Ch ° XXVILL
and wrote a /o-ammi on them, and took out from the Gentiles a people for his name;
who were not a people, were called the people of _ God, and the ‘Yews were broken off, and the Gentiles grafted in; and when the fulnefs of them is the preceding difpute between 7od and his friends: fo that theyjbut if we Jook forward in the chapter, we fhall find this quettion repeated, and an an{wer given to it as in the negative, fo in the affirmative, that — God knows the place of it; that he has fearched brought in, there will be a turn again, and then all J/rael fhall be faved: upon all which the apoftle breaks out in this exclamation, which may ferve as acomment on this text, Ob the depth of the riches, both of the wifdom and knowledge of God, how unfearchable are his judgments, and his ways paft finding out! Rom. xi. 33. particularly here may be meant the wifdom of God in his dealings with men good and bad, in afflicting good men, and in fuffering the wicked to profper: this is a fact Fob had fully proved, and it cannot be denied; and there is no doubt much of the wifdom of God herein; he does all things well and wifely; as he cannot do an unjuft thing, fo neither an un-wife one; though his wifdom is unfearchable, his judg ments are a great deep, and not to be fathomed by men, not only not by weak men and wicked men, but even by the wifeft and beft of men, as A/aph and Feremiah: and this being the cafe, ‘fob fuggetts to his friends, that the dealings of God with him, and the reafons of them, and his wifdom in them, were not to be fearched out by them; and that they fhould forbear imputing his afflictions to hypocrily, or to fecret fins indulged by him; but to leave all, without making rafh cenfures and wrong conitructions, until the time fhould come when the judg ments of God fhould be made manifeft; fuch wifdom and knowledge as to account for God’s different dealings with men, being too wonderful, too high to attain unto, and quite out of their reach. The ‘Fews, as particularly Yarchi, underftand by wifdom the law, not to be found in the depth or in the fea; and illuftrate the words by Deut. xxx. 11—14. but it is much better to interpret it of the gofpel, to which the apoftle applies the above pafface, Rom. x. 6, 7. in which there is a glorious difplay of the wifdom of God, inall the truths and doctrines of it; that it is a myfterious wifdom, hidden wifdom, hid from the wife and prudent, and not to be attained unto by the light of nature it out, feen it, and and declared it; and it is this, the fear of the Lord, that is wifdom, and to depart from evil is underftanding, ver. 20. 23. 27, »8. by which it fhould feem, that this witdom is fupernatural wifdom, or underftanding in men; which lies in the fear of God, and the effects of it; ina fpiritual knowledge of God and Cérgft, or ot God in Chrift; and in that godlinefs which is profitable in all things; and in that wifdom which comes from above, and is oppofed to that which is earthly, fenfual and devilifh, and is not to be found in carnal hearts, nor its worth known by carnal men, nor to be obtained by any thing in nature ever fo valuable, but is the gift of God, the wifdom he makes men to know, in the hidden part, Pf li. 6. and where 1s the place of underfianding, to attain to the underftanding of the myfteries of providence, or of Chriff, or of the gofpel; or to have a fpiritual underftanding of divine things, and experience of them, which only is the gift of God, 1 foknv. 20. for, by wifdom and. underftanding are meant one and the fame, as they often are, whether underftood as a thing or perfon; fee Prov. i. 2. andii.2. and iii. 13. and viii. 12, 14,
¥. 13. Man knoweth not the price thereof, &c.] The worth and value of it, what price to fet upon it, or offer and give for it; nor does he know where to find an equivalent to it, or what is a valuable confideration for it: as for the wifdom of God in his dealings with men, if a man was to give all the fubftance of his houfe to know the fecret reafons of them, it would utterly be contemned; yea, if he had all the riches in the world in his pofleffion, and would offer them on that confideration, he would not be able to attain the knowledge of them: or ¢he order thereof °; the order of divine providence, the wife difpofal of things, and the reafons thereof. In the firft fenfe it is applicable to all the things before-mentioned; to {piritual wifdom in men, fupernatural grace, experimental and carnal reafon; it contains the deep things ofjreligion, and real godlinefs; the worth of which is
God, which the Spirit of God alone fearches and reveals; but why may not Cérif, the wifdom of|
