er. 1 Kings x. 1; Psa. Ixxii. 10; Ezek. xxvii. 22. cisi sunt, they are cut off, having no fountain from whence to draw a supply. When it is hot—In the hot season, when waters are most refreshing and necessary; they are consumed out of their place-The place where the traveller expected to find them to his comfort; but they are gone he knows not whithThe paths of their way are turned aside That is, the courses of those waters are changed; they are gone out of their channel, flowing hither and thither, till they be quite consumed, as it here follows. There "is a noble climax," as Heath observes, in these last three verses; "a most poetical description of the torrents in the hot climates. By extraordinary cold they are frozen over, but the sun no sooner exerts its power than they melt; they are exhaled by the heat, till the stream for smallness is diverted into many channels; it yet lasts a little way, but is soon quite evaporated and lost." Verse 19. The troops of Tema looked-This place and Sheba were both parts of the hot and dry country of Arabia; in which waters were very scarce, and therefore precious and desirable, especially to travellers. The word in, orchoth, signifies companies of travellers or merchants, such as that mentioned Gen. xxxvii. 25, A company of the Ishmaelites came from Gilead, with their camels, &c., or those spoken of Isaiah xxi. 13, 14, In the forest of Arabia shall ye lodge, O ye travelling companies. The inhabitants of Tema brought water, &c. The Hebrew word, however, properly means ways, or roads; but is here put for travellers in the ways, by a common metonymy. The companies of Sheba waited for them-The Scenitæ, who lived in tents, may here be included, as well as the troops before mentioned, for they removed with their cattle from one place to another for the convenience of pasture and water. It must be observed, men did not there travel singly as we do, but in companies, for their security against wild beasts and robbers. "By a very slight alteration in the pointing, Mr. Heath so translates this verse as to introduce the speaker using a prosopopœia, or addressing himself to the travellers: Look for them, ye troops of Tema, ye travel-| lers of Sheba, expect them earnestly. This gives great life to the poetry, and sets a very beautiful image before the eye: the travellers wasting their time, depending on those torrents for water; but, when they come hither, how great the disappointment!"-Dodd. Verse 20. They were confounded-That is, the troops and companies were miserably disappointed; harshness of his friends. B. C. 1520. 22 Did I say, Bring unto me? or, A. M. 2484. Give a reward for me of your substance? 23 Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand? or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty? 24 Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. 10 Or, For now ye are like to them. Chapter xiii. 4. 11 Heb. not. Psa. xxxviii. 14. because they hoped-Comforted themselves with the expectation of water there to quench their thirst; they came, and were ashamed-To think that they should expect relief from such uncertain streams, and had deceived themselves and others. Thus we prepare confusion for ourselves by our vain hopes: the reeds break under us because we lean upon them. Verse 21. For now ye are nothing, &c.—Just such are you, who, seeing my calamity, afford me no comfort, and seem afraid lest I should want something of you. Thus Job very properly applies the preceding most beautiful description of the torrents in the hot climates, to his three friends who thus disappointed his expectations. Indeed, it is a very fine image of pretended friends in adversity. When their help is most wanted and coveted, they are too apt to fail the expectations of those that trusted in them. They may properly enough be said to be either frozen or melted away by adversity. All their warm professions are congealed, as it were, when adverse circumstances have laid hold on their friends, and their friendship is quite dissolved and melted away. Ye see my casting down, and are afraid— You are shy of me, and afraid for yourselves, lest some further plague should come upon me, wherein you, for my sake, should be involved; or, lest I should be burdensome to you. Therefore you are to me as if you had never come; you are nothing to me, for I have no help or comfort from you. Verses 22, 23. Did I say-Or, is it because I said; Bring unto me?