Exposition of the Whole Bible

by a divine inftin® or order, the hawk ftretching out its wings, ftands in the midft of the air unmoved, looking towards the fouth. All accounts fhew it to be a bird that loves warmth, which is the reafon of the expreffion in the text.

¥. 27. Doth the eagle mount up at thy command? &c.] No; but by an inftinét which God has placed in it, and a capacity he has given it above all other birds. They take a circuit in their flight, and bend about before they foar aloft: but the eagle fteers its courfe directly upwards towards heae ven, till out of fight; and, as Apuleius fays °, up to the clouds, where it rains and fnows, and beyond which there is no place for thunder and lightning. And maketh ber neft on high? fo the philofopher fays °; eagles make their nefts not in plains, but in high places, efpecially in cragged rocks, as in the next verfe.

¥. 28. She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the ftrong place.) Where fhe and her young are fafe: fo Pliny* fays, eagles make their nefts in rocks, even in the precipices of them, as the philofopher quoted in the preceding verfe; and here on the tooth, edge, or precipice of the rock, which is inacceflible, and fo like a {trong fortified place.

¥. 29, From thence foe feeketh the prey, &c.} From the high rock; from whence fhe can look down into vallies, and even into the fea; and fpy what is for her purpofe, and defcend and feize upon them; as lambs, fawns, geefe, fhell-fith, en though they may lie in the moft hidden and fecret places. Wherefore in the original text it is, she diggeth the prey or food *; as treafure hid in fecrét, is dug or diligently fearched for; and for which fhe is qualified by the fharpnefs of her fight, as follows: and her eyes bebold afar off; from the high rocks and higher clouds, even from the high fky, as Ailianus‘ expreffes it; and who obferves that — fhe is the moft fharp-fighted of all birds; and fo, Homer “ fays, fome affirm.

y¥. 30. Her young ones alfo fuck up blood, &c.] As well as herfelf, being brought up to it by her. The eagle cares not for'water, but drinks the blood of her prey; and fo her young ones after her, as naturalifts report”. And ZJianus {ays * the fame of the hawk, that it eats no feeds, but devours flefh and drinks blood, and nourifhes her young ones with the fame. Aud where the flain are, there is foe; where there ‘has beén a battle, and carcafles left on the field, the eagles will gather to them. ‘This is particularly true of that kind of eagles called Vulture.eagles, as Ariffotle » and Pliny * obferve; fee Matt. xxiv. 28. Now fince Fob was fo ignorant of the nature of thefe creatures, and incapable of governing and directing them; and what they had of any excellency were of God, and not of him, nor of any man; how unfit muft he be to difpute with God, and contend with him about his works of providence? which to convince him of, was the defign of this difcourfe about the creatures; and which had its intended effect, as ape pears in the next chapter.

N this chapter od is called upon to give in his anfwer, y. 1, 2. which he does in the moft humble manner, acknowledging his vilenefs and folly, ¥. 3, 4, 5- And then the Lord proceeds to give him further conviction of his fuperior juftice and power, y¥.6—g. and one thing he pro-= pofes to him, to humble the proud, if he could, and then he would own his own right hand could fave him, ¥. 10—-14. and obferves to him another inftance of his power in a creature called debemoth, which he had made, and gives a defcsiption of,

¥. 1. Moreover the Lord anfwered Fob, &c.) The Lord having difcourfed largely of the works of nature, in order to reconcile the mind of Fob to his works of providence, ftopped and made a " paufe for a little fpace, that 7ob might anf wer if he thought fit; but he being entirely filent, the Lord began again, and faid, as follows:

y. 2. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty, inftrua him? &c.| Is he capable of it? He ought to be that takes upon him to difpute with God, to object or reply to him; that brings a charge againft him,-enters the lifts, and litigates a point.

with him; which ¥ob wanted to be at. But could he or any other inftruét him, who is the God of knowledge, the all-wife and only-wife God; who gives man wifdom, and teaches him knowledge? What folly is it to pretend to inftruét him? Or can fuch an one be infiruéfed? as the Targum: he is not in the way of inftruction; he that fubmits to the chaftizing hand of God, may be inftructed thereby, but not he that contends with him; fee Pfal. xciv. r2. Or fhould he be one that is inftructed? no, he ought to be an inftructor, and not one inftru¢éted; a teacher, and not one that is taught; he fhould be above all inftruétion from God or man, that will difpute with the Almighty. The word for in/trué has the fignification of chaftifement, becaufe inftruction fometimes comes that way; and then the fenfe either is, Shall a man contend with the Almighty that chaftizes him? Does it become a fon or a fervant, to ftrive againft a parent or a mafter'that corrects him? Or does not he deferve to be chaftized that acts fuch a part? Some derive the word from one that fignifies to remove or depart, and give the fenfe; Shall the abundance, the all-fufficiency of God, go from him to another, to a man; and fo he, inftead of God, be the allfufficient one? Or rather, the meaning of the claufe ‘is, Has there not been much, enough, and more than enough faid, 7b, to chaftize thee, and convince thee of thy miftakes? muft more be faid? is there any need of it? He that reproveth God, let bim anfwer it; he that reproves God, for his words, or works, or ways, finding fault with either of them, ought to anfwer to thé queftion now put; or to any or all of thofe in the preceding chapters, and not be filent as Fob now was.;

¥. 3. Then Fob anfwered the Lord, &c.].Finding that he was obliged to anfwer, he did, but with fome reluctance; and /aid, as follows:

¥. 4. Bebold, I am vile, &c.] Or light*; which may have refpect cither to his words and arguments, which he thought had force in them, but now he faw they had none; or to his works and actions, the integrity of his life, and the upright- be IPOP levis fum, Cocceius, Michaelis; leviter locutus fam, V. Le nefs of his ways, which he imagined were weighty and of great importance, but now being weighed in the balances of juftice were found wanting; or it may refer to his original meannefs and diftance from God, being duft and afhes, and nothing in comparifon of him; and fo the Septuagint verfion is, I am nothing; fee Ifa. x\. 17. or rather, to the original vilenefs and finfulnefs of his nature he had now a fight of, and faw how he had been breaking forth in unbecoming expreffions concerning God and his providence: the nature of man is exceeding vile and finful; his heart defperately wicked;

-his thoughts, and the imaginations of them, evil, and that continually; his mind and confcience are defiled; his affections inordinate, and his underftanding and will fadly depraved; he is vile in fouk and body; of all which an enlightned man is convinced, and will acknowledge. What fhail I anfwer thee? 1 am not able to anfwer thee, whoam but duft and afhes; what more can I fay than to ‘acknowledge my levity, vanity, and vilenefs? he ~ that talked fo big, and in fuch a bluftring manner. of anfwering God, as in chap. xiii. 22. and xxxi. 35, 36, 37. now has nothing to fay for himfelf. I will lay mine band upon my mouth; impote filence upon himfelf, and as it were lay a reftraint upon himfelf from fpeaking: it looks as if there were fome workings in 70b’s heart; he thought he could fay fomething and make fome reply but durft not, for fear of offending yet more and more, and therefore curbed it in; fee Pfal. xxxix. 1. -

¥. 5. Once bave I fpoken; but I will not anfwer,, &c.] Some think this refers to what he had juft © now faid of his vilenefs, he had owned that, and that was all he had to fay, or would fay, he would give no other anfwer; Farchi fays, fome fuppofe he has refpect to his words in chap. ix. 22. Yea, twice; but I will proceed no further, the meaning feems to be, that he who had once and again, or very often, at leaft in fome inftances, fpoken very imprudently and indecently, for the future would take care not to fpeak in fuch a manner: for this confeffion was not quite free and full; and therefore the Lord takes him in hand again, to bring him. to make a more full and ingenuous one, as he does * in chap. xiii.

y. 6. Then anfwered the Lord unto Fob out of the whirlwind, &c.| Some think that the whirlwind ceafed while the Lord fpake the words in ¥. 2. which encouraged ‘fob to make the 4nfwer he did; but others are of opinion that it continued, and now ~ increafed, and was more boifterous than before. The Targum calls it the whirlwind of tribulation: comfort does not always follow immediately on firft con-_ victions; ob, though humbled, was not yet humbled enough: God will have a fuller confeffion of fin from him: it was not fufficient to fay he was vile, he muft declare his forrow for his fin, his abhorrence of it, and of himfelf for it, and his repentance of it; and that he had faid things of God” he ought not to have faid, and which he pe ftood not; and though he had faid he would " {wer no more, God will make him fay mote, and therefore continued the whirlwind, and to fpeak out —__ of it; for he had more to fay to him, and give him further proof of his power to his full conviction. And faid, as follows.

fpeak well of God; and be it as it will between

¥. 7. Gird up thy loins now like a man, &c.] And prepare to give an anfwer to what fhould be demanded of him, The fame way of fpeaking is ufed in chap. xxxviii. 3. fee the note world better than I do; for thefe and the exprefs fions following are ironical.

y. 11. Caft abroad the rage of thy wrath, &c.} Work thyfelf up into a paffion, at leaft feemingly;

there, put on all the airs of a wrathful and enraged king

¥. 8. Wilt thou alfo difannul my judgment? &c.] The decrees and purpofes of God concerning his dealings with men, particularly the afflictions of them, which are framed with the higheft wifdom and reafon, and according to the ftricteft juftice, and can never be fruftrated or made void; or the fentence of God concerning them, that is gone out of his mouth and cannot be altered; or the execution of it which cannot be hindered: it refpeéts the wifdom of God in the government of the world, as Aben Ezra obferves, and the particular dealings of his providence with men, which ought to be fubmitted to; to do otherwife is for a man to fet up his own judgment againft the Lord’s, which y. is as much as in him lies to difannul it; whereas God is a God of judgment, and his judgment is according to truth, and in righteoufnefs, and will take place, let men do or fay what they pleafe, Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayeft be righteous? Is there no other way of vindicating thine own inocence and integrity, without charging me with unrighteouinefs at leaft faying fuch things as are judged by others to be an arraignment of my juftice, wifdom, and goodnefs, in the government of the world? Now though ¥ob did not exprefsly and directly condemn the Lord, and arraign his juftice, yet when he talked of his own righteoufne{s and integrity, he was not upon his guard as he fhould have been with refpect to the juftice of God in his afflictions; for though a man may juftify his own charaéter when abufed, he fhould take care to on a throne of ftate, whofe wrath is like the roaring of a lion, and as meffengers of death; pour out menaces plentifully, threatning what thou wilt do; and try if by fuch means thou canft humble the fpirit of a proud man, as follows. dnd behold every ome that is proud, and abafe him; look fternly at him, put on a fierce, furious, and menacing countenance, and fee if thou canft dafh a proud man out of countenance, and humble him before thee, as I am able; among the many inftances of divine power the Lord pitches upon this one, and propofes it to Fob to try his fkill and power upon, the humbling of a proud man.;

12. Look on every one that is proud, and bring bim low, &c.| As the Lord often does; fee J/a. ii. 11, 12. this is the fame as before. And tread dows the wicked in their place; the fame with the proud, for pride makes men wicked. it is a fin, and very odious in the fight of God, and is highly refented by him; he refifts the proud: now ed is bid, when he has brought proud men low, and laid their honour in the duft, to keep them there, to trample upon them, and tread them as mire in the ftreet; and thar in their own place, or wherever he fhould find them; the Septuagint render it immediately; fee J/a. xxvii, 3.

