Exposition of the Whole Bible

parts of the world; he covers the face of the fouth with his face, that I cannot fee him, fo Farchi this is faid becaufe the fouth is covered with the waters of the ocean, as Bar Tzemach obferves; what we call the South-Sea: or rather the meaning is, that God covered himfelf on the right hand, or juftice, where he defired to be'tried, and be brought;junder the ftri¢teft examination; and doubted not but he fhould be acquitted, and fhine as bright as gold; nay, thefe words may be given as a reafon. why God would not be found by him as his judge ~ to try his caufe, becaufe he knew his uprightneis on the fouth, as with a garment, as the word fignifies; wrapped himfelf up either in light inacceffible, as with a garment, or with clouds of darknefs, that he could not be feen; and if he hides himfelf, as he often does from the beft of men, who can behold him? ch. xxxiv. 29. fee ch, ix. 11. ¥. 10. But be knoweth the way that I take, &c.] This he feems to fay in a way of folace to himfelf, comforting and contenting himfelf that though he could not find God, nor knew where he was, or what way he took; nor the reafons of his, ways and difpenfations with the children of men, and with himfelf; yet God knew where he was, and what way he took; by which he means either the way he took, being direéted to it for his acteptance with God, his juftification before him, and eternal falvation; which was his living Redeemer, he looked unto by faith for righteouinefs and eternal life: or rather the way and manner of life he took to, the courfe of his converfation, walking in all the commandments and ofdinances of the Lord, in the paths of piety andtruth, of righteoufnefs and holinefs; and this God knew not barely by his omni‘cience, as he knows all the ways of men, good and bad; his eyes are upon them, he compafies them, and is thoroughly acquainted with them; but by way of approbation, he approved of it, and was well pleafed with it, it being fo agreeable to his revealed will, fo pure and holy; thus the Lord knows the way of the righteous, Pf i. 6. when he hath tried me, I fhall come forth as gold; as pure as gold, as free from drofs as that, appear quite innocent of the charges brought againft him, and fhine in his integrity. He was as valuable and precious as gold, as all God’s people are in his efteem, however reckoned of by others; they are precious fons of Zion, comparable to fine gold; not that they have any intrinfic worth in themfelves, they are in no wife better than others by nature; but through the grace of God beftowed on them, which is as gold tried in the fire; and through the righteoufnefs of Chrift imputed to them, which is gold of Ophir, and clothing of wrought gold; and on account of both, they are like a mafs of gold, and are the chofen of God, and precious: this gold he tries, the Lord trieth the righteous; and which he does by afflictive providences; he puts them into the furnace of affliction, which is the fiery trial to try them; and hereby their graces are tried, their faith, hope, love, patience, &c. their principles and doétrines they embrace, whether they be gold, filver, and precious ftones, or whether wood, hay, and ftubble; the fire tries every man’s work, of what fort it is, and whether they will abide by them and their profeffion alfo, whether they will adhere to it; and by this means he purges away _ their drofs and tin, and they come out of the furnace as pure gold in great luftre and brightnefs, as thofe in Rev. vii. 13, 14. now od was in this furnace and trying; and he was confident that as he fhould come out of it, he fhould appear to prt advantage, pure and {potlefs; though it may e, he may have refpett to his trial at the bar of and integrity, and that he muft go from him acquitted and difcharged; and therefore, for reafons unknown to him, declined the judging of him; to this purpofe ‘farchi interprets the words, which may be rendered, for be knoweth the way that I take*; and therefore will not be feen by me, nor appear to judge me: be hath tried me, again and again, and has feen the integrity of my heart, as Sephorno interprets it, and well knows my innocence; fee Pf. xvii. 3. and if he would try me again, I fhall come forth as gold, quite clear d all charges and imputations; I’m able to ftand the {tricteft {crutiny: this he faid as confcious of his uprightnefs, and of his ftriétregard to the ways and word of Comes follows; but this was a bold faying, and an unbecoming expreffion of his to God; and of which he afterwards was afhamed and | repented, when God appeared and fpoke to him out of the whirlwind..

y. 11: My foot bath held bis fleps, &c.] Trod in the fteps he has walked in; he followed God clofely, imitated him in aéts of holinefs and righteoufnefs, of mercy; kindnefs, and beneficence; and ke continued therein, as he fet his footin the fteps of God, which wereto him for an example, he perfifted therein; as he followed on to know him, fo to imitate him, and walk worthy of him: his way have I kept, the way he prefcribed him, and directed him to’ walk in, the way of his commalidments, which he obferved conftantly, and kept; though not perfectly, yet with great delight and pleafure, and fo as not to be chargeable with any grofs neglect of them, but in fome fenfe to walk in all of them blamelefs, as not to be culpable before men: and not declined; from the way of God, did not turn afide from it to the right or left, or go into crooked paths with wicked men, or wickedly depart from his God; his ways and worlhip, as David fays, Pf. xviii. 21.

y. 12. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of bis lips, &c.| From any of the commandments his lips had uttered; meaning not the ten commandments given to J/raé/, which perhaps as yet were not given, or had not come to the knowledge of Fob; fome fpeak of the feven commandments, given to the fons of Noah; fee the note on Gea. ix. 4. It feems to defign any’ and every commandment that God had given to Noab or Abraham, ot any of the patriarchs, before the times of 5f0b, and which he had knowledge of, and which he carefully obferved, kept clofe to, and did not deviate from; but made it the rule of his walk and practice: I bave efteemed the words of bis mouth more than my neceffary food; the words of the Lord; the do¢trines of grace that came from his mouth, are food for faith; there are in them milk for babes, and meat for {trong men; they are favoury; falutary, and wholefome words, by which the peo- — ple of God are nourifhed up unto eternal life; and they are efteemed by them more than the food that is neceflary and convenient for theit bodies; fee Prov. xxx. 8. for as the foul is preferable to thebody, fo the food of the one is preferable to the food of the other, and is fweeter, as the words of

Ch. XX. y. 13, T4. i O B. ‘ + 363 God are, to the 'tafte of a believer, than honey, or the honey-comb: or I have bid, or laid upy words of bis mouth”; he had laid them up in his heart, in order to meditate upon them, and receive comfort and fpiritual nourifhment from them he fhould want it, as men lay up their food in a proper place againft the time they wantit for their fupport and refrefhment; and ¥0d was more careful to lay up the one than the other; fee P/. cxix. ar. here od meets with, and has refpect unto the advice of Elipbaz, ch. xxii. 22. and fignifies that he had no need to have given him it, he had done fons; though in what manner they are, we are not thelable to explain; befides God was in Chrift, as mediator, reconciling the world, choofing his people in him, and bleffing them with all fpiritual bleffings whenlin him; though the true fenfe feems to be what is before given, agreeable to our verfion, that God is in one mind, purpofe, and defign; that his decrees are unchangeable and invariable, that he always a¢ts according to them, and never alters them: and who can turn bim? turn his mind, or caufe him to change his counfel, and alter his purpofes; or turn his hand; or ftop and ftay it from the execu- this already. tion of them; it is not to be done by force and y. 13. But be isin one mind, &c.] Either with refpec&t to his commandments, every precept remains in full force, he never alters the thing that is gone out of his lips, or delivers out other commandments different from, or contrary to what he has given; and therefore 70d thought it his duty to abide by them, and notdecline from them; which is the fenfe of a Fewi/h commintator ©, connecting the words with the precedin with refpect to his difpenfations towards Fod in afflicting him; which he continued notwithftanding his innocence, becaufe he is a fovereign Being, and does whatfoever he pleafes; he is unchangeable in his purpofes and decrees; he is not to be wrought upon by any means to alter his fixed courfe; he is not to be contradicted nor refifted and this was the reafon why would not be found by him, though he fought him fo earneftly and diligently, and why he would not hear him, and would not appear to try his caufe, though he knew he was innocent, becaufe he was determined to go on to affliéthim,; and he power, for there is no power equal to his, and much lefs fuperior to his; which niatt be the cafe, if any could turn him: and though he may be turned by the prayers of his people, and by the repentance of men, fo as to repent himfelf, and not do what he has threatened to do; yet this is no change of his mind and counfels, only an altération in the courfe of his providence, or a change of his outward dealings with men, according to his unchangeable will; fee Jf xiv.27. Dan. iv. 35. and what bis foul defireth, even that he doth; that is, what he himfelf defireth earneftly and vehemently; he has done all things in creation according to the good pleafure of his will; and he does all things in providence according to the counfel of it, heland as feems beft in his fight; and fo he does all things in grace, choofes whom he will, predeftinates to the adoption of children. according to the good pleafure of his will; redeems whom he pleafes,. and calls by his grace, and brings to glory whomfoever he will be gracious to; fee P/.