-Give me something for my support or relief? Is this, or what else is the reason why you are afraid of me, or alienated from me? Did either my former covetousness, or my present necessity, make me troublesome or chargeable to you? or, Give a reward for me of your substanceOr, Give a gift for my use or need? Did I send for you to come and visit me for this end? Nay, did you not come of your own accord? Why then are you so unmerciful to me? You might at least have given me comfortable words, when I expected nothing else from you. Or, Deliver me from the enemy's hand?-By power and the force of your arms, as Abraham delivered Lot; or, Redeem me from the hand of the mighty?—Namely, by price or ransom. Verses 24, 25. Teach me-Instead of censuring and reproaching, instruct and convince me by solid arguments; and I will hold my tongue-I will patiently hear and gladly receive your counsels; and cause me to understand wherein I have erred Show me my mistakes and miscarriages; for I am ready to receive your reproofs, and humbly to submit to them. How forcible are right words!—The words of truth and solid argument have a marvellous power to convince and persuade a man; and, if yours were such, I should readily yield to them. But what doth your arguing reprove?—There is no||-Hebrew, Be willing; look upon me, or, to look truth in your assertions, nor weight in your arguments, and therefore they are of no account, and have no power with me. all I thought, as to my friends, and you from thence take occasion to cast me down. There is nothing in the Hebrew for the word pit: it is literally, You dig for your friend; or as Heath and Houbigant render it, make a mock of your friend. Verse 26. Do you imagine to reprove words?— What! is all your wisdom employed for this, to catch hold of and reprove some of my words, without making allowance for human infirmity or extreme misery? and the speeches of one that is desperate? Of a poor, miserable, helpless, and hopeless man; which are as wind-Which you esteem to be like wind, vain and light, without solidity, giving a sound, but with little sense, and to little purpose. Heath renders it, Are they as the wind? vain and empty. Verse 27. Ye overwhelm the fatherless-Your words are not only vain, useless, and uncomfortable to me, but also grievous and pernicious. Hebrew, 1797, tappilu, you rush, or throw yourselves upon him. You fall upon him with all your might, and say all that you can devise to charge and grieve him. You load him with censures and calumnies. The word, jathom, here rendered fatherless, means a solitary person in distress, as well as an orphan; or one desolate. Job intends himself by the expression, being deprived of all his children, and of all his estate, and forsaken by his friends. And you dig a pit for your friend-You insult and triumph over me, whom once you owned for your friend. I spoke Verse 28. Now therefore be content, look upon me upon me, the second imperative being put for the infinitive. Be pleased to consider me and my cause further and better than you have done, that you may give a more true and righteous judgment concerning it; for it is-Or rather, will be; evident-You will plainly discover it; if I lie-A little farther consideration and discourse will make it manifest if I have uttered any thing untrue or without foundation, and I shall readily acknowledge it. Verse 29. Return, I pray, let it not be iniquityOr, Recollect yourselves, I beseech you; call it not wickedness: yea, return again; my righteousness is in it-Or, Consider it yet again, righteousness may be in me.-Chappelow. Notwithstanding your suspicions, if you will examine more candidly and strictly, you may, perhaps, be convinced that I am not the sinner you think; but that righteousness is still in me, though I have fallen under these sore afflictions. Verse 30. Is there iniquity in my tongue?-Consider, if there be any iniquity, or untruth, in what I have already said, or shall further speak? Have I hitherto uttered any thing that is faulty? Cannot my taste discern perverse things-That is, my understanding, which judges of words and actions, as the palate doth of meats. I hope it is not so corrupted but that I can discern what is bad, though spoken by myself. A. M. 2484. CHAPTER VII. Job bemoans himself to his friends, 1–6. To God, 7-16. Begs for pardon and death, 17-21. 1 Or, a warfare. 3 NOTES ON CHAPTER VII. Verse 1. Is there not, &c.-Job is here excusing what he cannot justify, his passionate longing for death. An appointed time for man upon earthHeb. xy, tzaba, a warfare; or, time of warfare. ling? a Chap. xiv. 5, 13; Psa. xxxix. 4. B. C. 1520. The Targum is, Chela, militia. The Vulgate, militia est vita hominis, The life of man is a warfare. The heathen had the same thoughts of life: o de Bios поhεμоs, M. Anton. 1. ii. sec. 17. Comp. ch. xiv. 14. All the days, tzebai, of my appointed time; Job complains of JOB. е his grievous afflictions. A. M. 2484. 