Exposition of the Whole Bible

N this chapter 70d gives an account of his former life, and wifhes it was with him now as then; and which he defcribes with refpect to his own perfon, and the favours he perfonally enjoyed, whether temporal or fpiritual, ver. 1— 5. with refpect to his family and domeftic affairs, ver. 5, 6. with regard to the efteem he had from men of every age and ftation, ver. 7—11. the reafons of which were the mercy and compaffion he fhowed to the poor, the fatherlefs, and the widow, and the juftice he adminiftered in the execution of his office as a magiftrate, ver. 12—17. in which honour and profperity he expected to have lived and died, ver 18. 19, 20. and which he further defcribes by the refpect he had among men, and the power and authority he exercifed over them, ver. 2I—25.

the favour he was in with God, and from the res {pect fhewn him by men, andthe many good things done by him: but fince, by various expreffions, which before had dropped from his lips, it appears, that he had no hope nor expectation of ever being reftored to his former outward happinefs;. this may be confidered as a with for the return of fpiritual profperity, wifhing he was in as good frames of foul, and as much in the exercife of grace, and was as holy, as humble, as fpiritual, and. heavenly-minded, as he was when he had fo much of the world about him; and that he had. but the like communion with God, and his gracious pre= fence with him, as he had then.. The ftate of the Lord’s people, God-ward, is always the fame’; his ele€tion of them ftands fure; the covenant of grace with them is unalterable; their intereft in a living Redeemer always continues; grace in them is a principle, permanent and perpetual; but there may be, and often is, an alteration in their frames, and in the exercife of their graces, and in the open regard of God unto them; their graces may be low in exercife; there may be a decay of the life and power of godlinefs; their frames may change, and the prefence of God may be withdrawn from them, and they may have no view of intereft in falvation, at leaft not have the joys of it; wherefore, when fenfible of all this, may be defirous it might be with them as it was before; that God would turn them again, and caufe his face to fhine upon them, that they might be comfortable; the particulars of Yob’s former cafe follow, which he defires a renewal of: as in ¢he days when God preferved me; either in a temporal fenfe; God having fet an hedge of fpecial providence about him, whereby he and his, his family and fubftance were remark-

¥. 1. Moreover, Job continued his parable, &c.’ Or added to take it up *, that is, he took it up again, and went on with his difcourfe; he made a paufe for awhile, waiting to obferve whether any of his three friends would return an anfwer to what he had faid; but perceiving they were not inclined to make any.reply, he began again, and gave an account of his former life,, in order to fhew, that he was far from being the wicked man, or being fo accounted by others, as his friends had reprefented him, and faid as follows.

y. 2. Ob that I were as in months paft, &c.) Which is either an earneft with for reftoration to his former ftate of outward profperity; which he might defire, not through impatience and difcontent under his prefent circumftances, or from a carnal and worldly fpirit; but either, that the prefent reproach he lay under from his friends might be taken off, he obferving, that they accounted him a wicked man and an hypocrite, becaufe of his afflictions; wherefore he judged, if thefe were removed, and hewas in as profperous acondition and in as good circumftances as before, they would entertain a different opinion of him; or, that his words might be better attended to, as they were men, both young and old, and even princes and nobles before, it being a common cafe, that a poor and diftreffed man fays is not regarded; that he might be in a capacity of doing good the poor and fatherlefs, the widow and the opprefied, as he had formerly; or, this wifh is only made to introduce the account of his former life, by which it would appear, that he was not the man his friends had reprefented him to be, ably preferved; but now this was plucked up, and all were expofed to ravage and ruin; or in a {piritual fenfe, as he was both fecretly and openly preferved, and as all the Lord’s people are, in Chriff, and in his hands, and by his power, fpirit, and by! grace: the Lord preferves their fouls from the evil of their own hearts, fin that dwells in them, that whatfit fhall not have the dominion over them; from the orjevil that is in the world, that they fhall not be overtojcome by it, and carried away with it; and from the temptations of Satan, fo as not to be devoured and deftroyed by him, and from a final and total falling away; he preferves them in his own ways, fafe to his kingdom and glory; but fometimes all fromIthis does not appear fo evident unto them, as it might not to Fob at this time; who obferved the workings of his corruption, and the breaking out of them, in paffionate words, wifhes, and curfes, and the temptations of Satan, who was bufy with him to go farther lengths, even to blafpheme and curfe God; fo that he might fear that God his defence was departed from him, the return of which he was defirous of; fee J/ xlix. 14, 15, 16. i y. 3. When his candle fined upon my head, &c. | Which may be underftood either of outward pro- {perity, fometimes fignified by a candle, ch. xviil. 5, 6. and xxi, 17. and may be called the candle of the Lord, becaufe it is from him, it is of his lighting and fetting up; and its fhining on his head may denote the large meafure and degree of it poffefied by him, in allufion to torches carried on high to light with; or lamps, or candles, fet up in the higher part of the houfe to give the more light; or to the fun in the firmament, and efpecially when in its meridian, and fhines cleareft nght now a father in Chrif, his living Redeemer: and Fob withes it was with him as in his youth, or in the early days of his converfion, at which feafon, generally fpeaking, there are great zeal and fervency of fpirit, a flow of love’and affection to God and the be(t things; large difcoveries of his love, much fenfible communion with him, and enjoyment: of his prefence; wherefore fuch returning feafons © are defireable; fee Fer. ii. 2, 3. when the fecret of God was upon my tabernacle, either the fecret power and providence of God, which was upon his houfe and family, and all that belonged to him; or the fecret of his love, which was manifefted to him, and is from everlafting to everlafting, on them that fear the Lord, as Fob did; who had fecret come munion with God, his fellowfhip was with him; he dwelt in the fecret place of the Almighty, and was taken into his fecret chambers, where lie had the greateft familiarity with him, fee Pf xxv. 14. Some obferve the word for /ecret is ufed for an a over our heads, and cafts no fhadow: or elfe it| = embly*, and take the fenfe to be, that the aflembly may be underftood of light in a figurative fenfe, not of the light of nature in men, which, though called the candle of the Lord, Prov. xx. 27. yet in man’s fallen ftate, fhines not clearly; and with re- {pect to this there was no difference in od than heretofore; but rather it is the light of grace, the true light, which had fhone upon him and in him, but now not fo clearly as formerly, and as he could with for; or elfe the word of God, which isa light unto the feet, and a lamp to the path; or it may be beft of all, the favour of God, the light of his countenance he had before enjoyed, having had acomfortable difplay of his love, a clear view of intereft in it, and had the bleffings of it beftowed upon him, and enjoyed by him; and nothing was more defireable by him, as is by every good man, than the return\of the light of God’s countenance; and that he might be remembered with his fpecial favour, as his people are; and, as he had been in times paft: and when By Ais light J walked through darkne/s, that is either by the light of outward profperity, he had efcaped thofe calamities, diftrefles and dangers, and got over thofe difficulties which attended others, though now furrounded with them; or by the light of divine grace, or of the word of God, and efpecially by and in the light of God’s countenance, he walk- of the faints and people of God was in his tabernacle or houfe; there they met together for religious worfhip, and where ¥od had often a comfortable opportunity, and wifhes for the fame again, fee Pfeil. 1, 125 Bee

¥. 5. When the Almighty was yet with me, &c.} Not merely by his powerful and _providential prefence, ashe is with all men; but ina fpecial manner by his gracious prefence, which is a wonderful and diftinguifhing favour; but fometimes the people of God are without it, at leaft they think fo, and which was now od’s cafe, fee ch. xxiii. 2, 3. 8, 9. and therefore he defires he would return to him, and fhew him his face and favour: When my children were about me; as olive plants about his table, in their youth; when he looked at them with great delight and pleafure, as his growing hopes s and, when grown up, and were not far from him, but were round about him, and lay near his heart, and whofe welfare, temporal and fpiritual, he was folicitous for; but now they were all taken away from him, and were no more: the word for children fignifies alfo fervants', and may take in them, of whom he had many to do his work and bufinefs; to attend upon him, to wait his orders, and execute them, and guard his perfon; but now many of them were flain by the Sabeans and Chal- ed chearfully and comfortably, without any fear of deans, and by fire from heaven; and thofe he had the darknefs of affliction and calamities, or of the dark valley of the fhadow of death, or of the prince of darknefs, or of the darknefs of hell and damnation; but now clouds of darknefs being about him, and he without the light of God’s countenance, could not fee the way in which he walked, and therefore wifhed that that again might be lifted up upon him. / y. 4. As I was in the days of my youth, &c.] Either taken literally, he being one like Obadiah, that feared God from his youth upward; or figuratively, for his former ftate of profperity, when he was like a tree in autumn laden with ripe and rich fruit, and in great abundance; and fo fome render the words in the days of my autumn, or autumnity*; though it may refpect the time of his firft converfion, the infancy and youth of his {piritual ftate, who, when firft regenerated, was as a newborn babe, and then became a young man, and

