Job 42 commentary

Job was now sensible of his guilt; he would no longer speak in his own excuse; he abhorred himself as a sinner in heart and life, especially for murmuring against God, and took shame to himself. When the understanding is enlightened by the Spirit of grace, our knowledge of Divine things as far exceeds what we had before, as the sight of the eyes excels report and common fame. By the teachings of men, God reveals his Son to us; but by the teachings of his Spirit he reveals his Son in us, Ga 1:16, and changes us into the same image, 2Co 3:18. It concerns us to be deeply humbled for the sins of which we are convinced. Self-loathing is ever the companion of true repentance. The Lord will bring those whom he loveth, to adore him in self-abasement; while true grace will always lead them to confess their sins without self-justifying.

After the Lord had convinced and humbled Job, and brought him to repentance, he owned him, comforted him, and put honour upon him. The devil had undertaken to prove Job a hypocrite, and his three friends had condemned him as a wicked man; but if God say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant, it is of little consequence who says otherwise. Job's friends had wronged God, by making prosperity a mark of the true church, and affliction a certain proof of God's wrath. Job had referred things to the future judgment and the future state, more than his friends, therefore he spake of God that which was right, better than his friends had done. And as Job prayed and offered sacrifice for those that had grieved and wounded his spirit, so Christ prayed for his persecutors, and ever lives, making intercession for the transgressors. Job's friends were good men, and belonged to God, and He would not let them be in their mistake any more than Job; but having humbled him by a discourse out of the whirlwind, he takes another way to humble them. They are not to argue the matter again, but they must agree in a sacrifice and a prayer, and that must reconcile them, Those who differ in judgment about lesser things, yet are one in Christ the great Sacrifice, and ought therefore to love and bear with one another. When God was angry with Job's friends, he put them in a way to make peace with him. Our quarrels with God always begin on our part, but the making peace begins on his. Peace with God is to be had only in his own way, and upon his own terms. These will never seem hard to those who know how to value this blessing: they will be glad of it, like Job's friends, upon any terms, though ever so humbling. Job did not insult over his friends, but God being graciously reconciled to him, he was easily reconciled to them. In all our prayers and services we should aim to be accepted of the Lord; not to have praise of men, but to please God. (Job 42:10-17)

In the beginning of this book we had Job's patience under his troubles, for an example; here, for our encouragement to follow that example, we have his happy end. His troubles began in Satan's malice, which God restrained; his restoration began in God's mercy, which Satan could not oppose. Mercy did not return when Job was disputing with his friends, but when he was praying for them. God is served and pleased with our warm devotions, not with our warm disputes. God doubled Job's possessions. We may lose much for the Lord, but we shall not lose any thing by him. Whether the Lord gives us health and temporal blessings or not, if we patiently suffer according to his will, in the end we shall be happy. Job's estate increased. The blessing of the Lord makes rich; it is he that gives us power to get wealth, and gives success in honest endeavours. The last days of a good man sometimes prove his best, his last works his best works, his last comforts his best comforts; for his path, like that of the morning light, shines more and more unto the perfect day.

CHAPTER 42

Job 42:1-6. Job's Penitent Reply.

2. In the first clause he owns God to be omnipotent over nature, as contrasted with his own feebleness, which God had proved (Job 40:15; 41:34); in the second, that God is supremely just (which, in order to be governor of the world, He must needs be) in all His dealings, as contrasted with his own vileness (Job 42:6), and incompetence to deal with the wicked as a just judge (Job 40:8-14).

thought--"purpose," as in Job 17:11; but it is usually applied to evil devices (Job 21:27; Psa 10:2): the ambiguous word is designedly chosen to express that, while to Job's finite view, God's plans seem bad, to the All-wise One they continue unhindered in their development, and will at last be seen to be as good as they are infinitely wise. No evil can emanate from the Parent of good (Jas 1:13, 17); but it is His prerogative to overrule evil to good.

3. I am the man! Job in God's own words (Job 38:2) expresses his deep and humble penitence. God's word concerning our guilt should be engraven on our hearts and form the groundwork of our confession. Most men in confessing sin palliate rather than confess. Job in omitting "by words" (Job 38:2), goes even further than God's accusation. Not merely my words, but my whole thoughts and ways were "without knowledge."

too wonderful--I rashly denied that Thou hast any fixed plan in governing human affairs, merely because Thy plan was "too wonderful" for my comprehension.

4. When I said, "Hear," &c., Job's demand (Job 13:22) convicted him of being "without knowledge." God alone could speak thus to Job, not Job to God: therefore he quotes again God's words as the groundwork of retracting his own foolish words.

5. hearing of the ear--(Psa 18:44, Margin). Hearing and seeing are often in antithesis (Job 29:11; Psa 18:8).

seeth--not God's face (Ex 33:20), but His presence in the veil of a dark cloud (Job 38:1). Job implies also that, besides this literal seeing, he now saw spiritually what he had indistinctly taken on hearsay before God's infinite wisdom. He "now" proves this; he had seen in a literal sense before, at the beginning of God's speech, but he had not seen spiritually till "now" at its close.

6. myself--rather "I abhor," and retract the rash speeches I made against thee (Job 42:3, 4) [Umbreit].

Job 42:7-17. Epilogue, in prose.

7. to Eliphaz--because he was the foremost of the three friends; their speeches were but the echo of his.

right--literally, "well-grounded," sure and true. Their spirit towards Job was unkindly, and to justify themselves in their unkindliness they used false arguments (Job 13:7); (namely, that calamities always prove peculiar guilt); therefore, though it was "for God" they spake thus falsely, God "reproves" them, as Job said He would (Job 13:10).

as ... Job hath--Job had spoken rightly in relation to them and their argument, denying their theory, and the fact which they alleged, that he was peculiarly guilty and a hypocrite; but wrongly in relation to God, when he fell into the opposite extreme of almost denying all guilt. This extreme he has now repented of, and therefore God speaks of him as now altogether "right."

8. seven--(See Introduction). The number offered by the Gentile prophet (Nu 23:1). Job plainly lived before the legal priesthood, &c. The patriarchs acted as priests for their families; and sometimes as praying mediators (Ge 20:17), thus foreshadowing the true Mediator (1Ti 2:5), but sacrifice accompanies and is the groundwork on which the mediation rests.

him--rather, "His person [face] only" (see on Job 22:30). The "person," must be first accepted, before God can accept his offering and work (Ge 4:4); that can be only through Jesus Christ.

folly--impiety (Job 1:22; 2:10).

9. The forgiving spirit of Job foreshadows the love of Jesus Christ and of Christians to enemies (Mt 5:44; Lu 23:34; Ac 7:60; 16:24, 28, 30, 31).

10. turned ... captivity--proverbial for restored, or amply indemnified him for all he had lost (Eze 16:53; Psa 14:7; Ho 6:11). Thus the future vindication of man, body and soul, against Satan (Job 1:9-12), at the resurrection (Job 19:25-27), has its earnest and adumbration in the temporal vindication of Job at last by Jehovah in person.

twice--so to the afflicted literal and spiritual Jerusalem (Is 40:2; 60:7; 61:7; Zec 9:12). As in Job's case, so in that of Jesus Christ, the glorious recompense follows the "intercession" for enemies (Is 53:12).

11. It was Job's complaint in his misery that his "brethren," were "estranged" from him (Job 19:13); these now return with the return of his prosperity (Pr 14:20; 19:6, 7); the true friend loveth at all times (Pr 17:17; 18:24). "Swallow friends leave in the winter and return with the spring" [Henry].

eat bread--in token of friendship (Psa 41:9).

piece of money--Presents are usual in visiting a man of rank in the East, especially after a calamity (2Ch 32:23). Hebrew, kesita. Magee translates "a lamb" (the medium of exchange then before money was used), as it is in Margin of Ge 33:19; Jos 24:32. But it is from the Arabic kasat, "weighed out" [Umbreit], not coined; so Ge 42:35; 33:19; compare with Ge 23:15, makes it likely it was equal to four shekels; Hebrew kashat, "pure," namely, metal. The term, instead of the usual "shekel," &c., is a mark of antiquity.

earring--whether for the nose or ear (Ge 35:4; Is 3:21). Much of the gold in the East, in the absence of banks, is in the shape of ornaments.

12. Probably by degrees, not all at once.

13. The same number as before, Job 1:2; perhaps by a second wife; in Job 19:17 his wife is last mentioned.

14. Names significant of his restored prosperity (Ge 4:25; 5:29).

Jemima--"daylight," after his "night" of calamity; but Maurer, "a dove."

Kezia--"cassia," an aromatic herb (Psa 45:8), instead of his offensive breath and ulcers.

Keren-happuch--"horn of stibium," a paint with which females dyed their eyelids; in contrast to his "horn defiled in the dust" (Job 16:15). The names also imply the beauty of his daughters.

15. inheritance among ... brethren--An unusual favor in the East to daughters, who, in the Jewish law, only inherited, if there were no sons (Nu 27:8), a proof of wealth and unanimity.

16. The Septuagint makes Job live a hundred seventy years after his calamity, and two hundred forty in all. This would make him seventy at the time of his calamity, which added to a hundred forty in Hebrew text makes up two hundred ten; a little more than the age (two hundred five) of Terah, father of Abraham, perhaps his contemporary. Man's length of life gradually shortened, till it reached threescore and ten in Moses' time (Psa 90:10).

sons' sons--a proof of divine favor (Ge 50:23; Psa 128:6; Pr 17:6).

