Job 1 commentary

Job was prosperous, and yet pious. Though it is hard and rare, it is not impossible for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. By God's grace the temptations of worldly wealth may be overcome. The account of Job's piety and prosperity comes before the history of his great afflictions, showing that neither will secure from troubles. While Job beheld the harmony and comforts of his sons with satisfaction, his knowledge of the human heart made him fearful for them. He sent and sanctified them, reminding them to examine themselves, to confess their sins, to seek forgiveness; and as one who hoped for acceptance with God through the promised Saviour, he offered a burnt-offering for each. We perceive his care for their souls, his knowledge of the sinful state of man, his entire dependence on God's mercy in the way he had appointed.

Job's afflictions began from the malice of Satan, by the Lord's permission, for wise and holy purposes. There is an evil spirit, the enemy of God, and of all righteousness, who is continually seeking to distress, to lead astray, and, if possible, to destroy those who love God. How far his influence may extend, we cannot say; but probably much unsteadiness and unhappiness in Christians may be ascribed to him. While we are on this earth we are within his reach. Hence it concerns us to be sober and vigilant, 1Pe 5:8. See how Satan censures Job. This is the common way of slanderers, to suggest that which they have no reason to think is true. But as there is nothing we should dread more than really being hypocrites, so there is nothing we need dread less than being called and counted so without cause. It is not wrong to look at the eternal recompence in our obedience; but it is wrong to aim at worldly advantages in our religion. God's people are taken under his special protection; they, and all that belong to them. The blessing of the Lord makes rich; Satan himself owns it. God suffered Job to be tried, as he suffered Peter to be sifted. It is our comfort that God has the devil in a chain, Re 20:1. He has no power to lead men to sin, but what they give him themselves; nor any power to afflict men, but what is given him from above. All this is here described to us after the manner of men. The Scripture speaks thus to teach us that God directs the affairs of the world.

Satan brought Job's troubles upon him on the day that his children began their course of feasting. The troubles all came upon Job at once; while one messenger of evil tidings was speaking, another followed. His dearest and most valuable possessions were his ten children; news is brought him that they are killed. They were taken away when he had most need of them to comfort him under other losses. In God only have we a help present at all times. (Job 1:20-22)

Job humbled himself under the hand of God. He reasons from the common state of human life, which he describes. We brought nothing of this world's goods into the world, but have them from others; and it is certain we can carry nothing out, but must leave them to others. Job, under all his losses, is but reduced to his first state. He is but where he must have been at last, and is only unclothed, or unloaded rather, a little sooner than he expected. If we put off our clothes before we go to bed, it is some inconvenience, but it may be the better borne when it is near bed-time. The same who gave hath taken away. See how Job looks above instruments, and keeps his eye upon the First Cause. Afflictions must not divert us from, but quicken us to religion. If in all our troubles we look to the Lord, he will support us. The Lord is righteous. All we have is from his gift; we have forfeited it by sin, and ought not to complain if he takes any part from us. Discontent and impatience charge God with folly. Against these Job carefully watched; and so must we, acknowledging that as God has done right, but we have done wickedly, so God has done wisely, but we have done very foolishly. And may the malice and power of Satan render that Saviour more precious to our souls, who came to destroy the works of the devil; who, for our salvation, suffered from that enemy far more than Job suffered, or we can think.

INTRODUCTION

Job a Real Person.--It has been supposed by some that the book of Job is an allegory, not a real narrative, on account of the artificial character of many of its statements. Thus the sacred numbers, three and seven, often occur. He had seven thousand sheep, seven sons, both before and after his trials; his three friends sit down with him seven days and seven nights; both before and after his trials he had three daughters. So also the number and form of the speeches of the several speakers seem to be artificial. The name of Job, too, is derived from an Arabic word signifying repentance.

But Eze 14:14 (compare Eze 14:16, 20) speaks of "Job" in conjunction with "Noah and Daniel," real persons. St. James (Jas 5:11) also refers to Job as an example of "patience," which he would not have been likely to do had Job been only a fictitious person. Also the names of persons and places are specified with a particularity not to be looked for in an allegory. As to the exact doubling of his possessions after his restoration, no doubt the round number is given for the exact number, as the latter approached near the former; this is often done in undoubtedly historical books. As to the studied number and form of the speeches, it seems likely that the arguments were substantially those which appear in the book, but that the studied and poetic form was given by Job himself, guided by the Holy Spirit. He lived one hundred and forty years after his trials, and nothing would be more natural than that he should, at his leisure, mould into a perfect form the arguments used in the momentous debate, for the instruction of the Church in all ages. Probably, too, the debate itself occupied several sittings; and the number of speeches assigned to each was arranged by preconcerted agreement, and each was allowed the interval of a day or more to prepare carefully his speech and replies; this will account for the speakers bringing forward their arguments in regular series, no one speaking out of his turn. As to the name Job--repentance (supposing the derivation correct)--it was common in old times to give a name from circumstances which occurred at an advanced period of life, and this is no argument against the reality of the person.

Where Job Lived.--"Uz," according to Gesenius, means a light, sandy soil, and was in the north of Arabia-Deserta, between Palestine and the Euphrates, called by Ptolemy (Geography, 19) Ausitai or Aisitai. In Ge 10:23; 22:21; 36:28; and 1Ch 1:17, 42, it is the name of a man. In Jr 25:20; La 4:21; and Job 1:1, it is a country. Uz, in Ge 22:21, is said to be the son of Nahor, brother of Abraham--a different person from the one mentioned (Ge 10:23), a grandson of Shem. The probability is that the country took its name from the latter of the two; for this one was the son of Aram, from whom the Arameans take their name, and these dwelt in Mesopotamia, between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Compare as to the dwelling of the sons of Shem in Ge 10:30, "a mount of the East," answering to "men of the East" (Job 1:3). Rawlinson, in his deciphering of the Assyrian inscriptions, states that "Uz is the prevailing name of the country at the mouth of the Euphrates." It is probable that Eliphaz the Temanite and the Sabeans dwelt in that quarter; and we know that the Chaldeans resided there, and not near Idumea, which some identify with Uz. The tornado from "the wilderness" (Job 1:19) agrees with the view of it being Arabia-Deserta. Job (Job 1:3) is called "the greatest of the men of the East"; but Idumea was not east, but south of Palestine: therefore in Scripture language, the phrase cannot apply to that country, but probably refers to the north of Arabia-Deserta, between Palestine, Idumea, and the Euphrates. So the Arabs still show in the Houran a place called Uz as the residence of Job.

The Age When Job Lived.--Eusebius fixes it two ages before Moses, that is, about the time of Isaac: eighteen hundred years before Christ, and six hundred after the Deluge. Agreeing with this are the following considerations: 1. Job's length of life is patriarchal, two hundred years. 2. He alludes only to the earliest form of idolatry, namely, the worship of the sun, moon, and heavenly hosts (called Saba, whence arises the title "Lord of Sabaoth," as opposed to Sabeanism) (Job 31:26-28). 3. The number of oxen and rams sacrificed, seven, as in the case of Balaam. God would not have sanctioned this after the giving of the Mosaic law, though He might graciously accommodate Himself to existing customs before the law. 4. The language of Job is Hebrew, interspersed occasionally with Syriac and Arabic expressions, implying a time when all the Shemitic tribes spoke one common tongue and had not branched into different dialects, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic. 5. He speaks of the most ancient kind of writing, namely, sculpture. Riches also are reckoned by cattle. The Hebrew word, translated "a piece of money," ought rather be rendered "a lamb." 6. There is no allusion to the exodus from Egypt and to the miracles that accompanied it; nor to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Patrick, however, thinks there is); though there is to the Flood (Job 22:17); and these events, happening in Job's vicinity, would have been striking illustrations of the argument for God's interposition in destroying the wicked and vindicating the righteous, had Job and his friends known of them. Nor is there any undoubted reference to the Jewish law, ritual, and priesthood. 7. The religion of Job is that which prevailed among the patriarchs previous to the law; sacrifices performed by the head of the family; no officiating priesthood, temple, or consecrated altar.

The Writer.--All the foregoing facts accord with Job himself having been the author. The style of thought, imagery, and manners, are such as we should look for in the work of an Arabian emir. There is precisely that degree of knowledge of primitive tradition (see Job 31:33, as to Adam) which was universally spread abroad in the days of Noah and Abraham, and which was subsequently embodied in the early chapters of Genesis. Job, in his speeches, shows that he was much more competent to compose the work than Elihu, to whom Lightfoot attributes it. The style forbids its being attributed to Moses, to whom its composition is by some attributed, "whilst he was among the Midianites, about 1520 B.C." But the fact, that it, though not a Jewish book, appears among the Hebrew sacred writings, makes it likely that it came to the knowledge of Moses during the forty years which he passed in parts of Arabia, chiefly near Horeb; and that he, by divine guidance, introduced it as a sacred writing to the Israelites, to whom, in their affliction, the patience and restoration of Job were calculated to be a lesson of especial utility. That it is inspired appears from the fact that Paul (1Co 3:19) quotes it (Job 5:13) with the formula, "It is written." Our Savior, too Mt 24:28), plainly refers to Job 29:30. Compare also Jas 4:10 and 1Pe 5:6 with Job 22:29; Ro 11:34, 35 with Job 15:8. It is probably the oldest book in the world. It stands among the Hagiographa in the threefold division of Scripture into the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa ("Psalms," Lu 24:44).

Design of the Book.--It is a public debate in poetic form on an important question concerning the divine government; moreover the prologue and epilogue, which are in prose, shed the interest of a living history over the debate, which would otherwise be but a contest of abstract reasonings. To each speaker of the three friends three speeches are assigned. Job having no one to stand by him is allowed to reply to each speech of each of the three. Eliphaz, as the oldest, leads the way. Zophar, at his third turn, failed to speak, thus virtually owning himself overcome (Job 27:1-23). Therefore Job continued his reply, which forms three speeches (Job 26:1-14; 27:1-23; 28:1-28; 29:1-31:40). Elihu (Job 32:1-37:24) is allowed four speeches. Jehovah makes three addresses (Job 38:1-41:34). Thus, throughout there is a tripartite division. The whole is divided into three parts--the prologue, poem proper, and epilogue. The poem, into three--(1) The dispute of Job and his three friends; (2) The address of Elihu; (3) The address of God. There are three series in the controversy, and in the same order. The epilogue (Job 42:1-17) also is threefold; Job's justification, reconciliation with his friends, restoration. The speakers also in their successive speeches regularly advance from less to greater vehemence. With all this artificial composition, everything seems easy and natural.

The question to be solved, as exemplified in the case of Job, is, Why are the righteous afflicted consistently with God's justice? The doctrine of retribution after death, no doubt, is the great solution of the difficulty. And to it Job plainly refers in Job 14:14, and Job 19:25. The objection to this, that the explicitness of the language on the resurrection in Job is inconsistent with the obscurity on the subject in the early books of the Old Testament, is answered by the fact that Job enjoyed the divine vision (Job 38:1; 42:5), and therefore, by inspiration, foretold these truths. Next, the revelations made outside of Israel being few needed to be the more explicit; thus Balaam's prophecy (Nu 24:17) was clear enough to lead the wise men of the East by the star (Mt 2:2); and in the age before the written law, it was the more needful for God not to leave Himself without witness of the truth. Still Job evidently did not fully realize the significance designed by the Spirit in his own words (compare 1Pe 1:11, 12). The doctrine, though existing, was not plainly revealed or at least understood. Hence he does not mainly refer to this solution. Yes, and even now, we need something in addition to this solution. David, who firmly believed in a future retribution (Psa 16:10; 17:15), still felt the difficulty not entirely solved thereby (Psa 83:1-18). The solution is not in Job's or in his three friends' speeches. It must, therefore, be in Elihu's. God will hold a final judgment, no doubt, to clear up all that seems dark in His present dealings; but He also now providentially and morally governs the world and all the events of human life. Even the comparatively righteous are not without sin which needs to be corrected. The justice and love of God administer the altogether deserved and merciful correction. Affliction to the godly is thus mercy and justice in disguise. The afflicted believer on repentance sees this. "Via crucis, via salutis" ["The way of the cross, the way of deliverance"]. Though afflicted, the godly are happier even now than the ungodly, and when affliction has attained its end, it is removed by the Lord. In the Old Testament the consolations are more temporal and outward; in the New Testament, more spiritual; but in neither to the entire exclusion of the other. "Prosperity," says Bacon, "is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity that of the New Testament, which is the mark of God's more especial favor. Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost has labored more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes." This solution of Elihu is seconded by the addresses of God, in which it is shown God must be just (because He is God), as Elihu had shown how God can be just, and yet the righteous be afflicted. It is also acquiesced in by Job, who makes no reply. God reprimands the "three" friends, but not Elihu. Job's general course is approved; he is directed to intercede for his friends, and is restored to double his former prosperity.

Poetry.--In all countries poetry is the earliest form of composition as being best retained in the memory. In the East especially it was customary for sentiments to be preserved in a terse, proverbial, and poetic form (called maschal). Hebrew poetry is not constituted by the rhythm or meter, but in a form peculiar to itself: 1. In an alphabetical arrangement somewhat like our acrostic. For instance, La 1:1-22. 2. The same verse repeated at intervals; as in Psa 42:1-11; 107:1-43. 3. Rhythm of gradation. Psalms of degrees, Psa 120:1-134:3, in which the expression of the previous verse is resumed and carried forward in the next (Psa 121:1-8). 4. The chief characteristic of Hebrew poetry is parallelism, or the correspondence of the same ideas in the parallel clauses. The earliest instance is Enoch's prophecy (Jude 14), and Lamech's parody of it (Ge 4:23). Three kinds occur: (1) The synonymous parallelism, in which the second is a repetition of the first, with or without increase of force (Psa 22:27; Is 15:1); sometimes with double parallelism (Is 1:15). (2) The antithetic, in which the idea of the second clause is the converse of that in the first (Pr 10:1). (3) The synthetic, where there is a correspondence between different propositions, noun answering to noun, verb to verb, member to member, the sentiment, moreover, being not merely echoed, or put in contrast, but enforced by accessory ideas (Job 3:3-9). Also alternate (Is 51:19). "Desolation and destruction, famine and sword," that is, desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword. Introverted; where the fourth answers to the first, and the third to the second (Mt 7:6). Parallelism thus often affords a key to the interpretation. For fuller information, see Lowth (Introduction to Isaiah, and Lecture on Hebrew Poetry) and Herder (Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, translated by Marsh). The simpler and less artificial forms of parallelism prevail in Job--a mark of its early age.

CHAPTER 1

PART I--PROLOGUE OR HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION IN PROSE--(Job 1:1-2:13)

Job 1:1-5. The Holiness of Job, His Wealth, &c.

1. Uz--north of Arabia-Deserta, lying towards the Euphrates. It was in this neighborhood, and not in that of Idumea, that the Chaldeans and Sabeans who plundered him dwell. The Arabs divide their country into the north, called Sham, or "the left"; and the south, called Yemen, or "the right"; for they faced east; and so the west was on their left, and the south on their right. Arabia-Deserta was on the east, Arabia-Petræa on the west, and Arabia-Felix on the south.

Job--The name comes from an Arabic word meaning "to return," namely, to God, "to repent," referring to his end [Eichorn]; or rather from a Hebrew word signifying one to whom enmity was shown, "greatly tried" [Gesenius]. Significant names were often given among the Hebrews, from some event of later life (compare Ge 4:2, Abel--a "feeder" of sheep). So the emir of Uz was by general consent called Job, on account of his "trials." The only other person so called was a son of Issachar (Ge 46:13).

perfect--not absolute or faultless perfection (compare Job 9:20; Ec 7:20), but integrity, sincerity, and consistency on the whole, in all relations of life (Ge 6:9; 17:1; Pr 10:9; Mt 5:48). It was the fear of God that kept Job from evil (Pr 8:13).

3. she-asses--prized on account of their milk, and for riding (Jud 5:10). Houses and lands are not mentioned among the emir's wealth, as nomadic tribes dwell in movable tents and live chiefly by pasture, the right to the soil not being appropriated by individuals. The "five hundred yoke of oxen" imply, however, that Job tilled the soil. He seems also to have had a dwelling in a town, in which respect he differed from the patriarchs. Camels are well called "ships of the desert," especially valuable for caravans, as being able to lay in a store of water that suffices them for days, and to sustain life on a very few thistles or thorns.

household--(Ge 26:14). The other rendering which the Hebrew admits, "husbandry," is not so probable.

men of the east--denoting in Scripture those living east of Palestine; as the people of North Arabia-Deserta (Jud 6:3; Eze 25:4).

4. every one his day--namely, the birthday (Job 3:1). Implying the love and harmony of the members of the family, as contrasted with the ruin which soon broke up such a scene of happiness. The sisters are specified, as these feasts were not for revelry, which would be inconsistent with the presence of sisters. These latter were invited by the brothers, though they gave no invitations in return.

5. when the days of their feasting were gone about--that is, at the end of all the birthdays collectively, when the banquets had gone round through all the families.

Job ... sanctified--by offering up as many expiatory burnt offerings as he had sons (Le 1:4). This was done "in the morning" (Ge 22:3; Le 6:12). Jesus also began devotions early (Mr 1:35). The holocaust, or burnt offering, in patriarchal times, was offered (literally, "caused to ascend," referring to the smoke ascending to heaven) by each father of a family officiating as priest in behalf of his household.

cursed God--The same Hebrew word means to "curse," and to "bless"; Gesenius says, the original sense is to "kneel," and thus it came to mean bending the knee in order to invoke either a blessing or a curse. Cursing is a perversion of blessing, as all sin is of goodness. Sin is a degeneracy, not a generation. It is not, however, likely that Job should fear the possibility of his sons cursing God. The sense "bid farewell to," derived from the blessing customary at parting, seems sufficient (Ge 47:10). Thus Umbreit translates "may have dismissed God from their hearts"; namely, amid the intoxication of pleasure (Pr 20:1). This act illustrates Job's "fear of God" (Job 1:1).

Job 1:6-12. Satan, Appearing before God, Falsely Accuses Job.

6. sons of God--angels (Job 38:7; 1Ki 22:19). They present themselves to render account of their "ministry" in other parts of the universe (He 1:14).

the Lord--Hebrew, Jehovah, the self-existing God, faithful to His promises. God says (Ex 6:3) that He was not known to the patriarchs by this name. But, as the name occurs previously in Ge 2:7-9, &c., what must be meant is, not until the time of delivering Israel by Moses was He known peculiarly and publicly in the character which the name means; namely, "making things to be," fulfilling the promises made to their forefathers. This name, therefore, here, is no objection against the antiquity of the Book of Job.

Satan--The tradition was widely spread that he had been the agent in Adam's temptation. Hence his name is given without comment. The feeling with which he looks on Job is similar to that with which he looked on Adam in Paradise: emboldened by his success in the case of one not yet fallen, he is confident that the piety of Job, one of a fallen race, will not stand the test. He had fallen himself (Job 4:19; 15:15; Jude 6). In the Book of Job, Satan is first designated by name: "Satan," Hebrew, "one who lies in wait"; an "adversary" in a court of justice (1Ch 21:1; Psa 109:6; Zec 3:1); "accuser" (Re 12:10). He has the law of God on his side by man's sin, and against man. But Jesus Christ has fulfilled the law for us; justice is once more on man's side against Satan (Is 42:21); and so Jesus Christ can plead as our Advocate against the adversary. "Devil" is the Greek name--the "slanderer," or "accuser." He is subject to God, who uses his ministry for chastising man. In Arabic, Satan is often applied to a serpent (Ge 3:1). He is called prince of this world (Joh 12:31); the god of this world (2Co 4:4); prince of the power of the air (Ep 2:2). God here questions him, in order to vindicate His own ways before angels.

7. going to and fro--rather, "hurrying rapidly to and fro." The original idea in Arabic is the heat of haste (Mt 12:43; 1Pe 5:8). Satan seems to have had some peculiar connection with this earth. Perhaps he was formerly its ruler under God. Man succeeded to the vice royalty (Ge 1:26; Psa 8:6). Man then lost it and Satan became prince of this world. The Son of man (Psa 8:4)--the representative man, regains the forfeited inheritance (Re 11:15). Satan's replies are characteristically curt and short. When the angels appear before God, Satan is among them, even as there was a Judas among the apostles.

8. considered--Margin, "set thine heart on"; that is, considered attentively. No true servant of God escapes the eye of the adversary of God.

9. fear God for naught--It is a mark of the children of Satan to sneer and not give credit to any for disinterested piety. Not so much God's gifts, as God Himself is "the reward" of His people (Ge 15:1).

10. his substance is increased--literally, "spread out like a flood"; Job's herds covered the face of the country.

11. curse thee to thy face--in antithesis to God's praise of him (Job 1:8), "one that feareth God." Satan's words are too true of many. Take away their prosperity and you take away their religion (Mal 3:14).

12. in thy power--Satan has no power against man till God gives it. God would not touch Job with His own hand, though Satan asks this (Job 1:11, "thine"), but He allows the enemy to do so.

Job 1:13-22. Job, in Affliction, Blesses God, &c.

13. wine--not specified in Job 1:4. The mirth inspired by the "wine" here contrasts the more sadly with the alarm which interrupted it.

14. the asses feeding beside them--Hebrew, "she asses." A graphic picture of rural repose and peace; the more dreadful, therefore, by contrast is the sudden attack of the plundering Arabs.

15. Sabeans--not those of Arabia-Felix, but those of Arabia-Deserta, descending from Sheba, grandson of Abraham and Keturah (Ge 25:3). The Bedouin Arabs of the present day resemble, in marauding habits, these Sabeans (compare Ge 16:12).

I alone am escaped--cunningly contrived by Satan. One in each case escapes (Job 1:16, 17, 19), and brings the same kind of message. This was to overwhelm Job, and leave him no time to recover from the rapid succession of calamities--"misfortunes seldom come single."

16. fire of God--Hebraism for "a mighty fire"; as "cedars of God"--"lofty cedars" [Psa 80:10]. Not lightning, which would not consume all the sheep and servants. Umbreit understands it of the burning wind of Arabia, called by the Turks "wind of poison." "The prince of the power of the air" [Ep 2:2] is permitted to have control over such destructive agents.

17. Chaldeans--not merely robbers as the Sabeans; but experienced in war, as is implied by "they set in array three bands" (Ha 1:6-8). Rawlinson distinguishes three periods: 1. When their seat of empire was in the south, towards the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. The Chaldean period, from 2300 B.C. to 1500 B.C. In this period was Chedorlaomer (Ge 14:1), the Kudur of Hur or Ur of the Chaldees, in the Assyrian inscriptions, and the conqueror of Syria. 2. From 1500 to 625 B.C., the Assyrian period. 3. From 625 to 538 B.C. (when Cyrus the Persian took Babylon), the Babylonian period. "Chaldees" in Hebrew--Chasaim. They were akin, perhaps, to the Hebrews, as Abraham's sojourn in Ur, and the name "Chesed," a nephew of Abraham, imply. The three bands were probably in order to attack the three separate thousands of Job's camels (Job 1:3).

19. a great wind from the wilderness--south of Job's house. The tornado came the more violently over the desert, being uninterrupted (Is 21:1; Ho 13:15).

the young men--rather, "the young people"; including the daughters (so in Ru 2:21).

20. Job arose--not necessarily from sitting. Inward excitement is implied, and the beginning to do anything. He had heard the other messages calmly, but on hearing of the death of his children, then he arose; or, as Eichorn translates, he started up (2Sa 13:31). The rending of the mantle was the conventional mark of deep grief (Ge 37:34). Orientals wear a tunic or shirt, and loose pantaloons; and over these a flowing mantle (especially great persons and women). Shaving the head was also usual in grief (Jr 41:5; Mi 1:16).

21. Naked--(1Ti 6:7). "Mother's womb" is poetically the earth, the universal mother (Ec 5:15; 12:7; Psa 139:15). Job herein realizes God's assertion (Job 1:8) against Satan's (Job 1:11). Instead of cursing, he blesses the name of Jehovah (Hebrew). The name of Jehovah, is Jehovah Himself, as manifested to us in His attributes (Is 9:6).

22. nor charged God foolishly--rather, "allowed himself to commit no folly against God" [Umbreit]. Job 2:10 proves that this is the meaning. Not as Margin "attributed no folly to God." Hasty words against God, though natural in the bitterness of grief, are folly; literally, an "insipid, unsavory" thing (Job 6:6; Jr 23:13, Margin). Folly in Scripture is continually equivalent to wickedness. For when man sins, it is himself, not God, whom he injures (Pr 8:36). We are to submit to trials, not because we see the reasons for them, nor yet as though they were matters of chance, but because God wills them, and has a right to send them, and has His own good reasons in sending them.

His substance also was seven thousand sheep - A thousand, says the Chaldee, for each of his sons. Three thousand camels: a thousand for each of his daughters. Five hundred yoke of oxen for himself. And five hundred she-asses for his wife. Thus the Targum divides the substance of this eminent man.

A very great household - עבדה רבה מאד abuddah rabbah meod, "a very great estate." The word עבדה abuddah refers chiefly to husbandry, including all manner of labor in the field, with cattle, and every description of servants.

The greatest of all the men of the East - He was more eminent than any other person in that region in wisdom, wealth, and piety. He was the chief emir of that district.

Feasted in their houses, every one his day - It is likely that a birthday festival is here intended. When the birthday of one arrived, he invited his brothers and sisters to feast with him; and each observed the same custom.

When the days of their feasting were gone about - At the conclusion of the year, when the birthday of each had been celebrated, the pious father appears to have gathered them all together, that the whole family might hold a feast to the Lord, offering burnt-offerings in order to make an atonement for sins of all kinds, whether presumptuous or committed through ignorance. This we may consider as a general custom among the godly in those ancient times.

And cursed God in their hearts - וברכו אלהים uberechu Elohim. In this book, according to most interpreters, the verb ברך barach signifies both to bless and to curse; and the noun אלהים Elohim signifies the true God, false gods, and great or mighty. The reason why Job offered the burnt-offerings appears to have been this: in a country where idolatry flourished, he thought it possible that his children might, in their festivity, have given way to idolatrous thoughts, or done something prescribed by idolatrous rites; and therefore the words may be rendered thus: It may be that my children have blessed the gods in their hearts. Others think that the word ברך barach should be understood as implying farewell, bidding adieu - lest my children have bidden adieu to God, that is, renounced him, and cast off his fear. To me this is very unlikely. Mr. Mason Good contends that the word should be understood in its regular and general sense, to bless; and that the conjunction ו vau should be translated nor. "Peradventure my sons may have sinned, nor blessed God in their hearts." This version he supports with great learning. I think the sense given above is more plain, and less embarrassed. They might have been guilty of some species of idolatry. This is possible even among those called Christians, in their banquets; witness their songs to Bacchus, Venus, etc., which are countless in number, and often sung by persons who would think themselves injured, not to be reputed Christians. Coverdale, in his translation, (1535), renders the passage thus: Peradventure my sonnes have done some offense, and have been unthankful to God in their hertes.

Thus did Job continually - At the end of every year, when all the birthday festivals had gone round.

There was a day when the sons of God - All the versions, and indeed all the critics, are puzzled with the phrase sons of God; בני האלהים beney haelohim, literally, sons of the God, or sons of the gods. The Vulgate has simply filii dei, sons of God. The Septuagint, οἱ αγγελοι του θεου, the angels of God. The Chaldee, כתי מלאכיא kittey malachaiya, troops of angels. The Syriac retains the Hebrew words and letters, only leaving out the demonstrative ה he in the word האלהים haelohim, thus, (Syriac) baney Elohim. The Arabic nearly copies the Hebrew also, (Arabic) banoa Iloheem; to which, if we give not the literal translation of the Hebrew, we may give what translation we please. Coverdale (1535) translates it, servauntes of God. The Targum supposes that this assembly took place on the day of the great atonement, which occurred once each year. And there was a day of judgment in the beginning of the year; and the troops of angels came, that they might stand in judgment before the Lord. But what are we to make of this whole account? Expositions are endless. That of Mr. Peters appears to me to be at once the most simple and the most judicious: "The Scripture speaks of God after the manner of men, for there is a necessity of condescending to our capacities, and of suiting the revelation to our apprehension. As kings, therefore, transact their most important affairs in a solemn council or assembly, so God is pleased to represent himself as having his council likewise; and as passing the decrees of his providence in an assembly of his holy angels. We have here, in the case of Job, the same grand assembly held, as was before in that of Ahab, 1 Kings 22:6-23; the same host of heaven, called here the sons of God, presenting themselves before Jehovah, as in the vision of Micaiah they are said to stand on his right hand and on his left. A wicked spirit appearing among them, here called Satan or the adversary, and there a lying spirit; both bent on mischief, and ready to do all the hurt they were permitted to do; for both were under the control of his power. The imagery is just the same; and the only difference is in the manner of the relation. That mentioned above, Micaiah, as a prophet, and in the actual exercise of his prophetic office, delivers, as he received it, in a vision. "I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the Host of Heaven standing by him, on his right hand and on his left, and there came forth a Lying Spirit, and stood Before the Lord, and said," 1Kgs 22:19-22. The other, as a historian, interweaves it with his history; and tells us, in his plain narrative style, "There was a day when the sons of God came to Present themselves Before the Lord, and Satan came also among them." And this he delivers in the same manner as he does, There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. "The things delivered to us by these two inspired writers are the same in substance, equally high, and above the reach of human sight and knowledge; but the manner of delivering them is different, each as suited best to his particular purpose. This, then is the prophetical way of representing things, as to the manner of doing them, which, whether done exactly in the same manner, concerns us not to know; but which are really done: and God would have them described as done in this manner, to make the more lively and lasting impression on us. At the same time, it must not be forgotten that representations of this kind are founded in a well-known and established truth, viz., the doctrine of good and bad angels, a point revealed from the beginning, and without a previous knowledge of which, the visions of the prophets could scarcely be intelligible." See Gen 28:10-15.

And Satan came also - This word also is emphatic in the original, השטן hassatan, the Satan, or the adversary; translated by the Septuagint ὁ Διαβολος. The original word is preserved by the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic; indeed, in each of them the word signifies an adversary. St. Peter, 1Pet 5:8, plainly refers to this place; and fully proves that השטן hassatan, which he literally translates ὁ αντιδικος, the Adversary, is no other than ὁ Διαβολος, the Devil, or chief of bad demons, which he adds to others by way of explanation. There are many διαμονες, demons, mentioned in Scripture, but the word Satan or devil is never found in the originals of the Old and New Testaments in the plural number. Hence we reasonably infer, that all evil spirits are under the government of One chief, the Devil, who is more powerful and more wicked than the rest. From the Greek Διαβολος comes the Latin Diabolus, the Spanish Diablo, the French Diable, the Italian Diavolo, the German Teuffel, the Dutch Duivel, the Anglo-Saxon and the English Devil, which some would derive from the compound The - Evil; ὁ πονηρος, the evil one, or wicked one.

It is now fashionable to deny the existence of this evil spirit; and this is one of what St. John (Rev 2:24) calls τα βαθη του σατανα, the depths of Satan; as he well knows that they who deny his being will not be afraid of his power and influence; will not watch against his wiles and devices; will not pray to God for deliverance from the evil one; will not expect him to be trampled down under their feet, who has no existence; and, consequently, they will become an easy and unopposing prey to the enemy of their souls. By leading men to disbelieve and deny his existence, he throws them off their guard; and is then their complete master, and they are led captive by him at his will. It is well known that, among all those who make any profession of religion, those who deny the existence of the devil are they who pray little or none at all; and are, apparently, as careless about the existence of God as they are about the being of a devil. Piety to God is with them out of the question; for those who do not pray, especially in private, (and I never met with a devil-denier who did), have no religion of any kind, whatsoever pretensions they may choose to make.

From going to and fro in the earth - The translation of the Septuagint is curious: Περιελθων την γην και εμπεριπατησας την ὑπ' ουρανον, παρειμι; "Having gone round the earth, and walked over all that is under heaven, I am come hither." The Chaldee says, "I am come from going round the earth to examine the works of the children of men; and from walking through it." Coverdale, who generally hits the sense, translates thus: I have gone aboute the londe ond walked thorow it. Mr. Good has it, from roaming round the earth, and walking about it.

St. Peter, as has been already stated, 1Pet 5:8, refers to this: "Be sober, be vigilant; for your Adversary the Devil Goeth About, as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." I rather think, with Coverdale, that ארץ arets here signifies rather that land, than the habitable globe. The words are exceedingly emphatic; and the latter verb התהלך hithhallech being in the hithpael conjugation shows how earnest and determined the devil is in his work: he sets himself to walk; he is busily employed in it; he is seeking the destruction of men; and while they sleep, he wakes - while they are careless, he is alert. The spirit of this saying is often expressed by the simple inhabitants of the country: when they perceive a man plotting mischief, and frequent in transgression, they say, The devil is Busy with him.

Hast thou considered my servant Job - Literally, Hast thou placed thy heart on my servant Job? Hast thou viewed his conduct with attention, whilst thou wert roaming about, seeking whom thou mightest devour? viz., the careless, prayerless, and profligate in general.

Doth Job fear God for naught? - Thou hast made it his interest to be exemplary in his conduct: for this assertion Satan gives his reasons in what immediately follows.

Hast not thou made a hedge about him - Thou hast fortified him with spikes and spears. Thou hast defended him as by an unapproachable hedge. He is an object of thy peculiar care; and is not exposed to the common trials of life.

But put forth thine hand - Shoot the dart of poverty and affliction against him.

And he will curse thee to thy face - אם לא על פניך יברכך im lo al paneycha yebarechecca, "If he will not bless thee to thy appearances." He will bless thee only in proportion to the temporal good thou bestowest upon him; to the providential and gracious appearances or displays of thy power in his behalf. If thou wilt be gracious, he will be pious. The exact maxim of a great statesman, Sir Robert Walpole: Every man has his price. "But you have not bought such a one?" "No, because I would not go up to his price. He valued himself at more than I thought him worth; and I could get others cheaper, who, in the general muster, would do as well." No doubt Sir R. met with many such; and the devil many more. But still God has multitudes that will neither sell their souls, their consciences, nor their country, for any price; who, though God should slay them, will nevertheless trust in him; and be honest men, howsoever tempted by the devil and his vicegerents. So did Job; so have done thousands; so will all do, in whose hearts Christ dwells by faith.

All that he hath is in thy power - Satan cannot deprive a man even of an ass, a sheep, or a pig, but by especial permission of God. His power and malice are ever bounded, and under control.

So Satan went forth - The Targum adds, with authority from the presence of the Lord.

There was a day - The first day of the week, says the Targum. It no doubt refers to one of those birthday festivals mentioned before.

The asses feeding beside them - אתנות athonoth, the she-asses, which appear to have been more domesticated, as of more worth and use than the others, both for their milk and their work.

And the Sabeans fell - The Vulgate alone understands this of a people. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic, understand it as implying a marauding party. The Chaldee says, "Lilith, queen of Zamargad, rushed suddenly upon them, and carried them away." The Sabeans mentioned here are supposed to have been the same with those who were the descendants of Abraham by Keturah, whose son Jokshan begat Sheba. The sons of Keturah were sent by Abraham into the east, Gen 25:6, and inhabited Arabia Deserta, on the east of the land of Uz. Hordes of predatory banditti were frequent in those countries and continue so to the present day. They made sudden incursions, and carried off men, women, children, cattle, and goods of every description; and immediately retired to the desert, whither it was in vain to pursue them.

The fire of God is fallen - Though the fire of God may mean a great, a tremendous fire, yet it is most natural to suppose lightning is meant; for as thunder was considered to be the voice of God, so lightning was the fire of God. And as the prince of the power of the air was permitted now to arm himself with this dreadful artillery of heaven, he might easily direct the zigzag lightning to every part of the fields where the sheep were feeding, and so destroy the whole in a moment.

The Chaldeans made out three bands - The Chaldeans inhabited each side of the Euphrates near to Babylon, which was their capital. They were also mixed with the wandering Arabs, and lived like them on rapine. They were the descendants of Chesed, son of Nahor and brother of Huz, from whom they had their name Casdim, which we translate Chaldeans. They divided themselves into three bands, in order the more speedily and effectually to encompass, collect, and drive off the three thousand camels: probably they mounted the camels and rode off.

A great wind from the wilderness - Here was another proof of the influence of the prince of the power of the air. What mischief might he not do with this tremendous agent, were he not constantly under the control of the Almighty! He seems to have directed four different currents, which, blowing against the four corners or sides of the house, crushed it together, and involved all within in one common ruin.

Rent his mantle - Tearing the garments, shaving or pulling off the hair of the head, throwing dust or ashes on the head, and fitting on the ground, were acts by which immoderate grief was expressed. Job must have felt the bitterness of anguish when he was told that, in addition to the loss of all his property, he was deprived of his ten children by a violent death. Had he not felt this most poignantly, he would have been unworthy of the name of man.

Worshipped - Prostrated himself; lay all along upon the ground, with his face in the dust.

Naked came I out of my mother's womb - I had no earthly possessions when I came into the world; I cannot have less going out of it. What I have the Lord gave: as it was his free gift, he has a right to resume it when he pleases; and I owe him gratitude for the time he has permitted me to enjoy this gift.

Naked shall I return thither - Whither? Not to his mother's womb surely; nor does he call the earth his mother in this place. In the first clause of the verse he speaks without a metaphor, and in the latter he speaks in reference to the ground on which he was about to fall. As I came out of my mother's womb destitute of the earthly possessions, so shall I return שמה shammah, There; i.e., to the earth on which he was now falling. That mother earth was a common expression in different nations, I allow; but I believe no such metaphor was now in the mind of Job.

The Lord gave - The Chaldee has, "The Word of the Lord, מימרא דיי meymera dayai, gave; and the Word of the Lord and the house of his judgment, have taken away!" Word is used here personally, as in many other places of all the Targums.

Blessed be the name of the Lord - The following is a fine paraphrase on the sentiment in this verse: - "Good when he gives, supremely good;Nor less when he denies;

Afflictions from his sovereign hand,Are blessings in disguise."

Seeing I have lost my temporal goods, and all my domestic comforts, may God alone be all my portion! The Vulgate, Septuagint, and Coverdale, add, The Lord hath done as he pleased.