¥. 13. Hide them in the duft together, &c.] Either in the duft of death, that they may be feen no more in this world, in the fame place and circumftances where they fhewed their pride and haughtinefs; or in the duft of the grave, and let them have an inglorious burial, like that of malefaétors thrown into fome common pit together; as when multitudes are flain in battle, a large pit is dug, and the bodies are caft in together without any order or decency; or it may be rendered alike ®, let them be treated equally alike, no preference given to one above another, And bind their faces in fecret, alluding, as it is thought, to malefaétors when condemned and about to be executed, whofe faces are then covered, as Haman’s was, E/ther vii, 8: or to the dead when buried, whofe faces are bound with napkins, as Lazarus’s was, Fobn xi. 44. the meaning of all thefe expreffions is, that ‘¥ob would abafe and deftroy, if he could, every proud man he met with, as God does, in the courfe of his providence, fooner or later. There had been inftances of divine power in this way before, or in the times of Job, which might come to his knowledge; as the cafting down of the proud angels out of heaven, and of eafting proud Adam out of paradife, the drowning the proud giants of the old world, and of difperfing the proud builders of Babel, and of deftroying Sodom and Gomorrah by fire, one of whofe reigning fins was pride; and of drowning proud Pharaoh and his hoft in the Red fea: which lait feems to have been done much about the time od lived.

y¥. 14. Then will I alfo confefs unto thee, that thine own right hand can fave thee,| From all his enemies temporal and fpiritual, and out of all evils and calamities whatfoever; and that he ftood in no need of his help and affiftance, yea that he was a match for him, and might be allowed to contend with him; but whereas he was not able to do the above things propofed to him, it could not be ~ Mitte;

man and man, God is not to be brought into the queftion; and though fome of his providences are not fo eafily reconciled to his promifes, yet let God be true and every man a liar.

¥. 9. Haft thou an arm like Ged? &c.| Such power as he has,-which is infinite, almighty, and uncontroulable, and therefore there is no contending with him; as he has an arm on which good men may lean on and truft in, and by which they are fupported, protected and faved, fo he has an arm to crufh like a moth all that ftrive with him or againft him, Or cant thou thunder with a voice like bim? thunder is his voice; fee chap. xxxvii. 4, 5. and Pfal. xxix. 3, &c..and is expreffive of his power, chap. xxvi. 14. and his powerful voice may be obferved in calling all things out of nothing into being in creation; in commanding and ordering al] things in providence according to his pleafure; and in quickening finners through his gofpel, by his fpirit and grace in converfion, and will be in calling men out of their graves and fummoning them to judgment at the laft day. God can both overpower and out-voice men, and therefore it is in vain

~ to oppofe him and contend with him.

y. 10. Deck thyfelf now with majefty and excellency, &c.} With excellent majefty, as I am decked and clothed, P/al. xciii. 1. And array thyfelf with glory and beauty; appear in the moft glorious and fplendid manner thou canft, make the beft figure thou art able, put on royal robes, and take thy feat and throne, and fit as a king or judge in ftate and pomp, and exert thyfelf to do the following things; or take my feat and throne as the judge of the whole earth, and try if thou canft govern the mitted that his own right hand could fave him; and therefore ought quietly to f{ubmit to the fovereignty of God over him, and to all the difpenfations of his providence, and be humbled under his mighty hand, fince no hand but his could fave him; as no man’s right hand can fave him from temporal evils and enemies, and much lefs from fpiritual ones, or with an everlafting falvation; nor any works of righteoufnefs done by him, only the arm of the Lord has wrought falvation, and his right hand only fupports and faves. Two inftances are given in this and the following chapter, the one of a land-animal, the other of a fea-animal, as is generally fuppofed; or it may be of amphibious ones, that live both on land and water.

¥. 15. Bebold, now bebemoth, &c.] The word is plural, and fignifies bea/fs, and may be ufed to denote the chiefeft and largeft of beafts, and therefore is commonly underftood of the elephant; and certain it is, that a fingle beaft is defcribed in the following account, and fo the word is rendered, Pfal. \xxiii. 22. The word is here rendered by the Septuagint Syeta, beafts; which is the word ufed by the Greeks * for elephants, as bellue, a word of the fame fignification, is by the Latins *: and fo the Sabines called an elephant darrus, and the Jndians barro* “yy a beaft, and it may be obferved, that ivory is called /henbabbim, 1 Kings x. 22. ie. Soenhabebim, bebem or behemoth ‘, the tooth’of the beaft: and’ it may be alfo obferved, that Seneca ® fays, that the Nile produces beafts like the fea; meaning particularly the crocodile and hippopotamus. Sochart diffents from the commonly received opinion of the elephant being meant; and thinks the hippopotamus, or river-horfe, is intended, fo called from its having a head like a horfe; and is faid to have a mane, and to neigh like one, and to bear fome refemblance to it in its {nout, eyes, ears and back %. And the reafons that celebrated author has given for this his opinion, have prevailed on many learned men to follow him; and there are fome things in the defcription of bebemoth, as will be obferved, which feem better to agree with the river-horfe than with the elephant. It is an amphibious creature, and fometimes lives upon the land, and fometimes in the water; and by various ‘ writers, is often called a beaft and fourfooted one: which I made with thee; or as well as thee; it being equally the work of my hands, a creature as thou art: or made on the continent, as thou art, fo dben Ezra; and made on the fame day man was made; which thofe obferve, who underftand it of the elephant; or, which cometh neareft to thee, the elephant being, as Pliny * fays, the neareft to man in fenfe,; and no beaft more prudent, as Cicero ' affirms. But the above learned writer, who interprets it of the river-horfe, takes the meaning ‘of this phrafe to be; that it was a creature in ‘fod’s neighbourhood, -an inhabitant of the river Nile in Egypt, to which Arabia joined, where Fob lived; which is teftified by many wri- ters ™: and therefore it is thought more probable, that a creature near at hand and known, fhould be ~ inftanced in, and not one that it may be was never feen nor known by ob. But both Diodorus Siculus® and Strabo° fpeak of herds of elephants in ~ Arabia, and of that as abounding with them; and of various places called from them, and the hunting of them, and even of men from eating them. He eateth grafs as an ox; which is true both of the elephant arid of the river-horfe: that a land-animal fhould eat grafs is not fo wonderful; but that a creature who lives in the water, fhould come out of it and eat grafs, is very ftrange and worthy of admiration, it is obferved: and that the river-horfe feeds in corn-fields and on grafs, many writers ° affure us; yea, in the river it feeds not on fithes, but on the roots of the water-lily, which fifhermen therefore ufe to bait their hooks with to take it. Nor is- it unlike an ox in its fhape, and in fome parts of its body: hence the /talians call it bomaris, the feaeox; but it is double the bignefs of an ox *. Olaus Magnus’ {peaks of a fea-horfe, found between Britain and Norway; which has the head of a horfe, and neighs like one, has cloven feet with hoofs like a cow; and feeks its food both in the fea and on the land, and grows to the bignefs of an ox, and has a forked tail like a fifh.

¥.16. Lo now, his ftrength is in his loins, 8c.} The ftrength of the elephant is well known, being able to carry a caftle on its back, with a number of men therein; but what follows does not feem fo well to-agree with it. And bis force is in the navel of his belly fince the belly of the elephant is very tender; by means of which the rhinoceros, its enemy, in its fight with it, has the advantage of it, by getting under its belly, and ripping it up with its horn *. Jn like manner Eleazar the Few killed one of the elephants of Antiochus, by getting between its legs, and thrufting his {word into its navel‘; which fell and killed him with the weight of it. On the other hand, the river-horfe is covered with a fkin all over, the hardeft and ftrongeft of all creatures ", as not to be pierced with pears or arrows”; and of it dried were made helmets, fhields, fpears and polifhed darts*, That which monfieur Thevenot ¥ faw, had feveral fhot fired at it before it fell, for the bullets hardly pierced thro? its {kin. We made feveral fhot at him, fays another traveller *, but to no purpofe; for they would glance from him as from a wal]. And indeed the elephant is faid to have fuch a hard fcaly fkin as to refift the fpear*: and Pliny °, though he {peaks of the hide of the river-horfe being fo thick that fpears are made of it; yet of the hide of the elephant, as having targets made of that, which are impenetrable. ¥.17. He moveth bis tail like a cedar, &c.] Ta which it is compared, not for the length and largenefs of it; for the tail both of the elephant and of the river-horfe is fhort,; though Vartomannus © fays, the tail of the elephant is like a buffalo’s, and is four hands long, and thin of hair:. but becaufe of the {moothnefs, roundnefs, thicknefs and firmnefs of it; fuch is the tail of the river-horfe, being like that of a hog or boar *; which is crooked, twifted, and which it is faid to turn back and about at pleafure, as the word ufed is thought to fignify. ben Ezra interprets it, maketh to ftand, that is tiff and

{trong, and firm like a cedar. One writer ° {peaks of the horfe of the Nile, as having a fcaly tail; but he feems to confound it with the fea-horfe. Funius interprets it of its penis, its genital part; to which the Zargum in the King’s Bible is inclined: and Cicero ‘ fays, the ancients ufed to call that the tail; but that of the elephant, according to Ariffotle ®, is but fmall, and not in proportion to the bignefs of its body; and not in fight, and therefore can hardly be thought to be defcribed; though the next claufe feems to favour this fenfe. The /inews of bis ftones are wrapped together: if by thefe are meant the tefticles, as fome think, fo the Zargums; the finews of which were wreathed, implicated and ramified, like branches of trees, as Montanus renders it. Bochart interprets this of the finews-or nerves of the river-horfe, which having fuch plenty of them, are exceeding ftrong; fo that as fome report this creature will with one foot fink a boat*; 1 have known him open his mouth, fays a traveller‘, and fet one tooth on the gunnel of a boat, and another on the fecond ftrake from the keel, more than four feet diftant, and there bite a hole through the plank, and funk the boat. an

