Job 12 commentary

Job upbraids his friends with the good opinion they had of their own wisdom compared with his. We are apt to call reproofs reproaches, and to think ourselves mocked when advised and admonished; this is our folly; yet here was colour for this charge. He suspected the true cause of their conduct to be, that they despised him who was fallen into poverty. It is the way of the world. Even the just, upright man, if he comes under a cloud, is looked upon with contempt.

Job appeals to facts. The most audacious robbers, oppressors, and impious wretches, often prosper. Yet this is not by fortune or chance; the Lord orders these things. Worldly prosperity is of small value in his sight: he has better things for his children. Job resolves all into the absolute proprietorship which God has in all the creatures. He demands from his friends liberty to judge of what they had said; he appeals to any fair judgment. (Job 12:12-25)

This is a noble discourse of Job concerning the wisdom, power, and sovereignty of God, in ordering all the affairs of the children of men, according to the counsel of His own will, which none can resist. It were well if wise and good men, who differ about lesser things, would see how it is for their honour and comfort, and the good of others, to dwell most upon the great things in which they agree. Here are no complaints, or reflections. He gives many instances of God's powerful management of the children of men, overruling all their counsels, and overcoming all their oppositions. Having all strength and wisdom, God knows how to make use, even of those who are foolish and bad; otherwise there is so little wisdom and so little honesty in the world, that all had been in confusion and ruin long ago. These important truths were suited to convince the disputants that they were out of their depth in attempting to assign the Lord's reasons for afflicting Job; his ways are unsearchable, and his judgments past finding out. Let us remark what beautiful illustrations there are in the word of God, confirming his sovereignty, and wisdom in that sovereignty: but the highest and infinitely the most important is, that the Lord Jesus was crucified by the malice of the Jews; and who but the Lord could have known that this one event was the salvation of the world?

CHAPTER 12

FIRST SERIES.

Job 12:1-14:22. Job's Reply to Zophar

2. wisdom shall die with you--Ironical, as if all the wisdom in the world was concentrated in them and would expire when they expired. Wisdom makes "a people:" a foolish nation is "not a people" (Ro 10:19).

3. not inferior--not vanquished in argument and "wisdom" (Job 13:2).

such things as these--such commonplace maxims as you so pompously adduce.

4. The unfounded accusations of Job's friends were a "mockery" of him. He alludes to Zophar's word, "mockest" (Job 11:3).

neighbour, who calleth, &c.--rather, "I who call upon God that he may answer me favorably" [Umbreit].

5. Rather, "a torch" (lamp) is an object of contempt in the thoughts of him who rests securely (is at ease), though it was prepared for the falterings of the feet [Umbreit] (Pr 25:19). "Thoughts" and "feet" are in contrast; also rests "securely," and "falterings." The wanderer, arrived at his night-quarters, contemptuously throws aside the torch which had guided his uncertain steps through the darkness. As the torch is to the wanderer, so Job to his friends. Once they gladly used his aid in their need; now they in prosperity mock him in his need.

6. Job shows that the matter of fact opposes Zophar's theory (Job 11:14, 19, 20) that wickedness causes insecurity in men's "tabernacles." On the contrary, they who rob the "tabernacles" ("dwellings") of others "prosper securely" in their own.

into whose hand, &c.--rather, "who make a god of their own hand," that is, who regard their might as their only ruling principle [Umbreit].

7-8. Beasts, birds, fishes, and plants, reasons Job, teach that the violent live the most securely (Job 12:6). The vulture lives more securely than the dove, the lion than the ox, the shark than the dolphin, the rose than the thorn which tears it.

9. In all these cases, says Job, the agency must be referred to Jehovah, though they may seem to man to imply imperfection (Job 12:6; 9:24). This is the only undisputed passage of the poetical part in which the name "Jehovah" occurs; in the historical parts it occurs frequently.

10. the soul--that is, the animal life. Man, reasons Job, is subjected to the same laws as the lower animals.

11. As the mouth by tasting meats selects what pleases it, so the ear tries the words of others and retains what is convincing. Each chooses according to his taste. The connection with Job 12:12 is in reference to Bildad's appeal to the "ancients" (Job 8:8). You are right in appealing to them, since "with them was wisdom," &c. But you select such proverbs of theirs as suit your views; so I may borrow from the same such as suit mine.

12. ancient--aged (Job 15:10).

13. In contrast to, "with the ancient is wisdom" (Job 12:12), Job quotes a saying of the ancients which suits his argument, "with Him (God) is (the true) wisdom" (Pr 8:14); and by that "wisdom and strength" "He breaketh down," &c., as an absolute Sovereign, not allowing man to penetrate His mysteries; man's part is to bow to His unchangeable decrees (Job 1:21). The Mohammedan saying is, "if God will, and how God will."

14. shutteth up--(Is 22:22). Job refers to Zophar's "shut up" (Job 11:10).

15. Probably alluding to the flood.

16. (Eze 14:9).

18. He looseth the bond of kings--He looseth the authority of kings--the "bond" with which they bind their subjects (Is 45:1; Ge 14:4; Da 2:21).

a girdle--the cord, with which they are bound as captives, instead of the royal "girdle" they once wore (Is 22:21), and the bond they once bound others with. So "gird"--put on one the bonds of a prisoner instead of the ordinary girdle (Joh 21:18).

19. princes--rather, "priests," as the Hebrew is rendered (Psa 99:6). Even the sacred ministers of religion are not exempt from reverses and captivity.

the mighty--rather, "the firm-rooted in power"; the Arabic root expresses ever-flowing water [Umbreit].

20. the trusty--rather, "those secure in their eloquence"; for example, the speakers in the gate (Is 3:3) [Beza].

understanding--literally, "taste," that is, insight or spiritual discernment, which experience gives the aged. The same Hebrew word is applied to Daniel's wisdom in interpretation (Da 2:14).

21. Psa 107:40 quotes, in its first clause, this verse and, in its second, Job 12:24.

weakeneth the strength--literally, "looseth the girdle"; Orientals wear flowing garments; when active strength is to be put forth, they gird up their garments with a girdle. Hence here--"He destroyeth their power" in the eyes of the people.

22. (Da 2:22).

23. Is 9:3; Psa 107:38, 39, which Psalm quotes this chapter elsewhere. (See on Job 12:21).

straiteneth--literally, "leadeth in," that is, "reduces."

24. heart--intelligence.

wander in a wilderness--figurative; not referring to any actual fact. This cannot be quoted to prove Job lived after Israel's wanderings in the desert. Psa 107:4, 40 quotes this passage.

25. De 28:29; Psa 107:27 again quote Job, but in a different connection.

No doubt but ye are the people - Doubtless ye are the wisest men in the world; all wisdom is concentrated in you; and when ye die, there will no more be found on the face of the earth! This is a strong irony.

I am not inferior to you - I do not fall short of any of you in understanding, wisdom, learning, and experience.

Who knoweth not such things as these? - All your boasted wisdom consists only in strings of proverbs which are in every person's mouth, and are no proof of wisdom and experience in them that use them.

I am as one mocked of his neighbor - Though I am invoking God for help and salvation, yet my friends mock me in this most solemn and sacred work. But God answereth me.

The just upright man is laughed to scorn - This is a very difficult verse, on which no two critics seem to be agreed. Mr. Good translates the fourth and fifth verses thus: - "Thus brother is become a laughing-stock to his companions,

While calling upon God that he would succor him.

The just, the perfect man, is a laughing-stock to the proud,

A derision amidst the sunshine of the prosperous,

While ready to slip with his foot.

For a vindication of this version, I must refer to his notes. Coverdale gives at least a good sense. Thus he that calleth upon God, and whom God heareth, is mocked of his neighboure: the godly and innocent man is laughed to scorne. Godlynesse is a light despysed in the hertes of the rich; and is set for them to stomble upon. The fifth verse is thus rendered by Mr. Parkhurst: "A torch of contempt, or contemptible link, (see Isa 7:4; Isa 40:2, Isa 40:3), לעשתות leashtoth, to the splendours of the prosperous (is he who is) ready (נכון nachon, Job 15:23; Job 18:12; Psa 38:17) to slip with his foot." The general sense is tolerably plain; but to emendations and conjectures there is no end.

The tabernacles of robbers prosper - Those who live by the plunder of their neighbors are often found in great secular prosperity; and they that provoke God by impiety and blasphemy live in a state of security and affluence. These are administrations of Providence which cannot be accounted for; yet the Judge of all the earth does right. Therefore prosperity and adversity are no evidences of a man's spiritual state, nor of the place he holds in the approbation or disapprobation of God.

But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee - Mr. Good's paraphrase here is very just: "Why tell ye me that the Almighty hath brought this calamity upon me? Every thing in nature, the beasts of the field, the fowls of the heaven, every inhabitant of earth and sea, and every thing that befalls them, are the work of his hands; and every thing feels and acknowledges him to be the universal Creator and Controller. It is the common doctrine of all nature; but to apply it as ye would apply it to me, and to assert that I am suffering from being guilty of hypocrisy, is equally impertinent. He ordains every thing in wisdom as well as in power; but why events happen as they happen, why good and evil are promiscuously scattered throughout nature or human life, ye are as ignorant of as myself."

In whose hand is the soul of every living thing - נפש כל חי nephesh col chai, "the soul of all life."

And the breath of all mankind - ורוח כל בשר veruach col besar, "and the spirit or breath of all flesh." Does not the first refer to the immortal soul, the principle of all intellectual life; and the latter to the breath, respiration, the grand means by which animal existence is continued? See Job 10:1.

Doth not the ear try words? - All these are common-place sayings. Ye have advanced nothing new; ye have cast no light upon the dispensations of Providence.

With the ancient is wisdom - Men who have lived in those primitive times, when the great facts of nature were recent, such as the creation, fall, flood, confusion of tongues, migration of families, and consequent settlement of nations, had much knowledge from those facts; and their length of days - the many hundreds of years to which they lived, gave them such an opportunity of accumulating wisdom by experience, that they are deservedly considered as oracles.

With him is wisdom and strength - But all these things come from God; he is the Fountain of wisdom and the Source of power. He alone can give us unerring counsel, and understanding to comprehend and act profitably by it. See on Job 12:16 (note).

He breaketh down - He alone can create, and he alone can destroy. Nothing can be annihilated but by the same Power that created it. This is a most remarkable fact. No power, skill, or cunning of man can annihilate the smallest particle of matter. Man, by chemical agency, may change its form; but to reduce it to nothing belongs to God alone. In the course of his providence God breaks down, so that it cannot be built up again. See proofs of this in the total political destruction of Nineveh, Babylon, Persepolis, Tyre, and other cities, which have broken down never to be rebuilt; as well as the Assyrian, Babylonian, Grecian, and Roman empires, which have been dismembered and almost annihilated, never more to be regenerated.

He shutteth up a man - He often frustrates the best laid purposes, so that they can never be brought to good effect.

He withholdeth the waters - This is, I think, an allusion to the third day's work of the creation, Gen 1:9 : And God said, Let the waters be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear. Thus the earth was drained, and the waters collected into seas, and bound to their particular places.

Also he sendeth them out - Here is also an allusion to the flood, for when he broke up the fountains of the great deep, then the earth was overturned.

With him is strength and wisdom - עז ותושיה oz vethushiyah, strength and sufficiency. Strength or power, springing from an exhaustless and infinite source of potency. In the thirteenth verse it is said, With him is wisdom and strength; but the expressions are not the same, חכמה וגבורה chochmah ugeburah, intelligence and fortitude, or strength in action, the wisdom ever guiding the exertions of power; but here is strength or power in essence, and an eternal potentiality. With him is every excellence, in potentia and in esse. He borrows nothing, he derives nothing. As he is self-existent, so is he self-sufficient. We have had the word tushiyah before. See the note on Job 11:6.

The deceived and the deceiver are his - Some think this refers to the fall; even Satan the deceiver or beguiler, and Adam and Eve, the deceived or beguiled, are his. Satan, as this book shows, cannot act without especial permission; and man, whom the seducer thought to make his own property for ever, is claimed as the peculium or especial property of God, for the seed of the woman was then appointed to bruise the head of the serpent; and Jesus Christ has assumed the nature of man, and thus brought human nature into a state of fellowship with himself. Thus he who sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren; Heb 2:11.

He leadeth counsellors away spoiled - The events of war are also in his hand. It is he who gives victory; through him even the counsellors - the great men and chief men, are often led into captivity, and found among the spoils.

And maketh the judges fools - He infatuates the judges. Does this refer to the foolish conduct of some of the Israelitish judges, such as Samson?

He looseth the bond of kings - He takes away their splendid robes, and clothes them with sackcloth; or, he dissolves their authority, permits their subjects to rebel and overthrow the state, to bind them as captives, and despoil them of all power, authority, and liberty. Many proofs of this occur in the Israelitish history and in the history of the principal nations of the earth, and not a few in the history of Britain.

He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty - What multitudes of proofs of this does the history of the world present! Even the late disastrous war with the French republic and empire, which began in 1793, and continued without intermission till 1814, was afterwards renewed, and had a catastrophe that went nearly to ruin Europe. How many princes, or rather priests, כהנים cohanim, have been spoiled of their power, influence, and authority; and how many mighty men - captains, generals, admirals, etc., have been overthrown! But supposing that the writer of the Book of Job lived, as some think, after the captivity, how many priests were led away spoiled, both from Israel and Judah; and how many kings and mighty men were overthrown in the disastrous wars between the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Jews!

He removeth away the speech of the trusty - The faithful counsellor and the eloquent orator avail nothing: Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat; "God infatuates those whom he is determined to destroy." The writer might have had his eyes on Isa 3:1-3, which the reader will do well to consult.

The understanding of the aged - זקנים zekenim signifies the same here as our word elders or elder-men; which includes in itself the two ideas of seniority, or considerably advanced age, and official authority. These can do no more to save a state which God designs to destroy, notwithstanding their great political wisdom and knowledge, than the child who can neither reason nor speak.

He poureth contempt upon princes - נדיבים nedibim, "those of royal extraction;" widely different from the כהנים cohanim mentioned Job 12:19.

Weakeneth the strength of the mighty - אפיקים aphikim, the compact; the well-strung together; the nervous and sinewy. Perhaps there is a reference here to the crocodile, as the same term is applied, Job 40:13, to the compactness of his bones: and as רפה מזיח rippah meziach, which we translate weakeneth the strength, signifies more properly looseth the girdle, as the margin has properly rendered it, the reference seems still more pointed; for it is known that "the crocodile, from the shoulders to the extremity of the tail, is covered with large square scales, disposed like parallel girdles, fifty-two in number. In the middle of each girdle are four protuberances, which become higher as they approach the end of the tail, and compose four rows." See the quotation in Parkhurst, under the word אפק drow eh aphak. What is human strength against this? We may say as the Lord said, Job 40:19 : He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him. He alone can loose the girdles of this mighty one.

He discovereth deep things out of darkness - This may refer either to God's works in the great deep, or to the plots and stratagems of wicked men, conspiracies that were deeply laid, well digested, and about to be produced into existence, when death, whose shadow had hitherto concealed them, is to glut himself with carnage.

He increaseth the nations - Mr. Good translates, He letteth the nations grow licentious. Pride, fullness of bread, with extensive trade and commerce, produce luxury; and this is ever accompanied with profligacy of manners. When, then, the cup of this iniquity is full, God destroys the nation, by bringing or permitting to come against it a nation less pampered, more necessitous, and inured to toil.

He enlargeth the nations - Often permits a nation to acquire an accession of territory, and afterwards shuts them up within their ancient boundaries, and often contracts even those. All these things seem to occur as natural events, and the consequences of state intrigues, and such like causes; but when Divine inspiration comes to pronounce upon them, they are shown to be the consequence of God's acting in his judgment and mercy; for it is by him that kings reign; it is he who putteth down one and raiseth up another.

He taketh away the heart of the chief - Suddenly deprives the leaders of great counsels, or mighty armies of courage; so that, panic-struck, they flee when none pursueth, or are confounded when about to enter on the accomplishment of important designs.