God, be thought of? fince many things are faid in the following verfes, as are of wifdom, as a divine perfon, in Prov. vili. 13, 14, 15. in whom all the treafures of wifdom and knowledge are hid, and on whom the fpirit of wifdom and counfel refts, as Mediator; and who, as a divine perfon, is the only wife God, and our Saviour: and to this queftion in Job's time, where fhall wifdom be found? the only anfwer to be given is, that he, the ogos, or wifdom, was with God, as one brought up with him, rejoicing. always before him; and that he lay in his bofom, Prov, viii. 30. Fohn i. 1. 18. and to the fame queftion in our time it muft be returned, that he is in heaven at the right-hand of God; but that there is no coming at the true knowledge of him by the light of nature, or by the law of Mo/es, but by means of the gofpel, and through the fpirit of wifdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The firft of thefe fenfes refpecting the wifdom of God in his different dealings with men, good and bad, is moft generally given into by interpreters, and feems to fuit well with not known by carnal men, they defpife it, and {coff at it; and to the gofpel, which is reckoned foolifhnefs by them, and is of no account; and fo is Chrift himtelf rejected and diffallewed of men, tho? chofen of God, and precious both to him and them that believe, who only know the price and value of him: neither is it found in the land of the living; meaning not wifdom, though that in every fenfe is not from below, or earthly, but from above, and heavenly, but the price of it; and the fenfe is, that there is nothing in the whole globe that is equal to its worth; or can be propofed as a valuable confideration for it. ¥. 14. The depth faith, It is not in me, &c.] ‘That is, the deep places of the earth, that are du in it, the mines, and the like, could they fpeak, they would fay there are no metal, nor minerals, no rich treafures of gold and filver ore, of pearls and precious ftones, in the bowels of it, that are of the value of wifdom, or to be compared to it: - and the fea faith, \t is not with me; had that a voice to fpeak, it would freely declare, that there is no- _ thing in its vaft compafs, at the bottom of it, or to be got out of it, as corals that grow in it, and
Chixxviny.r5—18: 7 OB. 391 Pearls fifhed from thence after mentiotied, that are afufficient price for wifdom. Some underftand thefe words, the former part of miners and col Jiers, and fuch fort of men, that dig and live in the depths of the earth 5 and the latter part of mariners, that are employed on the fea, who are generally) ignorant and carnal men, and void of the knowledge of wifdom in every view of it; but the fenfe firft given is beft. and this being near the
¥. 15. It cannot be gotten for gold, &c.) Hiaving in general faid that there is nothing in the whole compafs of the terraqueous globe, nothing that is upon the furface of the earth, or in the bow- - els of it, or in the vaft ocean, that is an equivalent price for wifdom, ob defcends to particulars, and inftances firft in gold, that being the moft valuable of metals; the word here ufed for it fignifies up“, becaufe it is firft fhut up in the earth, out of which it is dug, and when taken from thence, and refined, and made into coins or vefiels, it is fhut up among the treafures of men; the words may be more literally rendered, gold /hall not be given infiead of it*; asa fufficient price, or valuable confideration for it: neither fhall filver be weighed for the original from Phenicia, near Fudea; fo Pliny fays ¢, from‘the lake Cezdevia, within the roots of mount Carmel, in Phenicia, near Judea; {prings the river Be/us, from whence glafs came firft; and he {peaks of Sidon (a city in Phenicia) as famous for it; and Tacitus * obferves, that the river Belus glides in the Fewifh fea, and about the mouth of it fand is gathered and mixed with nitre, and boiled into glafs; country where Fob dwelt, it is thought he had knowledge of it; and from this paffage fome ‘ have concluded the great antiquity of glafs; and if it is true what 4Alianus ¢ relates, that when the monument of the ancient Be- /s, (the firft king of Babylon) was dug up by Xerxes, the fon of Darius, that there was found a glafs urn, where lay a bedy in oil, it muft be in ufe hut|before the times of Fob. An Arabic chronologer* affirms what he had from men converfant in hiftory, that in Egypt after the flood, there were men learned in various fciences, and among the reft in alchymy, and had knowledge of burning elaffes; though the invention of thele, and of a glals globe is afcribed to Archimedes*, who lived fomewhat later than 200 years before Chriff. There was price thereof; in former times this metal ufed to be delivered in buying and felling, not by the number and value of pieces, but by weight, in rude mafles and lumps, and even when coined into fhe. kels; fee Gen. xxiii, 16.
