fion. ¢ Aben Ezra, Ben Gerfom
to take, and whet, and make ufe of againft ungodly men; the {word of God, as Bar Tzemach obferves, is hereby figuratively exprefled; fleeing from it, or an attempt to flee from it, fhews guilt in the confcience, danger, and a fenfe of it, and a fear of falling into it, and yet there is no efeaping the hand of Ged, or fleeing from his prefence = and the baw of ficel foall firike him through; that is, an arrow out of a bow, made of fteel or brais, of which bows. were formerly made, and reck« the ftrongeft and moft forcible, fee Pf xviii. 3 fignifying, that if he fhould efcape the dint of a fruetur; fo fome in Mercer. Drufius.
weapon, a fword, or fpear ufed néaf at hand, yet as he fled, he would be reached by one that ftrikes at a diftance, an arrow fhot from a bow; the fenfe is, that if a wicked man efcapes one judgment, verfion renders it, xnguenchable fire; and fo Mr. Broughton; and fuch the fire of hell is faid to be, MZa/t. iii. 12. Mark ix. 43, &c. and which is a fire kindled by the breath of the Lord, like a another will be fure to follow-him, and overtake him and deftroy him, fee J/ xxiv. 17, 18. mos v. 19. es. 25. It is drawn and cometh out of the body, &c.} That is, the arrow with which a wicked man is ftricken through; either it is drawn, and comes out of the quiver, as Broughton, or rather is drawn out of the body of a wicked man, being fhot into it, and that in order thar he may be cured of his wound if poffible,, but to no purpofe, fince it follows: yea, the glittering {word cometh out of bis gall; being thruft into it, which being pierced and poured out, is certain and immediate death, fee ch. xvi. 13. Some render it, yea, she glittering {word out of bis gall, be fball go away, or is gone’; that is, he fhall die, or is a dead man, there is no hope of him, when the arrow hag transfixed his body, and the {word has penetrated into his gall, and divided that: ¢errors are upon him the terrors of death, the plain fymptoms of it being upon him; the terrors of an awful judement, which follows after it; the terrors of the dreadful fentence of-condemnation that will then be pronounced, go ye curfed, &c. and the terrors of hell and eternal death, fignified by utter darkneis, unquenchable fire, and the never-ceafing torments of it. Some by them underftand devils, thofe terrible fpirits, which haunt wicked men in ftream of brimftone,; Jf xxx. 33. it foall go ill with him that is left in bis tabernacle; not only it fhall go ill with the wicked man himfelf, but with thofe he leaves behind him, that dwell in the houfe he formerly lived in,with his pofterity; God fometimes punifhing the iniquities of the fathers upon the children,
¥. 27. The heaven foall reveal bis iniquity, &c.] Either God the maker and poffeffor of heaven, who dwells there, and is fometimes fo called, Dan. iv. 26. Luke xv. 18. who fees and knows all things, even thofe that are moft fecret, as well as more openly committed, and will make all manifeft, fooner or later; or elfe the angels of heaven, the inhabitants of it, fo the Targum, who in the laft day will be employed in gathering out of Chrift’s kingdom all that offend, and do iniquity, Matt. xiii. 41, 42. or the judgments of God defcending from heaven, or appear there, and are owing to it; fuch as drowning the old world by opening the windows of heaven, the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire and brimftone from thence, and the deftruction of perfons by thunder and lightning, and the like; which judgments falling upon men, fhew them to be guilty of crimes deferving of the wrath of God, fee Rom. i. 18. and the earth feall rife up againft him; when that becomes barren for the fins of men, and nothing but things their dying moments, and are ready to carry them/ to the lake which burns with fire and brimftone, where they are to be companions with them for ever. The word is fometimes ufed of gigantic perfons, who are fometimes terrible to others; and fince thefe are mentioned along with weapons of war, Bar Tzemach interprets them of men of ftrength and power, men of war or foldiers, whofe fear falls on others. pret it, as Kimchi"
¥. 26. All darkuefs thall be bid in his fecret places, &c:] In fuch places of fecrefy, where he may promife himfelf fafety, he fhall find more calamities of all forts; or every kind of judgments fhall hurtful to man rife up out of it; when it difclofes the blood of murdered perfons, and will at laft give up the wicked dead that are buried in it; the Zargum is, ‘ the inhabitants of the earth;” and may be interpreted of their enmity, oppofition and hottility.
y.-28. Lhe increafe of bis houfe fhall depart, &c.] Either his children, or his fubftance. Some interobferves, of the walls of his houfe, becaufe of what follows, they /hall flow away, &c. as if he fhould fay, the ftones of his houfe fhall fall down, and his habitation fhall be deftroyed, according to Mic, i. 6. where a dilapidation is ex- find him out, and come upon him, fometimes fignified by darknefs, fee Jf vili. 22. or utter darknefs, the blacknefs of darknefs; everlafting wrath, ruin and deftruction are laid up and referved in God’s fecret places for him, and lie hid among his treafures of vengeance, which he in due time will prefled by a flow, or pouring down of ftones: and his goods fhall flow away in the day of his wrath; in the day of the wrath of God upon him, which will come upon him like water f{pilt on the ground, of no more ufe and fervice to him; the Targum interprets it of oil and wine, which fhall flow away bring forth from thence, and punifh the guilty finner with, Jude, ¥. 13. Deut. xxxii. 34, 35. or jand ceafe, and fo Mr. Broughton renders it, fruits for bis boufe; all defirable and ufeful ones, fee all this fhall be becaufe of fecret fins, as Ben Gerfom interprets it; and fo Mr. Broughton renders the words, for bis ftore; that is, for the ftore of his fins, as he explains it, which however privately and fecretly committed, fhall be brought into judgment; and there the hidden things of darknefs will be brought to light, and fentence pais upon men for them: @ fire not blown fhall confume him; not blown by man, but by God himfelf; which fome underftand of thunder and lightning, fuch as fell on ¥0d’s theep and fer-
* -wants,and confumed them,and which may be glanced vat; and others of fome fiery diftemper, a burning fever, hot ulcers, carbuncles, &@c. fuch as were at this time on'¥od’s body; but the Targum better, of the fire of hell; and fo many of the Jews com-
-mentators *®, as well as Chriftian; the Septuagint
“br abibit Sonne fome in Michaelis; abit, Schultens.