¥. 18. His bones are as ftrong pieces of brafs; bis bones are as bars of iron.| Than which nothing is ftronger. The repetition js made for greater illuf tration and confirmation; but what is faid is not applicable to the elephant, whofe bones are porous and rimous, light and {pongy for the moft part, as appears from the ofteology * of it; excepting its teeth, which are the ivory; though the teeth of the river-horfe are faid to exceed them in hardnefs '; and artificers fay ™, they are wrought with greater difficulty than ivory. The ancients, according to Paufanias", ufed them inftead of it; who relates, that the face of the image of the goddefs Cybele was made of them: and Kircher ° fays, in India, they make beads, crucifixes, and ftatues of faints of them; and that they are as hard or harder than a flint, and fire may be ftruck out of them. So the teeth of the mor/s, a creature of the like kind in the northern countries, are valued by the inhabitants as ivory ®, for hardnefs, whitenefs and weight, beyond it, and are dearer and much traded in; fee the note on y¥. 20. but no doubt, not the teeth only but the other bones of the creature in the text are meant.

y.19. He is the chief of the ways of God, &c.] Or the beginning of them, that is, of the works of God in creation; which mutt be reitrained to animals, otherwife there were works wrought before any of them were created. There were none made before the fifth day of the creation, and on that day was the’river-horfe made; in which refpect it has the preference to the elephant, not made till the fixth day. But if this phrafe is expreffive of the

: fuperexcellency of behemoth over other works of Gad, as it feems to be, it muft be limjted to the kind of which it is; otherwife man is the chief of all God’s ways or works, made either on the fifth or fixth day: and fo as the elephant may be obferved to be the chief of the beafts of the earth, or of landanimals, for its largenefs and ftrength, its fagacity, docility, gentlenefs, and the like; fo the riverhorfe may be faid to be the chief of its kind of the aquatic animals, or of the amphibious ones, for the bulk of its body, which is not ynlike that of the elephant, as fays Diodorus Siculus 4; and it has been by fome called the Egyptian elephant '; and alfo from its great fagacity, of which inftances are given by fome writers *. However, it is one of the chief works of God, or a famous, excellent and remarkable one, which may be the fenfe of the expreffion; fee Numb. xxiv. 20. It might be remarked in favour of the elephant, that it feems to have its name from HIN the firft and chief; as the firft letter in the Hebvew alphabet is called aleph; unlefs it fhould have its name from this root, on account of its docility. He that made bim, can make his fword ta approach unto him; not the {word of God, as if this creature could not be killed by any but by him that made it; for whether.the elephant or river-horfe be underftood, they are both to be taken and flain: but the fword of bebemoth is that which he himfelf is furnifhed with; which fome underftand of the trunk of the elephant, with which he defends himfelf and annoys others; but that has no likenefs of a fword. Bochart* renders the word by harpe, which fignifies a crooked inftrument, fickle or fcythe; and interprets it of the teeth of the river-horfe, which are fharp and long, and bended like a fcythe. That which Thevenot * faw, had four great teeth in the lower jaw, half a foot long, two whereof were crooked; and one on each fide of the jaw; the other two were ftraight, and of the fame length as the crooked, but ftanding out in the length: fee the figure of it in Scheuchzer”; by which it alfo appears to have fix teeth, Another traveller fays *, of the teeth of the fea-horfe, that they are round like a bow, and about fixteen inches long, and in the biggeft part more than fix inches about: but another relation ¥ agrees more nearly with Thevenot and Scheuchzer; that four of its teeth are longer than the reft, two in the upper jaw, one on each fide, and two more in the under; thefe laft are four or five inches long, the other two fhorter; with which it mows down the corn and grafs in great quantities: fo that Diodorus Siculus * obferves, that if this animal was very fruitful, and brought forth many young and frequently, the fields in Egypt would be utterly deftroyed. This interpretation agrees with what follows,

¥, 20. Surely the mountains bring bim forth food, &c.] Grafs which grows on mountains, and is the food of the river-horfe as well as pf the elephant; and therefore is furnifhed with teeth like a fcythe to mow it down; and it is not a {mall quantity that will fuffice it, mountains only can fupply it; and marvellous it is, that a creature bred in a river fhould come out of it to feek its food on mountains, There is a creature in the northern parts, as in Ruffia, Greenland, &c. which is called mor s and fea-mors, and by the defcription of it is much like the river-horfe, of the bignels of an ox, and having

an head like one, with two large long teeth ftanding out of its upper jaw, and an hairy fkin*, faid to be an inch thick, and fo tough that no lance will enter it’; it comes out of the fea, and by its teeth gets up to the tops of mountains, and having fed on erafs rolls itfelf down again into the fea; and this it does by putting its hinder feet to its teeth, and fo falls from the mountain with great celerity, as ona fledge®. Where all the beafts of the field play; fkip and dance, and delight in each other, being in no fear of behemoth; whether. underftood of the elephant or river-horfe; fince neither of them are carnivorous creatures that feed on other animals, but on grafs only; and therefore the beats of the field may feed with them quietly and fecurely. Pliny “fays of the elephant, that meeting with cattle in the fields, it will make figns to them not to be afraid of it, and fo they will go in company together, y¥. 21. He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.| This may be thought to agree very well with the river-horfe, the inhabitant of the Nile, where reeds in great plenty grew, and adjoining to which were fenny and marfhy places, and fhady trees; and as hiftorians relate*, this creature takes its lodging among high reeds, and in fhady places; yea the reeds and fugar canes, and the leaves of the papyrus, are part of the food on which it lives; and hence the hunters of them fometimes cover their bait with a reed to take them; tho’ it mutt be allowed that the elephant delights to be about rivers, and in clayey and fenny places‘, and therefore Zlianus* fays, it may be called the fenny animal. yy. 22. The fhady trees cover bim with their fhadow, &c.} Under which it lies, as in the preceding verfe; which is thought not fo well to agree with the elephant, fince according to 4lianus" and other writers, it lies not down, at lea({t but rarely, but fleeps ftanding; it being very troublefome to it to lie down and rife up again; and befides it is reprefented by fome authors ‘as higher than the trees, and therefore this is fuppofed to agree better with the river-horfe; efpecially fince it follows, the willows of the brook compafs him about; or the willows of the Nile, as fome choofe to render it; which would put it out of all doubt that the river-horfe is intended, if it could be eftablifhed, it being an inhabitant of that river; and yet the above writer * fpeaks of elephants, when grown old, feeking large thick and fhady woods to take up their abode in. ¥. 23. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hafteth not, &c.} The elephant is indeed a very thirfty animal, and drinks Jargely; the philofopher ' fays, it drinks nine Macedonian bubhels at a feeding, and that it will drink fourteen Macedonian meafures of water at once, and eight more at noon; but to drink up a river feems to be too great an hyperbole; wherefore the words may be rendered, Bebold, let a river oppre/s him, or bear ever fo hard upon him, and come with the greateft force and preffure on him ", be haffeth not to get out of it; or he is not frighted or troubled, as the Jargum; which agrees with the river-horfe, who walks into the river and proceeds on in it, with the greateft eafe and unconcernednefs imaginable; now and then lifting up his head above water to take breath, which he can hold a long time; whereas the elephant cannot wade in the water any longer than his trunk is above it, as the philofopher obferves", and Livy? fpeaks of fear and trembling feizing an elephant, when about to be carried over a riverin boats. He trufteib that be can draw up Fordan into bis mouth 5 fo bold and confident he is, and not at all difturbed with its rapidity; or though Fordan, or rather any defcending flowing ftream, gujhes into bis mouth, _ fo Mr Broughton: tor perhaps Fordan might not be known by Fob; nor does it feem to have any connection with the Nile, the feat of the river-horfe; which has fuch large holes in its noftrils, and out of which, water being fwallowed down, he can throw it with great force. Diodorus Siculus” reprefents it as lying all day in the water, and employing itfelf at the bottom of it, eafy, carelefs and unconcerned.

¥. 24. He taketh it with his eyes, &c.] Or can men take him before his eyes? fo Mr Broughton; and others tranflate it to the fame purpofe; no, he is not to be taken openly but privately, by fome infidious crafty methods; whether it be underftood of the elephant, or river-horfe; elephants, according to Strabo? and Pliny* were taken in pits dug for them, into which they were decoyed; in like manner, according to fome*, the river-horfe is taken, a pit being dug and covered with reeds and fand, it falls into it unawares, His nofe pierceth through fnares; he difcerns them oftentimes and efcapes them,.fo that he is not eafily taken in them. It is reported of the fea morfs ', before mentioned, that they afcend mountains in great herds, where, before they give themfelves to fleep, to which they are naturally inclined, they appoint one of their number as it were a watchman; who, if he chances to fleep or to be flain by the hunter, the reft may be eafily taken; but if the watchman gives warning by roaring as the manner is, the whole herd immediately awake and fall down from the mountains with great {wiftnefs into the fea, as before defcribed; or as Mr Broughton, Can men take him? to pierce his nofe with many fnares? they cannot; the elephant has no nofe to be pierced, unlefs his trunk can be called fo, and no hook nor fnare can be put into the nofe of the river-horfe. Diodorus Siculus * fays, it cannot be taken but by many veffels joining together and furrounding it, and ftriking it with iron hooks, to one of which ropes are faftened, and fo the creature is let go till it expires. The ufual ~ way of taking it now is, by baiting the hook with the roots of water lilies, at which it will catch, and {wallow the hook with it; and by giving it line enough it will roll and tumble about until, thro’ lofs of blood, it faints and dies. The way invent-* ed by A/drubal for killing elephants, was by ftriking a carpenter’s chopping ax into his ear”; the Jews *fay a fly is a terror to an elephant, it enters into his nofe and torments him grievoufly.

> See the North-weft © Olaus Magnus and Eden’s Travels, ut fupra.

Large defcription is here given of the Leviathan, from the difficulty and danger of taking it, from whence it is inferred that none can ftand before God, y¥. 1—10. from the feveral parts of him, his face, teeth, fcales, eyes, mouth and neck, flefh and heart, ¥. 11—24. and from various wonderful terrible things faid of him, and afcribed to him, ¥. 25—34.