y. 16. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, &c.] Which is often fpoken of in fcripture as choice gold, if not the beft; fee the note on ch. xxii. 24. the fenfe is, that the gold of Opdir is not of the value of wifdom, or of the fame worth with that, and fo not fufficient to purchafe it: with the precious onyx and fapphire, two precious ftones that were in the breaft-plate of the highprieft, of which fee the notes on Exod. xxviii. 9, 18,20. but not fo precious, or of fuch value as wifdom. Pliny’ fpeaks of the onyx ftone as in Arabia, near which Fob lived, and who doubtlefs was acquainted with it and its worth, and alfo with the fapphire he makes mention of before y¥. 6. fee the note there. The word for valued is by fome rendered frowed *, a8 goods are when they are expofed to fale; but wifdom fhould not be laid, or put ona level with thefe, though fo excellent and precious.
y. 17. The gold and the cryftal cannot equal it, &c.] Cryftal was found in an ifland of the Red Sea, fituated before Arabia, called Neron, and in another, which from a gem found in it bears the name of Topazion, and may be thought therefore to be well known by Yod; and though it is not now of fo much account, it formerly was very valuable. Pliny * makes mention of a cryftal veffel, fold for 150,000 fefterces, about 1250 pounds fterling; and of two cryftal cups broke by Nero in his fury, on hearing of fome loffes, to punifh the then prefent age, that no other men might drink out of them: fome render it amber, which is found in Pruffa, and being at a great diftance from Yod’s country, might be the more valuable there; and Pliny * {peaks of it as had in as great efteem as gems: the Septuagint,'Vulgate Latin verfions, and others, tranflate it g/a/s*; which had its f Neri prefat. ad lib. de re vitriaria.
great plenty of glafs very early in Ethiopia, after mentioned, in which they enclofed their dead, that they might be feen through it *; and if it was in ufe in Fob’s time, and efpecially if it was then a late invention, it might be highly valued, and therefore placed here with things of the greateft worth. In the times of Nero, Pliny fays', two {mall glafs cups were fold for 6000 fefterces, or 45 pounds fterling, and according to others near 50 pounds; and the fame writer relates, that in the times of Tiberius an art was found out to make glafs flexile and malleable; but was ordered to be deftroyed, left the value of gold, filver, and brafs fhould be leffened by it. The Zargum renders the word here ufed a looking glafs; fee the note on Fofe. xi. 8. Some think the diamond or adamant is meant, and others that it is a general name for all forts of precious ftones, they being clear, tranfparent, and lucid, as the word fignifies: and the exchange of it fhall not be for jewels of fine gold; fet in fine gold; or veffels of it, more valuable than gold itfelf, being made of gold, purified, refined, and wrought by art into curious forms; and yet wifdom is fo valuable as not to be exchanged for thefe. Mr. Broughton takes this fine gold, or gold of Phaz, to be the fame with Fe/s in Barbary, which had its name from a heap of gold there found when its foundation was laid; for Fe/s with the Arabs fignifies gold ™.