And causeth them to wander in a wilderness - A plain allusion to the journeyings of the Israelites in the deserts of Arabia, on their way to the promised land. Their chief, Aaron, had his courage all taken away by the clamors of the people; and so made them a molten calf to be the object of their worship, which defection from God was the cause of their wandering nearly forty years in the trackless wilderness. The reference is so marked, that it scarcely admits of a doubt; yet Houbigant and some others have called it in question, and suppose that those chiefs or heads of families which led out colonies into distant parts are principally intended. It answers too well to the case of the Israelites in the wilderness to admit of any other interpretation.

They grope in the dark - The writer seems to have had his eye on those words of Moses, Deu 28:28, Deu 28:29 : The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt Grope At Noonday, as the Blind Gropeth In Darkness. And this also may refer to the unaccountable errors, transgressions, and judicial blindness of the Israelites in their journeying to the promised land: but it will apply also to the state of wicked nations under judicial blindness. The writer is principally indebted for his imagery, and indeed for the chief expressions used here, to Psa 107:27 : They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man. Psa 107:39, Psa 107:40 : Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. He Poureth Contempt Upon Princes, and Causeth Them To Wonder In The Wilderness, where there is No Way. Mr. Good has some judicious reflections on this chapter, particularly on Job 12:13-22 : "It should be observed," says he, "that the entire passage has a reference to the machinery of a regular and political government; and that its general drift is to imprint on the mind of the hearer the important doctrine that the whole of the constituent principles of such a government, its officers and institutions; its monarchs and princes; its privy-counselors, judges, and ministers of state; its chieftains, public orators, and assembly of elders; its nobles, or men of hereditary rank; and its stout robust peasantry, as we should express it in the present day; nay, the deep designing villains that plot in secret its destruction; - that the nations themselves, and the heads or sovereigns of the nations, are all and equally in the hands of the Almighty: that with him human pomp is poverty; human excellence, turpitude; human judgment, error; human wisdom, folly; human dignity, contempt; human strength, weakness."

Ye - You have engrossed all the reason of mankind; and each of you has as much wisdom as an whole people put together. All the wisdom which is in the world, lives in you, and will be utterly lost when you die. When wise and good men die, it is a comfort to think that wisdom and goodness do not die with them: it is folly to think, that there will be a great, irreparable loss of us when we are gone, since God has the residue of the spirit, and can raise up others more fit to do his work.

But - In these things, which he speaks not in a way of boasting, but for the just vindication both of himself, and of that cause of God, which for the substance of it he maintained rightly, as God himself attests, chap.42:7. Such things - The truth is, neither you nor I have any reason to be puffed up with our knowledge of these things: for the most barbarous nations know that God is infinite in wisdom, and power, and justice. But this is not the question between you and me.

Upon God - Even by my religious neighbours, by those who call upon God, and not in vain; whose prayers therefore I covet, not their reproaches. The just - I, who, notwithstanding all their hard censures dare still own it, that through God's grace I am an upright man.

Slip with his feet - And fall into trouble; tho' he had formerly shone as a lamp, he is then looked upon as a lamp going out, as the snuff of a candle, which we throw to the ground and tread upon; and accordingly is despised in the thought of him that is at ease.

Are secure - Job's friends had all supposed, that wicked men cannot prosper long in the world. This Job opposes, and maintains, that God herein acts as sovereign, and reserves that exact distribution of rewards and punishments for the other world.

But - If thou observest the beasts, and their properties and actions, and events, from them thou mayst learn this lesson: that which Zophar had uttered with so much pomp and gravity, chap.11:7,8,9, concerning God's infinite wisdom, saith Job, thou needest not go into heaven or hell to know. but thou mayst learn it even from the beasts.

Lord - This is the only time that we meet with the name Jehovah in all the discourses between Job and his friends. For God in that age was more known by the name of Shaddai, the Almighty.

Doth not - This may be a preface to his following discourse; whereby he invites them to hear and judge of his words candidly and impartially; that they and he too might agree in disallowing what should appear to be false, and owning of every truth.

Wisdom - These words contain a concession of what Bildad had said, chap.8:8,9, and a joining with him in that appeal; but withal, an intimation that this wisdom was but imperfect, and liable to many mistakes; and indeed mere ignorance and folly, if compared with the Divine wisdom, and therefore that antiquity ought not to be received against the truths of the most wise God.

No opening - Without God's permission. Yea, he shuts up in the grave, and none can break open those sealed doors. He shuts up in hell, in chains of darkness, and none can pass that great gulf.

The waters - Which are reserved its the clouds, that they may not fall upon the earth. They - The waters upon the earth, springs, and brooks, and rivers. As at the time of the general deluge, to which here is a manifest allusion.

With him - The same thing he had said before, ver.13, but he repeats it here to prepare the way for the following events, which are eminent instances, both of his power and wisdom. Are his - Wholly subject to his disposal. He governs the deceiver and sets bounds to his deceits, how far they shall extend; he also over - rules all this to his own glory, and the accomplishment of his righteous designs of trying the good, and punishing wicked men, by giving them up to believe lies. Yet God is not the author of any error or sin, but only the wise and holy governor of it.

Spoiled - The wise counsellors or statesmen, by whom the affairs of kings and kingdoms are ordered, he leadeth away as captives in triumph, being spoiled either of that wisdom which they had, or seemed to have; or of that power and dignity which they had enjoyed. Fools - By discovering their folly, and by infatuating their minds, and turning their own counsels to their ruin.

Looseth - He freeth them from that wherewith they bind their subjects to obedience, their power and authority, and that majesty which God stamps upon kings, to keep their people in awe. Girdeth - He reduces them to a mean and servile condition; which is thus expressed, because servants did use to gird up their garments (that after the manner of those parts were loose and long) that they might be fitter for attendance upon their masters: he not only deposes them from their thrones, but brings them into slavery.

The speech - By taking away or restraining the gift of utterance from them. Or, by taking away their understanding which should direct their speech. Trusty - Of those wise and experienced counsellors, that were trusted by the greatest princes.

Darkness - The most secret counsels of princes, which are contrived and carried on in the dark.

Nations - What hitherto he said of princes, he now applies to nations, whom God does either increase or diminish as he pleases.

Grope - Thus are the revolutions of kingdoms brought about by an overruling providence. Heaven and earth are shaken: but the Lord remaineth a king forever.

2. No doubt, but ye are the people , and wisdom shall die with you .

You three, and you onely are the people; i. e. people of all people for eminency of wisdom, the onely company of reasonable Creatures, all others are but fools or beasts: You have engrossed all the reason of Mankind; and each of you have as much wisdom as an whole people put together. It is an Ironical Expression, as the next Verse sheweth.

All the wisdom and knowledge of divine things which is in the World, lives in you, and will die and be utterly lost when you die. This you think of your selves; and this makes you so confidently and peremptorily deliver your Opinions, and give Laws to me and all mankind, and even to God himself.

3. But I have an understanding as well as ye, I am not inferiour to you : yea, who knoweth not such things as these ?

Heb. an heart; which is oft put for the understanding; as Iob 34. 34 Ier 5. 21. Acts. 8. 22. i. e. God hath given me also the knowledge and ability to judge of these matters.

In these things; which he speaketh, no[illegible: 1+ letters] in a way of vain-glorious boasting, but for the just and [illegible: 1 word] vindication, both of himself and of that cause of God, which for the matter and substance of i[illegible: 1+ letters] he maintained as God himself attests, Iob 42. 7

The truth is, neither you nor I have any re[illegible: 1+ letters]son to be puffed up with our knowledge of these thing[illegible: 1+ letters]: For the most foolish and barbarous Nations know that God is Infinit[illegible: 1+ letters] in Wisdom, and Power, and Justice. But this is not the question between you and me.

Marginal references: C[illegible: 1+ letters]. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. 2.; [illegible: 1 word].; [illegible: 1 span]; [illegible: 1 span]

4▪ I am as one mocked of his neighbour , who [illegible: 1 word] up in God, and he answereth him : the just upright man is laughed to scorn .

Heb. I am a derision (the Infinitive being put for a Noun, as is usual both in the Hebrew and other Languages) to my neighbour; i. e to th[illegible: 1+ letters]se three who have pretended and would be though[illegible: 1+ letters] to be my Friends and Neighbours; whom therefore such carriage doth very ill become: Instead of supporting & comforting me, they make a sport and scorn of me.

This who belongs either 1. to Iob, who here declares his own practice in this case; when you mock me. I go to God with my Complaints and Prayers, and he hears me, though you will not. But this seems not to agree either with the Context, or with other passages of Iob; in which he constantly complains, that God did not hear nor regard his prayers, nor pity and help him. Or 2. to Iob's Friends; and so this is either 1. an aggravation of their Crime, that they should mock him who made a great profession of Religion, who used [illegible: 1+ letters]uly to call upon God, and to receive answers from him, and therefore should have carried themselves more piously and charitably, and compassionately towards their miserable Brother. Or 2. as the reason of their mockage of Iob, because God who neglected Iob's prayers, heard theirs, and gave them those mercies for which they pra[illegible: 1+ letters]ed; and therefore being themselves well and at ease, they were hard-hearted towards their poor afflicted Brother, as the manner of men is. This seems to suit well with the following Verse. Or 3. as an Argument against their scorning or slighting of him; God hears you when you pray, therefore you should turn your mocks of me into prayers for me; and you should pity me, whom God doth not hear when I pray: and as God hears you, so you should hear and comfort me, when I pour out my Complaints to you. But these words may be brought in mimetically, as being some of their scoffing words: They say of me, Let him call upon God, and God will hear him: For so they had suggested to Iob, Ch. 5. 8. & 8. 5. &c. & 11. 13. But this, saith Iob, I take for a piece of mockery, and insulting over my Miseries: For I know by sad experience, and they see the contrary, that though I call and cry again and again, yet God hath no regard to me.

i. e. I, who, notwithstanding all their hard censures and reproaches, must and dare still own it, that through God's grace I am a just and upright man, am derided by them. This he repeats again because it was very grievous and burdensom to him.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span].; [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters]4. 2.

5. He that is ready to slip with his feet , is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at [illegible: 1+ letters]ase .

i. e. The just man last mentioned who is upon the brink of the Pit or Grave, ready to fall into mischief, so as never to rise again in this World, which is my case, and the occasion of their scorn and contempt.

i. e. Like a Lamp or Torch, which whilst it shines clearly and in a dark Night is very useful and comfortable, but when it draws towards an end, and is nigh extinct, and in the light, is neglected and despised, as that which is unnecessary and troublesom, and offensive So the same man, who, when his Feet stand fast in a prosperous Condition, is magnified and adored by all: When his feet slip or stumble, as the Phra[illegible: 1+ letters]e is, Psalm 94. 18. Ier. 13. 16. when he is in misery, is commonly forsaken and despised.

i. e. In the Opinion of a man that lives in great case and outward happiness; which generally makes persons to forget and despise those who are in affliction. But these words are a little otherwise rendred, and that agreeably to the order of the words in the Hebrew Text, He (which is easily understood out of verse 4. the just and upright man) is as a T[illegible: 1+ letters] despised in the opnion or thought, (as this or the like words coming from the same Hebrew Root are used, Psalm 146. 4. Dan 6. 3. I[illegible: 1+ letters]n. 1. 6. Or because of the splendor; for so this Root and its Derivatives elsewhere signifie, as Cant. 5. 14. Ier. 5. 28. Ezek. 27. 19 And either of these significations agree well with the place. Or, compared with the splendor, or greater luster and glory) of him that li[illegible: 1+ letters]s in tranquillity; [illegible: 1+ letters]e, (i. e. the just man) is (or, [illegible: 1 word] he is: for this may be the reason of the contempt) ready to slip with his foot; i. e. ready to perish.

6. The tabernacles of robbers prosper , and they that provoke God are secure ; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly .

Thy Opinion delivered Chap. 11. 14, &c. is confuted by daily experience; which shews that the most wicked and injurious, and impudent Oppressors, Tyrants and Robbers, are so far from meeting with those Disappointments and Miseries, wherewith thou didst threaten them▪ that they commonly succeed in their cursed Enterprizes, and flourish in Wealth and Glory, and fill their Houses with the Goods of others which they violently took away; whereof the Chaldeans and Sabeans, ch. 1. 15. 17. are a present and pregnant Evidence.

They whose common practice it is to despise and provoke God, are confident and secure, live without danger or fear.

So far is God from crushing such persons, that he seems to favour them with wonderful success, and by his special and more than common Providence, puts into their hands the opportunities which they seek, and the persons and goods of other more righteous men which they lie in wait for.

Marginal references: Ch. 21. 7. Psal. 37. 1. 35. & 92. 7. Jer. 12. 1. Mal. 3. 15.

7. But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee ; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee.

To wit, objectively; i. e. If thou observest the Beasts and their Properties and Actions▪ and Events,▪ from them thou mayst learn this Lesson: What Lesson? I answer, Either 1. that which was last mentioned, v. 5. God's Providence doth order things in the like manner among the very Beasts, and Fowls and Fishes; of which the most ravenous and mischievous fare the best, whilest those which are more harmless, and serviceable, and beneficial to men, meet with the hardest usage. Or 2. That which Zophar had uttered with so much pomp and gravity, Chap. 11. 7, 8, 9. concerning God's Infinite Wisdom, which, saith Iob, thou needest not go into Heaven or Hell to know, but thou mayst learn it even from the Beasts, &c.

9. Who knoweth not in all these , that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this ?

Or, by all these Brute-creatures.

That God by his power and wisdom hath created and ordered all this which is in them, or is done by and among them.

10. In whose hand is the soul of every living thing , and the breath of all mankind.

i. e. At whose absolute disposal it is to give it, or take it away when and how it seemeth good to him.

The Life, or the Soul the Principle of Life.

i. e. Of all unreasonable Creatures, of which he spoke v. 7. opposed to man in the last words.

Or, the spirit, as that word is commonly used; i. e. the Immortal Soul; which is no less a Creature, and in Gods power to dispose of it, than the Animal Soul of unreasonable Creatures.

Marginal references: Num. 16. 22.; Or, life.; Heb. all flesh of man.

11. Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth tast his meat

As the Mouth tasteth and thereby judgeth of Meats, and as it liketh or disliketh, so it receiveth or rejecteth what is put into it; so it is the Office of the Ear, or rather of the Mind, which hears and receives the Opinions and Discourses of others by the Ear, not rashly to approve or condemn every thing which it hears, but diligently and thoroughly to search and try whether it be true, and so to be embraced; or false, and to be rejected. Interpreters are much puzzled about the connexion and design of these words: But they seem to be either 1. An Apology for himself, why he did not comply with their Opinion and Arguments, because they did not suit with his Ear or Mind; and though he had considered and tried them, he could not discern any weight in them. Or, rather 2. a Reproof to his Friends, that they did so hastily condemn his Person and his Doctrine without a strict and serious enquiry. Or, 3. a Preface to his following Discourse; whereby he invites them to hear and judge of his Words and Arguments more candidly and impartially; and not to scorn all that he said because of his present poverty and misery, as men a[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1+ letters]ase use to do; nor to cast away the good for any mixture, of bad with it; but calmly to weigh and debate things both within and among themselves and with him, that they and he too might all agree in disallowing whatsoever should appear to be false, and owning of every truth.

Marginal references: Chap. 34. 3.; Heb. p[illegible: 1+ letters]late. Chap. 6. 30.

12. With the ancient is Wisdom, and in length of days Understanding .

These words contain a concession of what Bildad had said, ch. 8. 8, 9. and a joining with him in that appeal; but withal, an intimation, that this Wisdom was but sinite, and imperfect, and liable to many mistakes; and indeed meer Ignorance and Folly, if compared with the divine Wisdom, of which he speaks in the next and following Verses. And therefore that antiquity which they pretended for their Opinion, ought not to be received against the Oracles or Truths of the eternal and most wise God.

13. With him is Wisdom and strength, he hath Counsel and Understanding .

i. e. With God; the Relative being put for the Antecedent, which is easily and necessarily understood out of the scope of the place, and all the following Verses.

Perfect Wisdom is only in him, and all Wisdom in the World cometh from him, who giveth to old or young as i[illegible: 1+ letters] pleaseth him: The ancient are not wise without his Gi[illegible: 1+ letters] and G[illegible: 1+ letters]ce, and with that a younger Man may be wiser than the Ancients, [illegible: 1 word] David was, Psal. 119. 100.