¥. 1. Canft thou draw out leviathan with an book? &c.] That is, draw. it out of the fea or river as anglers draw out {maller fifhes with a line or hook? the queftion fuggefts it cannot be done; whether by the /eviathan is meant the whale, which was the mott generally received notion; or the crocodile as Bocbart, who has been followed by many; or the orca, a large fifh of the whale kind with many teeth as Hafeus, it is not eafy to fay. Leviathan is a compound word of than, the firft fyllable of thannin, rendered either a whale, or a dragon, or a ferpent, and of /evi, which fignifies conjunction, from the clofe joining of its feales, ¥. 15; 16, 17. the patriarch Levi had his name from the fame word; fee Gen. xxix. 34. and the name bids faireft for the crocodile, and which is called thannin, Ezek. xxix. 3, 4. and xxxii. 2. Could the crocodile be eftablifhed as the /eviathan, and the behemoth as the river-horfe, the tranfition from the one to the other would appear very eafy; fince, as Pliny fays*, there is a fort of a kindred between them, being of the fame river, the river Nile, and fo may be thought to be better known to op than the whale: tho’ it is not to be concealed what Pliny fays®, that whales have been feen in the 4rabian feas; he fpeaks of one that came into the river of:

' Arabia, fix hundred feet long, and three hundred and fixty broad. There are fome things in the defcription of this creature that feem to agree beft with the crocodile, and others that fuit better with the whale, and fome with neither. Or bis tongue with a cord which thou letteft down? into the river or fea, as anglers do, with lead to it to make it fink below the furface of the water, and a quill or cork that it may not fink too deep; but this creature is not to be taken in this manner; and which may be objected to the crocodile being meant, fince that has no tongue‘, or at leaft fo fmall that it is not feen, and cleaves clofe to its lower jaw, which never moves; and is taken with hooks and cords, as Herodotus*, Diodorus Siculus*, and Leo Africanus’ teftify; but not fo the whale, y. 2. Canft thou put an hook into his nofe? &c.] Or a rufh, that is, a rope made of rufhes; for of fuch ropes were made, as Plizy* affirms. Or bore bis jaw through with a thorn? as men do herrings, or fuch like {mall fith, for the conveniency of carrying them, or hanging them up to dry; the whale is not to be ufed in fuch a manner: but the Tentyrite, a people in Ezypt, great enemies to crocodiles, had methods of taking them in nets, and of binding and bridling them, and carrying them as they pleafed”.

¥. 3. Will be make many fupplications unto thee? &c.] To ceafe purfuing him, or to let him go when taken, or to ufe him well and not take away his life, no, he is too fpirited and ftout-hearted to afk any favour, it is below him. Will be /peak foft words unto thee? {mooth and flattering ones, for the above purpofes? he will not; this is a figurative way of fpeaking.

y. 4. Will be make a covenant with thee? &c.] To live in friendfhip or fervitude, as follows. Wilt thou take bim for a fervant for ever? oblige him to ferve thee for life, or reduce him to perpetual bondage; fignifying, that he is not to be tamed or brought into fubjection: which is true of the whale, but not of the crocodile; for feveral authors‘ fpeak of them as making a fort of a truce with the priefts of Egypt for a certain time, and of their being tamed fo as to be handled, and fed, and brought up in the houfe.

¥. 5. Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? &c.] In the hand or cage; /eviathan plays in the fea, but there is no playing with him by land, P/- civ. 26. Wilt thou bind bim for thy maidens? or young girls, as Mr Broughton renders it; tie him in a {tring, as birds are for children to play with? Now though crocodiles are very pernicious to children, and often make a prey of them when they approach too near the banks of the Nile, or whenever they have an opportunity of feizing them *; yet there is an inftance of the child of an Egyptian woman that was brought up with one, and uled to play with it’, though, when grown up, was killed by it; but no fuch inftance can be given of the whale of any fort,

¥. 6. Shall the companions make a banquet of him? &c.]' The fifhermen that join together in catching fifh, fhall they make a feaft for joy at taking the leviathan? which fuggefts that he is not to be taken by them, and fo they have no opportunity or occafion for a feaft: or will they feed on him? the. flefh of crocodiles is by fome eaten, and faid™ to be very favoury, but not the flefh of the whale. Shall they part him among the merchants? this feems to favour the crocodile, which is no part of merchandize, and to be againft the whale, which, at Jeaft in our age, occafions a confiderable trade for the fake of the bone and oil: but perhaps in thofe times and countries in which 7od lived, the ufe of them might not be known.

¥.7. Canft thoy fill his kin with barbed irons? or his bead with fifb-{pears?] This feems not fo well to agree with the whale; whofe fkin, and the feveral parts of his body, are to be pierced with harpoons and lances, fuch as fifhermen ufe in taking whales; and their flefh to be cut in pieces with their knives: but better with the crocodile, whofe fkin is fo hard, and fo clofely fet with fcales, that it is impenetrable; fee the note on Ezek, xxix. 4, Or if the words are rendered, as by fome, Wi/¢t thou fill foips with his fkin? and the fifbermens boat with bis head"? It makes alfo again{t the whale; for this is done continually, fhips of different na- tions are loaded every year with its fkin, flefh, and the bones of its head.

y¥.8. Lay thine band upon bim, 8c.) If thou cant or dareft. It is dangerous fo to do, either to the whale or crocodile. Remember the battle; or look for war, as Mr Broughton renders it; expect a fight will enfue, in which thou wilt have no fhare with this creature: do no more; if thou canft by any means efcape, take care never to do the like again; or thou wilt never do fo any more, thou wilt certainly die for it.

y¥. 9. Bebold, the bope of him is in dain, &c.] Of getting the maftery over him, or of taking him; and yet both crocodiles and whales have been taken; nor is the taking of them to be defpaired of: but it feems the orca, or the whale with many teeth, has never been taken and killed ™. Shall not one be caft down even at the fight of him? the fight of a whale is terrible to mariners, left their fhips fhould be overturned by it; and fome have been fo frighted at the fight of a crocodile, as to lofe their fenfes: and we read of one that was greatly terrified at feeing the fhadow of one; and the creature before mentioned is fuppofed to be much more terrible °.

y. 10. None is fo fierce that dare ftir bim up; &c.

This feems beft to agree with the crocodile; who frequently lies down and fleeps on the ground?, and in the water by night*?; fee Ezek. xxix. 3. when it is very dangerous to aroufe him 5 and few, if any fo daring, have courage enough to do it: though whales have been feen lying near fhore afleep, and looked like rocks, even forty of them together". Who then is able to fiand before me? This is the inference the Lord draws from hence, or the ufe he makes of it; that if this creature is fo formidable and terrible, that it is dangerous to aroufe and provoke him, and there is no ftanding before him or againft him; then how fhould any one be able to ftand before the Lord who made this creature, whenever he is angry? fee P/alm Ixxvi. 7.

y. 11. Who bath prevented me, that I foould repay him? &e.] Firft given me fomething that was not my own, and fo laid me under an obligation to him to make a return. The apoftle feems to have refpect to this paflage, Rom. xi. 35. Whatfoever is under the whole heaven is mine; the fowls of the air, the cattle on a thoufand hills, the ful- “nefs of the earth; gold, filver, precious {tones, éc. All things are made by him, are his property and at his difpofe; and therefore no man on earth can give him what he has not a prior right unto; fee P/alm xxiv. 1. and]. 10, 11, 12.

y.12. I will not conceal bis parts, &c.] The parts of the deviathan; or bis bars, the members of his body, which are like bars of iron: -nor bis power; which is very great, whether of the crocodile or the whale: zor bis comely proportion; the fymmetry of his body, and the members of it; which, though large, every part is in juft proportion to each other.

¥. 13. Who can difcover the face of bis garment 2 &c.] Or rather uncover it? Not the fea, which Mr Broughton reprefents as the garment of the whale; Who can ftrip him of it, or take him out of that, and bring him to land? which, tho’ not fing teeth refembling thofe of a mill* impofible, is difficult: but either the garment of his face, the large bulk or prominence that hangs — over his eyes; or rather his fkin. Who dare venture to take off his fkin, or flay him alive? or take off the fcaly coat of the crocodile, which is like a coat of mail to him; and which he never of himfelf cafts off; as ferpents do? Or whe can come to him

| with bis double bridle? either go within his jaws, which, when opened, are like a double bridles or go near and open his jaws, and put a curb-bridle into them, and lead, direct and rule him at plea-.

fure. This is not to be done either to the whale or crocodile; yet the Tentyrite had a way of getting, upon the back of the crocodile; and by putting a ftick acrofs its mouth, as it opened it to bite them, and fo holding both the ends of it with the right and left hands, as with a bridle, brought them to land, as Pliny * relates; and fo the Nereides are reprefented as fitting on the backs of whales, by Theocritus *.

¥.14. Who can open the doors of wis face? &c.} Of his mouth, the jaws thereof; which are like a

| pair of folding-doors: the jaws of a crocodile have a prodigious opening. Peter Martyr * {peaks of

| ones. whofe jaws opened feven feet broad; and Leo

Africanus © affirms, he faw fome whofe jaws when opened would hold a whole cow. To the wide-

| nefs of the jaws of this creature, Martial * alludes = and that the doors or jaws of the mouth of the whale are of a vaft extent, will be eafily believed by thofe, who fuppofe that was the fifh which fwallowed Fonab. His teeth are terrible round about; this may feem to make againft the whale, the common whale having none; though the ceti dentaté are a fort of whales that have many teeth in the lower jaw, white, large, folid and terrible’. Olaus Magnus * {peaks of {ome that have jaws twelve or

‘fourteen feet long’; and teeth of fix, eight and twelve feet: and there is a fort called srumpo, hay- In the fperma-ceti whale are rows of fine ivory teeth in each jaw, about five or fix inches long *®. But of t the crocodile there.is no doubt; which has two rows | of teeth, very fharp and terrible, and to the num~ ber of fixty °. y. 15. His /eales ave his pride, faut up together as with @ clofe feal, &c.] This is notorioufly true of the crocodile, whofe back and tail are covered with fcales, which are in a meafure impenetrable and invincible; which all writers concerning it, and travellers that have feen it, agree in; fee the note on Ezek. xxix. 4. but the fkin of the whale is fmooth; the outward fkin is thin, like parchment, and is eafily pulled off with the hand; and its under fkin, tho’ an inch thick, is never tiff nor tough, -but foft “: though if Nearchus* is to be credited, he reports, that one was feen fifty cubits long, with a fcaly fkin all over it a cubit thick; and fuch, it is faid, were by a ftorm brought into our river Trent fome years ago, and caft afhore, which had fcales upon their backs very hard, as large and thick as one of our fhillings * But Aben Ezra interprets this of the teeth of the /eviathan, and in which he is followed by Hafeus; which are ftrong like a fhield, as the words ufed fignify; fo Mr Broughton, * the ftrong fhields have

“ pride:” but then this is as applicable, or more-— fo, to the feales of the crocodile; which are fo that their eyes are indifferently big, and very clofe as if they were fealed together, and are like a fhield, its defence, and in which it prides ‘itfelf. y¥. 16. One is fo near to another, that no air can come between them.| This fhews, that it-cannot be

* underftood of the fkin of'the whale, and the hard-.

nefs and ftrength of that, which is alike and of a piece; whereas thofe fcales, or be they what they may, tho’ clofely joined, yet are diftinct: thofe who interpret this of whales that have teeth, and thefe of the teeth, obferve, that as they have teeth to the number of forty or fifty in the lower jaw, in the upper one are holes or fockets into which they go; and they are fo very clofe that no ‘wind or air can come between them £,

¥.17. They are joined one to another, &c.] One fcale to another, or a man in bis brother®: which may feem to favour the notion of the whale’s teeth in the fockets, which exactly anfwer to one another; but the next claufe will by no means agree with them. They ftick together, that they cannot be.

fundred, whereas they eafily be, at leaft by the creature itfelf; but the fcales of a crocodile are fo clofely joined and fealed together, that there is no parting them.

