Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

tii take it u]>; ' and fof his n the cry irt to bo explain* to Gen. iv. 10) pi ing from his blood as from bii poured-oat ><»ul, be desirei that it in lj u: J— it- way unhindered an<l (instilled towards

Tii-. in the wry Qod who appears to him to be I blood- t lii r iiy in pursuit of him, Job nevertheless hopes to find a witness of his innocence: lie will acknowledge his blood, like that of Ahel, to he the Mood of an innocent man. It is an inward U ible demand made by his faith which here brin. [ether two opposite principles — principles which the understanding cannot unite — with bewildering boldness. Job believes that God will even finally avenge the blood which His wrath has shed, as blood that has been innocently shed. This faith, which sends forth beyond death itself the word of absolute command contained in ver. 18, in ver. 19 brightens and becomes a certain confidence, which draws from the future

1 As, according to the tradition, it is 6aid to have been impossible to remove the stain of the blood of Zachariah the son of Jehoiada, who was murdered in the court of the temple, until it was removed by the destruction of the temple itself.

f him at ii in thai deer f wrath this |j a bearen ii my vritMi n in in tin from t la mock liitn — t i yes j» shall raise nself a king over Israel who shall B boose is inr in, qoI ut individualizing

:, and preaches to him the; that becomes one prho hai Fallen. ~:*" purposely only used friends who have ty def ( Him.'"l*;is a lobe in the right rather than G ndthal 11 ian foil by an ace, maj I '1 in I ignification: to grant any i in the right (although, with such a iifiea t\> y\> a. tiii- rendering wool I itill not commend itself, on I pecific tvity of the hope which is here struggling through the darkness of conflict Job appeals from God t Gfod; be hopes that truth ami love will finally decide against wrath. The meaning of iTStfl has reference to the duty of an arbitrator, as in ch, ix Schlottm. aptly recalls tl ping of the philosophers, which applies here in a different senae from that in which it is meant, nemo OOnttQ I >■ on, l I >• I ipse. In ver. 22 Job now establishes the fact that the heavenly witness will not allow him to die a death that lie and others would regard as the death of a sinner, from the brevity of the term of life yet granted him, and the hopelessness of man when he is once dead. "12DD nfoC> are years of number = few years (LXX. eT77 dpiOfir/Tti); comp. the position of the words as they are to be differently understood, ch. xv. 20. On the inflexion jeethdju, vid. on ch. xii. 6. Jerome transl. transeunt, but nntf cannot signify this in any Semitic dialect. But even that Jol the course of elephirr son w, ye:. rz. and others: the few

•ure, years o be Dombtn rather thought appro and tl years are not those ie arrangement of tho words in vi go ind in order to pun a r si fall at ry clauses: as Oetinger obeenre? iiants rtaik is corrupt, Jkly days an tjrtmet, nine <y* shall loiUr owr tktir dispu her strain is taken up; and aa ch. 1 is a contiru to the request expressed

I ch. xvi. is none the less e: tl ts move on somewhat croaawise (chiaslis ot translate with Ewald. t is destroy' because -" jre and Isa. x.: unifies not, to be deat but, to be corrupted, disturbing troubled; not the spirit (a:

we had ti i Inrin of ti m «-h. the of til.- j. mad the donblii • s as in ni; ful things, Isa. LOj ip. the same thin:: in ch. xxxii ^x-n.

1 iwald rer it as - ly not cannot 1 On the i band) it might be member of a disjunctive question, has no right connection in v. ore prefer the affirmative meaning, what he continually hears, i.e. from the side of the friends, is onh 'id delusive utterances, which consequently sound to him like j- and mockery. The Buff, in fBT. 2b refers to which is unnatural both in >n;

band of him who i I | od of him who g I ining of the

■ i I II to conquer and tritim|

1 Iwrathal *: therefore art tli aojaji unimproved Mjjnifi

"i:tt be who offers n will i moat at* ne*a ] is n result of the which the priate, w hich would th< wncii mrt justice, as J t merely proclaimin bielding as an im md delivers tl a ith b., as

With r ther half of t1 nderii ex] by parallels like P the cl ch.

must trv r the difficulty without it, which is here easy enough. Hence Job is made, in the inl 1 appli f the. tl principle, to his own children, and Ewald really consi him the father of infant children, which, however, I f be seen from the prologu tthing but an in d unsupporl by the history. Since it is P13 and not DJTO3, we refer the suflf. to the suhj. of TO. The Waw of *} T: Mich, calls Waw coiisecutivum; it, however, rather combines things that are inseparable (certainly as eatise and effect, sin and punishment). And it is Tr, not T:n, because the perf. would describe the fact as past, while the fut. places us in the midst of this faithless conduct. Job says God cannot possibly allow these, his three friends, the upper hand. One proclaims his friends a derision, is specially described further md {"i \ bufl il i infirm the foil disgo it I i'. ittmg debwement D:in,l spittings the brightm a shadow all of them, ihlen and powerless as a shadow, which is only ranee without substance.