In all this Job sinned not - He did not give way to any action, passion, or expression, offensive to his Maker. He did not charge God with acting unkindly towards him, but felt as perfectly satisfied with the privation which the hand of God had occasioned, as he was with the affluence and health which that hand had bestowed. This is the transaction that gave the strong and vivid colouring to the character of Job; in this, and in this alone, he was a pattern of patience and resignation. In this Satan was utterly disappointed; he found a man who loved his God more than his earthly portion. This was a rare case, even in the experience of the devil. He had seen multitudes who bartered their God for money, and their hopes of blessedness in the world to come for secular possessions in the present. He had been so often successful in this kind of temptation, that he made no doubt he should succeed again. He saw many who, when riches increased, set their hearts on them, and forgot God. He saw many also who, when deprived of earthly comforts, blasphemed their Maker. He therefore inferred that Job, in similar circumstances, would act like the others; he was disappointed. Reader, has he, by riches or poverty, succeeded with thee? Art thou pious when affluent, and patient and contented when in poverty?

That Job lived after the giving of the law, seems to me clear from many references to the rites and ceremonies instituted by Moses. In Job 1:5, we are informed that he sanctified his children, and offered burnt-offerings daily to the morning for each of them. This was a general ordinance of the law, as we may see, Lev 9:7 : "Moses said unto Aaron, Go unto the altar, and offer thy sin-offering and thy burnt-offering, and make an atonement for thyself and for the people." Lev 9:22 : "And Aaron lifted up his hands towards the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering the burnt-offering."

This sort of offering, we are told above, Job offered continually; and this also was according to the law, Exo 29:42 : "This shall be a continual burnt-offering throughout your generations." See also Num 28:3, Num 28:6, Num 28:10, Num 28:15, Num 28:24, Num 28:31.

This custom was observed after the captivity, Ezr 3:5 : "They offered the continual burnt-offering: and of every one that offered a freewill-offering." See also Neh 10:33. Ezekiel, who prophesied during the captivity, enjoins this positively, Eze 46:13-15 : "Thou shalt daily prepare a burnt-offering unto the Lord; thou shalt prepare it every morning."

Job appears to have thought that his children might have sinned through ignorance, or sinned privately; and it was consequently necessary to make the due sacrifices to God in order to prevent his wrath and their punishment; he therefore offered the burnt-offering, which was prescribed by the law in cases of sins committed through ignorance. See the ordinances Leviticus 4:1-35; Lev 5:15-19, and particularly Num 15:24-29. I think it may be fairly presumed that the offerings which Job made for his children were in reference to these laws.

The worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as being the most prevalent and most seductive idolatry, was very expressly forbidden by the law, Deu 4:19 : "Take heed, lest thou lift up thine eyes to heaven; and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them." Job purges himself from this species of idolatry, Job 31:26-28 : "If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge; for I should have denied the God that is above."

He clears himself also from adultery in reference to the law enacted against that sin, Job 31:9-12 : "If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbor's door; then let my wife grind to another: for this is a heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges." See the law against this sin, Exo 20:14, Exo 20:17 : "Thou shalt not commit adultery: thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife." Lev 20:10 : "The man that committeth adultery with another man's wife shall surely be put to death;" see Deu 22:22. And for the judge's office in such cases, see Deu 17:9-12 : "Thou shalt come unto the priests and Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days; and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment." 1Sam 2:25 : "If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him."

The following will, I think, be considered an evident allusion to the passage of the Red Sea, and the destruction of the proud Egyptian king: Job 26:11, Job 26:12 : "The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his reproof. He divideth the sea with his power; and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud." These, with several others that might be adduced, are presumptive proofs that the writer of this book lived after the giving and establishment of the law, if not much later, let Job himself live when he might. See other proofs in the notes.

Uz - Part of Arabia. Perfect - Not legally or exactly, but as to his sincere intentions, hearty affections, and diligent endeavours to perform all his duties to God and men. Upright - Heb. right, exact and regular in all his dealings, with men; one of an unblameable conversation. Feared - One truly pious, and devoted to God. Eschewed - Carefully avoiding all sin against God or men.

Camels - Camels in these parts were very numerous, and very useful, both for carrying burdens in these hot and dry countries, as being able to endure thirst much better than other creatures, and for service in war. Asses - He - asses also may be included in this expression, because the greatest part of them (from which the denomination is usually taken) were she asses. The greatest - That lived in those parts. The account of his piety and prosperity comes before the account of his afflictions, to shew that neither of these will secure us from the common, no, nor from the uncommon calamities of human life.

Feasted - To testify and maintain their brotherly love. His day - Each his appointed day, perhaps his birth - day, or the first day of the month.

When - When each of them had had his turn. Satisfied - He exhorted them to examine their own consciences, to repent of any thing, which had been amiss in their feasting, and compose their minds for employments of a more solemn nature. Early - Thereby shewing his ardent zeal in God's service. May be - His zeal for God's glory, and his true love to his children, made him jealous. Cursed - Not in a gross manner, which it is not probable either that they should do, or that Job should suspect it concerning them, but despised or dishonoured God; for both Hebrew and Greek words signifies cursing, are sometimes used to note only, reviling or setting light by a person. Hearts - By slight and low thoughts of God, or by neglecting to give God the praise for the mercies which they enjoyed. Thus - It was his constant course at the end of every feasting time, to offer a sacrifice for each. Parents should be particular in their addresses to God, for the several branches of their family; praying for each child, according to his particular temper, genius and disposition.

A day - A certain time appointed by God. The sons - The holy angels, so called, chap.38:7 Dan 3:25,28, because of their creation by God, for their resemblance of him in power, and dignity, and holiness, and for their filial affection and obedience, to him. Before - Before his throne, to receive his commands, and to give him an account of their negotiations. But you must not think that these things are to be understood literally; it is only a parabolical representation of that great truth, that God by his wise and holy providence governs all the actions of men and devils: It being usual with the great God to condescend to our shallow capacities, and to express himself, as the Jews phrase it, in the language of the sons of men. And it is likewise intimated, that the affairs of earth are much the subject of the counsels of the unseen world. That world is dark to us: but we lie open to it.

For nought - Out of pure love and respect to thee? No. It is policy, not piety, that makes him good; he doth not serve thee, but serveth himself of thee, serving thee for his own ends.

Behold, &c. - It seems strange, that, God should give Satan such a permission as this. But he did it for his own glory, for the honour of Job, for the explanation of providence, and the encouragement of his afflicted people in all ages.

Messenger, &c. - One messenger immediately followed another; Satan so ordering by God's permission, that there might seem to be more than ordinary displeasure of God against him in his troubles, and that he might not have leisure to recollect himself, but be overwhelmed by a complication of calamities.

Sabeans - A people of Arabia, who led a wandering life, and lived by robbery and spoil. I - Whom Satan spared, that Job might have speedy and certain intelligence of his calamity.

The fire of God - As thunder is the voice of God, so lightning is his fire. How terrible then were the tidings of this destruction, which came immediately from the hand of God! And seemed to shew, that God was angry at his very offerings, and would receive no more from his hands.

Chaldeans - Who also lived upon spoil, as Xenephon and others observe.

The young men - This was the greatest of Job's losses, and therefore Satan reserved it to the last, that if the other provocations failed, this might make him curse God. They died by a wind of the devils raising, but which seemed to be the immediate hand of God. And they were taken away, when he had the most need of them, to comfort him under all his other losses. Such miserable comforters are creatures: in God we have a constant and sufficient help.

Shaved - Caused his hair to be shaved or cut off, which was then an usual ceremony in mourning. Worshipped - Instead of cursing God, which Satan said he would do, he adored him, and gave him the glory of his sovereignty, of his justice, and of his goodness also, in this most severe dispensation.

Naked - I brought none of these things with me, when I came out of my mother's womb into the world, but I received them from the hand of God, who hath now required his own again. Return thither - I shall be as rich when I die as I was when I was born, and therefore have reason to be contented with my condition, which also is the common lot of all men. Into the lap of our common mother, the earth, as the weary child lays its head in its mother's bosom. We go out of the world naked; the body doth, tho' the sanctified soul goes clothed. (2Cor 5:3.) Death strips us of all our enjoyments: clothing can neither warm nor adorn a dead body. Taken - He hath taken away nothing but his own, and what he so gave that he reserved the supreme disposal of in his own hand. And what is it to me, by what hand he that gives, resumes what he gave?

Charged - Heb. not imputed folly to God; so far was he from blaspheming God, that he did not entertain any dishonourable thought of God, as if he had done anything unworthy of his infinite wisdom, or justice, or goodness, but heartily acquiesced in his good pleasure, and in his righteous though sharp proceedings against him. Discontent and impatience do in effect impute folly to God. Against the workings of these we should carefully watch, acknowledging that God has done well, but we have done foolishly.

THere was a Man in the Land of Uz , whose Name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright , and one that feared God , and eschewed Evil.

Which was either in Edom, called, The Land of Uz, Lam. 4. 21. or in some part of Arabia, not far from the Chaldeans, and Sabeans, as this Chapter witnesseth; so called probably from Uz, one of Esau's Posterity, Gen. 36. 28. Ier. 25. 20.

Not legally or exactly, as he confesseth Ch. 9. 20. but comparatively to such as were partial in their Obedience to Gods Commands, and as to his sincere Intentions, hearty Affections, and constant and diligent Endeavours to perform all his duties to God and Men.

Heb. right, exact and regular in all his dealings with Men, one of an unblameable Conversation, doing to others as he would have others to deal with him.

Only truly pious, and devoted to Gods Worship and Service.

i. e. Carefully avoiding all sin against God or Men.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 14. 14. [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 5. 11.; [illegible: 1+ letters]p 2. 3.

3. His Substance also was Seven Thousand Sheep, and Three Thousand Camels, and Five Hundred Yoke of Oxen, and Five Hundred She-Asses, and a very great Houshold; so that this man was the greatest of all the men in the East .

Camels in these parts were very numerous, as is manifest from Iudg. 7. 12. 1 Chron. 5. 21. and from the plain testimonies of Aristotle and Pliny, and very useful, and Proper both for carrying of Burdens in these hot and dry Countries, as being able to endure thirst much better than other Creatures, and for service in War.

Which were preferred before He-Asses, as serving for the same uses as they did, and for Breeding, and Milk also: But He-Asses also may be included in this Expression, which is of the Feminine Gender, because the greatest part of them (from which the denomination is usually taken) were She-Asses.

i. e. One of the richest.

To wit, that lived in those parts: such general Expressions being commonly understood with such limitations.

Marginal references: O[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word].; [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] ▪ [illegible: 1 word] ▪; [illegible: 1 word] ▪ [illegible: 1 word] of [illegible: 1 word].

4. And his Sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day , and sent and called for their Three Sisters to eat and to drink with them.

To testifie and maintain their Brotherly Love.

Not every day of the Week, and of the Year; which would have been burdensome and tedious to them all, and gross Luxury and Epicurism, which holy Iob would not have permitted; but each his appointed day, whether his Birth-day, or the first day of the Month, or any other set time, it matters not.

5. And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about , that Job sent and sanctified them , and rose up early in the morning , and offered Burnt-Offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my Sons have sinned , and cursed God in their Hearts. Thus did Job continually .

When each of them had had his turn, which peradventure came one speedily, though not immediately after another. And there was some considerable interval before their next feasting time.

i. e. He exhorted and commanded them to sanctifie themselves for the following work, to wit, by purifying themselves from all Ceremonial and Moral Pollution, as the manner then was, Exod. 19. 10. and by preparing themselves by true Repentance for all their sins, and particularly such as they had committed in their time of Feasting and Jollity, and by fervent Prayers to make their Peace with God by Sacrifice.

Thereby shewing his ardent Zeal in Gods service, and his Impatience till God was reconciled to him, and to his Children.

His Zeal for Gods Glory, and his true Love to his Children made him jealous; for which he had cause enough from the Corruption of Mans Nature, the Frailty and Folly of Youth, the many Temptations which attend upon Feasting and Jollity, and the easiness of sliding from lawful to forbidden Delights.

Not in the grossest manner and highest degree, which it is not probable either that they should do, now especially when they had no provocation to do it, as being surrounded with blessings, and Comforts, which they were actually enjoying, and not yet exercised with any affliction, or that Iob should suspect it concerning them, but despised and dishonoured God; for both Hebrew and Greek words signifie cursing, are somtimes used to note only reviling or detracting, or speaking evil, or setting light by a Person. Thus what is called cursing ones Father or Mother, Ex. 21. 17. is elsewhere called setting light by them, as Deut. 27. 16. Ezek. 22▪ 7. See also 2 Pet. 2. 11. Iud. 8. and many other places.

By sleight and low Thoughts of God, by neglecting or forgetting to give God the Praise and Glory of the Mercies which by his favour they enjoyed, by taking more hearty delight in their Feasts and Jollity, than in the Service and fruition of God: For these and such like Distempers of Heart are most usual in times of Prosperity and Jollity, as appears by common Experience, and by the many Divine Cautions we have against them, as Deut. 6. 11. Hos. 2. 8. and elsewhere. And these miscarriages, though inward and secret, Iob calls by such an hard name as usually signifies cursing, by way of Aggravation of their sin, which peradventure they were too apt to sleight as a small and trivial miscarriage.

i. e. It was his constant course at the end of every feasting time.

Marginal references: Neh. 12. 30.; 1 King. 21. 10. 13.; Heb. all the day.

6. Now there was a day , when the Sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them .

i. e. A certain time appointed by God.

i. e. The holy Angels, so called, Iob 38. 7. Dan. 3. 25, 28. because of their Creation by God, as Adam also was, Luk. 3. 38. and for their great resemblance of him in Power, and Dignity, and Holiness, and for their filial affection and Obedience to him.

i. e. Before his Throne, to receive his Commands, and to give him an account of their Negotiations. Compare 1 Kin. 22. 19. Zech. 4. 14. Luk. 1. 19. But you must not think that these things were really done, and that Satan was mixed with the holy Angels, or admitted into the presence of God in Heaven, to maintain such discourses as this with the blessed God, or that he had formal Commission and leave to do what follows; but it is only a parabolical Representation of that great truth, that God by his wise and holy Providence doth govern all the Actions of Men and Devils to his own ends: It being usual with the great God to condescend to our shallow capacities, and to express himself, as the Iews phrase it, In the language of the Sons of Men; i. e. In such manner as men use to speak and may understand.

Being forced to come, and give up his account.

Marginal references: Gr. Angels of God.; Heb. the Adversary.; Heb. in the midst of them.

7. And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou ? Then Satan answered the LORD and said, From going to and fro in the Earth , and from walking up and down in it.

God being here represented as Judge, rightly begins with an enquiry, as the ground of his further proceedings, as he did Gen. 3. 9. and 4. 9.

Where by thy permission I range about, observing with great diligence all the Dispositions and Actions of Men, and working in them and among them as far as I have Liberty and Opportunity.

Marginal references: 1 Pet. 5. 8.

8. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my Servant Job , that there is none like him in the Earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil?

Hast thou taken notice of him, and his Spirit, and Carriage? and what hast thou to say against him?

Marginal references: Heb. Hast thou set thy heart on?

9. Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought ?

i. e. Sincerely and freely, and out of pure Love and Respect to thee? No. It is policy, not Piety, that makes him good; he doth not serve thee, but serveth himself of thee, and is a meer mercenary, serving thee for his own ends.

10. Hast thou not made an Hedge about him , and about his House , and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his Hands, and his Substance is increased in the Land.

i. e. Defended him by thy special Care and Providence from all harms and Inconveniences: which is able to oblige and win persons of the worst tempers.

His Children and Servants.

Marginal references: Or, Cattle.; Heb. broken forth, Gen. 28. 14.

11. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face .

To wit, in way of Justice and severity, as that Phrase is used, Isa. 5. 25. Ezek. 25. 7, 13, 16.

i. e. Afflict or destroy, as this word is used▪ Gen. 26. 11. Ruth 2. 9. Psal. 105. 15. Zech. 2. 8.

He who is now so forward to serve and bless thee, will then openly and boldly blaspheme thy Name, and reproach thy Providence, as unjust and unmerciful to him.

Marginal references: Heb. if he bless thee not to thy face.

12. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power , only upon himself put not forth thine Hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD .

I give thee full Power and Liberty to deal with his Wife, Children, Servants, and all his Estate, whatsoever thy Wit or Malice shall prompt thee to do.

His Person, Body, or Soul.

i. e. From that place where God was represented as specially present, being forward and greedy to do the mischief which he had permission to do.

Marginal references: Heb. Hand.

14. And there came a Messenger unto Job, and said, The Oxen were plowing, and the Asses feeding beside them :

i. e. Beside the Oxen, therefore both were taken away together.

15. And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away, yea, they have slain the Servants with the Edge of the Sword, and I only am escaped to tell thee .

A People of Arabia, who led a wandring Life, and lived by Robbery and spoiling of others, as Strabo and other Heathen Writers note.

Whom Satan spared no less maliciously than he destroyed the rest, that Iob might have speedy and certain intelligence of his Calamity.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word].

16. While he was yet speaking , there came also another, and said, The Fire of God is falln from Heaven , and hath burnt up the Sheep and the Servants, and consumed them, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Before he could have time to compose his disturbed Mind, and to digest his former loss, or indeed to swallow his Spittle, as he expresseth it, Ch. 7. 19.

A terrible flame of Fire sent from God in an extraordinary manner; to intimate that both God and Men were his Enemies, and all things conspired to his Ruine.

i. e. From the Air which is oft called Heaven, as hath been noted again and again, whereof Satan is the Prince, Eph. 2. 2.

Marginal references: Or, A [illegible: 1 word] Fire.

17. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Caldeans made out three bands , and fell upon the Camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the Servants with the Edge of the Sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Who also lived upon the Spoil, as Xenophon and others observe.

That they might come upon them several ways, and nothing might be able to escape them.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word].

18. While he was yet speaking, there came also another; and said, Thy Sons and thy Daughters were eating and drinking Wine in their eldest Brothers House:

i. e. Feasting after their manner, and, as Iob Generally feared and suspected, sinning against God, v. 5. Which was a dreadful aggravation of the Judgment.

19. And behold, there came a great Wind from the Wilderness , and smote the four corners of the House, and it fell upon the young men , and they are dead, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Whence the fiercest Winds came, as having most power in such open places. See Ier. 4. 11. and 13. 24.

In which the chief strength of the House did consist. It smote these either all together, or rather successively, one immediately after another, being possibly a Whirl-wind, which comes violently and suddenly, whirling about in a Circle, and being driven about by the power of the Devil, which is very great.

His Sons in their Youth▪ and his Daughters also, as appears from the sequel.

Marginal references: Heb. F[illegible: 1+ letters]t side.

20. Then Job arose , and rent his Mantle , and shaved his head , and fell down upon the ground , and worshipped e.

From his seat whereon he was sitting in a disconsolate posture.

To testifie his deep sense of, and just sorrow for the heavy hand of God upon him, and his humiliation of himself under his hand. See Gen. 37. 34.

i. e. Caused the Hair of his Head to be shaved or cut off, which was then an usual Ceremony in mourning, of which see Ezra. 9. 3. Isa. 15. 2. and 22. 12. Ier. 7. 29. and 41. 5. Mich. 1. 16.

In way of self-abhorrency, and Humiliation and Supplication unto God. To wit, God, who is expressed in the following verse, and who is the only Object of Religious Worship: Instead of cursing God, which Satan said he would do, he adored him, and gave him the Glory of his Soveraignty, and of his Justice▪ and of his Goodness also, in this most severe Dispensation.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word].

21. [illegible: 1+ letters]d said, [ naked came I out of my Mothers Womb [illegible: 1+ letters]nd [naked shall I return thither :] [the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away ;] [blessed be the name of the LORD .]

I brought none of these things which I have now lost with me when I came out of my Mothers Womb into the World, but I received them from the Hand and Favour of that God who hath now required his own again. I still have all that Substance wherewith I was born, and have lost only things without and beside my self.

I shall be as rich when I die as I was when I was born, and therefore have reason to be contented with my condition, which also is the common lot of all men. Thither, i. e. into my Mothers Womb, which in the former clause is understood properly, but in this figuratively, of the Earth which is our common Mother, as it is called by many Authors, out of whose Belly we were taken, and into which we must return again Gen. 3. 19. Eccles. 12. 7. And as our Mothers Womb is called the lower parts of the Earth, Psal. 139. 15. so it is not harsh if reciprocally the lower parts of the Earth be called our Mothers Womb. Nor is it strange that the same Phrase should be taken both properly and metaphorically in the same Verse; for so it is Mat. 8. 22. Let the dead spiritually bury the dead corporally. See also Levit. 26. 21, 24. Psal. 18. 26, &c.

He hath taken away nothing but his own, and what he so gave to me that he reserved the supream Dominion and Disposal of in his own hand. So I have no cause to murmur or complain of him. nor have I reason to fret and rage against the Chaldeans and Sabeans, and other Creatures, who were only Gods Instruments to execute his wise and holy Counsel.

i. e. The Lord, God's Name being often put for God himself, as Psal. 44. 5. and 48. 10. and 72. 18, 19. Dan. 2. 19, 20. As Names are put for Men, Act. 1. 15. Rev. 3. 4. The sence is, I have no cause to quarrel with God, but much cause to bless and praise him, that he did give me such blessings, and suffered me to enjoy them more and longer than I deserved; and that he hath vouchsafed to afflict me, which I greatly needed for my Souls good, and which I take as a Token of his Love and Faithfulness to me, and therefore ministring more matter of Comfort than Grief to me; and that he hath left me the comfort of my Wife, and yet is pleased to continue to me the Health of my Body, and a composed Mind, and an Heart to submit to his good pleasure; and that he hath reserved and prepared such a felicity for me, whom no Chaldeans or Sabeans, no Men nor Devils can take away from me: of which see Chap. 19. 25.

Marginal references: Eccles. 5. 1[illegible: 1+ letters] 1 Tim 6.

22. [In all this ] [Job sinned not ,] [nor charged God foolishly .]

i. e. Under all these pressures. Or, in all that he said or did upon these sad occasions.

To wit, in such manner as the Devil presaged that he would, and as is expressed in the following words. As Christ saith, Ioh. 9. 3. Neither hath this man sinned nor his Parents, to wit, so as you imagine, in an eminent or extraordinary degree. But both here and there human Infirmities are excepted, of which Iob oft acknowledgeth himself to be guilty. Nor was the question between God and Satan, whether Iob had any sin in him, but whether he was an Hypocrite, or would blaspheme God; which is here denied and disproved.

Heb. Nor imputed folly to God; i. e. so far was he from blaspheming God, that he did not entertain any dishonourable thought of God, as if he had done any thing unworthy of his infinite Wisdom, or Justice, or Goodness, but heartily approved of and acquiesced in his good pleasure, and in his righteous though sharp Proceedings against him.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] to God. [illegible: 1 word], [illegible: 1 word] ▪

The Book of Job

Introduction

1. The Problem of the Book of Job

Why do afflictions upon afflictions befall the righteous man? This is the question, the answering of which is made the theme of the book of Job. Looking to the conclusion of the book, the answer stands: that afflictions are for the righteous man the way to a twofold blessedness. But in itself, this answer cannot satisfy; so much the less, as the twofold blessedness to which Job finally attains is just as earthly and of this world as that which he has lost by affliction. This answer is inadequate, since on the one hand such losses as those of beloved children cannot, as the loss of sheep and camels, really be made good by double the number of other children; on the other hand, it may be objected that many a righteous man deprived of his former prosperity dies in outward poverty. There are numerous deathbeds which protest against this answer. There are many pious sufferers to whom this present material issue of the book of Job could not yield any solace; whom, when in conflict at least, it might the rather bring into danger of despair. With reference to this conclusion, the book of Job is an insufficient theodicy, as in general the truth taught in the Old Testament, that the end, אהרית, of the righteous, as of the unrighteous, would reveal the hidden divine recompense, could afford no true consolation so long as this אהרית flowed on with death into the night of Hades, שׁאול, and had no prospect of eternal life.

But the issue of the history, regarded externally, is by no means the proper answer to the great question of the book. The principal thing is not that Job is doubly blessed, but that God acknowledges him as His servant, which He is able to do, after Job in all his afflictions has remained true to God. Therein lies the important truth, that there is a suffering of the righteous which is not a decree of wrath, into which the love of God has been changed, but a dispensation of that love itself. In fact, this truth is the heart of the book of Job. It has therefore been said - particularly by Hirzel, and recently by Renan - that it aims at destroying the old Mosaic doctrine of retribution. But this old Mosaic doctrine of retribution is a modern phantom. That all suffering is a divine retribution, the Mosaic Thora does not teach. Renan calls this doctrine la vielle conception patriarcale. But the patriarchal history, and especially the history of Joseph, gives decided proof against it. The distinction between the suffering of the righteous and the retributive justice of God, brought out in the book of Job, is nothing new. The history before the time of Israel, and the history of Israel even, exhibit it in facts; and the words of the law, as Deu 8:16, expressly show that there are sufferings which are the result of God’s love; though the book of Job certainly presents this truth, which otherwise had but a scattered and presageful utterance, in a unique manner, and causes it to come forth before us from a calamitous and terrible conflict, as pure gold from a fierce furnace. It comes forth as the result of the controversy with the false doctrine of retribution advanced by the friends; a doctrine which is indeed not Mosaic, for the Mosaic Thora in the whole course of the history of revelation is nowhere impugned and corrected, but ever only augmented, and, consistently with its inherent character, rendered more complete.

To this question the book furnishes, as it appears to us, two answers: (1.) The afflictions of the righteous are a means of discipline and purification; they certainly arise from the sins of the righteous man, but still are not the workings of God’s wrath, but of His love, which is directed to his purifying and advancement. Such is the view Elihu in the book of Job represents. The writer of the introductory portion of Proverbs has expressed this briefly but beautifully Pro 3:11; cf. Heb 12). Oehler, in order that one may perceive its distinction from the view of the three friends, rightly refers to the various theories of punishment. Discipline designed for improvement is properly no punishment, since punishment, according to its true idea, is only satisfaction rendered for the violation of moral order. In how far the speeches of Elihu succeed in conveying this view clear and distinct from the original standpoint of the friends, especially of Eliphaz, matters not to us here; at all events, it is in the mind of the poet as the characteristic of these speeches. (2.) The afflictions of the righteous man are means of proving and testing, which, like chastisements, come from the love of God. Their object is not, however, the purging away of sin which may still cling to the righteous man, but, on the contrary, the manifestation and testing of his righteousness. This is the point of view from which, apart from Elihu’s speeches, the book of Job presents Job’s afflictions. Only by this relation of things is the chagrin with which Job takes up the words of Eliphaz, and so begins the controversy, explained and justified or excused. And, indeed, if it should be even impossible for the Christian, especially with regard to his own sufferings, to draw the line between disciplinary and testing sufferings so clearly as it is drawn in the book of Job, there is also for the deeper and more acute New Testament perception of sin, a suffering of the righteous which exists without any causal connection with his sin, viz., confession by suffering, or martyrdom, which the righteous man undergoes, not for his own sake, but for the sake of God.

If we, then, keep in mind these two further answers which the book of Job gives us to the question, “Why through suffering to blessedness?” it is not to be denied that practically they are perfectly sufficient. If I know that God sends afflictions to me because, since sin and evil are come into the world, they are the indispensable means of purifying and testing me, and by both purifying and testing of perfecting me, - these are explanations with which I can and must console myself. But this is still not the final answer of the book of Job to its great question. And its unparalleled magnitude, its high significance in the historical development of revelation, its typical character already recognised in the Old Testament, consists just in its going beyond this answer, and giving us an answer which, going back to the extreme roots of evil, and being deduced from the most intimate connections of the individual life of man with the history and plan of the world in the most comprehensive sense, not only practically, but speculatively, satisfies.

2. The Chokma-Character of the Book

But before we go so far into this final and highest answer as the province of the Introduction permits and requires, in order to assign to the reader the position necessary to be taken for understanding the book, we ask, How comes it that the book of Job presents such a universal and absolute solution of the problem, otherwise unheard of in the Old Testament Scriptures? The reason of it is in the peculiar mental tendency (Geistesrichtung) of the Israelitish race from which it proceeded. There was in Israel a bias of a universalistic, humanic, philosophical kind, which, starting from the fear or worship (religion) of Jehovah, was turned to the final causes of things, - the cosmical connections of the earthly, the common human foundations of the Israelitish, the invisible roots of the visible, the universal actual truth of the individual and national historical. The common character of the few works of his Chokma which have been preserved to us is the humanic standpoint, stripped of everything peculiarly Israelitish. In the whole book of Proverbs, which treats of the relations of human life in its most general aspects, the name of the covenant people, ישׁראל, does not once occur. In Ecclesiastes, which treats of the nothingness of all earthly things, and with greater right than the book of Job may be called the canticle of Inquiry,The book of Job, says H. Heine, in his Vermischte Schriften, 1854, i., is the canticle of Inquiry (das Hodhelied der Skepsis), and horrid serpents hiss therein their eternal Wherefore? As man when he suffers must weep his fill, so must he cease to doubt. This poison of doubt must not be wanting in the Bible, that great storehouse of mankind. even the covenant name of God, יהוה, does not occur. In the Son of Songs, the groundwork of the picture certainly, but not the picture itself, is Israelitish: it represents a common human primary relation, the love of man and woman; and that if not with allegorical, yet mystical meaning, similar to the Indian Gitagovinda, and also the third part of the Tamul Kural, translated by Graul.

So the book of Job treats a fundamental question of our common humanity; and the poet has studiously taken his hero not from Israelitish history, but from extra-Israelitish tradition. From beginning to end he is conscious of relating an extra-Israelitish history, - a history handed down among the Arab tribes to the east of Palestine, which has come to his ears; for none of the proper names contain even a trace of symbolically intended meaning; and romantic historical poems were moreover not common among the ancients. This extra-Israelitish history from the patriarchal period excited the purpose of his poem, because the thought therein presented lay also in his own mind. The Thora from Sinai and prophecy, the history and worship of Israel, are nowhere introduced; even indirect reference to them nowhere escape him. He throws himself with wonderful truthfulness, effect, and vividness, into the extra-Israelitish position. His own Israelitish standpoint he certainly does not disavow, as we see from his calling God יהוה everywhere in the prologue and epilogue; but the non-Israelitish character of his hero and of his locality he maintains with strict consistency. Only twice is יהוה found in the mouth of Job (Job 1:21, Job 12:9), which is not to be wondered at, since this name of God, as the names Morija and Jochebed show, is not absolutely post-Mosaic, and therefore may have been known among the Hebrew people beyond Israel. But with this exception, Job and his friends everywhere call God אלוהּ, which is more poetic, and for non-Israelitish speakers (vid., Pro 30:5) more appropriate than אלהים, which occurs only three times (Job 20:29; Job 32:2; Job 38:7); or they call Him שׁדּי, which is the proper name of God in the patriarchal time, as it appears everywhere in Genesis, where in the Elohistic portions the high and turning-points of the self-manifestation of God occur (Job 17:1, Job 35:11, cf. Exo 6:3), and when the patriarchs, at special seasons, pronounce the promise which they have received upon their children (Gen 28:3, Gen 48:3, Gen 49:25; cf. Gen 43:14). Even many of the designations of the divine attributes which have become fixed in the Thora, as אפּים ארך, חנּוּן, רחוּם, which one might well expect in the book of Job, are not found in it; nor טוב, often used of Jehovah in Psalms; nor generally the too (so to speak) dogmatic terminology of the Israelitish religion;קרושׁ, of God, only occurs once (Job 6:10); חסד but twice (Job 10:12, and with Elihu, Job 37:13); אהב with its derivatives not at all (Gen. only Gen 19:19). In the speeches of the three, צדיק (only with Elihu, Job 34:17), משׁפט, and שׁלּם, as expressions of the divine justitia recompensativa, are not to be found; נסּה and בחן become nowhere synonymous to designate Job’s sufferings by the right name; מסּה appears (Job 9:23) only in the general signification of misfortune. besides which also this characteristic, that only the oldest mode of heathen worship, star-worship (Job 31:26-28), is mentioned, without even the name of God (צבאות יהוה or צבאות אלהים) occurring, which designates God as Lord of the heavens, which the heathen deified. The writer has also intentionally avoided this name, which is the star of the time of the Israelitish kings; for he is never unmindful that his subject is an ante-and extra-Israelitish one.

Hengstenberg, in his Lecture on the Book of Job, 1856, goes so far as to maintain, that a character like Job cannot possibly have existed in the heathen world, and that revelation would have been unnecessary if heathendom could produce such characters for itself. The poet, however, without doubt, presupposes the opposite; and if he did not presuppose it, he should have refrained from using all his skill to produce the appearance of the opposite. That he has nevertheless done it, cannot mislead us: for, on the one hand, Job belongs to the patriarchal period, therefore the period before the giving of the law, - a period in which the early revelation was still at work, and the revelation of God, which had not remained unknown in the side branches of the patriarchal family. On the other hand, it is quite consistent with the standpoint of the Chokma, that it presupposes a preparatory self-manifestation of God even in the extra-Israelitish world; just as John’s Gospel, which aims at proving in Christianity the absolute religion which shall satisfy every longing of all mankind, acknowledges τέκνα τοῦ Θεοῦ διεσκορπισμένα also beyond the people of God, Joh 11:52, without on this account finding the incarnation of the Logos, and the possibility of regeneration by it, to be superfluous.

This parallel between the book of Job and the Gospel by John is fully authorized; for the important disclosure which the prologue of John gives to us of the Logos, is already in being in the book of Job and the introduction to the book of Proverbs, especially ch. 8, without requiring the intervening element of the Alexandrine religious philosophy, which, however, after it is once there, may not be put aside or disavowed. The Alexandrine doctrine of the Logos is really the genuine more developed form, though with many imperfections, of that which is taught of the Chokma in the book of Job and in Proverbs. Both notions have a universalistic comprehensiveness, referring not only to Israel, but to mankind. The חכמה certainly took up its abode in Israel, as it itself proves in the book Σοφια Σειραχ, ch. 24; but there is also a share of it attainable by and allotted to all mankind. This is the view of the writer even beyond Israel fellowship is possible with the one living God, who has revealed himself in Israel; that He also there continually reveals himself, ordinarily in the conscience, and extraordinarily in dreams and visions; that there is also found there a longing and struggling after that redemption of which Israel has the clear words of promise. His wonderous book soars high above the Old Testament limit; it is the Melchizedek among the Old Testament books. The final and highest solution of the problem with which it grapples, has a quarry extending out even beyond the patriarchal history. The Wisdom of the book of Job originates, as we shall see, from paradise. For this turning also to the primeval histories of Genesis, which are earlier than the rise of the nations, and the investigation of the hieroglyphs in the prelude to the Thora, which are otherwise almost passed over in the Old Testament, belong to the peculiarities of the Chokma.

3. Position in the Canon

As a work of the Chokma, the book of Job stands, with the three other works belonging to this class of the Israelitish literature, among the Hagiographa, which are called in Hebrew simply כתובים. Thus, by the side of תורה and נביאים, the third division of the canon is styled, in which are included all those writings belonging neither to the province of prophetic history nor prophetic declaration. Among the Hagiographa are writings even of a prophetic character, as Psalms and Daniel; but their writers were not properly נביאים. At present Lamentations stands among them; but this is not its original place, as also Ruth appears to have stood originally between Judges and Samuel. Both Lamentations and Ruth are placed among the Hagiographa, that there the five so-called מגלות or scrolls may stand together: Schir ha-Schirim the feast-book of the eight passover-day, Ruth that of the second Schabuoth-day, Kinoth that of the ninth of Ab, Koheleth that of the eight Succoth-day, Esther that of Purim. The book of Job, which is written neither in prophetico-historical style, nor in the style of prophetic preaching, but is a didactic poem, could stand nowhere else but in the third division of the canon. The position which it occupies is moreover a very shifting one. In the Alexandrine canon, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, follow the four books of the Kings. The historical books therefore stand, from the earliest to the latest, side by side; then begins with Job, Psalms, Proverbs, a new row, opened with these three in stricter sense poetical books. Then Melito of Sardis, in the second century, places Chronicles with the books of the Kings, but arranges immediately after them the non-historical Hagiographa in the following order: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Job; here the Salomonic writings are joined to the Davidic Psalter, and the anonymous book of Job stands last. In our editions of the Bible, the Hagiographa division begins with Psalms, Proverbs, Job (the succession peculiar to MSS of the German class); in the Talmud (Bathra, 14 b), with Ruth, Psalms, Job, Proverbs; in the Masora, and in MSS of the Spanish class, with Chronicles, Psalms, Job, Proverbs. All these modes of arrangement are well considered. The Masora connects with the אחרונים נביאים the homogeneous book, the Chronicles; the Talmud places the book of Ruth before the Psalter as an historical prologue, or as a connection between the prophetico-historical books and the Hagiographa.That Job stands after the Psalms is explained by his being contemporary with the Queen of Sheba, or, accepting Moses as the writer of the book (in which case it should stand at the head of the Chethubim), by its not being placed foremost, on account of its terrible contents (according to the maxim בפרענותא מתחילינן לא).

The practice in our editions is to put the Psalms as the first book of the division, which agrees with Luk 24:44, and with Philo, who places ὕμνους next to the prophetical books. Job stands only in the lxx at the head of the three so-called poetic books, perhaps as a work by its patriarchal contents referring back to the earliest times. Everywhere else the Psalter stands first among the three books. These three are commonly denoted by the vox memoralis מתספרי א; but this succession, Job, Proverbs, Psalms, is nowhere found. The Masora styles them after its own, and the Talmudic order אםספרי ת.