¥.6. When I wafhed my fleps with butter, &c.} Not the fteps of his houfe or palace; for to have done this, or his fervants by his orders, as it would have been a very great impropriety, fo a piece of — great prodigality, which 70d could never have been guilty of; but either his footfteps, the prints of his feet; and the fenfe be, that his cattle produced fuch a vaft quantity of milk, that when his fervants brought it from the fields to the dairy, their milk-pails ran over in fuch sbundanie, hated could not ftep out of his houfe, and take a walk i his fields, but he ftepped into puddles of mi es which butter was made: this is an exaggerated phrafe, like that by which the land of Canaan is defcribed, as flowing with milk and honey; or rather this is to be underftood of the wafhing of his which are the inftruments of ftepping or walking It was ufual in thofe times, in the rate untri to wath their feet upon travelling, of at feftivals: but.then this was commonly done with water, not with butter, fee Gen. xviii. 4. and xix. 2. Luke vii. 44. and the meaning can only be, that Fob had fuch abundance of milk, or butter made of it, that he could, if he would, have wafhed his feet in it; indeed, they had ufed to anoint the feet with ointment; buc whether cream or butter was any ingredient in it, and fo the part is put for the whole, is not certain, fee Luke vii. 38. Fob xii. 3. befides, that would have been more properly expreffed by anointing than wafhing; it feems to be an hyperbole, an expreffion like that of Zopbar, in ch. xx. 17. fignifying the vaft abundance of the increafe and produce of 7od’s kine; who is faid to wath his feet in milk or butter, as her is faid to dip his feet in oil, becaufe of the great plenty of it, Deut. xxxiil. 24. the fpiritual meditation upon the words may be this; the feet of the beft of faints need wafhing, there being many failings and infirmities in their walk and converfation; in which they gather much pollution and filth daily; the proper wafh for this is the blood of Chrij?, of which the laver in the tabernacle and temple was a type, at which the priefts wafhed their hands and feet; but the word of God, called the fincere milk of the word, is the inftrument or means of wafhing, or of directing fouls to the fountain opened to wath in;.fo that with refpect to that, the feet of faints, as the eyes of Chri/?, may be faid to be wafhed with milk: aad the rock poured me out rivers of oil; another hyperbolical expreffion, like that in Deut.

xxxii. 13. where honey is faid to be fucked out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock; as honey may be got out of a rock, becaufe bees may make their nefts and hives there, where it is laid up by them; fo oil, in like manner, may be had from the flinty rock, olive trees growing on hills, mountains, and rocks, which yield oil in great abundance; near Ferufalem was a mount called Olivet, from thence: the land of Edom, or Idumea, where 70d lived, abounded with cragged mountains and rocks; and there might be in ¥0d’s eftate, fuch on which olive-trees grew in great plenty, as to produce vaft quantities of oil: it is a very fanciful thought of Bolducius, that this rock was no other than a ftone veffel, in which was oil, fomewhat like the alabafter box in Ma¢t. xxvi. 7. and which was plentifully poured on Zod, when he was anointed high-prieft; and another learned man”, tho’ he rejects the notion of its being a veffel for facred ufe, yet is willing to allow it was an oil-veffel for common ufe: as to the fpiritual fenfe, it may be obferved, that a rock in fcripture often fignifies a divine perfon; it is an emblem of Cbrif, as oil alfo is of the fpirit of God and his grace; and which flows from Cérif, who is full thereof, and that in fuch great abun- y¥. 7. When I went out to the gate through the city, &c.] Fob having defcribed his former ftate of happinefs by the perfonal favours he enjoyed, and by the profperity of his family, and his abundance, of plenty at home; proceeds to give an account of the honour and refpect he had from men of every age. and rank abroad: though ‘he had an affluence of the things of this world, he did not indulge himfelf at home in eafe and floth; but went abroad to take care of the public welfare, maintaifi public peace, and adminifter public. juftice among his neighbours; performing the office of a civil magiftrate, which is often exprefied in fcripture by going in and out before the people: 70d went out from his own houfe to the gate of the city, where a court of judicature was kept, as it was ufual in thofe times and countries to hold them in the gates of the city; fee Zech. viii. 16. and to which he paffed through the city, very probably, in great pomp and fplendor, fuitable to his office and character, which drew the eyes and attention of the people to him; by which it fhould feem that his houfe was on one fide of the city, and the gate where juftice was adminiftred was on the other; though it may ~ be rendered over the city,° and the fenfe be, that he paffed along as he that was over the city, the chief man in it, and prefident of the court of ju- {tice, fee 2 Kings x. 5. when I prepared my feat in the fireet; where he fat, not as a teacher, though hé was an inftructor, not only of his family, but of his neighbours, as E/iphaz himfelf teftifies, th. iv. 3, 4. and it was ufual for fuch to have feats to fit upon, as thofe had who fucceeded Mo/es, and aré faid to fit in his chair; and it was ufual to call to men and inftruct them in open public places; hence wifdom is faid to utter her voice in the ftreets, iri the opening of the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors, Prov. i. 20, 21. and vill. 3. but ob here fpeaks of himfelf as a civil magiftrate, asa judge upon the bench, whohada - feat or throne erected for him to fit upon,’ whilft he was hearing and trying caufes; and this was fet up in the {treet under the open air, before the gate of the city, where the whole city might be convened together, and hear and {ee juftice done to their neighbours in fuch a ftreet before the gate of the city, Ezra read the law to J/rae/; and in fuch an one Hezekiah got the people of J/rael together, and {poke comfortably to them when invaded by Sennacherib; fee Neh. viii. 2, 3. 2 Chron. xxxii. 6. and the Arabs to this day hold their courts of juftice in an open place under the heavens, as in a field, or in a market-place’; and it is right that courts of juftice fhould be open and acceffible to all.

'¥.8. The young men faw me, and hid themfelves, &c.] Through a veneration of him; which was much, fince young men, through a vain conceit and opinion of themfelves, are apt to treat their fuperiors in age with flight, negleét and contempt; or through fear, left he fhould fpy them, and call them to him, and examine them clofely concerning their conduct and behaviour, and reprove them for their youthful follies he might have knowledge of: and the aged arofe and ftood up; as he paffed by them, to fhew their refpeét unto him; or when he camé into court, they rofe up, and continued ftanding until he had took his feat; and even then kept the fame pofture, attending to his counfel and inftruction, to his definitive fenterice and decifion of matters in debate; though they were venerable perfons themfelves, and fuch as before whor young men - were to arife, Lev. xix. 32. and were alfo men of wifdom and prudence, ch. xii. 12. yet thefe men rofe and ftood up, paying a deference to ‘Yod’s u- perior fenfe and judgment.

¥. 9. The princes refrained talking, 8c.) Who were in court before Fod came in, and were either talk-

398 Ki @ ZB. Ch. xxix. ¥. 10—1, talking with one another about indifferent matters, or were giving their opinion ina cafe before them; but no fooner did ¥0b make his, appearance, but they left off talking, and would not proceed any further; they laid a reftraint upon their words, and curbed themfelves from {peaking any more till they had heard his opinion: and laid their hand on their mouth; as a token of filence, ‘judg. xviii. 19. y¥. 10. The nobles beld their peace, &c.] Thefemay be in fome refpects inferior to the others; not princes of the blood, or fons of kings, who were properly princes, and yet great perfonages, of a noble extraction, and of confiderable families: fome think comforters, Eecl.iv. 1. in thefe inftances Fob imitated God, and was a follower of him, as a dear child of his; who, when this and the other poor man cries unto him, he hears, faves, and delivers out of all their troubles; he is the helper, yea, the father of the fatherlefs, and the judge of the widow, and, when there is no help from. men, he is a prefent help in times of need. i y. 13. The blefing of bim that was ready to perifo came upon me, &c.] That were ready to perith through the oppreffion of others, or through want - of thé neceffaries of life, or through falfe charges brought, and through falfe witnefs bore againft the leaders ypecterals of armies are meant, com- _ manders and captains, and fuch like military oficers, thofe fons of Mars, who are generally bold and daring, boifterous and bluftering, and full of talk; and yet even thefe held their peace in the’ prefence of Fob; or their voice was hid*; it could not be heard: and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth; fo that they had no ule of it, and it was as if they had none, fee Ezek. ili. 26. Here are various expreffions made ufe of, fignifying the profound filence of great perfonages whilft fob was prefent; and this filence was owing either to a con- {cioufnefs of their own weaknefs, and left they fhould, by fpeaking before him, betray it, and he fhould expofe them; or to the defire they had of| hearing 7od’s opinion firft, which was as an oracle to them, and ufually determined matters in debate before them; fuch high fentiments did they entertain of Fob’s good fenfe and abilities.

