Job threatens his persecutors B. C. 1520. A. M. 2484. 28 But ye should say, Why perse- || 29 Be yeafraid of the sword: for wrath A. M. 2484. B. C. 1520. cute we him, 12 seeing the root of the bringeth the punishments of the sword, matter is found in me? P that ye may know there is a judgment. another's, shall see him. This my hope is reposed where. That is, if ye continue to persecute me. So in my bosom. Houbigant understands him, interpreting these words Verse 28. But ye should say―Therefore, because in connection with the preceding, thus: But if ye this is my case, and my faith and hope are in God, || shall say, Let us persecute him, and devise some it would become you, and it is your duty on this ac- cause of accusation against him: then be afraid count, to say, Why persecute we him?-We are for yourselves from the threatening sword. Job blameworthy that we have persecuted him with such may be considered, however, as threatening them bitter invectives, and we will do so no more; seeing|| with punishment on account of their past uncharitathe root of the matter-Hebrew, 117, dabar, of the|ble and unrighteous judgment of him, and severe word; is found in me-That is, since my heart is treatment of him. For wrath bringeth the punishsincere and upright before God, and the root, or ment of the sword-That wrath, or fury, which is in foundation, of true religion is in me. Cum veritas your hearts, and breaks forth from your lips against ipsa inveniatur in me, since the truth itself is found me, deserves and will certainly bring upon you the in me.—Vatablus. The root of all true religion is punishment of the sword, that is, a dreadful judg living faith in that Redeemer of whom Job had just ment from God. The Hebrew word here rendered spoken, and in the truth and grace of God in and punishment, ny, gnavonoth, properly means inithrough him; faith working by love, overcoming the quities, but is sometimes used, by a metonymy, for world, and purifying the heart; faith disarming the punishment of iniquities, which our translators death of its sting, and inspiring us with a lively, pa- judged was its meaning here. The sense, how tient, joyful, and grateful hope of eternal life, such ever, is good, if the word be rendered literally, thus: as Job had just expressed. This is the root of the Wrath (the sin of wrath, or anger against man, esmatter, other things are but leaves in comparison of pecially against one in affliction) bringeth, or imit. This, which implies the whole of godliness and plies, iniquities of the sword, that is, iniquities fit to righteousness, is the one thing needful. Let us see be punished by the sword, or by some eminent to it that this be found in us. And, with respect to judgment. Thus, chap. xxxi. 19, An iniquity of the others, let us believe that many have this root of the judges, means an iniquity to be punished by the matter in them, who are not in every thing of our judges, as our translation has it. That ye may mind, and who have their follies, weaknesses, and know there is a judgment—I give you this admonimistakes: and let us be aware that it is at our peril if tion, that you may know in time, and may seriously we persecute any such. Wo be to him that offends consider it for your good, that there will be a time or causes to stumble and fall one of these little ones. of judgment, when God will call men to an account God will resent and revenge it. Job and his friends for all their hard speeches and miscarriages, and pardiffered in their views concerning the methods of ticularly for their rash and uncharitable censures of Divine Providence, but they agreed in the root of their brethren, Matt. vii. 1; Rom. xiv. 4; James iv. the matter; and, therefore, it was their duty not to 11; either in this life, or at that last and dreadful have censured and persecuted, but to have lived in day of the general resurrection and judgment, of love with each other. which I have just spoken. God sees and observes, and will judge all your words and actions, and therefore do not flatter yourselves with vain hopes of impunity. Verse 29. Be ye afraid of the sword-Of some considerable judgment to be inflicted on you, which is called the sword; as Deut. xxxii. 41, and else CHAPTER XX. Zophar, after a short preface, asserts, that the prosperity of the wicked is short, and his ruin sure, 1–9. misery in many particulars, 10–29. A. M. 2484. THEN answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, B. C. 1520. NOTES ON CHAPTER XX. 1 Heb. my Verse 1. Then answered Zophar-Here Zophar, although he had nothing new to advance, hastily interrupts Job, being extremely provoked by his He describes his B. C. 1520. 2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me A. M. 2484. to answer, and for this 'I make haste. haste is in me. threatening them with the judgments of God, and in his speech appears to be hurried by his passion beyond all bounds. He tells him it is in vain to tax their suspicions with unkindness; for it was of pub Zophar shows the miserable B. C. 1520. CHAPTER XX. 4. M. 2484. 