¥. 29. This is the portion of a wicked man from Ged, &c.] All before related, and which is very different from the portion of a good man, which is God himfelf, both here and hereafter; the wicked man has indeed his portion from God, which he has afiigned him, but his portion is not himfelf; nor is it with him, nor with his people, but it-is at moft and beft in this life, and but a worldly. one, and hereafter will be with devils and damned fpirits; and a dreadful portion it is to be banifhed from the prefence of God to all eternity, and take up an everlafting abode with fuch company: and the heritage appointed unto him by God; it is not only a portion allotted to him, but an inheritance to abide continually with him; and this by the irreverfible decree and appointment of avr: who who has fore-ordained ungodly men to condemnation, and made, appointed and referved them to the day of wrath and deftruétion. Some chule to render the claufe, and the inheritance of bis word or words* is unto him by God;
fhall be inflited upon him, and continue with him ee as an inheritance, becaufe of his words, his inde- | cent words, hard fpeeches and blafphemies uttered _ by him; referring as ’tis thought, to the words that is, punifhmentlwhich had dropped from the lips of od.
'T HIS chapter contains Yob’s reply to Zophar’s preceding difcourfe, in which, after a preface exciting attention to what he was about to fay, y¥. (—6. he defcribes by various inftances the profperity of wicked men, even of the moft impious and atheiftical, and which continues with them as long as they live, contrary to what Zopbar had afferted in ch. xx. 5. ¥.7—15. as for himfelf, he difapproved of fuch wicked men as much as any, and owns that deftruction comes upon them fooner or later, and on their pofterity alfo, ¥. 16—21. but as God is a God of knowledge, and needs no inftruction from any, and is a fovereign Being, he deals with men in different ways; fome die in great eafe, and peace, and profperity, and others in bitternefs and diftrefs, but both are alike brought to the duft, ¥. 22—26. and whereas he was aware of their cenfures of him, and their objections to what he had faid, he allows that the wicked are referved to the day of deftruction, which is future, and in the mean while lie in the grave, where all muft follow; yet they are not repaid or rewarded in this life, that remains to be done in another world, y. 27-33. and concludes, that their confolation with refpeét to him was vain, and falfhood was in their anfwers, ¥. 34.
inftead of all they could give, or could propofe to iim, if he might have but this favour to be heard. with candour, diligence and attention.
¥. 3. Suffer me that I may fpeak, &c.| To go on with his difcourfe, without any interruption, until he had finifhed it; as he before craves their attention, here he intreats their patience to hear him out, as well as to give him leave to begin; they might by their geftures feem as if they were breaking up and departing; or they raifed a tumultuous clamour, to hinder his proceeding to reply; or he might fear, that if he was allowed to fpeak, they would break in upon him before he had done, as they had already; or bear me, as feveral of the Fewifh commentators explain the phrafe; tho’ what he was going to fay might fit heavy upon their minds, and be very burdeniome, grating and uneafy to them; yet he intreats they would endure it patiently, until he had made an end of {peaking = and after that I have [poken, mock ons as they had already, ch. xii. 4. and xvii. 2. they had mocked not at his troubles and afflictions, but at his words and arguments in vindication of his innocence 5 and now all he intreats of them is, that they would admit him to fpeak once more, and to finifh his difcourfe; and then if they thought fit, or if they could, to go on with their {coffs and derifions of him; if he could but obtain this favour, he fhould be eafy, he fhould not regard their mockings, bur bear them patiently; and he feems to intimate, that he thought he fhould be able to fay fuch things to them, that would fpoil their mocking, and prevent it for the future; fo the Greek verfion renders it, thou fhalt not laugh; and the words being fingular, have led many to think, that Zophar, who fpoke laft, is particularly intended, though it may refpect every one of his friends.
¥. 4. ds for me, is my complaint to man? &c.} Fob had been complaining, and ftill was, and continued to do fo after this, but not to them, his give; whereby, if their minds were open to conviction, they would clearly fee their miftake, and that truth lay on his fide: and let this be your confolations,; or this fhall be your confolations*; meaning, either that they would receive inftruction and benefit by his difcourfe, which would yield them pleafure and comfort; and to an ingenuous mind, to be convinced of an error, to have miftakes rectified, and to get knowledge of the truth, it is a real fatisfaction, and affords pleafure; or elfe, that whereas their end in paying him a vifit was to comfort him, and they had taken methods, as they thought, in order to it, but in Y0’s nion to very little purpofe, yea they were, as he fays, miferable comforters; now he obferves, that if they would but be filent, and attentively liften to what he had to fay, that would be in the room ofall comforts they could give unto him; be a confolation to him, and be reckoned by him, friends, nor any other man; his complaint was made to God, and of him he thought he was hardly dealt with by him, he could not tell for what; he had defired to know the reafon why he contended with him in fuch a manner, but could get no fatisfaction; when his friends came firft to vifit him, they faid nothing to him, nor he to thems and when he did fpeak, it was not to them, but to God, of whom he complains, and expoftulates with him, why he had ever been born, or had not died as foon as born, and not have lived to have feen fuch unhappy days, and endured fo much opi-jaffliction and trouble: and if it were fo; that he had made his complaint to man, fince it would have been in vain, and to no purpofe, he should have got no relief, nor obtained any fatisfaétions — why foould not my fpirit be troubled? or foortened'; it would or, as the Jargum, be ftraitened; for as comfort and joy enlarge the heart, trouble contracts and —
¥.1. But Fob anfwered and faid.| In reply to what Zophar had afferted concerning the profpe rity of the wicked, being only for a fhort time; the contrary to which he moft clearly proves, and that in many inftances their profperity continues as long as they live; that they die in it, and it is enjoyed by their pofterity after them.