¥.18. No mention fhall be made of coral, or of pearls, &c.] Coral isa marine plant, is as hard as a ftone, and of fuch value as to be reckoned among precious ftones; fee the note on Ezek. xxvii. 16. In Arabia Felix, on the fhore of the Red-/ea, isa place called Coralia"; it may be from coral found there. Pearls are from fhell-fifh taken out of the fea, though thefe feem rather intended in the next claufe: the words Ramoth and Gabifh are left untranflated by fome, and by others are taken for precious ftones, though unknown, fo called becaufe they are found in high places, which both words fignify., The Zargum renders the firft by Sandal-
= ppnn-im xd non daz M59DNM verbum fignificat chin, and feems to be the fame with the Sardonyx, a precious ftone foundin 4radia, and which found there is by Pliny* faid to excel. umius and Tremellius render it by Sandafiros; which, as Pliay and keep thefe ftones, and men_ from ftealii them; and according to Arcbelaus*, the topaz is mm found in Chitis, an ifland in Arabia, where the Troglodytes digging for herbs and roots find it;
{ays °, ome call Garamantis, being bred ina place of that name in India; and he alfo obferves, that it is found in Arabia towards thefouth, and has fhining golden drops in the body of it; of acarbuncle. Gadifh feems to have fome affinity with Chabazios, mentioned by Orpheus%as a precious '‘ftone; but whatever precious ftones are meant, as it is hard to determine what, they are not to be fpoken of with wifdom, or to be compared toit: for the price of wifdom is above rubies; or rather pearls, as Bochari* feems to have abundantly proved, who renders the words, ‘* the extraction of wifdom is greater than the extraction pearls;” and fo the Targum; there being, as he thinks, an allufion to the extra¢lion of pearls out of the fea by divers into it’; who.get them thro’ much art, difficulty, and danger; and he obferves, that there is a double extraction, or drawing them out, firft of the fhell-ffh out of the fea, and then of the pearls out of the fhells; -the drawing out of wifdom, or the attainment of that, is more difficult, and fuperior to it, as well as attended with greater advantage; fee Prov. iil. 15. and the note on Lam. iv 7.
of the fize of a pigeons egg, valued at 144,000 ducats; that drank by Cleopatra at a draught, reckoned worth 80,000 pounds fterling, and that| of the emperor of Perfia, bought at 110,400 pounds”; yet the price of wifdom is above|together and as Yuba relates’, there is an ifland called To- ~ pazion, inthe Red-fea, 300 furlongs from the con- ~ tinent, which is cloudy, and is therefore often itis a fortjfought for by navigators; whence he fays it had jits name Yopazion, which in the language of the Troglodytes fignifies to feek, and the topaz itfelf in cheir language fo fignifies; in the Samaritan verfion of Ewod. xxxix. 10. it is called Dachetab, from the Arabic word * Dachaiz, the language of the Troglodytes, which fignifies to feck and fearch by removing the earth with the foot. ‘This ifland feems to be the fame with Zopazos, which Pliny *fays of jis an ifland of the Arabians, and gave name to a gem, meaning the topaz; but the truth rather is, that the gem gave name to the ifland: upon the whole, it is no wonder, as Braunius ° oblerves, that this gem fhould be called by od the Arabian topaz. The Targum here calls it a green pearl; and fome havethought the emerald is meant, which butlis of that colour; and the emeralds of Ezhiopia are praifed by fome, according to Yuba *; and in Zgypt were emerald mines the E¢biopians laid a claim to ®; and there were emeralds alfo in Aradvia, and though of!as the above 7uda relates; however be this what it may, as it is moft likely to be the topaz, it is not fomeasjequal in value to wifdom, no not the largeit topaz ever known; not even that of the great Mooul, which weighs more than 157 carats, valued that by Philip the fecond, Jat 271,500 French pounds “; and according to Zavernier*it weighs almoft 158 carats, and was bought at Gea for almoft 272000 florins: neither bal/ it be valued with pure gold; that is moft refined and freed from drofs; they are not to be laid as of équal value; the fame word is ufed pearls fome~ are very large, Oviedo * fpeaks of one that weighed 31 carats, and another 26; big as hazel nuts, and even as a middling walnut, and of very great price, as that bought by pope Paul at 44,000 ducats";
them. here as in ¥. 16. fee the note there.
