Exposition of the Whole Bible

nefs and chearfulnefs, with all heartinefs, fincerity, integrity, and faithfulnefs; and given him the fame honour and reverence as before; but inftead of all this, itvis obferved, and he gave me no anjwer 5 whether he would or would not do what he ordered him to do; he took no notice of him, he turned a deaf ear to him, and his back upon him; he came not near him, but kept his place where he was, or walked off without fhewing any regard. to what he faid to him; he neither anfwered him by words, nor by deeds, neither fignified his readinefs to do what he was ordered, nor did it. In fome cafes it is criminal in fervants to anfwer again, when they thwart and contradiét their mafters, or reply in a fawcy, furly, and impudent manner; but when they are fpoke to about their matfter’s bufinefs, it becomes them to anfwer in a decent, humble, and refpectable way, declaring their readinefs to do their mafter’s_ will and Eo: Tentreated him with my mouth; which is an ageravation of his infolence and difobedience; fuch was the low condition od was reduced unto, and fuch the humility of his mind under hisprefent circumftances, that he laid afide the authority of a mafter, and only intreated his fervant, and begged it as if it was a favour, to do this or the other for him; nor did he fignify this by a look and caft of his eye; or by a nod of his head, or by the dire&tion of his hand; but with his mouth he fpake unto him, and let him know what he would have done; and this not in an authoritative, haughty, and imperious manner; but with good words, and in fubmiffive language, as if it was fomething he was beholden to his fervant for, rather than obedience to be performed.

¥.17. My breath is firange to my wife, &c.] Being corrupt and unfavoury, through fome internal diforder; fee ch. xvii. 14 fo that fhe could not bear to come nigh him, to do any kind office for him; but if this was his cafe, and. his natural breath was fo foetid, his friends would not have been able to have been fo Jong in the fame room with him, and carry on fo long a converfation with him; rather therefore it may fignify, the words of his mouth, his fpeech along with his breath, which were very difagreeable to his wife; when upon her foliciting him to curfe God and die, he told her fhe talked like one of the foolifh women; and when he taught her to expect evil as well as good at the hand of God, and to bear afflictions patiently: or elfe the fenfe may be, my they ftared at him as if they had never feen him| pirit', his vital fpirit, his life was wearifome and before, as fome ftrange object to be looked at, an uncommon fpe<tacle, that had fomething in him or about him unufual and frightful; at leaft contemptible and to be difdained, and not to be fpoke loathfome to his wife; fhe was tired out with him, with hearing his continual groans and complaints, and wifhed to be rid of him, and that God would take away his life: or elfe, as fome render it, to and familiarly converfed with, but to be fhunned /pirit is firange to me, becaufe of my wife*; and and defpifed. y. 16, I called my fervant, &c.] His manfervant, whom he had hired into his houfe, and then the meaning is, that ‘fod was weary of his own life, he loathed it, and could have been glad to have it taken from him, becaufe of the fcoffs and who waited upon his perfon, and had been his jeers of his wife at him, her brawls and quarrels trufty and faithful fervant, and was dear unto him, and he had fhewn him much refpect and kindnefs in the time of his profperity; him he called to him, to do this and that and the other thing for him as ufual; and of whofe affiftance and fervice he might ftand in more need, being fo greatly afflicted in body as well as in other things, and who ought to have been obedient to his call in all things, and have ferved him with all readi- with him, and folicitations of him, to curfe God - and renounce religion: though I intreated her for the children’s fake of mine own body; this claufe creates a difficulty with interpreters, fince it is generally thought all ¥0J’s children were dead, Some think that only his elder children were deftroyed ——— once, and that he had younger ones at home with him, which he here refers to; but ths ae appear: others fuppofe thefe were children of concubines 5 but this wants proof, that he had any concubine; and befides an intreaty for the fake of fuch children could have no influence upon his proper wife: others take them for grand- children, and who indeed are fometimes called children; but then they could not with {trict propriety be called the children of his body; and for the fame reafon it cannot be meant of fuch that were brought up in his houfe, as if they were his children; nor fuch as were his difciples, or attended on him for inftruction: but this may refpect not any children then living, but thofe he had had; and the fenfe is that fob intreated ‘his wife, not for the ufe of the marriage-bed, as fome fuggeft"; for it can hardly be thought, that in fuch circumftances in which he was, there fhould be any defire of this kind; but to do fome kind office for him, as the dreffing of his ulcers, &¢. or fuch things which none but a wife could well do for him; and this he entreated for the fake of the children he had had by her, thofe pledges of their conjugal affection; or rather, fince the word has the fignification of deploring, lamenting, and bemoaning; the claufe may be thus rendered, aud I lamented the children of my body’: he had none of thofe indeed to affli& him; and his affliction was, that they were taken away from him at once in fuch a violent manner; and therefore he puts in this among his family-trials; or this may be an aggravation of his wife’s want of tendernefs and refpeét unto him; that his breath| fhould be unfavory, his talk difagreeable, and his fighs and moans be wearifome to her, when the burden of his fong, the fubject of his forrowful complaints was the lofs of his children; in which it might have been thought fhe would have joinedjany with him, being equally concerned therein.

