Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Jon, maintaining hit virtue, and joaufriog tbe utterance of the Creator rrepecting him, tu upon hit beep of aehca nt the glory and pride of God. end with Hun the whole oalaatial boat, wuntmtm

fcVi i:.An:».T in «?.. \. hi baan hfci ■! I i+jm Bi aaajajajaw, aad kk oonquait ia a triumph beyond the atsre. Be it biatory, be it port be wbo thui wrote vu i

It present* a u - -pendent working up of the introductory bm4U*. and recaj an Ua^^r, and cooopquentiy ol * toUDy dMtinct ou* ooo tribe yean Prussian Consul at Damwcot.

8 8eo0(1 I ooouin an Approdii coe tribal*! by Dr looaatery ol Job" to lUuran, Um trtdiUoo and a map of the t ]

iusion of the the answer stai ill are for t: blessedness. Hut in itself, this answer cannot satisfy; so min-ii the lets, as the is just as eart rid as has lost by a: n. is answer is ina and such losses as tho* as the loss of sheep a ^ood n in c it might the rather 1 r. With calamitous and terril from a fierce the false doctrine of retribution advanced bv; a

hi whole course of the hist where ugned and corra* ly augmei nhercnt character, lendtrsd more complete.

f we now combine both the truths illuitr the to a to much greater blessedness; (S) The affliction ol the righteous it a dispensation of t expressed and vrr issue of the book. I re ever arises the opposing consider at are such afflictions necessary to raise the righteous to blessedness — afflictiot s ich seem so entirely to bear the character of wrath, and are in no way <: rsfjsj fi

1 question the book furnishes, as it appears to us, two answers i (1.) The afflictious of tl: are a means of ine and cation; they certainly arise from tin- sins of tl hteous man, but Mill are he workings of

God's wrath, but of His love, which is dirvcted t

Advancement Such is the vie ihu in the book of Job represents. 1 * writer of the introductory portion of Proverbs has expressed this; it beautifully (Prov. ill its distinction from the vi.-w of the three fl htly refers to the various theories of j ment. Discipline designed for improvement is pro] do punishment, ainoe punishment, according to its true idea, is only satisfaction rendered for the violation of moral ord»-r. In how far the speeches of Elihu succeed Lri conveying this view clear and distinct from the original standpoint of the friends, especially of Eliphaz, matters not to us here; at all events, it is in the mind of the poet as the characteristic of these speeches. (8.) The afflictions of the righteous man are means of proving and testing, which, like chastisements, come from the love of led m high lation, its tv;

of evil, and 1 tions of the indi

s:i> turned to thefii ^s, — foi i of the Isra i, the im le, i ba, which treats of the rel of which the krthly things, and

•• of Iii'juir does not occur. In ti work itish: it m primary relation, the

• with all milar to the Indian Gitagi is t • of Inquir), and horrid 6crpenta bias therein their eternal Wherefore? As man when he suffers must weep his fill, so must he cease to doubt. This poison of doubt must not be wanting in the Bible, that grt "house of mankii.

and also the third part of t] T.unul I by

So tl; k of Job tr its a fundamental quest:

COmmOO humanity; and the poafl has Stu tradition. From is conscious ot an litidi histOfy, I anded the Aral) tribes to the e. lllWtinfj has corn.

also in hil OH n mil ai and; the 1 p of Israeli are nowhere inti throws himself with **, effect, a- calling God HOT ywb i ogueandej the non-1: Ijero n in the mouth oi m wonder with *" b even where call God the j roraise n received upon th- well expect in the book. are: 1 in it:

itish kingi; for I unmindful that h an

11 l*etwt€ on the Iiook of J, Lfi possihly hi tedifl the heathen world, a:

From using all his skill I the

. • the law, — a period in which tl ition was itQlai with Z~S irith its derivatives not at all (gen. only

ODfcfe, and z^j1 essions of the 'itia r< are not to be f ~r: and jro become 'designate rings by the right name; riDO appears j I) only in general signification ne.

as a q in the j *t passed over in the < thoM writings 1. ■! mjin.;:,.;::.• r to the proi ince of prophetic pmenl L Lmentationa standi anions th- m; bat this it not its as also 1 ears I ill v

t of the eighth S book of.1 b, which is writ in pr in th tyle of prophet poem, couli in th the shifting one. In the A rine can taods after the Paalmt m explain* 4 being conten- b case it should staxxi at the bead of the CbethuUra). by

