Job 20 commentary

Zophar's discourse is upon the certain misery of the wicked. The triumph of the wicked and the joy of the hypocrite are fleeting. The pleasures and gains of sin bring disease and pain; they end in remorse, anguish, and ruin. Dissembled piety is double iniquity, and the ruin that attends it will be accordingly.

The miserable condition of the wicked man in this world is fully set forth. The lusts of the flesh are here called the sins of his youth. His hiding it and keeping it under his tongue, denotes concealment of his beloved lust, and delight therein. But He who knows what is in the heart, knows what is under the tongue, and will discover it. The love of the world, and of the wealth of it, also is wickedness, and man sets his heart upon these. Also violence and injustice, these sins bring God's judgments upon nations and families. Observe the punishment of the wicked man for these things. Sin is turned into gall, than which nothing is more bitter; it will prove to him poison; so will all unlawful gains be. In his fulness he shall be in straits, through the anxieties of his own mind. To be led by the sanctifying grace of God to restore what was unjustly gotten, as Zaccheus was, is a great mercy. But to be forced to restore by the horrors of a despairing conscience, as Judas was, has no benefit and comfort attending it.

Zophar, having described the vexations which attend wicked practices, shows their ruin from God's wrath. There is no fence against this, but in Christ, who is the only Covert from the storm and tempest, Isa 32:2. Zophar concludes, “This is the portion of a wicked man from God;” it is allotted him. Never was any doctrine better explained, or worse applied, than this by Zophar, who intended to prove Job a hypocrite. Let us receive the good explanation, and make a better application, for warning to ourselves, to stand in awe and sin not. One view of Jesus, directed by the Holy Spirit, and by him suitably impressed upon our souls, will quell a thousand carnal reasonings about the suffering of the faithful.

CHAPTER 20

SECOND SERIES.

Job 20:1-29. Reply of Zophar.

2. Therefore--Rather, the more excited I feel by Job's speech, the more for that very reason shall my reply be supplied by my calm consideration. Literally, "Notwithstanding; my calm thoughts (as in Job 4:13) shall furnish my answer, because of the excitement (haste) within me" [Umbreit].

3. check of my reproach--that is, the castigation intended as a reproach (literally, "shame") to me.

spirit of ... understanding--my rational spirit; answering to "calm thoughts" (Job 20:2). In spite of thy reproach urging me to "hastiness." I will answer in calm reason.

5. the hypocrite--literally, "the ungodly" (Psa 37:35, 36).

6. (Is 14:13; Ob 3, 4).

7. dung--in contrast to the haughtiness of the sinner (Job 20:6); this strong term expresses disgust and the lowest degradation (Psa 83:10; 1Ki 14:10).

8. (Psa 73:20).

9. Rather "the eye followeth him, but can discern him no more." A sharp-looking is meant (Job 28:7; Job 7:10).

10. seek to please--"Atone to the poor" (by restoring the property of which they had been robbed by the father) [De Wette]. Better than English Version, "The children" are reduced to the humiliating condition of "seeking the favor of those very poor," whom the father had oppressed. But Umbreit translates as Margin.

his hands--rather, "their (the children's) hands."

their goods--the goods of the poor. Righteous retribution! (Ex 20:5).

11. (Psa 25:7), so Vulgate. Gesenius has "full of youth"; namely, in the fulness of his youthful strength he shall be laid in the dust. But "bones" plainly alludes to Job's disease, probably to Job's own words (Job 19:20). Umbreit translates, "full of his secret sins," as in Psa 90:8; his secret guilt in his time of seeming righteousness, like secret poison, at last lays him in the dust. The English Version is best. Zophar alludes to Job's own words (Job 17:16).

with him--His sin had so pervaded his nature that it accompanies him to the grave: for eternity the sinner cannot get rid of it (Re 22:11).

12. be--"taste sweet." Sin's fascination is like poison sweet to the taste, but at last deadly to the vital organs (Pr 20:17; Job 9:17, 18).

hide ... tongue--seek to prolong the enjoyment by keeping the sweet morsel long in the mouth (so Job 20:13).

14. turned--Hebrew denotes a total change into a disagreeable contrary (Jr 2:21; compare Re 10:9, 10).

gall--in which the poison of the asp was thought to lie. It rather is contained in a sack in the mouth. Scripture uses popular language, where no moral truth is thereby endangered.

15. He is forced to disgorge his ill-gotten wealth.

16. shall suck--It shall turn out that he has sucked the poison, &c.

17. floods--literally, "stream of floods," plentiful streams flowing with milk, &c. (Job 29:6; Ex 3:17). Honey and butter are more fluid in the East than with us and are poured out from jars. These "rivers" or water brooks are in the sultry East emblems of prosperity.

18. Image from food which is taken away from one before he can swallow it.

restitution--(So Pr 6:31). The parallelism favors the English Version rather than the translation of Gesenius, "As a possession to be restored in which he rejoices not."

he shall not rejoice--His enjoyment of his ill-gotten gains shall then be at an end (Job 20:5).

19. oppressed--whereas he ought to have espoused their cause (2Ch 16:10).

forsaken--left helpless.

house--thus leaving the poor without shelter (Is 5:8; Mi 2:2).

20. Umbreit translates, "His inward parts know no rest" from desires.

his belly--that is, peace inwardly.

not save--literally, "not escape with that which," &c., alluding to Job's having been stripped of his all.

21. look for--rather, "because his goods," that is, prosperity shall have no endurance.

22. shall be--rather, "he is (feeleth) straitened." The next clause explains in what respect.

wicked--Rather, "the whole hand of the miserable (whom he had oppressed) cometh upon him"; namely, the sense of his having oppressed the poor, now in turn comes with all its power (hand) on him. This caused his "straitened" feeling even in prosperity.

23. Rather, "God shall cast (may God send) [Umbreit] upon him the fury of His wrath to fill his belly!"

while ... eating--rather, "shall rain it upon him for his food!" Fiery rain, that is, lightning (Psa 11:6; alluding to Job's misfortune, Job 1:16). The force of the image is felt by picturing to one's self the opposite nature of a refreshing rain in the desert (Ex 16:4; Psa 68:9).

24. steel--rather, "brass." While the wicked flees from one danger, he falls into a greater one from an opposite quarter [Umbreit].

25. It is drawn--Rather, "He (God) draweth (the sword, Jos 5:13) and (no sooner has He done so, than) it cometh out of (that is, passes right through) the (sinner's) body" (De 32:41, 42; Eze 21:9, 10). The glittering sword is a happy image for lightning.

gall--that is, his life (Job 16:13). "Inflicts a deadly wound."

terrors--Zophar repeats Bildad's words (Job 17:11; Psa 88:16; 55:4).

26. All darkness--that is, every calamity that befalls the wicked shall be hid (in store for him) in His (God's) secret places, or treasures (Jude 13; De 32:34).

not blown--not kindled by man's hands, but by God's (Is 30:33; the Septuagint in the Alexandrian Manuscript reads "unquenchable fire," Mt 3:12). Tact is shown by the friends in not expressly mentioning, but alluding under color of general cases, to Job's calamities; here (Job 1:16) Umbreit explains it, wickedness, is a "self-igniting fire"; in it lie the principles of destruction.

ill ... tabernacle--Every trace of the sinner must be obliterated (Job 18:15).

27. All creation is at enmity with him, and proclaims his guilt, which he would fain conceal.

28. increase--prosperity. Ill got--ill gone.

flow away--like waters that run dry in summer; using Job's own metaphor against himself (Job 6:15-17; 2Sa 14:14; Mi 1:4).

his wrath--God's.

29. appointed--not as a matter of chance, but by the divine "decree" (Margin) and settled principle.

Therefore do my thoughts - It has already been observed that Zophar was the most inveterate of all Job's enemies, for we really must cease to call them friends. He sets no bounds to his invective, and outrages every rule of charity. A man of such a bitter spirit must have been, in general, very unhappy. With him Job is, by insinuation, every thing that is base, vile, and hypocritical. Mr. Good translates this verse thus: "Whither would my tumult transport me? And how far my agitation within me?" This is all the modesty that appears in Zophar's discourse. He acknowledges that he is pressed by the impetuosity of his spirit to reply to Job's self-vindication. The original is variously translated, but the sense is as above.

For this I make haste - ובעבור חושי בי ubaabur chushi bi, there is sensibility in me, and my feelings provoke me to reply.

I have heard the check of my reproach - Some suppose that Zophar quotes the words of Job, and that some words should be supplied to indicate this meaning; e.g., "I have heard (sayest thou) the check or charge of my reproach?" Or it may refer to what Job says of Zophar and his companions, Job 19:2, Job 19:3 : How long will ye vex may soul - these ten times have ye reproached me. Zophar therefore assumes his old ground, and retracts nothing of what he had said. Like many of his own complexion in the present day, he was determined to believe that his judgment was infallible, and that he could not err.

Knowest thou not this of old - This is a maxim as ancient as the world; it began with the first man: A wicked man shall triumph but a short time; God will destroy the proud doer.

Since man was placed upon earth - Literally, since Adam was placed on the earth; that is, since the fall, wickedness and hypocrisy have existed; but they have never triumphed long. Thou hast lately been expressing confidence in reference to a general judgment; but such is thy character, that thou hast little reason to anticipate with any joy the decisions of that day.

Though his excellency mount up to the heavens - Probably referring to the original state of Adam, of whose fall he appears to have spoken, Job 20:4. He was created in the image of God; but by his sin against his Maker he fell into wretchedness, misery, death, and destruction.

He shall perish for ever - He is dust, and shall return to the dust from which he was taken. Zophar here hints his disbelief in that doctrine, the resurrection of the body, which Job had so solemnly asserted in the preceding chapter. Or he might have been like some in the present day, who believe that the wicked shall be annihilated, and the bodies of the righteous only be raised from the dead; but I know of no scripture by which such a doctrine is confirmed.

Like his own dung - His reputation shall be abominable, and his putrid carcass shall resemble his own excrement. A speech that partakes as much of the malevolence as of the asperity of Zophar's spirit.

He shall fly away as a dream - Instead of rising again from corruption, as thou hast asserted, (Job 19:26), with a new body, his flesh shall rot in the earth, and his spirit be dissipated like a vapor; and, like a vision of the night, nothing shall remain but the bare impression that such a creature had once existed, but shall appear no more for ever.

His children shall seek to please the poor - They shall be reduced to the lowest degree of poverty and want, so as to be obliged to become servants to the poor. Cursed be Ham, a servant of servants shall he be. There are cases where the poor actually serve the poor; and this is the lowest or most abject state of poverty.

His hands shall restore their goods - He shall be obliged to restore the goods that he has taken by violence. Mr. Good translates: His branches shall be involved in his iniquity; i.e., his children shall suffer on his account. "His own hands shall render to himself the evil that he has done to others." - Calmet. The clause is variously translated.

His bones are full of the sin of his youth - Our translators have followed the Vulgate, Ossa ejus implebuntur vitiis adolescentiae ejus; "his bones shall be filled with the sins of his youth." The Syriac and Arabic have, his bones are full of marrow; and the Targum is to the same sense. At first view it might appear that Zophar refers to those infirmities in old age, which are the consequences of youthful vices and irregularities. עלומו alumau, which we translate his youth, may be rendered his hidden things; as if he had said, his secret vices bring down his strength to the dust. For this rendering Rosenmuller contends, and several other German critics. Mr. Good contends for the same.

Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth - This seems to refer to the secret sins mentioned above.

Hide it under his tongue - This and the four following verses contain an allegory; and the reference is to a man who, instead of taking wholesome food, takes what is poisonous, and is so delighted with it because it is sweet, that he rolls it under his tongue, and will scarcely let it down into his stomach, he is so delighted with the taste; "he spares it, and forsakes it not, but keeps it still within his mouth," Job 20:13. "But when he swallows it, it is turned to the gall of asps within him," Job 20:14, which shall corrode and torture his bowels.

He shall vomit them up again - This is also an allusion to an effect of most ordinary poisons; they occasion a nausea, and often excruciating vomiting; nature striving to eject what it knows, if retained, will be its bane.

He shall suck the poison of asps - That delicious morsel, that secret, easily-besetting sin, so palatable, and so pleasurable, shall act on the life of his soul, as the poison of asps would do on the life of his body. The poison is called the gall of asps, it being anciently supposed that the poison of serpents consists in their gall, which is thought to be copiously exuded when those animals are enraged; as it has been often seen that their bite is not poisonous when they are not angry. Pliny, in speaking of the various parts of animals, Hist. Nat. lib. xi., c. 37, states, from this circumstance, that in the gall, the poison of serpents consists; ne quis miretur id (fel) venenum esse serpentum. And in lib. xxviii., c. 9, he ranks the gall of horses among the poisons: Damnatur (fel) equinum tantum inter venena. We see, therefore, that the gall was considered to be the source whence the poison of serpents was generated, not only in Arabia, but also in Italy.

He shall not see the rivers - Mr. Good has the following judicious note on this passage: "Honey and butter are the common results of a rich, well-watered pasturage, offering a perpetual banquet of grass to kine, and of nectar to bees; and thus loading the possessor with the most luscious luxuries of pastoral life, peculiarly so before the discovery of the means of obtaining sugar. The expression appears to have been proverbial; and is certainly used here to denote a very high degree of temporal prosperity." See also Job 29:6. To the Hebrews such expressions were quite familiar. See Exo 3:8; Exo 13:5; Exo 33:3; 2Kgs 18:32; Deu 31:20, and elsewhere. The Greek and Roman writers abound in such images. Milk and honey were such delicacies with the ancients, that Pindar compares his song to them for its smoothness and sweetness: - Χαιρε Φιλος. Εγω τοδε τοι Πεμπω μεμιγμενον μελι λευκῳ Συν γαλακτι· κιρναμενα δ' εερς' αμφεπει πομ' αοιδιμον, Αιολισιν εν πνοαισιν αυλων.

Pind. Nem. iii., ver. 133. "Hail, friend! to thee I tune my song;

For thee its mingled sweets prepare;

Mellifluous accents pour along;

Verse, pure as milk, to thee I bear;

On all thy actions falls the dew of praise;

Pierian draughts thy thirst of fame assuage,

And breathing flutes thy songs of triumph raise."

J. B. C.

Qui te, Pollio, amat, veniat, quo te quoque gaudet;

Mella fluant illi, ferat et rubus asper amomum.

Virg. Ecl. iii., ver. 88. "Who Pollio loves, and who his muse admires;

Let Pollio's fortune crown his full desires

Let myrrh, instead of thorn, his fences fill;

And showers of honey from his oaks distil!"

Dryden.

Ovid, describing the golden age, employs the same image: -

Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant;

Flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella.

Metam. lib. i., ver. 3. "Floods were with milk, and floods with nectar, fill'd;

And honey from the sweating oak distill'd."

Dryden.

Horace employs a similar image in nearly the same words: -

Mella cava manant ex ilice, montibus altis;

Levis crepante lympha desilit pede.

Epod. xvi., ver. 46. "From hollow oaks, where honey'd streams distil,

And bounds with noisy foot the pebbled rill."

Francis.

Job employs the same metaphor, Job 29:6 : -

When I washed my steps with butter,

And the rock poured out to me rivers of oil.

Isaiah, also, Isa 7:22, uses the same when describing the produce of a heifer and two ewes: -

From the plenty of milk that they shall produce,

He shall eat butter: butter and honey shall he eat,

Whosoever is left in the midst of the land.

And Joel, Joe 3:18 : -

And it shall come to pass in that day,

The mountains shall drop down new wine,

And the hills shall flow with milk;

And all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters.

These expressions denote fertility and abundance; and are often employed to point out the excellence of the promised land, which is frequently denominated a land flowing with milk and honey: and even the superior blessings of the Gospel are thus characterized, Isa 51:1.

That which he laboureth for shall he restore - I prefer here the reading of the Arabic, which is also supported by the Syriac, and is much nearer to the Hebrew text than the common version. He shall return to labor, but he shall not eat; he shall toil, and not be permitted to enjoy the fruit of his labor. The whole of this verse Mr. Good thus translates: - "To labor shall he return, but he shall not eat.

A dearth his recompense: yea, nothing shall he taste."

It may be inquired how Mr. Good arrives at this meaning. It is by considering the word יעלס yaalos, which we translate he shall rejoice, as the Arabic (Arabic) alasa, "he ate, drank, tasted;" and the word כהיל kehil, which we make a compound word, keeheyl, "according to substance," to be the pure Arabic word (Arabic) kahala, "it was fruitless," applied to a year of dearth: hence kahlan, "a barren year." Conceiving these two to be pure Arabic words, for which he seems to have sufficient authority, he renders תמורתו temuratho, his recompense, as in Job 15:31, and not restitution, as here. The general meaning is, He shall labor and toil, but shall not reap, for God shall send on his land blasting and mildew. Houbigant translates the verse thus: Reddet labore partum; neque id absumet; copiosae fuerunt mercaturae ejus, sed illis non fruetur. "He shall restore what he gained by labor, nor shall he consume it; his merchandises were abundant, but he shall not enjoy them." O, how doctors disagree! Old Coverdale gives a good sense, which is no unfrequent thing with this venerable translator: -

But laboure shal he, and yet have nothinge to eate; great travayle shal he make for riches, but he shal not enjoye them.

He hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor - Literally, He hath broken in pieces the forsaken of the poor; כי רצץ עזב דלים ki ritstsats azab dallim. The poor have fled from famine, and left their children behind them; and this hard-hearted wretch, meaning Job all the while, has suffered them to perish, when he might have saved them alive.

He hath violently taken away a house which he builded not - Or rather, He hath thrown down a house, and hath not rebuilt it. By neglecting or destroying the forsaken orphans of the poor, mentioned above, he has destroyed a house, (a family), while he might, by helping the wretched, have preserved the family from becoming extinct.

Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly - I have already remarked that the word בטן beten, which we translate belly, often means in the sacred Scriptures the whole of the human trunk; the regions of the thorax and abdomen, with their contents; the heart, lungs, liver, etc., and consequently all the thoughts, purposes, and inclinations of the mind, of which those viscera were supposed to be the functionaries. The meaning seems to be, "He shall never be satisfied; he shall have an endless desire after secular good, and shall never be able to obtain what he covets."

There shall none of his meat be left - Coverdale translates thus: He devoured so gredily, that he left nothinge behynde, therefore his goodes shal not prospere. He shall be stripped of every thing.

