Exposition of the Whole Bible

the fabric together, and is the ornament and beauty of it; but who can tell what that is? ben Ezra interprets it of the point or centre of the earth.

¥.7. When the morning-Sars fang together, &c.] Either all the ftars in a literal fenfe; for though, ftri€tly {peaking, there is but one morning-ftar, yet all may be called fo, becaufe early created in the morning of the world; and are all ftars of light, fhine till the morning; and it is obferved by fome, that the nearer the morning the brighter they fhine: and thefe in their. way fing the -praifes of God, and fet forth the glory of his perfections, and occafion fongs of praife in men; fee Pfal, cxlviii, 3. and xix, 1. Or figuratively, either angels, as moft interpret them, comparable to ftars for their glory, purity and light, for their conftancy, permanency and numbers: or good men, particularly minifters of the word, and angels of the churches; who are ftars in Chrift’s right hand, Rev. i. 20. and ii. 1. but the principal morning-ftar is Chrift himfelf, Rev. xxii. 16. And all the fons of God fhouted for joy; which are ufually underftood of angels alfo, fo the Jargum who are the fons of God, not by birth, as Chrift, nor by adoption, as faints; but by creation, as 4dam, Luke iii. 38. And becaufe they bear fome likenefs to God, as holy fpirits, and honour and obey him in doing his will; though the character of fons of God, as diftinét from the children of men, given to profeffors of religion, obtained before the times of Fob; fee Gen, vi. 2. and who might be faid to fing together, and fhout for joy, when they met for iocial worfhip; fee chap. i. 6, and efpecially when any frefh difcoveries were made to them of the Meffiah, and falvation by him. Thus Abraham, one of thefe fans of God, faw Chrift’s day and was glad, and fhouted for joy, Jobn viii, 56, For thefe words are not necefiarily to be reftrained to the laying of the foundation and corner-{tone of the earth, as our verfion directs; though indeed the angels then might be prefent, being created as foon as the heavens were, and with the ftars, as Capel/us on this place obferves; and rejoiced when the foundations of the earth were laid, on beholding fuch a difplay of the power, wifdom and goodnefs of God therein; and which may be faid of them, in allufion to what is done at the laying of the foundation of any building of note; fee Ezra iji. 10, for it may be repeated from y. 4. where wajt thou when the morning-ftars, &c. and fo may refer to any rejoicing, whether of angels or men, before the times of 70d, at which he was not prefent, y. 8. Or who jut up the fea with doors, &c.] From the earth the tranfition is to the fea, according to the order of the creation; and this refers not to the ftate and cafe of the fea as at the flood, of which fome interpret it, but as at its firft creation; and it is throughout this account reprefented as an infant, and here firft as in embryo, fhut up in the bowels of the earth, where it was when firft created with it, as an infant fhut up in its mother’s womb, and with the doors of it; fee chap. iii. 10. the bowels of the earth being the ftorehoufes where God firft laid up the deep waters, P/a/m xxxiii, 7. and when the chaos, the mis-fhapen earth, was like a woman big with child. When it brake forth out of the abyis, as the Targum, with force and violence, as Pharez broke-out of his mother’s womb; for which reafon he had his name given, which fignifies a breach, Gen. xxxviii. 29. fo it follows, as if it bad iffued out of the womb, as a child out of its mother’s womb; fo the fea burft forth and iffued out of the bowels of the earth, and covered it al] around, as in P/al. civ. 6. and now it was that the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, before they were drained off the earth; this was the firft open vifible production of the fea, and may be called the birth of it; fee Gen. i. 2, Something like this the heathen philofopher Archelaus had a notion of, who fays®, the fea was fhut up in hollow places, and was as it were ftrained through the earth,

¥. 9. When I made the cloud the garment thereof, &c.] For this new-born babe, the fea. And thick darkne/s a fwaddling band for it; which was the cafe of the fea when it burft out of the bowels of the earth and covered it, for then darknefs was upon the face of the deep, a dark, foggy, mifty air, Gen. i. 2. and this was before its feparation from the land, and in this order it ftands in this account; though fince, clouds, fags, and mifts, which rife out of the fea, are as garments to it, and cover it at times, and the furrounding atmofphere, as it preiies the whole terraqueous globe, and keeps the parts of the earth together, fo the waters of the fea from fpilling out; and thefe are the garments and the {waddling bands with which the hands and arms of this big and boifterous creature are wreathed; it is faid of the infant in Ezek. xvi. 4, that it was neither falted nor /waddled at all; but both may be faid of the fea; that it is falted is fuficiently known, and that it is fwaddled is here afirmed; but wha except the Lord almighty could do this? and who has managed, and {till does and can manage this unruly creature as eafily as a nurfe can turn abong and {waddle a new born babe upon her Jap.

y. 10. Aud brake up for it my decreed place, 8c. | Or as Mr Broughton tranflates it, and brake the earth for it by my decree; made a vaft chafm in the earth to hold the waters of the fea, which was provided as a fort of cradle to put this {waddled infant in; God cleaved the earth, raifed the hills and funk the valleys, which became as channels to convey the waters that ran off the earth to their appointed place, which is beautifully expreffed in P/alm civ. 7,8. and refers there, as here, to the work of creation on the fecond day, Gen.i.g, 10." And Set bars and doors; to keep it in its decreed, appointed place, that the waters might not go over the earth; thefe are the fhores, as the Zargum, the cliffs and rocks upon them, the boundaries of the fea; to which may be added, and what is amazing, the fand upon the fea-fhore is fuch a boundary to it that it cannot pafs, Fer. v. 22. but thefe would be infufficient was it not for the power and will of God next exprefled.

y. 11. And faid, Hitherto fhalt thou come, but no further, &c.] The waters of the fea fhall fpread themfelves to fuch and fuch fhores, and wafh them, but go no further; its rolling tides fhall go up fo far in rivers that go out of it, and then return, keeping exactly to time and place; this is faid by Jehovah, the Word of God, and through his almighty power is attended to, Aud here shall thy proud waves be flayed; fo high and no higher fhal! they lift up themfelves; fo far and no further fhall they roll on, than to the boundaries fixed for them; and though they may tofs up themfelves as proud men tofs up their heads, for which reafon pride is afcribed to them, yet they fhall not prevail, Fer. v, 22. all this may be accommodated to the afflictions of God’s people, which are fometimes compared to

4 Or determined, that is, appointed for jt its convenient, proper and fixed place;

the waves and billows of the fea, P/al. xlii. 7. and ixxxviii. 7. and thefe iffue out of the womb of God’s purpofes and decrees, and are not the effects of chance; they are many, and threaten to overwhelm, but God is with his people in them, and preferves them from being overflowed by them; he has fet the bounds and meafures of them, beyond which they cannot go; fee J/a. xxvii. 8. and xliii. 2. and alfo to the world, and to the men of it, who are like a troubled fea, Dan. vii. 2,3. Ifa. Ivii. 20. and who rife, and fwell, and dafh againft the people of God, being feparated from them who were originally mixed with them; but the Lord reftrains their wrath and fury, and fuffers them not to do his people any hurt; whom he has placed in the munition of rocks out of their reach, that thofe proud waters cannot go over them as they threaten to do; fee Pfa!. Ixxvi. 10. and cxxiv. =O:

y. 12. Haft thou commanded the morning fince thy days? &c.] Fob had lived to fee many a morning, but it never was in his power to command one; he had been in fuch circumftances as to wifh for morning-light before it was, but was obliged to wait for it, could not haften it, or caufe it to pring before its time; fee chap. vii. 3, 4. one of the Zarguims is, ** waft thou in the days of the firft crea- “¢ tion, and commandedft the morning to be?”’ he was not, God was; he was before the firft morning, and commanded it into being, Gem. 1. 3, 4, 5. Ifa. xiii. 13. And caused the day-fpring to know his place; the firft {pring of light or dawn of day; which though it has a different place every day in the year, as the fun afcends or defcends in the figns of the zodiac, yet it knows and obferves its exaét place, being taught of God.