¥.18. Yea, young children defpifed me, &c.]| Having related what he met with within doors|my adver from thofe in his own houfe, the ftrangers and profelytes in it, his maidens and men-fervants, and even from his own wife, he proceeds to give an account of what befel him without; young children, who had learned of their parents, having obferved them to treat him with contempt, mocked and fcoffed him, and faid, There fits old fod, that nafty creature, with his boils and ulcers; or ufing fome fuch contemptuous expreffion, as wicked man; fo fome tranflate the word*; he was fcorned and contemned by prophane perfons, who might twitliv. him with his religion, and afk where was his God? and bid him obferve the effect and iffue of his piety and ftri€t courfe of living, and fee what it was all come to, or what was the fruits of it: the Vulgate Latin verfion ‘renders it fools, that is, not ideots, but fuch as are fo in a moral fenfe, and fo fignifies as before; and as thefe make mock at fin, and a jeft of religion, it is no wonder that they defpifed good men: the word is rendered by learned man ', the moft needy clients, who were dependent on him, and were fupported by him; but this coincides with ver. 15. 1 arofe, and they againfi me: he got up from his feat, either to go about his bufineis, and do what he had to do; and they fpoke againft him as he went along, and followed him with their reproaches, as children will go after perfons in a body they make {port of; or tions; as Yo/epb was more loved by his father than the reft of his children; and even by our Lord, ‘fohn was loved more than the other difciples: and o od, he had fome particular friends that he loved above others; and yet thefe not only turned away, from him in the time of his adverfity, and turned their backs on him, and would have nothing to fay to him for his comfort, nor afford him any relief of kind in his diftrefs, but were turned againft him, and became his enemies; and, as David fays of ome that he had a love for, for my love, they are aries, Pf. cix. 4.

_ y 20. My bone cleaveth to my fin, and to my /le/b, &c.] Or, as to my flefo°, as Mr, Broughton and others render the words; as his bones ufed to ftick to'his flefh, and were covered with it, now his flefh being confumed and walted away with his difatjeafe, they ftuck to his fkin, and were feen through it; he was reduced to fkin and bone, and was a mere fkeleton, what with the force of his bodily diforder, and the grief of his mind through the treatment he met with from'God and men, fee Lam. 8. aud I am efcaped with the fkin of my teeth; meaning not as fome underftand it, his lips which /covered his teeth; for thofe cannot be properly called the fkin of them; rather the fine polifh of the teeth, which fortifies them againft the hurt and damage they would receive by what is eat and drank; though it feems beft to interpret it of the fkin of the gums, in which the teeth are fet; and the fenfe is, that ob had efcaped with his life, but not with ajawhole fkin, his fkin was broken all over him, with the fores and ulcers upon him, fee ch. vil. 5. onl the fkin of his teeth was preferved, and fo Mr. poke| Broughton renders it, I am whole only in the fkin of my teeth; every where elfe his fkin was broken; fo the Targum, ** I am left in the fkin of my teeth.” Some have thought that Satan, when he {mote Yod from head to feet with ulcers, fpared his mouth, lips, and teeth, the inftruments of fpeech, that he he rofe up in a condefcending manner to them, when might e I*9 they ought to have rofe up to him, and reverenced, and honoured him; and this he did to win upon them, and gain their good-will and refpect; or to admonifh them, chaftize and correct them for their infolence and difrefpect to him; but it fignified nothing, they went on calling him names, and fpeaking evil againft him, and loading him with feoffs and reproaches.