17. full of days--fully sated and contented with all the happiness that life could give him; realizing what Eliphaz had painted as the lot of the godly (Job 5:26; Psa 91:16; Ge 25:8; 35:29). The Septuagint adds, "It is written, that he will rise again with those whom the Lord will raise up." Compare Mt 27:52, 53, from which it perhaps was derived spuriously.

I know that thou canst do every thing - Thy power is unlimited; thy wisdom infinite.

Who is he that hideth counsel - These are the words of Job, and they are a repetition of what Jehovah said, Job 38:2 : "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" Job now having heard the Almighty's speech, and having received his reproof, echoes back his words: "Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge Alas, I am the man; I have uttered what I understood not; things too wonderful for me, that I knew not. God had said, Job 38:3 : "Gird up now thy loins like a man; I will demand of thee, and answer thou me." In allusion to this, Job exclaims to his Maker, Job 42:4 : "Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will ask of Thee, and declare Thou unto Me." I acknowledge my ignorance; I confess my foolishness and presumption; I am ashamed of my conduct; I lament my imperfections; I implore thy mercy; and beg thee to show me thy will, that I may ever think, speak, and do, what is pleasing in thy sight.

Things too wonderful - I have spoken of thy judgments, which I did not comprehend.

I have heard of thee - I have now such a discovery of thee as I have never had before. I have only heard of thee by tradition, or from imperfect information; now the eye of my mind clearly perceives thee, and in seeing thee, I see myself; for the light that discovers thy glory and excellence, discovers my meanness and vileness.

I abhor myself - Compared with thine, my strength is weakness; my wisdom, folly; and my righteousness, impurity. "I loathe myself when thee I see;

And into nothing fall."

Repent - I am deeply distressed on account of the imaginations of my heart, the words of my tongue, and the acts of my life. I roll myself in the dust, and sprinkle ashes upon my head. Job is now sufficiently humbled at the feet of Jehovah; and having earnestly and piously prayed for instruction, the Lord, in a finishing speech, which appears to be contained in Job 40:1-14, perfects his teaching on the subject of the late controversy, which is concluded with, "When thou canst act like the Almighty," which is, in effect, what the questions and commands amount to in the preceding verses of that chapter, "then will I also confess unto thee, that thy own right hand can save thee." In the fifth verse of the fortieth chapter, Job says, "Once have I spoken." This must refer to the declaration above, in the beginning of this chapter, (42). And he goes on to state, Job 40:5 : "Yea, Twice; but I will proceed no farther." This second time is that in which he uses these words: after which he spoke no more; and the Lord concluded with the remaining part of these fourteen verses, viz., from Job 40:7-14, inclusive. Then the thread of the story, in the form of a narration is resumed at Job 42:7.

After the Lord had spoken these words - Those recorded at Job 40:7-14; he said to Eliphaz, who was the eldest of the three friends, and chief speaker: Ye have not spoken of me - right. Mr. Peters observes, "It will be difficult to find any thing in the speeches of Eliphaz and his companions which should make the difference here supposed, if we set aside the doctrine of a future state; for in this view the others would speak more worthily of God than Job, by endeavoring to vindicate his providence in the exact distribution of good and evil in this life: whereas Job's assertion, Job 9:22, 'This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked,' which is the argument on which he all along insists, would, upon this supposition, be directly charging God that he made no distinction between the good and the bad. But now, take the other life into the account, and the thing will appear in quite a contrary light; and we shall easily see the reason why God approves of the sentiments of Job, and condemns those of his friends. For supposing the friends of Job to argue that the righteous are never afflicted without remedy here, nor the wicked prosperous on the whole in this life, which is a wrong representation of God's providence; and Job to argue, on the other hand, that the righteous are sometimes afflicted here, and that without remedy, but shall be rewarded in the life to come; and that the wicked prosper here, but shall be punished hereafter, which is the true representation of the Divine proceedings; and here is a very apparent difference in the drift of the one's discourse, and of the others'. For Job, in this view, speaks worthily of God, and the rest unworthily. The best moral argument that mankind have ever had to believe in a life to come, is that which Job insists on - that good and evil are, for the most part, dealt out here promiscuously. On the contrary, the topic urged by his friends, and which they push a great deal too far, that God rewards and punishes in this world, tends, in its consequences, like that other opinion which was held by the stoics in after times, that virtue is its own reward, to sap the very foundation of that proof we have, from reason, of another life. No wonder, therefore, that the sentiments of the one are approved, and those of the other condemned."

Take - seven bullocks and seven rams - From this it appears that Job was considered a priest, not only in his own family but also for others. For his children he offered burnt-offerings, Job 1:5; and now he is to make the same kind of offerings, accompanied with intercession, in behalf of his three friends. This is a full proof of the innocence and integrity of Job: a more decided one could not be given, that the accusations of his friends, and their bitter speeches, were as untrue as they were malevolent. God thus clears his character, and confounds their devices.

The Lord turned the captivity of Job - The Vulgate has: Dominus quoque conversus est ad poenitentiam Job; "And the Lord turned Job to repentance." The Chaldee: "The Word of the Lord (מימרא דיי meymera dayai) turned the captivity of Job." There is a remark which these words suggest, which has been rarely, if at all, noticed. It is said that the Lord turned the captivity of Job When He Prayed for His Friends. He had suffered much through the unkindness of these friends; they had criticised his conduct without feeling or mercy; and he had just cause to be irritated against them: and that he had such a feeling towards them, several parts of his discourses sufficiently prove. God was now about to show Job his mercy; but mercy can be shown only to the merciful; Job must forgive his unfeeling friends, if he would be forgiven by the Lord; he directs him, therefore, to pray for them, Job 42:8. He who can pray for another cannot entertain enmity against him: Job did so, and when he prayed for his friends, God turned the captivity of Job. "Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven." Some suppose that Job, being miraculously restored, armed his servants and remaining friends, and fell upon those who had spoiled him; and not only recovered his own property, but also spoiled the spoilers, and thus his substance became double what it was before. Of this I do not see any intimation in the sacred text.

Then came there unto him all his brethren - "Job being restored to his former health and fortunes, the author," says Mr. Heath, "presents us with a striking view of human friendship. His brethren, who, in the time of his affliction, kept at a distance from him; his kinsfolk, who ceased to know him; his familiar friends, who had forgotten him; and his acquaintance, who had made themselves perfect strangers to him; those to whom he had showed kindness, and who yet had ungratefully neglected him, on the return of his prosperity now come and condole with him, desirous of renewing former familiarity; and, according to the custom of the Eastern countries, where there is no approaching a great man without a present, each brings him a kesitah, each a jewel of gold." See Job 42:12.

A piece of money - קשיטה kesitah signifies a lamb; and it is supposed that this piece of money had a lamb stamped on it, as that quantity of gold was generally the current value for a lamb. See my note on Gen 33:19 (note), where the subject is largely considered. The Vulgate, Chaldee, Septuagint, Arabic, and Syriac, have one lamb or sheep; so it appears that they did not understand the kesitah as implying a piece of money of any kind, but a sheep or a lamb.

Earring of gold - Literally, a nose-jewel. The Septuagint translate, τετραδραχμον χρυσου, a tetra-drachm of gold, or golden daric; but by adding και ασημου, unstamped, they intimate that it was four drachms of uncoined gold.

The Lord blessed the latter end of Job - Was it not in consequence of his friends bringing him a lamb, sheep, or other kind of cattle, and the quantity of gold mentioned, that his stock of sheep was increased so speedily to 14,000, his camels to 6000, his oxen to 2000, and his she-asses to 1000? Mr. Heath takes the story of the conduct of Job's friends by the worst handle; see Job 42:11. Is it not likely that they themselves were the cause of his sudden accumulation of property? and that they did not visit him, nor seek his familiarity because he was now prosperous; but because they saw that God had turned his captivity, and miraculously healed him? This gave them full proof of his innocence, and they no longer considered him an anathema, or devoted person, whom they should avoid and detest, but one who had been suffering under a strange dispensation of Divine Providence, and who was now no longer a suspicious character, but a favourite of heaven, to whom they should show every possible kindness. They therefore joined hands with God to make the poor man live and their presents were the cause, under God of his restoration to affluence. This takes the subject by the other handle; and I think, as far as the text is concerned, by the right one.

He had fourteen thousand sheep - The reader, by referring to Job 1:3, will perceive that the whole of Job's property was exactly doubled.

Seven sons and three daughters - This was the same number as before; and so the Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic read: but the Chaldee doubles the sons, "And he had fourteen sons, and three daughters."

The name of the first Jemima - ימימה yemimah, days upon days. Kezia - קציעה ketsiah, cassia, a well-known aromatic plant.

And, Keren-happuch - קרן הפוך keren happuch, the inverted or flowing horn, cornucopiae, the horn of plenty. The Chaldee will not permit these names to pass without a comment, to show the reason of their imposition: "He called the first Jemimah, because she was as fair as the day; the second Ketsiah, because she was as precious as cassia; the third Keren-happuch, because her face was as splendid as the emerald." Cardmarden's Bible, 1566, has the Hebrew names. The Vulgate has, "He called the name of one Day, of the second Cassia, and of the third The Horn of Antimony." The versions in general preserve these names, only the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic translate Jemimah, Day; and the former for Keren-happuch has Αμαλθαιας κερας, the horn of Amalthea. This refers to an ancient fable. Amalthea was the nurse of Jupiter, and fed him with goat's milk when he was young. The goat having by accident her horn struck off, Jupiter translated the animal to the heavens, and gave her a place among the constellations, which she still holds; and made the horn the emblem of plenty: hence it is always pictured or described as filled with fruits, flowers, and the necessaries and luxuries of life. It is very strange how this fable got into the Septuagint.

