Job 19 commentary

Job's friends blamed him as a wicked man, because he was so afflicted; here he describes their unkindness, showing that what they condemned was capable of excuse. Harsh language from friends, greatly adds to the weight of afflictions: yet it is best not to lay it to heart, lest we harbour resentment. Rather let us look to Him who endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, and was treated with far more cruelty than Job was, or we can be. (Job 19:8-22)

How doleful are Job's complaints! What is the fire of hell but the wrath of God! Seared consciences will feel it hereafter, but do not fear it now: enlightened consciences fear it now, but shall not feel it hereafter. It is a very common mistake to think that those whom God afflicts he treats as his enemies. Every creature is that to us which God makes it to be; yet this does not excuse Job's relations and friends. How uncertain is the friendship of men! but if God be our Friend, he will not fail us in time of need. What little reason we have to indulge the body, which, after all our care, is consumed by diseases it has in itself. Job recommends himself to the compassion of his friends, and justly blames their harshness. It is very distressing to one who loves God, to be bereaved at once of outward comfort and of inward consolation; yet if this, and more, come upon a believer, it does not weaken the proof of his being a child of God and heir of glory.

The Spirit of God, at this time, seems to have powerfully wrought on the mind of Job. Here he witnessed a good confession; declared the soundness of his faith, and the assurance of his hope. Here is much of Christ and heaven; and he that said such things are these, declared plainly that he sought the better country, that is, the heavenly. Job was taught of God to believe in a living Redeemer; to look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come; he comforted himself with the expectation of these. Job was assured, that this Redeemer of sinners from the yoke of Satan and the condemnation of sin, was his Redeemer, and expected salvation through him; and that he was a living Redeemer, though not yet come in the flesh; and that at the last day he would appear as the Judge of the world, to raise the dead, and complete the redemption of his people. With what pleasure holy Job enlarges upon this! May these faithful sayings be engraved by the Holy Spirit upon our hearts. We are all concerned to see that the root of the matter be in us. A living, quickening, commanding principle of grace in the heart, is the root of the matter; as necessary to our religion as the root of the tree, to which it owes both its fixedness and its fruitfulness. Job and his friends differed concerning the methods of Providence, but they agreed in the root of the matter, the belief of another world.

CHAPTER 19

SECOND SERIES.

Job 19:1-29. Job's Reply to Bildad.

2. How long, &c.--retorting Bildad's words (Job 18:2). Admitting the punishment to be deserved, is it kind thus ever to be harping on this to the sufferer? And yet even this they have not yet proved.

3. These--prefixed emphatically to numbers (Ge 27:36).

ten--that is, often (Ge 31:7).

make yourselves strange--rather, "stun me" [Gesenius]. (See Margin for a different meaning [that is, "harden yourselves against me"]).

4.erred--The Hebrew expresses unconscious error. Job was unconscious of wilful sin.

remaineth--literally, "passeth the night." An image from harboring an unpleasant guest for the night. I bear the consequences.

5. magnify, &c.--Speak proudly (Ob 12; Eze 35:13).

against me--emphatically repeated (Psa 38:16).

plead ... reproach--English Version makes this part of the protasis, "if" being understood, and the apodosis beginning at Job 19:6. Better with Umbreit, If ye would become great heroes against me in truth, ye must prove (evince) against me my guilt, or shame, which you assert. In the English Version "reproach" will mean Job's calamities, which they "pleaded" against him as a "reproach," or proof of guilt.

6. compassed ... net--alluding to Bildad's words (Job 18:8). Know, that it is not that I as a wicked man have been caught in my "own net"; it is God who has compassed me in His--why, I know not.

7. wrong--violence: brought on him by God.

no judgment--God will not remove my calamities, and so vindicate my just cause; and my friends will not do justice to my past character.

8. Image from a benighted traveller.

9. stripped ... crown--image from a deposed king, deprived of his robes and crown; appropriate to Job, once an emir with all but royal dignity (La 5:16; Psa 89:39).

10. destroyed ... on every side--"Shaken all round, so that I fall in the dust"; image from a tree uprooted by violent shaking from every side [Umbreit]. The last clause accords with this (Jr 1:10)

mine hope--as to this life (in opposition to Zophar, Job 11:18); not as to the world to come (Job 19:25; Job 14:15).

removed--uprooted.

11. enemies--(Job 13:24; La 2:5).

12. troops--Calamities advance together like hostile troops (Job 10:17).

raise up ... way--An army must cast up a way of access before it, in marching against a city (Is 40:3).

13. brethren--nearest kinsmen, as distinguished from "acquaintance." So "kinsfolk" and "familiar friends" (Job 19:14) correspond in parallelism. The Arabic proverb is, "The brother, that is, the true friend, is only known in time of need."

estranged--literally, "turn away with disgust." Job again unconsciously uses language prefiguring the desertion of Jesus Christ (Job 16:10; Lu 23:49; Psa 38:11).

15. They that dwell, &c.--rather, "sojourn": male servants, sojourning in his house. Mark the contrast. The stranger admitted to sojourn as a dependent treats the master as a stranger in his own house.

16. servant--born in my house (as distinguished from those sojourning in it), and so altogether belonging to the family. Yet even he disobeys my call.

mouth--that is, "calling aloud"; formerly a nod was enough. Now I no longer look for obedience, I try entreaty.

17. strange--His breath by elephantiasis had become so strongly altered and offensive, that his wife turned away as estranged from him (Job 19:13; 17:1).

children's ... of mine own body--literally, "belly." But "loins" is what we should expect, not "belly" (womb), which applies to the woman. The "mine" forbids it being taken of his wife. Besides their children were dead. In Job 3:10 the same words "my womb" mean, my mother's womb: therefore translate, "and I must entreat (as a suppliant) the children of my mother's womb"; that is, my own brothers--a heightening of force, as compared with last clause of Job 19:16 [Umbreit]. Not only must I entreat suppliantly my servant, but my own brothers (Psa 69:8). Here too, he unconsciously foreshadows Jesus Christ (Joh 7:5).

18. young children--So the Hebrew means (Job 21:11). Reverence for age is a chief duty in the East. The word means "wicked" (Job 16:11). So Umbreit has it here, not so well.

I arose--Rather, supply "if," as Job was no more in a state to stand up. "If I stood up (arose), they would speak against (abuse) me" [Umbreit].

19. inward--confidential; literally, "men of my secret"--to whom I entrusted my most intimate confidence.

20. Extreme meagerness. The bone seemed to stick in the skin, being seen through it, owing to the flesh drying up and falling away from the bone. The Margin, "as to my flesh," makes this sense clearer. The English Version, however, expresses the same: "And to my flesh," namely, which has fallen away from the bone, instead of firmly covering it.

skin of my teeth--proverbial. I have escaped with bare life; I am whole only with the skin of my teeth; that is, my gums alone are whole, the rest of the skin of my body is broken with sores (Job 7:5; Psa 102:5). Satan left Job his speech, in hope that he might therewith curse God.

21. When God had made him such a piteous spectacle, his friends should spare him the additional persecution of their cruel speeches.

22. as God--has persecuted me. Prefiguring Jesus Christ (Psa 69:26). That God afflicts is no reason that man is to add to a sufferer's affliction (Zec 1:15).

satisfied with my flesh--It is not enough that God afflicts my flesh literally (Job 19:20), but you must "eat my flesh" metaphorically (Psa 27:2); that is, utter the worst calumnies, as the phrase often means in Arabic.

23. Despairing of justice from his friends in his lifetime, he wishes his words could be preserved imperishably to posterity, attesting his hope of vindication at the resurrection.

printed--not our modern printing, but engraven.

24. pen--graver.

lead--poured into the engraven characters, to make them better seen [Umbreit]. Not on leaden plates; for it was "in the rock" that they were engraved. Perhaps it was the hammer that was of "lead," as sculptors find more delicate incisions are made by it, than by a harder hammer. FOSTER (One Primeval Language) has shown that the inscriptions on the rocks in Wady-Mokatta, along Israel's route through the desert, record the journeys of that people, as Cosmas Indicopleustes asserted, A.D. 535.

for ever--as long as the rock lasts.

25. redeemer--Umbreit and others understand this and Job 19:26, of God appearing as Job's avenger before his death, when his body would be wasted to a skeleton. But Job uniformly despairs of restoration and vindication of his cause in this life (Job 17:15, 16). One hope alone was left, which the Spirit revealed--a vindication in a future life: it would be no full vindication if his soul alone were to be happy without the body, as some explain (Job 19:26) "out of the flesh." It was his body that had chiefly suffered: the resurrection of his body, therefore, alone could vindicate his cause: to see God with his own eyes, and in a renovated body (Job 19:27), would disprove the imputation of guilt cast on him because of the sufferings of his present body. That this truth is not further dwelt on by Job, or noticed by his friends, only shows that it was with him a bright passing glimpse of Old Testament hope, rather than the steady light of Gospel assurance; with us this passage has a definite clearness, which it had not in his mind (see on Job 21:30). The idea in "redeemer" with Job is Vindicator (Job 16:19; Nu 35:27), redressing his wrongs; also including at least with us, and probably with him, the idea of the predicted Bruiser of the serpent's head. Tradition would inform him of the prediction. Foster shows that the fall by the serpent is represented perfectly on the temple of Osiris at Philæ; and the resurrection on the tomb of the Egyptian Mycerinus, dating four thousand years back. Job's sacrifices imply sense of sin and need of atonement. Satan was the injurer of Job's body; Jesus Christ his Vindicator, the Living One who giveth life (Joh 5:21, 26).

at the latter day--Rather, "the Last," the peculiar title of Jesus Christ, though Job may not have known the pregnancy of his own inspired words, and may have understood merely one that comes after (1Co 15:45; Re 1:17). Jesus Christ is the last. The day of Jesus Christ the last day (Joh 6:39).

stand--rather, "arise": as God is said to "raise up" the Messiah (Jr 23:5; De 18:15).

earth--rather, "dust": often associated with the body crumbling away in it (Job 7:21; 17:16); therefore appropriately here. Above that very dust wherewith was mingled man's decaying body shall man's Vindicator arise. "Arise above the dust," strikingly expresses that fact that Jesus Christ arose first Himself above the dust, and then is to raise His people above it (1Co 15:20, 23). The Spirit intended in Job's words more than Job fully understood (1Pe 1:12). Though He seems, in forsaking me, to be as one dead, He now truly "liveth" in heaven; hereafter He shall appear also above the dust of earth. The Goel or vindicator of blood was the nearest kinsman of the slain. So Jesus Christ took our flesh, to be our kinsman. Man lost life by Satan the "murderer" (Joh 8:44), here Job's persecutor (He 2:14). Compare also as to redemption of the inheritance by the kinsman of the dead (Ru 4:3-5; Ep 1:14).

26. Rather, though after my skin (is no more) this (body) is destroyed ("body" being omitted, because it was so wasted as not to deserve the name), yet from my flesh (from my renewed body, as the starting-point of vision, So 2:9, "looking out from the windows") "shall I see God." Next clause [Job 19:27] proves bodily vision is meant, for it specifies "mine eyes" [Rosenmuller, 2d ed.]. The Hebrew opposes "in my flesh." The "skin" was the first destroyed by elephantiasis, then the "body."

27. for myself--for my advantage, as my friend.

not another--Mine eyes shall behold Him, but no longer as one estranged from me, as now [Bengel].

though--better omitted.

my reins--inward recesses of the heart.

be consumed within me--that is, pine with longing desire for that day (Psa 84:2; 119:81). The Gentiles had but few revealed promises: how gracious that the few should have been so explicit (compare Nu 24:17; Mt 2:2).

28. Rather, "ye will then (when the Vindicator cometh) say, Why," &c.

root ... in me--The root of pious integrity, which was the matter at issue, whether it could be in one so afflicted, is found in me. Umbreit, with many manuscripts and versions, reads "in him." "Or how found we in him ground of contention."

29. wrath--the passionate violence with which the friends persecuted Job.

bringeth, &c.--literally, "is sin of the of the sword"

that ye may know--Supply, "I say this."

judgment--inseparably connected with the coming of the Vindicator. The "wrath" of God at His appearing for the temporal vindication of Job against the friends (Job 42:7) is a pledge of the eternal wrath at the final coming to glorify the saints and judge their enemies (2Th 1:6-10; Is 25:8).

How long will ye vex my soul - Every thing that was irritating, vexatious, and opprobrious, his friends had recourse to, in order to support their own system, and overwhelm him. Not one of them seems to have been touched with a feeling of tenderness towards him, nor does a kind expression drop at any time from their lips! They were called friends; but this term, in reference to them, must be taken in the sense of cold-blooded acquaintances. However, there are many in the world that go under the sacred name of friends, who, in times of difficulty, act a similar part. Job's friends have been, by the general consent of posterity, consigned to endless infamy. May all those who follow their steps be equally enrolled in the annals of bad fame!

These ten times - The exact arithmetical number is not to be regarded; ten times being put for many times, as we have already seen. See particularly the note on Gen 31:7 (note).

Ye make yourselves strange to me - When I was in affluence and prosperity, ye were my intimates, and appeared to rejoice in my happiness; but now ye scarcely know me, or ye profess to consider me a wicked man because I am in adversity. Of this you had no suspicion when I was in prosperity! Circumstances change men's minds.

And be it indeed that I have erred - Suppose indeed that I have been mistaken in any thing, that in the simplicity of my heart I have gone astray, and that this matter remains with myself, (for most certainly there is no public stain on my life), you must grant that this error, whatsoever it is, has hurt no person except myself. Why then do ye treat me as a person whose life has been a general blot, and whose example must be a public curse?

Know now that God hath overthrown me - The matter is between him and me, and he has not commissioned you to add reproaches to his chastisements.

And hath compassed me with his net - There may be an allusion here to the different modes of hunting which have been already referred to in the preceding chapter. But if we take the whole verse together, and read the latter clause before the former, thus, "Know, therefore, that God hath encompassed me with his net, and overthrown me;" the allusion may be to an ancient mode of combat practiced among the ancient Persians, ancient Goths, and among the Romans. The custom among the Romans was this: "One of the combatants was armed with a sword and shield, the other with a trident and net. The net he endeavored to cast over the head of his adversary, in which, when he succeeded, the entangled person was soon pulled down by a noose that fastened round the neck, and then despatched. The person who carried the net and trident was called Retiarius, and the other who carried the sword and shield was termed Secutor, or the pursuer, because, when the Retiarius missed his throw, he was obliged to run about the ground till he got his net in order for a second throw, while the Secutor followed hard to prevent and despatch him." The Persians in old times used what was called (Persic) kumund, the noose. It was not a net, but a sort of running loop, which horsemen endeavored to cast over the heads of their enemies that they might pull them off their horses. That the Goths used a hoop net fastened to a pole, which they endeavored to throw over the heads of their foes, is attested by Olaus Magnus, Hist. de Gentibus Septentrionalibus, Rom. 1555, lib. xi., cap. 13, De diversis Modis praeliandi Finnorum. His words are, Quidam restibus instar retium ferinorum ductilibus sublimi jactatione utuntur: ubi enim cum hoste congressi sunt, injiciunt eos restes quasi laqueos in caput resistentis, ut equum aut hominem ad se trahant. "Some use elastic ropes, formed like hunting nets, which they throw aloft; and when they come in contact with the enemy, they throw these ropes over the head of their opponent, and by this means they can then drag either man or horse to themselves." At the head of the page he gives a wood-cut representing the net, and the manner of throwing it over the head of the enemy. To such a device Job might allude, God hath encompassed me with his Net, and overthrown me.

I cry out of wrong - I complain of violence and of injustice; but no one comes to my help.

He hath fenced up my way - This may allude to the mode of hunting the elephant, described at the conclusion of the preceding chapter; or to the operations of an invading army. See under Job 19:11 (note).

He hath stripped me of my glory - I am reduced to such circumstances, that I have lost all my honor and respect.

Mine hope hath he removed like a tree - There is no more hope of my restoration to affluence, authority, and respect, than there is that a tree shall grow and flourish, whose roots are extracted from the earth. I am pulled up by the roots, withered, and gone.

And he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies - From the seventh to the thirteenth verse there seems to be an allusion to a hostile invasion, battles, sieges, etc.

1. A neighboring chief, without provocation, invades his neighbor's territories, and none of his friends will come to his help. "I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard," Job 19:7.

2. The foe has seized on all the passes, and he is hemmed up. "He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass," Job 19:8.

3. He has surprised and carried by assault the regal city, seized and possessed the treasures. "He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head," Job 19:9.

4. All his armies are routed in the field, and his strong places carried. "He hath destroyed me on every side," Job 19:10.

5. The enemy proceeds to the greatest length of outrage, wasting every thing with fire and sword. "He hath kindled his wrath against me, and treateth me like one of his adversaries, Job 19:11.

6. He is cooped up in a small camp with the wrecks of his army; and in this he is closely besieged by all the power of his foes, who encompass the place, and raise forts against it. "His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle."

7. Not receiving any assistance from friends or neighbors, he abandons all hope of being able to keep the field, escapes with the utmost difficulty, and is despised and neglected by his friends and domestics because he has been unfortunate. "I am escaped with the skin of my teeth," Job 19:20. "My kinsfolk have failed-all my intimate friends abhorred me," Job 19:14-19.

My kinsfolk have failed - Literally, departed: they have all left my house, now there is no more hope of gain.

They that dwell in mine house - In this and the following verses the disregard and contempt usually shown to men who have fallen from affluence and authority into poverty and dependence, are very forcibly described: formerly reverenced by all, now esteemed by none. Pity to those who have fallen into adversity is rarely shown; the rich have many friends, and to him who appears to be gaining worldly substance much court is paid; for many worship the rising sun, who think little of that which is gone down. Some are even reproached with that eminence which they have lost, though not culpable for the loss. A bishop, perhaps Bale, of Ossory, being obliged to leave his country and fly for his life, in the days of bloody Queen Mary, and who never regained his bishopric, was met one morning by one like those whom Job describes, who, intending to be witty at the expense of the venerable prelate, accosted him thus: "Good morrow, Bishop quondam." To which the bishop smartly replied, "Adieu, Knave semper."

Though I entreated for the children's sake of mine own body - This may imply no more than adjuring her by the tenderest ties, by their affectionate intercourse, and consequently by the children which had been the seals of their mutual affection, though these children were no more. But the mention of his children in this place may intimate that he had still some remaining; that there might have been young ones, who, not being of a proper age to attend the festival of their elder brothers and sisters, escaped that sad catastrophe. The Septuagint have, Προσεκαλουμην δε κολακευων υἰους παλλακιδων μου, "I affectionately entreated the children of my concubines." But there is no ground in the Hebrew text for such a strange exceptionable rendering. Coverdale has, I am fayne to speake fayre to the children of myne own body.

My inward friends - Those who were my greatest intimates.

My bone cleaveth to my skin - My flesh is entirely wasted away, and nothing but skin and bone left.

I am escaped with the skin of my teeth - I have had the most narrow escape. If I still live, it is a thing to be wondered at, my sufferings and privations have been so great. To escape with the skin of the teeth seems to have been a proverbial expression, signifying great difficulty. I had as narrow an escape from death, as the thickness of the enamel on the teeth. I was within a hair's breadth of destruction; see on Job 19:11 (note).

Have pity upon me - The iteration here strongly indicates the depth of his distress, and that his spirit was worn down with the length and severity of his suffering.

Why do ye persecute me as God - Are not the afflictions which God sends enough? Do ye not see that I have as much as I can bear? When the papists were burning Dr. Taylor at Oxford, while wrapped in the flames, one of the true sons of the Church took a stick out of the faggots, and threw it at his head, and split open his face. To whom he calmly said, Man, why this wrong? Do not I suffer enough?

And are not satisfied with my flesh? - Will ye persecute my soul, while God is persecuting my body? Is it not enough that my body is destroyed? Why then labor to torment my mind?

O that my words were now written! - Job introduces the important subject which follows in a manner unusually solemn; and he certainly considers the words which he was about to utter of great moment, and therefore wishes them to be recorded in every possible way. All the modes of writing then in use he appears to refer to. As to printing, that should be out of the question, as no such art was then discovered, nor for nearly two thousand years after. Our translators have made a strange mistake by rendering the verb יחקו yuchaku, printed, when they should have used described, traced out. O that my words were fairly traced out in a book! It is necessary to make this remark, because superficial readers have imagined that the art of printing existed in Job's time, and that it was not a discovery of the fifteenth century of the Christian era: whereas there is no proof that it ever existed in the world before a.d. 1440, or thereabouts, for the first printed book with a date is a psalter printed by John Fust, in 1457, and the first Bible with a date is that by the same artist in 1460. Three kinds of writing Job alludes to, as being practiced in his time:

1. Writing in a book, formed either of the leaves of the papyrus, already described, (see on Job 8:11 (note)), or on a sort of linen cloth. A roll of this kind, with unknown characters, I have seen taken out of the envelopments of an Egyptian mummy. Denon, in his travels in Egypt, gives an account of a book of this kind, with an engraved facsimile, taken also out of an Egyptian mummy.

2. Cutting with an iron stile on plates of lead.

3. Engraving on large stones or rocks, many of which are still found in different parts of Arabia.

To the present day the leaves of the palm tree are used in the East instead of paper, and a stile of brass, silver, iron, etc., with a steel point, serves for a pen. By this instrument the letters are cut or engraved on the substance of the leaf, and afterwards some black colouring matter is rubbed in, in order to make the letters apparent. This was probably the oldest mode of writing, and it continues among the Cingalese to the present day. It is worthy of remark that Pliny (Hist. Nat., lib. xiii., c. 11) mentions most of these methods of writing, and states that the leaves of the palm tree were used before other substances were invented. After showing that paper was not used before the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great, he proceeds: In palmarum foliis primo scriptitatum; deinde quarundam arborum libris: postea publica monumenta plumbeis voluminibus, mox et privata linteis confici caepta, aut ceris. "At first men wrote on palm tree leaves, and afterwards on the bark or rind of other trees. In process of time, public monuments were written on rolls of lead, and those of a private nature on linen books, or tables covered with wax." Pausanias, lib. xii., c. 31, giving an account of the Boeotians, who dwelt near fount Helicon, states the following fact: - Και μοι μολιβδον εδεικνυσαν, ενθα ἡ πηγη, τα πολλα ὑπο του χρονου λελυμασμενον, εγγεγραπται γαρ αυτῳ τα εργα; "They showed me a leaden table near to the fountain, all which his works (Hesiod's) were written; but a great part had perished by the injuries of time."

Iron pen and lead - Some suppose that the meaning of this place is this: the iron pen is the chisel by which the letters were to be deeply cut in the stone or rock; and the lead was melted into those cavities in order to preserve the engraving distinct. But this is not so natural a supposition as what is stated above; that Job refers to the different kinds of writing or perpetuating public events, used in his time: and the quotations from Pliny and Pausanias confirm the opinion already expressed.

For I know that my Redeemer liveth - Any attempt to establish the true meaning of this passage is almost hopeless. By learned men and eminent critics the words have been understood very differently; some vehemently contending that they refer to the resurrection of the body, and the redemption of the human race by Jesus Christ; while others, with equal vehemence and show of argument, have contended that they refer only to Job's restoration to health, family comforts, and general prosperity, after the present trial should be ended. In defense of these two opinions larger treatises have been written than the whole book of Job would amount to, if written even in capitals. To discuss the arguments on either side the nature of this work forbids; but my own view of the subject will be reasonably expected by the reader. I shall therefore lay down one principle, without which no mode of interpretation hitherto offered can have any weight. The principle is this: Job was now under the especial inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and spoke prophetically. Now, whether we allow that the passage refers to the general resurrection and the redemption by Christ, or to Job's restoration to health, happiness, and prosperity, this principle is equally necessary.

1. In those times no man could speak so clearly concerning the general resurrection and the redemption by Jesus Christ as Job, by one class of interpreters, is supposed here to do, unless especially inspired for this very purpose.

2. Job's restoration to health and happiness, which, though it did take place, was so totally improbable to himself all the way through, so wholly unexpected, and, in every sense, impossible, except to the almighty power of God, that it could not be inferred from any thing that had already taken place, and must be foreshown by direct inspiration.

Now, that it was equally easy to predict either of these events, will be at once evident, because both were in futurity, and both were previously determined. Nothing contingent could exist in either; with them man had nothing to do; and they were equally within the knowledge of Him to whose ubiquity there can be neither past nor future time; in whose presence absolute and contingent events subsist in their own distinctive characters, and are never resolved into each other. But another question may arise, Which was most likely to be the subject of this oracular declaration, the general resurrection and redemption by Christ; or the restoration of Job to health and affluence? If we look only to the general importance of these things, this question may be soon decided; for the doctrine of human redemption, and the general resurrection to an eternal life, are of infinitely greater importance than any thing that could affect the personal welfare of Job. We may therefore say, of two things which only the power of God can effect, and one of which only shall be done it is natural to conclude he will do that which is of most importance; and that is of most importance by which a greater measure of glory is secured to himself, and a greater sum of good produced to mankind. As, therefore, a revelation by which the whole human race, in all its successive generations, to the end of time, may be most essentially benefited, is superior in its worth and importance to that by which one man only can be benefited, it is natural to conclude here, that the revelation relative to the general resurrection, etc., is that which most likely the text includes. But to this it may be answered, God does not do always in the first instance that which is most necessary and important in itself, as every thing is done in that order and in that time which seems best to his godly wisdom; therefore, a thing of less importance may be done now, and a thing of greater importance left to a future time. So, God made the earth before he made man, produced light before he formed the celestial luminaries, and instituted the Mosaic economy before the Christian dispensation. This is all true, for every thing is done in that season in which it may best fulfill the designs of providence and grace. But the question still recurs, Which of the predictions was most congruous to the circumstances of Job, and those of his companions; and which of them was most likely to do most good on that occasion, and to be most useful through the subsequent ages of the world? The subject is now considerably narrowed; and, if this question could be satisfactorily answered, the true meaning of the passage would be at once found out.

1. For the sake of righteousness, justice, and truth, and to vindicate the ways of God with man, it was necessary that Job's innocence should be cleared; that the false judgments of his friends should be corrected; and that, as Job was now reduced to a state of the lowest distress, it was worthy the kindness of God to give him some direct intimation that his sufferings should have a happy termination. That such an event ought to take place, there can be no question: and that it did take place, is asserted in the book; and that Job's friends saw it, were reproved, corrected, and admitted into his favor of whom they did not speak that which was right, and who had, in consequence, God's wrath kindled against them, are also attested facts. But surely there was no need of so solemn a revelation to inform them of what was shortly to take place, when they lived to see it; nor can it be judged essentially necessary to the support of Job, when the ordinary consolations of God's Spirit, and the excitement of a good hope through grace, might have as completely answered the end.