_ ¥. 19. The topaz of Ethiopia fhall not equal it, &c.] \ Not Ethiopia Abyffina, or that which lies beyond Egypt in Africa; for as Ludolpbus * fays, there are no gems found there, or very rarely; but Cua, as the word is, or Arabia Chufea, the fame with the country of Midian, and the parts adjacent; fee Hab, iii. 7. hence Zipporah, the wife of Mofes, who was of that country, is called Ethiopian woman, Numb, xii. 1. and this was near Yob’s country, who knew the produce of it; and here the Zepaz is found, as many writers obferve. Diodorus Siculus fays* in Opbiodes, an ifland in the Arabian gulph, belonging to the Zroglodytes, the topaz is found, which is a very clear ftone, pleayt. 20. Whence then cometh wifdom? and where is the place of underftanding?| The fame queftions as in y. 12. repeated to fet forth the fuperior excellency of wifdom, and to carry on the difcourfe, and lead on to other things concerningit. _ y.21. Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, &c.] Meaning not the beafts of the field, as fome anjinterpret it; this makes the féntiment jejune and trifling; but rational creatures, men, fo the Sepswagint, Eve is faid to. be the mother of, Gea. iii. 20. wifdom as a perfection in God, difplayed in his works of creation and providence, is but imperfectly known by men; and the fecret reafons of his providential dealings with men, good and bad, fant to the fight, like to glafs, and affording a wonderful golden colour; and With him S¢rado’ agrees, who relates there is an ifland called Ophiodes, from its being freed from ferpents by the king’s orders, which killed men that came thither for topazes; which he fays is a clear ftone of alfow golden colour, and fo refulgent, that it is not eafy to fee it in the day-time, being fo furrounded with light; but at night it is feen by thofe that ther it, who fet a veffel fora fign, and then dig for it in the day-time; and he adds a multitude of men are hired by the kings of Egypt, to gather s of the air, or heaven*; either the devils fo called, becaufe they dwell in the air, and are the poffe or power of the air, Eph. ii. 3. and becaufe ga-lof their ravenous and cruel difpofition, and fwiftnefs to do mifchief; fee Luke viii. 5, 12. or rather the holy angels, as Yarchi, whofe habitation is in heaven, and who are. {wift to do the will of God, wifdom or godlinefs, and the gofpe! of Chrif, and Chrift himfelf, they are hid from the eyes of all natural and carnal men, though ever fo wife and prudent in other things: and kept clofe from ibe are hid from all at prefent; and as for fpiritual and are reprefented as having wings like fowls; though thefe know much, yet the wifdom of God in his providence, in the doétrines of the golpel, and Cfrif himfelf, the wifdom of God, are in a good meafure hid from them; at leaft their knowledge is imperfect, and they are defirous of prying ‘more into thefe things:
¥. 22. Deftruétion and death fay, &c.] Mean ing the dead that are in the pit of deftruction, the grave; not their dead bodies there, devoid of life and fenfe, and know not any thing, but their fouls; either the damned in hell, or the faints in heaven: the Targum is, the houfe of deftruction, and angel of death; or rather it regards fuch as dead, who whilft alive had only a report of this wifdom; wherefore if their records and writings, or traditions handed down from them, areenquired into, the refult of the information they will give concerning it, will amount to no more than this: we have heard the fame thereof with our ears, ithas been reported to us there is fuch wifdom, what it is we know not; and this is all that we can his omnifcience, and under’the notice of his providence, which extends to all creatures and things throughout the whole earth, and under the compafs ot the heavens; and fince all places and per- {ons are obvious to his view, and all fubject to his all-wife and difpofing providence, and are ordered, unlefs men of the moft)directed, and governed, according to his fovereign will and pleafure; the path of wifdom, and the place of underftanding he mutt be acquainted with; and particularly his all-fecing eye, and all powerful providence, are concerned in the followin things, and in which there ate wonderful proofs of his knowledge and wifdom.