Coverdale is singular: The first he called Daye, the seconde Poverte, the thirde, All plenteousnes.

Gave them inheritance among their brethren - This seems to refer to the history of the daughters of Zelophehad, given Num 28:1-8, who appear to have been the first who were allowed an inheritance among their brethren.

After this lived Job a hundred and forty years - How long he had lived before his afflictions, we cannot tell. If we could rely on the Septuagint, all would be plain, who add here, Τα δε παντα ετη εζησεν, διακοσια τεσσαρακοντα; "And all the years that Job lived were two hundred and forty." This makes him one hundred years of age when his trial commenced. Coverdale has, After this lyved Job forty yeares, omitting the hundred. So also in Becke's Bible, 1549. From the age, as marked down in the Hebrew text, we can infer nothing relative to the time when Job lived. See the subscription at the end of the Arabic.

Job died, being old and full of days - He had seen life in all its varieties; he had risen higher than all the men of the East, and sunk lower in affliction, poverty, and distress, than any other human being that had existed before, or has lived since. He died when he was satisfied with this life; this the word שבע seba implies. He knew the worst and the best of human life; and in himself the whole history of Providence was exemplified and illustrated, and many of its mysteries unfolded.

We have now seen the end of the life of Job, and the end or design which God had in view by his afflictions and trials, in which he has shown us that he is very pitiful, and of tender mercy, Jam 5:11; and to discern this end of the Lord should be the object of every person who reads or studies it. Laus in excelsis Deo!

Both in the Arabic and Septuagint there is a considerable and important addition at the end of the seventeenth verse, which extends to many lines; of this, with its variations, I have given a translation in the Preface.

At the end of the Syriac version we have the following subscription: - "The Book of the righteous and renowned Job is finished, and contains 2553 verses."

At the end of the Arabic is the following: - "It is completed by the assistance of the Most High God. The author of this copy would record that this book has been translated into Arabic from the Syriac language." "Glory be to God, the giver of understanding!" "The Book of Job is completed; and his age was two hundred and forty years." "Praise be to God for ever!"

So closely does the Arabic translator copy the Syriac, that in the Polyglots one Latin version serves for both, with the exception of a few marginal readings at the bottom of the column to show where the Syriac varies.

Thou canst, &c. - Job here subscribes to God's unlimited power, knowledge and dominion, to prove which was the scope of God's discourse out of the whirlwind. And his judgment being convinced of these, his conscience also was convinced, of his own folly in speaking so irreverently concerning him. No thought can be withholden from thee - No thought of ours can be withholden from thy knowledge. And there is no thought of thine, which thou canst be hindered from bringing into execution.

Who - What am I that I should be guilty of such madness! Therefore - Because my mind was without knowledge. Knew not - I have spoken foolishly and unadvisedly of all things far above my reach.

Hear - Hear and accept my humble confession. Enquire - I will no more dispute the matter with thee, but beg information from thee. The words which God had uttered to Job by way of challenge, Job returns to him in way of submission.

Seeth thee - The knowledge which I had of thy nature, perfections and counsels, was hitherto grounded chiefly, upon the instructions of men; but now it is clear and certain, as being immediately inspired into my mind by this thy glorious apparition and revelation, and by the operation of thy holy spirit; which makes these things as evident to me, as if I saw them with my bodily eyes. When the mind is enlightened by the spirit of God, our knowledge of Divine things as far exceeds what we had before, as knowledge by ocular demonstration, exceeds, that by common fame.

Eliphaz - As the eldest of the three, and because he spoke first, and by his example led the rest into the same miscarriages. Two friends - Elihu is not here reproved, because he dealt more mercifully with Job, and did not condemn his person, but only rebuked his sinful expressions. Ye have not, &c. - This is not to be understood absolutely, but comparatively. Job was not so much to be blamed as they, because his opinion concerning the methods of God's providence, and the indifferency of its dispensations towards good and bad men was truer than theirs, which was, that God did always reward good men and punish sinners in this life.

My servant - Whom though you condemned as an hypocrite, I own for my faithful servant. Offer - By the hand of Job, whom I hereby constitute your priest to pray and sacrifice for you. Lest I deal - Lest my just judgment take hold of you for your false and foolish speeches.

Accepted Job - And as Job prayed and offered sacrifice for those who had grieved and wounded his spirit, so Christ prayed and died for his persecutors, and ever lives, making intercession for transgressors.

Captivity - All his bodily distempers were thoroughly healed, and probably in a moment. His mind was calmed, his peace returned, and the consolations of God were not small with him. Prayed - Whereby he manifests his obedience to God and his true love to them.

Then - When Job had humbled himself, and God was reconciled to him. Sisters - His kindred. Eat - Feasted with him, to congratulate with him God's great and glorious favour. Bemoaned - They declared the sense which they had of his calamities while they were upon him, although they had hitherto wanted opportunity to express it.

Blessed - Not only with spiritual, but also with temporal blessings. Just double to what they were, chap.1:3. This is a remarkable instance of the extent of the Divine providence, to things that seem minute as this, the exact number of a man's cattle; as also of the harmony of providence, and the reference of one event to another: for known unto God are all his works, from the beginning to the end.

Jemima - The day, either because of her eminent beauty, or because she was born in the day of his prosperity, after a dark night of affliction. Kezia is the name of a spice of a very fragrant smell, commonly called Cassia. Keren - happuch signifies plenty restored.

So fair - In the Old Testament we often find women praised for their beauty, but never in the New, because the beauty of holiness is brought to a much clearer light by the gospel.

After this, &c. - Some conjecture, that he was seventy when his trouble came. If so his age was doubled, as his other possessions.

Full of days - So coming to his grave, as Eliphaz had spoken, like a ripe shock of corn in its season.

2. I know that thou canst do every thing , and that no thought can be withholden from thee .

Not onely by power, but also by (for that he always thought) right; about which he had in some sort doubted and disputed. It is a Maxim in Law, that a Man can onely do that which he hath a right to do.

Whatsoever it pleaseth thee to do with thy Creatures.

He speaks either, 1. Of Iob's thoughts. Thou knowest me and all my sinful and unworthy thoughts of thy providential dealings with me, though I was not able to see the evil of them. Or 2. Of God's thoughts. Whatsoever thou thinkest or purposest to do, thou canst or mayest do it; and neither I nor any of thy Creatures can either restrain thee from it, or condemn thee for it, as I have boldly and wickedly presumed to do. So this last Clause of the Verse explains the former.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word] thought of th[illegible: 1+ letters]e▪ can be [illegible: 1+ letters]indred.

3. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledg ? therefore have I uttered that I understood not, things too wonderful for me, which I knew not .

i. e. What am I that I should dare to do so? Ah silly audacious wretch that I am, that I should be guilty of such madness!

Which words are repeated out of Ch. 38. 2. where they are explained.

Because my mind was without knowledge, therefore my speech was ignorant and foolish. Or, Being sensible of my ignorance and rashness, I think fit to make this humble and ingenious confession.

I have spoken foolishly and unadvisedly of things f[illegible: 1+ letters]r above my reach, even of God's infinite and soveraign Majesty and of his deep and unsearchable Counsels and Providence.

Marginal references: Chap. 38. [illegible: 1+ letters].; Psal. [illegible: 1+ letters]0. [illegible: 1+ letters]. & 13[illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1+ letters].

4. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak : I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.

Hear and accept my humble and penitent confession and recantation.

Or, and enquire, to wit, counsel or instruction as a Scholar doth of his Master, as the following words note. I will no more saweily dispute the matter with thee, but beg information from thee. The words which God had uttered to Iob by way of challenge, Ch. 38. 3. & 40. 7. Iob returns to him again in way of submission.

5. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee .

The knowledge which I had of thy Divine nature, and perfections and counsels was hitherto dark, and doubtful, and conjectura[illegible: 1+ letters] being grounded chiefly, if not onely upon the instructions and reports of other men, but now it is clear and certain, as being immediately inspired into my mind by this thy glorious Apparition and Revelation, and by the Operation of thy Holy Spirit; which makes these things as certain and evident to me as if I saw them with my bodily Eyes.

6. Wherefore I abhor my self , and repent in dust and ashes .

i. e. Dislike, and detest, and loath.

Or, my former words and carriage. One of these or some like supplement is necessary to compleat the sense, and is clearly gathered from the following words.

Sitting in dust and ashes; which hitherto I have done in token of my grief for my affliction, but now I desire and resolve to do in Testimony of my penitence for my sins.

7. And it was so that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite , My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends , for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath .

As the Eldest of the three, and because he spoke first and by his evil example le[illegible: 1+ letters] the rest into the same mistakes and miscarriages.

To wit. Bildad and Zophar, who are not excused but severely reproved, although they were drawn into the sin by Eliphaz his authority and influence. Elihu is not here reproved, because he dealt more justly and mercifully with Iob, and did not condemn his Person, but onely rebuke his sinful expressions.