2. On the other hand, to give men, who were the chiefs of their respective tribes, proper notice of a doctrine of which they appear to have had no adequate conception, and which was so necessary to the peace of society, the good government of men, and the control of unruly and wayward passions, which the doctrine of the general resurrection and consequent judgment is well calculated to produce; and to stay and support the suffering godly under the afflictions and calamities of life; were objects worthy the highest regards of infinite philanthropy and justice, and of the most pointed and solemn revelation which could be given on such an occasion. In short, they are the grounds on which all revelation is given to the sons of men: and the prophecy in question, viewed in this light, was, in that dark age and country, a light shining in a dark place; for the doctrine of the general resurrection and of future rewards and punishments, existed among the Arabs from time immemorial, and was a part of the public creed of the different tribes when Mohammed endeavored to establish his own views of that resurrection and of future rewards and punishments, by the edge of the sword. I have thus endeavored dispassionately to view this subject; and having instituted the preceding mode of reasoning, without foreseeing where it would tend, being only desirous to find out truth, I arrive at the conclusion, that the prophecy in question was not designed to point out the future prosperity of Job; but rather the future redemption of mankind by Jesus Christ, and the general resurrection of the human race. After what has been stated above, a short paraphrase on the words of the text will be all that is necessary to be added. I know, ידעתי yadati, I have a firm and full persuasion, that my Redeemer, גאלי goali, my Kinsman, he whose right it was among the ancient Hebrews to redeem the forfeited heritages belonging to the family, to vindicate its honor, and to avenge the death of any of his relatives by slaying the murderer; (Lev 25:25; Num 35:12; Rut 3:13); but here it must refer to Christ, who has truly the right of redemption, being of the same kindred, who was born of woman, flesh of flesh and bone of our bone. Liveth, חי chai, is the living One, who has the keys of hell and death: the Creator and Lord of the spirits of all flesh, and the principle and support of all life. And that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. The latter day, אחרון acharon, the latter day, or time, when God comes to judgment; or finally, or at last, or in the last time, or latter days, as the Gospel is termed, he shall be manifested in the flesh. He shall stand, יקום yakum, he shall arise, or stand up, i.e., to give sentence in judgment: or he himself shall arise from the dust, as the passage has been understood by some to refer to the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Upon the earth, על עפר al aphar, over the dead, or those who are reduced to dust. This is the meaning of עפר aphar in Psa 30:9 : What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? Shall the Dust (i.e., the dead) praise thee? He shall arise over the dust - over them who sleep in the dust, whom he shall also raise up.

And though after my skin worms destroy this body - My skin, which is now almost all that remains of my former self, except the bones; see Job 19:20. They destroy this - not body. נקפו זאת nikkephu zoth, they - diseases and affliction, destroy This wretched composition of misery and corruption.

Yet in my flesh shall I see God - Either, I shall arise from the dead, have a renewed body and see him with eyes of flesh and blood, though what I have now shall shortly moulder into dust, or, I shall see him in the flesh; my Kinsman, who shall partake of my flesh and blood, in order that he may ransom the lost inheritance.

Whom I shall see for myself - Have a personal interest in the resurrection, as I shall have in the Redeemer.

And mine eyes shall behold - That very person who shall be the resurrection, as he is the life.

And not another - ולא זר velo zar, and not a stranger, one who has no relation to human nature; but גאלי goali, my redeeming Kinsman.

Though my reins be consumed within me - Though I am now apparently on the brink of death, the thread of life being spun out to extreme tenuity. This, on the mode of interpretation which I have assumed, appears to be the meaning of this passage. The words may have a somewhat different colouring put on them; but the basis of the interpretation will be the same. I shall conclude with the version of Coverdale: -

For I am sure that my Redeemer liveth;

And that I shal ryse out of the earth in the latter daye;

That I shal be clothed againe with this skynne

And se God in my flesh.

Yee, I myself shal beholde him,

Not with other, but with these same eyes.

My reins are consumed within me, when ye saye,

Why do not we persecute him?

We have founde an occasion against him.

But ye should say - Or, Then ye shall say.

Why persecute we him - Or, as Mr. Good, How did we persecute him! Alas! we are now convinced that we did wrong.

Seeing the root of the matter - A pure practice, and a sound hope, resting on the solid ground of sound faith, received from God himself. Instead of בי bi, in Me, בי bo, in Him, is the reading of more than one hundred of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., and in several of the versions. Seeing the root of the matter is found in Him.

Be ye afraid of the sword - Of God's judgments.

For wrath bringeth - Such anger as ye have displayed against me, God will certainly resent and punish.

That ye may know there is a judgment - That ye may know that God will judge the world; and that the unequal distribution of riches and poverty, afflictions and health, in the present life, is a proof that there must be a future judgment, where evil shall be punished and virtue rewarded.

It would not be fair, after all the discussion of the preceding verses in reference to the two grand opinions and modes of interpretation instituted by learned men, not to inform the reader that a third method of solving all difficulties has been proposed, viz., that Job refers to a Divine conviction which he had just then received, that God would appear in the most evident manner to vindicate his innocence, and give the fullest proofs to his friends and to the world that his afflictions had not been sent as a scourge for his iniquities. Dr. Kennicott was the proposer of this third mode of solving these difficulties, and I shall give his method in his own words. "These five verses, though they contain but twelve lines, have occasioned controversies without number, as to the general meaning of Job in this place, whether he here expressed his firm belief of a resurrection to happiness after death, or of a restoration to prosperity during the remainder of his life. "Each of these positions has found powerful as well as numerous advocates; and the short issue of the whole seems to be, that each party has confuted the opposite opinion, yet without establishing its own. For how could Job here express his conviction of a reverse of things in this world, and of a restoration to temporal prosperity, at the very time when he strongly asserts that his miseries would soon be terminated by death? See Job 6:11; Job 7:21; Job 17:11-15; Job 19:10, and particularly in Job 7:7 : O remember that my life is wind; mine eye shall no more see good. "Still less could Job here express a hope full of immortality, which sense cannot be extorted from the words without every violence. And as the possession of such belief is not to be reconciled with Job's so bitterly cursing the day of his birth in Job 3:1-3, so the declaration of such belief would have solved at once the whole difficulty in dispute. "But if neither of the preceding and opposite opinions can be admitted, if the words are not meant to express Job's belief either of a restoration or of a resurrection, what then are we to do? It does not appear to me that any other interpretation has yet been proposed by the learned; yet I will now venture to offer a third interpretation, different from both the former, and which, whilst it is free from the preceding difficulties, does not seem liable to equal objections. "The conviction, then, which I suppose Job to express here, is this: That though his dissolution was hastening on amidst the unjust accusations of his pretended friends, and the cruel insults of his hostile relations; and though, whilst he was thus singularly oppressed with anguish of mind, he was also tortured with pains of body, torn by sores and ulcers from head to foot, and sitting upon dust and ashes; yet still, out of that miserable body, in his flesh thus stripped of skin, and nearly dropping into the grave, He Should See God, who would appear in his favor, and vindicate The Integrity of his character. This opinion may perhaps be fairly and fully supported by the sense of the words themselves, by the context, and by the following remarks. "We read in Job 2:7, that Job was smitten with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown; and Job 2:8, 'He sat down among the ashes.' In Job 7:5, Job says, 'My flesh is clothed with worms, and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.' In Job 16:19 : 'Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.' Then come the words of Job, Job 19:25-29. And then, in opposition to what Job had just said, that God would soon appear to vindicate him, and that even his accusing friends would acquit him, Zophar says, Job 20:27, that 'the heaven would reveal his iniquity, and the earth would rise up against him.' Lastly, this opinion concerning Job's words, as to God's vindication of him, is confirmed strongly at the end of the book, which records the conclusion of Job's history. His firm hope is here supposed to be that, before his death, he should, with his bodily eyes, see God appearing and vindicating his character. And from the conclusion we learn that God did thus appear: Now, says Job, mine eye seeth thee. And then did God most effectually and for ever brighten the glory of Job's fame, by four times calling him His Servant; and, as his anger was kindled against Job's friends, by speaking to them in the following words: 'Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Go to my servant Job, - and my servant Job shall pray for you, - in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job,' Job 40:7, Job 40:8." Dr. K. then gives the common version, and proposes the following as a new version: - Job 19:25 For I know that my Vindicator liveth,And he at last shall arise over this dust. Job 19:26 And after that mine adversaries have mangled me thus,Even in my flesh shall I see God. Job 19:27 Whom I shall see on my side;And mine eyes shall behold, but not estranged from me:All this have I made up in mine bosom. Job 19:28 Verily ye shall say, Why have we persecuted him;Seeing the truth of the matter is found with him? Job 19:29 Tremble for yourselves at the face of the sword;For the sword waxeth hot against iniquities:Therefore be assured that judgment will take place.

Kennicott's Remarks on Select Passages of Scripture, p. 165.

There is something very plausible in this plan of Dr. Kennicott; and in the conflicting opinions relative to the meaning of this celebrated and much controverted passage, no doubt some will be found who will adopt it as a middle course. The theory, however, is better than some of the arguments by which it is supported. Yet had I not been led, by the evidence mentioned before, to the conclusion there drawn, I should probably have adopted Dr. K.'s opinion with some modification: but as to his new version, it is what I am persuaded the Hebrew text can never bear. It is even too loose a paraphrase of the original, as indeed are most of the new versions of this passage. Dr. Kennicott says, that such a confidence as those cause Job to express, who make him speak concerning the future resurrection, ill comports with his cursing so bitterly the day of his birth, etc. But this objection has little if any strength, when we consider that it is not at all probable that Job had this confidence any time before the moment in which he uttered it: it was then a direct revelation, nothing of which he ever had before, else he had never dropped those words of impatience and irritation which we find in several of his speeches. And this may be safely inferred from the consideration, that after this time no such words escaped his lips: he bears the rest of his sufferings with great patience and fortitude; and seems to look forward with steady hope to that day in which all tears shall be wiped away from off all faces, and it be fully proved that the Judge of all the earth has done right.

Ten - Many times. A certain number for an uncertain. Strange - That you carry yourselves like strangers to me, and condemn me as if you had never known my integrity.

Erred - If I have sinned, I myself suffer for my sins, and therefore deserve your pity rather than reproaches.

Cry - Unto God. Wrong - That I am oppressed by my friends.

Glory - Of my estate, children, authority, and all my comforts. Crown - All my power, and laid my honour in the dust.

Every side - In all respects, my person, and family, and estate. Gone - I am a lost and dead man. Hope - All my hopes of the present life, but not of the life to come. Tree - Which being once plucked up by the roots, never grows again. Hope in this life is a perishing thing. But the hope of good men, when it is cut off from this world, is but removed like a tree, transplanted from this nursery to the garden of God.

Troops - My afflictions, which are God's soldiers marching under his conduct. Raise - Cast up a trench round about me.

Estranged - As we must eye the hand of God, in all the injuries we receive from our enemies, so likewise in all the slights and unkindnesses we receive from our friends.

Maids - Who by reason of their sex, commonly have more compassionate hearts than men.

Arose - From my seat, to shew my respect to them, though they were my inferiors.

Inward - My intimates and confidants, to whom I imparted all my thoughts and counsels.

Skin - Immediately, the fat and flesh next to the skin being consumed. As - As closely as it doth to these remainders of flesh which are left in my inward parts.

Touched me - My spirit is touched with a sense of his wrath, a calamity of all others the most grievous.

As God - As if you had the same infinite knowledge which God hath, whereby you can search my heart and know my hypocrisy, and the same sovereign authority to say and do what you please with me. Not satisfied - Are like wolves or lions that are not contented with devouring the flesh of their prey, but also break their bones.

My words - The words which I am now about to speak. And that which Job wished for, God granted him. His words are written in God's book; so that wherever that book is read, there shall this glorious confession be declared, for a memorial of him.

Lead - Anciently they used to grave the letters in a stone with an iron tool, and then to fill up the cuts with lead, that the words might be more plainly seen.

For - This is the reason of his confidence in the goodness of his cause, and his willingness to have the matter depending between him and his friends, published and submitted to any trial, because he had a living and powerful Redeemer to plead his cause, and to give sentence for him. My Redeemer - In whom I have a particular interest. The word Goel, here used; properly agrees to Jesus Christ: for this word is primarily used of the next kinsman, whose office it was to redeem by a price paid, the sold or mortgaged estate of his deceased kinsman; to revenge his death, and to maintain his name and honour, by raising up seed to him. All which more fitly agrees to Christ, who is our nearest kinsman and brother, as having taken our nature upon him; who hath redeemed that everlasting inheritance which our first parents had utterly lost, by the price of his own blood; and hath revenged the death of mankind upon the great contriver of it, the devil, by destroying him and his kingdom; and hath taken a course to preserve our name, and honour, and persons, to eternity. And it is well observed, that after these expressions, we meet not with such impatient or despairing passages, as we had before; which shews that they had inspired him with new life and comfort. Latter day - At the day of the general resurrection and judgment, which, as those holy patriarchs well knew and firmly believed, was to be at the end of the world. The earth - The place upon which Christ shall appear and stand at the last day. Heb. upon the dust; in which his saints and members lie or sleep, whom he will raise out of it. And therefore he is fitly said to stand upon the dust, or the grave, or death; because then he will put that among other enemies under his feet.

Though - Though my skin is now in a great measure consumed, and the rest of it, together with this body, shall be devoured by the worms, which may seem to make my case desperate. Flesh - Or with bodily eyes; my flesh or body being raised from the grave, and re - united to my soul. God - The same whom he called his Redeemer, ver.25, who having taken flesh, and appearing in his flesh or body with and for Job upon the earth, might well be seen with his bodily eyes. Nor is this understood of a simple seeing of him; but of that glorious and beatifying vision of God, which is promised to all God's people.

See - No wonder he repeats it again, because the meditation of it was most sweet to him. For - For my own benefit and comfort. Another - For me or in my stead. I shall not see God by another's eyes, but by my own, and by these self - same eyes, in this same body which now I have. Though - This I do confidently expect, tho' the grave and the worms will consume my whole body.

Therefore - Because my faith and hope are in God. The root - The root denotes, a root of true religion. And the root of all true religion is living faith.

Sword - Of some considerable judgment to be inflicted on you which is called the sword, as Deut 32:41, and elsewhere. That - This admonition I give you, that you may know it in time, and prevent it. A judgment - God sees and observes, and will judge all your words and actions.

2. How long will ye vex my Soul, and break me in pieces with words .

With meer empty words, void of Sense or Argument, with your impertinent and unedifying discourses, and bitter reproaches, as it followeth.

3. These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make your selves strange to me .

i. e, Many times. A certain number for an uncertain. So this Phrase is oft used, as Gen. 31. 7. Numb. 14. 22, &c.

That you carry your selves like strangers to me, and are not concerned nor affected with my Calamities, and condemn me as if you had never known my former Piety and Integrity.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] ▪ gainst me.

4. And be it indeed, that I have erred , mine errour remaineth with my self .

If my Opinion in this point be faulty and erroneous, as you pretend it is. Or, if I have sinned, (for sin is oft called errour in Scripture) and am therefore punished.

Either 1. It is likely to continue, I see no cause from your reasons to change my Judgment. Or 2. I suffer deeply for my sins, and therefore deserve your pity and help, rather than your reproaches, whereby you add affliction to the afflicted.

5. If indeed ye will magnifie your selves against me , and plead against me my reproach g:

i. e. Use lofty, and imperious, and contemptuous Speeches against me. Or, seek Praise and Honour from others, by your conquering or out-reasoning of me. So called, either 1. Your reproaches of me: If your reproachful and censorious Speeches must pass for solid Arguments. Or 2. My wickedness, which, if true, were just matter of reproach, and the cause of all my miseries. Or 3. My contemptible and calamitous condition, for which you reproach and condemn me as an Hypocrite and wicked man.

6. Know now that God hath overthrown me , and hath compassed me with his Net .

Consider what I am now saying.

Hath grievously afflicted me in all kinds: Therefore it ill becomes you to aggravate my miseries; and if my passions, hereby raised, have broken forth into some extravagant and unmeet expressions, I might expect your pitty and favourable construction, and not such severe censures and reproaches. Heb. God hath perverted me, i. e. either my state or condition, as was now said, or my right and cause. He oppresseth me with power, and will not give me a fair hearing, as it follows, v. 7. He giveth me very hard measure, and dealeth worse with me than I might in reason and justice expect from so wise and gracious a God. This is an harsh reflection upon God; but such passages have sometimes come from good men when under sore afflictions and temptations, which was Iob's case.

i. e. With afflictions on every side, so that I cannot escape, nor get any freedom to come to him and plead with him, as I desire.

7. Behold, I cry out of wrong , but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no Judgment .

To wit, unto God by Prayer or Appeal.

That I am oppressed, either 1. by my Friends: Or rather 2. by God, who deals with me according to his Soveraign Power, and exact and rigorous Justice, and not with that equity and benignity which he sheweth to the generality of men, and hath promised to good men, such as he knoweth me to be.

God will not hear my Cause, nor pass Sentence; which I might reasonably expect from him: but he quite neglects me, and hath utterly forsaken me and left me in the hands of the Devil and wicked men. See the like Complaints of other good men in the like case of desertion, Psalm 13. 2. & 22. 2. & 88. 15. Lament. 3. 8. Habak. 1. 2.

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

8. He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass , and he hath s[illegible: 1+ letters]t darkness in my paths .

i. e. So that I know not what to say or do, and can see no means nor possibility of getting out of my troubles:

So that I cannot discern my way, or what course I should take.

9. He hath stript me of my glory , and taken the crown from my head.

i. e. Of my Estate, and Children, and Authority, and all my Comforts.

i. e. All my Ornaments.

10. He hath destroyed me on every side , and I am gone : and mine hope hath he removed like a tree .

i. e. In all respects, and to all intents and purposes, my Person, and Family, and Estate.

i. e. I am a lost and dead man. Going is oft put for dying; as Gen. 15. 2. Psalm 39. 13.

i. e. All my hopes of the present life, as he oft expresseth it; but not of the life to come, as appears from Iob 13. 15, 16. & 19. 25, &c.

Which being once plucked up by the roots never groweth again.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] 24. 20.

11. He hath also kindled his wrath against me , and he counteth me unto him, as one of his enemies .

He hath stirred up his wrath against me of his own accord, without any provocation of mine, humane infirmity excepted.

i. e. He useth me as harshly as if I were an inveterate Enemy of God and of all goodness, though he knoweth I am and have ever been an hearty lover and servant of him.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] 13. 24. [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 2. 5.

12. His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.

i. e. My Afflictions which are but God's Instruments and Souldiers marching under his Conduct.

Either 1. cast a Bank or Trench round about me, as an Army doth when they go to besiege a place. Or rather 2. make a Causeway or raised Path, as Pioneers usually do in low and waterish grounds for the march of an Army: God removes all Impediments out of the way, and lays me open to all manner of mischief.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 6. 4.

13. He hath put my brethren far from me , and mine acquaintance verily are estranged from me.

i. e. My Kindred and Friends who might and should have supported and comforted me in my Distress.

Either 1. in place; because they seared or disdained, or at least neglected to visit or succour me: Or 2. in their affections which are far from me, when their bodies are present with me, as I find in you. But this also I ascribe to God; he hath alienated your hearts from me.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 31. 11. ▪ 38. 11. & 69. [illegible: 1+ letters] & 88. 8, 18.

14. My kinsfolk have failed , and my Familiar friends have forgotten me .

To wit, to perform the offices of humanity and friendship which they owe to me.

i. e. Neglect and disregard me as much as if they had quite forgotten me.

15. They that dwell in mine house , and my maids h count me for a stranger : I am an alien in their sight .

Who by reason of their Sex, commonly have and should have more tender and compassionate hearts than men. And therefore this is God's doing, who hath hardned their hearts against me.

Regard my Commands and Concerns no more than a strangers.

The same thing repeated through vehemency of passion, because this lay very heavy upon him.

Heb. The sojourners of my house; i. e. such as had formerly sojourned with me, whether strangers, widows, and fatherless, whom by the Law of Charity and Hospitality he entertained: Or hired Servants, who had for a good while their habitation and subsistence in his Family.

16. I called my servant , and he gave me no answer : though I entreated him with my mouth o.

To do some servile office about me for my ease or relief.

He passed by as if he had been deaf, because he loathed and feared to come near to me.

To my Commands I added humble and earnest Desires. Either 1. with gentle and moving speeches; Or rather 2. with my own mouth and not by a proxy.

17. My breath is strange to my wife , though I entreated for the Childrens sake of mine own body .

Who by reason of the stink of my breath and sores denied me her company.

By these pledges of our mutual and matrimonial tye and affection, the Children which came out of my Loyns, and were begotten by me upon her body. But divers render the words thus; and I entreated the children of my own body: i. e. Either some of Iob's younger Children, who by reason of their tender years were kept at home with their Father, when their elder Brethren and Sisters were gone abroad to the Feast; or some of his Grand-children by those grown Sons and Daughters; for such also oft come under the name of children. But this sense seems not so proper, partly because according to that Translation here is mention onely of Iob's entreating them, but not a word of their denying his request; which is the onely matter of his present Complaint; and partly because according to the former Translation it is a great and just aggravation of his Wifes unkindness, and exactly answers to the foregoing Verse, where the Servants perverseness is aggravated in the same manner and by part of the same words.

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

18. Yea young children r despised me; I arose , and they spake against me.

To wit, for my Seat, to shew my respect to them, though they were my inferiours, to shew my readiness to comply with that mean and low condition, into which God had now brought me. Or, I stood up, for so this word sometimes signifies. I did not disoblige or provoke them by any uncivil and uncomely carriage towards them, but was very courteous to them, and yet they make it their business to rail against me, as you also do.

Or, Fools; the most contemptible persons.

Marginal references: Or, the wicked.

19. All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.

Heb. the men of my secret; my Intimates and Confidents, to whom I imparted all my Thoughts, and Counsels, and Concerns.

Sincerely and fervently, which they so ill require. He saith not, they who loved me; for their love, had it been true, would have continued in his affliction, as well as in his prosperity.

Marginal references: Psal. 41. 9. & 55. 13, 14, 20.; Heb. the men of my secret.

20. My bone cleaveth to my skin , and to my flesh z, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth .

i. e. My bones, the Singular collectively put for the Plural; as Chap. 2. 5. Prov. 15. 30.

To wit, immediately, the fat and flesh next to the skin being consumed. The sense is, I am worn to skin and bone: See the same phrase Psalm 102. 5. Or, as (the Particle and, being often so used, as hath been observed before) to my flesh) i. e. either as formerly it clave to my flesh: Or as near and as closely as it doth to these remainders of flesh which are left in my inward parts.

I am scarce sound and whole, and free from sores in any part of my skin, except that of my Jaws which holdeth and covereth the roots of my Teeth. This being, as divers observe, the Devils Policy to leave his mouth untouched, that he might more freely express his mind and vent his blasphemies against God, which he supposed sharp pain would force him to do, and which he knew would be of pernicious consequence not onely to Iob, but to others also.

Marginal references: Chap. 30. 30. Psal. 102. 5. Lam. 4. 8.; Or, as.

21. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends , for the hand of God hath touched me.

For such you have been and still pretend to be; and therefore fulfil that relation, and if you will not help me, yet at least pity me.

i. e. Smitten or afflicted me sorely, as this word is oft used; as Chap. 1. 11. Psalm 104. 32.

22. Why do ye persecute me as God , and are not satisfied with my flesh ?

Either 1. as God doth; or rather 2. as if you were gods and not men; as if you had the same infinite knowledge which God hath, whereby you can search my heart and know my hypocrisie, and the same soveraign and absolute Authority to say and do what you please with me, without giving any reason or account of it, which is indeed the Prerogative of the great God, but it belongs not to you who are men, and therefore liable to mistake and misjudging, and such as must give an account to God of all their words and carriages towards their Brethren, and particularly towards persons in affliction, and withal subject to the same Diseases and Calamities under which I groan; and therefore may need the pity which I expect from you.

i. e. With the consumption and torment of my whole body, but add to it the vexation of my spirit by grievous reproaches and censures; but are [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] or Li[illegible: 1+ letters] that are not contented with devouring the [illegible: 1 word] of their p[illegible: 1+ letters]y, but also break their bones.

23. Oh that my words were now written; oh that they were printed in a book!

Either 1. the following and famous confession of his Faith, v. 25▪ &c. Or rather 2. all his foregoing discourses with his Friends, which he was so far from disowning or being ashamed of, that he was desirous that all Ages should know, that they might judge between him and them, whose Cause was better, and whose Arguments were stronger.

Marginal references: Heb. who will give, &c.

24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead , in the rock for ever!

Of which also there is mention, Ier. 17. 1.

Or, or lead; or with lead, the Particle and being oft so used; as Gen. 4. 20. Exod. 1. 6. Ier. 22. 7. For this Lead may be either 1. the Writing-pen which might be either of Iron or of Lead: For though Lead be of it self too soft, yet there was an Art of tempering Lead with other Metals to such a degree of hardness that it could pierce into a Rock; as they did also temper Brass, so that they could make Bows and Swords of them. Or 2. the Writing-table: for the Ancients did use to write divers things in Lead, as is well known. Or 3. the Writing-Ink, as I may call it: For they used to grave the Letters in a Stone with an Iron Tool and then to fill up the Cuts or Furrows made in the Stone with Lead, that the Words might be more plainly seen and read.

25. For I know that my redeemer liveth , and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth .

This is the reason of his great Confidence in the goodness of his Cause, and his willingness to have the matter depending between him and his Friends published and submitted to any Tryal, because he had a living and powerful Redeemer to plead his Cause, and vindicate his person from all their severe censures, and to give sentence for him.

I have no knowledge nor confidence, nor hope of restitution to the prosperities of this life; yet this one thing [illegible: 1+ letters] know, which is more comfortable and con[illegible: 1+ letters]iderable, and therein I rejo[illegible: 1+ letters]ce though I be now a dying man, and in a desperate condition for this life.

