Exposition of the Whole Bible

I. xiii. 19 —22. and xxxiv. 11, &c. Zeph. ii, 14. but it feems beft to fupply it from the context, either thus, famine, hunger, wapt of food fhall dwell in it; poverty and want fhall come like an armed man into it, and take poffeffions there fhall the marks and figns of penury and di- he fprung, ftrefs, or deftruétion ready at his fide fhall take up its abode init, and it fhall be called the houfe of deftruction, as a certain city is called the city of deftruction, becaufe devoted to it, Jf xix. 18. or the firft-born of death, fome deadly difeafe, as the peftilence; or death itfelf, the king of terrors, is fometimes reprefented as a perfor coming up into the windows of a palace, and entering it, and cutting off great numbers; fo that it goes ill with him that is left in a tabernacle, where he has his habitation, Yer. ix. 21. ‘fob xx. 26. or terror, as Ben Gerfom, every one of the terrors before ed, fo that no body will care to dwell in it, but forfake it as an haunted houfe:

¥. 16. His roots foall be dried up beneath, &c.] Wicked men are fometimes compared to trees; to trees of the wood, barren and unfruitful; to trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; and fometimes to green: bay-trees, i for a while, and which on a fudden perifh,: bs come to nothing, fee Cant. ii. 2. Fude y. 12. “Pf. xxxvii. 35, 36. and fuch a fimile is here ufed;*and by his roots may be meant his family, from whence which now fhould be extinét with him, fee // xi.1. Daz. xi.7. or his fubftance, which ia greatly increafed, he feemed to take root in the eart, 9 and not only to be in a profperous, but in a ftable, fettled condition; but now, Ephraim like, he fhould be fmitten, and his root dried up; all his wealth, whojand all the refources of it, fhould be exhaufted, be no more, fee Yer. xii. 2. Hof. ix. 16. and above /ball bis branch be cut off; his children that fprung from him, as branches from a tree, and were his glory and beauty, thefe fhould be cutoff; réferring no doubt in both claufes to Yod’s prefent circummention- ftances, whofe root in‘ the time of his profperity was fpread out by the waters, but now dried up, in fhort, from thejand on whofe branches the dew lay all night, but now cut off, ch. xxix, 19. fo the Targum, © his does children fhall be cut off out of the earth, and from the fame with the fiy-jheaven his deftruétion fhall be decreed;” both claufes fignify the utter deftruction of the family of the wicked man, root and branch, fee Mai. iv. 1. It is a beautiful defcription of a tree ftruck it)with thunder and lightning, -and burnt and fhattered to pieces, and agrees with the® preceding verfe, > 27 ie whole it may be gathered, that the curfe of God fhould alight upon it, and remain in it, as it in the houfe of the wicked;

ing roll in the vifion of Zechariah, the curfé of God’s righteous Jaw, which enters into the houfe of the thief and perjurer, and confumes it, Prov. iii. 93. Zech. v. 4. the reafon follows, decaufe is none of bis not by right, being bought or built with mammon of unrighteoufhefs, with money not honeftly got, and therefore fhall not profper; or becaufe it is no longer his, he being taken from it by death, the king of terrors, and that not knowing or owning him any more as its mafter or proprietor, and therefore ftrangers fhall dwell in or becaufe there is none that fhall be after him, becaufe he fhall have none left, or he hall have no furvivor*, all his family being taken away by/ death; and therefore, nothing but.

¥.17. His remembrance fhall perifh from the earth, &c ] Not only are the wicked forgotten of God in heaven, and are as the flain he remembers no more, unlefs it be to pour out his wrath upon them, it; and punifh them for their fins, for which great’ Ba- 4y/on will come up in remembrance before him; but of men on earth, and in the very places where they were born, and lived all their days, Ecchi viii. ro. defolation andjand ix. 5. yea, thofe places, houfes “and palaces, towns and cities, which they have built to perpetuate their memory among men, perifh and come to nought, and their memorial with’ them, Pf ix. 5, 6. and xlix. 11, and he fhall have no name in the Bildad fireet; much lefs in the houfe of God, ftillMefs in heaven, in the Lamb’s book of life’; 0 far from it, that he fhall have none on earth, no good ajname among men; if ever his name is mentioned after his death, it is with fome brand of infamy upon him; he is not fpoken of in public, in a court of judicature, nor in any place of commérce and trade, fhouldjnor in any concourfe of people, or public aflembly of any note, efpecially with any credit or commendation; fuch is the difference between a good man and a wicked man, fee. Prov. xi. 7.