¥ 19. All my inward friends abborred me, &c.} Or the men of my fecret™; who were fo very familiar with him, that he imparted the fecrets of his heart, and the moft private affairs of life unto them, placing fo much confidence in them, and treating them as his bofom-friends; for this is always reckoned a great inftance of friendfhip, fob xv. 15. and yet their minds were fet againft him; their affections were alienated from him; they abhorred the fight of him, and declined all converfation with him, even all of them; not one fhewed refpect unto him: and they whom I loved, or this whom I loved"; this and that, and the other particular friend, that he loved more than others: though all men are to be loved as the creatures of God, and as fellow-creatures, and efpecially good men, even all the faints; yet there are fome that engrofs a greater fhare of love than others, among natural and fpiritual rela-

¥. 23. O that my words were now written, &c.] Not his things?, as fome render it, his affairs, the tranfactions of his life; that fo it might appear with what uprightnefs and integrity he had lived, and was not the bad man he was thought to be; nor the’ words he had delivered already, the apologies and defences he had made for himielf, the arguments he had ufed in his own vindication, and the doctrines refpecting God and his providence, which he hadlaid down and affert-d; ‘and was fo far from. being afhamed of them, or retracting them, that he wifhes they had been taken down in writing, that pofterity might read and judge of the controverfy between him and his friends; but rather the words he was about to deliver in the following verfes, expreffing his faith in Chrift, in the refurrection of the dead, and in a future ftate of happinefs and glory; thefe he wifhes were writtem, that they might remain as a {tanding teftimony of his faith and hope; for what is written abides, when that which is only fpoken is foon forgot, and not eafily recalled: O that they were printed in a book! not written on loofe fheets, which might be loft, but in a book bound up, or rolled up in a volume, as was the cuftom of antient times; though this cannot be underltood of printing properly taken, which has not been in ule but little more than three hundred years, but of engroffling, as of ftatutes and decrees in public records; and the word for fatules comes from this that is here ufed.

V. 24. That they were graven with an iron pen, and lead in the rock for ever.| Or that they were written with an iron pen and lead, that they were cut ~ or hewn out ina rock for ever; not with both an iron and leaden pen, or pencil; for the marks of the latter are not durable, and much lefs could: it be ufed on a rock according to our verfion; but the fenie feems to be, that they might be written with an iron pen, which was ufed in writing, Fer. xvii.

1. upon a fheet of lead, as the Vulgate Latin ver= fion; for it was ufual in antient times, as Pliny* and others relate, for books to be made of fheets of lead, and for public records to be engroffed, as in plates of brafs, fo fometimes in fheets of lead for the perpetuity of them; or elfe it refers to the cutting out of letters on ftones, as the law was on two tables of {tone, and filling up the incifions or cuttings with lead poured into them, as Farcbi fuggefts; fo Pliny‘ {peaks of ftone pillars in Arabia and the parts adjacent, with unknown characters. on them: alfo this may have refpect to the manner of writing on mountains and rocks formerly, as the Ifraelites at, or quickly after the times of Fob did, There are now in the wildernefs through which the Ifraelites paffed, hills called Gebel-el-mokatab, the written mountains, engraved with unknown antient characters, cut into the hard marble rock; fuppofed to be the antient Hebrew written by the Ifraelites for their diverfion and improvement, which are obferved by fome modern travellers*, In the laft age, Petrus a Valle and Thomas a Novaria faw them; the latter of which tranfcribed fome of them, fome of which feemed to be like to the Hebrew letters now in ufe, and others to the Samaritans; and fome agreed with neither“; and*Co/masthe Bgyptian, who wrote 4. D. 535, declareson hisown teftimony, that all the manfions of the Hebrews in the wildernefs were to be feen in ftones with Hebrew letters engraved on them, which feemed to be an account of their journies in it. ‘The infcriptionon might therewith cugfe God, which was the thing he aimed at, and propofed to bring him to, by getting a grant from God to affli& him in the manner he did.

