fhall never depart; and the covenant he has made, which fhall never become void; wherefore as long as they remain, the fea and its waters will be bounded as not to overflow the earth, Gem. viii. 22. Fer. XXXi. 34, 36. and xxxiii. 20, 25. or until the end of light with darknefs*, until both thefe have an end in the fame form and manner they now have; otherwife aftet the end of all things there,will be light in heaven, and: darknefs inhell. ben Ezra interprets it thus, ‘* unto the place which is the end of light, for all that is above it is light, and below it the reverfe;”” he feems to have refpect to the place that divides the hemifpheres, where when one is light the other is dark; and fo others fee to underftand it of fuch places or parts of the world, as ate half day and half night, ahd where one half of the yeat is light; and the other dark; but the firft fenfe is beft. |. aed bids inass ¥. 11. The pillars of heaven tremble; 8ec.} Which may be -underftood either of the air, the lower part of the heavens, which may be thought to be the foundation, prop, and fupport of them, and is fometimes called the firmament, and, the firmament of his power; Pf. cl. t. and which feems_ to tremble when there are thunder and lightnings, and corufcations in it; or elfe the mountains, which reachingup to the heavens, look as if they- were the pillars and fupport of them; and are, indeed faid to be the foundations of heaven, which move and fhake and tremble at the prefence and power of God, and at any expreffions of his wrath and anger, and particularly through earthquakes and ftorms, and tempefts of thunder and lightning; fee 2 Sam. xxii: 8. Pf Ixviii. 8. which are meant by what follows: and are aftonifbed at his reproof; his voice of thunder, which is fometimes awful and terrible, aftonifhing and furprizing; and to fet forth the greatnefs of it, inanimate creatures are reprefented as trembling; and aftonifhed at ic; fee P/. civ. 27. fome interpret this figuratively of angels, who they fuppofe are employed in the direction of the heavens, and the motion of the heavenly bodies; and who they think are the fame which in the new teftament are called she powers of beaven faid to be fhaken, Matt. xxiv. 29. and to be the feraphim that covered their faces upon a glorious difplay of the mayefty of God, and when the pofts of the door of the temple moved at the voice of him that cried, J/ vi. 1—4, but if a figurative fenfe may be admitted of, the principal perfons in the church, fometimes fignified by heaven in fcrip-. ture, may be thought of; as minifters of the word, who are pillars in the houfe of God; yea, every true member of the church of God, is made a pil- Jar in it; and thefe tremble, and are aftonifhed oftentimes when the Lord rebukes them by afflictions, though it is in love and kindnefs to them, Prov. ix: 1. Gal. ii, g.. Rev. iil. 12. ¥.12. He divideth the fea with bis power, &c.| As atthe firftcreation, whenthe waters were caufed to go off the face of the earth, and were feparated from it; and the one was called earth; and the other feas, Gen. i..g, 10. or it may refpect the divifion of thofe waters into divers feas and channels in the feveral parts of the world, for the better ac~ commodation of the inhabitants of it, in refpect of trade and commerce, and the more convenient fupply of them. with the various produce of different countries, and the tranfmitting of it to them: fome is as aftonifhing as the binding up of the waters in the clouds without being rent by them; for this vaft and unwieldy body of waters in the ocean, Jehovah manages with as much eafe as a mother or nurfe does a new-born infant, makes the cloud its garment, and thick darknefs a fwadling band for it, ch. xxviii. 8, 9. he has as it were with a compafs drawn a line upon the face of it; he has broke up for it its decreed place, and fet bars, and doors, and bounds to its waves, that they may come no farther than is his pleafure, as is obferved in the fame place; the bounds he hath compafied it with are the fhores, rocks, and clifts, fo that the waters cannot return and cover the earth, as they once did; yea, which is very furprizing, he has placed the fand, as weak and fluid as it is, for the bound of the fea by a perpetual decree; fo that though its waves tofs and roar, they cannot prevail, nor pafs.over it; which mutt be owing to the almighty power, and fovereign will of God, who has given the fea adecree thatits waters fhould not pafs his commandment; and it mutt be afcribed to his promife and oath that the waters no more go over the earth to deftroy it; fee P/ civ. 9. Fer. v. 22. Prov. viii. 27, 29. Jf. liv. 9. until the day and night come to an end; that is, as long as there will be the viciflitudes of day and night, till time fhall be no more, as long as the world ftands; for that thofe thall continue fo long are the ordinances of God, which fome have thought this has refpect to the divifion ofjit of the crocodile, and the ‘epithet agrees with — the Red Sea for the children of J/rae/ to walk in as on.dty land, when purfued by the Egyptians, fuppofed to be meant by Rabad in the next claufe 5 rather it may defign the parting of the waves of the fea by a ftormy wind, raifed by the power of God, which» lifts up the waves on high, and. divides them in the fea, and dafhes them oneagainft another; wrinkles and furrows them, as Farchi interprets the words, which is’ fuch an inftance of the power and. majefty of God, that he is fometimes defcribed by it, Jf li, 15. Fer. xxxi. 35. though the wordufed is fometimes taken in a quite different fenfe, for the ftilling of the waves of the fea, and fo: it’ is by fome rendered here, be Jtilleth the fea by bis power”, the noifé of its waves, and makes them quiet, and the fea a calm, which has been exceeding boifterous and tempeftuous, and is taken notice of. as an effect of his fovereign and uncontroulable. power, Pj. Ixv. 7. and evit, 25-29. and may be obferved as a proof of our Lord’s divinity, whom the winds and fea obeyed, to the aftonithment of the mariners, who were convinced thereby that he muft be ‘fome wonderful and extraordinary: perfon, Matt. viii. 26, 2:7. and by bis underftanding be jmiteth through the proud,» the proud waves of the: fea, and humbles them, and makes them ftill as before:;or the proud mon- {trous creatures in it, as whales and others,. particularly the Leviathan, the king over all the children of ‘pride, ch. xli. 34. fee Pfr dxxiv. 13514. ‘The word uled is Rebab, one of the ‘names of, Egypt, Pf. Ixxxvii. 4. Uf li. 8. and fo archi interprets it of the Egyptians, who were {mitten of God with various plagues, and particularly in their firft-born, ‘and at laft at the Red-/ea,) where multi+ tudes perithed, and Pharaob their proud king, with his army; who was an emblem of the devily whofe Gin, the caufe of his fall and ruin, was pride; and the picture of proud and haughty finners, whofe Geftru@tion fooner or later'is from the Lord's and which ig an inftance of his wifdom and underftanding, who humbles the proud, and» exalts the lowly.
¥. 13. By bis [pirit be bath garnijbed the heavens, &c.] The vifible heavens, with the fun, moon and {tars with which they are ftudded and befpangled, and look exceeding beautiful; and theinvifible heavens, with angels, the morning-ftars, and glorified faints, who efpecially in the refurrection-morn will fhine not only like ftars, but as the fun in the firmament of heaven; and the church which is the heaven below is garnifhed with gofpel-minifters, adorned with the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God: ‘bis hand bath formed the crooked ferpent, becaufe ‘Yob in the preceding claufe has refpect to the heavens and the ornament of them, this has led many to think that fome conftellation in the heavens is meant by the crooked ferpent, either the galaxy, or milky way, as Ben Gerfom and others; or the dragon-ftar, as fome in Aben Ezra*: but rather, ‘Fob defcends again to the fea, and concludes with taking notice of the wonderful work of God the Leviathan, with which God himfelf concludes his difcourfe with him/in the clofe of this book, which is called as here the crooked. or bar-ferpent, J/ xxvii. 1. and fo the Jargum underttands it, ‘© his hand hath created Leviathan, which is like unto a biting ferpent.”
it, whether it be rendered a dar-ferpent, as fome *; longa trabe rectior. Vide Metamorph, 1 3.