¥.2. Hear diligently my fpeech, &c.] The following oration or difcourfe he was about to deliver concerning the profperity of wicked men; to which he defires their clofeft attention, that they might the better underftand the force of his rea foning, the evidences and proof of facts he fhould ftraitens it; or is my prayer ™or petition to men? it was not, tho’ he was reduced fo low, and was in fuch a diftreffed condition; he had afked nothing of men, not of thefe his friends, neither to give him of their fubftance, nor to help him out of the hands of his enemies, ch. vi. 21, 23. he had poured out his complaint before God, and had directed his prayer to the God of his life; he had defired to fpeak to none bur the Almighty, and to reafon only with him; he had -petitioned him to take cognizance of his cafe, and to admit of a hearing of it before him, and to have it determined by him; he had complained of wrongs and injuries done him, and begged to be redreffed and righted, but got no anfwer; God did not think fit to anfwer him, but hid himfelf from him, and continued fo to do: and if, if this be the cafe, as it really was, why fhould not my /pirit be troubled? is there not reafon for it? Some think Yod’s meaning is, is my di/putation, as the Vulgate Latin verfion, or is my difcourfe concerning human things, things within the compafs of human knowledge and reafoning? or, to be attained to by the force of that, without divine revelation? no, it is concerning divine things; concerning the myfteries of Providence, with refpect to good and bad men; concerning the living Redeemer, his incarnation, refurrection, &c. and faith in him; concerning the general refurrection, the final judgment, and a future ftate of happinefs: or does my complaint, petition or difcourfe favour of that which is human, and is intermixed with human frailty? if it be fo, it fhould be borne with, it fhould be confidered I am but a man, and liable to err; and efpecially great allowances fhould be made in my prefent circumftances, being under fuch fore afflictions; and it may be reafonably thought, that though the fpirit may be willing to behave in a better manner, the flefh is weak, and much muft be imputed unto that; and it will not feem fo extravagant to indulge a troubled fpirit fo feverely exercifed; perfons under afflictions generally think they do well to be troubled, and that there is reafon enough for it, and ought to be borne with, and not to be reproached and ralli¢d on that account.
y. 5. Mark me, &c.) Or look at me"; not at his perfon, which was no lovely fight to behold, being covered with boils from head to foot, his flefh clothed with worms and clods of duft, his fkin broken, yea fcarce any left; however he was become a mere {fkeleton, reduced to fkin and bone; but at his forrows and fufferings, and confider and contemplate them in their minds, and fee if there was any forrow like his, or any one that fuffered as he did, and in fuch pitiful circumftances; or that they would have a regard: to his words, and well weigh what he had faid, or was about to fay, concerning his own cafe, or concerning the providences of God with refpect to good and bad men, and efpecially the latter: and be aftonifhbed at what had befallen him, at his afflictions, being an innocent man, and not chargeable with any crime for which it could be thought that thefe came upon him; and at the different methods of Providence towards good men and bad men, the one being afflicted, and the other in profperous circumftances, fee ch. xvii. 8. and lay your band upon your mouth, and be filent, fince fuch difpenfations of Provi-
» 3aR dence are unfearchable, and paft finding out; and as they are not to be accounted for, are not to be {poken againft: and it would have been well if Fob had taken the fame advice himfelf, and had been ftill, and owned and acknowledged the fovereignty of God, and not opened his mouth in the manner he had done, and curfed the day of his birth, and complained of hard treatment at the hand of God; perhaps his fenfe may be, that he would have his friends be filent, and forbear drawing the characters of men from the outward dealings of God with them. This phrafe is ufed of filence in ch. xxix. g. and xl. 4. thus Harpocrates, the god of filence with the heathens, is always pictured with his hand to his mouth.
¥. 6. Even when I remember, &c.\ Either the iniquities of his youth he was made to poffefs; or his former ftate of outward happinefs and profperity he had enjoyed, and reviewed his prefent miferable cafe and condition, and called to mind the evil tidings brought him thick and faft, of the lofs of his fubftance, fervants and children, which were fo terrible and fhocking; or when he reflected on the inftances of Providence, he was about to relate in the following verfes: 1 am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flefo; which is fometimes the cafe of good men, both with refpeé to the judgments of God upon the wicked, and with refpect to what befals, or is coming upon, the people of God, P/. cxix. 120. Had. iii. 16. and even the different treatment of good and bad men in this life, as that the one fhould be feverely: afflicted and diftreffed, and the other be in fuch profperous and happy circumftances, is not only a fore temptation to them, but fhocks their minds, and makes them fhudder and ftagger at it, and gives them great pain and uneafinels, Pf Ixxiil. PR Pee ee es eee y. 7. Wherefore do the wicked live, &c.] Which queftion is put either to God himfelf, as not knowing how to account for it, or to reconcile it to’ his divine perfections; that he a holy, juft and righteous Being, fhould fuffer fuch wretches to live upon his earth, who had been, and ftill were, continually finning againft him, tranfgreffing his law, and trampling under foot his power and authority; when he a man that feared the Lord, as God himfelf had borne witnefs of him, laboured under fuch heavy affliction, that he feemed rather to die than live: or elfe it is put to his friends; to whom he appeals, for the truth of it, as Zopbar had to him, about the fhort time of the profperity of the wicked, ch. x. 4, 5. and defires them to try how they could make fuch undeniable fats comport with their own principles, that wicked men are always, and only afflicted to any great degree, and not holy and good men; but if fo, it is afked, why do they live, even live at all? why is not their breath ftopt at once, that breathe out nothing but fin and wickednefs? or why are they /ively? as Mr. Broughton renders the word; that is, brifk, chearful and jocund, live merrily, having an abundance