-y. 11. When the ear heard me, then it bleffed me, &c.] The ear of the common people affembled together to hear caules tried, and how they would go; when they heard fob give his opinion in court, or the definitive fentence paffed by him as a judge, they all applauded his wifdom and juftice; they highly praifed and commended him;_ in which fenie! the word Jd/effed is ufed, Prov. xxxi. 28. or they wifhed a bleffing on him; they prayed for his welfare, as it becomes people to do for thofe that are in authority, efpecially wife and faithful magiftrates; or they accounted him a bleffed man, and called them, and fo liable to a fentence of condemnation to death, or having it pafied upon them; but Fod taking their part, and fearching thoroughly into their caufe, not only refpited them from deftruction, but cleared them from the charges laid againft them, and which brought the bleffing of thofe perfons on him; who blefied God for him, and bleffed him, wifhed a bleffing on him in their prayers to God, who had been fuch a happy inftrament of their deliverance from ruin and deftruction; fee Prov. xxiv. 11, 12. and xxxi. 5, 6. and I caufed the widow’s heart to fing for joy, by relieving her wants, defending her caufe, and. punifhing thofe that oppreffed her; which is the reverfe of the character Elipbaz gives of Fob, ch. xXil. 9.

y¥. 14. Lput on rightecu/nefs,. and it clothed me, &c.] Not the righteoufhels of his living Redeemer, the robe of righteoufnefs, and garment of falvation he had from him; though he had put on that by faith, and it was his clothing in the fight of God, which covered his perfon, and covered all his fins from the avenging eye of divine juftice; and.in which he was prefented before God unblameable and irreprovable in his fight, and with which he was adorned and beautified, being made perfectly comely through it, and compleatly juftified by it, but legal righteoufnefs in the admini- {tration of his office as a magiftrate; he put it on, that is, he exercifed it, and he exercifed it conftantly from morning to night, and day after day 5 as a man puts on his clothes in a morning, and him fo, Lukei. 48. as he was, both in a temporal) fenfe, being bleffed with a great plenty of earthly, things, and alfo bleffed with all {piritual Chrift, with an abundance of grace, and with a title to eternal glory; as well as he was bleffed as a magiftrate, with great wifdom and with great erity and uprightnefs in the difcharge of his and when the eye faw me, it gave witne/s to me; of his gracefulnefs and gravity, of his honefty and faithfulnefs, of his good behaviour among his neighbours, and of his wife conduct in the courts keeps them on all the day, and which he is always repeating; and it was as vifible in him, and to be bleffings in | feen and obferved by all, as the clothes on his back; and it covered him all over as a garment does; no blemifh was to be feen in him, or blame to be caft inte-lupon him, throughout the whole courle of his office;adminiftration; and this was a fence unto ‘him againft all calumny and reproach, as garments are againft the inclemency of the weather; fee x Sam. xii. 3, 4, 5. fo a godly converfation in the exercife of graces and virtues, and in the performance of of judicature, duties both to God and man, is fometimes exprefied y. 12. Becaufe I delivered the poor that cried, &c. This honour and efteem he had not, becaufe of his grandeur and riches, becaufe of his worldly wealth and fubftance; but becaufe of the goodnefs of his difpofition, and becaufe of the good he did to men, his acts of pity and compaffion to the poor, and of the juftice he did to all men; the poor and the afflicted, when they cried to him for help he delivered them out of the hands of their oppreffors: and the fatherle/s; the care and defence of which belongs to judges and civil magiftrates, fee P/ Ixxxil. 1, 2, 3, 4.and him that bad none to help as the poor and fatherlefs feldom have; there is power on the fide of the oppreffors of them, but they have few or none to take their parts, and to be their |by a putting them on, as garments are put on; fee Eph. iv. 24. Col. iii. 10.12. 14. and thefe are an outward clothing to appear in before men, and fhould be fhewn forth with meeknefs and wifdom, fo as to be beheld by men; and fhould be continually exercifed and conftantly performed; and then they are a covering with refpeét to men, and they appear harmlefs, blamelefs, and without rebuke, in the midft of a crooked and perverfe generation; and thus, by well doing, put to filence the ignorance of foolifh men, and fuch to the bluth, him;)thofe who falfly accufe their good converfation: and this in every fenfe was Yob’scafe: my j nt was as a robe and diadem fach as the high. among the Fews wore in the execution of his office,

Ch. xxix, ¥.1g—r17, Ep On XB: 399 _ which made him look grand and majeftic; was ufual in ‘Yod’s time, as it is in our’s, and has been the cuftom in all‘ ages and countries, for judges and civil magiftrates, to be clothed in different manner from others, as it is proper they fhould, to command an awe and reverence of them among the common people, and make them re-jplied, fpectable to them: but od did not fo much regard his purple robe he was clad in, or the diftinguifhing turbant he wore on his head, or whatever it was, and which might bear fome refemblance to mitre or a diadem; as it was his great concern to adminifter juftice, which he reckoned his greateft and it (for his bread elfewhere; and ‘fob might make a provifion in fome way or another for fuch fort of perfons: or rather in a civil fenfe, fuch who were ajengaged in law-fuits, and had juftice on their fide, but for want of friends or money, or both, could jnot carry them on; thefe od fupported and fupand carried them through their fuits; and got their caufe for them.

¥, 16. 1 was a father to the poor, 8c.] Not in a literal fenfe; for his children were rich as well as ajhimfelf, while he had them; but ina civil fenfe; /he was the patron of the poor; he was an advocate for them, he took their part, he pleaded their honour, and was more ornamental to him than all the fhowy enfigns of his office; and it was this which gave him honour and efteem among all forts of men, high and low: and his regard to the poor, before obferved, did not arife from a foolifh commiferation of them as poor men, and in order to get himfelf a name for his pity to them, but proceeded upon a principle of juftice and equity, which he made the rule of his adminiftration; he did not countenance the poor in his caufe right or wrong; not the quality of the perfon, but the righteoufnefs of his caufe was what he attended to; and he took his part not merely becaufe he was a poor man, but feeing his caufe was jutt.

¥. 15. I] was eyes to the blind, &c.] Either in a literal fenfe: there was a law in J/rae/ againft putting a ftumbling-block before the blind, and a curfeé pronounced on thofe that caufed them to wander out of the way; which implied, that they ought to remove all impediments out of their way, and fhould lead, guide, and direct them in the right way; and this Yod might do, if not in his own perfon, yet by his fervants, and fo was as eyes _ unto them, and efpecially by taking care of, and providing for perfons in fuch circumftances: or ra- caufe, defended their perfons, and fecured the little property they had; he. bad the pity and compaffion of a father for them, and fupplied their wants; he fed them and clothed them; he did not eat his morfel alone, but gave them a part of it, and warmed them with the fleece of his flock: and the caufe which I knew not I fearched out; any caufe that was brought before him, he knew nothing of before, and which, upon the opening of it, did not appear plain and eafy, but had its difficulties; this he clofely examined, and fearched thoroughly into the merits of, till it appeared plain to him on which fide the truth and juftice of it lay; he did not hurry it over, and pafs fentence, having only in a fuperficial manner confidered it, as is too often the cafe; but after a long examination of the contending parties, and of the witneffes on both fides, to whom he gave an impartial hearing, he pronounced the decifive fentence; fee Prov. xxv. 2. and xxix. 7. Some think this refers to his diligent fearch and enquiry after caufes that were not brought before him 3 he did not wait for application to be made to him, but hearing of, or upon enquiry finding, that there were perfons oppreffed and diftrefled by cruel men, he of him- ther in a civil fenfe; fuch who were in perplexity and diftrefs, opprefied by their neighbours, but did not know how to get juftice done them, what fteps to take, or methods to purfue, to obtain their right or fecure it; thefe ¥od inftruéted with his good advice and counfel, and put them into a way of proceeding, whereby they could be extricated out of their difficulties, and peaceably enjoy their own, fee Numb. x. 31. and it might be true of him in a fpiritual fenfe; that he was eyes to his blind heathen neighbours among whom he dwelt; who were ignorant of God, and of the living Redeemer, and of the way of life and falvation by him, and of their miferable and loft eftate, and of felf voluntarily offered his affiftance, fearched into their caufe, made himfelf matter of it, and freed them from their diftreffes; fo different were his be-. haviour and character from that of the unjuft judge, Luke xviii. though others chufe to render the words, she cau/e of bim that I knew not, 8c. * of a itranger, of one that he had never feen before, of one that was moft unknown to him in the world; the caufe of fuch an one he took as much pains with to get the true knowledge of, and do juftice to, as of the deareft relation, the neareft neighbour, and the moft intimate friend and acquaintance that he had.

