatened to a wicked man here, fee P/ mci..5; 657., y. 14. His confidence foall be rooted out of bis tabernacle, &c.j That which his confidence was placed in, his wealth and riches, his family, particularly his children, in all which he placed his confidence of future profperity and happinefs; thefe fhould be all taken away from him, and his houfe cleared of them all; or his good, found and healthful conftitution, on account of which he promifed himnfelf long life, this he fhould be deprived of, and it fhould be taken out of the tabernacle of his body; or his hope and confidence of eternal happinefs in another world, this fhould perifh, and be as the giving up of the ghoft: or the words may be rendered, be fhall be rooted out of bis tabernacle, which was bis confidence”; that is, his foul fhall be taken out his body by death, in which it dwelt as in a tabernacle, and where he hoped to have had a long continuance; death is a rooting made; the Targum is, ‘‘ his wife fhall dwell in a tabernacle not his;” and to the fame purpofe Farchi; as if it was one‘part of the punifhment of a wicked man, that he fhould leave a widow behind him, and no houfe of his own for her to dwell in; but this is the cafe of the widows of many good men, who themfelves, in their life-time, have no’ houfes of their own, and fome no certain dwelling-places, yea, have lived in caves and dens of the earth; the mother of our Lord, who feems to’ have been a widow at his death, was taken by one of his difciples to his own home; which fhows fhe had none of herown. The Vulgate Latin verfion is, ‘his neighbours fhall dwell in his tabernacle;” which fome underftand of their coming into it after his death, to mourn and bewail him; but as fuch a vifit of his family upon his deceafe, cannot be called dwelling, fo this is rather a benefit and favour to his family, than a diftrefs: rather it may fignify, that fuch neighbours whom he had oppreffed, and who hated him for his tyranny and cruelty, now fhould dwell in his houfe; what he had built, ftrangers fhould inhabit, which is a punifhment of fin and finners, Deut. xxviii. 30. Aben Ezra fupplies it thus, a ftrange or evil beaft fhalt dwell in it, as they do in defolate places; and it is frequently given as a fign and token of defolation in countries, cities and palaces, that they are become the habitations of wild and favage creatures, fee