qvi is related to the: rit root ^j^ and

(the falling away of a before n.

dmost all modern expositors repeat the remark here, that this tuffan is similar in meaning to Uxm, Matt v. 22, while they might learn from Lightfoot that it has nothing to do with pi, to spit, but is equivalent to

•i with es as J is with the I

The truly right man, even if in tin* midst ol bis afflio ti(»n hi' should see destruction b him, da - not however for (iod. Rut (iH'vi-rtlu'l e— he exclaims to the friends, who promise him ■ 1"' perom life it' he will only bumble himself as a sinner who is receiving punishment repeal again and again your 1 ty words on peniten

• man who might be able to Bee into my ival condition, I shell not find amoi a. He means that they d them- for in reality I eting death without being deceived, or allowing himself to 1"' d I, about the matter. His appeal is similar to ch. vi. 29. Carey translates correctly:

Attack me again with another round of arguments, etc Instead of -^s\;i^ it u written everywhere els< nerally when the ch is drawing to ■ c, we find Djtfl (as the form of writing DpH, BJM i also in the subst W*K), perh.

in order to harmonize with D?3, which is here according to rule instead <»f "-"l, which O >nds II - our form of a

Chethib IMS', whicli occurs in some Codd. and editions, is meaningless) are united, the former being occasioned by the arrangement of the words, whicli is unfavourable to the imper. (comp. Ew. § 229); moreover, the first verb gives the adverbial notion iterum, denuo to the second, according to Ges. § 142, 3, a.

1 Comp. my Anekdota zur Gesch. der mittelalterlichen Scholastik unter Juden und Moslemen (1841), S. 380.

What folio1 -. LI, ii the amfii I I fad thai m \n ho might be able to g bin rod im • his His lii run oat;

\ hich be had Ii in and fost r the * in hi v ind

I hin even Farisul, most in fore di while darkness sets in bus U

Mi), according to which we ha If we un<:

from J< tandpoint, and not from that of the frien la, p anp ii to I to the Arab.

Bui by this renderinj the

"«• removed from all criticism. The ment ': *': Fter all the mo* natural. That he has

,Iarkn bim, while the friends ut to him the approach of light 01 oiten< the thought that i in the n be.

Ml modern expositors transl.: [f I hope (wait) for as my bouse, etc., since they regard vers. 13 a hypothetical antecedent clause to rar. 15, consisting of four' members, where the conclusion should begin with njn, and should be indicated by Wow apodons. There is no objection to this explanation so far as the syntax is concerned, but there will then be weighty thoughts which are also expressed in the form of fresh thoughts, for which independent clauses seem more appropriate, under the government of DK, as if they were presuppositions. The transition from the preceding strophe to this becomes also easier, if we take vers. 13 sq! as independent clauses from which, in ver. 15, an inference is

:s I Uutv is really do raaaon agar passage another arrangement of the aeoenta h bond, <.</. in

]u I"' NN,litil u»d to harbour j tad the meanm that

1 pa whieh ha has, and which ba it risible in the dial M n. ]];U1(]

IV:i1 bopa: tl ling human ken, the lower now naed in locks, bo! the eraai the same mann rying-pok and a bar, in which signification 11 is the synon* of rrp.2 j\u> ttinga assigned to the won], wastes (Schnnrrar and otha (Hahn), clefl I; ••.. Jm.l the like, an f J and superfluous. On n:nin, in^-ad 0£ Tin,,-•/. Caspari on with the nutter, fa o| which, scoofding to Luzz., sine.- the Athnach- word *mpn c -i.Msts of Uu laties, it Bhould be more correctly accen- sword moveth round in his (Ephraim's) cities, and destroyeth his araim's) bars (i.e. the bars of his gates), and devoureth round about, because of their counsels.

*d also in iba likt- paaaagea I tog." as i tbar hand, t tica *n at least with probability be

• has been hit! Job thus i which th m their false pi luck I!«• ii account '1 by them as i puDisl f G I, whom they addresi that the chief point of their lern:ht the penil int, m of the judgment which for his weir i md to the point, I il is only ily Qnd bu] dly mould the or tion, bnt withoal an insight into th ritual and condition of him with whom they have here to Tl is carnal and legal; they know notl f a ri which avails 1 I. and nothin which freei from the divii know not how to deal with one who is | g through * -inflict of temptation, and understand not the d n we wonder, then, that Job is compelled to regard their words as nothing more than rm Hflft, as they regarded hi In the words of Job they misi their certainly compact dogma, in which they believe they possess the philosophers stone, by means of which all earthly suffering is to be changed into earthly prosperity. Job, however, can find nothing in their words that reminds him of anything he ought to know in his present position, or that teaches him anything respecting it. He is compelled to regard them as 72y *Dn:*D, who make the burden of his suffering only more grievous, instead of lightening it for him. For their consolation rests upon an unjust ntrary to tl hi> ri. ess which his cuiisciousneas g 'I80 him. Th lothei himself in mOQITl tnd lies with his former n. in the with weepii v.-s a: iome almost Win I, although th.