that is, ftraight, ftretched out, long, as a bar, » the reverfe of our verfion; or fleeing *, as others 5 © the crocodile being, as Pliny ‘ fays,, terrible to” thofe that flee from it, but flees from thofe that purfue it. archi interprets it of Pharaoh, or Le— viathan, both an emblem of Satan, the old ferpent, the devil, who is God’s creature, made by him as acreature, though not made a ferpent, or a devil, by him, which was. of himfelf, “Some have obferved the Trinity of perfons in thefe words, and who doubtlefs were concerned in the creation - of all things; here is Febovah, of whom the » whole context is; and 47s /pirit, whopoas ‘he’ moved upon the face of the waters at the firftcrea-» tion, is here faid to beautify and adorn thethea-. vens; and bis band, his fon, the power and wifdom of God, by whom he made all things. ~ 9 y¥.14. Lo, thefe are parts of bis ways, 8c.) This: is the conclufion of the difcourfe concerning the! wonderful works of God; and Yob was fo far from thinking that he had:taken notice of all, or even of the chief and principal, that what he obferved - were only the extremities, the edges, the borders, and outlines of the’ ways and works’ of God in creation and: providence; wherefore, if thefe were fo great and marvellous, what muft the reft be which were out of the reach of men topointout and:defcribe?: but bow little a portion is beard of him?. from the creatures, from the*works'of creation, whether in heaven, earth, or fea; for tho’ they do-declare in fome meafure his glory, and tho’ their voice is heard every where, and fhews forth the knowledge of.him; even exhibits to view his invifible things, his eternal power’ and godhead;' yet it is comparatively fo faint a light, that'men grope as it were in the dark, if haply they might find him, having nothing but the light of nature to» guide them. We hear the’ moft of him in his word, and by his fon e/us Chrift, in whofe face the knowledge of him, and his glorious perfections, is given, and yet wé know butin part, and prophefy’ in part 5 itis but little in “comparifon of what isin him, and indeed of what will be heard and known of him hereafter in eternity: dat the thunder of bis power who can underfiand? meaning not literally thunder, which though it is a voice peculiar to God, and is very ftrong and powerful, as ‘appears by the effects of it; fee'ch. xl. 9 “Pf xxix. 3-9.” yet is not fovery unintelligible as to be taken notice of fo peculiarly, and to be inftanced in ‘as above all things out of the reach of the underftanding of men; but rather the attribute of ‘his power, ‘of which ¥eb had been: difcourfing, and giving fo many inftances of; and yet there is fuch an exceeding greatnefs in it, as not to be comprehended and thoroughly underftood by all that’ appear to our view; for his mighty power is fuch as isable to fubdue all things to himfelf, and reaches to things we cannot conceive of. Ben Gerfom not amifs applies this to the greatnefs and multitude of the crees of God; and indeed if thofe works of his which are in fight, cannot be fully underftood by us, how fhould we be able to underftand things that are fecret and hidden in his own breaft, until by his mighty power they are carried into execution?’ fee’ 1 Cor. ii. 9.; ae an
HOUGH d's friends were become filent, and dropped the controverfy with him, he carried his point, ftill continued his difcourfe in this and the four viction or confufio following chapters; in which he afferts his integrity, illuftrates and confirms his former fentiments; gives further proof of his knowledge of and faid things, natural and divine; takes notice of his former ftate of profperity, and of his prefent diftreffes and afflictions, which came upon him, notwithas Farchi obferves, ly ufed, fee 2 Sam. ii. 2
|that he had got the advantage of them, and had and had brought them to conn, or however to filence, which gave him heart and fpirit to proceed on with his oration, which he added to -his former difcourfe: 3 as follows. ¥.2. As God liveth, &c.] Which is an oath, and is a form of one frequent- 7. and iv. 9. and is ufed ftanding his piety, humanity, and beneficence, and by God himfelf, who becaufe he can fwear by no his freedom from the groffer acts of fin, both with greater,
{wears by himfelf, and by his life, which refpect to God and men, all which he enlarges upon. In this chapter he gives his word and oath for it, that he would never bely himfelf, and own that he was an hypocrite, when he was not, but would ever continues, as in Ezek. xviii. 3. and many other the in fhould men, continue to affert his integrity, and the righteoufnefs of his caufe, as long ashe lived, y. 1—6. for not to be but places; and fo the angel of the Lord, even created angel, Dam. xii. 7. Rev. x. 6. and fo when they fwear at all, it fhould be in this manner, fee Fer. iv. 2. though this ought in cafes of moment and importance, to be an hypocrite, and to attempt to conceal his hypocrify, would be of no advantage to him, eifor the confirmation of the truth, and to put an end to ftrife, when it cannot be done any other ther in life, or in death, y. 7—to. and was this his character and cafe, upon their principles, he way than by an appeal to God; as was the prefent cafe with ¥od could expect no other than to be a miferable man, as wicked men are, who have their bleffings turned into curfes, or taken away from them,
, it being about hypocrify, and want of integrity his friends chargéd him with; and fuch a cafe can only be determined truly and fully by and they |God, who is here defcribed as the living God, by removed out of the world in the moft awful and whom men fwear, in oppofition to the idols of the terrible manner, and under manifeft tokens of the Gentiles, which are of gold, filver, wood and ftone, wrath and difpleafure of God. 11—23.
and without life and breath, or to their deified heroes, who were dead men; but the true God is
¥. 1. Moreover Fob continued his parable, 8&c.} Having finifhed his difcourfe concerning the works and ways of Goa, and the difplay of his majefty, power and glory in them,he paufesa while,waiting for the living God, has life in and of himfelf, and is the fountain of life to others, the author and giver of life, natural, himfelf lives for
{piritual and eternal, and who ever and ever; and as fuch is
Zophar, whofe turn was next to rife up, and make the object of faith and confidence, of fear and a reply to him; but neither he, nor any of his friends, reaffumed the debate, but kept a profound filence, and chofe not to carry on the difpute any further with him; either concluding him to be an obftinate man, not open to conviction, and on whom no impreflions could be made, and that it was all loft time and labour to ufe any argument with him; or elfe being convicted in their minds, that he was in the right, and they in the wrong, though they did not chufe to own it; and efpe cially being furprized with what he had laft faid concerning God and his works, whereby they perceived he had great knowledge of divine things, and could not be the man they had fufpected him to be from his afflictions: however, though they are filent, ob was not, he added to take or lift up bis parable *, as the words may be rendered; or bis oration, as Mr. Broughton, his difcourfe; which becaufe it confifted of choice and principal things, which command regard and attention, of wife, grave, ferious and fententious fayings, and fome of them fuch, as not eafy to be underftood, being delivered in fimilies and figurative expreffions, as particularly in the following chapter, it iscalled his parable; what are called parables being proverbial phrafes, dark fayings, allegorical or metaphorical expreffions, and the like: and which way of fpeaking od is here faid to take, and lift up, which is an eaftern phrafeology, as appears from Balaam’s ule of it, Numb.
reverence, of love and affection; all which fwearing by him fuppofes and implies; it is a faying of R. Fofouah, as Farchi on the place relates it, “ that Job from love ferved God, for no man {wears by the life of a king, but who loves the king:” the objet fwore by is further defcribed, who bath taken away my judgment, not the judgment of his mind, or his fenie of judging things, which remained with him quick and ftrong, notwithftanding his afflictions; nor corre@tion with judgment, which continued with him; but as the Targum parapbrafeth it, “he hath taken away the rule of my judgment;” that is, among men, his fubftance, wealth and riches, his former affluence’ and profperity, which whilft he enjoyed, he was reckoned a good man; but now all this being taken away by the hand of God as it was, he was cenfured as a wicked man, and even by his friends; or rather itis a complaint, that God had negleéted the judgement of him, like that of the church in J/; xl. 27. that he did not ftir up himfelf to his judgment, even to his caufe, did not vindicate him, tho’ he appealed to him, did not admit him to his judgment-feat, ‘nor give his caufe a hearing, and decide it, though he had moft earneftly defired it; nor did he let him know the reafon of his thus dealing and contending with him; yea he afflicted him feverely, tho’
righteous and innocent, in which ¥d obliquely reflects upon the dealings of God with him; tho?
xxiii. 7. and xxiv. 3,15. and may fignify, that he delivered the following oration with great freeom, boldnefs and confidence, and with a high he does not charge him with injuftice, or break out into bla one of thofe fphemy of him; yet this feems to be fpeeches which God difapproved of, and tone and loud voice; to all which he might be induced by obierving through the filence of his friends, is taken notice of by Elihu with a cen{ure, ch. xxxiv. 5. and the Almighty, who bath vexed my foul; with whoin nothing is impoffible, and who could eafily have relieved him from his diftreffes; and who was Shaddai, the all-fufficient Being, who could have fupplied him with all things temporal and fpiritual he wanted; yet inftead of this vexed his foul with adverfity, with afflictions very grievous to him, his hand touching and prefling him fore: or hath made my foul bitter’, dealt, bitterly with him, as the Almighty did with Naomi, Ruth i. 21. Affiictions are bitter things, they are like the waters of Marah, they are wormwood and gall, they caufe bitter diftrefs and forrow, and make a man go and fpeak in the bitternefs of his foul; and thefe are of God, to whom Fob afcribes his, and not to chance, and fortune; they were bitter things God appointed for him, and wrote againft him. —
¥. 5. God forbid that I foould juftify you, &c.} Not but that he counted them righteous and good men Godward; he did not take upon him to judge their ftate, and to juftify or condemn them with refpect to their everlafting condition; not juftify them in their cenfures of him, and fay they did a right thing in charging him with wickednefs and hypocrify; nor could he juftify them in all their fentiments and doctrines which they had delivered concerning the punifhment of the wicked in this life, and the happinefs that attends all good men; and that a man by his outward cifcumftances may be known to be either a good man or a bad man; fuch things as thefe he|fhould; could not fay were right; for fo to do would be to call evil good, and good evil; and therefore he exprefles bis utmoft abhorrence and deteftation of fhewing his approbation of fuch conduét as theirs towards him, and of fuch unbecoming fentiments’ jof God, and of his dealings, they had entertained 3 and to join in with which would be a prophanation — > and a pollution, as the word uled by him fignifies 5 ~ a he could not do it without defiling bis confcience, and prophaning truth: wntil 1 die, I will not remove my integrity from me; Job was an upright iman both in heart and life, through the grace-ef © God beftowed on him; and he continued in his in= cegrity, notwithftanding the temptations of Satan, and his attacks upon him, and the folicitations of his wife; and he determined through the grace of God to perfift therein to the end of his lite; tho? what he chiefly means here is, that he would not part with his character as an upright man, which he had always had, and God him(elf had bore teftimony to; he would never give up this till he gave up the ghoft; he would never fuffer his inte grity to be removed from him, nor remove it from himfelf, by denying that it belonged to him, which his friends bore hard upon him todo. So farch# paraphrafes it, “*1 will not confefs (or agree) to your faying, that 1am not upright;” the phrate; ¢#// J die, feems rather to belong to the firft clanie; though it is true of both, and may be repeated in this. ty
¥. 3. All the while my breath is in me, &c.} So long the oath of God would be upon him, or he bound himfelf under it: and the Spirit of God is in my noftrils; which fignifies the fame thing, The breath of a man is his fpirit, and this is of God the father of fpirits; he firft breathed into man the breath of life, and he became a living foul or fpirit; it is he that gives life and breath to every man, and continues it as long as he pleafes, which is a very precarious thing; for it is in his noftrils, where it is drawn to and fro, and foon and eafily ftopped; nor will it always continue, it will time not be, it will go forth, and then man dies, and returns to the earth; but as long as there is breath, there is life; fo that to fay this, is the fame as to fay, as long as I live, or have a being; and whilft that continued, Job looked upon himfelf|Pau under the oath he had taken by the living God.