Counsel, i. e. Practical Wisdom to guide all the Affairs of the World, and Understanding, or a speculative knowledge of all persons and things.

Marginal references: That is, with God.; Chap. 36. 5.

14. Behold, he breaketh down , and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening .

To wit▪ Houses, Castles, Cities, which God designeth to destroy utterly.

If he will shut up a man in Prison, or in any straits or troubles.

Without Gods Permission and Providence.

Marginal references: Chap. 11. 10.; [illegible: 1 word]. 22. 22. Rev. 3. 7.; Heb. upon.

15. Behold, he withholdeth the waters , and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the Earth.

Which are reserved in the Clouds, that they may not fall upon the Earth.

i. e. The Waters upon the Earth, Ponds, and Springs, and Brooks, and Rivers.

16. With him is strength and Wisdom : the deceived and the deceiver are his .

He doth the things here mentioned in the foregoing and succeeding Verses, and that both powerfully, so as no Creature can resist and hinder him, and wisely so as none can prevent and overreach him. The same thing he had said before, v. 13. but he repeats it here to prepare the way for the following events, which are eminent Instances, both of his Power and Wisdom

i. e. From or by him, and wholly subject to his disposal. That one man deceiveth another, and that the other is deceived by him, either in Divine, or Civil and Worldly things, (which seem to be principally intended here by comparing the following Verses;) this is from God, and by the conduct of his wise and powerful Providence. God giveth to the deceiver more Wit, and Knowledge, and Art, and withal opportunity, and all favourable Circumstances for his deceit. He also gives less Understanding to the deceived, and withdraws from him either wholly, or in part, that common light of discretion, which is his free Gift, and he may justly give, or take away as he pleaseth, and leaves him to his own Ignorance and Errour, Pride and Self-conceit, and to all those Prejudices, Passions, and Lusts, which commonly corrupt mens Minds, and to the Power and Crafts of Satan, that grand deceiver. He governs the Deceiver, and sets bounds to his Deceits, to whom, and when, and how far they shall extend, as is manifest from Deut. 13. 1. 1 King. 22. 20. Isa. 19. 14. Ezek. 14. 9. Mat. 24. 24. 2 Thes. 2. 11. Rev. 20. 3, 8. He also over-rules all this to his own Glory, and the accomplishment of his righteous Designs of trying the good, and punishing wicked men, by giving them up to believe Lies. Yet God is not the cause or Author of any error or sin, but only the wise and holy Governour and Disposer of it.

17. He leadeth Counsellors away spoiled , and maketh the Judges Fools

The wise Counsellors or Statesmen, by whom the affairs of Kings and Kingdoms are ordered, he leadeth away as Captives in triumph, being s[illegible: 1+ letters]oiled either of that Wisdom which they had, or seemed or pretended to have; or of that Power and dignity which they had enjoyed.

Partly by discovering their Folly; and partly by infatuating their Minds and turning their own Counsels to their ruine: Of which see 2 Sam. 15. 31. & 17. 14, 23. Isa. 19. 11. 1 Cor. 1. 19.

18. He looseth the Bond of Kings , and girdeth their Loins with a Girdle .

Either 1. Passively, whereby they are bound. He freeth them from Prison or restraint. Or rather 2. Actively, that wherewith they bind their Subjects to Obedience, to wit, their Power and Authority, and that Majesty which God stamps upon Kings, to keep their People in awe: All which God can, and oft doth take away from them, and freeth the People from their Bonds, when it pleaseth him: Of which all Histories give Instances. See Da[illegible: 1+ letters]. 2. 21.

Either 1. With a Girdle of Dignity and Glory, which was put upon the Loins of men in great Honour and Authority, as Isa. 11. 5. and 22. 21. Ier. 13. 1, 2. So this Member of the Verse is opposite to the former, and the sense of the whole is, he either casteth down Kings or raiseth them up, as he pleaseth. But the Scripture no where mentions this Girdle as one of the Ornaments of Kings. Or rather, 2. With a servile Girdle: For seeing all, both the foregoing and succeeding passages do evidently nore acts of Judgment or punishments, in[illegible: 1+ letters]icted upon them, it seems improper to understand this alone of an act of Gods favour to them. So the sense is, He reduceth them into a mean and servile condition; which is thus expressed because Servants did use to gird up their Garments (which after the manner of those parts and time were loose and long) that they might be fitter for attendance upon their Masters; of which see Luk. 12. 37. & 17. 8. And so this is an amplification of the former sentence. He not onely deposeth them from their Thrones, but brings them into Bondage and Slavery.

19. He leadeth Princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty.

So this word, which usually signifies Priests, is oft used, as Gen. 41. 45. & 47. 22, 26. Exod. 2. 16. 2 Sam. 8. 18. Compared with 1 Chron. 18. 17.

20. He removeth away the Speech of the trusty , and taketh away the Understanding of the aged.

Either 1. By taking away or restraining the Gift of utterance from them that they should not be able to express their thoughts with such clearness and Power, as they used to do; which God oft doth to wise and eloquent men. Or 2. By bringing them into such straits and troubles that they know not what to say or advise. Or 3. By taking away their Understanding which should suggest and direct their Speech, as it here follows. Or, 4. By permitting them to betray their trust, and either not to speak when they should, or to speak otherwise than they should, and to use their Wit and Rhetorick, not to direct, but to deceive, and so destroy a Prince.

i. e. Of those wise and eloquent Counsellors, that were, and for their great abilities might be trusted by the greatest Princes with all their affairs.

Marginal references: Chap. 32. [illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ Isa. 3. 2. 3.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] of the [illegible: 1 word] ▪

21. He poureth contempt upon Princes , and weakneth the strength of the Mighty.

i. e. He makes them contemptible to their Subjects and others.

Heb. He looseth the Girdle. Which Phrase signifies weakness, as Isa. 5. 27. as the girding of the Girdle notes strength and Power, as Isa. 22. 21. & 45. 5. Both these Phrases being taken from the quality of their Garments, which being loose and long, did disenable, a man for Travel or Work.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]; Or, [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] of the [illegible: 1 word].

22. He discovereth deep things out of Darkness and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

i. e. The most secret and crafty Counsels of Princes, which are contrived and carried on in the dark.

Marginal references: Chap. 23. 3. Dan. 2. 22. Mat. 10. 26. 1 Cor. 4. 5.

23. He encreaseth the Nations, and destroyeth them : he enlargeth the Nations and straitneth them again .

What hitherto he said of Princes, he now applies to Nations and People, whom God doth either increase or diminish, as he pleaseth.

He multiplies them so that they are forced to send forth Colonies into other Lands.

Or, leadeth them in: or, bringeth them back into their own Land, and confineth them there.

Marginal references: Psa. 107. 23.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

24. He taketh away the Heart of the chief of the People of the Earth, and causeth them to wander in a Wilderness where there is no way .

Which signifies either 1. Their Courage, as Psal. 76. 12. or rather 2. Their Wisdom and Counsel, as Iob 5. 13 Isa. 3. 4. as the following words shew.

Either for place and Power: or for Wisdom and Conduct.

i. e. Fills them with confusion, and uncertainty, and perplexity of mind, so that they know not how to govern themselves or their People.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word]; Psa. 107. 40.

25. They grope in the dark without light , and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man .

Like men that cannot see their way.

Two Phrases expressing the same thing, emphatically to express their pro[illegible: 1+ letters]ound darkness.

Who reels hither and thither without any certainty. So they sometimes take one course and sometimes another, as resolving to try all experiments, and indeed not knowing what to do.

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

Job 12:1-3   1  The Job began, and said:   2  Truly then ye are the people,

And wisdom shall die with you!   3  I also have a heart as well as you;

I do not stand behind you;

And to whom should not such things be known?

The admission, which is strengthened by כּי אמנם, truly then (distinct from אמנם כּי, for truly, Job 36:4, similar to כּי הנּה, behold indeed, Psa 128:4), is intended as irony: ye are not merely single individuals, but the people = race of men (עם, as Isa 40:7; Isa 42:5), so that all human understanding is confined to you, and there is none other to be found; and when once you die, it will seem to have died out. The lxx correctly renders: μὴ ὑμεῖς ἐστὲ ἄνθρωποι μόνοι (according to the reading of the Cod. Alex.); he also has a heart like them, he is therefore not empty, נבוב, Job 11:12. Heart is, like Job 34:10, comp. נלבב, Job 11:12, equivalent to νοῦς διάνοια; Ewald’s translation, “I also have a head even as you” (“brains” would better accord with the connection), is a western form of expression, and modern and unbiblical (vid., Division ”Herz und Haupt,” Psychol. iv. §12). He is not second to them; מן נפל, like Job 13:2, properly to slip from, to be below any one; מן is not the comparative (Ewald). Oetinger’s translation is not bad: I cannot slink away at your presence. Who has not a knowledge of such things as those which they, by setting themselves up as defenders of God, have presented to him! אתּי היה is equivalent to ידעתּי, σύνοιδα, Isa 59:12.

Job 12:4-6   4  I must be a mockery to my own friend,

I who called on Eloah and He heard me;

A mockery - the just, the godly man.   5  Contempt belongs to misfortune, according to the ideas of the prosperous;

It awaits those who are ready to slip.   6  Tents of the destroyer remain in peace,

And those that defy God are prosperous,

Who taketh Eloah into his hand.

The synallage of לרעהוּ for לרעי is not nearly so difficult as many others: a laughing-stock to his own friend; comp. Isa 2:8, they worship the work of their (his) own hands (ידיו). “One who called on Eloah (לאלוהּ, for which לאלוהּ is found in lxx at Job 36:2) and He heard him” is in apposition to the subject; likewise תמים צדיק, which is to be explained according to Pro 11:5, צדיק (from צדק, Arab. ṣdq, to be hard, firm, stiff, straight), is one who in his conduct rules himself strictly according to the will of God; תמים, one whose thoughts are in all respects and without disguise what they should be-in one word: pure. Most old translators (Targ., Vulg., Luther) give לפּיד the signification, a torch. Thus e.g., Levi v. Gerson explains: “According to the view of the prosperous and carnally secure, he who is ready for falterings of the feet, i.e., likely to fall, is like a lighted torch which burns away and destroys whatever comes in contact with it, and therefore one keeps aloof from him; but it is also more than this: he is an object of contempt in their eyes.” Job might not inappropriately say, that in the eyes of the prosperous he is like a despised, cast-away torch (comp. the similar figure, Isa 14:19, like a branch that is rejected with contempt); and Job 12:5 would be suitably connected with this if למועדי could be derived from a substantive מעד, vacillatio, but neither the usage of the language nor the scriptio plena (after which Jerome translates tempus statutum, and consequently has in mind the מועדים, times of festal pilgrimages, which are also called ררלים in later times), nor the vowel pointing (instead of which מעדי would be expected), is favourable to this. רגל מועדי signifies vacillantes pede, those whose prosperity is shaken, and who are in danger of destruction that is near at hand. We therefore, like Abenezra and modern expositors, who are here happily agreed, take לפיד as composed of ל and פּיד, a word common to the books of Job (Job 30:24; Job 31:29) and Proverbs (ch. Pro 24:22), which is compared by the Jewish lexicographers, according both to form and meaning, to כּיד (Job 21:20) and איד, and perhaps signifies originally dissolution (comp. פדה), decease (Syr. f'jodo, escape; Arab. faid, dying), fall, then generally calamity, misfortune: contempt (befits) misfortune, according to the thoughts (or thinking), idea of the prosperous. The pointing wavers between לעשׁתּות and the more authorized לעשׁתּוּת, with which Parchon compares the nouns עבדוּת and מרדּוּת; the ת, like ד in the latter word, has Dag. lene, since the punctuation is in this respect not quite consistent, or follows laws at present unknown (comp. Ges. §21, rem. 2). Job 12:5 is now suitably connected: ready (with reference to בוז) for those who stumble, i.e., contempt certainly awaits such, it is ready and waiting for them, נכון, ἕτοιμος, like Exo 34:2.

While the unfortunate, in spite of his innocence, has thus only to expect contempt, the tents, i.e., dwellings and possessions, of the oppressor and the marauder remain in prosperity; ישׁליוּ for ישׁלוּ, an intensive form used not only in pause (Psa 36:8; comp. Deu 32:37) and with greater distinctives (Num 34:6; Psa 122:6), but also in passages where it receives no such accent (Psa 36:9; Psa 57:2; Psa 73:2). On אהלים, instead of אהלים, vid., Ges. §93, 6, 3. The verbal clause (Job 12:6) is followed by a substantival clause (Job 12:6). בּטּחות is an abstract plural from בּטּוּח, perfectly secure; therefore: the most care-less security is the portion of those who provoke God (lxx περοργίζουσι);Luther takes בטחות as the adverb to מרגיזי: und toben wider Gott thürstiglich (vid., Vilmar, Pastoraltheolog. Blätter, 1861, S. 110-112); according to the Vulg., et audacter provocant Deum. and this is continued in an individualizing form: him who causes Eloah to go into his hand. Seb. Schmid explains this passage in the main correctly: qui Deum in manu fert h.e. qui manum aut potentiam suam pro Deo habet et licitum sibi putat quodlibet; comp. Hab 1:11 : “this his strength becomes God to him,” i.e., he deifies his own power, and puts it in the place of God. But הביא signifies, in this connection with לידו (not בידו), neither to carry, nor to lead (Gesenius, who compares Psa 74:5, where, however, it signifies to cause to go into = to strike into); it must be translated: he who causes Eloah to enter into his hand; from which translation it is clear that not the deification of the hand, but of that which is taken into the hand, is meant. This which is taken into the hand is not, however, an idol (Abenezra), but the sword; therefore: him who thinks after the manner of Lamech,[Comp Pentateuch, at Gen 4:25, Clark’s Foreign Theological Library. - Tr.] as he takes the iron weapon of attack and defence into his hand, that he needs no other God.

Job 12:7-10   7  But ask now even the beasts - they shall teach it thee;

And the birds of heaven - they shall declare it to thee:   8  Or look thoughtfully to the ground - it shall teach it thee;

And the fish of the sea shall tell it thee.   9  Who would not recognise in all this

That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this, 10  In whose hand is the soul of every living thing,

And the breath of all mankind?!

The meaning of the whole strophe is perverted if זאת (Job 12:9), is, with Ewald, referred to “the destiny of severe suffering and pain,” and if that which precedes is accordingly referred to the testimony of creation to God as its author. Since, as a glance at what follows shows, Job further on praises God as the governor of the universe, it may be expected that the reference is here to God as the creator and preserver of the world, which seems to be the meaning of the words. Job himself expresses the purpose of this hymn of confession, Job 12:2., Job 13:1.: he will show the friends that the majesty of God, before which he ought, according to their demands, to humble himself in penitence, is not less known to him than to them; and with ואולם, verum enim vero, he passes over to this subject when he begins his third answer with the following thought: The perception in which you pride yourselves I also possess; true, I am an object of scornful contempt to you, who are as little able to understand the suffering of the godly as the prosperity of the godless, nevertheless what you know I also know: ask now, etc. Bildad had appealed to the sayings of the ancients, which have the long experience of the past in their favour, to support the justice of the divine government; Job here appeals to the absoluteness of the divine rule over creation. In form, this strophe is the counterpart of Job 8:8-10 in the speech of Bildad, and somewhat also of Job 11:7-9 in that of Zophar. The working of God, which infinitely transcends human power and knowledge, is the sermon which is continuously preached by all created things; they all proclaim the omnipotence and wisdom of the Creator.