wrong in his ban 1 his; i free from fa uses of himself] i L 1 6 I, lays, thai he ii buried ai the Hem m none 161 rtkv::*:~~n^ bf I All thai Job nji fa en tint he has to eodim by befog regarded as one who ifl punished of God and form tlv with the description of th [a of the servant of Jehovah in the Psalms and th >nd part ol I aiah. Job MJS: tl gape at me with their month; and ia Pk nii. 6 (comp,

2]) it is: all thej thai sec me laneh me to -corn, they open

wide the lips, they ihake the bead. Job lays: they smite my cheeks in and the servant of Jehovah, Isa. 1. B, ii compelled to ronff>s: I inv hack to the smil:id my checks to them that pluck off the hair; I hid ict my face in the Psalms and in Naiah II. into the hands of the unrighteous, and i anmiii: evil- although lie is the servant of Jehovah, and knows himself to he Jehovah's vant. The same hope that he expresses in Isa. 1. S sq. in the words: he ia near who justifieth me, who will condemn me! — the same hope in Job breaks through the night of conflict, with which his direct and indirect suffering has surrounded him.

Just when Job becomes conscious of his doubled affliction in all its heaviness, when he feels himself equally rejected of men as of God, must this hope break forth. For there is only a twofold possibility for a man who thfnks God has become his enemy, and that he has not a friend among men: either he sinks into the abyss of despair; or if faith still exists, orapare the prayer of Juda ha-Leri, "T^K TOD (TO* (<— (il aipfs. dalusischt PoaUn andaltuischer tumndicated, con b distinct and separab >m in the chaos (,f tin- i-mitli mptation. Su hof. the thought of ■ vindication after death for Job, which knows only of a seeming life after death, according the notion that rales him, and which is hen not yet brol through, is only the extreme dem I by his moral con- lied to 1 i indication in this world; ind sses this faith (ch«xvL19) in these wm u Even now, behold, my Witness is in b. and One who acknou th me is in the In He poors forth tean to tlii- God that I te would 1 him, betwi his fri and him. He for this decision now, for he will now iooo be gone beyond return. Thus Job becomes here the proph the issue of hii own oonn nfferii andorerhii relation to E ih and to the f riends, of whom the form tndons him to the nn tth, and the latter declare him to be guilt v, hovers the form of the God of the future, which now breaks through the darkness, from whom Job believingly awaits and irn: what tl i- Qod of the

What Job (eh. wi. SO sq.), by reason of that confident

M Heboid, my Witness is in heaven," had ex] 1 as the end of liis longing, — that God would vindicate him both before

Himself, and before the friends and the world, — urges him

Onward, when he reflects upon his twofold affliction, that he is sick unto death and one who is misjudged even to mockery, to the importunate request: Lav down now (a pledge), be surety for me with Thyself; for who else should strike his hand into mine, i.e. in order to become bondsman to me, that

1 Ewald very truly says: M This is the true turn of the human controversy, which is favoured by the -whole course of Job's life, that he, though in the present utterly despairing of all, even God, still holds fast to the eternal hidden God of the future, and with this faith rises wondrously, when to all human appearance it seemed that he must succumb."

— thai i nranl of Jehovah who, once himself a prey to oppr n und mockingj now divides the spoil among the mighty, — tends to the reviving thening, and exaltation of [srad I

All theee parallels cannot and are not intended to prore that the 1" J b is hi alle I poem; bnt they prore thai the book of Job stands in the «t connection, both retroand J irith the literature of Israel; that the poet, by the relation to the passion-psalms stamped <>n the picture of the affliction of Job, has marked Job, whether consciously or an, is s typical person; that, by taking up, probably not unintentionally, many national traits he has mi le it natural to interpret Job as a Mashal of brad | and thai Isaiah himself confirms this typical relation, by borrowin Job-like expre in the figure of the

mrv lap, who i^ i personification of the true [sraeL The book of Job lias proved itself B mirror of lation for the people, faithful to God, who ha 1 cause to complain, as in Ps. xliv., and ■ mirror of Warning to their scoffers and persecutors, who had neither true sympathy with the miserable state of God'- people, nor a true perception of God's dealings. At the same time, however, Job appears in the light which the New Testament history, by the fulfilment of the prophecies of suffering in the Psalms, Isaiah, and also Zechariah, throws upon him, as a type of Him who suffers in like manner, in order that Satan may have his deserts, and thereby be confounded; who also has an affliction to bear which in itself has the nature and form of wrrath, but has its motive and end in the love of God; who is just so misjudged and scorned of men, in order at length to be exalted, and to enter in as intercessor for those who despised and rejected Him. At the same time, it must not be forgotten that there remains an infinite distance between the type and antitype, which, however, must be in the very nature of a type, and does not annul the typical relation, which exists only exceptis in tli lessness tl.:it t: greatness bs>