In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits - This is a fine saying, and few of the menders of Job's text have been able to improve the version. It is literally true of every great, rich, wicked man; he has no God, and anxieties and perplexities torment him, notwithstanding he has his portion in this life.

Every hand of the wicked shall come upon him - All kinds of misery shall be his portion. Coverdale translates: Though he had plenteousnesse of every thinge, yet was he poore; and, therefore, he is but a wretch on every syde.

When he is about to fill his belly - Here seems a plain allusion to the lustings of the children of Israel in the desert. God showered down quails upon them, and showered down his wrath while the flesh was in their mouth. The allusion is too plain to be mistaken; and this gives some countenance to the bishop of Killala's version of Job 20:20 - "Because he acknowledged not the quail in his stomach,

In the midst of his delight he shall not escape."

That שלו, which we translate quietness, means a quail, also the history of the Hebrews' lustings, Exo 16:2-11, and Num 11:31-35, sufficiently proves. Let the reader mark all the expressions here, Job 20:20-23, and compare them with Num 11:31-35, and he will probably be of opinion that Zophar has that history immediately in view, which speaks of the Hebrews' murmurings for bread and flesh, and the miraculous showers of manna and quails, and the judgments that fell on them for their murmurings. Let us compare a few passages: - Job 20:20. He shall not feel quietness - שלו selav, the quail. "He shall not save of that which he desired." Job 20:21 : "There shall none of his meat be left." Exo 16:19 : "Let no man leave of it till the morning." Job 20:22. In the fullness of his sufficiency, he shall be in straits - Exo 16:20 : "But some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms and stank." Job 20:23. When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating - Num 11:33 : "And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague." Psa 78:26-30 : "He rained flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: so they did eat and were filled-but, while the meat was in their mouth, the wrath of God came upon them," etc. These show to what Zophar refers.

He shall flee from the iron weapon - Or, "Though he should flee from the iron armor, the brazen bow should strike him through." So that yf he fle the yron weapens, he shal be shott with the stele bow - Coverdale. That is, he shall most certainly perish: all kinds of deaths await him.

It is drawn, and cometh out - This refers to archery: The arrow is drawn out of the sheaf or quiver, and discharged from the bow against its mark, and pierces the vitals, and passes through the body. So Coverdale - The arowe shal be taken forth, and go out at his backe.

A fire not blown shall consume him - As Zophar is here showing that the wicked cannot escape from the Divine judgments; so he points out the different instruments which God employs for their destruction. The wrath of God - any secret or supernatural curse. The iron weapon - the spear or such like. The bow, and its swift-flying arrow.

Darkness - deep horror and perplexity. A fire not blown - a supernatural fire; lightning: such as fell on Korah, and his company, to whose destruction there is probably here an allusion: hence the words, It shall go ill with him who is left in his tabernacle. "And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. Get ye up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Depart from the tents of these wicked men. There came out a fire from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense;" Num 16:20, etc.

The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him - Another allusion, if I mistake not, to the destruction of Korah and his company. The heaven revealed their iniquity; God declared out of heaven his judgment of their rebellion. "And the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation;" Num 16:20, etc. And then the earth rose up against them. "The ground clave asunder that was under them, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up; and they went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them;" Num 16:31-33.

The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath - A farther allusion to the punishment of the rebellious company of Korah, who not only perished themselves, but their houses also, and their goods. Num 16:32. These examples were all in point, on the ground assumed by Zophar; and such well-attested facts would not be passed over by him, had he known the record of them; and that he did know it, alludes to it, and quotes the very circumstances, is more than probable.

This is the portion - As God has dealt with the murmuring Israelites, and with the rebellious sons of Korah, so will he deal with those who murmur against the dispensations of his providence, and rebel against his authority. Instead of an earthly portion, and an ecclesiastical heritage, such as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram sought; they shall have fire from God to scorch them, and the earth to swallow them up. Dr. Stock, bishop of Killala, who has noticed the allusion to the quails, and for which he has been most unmeritedly ridiculed, gives us the following note on the passage: - "Here I apprehend is a fresh example of the known usage of Hebrew poets, in adorning their compositions by allusions to facts in the history of their own people. It has escaped all the interpreters; and it is the more important, because it fixes the date of this poem, so far as to prove its having been composed subsequently to the transgression of Israel, at Kibroth Hattaavah, recorded in Num 11:33, Num 11:34. Because the wicked acknowledges not the quail, that is, the meat with which God has filled his stomach; but, like the ungrateful Israelites, crammed, and blasphemed his feeder, as Milton finely expresses it, he shall experience the same punishment with them, and be cut off in the midst of his enjoyment, as Moses tells us the people were who lusted." If I mistake not, I have added considerable strength to the prelate's reasoning, by showing that there is a reference also to the history of the manna, and to that which details the rebellion of Korah and his company; and if so, (and they may dispute who please), it is a proof that the Book of Job is not so old as, much less older than, the Pentateuch, as some have endeavored to prove, but with no evidence of success, at least to my mind: a point which never has been, and I am certain never can be, proved; which has multitudes of presumptions against it, and not one clear incontestable fact for it. Mr. Good has done more in this case than any of his predecessors, and yet Mr. Good has failed; no wonder then that others, unmerciful criticisers of the bishop of Killala, have failed also, who had not a tenth part of Mr. Good's learning, nor one-hundredth part of his critical acumen. It is, however, strange that men cannot suffer others to differ from them on a subject of confessed difficulty and comparatively little importance, without raising up the cry of heresy against them, and treating them with superciliousness and contempt! These should know, if they are clergymen, whether dignified or not, that such conduct ill becomes the sacerdotal character; and that ante barbam docet senes cannot be always spoken to the teacher's advantage. As a good story is not the worse for being twice told, the following lines from a clergyman, who, for his humility and piety, was as much an honor to his vocation as he was to human nature, may not be amiss, in point of advice to all Warburtonian spirits: - "Be calm in arguing, for fierceness makes Error a fault, and truth discourtesy. Why should I feel another man's mistakes More than his sickness or his poverty?

In love I should: but anger is not love

Nor wisdom neither; therefore, gently move. Calmness is great advantage: he that lets Another chafe, may warm him at his fire, Mark all his wanderings, and enjoy his frets; As cunning fencers suffer heat to tire.

Truth dwells not in the clouds: the bow that's there

Doth often aim at, never hit, the sphere."

Hebert.

Dr. Stock's work on the Book of Job will stand honourably on the same shelf with the best on this difficult subject.

Therefore - For this thy severe sentence. Make haste - I speak sooner than I intended. And possibly interrupted Job, when he was proceeding in his discourse.

The check - Thy opprobrious reproofs of us. Understanding - I speak, not from passion, but certain knowledge.

This - Which I am now about to say. Since - Since the world was made.

Though - Though he be advanced to great dignity and authority.

Bones - His whole body, even the strongest parts of it. The sin - Of the punishment of it.

Mouth - To his taste; though it greatly please him for the present. Hide - As an epicure doth a sweet morsel, which he keeps and rolls about his mouth, that he may longer enjoy the pleasure of it.

Turned - From sweet to bitter. Gall of asps - Exceeding bitter and pernicious. Gall is most bitter; the gall of serpents is full of poison; and the poison of asps is most dangerous and within a few hours kills without remedy.

Vomit - Be forced to restore them. God, &c. - If no man's hand can reach him, God shall find him out.

See - Not enjoy that abundant satisfaction and comfort, which good men through God's blessings enjoy.

Swallow - So as to hold it. He shall not possess it long, nor to any considerable purpose. Yea, he shall be forced to part with his estate to make compensations for his wrongs. So that he shall not enjoy what he had gotten, because it shall be taken from him.

Belly - He shall have no peace in his mind. Desired - Any part of his desirable things, but shall forfeit and lose them all.

Therefore - It being publickly known that he was totally ruined, none of his kindred shall trouble themselves about any relicks of his estate.

In, &c. - In the height of prosperity he shall be distressed. Hand, &c. - So his wickedness shall be punished by those as wicked as himself.

Rain - This phrase denotes both the author of his plagues, God, and the nature and quality of them, that they shall come upon him like rain; with great vehemency, so that he cannot prevent or avoid it. Eating - As it fell upon thy sons.

Flee - From the sword or spear; and so shall think him self out of danger.

It - The arrow, which had entered into his body, and now was drawn out of it either by himself or some other person; having in general said, that it came out of his body, he determines also the part of the body, the gall; which shews that the wound was both deep and deadly. Terrors - The terrors of death; because he perceived his wound was incurable.

Darkness - All sorts of miseries. Hid - Or, laid up; by God for him. It is reserved and treasured up for him, and shall infallibly overtake him. Secret - In those places where he confidently hopes to hide himself from all evil: even there God shall find him out. Not blown - By man, but kindled by God himself. He thinks by his might and violence to secure himself from men, but God will find him out. With him - With his family, who shall inherit his curse as well as his estate.

Heaven - God shall be a swift witness against him by extraordinary judgments; still he reflects upon Job's case, and the fire from heaven. Earth - All creatures upon earth shall conspire to destroy him. If the God of heaven and earth be his enemy, neither heaven nor earth will shew him any kindness, but all the host of both are, and will he at war with him.

Increase of his house - His estate. Depart - Shall be lost. Flow - Like waters, swiftly and strongly, and so as to return no more. His - Of God's wrath.

Heritage - Heb. the heritage; so called, to denote the stability and assurance of it, that it is as firm as an inheritance to the right heir; and in opposition to that inheritance which he had gotten by fraud and violence.

2. Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer , and for this I make hast .

For this thy severe sentence and denunciation of God's judgments against ut, Chap. 19. 29. which much more justly belongs to thy self and is actually executed upon thee; and because of thy reproaches, as it followeth, v. 3.

I thought to have troubled my self and thee with no further discourses, considering how exceptious and incorrigible thou art, but my thoughts or consideration of thy reproachful words force me to break silence and to answer thee as the matter requires.

I speak sooner than I intended, because I am not able to contain my self longer, and fear lest I should forget what is in my mind. Possibly he interrupted Iob, when he was proceeding further in his discourse. Or, he prevented some of his brethren who made an offer to speak.

3. I have heard the check of my reproach and the spirit out of my understanding causeth me to answer .

From thy mouth. Or, shall I hear? to wit, with patience and without a reply? Who can endure it?

i. e. Thy shameful and opprobrious reproofs of us, as if we and all thy Friends were void of all humanity and natural affection towards thee, and were haters and cruel Persecuters and even Devourers of thee, Chap. 19. 19, 22. and as if we were guilty of most hainous Crimes, and might expect God's Vengeance upon us.

i. e. My Soul or Mind.

Or, because of (for so the Hebrew Mem oft signifies) my understanding; i. e. Out of, or because of that certain knowledge which I have of this matter from study and experience: I have not spoken, and I shall not speak out of ignorance, or prejudice, or passion and rage against Iob, as he asperseth us, but only what I evidently know, and yet hope that I can and shall convince thee of.

i. e. Forceth me to speak. Or, answereth for me; i. e. either vindicates me against thy Calumnies: or, suggesteth an answer to me.

4. Knowest thou not this of old , since man was placed upon earth ?

i. e. This which I am now about to say: How canst thou, thou I say, who pretendest to such an exact and universal knowledge of men and things, be ignorant of so notorious a thing which wicked men sensibly feel, and good men diligently observe, and all men are forced to acknowledge one time or other?

i. e. From the experience of all former ages.

i. e. Since the World was made, and there were any men to observe God's Government of it.

5. That the triumphing of the wicked is short , and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

Heb. is from near; i. e. from, or for a little time: They have not long enjoyed it, and it will shortly vanish.

This he adds by way of reflection upon Iob, who though he did clear himself from gross wickedness, yet might be guilty of deep hypocrisie.

Marginal references: Psal. 37. 35, 36.; Heb. from near.

6. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens : and his head reach unto the clouds:

Though he be advanced to great Dignity and Authority in the World.

Marginal references: Isa. 14. 13, 14. Obad. 3, 4.; Heb. cloud.

7. Yet he shall perish for ever, like his own dung ; they which have seen him shall say, where is he ?

Which men cast away with contempt and abhorrency. Compare 1 Kings 14. 10. & 2 Kings 9. 37.

With admiration at his felicity.

i. e. He is no where to be found; he is utterly lost and gone.

8. He shall fly away as a dream , and shall not be found : yea, he shall he chased away as a vision of the night .

Which for the present makes a great shew and noise, and highly affects the Fancy, but hath nothing solid nor permanent in it; for as soon as the man awakes, all vanisheth, and the remembrance of it is quickly lost.

The man will be utterly lost and gone together with all his riches and glory.

Which appears to a man in the night and in his sleep.

Marginal references: Psa. 73. 20.

9. The eye also which saw him, shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him .

i. e. It shall not acknowledge nor contain him. A figure called Prosopopeia, as Iob 7. 10. Or neither shall it (i. e. the Eye last mentioned) behold him any more in his place.

Marginal references: Ch. 7. 8, 10. Psal. 37. 36. & 103. 16.

10. His children shall seek to please the poor , and his hands shall restore their goods .

Either 1. to get some small relief from them in their extream necessity. Or rather 2. lest they should revenge themselves of them for the great and many Injuries which their Father did them; or seek to the Magistrate for reparations.

By the sentence of the Judge, to whom the oppressed poor will appeal notwithstanding all their entreaties and endeavours to disswade them from so doing.

Marginal references: Or, the p[illegible: 1+ letters] shall oppress [illegible: 1 word] children.

11. His bones are full of the sin of his youth , which shall lie down with him in the dust.

i. e. His whole Body, even the strongest parts of it, which may seem most remote from danger.

Heb. of his youth; i. e. of his youthful pleasures and lusts, by a Metonymy of the subject. And this may be understood either 1. of the sins themselves▪ that he shall persevere in his youthful lusts even in old age, and shall die without repentance. Or rather 2. of the punishment of his sins, of which he is speaking both in the foregoing and following Verses. He shall feel the sad effects of those sins in his riper years, as riotous sinners commonly do; and, as it follows, attended him to his grave. Or, with his secret ways or sins, as others render it. Whereby he possibly intimates, that Iob though he appeared righteous before others, yet was guilty of some secret wickedness for which God was now reckoning with him.

Marginal references: Chap. 12▪ 26. Psa. 90. 8.

12. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth , though he hide it under his tongue ;

i. e. To his tast, though it greatly please him for the present.

As an Epicure doth a sweet Morsel, which he is loath to swallow, and therefore keeps and rolls it about his mouth that he may longer enjoy the pleasure of it. Though he be highly pleased with his lusts, and cleave to them in hearty love, and resolve to hold them fast, and improve them to the greatest delight and advantage.

13. Though he spare it , and forsake it not, but keep it still within his mouth .

i. e. Will not part with it; or gratifie and obey it, instead of subduing and mortifying it.

To suck out all the sweemess or benefit of it, though it be very delightful to him.

Marginal references: Heb. in the midst of his palate.

14. Yet his meat in his bowels is turned , it is the gall of asps within him.

Into another nature or quality, from sweet to bitter.

i. e. Exceeding bitter and pernicious. Gall is most bitter; the Gall of Serpents is full of poyson, which from thence is conveyed to their mouths by Veins as Pliny observes; and the poyson of Asps is most dangerous, and within a few hours kills without remedy.

15. He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again : God shall cast them out of his belly .

i. e. Be forced to restore them with great shame and torment, as Gluttons sometimes do loath, and with grief and pain cast up that meat which they have eaten and swallowed down with much greediness and delight.

If no mans hand can reach him, God shall find him out and punish him severely.

16. He [illegible: 1+ letters] shall suck the poyson of asps , the vipers tongue shall slay him.

That which he hath greedily and industriously sucked in as pleasant and wholsom nourishment, shall in the issue be as ungrateful and destructive to him as the poyson or head (for the Hebrew word signifies both, and the poyson lies in the head) of asps would be to one that sucketh it.

Together with its teeth in which the poyson lurks which it conveys by biting a man.

17. He shall not see the rivers, the flouds, the brooks of honey and butter .

i. e. Not enjoy, as that word is oft used; as Psalm 106. 5. Eccles. 2. 1.

That abundant satisfaction and comfort (oft signified by these or such like Metaphors; as Psalm 36. 8. & 46. 5. Isa. 7. 15, 22. & 41. 18.) either which he promised to himself from that great Estate which he had got by deceit and oppression; or which good men through God's blessing may and commonly do enjoy.

Marginal references: Or, streaming brooks.; Or, cream.

18. That which he laboured for , shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down : according to his substance shall the restitution be , and he shall not rejoyce therein .

Heb. Labour; i. e. the goods which were gotten with labour, either 1. by the labour of others; or rather 2. by his own labour: Which may relate as well to the goods of others which he got not without pains and difficulty; or to his own goods honestly gotten by the sweat of his Brows. And this is an aggravation of his misery, that he was forced to restore not only other mens goods which were in his hands, but his own also to make reparation for their damages.

To wit, so as to hold it; for otherwise he did swallow it, but withal did speedily vomit it up again, v. 15. which was as if he had not swallowed it. He shall not possess it long, nor to any considerable purpose.

i. e. He shall be forced to part with all his Estate to make compensation for his wrongs done to others.

i. e. He shall not enjoy what he had gotten, because it shall be taken from him.

Marginal references: Heb. according to the substance of his exchange.

19. Because he hath oppressed, and hath forsaken the poor , because he hath violently taken away an house which he built not :

By his oppression he brought men to utter poverty, and then forsook or left them in that forlorn estate, affording no mercy nor help to them. Or, some he made poor by his oppression, and others that were poor he suffered to perish for want of that relief which he should and might have afforded them; which is a crying sin in God's sight, and one of those sins for which God destroyed Sodom, Ezek. 16. 49. and therefore fitly mentioned here as one of the sins for which God punished this wicked man. Or, He oppresseth and leaveth poor; as Broughton renders it.

i. e. Which was none of his. Heb. He hath violently taken away an house, and (or, but) did not build (or, repair, as building is oft used) it; to wit, that House for his own use; i. e. he did not build or possess that House as he intended to do, but was cut off by God's hand before he could enjoy the fruit of his oppressions.

Marginal references: Heb. crushed.

20. Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly , he shall not save of that which he desired .

i. e. He shall have no peace nor satisfaction in his mind in all his gains, partly because of his perpetual fears and expectations of the wrath of God and man, which his guilty Conscience knoweth that he deserves: and partly because they shall be speedily taken away from him. He still continueth the Metaphor of a Glutton, whose Belly is not quiet until it hath vomited up that wherewith he had oppressed it.

i. e. Any part of his good and desirable things, but he shall forfeit and lose them all.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] 5. 13, 15.; [illegible: 1 word]. know.