piercing and penetrating geniuffes, that foar aloft in the things of nature, and make the greateft difcoveries therein, and yet know nothing of divine and fpiritual things, of the arcana’s of providence or of grace, fhould be meant.
y, 25. To make the weight for the wind, &c.] He indeed makes the wind irfelf, hold: it in his fifts, and brings it forth out of his treafures, and lets it go, or reftrains it at his pleafure; he gives theJit an inclination to this or that, or the other point arejof the heavens, anda force to blow with, greater or lefler, as he pleafes, either for the good and benefit of men, or for the punifhment of them; he raifes the ftormy wind, which fulfils his word and his will; and he makes it fubfide and become a calm when he thinks fit; he can make it heavier or lighter, add to or take from its weight, fo that it bebut!comes more or lefs prefling on bodies it meets with; he can make a rough wind, and ftay that in the fay about it. day of his eaft-wind; he can make the rain in y.23. God underftandeth the way thereof, ®&c.} And he only; not the way that men can come at) the knowledge of wifdom, which at prefent appears to be patt finding out; but rather the way which wifdom itfelf takes, and is in the deep, and its fteps not known by any other, and the grounds and reafons of its taking fuch a courfe it does; which are only underftood by the Lord: it may be. applied to fpiritual wifdom in men, and the way to come at it; which God only knows and inftructs in, and is his fpecial and peculiar gift; and to Chrift, the wifdom of God, andthe way which he has taken in the council and covenant of grace and peace, for the falvation of his people; and which he took in time, in the affumption of human nature, and by fufferings and death to obtain it for them: and he knoweth the place thereof, the feat of wifdom within himfelf, the fource of all his dealings with men, his fovereign will and pleafure in his own heart; the place of fpiritual wifdom and knowledge, the heart of a regenerate man, where his gofpel is, and has come with power, and took place and works effectually; and where Chri, the Logos, the wifdom of God is, even with himfelf, and in his bofom, asin the times of od, and now at his righthand, in human nature.
¥. 24. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, &c. In this and fome following verfes, reafons and proofs are given, which abundantly fhew that God muft know the way and place of wifdom; fince all the parts and places of the earth, even to the ends of it, are feep by him, and all creatures and things in it; nor is there any thingin heaven, eatth, and hell, that is hid from him; and therefore if there is a way to it, or a place for it, he muft needs know it; where its direction is, or where it fteers itscourfe, and takes up its abode: and /eeth under the whole beaven; the fowls of the air, the beafts of the field, the inhabitants of the world, and all that is done in it; every thing falls under the fome fenfe a weight to it; he can wet its wings with it, and bear it down, and caufe it to reft and be ftill; and he that knows from whence it comes, and whither it goes, though we de not, being foot- wholly under his direction, muft cnaw the way and place of wifdom: and he weigheth the waters by mea/ure; or, in a meafure*; in the hollow of his hand, where he poizes them 3 fee J/ xl. 12. fome, becaufe there is a feeming impropriety in weighing by, or with a meafure, render it out of a meafure', Mr. Broughton tranflates the words, and held the wa- ¢ers in a meafure; in his hand, as before, or in the fea; weight and. meafure being both applied tothe waters, may denote the perfeét and exact knowledge God has of them, and of his great and diligent concern ih providence about them, he ordering and difpofing of them according to his will; and which is greatly the fenfe of the word ufed for weighing; and fo the Targum paraphrafes it, ** the waters he prepares (orders or difpofes of) by meafure.” Thefe waters, as they feem to be diftinguifhed from rain in the next verfe, may defign the waters of the fea and rivers; with thefe the earth at firft was covered, which being ordered off of it, and a place provided for them, they were gathered into it, and meafured and bounded in it by fhores and \fand, that they might not overflow the earth; whichisa wonderful inftance of the providence of God, in weighing and_meafuring’ the waters; of which alfo there was a fingular inftance at the general deluge, when the windows of heaven were opened, and the fountains of the great deep broke up, which overflowed the whole earth, and the higheft mountains in it; and after a time went off at the command of God, and the earth was dry as before: the tides, the ebbing and flowing of the \{ea, andthe flux and reflux of rivers, from and to the fame place, are furprizing things, and wholly owing to the power and providence of God; the eye of caufes and reafons of which are unknown to us, but are well known to hit, who weighs and meafures the waters, which flow in a regular courfe; and who therefore muft know the way and place of wifdom and underftanding.