2 As a servant 2 earnestly desireth || 6 My days are swifter than a weaver's A. M. 2484. the shadow, and as a hireling looketh shuttle, and are spent without hope. for the reward of his work: B. C. 1520. b 3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. 3 4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day. 5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loath some. Heb. gapeth after. -b-Chap. xxix. 2.- Deut. xxviii. 67; Chap. xvii. 12.- 3 Heb. the evening be measured. -d Isa. xiv. 11. Chap. ix. 25; xvi. 22; xvii. 11; Psa. xc. 6; cii. 11; ciii. 15; cxliv. 4; Isa. xxxviii. 12; xl. 6; James iv. 14. militiæ meæ, of my warfare. But our own translation appears to be as agreeable to the Hebrew, and to contain as good sense, as any other. Job seems to mean, Is there not a short time, limited by God, wherein man shall live in this sinful and miserable world; that afterward he may live in a more holy and happy place and state? And is it a crime in me to desire that God would bring me to that joyful period? Our time on earth is limited and short, according to the narrow bounds of this earth... But heaven cannot be measured, nor the days of heaven numbered. Reader, consider this! Are not his days also like the days of a hireling ?-Whose time is short, being but a few years or days, and whose condition is full of toil and hardship. Verse 2. As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow-Of the evening, the sun-set, or the night, the time allotted for his rest and repose. For man goeth forth to his labour until the evening, Psa, civ. 23. So, why may not I also desire the time of my rest? The Hebrew, however, x, jishap tzel, is more literally rendered, gapeth, or panteth after the shade. And the meaning probably is, As a servant, labouring in the heat of the sun, earnestly desires a cool, refreshing shade. And as a hireling -Heb. 1, sacir, properly, a servant hired for a certain time, whereas, the preceding word, y, gnebed, signifies a servant, whose time of service is not fixed or limited looketh for the reward of his work—As the Heb. 5, pognal, according to Buxtorf, signifies both work, and, by a metonymy, the wages of work, and is accordingly translated wages, (Lev. xix. 13,) the words in the Italic character (namely, the reward of) did not need to be added here in the text, but the version might properly have been, As a hireling looketh, or, as Heath renders it, earnestly longeth for his wages. Verse 3. So am I made to possess, &c.-This word, so, respects not so much the desire of a hired servant, as the cause of it, his hard toil and service. He means, God hath allotted me these painful sufferings, as he hath allotted to a hired servant hard labour. Months of vanity-Months empty and unsatisfying, or false and deceitful, not affording me B. C. 1520, 7 O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more 5 see good. 8 4 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. 9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. 10 He shall return no more to his house, i nei ther shall his place know him any more. f Psalm lxxviii. 39; lxxxix. 47.-Hebrew, shall not return. 5 To see, that is, to enjoy. - Chap. xx. 9. That is, I can live no longer.h 2 Sam, xii. 23.- iChap. viii. 18; xx. 9; Psa. ciii. 16. the ease and rest which they promised me, and I expected. He terms them months, rather than days, to signify the tediousness of his affliction. And wearisome nights-He mentions nights, because that is the saddest time for sick and miserable persons; the darkness and solitude of the night being of themselves uncomfortable, and giving them more op portunity for solemn and sorrowful reflections. Verses 5, 6. My flesh is clothed with worms— Which were bred out of his corrupted flesh and sores, and which, it seems, covered him all over like a garment. And clods of dust-The dust of the earth on which he lay. My skin is broken-By ulcers breaking out in all parts of it. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle-Which passes in a moment from one side of the web to the other. So the time of my life hastens to a period; and therefore vain are those hopes which you would give me of a restoration to my former prosperity in this world. And are spent without hope-Of enjoying any good day here. Verses 7, 8. O remember-He turns his speech to God; perhaps observing that his friends grew weary of hearing it. If men will not hear us, God will: if men cannot help us, he can: for his arm is not shortened, neither is his ear heavy. The eye, &c., shall see me no more-In this mortal state: I shall never return to this life again. Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not-If thou cast one angry look upon me, I am not; that is, I am a dead man: or, when thine eyes shall be upon me, that is, when thou shalt look for me to do me good, thou wilt find that I am not, that I am dead and gone, and incapable of enjoying that bounty and goodness which thou givest to men in this world. Verses 9, 10. As the cloud is consumed-Being dissolved by the heat of the sun. And vanisheth away-Never to return again. So he that goeth down, &c., shall come up no more-Never until the general resurrection. When you see a cloud, which looked great, as if it would eclipse the sun, of a sudden dispersed and disappearing, say, Just such a thing is the life of man, a vapour that appears for a while and then vanisheth away. He shall return no Job deplores his agitated B. C. 1520. CHAPTER VII. A. M. 2484. 11 Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. and harassed state. B. C. 1520. 15 So that my soul chooseth A. M. 2484. 16 I loathe it; I would not live always: 12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest alet me alone; for my days are vanity. watch over me? m 17 What is man, that thou shouldest mag 13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, nify him? and that thou shouldest set thy more to his house-He shall no more be seen and known in his former habitation. It concerns us to secure a better place when we die: for this will own us no more. || Verse 11. Therefore I will not refrain, &c.— Since my life is so vain and short, and, when once lost, without all hopes of recovery. I will plead with God for pity before I die; I will not smother || my anguish within my breast, but will ease myself by pouring out my complaints. Verse 12. Am I a sea- —Am I as fierce and unruly as the sea, which, if thou didst not set bounds to it, would overwhelm the earth? Or a whale?—Am I a vast and ungovernable sea-monster? that thou settest a watch over me ?-That thou must restrain me by thy powerful providence; must shut me up and confine me under such heavy, unexampled, and insupportable sufferings, as these creatures are confined by the shore?"To set a watch over a whale," says Dr. Dodd, "is certainly a very improper and absurd idea. Hence Houbigant, by a very slight alteration, reads it, Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou raisest a tempest against me? an idea which very well suits with that storm of troubles, wherewith Job was nearly overwhelmed." We are apt in affliction to complain of God, as if he laid more upon us than there is occasion for: whereas we are never in heaviness but when there is need, nor more than there is need. dreams may neither defile nor disquiet us; neither Verse 15. So that my soul chooseth strangling— Verse 16. I loath it-To wit, my life, last mentioned. I would not live alway--In this world, if I might, no not in prosperity; for even such a life is but vanity; much less in this extremity of misery. Let me alone-That is, withdraw thy hand from me, either, 1, Thy supporting hand, which preserves my life, and suffer me to die: or, rather, 2, Thy correcting hand, as this phrase signifies, verse 19. For my days are vanity→My life is in itself, and in its best estate, a vain, unsatisfying, uncertain thing, empty of solid comfort, and exposed to real griefs, and therefore I would not be for ever tied to it. And it is a decaying and perishing thing, and will, of itself, quickly vanish and depart, and does not need to be forced from me by such exquisite torments. Verse 17. What is man-Enosh, lapsed, fallen Verses 13, 14. My couch shall ease my complaint|| man; that thou shouldest magnify him?—What is -By giving me sweet and quiet sleep, which may there in that poor, mean creature called man, misertake off my sense of pain for that time. Then thou able man, which can induce thee to take any notice scarest me with dreams-With sad and frightful of him, or to make such account of him? Man is not dreams. And terrifiest me with visions-With hor-worthy of thy favour, and he is below thy anger. It rid apparitions; so that I am afraid to go to sleep, and my remedy proves as bad as my disease. This contributed no little to render the night so unwelcome and wearisome to him. How easily can God, when he pleases, meet us with terror there where we promised ourselves ease and repose. Nay, he can make us a terror to ourselves; and, as we have often contracted guilt, by the rovings of an unsanetified fancy, he can likewise, by the power of our imagination, create us a great deal of grief, and so make that our punishment which has often been our sin. Job's dreams might probably arise, in part, from his distemper, but, no doubt, Satan also had a hand in them. We have reason to pray, that our is too great a condescension in thee, and too great an Verse 18. And that thou shouldest visit him- Job deplores his agitated A. M. 2184. B. C. 1520. 