With this OM tl is linking, to God, not that He

•in him in life, but that II him before t Ii that 1:. And is

.1 in His. fined • ^ him a doubly rich and hension 5 fend after he hai learned from bis own experience that God brings to Ha lei and oufl again) be hai foe en r oon- <jiu'iT(l all fear of death) and the genii of a hope of a future life, which in the midst of hia affliction have broken thioogh himself as one isen from the dead, and is a pledge to himself of the resurrection from the dead*

PI en began Bildad the Shuhite, and said:]

3 When And fuurrouhfninded in your ey$$?

Jol/i speech rtainly are a trial of patience the three, and the heaviest trial to Bildad, whose turn now comes mi, because he is at pains throughout to be brief. Hence the reproach of endless babbling with which he begins here, as at eh. viii. 2, when he at last has an opportunity of iking; in connection with which it must, however, not be forgotten that Job also, ch. xvi. 3, satirically calls upon them to cease. He is indeed more entitled than his opponents to the entreaty not to weary him with long speeches. The question, ver. 2a, if *?:p is derived from J'i?? furnishes no sense, unless perhaps it is, with Ralbag, explained: how long do you make close upon close in order, when you seem to have come to an end, to begin continually anew 1 For to give the thought: how long do you make no end of speaking, it must have been X? njxiy? as the LXX. (fiexpt tivos ov iravarj;) involuntarily inserts the negative. And what should the plur. mean in th I in ac oca * usage

Some say that as one of a i with 1 e will oneness of thy name ha held with pro-

\ J b baa told the I kind in and all vn i idom * iself with the wh ( the * iprigl, ami m him in the plural, 1>< ■■ au • li unit, lias puffe 1 himself up as such a tive whole.

wranghr 1 — witl hind hin.

.-, ai ire irifl ipeal nly tl poesibl alk in tin- I DOl uliar to this consonant-combination in the whole range of the Semitic languages (comp. W*^j *L-S obstrusre, Aram.

nPOODD, man's heart), and after which this TCB has been explained by the Jewish expositors (Raschi: tftttDO -^"TU), and is interpreted by DDD (Parchon: OTJTI nono:), we gain a ibiut ill become detola- th ihe tone

. according in in' Kn a n»ck remove from its it teen bin in hie rage at I

. ruu eousrf /<. Bat that i be human po I to hum If-will, as i •: which ha bare treat* i Qod ia the Ian remains t ules over the evil ness of 1L fire in hi mas to gad inl kneai \ him, i.e.

the lamp hai from the coYeru him, the Aral) say ut out in v lamp; I gore of the <i rity n

■tepi ii joal ia biblical; Wit Tffi th which he could pass OTOT with a self-confident feeling of coining i: ml more contracted; and the purpose formed selfishly and without any recognition of God, the success of which lie considered infallible, becomes his overthrow.

as it is to bv • mikr passap in the M sponU DCIOTC to tlu1 fonnrr, hut <! »«-s DOt, hot Delude

T • u D ition in of the fow ler affirms that that i i lias been pivj long I prosperitj evil- From the

[inning tends towards rain. 1 of van |... the

MIJl as it would h<1 in Aral), in use till him with dismay, and haunt him, following upon hi.— <()m, i >ehin<] him, i GfaL aothoi pointin •: ■ itfa Segol ( ( where the prophet includes himself with his i PW,

I; would also probably not be used, but for the idea thai th him at every step, and ai. now I. end I ion is as it were multipli

The first-born of death devoureth his n rs. 1 1 That in which he trust away out of hit fent.

And he must march on to the king of terrors. 15 Beings strange to him J well in his tent;

Brimstone is strewn over his habitation.

The description of the actual and total destruction of the evil-doer now begins with W (as ch. xxiv. 14, after the manner of the voluntative forms already used in ver. 9).

p it traces his course to tl; which 1-:»v. B ben j^Mg. m all aidei spectres alar lestruction is ready to overwhelm