never changes his mind, or alters his counfels onjcxv. 3. any account whatever. The Vulgate Latin verfion venders it, for be is alone; and fo the Targum, ‘‘ if he is alone, or the only one;” there is none with hini to advife him, for with whom took be counfel? or to petfuade him to be of another mind, and take contrary meafures, who might be applied to, to ufe their intereft with him to act in adifferent manner; but he is alone, there are none with him that have any influence upon him, and can prevail with him to do otherwife than he does; fome tranflate the words, if be ads againft one’; man in a.hoftile way, if he fets his face againft him, and comes upon him as an enemy; Mr. Broughton, yet when be is againft me, who can fiay bim? notwithftanding my innocence and teerity, though 1 keep his ways, and do not go back from his commandments. Some think there is aredundancy of a letter, which we tranflate 77, and then the words will be read thus: Sut be is one; the one only living and true God; this is the voice of reafon and revelation, hear, O I/rael, the Lord thy God is-one Lord, for though there are three perfons in the godhead, father, fon, and holy ghoft, thefe three are one God; and fo the words are expreffive of the unity of the divine being; but this feems not to be 7od’s. fenfe: Aben Ezra fays, the truth is, that the letter 9 is not added, is. no redundancy, and fhould be read 4¢ is in ome; but fays he, I cannot explain it, there is a great myftery init: what the 3few underftood not, may be more clear and plain to us Chriffians, who are taught the myftery of the in-being of the divine perfons in each other, the father is in the fon, and the fon is in the father, as they are divine per- y. 14. For be performeth the thing that is appointed for me, &c.] The fame word is ufed as at the end of ¥. 12. where it is rendered, my neceffary food; or appointed food, a certain portion of it; food convenient, daily bread; and this has led fome interpreters to take itin the fame fenfe here, and render it, be performeth my neceffary things *, or things neceffary for me; fupplies me with the neceflaries of life, to which agrees the Targum, and fo Mr. Broughton, ** becayfe he hath furnithagainft aled me with my daily bread, and many fuch graces are with him,” and which he did according to his and fojunchangeable purpofes and decrees, and according as his foul defired, and it pleafed him; and ths in-jlaid Yob under greater obligation ftill to have regard to his commandments, and the words of his mouth; but rather it is to be underftood of the decrees and purpofes of God relating to Yod, to his perfon, cafe, and circumftances, throughout the whole courfe of his life hitherto: and indeed all things relating to every individual perfon, as to him, are appointed of God 3 and whatever he appoints, he performs: all things relative to their temporal life, the birth of perfons into the world, and their continuance in it; all the incidents in life, the places of their abode, their employments, callings, and occupations; their riches and poverty, profperity and adverfity; all their afflictions, and which od has a fpecial regard to, the kind and nature of them, their meafure and duration, and the end and ufe of them; and death itfelf, which clofes all things here, that is appointed of God, the time and circumftances of it, fee Eccl iii. 1, 2. and fo all things relative to the fpiricual and eter- nal falvation of men; to fave men is the determinate will of God; the perfons faved are appointed by him to it,. and Céri/ is ordained to be the y.16. For God maketh my heart oft, &c.] Not tender as Fe/iahb’s was, or as the heart of eve re-j penitent is, when God makes it humble and con- deemer and faviour of them 5 whofe coming into the world for that purpofe was at the appointed| time called the fulnefs of time, and his going out of it, or his fufferings and death, by which falvation was accomplifhed, were in due time, and by the determinate counfel and foreknowledge of God. The converfion of men is according to the ment of God; they that are called are called according to his purpofe; the time of converfion, the place where, and means whereby, are all fixed in the decrees and purpofes of God, and have their fure and certain accomplifhment; and the feveral ' viciffitudes of diftrefs and comfort in fpiritual things are as God has determined; all the times of his people are in his hands, and difpofed by him; times of temptation, darknefs, and defertion, and times of peace, joy, and comfort; the everlafting happinefs itfelf is a kingdom prepared in the pofes of God from the foundation of the world, and is an inheritance obtained according to the purpofe of him who has predeftinated unto it; and {eeing God is all-wile, all-knowing, all-powerful, faithful and true, what he appoints muft certainly be performed: and many fuch things are with him; befides what were appointed for od, and performed upon him, there were innumerable in-jis {tances in the world of God’s appointments, and the performance of them, both with refpet to good things, and evil things, mercies and bleffings, fliiions and troubles: or befides what God had performed with refpect to Fo, efpecially with regard to his afflictions and fufferings, there were ftill many more things to come, which were fecret in his breaft, and which he had decreed and appointed, and would in due time be performed;} though Fob knew not as yet what they were, good or evil things, though he fuppofed the latter. do; or rather, be bath covered the darkne

¥. 15. Therefore am I troubled at bis prefence, &c.] Not at bis gracious prefence, which he wanted, and every good man defires; but at his appearance as an enemy, as he apprehended him, laying and continuing his afflictive hand upon him, and indeed at his appearance as a judge to try his caufe; for though he had moft earneftly defired it, yet when he thought of the fovereignty of God, and the immutability of his counfels, and of his perfect knowledge of all things; and he not knowing what he had with him, and to bring out againft him, when he came to the point, might be troubled and fhrink back, fee Pf. Ixxvii. 3. when I confider, I am afraid of bim; when he confidered his terrible majefty, his fovereign will, his unalterable purpofes, his infinite wifdom, and almighty power, his ftrict juftice, and fpotlefs purity; was afraid to appear before him, or afraid that fince many fuch things were with him he had already experienced, there were more to be brought forth, trite by his Spirit and grace, or takes away the _ tony heart, and gives an heart of flefh; though ~ 70d had, fuch an heart, and God made it fo; bu n he means a weak, feeble, fearful heart, preffed and broken with afflictions, that could not endure and bear up under the mighty hand of God; but beappoint-;came as water, and melted like wax in the midft» of him, and was ready to faint, and fink, and die away: and the Almighty troubleth me; by affliéting: him; afflictions caufe trouble, and thefe are of God; or he. a/fonifkes *, amazes me, throws me into the utmoft confternation, the reafon of which follows.. bray y.17. Becaufe I was not.cut off before the dark-— ne/s, &c.) That. is, it was amazing to him, and’ troubled him when he thought of it, that he was not cut off by death, before the darknefs of affiicpur-jtions, or this dark difpenfation came upon him; as fometimes righf€ous ones are taken from the evil to come, as Methu/elab was before the flood; and ob wonders this was not his cafe, Or at leatt he wifhes it had had been; for fo Aben Ezra feems to underftand and read the words, why was 1 not cut off, 8cc. as if, it was a wifh, and expreffive of hisdefire, that this had been done; which what he had expoftulated with God about at firft, in the ¢dird chapter, and death was what he jalways defired, and {till continued to with for: or af-jelfe the fenfe is, that he was amazed that he was mot cut off, becaufe, at, through, or by darkuefs*, by means of his afiictions; he wondered how he was fupported under them, and carried through them, that they did not prefs him down to death; how fuch a poor wafted creature as he was, reduced to kin and bones, fhould ever be able to endure what whetherjhe did: neither bath he covered the darkue/s from my face; that I fhould not fee and feel the affli€tions I s from my face, tor the word neither is not in the text, tho’ repeated by many interpreters from the foregoing claufe; and then the fenfe is, though I am fenfible of the darknefs of affliction upon me, yet he has covered it fo from me, that I cannot fee an end of it, or any way to-efcape out of it; or which is the fenfe Drufius gives, he hath covered death and the grave from me, which is a flate of darknefs, a land of darknefs, or darknefs itfelf, as he calls it, ch. x. 21, 22. that he could not fee it, and enjoy it 5 he wifhed for death, but could not have it, it was hid from him. Cocceius renders the words very differently, he, that is, God, hath covered bimfelf with darkne/s from my face, and interprets it of divine defertion, which troubled and terrified Fob; and becaufe he thus covered himfelf as it were with heja cloud, this was the reafon why he knew not where he was, and could not find him, when he made the moft diligent fearch for him, and this grieved and aftonifhed him, fee Lam. iii, — which might be greater and heavier ftill. 44.

5 Sees chapter contains the fecond part of ¥0b’s anfwer to the Jaft difcourfe of Eliphaz, in which he fhews that wicked men, thofe of the worft characters, profper in the world, and go through it with impunity; he lays down this as a certain truth, that though no time is hid from _God, yet they that are moft familiar with him, and know moft of him, do not fee, and cannot obferve any days of his for judging and punifhing wicked men in this life, ¥. 1. and inftances in men guilty of injuftice, violence, oppreflion, cruelty and inhumanity to their neighbours, and yet'God lays not folly to them, or charges them with fin, and punifhes them for it, y. 2—12. and in perfons that commit the moft atrocious crimes. in fecret, fuch as murderers, adulterers, and thieves, ¥.13—17. he allows that there is a curfe upon their portion, and that the grave fhall confume them, and they fhall be remembred no more, ¥. 18, 19, 20. and becaufe of their ill treatment of others, tho’ they may be in fafety and profperity, and be exalt ed for a while, they fhall be brought low, and cut off by death, but generally fpeaking are not punifhed in this life, ¥. 21-24. and concludes with the gréateft affurance of being in the right, and having truth on his fide, y. 25.

y. 1. Why, feeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, 8c.j| Which feems to be an inference deduced from what.he had faid in ch. xxiii. 14. that fince all things are appointed by God, and his appointments are punctually performed ‘by him, the times of his carrying his purpofes and decrees into execution, cannot be hidden from him; for as he has determined what fhall be done, he has determined the time before appointed for the doing of them; as there is a purpofe for every thing under the heavens, there is a time fet for the execution of that purpofe, which muft be known unto God that has fixed it; for as all his works are known to him from the beginning, or from eternity, the times when thofe works fhould be wrought, muft alfo be known to him. The Vulgate Latin verfion reduces the words to a categorical propofition, times are not hidden from the Almighty, either temporal things, as Sephorno interprets it, things done in time, or the times of doing thofe things; no fort of time is hid from God; time refpecting the world in general, its beginning, duration and end; all feafons in it, day and night, fummer and winter, feed-time and harveft, which are all fixed and fettled by him; the feveral diftiné&t ages and _periods of time, into which it has been divided; the old and new world, the legal and gofpel-difpenfation, the various generations in it; the four great monarchies of the world, their rife, and duration, and

~ end, with all other leffer kingdoms and {tates; time refpecting the inhabitants of the world, their coming into and paffing out of it in fucceffive generations, the time of their birth, and of their death, and of adver— fity and profperity, which interchangeably take place during their abode in it; and particularly the people of God, the time of their redemption by Chrift, Yod feems to refer to what Eliphaz had faid, ch.

of their converfion by the grace of God, and all their times of darknefs, defertion, temptation and afflictions, and of peace, joy and comfort; time, paft and future, refpeéting the church of God, and the ftate of it, and all things relative thereunto 3 and the times of J/rael’s affliGtion in a land not theirs, 400 years, and of their 70 years captivity in Babylon, were not hidden from the Almighty, but foretold by him; the fuffering times of the church under the New Teftament; the ten perfecutions of it by the Roman emperors; the flight and nourifhment of it in the wildernefs for a time, and times, and half a time; the treading down of the holy city 42 months; the witneffes prophefying in fackcloth 1260 days; the killing of them, and their bodies lying unburied three days and a half, and then rifing; the reign of antichrift 42 months, at the end of which antichriftian time will be no more; the time of Chrift’s coming to judgment, which is a day appointed, though unknown to men and angels, and the reign of Chrift on earth 1000 years; all thefe times are not hidden from, but known to the Almighty, even all time, paft, prefent and to come, and all things that have been, are, or fhall be done therein. Several ‘fewi/ob commentators ‘ interpret thefe words as an expoftulation or wifh, why are not times hidden, &c. if they were, I fhould not murmur at it, that thofe that know him don’t know what fhall be; but he knows the times and days in which wicked men will do wickednefs, why is he filent? Mr. Broughton, and others *, render them, why are not, or why fhould not times be hidden by the Almighty? that is, be hidden in his own breaft from men, as they are; for the times and feafons, it is not for man to know, which God has put in his own power, és i. 6. as the times of future troubles, of a man’s death, and the day of judgment; itis but right and fit on many accounts, that they fhould be hid by him from them; but others of later date tranflate the words perhaps much better, why are not certain ftated times laid up, or referved by the Almighty*? that is, for punifhing wicked men in this life, as would be the cafe od fuggefts, if it was true what his friends had afferted, that wicked men are always punifhed here: and then upon this another queftion follows, why do they that know him not fee bis days? that know him not merely by the light of nature, but, as revealed in Chrift; and that have not a mere knowledge of him, but a fpiritual and experimental one; who know him fo as to love him, believe in him, fear, ferve and worfhip him; and who have a greater knowledge of him than others may have, and have an intimate acquaintance and familiarity with him, are his bofom-friends; and if there are fixed times for punifhing the wicked in this life, how comes it to pafs that thefe friends of God, to whom he reveals his fecrets, can’t fee and obferve any fuch days and times of his as thefe? but, on the contrary, obferve, even to the {tumbling of the greateft faints, that the wicked profper, and increafe in riches.