3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer. 4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, 5 That the triumphing of the wicked is 2 short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? 6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the 3 clouds; 7 Yet he shall perish for ever c like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? lic notoriety, agreeable to the universal experience of mankind, ever since the creation, that suffering was the portion of the wicked. He then, under colour of describing the wicked man, and his destiny, charges Job with the most enormous crimes, and marks him out as a person in whom God had given an example of the justice of his providence; and concludes with a plain intimation, that he was thoroughly persuaded that Job was that very wicked man, that oppressor of the poor, which they had from the beginning suspected him to be. do Verse 2. Therefore-For this thy severe sentence; my thoughts cause me to answer-I thought to have troubled myself and thee with no further discourses, but these words of thine make my former || thoughts to return again, and so provoke me, that I am not able any longer to forbear speaking. Verse 3. I have heard-Or, Shall I hear? Namely, with patience, and without a reply? Who can endure it? The check of my reproach-That is, thy shameful and opprobrious reproofs of us, as if we, and all thy friends, were void of all humanity and natural affection toward thee, and were haters and persecutors of thee; and as if we were guilty of very heinous crimes, and might expect God's vengeance upon us. And the spirit of my understanding-That is, my soul or mind, causeth me to answer-Constraineth me to speak. Or, the words , ruach mibbinathi, may be rendered, my spirit, or mind, because of my understanding, that is, out of, or because of, that certain knowledge which I have of this matter from consideration and experience. I speak not from passion, but from certain knowledge. be chased away as a vision of the night. 4 10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. 11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. 12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; 13 Though he spare it, and forsake it e Chap. vii. 8, 10; viii. 18; Psa. xxxvii. 36; ciii. 16. Or, The poor shall oppress his children.- f Verse 18.5 Chapter xiii. 26; Psa. xxv. 7.- h Chap. xxi. 26. Job, who, though he cleared himself of gross wickedness, yet, he judged, was guilty of deep hypocrisy. Verses 6-9. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens-Though he be advanced to great dignity and authority in the world. He shall perish like his own dung-Which men cast away with contempt and abhorrence. They who have seen him— With admiration at his felicity; shall say, Where is he?-He is nowhere to be found; he is utterly gone and lost. He shall fly away as a dreamWhich, for the present, affects the fancy, but hath nothing solid or permanent in it, for as soon as a man awakes all vanishes, and the remembrance of it is quickly lost. Neither shall his place any more behold him-That is, it shall not acknowledge or contain him. A figure called prosopopœia, as chap. vii. 10. Or, neither shall it (that is, the eye, last mentioned) behold him any more in his place. Verse 10. His children shall seek to please the poor-Either, 1st, To get some small relief from them in their extreme necessity. Or, rather, 2d, Lest they should revenge themselves on them for the great and many injuries which their father did them, or should seek to the magistrate for reparation. His hands shall restore their goods-By the sentence of the judge, to whom the oppressed poor will appeal, notwithstanding all the endeavours of their oppressors to dissuade them from so doing. Verse 11. His bones-That is, his whole body, even the strongest parts of it; are full of the sin of his youth-Of the punishment of it. He shall feel the sad effects of his youthful sins in his riper years, as riotous sinners commonly do. Which shall lie down with him in the dust-He shall carry his diseases and pains, brought upon him by his sins, to the grave: or, rather, they will carry him thither, and prove the causes of his immature death; and the very putrefying of his body in the grave is to him the effect of sin, so that his iniquity is upon his bones even there. Verses 4, 5. Knowest thou not this-Which I am now about to say; of old-From the experience of all former ages; since man was placed upon the earth-Since the world was made, and there were any men to observe God's government of it; that the triumphing of the wicked is short-Hebrew, ap, mikarob, is from near, that is, from, or for a Verses 12-14. Though wickedness be sweet in his little time; they have not long enjoyed it, and it will mouth-Though it greatly please him while he is shortly vanish. And the joy of the hypocrite but for committing it; though he hide it under his tongue a moment-This he adds by way of reflection upon | As an epicure doth a sweet morsel, which he keeps 14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is down: according to his substance shall the rethe gall of asps within him. stitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein. 15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. 