deftrution fhall be feen in it, fee Amos vi. g, 10. brimftone fhall be fcattered upon bis habitation; that is, his houfe fhould be burnt down by ‘lightning, which is often falphurous, and fometimes very fenfibly has the fmell of brimftone in it’. may refer either to the fire of heaven that deftroyed Fob’s fheep, which was of this kind; or rather to the deftruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, by thower of fire and brimftone from heaven, a fact well known in thofe times. Moreover, brimftone feattered upon the wicked man’s dwelling-place, may denote the defolation of it, that it lic in ruins, and be unfit to be inhabited; and the defolation of places is fometimes fignified by their being falt, brimftone and burning. pitch, Dewt. xxix. 23. J/. xxxiv. g. yea, this may be carried farther, and denote the eternal damnation of all in his houfe, feeing the burning of Sodom with brimftone, was an example to ungodly men fuffering the vengeance of eternal fire, Jude y. 7.) and which is fometimes exprefied by brimftone, and a lake burning with fire and brimftone, Rev. xx. 10, and xxi. 8. and xiv. 10, 11. Some * think refpe& is had to the luftration of houfes ‘with fulphur, to drive away demons, and remove impurity, to make them fit to dwell in’; and others think it refers to the burning of fulphur in houfes at funerals, to teftify and exaggerate mourning™, y.18. He jhall be driven from light into darknefs, &c.)] Either from the light of outward ptofperity formerly enjoyed by him, into the darknefs of adverfity; or rather from the light of the living, the light of the prefent life, to the darknefs of d and the grave, the land of darknefs, and of the fhadow of death, ch. x. 21,22. and even into utter darknefs, blacknefs of darknefs, the darknefs of hell, eternal darknefs; oppoféd to the light of eh the divine prefence, and the inheritance of the faints in light, poffeffed by them to all “— which the wicked man is deprived of, and will h As no fhare in, -but fhall be driven from the prefence © of God, and by him; for fo the words rendered, they fhall drive him", God, Father, and Spirit; God by the eaft-wind and ftorm of his wrath fhall carry him away, and hurl him _

Ch. xvill, ¥. r9g—21: out of his place, and fhall caft the fury of his wrath on him, and not fpare, nor fhall he fee out of his hands, though he fain would, ch. xxvii. 21, 22. or the angels, good or bad, fhall drive him into endlefs torments, or fhall by the divine order take him and caft him into outward darknefs, where are weeping, wailing, and gnafhing of teeth; thus are the wicked driven againft their will, and muft go whether they will or no, and like beafts to the flaughter, are driven in their wickednels, in order to fuffer the punifhment due unto it, when the righteous hath hope in his death, Prov. xiv. 32. and chafed out of the world; or caft out of it, as an’ unclean or excommunicated perfon, of which the word here is fometimes ufed°; and not only chafed out of his own place, out of his own houie, and out of his own country, but even out of the world, fo as to have no place any more in it, fee ch. xx. 8, 9. ¥. 19. He fall neither have fon nor nephew among bis people, &c.] Neither fon, nor fon’s fon, or grandfon; fo the Targum, Farchi and Bar Txemach; that is, he fhall be childlefs, and have no heirs, fucceffors or furvivors to inherit his eftate, bear and perpetuate his name among the people of his country, city, or neighbourhood. A/dad refpects -no doubt the prefent cafe of Fob, who had loft all his children; but he was miftaken if he thought he fhould die fo, for he had after this as many children as he had before: nor any remaining in bis dwellings; being all dead, or fled from them, thro’ the terror, defolation. and deftruction in them. Aben Ezra and Bar Tzemach interpret them places, in which he was a fojourner or ftranger; and Mr. Broughton, nor remnant in his pilgrimage. ¥. 20. They that come after him [ball be aftonifbed at bis day, &c.} At the day of his calamity and diftrefs, ruin and deftruction, fee Pf. xxxvii. 13. Obad. ¥.12. it would be extremely amazing to them how it fhould.be, that a man who was in fuch flourifhing and profperous circumftances, fhould be brought at once, he and his family, into fuch extreme poverty, and into fuch a diftrefféd and forlorn condition; they fhould be, as it were, thunder ftruck at it, not being able to account for it: by thefe are meant, fuch as are younger than the wicked man, and that continue longer than-he, yet upon the fpot when his calamity befel; or elfe pofterity in after-times, who would be made acquainted with the whole affair, and be furprized at the relation of it: as they that went before were affrighted; not that lived before the times of the

HIS chapter contains ¥0b’s reply to Bildad’s fecond fpeech, in which he complains of the ill ufage of his friends, of their continuing to vex him, and to beat, and bruife, and break him in pieces with their hard words, and to reproach him, and carry it ftrange to him, ¥.:—3. which he thought was very cruel, fince, if he was miftaken, the miftake lay with himfelf, ¥. 4. and if they were determined to goon at this rate, he would have them obferve, that his afflictions were of God, and therefore fhould take care to what they imputed them, fince he could not get the reafons of them, or his caufe to be heard, though he vehemently and importunately fought it, ¥. 5—7. and then gives an guem non agnoicit Deus fortis, Junius. - wicked man, for they could not fee his day, or be (peétators of his ruin, and fo be affrighted at ir; but his cotemporaries, who are faid to be thofe that went befSre, not with refpeét to. the wicked man, but with refpect to youncer perfons or pofterity that were after; fo Bar Yzemach interprets it, which were in his time, or his cotemporaries; and Mr.’ Broughton, ‘* the prefent took an horror;” a late learned commentator.’ renders the words, weftern and eaftern; as»if all people in the world, eaft and weft, would be amazed and aftonifhed at the fudden and utter deftruction of this wicked man.