¥. 13. That it might take hold of the ends of the ear(b, &cc.| As when the morning light fprings forth, it quickly does, reaching in a fhort time the extreme part of the hemifphere; which, and what goes before, may be applied to the light of the gofpel, and the direétion of that under divine providence in the feveral parts of the world, and unto the ends of it; fee Pfal. xix. 4, 5,6. Rom. x. 18. That the wicked might be foaken out of it; the earth, by means of the light; which may be underftood either of wicked men who have been all night upon works of darknefs, and betake themfelves on the approach of light to private lurking places, like beafts of prey, fo that the earth feems to be, as it were, clear of them; or of their being taken up in the morning for deeds done inthe night, and brought to juftice, which ufed to be exercifed in mornings, Fer. xxi. 12. P/glm ci. 8. and fo the earth rid of them: thus wicked men fhun the light of the gofpel, and are condemned by it; and in the latter daylight and glory they will ceafe from the earth; fee Fobn iii. 19, 20. P/al. x. 16. and civ. 35.

y. 14. Lt is turned as clay to the feal, &c.] As the clay receives a different form by the imprefs of the feal upon it, fo the earth appears in a different manner by the fpring of morning-light upon it; in the darknefs of the night nothing of its form and beauty is to be feen; itis a mere éobu and bobu, like the chaos, Gem. i. 2. its rifing hills, and preading dales, and beautiful landfkips, cannot be obferved. with pleafure; but when the light breaks forth in the morning, it is feen in all its beauty and glory: of the change the light of the gofpel makes in men, fee 2 Cor. iii. 18. And they fiand as a garment; or things ftand upon it as a garment, as Mr Broughton renders the words; herbs, plants and trees, unfeen in the night, ftand up like a vefture to the earth in the morning light; and as they are clothed themfelves, they are a garment to that which now puts on another and beautiful habit; the paftures are clothed with flocks, and the valleys covered with corn, and the whole earth with light itfelf, as with a garment: and as beautifully do men made light in the Lord appear; fee J/a. Ixi. 10. Rev. iil. 4, 5. and xii. 1.

y¥. 15. And from the wicked their light ts withholden, &c.| Whofe light is darknefs, and whofe day is the night, of which they are deprived when the morning-light breaks forth; fee chap. xxiv. 17. it may be figuratively underftood of the light of profperity being removed from them, or the light of life, when they fhall be fent into utter darknefs. And the high arm foall be broken, their power weakned and made ulelefs; even the power of fuch wicked men who have had a large fhare of it, and have ufed it in a tyrannical manner; and efpecially this will be their cafe at death; fee J a. xiv.

¥.16. Haft thou entred into the [prings of the fea? &c.} The fubterraneous paffages through which the waters flow into the fea and fupply it; or the fprings and fountains that rife up at the bottom of it'; and fome tell us of fprings of fweet water that rife there, even though the water at the bottom of the fea is falter than on the furface*: fome render it the drops of the fea‘; haft thou confidered them and counted them? art thou able to do it? no: others the perplewities of it", fo the Targum, the word being ufed in this fenfe Exod. xiv. 3. the thickets of it; fome fpeak of woods and forefts in it, fee note on Exod. x. 1g. others rocks and fhelves", and others the borders of it°®; and the fenfe then is, haft thou entred into and travelled through the main ocean, obferved the forefts in it, the fhelving rocks and fandy mountains in it, and gone to the utmoft borders of it? Or haft thou walked in the Jearch of the depth? to find out the deepeft place of it, where no founding line can reach; or walked in queft of the curiofities of it, animals, plants and minerals, unknown to men; or of the riches that lie at the bottom of it, for which now the diving: bell is ufed, but not invented and known in the times of Fob; and if %ob had not done and could not do all this, how fhould he be able to enter into the fecret fprings of providence, or trace the ways of God, whofe way is in the fea, and whofe paths are in the great waters, and his footfteps not known, Pfal, \xxvii, 19. Rom, Xi. 33.:

¥.17. Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? &c.| Meaning not by which death has entered into the world, and which have been the caufes and occafion of it; as the fin of man, the appointment of God, and various providences, ca-

* According to Dr Plot, the principal fountains have their origin, and are fupplied with water through fubterraneous paflages k.

though the greateft depth of the fea is faid by Fabianus, (apud Plin, Nat. Hift. 1. 2. c. 102.) to be fifteen —_. or near two ‘B miles; this muft be underftood of that part of it which is fathomable and nearer land, But fuch as thofe, calle the depths of the Pontus, and are almoft 300 furlongs from the continent, they are faid, (Plin. ib.) to be of an immenfe depth, and the bottom not to be found. And if the Sardinian fea, the A ae in the Mediterranean, (Ariftot. Meteorolog. 1, z. ¢- 1.) is 1000 orgies or fathoms deep, (Pofidonius apud Strabo. Geograph, |, 1. p. 37.) that is, one mile and a fifth; what mail the depth of the vaft ocean be?

lamities and difeafes; but by which men enter into the ftate of the dead. Men know not experimentally what death is, nor in what way they fhall go out of the world, nor at what time, nor in what place; they know not what the ftate of the dead is, there is no correfpondence between them and the living; they do not know either what they enjoy or endure, or who precifely and with certainty are in the feparate abodes of blifs or mifery; the gates of thefe dark and invifible regions to us have never been thrown open, for mortals to look into them. Or baft thou feen the doors of the foadow of death? the fame thing in other words; the Zargum and Farchi interpret this of hell. _ yy. 18. Haft thou perceived the breadth of the earth? &c.] Which may be put for all the dimenfions of it, length, breadth, diameter and circumference, but efpecially it regards the fuperficies of it, and the meafurement of that; haft thou gone over the whole face of the earth and meafured it, all its parts, its hills and dales, rocks and mountains, and took a furvey of all the cities, towns and villages, woods, forefts, fountains, rivers, fc.? no; if a man lived as long as Methu/élah, and fpent all his days in this way, he could never be able to do it; and fome parts are inacceffible, and not to be meafured by the moft fkilful geometer. Declare, if thou knoweft it all, the whole earth and every part of it, afd all that is in it. Whether the other hemifphere and the antipodes were known in 7ob’s time is a queftion; however not America, or the new world, which is a late difcovery;#and even now, in our moft exact maps of the world, fome parts are marked with terra incoguita, the unknown Jand.

y. 19. Where is the way where light dwelleth? &c.] Or the way to the place where it dwells, and what that is. And as for darknefs, where is the place thereof 2 where thefe were placed when they were firft feparated at the creation? where light goes and dwells, when it departs from us at fun-fetting? and where the darknefs betakes itfelf, and makes its abode at fun-rifing? What is the chamber of the fun, and the tabernacle of it? from whence it fets out, and whither it returns? And though thefe queftions may be anfwered by geographers and aftronomers in their way; yet they feem to refpeét chiefly the difpofal of light and darknefs, in fuch a manner as to caufe the revolution of them, and the inequality of days and nights in different feafons and climates; and which is not in the power of men to effect, but depends on the fovereign will of God.

¥. 20. That thou fhouldft take it to the bound thereof? &c.] Either darknefs; or rather the light; take it as it were by the hand, and guide and direct its courfe to its utmoft bound. This only the Lord can do and does: he has fet a tabernacle for the fun, which goes forth at his command as a ftrong man to runa race; whofe going forth is from the end of the heavens, and his circuit unto the ends of it: in which his courfe is fo fteered and directed by the Lord, that he never miffes his way or errs from it; but keeps his path exactly, as well as knows its rifing and fetting, its utmoft bounds. And that thou foouldft know the paths to the houfe thereof 2 from whence it fets out, and whither it returns; fee P/al. xix. 4, 5, 6. And fo the light and darknefs of profperity and adverfity, as well as natural jight and darknefs, are of God, at his difpofal, and bounded by him, and therefore his will fhould be fubmitted to; which is the doétrine the Lord would teach 7od by all this.