In whom I have a particular interest, and he hath a particular care of me. Quest. What Redeemer, and what Deliverance doth Iob speak of in this and the two following Verses? Answ. Some late Interpreters understand this place metaphorically, of God's delivering Iob out of his doleful and desperate Condition, and restoring him to his former splendour and happiness in the World; it being a very usual thing in Scripture to call eminent Dangers or Calamities by the name of Death; as Psalm 22. 15. & 88. 4. 5. Ezek. 37. 11, 12. 2 Cor. 11. 23. And great and glorious Deliverances by the name of quickning and resurrection; as Psalm [illegible: 1+ letters]1. 20. Isa. 26. 19. Rom. 11. 15. But the most Interpreters both ancient and modern understand it of Christ and of his Resurrection, and of Iob's resurrection to life by his power and favour: Which seems most probable for many reasons. 1. From that known Bule, that a proper and literal Interpretation of Scripture, is always to be preferred before the Metaphorical, where it suits with the Text and with other Scriptures. 2. From the Hebrew word Goel, here used; which although sometimes it be used of God absolutely or essentially considered, yet it most properly agrees to Jesus Christ: For this word, as all Hebricians know, is primarily used of the next kinsman, whose Office it was [illegible: 1+ letters]o redeem by a price paid the sold or mortgaged Estate of his deceased kin[illegible: 1+ letters]man, Levit. 25 25▪ and to revenge his death, Num. 35. 12. and to maintain his Name and Honour by raising up Seed to him, Deut. 25. 5. All which most fitly agrees to Christ, who is ou[illegible: 1+ letters] nearest kiniman and brother, Heb. 2. 11. as having taken ou[illegible: 1+ letters] Nature upon him by Incarnation: who also hath redeemed that everlasting Inheritance which our first Parents had utterly lost and [illegible: 1 word] by [illegible: 1 word] price of his own blood; and hath revenged the Death of Mankind upon the great Contriver of it, the Devil, by destroying him and his kingdom; and hath taken a course to preserve our Name, and Honour, and Persons to Eternity. And if the places where God is called Goel in the Old Testament, be examined, it will be found that either all or most of them may be, and some of them must be understood of God the Son, or o[illegible: 1+ letters] Christ, as Gen. 48. 16. Isa. 59. 20. See also Psalm. 74. 2. Isa. 41. 14. & 44. 6. & 49. 7 & 52. 3. & 63. 16. 3. Because Iob was so far from such a firm Confidence as he here professeth, that he had not the least degree of hope of any such glorious temporal restauration as his Friends promised to him, as we have oft seen and observed in the former Discourses; as Chap. 16. 22. & 17. 12, 13, &c. And therefore that hope which every righteous man hath in his death, Prov. 14. 32. and which Iob oft professeth that he had, must necessarily be fixed upon his happiness in the future life. 4. Because some of the following expressions cannot without wresting and violence be applied to a Metaphorical Resurrection, as we shall see in the Sequel. 5. Because this is a more lofty and spiritual strain, than any in Iob's former Discourses, and quite contrary to them. And as they generally [illegible: 1+ letters]avour of Dejection and Diffidence, and do either declare or encrease his Grief; so this puts him into another and much better temper: And therefore it is well observed, that after this time and these expressions, we meet not with any such impatient or despairing passages, as we had before; which shews that they had inspired him with new life and comfort. 6. Because this well agrees with other passages in this Book; wherein Iob declareth, that although he had no hope as to this life and the comforts thereof, yet he had an hope beyond death, which made him prosess. Though [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word] me▪ yet will I trust in him, Iob 13. [illegible: 1+ letters] 5. Trust in him: For what? Su[illegible: 1+ letters] for comfort and happiness. Where? Not in this life, for that he supposeth to be lost, therefore it must be in the next life. And this was one reason why he so vehemently desired Death, because he knew it would bring him unto God and unto true Felicity. And this his hope and confidence in God and in his Favour to him, Iob. opposeth to those [illegible: 1+ letters]oul and false aspers[illegible: 1+ letters]ons which his Fri[illegible: 1+ letters] had cast upon him, as i[illegible: 1+ letters] he had forsaken God and cast off all [illegible: 1+ letters]ear of him and hope in him. Object. 1. If this place had spoken of the Resurrection of the Body, some of the Hebrew Writer▪ or Commentators upon this Place, who did believe that Doctrine, would have understood it so, and have urged it against the Sadduces, which they did not. Answ. 1. All the Jewish Writers which are now extant, lived and wrote [illegible: 1+ letters]ce Christ's time; when the Doctors of that People were very ignorant of many great Truths, and of the plain meaning of many Scriptures, and very corrupt in their Principles as well as in their Practises. 2. There was a manifest Reason why they could not understand this Text thus, because they believed that Iob in his Agonies did deny God's Providence, and consequently the Resurrection and the future Judgment, which though it was a most uncharitable and false Opinion, yet forced them to interpret this Text another way. Obj. 2. How is it credible that Iob in those ancient times, and in that dark stare of the Church should know these great Mysteries of Christ's Incarnation, and of the Resurrection and Life to come? Answ. 1. The mystery of Christ's Incarnation was revealed to▪ [illegible: 1 word] by that first and famous Promise, that the seed of the woman should break the Serpent's head, Gen. 3. 15. which being the onely Foundation of all his Hopes for the recovery and salvation of himself and of all his Posterity, he would doubtless carefully and [illegible: 1 word] teach and explain it, as need required, to those that descended from him. 2. That the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets were generally acquainted with these Doctrines, is undeniably evident from Heb. 11. and 1 Pet. 1. [illegible: 1+ letters], 10. 11 12. 3 Particularly Abraham, from whom Iob is supposed to have d[illegible: 1+ letters]ded; had the Promise made to him that Christ should come out of his Loins, Gen. 12. [illegible: 1+ letters] ▪ and is said to have seen Christs day and [illegible: 1 word] to see it, John 8. 56. and had his hopes and desires fixed upon a divine and heavenly City and Country, Heb. [illegible: 1+ letters]1. 10, 16. And as [illegible: 1 word]

kn[illegible: 1+ letters]w and believed these things himself▪ so it is manifest that he [illegible: 1+ letters]aught them to his Children and Servants, Gen. 18. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. a[illegible: 1+ letters]d to his Ki[illegible: 1+ letters]red and others, as he had occas[illegible: 1+ letters]on: And therefore it cannot seem strange that Iob professeth his Faith and hope in these things▪ [illegible: 1 word] I am a dying man, and my hopes are dying▪ but he liveth and that for ever; and therefore though i die, [illegible: 1 word] both ca[illegible: 1+ letters] and will make me to live again in due time, [illegible: 1+ letters]ugh not in this World, yet in the other, which is much better▪ and though I am now highly censured and condemned by my Friend▪ and others▪ as a great Dissembler and a secret Sinner, whom God's ha[illegible: 1+ letters]d hath found out; yet there is a day coming wherein [illegible: 1 word] Ca[illegible: 1+ letters]se shall be pleaded, and my Name and Honour vindicated from all these Reproaches, and my Integrity brought to light.

I am falling and dying, but he shall stand firm, and unmo[illegible: 1+ letters]able, and victorious, in full power and authority: all which this word stand signifies; and therefore he is able to make me to stand in Judgment, and to maintain my Cause against all Opposers. Or▪ [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters]all arise, as this Verb most commonly signifies; i. e. Either 1. he shall exist or be born, as this word is oft used; as Num. 32. 14 Deut▪ 29. 22. Iudg. 2. 10. 1 Kings 3 12. Matth. 11. 11. And it notes Christ's Incarnation, that although as he was God, he was now and from all Eternity in being, yet he should in due time be made man, and be born of a woman. Or 2. he shall arise out of the dust; which had been more probable, if it had been in the Text from or out of, as now it is upon, the earth or dust; for Christ's Resurrection from the dead, might be fi[illegible: 1+ letters]ly mentioned here as the Cause of Iob's Resurrection, which followeth.

Either 1. in the days of the Messiah or of the Gospel which are oft called the letter or last days or times; as Isa. 2. 2▪ [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters]. 5. [illegible: 1 word] 2. 28. Compared with Acts 2. 17. 1 Tim. 4. 1. and 2 [illegible: 1 word]. 3. 1. [illegible: 1 word]. 1. 1. Or rather 2. at the day of the general Resurrection and Judgment, which, as those holy Patriarchs well knew and firmly believed, was to be at the end of the World; and which is called the last day▪ Iohn 6. 39, 40, 44., 54. & 11. 24▪ & 12. 48. 1 Pet. 1. 5▪ For this was the time when Iob's Resurrection, of which he speaketh [illegible: 1 word], was to be. Heb. at the last: By which word he plainly intimates, that his hope was not [illegible: 1 word] things present and of Worldly Felicities, of which his Friends had discoursed so much, [illegible: 1+ letters]ut of another kind of, and a far greater blessedness which should accrue to him in after-times, long after he was dead and rotten. Or, the last; who is both the first and the last, Isa. 44. 6. Rev. 1. 11. who shall subdue and survive all his and his peoples Enemies, and after others the l[illegible: 1+ letters]t enemy, death 1 Cor. 15. 26. and then shall raise up his people and plead their Cause, and vindicate them from all the Calumnies and Injuries which are put upon them, and conduct them to Life and Glory.

The place upon which Christ shall appear and stand at the last day. Heb. upon the dust; in which his Saints and Members lie or sleep, whom he will raise out of it' And therefore he is fitly said to stand upon the dust, or the Grave, or Death; because then he will put that among other Enemies under his feet; as it is expressed, 1 Cor. 15. 25, 26. Some render the Words thus, and that very agreeably to the Hebrew, The last, or at the last he shall arise or stand up against (for so this very Phrase is used, Gen. 4. 8. Iudg. 9. 18. Psalm 54. 3.) the dust, and fight with it, and rescue the bodies of the Saints, which are held in it as Prisoners, from its Dominion and Territories. Some understand this of God, that He should stand last in the field as Conquerour of all his Enemies. But this neither agrees with the words, the Hebrew, Aphar, signifying dust, and being never used of the field or pl[illegible: 1+ letters]e of Battel; nor with Iob's scope, which was to defend himself against his Friends Accusations, and to comfort himself with his hopes and assurance of God's Favour to be exhibited to him in due time. Which end the words in that sense would by no means serve, because God might and would be Conqueror of all his Enemies, though Iob himself had been one of them, and though his Cause▪ had been bad, and his Friends should with God have triumphed over him.

Marginal references: Or, at last.

26. And though after my skin, worms destroy this body ; yet in my flesh shall I see God :

The style of this and other Poetical Books is concise and short, and therefore many words are to be understood in some places, to compleat the sense: The meaning of the place is this; Though my skin is now in a great measure consumed by Sores, and the rest of it together with this body shall be devoured by the Worms, which may seem to make my case quite desperate. Heb. And though (which [illegible: 1+ letters]article, as it is oft elsewhere, is here to be understood, as the opposition of the next branch sheweth) after my skin (which either now is or suddenly will be consumed by Sores or Worms) they (i. e. the destroyers or devourers, as is implyed in the Verb; such Impersonal speeches being usual in the Scripture; as Gen. 50. 26. Luke 12. 20. & 16. 9. where the actions are expressed, but the persons or things acting are understood. And by the Destroyers, he most probably designs the Worms which do this work in the Grave) destroy or cut off, or devour this; i. e. all this which you see left of me, this which I now point to, all this which is contained within my skin, all my flesh and bones, this which I know not what to call, whether a living Body, or a dead Carkass, because it is between both; and therefore he did not say, this body, because it did scarce deserve that name.

For the Particle and is oft used adversatively, Or, then, as it is oft rendred.

Heb. out of my flesh, or with (as the Particle Mem is used, Can. 1. 2. & 3. 9. Isa 57. 8.) my flesh; i. e. with eyes of flesh, as Iob himself calls them Chap. 10. 4. Or with bodily eyes; my flesh or body being raised from the Grave, and restored and reunited to my soul. And this is very sitly added, to shew that he did not speak of a mental or spiritual, but of a corporeal Vision, and that after his death.

The same whom he called his Redeemer, v. 25. i. e. Christ; of which see the note there, who being God-man, and having taken flesh▪ and appearing in his flesh or body with and for Iob upon the earth, as was said v. 25. might very well be seen with his bodily eyes. Nor is this understood of a simple seeing of him; for so even they that pierced him shall see him, Revel. 1. 7. but of seeing him with delight and comfort, as that word is oft understood, as Gen. 48. 11. Iob 42. 16. Psalm 128. 5. Isa. 53. 11. of that glorious and beauti[illegible: 1+ letters]ying Vision of God, which is promised to all God's people, Psalm 16. 11. & 17. 15. Matth. 5. 8. 1 Cor. 13. 12. 1 Iohn. 3. 2.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span].

27. Whom I shall see for my self , and mine eyes shall behold, and not another : though my reins be consumed within me .

In manner before and after expressed. No wonder that he repeats it again and again, because the meditation of it was most sweet to him.

i. e. For my own comfort and benefit as that Phrase is oft used. Or, which is much of the same importance on my behalf, to plead my Cause and vindicate me from all your reproaches.

To wit, for me or in my stead. I shall not see God by anothers eyes, but by my own, and by these self-same eyes in this same body which now I have. Heb. not a stranger; i. e. This priviledge shall be granted to me and to all other sincere Servants of God, but not to strangers; i. e. to wicked men, who are oft called strangers; as Psal. 18. 44, 45. & 54. 3. Prov. 21. 8. because they are estranged or alienated from God and from his service and people. And if I were such an one, as you suppose me to be, I could never hope to enjoy that happiness.

This I do confidently expect and hope for, though at present my Case seems desperate, my very inward parts being even consumed with grief; and though, as I have said, the Grave and the Worms will consume my whole Body, not excepting the Reins which seem to be fasest and furthest out of their reach. Or, without though, which is not in the Hebrew, My reins are consumed within me. So this may be a sudden and passionate ejaculation or exclamation (such as we find Gen. 48. 18. and oft in the Book of Psalms) arising from the contemplation and confident expectation of this his unspeakable happiness, wherein he expresseth his vehement desire and longing for that blessed time and state. The reins are oft put for earnest desires or affections, whereof they are supposed to be the seat; as Iob. 38. 36. Prov. 23. 16. And men are oft in Scripture said to be consumed or eaten up, or the like, by ardent affections; as Psalm 69. 19. & 84. 2. and 119. 81, 82. Iohn 2. 17.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span].; Heb. in my [illegible: 1 word] ▪

28. But ye should say , why persecute we him , seeing the root of the matter is found in me ?

Or, Therefore, because this is my case, and my [illegible: 1+ letters]aith and hope in God.

So the Future is used Potentially; as it is Obad. v. 12. and the sense is, It would become you, or it is your duty upon this account to say. Or you will say; i. e. Either 1. I hope you will say so, and that you will be more moderate in your censures and expressions concerning me, as being convinced and sweetned by this sincere and solemn profession of my Faith and Hope. Or 2. Peradventure you will say; to wit, by way of excuse for your selves.

So it is a correction of themselves, seeing things are thus with him, we are blame-worthy that we have persecuted him with such bitter Invectives, and we will do so no more. Or, wherein or how (for so that Particle is sometimes used, as the Learned observe) do we persecute him, as [illegible: 1+ letters]e chargeth us, v. 22. He accuseth us falsly and without cause given on our parts. So it is an Apology for their hard speeches against him, which I[illegible: 1+ letters] puts into their mouths as their exception to his char[illegible: 1+ letters]e which he mentioned, v. 22. and upon that occasion falls into a most serious and pathetical exclamation, v. 23, 24. and into a most solemn declaration of his Faith in God his Redeemer, v. 25▪ 26, 27. and after that digression he resumes the former matter, and [illegible: 1+ letters]ere propounds an Objection, to which he gives a severe Answer, which may seem to suit much better with this than with the former Exposition.

These words contain either 1. a Motive or Reason why they should correct themselves for persecuting him, and des[illegible: 1+ letters]st from it; because, saith Iob, the root of the matter or word is in me. The root notes the occasion or the foundation, or the truth and substance of a thing. And by this matter or word may be meant either 1. that famous profession of his Faith and Confidence in God, v. 25, 26, 27. which, saith he, I have not uttered vaingloriously or hypocritically, but from my very heart, wherewith I believe what I have spoken with my mouth, as is said upon another occasion, Rom. 10▪ 9, 10. This Word or Faith is rooted in mine heart, as it should be, Matth. 13. 21. Col. 2. 7. I am no Hypocrite, as you asperse me, but an upright person, having a root of true Religion in me; which therefore should allay your Censures, and make you willing to bear with some circumstantial defects or mistakes in my discourses, or miscarriages into which my passion and pain might transport me, and make you repent of your cruel usage of a truly good man. But although Iob had this root in his heart, yet this was doub[illegible: 1+ letters]ed of, and not discernable by Iob's Friends, and therefore could be no argument to them. Possibly it might be better to understand by this root of the word, to wit, of God's word, which is oft called the word, by way of eminency, the foundations or fundamental Truths of Divine Doctrine, which Iob held; as appeared by this glorious Confession; howsoever he might err in the matter of Controversie with them; which being a difference in lesser things, they should mildly have born with it, and not aggravated it and traduced him, as if thereby he had renounced God and the very Principles of Religion, as they did. Or 2. the word or thing under debate among them. So the sense may be this, The root or truth of the thing de[illegible: 1+ letters]ated by us is with me; i. e. is on my side. Your discourses and arguments have no truth nor solidity in them, as mine have. You speak whatever cometh into your minds and mouths, but my discourses are rooted or grounded upon sound knowledge and deep consideration. But this was no convincing answer; for they could easily retort the same thing upon him again, and their affirmation might seem as good as his; for it was only a begging of the thing in question. Or rather 2. a des[illegible: 1+ letters]nce of themselves and of their former sharp and severe discourses, which Iob called Persecution, v. 22. And having made a short, but vehement and important digression, v. 23, &c. he returns to the main question between them here: And the sense of this Verse (with submission to better judgments) seems to me to be plainly this; But ye will say; i. e. I know will object against my Charge; How or wherein, or why do we persecute him? Why doth he charge us with so black a Crime; seeing or for (as V[illegible: 1+ letters] is oft used) the root; i. e. the Foundation or Cause, or occasion of the word; i. e. of those words or passages of ours which are so ill taken, or of the matter; i. e. of the thing now debated among us, is in me; i. e. Iob gives the occasion to it by his boisterous passions and wicked expressions against God, which we neither can nor ought to endure, but are to be sharply reproved. And so this Verse contains their Objection or Apology which Iob puts into their mouths, to which he makes a sharp and suitable reply in the following Verse.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]?

29. Be ye afraid of the sword , for wrath bringeth the punishment of the sword , that ye may know that there is a judgment .

i. e. Of some considerable judgment to be inflicted on you which is called the sword; as Deut. 32. 41. and oft elsewhere. Do not please your selves with such pretences and crafty evasions, as if the blame were wholly in me, not in you: God will not be mocked by you; He sees and will punish your most unrighteous and uncharitable judgment of me and dealing with me

For that wrath or fury which is in your hearts and breaks out of your lips against me, doth deserve and will certainly bring upon you [illegible: 1 word] punishment (Heb. punishments or iniquities: but iniquity is oft put for punishment) of the sword▪ i. e. a dreadful judgment from God. Or, without any supplement except that which is generally understood, for wrath (that sin of wrath or rage against a man, especially against one in affliction) is an iniquity (Heb. iniquities, the Plural number being used by way of aggravation; as Psalm 73. 22. and elsewhere: Or, of the iniquities; the Hebrew prefix Me[illegible: 1+ letters] being here understood, as it is in many other places) of the sword; i. e. one of those iniquities which use to be, or are fit to be punished by the sword; i. e. by some eminent judgment: as Iob 31. 19. An iniquity of the judges is an iniquity to be punished by the judges, as our Translation hath it.

The sense is either 1. This admonition I now give you, that you may know it in time, and for your good, that you may seriously consider and prevent it. Or 2. This judgment will come upon you that you may be taught by your own sad and costly Experience what you would not learn without it.

i. e. That there will be a time of judgment when God will call men to an account for all their hard speeches and miscarriages, and particularly for their rash and uncharitable censures of their brethren, Matth. 7. 1. Rom. 14. 4. Iam. 4. 11. either in this life, or at that last and dreadful Day of the general Resurr[illegible: 1+ letters]tion (of which he s[illegible: 1+ letters]ke v. 25, &c.) and judgment. God sees and observes, and will judge all your words and actions, and therefore do not flatter your selves with vain hopes of Impunity.

Job 19:1-6   1  Then began Job, and said:   2  How long will ye vex my soul,

And crush me with your words?   3  These ten times have ye reproached me;

Without being ashamed ye astound me.   4  And if I have really erred,

My error rests with myself.   5  If ye will really magnify yourselves against me,

And prove my reproach to me:   6 Know then that Eloah hath wronged me,

And hath compassed me with His net.

This controversy is torture to Job’s spirit; enduring in himself unutterable agony, both bodily and spiritually, and in addition stretched upon the rack by the three friends with their united strength, he begins his answer with a well-justified quousque tandem. תּגיוּן (Norzi: תּוגיוּן) is fut. energicum from הוּגה (יגה), with the retention of the third radical., Ges. §75, rem. 16. And in וּתדכּאוּנני (Norzi: וּתדכּוּנני with quiescent Aleph) the suff. is attached to the ûn of the fut. energicum, Ges. §60, rem. 3; the connecting vowel is a, and the suff. is ani, without epenthesis, not anni or aneni, Ges. §58, 5. In Job 19:3 Job establishes his How long? Ten times is not to be taken strictly (Saad.), but it is a round number; ten, from being the number of the fingers on the human hand, is the number of human possibility, and from its position at the end of the row of numbers (in the decimal system) is the number of that which is perfected (vid., Genesis, S. 640f.); as not only the Sanskrit daçan is traceable to the radical notion “to seize, embrace,” but also the Semitic עשר is traceable to the radical notion “to bind, gather together” (cogn. קשׁר). They have already exhausted what is possible in reproaches, they have done their utmost. Renan, in accordance with the Hebr. expression, transl.: Voilà (זה, as e.g., Gen 27:36) la dixième fois que vous m'insultez. The ἅπ. γεγρ. תּהכּרוּ is connected by the Targ. with הכּיר (of respect of persons = partiality), by the Syr. with כּרא (to pain, of crêvecoeur), by Raschi and Parchon with נכּר (to mistake) or התנכּר (to alienate one’s self), by Saadia (vid., Ewald’s Beitr. S. 99) with עכר (to dim, grieve);Reiske interprets according to the Arabic ‛kr , denso et turbido agmine cum impetu ruitis in me. he, however, compares the Arab. hkr , stupere (which he erroneously regards as differing only in sound from Arab. qhr, to overpower, oppress); and Abulwalid (vid., Rödiger in Thes. p. 84 suppl.) explains Arab. thkrûn mn - nı̂, ye gaze at me, since at the same time he mentions as possible that הכר may be = Arab. khr, to treat indignantly, insultingly (which is only a different shade in sound of Arab. hkr,In Sur. 93, 9 (oppress not the orphan), the reading Arab. tkhr is found alternating with Arab. tqhr. and therefore refers to Saadia’s interpretation). David Kimchi interprets according to Abulwalid, תתמהו לו; he however remarks at the same time, that his father Jos. Kimchi interprets after the Arab. הכר, which also signifies “shamelessness,” תעיזו פניכם לי. Since the idea of dark wild looks is connected with Arab. hkr, he has undoubtedly this verb in his mind, not that compared by Ewald (who translates, “ye are devoid of feeling towards me”), and especially Arab. hkr, to deal unfairly, used of usurious trade in corn (which may also have been thought of by the lxx ἐπίκεισθέ μοι, and Jerome opprimentes), which signifies as intrans. to be obstinate about anything, pertinacious. Gesenius also, Thes. p. 84, suppl., suggests whether תּחכּרוּ may not perhaps be the reading. But the comparison with Arab. hkr is certainly safer, and gives a perfectly satisfactory meaning, only תּהכּרוּ must not be regarded as fut. Kal (as יהלם, Psa 74:6, according to the received text), but as fut. Hiph. for תּהכּירוּ, according to Ges. §53, rem. 4, 5, after which Schultens transl.: quod me ad stuporem redigatis. The connection of the two verbs in Job 19:3 is to be judged of according to Ges. §142, 3, a: ye shamelessly cause me astonishment (by the assurance of your accusations). One need not hesitate because it is תהכרו־לי instead of תהכרוני; this indication of the obj. by ל, which is become a rule in Arabic with the inf. and part.) whence e.g., it would here be muhkerina li), and is still more extended in Aramaic, is also frequent in Hebrew (e.g., Isa 53:11; Psa 116:16; Psa 129:3, and 2Ch 32:17, cheereep, after which Olsh. proposes to read תחרפו־לי in the passage before us).

Much depends upon the correct perception of the structure of the clauses in Job 19:4. The rendering, e.g., of Olshausen, gained by taking the two halves of the verse as independent clauses, “yea certainly I have erred, I am fully conscious of my error,” puts a confession into Job’s mouth, which is at present neither mature nor valid. Hirz., Hahn, Schlottm., rightly take Job 19:4 as a hypothetical antecedent clause (comp. Job 7:20; Job 11:18): and if I have really erred (אף־אמנם, as Job 34:12, yea truly; Gen 18:13, and if I should really), my error remains with me, i.e., I shall have to expiate it, without your having on this account any right to take upon yourselves the office of God and to treat me uncharitably; or what still better corresponds with תּלין אתּי: my transgression remains with me, without being communicated to another, i.e., without having any influence over you or others to lead you astray or involve you in participation of the guilt. Job 19:6 stands in a similar relation to Job 19:5. Hirz., Ew., and Hahn take Job 19:5 as a double question: “or will ye really boast against me, and prove to me my fault?” Schlottm., on the contrary, takes אם conditionally, and begins the conclusion with Job 19:5: “if ye will really look proudly down upon me, it rests with you at least, to prove to me by valid reasons, the contempt which ye attach to me.” But by both of these interpretations, especially by the latter, Job 19:6 comes in abruptly. Even אפו (written thus in three other passages besides this) indicates in Job 19:5 the conditional antecedent clause (comp. Job 9:24; Job 24:25) of the expressive γνῶστε οὖν (δή): if ye really boast yourselves against me (vid., Psa 55:13., comp. Psa 35:26; Psa 38:17), and prove upon me, i.e., in a way of punishment (as ye think), my shame, i.e., the sins which put me to shame (not: the right of shame, which has come upon me on account of my sins, an interpretation which the conclusion does not justify), therefore: if ye really continue (which is implied by the futt.) to do this, then know, etc. If they really maintain that he is suffering on account of flagrant sins, he meets them on the ground of this assumption with the assertion that God has wronged him (עוּתני short for עוּת משׁפּטי, Job 8:3; Job 34:12, as Lam 3:36), and has cast His net (מצוּדו, with the change of the ô of מצוד from צוּד, to search, hunt, into the deeper û in inflexion, as מנוּסי from מנוס, מצוּרך, Eze 4:8, from מצור) over him, together with his right and his freedom, so that he is indeed obliged to endure punishment. In other words: if his suffering is really not to be regarded otherwise than as the punishment of sin, as they would uncharitably and censoriously persuade him, it urges on his self-consciousness, which rebels against it, to the conclusion which he hurls into their face as one which they themselves have provoked.