of this world’s good things; call upon themfelves to eat, drink and be merry, and indulge themfelves in all the gratifications of fenfual pleafures and delights; live at eafe, in peace and outward comfort, and are not in trouble as other men, having nothing to difturb, difquiet and diftrefs them; nay, not only only live comfortably, but live long; whilft a-righteous man perifhes or dies in his righteoufhefs, the wicked man prolongs his life in his wickednefs, Eccl. vii. 15. as it follows: become old; confiderable old age, as J/bmael did, towhom he have refpeét, as well as to fome others within his knowledge; or are durable", not only in age, as the finner is fuppofed to die, and fometimes does die an hundred years old, or more, but in wealth and riches, in outward profperity; for though fpiritual riches are only durable riches, in to temporal ones, yet thefe fometimes endure with a wicked man, and he endures with them as long as he lives, as may be feen in the inftances of wicked rich men in Luke xii. 16—20. and xvi. 19, 22. with which agrees what follows: yea, are mighly &c. in power? are in great authority among men, being kings, princes, civil magiftrates, fee P 35. are advanced to great dignity and honour, as the twelve princes that fprung from J/hmael, andj the race of kings and dukes that came from E Mr. Broughton renders it, be mighty in riches, greatly increafé in them; and fo the Targum, fubftance-or riches. ftood either of the birth of y. 8. Their feed is eftablifbed in their fight them, &c.) Which is to be underftood not of feed fown in the earth, and of the permanence and increafe of that, but of their children; to have a numerous progeny, was reckoned a great temporal and blefling, and to have them fettled happily and comfortably in the world, was an additional one; and what contributed ftill more to their felicity was, that they were well fettled during their life, or they yet living, and with their eyes beholding their profperous and ftable condition: and alfo with them; near them, in the fame neighbourhood, or at no great diftance from them; or even in like circumftances with them, equally as well fettled, and as profperous as themfelves, as this phrafe is fometimes ufed, fee Pf. cvi. 6. and their offspring before their eyes their childrens children, as the Targum, and fo the Vulgate Latin verfion; fo that profperity attends not only wicked men and their children, but alto their grandchildren, and they live to fee thefe grown up and fettled in the world, and in thriving circumftances; all which muft give them pleafure, be matter of honour and glory to them, Prov. xvii. 6. Now this is diametrically oppofite to Zophar’s notion of the fhort continuance of the profperity of wicked men, and of the low and miferable conby the increafe and comfortable aie children and grand-children, and by the peace and fafety of all within doors; here it is farther fet live to alforth by the increafe of his kine in the fields, one may part being put for the whole, his oxen and Ke his camels and fheep, things in which the riches of men chiefly lay in thofe times and countries; and he was reckoned an happy man, when thefe brought forth abundantly; fee P/- cxliv. 13, 14, 15+ sbeir, cow calveth, and cafleth not her calf; both male oppofition and female fucceed in propagating their {peciess and fo in increafing the wealth of their owner 5 this is fometimes promifed as a temporal bleffing, » Exod. xxiii. 26. nid 399 " ¥. t1. They fend forth their little ones like a flocks.Of fheep, which are creatures very increafing, and become very numerous, P/: cxliv. - xxxvii.} 13. to which a large increafe of families may be compared, P/- cvii. 41. for this is not to be interpreted of their kine fending or bringing forth fuck au. nunibers asto be like a flock of fheep; but of the families of wicked men being increafed in like manpoflefsjner; and the fending them forth is to be undertheir children, being with fent out or proceeding from them, as plants out of the earth, or branches from a tree; orof their being fent out nor to fchool to be inftruéted in ufeful learning, but into the ftreets to play, and pipe, dance; and it may denote, as their number; fo their being left to them{elves, and being at liberty to do as they pleafe, being under no reftriction, nor any care taken of their education; at leaft in fuch a manner as to have a tendency to make them fober, virtuous, and ufeful in life; end their children dance either in an inartificial ways {kip and frifk, and play like calves and lambs, and. fo are very diverting to their parents, as well as fhews them to be in good health; which adds to their parents happinefs and pleafure: or in an artificial way, being taught to dance; and it fhould be obferved, it is sheir children, the children of the wicked, and not of the godly, that are thus brought up; fo Abraham did not train up his children, nor ‘od his; no inftance can be given of the children of good men being trained up in this andj manner, or of their dancing in an irreligious way 3 however this proves in whata jovial way, and in what outward profperity and pleafure wicked men and their families live; which is thething 70d has in view, and is endeavouring to prove and efta-
¥.9. Their boufes are Safe from fear, &c.] Of enemies befetting them, entering into them, and pillaging and plundering them; of thieves and robbers breaking into them, and carrying off fubftance: or their boufes are peace *; live in peace among themfelves, or enjoy all profperity, which the word peace frequently fignifies; they have peace and profperity within doors, and are free from fear, or devoid of fear from any thing without: neither is the rod of God upon them; neither his rod of chaftifement, which is upon own people, and with which he fcourges every fon, though in love, for their good, and which now upon Job, ch. ix. 34. nor any fore judgment, as famine, plague, fword, or any other; no not even the common afflictions and troubles that men