The plural בּהמות is followed by the verb that refers to it, in the singular, in favour of which Gen 49:22 is the favourite example among old expositors (Ges. §146, 3). On the other hand, the verb might follow the collective עוף in the plural, according to Ges. §146, 1. The plural, however, is used only in Job 12:8, because there the verb precedes instead of following its subject. According to the rule Ges. §128, 2, the jussive form of the fut. follows the imperative. In the midst of this enumeration of created things, שׂיח, as a substantive, seems to signify the plants - and especially as Arab. šı̂h even now, in the neighbourhood of Job’s ancient habitation, is the name of a well-known mountain-plant - under whose shade a meagre vegetation is preserved even in the hot season (vid., on Job 30:4.). But (1) שׂיח as subst. is gen. masc. Gen 2:5); (2) instead of לערץ, in order to describe a plant that is found on the ground, or one rooted in the ground, it must be על־הארץ or בארץ;   (3) the mention of plants between the birds and fishes would be strange. It may therefore be taken as the imperative: speak to the earth (lxx, Targ., Vulg., and most others); or, which I prefer, since the Aramaic construction לו סח, narravit ei, does not occur elsewhere in Hebrew (although perhaps implicite, Pro 6:22, תשׂיחך = לך תשׂיח, favulabitur, or confabulabitur tibi), as a pregnant expression: think, i.e., look meditatively to the earth (Ewald), since שׂוּח (שׂיח), like הגה, combines the significations of quiet or articulate meditation on a subject. The exhortation directs attention not to the earth in itself, but to the small living things which move about on the ground, comprehended in the collective name רמשׂ, syn. שׁרץ (creeping things), in the record of creation. All these creatures, though without reason and speech, still utter a language which is heard by every intelligent man. Renan, after Ewald, translates erroneously: qui ne sait parmi tous ces êtres. They do not even possess knowledge, but they offer instruction, and are a means of knowledge; בּ with ידע, like Gen 15:8; Gen 42:33, and freq. All the creatures named declare that the hand of Jehovah has made “this,” whatever we see around us, τὸ βλεπόμενον, Heb 11:3. In the same manner in Isa 66:2; Jer 14:22, כּל־אלּה is used of the world around us. In the hand of God, i.e., in His power, because His workmanship, are the souls of all living things, and the spirit (that which came direct from God) of all men; every order of life, high and low, owes its origin and continuance to Him. אישׁ is the individual, and in this connection, in which נפשׁ and רוּח (= נשׁמה) are certainly not unintentionally thus separated, the individual man. Creation is the school of knowledge, and man is the learner. And this knowledge forces itself upon one’s attention: quis non cognoverit? The perf. has this subjunctive force also elsewhere in interrogative clauses, e.g., Psa 11:3 (vid., on Gen 21:7). That the name of God, JEHOVAH, for once escapes the poet here, is to be explained from the phrase “the hand of Jehovah hath made this,” being a somewhat proverbial expression (comp. Isa 41:20; Isa 66:2).

Job now refers to the sayings of the fathers, the authority of which, as being handed down from past generations, Bildad had maintained in his opposition to Job.

Job 12:11-13 11  Shall not the ear try sayings,

As the palate tasteth food? 12  Among the ancients is wisdom,

And long life is understanding. 13  With Him is wisdom and strength;

Counsel and understanding are His.

The meaning of Job 12:11 is, that the sayings (מלּין, Job 8:10, comp. Job 5:27) of the ancients are not to be accepted without being proved; the waw in וחך is waw adaequationis, as Job 5:7; Job 11:12, therefore equivalent to quemadmodum; it places together for comparison things that are analogous: The ear, which is used here like αἰθητήριον (Heb 5:14), has the task of searching out and testing weighty sayings, as the palate by tasting has to find out delicious and suitable food; this is indicated by לו, the dat. commodi. So far Job recognises the authority of these traditional sayings. At any rate, he adds (Job 12:12): wisdom is to be expected from the hoary-headed, and length of life is understanding, i.e., it accompanies length of life. “Length of days” may thus be taken as the subject (Ewald, Olsh.); but בּ may also, with the old translations and expositors, be carried forward from the preceding clause: ἐν δὲ πολλῷ βίῳ ἐπιστήμη (lxx). We prefer, as the most natural: long life is a school of understanding. But - such is the antithesis in Job 12:13 which belongs to this strophe - the highest possessor of wisdom, as of might, is God. Ewald inserts two self-made couplets before Job 12:12, which in his opinion are required both by the connection and “the structure of the strophe;” we see as little need for this interpolation here as before, Job 6:14. עמּו and לו, which are placed first for the sake of emphasis, manifestly introduce an antithesis; and it is evident from the antithesis, that the One who is placed in contrast to the many men of experience is God. Wisdom is found among the ancients, although their sayings are not to be always implicitly accepted; but wisdom belongs to God as an attribute of His nature, and indeed absolutely, i.e., on every side, and without measure, as the piling up of synonymous expressions implies: חכמה, which perceives the reason of the nature, and the reality of the existence, of things; עצה, which is never perplexed as to the best way of attaining its purpose; תּבוּנה, which can penetrate to the bottom of what is true and false, sound and corrupt (comp. 1Ki 3:9); and also גּבוּרה, which is able to carry out the plans, purposes, and decisions of this wisdom against all hindrance and opposition.

In the strophe which follows, from his own observation and from traditional knowledge (Job 13:1), Job describes the working of God, as the unsearchably wise and the irresistibly mighty One, both among men and in nature.

Job 12:14-16 14  Behold, He breaketh down and it cannot be built again,

He shutteth up, and it cannot be opened. 15  Behold, He restraineth the waters and they dry up,

And He letteth them out and they overturn the earth. 16  With Him is might and existence,

The erring and the deceiver are His.

God is almighty, and everything in opposition to Him powerless. If He break down (any structure whatever), it can never be rebuilt; should He close upon any one (i.e., the dungeon, as perhaps a cistern covered with a stone, Lam 3:53, comp. Jer 38:6; על with reference to the depth of the dungeon, instead of the usual בּעד), it (that which is closed from above) cannot be opened again. In like manner, when He desires to punish a land, He disposes the elements according to His will and pleasure, by bringing upon it drought or flood. יעצר, coercet, according to the correct Masoretic mode of writing יעצר with dagesh in the Ssade, in order clearly to distinguish in the pronunciation between the forms j'a-ssor and jaa'ssor (יעצר);Vid., my notice of Bär’s Psalter-Ausgabe, Luth. Zeitschr. 1863, 3; and comp. Keil on Lev 4:13 (Comm on Pent., Clark’s transl.). ויבשׁוּ (for which Abulwalid writes ויבשׁוּ) is a defective form of writing according to Ges. §69, 3, 3; the form ויהפכוּ with the similarly pointed fut. consec., 1Sa 25:12, form a pair (zuwg) noted by the Masora. By תּוּשׁיּה, which is ascribed to God, is here to be understood that which really exists, the real, the objective, knowledge resting on an objective actual basis, in contrast with what only appears to be; so that consequently the idea of Job 12:16 and Job 12:13 is somewhat veiled; for the primary notion of חכמה is thickness, solidity, purity, like πυκνότης.The primary notion of חכם, Arab. hkm, is, to be thick, firm, solid, as the prim. notion of Arab. sachfa (to be foolish, silly) is to be thin, loose, not holding together (as a bad texture). The same fundamental notions are represented in the expression of moral qualities (in distinction from intellectual) by צדק, Arab. sdq, and רשׁע, (Arab. rs', rsg).

This strophe closes like the preceding, which favours our division. The line with עמּו is followed by one with לו, which affirms that, in the supremacy of His rule and the wisdom of His counsels, God makes evil in every form subservient to His designs.

Job 12:17-21 17  He leadeth away counsellors stripped of their robes,

And maketh judges fools. 18  The authority of kings He looseth,

And bindeth their loins with bands. 19  He leadeth away priests stripped of their robes,

And overthroweth those who are firmly established. 20  He removeth the speech of the eloquent,

And taketh away the judgment of the aged. 21  He poureth contempt upon princes,

And maketh loose the girdle of the mighty.

In Job 12:17, Job 12:19, שׁולל is added to מוליך as a conditional accusative; the old expositors vary in the rendering of this word; at any rate it does not mean: chained (Targ. on Job 12:17), from שׁלל (שׁרר), which is reduplicated in the word שׁלשׁלת, a chain, a word used in later Hebrew than the language of the Old Testament (שׁרשׁרה is the Old Testament word); nor is it: taken as booty, made captive (lxx αἰχμαλώτους; Targ. on Job 12:19, בּבזתא, in the quality of spoil) = משׁולל; but it is a neuter adjective closely allied to the idea of the verb, exutus, not however mente (deprived of sense), but vestibus; not merely barefooted (Hirz., Oehler, with lxx, Mic 1:8, ἀνυπόδετος), which is the meaning of יחף, but: stripped of their clothes with violence (vid., Isa 20:4), stripped in particular of the insignia of their power. He leads them half-naked into captivity, and takes away the judges as fools (יהולל, vid., Psychol. S. 292), by destroying not only their power, but the prestige of their position also. We find echoes of this utterance respecting God’s paradoxical rule in the world in Isa 40:23; Isa 44:25; and Isaiah’s oracle on Egypt, Job 19:11-15, furnishes an illustration in the reality.

It is but too natural to translate Job 12:18 : the bands of kings He looses (after Psa 116:16, למוסרי פתחת, Thou hast loosed my bands); but the relation of the two parts of the verse can then not be this: He unchains and chains kings (Hirz., Ew., Heiligst. Schlottm.), for the fut. consec. ויּאסר requires a contrast that is intimately connected with the context, and not of mere outward form: fetters in which kings have bound others (מלכים, gen. subjectivus) He looses, and binds them in fetters (Raschi), - an explanation which much commends itself, if מוּסר could only be justified as the construct of מוּסר by the remark that “the o sinks into u” (Ewald, §213, c). מוּסר does not once occur in the signification vinculum; but only the plur. מוסרים and מוסרות, vincula, accord with the usage of the language, so that even the pointing מוסר proposed by Hirzel is a venture. מוּסר, however, as constr. of מוּסר, correction, discipline, rule (i.e., as the domination of punishment, from יסר, castigare), is an equally suitable sense, and is probably connected by the poet with פּתּח (a word very familiar to him, Job 30:11; Job 39:5; Job 41:6) on account of its relation both in sound and sense to מוסרים (comp. Psa 105:22). The English translation is correct: He looseth the authority of kings. The antithesis is certainly lost, but the thoughts here moreover flow on in synonymous parallelism.

Job 12:22-25 22  He discovereth deep things out of darkness,

And bringeth out to light the shadow of death; 23  He giveth prosperity to nations and then destroyeth them,

Increase of territory to nations and then carrieth them away; 24  He taketh away the understanding of the chief people of the land,

And maketh them to wander in a trackless wilderness; 25  They grope in darkness without light,

He maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.

The meaning of Job 12:22 in this connection can only be, that there is nothing so finely spun out that God cannot make it visible. All secret plans of the wicked, all secret sins, and the deeds of the evil-doer though veiled in deep darkness, He bringeth before the tribunal of the world. The form of writing given by the Masora is עמוּקות with koph raphatum, consequently plur. from עמוּק, like ערוּמים, עצוּמים from ערוּם, עצוּם, not from עמק.Kimchi in his Wörterbuch adopts the form עמקּות, but gives Abulwalid as an authority for the lengthened form, which, according to the Masora on Lev 13:3, Lev 13:25, is the traditional. The two exceptions where the form occurs with a long vowel are Pro 23:27 and this passage.

The lxx translates משגיא πλανῶν, as it is also explained in several Midrash-passages, but only by a few Jewish expositors (Jachja, Alschech) by מטעה. The word, however, is not משׁגּיא, but משׂגּיא with ש sinistrum, after which in Midrash Esther it is explained by מגדיל; and Hirzel correctly interprets it of upward growth (Jerome after the Targ. unsuitably, multiplicat), and שׁטח, on the other hand, of growth in extent. The latter word is falsely explained by the Targ. in the sense of expandere rete, and Abenezra also falsely explains: He scatters nations, and brings them to their original peace. The verb שׁטח is here connected with ל, as הפתּה (Gen 9:27); both signify to make a wider and longer space for any one, used here of the ground where they dwell and rule. The opposite, in an unpropitious sense, is הנחה, which is used here, as 2Ki 18:11, in a similar sense with הגלה (abducere, i.e., in servitutem). We have intentionally translated גוים nations, עם people; for גּוי, as we shall show elsewhere, is the mass held together by the ties of a common origin, language, and country; (עם) עם, the people bound together by unity of government, whose membra praecipua are consequently called העם ראשׁי. הארץ is, in this connection, the country, although elsewhere, as Isa 24:4, comp. Job 42:5, הארץ עם signifies also the people of the earth or mankind; for the Hebrew language expresses a country as a portion of the earth, and the earth as a whole, by the same name. Job dwells longer on this tragic picture, how God makes the star of the prosperity of these chiefs to set in mad and blind self-destruction, according to the proverb, quem Deus perdere vult prius dementat. This description seems to be echoed in many points in Isaiah, especially in the oracle on Egypt, Job 19 (e.g., כּשּׁכּור, Job 19:14). The connection ברך לא בתהו is not genitival; but דרך לא is either an adverbial clause appended to the verb, as חקר לא, Job 34:24, בנים לא, 1Ch 2:30, 1Ch 2:32, or, which we prefer as being more natural, and on account of the position of the words, a virtual adjective: in a trackless waste, as אישׁ לא, Job 38:26; עבות לא,   2Sa 23:4 (Olsh.).

Job here takes up the tone of Eliphaz (comp. Job 5:13.). Intentionally he is made to excel the friends in a recognition of the absolute majesty of God. He is not less cognizant of it than they.

Job's Reply to Zophar. (b. c. 1520.)

1 And Job answered and said, 2 No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. 3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these? 4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn. 5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.

The reproofs Job here gives to his friends, whether they were just or no, were very sharp, and may serve for a rebuke to all that are proud and scornful, and an exposure of their folly.

I. He upbraids them with their conceitedness of themselves, and the good opinion they seemed to have of their own wisdom in comparison with him, than which nothing is more weak and unbecoming, nor better deserves to be ridiculed, as it is here. 1. He represents them as claiming the monopoly of wisdom, v. 2. He speaks ironically: "No doubt you are the people; you think yourselves fit to dictate and give law to all mankind, and your own judgment to be the standard by which every man's opinion must be measured and tried, as if nobody could discern between truth and falsehood, good and evil, but you only; and therefore every top-sail must lower to you, and, right or wrong, we must all say as you say, and you three must be the people, the majority, to have the casting vote." Note, It is a very foolish and sinful thing for any to think themselves wiser than all mankind besides, or to speak and act confidently and imperiously, as if they thought so. Nay, he goes further: "You not only think there are none, but that there will be none, as wise as you, and therefore that wisdom must die with you, that all the world must be fools when you are gone, and in the dark when your sun has set." Note, It is folly for us to think that there will be any great irreparable loss of us when we are gone, or that we can be ill spared, since God has the residue of the Spirit, and can raise up others, more fit than we are, to do his work. When wise men and good men die it is a comfort to think that wisdom and goodness shall not die with them. Some think Job here reflects upon Zophar's comparing him (as he thought) and others to the wild ass's colt, ch. xi. 12. "Yes," says he, "we must be asses; you are the only men." 2. He does himself the justice to put in his claim as a sharer in the gifts of wisdom (v. 3): "But I have understanding (a heart) as well as you; nay, I fall not lower than you;" as it is in the margin. "I am as well able to judge of the methods and meanings of the divine providence, and to construe the hard chapters of it, as you are." He says not this to magnify himself. It was no great applause of himself to say, I have understanding as well as you; no, nor to say, "I understand this matter as well as you;" for what reason had either he or they to be proud of understanding that which was obvious and level to the capacity of the meanest? "Yea, who knows not such things as these? What things you have said that are true are plain truths, and common themes, which there are many that can talk as excellently of as either you or I." But he says it to humble them, and check the value they had for themselves as doctors of the chair. Note, (1.) It may justly keep us from being proud of our knowledge to consider how many there are that know as much as we do, and perhaps much more and to better purpose. (2.) When we are tempted to be harsh in our censures of those we differ from and dispute with we ought to consider that they also have understanding as well as we, a capacity of judging, and a right of judging for themselves; nay, perhaps they are not inferior to us, but superior, and it is possible that they may be in the right and we in the wrong; and therefore we ought not to judge or despise them (Rom. xiv. 3), nor pretend to be masters (Jam. iii. 1), while all we are brethren, Matt. xxiii. 8. It is a very reasonable allowance to be made to all we converse with, all we contend with, that they are rational creatures as well as we.

