Explanatory Notes upon the Old and New Testaments

The more fully to convince Job of his ignorance, God here discourses, Of the wild goats and hinds, ver. 1-4. Of the wild ass, ver. 5-8. Of the unicorn, ver. 9-12. Of the peacock and ostrich, ver. 13-18. Of the horse, ver. 19-25. Of the hawk and eagle, ver, 26-30.

4. Young ones - Notwithstanding their great weakness caused by their hard entrance into the world. Grow up - As with corn, that is, as if they were fed with corn. Go forth - Finding sufficient provisions abroad by the care of God's providence.

5. Sent - Who hath given him this disposition that he loves freedom, and hates that subjection which other creatures quietly endure? Loosed - Who keeps him from receiving the bands, and submitting to the service of man.

7. Scorneth - He feareth them not when they pursue him, because he is swift, and can easily escape them. Driver - He will not be brought to receive his yoke, nor to do his drudgery.

8. Mountains - He prefers that mean provision with his freedom, before the fattest pastures with servitude.

9. Unicorn - It is disputed whether this be the Rhinoceros; or a kind of wild bull.

16. Her labour - In laying her eggs is in vain, because she hath not the fear and tender concern for them, which she should have.

17. Deprived - Because God hath not implanted in her that instinct, and affection, which he hath put into other birds and beasts toward their young.

18. Lifteth - To flee from her pursuer: to which end she lifts up her head and body, and spreads her wings. Scorneth - She despises them thro' her swiftness; for though she cannot fly, yet by the aid of her wings she runs so fast, that horse-men cannot reach her.

19. Thunder - A strong metaphor, to denote force and terror.

21. Valley - Battles used to be pitched in valleys, or low grounds, especially horse battles.

23. Quiver - The quiver is here put for the arrows contained in it, which being shot against the horse and rider, make a rattling noise.

24. Swalloweth - He is so full of rage and fury, that he not only champs his bridle, but is ready to tear and devour the very ground on which he goes. Believeth - He is so pleased with the approach of the battle, and the sound of the trumpet calling to it, that he can scarce believe his ears for gladness.

25. Ha, ha - An expression of joy and alacrity declared by his proud neighings. Thunder - The loud and joyful clamour begun by the commanders, and followed by the soldiers when they are ready to join battle.

26. Fly - So strongly, constantly, unweariedly, and swiftly. South - At the approach of winter, when wild hawks fly into warmer countries, as being impatient of cold. The birds of the air are proofs of the wonderful providence of God, as well as the beasts of the earth. God instances in two stately ones.

27. Mount - Flies directly upward 'till she be out of thy sight; which no other bird can do.

29. Her eyes - Her sight is exceeding sharp and strong, so that she is able to look upon the sun with open eyes, and to behold the smallest prey upon the earth or sea, when she is mounted out of our sight.

33. Blood - There are divers eagles who do not feed upon carcases, but many eagles do feed on them. She - In an instant, flying thither with admirable celerity.

Job humbles himself before God, ver. 1-5. God challenges him to vie with him, in justice, power, majesty, and dominion over the proud, ver. 6-14. And gives an instance of his power in the Behemoth, ver. 15-24.

1. Answered - Having made a little pause to try what Job could answer. This is not said to be spoken out of the whirlwind, and therefore some think God said it in a still, small voice, which wrought more upon Job, (as upon Elijah) than the whirlwind did. Tho' Job had not spoken any thing, yet God is said to answer him. For he knows mens thoughts, and can return a fit answer to their silence.

2. Reproveth - That boldly censureth his ways or works; it is at his peril.

5. Answer - Speak again; I will contend no more with thee. Twice - Often, the definite number being used indefinitely.

6. Whirlwind - Which was renewed when God renewed his charge upon Job, whom he intended to humble more throughly.

8. Wilt thou - Every word is emphatical, wilt (art thou resolved upon it) thou (thou Job, whom I took to be one of a better mind) also (not only vindicate thyself, but also accuse me) disannul (not only question, but even repeal and make void, as if it were unjust) my judgment? My sentence against thee, and my government and administration of human affairs? Wilt thou make me unrighteous that thou mayst seem to be righteous?

10. Deck - Seeing thou makest thyself equal, yea, superior to me, take to thyself thy great power, come and sit in my throne, and display thy Divine perfections in the sight of the world.

13. Hide - Kill every one of them at one blow. Bind - Condemn or destroy them. He alludes to the manner of covering the faces of condemned persons, and of dead men. In secret - In a secret place, bury them in their graves.

15. Behemoth - Very learned men take the leviathan to be the crocodile, and the behemoth to be the river-horse, which may fitly be joined with the crocodile, both being well known to Job and his friends, as being frequent in the adjacent parts, both amphibious, living and preying both in the water and upon the land. And both creatures of great bulk and strength. Made - As I made thee. Grass - The river-horse comes out of the river upon the land to feed upon corn, and hay, or grass, as an ox doth, to whom also he is not unlike in the form of his head and feet, and in the bigness of his body, whence the Italians call him, the sea-ox.