4. The System of Accentuation

Manner of Writing in Verses, and Structure of the Strophe

The so-ciphered three books have, as is known, this in common, that they are (with the exception of the prologue and epilogue in the book of Job) punctuated according to a special system, which has been fully discussed in my Commentary on the Psalms, and in Baer’s edition of the Psalter. This accent system, like the prosaic, is constructed on the fundamental law of dichotomy; but it is determined by better organization, more expressive and melodious utterance. Only the so-called prose accents, however, not the metrical or poetic (with the exception of a few detached fragments), have been preserved in transmission. Nevertheless, we are always still able to discern from these accents how the reading in the synagogue divided the thoughts collected into the form of Masoretic verses, into two chief divisions, and within these again into lesser divisions, and connected or separated the single words; while the musical rhythm accommodated itself as much as possible to the logical, so that the accentuation is on this account an important source for ascertaining the traditional exegesis, and contains an abundance of most valuable hints for the interpreter. Tradition, moreover, requires for the three books a verse-like short line stich-manner of writing; and פסוק, versus, meant originally, not the Masoretic verse, but the separate sentence, στίχος, denoted in the accent system by a great distinctive; as e.g., Job 3:3 : Let the day perish wherein I was born, And the night, which said, There is a man-child conceived, is a Masoretic verse divided into two parts by Athnach, and therefore, according to the old order, is to be written as two στίχοι.The meaning of this old order, and the aptness of its execution, has been lost in later copyists, because they break off not according to the sense, but only according to the space, as the στίχοι in numbering the lines, e.g., of the Greek orators, are mere lines according to the space (Raumzeile), at least according to Ritschl’s view (Die alex. Bibliotheken, 1838, S. 92-136), which, however, has been disputed by Vömel. The old soferish order intends lines according to the sense, and so also the Greek distinction by πέντε στιχηραὶ (στιχήρεις) βίβλοι, i.e., Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Canticles, Ecclesiastes. This also is important. In order to recognise the strophe-structure of Hebrew poems, one must attend to the στίχοι, in which the poetic thoughts follow one another in well-measured flow. Parallelism, which we must likewise acknowledge as the fundamental law of the rhythm of Hebrew poetry, forms the evolutions of thought not always of two members, but often - as e.g., Job 3:4, Job 3:5, Job 3:6, Job 3:9 - also of three. The poetic formation is not, however, confined to this, but even further combines (as is most unmistakeably manifest in the alphabetical psalms,That from these we may proceed, the ancients here and there conjectures; as e.g., Serpilius says, “It may perhaps occur to some, whether now and then a slight judgment of the Davidic species of verse and poesy may not be in some way formed from his, so to speak, alphabetical psalms.” and as recently also Ewald inclines to acknowledge)On strophes in the book of Job, Jahrb. iii. 118: “That the Masoretic division of the verses is not always correct, follows also from a more exact consideration of the strophes. Here comes a further question, whether one must determine the limit of such a strophe only according to the verses, which are often in themselves very irregular, or rather, strictly according to the members of the verse? The latter seems to me, at least in some parts, certainly to be the case, as I have already had opportunity to remark.” Nevertheless, he reckons the strophes in Neue Bemerkungen zum B. Ijob, Job 9:35-37, according to lines = Masoretic verses. such distichs and tristichs into a greater whole, forming a complete circle of thought; in other words, into strophes of four, eight, or some higher number of lines, in themselves paragraphs, which, however, show themselves as strophes, inasmuch as they recur and change symmetrically. Hupfeld has objected that these strophes, as an aggregate formed of a symmetrical number of stichs, are opposed to the nature of the rhythm = parallelism, which cannot stand on one leg, but needs two; but this objection is as invalid as if one should say, Because every soldier has two legs, therefore soldiers can only march singly, and not in a row and company. It may be seen, e.g., from Job 36:22-25, Job 36:26-29, Job 36:30-33, where the poet begins three times with הן, and three times the sentences so beginning are formed of eight lines. Shall we not say there are three eight-line strophes beginning with הן? Nevertheless, we are far from maintaining that the book of Job consists absolutely of speeches in the strophe and poetic form. It breaks up, however, into paragraphs, which not unfrequently become symmetrical strophes. That neither the symmetrical nor mixed strophe-schema is throughout with strict unexceptional regularity carried out, arises from the artistic freedom which the poet was obliged to maintain in order not to sacrifice the truth as well as the beauty of the dialogue. Our translation, arranged in paragraphs, and the schemata of the number of stichs in the paragraph placed above each speech, will show that the arrangement of the whole is, after all, far more strophic than its dramatic character allows, according to classic and modern poetic art.What Gottfr. Hermann, in his diss. de arte poesis Graecorum bucolicae, says respecting the strophe-division in Theocritus, is nevertheless to be attentively considered: Verendum est ne ipsi nobis somnia fingamus perdamusque operam, si artificiosas stropharum comparationes comminiscamur, de quibus ipsi poetae ne cogitaverint quidem. Viderique potest id eo probabilius esse, quod saepenumero dubitari potest, sic an aliter constituendae sint strophae. Nam poesis, qualis haec bucolicorum est, quae maximam partem ex brevibus dictis est composita, ipsa natura sua talis est ut in partes fere vel pares vel similes dividi possit. Nihilo tamen minus illam strophicam rationem non negligendam arbitror, ut quae apud poetas bucolicos in consuetudinem vertisse videatur, etc.

It is similar in Canticles, with the melodramatic character of which it better agrees. In both cases it is explained from the Hebrew poesy being in its fundamental peculiarity lyric, and from the drama not having freed itself from the lyric element, and attained to complete independence. The book of Job is, moreover, not a drama grown to complete development. Prologue and epilogue are treated as history, and the separate speeches are introduce din the narrative style. In the latter respect (with the exception of Job 2:10), Canticles is more directly dramatic than the book of Job.Hence there are Greek MSS, in which the names of the speakers (e.g., ἡ νύμφη, αἱ νεανίδες, ὁ νυμφίος) are prefixed to the separate parts of Canticles (vid., Repertorium für bibl. u. morgenl. Lit. viii. 1781, S. 180). The Archimandrite Porphyrios, who in his Travels, 1856, described the Codex Sinaiticus before Tischendorf, though unsatisfactorily, describes there also such διαλογικῶς written MSS of Canticles.

The drama is here in reference to the strophic form in the garb of Canticles, and in respect of the narrative form in the garb of history or epopee. Also the book of Job cannot be regarded as drama, if we consider, with G. Baur,Das B. Hiob und Dante’s Göttliche Camödie, Studien u. Krit. 1856, iii. dramatic and scenic to be inseparable ideas; for the Jews first became acquainted with the theatre from the Greeks and Romans.See my Geschichte der jüdischen Dramatik in my edition of the Migdal Oz1 (hebr. handling of the Pastor fido of Guarini) by Mose Chajim Luzzatto, Leipz. 1837.

Nevertheless, it is questionable whether the drama everywhere presupposes the existence of the stage, as e.g., A. W. v. Schlegel, in his Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature, maintains. Göthe, at least, more than once asserts, that “drama and a composition for the stage may be separate,” and admits a “dramatic plot and execution” in Canticles.Werke (neue Ausg. in 30 Bden.), xiii. 596; xxvi. 513f.

5. The Dramatic Art of the Plot and Execution

On the whole, we have as little hesitation as Hupfeld in calling the book of Job a drama; and it is characteristic of the Israelitish Chokma, that by Canticles and the book of Job, its two generic manifestations, it has enriched the national poesy with this new form of poetic composition. The book of Job is, though not altogether, yet substantially, a drama, and one consisting of seven divisions: (1) ch. 1-3, the opening; (2) ch. 4-14, the first course of the controversy, or the beginning entanglement; (3) ch. 15-21, the second course of the controversy, or the increasing entanglement; (4) ch. 22-26, the third course of the controversy, or the increasing entanglement at its highest; (5) ch. 27-31, the transition from the entanglement (δέσις) to the unravelling (λύσις): Job’s monologues; (6) ch. 38-42:6, the consciousness of the unravelling; (7) Job 42:7., the unravelling in outward reality. In this we have left Elihu'a speeches (ch. 32-37) out of consideration, because it is very questionable whether they are a part of the original form of the book, and not, on the contrary, the introduction of another poet. If we include them, the drama has eight divisions. The speeches of Elihu form an interlude in the transition from the δέσις to the λύσις. The book of Job is an audience-chamber, and one can readily suppose that a contemporary or later poet may have mixed himself up with the speakers. Whether, however, this is really the case, may remain here undecided. The prologue is narrative, but still partly in dialogue style, and so far not altogether undramatical. In form it corresponds most to the Euripidean, which also are a kind of epic introduction to the pieces, and it accomplishes what Sophocles in his prologues so thoroughly understands. At the very beginning he excites interest in the occurrences to be brought forward, and makes us acquainted with that which remains concealed from the actors. After the knot of the puzzle is tied in the prologue, it becomes more and more deeply entangled in the three courses of the controversy. In the monologues of Job it begins to be disentangled, and in the sixth part the unravelling follows, well prepared for, and therefore not ἀπὸ μηχανῆς, and is perfected in the epilogue or Exodus: the servant of God, being so far as necessary cleared by penitence, is justified in opposition to his friends; and the victor, tried in accordance with the divine utterance, is crowned. It is therefore a continually progressing history. The remark of Herder,Geist der Ebräischen Poesi, 1805, i. S. 137. “Here all is stationary in long conversations,” is superficial. It is from beginning to end a stream of the most active life, with external incident only in the opening and in the unravelling; what Shlegel says of Göthe’s Iphigenie holds good of the middle of the book, that the ideas are worked into incidents, and brought, as it were, before the eye. Moreover, as in Göthe’s Tasso, the deficiency of external action is compensated by the richness and precision with which the characters are drawn. Satan, Job’s wife, the hero himself, the three friends, - everywhere diversified and minute description. The poet manifests, also, dramatic skill in other directions. He has laid out the controversy with a masterly hand, making the heart of the reader gradually averse to the friends, and in the same degree winning it towards Job. He makes the friends all through give utterance to the most glorious truths, which, however, in the application to the case before them, turn out to be untrue. And although the whole of the representation serves one great idea, it is still not represented by any of the persons brought forward, and is by no one expressly uttered. Every person is, as it were, the consonant letter to the word of this idea; it is throughout the whole book taken up with the realization of itself; at the end it first comes forth as the resulting product of the whole. Job himself is not less a tragic hero than the Oedipus of both Sophicles’ tragedies.Schultens says: Quidquid tragoedia vetus unquam Sophocleo vel Aeschyleo molita est cothurno, infra magnitudinem, gravitatem, ardorem, animositatem horum affectuum infinitum quantum subsidet. Similarly Ewald (Jahrb. ix. 27): Neither the Hindoos, nor the Greek sand Romans, have such a lofty and purely perfected poem to produce. One would perhaps compare it with one of Aeschylus or Sophocles’ tragedies as the nearest, but we cannot easily find a single one among these approaching its unblemished height and perfection in the midst of the greatest simplicity.

What is there an inevitable fate, expressed by the oracle, is in the book of Job the decree of Jehovah, over whom is no controlling power, decreed in the assembly of angels. As a painful puzzle the lot of affliction comes down on Job. At the beginning he is the victor of an easy battle, until the friends’ exhortations to repentance are added to suffering, which in itself is incomprehensible, and make it still harder to be understood. He is thereby involved in a hard conflict, in which at one time, full of arrogant self-confidence, he exalts himself heavenward; at another time, sinks to the ground in desponding sadness.

The God, however, against which he fights is but a phantom, which the temptation has presented to his saddened eye instead of the true God; and this phantom is in no way different from the inexorable fate of the Greek tragedy. As in that the hero seeks to maintain his inward freedom against the secret power which crushes him with an iron arm; so Job maintains his innocence against this God, which has devoted him to destruction as an offender. But in the midst of this terrific conflict with the God of the present, this creation of the temptation, Job’s faith gropes after the God of the future, to whom he is ever driven nearer the more mercilessly the enemies pursue him. At length Jehovah really appears, but not at Job’s impetuous summons. He appears first after Job has made a beginning of humble self-concession, in order to complete the work begun, by condescendingly going forth to meet him. Jehovah appears, and the fury vanishes. The dualism, which the Greek tragedy leaves unabolished, is here reconciled. Human freedom does not succumb; but it becomes evident that not an absolute arbitrary power, but divine wisdom, whose inmost impulse is love, moulds human destiny.

6. Time of Composition

That this masterpiece of religious reflection and systematic creative art - this, to use Luther’s expression, lofty and grand book, in which, as the mountains round an Alpine valley, all the terribly sublime that nature and human history present is ranged one above another - belongs to no other than the Salomonic period, we might almost assume, even if it were not confirmed on all sides. The opinion that Moses wrote the book of Job before the giving of the law, is found in the Talmuds (jer. Sota V. 8; b. Bathra, 15 a). This view has been recently revived by Ebrard (1858). But how improbable, all but impossible, that the poetical literature of Israel should have taken its rise with such a non plus ultra of reflective poetry, and that this poem should have had Moses the lawgiver for its author? ”Moses certainly is not the composer of the book of Job,” says Herder rightly,Geist der Ebr. Poesie, 1805, i. S. 130. “or Solon might have written the Iliad and the Eumenides of Aeschylus.” This opinion, which is also found in Origen, Jerome, Polychronius, and Julian of Halicarnassus, would surely never have suggested itself to any one, had not the studious avoidance in the book of all reference to the law, prophecy, history, religious worship, and even of the religious terminology of Israel, consequent on its design, produced the appearance of a pre-Sinaitic origin. But, first, this absence of such reference is, as we have already seen, the result of the genius and aim which belong to the book; secondly, the writer distinctly enough betrays his acquaintance with the Thora: for as the Chokma for the most part necessarily presupposes the revelation of God deposited in the Thora, and is even at pains to show its universal and eternal ideas, and its imperishable nature full of meaning for all men, so a book like the book of Job could only have been written by an Israelitish author, only have sprung from the spiritual knowledge and experience rendered possible by the Thora.Reggio indeed maintains (Kerem Chemed, vi. 53-60) in favour of the Mosaic pre-Sinaitic composition: “God is only represented as the Almighty, the Ruler of the universe: His love, mercy, forbearance - attributes which the Thora first revealed - are nowhere mentioned;” and S. D. Luzzatto concludes from this even the non-Israelitish origin of the book: “The God of Job is not the God of Israel, the gracious One: He is the almighty and just, but not the kind and true One;” but although the book does not once use the words goodness, love, forbearance, compassion of God, it is nevertheless a bright example of them all; and it is the love of God which it manifests as a bright ray in the dark mystery of the affliction of the righteous.

For as insight into the groping of the heathen world after divine truth is only possible in the light of Christianity, so also such a spiritually bold and accurate reproduction of an old patriarchal tradition was only possible in the light of the revelation of Jehovah: not to mention that the middle part of the book is written in the style of the book of Proverbs, the surrounding parts in evident imitation of the style of the primitive histories of the Pentateuch.

But as the supposition of a pre-Salomonic composition is proved invalid, so also are all the grounds on which it has been sought to prove a post-Salomonic. Ewald, whom Heiligstedt and Renan follow, is of opinion that it shows very unsettled and unfortunate times in the background, and from this and other indications was written under Manasseh; Hirzel, that the writer who is so well acquainted with Egypt, seems to have been carried into Egypt with King Jehoahaz; Stickel, that the book presupposes the invasion of the Asiatic conqueror as begun, but not yet so far advanced as the destruction of Jerusalem; Bleek, that it must belong to the post-Salomonic period, because it seems to refer to a previous comprehensive diversified literature. But all this rests on invalid grounds, false observation, and deceptive conclusions. Indeed, the assumption that a book which sets forth such a fearful conflict in the depths of affliction must have sprung from a time of gloomy national distress, is untenable: it is sufficient to suppose that the writer himself has experienced the like, and experienced it at a time when all around him were living in great luxury, which must have greatly aggravated his trial. It would be preferable to suppose that the book of Job belongs to the time of the exile (Umbreit and others), and that Job, though not exactly a personification of Israel, is still לרשׂראל משׁל,Vid., c. 90 of Ez chajim, by Ahron b. Elias of Nicomedia, edited by Delitzsch, 1841, which corresponds to More Nebuchim, iii. 22-24. The view that the poet himself, by Job intended the Israel of the exile (according to Warburton, the Israel of the restoration after the exile; according to Grotius, the Edomites carried into exile by the Babylonians), is about the same as the view that the guilty Pericles may be intended by King Oedipus, or the Sophists by the Odysseus of the Philoctetes. a pattern for the people of the exile (Bernstein); for this view, interesting indeed in itself, has the similarity of several passages of the second part of the book of Isaiah in its favour: comp. Isa 40:14 with Job 21:22; Isa 40:23 with Job 12:24; Isa 44:25 with Job 12:17, Job 12:20; Isa 44:24 with Job 9:8; Isa 49:4 with Job 15:35; Psa 7:15. These, however, only prove that the severely tried ecclesia pressa of the exiles might certainly recognise itself again in the example of Job, and make it seem far more probable that the book of Job is older than that period of Israel’s suffering.

The literature of the Chokma began with Solomon. First in the time of Solomon, whose peculiar gift was worldly wisdom, a time which bears the character of peaceful contemplation resulting from the conflicts of belief of David’s time,Thus far Gaupp, Praktische Theol. ii. 1, 488, is in some degree right, when he considers the book of Job a living testimony of the new spirit of belief which was bursting forth in David’s time. the external and internal preliminary conditions for it existed. The chief part of Proverbs and Canticles is by Solomon himself; the introductory passages (Prov 1-9) represent a later period of the Chokma, probably the time of Jehoshaphat; the book of Ecclesiastes, which is rightly assigned by H. G. Bernstein in his Questiones Kohelethanae to the time between Artaxerxes I Longimanus, and Darius Codomannus, and perhaps belongs to the time of Artaxerxes II Mnemon, represents the latest period. The book of Job is indicated as a work of the first of these three periods, by its classic, grand, and noble form. It bears throughout the stamp of that creative, beginning-period of the Chokma, - of that Salomonic age of knowledge and art, of deeper thought respecting revealed religion, and of intelligent, progressive culture of the traditional forms of art, - that unprecedented age, in which the literature corresponded to the summit of glorious magnificence to which the kingdom of the promise had then attained. The heart of Solomon (according to 1Ki 5:9., Hebrew version; 1Ki 4:29, English version) enclosed within itself a fulness of knowledge, “even as the sand that is on the seashore:” his wisdom was greater than the קרם בני, from whom the traditional matter of the book of Job is borrowed; greater than the wisdom of the מצרים, with whose country and natural marvels the author of the book of Job is intimately acquainted. The extensive knowledge of natural history and general science displayed in the book of Job, is the result of the wide circle of observation which Israel had reached. It was a time when the chasm between Israel and the nations was more than ever bridged over. The entire education of Israel at that time took a so to speak cosmopolitan direction. It was a time introductory to the extension of redemption, and the triumph of the religion of Israel, and the union of all nations in belief on the God of love.

7. Signs from the Doctrinal Contents

That the book of Job belongs to this period and no other, is confirmed also by the relation of its doctrinal contents to the other canonical writings. If we compare the doctrine respecting Wisdom - her super-eminence, applicability to worldly matters, and co-operation in the creation of the world - in Prov 1-9, especially ch. 8, with Job 28, it is there manifestly more advanced, and further developed. If we compare the pointing to the judgment of God, Job 19:29, with the hint of a future general judgment, which shall decide and adjust all things, in Ecc 12:14, we see at once that what comes forward in the former passage only at first as an expression of personal belief, is in the latter already become a settled element of general religious consciousness.

And however we may interpret that brilliant passage of the book of Job, Job 19:25-27, - whether it be the beholding of God in the present bodily, future spiritual, or future glorified state, - it is by no means an echo of an already existing revelation of the resurrection of the dead, that acknowledgment of revelation which we see breaking forth and expanding throughout Isa 26:19, comp. Isa 25:8, and Ezek 37 comp. Hos 6:2, until Dan 12:2. The prevailing representations of the future in the book of Job are exactly the same as those in the Psalms of the time of David and Solomon, and in the Proverbs of Solomon. The writer speaks as one of the same age in which Heman sighed, Psa 88:11., “Wilt Thou show wonders to the dead? or shall the shades arise and praise Thee? Shall Thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave, Thy faithfulness in the abyss?” Besides, the greatest conceivable fulness of allusion to the book of Job, including Elihu’s speeches, is found in Ps 88 and 89, whose authors, Heman and Ethan, the Ezrahites, are not the same as the chief singers of David and of the same name, but the contemporaries of Solomon mentioned in 1Ki 5:11. These two psalms coincide with the book of Job, both in expressions with which remarkable representations are united, as קרושׁים of the celestial spirits, רפאים of the shades in Hades, אבדון of Hades itself, and also in expressions which do not occur elsewhere in the Old Testament, as אמים and בּעתים; and the agreement is manifest, moreover, in the agreement of whole verses either in thought or in expression: comp. Psa 89:38 with Job 16:19; Psa 89:48 with Job 7:7; Psa 89:49 with Job 14:14; Psa 88:5 with Job 14:10; Psa 88:9 with Job 30:10; Psa 89:8 with Job 31:34. In all these passages, however, there is no such similarity as suggests a borrowing, but an agreement which, since it cannot possibly be accidental, may be most easily explained by supposing that the book of Job proceeds from just the same Chokma-fellowship to which, according to 1Ki 5:11, the two Ezrahites, the writers of Ps 88 and 89, belong.

One might go further, and conjecture that the same Heman who composed Ps 88, the gloomiest of all the Psalms, and written under circumstances of suffering similar to Job’s, may be the author of the book of Job - for which many probable reasons might be advanced; by which also what G. Baur rightly assumes would be confirmed, that the writer of the book of Job has himself passed through the inward spiritual conflict which he describes, and accordingly gives a page from his own religious history. But we are satisfied with the admission, that the book of Job is the work of one of the wise men whose rendezvous was the court of Solomon. Gregory of Nazianzen and Luther have already admitted the origin of the book in Solomon’s time; and among later critics, Rosenmüller, Hävernick, Vaihinger, Hahn, Schlottmann, Keil, and Hofmann (though in his Weissagung und Erfüllung he expressed the opinion that it belongs to the Mosaic period), are agreed in this.Also Professor Barnwell, in the Carolina Times, 1857, No. 785, calls the book of Job “the most brilliant flower of this brighter than Elizabethan and nobler than Augustan era.”

8. Echoes in the Later Sacred Writings

It may be readily supposed, that a book like this, which is occupied with a question of such vital import to every thinking and pious man, - which treats it in such a lively manner, riveting the attention, and bespeaking sympathy, - which, apart from its central subject, is so many-sided, so majestically beautiful in language, and so inexhaustible in imagery, - will have been one of the most generally read of the national books of Israel. Such is found to be the case; and also hereby its origin in the time of Solomon is confirmed: for at this very period it is to Ps 88-89 only that it stands in the mutual relation already mentioned. But the echoes appear as early as in the חכמים דברי, which are appended to the Salomonic משׁלי in the book of Proverbs: comp. the teaching from an example in the writer’s own experience, Pro 24:30. with Job 5:3. The book of Job, however, next to the Proverbs of Solomon, was the favourite source of information for the author of the introductory proverbs (Prov 1-9). Here (apart from the doctrine of wisdom) we find whole passages similar to the book of Job: comp. Pro 3:11 with Job 5:17; Pro 8:25 with Job 15:7; Pro 3:15 with Job 28:18.

Then, in the prophets of the flourishing period of prophetic literature, which begins with Obadiah and Joel, we find distinct traces of familiarity with the book of Job. Amos describes the glory of God the Creator in words taken from it (Amo 4:13; Amo 5:8, after Job 9:8; cf. Job 10:22; Job 38:31). Isaiah has introduced a whole verse of the book of Job, almost verbatim, into his prophecy against Egypt (Isa 19:5 = Job 14:11): in the same prophecy, Isa 19:13. refer to Job 12:24., so also Isa 35:3 to Job 4:4. These reminiscences of the book of Job are frequent in Isaiah (Isa 40-66). This book of solace for the exiles corresponds to the book of Job not only in words, which exclusively belong in common to the two (as גּזע and צאצאים), and in surprising similarity of expression (as Isa 53:9, comp. Job 16:17; Isa 60:6, comp. Job 22:11), but also in numerous passages of similar thought and form (comp. Isa 40:23 with Job 12:24); and in the description of the Servant of Jehovah, one is here and there involuntarily reminded of the book of Job (as Isa 50:6, comp. with Job 16:10). In Jeremiah, the short lyric passage, Jer 20:14-18, in which he curses the day of his birth, falls back on Job 3: the form in which the despondency of the prophet breaks forth is determined by the book of Job, with which he was familiar. It requires no proof that the same prophet follows the book of Job in many passages of Lamentations, and especially the first part of Lam 3: he makes use of confessions, complaints, and imagery from the affliction of Job, to represent the affliction of Israel.

By the end of the time of the kings, Job was a person generally known in Israel, a recognised saint: for Ezekiel, in the year 593-2 b.c. (Eze 14:14.), complains that the measure of Israel’s sin is so great, that if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the midst of Israel, though they might save themselves, they would not be able to hold back the arm of divine justice. The prophet mentions first Noah, a righteous man of the old world; then Daniel, a righteous man of contemporary Israel; and last of all Job, a righteous man beyond the line of the promise.Hengstenberg (Beiträge, i. 72) thinks Job is mentioned last because less suited to Ezekiel’s purpose than Noah and Daniel. Carpzov (Introd. in ll. poet. p. 35) is more ingenious, but too artificial, when he finds an anti-climax in the order: Noachus in clade primi mundi aecumenica, Daniel in clade patriae ac gentis suae, Iobus in clade familiae servatus est.

He would not, however, have been able to mention him, if he had not, by means of the written narrative, been a person well known among the people to whom the prophetical discourse was addressed. The literature of the Old Testament has no further reference to the question of the time of the composition of the book of Job; for, on a comparison of Ecc 5:14 with Job 1:21, it scarcely remains a question to which the priority belongs.

9. The Chief Critical Questions

Whether, however, the whole book, as we now have it, comes from the time of Solomon, as the work of one poet, or of one chief poet,Compare Böttcher, Aehrenlese, S. 68: “Respecting the mode of composition, we think there was one chief poet, with several contemporary associates, incited by a conversation on the then (i.e., according to Böttcher’s view, in the reign of Manasseh) frequent afflictions of the innocent.” is a question which can be better determined in the course of the exposition. More or less important doubts have been entertained whether some constituent parts of the whole belong to the original setting. By far the most important question of criticism respects the six chapters of Elihu’s speeches (ch. 32-37), respecting which the suspicion entertained by the fathers, and first decidedly expressed by Stuhlmann (1804), that not only in form are they inferior to the artistic execution of the rest of the work, but also in contents are opposed to its original plan, is not yet set aside, and perhaps never will be altogether satisfactorily settled. Besides this, Kennicot also has suspected the speech of Job, Job 27:11-28:28, because there Job seems to yield to the friends’ controverted doctrine of retribution. De Wette is more inclined here to suppose a want of connection on the part of the writer than an interpolation. We shall have to prove whether this speech of Job really encroaches upon the province of the unravelling, or renders the transition more complete.

The whole description of Behemoth and Leviathan, Job 40:15-41:26, is regarded by Ewald as a later addition: De Wette extends this judgment only to Job 41:4-26: Eichhorn was satisfied at first with changing the order of Jehovah’s speeches; but in the last edition of his Einleitung ascribed the passage about the two monsters to a later poet. The exposition will have to bring the form of expression of the supposed interpolation, and its relation to the purpose of the second speech of Jehovah, in comparison with the first, under consideration. But we need not defer our judgment of the prologue and epilogue. All the doubts raised by Stuhlmann, Bernstein, Knobel (diss. de carminis Iobi argumento, fine ac dispositione, and Studien u. Kritiken, 1842, ii.), and others, respecting both these essential parts, are put an end to by the consideration, that the middle part of the book, without them, is a torso without head and feet.

10. The Satan of the Prologue

But the Satan in the prologue is a stumbling-block to many, which, if it does not lead them to doubt the authenticity of the prologue, still causes them to question whether the composition of the book belongs to the time of Solomon. For Satan is first definitely named, Zec 3:1-10, and 1Ch 21:1; consequently in writings of the period after the exile. On the other hand, שׁטן, Num 22:22, appellatively describes one who comes forward hostilely, or as a hindrance; and Psa 109:6 is at least open to question whether the prince of evil spirits may not be meant, which, according to Zec 3:1, seems to be intended. However, in Micaiah’s vision, 1Ki 22:19-23, where one might expect השׂטן, הרוח is used. It is even maintained in the present day, that the idea of Satan was first obtained by the Israelitish race from contact with the East-Asiatic nations, which began with Israel in the time of Menahem, with Judah in the time of Ahaz; the view of Diestel, that it is the copy of the Egyptian Set-Typhon, stands at present alone. When we consider that the redemptive work of Jesus Christ is regarded by Him and His apostles from one side as the overthrow of Satan, it were a miserable thing for the divine truth of Christianity that this Satan should be nothing more than a copy of the Persian Ahriman, and consequently a mere phantom. However, supposing there were some such connection, we should then have only two periods at which the book of Job could possibly have been composed, - the time after the exile, and the time of Solomon; for these are the only periods at which not only collision, but also an interchange of ideas, between Israel and the profane nations could have taken place. It is also just as possible for the conception of Satan to have taken possession of the Israelitish mind under Solomon as during the exile, especially as it is very questionable whether the religion of Cyrus, as found in the Zend books, may not have been far more influenced by Israel, than, contrariwise, have influenced Israel.

But the conception of Satan is indeed much older in its existence than the time of Solomon: the serpent of paradise must surely have appeared to the inquiring mind of Israel as the disguise of an evil spirit; and nothing further can be maintained, than that this evil spirit, which in the Mosaic worship of the great day of atonement is called עזאזל (called later זבוב בעל, a name borrowed from the god of Ekron), appears first in the later literature of Israel under the name השׂטן. If now, moreover, the Chokma of the Salomonic period was specially conversant with the pre-Israelitish histories of Genesis, whence indeed even the chief thought of Canticles and the figure of חיים עץ, e.g., frequently occurring in Proverbs are drawn, it is difficulty to conceive why the evil spirit, that in its guise of a serpent aimed its malice against man, could not have been called השׂטן so early as the Salomonic period.

The wisdom of the author of the book of Job, we have said above, springs from paradise. Thence he obtains the highest and ultimate solution of his problem. It is now time to give expression to this. At present we need only do so in outline, since it is simply of use to place us from the commencement at the right standpoint for understanding the book of Job.

11. The Ultimate Solution of the Problem

The nature of sin is two-sided. It consists in the creature’s setting up himself in opposition to God, who is the essence of the personality of the creature. It consists also, on the other side, in the stirring up of the depth of the nature of the creature, whose essential consistence has its harmony in God; and by this stirring up, falls into a wild confusion. In other words, evil has a personal side and a natural side. And just so, also, is God’s wrath which it excites, and which operates against it. For God’s wrath is, on the one hand, the personal displeasure or aversion into which His love is changed, since the will of the creature and the will of God are in opposition; on the other hand, an excited condition of the contrary forces of the divine nature, or, as Scripture expresses it, the kindling of the fire of the divine glory, in which sense it is often said of wrath, that God sends it forth, that He pours it forth, and that man has to drink of it (Job 21:20, comp. Job 6:4).Vid., my Proleg. to Weber’s book on the Wrath of God.

In reference to the creature, we call evil according to its personal side ἔχηθρα, and according to its natural side ἀταξία, turba.Vid., Biblische Psychologie, S. 128, 160.

Both personal evil and natural evil have originated in the spirit world: first of all, in a spirit nearest to God, which as fallen is called השׂטן. It has sought its own selfish ends, and thereby deranged its nature, so that it has become in every respect the object of the divine wrath, and the material for the burning of the divine wrath: for the echthra and turba have the intention and the burning of the wrath of God in themselves as divine correlata; but Satan, after that he has become entirely possessed of these divine powers (Energien), is also their instrument. The spirit of light and love is altogether become the spirit of fire and wrath; the whole sphere of wrath is centred in him. After having given up his high position in the realm of light, he is become lord of the realm of wrath.

He has, from the commencement of his fall, the hell within himself, but is first cast into the lake of fire at the end of the present dispensation (Mat 25:41; Rev 20:10 : comp. Dan 7:11). In the meantime, he is being deprived of his power by the Son of man, who, in the midst of His own and His disciples’ victories over the demons, beholds him fall as lightning from heaven (Luk 10:18), and by His death gives him his deathblow, - a final judgment, which, later on, becomes fully manifest in the continuous degradation of the vanquished (comp. Rev 12:9; Rev 20:3, Rev 20:10). Accordingly, when Satan, in the book of Job, still appears among the angles of God in heaven, and indeed as κατήγωρ, it is quite in accordance with the disclosures which the New Testament Scriptures give us respecting the invisible angelic side of the present dispensation.

Thus Job’s suffering is a dispensation of love, but brought about by the wrath-spirit, and with every appearance of wrath. It is so with every trial and chastisement of the righteous. And it cannot be otherwise; for trial is designed to be for man a means of overcoming the evil that is external to him, and chastisement of overcoming the evil that is within him. There is a conflict between evil and good in the world, which can issue in victory to the good only so, that the good proves itself in distinction from the evil, withstands the assault of evil, and destroys the evil that exists bound up with itself: only so, that the good as far as it is still mixed with the evil is refined as by fire, and more and more freed from it.

This is the twofold point of view from which the suffering of Job is to be regarded. It was designed, first of all, that Job should prove himself in opposition to Satan, in order to overcome him; and since Job does not pass through the trial entirely without sinning, it has the effect at the same time of purifying and perfecting him. In both respects, the history of Job is a passage from the history of God’s own conflict with the evil one, which is the substance of the history of redemption, and ends in the triumph of the divine love. And GauppPraktische Theologie, ii. 1, S. 488f. well says: In the book of Job, Satan loses a cause which is intended only as prelude to the greatest of all causes, since judgment is gone forth over the world, and the prince of darkness has been cast forth. Accordingly the church has always recognised in the passion of Job a type of the passion of Jesus Christ. James (Jam 5:11) even compares the patience of Job and the issue of the Lord’s sufferings. And according to this indication, it was the custom after the second century to read the book of Job in the churches during passion-week.Vid., Origen’s Opp. t. ii. p. 851: In conventu ecclesiae in diebus sanctis legitur passio Iob, in deibus jejunii, in diebus abstinentiae, in diebus, in quibus tanquam compatiuntur ii qui jejunant et abstinent admirabili illo Iob, in deibus, in quibus in jejunio et abstinentia sanctam Domini nostri Jesu Christi passionem sectamur. Known thus from the public reading in the churches, Job was called among the Syrians, Machbono, the Beloved, the Friend (Ewald, Jahrb. x. 207); and among the Arabs, Es - ssabûr, the patient one.

The ultimate solution of the problem which this marvellous book sets forth, is then this: the suffering of the righteous, in its deepest cause, is the conflict of the seed of the woman with the seed of the serpent, which ends in the head of the serpent being trampled under foot; it is the type or copy of the suffering of Christ, the Holy God, who has himself borne our sins, and in the constancy of His reconciling love has withstood, even to the final overthrow, the assault of wrath and of the angel of wrath.

The real contents of the book of Job is the mystery of the Cross: the Cross on Golgotha is the solution of the enigma of every cross; and the book of Job is a prophecy of this ultimate solution.

12. The History of the Exposition

Before proceeding to the exposition, we will take a brief review of the history of the exposition of the book. The promise of the Spirit to lead into all truth is continually receiving its fulfilment in the history of the church, and especially in the interpretation of Scripture. But nowhere is the progress of the church in accordance with this promise so manifest as in the exposition of the word, and particularly of the Old Testament. In the patristic and middle ages, light was thrown only on detached portions of the Old Testament; they lacked altogether, or had but an inadequate knowledge of, the Hebrew language. They regarded the Old Testament not as the forerunner, but allegory, of the New, and paid less attention to it in proportion as the spiritual perception of the church lost its apostolic purity and freshness. However, so far as inward spiritual feeling and experience could compensate for the almost entire absence of outward conditions, this period has produced and handed down many valuable explanations.

But at the time of the Reformation, the light of the day which had already dawned first spread in all its brightness over the Old Testament. The knowledge of Hebrew, until then the private possession of a few, became the public property of the church: all erroneous interventions which had hitherto separated the church both from Christ and from the living source of the word were put aside; and starting from the central truth of justification by faith and its results, a free but still not unrestricted investigation commenced. Still there was wanting to this period all perception of historical development, and consequently the ability to comprehend the Old Testament as preparing the way for the New by its gradual historical development of the plan of redemption. The exposition of Scripture, moreover, soon fell again under the yoke of an enslaving tradition, of a scholastic systematizing, and of an unhistorical dogmatizing which mistook its peculiar aim; and this period of bondage, devoid of spirituality, was followed by a period of false freedom, that of rationalism, which cut asunder the mutual relation between the exposition of Scripture and the confession of the church, since it reduced the covenant contents of the church’s confession to the most shallow notion of God and the most trivial moral rules, and regarded the Old Testament as historical indeed, but with carnal eyes, which were blind to the work of God that was preparing the way in the history of Israel for the New Testament redemption. The progress of exegesis seemed at that time to have been stayed; but the Head of the church, who reigns in the midst of His enemies, caused the exposition of His word to come forth again from the dead in a more glorious form. The bias towards the human side of Scripture has taught exegesis that Scripture is neither altogether a divine, nor altogether a human, but a divine-human book. The historical method of regarding it, and the advanced knowledge of language, have taught that the Old Testament presents a divine-human growth tending towards the God-man, a gradual development and declaration of the divine purpose of salvation, - a miraculous history moving inward towards that miracle of all miracles, Jesus Christ. Believing on Him, bearing the seal of His Spirit in himself, and partaking of the true liberty His Spirit imparts, the expositor of Scripture beholds in the Old Testament, with open face, now as never before, the glory of the Lord.

The truth of this sketch is confirmed by the history of the exposition of the book of Job. The Greek fathers, of whom twenty-two (including Ephrem) are quoted in the Catena,It contains as basis the Greek text of the book of Job from the Cod. Alexandrinus, arranged in stichs. published by Patricius Junius, 1637, furnish little more than could be expected. If there by any Old Testament book whose comprehensive meaning is now first understood according to the external and internal conditions of its gradual advance to maturity, it is the book of Job. The Greek fathers were confined to the lxx, without being in a position to test that translation by the original text; and it is just the Greek translation of the book of Job which suffers most seriously from the flaws which in general affect the lxx. Whole verses are omitted, others are removed from their original places, and the omissions are filled up by apocryphal additions.On this subject vid., Gust. Bickel’s De indole ac ratione versionis Alexandrinae in interpretando l. Iobi, just published (1863).