v.21. Surely fuch are the dwellings of the wicked, &c.] | As before defcribeds as that the light fhould be dark in them; a wicked man’s confidence fhould be rooted out of them; every thing fhocking and dreadful fhould dwell in them; brimftone fhould be fcattered on them, they fhould be utterly confumed, and none remaining inthem, y. 6, 14, 15, 19. The Zargum teprefents thefe as the words of the perfons aftonifhed and affrighted, who at the fight of fuch a difmal fpectacle fhould utter them; prefacing them thus, \“* and they fhall fay, but thefe are the dwellings, c.” and this is the place of him that kuoweth not God; the place that he fhall be driven to when chafed out of the world, even a place of darknefs and milery, ¥. 18. or this is the cafe of bim that knoweth not the Omnipotent, as Mr. Broughtou tranflates the words; that is, which is above defcribed in the feveral particulars of it; this is fooner or later the cafe of every, wicked man, as Bildad fuppofed it now was7¥od’s cafe, at leaft in part, or would.be hereafter: one that knows not God, is the periphrafis of a wicked man, that has no knowledge of God, at leaft no praétical knowledge of him, that lives without God in the world, or like an atheift,; fuch fhall be punifhed with everlafting deftruction by him, fee 2 Theff i. 8, 9. either one whom God knows not 4, fo fome render the words; for though God by the perfection of his omnifcience knows all men, good and bad, yet there are fome he knows not fo as to approve of, love and delight in, fee Mart. vii. 23. or rather that have no knowledge of God, who though they may know there is a God, yet do not worlhip and glorify him asGod; and though they may profefs to know him, yet in works they deny him, and however have no {piritual and experimental knowledge of him; don’t know-him in Chrift, as the God of all grace, and as their God in him; they don’t know him, fo as to love him, fear, worfhip and obey him.

enumeration of the feveral particulars of his diftrefs, all which he afcribes to God, ¥. 8—1z2. and he enlarges upon that part of his unhappy cafe, refpecting the alienation of his neareft relations, moft intimate acquaintance and friends from him, and their contempt of him, and. the like treatment he met with from his fervants, and even young children, ¥. 13—19. all which, with other troubles, had fuch an effect upon him as to reduce him to a mere fkeleton, and which he mentions to move the pity of thefe his friends, now converfing with him, ¥.20—22. and yet after all, and in the midft of it, and which was his great fuppore under his trials, he expreffes his {trong faith in his

524. By te teas? oF Ch. xix ¥. 1-3: living Redeemer, who fhould appear on the earth in the latter day, and be his Saviour, and in the refurreétion of the dead through him, which he believed he fhould fhare in, and in all the happinefs confequent on it; and he wifhes this confeffion of lis faith might be written.

preferved ona rock for ever for the good of rity, ver. 23——27, and clofes the chapter with an expoftulation with his friends, diffuading them from referring not to ten feétions or paragraphs, in» which they had done it, as Yarchi 5 or to the five” fpeeches of his friends, in which their reproaches » were doubled; or to %od’s words, and their anfwer as Saadiah; for it does not denote an exact num- ‘ and engraven, and be) ber of their reproaches, which eb was not fo care-: pofte-'ful to count; but it fignifies that he had been many > times reproached by them; fo Aben Ezra, and in» which fenfe the phrafe is often ufed, fee Gen. xxxi. 7.

' $f. 1. Then Job anfwered and faid.) Having heard

Bildad out, without giving him any interruption;