Dama I ra'b: r us b Hauran and among the

iy: iljaiatov); fur instead of a at the ride" (Arah. tZa gant>i), thej no more say in Hebrew than in Germ. u at the of him. The members, which ue celled ^nT in ch. xvii. 7, as parts of the form of the bodj, are here celled Ens, as the

parts into which the body branches out, or rather, since the word originally signifies a part, as that which is actually split off (vid. on ch. xvii. 16, wlure it denotes " cross-bars "), or according to appearance that which rises up, and from this primary signification applied feo the hotly and plants, the members (not merely as Farisol interprets: the veins) of which the body consists and into which it is distributed, "riy (distinct from T?l, ch. xvi. 15, similar in meaning to Arab. baschar, but also to the Arab. gildy of which the former signifies rather the epidermis, the latter the skin in the widest sense) is the soluble surface of the naked animal body. JYID Tbl devours this, and indeed, as the repetition implies, gradually, but surely and entirely. " The first-born of the poor," Isa. xiv. 30, are those not merely who belong (\}3) to the race of the poor, but the poor in the highest sense and first rank. So here diseases are conceived of as children of death, as in the Arabic malignant fevers are called bendt el-

Beduins) is a state of mind which only occurs among ns in a lower degree, but among the Arabs it is worthy of note as a psychological fact.

If the wahm (+j$ Jn, or idea of some great and inevitable danger or misfortune, overpowers the Arab, all strength of mind and body suddenly forsakes him, so that he breaks down powerless and defenceless. Thus on July 8, 1860, in Damascus, in a few hours, about 6000 Christian men were slain, without any one raising a hand or uttering a cry for mercy. Both European and native doctors have assured me the rob in Arabia kills, and I have witnessed instances myself. Since it often produces a stiffness of the limbs with chronic paralysis, all kinds of paralysis are called rob, and the paralytics mar tib. — Wetzst.

vn toog of ^tal arrows arc ca

Moreover, that disease which eat mi* could not be descr

:: an s necessary those who are affected always sa>:*dkama to avoid offendiog the compa: escape the hitii' This is tom a\N I llitur) ffOttl his ilao bimaelf did at 9tickel, tha and of the £ re$ regis), take

: an 1 deatrodioil causes him to march towards ry leader; hut riaee oifiee t ise to approach, and since no TvK (to itsclt)

ads with it, TjTC m denoting the goal, illy as? I nities instar. In the paaaa ad\ I in its favour it dffllHltt that which anything becomes, that which OM makes ■ thing bj the mode of treatment (ch. xxxix. 16), or whither anything extends (e.g. in Scholtens on ch. xiii. 12! ther btd daws li-machdlihi. i.e. eproaching to the claws" of wild Leasts).1 One falls into these linage interpretation! when one departs from the ntuation, which unites rwrbl "J^D quite correctly by

Death itself is called u the king of terrors," in distinction from the terrible disease which is called its first-born. Death is also personified elsewdiere, as Isa. xxviii. 15, and esp. Ps. xlix. 15, where it appears as a njn, ruler in Hades, as in the Indian mythology the name of the infernal king Jamas signifies the tyrant or the tamer. The biblical representation does not recognise a king of Hades, as Jamas and Pluto: the judicial power of death is allotted to angels, of whom one, the angel of the abyss, is called Abaddon (p"ttK), Apoc. ix. 11; and the chief possessor of this judicial power, o to tcparos €yo3v rov Oavdrov, is, according to Heb. ii. 14, the angelprince, who, according to the prologue of our book, has also 1 [Comp. a note infra on ch. xxi. 4. — Tr.]

brink of the abyss. It would th tli*- / every lium: being ii i of a criminal t. an unseen arm. In 1 5 the dei

Inti i affirm that i oom] men • him

■• lir t,,,ir ibodi in Mi taut Bat m shall not, ha ar. 7 in i lirerb rhicfa it ii rirh "m«j m jaekak and i. iuhal.it his domain, which m appointed t rial mfmitfiiliieai j neither children nor 1' «• nmrive him I p up his nam.-. What d dwell in his tr: ves only | p ap t: ollection of the

19 Hi Aati nttifcr offspring nor descendant among his people, Nor is there an u 0 m Us dweUin

The evil-doer is represented under the figure of a plant, ver. 16, as we have had similar figures already, eh. viii. 16

1 The desolation of his house is the most terrible calamity for the Semite, i.e. when all belonging to his family die or are reduced to poverty, their habitation is desolated, and their ruins are become, the byword of future generations. For the Beduin especially, although his hair tent leaves no mark, the thought of the desolation of his house, the extinction of his hospitable hearth, is terrible.— Wetzst.

tense of ancestor* and descendants ay be traced ba< t trice of lIcd&ib (as also the I nealogy, ban iu orig thrust him out of the light (of li I fame) into irkness (of misfortan ndoblivioi the they hunt him forth W ijn | the \ banish hii be habitable irorld ( for this is the rignifi- rth as built d ind inhabited). Th( remaii turn in hi boot; thai the rhyming all T- and "— on