¥.18. By bis neefings a light doth fhine, &c.] The philofopher ' obferves, that thofe who look to the fun are apter to neefe: and it is taken notice of by various writers *, that the crocodile delights to be funning \itfelf, and lying yawning in the fun and looking at it, as quoted by Bachart, and fo frequently neefe: which neefings, thro’ the rays of the fun, may feem to fhine and give light. ‘Though as in neefing, water is thrown out thro’ the noftrils; it may be obferved of the whale, that it has mouths or holes in its front, thro’ which, as thro’ pipes, it throws out fhowers and floods of water, as Pliny’ relates; which, by means of the rays of the fun, as in a rainbow, appear bright and glittering. And bis eyes are like the eye-lids of the morning: the break and dawn of day; a very beautiful expreffion,.the fame we call peep of day: Pindar™ has the eye of the evening; break of day, as Ben Ger fom fays, is about an hour and the fifth part of an hour before the fun-rifing. The eyes of the crocodile were with the Egyptians an hieroglyphic of the morning *: wherefore this feems better to agree with the crocodile than the whale, whofe eyes are not much bigger than thofe of a bullock; and has eye-lids and hair like mens eyes; the cryftal of the eye is not much bigger than a pea °; its eyes are placed very low, almoft at the end of the upper lip, and when without its guide, dafhes itfelf againft rocks and fhoals’. Tho’ that fort of whales called orce, are faid to have eyes a foot long, and of a red rofy colour; fuch as the morning is defcribed by 4: and a northern writer * tells us, that fome whales have eyes, whofe circumference will admit fifteen or twenty men to fit therein; and in others it exceeds eight or ten cubits; and that the pupil is a cubic, and of a red and flaming colour; which at a diftance, in dark feafons, among the waves, appears to fifhermen as fire kindled. And Zbevenot * fays of crocodiles, h YPYMRID WIN vir in fratre fuo; Montanvs.

¥. 19. Out of bis mouth go burning lamps, and [parks of fire leap out.) Which, tho’ hyperbolical expreffions, have fome foundation for them in the latter; in the vaft quantities of water thrown out by the whale, thro’ its mouth or hole in its frontifpiece, which in the fun may look like lamps and {parks of fire, as before obferved; and efpecially in the erce, or whales with teeth, which eject in the fame way an oily mucus, or the fat liquor of the brain, commonly called /perma-ceti, which may appear more bright and glittering. Ovid‘ fays much the fame ofthe boar, as is here faid of the leviathan, y. 20, Out of bis noStrils zoeth forth finoke, as out of a feething pot or caldron.j In which flefh or any thing elfe is boiling. It is obferved, that there is a likenefs between the crocodile and thé river-horfe, and particularly in their breathing": and of the former it is remarked ”, that its noftrils are very large and open, and that they breathe out a fiery fmoke, as out of a furnace.

¥. 21. His breath kindles coals, and a flame goeth out of bis mouth.| Hyperbolical expreffions, which the above obfervations may feem to juttify.

y. 22. In bis neck remaineth ftrength, &c.] This is thought to be an argument againft the whale, which is faid to have no neck: but whatever joins

‘the head and body, may be called the neck, tho’

ever fo fmall; and the fhorter the neck is, the ftronger it is. It is alfo faid by fome, that the crocodile has no neck alfo; but the philofopher * is exprefs for it, that it has one and moves it: and Pliny ’ fpeaks of it, as turning its’ head upwards, which it could not do without a neck. And forrow is turned into joy before him or leaps and dances before him; it departs from him: he is not afraid of any thing, though ever fo threatning. Or forrow and diftrefs at the fight of him, in men and fithes, make them leap, and haften to get out of the way of him and efcape y. 23. The flakes of his flefh are joined together, &c.] The mufcles of his body are not flaccid and flabby, but folid and firmly compacted. They are firm in themfelves; they cannot be moved; that is, not very éafily, not without a large fharp cutting knife, and that ufed with much ftrength.

y¥. 24. fis heart is as firm as a ftones yea, as bard as a piece of the nether milftone.} Which muft be underftood not of the fubftance but of the qualities of it, being bold, courageous, undaunted and unmerciful; which is true both of the whale and crocodile, and particularly of the crocodile: #lianus* relates of one fort of them that they are unmerciful, though elfewhere* he reprefents them as fearful. -.

¥. 25. When he raifetb up himfelf, &c.] Not out of the waters, but above the furface of them, fo as that his large bulk, his terrible jaws and teeth, are feen. The mighty are afraid; not only fifhes and other animals, but men, and thefe the moft ftouthearted and courageous, as mariners and matters of vefiels. By reafon of breakings they purify ihemfelves s felves; either becaufe of the breaches of the fea made through the lifting up of this creature, threatning the overturning of veflels; or of the breaches of mens hearts through fear, they are thrown into a vomiting, and purging both by {tool and urine, which are often the effects of fear, fo Ben Gerfom 3 or they acknowledge themfelves | finners, or expiate themfelves, endeavouring to do it by making confeffion of fin, declaring repentance for it, praying for forgivenefs of it, and promifing amendment; which is frequently the cafe of fea-faring men in diftrefs; fee Yonah, chap. i.

y. 26. The fword of him that layeth at bim cannot hold, &c.] It is either broken by ftriking at him, ‘or however cannot pierce him and ftick in him; but fince a fword is not ufed in fifhery, rather the harpagon or harpoon may be meant, which cannot enter into the crocodile, being, fo fenced with fcales; but the whale being ftruck with it, it enters deep into his flefh, and is wounded by it; wherefore this and what follows in the next verfes, feems beft to agree with the crocodile, or fome other fith. The spear, the dart, nor the babergeon, that is, neither of thefe can faften upon him or enter into.him: and yet it is certaim that the whale, after he has been ftruck and wounded. by the harping iron, men approach nearer to him and thruft a long fteeled lance or fpear under his gills into his breaft, and through the inteftines, which difpatches him: darts are not made ufe of in the whale-fifhery; and as for crocodiles, as Peter Martyr fays‘, they are not to be pierced with darts: the habergeon, or coat of mail, being a defenfive piece of armour, feems not to be defigned, as being, never ufed in taking fuch creatures; rather therefore a javelin or hand-dart may be intended; fince, as Bochart obferves, in the Arabic language, fuch an one is expreffed by this word, y. 27. He efteemeth iron as firaw, &c.] You may as well caft a ftraw at him as a bar of iron; it will make no impreffion on his fteeled back, which is as a coat of mail to him; fo Eu/ftathius afirms‘%, that the fharpeft iron is rebounded and blunted by him.. And dra/fs as rotten wood; or fteel, any inftrument made of it, though ever fo ftrong or piercing.

¥, 28. The arrow cannot make him flee, &c.] The fkin of the crocodile is fo hard, as Peter Martyr fays, that it cannot be pierced with arrows, as before obferved; therefore it is not afraid of them, nor will flee from them. S/ing-flones are turned with him into fiubble,; are no more regarded by him than if ftubble was caft at him; not only ftones out of a fling, but out of an engine; and fuch is the hardnefs of the fkin of the crocodile, that as Lfidore fays*, the ftrokes of the ftrongeft tones are rebounded by it, yea even it is faid to be proof againft mufket-fhot ‘.

y. 29. Darts are counted as ftubble, &c.] Darts being mentioned before, perhaps fomething elfe is meant here; and according to Ben Gerfom the word fignifies an engine out of which ftones are caft to batter down walls; but thele are of no avail againft the leviathan, He liugheth at the /haking of a pears at him, knowing it cannot hurt him; the crocodile, as Tbevenot fays *, is proof againft the hal- berd. The Septuagint verfion is, the /haking of the pyropborus, or torch-bearer; one that carried ° a torch before the army, who.when fhook it was a token to begin the battle; which the leviathan being fearlefs of laughs atit; fee the note on Obadiak, ¥. 18.

y. 30. Sharp ftones are under him, &c.) And. yet give him no pain nor uneafinefs. He /preadeth foarp=poinied things upon the mire;, and makes his bed of them and lies upon them;. as fharp ftones,

_as before, fhells of fifhes, broken pieces of darts,, arrows, and javelins thrown at him, which falk around him: this does not fo well agree with the crocodile, the fkin of whofe belly is foft and thin; wherefore dolphins plunge under it and cut it with a thorn, as Pliny" relates, or with fpiny fins’; but with the whale, which lies among hard rocks and fharp ftones, and large cutting pieces of ice, as im the northern. feas.

y¥. 31. He maketh the deep to boil* like a pot, &c.

Which is all in a froth through the violent agitation and motion of the waves, caufed by its toffing, and tumbling about; which better fuits with the whale than the crocodile, whofe motion. in, the water is not fo vehement. Fe maketh the fea like a pot of ointment; this alfo feems to make againft the crocodile, which is a river-fifh, and is chiefly in the Lakes indeed are fometimes called feas, in which crocodiles are found;, yea they are alfo faid to. be in the feas, Ezek. xxxii.. 2. and Pliny 'fpeaks of them as common to the land, river and fea; and the Nile is in the A/koran™ called the fea, and its ancient name was oceames with the Egyptians, 1. e. ' in Greek, ocean, as Diodorus Siculus" afirms; and fo it is thought to be the Egyptian fea in Wa. xi. 15. It is obferved that they leave a fweet fcent behind them, thus Peter Martyr°in his account of the voyages. of Columbus in the Weft Indies, fays, they fometimes met with crocodiles, which when they fled or took water, they left a very {weet favour be= hind them, fweeter than mufk ar caftoreum. Bute this does not come up to the expreflion here of making the fea like a pot of ointment; but the {perm of the whale comes much nearer to it, which is of a fat oily nature, and like ointment, and which the whale fometimes throws out in great abundance, fo that. the fea is covered with it; whole pails full may be taken out of the water; it {wims upon the fea like fat; abundance of it is feen in calm weather, fo that it makes the fea all foul and flimy?: and there are a fort of birds, called mallemuck, which fly in great numbers and feed upon it % I cannot but remark what the bifhop of Bergen obferves * of the fea-ferpent, that its excrements float on the water in fummer time like fat flime.;

¥. 32. He maketh a path to fbine after bim, &c.] Upon the fea, by raifing a white froth upon it, through its vehement motion as it paffes along, or by the fperma ceti it cafts out and leaves behind it. It is faid * that whales will cut and plow the fea in fuch a manner, as to leave a fhining glittering path behind them, the length of: a German mile, which is three of ours. ~One would think the deep to be hoary; to be old and grey-headed, or white like the hair of the head of an old man, a figure often ufed of the fea by — poets‘; and hence wereus“, which is the fea, is faid to be an old man, becaufe the froth in the waves of it looks like white hair,