Numb. xiv. 22. it is the lot of good men in alk ages to be reproached by carnal and profane finners, on account of religion, and for righteoufnefs-fake, - as Chriftians are for the fake of Chrift and his gof-. pel; and which Mofes efteemed greater riches than. all the treafures of Egypt, but to be reproached by friends, and that asan hypocrite and a wicked man, - in his own defence, and put in his anfwer as fol-jas ob was, muft be very cutting; and this being inee often repeated, as it was an ageravation of the fin ¥ 2. How long will ye vex my foul, &c.] dco his of all vexation is the worft; not only his bones were vexed, but his foul alfo, as David’s was, Pf. vi. 2, 3. His body was vexed with boils from head to feet; but now his foul was vexed by his friends, andjto which denotes extreme vexation, a man’s being vexed to his very heart: there are many things vexatious to men, efpecially to good men; they are not only vexed with pains of the body, as others, and with lofs of worldly fubftance; even all things here below, and the higheft enjoyment of them, as wealth, wifdom, honours, and pleafures, are all vanity and vexation of fpirit, as they were to Solomon, but more efpecially, truly good men are vexed with the corruptions of their hearts, which are as pricks in their eyes and thorns in their fides, and with the temptations of Satan, which are alfo thorns in the flefh and friends, fo likewife of his affliction and pa-_ tience: 2’ are not afbamed, fo that ye make yourfelves ftrange to me; they looked fhy at him;. would not be free and friendly with him, but carried it ftrange him, and feemed to have their affections alienated from him. ‘There fhould not be a {trange- 7 nefs in good men one to another, fince they are not aliens from the commonwealth of Jrael, and ftrangers to the covenants of promife, to the grace of but;God, and communion with him; fince they are fellow-citizens, and of ‘the houfhold of God; belong to the fame city, fhare in the fame privileges, are of the fame family, children of the fame father, and brethren one of another, members of the fame body, heirs of the fame grace and glory, and are to dwell together in heaven to all eternity; wherefore they fhould not make themfelves {trange to fieryjeach other, but fhould fpeak often, kindly, and and when he had finifhed his oration, he rofe up)

darts, and with the converfation of wicked men, as was the foul of righteous Lot, and with the bad principles and practices of profeffors of religion; and fometimes as ob was, they are vexed by their own friends, who fhould be their comforters, but prove miferable ones, as his did, and even vexatious, and continued fo to the wearing him out almoft; and fo fome render the words, How Jong will 4e weary my foul ©, with repeating their infinuations that he was a wicked and hypocritical man, and therefore was afflicted of God in the manner he was; and which, knowing his own innocency, extremely vexed him: and break me in pieces with words; not his body, but his fpirit; which was broken, not by the word of God, which is like an hammer that breaks the rocky heart in pieces; for fuch a breaking is in mercy, and not an affliction to be complained of; and fuch as are thus broken are healed again, and bound up by the fame hand that breaks; who has great regard to broken pirits and contrite hearts; looks to them, and dwells affectionately one to another, and freely converfe together. about {piritual things; fhould pray with one another, and build up each other on their moft holy faith, and by love ferve one another, and do’ all good offices mutually that lie in their power, and bear one another’s burdens, and fo fulfil the law of Chrift: but inftead of this, Fod’s friends would fcarcely look at him, much leis fpeak one kind word to him; yea, they hardened themfelves againft him, as fome ‘ render the word; had no compaffion on him, or pity for him in his diftreffed circumftances, which their relation to him obliged unto, and was due unto him on the fcore of friendfhip; nay, they mocked at him, which, is the fenfe of the word according to Ben Gerfom'; and of this he had complained before, ch. xii. 4, and xvii. 2. and with fome § it has the fignification of impudence and audacioufneis, from the fenfe of the word in the Arabic language, fee J/. iii. 9. as if they behaved towards ‘him in a very impudent manner: or, though they kvew him, as the Targum para-.