¥. 21. Knowest thou it, becaufe thou wast then born? &c.] When light and darknefs were firft feparated, and had their feveral apartments affigned them; their laws and rules given them, and their bounds and limits fet them? No; he was not: and had he been the firft man, could not have been early enough to have been prefent at the doing of this, and fo come at the knowledge thereof; fince man was not made until the fixth day of the creation, Or becaufe the number of thy days is great? reach to the beginning of time, and fo as old as the creation, This was not the cafe. Some underftand thefe words ironically; thou knowes the places and bounds of light and darknefs, fince thou art a very old man, born as foon as the world was. Whereas he was of yefterday, and knew nothing; which to convince him of, is the defign of this biting, cutting expreffion. “The Targum is, *¢ Didft thou know then that thou fhouldft be born, ‘¢ and the number of thy days many?” No, 70d did not know when he was born, nor of. whom, and in what circumftances, but by the relation of others; and much lefs could he know before he was born, that he fhould be, or how long he fhould live in the world: but God knows all this beforehand; when men fhall come into the world, at what period and of what parents, and how long they fhall continue in it.

¥. 22. Haft thou entred into the treafures of the fnow? or haft thou feen the treafures of the bail?)

The vapours raifed, atid clouds formed in the atmofphere, which is the ftorehoufe of thofe meteors; and may be called treafures, becaufe hidden in the clouds, and not feen by man until the fall of them; and becaufe they are in the keeping, and-at the command and direétion of the Lord the proptietor of them; and becaufe rich and inriching, e- {pecially fhow, which falling keeps the earth warm, and makes it fruitful; and becaufe of the abundance thereof which fometimes falls. Now we are not to imagine, that the Lord has ftores of thefe laid up in heaps, in times paft for time to come; but that he can and does as eafily and as foon produce them when he pleafes, as one that has treafures laid up can bring them forth at once.

¥. 23. Which I have referved againft the time of trouble, &c.} For the punifhment or affliction of men; and is explained as follows, again? the day of battle and war? as his artillery and ammunition to fight his enemies with. Of hail we have inftances in fcripture, as employed againft the £- gyptians and Canaanites, Exod. ix, 25. Joth. x. 11. and of a referve of it in the purpofes of God, and in prophecy againft the day of battle with antichrift, Rev. xvi. 21. and fo Yarchi interprets it here of the war of Goc and Macoc. And though there are no inftances of {now being ufed in this way in fcripture, yet there is in hiftory. Strabo * reports, that at Corzena and Camby/ena, which join to mount Caucafus, fuch {nows have fallen, that whole companies of men have been {wallowed up in them 3 and even armies have been overwhelmed with them, as the army of the Gawls*; and fuch quantities have been thrown ‘down from mountains, on which they have been lodged, that towns, towers, and villages have been laid proftrate by them"; and in the year 443, a vaft {now deftroyed many ”. Frequently do we hear in our parts of the difafters occafioned by them. The Zargum particularly

HOR me cularly makes mention of fnow; and renders it, which [now I have referved, &c. though abfurdly applies it to punifhment in hell.

v.24. By what way is the light parted, &c.| That is, doft thou know by what way it is parted or divided? As at the firft creation, when God divided the light from darknefs, Gen. i. 4. or at funrifing and fun-fetting; and fo in the two hemifpheres, when there is darknefs on the one, and licht on the other; or under the two poles, when there are interchangeably fix months light and fix months darknefs. Or how it is parted in an unequal diftribution of day and night, at different feafons and in different climates; or how on one and the fame day, and at the fame time, the fun fhall fhine in one part of the earth, and not another; and more efpecially if this had been now a fact, and known, that there fhould be darknefs all over the land of Egypt, and light in Ga/ben, Some underftand this of lightning, but that is after men-’

tioned. Which /cattereth the eaft wind upon the earth? that rifing fometimes with the fun, or farft {pring of light; fee Fonah iv. 8. or which light fpreads and diffules itfelf from the eat, as it may be rendered. The fun rifes in the eaft, and ina very quick and furprifing manner fpreads and diffufes its light throughout the hemifphere. Or this may refpect the eaft wind itfelf, which fcatters.the clouds; and either fpreads them in the heavens over the earth, or difperfes them and drives away rain *, as the north wind does: or as Mr Broughton renders the words, and the eaft wind fcattereth it- Self over the earth, it blowing invifibly and without our knowledge, goes and returns as other winds do, Fobx iii. 8.

y¥. 25. Who hath divided a water-courfe for the overflowing of waters? &c.) For a very large fhower of rain, as the Vulgate Latin verfion: for this is not to be underftood of an aquzduct, channel, or canal made on earth, either for the draining of waters off of land overflowed thereby, or for the conveyance of it to different parts to overflow it; fuch as were cut out of the Nile in Egypt, for the overflowing of the land, to make it fruitful; fuch may be and have been made by men: but of a water-courfe in the air or atmofphere, as a canal or channel, for the rain to come down upon the earth; and this is the work of God, and him only, who directs and fteers the courfe of rain, that it falls regularly and gently, not in fpouts and floods, but in drops larger or leffer; on what {pot of ground, or part ef the earth, he pleafes: and if what Farchi fays is true, that every drop has its courfe, its canal, through which it paffes, ic is ftill more wonderful. Or a way for the lightning of thunder; which generally go together, and are of God. His fire and voice, and for which he makes a way, by which they burft and break forth out of the cloud, and their courfe is dire€ted by him under the whole heavens; fee chap. xxviii. 26. and xxxvii. 3. So the gofpel, compared to rain and lightning, has its direétion and its courfe fteered to what part of the world he pleafes; fee P/al. xix. 4. Aéfs xiii. 46, 47. and-xvi, ¥, 7, 8, 9, 10.

¥. 26. To caufe it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderne/s, wherein there is no man?

W hich is uninhabited by men, being fo dry and barren; where there is no man to cultivate and water is the offspring of the air and of the moon; but thefe can only at moft be reckoned it, as gardens are; and where is no man to receive any advantage by the rain that comes upon its and yet the Lord fends it for the ufe of animals that dwell there; which fhews his care and providence with refpeé& even to the wild beafts of the earth. This may be an emblem of the rain of the gofpel upon the Gentile world, comparable to a wildernefs; fee J/a, xxxv. 1. ‘Bea y. 27. To fatisfy the defolate and wafte ground, &c.] Which is exceeding defolate, and therefore two fuch words are ufed to exprefs it; which is fo dry and thirfty that it is one of the four things that fay not it is enough, Prov. xxx. 16. and yet God can and does give it rain to its full fatisfaction, Pfal. civ. 13. fo the Lord fatisfies fouls, comparable to dry and thirfty ground, by his word and ordinances, with the goodnefs and fatnefs of his houfe; fee P/falm Ixiii. 1—5. and Ixv. 4, And to caufe the bud of the tender herb to {pring forth; grafs for the cattle, and herb for the fervice of men, P/alm civ. 14. of like ufe is the word ina fpiritual fenfe for the budding and increafe of the graces of the fpirit in the Lord’s people; fee Deut. Xxxil. 2. J/a. lv. 10, 11.

y¥. 28. Hath the rain a father? &c] None but God; herice the heathen themfelves call God yefioe”, and euBpros*; fee Fer. Xiv. 22. he that is our father in heaven is the father of rain, and him only; whatever fecondary caufes there be, God only is the efficient caufe, parent, and producer of it: fa the gofpel is not of men but of God, is a gift of his, comes down from heaven, tarries not for men, and is a great bleffing, as rainis. Or who hath begotten the drops of the dew? which are innumerable; he that is the parent of the rain is of the dew alfo, and he only*; to which fometimes not only the word of God, and his free favour and goodwill, but the people of God themfelves are compared for their number, influence, and ufe; fee Pfal. cx. 3. Mic. vs 7. and their new birth is fimilar to the generation of dew, it being not of the will of man, but of God, according to his abundant mercy, free favour, and good-will, is from above, from heaven, and is effected filently, fecretly, fuddenly, at an unawares; Yobu i. 13. and iti,

: ¥. 29. Out of whofe womb came the ice, &c.| The parent of the rain and dew is the parent of the ice alfo, and he only; it is therefore called bis ice, his child, his offspring, P/alm cxlvii. 17. Here the Lord is reprefented as a mother, and fo he is by Orpheus” called metropator, or mother-father. And the hoary froft of heaven, who hath gendered it 2 this is of God, and by his breath; fee chap. Xxxvii. 10.