¥. 33- Upon earth there is not bis like, &c.] As to form and figure; in moft creatures there is fome likenefs between thofe in the fea and on the land, as fea-horfes, calves, €fc. but there is no Jikenefs between q whale and any creature on earth; there is between the crocodile and the lizard; nor is any like the whale for the largenefs of its bulk; the Targum is, ** his dominion is not on the earth,” but on the fea, as Aben Ezra notes; but rather the fenfe is, there is no power on earth that he obeys and fubmits to, as the Tigwrine verfion; tho’ the meaning feems to be, that there is none like him, for what follows: Who is made without fear; yet this agrees not neither with the crocodile, which fb lianus “ fays is fearful; nor with the whale, which will make off and depart at the fhoutings of men, blowing of trumpets, and making ufe of any tinkling inftruments, at which it is affrighted, as Strabo”, Philoftratus’, and Qlaus Magnus * re- Jate. It is obferved * of their valour, that if they fee a man or a long-boat, they go under water and yun away; and are never known to endeavour to hurt any man, but when in danger; though a voyager > of our own fays, ‘ We faw whales in ‘ Whale-found,.and lying aloft on the water, not * fearing our fhips, or aught elfe.” The Targum is, <¢ He is made that he might not be broken;”” or bruifed, as Bochart; as reptiles ufually may, among whom the crocodile may be reckoned, becaufe of its fhort legs; and yet is made with fuch a hard fealy fkin, that it cannot be crufhed, bruifed and broken. Aben Ezra obferves that fome fay, the word du, that is, be, is wanting, and fhould be fupplied, be, i.e. God, made him without fear; or that he might not be bruifed: wherefore Cocceius interprets the following words entirely of God.

¥. 34. He beboldeth all high things, &c.] Or who beholdeth all high things; even he that made leviathan, that is, God, as the above interpreter: he does that which ob was bid to do, and could not; beholds every one that is proud, and abafes him, chap. xl. 11, 12. and therefore he ought to acknowledge his fovereignty and fuperiority over him, and fubmit to him, He is a king over all the children of pride: the proud angels that fell, and all the proud fons of men; proud manarchs and potentates of the earth, fuch as Nebuchadnezzar and others, But interpreters generally underftand all this either of the crocodile, or of a fifh of the whale-kind. Bochart obferves, that the crocodile, tho’ it has fhort legs, will behold and meet unterrified, beafts abundantly taller than itfelf, and with one ftroke of its tail, break their legs and bring them low; and will deftroy not only men, but all forts of beafts, as elephants, camels, horfes, oxen, boars, and every animal whatfoever. But others apply this to the whale, which beholds the toffing waves of the fea, which mount up to heaven; the clouds of heaven on high over it; the lofty cliffs or fhores, and fhips of the greateft bulk and height; and which, when it lifts up itfelf above the water, equals the high mafts of fhips, and is abundantly fuperior to all the tribes of watry animals, or the beafts of the fea. But this feems not wholly to come up to the expreffions here ufed. Upon the whole; as there are fome things that agree with the crocodile, and not the whale; and others that agree with the whale, of one fort or another, and not with the crocodile; it is uncertain which is meant, and jt feems as if neither of them were intended: and to me very probable is the opinion of Fobannes Camerenfis.*, and to which the learned Schuliens moft inclines; that the leviathan is the dragon of the land-fort, called /eviatban, the piercing ferpent, as diftinét from the dragon in the fea, J/gi. xxvii, 1. which agrees with the defcription of the /eviathan in the whole: as its prodigious bignefs; its terrible countenance, its wide jaws; its three-forked tongue; its three rows of fharp teeth; its being covered all over, back and belly, with thick feales, not to be penetrated by arrows and darts; its flaming eyes, its fiery breath, and being moft terrible to all, and fearlefs of every creature; it will engage with any, and. conquer and kill an elephant *; hence in Zthiopia, dragons have no other names than elephantkillers: and fo it may be faid to be king over all the children of pride; of all which proof may be given from various writers, as Pliny *, Zlianus', Philoftratus *, and others; and particularly the dragon, Aitilius Regulus, the Roman general, killed near Bagrade in Africa, is a proof itlelf of almoft all the above articles, as O/orius ® has defcribed it; nor is it any objection that the /eviathan is reprefented as being in the fea, fince the dragon, even the land-dragon, will plunge into rivers, and is often found in lakes called feas, and in maritime places, and will go into the fea itfelf, as Pliny‘ and Philoftratus * relate. To which may be added, that this creature was found among the Trogloy dytes', who lived near the Red fea, and not far from Arabia, where Fob dwelt, and fo might be well known by him: and befides, of all creatures, it is the moft lively emblem of the devil, which all the ancient Chriftian writers make /eviathan to be; and Satan is exprefly called the dragon in Rev, xii. 3,9. So Suidas™ fays, the devil is called a dragon in YoP. But be the leviathan what it may, it certainly is an illuftrious inftance of the power of God in making it; and therefore Fob and every other man opght to fubmit to him that made jt, in all things, and be humble under his mighty hand; owning freely, that it is his right hand, and his only, and not man’s, that can fave, either in a temporal or fpiritua} fenfe; for which end this and the debemath are ine ftanced in.

HIS chapter contains 70b’s anfwer to the laft fpeech of the Lord’s, in which he acknowledges his omnipotence, and his certain performance of his purpofes and pleafure; owns his own folly and ignorance, and confeffles his fins; for which he abhorred himfelf, and of which he repented, ¥. 1—6. it alfo gives an account of the Lord’s decifion of the controverfy between 70d and his friends, blaming them and commending him above them; and ordered them to take facrifices and go to Yob and offer them, who fhould pray for them and be accepted, which was done, y. 7, 8,9. and it clofes with a relation of the great profperity ‘Fob was reftored unto, in which he lived and died, y¥. 1O—-17.

x. 1. Then Fob anfwered the Lord, and faid,| For though he had faid he would anfwer no more, chap. xl. 5. yet. he might mean not in the manner he had, complaining of God and jouftifying himfelf; befides he might change his mind without any imputation of falfhood or a lie; fee Fer. xx. g. to which may be added, that he had then faid all he had to fay, and did not know he fhould have more: he then confeffed as much as he was convinced of, but it was not enough; and now through what the Lord had fince faid to him he was more con. vinced of his ignorance, miftakes and fins, and had fuch a fight of God and of himfelf, that he could not forbear fpeaking; moreover an injunction was laid upon him from the Lord to fpeak again, and therefore he was obliged to give in his anfwer; fee chap. xl. 7.

y¥. 2. L know that thou canft do every thing, &c.} As the works of creation, and the fuftentation of them fhew; fo the Targum, ‘ thou fuftaineft all << things,” and can manage every creature made by him, even fuch as were not tractable by men, fuch as bebemoth and leviathan, the creatures laft inftanced in; and was able to abafe and bring low the proud, which Yd could not do; and could alfo fave him by his right hand, and bring him out of his low eftate in which he was, and raife him to great profperity again, which ‘fob always defpaired of till now; and though he had a theoretical knowledge of the omnipotence of God before, fee chap, ix. 4—-10. yet not a practical experimental knowledge of it; at leaft not to fuch a degree as he now had, working upon his heart, bowing his will, and bringing him to a refignation to the will of God; he not only knew he could do all things, but thar he had a right to do what he pleafed; and that whatever he did he did well and wifely, and in a righteous manner, of which before he feemed to have fome doubt. And that no thought can be withbelden from thee; either no thought of men, good or bad, of God or of themfelves, and fo is an acknowledgment of the omnifcience of God, and may be an appeal to that; that God who. knows the fecrets of mens hearts, knew what thoughts Job now had of God; of the wifdom, righteoufnefs, and goodnefs of God in the difpenfations of his providence, different from what he had before; fee Yobu xxi. 17. or rather it may be underftood of every thought of God’s heart, of every fecret purpofe and wife counfel of his; which, as they are.all well known to him, and cannot be withheld from having effect, or the performance of them hindered; Fob now faw and was fully affured that all that had befallen him was according to the fovereign and unfcrutable purpofes of God, and according to the wife counfels of his will; he knew that not only God could do every thing, but that he alfo did whatever he pieafed.

¥. 3. Who is he that hideth counfel without knowledge? &c.] It may be underftood and fupplied as it is by Cocceius, Thou did/t fay; as the Lord had faid, or to this purpofe, chap.xxxvili.2. fee the note there, to which Fob here replies, I am the foolifh man that has done it, I own it with forrow, fhame and confufion: or it may be interpreted as condemning every other man that fhould aét the like part. Schultens underftands this as fpoken by ob of God, and renders the words, ** who is this that feals “< up counfel, which cannot be known?” the counfels, purpofes, and decrees of God are fealed up by him, among his treafures, in the cabinet of his own breaft, and are not to be unfealed and unlocked by creatures, but are impenetrable to them, paft finding out by them, and not to be fearched and pried into; and fo the fecret fprings of providence are not to be known, which od had attempted, and for which he condemns himfelf. Therefore bave £ uttered that I underftood not; concerning the providential dealings of God with men, afflicting the righteous and fuffering the wicked to profper, particularly relating to his own afflictions; in which he arraigned the wifdom, juftice, and goodnefs of God, as if things might have been better done than they were; but now he owns his ignorance and folly, as 4/aph did in a like cafe, P/al. Ixxiii, 22. Things too wonderful for me, which I knew not; things out of his reach to fearch into, and beyond his capacity to comprehend; what he fhould have gazed upon with admiration, and there have ftopped. The judgments of God are a great deep, not to be fathomed with the line of human underftanding, of which it fhould be faid with the apoftle, O, the depth, Sc. Fob ought to have done as David did, Pfal, cxxxi. 1. of which he was now conyinced, and laments and confefies his folly.