16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him. 6 8 19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away a house which he builded not; 20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he 17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the desired. brooks of honey and butter. Heb. in the midst of his palate.- i Psa. xxxvi. 9; Jer. xvii. 6. Or, streaming brooks. Verses 10, 15.-7 Heb. according to 21 10 There shall none of his meat be left; the substance of his exchange.- 8 Heb. crushed. Eccles. v. -9 Heb. know.- 10 Or, There shall be none left for his meat. 13. metaphorically, and means, he shall not enjoy that abundant satisfaction and comfort, which he promised himself from his great riches, or which good men, through God's blessing, commonly enjoy. Verse 18. That which he laboured for shall he restore-Expressed in Hebrew by only two words, rem, restoring labor: that is, the goods which were gotten with labour, that of others, or his own. It may refer either to the goods of others, of which he had obtained possession, not without pains and diffi sweat of his brow. And this may be intended as an aggravation of his misery, that he is compelled, not only to restore other men's goods, which were in his hands, but to part with his own also, to make reparation for damages. And shall not swallow it down— So as to hold it: he shall not possess it long, nor to any important purpose. According to his substance shall the restitution be-That is, he shall be forced to part with all his property to make compensation for his wrongs. And he shall not rejoice therein— He shall not enjoy what he had gotten, because it shall be taken from him. Houbigant's translation of this verse is, He shall restore what he gained by his labour, and shall not consume it. His merchandise was abundant, but he shall not enjoy it. and rolls about his mouth, that he may longer enjoy the pleasure of it. Though he be highly pleased with the gratification of his lusts, and cleave to his sinful pleasures in hearty love, resolving to hold them fast, and improve them to the greatest delight and advantage; though he spare it-Will not part with his sin, but gratifies and obeys his sinful incli-ya wp, meshib jagang, literally, restituens labonations, instead of subduing and mortifying them; but keeps it still within his mouth—That he may enjoy all the sweetness of it. Yet his meat in his bowels is turned-From sweet to bitter; it is the gall of asps within him-Exceeding bitter and perni-culty; or to his own goods, honestly gotten by the cious. Gall is most bitter; the gall of serpents is full of poison; and the poison of asps is most dangerous, and, within a few hours, kills without remedy. Verses 15, 16. He hath swallowed down richesHe hath got possession of them, and thought them o be as much his own as the meat he had eaten. But he is deceived. He shall vomit them up again -Shall be compelled to restore them: his own conscience perhaps may make him so uneasy in the keeping of what he has gotten, that, for the quiet of his own mind, he shall make restitution, and that not with the pleasure of a virtue, but with the utmost reluctancy, like the pain produced by an emetic. God shall cast them out of his belly-If he do not himself voluntarily refund what he has violently taken away, God, by his providence, shall force him to do it, and bring it about, one way or other, that his || ill-gotten goods shall return to their right owners. If man's hand cannot reach him, God shall find him out. He shall suck the poison of asps-What he sucked so sweetly, and with so much pleasure, shall, in the issue, prove most ungrateful and destructive, as the poison, or head (for the Hebrew w, rosh, signifies both, and the poison lies in the head) of asps would be to one that sucked it. Such is sin; such especially will all unlawful gains be. The fawning Verse 20. Surely he shall not feel quietness, &c. tongue will prove the viper's tongue. All the charm--He shall have no peace nor satisfaction in his ing graces that are thought to be in sin will turn, when the conscience is awakened, into so many raging furies. Verse 17. He shall not see the rivers, the floods, &c. "He shall not see them with any pleasure. The most delightful things of this world, and the greatest affluence and plenty of them, shall afford him no enjoyment."-Dodd. Or, rather, he speaks. Verse 19. Because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor-By his oppression he brought men to utter poverty, and then forsook them in that destitute state, affording them no mercy nor help. Or, the meaning is, He made some poor by his oppressions, and others, that were poor, he suffered to perish for want of that relief which he might have afforded them. He hath violently taken away a house, &c. -Namely, for his own use; which he builded notWhich was none of his. mind, in all his gains, partly because of his perpetual fears and expectations of the wrath of God and man, which his guilty conscience assures him he deserves, and partly because they shall be speedily taken away from him. He shall not save of that which he desired-That is, any part of his good and desirable things, but he shall forfeit and lose them all. Verses 21, 22. There shall none of his meat be A. M. 2484. therefore shall no man look for his || of his gall: P terrors are B. C. 1520. goods. 