y. 21. Have pity upon me, bave pity upon me, &c.] Inftead of calumny and cenfure, his cafe called for compaffion; and the phrafe is doubled, to denote the vehemence of his affliction, the ardency of his foul, the anguifh of his fpirits, the great diftrefs he was in, and the earneft defire he had to have pity fhewn him; and in which he may be thought not only to make a requett to his friends for it, but to give them a reproof for want of it: O ye my friends, as they once fhewed themfelves to be, and now profefled they were; and fince they did, pity might be reafonably expected from them; for even common humanity,and much more friendfhip required it of them, that they fhould be pitiful and courteous, and put on bowels of mercy and kindnefs, and commiferate his fad eftate, and give him all the fuccour, relief, and comfort they could, fee ch. vi. 14. for the hand of God has touched me; his afflicting hand, which is a mighty one; it lay hard and heavy upon him, and preffed him fore; for though it was but a touch of his hand, it was more than he could well bear; for it was the touch of the Almighty, who toucheth the bills, and they fmoke, and if he lays his hand ever fo lightly on houfes of clay, which have their foundation in the duft, they cannot fupport under the weight of it, fince they are crufhed before the moth, or as eafily as a moth is crufhed.

y. 22. Why doye perfecute meas God, &c.] As if they were in his ftead, or had the fame power and authority over him, who is a fovereign being, and does what he pleafes with his creatures, and is not accountable to any for what he does; but this is not the cafe of men, nor are they to imitate God in all things; what he does, is not in all things a warrant to do the like, or to be pleaded and followed as a precedent by them; they fhould be merciful as he is merciful, but they are not to afflid and diftrefs his people becaufe he does, and which he does for wife ends and reafons; for fuch a conduét is refented by him, fee Zech. i. 15. God perfecuted, or purfued and followed ob with one affliction after another, and hunted him as a fierce lion does his prey, ch. x. 16. but this was not a reafon why they fhould do the fame. Some read the words, why do ye perfecute me as thofe®? you that profefs to be my friends, why do ye perfecute me as thofe before-mentioned, as thofe wicked men; or with thofe, with fuch reproaches and calumnies; but the original will not bear it: aud are not fatiffied with my fleh? It was not enough that he was afflicted in his body and his flefh was ulcerated from head to feet, and was clothed with worms and clods of duft,; they were not content that his children, which were his own flefh, were tore away from him, and deftroyed; and that his fubftance, which is fometimes called the flefh of men, fee Mic. iii. 3. and Rev. xvii. 16. was devoured, and he was fpoiled and plundered of it; but they fought to afflict his mind, to wound his fpirit, by their heavy charges, and accufations, by their calumnies and reproaches, and_hard cenfures of him; he fuggefts, that they dealt with him more cruelly than favage beafts, who, when they have got their prey, are fatisfied with their flefh; but they, who would be thought to be his friends, were not fatisfied with his.

