account, nor desist at their complaint-" Lo! HE taketh away, who can make him restore?-Who will say to him, What art thou doing? Eloah averts not his anger-the proud helpers fall beneath him" -"What then, can I put him on his reply," &c. Zophar treats these conceptions of God as totally irrelevant; as if the Almighty would deal with him according to the rule of his own greatness, and not by those rules of equity with which he dealt with all other mortals, and which were easy to be understood, if he could apply them, in simplicity, to himself, and humbly supplicate to God. As for pleading the difficulty of understanding the dealings of God with you, because of his eternal power and godhead,' God does not require of you, or of any man, to understand this. The rule by which you are judged, and by which you will obtain deliverance, you will find plain and easy, and level with the human capacity. 11. Surely He will note the vain-endeavouring mortal", When he shall see travail, and cannot himself distintinguish : 12. And an empty man might have possessed understanding, Although man be born a wild ass's colt; The mortals of vanity, or vainly endeavouring. 6 Or, “though he-man-seeth sin, and doth not himself understand it." Or, possibly, the meaning may be, Surely he' -Job, will approve of vain persons; and will look at iniquity, and cannot himself distinguish. Yet an empty man may acquire intelligence, or exercise intellect, &c.' C a. "Cor."-i. e. sanam rationem 66 LEX. See also PARKHURST. accipiet." SIM. 13. If thou hadst made the preparations of thine under standing, And hadst spread unto Him thine hands! Upon the whole, I believe this to be the most proper rendering of this very difficult passage*. God certainly knoweth, or will take notice of the situation of poor vain mortals, how little all their pains and labours can avail without him, to come to the true knowledge of things. But empty as man is, and, as born into the world, as devoid of all rudiment of knowledge, as the young of the most senseless animal; yet he may attain to knowledge, -or, "yet he will have a HEART,-will be found endowed with a capacity, and may exercise it; and if you had properly prepared your heart,-had rightly directed the inquiries of your mind, accompanying them with diligent prayer to God; you would not have failed to know all that is sufficient, in order to understand the nature of God's dealings with you; you would have discovered the iniquity, for which he is afflicting you; without vainly perplexing yourself, about the immensity of God, and the inscrutability of his ways of providence." very The difficulty will appear from the tion Mr. Good can put upon this passage. different construc "Behold! God knoweth the man of falsehood, But I believe Job's answer, in the third verse of the follow ing chapter, shows the true meaning of the most obscure ילבב term Again, we observe, how much truth there is in these observations! and, though severely urged, yet how applicable they are to the case of Job! But he is righteous in his own eyes, and cannot be convinced that there is such iniquity in him, and accordingly, to justify himself, he would involve all Providence in inscrutable mystery. 14. If there is wickedness in thine hands, put it far away, And let not iniquity dwell in thy tent. 15. For then shalt thou lift up thy face without a spot", Thou shalt be established, and not fear. 16. For thou shalt forget thy trouble, As waters which have flowed past shalt thou remember' it.' 17. From noon-tide the passing day shall rise, The revolving evening shall be as the dawn. 18. And thou shalt be confident that there is hope, Ay, thou shalt search, and lie down in confidenced: Zophar concludes his speech, by exhorting him ميم 6 quidquid corpus deturpat' in specie variolæ.' Be consolidated,' or bound up, or braced and made firm. Perhaps the reference is to the restoration of bodily health. ,העפה obscuratus fueris' subintellecto DN. SIM. Lex. "Obscurus eris, ut aurora eris." SCHULTENS. "Thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt grow vigorous like the day spring'". Durell considers yn as a noun. "The darkness shall be as the morning." The primary meaning of the root is gyrari in aëre.' dSecure thou shalt be, for substantial the support." to repentance, and by maintaining against him the equity of the Divine government. 19. And thou shalt repose, and no one disturb", Ay, multitudes shall wait thy presence. 20. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, And refuge shall perish from them, Ay, their hope shall be an expiring breath". If Job repented of his sins, his health should be restored, his day, which he thought so fast declining, should dawn again in its evening, and unbounded be his prosperity. And as surely should the wicked meet with a just retribution from a righteous and avenging Providence. SECTION VI. Job's Reply to Zophar. JOB replies, with great indignation, to the suggestion of Zophar, that he had not taken the proper pains to cultivate his understanding; and, with great confidence, denies the doctrine of a just and equal providence in the affairs of life,-a doctrine which his friends are urging so strongly against him, as affording proof of his criminality. He maintains his former position,-that this life is often the reign of wickedness and oppression, that Providence does a * Or,' dig,' or ' intrench thyself.' signifies the 'hurry' and bustle of business, as well as of fear and terror. b A puff of breath. PARKHURST. A scattered breath. GooD. not proceed in the way his friends suppose, in the distribution of rewards and punishment, that it is only in a future state that the servant of God can look for the manifestation of his approbation. Chap. xii. ver. 1. And Job answered and said, 2. Doubtless, ye are the people, And wisdom will die with you. 3. I, too, have an understanding like you, I do not fall short' of you: And with whom are not such 'sayings' as these? In this last verse, he refers to the twelfth of the last chapter, the expression is the same. And Zophar had reflected upon Job as not having exercised his natural capacity and understanding, especially in his not perceiving the truth, and application of these solemn aphorisms,' sayings,' or 'parables' of the ancient sages, which, it seems, was their book of knowledge. Job says, he knows them as well as they; who, indeed, does not? He proceeds to complain of their unkind treatment of him in his distress: 4. A man' derided by his friends I may be ! b "Let him call upon Eloah, and he will answer him!" "Just:""upright:" is taunted at misfortune! .לבב T5, cum præf. ' calamitoso' (propr. calamitati.) SIM. LEX. To the same effect, SCHULTENS and COCCEIUS. |