Origen was well aware of this (Ep. ad Afric. 3f.), but he was not sufficiently acquainted with Hebrew to give a reliable collation of the lxx with the original text in his Tetrapla and Hexapla; and his additions (denoted by daggers), and the passages restored by him from other translators, especially Theodotion (by asterisks), deprive the Septuagint text of its original form, without, however, giving a correct impression of the original text. And since in the book of Job the meaning of the whole is dependent upon the meaning of the most isolated passage, the full meaning of the book was a perfect impossibility to the Greek fathers. They occupied themselves much with this mysterious book, but typical and allegorical could not make up what was wanting to the fathers, of grammatical and historical interpretation. The Italic, the next version to the lxx, was still more defective than this: Jerome calls the book of Job in this translation, Decurtatus et laceratus corrosusque. He revised it by the text of the Hexapla, and according to his own plan had to supply not less than about 700-800 versus (στίχοι). His own independent translation is far before its age; but he himself acknowledges its defectiveness, inasmuch as he relates, in his praefatio in l. Iob, how it was accomplished. He engaged, non parvis numis, a Jewish teacher from Lydda, where there was at that time an university, but confesses that, after he had gone through the book of Job with him, he was no wiser than before: Cujus doctrina an aliquid profecerim nescio; hoc unum scio, non potuisse me interpretari nisi quod antea intellexeram. On this account he calls it, as though he would complain of the book itself, obliquus, figuratus, lubricus, and says it is like an eel - the more tightly one holds it, the faster it glides away. There were then three Latin versions of the book of Job, - the Italic, the Italic improved by Jerome, and the independent translation of Jerome, whose deviations, as Augustine complains, produced no little embarrassment. The Syrians were better off with their Peschito, which was made direct from the original text;Perhaps with the use of the Jewish Targum, though not the one extant, for Talmudic literature recognises the existence of a Targum of the book of Job before the destruction of the temple, b. Sabbath, 115 a, etc. Besides, the lxx was considered of such authority in the East, that the monophysite Bishop Paulus of Tela, 617, formed a new Syriac translation from the lxx and the text of the Hexapla Published by Middeldorff, 1834-35; cf. his Curae hexaplares in Iobum, 1817). but the Scholia of Ephrem (pp. 1-19, t. ii. of the three Syriac tomi of his works) contain less that is useful than might be expected.Froriep. Ephraemiana in l. Iobi, 1769, iv., says much about these Scholia to little purpose.

The succeeding age produced nothing better.

Among the expositors of the book of Job we find some illustrious names: Gregory the Great, Beda Venerabilis (whose Commentary has been erroneously circulated as the still undiscovered Commentary of Jerome), Thomas Aquinas, Albertus Magnus,His Postillae super Iob are still unprinted. and others; but no progress was made in the interpretation of the book, as the means were wanting. The principal work of the middle ages was Gregory the Great’s Expositio in beatum Iob seu Moralium, ll. xxxv., a gigantic work, which leaves scarcely a dogmatic-ethical theme untouched, though in its own proper sphere it furnishes nothing of importance, for Gregory explained so, ut super historiae fundamentum moralitatis construeret aedificium et anagoges imposuerit culmen praestantissimumNotker quoted by Dümmler, Formelbuch des Bischof’s Salomo von Constanz, 1857, S. 67f. but the linguistic-historical foundation is insufficient, and the exposition, which gives evidence of significant character and talent, accordingly goes off almost constantly into digressions opposed to its object.

It was only towards the end of the middle ages, as the knowledge of the Hebrew language began, through Jewish converts, to come into the church, that a new era commenced. For what advance the Jewish exposition of the book of Job had hitherto made, beyond that of the church, it owed to the knowledge of Hebrew; although, in the absence of any conception of the task of the expositor, and especially the expositor of Scripture, it knew not how fittingly to turn it to account. Saadia’s (born 890) Arabic translation of the book of Job, with explanations,Vid., Ewald-Duke’s Beiträge zur Gesch. der ältesten Auslegung und Spracherklärung des A. T. 2 Bdd. 1844. does not accomplish much more than that of Jerome, if we may in general say that it surpasses it. Salomo Isaaki of Troyes (Raschi, erroneously called Jarchi), whose Commentary on the Book of Job (rendered incomplete by his death, 1105) was completed by his grandson, Samuel b. Meïr (Raschbam, died about 1160),Respecting this accounts are uncertain: vid., Geiger, Die französische Exegetenschule (1855), S. 22; and comp. de Rossi, Catalogus Cod. 181. Zunz, Zur Geschichte und Literatur. contains a few attempts at grammatical historical exposition, but is in other respects entirely dependent on Midrash Haggada (which may be compared with the church system of allegorical interpretation), whose barren material is treasured up in the catena-like compilations, one of which to the collected books of the Old Testament bears the name of Simeon ha-Darschan (שמעוני ילקוט); the other to the three poetical books, the name of Machir b. Todros (מכירי ילקוט). Abenezra the Spaniard, who wrote his Commentary on the Book of Job in Rome, 1175, delights in new bold ideas, and to enshroud himself in a mystifying nimbus. David Kimchi, who keeps best to the grammatical-historical course, has not expounded the book of Job; and a commentary on this book by his brother, Mose Kimchi, is not yet brought to light. The most important Jewish works on the book of Job are without doubt the Commentaries of Mose b. Nachman or Nahmanides (Ramban), born at Gerona 1194, and Levi b. Gerson, or Gersonides (Ralbag), born at Bagnols 1288. Both were talented thinkers; the former more of the Platonic, the latter of the Aristotelic type. Their Commentaries (taken up in the collective Rabbinical Commentaries), especially that of the latter, were widely circulated in the middle ages. They have both a philosophical bias.Other older commentaries bearing on the history of exposition, as Menahem b. Chelbo, Joseph Kara, Parchon, and others, are not yet known; also that of the Italian poet Immanuel, a friend of Dante, is still unprinted. The rabbinical commentaries contain only, in addition, the Commentary of Abraham Farisol of Avignon (about 1460).

What is to be found in them that is serviceable on any point, may be pretty well determined from the compilation of Lyra. Nikolaus de Lyra, author of Postillae perpetuae in universa Biblia (completed 1330), possessed, for that age, an excellent knowledge of the original text, the necessity of which he acknowledged, and regarded the sensus literalis as basis of all other sensus. But, on the one hand, he was not independent of his Jewish predecessors; on the other, he was fettered by the servile unevangelical spirit of his age. The bursting of this fetter was the dawn of a new day for exegesis. Luther, Brentius, and other reformers, by the depth of their religious experience, their aversion to the capriciousness of the system of allegorical interpretation and freedom from tradition, were fitted to look into the very heart of the hook of Job ; and they also possessed sufficient acquaintance with the Hebrew to get an inkling of the carry-ing out of its chief idea, but no more than an inkling of it. " The book of Job," says Luther in his preface, "treats of the question whether misfortune from God befalls even the godly. Here Job is firm, and maintains that God afflicts even the godly without cause, for His praise alone, as Christ (John ix.) also shows from the man who was born blind." In these words the idea of the book is correctly indicated. But that he had only an approximate conception of the sepa-rate parts, he openly confesses. By the help of Melancthon and the Hebraist Aurogallus, he translated the book of Job, and says in his epistle on the translation, that they could sometimes scarcely finish three lines in four days. And while engaged upon the translation, he wrote to Spalatin, in his naive strong way, that Job seemed to bear his translation less patiently than the consolation of his friends, and would rather remain seated on his dunghill. Jerome Weller, a man who, from inward experience similar to that described in this book, was qualified above many to be its expositor, felt the same unsatisfactoriness. An expositor of Job, says he, must have lain on the same bed of sickness as Job, and have tasted in some measure the bitter experience of Job. Such an expositor was Weller, sorely tried in the school of affliction. But his exposition does not extend beyond the twelfth chapter ; and he is glad when at last, by God's grace, he has got through the twelve chapters, as through firm and hard rock; the remaining chapters he commends to another. The most comprehensive work of the formation period on the book of Job, is the Sermons (condones) of Calvin. The exegesis of the pre-rationalistic period advanced beyond these performances of the reformers only in proportion as philological learning extended, particularly Mercier and Cocceius in the

With the Commentary of Albert Schultens, a Dutchman (2 vols. 1737), a new epoch in the exposition begins. He was the first to bring the Semitic languages, and chiefly the Arabic, to bear on the translation of the book. And rightly so,Though not in due proportion, especially in Animadversiones philologicae in Iobum (Op. minora, 1769), where he seeks to explain the errors of translation in the lxx from the Arabic. for the Arabic has retained more that is ancient than any other Semitic dialect; and Jerome, in his preface to Daniel, had before correctly remarked, Iob cum arabica lingua plurimam habet societatem. Reiske (Conjecturae in Iobum, 1779) and Schnurrer (Animadv. ad quaedam loca Iobi, 1781) followed later in the footsteps of Schultens; but in proportion as the Israelitish element was considered in its connection with the Oriental, the divine distinctiveness of the former was forgotten. Nevertheless, the book of Job had far less to suffer than the other biblical books from rationalism, with its frivolous moral judgments and distorted interpretations of Scripture: it reduced the idea of the book to tameness, and Satan, here with more apparent reason than elsewhere, was regarded as a mythical invention; but there were, however, no miracles and prophecies to be got rid of.

And as, for the first time since the apostolic period, attention was now given to the book as a poetical masterpiece, substantial advantage arose to the exposition itself from the translations and explanations of an Eckermann, Moldenhauer, Stuhlmann, and others. What a High-German rhymster of the fourteenth century, made known by Hennig, and the Florentine national poet Juliano Dati at the beginning of the sixteenth century, accomplished in their poetical reproductions of the book of Job, is here incomparably surpassed. What might not the fathers have accomplished if they had only had at their disposal such a translation of the book of Job as e.g., that of Böckel, or of the pious Miss Elizabeth Smith, skilled in the Oriental languages (died, in her twenty-eighth year, 1805), or of a studious Swiss layman (Notes to the Hebrew Text of the Old Testament, together with a Translation of the Book of Job, Basel 1841)?

The way to the true and full perception of the divine in Scripture is through the human: hence rationalism - especially after Herder, whose human mode of perception improved and deepened - prepared the way for a new era in the church’s exposition of the book of Job. The Commentaries of Samuel Lee (1837), Vaihinger (1842), Welte (1849), Hahn (1850), and Schlottmann (1851),Vid., the review of the last two by Oehler in Reuter’s Repertorium, Feb. 1852; and Kosegarten’s Aufsatz über das B. Hiob in der Kieler Allgem. Monatsschrift, 1853, S. 761-774. are the first-fruits of this new period, rendered possible by the earlier Commentaries of Umbreit (1824-32), Ewald (1836-51), and Hirzel (1839, second edition, edited by Olshausen, 1852), of whom the firstVid., Ullmann-Riehm’s Blätter der Erinnerung an F. W. C. Umbreit (1862), S. 54-58. is characterized by enthusiasm for the poetical grandeur of the book, the second by vivid perception of the tragical, and the third by sound tact and good arrangement, - three qualifications which a young Scotch investigator, A. B. Davidson, strives, not unsuccessfully, to unite in his Commentary (vol. i. 1862).The author, already known by a Treatise on the Hebrew Accentuology, is not to be mistaken for Sam. Davidson. In addition, we would call attention to the Commentary of Carey (1858), in which the archaeology and geography of the book of Job is illustrated by eighty woodcuts and a map.

Besides these substantially progressive works, there is the Commentary of Heiligstedt (1847), which is only a recapitulatory clavis after the style of Rosenmüller, but more condensed; and for what modern Jewish commentaries, as those of Blumenfeld, Arnheim (1836), and Löwenthal (1846), contain beyond the standpoint of the earlier פרושׁים and באורים, they are almost entirely indebted to their Christian predecessors. Also in the more condensed form of translations, with accompanying explanations, the understanding of the book of Job has been in many ways advanced. We may mention here the translations of Köster (1831), who first directed attention to the strophe-structure of Hebrew poetry, but who also, since he regarded the Masoretic verse as the constructive element of the strophe, has introduced an error which has not been removed even to the present day; Stickel (1842), who has, not untastefully, sought to imitate the form of this masterpiece, although his division of the Masoretic verse into strophe lines, according to the accents, like Hirzel’s and Meier’s in Canticles, is the opposite extreme to the mistake of Köster; Ebrard (1858), who translates in iambic pentameters, as Hosse had previously done;Vid., Schneider, Die neuesten Studien über das B. Hiob, Deutsche Zeitschr. für christl. Wissensch., 1859, No. 27. and Renan, who solely determines his arrangement of the stichs by the Masoretic division of verses, and moreover haughtily displays his scornful opposition to Christianity in the prefatory Etude.Against which Abbé Crelier has come forward: Le livre de Job venge des interprétations fausses et impies de M. Ernest Renan, 1860.

Besides, apart from the general commentaries (Bibelwerke), among which that of Von Gerlach (Bd. iii. des A. T. 1849) may be mentioned as the most noted, and such popular practical expositions as Diedrich’s (1858), many - some in the interest of poetry generally (as Spiess, 1852), others in the interest of biblical theology (as Haupt, 1847; Hosse, 1849; Hayd, 1859; Birkholz, 1859; and in Sweden, Lindgren, Upsala 1831) - have sought to render the reading of the book of Job easier and more profitable by means of a translation, with a short introduction and occasional explanations.

Even with all these works before us, though they are in part excellent and truly serviceable, it cannot be affirmed that the task of the exposition has been exhaustively performed, so that absolutely no plus ultra remains. To adjust the ideal meaning of the book according to its language, its bearing on the history of redemption, and its spiritual character, - and throughout to indicate the relation of the single parts to the idea which animates the whole is, and remains, a great task worthy of ever-new exertion. We will try to perform it, without presuming that we are able to answer all the claims on the expositor. The right expositor of the book of Job must before everything else bring to it a believing apprehension of the work of Christ, in order that he may be able to comprehend this book from its connection with the historical development of the plan of redemption, whose unity is the work of Christ. Further, he must be able to give himself up freely and cheerfully to the peculiar vein of this (together with Ecclesiastes) most bold of all Old Testament books, in order that he may gather from the very heart its deeply hidden idea. Not less must he possess historical perception, in order that he may be able to appreciate the relativeness with which, since the plan of salvation is actually and confessedly progressive, the development of the idea of the book is burdened, notwithstanding its absolute truth in itself. Then he must not only have a clear perception of the divinely true, but also of the beautiful in human art, in order to be able to appreciate the wonderful blending of the divine and human in the form as in the contents. Finally, he must stand on the pinnacle of linguistic and antiquarian knowledge, in order to be able to follow the lofty flight of its language, and become families with the incomparably rich variety of its matter. This idea of an expositor of the book of Job we will keep in view, and seek, as near as possible, to attain within the limit assigned to this condensed exegetical handbook.

The Opening - Job 1:1

Job’s Piety in the Midst of the Greatest Prosperity - Job 1:1-5

The book begins in prose style: as Jerome says, Prosa incipit, versu labitur, pedestri sermone finitur. Prologue and epilogue are accordingly excepted from the poetical accentuation, and are accented according to the usual system, as the first word shows; for אישׁ has, in correct editions, Tebir, a smaller distinctive, which does not belong to the poetical accentuation. The writer does not begin with ויהי, as the writers of the historico-prophetical books, who are conscious that they are relating a portion of the connection of the collective Israelitish history, e.g., 1Sa 1:1, אישׁ ויהי, but, as the writer of the book of Esther (Est 2:5) for similar reasons, with היה אישׁ, because he is beginning a detached extra-Israelitish history.

Job 1:1 1  There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

The lxx translates, ἐν χώρᾳ τῇ Αὐσίτιδι; and adds at the close of the book, ἐπὶ τοῖς ὁρίοις τῆν Ἰδουμαίας καὶ Ἀραβίας, therefore north-east from Idumea, towards the Arabian desert. There, in the Arabian desert west from Babylon, under the Caucabenes, according to Ptolemy (v. 19, 2), the Αἰσῖται (Αἰσεῖται), i.e., the Uzzites, dwelt. This determination of the position of Uz is the most to be relied on. It tends indirectly to confirm this, that Οὖσος, in Jos. Ant. i. 6, 4, is described as founder of Trachonitis and Damascus; that the Jakut Hamawi and Moslem tradition generally (as recently Fries, Stud. u. Krit. 1854, ii.) mention the East Haran fertile tract of country north-west of Têmâ and Bûzân, el-Bethenije, the district of Damascus in which Job dwelt;Vid., Abulfeda, Historia anteislam. p. 26 (cf. 207f.), where it says, “The whole of Bethenije, a part of the province of Damascus, belonged to Job as his possession.” that the Syrian tradition also transfers the dwelling-place of Job to Hauran, where, in the district of Damascus, a monastery to his honour is called Dair Ejjub (vid., Volck, Calendarium Syriacum, p. 29). All these accounts agree that Uz is not to be sought in Idumaea proper (Gebâl). And the early historical genealogies (Gen 10:23; Gen 22:21; Gen 36:28) are not unfavourable to this, since they place Uz in relation to Seir-Edom on the one hand, and on the other to Aram: the perplexing double occurrence of such names as Têmâ and Dûma, both in Idumaea and East Hauran, perhaps just results from the mixing of the different tribes through migration. But at all events, though Uz did not lie in Gebâl, yet both from Lam 4:21, and on account of the reference in the book of Job itself to the Horites, a geographical connection between Idumaea and Ausitis is to be held; and from Jer 25:20 one is warranted in supposing, that עוץ, with which the Arabic name of Esau, ‛yṣ ( 'l - ‛yṣ), perhaps not accidentally accords, was the collective name of the northern part of the Arabian desert, extending north-east from Idumaea towards Syria. Here, where the aborigines of Seir were driven back by the Aramaic immigrants, and to where in later times the territory of Edom extended, dwelt Job. His name is not symbolic with reference to the following history. It has been said, איּוב signifies one hostilely treated, by Satan namely.Geiger (DMZ, 1858, S. 542f.) conjectures that, Sir. xlix. 9 (καὶ γὰρ ἐμνήσθη τῶν ἐχθρῶν ἐν ὄμβρῳ), τῶν ἐχθρῶν is a false translation of איוב. Renan assents; but τῶν εχθρῶν suits there excellently, and Job would be unnaturally dragged in.

But the following reasons are against it: (1) that none of the other names which occur in the book are symbolically connected with the history; (2) that the form קטּול has never a properly passive signification, but either active, as יסּור, reprover (as parallel form with קטּל), or neuter, as ילּוד, born, שׁכּור, drunken, also occasionally infinitive (vid., Fürst, Concord. p. 1349 s.), so that it may be more correct, with Ewald, after the Arabic (אוּב, cognate with שׁוּב, perhaps also בּוא), to explain the “one going of himself.” Similar in sound are, יוב, the name of one of the sons of Issachar (Gen 46:13); the name of the Idumaean king, יובב, Gen 36:33 (which the lxx, Aristeas, Jul. Africanus,Vid., Routh, Relinquiae ii. 154f.: Ἐκ τοῦ Ἠσαῦ ἄλλοι τε πολλοὶ καὶ Ραγουὴλ γεννᾶται ἀφ ̓ οὗ Ζάρεδ, ἐξ οὗ Ἰὼβ ὅς κατὰ συγχώρησιν θεοῦ ὑπὸ διαβόλου ἐπειράσθη καὶ ἐνίκησε τὸν πειράζοντα. combine with Job); and the name of the king of Mauritania, Juba, which in Greek is written Ἰόβας (Didymus Chalcenter. ed. Schmidt, p. 305): perhaps all these names belong to the root יב, to shout with joy. The lxx writes Ἰώβ with lenis; elsewhere the א at the beginning is rendered by asper, e.g., Αβραάμ, Ἡλίας. Luther writes Hiob; he has preferred the latter mode, that it may not be read Job with the consonantal Jod, when it should be Iob, as e.g., it is read by the English. It had been more correctly Ijob, but Luther wished to keep to the customary form of the name so far as he could; so we, by writing Iob with vowel I, do not wish to deviate too much from the mode of writing and pronunciation customary since Luther.On the authorizing of the writing Iob, more exactly Îob, also Îjob (not, however, Ijjob, which does not correspond to the real pronunciation, which softens ij into î, and uw into û), vid., Fleischer’s Beitrâge zur arab. Sprachkunde (Abh. der sâchs. Gesellschaft d. Wissenschaften, 1863), S. 137f. [The usual English form Job is adopted here, though Dr. Delitzsch writes Iob in the original work. - Tr.]

The writer intentionally uses four synonyms together, in order to describe as strongly as possible Job’s piety, the reality and purity of which is the fundamental assumption of the history. תּם, with the whole heart disposed towards God and what is good, and also well-disposed toward mankind; ישׁר, in thought and action without deviation conformed to that which is right; אלהים ירא, fearing God, and consequently being actuated by the fear of God, which is the beginning (i.e., principle) of wisdom; מרע סר, keeping aloof from evil, which is opposed to God. The first predicate recalls Gen 25:27, the fourth the proverbial Psalms (Psa 34:15; Psa 37:27) and Pro 14:16. This mingling of expressions from Genesis and Proverbs is characteristic. First now, after the history has been begun in praett., aorr. follow.

Job 1:2-3 2, 3  And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and servants in great number; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

It is a large, princely household. The numbers are large, but must not on that account be considered an invention. The four animals named include both kinds. With the doubled אלפי corresponds the also constructive מאות, the Tsere of which is never shortened, though in the singular one says מאת, from מאה. The aorists, especially of the verb היה (הוה), which, according to its root, signifies not so much esse as fieri, existere, are intended to place us at once in the midst of his prosperity. Ex iis, says Leo Africanus in reference to flocks, Arabes suas divitias ac possessiones aestimant. In fine, Job was without his equal among the קרם בני. So the tribes are called which extend from Arabia Deserta, lying to the east of Palestine, northwards to the countries on the Euphrates, and south over Arabia Petraea and Felix. The wisdom of these tribes, treasured up in proverbs, songs, and traditions, is mentioned in 1Ki 5:10, side by side with the wisdom of the Egyptians. The writer now takes a very characteristic feature from the life of Job, to show that, even in the height of prosperity, he preserved and manifested the piety affirmed of him.

Job 1:4-5 4, 5  And his sons went and feasted in the house of him whose day it was, and sent and called for their sisters to eat and drink with them. And it happened, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt-offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, I may be that my sons have sinned, and dismissed God from their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

The subordinate facts precede, Job 1:4, in perff.; the chief fact follows, Job 1:5, in fut. consec. The perff. describe, according to Ges. §126, 3, that which has happened repeatedly in the past, as e.g., Rth 4:7; the fut. consec. the customary act of Job, in conjunction with this occurrence. The consecutio temporum is exactly like 1Sa 1:3.

It is questionable whether אישׁ בּית is a distinct adverbial expression, in domu unuiscujusque, and יומו also distinct, die ejus (Hirz. and others); or whether the three words are only one adverbial expression, in domo ejus cujus dies erat, which latter we prefer. At all events, יומו here, in this connection, is not, with Hahn, Schlottm., and others, to be understood of the birthday, as Job 3:1. The text, understood simply as it stands, speaks of a weekly round (Oehler and others). The seven sons took it in turn to dine with one another the week round, and did not forget their sisters in the loneliness of the parental home, but added them to their number. There existed among them a family peace and union which had been uninterruptedly cherished; but early on the morning of every eighth day, Job instituted a solemn service for his family, and offered sacrifices for his ten children, that they might obtain forgiveness for any sins of frivolity into which they might have fallen in the midst of the mirth of their family gatherings.

The writer might have represented this celebration on the evening of every seventh day, but he avoids even the slightest reference to anything Israelitish: for there is no mention in Scripture of any celebration of the Sabbath before the time of Israel. The sacred observance of the Sabbath, which was consecrated by God the Creator, was first expressly enjoined by the Sinaitic Thora. Here the family celebration falls on the morning of the Sunday, - a remarkable prelude to the New Testament celebration of Sunday in the age before the giving of the law, which is a type of the New Testament time after the law. The fact that Job, as father of the family, is the Cohen of his house, - a right of priesthood which the fathers of Israel exercised at the first passover (מצרים פסח), and from which a relic is still retained in the annual celebration of the passover (הדורות פסח), - is also characteristic of the age prior to the law. The standpoint of this age is also further faithfully preserved in this particular, that עולה here, as also Job 42:8, appears distinctly as an expiatory offering; whilst in the Mosaic ritual, although it still indeed serves לכפר (Lev 1:4), as does every blood-offering, the idea of expiation as its peculiar intention is transferred to הטאת and אשׁם. Neither of these forms of expiatory offering is here mentioned. The blood-offering still bears its most general generic name, עולה, which it received after the flood. This name indicates that the offering is one which, being consumed by fire, is designed to ascend in flames and smoke. העלה refers not so much to bringing it up to the raised altar, as to causing it to rise in flame and smoke, causing it to ascend to God, who is above. קדּשׁ is the outward cleansing and the spiritual preparation for the celebration of the sacred festival, as Exo 19:14. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the masculine suffixes refer also to the daughters. There were ten whole sacrifices offered by Job on each opening day of the weekly round, at the dawn of the Sunday; and one has therefore to imagine this round of entertainment as beginning with the first-born on the first day of the week. “Perhaps,” says Job, “my children have sinned, and bidden farewell to God in their hearts.” Undoubtedly, בּרך signifies elsewhere (1Ki 21:10; Psa 10:3), according to a so-called ἀντιφραστικὴ εὐφημία, maledicere. This signification also suits Job 2:5, but does not at all suit Job 2:9. This latter passage supports the signification valedicere, which arises from the custom of pronouncing a benediction or benedictory salutation at parting (e.g., Gen 47:10). Job is afraid lest his children may have become somewhat unmindful of God during their mirthful gatherings. In Job’s family, therefore, there was an earnest desire for sanctification, which was far from being satisfied with mere outward propriety of conduct. Sacrifice (which is as old as the sin of mankind) was to Job a means of grace, by which he cleansed himself and his family every week from inward blemish. The futt. consec. are followed by perff., which are governed by them. כּכה, however, is followed by the fut., because in historical connection (cf. on the other hand, Num 8:26), in the signification, faciebat h.e. facere solebat (Ges. §127, 4, b). Thus Job did every day, i.e., continually. As head of the family, he faithfully discharged his priestly vocation, which permitted him to offer sacrifice as an early Gentile servant of God. The writer has now made us acquainted with the chief person of the history which he is about to record, and in Job 1:6 begins the history itself.

Job 1:6 6  Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah; and Satan came also in the midst of them.

The translation “it happened on a day” is rejected in Ges. §109, rem. 1, c.The references to Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar have been carefully verified according to the English edition published by Bagster and Sons, London. - Tr.

The article, it is there said, refers to what precedes - the day, at the time; but this favourite mode of expression is found at the beginning of a narrative, even when it cannot be considered to have any reference to what has preceded, e.g., 2Ki 4:18. The article is used in the opposite manner here, because the narrator in thought connects the day with the following occurrence; and this frees it from absolute indefiniteness: the western mode of expression is different. From the writer assigning the earthly measure of time to the place of God and spirits, we see that celestial things are represented by him parabolically. But the assumptions on which he proceeds are everywhere recognised in Scripture; for (1.) האלהים בּני, as the name of the celestial spirits, is also found out of the book of Job (Gen 6:2; cf. Psa 29:1; Psa 59:7; Dan 3:25). They are so called, as beings in the likeness of God, which came forth from God in the earliest beginning of creation, before this material world and man came into existence (Job 28:4-7): the designation בּני points to the particular manner of their creation. (2.) Further, it is the teaching of Scripture, that these are the nearest attendants upon God, the nearest created glory, with which He has surrounded himself in His eternal glory, and that He uses them as the immediate instruments of His cosmical rule. This representation underlies Gen 1:26, which Philo correctly explains, διαλέγεται ὁ τῶν ὅλων πατὴρ ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ δυνάμεσιν; and in Psa 59:6-8, a psalm which is closely allied to the book of Job, קהל and סוד, of the holy ones, is just the assembly of the heavenly spirits, from which, as ἄγγελοι of God, they go forth into the universe and among men. (3.) It is also further the teaching of Scripture, that one of these spirits has withdrawn himself from the love of God, has reversed the truth of his bright existence, and in sullen ardent self-love is become the enemy of God, and everything godlike in the creature. This spirit is called, in reference to God and the creature, השּׂטן ,er, from the verb שׂטן, to come in the way, oppose, treat with enmity, - a name which occurs first here, and except here occurs only in Zec 3:1-10 and 1Ch 21:1. Since the Chokma turned, with a decided preference, to the earliest records of the world and mankind before the rise of nationalities, it must have known the existence of this God-opposing spirit from Gen. 2f. The frequent occurrence of the tree of life and the way of life in the Salomonic Proverbs, shows how earnestly the research of that time was engaged with the history of Paradise: so that it cannot be surprising that it coined the name השּׂטן for that evil spirit. (4.) Finally, it agrees with 1Ki 22:19-22; Zec 3:1, on the one hand, and Rev. 12 on the other, that Satan here appears still among the good spirits, resembling Judas Iscariot among the disciples until his treachery was revealed. The work of redemption, about which his enmity to God overdid itself, and by which his damnation is perfected, is during the whole course of the Old Testament history incomplete.

Herder, Eichhorn, Lutz, Ewald, and Umbreit, see in this distinct placing of Satan in relation to the Deity and good spirits nothing but a change of representations arising from foreign influences; but if Jesus Christ is really the vanquisher of Satan, as He himself says, the realm of spirits must have a history, which is divided into two eras by this triumph. Moreover, both the Old and New Testaments agree herein, that Satan is God’s adversary, and consequently altogether evil, and must notwithstanding serve God, since He makes even evil minister to His purpose of salvation, and the working out of His plan in the government of the world. This is the chief thought which underlies the further progress of the scene. The earthly elements of time, space, and dialogue, belong to the poetic drapery.

Instead of על התיצּב, לפני is used elsewhere (Pro 22:29): על is a usage of language derived from the optical illusion to the one who is in the foreground seeming to surpass the one in the background. It is an assembly day in heaven. All the spirits present themselves to render their account, and expecting to receive commands; and the following dialogue ensues between Jehovah and Satan: -

Job 1:7 7  Then Jehovah said to Satan, Whence comest thou? Satan answered Jehovah, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

The fut. follows מאין in the signification of the praes., Whence comest thou? the perf. would signify, Whence hast thou come? (Ges. §127, 2). Cocceius subtly observes: Notatur Satanas velut Deo nescio h.e. non adprobante res suas agere. It is implied in the question that his business is selfish, arbitrary, and has no connection with God. In his answer, בּ שׁוּט, as 2Sa 24:2, signifies rapid passing from one end to the other; התלּך, an observant roaming forth. Peter also says of Satan, περιπατεῖ (1Pe 5:8.).Among the Arabs the devil is called 'l-ḥârt, el-hharith - the active, busy, industrious one.

He answers at first generally, as expecting a more particular question, which Jehovah now puts to him.

Job 1:8 8  Then said Jehovah to Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job? for there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil.

By כּי Jehovah gives the reason of His inquiry. Had Satan been observant of Job, even he must have confessed that there was on the earth real genuine piety. לב שׂים, animum advertere (for לב is animus, נפשׁ anima), is construed with על, of the object on which the attention falls, and on which it fixes itself, or אל, of the object towards which it is directed (Job 2:3). The repetition of the four predicates used of Job (Job 1:1) in the mouth of Jehovah (though without the waw combining both pairs there) is a skilful touch of the poet. Further on, the narrative is also interwoven with poetic repetitions (as e.g., Job 34 and Gen 1), to give it architectural symmetry, and to strengthen the meaning and impression of what is said. Jehovah triumphantly displays His servant, the incomparable one, in opposition to Satan; but this does not disconcert him: he knows how, as on all occasions, so here also, to deny what Jehovah affirms.

Job 1:9-11 9-11  Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast Thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Hast Thou not blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land? But put forth Thine hand now, and touch all that he hath: truly he will renounce Thee to Thy face.

Satan is, according to the Rev 12:10, the κατήγωρ who accuses the servants of God day and night before God. It is a fact respecting the invisible world, though expressed in the language and imagery of this world. So long as he is not finally vanquished and condemned, he has access to God, and thinks to justify himself by denying the truth of the existence and the possibility of the continuance of all piety. God permits it; for since everything happening to the creature is placed under the law of free development, evil in the world of spirits is also free to maintain and expand itself, until a spiritual power comes forward against it, by which the hitherto wavering conflict between the principles of good and evil is decided. This is the truth contained in the poetic description of the heavenly scene, sadly mistaken by Umbreit in his Essay on Sin, 1853, in which he explains Satan, according to Psa 109:6, as a creation of our author’s fancy. The paucity of the declarations respecting Satan in the Old Testament has misled him. And indeed the historical advance from the Old Testament to the New, though in itself well authorized, has in many ways of late induced to the levelling of the heights and depths of the New Testament. Formerly Umbreit was of the opinion, as many are still, that the idea of Satan is derived from Persia; but between Ahriman (Angramainyus) and Satan there is no striking resemblance;Moreover, it is still questionable whether the form of the ancient doctrine of fire-worship among the Persians did not result from Jewish influences. Vid., Stuhr, Religionssysteme der herdn. Völker des Orients, S. 373-75. whereas Diestel, in his Abh. über Set-Typhon, Asasel und Satan, Stud. u. Krit., 1860, 2, cannot indeed recognise any connection between עזאזל and the Satan of the book of Job, but maintains a more complete harmony in all substantial marks between the latter and the Egyptian Typhon, and infers that “to Satan is therefore to be denied a purely Israelitish originality, the natural outgrowth of the Hebrew mind. It is indeed no special honour for Israel to be able to call him their own. He never has taken firm hold on the Hebrew consciousness.” But how should it be no honour for Israel, the people to whom the revelation of redemption was made, and in whose history the plan of redemption was developed, to have traced the poisonous stream of evil up to the fountain of its first free beginning in the spiritual world, and to have more than superficially understood the history of the fall of mankind by sin, which points to a disguised superhuman power, opposed to the divine will? This perception undoubtedly only begins gradually to dawn in the Old Testament; but in the New Testament, the abyss of evil is fully disclosed, and Satan has so far a hold on the consciousness of Jesus, that He regards His life’s vocation as a conflict with Satan. And the Protevangelium is deciphered in facts, when the promised seed of the woman crushed the serpent’s head, but at the same time suffered the bruising of its own heel.

The view (e.g., Lutz in his Biblishce Dogmatik) that Satan as he is represented in the book of Job is not the later evil spirit, is to be rejected: he appears here only first, say Herder and Eichhorn, as impartial executor of judgment, and overseer of morality, commissioned by God. But he denies what God affirms, acknowledges no love towards God in the world which is not rooted in self-love, and is determined to destroy this love as a mere semblance. Where piety is dulled, he rejoices in its obscurity; where it is not, he dims its lustre by reflecting his own egotistical nature therein. Thus it is in Zec 3:1-10, and so here. Genuine love loves God חנּם (adverb from חן, like gratis from gratia): it loves Him for His own sake; it is a relation of person to person, without any actual stipulations and claim. But Job does not thus fear God; ירא is here praet., whereas in Job 1:1 and Job 1:8 it is the adjective. God has indeed hitherto screened him from all evil; שׂכתּ from שׂוּך, sepire, and בּעד (בּעד) composed of בּ and עד, in the primary signification circum, since עד expresses that the one joins itself to the other, and בּ that it covers it, or covers itself with it. By the addition of מסּביב, the idea of the triple בּעד is still strengthened. מעשׂה, lxx, Vulg., have translated by the plural, which is not false according to the thought; for ידים מעשׂה is, especially in Deuteronomy, a favourite collective expression for human enterprise. פּרץ, a word, with the Sanskrito-Sem. frangere, related to פּרק, signifying to break through the bounds, multiply and increase one’s self unboundedly (Gen 30:30, and freq.). The particle אוּלם, proper only to the oldest and classic period, and very commonly used in the first four books of the Pentateuch, and in our book, generally ואוּלם, is an emphatic ”nevertheless;” Lat. (suited to this passage at least) verum enim vero. אם־לא is either, as frequently, a shortened formula of asseveration: May such and such happen to me if he do not, etc., = forsooth he will (lxx ἦ μήν); or it is half a question: Attempt only this and this, whether he will not deny thee, = annon, as Job 17:2; Job 22:20. The first perhaps suits the character of Satan better: he affirms that God is mistaken. בּרך signifies here also, valedicere: he will say farewell to thee, and indeed על־פּניך (as Isa 65:3), meeting thee arrogantly and shamelessly: it signifies, properly, upon thy countenance, i.e., say it to thee, to the very face, that he will have nothing more to do with thee (comp. on Job 2:5). In order now that the truth of His testimony to Job’s piety, and this piety itself, may be tried, Jehovah surrenders all Job’s possessions, all that is his, except himself, to Satan.

Job 1:12 12  Then Jehovah said to Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand; only upon himself put not forth thy hand. And Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah.

Notice well: The divine permission appears at the same time as a divine command, for in general there is not a permission by which God remains purely passive; wherefore God is even called in Scripture creator mali (the evil act as such only excepted), Isa 45:7. Further, the divine arrangement has not its foundation in the sin which still clings to Job. For in the praise conferred upon Job, it is not said that he is absolutely without sin: universal liability to sin is assumed not only of all the unrighteousness, but even of all the righteousness, of Adam’s race. Thirdly, the permission proceeds, on the contrary, from God’s purpose to maintain, in opposition to Satan, the righteousness which, in spite of the universal liability to sin, is peculiar to Job; and if we place this single instance in historical connection with the development of the plan of redemption, it is a part of the conflict of the woman’s seed with the serpent, and of the gradual degradation of Satan to the lake of fire. After Jehovah’s permission, Satan retires forthwith. The license is welcome to him, for he delights in the work of destruction. And he hopes to conquer. For after he has experienced the unlimited power of evil over himself, he has lost all faith in the power of good, and is indeed become himself the self-deceived father of lies.