aftone at Horeb, brought from thence by the abovementioned Thomas a Novaria, and which Kircher “ has explained thus ** God fhall make a virgin con- “* ceive, and the fhall bring forth a fon,” is thought by learned men to be of a later date, and the exit exceeds all others; this knowledge was not merely fpeculative, “nor only approbational and fiducial, though fuch Yo had, ch. xiii. 15, 16. but the knowledge of affirance of intereft; to know Chrift as a Redeemer of men, and not our Redeemer is of no avail; the devils know him to | be a Redeemer, but not their’s: men may have an intereft in Chrift, and as yet not know it; intereft is before knowledge; it is neither knowledge nor faith that gives intereft, but God of his grace gives both intereft and knowledge: and fuch a knowledge as here expreffed, is a peculiar favour; it is Owing to an underftanding given to know him, that is true, and that we are in him that is ‘true; and to the fpirit of wifdom and revelation, in the knowledge of Chrift, and to the teftimony which he bears; and fuch knowledge will fupport under the greateft afflictions and foreft trials; under the ill ufage of friends, and the lofs of neareft and deareft relations, and in the views of death and eternity; all which was Yod’s cafe: and that he foall ftand at the latter day upon the earth, appear in thé world in human nature; he the feed of the woman, and born of one, be made flefh, and dwell among men, and converfe with them, as 7e/us did; who {tood upon the land of Fudea, and walked through Galilee, and went about doing good to the bodies and fouls of men; and this was in the laft days, and at the end of the world, Hed. i. 1. and ix. 26. asa pledge of this there were frequent appearances of the Son of God in an human form to the patriarchs; nor need it fee ftrange, that od, tho’ not an J/raelite, had knowledge of the incarnation of Chrift, when it is faid to * be the opinion of the Indian Brachmans, that God often appeared in the form and habit of fome great men, and converfed among men; and that Wiftuavius, whom, they fay, is the fecond perfon of the Trine-une God, had already affumed a body nine times, and fometimes alfo an human one; and that the fame will once more be made by him; and Confucius, the Chinefe philofopher * left it in writing, that the Word would be made flefh, and forefaw the year when it would be: or, be fhall rife the laft out of the earth”; and fo it may refpect his refurrection from the dead; he was brought to the duft of. death, and was laid in the grave, and buried in the earth, and was raifed out of it; and whofe refurrection is of the greateft moment and importance, the juftification, regeneration, and refurrection of his people depending on it: but ‘this is not to be underftood, as if he was the laft that fhould rife from the dead; for he is the firft-fruics of them that fleep, and the firft-born from the dead, the firft that rofe to an immortal life; but that he who as to his divine nature, is the firft and the laft; or that, in his {tate of humiliation is the laft, the meaneft, and moft abject of men‘; or rather, who, as the public and federal head of his people, is the laft Adam, 1 Cor. xv. 45. and who did rife as fuch for their juftification, which makes the article of his refurrection an unfpeakable benefit: or, be foall ftand over the earth in the latter day*, in the laft times of all, in the clofe of time, at the end of the world, at his appearing and kingdom, when he fhall come to judge the quick and dead; thofe that tereft in him as the living Redeemer, and knew he had, which is the greateft bleffing that can be enjoyed; an intereft in Chrift is of infinitely more worth than the whole world, and the knowledge of will be alive, and thofe that will be raifed from the dead, who will meet him in the air over the earth, and fhall be for ever with him and even then he [ball ftand upon the earth; for it is exprefsly faid, ication of it is not approved of by them*. Fob may have in view his fepulchre hewn out of a rock, as was ufual, and as that was our Lord was laid in; and fo his wifh might be that the following words were his funeral epitaph, and that they might be cut out and infcribed upon his fepulchral monument, his rocky grave; thatevery one that paffed by might read his ftrong expreffions of faith in a living Redeemer, and the good hope he had of a bleffed refurreétion.

y.25. For Iknow, &c.|] The particle}, which is fometimes rendered by the copulative and, by an adverfative but, and fometimes as a caufal particle for, fhould not be rendeted here by either; but as an explanative, to wit, or namely, as itis by Noldius’, in connection with the preceding words; in which Fob wifhes fome words of his were written in a book, or engroffed on fheets of lead, or were cut out on fome rock, and particularly were engraved on his tombftone; namely, thefe following, I know that my Redeemer liveth, &c. and to this agrees Broughion, bow that my Redeemer liveth, let thefe be the words, written, engraved, and cut out there: by my Redeemer, he means not any mere man that {hould rife up and vindicate him; for the account of his then living, and of his ftanding on the earth in the latter day, will not agree with fuch an one; nor God the father, to whom the character of a Redeemer is feldom or ever given, nor did he ever appear or ftand on earth, nor was his fhape feen at any time, Yob. v. 37. but the Son of God, the Lord Jefus Chrift, who is our Goel, the word here ufed, our near kinfman, and fo our Redeemer, to whom the right of redemption belonged; and who was fpoken of by all the holy prophets, from the beginning of the world, as the Redeemer of his people, who fhould redeem them from all their fins; from the law, its curfes and condernnation; from Satan, and his principalities and powers; from death and hell, and everlafting deftruction; and. that by giving himfelf a ranfom for them: all which was known in the times of fod, ch. xxxiii. 24. and known by him,who fpeaks of him as /ving; he then exifted not only as a divine perfon, as he did from all eternity, but in his office-capacity as Mediator, and under the character of a Redeemer; for the virtue of his future redemption reached to all the ages before it, from the foundation of the world, befides, the epithet /iving points at him as the ving God, ashe is, Hed. iii. 12. and fo equal to the work of redemption, and able to redeem, and mighty to fave; of whom it is faid, not that he has lived, or fhall live, but Aveth, ever lives; and fo an expreffion of the eternity of Chrift, who is from everlafting to everlafting, the fame to-day, yefterday, and for ever; and who, though he died in human nature, yet is alive, and lives for evermore; he has life in and of himfelf, as he is God over all bleffed for ever; and has life in him for all his people, as Mediator; and is the author of fpiritual life in them, and the donor of eternal life to them; and becaufe he lives, they fhall live alfo. Now 7od had an in- the earth and fea to give up their dead at his all-commanding voice the dead fhall come out of their graves, as Lazarus came out of his, he fhall ftand then,upon the duft of the earth, and tread upon it asa triumphant conqueror, having fubdued all his enemies, and now the la{ft enemy death is deftroyed by the refurrection of the dead: what a glorious and enlarged view had Yod of the bleffed Redeemer!