Either, 1. as Iob hath now spoken: you have not acknowledged your errours as he hath done. Or rather, 2. as Iob did in his discourses with you. Which is not to be understood simply and absolutely (as is manifest from God's censure upon Iob for his hard and evil speeches of him) but comparatively; because Iob was not so much to be blamed as they, partly because his opinion concerning the methods of God's Providence, and the indifferency, and promiscuousness of its dispensations towards good and bad men was truer than theirs, which was that God did generally reward good men and punish sinners in this Life: partly because their misbelief of God's counsels and dealings with men was attended with horrid uncharitableness and cruelty towards Iob, whom they wounded with bitter and injurious speeches, and condemned as an Hypocrite, not onely without sufficient evidence as not being able to search his Heart, but upon false and frivolous grounds, to wit, his sore afflictions, and against many evidences of Piety which Iob had given: and partly because Iob's heavy pressures might easily cloud and darken his mind and draw forth his impatience and passionate speeches; which although it did not wholly excuse Iob, yet did certainly much extenuate his offences; whereas they were under no such temptations or provocations either from God or from Iob, but voluntarily broke forth into their hard, and severe, and untrue expressions concerning God's counsels and Iob's conditions, thereby adding affliction to him whom God did so sorely afflict, which was most unfriendly and inhumane.

8. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks, and seven rams, and go to my servant Job , and offer up for your selves a burnt-offering, and my servant Job shall pray for you, for him will I accept : lest I deal with you after your folly , in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.

Whom though you have censured and condemned as an Hypocrite I own for my faithful Servant, humane infirmity excepted.

By the hand of Iob, whom I do hereby constitute your Priest to pray and Sacrifice for you.

To wit, on your behalf as well as on his own.

Lest my wrath and just judgment take hold of you for your false and foolish speeches.

Marginal references: Heb. his face, or, person.

9. So Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the Lord commanded them : the LORD also accepted Job .

Shewing their repentance by their submission to God, and to Job for God's sake, and by taking shame to themselves.

Both for his Friends and for himself, as the next Verse explains it.

Marginal references: Heb. the face of Iob.

10. And the LORD turned the Captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends : also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

i. e. Brought him out of that state of Bondage, in which he had been so long held by Satan and by his own Spirit, and out of all his distresses and miseries. Or, returned Job's Captivity, i. e. the Persons and things which had been taken from him, not the same which he had lost, but other equivalent to them, and that with advantage.

Whereby he manifested his obedience to God and his true love and charity to them, in being so ready to forgive them and heartily to pray for them; for which God would not let him lose his reward.

An emphatical Particle. He not onely gave him as much as he lost, but double to it.

Marginal references: Heb. added all that had been to Iob unto the double.

11. Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters , and all they that had been his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him , and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an ear-ring of gold .

When Job had humbled himself, and God was reconciled to Iob, he quickly turned the Hearts of his Friends to favour him, according to Prov. 16. 7. as during his impenitency, and [illegible: 1 word] his trial and humiliation he had alienated their Hearts from him, of which Iob so sadly complains.

Largely so called according to the Scripture-use of these Titles, to wit, his kindred distinguished from his other acquaintance.

i. e. Feasted with him, as that Phrase is commonly used in Scripture, to congratulate with him for God's great and glorious favour already vouchsafed to him in so eminent a Vision and Revelation.

They declared the sense which they had of his calamities whilst they were upon him, although they had hitherto wanted opportunity to express it.

Or, concerning all the evil; which though it was bitter to endure when it was present, yet the remembrance of it revived in him by the discourses of his Friends was very delightful, as is usual in such cases.

Partly to make up his former losses, and partly as a Testimony of their honorable respect to him.

12. So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more then his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.

Not onely with Spiritual, but also with Temporal and Earthly Blessings.

14. And he called the name of the first, Jemima, and the name of the second, Kezia, and the name of the third, Keren-happuch.

Giving them such Names as signifie their excellent beauty of which see my Latin Synopsis.

15. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.

Gave his Daughters a share, and possibly an equal share with his Sons in his Inheritance: which in so plentiful an estate he might easily do, especially to such amiable Sisters without the envy of their Brethren: and which peradventure he did to oblige them to settle themselves amongst their Brethren, and to marry into their own Religious Kindred, not to Strangers, who in those times were generally swallowed up in the gulf of Idolatry.

17. So Job died being old, and full of days .

After God had turned his Captivity, as is said, v. 10.

By which length of his days it seems most probable that he lived before the times of Moses when the days of humane life were much shortned, as he complains.

Job 42:1-3   1  Then Job answered Jehovah, and said:   2  Now I know that Thou canst do all things,

And no plan is impracticable to Thee.   3  “Who then hideth counsel -

Without knowledge?”

Thus have I judged without understanding,

What was too wonderful for me, without knowing.

He indeed knew previously what he acknowledges in Job 42:2, but now this knowledge has risen upon him in a new divinely-worked clearness, such as he has not hitherto experienced. Those strange but wondrous monsters are a proof to him that God is able to put everything into operation, and that the plans according to which He acts are beyond the reach of human comprehension. If even that which is apparently most contradictory, rightly perceived, is so glorious, his affliction is also no such monstrous injustice as he thinks; on the contrary, it is a profoundly elaborated מזמּה, a well-digested, wise עצה of God. In Job 42:3 he repeats to himself the chastening word of Jehovah, Job 38:2, while he chastens himself with it; for he now perceives that his judgment was wrong, and that he consequently has merited the reproof. With לכן he draws a conclusion from this confession which the chastening word of Jehovah has presented to him: he has rashly pronounced an opinion upon things that lie beyond his power of comprehension, without possessing the necessary capacity of judging and perception. On the mode of writing ידעתּ, Cheth., which recalls the Syriac form med'et (with the pronominal suff. cast off), vid., Ges. §44, rem. 4; on the expression Job 42:2, comp. Gen 11:6. The repetition of Job 38:2 in Job 42:3 is not without some variations according to the custom of authors noticed in Psalter, i. 330. הגּדתּי, “I have affirmed,” i.e., judged, is, Job 42:3, so that the notion of judging goes over into that of pronouncing a judgment. The clauses with ולא are circumstantial clauses, Ew. §341, a.

Job 42:4-6   4  O hear now, and I will speak:

I will ask Thee, and instruct Thou me.   5  I had heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear,

And now mine eye hath seen Thee.   6  Therefore I am sorry, and I repent

In dust and ashes.

The words employed after the manner of entreaty, in Job 42:4, Job also takes from the mouth of Jehovah, Job 38:3; Job 40:7. Hitherto Jehovah has interrogated him, in order to bring him to a knowledge of his ignorance and weakness. Now, however, after he has thoroughly perceived this, he is anxious to put questions to Jehovah, in order to penetrate deeper and deeper into the knowledge of the divine power and wisdom. Now for the first time with him, the true, living perception of God has its beginning, being no longer effected by tradition (ל of the external cause: in consequence of the tidings which came to my ears, comp. Psa 18:45, comp. Isa 23:5), but by direct communication with God. In this new light he can no longer deceive himself concerning God and concerning himself; the delusion of the conflict now yields to the vision of the truth, and only penitential sorrow for his sin towards God remains to him. The object to אמאס is his previous conduct. נחם is the exact expression for μετανοεῖν, the godly sorrow of repentance not to be repented of. He repents (sitting) on dust and ashes after the manner of those in deep grief.

If the second speech of Jehovah no longer has to do with the exaltation and power of God in general, but is intended to answer Job’s doubt concerning the justice of the divine government of the world, the long passage about the hippopotamus and the crocodile, Job 40:15-41:34, in this second speech seems to be devoid of purpose and connection. Even Eichhorn and Bertholdt on this account suppose that the separate portions of the two speeches of Jehovah have fallen into disorder. Stuhlmann, Bernstein, and De Wette, on the other hand, explained the second half of the description of the leviathan, Job 41:12-34, as a later interpolation; for this part is thought to be inflated, and to destroy the connection between Jehovah’s concluding words, Job 41:2-3, and Job’s answer, Job 42:2-6. Ewald forcibly rejected the whole section, Job 40:15, by ascribing it to the writer of Elihu’s speeches-an opinion which he has again more recently abandoned. In fact, this section ought to have had a third poet as its writer. But he would be the double (Doppelgänger) of the first; for, deducting the somewhat tame לא אחרישׁ בדיו, Job 41:12, - which, however, is introduced by the interrupted description being resumed, in order now to begin in real earnest, - this section stands upon an equally exalted height with the rest of the book as a poetic production and lofty description; and since it has not only, as also Elihu’s speeches, an Arabizing tinge, but also the poetic genius, the rich fountain of thought, the perfection of technical detail, in common with the rest of the book; and since the writer of the book of Job also betrays elsewhere an acquaintance with Egypt, and an especial interest in things Egyptian, the authenticity of the section is by no means doubted by us, but we freely adopt the originality of its present position.

But before one doubts the originality of its position, he ought, first of all, to make an earnest attempt to comprehend the portion in its present connection, into which it at any rate has not fallen from pure thoughtlessness. The first speech of Jehovah, moreover, was surprisingly different from what was to have been expected, and yet we recognised in it a deep consistency with the plan; perhaps the same thing is also the case in connection with the second.

After Job has answered the first speech of Jehovah by a confession of penitence, the second can have no other purpose but that of strengthening the conviction, which urges to this confession, and of deepening the healthful tone from which it proceeds. The object of censure here is no longer Job’s contending with Jehovah in general, but Job’s contending with Jehovah on account of the prosperity of the evil-doer, which is irreconcilable with divine justice; that contending by which the sufferer, in spite of the shadow which affliction casts upon him, supported the assertion of his own righteousness. Here also, as a result, the refutation follows in the only way consistent with the dignity of Jehovah, and so that Job must believe in order to perceive, and does not perceive in order not to be obliged to believe. Without arguing the matter with Job, as to why many things in the government of the world are thus and not rather otherwise, Jehovah challenges Job to take the government of the world into his own hand, and to give free course to his wrath, to cast down everything that is exalted, and to render the evil-doer for ever harmless. By thus thinking of himself as the ruler of the world, Job is obliged to recognise the cutting contrast of his feebleness and the divine rule, with which he has ventured to find fault; at the same time, however, he is taught, that - what he would never be able to do - God really punishes the ungodly, and must have wise purposes when, which He indeed might do, He does not allow the floods of His wrath to be poured forth immediately.