¥. 6. My righteoufne/s I bold fa, and will not /et i¢ go, &c.] Meaning not his perfonal righfomejteoufnets, or the righteouinels of his works, as his juftifying righteoufnefs before God, and for accep+ tance with him; which no man that is convineed }of. the. infufficiency of, as ob was, will hold faft, but renounce, and defire, with the apoftle, not to be found in it, Péz/. iii. 9g. Indeed [the righteoufnefs of his living Redeemer, which. was his, and he might call fo, this he knew, and knew he fhould be juftified by it, and which he laid hold upon by faith in the ftrong exercife of Jit, and would not drop it, or become remifs in it, but retain it, and conftantly make mention of it, and plead it as his juftifying righteoufnels with God; but here he intends the righteoufnefs of his caufe, which he always maintained ftrongly, and |was determined he ever would, and never give way, or let it drop, but continue to affirm, that he was a righteous man, and that it was not for any unrighteoufnefs he had done to any man, that God dealt thus with him; he had wronged no man, he had done juftice to all men, as well as he was not devoid of the fear of God, and piety towards him; and this character of himfelf he would never give up, but defend to the uttermoft: _ my heart foall not reproach me fo long as I live; not that he imagined he fhould or could live withour fin, fo that his confcience could never charge, accufe or upbraid him with it; for there is no man, let him live a life ever fo harmlefs and inoffenfive but he couldjto God and man, but his heart will fmite bim, and condemn him for his fins committed in thought, word and deed: but 7o0d’s fenfe is, that he would never deny his integrity, or renounce the rightejoufnefs of his caufe, and own himfelf to be an Jinfincere and unrighteous man; fhould he do this, he fhould fpeak contrary to his own confcience, which would accufe and reproach him for fo faying, and therefore he was determined it never for as long as he lived, he neither could nor would fay any fuch thing, Some render the laft phrafe, for my days‘, or concerning them; for * my courfe of life, all my days, fo archi; forthat my heart fhall not reproach me, as being conicious to himfelf he had lived in all good confcience to
¥. 4. My lips foall not fpeak wickedne/s, &c. ] This is the thing he fwears to, this the matter of his oath, not only that he would not fpeak a wicked word, not any thing corrupt, unfavoury, unchafte, prophane and idle, nor fpeak evil of his neighbours and friends, or of anyeman; but that he would not fpeak wickedly of himfelf, as he muft do, if he owned himfelf to be a wicked man, and an hypocrite, as his friends charged him, and they would have had him confeffed; but he fwears he would not utter fuch wickednefs as long as he had any breath in him: zor my tongue utter deceit; which refpeéts the fame thing; not merely any fallacy or lye, or what might tmpofe upon and deceive another, which yet he was careful of; but fuch deceit and falfhood as would be a belying himfelf, which would be the cafe fhould he fay, that he was devoid of integrity and fincerity.
that day, and trufted he before given is beft, _¥-7- Let mine enemy be as the wicked, &c. ] Fob in this, and fome following verfes, fhews, that he was not, and could not, and would not be a wicked man and an hypocrite, or however had no opinion and liking of fuch perfons; for whatever his friends might think of him, becaufe he had faid fo much ‘of their outward profperity in this world; yet he was far from approving of, or conniving at their wickednefs and hypocrify, or chufing them for his companions, and joining with them in their aétions, or imagining they were really happy perfons; fo far from it, that he would not bein their Condition and circumftances for all the world, for if he was to with a bad thing to the greateft enemy he had, he could not with him, any ever fhould; but the fenfe | wicked and an unrighteous man. are the fame,. and,. _..,jare frequently. put together as defcribing the fame, fort of perfons, fee J/. lv. via de-eed ¥.8. For what is rhe hope of the hypocrite; &c.] In religion, who feems to be what he is not, a holy and righteous man; profefles to have what he-has not, the grace of God; pretends to do what: he does not, worfhip God fincerely and fervently, and does all he does to be feen of men; though fuch a man pay have an hope, as he has,of an intereft in the divine favour, and of eternal glory and happinefs, what will it fignify? what avail will it be unto Fhim? what will it iffue in? ob was of the fame mind in. this:with Bildad and Zopbar, thatfuch a man’s hope. is as the fpider’s web, and as:the give fing up of the ghoft, ch. viii, 14. and.xi. 20. |however he may pleafe himfelf with it in, this life, ic will be of no fervice to him at death;. for. it is not like that of the true believer's, that is fure.and ftedfaft, and founded upon the perfeé& righteoufinefs and facrifice of Chrift; but upon, his outward {ubftance, fanfying, that becaufe God profpers, him jin this world,;he is highly in his favour,:and fhall enjoy the happinefs of the. world to come;.and upon his external profeffion of religion, and round of duties performed by him, bur he’ll find himfelf miftaken: though be hath gained.; great wealth and riches under a guile of religion, and by that means making gain of godlinefs, and taking the one for ithe other; fo the Targum, ** becaufe he hath gathered the mammon of falfhood;” and alfohas great gifts, and a great deal of head-knowledge, being able to talk of, and difpute about moft points. of Teligion, and fo, has gained a great name among men both for knowledge and_holinefs, and yet all will, not ftand him in any ftead, or be of any.advantage to him: when God taketh away his foul.2 out of his body, by death, as a fword is drawn out of its fcabbard, and which is as eafily.done by him; or as a fhoe is plucked off from the foot, ‘as Aben Ezra, and what he has a right to.do, and will do it: and this taking it away feems to be in a violent manner, though not by what is called a violent death,, yet againft the will of the perfon; |a good man is willing to die, is defirous of it, and gives up the ghoft cheafully; but an hypocrite is not willing to die, being afraid of death, and therefore his lite or foul is taken from him without his confenc ‘and will, and notin love but in wrath, as the latter part of this chapter fhows. | Now ob had an hope,which bore him up under all his troubles, and which he retained. in the moft killing and diftreffed circumftances, and which continued with him, and fupported him in the views of death and eternity, fo that he could look upon. death, and into another world, with pleafure, and there= worle than to be as a wicked and unrighteous man; that is, to be a wicked and unrighteous. man.; _ Which it is impoffible for a ‘good man to with, and indeed would be a needlef{s with, fince all that are enemies to’ good: men, as fuch, mult be wicked; and fach were ¥ob’s enemies,’ as. the Chaldeans and Saveans, but that they might be as, fuch, in, ‘their ftate and circumftances, or rather as they will be in the confequence of things, moft wretched and miferable; for they are always under the difpleafure of God, and hated by hiny; and whatever fulnefs they may have of the things of this world,: they. have them with a curfe, and they are curfes.to them,’ and their end will. be everlafting ruin and deftruction;_ wherefore the ‘Septuagint verfion is, as the overthrow of the ungodly, and as the perdition of tranfereffors; though fome take this to. be a kind of an ironical imprecation, and that by. the wicked man here, and unrighteous in the next claufe, he means himfelf, whom his friends reckoned a wicked and unrighteous man; and then the fenfe is, I wifh you all my friends, and even the worft enemies I have, were but as wicked Fob. is, as you call him; not that he.wifhed they might be'afflicted in body, family and eftate, as he was, but that they were as good men as he was, and partook of as much of the grace of God as he did, and had the fame integrity and righteoufnefs as he had, fee 4s xxvi. 29. and:fuch a. with as ‘this, as it ferves to illuftrate his own character, fo it breathes charity and good-will to others; and _indeed it cannot be thought the words are to be taken in fuch a fenfe, as that he wifhed the fame evils might be retorted upon his enemies, whether open or tecret, which they were the means of bringing upon him, which was contrary to the fpirit of Fob, ch. Xxxi. 29, 30. Some contider them not.as an imprecation, bat as a prediction, mine enemy shall be as the wicked*; and may have refpeét to his friends, who were fo ready to charge him, with wickednefs, and fuggefts, that in the iffue of things they would be found, and not, he, guilty of fin and folly, and to have faid the things that: were hot right, neither of God, nor of him, which had its accomplifhment, ch. xlii. 7. and be that rifeth up againft me as the unrighteous, which is but another way of expreffing the fame thing; for an enemy, and one that rifes up againft.a man, is the fame perfon; only this the better explains what enemy is intended, eyen an open one;. that rifes up in an hoftile manner, full of rage and fury; and fo a fore could. be no hypocrite, fee ch. xiii. 155.16. and. xix. 25-27.))
y.9. Will God hear bis cry when trouble. cometh upon him?] No, he will not, be heareth.not fins ners, and, fuch as regard iniquity in their. hearts, Pf, \xvi..18. every man) has trouble more or lefs in this life, even, the beft.of men; and. generally {peaking they have the moft, and wicked. men the leaft;_ but when death comes, he is a king of terrors to. them, and they find forrow and trouble; and efpecially at the day of judgment, when they will cry,.for mercy,;. and. hypocrites, y bes tions of the godly, and the profperity of the wick-. ed. ~ Zod had been a teacher and inftruétor of others. in the times of his profperity, and his words had foolith: virgins, will cry, Lord; Lord open unto tis but when they call for mercy, the Lord will not ‘anfwer, but laugh at their calamity, and mock when their fear cometh, Prov. i. 26; 28. but God hears the ctiés of his people when in trouble, whether in life, or in death, and is a prefent help anto them, arid when ftrength and heart fail, he is their portion, and will be fo for evermore; and though fometimes they think he does not hear them, as Fob fometimes complains, yet he makes it appear that he does fooner or later, and fo od deferibes himfelf.as one that calleth upon God, and he ‘anfwereth him, ch. xii. 4. and therefore might conclude he was no hypocrite.