y¥. 26. And though after my /Rin, worms dejtroy this body, €#c.] Meaning not, that after his {kin was wholly confumed now, which was almoft gone, there being fcarce any left but the fkin of his teeth, ver. 20. the worms in his ulcers would confume what was left of his body, which fearce deferved the name of a body; and therefore he points to it, and calls it zis, without faying what it was; but that when he fhould be entirely ftripped of his fin in the grave, then rottennefs and worms would ftrip him alfo of all the reft of his flefh and his bones; by which he exprefiés the utter confumption of his body by death, and after it in the grave; and neverthelefs, though fo it would be, he was affured that when he fhall come, and ‘all the faints him, Ais feet foall ftand on the Mount of Olives, Zech. xiv. 4, 5. or, be foall fiand againft the earth at the latter day* in the refurrection-morn, and fhall exercife his authority over it, and command with;word ¢heugh may be left ‘out, and be reac reins are confumed within me, or, withinmy 2 and both being the feat of the affeétions and defires, may fignify, his moft earneft and ager defire after the ftate of the refurrection of the dead;

; and when|after fuch a fight of God in his flefh, of the incarnate Redeemer, he believed he fhould have, info-, much that it eat up his fpirits, as the Pfalmift fays, ~ zeal for the houfe of God eat up his, Pf aes it was not the belief of reftoration of health, and to his former outward happinefs, and a deliverance from his troubles, and a defire after that, which is here expreffed; for he had no faith in that, nor hope, nor expectation of it, as appears by various expreffions of his; but much greater, more noble, more refined enjoyments, were experienced by him now, and ftill greater he expected hereafter; and his words concerning thefe were what he wifhed were written,.and printed, and engraven 3; which, if they only refpected outward happinefs, he would. never have defired; and though he had not his with in his own way, yet his words are written and printed in a better book than he had in his view, and will out-laft engravings with an iron pen on fheets of lead, or marble rocks, The Vulgate Latin verfion feems to incline to this fenfe, ** this here ‘« islaid up in my bofom,” that is of feeing God in my flefh; fo the Tigurine verfion, rather as a.

of his refurreétion from the dead: yet in my fle o|paraphrafe than a verfion, which 1s my only defire.