¥. 12. They take the timbrel and harp, &c.] Not the children, but the parents of them; thefe took, thefe inftruments of mufic into their hands, and their played upon them whilft their children danced; - their families thus merrily they fpent their time: or, as Farebé and Aben Ezra, they lift up the voice with the tabret and harp; that is, whilft they playedon thefe with their hands, they fung fongs with their mouths; they ufed both vocal and inftrumental mufic together, to make the greater harmony, and his;give the greater pleafure, like thofe in mos vi. 5, 6. and rejoice at the Jound of the organ; amufical was inftrument, very pleafant and entertaining, from whence it has its name in the Hebrew tongue; but of what form it was cannot be with certainty. faid that which we now fo call, is of later invention, and —> are exercifed with. unknown in thofe times: probably od may have y.10. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not, &c.]|refpect to Fubal, the inventor of this fort of mufic, As the wicked man’s profperity is defcribed before and others of the pofterity of Cain before the flood, — who prattifed it, and were delighted in it; in which they were imitated and followed by wicked men after it, and in Fod’s time, Gen. iv. 21, ¥.'13. They fpend their days in wealth, &c.| Or in good’; not in the performanceof good works, or in the exercife of that which is fpiritually good; or in feeking after {piritual good things, or eternal happinefs; but in earthly good, in the enjoyment, of the temporal good things of this life, and which to enjoy in a moderate and becoming manner is not criminal but commendable; but thefe men, and fuch as they, feek no other good, but worldly good; their language is, who will fhew us an) good? any outward good; the. way to get it, how to come at it, and be put in the pofléffion of it: fuch place all their happinets in fuch fort of, good, and {pend all their time either in getting it, or in enjoying it, and in nothing elfe.; not in {piritual exerciles, in prayer, or praife, in their own houfes; in private; nor in an attendance on the worthip of God in public; it denotes alfo their continuance in profperity unto the end of their days; for there is a various reading; we follow the Keri, or margin, but the Cetib, or writing is they become old®, in wealth, or good things, and which is followed by many; they live all their days in the midft of wealth and riches, and die in fuch circumftances, contrary to what Zophar. had afferted inch. xx. 5 and in a moment go down to the grave; the houfe appointed for all living, man’s long home, into which he is faid to go down, becaufe let down and interred in the earth; hither wicked men mutt come after all their wealth, riches, profperity, and pleafure; and hither they defcend im @ moment; fuddenly, no previous change being made in their outward circumiftances; and without any prefage, or forenotice of. it, without any lingering difeafe and ficknefs leading on to it, there being no dands in their death, nothing to hinder and reftrain from dying; but they drop at once into the grave, without ficknefs or pain: orinref, or quietly"; being wholly at eafe and quiet as in ¥. 23. not only free from acute pains, and grievous diftempers, as burning fevers, and violent tortures, and racks of the ftone, and other diftreffing diforders; but without any diftrefs of mind, ignorant of their ftate and condition, and unconcerned about it; as they are at eafe from their youth, and fettled on their lees, they remain fo, and go out of the world in like manner; and as fheepare laid in the grave, die fenfelefs and ftupid, having no thought in. their laft moments what will become of them in another world: fome render it, they go down to bell*; the ftate and place of the wicked after death; which, though true, feems not fo agreeable to Fod’s {cope and defign, which is not to defcribe the punifhment of the wicked, but their eafy circumftances in life and in death; and fo the Fewih commentators generally underftand it. Aben Ezra’s note is, ‘¢ in a moment, without afflictions;” Farchi, ‘* quietly without chaltifements;’’ and Bar Tzemach, * without evil difeafes;” having nothing to diftrefs them in body or mind, when many a good man lies long on a bed of languifhing, tortured with difeafes, chaftened with fore pain, and his life gradually draws near to the grave, and to the deftroyers. y¥.14. Therefore they fay unto God, &c.] Whilft in health and life, amidft all their outward pro- fperity, and becaufe of it; for worldlyriches have this tendency, to make men proud and infolent, and not only to behave ill to their fellow creatures, ind to flight and defpife them; but even to forfake God, and lightly efteem their creator and benefactor; yea, even to kick againft him, and oppofe him, to fet their mouths againft him, and {peak very contemptuoufly and blafphemoufly of him, asin the following words; which though not exprefly uttered and pronounced, which yet may have been by fome, however are conceived in the mind, and inwardly fpoken; and by their lives and converfations outwardly declared and abundantly proclaimed: depart from us not as to his general prefence, which cannot be, and without which they would not be able to fubfift,; God is every where, and near to every one, and all live, and move, and have their being in him; nor as to his fpiritual prefence, which wicked men know nothing of, and are unconcerned about; but they don’t chufe to have him fo near them as that their minds fhould be converfant about him; they don’t care to have him in their thoughts, they are defirous if poffible of banifhing him out of their minds; they would live without thinking of God,
.or thinking that there is a God in the world, for fuch a thought makes them uneafy; they don’t love to have their confciences awakened by him, fo as to check and accute for what they do; they had rather have them cauterized or feared, as witha red hot iron, and be paft feeling, that they may go on in their finful courfes without controul: this is the juft character of a worldling, who is afraid he fhall be a lofer by God and religion, fhould he attend thereunto; and therefore, as the Gerge/enes for a like reafondefired Chriff to depart out of their coatts, fo fuch defire God to depart from them; and of the epicure, whofe God is his belly, and that only, and moft righteoufly will it be faid to fuch at the laft day, depart from me; this will be a juft retaliation: for we defire not the knowledge of thy ways; the ways which God prefcribes, directs, and enjoins men to walk in, even the ways of his commandments; thefe are unknown to men, until fhewn and taught them; but wicked men don’t defire to be inftructed in them; they have no pleafure and delight neither in them, nor in the kKnowledge of them; they fancy there is no pleafure to be had in them, and they think they have got into a much more pleafant way, which they have chofen, and their fouls delight in; though deftruction and mifery are init, and it leads into it: they wilfully affect ignorance of the ways of God; they don’t care to come to the light, left their deeds fhould be reproved, their coniciences be made uneafy, and they not able to go on fo peaceably and quietly in their own ways.