21. There shall none of his meat be left , therefore shall no man look for his goods .

For his own future use; but he shall be stript of all.

It being publickly known and observed that he was totally ruined, none of his Kindred or Friends shall trouble themselves to seek for any relicks of his Estate, as is usually done after mens deaths. But this Verse is and may be rendred otherwise: There shall none be left for his meat (i. e. He shall leave no Heir who shall possess or enjoy his goods) because (for so the Hebrew Particle Al-chen is oft used; as Gen. 38. 26. Num. 14. 43. Psalm 42. 7. Ier. 48. 36.) none of his goods shall remain, either for his Heir, or any other; all shall be utterly lost.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] shall [illegible: 1 word] for [illegible: 1 word].

22. In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits : every hand of the wicked shall be upon him.

In the height of prosperity and abundance he shall be distressed and tormented either by the horrours of an unquiet Mind and guilty Conscience, which makes him every moment expect Divine Vengeance to fall upon his head: Or rather, because of the sudden and unexpected assault of other men combining against him, and spoiling all his goods, as it follows.

Who lives by injury and the spoiling of others, and by God's Providence are directed to fall upon him. Or, of the labourer, whose wages possibly he hath detained: Or, of such as are in trouble or misery, as this word signifies, Iob 3. 20. who may joyntly invade him, either because their necessity tempts and drives them to spoil others; or rather because they were such as had been brought into their Calamity by his Oppressions, and therefore now take Reparations from him.

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

23. When he is about to fill his belly , God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating .

i. e. When he hath enough and abundance to satisfie all his Appetites, and shall design to take the pleasure of all his gains, and to spend his days in Epicurism and sensuality.

Who is oft understood in this Book where he is not expressed; and so he is here, as appears from the following words; because there is no other person here expressed, who was to inflict these evils upon him; and because they are said to be rained down upon him; which implies their coming from heaven, or from God.

Some dreadful and destructive judgment.

This Phrase notes both the Author of his Plagues, God, and the nature and quality of them, that they shall come upon him like rain; i. e. with great vehemency, and so as he cannot prevent or avoid it.

As it fell upon thy Sons, Chap. 1. 18, 19. Compare Psalm 78. 30, 31.

24. He shall flee from the iron weapon , and the bow of steel shall strike him through .

i. e. From the Sword or Spear; and so shall think himself out of danger.

An Arrow shot out of a Bow, a distant place and unknown hand shall unexpectedly fall upon him: So that he shall only go from one danger to another.

which is of great strength, and therefore sendeth forth the Arrow with greater force. Compare Ps. 18. 34. Or, of brass, as the word properly signifies: which the Ancients did so temper and harden, that their Bows were commonly made of it.

i. e. Mortally wound him.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 24. 18. [illegible: 1 word]. 48. 43. [illegible: 1 word] 5. 19.

25. It is drawn and cometh out of the body , yea, the glistering sword cometh out of his gall ; terrors are upon him .

Either 1. a Sword, which may be understood cut of this Hebrew Verb, which is for the most part used of that Weapon; as Num. 22. 23, 31. Iudg. 8. 20, &c. and out of the following Branch of the Verse. Or 2. the Arrow last mentioned, which had entred into his body, and now was drawn out of it either by himself, or by some other person; as is frequent in that case, if peradventure he might be cured.

Or, out of his body; i. e. the body of the wounded man; as appears both by the next Clause of the Verse, which is added to explain the former; where it is, out of his gall: and from the use of this Hebrew word, which signifies a mans body or carkass; as Iudg. 14. 8. 1 Sam. 31. 12. Isa. 5. 25. Nahum 3. 3.

The word properly signifies lightning, and thence a glistering weapon, the bright Sword or Spear; as Deut. 32. 41. Ezek. 21. 10, 15. Nah. 3. 3 Habak. 3. 11. Whereby it is implyed, that he was doubly wounded first, by the Arrow, and then to make more sure work, with the Sword or Spear thrust into him. But the word may as well signifie the bright and sharp point of an arrow, of which he spoke hitherto; and having in the general said, that it came out of his body, now he determines the part of the body, the gall; which sheweth that the Wound was both deep and deadly, as they are in that part. It is probable he mentions this in reference to the like expression of Iob, Ch. 16. 13.

Into which it had entred, and wherewith it was coloured.

To wit, the terrours of Death; because he perceived by the tincture of his Gall upon the Weapon, that his Wound was incurable. Or horrours of Conscience, because he cannot live, and dare not die.

Marginal references: Heb. the lightning cometh. Nah. 3. 3. H[illegible: 1+ letters]b. 3. 11.; Ch. 18. 11.

26. All darkness shall be hid in his secret places , a fire not blown shall consume him, it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle .

i. e. All sorts of miseries both of Soul and Body, and Estate.

Or, is id or laid up; to wit, by God for him. This Phrase may note, that though it be not actually upon him, yet it is reserved and treasured up for him, and is kept as in a sure place, and shall infallibly overtake him.

Either 1. In his hid treasures, as this very word signifies, Psalm. 17. 14. He treasures up wealth, and with God's wrath and curse. Or 2. in those places where he confidently hopes to hide and secure himself from all evils and enemies: yet even there God shall find him out. Or, for, or in stead of (or with, for both ways the prefix Lamed is oft used) his hid treasures

To wit, by man, but kindled by God himself, as that was, Chap. 1. 16. He thinks by his might and violence to secure himself from men, but God by his own immediate hand, or in some unknown and unexpected manner will find him out. Some understand it of Hell-fire; of which see Isa. 30. 33.

i. e. with his Posterity or Family, who shall inherit his Curse as well as his Estate.

27. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity , and the earth shall rise up against him.

i. e. God shall be a swift witness against him by some extraordinary judgments; still he reflects upon Iob's Case, and the Fire from Heaven, Chap. 1.

i. e. All Creatures upon earth shall conspire with God to destroy him.

Marginal references: Ch. 16. 18, 19.

28. The encrease of his house shall depart , and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath .

Either 1. his Posterity; or rather 2. his Estate got by the labour, and employed for the use of his Family.

Shall be lost or taken away from him: See 2 Kings 20. 17.

Like Waters; to wit, swiftly and strongly, and so as to return no more.

i. e. Of God's wrath; when God shall come to execute judgment upon him.

29. This is the portion of a wicked man from God , and the heritage appointed unto him by God.

Who like a wise Master of a Feast gives to every man his proper portion, and as a just Judge distributes to him according to his deserts.

Heb. the heritage (i. e. the Portion, as before, called here an heritage; partly to note the stability and assurance of it, that it is as firm as an Inheritance to the right Heir; and partly in opposition to that Inheritance which he had gotten by fraud and violence) of his word; either 1. of God's Word, i. e. which is allotted to him by the word or sentence of God. Or 2. of the wicked man's word, the reward of his speeches; which, like his actions, are and may well be presumed to be wicked and blasphemous, and many ways offensive to God: And he instanceth in his speeches rather than his actions, to meet with Iob, who, though he made some colourable excuses for his actions, yet was manifestly guilty of hard and sinful speeches against God; which he would hereby intimate, that they were not such harmless and excusable things as Iob pretended, as appeared by these severe judgments which they brought upon wicked men.

Marginal references: Ch. 27. 13.; Heb. of his decree from God.

Job 20:1-5   1  Then began Zophar the Naamathite, and said:   2  Therefore do my thoughts furnish me with a reply,

And indeed by reason of my feeling within me.   3  The correction of my reproach I must hear,

Nevertheless the spirit of my understanding informeth me.   4  Knowest thou this which is from everlasting,

Since man was placed upon the earth:   5  That the triumphing of the evil-doer is not long,

And the joy of the godless is but for a moment?

All modern expositors take Job 20:2 as an apology for the opposition which follows, and the majority of them consider בּעבוּר as elliptical for בעבור זאת, as Tremell., Piscator, and others have done, partly (but wrongly) by referring to the Rebia mugrasch. Ewald observes: “בעבור stands without addition, because this is easily understood from the כן in לכן.” But although this ellipsis is not inadmissible (comp. לכן = לכן אשׁר, Job 34:25; כעל, Isa 59:18), in spite of it Job 20:2 furnishes no meaning that can be accepted. Most expositors translate: ”and hence the storm within me” (thus e.g., Ewald); but the signification perturbatio animi, proposed by Schultens for חוּשׁי, after the Arab. ḥâš, is too remote from the usage of Hebrew. Moreover, this Arab. ḥâš signifies prop. to scare, hunt, of game; not, however: to be agitated, to storm, - a signification which even the corresponding Hebr. חוּשׁ, properare, does not support. Only a few expositors (as Umbreit, who translates: because of my storm within me) take בעבור (which occurs only this once in the book of Job) as praepos., as it must be taken in consideration of the infin. which follows (comp. Exo 9:16; Exo 20:20; 1Sa 1:6; 2Sa 10:3). Further, לכן (only by Umbreit translated by “yet,” after the Arab. lâkin, lâkinna, which it never signifies in Hebr., where ל is not = לא, but = ל with Kametz before the tone) with that which follows is referred by several expositors to the preceding speech of Job, e.g., Hahn: “under such circumstances, if thou behavest thus;” by most, however, it is referred to Job 20:3, e.g., Ew.: ”On this account he feels called upon by his thoughts to answer, and hence his inward impulse leaves him no rest: because he hears from Job a contemptuous wounding reproof of himself.” In other words: in consequence of the reproach which Job casts upon him, especially with his threat of judgment, Zophar’s mind and feelings fall into a state of excitement, and give him an answer to which he now gives utterance. This prospective sense of לכן may at any rate be retained, though בעבור is taken as a preposition (wherefore ... and indeed on account of my inward commotion); but it is far more natural that the beginning of Zophar’s speech should be connected with the last word of Job's. Job 20:2 may really be so understood if we connect חושׁי, not with Arab. ḥâš, חושׁ, to excite, to make haste (after which also Saad. and Aben-Ezra: on account of my inward hastening or urging), but with Arab. ḥs, to feel; in this meaning chsh is usual in all the Semitic dialects, and is even biblical also; for Ecc 2:25 is to be translated: who hath feeling (pleasure) except from Him (read ממנו)? i.e., even in pleasure man is not free, but has conditions fixed by God.

With לכן (used as in Job 42:3) Zophar draws an inference from Job’s conduct, esp. from the turn which his last speech has taken, which, as ישׁיבוּני שׂעיפּיThus it is to be read according to the Masoretic note, ומלא לית (i.e., plene, as nowhere else), which occurs in Codd., as is also attested by Kimchi in his Gramm., Moznajim, p. 8; Aben-Ezra in his Gramm., Zachoth 1, b; and the punctuator Jekuthiël, in his Darche ha-Nikkud (chapter on the letters יהוא). affirms, urges him involuntarily and irresistibly forward, and indeed, as he adds with Waw explic.: on account of the power of feeling dwelling in him, by which he means both his sense of truth and his moral feeling, in general the capacity of direct perception, not perception that is only attained after long reflection. On שׂעיפי, of thoughts which, as it were, branch out, vid., on Job 4:13, and Psychol. S. 181. השׁיב signifies, as everywhere, to answer, not causative, to compel to answer. חוּשׁי is n. actionis in the sense of רגישׁתּי (Targ.), or הרגישׁי (Ralbag), which also signifies “my feeling (αἴσθησις),” and the combination חושׁי בי is like Job 4:21; Job 6:13. Wherein the inference consists in self-evident, and proceeds from Job 20:4. In Job 20:3 expression is given to the ground of the conclusion intended in לכן: the chastisement of my dishonour, i.e., which tends to my dishonour (comp. Isa 53:5, chastisement which conduces to our peace), I must hear (comp. on this modal signification of the future, e.g., Job 17:2); and in Job 20:3 Zophar repeats what he has said in Job 20:2, only somewhat differently applied: the spirit, this inner light (vid., Job 32:8; Psychol. S. 154, f), answers him from the perception which is peculiar to himself, i.e., out of the fulness of this perception it furnishes him with information as to what is to be thought of Job with his insulting attacks, viz., (this is the substance of the השׁיב of the thoughts, and of the ענות of the spirit), that in this conduct of Job only his godlessness is manifest. This is what he warningly brings against him, Job 20:4 : knowest thou indeed (which, according to Job 41:1; 1Ki 21:19, sarcastically is equivalent to: thou surely knowest, or in astonishment: what dost thou not know?!) this from the beginning, i.e., this law, which has been in operation from time immemorial (or as Ew.: hoccine scis aeternum esse, so that מני־עד is not a virtual adj., but virtual predicate-acc.), since man was placed (שׂים infin., therefore prop., since one has placed man) upon the earth (comp. the model passage, Deu 4:32), that the exulting of the wicked is מקּרוב, from near, i.e., not extending far, enduring only a short time (Arab. qrı̂b often directly signifies brevis); and the joy of the godless עדי־רגע, only for a moment, and continuing no longer?

Job 20:6-11   6  If his aspiration riseth to the heavens,

And he causeth his head to touch the clouds:   7  Like his dung he perisheth for ever;

Those who see him say: Where is he?   8  As a dream he flieth away, and they cannot find him;

And he is scared away as a vision of the night.   9  The eye hath seen him, and never again,

And his place beholdeth him no more. 10  His children must appease the poor,

And his hands give up his wealth. 11  His bones were full of youthful vigour;

Now it is laid down with him in the dust.

If the exaltation of the evil-doer rises to heaven, and he causes his head to reach to the clouds, i.e., to touch the clouds, he notwithstanding perishes like his own dung. We are here reminded of what Obadiah, Job 20:4, says of Edom, and Isaiah, Isa 14:13-15, says of the king of Babylon. שׂיא is equivalent to נשׂיא, like שׂוא, Psa 89:10 = נשׂוא; the first weak radical is cast away, as in כּילי = נכילי, fraudulentus, machinator, Isa 32:5, and according to Olsh. in שׁיבה = ישׁיבה,   2Sa 19:33. הגּיע is to be understood as causative (at least this is the most natural) in the same manner as in Isa 25:12, and freq. It is unnecessary, with Ew., Hirz., and Hlgst., after Schultens, to transl. כגללו, Job 20:7, according to the Arab. jlâl (whence the name Gelâl-ed-dîn): secundum majestatem suam, or with Reiske to read בגללו, in magnificentia sua, and it is very hazardous, since the Hebrew גלל has not the meaning of Arab. jll , illustrem esse. Even Schultens, in his Commentary, has retracted the explanation commended in his Animadv., and maintained the correctness of the translation, sicut stercus suum (Jer. sicut sterquilinium), which is also favoured by the similar figurative words in 1Ki 14:10 : as one burneth up (not: brushes away) dung (הגּלל), probably cow-dung as fuel, until it is completely gone. גּללו (or גּללו with an audible Shevâ) may be derived from גּלל, but the analogy of צללו favours the primary form גּל (Ew. §255, b); on no account is it גּלל. The word is not low, as Eze 4:12, comp. Zep 1:17, shows, and the figure, though revolting, is still very expressive; and how the fulfilment is to be thought of may be seen from an example from 2Ki 9:37, according to which, “as dung upon the face of the field shall it be, so that they cannot say: this is Jezebel.”In Arabic, gille (גּלּה) and gelle (גּלּה) is the usual and preferred fuel (hence used as synon. of hhattab) formed of the dung of cows, and not indeed yoke-oxen (baqar 'ammâle), because they have more solid fodder, which produces no material for the gelle, but from cattle that pasture in the open fields (baqar bat.tâle), which are almost entirely milking cows. This dung is collected by women and children in the spring from the pastures as perfectly dry cakes, which have the green colour of the grass. Every husbandman knows that this kind of dung - the product of a rapid, one might say merely half, digestion, even when fresh, but especially when dry - is perfectly free from smell. What is collected is brought in baskets to the forming or pressing place (mattba'a, מטבּעה), where it is crumbled, then with water made into a thick mass, and, having been mixed with chopped straw, is formed by the women with the hand into round cakes, about a span across, and three fingers thick. They resemble the tanners’ tan-cakes, only they are not square. Since this compound has the form of a loaf it is called qurss (which also signifies a loaf of bread); and since a definite form is given to it by the hand, it is called ttabu' (טבּוּע), collective ttêbâbi', which צפוּעי (צפיעי), Eze 4:15, resembles in meaning; for ssaf', צפע (cogn. ssafhh, צפח), signifies to beat anything with the palm of the hand. First spread out, then later on piled up, the gelle lies the whole summer in the mattba'a. The domes (qubeb) are not formed until a month before the rainy season, i.e., a circular structure is built up of the cakes skilfully placed one upon another like bricks; it is made from six to eight yards high, gradually narrowed and finished with a vaulted dome, whence this structure has its name, qubbe (קבּה). Below it measures about eight or ten paces, it is always hollow, and is filled from beneath by means of an opening which serves as a door. The outside of the qubbe is plastered over with a thick solution of dung; and this coating, when once dried in the sun, entirely protects the building, which is both storehouse and store, against the winter rains. When they begin to use the fuel, they take from the inside first by means of the doorway, and afterwards (by which time the heavy rains are over) they use up the building itself, removing the upper part first by means of a ladder. By the summer the qubbe has disappeared. Many large households have three or four of these stores. Where walled-in courts are spacious, as is generally the case, they stand within; where not, outside. The communities bordering on the desert, and exposed to attacks from the Arabs, place them close round their villages, which gives them a peculiar appearance. When attacked, the herds are driven behind these buildings, and the peasants make their appearance between them with their javelins. Seetzen reckons the gelle among the seven characteristics of the district of Haurân (Basan.