* Y10. Will be delight himfelf in the Almighty? &c.] Fhat is, the hypocrite? no, he will not; he may feem to delight in him, but he does not truly and fincerely; not in him as the Almighty, or in his: orhnipotence, into whofe hands it is a fearful thifig to fall, and who is able to deftroy foul and body in hell; nor in his omnifcience, who featches and knows the hearts of alt men, and the infincetity of the hypocrite, how covert to men foever le is; not in his holinefs, which at heart he loves not; ‘nor in his ways and worfhip, word, ordinan¢es and people, though he makes a fhew of it, If. Wii. 2. will be always call upon God? God only is to be'called upon, and it becomes all men to “call upon” him for all bleflimgs, ‘temporal and fpiritual; and this fhould be done in faith, with fervency, in fincerity and uprightnefs of foul, and with conftancy, always, at all times both of pro- {perity and adverfity; but an hypocrite does not, and cannot call upon God ina fincere and fpiritual manner; nor is he conftant in this work, only by fits and ftarts, when it is for his worldly intereft and external honour fo to do. Now ¥ob was one that delighted in God, was uneafy at his abfence, long- éd for communion with him, fought earneftly after him, frequently and conftantly called upon him, ‘though he was wrongly charged with cafting’ off the fear of God, and reftraining prayer before him, and therefore no hypocrite. Some underftand ‘ all this as affirmed of the hypocrite, fetting forth his prefent feeming ftate of happinefs; as that he has a hope of divine favour, and of eternal felicity; has much peace and tranquillity of mind in life, and at death; is heard of God when trouble comes, and fo gets out of it, and enjoys great profperity; profeffes much delight and pleafure in God, and his ways, and is a conftant caller upon him, and keeps clofe to the external duties of religion; and yet notwithftanding all this, is in the iffue, when death comes, exceeding miferable, as the following part of the chapter fhows.
y. 11. I will teach you by the hand of God, &c.]} To ferve God, and fpeak truth, fays one of the Yewifh commentators *; rather the works of God, and methods of his provdence, with wicked men and hypocrites; the wifdom of God in his difpenfations towards them; the reafons why he fuffers them to live in outward profperity and happinefs, and what in the iffue will be their cafe and circumftances; wherefore ‘fome render the words, J wil] teach you the hand of God, ot of, or concerning the band of God*; and fo Mr. Broughton, of God, his band not his works of nature which his hand had wrought, of which he had difcourfed in the pre ceding chapter; but his works of providence, and thofe more myfterious ones relating to the this chapter, A wicked man is notonly one that has afflic-' been fo from the womb, and is openly and noto-
3, 4. and he was not the lefs qualified for, nor the which had been a fchool to him, in which he had. learned many ufeful leffons himfelf, and fo was in a better capacity of teaching others. Thus fome render the words, J will teach you, being in or under the band of God‘; under his mighty hand, his. affli@ting, chaftizing hand, which had touched him, and preffed him fore, and yet had guided and inftru¢éted him in many things, and particularly relating to the fubjeét he propofed to inftruét his. friends in; who, though they were men of knowledge, and in years, yet he apprehended needed, inftruction; ard he undertook to give them fome by the good hand of God upon him, through his help and affiftance, and under the influences and teachitgs of his Spirit. The Targum is, * 1 will teach you by the prophecy of God,” fee Ezek. i. 3. and iii. 14. that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal, meaning not. the fecret purpofes and decrees of God within himfelf, which cannot be known, unlefs he reveals them; rather fecret truths, which are not obvious to every one, the myfteries of the kingdom, the wifdom of God in a myftery, the knowledge of which the Lord vouchfafes to fome of his people in a very peculiar manner; though the myfteries of Providence feem ‘chiefly intended, which thofe that carefully obferve, attain to an underftanding of, fo as to be capable of inftruéting others; and indeed what is in referve with God for men among his treafures, whether of grace or glory, for his own peculiar people, or efpecially of wrath and vengeance, for wicked men and hypocrites may be here defigned; and whatever knowledge men have of the myfteries of nature, providence and grace, which may be profitable unto others, and make for the glory of God, fhould not be concealed from men, fee ch. vi. 10.
y.12. Bebold, all ye yourfelves have fen it, 8c J As they were men of obfervation, at leaft made great pretenfions to it, as well as of age and experience, they muft have feen and obferved fomewhat at leaft of the above things; they muft have feen the wicked, as David atterwards did, fpreading himfelf like a green bay-tree, and the hypocrites in eafy and flourifhing circumftances, and good men labouring under great afflictions and preffures, and ¥od himfelf was now an inftance of that before their eyes: twby then are ye thus altogether vain? or become vain in vanity*; fo exceeding vain, fo exceffively trifling, as to fpeak and aét againft the dictates of their own confcience, againit their own fenfe, and what they faw with their own eyes, and advance notions fo contrary thereunto; as to affirm that evi] men are always punifhed of God in this life, and good men are fucceeded and profpered by him; and fo from Jod’s afflictions drew fo vain and empty a conclufion, that he muft be a wicked man and an hypocrite.
¥. 13. This is the portion of a wicked man with | God, &c.] Not to be punifhed in this life, but after death. This is what Yod undertook to teach lefs capable of fuch an office now in his adverfity, his friends, and is the purport of what follows in — rioully a wicked man; but one alfo that is fo fecretly, under a mafk of fobriety, religion and godlinefs, and is an hypocrite, for of fuch Fob peaks in the context; and the portion of fuch a man is not what he has in this life, which is oftentimes a very affluent one as to the things of this world, but what he has after deato, which is banifhment from the prefence of God, the everlafting portion of his people, a part in the lake which burns with fire and brimf{tone, the wrath of God to the uttermott, the fecond death, and_a dwelling with devils and wicked men, fuch as himfelf, even a portion with hypocrites, which of all is the moft dreadful and miferable, Matt. xxiv. 51. and this is with God, is appointed by him;, for God has appointed the wicked, the veffels of wrath, fitted by their fins for deftruétion to the day of evil, to everlafting ruin and deftruction; and it is prepared by him for them, as for the devil and his angels, and for thein it is referved among his treafures, even blacknefs of darknefs, damnation, wrath and vengeance: and the heritage of oppreffors which they foall receive of the Almighty, thele are {uch who are either oppreflors of the poor in their natural and civil rights, taking from or denying to them what of right is their due; or oppreffors of the faints in their religious rights and privileges, furious perfecutors of them; and who, being powerful, are terrible, as the word fignifies: there is an heritage, or an inheritance. for thofe, which is entailed upon them, and will defcend unto them, as the firft-born of their father the devil, as children of difobedience, and fo of wrath, and like an inheritance will endure: and this they /ball receive; it is future, it is wrath fo come, and it is certain there is no efcaping it; it is their due defert, and they thall receive it; it is in the hands of the almighty God, and he will render it to chem, and they fhall moft affuredly inherit it.