16. Strength - He hath strength answerable to his bulk, but this strength by God's wise and merciful providence is not an offensive strength, consisting in, or put forth by horns or claws, as it is in ravenous creatures, but only defensive and seated in his loins, as it is in other creatures.

17. Tail - Which though it be but short, yet when it is erected, is exceeding stiff and strong. Thighs - The sinews of his thighs. His thighs and feet are so sinewy and strong, that one of them is able to break or over-turn a large boat.

19. The chief - He is one of the chief of God's works, in regard of its great bulk and strength.

20. Mountains - Though he lives most in the water, yet he often fetches his food from the land, and from the mountains or hills, which are nigh the river Nile. Play - They not only feed securely, but sport themselves by him, being taught by experience that he is gentle and harmless.

22. Brook - Or, of the Nile, of which this word is often used in scripture. His constant residence is in or near this river, or the willows that grow by it.

23. River - A great quantity of water, hyperbolically called a river. Hasteth not - He drinks not with fear and caution; but such is his courage, that he fears no enemy either by water or by land. He drinks as if he designed, to drink up the whole river. He mentions Jordan, as a river well known, in and nigh unto Job's land.

24. Sight - Can any man take him in his eyes? Openly and by force? Surely not. His strength is too great for man to overcome: and therefore men are forced to use wiles and engines to catch him.

To convince Job of his wickedness, he is here challenged to subdue and tame the leviathan, ver. 1-10. A particular description of him. ver. 11-34.

1. Leviathan - Several particulars in the following description, agree far better with the crocodile, than the whale. It is highly probable, that this is the creature here spoken of. Cord - Canst thou take him with a hook and a line, as anglers take ordinary fishes.

2. Thorn - Or, with an iron hook, or instrument as sharp as a thorn; wherewith thou usest to carry little fishes.

3. Supplications - Doth he dread thine anger or power? Or will he earnestly beg thy favour? It is a metaphor from men in distress, who use these means to them to whose power they are subject.

7. Fill - A whale's you may: but the skin of a crocodile is so hard that an iron or spear will not pierce it.

8. Lay - Seize upon him, if thou darest. Battle - But ere thou attempt it consider what thou art doing, and with whom, thou art going to fight. Do no more - Proceed no farther, draw back thy hand.

9. Hope - The hope of taking or conquering him.

10. Stand - To the battle. Me - To contend with me who created him?

11. Prevented - Hath laid the first obligation upon me, for which I am indebted to him. Who can be before-hand with me in kindnesses, since all things under heaven are mine.

13. Discover - Or, uncover, or take off from him. Face - The upper or outward part of his garment, or, the garment itself: the word face being often redundant. And by the garment is meant the skin which covers the whole body; who dare attempt to touch his very skin? Much less to give him a wound. His double bridle - His fast jaws, which have some resemblance to a double bridle: whence the Greeks call those parts of the face which reach to the jaws on both sides, the bridles.

14. Doors - His mouth. If it be open, none dare enter within, and if it be shut, none dare open it.

15. Shut - Closely compacted together, as things that are fastened together by a seal. This likewise is true of the crocodile, but the skin of the whale is smooth and entire without any scales at all.

18. Sneesings - This the crocodile is said frequently to do. Eyes - To which they seem very fitly compared, because the eyes of the crocodile are dull and dark under the water, but as soon as they appear above water, cast a bright and clear light; like the morning light, suddenly breaking forth after the dark night.

19. Lamps - This also better agrees with the crocodile, which breathes like the river-horse, of which ancient authors affirm, that his nostrils are very large, and he breathes forth a fiery smoke like that of a furnace.

21. Kindleth coals - An hyperbolical expression, denoting extraordinary heat.

22. And sorrow - Sorrow is his companion and harbinger, which attends upon him wheresoever he goes. So anger and fear are said by the poets to accompany the God of war.

24. Nether mill-stone - Which being to bear the weight of the upper, ought to be the harder and stronger of the two.

25. Raiseth - Upon the top of the waters. Mighty - Even the stouthearted. Breakings - By reason of their great danger and distress; which is expressed by this very word, Psalm lx, 2 Jonah ii, 4. Purify - Those who ordinarily live in the neglect of God, they cry unto God in their trouble, and endeavour to purge their consciences from the guilt of their sins.

26. Hold - Hebrew. cannot stand, cannot endure the stroke, but will be broken by it. The crocodile's skin, no sword, nor dart, nor musquet bullet can pierce.