22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. 23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him " while he is eating. 24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. 25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out him. of the wicked. upon A. M. 2484 B. C. 1520 26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him ; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle. 27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. 28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath. 29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage 12 appointed unto him by God. Or, troublesome. m Num. xi. 33; Psa. lxxviii. 30.- Isa. Chap. xvi. 13.—P Chap. xviii. 11.-4 Psa. xxi. 9. Chap. xxiv. 18; Jer. xlviii. 43; Amos v. 19. xxvii. 13; xxxi. 2.- 12 Heb. of his decree from God. left, &c.-For his future use; but he shall be stripped of all, which being publicly known, none of his kindred or friends shall trouble themselves to seek for any relics of his estate. But the Hebrew, 7' , een shorid leachlo, rather means, There shall none be left for his meat, that is, he shall leave no heir who shall possess or enjoy his goods. In the fulness of his sufficiency, &c.—In the height of his prosperity he shall be distressed. Every hand of the wicked shall be upon him--So his wickedness shall be punished by those as wicked as himself. || Verse 23. When he is about to fill his belly-That is, when he has enough to satisfy all his appetites, and shall design to indulge them in the pleasurable || enjoyment of all his gains, and to spend his days in sensuality; God shall cast the fury of his wrath || upon him-Some dreadful and destructive judgment. And shall rain it upon him-This phrase denotes both the author of his plagues, God, and the nature and quality of them, that they shall come upon him like rain, with great vehemence, so that he cannot prevent or avoid them; while he is eating-As it || fell upon thy sons, chap. i. 18, 19. ceives, by the tincture of his gall upon the weapon, that his wound is incurable. Or horrors of conscience, because he cannot live, and dare not die. Verse 26. All darkness-All sorts of miseries, of soul, and body, and estate; shall be hid—Or laid up by God for him. They are reserved and treasured up for him, and kept as in a sure place, and shall infalliby overtake him: in his secret placesIn those places where he confidently hoped to hide and secure himself from all evils and enemies; yet even there God shall find him out. A fire not blown By man, but kindled by God himself; shall consume or destroy him-He thinks, by his might and violence, to secure himself from men; but God, by his own immediate hand, or in some unknown and unexpected manner, will find him out. It may be understood of the fire of hell; see Isa. xxx. 33. It shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle-With his family, or posterity, who shall inherit his curse, as well as his estate. Heath translates this verse, All manner of calamity is laid up in store for him: an unquenchable fire shall consume him: it shall devour all that remaineth in his stead. Verses 24, 25. He shall flee from the iron weapon Verses 27, 28. The heaven shall reveal his ini-That is, from the sword or spear; and so shall quity-God shall be a swift witness against him by think himself out of danger. The bow of steel-extraordinary judgments; still he reflects upon Job's Which is of great strength, and therefore sendeth case, and the fire from heaven. And the earth shall forth the arrow with greater force; shall strike him rise up against him—All creatures upon earth shall through-Shall mortally wound him. He shall flee conspire to destroy him. If the God of heaven and from one danger, but another, still greater, shall over-earth be his enemy, neither heaven nor earth will take him. It is drawn-Namely, the arrow which show him any kindness, but all the hosts of both are, had entered into his body, and now is drawn out of it, and will be, at war with him. The increase of his either by himself or some other person. Yea, the glit-house-, jebul, proventus, his income, revenue, tering sword-Hebrew, p, ubarak, literally, the or his estate got by the labour, and employed for the lightning, and thence a glittering weapon, the bright use of his family; shall depart-Shall be lost or sword, or spear; as Deut. xxxii. 