¥. 30. The waters are bid as with a ftone, &c.] The fuperficies of waters by froft become as hard as a {tone, and will bear great burdens, and admit of carriages to pafs over them ‘, where fhips went before; fo that the waters under them are hid and quite out of fight; an emblem of the hard heart of man, which can only be thawed by the power and grace of God, by the fouthwind of the Spirit blowing, and the fun of righteoufnefs rifing on it.

And the face of the deep is frozen; or bound together by the froft, as the Targum; it is taken, laid hold on, and kept together, as the word fignifies, fo that it cannot flow. Hiftorians fpeak of eas being frozen up, as fome parts of the Scythian fea, reported by Paufan. Ate. * Though a certain poet (Aleman Lyricus apud ned ba condary LV oto that dew by Mela*, and the Cimmerian Bofphorus, by Herodotus*, and the northern feas by Olaus Magnus‘; as that men might travel over them on foot or on horfeback, trom one coyntry to another; and Strabo relates*, that where a fea-fight has been in the fummer time, armies and hofts have met and fought in the winter. In Mufcovy the ice is to fix and ten feet deep"; in the year 401 the Euxine fea‘ was frozen over for the fpace of twenty days; and in the year 763 the feas at Conftantinople were frozen one hundred miles trom the fhore, fo thick as to bear the heavieft carriages *.

y¥. 31. Canft thou bind the fweet influences of Plejades, &c.] Of which fee the note on chap. ix. 9. and this canttellation of the feven ftars which is meant, rifing in the {pring, the pleafantneffes of the feafon, as the word may be rendered, may be intended here; which cannot be reftrained or hindered from taking place in the proper courfe of the year; which is beautifully defcribed in Cant, ii. 12, 13. and may in a {piritual fenfe relate to the effects of powerful and efficacious grace, the influences of which are irrefiltible and caufe a {pring-time in the fouls of men, where it was before winter, a tate of darknefs, deadnefs, coldnefs, hardnefs and untruitfulnefs, but now the reverfe. Some verfions read the bands of the Pleiades’, as if the fenfe was, Canft thou gather and bind, or clufter together fuch a conftellation as the feven ftars be, as I have done? thou canft not; and fo not ftop their rifing or hinder their influences, according to the other verfions: Or loofe the bands of Orion? of which fee the note on chap. ix. 9. and Amos y. 8. This conftellation appears in the winter, and brings with it ftormy winds, rain, fnow and froft, which latter binds up the earth, that feeds and roots in it cannot pring up; and binds the hands of men from working, by benumbing them, or rendering their materials or utenfils ufelefs; for which reafons bands are afcribed to Orion, and are fuch ftrong ones that it js not in the power of men to loofe; the feafons are not to be altered by men; and ob might be taught by this that it was not in his power to make any change in the difpenfations of providence; to gurn the winter of adverfity into the {pring of profperity; and therefore it was beft filently to fubmit to the fovereignty of God, and wait his time for a change of circumftances.

¥. 32. Canjt thou bring forth Mazzaroth in bis feafon? &c.} Which are thought to be the fame with the chambers of the fouth, chap. ix, g. the fouthern pole ™ with its ftars, fignified by chambers, becaufe hidden from our fight jn this part of the globe’; and here by Mazzaroth, from nazar, to feparate, becaufe feparated and at a diftance from us; fome think * the twelve figns of the zodiac are meant, each of which are brought forth in their feafon, not by men, but by the Lord; fee J/a. xl. 26. Or canft Bou guide Arcurus with bis fons? a conttellation of many ftars called its fons, of which fee chap. ix. 9. Schmidt conjectures that Fupiter and his fatellites are meant; but rather what we call the greater and leffer bear, in the tail of which is the north pole-ftar, the guide of mariners, faid ° to be found out by Thales, by which the Phenicians failed, but is not to be guided by men; this conftellation is fancied to be in the form of a wain or waggon, and is called Charles’s wain could this be admitted, there might be thought to be an allufion to it?, and the fenfe be, Canft thou guide and lead this conftellation, as a waggon or team of horfes can be guided and led; {tars have their courles, Fag. v.20. but are not fteered, guided, and directed by men, but by the Lord himielf.

¥. 33. Knoweft thou the ordinances of beaven? &c.] Settled by the decree, purpafe, and will of God, and are firm and ftable; fee P/al. cxlviii. 6, Fer. XXX1. 35, 36, the laws and flatutes refpecting their fituation, motion, operation, influence, and ufe, which are conftantly obferved; thefe are fo far from being made by men, and at their direction, that they are not known by them, at leaft not fully and perfectly. Canjt thou fet the dominion thereof in the earth 2? or over it? of the heavens over the earth; not fuch an one as judicial aftrologers afcribe unto them, as to influence the bodies of men, efpecially the ° tempers and difpofitions of their minds; to affect their wills and moral agtions, the events and-occurrences of their lives, and the fate of nations and kingdoms; their dominion is not moral and civil, but phyfical or natural, as to make the revolutions of night and day, and of the feveral feafons of the year; and te affect and influence the fruits of the earth, &&e. fee Gen. i. 16. Deut. xxxiii. 13, 14. Hof. ii. 21, 22, 23. but this dominion is folely under God, and at his direétion, and is not of mens fixing.

¥. 34. Canft thou, lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?| Thy gardens, fields and farms; canft thou in a magif- _ terial way call to, and demand of the clouds to let down rain in large quantities, fufficient to water them and make them fruitful? no, thou canft nots thou maytt cry and call as long as thou wilt, nor a cloud will ftir, nor a drop of water be let down; rain is to be had in a fuppliant way, through the prayer of faith, as by £/ijah; but not in a dictatorial, authoritative way: the clouds and rain are only at the difpofal of the Lord; afk of him and he will give them; but they are not to be commanded, Zech. ¥. 1. fee Amos v, 8.

y. 35. Cant thou fend lightnings, that they may go, and fay unto thee, Here we are?| Thy humble fervants? we have been where thou didft fend us, and have executed what we were bid to do, and are returned, and here we are waiting further orders; fee Matt. viil. 9, no: lightnings are only at the command of God, and there have been fome awful inftances of it, Lev. x. 1. Numb. xi. 1. and Xvi. 35. but not in the power of men; indeed we have an extraordinary inftance in Elijah, who at the motion, and under the impulfe of the fpirit of prophecy in him, called for fire, or lightning, to confume captains with their fifties, and it came down on them and confumed them, 2 K7ugs i. 10, 12. but he is not to be jmitated herein; when the difciples of Chrift defired the fame upon a provocation, they were feverely reproved by him, Lukg iX. 54, 55. were thefe at the call and difpofe of men, what dreadful things would be done in the world? for if good men, when provoked, would make ufe of fuch a power to deftroy the lives af men, much more bad men; and our eyes would continually behold the flafhes of lightning, and our ears f De Ritu Gent. Septent.

ftellarum, Schmidt; fo Jarchi and Targum. — According to the lalmud, the word ngnifies 100 flars. Vid. T. Bab Beracot, ears hear the roatings of thunder, and the terrible effects thereof; but neither mercies nor judgments are at the command of men, but of God. ©