28. Turned - Hurt him no more than a blow with a little stubble.

30. Stones - His skin is so impenetrable, that the sharpest stones or shells are as easy unto him as the mire.

31. Boil - To swell, and foam, and froth by his strong and vehement motion, as any liquor does when it is boiled in a pot, especially boiling ointment. The sea - The great river Nile, is called a sea, both in scripture, as Isaiah xi, 15, and in other authors, as Euphrates is called the sea of Babylon, Isaiah xxi, 1 Jer. li, 36. Lakes also are most frequently called seas both in the Old and New Testament: and in such lakes the crocodiles are as well as in the Nile.

32. Shine - By the white froth or foam upon the waters. The same may be observed in the wake of a ship by night.

34. King, &c. - He can tame both the behemoth and leviathan, as strong and stout-hearted as they are. This discourse concerning them was brought in, to prove that it is God only, who can look upon proud men and abase them, bring them low, and hide them in the dust, he it is that beholdeth all high things, and wherein men dealt proudly, he is above them. He is king over all the children of pride, brutal or rational, and makes them either bend or break before him.

Job throughly humbles himself before God, ver. 1-6. God reproves his friends, for whom Job intercedes, and God accepts them, ver. 7-9. God blesses and restores Job to his prosperity, ver. 10-15. His age and death, ver. 16, 17

2. Thou canst, &c. - Job here subscribes to God's unlimited power, knowledge and dominion, to prove which was the scope of God's discourse out of the whirlwind. And his judgment being convinced of these, his conscience also was convinced, of his own folly in speaking so irreverently concerning him. No thought can be withholden from thee - No thought of ours can be withholden from thy knowledge. And there is no thought of thine, which thou canst be hindered from bringing into execution.

3. Who - What am I that I should be guilty of such madness! Therefore - Because my mind was without knowledge. Knew not - I have spoken foolishly and unadvisedly of all things far above my reach.

4. Hear - Hear and accept my humble confession. Inquire - I will no more dispute the matter with thee, but beg information from thee. The words which God had uttered to Job by way of challenge, Job returns to him in way of submission.

5. Seeth thee - The knowledge which I had of thy nature, perfections and counsels, was hitherto grounded chiefly, upon the instructions of men; but now it is clear and certain, as being immediately inspired into my mind by this thy glorious apparition and Revelation, and by the operation of thy Holy Spirit; which makes these things as evident to me, as if I saw them with my bodily eyes. When the mind is enlightened by the spirit of God, our knowledge of Divine things as far exceeds what we had before, as knowledge by ocular demonstration, exceeds, that by common fame.

7. Eliphaz - As the eldest of the three, and because he spoke first, and by his example led the rest into the same miscarriages. Two friends - Elihu is not here reproved, because he dealt more mercifully with Job, and did not condemn his person, but only rebuked his sinful expressions. Ye have not, &c. - This is not to be understood absolutely, but comparatively. Job was not so much to be blamed as they, because his opinion concerning the methods of God's providence, and the indifferency of its dispensations towards good and bad men was truer than theirs, which was, that God did always reward good men and punish sinners in this life.

8. My servant - Whom though you condemned as an hypocrite, I own for my faithful servant. Offer - By the hand of Job, whom I hereby constitute your priest to pray and sacrifice for you. Lest I deal - Lest my just judgment take hold of you for your false and foolish speeches.

9. Accepted Job - And as Job prayed and offered sacrifice for those who had grieved and wounded his spirit, so Christ prayed and died for his persecutors, and ever lives, making intercession for transgressors.

10. Captivity - All his bodily distempers were thoroughly healed, and probably in a moment. His mind was calmed, his peace returned, and the consolations of God were not small with him. Prayed - Whereby he manifests his obedience to God and his true love to them.

11. Then - When Job had humbled himself, and God was reconciled to him. Sisters - His kindred. Eat - Feasted with him, to congratulate with him God's great and glorious favour. Bemoaned - They declared the sense which they had of his calamities while they were upon him, although they had hitherto wanted opportunity to express it.

12. Blessed - Not only with spiritual, but also with temporal blessings. Just double to what they were, chap. i, 3. This is a remarkable instance of the extent of the Divine providence, to things that seem minute as this, the exact number of a man's cattle; as also of the harmony of providence, and the reference of one event to another: for known unto God are all his works, from the beginning to the end.

14. Jemima - The day, either because of her eminent beauty, or because she was born in the day of his prosperity, after a dark night of affliction. Kezia is the name of a spice of a very fragrant smell, commonly called Cassia. Keren-happuch signifies plenty restored.

15. So fair - In the Old Testament we often find women praised for their beauty, but never in the New, because the beauty of holiness is brought to a much clearer light by the gospel.

16. After this, &c. - Some conjecture, that he was seventy when his trouble came. If so his age was doubled, as his other possessions.

17. Full of days - So coming to his grave, as Eliphaz had spoken, like a ripe shock of corn in its season.