y. 15. What is the Almivhty, that we foould ferve him? &c.| Who is be*, as fome render it; or what is there in him, in his nature, in his excellencies and perfeétions, that fhould oblige us to ferve him? One would think, the attribute of dlmighty, they own and acknowledge, is fufficient to engage to it, fince he is the lawgiver that is able to fave and to deftroy, even to deftroy with an everlafting deftruction, both body and foul in hell, who obey him not; but fulnefs of riches, power, and authoricy, {well the mind with pride, and put menon afking fuch queftions, and running fuch lengths as thele; fee
» oe, ama a a tom P ez ig » 344 FD. NB. Ch: xxn. ¥: 16,17.: Exod. v. 2. Prov. xxx. 9. The quettion is big with atheifm, and fuggelts, there was nothing in God excellent or worthy of any regard, or on account of which he fhould be ferved and worfhipped; as if he was a mere idol, which is nothing in the world; and that he was indeed nothing in it, nei ther did good nor evil, nor concerned himfelf with the affairs of men; had forfaken the earth, and took no notice of what was doing in it; at leaft, the queftion fuppofes, that fuch think themfelves under no obligations to ferve him, and fhews them to be fons of Belial, without a yoke; that they neither are nor can be fubjeét to the law of God without his grace; they are not willing God fhould reign over them, nor to be obedient to his commands and ordinances; but are for freeing themfelves from all obligations to him, and choofe to ferve divers lufts and pleafures; be the vaffals of fin and Satan, rather than be the worfhippers of God: and what profit Joould we have if we pray unto bim? Prayer is one part of the fervice of God, and may be here put for the whole: this, as all the reft, is very difagreeable toa natural man, who, as he is biaffed entirely by profit and gain, thinks there is nothing to be got by religious exercifes; he ebferving, that the worfhippers of God, as to external things, fare worfe than thofe who do not pray unto him, or do not ferve and worfhip him; fee Mal. iii. 14. though there is much profit, and many things, and thofe moft excellent and valuable, got by prayer; for whatfoever good men afk in prayer, believing, they receive, Maét. vii. 7. and xxi. 22, The Targum is, “¢ if we pray in his word,” in the name of the ef: fential Word, the Son of God; whereas to afk or pray in his name, is the only way of fucceeding; and fuch who do afk in faith in his name, have what they afk for, Febs xiv. 15. and xvi. 235 24. ¥.16. Lo, their good is not in their hand, &c.] Though itis in their poffeffion for the prefent, it is not in the power of their hands to keep, nor to carry it with them when they die; God that gave it, can take it away when he pleafes; and therefore it might be profitable to them to ferve him and pray unto him: or ¢heir good is not by their hand, they do not obtain their happinefs by their works, as in the Tigurine -verfion; and to the fame fenfe Mr. Broughton, ‘lo, their wealth cometh not by their own power;” it is not got by their own induftry, diligence, care, and labour, by their own wifdom, knowledge, underftanding, and cunning; for riches obi thefe were what he difliked; their courfe of life, which was according to this world, and Satan the god of it, their company and converfation, were fuch as he carefully fhunned and avoided; he chofe not to come into their aflembly, or to have any fellowfhip with them; to walk in the counfél of the ungodly, or ftand in the way of finners, thee chings were an abomination to him; fee P/i. 1. his Yod fays to exculpate himfelf, and wipe off any calumny that might be caft upon him, as if by what he had faid concerning the outward profperity of the wicked, that he was a patron and defender of them, and an advocate for them.
¥. 17.How oft is the candle of the wicked put out, &c.] Fob here returns, as Zarchi obferves, to his former account of the conftant and continued profperity of wicked men; and puts queftions tending to prove the fame. Bil/dad had faid, that the light and candle of the wicked would be put out, ch. xviii. 5,6. Fod referring to this, afks how often this is the cafe? meaning by the candle of the wicked, not his foul or fpirit, which cannot be put out, or become extinét, as to be no more; nor the light of nature in his foul, though that may be put outin a great meafure, and he be given up to judicial blindnefs and hardnets of heart; but either his natural life, which, likea candle burns for a while, and then becomes extinét, or rather his outward profperity and happinefs: if the queftion relates to the former, to the natural life of wicked men; it is not whether they die, that is no queftion; all die, good and bad; but whether they die in common fooner than others, or whether the inftances of the brevity of the life of wicked men were frequent, or but feldom; or, is this always the cafe? it is not, it is rare, and not common; they live as long as other men, and oftentimes longer; they live and become old, as od before obferves; they prolong their days in their wickednefs; or, if this refers to the latter, the profperity of the wicked, the queftion is, is that for the moft part a fhort-lived pro- {perity? it is not, it is but rarely fo; wicked men generally fpend all their days in wealth, as before obferved; fo Ramban interprets how oft, that is, how feldom; and to the fame fenfe Mr. Broughton, * not fo often is the candle of the wicked put out;” and how oft cometh their deftrutiion upon them? not eternal, but temporal deftruétion, calamities and diftrefles; thefe are threatened them; but they are not executed on them immediately; and therefore their hearts are fet in them to do evil: generally {peaking, they have their good things here; they are filled with hidden treafure, which they enjoy whilft they live, and leave the reft of their fubftance to their babes; they are not deftroyed on every fide, as ob was; their fubftance, their cat-" tle, their fervants, their children, and their own health. ‘Job afks how often this is their cafe, as had been his; and his fenfe is, and what experience teftifies, it is but rarely the cafe of wicked men; he feems to refer to what is faid, ch. xviii. 12.God di-. tvibuteth forrows in his anger; or rather, how oft doth be diftribute forrows in bis anger? but feldom; he is angry with the wicked every day, and referves wrath for them, and many forrows fhall be to them, but not for the prefent; thofe are future, andeven fuch, as of a woman in travail, as the word ufed fignifies, and which fhall come upon them fuddenly and certainly, and there will be no avoiding them; fee P/-xxxii. 10. Hof. xiii. 13. 1 Theff. v. 3. but does God frequently diftribute or portion out forrows to them now? he does not; t -y | av their portion ef good things in this life; do