It appears that Eze 4:12. - where the prophet is allowed the usual cow-dung, the flame of which has no smell whatever, and its ashes, which smoulder for a long time, are as clean as wood ashes, instead of the cakes (גּללי) of human dung - is to be explained according to this custom. My fellow-travellers have frequently roasted mushrooms (futtr) and truffles (faq', פּקע) in the early spring in the glowing ashes of the gelle. On the other hand, it would be an error to infer from this passage that the Semites made use of human dung for fuel; the Semites (including the Nomads) are the most scrupulously particular people respecting cleanliness. According to the above, Zep 1:17 may be explained: “their flesh shall become like dung,” i.e., be burned or destroyed like dung. And also we understand the above passage in the book of Job, “as his heap of dung-cakes shall he be consumed away,” exactly like 1Ki 14:10 : “I will burn (take away) the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man burneth the dung-cakes until they are consumed,” The suff. in כּגללו refers to the habitation of the evil-doer, above whose grovelling joy the high dome of the dung-cakes rises, which, before one becomes aware of it, has disappeared; and throughout the description of the sudden destruction of the evil-doer, 1Ki 14:8, 1Ki 14:9, the reader must keep the figure of this dome and its disappearing before his mind. If it be objected that by such a rendering כּגלליו would be expected, 1Ki 14:10 shows that גּלל (גּל) was also used as a collective, and the Arabic gelle is never used in any other way, which is the more remarkable, as one from the first regards its termination as the “Arab. t of unity.” My attendants on my journey from Damascus (where there is no gelle, and consequently the word is not used) always took it so, and formed the plural gellât and the collective gilel, and were always laughed at and corrected: say Arab. aqrâts jllt or tbâbî' jllt! - Wetzst.)

The continuation here, Job 20:7, is just the same: they who saw him (partic. of what is past, Ges. §134, 1) say: where is he? As a dream he flieth away, so that he is not found, and is scared away (ידּד Hoph., not ידּד Kal) as a vision of the night (חזּיון everywhere in the book of Job instead of חזון, from which it perhaps differs, as visum from visio), which one banishes on waking as a trick of his fancy (comp. Psa 73:20; Isa 29:7.). Eyes looked upon him (שׁזף only in the book of Job in this signification of a fixed scorching look, cogn. שׁדף, adurere, as is manifest from Sol 1:6), and do it no more; and his place (מקומו construed as fem., as Gen 18:24; 2Sa 17:12, Cheth.) shall not henceforth regard him (שׁוּר, especially frequent in the book of Job, prop. to go about, cogn. תור, then to look about one). The futt. here everywhere describe what shall meet the evil-doer. Therefore Ewald’s transl., “his fists smote down the weak,” cannot be received. Moreover, חפניו, which must then be read instead of בּנין, does not occur elsewhere in this athletic signification; and it is quite unnecessary to derive ירצּוּ from a רצּה = רצּץ (to crush, to hurl to the ground), or to change it to ירצּוּ (Schnurrer) or ירצּצוּ (Olsh.); for although the thought, filios ejus vexabunt egeni (lxx according to the reading θλάσειαν, and Targ. according to the reading ירעעוּן), is not unsuitable for Job 20:10, a sense more natural in connection with the position of bnyw, and still more pleasing, is gained if רצּה is taken in the usual signification: to conciliate, appease, as the Targ. according to the reading ירעוּן (Peschito-word for ἀποκαταλλάσσειν), and Ges., Vaih., Schlottm., and others, after Aben-Ezra, Ralbag, Merc.: filii ejus placabunt tenues, quos scilicet eorum pater diripuerat, vel eo inopiae adigentur, ut pauperibus sese adjungere et ab illis inire gratiam cognantur. Its retributive relation to Job 20:19 is also retained by this rendering. The children of the unfeeling oppressor of the poor will be obliged, when the tyrant is dead, to conciliate the destitute; and his hands, by means of his children, will be obliged to give back his property, i.e., to those whom his covetousness had brought to beggary (און, exertion, strength, Job 18:7, then as hown, and synon. חיל, wealth, prob. from the radical meaning to breathe, which is differently applied in the Arabic aun , rest, and haun , lightness). Carey thinks that the description is retrospective: even he himself, in his lifetime, which, however, does not commend itself, since here it is throughout the deceased who is spoken of. As in Job 20:9, so now in Job 20:11 also, perf. and fut. interchange, the former of the past, the latter of the future. Jerome, by an amalgamation of two distinct radical significations, translates: ossa ejus implebuntur (it should be impleta erant) vitiis adolescentiae ejus, which is to be rejected, because עלוּם, Psa 90:8, is indeed intended of secret sin, but signifies generally that which is secret (veiled). On the contrary, עלוּמים, Job 33:25, certainly signifies adolescentia (Arab. gulûmat), and is accordingly, after lxx, Targ., and Syr., to be translated: his bones were full of youthful vigour. In Job 20:11, תּשׁכּב, as Job 14:19, can refer to the purely plural עצמותיו, but the predicate belonging to it would then be plur. in Job 20:11, and sing. in Job 20:11; on which account the reference to עלוּמו, which is in itself far more suitable, is to be preferred (Hirz., Schlottm.): his youthful vigour, on which he relied, lies with him in the dust (of the grave).

Job 20:12-16 12  If wickedness tasted sweet in his mouth,

He hid it under his tongue; 13  He carefully cherished it and did not let it go,

And retained it in his palate: 14  His bread is now changed in his bowels,

It is the gall of vipers within him. 15  He hath swallowed down riches and now he spitteth them out,

God shall drive them out of his belly. 16  He sucked in the poison of vipers,

The tongue of the adder slayeth him.

The evil-doer is, in Job 20:12, likened to an epicure; he keeps hold of wickedness as long as possible, like a delicate morsel that is retained in the mouth (Renan: comme un bonbon qu'on laisse fondre dans la bouche), and seeks to enjoy it to the very last. המתּיק, to make sweet, has here the intransitive signification dulcescere, Ew. §122, c. הכחיד, to remove from sight, signifies elsewhere to destroy, here to conceal (as the Piel, Job 6:10; Job 15:18). חמל, to spare, is construed with על, which is usual with verbs of covering and protecting. The conclusion of the hypothetical antecedent clauses begins with Job 20:14; the perf. נהפּך (with Kametz by Athnach) describes the suddenness of the change; the מרורת which follows is not equivalent to למרורת (Luther: His food shall be turned to adder’s gall in his body), but Job 20:14 expresses the result of the change in a substantival clause. The bitter and poisonous are synonymous in the ancient languages; hence we find the meanings poison and gall (Job 20:25) in מררה, and ראשׁ signifies both a poisonous plant which is known by its bitterness, and the poison of plants like to the poison of serpents (Job 20:16; Deu 32:33). חיל (Job 20:15) is property, without the accompanying notion of forcible acquisition (Hirz.), which, on the contrary, is indicated by the בּלע. The following fut. consec. is here not aor., but expressive of the inevitable result which the performance of an act assuredly brings: he must vomit back the property which he has swallowed down; God casts it out of his belly, i.e., (which is implied in בּלע, expellere) forcibly, and therefore as by the pains of colic. The lxx, according to whose taste the mention of God here was contrary to decorum, trans. ἐξ οἰκίας (read κοιλίας, according to Cod. Alex.) αὐτοῦ ἐξελκύσει αὐτὸν ἄγγελος (Theod. δυνάστης). The perf., Job 20:15, is in Job 20:16 changed into the imperf. fut. יינק, which more strongly represents the past action as that which has gone before what is now described; and the ασυνδέτως, fut. which follows, describes the consequence which is necessarily and directly involved in it. Psa 140:4 may be compared with Job 20:16, Pro 23:32 with Job 20:16. He who sucked in the poison of low desire with a relish, will meet his punishment in that in which he sinned: he is destroyed by the poisonous deadly bite of the serpent, for the punishment of sin is fundamentally nothing but the nature of sin itself brought fully out.

Job 20:17-20 17  He shall not delight himself in streams,

Like to rivers and brooks of honey and cream. 18  Giving back that for which he laboured, he shall not swallow it;

He shall not rejoice according to the riches he hath gotten. 19  Because he cast down, let the destitute lie helpless;

He shall not, in case he hath seized a house, finish building it. 20  Because he knew no rest in his craving,

He shall not be able to rescue himself with what he most loveth.

As poets sing of the aurea aetas of the paradise-like primeval age: Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant, (Note: Ovid, Metam. i. 112, comp. Virgil, Ecl. iv. 30:Et durae quercus sudabant roscida mella; and Horace, Epod. xvi. 47 Mella cava manant ex ilice, montibus altis Levis crepante lympha desilit pede.) and as the land of promise is called in the words of Jehovah in the Thora, ”a land flowing with milk and honey,” the puffed-up prosperity to which the evil-doer has attained by injustice is likened to streams (פּלגּות, prop. dividings, and indeed perhaps of a country = districts, Jdg 5:15., or as here, of a fountain = streams) of rivers, of brooks (two gen. appositionis which are co-ordinate, of which Hupfeld thinks one must be crossed out; they, however, are not unpoetical, since, just as in Psa 78:9, the flow of words is suspended, Ew. §289, c) of honey and cream (comp. cream and oil, Job 29:6), if נהרי נחלי is not perhaps (which is more in accordance with the accentuation) intended as an explanatory permutative of בפלגות: he shall not feast himself upon streams, streamings of rivers of honey and cream (Dachselt); and by אל־ירא (seq. Beth, to fasten one’s gaze upon anything = feast one’s self upon it), the prospect of enjoying this prosperity, and indeed, since the moral judgment and feeling are concerned in the affirmation of the fact (אל, as Job 5:22; Psa 41:3; Pro 3:3, Pro 3:25), the privilege of this prospect, is denied. This thought, that the enjoyment aimed at and anticipated shall not follow the attainment of this height of prosperity, is reiterated in a twofold form in Job 20:18.Job 20:18 is not to be translated: He gives back that which he has gained without swallowing it down, which must have been ישׁיב; the syntactic relation is a different one: the Waw of ולא is not expressive of detail; the detailing is implied in the partic., which is made prominent as an antecedent, as if it were: because, or since, he gives out again that which he has acquired (ינע only here instead of יגיע, Job 10:3 and freq.), he has no pleasure in it, he shall or may not altogether swallow it down (Targ. incorrectly ולא־יגמר, after the Arabic blg, to penetrate, attain an object). The formation of the clause corresponds entirely with Job 20:18. All attempts at interpretation which connect כּחיל תּמוּרתו with משׁיב, Job 20:18, are to be objected to: (he gives it back again) as property of his restitution, i.e., property that is to be restored (Schlottm.), or the property of another (Hahn). Apart from the unsuitableness of the expression to the meaning found in it, it is contrary to the relative independence of the separate lines of the verse, which our poet almost always preserves, and is also opposed by the interposing of ולא יבלע. The explanation chosen by Schult., Oet., Umbr., Hirz., Renan, and others, after the Targ., is utterly impossible: as his possession, so his exchange (which is intended to mean: restitution, giving up); this, instead of כּחיל, must have been not merely כּחיל, but כּחילו. The designed relation of the members of the sentence is, without doubt, that כחיל תמורתו is a nearer defining of ולא יעלס, after the manner of an antecedent clause, and from which, that it may be emphatically introduced, it begins by means of Waw apod. (to which Schult. not unsuitably compares Jer 6:19; 1Ki 15:13). The following explanation is very suitable: according to the power, i.e., entire fulness of his exchange, but not in the sense of “to the full amount of its value” (Carey, as Rosenm.), connected with משׁיב, but connected with what follows: “how great soever his exchange (gain), still he does not rejoice” (Ew.). But it is not probable that חיל here signifies power = a great quantity, where property and possessions are spoken of. The most natural rendering appears to me to be this: according to the relation of the property of his exchange (תמורה from מור, Syr. directly emere, cogn. מהר, מחר, and perhaps also מכר, here of exchange, barter, or even acquisition, as Job 15:31; comp. Job 28:17, of the means of exchange), i.e., of the property exchanged, bartered, gained by barter by him, he is not to enjoy, i.e., the rejoicing which might have been expected in connection with the greatness of the wealth he has amassed, departs from him.

Jerome is not the only expositor who (as though the Hebrew tenses were subject to no rule, and might mean everything) translates Job 20:19, domum rapuit et non aedificvit eam (equivalent to quam non aedificaverat). Even Hupfeld translates thus, by taking ולא יבנהו as imperfect = והוּא לא בנהוּ; but he, of course, fails to furnish a grammatical proof for the possibility of inferring a plusquamperfectum sense. It might sooner be explained: instead of building it (Lit. Centralblatt, 1853, Nr. 24). But according to the syntax, Job 20:19 must be an antecedent clause: because he crushed, left (therefore: crushed by himself) the destitute alone;The Targ. translates: because he brought to ruin the business of the poor (עזב after עזּבון in Ezekiel); and Parchon: because he brought to ruin the courts of the poor (after the Mishna-word מעזיבה, a paved floor); but עזב, according to the Masora on Isa 58:2 (comp. Kimchi, Michlol, p. 35), is to be read עזב as a verb. and Job 20:19 the conclusion: he has pillaged a house, and will not build it, i.e., in case he has plundered a house, he will not build it up. For בּית גּזל, according to the accents, which are here correct, is not to be translated: domus, quam rapuit, but hypothetically: si (ἐὰν) domum rapuit, to which ybnhw wl' is connected by Waw apod. (comp. Job 7:21); and בּנה signifies here, as frequently, not: to build, but: to build round, build additions to, continue building (comp. 2Ch 11:5-6; Psa 89:3, Psa 89:5). In Job 20:20 similar periodizing occurs: because he knew not שׁלו (neutral = שׁלוה, Pro 17:1; Ew. §293, c), contentment, rest, and sufficiency (comp. Isa 59:8, לא ידע שׁלום) in his belly, i.e., his craving, which swallows up everything: he will not be able to deliver himself (מלּט like פּלּט, Job 23:7, as intensive of Kal: to escape, or also = מלּט נפשׁו, which Amo 2:15 seems to favour) with (בּ as Job 19:20) his dearest treasure (thus e.g., Ewald), or: he will not be able to rescue his dearest object, prop. not to effect a rescue with his dearest object, the obj., as Job 16:4, Job 16:10; Job 31:12, conceived of as the instrument (vid., e.g., Schlottm.). The former explanation is more natural and simple. חמוּד, that which is exceedingly desired (Psa 39:12), of health and pleasantness; Isa 44:9, of idols, as the cherished objects of their worshippers), is the dearest and most precious thing to which the sinner clung with all his soul, not, as Böttch. thinks, the soul itself.Hupfeld interprets: non fruitur securus ventre suo h. e. cibo quo venter potitus erat et deliciis quas non salvas retinebit (or also Job 20:20 as a clause by itself: cum deliciis suis non evadet), but without any proof that ידע בּ can signify frui, and בטן metonymically food, whereas the assertion that שׁלו cannot be equivalent to שׁלו, and cannot be used of rest with reference to the desire, is unfounded. In Hebrew the neuter adj. can be used as a substantive, just as in Greek, e.g., τὸ ἀσφαλές, security, τὸ εὐτυχές, success (comp. e.g., the combination בתמים ואמת), and שלח signifies release and ease (Arab. followed by ‛n), without distinction of what disturbs, be it danger, or pain, or any kind of emotion whatever.

Job 20:21-25 21  Nothing escaped his covetousness,

Therefore his prosperity shall not continue. 22  In the fulness of his need it shall be strait with him,

Every hand of the needy shall come upon him. 23  It shall come to pass: in order to fill his belly,

He sendeth forth the glow of His anger into him,

And He causeth it to rain upon him into his flesh. 24  He must flee from an iron weapon,

Therefore a brazen bow pierceth him through. 25  It teareth, then it cometh forth out of his body,

And the steel out of his gall,

The terrors of death come upon him.

The words of Job 20:21 are: there was nothing that escaped (שׂריד, as Job 18:19, from שׂרד, Arab. šarada , aufugere) his eating (from אכל, not from אכל), i.e., he devoured everything without sparing, even to the last remnant; therefore טוּבו, his prosperity, his abundant wealth, will not continue or hold out (יחיל, as Psa 10:5, to be solid, powerful, enduring, whence חיל, Arab. ȟı̂lat , ḥawl). Hupf. transl. differently: nihil ei superstes ad vescendum, itaque non durant ejus bona; but שׂריד signifies first elapsum, and על־כן propterea; and we may retain these first significations, especially since Job 20:21 is not future like Job 20:21. The tone of prediction taken up in Job 20:21 is continued in what follows. The inf. constr. מלאות (prop. מלאות, but with Cholem by the Aleph, since the Waw is regarded as יתיר, superfluous), formed after the manner of the verbs Lamed He (Ew. 238, c), is written like קראות, Jdg 8:1 (comp. on the other hand the scriptio devectiva, Lev 8:33; Lev 12:4); and שׂפקו (with Sin, as Norzi decides after Codd., Kimchi, and Farisol, not Samech) is to be derived from שׂפק (ספק), sufficientia (comp. the verb, 1Ki 20:10): if his sufficiency exists in abundance, not from שׂפק = Arab. safqat , ṣafqat , complosio, according to which Schultens explains: if his joyous clapping of hands has reached its highest point (Elizabeth Smith: “while clapping the hands in the fulness of joy”), to which מלאות is not suitable, and which ought at least to be שׁפק כּפּיו. Therefore: in the fulness of his need shall he be straitened (יצר with the tone drawn back for יצר on account of the following monosyllable, although also apocopated futt. follow further on in the strict future signification, according to poetic usage), by which not merely the fearful foreboding is meant, which just in the fullest overflow makes known his impending lot, but the real calamity, into which his towering prosperity suddenly changes, as Job 20:22 shows: All the hands of the destitute come upon him (בּוא seq. acc.: invadere) to avenge on him the injustice done to the needy. It is not necessary to understand merely such as he has made destitute, it is כּל־יד; the assertion is therefore general: the rich uncompassionate man becomes a defenceless prey of the proletaries.

Job 20:26-29 26  All darkness is reserved for his treasured things,

A fire that is not blown upon devoureth him;

It feedeth upon what is left in his tent. 27  The heavens reveal his iniquity,

And the earth riseth up against him. 28  The produce of his house must vanish,

Flowing away in the day of God’s wrath. .   .   .   .   .   . 29 This is the lot of the wicked man from Elohim,

And the heritage decreed for him from God.