feall I fee God, he believed, that though he fhould y. 28. But ye foould fay, &c.] Here Fob directs die and moulder into duft in the grave, yet he fhould rife again, and that in true flefh, not in an aerial, celeftial body, but in a true body, confifting of flefh, blood and bones, which fpirits have not, and in the fame flefh or body he then had, his own flefh and body, and not another’s; and fo with his flefhly or corporeal eyes fee God, even his living Redeemer, in human nature; who, as he would ftand upon the earth in that nature, in the fulnefs of his friends what ufe they fhould make of this confeffion of his faith; they fhould upon this fay within themfelves, and to one another, Why perfecute we him, feeing the root of the matter is found in me? Why fhould we purfue him with hard words, and load him with cenfures and reproaches, as if he was an hypocrite, when it appears, by what he fays, that he has truth in the inward parts,’ the true grace of God is in him; that he is rooted time, and obtain redemption for him, fo he would in the love of God, and in the perfon’ of the Rein the latter day appear again, raife him from thejdeemer; that he has the Spirit of God in him, and dead, and take him to himfelf, to behold his glory to all eternity: or out of my fleéh', out of my fefhly eyes; from thence and with thofe fhall 1 behold God manifeft in the flefh, my incarnate God; and, the divine feed which has taken root in him, and brings forth fruit: or that the root of the word* is in him; the word of God has a place in him, and is be~ come the engrafted word; the toot-doctrines, the — if Fob was one of thofe faints that rofe when Chrift principal and fundamental truths of religion are be- did, as fome fay*, he faw him in the flefh and with his flefhly eyes.

¥.27. Whom I fhall fee for myfelf, &c.) For his pleafure and profit, to his great advantage and happinefs, and to his inexpreffible joy and fatisfaction, fee P/. xvii. 15. and xvi. 11. aud mine eyes fall behold, and not another; or a firanger*; thefe very felf-fame eyes of mine I now fee with, will behold this glorious perfon, God in my nature, and not the eyes of another, of a ftrange body, a body not my own; or asI have feen him with my fpiritual eyes, with the eyes of faith and knowledge, as my living Redeemer, fo fhall I fee him with my bodily eyes after the refurrection, and enjoy uninterrupted communion with him, which a ftranger fhall not; one that has never known-any thing fhould whet the glittering fword of his juttice, al his hand fhould take hold of judgment, in ‘rd avenge the wrongs of the innocent; unlefs lieved and profeffed by him, fuch as.refpeét the incarnation of the Meffiah, his refurreétion from the dead, andcoming to judgment, the refurrection of all the dead in the fame body, a future ftate of happinefs, in which faints will enjoy the beatific vifion; fince thefe things are firmly believed by him, though he may differ from us in fome points about the methods of divine providencé, let us ceafe from perfecuting him any farther; fee Rom.

the civil magiftrate, nor of a foreign oe t of the avenging {word of feet of him, or ever intermeddled with the joy of faints here, fuch fhall not fee him hereafter, at leaft pleafure; like Balaam, they may fee him, but not nigh, may behold him, but afar off: though my reins Le confumed within mex or in my bofom'; fhould alfo be confidered as his inftruments fo with wrath bringeth the punifhments of the fword, oF of the /word'::

men in perfecuting the people of God, pw thelupon the commiffion of fuch fins as ¢ the fenfe is, either that the w

PAW yy iniquitates gladii, M punifhed with the fword, either of the civil magiftrate, or of a foreign enemy, or of divine juttice; or elfe the wrath of God brings on more punifhments for their fins by means of the fword; and to this fenfe is the Targum, ** When God is angry for iniquities, he fends thofe that flay with the fword:” that ye may know there is a judgment; » that is executed in the world by the Judge of all the earth, who will do right; and that there is a future judgment after death, unto which every thing in this world will be brought, when God will judge the world in righteoufnefs by Chrift, whom

ZOPHAR and his friends, not fatisfied with “~ Fol’s confeffion of faith, he in his turn replies, and in his preface gives his reafons why he he has ordained to be judge of quick and dead; and which will be a righteous judgmef%, that none can efcape; and when 70d fuggefts, the controverfy between him and his friends would be determined; and it would be then feen who was in the right, and who in the wrong’; and unto which time he feems willing to refer his caufe, and to have no more faid about it; but his friends did not chufe to take his advice; for Zophar the Naamathite ftarts up directly, and makes a reply, which is contained in the following chapter.