Thus far also Simson is agreed; but what is the design of the description of the two Egyptian monsters, which are regarded by him as by Ewald as out of place here? To show Job how little capable he is of governing the world, and how little he would be in a position to execute judgment on the evil-doer, two creatures are described to him, two unslain monsters of gigantic structure and invincible strength, which defy all human attack. These two descriptions are, we think, designed to teach Job how little capable of passing sentence upon the evil-doer he is, who cannot even draw a cord through the nose of the behêmoth, and who, if he once attempted to attack the leviathan, would have reason to remember it so long as he lived, and would henceforth let it alone. It is perhaps an emblem that is not without connection with the book of Job, that these בהמות and לויתן (תנין), in the language of the Prophets and the Psalms, are the symbols of a worldly power at enmity with the God of redemption and His people. And wherefore should Job’s confession, Job 42:2, not be suitably attached to the completed description of the leviathan, especially as the description is divided into two parts by the utterances of Jehovah, Job 41:2-3, which retrospectively and prospectively set it in the right light for Job?

Job 42:7

Job’s confession and tone of penitence are now perfected. He acknowledges the divine omnipotence which acts according to a wisely-devised scheme, in opposition to his total ignorance and feebleness. A world of divine wisdom, of wondrous thoughts of God, now lies before him, concerning which he knows nothing of himself, but would gladly learn a vast amount by the medium of divine instruction. To these mysteries his affliction also belongs. He perceives it now to be a wise decree of God, beneath which he adoringly bows, but it is nevertheless a mystery to him. Sitting in dust and ashes, he feels a deep contrition for the violence with which he has roughly handled and shaken the mystery, - now will it continue, that he bows beneath the enshrouded mystery? No, the final teaching of the book is not that God’s rule demands faith before everything else; the final teaching is, that sufferings are for the righteous man the way to glory, and that his faith is the way to sight. The most craving desire, for the attainment of which Job hopes where his faith breaks forth from under the ashes, is this, that he will once more behold God, even if he should succumb to his affliction. This desire is granted him ere he yields. For he who hitherto has only heard of Jehovah, can now say: עתה עיני ראתך; his perception of God has entered upon an entirely new stage. But first of all God has only borne witness of Himself to him, to call him to repentance. Now, however, since the rust of pollution is purged away from Job’s pure soul, He can also appear as his Vindicator and Redeemer. After all that was sinful in his speeches is blotted out by repentance, there remains only the truth of his innocence, which God Himself testifies to him, and the truth of his holding fast to God in the hot battle of temptation, by which, without his knowing it, he has frustrated the design of Satan. 7  And it came to pass, after Jehovah had spoken these words to Job, that Jehovah said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee and thy two friends: for ye have not spoken what is correct in reference to Me, as My servant Job.

In order that they may only maintain the justice of God, they have condemned Job against their better knowledge and conscience; therefore they have abandoned truth in favour of the justice of God, - a defence which, as Job has told the friends, God abhors. Nevertheless He is willing to be gracious.

Job 42:8 8  And now take unto you seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer an offering for yourselves, and Job My servant shall pray for you; only his person will I accept, that I recompense not unto you your folly: for ye have not spoken what is correct in reference to Me, as My servant Job.

Schlottm., like Ew., translates נכונה what is sincere, and understands it of Job’s inward truthfulness, in opposition to the words of the friends contrary to their better knowledge and conscience. But nkwn has not this signification anywhere: it signifies either directum = rectum or erectum = stabile, but not sincerum. However, objective truth and subjective truthfulness are here certainly blended in the notion ”correct.” The “correct” in Job’s speeches consists of his having denied that affliction is always a punishment of sin, and in his holding fast the consciousness of his innocence, without suffering himself to be persuaded of the opposite. That denial was correct; and this truthfulness was more precious to God than the untruthfulness of the friends, who were zealous for the honour of God.

After Job has penitently acknowledged his error, God decides between him and the friends according to his previous supplicatory wish, Job 16:21. The heavenly Witness makes Himself heard on earth, and calls Job by the sweet name of עבדי. And the servant of Jehovah is not only favoured himself, but he also becomes the instrument of grace to sinners. As where his faith shone forth he became the prophet of his own and the friends’ future, so now he is the priestly mediator between the friends and God. The friends against whom God is angry, but yet not as against רשׁעים, but only as against those who have erred, must bring an offering as their atonement, in connection with which Job shall enter in with a priestly intercession for them, and only him (כּי אם, non alium sed = non nisi), whom they regarded as one punished of God, will God accept (comp. Gen 19:21) - under what deep shame must it have opened their eyes!

Here also, as in the introduction of the book, it is the עולה which effects the atonement. It is the oldest and, according to its meaning, the most comprehensive of all the blood-offerings. Bullocks and rams are also the animals for the whole burnt-offerings of the Mosaic ritual; the proper animal for the sin-offering, however, is the he-goat together with the she-goat, which do not occur here, because the age and scene are strange to the Israelitish branching off of the חטאת from the עולה. The double seven gives the mark of the profoundest solemnity to the offering that was to be offered. The three also obey the divine direction; for although they have erred, God’s will is above everything in their estimation, and they cheerfully subordinate themselves as friends to the friend.Hence the Talmudic proverb (vid., Fürst’s Perlenschnûre, S. 80): או איתותא או חברא כחברי איוב, either a friend like Job’s friends or death!

Job 42:9 9  The Eliphaz of Teman, and Bildad of Shuach, and Zophar of Naamah, went forth and did as Jehovah had said to them; and Jehovah accepted the person of Job.

Jehovah has now risen up as a witness for Job, the spiritual redemption is already accomplished; and all that is wanting is, that He who has acknowledged and testified to Job as His servant should also act outwardly and visibly, and in mercy show Himself the righteous One.

Job 42:10 10  And Jehovah turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends; and Jehovah increased everything that Job had possessed to the double. רעהוּ is to be understood generally, as Job 16:21, and the בּ signifies not “because,” but “when.” The moment in which Job prayed for his friends became, as the climax of a life that is well-pleasing with God, the turning-point of glory to him. The Talmud has borrowed from here the true proverb: תחלה כל־המתפלל בעד חברו נענה, i.e., he who prays for his fellow-men always finds acceptance for himself first of all. The phrase (שׁבית) שׁוּב שׁבוּת signifies properly to turn captivity, then in general to make an end of misery; also in German, elend, old High Germ. elilenti, originally signified another, foreign country (vid., Psalter, ii. 192), since an involuntary removal from one’s native land is regarded as the emblem of a lamentable condition. This phrase does not exactly stamp Job as the Mashal of the Israel of the Exile, but it favoured this interpretation. Now when Job was recovered, and doubly blessed by God, as is also promised to the Israel of the Exile, Isa 61:7 and freq., sympathizing friends also appeared in abundance.

Job 42:11 11  Then came to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all his former acquaintances, and ate bread with him in his house, and expressed sympathy with him, and comforted him concerning all the evil which Jehovah had brought upon him; and each one gave him a Kesitâ, and each a golden ring.

Prosperity now brought those together again whom calamity had frightened away; for the love of men is scarcely anything but a number of coarse or delicate shades of selfishness. Now they all come and rejoice at Job’s prosperity, viz., in order to bask therein. He, however, does not thrust them back; for the judge concerning the final motives of human love is God, and love which is shown to us is certainly more worthy of thanks than hatred. They are his guests again, and he leaves them to their own shame. And now their tongues, that were halting thus far, are all at once become eloquent: they mingle congratulations and comfort with their expressions of sorrow at his past misfortune. It is now an easy matter, that no longer demands their faith. They even bring him each one a present. In everything it is manifest that Jehovah has restored His servant to honour. Everything is now subordinated to him, who was accounted as one forsaken of God. קשׂיטה is a piece of metal weighed out, of greater value than the shekel, moreover indefinite, since it is nowhere placed in the order of the Old Testament system of weights and measures, adapted to the patriarchal age, Gen 33:19, in which Job’s history falls.According to b. Rosch ha-Schana, 26a, R. Akiba found the word קשׂיטה in Africa in the signification מעה (coin), as a Targ. (vid., Aruch, s.v. קשׂיטה) also translates; the Arab. קשׂת at least signifies balances and weight. נזמים are rings for the nose and ear; according to Exo 32:3, an ornament of the women and men.

Job 42:12

The author now describes the manner of Job’s being blessed. 12  And Jehovah blessed Job’s end more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand she-asses.

The numbers of the stock of cattle, Job 1:3,Job, like all the wealthier husbandmen in the present day, kept she-asses, although they are three times dearer than the male, because they are useful for their foals; it is not for the sake of their milk, for the Semites do not milk asses and horses. Moreover, the foals are also only a collateral gain, which the poor husbandman, who is only able to buy a he-ass, must forego. What renders this animal indispensable in husbandry is, that it is the common and (since camels are extremely rare among the husbandmen) almost exclusive means of transport. How would the husbandman, e.g., be able to carry his seed for sowing to a field perhaps six or eight miles distant? Not on the plough, as our farmers do, for the plough is transported on the back of the oxen in Syria. How would he be able to get the corn that was to be ground (tachne) to the mill, perhaps a day’s journey distant; how carry wood and grass, how get the manure upon the field in districts that require to be manured, if he had not an ass? The camels, on the other hand, serve for harvesting (ragâd), and the transport of grain (ghalle), chopped straw (tibn), fuel (hatab), and the like, to the large inland towns, and to the seaports. Those village communities that do not possess camels for this purpose, hire them of the Arabs (nomads). - Wetzst. now appear doubled, but it is different with the children.