. xiv. 22, ni ndants of p in high rank, and cert dnl ion than oar rhyming

•ily besides Ps. lv. Lfl Thus to die aws without des© ndant and mbnu ill at the present day among the \ rah r «s that profess Din Tbrdhim (the religion of Abraham) the most unhappy thought, for the point of gravitation of continuance beyond the grave is transferred by them to the immortality of the righteous in the continuance of hi terity and works in this world (yid.

supra, p. 260); and where else should it be at the time of Job, since no revelation had as yet drawn the curtain aside

1 The village with its meadow-land is el-beled wa U-berr. The arable land, in distinction from the steppe, is el-ardd el-amira, and the steppe is el-berrije. If both are intended, ardd can be used alone. Used specially, el-berrije is the proper name for the great Syrian desert; hence the proverb: el-lihurrije fi U-berrije, there is freedom in the steppe (not in towns and villages). — Wetzst.

f thoi those in the e:i<t. I the - bai md bated of gnat [ \ z-.:

"■pi" of punishment iii tin- -.k.M.lat.

It is manifest also bom this WfBtA, tiiat tl. „.|,., fegaL nothing of e van*:.,. F„rtli,., meraUyaay.) from trust b God*. m v. the- weal of which are forgiven 1, the habitual disposition of the man and the primary aim of his actions. The fact that the principle, " ■offering ia the consequence of human, unrighteousness," is accounted bv Jiildad as the formula of an inviolable law of the moral order of the world, is closely connected with that outward aspect of human righteousness. One can only thus judge when one regards human righteousness and human destiny from the purely

Lfl their * age of Christ, ar I!

stated ami explained that t; cstament a oooa man « «ea not cert* Retchi an 1 Parr In m \

IDA ay be =.. which is only a in lOOfl

• - rpreta Kimchi interprets accoid- the lark wild with j u nn-

A at. unci or with 17^5 *rS: m.N tiaiisgrcssinii •. Uh i:. boot being commtmi without has ing:m\ in!! iurs | tak is a doubl vrill j;ist tho which to l B in abruptly. I:s upon me • • in interpretation which

If: ally maintain that 1. nfferii ml uinption with th- n that 1 him (*?TO short

""-":. with the chai: the 6 of Tto CromTO, to search, hunt, into tJ. r u in inflexion, as lDUB from right and his freedom, so that he is indeed obliged to endure punishment In other words: if hi- suffering is really not garded otherwise than as the punishment of sin, as they would uncharitably and censoriously persuade him, it on his self-consciousness, which rebels against it, to the vol. T. Y n \\h; into their face as one which they

9 He hath $tripptd me of mini honou

And lifted | a tree my hoj

1 1 Ih JcindUd fill trri;fA apafclfJ mi, regarded mi as om

II ries aloud Don (that is c;i

O0tu«. or as an interje. id. on Hah. LI illegal rer liim. Hi la i<, bowen r with

God nor among men any response of aympathy and help; hi ht of an impartial hearing and ver <nng attains him. II it like a prison* lfined to a narrow space as no way out, since darkneti:uJ upon him where rer he may gt ied ii. 7 |; and, in fart, thi* speech generally sta in no ac itual rela: imentations it**- miah. I roil of mv bead*1 has also its parallel in Lam.

t. Ih, that which was Job's greatest ornament and most co> I is meant. According to ch. xxix. 14, pn and

DttTD we: I robe and diad. These robes of hon

Qod has stripped fr«»m him, this adornment more p: than a regal diadem He has taken from him since, i.e.. affliction puts him down as a transgressor, and abandons I to the insult of those around him. God destroyed him ro about (liWmaif), as a house that is broken down on all sides.

Mthohottof II He b i u if

It may seem strange that we do not connect ver. 12 with the preceding strophe or group of verses; but between vers. 7 and 21 there are thirty ariXoc, which, in connection with the arrangement of the rest of this speech in decastichs (accidentally coinciding remarkably with the prominence given to the number ten in ver. 3a), seem intended to be divided into three be so d

11,.1 bei the ooarse <>f the wra from him, he is obliged (/„,. with the sense of being, lc,j

... in th nly be in life a Hebrew,) is are drawn into 1S etill m< ically, require infinitta As: Qtuatkm, rdiog to which tfmm I

111 inlj * tfl bei ace in the

II VWD I nominal clam rbal < thai be rapplement,. ^\: if it the matter ami tl. n which of tl cplanati both of which are in tax po i- not ■ thought thai with t!

would by the infin. expl n: my entreating

1 Inr "■'' of til.- form VriaD il«r, if the Waw nunciation of the inte ZJWa, Wawy or even Re*a, at the beginning of the following hich might ea come blended with the final syllable T,; certainly the reason lies in the pronunciation or in the rhythm (vid. on Ps. cxvL 6, and eomp. the retreating of the tone in the »nWI (P>. Ixxvii. 11). Looking at this last exception, which has not yet been cleared op, tfTDIl in the present passage will always be able to be regarded on internal grounds either as infin. or as 1 prxt. The wfr/ma-accentuation makes the word at first sight appear to be infin., whereas in comparison with mj, which is accented on the penult., and therefore as 3 prxt., *m:rT) seems also to be intended as prxt. The accentuation, therefore, leaves the question in uncertainty.