4 9" YTD quinam ab omnipotente, Beza; fo

* Quare ab omnipotente non funt recondita in poenam ftata tempora, Schultens.

xxii. 19. which he here tacitly denies, and proves not meet them, left they fhould infult them, beat — the contrary by various inftances, as follows.

y.2. Some remove the land-marks, &c.) Antiently fet to diftinguifh one man’s land from another, to fecure property, and_preferve from encroachments; but fome were fo wicked, as either fecretly in the night to remove them,'or openly to do it, having power on their fide, pretending they were wrong {et; this was,not only prohibited by the law of God, and pronounced an accurfed thing, Deus. xix. 14. and xxii. 17. but was reckoned fo before the law was given, being known to be fuch by the light of nature, as what was now, and here condemned, was before that law was in being; and fo we find that this was accounted an execrable thing among the heathens, -who had a deity they called Fupiter Terminalis, who was appointed ‘over bounds and Jand-marks; fo Numa Pompilius appointed ftones to be fet as bounds to every one’s Jands, and dedicated them toFupiter Terminalis, and ordered that thofe that.removed them fhould be flain as facrilegious perfons, and they and their oxen devoted to deftruction ‘: fome render it, they touch the land-marks*, as if to touch them was unlawful, and therefore much more to remove them: they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof; not. content with a fheep or a lamb, they took away whole flocks, and that by force and violence, openly and publickly, and flew them, and fed on them; or elfe took them and put them into their own grounds, or fuch as they had got by encroachments from. others, where they ted them without any fear of men; which fhows the effrontery and impudence of them,

¥.3. They drive away the afs of the fatherle/s, &c.] Who are left deftitute of friends, and have none to take care of them, and provide for them; and who having one afs to carry their goods for them, from place to place, or to ride upon, which)

though a creature of no great worth, yet of fome ufefulnefs, this they drove away from its pafture, or however from its right owner; and who having but one, ’twas the more cruel and inhuman to take it from him, fee 2 Sam. xil. 3, 4. they take the widow's ox for a pledge; or oxen, the fingular for the plural, with which her lands were ploughed, for a fingle ox could be but of little fervice: fome render it a cow*, by the milk of which fhe and her family were chiefly fupported, as many poor country-families are by the means of a good milch cow; and to take this, on which her livelihood depended, and retain for a pledge, was very barbarous; when the law concerning pledges took place among the Fews, in the times of Mo/es, which it feems was in being before with others, what{oever was ufeful to perfons, either to keep them warm, or by which they got their bread, were not to be taken, at leaft not detained for a pledge, fee Exod. xxii. 26, 27. Deut. xxiv. 6, 12, 13.

y. 4. They turn the needy out of the way, &c.] Either in a moral fenfe, out of the right way, the way of righteoufnefs and truth, by their ill examples, or by their threatenings or flatteries; or, ina civil fenfe, out of the way of their livelihood, by taking that from them by which they got it; or, in a literal fenfe, obliging them to turn out of the way from them, in a fupercilious and haughty manner, or caufing them, through fear of them; to get out of the way, that they might]

and abufe them, or take that little from them they had, as follows: the poor of the earth bide them-— elues together; who are not only poor in purfe, but poor in fpirit, meek, humble and lowly, and have not fpirit and courage to ftand againft fuch oppreflors, but are eafily crufhed by them, thefe through fear of them hide themfelves:in holes and corners in a body, in a large company together, left they fhould fall into their cruel hands, and be ufed by them in a barbarous manner, fee, Prov. XXvili, 28. MM POU,

The word as is a. fupplement, and may be amited, and the words be interpreted literally: of awild affes, as they are by Sepborno, whofe’ properyplace — is in the wildernefs, to, which they are-uféd, and where, their food is provided for them, and which they diligently feek for for them and their young;

and fo the words may be defcriptive of the place ~ where the poor hide themfelves, and of the company they are obliged to keep; but the Targum fupplies the note of fimilitude as we do; and others ‘ obferve it to,be wanting, and fo it may re+ fpect wicked men. before deferibed, who may be compared to the wild-afles of the wildernefs for their folly and ftupidity, man being born like a wild afs’s colt, ch. xi. 12. and for their Juft and wantonnefs, and for their unfubjeétion to God and his laws, and their unteachablenefs. Perhaps fome regard may be had to the wild drabs that were in Yob’s neighbourhood, the defcendants of Ibmael, called the wild man, as he is in Gen. xvi. 12. who lived by plunder and robbery, as thefe here: they go forth to ther work; of thieving and ftealing, robbing and plundering, as their trade, and bufinefs, and occupation of life, and as naturally and conftantly as men go to their lawful employment, and as if it was one: rif/ing betimes for a prep; get-, ting up early in a morning to meet the induftrious traveller on the. road, and make a prey of bim; rob him of what he has about him; for they can’s fleep unlefs they do mifchief: the wilderne s yieldeth food for them, and for their children; though they are.lurking in a wildernefs where no iuftenance is to be had, yet by robbing every one that pafles by, they get a fufficiency tor them and their families; though fome underftand all this of the poor, who are obliged to hide themfelves from their oppreffors, and go into the wildernefs in droves like wild affes, and as timorous and as fwift as they in fleeing; and are forced to hard fervice, and ta. rife betimes to earn their bread, and get fuftenance for their families; and who in the main are obliged to live on berries and roots, and what a wild defare will afford; but the word prey is not applicable to the pains and labours of fuch induftrious people, wherefore the former fenfe is beft and befides, there feems to be one continued account of ©

¥. 6. They reap every one his corn in the field, &c.} Not the poor, who are obliged to reap the corn of the wicked for them without any wages, as fome; but rather the wicked reap the corn of the poor; they are fo infolent and impudent, that they don’t take the corn out of their barns by ftealth, but whilft it is ftanding in the field; they _ come openly and reap it down, as if it was theig own, without any fear of God or mem: it is ob- ferved, that the word * fignifies a mixture of the orer forts of corn, which is fcarce any thing tter than food for cattle; yet this they cut down and carry off, as forage for their horfes and affes at leaft. Some of the antient verfions taking it to be two words, render them, which is not their own'; they go'into a field that is not theirs, and reap corn that don’t belong to them, that they have no right unto, and fo are guilty of great injuftice, and of doing iniury to others: and they gather the vintage of the wicked gather the grapes off of the vines of wicked men, which are gathered, as the word fignifies, at the latter end of the year, in autumn; and though they belong to wicked men like themfelves, yet they {pare them not, but feize on al] that come to hand, whether the property of good menor bad men; and thus fometimes one wicked man is an inftrument of punifhing another: or the wicked gather the vintage™;, that is, of the ‘ poor; as they reap where they have not fown, they gather of that they have not planted. ¥.7. They caufe the naked to lodge without clothing, &c.] That is, fuch as are poorly clothed, thinly arrayed, have fcarce any thing but rags, and yet fo cruel the wicked men above defcribed, that they take thefe away from the poor, and even their bedclothes, which feem chiefly defigned; fo that they are obliged to lodge or lie all night without any thing upon them: shat they have no covering in the cold, neither in the day-time, nor in the night, and efpecially the latter; and having no houfe to go to, and obliged to lay themfelves down upon the bare ground, had nothing to cover them from the inclemency of the weather; for even in hot countries nights are fometimes cold, and large dews fall, yea fometimes it is a froft, fee Gen. xxxi. 40. ¥.8. They are wet with the foowers of the mountains, &c.} They that are without any clothes to cover them, lying down at the bottom of a hill or mountain, where the clouds often gather, and there break, or the fnow at the top of them melts thro’ the heat of the day; and whether by the one or by the other, large ftreams of water run down the mountains, and the naked poor, or fuch who are thinly clothed, are all over wet therewith, as Nebuchadnezzar’s body was with the dew of heaven, when he was driven from men, and lived among beafts: and embrace the rock for want of a foelter 5 or habitation, as the Zargum; having no houfe to dwell in, nor any raiment to cover them, they were glad to get into the hole of a rock, ina cave or den there, and where fome good men in former times were obliged to wander, Hed. xi. 38. and whither mean perfons in the time and country in which Fob lived, were driven to dwell in, fee ch. xxx. 6.

¥. 9. They pluck the fatherlefs from the breaft, &c.

Either on purpofe to ftarve it, which muft be extremely barbarous; or to fell it to be brought up a flave; or by obliging the mother to wean it before the due time, that fhe might be the better able to do work for them they obliged her to. Mr. Broughton renders the words, of mifchievoufne/s they rob the fatherlefs, that is, through the greatnefs of the mifchief they do, as Bex Gerfom interprets it; or through the exceeding mifchievous difpofition they are of, of which this is a flagrant inftance; or ** they rob the fatherlefS of what remains for him after {poiling *,” or devaftation, through the plunder of his father’s fubftance now dead, which was exceeding’ cruel: and take a pledge of the poor; either the poor himfelf, or his poor fatherlefs children, fee 2 Kings iv. 1. or what is upon the poor °, as it may be rendered; that is, his raiment, which was commonly taken for a pledge; and by a law afterwards eftablifhed in J/rael, was obliged to be reftored before fun-fet, that he might have a covering to fleep in, Exod. xxii. 26, 27. fee the note on echetexit 6.

¥. 10. They caufe him to go naked without clothing, &c.] Having taken his raiment from him for a pledge, or refufing to give him his wages for his work, whereby he might procure clothes to cover him, but that being with-held, is obliged to go naked, or next to it: and they take away the Joeaf from the hungry, the Vulgate Latin verfion renders it, ears of corn, fuch as the poor man plucked as he walked through a corn-field, in order to rub them in his hand,. and eat of, as the difciples of Chrift, with which the Phari/ees were offended, Luke vi. 1. and which, according to a law in Zfrael, was allowed to be done, Deut. xxili. 25. but now fo fevere were thefe wicked men to thefe poor perfons, that they took away from them fuch ears of corn: but itis more likely that this fheaf was what the poor had gleaned, and what they had been picking up ear by ear, and had bound up into a fheaf, in order to carry home and beat it out, and then prind the corn of it, and make a loaf of it to fatisfy their hunger; but fo cruel and hard-hearted were thefe men, that they took it away from them, which they had been all, or the greateft part of the day, picking up; unlefs it can be thought there was a cuftom in od’s country, which was afterwards a Jaw among the Fews, that if a fheaf was forgotten by the owner, and left in the field when he gathered in his corn, he was not to go back for it, and fetch it, but leave it to the poor, Deut. xxiv. 19. but thefe men would not fuffer them to have it, but took it away from-them; or the words may be rendered, as they are by fome, the hungry carry the fheaf *; that is, of their rich oppreffive mafters, who having reaped their fields for them, and ‘bound up the corn in fheaves, carry it home for them; and yet they do not fo much as give them food for their labour, or wages to purchafe food to fatisfy their hunger, and fo dealt with them worfe than the oxen were, according to the Yewi/b law, which were not to be muzzled when they trod out the corn, but might eat of it, Deut. xxv. 4. i y. 11. Which make oil within their walls, &c.] Not the poor within their own walls; as if the fenfe was, that they made their oil in a private manner within the walls of their houfes, or in their cellars, left it fhould be known and taken away from them; for fuch can’t be thought to have had olive-yards to make oil of; rather within the walls of their rich mafters, where they were kept clofe confined to their work, as if in a prifon; or within the walls and fences of their olive-yards, where their oliveprefies ftood; or beft of all within the rows of their

368 a their olive-trees, as the word fignifies, where having gathered the olives, they preffed out the oil in the tats; and this they did at noon, in the heat of the day, as the word ' for making oil is obferved by. fome to fignify, and yet had nothing given them to quench their thirft, as follows: and ¢read their wine-prefjes, and fuffer thirft; after having gathered their grapes from their vines for them, they trod them in the wine-prefles, and made their wine, and yet would not allow them to drink of it to allay their thirft.