with them, in order to revive and comfort them: but, by the words of men; od was {mitten with the tongues of men; as Yeremiah was, and was beaten and bruifed by them, as any thing is beaten and bruifed by a peftle in a mortar, as the word “* fignifies, and is fometimes rendered, J/. lili. 5. thefe muft be not foft but hard words, not reproofs, which being given and taken in love, will not break the head, but calumnies and reproaches falfly caft, and with great feverity, frequently, which break the heart. See Pf. Ixix. ¥ 3. Thefe ten times have ye reproached me, &c. phrafes it, yet they were uot a/bamed to reproach him; though they knew that he was a man that feared God; they knew his character and conyerfation before his afflictions came on him, and yet traduced him as an hypocrite and a vical man. 10. Whatever is finful men fhould be afhamed of, gentlejand will be fooner or later; not.to be afhacmeade thereof, is an argument of great hardnefs and impenitence; and among other things it becomes’ and) faints to be afhamed of their making themfelves. 20.) ftrange to one another. Some render it interroga- _ tively”, are ye not afbamed? &c. you may wall overthrown him, or caft him down-from an high to a very low eftate; that had taken away his fubftance, his children, and his wealth: or hath per= verted me '; not that God had made him perverfe, or was the caufe or occafion of any perverfenefs in him, either in his words or in his actions, or had perverted his caufe, and the judgment of it; 70d could readily anfwer to thofe queftions of Bildad, Doth God pervert judgment 2? or doth the Almighty pervert juftice? and fay, no, he doth not; but he is to be underftood in the fame fenfe asthe church is; when fhe fays, fee Lam. iii. 9. be bath made my path crooked; where the fame word is ufed as here; and both fhe and od mean, that God had brought them into crofs, crooked, and afflictive difpenfations: and hath compaffed me with bis net; and which alfo defigns affliction, which is God’s net, which he has made, ordained, and makes ufe of; which he lays for his people, and takes them in, and draws them to himfelf, and. prevents them committing fin, and caufes to iffue in their good; fee Lam. i. 13. Ezek. ii. 13. ¥. 7. Behold I cry out of wrong, &c.] Or of violence ™, or injury done him by the Sabeans and Chaldeans upon his fubftance, and by Satan upon his health; this he cried out, and complained of in prayer to God, and of it as it were in open court, as a violation of juftice, and as being dealt very unjuftly with: du¢ Iam not heard; his prayer was not heard; he could get no relief, nor any redrefs of his grievances, nor any knowledge of the reafons of his being thus ufed; fee Had. i. 2. I cry aloud, but there is mo judgment; notwithftanding his vehement and importunate requefts; and which were repeated time after time, that there might be a hearing of his caufe; that it might be fearched into and tried, that his innocence might be cleared, and juftice done him, and vengeance taken on thofe that wronged him; but he could not obtain it; there was no time appointed for judgment, no court of judicature fet, nor any to judge. Now feeing this was the cafe, that the hand of God was in all his afflictions; that he had complained to him of the injury done him; and that he had moft earneftly defired his caufe might be heard, and the reafons given why he was thus ufed, but could get no anfwer to all this; therefore it became them to be cautious, and careful of what they faid concerning the dealings of God with him, and to what account they placed them; of which he gives a particular enumeration in the following verfes. ¥.8. He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pafs, &c.] A metaphor taken from travellers, who not only meet with obftacles and obftructions in their way, which make it difficult; but fometimes with fuch inclofures and fences, that they are at a full ftop, and cannot pafs on, and know not what courfe to fleer: the people of God. are not inhabitants of this world, but pilgrims, ftrangers, and fojourners in it, and travellers through it; they are bound for another country, and are travelling to it; and though their way for the moft part is indeed troublefome, but generally paffable, or made fo; yet fometimes notonly is their way hedged up with afflictions, and they hedged about with them, that they cannoteafily get out, and get through and pafs on; and it is with much difficulty, and with being much fcratched and torn they do brufhthrough; but they alfo at other times find God has built up a wal afhamed, if you are not; this is put in order to make them afhamed.

¥. 4. And be it indeed that I have erred, &c.] Which is a conceffion for argument-fake, but not an acknowledgment that he had erred; though it is poflible he might have erred, and it is certain he did in fome things, though not in that refpect with which he was charged humanum eft errare, all men are fubject to miftakes, good men may err; they may err in judgment, or from the truth in fome refpect, and be carried away for awhile, and to fome degree with the error of the wicked, though they fhall be turned from it again; they may err in practice, and wander from the way of God’s commandments; and indeed, their ftrayings and aberrations of this fort are fo many, that David fays, Who can underftand bis errors? Pf. xix. 12, and they may err in words, or make a miftake in fpeech; but then no man fhould be made an offender for a word; for he muft be a perfect man that is free from miftakes of this kind: now ‘¥od argues that {uppofing this to be his cafe in any of the above in- {tances; yet, fays he, mine error remaineth with myfelf; 1 only am chargeable with it, and an werable for it; it is nothing to you, and why fhould you trouble yourfelves about it; it will not be imputed to you, nor will you fuffer on account of it; or, admitting | have imbibed an error, I do not publith it abroad; I keep it to myfelf; it lies and lodges in my own breaft, and no body is the wore for it: or let it remain, or lodge with me“, why fhould my miftakes be publifhed abroad, and all the world be made acquainted with them? or, elfe this exprefles his refolution to abide by what his friends called an error; and then the fenfe is, if this is an error which I have afferted, that God afflicts both good and bad men; and that afflictions are no argument of a man’s being an hypocrite and a wicked man, I am determined to continue in it; I will not give it up, I will hold it faft; it fhall remain with me as a principle never to be departed from; or it may be rather his meaning is,: that this notion he had imbibed would remain with him, and was likely to do fo, for any thing they had faid, or could fay to the contrary.

¥. 5. If indeed ye will magnify yourfelves againft me, &c.} Look and talk big, fet up themfelves for great folk, and refolve to run him down; open their mouths wide againft him, and {peak great fwelling words in a bluftering manner; or magnify what they called an error in him, and fet it out in the worft light they could: and plead againjt me my reproach; his affliction which he was reproached with, and was pleaded againft him as an argument of his being a wicked man; if therefore they were determined to go on after this manner, and infift on this kind of proof, then he would have them take what follows

¥.6. Know now that God hath overthrown me, &cc.] He would have them take notice that all his afflictions were from the hand of God; and therefore fhould take care to what they imputed any acts of his, whofe ways are unfearchable, and the reafons of them not to be found out; and therefore, if a wrong conftruction fhould be put upon them, which may be eafily done by weak-fighted men, it mutt be difpleafing to him. od had all along from the firft afcribed his afflictions to God, and he ftill continued to do fo; he faw his hand in them all, whoever were the inftruments, it was God that had