¥. 26, When he made a decree for the rain, &c.] Decreed within himfelf that he would give it; for rain is his gift alone, and which none of the vanities of the Gentiles can give, and a wonderful bleffing to the earth it is; and which God beftows on all forts of men, both good and bad, and caufes it to fall fometimes on one place and fometimes on another, fometimes in greater fometimes in lefler fhowers; and according'to his fovereign pleafure, he gives or witholds it; the effects of which are quickly feen. Mr. Broughton renders the claule, be made a bound for the rain, and a way for the lightning of thunder, or the lightning and the thunder, as Ben Gerfom, who thinks the copulative }, and, is wanting. Thunder is from God, it is his voice, and the word here ufed is in the plural number, voices™, fignifying various claps of thunder; and lightning generally accompanies it, which, though firft perceived, they are both at once, the eye doing its office quicker than the ear; and a cloud alfo is ufual; and fo fome render the word for lightning, as in Zech. x. 1. it may fignify the way of the lightning out of the thunder-cloud, and attending claps of thunder; the thunder breaks the cloud, and makes a path for the lightning: the Targum is, ‘* a path for the lightnings, which run with the voices or thunders;” but, though the courfe or path, the lightning fteers, is very quick and very extenfive from eaft to weft, and cannot be traced by us, God that made it knows it, and he knows the path and place of wifdom. Sephorno interprets this of the thunder and lightnings at the giving of the law, which he underftands by wifdom, as do other Fewi/h writers: Pliny” {peaks of thunder and lightning as chance-matters; but Seneca ° more truly afcribes them to divine power and providence, as here.
y.27. Then did he fee it, and declare it, &c.]) His own wifdom, when he made and executed his decrees concerning rain, lightning, and thunder; he faw it in himfelf, and as it appeared in the works of his hands, which he' looked on and approved of, and faw that all was very good; and he declared it to others, by his works of nature and providence; for they declare the glory of God, and particularly the glory of his wifdom: be prepared it, yea, and fearched it out; he prepared it in his counfels, according to which he wrought all things in the creation, and ftill does in providence; and his fearching out denotes his perfect knowledge of it, and the way and courfe of it, or he takes with it, though it is unfearchable, and paft finding out by us. Mr. Broughton underftands this of a perfon, as do fome others, even Chrift, the wifdom of God; rendering the words, then he faw her, and foewed her, &c,. and fo the paflages in Prov. viii. 27, 28, 29, 30, 31. may be a comment on thefe words and the foregoing; for when the above decrees were formed in the divine mind, then he /aw his wifdom, his /ogos, his eternal Son; for he was by him, and with him, and in him, lying in his bofom; he looked at him in creation, and made man after his image, the idea he had formed of his human nature, and made all things part of it, and very profitable to men, delight and pleafure, as being the exprefs image of his perfon; he declared him to be his only begotten Son, faying, this day I have begotten thee,
Pf. ii. 7. he made bim known to the angels, as the Zargum here expreffes it, and what he defigned to do by him, and with him; which ocecafioned the revolt of many of them from him; and he declared him to dam as foon as there was an opportunity and occafion for it; he prepared him in his eternal purpofes to be the Redeemer and Saviour of his people, to be the head of the church, and the judge of quick and dead; he /earched him out in his infinite wifdom, and found him, fingled him out, laid help on him, with his holy oil anointed him, and appointed him to be the ranfomer of his chofen ones, od xxxiii. 24. Pf Ixxxix. 19, 20. ¥. 