¥. 36. Who hath put wifdom in the inward parts? &c.] That is, of man, in his heart, as explained in the next claufe; fuch wifdom as to guide the the ftars, know the ordinances of heaven, fet their dominion on earth, manage and direét the clouds and lightning; no fuch wifdom is put in man. Or who hath given underftanding to the beart? to underftand all the above thirgs, and anfwer to the feveral queftions put in this chapter? though as thefe claufes may refpect much one and the fame thing, they may be underfteod of wifdom and underftanding in man, whether natural or fpiritual; and feeing they are found there, the queftion is who put them there, or how came they there? who gave them to him? the anfwer muft be, God himfelf, * and no other; man has his rational foul, his intelle€tual powers, the light of nature and reafon in him; all his underftanding ia arts and {ciences, trades and manufactures, is of the Lord, and not of himfelf or another; fee chap. xxxii. 8. Exod. xxxvi. 1, 2. Ifa. Xxviii. 23——29. all fpiritual wifdom and underttanding, which lies in a man’s concern for his eternal welfare, in the knowledge of himfelf, and of his ftate and condition by nature, and of the way of life and falvation by Chrift, and of the truths and doétrines of the gofpel, is all of God and Chrift, and by the fpirit of wifdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; no man therefore has any reafon to glory in his wifdom and knowledge, of whatfoever kind, as though he had not received it; nor fhould he dare to arraign the wifdom of God in his providential dealings with men; fince he that teaches man knowledge muft needs know better than man how to govern the world he has made, and difpofe of all things in it. The laft claufe is in the Vulgate Latin rendered, who hath given to the cock underflanding? and fo the Targums and other Jewith writers? interpret it; and they obferve °that in Arabia a cock is called by the word that is here ufed; and in their morning prayers, and at hearing a cock crow, they fay‘, ** Blefled be the Lord who *« giveth tothe cock underftanding to diftinguitfh be- ** tween theday and the day:” but however remarkable the underftanding of this creature is, which God has given it, and which is even taken notice of by heathen writers‘; that it fhould know‘ the ftars, diftinguifh the hours of the night by crowing, and exprefs its joy at the rifing of the fun and moon, yet fuch a fenfe of the text feems impertinent, as well as that of the Septuagint verfion, of givii; to women the wifdom and knowledge of weaving and embroidery.

¥.37. Woo can number the clouds in wifdom? &c.] Or has fuch wifdom as to be able to count them when the heavens are full of them; hence they are ufed to denote a great multitude, J a. Ix.

8. Heb. xii. 1. or declare them', fet forth and explain the nature of them, their matter, motion and ufe; none can do this perfeétly or compleatly. Aben Ezra interprets it, who can make them as fapphire? in which he is followed by Mr Broughton and others": the fapphire is a precious ftone very clear and lucid, of a fky colour. And then the fenfe is, Who can make a clear and ferene fky, when it is cloudy? None but the Lord; fee chap. XXXViL. t1. Or who can flay the bottles of heaven?

or barrels, as Mr Broughton the clouds in which the rain is bottled er barrelled up 5 and when it is. the pleafure of God to pour them out, who can ftay, ftop, or reftrain them? Or who can caufe them fo lie down *? that is, on the earth; to defcend or diftil on it, as the fame tranflator. Who can do this, when it is the will of God to withhold them? To ftop or unftop thofe bottles, to re- {train rain, or pour it forth, is entirely at his difpofe and not man’s; fee ¥. 34: Gen, Viiik 2. Amos iv. 7. i 38. When the duft groweth into bardnefi, and the clods cleave faft togetber?] When the duft is attenuated, and ground as it were into powders and the clods cleave together, as if glued, as ina drought for want of rain: or the bottles of heaven being unftopped and poured out, or *¢ fprink- “Jing the duft with this fprinkling,”” as Mr Brougé- ton. Or rather, pouring on the duft with pouring; that is, pouring down rain, by unftopping the bottles of heaven. The duft as meal, by water poured into it, cements, unites, and is compacted and becomes earth,. that may be cultivated; is clodded and cleaves together, and may be plow and fown. ' y. 39. Wilt thou bunt the prey for the lion? Bec!) From meteors the Lord paffes to animals, beafts and birds, wherefore fome here begin the 39th chapter, which only treats of fuch; and he begins with the lion, the ftrongeft among beafts, and moft fierce, cruel and voracious; and afks, who hunts his prey for him? Not man, who cannot; and if he could, durft not: but the Lord does; and according to fome writers *, he has provided a fmall creature, between a fox and a wolf, called a jackal; which goes before the lion, and hunts the prey for him. And could this be underftood particularly of the old lion, as Cocceius and others, naturalifts ” obferve, that young lions hunt for the old ones, when they are not able to go in fearch of prey; and when they have got it, either bring it to them, or call them to partake of it with them. Or jill the appetite of,the young lions? whofe appetite is fharp and keen, and requires a great deal to fill it, and efpecially to fatisfy a great many of them; herds of them, as Mr Broughton renders the word, and which fignifies a company; fee P/al. Ixviii. 30. Men cannot feed them, but God can and does there being fome ends in providence to be anfwer- i.40. When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?] Which fome underftand of old lions, who for want of ftrength lie couchant in their dens, or in fome covert place, waiting for any prey that paffes by, to feize upon it. But the fame pafture and places are ufed by younger lions, as well as old ones who are emblems of wicked men, cruel per ors, and bloodthirfty tyrants, who fill their palaces and kingdoms with murder and rapine; fee P/alm x. 8, 9, 10. Nabum ii. 11, 12.

¥. 41. Who provideth for the &c.] Not man, but God; he feeds the ravens, creatures very voracious, mean and ufelefs, Luke xii. 24. When bis young ones cry unto Gods cry for want of food; which is interpreted by the Lord as a cry unto him, and he relieves them, P/a/.cxlvii. 9.

when deferted by the old ones; either left in nefts nefts through forgetfulnefs, as fome * 5 or becaufe they are not till fledged, black like them, as others *; when God feeds them, as fome fay >| with a kind of dew from heaven, or with flies that fly about them, and fall into their mouths; or with worms bred out of theirdung. But thefe things are not to be depended on; it may rather refpect them when caft out of the neft by the old ones,

HIS chapter treats of various creatures, beafts and birds, which od had little knowledge of, had no concern in the make of them, and fcarce any power over them; as of the goats and hinds, y 1—4. Of the wild afs, y, 5—8. Of the unicorn, ¥. g—12. Of the peacock and oftrich, y. 13—:8. Of the horfe, ¥. 19-25. and of the hawk and eagle, ¥. 26-30, y¥. 1. Knoweft thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? &c.] Which creatures are fo called, becaufe they dwell among the rocks *, and run upon them; and though their heads are Joaded with a vaft burden of horns upon them, yet can fo poife themfelves, as, with the greateft wiftnefs, to leap from mountain to mountain, as Pliny fays®: and if they bring forth their young in the rocks, as Olympicdorus afferts, and which is not improbable; it is not to be wondered, that the time of their bringing forth fhould not be known by men, to whom the rocks they run upon are inacceffible. Canjt thou mark the time when the binds do calve? that is, precifely and exaétly, and fo as to direct, order and manage, and bring it about, as the Lord does: and it is wonderful that they fhould calve, and not caft their young before their time, when they are continually in flight and fright, through men or wild beafts, and are almoft always running and leaping about; and often fcared with thunder, which haftens birth, P/alm xxix. 9, otherwife the time of their bringing forth in general is known by men, as will be obferved in the | y. 2. Canjt thou number the months that they fulfil? 8&cc.] Which fome underftand both of wild goats and hinds. Common goats fulfil five months, they conceive in Noveméer,and bring forth in March, as Pliny’ obferves; but how many the wild goats of the rock fulfit, is not faid by him or any other 1 know of: the fame writer fays *, of hinds, that they go eight months, Or knoweft thou the time when they bring forth? naturalifts ® tell us, that the hinds conceive after the rife of the ftar Aréfurus, which rifes eleven days before the autumnal equinox; fo that they conceive in September,; and as they go eight months, they bring forth in April;