As in Psa 17:14 God’s store of earthly goods for the children of men is called צפוּן (צפין), so here the stores laid up by man himself are called צפוּניו. Total darkness, which will finally destroy them, is decreed by God against these stores of the godless, which are brought together not as coming from the hand of God, but covetously, and regardless of Him. Instead of טמוּן it might also have been צפוּן (Job 15:20; Job 21:19; Job 24:1), and instead of לצפוּניו also לטמוּניו (Deu 33:19); but טמוּן is, as Job 40:13 shows, better suited to darkness (on account of the ט, this dull-toned muta, with which the word begins). כּל־חשׁך signifies sheer darkness, as in Psa 39:6, כל־הבל, sheer nothingness; Psa 45:14, כל־כבודה, sheer splendour; and perhaps Isa 4:5, כל־כבוד, sheer glory. And the thought, expressed with somewhat of a play upon words, is, that to the θησαυρίζειν of the godless corresponds a θησαυρίζειν of God, the Judge (Rom 2:5; Jam 5:3): the one gathers up treasures, and the other nothing but darkness, to whom at an appointed season they shall be surrendered. The תּאכלהוּ which follows is regarded by Ges. as Piel instead of תּאכּלהוּ, but such a resolving of the characteristic sharpened syllable of Piel is unsupportable; by Hirz., Olsh. §250, b, and Pual instead of תּאכּלהוּ, but אכּל signifies to be eaten, not (so that it might be connected with an accusative of the obj.) to get to eat; by Ew., Hupf., as Kal for תּאכלהוּ, which is possible both from the letters and the matter (vid., on Psa 94:20); but more correctly it is regarded as Poel, for such Poel forms from strong roots do occur, as שׁפט (vid., on Job 9:15), and that the Cholem of these forms can be shortened into Kametz-chatuph is seen from ודרשׁוּ, Psa 109:10 (vid., Psalter in loc.).Such a contraction is also presented in the readings תּרצחוּ, Psa 62:4; מלשׁני, Psa 101:5; and ויּחלקם, 1Ch 23:6; 1Ch 24:3. All these forms are not resolved forms of Piel (Ges., Berth., Olsh. §248, a), but contracted forms of Poel with Kametz-chatuph instead of Cholem. תּהתלּוּ, Job 13:9, is not a resolved form of Piel, but a non-syncopated Hiphil. It should be observed that the Chateph-Kametz in “wedorschu” above and at p. 328 is used as an unmistakeable sign of the ŏ. - Tr.]

The Poel is in the passage before us the intensive of Kal: a fire which is not blown upon shall eat him up. By this translation נפּח is equivalent to נפּחה, since attention is given to the gender of אשׁ in the verb immediately connected with it, but it is left out of consideration in the verbs נפח and ירע which stand further form it, which Olshausen thinks doubtful; there are, however, not a few examples which may be adduced in favour of it, as 1Ki 19:11; Isa 33:9; comp. Ges. §147, rem. 1. Certainly the relative clause לא נפח may also be explained by supplying בּהּ: into which one has not blown, or that one has not blown on (Symm., Theod., ἄνευ φυσήματος): both renderings are possible, according to Eze 22:20, Eze 22:22; but since the masc. ירע follows, having undoubtedly אשׁ as its subject, we can unhesitatingly take the Synallage gen. as beginning even with נפח. A fire which needs no human help for its kindling and its maintenance is intended (comp. on לא ביד, Job 34:20); therefore “fire of God,” Job 1:16. This fire feasts upon what has escaped (שׂריד, as Job 20:21; Job 18:19), i.e., whatever has escaped other fates, in his tent. yeera` (Milel) is fut. apoc. Kal; the form of writing ירע (fut. apoc. Niph.) proposed by Olsh. on account of the change of gender, i.e., it is devoured, is to be rejected for the reason assigned in connection with נפח. The correct interpretation has been brought forward by Schultens.

It is not without reference to Job 16:18-19, where Job has called upon earth and heaven as witnesses, that in Job 20:27 Zophar continues: “the heavens reveal his guilt, and the earth rises against him;” heaven and earth bear witness to his being an abhorrence, not worthy of being borne by the earth and shone upon by the light of heaven; they testify this, since their powers from below and above vie with one another to get rid of him. מתקוממה is connected closely with לו (which has Lamed raphatum) by means of Mercha-Zinnorith, and under the influence of the law, according to which before a monosyllabic accented word the tone is drawn back from the last syllable of the preceding word to the penultima (Ew. §73, 3), is accented as Milel on account of the pause.This mode of accentuation, which is found in Codd. and is attested by grammarians (vid., Norzi), is grammatically more intelligible than that of our editions, which have the Mercha with the final syllable. For while מתקוממה, as Milel, is the pausal-form of the fem. part. Hithpalel for מתקוממה (מתקוממת) with a pausal â instead of ê, it ought to be as Milra, a passive form; but the Hithpalal has no meaning here, and is in general not firmly supported within the range of biblical Hebrew.

In Job 20:28, Ges., Olsh., and others translate: the produce of his house, that which is swept together, must vanish away in the day of His wrath; נגּרות corrasae (opes), Niph. from גּרר. But first, the suff. is wanting to נגרות; and secondly, בּיום אפּו has no natural connection in what precedes. The Niph. נגרות in the signification diffluentia, derived from נגר morf devire, to flow away (comp. Arab. jry, to flow), is incomparably better suited to the passage (comp. 2Sa 14:14, where Luther transl.: as water which glides away into the earth). The close of the description is similar to Isa 17:11 : “In the day that thou plantedst, thou causedst it to increase, and with the morning thy seed was in flowera harvest-head in the day of deep wounding and deadly sorrow.” So here everything that the evil-doer hoards up is spoken of as ”vanishing in the day of God’s wrath.”

The speech now closes by summing up like Bildad’s, Job 18:21 : “This is the portion or inheritance of, i.e., the lot that is assigned or falls to, the wicked man (אדם רשׁע, a rare application of אדם, comp. Pro 6:12, instead of which אישׁ is more usual) from Elohim, and this the heritage of his (i.e., concerning him) decree from God.” אמר (אמר) with an objective suff., which also occurs elsewhere of the almighty word of command of God (vid., on Hab 3:9), signifies here God’s judicial arrangement or order, in this sense just as Arabic as Hebraic, for also in Arab. amr (plur. awâmir) signifies command and order.

The speech of Zophar, Job 20, is his ultimatum, for in the third course of the controversy he takes no part. We have already seen from his first speech, Job 11, that he is the most impassioned of the friends. His vehemence is now the less excusable, since Job in his previous speech has used the truly spiritual language of importunate entreaty and earnest warning in reply to the friends. The friends would now have done well if they had been silent, and still better if they had recognised in the sufferer the tried and buffeted servant of God, and had withdrawn their charges, which his innermost nature repudiates. But Zophar is not disposed to allow the reproach of the correction which they received to rest upon him; in him we have an illustration of the fact that a man is never more eloquent than when he has to defend his injured honour, but that he is also never more in danger of regarding the extravagant images of natural excitement as a higher inspiration, or, however, as striking justifications coming from the fulness of a superior perception. It has been rightly remarked, that in Zophar the poet described to us one of those hot-heads who pretend to fight for religion that is imperilled, while they are zealous for their own wounded vanity. Instead of being warned by Job’s threat of judgment, he thrusts back his attempt at producing dismay be a similar attempt. He has nothing new to bring forward in reply to Job; the poet has skilfully understood how to turn the heart of his readers step by step from the friends, and in the same degree to gain its sympathy for Job. For they are completely spent in their one dogma; and while in Job an endless multitude of thoughts and feelings surge up one after another, their heart is as hermetically closed against every new perception and emotion. All that is new in the speech of Zophar, and in those of the friends generally, in this second course of the controversy, is, that they no longer try to lure Job on to penitence by promises, but endeavour to bring him to a right state of mind, or rather to weaken his supposedly-mad assault upon themselves, by presenting to him only the most terrible images. It is not possible to illustrate the principle that the covetous, uncompassionate rich man is torn away from his prosperity by the punishment God decrees for him, more fearfully and more graphically than Zophar does it; and this terrible description is not overdrawn, but true and appropriate-but in opposition to Job it is the extreme of uncharitableness which outdoes itself: applied to him, the fearful truth becomes a fearful lie. For in Zophar’s mind Job is the godless man, whose rejoicing does not last long, who indeed raises himself towards heaven, but as his own dung must he perish, and to whom the sin of his unjust gain is become as the poison of the viper in his belly. The arrow of God’s wrath sticks fast in him; and though he draw it out, it has already inflicted on him a deservedly mortal wound! The fire of God which has already begun to consume his possessions, does not rest until even the last remnant in his tent is consumed. The heavens, where in his self-delusion he seeks the defender of his innocence, reveal his guilt, and the earth, which he hopes to have as a witness in his favour, rises up as his accuser. Thus mercilessly does Zophar seek to stifle the new trust which Job conceives towards God, to extinguish the faith which bursts upwards from beneath the ashes of the conflict. Zophar’s method of treatment is soul-destroying; he seeks to slay that life which germinates from the feeling of death, instead of strengthening it. He does not, however, succeed; for so long as Job does not become doubtful of his innocence, the uncharitableness of the friends must be to him the thread by which he finds his way through the labyrinth of his sufferings to the God who loves him, although He seems to be angry with him.

Second Address of Zophar; Destruction of the Wicked. (b. c. 1520.)

1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, 2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste. 3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer. 4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, 5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? 6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; 7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? 8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. 9 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

Here, I. Zophar begins very passionately, and seems to be in a great heat at what Job had said. Being resolved to condemn Job for a bad man, he was much displeased that he talked so like a good man, and, as it should seem, broke in upon him, and began abruptly (v. 2): Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer. He takes no notice of what Job had said to move their pity, or to evidence his own integrity, but fastens upon the reproof he gave them in the close of his discourse, counts that a reproach, and thinks himself therefore obliged to answer, because Job had bidden them be afraid of the sword, that he might not seem to be frightened by his menaces. The best counsel is too often ill taken from an antagonist, and therefore usually may be well spared. Zophar seemed more in haste to speak than became a wise man; but he excuses his haste with two things:—1. That Job had given him strong provocation (v. 3): "I have heard the check of my reproach, and cannot bear to hear it any longer." Job's friends, I doubt, had spirits too high to deal with a man in his low condition; and high spirits are impatient of contradiction, and think themselves affronted if all about them do not say as they say; they cannot bear a check but they call it the check of their reproach, and then they are bound in honour to return it, if not to draw upon him that gave it. 2. That his own heart gave him a strong instigation. His thoughts caused him to answer (v. 2), for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks; but he fathers the instigation (v. 3) upon the spirit of his understanding: that indeed should cause us to answer; we should rightly apprehend a thing and duly consider it before we speak of it; but whether it did so here or no is a question. Men often mistake the dictates of their passion for the dictates of their reason, and therefore think they do well to be angry.

II. Zophar proceeds very plainly to show the ruin and destruction of wicked people, insinuating that because Job was destroyed and ruined he was certainly a wicked man and a hypocrite. Observe,

1. How this doctrine is introduced, v. 4, where he appeals, (1.) To Job's own knowledge and conviction: "Knowest thou not this? Canst thou be ignorant of a truth so plain? Or canst thou doubt of a truth which has been confirmed by the suffrages of all mankind?" Those know little who do not know that the wages of sin is death. (2.) To the experience of all ages. It was known of old, since man was placed upon the earth; that is, ever since man was made he has had this truth written in his heart, that the sin of sinners will be their ruin; and ever since there were instances of wickedness (which there were soon after man was placed on the earth) there were instances of the punishments of it, witness the exclusions of Adam and Cain. When sin entered into the world death entered with it: all the world knows that evil pursues sinners, whom vengeance suffers not to live (Acts xxviii. 4), and subscribes to that (Isa. iii. 11), Woe to the wicked; it shall be ill with him, sooner or later.

2. How it is laid down (v. 5): The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment. Observe, (1.) He asserts the misery, not only of those who are openly wicked and profane, but of hypocrites, who secretly practice wickedness under a show and profession of religion, because such a wicked man he looked upon Job to be; and it is true that a form of godliness, if it be made use of for a cloak of maliciousness, does but make bad worse. Dissembled piety is double iniquity, and the ruin that attends it will be accordingly. The hottest place in hell will be the portion of hypocrites, as our Saviour intimates, Matt. xxiv. 51. (2.) He grants that wicked men may for a time prosper, may be secure and easy, and very merry. You may see them in triumph and joy, triumphing and rejoicing in their wealth and power, their grandeur and success, triumphing and rejoicing over their poor honest neighbours whom they vex and oppress: they feel no evil, they fear none. Job's friends were loth to own, at first, that wicked people might prosper at all (ch. iv. 9), until Job proved it plainly (ch. ix. 24, xii. 6), and now Zophar yields it; but, (3.) He lays it down for a certain truth that they will not prosper long. Their joy is but for a moment, and will quickly end in endless sorrow. Though he be ever so great, and rich, and jovial, the hypocrite will be humbled, and mortified, and made miserable.

3. How it is illustrated, v. 6-9. (1.) He supposes his prosperity to be very high, as high as you can imagine, v. 6. It is not his wisdom and virtue, but his worldly wealth or greatness, that he accounts his excellency, and values himself upon. We will suppose that to mount up to the heavens, and, since his spirit always rises with his condition, you may suppose that with it his head reaches to the clouds. He is every way advanced; the world has done the utmost it can for him. He looks down upon all about him with disdain, while they look up to him with admiration, envy, or fear. We will suppose him to bid fair for a universal monarchy. And, though he cannot but have made himself many enemies before he arrived to this pitch of prosperity, yet he thinks himself as much out of the reach of their darts as if he were in the clouds. (2.) He is confident that his ruin will accordingly be very great, and his fall the more dreadful for his having risen so high: He shall perish for ever, v. 7. His pride and security were the certain presages of his misery. This will certainly be true of all impenitent sinners in the other world; they shall be undone, for ever undone. But Zophar means his ruin in this world; and indeed sometimes notorious sinners are remarkably cut off by present judgments; they have reason enough to fear what Zophar here threatens even the triumphant sinner with. [1.] A shameful destruction: He shall perish like his own dung or dunghill, so loathsome is he to God and all good men, and so willing will the world be to part with him, Ps. cxix. 119; Isa. lxvi. 24. [2.] A surprising destruction. He will be brought into desolation in a moment (Ps. lxxiii. 19), so that those about him, that saw him but just now, will ask, "Where is he? Could he that made so great a figure vanish and expire so suddenly?" [3.] A swift destruction, v. 8. He shall fly away upon the wings of his own terrors, and be chased away by the just imprecations of all about him, who would gladly get rid of him. [4.] An utter destruction. It will be total; he shall go away like a dream, or vision of the night, which was a mere phantasm, and, whatever in it pleased the fancy, it is quite gone, and nothing of it remains but what serves us to laugh at the folly of. It will be final (v. 9): The eye that saw him, and was ready to adore him, shall see him no more, and the place he filled shall no more behold him, having given him an eternal farewell when he went to his own place, as Judas, Acts i. 25.

Misery of the Wicked. (b. c. 1520.)

10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. 11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. 12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; 13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: 14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. 15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. 16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him. 17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. 18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein. 19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away a house which he builded not; 20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired. 21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods. 22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.

The instances here given of the miserable condition of the wicked man in this world are expressed with great fulness and fluency of language, and the same thing returned to again and repeated in other words. Let us therefore reduce the particulars to their proper heads, and observe,

I. What his wickedness is for which he is punished.

1. The lusts of the flesh, here called the sins of his youth (v. 11); for those are the sins which, at that age, people are most tempted to. The forbidden pleasures of sense are said to be sweet in his mouth (v. 12); he indulges himself in all the gratifications of the carnal appetite, and takes an inordinate complacency in them, as yielding the most agreeable delights. That is the satisfaction which he hides under his tongue, and rolls there, as the most dainty delicate thing that can be. He keeps it still within his mouth (v. 13); let him have that, and he desires no more; he will never part with that for the spiritual and divine pleasures of religion, which he has no relish or nor affection for. His keeping it still in his mouth denotes his obstinately persisting in his sin (he spares it when he should kill and mortify it, and forsakes it not, but holds it fast, and goes on frowardly in it), and also his re-acting of his sin by revolving it and remembering it with pleasure, as that adulterous woman (Ezek. xxiii. 19) who multiplied her whoredoms by calling to remembrance the days of her youth; so does this wicked man here. Or his hiding it and keeping it under his tongue denotes his industrious concealment of his beloved lust. Being a hypocrite, his haunts of sin are secret, that he may save the credit of his profession; but he who knows what is in the heart knows what is under the tongue too, and will discover it shortly.

2. The love of the world and the wealth of it. It is in worldly wealth that he places his happiness, and therefore he sets his heart upon it. See here, (1.) How greedy he is of it (v. 15): He has swallowed down riches as eagerly as ever a hungry man swallowed down meat; and is still crying, "Give, give." It is that which he desired (v. 20); it was, in his eye, the best gift, and that which he coveted earnestly. (2.) What pains he takes for it: It is that which he laboured for (v. 18), not by honest diligence in a lawful calling, but by an unwearied prosecution of all ways and methods, per fas, per nefas—right or wrong, to be rich. We must labour, not to be rich (Prov. xxiii. 4), but to be charitable, that we may have to give (Eph. iv. 28), not to spend. (3.) What great things he promises himself from it, intimated in the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter (v. 17); his being disappointed of them supposes that he had flattered himself with the hopes of them: he expected rivers of sensual delights.

3. Violence and oppression, and injustice in his poor neighbours, v. 19. This was the sin of the giants of the old world, and a sin that, as much as any, brings God's judgments upon nations and families. It is charged upon this wicked man, (1.) That he has forsaken the poor, taken no care of them, shown no kindness to them, nor made any provision for them. At first perhaps, for a pretence, he gave alms like the Pharisees, to gain a reputation; but, when he had served his turn by this practice, he left it off, and forsook the poor, whom before he seemed to be concerned for. Those who do good, but not from a good principle, though they may abound in it, will not abide in it. (2.) That he has oppressed them, crushed them, taken all advantages against them to do them a mischief. To enrich himself, he has robbed the spital, and made the poor poorer. (3.) That he has violently taken away their houses, which he had no right to, as Ahab took Naboth's vineyard, not by secret fraud, by forgery, perjury, or some trick in law, but avowedly, and by open violence.

II. What his punishment is for this wickedness.

1. He shall be disappointed in his expectations, and shall not find that satisfaction in his worldly wealth which he vainly promised himself (v. 17): He shall never see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter, with which he hoped to glut himself. The world is not that to those who love it, and court it, and admire it, which they fancy it will be. The enjoyment sinks far below the raised expectation.