y. 4, Hear, I befeech thee, and I will fpeak, &c.} Not in the manner he had before, complaining of God and juftifying himfelf, but in a way of humble intreaty of favours of him, of confeffion of fin before him, and of acknowledgment of his wifdom, goodnefs, and juftice in all his dealings with him, which before he arraigned. J will demand of thee; or rather J will make petition to thee, as Mr Broughton renders it; humbly afk a favour, and intreat a gracious anf{wer; for to demand is not fo agreeable to the frame and temper of foul ob was now in. And declare thou unto me, or make him know what he knew not; he now in ignorance applies to God, as a God of knowledge, to inform hin in things he was in the dark about, and increafe what knowledge he had. He was now willing to take the advice of.Eitbu, and purfue it, chap, RXXIV. 31, 32. - y. 5. I bave beard of thee by the bearing of the — ear, &c.] From his anceftors, who in a traditionary way had handed down from one to another what they knew of God, his will and worthip, his works and ways; and from thofe who had the care of his education, parents and tutors, who had in- {tilled the principles of religion, and the knowledge — of of divine things, into him very early; and from fuch as might inftruét in matters of religion in a public manner; and both by ordinary and extraordinary revelation made unto him, as was fometimes granted to men in that age in which Fob lived; fee chap. iv. 16, 17. and xxxili. 14, 15,16. Though he had heard more of God through his fpeaking to him out of the whirlwind than ever he did before, to which he had attentively liftened; and the phrafe hearing by or with the hearing of the ear, denotes clofe attention; fee Ezek. xliv.5. But now mine eye feeth thee, thy fhekinah, as Farchi;, thy divine glory and majefty; the Jogos, the Word or Son of God, who now appeared in an human form and fpake to Fob out of the whirlwind; and whom he jaw with the eyes of his body, as feveral of the patriarchs had feen him, and which is the fenfe of an ancient writer"; though no doubt he faw him alfo with the eyes of his underftanding, and had a clearer fight of his living Redeemer, the Meffiah, than ever he had before; and faw more of God in Chrift, of his nature, perfeétions, and glory, than ever he had as yet feen; and what he had heard of him came ate fhort of what he naw faw; particularly he ada moreclear and diftinét view of the fovereignty, wifdom, goodnefs, and juftice of God in the dealings of his providence with the children of men, and with himfelf, to which now he humbly fubmitted, y. 6. Wherefore I abbor myfelf, &c.] Or all my words, as Aben Ezra; all the indecent expreffions he had uttered concerning God; he could not bear to think of them; he lothed them, and himfelf on account of them: fin is abominable in its Own nature, and makes men fo; it is lothfome to God, and fo it is to all good men when they fee it in its proper light; and efpecially when they have a view of the purity and holinefs of God, to which that is fo very contrary, and alfo of his grace and goodnefs in the forgivenefs of it; fee [/a. vi. 3, 5. #izek, xvi. 63. and xx. 44. And repent in dust and afbes; which was an external ceremony ufed by mournful and penitent perfons; fee cbap. il. 8. Fonab iii. 6. and is expreflive of the truth and fincerity of repentance; and never do any more truly mourn for fin and repent of it, are more afhamed of it, or have a more gadly forrow for it, or more ingenuoufly confefs it, and heartily forfake it, than thofe who with an eye of faith, behold God in Chrift as a fin- forgiving God; or behold their fins through the glafs of pardoning grace and mercy; fee Zech, xii, 10. Lwke vil. 37, 47. 1 Tim. i. 13.

¥. 7. And it was fo, &c,] What follows came to pafs. That after the Lord had fpoken thefe words unto Fob which he fpake to him out of the whirlwind, and after he had heard Yob’s confeffion, and the declaration he made of his humiliation and repentance: the Lord faid to Elipbaz the Temanite; who with his two friends were ftill prefent and heard the fpeeches of the Lord to Fob, and the acknowledgment he had made of fin; though fome° think that when the difpute ended between Fob and them, they returned to their own country; where E/iphaz is now fuppofed to be, and was bid with his two friends to go to Fob again, which they did, as is concluded from the following verfes; but no doubt they ftaid and heard what Eiibu had to fay; and the voice of the Lord out of the whirlwind would command their attention and ftay; and very defir- ous they muft be to know how the caufe would ga for or againft Fob; the latter of which they might expect trom the appearance of things. Now the Lord direéts his fpeech to Eliphaz, he being perhaps the principal man on account of his age, wifdom and wealth, and being the man that led the difpute, began it, and farmed the plan ta go upon, and was the moft fevere on Fob of any of them; | wherefore the Lord faid to him, My wrath is kindled againft thee, and again thy two friends; wha were Bildad the Shubite, and Zophar the Naamathite; who gave into the fame fentiments with ZAphaz, and went upon the fame plan, fpeaking wrong things of God, charging 7b falfly, and condemning him; which provoked the Lord, and caufed his wrath to be kindled like fire againft them, of which there were fome appearances and breakings forth in his words and conduct towards them. for ye have not /poken of me the thing that is right, as my Servant Fob bath; they had faid many right things of God, and ob had faid many wrong ones of him, and yet upon the whole od had faid righter things of God than they; their notion, and which they had exprefied, was, that God deals with men in this life according to their outward behaviour; that God did nat afflict good men, at leaft not forely, nor long; and that wicked men were always punifhed now: from whence they drew this inference, that Fob, being fo long and fo greatly affiicted, muft be a bad man, or God would never have dealt with him after this manner. ¥od, on the other hand, affirmed, that wicked men enjoyed great profperity, which good men did not; and therefore the love and hatred of God were not known by thefe things; and mens characters were not to be judged of by thefe outward things; in which he was doubtlefs right: fome render the words have not /poken unta me”, before him, in his prefence; for they were all before God, and to him they all appealed, and he heard and obferved al] that wag faid, and now pafled judgment. No notice is taken of Elihu, nor blame

-laid on him; he acting as a moderator, taking neither the part of Fob, nor of his friends, but blaming both; nor did he pretend to charge ob with any fins of his former life as the caufe af his calamities; only takes up fome indecent, unguarded, and extravagant expreffions of his in the heat of this controverfy, and rebukes him for them; and throughout the whole vindicates the juftice of God in his dealings with him. —: ¥.8. Therefore take unto you now feven bullocks, and feven rams, &c.| Creatures ufed in facrifice before the giving of the levitical law, Gen. iv. 4. and viii. 20. and xv, 9. and the fame number of the fame creatures were offered by Balaam in the country of Moab, not far from where 7od lived, nor at any great diftance of time from his age, Numb, xxiii, 1, 2, and among the Gentiles in after-times 9. And thefe were typical of Chrift, being ftrong creatures, efpecially the buJlocks, and which were ufed for labour; and the number feven, may point at the perfection of Chrift’s facrifice; to which thefe men were directed in their facrifices to look for the complete atonement of their fins, Now tho’ they were not at their own dwellings,. and could not take thefe out of their own herds and flocks, and ob had none, yet they could purchafe them of others; and which having done, they are bid to do as follows: And go to my fer, vant Fob, ang offer up for yourfelves a purnt-offering; P 88 ad me, ing 5 that is, by %ob, who was to offer it for them in their name, and at whofe hands the Lord would accept it, and for his fake, ‘Fob, as the head and matter of his family, was wont to facrifice, as every fuch man did before the Aaronical priefthood took place, chap. i. 5. Now this was doing Job a great deal of honour, both by calling him his fervant, as before in the preceding verfe, and twice more in this; which was plainly giving the caufe on his fide; confirming the character he always bore, and ftill retained; and declaring he had other thoughts of him than his friends had; as well by fending them to him with their facrifices ta offer for them; which was faying, that they had finned, and muft offer facrifice, and that ob was in the right; and therefore muft offer the facrifice for them. This was putting them on a great piece of {elf-denial; that men, who were older than Fob, great perfonages, heads of families, and who had been wont to offer facrifices in them, yet are now fent to Fob to offer them for them; a man now in mean circumftances, and whom they had treated with great contempt; and he in his turn had ufed them as roughly. And it was alfo a trial of Fob’s grace and of his forgiving fpirit, to do this for them, and pray to God on their behalf: and the Lord’s defign in it was, to exercife the graces of them both, and to reconcile them to one another, and to himfelf. And my fervant Fob fhall pray jor you; that their facrifice might be accepted, and their fin pardoned. In this 70d was a type of Chrift, as he was in many other things; fee the notes on chap. xvi. 9-13. and xxx. 8, 9, 10. There is an agreement in his name, Yo), whether it fignifies love or hatred, defired or hated, in both ways the etymology of it is given; it agrees with Chrift, who is beloved of God and man, and the defire of all nations; who hates iniquity, and was hated for his inveighing againft it. 70d was a type of him in his threefold ftate; before his low eftate, in it, and after it; fee Phil. ii, 610. In his temptations by Satan, and fufferings from men; and particularly in his office as a prieft, who both offered himfelf a facrifice for his people, and offers their fervices and facrifices of prayer and praife to God; and who prayed for his difciples, and for all the Father has given him, for tran{greffors and finners, and even for his enemies that ufed him ill. Lor bim will I accept; or his face, that is, hear his prayer, and grant what is afked by him; as well-as accept his facrifice. Le I deal with you after your folly; as all fin is, being committed again{t God; a breach of his law, and injurious to men themfelves; fee Deut. xxxil. 6. and iv. 6, Prov. viii. 36. Tho’ here it feems to be reftrained to their particular fin and folly in their difpute with Fob; want of wifdom in them was difcerned by Elibu, chap. xxxii. 7, 9. So. it follows: Jn that ye have not fpoken of me the thing which is right, like my fervant Fob; and if by neglect of his advice, which would have been another inftance of their folly, they had provoked the Lord to deal with them as their fin deferved, it muft have gone hard with them. The Targum is, * left I fhould “* do with you, what would be a reproach’? (or difgrace;) would put them to fhame, and make them appear ignominious to men; as by {tripping them of their fubftance and honour, and reducing them to the condition 7ob was in.

¥.9. So Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Siubite, and Zophar the Naamathite went, &c.} Having taken the above creatures for facrifice, as dicected, they went to Fob with them. And. did according as the Lord ‘commanded them; offered them by ¥od for a burnt-offering, and defired him to pray for them. This they did both as to matter and manner, as the Lord ordered them; and — they did it immediately, without ccna flefh and blood, the pride and other paffions of their — hearts; and they all united in it, and ferved the Lord with one confent, which fhewed them to be ood men. The Lord alfo accepted Fob; the facriae. he offered; perhaps by fending fire from heaven, which confumed the burnt-offering: or the face of Fob; he heard his prayer for his friends, and granted his requeft for them: or the perjon of Job, as Mr Broughton renders it; Fob in this was a type of Chrift alfo, who is always heard in his interceffion and mediation for his people. God has refpect to his perfon, which is always acceptable to him, and in whom he is well pleafed; and he has refpect to his offering and facrifice, which is of a fweet-fmelling favour to him. And the perfons of his people are accepted in him the beloved, and all their fervices and facrifices of prayer and praife, Matt. iii. 17. Ephef.i. 6. 1 Peter li. 5. The Targum is, “ they did as the Word of ‘* the Lord fpake unto them, and the Word of the ‘¢ Lord accepted the face of Fob.”

y. 10. And the Lord turned the captivity of Fob, &c.] Not literally, in fuch fenfe as Lot’s captivity was turned; for 7ob’s perfon was not feized on and carried away, though his cattle were: nor fpiritually, being delivered from the captivity of fin; that had been his cafe many years ago, when firft converted: but it is to be underftood of his

‘reftoration from afflictions and calamities, to a ~ happy ftate; as of the return of his fubftance, his health and friends, and efpecially of his deliverance from Satan, in whofe hands he had been fome time, and by him diftreffed both in body and mind, But now his captivity was turned, and he was freed from all his diftreffes; and even from thofe which arofe from the dealings of God with him, which he was now fully fatisfied about; and this was done, when he prayed for his friends; as he was directed todo. A good man will not only pray for himfelf, as %ob doubtlefs did, but for.others alfo; for his natural and fpiritual friends, yea for unkind friends, and even for enemies likewife: and the prayer of an upright man is very acceptable to the Lord; and many mercies and.

bleffings come by it; and even prayer for others, is profitable to a man’s felf; and fometimes he foon reaps the benefit of it, as fob now did. For when and while he was’ praying, or quickly upon it, there was a turn in his affairs; he prefently found himfelf in better health; his friends came _ about him, and his fubftance began to increafe; Satan had no more power over him, and the prefence of God was with him, All which was of the Lord; and he enjoyed it in the way of prayer, and as the fruit of that. //o the Lord gave Fob twice as much as he bad before; or added to him double. Which chiefly refpeéts his fubftance; his cattle, as appears from y¥.12. and might be true both with refpect to things temporal and fpiritual. Double may denote an abundance, a large meafure of good things; fee Zech, ix. 12.