- but then the exact time to a day and hour is not known. Befides, who has fixed the time for their bringing forth, and carries them in it through fo many dangers and difficulties? None but the Lord himfelf. Now if fuch common things in nature were not known perfectly by 70), how fhould he be able to fearch into, and find out the caufes and

_reafons of God’s providential dealings with men, or what is in the womb of providence?

when able to fly, which is teflified by naturalitts *; and with this agrees what follows: ¢/ey wander for lack of meat; being obliged to fhift for themfelves, when God takes care of them; which is an inftance of his providential goodnefs; and how this is to be improved, fee Matt. vi, 26. Luke xii. 24,

¥. 3. They bow themfelves, &c.} That they may bring forth their young with greater eafe and more fafety: for it feems the hinds bring forth their young with great difficulty; and there are provifions in nature made to leffén it; as thunder before obferved, which caufes them to bring forth the fooner; and there is an herb called /e/elis, which it is faid ', they feed upon before birth, to make it the eafier; as well as they ufe that and another called aros, after the birth, to eafe them of their afterpains, They bring forth their young ones; renting and cleaving afunder the membrane, as the word fignifes, in which their young is wrapped. They cajt out their forrows, either their young, which they bring forth in pains and which then ceafe; or the fecundines, or after-birth, in which the young is wrapped, and which the philofopher fays * they eat, and is fuppofed to be medical to them. None but a woman feems to bring forth with more pain than this creature; and a wife is compared to it, Prov. v.19,

¥.4. Their young ones are in good liking, &e.} ‘Plump, fat and fleek, as fawns are: they £row up with corn; by which they grow, or without in the field, as the word alfo fignifies; and their growth and increafe is very quick, as Ariffotle obe ferves', They go forth, and return not unio them s they go forth into the fields, and fhift and provide for themfelves, and trouble their dams no more; and return not to them, nor are they known by them,

¥. 5. Who bath fent out the wild afs free? &cc.] Into the wide wafte, where it is, ranges at pleafure, and is not under the reftraint of any; a creature which, as it is naturally wild, is naturally averfe ta fervitude, is defirous of liberty and maintains it: not but that it may be tamed, as Pliny ™ fpeaks of fuch as dre; but it choofes to be free, and agreeable to its nature, it is fent out into the wildernefs as fuch; not that it is fet free from bondage, for in that it never was until it is tamed; but its nature and inclination, and courfe it purfues, is to be free, And now the queftion is, who gave - this creature fuch a nature, and defire after liberty? and fuch power to maintain it? and directs it to take fuch methods to fecure it, and keep clear of bondage? It is of God. Or who hath loofed the bands of the wild afi? not that it has any naturally upon it, and is loofed from them; but becaufe it is as clear of them as fuch creatures are, which have been in bands and are freed fram them; therefore this mode of expreffion js ufed, and which fignifies the fame as before.

¥.0. Whofe houfe I have made the wildernefs, &c.] Appointed that to be his place of refidence,

47% as being agreeable to his nature, men, and in the lefs danger of being brought into {ubjection by them. Such were the defarts of 4- rabia,; where, as bain, cape were many of thefe creatures, and which he reprefents as very fwift: and Leo Africanus ° fays, great numbers of them are found in defarts, and on the borders of defarts; hence faid to be ufed to the wildernefs, Fer. ii. 24. And the barren land bis dwellings, not entirely barren, for then it could not live there; but comparatively, with refpect to land that is fruitful: or fal land? for, as Pliny ° fays, every place where falt is, is barren.

y¥.7. He feorneth the multitude of the city, &c.] Choofing rather to be alone in the wildernefs and free, than to be among a multitude of men in a city, and be a flave as the tame afs; or it defpifes and defies a multitude of men, that may come out of cities to take it. Leo Africanus fays", it yields to none for fwiftnefs but Barbary hortes: according to Xenophon *, it exceeds the horfe in fwiftnels and when purfued by horfemen, it will outrun them, and ftand ftill and reft till they come near it, and then ftart again; fo that there is no taking it, unlefs many are employed. Ariftotle * fays, it excels in fwiftnefs; and according to Bockart *, it has its name in Hebrew from the Chaldee word ND to run. Or it may be rendered, the noife of the city, fo Cocceius; the ftir and buftle in it, through a multiplicity of men in bufinefs. Neither regardeth be the crying of the driver; or hears“: he neither feels his blows, nor hears his words; urging him to move fafter and make quicker difpatch, as the tame afs does; he being neither. ridden nor driven, nor drawing in a cart or plough.

¥. 8. The range of the mountains is bis pafture, &c.] It ranges about the mountains for food; it looks about for it, as the word fignifies; and tries firft one place and then another to get fome, it having fhort commons there. And be fearcheth after every green thing; herb or'plant, be it what it will that is green, it feeks after; and which being fcarce in defarts and mountains, it fearches about for and feeds upon it, wherever it can find it; grafs being the peculiar food of thefe creatures, fee chap. vi. 5. and which is obferved by naturalifts *. «

¥.9. Will the unicorn be willing to ferve thee? &c.] Whether there is or ever was fuch a creature, as defcribed under the name of an unicorn, is a queftion: it is thought the accounts of it are for the moft part fabulous; though Vartomannus ’ fays, he faw two at Mecca, which came from E¢diopia, the largeft of which had a horn in his forehead three cubits long. ‘There are indeed feveral creatures which may be called monocerots, who have but one horn; as the rhinoceros, and the Indian horfes and afiés*. The Arabic geographer * fpeaks of a beaft in the Jdies, called carcaddan, which is leffer than an elephant and bigger than a buffalo; having in the middle of the forehead an horn long and thick, as much as two hands can grafp: and not only onJand,but in the feaare fuch, as the nabr whal, or Greenland whale; but then they do not anfwer to the creature fo called ia fcripture: and befides, this muft be a creature well known to Fob, as it at a diftance from | was to the Dfraelites; and mutt be a {trong creature,

‘from the account that gives of it, and not to be taken as here. And Solinus* {peaks of fuch mo-— nocerots or unicorns, which may be killed, but cannot be taken, and were never known to be in any man’s poffeffion alive; and fo #iianus * fays of the like creature, that it never was remembred that any one of them had been taken. Some think the rinoceros is meant; but that, though a very ftrong creature, and fo may be thought fit for the ufes after mentioned, yet may be tamed; whereas the creature here is reprefented as untameable, and not to be fubdued, and brought under a yoke and managed; and befides, it is not very probable that it was known by Yob. Bochart * takes it to be the » oryx, a creature of the goat-kind; but to me it feems more likely to be of the ox-kind, to be fimilar to them, and fo might be thought to do the bufinefs of one; and the rather, becaufe of its great ftrength, and yet could not be brought to do it, nor be trufted with it: for the queftions concerning it relate to the work of oxen; and as the wild afs is oppofed to the tame one in the preceding paragraph, fo here the wild ox to a tame one, And both Strabo’ and Diodorus Siculus ® relate, that among the Troglodytes, a people that dwelt near the Red fea, and not far from Arabia, where Fob lived, were abundance of wild oxen or bulls, and which far exceeded the common ones in largenefs and fwiftnefs; and the creature called the Reem in the original, has its name from height. Now the queftion is, could 7b take one of thefe wild bulls or oxen, and tame it, and make it willing to doany work or fervice he fhould choofe to ut it to? No, he could not. Or abide by thy crib? manger or ftall, as the tame or common ox will; who, when it has done its labour, is glad to be led to its ftall and feed, and then lie down and reft, and there abide; fee J/ai. i. 3. but no fo the wild ox. ' _ ¥. 10. Canft thou bind the unicorn with bis band in the furrow? &c.] Put the yoke and harnefs upon him, and faften it to the plough to draw it, that he may make furrows with it in the field, or plough up the ground as the tame ox does? thou canft not. Or will be harrow the vallies after thee? draw the harrow which is ufed after ploughing to break the clods, and make the land fmooth and even? he will not: vallies are particularly mentioned, becaufe arable land is ufually in them;. fee Pfal. Ixv. 13. ¥. 11. Wilt thou truft bim, becaufe bis ftrength is great? &c.] No; tame oxen are employed becaufe they are ftrong to labour, P/alm cxliv. 14. and they are to be trufted, in plowing or treading out the corn, under direction, becaufe they are manageable, and will attend to bufinefs with con ftancy; but the wild ox, though ftronger, and Ree. fitter for labour, is yet not to be trufted, beca pt unruly and unmanageable: if that fort of wild o m¢; called Uri could be thought to be meant, for which —