¥. 14. If bis children be multiplied, &c.] As it is poffible they may; this is one external bleffing common to good men and bad men. Hamaan, that proud oppreffor, left ten ‘fons behind him, and wicked Ahab had feventy: it is for the fword; for them that kill with the tword, as the Targum; to be killed with it, as in the two inftances above; Haman’s ten fons were flain by the fword of the Jews, and Abab’s feventy fons by the fword of Febu, or thofe he ordered to flay them. | The children of fuch wicked perfons are oftentimes put to death, either by the fword of the enemy, fall in battle in an hoftile way, which is one of God’s four fore judgments; or leading a moft wicked life, commit {uch capital crimes as bring them into the hand of the civil magiftrate, who bears not the {word in vain, but is the minifter of God, a revengeful executioner of wrath on wicked men; or elfe they die by the fword of the murderer, being brought into the world for fuch, and through their riches become their prey, Ho/. ix. 13. or if neither of thefe is the cafe, yet they at laft, let them profper~as they will, fall a facrifice to the glittering {word of divine juftice, whetted and drawn in wrath againft them; the {word of the enemy feems chiefly intended: and bis offspring fhall not be fatished with bread, {ach of them as die not by the fword, fhall perifh by famine, which is another of God’s fore judgments; though this may refpeét the grandchildren of wicked men, whom God vifits to the third and fourth generation; the Targum paraphrafes it, his childrens children, and fo Sephorno; to which agrees the Vulgate Latin verfion: the fenfe is, that the pofterity of fuch wicked men, when they are dead and gone, fhall be fo reduced as to beg their bread, and fhall not have a fufficiency of that for the fupport of nature, but fhall die for want of food,,
¥. 15. Thofe that remain of him, 8cc.] Of the wicked man after his death; or fuch that remain, and have efcaped the fword and famine: fhall be buried in death; the peftilence, emphatically called death, by the Hebrews, as by us the mortality, fee Rev, vi. 8. This is. another of God’s fore public judgments on wicked men, and is fuch a kind of death, by reafon of the contagion of it, that a perfon is buried as foon as dead almoft, being infeétious to keep him; and fo Mr. Broughton tran{- lates the words, ‘¢ his remnant thall be buried as foon as they are dead;” or the difeafe of which, fuch die being fo very infectious fometimes, no one dares to bury them for fear of catching it, and fo they lie unburied; which fome take to be the fenfe of the phrafe, either that they fhall be hurried away to the grave, and fo not be embalmed and lie in ftate, and have an honourable and pompous funeral,or that they fhall have none atall, their death will be all the burial they fhall have: or-elfe the fenfe is, they hall die fuch a death as that death fhall be their grave; and they fhall have no other, as the men of the old world that were drowned in the flood,.and Pharaoh aad his hoft in the Red-fea, and Korab, Dathan and Abiram, who were fwallowed up in the earth, and fuch as are devoured by wild beafts; and if this laft could be thought to be meant, we have all the four fore judgments of Ged inthis and the preceding verfe, fword,. famine, peftilence, and evil beafts: and bis widows foall not weep leaving more than one behind him, polygamy being frequent in thofe times; or elfe thefe are his fons. wives, left widows by them, as Bar Tzemach thinks, they being the perfons immediately fpoken of, dying by various deaths before mentioned; but whether they be his widows, or theirs, they fhall weep for neither of them;. either becaufe they themfelves will be cut off with them; or their hufbands dying fhameful deaths, lamentation would be forbidden; or they would not be able to weep through the aftonifhment and ftupor they fhould be feized with it at their death 3 or having lived {uch miferable and uncomfortable lives with them, they fhould be fo far from lamenting their death, that they fhould, as Farchi interprets it, re- Joice at it; the Septuagint verfion is, “* no one fhall have. mercy on their widows.”
¥. 16. Though he heap up filver as the duft, &c.] Which as it denotes the. great abundance of it, collected together, fo it exprefiés the biafs and difpofition of fuch a man’s mind, that he can’t be content without amaffing great quantities of it, and alfo his diligence and fuccefs therein, fee 1 Kings x. 27. Pf. xxxix. 6, Hab. ii, 6. and. prepare raiment as the clay; not merely for ufe, but pomp and thow,:to fill his wardrobes with; and formerly raiment was part of the treafure of great men; the phrafe fignifies that he might have fuch a variety of raiment, and fuch large quantities of ir, that he would value it no more than fo much clay; or elfe that his riches, confift of what it would, would be both polluting and troublefome to him; the Sepiuagint verfion reads gold inftead of raiment, as in Zech. ix. 3. where like expreffions are ufed of Tyre. -
¥.17. He may prepare it, &c.] Raiment; beginning with that firft, which was mentioned laft, which is frequent in the Hebrew and Eaffern languages; fuch things may be.done, and often are,
- Ry yo 584 FSO by wicked men: du the juft fhall put it on; the wicked man will either have ‘no heart, or have no time to-wear it, at leaft’ to wear it out; and fo a jut man fhall have it; as the J/raelites put on’ the raiment of the Zgyptians; which they. begged: or borrowed, and fpoiled them of, Exod, xii. 35. and oftentimes fo it is in Providence, that the wealth of wicked. ‘mem is by one means or another transferred into the families of good men, who enjoy it, and make a better ufe of it, Prov. xiii. 22. and the-innocent foall divide the filver; have a part of it at leaft, or divide the whole between his children; or give a part of it to the poor; fo money that.is ilh gotten, -or ill ufed, is taken away, and put into the hands of one that will have mercy on the poor, and liberally diftribute it to them, Prev. “xvid B. jordan fom; and fo Mr. Broughton, be is not taken ward off the ftroke of death, and their death is imiferable; he is wot gathered, or fball not gather™, he can’t gather up his riches, and carry it with him, Pf. xfix. 15, 16. 1 Tim. Vi. 7. be openeth bis, eyes — in another world, and it is not, his riches are not”
with him; or, as the Vulgate Latin verfion be foal find nothing; or rather the meaning is, he is”
not gathered; to his grave, as Farcht and Ben Ger shen ip, ie as hé interprets it, to be honeftly buried. He is not buried'in the fepulchres of his anceftors, which is often in fcripture fignified by a man being a= thered to his people, or to his fathers; but here it is fuggefted, that notwithftanding all “his riches, he fhould have no burial, or what is worfe than that, when he dies he fhould’not be gathered to the
F: ~) UiISD ae faints and people of God, or into God’s garner,
‘into heaven and happinefs':” but be openeth ‘bis eyes 5
Which builds its houfe in a garment by eating it, and fo deftroying it, ‘and in time eats itfelf out of houfe and home, and however does not'continue long init, but is foon and eafily fhook out, or into[in hell, as the rich man ‘is faid tO do, and finds himfelf' in inexpreffible ‘torment; and ‘be is not; on earth, in his palace he built, nor among his aumerous family, friends and’ acquaintance, and in bruthed off; fo a wicked man builds himfelf an houfe,..a’ flately palace, Vike Ardurus*; fo fome render the words from ch. ix. 9. a palace among the ftars, an heavenly palace and paradife,’ and expects it will continue for éver; but as he builds it with:the mammon of urrighteoufnefs, and to the prejudice and injury’of others, and with their money, or what was due to them, fo by his fins and iniquities he brings rwin and deftruction upon himfelf, and his: family, fo that his houfe foon falls to decay,. and at leaft he and his pofterity’ have but a fhort-lived enjoyment of it. This may be applied in a figurative fenfe to the hypocrite’s hope and confidence, which, is like a fpider’s ‘web, a moth-eaten garment, anda houfe built’ tpon the fand; the Septuagint verfion here adds, as a pider, ch. vill 13—15. Tf li. 8. Matt. vii. 26,27: and as a booth that the keeper maketh; either a keeper ‘of fheep,*who fets up his tent in a certain place for a while, for the fake of pafturage, and then removes it, to which the allufion is, J/. xxxviii. 12. ‘or’a keeper of fruit, as the Targum, of gardens and, orchards,, that the fruit is not ftolen; or of fig-trees and vineyards, as Farehi and Bar Tzemach, which is-only a lodge or hut pitched for a feafon, until the fruit is gathered in, and then is taken down, fee J/. i. 8. Lam. ii. 6. and it fignifies here the fhort continuance of the houfe of ‘the wicked man, which he imagined would continue for ever, Pf. xix. et.
y¥.19. The sich maw foall lie down, but be fall not be gathered, &c.} That is, the wicked rich man; and the fenfe is, either he fhall lie down up: on his bed, but fhan’t be gathered to reft, fhall get no fleep, the abundance of his riches, and the fear of lofing them, or-his life for them, will not fuffer him to compofe himfelf to fleep; or elfe it exprefies his fudden lofs of them, he tes down at night to take his reft, and itis not gathered, his’ riches are not gathered or taken away from him, but remain with him: be openeth bis eyes; in the morning, when he awakes from’ fleep': and it is not; by one providence or another he is ftripped of all fub: ftance; or rather this is to be underftood of his death, and of what befals him at that time: death is often in fcripture fignified by lying down, fleeping and taking reft, as on a bed, fee ch. xiv. 10, 12. rick men die as well as others; their riches the poffeffion of his earthly’ riches, but is'in hell in the moft’ miferable and diftreffed ‘condition that can be conceived of.. Some think thd Taft claufe refpeéts the fuddenefs of “his death, one’ opens bis eyes; and looks at him, and he is not; he’s dead, in the twinkling of an eye, and is no more'in the land of the living; but the former fenfe is bet, aarp