y. 17. And I brake the jaws of the wicked, &c.]

their need of a Saviour; not being acquainted with the nature of fin, and the fad confequences of it, and with the way of atonement for it, nor with the mind and will of God; and the worfhip of him; all which he might be a means of enlightening

Their jaw-teeth, or grinders, alluding to beatts of prey, who have fuch teeth, very large; the meaning may be, that ¥ob confuted the arguments which wicked men made ufe of in their own defence, and againft the poor, expofed the weaknefs of them, their minds with: Eiiphaz owns he inftruéted many, ch. iv. 3. thus minifters of the gofpel are -eyes to the blind; for though they cannot give eyes, or fpiritual fight to men, which is only from the Lord, yet they may be inftruments of opening blind eyes, and of turning men from darknefs to light, as the word preached by them is a means of enlightening the eyes, Aéls xxvi. 18. Pf. xix. 8. whereby men come to fee their loft eftate, and the way of falvation by Chriff:

lame;, either in aliteral fenfe, as David was to Mephibofbeth, when he fent for and maintained him at his own table, fo that he had no occafion to feek and made them ineffectual to anfwer their purpofes; or difabled tyrants and cruel oppreffors from doing any further hurt and damage to the fatherlefs and helplefs; was an inftrument in the hand of God, of breaking the power, and weakening the hands of fuch perfons, and hindering them from doing the mifchief they otherwife would; fee Prov. xxx. 14. Pf. iii. 7. and Ilviii. 6. and plucked the poil out of bis teeth; as David took the lamb out and feet was I to thejof the mouth of the bear and lion that came into his father’s flock, and carried it off: thus fod delivered the poor out-of the hands of fuch monfters in nature, comparable to beafts of prey; and a obliged them to reftore unto them what they had in an unrighteous manner taken from them.

yr. 18. Shen I faid, I foail diein my neft, &c.| ob, amidtt all his profperity knew he fhould die, death and the grave being appointed for all men; and he often thought of it, and of the manner of jt; but he concluded that death was as yet at fome diftance from him, as appears from the following claufe; and that when the time was come, he fhould not die on the ground, but in the city in which he lived™, in his houfe, and on his bed; that he fhould die with all his children about him. like a bird in its full of young; whereas now he was ftript of them all, and like to die childlels; that he fhould die amidft all his outward enjoyments, in an affluence of good things, in honour, credit, and efteem among men; whereas now he was deprived of all his fubftance, and had in contempt by friends and foes; and that he fhould die in great.tranquillity of mind, and peace of foul, in the enjoyment of the divine. prefence, and under rich difcoveries of his love and grace; whereas now God had hid himfelf from him, and the arrows of the Almighty ftuck faftin him. Fob now had dropped his former confidence, and yet after all he did die in all the circumftances he believed he fhould; fee ch. xlii. r1o—17. and this confidence might rife not from any mercenary fpirit in him, as if this would be the fruit and reward of his integrity and uprightnefs, juftice and faithfulnefs, and as due unto him on that account; but from the promifes of God, which to the patriarchs were ufually of temporal bleffings, as types of fpiritual ones; though it may be there was in this fomewhat of the infirmity of the flefh, as in David, Pf. xxx. 7. and an inattention to the uncertainty of all temporal enjoyments; nor might he then be fo well acquainted with the doétrine of the crofs, he now had an experience of: and I fhall multiply my days as the fand, which is not to be numbered, an hyperbolical expreffion, to denote the long life he expected to enjoy, and which was promifed. to good men; and which od, notwithftanding his prefent defpair of it, was favoured and fatisfied with, Pf. xci. 16. Fob xlii. 16, 177 ‘Some verfions render it, as the Phenix”, a bird of that name, fpoken of by many writers as a very longlived one; fome fay it lived 500 years °, others 540”, others 660%; yea fome, and fo the Fewz/h writers, as Yarchi and others’, make it to live 1000 years, and fome fay * more; and it is reported of it, though not with fufficient evidence, that there is never but oneof the kind at a time; which, them from being utterly ruined by them, andj being, it can’t well be thought that ¥od fhould ai ude unto it; though his making mention of his neft, in the former claufe, may feem to favourit; and which has induced fome to give into it*S”

others render it, as the palm-tree” 5 between which’

and the phoenix there is thought to be fome like= nefs on account of duration*, and both in the

Greek tongue have the fame name; the palm= tree is an ever-green, and endures a long time 3

Pliny? {peaks of a palm-tree in his time at Delos, faid’to have been there from the days of Apollo, which is fuppofed to be 1400 years; and it.is ob- ferved*, that this tree does continue two or three hundred years; and this verfion may feem to be countenanced and confirmed by what follows: but fince the Hebrew word here ufed is never ufed bug of fand, it is beft fo to underftand it here, feeing it as fully anfwers ‘fob’s purpofe; which was to exprefs his confidence of avery long life. Sand is frequently ufed in {cripture for what is innumerable; fo Wapproxoorm in Ariftophanes*, for what can’t be numbered, and are equal to a mountain of fand.

¥.19. My root was fpread out by the waters, &c.] According to our verfion, and others, fob here and in the following verfes, gives the reafons of his hope and confidence of his long life, and quiet and comfortable death amidft all his profperity and happinefs; which were founded upon his flourifhing” circumftances, and the great refpect that was fhewn him among men; and this is the fenfe, if we read the words in the paft tenfe, as we and many others do; or in the prefent tenfe, my root is [pread, &Ce as others; but there are fome interpreters, both Fewifo and Chriftian”, that render them in the future tenfe, here and tothe end of the chapter; and,.

fo they are a continuation of ¥od’s hope and truft. in the times of his profperity, that things would. always continue as they were withhim, and much more abundantly; and indeed all is true of Fab, in every fenfe, and all may be taken into the ac-. count; and that thefe words, and the following, as they defcribe what had been, and at the then prefent time, when he concluded the above in his mind, was his cafe, fo they may alfo declare what he believed would be always his cafe to the end of his days. Here he compares himfelf to a tree well. rooted and happily fituated by plenty of water, and which may be expreffive both of his temporal and {piritual profperity: his outward profperity feemed to him to have been well fettled and eftablifhed, being like a tree that had taken root, and was like to continue, being watered with the favour and bleffing of God, which maketh rich; and as to his perceiving its end drawing near, it makes a neft of {piritual eflate, he was like a tree planted by a ri- cafia, frankincenfe, and other fpices, and fets fire to it, and burns itfelf in it, and that out of its afhes comes forth an egg, which produces another; and fome of the ancient writers, as Tertullian‘ particularly, have made ufe of this as an emblem of the refurrection; and to which fome think od has here refpeét; that he fhould live Jong like this bird, and then die and rife again; but inafmuch as this feems to be a fabulous bird, and that there is not, nor ever was, any fuch in

™ So Rufus Virginius ufed to call the Villa where he dwelt, Sene@utis fue Nidulum, Plin.1.6. Ep. 10.