. 11. Then came there unto him all bis brethren, and all bis fiters, &cc.| Which may be taken nor ~— in a ftrict fenfe, but in a larger fenfe for all that were related to him; the fame with his kinsfolks, chap. xix. 14. And all they that bad. been of bis acquaintance before; that knew him, vifited him, converfed with him, and kept up a friendly correfpondence with him; the circle of his a¢quaintance muft have been large, for wealth makes many

. friends: now thefe had been fhy of him, and kept at a diftance from him, during the time of his affliction and diftrefs 5 fee chap. xix. 13, 14, 19. but hearing he was in the favour of God, and the caufe was given on his fide, and againft his friends, and his affairs began to take a more favourable turn, they came to him again, and paid him a friendly vifit, even all of them. zd did eat bread with him in bis boufe; expreffing their joy for his recovery, and renewing their friendfhip with him: this was done either at their own expence or at 7ob’s, for he might not be fo poor at the worft as he is by moft reprefented; for he had ftill an houfe of his own, and furniture in it, and fervants to wait upon him, as appears from chap. xix. 15,16. nor do we read of any thing being taken out of his houfe from him; he might ftill have gold and filver, and fo could entertain his friends: and being a man of an excellent fpirit received them kindly, without upbraiding them with their unkindnefs in deferting him when afflicted. dnd they bemoaned him; fhook their heads at him, pitying his cafe, that is, which ‘he had been in; for this they might do, though things were now better with him, and might exprefs themfelves in fuch manner.as this, s* Poor man, what haft thou endured? what haft thou gone through by difeafes of body, lofs of fubftance, and vexation from friends?” and befides, though things began to mend with him, he was not come at once to the pitch of happinefs he arrived unto; fo that there might be {till room for bemoaning, he being comparatively in poor circumftances to what he was before. And comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; the evil of afflictions, of body and eftate; which, though by means of Satan and wicked men, was according to the will of God, and might be faid to be brought on him and done to him by the Lord, Amos iil. 6. and they congratulated him

_ upon his deliverance from them. very man aljo gave him a piece of money, or a lamb; which fome underftand in a proper fenfe, as being what might ferve towards making up his lofs of fheep, and increafing his ftock of them but others with us take it for a piece of money, in which fenfe it is ufed in Gen. xxxiii. 19. Fo. xxiv. 32. compared with Ais vii. 16. which might have the figure of a lamb impreffed upon it; as we formerly had a piece of money called an angel, having the image of one ftamped on it; and it was ufyal with the ancients both to barter with cattle inftead of money before the coining of it, and when it was coined to imprefs upon it the figure of cattle; hence the Latin word pecunia for money, is from pecus cattle"; this piece of money in 4frica is the fame with the Jewifh meab*, which weighed fixteen barley corns, the value of a penny. And every one an ear-ring of gold or a jewel fet in gold; fuch men ufed to wear in Arabia, as appears from Fudges viii. 24. however Job could turn them into money, and increafe his flock of cattle thereby. Though perhaps thefe prefents were made him, not fo much to enrich him, but as tokens of renewing their friendfhip with him; it being then ufual in the eaftern countries, as it is to this day, that whenever they pay vifits, even to the greateft perfonages, they always carry prefents with them; fee 1 Sam. ix. 7.

¥. 12. So the Lord bleffed the latter end of Fob more than bis beginning, &c.] Which verified the words of Bildad, chap. viii. 6, 7. though they were {poken by him only by way of fuppofition. All bleffings are of the Lord, temporal and fpiritual, and fometimes the laft days of a good man are his beft, as to temporal things, as were David’s, and here Fob’s; though this is not always the cafe: however if their laft days are but the beft in fpiritual things, that is enough; if they have more faith, hope, love, patience, humility, and felf-denial, and refignation of will to the will of God; are more holy, humble, fpiritually and heavenly minded; have more light and knowledge in divine things; have more peace and joy, and are more fruitful in every good work, and more ufeful; and often they are in their very laft moments moft chearful and comfortable: the beft wine is referved till laft. For be had fourteen thoufand fheep, and fix tooufand camels, and a thoufand yoke of oxen, and a thoufand Jbe-affes, juft double the number of each of what he had before, chap. 1. 3, y. 13, He had alfo feven fons, and three daughters.] The fame number of children, and of the fame fort he had before, chap. i. 2. and according ta Nachman the very fame he had before, which the additional letter in the word /even ts with him the notification of; fo that the doubling of what he had before, ¥. 10. refpects only his fubftance, and particularly his cattle; though the Targum fays he had fourteen fons, and fo Farchit; others think thefe may be faid to be double to ‘fod in their good qualities, external and internal, in their difpofitions, virtues, and graces; and others, inafmuch as his former children were not loft, but lived with God, and would live for ever, they might now be faid to be double; and fo they confider this as a proof of the immortality of the foul, and of the refurrection of the body; but thefe fenfes are not to be trufted to; whether thefe children were by a former wife or another, is uncertain.

¥. 14, And be called the name of the first, Femima, &c.| That is, the name of the firft and eldeft daughter was called by fod, Femima; which either fignifies day, fo the Targum interprets it, and moft do, and fo is the fame with Diana; or as Spanbeim* obferves, it may be the fame with the dradic word Femama, which fignifies a turtle or dove”; and who alfo obferves that a country in Arabia is fo called, and perhaps from her; and which feems to be confirmed by the Arabic geographer*, who {peaks of a queen called Famama, who dwelt in a city of the country he defcribes, as being on the north of Arabia Felix, and alfo {peaks of a way from thence to Bozrah in Edom. And the-name of the fecond, Kezia; or Caffia; an aromatic herb of a very fragrant fmell, as we render the word, P/a.

xly. 8, and from this perfon the above learned writer conjectures mount Cafjus in Arabia might have its name. nd the name of the third, Kerenbappuch; which fignifies an horn or vefiel of paint, fuch as the eaftern women ufed to paint their faces, particularly their eyes with, Zer. iv. 30. and as Fezebel did, 2 Kings ix. 30. or the ray of a precious Stone; fome fay the carbuncle ” or ruby; according the Targum, the emerald; in 1 Coron. xxix. 2, the word is rendered glittering ftones. Now thefe names may have refpect to 7ob’s daughters themfelves, to their external beauty, afterwards obferved; fo the Targum, “ he called the one Femima, be~ “¢ caufe her beauty was as the day; the other he *¢ called Kezia, becaufe fhe was precious like cafe *¢ fia, and another he called Keren-bappuch, bee oo «« caufe great was the brighnefs of the glory of her “¢ countenance, as the emerald.” The complexjon of the firft might be clear as a bright day, though like that but of a fhort continuance; fee Cant. vi. 10. the next might have her name from the fragrancy and {weetneis of her temper 5 and the third, as being fo beautiful that fhe needed no paint to fet her off, but was beauty and paint herfelf; or her beauty was as bright and dazzling as a precious ftone; fee Lam. iv. 7. Or thefe may refpect their internal qualities, virtues, and graces; being children of the day and not of the night; having a good name, which is better than all fpices;_and poffefied of fuch graces as were comparable to jewels and precious ftones, Though it might be, that Fob, in giving them thefe names, may have refpect to the change of his ftate and condition; his firft daughter he called Femima or day, becaufe it was now day with him: he had been in the night and darknefs of adverfity, temporal and fpiritual, but now he enjoyed a day of profperity, and of ‘{piritual light and joy; the juftnefs of his caufe appeared, his righteoufnefs was brought forth as the light, and his judgment as noon-day; and the difpenfations of divine providence appeared to him in a different light than he had feen them in: his fecond daughter he called Kezia, or Caffia, an herb of a fweet fmell, in oppofition to the ftench of his ulcers and of his breath, which had been fo very offenfive, and from which he was now free; and may denote alfo the recovery of his good name, better than precious ointment, in which caffia was an ingredient: his youngeft daughter he called Kerenpappuch, the horn of paint, in oppofition to his horn being defiled in the duft, and his face foul with weeping, chap. xvi. 15, 16. or if Keren-happuch fignifies the born turned, as Peritfol interprets it, it may have refpect to the ftrange and fudden turn of Job's affairs: and itis eafy to obferve, that men have given names to their children on account of their prefent ftate and condition, or on account of the change of a former one; fee Gen.xli. 51,52. Exod. xviii.3,4. ¥. 15. And in all the land were no women found fo fair as the daughters of Fob, &c.] Either in the whole world, which is not improbable: or it niay be rather in the land or country in which they dwelt; and which may be gathered from their names, as before obferved. ‘The people of God, and children of Chrift, the antitype of Zod, are all fair, and there is no {pot in them; a perfe¢tion of beauty, perfectly comely, thro’ the comelinefs of Chrift put upon them, and are without fpot or wrinkle, or any ‘uch thing. And their father gave them inheritance among their brethren, which was done not on account of their beauty or virtue; nor is this obferved fo much to fhew the great riches of ob, that he could give his daughters as much as his fons; as his impartiality to his children, and his ftriét juftice and equity in diftributing his fubftance to them all alike, making no difference between male and female. And fo in Chrift, the antitype of Fo, there is neither male nor female, no difference between them; but being all children, they are heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Chrift, and equally partake of the fame inheritance with the faints in light. ¥. 16. After this lived Fob an hundred and forty years, &c.] Not after he had arrived to the height of his profperity; not after the birth of his children, and they were grown up, and had their portions given them, which muft take in a confiderable number of years; but after his affi€tions were over, and his profperity began: and if his years were doubled, as fome think, tho’ that is not certain, then he muft be feventy years of age when he was fo forely af-