5S are not always to men of under{tanding, but come from God, who gives them to whom he pleafes, and can take them away again if he thinks fit; and therefore men are dependent upon him for what they have, and fhould be thankful to him, and ferve him, and pray for the continuance of good things to them. ‘archi reads the words by way of interrogation and admiration, lo! is not their good in their hand? verily it is, efpecially in their own opinion; their hands are full of it; they want nothing of God; they fee no need of praying to him; hence the above words, which ob exprefies his difapprobation of: she counfel of the wicked is far “from me; the counfels of their hearts; the thoughts of their mind; the words of their mouth; the above impious fayings were fuch as were detefted and abhorred by him; their fenfe and judgment of things, their choice from deliberate confultation with themfelves, preferring temporal good to fpiritual good; and earthly things to heavenly ones, outward wealth and riches, to the knowledge, fervice, and worfhip of God,and communion with him, ufually give them forrow of heart, his curfe unto them? he does not; it is very feldom he does; they are not in trouble, nor plagued as other men 3 they are not men of forrows and acquainted with griefs; they are’ generally ftrangers to them, and live merrily all their days, ver. 12. refpect feems to be had to the conclufion of Zophar’s {peech; in anfwer to the objection in this and tle following verfe: be rewarded bim, and be faall know it; or be foould reward him, and be foould know it*; and fo the word /bould is to be put inttead of fhal/ in the next verse, which directs to the true fenfe of thefe claufes; and the meaning of ‘fod is, that ‘according to the fentirnents of his friends, God fhould ch. Xx. 29. reward a wicked man whilft he lives in his own per-
¥. 18. They areas fiubble before the wind, &c.] Or how oft are they as frubble, Sec. or how oft does God do the above things, fo that they are, or become, as frubble before the wind", and as chaff that the ftorm carrieth, or fleals away”;
an unawares like a thief: wicked men are com: parable to ftubble and chaff; for the vanity of their minds, their emptinefs of all good things; for their lightnefs, the levity and inconftancy of their hearts, their principles and practices; for their ufelefnefs and unprofitablenefs to God and men, tothemfelves and their fellow-creatures; for their being fit fuel for everlafting burnings, their end like thefe being to be burned; and whofe deftruction is inevitable and irrefiftible, and can no more be withftood and prevented, than ftubble and chaff can ftand before a {trong wind and a ftormy tempeft: but is this their common cafe now? are they ulually toffed to and fro with the wind of verfity, and the ftorms of defolating judgments? fon, and wot in his pofterity only; he fhould render to them a jult recompenfe of reward of ‘their evil works, the démerit of their fins; and in fuch'a manner, that they fhould know it, be fenfibie of haftily, fuddenly, atlit, and feel it themfelves, and perceive the evil of fin in the punithment of it; fee Ho/. ix. 7.
y. 20. His eyes fhall fee his deftruction, &c.] Or /hould fee bis deftruétion®; calamities coming upon himfelf and upon his children; or othetwile it will not affect him: but when a man has a perfonal experience of affliction as punifhments of his fin, or with his own eyes {ees his children in diftrefled cirs cumftances on his account, this mutt fenfibly affect him, and be a fore punifhment to him; as it was to Zedekiah to have his children flain before his eyes, er. lit. 10, and he fhall drink of the wrath of she Almighty; or. be foould drink * of it now, according to the principles of ¥04’s friends, even he ad-Jin perfon, and not his pofterity only; the wrath of God is on account of fin, and dreadful to bear:
if the wrath of a temporal king is as the’ roaring are they not, on the other hand, feen in great power, and {preading themfelves like a green bay of a lion, what muft be the wrath of the Almighty
God, the King of kings, and Lord of lords? this
tree; taking root, increafing in outward profperity, and bringing forth the fruit of it? fee P/? xxxvii. is frequently in f{cripture compared to a cup, and-is called a cup of trembling, of wrath and fury; and y. 19. God layeth up his iniquity for bis children, of which all the wicked of the earth fhall drink fooner or later, Pf Ixxv. 10. but this they fhould
&c.] This isa prevention of an objection which Fob forefaw his friends would make, and therefore do now, according to the notions of 70d’s friends, whereas they do not; waters of a full cup, though takes it up, and anfwers to it; you will fay, that, be it fo, that the wicked are for the moft part pronot in wrath indeed, are wrung out to the people of God, and as they apprehend, in wrata; when f{perous, and their profperity continues; God does not punifh them now for their fins in their own perthe wicked drink wine in bowls, and the cup of their profperity overflows.
fons, yet he will punifh them in their children, for whom he referves the punifhment of their iniquity: this way go many of the Fewi/> commentators’, in which they are followed by many Chriftian inter- y. 21. For what pleafure hath he in bis boufe after him, &¢c.] As, on the one hand, the proiperity of his children after his deceafe gives him no pleafure and delight, fo on the other hand, the cala- preters*; and as it feems very rightly; now; this Fob grants, that fo it is, God takes notice of mities and diftreffes of his family for his fins and theirs give him no pain or uneafinefs; he knows the iniquities of men, and lays them up in his mind, and puts them down in the book of his renothing that befals them, and it is no part of his concern; and let what will befal them, he carés membrance; he referves the punifhment of their ininot for it; he feels it not, he is not fenfible of it;
quities for their children, iniquity being often put for the punifhment of it; this is laid up among and therefore to object that fignifies nothing; fe:
ch. xiv. 21. or, what bufine/s bas he with bis boufe his ftores of vengeance, and is treafured up againft the day of wrath; and when they have filled up after death? the affairs * of his family do not at all concern him, one way or another; he is not af- the meafure of their father’s fins by their own tranfereffions, the deferved punifhment fhall be infected with them; he can neither confider their happinefs as a blefling, nor their calamities as a flicted, according to Exod. xx. 5. but this will not clear the cafe, nor fupport the notions and fentiments punifhment to him: when ihz number of bis months
15 cut off in the midfi? the years, the months, and of ‘Fob’s friends, who-had all along given out, that wicked men are punifhed themfelves as well as their the days of the lives of men are numbered, and de- children; and that, if they are at any time in profperous circumftances, it is only for a little while; and therefore agreeable to fuch notions God fhould take other methods with them, not punifh their children only, but themfelves, as Yob argues ifhed, the thread of life is cut off in the micft, from the reft of the months, which a man or his friends might have expected he would have lived; or ra-_ ther, when bis number of the months is fully up*;
€ YEN integro numero calculis dudii funt, Cocceius; cumulatam fortem habuerint, Schultens, when the calculation of them is compleat, and the full number of them is perfected; the fenfe is, what cares a wicked man for what befals his family after his death, when he has lived out the full term of life in great outward happinefs and profperity; has lived to be full of days, of months, and years, to,a full age, even to an age that may be truly called old age?.