II. He complains of the great contempt with which they had treated him. Those that are haughty and think too well of themselves are commonly scornful and ready to trample upon all about them. Job found it so, at least he thought he did (v. 4): I am as one mocked. I cannot say there was cause for this charge; we will not think Job's friends designed him any abuse, nor aimed at any thing but to convince him, and so, in the right method, to comfort him; yet he cries out, I am as one mocked. Note, We are apt to call reproofs reproaches, and to think ourselves mocked when we are but advised and admonished; this peevishness is our folly, and a great wrong to ourselves and to our friends. Yet we cannot but say there was colour for this charge; they came to comfort him, but they vexed him, gave him counsels and encouragements, but with no great opinion that either the one or the other would take effect; and therefore he thought they mocked him, and this added much to his grief. Nothing is more grievous to those that have fallen from the height of prosperity into the depth of adversity than to be trodden on, and insulted over, when they are down; and on this head they are too apt to be suspicious. Observe,

1. What aggravated this grievance to him. Two things:—(1.) That they were his neighbours, his friends, his companions (so the word signifies), and the scoffs of such are often most spitefully given, and always most indignantly received. Ps. lv. 12, 13, It was not an enemy that reproached me; then I would have slighted it, and so borne it; but it was thou, a man, my equal. (2.) That they were professors of religion, such as called upon God, and said that he answered them: for some understand that of the persons mocking. "They are such as have a regard to heaven, and an interest in heaven, whose prayers I would therefore be glad of and thankful for, whose good opinion I cannot but covet, and therefore whose censures are the more grievous." Note, It is sad that any who call upon God should mock their brethren (Jam. iii. 9, 10), and it cannot but lie heavily on a good man to be thought ill of by those whom he thinks well of, yet this is no new thing.

2. What supported him under it. (1.) That he had a God to go to, with whom he could lodge his appeal; for some understand those words of the person mocked, that he calls upon God and he answers him; and so it agrees with ch. xvi. 20. My friends scorn me, but my eye poureth out tears to God. If our friends be deaf to our complaints, God is not; if they condemn us, God knows our integrity; if they make the worst of us, he will make the best of us; if they give us cross answers, he will give us kind ones. (2.) That his case was not singular, but very common: The just upright man is laughed to scorn. By many he is laughed at even for his justice and his uprightness, his honesty towards men and his piety towards God; these are derided as foolish things, which silly people needlessly hamper themselves with, as if religion were a jest and therefore to be made a jest of. By most he is laughed at for any little infirmity or weakness, notwithstanding his justice and uprightness, without any consideration had of that which is so much his honour. Note, It was of old the lot of honest good people to be despised and derided; we are not therefore to think it strange (1 Pet. iv. 12), no, nor to think it hard, if it be our lot; so persecuted they not only the prophets, but even the saints of the patriarchal age (Matt. v. 12), and can we expect to fare better than they?

3. What he suspected to be the true cause of it, and that was, in short, this: they were themselves rich and at ease, and therefore they despised him who had fallen into poverty. It is the way of the world; we see instances of it daily. Those that prosper are praised, but of those that are going down it is said, "Down with them." He that is ready to slip with his feet and fall into trouble, though he has formerly shone as a lamp, is then looked upon as a lamp going out like the snuff of a candle, which we throw to the ground and tread upon, and is accordingly despised in the thought of him that is at ease, v. 5. Even the just upright man, that is in his generation as a burning and shining light, if he enter into temptation (Ps. lxxiii. 2) or come under a cloud, is looked upon with contempt. See here, (1.) What is the common fault of those that live in prosperity. Being full, and easy, and merry themselves, they look scornfully upon those that are in want, pain, and sorrow; they overlook them, take no notice of them, and study to forget them. See Ps. cxxiii. 4. The chief butler drinks wine in bowls, but makes nothing of the afflictions of Joseph. Wealth without grace often makes men thus haughty, thus careless of their poor neighbours. (2.) What is the common fate of those that fall into adversity. Poverty serves to eclipse all their lustre; though they are lamps, yet, if taken out of golden candlesticks, and put, like Gideon's, into earthen pitchers, nobody values them as formerly, but those that live at ease despise them.

6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly. 7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: 8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. 9 Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? 10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. 11 Doth not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?

Job's friends all of them went upon this principle, that wicked people cannot prosper long in this world, but some remarkable judgment or other will suddenly light on them: Zophar had concluded with it, that the eyes of the wicked shall fail, ch. xi. 20. This principle Job here opposes, and maintains that God, in disposing men's outward affairs, acts as a sovereign, reserving the exact distribution of rewards and punishments for the future state.

I. He asserts it as an undoubted truth that wicked people may, and often do, prosper long in this world, v. 6. Even great sinners may enjoy great prosperity. Observe, 1. How he describes the sinners. They are robbers, and such as provoke God, the worst kind of sinners, blasphemers and persecutors. Perhaps he refers to the Sabeans and Chaldeans, who had robbed him, and had always lived by spoil and rapine, and yet they prospered; all the world saw they did, and there is no disputing against sense; one observation built upon matter of fact is worth twenty notions framed by an hypothesis. Or more generally, All proud oppressors are robbers and pirates. It is supposed that what is injurious to men is provoking to God, the patron of right and the protector of mankind. It is not strange if those that violate the bonds of justice break through the obligations of all religion, bid defiance even to God himself, and make nothing of provoking him. 2. How he describes their prosperity. It is very great; for, (1.) Even their tabernacles prosper, those that live with them and those that come after them and descend from them. It seems as if a blessing were entailed upon their families; and that is sometimes preserved to succeeding generations which was got by fraud. (2.) They are secure, and not only feel no hurt, but fear none, are under no apprehensions of danger either from threatening providences or an awakened conscience. But those that provoke God are never the more safe for their being secure. (3.) Into their hand God brings abundantly. They have more than heart could wish (Ps. lxxiii. 7), not for necessity only, but for delight—not for themselves only, but for others—not for the present only, but for hereafter; and this from the hand of Providence too. God brings plentifully to them. We cannot therefore judge of men's piety by their plenty, nor of what they have in their heart by what they have in their hand.

II. He appeals even to the inferior creatures for the proof of this—the beasts, and fowls, and trees, and even the earth itself; consult these, and they shall tell thee, v. 7, 8. Many a good lesson we may learn from them, but what are they here to teach us?

1. We may from them learn that the tabernacles of robbers prosper (so some); for, (1.) Even among the brute creatures the greater devour the less and the stronger prey upon the weaker, and men are as the fishes of the sea, Hab. i. 14. If sin had not entered, we may suppose there would have been no such disorder among the creatures, but the wolf and the lamb would have lain down together. (2.) These creatures are serviceable to wicked men, and so they declare their prosperity. Ask the herds and the flocks to whom they belong, and they will tell you that such a robber, such an oppressor, is their owner: the fishes and fowls will tell you that they are served up to the tables, and feed the luxury, of proud sinners. The earth brings forth her fruits to them (ch. ix. 24), and the whole creation groans under the burden of their tyranny, Rom. viii. 20, 22. Note, All the creatures which wicked men abuse, by making them the food and fuel of their lusts, will witness against them another day, Jam. v. 3, 4.

2. We may from them learn the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, and that sovereign dominion of his into which plain and self-evident truth all these difficult dispensations must be resolved. Zophar had made a vast mystery of it, ch. xi. 7. "So far from that," says Job, "that what we are concerned to know we may learn even from the inferior creatures; for who knows not from all these? v. 9. Any one may easily gather from the book of the creatures that the hand of the Lord has wrought this," that is, "that there is a wise Providence which guides and governs all these things by rules which we are neither acquainted with nor are competent judges of." Note, From God's sovereign dominion over the inferior creatures we should learn to acquiesce in all his disposals of the affairs of the children of men, though contrary to our measures.

III. He resolves all into the absolute propriety which God has in all the creatures (v. 10): In whose hand is the soul of every living thing. All the creatures, and mankind particularly, derive their being from him, owe their being to him, depend upon him for the support of it, lie at his mercy, are under his direction and dominion and entirely at his disposal, and at his summons must resign their lives. All souls are his; and may he not do what he will with his own? The name Jehovah is used here (v. 9), and it is the only time that we meet with it in all the discourses between Job and his friends; for God was, in that age, more known by the name of Shaddai—the Almighty.

IV. Those words—(v. 11), Doth not the ear try words, as the mouth tastes meat? may be taken either as the conclusion to the foregoing discourse or the preface to what follows. The mind of man has as good a faculty of discerning between truth and error, when duly stated, as the palate has of discerning between what is sweet and what is bitter. Job therefore demands from his friends a liberty to judge for himself of what they had said, and desires them to use the same liberty in judging of what he had said; nay, he seems to appeal to any man's impartial judgment in this controversy; let the ear try the words on both sides, and it would be found that he was in the right. Note, The ear must try words before it receives them so as to subscribe to them. As by the taste we judge what food is wholesome to the body and what not, so by the spirit of discerning we must judge what doctrine is sound, and savoury, and wholesome, and what not, 1 Cor. x. 15; xi. 13.

12 With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding. 13 With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding. 14 Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. 15 Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth. 16 With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his. 17 He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools. 18 He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle. 19 He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. 20 He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged. 21 He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty. 22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death. 23 He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again. 24 He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. 25 They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.

This is a noble discourse of Job's concerning the wisdom, power, and sovereignty of God, in ordering and disposing of all the affairs of the children of men, according to the counsel of his own will, which none dares gainsay or can resist. Take both him and them out of the controversy in which they were so warmly engaged, and they all spoke admirably well; but, in that, we sometimes scarcely know what to make of them. It were well if wise and good men, that differ in their apprehensions about minor things, would see it to be for their honour and comfort, and the edification of others, to dwell most upon those great things in which they are agreed. On this subject Job speaks like himself. Here are no passionate complaints, no peevish reflections, but every thing masculine and great.

I. He asserts the unsearchable wisdom and irresistible power of God. It is allowed that among men there is wisdom and understanding, v. 12. But it is to be found only with some few, with the ancient, and those who are blessed with length of days, who get it by long experience and constant experience; and, when they have got the wisdom, they have lost their strength and are unable to execute the results of their wisdom. But now with God there are both wisdom and strength, wisdom to design the best and strength to accomplish what is designed. He does not get counsel or understanding, as we do, by observation, but he has it essentially and eternally in himself, v. 13. What is the wisdom of ancient men compared with the wisdom of the ancient of days! It is but little that we know, and less that we can do; but God can do every thing, and no thought can be withheld from him. Happy are those who have this God for their God, for they have infinite wisdom and strength engaged for them. Foolish and fruitless are all the attempts of men against him (v. 14): He breaketh down, and it cannot be built again. Note, There is no contending with the divine providence, nor breaking the measures of it. As he had said before (ch. ix. 12), He takes away, and who can hinder him? so he says again. What God says cannot be gainsaid, nor what he does undone. There is no rebuilding what God will have to lie in ruins; witness the tower of Babel, which the undertakers could not go on with, and the desolations of Sodom and Gomorrah, which could never be repaired. See Isa. xxv. 2; Ezek. xxvi. 14; Rev. xviii. 21. There is no releasing those whom God has condemned to a perpetual imprisonment; if he shut up a man by sickness, reduce him to straits, and embarrass him in his affairs, there can be no opening. He shuts up in the grave, and none can break open those sealed doors—shuts up in hell, in chains of darkness, and none can pass that great gulf fixed.

II. He gives an instance, for the proof of this doctrine in nature, v. 15. God has the command of the waters, binds them as in a garment (Prov. xxx. 4), holds them in the hollow of his hand (Isa. xl. 12); and he can punish the children of men either by the defect or by the excess of them. As men break the laws of virtue by extremes on each hand, both defects and excesses, while virtue is in the mean, so God corrects them by extremes, and denies them the mercy which is in the mean. 1. Great droughts are sometimes great judgments: He withholds the waters, and they dry up; if the heaven be as brass, the earth is as iron; if the rain be denied, fountains dry up and their streams are wanted, fields are parched and their fruits are wanted, Amos iv. 7. 2. Great wet is sometimes a great judgment. He raises the waters, and overturns the earth, the productions of it, the buildings upon it. A sweeping rain is said to leave no food, Prov. xxviii. 3. See how many ways God has of contending with a sinful people and taking from them abused, forfeited, mercies; and how utterly unable we are to contend with him. If we might invert the order, this verse would fitly refer to Noah's flood, that ever memorable instance of the divine power. God then, in wrath, sent the waters out, and they overturned the earth; but in mercy he withheld them, shut the windows of heaven and the fountains of the great deep, and then, in a little time, they dried up.

III. He gives many instances of it in God's powerful management of the children of men, crossing their purposes and serving his own by them and upon them, overruling all their counsels, overpowering all their attempts, and overcoming all their oppositions. What changes does God make with men! what turns does he give them! how easily, how surprisingly!

1. In general (v. 16): With him are strength and reason (so some translate it), strength and consistency with himself: it is an elegant word in the original. With him are the very quintessence and extract of wisdom. With him are power and all that is; so some read it. He is what he is of himself, and by him and in him all things subsist. Having this strength and wisdom, he knows how to make use, not only of those who are wise and good, who willingly and designedly serve him, but even of those who are foolish and bad, who, one would think, could be made no way serviceable to the designs of his providence: The deceived and the deceiver are his; the simplest men that are deceived are not below his notice; the subtlest men that deceive cannot with all their subtlety escape his cognizance. The world is full of deceit; the one half of mankind cheats the other, and God suffers it to be so, and from both will at last bring glory to himself. The deceivers make tools of the deceived, but the great God makes tools of them both, wherewith he works, and none can hinder him. He has wisdom and might enough to manage all the fools and knaves in the world, and knows how to serve his own purposes by them, notwithstanding the weakness of the one and the wickedness of the other. When Jacob by a fraud got the blessing the design of God's grace was served; when Ahab was drawn by a false prophecy into an expedition that was his ruin the design of God's justice was served; and in both the deceived and the deceiver were at his disposal. See Ezek. xiv. 9. God would not suffer the sin of the deceiver, nor the misery of the deceived, if he knew not how to set bounds to both and bring glory to himself out of both. Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent thus reigns; and it is well he does, for otherwise there is so little wisdom and so little honesty in the world that it would all have been in confusion and ruin long ago.