28. And unto man be faid, &c,| What follows; unto Adam, {fo fome render it, as Mr. Broughton, taking what-is after delivered to be faid to the firft man; either by fuggefting it to his mind and confcience, and infcribing it on his heart, where the law of God was written, and by which for his fake; and he viewed him with the utmoft he was directed to fear God and avoid evil; or by © the exprefs command he gave him not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge; thereby inftrudcting him to fear him, and abftain from evil; which, had he done, would have been his higheft wifdom, and a proof of it, and of his underftanding; but it feems beft to underftand it in general of the fons of men, as the Zargum and others: this is the fubftance of what God fays in his works, which are done that men might fear him, and ftand in awe of him, Pf. xxxiii. 6, 7, 8. Eccl. iii. 14. and in his word, and by his prophets, and their miniftry in all ages; whereby it appears, that this is the whole of men to fear God and keep his commandments, Eccl. xii. 14. Some render the words, but unto men be faid®; though he knows his own wifdom, and the way and place of it, the courfe it fteers in providence, and has feen, obferved, and fhewn it; has prepared, difpofed, ordered, and fearched it out, and perfectly knows it, and the caufes and reafons of it; yet he has not thought fit to make thefe known clearly to men; who therefore muft be content they fhould be fecrets to them, and attend to the wifdom which is revealed, and is of the greateft importance and confequence to them; namely, what follows, debold, the fear of the Lord, that is wifdom; by which is meant, not a fear of his wrath, and of eternal damnation, but an affection for God with reverence of him; fuch as is peculiar to children, a godly filial fear; and which is confiftent with ftrong faith, great joy, and true courage; is oppofite to pride and {elf-confidence, and takes in the whole worfhip of God, both external and internal: and it is called the fear of the Lord, becaufe he is the object and author of it; it is not from nature, or in men naturally, but comes from the grace of God, and is a gift of it; it is wrought in converfion, and is increafed by the difcoveries of the love and goodnefs of God; and is that wifdom which God makes his people know, in the hidden part; no man is wife till he fears the Lord; and when that grace is put into him, he begins to be wife, for this is the beginning of wifdom, Prev. i. 7. and ix. 10. and is a principal this life, and for that tocome; andtherefore it is their higheft wifdom to be concerned for it: God, is towards them that fear him; his eye is upon them; his hand communicates to them; his fecret is with them; he fets a guard of angels about them; caufes the fun of righteoufnefs to arife on them, and he has laid up much for them, for time and eternity: and to depart from evil is underftanding, this is the fruic and effect of the fear of the Lord, through which men have an hatred of fin, and an| averfion to it, and are careful not to commit it; through it they depart from evil, and abftain from all appearance of it; fee Prov. viil. 13. and xvi. 6. and it puts them upon a regard to God and his cotamandments, and to all that is good; and which is an evidence and proof of a good underftanding, Pf cxi. 10. Now ob fuggefts by this, that his the heart ofjfriends fhould be folicitous about, and fatisfied with fuch wifdom and underftanding as this, and not pry into the fecrets of providence, and the wifdom of that, which are not to be found out; and fo ceafe to charge him with being an hypocrite, and a wicked man, becaufe of the dealings of God with him, which were not to be accounted for: and by this ¥od appears to be a good man, and had an experience of what he here exprefles; that he was one that feared God and efchewed evil, according to the teftimony given of him, ch. i. 1. 8. and this he gave proot of in his former life and converfation; of which an account is given in the following chapter.