Job 1:13-15 13-15  And it came to pass one day, when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their eldest brother, that a messenger came to Job, and said, The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside them, when the Sabeans fell upon them, and carried them away, and smote the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

The principal clause, היּום ויהי, in which the art. of היּום has no more reference to anything preceding than in Job 1:6, is immediately followed by an adverbial clause, which may be expressed by participles, Lat. filiis ejus filiabusque convivantibus. The details which follow are important. Job had celebrated the usual weekly worship early in the morning with his children, and knew that they were met together in the house of his eldest son, with whom the order of mutual entertainment came round again, when the messengers of misfortune began to break in upon him: it is therefore on the very day when, by reason of the sacrifice offered, he was quite sure of Jehovah’s favour. The participial construction, the oxen were ploughing (vid., Ges. §134, 2, c), describes the condition which was disturbed by the calamity that befell them. The verb היוּ stands here because the clause is a principal one, not as Job 1:13, adverbial. על־ידי, properly “at hand,” losing its radical meaning, signifies (as Jdg 11:26) “close by.” The interpretation “in their places,” after Num 2:17, is untenable, as this signification of יד is only supported in the sing. שׁבא is construed as fem., since the name of the country is used as the name of the people. In Genesis three races of this name are mentioned: Cushite (Gen 10:7), Joktanish (Gen 10:28), and Abrahamic (Gen 25:3). Here the nomadic portion of this mixed race in North Arabia from the Persian Gulf to Idumaea is intended. Luther, for the sake of clearness, translates here, and 1Ki 10:1, Arabia. In ואמּלטה, the waw, as is seen from the Kametz, is waw convertens, and the paragogic ah, which otherwise indicates the cohortative, is either without significance, or simply adds intensity to the verbal idea: I have saved myself with great difficulty. For this common form of the 1 fut. consec., occurring four times in the Pentateuch, vid., Ges. §49, 2. The clause לך להגּיד is objective: in order that - so it was intended by the calamity - I might tell thee.

Job 1:16

The Second Messenger: 16  While he was yet speaking, another came, and said, The fire of God fell from heaven, and set fire to the sheep and servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

The fire of God, which descends, is not a suitable expression for Samûm (Schlottm.), that wind of the desert which often so suddenly destroys man and beast, although indeed it is indicated by certain atmospheric phenomena, appearing first of a yellow colour, which changes to a leaden hue and spreads through the atmosphere, so that the sun when at the brightest becomes a dark red. The writer, also, can scarcely have intended lightning (Rosenm., Hirz., Hahn), but rain of fire or brimstone, as with Sodom and Gomorrha, and as 1Ki 18:38; 2Ki 1:12.

Job 1:17

The Third Messenger: 17  While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans ranged themselves in three bands, and rushed upon the camels, and carried them away, and slew the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Without any authority, Ewald sees in this mention of the Chaldeans an indication of the composition of the book in the seventh century b.c., when the Chaldeans under Nabopolassar began to inherit the Assyrian power. Following Ewald, Renan observes that the Chaldeans first appear as such marauders about the time of Uzziah. But in Genesis we find mention of early Semitic Chaldeans among the mountain ranges lying to the north of Assyria and Mesopotamia; and later, Nahor Chaldeans of Mesopotamia, whose existence is traced back to the patriarchal times (vid., Genesis, p. 422),This reference is to Delitzsch’s Commentar über die Genesis, 1860, a separate work from the Keil and Delitzsch series. - Tr. and who were powerful enough at any time to make a raid into Idumaea. To make an attack divided into several ראשׁים, heads, multitudes, bands (two - Gen. Job 14:15; three - Jdg 7:16, 1Sa 11:11; or four - Judg. Job 9:34), is an ancient military stratagem; and פּשׁט, e.g., Jdg 9:33, is the proper word for attacks of such bands, either for plunder or revenge. In לפי־חרב, at the edge of the sword, à l'epée, ל is like the usual acc. of manner.

Job 1:18-19

The Fourth Messenger: 18  While he was yet speaking, another also came, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: and, behold, a great wind came across from the desert, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

Instead of עוד, we have עד here: the former denotes continuity in time, the latter continuity in space, and they may be interchanged. עד in the signif. “while” is here construed with the participle, as Neh 7:3; comp. other constructions, Job 8:21; 1Sa 14:19; Jon 4:2. “From the other side of the desert” is equivalent to, from its farthest end. הנּערים are the youthful sons and daughters of Job, according to the epicene use of נער in the Pentateuch (youths and maidens). In one day Job is now bereft of everything which he accounted the gift of Jehovah, - his herds, and with these his servants, which he not only prizes as property, but for whom he has also a tender heart (Job 31); ); last of all, even his dearest ones, his children. Satan has summoned the elements and men for the destruction of Job’s possessions by repeated strokes. That men and nations can be excited by Satan to hostile enterprises, is nothing surprising (cf. Rev 20:8); but here, even the fire of God and the hurricane are attributed to him. Is this poetry or truth? Luther, in the Larger Catechism, question 4, says the same: “The devil causes strife, murder, rebellion, and war, also thunder and lightning, and hail, to destroy corn and cattle, to poison the atmosphere,” etc., - a passage of our creed often ridiculed by rationalism; but it is correct if understood in accordance with Scripture, and not superstitiously. As among men, so in nature, since the Fall two different powers of divine anger and divine love are in operation: the mingling of these is the essence of the present Kosmos. Everything destructive to nature, and everything arising therefrom which is dangerous and fatal to the life of man, is the outward manifestation of the power of anger. In this power Satan has fortified himself; and this, which underlies the whole course of nature, he is able to make use of, so far as God may permit it as being subservient to His chief design (comp. Rev 13:13 with 2Th 2:9). He has no creative power. Fire and storm, by means of which he works, are of God; but he is allowed to excite these forces to hostility against man, just as he himself is become an instrument of evil. It is similar with human demonocracy, whose very being consists in placing itself en rapport with the hidden powers of nature. Satan is the great juggler, and has already manifested himself as such, even in paradise and in the temptation of Jesus Christ. There is in nature, as among men, an entanglement of contrary forces which he knows how to unloose, because it is the sphere of his special dominion; for the whole course of nature, in the change of its phenomena, is subject not only to abstract laws, but also to concrete supernatural powers, both bad and good.

Job 1:20-21

The Conduct of Job: 20, 21  Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah.

The first three messengers Job has heard, sitting, and in silence; but at the news of the death of his children, brought by the fourth, he can no longer overcome his grief. The intensity of his feeling is indicated by rising up (cf. Jon 3:6); his torn heart, by the rending of his mantle; the conscious loss of his dearest ones, by cutting off the hair of his head. He does not, however, act like one in despair, but, humbling himself under the mighty hand of God, falls to the ground and prostrates himself, i.e., worshipping God, so that his face touches the earth. השׁתּחוה, se prosternere, this is the gesture of adoration, προσκήνησις.Vid., Hölemann’s Abh. über die biblische Gestaltung der Anbetung, in his Bibelstudien, Abth. 1 (1859). יצתי is defectively written, as Num 11:11; cf. infra, Job 32:18. The occurrence of שׁמּה here is remarkable, and may have given rise to the question of Nicodemus, Joh 3:4 : μὴ δύναται ἄνθρωπος εἰς τῆν κοιλίαν τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ δεύτερον εἰσελθεῖν. The writer of Ecclesiastes (Ecc 5:14) has left out this difficult שׁמה. It means either being put back into a state of unconsciousness and seclusion from the light and turmoil of this world, similar to his former state in his mother’s womb, which Hupfeld, in his Commentatio in quosdam Iobeidos locos, 1853, favours; or, since the idea of אמּי בּטן may be extended, return to the bosom of mother earth (Ew., Hirz., Schlottm., et al.), so that שׁמה is not so much retrospective as rather prospective with reference to the grave (Böttch.), which we prefer; for as the mother’s bosom can be compared to the bosom of the earth (Psa 139:15), because it is of the earth, and recalls the original forming of man from the earth, so the bosom of the earth is compared to the mother’s, Sir. 40:1: ἀφ ̓ ἡμέρας ἐξόδου ἐκ γαστρὸς μητρὸς ἕως ἡμέρας ἐπιταφῆς εἰς μητέρα πάντων. The writer here intentionally makes Job call God יהוה. In the dialogue portion, the name יהוה occurs only once in the mouth of Job (Job 12:9); most frequently the speakers use אלוה and שׁדי. This use of the names of God corresponds to the early use of the same in the Pentateuch, according to which שׁדי is the proper name of God in the patriarchal days, and יהוה in the later days, to which they were preparatory. The traditional view, that Elohim describes God according to the attribute of justice, Jehovah according to the attribute of mercy, is only in part correct; for even when the advent of God to judgment is announced, He is in general named Jehovah. Rather, אלהים (plur. of אלוהּ, fear), the Revered One, describes God as object; יהוה or יהוה, on the other hand, as subject. אלהים describes Him in the fulness of His glorious majesty, including also the spirits, which are round about Him; יהוה as the Absolute One. Accordingly, Job, when he says יהוה, thinks of God not only as the absolute cause of his fate, but as the Being ordering his life according to His own counsel, who is ever worthy of praise, whether in His infinite wisdom He gives or takes away. Job was not driven from God, but praised Him in the midst of suffering, even when, to human understanding and feeling, there was only occasion for anguish: he destroyed the suspicion of Satan, that he only feared God for the sake of His gifts, not for His own sake; and remained, in the midst of a fourfold temptation, the conqueror.In Oliver Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield (vid., Jul. Hamberger, Gott und seine Offenbarung, S. 71), there is much that reminds one of the book of Job, especially the repeated misfortunes which befall the worthy clergyman, his submission under all, and the issue which counterbalances his misfortune. But what is copied from the book of Job appears to be only superficial, not to come from the depth of the spiritual life.

Throughout the whole book he does not go so far as to deny God (אלהים בּרך), and thus far he does not fall into any unworthy utterances concerning His rule.

Job 1:22 22  In all this Job sinned not, nor attributed folly to God.

In all this, i.e., as the lxx correctly renders it: which thus far had befallen him; Ewald et al. translate incorrectly: he gave God no provocation. תּפלה signifies, according to Job 24:12, comp. Job 6:6, saltlessness and tastelessness, dealing devoid of meaning and purpose, and is to be translated either, he uttered not, non edidit, anything absurd against God, as Jerome translates, neque stultum quid contra Deum locutus est; or, he did not attribute folly to God: so that נתן ל are connected, as Psa 68:35; Jer 13:16. Since נתן by itself nowhere signifies to express, we side with Hirzel and Schlottm. against Rödiger (in his Thes.) and Oehler, in favour of the latter. The writer hints that, later on, Job committed himself by some unwise thoughts of the government of God.

Job to Song of Solomon

These five books of scripture which are contained in this third volume and which I have here endeavoured, according to the measure of the gift given to me, to explain and improve, for the use of those who desire to read them, not only with understanding, but to their edification—though they have the same divine origin, design, and authority, as those that went before, yet, upon some accounts, are of a very different nature from them, and from the rest of the sacred writings, such variety of methods has Infinite Wisdom seen fit to take in conveying the light of divine revelation to the children of men, that this heavenly food might have (as the Jews say of the manna) something in it agreeable to every palate and suited to every constitution. If every eye be not thus opened, every mouth will be stopped, and such as perish in their ignorance will be left without excuse. We have piped unto you, and you have not danced, we have mourned unto you, and you have not lamented, Matt. xi. 17.

I. The books of scripture have hitherto been, for the most part, very plain and easy, narratives of matter of fact, which he that runs may read and understand, and which are milk for babes, such as they can receive and digest, and both entertain and nourish themselves with. The waters of the sanctuary have hitherto been but to the ankles or to the knees, such as a lamb might wade in, to drink of and wash in; but here we are advanced to a higher form in God's school, and have books put into our hands wherein are many things dark and hard to be understood, which we do not apprehend the meaning of so suddenly and so certainly as we could wish, the study of which requires a more close application of mind, a greater intenseness of thought, and the accomplishing of a diligent search, which yet the treasure hid in them, when it is found, will abundantly recompense. The waters of the sanctuary are here to the loins, and still as we go forward we shall find the waters still risen in the prophetical books, waters to swim in (Ezek. xlvii. 3-5), not fordable, nor otherwise to be passed over—depths in which an elephant will not find footing, strong meat for strong men. The same method is observable in the New Testament, where we find the plain history of Christ and his gospel placed first in the Evangelists and the Acts of the Apostles; then the mystery of both in the Epistles, which are more difficult to be understood; and, lastly, the prophesies of things to come in the apocalyptic visions. This method, so exactly observed in both the Testaments, directs us in what order to proceed both in studying the things of God ourselves and in teaching them to others; we must go in the order that the scripture does; and where can we expect to find a better method of divinity and a better method of preaching?

1. We must begin with those things that are most plain and easy, as, blessed be God, those things are which are most necessary to salvation and of the greatest use. We must lay our foundation firm, in a sound experimental knowledge of the principles of religion, and then the super-structure will be well reared and will stand firmly. It is not safe to launch out into the deep at first, nor to venture into points difficult and controverted until we have first thoroughly digested the elements of the oracles of God and turned them in succum et sanguinem—into juice and blood. Those that begin their Bible at the wrong end commonly use their knowledge of it in the wrong way. And, in training up others, we must be sure to ground them well at first in those truths of God which are plain, and in some measure level to their capacity, which we find they comprehend, and relish, and know how to make use of, and not amuse those that are weak with things above them, things of doubtful disputation, which they cannot apprehend any certainty of nor advantage by. Our Lord Jesus spoke the word to the people as they were able to hear it (Mark iv. 33) and had many things to say to his disciples which he did not say because as yet they could not bear them, John xvi. 12, 13. And those whom St. Paul could not speak to as unto spiritual—though he blamed them for their backwardness, yet he accommodated himself to their weakness, and spoke to them as unto babes in Christ, 1 Cor. iii. 1, 2.

2. Yet we must not rest in these things. We must not be always children that have need of milk, but nourished up with that, and gaining strength, we must go on to perfection (Heb. vi. 1), that having, by reason of use, our spiritual senses exercised (Heb. v. 14), we may come to full age, and put away childish things, and, forgetting the things which are behind, that is, so well remembering them (Phil. iii. 13) that we need not be still poring over them as those that are ever learning the same lesson, we may reach forth to the things which are before. Though we must never think to learn above our Bible, as long as we are here in this world, yet we must still be getting forward in it. You have dwelt long enough in this mountain; now turn and take your journey onward in the wilderness towards Canaan. Our motto must be Plus ultra—Onward. And then shall we know if thus, by regular steps (Hos. vi. 3), we follow on to know the Lord and what the mind of the Lord is.

II. The books of scripture have hitherto been mostly historical, but now the matter is of another nature; it is doctrinal and devotional, preaching and praying; and in this way of writing, as well as in the former, a great deal of excellent knowledge is conveyed, which serves very valuable purposes. It will be of good use to know not only what others did that went before us, and how they fared, but what their notions and sentiments were, what their thoughts and affections were, that we may, with the help of them, form our minds aright. Plutarch's Morals are reputed as a useful treasure in the commonwealth of learning as Plutarch's Lives, and the wise disquisitions and discourses of the philosophers as the records of the historians; nor is this divine philosophy (if I may so call it), which we have in these books, less needful, nor less serviceable, to the church, than the sacred history was. Blessed be God for both.

III. The Jews make these books to be given by a divine inspiration somewhat different from that both of Moses and the prophets. They divided the books of the Old Testament into the Law, the Prophets and the ktwbym—Writings, which Epiphanius emphatically translates grapheia—things written, and these books are more commonly called among the Greeks Hagiographa—Holy writings: the Jews attribute them to that distinct kind of inspiration which they call rwh hqds—The Holy Spirit. Moses they supposed to write by the Spirit in a way above all the other prophets, for with him God spoke mouth to mouth, even apparently (Num. xii. 8) knew him, that is, conversed with him face to face, Deut. xxxiv. 10. He was made partaker of divine revelation (as Maimonides distinguishes, De Fund. Legis, c. 7) per vigiliam—while awake,See Mr. Smith's Discourses on Prophecy, c. 11. whereas God manifested himself to all the other prophets in a dream or vision: and he adds that Moses understood the words of prophecy without any perturbation or astonishment of mind, whereas the other prophets commonly fainted and were troubled. But the writers of the Hagiographa they suppose to be inspired in a degree somewhat below that of the other prophets, and to receive divine revelation, not as they did by dreams, and visions, and voices, but (as Maimonides describes it, More Nevochim—part 2 c. 45) they perceived some power to rise within them, and rest upon them, which urged and enabled them to write or speak far above their own natural ability, in psalms or hymns, or in history or in rules of good living, still enjoying the ordinary vigour and use of their senses. Let David himself describe it. The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and his word was in my tongue; the God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, 3. This gives such a magnificent account of the inspiration by which David wrote that I see not why it should be made inferior to that of the other prophets, for David is expressly called a prophet, Acts ii. 29, 30. But, since our hand is in with the Jewish masters, let us see what books they account Hagiographa. These five that are now before us come, without dispute, into this rank of sacred writers, and the book of the Lamentations is not unfitly added to them. Indeed the Jews, when they would speak critically, reckon all those songs which we meet with in the Old Testament among the Hagiographa; for though they were penned by prophets, and under the direction of the Holy Ghost, yet, because they were not the proper result of a visum propheticum—prophetic vision, they were not strictly prophecy. As to the historical books, they distinguish (but I think it is a distinction without a difference); some of them they assign to the prophets, calling them the prophetæ priores—the former prophets, namely, Joshua, Judges, and the two books of the Kings; but others they rank among the Hagiographa, as the book of Ruth (which yet is but an appendix to the book of Judges), the two books of Chronicles, with Ezra, Nehemiah, and the book of Esther, which last the rabbin have a great value for, and think it is to be had in equal esteem with the law of Moses itself, that it shall last as long as that lasts, and shall survive the writings of the Prophets. And, lastly, they reckon the book of Daniel among the Hagiographa,Hil. Megil. c. 2, § 11. for which no reason can be given, since he was not inferior to any of the prophets in the gift of prophecy; and therefore the learned Mr. Smith thinks that their placing him among the Hagiographical writers was fortuitous by mistake.Vid. Hottinger. Thesaur. lib. 2, cap. 1, § 3. Mr. Smith, in his Discourse before quoted, though he supposes this kind of divine inspiration to be more "pacate and serene than that which was strictly called prophecy, not acting so much upon the imagination, but seating itself in the higher and purer faculties of the soul, yet shows that it manifested itself to be of a divine nature, not only as it always elevated pious souls into strains of devotion, or moved them strangely to dictate matters of true piety and goodness, but as it came in abruptly upon the minds of those holy men, and transported them from the temper of mind they were in before, so that they perceived themselves captivated by the power of some higher light than that which their own understanding commonly poured out upon them; and this, says he, was a kind of vital form to that light of divine and sanctified reason which they were perpetually possessed of and that constant frame of holiness and goodness which dwelt in their hallowed minds." We have reason to glorify the God of Israel who gave such power unto men and has here transmitted to us the blessed products of that power.

IV. The style and composition of these books are different from those that go before and those that follow. Our Saviour divides the books of the Old Testament into the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms (Luke xxiv. 44), and thereby teaches us to distinguish those books that are poetical, or metrical, from the Law and the Prophets; and such are all these that are now before us, except Ecclesiastes, which yet, having something restrained in its style, may well enough be reckoned among them. They are books in verse, according to the ancient rules of versifying, though not according to the Greek and Latin prosodies. Some of the ancients call these five books the second Pentateuch of the Old Testament,Damascen. Orthod. Fid. l. 4, cap. 18. five sacred volumes which are as the satellites to the five books of the law of Moses. Gregory NazianzenVid. Suicer. Thesaur. in stichera. (carm. 33, p. 98) calls these hai sticherai pente—the five metrical books; first Job (so he reckons them up), then David, then the three of Solomon-Ecclesiastes, the Song, and Proverbs. Amphilochius, bishop at Iconium, in his iambic poem to Seleucus, reckons them up particularly, and calls them sticheras pente Biblos—the five verse-books. Epiphanius (lib. de ponder. et mensur. p. 533) pente stichereis—the five verse-books. And Cyril. Hierosol. Collect. 4, p. 30 (mihi—in my copy), calls these five books ta stichera—books in verse. Polychronius, in his prologue to Job, says that as those that are without call their tragedies and comedies poietika—poetics, so, in sacred writ, those books which are composed in Hebrew metre (of which he reckons Job the first) we call stichera biblia—books in verse, written kata stichon—according to order. What is written in metre, or rhythm, is so called from metros—a measure, and arithmos—a number, because regulated by certain measures, or numbers of syllables, which please the ear with their smoothness and cadency, and so insinuate the matter the more movingly and powerfully into the fancy. Sir William Temple,Miscell, part 2. in his essay upon poetry, thinks it is generally agreed to have been the first sort of writing that was used in the world, nay, that, in several nations, poetical compositions preceded the very invention or usage of letters. The Spaniards (he says) found in America many strains of poetry, and such as seemed to flow from a true poetic vein, before any letters were known in those regions. The same (says he) is probable of the Scythians and Grecians: the oracles of Apollo were delivered in verse. Homer and Hesiod wrote their poems (the very Alcoran of the pagan dæmonology) many ages before the appearing of any of the Greek philosophers or historians; and long before them (if we may give credit to the antiquities of Greece), even before the days of David, Orpheus and Linus were celebrated poets and musicians in Greece; and at the same time Carmenta, the mother of Evander, who was the first that introduced letters among the natives of Greece, was so called à carmine—from a song, because she expressed herself in verse. And in such veneration was this way of writing among the ancients that their poets were called vates—prophets, and their muses were deified. But, which is more certain and considerable, the most ancient composition that we meet with in scripture was the song of Moses at the Red Sea (Exod. xv.), which we find before the very first mention of writing, for that occurs not until Exod. xvii. 14, when God bade Moses write a memorial of the war with Amalek. The first, and indeed the true and general end of writing, is a help of memory; and poetry does in some measure answer that end, and even in the want of writing, much more with writing, helps to preserve the remembrance of ancient things. The book of the wars of the Lord (Num. xxi. 14), and the book of Jasher (Josh. x. 13; 2 Sam. i. 18), seem to have been both written in poetic measures. Many sacred songs we meet with in the Old Testament, scattered both in the historical and prophetical books, penned on particular occasions, which, in the opinion of very competent judges, "have in them as true and noble strains of poetry and picture as are met with in any other language whatsoever, in spite of all disadvantages from translations into such different tongues and common prose,Sir W. Temple, p. 329. nay, are nobler examples of the true sublime style of poetry than any that can be found in the Pagan writers; the images are so strong, the thoughts so great, the expressions so divine, and the figures so admirably bold and moving, that the wonderful manner of these writers is quite inimitable."Sir R. Blackmore's preface to Job. It is fit that what is employed in the service of the sanctuary should be the best in its kind.

The books here put together are poetical. Job is an heroic poem, the book of Psalms a collection of divine odes or lyrics, Solomon's Song a pastoral and an epithalamium; they are poetical, and yet sacred and serious, grave and full of majesty. They have a poetic force and flame, with out poetic fury and fiction, and strangely command and move the affections, without corrupting the imagination or putting a cheat upon it; and, while they gratify the ear, they edify the mind and profit the more by pleasing. It is therefore much to be lamented that so powerful an art, which was at first consecrated to the honour of God, and has been so often employed in his service, should be debauched, as it has been, and is at this day, into the service of his enemies—that his corn, and wine, and oil should be prepared for Baal.

V. As the manner of the composition of these books is excellent, and very proper to engage the attention, move the affections, and fix them in the memory, so the matter is highly useful, and such as will be every way serviceable to us. They have in them the very sum and substance of religion, and what they contain is more fitted to our hand, and made ready for use, than any part of the Old Testament, upon which account, if we may be allowed to compare one star with another in the firmament of the scripture, these will be reckoned stars of the first magnitude. All scripture is profitable (and this part of it in a special manner) for instruction in doctrine, in devotion, and in the right ordering of the conversation. The book of Job directs us what we are to believe concerning God, the book of Psalms how we are to worship him, pay our homage to him, and maintain our communion with him, and then the book of the Proverbs shows very particularly how we are to govern ourselves en pase anastrophe—in every turn of human life; thus shall the man of God, by a due attention to these lights, be perfect, thoroughly furnished for every good work. And these are placed according to their natural order, as well as according to the order of time; for very fitly are we first led into the knowledge of God, our judgments rightly formed concerning him, and our mistakes rectified, and then instructed how to worship him and to choose the things that please him. We have here much of natural religion, its principles, its precepts—much of God, his infinite perfections, his relations to man, and his government both of the world and of the church; here is much of Christ, who is the spring, and soul, and centre, of revealed religion, and whom both Job and David were eminent types of, and had clear and happy prospects of. We have here that which will be of use to enlighten our understandings, and to acquaint us more and more with the things of God, with the deep things of God—speculations to entertain the most contemplative, and discoveries to satisfy the most inquisitive and increase the knowledge of those that are most knowing. Here is that also which, with a divine light, will bring into the soul the heat and influence of a divine fire, will kindle and inflame pious and devout affections, on which wings we may soar upwards until we enter into the holiest. We may here be in the mount with God, to behold his beauty; and when we come down from that mount, if we retain (as we ought) the impressions of our devotion upon our spirits and make conscience of doing that good which the Lord our God here requires of us, our faces shall shine before all with whom we converse, who shall take occasion thence to glorify our Father who is in heaven, Matt. v. 16. Thus great, thus noble, thus truly excellent, is the subject, and thus capable of being improved, which gives me the more reason to be ashamed of the meanness of my performance, that the comment breathes so little of the life and spirit of the text. We often wonder at those that are not at all affected with the great things of God, and have no taste nor relish of them, because they know little of them; but perhaps we have more reason to wonder at ourselves, that conversing so frequently, so intimately, with them, we are not more affected with them, so as even to be wholly taken up with them, and in a continual transport of delight in the contemplation of them. We hope to be so shortly; in the mean time, though like the three disciples that were the witnesses of Christ's transfiguration upon the mount we are but dull and sleepy, yet we can say, Master, it is good to be here; here let us make tabernacles, Luke ix. 32, 33.

I have nothing here to boast of—nothing at all, but a great deal to be humbled for, that I have not come up to what I have aimed at in respect of fulness and exactness. In the review of the work, I find many defects, and those who are critical, perhaps, will meet with some mistakes in it; but I have done it with what care I could, and desire to be thankful to God who by his grace has carried me on in his work thus far: let that grace have all the glory (Phil. ii. 13), which works in us both to will and to do whatever we will or do that is good or serves any good purpose. What is from God will, I trust, be to him, will be graciously accepted by him, according to what a man has, and not according to what he had not, and will be of some use to his church; and what is from myself (that is, all the defects and errors) will, I trust, be favourably passed by and pardoned. That prayer of St. Austin is mine, Domine Deus, quæcunque dixi in his libris de tuo, agnoscant et tui; et quæ de meo, et tu ignosce et tui—Lord God, whatever I have maintained in these books correspondent with what is contained in thine grant that thy people may approve as well as thyself; whatever is but the doctrine of my book forgive thou, and grant that thy people may forgive it also. I must beg likewise to own, to the honour of our great Master, that I have found the work to be its own wages, and that the more we converse with the word of God the more it is to us as the honey and the honeycomb, Ps. xix. 10. In gathering some gleaning of this harvest for others we may feast ourselves; and, when we are enabled by the grace of God to do so, we are best qualified to feed others. I was much pleased with a passage I lately met with of Erasmus, that great scholar and celebrated wit, in an epistle dedicatory before his book De Ratione Concionandi, where, as one weary of the world and the hurry of it, he expresses an earnest desire to spend the rest of his days in secret communion with Jesus Christ, encouraged by his gracious invitation to those who labour and are heavy laden to come unto him for rest (Matt. xi. 28), and this alone is that which he thinks will yield him true satisfaction. I think his words worth transcribing, and such as deserve to be inserted among the testimonies of great men to serious godliness. Neque quisquam facilè credat quàm miserè animus jamdudum affectet ab his laboribus in tranquillam otium secedere, quodque superest vitæ (superest autem vix brevis palmus sive pugillus), solum cum eo solo colloqui, qui clamavit olim (nec hodiè mutat vocem suam), "Venite ad me, omnes qui laboratis et onerati estis, ego reficiam vos;" quandoquidem in tam turbulento, ne dicam furente, sæculo, in tot molestiis quas vel ipsa tempora publicè invehunt, vel privatim adfert oetas ac valetudo, nihil reperio in quo mens mea libentius conquiescat quàm in hoc arcano colloquio—No one will easily believe how anxiously, for a long time past, I have wished to retire from these labours into a scene of tranquility, and, during the remainder of life (dwindled, it is true, to the shortest span), to converse only with him who once cried (nor does he now retract), "Come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you," for in this turbulent, not to say furious, age, the many public sources of disquietude, connected with the infirmities of advancing age, leave no solace to my mind to be compared with this secret communion. In the pleasing contemplation of the divine beauty and benignity we hope to spend a blessed eternity, and therefore in this work it is good to spend as much as may be of our time.

One volume more, containing the prophetical books, will finish the Old Testament, if the Lord continue my life, and leisure, and ability of mind and body for this work. It is begun, and I find it will be larger than any of the other volumes, and longer in the doing; but, as God by his grace shall furnish me for it and assist me in it (without which grace I am nothing, less than nothing, worse than nothing), it shall be carried on with all convenient speed; and sat citò, si sat benè—if with sufficient ability, it will be with sufficient speed. I desire the prayers of my friends that God would minister seed to the sower and bread to the eaters (Isa. lv. 10), that he would multiply the seed sown and increase the fruits of our righteousness (2 Cor. ix. 10), that so he who sows and those who reap may rejoice together (John iv. 36); and the great Lord of the harvest shall have the glory of all.

This book of Job stands by itself, is not connected with any other, and is therefore to be considered alone. Many copies of the Hebrew Bible place it after the book of Psalms, and some after the Proverbs, which perhaps has given occasion to some learned men to imagine it to have been written by Isaiah or some of the later prophets. But, as the subject appears to have been much more ancient, so we have no reason to think but that the composition of the book was, and that therefore it is most fitly placed first in this collection of divine morals: also, being doctrinal, it is proper to precede and introduce the book of Psalms, which is devotional, and the book of Proverbs, which is practical; for how shall we worship or obey a God whom we know not? As to this book,

I. We are sure that it is given by inspiration of God, though we are not certain who was the penman of it. The Jews, though no friends to Job, because he was a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, yet, as faithful conservators of the oracles of God committed to them, always retained this book in their sacred canon. The history is referred to by one apostle (James v. 11) and one passage (ch. v. 13) is quoted by another apostle, with the usual form of quoting scripture, It is written, 1 Cor. iii. 19. It is the opinion of many of the ancients that this history was written by Moses himself in Midian, and delivered to his suffering brethren in Egypt, for their support and comfort under their burdens, and the encouragement of their hope that God would in due time deliver and enrich them, as he did this patient sufferer. Some conjecture that it was written originally in Arabic, and afterwards translated into Hebrew, for the use of the Jewish church, by Solomon (so Monsieur Jurieu) or some other inspired writer. It seems most probable to me that Elihu was the penman of it, at least of the discourses, because (ch. xxxii. 15, 16) he mingles the words of a historian with those of a disputant: but Moses perhaps wrote the first two chapters and the last, to give light to the discourses; for in them God is frequently called Jehovah, but not once in all the discourses, except ch. xii. 9. That name was but little known to the patriarchs before Moses, Exod. vi. 3. If Job wrote it himself, some of the Jewish writers themselves own him a prophet among the Gentiles; if Elihu, we find he had a spirit of prophecy which filled him with matter and constrained him, ch. xxxii. 18.

II. We are sure that it is, for the substance of it, a true history, and not a romance, though the dialogues are poetical. No doubt there was such a man as Job; the prophet Ezekiel names him with Noah and Daniel, Ezek. xiv. 14. The narrative we have here of his prosperity and piety, his strange afflictions and exemplary patience, the substance of his conferences with his friends, and God's discourse with him out of the whirlwind, with his return at length to a very prosperous condition, no doubt is exactly true, though the inspired penman is allowed the usual liberty of putting the matter of which Job and his friends discoursed into his own words.

III. We are sure that it is very ancient, though we cannot fix the precise time either when Job lived or when the book was written. So many, so evident, are its hoary hairs, the marks of its antiquity, that we have reason to think it of equal date with the book of Genesis itself, and that holy Job was contemporary with Isaac and Jacob; though not coheir with them of the promise of the earthly Canaan, yet a joint-expectant with them of the better country, that is, the heavenly. Probably he was of the posterity of Nahor, Abraham's brother, whose first-born was Uz (Gen. xxii. 21), and in whose family religion was for some ages kept up, as appears, Gen. xxxi. 53, where God is called, not only the God of Abraham, but the God of Nahor. He lived before the age of man was shortened to seventy or eighty, as it was in Moses's time, before sacrifices were confined to one altar, before the general apostasy of the nations from the knowledge and worship of the true God, and while yet there was no other idolatry known than the worship of the sun and moon, and that punished by the Judges, ch. xxxi. 26-28. He lived while God was known by the name of God Almighty more than by the name of Jehovah; for he is called Shaddai—the Almighty, above thirty times in this book. He lived while divine knowledge was conveyed, not by writing, but by tradition; for to that appeals are here made, ch. viii. 8; xxi. 29; xv. 18; v. 1. And we have therefore reason to think that he lived before Moses, because here is no mention at all of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, or the giving of the law. There is indeed one passage which might be made to allude to the drowning of Pharaoh (ch. xxvi. 12): He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through Rahab, which name Egypt is frequently called by in scripture, as Ps. lxxxvii. 4; lxxxix. 10; Isa. li. 9. But that may as well refer to the proud waves of the sea. We conclude therefore that we are here got back to the patriarchal age, and, besides its authority, we receive this book with veneration for its antiquity.

IV. We are sure that it is of great use to the church, and to every good Christian, though there are many passages in it dark and hard to be understood. We cannot perhaps be confident of the true meaning of every Arabic word and phrase we meet with in it. It is a book that finds a great deal of work for the critics; but enough is plain to make the whole profitable, and it was all written for our learning.

1. This noble poem presents to us, in very clear and lively characters, these five things among others:—(1.) A monument of primitive theology. The first and great principles of the light of nature, on which natural religion is founded, are here, in a warm, and long, and learned dispute, not only taken for granted on all sides and not the least doubt made of them, but by common consent plainly laid down as eternal truths, illustrated and urged as affecting commanding truths. Were ever the being of God, his glorious attributes and perfections, his unsearchable wisdom, his irresistible power, his inconceivable glory, his inflexible justice, and his incontestable sovereignty, discoursed of with more clearness, fulness, reverence, and divine eloquence, than in this book? The creation of the world, and the government of it, are here admirably described, not as matters of nice speculation, but as laying most powerful obligations upon us to fear and serve, to submit to and trust in, our Creator, owner, Lord, and ruler. Moral good and evil, virtue and vice, were never drawn more to the life (the beauty of the one and the deformity of the other) than in this book; nor the inviolable rule of God's judgment more plainly laid down, That happy are the righteous, it shall be well with them; and Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with them. These are not questions of the schools to keep the learned world in action, nor engines of state to keep the unlearned world in awe; no, it appears by this book that they are sacred truths of undoubted certainty, and which all the wise and sober part of mankind have in every age subscribed and submitted to. (2.) It presents us with a specimen of Gentile piety. This great saint descended probably not from Abraham, but Nahor; or, if from Abraham, not from Isaac, but from one of the sons of the concubines that were sent into the east-country (Gen. xxv. 6); or, if from Isaac, yet not from Jacob, but Esau; so that he was out of the pale of the covenant of peculiarity, no Israelite, no proselyte, and yet none like him for religion, nor such a favourite of heaven upon this earth. It was a truth therefore, before St. Peter perceived it, that in every nation he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted of him, Acts x. 35. There were children of God scattered abroad (John xi. 52) besides the incorporated children of the kingdom, Matt. viii. 11, 12. (3.) It presents us with an exposition of the book of Providence, and a clear and satisfactory solution of many of the difficult and obscure passages of it. The prosperity of the wicked and the afflictions of the righteous have always been reckoned two as hard chapters as any in that book; but they are here expounded, and reconciled with the divine wisdom, purity, and goodness, by the end of these things. (4.) It presents us with a great example of patience and close adherence to God in the midst of the sorest calamities. Sir Richard Blackmore's most ingenious pen, in his excellent preface to his paraphrase on this book, makes Job a hero proper for an epic poem; for, says he, "He appears brave in distress and valiant in affliction, maintains his virtue, and with that his character, under the most exasperating provocations that the malice of hell could invent, and thereby gives a most noble example of passive fortitude, a character no way inferior to that of the active hero," &c. (5.) It presents us with an illustrious type of Christ, the particulars of which we shall endeavour to take notice of as we go along. In general, Job was a great sufferer, was emptied and humbled, but in order to his greater glory. So Christ abased himself, that we might be exalted. The learned bishop Patrick quotes St. Jerome more than once speaking of Job as a type of Christ, who for the job that was set before him endured the cross, who was persecuted, for a time, by men and devils, and seemed forsaken of God too, but was raised to be an intercessor even for his friends and had added affliction to his misery. When the apostle speaks of the patience of Job he immediately takes notice of the end of the Lord, that is, of the Lord Jesus (as some understand it), typified by Job, James v. 11.

2. In this book we have, (1.) The history of Job's sufferings, and his patience under them (ch. i., ii., not without a mixture of human frailty, ch. iii. (2.) A dispute between him and his friends upon them, in which, [1.] The opponents were Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. [2.] The respondent was Job. [3.] The moderators were, First, Elihu, ch. xxxii.-xxxvii. Secondly, God himself, ch. xxxviii.-xli. (3.) The issue of all in Job's honour and prosperity, ch. xlii. Upon the whole, we learn that many are the afflictions of the righteous, but that when the Lord delivers them out of them all the trial of their faith will be found to praise, and honour, and glory.

The history of Job begins here with an account, I. Of his great piety in general (ver. 1), and in a particular instance, ver. 5. II. Of his great prosperity, ver. 2-4. III. Of the malice of Satan against him, and the permission he obtained to try his constancy, ver. 6-12. IV. Of the surprising troubles that befel him, the ruin of his estate (ver. 13-17), and the death of his children, ver. 18, 19. V. Of his exemplary patience and piety under these troubles, ver. 20-22. In all this he is set forth for an example of suffering affliction, from which no prosperity can secure us, but through which integrity and uprightness will preserve us.

Job's Character and Possessions. (b. c. 1520.)