Job 19:7-11   7  Behold I cry violence, and I am not heard;

I cry for help, and there is no justice.   8  My way He hath fenced round, that I cannot pass over,

And He hath set darkness on my paths.   9  He hath stripped me of mine honour,

And taken away the crown from my head. 10  He destroyed me on every side, then I perished,

And lifted out as a tree my hope. 11  He kindled His wrath against me,

And He regarded me as one of His foes.

He cries aloud חמס (that which is called out regarded as accusa. or as an interjection, vid., on Hab 1:2), i.e., that illegal force is exercised over him. He finds, however, neither with God nor among men any response of sympathy and help; he cries for help (which שׁוּע, perhaps connected with ישׁע, Arab. s‛t, from ישׁע, Arab. ws‛, seems to signify), without justice, i.e., the right of an impartial hearing and verdict, being attainable by him. He is like a prisoner who is confined to a narrow space (comp. Job 3:23; Job 13:27) and has no way out, since darkness is laid upon him wherever he may go. One is here reminded of Lam 3:7-9; and, in fact, this speech generally stands in no accidental mutual relation to the lamentations of Jeremiah. The “crown of my head” has also its parallel in Lam 5:16; that which was Job’s greatest ornament and most costly jewel is meant. According to Job 29:14, צדק and משׁפט were his robe and diadem. These robes of honour God has stripped from him, this adornment more precious than a regal diadem He has taken from him since, i.e., his affliction puts him down as a transgressor, and abandons him to the insult of those around him. God destroyed him roundabout (destruxit), as a house that is broken down on all sides, and lifted out as a tree his hope. הסּיע does not in itself signify to root out, but only to lift out (Job 4:21, of the tent-cord, and with it the tent-pin) of a plant: to remove it from the ground in which it has grown, either to plant it elsewhere, as Psa 80:9, or as here, to put it aside. The ground was taken away from his hope, so that its greenness faded away like that of a tree that is rooted up. The fut. consec. is here to be translated: then I perished (different from Job 14:20 : and consequently he perishes); he is now already one who is passed away, his existence is only the shadow of life. God has caused, fut. Hiph. apoc. ויּחר, His wrath to kindle against him, and regarded him in relation to Himself as His opponents, therefore as one of them. Perhaps, however, the expression is intentionally intensified here, in contrast with Job 13:24 : he, the one, is accounted by God as the host of His foes; He treats him as if all hostility to God were concentrated in him.

Job 19:12-15 12  His troops came together,

And threw up their way against me,

And encamped round about my tent. 13  My brethren hath He removed far from me,

And my acquaintance are quite estranged from me. 14  My kinsfolk fail,

And those that knew me have forgotten me. 15  The slaves of my house and my maidens,

They regard me as a stranger,

I am become a perfect stranger in their eyes.

It may seem strange that we do not connect Job 19:12 with the preceding strophe or group of verses; but between Job 19:7 and Job 19:21 there are thirty στίχοι, which, in connection with the arrangement of the rest of this speech in decastichs (accidentally coinciding remarkably with the prominence given to the number ten in Job 19:3), seem intended to be divided into three decastichs, and can be so divided without doing violence to the connection. While in Job 19:12, in connection with Job 19:11, Job describes the course of the wrath, which he has to withstand as if he were an enemy of God, in Job 19:13. he refers back to the degradation complained of in Job 19:9. In Job 19:12 he compares himself to a besieged (perhaps on account of revolt) city. God’s גדוּדים (not: bands of marauders, as Dietr. interprets, but: troops, i.e., of regular soldiers, synon. of צבא, Job 10:17, comp. Job 25:3; Job 29:25, from the root גד, to unite, join, therefore prop. the assembled, a heap; vid., Fürst’s Handwörterbuch) are the bands of outwards and inward sufferings sent forth against him for a combined attack (יחד). Heaping up a way, i.e., by filling up the ramparts, is for the purpose of making the attack upon the city with battering-rams (Job 16:14) and javelins, and then the storm, more effective (on this erection of offensive ramparts (approches), called elsewhere שׁפך סללה, vid., Keil’s Archäologie, §159). One result of this condition of siege in which God’s wrath has placed him is that he is avoided and despised as one smitten of God: neither love and fidelity, nor obedience and dependence, meet him from any quarter. What he has said in Job 17:6, that he is become a byword and an abomination (an object to spit upon), he here describes in detail. There is no ground for understanding אחי in the wider sense of relations; brethren is meant here, as in Psa 69:9. He calls his relations קרובי, as Psa 38:12. ידעי are (in accordance with the pregnant biblical use of this word in the sense of nosse cum affectu et effectu) those who know him intimately (with objective suff. as Psa 87:4), and מידּעי, as Psa 31:12, and freq., those intimately known to him; both, therefore, so-called heart-or bosom-friends. בּיתי גּרי Jer. well translates inquilinin domus meae; they are, in distinction from those who by birth belong to the nearer and wider circle of the family, persons who are received into this circle as servants, as vassals (comp. Exo 3:22, and Arabic jâr, an associate, one sojourning in a strange country under the protection of its government, a neighbour), here espec. the domestics. The verb תּחשׁבוּני (Ges. §60) is construed with the nearest feminine subject. These people, who ought to thank him for taking them into his house, regard him as one who does not belong to it (זר); he is looked upon by them as a perfect stranger (נכרי), as an intruder from another country.

Job 19:16-20 16  I call to my servant and he answereth not,

I am obliged to entreat him with my mouth. 17  My breath is offensive to my wife,

And my stench to my own brethren. 18  Even boys act contemptuously towards me;

If I will rise up, they speak against me. 19  All my confidential friends abhor me,

And those whom I loved have turned against me. 20  My bone cleaveth to my skin and flesh,

And I am escaped only with the skin of my teeth.

His servant, who otherwise saw every command in his eyes, and was attent upon his wink, now not only does not come at his call, but does not return him any answer. The one of the home-born slaves (vid., on Gen 14:14),The (black) slaves born within the tribe itself are in the present day, from their dependence and bravery, accounted as the stay of the tribe, and are called fadâwîje, as those who are ready to sacrifice their life for its interest. The body-slave of Job is thought of as such as יליד בית. who stood in the same near connection to Job as Eliezer to Abraham, is intended here, in distinction from גרי ביתי, Job 19:15. If he, his master, now in such need of assistance, desires any service from him, he is obliged (fut. with the sense of being compelled, as e.g., Job 15:30, Job 17:2) to entreat him with his mouth. התחנּן, to beg חן of any one for one’s self (vid., supra, p. 365), therefore to implore, supplicare; and בּמו־פּי here (as Psa 89:2; Psa 109:30) as a more significant expression of that which is loud and intentional (not as Job 16:5, in contrast to that which proceeds from the heart). In Job 19:17, רוּחי signifies neither my vexation (Hirz.) nor my spirit = I (Umbr., Hahn, with the Syr.), for רוח in the sense of angry humour (as Job 15:13) does not properly suit the predicate, and Arab. rûḥy in the signification ipse may certainly be used in Arabic, where rûḥ (perhaps under the influence of the philosophical usage of the language) signifies the animal spirit-life (Psychol. S. 154), not however in Hebrew, where נפשׁי is the stereotype form in that sense. If one considers that the elephantiasis, although its proper pathological symptom consists in an enormous hypertrophy of the cellular tissue of single distinct portions of the body, still easily, if the bronchia are drawn into sympathy, or if (what is still more natural) putrefaction of the blood with a scorbutic ulcerous formation in the mouth comes on, has difficulty of breathing (Job 7:15) and stinking breath as its result, as also a stinking exhalation and the discharge of a stinking fluid from the decaying limbs is connected with it (vid., the testimony of the Arabian physicians in Stickel, S. 169f.), it cannot be doubted that Jer. has lighted upon the correct thing when he transl. halitum meum exhorruit uxor mea. רוחי is intended as in Job 17:1, and it is unnecessary to derive זרה from a special verb זיר, although in Arab. the notions which are united in the Hebr. זוּר .r, deflectere and abhorrere (to turn one’s self away from what is disgusting or horrible), are divided between Arab. zâr med . Wau and Arab. ḏâr med . Je (vid., Fürst’s Handwörterbuch).

In Job 19:17 the meaning of חנּותי is specially questionable. In Psa 77:10, חנּות is, like שׁמּות, Eze 36:3, an infinitive from חנן, formed after the manner of the Lamed He verbs. Ges. and Olsh. indeed prefer to regard these forms as plurals of substantives (חנּה, שׁמּה), but the respective passages, regarded syntactically and logically, require infinitives. As regards the accentuation, according to which וחנותי is accented by Rebia mugrasch on the ultima, this does not necessarily decide in favour of its being infin., since in the 1 praet. סבּתי, which, according to rule, has the tone on the penultima, the ultima is also sometimes (apart from the perf. consec.) found accented (on this, vid., on Psa 17:3, and Ew. §197, a), as סבּוּ, קוּמה, קוּמי, also admit of both accentuations.The ultima-accentuation of the form סבּותי is regular, is the Waw conv. praet. in fut. is added, as Exo 33:19, Exo 33:22; 2Ki 19:34; Isa 65:7; Eze 20:38; Mal 2:2; Psa 89:24. Besides, the penultima has the tone regularly, e.g., Jos 5:9; 1Sa 12:3; 1Sa 22:22; Jer 4:28; Psa 35:14; Psa 38:7; Job 40:4; Ecc 2:20. There are, however, exceptions, Deu 32:41 (שׁנותי), Isa 44:16 (חמותי), Psa 17:3 (זמתי), Psa 92:11 (בלתי), Psa 116:6 (דלותי). Perhaps the ultima-accentuation in these exceptional instances is intended to protect the indistinct pronunciation of the consonants Beth, Waw, or even Resh, at the beginning of the following words, which might easily become blended with the final syllable תי; certainly the reason lies in the pronunciation or in the rhythm (vid., on Psa 116:6, and comp. the retreating of the tone in the infin. חלותי (Psa 77:11). Looking at this last exception, which has not yet been cleared up, חנותי in the present passage will always be able to be regarded on internal grounds either as infin. or as 1 praet. The ultima-accentuation makes the word at first sight appear to be infin., whereas in comparison with זרה, which is accented on the penult., and therefore as 3 praet., וחנותי seems also to be intended as praet. The accentuation, therefore, leaves the question in uncertainty.

If וחנותי is infin., the clause is a nominal clause, or a verbal one, that is to be supplemented by the v. fin. זרה; if it is first pers. praet., we have a verbal clause. It must be determined from the matter and the connection which of these explanations, both of which are in form and syntax possible, is the correct one.

The translation, “I entreat (groan to) the sons of my body,” is not a thought that accords with the context, as would be obtained by the infin. explanation: my entreating (is offensive); this signif. (prop. to Hithp. as above) assigned to Kal by von Hofmann (Schriftbew. ii. 2, 612) is at least not to be derived from the derivative חן; it might be more easily deduced from נחנתּ, Jer 22:23, which appears to be a Niph. like נחם, נאנח, from חנן, but might also be derived from ננחתּ = נאנחתּ by means of a transposition (vid., Hitz.). In the present passage one might certainly compare Arab. ḥnn, the usual word for the utterance and emotion of longing and sympathy, or also Arab. chnn , fut. i (with the infin. noun chanı̂n), which occurs in the signifn. of weeping, and transl.: my imploring, groaning, weeping, is offensive, etc. Since, however, the X. form of the Arab. chnn (istachanna) signifies to give forth an offensive smell (esp. of the stinking refuse of a well that is dried up); and besides, since the significatn. foetere is supported for the root חן (comp. צחן) by the Syriac chanı̂no (e.g., meshcho chanı̂no , rancid oil), we may also translate: “My stinking is offensive,” etc., or: “I stink to the children of my body” (Rosenm., Ew., Hahn, Schlottm.); and this translation is not only not hazardous in a book that so abounds in derivations from the dialects, but it furnishes a thought that is as closely as possible connected with Job 19:17.Supplementary: Instead of istachanna (of the stinking of a well, perhaps denom. from Arab. chnn, prop. to smell like a hen-house), the verb hhannana (with Arab. ḥ) = ‛affana, “to be corrupt, to have a mouldy smell,” can, with Wetzstein, be better compared with חנּותי; thence comes zêt mohhannin = mo‛affin, corrupt rancid oil, corresponding to the Syriac חנינא. Thus ambiguously to the sellers of walnuts in Damascus cry out their wares with the words: el - mohhannin maugûd, “the merciful One liveth,” i.e., I do not guarantee the quality of my wares. In like manner, not only can Arab. dâr inf. dheir (dhêr), to be offensive, be compared with זרה, but, with Wetzstein, also the very common steppe word for ”to be bad, worthless,” Arab. zrâ, whence adj. zarı̂ (with nunation zarı̂jun).

The further question now arises, who are meant by בטני לבני. Perhaps his children? But in the prologue these have utterly perished. Are we to suppose, with Eichhorn and Olshausen, that the poet, in the heat of discourse, forgets what he has laid down in the prologue? When we consider that this poet, within the compass of his work, - a work into which he has thrown his whole soul, - has allowed no anachronism, and no reference to anything Israelitish that is contradictory to its extra-Israelitish character, to escape him, such forgetfulness is very improbable; and when we, moreover, bear in mind that he often makes the friends refer to the destruction of Job’s children (as Job 8:4; Job 15:30; Job 18:16), it is altogether inconceivable. Hence Schröring has proposed the following explanation: “My soul a substitution of which Hahn is also guilty is strange to my wife; my entreaty does not even penetrate to the sons of my body, it cannot reach their ear, for they are long since in Sheôl.” But he himself thinks this interpretation very hazardous and insecure; and, in fact, it is improbable that in the division, Job 19:13, where Job complains of the neglect and indifference which he now experiences from those around him, בטני בני should be the only dead ones among the living, in which case it would moreover be better, after the Arabic version, to translate: “My longing is for, or: I yearn after, the children of my body.” Grandchildren (Hirz., Ew., Hlgst. Hahn) might be more readily thought of; but it is not even probable, that after having introduced the ruin of all of Job’s children, the poet would represent their children as still living, some mention of whom might then at least be expected in the epilogue. Others, again (Rosenm. Justi, Gleiss), after the precedent of the lxx (υἱοὶ παλλακίδων μου), understand the sons of concubines (slaves). Where, however, should a trace be found of the poet having conceived of his hero as a polygamist, - a hero who is even a model of chastity and continence (Job 31:1)?

But must בטני בני really signify his sons or grandsons? Children certainly are frequently called, in relation to the father, בטנו פרי (e.g., Deu 7:13), and the father himself can call them בטני פרי (Mic 6:7); but בטן in this reference is not the body of the father, but the mother’s womb, whence, begotten by him, the children issue forth. Hence “son of my body” occurs only once (Pro 31:2) in the mother’s mouth. In the mouth of Job even (where the first origin of man is spoken of), בטני signifies not Job’s body, but the womb that conceived him (vid., Job 3:10); and thus, therefore, it is not merely possible, but it is natural, with Stuhlm., Ges., Umbr., and Schlottm., to understand בטני בני of the sons of his mother’s womb, i.e., of her who bare him; consequently, as אמּי בני, Psa 69:9, of natural brethren (brothers and sisters, sorores uterinae), in which sense, regarding וחנותי according to the most natural influence of the tone as infin., we transl.: “and my stinking is offensive (supply זרה) to the children of my mother’s womb.” It is also possible that the expression, as the words seem to be taken by Symmachus (υἱοὺς παιδῶν μου, my slaves’ children), and as they are taken by Kosegarten, in comparison with the Arab. btn in the signification race, subdivision (in the downward gradation, the third) of a greater tribe, may denote those who with him belong in a wider sense to one mother’s bosom, i.e., to the same clan, although the mention of בטני בני in close connection with אשׁתי is not favourable to this extension of the idea. The circle of observation is certainly widened in Job 19:18, where עוילים are not Job’s grandchildren (Hahn), but the children of neighbouring families and tribes; עויל (vid., Job 16:11) is a boy, and especially (perh. on account of the similarity in sound between מעוּל and עוּל) a rude, frolicsome, mischievous boy. Even such make him feel their contempt; and if with difficulty, and under the influence of pain which distorts his countenance, he attempts to raise himself (אקוּמה, lxx ὅταν ἀναστῶ, hypothetical cohortative, as Job 11:17; Job 16:6), they make him the butt of their jesting talk (דּבּר בּ, as Psa 50:20).

Job 19:21-25 21  Have pity upon me, have pity upon me,

O ye my friends, For the hand of Eloah hath touched me. 22  Wherefore do ye persecute me as God,

And are never satisfied with my flesh? 23  Oh that my words were but written,

That they were recorded in a book, 24  With an iron pen, filled in with lead,

Graven in the rock for ever! 25  And I know: my Redeemer liveth,

And as the last One will He arise from the dust.

In Job 19:21 Job takes up a strain we have not heard previously. His natural strength becomes more and more feeble, and his voice weaker and weaker. It is a feeling of sadness that prevails in the preceding description of suffering, and now even stamps the address to the friends with a tone of importunate entreaty which shall, if possible, affect their heart. They are indeed his friends, as the emphatic רעי אתּם affirms; impelled towards him by sympathy they are come, and at least stand by him while all other men flee from him. They are therefore to grant him favour (חנן, prop. to incline to) in the place of right; it is enough that the hand of Eloah has touched him (in connection with this, one is reminded that leprosy is called נגע, and is pre-eminently accounted as plaga divina; wherefore the suffering Messiah also bears the significant name חוּרא דבי רבּי, “the leprous one from the school of Rabbi,” in the Talmud, after Isa 53:4, Isa 53:8), they are not to make the divine decree heavier to him by their uncharitableness. Wherefore do ye persecute me - he asks them in Job 19:22 - like as God (כּמו־אל, according to Saad. and Ralbag = כמו־אלּה, which would be very tame); by which he means not merely that they add their persecution to God’s, but that they take upon themselves God’s work, that they usurp to themselves a judicial divine authority, they act towards him as if they were superhuman (vid., Isa 31:3), and therefore inhumanly, since they, who are but his equals, look down upon him from an assumed and false elevation. The other half of the question: wherefore are ye not full of my flesh (de ma chair, with מן, as Job 31:31), but still continue to devour it? is founded upon a common Semitic figurative expression, with which may be compared our Germ. expression, “to gnaw with the tooth of slander” comp. Engl. “backbiting”. In Chaldee, אכל קרצוהי די, to eat the pieces of (any one), is equivalent to, to slander him; in Syriac, ochelqarsso is the name of Satan, like διάβολος. The Arabic here, as almost everywhere in the book of Job, presents a still closer parallel; for Arab. 'kl lḥm signifies to eat any one’s flesh, then (different from אכל בשׂר, Psa 27:2) equivalent to, to slander,Vid., Schultens’ ad Prov. Meidanii, p. 7 (where “to eat his own flesh,” equivalent to “himself,” without allowing others to do it, signifies to censure his kinsmen), and comp. the phrase Arab. aclu - l - a‛râdhi in the signification arrodere existimationem hominum in Makkari, i. 541, 13. since an evil report is conceived of as a wild beast, which delights in tearing a neighbour to pieces, as the friends do not refrain from doing, since, from the love of their assumption that his suffering must be the retributive punishment of heinous sins, they lay sins to his charge of which he is not conscious, and which he never committed. Against these uncharitable and groundless accusations he wishes (Job 19:23) that the testimony of his innocence, to which they will not listen, might be recorded in a book for posterity, or because a book may easily perish, graven in a rock (therefore not on leaden plates) with an iron style, and the addition of lead, with which to fill up the engraved letters, and render them still more imperishable. In connection with the remarkable fidelity with which the poet throws himself back into the pre-Israelitish patriarchal time of his hero, it is of no small importance that he ascribes to him an acquaintance not only with monumental writing, but also with book and documentary writing (comp. Job 31:35).

The fut., which also elsewhere (Job 6:8; Job 13:5; Job 14:13, once the praet., Job 23:3, noverim) follows מי־יתּן, quis dabat = utinam, has Waw consec. here (as Deu 5:26 the praet.); the arrangement of the words is extremely elegant, בּסּפר stands per hyperbaton emphatically prominent. כּתב and חקק (whence fut. Hoph. יחקוּ with Dag. implicitum in the ח, comp. Job 4:20, and the Dag. of the ק omitted, for יוּחקּוּ, according to Ges. §67, rem. 8) interchange also elsewhere, Isa 30:8. ספר, according to its etymon, is a book formed of the skin of an animal, as Arab. sufre, the leathern table-mat spread on the ground instead of a table. It is as unnecessary to read לעד (comp. Job 16:8, lxx, εἰς μαρτύριον) instead of לעד here, as in Isa 30:8. He wishes that his own declaration, in opposition to his accusers, may be inscribed as on a monument, that it may be immortalized,לעד is differently interpreted by Jerome: evermore hewn in the rock; for so it seems his vel certe (instead of which celte is also read, which is an old northern name for a chisel) sculpantur in siliece must be explained. in order that posterity may behold it, and, it is to be hoped, judge him more justly than his contemporaries. He wishes this, and is certain that his wish is not vain. His testimony to his innocence will not descend to posterity without being justified to it by God, the living God.

Thus is ואני ידעתּי connected with what precedes. yd`ty is followed, as in Job 30:23, Ps. 9:21, by the oratio directa. The monosyllable tone-word חי (on account of which go'aliy has the accent drawn back to the penult.) is 3 praet.: I know: my redeemer liveth; in connection with this we recall the name of God, חי העולם, Dan 12:7, after which the Jewish oath per Anchialum in Martial is to be explained. גּאל might (with Umbr. and others), in comparison with Job 16:18, as Num 35:12, be equivalent to גּאל הדּם: he who will redeem, demand back, avenge the shedding of his blood and maintain his honour as of blood that has been innocently shed; in general, however, g'l signifies to procure compensation for the down-trodden and unjustly oppressed, Pro 23:11; Lam 3:58; Psa 119:154. This Rescuer of his honour lives and will rise up as the last One, as one who holds out over everything, and therefore as one who will speak the final decisive word. To אחרון have been given the significations Afterman in the sense of vindex (Hirz., Ewald), or Rearman in the sense of a second [lit. in a duel,] (Hahn), but contrary to the usage of the language: the word signifies postremus, novissimus, and is to be understood according to Isa 44:6; Isa 48:12, comp. Job 41:4. But what is the meaning of על־עפר? Is it: upon the dust of the earth, having descended from heaven? The words may, according to Job 41:25 [Hebr., Engl. Job 41:33], be understood thus (without the accompanying notion, formerly supposed by Umbreit, of pulvis or arena = palaestra, which is Classic, not Hebraic); but looking to the process of destruction going on in his body, which has been previously the subject of his words, and is so further on, it is far more probable that על־עפר is to be interpreted according to Job 17:16; Job 20:11; Job 21:26; Psa 30:10. Moreover, an Arab would think of nothing else but the dust of the grave if he read Arab. ‛alâ turâbinin this connection.In Arabic ‛fr belongs only to the ancient language (whence ‛afarahu, he has cast him into the dust, placed him upon the sand, inf. ‛afr); Arab. gbâr (whence the Ghobar, a peculiar secret-writing, has its name) signifies the dry, flying dust; Arab. trâb, however, is dust in gen., and particularly the dust of the grave, as e.g., in the forcible proverb: nothing but the turâb fills the eyes of man. So common is this signification, that a tomb is therefore called turbe.

Besides, it is unnecessary to connect קום על, as perhaps 2Ch 21:4, and the Arab. qâm ‛alâ (to stand by, help): על־עפר is first of all nothing more than a defining of locality. To affirm that if it refer to Job it ought to be עפרי, is unfounded. Upon the dust in which he is now soon to be laid, into which he is now soon to be changed, will He, the Rescuer of his honour, arise (קוּם, as in Deu 19:15; Psa 27:12; Psa 35:11, of the rising up of a witness, and as e.g., Psa 12:6, comp. Psa 94:16, Isa 33:10, of the rising up and interposing of a rescuer and help) and set His divine seal to Job’s own testimony thus made permanent in the monumental inscription. Oetinger’s interpretation is substantially the same: “I know that He will at last come, place himself over the dust in which I have mouldered away, pronounce my cause just, and place upon me the crown of victory.”

A somewhat different connection of the thought is obtained, if ואני is taken not progressively, but adversatively: “Yet I know,” etc. The thought is then, that his testimony of his innocence need not at all be inscribed in the rock; on the contrary, God, the ever living One, will verify it. It is difficult to decide between them; still the progressive rendering seems to be preferable, because the human vindication after death, which is the object of the wish expressed in Job 19:23, is still not essentially different from the divine vindication hoped for in Job 19:25, which must not be regarded as an antithesis, but rather as a perfecting of the other designed for posterity. Job 19:25 is, however, certainly a higher hope, to which the wish in Job 19:23. forms the stepping-stone. God himself will avenge Job’s blood, i.e., against his accusers, who say that it is the blood of one who is guilty; over the dust of the departed He will arise, and by His majestic testimony put to silence those who regard this dust of decay as the dust of a sinner, who has received the reward of his deeds.