¥. 12. Men groan from out of the city, &c.] Becaufe of the oppreflions and injuries done to them, fo that not only the poor in the country that were employed in the fields, and olive-yards, and vine-yards, were uled exceeding ill; butevenin cities, where not only are an abundance of people, and fo the outrages committed upon them, which made them groan, were done openly and publickly, with great infolence and impudence, but where alfo courts of judicature were held, and yet in defiance of law and juttice were thofe evils done, fee Eccl. iii. 16. and the foul of the wounded crieth out; that is, the perfons wounded with the fword, or any other inftrument of vengeance, {tabbed as they went along the public ftreets of the city, where they fell, thefe cried out vehemently as fuch perfons do; fo audacious, as well as barbarous, were thefe wicked men, that infulted and abufed them: yet God layeth not folly to them; it is for the fake of this obfervation, that the whole above account is given of wicked men, as well as what follows; that though they are guilty of fuch atrocious crimes, fuch inhumanity, cruelty and oppreffion in town and country, unheardof, unparalleled iniquities, fins to be punifhed by a judge, yet are fuffered of God to pafs with impunity. By folly is meant fin; not leffer fins only, little foolifh, trifling things, but greater and grofler ones, fuch as before expreffed; all fin is tolly, being the breach of a law which is holy, juft and good, and expofes to its penalty and curie; and againit God the lawgiver, who is able to fave and to deftroy; and as it is hurtful and prejudicial, either to the characters, bodies, or eftates of men, and efpecially to their immortal fouls; and yet God that charges his angels with folly did not charge thefe men with it; that is, he feemed in the outward dealings of his Providence towards them, as if he took no notice of their fins, but connived atthem, or took no account of them, and did not take any methods in his providence to fhew their folly, and convince them of it, nor difcover it to others, and make them publick examples, did not punifh them, but let them go on in them without controul; and this Yd obferves, in order to prove his point, that wicked men are not always punifhed in this life.

y¥.13. They are of thofe that rebel againft the light, &c.] The light of nature, acting contrary to the dictates of their own confciences, in being guilty of the inhumanity, barbarity and cruelty they were chargeable with in the above inftances; or the light of the law, as the Targum; though as yet the law of the ten commandments was not in being; or however was not known to thefe perfons; or againft God himfelf who is light, and in him no darknefs at all, is clothed with it, and is the father of lights unto his creatures, the light of lights, and the light of the world, from whom all light, natural, fin is a rebellion againft God, and betrays the enmity of the carnal mind to him, is an act of ho-

{tility againft him, and fhews men to be enemies | in their minds to him: ¢hey know not the ways thereof; the ways of light, but prefer the ways of darknefs to them; or the ways of God, the ways of his commandments, which he has preferibed for men, and direéted them to walk in; thefe they know not, are wilfully ignorant of, defire notthe knowledge of them, and will be at no pains to get any acquaintance with them; or they approve not of them, they are not pleafing to them, and they chufe not to walk in them: zor abide in the paths thereof, if at any time they are got into the paths jof light, truth and righteoufnefs, or in the ways of God’s commandments, and do a few good actions, they don’t continue therein, but quickly go out of the way again, leave the paths of righteoufnefs to walk in the ways of darknefs, Prov. ii. 13. Some interpreters underftand thefe words entirely of natural light, and of men who are like owls and bats that flee from the light, who are authors of the works of darknefs, and do what they do in — the dark fecretly, and hate the light, and don’t chufe to come unto it, that their deeds may not be reproved; and fo now Yed enters upon the account of another fett of men different from the former, who did what they did openly, in the face of the fun, and before all men; but thefe he is now about to defcribe, are fuch who commit iniquity fecretly - and privately, and inftances in the murderer, adulterer, and thief, in the following verfes.

y. 14. The murderer rifing with the light, &c.] -

The light of the morning, before the fun is rifen, about the time the early traveller is fet out on his journey, and men go to diftant markets to buy and fell goods, and the poor labourer goes forth to his work; then is the time for one that is ufed to commit robbery and murder, to rife from his bed, or from his lurking-place, in a cave, or a thicket, where he has lain all night, in order to neet with the above perfons: and fo killeth the poor and needy; takes away from them the little they have, whether money or provifions, and kills them becaufe they have no more, and that they may not be evidence againft him, it may be meant of the poor faints and people of God, whom the wicked flay out of hatred to them: and in the night is as as the thief does his work; or the as here is not a note of fimilitude or likenefs, but of reality and truth; and fo Mr. Broughton renders the words, and in the night be will be as a thief; in the morning he is a robber on the highway, and a murderer; all the day he is in his lurking-place, in fome haunt or another, fleeping or caroufing; and when the night comes on, then he aéts the part of a thief; in the morning he not only robs, but murders, that he mayn’t be detected; at night he only fteals, and not kills, becaufe men are afleep, and fee him not. Se Be ¥.15. The eye alfoof the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, &c.|} Not of the morning, which would not give him time enough to fatiate his luft, but of the evening, that he may have the whole night before him to gratify his impure defires, and that thefe may be indulged in the moft private and.

fecret manner; and having fixed the time in the ~ evening with his adulterefs, he waits with impafpiritual, and eternal, fprings; which is the fenfe of moft of the Fewifh commentators *; tience, and earneftly wifhes and longs for its com and every ing, and diligently looks out for the clofe and takes the firft opportunity of the darknefs of they can; the fame fins were committed, and the the evening to fet out on his adventure, fee Prov. vii. 7 — g. and the eye is particularly obferved, not only becaufe that is the inftrument by which, the twilight is difcerned, and is induftrioufly employed in looking out for it, but is full of adultery, as the apoftle Peter exprefles it, 2 Pet. ii. 14. it is what is the inlet to this fin, the leader-on to it, the caterer for it, and the nourifher and cherifher of it, fee ch. xxx.1. faying, no eye fhall fee me; no eye of man, which fuch an one is careful to guard againft; and efpecially the eye of the hufband of the adulterefs, whofe raging jealouty will not fpare the adulterer, but take revenge on him by an immediate difpatch of him. And few care to have it known by any, that they are guilty of this fin, becaufe it brings difhonour and reproach upon them, which cannot be wiped off; the fact of Abfalom going into his father’s concubines in the fight of all J/rae/, and lying with them in the face of the fun, is the moft notorious inftance of this kind to be read; ufually both fexes chufe the utmoft fecrefy. Potiphar’s wife took the opportunity to tempt Yo/eph when none of the men of the houfe were within; and when Ammon intended to force his fifter, he ordered all the men to be had out of the room: and moreover, the adulterer foolifhly fancies, that God fees him not, or at leaft is not concerned about that; though there is no darknefs where fuch workers of iniquity can hide themfelves from his all-feeing eye, the darknefs and the light are both alike to him. Thefe men are like the oftrich, which thrufting its head into a thicket, as Tertullian * obferves, fancies it is not feen; fo children cover their faces, and becaufe they fee none, think that no body fees them; and as weak and childifh a part do fuch aét, who imagine that their evil deeds, done in the dark, are not feen by him, before whom every creature is made manifetft, and all things are naked and open: and di/guifeth his face; puts a mafk upon it, that he may not be known by any he meets, when upon his amorous adventure, as harlots ufed to cover themfelves with a vail, Gen. XxXxviil. 14, 15.,

¥. 16. In the dark they dig thro’ boufes, which they had marked for themfelves in the day-time, &c. Which fome underftand of adultererslaft mentioned, who having obferved where beautiful women dwell, mark their houfes, and the way to them, and the beft way into them, and in the dark get in at windows, or by breaking open doors get to the perfons they luft after; but as fuch fteps would be neither fafe nor prudent, fo they are not neceffary; fuch fort of perfons get admittance in an eafier way, either by bribing fervants, or by a previous agreement with the adulterefs herfelf: rather this is to be underftood of the thief and his companions, before fpoken of; or defigns another fort of thieves, fuch as are guilty of burglary, houfe-breakers, who in the day-time go about and obferve fuch houfes as are full of money, plate, and rich goods, fee ch. iii. 15. and take diligent notice of the way to them, and which is the beft and eafieft part to get into them, and perhaps fet on them a private mark that they may know them; thefe they break up, the walls, or doors, or windows, and get in at them, and rob, and plunder, and carry off all fame methods of committing them were ufed, formerly as now; there was a law in J/rael concerning houfe-breaking, Exod. xxii. 2. and our Lord alludes to it, Matt. xxiv. 43, 44. Some render the words, they feal up, or fhut up themfelves in the day;“ in their caves, and dens, and lurking places, and don’t appear, and fcarce ever fee the light, and therefore it follows: they know not the light; it is feldom or ever feen by them, or they don’t approve of it, like it, and love it, being not for their purpofe; whilft it is light they can do nothing, that manifeftly difcovers and betrays them, and therefore they hate it; and in a figurative fenfe they know not, or do not approve of the light of nature, which checks and controuls fuch evil actions, and accufes them of them; nor the light of God’s word, or holy law, which forbids them, and therefore they defpife ir, and caft it away from them, and will.not be fubje&t to it; nor God himfelf, who is light, and againft whom their carnal minds are enmity; and whatever knowledge they have of him, or profefs to have, in works they deny him, and live without him, as atheifts in the world.