ver of water, to which good men are often compared in fcripture, Pf i. 3. Uf xliv. 4. Fer. xvii. 7, 8. they are in general called trees of righteoufnels, and are fometimes likened to particular trees, as to. olives, cedars, and palm-trees; and fome think, as Pineda, that it is to the latter Fob here has refpec&t; the laft claufe of the preceding verfe being in the Latin Vulgate verfion fo rendered as to countenance this fenfe; and it may be obferved that this tree having thick long leaves, and fruit full of and, as Pliny” fays, delights in watery places; noris it content with rain, but ‘is better fatisfied with waters fowing about it; hence it is often found neceflary to dig about it, and lay its roots open, that the waters may more eafily come at them, and flow about them ‘; and fo the words here in the original text are, my root was, is, or fhall be open to the waters‘: good men, as they are» rooted in the love of God, and in. the perfon of Chri, fo they have, as fob had, the root of the matter in them, the truth of grace, ora principle of grace; which is watered, and kept alive and flourifhing, by the love and favour of God fhed abroad in the heart; by frefh fupplies of grace out of the fulnefs of Cbrift, who is the fountain of gardens and well of living watets; and by the means of grace, the word andordinances, the {till waters to which faints are led, and by which they are made tolye down, and where they are watered, refrefhed, and comfortedivand the dew lay all. night upon my branch; fo that the water being at his root below, and the dew on his branch above, he muft be in a fruitful and flourifhing condition: the dew isa great bleffing to the earth, to trees, herbs, and plants, and the caufe of great fertility; and this may refpect Fod’s temporal happinefs, in the health and profperity of his children, who were to him what branches are to a tree; andin the affluence of worldly good things, with which -through’ the bleffing of God, as dew upon him, he abounded; and may alfo have regard to his fpiritual ‘affairs: believers in Gbrift are branches. in him, as fod was one; and the dew of divine grace and favour lies upon them continually, even in the darkeft feafons; which revives and tefrefhes their fouls, and makes them fruitful in the exercife of grace, and performance of good: works; fee Prov. xix. 12...Hof. xiv. 5,6, 7. the dew falls:in the night, and the foonerit falls che longer it lies; and is moft ufeful: fome render) the words, upon my harveft, or mowing“; the dew is of great ufe in harveft-time; mowers:and reapers’ chufe the morning» to work in, ‘when the ftalks.are, moiftened by the dew; and whichis of ufe:to keep the eats-of corn from fhedding by fwelling the) fibres, and’fo retaining the grains in their pmpea aces fi; feew/; xviii. 4. quit: v.20. My wy was (is or fhall be) fre/b inme, &c,] Orinew®; renewed day by day, having frefh additions made:unto it; which’ was true of ‘7od’s temporal honourdrom among:men 5 as a prince and civil magiftrate,» he -had the honour given him that was due unto: him, and this! was continually inereafing;,and.alfo of his:fpiritual glory, »which jay.as every good man’s glory:does, «in the grace of God wrought in him,’ and in the righteoufnefs of Chrift pat upon him, Pf. xlv. 9, 13. which grace is renewed and increafed in them by the holy fpirit, and is therefore called the renewing of the holy Ghott; and which righteoufnefs is ‘revealed from faith to faith, from a leffer degree of it to a greater: and my bow was renewed in my band,\is or foall be; dmeaning either his “authority “as'.a civil magiftrate, ‘increafing: daily to the terror of evil doers, ‘and to the ‘praile, profit, and defence’ of them that) did well; or his ftrength, as’ Ger/om interprets it, his fpiritual ftrength, as in J) xbogt. where the: fame ‘word is ufed as here; fo that he grew ftronger an.

Juice, and its wood: fpongy, requires mitch water 5 ftronger in faith and other graces, and went from ftrength to ftrength; the bow was a warlike inftrument, and required ftrength to draw it, and is put for it; fee Gen. xlviii. 22. and xlix. 24. ¥.21. Unto me men fave ear, &c.) Or giveear, or fhall give ear, being all ear; all attention to him, liftening to what he faid with the utmoft diligence and earneftnefs; even all forts of men, high and low, rich and poor, princes, nobles, and common people; this they had done, and ‘fob concluded they {till would do the fame;- fee ¥. 9, 10. and waited; patiently, without any wearinefs, with pleafure and delight, without giving any interruption, or wifhing his difcourfe was ended; and though continuing ever fo long, were not impatient until it was finifhed: and kept filence at my counfel; which was the thing waited for, and which when given, it was to the highett fatisfaction; they acquiefced in it, and fhewed their approbation of it by their filence, not having any thing to object to it, any alteration to be made in it, or any thing to beadded to it; but being fo compleat and full, they were ready to take it atonce, and aé& according to it; ¥0b’s counfel being like that of

Abitophel, which was as the oracle of God. ¥. 22. After my words they fpake not again, 8cc.}

Did not or would not make any reply to them; they did not.attempt to change and alter them, to add unto them, or take from them, or in any wife to correct them, and much lefs to contradi& them, and treat them with contempt; or differed not, as Mr. Broughton renders it; differed not from them, but agreed to them; and differed not among themfelves, but united in what Fob faid, as being full to the purpofe, after which nothing more could be faid; fee Eccl. ii, 12. and my fpeech dropped upon them his prophecy, as Farchi, prophefying being exprefied by dropping, mos vii. 16. his doétrine dropped from his lips like the -honey-comb, and was fweet, grateful, and delightful to his hearers, as the church’s lips, Cant. iv..11. or rather like the rain, as in Deut. xxxii, 2. when it falls and drops gently and eafily, and fo penetrates and foaks into the earth, and abides and does good: in like manner, when good and found doétrine drops upon the hearers, fo as toenter into their hearts, and work«effectually in them, it does them: good, and they rejoice at it, and are far from having any thing to fay againft ic.;

W. 23. And they waited for meas forthe rain, &c.] The former rain, as appears by the following claufe, which. fell in, autumn, about Oéoder, after feed-time; in order to nourith and cherifh it, and bring it\up.;_ nowas the hufbandman waited for this, was in daily expectation, of it, and greatly defired it,‘ and; longed for it; fee Yam. v. 7. fo the people waited for. ‘fod, for his. coming into» their public affemblies, whether civil or religious, and longed. to. hear him fpeak, for their counfel and inftruction, for their comfort and direction in all things they ftood in need of: and they opened their mouth wide\as for the latter rain’ which fellin'the fpring about March, in the time of harveft, which

-was of ‘ufeto plump the grains of corn, and make them fuller; and the flour finer; now o's hearers opened: their mouths, as ‘the dry and parched earth \gapesofor ‘rain; or'the hufbandman, of the gardener, as ‘the Zargum; opens his'mouth, and onaorns oki \ bidti Date! _-alks ro sd mimp aperta FAPYPA in neefle mea, =a? Via: Scheuchzer, ut fupra..ymN jwards God and men, and propofed tutto them. what was moft eligible, both with tefpeét to doctrine and practice; and /at chief in all their public affemblies; he prefided in their councils and courts tafks and ptays for rain, or as a hungry and thirfty man opens his mouth to take in refrefhment, or expprefles thereby ‘his defire of it; or as perfons fomewhat deat open their mouths to hear the better, there being a way through the mouth to the jnternal ear, as anatomifts ® obferve 5 which lies through the Fallopian duct, out of the palate, to the internal cavity of the ear, called the concha s -wherefore fuch perions naturally open their mouths when they would hear attentively; all which exprefles the eager defire of 0d’s hearers after his do@trine, which, like the rain, would be ufeful, profitable, and edifying to them} their view was not to indulge their curiofity, to pleafe their ears, but to affect their hearts, and inftrué their minds.

worfhip, he fat in the chair of the teacher, and inftruéted them; he was chief fpeaker, as the heathens faid of the apoftle Paul, Ads xiv. 12. and dwelt as aking in the army, or troop*. Mr. Broughton renders it with a garrifon; Fob was furrounded with multitudes of perfons, that waited upon him on one account or another, who were ready to receive his words, and be obedient to them, as a king or general in the midft of an army, furrounded by his general officers and the whole army encamped y. 24. If 1 laughed on them, they believed it not, &c.] Not that he at any time laughed at them, by way of derifions but when in a chearful frame of mind, or in a merry mood, he ufed freedom and familiarity, and jefted with them; but they could not believe that he did jeft, or was in jeft, he ing a man always of fuch gravity and ferioufnefs, that they concluded the {mile on his countenance, and the pleafant turn of his expreffion, had a rious meaning in them; or fuch familiarity with them, was fo pleafing to them, that they couldjas fcarcely for joy believe that he did condefcend to indulge fuch ‘an air of pleafantry: or, as Mr. Broughton renders it, and fo fome others to the fame fenfe, they would not be bold‘; familiarity with them did not breed contempt, as it fometimes does; they did not prefume upon it, and grow old and infolent, and make him their equal; and jeft with him again; bat ftill there was an awe uponthem, and they behaved with reverence to him; and to fhew how great it was is the defign of the preflion: and the light of my countenance they caft not down; they did not ruffle his mind, or difturb the ferenity of it; or cafe him to change his nance, through any bold and indecent behaviour towards him, encouraged by the freedom and pleafantry he ufed with them; they did not put him to fhame, or provoke him to anger and difpleafure by any unbecoming deportment; they kept their diftance, they did not detraét from his authority majefty; or in the leaft leffen that, but behaved with the fame reverence and regard to him they|f ever did; fee Gen. iv. 6.