But is it perhaps this his hope of God’s vindication, expressed in Job 19:25, which (as Schlottmann and Hahn,Hahn, after having in his pamphlet, de spe immortalitatis sub V.T. gradatim exculta, 1845, understood Job’s confession distinctly of a future beholding in this world, goes further in his Commentary, and entirely deprives this confession of the character of hope, and takes all as an expression of what is present. We withhold our further assent. though in other respects giving very different interpretations, think) is, according to Job’s wish, to be permanently inscribed on the monument, in order to testify to posterity with what a stedfast and undismayed conviction he had died? The high-toned introitus, Job 19:23, would be worthy of the important inscription it introduces. But (1) it is improbable that the inscription would begin with ואני, consequently with Waw, - a difficulty which is not removed by the translation, “Yea, I know,” but only covered up; the appeal to Psa 2:6; Isa 3:14, is inadmissible, since there the divine utterance, which begins with Waw, per aposiopesin continues a suppressed clause; כי אני would be more admissible, but that which is to be written down does not even begin with כי in either Hab 2:3 or Jer 30:3. (2.) According to the whole of Job’s previous conduct and habitual state of mind, it is to be supposed that the contents of the inscription would be the expression of the stedfast consciousness of his innocence, not the hope of his vindication, which only here and there flashes through the darkness of the conflict and temptation, but is always again swallowed up by this darkness, so that the thought of a perpetual preservation, as on a monument, of this hope can by no means have its origin in Job; it forms everywhere only, so to speak, the golden weft of the tragic warp, which in itself even resists the tension of the two opposites: Job’s consciousness of innocence, and the dogmatic postulate of the friends; and their intensity gradually increases with the intensity of this very tension. So also here, where the strongest expression is given both to the confession of his innocence as a confession which does not shun, but even desires, to be recorded in a permanent form for posterity, and also at the same time in connection with this to the confidence that to him, who is misunderstood by men, the vindication from the side of God, although it may be so long delayed that he even dies, can nevertheless not be wanting. Accordingly, by מלּי we understand not what immediately follows, but the words concerning his innocence which have already been often repeated by him, and which remain unalterably the same; and we are authorized in closing one strophe with Job 19:25, and in beginning a new one with Job 19:26, which indeed is commended by the prevalence of the decastich in this speech, although we do not allow to this observance of the strophe division any influence in determining the exposition. It is, however, of use in our exposition. The strophe which now follows develops the chief reason of believing hope which is expressed in Job 19:25; comp. the hexastich Job 12:11-13, also there in Job 12:14 is the expansion of Job 12:13, which expresses the chief thought as in the form of a thema.

Job 19:26-29 26  And after my skin, thus torn to pieces,

And without my flesh shall I behold Eloah, 27  Whom I shall behold for my good,

And mine eyes shall see Him and no other -

My veins languish in my bosom. 28  Ye think: “How shall we persecute him?”

Since the root of the matter is found in me - 29  Therefore be ye afraid of the sword,

For wrath meeteth the transgressions of the sword,

That ye may know there is a judgment!

If we have correctly understood על־עפר,Job 19:25, we cannot in this speech find that the hope of a bodily recovery is expressed. In connection with this rendering, the oldest representative of which is Chrysostom, מבּשׂרי is translated either: free from my flesh = having become a skeleton (Umbr., Hirz., and Stickel, in comm. in Iobi loc. de Goële, 1832, and in the transl., Gleiss, Hlgst., Renan), but this מבשׂרי, if the מן is taken as privative, can signify nothing else but fleshless = bodiless; or: from my flesh, i.e., the flesh when made whole again (viz., Eichhorn in the Essay, which has exercised considerable influence, to his Allg. Bibl. d. bibl. Lit. i. 3, 1787, von Cölln, BCr., Knapp, von Hofm.,Von Hofmann (Schriftbeweis, ii. 2, 503) translates: “I know, however, my Redeemer is living, and hereafter He will stand forth which must have been יעמד instead of יקום] upon the earth and after my skin, this surrounding (נקּפוּ, Chaldaism, instead of נקּפוּת after the form עקּשׁוּת), and from my flesh shall I behold God, whom I shall behold for myself, and my eyes see [Him], and He is not strange.” and others), but hereby the relation of Job 19:26 to Job 19:26 becomes a contrast, without there being anything to indicate it. Moreover, this rendering, as מבשׂרי may also be explained, is in itself contrary to the spirit and plan of the book; for the character of Job’s present state of mind is, that he looks for certain death, and will hear nothing of the consolation of recovery (Job 17:10-16), which sounds to him as mere mockery; that he, however, notwithstanding, does not despair of God, but, by the consciousness of his innocence and the uncharitableness of the friends, is more and more impelled from the God of wrath and caprice to the God of love, his future Redeemer; and that then, when at the end of the course of suffering the actual proof of God’s love breaks through the seeming manifestation of wrath, even that which Job had not ventured to hope is realized: a return of temporal prosperity beyond his entreaty and comprehension.

On the other hand, the mode of interpretation of the older translators and expositors, who find an expression of the hope of a resurrection at the end of the preceding strophe or the beginning of this, cannot be accepted. The lxx, by reading יקים instead of יקום, and connecting יקים עורי נקפו זאת, translates: ἀναστήσει δὲ (Cod. Vat. only ἀναστῆσαι) μου τὸ σῶμα (Cod. Vat. τὸ δέρμα μου) τὸ ἀναντλοῦν μοι (Cod. Vat. om. μοι) ταῦτα, - but how can any one’s skin be said to awake (Italic: super terram resurget cutis mea),Stickel therefore maintains that this ἀνιστάναι of the lxx is to be understood not of being raised from the dead, but of being restored to health; vid., on the contrary, Umbreit in Stud. u. Krit. 1840, i., and Ewald in d. Theol. Jahrbb., 1843, iv. and whence does the verb נקף obtain the signification exhaurire or exantlare? Jerome’s translation is not less bold: Scio enim quod redemptor meus vivit et in novissimo die de terra surrecturus sum, as though it were אקום, not יקום, and as though אחרון could signify in novissimo die (in favour of which Isa 9:1 can only seemingly be quoted)! The Targ. translates: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and hereafter His redemption will arise (become a reality) over the dust (into which I shall be dissolved), and after my skin is again made whole (thusIn this signification, to recover, prop. to recover one’s self, אתּפח is used in Talmudic; vid., Buxtorf, פוח and תפח. The rabbinical expositors ignore this Targum, and in general furnish but little that is useful here. אתּפח seems to require to be translated, not intumuit) this will happen; and from my flesh I shall again behold God.” It is evident that this is intended of a future restoration of the corporeal nature that has become dust, but the idea assigned to נקפו ot is without foundation. Luther also cuts the knot by translating: (But I know that my Redeemer liveth), and He will hereafter raise me up out of the ground, which is an impossible sense that is word for word forced upon the text. There is just as little ground for translating Job 19:26 with Jerome: et rursum circumdabor pelle mea (after which Luther: and shall then be surrounded with this my skin); for נקּפוּ can as Niph. not signify circumdabor, and as Piel does not give the meaning cutis mea circumdabit (scil. me), since נקפו cannot be predicate to the sing. עורי. In general, נקפו cannot be understood as Niph., but only as Piel; the Piel niqap, however, signifies not: to surround, but: to strike down, e.g., olives from the tree, Isa 17:6, or the trees themselves, so that they lie felled on the ground, Isa 10:34, comp. Arab. nqf, to strike into the skull and injure the soft brain, then: to strike forcibly on the head (gen. on the upper part), or also: to deal a blow with a lance or stick.Thus, according to the Turkish Kamus: to sever the skull from (Arab. ‛n) the brain, i.e., so that the brain is laid bare, or also e.g., to split the coloquintida or bitter cucumber, so that the seeds are laid bare, or: to crack the bones and take out the marrow, cognate with Arab. nqb, for the act of piercing an egg is called both naqaba and naqafa - l - beidha. In Hebrew נקף coincides with נגף, not with נקב.

Therefore Job 19:26, according to the usage of the Semitic languages, can only be intended of the complete destruction of the skin, which is become cracked and broken by the leprosy; and this was, moreover, the subject spoken of above (Job 19:20, comp. Job 30:19). For the present we leave it undecided whether Job here confesses the hope of the resurrection, and only repel those forced misconstructions of his words which arbitrarily discern this hope in the text. Free from such violence is the translation: and after this my skin is destroyed, i.e., after I shall have put off this my body, from my flesh (i.e., restored and transfigured), I shall behold God. Thus is מבשׂרי understood by Rosenm., Kosegarten (diss. in Iob, xix. 1815), Umbreit (Stud. u. Krit. 1840, i.), Welte, Carey, and others. But this interpretation is also untenable. For, 1. In this explanation Job 19:26 is taken as an antecedent; a praepos., however, like אחר or עד, used as a conj., has, according to Hirzel’s correct remark, the verb always immediately after it, as Job 42:7; Lev 14:43; whereas 1Sa 20:41, the single exception, is critically doubtful. 2. It is not probable that the poet by עורי should have thought of the body, which disease is rapidly hurrying on to death, and by בשׂרי, on the other hand, of a body raised up and glorified. 3. Still more improbable is it that בשׂר should be so used here as in the church’s term, resurrectio carnis, which is certainly an allowable expression, but one which exceeds the meaning of the language of Scripture. בשׂר, σάρξ, is in general, and especially in the Old Testament, a notion which has grown up in almost inseparable connection with the marks of frailty and sinfulness. And 4. The hope of a resurrection as a settled principle in the creed of Israel is certainly more recent than the Salomonic period. Therefore by far the majority of modern expositors have decided that Job does not indeed here avow the hope of the resurrection, but the hope of a future spiritual beholding of God, and therefore of a future life; and thus the popular idea of Hades, which elsewhere has sway over him, breaks out. Thus, of a future spiritual beholding of God, are Job’s words understood by Ewald, Umbreit (who at first explained them differently), Vaihinger, Von Gerlach, Schlottmann, Hölemann (Sächs. Kirchen- u. Schulbl. 1853, Nos. 48, 50, 62), König (Die Unsterblichkeitsidee im B. Iob, 1855), and others, also by the Jewish expositors Arnheim and Löwenthal. This rendering, which is also adopted in the Art. Hiob in Herzog’s Real-Encyclopädie, does not necessitate any impossible misconstruction of the language, but, as we shall see further on, it does not exhaust the meaning of Job’s confession.

First of all, we will continue the explanation of each expression אחר is a praepos., and used in the same way as the Arabic ba‛da is sometimes used: after my skin, i.e., after the loss of it (comp. Job 21:21, אחריו, after he is dead). נקּפוּ is to be understood relatively: which they have torn in pieces, i.e., which has been torn in pieces (comp. the same use of the 3 pers., Job 4:19; Job 18:18); and זאת, which, according to Targ., Koseg., Stickel de Goële, and Ges. Thes., ought to be taken inferentially, equivalent to hoc erit (this, however, cannot be accepted, because it must have been וזאת אחר וגו, Arab. w - ḏlk b‛d 'n , idque postquam, and moreover would require the words to be arranged אחר נקפו עורי), commonly however taken together with עורי (which is nevertheless masc.), is understood as pointing to his decayed body, seems better to be taken adverbially: in this manner (Arnheim, Stickel in his translation, von Gerl., Hahn); it is the acc. of reference, as Job 33:12. The מן of מבּשׂרי is the negative מן: free from my flesh (prop. away, far from, Num 15:25; Pro 20:3), - a rather frequent way of using this preposition (vid., Job 11:15; Job 21:9; Gen 27:39; 2Sa 1:22; Jer 48:45). Accordingly, we translate: “and after my skin, which they tear to pieces thus, and free from my flesh, shall I behold Eloah.” That Job, after all, is permitted to behold God in this life, and also in this life receives the testimony of his justification, does not, as already observed, form any objection to this rendering of Job 19:26 : it is the reward of his faith, which, even in the face of certain death, has not despaired of God, that he does not fall into the power of death at all, and that God forthwith condescends to him in love. And that Job here holds firm, even beyond death, to the hope of beholding God in the future as a witness to his innocence, does not, after Job 14:13-15; Job 16:18-21, come unexpectedly; and it is entirely in accordance with the inner progress of the drama, that the thought of a redemption from Hades, expressed in the former passage, and the demand expressed in the latter passage, for the rescue of the honour of his blood, which is even now guaranteed him by his witness in heaven, are here comprehended, in the confident certainty that his blood and his dust will not be declared by God the Redeemer as innocent, without his being in some way conscious of it, though freed from this his decaying body. In Job 19:27 he declares how he will behold God: whom I shall behold to me, i.e., I, the deceased one, as being for me (לי, like Psa 62:2; Psa 118:6), and my eyes see Him, and not a stranger. Thus (neque alius) lxx, Targ., Jerome, and most others translate; on the other hand, Ges. Thes., Umbr., Vaih., Stick., Hahn, and von Hofm. translate: my eyes see Him, and indeed not as an enemy; but זר signifies alienus and alius, not however adversarius, which latter meaning it in general obtains only in a national connection; here (used as in Pro 27:2) it excludes the three: none other but Job, by which he means his opponents, will see God rising up for him, taking up his cause. ראוּ is praet. of the future, therefore praet. propheticum, or praet. confidentiae (as frequently in the Psalms). His reins within him pine after this vision of God. Hahn, referring to Job 16:13, translates incorrectly: “If even my reins within me perish,” which is impossible, according to the syntax; for Psa 73:26 has כלה in the sense of licet defecerit as hypothetical antecedent. The Syriac version is altogether wrong: my reins (culjot) vanish completely away by reason of my lot (בּחקּי). It would be expressed in Arabic exactly as it is here: culâja (or, dual, culatâja) tadhûbu, my reins melt; for in Arab. also, as in the Semitic languages generally, the reins are considered as the seat of the tenderest and deepest affections (Psychol. S. 268, f), especially of love, desire, longing, as here, where כּלה, as in Psa 119:123 and freq., is intended of wasting away in earnest longing for salvation.

Having now ended the exposition of the single expressions, we inquire whether those do justice to the text who understand it of an absolutely bodiless future beholding of God. We doubt it. Job says not merely that he, but that his eyes, shall behold God. He therefore imagines the spirit as clothed with a new spiritual body instead of the old decayed one; not so, however, that this spiritual body, these eyes which shall behold in the future world, are brought into combination with the present decaying body of flesh. But his faith is here on the direct road to the hope of a resurrection; we see it germinating and struggling towards the light. Among the three pearls which become visible in the book of Job above the waves of conflict, viz., Job 14:13-15; Job 16:18-21; Job 19:25-27, there is none more costly than this third. As in the second part of Isaiah, the fifty-third chapter is outwardly and inwardly the middle and highest point of the 3 x 9 prophetic utterances, so the poet of the book of Job has adorned the middle of his work with this confession of his hero, wherein he himself plants the flag of victory above his own grave.

Now in Job 19:28 Job turns towards the friends. He who comes forth on his side as his advocate, will make Himself felt by them to be a judge, if they continue to persecute the suffering servant of God (comp. Job 13:10-12). It is not to be translated: for then ye will say, or: forsooth then will ye say. This would be כי אז תאמרו, and certainly imply that the opponents will experience just the same theophany, that therefore it will be on the earth. Oehler (in his Veteris Test. sententia de rebus post mortem futuris, 1846) maintains this instance against the interpretation of this confession of Job of a future beholding; it has, however, no place in the text, and Oehler rightly gives no decisive conclusion.He remains undecided between a future spiritual and a present beholding of God: harum interpretationum utra rectior sit, vix erit dijudicandum, nam in utramque partem facile potest disputari.

For Job 19:28, as is rightly observed by C. W. G. Köstlin (in his Essay, de immortalitatis spe, quae in l. Iobi apparere dicitur, 1846) against Oehler, and is even explained by Oetinger, is the antecedent to Job 19:29 (comp. Job 21:28.): if ye say: how, i.e., under what pretence of right, shall we prosecute him (נרדּף־לו, prop. pursue him, comp. Jdg 7:25), and (so that) the root of the matter (treated of) is found in me (בי, not בּו, since the oratio directa, as in Job 22:17, passes into the oratio obliqua, Ew. §338, a); in other words: if ye continue to seek the cause of my suffering in my guilt, fear ye the sword, i.e., God’s sword of vengeance (as Job 15:22, and perhaps as Isa 31:8 : a sword, without the art. in order to combine the idea of what is boundless, endless, and terrific with the indefinite - the indetermination ad amplificandum described on Psa 2:12). The confirmatory substantival clause which follows has been very variously interpreted. It is inadmissible to understand חמה of the rage of the friends against Job (Umbr., Schlottm., and others), or חרב עונות of their murderous sinning respecting Job; both expressions are too strong to be referred to the friends. We must explain either: the glow, i.e., the glow of the wrath of God, are the expiations which the sword enjoins (Hirz., Ew., and others); but apart from עון not signifying directly the punishment of sin, this thought is strained; or, which we with Rosenm. and others prefer: glow, i.e., the glow of the wrath of God, are the sword’s crimes, i.e., they carry glowing anger as their reward in themselves, wrath overtakes them. Crimes of the sword are not such as are committed with the sword - for such are not treated of here, and, with Arnh. and Hahn, to understand חרב of the sword “of hostilely mocking words,” is arbitrary and artificial - but such as have incurred the sword. Job thinks of slander and blasphemy. These are even before a human tribunal capital offences (comp. Job 31:11, Job 31:28). He warns the friends of a higher sword and a higher power, which they will not escape: “that ye may know it.” שׁדּין, for which the Keri is שׁדּוּן. An ancient various reading (in Pinkster) is ידעוּן (instead of תּדעוּן). The lxx shows how it is to be interpreted: θυμὸς γὰρ ἐπ ̓ ἀνόμους (Cod. Alex. - οις) ἐπελεύσεται, καὶ τότε γνώσονται. According to Cod. Vat. the translation continues ποῦ ἔστιν αὐτῶν ἡ ὕλη (שׂדין, comp. Job 29:5, where שׁדי is translated by ὑλώδης); according to Cod. Alex. ὅτι οὐδαμοῦ αὐτῶν ἡ ἴσχυς ἐστίν (שׁדין from שׁדד). Ewald in the first edition, which Hahn follows, considers, as Eichhorn already had, שׁדּין as a secondary form of שׁדּי; Hlgst. wishes to read שׁדּי at once. It might sooner, with Raschi, be explained: that ye might only know the powers of justice, i.e., the manifold power of destruction which the judge has at his disposal. But all these explanations are unsupported by the usage of the language, and Ewald’s conjecture in his second edition: אי שׁדּכם (where is your violence), has nothing to commend it; it goes too far from the received text, calls the error of the friends by an unsuitable name, and gives no impressive termination to the speech.

On the other hand, the speech could not end more suitably than by Job’s bringing home to the friends the fact that there is a judgment; accordingly it is translated by Aq. ὅτι κρίσις; by Symm., Theod., ὅτι ἔστι κρίσις. שׁ is = אשׁר once in the book of Job, as probably also once in the Pentateuch, Gen 6:3. דּין or דּוּן are infinitive forms; the latter from the Kal, which occurs only in Gen 6:3, with Cholem, which being made a substantive (as e.g., בּוּז), signifies the judging, the judgment. Why the Keri substitutes דון, which does not occur elsewhere in the signification judicium, for the more common דין, is certainly lost to view, and it shows only that the reading shdwn was regarded in the synagogue as the traditional. דּין has everywhere else the signification judicium, e.g., by Elihu, Job 36:17, and also often in the book of Proverbs, e.g., Job 20:8 (comp. in the Arabizing supplement, ch. 31:8). The final judgment is in Aramaic רבּא דּינא; the last day in Hebrew and Arabic, הדּין יום, jaum ed - dı̂n. To give to “שׁדין, that there is a judgment,” this dogmatically definite meaning, is indeed, from its connection with the historical recognition of the plan of redemption, inadmissible; but there is nothing against understanding the conclusion of Job’s speech according to the conclusion of the book of Ecclesiastes, which belongs to the same age of literature.

The speech of Job, now explained, most clearly shows us how Job’s affliction, interpreted by the friends as a divine retribution, becomes for Job’s nature a wholesome refining crucible. We see also from this speech of Job, that he can only regard his affliction as a kindling of divine wrath, and God’s meeting him as an enemy (Job 19:11). But the more decidedly the friends affirm this, and describe the root of the manifestation as lying in himself, in his own transgression; and the more uncharitably, as we have seen it at last in Bildad’s speech, they go to an excess in their terrible representations of the fate of the ungodly with unmistakeable reference to him: the more clearly is it seen that this indirect affliction of misconstruction must tend to help him in his suffering generally to the right relation towards God. For since the consolation expected from man is changed into still more cutting accusation, no other consolation remains to him in all the world but the consolation of God; and if the friends are to be in the right when they persist unceasingly in demonstrating to him that he must be a heinous sinner, because he is suffering so severely, the conclusion is forced upon him in connection with his consciousness of innocence, that the divine decree is an unjust one (Job 19:5). From such a conclusion, however, he shrinks back; and this produces a twofold result. The crushing anguish of soul which the friends inflict on him, by forcing upon him a view of his suffering which is as strongly opposed to his self-consciousness as to his idea of God, and must therefore bring him into the extremest difficulty of conscience, drives him to the mournful request, ”Have pity upon, have pity upon me, O ye my friends” (Job 19:21); they shall not also pursue him whom God’s hand has touched, as if they were a second divine power in authority over him, that could dispose of him at its will and pleasures; they shall, moreover, cease from satisfying the insatiable greed of their nature upon him. He treats the friends in the right manner; so that if their heart were not encrusted by their dogma, they would be obliged to change their opinion. This in Job’s conduct is an unmistakeable step forward to a more spiritual state of mind. But the stern inference of the friends has a beneficial influence not merely on his relation to them, but also on his relation to God. To the wrathful God, whom they compel him to regard also as unjust, he cannot in itself cling. He is so much the less able to do this, as he is compelled the more earnestly to long for vindication, the more confidently he is accused.

When he now wishes that the testimony which he has laid down concerning his innocence, and which is contemporaries do not credit, might be graven in the rock with an iron pen, and filled in with lead, the memorial in words of stone is but a dead witness; and he cannot even for the future rely on men, since he is so contemptuously misunderstood and deceived by them in the present. This impels his longing after vindication forward from a lifeless thing to a living person, and turns his longing from man below to God above. He has One who will acknowledge his misjudged cause, and set it right, - a Goël, who will not first come into being in a later generation, but liveth - who has not to come into being, but is. There can be no doubt that by the words chy n'l he means the same person of whom in Job 16:19 he says: “Behold, even now in heaven is my Witness, and One who acknowledges me is in the heights.” The חי here corresponds to the גם עתה in that passage; and from this - that the heights of heaven is the place where this witness dwells - is to be explained the manner in which Job (Job 19:25) expresses his confident belief in the realization of that which he (Job 16:20) at first only importunately implores: as the Last One, whose word shall avail in the ages of eternity, when the strife of human voices shall have long been silent, He shall stand forth as finally decisive witness over the dust, in which Job passed away as one who in the eye of man was regarded as an object of divine punishment. And after his skin, in such a manner destroyed, and free from his flesh, which is even now already so fallen in that the bones may be seen through it (Job 19:20), he will behold Eloah; and he who, according to human judgment, has died the death of the unrighteous, shall behold Eloah on his side, his eyes shall see and not a stranger; for entirely for his profit, in order that he may bask in the light of His countenance, will He reveal himself.

This is the picture of the future, for the realization of which Job longs so exceedingly, that his reins within him pine away with longing. Whence we see, that Job does not here give utterance to a transient emotional feeling, a merely momentary flight of faith; but his hidden faith, which during the whole controversy rests at the bottom of his soul, and over which the waves of despair roll away, here comes forth to view. He knows, that although his outward man may decay, God cannot, however, fail to acknowledge his inner man. But does this confidence of faith of Job really extend to the future life? It has, on the contrary, been observed, that if the hope expressed with such confidence were a hope respecting the future life, Job’s despondency would be trifling, and to be rejected; further, that this hope stands in contradiction to his own assertion, Job 14:14 : “If man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare would I wait, till my change should come;” thirdly, that Job’s character would be altogether wrongly drawn, and would be a psychological caricature, if the thought slumbering in Job’s mind, which finds utterance in Job 19:25-27, were the thought of a future vision of God; and finally, that the unravelling of the knot of the puzzle, which continually increases in entanglement by the controversy with the friends, at the close of the drama, is effected by a theophany, which issues in favour of one still living, not, as ought to be expected by that rendering, a celestial scene unveiled over the grave of Job. But such a conclusion was impossible in an Old Testament book. The Old Testament as yet knew nothing of a heaven peopled with happy human spirits, arrayed in white robes (the stola prima). And at the time when the book of Job was composed, there was also neither a positive revelation nor a dogmatic confession of the resurrection of the dead, which forms the boundary of the course of this world, in existence. The book of Job, however, shows us how, from the conflict concerning the mystery of this present life, faith struggled forth towards a future solution. The hope which Job expresses is not one prevailing in his age - not one that has come to him from tradition - not one embracing mankind, or even only the righteous in general. All the above objections would be really applicable, if it were evident here that Job was acquainted with the doctrine of a beholding of God after death, which should recompense the pious for the sufferings of this present time. But such is not the case. The hope expressed is not a finished and believingly appropriating hope; on the contrary, it is a hope which is first conceived and begotten under the pressure of divinely decreed sufferings, which make him appear to be a transgressor, and of human accusations which charge him with transgression. It is impossible for him to suppose that God should remain, as now, so hostilely turned from him, without ever again acknowledging him. The truth must at last break through the false appearance, and wrath again give place to love. That it should take place after his death, is only the extreme which his faith assigns to it.

If we place ourselves on the standpoint of the poet, he certainly here gives utterance to a confession, to which, as the book of Proverbs also shows, the Salomonic Chokma began to rise in the course of believing thought; but also on the part of the Chokma, this confession was primarily only a theologoumenon, and was first in the course of centuries made sure under the combined agency of the progressive perception of the revelation and facts connected with redemption; and it is first of all in the New Testament, by the descent to Hades and the ascension to heaven of the Prince of Life, that it became a fully decided and well-defined element of the church’s creed. If, however, we place ourselves on the standpoint of the hero of the drama, this hope of future vindication which flashes through the fierceness of the conflict, far from making it a caricature,If Job could say, like Tobia, Job 2:1-13 :17f., Vulg.: filii sanctorum sumus et vitam illam exspectamus, quam Deus daturus est his qui fidem suam nunquam mutant ab eo, his conduct would certainly be different; but what he expresses in Job 19:25-27 is very far removed from this confession of faith of Tobia. gives to the delineation of his faith, which does not forsake God, the final perfecting stroke. Job is, as he thinks, meeting certain death. Why then should not the poet allow him to give utterance to that demand of faith, that he, even if God should permit him apparently to die the sinner’s death, nevertheless cannot remain unvindicated? Why should he not allow him here, in the middle of the drama, to rise from the thought, that the cry of his blood should not ascend in vain, to the thought that this vindication of his blood, as of one who is innocent, should not take place without his being consciously present, and beholding with his own eyes the God by whose judicial wrath he is overwhelmed, as his Redeemer? This hope, regarded in the light of the later perception of the plan of redemption, is none other than the hope of a resurrection; but it appears here only in the germ, and comes forward as purely personal: Job rises from the dust, and, after the storm of wrath is passed, sees Eloah, as one who acknowledges him in love, while his surviving opponents fall before the tribunal of this very God. It is therefore not a share in the resurrection of the righteous (in Isa 26, which is uttered prophetically, but first of all nationally), and not a share in the general resurrection of the dead (first expressed in Dan 12:2), with which Job consoled himself; he does not speak of what shall happen at the end of the days, but of a purely personal matter after his death. Considering himself as one who must die, and thinking of himself as deceased, and indeed, according to appearance, overwhelmed by the punishment of his misdeeds, he would be compelled to despair of God, if he were not willing to regard even the incredible as unfailing, this, viz., that God will not permit this mark of wrath and of false accusation to attach to his blood and dust. That the conclusion of the drama should be shaped in accordance with this future hope, is, as we have already observed, not possible, because the poet (apart from his transferring himself to the position and consciousness of his patriarchal hero) was not yet in possession, as a dogma, of that hope which Job gives utterance to as an aspiration of his faith, and which even he himself only at first, like the psalmists (vid., on Psa 17:15; Psa 49:15, Psa 73:26), had as an aspiration of faith;The view of Böttcher, de inferis, p. 149, is false, that the poet by the conclusion of his book disapproves the hope expressed, as dementis somnium. it was, however, also entirely unnecessary, since it is indeed not the idea of the drama that there is a life after death, which adjusts the mystery of the present, but that there is a suffering of the righteous which bears the disguise of wrath, but nevertheless, as is finally manifest, is a dispensation of love.