2. He shall be diseased and distempered in his body; and how little comfort a man has in riches if he has not health! Sickness and pain, especially it they be in extremity, embitter all his enjoyments. This wicked man has all the delights of sense wound up to the height of pleasurableness; but what real happiness can he enjoy when his bones are full of the sins of his youth (v. 11), that is, of the effects of those sins? By his drunkenness and gluttony, his uncleanness and wantonness, when he was young, he contracted those diseases which are painful to him long after, and perhaps make his life very miserable, and, as Solomon speaks, consume his flesh and his body, Prov. v. 11. Perhaps he was given to fight when he was young, and then made nothing of a cut or a bruise in a fray; but he feels it in his bones long after. But can he get no ease, no relief? No, he is likely to carry his pains and diseases with him to the grave, or rather they are likely to carry him thither, and so the sins of his youth shall lie down with him in the dust; the very putrefying of his body in the grave is to him the effect of sin (ch. xxiv. 19), so that his iniquity is upon his bones there, Ezek. xxxii. 27. The sin of sinners follows them to the other side death.

3. He shall be disquieted and troubled in his mind: Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, v. 20. He has not that ease in his own mind that people think he has, but is in continual agitation. The ill-gotten wealth which he has swallowed down makes him sick, and, like undigested meat, is always upbraiding him. Let none expect to enjoy that comfortably which they have gotten unjustly. The unquietness of his mind arises, (1.) From his conscience looking back, and filling him with the fear of the wrath of God against him for his wickedness. Even that wickedness which was sweet in the commission, and was rolled under the tongue as a delicate morsel, becomes bitter in the reflection, and, when it is reviewed, fills him with horror and vexation. In his bowels it is turned (v. 14) like John's book, in his mouth as sweet as honey, but, when he had eaten it, his belly was bitter, Rev. x. 10. Such a thing is sin; it is turned into the gall of asps, than which nothing is more bitter, the poison of asps (v. 16), than which nothing more fatal, and so it will be to him; what he sucked so sweetly, and with so much pleasure, will prove to him the poison of asps; so will all unlawful gains be. The fawning tongue will prove the viper's tongue. All the charming graces that are thought to be in sin will, when conscience is awakened, turn into so many raging furies. (2.) From his cares, looking forward, v. 22. In the fulness of his sufficiency, when he thinks himself most happy, and most sure of the continuance of his happiness, he shall be in straits, that is, he shall think himself so, through the anxieties and perplexities of his own mind, as that rich man who, when his ground brought forth plentifully, cried out, What shall I do? Luke xii. 17.

4. He shall be dispossessed of his estate; that shall sink and dwindle away to nothing, so that he shall not rejoice therein, v. 18. He shall not only never rejoice truly, but not long rejoice at all. (1.) What he has unjustly swallowed he shall be compelled to disgorge (v. 15): He swallowed down riches, and then thought himself sure of them, and that they were as much his own as the meat he had eaten; but he was deceived: he shall vomit them up again; his own conscience perhaps may make him so uneasy in the keeping of what he has gotten that, for the quiet of his own mind, he shall make restitution, and that not with the pleasure of a virtue, but the pain of a vomit, and with the utmost reluctancy. Or, if he do not himself refund what he has violently taken away, God will, by his providence, force him to it, and bring it about, one way or other, that ill-gotten goods shall return to the right owners: God shall cast them out of his belly, while yet the love of the sin is not cast out of his heart. So loud shall the clamours of the poor, whom he has impoverished, be against him, that he shall be forced to send his children to them to soothe them and beg their pardon (v. 10): His children shall seek to please the poor, while his own hands shall restore them their goods with shame (v. 18): That which he laboured for, by all the arts of oppression, shall he restore, and shall not so swallow it down as to digest it; it shall not stay with him, but according to his shame shall the restitution be; having gotten a great deal unjustly, he shall restore a great deal, so that when every one has his own he will have but little left for himself. To be made to restore what was unjustly gotten, by the sanctifying grace of God, as Zaccheus was, is a great mercy; he voluntarily and cheerfully restored four-fold, and yet had a great deal left to give to the poor, Luke xix. 8. But to be forced to restore, as Judas was, merely by the horrors of a despairing conscience, has none of that benefit and comfort attending it, for he threw down the pieces of silver and went and hanged himself. (2.) He shall be stripped of all he has and become a beggar. He that spoiled others shall himself be spoiled (Isa. xxxiii. 1); for every hand of the wicked shall be upon him. The innocent, whom he has wronged, sit down by their loss, saying, as David, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, but my hand shall not be upon him, 1 Sam. xxiv. 13. But though they have forgiven him, though they will make no reprisals, divine justice will, and often makes the wicked to avenge the quarrel of the righteous, and squeezes and crushes one bad man by the hand of another upon him. Thus, when he is plucked on all sides, he shall not save of that which he desired (v. 20), not only he shall not save it all, but he shall save nothing of it. There shall none of his meat (which he coveted so much, and fed upon with so much pleasure) be left, v. 21. All his neighbours and relations shall look upon him to be in such bad circumstances that, when he is dead, no man shall look for his goods, none of his kindred shall expect to be a penny the better for him, nor be willing to take out letters of administration for what he leaves behind him. In all this Zophar reflects upon Job, who had lost all and was reduced to the last extremity.

23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating. 24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. 25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him. 26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle. 27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. 28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath. 29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.

Zophar, having described the many embarrassments and vexations which commonly attend the wicked practices of oppressors and cruel men, here comes to show their utter ruin at last.

I. Their ruin will take its rise from God's wrath and vengeance, v. 23. The hand of the wicked was upon him (v. 22), every hand of the wicked. His hand was against every one, and therefore every man's hand will be against him. Yet, in grappling with these, he might go near to make his part good; but his heart cannot endure, nor his hands be strong, when God shall deal with him (Ezek. xxii. 14), when God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him and rain it upon him. Every word here speaks terror. It is not only the justice of God that is engaged against him, but his wrath, the deep resentment of provocations given to himself; it is the fury of his wrath, incensed to the highest degree; it is cast upon him with force and fierceness; it is rained upon him in abundance; it comes on his head like the fire and brimstone upon Sodom, to which the psalmist also refers, Ps. xi. 6. On the wicked God shall rain fire and brimstone. There is no fence against this, but in Christ, who is the only covert from the storm and tempest, Isa. xxxii. 2. This wrath shall be cast upon him when he is about to fill his belly, just going to glut himself with what he has gotten and promising himself abundant satisfaction in it. Then, when he is eating, shall this tempest surprise him, when he is secure and easy, and in apprehension of no danger; as the ruin of the old world and Sodom came when they were in the depth of their security and the height of their sensuality, as Christ observes, Luke xvii. 26, &c. Perhaps Zophar here reflects on the death of Job's children when they were eating and drinking.

II. Their ruin will be inevitable, and there will be no possibility of escaping it (v. 24): He shall flee from the iron weapon. Flight argues guilt. He will not humble himself under the judgments of God, nor seek means to make his peace with him. All his care is to escape the vengeance that pursues him, but in vain: if he escape the sword, yet the bow of steel shall strike him through. God has weapons of all sorts; he has both whet his sword and bent his bow (Ps. vii. 12, 13); he can deal with his enemies cominus vel eminus—at hand or afar off. He has a sword for those that think to fight it out with him by their strength, and a bow for those that think to avoid him by their craft. See Isa. xxiv. 17, 18; Jer. xlviii. 43, 44. He that is marked for ruin, though he may escape one judgment, will find another ready for him.

III. It will be a total terrible ruin. When the dart that has struck him through (for when God shoots he is sure to hit his mark, when he strikes he strikes home) comes to be drawn out of his body, when the glittering sword (the lightning, so the word is), the flaming sword, the sword that is bathed in heaven (Isa. xxxiv. 5), comes out of his gall, O what terrors are upon him! How strong are the convulsions, how violent are the dying agonies! How terrible are the arrests of death to a wicked man!

IV. Sometimes it is a ruin that comes upon him insensibly, v. 26. 1. The darkness he is wrapped up in is a hidden darkness: it is all darkness, utter darkness, without the least mixture of light, and it is hid in his secret place, whither he has retreated and where he hopes to shelter himself; he never retires into his own conscience but he finds himself in the dark and utterly at a loss. 2. The fire he is consumed by is a fire not blown, kindled without noise, a consumption which every body sees the effect of, but nobody sees the cause of. It is plain that the gourd is withered, but the worm at the root, that causes it to wither, is out of sight. He is wasted by a soft gentle fire—surely, but very slowly. When the fuel is very combustible, the fire needs no blowing, and that is his case; he is ripe for ruin. The proud, and those that do wickedly, shall be stubble, Mal. iv. 1. An unquenchable fire shall consume him (so some read it), and that is certainly true of hell-fire.

V. It is a ruin, not only to himself, but to his family: It shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle, for the curse shall reach him, and he shall be cut off perhaps by the same grievous disease. There is an entail of wrath upon the family, which will destroy both his heirs and his inheritance, v. 28. 1. His posterity will be rooted out: The increase of his house shall depart, shall either be cut off by untimely deaths or forced to run their country. Numerous and growing families, if wicked and vile, are soon reduced, dispersed, and extirpated, by the judgments of God. 2. His estate will be sunk. His goods shall flow away from his family as fast as ever they flowed into it, when the day of God's wrath comes, for which, all the while his estate was in the getting by fraud and oppression, he was treasuring up wrath.

VI. It is a ruin which will manifestly appear to be just and righteous, and what he has brought upon himself by his own wickedness; for (v. 27) the heaven shall reveal his iniquity, that is, the God of heaven, who sees all the secret wickedness of the wicked, will, by some means or other, let all the world know what a base man he has been, that they may own the justice of God in all that is brought upon him. The earth also shall rise up against him, both to discover his wickedness and to avenge it. The earth shall disclose her blood, Isa. xxvi. 21. The earth will rise up against him (as the stomach rises against that which is loathsome), and will no longer keep him. The heaven reveals his iniquity, and therefore will not receive him. Whither then must he go but to hell? If the God of heaven and earth be his enemy, neither heaven nor earth will show him any kindness, but all the hosts of both are and will be at war with him.

VII. Zophar concludes like an orator (v. 29): This is the portion of a wicked man from God; it is allotted him, it is designed him, as his portion. He will have it at last, as a child has his portion, and he will have it for a perpetuity; it is what he must abide by: This is the heritage of his decree from God; it is the settled rule of his judgment, and fair warning is given of it. O wicked man! thou shalt surely die, Ezek. xxxiii. 8. Though impenitent sinners do not always fall under such temporal judgments as are here described (therein Zophar was mistaken), yet the wrath of God abides upon them, and they are made miserable by spiritual judgments, which are much worse, their consciences being either, on the one hand, a terror to them, and then they are in continual amazement, or, on the other hand, seared and silenced, and then they are given up to a reprobate sense and bound over to eternal ruin. Never was any doctrine better explained, or worse applied, than this by Zophar, who intended by all this to prove Job a hypocrite. Let us receive the good explication, and make a better application, for warning to ourselves to stand in awe and not to sin.

CHAP. XX. Verſe 1. Then anſwered Zophat the Naamathite and ſaid.]

IF a wiſe man contendeth with a fooliſh man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no reſt, Prov. 29.9. Chriſt piped to that crooked generation, Jobs mourned to them, but all to no purpoſe; abſurd and unreaſonable people will never be ſatisfied, or ſet down ſay what you can to them, ſuch is their pertinacy and peeviſhneſs. Job had utterred himſelf in ſuch paſſionate expreſſions as might have moved ſtony hearts. Sed ſurdo fabulam. Ʋbi babent ſere ſingulae voces aliquid ponderis, Merl. He had ſet forth his own miſery, begged their pity, made an excellent confeſſion of his Faith, every word where of had its weight, each ſylable its ſubſtance: He had laſtly terrified them with the threats of Gods Sword: but nothing would do. Zophar here (though he had little to ſay more, then what he had ſaid chap. 11. yet he) takes occaſion from Jobs laſt words, though full of love, to rough hew him again, and makes as if he were neceſſitated thereunto for his own and his fellows neceſſary defence. Vatablus thinks that Zophar here maketh anſwer, not to the preceding words, but to thoſe in the 12 Chapter, where Job had complained, that wicked Oppreſſors live commonly in greateſt peace and proſperity. Whatever it is, Zophar henceforth will ſay no more: either he had ſaid what he could, or was ſatisfied with Jobs Reply in the next Chapter: or laſtly. quia luſurum ſe operans credebat, as Mercer obſerveth; becauſe he thought he ſhould loſe his labour, which no wiſe man would do.

Verſe 2. Therefore do my thoughts cauſe me to anſwer.] q. d. Whereas I had thought, O Job, to have ſpoke no more to thee, (for I ſee I do but loſe my ſweet words) thy laſt, Comminatory expreſſions have altered my reſolution. So nettled I am, that I muſt needſly interrupt thee. And yet think not that I ſhall ſpeak what ſoever lyeth uppermoſt: for I have dipped and dyed my words in my thought, which do now prompt me what to anſwer and bid me make haſte.

And for this I make haſte.]Lavat. Leſt I ſhould forget the particulars of thy ſpeech, whereto I am to anſwer. Munſter rendreth it thus, Et ob is promptitudo mea eſt intra me, as if Zophar had boaſted of his ready elocution, as in the next verſe of his ripe underſtanding. Some render it, E[illegible: 2 letters] this I delight in inſpiring.

Verſe 3. I have heard the check of my reproach.] Zophar conceived himſelf diſgraced as well as menaced by Job; and this kindled him: Some are of ſo teſty a nature, ſaith one, ſo skittiſh and unquiet humour, that a little offenſive breath, a diſgraceful word, blows them up into rage that will not be laid down, with out revenge, or reparation of their credits. Jobs reproofs were by this man conſtrued for reproaches: and what was ſpoken to them all, he applieth to himſelf. It appeareth that he was ſick of a Noli me tangere; when being touched ſo gently, nettle-like, he ſtingeth him who handled him.

And the Spirit of my underſtanding cauſeth me to anſwer.] This I ſhall do with reaſon and underſtanding, not with paſſion and recrimination, Spiritus Dei nec mendax, nec mordax; meekneſs of wiſdom is a fruit of Gods Spirit; by the which, and not by his reaſonable ſoul only, Zophar ſeemeth to himſelf to be carried on. And ſurely they are holy Truths all along that he uttereth, but wreſted and miſapplyed as to Job, whom he will needs have to be wicked, becauſe wretched; Interim obſervemus, ſaith Lavater, mean-while let us obſerve, that theſe things, ſc. the ſtate and portion of the wicked, the greatneſs and ſuddenneſs of their puniſhments is therefore by Gods appointment ſo oft propounded and preſſed in this whole Book (whereof this is almoſt the ſole Argument) that we might be right in that point; fear to offend, and not fret at the wicked mans proſperity, which is but momentany. The Tigurin[illegible: 1 letter]s tranſlate this clauſe thus, Tametſi me conſcientia hîc conſolabitur Albeit herein my conſcience ſhall comfort me.

Verſe 4. Knoweſt thou not this of old?] Whether Zophar intended his own Conſcience or not, before, he here appeareth to Jobs; and ſecretly taxeth him of going againſt it, or, at leaſt of groſſe ignorance: Knoweſt thou not this, which every one knoweth, that is not a meer Novice, and which is proved by the examples and experience of all ages? To wit, Malis male eſſe; that it ſhall be ill with the wicked: This is a generally received maxime, and the Hiſtories of all ages do plainly and plentifully confirm it. Hinc collige, diligenter obſervanda eſſe, &c.Merlin. Hence we may well gather, that Gods Judgements againſt wicked perſons are to be diligently obſerved out of the Hiſtories of all ages, both divine, and humane.

Since man was placed upon the earth] Heb. Since he placed man upon the earth. viz. in that earthly Paradiſe the Garden of Eden. planted on purpoſe for mans pleaſure; where nevertheleſſe he ſtayed not one night. as ſome gather from Pſal. 49.12.Pecorib[illegible: 1 letter] morticinis. but ſoon by his ſin became like the beaſts that periſh, that dye of the murrain ſaith Junius, and ſo are good for nothing. Cain for like cauſe was caſt out, the old world drowned, Sodom and her ſiſters conſumed with fire, &c. There cannot be one inſtance given to the contrary of that which is here affirmed, viz.

Verſe 5. That the tryumphing of the wicked is ſhort.] Heb. That the ſhouting of the wicked is from neer. it is of no long ſtanding, but like a blaze of thorns that is quickly extinct, or as a bubble in the water that is ſoon down: The pleaſure of ſin is but for a ſeaſon, Hujus ſententiae exemplum habes in Goliah, ſaith Brentius here, An example of this ſentence we have in Goliah, 1 Sam. 17. And another in his Countrymen the Philiſtines, who had twice beaten the Iſraelites, and taken the Ark, 1 Sam. 4. but this tryumph was ſoon at an end: and ſo was that of the Jewes when they had crucified Chriſt, and now danced upon his grave, as the Proverb is; but he aroſe in deſpite of them, and ſet up his Trophies. Say that the tryumph of the wicked ſhould laſt as long as life, what's that to the infinite? Punctum eſt quod vivimus, & puncto minus. But wicked men commonly dye before their time, as Solomon phraſeth it, Eccleſ. 7.17. that is, by an untimely death, they live not half their dayes, Pſal. 55.25. God cuts them off, that others may live more quietly: and whiles they live, their comforts are not ſincere, but mixt with many moleſtations: Little knoweth the world where their new ſhooes pinch them, as that roman ſaid. One little drop of an evil conſcience can trouble a whole ſea of the wicked mans tryumphs.

The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment.] Zophar had a ſtrong conceit that Job was but an hypocrite, one that was wicked before God in heart, notwithſtanding his fair pretences and proſeſſions of piety, and ſhould therefore be led forth with the workers of iniquity, Pſal. 175.5. as cattel led to the ſlaughter, or as Bulls led to the Altar, with Garlands on their hornes, and Muſick by their ſides, Act. 14.13. but ſuddenly they feel and fall under the murthering Axe. Such is the hypocrites joy, and Zophar would he ſhould know ſo much, being ſenſible of this, that himſelf was the party in ſpeech; ſith his proſperity had ended in miſery, and God had daſhed all his comforts.

Verſe 6. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens.] Though he conceit himſelf, and would have others hold him to be more then a man, and to accord him divine honour. If his pride aſcend even up to heaven, ſo the Vulgar rendreth it. If his gifts aſcend up to heaven, ſo the Septuagint, and indeed hypocrites are ever lifted up with their gifts, as ſome Corinthians were with their waxen wings, 1 Cor. 8.1. being enriched in all utterance and knowledge, and coming behind others in no gift, 1 Cor. 1.7. yet were they babes at beſt, and carnal, walking as men, chap. 3 2, 3. their Religion was more in notion then in motion: They had the ſpiritual Rickets, grew big in the head, &c. as the Moon, they encreaſed in light, but not in heat. In which reſpect alſo, and for her external priviledges, Capernaum is ſaid to be lifted up to heaven, Matth. 11.23. And the Temporary to taſte of the heavenly gift, to partake of the powers of the world to come, Hebr. 6.4, 5.