¥.25. Ichofe out their way, &c.] When his|fore friends ‘and neighbours came to him for advice in things civil, he marked out their way for them, directed what fteps to take, what methods to purfue for their good they defired him to chufe for them, preferring his judgment to their’s, and were determined to abide by his choice of ways andjof means, and to follow his counfel; and in religious about him, doing him honour, and ready to obey whatever commands or inftructions he fhould give them: fome conclude from hence that ob was really a king, as being not a note of fimilitude, but of truth and reality, as in Matt. xiv. 2, and fo be- he might be; for in thofe times and countries, every city almoft had its king; though this is not neceflarily fuppofed here; for the phrafe feems fe- only to denote the authority and influence Fob had over men by his advice and inftruction, which were much regarded as from a king; and the majefty he appeared in, and the reverence in which he was had: as one that comforteth the mourners; which fome reftrain to the king in his army, and connect them therewith thus, when be comforteth tbe ”ourners'; the foldiers mourning for fome lofs fuftained, and flaughter made among them; whofe minds the king or general, by a fet fpeech endeavours to cheer, and comfort, and allay their fears, and animate them to intrepidity and fortitude, when ex-[all eyes are upon him and attentive to him; and fo attentive were Yod’s hearers to him. Bar Tzemach obferves, that the copulative }, or amd, is wantcounte-Jing, and fo isa claufe by itfelf, and exprefies fomething diftinét from the former, and may be fupplied, and I was as one that comforteth the mourners; as a wife man that comforteth them, as Aven Ezra explains it; like one that made it his bufinefs to vifit mourners in affliction, on account andJjof the death of a relation, and the like; fee Fob xi. 19. and {peaks comfortable words to them, to upport them under their, forrow; when fuch an one ufed to fpeak alone, and all ftood filent behim, and attentive to him; and in a like pofition was fod, when he gave his inftruétions to thofe about him; and he was, no doubt, a comforter of mourners himéelf, being either in temporal afflictions, or in {piritual troubles; comforted thofe that were caft down in either fenfe, and was a ty Chri, who was appointed to comfort all that mourn in Zion.

matters, ‘he inftructed them in their duty, both to-

¢ O B in this chapter fets forth his then unhappy ftate and condition, in contraft with his former {tate of profperity defcribed in the preceding chapter: things had taken a ftrange turn, and were juft the reverfe of what they were before; he that was before in fuch high efteem and credit with all forts of men, young and old, high and low, rich and poor, now is had in derifion by the meaneft and bafeft of men, whofe characters are defcribed, ver; 1—8. and the inftances of their contempt of him by words and geftures, are given, ver. g—14. he who enjoyed fo much eafe of mind, and health of body, is now filled with diftreffés of foul, and bodily difeafes, ver. 15—19. and he who enjoyed fo much of the prefence of God, and communion with him, and of his love and favour, was now- of judicature; and when met together for religious

1) 2 eee <p | = ma. ae we: Ch. xxx. ¥. I—4. difregarded, and, as he thought, cruelly ufed by him, who not only had deftroyed his fubftance, but was about to bring him to the grave, ver. 20 —2¥4. allwhich came upon him, though he had a fympathizing heart with the poor, and them that were in trouble, and when he expected better things, ver, 25—28. and he clofes the chapter, lamenting his fad and forrowful circumftances, ver. 29, y. 1. But now they that are younger than I, have me in derifion, &c.] Meaning not his three friends, who were men in years, and were not; at leaft all of them, younger than he, feech. xv. 10. and xxxii. 6, 7. nor were they of fuch a mean extraction, and fuch low-lived creatures, and of fuch chatacters as here defcribed; with fuch Yo wouid never have held a correfpondence in the time of his profperity; both they and their fathers, in all appearance; were both great and good; but thefe were 4 fett of profligate and abandoned wretches, who, as foon as ‘Yob’s troubles came upon him, derided him, mocked and jeered at him, both by words and geftures; and which they might do even before his three friends came to him, and during their feven days filence with him, and whilft this debate was carrying on between them, encouraged unto it by their behaviour towards him; to be derided by any is difagreeable to flefh and blood, though it is the common lot of good men, efpecially in poor and afflicted circumftances, and to be bore patiently; but to be fo ufed by junior and inferior perfons, is an aggravation of it; as fob was, even by young children, as was alfo the prophet Elia, feech. xix, 18. whofe fathers I would have difdained to have fet with the dogs of my flock; either to have compared them with the dogs that kept his flock from the wolves, having fome good qualities in ae lufty; hale men, able to do bufinefs, yet their ftrength was to fit {till and fold their hands in their’ bofoms, fo that their ftrength was of no profit or avail to themfelves or others; they were fo flothful and lazy, that Fob could not employ them in any bufinefs of his to any advantage to himéelf; and this may be one reafon, among others, why he difdained to fet them with the dogs of his flock to keep it; for the fathers feem to be intended all along to ver. 8. though it matters not much to which of them the words are applied, fince they were like father like fon: in whom old age was perifoed? who did not arrive to old age, but were foon confumed by their lufts, or cut off for their fins; and fo the ftrength and labour of their hands, had they been employed, would have been of little worth; becaufe the time of their continuance in fervice would have been fhort, efpecially being idle and flothful: fome underftand it of a lively and vigorous old age, fuch as was in Mo/fes; but this being not in them, they were unfit for bufinefs, fee ch. v. 26. or they had not the endowments of old age, the experience, wifdom, and prudence of ancient perfons, to contrive, conduét, and manage affairs, or direct in the management of them, which would make up for lack of {trength and labour. BenGerfom, Bar Tzemach, and others, interpret the word of time, or the time of life, that was perifhed or loft in them; their whole courfe of life, being {pent in floth and idlenefs, was all loft time.

¥. 3. For want and famine they were /olitary, &¢e.] The Targum interprets it without children; but then this cannot be underftood of the fathers; rather through famine and want they were reduced to the utmoft extremity, and were as deftitute of food as a rock, or hard flint, from whence nothing is to be had, as the word fignifies fee ch. iii. 7.

them which they had not; for what more loving fleeing into the wilderne/s in former time defolate and or faithful to their mafters, or more vigilant and watchful of their affairs? or to fet them at meat with the dogs of his flock; they were unworthy of jt, though they would have been glad of the food his dogs eat of, they living better than they, whofe meat were mallows and juniper-roots, ver. 4. and would have jumped at it; as the prodigal in want and famine, as thofe men were, would fain have filled his belly with hufks that fwine did eat 5 but as no man gave them to him, fo Fob difdained to give the meat of his dogs to fuch as thofe or to fet them over™ the dogs of his flock, to be the keepers of them, to be at the head of his dogs, and to have the command of them; fee the phrafe in 2 Sam. iii. 8. or elfe to join them with his dogs, to keep his flock with them; they were fuch worthlefs faithlefs wretches, that they were not to be trufted with the care of his flock along with his dogs. It was ufual in ancient times, as well as in our’s, for dogs to be made ufe of in keeping flocks of fheep from beafts of prey, as appears from Orpheus", Homer °, Theocritus®, and other writers:.and if the fathers of thofe that derided ob were fuch mean, bafe, worthlefs creatures, what muft their fons be, inferior to them in age and honour, if any degree of honour belonged to them? ¥. 2. Yea, whereto might. the ftrength of their bands profit me, &c.] Forthough they were ftrong,

———— me pafcunt olive. Me cichorea levefque malvz.