If, however, it is a germinating hope, which in this speech of Job is urged forth by the strength of his faith, we can, without anachronistically confusing the different periods of the development of the knowledge of redemption, regard it as a full, but certainly only developing, preformation of the later belief in the resurrection. When Job says that with his own eyes he shall behold Eloah, it is indeed possible by these eyes to understand the eyes of the spirit;Job’s wish, Job 19:23, is accomplished, as e.g., Jam 5:1 shows, and his hope is realized, since he has beheld God the Redeemer enter Hades, and is by Him led up on high to behold God in heaven. We assume the historical reality of Job and the consistence of his history with the rest of Scripture, which we have treated in Bibl Psychol. ch. 6 §3, on the future life and redemption. Accordingly, one might, with the majority of modern expositors, limit Job’s hope to the beholding of God in the intermediate state; but, as is further said above, such particularizing is unauthorized. but it is just as possible to understand him to mean the eyes of his renewed body (which the old theologians describe as stola secunda, in distinction from the stola prima of the intermediate state); and when Job thinks of himself (Job 19:25) as a mouldering corpse, should he not by his eyes, which shall behold Eloah, mean those which have been dimmed in death, and are now again become capable of seeing? While, if we wish to expound grammatical-historically, not practically, not homiletically, we also dare not introduce the definiteness of the later dogma into the affirmation of Job. It is related to eschatology as the protevangelium is to soteriology; it presents only the first lines of the picture, which is worked up in detail later on, but also an outline, sketched in such a way that every later perception may be added to it. Hence Schlottmann is perfectly correct when he considers that it is justifiable to understand these grand and powerful words, in hymns, and compositions, and liturgies, and monumental inscriptions, of the God-man, and to use them in the sense which “the more richly developed conception of the last things might so easily put upon them.” It must not surprise us that this sublime hope is not again expressed further on. On the one hand, what Sanctius remarks is not untrue: ab hoc loco ad finem usque libri aliter se habet Iobus quam prius; on the other hand, Job here, indeed in the middle of the book, soars triumphantly over his opponents to the height of a believing consciousness of victory, but as yet he is not in that state of mind in which he can attain to the beholding of God on his behalf, be it in this world or in the world to come. He has still further to learn submission in relation to God, gentleness in relation to the friends. Hence, inexhaustibly rich in thought and variations of thought, the poet allows the controversy to become more and more involved, and the fire in which Job is to be proved, but also purified, to burn still longer. Ἐπ ̓ αὐτῶν τῶν λέξεων [τοῦ βιβλίου] γενόμενοι σαφηνίσωμεν τὴν ἔννοιαν, αὐτοῦ ποδηγούντος ἡμᾶς πρὸς τὴν ἑρμηνείαν, τοῦ καὶ τὸν ἅγιον Ἰὼβ πρὸς τοὺς ἀγῶνας ἐνισχύσαντος. - Olympiodoros.

The Reply of Job to Bildad. (b. c. 1520.)

1 Then Job answered and said, 2 How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words? 3 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me. 4 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself. 5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach: 6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net. 7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

Job's friends had passed a very severe censure upon him as a wicked man because he was so grievously afflicted; now here he tells them how ill he took it to be so censured. Bildad had twice begun with a How long (ch. viii. 2, xviii. 2), and therefore Job, being now to answer him particularly, begins with a How long too, v. 2. What is not liked is commonly thought long; but Job had more reason to think those long who assaulted him than they had to think him long who only vindicated himself. Better cause may be shown for defending ourselves, if we have right on our side, than for offending our brethren, though we have right on our side. Now observe here,

I. How he describes their unkindness to him and what account he gives of it. 1. They vexed his soul, and that is more grievous than the vexation of the bones, Ps. vi. 2, 3. They were his friends; they came to comfort him, pretended to counsel him for the best; but with a great deal of gravity, and affectation of wisdom and piety, they set themselves to rob him of the only comfort he had now left him in a good God, a good conscience, and a good name; and this vexed him to his heart. 2. They broke him in pieces with words, and those were surely hard and very cruel words that would break a man to pieces: they grieved him, and so broke him; and therefore there will be a reckoning hereafter for all the hard speeches spoken against Christ and his people, Jude 15. 3. They reproached him, (v. 3), gave him a bad character and laid to his charge things that he knew not. To an ingenuous mind reproach is a cutting thing. 4. They made themselves strange to him, were shy of him now that he was in his troubles, and seemed as if they did not know him (ch. ii. 12), were not free with him as they used to be when he was in his prosperity. Those are governed by the spirit of the world, and not by any principles of true honour or love, who make themselves strange to their friends, or God's friends, when they are in trouble. A friend loves at all times. 5. They not only estranged themselves from him, but magnified themselves against him (v. 5), not only looked shy of him, but looked big upon him, and insulted over him, magnifying themselves to depress him. It is a mean thing, it is a base thing, thus to trample upon those that are down. 6. They pleaded against him his reproach, that is, they made use of his affliction as an argument against him to prove him a wicked man. They should have pleaded for him his integrity, and helped him to take the comfort of that under his affliction, and so have pleaded that against his reproach (as St. Paul, 2 Cor. i. 12); but, instead of that, they pleaded his reproach against his integrity, which was not only unkind, but very unjust; for where shall we find an honest man if reproach may be admitted for a plea against him?

II. How he aggravates their unkindness. 1. They had thus abused him often (v. 3): These ten times you have reproached me, that is, very often, as Gen. xxxi. 7; Num. xiv. 22. Five times they had spoken, and every speech was a double reproach. He spoke as if he had kept a particular account of their reproaches, and could tell just how many they were. It is but a peevish and unfriendly thing to do so, and looks like a design of retaliation and revenge. We better befriend our own peace by forgetting injuries and unkindnesses than by remembering them and scoring them up. 2. They continued still to abuse him, and seemed resolved to persist in it: "How long will you do it?" v. 2, 5. "I see you will magnify yourselves against me, notwithstanding all I have said in my own justification." Those that speak too much seldom think they have said enough; and, when the mouth is opened in passion, the ear is shut to reason. 3. They were not ashamed of what they did, v. 3. They had reason to be ashamed of their hard-heartedness, so ill becoming men, of their uncharitableness, so ill becoming good men, and of their deceitfulness, so ill becoming friends: but were they ashamed? No, though they were told of it again and again, yet they could not blush.

III. How he answers their harsh censures, by showing them that what they condemned was capable of excuse, which they ought to have considered. 1. The errors of his judgment were excusable (v. 4): "Be it indeed that I have erred, that I am in the wrong through ignorance or mistake," which may well be supposed concerning men, concerning good men. Humanum est errare—Error cleaves to humanity; and we must be willing to suppose it concerning ourselves. It is folly to think ourselves infallible. "But be it so," said Job, "my error remaineth with myself," that is, "I speak according to the best of my judgment, with all sincerity, and not from a spirit of contradiction." Or, "If I be in an error, I keep it to myself, and do not impose it upon others as you do. I only prove myself and my own work by it. I meddle not with other people, either to teach them or to judge them." Men's errors are the more excusable if they keep them to themselves, and do not disturb others with them. Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself. Some give this sense of these words: "If I be in an error, it is I that must smart for it; and therefore you need not concern yourselves: nay, it is I that do smart, and smart severely, for it; and therefore you need not add to my misery by your reproaches." 2. The breakings out of his passion, though not justifiable, yet were excusable, considering the vastness of his grief and the extremity of his misery. "If you will go on to cavil at every complaining word I speak, will make the worst of it and improve it against me, yet take the cause of the complaint along with you, and weigh that, before you pass a judgment upon the complaint, and turn it to my reproach: Know then that God has overthrown me," v. 6. Three things he would have them consider:—(1.) That his trouble was very great. He was overthrown, and could not help himself, enclosed as in a net, and could not get out. (2.) That God was the author of it, and that, in it, he fought against him: "It was his hand that overthrew me; it is in his net that I am enclosed; and therefore you need not appear against me thus. I have enough to do to grapple with God's displeasure; let me not have yours also. Let God's controversy with me be ended before you begin yours." It is barbarous to persecute him whom God hath smitten and to talk to the grief of one whom he hath wounded, Ps. lxix. 26. (3.) That he could not obtain any hope of the redress of his grievances, v. 7. He complained of his pain, but got no ease—begged to know the cause of his affliction, but could not discover it—appealed to God's tribunal for the clearing of his innocency, but could not obtain a hearing, much less a judgment, upon his appeal: I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. God, for a time, may seem to turn away his ear from his people, to be angry at their prayers and overlook their appeals to him, and they must be excused if, in that case, they complain bitterly. Woe unto us if God be against us!

Job Complains of God's Displeasure; Job Complains of His Friends. (b. c. 1520.)

8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths. 9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. 10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree. 11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies. 12 His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle. 13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me. 14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. 15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight. 16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth. 17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body. 18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me. 19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me. 20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. 21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me. 22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

Bildad had very disingenuously perverted Job's complaints by making them the description of the miserable condition of a wicked man; and yet he repeats them here, to move their pity, and to work upon their good nature, if they had any left in them.

I. He complains of the tokens of God's displeasure which he was under, and which infused the wormwood and gall into the affliction and misery. How doleful are the accents of his complaints! "He hath kindled his wrath against me, which flames and terrifies me, which burns and pains me," v. 11. What is the fire of hell but the wrath of God? Seared consciences will feel it hereafter, but do not fear it now. Enlightened consciences fear it now, but shall not feel it hereafter. Job's present apprehension was that God counted him as one of his enemies; and yet, at the same time, God loved him, and gloried in him, as his faithful friend. It is a gross mistake, but a very common one, to think that whom God afflicts he treats as his enemies; whereas, on the contrary, as many as he loves he rebukes and chastens; it is the discipline of his sons. Which way soever Job looked he thought he saw the tokens of God's displeasure against him. 1. Did he look back upon his former prosperity? He saw God's hand putting an end to that (v. 9): "He has stripped me of my glory, my wealth, honour, power, and all the opportunity I had of doing good. My children were my glory, but I have lost them; and whatever was a crown to my head he has taken it from me, and has laid all my honour in the dust." See the vanity of worldly glory: it is what we may be soon stripped of; and, whatever strips us, we must see and own God's hand in it and comply with his design. 2. Did he look down upon his present troubles? He saw God giving them their commission, and their orders to attack him. They are his troops, that act by his direction, which encamp against me, v. 12. It did not so much trouble him that his miseries came upon him in troops as that they were God's troops, in whom it seemed as if God fought against him and intended his destruction. God's troops encamped around his tabernacle, as soldiers lay siege to a strong city, cutting off all provisions from being brought into it and battering it continually; thus was Job's tabernacle besieged. Time was when God's hosts encamped round him for safety: Hast thou not made a hedge about him? Now, on the contrary, they surrounded him, to his terror, and destroyed him on every side, v. 10. 3. Did he look forward for deliverance? He saw the hand of God cutting off all hopes of that (v. 8): "He hath fenced up my way, that I cannot pass. I have now no way left to help myself, either to extricate myself out of my troubles or to ease myself under them. Would I make any motion, take any steps towards deliverance? I find my way hedged up; I cannot do what I would; nay, if I would please myself with the prospect of a deliverance hereafter, I cannot do it; it is not only out of my reach, but out of my sight: God hath set darkness in my paths, and there is none to tell me how long," Ps. lxxiv. 9. He concludes (v. 10), "I am gone, quite lost and undone for this world; my hope hath he removed like a tree cut down, or plucked up by the roots, which will never grow again." Hope in this life is a perishing thing, but the hope of good men, when it is cut off from this world, is but removed like a tree, transplanted from this nursery to the garden of the Lord. We shall have no reason to complain if God thus remove our hopes from the sand to the rock, from things temporal to things eternal.

II. He complains of the unkindness of his relations and of all his old acquaintance. In this also he owns the hand of God (v. 13): He has put my brethren far from me, that is, "He has laid those afflictions upon me which frighten them from me, and make them stand aloof from my sores." As it was their sin God was not the author of it; it is Satan that alienates men's minds from their brethren in affliction. But, as it was Job's trouble, God ordered it for the completing of his trial. As we must eye the hand of God in all the injuries we receive from our enemies ("the Lord has bidden Shimei curse David"), so also in all the slights and unkindnesses we receive from our friends, which will help us to bear them the more patiently. Every creature is that to us (kind or unkind, comfortable or uncomfortable) which God makes it to be. Yet this does not excuse Job's relations and friends from the guilt of horrid ingratitude and injustice to him, which he had reason to complain of; few could have borne it so well as he did. He takes notice of the unkindness, 1. Of his kindred and acquaintance, his neighbours, and such as he had formerly been familiar with, who were bound by all the laws of friendship and civility to concern themselves for him, to visit him, to enquire after him, and to be ready to do him all the good offices that lay in their power; yet these were estranged from him, v. 13. They took no more care about him than if he had been a stranger whom they never knew. His kinsfolk, who claimed relation to him when he was in prosperity, now failed him; they came short of their former professions of friendship to him and his present expectations of kindness from them. Even his familiar friends, whom he was mindful of, had now forgotten him, had forgotten both his former friendliness to them and his present miseries: they had heard of his troubles, and designed him a visit; but truly they forgot it, so little affected were they with it. Nay, his inward friends, the men of his secret, whom he was most intimate with and laid in his bosom, not only forgot him, but abhorred him, kept as far off from him as they could, because he was poor and could not entertain them as he used to do, and because he was sore and a loathsome spectacle. Those whom he loved, and who therefore were worse than publicans if they did not love him now that he was in distress, not only turned from him, but were turned against him, and did all they could to make him odious, so to justify themselves in being so strange to him, v. 19. So uncertain is the friendship of men; but, if God be our friend, he will not fail us in a time of need. But let none that pretend either to humanity or Christianity ever use their friends as Job's friends used him: adversity is the proof of friendship. 2. Of his domestics and family relations. Sometimes indeed we find that, beyond our expectation, there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother; but the master of a family ordinarily expects to be attended on and taken care of by those of his family, even when, through weakness of body or mind, he has become despicable to others. But poor Job was misused by his own family, and some of his worst foes were those of his own house. He mentions not his children; they were all dead, and we may suppose that the unkindness of his surviving relations made him lament the death of his children so much the more: "If they had been alive," would he think, "I should have had comfort in them." As for those that were now about him, (1.) His own servants slighted him. His maids did not attend him in his illness, but counted him for a stranger and an alien, v. 15. His other servants never heeded him; if he called to them they would not come at his call, but pretended that they did not hear him. If he asked them a question, they would not vouchsafe to give him an answer, v. 16. Job had been a good master to them, and did not despise their cause when they pleaded with him (ch. xxxi. 13), and yet they were rude to him now, and despised his cause when he pleaded with them. We must not think it strange if we receive evil at the hand of those from whom we have deserved well. Though he was now sickly, yet he was not cross with his servants, and imperious, as is too common, but he entreated his servants with his mouth, when he had authority to command; and yet they would not be civil to him, neither kind nor just. Note, Those that are sick and in sorrow are apt to take things ill, and be jealous of a slight, and to lay to heart the least unkindness done to them: when Job was in affliction even his servants' neglect of him troubled him. (2.) But, one would think, when all forsook him, the wife of his bosom should have been tender of him: no, because he would not curse God and die, as she persuaded him, his breath was strange to her too; she did not care for coming near him, nor took any notice of what he said, v. 17. Though he spoke to her, not with the authority, but with the tenderness of a husband, did not command, but entreated her by that conjugal love which their children were the pledges of, yet she regarded him not. Some read it, "Though I lamented, or bemoaned myself, for the children," that is, "for the death of the children of my own body," an affliction in which she was equally concerned with him. Now, it appeared, the devil spared her to him, not only to be his tempter, but to be his tormentor. By what she said to him at first, Curse God and die, it appeared that she had little religion in her; and what can one expect that is kind and good from those that have not the fear of God before their eyes and are not governed by conscience? (3.) Even the little children who were born in his house, the children of his own servants, who were his servants by birth, despised him, and spoke against him (v. 18); though he arose in civility to speak friendly to them, or with authority to check them, they let him know that they neither feared him nor loved him.

III. He complains of the decay of his body; all the beauty and strength of that were gone. When those about him slighted him, if he had been in health, and at ease, he might have enjoyed himself. But he could take as little pleasure in himself as others took in him (v. 20): My bone cleaves now to my skin, as formerly it did to my flesh; it was this that filled him with wrinkles (ch. xvi. 8); he was a perfect skeleton, nothing but skin and bones. Nay, his skin too was almost gone, little remained unbroken but the skin of his teeth, his gums and perhaps his lips; all the rest was fetched off by his sore boils. See what little reason we have to indulge the body, which, after all our care, may be thus consumed by the diseases which it has in itself the seeds of.

IV. Upon all these accounts he recommends himself to the compassion of his friends, and justly blames their harshness with him. From this representation of his deplorable case, it was easy to infer, 1. That they ought to pity him, v. 21. This he begs in the most moving melting language that could be, enough (one would think) to break a heart of stone: "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O you my friends! if you will do nothing else for me, be sorry for me, and show some concern for me; have pity upon me, for the hand of God hath touched me. My case is sad indeed, for I have fallen into the hands of the living God, my spirit is touched with the sense of his wrath, a calamity of all other the most piteous." Note, It becomes friends to pity one another when they are in trouble, and not to shut up the bowels of compassion. 2. That, however, they ought not to persecute him; if they would not ease his affliction by their pity, yet they must not be so barbarous as to add to it by their censures and reproaches (v. 22): "Why do you persecute me as God? Surely his rebukes are enough for one man to bear; you need not add your wormwood and gall to the cup of affliction he puts into my hand, it is bitter enough without that: God has a sovereign power over me, and may do what he pleases with me; but do you think that you may do so too?" No, we must aim to be like the Most Holy and the Most Merciful, but not like the Most High and Most Mighty. God gives not account of any of his matters, but we must give account of ours. If they did delight in his calamity, let them be satisfied with his flesh, which was wasted and gone, but let them not, as if that were too little, wound his spirit, and ruin his good name. Great tenderness is due to those that are in affliction, especially to those that are troubled in mind.

Job's Confession of Faith; Happiness of the Redeemed. (b. c. 1520.)

23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! 24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! 25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: 26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: 27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me. 28 But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me? 29 Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.

In all the conferences between Job and his friends we do not find any more weighty and considerable lines than these; would one have expected it? Here is much both of Christ and heaven in these verses: and he that said such things as these declared plainly that he sought the better country, that is, the heavenly; as the patriarchs of that age did, Heb. xi. 14. We have here Job's creed, or confession of faith. His belief in God the Father Almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, and the principles of natural religion, he had often professed: but here we find him no stranger to revealed religion; though the revelation of the promised Seed, and the promised inheritance, was then discerned only like the dawning of the day, yet Job was taught of God to believe in a living Redeemer, and to look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come, for of these, doubtless, he must be understood to speak. These were the things he comforted himself with the expectation of, and not a deliverance from his trouble or a revival of his happiness in this world, as some would understand him; for besides that the expressions he here uses, of the Redeemer's standing at the latter day upon the earth, of his seeing God, and seeing him for himself, are wretchedly forced if they be understood of any temporal deliverance, it is very plain that he had no expectation at all of his return to a prosperous condition in this world. He had just now said that his way was fenced up, (v. 8) and his hope removed like a tree, v. 10. Nay, and after this he expressed his despair of any comfort in this life, ch. xxiii. 8, 9; xxx. 23. So that we must necessarily understand him of the redemption of his soul from the power of the grave, and his reception to glory, which is spoken of, Ps. xlix. 15. We have reason to think that Job was just now under an extraordinary impulse of the blessed Spirit, which raised him above himself, gave him light, and gave him utterance, even to his own surprise. And some observe that, after this, we do not find Job's discourses such passionate, peevish, unbecoming, complaints of God and his providence as we have before met with: this hope quieted his spirit, stilled the storm and, having here cast anchor within the veil, his mind was kept steady from this time forward. Let us observe,

I. To what intent Job makes this confession of his faith here. Never did any thing come in more pertinently, or to better purpose. 1. Job was now accused, and this was his appeal. His friends reproached him as a hypocrite and contemned him as a wicked man; but he appeals to his creed, to his faith, to his hope, and to his own conscience, which not only acquitted him from reigning sin, but comforted him with the expectation of a blessed resurrection. These are not the words of him that has a devil. He appeals to the coming of the Redeemer, from this wrangle at the bar to the judgment of the bench, even to him to whom all judgment is committed, who he knew would right him. The consideration of God's day coming will make it a very small thing with us to be judged of man's judgment, 1 Cor. iv. 3, 4. How easily may we bear the unjust calumnies and reproaches of men while we expect the glorious appearance of our Redeemer, and his redeemed, at the last day, and that there will then be a resurrection of names, as well as bodies! 2. Job was now afflicted, and this was his cordial; when he was pressed above measure this kept him from fainting—he believed that he should see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living; not in this world, for that is the land of the dying.

II. With what a solemn preface he introduces it, v. 23, 24. He breaks off his complaints abruptly, to triumph his comforts, which he does, not only for his own satisfaction, but for the edification of others. Those now about him, he feared, would little regard what he said, and so it proved, He therefore wished it might be recorded for the generations to come. O that my words were now written, the words I am now about to say! As if he had said, "I own I have spoken many unadvised words, which I could wish might be forgotten, for they will neither do me credit nor do others good. But I am now going to speak deliberately, and that which I desire may be published to all the world and preserved for the generations to come, in perpetuam rei memoriam—for an abiding memorial, and therefore that it may be written plainly and printed, or drawn out in large and legible characters, so that he that runs may read it; and that it may not be left in loose papers, but put into a book; or, if that should perish, that it may be engraven like an inscription upon a monument, with an iron pen in lead, or in the stone; let the engraver use all his art to make it a durable appeal to posterity." That which Job here somewhat passionately wished for God graciously granted him. His words are written; they are printed in God's book; so that, wherever that book is read, there shall this be told for a memorial concerning Job. He believed, therefore he spoke.

III. What his confession itself is; what are the words which he would have to be written; we here have them written, v. 25-27. Let us observe them.

1. He believes the glory of the Redeemer and his own interest in him (v. 25): I know that my Redeemer liveth, that he is in being and is my life, and that he shall stand at last, or stand the last, or at the latter day, upon (or above) the earth. He shall be raised up, or, He shall be, at the latter day, (that is, in the fulness of time: the gospel day is called the last time because that is the last dispensation) upon the earth: so it points at his incarnation; or, He shall be lifted up from the earth (so it points at his crucifixion), or raised up out of the earth (so it is applicable to his resurrection), or, as we commonly understand it, At the end of time he shall appear over the earth, for he shall come in the clouds, and every eye shall see him, so close shall he come to this earth. He shall stand upon the dust (so the word is), upon all his enemies, which shall be put a dust under his feet; and he shall tread upon them and triumph over them. Observe here, (1.) That there is a Redeemer provided for fallen man, and Jesus Christ is that Redeemer. The word is Goël which is used for the next of kin, to whom, by the law of Moses, the right of redeeming a mortgaged estate did belong, Lev. xxv. 25. Our heavenly inheritance was mortgaged by sin; we are ourselves utterly unable to redeem it; Christ is near of kin to us, the next kinsman that is able to redeem; he has paid our debt, satisfied God's justice for sin, and so has taken off the mortgage and made a new settlement of the inheritance. Our persons also want a Redeemer; we are sold for sin, and sold under sin; our Lord Jesus has wrought out a redemption for us, and proclaims redemption for us, and proclaims redemption to us, and so he is truly the Redeemer. (2.) He is a living Redeemer. As we are made by a living God, so we are saved by a living Redeemer, who is both almighty and eternal, and is therefore able to save to the uttermost. Of him it is witnessed that he liveth, Heb. vii. 8; Rev. i. 18. We are dying, but he liveth, and hath assured us that because he lives we shall live also, John xiv. 19. (3.) There are those that through grace have an interest in this Redeemer, and can, upon good grounds, call him theirs. When Job had lost all his wealth and all his friends, yet he was not separated from Christ, nor cut off from his relation to him: "Still he is my Redeemer." That next kinsman adhered to him when all his other kindred forsook him, and he had the comfort of it. (4.) Our interest in the Redeemer is a thing that may be known; and, where it is known, it may be triumphed in, as sufficient to balance all our griefs: I know (observe with what an air of assurance he speaks it, as one confident of this very thing), I know that my Redeemer lives. His friends have often charged him with ignorance or vain knowledge; but he knows enough, and knows to good purpose, who knows Christ to be his Redeemer. (5.) There will be a latter day, a last day, a day when time shall be no more, Rev. x. 6. That is a day we are concerned to think of every day. (6.) Our Redeemer will at that day stand upon the earth, or over the earth, to summon the dead out of their graves, and determine them to an unchangeable state; for to him all judgment is committed. He shall stand, at the last, on the dust to which this earth will be reduced by the conflagration.