¥.17. For the morning is to them even as the Jhadow of death, &c.| It is as difagreeable, and as hateful, and as terrible to them as the groffeft and thickeft darknefs can be to others. The word JM is to be rendered either a/ike or altogether, and not even as in our verfion: the morning is to them equally or together”, that is, to the murderer, robber, thief, adulterer, and houfe-breaker, as the Joadow of death; alike difagreeable to them all; or the fhadow of death is to them together or alike as the morning; what the morning is to others, exceeding pleafant and delightful, that to them is the fhadow of death, or the darkeft night; they love darknefs rather than light: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the foadow of death; they are frightened unto death, they are in as great terror as a man is, to whom death is the king of terrors; and who is fenfible of the near approach of it, the plain and manifeft fymptoms of it being upon him: this is the cafe of the murderer, adulterer, and thief, when they are catched in the fat; or are known by fuch who are capable of giving notice of them, detecting them, and bearing witnefs againft them: or be, each and every one of thefe, knows the terrors of the foadow of death*, the darkeft night, which ftrikes terrors into others, is known by them, is delighted in by them, is familiar with them, and friendly to them, and is as pleafing as the brighteft day to others, y. 18. He is fwift as the waters, &c.] Or upon the face of the waters”; which fome interpret of another fett and fort of wicked men, guilty of like crimes, not on land, but upon the mighty waters; pirates, fuch that commit robberies upon the high feas, who generally chufe the fwifteft veffels to run from place to place for their prey, and to carry off their booty when purfued; whofe manner of life is deteftable to other perfons; and efpecially they are curfed by thofe on land, who fuffer by robbing the fhips of their goods they fend abroad; but thefe men beft like fuch a manner of life, and prefer it to any thing by land, to agriculture or cultivation of vineyards, which mt ay ee | ee 37° | J VO MS. they have no regard unto, as is. Bppbied to be i intimated by the following claufes;; but it is greatly to be queftioned, whether there were any fuch perfons, or that/fuch pra€tices obtained fo early as the times of od. Schultens thinks Sodomites are meant, who are moft profufe to luft, and flow in it like water, plow the accurfed field, by going after ftrange fiefh, and have no regard to lawful marriage, or honeft wives, comparable to vines and vineyards; but I fhould rather think thofe guilty of the fin of Ozan are meant, who have no regard to the propagation of pofterity. Others, as Ben Gerfom, are of opinion, that this refers to the above perfons, murderers, adulterers, and thieves; who, being confcious of their crimes and due deferts, and in danger of being taken up, and brought to jut punifhment, flee to the fea with all the Hafte they can, take fhipping, and go abroad into foreign parts; where they dwell in défolate and uncultitivated places of the earth, which are curfed, or nigh unto curfing, and never more fee pleafant fields, gardens, orchards; and vineyards: though others fuppofe that thefe words defcribe the temper and difpofition of fuch wicked perfons, who are wnftable as water, carried about as any light thing’upon the water with every «wind of tempta- ‘tion, run fwiftly into evil, and make hafte to commit fin; thoagh it feems beft of all, to interpret the words as fe fpecting the ftate of wicked men at death, who then pafs away fwiftly and fuddenly as gliding waters, and are lighter or fwifter than the waterssias Mr. Broughton renders the words: their portion is curjed in the earth; that part and portion of the good things of this world they have, is with a@curle; their very bleffings are curfed, and what they leave behind has a curfe entailed on it, and, jn procefs of time,’ is ‘blafted, and comes to nothing 3°for the’ curfe ofthe Lord isin the houfe of the wicked, Prov. iii. 33. be beboldeth not the way of -the vineyards; as in their life-time they had no ‘yegard:to*the way of good and'righteous men, of whom, Jarchi in’a myftical fenfe interprets the vineyards; fo at death they are taken away from all their worldly enjoyménts they fet their hearts upon; their: places know them no more, and: they no more fee their fields, and vineyards, and oliveyards, and'take*no more walks unto them nor in them..,. yotg. Drought and heat confume the fnow-waters, &c:] Melt the {now into water, and dry up that, which.is' done eafily; quicky,: and fuddenly: fo doth #he grave thofe. which have Fi nned; all have finned, but fome are more notorious’ finners than ‘others, as | thofe: here’meant; and‘all die ‘and are laid in ‘the grave, ‘and ‘are ‘confumed; hence the grave is called ‘the pit ‘of corruption aiid deftruction, ‘becatife bodies’ are: corrupted’ and deftroyed in it, and which is the cafe of all, both good and bad mens but the metaphor here uted to yexprels it by, of the.confumption'of fhow-water by drought and heats’ denotes either thac the death of thefe is fudden” and" violent, ‘and in fuch a manner are broughr'to the grave, confumed there; a fudden death; and befofe their time, and don’t out half the days, ‘which; “according to the courfe of naturey they might Hrave'lived 5 5 or it was’ expected by them and others they’ would; whereas they ate Jnatched away, as. the word fignifies, as fuddenly and violently as fhow-w waters are by the drought Reet Or elfe; “that their’ death is quick, ae ip ° perfons not, &c.] Here Job. ret tO g account of the fins of fo el ke that they die aa inthis’ par ke: I, a live 3 aid peaks aie b are barre ate eh cont a" ihm ill that they may bé | a d having no pleafure in them, a1 and ver. 18. and fome inter ingins, who 0 a; bore ¢ and eafy, as {ho ¥§ Quickly water as foon, and as eafily ¢ cp ie ' and heat 5 they do not Ii ie | g Unde r any pain; ‘they die i in their fal fr a eale, and quiet; which fenfe well feope and defign, - fee ch. xxi. 23.0 Some render the words, in the drough rob, and in the {now-waters*; that i all times and feafons of the year,’ fal ir ter; and this is their conftant trade and they are always at it, “lec the weather be will: and they fin unto the grave, of Ba continue in theic wicked courfe of lifé as Ie they live, until they are brought to the en live and die in fin. at) ¥. 20. The womb fall forget bim, &c.] } other that bore him; or his wife, by whom ji ad many children; or tHe friend, as Gerfom, who had a tender and affectionate refpeét for him; thefe all, and each of them, either becaufe of his wicket life and infamous death, care not to fpeak of him, but bury him in obitVicn?; or becaufe of his — juiet and eafy death, are not diftreffed with it, but oon for- - get him; unlefs this is to be underftood of the womb of the ear in which being buried, he’ Ties forgotten, to which the next claufe rees fome interpret it of God himfelf, th the fignification of mercy’; who, th felf, is rich and abundant in it, yet | for, nor fhews any favour to, fuch Sia 1; lie in the grave among thofe whom he re ne more, in a way of grace and favour, P the worm fhall feed funetthy on bim, for Soe QF ought to the grave at once, without any wa wal as emper, isa fine repaft for worms, his brea full of milk, and. his bones moiftened wit cue row, and full of flefh; or the worm is feveet, wita bim* he'feels no pain by its feeding « on him ‘and fo she fenfe is jaft the fame with that expre lion, the clods of the valley foall be fweet unto him ch. xxi. 33. be feall be 10 ‘more remembered, with any mark of honour and refpeét; his memory fhall rot with him, whilft the rightéous are had in everlafting remembrance; or rather dying a common, deat and not made a public example of: and wwithediels \ ball be broken ai a tree; that is, yi men, who aré wickednets’ irfelf, extremely wick ed and like to a trée, fometimes flourifhing Ga" profperity, having ‘an “affluence of — EF t this world, and always like barten.: a trees, with refpect’ to” grace ae thele: when the ax ‘of death i is ie me comes to nothing, and. their families a ari and fo they’ become’ dike trees ftruck. and lightening, and’ broken’ “inte ony vets; or, as the trees i in Egypt were. by the plague of hail, Exed. Ree ‘yt. a1. He evil:intreater tb the x. 371 and dignity, and increafes in wealth and riches, which he abufes to the hurt of others; fo that they flee from him and hide themfelvés, not caring to traft their life with him, Prov: xxviii. 28. or he rifeth up againft a man in an hoftile way, and againit whomfoever he does, they are in the utmoft jeopardy, and cannot be fecure of their lives; though this alfo is by fome interpreted as the punifhment of a wicked man, who, when he rifes in the morning, frufteth not bis own life‘, as the words may be rendered, and as they are inthe margin of our bibles’; but his life is in fufpence, being furrounded with a thoufand dangers, and has no aflurance of it, and is in continual fear, and often fears where no fearis; fee Deut. xxviii. 66. or, if a man rifes up againft him, the wicked tyrant and cruel oppreffor, he the tyrant is not fure of his life, bur may be flain by him that rifes up againft him; but the former fenfe is beft.

¥ 23, Though it be given him to be in fafety, &c.

or be gives bim®, that is, itis God gives the wicked man to be in fafety, notwithf{tanding all his wickednefs; for Job having defcribed the wicked man, now reprefents him as in the greateft profperity: fafety is of God in every refpect, not only the fafety of good men, both in a way of providence, and in a way of grace, but even of bad men; thofe.are often preferved from the incurfions and depredations of others, and their goods are kept, and they poffefs them in peace, and they dwell fecure and confidently without care. ‘The Vulgate Latin verfion is widely different, ‘* God gives him place of repentance, and he abufes it to pride;” though the Targum fomewhat agrees withit, ‘* he gives to him repentance, that he may truft, or be confident and be fupported:’’ fo God gave {pace to repent to. the old world; to whofe cafe fome Fewi/b writers apply the context, fee Gew. vi. 3. Luke xvii, 26, 27. whereon be refeth; being in profperity and fafety, he trufts to it, and depends upon it, it will ever be the cafe; he has much goods laid up for many years, and therefore fings requiem to his foul, faying, take thine eafe; to-morrow will be as this day, and much more abundant; things will always be as they are, or better: yet bis eyes.are upon their ways; or and his eyes*, that is, the eyes of God, which are upon all men good and bad; and upon all their ways and works; thefe are upon the wicked man and all his courfes; not to punifh him now - for his fins; for, though he fees all his wicked ac- times fignifies joining to, or being a companion of others, as in Prov. xiii. 20. hence various fenfes are given; fome, he joins himfelf to a barren wo man, that he may have no children, being not de firous of any; others, he joins himfelf to, and is a companion of harlots, who are commonly barren; and, like the prodigal, fpends his fubftance among them. Some interpreters take this and the following verfe, as expreffive of the punifhment of wicked men; -fo Mr. Broughton renders the words, be adjoineth the barren*, and gives the fenfe of them thus; God fends after him a barren wife, that he fhall have no. help by children; but, though a numerous offspring has been reckoned an outward happinefs,and not to have any an infelicity, yet it has been the cafe of many good men and women to be childlefS; wherefore love and hatred are not known ‘hereby: befides, fuch a fenfe is contrary to the fcope and defign of Fob, which is to prove, that wicked men often go unpunifhed in this life; wherefore, rather the meaning is, that a wicked man ufes ill fuch, who having not only loft their hufbands, but having been barren, and fo childlefs, have none to take their part, and to protect and defend thém from the abufes of fuch men: the Targum renders the word, be breaketh, and fo fome underftand it *; he breaketh the barren, tears them to pieces; “ruins and deftroys them, as to their outward fubftance, becaufe they have no children to help them; with which agrees what follows, and doth not good to the widow; does not make her glad and chearful, as od did, who made the widow’s heart to fing for joy, ch. xxix. 13, does not relieve and affift her when in diftrefs, either by counfel and advice, or by adminiftring to her neceffities; but on the contrary, afflicts and opprefies her; takes her ox, or her raiment for a pledge, and plunders her-houfe, and devours the fubftance of it; for more is intended than is exprefled.