wafte: to fearch and try what they could get there for their fuftenance and relief, fleeing through fear of being taken up for fome crimes committed, or through fhame; on account of their miferable condition, not caring to be feen by men, and therefore fled into the wildernefs to get what they could there: but fince men in want and famine ufually make to cities, and places of refort, where provifion may be expected; this may be interpreted not of their flying into the wildernefs, though of their being there, perhaps banifhed thither, fee ver. 5. but of their guawing %, or biting the dry and barren wildernefs, and what they could find there; where having fhort commons, and hunger-bitten, they bit clofe 5 which, though extremely defolate, they were glad to feed upon what they could light on there; fuch miferable beggarly creatures were they:

and with this agrees what follows, ¥. 4. Who cut up mallows by the bufbes, &c.] Which with the Troglodytes were of a vaft bignefs '; or rather upon the bufh* or tree; and therefore cannot mean what we call mallows, which are herbs on the ground, and grow not on trees or buhes; and befides, are not for food, but rather for medicine: though Plutarch ‘ fays, they were the food of the meaner fort of people; fo Horace * {peaks of them as fuch; and the word in the original is near in found toa mallow; but it fignifies fomething falt, falt, wherefore Mr. Broughton renders it fait herbs; fo Grotius, fach as might grow by the fea-fide, or in falt marfhes; and in Edom, or Idumea, where ¥ob lived, was a valley of falt, fee 2 Kings xiv. 7. Yarchi fays it is the fame with what the Syrians in their language call kakuli, which with them is a kind of pulfe; but what the Turks at this day call kakuli, is a kind of falt herb, like to-alcali, which mine, dig up herbs and roots: cutters of roots aré reckoned among the worft of men, by Manetho*, wy. 5. They were driven from among men, e.J From towns and cities, and all civil fociety, as un= fit to be among them; not for any good, it may be obferved, but for crimes that they had done, — like our felons, and tranfported perfons: they cried \after them as atter a thief, as they were driven and js the food of camels*: the Septuagint render the word by Alima, and’ by feveral modern learned men, what is intended is thought to be the balimus run along, the people called after them, faying, There goes a thief; which they faid by way of abhorrence of them, and for the fhame of them, and of Diofcorides, Galen, and Avicenna, which is like that all might be warned and cautioned againft unto a bramble, «and grows in hedges and maritime places; the tops of which, when young and tender, are eaten, and the leaves boiled for food, and are eat by poor people, being what foon filled the belly, and fatisfied; and feem to be the fame them; and generally fpeaking, fuch as ate idle and flothful, and thereby become miferable, are pilferers and thieves.

¥. 6. To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, &e.} or brooks', in fuch hollow places as were made by the Moors call mallochia, and cry about the ftreets, as food for the poor to buy’: however, it appears upon the whole to be thetops, or leaves of fome fort of fhrub, which mean people ufed to gather and live upon. The following {tory is reported in the Talmud * concerning king Fannai, who “ went to Cochalith in the wildernefs, and there fubdued fixty fortified towns; and, upon his return, he greatly rejoiced, and called all the wife men of J rael, and faid unto them, our fathers eat malluchim (the word ufed in this text of Fob) at the time they were employed in building the fanctuary; fo we floods and ftreams of waters: in caves of the earthy and in the rocks; where they betook themfelves for fear of men, and through fhame, being naked and miferable, and not fit to be feen: Yod has refpect to the Horites and Troglodytes, his neighbours, who dwelt in fuch places chiefly.

y. 7. Among the bujhes they brayed, &c.}) Like wild affes; fo Sepborno, to which wicked men are -\fitly compared, ch. xi. 12. or they cried, or groaned™, and moaned among the bufhes, where they lay lurking; either they groaned through cold, or want of food; for the wild afs brays not but when will eat malluchim on remembrance of our fathers; and they fet malluchim on tables of gold, and they eat 5” which the G/o/s interprets herbs; the name of which, in the Syriac language is kakuli; the Targum is, who plucks up thorns inftead of eatable herbs. Some? render the word nettles, fee ver..7. juniper-roots for their meat, or bread”; with the roots of which the poor were fed in time of want, as Schindler * obferves: that bread may be, and has been made out of roots, is certain, as with the Weft-Indians, out of the roots of ages and jucca*; and in particular juniper-roots in the northern countries have been ufed for bread‘; and there were a people in E+hiopia above Egypt, who lived upon roots of reeds prepared, and were called Rhi/ophagi‘, root-eaters: fome render the words, or juniper-roots to heat, or warm with’, as the word is ufed in Jf, xlvii. 14. and coals of juniper have in them avery great and vehement heat, fee P/. cxx. 3, 4. but if any part of the juniper-tree was taken for this purpofe, to warm with when cold, one fhould think the branches, or the body of the tree, fhould be cut down, rather than the roots dug up: another fenfe is given by fome *, that meat or bread is to be underftood of the livelihood thefe perfons got by digging up juniper-roots, and felling them: there are others that think, that not the roots of juniper, but of dream" are meant, whofe rape, or navew, or excrefcence from the roots of it, feem to be more fit for food. All this agrees in want, ch. vi. 5. under the nettles they were gathered; or under thiftles", as fome, or under thorns, as ° others; under thorn-hedges, where they lay either for fhelter, or to hide themfelves, or to feize upon a prey that might pafs by; and fo were fuch fort. of perfons as in the parable in Luke xivs 23. it not being ufual for nettles to grow fo high as to cover perfons, at leaft they are not a proper fhelter, and much lefs an eligible one; though fome render the words, they were pricked®, bliftered, and wounded, a word derived from this being ufed for the {cab of leprofy, Lev. xiii, and fo puftules and blifters are raifed by the fting of nettles,; the Targumis, ‘* under thorns they were aflociated together;” under thorn-hedges, as before obferved; and if the juniper-cree is meant in a preceding verfe, they might be faid to be gathered under thorns when under that; fince, as Pliny? fays, it has thorns inftead of leaves; and the fhadow of it, according to the poet ', is very noxious and dif agreeable.

y. 8. They were children of fools, &c.) Their parents were fools, or they themfelves were fuchs foolifh children, or foolifh men, were they that derided 50d; and their derifion of hiny was a proof of it: the meaning is not that they were idéots, or quite deftitute of reafon and natural knowledge, but that they were men of flender capacities; they were Nabal-like, -which is the word here ufed of them; and indeed it may eafily be con- with the Troglodytes, whom Pliny ‘ reprefents as thieves and robbers, and when prefled with fa-jof cluded, they could not have much. knowledge men and things, from their pedigree, education,

; * Juniperi gravis umbra

and manner of living before defcribed; though rather this may fignify, their being wicked men, or) children of fuch, which is the fenfe of the word, fool frequently in the P/alms of David, and in the Proverbs of Solomon; and men may be fools in this fenie, as having no underttanding of divine and p1- ritual things, who yet have wit enough to do evil, though to do good they have no knowledge: yea. children of bafe men, or men without a name*, a kind without fame, Mr. Broughton renders it; an infamous generation of men, famous for nothing; had no name for blood, birth, and breeding; for families, for power and authority among men, having no title of honour or of office; nor for wealth, wiidom, nor ftrength, for which fome have a name; but thefe men had no name, but an ill one, for their folly and wickednefs; had no good name, were of no credit and reputation with men; and perhaps, ftriétly and literally fpeaking, were without a name, being a fpurious and baftardly breed; or living folitary in woods and defarts, in cliffs and caves; they belonged not to any tribe.or nation, and fo bore no name: they are viler than the earth, on which they trod, and who were unworthy to tread upon it; and out of which their vile bodies were made, and yet were viler than that, which is the bafelt of the elements, being moft diftant from heaven the thrdne of God’; they were not fo. valuable as fome parts of the earth, the gold. and filver, but were as vile as the drofs of the earth; and viler than that; they were crufhed and bruifed, and droken more:than the earth, as the word ® fignifies; they were as fmalb and as contemptible as the duft of the earth, and the mire of the ftreets, and more fo; or than the men of the earth, as Aben Ezra obferves, than the meaneft and wortt, and vileft of men: Mr. Broughton renders it, danifoed from the earth, {mitten, ftricken, and drove out of the land where they had dwelt, ver. 5. whipped out of it, as fome tranflate the word", as vagabonds; asa lazy, idle, pilfering fett of people, not fit to be in huméan fociety; and by fuch bafe, mean, low-lived people were Chri and his apoftles ill-treated; fee- Matt. xxiii. 33. and xxvii. 27. 39. 44. Alls xvii. 5. ao dad now am I their fong, &cc.| The fubject of their fong, of whom they jung ballads about the {treets, in public places, and at their feftivals and merriments, as Crit the anti-type of ob was the fong of the drunkard, Rip \xix.s a2 fee Lam. iil, 14. or the meaning may be, they rejoiced in his afflictions and calamities, and made themfelves merry with them, which was cruel and inhuman, as David’s enemies did in his, and thofe abject, mean, bafe people, like thofe that derided od: and fo the Edomites rejoiced over the children of Fudab, in the day of their deftruction, and as the inhabitants of popifh countries. will rejoice over the witneffes when flain, and make merry, Pf. xxxv, 15,16. and Obad. ver. 12. Rev. xi. g, 10. yea, 1 am their by-word; all their talk was about him continually, and at every turn would ufe his name proverbially for an hypocrite, or a wicked man; and thus Cbri/f,of whom ‘fob was a type, became a pro verb in the mouth of the Jews, P/. Ixix. 11. and as the Fewsthemfelves now are with others, 7er. xxiv. 9.