Bootius » contends, Ce/far’s cos \ agree with this character of the Reem, as d fhape of a bull; they are of great ftrength hor reat {wiftnefs, and not to be tamed. Or wilt thou teave thy labour to him? to plow thy fields, to harrow thy lands, and to bring home the ripe corn? as in the next verfe; thou wilt not. —;

‘y. 12. Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy feed? &c.] Draw in the cart, and bring home the ripe fheaves of corn, as the tame ox does? no; thou knoweft him too well to believe he will bring it home in fafety. And gather it into thy barn to be trodden out, which ufed to be done by oxen in thofe times: if therefore ‘%o0b could not manage fuch unruly creatures as the wild afs and the wild ox, and make them ferviceable to him, how unfit muft he be to govern the world, or to direct in the affairs of providence?

y. 13. Gaveft thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? 8c.) Rather offriches, as the Vulgate Latin and Tigurine verfions render it; fome render it the wing of thofe that exult is joyful, fo Montanus; that is, of the oftriches; who, in confidence of their wings, exult and glory over the horfe and his rider, y. 18. for peacocks are not remarkable for their wings, but for their tails; whereas the wings of the oftrich are as fails unto them, as feve+ ral writers obferve*; and with which they rather run or row, than fly: hence it is called by Plautus’ paffer marinus, the {ea-fparrow: and the feathers of it are more goadly than thofe of the wings of the peacock; and befides, it is a queftion whether the eacock was where od lived, and in his times; fince 1t is originally from the Judies, and from thence it was brought to Fudea in the times of Solomon; and was not known in Greece and Rome™ until later ages. Alexander the great, when he firft faw them in India, was furprized at them; and yet So/on "

fpeaks of them in his time as feen by him, which.

was at-leaft two hundred years before Alexander; tho’ at Rome not common in the times of Horace °, who calls a peacock rara avis; and fpeaks of them as fold for a great price; but oftriches were well known in Arabia where Fob lived; as is teftified by Xenophon’, Strabo, and Diodorus Siculus*. Moreover, what is faid in the following verfes is only true of the oftrich, and that only is fpoken of here and there, as it follows. Or wings and feathers unto the oftrich; or whofe wings and feathers are like the ftork’s; and fo Bochart renders the words, truly they have the wing and feather of the ftork the colours of which are black and white, from whence it has its name weaapyes ° in Greek; and fo Leo Africanus‘ {ays of the ottriches, that they have in their wings large feathers of a black and white colour; and this was a creature well known in Arabia“, in which od lived.

¥. 14. Which leaveth her eggs in.the earth, &c.] Lays them and leaves them there. A/ianus, agreeable to this, fays ”, that it builds a low neft in the ground, making a hollow in the fand with its feet, though hefeems to be miftaken as to the number of its eges, which he makes to be more than eighty; more truly Leo Africanas*, who reckons them ten or twelve; which, he fays, it lays in the fand, and each of them are of the bignefs of a cannon-ball, and weigh fifteen pounds, more or lefs. Hence, with the point of prudence, for the prefervation of thole parts

Arabs, it is called “ the mother of eggs,” becaufe of the large eggs it lays; and with them it is a proverb, ** meaner, or of a lefler account, than the eges of an *« oftrich,” becaufe its eggs are neglected by it’. And warmeth them in the dujt; not that fhe leaves them to be warmed by the hot fand, or by the heat of the fun upon them, by which they are hatched, as has been commonly faid, for thereby they would rather be corrupted and become rotten; but fhe herfelf warms them and hatches them, by fitting upon them in the duft and fand: and for this the above hiftorian is exprefs, who fays*, the female lighting on thefe eggs, whether her own or anothers, fits on them and heats them, Concerning the oftrich hatching its eges, Vanfleb*, from an Arabic manutcript, relates what is incredible, that they are hatched by the male and female with their eye only; that one or other of them keep continually looking at them until they are all hatched; and this I abferve is afferted alfo by another writer?,

¥. 15. And forgetteth that the foot may crufb them, &c.] The foot of the traveller, they being laid in the ground where he may walk, or on the fand of the fea-fhore where he may tread and tram ple upon them unawares, and crufh them to pieces; to prevent which this creature has no forefight. Or that the wild beaft may break them; {uppofing they may be, though not where men walk, yet where wild beafts frequent, they may be as eafily broken by the One as the other; againft which it guards not, having no inftinét in nature, as fome creatures have, to direct to the prefervation of them, y. 16. She is bardned againft ber young ones, as though they were not bers, &cc.] Hence faid to be cruel, Lam. iv. 3. not againft the young ones fhe hatches, for /ianus* reports her as very tender of her young, and expofing herfelf to danger for the prefervation of them; but being a very forgetful creature, having laid its eggs in the fand, where it leaves them, forgets where it has laid them; and finding ‘other egos fits on them and hatches them, and regards the young as its own, and is hardned againft its true and real young, as not belonging ta her. Her labour is in vain without fear; in laying her eggs and leaving them in the duft, without fear of their. being crufhed and broken, which yet they are, and fo her Jabour is in vain; or her labour in hatching the eggs of others, without any fear or care of their belonging to others, which yet they do, and fo fhe labours in vain.

¥.17. Becaufe God hath deprived ber of wifdom, &c.] Or made her to forget * what fhe had; an in- {tance of her forgetfulnefs is mentioned y. 15. and fo Leo Africanus‘ {ays of it, that it is of a very fhort memory, and prefently forgets the place where its egos are laid. Neither hath be imparted to her underftanding; many inftances are given of its ftupidity by hiftorians, as that it will take any thing that is offered to it to eat, ftones, iron, &¥c.* that ie will thruft its head and neck into a thicket, fancying it is hid and covered, and that none can fee it; which Pliny ® remarks as an inftance of its foolifhnefs; though Diodorus Siculus® takes this to be a of it which are weakeft. Strabo gives‘ another inftance of its ftupidity, its being fo eafily deceived by fportfmen, who, by putting the fkin of an oftrich on their hands, and reaching out fruits or feeds to it, it will receive them of them, and be taken. Others obferve the fmallnefs of their heads, and fo of their brains, as an argument of their want of underftanding; and it has been remarked as a proof, of their having but few brains, that Heliogabalus, the Roman emperor, had fix hundred heads of oftriches dreffed at once for his fupper, for the fake of their brains*.