hhtiun - to be c- ivc a mot that the in th •■ hat he has laid down in the pi let Winn w thai this poet, within tl his u which he has throw D hi> whol hroni inythii 1 i lelitiah Israelii • inch f ful: py improl nd when we, moi r in mind that b n makes t h I the destruction following explanation: u My soul titntion of which

1 1 Jin ii also iruilt \ "

their ear, for 1 in £ But he himself thinks this int tation Very I ad ini: and, in fact, it is improbable that in the division, vers. L3 19, wh:.' b mplaii an 1 indifference which he now • no those around him, 9D3 s:z should be the only d< among the living, in which case it would in tl Arabic n, to trans- of my body" Grandchildren (Ilir/.. Ew., Hlgst., Hahn) might be more readily thought of; but it is i bable, that after having introduced the ruin of all of Job's children, the poet would represent their children as still living, some mention of whom might then at least be expected in the epilogue. Others, again (Rosenm., Justi, Gleiss), after the precedent of the LXX. (viol izaWaKt^wv /xou), understand the sons of concubines (slaves). Where, however, should a trace be found of the poet having conceived of his hero as a polygamist, — a hero wdio is even a model of chastity and continence (ch. xxxi. 1)?

But must ^D2 *33 really signify his sons or grandsons % the childn n - Lring familk I I and if with difficult} in wl dial raise himself (nutptt, ak in t \s ith any on w hit made tin in he lias made known b plan mp. Pi, lv.

15) non abhor him; and thoee whom he bastha eh, iv. 17 x>me attach* and to whom he has shown and honour to him, when he was in the height of his bappin* but they have n n shown any sympathy with him in his | ■mn of dial Hi bon> ~~-~\ \. i k L\\. erroneously tad- 7T7]aai\ i.>. ropi) to his skin, >'.<. the bones maybe felt and d through the skin, and the little flesh tl ia pray almost to a skeleton (vid, eh. vii. 15). This is ■ contradictory to the primary chai symptom of

g*pr which genetically u Arabian sod

Qedthi " in ch. xviii. 13, is still in

Aral in the face of which all human sym-

by ceases. In the Beia <\

with tl. -removed:iile or two from the encampment,

where a charl. a small black hair-tent, is put up for him, and an old woman, who has no relations living, is given him as an attendant until he dies. No o: j him, not even his nearest relations. He is

cast off as muqatal ollah. — Wetzst. The prejudice combated by the

book of Job, that the leper is, as such, one who is smitten by the wrath of God, has therefore as firm hold of the Arabian mind in the present day as it had centuries ago.

. and especially if it tip in the with scorbutus, as is a

Mul phrase for Ml have with and difficulty

. whicl er inappi r ■ Is him which J. 1 K Michaelis al npppnKij i eh. i. i;>. Stickel has on thi

•' an excun to which fa ittritrates, in this addil triving after a the f if it may not always have the foi

•!. and i: ly de I thai then nothing left to hii ind skin I the skin of his

:h, wasted away I th to Bight and siik'11 a loathf; — such is the sufferer the l tlict which they only n more severe, — one who now implores them for pity, and becanse he lias no pity to expect

:n man, presses forward to a hope which readies beyond the grav.

21 II n me, ha / upon me, 0 ye my friends, For the hand of Eloah hath touched me.

22 Whi re fore do ye persecute me as God, And are never satisfied with my fie sit?

23 Oh that my words were hut written,

J b takes op n tural o weaker and weakt I the address t im| it is enough t •on nc minded t as if they nn Isa. x\ inlmi: are but his equals, look

»nr it f ii founded Uj mnion Semiti< v with the tooth of slander " I.

:it of heinous t they la irhich he is not Aj will not listen, might 1 in • book t in a rod 1 1 '. ith an u id the addition of

1, with which to fill up the • and ren with which th t throws himself hack into the pre-Israelitish patriarchal ti his hero, it is of all importance that he ascribes to him an acqnaintai not only with monumental writing, but also with hook and documentary writing (oomp. ch. xxxi. 33).

equivalent to "himself," witLout allowing otLers to do it, signifies to censure Lis kinsmen), and comp. tLe phrase -i'-^-" j£\ (aclu-l- idk£) in tLe signification orrodart txtititnationem hominum in Makkari,

- V" >roc: crermore hewn in the ro bi i chisel) *cmlpamtmr in tilice must be the usage of the language: the nn postrt'mu. be und h >. M dd think of nothiii at the

^OJTTJJ first of all nothing locality.