326 FeO. Be Ch. xix. ¥.9—1T. a wall againft them, and enclofed them with hewn ftones, and fo fenced up their way that they cannot pafs on; fuch difficulties prefent as feem infurmountable, and they are at a ftand, and know not what way to take; which was now 7od’s cafe, fee Lam. iii. 5.7. 9. and this may not only refpect the way of his walk in this world, but his way to God, either to the throne of his grace, or the tribunal of his juftice: the way to God, as ona throne of grace, is only through Chrift, the living way; which, tho’ more clearly revealed under the gofpeldifpenfation, and therefore called a new way, yet was known under the former difpenfation, and made ufe of; in which faints may have accefs to God, with boldnefs and confidence: but fometimes this way feems by unbelief to be fencedup, though it is always open; and efpecially when God hides his face, and is not to be feen, nor is it known where to find him, and how to come up to his feat; and which alfo was ob’s cafe, ch. xxiii. 3. and whereas he was very defirous of having his caufe heard and tried at the tribunal of God, his way was fo fhut up, that he could not obtain what he fo much defired, and knew not therefore how to proceed, and what courfe to take: and be hath fet darkne s in my paths; and was like a traveller in a very dark night, that cannot fee his way, and knows not what ftep to take next; fo good men, though they walk notin the ways of darknefs, in a moral fenfe, as unregenerate men do; yet even while they are walking in the good ways of truth and holinefs, and while they are paffing thro’ this world, God fometimes withdraws the light of his countenance from them, fo that they walk in darknefs, and have no light, which is very uncomfortable walking; and when God may be faid to put darknefs into their paths, he not granting them the light of grace and comfort they have fometimes enjoyed; and fo it is with them when under fuch dark difpenfations of providence, as that they cannot fee the end of God in leading them in fuch ways; and then their cafe is Such as it now was ‘f0d’s; that they cannot fee any way of getting out of it; as the Jraelites at the as to be {tripped of his cloaths, by one or more of fuperior power to him: and taken the crown from ~ my head,; meaning much the fame as before, either his wealth and riches, which are the crown of a are the crown of old men, Prov. xvii. 6. or every thing that gave him honour, reputation, and efteem with men; all was taken away from him, and his ‘honour laid in the duft. Some from hence have wrongly concluded, that Yo was a king, and wore a royal diadem, of which he was now deprived, miftaking him for Fobad a king of Edom, Gen, xxxvi. 33. but he had and wore a better diadem, and much lefs could the crown of life, righteoufnefs, and glory, to which he was entitled, be taken from him.

v.10. He hath deftroyed me on every fide, &e.} To be troubled on every fide is much, as the apoftles were, 2 Cor. iv. 8. but ‘to be deftroyed on every fide, and all around, is more, and denotes utter deftruction; it may have refpeét to the ruin of his fubftance and family, which were all demolifhed at once; his oxen and affés, which fwere on one fide, his camels on another, his fheep on another, and his children on another, and all deftroyed in one day, and perhaps in a few hours 5 and alfo to his body, which God had made, and had 'fafhioned together round about; but now he had uffered it to be fmitten with ulcers from the crown of his head to the fole of his feet; and this earthly tabernacle of his was demolifhing on every fide, and juft falling down; for the allufion is either to the demolition of a building, or to the rooting up of a tree, and fo continued in the next claufe; comparing himfelf to a tree, that is dug about on all fides, and its roots laid bare, and thefe and all their fibres cut off, fo thatit is utterly deftroyed from growing any more, but becomes dead; and this ‘od thought to be his cafe: and I am gone’; or am a dead man, juft going out of the world, the way of all flefii; rand becaufe of the certainty of it, and of its being

Red fea, and Paul and the mariners when in a ftorm, and all hope of being faved was gone.