Itsaoi laced forerooat, on accou W contenta (accord - hered three books have, as. tins common, that they an? i with the exo d of tin* pcoloj mctuatcd according a special systei has bee: scuased in my C'om- s accent system, like the prosaic, is construct* the fundamental law is determined by or jhm. ith the exception of a few db ta bed fragmei have been preserved in transmissi ■: N -less, we are always still able to discern from these accents how tin* reading ii ded the thoughts collected into the form of M ions, within these again into lesser divisions, and Conner separated the si; whil rhythm ace modated itself as much as possii logical, so t the accentuation is on this account an important sour ascertaining the traditional exegesis, and contains an al dance st valuable hints foe the interpret Tradition, moreover, requires f nee books a verse-like short line

;-inanner of writing; and JTIDD, versus, meant originally, not the Masor uut the separate sent* denoted in the accent system by a great distinctive; as e.g. Job iii..

Let the day perish tcherein I was bom, A nd the night, urhich said, Tliere is a man-rhild c< ceived, is a Masoretic verse divided into two parts by Athnach, and therefore, according to the old order, is to be written as two

» tbry bmaa off act aroafdiaf to ihm e Tenet is not alwayi comet, follow t ata from a moro oonaideration of the strop! corns a f.r.hrr qoaatios, of tocha ■trope* only according versos, which are of themselves vary trrogular, or according to the mtmt* e Terie? The latter aaeav at least in some parta, certainly to; at*, as I hare aire*

' remar rtbelesa, be rackooa the strophes i

I Iu has 10 strophes, as an aggregate

:umetrii-.il number ol stichs, are o|i|K>sed to the nat:nn = parallelism, i cannot lUnd on lag, needs t*:i is as invalid us if one can I in;i r«.w and cocnpaoji It may be seen, Hi the poet begii F^aadll mea the aenteneee so be^ ^ are formed of eight lines.

there are three eight-line strophes beg r theless, we are far from ma ng that the book i ists absolut speeches in the strophe si rm.

It breaks u wever, into paragraphs, become symmetrical thcr the al nor mixed strophe-schema is tl. it with treedop o poet was obliged to maintain in lee the truth as well as I of the raata of Duml in the paragraph placed

• •ech, if the arrangement of the racter allows, acconi classic and modern poetic art.1 [| is similar in Canticles, with the melodramatic chara which it i agrees. In both cases it; the

- »ttfr. Hermann, in his diss, de arte poesis Grmcorum lu sajs rejecting the strophe -dirision in Theocritus, is nevertheless to be attentively considered: Verendum est ne ipsi nobis somnia fingamua perdamusque opexam, si artificioaas stropharum comparationes comminiscamur, de quibus ipsi poetss ne cogitaverint quiden. ieri- que potest id eo probabilius ease, quod sepenumero dubitari potest, sic an aliter constituent]® sint Btrophse. Nam poesis, qualis haeo bucoliooram est, que maximam partem ex brevibus dictis est compofcita, ipsa natura sua talis est ut in partes fere vel pares Tel similes dividi possit. Nihilo tamen minus illam etrophicam rationem non negligendam arlitror, ut quae apud poetas bucolicos in consuetudinem vertlsse videatur, etc.

questions hether - rywhcrr prwuppoii the

On.we bare as i I foJd in calling the book of a drama; and it aracteri

1 Hence there are Greek MS*., in which the hum of the

:kf) are prtditd to list soparaU part* of ti I'orphrrioa, who in hai TrmU. 1966, rtatrtlhtri ire Teschendorf, Lhoogh onamtaafactanlT. timer.: e also such 3/«Xc on Ms?

/ iW IS. it too una IMtMit $ Gdtthcmt ComfaJu. Stwfom u. 5 BOB i r juiliMrhm Oram

V* nn«l tbi ba it, it ho cnri poesy with this now foi f potl on from the ' ntanglement (£« unra.

usness of the llB£ itwanl r< I ' we ha i.-xxv msideration, becau5«

• •(1 himself up with the speakers. \Y1 is remllj the case, un -tie is narrative, but still partly in logue so far Dot altog. il. In

At th- iming lie excites int to be brought. and which remains concealed f: ft Aft f tl le, it becomes moi in the three eour> rsy.

:he monologues of Job it begins to be true. loofll nnoocgrral idea, the decree. ■:' J;. vah, orvwbocn li no controlling |m,\x,t. decree*! in the assembly of ■.1 puiale the rictor of an easy be* I tin- Men full S exalt If heavenward; at gropes after tl to i:i nearer tl.