y. 22. He draweth alfo the mighty with bis power, &c.}| Such a wicked man not only mal-treats the weak, the helplefs, and the defencelefs, but even attacks the mighty and powerful; fuch as are in great power and authority, and abound in wealth and riches, only fomewhat inferior in both to himfelf; wherefore, by his fuperior force, he draws

_ them ‘to be of his party, to join with him in. aéts of rapine and violence, oppreffion and cruelty; or he draws them by power or policy, or by both, as the wicked man does the poor with his net, Pf. x. g. and fo makes a prey of him and his fubftance. Some underftand this of the punifhment of wicked men, and interpret it, as Jarchi does, of God’s drawing him to punifhment; God fometimes does indeed draw and hurl the mighty from their feats; though they are fet in high, yet in flippery places, and are brought down to deftruétion in a moment; and he will draw them all to his judgment-feat hereafter, whether they will or no, and fend them into everlafting punifhment; but the former fenfe is beft: he rifeth up, and no man is fure of life; he rifes up in the morning, either from his bed, or from his lurking-place,. where he was._all night _with a murdering intention, and no man he, meets _with is fafe, but in the utmoft danger of his life, ver. 14. or, he rifes in the world to great power tions, not one efcapes his notice, yet he lays not folly to him, nor charges him with it, nor inflicts punifhment on him for it; nay, his eyes are upon him to profper and fucceed him in all he does; which is the ufual fenfe of the phrafe, unlefs where there is, an explanation, or any thing faid to fhew the contrary; fee Deut. xi. 12. Some give a different fenfe.of the words,.as that fuch that fear the wicked man give him gifts; that they may be in fafety, in which they truft; or he gives them lis hand, or his word, or ‘both, that they fhall be, on which they rely; but his eyes are upon them, watching their ways and works, to take every opportunity and advantage againft them; but the former is beft...,.. ¥.24..Tbey are exalted for.a little while, &c.] To feats of honour, to places of profit and truft, to great. wealth and riches, to be highly efteemed

372 I, 8 among men, and to have a large affluence of the. good things of life, fee Mal. iii. 15. though this exaltation, dignity, and glory, wealth and riches, laft but for a little time; this life at longeft being but fhort, like a vapour that appears, and foon vanifhes away; and then al] a man’s honours, and glory, riches and fubftance, are at an end, who is foon cut down as the grafs, and withers as the green herb, P/ xxxvii. 2. but as this pretty much falls in with the fentiment of Zéphar, or feems to do fo, ch. xx. 5. rather this phrafe, for a little what befals the reft of mankind; all die, and muft die, and all are brought to the grave, and laid in that, and fhut up in it, which is the houfe appointed for all living: and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn; when they are fully ripe at harveft-time; it - being ufual in fome places, as I have fomewhere read, when they gather their corn, only to cut off the ears of corn at the top, which is very eafily and quickly done; and {fo this may denote the quiet and eafy death of wicked men, and when they are come to a full age, and are like a fhock of corn in its while and they are gone, out of the world, to their own place, and death puts an end to all their pro-

¥. 25. And if it be not fo now, &c.] If this is not the cafe of men of fuch wicked lives as above fperity, to all their outward enjoyments, which yet defcribed, do not profper in the world, and increafe they retain till death: or they are not‘; in the land of the living, in their houfes and fhops, and places of trade and commerce; they are no more about their bufinefs, and in their callings of life, nor in the poffeflion of their worldly eftates; the places which knew them, know them no more 3 and this comes to pafs in a very little time; their honour is fhort-lived, and their earthly portion is not for ever: and brought Jow; not diminifhed in their fub- {tance in life, nor leffened in their honour and grandeur, nor are brought into poverty and dif- in riches, and do not pafs through the world with impunity, and die quietly, in the full pofleffion of their honour and wealth: who will make me a liar? where is the man, Jet him ftand forth and appear, and difprove what has been faid, and make our the doétrine delivered to be falfe doétrine, and a lie? for no lie is of the truth: aud make my /peech nothing worth, vain, ufelef$, and unprofitable; truth is valuable, like gold, filver, and precious ftones; but error is as wood, hay, and ftubble, and nothing worth, yea, to be detefted and rejected; or let srace; but are brought at laft to death, and Jow in the grave, and are fed upon by worms, and reduced to rottennefs and duft: they are taken out of the way, as all others; out of the world, by death, laidjhim make what I have faid to ftand for nothing’; let him fhew if he can, that it is impertinent, and not to the purpofe, that it does not prove the point for which it is brought: thus and out of the way of others; who come in their room, and were hoping for their death, and waiting for their pofts of honour, and places of profit, or

Job was willing to have what he had faid tried by every method that could be made ufe of, that it might appear whether what he had faid for their worldly eftates; and out of the way of doing more mifchief, and efpecially to good men: or they are clofed or fout up *; that is, in the grave, was true or falfe, worthy to be regarded, or worthlefs; and he here bids defiance to his friends, or to any other, and triumphs over them, as having where they lie imprifoned until the refurreétionmorn, and out of which prifon none can releafe themfelves; nor will they be releafed, until Chrift, who has the keys of the grave, unlocks it, and fets the prifoners free; but then all this is no other than gained his point; and, as it appears by the fequel, he had, at leaft in a great meafure, and however with refpect to this matter, that good men are affli€ted in this life, and wicked men profper; of which there are many inftances.

ae fuch an one as itis; in which, declining the controverfy between them, he endeavours to diffuade him from attempting to lay his caufe before God, and think to juftify himfelf before him, from the confideration of the majefty of God, defcribed by the dominion he is pofleffed of; the fear creatures ftand in of him; the peace he makes in his high places; the number of his armies, and the vaft extent of his light, ¥. 1, 2, 3. and from the impoffibility of man’s being juftified with him, or clean before him, argued from thence, ¥. 4. and which is farther illuftrated by a comparifon of the celeftial bodies with men, and by an argument from the greater to the lefs, that if they lofe their luftre and purity in his fight, much more man, a mean, defpicable worm, ¥. 5, 6.

y.1. Then anfwered Bildad the.Shuhite, &c.] Not to what ob had juft now delivered, in order to-difprove that, that men, guilty of the groffeft crimes, often go unpunifhed in this life, and profper and fucceed, and die in peace and quietnefs, as other men; either becaufe he was convinced of the truth of what he had faid, or elfe becaufe he

HIS chapter contains Bi/dad’s reply to ‘fob,)thought he was an obftinate man, and that it was beft to Jet him alone, and fay no more to him, fince there was no likelihood of working any conviétion on him; wherefore he only tries to pofiefs his mind of the greatnefs and majefty of God, in order to deter him from applying to God in a judicial way, and expecting redrefs and relief from him; and faid as follows. ¥.2. Dominion and fear are with him, &c.} Not with man, as Sephorno interprets it, as that with him is power to rule over the imagination (the evil figment of his heart) to chufe the good, and refufe the evil; and with him is fear of punifhment, and alfo the fear of God to reftraimhim from evil; but with God, as may eafily be perceived from the whole context, though his name is not exprefied in this claufe, and not till ¥. 4. this dominion he is poffefled of is univerfal; his kingdom rules over all, over all the angels, good and bad; over all men, over all the nations of the world, and the great men in it, the kings and princes of it; and over all, of every age, fex, and condition: and it is abfolute and uncontroulable; he governs according to his will, and is not to be controuled in his ways; nor is he accountable to any for what he does,

_ Ch.xxv. ¥. 3—s5; does, and his kingdom is an everlafting one, and his dominion for ever and ever: and by the fear that is with him, is not meant actively, with which he fears; for he is afraid of none, be they ever fo great and mighty, ch. xxii. 4. but paffively, with which he is feared; for holy and reverend is his name, and fo his nature, and all that belong to him; he is feared by the angels in heaven, who cover their faces before him, and caft their crowns at his feet, and by the faints on earth, in whofe affemblies he is ferved with reverence and godly fear; and fhould be ftgod in awe of by all the inhabitants of the world, becaufe of the glory of his nature, the greatnefs of his works, and the goodnefs of his providence: fle maketh peace in bis bigh places; in the high places of his earth, and among the great men of it, creating and commanding peace, and caufing war among them to ceafe, whenever it is his pleafure; and in the regions of the air, where, though there are often thunder and lightening, ftorms and tempefts of wind, hail and rain, yet, when he fays, Peace, be {ftill, all is ferene and quiet; and in the orbs of the heaven, the fun, moon, and ftars, which know their appointed times and feafons, and keep their place or courfe, and do their work and office in the eafy and moft chearful manner; and among the angels in the higheft heaven, which are properly his high places, whp, though their numbers are fo great, and they themfelves thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, and have various offices and different work affigned them, readily do his will, and are in the utmoft harmony and concord among themfelves, fhew no reluctance to him, nor any difcord to each other > now Bz/dad would have Fob confider whether he could think himfelf fo fignificant, that cognizance would be taken of him and his caufe, by fo great, glorious, and majeftic a Being; or, that he would fuffer his high places, where peace reigned, to be difturbed by his noife and brawl.

¥. 3. Is there any number of bis armies? &c.] His armies in heaven, the heavenly hoft of angels, which are innumerable; there are more than twelve legions of them, thoufand and ten thoufand times ten thoufand, employed in a military way, for the fafery and prefervation of the faints; fee Gew. xxxii. 3, 2. Pf. xxxiv. 7, and the fun, moon, and ftars, often called the hoft of heaven, the latter of which cannot be numbered, and which fought in their courfes againft Sifera, Fudg. v. 20. and his armies on earth, all the inhabitants of it; yea, every creature, even the fmalleft infect in it, which are without number: thus, frogs, lice, flies, and locufts, were the armies of God, with which he fought againtt Pharaoh and the Egyptians, fee ‘Foel ii. 11.,

20. and upon whom doth not bis light arife? either natural light, that grand luminary the fun, which rifes on all, the evil and the good, nor is any thing hid from the light and heat of it; or moral light, the light of nature, with which every one that comes into the world is enlightened by him; or the light of providential goodnefs, which is unto all, and over all his creatures; the whole earth is full of it, and all the inhabitants have a fhare in it; nor is any thing hid from his all-piercing, all-penetrating, all-feeing eye, who is light itfelf, and dwells in light inacceffible, and from which light nothing can be hid.