2. He next descends to the particular instances of the wisdom and power of God in the revolutions of states and kingdoms; for thence he fetches his proofs, rather than from the like operations of Providence concerning private persons and families, because the more high and public the station is in which men are placed the more the changes that befal them are taken notice of, and consequently the more illustriously does Providence shine forth in them. And it is easy to argue, If God can thus turn and toss the great ones of the earth, like a ball in a large place (as the prophet speaks, Isa. xxii. 18), much more the little ones; and with him to whom states and kingdoms must submit it is surely the greatest madness for us to contend. Some think that Job here refers to the extirpation of those powerful nations, the Rephaim, the Zuzim, the Emim, and the Horites (mentioned Gen. xiv. 5, 6; Deut. ii. 10, 20), in which perhaps it was particularly noticed how strangely they were infatuated and enfeebled: if so, it is designed to show that whenever the like is done in the affairs of nations it is God that does it, and we must therein observe his sovereign dominion, even over those that think themselves most powerful, politic, and absolute. Compare this with that of Eliphaz, ch. v. 12, &c. Let us gather up the particular changes here specified, which God makes upon persons, either for the destruction of nations and the planting of others in their room or for the turning out of a particular government and ministry and the elevation of another in its room, which may be a blessing to the kingdom; witness the glorious Revolution in our own land twenty years ago, in which we saw as happy an exposition as ever was given of this discourse of Job's. (1.) Those that were wise are sometimes strangely infatuated, and in this the hand of God must be acknowledged (v. 17): He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, as trophies of his victory over them, spoiled of all the honour and wealth they have got by their policy, nay, spoiled of the wisdom itself for which they have been celebrated and the success they promised themselves in their projects. His counsel stands, while all their devices are brought to nought and their designs baffled, and so they are spoiled both of the satisfaction and of the reputation of their wisdom. He maketh the judges fools. By a work on their minds he deprives them of their qualifications for business, and so they become really fools; and by his disposal of their affairs he makes the issue and event of their projects to be quite contrary to what they themselves intended, and so he makes them look like fools. The counsel of Ahithophel, one in whom this scripture was remarkably fulfilled, became foolishness, and he, according to his name, the brother of a fool. See Isa. xix. 13, The princes of Zoan have become fools; they have seduced Egypt, even those that are the stay of the tribes thereof. Let not the wise man therefore glory in his wisdom, nor the ablest counsellors and judges be proud of their station, but humbly depend upon God for the continuance of their abilities. Even the aged, who seem to hold their wisdom by prescription, and think they have got it by their own industry and therefore have an indefeasible title to it, may yet be deprived of it, and often are, by the infirmities of age, which make them twice children: He taketh away the understanding of the aged, v. 20. The aged, who were most depended on for advice, fail those that depended on them. We read of an old and yet foolish king, Eccl. iv. 13. (2.) Those that were high and in authority are strangely brought down, impoverished, and enslaved, and it is God that humbles them (v. 18): He looseth the bond of kings, and taketh from them the power wherewith they ruled their subjects, perhaps enslaved them and ruled them with rigour; he strips them of all the ensigns of their honour and authority, and all the supports of their tyranny, unbuckles their belts, so that the sword drops from their side, and then no marvel if the crown quickly drops from their head, on which immediately follows the girding of their loins with a girdle, a badge of servitude, for servants went with their loins girt. Thus he leads great princes away spoiled of all their power and wealth, and that in which they pleased and prided themselves, v. 19. Note, Kings are not exempt from God's jurisdiction. To us they are gods, but men to him, and subject to more than the common changes of human life. (3.) Those that were strong are strangely weakened, and it is God that weakens them (v. 21) and overthrows the mighty. v. 19. Strong bodies are weakened by age and sickness; powerful armies moulder and come to nothing, and their strength will not secure them from a fatal overthrow. No force can stand before Omnipotence, no, not that of Goliath. (4.) Those that were famed for eloquence, and entrusted with public business, are strangely silenced, and have nothing to say (v. 20): He removeth away the speech of the trusty, so that they cannot speak as they intended and as they used to do, with freedom and clearness, but blunder, and falter, and make nothing of it. Or they cannot speak what they intended, but the contrary, as Balaam, who blessed those whom he was called to curse. Let not the orator therefore be proud of his rhetoric, nor use it to any bad purposes, lest God take it away, who made man's mouth. (5.) Those that were honoured and admired strangely fall into disgrace (v. 21): He poureth contempt upon princes. He leaves them to themselves to do mean things, or alters the opinions of men concerning them. If princes themselves dishonour God and despise him, if they offer indignities to the people of God and trample upon them, they shall be lightly esteemed, and God will pour contempt upon them. See Ps. cvii. 40. Commonly none more abject in themselves, nor more abused by others when they are down, than those who were haughty and insolent when they were in power. (6.) That which was secret, and lay hidden, is strangely brought to light and laid open (v. 22): He discovers deep things out of darkness. Plots closely laid are discovered and defeated; wickedness closely committed and artfully concealed is discovered, and the guilty are brought to condign punishment—secret treasons (Eccl. x. 20), secret murders, secret whoredoms. The cabinet-councils of princes are before God's eye, 2 Kings vi. 11. (7.) Kingdoms have their ebbings and flowings, their waxings and wanings; and both are from God (v. 23): He sometimes increases their numbers, and enlarges their bounds, so that they make a figure among the nations and become formidable; but after a while, by some undiscerned cause perhaps, they are destroyed and straitened, made few and poor, cut short and many of them cut off, and so they are rendered despicable among their neighbours, and those that were the head become the tail of the nations. See Ps. cvii. 38, 39. (8.) Those that were bold and courageous, and made nothing of dangers, are strangely cowed and dispirited; and this also is the Lord's doing (v. 24): He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people, that were their leaders and commanders, and were most famed for their martial fire and great achievements; when any thing is to be done they are heartless, and ready to flee at the shaking of a leaf. Ps. lxvi. 5. (9.) Those that were driving on their projects with full speed are strangely bewildered and at a loss; they know not where they are nor what they do, are unsteady in their counsels and uncertain in their motions, off and on, this way and that way, wandering like men in a desert (v. 24), groping like men in the dark, and staggering like men in drink, v. 25. Isa. lix. 10. Note, God can soon nonplus the deepest politicians and bring the greatest wits to their wits' end, to show that wherein they deal proudly he is above them.

Thus are the revolutions of kingdoms wonderfully brought about by an overruling Providence. Heaven and earth are shaken, but the Lord sits King for ever, and with him we look for a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

CHAP. XII. Verſe 1. And Job anſwered and ſaid]

BEing nipped and netled with his friends hard uſage of him, and harſh language to him, but eſpecially with Zophars arrogant and lofty preface in the former chapter, he begins now to wax warm, and more roughly and roundly to ſhape them an anſwer.

Verſe 3. No doubt but ye are the people] The ſelect peculiar people, the only Ones, as a man is put for a good man, Jer. 5.1. a wife for a good wife, Prov. 18.22. a name for a good name Eccleſ. 7.1. As Athens was ſaid to be the Greece of Greece, Silius. and as one promiſing to ſhew his friend all Athens at once, ſhewed him Solo[illegible: 2 letters] or as the Latine Poet, ſaying of Fabius Maximus.

Hic patriueſt, murique urbis ſtant pectore in uno.

So ſaith Job by an holy jear (not to diſgrace his friends, but to bring them to more modeſty and moderation, if it might be) Certes, ye are not one or two men,Vatab. but ſpecimen totius orbis, an Epitome of the world, or at leaſt the Repreſentative of ſome whole people: ye have got away all the wit from my ſelf and others, whom ye look upon as ſo many wilde aſſes colts in compariſon of your ſelves. Thus the Pope (Simon Magus-like) gives himſelf out to be ſome great thing, Acts 8.9. even the Church-virtual and that in his breſt, as in Noahs Ark, is comprehended all wiſedome and worth: ye know nothing at all, ſaith he (Caiaphas-like) to all others, Job. 11.49. So do his Janizaries, the Jeſuits, who will needs be taken for the only Scholars, Politicians, and Orators of the world. The Church, ſay they, is the ſoul of the world, the Clergy of the Church; and we of the Clergy: the Empire of learning is ours &c.

And wiſedome ſhall dye with you] As being lookt up in your boſomes. Suetonius telleth us of Palaemon the Grammarian, that he was heard to ſay, that Learning was born with him, and would dye with him. The Gnoſticks would needs be held the only knowing men: Illuminates in Spain the only ſpiritual men: Swe[illegible: 1 letter]kfeldians in Germany ſtiled themſelves the Confeſſors of the glory of Chriſt: our Antinomians the Hearers of the Goſpel, and of free-grade. But what ſaith Solomon? Let another man praiſe thee, and not thine own mouth, Prov. 27.2. And that which had been much to a mans commendation, if from another, ſoundeth very ſlenderly from himſelf, ſaith Pliny. Aben Ez[illegible: 2 letters], and Rabbi Levi ſet another ſenſe upon this verſe,Ep. 8. lib. 1. as if it were no [illegible: 1 word], but a plain aſſertion to this effect: Queſtionleſſe you are to be counted [illegible: 1 word] the common ſort of people (ſee John 7.49.) Neither is there in you any thing excellent or extraordinary, that ye ſhould be looked upon, as drained from the dregs, or ſifted from the brans of the very vulgar: your wiſedome, if ever you had any, is even dead and decaied with you, and you have out-lived your prime &c.

Verſe 3. But I have understanding as well as you] Think not that you have engroſſed all the knowledg, and that you have the monopoly of wiſedom in your breſts, for ſurely I may come into the ballance with you, and claim as great a ſhare in underſtanding as your ſelvs. Zophar was pleaſed to call me hollow and heartleſſe, chap. 11.12. But I have an heart (ſo the Hebrew here hath it) that ſeat of underſtanding: and that ſhall appear in the enſuing diſcourſe, where Job proveth, that by ſolid arguments concerning Gods power, wiſedom, &c. which Zophar had but barely propounded. And whereas this patient man was not without his impatiencies, yet he diſcovereth more grace, even in his diſtempers, then his friends did in their ſeeming wiſe carriages. Breaking out in the body ſhewes ſtrength of nature. Some infirmities diſcover more good, then ſome ſeeming beautiful actions.

I am not inferiour to you] Heb. I fall not lower then you. See Nehem. 6.16. Eſth. 6.13. Job 13.2. He meaneth, that he was much their ſuperiour, and did better underſtand the doctrine of Gods providence then they. This he ſpeaketh not out of any vain-glory, or ambitious boaſting; but as David, and Paul, and others after them did, commending themſelves, either in defence of their own wronged innocency, or when it appeared unto them, that the concealing of their good parts and practiſes might turn to the hindrance of the truth, or to the hurt of the Church, or to the impairing and impeaching of Gods glory. In theſe caſes, ſelf-commendation is not unſeemly: but a Job may lawfully ſtand upon, not his compariſons only, but his diſpariſons alſo.

Yea, who knoweth not ſuch things as theſe?] Viz. That God rewardeth the righteous, and puniſheth the ungodly. The Heathen ſaw this by the ruſh-candle of natures dim light. Doth not nature it ſelf teach you? ſaith Paul 1 Cor. 11.14. And again, This ye know, that no whoremonger &c. hath any inheritance in the kingdome of God, and of Chriſt, Eph. 5.5.

Verſe 4. I am as one mocked of his neighbour] Thoſe that ſhould countenance and comfort me, contemn and ſcorn me. I am their laughter and paſtime; ſo he took it, ſith they ſat ſo heavily upon the skirts of his conſcience, and would not weigh his reaſons brought in his own defence.

Who calleth upon God, and he anſwereth him] i. e. I Job do make God my refuge, when theſe jeering neighbours of mine do ſhame my counſel, Pſalm 14.6. and would mock me out of my religion: but God favoureth me though men frown: and where humane help faileth, divine appeareth. Or thus rather: I am derided of thoſe who profeſſe to call upon God, and to hear often from heaven. They are hard-hearted to me, though themſelves have liberally taſted of Gods tenderneſſe: and they pull up the bridg of mercy before me, which themſelves have oft gone over.

The juſt upright man is laughed to ſcorn] Shame ſhall be the promotion of fools, Prov. 3.35. and ſuch a diſſembler as Doeg may well be derided, Pſalm 52.6, 7. But what hath the righteous done? And why ſhould juſt, upright Job be laughed to ſcorn?Iſa. 8.18. But this is no news: Chriſt and his people have ever been for ſigns, and for wonders in this mad world, alwaies beſides it ſelf in point of ſalvation. He that departeth, from evil, maketh himſelf a prey, or is accounted mad, Iſai. 59.15. If he will needs be a just upright man, if he will live godly in Chriſt Jeſus (if he be ſo ſet upon it, that none ſhall hinder him) he ſhall ſuffer perſecution, this of the tongue howſoever, 2 Tim. 3.12. A wolf flieth not upon a painted ſheep; we can look upon a painted toad with delight: it is the reality of godlineſſe that is hated.

Verſe 5. He that is ready to ſlip with his feet] He who is in a declining, tottering condition, ready to fall and periſh under the burden of his afflictions, though formerly he was looked upon and made uſe of as a lamp or torch, yet when he is at an under, and brought low, is ſhamefully ſlighted by ſuch as have the world at will: like as a torch when waſted and waxen ſhort is caſt out of the hands, and trodden on with the feet of him that held it. The holieſt men, if afflicted, do but ſmother in ſtead of ſhining. When Chriſt himſelf was a man of ſorrows, he was therefore deſpiſed and rejected of men, who hid, as it were, their faces from him, and eſteemed him not, Iſa. 53.3. The Prodigals elder brother ſpeaks ſcornfully of him, becauſe poor, Luke 15.30. This thy ſon; he ſaith not, This my brother &c. Gregory ſaith, that the poor juſt man is here compared to a lamp extinct, becauſe he ſhineth inwardly by the vertue of an upright heart: but outwardly is as it were extinct, becauſe there is nothing outward to commend him; no glorious appearel, no goodly houſes, &c. whence they are ſlighted by the rich wretches of this world. But ſuch a lamp (ſaith he, following the Vulgar tranſlation) is ſet for an appointed time; that is, the day of judgment, when he ſhall ſhine moſt brightly, even as the Sun &c. when the worlds favourites ſhall be thruſt into utter darkneſſe.

Verſe 6. The tabernacles of robbers proſper] By Robbers here underſtand all ſuch as ſin againſt the ſecond table, but eſpecially oppreſſors, and wrong-dealers, whether by force or fraud. As by thoſe that provoke God (quires Dei interturbant, ſo the Tigurines tranſlate) that irritate and diſquiet him, attempting to put him out of temper, are meant ſinners againſt the firſt table. See the like 1 Tim. 1.13. I was (againſt God) a blaſphemer, (againſt man) a perſecutor, againſt both injurious: but I obtained mercy, ſpecial mercy. So do not theſe Robbers and God-provokers in the text: thrive they may, and be in a peaceable condition; yea, they may be ſecure and confident of the continuance of their proſperity: confidences are to them; ſaith the Hebrew verity; for they truſt in uncertain riches, whiles God bringeth into their hands, viz. whatſoever they wiſh, yet not as love-tokens, but as wrath-tokens: theſe fatting beaſts are but fitting for the ſlaughter. God oft giveth that in wrath to ſome, which he with-holdeth from others in great mercy. Mean-while Zophars twofold aſſertion in the former chapter, verſe 17, 20. that good men proſper here, and bad men ſuffer, falls to the ground; whiles Job diſproves it, 1. By experience in this verſe and the former. 2. By the teſtimony of the creatures, thoſe Catholick preachers, ver. 7, 8, 9, 10. 3. By the teſtimony of the ſenſes, and of ancient men, verſe 11, 12.

Verſe 7. But ask now the beaſts of the earth, and they ſhall teach thee] Even the wildeſt of them that abide in the wilderneſſe: there is not one of theſe, or elſe of the fouls of the air, but can both teach thee, and tell thee that the world is ordered by a providence, that God is Powerful, Wiſe, Juſt, &c. and muſt therefore be loved and ſerved. That he ſuffereth the bad to oppreſſe the good, as the great beaſts do devour the little ones; as the hurtful fouls deſtroy the harmleſſe; as the great fiſhes eat up the ſmaller: man, who was once the Captain of Gods ſchool, is now, for his truantlineſſe, turned down into the loweſt form, as it were, to learn his A b c again; yea, to learn it of the meaneſt creatures. See Prov. 6.6. Jer. 8.7. Matth. 6.26. where it appeareth, that in the Ant, Stork, Swallow, &c. God hath ſet before us, as in a picture, the lively reſemblance of many excellent vertues, which we ought to purſue and practiſe. Theſe are the right lay-mens-books, the images that may truly teach people the knowledg of God, and of his will, of themſelves, and of their duties: which we ſhould the rather learn; becauſe God hath given us wiſedome beyond them, Job 37.11. and yet by ſending us to them, ſhameth our dulneſſe and diſobedience.

Verſe 8. Or ſpeak to the earth, and it ſhall teach thee] Teach thee? What?Terra quam termius docet terram quam gerimus. ſurely many good leſſons; as that of humility and modeſty, conſidering out original: that of fruitfulneſſe, whiles ſhe liberally yeilds her riches and ſtrength, and brings forth food for the maintenance of thoſe innumerable armies of creatures that live upon her: but eſpecially, and for the purpoſe, this the earth teacheth, that the tabernacles of robbers proſper, that oppreſſors ſwallow down moſt of her delicates, eat the fat, and drink the ſweet, ruffle in her ſilks, and rifle in her hid treaſures of gold and ſilver.

And the fiſhes of the ſea ſhall declare unto thee] Theſe muti magistri have ſomewhat alſo to ſay to thee, and by a dumb kind of eloquence read thee a divinity-lecture, whileſt they are able to produce many ſuch particular examples of violence in the ſeas; and will further declare (or ciphe up unto thee) how oft they are ſerved up to great mens tables, and do fill the far paunches of oppreſſors. It is not unlikely that Job, in this frequent ſending Zophar to ſchool to the unreaſonable and inanimate creatures, cloſely twitteth him with thoſe quicker queſtions of his, chap. 10.8. What canſt thou do? what canſt thou know, &c.? giving him alſo to know that he need not travel ſo far as heaven or hell for inſtances of Gods infant[illegible: 1 letter] power and wiſedome, ſith we may contemplate the foot-ſteps of God in each creature: and ſith he is ſo neere unto us, [non-Latin text not transcribed] Acts 17. that hee may bee almoſt felt with our hands, as Paul ſpeaketh.