And his head reach unto the clouds] Aequalis aſtris gradior, faith He in the Poet: and Bibulus in Coele eſt, Sen. in Thieſt. Cic. ad Attic. ſaith the Oratour. The Heathen Rhetorick is but dull ſtuff to that in this Book; and indeed in this one Chapter. An hypocrites head is oft above the clouds of heaven, when his heart is beneath the clods of the earth: Like the Eagle, which when he ſoareth higheſt of all, even out of ſight almoſt. hath his eye all the while upon his prey below. Or like the Apricock tree, which ſhoots up and leanes upon the wall, but is faſt rooted in the earth. This whole Alluſion may be unto a tree, like that of Nebuchadnezzar, whoſe height was great, and reached unto heaven, Dan. 4.10, 11. with 22. Or that of the Amorite, whoſe height was like the heighth of the Cedars, and he was ſtrong as the Oaks, Amos 3.9.

Verſe 7. Yet he ſhall periſh for ever like his own dung.] Then the which nothing is more filthy an deteſtable. See this exemplified in Herod, Haman, Boniface the Eight, bloody Bonner buried in a muck-hil, &c. The word rendred dung, hath its denomination from rowling, becauſe it is rolled out of doores, and ſwept out of ſight: Many inſtances hereof might be given in the priſtine and moderne Perſecutors, puniſhed with ignominious and diſgraceful ends. Siſera and Jabin periſhed at Endor, and became as dung for the earth, Pſal. 83.10. Jehorans died undeſired. Julian the Apoſtate abhorred. Iſai. 14.23 God hath for ſuch, a Beeſome of Deſtruction.

They which have ſeen him Where is he?] They which have ſeen him with wonder, ſhall now ſee him with horrour, when they ſee him at ſuch an under, ſuch an ebbe, ſuch a dead low water. See this exemplified in that proud Caldean, Iſai. 14.4, 12, 16.

Tam ſubito caſu, quae valuere, ruunt.

Verſe 8. He ſhall flee away as a dream, &c.] As a delightful dream is ſoon forgotten; ſo ſhall it he with the hypocrite. His felicity is meerly imaginary, his joy is but as the commotion of the affections in a dream, which comes to nothing, Iſai. 20.7, 8. A man that is to be hanged next day, may dream over night he ſhall be a King. A man that ſleepeth upon a ſteep Rock, may dream of great poſſeſſions befalne him, and ſtarting for joy, may fall to the bottom, and miſchieve himſelf, Pſal. 73.20. As a dream when one awaketh, ſo. O Lord, when thou awakeſt, thou ſhalt deſpise their image; that is, their painted pageant of outward pomp. Surely ſuch, of all men, walk in a vain ſhew, or in an image, Pſal. 39, 6. their ſeeming proſperity hath no tack conſiſtence in it, themſelves and their money periſh together, Act. 8.20.

Yea, he ſhall be chaſed away.] By the diſpleaſure of Almighty God, he ſhall be driven or rather kickt out of the world.

As a viſion of the night.] Phaſma five Phantaſma, which paſſes ſooner out of memory, and is more tranſient then a day viſion.

Verſe 9. The eye alſo which ſaw him, ſhall ſee him no more.] He ſhall be utterly out of ſight, out of mind; Ʋnkent, unkiſt, as the Northern Proverb hath it. See chap. 7.8, 10. Where Job ſpeaketh as much of himſelf, and Zopher here twits him with it: as if Sorex ſuo periiſſet indicio, Job were an hypoctite by his own confeſſion: ſo ingenious is evil will.

Verſe 10. His children ſhall ſeek to pleaſe the poor.] Tenni[illegible: 1 letter]res ſunt ipſit tenuibus, ſaith Junius; ſhall be poorer then the pooreſt, and full glad to comply with them, and humour them, to beg with them, if not to beg of them. A juſt hand of God upon Oppreſſors, whoſe work it hath been to make many poor, and now their poſterity are brought to extreme poverty. Such ſhame conſult theſe men to their houſes, beſides their ſin againſt their own ſouls, Hob 2.10. See the Note there. Some read it thus, The poor ſhall oppreſſe his children; and how grievous that is, ſee Prov. 28.3. with the Note. A Heathen Hiſtorian obſerved, that Dionyſius, Val. lib. 1. cap. 2 after his death, paid deare for his Sacriledge, in the diſaſters that befell his children.

And his hands ſhall reſtore their goods.] Or, For his hands ſhall, &c. They ſhould indeed reſtore their ill-gotten goods, though to the impoveriſhing of their poſterity, though they left their children no more but a wallet to beg from door to door. But ſuch are rare birds: moſt men will rather venture it, then be drawne, Zacheus-like, to make reſtitution. God muſt give them a Vomit, as verſ. 20. or they will lay up nothing: part they will not with thoſe murthering morſels, that riches of iniquity (Luke 16.9) they have devoured, but what they can neither will nor chuſe, as being compelled to do it either by Law or force, either by juſtice or violence. The right owners do not alwayes receive what was by wrench or wile gotten from them: but theſe oppreſſors, or their imps are many times rooked or robbed by others as bad as themſelves (as the uſutious Jewes are at this day by the injurious Papiſts, who uſe them as Spunges, which they may ſqueeze at their pleaſure:) God ſo diſpoſing and ordering the diſorders of men to his owne glory.

Verſe 11. His bones are full of the ſin of his youth] Fowl practiſes have ſo grown up together with ſome ſinful people, that they may ſay of them as the Strumpet Quartilla did of her Virginity, that ſhe could not remember that ever ſhe had been a maid. This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedſt not my voice, Junonom meam i[illegible: 1 letter] atam habeam ſi unquam me meminerim Virginc[illegible: 1 letter]s. Petron. Jer. 22.21. Then thou hadſt no mind to it, but now thou haſt leſſe, thy heart being hardned by the deceitfulneſſe of ſin, Heb. 3.17. Now in the froth of theſe youthful vanities unrepented of, breedeth that worm of an evil conſcience that never dyeth. In the beſt, they procure much ruth, though not utter ruine. The ſweet wayes of my youth (ſaith a man afterwards eminent for holineſſe) did breed ſuch wormes in my ſoul, as that my heavenly Father will have me yet a little while continue my bitter Wormſeed, becauſe they cannot otherwiſe be killed. Thus he Holy David prayeth hard, Pſal. 25.7. Remember not againſt me the ſins of my youth. Auſtin was much in the ſame ſuit. That age of mans life is very ſubject to, and uſually very full of ſin, yea reproachful evils, jer. 31.19. Fleſhly luſts that war againſt the ſoul, 1 Pet. 2.12. and like ſo many noiſom diſeaſes ſoak into the bones, and ſuck out the marrow, to the conſumption and deſtruction of the whole man.

Which ſhall lye down with him in the duſt; that is, ſaith Vatablus, God will ſo forſake him, that he ſhall never repent, but ſhall dye in his ſins, which is worſe then to dye in priſon, or to dye in a ditch; for they that dye n ſin, ſhall riſe in ſin, and ſtand before Chriſt in ſin, and how ſhall they be able to ſtand before him?

Verſe 12. Though wickedneſſe be ſweet in his mouth.] As poiſon ſwallowed in ſome pleaſing meat or drink. Agrippine, in poiſoning her husband Claudius the Emperor, tempered it in meat he moſt delighted in. Poiſon given in Wine, works more furiouſly, as did that Waſſail the Monk drank to King John of England. That wickedneſſe with a witneſſe here meant, is oppreſſion, and is ſaid to be held in the mouth, and hid under the tongue, as ſome think, becauſe it is oft covered with godly ſpeeches, whereby he ſeeketh to circumvent and deceive his neighbour. Others by theſe expreſſions will have underſtood continuance in ſin and complacency therein, rolling it under his tongue, as a child doth a piece of ſugar, which he is loath to part with,Ariſt Ethic. l. 3 Aelian. var. biſt. l. 10. and retaining it a long thime in his mouth that he may taſte it with more pleaſure. Philo[illegible: 1 letter]enus wiſhed his neck were as long as a Cranes, that he might the longer keep the taſte of his ſweet-meats and dainty morſels. Such is the wicked mans wiſh, and his practiſe is anſwerable: for and his tongue is miſchief and vanity, Pſal. 1.7. He licks his lips with the remembrance of his former ſins, and ſo recommitteth them in his deſires, at leaſt, whilſt he recalleth former acts with delight. Thus the rebellious Iſraelites called to mind the Fleſh-pots of Egypt, and were moved: and thus afterwards they multiplyed their whoredomes by calling to remembrance the dayes of their youth, wherein they had gone a whoring in the Land of Egypt, Ezek. 23.21.

Verſe 13. Though he ſpa[illegible: 2 letters] it, and forſake it not.] This is the ſame in ſenſe with the former verſe, and the ſecond time repeated, that Job might know, that he was the man here meant; Ʋt qui in malis artibus ſiti placaiſſet, ſaith Merlin, as one who took pleaſure in raiſing himſelf upon anothers ruines. And another good Note the ſame Author giveth here, viz. That as any thing is more ſweet and delectable to the ſenſual appetite, ſo much the more ſhould we ſuſpect it, as fearing a ſnare laid for us therein, by that old man-ſlayer. Vipera latet in veprecula. Diabolus capite blanditur, ventre oblictat, [illegible: 1 word] light. Divorce the fleſh from the divel, and then there is no no great danger.

But keeps is ſtill within his mouth] And will not be drawn to ſpet it out by confeſſion, and to carry it through the dung-port of his mouth into the brook Kedro[illegible: 1 letter], which was the Town-ditch. Satan knowes there is no way to purge the ſick ſoul but upwards. He therefore laboureth to hold his lips cloſe, that the ſoul may not diſburden it ſelf, and God come in with his Cordi[illegible: 1 letter]ls of comfort. See the Note on the former verſe.

Verſe 14. Yet his meat in his bo[illegible: 1 letter]els is turned] Soure [illegible: 2 letters]uce he hath at length to his ſweet meats; viz. Gripes and throbs of conſcience, terrors and tortures inexpro[illegible: 2 letters]ble; a greedy Vulture feeding upon his entrails (as the Poets fained of Prometheus) thoſe Furies or hell-hags, (ſo much mentioned by them) as hanting evil-doers. In the tranſgreſſion of an evil man there is a ſnare, Prov. 29.6. There is a cord to ſtrangle his joyes with, to ma[illegible: 1 letter] his mirth. Did not Joſephs brethren experiment this? and Ahab in his houſe of ivory? and Belſhazzar amidſt his ſenſualities? Principium dulce eſt, ſed finis amoris amarus: La[illegible: 2 letters] venire Venas, triſtis abire ſolet. The ſinners cup of honey ends in the dregs of gall, even the gall of Aſps. Volupi[illegible: 1 letter] and Angorom went y[illegible: 1 letter]aled together among the Romans. Did men but forecaſt the ſaid iſſues of ſin, they durſt not but be innocent.

It is the gall of Aſps within him.] Gall of any ſort is bitter, but that of Aſps is moſt poiſonful and mortal. Pliny ſaith, that the poiſon of Aſps is nothing elſe but their gall. An Aſp is a kind of ſerpent, not know in theſe parts of the world. Ea[illegible: 3 letters]titeth, That the biting of an Aſp is uncurable; and others ſay, that it killeth without remedy with in four houres ſpace. Unto this kind of poiſon is ſinne fitly compared; for when an Aſp ſtingeth a man, it doth firſt tickle him ſo as it maketh him laugh, then it caſteth him into a ſleep, till the poiſon by little and little gets to the heart after which it paineth him more then ever before it delighted him: So doth wickedneſſe. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Duleacidum. It is a bitter-ſweet. Bernard compareth it to the itch, which firſt yeilded pleaſure, and afterwards ſmart. Auſtin ſaith, Many devour that on earth which they muſt digeſt in hell, where they ſhall have puniſhment without pity, miſery without mercy, ſorrow without ſuccour, miſchief without meaſure, torments without end, and paſt imagination. When therefore thou art making a covenant with ſin, ſay to thy ſoul, as Boaz ſaid to his kinſman, Ruth 4.4. What time thou buyeſt it, thou muſt [illegible: 1 word] Ruth with it. So, if thou wilt have the ſweet of ſin, thou muſt have the [illegible: 1 word] with it, and let thy ſoul anſwer, as he there doth, No, I may not do it, I ſhall [illegible: 1 span].

Verſe 15. [illegible: 1 span] down riches.] As wild beaſts do their prey, as the greater fiſhes do the leſſer, greedily, eaſily, ſuddenly, recoverably as the fire ſwalloweth up the fuel, as the lean Kine devoured the far and as the Pamphagus glutton doth his tid bits, his ſweet morſels. This word, Hath ſwollowed. ſheweth his infinite and unſatiate deſire of getting and gathering riches; and that by continual gaping after more, he loſeth the pleaſure of what he hath already. Like as a dog at his Maſters table ſwalloweth the whole meat he caſteth him without any pleaſure, gaping ſtill for the next morſel. He knoweth no other language but that of the Horte Leethes daughter, Give, give; or that of greedy Eſe[illegible: 1 letter], returning from the field, as hungry as an Hunter, Gen. 25.30. Feed me I pray thee, or, [illegible: 1 word] me ſwallow at [illegible: 2 letters]er (like as Camels are fed by caſting gobbets into cheir mouth) [illegible: 1 word] red, red, &c. Gold is no better then red earth, and cannot terminate mans Eccleſ 5.10.

And he ſhall vomit them up again] Either by remorſe and reſtitution in the mean time, or by deſpair and impenitent horror hereafter; He ſhall vomit them up, and together with them his vital blood and ſpirits: he ſhall bring up his very heart withall, as Judas did, together with thoſe thirty pieces of ſilver, Mat. 27.4. all his bowels guſhing out, Act. 1.18. He thought to have digeſted his ill g[illegible: 2 letters] ten goods, as the Eſtrich doth iron: but Pelican-like, he is forced to caſt them up again. The Whale that ſwallowed Jonah found him hard meat, [non-Latin text not transcribed] Pelicanus à vomitu. Vide Plin. l. 10. c. 30. Graci eleganter tropo explicato. and for his own eaſe was forced to regurgitate. Think the ſame of this wretched Mammoniſt. The Septuagint interpret the Text, when they thus render it, Wealth unjuſtly gathered ſoal be vomited up again, and an Angel ſhall bale it out of his mouth. An evil Angel, ſay their Interpreters: But the Hebrew verity referreth it to God, as an act of his divine juſtice.

God ſhall caſt them out of his belly] As by a Writ of Ejectment, or rather, as by a violent purgation that ſhall work both wayes, Jer. [illegible: 1 letter]1.44. I will puniſh Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth what he hath ſwallowed up; viz. the wealth of the Nations round about him. This God will take out of his belly, ſo that a piece of his heart ſhall go with it. In the laſt deſtruction of Jeruſalem, ſome of the Jewes had ſwallowed their gold, that the roman ſouldiers might not have it; this was found out, and thereupon thouſands of them were killed and ript up, for the gold that might be found in their ſtomacks and bowels. In like ſort ſhal God deal with thoſe covetous Gaitives, that have devoured the riches of iniquity; that have ſuck'd in peſtilential Air, as hoſ. 8.7. See the Note there.

Verſe 16. He ſhall ſuck the poiſon of Aſps] That lyeth in his head, whence alſo it hath its name in the Original. See the Note on verſ. 14. Caput aſpidis ſuget, ſaith the Vulgar. It is ſaid of the Toad that he hath in his head a ſtone of great vertue called Buf[illegible: 1 letter]nites. But the Aſp hath nothing in his head but ſtrong poyſon. This the rich wretch ſhall ſuck. Like as he was went to ſuck the blood of the poor oppreſſed, to eat their fleſh, Pſal. 14.4. and to eviſcerate them.

The Vipers tongue ſhall ſlay him] Perinde cade[illegible: 1 letter] timale ficium, ſaith Junius: His wickedneſſe ſhall prove his bane, unleſſe he preſently take the Antidotes of Repentance where by to expel the poiſon[illegible: 1 letter]re it get to the vitals. Repentance is the ſouls beſt vomit, the hardeſt, but wholſomeſt Phyſick. It is Repentance unto life, whereas the ſins of the impenitent are mortal, ſaith Saint John 1 ep. 5.17. or rather Immortal as ſaith Saint Paul, [illegible: 1 word] The hand that is here and elſwhere lifted up in threatning. Iſai. 26 11. will fall down in puniſhing. The wages of ſin is death When the Barbarians ſaw the Viper hanging on Saint Pauls hand, they looked when he would fall down dead, Acts 28 46. The divels deſigne want here to have ſlaine Paul, but he was defeated. And Brentius holdeth that the Metaphor here uſed is taken not ſo much from Serpents, whoſe venome lyeth in their tongues, as from Satan,Brent. in loc. who by the Serpent in Paradiſe, caſt our firſt parents into all kind of evils. Another there is, who thus deſcanteth upon this Text, Caput Viperis ſuget. When Vipers engender, the female ſucketh the head of the male, and biteth it off with great delight; then ſhe conceiveth her young ones, which eat out her belly: So the Oppreſſour, getting the poor mans goods, they ſeem ſweet unto him, but at the laſt his ſin findeth him out, for it biteth like a Serpent, and ſtingeth like an Adder, as Sermon ſaith of drunkenneſſe (which Auſtin calleth, dulce vemenum, a ſweet poyſon) Prov. 23.32.

Verſe 17.Mercer. He ſhall not ſee the Rivers, the floods, &c.] that is, that plenty and abundance of all good things that cometh in to the righteous, Velut confertim, certatim, & affati[illegible: 2 letters], a confluence of all manner of comforts and contentments. Theſe the Oppreſſour ſhall have none of; for being inſatiable and vexed with the furies of an evil conſcience, they enjoy not any thing, though they abound with all things, being worſe then Tantalized: and if after his fall he ſeek to recruit himſelf, he ſhall never be able to effect it. He ſhall not ſee the Rivers, &c. The Seventy, and others after them render it by an elegant Apoſtrophe, Ne ſpectes rivos, Let him never look after the Rivers, &c. for it will never be. He may pleaſe himſelf in hope and expectation of a better condition, but God will ſurely croſſe him. For his hoped for riches he ſhall have poverty, for pleaſure pain, for health ſickneſſe, for nouriſhment poiſon, for dignity diſgrace, for the favour of God, his wrath and hatred, for life deſtruction. A further account of the wicked mans non-enjoyment of what he had wrongfully wreſted from others, Zophar giveth us in the next verſe.