41. By this it is taken away from him: shall flow away-Like waimplied he was doubly wounded, first with the arrow, ters, swiftly and strongly, and so as to return no and then with the sword or spear: cometh out of his more: in the day of his wrath-That is, of God's gall-Into which it had entered, and wherewith it wrath; when God shall come to execute judgment was coloured. This shows that the wound was both upon him. The abundance of his house, Heath deep and deadly, as wounds are in that part. It is renders it, shall roll away like the torrents in the probable he mentions this in reference to a similar day of his fury. expression of Job, chap. xvi. 13. Terrors are upon him-Namely, the terrors of death; because he per Verse 29. This is the portion of the wicked man from God—Allotted to him, designed for him, as his Job claims the privilege JOB. to complain of his hard lot. portion; and he will have it for a perpetuity; it is || abides upon them, and they are made miserable by what he must abide by. And the heritage appointed unto him by God-Hebrew, 1 nn, nachalath imro, the heritage of his word; that is, appointed by the word or sentence of God; and termed a heritage, to signify the stability and assurance of it; that it is as firm and certain to him as an inheritance to the right heir; and in opposition to that inheritance which he had gotten by fraud and violence. Though impenitent sinners do not always fall under such temporal judgments as are here described, and in that Zophar was mistaken; yet the wrath of God spiritual judgments, which are much worse; their consciences being either, on the one hand, a terror to them, and then they are in continual amazement; or, on the other hand, seared and silenced, and then they are given up to a reprobate mind, and bound over to eternal ruin. "Never was any doctrine better explained," says Henry, "nor worse applied, than this here by Zophar: who intended by all this to prove Job to be a hypocrite. Let us receive the good explication, and make a better application, for warning to ourselves to stand in awe and not to sin." CHAPTER XXI. Job's preface to his answer, 1-6. He describes the prosperity of wicked men, 7-13. Hardening them in their impiety, 1416. He foretels their final ruin, 17–21. He observes a great variety in the ways of God, 22–26. He shows, that though sinners are always punished in the other world, they often escape in this, 27–34. B. C. 1520. A. M. 2484. BUT Job answered and said, 5 2 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay 3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that your hand upon your mouth. I have spoken, a mock on. 6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and 4 As for me, is my complaint to man? and trembling taketh hold on my flesh. a Chap. xvi. 10; xvii. 2.- Heb. shortened.- 2 Heb. Look NOTES ON CHAPTER XXI. Verse 1. But Job answered and said-It has been thought strange that Job should never resume the argument of a resurrection, which was so full of piety and conviction; but, when resuming the dispute with his friends, should stick to that he first set out with. Whether this be the case or not, we shall see in the course of our observations. But if it be, a very sufficient reason may be assigned for it. For, if one such appeal as this, made in the most solemn manner, would not convince them of his innocence, he had reason to think it would be much the same, || if he had repeated it a second and a third time. He had, therefore, no other resource left, but to follow the argument with which he had begun; namely, to combat the false principle upon which they were so forward to condemn him: and this he does effectually throughout the present chapter, by showing that many wicked men live long and prosperously, and at last die in apparent peace, and are buried with great pomp; which shows that this life is not the proper state of retribution, but that men shall be judged and recompensed hereafter. See Peters and unto me. b Judg. xviii. 19; Ch. xxix. 9; xl. 4; Psa, xxxix. 9. speak-Without such interruption as you have given me. And after I have spoken, mock on-If I do not defend my cause with solid and convincing arguments, go on in your scoffs. Verse 4. Is my complaint to man?—No: if it were, I see it would be to little purpose to complain. I do not make my complaint to, or expect relief from you, or from any men; but from God only. I am pouring forth my complaints to him; to him I appeal. Let him be judge between you and me. Before him we stand upon equal terms, and, therefore, I have the privilege of being heard as well as you. And if it were so-If my complaint were to man; why should not my spirit be troubled ?—Would I not have cause to be troubled? For they would not regard, nor even rightly understand me; but my complaint is to God, who will suffer me to speak, though you will not. Verse 5. Mark me, and be astonished-Consider what I am about to say, concerning the wonderful prosperity of the worst of men, and the pressures of some good men; and it will fill you with astonishment at the mysterious conduct of Divine Providence herein. And lay your hand upon your mouth-Be silent: quietly wait the issue; and judge nothing before the time. God's way is in the sea, and his path in the great waters. When we cannot account for what he doth, in suffering the wicked to prosper, and the godly to be afflicted, nor fathom the depth of those proceedings, it becomes us to sit down and admire them. Upright men shall be astonished at this, chap. xvii. 8. Be you so. Verse 6. Even when I remember I am afraid, |