faid no more in this controverfy, but obferving what Fob had faid laft, could not forbear replying: therefore becaufe he had reprefented him and his made any anfwer atall, and was fo quick in it, ver. 1, 2, 3. and appeals to Zed for the truth of an eftablifhed maxim, that the profperity of wicked men and hypocrites is very fhort-lived, ver. 4, 5. and the fhort enjoyment of their happinefs is defcribed by feveral elegant figures and fimilies, ver. 6, 7, 8, 9. fuch a wicked man being obliged, in his life-time, to reftore his ill-gotten goods, and at death to lie down with the fins of his youth, ver. 10, rt. his fin in getting riches, the difquietude of his mind in retaining them, and his being forced to make reftitution, are very beautifully expreffed by the fimile of a fweet morfel kept in the mouth, and turned to the gall of afps in the bowels, and and then vomited up, ver. 12—16. the difappointment he fhall have, the indigent and ftrait circumftances he fhall be brought into, and the reftitution he fhall be obliged to make for the oppreffion the poor, and the uneafinefs he fhall feel in his own breaft are fet forth in a very ftrong light, ver. 17— 22. and it is fuggefted, that not only the hand of wicked men fhould be upon him, but the wrath of God alfo, which fhould feize on him fuddenly fecretly, and would be inevitable, he not being able to make his efcape from it, and which would iffue in the utter deftruction of him and his in this world, and that to come, ver.

chapter is concluded with this obfervation, that fuch as before defcribed is the appointed portion and heritage of a wicked man from God, ver. 29. friends as cruel perfecutors of him, as men devoid oldjof all humanity, pity, and compaffion, and endeavoured to terrify them with the punifhments of the fword, arid the judgment of God to come; thefe occafioned many thoughts in him, and thofe thoughts obliged him to give an anfwer; they came in fo thick and faft upon him, that out of the abundance his heart fugeefted to him he could not but fpeak,.he was full of matter and the fpirit within him, the impulfe upon his mind conftrained him to make a reply; and he feems defirous of having it underftood, that his anfwer proceeded from thoughr; that he did not fpeak without thinking, but had well weighed things in his mind; and what he was about to fay, was the fruit of clofe thinking and mature deliberation: and for this I maké Sa/fe; becaufe his thoughts crowded in upon him, ofjhe had a fulnefs of matter, an impulfe of mind, promptitude and readinefs to fpeak on this occafion, and for fear of lofing what was fuggefted to him, he made hafte to give in his anfwer, perhaps obferving fome other of his friends rifing up before andjhim. The Targum is, ‘* becaufe my fenfe is in me;” and fo other Fewi/h writers”; he apprehended he had a right fenfe of things, and underftood the matter in controverfy full well, and therefore thought 23-28, And thejit incumbent on him to fpeak once more in it; Guffetius* renders it, decaufe of my difquietude; the uneafinefs of his mind raifed by what Fob had faid, that he would have them know and confider there was ajudoment; and he intimates he had confidered it, and was fearful that fhould he be filent, and make no reply, God would condemn him in judgment for his filence; and therefore he was in a_ hurry to make anfwer, and could not be eafy with out it; and for his reafons for fo doing, he farther explains himfelf in the following verte.

¥. 3. 1 have heard the check of my reproach, &c.} He took it that ‘04 hada reproached-him and his friends, by reprefenting them as hard-hearted meny y.1. Then anfwered Zophar the Naamathite, &c.] Notwithftanding the fad diftrefled condition Fob was in, an account of which is given in the preceding chapter, enough to pierce an heart of ftone, notwithftanding his earneft requeft to his friends to have pity on him, and notwithftanding the noble confeffion of his faith he had made, which fhewed - him to be a good man, and the excellent advice he gave his friends to ceafe perfecuting him for their own good, as well as for his peace; yet, regardlefs of thefe things, Zophar ftarts up and makes a reply, and attacks him with as much heat and paffion, wrath and anger as ever, harping upon the fame ftring, and ftill reprefenting od as a wicked man and an hypocrite; and faid as follows.

¥. 2. Therefore do my thoughts caufe me to anfwer,

and perfecuting him wrongly in a violent manner; and he had obferved the check or reproof given for it, by bidding them beware of the {word, and left the punifhment of it fhould be inflicted on them; and if that fhould not be the cafe, yet there was a righteous judgment they could not efcape. Now. Zopbar heard this, but could not hear it with pa-

&c.] Or to return, * and appear upon the ftage tience; he could not bear that he and his friends again, and enter the lifts once more with his antagonift; he fuggefts, as if he had intended to have

Bar Tzemach, Sephorno; and fo Montanus.

fhould be infulted, as he thought, in- this manner; and