¥: 20. Terrors take béld on him’ as waters, &c.} The terrdrs of death, and of an awful judgment that is to come after it; finding himfelf dying, death is the king of terrors to him, dreading not only the awful ftroke of death itfelf, but of what’ is to follow upon it; or rather thefe ‘terrors are thofe that feize the wicked man. after death, perceiving ‘in what a horrible condition he is in, the terrors of “a guilty eonfcience lay hold on him, remembring his. former fins with all the aggravating ¢ircumftances of them; the terrors of the law’s: cutfes, lighting upon him, and of the wrath and fury of the Almighty pouring out on him and furrounding him, and devils’ and damned fpirits all about him; Thefe will feize him as wafers, like a flood of waters, denoting the abundance of them, terror on every fide, a magor miffabib will he be, and. coming with great rapidity, with an irrefiftible force, and without ceafing, rolling one after another in.a fudden and furprifing manner: @ ¢empeft flealeth him away in the mght; the tempeft of divine wrath, from which there is no fhelter, but the perfon, blood and righteoufnefS of Chrift; this comes like a thief, fuddenly and unexpectedly, and fteals the wicked man out of this world; or rather from the judgment:feat, and carries him into the regions of darknefs, of horror and black defpair, where he is furrounded with the aforefaid terrors; this is faid to be in the night, to make it the more fhocking and terrible, fee Luke xii. 19. and may have refpect to that blacknefs that attendsa tempeft, and to that blacknefs of darknefs fated ae wicked men, ude 13. ENS i, —¥. 21. The eaft wind carrieth bim Yo fore againft his will out of the world, from his houfe, — his family, his friends, his poffeffions and eftates,
‘and carries him to hell to be a companion wit can’t profit them, or be of any avail to them tojdevils, and fhare with them in all the mileries of © wy quafi Arcuri, Junius & Tremellius; fo Aben Ezra..~
Ghoxkvi. 2252350 oF 'O °B. 386 that dreadful ftate and place. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin verfions render it, @ burning wind, done without fhewing any mercy at all; for tho’ the wicked have much of fparing mercy in this * fuch as are frequent in the eaitern countries, which carry a man off at once, fo that he has only time at moft to fay I burn, and immediately drops down dead, as Thevenot, and other travellers, relate;
which is thus defcribed, ‘* It is a wind called Samiel, or Poifon-wind, a very hot one, that reigns in
fummer from Mo/ul to Surrat, but only by land,
not upon the water; they who have breathed that wind, fall inftantly dead upon the place, though fometimes they have time to fay, that they No fooner does a man die by this wind, but he becomes as black as a coal3 and if
one take him by his leg, arm, or any other place,
his flefh comes from the fame, and is plucked off
by the hand that would lift him up *:”
it is obferved, that in Perfia if a man in June or
July breathes in certain hot fouth-winds that come from the fea, he falls down dead, and at moft has no more time than to fay he burns°®. Wicked men are like chaff and ftubble, and they can no more refift death, than either of thefe can refift the eaftwind; and they are as eafily burnt up and confumed with the burning wind of God’s wrath, as they are by devouring flames; and though wicked men and hypocrites may think all will be well with them, if they have but time to fay, Lord have mercy on us; they’may be carried off with fuch a burning wind, or fcorching difeafe, as to be able only to fay, that they burn, and not in their bodies only, but in their fouls alfo, feeling the wrath of God in their confciences: or this may have refpect to the devouring flames of hell they are furrounded with upon dying, or immediately after death, fee J/: xxxiii. 14. and he departeth; out of the world, not willingly, but whether he will or no, he mutt depart; or rather, he will be bid to depart, and he will depart from the bar of God, from his prefence, into everlafting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: and as a florm burleth him out of bis place; this is done either at death, when as a ftorm hurls atree, or any other thing out of its place, fo is the finner forced out of his place in a tempeftuous manner, through the power and wrath of God, fo that his place knows him no more; and he is huried into hell, and everlafting deftruétion, juft as the finning angels were hurled out of heaven, and caft down into hell, and there will be no,place found in heaven for them any more; or rather this will be his cafe at judgment, which immediately follows, where the wicked fhall not ftand, or be able to juftify themfelves, world, they have none in the next;_ there is fparing mercy now, but none in hell; God that fpared not the angels that finned, nor the old world, nor Sodom and Gomorrah, will not fpare them he that nade them, will have no mercy on them; and he that formed them, will fhew them no favour: be would fain flee out of bis hands; in whofe hands he is, not as all men are, being the works of his hands, and fupported by him; much lefs as his people are, fecure there; but in his hands as an awful and terrible judge, condemning him for his fins, and fentencing him to everlafting punifhment; and a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living and almighty God; there is no getting out of them, though fleeing be flees, asthe phrafe is, with all his might and main, with all the fwiftnefs he can; it is all to no purpofe; he is where he was, and muft continue in the torment and mifery he is in, to all eternity; his worm of confcience will never die, nor the fire of divine wrath be ever quenched; though he will defire death ten thoufand times over, he fhall not find it, it fhall flee from him, Rev. ix, 6.- ¥.23. Men fhall clap their hands at him, &c.] In a way of joy and triumph, fcorn and derifion, fee Lam.ii.15. Nabum iii. ig. either at the time of his death, being glad they are rid of him, P/- Iii. 5, 6. or rather hereafter, to all eternity, while the wrath and vengeance of God is pouring on him; and this will be done by all righteous men-evermore; not pleafing themfelves with the fhocking fcene, nor indulging any evil paffion in them, from which they will be entirely free 5 but rejoicing in the glory of divine juttice, which will be difplayed in the everlafting deftruction of wicked men, fee Rev. xviii. 20. and xix. 1, 2. and this need not be reftrained to good men only, but afcribed to angels alfo; for it may be rendered imperfonally, hands fhall be clapped at him or joy be exprefled on this occafon by all in heaven, angels and faints, who will all approve and applaud the divine procedure againft wicked men as right and juft; yea, this may exprefs the glorying of divine juftice, and its triumph in the condemnation and deftruction of finners: and fhall bifs him out of bis place; from the bar and tribunal of God, where he ftood; and was condemned; and as he goes to everlafting punithment, expreffing abhorrence and deteftation of him, and his crimes, and: as pleafed with the righteous judgment of God upon him. Now this is the wicked man’s portion, and the heritage he fhall and make their cafe good; but with the ftorm of divine wrath and vengeance fhall be hurled from thence, and go, being driven, into everlafting puhave of God at and after death, ‘though he has been in flourifhing circumftances in life; all which fob obferves to fhew, that he was no friend nor fa- nifhment. vourer of »wicked men, nor thought well of them, y¥. 22. For God fhall caft upon him, and not fpare, &c.] Caft his fins upon him, which will lie as an intolerable weight upon his confcience; and his wrath upon him, which being poured.
he will not be able to bear it; and deferved punifhment on him, which like a talent of lead, will and their ways, though he obferved the profperity they are attended with in their prefent ftate; and as for himfelf, he was not, and would not be fuch a out like fire,)wicked man, and an hypocrite, on any account whatever, fince he was fure he muft then be mife-. rable hereafter to all intents.and purpofes.
bear him down to the loweft hell; and this will be.
bg HE defign of this chapter is either to fhew the folly of fuch, who: are very diligent in their fearch and purfuit after earthly things, and f negle€&t an enquiry after that. which is infinitely more valuable, trae wifdom; or rather to obferve, that though things the moft fecret, and which are hidden in the bowels. of the earth, may be invefti gated and difcovered by the fagacity and diligence of men, yet wifdom cannot, efpecially the wifdom of God in his providences, which are paft finding out; and particularly in what concerns the profperity of the wicked, and the afflictions of the righteous; the reafon of which men fhould be content to be ignorant of for the prefent, and be fludious to poffefs that wifdom which is attainable, and be thankful for it, if they have it; which lies in the fear of the Lord, and a departure from evil, with which this chapter concludes. It begins with fetting forth the fagacity of men in fearching and finding out ufeful metals, and other things the earth produces; the difficulty, fatigue and labour that attend fuch a fearch, and the dangers they are expofed unto in it, ¥.1—r11. then it declares the unfearchablenefs of wifdom, its fuperior excellency to things the moft valuable, and that it is not to be found by fea or land; or among any of the creatures, ¥. 12—22. and that God only knows its way and place, who has fought it out, prepared and declared it, ¥.23—-27. and that which he has thought fit to make known of it, and is moft for his glory and the good of men, is, that it is to fear God, and depart from evil, there. is a vein, or a going out for the filver*, by which it makes its way, as obferved of the gold, and fhews itfelf by fome figns and tokens where it may be found; or rather this egrefs is made for it, by opening the mine where it is, digging into it, and fetching it out of it, and from whence great quantities are often brought. In Solomon’s time it was made as the ftones in Ferufalem, 1 Kings x. 276 and a place for gold where they fine it; there are particular places tor this moft excellent of all metals, which has its name in Hebrew from its yellow colour; all countries do not produce it; fome are famous for it, and fome parts of them, as the land of Havilab, where was gold, and that gold was good, Gen, ii. 11, 12. and Ophir, hence we often read of the gold of Ophir, fo’ called from the place where it was found, as in this chapter, ¥. 16. and now the Spanifh Weft-Indies; but nearer to fob than thefe gold was found; there were not only mountains that abounded with gold near to Hored, in the defert of 4rabia*; but it was to be found with the Sadeans*, the near neighbours of Fob; yea, the Opsir before referred to was in Arabia. Some underftand this of the place where pure gold is found ready fined, and needs no melting and refining; and of fuch Pliny “ fpeaks, and of large lumps and mafies ofit; but for the moft part it lies in ore, which needs fining; and fo here it may intend the place where it is found in the ore, and y. 28. from whence it is taken and had to the place where it is fined for melting places ufed to be near where the golden ore was found; and fo when Hi/paniola was firft found by Columbus, the gold that was dug out of the mountains of Cidana, and other places, were brought to two fhops, which were ereéted with all things appertaining to melt and fine it, and caft into wedges; and fo early as that, in thefe two fhops, were molten yearly three hundred thoufand pound weight of gold”, y¥. 