Job 42:13 13  And he had seven sons and three daughters.

Therefore, instead of the seven sons and three daughters which he had, he receives just the same again, which is also so far a doubling, as deceased children also, according to the Old Testament view, are not absolutely lost, 2Sa 12:23. The author of this book, in everything to the most minute thing consistent, here gives us to understand that with men who die and depart from us the relation is different from that with things which we have lost. The pausal שׁבענה (instead of שׁבעה), with paragogic âna, which otherwise is a fem. suff. (Ges. §91, rem. 2), here, however, standing in a prominent position, is an embellishment somewhat violently brought over from the style of the primeval histories (Gen 21:29; Rth 1:19): a septiad of sons. The names of the sons are passed over in silence, but those of the daughters are designedly given.

Job 42:14 14  And the one was called Jemîma, and the second Kezia, and the third Keren ha-pûch.

The subject of ויּקרא is each and every one, as Isa 9:5 (comp. supra, Job 41:25, existimaverit quis). The one was called ימימה (Arab. jemâme, a dove) on account of her dove’s eyes; the other קציעה, cassia, because she seemed to be woven out of the odour of cinnamon; and the third קרן הפּוּך, a horn of paint (lxx Hellenizing: κέρας ἀμαλθείας), which is not exactly beautiful in itself, but is the principal cosmetic of female beauty (vid., Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, transl.): the third was altogether the most beautiful, possessing a beauty heightened by artificial means. They were therefore like three graces. The writer here keeps to the outward appearance, not disowning his Old Testament standpoint. That they were what their names implied, he says in

Job 42:15 15  And in all the land there were not found women so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers.

On נמצא, followed by the acc., vid., Ges. §143, 1, b. להם, etc., referring to the daughters, is explained from the deficiency in Hebrew in the distinction of the genders. Job 42:15 sounds more Arabian than Israelitish, for the Thora only recognises a daughter as heiress where there are no sons, Num 27:8 The writer is conscious that he is writing an extra-Israelitish pre-Mosaic history. The equal distribution of the property again places before our eyes the pleasing picture of family concord in the commencement of the history; at the same time it implies that Job will not have been wanting in son-in-law for his fair, richly-dowried daughters, - a fact which Job 42:16 establishes:

Job 42:16 16  And Job lived after this a hundred and forty years, and saw his children and his children’s children to four generations.

In place of ויּרא, the Keri gives the unusual Aorist form ויּראה, which, however, does also occur elsewhere (e.g., 1Sa 17:42). The style of the primeval histories, which we here everywhere recognise, Gen 50:23 (comp. Isa 53:10), is retained to the last words.

Job 42:17 17  And Job died, old, and weary of life.

In the very same manner Genesis, Gen 25:8, Gen 35:29, records the end of the patriarchs. They died satiated of life; for long life is a gift of God, but neither His greatest nor His final gift.

A New Testament poet would have closed the book of Job differently. He would have shown us how, becoming free from his inward conflict of temptation, and being divinely comforted, Job succumbs to his disease, but waves his palm of victory before the throne of God among the innumerable hosts of those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. The Old Testament poet, however, could begin his book with a celestial scene, but not end it with the same. True, in some passages, which are like New Testament luminous points in the Old Testament poem, Job dares to believe and to hope that God will indeed acknowledge him after death. But this is a purely individual aspiration of faith - the extreme of hope, which comes forth against the extreme of fear. The unravelment does not correspond to this aspiration. The view of heaven which a Christian poet would have been able to give at the close of the book is only rendered possible by the resurrection and ascension of Christ. So far, what Oehler in his essay on the Old Testament Wisdom (1854, S. 28) says, in opposition to those who think the book of Job is directed against the Mosaic doctrine of retribution, is true: that, on the contrary, the issue of the book sanctions the present life phase of this doctrine anew. But the comfort which this theologically and artistically incomparable book presents to us is substantially none other than that of the New Testament. For the final consolation of every sufferer is not dependent upon the working of good genii in the heavens, but has its seat in God’s love, without which even heaven would become a very hell. Therefore the book of Job is also a book of consolation for the New Testament church. From it we learn that we have not only to fight with flesh and blood, but with the prince of this world, and to accomplish our part in the conquest of evil, to which, from Gen 3:15 onwards, the history of the world tends; that faith and avenging justice are absolutely distinct opposites; that the right kind of faith clings to divine love in the midst of the feeling of wrath; that the incomprehensible ways of God always lead to a glorious issue; and that the suffering of the present time is far outweighed by the future glory - a glory not always revealed in this life and visibly future, but the final glory above. The nature of faith, the mystery of the cross, the right practice of the care of souls, - this, and much besides, the church learns from this book, the whole teaching of which can never be thoroughly learned and completely exhausted.

Appendix to the Commentary on Job

The Monastery of Job in Hauran, and the Tradition of Job

The oral tradition of a people is in general only of very subordinate value from a scientific point of view when it has reference to an extremely remote past; but that of the Arabs especially, which is always combined with traditions and legends, renders the simplest facts perplexing, and wantonly clothes the images of prominent persons in the most wonderful garbs, and, in general, so rapidly disfigures every object, that after a few generations it is no longer recognisable. So far as it has reference to the personality of Job, whose historical existence is called in question or denied by some expositors, it may be considered as altogether worthless, but one can recognise when it speaks of Job’s native country. By the ארץ עוּץ the writer of the book of Job meant a definite district, which was well known to the people for whom he wrote; but the name has perished, like many others, and all the efforts of archaeologist to assign to the land its place in the map of Palestine have been fruitless. Under these circumstances the matter is still open to discussion, and the tradition respecting Job has some things to authorize it. True, it cannot of itself make up for the want of an historical testimony, but it attains a certain value if it is old, i.e., if it can be traced back about to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, when reliable information was still obtainable respecting that district, although its name was no longer in use.

In all the larger works of travel on Palestine and Syria, we find it recorded that Haurân is there called Job’s fatherland. In Hauran itself the traveller hears this constantly; if any one speaks of the fruitfulness of the whole district, or of the fields around a village, he is always answered: Is it not the land of Job (bildâd Êjûb)? Does it not belong to the villages of Job (diâ' Êjûb)? Thus to SeetzenSeetzen, Reisen durch Syrien, etc., i. 66.Bosrâ was pointed out as a city of Job; and to Eli SmithEd. Robinson, Palâstina, iii. 911 Germ. edit.. even the country lying to the east of the mountains was called the land of Job. In Kanawat, a very spacious building, belonging to the Roman or Byzantine period, situated in the upper town, was pointed out to me as the summer palace of Job (the inscription 8799 in Corp. Inscr. Graec. is taken from it). The shepherds of Dâ'il, with whom I passed a night on the Wâdi el-Lebwe, called the place of their encampment Job’s pasture-ground. In like manner, the English traveller Buckingham, when he wandered through the Nukra, was shown in the distance the village of Gherbi (i.e., Chirbet el-ghazale, which from its size is called el-chirbe κατ ̓ εξοχήν) as the birthplace and residence of Job,C. Ritter, Geogr. von Syr. u. Pal. ii. 842 = Erdkunde, xv. Pt. 2, p. 842]. and it seems altogether as though Hauran and the Land of Job are synonymous. But if one inquires particularly for that part of the country in which Job himself dwelt, he is directed to the central point of Hauran, the plain of Hauran (sahl Haurân),Whether the word מישׁר, Deu 3:10, only signifies the plain of Hauran or its southern continuation, the eastern Belkâ, may be doubtful, because in that passage both the Amorite kingdoms are spoken of. But since it is the “cities” of the plain, of which the eastern Balkâ can have had but few or none, that are spoken of, מישׁר will surely exclude the latter. and still more exactly to the district between the towns of Nawâ and Edre'ât, which is accounted the most fertile portion of the country, covered with the ruins of villages, monasteries, and single courts, and is even now comparatively well cultivated. Among the nomads as well as among the native agricultural population, this district is called from its formation Nukra or Nukrat esh-Shâm,On this name, which belongs to the modern geography of the country, comp. my Reisebericht über Hauran u. d. Trachonen, S. 87. a name by which this highly-favoured plain is known and celebrated by the poets in the whole Syrian desert, as far as 'Irâk and Higâz.

But even the national writers are acquainted with and frequently make mention of the Hauranitish tradition of Job; yet they do not call Job’s home Nukra, - for this word, which belongs only to the idiom of the steppe, is unknown to the literature of the language, - but Bethenîje (Betanaea). It is so called in a detailed statement of the legends of Job:Catalogue of Arab. MSS collected in Damascus by J. G. Wetzstein. Berlin 1863, No. 46, p. 56.

After the death of his father, Job journeyed into EgyptThe connection with Egypt, in which these legends place Job, is worthy of observation. - Del. to marry Rahme (רחמה) the daughter of Ephraim, who had inherited from her grandfather Joseph the robe of beauty; and after he had brought her to his own country, he received from God a mission as prophet to his countrymen, viz., to the inhabitants of Haurân and Batanaea (Arab. b‛ṯh 'llh t‛ rsûlâ 'lâ qûmh whm 'hl ḥûrân w - 'l - btnı̂t). The historian of Jerusalem, Mugîr ed-dîn el-Hambeli, in the chapter on the legend of the prophets, says: “Job came from el-'Ês, and the Damascene province of Batanaea was his property.” In like manner, in the Geography of Jâkût el-Hamawi,Orient. MSS in the Royal Library in Berlin, Sect. Sprenger, No. 7-10. under the art. Bethenîje, it is said: “and in this land lived Job (wakân Êjûb minhâ).”