¥.10. They abhor me; &c.]. -As it is no-wondet they fhould, fince his inward and moft intimate friends did, ch. xix. 19. they abhorred him, not for any evilin him; 70d was ready enough to abhor that himfelf, and himfelf ‘or it, as he did when fenfible of it, ch. xlii. 6. but for the good that was in him, {poken or done by him; which carried init a reproof to them they could not bear; fee Amos v. 10. they abhorred him alfo becaufe of his prefent meannefs and poverty, and becaufe of his afflictions and diftreffes, and particularly the difeafes of his body; fo Chrift was abhorred by the’ {cribes, pharifees, and eldets of the people, the three fhepherds his foul loathed, and their foul abhorred him for his meannefs and for his miniftry; and even by the whole nation of the Yews, by the body of the people, particularly when they pre-' ferred Barabbas, a thief and a» murderer to him; fee Zech. xi. 8.. If xlix. 7.. they flee from me; as ‘from fome hideous monfter, or infectious perfon, as if he had the.plague on him, or fome naufeous difeafe, the ftench of which they could not bear; fo Chrift his anti-type was ufed by his people; when they faw him in his afflictions they hid their faces from him, did not care to look at him, or come nigh him, J/ lili. 3. and fpare not to [pit in my: face not in his prefence only, as fome think, which is too low a fenfe, but literally and properly in. his face, when they vouchfafed to come near him; in this opprobrious way they ufed him, than which nothing was a greater indignity and affront; and we need not fcruple to interpret it in this fenfe of Fob, fince our Lord, whofé type he was in this and other things, was fo treated, 7. 1.6. Matt: xxvi, 67, and xxvii. 30.

‘¥.11., Becaufe be bath looféd my cord, &c.| Not his filver cord, for then he muft have died immediately, Eccl. xii. 6. though it may be underftood of the loofening of his nerves through the forc eo his difeafe, and the afflictions he endured from God and man, fee ver. 17. or rather, of the fhattered {tate and condition of his family. and fubftance; which, whilft he enjoyed, he had refpeét and reverence from men;. but now al! being loofed, cattered and deftroyed, he was treated. with derifion and {corn; or better ftill, of his power and authority as a civil magiftrate, by which, as with a cord, he bound many to fubjection and obedience to. him, and which commanded reverence of him; but this being now loofed and removed from him, perfons of the bafer fort behaved in an infolent manner to-= wards him; there is a ker7, or a marginal reading of this claufe, which we follow; but the cetid, or written text, is bis cord; and fo Mr. Broughton renders it, be hath loofed his firing; which he explains of the ftring or rein of his government, that holdeth bafe men from ftriving with the mighty, and which comes to the fame fenfe 5 for the power and authority od had as a governor, were of God, and which he had now loofened; the allufion may be to the {tring of a bow, which being loofed,. it cannot caft out the arrow; and refpect may be had to what Job had faid, ch, xxix..20. my bow was res newed in my hand it then abode in, ftrength; and its ftrength was renewed; but now he had loft his power and ftrength, at leaft it was greatly weak- ened, that he could not‘defend himfelf, nor punifh the wicked: and afflitted me; that is God, who is alfo underftood in the preceding claufe, though not exprefied. Yod’s afflictions were many, and there were fecond caufes of them, who were the movers, inftruments, and means of them, as Satan, the Sabeans and Chaldeans, yet they were of God, as the appointer, orderer, and fender of them; and fo 70d underftood them, and always as here afcribed them to him; wherefore there was a juft caufe for them,: and an-end to be anfwered by them, and it became Yod patiently to bear them, and to wait the iffue of them: now,, on this account, the above perfons were emboldened and encouraged to ufe Fob in the ill manner they did: they have alfo let loofe the bridle before me, the reftraints that were upon them when od was in his profperity, and had the reins of government in his hand; thefe they now caft off, and fhewed no manner of reverence of him, nor refpect for him; and the bridle that was upon their mouths, which kept them from fpeaking evil of him while he was in power, now they flipt it from them, and gave themfelves an unbounded liberty in deriding, reproaching, and reviling him; fee P/. xxxix. 1. and this they did before him, in his prefence and to his face, who before were mute and filent.

y. 12. Upon my right hand rife the youth, &c.] Springeth, as Mr. Broughton tranflates the word; fuch as were juft fprung into being, as it were; the word " feems to have the fignification of young birds that are not fledged; have not got their feathers on them, but are juft got out of the fhell, as it were; and fuch were thefe young men: fome render the word the fower°; as if the flower of men, the chief and principal of them were meant, fuch as were od’s three friends, who are here diftinguifhed from the mean and bafer fort before {poken of; but the word even in this fenfe fignifies young men, who are like buds and flowers juft fprung out, or who are beardlefs boys, or whofe beards are juft fpringing out; fo the young priefts are in the Mifnab® called the flowers of the prieftheod: now fuch as thefe rofe up, not in reverence to Fob, as the aged before did, but in an hoftile way, to oppofe, refift, reproach, and deride him; they rofe up on his right-hand, took the right-hand of him, as if they were his fuperiors and betters; or they ftood at his right-hand, took the right-hand to accufe him, as Satan did at Fofbua’s; fee Pf. cix. 6. Zech. iii. 1, they pufh away my feet; they brought heavy charges and violent accufations againft him, in order to caft him down, and trample upon him; nor would they fuffer him to ftand and anfwer for himfelf, he could have no juftice done him, and fo there was no ftanding for him. If this was to be underftood literally, of their pufhing at him to throw him down to the ground, or of an attempt to trip | up his heels, fo that his feet were almoft gone, and his fteps had well nigh flipped, it was very rude and indecent treatment of him indeed: and they vaife up againft me the ways of their deftruétion; as in befieging a town, mounts, forts, and batteries are raifed to deftroy it, fo thofe perfons made ufe of all ways and means to deftroy ¥ob; or they trod uponhim, and made him as a path or caufeway to walk upon, in order utterly to deftroy him. Mr.

Broughton renders the words, they caff upon me the caufes of their woe, imputed all their calamities and. miferies to him, reproached him on that account, and now were refolved to revenge themfelves on.

y. 13. They mar my path, &c.} Hindered himinthe exercife of religious duties; would not fuffer him to attend the ways and worlthip of God, or to walk-in the paths of holinefs and righteoufnefs 5 or they reproached his holy walk and converfation, and treated it with contempt, and triumphed over religion and godlinefs: they fet forward my calamity 5. added affliction to afffiction, increafed his troubles by their reproaches and caluminies, and were pleated. with'it, as if it was profitable as well as pleafurable to them, fee Zech. i. 15. they have no helper; either no perfon of note to join them, and to abet, affift, and encourage them; or they needed none, being forward enough of themfelves to give him all the diftrefs and difturbance they could, and he being fo weak and unable to refift them; or there is 0 de per againft them*;, none to take 7od’s part againft them, and deliver him out of their hands, fee Zecl. iv. 1.

¥. 14. They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters, &c.] As when a wide breach is made in the banks of a river, or of the fea, the waters rufh through in great abundance, with great rapidity and i{wiftnefs, and with a force irrefiftibie; and in like manner did 7ed’s enemies rufh in upon him in great numbers, overwhelming him in an inftant, and he not able to oppofe them; or, as when a wide breach is made in the wall of a city befieged, the befiegers pour themfelves in, and bear down all before them: and thus 70d, ina like violent manner was run upon, and bore down by the perfons before defcribed: in the defolation they rolled them/elves upon me; as when a breach is made in a bank of a river, or of the fea, the waters rol themfelves, one wave and flood over another; or, as when a breach is made in a wall, in the broken place they tumble, as Mr. Broughton renders it; the foldiers tumble one over another in hafte, to get poffeffion, and feize the plunder: in fuch like manner did Fob’s enemies roll them{elves on him, in order to crufh and deftroy him; and it may be rendered, becaufe of the defolation*, becaufe of bringing calamity on him in order to make him defolate; they came pouring in upon him with all their numbers, force, and ftrength, to bear him down, and crufh him to the earth, as grafs may be rolled upon, and beaten down by heavy bodies.

¥.15.Terrors are turned upon me,8cc.| Not the terrors of a guilty confcience, for Fos had a clear one, and held faft his integrity; nor the terrors of a curfing and condemning law; for he knew he was juftified by his living Redeemer, and his fins forgiven for his fake; nor the terrors of death, for that he had made familiar to him, and greatly defired it; nor'the terrors of a future judgment, for there was nothing he was more folicitous for, than to appear before the judgment-feat of God, and take his trial there; but the afflictions that were upon him from the hand of God that was turned on him, who now hid his face from him, and withheld the influences of his grace and favour, and appeared as an enemy, and as a cruel one to him; the reafon of all which he knew not, and this threw him into confternation of mind, and filled him with