2. Iron is taken out of the earth, &c.] Very eafily, and in great plenty, and is more common, being in moft countries, is nearer the furface of the earth, and here faid to be taken out of the f flowers, round ftones of golden earth inftead of y. 1. Surely there is a vein for the filver, &c. } Silver is mentioned firft, not becaufe the moft va-~ luable, for gold is preferable to it, as brafs is to iron, and yet iron is mentioned firft in the next verfe; but becaufe filver might be firft known, or was firft in ufe, efpecially in the coinage of mohey; we read of pieces of filver, or fhekels of filver, in the times of Abraham, but not of any golden coin; and among the old Romans, filver was coined before gold’; it has its name from a word which fignifies defire, becaufe it is defirable to men, it anfwefing to various ufes and purpofes; and fometimes the defires and cravings of men after it are enlarged too far, and become criminal, and fo the root of all evil to them: and now there is a vein for it in the earth, or a mine in which it may be dug for, and found, in which it runs as veins in a man’s body, in certain ramifications, like branches of trees, as they do; and the inhabitants of Hifpaniola, and other parts of the Weft-Indies, when found out by Columbus, which abounded with gold mines, declared that they found by experience, that the vein of gold is a living tree, (and fo the fame perhaps may be faid of filver) and that it fpreads and fprings from the root, which they fay. extends to the center of the earth by foft pores and pafiages ‘of the earth, and puts forth branches, even to the uppermoft part of the earth, and ceafes not till it difcovers itfelf unto the open air; at which iron, a metal very ferviceable for various ufés, and without which thete is fcarce any thing to be done and therefore was with brafs of early invention. Tubal-Cain, a fon of Lamech, fappofed to be the Vulcan of the heathens, a worker in iron, is 1 i to be the inftructor of every artifiter in brafs and iron, Gen. iv. 22. and brafs molten out of the. oe be out of-a brafly ftone, called Cadmia, as P fay q and alfo out of another, as he obferves”, called Chakcites, found in Cyprus, where was the firft in vention of braf’, according to him, and hen, haps copper had its name; but it is plain fcripture, the places before referred to, thai invented elfewhere, and long bef rus. known, or a ftone melted becomes brafs, duft*; which being melted in a furnace produces - fruits, and thin plates inftead of leaves*; fo here — and xxiii. 25. of thefe four metals was a ¢ in Nebuchadnezzar’s vifion, which reprefented the four monarchies of the world, Babylonian, Perfian, Grecian, and Roman, Dan. ii. 32, 33. and to them are compared, and by them are reprefented many things in {cripture. ¥. 3. He fetteth an end to darknefs, &c.] Some underftand this and what follows of God, who, by making the luminaries, has fixed the periods and revolutions of light and darknefs, of day and night; or who has determined the times before appointed, for the difcoveries of things in nature, as mines of gold, filver, and precious ftones, how long they fhould lie in darknefs, and then be brought to light, and who fearches out the perfection of all thingsin nature; and makes them known to men, when he himfelf.and his ways are not to be found out unto perfeétion by men; but rather this is to be underftood of the miner that digs for the above metals, who, when he opens a mine, lets in natural light, or carries artificial light along with him, and {fo puts anend to the darknefs which had reigned there before, even from the creation: aud fearcheth out all perfection, fearches thoroughly the mines he opens, and gets all he can out of them, and fearches perfectly into the nature of the ore; he finds, and tries, and proves it, what it is, its -worth and yalue: the flones of darkne/s, and the fiadow of death; fearches and digs through them, to get at what he is Seeking; or brings ftones, precious ftones, to light, which lay in darknefs from the beginning, and in fuch places which were the fhadow of death, and looked difmal and horrible, and even threatened with death, to get into and fetch them out: fo {piritual miners that fearch into the mines of the fcriptures, fhould not be difcouraged with darknefs and difficulties that may attend their fearch; but fhould continue it, in order to find out truths that have lain in darknefs, more precious than gold and filver, and the richeft gems; and fuch who fearch for them in like manner as miners do, fhall findthem, Prov. ii. 4, 5.
y. 4. The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant, &c. So that there is no inbabitant*)| Of the mine, as the miner may be faid to be who lives there continually; and, when a“flood of water arifes, which is an ufual thing in mines, he is obliged to flee, and make hafte to fave his life: even the waters forgotten of the foot; fuch as never any foot of man touched, or was acquainted with, being fubterraneous. water, and never feen with the eye of man before, and who before knew not there were fuch floods under ground*. A like figurative expreffion in Pf. cxxxvii. 5. they are dried up, they are gone away from men; tho’ fuch a flood of waters rife apace, and flow in with great force, and threaten the miners lives, and the ruin of their works; yet they are not difcouraged, but by means of engines, pumps, and buckets, and fuch like things, draw up the waters, and clear the mines of them; and they are gone from the workmen, who return to their work again, and go on with their mining: and fo fometimes {piritual miners are interrupted by a flood of Satan’s temptations, the world’s perfecutions, and various afflictions; but, by the af-
¥. 5. As for the earth, out of it cometh, bread, &ec.] That is, bread-corn, or corn of which bread is made, particularly wheat; which falling, or being caft into the earth, rifes up and brings forth fruit, and when ground into flour, makes fine-bread; and to' this fame original the pfalmift alcribes bread, which ftrengthens man’s heart, ae Civ. 14, 15. The Weft- Indians formerly made their bread of roots of the earth, particularly one called jucca”; fo Cefar’s foldiers in diftrefs made bread of a root called chara, fteeped in milk*: and under it 1s turned up as it were fires coal, which is fewel for fire; for, as in the earth are mines for gold and filver, iron and brafs, out of which they are dug, or the ore of them, fo there is coal. under the earth; which, when turned up, or) dug, is taken for firing; or brimftone, or fulphurous matter, which is eafily inflammable; and -fometimes the fame earth, the furface of which is covered with corn, out of which bread cometh, underneath are coal, or fylphur, and fuch like combuttib le matter: fome think precious ftones are meant, which glitter and fparkle like fire; fee Ezek. xxviii.
14. X. 6. The frones of it are the place of fapphire, &c.
In fome parts of the earth its ftones are a quarry of fapphires, put here for all precioys ftones: this is a moft excellent precious ftone, of a fky colour with golden fpecks, and was one of the ftones in the, breaft-plate of the high-prieft; and by.which are reprefented the pavement under the feet of the God of J/rael, the throne of Chrift, his bowels and affetions for his people, the comelinefs of them, and the glory of his church in the latter day, Exod. xxiv..1o. and xxviii. 18. Ezek. i. 26. Cant. v.14. Lam. iv. 7. If.\iv. 11. and it hath duft of gold; fome parts of the earth abound with the duft of gold; its duft is gold, or it hath gold as plenty as duft; though fome think this refers to the fapphire in the preceding claufe, which, as Pliny fays*, has pulvis aureus, duft of gold in it, and fhines and {parkles with golden points, or fpecks; and fo fay other writers*; but the word ufed rather fignifies clods, lumps, and maffes of gold, which better agree with the earth; and befides, no very good reafon can be given why there fhould be fuch a particular defcription of the fapphire; whereas the earth is the original of that, and of all the other things before fpoken of.
¥. 7. There is a path which no fowl knoweth, &c.] A path made by miners to the gold, filver, brafs, and iron ores; to the places where gems and precious {tones lie; the way to which was never feen, and could never have been difcovered by the moft fharp-fighted fowl, as the eagle‘; which fome think is particularly intended; and the Greek word for an eagle feems to be derived from the word.ufed in the-text: this fowl, the king of birds, as it is the fwifteft, it is the moft quick-fighted of any; but, though it is eager, and looks out fharp after its prey, and which it beholds at a great diftance, and in the moft fecret lurking places, and flies unto fiftance of the Spirit and grace of God, whereby ajit, and feizes upon it at once, yet it never could ftandard is lift up againft them, they get clear of|look into the bowels of the earth, or difcover a them, and receive no hurt by them, but go on track leading thereunto;.in this it is outdone the diligent and laborious miner, who is not at” a lofs to make his. way into the inmoft and darkeft “receffés of the earth: which the vulture’s eye hath not { en; which is next to the eagle, and fome of them are of the fpecies of it, and is a very fharpfighted creature, even to a proverb, as well as voracious, which makes it diligent to fearch every- ‘where for its prey; and yet this creature’s fharp and piercing eye never faw the path the miners make by digging into the earth, in order to get metals and minerals from it. Some underftand this path of fubterraneous paths in nature, made of God, through which rivers of water pafs that were never feen by creatures of the quickeft fight; it may rather be applied to the paths of God in providence, which are unfearchable and paft finding out,” by men of the moft fagacious and penetrating capacities, though they will hereafter be made manifet; and alfo to his paths of love, grace, and mercy towards the fons of men, which are the deep things of God, fearched into and revealed by his Spirit, or otherwife could not be known; as well as to the ways and paths of righteoufnefs and holinefs, of faith and truth, of the word and ordinances God has revealed, as his mind and will his people fhould walk in, which otherwife would not be known, and are not by carnal men; and efpecially to the principal way and path, Chriff Fe us, who is the way tothe Father, the way to everlafting happinefs, the way of life and falvation, the high way and way of holinefs, in which men, though fools, fhall not err, and of which fome things are faid, in J/ xxxv. 8, 9. which greatly agree with what are faid of this path, here and in the following verfe: this way of peace is not known by carnal men, nor the things of it difcerned by natural men, though ever fo fagacious; fee Rom, iii. 17. Matt. xi. 25. 1 Cor. ii. 14.