Verſe 9. Who knoweth not in all theſe &c.] Or, By all theſe forementioned creatures &c. and therefore Zophar, you have ſhewed no more wiſedome in your lofty diſcourſe,Theologia cryptica. then the birds, beaſts, and fiſhes have taught and told us. It is a ſilly vanity to pretend myſteriouſneſſe about vulgar truths; to dig deep for that which lieth above ground; to talk of new truths, and never before heard of, when as the hearer may well ſay, as here, Who knowes not ſuch things as theſe? Of ſome in theſe dayes it is obſerved, that they call upon their hearers to mark, it may be they ſhall hear that which they have not heard before: when the thing is either falſe, or if true, no more then ordinarily is taught by others.

That the hand of the Lord hath wrought this] That he alone made all without tool or toile, and that he alone manageth and ordereth all according to the good pleaſure of his will: neither need he ſubſcribe his name to his work; for the very things that he hath made, proclaim that he made them. Mean while, hereby we may ſee how much we are beholden to Aristotle, Elian, Geſner, and other Learned men, who have written bookes concerning the Natures of living creatures.

Verſe 10. In whoſe hand is the ſoul of every living thing] That is, the life of every beaſt, flowing from a ſenſitive ſoul, Lev. 17, 10, 11. This, God both giveth to the creature, and conſerveth it: he ſuffereth it not to be taken away from little ſparrows, or the like, without order from him: much leſſe befalleth any ſuch thing to man without his ſingular providence, ſith our very hairs alſo are numbred, Matth. 10.30. Luke 12.7. The Jew-doctors do therefore offer manifeſt injurie to Job, when they ſay, that he held indeed that God created, and doth preſerve the ſeveral kinds of things, but permitteth the particulars and individua's to hap-hazard; whereas here he delivereth his judgment plainly to the contrary, when he ſaith,

And the breath of all mankind] Heb. The ſpirit of all mans fleſh (and ſo Broughton readeth it) that is, of every mans body: hence God is called the God of the ſpirits of all fleſh, Numb. 16.22. and the Father of Spirits, Heb. 12.9. and the Former of the ſpirit of man within him, Zech. 12.1. My times are in thine hand, ſaith David, Pſalm 31.15. God preſerves our lives as a light in a lantern: and we may be glad it is in ſo ſafe an hand; we ſhould therefore honour him, as Daniel telleth Belſhazzer, Dan. 5.23. yea, let every thing that hath breath praiſe the Lord, Pſalm 150.6. Or as the Hebrew hath it, Let every breath praiſe the Lord: as oft as we breathe, we are to breathe out the praiſe of God, and to make our breath like the ſmoak of the Tabernacle:Iſai. 3. ult. this we ſhould do the rather, becauſe our breath is in our nostrils, every moment ready to puffe out, and the grave cannot praiſe God, death cannot celebrate him, Iſai. 38.18.

Verſe 11. Doth not the ear try words &c.] The mind may as eaſily conceive of theſe truths, as the ear judgeth certainly of the variety of ſounds, and the tongue of the diverſity of taſtes: neither may you think that I will, without any examination or diſtinction, allow of your diſcourſes; or that I can take it well that you reject, as void of reaſon, whatſoever I have ſaid, without once weighing it. The ear is one of the two learned ſenſes, it is an inſtrument of diſcipline: only it ſhould be kept clean and free from prejudice or paſſion, which will be as gall in the eare. See Exod. [illegible: 1 letter].9. Demosthenes called oft upon his Athenians to get their eares purged of tholer:Quadam animalia fel in aure geſtant. Ozen. moznajin. and Alexander, when he heard a cauſe, was wont alwaies to keepe [non-Latin text not transcribed] one eare free for the other party: he would not be prepoſſeſſed. Mercer obſerveth, that the Hebrew word for an ear, doth in the duall number ſignifie a pair of balancer, to note, that a judicious Chriſtian taketh not up truth upon truſt, but conſidereth firſt, and afterwards believeth; he tryeth all things, and then holdeth firſt that which is good, but abſtaineth from all appearance of evil, 1 Theſ. 5.21, 22. The ear and the mind are in the Greek tongue very like in ſound: the mind judgeth of the truth of words by the ears, [non-Latin text not transcribed] as the hearn in a pair of balances determineth the juſt weight of things by the two ſcales. He that is ſpiritual diſcerneth all things, 1 Cor. 2.15. he hath ſpiritual ſenſe[illegible: 1 letter]. Philip. 1.9. ſenſes exerciſed, habitually exerciſed, to [illegible: 1 word] good and evil, H[illegible: 1 letter]b 5.14. his ſervice is a rational ſervice, Rom. 12.1 his obedience the obedience of faith, Rom. 16.26. Whereas the natural man is carried away as he is led, 2 Cor. 12.2. pulled away with the errour of the wicked, 2 Pet. 3.17. taken priſoner by ſeducers, 2 Tim. 3.6. and by them made prize of, Col. 2.8. as having either no skil, or no will to examine what is doctrinally propounded to him.

As the mouth taſteth his meat] Heb. the palate, which is the proper inſtrument of taſting: Now the order of nature requireth (ſaith one) that ſeeing our bodily ſenſes, are ſo nimble and able to diſcern what is ſowr, what ſweet, &c.Senſorium. Merlin in loc. our underſtandings alſo ſhould do the ſame by right reaſon: and the contrary is very abſurd and unbecoming a man; neither can there be any good excuſe made for our dulneſſe, if we bend not our minds to the ſearch of the truth, for as much as there is ſo much adoe made to pleaſe the palate, eyes, eares, and other ſenſes: Catullus wiſhed all his body were noſe, that he might-ſpend all his time in ſweet ſmells. Philoxenus, that his neck were as long as a Cranes, that he might take more delight in meats and drinks (it ſeems that he placed taſting not in the mouth, but in the throat.) Boccace the Italian Poet ſaid, that he was born a[illegible: 1 letter] amore delle donne, for the love of women: and of a prodigal pleaſure-monger in London, we read,Theatre of Gods judgm. that to pleaſe all his five ſenſes at once, he allowed to the delight of every ſeveral ſenſe, a ſeverall hundred pound. See the Note on Amos 6.6. There is a ſancta crapula, an holy gluttony, as Luther calleth an hearty feeding on divine viands, a finding fatneſſe and ſweetneſſe beyond that of the hony and hony-comb in Gods Ordinances,Pſalm 63.5, 6. crying to Jeſus Chriſt as the Spouſe doth Cant. 8.13. Cauſe me to hearken to thy voice: and obeying him, thus beſpeaking us, Eat ô friends, drink. yea, drink abundantly ô beloved, till you are even inebriated with loves, Cant. 5.1.

Verſe 12. With the ancient is wiſedome] Heb. with the decrepit, who have a long, long being upon earth, and are now become wondrous old, even four-ſcore and upward: with ſuch is wiſedome, or elſe it is a ſhame for them. See 1 John 2.12. Heb. 5.12. True it is, that wiſedome doth not alwaies lean upon a ſtaffe, nor look through ſpectacles. Age is no juſt meaſure of wiſedome: there are beardleſſe ſages, (as was Solomon) and gray-headed children, as Rehoboam. Macarius was called [non-Latin text not transcribed], the old youth; (Samuel, Daniel, Timothy were ſuch.) When Arſacius, who ſucceeded Chryſoſtom, was an old dotrel of fourſcore years,Anton. tit. 10. cap. 9. adorandae rubiginis, (as one ſaith of ſome ancient Authors:) and Nectarius who ſucceeded Nazianzen, was a meer novice, and preferred to that place, only becauſe he was of a venerable aſpect, and of a biſhop-like preſence and deportment.Venerandā canitie, & vulva ſacerdote digno-Baron. Of the Brabants Eraſmus teſtifieth, that the elder they are, the fooliſher. And Job here ſeemeth to tax his friends, that though old, yet they were not over-wiſe, not worthy of their years: ſith they underſtood not what he ſpake concerning Gods providence: Is wiſedome with the ancient, ſaith he, and underſtanding in length of dayes? ſo ſome read it queſtion-wiſe, q. d. it ill appeareth.

And in length of dayes, underſtanding] By reaſon of their much obſervation, and frequent experience, together with their ability to draw other things out of thoſe they have obſerved, and from former events to preſage future. This is to be underſtood of ſuch old men as are like flowers, which have their roots perfect, when themſelves are withering; as with roſes, keep a ſweet ſavour though they loſe their colour; as with the Sun, ſhine moſt amiably at their going down. But leſt we ſhould attribute too much to ſuch ſages, Job ſhewes in the next verſe, that all their wiſedome is but derivative, and that all their underſtanding is but a ſpark of Gods flame, a drop of his Ocean.

Verſe 13. With him is wiſedome and ſtrength &c] Wiſedome, ſtrength, counſel, and underſtanding, are all concentred in the Ancient of dayes: compleat he is in all excellencies and perfections, all which do meet in him, and continue alwaies in the higheſt degree. The mighty God fainteth not, neither is weary: there is no ſearching of his underſtanding Iſai. 40.28. He is alſo no leſſe good then great and wiſe; good, original, univerſal, all-ſufficient, and ſatisfactory, proportionable, and fitting for our ſoul; which as it was made by him, and for him, ſo it is never at quiet till it reſteth in him. See chap. 9.4.

He hath counſel and underſtanding] Counſel he hath, but without conſultation: Wiſedome, but without experience: Knowledg, but without diſcourſe: Decree, but without deliberation:Aug. Loquimur de Deo &c. we ſpeak of God. ſaith one, not as we ought, but as we are able. And theſe things we ſpeak of God (ſaith another Father) becauſe we find not what better to ſpeak of him. But Job hath a mind to ſay the utmoſt that may be ſaid.

Verſe 14. Beheld, he breaketh down, and it connot be built again] As he did the old world, Sodom and Gomorrah, many Monarchies and Empires, the Tower of Babel, and other caſtles and houſes which now live by fame only, If at all. If God have a mind to mine theſe, who ſhall raiſe or repair them? Julian the Apoſtate, in ſpite to the Chriſtians,Am. Marcel. lib. 23. Socrat. 3. Theod. Ruffin. ſet the Jewes awork to reedifie the Temple at Jeruſalem, but they could never effect it, by reaſon of a terrible earth-quake, that ſlew the workmen, and marred the materials. The Arian Biſhops held a ſecond Council at Nice, with purpoſe to have aboliſhed the memory of the firſt, together with the Nicene Creed,Func. and to have eſtabliſhed Arianiſm: but God diſappointed them, and ſent them packing thence by a huge earth-quake, which overturned a great part of that city, and deſtroyed a number of people. Constans Nephew to Heraclius the Greek Emperour,Theophanes. Zonaras. Cedrenus. Job. de Columnae in Mari historiarum. Gen. Chronol. and (three hundred years after him) Othe Emperour of Germany, indeavoured, but in vain, to make Rome the ſeat of their Empires, as anciently it had been. God would not ſuffer it ſo to be, ſaith Genebrard, becauſe the Kingdom of the Church, foretold by Daniel, was to have its ſeat there. If he had ſaid, the kingdome of Antichriſt foretold by Paul, and John the Divine, he had hit the nail on the very head.

He ſhutteth up a man, and there can be no opening] He clappeth him up cloſe priſoner, as Manaſſeh, Zedekiah, Bajazet, Boniface the 8. &c) or faſteneth him to his bed by ſome chronical diſeaſe (as he did Abimelech, Ahaziab, Aſa, Aeneas, Acts 9.33.) or otherwiſe ſtraiteneth him that he knows not how to help himſelf, as he did Pharaoh, Saul (when the Philiſtims were upon him of every ſide) thoſe refractaries in Iſaiah, chap. 9.2. and ſhall do the whore of Babylon, Rev. 18. when her lovers ſhall bewail her, but not be able to beſtead her, ver. 9, 10. For when God ſhutteth up any in this ſort, they muſt lie by it till he pleaſe to releaſe them, and extricate them, as he did Joſeph Jehoſhaphat, David, Peter, Valentinian. and many others, when they were even forſaken of their hopes.

Verſe 15. Behold he with-holdeth the waters, and they dry up] He not only when he pleaſeth, impriſoneth men, but waters alſo, that they cannot get out of the clouds, thoſe bottles of rain, thoſe airy ſponges, veſſels as thin as the liquor that is contained in them: it is from the power of God that they diſſolve not upon us at once, and overwhelm us. Bartholinus reports that in the year of grace 1551. a great number of men and cattle were drowned by the ſudden breaking of a cloud, divers vine-yeards,De meteor. li. 2. ſtone walls, ſtrong houſes, were deſtroyed and ruined. At ſea ſometimes, ſhips are by the ſame means ſunk, ſea-men call it a ſpo[illegible: 1 letter]t. Again, it is by the anger and judgments of God that the clouds are ſometimes ſo cloſed up, that they yeild no more water then iron or adamant: If I ſhut up heaven, ſaith he, that there the no rain, 2 Chron. 7.13. and Deut. 28.23, 24. God threateneth, as a puniſhment of mens ſin, that the heavens over their heads ſhall be braſſe, and the earth under them ſhall be iron; that the rain of their land ſhall be made powder and duſt: from heaven ſhall it come down upon them &c. by exceeding great drought, grains of duſt ſhall aſcend into the air with the wind, and come down as the drops of rain in a ſhower when it is kindly weather. Thus it was in A[illegible: 1 letter]obe dayes 1 King. 18. See Joel 1.20. with the Note.

And they dry up] The rivers, fruits of the earth, roots of trees, all dry up, languiſh, and periſh, feavers alſo, and other acute diſeaſes abound.

Alſo he ſendeth them out, and they overturn the earth] They did ſo with an accent in the general deluge, and in Deucalious flood in Theſſaly, beſides many other great tracts and parts of the earth over-turned by water. Pliny and Seneca give us ſundry inſtances of towns and countries laid waſte by water. What great hurt was lately done about Amſterdam by water, and what breaking down of bridges, mills, and other houſes,Prin. Nat. hiſt. lib. 2. cap. 90.92. Sen. Nat. quaſt. lib. 6. cap. 23. by exceſſive rain, and floods thereupon, beſides marring of grounds, and rotting of cattle in many places amongſt us, needeth not here to be related.

Verſe 16. With him is ſtrength and wiſedome] i. e. Such ſtrength as he exerciſeth moſt wiſely, mightily and righteouſly. Sic volo, ſic [illegible: 1 word], ſaith the Tyrant, Right or wrong, thus it ſhall be: Volumus & [illegible: 1 letter]u[illegible: 1 letter]emus, ſaith that man of ſin, wee will and command &c. neither muſt any one mute or ſay ſo much as what doſt thou? upon pain of damnation. When Constantius would have Paulinus, Lucifer, and other Biſhops ſubſcribe againſt Athanaſius, and communicate with the Arians, he yeilded to no other reaſon but this, Quod ego volo, pro canone fit, Do as I bid, or get you into baniſhment. But God, though he hath all power in his hand, and may do whatſoever he pleaſeth, yet with him is ſtrength and equity (ſo Vatabius rendreth the word Tuſbijah here uſed) or the being, ſubſtance, and permanency of all creatures (ſo Munster) which ſubſiſt meerly by his manutention: or, the rule and certain law of wiſedome and judgment, by which wiſedome acteth, ſaith Mercer. So then the Lord, though he make his will a law, yet he cannot do otherwiſe then well, becauſe nothing but wiſedome and equity is in it.