1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. 2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters. 3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

Concerning Job we are here told,

I. That he was a man; therefore subject to like passions as we are. He was Ish, a worthy man, a man of note and eminency, a magistrate, a man in authority. The country he lived in was the land of Uz, in the eastern part of Arabia, which lay towards Chaldea, near Euphrates, probably not far from Ur of the Chaldees, whence Abraham was called. When God called one good man out of that country, yet he left not himself without witness, but raised up another in it to be a preacher of righteousness. God has his remnant in all places, sealed ones out of every nation, as well as out of every tribe of Israel, Rev. vii. 9. It was the privilege of the land of Uz to have so good a man as Job in it; now it was Arabia the Happy indeed: and it was the praise of Job that he was eminently good in so bad a place; the worse others were round about him the better he was. His name Job, or Jjob, some say, signifies one hated and counted as an enemy. Others make it to signify one that grieves or groans; thus the sorrow he carried in his name might be a check to his joy in his prosperity. Dr. Cave derives it from Jaab—to love, or desire, intimating how welcome his birth was to his parents, and how much he was the desire of their eyes; and yet there was a time when he cursed the day of his birth. Who can tell what the day may prove which yet begins with a bright morning?

II. That he was a very good man, eminently pious, and better than his neighbours: He was perfect and upright. This is intended to show us, not only what reputation he had among men (that he was generally taken for an honest man), but what was really his character; for it is the judgment of God concerning him, and we are sure that is according to truth. 1. Job was a religious man, one that feared God, that is, worshipped him according to his will, and governed himself by the rules of the divine law in every thing. 2. He was sincere in his religion: He was perfect; not sinless, as he himself owns (ch. ix. 20): If I say I am perfect, I shall be proved perverse. But, having a respect to all God's commandments, aiming at perfection, he was really as good as he seemed to be, and did not dissemble in his profession of piety; his heart was sound and his eye single. Sincerity is gospel perfection. I know no religion without it. 3. He was upright in his dealings both with God and man, was faithful to his promises, steady in his counsels, true to every trust reposed in him, and made conscience of all he said and did. See Isa. xxxiii. 15. Though he was not of Israel, he was indeed an Israelite without guile. 4. The fear of God reigning in his heart was the principle that governed his whole conversation. This made him perfect and upright, inward and entire for God, universal and uniform in religion; this kept him close and constant to his duty. He feared God, had a reverence for his majesty, a regard to his authority, and a dread of his wrath. 5. He dreaded the thought of doing what was wrong; with the utmost abhorrence and detestation, and with a constant care and watchfulness, he eschewed evil, avoided all appearances of sin and approaches to it, and this because of the fear of God, Neh. v. 15. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil (Prov. viii. 13) and then by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil, Prov. xvi. 6.

III. That he was a man who prospered greatly in this world, and made a considerable figure in his country. He was prosperous and yet pious. Though it is hard and rare, it is not impossible, for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. With God even this is possible, and by his grace the temptations of worldly wealth are not insuperable. He was pious, and his piety was a friend to his prosperity; for godliness has the promise of the life that now is. He was prosperous, and his prosperity put a lustre upon his piety, and gave him who was so good so much greater opportunity of doing good. The acts of his piety were grateful returns to God for the instances of his prosperity; and, in the abundance of the good things God gave him, he served God the more cheerfully. 1. He had a numerous family. He was eminent for religion, and yet not a hermit, not a recluse, but the father and master of a family. It was an instance of his prosperity that his house was filled with children, which are a heritage of the Lord, and his reward, Ps. cxxvii. 3. He had seven sons and three daughters, v. 2. Some of each sex, and more of the more noble sex, in which the family is built up. Children must be looked upon as blessings, for so they are, especially to good people, that will give them good instructions, and set them good examples, and put up good prayers for them. Job had many children, and yet he was neither oppressive nor uncharitable, but very liberal to the poor, ch. xxxi. 17, &c. Those that have great families to provide for ought to consider that what is prudently given in alms is set out to the best interest and put into the best fund for their children's benefit. 2. He had a good estate for the support of his family; his substance was considerable, v. 3. Riches are called substance, in conformity to the common form of speaking; otherwise, to the soul and another world, they are but shadows, things that are not, Prov. xxiii. 5. It is only in heavenly wisdom that we inherit substance, Prov. viii. 21. In those days, when the earth was not fully peopled, it was as now in some of the plantations, men might have land enough upon easy terms if they had but wherewithal to stock it; and therefore Job's substance is described, not by the acres of land he was lord of, but, (1.) By his cattle—sheep and camels, oxen and asses. The numbers of each are here set down, probably not the exact number, but thereabout, a very few under or over. The sheep are put first, because of most use in the family, as Solomon observes (Prov. xxvii. 23, 26, 27): Lambs for thy clothing, and milk for the food of thy household. Job, it is likely, had silver and gold as well as Abraham (Gen. xiii. 2); but then men valued their own and their neighbours' estates by that which was for service and present use more than by that which was for show and state, and fit only to be hoarded. As soon as God had made man, and provided for his maintenance by the herbs and fruits, he made him rich and great by giving him dominion over the creatures, Gen. i. 28. That therefore being still continued to man, notwithstanding his defection (Gen. ix. 2), is still to be reckoned one of the most considerable instances of men's wealth, honour, and power, Ps. viii. 6. (2.) By his servants. He had a very good household or husbandry, many that were employed for him and maintained by him; and thus he both had honour and did good; yet thus he was involved in a great deal of care and put to a great deal of charge. See the vanity of this world; as goods are increased those must be increased that tend them and occupy them, and those will be increased that eat them; and what good has the owner thereof save the beholding of them with his eyes? Eccles. v. 11. In a word, Job was the greatest of all the men of the east; and they were the richest in the world: those were rich indeed who were replenished more than the east, Isa. ii. 6. Margin. Job's wealth, with his wisdom, entitled him to the honour and power he had in his country, which he describes (ch. xxix.), and made him sit chief. Job was upright and honest, and yet grew rich, nay, therefore grew rich; for honesty is the best policy, and piety and charity are ordinarily the surest ways of thriving. He had a great household and much business, and yet kept up the fear and worship of God; and he and his house served the Lord. The account of Job's piety and prosperity comes before the history of his great afflictions, to show that neither will secure us from the common, no, nor from the uncommon calamities of human life. Piety will not secure us, as Job's mistaken friends thought, for all things come alike to all; prosperity will not, as a careless world thinks, Isa. xlvii. 8. I sit as a queen and therefore shall see no sorrow.

Job's Solicitude for His Children. (b. c. 1520.)

4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. 5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

We have here a further account of Job's prosperity and his piety.

I. His great comfort in his children is taken notice of as an instance of his prosperity; for our temporal comforts are borrowed, depend upon others, and are as those about us are. Job himself mentions it as one of the greatest joys of his prosperous estate that his children were about him, ch. xxix. 5. They kept a circular feast at some certain times (v. 4); they went and feasted in their houses. It was a comfort to this good man, 1. To see his children grown up and settled in the world. All his sons were in houses of their own, probably married, and to each of them he had given a competent portion to set up with. Those that had been olive-plants round his table were removed to tables of their own. 2. To see them thrive in their affairs, and able to feast one another, as well as to feed themselves. Good parents desire, promote, and rejoice in, their children's wealth and prosperity as their own. 3. To see them in health, no sickness in their houses, for that would have spoiled their feasting and turned it into mourning. 4. Especially to see them live in love, and unity, and mutual good affection, no jars or quarrels among them, no strangeness, no shyness one of another, no strait-handedness, but, though every one knew his own, they lived with as much freedom as if they had had all in common. It is comfortable to the hearts of parents, and comely in the eyes of all, to see brethren thus knit together. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is! Ps. cxxxiii. 1. 5. It added to his comfort to see the brothers so kind to their sisters, that they sent for them to feast with them; for they were so modest that they would not have gone if they had not been sent for. Those brothers that slight their sisters, care not for their company, and have no concern for their comfort, are ill-bred, ill-natured, and very unlike Job's sons. It seems their feast was so sober and decent that their sisters were good company for them at it. 6. They feasted in their own houses, not in public houses, where they would be more exposed to temptations, and which were not so creditable. We do not find that Job himself feasted with them. Doubtless they invited him, and he would have been the most welcome guest at any of their tables; nor was it from any sourness or moroseness of temper, or for want of natural affection, that he kept away, but he was old and dead to these things, like Barzillai (2 Sam. xix. 35), and considered that the young people would be more free and pleasant if there were none but themselves. Yet he would not restrain his children from that diversion which he denied himself. Young people may be allowed a youthful liberty, provided they flee youthful lusts.

II. His great care about his children is taken notice of as an instance of his piety: for that we are really which we are relatively. Those that are good will be good to their children, and especially do what they can for the good of their souls. Observe (v. 5) Job's pious concern for the spiritual welfare of his children,

1. He was jealous over them with a godly jealousy; and so we ought to be over ourselves and those that are dearest to us, as far as is necessary to our care and endeavour for their good. Job had given his children a good education, had comfort in them and good hope concerning them; and yet he said, "It may be, my sons have sinned in the days of their feasting more than at other times, have been too merry, have taken too great a liberty in eating and drinking, and have cursed God in their hearts," that is, "have entertained atheistical or profane thoughts in their minds, unworthy notions of God and his providence, and the exercises of religion." When they were full they were ready to deny God, and to say, Who is the Lord? (Prov. xxx. 9), ready to forget God and to say, The power of our hand has gotten us this wealth, Deut. viii. 12, &c. Nothing alienates the mind more from God than the indulgence of the flesh.

2. As soon as the days of their feasting were over he called them to the solemn exercises of religion. Not while their feasting lasted (let them take their time for that; there is a time for all things), but when it was over, their good father reminded them that they must know when to desist, and not think to fare sumptuously every day; though they had their days of feasting the week round, they must not think to have them the year round; they had something else to do. Note, Those that are merry must find a time to be serious.

3. He sent to them to prepare for solemn ordinances, sent and sanctified them, ordered them to examine their own consciences and repent of what they had done amiss in their feasting, to lay aside their vanity and compose themselves for religious exercises. Thus he kept his authority over them for their good, and they submitted to it, though they had got into houses of their own. Still he was the priest of the family, and at his altar they all attended, valuing their share in his prayers more than their share in his estate. Parents cannot give grace to their children (it is God that sanctifies), but they ought by seasonable admonitions and counsels to further their sanctification. In their baptism they were sanctified to God; let it be our desire and endeavour that they may be sanctified for him.

4. He offered sacrifice for them, both to atone for the sins he feared they had been guilty of in the days of their feasting and to implore for them mercy to pardon and grace to prevent the debauching of their minds and corrupting of their manners by the liberty they had taken, and to preserve their piety and purity. For he with mournful eyes had often spied, Scattered on Pleasure's smooth but treacherous tide, The spoils of virtue overpowered by sense, And floating wrecks of ruined innocence. Sir R. Blackmore . Job, like Abraham, had an altar for his family, on which, it is likely, he offered sacrifice daily; but, on this extraordinary occasion, he offered more sacrifices than usual, and with more solemnity, according to the number of them all, one for each child. Parents should be particular in their addresses to God for the several branches of their family. "For this child I prayed, according to its particular temper, genius, and condition," to which the prayers, as well as the endeavours, must be accommodated. When these sacrifices were to be offered, (1.) He rose early, as one in care that his children might not lie long under guilt and as one whose heart was upon his work and his desire towards it. (2.) He required his children to attend the sacrifice, that they might join with him in the prayers he offered with the sacrifice, that the sight of the killing of the sacrifice might humble them much for their sins, for which they deserved to die, and the sight of the offering of it up might lead them to a Mediator. This serious work would help to make them serious again after the days of their gaiety.

5. Thus he did continually, and not merely whenever an occasion of this kind recurred; for he that is washed needs to wash his feet, John xiii. 10. The acts of repentance and faith must be often renewed, because we often repeat our transgressions. All days, every day, he offered up his sacrifices, was constant to his devotions, and did not omit them any day. The occasional exercises of religion will not excuse us from those that are stated. He that serves God uprightly will serve him continually.

Satan before God; Satan Permitted to Afflict Job. (b. c. 1520.)

6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord , and Satan came also among them. 7 And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord , and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 8 And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? 9 Then Satan answered the Lord , and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? 10 Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. 11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. 12 And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord .

Job was not only so rich and great, but withal so wise and good, and had such an interest both in heaven and earth, that one would think the mountain of his prosperity stood so strong that it could not be moved; but here we have a thick cloud gathering over his head, pregnant with a horrible tempest. We must never think ourselves secure from storms while we are in this lower region. Before we are told how his troubles surprised and seized him here in this visible world, we are here told how they were concerted in the world of spirits, that the devil, having a great enmity to Job for his eminent piety, begged and obtained leave to torment him. It does not at all derogate from the credibility of Job's story in general to allow that this discourse between God and Satan, in these verses, is parabolical, like that of Micaiah (1 Kings xxii. 19, &c.), and an allegory designed to represent the malice of the devil against good men and the divine check and restraint which that malice is under; only thus much further is intimated, that the affairs of this earth are very much the subject of the counsels of the unseen world. That world is dark to us, but we lie very open to it. Now here we have,

I. Satan among the sons of God (v. 6), an adversary (so Satan signifies) to God, to men, to all good: he thrust himself into an assembly of the sons of God that came to present themselves before the Lord. This means either, 1. A meeting of the saints on earth. Professors of religion, in the patriarchal age, were called sons of God (Gen. vi. 2); they had then religious assemblies and stated times for them. The King came in to see his guests; the eye of God was on all present. But there was a serpent in paradise, a Satan among the sons of God; when they come together he is among them, to distract and disturb them, stands at their right hand to resist them. The Lord rebuke thee, Satan! Or, 2. A meeting of the angels in heaven. They are the sons of God, ch. xxxviii. 7. They came to give an account of their negotiations on earth and to receive new instructions. Satan was one of them originally; but how hast thou fallen, O Lucifer! He shall no more stand in that congregation, yet he is here represented, as coming among them, either summoned to appear as a criminal or connived at, for the present, though an intruder.

II. His examination, how he came thither (v. 7): The Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? He knew very well whence he came, and with what design he came thither, that as the good angels came to do good he came for a permission to do hurt; but he would, by calling him to an account, show him that he was under check and control. Whence comest thou? He asks this, 1. As wondering what brought him thither. Is Saul among the prophets? Satan among the sons of God? Yes, for he transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Cor. xi. 13, 14), and would seem one of them. Note, It is possible that a man may be a child of the devil and yet be found in the assemblies of the sons of God in this world, and there may pass undiscovered by men, and yet be challenged by the all-seeing God. Friend, how camest thou in hither? Or, 2. As enquiring what he had been doing before he came thither. The same question was perhaps put to the rest of those that presented themselves before the Lord, "Whence came you?" We are accountable to God for all our haunts and all the ways we traverse.

III. The account he gives of himself and of the tour he had made. I come (says he) from going to and fro on the earth. 1. He could not pretend he had been doing any good, could give no such account of himself as the sons of God could, who presented themselves before the Lord, who came from executing his orders, serving the interest of his kingdom, and ministering to the heirs of salvation. 2. He would not own he had been doing any hurt, that he had been drawing men from the allegiance to God, deceiving and destroying souls; no. I have done no wickedness, Prov. xxx. 20. Thy servant went nowhere. In saying that he had walked to and fro through the earth, he intimates that he had kept himself within the bounds allotted him, and had not transgressed his bounds; for the dragon is cast out into the earth (Rev. xii. 9) and not yet confined to his place of torment. While we are on this earth we are within his reach, and with so much subtlety, swiftness, and industry, does he penetrate into all the corners of it, that we cannot be in any place secure from his temptations. 3. He yet seems to give some representation of his own character. (1.) Perhaps it is spoken proudly, and with an air of haughtiness, as if he were indeed the prince of this world, as if the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them were his (Luke iv. 6), and he had now been walking in circuit through his own territories. (2.) Perhaps it is spoken fretfully, and with discontent. He had been walking to and fro, and could find no rest, but was as much a fugitive and a vagabond as Cain in the land of Nod. (3.) Perhaps it is spoken carefully: "I have been hard at work, going to and fro," or (as some read it) "searching about in the earth," really in quest of an opportunity to do mischief. He walks abut seeking whom he may devour. It concerns us therefore to be sober and vigilant.

IV. The question God puts to him concerning Job (v. 8): Hast thou considered my servant Job? As when we meet with one that has been in a distant place, where we have a friend we dearly love, we are ready to ask, "You have been in such a place; pray did you see my friend there?" Observe, 1. How honourably God speaks of Job: He is my servant. Good men are God's servants, and he is pleased to reckon himself honoured in their services, and they are to him for a name and a praise (Jer. xiii. 11) and a crown of glory, Isa. lxii. 3. "Yonder is my servant Job; there is none like him, none I value like him, of all the princes and potentates of the earth; one such saint as he is worth them all: none like him for uprightness and serious piety; many do well, but he excelleth them all; there is not to be found such great faith, no, not in Israel." Thus Christ, long after, commended the centurion and the woman of Canaan, who were both of them, like Job, strangers to that commonwealth. The saints glory in God—Who is like thee among the gods? and he is pleased to glory in them—Who is like Israel among the people? So here, none like Job, none in earth, that state of imperfection. Those in heaven do indeed far outshine him; those who are least in that kingdom are greater than he; but on earth there is not his like. There is none like him in that land; so some good men are the glory of their country. 2. How closely he gives to Satan this good character of Job: Hast thou set thy heart to my servant Job? designing hereby, (1.) To aggravate the apostasy and misery of that wicked spirit: "How unlike him are thou!" Note, The holiness and happiness of the saints are the shame and torment of the devil and the devil's children. (2.) To answer the devil's seeming boast of the interest he had in this earth. "I have been walking to and fro in it," says he, "and it is all my own; all flesh have corrupted their way; they all sit still, and are at rest in their sins," Zech. i. 10, 11. "Nay, hold," saith God, "Job is my faithful servant." Satan may boast, but he shall not triumph. (3.) To anticipate his accusations, as if he had said, "Satan, I know thy errand; thou hast come to inform against Job; but hast thou considered him? Does not his unquestionable character give thee the lie?" Note, God knows all the malice of the devil and his instruments against his servants; and we have an advocate ready to appear for us, even before we are accused.

V. The devil's base insinuation against Job, in answer to God's encomium of him. He could not deny but that Job feared God, but suggested that he was a mercenary in his religion, and therefore a hypocrite (v. 9): Doth Job fear God for nought? Observe, 1. How impatient the devil was of hearing Job praised, though it was God himself that praised him. Those are like the devil who cannot endure that any body should be praised but themselves, but grudge the just share of reputation others have, as Saul (1 Sam. xviii. 5, &c.) and the Pharisees, Matt. xxi. 15. 2. How much at a loss he was for something to object against him; he could not accuse him of any thing that was bad, and therefore charged him with by-ends in doing good. Had the one half of that been true which his angry friends, in the heat of dispute, charged him with (ch. xv. 4, xxii. 5), Satan would no doubt have brought against him now; but no such thing could be alleged, and therefore, 3. See how slyly he censured him as a hypocrite, not asserting that he was so, but only asking, "Is he not so?" This is the common way of slanderers, whisperers, backbiters, to suggest that by way of query which yet they have no reason to think is true. Note, It is not strange if those that are approved and accepted of God be unjustly censured by the devil and his instruments; if they are otherwise unexceptionable, it is easy to charge them with hypocrisy, as Satan charged Job, and they have no way to clear themselves, but patiently to wait for the judgment of God. As there is nothing we should dread more than being hypocrites, so there is nothing we need dread less that being called and counted so without cause. 4. How unjustly he accused him as mercenary, to prove him a hypocrite. It was a great truth that Job did not fear God for nought; he got much by it, for godliness is great gain: but it was a falsehood that he would not have feared God if he had not got this by it, as the event proved. Job's friends charged him with hypocrisy because he was greatly afflicted, Satan because he greatly prospered. It is no hard matter for those to calumniate that seek an occasion. It is not mercenary to look at the eternal recompence in our obedience; but to aim at temporal advantages in our religion, and to make it subservient to them, is spiritual idolatry, worshipping the creature more than the Creator, and is likely to end in a fatal apostasy. Men cannot long serve God and mammon.

VI. The complaint Satan made of Job's prosperity, v. 10. Observe, 1. What God had done for Job. He had protected him, made a hedge about him, for the defence of his person, his family, and all his possessions. Note, God's peculiar people are taken under his special protection, they and all that belong to them; divine grace makes a hedge about their spiritual life, and divine providence about their natural life, so they are safe and easy. He had prospered him, not in idleness or injustice (the devil could not accuse him of them), but in the way of honest diligence: Thou hast blessed the work of his hands. Without that blessing, be the hands ever so strong, ever so skilful, the work will not prosper; but, with that, his substance has wonderfully increased in the land. The blessing of the Lord makes rich: Satan himself owns it. 2. What notice the devil took of it, and how he improved it against him. The devil speaks of it with vexation. "I see thou hast made a hedge about him, round about;" as if he had walked it round, to see if he could spy a single gap in it, for him to enter in at, to do him a mischief; but he was disappointed: it was a complete hedge. The wicked one saw it and was grieved, and argued against Job that the only reason why he served God was because God prospered him. "No thanks to him to be true to the government that prefers him, and to serve a Master that pays him so well."

VII. The proof Satan undertakes to give of the hypocrisy and mercenariness of Job's religion, if he might but have leave to strip him of his wealth. "Let it be put to this issue," says he (v. 11); "make him poor, frown upon him, turn thy hand against him, and then see where his religion will be; touch what he has and it will appear what he is. If he curse thee not to thy face, let me never be believed, but posted for a liar and false accuser. Let me perish if he curse thee not;" so some supply the imprecation, which the devil himself modestly concealed, but the profane swearers of our age impudently and daringly speak out. Observe, 1. How slightly he speaks of the affliction he desired that Job might be tried with: "Do but touch all that he has, do but begin with him, do but threaten to make him poor; a little cross will change his tone." 2. How spitefully he speaks of the impression it would make upon Job: "He will not only let fall his devotion, but turn it into an open defiance—not only think hardly of thee, but even curse thee to thy face." The word translated curse is barac, the same that ordinarily, and originally, signifies to bless; but cursing God is so impious a thing that the holy language would not admit the name: but that where the sense requires it it must be so understood is plain form 1 Kings xxi. 10-13, where the word is used concerning the crime charged on Naboth, that he did blaspheme God and the king. Now, (1.) It is likely that Satan did think that Job, if impoverished, would renounce his religion and so disprove his profession, and if so (as a learned gentleman has observed in his Mount of Spirits) Satan would have made out his own universal empire among the children of men. God declared Job the best man then living: now, if Satan can prove him a hypocrite, it will follow that God had not one faithful servant among men and that there was no such thing as true and sincere piety in the world, but religion was all a sham, and Satan was king de facto—in fact, over all mankind. But it appeared that the Lord knows those that are his and is not deceived in any. (2.) However, if Job should retain his religion, Satan would have the satisfaction to see him sorely afflicted. He hates good men, and delights in their griefs, as God has pleasure in their prosperity.

VIII. The permission God gave to Satan to afflict Job for the trial of his sincerity. Satan desired God to do it: Put forth thy hand now. God allowed him to do it (v. 12): "All that he has is in thy hand; make the trial as sharp as thou canst; do thy worst at him." Now, 1. It is a matter of wonder that God should give Satan such a permission as this, should deliver the soul of his turtle-dove into the hand of the adversary, such a lamb to such a lion; but he did it for his own glory, the honour of Job, the explanation of Providence, and the encouragement of his afflicted people in all ages, to make a case which, being adjudged, might be a useful precedent. He suffered Job to be tried, as he suffered Peter to be sifted, but took care that his faith should not fail (Luke xxii. 32) and then the trial of it was found unto praise, and honour, and glory, 1 Pet. i. 7. But, 2. It is a matter of comfort that God has the devil in a chain, in a great chain, Rev. xx. 1. He could not afflict Job without leave from God first asked and obtained, and then no further than he had leave: "Only upon himself put not forth thy hand; meddle not with his body, but only with his estate." It is a limited power that the devil has; he has no power to debauch men but what they give him themselves, nor power to afflict men but what is given him from above.

IX. Satan's departure from this meeting of the sons of God. Before they broke up, Satan went forth (as Cain, Gen. iv. 16) from the presence of the Lord; no longer detained before him (as Doeg was, 1 Sam. xxi. 7) than till he had accomplished his malicious purpose. He went forth, 1. Glad that he had gained his point, proud of the permission he had to do mischief to a good man; and, 2. Resolved to lose no time, but speedily to put his project in execution. He went forth now, not to go to and fro, rambling through the earth, but with a direct course, to fall upon poor Job, who is carefully going on in the way of his duty, and knows nothing of the matter. What passes between good and bad spirits concerning us we are not aware of.

The Calamities Brought on Job; The Death of Job's Children. (b. c. 1520.)

13 And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: 14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: 15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. 16 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. 17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. 18 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house: 19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

We have here a particular account of Job's troubles.

I. Satan brought them upon him on the very day that his children began their course of feasting, at their eldest brother's house (v. 13), where, he having (we may suppose) the double portion, the entertainment was the richest and most plentiful. The whole family, no doubt, was in perfect repose, and all were easy and under no apprehension of the trouble, now when they revived this custom; and this time Satan chose, that the trouble, coming now, might be the more grievous. The night of my pleasure has he turned into fear, Isa. xxi. 4.

II. They all come upon him at once; while one messenger of evil tidings was speaking another came, and, before he had told his story, a third, and a fourth, followed immediately. Thus Satan, by the divine permission, ordered it, 1. That there might appear a more than ordinary displeasure of God against him in his troubles, and by that he might be exasperated against divine Providence, as if it were resolved, right or wrong, to ruin him, and not give him time to speak for himself. 2. That he might not have leisure to consider and recollect himself, and reason himself into a gracious submission, but might be overwhelmed and overpowered by a complication of calamities. If he have not room to pause a little, he will be apt to speak in haste, and then, if ever, he will curse his God. Note, The children of God are often in heaviness through manifold temptations; deep calls to deep; waves and billows come one upon the neck of another. Let one affliction therefore quicken and help us to prepare for another; for, how deep soever we have drunk of the bitter cup, as long as we are in this world we cannot be sure that we have drunk our share and that it will finally pass from us.

III. They took from him all that he had, and made a full end of his enjoyments. The detail of his losses answers to the foregoing inventory of his possessions.

1. He had 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 she-asses, and a competent number of servants to attend them; and all these he lost at once, v. 14, 15. The account he has of this lets him know, (1.) That it was not through any carelessness of his servants; for then his resentment might have spent itself upon them: The oxen were ploughing, not playing, and the asses not suffered to stray and so taken up as waifs, but feeding beside them, under the servant's eye, each in their place; and those that passed by, we may suppose, blessed them, and said, God speed the plough. Note, All our prudence, care, and diligence, cannot secure us from affliction, no, not from those afflictions which are commonly owing to imprudence and negligence. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman, though ever so wakeful, wakes but in vain. Yet it is some comfort under a trouble if it found us in the way of our duty, and not in any by-path. (2.) That is was through the wickedness of his neighbours the Sabeans, probably a sort of robbers that lived by spoil and plunder. They carried off the oxen and asses, and slew the servants that faithfully and bravely did their best to defend them, and one only escaped, not in kindness to him or his master, but that Job might have the certain intelligence of it by an eye-witness before he heard it by a flying report, which would have brought it upon him gradually. We have no reason to suspect that either Job or his servants had given any provocation to the Sabeans to make this inroad, but Satan put it into their hearts to do it, to do it now, and so gained a double point, for he made both Job to suffer and them to sin. Note, When Satan has God's permission to do mischief he will not want mischievous men to be his instruments in doing it, for he is a spirit that works in the children of disobedience.

2. He had 7000 sheep, and shepherds that kept them; and all those he lost at the same time by lightning, v. 16. Job was perhaps, in his own mind, ready to reproach the Sabeans, and fly out against them for their injustice and cruelty, when the next news immediately directs him to look upwards: The fire of God has fallen from heaven. As thunder is his voice, so lightning is his fire: but this was such an extraordinary lightning, and levelled so directly against Job, that all his sheep and shepherds were not only killed, but consumed by it at once, and one shepherd only was left alive to carry the news to poor Job. The devil, aiming to make him curse God and renounce his religion, managed this part of the trial very artfully, in order thereto. (1.) His sheep, with which especially he used to honour God in sacrifice, were all taken from him, as if God were angry at his offerings and would punish him in those very things which he had employed in his service. Having misrepresented Job to God as a false servant, in pursuance of his old design to set Heaven and earth at variance, he here misrepresented God to Jacob as a hard Master, who would not protect those flocks out of which he had so many burnt-offerings. This would tempt Job to say, It is in vain to serve God. (2.) The messenger called the lightning the fire of God (and innocently enough), but perhaps Satan thereby designed to strike into his mind this thought, that God had turned to be his enemy and fought against him, which was much more grievous to him than all the insults of the Sabeans. He owned (ch. xxxi. 23) that destruction from God was a terror to him. How terrible then were the tidings of this destruction, which came immediately from the hand of God! Had the fire from heaven consumed the sheep upon the altar, he might have construed it into a token of God's favour; but, the fire consuming them in the pasture, he could not but look upon it as a token of God's displeasure. There have not been the like since Sodom was burned.

3. He had 3000 camels, and servants tending them; and he lost them all at the same time by the Chaldeans, who came in three bands, and drove them away, and slew the servants, v. 17. If the fire of God, which fell upon Job's honest servants, who were in the way of their duty, had fallen upon the Sabean and Chaldean robbers who were doing mischief, God's judgments therein would have been like the great mountains, evident and conspicuous; but when the way of the wicked prospers, and they carry off their booty, while just and good men are suddenly cut off, God's righteousness is like the great deep, the bottom of which we cannot find, Ps. xxxvi. 6.

4. His dearest and most valuable possessions were his ten children; and, to conclude the tragedy, news if brought him, at the same time, that they were killed and buried in the ruins of the house in which they were feasting, and all the servants that waited on them, except one that came express with the tidings of it, v. 18, 19. This was the greatest of Job's losses, and which could not but go nearest him; and therefore the devil reserved it for the last, that, if the other provocations failed, this might make him curse God. Our children are pieces of ourselves; it is very hard to part with them, and touches a good man in as tender a part as any. But to part with them all at once, and for them to be all cut off in a moment, who had been so many years his cares and hopes, went to the quick indeed. (1.) They all died together, and not one of them was left alive. David, though a wise and good man, was very much discomposed by the death of one son. How hard then did it bear upon poor Job who lost them all, and, in one moment, was written childless! (2.) They died suddenly. Had they been taken away by some lingering disease, he would have had notice to expect their death, and prepare for the breach; but this came upon him without giving him any warning. (3.) They died when they were feasting and making merry. Had they died suddenly when they were praying, he might the better have borne it. He would have hoped that death had found them in a good frame if their blood had been mingled with their feast, where he himself used to be jealous of them that they had sinned, and cursed God in their hearts—to have that day come upon them unawares, like a thief in the night, when perhaps their heads were overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness—this could not but add much to his grief, considering what a tender concern he always had for his children's souls, and that they were now out of the reach of the sacrifices he used to offer according to the number of them all. See how all things come alike to all. Job's children were constantly prayed for by their father, and lived in love one with another, and yet came to this untimely end. (4.) They died by a wind of the devil's raising, who is the prince of the power of the air (Eph. ii. 2), but it was looked upon to be an immediate hand of God, and a token of his wrath. So Bildad construed it (ch. viii. 4): Thy children have sinned against him, and he has cast them away in their transgression. (5.) They were taken away when he had most need of them to comfort him under all his other losses. Such miserable comforters are all creatures. In God only we have a present help at all times.

Job's Sorrow and Submission. (b. c. 1520.)

20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, 21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord . 22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

The devil had done all he desired leave to do against Job, to provoke him to curse God. He had touched all he had, touched it with a witness; he whom the rising sun saw the richest of all the men in the east was before night poor to a proverb. If his riches had been, as Satan insinuated, the only principle of his religion now that he had lost his riches he would certainly have lost his religion; but the account we have, in these verses, of his pious deportment under his affliction, sufficiently proved the devil a liar and Job an honest man.

I. He conducted himself like a man under his afflictions, not stupid and senseless, like a stock or stone, not unnatural and unaffected at the death of his children and servants; no (v. 20), he arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, which were the usual expressions of great sorrow, to show that he was sensible of the hand of the Lord that had gone out against him; yet he did not break out into any indecencies, nor discover any extravagant passion. He did not faint away, but arose, as a champion to the combat; he did not, in a heat, throw off his clothes, but very gravely, in conformity to the custom of the country, rent his mantle, his cloak, or outer garment; he did not passionately tear his hair, but deliberately shaved his head. By all this it appeared that he kept his temper, and bravely maintained the possession and repose of his own soul, in the midst of all these provocations. The time when he began to show his feelings is observable; it was not till he heard of the death of his children, and then he arose, then he rent his mantle. A worldly unbelieving heart would have said, "Now that the meat is gone it is well that the mouths are gone too; now that there are no portions it is well that there are no children:" but Job knew better, and would have been thankful if Providence had spared his children, though he had little of nothing for them, for Jehovah-jireh—the Lord will provide. Some expositors, remembering that it was usual with the Jews to rend their clothes when they heard blasphemy, conjecture that Job rent his clothes in a holy indignation at the blasphemous thoughts which Satan now cast into his mind, tempting him to curse God.

II. He conducted himself like a wise and good man under his affliction, like a perfect and upright man, and one that feared God and eschewed the evil of sin more than that of outward trouble.

1. He humbled himself under the hand of God, and accommodated himself to the providences he was under, as one that knew how to want as well as how to abound. When God called to weeping and mourning he wept and mourned, rent his mantle and shaved his head; and, as one that abased himself even to the dust before God, he fell down upon the ground, in a penitent sense of sin and a patient submission to the will of God, accepting the punishment of his iniquity. Hereby he showed his sincerity; for hypocrites cry not when God binds them, ch. xxxvi. 13. Hereby he prepared himself to get good by the affliction; for how can we improve the grief which we will not feel?

2. He composed himself with quieting considerations, that he might not be disturbed and put out of the possession of his own soul by these events. He reasons from the common state of human life, which he describes with application to himself: Naked came I (as others do) out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither, into the lap of our common mother—the earth, as the child, when it is sick or weary, lays its head in its mother's bosom. Dust we were in our original, and to dust we return in our exit (Gen. iii. 19), to the earth as we were (Eccl. xii. 7), naked shall we return thither, whence we were taken, namely, to the clay, ch. xxxiii. 6. St. Paul refers to this of Job, 1 Tim. vi. 7. We brought nothing of this world's goods into the world, but have them from others; and it is certain that we can carry nothing out, but must leave them to others. We come into the world naked, not only unarmed, but unclothed, helpless, shiftless, not so well covered and fenced as other creatures. The sin we are born in makes us naked, to our shame, in the eyes of the holy God. We go out of the world naked; the body does, though the sanctified soul goes clothed, 2 Cor. v. 3. Death strips us of all our enjoyments; clothing can neither warm nor adorn a dead body. This consideration silenced Job under all his losses. (1.) He is but where he was at first. He looks upon himself only as naked, not maimed, not wounded; he was himself still his own man, when nothing else was his own, and therefore but reduced to his first condition. Nemo tam pauper potest esse quam natus est—no one can be so poor as he was when born.—Min. Felix. If we are impoverished, we are not wronged, nor much hurt, for we are but as we were born. (2.) He is but where he must have been at last, and is only unclothed, or unloaded rather, a little sooner than he expected. If we put off our clothes before we go to bed, it is some inconvenience, but it may be the better borne when it is near bed-time.

3. He gave glory to God, and expressed himself upon this occasion with a great veneration for the divine Providence, and a meek submission to its disposals. We may well rejoice to find Job in this good frame, because this was the very thing upon which the trial of his integrity was put, though he did not know it. The devil said that he would, under his affliction, curse God; but he blessed him, and so proved himself an honest man.

(1.) He acknowledged the hand of God both in the mercies he had formerly enjoyed and in the afflictions he was now exercised with: The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. We must own the divine Providence, [1.] In all our comforts. God gave us our being, made us, and not we ourselves, gave us our wealth; it was not our own ingenuity or industry that enriched us, but God's blessing on our cares and endeavours. He gave us power to get wealth, not only made the creatures for us, but best owed upon us our share. [2.] In all our crosses. The same that gave hath taken away; and may he not do what he will with his own? See how Job looks above instruments, and keeps his eye upon the first Cause. He does not say, "The Lord gave, and the Sabeans and Chaldeans have taken away; God made me rich, and the devil has made me poor;" but, "He that gave has taken;" and for that reason he is dumb, and has nothing to say, because God did it. He that gave all may take what, and when, and how much he pleases. Seneca could argue thus, Abstulit, sed et dedit—he took away, but he also gave; and Epictetus excellently (cap. 15), "When thou art deprived of any comfort, suppose a child taken away by death, or a part of thy estate lost, say not apolesa auto—I have lost it; but apedoka—I have restored it to the right owner; but thou wilt object (says he), kakos ho aphelomenos—he is a bad man that has robbed me; to which he answers, ti de soi melei—What is it to thee by what hand he that gives remands what he gave?"

(2.) He adored God in both. When all was gone he fell down and worshipped. Note, Afflictions must not divert us from, but quicken us to, the exercises of religion. Weeping must not hinder sowing, nor hinder worshipping. He eyed not only the hand of God, but the name of God, in his afflictions, and gave glory to that: Blessed be the name of the Lord. He has still the same great and good thoughts of God that ever he had, and is as forward as ever to speak them forth to his praise; he can find in his heart to bless God even when he takes away as well as when he gives. Thus must we sing both of mercy and judgment, Ps. ci. 1. [1.] He blesses God for what was given, though now it was taken away. When our comforts are removed from us we must thank God that ever we had them and had them so much longer than we deserved. Nay, [2.] He adores God even in taking away, and gives him honour by a willing submission; nay, he gives him thanks for good designed him by his afflictions, for gracious supports under his afflictions, and the believing hopes he had of a happy issue at last.

Lastly, Here is the honourable testimony which the Holy Ghost gives to Job's constancy and good conduct under his afflictions. He passed his trials with applause, v. 22. In all this Job did not act amiss, for he did not attribute folly to God, nor in the least reflect upon his wisdom in what he had done. Discontent and impatience do in effect charge God with folly. Against the workings of these therefore Job carefully watched; and so must we, acknowledging that as God has done right, but we have done wickedly, so God has done wisely, but we have done foolishly, very foolishly. Those who not only keep their temper under crosses and provocations, but keep up good thoughts of God and sweet communion with him, whether their praise be of men or no, it will be of God, as Job's here was.