Modern exegetes, as is known, do not take the plain of Hauran, but the mountain range of Hauran with its eastern slope, as the Provincia Batanaea. I have sought elsewhereReisebericht, S. 83-87. to show the error of this view, and may the more readily confine myself to merely referring to it, as one will be convinced of the correctness of my position in the course of this article. One thing, however, is to be observed here, that the supposition that Basan is so called as being the land of basalt rocks, is an untenable support of this error. The word basalt may be derived from βασάντις, or a secondary formation, βασάλτις, because Basan is exclusively volcanic;Vid., p. 540, comp. p. 542, note 1, of the foregoing Commentary. but we have no more right to reverse the question, than to say that Damascus may have received its name from the manufacture of damask.In the fair at Muzêrîb we again saw the sheikh of the Wêsîje-Beduins, whose guest we had been a week before at the Springs of Joseph in western Gôlân, where he had pitched his tent on a wild spot of ground that had been traversed by lava-streams. In answer to our question whether he still sojourned in that district, he said: “No, indeed! Nâzilin el - jôm bi - ard bethêne shêle (we are not encamped in a district that is completely bethêne).” I had not heard this expression before, and inquired what it meant. The sheikh replied, bethêne (Arab. buṯaynat) is a stoneless plain covered with rich pasture. I often sought information respecting this word, since I was interested about it on account of the Hebrew word בּשׁן, and always obtained the same definition. It is a diminutive form, without having exactly a diminutive signification, for in the language of the nomads it is an acknowledged fact that such a form takes the place of the usual form. The usual form is either bathne or bathane. The Kâmûs gives the former signification, “a level country.” That the explanation of the Kamus is too restricted, and that of the Sheikh of Wêjîje the more complete, may be shown from the Kamus itself. In one place it says, The word moreover signifies (a) the thick of the milk (cream); (b) a tender maiden; (c) repeated acts of benevolence. These three significations given are, however, manifestly only figurative applications, not indeed of the signification which the Kamus places Primo loco, but of that which the Sheikh of the Wêjîje gave; for the likening of a “voluptuously formed maiden,” or of repeated acts of benevolence, to a luxurious meadow, is just as natural to a nomad, as it was to the shepherd Amos (Amo 4:1) to liken the licentious women of Samaria to well-nourished cows of the fat pastures of Basan. Then the Kamus brings forward a collective form buthun (Arab. butun, perhaps from the sing. bathan = בּשׁן, like Arab. usud from asad) in the signification pastures (Arab. ryâd); pastures, however, that are damp and low, with a rich vegetation. That the word is ancient, may be seen from the following expression of Châlid ibn el-Welîd, the victor on the Jarmûk: “'Omar made me governor of Damascus; and when I had made it into the buthêne, i.e., a stoneless fertile plain (easy to govern and profitable), he removed me.” Jâkût also mentions this expression under Bethenîje. Châlid also uses the diminutive as the nomads do (he was of the race of Machzûm); probably the whole word belongs only to the steppe, for all the women who were called buthêne, e.g., the beloved of the poet Gemîl, and others mentioned in the “Dîwân of Love” (Dı̂wân es - sabâbe, were Beduin women.

After what has been said, we cannot assign to the Hebr. בּשׁן any other signification than that of a fertile stoneless plain or low country. This appellation, which was given, properly and originally, only to the heart of the country, and its most valuable portion, viz., the Nukra, would then a potiori be transferred to the whole, and when the kingdom of Basan was again destroyed, naturally remained to that province, of which it was the proper designation.)

The home of Job is more definitely described in the following passages. Muhammed el-MakdeshiOrient. MSS in the Royal Library at Berlin; Sect. Sprenger, No. 5. says, p. 81 of his geography: “And in Haurân and Batanaea lie the villages of Job and his home (diâ' Êjûb wa-diâruh). The chief place (of the district) is Nawâ, rich in wheat and other cereals.” The town of Nawâ is still more definitely connected with Job by Jâkût el-Hamawi under the article Nawâ: “Between Nawa and Damascus in two days’ journey; it belongs to the district of Hauran,If writers mention Haurân alone, they mean thereby, according to the usage of the language of the Damascenes, and certainly also of the prophet Ezekiel (Eze 47:16, Eze 47:18), the plain of Haurân as far as the borders of the Belkâ, including the mountains of Haurân, the Legâ, and Gêdûr; it is only in the district itself, where special divisions are rendered necessary, that the three last mentioned parts are excluded. If writers mention Haurân and Bethenîje together, the context must determine whether the former signifies the whole, and the latter the part, as in the above quotation from Makdeshi, or whether both are to be taken as coordinate, as in a passage of Istachri (edited by Möller, Botha 1839): “And Haurân and Bethenîje are two provinces of Damascus with luxuriant corn-fields.” Here the words are related to one another as Auranitis (with the chief town Bostra) to Batanaea (with the chief town Adratum, i.e., Edre'ât), or as the Haurân of the Beduins and the Nukra of the same. The boundary between both is the Wâdi 'Irâ, which falls into the Zêdî south of Edre'ât. and is, according to some, the chief town of the same. Nawâ was the residence (menzil) of Job;” and Ibn er-Râbi says, p. 62 of his essay on the excellences of Damascus:Catalogue of Arab. MSS collected in Damascus, No. 26. “To the prophets buried in the region of Damascus belongs also Job, and his tomb is near Nawâ, in the district of Hauran.” Such passages prove at the same time the identity of the Nukra with Batanaea; for if the latter is said to be recognisable from the fact of Job’s home being found in it, and we find this sign in connection with the Nukra in which Nawâ with its surrounding country is situated, both names must denote one and the same district.

That, according to the last citation, Job’s tomb is also shown in the Nukra, has been already observed in my Reisebericht, S. 121. Jâkût, under Dêr Êjûb, thus expresses himself: “The Monastery of Job is a locality in Hauran, a Damascene province, in which Job dwelt and was tried of God. There also is the fountain which he made to flow with his foot, and the block of rock on which he leant. There also is his tomb.” What Kazwîni ways in his Wonders of Creation (‛agâib el - machlûkât), under Dêr Êjûb, accords with it: “The Monastery of Job lies in one of the Damascene provinces, and was the place of Job’s residence, in which God tried him. There also is the fountain which sprang forth at the stamping of his foot, when at the end of his trial God commanded him, and said: Strike with thy foot - (thus a fountain will spring forth, and) this shall be to thee a cool bath and a draught (Korân, xxxviii. 41ff.). There is also the rock on which he sat, and his tomb.” Recurring to the passage of the Koran cited, we shall see that the stone of Job, the fountain and the tomb, are not situated in the Monastery itself, but at some little distance from it.

I came with my cortége out of Gôlân, to see the remarkable pilgrim fair of Muzêrîb, just when the Mekka caravan was expected; and since the Monastery of Job, never visited by any one now-a-days, could not lie far out of the way, I determined to seek it out, because I deluded myself with the hope of finding an inscription of its founder, 'Amr I, and in fact one with a date, which would have been of the greatest importance in reference to the history of the Ghassanides, - a hope which has remained unfulfilled. In the evening of the 8th of May we came to Tesîl. Here the Monastery was for the first time pointed out to us. It was lighted up by the rays of the setting sun, - a stately ruin, which lay in the distance a good hour towards the east. The following morning we left Tesîl. Our way led through luxuriant corn-fields and fields lying fallow, but decked with a rich variety of flowers in gayest blossom, to an isolated volcanic mound, Tell el-Gumû',“Hill of the heaps of riders.” The hill is said to have been named after a great engagement which took place there in ancient days. Among the 'Aneze the gem‛ , נמע, plur. gumû‛ is a division of 400-600 horsemen. from which we intended to reconnoitre the surrounding country. from this point, as far as the eye could reach, it swept over fields of wheat belonging to the communities of Sahm, Tell Shihâb, Tesîl, Nawâ, and Sa'dîje, which covered a region which tradition calls the home of Job. True, the volcanic chaos (el-wa'r) extended in the west to the distance of some three miles up the hill on which we stood, and on the north the plain was bounded partly by Tell el-Gâbia and the “tooth of Nawâ” (sinn Nawâ), a low ridge with a few craters; but towards the E. and S. and S.W. the plain was almost unbounded, for isolated eminences, as Tell 'Ashtarâ, T. Ash'arî, T. Shihâb, T. el-Chammân, and others, rose above the level of the plain only like mole-hills; and the deep gorges of the Meddân, Jarmûk, Hît, and Muchêbi, were sudden and almost perpendicular ravines, either not seen at all, or appeared as dark marks. The plain slopes gently and scarcely perceptibly towards Kufr el-mâ, Kufr es-sâmir, Zêzûn, and Bendek; and the Naher el'Owêrid, a rover abounding in water in its level bed, resembles a glistening thread of silver. If this district had trees, as it once had, - for among the ruins one often discovers traces of vineyards and garden walls, which it can have no longer, since the insecurity and injustice of the country do not admit of men remaining long in one and the same village, therefore not to take hold upon the soil and establish one’s self, and become at home anywhere, - it would be an earthly paradise, by reason of its healthy climate and the fertility of its soil. That even the Romans were acquainted with the glorious climate of Hauran, is proved by the name Palaestina salutaris, which they gave to the district.This appellation is erroneously given to the province of Petra (Palaestina tertia) in Burckhardt’s Travels (Gesenius’ edition, S. 676). Böcking also, Not. dign. or. pp. 139, 345, and 373, is guilty of this oversight. Comp. thereon, Mommsen, Verzeichniss der röm. Provinzen aufgesetzt um, 297, in the Transactions of the Berlin Acad. der Wissensch. 1862, S. 501f.