2. He believes the happiness of the redeemed, and his own title to that happiness, that, at Christ's second coming, believers shall be raised up in glory and so made perfectly blessed in the vision and fruition of God; and this he believes with application to himself. (1.) He counts upon the corrupting of his body in the grave, and speaks of it with a holy carelessness and unconcernedness: Though, after my skin (which is already wasted and gone, none of it remaining but the skin of my teeth, v. 20) they destroy (those that are appointed to destroy it, the grave and the worms in it of which he had spoken, ch. xvii. 14) this body. The word body is added: "Though they destroy this, this skeleton, this shadow (ch. xvii. 7), this that I lay my hand upon," or (pointing perhaps to his weak and withered limbs) "this that you see, call it what you will; I expect that shortly it will be a feast for the worms." Christ's body saw not corruption, but ours must. And Job mentions this, that the glory of the resurrection he believed and hoped for might shine the more brightly. Note, It is good for us often to think, not only of the approaching death of our bodies, but of their destruction and dissolution in the grave; yet let not that discourage our hope of their resurrection, for the same power that made man's body at first, out of common dust, can raise it out of its own dust. This body which we now take such care about, and make such provision for, will in a little time be destroyed. Even my reins (says Job) shall be consumed within me (v. 27); the innermost part of the body, which perhaps putrefies first. (2.) He comforts himself with the hopes of happiness on the other side death and the grave: After I shall awake (so the margin reads it), though this body be destroyed, yet out of my flesh shall I see God. [1.] Soul and body shall come together again. That body which must be destroyed in the grave shall be raised again, a glorious body: Yet in my flesh I shall see God. The separate soul has eyes wherewith to see God, eyes of the mind; but Job speaks of seeing him with eyes of flesh, in my flesh, with my eyes; the same body that died shall rise again, a true body, but a glorified body, fit for the employments and entertainments of that world, and therefore a spiritual body, 1 Cor. xv. 44. Let us therefore glorify God with our bodies because there is such a glory designed for them. [2.] Job and God shall come together again: In my flesh shall I see God, that is, the glorified Redeemer, who is God. I shall see God in my flesh (so some read it), the Son of God clothed with a body which will be visible even to eyes of flesh. Though the body, in the grave, seem despicable and miserable, yet it shall be dignified and made happy in the vision of God. Job now complained that he could not get a sight of God (ch. xxiii. 8, 9), but hoped to see him shortly, never more to lose the sight of him, and that sight of him will be the more welcome after the present darkness and distance. Note, It is the blessedness of the blessed that they shall see God, shall see him as he is, see him face to face, and no longer through a glass darkly. See with what pleasure holy Job enlarges upon this (v. 27): "Whom I shall see for myself," that is, "see and enjoy, see to my own unspeakable comfort and satisfaction. I shall see him as mine, as mine with an appropriating sight," Rev. xxi. 3. God himself shall be with them and be their God; they shall be like him, for they shall see him as he is, that is seeing for themselves, 1 John iii. 2. My eyes shall behold him, and not another. First, "He, and not another for him, shall be seen, not a type or figure of him, but he himself." Glorified saints are perfectly sure that they are not imposed upon; it is no deceptio visus—illusion of the senses. Secondly, "I, and not another for me, shall see him. Though my flesh and body be consumed, yet I shall not need a proxy; I shall see him with my own eyes." This was what Job hoped for, and what he earnestly desired, which, some think, is the meaning of the last clause: My reins are spent in my bosom, that is, "all my desires are summed up and concluded in this; this will crown and complete them all; let me have this, and I shall have nothing more to desire; it is enough; it is all." With this the prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

IV. The application of this to his friends. His creed spoke comfort to himself, but warning and terror to those that set themselves against him.

1. It was a word of caution to them not to proceed and persist in their unkind usage of him, v. 28. He had reproved them for what they had said, and now tells them what they should say for the reducing of themselves and one another to a better temper. "Why persecute we him thus? Why do we grieve him and vex him, by censuring and condemning him, seeing the root of the matter, or the root of the word, is found in him?" Let this direct us, (1.) In our care concerning ourselves. We are all concerned to see to it that the root of the matter be found in us. A living, quickening, commanding, principle of grace in the heart, is the root of the matter, as necessary to our religion as the root to the tree, to which it owes both its fixedness and its fruitfulness. Love to God and our brethren, faith in Christ, hatred of sin—these are the root of the matter; other things are but leaves in comparison with these. Serious godliness is the one thing needful. (2.) In our conduct towards our brethren. We are to believe that many have the root of the matter in them who are not in every thing of our mind—who have their follies, and weaknesses, and mistakes—and to conclude that it is at our peril if we persecute any such. Woe be to him that offends one of those little ones! God will resent and revenge it. Job and his friends differed in some notions concerning the methods of Providence, but they agreed in the root of the matter, the belief of another world, and therefore should not persecute one another for these differences.

2. It was a word of terror to them. Christ's second coming will be very dreadful to those that are found smiting their fellow servants (Matt. xxiv. 49), and therefore (v. 29), "Be you afraid of the sword, the flaming sword of God's justice, which turns every way; fear, lest you make yourselves obnoxious to it." Good men need to be frightened from sin by the terrors of the Almighty, particularly from the sin of rashly judging their brethren, Matt. vii. 1; Jam. iii. 1. Those that are peevish and passionate with their brethren, censorious of them and malicious towards them, should know, not only that their wrath, whatever it pretends, works not the righteousness of God, but that, (1.) They may expect to smart for it in this world: It brings the punishments of the sword. Wrath leads to such crimes as expose men to the sword of the magistrate. God himself often takes vengeance for it, and those that showed no mercy shall find no mercy. (2.) If they repent not, that will be an earnest of worse. By these you may know there is a judgment, not only a present government, but a future judgment, in which hard speeches must be accounted for.

CHAP. XIX. Verſe 1. Then Job anſwered and ſaid.]

HE replyed as followeth, to Bildads bitter, and tanting invective. His miſeries he here ſetteth forth graphically and tragically, grating to Bildad that he was dealt with no otherwiſe then if he were that wicked man deſcribed in the foregoing chapter: and yet denying himſelf to be any ſuch one, by his lively hope of a joyful Reſurrection, ſuch as would make a plentiful amends for all, ver. 26, 27, 28. For though Mercer make queſtion of it, yet I am out of doubt, ſaith Beza, that this is the true meaning of this place. And ſurely the whole Scripture doth not yeild us a more notable, or a more clear and manifeſt teſtimony, to confirm unto us the Reſurrection of our bodies, then this. This confeſſion of his faith, ſaith Lavater, is the chief thing in this Chapter, and therefore challengeth our beſt attention.

Verſe 2. How long will ye vex my ſoul?] viz. with your furious and reproachful charges & criminations? Have I not miſery enough already, but you muſt lay more load of ſcorn and contempt upon me; and ſo go on to trouble me, by adding to my ſaddeſt ſorrowes,Hoccine eſt moeſtum conſolari? ſuch as pierce to the very ſoul? Call you this comforting an afflicted friend?

How long will ye break me in pieces with words?] Words alſo have their weight, and if hard and harſh, Leniter volant, non leniter violant. Like maules they break the heart in pieces, like a rack they torment it, Pſal. 42.10. As with a Murdering weapon in my bones, mine enemies reproached me. You ſhall find ſome (ſaith Eraſmus) that of death be threatned can deſpiſe it; but to be belyed, reproached, ſlandered, they cannot brook, nor from revenge contain themſelves. Job was a ſtrong man both in faith and patience, yet put hard to it by the hard words given him by Bildad and the reſt, who did rather hurt his eare by the loudneſſe of their voices, then helped his heart, by the force of their reproofs. Gods ſervants muſt not ſtrive, but be gentle, 2 Tim. 2.23, 24. ſhewing all meekneſſe to all men, Tit. 3.2 Jam. 3.17. Gentle ſhowres comfort the earth, when daſhing ſtorms drown the ſeed. There is a two fold inconvenience followeth upon bitter and boiſterous proceedings with a ſuppoſed offendour. Firſt, the party looketh not ſo much to his own failing as to their paſſion, Secondly, As he is unconvinced, ſo they are not eſteemed: but though they have the right on their ſide, yet they loſe the due regard of their cauſe, and reverence of their perſons.

Verſe 3. Theſe ten times have ye reproached me] i.e. oftentimes. Herein Job endured a great fight of affliction, as the Apoſtle ſtileth it, Heb. 10.32, 33. a manifold fight, (as the word there ſignifieth.) Cate was two and thirty times accuſed publickly, and as oft cleared and abſolved. Baſil was counted and called an Heretick, even by thoſe who, as it appeared afterwards, were of the ſame judgement with him, and whom he honoured as brethren. Dogs in a chaſe bark ſometimes at their beſt friends, &c.

You are not aſhamed that you make your ſelves ſtrange to me.] Or, Are you not aſhamed that ye harden your ſelves againſt me? Or, That ye [illegible: 1 letter]ter and jeſt at my miſery? Significat etiam emere, vel componari. Or, That ye make Merchandiſe of me, and take your peny worths out of me? Beze(agreeable to our Tranſlation) paraphraſeth it thus, Ye take me up ſo ſhort, as if ye dealt with a ſtranger and forrainer, and not with a friend. And ſo the word is taken, Gen. 42.7.

Verſe. 4. And be it indeed that I have erred] Of humane frailty; for that there is any way of wickedneſſe in me (as you would have it) I ſhall never yeeld. But nimis anguſtares eſt, nuſpiam errare. Involuntary failings I am not free from: who knoweth the errors of his life? Pſal. 19.12. What man is he that liveth and ſinneth not? It is the ſad priviledge of mortality,Euphorm. ſaith one, Licere aliquando peccare, to have licenſe ſometimes to ſin.

Mine error remaineth with my ſelf.] q d. 'Tis little that you have done toward the convincing me of any error in all this time, and talk, which until ye have done, I muſt ſtil remain of the ſame mind. Or thus, You ſhall neither anſwer nor ſuffer for mine errour: what need then all this hear and harſhneſſe? Not that every man muſt be left to himſelf, and let alone to live as he lifteth. Admonition is a Chriſtian duty, and the word of exhortation, muſt be ſuffered, ſharp though it be, and to the fleſh irkſome: better it is that the Vine ſhould bleed then dye. Had Job been guilty, he would or ſhould have been as Veſpaſian is reported, Pati[illegible: 1 letter]utiſſimus veri, patient of a reproof. But his friends falſly accuſed him for an hypocrite, and fell foule upon another mans ſervant, whom they had nothing to do to condemn, Rom. 14. And hence this expreſſion of his diſcontent.

Verſe 5. If indeed yen wil wagnifie your ſelves againſt me] Or, will you indeed magnifie your ſelves againſt me? ſcil. becauſe of mine error, as verſ 4. which yet ye have not convinced me of? Will ye inſult over me therefore, and throw dirt upon me? Of Bonaſſus, a certain beaſt as big as an On, Ariſtotle reporteth,Hiſt. Animal. lib. 9 cap. 45. that having hornes bending inward and unfit for fight, after that he is wounded by the hunters, he flyeth for his life, and often letteth flye his dung for four yards or more, upon the dogs or men that purſue him, to their great annoyance. In like fort deal many diſputers of this world; when they cannot make good their matter by ſtrength of Argument, they caſt upon their adverſaries the dung of calumnies, ſo ſeeking to magnifie themſelves againſt him, and pleading againſt him his reproach.

And plead againſt me my reproach] Affliction expoſeth a man to reproach. Where the hedge is low, the beaſt will be breaking over. See Zeph. 3.12. with the Note there.

Verſe 6. Know, that God hath overthrown me.] Do not you therefore add affliction to the afflicted, which is ſo odious a thing to God, Pſal. 41.2.Diodaze. and 69.26. but regard the greatneſſe of mine evils, which draw theſe complaints from me that ſeem ſo immoderate to you. See Job 6.2.

And hath compaſſed me with his net.] Hath encompaſſed me round with affliction, that I can get out no way. An hunting term, Job 10.16. La[illegible: 2 letters] 1.23, Ezek. 12.13. Hoſ. 7.12. Bildad had made much mention of nets and grins, chap. 18.8, 9. where in God enſnareth and enſnarleth the wicked. Job granteth, that Gods not had encompaſſed him; but withal denyeth himſelf to be wicked, or that his friends ſhould therefore reproach him, but rather pity him.

Verſe 7. Behold I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard] Nothing is more natural and uſual then for men in miſery to cry out for help. Jobs great grief was, that neither God nor man would regard his moanes or deliver him out of the Net. God did not reſcue him, men did not right him or relieve him. His outcry ſeemeth to be the ſame in effect with that of Habakkuk the Prophet, chap. 1.2, 3. O Lord, how long ſhal I cry and then wilt not hear? even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not ſave? Why doſt thou ſhew not iniquity, and cauſe we to behold grievance? for ſpoiling and violence are before me, and there are that raiſe up ſtrife and contention. Wherefore lookeſt thou upon them that deal treacherouſly, &c. verſe 13. Thus Job, but with out an anſwer: as the Lion letteth his Whelps four themſelves hourſe for hunger, yea, till they are almoſt dead, ere he ſupplieth them. Sure it is, that God alwayes heareth his Jobs, though he doth not alwayes anſwer in our time, and in our way. Yea it is an hearing and an anſwer of prayer (ſaith one) that we can pray, though unheard and unanſwered.

I cry aloud] Heb. I ſet up my Note; cum gemitu & ululatu, with groaning and howling Men never pray ſo earneſtly, as in greateſt afflictions, Heb. 5.7. Hoſ. 12.4 then their prayers, like ſtrong ſtreams in narrow ſtreights, bear down all that ſtands before them.

Verſe 8. He hath fenced up my way, &c.] Here Job carried away, as it were, with a torrent of grief, amp[illegible: 1 letter]ſieth his miſeries by many other compariſons. And firſt of a Traveller, whom nothing ſo much troubleth in his journey as hedges and darkneſs. God, ſaith Job. hath every way hedged me out of content and comfort, ſo that though I ſeek it never ſo, I cannot find it. Gods people are oft brought into greateſt ſtraits, as David, Pſal. 31. and 142. Iſrael at the red ſea, Jehoſhaphat, 2 Chron. 20. that they may learne to depend upon the divine providence, &c.

And he hath ſet darkneſſe in my paths] I am benighted, and know nor wither to go, or how to get out. Darkneſſe is full of errour and terror. A child of light may walk in darkneſſe, Iſai. 50.10. Yea, in the valley of the ſhadow of death, Pſal. 23.4. yet is he never without ſome ſpark of faith, which guideth him in the deepeſt darkneſſe, until he behold the Sun of righteouſneſſe, Light is ſowne for the righteous, &c. heavineſſe may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning, Pſal. 30. ver. 6 And as before the day breaks, the darkneſſe is greateſt: ſo here.

Verſe 9.Gen. 37.23 He hath ſtript me of my glory] This is the ſecond compariſon, ab externo corporis cultu & habitu, ſaith Merlin. From the outward habiliments and habits of the body. Our King Richard the 2d, when he was to be depoſed, was brought forth gorgeouſly attired in his Robes royal, with a crown upon his head, a Scepter in his hand, &c but ſoon after deſpoiled of all, and unkinged, So it fared with poor Job, ſtripped and bereft of all that he formerly gloried in, and was reſpected for, as a man robbed hath all his cloathes taken off, and is leſt naked. In him it appeated that mortality was but the ſtage of mutability, as one ſaith of our H[illegible: 2 letters]y 6. who of a moſt potent Monarch,Daniels Hiſt. was, when depoſed, not the Maſter of a Molehil, nor owner of his own liberty.

And hath taken the Crown from off my head] Hence ſome infer, that Job was a King, the ſame with Jobab, King of Edom, mentioned Gen, 36.34. But this is uncertaine, ſith Crown is often in Scripture taken allegorically, for Riches, Authority, Dignity, and other Ornaments. Theſe were taken from Job, yea, from off his head, See Lam. 5.16. But he had a better Crown, quae nec eripi, nec ſurripi potuit, which could not be taken away; viz. that crown of twelve Stars, or celeſtial graces, Rev. 12.1. together with that Crown of glory (the fruit of the former) that is incorruptible and fadeth not away, 1 Pet, 1.4. Happy Job in ſuch a Crown; and that he was in the number of thoſe few heads deſtined to ſuch a Diadem. David had (whatever Job had) a Crown of pure gold ſet upon his head, Pſal. 21. this was a great mercy to ſo mean a man, ſith beyond a Crown the wiſhes of mortal men extend not. But David bleſſeth God for a better Crown, Pſal. 103.4. Who crowneth thee with loving kindneſſe and tender mercies. And how was this ſet on his head? Who for giveth all thy iniquities, &c. verſe 3. Neither can any take away this Crown, becauſe We are kept (Gr. [non-Latin text not transcribed] guarded or garriſon'd as in a Tower of braſſe, or Town of War, that is well fenced with walls and works and ſo its made impregnable) by the power of God through faith unto ſalvation, 1 Pet. 1.4.

Verſe 10 He hath deſtroyed me on every ſide] Heb. He hath demoliſhed, me, he hath pulled me down piece-meal, as an old houſe is taken down part by part. See Levit. 14.45. Judg. 8.17. God had made and faſhioned Jobs body together round about, chap. 10.8. and now he deſtroyeth it round about. The body of a man is a wonderful fabrick, wherein the bones are the timber-work, the head the upper-lodging, the eyes as windowes, the eye-lids as caſements, the browes as pent-houſes, the ears as watch-towers, the mouth as a door to take in that which ſhall uphold the building, and keep it in reparation; the ſtomack as a Kitchin to dreſſe that which is conveyed into it, the guts and baſer parts as ſinks belonging to the houſe, &c. All theſe were decaying apace in Job. to his thinking.

And I am gone] That is, I am as good as gone already; every day I yeild ſomewhat unto death, I am free among the dead, free of that Company.

And my hope hath he removed like a tree] He hath not left me ſo much as hope (which is the laſt comfort of the afflicted) of ever recovering here my health, wealth, and former enjoyments: but hath leſt me as a tree, that is plucked up by the roots, and ſo can never grow again, A Saint may be at that paſſe here in regard of his outward eſtate, that there may be to him neither hope of better, nor place of worſe, This was Cranmers Caſe.Melch. Adam.

Verſe 11. He hath alſo kindled his wrath againſt me.] Now if his wrath be kindled, yea but a little, woe be to all thoſe againſt whom it is bent. He will ſurely help miſchiefs upon them, he will ſpend his arrowes upon them, Deut. 32.22, 23. with Pſal. 2.12. Job felt them ſtriking in the ſides of his ſoul, even the invenomed arrowes of the Almighty; and yet this was only a Refiners fire, Mal. 3.2. or, if a conſuming fire, as Heb. 12.29. yet it was to waſte his corruptions only, to ſever the ſin which he hated from the Son whom he loved; to try and exerciſe his patience, &c. all which notwithſtanding, he complaineth heavily of theſe ſpunks and ſparks of divine diſpleaſure.

And counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.] Heb. As his enemies: not as a ſingle enemy, but a rabble of rebels, an Army of enemies, ſuch as ſhal one day meet at Armageddon, their Rendevouz. See chap. 13.24.

Verſe 12. His troops come together] i. e. Troops of tribulations and temptations, of Pirates and Robbers, (as the Seventy have it) ſickneſſe and other ſorrowes are Gods Souldiers, Matt. 8.8, 9. and they ſeldome come ſingle, James 1.2. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Sept. but trooping and treading on the heels of one another, Concatenat a piorum crux, a company comes.

And raiſe up their way againſt me.] As Souldiers beſieging a place caſt up their Trenches and Fortifications. Vatablus rendreth it, And have beaten their way upon me; that is, ſaith he, tribulations have ſo often paſſed over me, that they have made a path way upon me, more trauſenntium, as paſſengers uſe to do.

And encamp round about my tabernacle,] Afflictions hem me in on every ſide, the troops of troubles beſiege me ſo ſtraitly, that I can no way in all the world find relief or comfort; which now as by a ſtrong hand, yea, as by a ſtrong hoſte, are with-holen from my ſoul, and ſo are like to be for a long ſeaſon, as Sieges are many times. Heman was afflicted and ready to dye from their youth up, ſuffering thoſe terrors, Pſal. 88.15. Job was a man of ſorrowes.

Verſe 13. He hath put my brethren far from me] In their affections at leaſt: ſome ſtuck to him but for a miſchief, for they proved miſerable Comforters: as did likewiſe Peter to our Saviour, who fled not with the reſt of the Diſciples, but better he had, for any good he did him, A brother is born for adverſity, ſaith Solomon Proverb. 17.17 and although at other times there may be ſome unkindneſſe, fratum concordia rara eſt, yet in affliction and extremity good nature will work, and good blood will not belye it ſelf: But Jobs brethren proved unkind, and grew out of kind, they got fartheſt from him, when his enemies had beſieged him. And all this befel him, not without the Lord: He hath put my brethren far from us; this was no ſmall aggravation of the affliction, that God with-drew or with-held that aſſiſtance and influence that ſhould have inlarged and united the hearts of his brethren unto him. See Pſal. 105.25.

And mine acquaintance are verily eſtranged from me] Thoſe that formerly knew me throughly, and were as well knowne of me, mine intimate friends,Noti mei. Vulg. Neceſſarii met. Tigur. Quaſi eſſet ſcriptum aczaru. who knew all my heart, are now truly as ſtrange to me, as if there had never been any ſuch matter of Acquaintance. R. Solomon readeth it, They are cruel to me. All the brethren of the poor man hate him (ſaith Solomon, Prov. 19.7) how much mere do his friends go far from him? He purſueth them with words: yet they are wanting to him. This the Heathen, (as Ovid and others) heavily complain of. In the River Araris there is reported to be a fiſh called Scolopidus, which at the waxing of the Moon is as white as the driven ſnow, and at the wayning thereof, is as black as a burnt coal. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Thuc. Et cum fortuna ſtat que caditqus fides. Ovid. Tempora ſi fuerint nubula, ſolus cris. Ibid. A fit embleme of a falſe friend. Wealth maketh many friends, but the poor is ſepareted from his neighour, Prov. 19.4. who therefore turneth from him as a ſtranger, if not againſt him as an enemy.

Verſe 14 My kinsfolk have failed] ſcil. in courteſie, as Ruths Kinſman did, Job had many kinsfolk, but few friends, and this was a great grief to him, as it was afterwards alſo to David, Pſal. 31.11. and 38.11. and 69.8. to Heman, Pſal. 88.8. and to Paul. 2 Tim. 4.14.

And my familiar friends] They whom I favoured, ſaith Broughton, according to Pſal. 11.6.

Have forgotten me] Out of ſight, out of mind. A thing forgotten is as if it had never been. All Jobs courteſies were caſt away upon theſe Summon birds, who had well nigh forgotten that there was ever ſuch a man in the world as Job.

Ver. 15 They that dwel in mine houſe, and my maids, &c.] My Tenants, or my Gueſts, or my Sojourners, thoſe widowes and Orphans haply, whom he kept at his own charge chap. 31. More then this, my Maidens, theſe houſe keepere, entruſhed with the keyes of the family, and that are no drudges to waſh the feet of other ſervants, as 1. Sam. 25.41. And for his ſervants of the other ſex, he was as courſely uſed by them too.

Verſe 16. I called my ſervant, and he gave me no anſwer.] Though I lay noder greateſt ſores and ſorrowes, and called them to help me, yet ſuch was their impudency and inhumanity, that they would not vouchſafe an anſwer, Conſidera hic quanta crux ſit, ſaith Brentius, à ſua propria familia a[illegible: 1 letter]ſpici & rideri; Conſider with me here, what an affliction it is, for a man to be deſpiſed and derided by his own family. A ſervants eye ſhould look to the hands of his Maſter, and the eye of a maiden to the hand of her Miſtreſs, to obſerve the motion thereof, and to pick out the meaning, Pſal. 12.2. Accounting their Governors worthy of all honour, 1 Tim. 6.1. as the Centurions obſequious ſervants did, Matth. 8.9. Sed ſic ferè ſunt ſerver rum ingenia, ſaith Merlin here: But ſuch is the condition of many ſervants now a dayes, that they will do no more then needs muſt, Jobs would neither ſay nor do.

I entreated him with any mouth.] As a ſuppliant to my ſervant, who lived upon me, but would do nothing for me, though I humbly beſought him. Here we may ſoe, ſaith Vatablus that when God is angry with a man, all goeth croſſe with him: It is good for us in this caſe, to reflect and ſee whether we have not ſerved God in this ſort. Alphonſus that renowned King, in a ſpeech to the Popes Ambaſſador, profeſſed that he did not ſo much wonder at his ſervants unthankfulneſs and undutifulneſs to him, as at his own to God.

Verſe 17. My breath is ſtrange to my wife] The corruption of his inwands (beſides the [illegible: 2 letters]fommeſſe of his out ward Ulcers) made his breath ſtrong and unwholſom. This his wife (as did that Roman Lady, who ſaid ſhe thought all mens breath as unſavoury as her husbands was) ſhould have born with in a time of ſickneſſe eſpecially; when ſhe ſhould have ſhew[illegible: 2 letters] her ſelf an help, and not an heart-break to her huſ [illegible: 1 letter]and Famous in our Chronicles is the Lady Eloner, wife to Prince Edward (afterwards Edward the Firſt) who extracted the poiſon out of her husbands wounds with her tongue,Cambd. in Middleſex, Speed 630. [illegible: 2 letters]cking daily (whilſt he ſlept) his ra[illegible: 2 letters]kling wounds, wheneby they perfectly cloſed. And no leſſe famous is the wife of Valdaumus, celebrated by Ludon. Vi [illegible: 1 letter]es Lib. 2 de Chriſtiana femina, p. 360. A young and beautiful Maid (ſaith he) was marched to a man ſtricken in yeers, whom after ſhe found to have a very fulſome breath, and a diſeaſed body, yet (out of conſcience, being by Gods providence become his wife) ſhe moſt worthily digeſted, with incredible patience and contentment, the languiſhing and loathſomneſſe of an husband, continually viſited with variety of moſt i[illegible: 2 letters]ſome and infectious diſeaſes: and though friends and Phyſicians adviſed her by no means to come near his, for fear of danger and infection, yet ſhe paſſing by with a loving diſdain and contempt theſe unkind diſſwaſions, plyed him night and day with extraordinary tenderneſſe and care, and ſervices of all ſorts above her ſtrength and ability: ſhe was to him friends, Phyſician, Wife, Nurſe; yea ſhe was Father, Mother, Brother, Siſter, Daughter, every thing, and thing, to do him good any manner of way, &c.

Though I entreated for the Childrens ſake, &c.] i.e. By the holy right of wedlock, and the fruit thereof, thoſe dear pledges of our matrimonial good affection: Children, as they are dear to their Parents,Jun. (Charos, Plautus ſomewhere calleth them) ſo they are an endearing to their parents, whoſe ſeed they are called, as if there were nothing left to the parents but the h[illegible: 2 letters]ks. This therefore was a melting argument, but it [illegible: 1 word] not Job's wife. Men may ſpeak perſwaſively, but God onely perſwadeth.