CHAP. 1. Verſe 1. There was a Man]

A Notable man, a man by ad excellency, and with an accent (as it were;) A man of high degree, as the word Iſh ſignifieth Pſal. 49.2. & 62.9. (where it is oppoſed to Adam, utpote quem ex meliore luto finxit Titan) a Manly man, Animo virili praeditus. every way excellent and eximious: Magnus & admirabilis vir &c. A great and marvellous man, if it be fit to call him by the name of a man, as Chryſostome ſpeaketh of Babylas the Martyr.Orat. cont. Gentiles. Baſil in his Sermon of the forty Martyrs, calleth them the Stars of the World, and the flowers of the Churches. Chryſostome ſpeaking of thoſe that were praying for Peter, Act. 12. ſaith that Puriores caelo afflictione facti ſunt, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Hom. 55. in Mat. Dam[illegible: 2 letters]hum beminis & miraculum natura, ut de Scaliger[illegible: 1 letter] non nemo dixit. by their afflictions they were become clearer then the azured sky: and elſewhere falling into ſpeech of ſome religious men of his time, he doubteth not, for their holy and heavenly converſation, to ſtile them [non-Latin text not transcribed] Angels. That Job deſerved this high title, as well as the beſt of them, we have here, and otherwhere, Gods own teſtimony of him, and this whole book, whereof he is the principal object, doth abundantly prove him an Heroe.

In the Land of Ʋz.] Which, what it was, and where ſituate, though our Maps ſhew us not: yet, by the conſent of all, it was a country bordering upon Idumea in part, and part upon Arubia, ſee Lam. 4.21. Jer. 25.20. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Hom. Odyſ. Chryſoſtome teſtifieth that Jobs ſepulcher hath been ſhewed in Arabia; which might well have been called Happy, if but for having ſuch an inhabitant, Ptolemy placeth the Huſſites in Arabia.

Whoſe name was Job.] It is then a true and real hiſtory, that we here have of him, and not a fiction or a moral parable, as ſome have believed, ſee a double teſtimony for this, the one Prophetical, Ezek, 14.14. the other Apoſtolical, Jam. 5.11. and ſuch a well-twined cord is not eaſily broken. What if poſeph[illegible: 1 letter]s make [illegible: 3 letters]mention in his Hiſtory of ſuch a man? it was beſide his purpoſe to write any thing, but what concerned the Jewes. Ariſteus in his Hiſtory of the Jewes maketh Joh[illegible: 1 letter] be deſcended of Eſan, and to dwel in Idumea. The Jew-doctors and ſome of the Fathers of the Church make him to be that Jobab mentioned Gen. 36.33. True it is, that the words differ much in the Hebrew writing; but for that, whiles he proſpered, he might be called Jo[illegible: 2 letters]b when in diſtreſſe (which [illegible: 1 word] twelve months, ſay the Hebrews ſeven yeares ſaith Suides) contracted into Job. See the like, Rath. 1.20. Cox. 17.5. Some make him to be much more ancient, viz. the ſame with that Jobab who was the Son of Jockran, the nephew of Eber, 1 Chron. 1.23. and that himſelf was pen-man of this book. He doth [illegible: 1 word] wiſh that his words [illegible: 1 span] book; and haply he and his [illegible: 1 span] in Hexameters for moſt part, as Hierome thinketh. But that it was by inſpiration of God, is teſtified not only by the divine Grandeur and Majeſty of the ſtile, together with the intrinſecal excellency and efficacy of the matter; but alſo by the concurrent teſtimony of not a few other Scriptures; ſufficiently aſſerting the authentity and authority of this Book. The common opinion is, that is was written by Moſes, while he abode as a ſtranger among the Midianites, for the comfort of his poor Country men, groaning under the Egyptian ſervitude: or elſe, that this Hiſtory written at firſt by Job and his friends in proſe, was afterwards by Moſes put into verſe, and imbeliſhed,Preface to his Paraphraſe. with the moſt rich ornaments, and the moſt glittering figures of Poetry. Sure it is (ſaith Sena[illegible: 1 letter]lt) that there is no book in the world, where the manner of ſpeaking is more noble, the conceits mere generous, the deſcriptions more rich, and the compariſons more natural. Sometimes the Author reaſoneth like an excellent Philoſopher, oftentimes like a profound Divine: but alwa[illegible: 1 letter]es like an Orator, and his Eloquence never leaveth him.

And that man was pe[illegible: 2 letters]ect] that is, upright (a[illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 1 letter]t followe[illegible: 2 letters] next) and ſincere, without guile or gall, a pattern of patience, a ſtanding rule to all ages; and therefore (in Gods acceptation and account) perfect and entire, wanting nothing, Jam. 1.4. becauſe in him patience had her perfect work, Tamim de victimis perfectis & immaculatis dicitur. as much as mortality would afford. It was but an unſavory ſpeech of him, who when he was perſwaded to be patient as Job was, replied, what tell you me of Job? Job never had any ſuites in Chancery; no; but he had far ſharper trials; and if he had been judge in that Court (as he was in his own Country, Chap. 29.12, 17) he would have made as good diſpatch there, as ever Sir Th[illegible: 1 letter]ma[illegible: 1 letter] M[illegible: 2 letters]r did, who calling once for the next cauſe, was anſwered, That there was none.

And upright,] more reſembling Jacob that plain-hearted man, then [illegible: 1 word] his great Grand father. Of the word here uſed (Jeſher) Iſrael was called Jeſh[illegible: 3 letters] [illegible: 1 word]. 22.15. and 33.5, 26. Iſai. 44.1. becauſe God requireth uprightneſſe, (which he calleth perfection Deut. Buxtorf. 18.13. and there is a great Tau in the world Tan[illegible: 3 letters] to ſhew that an upright man keepeth the whole law from the firſt to the laſt len[illegible: 3 letters] thereof) and where he findeth it, [illegible: 1 letter]eckoneth J[illegible: 2 letters]her an Iſhmaelite, 1 Chron. 7.17. is he a very good Iſraelite, 2 Sam. 17.25, and Job the Idumea[illegible: 1 letter], a very good Chriſtian, ſuch an one as Apelles was, Rom. 16, approved in Chriſt.

And one that feared God] with an amicable, not ſervile feare, ſuch as was that of thoſe mongrels who ſeat'd him for his Lyons, and are therefore ſaid not to have feared him,Sic vive cum beminibum, tanquam Deus videat, S[illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 1 letter]iquere cum Dec &c. Sam [illegible: 1 letter]emp. 2o. [non-Latin text not transcribed] 2 King. 17.32, 33, 34. Job ſo lived with men, as if God ſaw him, and ſo ſpake with God, as if men over-heard him. Thence it was, that ſeldome or never did any man ſee him doing, or hear him ſpeaking, but what was good and godly, as Xenophon ſaith of Socrates: Thence it was, that he never did well, that he might appear to do ſo, ſed quia aliter facer[illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 1 span] (as Valleius ſaith of Cato) but becauſe acting by this principle of Gods [illegible: 1 word]; he could not do otherwiſe: for the fear of the Lord is pure, Pſal. 19.9. and men do perfect holineſſe in the fear of God. 2 Cor. 7.1.

And eſchewed evil.] He muſt needs do ſo that feareth God, the greateſt Good; ſith ſin is the greateſt evil, and ſtands in full oppoſition to him. Job therefore ſtands in aw, and ſinnes not, he ſtudiouſly declines evil, as he would do a ſerpent in his way, or poiſon in his meates. And this he did, not in a land of uprightneſſe, where the fear of God was in [illegible: 1 span] profane Eſanites, in the midſt of a crocked and corrupt po[illegible: 2 letters]ration; as Noah is the old world, Lot in Sodom, Joſeph in Egypt, Eliah [illegible: 1 span] Orient Star ſhining with fulneſſe of heavenly light, and fixed in the region of happineſſe, though ſeen ſometimes in a Well, in a puddle, in a ſtinking ditch.

[illegible: 1 span] him ſe[illegible: 3 letters] Sons.] This was a main part of his proſperity, to have ſuch a numerous iſſue, to build up his houſe, and to [illegible: 1 letter]eir his eſtate, though it proved to be luct[illegible: 1 letter]oſa foecunditas; as Hierome ſaid Laeta's was, who lived to ſee her children buried before her. Jobs children are ſpoken of before his wealth, becauſe better valued: and yet after this, fearing God and eſchewing evil, to ſhew (ſaith Ferus) that he was not like the men of theſe times, who, if they have many children, will take any evil courſe to get ſomething for them, and think it a ſufficient plea againſt works of piety or charity, that they have many children to provide for. But ſuch ſhould know, that not getting, but giving, is the way to thrive: neither can men better lay up for their children, then by laying it out upon the backs and bellies of Gods poor, to whom, he that giveth ſhall not lack, Prov. 28.27. that's a bargain of Gods own making; this the righteous knowing, is merciful, and lendeth, and his ſeed is bleſſed, Pſal. 37.26. when the wicked wretches riches periſh by evil travel, and he bagetteth a ſon, and there is nothing in his hand, Eccleſ. 5.14. I read of a graceleſs ſon, who after his fathers death, finding his hoard of mony and evil-gotten wealth, cried out, O faithful drudge! and he ſoon made a hand of it.

And three daughters.] hopeful and towardly; not like thoſe of Augustus Caeſar, whom, for the evil courſes they took, he was wont to term them three mattery impoſtumes, and ulcerous ſores, wiſhing, that either he had lived a batchelour,Tres vomicas tria carcinomata. Sueton. Val. Max. Chri. pag. 308. or died childleſſe: But rather like thoſe of Charles the great, who ſo pleaſed him, that he could not at any time be well without their company, nor find in his heart to part with them, though it were to be well married.

Verſe 3. His ſubſtance alſo] Heb. his Poſſeſſion or Acquiſition, Poſſeſſio maximè pecuaria. Nomen dictum eſt ab acquirendo. Merc. that ſtock and ſtore which he had gotten, and was rightly poſſeſſed of, conſiſting very much in cattel, great and ſmall, for mony was not then in ſo great requeſt as now, when it is become the Monarch, and bears the Maſtery, Regi[illegible: 2 letters] pecu[illegible: 1 letter]i[illegible: 1 letter], as he ſaith; In precio precium nunc eſt, ſaith another. We read not of Jobs gold, ſilver, tapeſtry, rich furniture (ſaith Origen) and other accouſtrements, now much uſed and valued, but not ſo of old. Heretofore in this Iſland of our[illegible: 1 letter] (ſaith Hollingſhead) in a good Farmers houſe, 'twas rare to find four pieces of pewter: and it was accounted a great matter, that a Farmer could ſhew five ſhillings or a Noble together in ſilver: and if the good man of the houſe had a mattreſs or flock bed, and a ſack of chaſſe to reſt his head on, he thought himſelf as well lodged as the Lord of the town &c. Hollingſhead further ſaith, that ſome old men he knew who told of ſuch times in England, no longer ago!

Was ſeven thouſand ſheep] He had moſt of that moſt profitable creature, good both ad eſum, and ad uſum; therefore alſo in ſacrifices was no creature ſo frequently offered.

And three thouſand Camels, and five hundred ſhe aſſe[illegible: 1 letter],] ſ[illegible: 1 letter] to carry his ſervants, and his baggage, to export and import commodities: for Net verò terra ferra omnes omnia poſſunt.

And five hundred yoake of oxen] To plow his ground with, for great men were an [illegible: 1 letter]iently much addicted to husbandry (as Ʋzziah, 2 Chron. 26.10.) which Socrates called Amaltheae corn[illegible: 1 letter], the horn of plenty [illegible: 1 letter] and the Romans reckoned, that corn was with them never ſo cheap, as when men were fetched from the plough taile,Plin. to govern the Common-wealth, quaſi gaud[illegible: 3 letters]t terra [illegible: 1 word] vomere, & aratro triumphali. But now the caſe is otherwiſe, as Beza upon this text complaineth; that husbandry and [illegible: 1 span], are left for the ba[illegible: 1 letter]eſt and ſimpleſt men, and for ſuch as all others might prey upon. And this b[illegible: 1 letter]ingeth into my mind, ſaith he, that which once I ſaw painted in a table, where the Noble-man had this poſie, By my ſword I [illegible: 1 word] you all: the Clergyman, By my prayers I preſer[illegible: 2 letters] you all▪ the Country-man, I [illegible: 1 word] you all. Laſtly, the Lawyer, I [illegible: 1 word] you all. P[illegible: 1 letter]llican noteth here, that Job had no [illegible: 1 span] lived lovingly with his neighbours, not warring upon any: the horſe is a warlike [illegible: 1 span], prepared for the day of battle. But Beza noteth, that in that [illegible: 1 word] they [illegible: 1 span] of [illegible: 1 span] to beare burdens, and Aſſes [illegible: 1 span].

And [illegible: 1 span] ] Great ſtore of ſervants he had about him, and himſelf [illegible: 1 span] according to that of the Greek Po[illegible: 1 letter]t, (wherewith Luther was ſo taken, that be tranſlated it in certain rithmes.)

[non-Latin text not transcribed].

Some render it, He had very much husbandry; others, he had great doings in the world; the more was his trouble, (it is not the great cage that maketh the bird ſing, and abroad, the ſingeth not on the ground, but when got in the aire, or on the top of trees. So is it with the Saints) and the greater was his praiſe, that he could handle his thornes, and not prick his fingers: have ſo much to do with the world, and yet not grow worldly minded.

— Difficile eſt opibus non[illegible: 1 letter]tradere mores. Et vom tot Cr[illegible: 2 letters]ſos viceris, eſſe Numam.

So that this man was the greateſt &c. A King; ſome ſay, the firſt King of Edom, but that's uncertain; he might be a private man, and yet a very rich man: ſuch as was Pythias, who was once able to entertain Xerxes and his two millions of men for three dayes, and yet died a beggar, and was famiſhed. He was impoveriſhed by his own folly and prodigality, but Job, by the immediate hand, and good pleaſure of God, for his trial, and for exerciſe of his patience. This commendeth unto us Jobs conſtancy and magnanimity, which is ſo much the mo[illegible: 1 letter]e wonderful, by how much this change was not only not ſelf-acquired, but altogether unexpected; his ſun went down ſuddenly, at high-noon; and when he doubted leaſt, he was made a mirrour of miſ-fortune; as if God and men, heaven and earth were ſet againſt him. In him it appeared, that mor [illegible: 1 letter]ality was but the ſtage of m[illegible: 2 letters]ability, and that, Omnia ſunt homi[illegible: 3 letters] [illegible: 1 span] filo; Et ſubito caſu, quae [illegible: 2 letters]l[illegible: 1 letter]ere, r[illegible: 1 letter]unt.

Verſe 4. And his ſons went, and feaſted in their houſes.] They were of ripe years: and although unmarried, yet had they their ſeveral houſes to dwell in. This declareth not onely the wealthineſs of the Family, but alſo the good Order and Government thereof, as [illegible: 1 word] obſerveth. Their orderly intercourſe of friendly feaſting one another, ſhews their mutuall love, to [illegible: 1 word] and agreement, by this means teſtified and [illegible: 1 word]. For wine hath (as [illegible: 1 span]) ([non-Latin text not transcribed], an attractive power [illegible: 1 word] it to [illegible: 1 word]) and [illegible: 1 letter]eep friendſhip, and from the drinking of [illegible: 1 word], [non-Latin text not transcribed] the word [illegible: 1 word] uſed for: a [illegible: 1 word] hath [illegible: 1 span]. We may not think that they did thus every day▪ a[illegible: 1 letter] that [illegible: 1 span]; their [illegible: 1 span] they had been better bred, and they obſerved this order with great modeſty and diſcretion. They went and feaſted▪ that is, they did it readily and cheerfully, that brotherly love might continue; for — Fratrum quoque gratia raraeſt. The Divel doth what he can to caſt a bone betwixt brethren, to make thoſe that ſhould love moſt dearly, to hate one another moſt deadly. See this [illegible: 4 letters]plified in C[illegible: 1 letter]i[illegible: 1 letter] and Abel, Eſau and Jacob, Joſeph and his Brethren, Joram and his, Romulus and Remus, Caracalla and Geta, Robert and [illegible: 1 word] the two ſons of William the Conquerour, Polynices and Eteecles &c. And when ſuch are once [illegible: 1 span] (ſaith Solomon) is harder to be wo[illegible: 1 letter] then a ſtrong City▪ and their contentions are like the barres of a Caſtle, which being ſtrong, will [illegible: 1 span] Prov. 18.19. All good means therefore muſt be uſed to prevent them, and to preſerve that unity and unity which the Pſalmiſt doth ſo [illegible: 1 span] concludeth that there God commandeth the bleſſing and [illegible: 1 span]; that is, conſtant happineſſe [illegible: 1 word] in and by a bleſſ[illegible: 1 letter]d Poſterity. The number of two hath been accounted [illegible: 1 word], becauſe it was the firſt that departed from Unity.

And ſent and [illegible: 1 span] ] That their number and amity might be complete. This was no [illegible: 1 word] joy to [illegible: 1 word], that his children were ſo kind one to another: It is [illegible: 1 span], that which was denyed to Abraham and Iſaac (though fathers onely of two children) to Jacob alſo and Samuel and David, Conſtantine the great, [illegible: 1 word] many others▪ whoſe children, through ambition, pride, [illegible: 1 span] may at deadly ſend among [illegible: 1 span] that the Siſters kept not with their [illegible: 1 span] which was both more ſeemly and more ſafe, as alſo more agreeing with maidenly [illegible: 1 word]. Neither is it ſaid, that [illegible: 1 span] not ever [illegible: 1 letter]oldly to the [illegible: 1 span] honeſt diſpoſition.

Verſe 5. And [illegible: 1 span] of their feaſting were gone about,] Such was his holy care of them, and jealouſie over them, that he would deferre the work no longer: as knowing that ſin will ran[illegible: 2 letters]e in the conſcience, and harden the heart: like poyſon in the body, it muſt be quickly caſt up, ere it get to the vitals.

That Job ſent and [illegible: 1 span] them, Though they were grown up, yet he kept them in awe, as appears by his command to ſanctifie themſelves againſt the ſacrifice. Ʋt ſe parent & purgent. So did not Eli, but honoured his untoward ſons above God, even then when thoſe lewd loſels kick'd at his ſacrifice, and at his offering which he had commanded in his habitation. 1 Sam. 2.29. Job knew that he was bound as well to the preſervation, as to the obſervation of Gods commandments, to ſee that others (thoſe eſpecially of his familiarity and family) keep them, as well as himſelf. When therefore the circle of dayes and feaſting was finiſhed, he waited not till the eighth day came, but at the end of the ſeventh he ſummoneth all his children to come before the Lord in holy duties with the beſt preparations they could make: to waſh their hands in innocencie before they compaſſed Gods Altar; to repent of their immoderations in mirth,Pſal. 26.6 or whatſoever other guilt they had any way contracted; leſt he caſt back their ſervices as dirt upon their faces. The Heathens, by the light of nature, ſaw that God was not to be ſerved ſlightly and ſlubberingly, The Pythagoreans would not have men worſhip by the by, but make it their buſineſſe, and prepare for it afore-hand. [non-Latin text not transcribed] And Numa Pompilius, ſecond King of Rome, commanded that men ſhould not worſhip God for faſhion, careleſly, and as doing ſomewhat elſe: but freed from all other cares and cumbers. The Jews had their Preparation and their fore-preparation to the Paſſover: and as any man meaſureth to God in preparation, God will meaſure to him again in bleſſing.

And roſe up early in the morning] Sanctificat, ſenat, ditat quoque ſurgere manè. The morning is the beſt time for holy duties; God ſhould have the firſt of every thing: then alſo men are [illegible: 1 word] and freeſt from worldly buſineſſes. The Phil[illegible: 1 letter]ſtins [illegible: 1 span] to do ſacrifice to their Dagon, or Triton, as other Heathens called him. They generally took the top of the morning (utpote quod [non-Latin text not transcribed]) to offer to, [illegible: 1 word] dung-hill-deities, as holding [illegible: 1 span] in their Temples, and took notice of morning-ſal[illegible: 1 letter]tations. [illegible: 1 span] in the morning: So do the Roman Hiſtorians their P[illegible: 1 letter]titii and [illegible: 1 word], offering to Hercules upon their greateſt Altar of all. Argona[illegible: 3 letters] do the like in Apollonius; and the Perſian M[illegible: 2 letters]gi were wont to worſhip the riſing Sun with their early Hymns.

And offered burnt offerings] Whole [illegible: 1 word] offerings, not ſacrifice onely (as the Greek interpreter hath it) nor peace offerings, whereof himſelf might have had part; but burnt offerings, that were offered [illegible: 1 span] unto God, and that according to the number of his ſons; not one general family ſacrifice only; but for every one, one. It appeareth then that Job was no penny father, no [illegible: 1 letter]iggard in Gods ſervice, but laviſh[illegible: 2 letters] [illegible: 1 word] out of the bag, and thought all too little that was laid out that way. So did Solomon in that greateſt ſacrifice that ever we read of 1 King. 8.63. and his father David, when, out of his poverty, as he calleth it, he had prepared for the houſe of the Lord an hundred thouſand talents of gol[illegible: 1 letter],Hiſt. of the world. part. 2. cap. 17. ſect. 9. and a thouſand thouſand talents of ſilver &c. which Sir Walter Raleigh caſteth up to be more then any King in the world it worth: this is [illegible: 1 word]: to [illegible: 1 span] and baſeneſſe.

F[illegible: 1 letter]r Job ſaid] viz. in his heart, for God underſtandeth the language of the heart alſo, Pſal. 130.1 [illegible: 1 span].

[illegible: 1 span] [illegible: 1 letter]inned] Or, leſt haply: He well knew the Corruption of [illegible: 1 span], wherein there is a [non-Latin text not transcribed], a [illegible: 1 word] of all ſin[illegible: 1 letter]. He knew alſo how eaſily we over-ſhoot ourſelves at [illegible: 1 word] meetings, and give too much liberty to our [illegible: 1 word] and appen[illegible: 3 letters] to r[illegible: 1 letter]n [illegible: 1 word]. He therefore ſeeks pardon for his childrens ſuſpacted ſames; he know, beſides [illegible: 1 word] and involuntary infirmities [illegible: 1 span] by a juſt and jealous [illegible: 1 span] 1 Cor. 5.2. or not rebuked, at leaſt by their countenance, as God [illegible: 1 span] was a man of a [illegible: 1 span], and therefore propounds to himſelf the worſt▪ neither was it againſt in him to ſuſpect [illegible: 1 span], whileſt he intended their good, and turned his [illegible: 1 span]. That his children were godly, is put [illegible: 1 span], whether they had ſinned. But how then doth it follow?

And curſed God in their hearts] And not bleſſed God, ſo Calvin rendreth it, not done him right,So Sanctim. and therefore wrong; they have not high and honourable conceptions of him, anſwerable to his excellent greatneſſe; but, by baſe and bald thoughts caſt him, as it were, into a diſhonourable mould, and not given him the glory due to his Name, that holy and reverend Name, Pſal. 111.9. Great and dreadful among the Heathen, Mal. 1.14. In the Hebrew, it is, And bleſſed God, for curſed, by an Euphemiſmus or Antiphraſis; as when an harlot is called Kedeſha, a holy woman, by contraries. So auriſacra (i. e. execranda) fames. The Hebrews ſo abhorred blaſphemy againſt God, as they would not have the ſound of it to be joyned to the Name of God, whom they commonly call Baruc-hu, the bleſſed One. So they would not take the name of Leven (that prohibited ware) into their mouths all the time of the feaſt of the Paſſeover.Elias Thiſ[illegible: 1 letter]. So in their common talk they call a Sow dabhar achar, an other thing, becauſe they were forbidden to eat ſwines fleſh.

Thus did Job continually.] Heb. all the dayes; that is, in the renewed ſeaſons: he was not weary of well-doing, but ſtedfaſt and unmoveable, alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord, alwaies renewing his repentance, and faith in Chriſt, figured by thoſe ſacrifices; for the Ceremonial Law was their Goſpel.

Verſe 6. Now there was a day] Haply that day wherein Jobs children were feaſting their laſt. The Rabbines ſay, the firſt day of the year, and ſome ſay, the ſabbath day; But who told them ſo? this is to intrude into things which they have not ſeen. Col. 2.18. and where of there is neither proof nor profit. Certain it is, that as God hath before all beginnings decreed all things, ſo he hath ſet and aſſigned the times or ſeaſons which he hath put in his own power, Act. 1.7. when every thing ſhall come to paſſe as himſelf hath appointed. Now then, ſaith Beza, the time being come which he prefixed for the actual accompliſhing of that he had decreed concerning Job, he revealed the ſame to Satan (being before altogether ignorant thereof) as whom he had appointed to be the chief inſtrument in executing this his will and purpoſe.

The children of God] i.e. the Elect Angels, called Sons of God, here and elſewhere: not becauſe they are ſo by eternal generation, as Chriſt alone; nor by adoption and regeneration, as the Saints, John 1.12. but by Creation (as Adam is called the Son of God, Luke 3. ult.) and Reſemblance; for they are made in Gods image, and are like him as his children, both in their ſubſtance which is incorporeal, and in their excellent properties, which are Life and Immortality, Bleſſedneſſe and Glory; wherein we ſhall one day be their comperes, Luke 20.36.

Came to preſent themſelves] This is ſpoken in a low language, for our better apprehenſion, by alluſion to the cuſtome of earthly Princes and their attendants and officers, coming to give an account, or receive directions. The Angels are never abſent from God. Luke 1.19, but yet employed by him in governing the world, Ezek 1. and guarding the Saints, Heb. 1.14. This the heathens hammered at, for both Plutarch and Proculus the Platoniſt ſay, that the Angels doe [non-Latin text not transcribed] travel betwixt heaven and earth, carrying the commands of God to men, and the deſires of men to God.Juſſa divina ferentes ad homines, & hominem vo[illegible: 2 letters] ad deos.

And Satan came alſo among them] That old man-ſlayer, (envying Jobs holineſſe and happineſſe, as much as the good Angels rejoyced in it, and promoted it, for he was ſeen of Angels of both ſorts) would needs make one among thoſe Sons of God, not without Gods over ruling power; although he regarded not ſo much Gods authority, as wanted an opportunity and licenſe to do miſchief. In reference to this hiſtory George Marſh Martyr, in a certain letter of his writeth thus to his friend: the ſervants of God cannot at any time come and ſtand before God, that is, lead a godly life, and walk innocently▪ but Satan comes alſo among them: that is the daily accuſeth findeth fault, [illegible: 1 word] perſecuteth and troubleth the godly &c. Yet unleſſe God do permit him, he can do nothing at all, not ſo much as enter into a filthy hog. But we are more of price then many hogs before God.Acts and Mon. fol. 14 23.

Before the Lord] Or By or Near the Lord. But can Satan come into the preſence of God▪ Mr. Caryl. Surely no otherwiſe ſaith a grave Divine then a blind man can come into the Sun: he cometh into the Sun, and the Sun ſhineth upon him, but he ſees not the Sun. Satan comes ſo into the preſence of God, that [illegible: 1 span] of God: he is never ſo in the preſence of God, as to ſee God.

Verſe 7. And the Lord ſaid unto Satan] either by forming and creating a voice in the air, as Matth. 3.17. Job 12.28. or by an inward word, after an unſpeakable manner, manifeſting his wil, as he willed, to Satan. The School men have great diſputes about the ſpeech of ſpirits: but this they agree in, that the intention of one ſpirit is as plain an expreſſion of his mind by another ſpirit (when he hath a will that the other ſhould underſtand it) as the voice of one man is to another.

Whence comeſt thou?] This the Lord asketh not as if he were ignorant; for he knows all things, and that from eternity, neither is there any creature that is not manifeſt in his ſight, but all things are naked and open before his eyes, Heb. 4.13. yea, in him all things ſubſiſt, Col[illegible: 2 letters]. 1.17. So that there can be no motion of the creature without his privity: God therefore thus interrogateth Satan, that he might ſhew himſelf to be his Judg, and that he might exact a confeſſion out of his own mouth.

Then Satan anſwered the Lord] the word ſignifieth, to speak in witneſſe-bearing, Exod. 20, 16

From going to and fro in the earth] He ſaith not, from inſtigating men to all manner of wickedneſſe, from ranging up and down as a roaring Lion, to devour ſoules, from ſinning that ſin againſt the Holy Ghoſt every moment &c. All this he cunningly diſſembleth, and ſaith in effect, as once Gehezi did, Thy ſervant was no where, or for no hurt to any, when as he is never but doing miſchief; as Pliny ſaith of the Scorpion, that there is not one minute wherein it doth not put forth the ſting. Is not the hand of Joab in this buſineſſe? So, is not Satan in all the ſins of the wicked, and in moſt of the troubles of the godly? He[illegible: 1 letter] quàm furit Satan, & impellis ſecures homines ad horrenda flagitia &c. ſaith Luther! O how doth Satan range and rage, that he may glut himſelf with the blood of ſoules? In proſperity be makes men lay their hearts too near it, in adverſity to lay it too neer their hearts. Upon Job he tried both theſe ſtratagems.

And from walking up and down in it.] A great Peripatetike he is, and he walks the rounds; for he is yet a priſoner at large, only he hath his fetters upon his heeles, Jude 6, and in them he fri[illegible: 1 letter]keth up and down, and fetcheth a circuit to ſpy faults, and to take advantages. Mr. Broughto[illegible: 1 letter] read[illegible: 2 letters]th it, from ſearching to and fro in the earth &c. Non dormit a[illegible: 1 letter] ſemper-vigil ille ſynag[illegible: 1 letter]g[illegible: 1 letter] ſun Epiſc[illegible: 1 letter]pus, ſaith one,Amama. he is vigilant and diligent, reſtleſſs and unquiet [illegible: 1 span] (whom one calleth the divels Patriarch) could ſettle no where, but ran up and down as a fugitive and a vagabond, Gen. 4. It is ſaid Matth. 12.45. that this unclean ſpirit walketh in dry places ſeeking reſt and finding none. Not but that dry and wet are all one with him, but it importeth his reſtleſsneſſe. See the like Jer. 17.5. to run to and fro, is the condition and curſe of thoſe that are once departed from God. Take heed br[illegible: 1 letter]thre[illegible: 1 letter] (ſaith the Apoſtle) leſt there be in any of [illegible: 1 span] evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, and wandring after worldly vanities. Take heed of giving way to wilful diſtractions in holy duties. Mens hearts are oft ſo divided and diſſipated,Heb. 3.12. that if after any duty they ſhould put this queſtion that God doth here to Satan, Whence comeſt that [illegible: 1 span] From compaſſing the earth. &c.

Verſe 8. Haſt then conſidered my ſervant Job?] Job then was in Gods account a conſiderable perſon and [illegible: 1 span] one as whoſe praiſe was not of men, but of God. Such [illegible: 1 word] all godly people, but eſpecially thoſe that are eminent, tall Chriſtians; full of [illegible: 1 word], filled with all knowledge, as thoſe Romans chap. 15.14. men of choice ſpirits as [illegible: 1 word], that walk up and down the world as ſo many conquerors 1 John 5.4. then are clothed with the Sun, and tread upon the Moon, Rev. 12.1. Theſe are men of mark [non-Latin text not transcribed] looking after. A man would have gone us farre to have ſoon Luther, as he in the ſtory, did to ſee Livy; or as the Queene of Sheba did to ſee Sol[illegible: 1 letter]mon. A man would fetch ſuch golden ſentences as thoſe he uttered [illegible: 1 word] knees from R[illegible: 1 letter]me or Jeruſalem, ſaith a Reverend man that writeth his life. The tong[illegible: 1 letter]ue of the juſt is at choice ſilve[illegible: 1 letter], but the heart of the wicked is little worth, Mr. Sam. Cla[illegible: 2 letters] Prov. 10.20. Hence Antiochus is called a vile perſon, De[illegible: 1 letter]. 11.21. though a great Potentate. And the Prophet tells Jor[illegible: 1 letter]m that wicked King of Iſrael, that but for Jehoſhaphats ſake (a better man) he would not have looked toward him, nor have ſeen him, 2 King. 3.14. Job was a man of weight, and great worth, as were thoſe precious ſons of Zion, Lam. 4.2. Didſt thou not therefore make a ſtand at his door, ſaith God? Seeſt thou not how he ſtands as a ſtandard-bearer? ſhines as a great light? ſhewes forth in his whole practiſe ſuch a power of godlineſſe, as is ſufficient either to draw hearts, or to daunt them? haſt thou met with ſuch a man in all thy circuit, that can quit himſelf ſo well and wiſely in all eſtates, like as gold is purged in the fire, ſhineth in the water? ſeeſt thou not how all his principles, practiſes, and aims, are ſupernal and ſupernatural?

That there is none like him in the earth] This was an high praiſe indeed; and yet no hyperbole: he was a Giant to other good people, who were but dwarfes and Zanies to him, for growth of grace, and heighth of holineſſe. He was the paragon of his time; and of impatallel piety. As Ahab was a very Non-ſuch for wickedneſſe, 1 King 21.25. ſo was Job for goodneſſe. As Hezekiah out-ſtripped all the Kings of Judah for his truſting in the Lord 2 King. 18.5 and Joſiah for his integrity, 2 King. 23.25. [non-Latin text not transcribed] and the Centurion for his heroick faith Matth. 8. and Paul for his plu[illegible: 1 letter] ultra, Philip. 3. and Ambroſe, that in Theodoſius his account, he was the only Biſhop: So it was here, Job was above others, as Saul was above the people by the head and ſhoulders. As he was the greateſt, ſo the beſt man of all the children of the Eaſt, not a man came neer him, and yet they might be dear to God nevertheleſſe. But it is with good people, as with Jonathans ſignal arrowes: two fell ſhort, and but one beyond the mark &c. God hath his ſervants of all ſorts and ſizes: and eſt aliquid prodire tenus &c.

A perfect and an upright man &c.] A tough piece thou findeſt him, I ſuppoſe, and not eaſily malleable. Thou haſt been doing at him, I doubt not, but canſt do no good on't. Thou haſt ſet thine heart upon him, and tried thine utmoſt skill to overturn him, but haſt met with thy match, and been ſent away without thine errand: thou haſt but beat upon cold Iron: thou haſt ſtruck fire, but without tinder; thou haſt knock'd at the doore, but there was none within to open to thee. Thus God ſpeaketh, to ſting Satan; and (as it were) [illegible: 1 letter]riump[illegible: 1 letter]ing over his and Jobs adverſary.

Verſe 9. Then Satan anſwered and ſaid] Satan and his imps will [illegible: 1 letter]ver have ſomewhat to ſay againſt the cleer truth, their wits will better ſerve them to elude or withſtand it, then their pride and malice will ſuffer them [illegible: 1 word] to yeild and acknowledge it. But what ſaid Austin of the hereticks of his time, Ga[illegible: 1 letter]riant illi, nos creda[illegible: 3 letters]: Let them talk their fill, and think it a great matter to have the laſt word, let us hold to our principles, and count it enough, that with [illegible: 1 word], we have good report of all men (or if not ſo, yet) of the truth it ſelf, 3 John 12.

Doth Job fear God for nought?] q.d. No ſuch matter. Is there not a cauſe, as they ſaid once? hath he not wages of the beſt? and are not thy retributions more then bountiful? he may ſerve thee well enough for each price and pay as he daily receiveth: He may ſwim well enough, when ſo held up by the chin. But the truth is, Job is a meer mercenary, and ſerveth God for line; he ſerveth not God, but himſelf upon God: in a word, he is an arrant hypocrite, and a ſelf ſeeker, ſuch an one as doth in par[illegible: 1 letter]bola ovis capras ſua[illegible: 1 letter] quarere, pretend piety to his own worldly reſpects, and ſerves God meerely out of intereſt. An [illegible: 1 word] indeed doth ſo; being therein like the Eagle which ſoreth aloft, not for any love of heaven; her eye is all the while upon the prey, which by this means ſhee ſpieth ſooner, and ſeizeth upon better. But how will Satan prove that Job is an hypocrite, ſith he cannot poſſibly know his heart? and did not the ſearcher of hearts acquit Job of this ſoule ſin in Satans hearing, when he pronounced him perfect and upright &c. How impudent then is this accuſer of the brethren? The beſt is, that we have an [illegible: 1 word] with the Father, who puts by, and non-ſuites all Satans accuſations in the Count of heaven, 1 John 3.2. Yea, though Satan ſome[illegible: 1 letter]imes ſtand at the right hand of [illegible: 1 word] Zech. 3.1. and may ſeem to have the better of him: yet here's the comfort, Jeſus Chriſt our Advocate is alſo a propitiatum for our ſ[illegible: 1 letter]ns, as it is in the ſame text. Who then ſhall ſay any thing to the charge of Gods children? Or if any do, what need we care, when it is God that juſtifieth, and the Saints as vanquiſhers ſhal come off as Job did, with great glory to themſelves, and ſhame to the aſſailer.

Verſe 10. Haſt not thou made an bedge about him?] or, haſt thou not trenched him in, and ſecured him with thine own bare hand, as in a town of war, or tower of braſſe? thou thy ſelf either art the [illegible: 2 letters]dge, or makeſt it; and that not only about his perſon, but about his people, children, ſervants &c. yea, about his whole eſtate, ſo that there is no coming at him: and this Satan ſeemes to ſpeak very angrily. See the note on Zech. 2.5.

On every ſide] per circuitum, circumcirca. The divel could find never a gap, make never a breach. Oh the ſafety of a Saint, that goes alwaies under a double guard, the power of God without him, and the peace of God within him! The Lord himſelf is his keeper, the Lord his defence upon his right hand, Pſal. 121.5. See Pſal 91. How miraculouſly hath Geneva been upheld, a ſmall City environed with enemies, and barred out from help of other Churches! How well may we ſit and ſing, If the Lord had not been on our ſide, now may England ſay, if the Lord had not been on our ſide, when men (or rather divels in the ſhape of men) roſe up againſt us, then had they ſwallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled againſt us. Pſal. 124.1, [illegible: 1 letter] They were not our wooden walls that ſaved us &c. but thy right hand, and thine arme, and the light of thy countenance, becauſe thou hadſt a favour unto us, Pſalm 44.3. This was a better wall then that about China or Babylon, or that which David ſo ſoon leaped over by the help of his God, Pſal. 18. who is ſic omnibus attent us ut non detentus à ſingulis, ſo helpful to the whole community of his people, as that he neglecteth not any one that pertaineth unto him.

