3. When he caused his lamp to shine over my head, And by his light I could walk through darkness". 4. As it was in the days of my in-gathering",

my

с

When the counsel of Eloah was over my tent.

That is, when I not only gathered the fruits of land in their season, but, by the blessing and superintendent care of God, enjoyed them in peace and safety.

d

5. When my strength was yet in me, My children surrounded me.

6. When my path was washed with wine,

And the rock poured me out rivers of oil.

7. When I came to the gate of the assembly, When I took my seat in the broad place.

Job, in his prosperity, had been one of the chiefs of his people; he had been the object of universal respect, whenever he appeared at their public meetings, for judicial or other public business.

a

Or, from the Arabic, and by his light darkness was lightened.

Or," of my abundance," "felicitas opum incrementum, ex significatione radicis Arab. n lucratus est in 4 conjug. projecit felixque fuit opum incremento ac bene habuit. Melius Schultens, a rad. Arab., in cha. collegit fructus autumnales, &c. SIM. LEX.

C Or, the consultation of Eloah.' Mr. Good, "When God fortified my tent;" or, "the confirming of Eloah." From firmatur statuit, trop. tutum, invictumque præstitit.

d From the Arabic J, ; see Mr. Good.

• See under p, p, and their derivatives. The gate, we well know, was the court for all public business: the was a wide open space near the gate, where the markets, and, perhaps, the more public assemblies were held.

8. The young saw me, and concealed themselves, And the aged arose where I stooda.

The younger, awed by respect, retired, and "shrunk back from his immediate circle, where the aged stood up around him."

9. The chiefs refrained from speaking,
And laid their' hand upon their mouth.

b

10. The leaders suppressed their voice,

And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth. 11. For the ear heard, and paid me marked attention, And the eye saw, and was fastened upon mee. 12. Because I would deliver the afflicted when he cried, And the fatherless, and him that had no helper.

13. The blessing of them who were perishing would come

on me,

And I was wont to make the widow's heart to sing for joy.

14. I put on justice, that it should be my vestment, As a robe and a crown was my equity.

15. I was eyes to the blind,

And feet was I to the lame.

16. I was a father to the poor,

f

And the cause of a stranger would I search into.

a Mr. Good," ranged themselves about me," reading Y

6

c. For the ear heard,' i. e. ' every ear,' &c.

d From the Arabic, præhabuit aliquem alteri, quasi eminentiæ notâ illum insignavit ut ab altero distinguatur." "It blessed me." Mr. GOOD.

e It hung upon me. Mr. Good. "Kept again and again. looking upon me."

Or, the cause which I did not know,' or, of him I knew not.'

17. And I would break the jaws of the wicked, And let loose the prey from his teeth.

A finished picture, it must be acknowledged, of that integrity and public virtue, which, when united with power and spirit, was likely to command the respect of all. It did do so; and Job was happy in the many testimonies he received of the universal approbation of his fellow-men, and he anticipated nothing less than a long continuance of prosperity, as well from the good will of his fellow-creatures, as from the perpetual dew of the divine blessing.

18. Then I said, "I shall die in my nest, And multiply my days as the sand.

19. My root is expanded to the waters,

And the dew shall lodge at night on my boughs.

20. My honours are fresh upon me,

And my bow shall be renewed in my hand.

I thought I might count on lasting prosperity, so permanent and inexhausted seemed to be the sources of my wealth; especially, so well established was I in the good opinion and fond attachment of all my countrymen, that I little feared

a reverse.

21. For me they listened, and attended, And were silent on my admonition:

22. After I had spoken, they replied not,

But my speech dropped upon them as the dew :'

23. Ay, they expected me as the rain,

And opened their mouths as for the showers of the spring.

24. I would laugh with them, and they could not contain themselves;

The light of my countenance they met not with depression".

25. I chose their course, and sat as' chief,

And I pitched my tent as king in the troop,

I was as he that condoleth with the mourners". So great was formerly the respect and veneration which they all entertained for him, that his influence over them, and the authority of his example, was unlimited. How could he have ever imagined that he should, in the midst of the same people, or at least in the same spot, become an object of scorn and contempt?

Or, if I laughed, or smiled upon them,' "they were no longer stiff,' rigid,' or immoveable,' i. e. they were altogether the contrary, they were active, lively, gay,' and playful." Mr. GOOD.

Literally, "they lowered not the brow; their looks cast not down, the cheerful countenance I presented to them."

, ras, a term still used in the eastern language for a chief, or governor. The whole is an exact picture of Arabian manners at this day. In the public council, the chief sits in the middle of a ring, which his tribe forms round him. In like manner, in their encampments, their tents are often pitched in a distant ring round that of the Sheik.

The condoler with the mourners' should certainly form a parallel with the above. I conceive the reference is to the person who led the doleful cry and lamentations used at funerals, &c. He struck up the dirge, and gave the note, "wep —εν χορῳ δε κορυφαίος,” and all imitated him in his tone and gestures, and followed him in all his variations. This completes the picture of Job's former influence over the manners and opinions of his countrymen.

SECTION XIX.

With his late prosperity, Job contrasts his present contempt and misery.

Such an event, however, had actually come to pass. The vilest now despised Job.

Chap. xxx. Ver. 1. But now they have made their sport of

me,

Those who are less than me in years!

Whose fathers I had scorned

To place with the dogs of my flock!

The former object of so much respect was now, in the season of his adversity, become the contempt of all his neighbours, and an object of their wanton insults and it aggravates much the description of this reverse, according to the manners of ancient times, to tell us, that his years were not respected by the younger. There is evidently, also, a particular class of young people in his neighbourhood, of whom Job especially complains. He describes them as having suddenly risen from a very abject class of society. This fact, I think, discovers itself to us, and it throws much light on the following verses, that the sudden overthrow of Job, "the greatest of all the men in the east," had produced a kind of revolution in the state of the country, and that some predatory tribe, in the adjoining parts of Arabia, of a very base and abject character, taking advantage of the destruction of the exceeding great household' of Job, had enlarged their borders, and, from the adjacent desert, whither they had been driven, had spread themselves over