Verſe 18. Yea, young children deſpiſed me.] Fooles, ſaith the vulgar, who are never more pleaſant than when they play the Buffoons at my expence. Ʋngodly men ſome render it, [illegible: 1 word] 16.11. Others, the baſer ſort of people. And ſurely none ſo baſe as they that deride vertue, eſpecially becauſe forſaken of fortune, as one phraſeth it. What a l[illegible: 1 letter]tter je[illegible: 1 letter]r was that of To bi[illegible: 2 letters] the ſervant, (or, ſtave) the Ammonite, Neh. 4.3? The baſeſt can mock, as the Abjects did David, Pſal. 45.15. and the Alestake[illegible: 1 letter] alſo, Pſal. 69.13. But it is an happi[illegible: 3 letters] to do well, and yet hear ill. All Gods people muſt [illegible: 2 letters]ready to paſs through good repo[illegible: 2 letters], and evil report, 2 Cor. 6.2. And every Job muſt [illegible: 2 letters]ck[illegible: 2 letters], that as the reproacher in [illegible: 1 span], not ſo much as a man (ſaith chryſoſtome;] So the reproached that bears it well, is Angelis par, equal to the Angels.

I aroſe, and they ſpake againſt me.] I aroſe, ſc. to rebuke them, or to pacifie them, or to paſs away from them, and my back is no Tooner turned, but they reviled me. Some render it, Sto coram illis, I ſtand before them; that is, they ſtay not till I am gone paſt, but reproached me to my face, ſuch is their boldneſs and baſeneſs: ſee Eſa. 3.5.

Verſe 19. All my in ward friends abhorred me.] Heb. All the Mortals of my Counſel. q.d. My moſt intimate acquaintance and aſſociates, my higheſt confidents to whom I was wont to open my boſome, and with whom I maintained cloſeſt correſpondency: Loe, theſe now abhorre me, and keep a loof off from me; yea, they appoſtatize from their profeſſed friendſhip; and renouncing the lawes of love, they deal deſpightfully with me, and are turned againſt me. Such an one was Abitophel to David, Pſal. 55.14, 15. Judas to Chriſt, Matth. 26, 23, and Bildad to Job (as ſome conceive that he conceited by the latter clauſe of this verſe) And they whom I loved &c.] Heb. and this man whom I loved, this bitter Bildad, that in his laſt ſpeech hath ſo greivouſly galled me, who have hitherto ſo highly prized him. What? thou my ſon Bildad? This went to the very heart of him, [non-Latin text not transcribed] as afterwards it did of David, when for his love they were his adverſaries, when they rewarded him evil for good, and hatred for his good will, Pſal. 109.4, 5. Precious therefore and worthy of all acceptation is that advice of the Prophet Micah, chap. 7.5.6, 7. Truſt not in a friend put not confidence in a guide keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lyeth in thy boſome. For the ſon diſhonoureth the father, — A mans enemies are the men of his own houſe. Look therefore unto the Lord, [non-Latin text not transcribed] &c. all that truſt in him, ſhal triumph: but for others, we may be compeld to complain with Q. Elizabeth, In Truſt, I have found Treaſon, &c.

Verſe 20. My bone cleaveth to my skin.] My skin is a bag of bones. I am become a meer Skeleton. and may well cry out, O my leanneſs, my leanneſs! Iſaiah 24.16 So bare I am grown, that little appeareth in me but skin and bones. My bones cleaveth to my skin at to my fleſh. (ſo it may be read) that is, as once it did in my fleſh,Oſſa ſub incurim apparent areda lumbis. when I was well lined within. Now, alas, I lie under a miſerable Maraſmus; and ſhould therefore be pitied, as being a juſt object of your commiſeration.

And I am eſcaped with the skin of my teeth.] Eſcaped I am, and come off (as out of an hot skirmiſh) with my life, and very little elſe. All I have leſt me whole is the skin of my teeth; that is, of my gums, into which my teeth are engraffed: the reſt of my body is all over of a ſcab. The vulgar rendreth it, My lips only about my teeth are leſt me untoucht. And Junius gives this gloſs, Job had nothing leſt him but the inſtrument of ſpeech. Theſe, ſay ſome, the Devil purpoſely meddled not with, as hoping that therewith he would curſe God. Cruſe him he might with his heart onely; but this would have pleaſed the Devil nothing ſo well as to hear him do it with his tongue. this is the conceit of ſome of the Jew-Doctors.Hoc feciſſe Satanam volunt, ut voluntatem captret. Merc. But it is better to aſcribe this eſcape to the good providence of God, than to the mailce of the Devil.

Verſe 21. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, &c.] To him that is afflicted pity ſhould he ſhewed from his friend: and to do otherwiſe, is to forſake the fear of the Almighty chap. 6.14. See the Note there. There was little, either fear of God, or mercy to men, in that barbarous Biſhop of Spire, who denied to Hen. 4. Emperour of Germany, (depoſed after ten years reign, and hardly beſtead) a poor Clerkſhip there in a Monaſtery of his own foundation; which cauſed the miſerable Emperour to break out into theſe words of Job, Have pity upon me, have pity upon me ô my friend: for the hand of God hath touched me. The Papiſts tell us, That the ſouls in Purgatory cry out to their friends on earth for help on this manner, and in theſe terms. But this is as very a Fiction, as purgatory it ſelf is the Popes invention: who muſt needs be extreme pitileſſe, to ſuffer ſo many ſouls to lye m ſo great torments, when as hee hath power to fetch them out at his pleaſure,

Verſe 23, Why do ye perſecute [illegible: 1 letter]e as God?] Is this that pitying of me, thus to preſſe me with reproaches, and therein to think you gratifie God, and do him good ſervice? Know ye not, that to perſecute him, whom he hath ſmitten, is greateſt cruelty? and to talk to the grief of thoſe whom he hath wounded, is to heap up guilt. and thereby wrath, Pſal, 69.26, 27. When a Dear is ſhot, the reſt of the Herd puſh him out of the company. When a tree falleth, every paſſenger is ready to be pulling at it. But Gods people ſhould love as Brethren, be pitiful be courteous, [non-Latin text not transcribed] 1 Pet 3.8. and of ſome have compaſſion, making a difference, and others ſave with fear, pulling them out of the fire. Jude 22, 23. Thus it ſhould be: but as of old, in Egypt, one Hebrew ſmote another; blowes enough were not dea[illegible: 1 letter] by the common adverſary, but their own muſt adde to the violence: Still Satan is thus buſie, and Chriſtians are thus malicious; that, as if they wanted Perſecutours, they perſecute one another; and if (as here) they can but do as God, that is, for God, as they miſperſwade themſelves (to vindicate his Juſtice, and to promote his glory) then they rage and are confident. as theſe friends of Job; in whom nevertheleſſe it was rather error amoris, then amor erroris, an errour of love, then any love of error.

And art not ſatisfied with my fleſh] Which is pined a way with paine and grief: This contents you not,Eſt detractoris periphraſis. Mercer. Non minue enim calumniatores homines devorant quam Scytha. Brent. in loc. but you muſt break my bones alſo, and ſuck my blood by your contumelies and calumnies. Br[illegible: 1 letter]ntius and others apply this Tert to ſlanderers, and back-biters, whom they compare to Cannibals. It is reported of Wolves, that when they have once fed upon mans fleſh, they deſiſt not, but deſire mort of it. Job looketh upon his friends as ſuch man-eaters, wherein his ſorrow tranſported him too far; and whiles he was moving them to compaſſion, he ſhewes himſelfe over paſſionate.

Verſe 23. Oh that my words were now written] This reiterated wiſh Job ſetteth as a Preamble to that enſuing memorable teſtimony of the Reſurrection, as a matter moſt weighty and worthy the conſideration of all ages, which therefore he wiſheth recorded in ſome publick Inſtrument no alſeternity: And god ſaid, Amen, to it. For not only this precious paſſage, but the whole Book of Job. ſo full of divine inſtruction preparatory to the loſt day was committed to waiting (either by Meſes, or ſome other Prophets of that age, or elſe by Job himſelf after his reſtauration) and put among the Canonical Books of Scripture; concerning which David ſaith, For ever, O Lord; thy Word is ſetled in heavean, Pſal. 219, 89. And Chriſt, Heaven and earth ſhall paſſe away, but not one jot or tittle, &c. Matth. 5. Not one hair of that ſacred head can fall to the earth.Aug. Confeſſ. l. 5. c. 8. Thus God hath anſwered Job, ad cardin[illegible: 3 letters] deſiderii, as a Father ſpeaketh, leating it be to him, even as he would.

Oh that they were printed] Or drawn out, that is, written (ſaith One) in great and Capital Letters, that every man might read them, Hab. 22. for there was no Printing in thoſe dayes that we know of. The Chino[illegible: 1 letter]s indeed tell us, that they had the Art of Printing long before. But in Europe it was not heard of till the year, One thouſand four hundred and forty. It begun to be practiced at Harlem in the Low. Countries (by Lawrence Jans, ſay ſome, by John Gertude[illegible: 2 letters]erg ſay others) and was perfected at Meniz. where Tulliet Offices, the firſt Book that ever was printed, is ſtill kept for a Monument.

In a Book] that it might be preſerved and laid up for the uſe of poſterity, in ſome Kiriah-ſepher, or City of Books. Let them that are able, be apt and active in ſetting forth Books for the benefit of others,Horat. ſith. Paulum ſepultae diſt at inertiae Celata virtu. — He that buried his talent gave an heavy account to the Maſter, and was therefore called evil, becauſe idle ſervant. Matth. 25.

Verſe 24. That they were graven with an iron pen, &c.] That my words were not only Soriptaſed ſculota, written, but graven in a Rock as the Lawes of divers Nations were cut in Braſſe or Marble; and as Monuments and Epitaphs are graven on Tombs for remembrance of thoſe that are dead.

And Lead] Plumbo per ſulces infuſo, ſaith Junius, the curs of the Letters in Marble being filled with Lead, that they might be the more legible and durable.

In the Rock] In Marble cut out of the Rock. Golden words they are indeed that here follow,Clarks Lives. and well worthy to be written in Lotten of God. In the Life of Ziſcn (that Warlike Babe[illegible: 2 letters]ian,) it is recorded, that in the famous Monaſtery called, the Kings Court, a mile from Pragus, in the walls there of the whole Bible was moſt exquiſitely engraven in Lette[illegible: 1 letter]s of Gold.

For ever] To laſt longer then the would laſteth. Thoſe bloody Tyrants of the Primitive times made account they had made ſure work in rooting out true Religion, when they ſounded the triumph before hand, and engraved the victory upon Pillars of Marble in theſe bubbles of words; Nomine Chriſtianorum delo[illegible: 1 letter]o qui R[illegible: 2 letters]s. ov[illegible: 1 letter]rebant, &c But Chriſt ſhall reigne, and the Church ſhall ſtand upon his right hand as a Queen in gold of Ophir, Pſal. 45 9 When all earthly greatneſſe ſhall lye in the duſt, Thy throne O God, is for ever and ever. Pſal. 45.6. and there ſhall be a new ſucceſſion of Saints to all perpetuity, Pſal. 72, 17. His name ſhall endure for ever: His name ſhall be continued (Heb. childed) as long as the Son, as long as the world, as long as the Word of our, God, which according to Jobs wiſh here, ſhall ſtand for ever, Iſai, 40.8. But what meaneth the Vulgar tranſlation here by this inſignificant word Celte? And why ſhould Hugo feek to ſalve the matter,Celte vox eſt nihili. Merc. by reiling us, that Celtes is a Tool wherewith Letters or Pictures are cut in the flint Whereupon Vide quaeſo, mi Lector, ſaith Brentius, See, I pray thee, good Reader, how only they interpres Scripture that want Learning; for neither is Celte ſuch a Tool, nor can it be Celte for centa, ſith the Hebrew word L[illegible: 1 letter]guad doth not ſignifie Surely. but For ever.

Verſe 25. For I know that my Redeemer liveth.] Clariſſima fidei confeſſio, ſaith Brentius, A moſt famous Confeſſion of his faith. Breves & longe, [illegible: 2 letters]taque aurea, eſt hac Apologia, ſaith Another, This is Jobs ſhort and yet long Apology, bat golden all oven, and ſuch as hath fulneſs of matter in fewneſſe of words. Calvin and Mercar (viri alioqui judioioſiſſimi) are miſtaken here, when, following the Ra[illegible: 1 letter] hins, they interpret this text of a temporal reſtauration of Job to ſuch an eſtate of honour and riches, as he had enjoyed in the former part of his life: this they call Jobs Reſurrection and Redemption, &c. But his thoughes ſoared higher then ſo, I know, faith he; it is as if he ſhould ſay, you take your ſelves to he the only knowing men, and as for me, Bilded hath ſet me among ſuch as know not God, Chop. 18.21. But hereby I know that I know him, 1 John 2.3. Becauſe I know him whom he hath ſent Jeſus Chriſt, John 17.3. Net only as a Redeemer, but as my Rodeemer by a particular application of him to my ſelf, which is the very pith and form of faith. This great Myſtery of godlineſſe I know, what ever elſe I am ignorant of; and I know it ſavingly, becauſe I am ſecure of my intereſt in Chriſt, my Kinſman and Redeemer; and therefore I am no hypocrite or wicked man, as you would make me. Were it not for this word of poſſeſſion, (Mine) the worſt man alive [illegible: 1 letter]ay the divel, might ſay at Job here doth; yea, repeat al the Articles of the Creed, to as good purpoſe as he but that which tormenteth the divel is, he can ſay, My, to never a one of them, I know ſaith Job, when condemned for an hypocrite, that Chriſt is my Redeemes, and that this my Redeemer liveth for over, and is for ever mine. So Doctor Taylor Martyr, when condemned for an Heretick, ſubſribed his laſt Will and Teſtament,Acts & Mon. in theſe words, Row hand Taylor, departing hence in a ſare hope, without all [illegible: 1 word] of a glorious Reſurrection, I thank God my heavenly Father, through Jeſus Chriſt my certains Saviour.

And that he ſhall ſtand] As keeping the field when all his foes ſhall be his footſtool, Pſal. 1 10.1. So he ſtandeth, Rev. 10.2. ſetting his right foot upon the ſea, and his left foot upon the earth, (maugre all Hereticks and Anti-chriſts that therehence ariſe) as Lord Paramount of both.

At the latter day] Or laſt of all. Theodeſius rendreth it, Noviſſimè, a general judgment of quick and dead at the laſt day; was in Jobs time, and after wards by Zoroaſter, and other Heathens (as Lucretius, Theopompus, Plato, Cicero, Ovid, &c) believed and foretold. But in proceſſe of time, this true and pure Doctrine was darkned amongſt them, and when once it was extinct; Superſtitions, and other vaine fopperies over grew the greateſt part of the world. The ancient tradition was, that the latter age of the world ſhould be ſo filthy all over, that as it could not bee waſhed with water, as once, ſo it ſhould he waſted with fire, 2 Pet. 3.10.

Ʋpon the earth] Or, Over the earth; to wit, in the aire. For there it is probable Chriſt will ſit in the clouds of the aire neer unto the earth, whether the Elect ſhal be caught up to meet the Lord, and ſo ſhal they ever be with the Lord, 1 The. 4.17. There the divels ſhall be ſubdued and ſentenced, where they have ruled and plaid Rex, Eph. 2.2, ſee Mat. 24.30. ſome read it, And this (pointing to his body) ſhall ſtand, up at the laſt day upon the earth.

Verſe 26. And thought after my skin, wormes deſtroy this body.] Here he pointeth again, as doth likewiſe David. when Pſal. 34.6. he ſaith, This poor man cryed, and the Lord heard him &c. So the ancient Believers, when they came to that Article in the Creed, I believe the Reſurrection of the fleſh, were wont to add, Etiam bujus carnis, even of this fleſh, pointing to ſome naked part of their body; or elſe alluding to that of the Apoſtle, This mortal muſt put on, &c.

Wormes deſtroy this body] Heb. They deſtroy this; he ſaith not this body, quod oh deformitatem ſummam, non licerit corpus dicere, faith Vatablus, So worn it was, and waſted with ſores and ſickneſſes, that it could ſcarce be called a body. And yet it was not at the worſt neither, for in the grave it ſhould be worm-eaten, and ſomething more.Serm. 48. ad frat. in erem. Mihi exper to credite, ſaith Auſtin, Believe me who have tryed it, open dead mens Sepulchers, and upon their heads ye ſhall find toads crawling, begotten of their brains, on their loynes ſerpents, begotten of their Rains, in their bellies wormes begotten of their bowels, &c.

Yet in my fleſh.] Hebr. Out of my fleſh, as out of a caſement.

I ſhall ſee God] I ſhall ſee Chriſt, Chriſtum in corpore, (Auſtins wiſh) the humane and glorified body of Chriſt, who is god bleſſed for ever, as alſo the myſtical body of his Church perfectly united unto him 1 John 3.2. To this ſenſe ſome render the Text thus, I ſhal ſee God in my fleſh, that is, I ſhall ſee Chriſt ſitting in glory, cloathed with fleſh, or in the likeneſſe of man. And here do but think with thy ſelf, (though it far paſſe the reach of any mortal thought, faith One) what an infinite inexplicable happineſſe it will be, to look for ever upon the glorious body of Jeſus Chriſt, ſhining with incomprehenſible beauty, and to conſider that even every vein of that bleſſed body bled to bring thee to heaven: And that it being with ſuch exceſſe of glory hypoſtatically united to the ſecond Perſon in Trinity, hath honoured and advanced thy Nature, in that reſpect far above the brighteſt Cherub. The whole verſe may be read thus, And after I ſhall awake, though this body ſhall be deſtroyed, yet out of my fleſh ſhall I ſee God. And being thus read, it is a plainer and fuller confeſſion of the Reſurrection, ſaith an Interpreter. It is common is Scripture to compare death to ſleep and Reſurrection to awaking, Dan. 12.2. Pſal. 17.15. The bodies of the Saints are laid in the grave, as in a bed of Roſes, to ripen and mellow againſt the Reſurrection, and they write upon their graves, as One did once, Reſurgam, I ſhall ſurely riſe again. Moſes his body hid in the valley of Moab, appeared afterwaths glorious in Mount Tabor. D. King. This is matter of joy and triumph, as it was here to Job and to thoſe good ſouls who were to loſe all, Dan, 12.2. and thoſe Heb. 11.35. conſidering that God by rotting would refine their bodies, and in due time raiſe them conformabley to Chriſts moſt glorious body, the ſtandard. The forethought of this cheared up Davids good heart, Pſalm 16 9. and thoſe in Iſaiah, chap. 26.19. and the good people in our Saviours time,Beauchama. John 11.24. I know (ſaith Martha, concerning her brother Lazarus) that be ſhall riſe again at the Reſurrection, at the Conſolation; ſaith the Syriack Interpreter. Reſurrection and Conſolation then were termes equivalent. Hence that great Apoſtle, 2 Cor. 4.17. For this cauſe we faint not, ſaith he; For what cauſe? Becauſe we believe, that be which raiſed up the Lord Jeſus, ſhall raiſe us up alſo by Jeſus, and ſhall preſent us with you. And the ſame Apoſtle maketh this Doctrine of the Reſurrection, the Canon of Conſolation, 1 Theſ. 4.13, 14. &c. to the end.

Verſe 27. Whom I ſhall ſee for my ſelf.] He ſpeaketh confidently, as one full aſſured of a Reſurrection; which if it ſhould not be, how ſhould there be a remuneration of the body? Say not, We cannot ſee how tis poſſible. See we not a yearly Reſurrection of graſſe, grain, herbs, flowers, fruits every Spring tide? Know we not that men can of aſhes make glaſſes? that a Chymiſt can of ſeveral metals mixt to get her,Lav[illegible: 1 letter]. in Job 14.12. extract the one from the other, and reduce every metal to its own ſpecies or king? Etiam animalula quaedam typi Reſurrectiones ſunt, ſaith Lavater. Some little living creatures are Types of the Reſurrection. He inſtanceth in Dormiſe, which ſleep all wintes, and revive in the spring; in Silk wormes, which dying, leave nothing behind them but a certain excrement, which being born about in the boſomes of women, takes heat and reviveth. Wherefore if Nature do ſuch things, ſhall it be held havd for the God of Nature to raiſe the dead? The keeping green of Noah Olive tree in the time of the flood, the bloſſoming of Aarons dry Rod, the flesh and ſinewes coming to Ezekiels dry bones, what were theſe, but lively emblemes of the Reſurrection?

And mine eyes ſhall behold, and not anothers.] Here he maintaineth the identity of his fleſh and body in the Reſurrection; an identity, I ſay, not ſpecifical only, but numerical or individual. The ſelf ſa[illegible: 2 letters] particular body which fell, ſhall riſe.Tert de Reſurrect. lib. 2. This was denyed of old by the Marcioniſts, Baſilidians and Valentinians (thoſe Simi-Sadduces, as Tertullian termeth them;) and after them Entuchius Biſhop of Conſtantinople, who (as Gregory ſaith) taught, that men riſing again, ſhould have ayery bodies, and not fleſhly, yea more ſubtile then the Aire, abuſing that place of the Apoſtle, It is [illegible: 2 letters]wen a natural body, it is raiſed again a ſpiritual body, &c. but his book was burnt as Heretical. A ſpiritual body it is called, for its great ſtrength and activity wherewith it ſhalt be endowed, and where by it is enabled to bear a weight of glory; as alſo, for that it ſhall have no need of food, ſleep, or other natural helps, but we ſhall be as the Angels of God, Matth. 22 30. yet ſtill the ſame men that now we are. Let no man ſay with Nicodemus, How can this be? There is no difficulty to Omnipotency. Phil. 3. [illegible: 1 word]. Beſides, there is a ſubſtance ſtill preſerved, even when the body is turned to duſt, and this ſhall be raiſed, [illegible: 1 word] and reunited to the ſoul. He that made man at firſt of nothing, can eaſily remake him of ſomething. And what though his duſt be ſcattered hither and thither, and mixt with that of others? The skilful Gardener having ſundry ſorst of ſeeds mixt together▪ can ſoon ſever them: and ſhall not he who hath the whole earth in his fiſt diſcern the duſt of his Saints one from another? Little balls or pickles or Quick-ſilver being ſcattered on the ground mix not themſelves with any of another kind: But if any man gather them, they run together into one of their own accord; So it is here,greg. Nyſſen. ſaith a Father.

Though my raines be conſumed within me] Though from my skin outward to my raines inward, all be waſted, yet all ſhall be raiſed and reſtored. The Vulgar rendreth theſe words thus, This hope is laid up in my boſome; and is by Burgenſis expoundod thus, This is the only thing that I do moſt earneſtly wiſh and wait for, viz. to ſee Chriſt in the fleſh at the laſt day, the raynes are the ſent of ſtrong deſires.

Verſe 28. But ye ſhould ſay, Why perſecute we him?] This ye ſhall one day ſurely ſay, Then ſhall ye return and diſcern betwixt the righteous and the wicked, &c. Nam [illegible: 1 letter]lim diciti[illegible: 1 letter] cur cum perſequebam[illegible: 1 letter]r. Tigur. Mal. 3.18. Then ſhall it repent you (it ſhould do ſo now) that ye have rated and reviled me for an by poerite; viz. when God hath cleared mine integrity, (as he did chap. 42.) or at the laſt day howſoever, what time there ſhall be a Reſurtection of names as well as of bodies. Would ye but ſay ſo now, it would be ſome ſatisfaction. Que[illegible: 1 letter] panites precaſſe poene eſt inn[illegible: 1 letter]cons. You have heard by the confeſſion I have made, I am no miſcreant, no misbeliever; but that I do hold faſt the faithful Word.

The root of the mentor is in me.] Or, the root of the Word, the engrafied word of God that is able to ſave my ſoul, hath taken deep root in me, J[illegible: 1 letter]n. 1.21. I hold the myſtery of the faith in a pure conſcience, 1 Tim. 3.9. this, is the Cabinet, that, the Jewel hept therein. And with what face can ye cenſure ſuch an one for a caſtaway, who am ſorely afflicted indeed, ſo that my very raines are conſumed within me, my graces alſo haply are ſomewhat deflouriſhed, and it is little better with me then with a tree in winter; and as a Tyle tree, whoſe ſay is in the root, Iſai. 6.13. But ſo long as the root of the matter is in me, that radical grace of faith; and fith I do utter, as ye have heard, the words of truth and ſoberneſſe (as ſome fruits of a ſound faith) ſure you ſhould handle me with more tenderneſſe, as one that hath ſome ſap and ſubſtance in him.

Verſe 29 Be ye afraid of the ſword.] Heb. Be ye afraid for your ſelves, form the fact of the ſword; Gods ſore, and great, and ſtrong ſword, Iſai. 27.1. that hangeth over your heads as it were by a twined thred. O tremble at Gods judgements, whilſt they hang in the threat[illegible: 1 letter]ings. He that trembleth not in hearing, ſhall be cut to pieces in feeling, in that Mar[illegible: 1 letter]y[illegible: 1 letter] ſaid, Gods ſword [illegible: 1 word] the re[illegible: 2 letters], Ezek. 21.13. If Job be under his rod, they that perſecute him, under what pretence ſoever, ſhall feel the dint of his Sword, of his deep diſpleaſure. Now it is a fearful thing to fall into the puniſhing hands of the living God. And cruelty toward others, (toward his own eſpecially) he will be ſure to puniſh, for he is gracious, Exod. 22.27. Fugite ergo à facie gladii, flee therefore from the face of the ſword, (ſo the vulgar rendreth this text.) The ſword is an inſtrument of death; it hath its name in Hebrew from laying waſte; and the face or faces of the ſword ſhew that divine vengeance is near at hand. Aug in Pſ. 30. It is a mercy to men that God whets his Sword before he ſmites, and firſt takes hold on judgement, before his judgements take hold on us, Deut. 32. 41.

For wrath bringeth the puniſhment of the ſword.] It is from diſpleaſed love, that God chaſtizeth his children; but from fierce wrath, that he plagueth his enemies: Some of theſe God puniſheth here, leſt his providence, but not all leſt his patience and promiſe of judgement ſhould be called into queſtion.

That we may know that there is judgement.] Wherein they that raſhly judge others ſhall be judged by God, Math. 7.1. And this Jobs friends knew well enough, but well weighed not, to fright themſelves from raſh cenſurings. He minds them therefore of their, danger, and labours to prevent their ſorrow, who had ſo much cauſed his. See the like in Jeremy chap. 26.15. in our Saviour, in St. Stephen, &c. and learn to be like charitable; though your ſucceſs be no better than Jobs was, upon whom, in lieu of this love they fell more foul than before, as will appear by their following diſcurſes.