Thou haſt bleſſed the work of his hands] ſo that he hath good ſucceſſe in all his buſineſſes, all things thrive well under his hand; this the divel ſtomacked; and, becauſe he could not come at Jobs heart, fed upon his own. Malice drinketh up the moſt part of its own venome. It pleaſeth the Lord well, that his people proſper, In Pſal 139. but the divel cannot endure it. Well might Auſtin ſay, Invidia eſt vitium diabolicum, envy is a divelliſh ſin, for it transformeth men into ſo many breathing divels.

And his ſubſtance is increaſed in the land.] Heb. is broken forth; ſo that his houſe is too little to hold the precious and pleaſant riches that are therein; his grounds cannot contain the increaſe of his cattle: ruperunt horrea meſſes. In fine, there is no end of his wealth.

Verſe 11. But put forth thy hand] Make Job feele the weight of it, as good people uſually do more then others; yet not ad exitium, but ad exercitium, their croſſes are not penal, but probational and medicinal. The ſame holy hand of God that was put forth to protect and bleſſe Job, ſhall bee put forth to afflict him. It muſt needs be therefore done in meaſure, and in mercy. If he ſmite Job, it ſhall be in the branches only, and not at the root, Iſa. 27.8. for there is a bleſſing in it; his hand ſhall not be further put forth to ſmite, then to ſave, Iſai. 59.1. Acts 4.31. Pſalm 144.7. If Satan or his inſtruments over-do, and offer to exceed their commiſſion, he will never endure it, Zech. 1.15. This Satan knew very well, and therefore motioneth that God would put forth his hand and touch him; or, Put forth thy hand. I pray thee; or, Put forth thy hand a little (ſo ſome render it) and touch him; that is, lightly afflict him. Confer Geneſ. 26.11, 19. and Pſalm 105.15.

And touch all that he hath] or touch any thing that he hath; ſo the word Col is uſed, Job 8.12. Prov. 1.17. And it is, as if he ſhould ſay, Lay but ſome light loſſe upon him, and he will ſhew his unſoundneſſe; as if but light weights be hanged on rotten boughs, they will ſoon break, and as if wooden or earthen veſſels be ſet empty to the fire, they will quickly crack.

And he will curſe thee to thy face] Heb. If he do not curſe thee q. d. then I ſhall much marvel, or then ſay, I have no skill in him, if he will not thereupon bluſter and blaſpheme thee, and that openly, impudently, boldly, to thy very face, avowedly, as [illegible: 1 letter]aligula did, when he dared his Jove to a Duell, with that Hemiſtick in Homer [non-Latin text not transcribed]: as Mahomet the Grand Seigniour greatly grieved with the diſhonour and loſſe he had at Scodra, moſt horribly brake out into blaſphemous words not fit to be related; as that black mouthed Pope with his al deſpito di Dio. Turk. hiſt. fol. 423. Acts & [illegible: 1 letter]on. 14.17. They ſet their mouthes againſt heaven, ſaith the Pſalmiſt, and let fly at God himſelf; they howle upwards with the wolf when hunger-bit; they utter their owne harſh voice, as the Parrot when beaten; and like birds of prey that have been long kept in the dark, are out of meaſure fierce and furious when once they come abroad, ſo are ignorant and graceleſſe perſons; But Job was none ſuch, what ever the divel deemed and averred of him. Pompey when he had loſt the field, might, for want of grace, ſay that there was a miſt overth[illegible: 2 letters]ye of providence. Brutus, when overcome by his enemy Antony, may ſay in his rage, that all things are carried by blind fortune,Dio. by hap-hazard. Atque deos, atque astra vocat crudelia. — Thoſe miſcreants in Malachi may ſay, 'tis but loſt labour to ſerve the Lord, chap. 3.14. But Satan ſuggeſting that Job would do any ſuch thing if croſſed, did (as one ſpeaketh) either lie knowingly, or at leaſt gueſſe ignorantly.

Verſe 12. And the Lord ſaid unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power.] Here God in appearance condeſcendeth to the divels deſires. But we muſt know, that Gods end in this large grant, was not to gratifie the divel, but to glorifie himſelf, by making Satan an inſtrument of his own ſhame and infamie, when by all that he could do, Job would not be drawn to think or ſpeak amiſſe of God; though Satan left him his wife (who was within his commiſſion) to tempt him to it: and afterwards left him his tongue untouched (when all his body beſides was ſmitten with fore boiles) as hoping haply, he would have curſed God therewith.

Only upon himſelf put not forth thy hand] Meddle not with his outward or inward man. He would fain have been doing with both, and had done it now, but for this mercifull reſtriction; which to the divel was (no doubt) a very great vexation. But how could he help it, otherwiſe then as horſes digeſt their choler, by biting on the bridle? The will of the Lord muſt ſtand: and Job, though he ſhall have his backburden of croſſes of all kinds, yet they ſhall not be laid upon him all at once, but piece-meal,Acts and Mon. fol. 1579. and at ſeveral times. Fidelis eſt Deus, ſaith the Apoſtle (and Father Latimer died in the flames with thoſe ſweet words in his mouth) God is faithfull, who will not ſuffer us to be tempted above that we are able &c. but will ſurely proportion the burden to the back, and the ſtroke to the ſtrength of them that ſhall beare it. See his gracious dealings with the Apoſtles, at their firſt ſetting forth into the world: and how by degrees he inured them to bear the Croſſe of Chriſt, Acts 2. & 4. & 5. & 12.

So Satan went forth from the preſence of the Lord] As thinking every houre two, till he had ſped his commiſſion: the divel deſcended like lightning upon the earth, to ſearch occaſions to ruine Job, and to triumph over his patience, to touch all that he had, and to touch him to the very quick. This diligence of the divel in evil-doing, how happy were it, ſaith Mr. Beza, if we could imitate in doing well? But behold, whileſt Chriſts enemies watch, and in the night ſet themſelves in readineſſe to take him, his chief diſciples do not only ſnort and ſleep, but cannot ſo much as be awaked in the garden.

Verſe 13. And there was a day] A diſmal day it proved to Job, a day of trouble and diſtreſſe, a day of waſtneſſe and deſolation, a day of darkneſſe and gloomineſſe, a day of clouds and thick darkneſſe, as Zeph. 1.15. That ſubtle ſerpent ſet upon miſchief, purpoſely picketh out ſuch a time to do it, as wherein ſuch a ſad and ſudden change was leaſt of all looked for; and then laies on amaine (as if he were wood) with the hail-ſhot, hell-ſhot of ſharpeſt afflictions. He knowes well, that as mercies and deliverances, the more unexpected they are, the more welcome, (as Abrahams receiving his ſon Iſaac after a ſort from the dead: Iſraels eduction out of Egypt, when they were forſaken of their hopes: Jonah his being drawn out of the belly of hell (as he phraſeth it, chap. 2.2.) ſo croſſes, the more ſuddenly they befall men, the more they amate them; and finding weak minds ſecure, they make them miſerable, leave them deſperate.

When his ſons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine] Wherewith, if their hearts were overcharged (and what more eaſie? the divel foiled our firſt parents by inordnate appetite, and finding it then ſo ſucceſsfull a weapon, he maketh uſe of it ſtill) that day might come upon them unawares, Luke 21.34. That was Satans drift ſurely, however it fell out: and ſo, to deſtroy body and ſoul together. But it is to be hoped, that he was diſappointed of his aime; and that death was ſent in haſt to Jobs children, as an invitant to a better feaſt: and that they might do as our Saviour did, who being at a feaſt at Bethany, fell into a meditation and diſcourſe of his death and b[illegible: 3 letters]al, John 12.7, 8. Sure it is, that although the wicked may die firming, and ſhall die in their ſins, John 5.21 and ſo be killed with death, as Jezebels children were, Rev. 2.23. Yet Gods children ſhall not dye before their time, Eccleſ. 7.17. or till the beſt time, till their work is done, Revel. 11.7. No malice of man or divel can antedate my end a minute (ſaith one), whileſt my maſter both work for me to do. It is the happineſſe of a Saint, that he is ſure not to die till that time, when, if he were but rightly informed, he would even deſire to die. Happy is he, that after due preparation is paſſed through the gates of death, ere he be aware, as Jobs children were.

Verſe 14. And there came a meſſenger] A ſad relater, not a divel in the ſhape of a man, as the Rabbines would have it (let that paſſe for a Jewiſh fable) but one of Jobs own ſervants, or ſome other eye-witneſſe, to make Job believe, belike, that as an evill man, he only ſought rebellion, ſith ſuch cruel meſſengers were ſent againſt him, Prov. 17.11.

The oxen were plowing, and the aſſes feeding &c.] i.e. We were none of us either idle, or ill-occupied: but taking pains, and tending our cattle, when this diſaſter befell us. Fools, becauſe of their tranſgreſſion, and becauſe of their iniquities, are afflicted, Pſalm 107.17. they create themſelves croſſes, ſuch as muſt therefore needs come with a ſting in them. See Gen. 42.21. But Jobs ſervants were honeſtly employed when plundered and aſſaſſined; which ſheweth, that his loſſes were not penall, but probationall.

And the aſſes feeding beſide them] Peter Martyr upon the firſt of Samuel, Com. in 1 Sam. 12. wittily applyeth this text to prelates and non-reſidents; who, when put in mind of their duty would uſually anſwer, that they had ſubſtitutes and curates to do their buſineſſe for them; It[illegible: 1 letter] labor aliorum eſt, & proventus ipſorum; So that others took the paines, and they the profit (ſaith he) and as it is in the book of Job, The axen plow, and the aſſes feed beſide them.

Verſe 15. And the Sabeans fell upon them] i.e.Sabai apud poetas molles vocantur: but Satan ſet them a work. B[illegible: 1 letter]eerw. Enquir 135. The Arabians a theeviſh people that lived by rapine and robbery. They are at this day called Saracens of Sarac to rob; for they keep up their old trade, and are not all out ſo good as thoſe Circaſſians, a [illegible: 1 letter]ind of mongrell-Chriſtians, who are ſaid to divide their life betwixt ſinne and devotion; dedicating their youth to rapine, and their old age to repentance.

Yea, they have ſlain the ſervants] Heb. The young men; for [non-Latin text not transcribed] &c. [illegible: 1 span]. It was happy howſoever, that they were taken away, when in their lawful [illegible: 1 letter]alling, and about their honeſt employments: Eliah choſe to be taken in ſuch a poſture: for he knew the very time: and yet when the charriots of heaven came to fetch him up, he was going and talking to his Scholar Eliſha. The buſie attendance on our holy vocation, is no leſſe pleaſing to God, or ſafe for us to die upon, then an immediate devotion. Happy is that ſervant, whom the Maſter when he cometh, ſhall find ſo doing.

And I only am eſcaped alone to tell thee] For no other cauſe eſcaped this one, this ſingle one, but to adde to Jobs affliction. There was no mercy in ſuch a ſparing: It was, that Job might have the ill newes brought him ſuddenly and certainly. That old man ſlayer had ſo contrived it for the greater miſchief.

Verſe 16. Whiles he was yes ſpeaking] See here we may, that miſeries many times ſtay not for a mannerly ſucceſſion to each other;Aliud ex alio malum. Terent. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Aciſtoph. but in a rude importunity throng in at once: Fluctus fluctum tr[illegible: 4 letters], one deep calleth to another; and as one ſhower is unburthened, another is brewed, Eccleſ. 12.2. It muſt not ſeeme ſtrange, but be joyous to Saints when they fall (or be precipitated, plunged) into divers [illegible: 1 letter]emptations, Jam. 1.2. For croſſes ſeldome come ſingle.

There came alſo another, and ſaid] Before Job could recollect and recover himſelf, or take breath: this was a ſore trial: It is a mercy that, we have ſome lucida intervalla, that the rod of the wicked doth not alwaies reſt on the lot of the righteous; that there are any interſpiri[illegible: 1 letter], and Halcyons, ſith here they muſt have it, or no where, Rev. 21.4.

The fire of God] This was more terrible then the former; becauſe God ſeemed to ſight againſt Job with his own bare hand, by fire from heaven; as once he did againſt Sod[illegible: 2 letters], Be not [illegible: 1 span] unto we, O Lord, ſaith Jeremy, chap. 17.17. And then I care nor though all the world ſet againſt me. If Marriners, in a tempeſt have ſea room enough, their is no fear ſo if men in afflictions can ſee and ſay, [illegible: 1 span]; and on the contrary,Heb. 10. it is fearfull to fall into the hands of the living God.

And hath [illegible: 1 word] up [illegible: 1 word] ] wherewith Job was wont to offer ſacrifice. It was great joy to thoſe in Joel, that God after a ſore and long famine, would yet leave a bleſſing behind him; even a meat-offering and a drink offering &c. Joel 2.14.

And thy ſervants.] Thoſe ſouls of men, as they are called, Rev. 18.13. This was a worſe loſſe then that of his ſheep.

And I only, &c.] See the Note on Verſe 15.

Verſe 17. While he was yet ſpeaking] See on Verſe 16.

The Chald[illegible: 1 letter]ans] A baſe and obſcure people from the beginning, ſubject to the Aſſyrians, but yet more potent then the Sabaans, as appeareth by the three bands they made out. The Sabaea[illegible: 1 letter]s are noted by Strabo to be an idle and effeminate people. The Chaldeans are ſet forth in the Scripture to be a bitter and haſty Nation, terrible and dreadfull, fiercer then the evening wolves, &c. Hab. 1.6, 7, 8. Satan proceeds by degrees to afflict Job, that he may at length over-turn him: but beyond expectation, he held out all aſſaults: Inſtar rupis qua in mari vadoſo horridi Jovu, & irati, ut it a dicam, Neptuni fervidis aſſultibus undique verberata non cedit aut minuitur, ſed obtendit aſſuetum luctibus latus, & firmâ duritie tumentis unde impetum ſuſti[illegible: 3 letters] ac frangit. J[illegible: 1 letter]an. Wower Polymath.

Made out three bands] Which were marſhalled and ſet in array by the Divel, who was their Commander in chief Sic ſape lo[illegible: 2 letters]catus incedit Satan, & cataphractus, as Luther ſpeaketh: he hath his Legions among men alſo, who (like thoſe vulturine Eagles Job 39.30.) do glut-glut blood, as the Hebrew word there ſoundeth and ſignifieth.

And fell upon the Camels] Heb. Spread themſelves over them, ruſhed and ran violently making an impreſſion upon the Camels.

And have carryed th[illegible: 1 letter]m away: Heb. Have taken them to themſelves, though Job had never dealt diſcourteouſly with theſe Chaldeans, nor had his Camels treſpaſſed them, but were carefully kept by the ſervants. Innocency is no target againſt injury; neither doth Victory alwayes argue a juſt Cauſe.

Yea, and ſlain the ſervants, &c.] See the Note on Ver. 15.

Verſe 18. While he was yet ſpeaking. See Verſ 16.

Thy ſons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine] This was the laſt, but not the leaſt of Satans aſſaults, reſerved purpoſely to the laſt, to cruſh him quite, when he was now ſpent and ſpiritleſſe, as he hoped. Let us look for like dealing, for a tough bout, at death howſoever: and be alwayes ready prepared for another and a worſe encounter.Seneca. It is ſaid of Caeſar, that he ſometimes put up, but ſeldom or never put off his Sword. It is ſaid of Qui Elizabeth, that in the greateſt calm ſhe provided for a ſtorm. It is ſaid or the b[illegible: 1 letter]rd Onocrotalus, that ſhe if ſo well practiſed to expect the Hawk to grapple with her, that even when ſhe ſhutteth her eyes, ſhe ſleepeth with her beak exalted, as if ſhe would contend with her adverſary. Should not we ſtand conſtantly upon our Guard, who have ſo reſtleſſe and pitileſſe an enemy?

Thy ſons and thy daughters &c.] Men may die then with the meat in their mouthes, and in the midſt of their mirth and jollity; as did Amnon, Elah, Balſhazzar. W[illegible: 1 letter]ether therefore we eat or drink &c. do all to the glory of God. 1 Cor. 10.31. Let there be holineſſe to the Lord written upon our pots, Zech 14.21. Let us eat, and drink, and ſleep eternal life. as a reverend Scotch Divine was ſaid to do. Jobs good heart aked and quaked (likely) at the hearing of this ſad newes, of ſo ſudden a death of his children, amidſt their merriments: for he uſed to ſay, when there was no ſuch danger. It may be, my ſons have ſinned, and curſed God in their hearts. Me thinks, I hear him ſaying, or rather ſighing out thoſe ſorrowfull words of Cratiſic[illegible: 3 letters] in Pl[illegible: 1 letter] tarch, Plut. in vit. Cleomenis. when ſhe ſaw her dear children ſlain afore her, Quò, pueri, eſt [illegible: 2 letters] profecti? Poor ſouls, what's become of you? See more on Verſe 13.

Verſe 19. And behold, there c[illegible: 1 letter]me a great wind] The Divel (doubtleſſe) was in this wind (as he is by divine permiſſion, the Prince of the power of the air, Eph. 2.2. and can thereby do much miſchief) what wonder then though it were a great wind, ſith ſpirited by him, and [illegible: 1 span] came on amaine, and with a [illegible: 1 word], as being driven on by the Divel It was a wonderfull wind (belike a whirlwind) and hath therefore a Behold ſet upon it; ſuch a wind as the Relator had never known before: The Rabbins ſay, that he was ſo affrighted with it, that no ſooner had he made an end of his report of it to [illegible: 1 span]. Sure it is, that he relateth the matter [illegible: 1 word] and graphically, with [illegible: 1 span], and without that moderation and making the beſt of things at firſt, as in ſuch caſes is uſuall, when parents are firſt made acquainted with the ſudden death of their children; or other ſad accidents that have befallen the[illegible: 1 letter]. This meſſenger cl[illegible: 1 letter]ttereth out all at once, being thereunto ſet on, and ſuborned by Satan (as Lava[illegible: 1 letter]er thinketh) to ſtirre up Jobs ſtomack, and to make him break off that ſo well-twiſted thred of his patience.

From the wilderneſſe] of Idumea, or Arabia, called deſerta. The divel, who haunteth dry and deſert places, was the Aeolus that ſent it. Let us bleſſe that God (the maker and maſter of theſe Meteors, and of all things elſe) who bindeth up ſuch an enemy and boundeth ſuch a power.

And ſmote the four corners of the houſe. This was extraordinary, and therefore the more dreadfull: God ſeeming to fulfil upon Job and his children, what he threatneth in the Law, Deut. 28.59. I will make their plagues wonderful. But what ſaith Solomon, and that after long debate with himſelf about occurrents of this nature? For all this I conſidered in mins heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wiſe, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth, either love or hatred, by all that is before them, Eccleſ. 9.1, 2 by externals we cannot judge aright of eternals. Let it be our care to lay hold on eternal li[illegible: 1 letter]e; and then ſudden death can do us no hurt; no gueſt cometh unawares to him who keeps a conſtants table.

And it fell upon the young men, and they are dead] No doubt but they were miſerably mawled and diſ-membred by the fall, ſo that they were pulled forth piecemeale, and it could hardly be known which was which as we ſay. The like death befell Scopa[illegible: 1 letter] (a rich and noble man of Th[illegible: 1 letter]ſſaly) together with his gueſts, all oppreſſed and ſlain together by the ruin of that room where, they were feaſting, and fearing no ſuch danger, as Tully telleth us; Simonides was at that feaſt, but was at that inſtant happily called out by two young men that came to ſpeak with him,Cic. lib. 2. de Orat[illegible: 1 letter]r. Acts & Mon. fol. 78[illegible: 1 letter]. Stones Chron. cont. by Hom▪ page 130. Luther had the like deliverance by a ſpecial providence, as Mr. Fox relateth. But ſo had not thoſe Londoners in the Reign of King Willi[illegible: 3 letters] the ſecond, who periſhed by a terrible tempeſt, which blew down ſuddenly ſix hundred and ſix houſes in that chief City. No more had thoſe that died by the fall of part of an houſe in Black-Friers, where and whiles Dru[illegible: 2 letters] a Popiſh Prieſt was preaching, who (together with an hundred more Papiſts his hearers) had there their paſport; this fell out in the year 1623. And the like we had lately at W[illegible: 1 letter]tney in Oxford-ſhire, where a ſcurrilous blaſphemous Comedy was by the fall of the room wherein in was acted, Feb. 3. 1652 turned into a Tragedy, as ending with the deaths of ſix, and hurts of about threeſcore, who were bruiſed and maimed, and ſome (as it were) half dead, carried away by their friends. The narrative whereof, together with what was preached there in three Sermons on that occaſion from Rom 1.18, is ſet forth by Mr. John Rowe (Lecturer in that town) in his book called Tragicomedia.

Verſe 20. Then Job aroſe and rent his mani[illegible: 1 letter]e] He ſtirred not at the three firſt dolefull tidings, but this fourth ſtartleth him; for he was neither a Stoick, nor a ſtock. His ſtrength was not the [illegible: 1 letter]ir ugth of ſtones, nor his [illegible: 1 letter]l[illegible: 1 letter]ſh of braſſe, chap 6.12. That he ſhould bear blowes, and never feel paine, or make moan; that he ſhould be ſilent in darkneſſe, 1 Sam. 2.9. and not cry when God bound him, Job 36.11. This Stoical apathy or indolency (condemning all affections in that their wiſe man, who, as Cicero very well ſaith, as yet was never found) Jeremiah juſtly complaineth of, Jer. 5.3. and the Peripatetickes utterly diſliked; teaching, that wiſedome doth not remove affections, but only reduce them to a mediocrity. Job kept the mean between deſpiſing the chaſtening of the Lord, and fainting when rebuked by him, Heb. 12.5When Germani[illegible: 2 letters] died, divers forraign Princes ſhaved their beards, to ſhew their grief. Su[illegible: 1 letter]ton, Legatur Hadr. Jun. com. de com[illegible: 1 letter], cap. 2. & 4. Plut. is Al[illegible: 3 letters] See my Livertokens, pag. 37.38. &c.

And ſhaved his head] In token of his very great ſorrow, ſee Jer. 7.29. Micah 1.16. Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children, enlarge thy baldneſſe as the Eagle. See the note there. Plutarch telleth us, that Alexander the great, at the Funeral of Epheſti[illegible: 1 letter]n his favourite, not only ſhaved himſelf, but clipped his horſes and mu[illegible: 1 letter]es haire; yea, he plucked down alſo the battlements of the walls of the City, that they might ſeem to mourn too: but this ſavour'd of too much [illegible: 1 letter]u[illegible: 2 letters]enneſſe. How much better his Macedonians, who being once ſenſible of his diſpleaſure, laid by their armes, put on their mourning attire, came [illegible: 3 letters]oping to his tent, where for almoſt three dayes they remained with loud cries, and abundance of tears, teſtifying their remorſe for offending him, beſeeching his pardon, which at laſt they gained. God calleth to baldneſſe for ſin, Iſa. 22.12. which in other caſes was forbidden, Lev. 19.27. and 21.5. Deut. 14.1. This Job performed here: for he knew that although God afflicteth ſometimes for his own glory, John 9.3. ſometimes for triall or exerciſe of his peoples graces; yet ſin is ever at the bottome as the meritorious cauſe of what they ſuffer; and if he did not duely conſider it before, Zophar gave him to underſtand that God exacted of him leſſe then his iniquity had deſerved, chap. 11.6.

And fell down upon the ground] This ſhewes that Job aroſe not before to this end, that with a ſtout and ſtubborn geſture of the body, he might withſtand God: but rather, that he might with greater lowlineſſe and humility ſubmit to his juſtice, and implore his mercy: He fell down upon the ground and worſhipped, ſaith the Text; that is, he fell upon the ground to worſhip. He fell not all along on the earth, as Saul did, out of deſpondency and deſpaire, after that he had heard the divell preaching his funerall, he lay like an oxe on the earth, in the fulneſſe of his ſtature, as the Original hath it, 1 Sam. 28.20. but, as humbling himſelf under the mighty hand of God, who would raiſe him up in due ſeaſon, 1 Pet. 5.6. and as reverently and religiouſly ſubmitting to his will. Mr. Caryl. ex Bolduc in loc. And it is probably obſerved (ſaith a late Expoſitor out of another) that the ancient Prophets and holy men were called Nephalim procidentes, or Proſtrantes, that is pr[illegible: 1 letter]ſtrates or Fallers downe, becauſe in their worſhip they uſually fell down upon the earth, to humble themſelves before the Lord.

Verſe 21. And ſaid] He lay not on the ground dumb as a ſtone, as it is ſaid of Nabal, 1 Sam. 25.37 Herod Hom. and fained of Niobe. He rageth not as Xerxes did, when he beat the Sea by way of revenge: neither vexeth himſelf without meaſure, as Achilles at the death of his friend Patroclus. He curſeth not God to his face (as Satan that old liar ſaid he would do) nor ſo much as the Sabees and Chaldees, or the divel the chief Enginere of his preſent ſufferings: but rejoycing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing inſtant in prayer he ſaid in the words of truth and ſoberneſſe.Rom. 12.12.

Naked came I out of my mothers womb.] Hence the Proverb, Nudus tanquam ex [illegible: 1 letter]atre, not having a ragge to my back, but ſtark naked, as ever I was born. Hither I came a pitiful poor deſtitute, ſhiftleſſe and forlorn creature, not having a croſſe to bleſſe my ſelf with, as they ſay: much leſſe, ſheep and oxen, children and ſervants &c.Pſal. 22.9, 10 howbeit God provided for me then; and as he took me out of the womb, ſo he made me to hope when I was upon my mothers breaſts. I was caſt upon him from the womb &c. And ſhall I now caſt away my confidence which hath ſo great recompenſe of reward? No, though he hath ſtripped me ſtark-naked, and left me with as little as he firſt found me, yet I will truſt in him. It is he that maketh poore, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up againe, 1 Sam. 2.7. The will of the Lord be done. Here I am, let the Lord do with me, that which is right in his own eyes, 2 Sam. 15.26. He is Lord Paramount, the true proprietary and Owner of all: I have been only his ſteward, his tenant at will.

Jamque meos dedo Domino tibijure pena[illegible: 1 letter]es: Tu mihi jus dederas, poſſe vocare Meos.

And naked ſhall I return thither again] ſc. to the womb of my Magna Paren[illegible: 1 letter], the earth,Magna paren[illegible: 1 letter] terra eſt. Ovid. fitly called a Mother, becauſe as thence we came in Adam, ſo there-hence ſhall we be born again (as it were) at the reſurrection; called therefore the Regeneration, Matth 19.28. for ſo ſome read the words there; Ye which have followed me, ſhall in the Regeneration (when the Son of man ſhall ſit in his glory) ſit upon twelve thrones &c. See Pſal. 2.7. with Acts 13.33. This Plato hammered at in his [non-Latin text not transcribed] or great Revolution. To the grave therefore, that womb of the earth, that Congregation houſe of all living, as Job elſwehere calleth it, chap. 30.23. ſhall I return, ſaith he; implying that our life is nothing but a coming and a returning. Repatriâſſe erit hoc, ſaith Bernard concerning death. It is but a coming and a going (ſaith a Divine) it is but a flood and an ebb, and then we are carried into the Ocean of Eternity. I read of one, who being asked what life was? made an anſwer anſwerleſſe; for he preſently turned his back, and went his way. The truth is, wee fetch here but a turn, and God ſaith, Return againe, Pſal. 90.3. To live, is but to lye a dying: the earth receiveth us like a kind mother into her entrailes; when we have a while troden her underfoot, we haſte to our long home, Eccleſ. 12.5. Heb. to our old home; ſc. to the duſt, from whence at firſt we were taken. Tremellius rendreth it in domum ſaeculi, to the houſe of our generation, where we and all our Contemporaries ſhall meet. Cajetan, in domum mundi, the houſe which the world provideth for us; and to this houſe (much in Jobs mind, and therefore he here ſaith Thither) this houſe of the grave (as the Chald[illegible: 1 letter]e paraphraſeth) men muſt return naked. As he came forth of his mothers womb, naked ſhall he return to go as he came (ſaith Solomon) and ſhall take nothing of his labour which he may carry away in his hand, Eccleſ. 5.15. Death as a porter, ſtands at the gate, and ſtrips men of all their worldly wealth, leaving them ne obolum quidem unde naulum ſolvant.

Haud ullas portabis opes Acherontis ad undas. Nudus ab inferna ſtulte vehêre rate.Propert.

Some have had great ſtore of gold and ſilver buried with them, but to ſmall purpoſe, more then to proclaim their own folly. Some wiſer then ſome: if I muſt leave all the reſt, yet this Ile take with me, ſaid a ſilly fellow, when giving up the Ghoſt, he clapt a twenty ſhillings piece of gold into his mouth. Athenaeus telleth of one,Rog. of Lou. that at the hour of his death, devoured many pieces of gold, and ſewed the reſt in his coat, commanding that they ſhould be all buried with him. Hermocrates being loth that any man ſhould enjoy his goods after him, made himſelf by will, heir of his own goods. Theſe muck-worms, like thoſe ten men Jer. 41.8. having treaſures in the field, of wheat, barley, oyle &c. are full loth to part with them: and having much cattle, as thoſe Reubenites and Gadites, Numb. 32.5. they would faine live ſtill on this ſide Jordan: having made their gold their God, they cannot think of parting with it: they would if poſſible, carry the world with them out of the world. But what ſaith the Apoſtle? We brought nothing with us into this world, and it is certain (ſee how he aſſevereth and aſſureth it, as if ſome rich wretches made queſtion of it) we can carry nothing out, nothing but a winding-ſheet;1 Tim. 6, 7. as Sultan Saladines ſhirt, which he commanded to be hung up at his buriall; a bare Prieſt going before the bier and proclaiming, Saladine the mighty Monarch of the Eaſt is gone, and taketh no more with him then what you here ſee. And to the ſame ſenſe the Poet ſpeaking of Annibal, ſaith, — modò quam fortuna ſovendo Congeſtis opibus doniſque refer ſit opimis, Nudum tartareâ portârit navita cymbâ.Sil. Ital.

The Lord gave] It is his bleſſing upon the diligent hand, that maketh rich, Pro. 10.22. as without that, all pains and policies are but arena ſine calce, ſand without lime, they will not hold together. Not only every perfect, (that is, ſpiritual bleſſings in heavenly things) but every good gift, that is, temporal bleſſings in creature-comforts, come from above, from the Father of lights, Jam. 1.17. as pledges of his love to thoſe that are his, and as an earneſt of better things hereafter, Pſal. 23.67. Gen. 27.28. God give thee the dew of heaven, ſaith Iſa[illegible: 1 letter]k to Jacob. Eſau likewiſe hath the like, but not with a God give thee; he profanely ſacrificed to his owne net, not having God in all his thoughts. He ſaid with that Aſſyrian, Iſai. 10.13. By the ſtrength of my hand have I done this: my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me all this wealth &c. Is not this great Babel that I have built &c? Job. Deut. 8.10, 11. uttereth no ſuch bubbles of words; he arrogateth nothing to himſelfe, but aſcribeth all to God, whom the heathens alſo acknowledge — [non-Latin text not transcribed],Hom. The giver of all Good.

And the Lord hath taken away] As well he might; for though I had the poſſeſſion, yet he hath the property; neither can he poſſibly do me wrong, ſith he is Lord of all, and may diſpoſe of me and mine as he pleaſeth. Hierome teacheth his friend Julian to ſay, Tuliſti liberos qu[illegible: 1 letter]s ipſe dedoras: non centriſtor quod recepiſti, ago gratias quòd dediſti: Thou haſt taken away the children which thou hadſt given me: I grieve not that thou haſt taken them, but give thee thanks for giving them.Vitam repoſcenti natura tanquam debitor bona fidei reddituras exult[illegible: 1 letter]. Ammi[illegible: 1 letter]n. l. 25. Julian that vile Apoſtate, ſaid at his death, I gladly render up my life to Nature requiring it; as a thankfull and faithfull debt[illegible: 1 letter]r. This was ſure, but a copy of his countenance, and meerly for a name. And what ſhall we think of Quin[illegible: 1 letter]us Fabius Maximus? who when he heard that his mother and wife whom he loved dearly, were ſlain by the fall of an houſe, and that his younger ſon, a brave hopefull young man, died the ſame time in Ʋmbria, he never changed his countenance (though his friends lamented the loſſe with many tears) but went on with the buſineſſes of the Common-wealth, as if no ſuch calamity had befallen him; was this patience or ſtupidity, whether? Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, Gal. 5.22. ſo that Aquinas needed not to have queſtioned, Aquin. 2, 2. q. 136. whether a man can have patience ſine auxilio gratiae, without the help of Gods grace. A natural man may, for ſiniſter ends, bite in his paine, as Marius did, when his leg was cut off by the Chirurgion; he may conceale his grief, as Mithridates did for a time; but all the while, he was in a kind of fever (Epialis the Phyſicians call it) wherein men be cold without, but hot as fire within. And the like we may judg of Philip the ſecond King of Spaine, who is ſaid to have born the loſſe of his invincible Armado that had been three years a rigging, with much patience, giving, and commanding to be given all over Spain, thanks to God and the Saints, that it was no more grievous. This was but a fained and a forced patience:Camd. Eliſ. 371. it was rather pertinacy then patience, it was an obſtinate ſtiffeneſſe of mind &c. Ye have heard of the patience of Job; and what was the ground of it? he beheld God in all, the Lord hath taken away; ſaith he: not a word of the Caldean and Sabean plunderers, not a tittle againſt the divel who had employed them: and why? Job eaſily diſcerned Gods arrowes in Satans hand, and Gods hand on the arms of thoſe that had robbed him, and wronged him: hence Taceo, Fero, Spero, was his motto. It is the Lord, ſaid Eli, when threatned with the loſſe of all. I was dumb (ſaith David) becauſe it was thy doing. So was Jacob for the ſame reaſon,1 Sam. 3.18. Pſal. 39. Gen. 34.5. in the rape of Dinah his only daughter, afterwards married to Job, ſay the Jew-Doctors. So was Aaron in the untimely end of his untowardly children, Lev. 10.3. So was Mauricius the good Emperour, when he ſaw his wife and children ſlain before his eyes by the traitor Phocas. And ſo was laſtly, that noble Lord of Pleſſis, who when he had loſt his only ſon (a Gentleman of marvellous great hope) in the Low-Countries, and ſhortly after, his Lady died of that griefe, hee took up thoſe words of David; See his life. I was ſilent, and ſaid no word, becauſe thou Lord hadſt done it.

Bleſſed be the Name of the Lord] As well for taking away, as for giving: This was a rare bird, that would thus ſing in winter. It is eaſie to ſwim in a warm bath, and every bird can ſing in a warm ſun-ſhine: but to bleſſe God heartily, when afflicted moſt heavily; this, this is the breathing of an excellent ſpirit: In every thing to give thanks, ô quam hoc non eſt omnìum! In this theme of bleſſing God for afflictions, alſo Baſil ſpendeth all his Sermon which he entitleth, Giving of thanks in all things; Chriſtianorum propria virtus eſt, ſaith Hierome, it is a vertue proper to true Chriſtians,Hicr. in Eph. 5. heartily, and not hollowly to give God thanks for croſſes, for it proceeds from the joy of faith, and ſome taſte of Gods fatherly care of us in our corrections. If good things befall thee, bleſſe God, and they ſhall be increaſed; if evill things, bleſſe God, and they ſhall be removed, ſaith Austin; of whom alſo it is reported, that he had alwaies in his mouth Deo gratias, Thanks be to God for whatſoever befalleth us. Si bona ded[illegible: 1 letter]rit D[illegible: 1 letter]us, grattas agi[illegible: 1 letter], & augebuntur &c. The Prophet, Pſalm 89.38. to 52. lamentably complaineth of the Churches miſeries, and yet concludeth, Bleſſed be the Lord for evermore: and this he doth, not formally and ſightly, but earneſtly, and with much affection. Lo, this is the guiſe of thoſe that be gracious. But how blank (think we) was the Divel, when hoping to heare Job blaſpheme God, he heareth him bleſſing Gods Name in this ſort, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: [non-Latin text not transcribed] Sept. bleſſed be the Name of the Lord? The Greek and Latine tranſlations inſert here another ſentence that is not found in the Hebrew verity; viz. even as it pleaſeth the Lord, ſo come things to paſſe. Our late Common-prayer-book alſo hath the ſame words in the form for Burial of the dead.

Verſe 22. In all this Job ſinned not] The Greek and Latine verſions adde here, with his lips: but I could rather be of Mercers judgement, who referreth the former part of this verſe to the mind, and the later to the mouth: ſhewing that Job neither thought in his heart, nor uttered with his mouth any thing unmeet and unworthy of God; inſomuch, that both within and without, he carried away the victory and conqueſt over Satan,B[illegible: 1 letter]z[illegible: 1 letter]. and ſo better deſerved to be Sainted then our Henry the ſixth, of whom the Chronicler writeth thus. This King in both eſtates ſo demeaned himſelfe, that he modeſtly carried the one, and moderately under-went the other: yea, ſuch was his deportment, that the inconſtancy of his ſtate could not alter the conſtancy of his minde; inſomuch, that one of his ſucceſſours,Dan. hiſt. contin. by Truſſel. King Henry the ſeventh, laboured for that onely vertue, to have him canonized for a Saint; and had obtained to have done it, had not the charges thereof ſo farre exceeded mediocrity, as to cauſe him to leave it undone. God himſelf hath here canonized, crowned and chronicled holy Job, for his many good properties before, and here for his humility and patience: The triall of his faith being much more precious then that of gold that periſheth, though it be tried with fire, is found to praiſe and honour and glory, 1 Pet. 1.7. It was a ſaying of Philoſtratus, that one Jupiter ſet out by Homer the Poet, was worth ten ſet out by Phydias the carver; becauſe the former flew abroad through all the world; whereas the other never ſtirred from his pediſtal at Athens: ſo one Job thus renowned by Gods owne pen, is farre beyond all that have been memorized in humane hiſtories for their aequanimity and conſtancy. In all this that Job ſuffered, acted, and uttered, he ſinned not, ſcil. ſinningly: he was not transformed into ſins image; he ſinned not by curſing God, as Satan hoped, and would have had it: or charged God fooliſhly, or with folly; with any thing inſolent, inſulſe, unſavory; he charged him not in the leaſt, to have dealt unwiſely or unworthily with him; and this is here mentioned, as Grace,Jam. 1.4. almoſt to a miracle, as Patience having her perfect work, and proving Job to be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.