y. 22. Shall any teach God knowledge? &c.] Who is a God of knowledge, and knows all things, that teaches men knowledge? will any one take upon him to teach him the path of judgment, and the way of underftanding, how he fhall govern the world, and difpofe of men and things in it? fee J/. xl. 13, 14. Will any one be fo bold and audacious as to pretend to dire&t and inftruct him, whom he fhall afflict, and whom not, and when he fhall do it, and in what manner? Should not thefe things be left to him, who does all things after the counfel of his own will? fhall his dealings with men in an outward way of providence be.the criterions of the characters and eftates of men, as if love and hatred were to be known by thofe things, and therefore,God mutt be taught what he fhould do in order to fixthem: /eeing he judgeth thofe that are bigh; not the high heavens, as the Targum, nor the angels in them, though he has judged them that finned, and caft them down to hell; but the high ones on earth, kings, princes, “and civil magiftrates, fuclt as are in high places, and are lifted up with pride above others: God is above them; he is higher than the higheft, and judges them; he is the judge of all the earth, that will do right, the governor of the univerfe, and who over-rules all things for his own glory and the good of his creatures; and therefore none fhould pretend to direct him, what is fit and proper to be done by him, who is a fovereign, and diftinguifhes men in his providence, in lite, and at death, as follows; but their characters, as good or bad men, are not to be determined thereby.
y.23. One dieth in his full ftrength, &c.] Man is born a weak feeble creature, and it is by degrees, and through various ftages of infancy, childhood, and youth, that he arrives to his full ftrength in manhood; and, when he does, fometimes fo it is, that his ftrength is not weakened in the courfe of his life by a train of diforders and difeafes, as it is in fome; but death feizes and carries him off in the prime of his days, and in the fulnefs of his ftrength; for no ftrength of man, even the greateft, is a fecurity againft death — Thoufands die before they come to their full ftrength, and multitudes after it begins to decay; and when it is almoft watted, through the force of diftempers, or the infirmities of old age, and others as here, when their ftrength is in its higheft vigour and utmoft perfe€tion, and all as God pleafes: the words may be rendered in the ftrength of bis integrity, or of bis perfection‘ in the Targum and Ben Gerfom, and fo Mr. Broughton, in bis very perfection; and the word is fometimes ufed in a moral and fpiritual fenfe, of the. integrity of a man’s heart, and the uprightnefs of his ways and walk, and of the perfection of his ftate godward; fee ch.i. r. and ii. 4. andiv. 6. and fuch a man who is upright in heart and converfation, who is truly gracious, fincerely a good man, and perfect thro’ the compleat righteoufnefs of Chrift, he dies fuch, his integrity continues with him to the laft; and f 399M TOVY in fortitudine perfectionis fue, Pagninus; fo Junius and Tremellius, Pifcator; in fortitudine inte & So Schmidt. i
Montanus, Bolducius; fo Drufius, Mercerus. rad. Oy, and Jarchi and Ben Melech in loc.
his graces, being brought to maturity, he comes to his grave like a fhock of corn in its feafon, and - is found in the perfect righteoufnefs of his livi Redeemer: but it feems beft to take the words in natural and literal fenfe, as before; or to interpret them of the fulnefs of outward felicity, which fome men arrive unto, and die in the midftof, when they, have got to the higheft pitch of honour and grandeur, and attained to the greateft degree of wealth and riches, it could well be fuppofed they would; and then, when ia the perfection of it, have been taken away by death; both thefe fenfes may ftand, together: it follows, being wholly at eafe and quiet, in eafy circumftances, having an affluence of all good things, and nothing to difturb them, nor are in trouble as others, or plagued as they be; having all that heart can wifh, or more, and without any pains of body, at leaft, any long and continued ones; whilft others are attended with them, days, and months, and years, before their death, ch. XXxill. 19. whereas thefe go down to the graveina moment, feeling little or no pain, and are quiet and eafy in their minds, thoughtlefs of a future ftate, and unconcerned how it will be withythem in another world; having no fight nor fenf@f fin, of the evil nature and juft demerit, of it, feel not the weight and burden of it in their confeiences; have no concern or grief of mind, for fins of omiffion or.commiffion, no godly forrow for it, or repentance of it, nor any fears of wrath and ruin, hell and damnation; but as they are at eafe from their youth, with refpect- to thofe things, fo they live and fo they die, fecure, ftupid, and fenfelefs. Some interpret this of good men*®, and it is not to be wondered at, that a man that dies in his integrity, in © the perfection of grace, holinefs, and righteoufnefs, fhould be at eafe and quiet; who has an intereft in the God of peace, whofe peace is made by,the blood of Chrift, his peace-maker, and who has a confcience-peace arifing from a comfortable view of the peace-fpeaking blood, righteoufnefs and facrifice of the Mediator; who knows his ftate is fafe, being interefted in everlafting love, in an unchangeable covenant in God, as his Covenant- God, in Jefus his living Redeemer; and knows where he is going, to heaven, to. happinefs and glory, to be with God, with Chrift, with holy angels and glorified faints: but the former fenfe feems beft, of a man, dying in eafy circumftances, without pain of body, or diftrefs of mind, whether we underftand it of a good man or bad man, though the latter is rather meant.
¥. 24. His breafts are full of milk, &c.| As this is not literally true of men, fome verfions read the words otherwife; his bowels or inteftines are full of fat, as the Vulgate Latin and Septuagint; and others, his fides or ribs are full of fat, as the Syriac and Arabic; the words for fide and fat being near in found to thofe here ufed; and fo it defcribesa man fat and plump, and flefhy, when death lays hold upon him, and not wafted with confumptions and pining ficknefs, as in the cafe of fome, ch. ¥xxiii. 21. the word for breafts is obferved by fome*, to fignify, in the Arabic language vefiels, in which liquors are contained, and in the Mi/nic language, fuch as they put oil in, out of which oil is fqueezed; and fo are thought here to intend fuch veffels as are milked into; and therefore render it by milk-pails; fo Mr. Broughton, his pails are full of milk’; may denote the abundance of good things