Verſe 18. That which he laboured for ſhall he reſtore.] (Great paines he hath taken to ſmall purpoſe) in hope to make him ſelf happy, the reſult whereof is, Reddet laborem, he ſhall reſtore his labour, either by regret and remorſe of conſcience, or by Law, or by force, he ſhall be made to reſtore his ill-gotten goods, which he had laboured for even to laſſitude; for wicked men are ſore work-men, and oppreſſours are great pains-takers;Nazian. [non-Latin text not transcribed], in getting wealth unweariable.

And ſhall not ſwallow it down] Or if he do, as verſ. 15. it ſhall be but as the fiſh ſwalloweth the hook, or as the Whale ſwallowed Jonah, ill at eaſe till he had laid up again.

According to his ſubſtance Ball the reſtitution be.] hebr. According to the ſubſtance fo his exchange. Opes compenſationis, the riches of his recompence, ſo the word is rendred, chap. 15.31. The Oppreſſor is ſo infatuated, that he looks upon his curſed hoards as the reward of his labour, and rejoyceth in that where of he hath more reaſon to repent, as Leah ſaid at the birth of her ſon Iſſachar, (but not well) God hath given me my hire, becauſe I have given my maiden to my husband, Gen. 30. 18. Felix ſcèlus virtus vocatur: Dionyſius gloryed, that the Gods diſliked not his Sacriledge, becauſe they puniſhed him not preſently. But what faith Zophar here?

He ſhall not rejoyce therein] Or if he do for a while, yet the tryumphing of the wicked is but ſhort, ver. 5. as a blaze of thornes under a pot, or as a flaſh of lightning, which is followed by rending and roaring; he ſhall be filled with unmedicinable ſorrowes, when his Gold (his God) is taken from him, when he parteth with that whereon he had ſet his heart, and built his felicity.

Verſe 19. Becauſe he hath oppreſſed and forſaken the poor.] Hebr. Becauſe he hath cruſhed or broken in pieces. The Original word importeth (as One well obſerveth) Tyrannical Oppreſſion without mercy or moderation, without ho or hold: ſome give full ſcope to their rage and wrath, they put neither bond nor bridle upon their covetouſneſſe and cruelty: ſuch are characterized by this word.

And forſaken the poor.] Or, Left men poor; viz. by letting them without a livelyhood, and ſo as good as without life. A poor man in his houſe, is like a ſnail in his ſhell, cruſh that, and you kill him They which read it, And for ſaken the poor, give us this good Note, That as it is ſinful to forſake the poor, though we have never oppreſſed them, Matth. 25.35, 36. (Not to do Juſtice is Injuſtice, not to ſhew mercy is cruelty, Mark 3.4) ſo to oppreſſe, and then forſake them, is far more ſinfull.

Becauſe he hath violently taken away.] Violently and in open view, in an impudent manner, He pulleth down mens houſes, but never thinketh of repairing them; ſo ſome read this Text. Let our Depopulators look to it, who build themſelves deſolate places, and deſire to live alone in the earth. This hath been noted as a great fault in our Nation. And therefore Goropius thinketh the Engliſh were called Augli, becauſe they were ſo good Anglers, having skil to lay diverſe baits when they fiſhed for other mens livings.

Verſe 20. Surely he ſhall not feel quietneſſe in his belly.] i. e. Peace in his conſcience, ſatisfaction in his ſoul; but as he is ſtill coveting more, being ſick of a Dropſie or Bulimy, as it were; ſo he hath many inward gripings and grabbings, worſe then any belly ache or ſickneſſe of the ſtomack: he never eateth to the ſatisfying of his ſoul as the righteous man doth, but the belly of the wicked ſhall want, Prov, 13.25. His meat is ſo ſawced, and his drink ſo ſpiced with the wrath of God, that he hath no joy of it: His belly is pained, his mind is in perpetual turmoile, whiles, like a Ship laden, but not filled up, he hath enough to ſink him, but not enough to ſatisfie him.

He ſhall not ſave of that which he deſired.] Which he coveted with ſtrong deſire, and had as lief have been knockt on the head as parted with, as his Plate, Wardrobe Jewels, &c. neither can he ſave them, nor they him. Broughton rendreth, By that which he deſired, he ſhall not be ſafe: and to like purpoſe, the Septuagint,

Verſe 21. There ſhall none of his meat be left.] Zophar ſtill purſueth the Allegory of the belly; and in all, ſtriketh at poor Job, who had ſcarce a bit of bread to eat, but yet was not without the hidden Manna, the feaſt of a good conſcience, which made him ſay with Luther, Mendecato pant hic vivamus, &c. Let us take up with courſe fare here, ſith we have better within, and better yet we ſhall have in heaven: in our Fathers houſe is bread enough, &c.

Therefore no man ſhall look for his goods.] Heb. His goods, or goodneſſe, It was well ſaid, That he that firſt called riches, Bona, Goods, was a better husband then Divine: But it may be thought that the moſt are ſuch husbands. The common cry is, Who will ſhew us any good? The Lord anſwereth, Exod. 33.19. I will make all my good paſſe before thee, and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before thee. The Prophet anſwereth, Mic. 6.8. He hath ſhewed thee, O man, what is good. viz. to do juſtly: and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.Neveſſen. But moſt men are of his mind who ſaid. He that will not venture his body, will never be valiant, and he that will not venture his ſoul, will never be rich. But what ſaith the Prophet? He that getteth riches, and not by right, ſhall dye a poor fool, Jer. 17.11. And what ſaith Zophar here? He ſhall dye a plain beggar, and leave no eſtate worth the looking after, or ſuing for: this falleth not out alwayes, but [non-Latin text not transcribed] many times it doth, as is eaſily to be obſerved.

Verſe 22. In the fulneſſe of his ſufficiency be ſhal be in ſtraits] The covetous man never hath a ſufficiency (but is as greedily gaſping ſtill after more, as if he were not worth an half-peny) much leſſe a fulneſſe of ſufficiency, a ſuperfluity, a ſuperabundance. What ſoever Eſan pretended in his, I have enough my brother, Gen. 33.9. Jacob could indeed ſay truly, I have enough. ver. 11. for godlineſſe only hath an autarkie, 1 Tim. 6.6. True piety hath true plenty, and is never with out a well-contenting ſufficiency, wherein the good man is, when is the fulneſſe of ſtraits. See it in David, 1 Sam. 30.6. in Habakkuk. chap. 3.16, 17. in Paul, 2 Cor. 6.10. Phil. 4-11. he had nothing, and yet poſſeſſed all things. But that which Zophar here drives at, is to ſhew that the Oppreſſour ſhall be ruinated when at higheſt, and when he leaſt looketh for it; as was Nebuchadnezzar, Haman, Belſhazzar, Babylon the great, Rev. 18.7, 8. How was Alexander the Great ſurprized at a Feaſt? Caeſar in the Senate houſe? many of the Emperors in their own Palaces, &c?

Every hand of the wicked ſhall come upon him] Or, Of the Labourer, whoſe wages he hath detained. Or, of the poor oppreſſed, whom he hath forced to labour hard for a poor living. Broughton rendreth it, Each hand of the injured and grieved ſhall come upon him; and ſo he ſhall have many fiſts about his ears, many ready to rifle him and to pull a fleece from him.

Verſe 23, When he is about to fill his belly] It appeareth by this expreſſion, that it was belly timber wherein the wicked man placed his ſufficiency, ver. 22. his felicity Si ventri bone ſit ſi lateri. ſaith the Epicure in Horace. If the belly may be filled, the body fitted, that's all that theſe Lurcones, theſe Loſels look after. Pelyphemus knew no other God but his belly. There were belly-gods in Saint Pauls time, ſuch as of whom be could not ſpeak with dry eyes, Phil 3.18-19. Such are compared by Clemens Alexandrinus to the Sea-caſtle, that hath his heart in his belly: By others to the Locuſt, the belly whereof is ſaid to be joyned to his mouth, and to end at his taile: to the fiſh called Blax, that is altogether unprofitable: and to Rats and Mice, good for nothing but to devour victuals. When therefore ſuch a Pamphagus is about to fill his belly and to pamper his panch, or otherwiſe to gorge himſelf with the full meſſes of ſins Dainties (as the Viper lives on venemous things, the Spider on Aconite, the Sow on ſwill, as Tartarians on Carrion, holding them as dainty as other men do Veniſon) then, ſaith Zophar,

God ſhall caſt the fury of his wrath upon him] Heb. He ſhall ſend forth, &c. He will no longer keep in his judgments in the chaines of mercy, but give them their full forth upon this wicked Oppreſſor; and that even very then, when hee bids his heart make merry, and aſſures himſelfe of unchangeable happineſſe. For,

He ſhall rain it upon him (that is, reveal it from heaven againſt him, Rom. 1.) while he is eating] As it befel choſe Cormorants, Numb. 11.33. and the old world, Luke 17.Matth. 24.38 Sudden deſtruction cometh upon them, as travel upon a woman with child; Vel ut pluvia quae ſereno coelo inopinantes opprimit; Or as foul weather that comes unſent for, and oft unlook'd for. The Vulgar rendreth it, And he ſhall rain his war upon him. But this Zophar ſetteth forth in the next verſe, where he denounceth war and weapons.

Verſe 24. He ſhall flee from the iron weapons.] i. e. whiles he ſeeks to ſhun one miſchief, he ſhall fall into another: and when he thinks to run from death, he runs to it. God, who can do what he will with his own bare hand, is here brought in after the manner of men with ſword and bow, to ſhew, that both at home and afar off he can tame his Rebels. Neither boots it any man to ſtand out with God, or to ſeek to ſave himſelf by ſight or flight: ſith he is that King againſt whom there is no riſing up. Prov. 30.31. and if he be angry, no other helps can relieve us. Braſſe and iron can fence me againſt an Arrow or a ſword, but if I were to be caſt into a furnace of fire, it would help to torment me, if into a pit of water to ſink me. Now our God is a conſuming fire, and his breath a ſtream of brimſtone, Iſai. 30.33. Submit your ſelves therefore to God, Jam. 4.7. Humble your ſelves therefore under his mighty hand, and he ſhall lift you up in due ſeaſon, 1 Pet. 5. To run into God, is the way to eſcape him: as to cloſe and get in with him that would ſtrike you, doth avoyd the blow.

And the bow of ſteel ſhall ſtrike him through] Or, ſhall change him; that is, kil him: Death is our great change, and to the wicked a diſmal change, for they ſhal be killed with death Rev. 2.23. Then Balaam and his bribes, Baltaſar and his bowls. Dives and his diſhes, Herod and his Harlots, the Uſurer and his bills, the Merchant and his meaſures, &c. ſhall part aſunder for ever. But that is not the worſt of it: The word here uſed ſignifieth exciſion or cutting off, and hence that of Bathſheba, Prov. 31.8. Bene chaloph. children of deſtruction, anſwerable to that of our Saviour, John 17.12. A ſon or child of perdition; that is, a man devoted to utter deſtruction.

Verſe 25. It is drawn and cometh out of the body.] that is, the Arrow out of the Quiver, or the ſword out of the ſheath (as the Vulgar tranſlateth it.) By a like Metaphor the body is called the ſouls ſheath, Dan. 7.15. But I rather take it properly: It cometh out of his body; that is, out of the wicked mans body, who is under ſuch a deep and deadly wound as Jehoram was, whom Jehu ſhot through the heart: and as William Rufus was by Walter-Tirrel, who in hunting miſtook him for a Dear.

Yea the gliſtering ſword cometh out of his gall] And ſo the wound muſt needs be mortal, ſith none can come at the gall to cure it. The wicked ſhall be double ſlaine, (firſt with Gods bow, and then with his ſword) rather then he ſhall eſcape. How much better were it, to fall down as Paul did, Rom. 7. ſlaine with the ſword of the Spirit? Bernard told his brother, a ſouldier, that becauſe he would not liſten to the word of exhortation, God would ſhortly open a way to his hard heart by his gliſtering ſword; which accordingly befel him.

Terrors are upon him] Heb. the terrible upon him; which ſome interpret of Divels hell-hags. The Vulgar rendreth it, Then horrible outs ſhall come upon him. The word is uſed for Gyants, Deut. 2.10. The Emins ſhall fall upon him, that is, men of fierce and cruel ſpirits. But better take it for terrors, as we render it; and ſo the ſenſe is, That the wicked when he ſees he muſt needſly dye, is ſurprized with greateſt anxieties and perplexities of ſpirit, as beholding that threefold dreadful ſpectacle, Death, Judgement, Hell, and all to be paſſed through by his poor ſoul.

Verſe 26. All darkneſſe ſhall be bid in his ſecret place] That is, ſaith Diodate, whereſoever he ſhall think to find a place of ſafeguard, there ſhall he meet with ſome horrible miſchance. Men that are proſcribed, and ſought for to death, uſually hide themſelves, as divers Jewes did in Privies at the laſt deſtruction of Jeruſalem, and were thence drawn out to the ſlaughter. The Duke of Buckingham in Richard 3 his time was betrayed by his ſervant Banniſter. Appianus telleth of a Roman hid by his wife,De Bell. Civ. Rom. and then diſcovered by his wise to the Murtherer, to whom ſhe ſoon after alſo was married. Others render and ſenſe the words thus, The wicked ſhall come into darkneſſe, propter abſcondita. for his ſecret ſins. And others thus,R. Sel. All darkneſſe is laid up for his hid treaſures: that is, God, or men have taken order that hee ſhall loſe his riches as well as his life, though he hide them never ſo ſecretly.

A fire not blowne ſhal conſume him] i. e. ſay ſome, calamities whoſe cauſes ſhall be unknowne, and ſhall proceed immediately from God. See Iſai. 30.33. Many of the Greeks interpret this Text of Hell, with its unquenchable fire, Matth. 3.12. which being created by God, and kindled by its breath, that is, by his Word, it burneth everlaſtingly. Albeit God many times puniſheth wicked men here with fire from heaven, as he did Sodom. Nadab and Abihu, thoſe Captiances of fifties with their companies, 2 King. 1. Tremellius rendreth it thus, A fire conſumeth him, non accenſum flatu, I ſay Him. not kindled by blowing, but burning of his own accord, Ʋt ſtipule aut ſtupae. Ut cremium aut arefactum liguum. as ſtubble fully dryed, or hurds, or ſear wood. See Nab 1.10. with the Note.

It ſhall go ill with him that is left.] His poſterity ſhall never proſper, but be rooted out. Eliphaz and Bildad had ſaid the ſame thing: and all to pay poor Job, whoſe family was now ruined. It ſhall ſurely go ill with him, or, He ſhall be wringed, ſaith Broughton; alluding belike to the ſound as well as the ſenſe of the Hebrew word.

Verſe 27. The heaven ſhall reveal his iniquity] Job had called heaven and earth to record of his innocency. chap 16.17, 18. This is not to do now. ſaith Zophar. for all creatures have conſpired thy ruine, and contributed thereunto, Wind, Fire, Sabeans, &c. ſo that he that hath but half an eye, may ſee thee to be a wicked perſon. Such as are wicked indeed. not only ſecundum dici. as Job. but ſecundum eſſe, as Ahab, cannot look to heaven above, or to earth beneath, without horrour to think even theſe, if other witneſſes faile, ſhall bring to light their ſecret ſinnes, and come to give teſtimony againſt them before the great Iudge at the laſt day.

And the earth ſhall ariſe up againſt him.] Night will convert it ſelf into Noon againſt the evil-doers: and ſilence prove a ſpeaking evidence. Earth cryed Cain guilty, the Stars in their courſes fought againſt Siſera as a Traytor and Rebel to the higheſt Majeſty; Yea, —Servi ut taceant jumenta loquentur. the Aſſe hath a verdict to paſſe upon Balaam. A Bird of the Aire ſhall carry the voice that but whiſpereth Treaſon, Eccleſ. 10.20. Yea if nothing elſe will reveal iniquity, it will reveal it ſelfe. It will prove like the Oyntment of the right hand, of which Salomon ſaith, that it wrayeth it ſelf, Prov. 27.16.

Verſe 28. The increaſe of his houſe ſhall depart] All his poſterity ſhall be deſtroyed, and ſo ſhall his proſperity too, even all at once with a ſudden ebb, in the day that God viſiteth him with his wrath and righteous judgements. All the wicked mans wealth and revenue ſhall be wretchedly waſted and embezelled by one meanes or other.

And his goods ſhall flow away] As waters. The Apoſtle ſaith, The faſhion of the world paſſeth away; viz. as a haſty headlong torrent; or as a Picture drawn upon the ice, Thou carrieſt them away (both perſons and things) as with a flood, Pſal. 90.5.

Verſe 29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God] A portion God alloweth the wicked in this life, Pſal. 17.14. As a King when he reprieveth a Traytor, alloweth him a ſubſiſtence, priſoners pitance at leaſt. Yes, the worſt of men divide the wealth and honors of the world between them for a time. Nebuchadnezzar had Tyr[illegible: 1 letter]s as pay for his paines in Egypt. And the whole Turkiſh Empire is nothing elſe but a cruſt caſt to his dogs, by the great houſe keeper of the world, ſaith Luther. But beſides this, God hath provided a far other portion for them (ſaith One) and that by way of inheritance, never to be parted from them; viz. all the forementioned miſeries, and many more, all torments here, and tortures in hell. This is the inheritance, Quam nunquam deſerere, non magis quam ſeipſos, pottrunt, which will ſtick to them as cloſe as the skin to the fleſh, or the fleſh to the bones: it falls to them as the inheritance doth to the heir, chap. 27.13. and 31.2. or as the meſs of meat doth to the invited Gueſt. Miſery is the heritage of the wicked, as they are children of diſobedience; and their wages as they are workers of iniquity: their preſent proſperity alſo is a piece of their puniſhment, Iſai. 1.5. Prov. 1.32. The words of Zophar are ended. Let others reply as they pleaſe, but he hath done. Praſtat herbam dare, quam turpiter pugnare. No ſurer ſign of an evil cauſe then a powerleſſe pertinacy.