RM him. Al vah real ears, vah appears, a dua ves unal oaitatem borum affectum: turn quantum subsides. Similarly

Kwald {Jahrb lther the Hindoos, nor the Greeks and Romans, hare such a lofty and purely j*rfected poem to product perhaps compare it with one of -.Eachylua or Sophocles* tragedies a* nearest; but we cannot ess: a single one among these approaching ita unblemished height and perfe- riidst of the greatest absence -.1 ready awn, the result book; second wr acquaintance wi:

as tl ma for:.oat part nccesaar poses the deposited Thora, even at pains to a) <*rsal and eternal ideas,

Ism ly have - ' from tl ritual knowledge and experience rendered poa

I the heti world aftrr <ii\ truti; i- Djajj poacible in th< « hri>tianit v, so also an iritually bold and accurate reprodui I f an old pa lehovah: not to met 'hat the i • part of the book

:taaj in the style of the bo- rbtJ, th«- tun stories of the Pentateoch« But as the suppo* >f a pre- Salomon ic comrx is asjd invalid, so also are all the grounds on which it has been sought to prove a post- Salomon i Ewal:, whom 1 ligatedt and Kenan follow, is oi unsettled and unfortunate ifsjaaj in the backgr this and other indications was written lanasv

Ilirzel, that the writ 0 is s*» acquainted with I seems to have been carried ii;vj»t with King Jeboah

Bti kel, that the book presuppoees the imrtfl conqueror as begun, but n I so far advanced as the destruction of Jerusalem; B that it must belong to the poet 8 monk j»eriod, because it seems to raffJf to a ptfioua

1 K*ggio indeed maintain* {Kcrem Chtmed, vi. 53-60) in favour of I Mosaic pre-Sinaitic composition: "God is only represented as the Almighty, the Ruler of the universe: His love, mercy, forbearance — attributes which the Thora first revealed — are nowhere mentioned;" and B. D. Luzzatto concludes from this even the non- Israeli ti»h or:' the book: M The God of Job is not the God of Israel, the gracious One: B the almighty and ju&t, but not the kind and true One;" but although the book does not once use the words goodness, love, forbearance, compassion of God, it is nevertheless a bright example of them all j and it w the love of God which it manifests as a bright ray in the dark mystery of the affliction of the righteous litiTatur s false obaervu tiona.

lit ha d b* bo longs to t) rrit a has th nl pisjsjgsji o second part

: seem far more probable that IS older thai in tin - ft was w bean the charac peaceful coo-

8 poet himsr ended the Uraei of the exile

•rael of Uie ratoratioo af ter th- <ss carried into exile bj tbe Babjkmta: is *mc as tbe > a the.

:.us, or the Sophjtfs by the Odysseus of the Philocteies. * Thus far Gai:: a, rs the book of Job a hnng testimony of the is bursting forth in Dand • time.

Solomon hinv intr tsage* P itly astir Quad • - A; ikancr to the time l.I.i ritis ( e book of.1 ted as and nobis Ant It been tl> stamp of that manage of knowledge and art lit respecting revea'.on, and of intelligent the iitional l art, — that unprecedented age, in wl literature corresponded to t iagto which tin- kingd Fthe: chad then attair. The heart F lomon (accord

. version) enclosed within itseli fulness of k1 as the sand that is on the sea- wisdom was greater than: DTp *J3, fl uhom

>ook of Job is borrowed; gre I than the wisdom of f z with whose f and

I natural I rid the le of obser!i I<r 1. It was a I:n bet I and the nations was more than ever er« The education of

Israel at that time took a so to speak -politan direction.

It was a time introductory to the extension of redemption, and the triumph of the ion of Israel, and the union of all nation- in belief on the God of love.

That the boot *longs t I period and no other, ritings. If we compare the doctrine respecting Wisdom— h inincnc rldlj nutters, ^-operation in the creation of the ire gsotral judgment, * list all things ia Er i, we aee at xnes forwa cmer p ssaage ot ecome a nl element of general religion* con- that brilliant pstfeagr bo "bother it be the beholding d which we see breaking forth and tip* be book of Job are eiartJr the same as

Besides, the greatest cone

11 m an m> t! ^ilcs, are not the same as the mil ban i rial bo< Israel.

-6, calk a moat brilliant flow iU brighter than