¥. 18. What time foe lifteth up berfelf an bigh, &c.] It is fometimes eight foot high’; when alarmed with approaching danger fhe raifes up herfelf, being fitting on the ground, and ere¢ts her wings for flight, or rather running. She fcorneth the horfe and bis rider; being then, as Pliny” fays, higher than a man on horfeback, and fuperior to a horfe in {wittnefs, and though horfemen have been able to take wild affes and goats, very fwift crea- fneezing, fnorting, pawing and neighing, when his noftrils are broad, {pread, and enlarged; and efpecially when enraged and in battle, when he foams and fumes, and his breath comes out of his noftrils like fmoke’, and is very terrible.

y. 21. He paweth in the valley, &c.] Where armies are ufually pitched and fet in battle-array, and efpecially the cavalry, for which the valley is moft convenient; and here the horfe is impatient of engaging, cannot ftand ftill, but rifes up with his fore feet, and paws and prances, and as the word fignifies, digs the earth and makes it hollow, by a continual ftriking upon it; fo generous horfes are commonly defcribed in this manner*. And rejoiceth in his ftrength; of which he is fenfible, and glories in it; marches to the battle with pride and {tatelinefs, defying as it were the enemy, and as if fure of victory, of which he has knowledge when obtained; for Laéantius fays ‘ of horfes, when conquerors they exult, when conquered they grieve 5 tures, yet never oftriches, as Xenophon relates” of it has its name in the Hebrew language from re- thofe in Arabia; and this creature has another method, when purfued, by which it defies and defpifes, as well as hurts and incommodes its purfuers, which is by cafting ftones backward at them with its feet as out of a fling’.

y. 19. Haft thou given the borfe firength? &c.} Not only to bear burdens and draw carriages, but for war; for it is the war-horfe that is here fpoken of, as what follows fhews, and his ftrength denotes; not ftrength of body only, but fortitude and courage; for which, as well as the other, the horfe is eminent, and both are the gift of God, and not of men.. Haft thou clothed bis neck with thunder? or with ftrength, as the Targum, the horfe having particularly great ftrength in its neck, as well as in other parts; or with ftrength of voice, as Ben Gerfom explains it; and it has been generally underftood of the neighing of horfes, which comes thro’ and out of their neck, and makes a vehement found: fome render it with a mane’; at could it be made to appear that the word is fo ufed in any other place, or in any other writings, or in any of which another poet ufes it”.

the dialects, it would afford a very good fenfe, fince- a fine large mane to a horfe is a great ornament and recommendation: the Septuagint render it by fear, and Farchi interprets it of terror; and refers to the fenfe of the word in Ezek, xxvii, 35. and it may fignify fuch a tremor as thunder makes, from whence that has its name; and it may be obferved that between the neck and fhoulder-bone of an horfe there is a tremulous and quavering motion; and which is more vehement in battle, not from any fearfulnefs of it, but rather through eagernefs to engage in it; and therefore Schultens tranflates the words, ha? thou clothed bis neck with a chearful tremor

¥. 20. Canft thou make him afraid asa grafsbopper? &c.] Which is affrighted at every noife, and at any approach of men; but not fo the-horfe; or canft thou move him, or caufe him to fkip and jump, or rather leap like a grafshopper? that is, haft thou given, or canft thou give him the faculty of leaping over hedges and ditches, for which the horfe is famous? fo Nepiune’s war-horfes are faid 4 to be SuTKapd nas, good leapers, The glory of bis gavifus eft. Vid. Buxtorf. in voce DYD joicing *, He goeth on to meet the armed men; with= out any fear or dread of them, as follows. y¥. 22. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted, &c.] At thofe things which caufe fear and fright to men; as arms, though ever fo terrible, and armies, though never fo numerous. Neither turnetb he back from the fword; the naked fword, when it isdrawn againft him, and ready to be thruft into hira; the horfe being fo bold and courageous was with the Egyptians a fymbol of courage and boldnefs’, y¥. 23. The quiver rattleth againft him, &e.1 The quiver is what arrows are put into and carried in, and feems here to be put for arrows, which bein fhot by the enemy come whizzing about him, but do not intimidate him; unlefs this is to be underftood of arrows rattling in the quiver when carried by the rider upon bim, fo fome render the laft word; and thus Homer” and Virgil * {peak of the rattling quiver and founding arrows in it, as carried on the back or fhoulder; but the firft fenfe feems beft, in The glittering [pear and the fhield the lance or javelin, as Mr Broughton renders it, and others; that is, he does not curn ‘back from thefe, nor is he frighted at them when they are pointed to him or flung at him; fo #lianus” {peaks of the Perfians training up their horfes and ufing them to noifes, that in battle they might not be frighted at the clafhing of arms, of fwords and fhields againft each other; in like manner as our war-horfes are trained up, not to ftart at the firing of a gun, or the explofion of a cannon. © ¥. 24. He fwalloweth the ground with frercenefs and rage, &c.| Being fo eager for the battle, and fo full of fiercenefs and rage, he bounds the plain with fuch fwiftnefs that he feems rather to fwallow up the ground than torun upon it. Neishber believeth he that it is the found of the trumpet; sale at hearing it; or he will not truft to his ee will fee with his eyes whether the battle is ready, — and therefore pufhes forward. Mr Broughton an others read it, he will nct fiand frill at the noife o the trumpet, and the word fignifies frm and ftable, as well as to believe; when he hears the trumpet found, the alarm of war, as a preparation for the

Ch.xxxix.y.18—24. — noftrils is terrible, which may be underftood of his battle, he knows not how to * ftand; there is fcarce any holding him in, but he rufhes into the battle at once, Fer. viii. 6.; ¥. 25. He faith among the trumpets, Ha, ba, &c. As pleafed with the found of them, rejoicing thereat, and which he fignifies by neighing. dnd he Jmelleth the battle afar off; which refpeéts not fo much the diftance of place as of time; he perceives beforehand that it is near, by the preparations making for it, and particularly by what follows; fo Pliny’ fays of horles, they prefage a fight. The thunder of the captains, and the fhouting; they underftand an engagement is juft going into by the loud and thundring voice of the captains, exhorting and fpiriting up their men, and giving them the word of command; and by the clamorous fhout of the foldiers echoing to the fpeech of their captains; and which are given forth upon an onfet, both to animate one another, and intimidate the enemy. SBootius * obferves, that Virgil* and Oppianus” tay moft of the fame things in praife of the horfe which are here faid, and feem to have taken them from hence; and fome‘ give the horfe the preference to the lion, which when it departs from a fight never returns, whereas the horfe will. This is an emblem both of good men, Zech, x. 3. and of bad men, Fer. viii. 6. | ¥. 26. Doth the hawk fly by thy wifdom? &c.] With fo much.fwiftnefs, fteddinefs and conftancy, until fhe has feized her prey. The Vulgate Latin verfion and fome others read, does fhe become feathered, or begin to have feathers; and fo Bochart: either when firft fledged; or when, as it is faid *, fhe cafts her old feathers and gets new ones, and this every year. Now neither her flight nor her feathers, whether at one time or the other, are owing to men, but to the Lord, who gives both. And Stretch her wings towards the fouth? Being a bird of paffage, fhe moves from colder climates towards the winter, and fteers her courfe to the fouth towards warmer ones‘; which fhe does from an inftinét in nature, put into her by the Lord, and not through the inftruction of man. Or, as fome fay, cafting off her old feathers, fhe flies towards the fouth for warmth; and that her feathers may be cherifhed with the heat, and grow the fooner and better. Hence it is perhaps, as #/ianys reports ‘, that this bird was by the Egyptians con- ~-fecrated to Apollo or the fun; it being able to look upon the rays of it wiftly, conftantly and eafily, without being hurt thereby. Porphyry * fays, that this bird is not only acceptable to the fun; but has divinity in it, according to the Egyptians; and is no other than Ofris, or the fun reprefented by the image of it*. Strabo fpeaks of a city of the hawks, where this creature is worfhipped. It has its name in Greek from the facrednefS of it; and according to Hefiod *, is very {wift, and has large wings. It is called xuafe—os, fwift in Aying, by Manetho'; and by Homer, wxisos rerenvav, the fwifteft of fowls”. It has its name from M¥) to fly, as Kimchi obferves*. Cyril of Ferufalem, on the authority of the Greek verfion, affirms °, that