y. 8. The lions whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion paffed by it.] Or upon it*; fuch creatures that are exceeding fierce and cruel, hungry and voracious, eager after their prey, range here and there in’ purfuit of it, fearch every hole and corner, and rove in dens and caves of the earth; ‘yet thefe never traverfed fuch ways and paths the miners make to get out the wealth and riches of the earth. Wicked men are fometimes compared to lions, for their cruelty and oppreffion exercifed on the faints, breathing out threatenings and flaughter againft them, P/. lvii. 4. and particularly tyrannical princes and perfecutors, as the kings of Affyria and Babylon, and Nero the Roman emperor, Fer. 1. 17. 2 Tim. iv, 17. thefe never trod the way of holinefs, nor walked in the path of truth, nor knew the wifdom of God ina myftery, nor the Lord of life and glory, and the way of life and falvation by him; which is a way the unclean walk not in, or perfonsof fuch a temper and difpofition; fee If. xxxv. 8,9. The former claufe may be rendered as it is by fome, the children of pride‘, and as itis in ch. xli. 34. which isthe only place befides this where it is ufed; and fo the Septuagint verfion, the children of proud-men; and may be accommodated to felf-righteous perfons, who are proud boaters of themfelves and of their works, and go
- i ae | Ch. xxvii. ee ey be old way, and the only way of life, righteouthels, cfs, = and falvation by Chrift. neers y. 9. He putteth forth his hand upon the ro &c.] The difcourfe is carried on concerning the - miner, and digger in the earth for metals and precious ftones; who meeting with a rock or flint, and a ridge of them, is not difcouraged, but goes to therewith, and with his hammer in his hand, Jays: apon the'rock or flint, and beats it to pieces, and ‘with proper inftruments cuts through it 5 and ufing fire and vinegar, as Pliny * obferves, makes his way into it, and oftentimes by {plitting it, difcovers gold* or filver, or precious ftones in it: be overturneth the mountains by the roots; or turns them up from the roots; he roots them up, he undermines them; he turns up the earth at the roots of them, to. get what is hid at the bettom, or in the bowels of them. Some underftand this, and what is faid in the following verfes, of God, and of wonderful things done by him; fo Yarchi, Aben Ezra, and others; and to whom indeed fuch things are fometimes afcribed in fcripture: he touches the hills, and they fmoke; lays his hand on the rock, and removes it out of its place; it was he that fmote and opened, the rock at Horeb, and the waters gufhed out; yea, turned the rock into ftanding water, and the flint into a fountain of water: and he, in a figurative fenfe, has laid his hand on the rock Chriff, and {mote him with the -rod of! juftice, whereby the bleflings of grace come flowing down upon his people; and he it is that puts forth his hand of powerful and efficacious grace upon the rocky hearts of men, and with the hammer of his word, breaks them to pieces, and takes away the {tony heart, and gives an heart of fleth: and he alfo, in a literal fenfe, overturns hills and mountains by their roots, through ftorms, and tempetts, and earthquakes; and figuratively, kingdoms and ftates, that lie in the way of his intereft; for what are thefe mountains befure the great Zerubbabel? they foon and eafily become a plain; and fo breaks through all difficulties, which proverbially may be fignified by removing mountains, that feem to ob- {truét and hinder the converfion and falvation of his people; he makes thofe mountains a wavy and his high ways are exalted; fee Cant. ii. 8. J - xlix.
11. Zech. iv. 7. but the former fenfe is beft, and moft agreeable to the context. epi y. 10. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks, 8c.] By cleaving rocks afunder in order to find out things of value in the cliffs of them; or by cutting his way through them, the miner opens a courfe for rivers and floods of water, to drain off from his mines, and fo can go on with his works more comfortably, and with fuccefs; though fometimes they fink through high rocks, till they go fo far below their bafis, that they can go no farther for - water, in fome places forty or fifty fathom deep!: and bis eye feeth every precious thing; in the cliffs « the rock, or at the bottom of the rivers and floo as they go off, or in the mines he digs, even gi or filver, or precious ftones: hence came 1 fable of Lynceus, and from him the phrafe of Lyrcean eyes *, who was faid to fee all thi gs unde earth, becaufe he was the firft that fear about to eftablifh their own righteou!nefs, and defpife and will not fubmit unto the righteoufnefs tals, as brafs, filver, ce. and in fearch!.of them of carried lamps or links under the earth’, This
Chrift; thefe tread not in, nor walk upon the good verfe is alfo' by fome afcribed to God, who is faid_
Ch. xxviil, Pei, 1D. 7 <0 BS: os $89 to cleave the fountain and the flood; and to dry up mighty rivers; and alfo to open rivers.in high places, in hills, mountains, and rocks, as well as fometimes ‘in the middle of the vallies; Pf Ixxiv. 15. 1/. xli. 19. and who, in a fpiritual fenfe, has cut out and opened the river of his pure love and grace, which flows from the throne of God and the Lamb; and the fulnefs of grace in Chrift, which is as rivers of water in 4 dry land; and the graces of the Spirit in his people; which flow out of them as rivers of living water; and his word and ordinances in his church, which are the rivers of pleafure he makes his faints to drink of in it: and his eye of omnifcience, which fees all things in particular, fees all the precious..things in nature; the precious things of heaven, and earth, and fea, the precious things brought forth by the fun and moon; and the precious things of the ancient mountains and everlafting hills, the gold, filver, and precious ftones that lie hid in the bowels of them, Deut. xxxiil. 13—16. and who alfo fees all precious perfons, and things, in a fpiritual fenfe; he beholds his precious Son, his precious blood, righteoufnefs, and facrifice with delight and pleafure; and his eye of love, grace, and mercy is upon the precious fons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, jewels, and precious ftones; and fees all the precious graces of the Spirit in them, with acceptance and good-will.
y. 11. He bindeth'the floods from overflowing, 8c.) As the miner. finds ways and means of cutting through rocks, and draining’ and carrying off the waters in his mine; fo he makes ufe of other methods of reftraining and keeping back the waters from coming into and overflowing his works, and even from weeping”, as in the original text; he binds them up fo firmly, and ftops every avenue and paflage fo clofe, that the waters cannot fo much as ooze, or diftil and drop as a tear from the eye: and the thing that is hid bringeth be forth to light; the feveral metals and minerals, gems and precious ftones that lay hid in the bofom of the earth, are fetched out, and brought to light by thediligence and labours of the miner; the fame that are called ftones-of darknefs, and of the fhadow of death, ver. 3..This verfe is likewife by feveral interpreted of God, and of what is done by him in the things of nature and providence; he it is that at firft fhut up the fea with doors; made the cloud its garment, and thick darknefs its fwadling bands, in which he wrapped and bound it, as an infant, and {till fets bars and doors to it, and fays, hitherto fhalt thou come, and nofurther, 70d xxxviii. 8—is, and ina fpiritual, fenfe, he reftrains the floods of affliction from,overflowing. and overwhelming his people; and, when the temptations of Satan come in like a flood upon them, his Spirit fets up a ftandard againft them, which keeps them off from doing them any hurt} and, when the wrath of perfecutors rifes up againft them, and threatens them with deftruction, he withholds thofe proud waters from going over their fouls and overwhelming them: and fo likewife it is he that bringeth’ hidden things to light, things in nature men had never feen or known before; things in providence dark and intricate; things in grace, out the fight of the moft penetrating underftandin he reveals the fecrets of his love and grace to them that fear him; the glorious fcheme of falvation by Chrift, which was hid in himfelf, in the thoughts, purpofes, and counfels of his heart; the myfteties of his gofpel, hid from the wife and prudent; and life and immortality itfelf, or the way to it, which he has brought to light through the gofpel; yea, he brings to light all che hidden things of a man’s heart, and fets them before him, and convinces him of them In a loving way, and if not now, he will hereafter bring to light the hidden things of darknefs, and make manifeft the counfels oF the heart;. 1 Cor. iv. 5. but, as before obferved,. it»is beft to underftand the' whole paragraph of miners; of their fagacity in opening mines, and fearching into the bowels of the earth; where none were ever before them; and of their indefatigablenefs, induftry; and labour therein; and of the fuccefs that attends them; 7od’s defign being to fhew, that things rich and valuable, and moft remote from the fight of men, may, by diligent application, be inveftigated and obtained; yet fuch wifdom is not attainable, as to underftand the reafon of the various dealings of God, with the fons of men, both good and bad; and therefore after all he had faid on the above fubject, {till the queftion is as follows. ° y. 12. But where fhall wifdom be found? &c.] Though there is a vein for filver, a track where that lies, and is to be come at, and a place where gold is found, and where it may be fined, and parts of the earth, out of which brafs and iron, and bread-corn may be produced, and even from whence may be fetched brilliant gems and precious ftones. which, though attended with many difficulties, in cutting through rocks, draining rivers, and re- {training the waters, yet are got over through the art. and {kill, induftry, diligence, and labour of men; fo that their eyes behold every precious thing their minds defire, and they bring to light what have been laid up in darknefs from the creation of the world: -but, though thefe things may be found by fearch and labour, the queftion is, what vein is there for wifdom, or where is the place in which that may be found? by which may be meant the wifdom of God, as a perfection in him; which, though difplayed in fome meafure in the works of creation and providence, yet not compleatly, and efpecially in bis dealings with the children of men; in all which there is undoubtedly the wifdom of God; yet it is fuch a depth as is unfathomable by mortals: fuch are God’s dealings with men in a way of diftinguifhing grace and mercy, as that he fhould take no notice of any of the whole body of apoftate angels that finned againft him, but doomed them all to deftruction; and yet there fhould be a philanthropy, a love of men in him, and fuch as to give his Son to die for them, and-redeem them from ruin and deftruction; alfo that he fhould make a difference among men, and ordain fome to eternal life, whilft others are foreordained to condemnation and death, when all were in the fame fituation, condition, and circumftances; and fuch likewife were his dealings with the J/raelites, and other nations of the world, part of which os was not a ftranger to; as his chufing them to-be his peculiar people before all others, and beftowing peculiar favours upon them, not becaufe they were more in quantity, or better in | quality, but becaufe this was his pleafure,; when he fuffered all other nations to walk in their own ways, for many hundreds of years, and winked at the times of their ignorance; and yet, after a long courfe of time, rejected the people of the coh an