¥. 9. He hath fiript me of my glory, &c.) The metaphor of a traveller may be ftill continued, who falling among thieves is ftripped of his cloaths, to which the allufion may be: od was not ftripped of his glory ina fpiritual fenfe, not of the glorious robe of Chrift’s righteoufneis, nor of the graces of the Spirit, which make faints all-gloriows within; but ina civil fenfe, and is to be underftood not merely of his rich apparel, or of his robe, which he might wear as a civil magiftrate, as an enfign oi honour, and which made him look glorious; but either of his wealth, riches, and fubftance, which are a man’s glory, and which he too often and too much glories in, though 70d might not; fee Py. xlix. 16. Gea. xxxi. 1. or of his children, Hof. ix. 11. Eh. v.11. and indeed of every thing that made him look magnificent among men; as an abundance of this world’s good, a numerous family, fine cloaths, fumptuous living, and a ftately palace; all which Yob might have had, but was now ftripped of all by one means or another; and whoever were the inftruments, he afcribes it all to God, as being according to his fovereign will and pleafure; and thefe things are very properly and fignificantly expreffed by cloaths a man is ftripped of, becaufe they are outward, things as garments are, very quickly, in a few minutes, as it were, he fpeaks of it as if it already was: wherefore it follows, and my hope be bath removed like a tree; not like a tree that is cut down to its roots which remain in the ground, and may fprout out again, ch. xiv. 7. nor like a tree that is taken up with its roots, and removed to another place, and planted in another foil, where it may grow as well or better; but like a tree cut off from its roots, or pulled up by the roots, and laid upon the ground, when there can be no hope of its ever growing again; and fo the hope of ob was like that; not his hope of falvation, of the refurrection of the dead, and of eternal life, which was ftrong and firm, ch. xiii. 5,16. and xix. 25, 26,27. nor can a good and well-grounded hope be removed; not the grace of hope, which is an abiding one; nor the ground of hope, which is Chrift and his righteoufhefs, upon which hope as an anchor, being caft, is fure and ftedfaft; nor the object of hope,’ eternal glory and happinefs laid up in heaven: but this is to be interpreted of %0b’s hope of a reftoration to outward happinefs, which his friends would have had him entertain, in cafe of repentance and refor——

¥.11. He hath alfo kindled bis wrath againft me, adorn and make externally glorious, as they do, and of which aman may be as {oon and as ealily deprived, &c.] In this and fome following verfés, the met phor is taken from a ftate of warfare, in which ene- mies are engaged in an hoftile way; in which way to the difeafes of it; which being a complication, Fob apprehended God was come forth againft him;' might be faid to encamp about him, or furround he imagined, that the wrath of God, which is him on all fides.

‘comparable to fire for its force and fury, was kindled againft him; that it began to appear, and was burfting out in a flame upon him, and all! around him, to confume him; he thought his affAlilions were in wrath, which is often the miftaken apprehenfion of good men, fee P/. xxxviii. 1. and Ixxxviii. 7. 16. and that the terrors of it were battel-array againft him, ch. vi. 4. and be counteth me unto bim as one of his enemies; all men are by nature enemies to God, yea, enmity itfelf, and are his own people whilft unregenerate, until the enmity of their hearts is flain, and they are reconciled to God by his fpirit and grace; but as Yob was truly a gracious man, and poffeffed of the fruits of the Spirit, he muft among the reft of his graces have the love of God in his heart; and he was fenfible and confcious to himfelf that he was no enemy to God, and could appeal to him as the fearcher of hearts, that he knew he loved him; nay, he could not believe that God reckoned him his enemy, when he had given fuch a teftimony of him, and of his fear of him, that|fperity, there was none like him; and when 70d fo ftrongly trufted in him for falvation, and believed he fhould enjoy him for ever’ but his fenfe is, that God treated him, by afflicting him in the manner he did, as if he was one of his enemies; had he really ' been one, he could not have ufed him he thought) more roughly and feverely; fo that judging ac cording to the outward appearance of things, it might be concluded, as it feems it was by his friends, that he was a wicked man, an hypocrite, anenemy to God and godlinefs; but whereas 30d thought that God dealt with him as with an enemy, he miftaken; fince when God afflicts his people, he deals with them as with fons, Heé. xii. 7.

y.13. He hath put my brethren far from me, &c.] As it is one part of bufinefs in war, to cut off all communication between the enemy and their confederates and auxiliaries, and to hinder them of all the help and affiftance from them they can; fo %od here reprefents God dealing with him as with fet inJan enemy, and therefore keeps at a diftance from him all fuch from whom he might expect comfort and fuccour, as particularly his brethren; by whom folmay be meant fuch who in a natural relation are ftrictly and properly brethren; for fuch Yod had, as appears from ch. xlii, 11. who afterwards paid him avifit, and fhewed brotherly love to him; but for the prefent the affliction that God laid upon him, had fuch an influence on them asto caufe them to ftand aloof off, and not come near him,, and fhew any regard unto him; and as this was the effeét of the afflicting hand of God, ¥od afcribes it to him, and which added to his affliction; fee Pf Ixix.8. aud mine acquaintance are verily ¢ftranged from me; fuch as knew him in the time of his proand frequently vifited him, and converfed with him, and he with them; but now things having taken a different turn in his outward circumftances, they carried ic ftrange to him, as if they had never been acquainted with him: #7 fueris feix, &c.