To affirm that if it to Job it i be ID] unfounded. Upon the dust in which he is no i laid,

1 In Aral ic Ju 5a only to the ancient language (whence 'q/oraaa, he I -: him into the dost, him opon I.1. inf. 'q/r);

larly t!. in the forcible proverb: nothing but ails the I man. 80 common is this signification, that a

::ib is therefore called turle

* substantially the m I W.« will at last posed that the - <>f tin- in would be the n of t! ness of his im. not always again swallow. darkn. so thai the this hi in by no I roe its origin in J: il Forms

. warp, which in it of the two op- Job's coi innoo postulate of the fri; and their ini luallyiu with the int B i also b ■ < ■. where the strongest expression is gh mfessian of his innooeno sion which not slum, but even

1 in a permanent form for posterity, and i at the same time in connection with this to the confidence that to him, who is misunderstood by men, the vindication froin the side of Qod, although it may be so long delayed that h. can nevertheless not be wanting. Accord- s of liis in uncharitahlcness of

G hifl future 1.' and that then, w hen at 1 sufferii the ial pr broaki through tl mani- wratl;. i that which Job had d I to

< I • ther I the n. ion of the older tranalat who find an expn \ of the hope

'ii at the end of ti le or the

. and whenc- the verb *|p3 obtain is living, and hereafter He wall stand forth [whieh must

TOJp instead of tfiffi] upon the earth and after my skin, this

■nrroandiog (VB&^ Chaldaiflm, instead of rttDp3 after the form nvj'py), and from my flesh shall I behold God, whom I shall behold for myself, and my eyes see [Him], and He is not strange."

2 Stickcl th- aiaintains that this dwmrttPtu of the LXX. is to be this will lit; And h I an il w< as litl raised from the dea restored to

1 In this Big recover, pr WW is naed ii. mi llW The rabbinical expos;

I this Targum, and in general furnish but little that is u or.l Tb of the be skill) which 1 and broken I tin* lepror 1 this was, tip • k en of rds m hich arbitrarily d hope in th- from each the translation:;m<l after this mv ikin

H 1 hall have put off this mv!:n rdine to 11':/ Pa mark, the verb always imme-

1 1, the sin ption, ally doabtfuL 2. It is that the. *up dd bmve thought of the

Uy harrying on to death, and by ^•j'z. on the other hand, of a body r up and glorified.

8. Still more improbable is it that Tba should be w used hi as in tho church's term,. which tainly an allowable expression, bat one which axe ie meanii of the language of Scripture. "lfcO, erupt;, is in general, and especially in the Old Testament, a notion which has grown up in almost inseparable connection with the marks of frailty

1 Thus, according to the Turkish Kamus: to sever the skull from

(cJ^) tne brain, i.e. so that the brain is laid bare, or also e.g. to split the coloquintida [or bitter cucumber], so that the seeds are laid bare, or: to crack the bones and take out the marrow, cognate with y_ ~q«, for the act of piercing an egg is called both naqaba and naqafa-hheidha. In Hebrew 5)p: coincides with Pp3, not with apj.

ball I behold to Am it m tli. r;litls

■ in tl: ' tlu ht deepaiitd of that he,11 into tl •;, at all

I thai 1 1 rthwhh con him in lore, And thai Job hen holds firm, even beyond death, to the \. beholding ' in the fut < a wit • hia;„„, and it is entirely in with the inner i of tl: ana, thai the thought of a redemption from Hades, in tj,e latt,r I,:1 • for the rescue of the honour of his Wood, which is even d uuranteed him by his witness in heaven, are hi mprehended, in the confident certainty that his blood and his dust will not be declared by God the

Re- r as innocent, without his being in some way conscious of it, though freed bom this hi ing body. In ver. 27 he declares how he will behold God: whom I shall behold to me, i.e. I, the deceased one, as beino- for me. (h like n. lvi. 10, cxviii. G), and my eyes see Him, and not a stranger. Thus (neque alius) LXX., Targ., Jerome, and most others translate; on the other hand, Ges. Thes., Umbr., Vaih., Stick., Halm, and von Hofm. translate: my eyes see Him, and indeed not as an enemy; but IT signifies alknus and amis, not however adversarius, which latter meanino- it in ntlj in [is i in him pine al ib. also, as in seat ll and deepest a:

stand it of an absolutely bodileai

.1.1 with a new 8] J body instead of the old decayed on

. that this spiritual body, these eyes wl. shall future w I into 000 presei bodyol Boalk Bol his faith is here OH the to the hope of a resurrection; we see it germinal nggling to* ht. A the tl. iris which becom< y than this third. Al in the secon the fifty-third cha: Uj and inwardly the middle and bjghool point of the 8 X 9 ptonlmfa utterance*, so the poet «.f the book of Job has adorned the middle of his work with this confession of Ids lien., wherein ho himself plants the flag of victory above his own gra-.