lumen foum in modum tentorii, Complutenfes apud Bolduc,

¥.4. How then can man be Jufified with God?] Since he fees all his ways and works, his fecret as well as open fins; either be more juft than he, as E#- phaz expreffes it, ch. iv. 17. which no man in his fenfes will fay; or juft as he is, and upon a level with him, or in comparifon of him, or before him, and in his fight: and this is what ¥od himfelf denies, ch. ix. 2. for however righteous a man may be in his own fight, or in the fight of others, he cannot of himfelf be juftified in the fight of God; nor can any be juftified with him by his’ own righteoufnefs, becaufe the beft righteoufnefs of man is imperfect; and, if Bi/dad thought this was the fentiment of ob, he miftook him; for, what he meant by coming to the feat of God, and ordering his caufe before him, ch. xxiii. 2, 3. to which Bildad feems to refer, and being judged by him, when he doubted not but he fhould be acquitted, was no other than the jutftification of his caufe, and not of his perfon before God; or that he fhould be cleared of the imputation of hypocrify, and of being the finner and wicked man, and guilty of very bad things, though fecret and private, for which he was afflicted; for otherwife ‘70d knew full well that he could not be juftified with God by his own perfonal righteoufnefs, for he knew himfelf to be a finner, and owns it; nor did he think himfelf. perfect, and his righteoufnefs a compleat one; and therefore he expected not to be juttified by it; he knew his living Redeemer, and believed in him for righteoufnels, and expected the juftification of his perfon, and his acceptance with God, only by him; and in this way there are many that are juftified with God fecretly, in foro dei, in the court of God, and in his fight, who always beholds his people as righteous in Chrift, and openly, in foro con{cientia, in the court of confcience, when the believe in him; and who will be publicly juftified, and declared righteous at the day of judgment: or how can ke be clean that 1s born of a woman? which fuggefts a doctrine, that Fob as firmly believed as Bildad did, that all men are unclean by natural generation, or as they are born into the world;_ their anceftors being fuch, the more immediate, and the more remote, which may be traced up to the firft man and woman, ch. xiv. 4. fo that as no man is clean and pure as God is, or in comparifon of him, or in his fight; they can neither be naturally clean, nor fo of themfelves, by any means or methods they can make ufe of; but then they may be, as many are, clean by the blood of Chrift, and’ grace of God, through which his people are cleanfed from all their fins, and all their iniquities, and are without fpot beforethe throne and inthe fight of God. ¥. 5. Bebold even to the moon, &c.] If all things that are glorious and illuftrious in the lower world, and which are between that and the region of the moon, are beheld; or all from the feat of the divine majefty, down to that glorious luminary, are viewed, they lofe all their luftre and brightnefs, when compared with the divine Being; and it, even that itlelf /hineth not; it is darkened, confounded, and afhamed; it hides its beautiful face, and draws in its borrowed and ufeful light, at the approach of him, who is light itfelf, and in whom is no darknefs at all: or ét tabernacles not”, has no tabernacle to abide in, as is faid of the fun, P/. xix. 4. or does not expand and fpread its light, as a tent® or tabernacle is fpread; it does not diffufe, but contracts it.

it. No mention is made of the fun, not becaufe that fhines in its own light, which the moon does not; but perhaps, becaufe the controverfy between Fob and his friends was held in the night, when the moon and the ftars were only feen, and therefore only mentioned; otherwife, what is here obferved equally holds good of the fun as of the moon; fee If. xxiv. 23. yea, the flars are not pure in his Jight; as there are {pots in the fun and in the moon, feen by the eye of man, aided and affifted, fo fuch may-be feen by God in the ftars alfo, and in thefe, both in a natural and in a myfttical fenfe; as by them may be meant the angels of heaven, even thofe are not pure in the fight of God, and in comparifon of him, the moft perfectly pure and holy Being; fee ch. iv. 18. and xv. 15. y¥. 6.° How much lefs man, that is a worm, &c.] Whofe original is of the earth, dwells in it, and is righteoufnefs of Chrift, by which he can be only and, if the celeftial bodies above-mentioned areeclipfed of all their brightnefs and glory, in the prefence of God; what a contemptible figure muft ~ man make in the court of heaven, who, in comparifon of them, is but a worm, and much more fo, as appearing before God? and the fon of man, which is 4 worm; which is repeated with a little variation for the confirmation of it; or it may fignify, that even the firft man was no other than of the earth earthy, and fo are all his fons. The Targum is, ** how much more man, who in his life is a reptile, and the fon of man, who ih his death is a worm?” to which may be added, that he is in his grave a companion for the worms; and fupported by it, and creeps into it again; who is impure by nature and by practice, weak and impotent to do any thing that is fpiritually good, to defend himfelf from his fpiritual enemies; and is mean and defpicable, as even the beft of men are, in their own eyes, and in the eyes of the world: aad, if the beft of men are comparable to fuch creatures, and our Lord himfelf, in human naindeed it appears by the obfervations made through microfcopes, that man, in his firft itate of genera- * or tion, is really a worm?; fo that, as Piiny fays*, one that is a judgeof things, may pity and be afhamed of the forry original of the proudeft of animals. By this thort reply of Bildad, and which contains. little more than what had been before faid, it is plain that he was tired of the controverfy, and glad ture, was content to be called a worm, and no to give out. vies

N this chapter Yob, in a very farcaftic manner, rallies Bi/dad on the weaknefs and impertinence of his reply, and fets it in a very ridiculous fhewing it to be quite foolifh and ftupid, and at all to the purpofe, and befides, was none of own, but what he had borrowed from another, ver, 1—z. and if it was of any_avail in the to fpeak of the greatnefs and majefty of God; of his perfections and attributes; of his. ways and works, he could fay, greater. and more glorious things of God than he had done, and as he.does, yis the all-wife God, and never confults with any of: fhis creatures, or admits them to be of his counlight;'cil; and as if his effence*, or what be is, as he is, not had been very copioufly and plentifully declared in hisja few words by him; in fuppofing which he mutt be guilty of the greateft arrogance, ftupidity, and controverfy, folly; and. therefore he afks him, who it was he uttered | fuch things unto, and by whofe fpirit he mutt be aided in io doing? fee ch. xiii. 7, 8. orelfe 7od.refers.to the caufe undertaken by Bildad; and which he, in a farcaftic way, reprefents asa very weak and feeble one, that had neither {trength nor wifdom in it, and was. as weakly and \as\foolifhly fupported, or rather was entirely neglected and deferted, Bildad having wholly declined thething in controverfy, and faid not one word of it; therefore Fob ironically afks him, in what, or wherein bat ver. 5-13. beginning at the lower parts of the creation, and gradually afcending to the fuperior and celeftial ones; and concludes with obferving, that after all, it was but little that was known of God and his ways, by himfelf, by Bi/dad, or by any mortal creature, ¥. 14.

wet thou helped‘? what good haft thou done to this y. 1. But Job anfwered, and faid, &c.] In a very fharp and biting manner: one would wonder, that! a man in fuch circumftances, fhould have fo much keennefs of {pirit, and deal in fo much irony, and be! matter of fo much fatire, and be able to laugh at his antagonift in the manner he does; avd poor tottering caufe of your’s? or what. light haft thou thrown upon it? and to what purpote is any thing that has been faid by thee? Some are of opinion, that od refers to Bildad’s friends, whom he reprefents as weak and ftupid, as men of no argument, and had no ftrength of reafoning, and were

¥.2. How haft thou belped him that is without power, &c.} This and the two following verfes either are to be underftood of God, as many do, by reading the words, «who baft thou, helped, God'? a. fine advocate for him thou art reprefenting him as,if he was without power, and-could not help himéfelf, but ftood in need of another; as if he had. no arm, and could. not fave and protect himfelf, ‘but needed one to-rife and ftand up in his behalf, when he is God omnipotent, and jhas.

mighty, and there is none like his; and, as if he wanted wifdom, and one to.counfel him, when he not to Bildad him{elf? for the fenfe of the queftion agreeable enough to the original text, may be put after this manner; a fine patron and defender of acaufe thou art; thou canft help and fave a dying, caufe without power, and with ae fh yoth-. lefs arm, or withour any, force of argument, or f{trength, of reafoning; thou canft. give counfel without..any wifdom, without any thew or fhare of it, and in half a dozen lines fet the thine se an arm ftrong, andytrue light, juft as itis and fhould be 5 a wonderful man indeed thou are! though Ich catlieds with fuch interpreters, who underftand the wh as poorly affifted and defended by Bildad; but, why —

Ch. XXVL y. I, Pe.; man; what muft the worft of men be, or man be? Ma in and of himtelf, without the grace of God and-

Ch. xxvi. ¥3 35s FF: Oo 2B. | £ae of Fob himfelf, who was without might and power, a weak and feeble creature in body and mind, being prefled and broken with the weight of his affliction, but was poorly helped, fuccoured, ftrengthened, and comforted with what Bi/dad had faid: is the duty of all good men, and it is what Yob himfelf had done in former times, to ftrengthen weak hands and feeble knees, by fympathizing with perfons under affliction, by bearing their burdens and infirmities, by {peaking comfortably!good unto them, and telling them what comforts they {tanding of things, but what he had borrowed from E/ipbaz; for he had delivered very little more than what Eiiphaz had faid, ch. iv. 17, 18. and xv. 14, 15. or elfe the fenfe is, whole fpirit has beer it)reftored, revived, refrefhed, and comforted by what thou haft faid? The word of God has fuch efficacy as to reftore the foul, to revive it when drooping, and as it were {wooning away and dying, fee P/ xix, 7. and xxiii. 3. and the words of fome men are fpirit and life, the favour of life unto life, and-are as life from the dead, very re- themfelves have received under afflictions, fee ch. iv. 3, 4. but miferable comforters of ob were Bildad and his friends: how faveft thou the arm that hath zo ftrength? the fenfe is the fame as before, that he had done nothing to relieve Zod in his bodily or foul-diftreffes, and fave him out of them; nor had contributed in the leaft towards his fupport under them; and be it that he was as weak in his intellectuals as he and his friends thought him to be, and had undertaken a caufe which he had not ftrength of argument to defend; yet, what had he done to convince him of his miftake, and fave him from the error of his way?

¥.3. How'haft thou counjelled him that hath zo frefhing and comforting; but no fuch effect followed on what Bildad had faid. Mr. Broughton renders the words, whofe foul admired thee? thou mayeft admire thyfelf, and thy friends may admire. thee, at leaft thou mayeft think they do, having faid in thine own opinion admirable things; but who elfe does? for myown part I do not; and, if faying great and glorious things of God are to any purpofe in the controverfy between us, I am capable of {peaking greater and better things than what have been delivered; and for inftance, let the following be attended to.