The deceived, and the deceiver are his] This Job produceth as a proof of Gods inſuperable ſtrength, and unſearchable wiſedome, that he hath an over-ruling hand in the artifices and ſlights of men, even the cunning craftineſſe (as the Apoſtle ſpeaketh) Eph. 4.14. Whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Theſe he not only and barely permitteth in his juſt judgment upon the deceived (whether through ignorance, or idleneſs) but diſpoſeth alſo, & ordereth both the deceiver and the deceived, (whether in ſpiritual things, or civil) to his own righteous ends, and holy purpoſes. See Ezek. 14.9. 1 Kin. 22.19, 20 2 Theſ. 2.11. Iſa. 19.14. and then conclude with Job, that wiſedom and ſtrength are his, who can thus draw light out of darkneſſe, and powerfully order the diſorders of the world to his own glory, and the good of his people: For there muſt be hereſies, that they which are approved may be made manifeſt, 1 Cor. 11.9. Mean-while, here is the comfort of every good ſoul, that none can take them out of the Father hands, Job. 10.29. and it is impoſſible that the elect ſhould be totally and finally deceived, becauſe both the deceived and the deceiver are Gods: by him, and from him, and for him are deceivers and deceived, (ſo Broughton tranſlateth this text). By him, for he ſuffereth and ordereth them: From him, for he ſendeth them: And For him, for they promote his glory, and ſerve his ends. He many times ſuffereth the tree of the Church to be ſhaken, that rotten fruit may drop off. There are the ſet this ſenſe upon the words; they are both in Gods hands, the deceiver to have revenge taken upon him, and the deceived who revengeth not himſelf to have his cauſe righted, as 1 Theſ. 4.6. an argument both of Gods wiſedome to find out the deceiver, how ſubtle ſoever: and likewiſe of his power in puniſhing them, how potent ſoever.

Verſe 17. He leadeth counſellors away ſpoiled] Viz. Of wit, wealth, and honour. This ſhould be a warning to ſuch not to take ill cauſes in hand, not to call evil good, and good evil, not to juſtifie the wicked for a reward, and to take away the righteouſneſſe of the righteous from him; not to bolſter out a bad cauſe, and to outface a good, leſt if they improve their wits and parts to ſo evil an end, God make them as deſpicable as before they were honourable. They may ſee what the Lord did to Abitophel that Oracle of his time, to Pharaohs counſellors, Iſa. 19.11, 12. to Pharaoh himſelf, Ex. 1.10. with Pr. 28.15.

And he maketh the Judges fools] Broughton rendreth the verſe thus, He brings Counſellors to badneſſe, and Judges to ſtark madneſſe: He infatuateth them, not by infuſing folly into them any more, then the Sun when he ſhineth not in our Horizon, cauſeth darkneſſe in the air, which of it ſelf, and of its own nature is dark: But when God with-holdeth that light of wiſedome which he had imparted to a man, his in-bred darkneſſe muſt needs ſhew it ſelf. More then this, it ſometimes cometh to paſſe, that when God delivereth a man up for his ſins to a reprobate ſenſe to an injudicious mind, he is thenceforth deprived ſometimes of natural wiſedome, and common ſenſe, that the divine revenge may be the more apparent.

Verſe 18. He looſeth the bonds of Kings] He degradeth them, taking away all command and authority from them, which is the bond that bindeth the people to obedience and ſubjection; Job 30.11. Iſai. 45.1, 5. as our Henry the third,Daniel. who was called Regni dilapidator, ill beloved of his people, and far a leſs King (ſaith the Chronicler) by ſtriving to be more then he was: the juſt reward of violations.

And gardeth their loins with a girdle] With a rope, ſay the Vulgar: he brings them from the throne to the priſon: he layeth affliction upon their loynes,Val. Max Chriſt. pag. 267. as Pſalm 66.11. An inſtance hereof (beſide the late King, and Corradinus King of Germany likewiſe beheaded at Naples) we had here in Richard the ſecond, brought forth in a royal robe to be depoſed, and then hunger-ſtarved in priſon: as alſo in Henry the ſixth, who having been the moſt potent Monarch for dominions that ever England had, was afterwards (when depoſed) not the Maſter of a mole-hill, nor owner of his own liberty, but baffled and beaten by every baſe fellow. Some Interpreters make the ſenſe of this to be thus; God ſometimes looſeth the bonds, into which Princes are brought, and advanceth them again to kingly dignity, the enſign whereof, was of old a precious girdle. So it befell Manaſſeh, Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiakins, reſtored and honoured againe as a king, by Evilmerodach, 2 Kings 25.28 Hiſtorians write, that Nebuchadnezzar was ſo offended with his ſon and ſucceſſor Evilmerodach, as he caſt him into priſon, and that in priſon he and Jehoiakim became acquainted together, whence his advancement afterwards.

Verſe 19. He leadeth away Princes ſpoiled] Or Prieſts Ducit ſacerdotes inglerias, ſo the Vulgar tranſlateth, He leadeth away the Prieſts without glory, diſhonoured. Prieſts were generally much eſteemed and priviledged in all ages. Alexander the great gave greateſt reſpect to Jaddus the Jewiſh High-Prieſt. When the Gauls had burnt Rome, and were beſieging the Capitol, Caius Fabius Dorſo, attired as a Prieſt, with his ſacrifice, and other neceſſaries in his hand, marched through the midſt of the enemies, aſtoniſhed at his reſolution, offered his ſacrifice on the hill Quirinalis, and returned in ſafety. The Bardi, a kind of Prieſts, were here in Albion of ſuch eſteem among the greateſt commanders, that if two armies were even at puſh of pike, and a Bard had ſtep'd in betwixt them, they would have held their hands, hearkned to his advice, and not have offered to ſtrike till he were out of danger: Magna fuit quondam capitis reverentia ſacri. Howbeit, ſuch alſo have been carried captive, and ſlaine by the enemy, as was Seraiah the high-prieſt by Nebuchadnezzar; and before him the two ſons of Eli (whoſe white Ephod covered foul ſins) ſlain by the Philiſtims. The Lord hath deſpiſed in the indignation of his anger, both the King and the Prieſt, Lam. 2.6. Both the Prophet and the Prieſt go about into a land that they know not, Jer. 14.18. The word Cohen is uſed indifferently to ſignifie a Prieſt, or Prince, an Eccleſiaſtical or ſecular Governor. Broughton rendreth it here Dukes; others, Preſidents or praefects of Provinces: Honour is no ſhelter againſt the wrath of God.

And overthroweth the mighty] Such as might ſeem unmoveable, as a rock or tree firmly rooted; theſe God ſhaketh and ſhattereth to pieces, he rooteth them up, and ruineth them. Let no man think to prevail by ſtrength, 1 Sam. 2.9. ſith the weakneſſe of God (if any ſuch thing there were) is ſtronger then men, 1 Cor. 1.25. He will ſmite his enemies (as ſo many puny-boyes) in the hinder-parts, and ſo put them to a perpetual reproach, Pſalm 78.66. Yea, he will not only ſmite them on the loins, but through the loins, (Deut. 32.11.) that they never riſe again. Let them therfore learn to meddle with their match, Eccl. 6.10. and take heed how they fall into the puniſhing hands of the living God.

Verſe 20. He removeth away the ſpeech of the truſty] Or, of the eloquent, as Demosthenes the moſt eloquent of the Greeks, being by them frequently ſent as an Ambaſſadour to Philip King of Macedony, thrice ſtood ſpeechleſſe before him, and thirty ſeveral times forgat thoſe things which he had thought to have ſpoken, as Tz[illegible: 1 letter]tzes teſtifieth,Chiliad. 7. So Latomus of Lovain, that Apoſtate and Perſecutor of the truth, having prepared an elegant Oration to make to Charls the fifth Emperour, was ſo confounded, that he could hardly ſpeak a word of ſenſe; the grief whereof broke his heart. The Counſellor, and the Eloquent Orator, the Prudent, and the Ancient are reckoned up as the ſtay, and the ſtaffe, the beauty, and bulwark of a Nation, Iſa. 3.2, 3 Theſe God removeth at his pleaſure, and for a general judgment, cauſing either them to dye, or their abilities to die and decay, or croſſing their attempts that they ſhall ſpeak perſwaſively, but not perſwade people, but be ſlighted and exploded of all.Veracium. Yea, though they be Truth-ſpeakers (ſo the Vulgar hath it;) or Truſty (as our tranſlation) Confiding men, as they are called, worthy to be truſted; ſuch faithful counſellors as Polybius was to Scipio, who never miſcarried in any thing wherein he followed his advice, as the Hiſtorian teſtifieth: yet God can remove or change the ſpeech of ſuch, by leaving them to their own unfaithfulneſſe and inconſtancy, as we have plentifully experimented in theſe late diſcriminating and ſhedding times.

And taketh away the underſtanding of the aged] Heb. And taketh the ſenſe, or ſavour, or raſte of the Elders or Senators, that they ſhall be no more able to diſcern and determine what is true or falſe, right or wrong, then old Barzilla[illegible: 1 letter] could skill of the Court-meates and muſick. See this threatned, Iſai. 29.14. Such old men as either were bred Scholars, or have had much experience in the management of great affairs, are preſumed to be of great underſtanding: but God can either take ſuch away, as he threateneth to do, Iſa. 3.3, 4. or take away their wiſedome, to render them uſeleſſe to the publick: as it is reported of Theodorus Gaza, and of Albertus Magnus, thoſe great Scholars, that for certain years before they died, they did ſo dote, and were ſo childiſh, that they could not write their own names, or read a letter on the book. Let therefore the Eloquent, and the aged take heed they abuſe not their abilities, leſt they forget and loſe them.

Verſe 21. He poureth contempt upon Princes] Or Nobles, or Gentlemen, which are, or ſhould be free, bounteous, munificent benefactors: if they be not Nedibim, [non-Latin text not transcribed] but Nebalim, liberal, but churliſh, (ſee theſe oppoſed Iſa. 32.5.) it is juſt in God to pour contempt, to lay abundance of ſhame and ſcorn upon them, as ſordid, penny-fathers, ignoble, Euclio's, poor-ſpirited men, the baſe brood, or rather, blot of their better fore-fathers. Of out Edward the ſecond it is chronicled, that never was Prince received with greater love and opinion of all then he; or never any that ſooner loſt it; for his very firſt action in recalling his minion Pierce Gaveſton, Daniel. diſcovered an head-ſtrong wilfulneſſe, that was uncounſellable: hence he was ſlighted by his ſubjects, purſued by his wife and ſon, and at length cruelly murthered. Mercer obſerveth, that David hath the ſelf-ſame words, Pſalm 107.40. that are found here, and verſe 24. Neither need we wonder, ſith they both ſpake by the ſame ſpirit.

And weakneth the ſtrength of the mighty] Heb. He ſlackneth the girdle of the impetuous, that like ſtrong ſtreams in narrow ſtraits, bear down all before them. So do Souldiers in warre; ſee 2 Sam. 22.16. Job 6.15. But God can looſe their girdles (or belts, which bind their garments, and buckle their armour cloſe to them) he can diſpirit them, and make them feeble and faint-hearted, as he did Samſon, and thoſe Aſſyrians Pſalm 76.5, 6. By this whole diſcourſe of Job it appeareth, that he had very diligently obſerved Gods providence, and way of adminiſtration in the ſeveral ranks of men, and alterations of common-wealths; whereby he had learned ſecretly to admire and adore Gods judgments, which thing we ought alſo ſemblably to do.

Verſe 22. He diſcovereth deep things out of darkneſſe] As he did to Joſeph and Pharaoh by dreams, to the Prophets by viſions and revelations, and ſtill doth to his people by his Spirit: for the Spirit ſearcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God, 1 Cor. 2.10. He bringeth to light alſo the hidden things of darkneſſe, helliſh conſpiracies, as in the Powder-plot, the deep reaches of Kings to maintain their authority, and compaſſe their deſigns, reſolving to ſuffer never a rub to lie in their way, that might hinder the true running of their bowle. Philip de Comines dived ſo deep,Heyl. Geog. and wrote ſo plainly of the Stately affairs (thoſe arcana imperii) that Katharine de Medices (Queen-mother of France) was wont to ſay, that he had made as many hereticks policy, as Luther had done in Religion: ſhe ſaw not that God had ſet Comines awork, and that he will yet further bring out to light (that all men may ſee) the ſhadow of death; that is, the things that are moſt abſtruſe, and moſt unlikely ever to have been diſcovered: ſee Matth. 16.26. with the Note: and ſay, Wo to them that ſeek deep to hide their counſel from the Lord, Iſai. 29.15. The powder-plot was a deep thing of darkneſſe, it was under ground, they were ſo long digging in their vault of villany; and a long time it was ſecreted under oaths, and ſtrongeſt concealments: But a bird of the air revealed it, and that which had wing told the matter, Eccleſ. 10.20. It was a quill, a piece of a wing brought all to light by a blind letter put (by a providence) into a wrong hand: the danger was at the very [non-Latin text not transcribed], within eight hours of being acted, when from a match ready fired, we received a matchleſſe deliverance: Say then, [non-Latin text not transcribed]

Verſe 23. Hee encreaſeth the Nations, and destroyeth them] It is all one with God, whether againſt a ſingle man, or a whole Nation, Job 34.29. when he once taketh them to do. The wicked ſhall be turned into hell, and (that they may not hope to eſcape becauſe a multitude) all the nations that forget God, Pſalm 9.17. Soon after the flood, the Babel-builders were ſcattered, Sedom and her ſiſters were not only conſumed with fire from heaven, Gen, 19. but thrown forth for an example ſuffering the vengeance of eternal fire, Jude 7. ſome Nations were ejected, and others ſubſtituted, Deut, 2.10, 12, 20. Some utterly waſted and rooted out, as the Edomites, Ammonites Moabites, &c. that live by fame only; others not ſo much as by fame, their very names being blotted out from under heaven. The cities be waſted without inhabitant, and the houſes without man, and the land is utterly deſolate, Iſai. 6.11. Now all this is the Lords own doing, and ſhould be marvellous in our eyes. Hee plants and plucks up, hee builds and breakes downe, Jerem. 31.28.

He enlargeth the Nations, and ſtraitneth them again] Or That he may ſtraiten them again, ſo in the former clauſe, That he may deſtroy them: This if he may juſtly do to whole nations, why ſhould it ſeem ſo ſtrange, that he ſuffereth particular perſons though wicked, to proſper for a ſeaſon; and though righteous for a while, to ſuffer hardſhip?

Verſe 24. He taketh away the heart of the chiefe of the people] That is, of the greateſt part of the people of the world (ſay ſome) theſe God ſuffereth to walk in their own wayes, Acts 14.16. To become vain in their imaginations, and their fooliſh heart is darkned; profeſſing themſelves to be wiſe, they became fools, Rom. 1.21, 22. As the Philoſophers of old, and the Chineſes at this day, who are known to be ingenious, and uſe to ſay of themſelves, that all other nations of the world ſee but with one eye, they only with two; yet continue they groſſe Idolaters,Deſcrip. of the world, of China and Cataia. meer heathens, having no leſſe then an hundred thouſand gods, which they worſhip one while, and whip another, if they come not at a call. But the moſt Interpreters, by chief, or heads of the people, here underſtand their Governors, of whom though Job had ſaid as much in effect before, (17) viz. that God diſpiriteth and beſotteth them for a plague to the people who follow their Rulers (and fall with them) as the body of a beaſt followeth the head, yet becauſe few obſerve and improve this truth, therefore he repeateth and illuſtrateth it by three elegant Similies. And firſt,

He cauſeth them to wander in a wilderneſſe &c.] Not knowing which way to extricate themſelves, they beat their brains about it, but to no purpoſe; they are ſo bewildered and puzzled, as if they were treading a maze: and this God cauſeth, he is active in it, whiles he with-draweth his light, and delivereth them up to their own fooliſh hearts, and to the Prince of darkneſſe, to be further benighted, 2 Cor. 4.4.

Verſe 25. They grope in the dark without light] This is the ſecond Similie, ſetting forth this judiciary act of God in taking away the heart of the heads of the earth: grope they do, and would fain find out a way by feeling, but they feel darkneſs, and not light (ſo the Hebrew hath it) they try to help themſelves and their people out of miſery, as the laſt Greek Emperour did notably; but it would not be.Turk. hiſt. 345.

And he maketh them to ſtagger like a drunken man] Who having loſt the uſe of reaſon, knoweth neither where he is, nor what he was, but reeleth and falleth oft, and cannot riſe again, much leſſe go forward. So fareth it with evil rulers when God ſmiteth them with a ſpirit of giddineſſe, and of ſlumber. See Iſa. 19.24. and 04.20.