y. 14. My kinsfolk have failed, &c.] Or ceafed*, not to be, or that they were dead, which is fometimes the fenfe of the word; but they ceafed from vifiting him, or doing any good office for him; thofe that were wear him, as the word ufed fignifies; that were near him in relation, and were ofwasjten near him in place, inhis own houfe, in company and conyerfation with him, now ceafed to be near him in affection; or to come nigh him, to converfe with him and comfort him, and fympathize with him, which might be expected from perfons nearly related: and my familiar friends have forgotten me; fuch as were well known to him, and he to them, fojand who notlong ago were very loving and friendly to him, and very freely and familiarly converfed with him; but now they forgot him; the friend- (hip that fubfifted between them, the friendlinefs with which they had vifited him, and the favours they had received from him, they fo flighted, and neglected him, that it feemed as if he was forgotten, as a dead man, out of mind; or as if they did not remember that there ever was, or atleaft that there now was, fuch a man in the world as od: Thefe could not be true friends; for a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adverity, Prov. xvii. 17. a real friend loves, and continues to love in adverfity as well as in profperity; and fuch an one, who fometimes fticks clofer to a man than a brother, is born and defigned to be of ervice to him in a time of trouble; but fo it was ordered by divine providence, and according to the willof God, that od fhould meet with fuch treatment from his brethren, relations, acquaintance, and familiar friends, for the trial of his faith and patience.

y.12. His troops come together, &c.] AfMictions which are many, and of which it may be faid as was at the birth of Gad, who had his name from the word here ufed, @ troop cometh; Gen. xxx. 11. and thefe fometimes come together, or follow quick one upon another, that there is {caree anyinterval between them, as did od’s afflictions; and they are God’s hofts, his troops, his foldiers, which are at his command; and he fays to them as the centurion did to his, to the one go and he goes, and to another come and it comes: and rai/e up| their way againft me, as an army, when it comes againft a place, throws up a bank to raife their artillery upon, that they may play it to greater advantage; or make a broad caufeway, for thefoldiers to march abreaft againft it; or an high caft up way, as the word’ fignifies, over a ditch or| dirty place in a hollow, that they may the better pafs over: fome read it, they raife up their way upon me”; he oppofing and ftanding in the way was crufhed down by them, and trampled upon, and| over whom they paffed as on an high way, and in a beaten path; fee J/. li. 23. but moft render it, againft me; for ‘fob looked upon all his afflictions, as Jacob did, to be againft him, to militate againft him, and threaten him with ruin, when they were all working for him, even for his good: andencamp round about my tabernacle; as an army round about a city when befieging it. 770d may have re- {pect to the tabernacle of his body, as that is fometimes fo called, 2 Cor. v. 1. 2 Pet. i. 13,14. and y.15. They that dwell in mine houfe, &c.| Not his neighbours, as the Septuagint; for though they dwelt near his houfe, they did not dwell in it; nor inmates and fojourners, lodgers with him, to whom he let out apartments in his houfe; this can’t be fuppofed to have been his cafe, who was the greateft man in all the eaft; nor even tenants, that hired houfes and iands of him; for the phrafe is not applicable to them; it defigns fuch who were inhabitants in his houfe. ‘fob amidft all his calatnities had an houfe to dwell in; it is a tradition mentioned by Ferom*, that Fob’s houfe was in Carnea, alarge village in his time, in a corner of Batanea, beyond the floods of Yordan; and he had perfons dwelling with him in it, who are diftin@ from his wife, children, and fervants after mentioned; and are either frrangers*, as the word fometimes fignifies, he had taken into his houfe in a way of hofpitality, and had given them lodging, and food, and raiment, as the light of nature and law of God required, Deut. x. 18, 19. Fob Xxxi. 32. or elfe profelytes, of whom this word “is fometimes ufed, whom he had been the inftrument of converting from idolatry, fuperftition, and profanenefs, and of gaining them over to the true religion; and whom he had taken into his houfe, to inftruét them more and more in the ways of God, fuch as were the trained jervants in 4éraham’s family: thefe, fays he, and my maids count me for a ftranger; both the one and the other, the ftrangers he took out of the ftreets, and the travellers he opened his doors unto, and entertained in a very generous and hofpitable manner; the profelytes he had made, and with whom he had taken fo much pains, and to whom he had fhewn fo much kindnefs and goodnefs, and been the means of faving their fouls trom death; and his maidens he had hired into his houfe, to do the bufinefs of it, and who ought to have been obedient and refpectful to him, and whofe caufe he had not defpifed, but had treated them with great humanity and concern; the Targum wrongly renders the word, my concubines; yet thefe one and another looked upon him with an air of the utmoft indifference, not as if he was the mafter of the houfe, but a f{tranger in it, as one that did not belong unto it, and they had fearce ever feen with their eyes before; which was very ungrateful, and difrefpectful to the laft degree; and if they reckoned him a ftranger to God, to his grace, to true religion and godlinefs, this was worfe ftill; and _efpecially in the profelytes of his houfe, who owed their converfion, their light and knowledge in divine things, to him as an inftrument: J am an alien in their fight, as a foreigner, one of another kingdom and nation, of a different habit, fpeech, religion, and manners;