¥.5. Dead things are formed from under the waters, &c.] It is difficult to fay what things are here wifdom? &c.| A man deprived of wifdom has|meant; need of countel, and it fhould be given him; and he does well both to afk and take it; -and be it fo, as if ob fhould fay, that 1am the foolifh and unwife creature you tdéke me to be, what counfel advice have you given me? what a wife counfellor have you fhewn yourfelf to be?

miferable part have you acted under this character? and how bajt thou plentifully declared the thing as it is? the thing in controverfy, fet it forth in aclear light, and in a copious manner, when he had not faid one word about it, namely, concerning the affictions of the godly, and the profperity of the| wicked; thus jeering at him, and laughing at the fhort reply he had made, and which was nothing to it may be underftood of /ifé/e/s things, as Mr. Broughton renders it; things that never had any life, things inanimate, that never had at leaft an animal life, though they may have a vegetable andjone., and fo may be interpreted of grains of corn, and which indeed die before they are quickened; or rather, what ajto which both Chriff and the apoftle allude, Fobz xii. 24. 1 Cor. xv. 36. and which, as they cannot grow without water, and their fructification and increafe are owing to the earth being plentifully watered with rain, may be faid to be formed under the waters; and of thefe 4dem Ezra and Ben Gerom interpret the words; and the latter alfo makes mention of herbs, plants, and trees in the fea, particularly almug trees, as being probably intended;

¥.4. To whom haft thou uttered words? &c.] That others know not; doft thou think thou art talking to an ignorant man? be it known to thee, that he knows as much, and can fay as much of the divine Being, of his glories, and of his wondrous ways and works as thyfelf, or more? or doft thou confider the circumftances he is in thou art fpeaking to? one under great affliction and diftrefs, to whom it muft be unfuitable to talk of the greatnefs and majefty of God, of his power, and ftrength, of his purity, holinefs, and ftrict juftice; it would have been more proper and pertinent to have difcourfed concerning his loving-kindnels, grace, and mercy, his pity and compaffion towards his afflicted people, his readinefs to forgive their fins, and overlook their failings; and concerning the promifed Redeemer, his righteoufnefs and facrifice, and of the many inftances of divine goodnefs to the fons of men, and in fuch like circumftances, by raifing them up again, and reftoring them to their former happinefs. Some things of this nature would have been more pertinent and fuitable, and would have been doing both a wife and friendly part: and whofe /pirit came from thee? Not the fpirit of God; doft thou think thyfelf infpired by God? or that what thou hatft faid is by the infpiration of his Spirit? or that thou to which may be added, corals, and other feaplants, formed from under the waters; yea, fome make mention of woods and forefts there; but the Jaft mentioned writer feems inclined to think, that metals and minerals may be intended; and it is well known, that much of gold is taken out of rivers, as alfo pearls and precious ftones; and that iron is taken out of the earth, and brafs molten out of ftone; and that the feveral metals and minerals are dug out of mountains and hills, from whence fountains and rivers flow; but as the word ufed has the fignification of fomething gigantic, it has inclined others to think of fea-monfters, as of the great whales which God made in the feas, and the leviathan he has made to play therein: aud or with the inhabitants thereof, the innumerable company of fifhes, both of the larger and leffer fort, which are all formed\in and under the waters: but why may not giants themfelves be defigned, fince the word is fometimes, ufed of them, Deut. ii. 11. and iii. 11. and fo the Vulgate Latin, and the Septuagint verfion here render the word, and may refer to the giants that were before the flood, and who were the caufes of filling the world with rapine and violence, and fo of bringing the flood of waters upon it; in which they perifhed with the inhabitants thereof; or their neighbours; of whom fee Gev. vi. 4. and vii, 23, and the fpirits of thefe being in prifon, in fpeakeft like fuch who are moved by the Holy Ghoft? nor indeed was it his own fpirit, or the words and things uttered were not of himfelf, or flowed not from his own knowledge and under-'be hell, as the apoftlePeter fays, 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20. which is commonly fuppofed to be under the earth, and fo under the waters, in which they perifhed; they may reprefented as in pain and torment, and groaning meant, which expands itfelf every where, and is and trembling undet the fame, 4s the wotd hete But if the nor- ufed is by fome thought to fignify, and is fo rendered '; though as the word Repbaim is often ufed of dead men, Pf: Ixxxviii. ro. Jf, xiv. 9. and xxvi:

of great ufe to the whole earth. thern hemifphere is meant, as a learned * man expreffes it, it ‘* was not only principal as to Fob’s

14, 19. it may be underftood of them here; and have refpeét to the formation of them anew, or refpeét, and the pofition of Arabia, but becaufe this hemifphere is abfolutely fo indeed, ’tis principal to their refurrection from the dead, when the earth fhall caft them forth; and efpecially of thofe whofe graves are in the fea, and who have been buried in the waters of it, when that fhall deliver up the dead that are therein, Rev. xx. 13. which will be a wonderful inftance of the mighty power of God. The Targumift feems to have a notion of this, or at leaft refers unto it, paraphrafing the words thus, ** is it poffible that the mighty men (or giants) vided by the middle line, the northern half hath a {trange fhare of excellency; we have more earth, more men, more ftars, more day (the fame alfo Sephorno, a Fewifh coitimentator on the place obferves) and which is more than all this, the north pole is more magnetical than the fouth:”” though the whole celeftial fphere may be intended, the principal being put for the whole; even that whole fhould be created (i. e: recreated Or regenerated; that is, raifed from the dead); feeing they are under the waters, and their armies?”

¥. 6. Hellis naked before him, &c.) Which may be taken either for the place of the damned, as _ it fometimes is; and then the fenfe is, that though it is hidden from men, and they know not where it is, or who are init, and what is done and fuffered there; yet it is all known to God: he knows the place thereof; for it is made, ordained, and prepared by him; he knows who are there; even all the wicked dead, and all the nations that forget God, being ¢aft there by him; he knows the torments they endure, for the fmoke of them continually afcends before him; and he knows all their malice and envy, their enmity to him, and blafphemy of him; for thither are they gone down with their weapons of war, and have laid their fwords under their heads, Ezek. xxxii. 27: or for Hades, the invifible world of fpirits, or ftate of the dead, as the Septuagint verfion renders the word; though that is unfeen to men, itis naked and open to the eye of Gods or for the grave, in which the bodies of menare laid; which is the frequent fenfe of the word ufed, Pf Ixxxviii. 11, 12. If. xxxviii. (8. and though this is a land of darknefs, and where the light is as darknefs, yet God can look into it; and the duft of men therein is carefully obferved and preferved by him, and will be raifed again at the laft day; who has the keys of death and hell, or the grave, and can open it at his pleafure, and caufe it to give up the dead that are therein: and deftrmiion hath no covering; and may expanfion, or firmament of heaven, which has its name from being ftretched out like a curtain, or canopy, over the earth; which was done when the earth was Zobu, empty of inhabitants, both meni and beafts, and was without form and void, and had no beauty in it, or any thing growing on it 5 fee Gen. i. 24, 6, 7, 8. and hangeth the earth upon nothing; as a ball in the air*, poifed with its own the whole; for as the heavens and the earth are di-~ weight, or kept in this form and manner by the - centre of gravity; and fo fome Fewifh writets * interpret wothing of the center of the earth, and which ts nothing but ems rationi3, a figmentand imagination of the mind; or rather the eafth is held tos gether, and in the pofition it is, by its own magnetic virtue, it being a loadftone itfelf; and as thé above learned writer obferves, ‘‘ the globe confifteth by a magnetical dependency, from which the parts cannot poffibly ftart afide; but which, howfoever thus ftrongly feated on its center and poles; is yet faid to hang upon nothing; becaufe the creator in the beginning thus placed it within the Tobu, as it now alfo hangeth in the air; which itfelf alfois nothing as to any regard of bafe or fuftentation.” In fhort, what the foundations are on whieh it is laid, or the pillars by which it is fuftained, cannot be faid, except the mighty power and providence of God. The word uted feems to come from a root, which inthe Syriac and Chaldee languages fignifies to bind and reftrain; and may defign the expanfe or atmofphere, fo called from its binding and com: prefing nature, Sy in or within which theearth is hung; fee P/- xxxii. 9.

¥. 8. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds,

defign the fame as before, either hell, the place of 8&c.] The clouds are of his making; when he ur- the damned, where men are deftroyed foul and body with an everlafting deftruction; or the grave, which the Targum calls the houfe of deftruction, as it fometimes is, the pit of deftruction and corruption; becaufe bodies caft into it corrupt and putrify, and are deftroyed in it; and there is nothing to cover either the one or the other from the-all-feeing eye of God; fee P/. CXxxix. 7—10. Prov. xv. 11. as hell is fuppofed to be under the earth, and the grave is in it, od is as yet on things below, and from hence rifes to tholfe above, in the following words.

y. 7. He ftretcheth out the north over the empty place, &c.] The northern hemifphere, which is the chief and-beft known, at leaft it was in the time of Fob, when the fouthern hemifphere might not e known atall; though if our verfion of ch. ix. g. isright, od feems to have had knowledge of it. Scheuchzer “ thinks the thick air fartheft north is ters his voice, or gives the word of command, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and the vapours he exhales from the ends of the earth and forms them into clouds, and they are his chariots, in which he rides up and down in the heavens, and waters his gardens and plantations on earth; fee Fer. x. 13. Pf. civ. 3. which may be faid to be thick in comparifon of the air, in which they are; otherwife they are but thin, and the thinner they are, the greater wonder it is, that the waters, and fuch a heavy body of them, fhould be bound up in them, as there oftenis; and which is bound up, held, and retained therein, as any thing bound up in a fack or bag, or in a garment, or the fkirt of a man’s coat; fee Prov.-xxx. 4. and what is ftill more marvellous: and the cloud is not rent under them, under the waters, and through the weight of them; which if it was, would fall in vaft water-fpouts, and were fuch to fall upon the earth,

‘wonderful reftraint that is laid upon them; which as it may be fuppofed they did at the general de: luge, they would deftroy man and beaft, and wath off and wath away the things of the earth: but God has fo ordered it in his infinite wifdom, and by his almighty power, that clouds fhould not be thus rent, but fall in {mall drops and gentle fhowefs, as if they pafled througha fieve or colander, whereby the earth is refrefhed, and made fruitful; fee Zod XXxXvi. 26—29. and xxxvii. 16:

¥.9. He boldeth back the face of his throne, &c.] His throne is the heaven of heavens; the face of it, or what is before it, is the ftarry and airy heavens; this face of his throne is fometimes held back, or covered with clouds, that fo his throne is fo far from being vifible, that even the face of it, or the outfide er external appearance of it, is not to be feen. as follows: and /preadeth bis cloud upon it; and bothhe and his throne are invifible; clouds and darknefs are round about him, and his pavilion round about are dark waters, and thick clouds of the fkies, Pf. xvili. 11. and xcvii. 2. and even the light in which he dwells, and with which he clothes himfelf is impervious to us, and is fo dazzling, that itfelf covers and keeps back himfelf and throne from being feen by mortals. The Targum tuggefts, that what is here faid to be done, is done that the angels may not. feeit; but thefe always ftand before the throne of God, and always behold the face of God himfelf.

y¥. 10. He hath compaffed the waters with bounds, &c.] Not the waters above the firmament, compafled by that, as if %od was contemplating on and difcourfing about what is done in the heavens above; thoughthe Targum feems to incline to this fenfe, paraphrafing the words, ‘* he hath decreed that the firmament fhould be placed upon the face of the waters unto the end of light, with darknefs;” but the waters of the fea, Fob defcending now to confider the waters of the great deep, and the