19 How long wilt thou not depart that I am a burden to myself? A. M. 2484. from me, nor let me alone till I swal- 21 And why dost thou not pardon low down my spittle? my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. 20 I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou Preserver of men? why hast thou set me a mark against thee, so as r Psa. xxxvi. 6. Chap. xvi. 12; Psa. xxi. 12; Lam. iii. 12. as the evening (verse 4) is put for the whole night; the Creator of man, delightest to be, and to be called, and try him every moment-That is, afflict him, the Preserver and Saviour of men; and who waitest which is often called trying, because it does indeed to be kind and gracious to men, from day to day: try a man's faith, and patience, and perseverance. do not deal with me in a way contrary to thy own But this and the former verse may possibly be un- nature and name, and to the manner of thy dealing derstood of mercies as well as afflictions. Having with all the rest of mankind. As Job had expressed declared his loathing of life, and his passionate desire || himself before as if he thought he was treated with of death, and urged it with this consideration, that severity, Schultens chooses to render ), notzer, the days of his life were mere vanity; he may be observer, rather than preserver. This indeed seems considered as pursuing his argument with this ex- to be more agreeable to the context, which intimates postulation, What is man, that vain, foolish creature, that the eye of God was upon Job to observe and that thou shouldest magnify, or regard, or visit him || watch him as an offender; and this construction with thy mercy and blessings; that thou shouldest may be justified from Jer. iv. 16, where the same so far honour and regard him, as by thy visitation to word, in the plural number, is rendered watchers. preserve his spirit, or hold his soul in life; and try According to this translation the meaning is, O thou him, which God doth, not only by his afflictions, but al- observer of men, who dost exactly know and diliso by prosperity, and both inward and outward bless- gently observe all men's inward motions and outings? That thou shouldest observe his motions every ward actions; if thou shalt be severe to mark mine moment, as in care for him, and jealous over him? iniquities, as thou seemest to be, I have not what to say or do unto thee. Why hast thou set me as a rows of thy indignation? So that I am a burden to myself-I am weary of myself and of my life, being no way able to resist or endure the strokes of so potent an adversary. Verse 19. How long wilt thou not depart from me -How long will it be ere thou withdraw thy afflict-mark, &c.-Into which thou wilt shoot all the aring hand from me? The Hebrew is literally, How long wilt thou not take thine eyes off me? "This," says Dodd, "is a metaphor from combatants, who never take their eyes from off their antagonists. The figure is preserved in the next sentence, which represents a combatant seized by his adversary in such a manner as to prevent his swallowing his spittle or fetching his breath." Till I swallow my spittle?— For a little while: or, that I may have a breathing time: an Arabic proverb at present in use. See Schultens. Verse 20. İhave sinned-Although I am free from those crying sins for which my friends suppose thou hast sent this uncommon judgment upon me; yet I freely confess that I am a sinner, and therefore obnoxious to thy justice. And what shall I do unto thee?-To satisfy thy justice, or regain thy favour. I can do nothing to purchase or deserve it, and therefore implore thy mercy to pardon my sins; O thou Preserver of men-Ọ thou, who, as thou wast Verse 21. Why dost thou not pardon, &c.—Seeing thou art so gracious to others, so ready to preserve and forgive them; why may not I hope for the same favour from thee? For now shall I sleep in the dust-If thou dost not speedily help me it will be too late, I shall be dead, and so incapable of receiving those blessings which thou art wont to give to men in the land of the living; and thou shalt seek me, &c., but I shall not be-When thou shalt diligently seek for me that thou mayest show favour to me, thou wilt find that I am dead and gone, and so wilt lose the opportunity of doing it; help, therefore, speedily. The consideration of this, that we must shortly die, and perhaps may die suddenly, should make us all very solicitous to get our sins pardoned, and our iniquities taken away CHAPTER VIII. Bildad affirms that Job had spoken amiss, 1-3. That if he would sincerely seek to God, God would help him, 4-7. That it is usual with God to destroy the hypocrite, 8-19. The joy of the upright, 20–22. 526 |