The inhabitants of Damascus say there is no disease whatever in Haurân; and as often as the plague or any other infectious disease shows itself in their city, thousands flee to Hauran, and to the lava-plateau of the Legâ. This healthy condition may arise from the volcanic formation of the country, and from the sea-breeze, which it always has in connection with its position, which is open towards the west. Even during the hottest days, when e.g., in the Ghûta a perfect calm prevails, so that no breeze is felt, this cool and moist sea-breeze blows refreshingly and regularly over the plain; and hence the Hauranitish poet never speaks of his native country without calling it the “cool-blowing Nukra” (en - nukra el - ‛adı̂je). But as to the fertility of the district, there is indeed much good arable land in the country east of the Jordan, as in Irbid and Suwêt, of the same kind as between Salt and 'Ammân, but nowhere is the farming, in connection with a small amount of labour (since no manure is used), more productive than in Hauran, or more profitable; for the transparent “Batanaean wheat” (hinta bethenı̂je) is always at least 25 per cent. higher in price than other kinds. Hence the agriculture of that region also, in times of peace and security (during the first six centuries after Christ), produced that fondness for building, some of the magnificent memorials of which are our astonishment in the present day; and, in fact, not unfrequently the inscriptions testify that the buildings themselves owe their origin to the produce of the field. Thus, in the locality of Nâhite in the Nukra, I found the following fragment of an inscription:...Μασαλέμου Ράββου κτίσμα ἐξ ἰδίων κόπων γεωργικῶν ἐν ἔτι στ, Masalemos son of Rabbos set up (this memorial) out of the produce of his farming in the year 280. Of a like kind is the following remains of two distichs in Marduk: . . . δρός τε σαόφρων  | . . . μεγαρόν  | . . . ις ἀνάπαυμα μέγιστον  | . . . γεωπονίης. In Shakkâ the longer inscription of a mausoleum in a state of good preservation begins: Βάσσος ἑῆς πάτρης μεγακύδεος ἀγλαὸν ὄμμα Ἐκ σφετέρου καμάτοιο γεωπονίης τέ μ ̓ ἔδειμεν.

Bassos, beaming eye of the honourable city of his birth,

Has built me out of the produce of his own tillage.

Similar testimonies are to be found in the inscriptions of Burckhardt.

After a long sojourn on the hill, which was occasioned by the investigation of some interesting plants in the crater of the mound, we set out for Sa'dîje, which is built on the slope of a hill. After a good hour’s journey we arrived at the Makâm Êjûb, “the favoured tomb of Job,” situated at the southern base of the hill, and rendered conspicuous by two white domes, and there we dismounted. The six attendants and alumni of the Makâm, or, as the Arabs thoughtfully call them, “the servants of our master Job” (châdimîn sêjidna Êjûb), received us, with some other pilgrims, at the door of the courtyard, and led us to the basin of the fountain of Job, by the side of which they spread out their mantles for us to rest upon under the shade of walnut tree and a willow. While the rest were negated in the duties of hospitality, the superior of the Makâm, the Sheikh Sa'îd el-Darfûri (from Darfûr) did not leave us, and made himself in every way obliging. Like him, all the rest of the inhabitants of the place were black, and all unmarried; their celibacy, however, I imagine, was only caused by the want of opportunity of marrying, and the limited accommodation of the place. Sheikh Sa'îd believed himself to be fifty years of age; he left his home twenty years before to go on pilgrimage to Mekka, where he “studied” four years; the same length of time he sojourned in Medîna, and had held his present office ten years. Besides his mother tongue, he spoke Arabic and a little Turkish, having been in Constantinople a few years before. His judgment of the inhabitants of that city is rather harsh: he charges them with immorality, drunkenness, and avarice. In one year, said he, I could hardly save enough to travel by the steamer to Chôdscha Bêk (Odessa). How different was my experience to the inhabitants of this city! I was there three months, during which time I had nothing to provide for, and left with ninety Mânôt (imperials), which just sufficed to set up these dilapidated relics again. A Russian ship brought me to Smyrna, whence I travelled by the Nemsâwi (Austrian Lloyd steamer) to Syria.

According to the account given by the inhabitants of Sa'dîje, the Makâm has been from ancient times a negro hospice. These Africans, commonly called 'Abîd in Damascus, and in the country Tekârine, come chiefly from Tekrûr in Sûdân; they first visit Mekka and Medîna, then Damascus, and finally the Makâm of Job. Here they sojourn from twenty to thirty days, during which time they wash themselves daily in Job’s fountain, and pray upon Job’s stone; and the rest of the day they either read or assist the dwellers in the Makâm in their tillage of the soil. When they are about to leave, they received a testimonial, and often return home on foot across the Isthmus of Suez, often by water, chiefly from Jâfâ, by the Austrian Lloyd ship to Egypt, and thence to their native country. These pilgrims, so far as the requirements of their own country are concerned, are literati; and it appears as though by this journey they obtained their highest degree. I have frequently met them in my travels. They are known by their clean white turban, and the white broad-sleeved shirt, which reaches to the ankles, their only garment. They carry a small bundle over the shoulder upon a strong staff, which may serve as a weapon of defence in case of need. In this bundle they carry a few books and other effects, and above this their cloak. They are modest, taciturn men, who go nimbly onward on their way, and to whom one always gladly gives a supper and a night’s lodging.

We visited the holy places in the company of the Sheikh Sa'îd. The Makâm, and the reservoir, which lies fifty paces to the front of it, are surrounded by a wall. This reservoir is filled by a strong, rapid, and cold stream of water, which comes from the fountain of Job, about 400 paces distant. The fountain itself springs up by the basalt hill on which the village and the Job’s stone are situated; and it is covered in as far as the reservoir (called birke), in order to keep the water fresh, and to guard against pollution. Between the fountain and the Makâm stand a half-dozen acacias and a pomegranate, which were just then in full bloom. The Makâm itself, on which the wretched habitations for the attendants and pilgrims adjoin, is a one-storey stone building, of old material and moderate circumference. The first thing shown us was the stone trough, called gurn, in which Job bathed at the end of his trial. The small space in which this relic stands, and over which, so far as I remember, one of the two domes is raised, is called wadjet sêjidnâ Êjûb, “the lavatory of our lord Job.” Adjoining this is the part with the tomb, the oblong mound of which is covered with an old torn green cloth. The tomb of Sa'd was more carefully tended. Our Damascene travelling companions were divided in their opinions as to the person whose tomb was near that of Job, as in Syria it is hardly possible to find and distinguish the makâms of the many men of God (rigâl Allâh) or favoured ones of God (auliâ) who bear the same names; but a small white flag standing upon the grave informed us, for it bore the inscription: “This is the military emblem (râje) of our lord Sa'd abû Merzûka.”

Perhaps the preservation of the Makâm of Job is due to the tomb of Sa'd, as its endowments have long since disappeared, while the tomb of Sa'd still has its revenues. From 'Aglûn it receives tribute of oil and olives yearly. And several large vegetable gardens, which lie round about the Makâm, and are cultivated by its attendants, must also contribute something considerable towards its maintenance. In these gardens they grow dura (maize), tobacco, turnips, onions, and other things, for their own use and for sale. The plants, which can be freely watered from the fountain of Job, are highly esteemed. The government levies no taxes on the Makâm, and the Arabs no tribute; and since, according to the popular belief, that Beduin horse that is watered from the birke dies, the Beduins do not even claim the rights of hospitality, - a fortunate circumstance, the removal of which would speedily cause the ruin of the hospice. From nightly thieves, who not unfrequently break through the walls of the stables in the villages of the plain, and carry off the smaller cattle, both the Makâm and the village are secure; for if the night thieves come, they see, as every one in Hauran testifies, a surging sea around the place, which prevents their approach.

From the Makâm we ascended the hill of the village, on the highest part of which is the stone of Job (Sachrat Êjûb). It is inside a small Mussulman hall of prayer, which in its present form is of more modern origin, but is undoubtedly built from the material of a Christian chapel, which stood here in the pre-Muhammedan age. It is an unartistic structure, in the usual Hauranitish style, with six or eight arches and a small dome, which is just above the stone of Job. My Mussulman attendants, and a Hauranite Christina from the village of Shemiskîn, who had joined us as we were visiting the Sachra, trod the sacred spot with bare feet, and kissed the rock, the basaltic formation of which is unmistakeable. Against this rock, our guide told us, Job leaned “when he was afflicted by his Lord” (hı̂n ibtelâ min rabbuh).As is generally known, the black stone in Mekka and the Sachra in Jerusalem are more celebrated than the stone of Job; but less revered are the Mebrak en-nâka in Bosrâ, the thievish stone of Moses in the great mosque at Damascus, the doset en-nebî on the mountain of el-Hîgâne, and others.

While these people were offering up their 'Asr (afternoon) prayer in this place, Sa'îd brought me a handful of small long round stones and slag, which the tradition declares to be the worms that fell to the ground out of Job’s sores, petrified. “Take them with thee,” said he, “as a memento of this place; let them teach thee not to forget God in prosperity, and in misfortune not to contend with Him.” The frequent use of these words in the mouth of the man might have weakened them to a set phrase: they were, however, appropriate to the occasion, and were not without their effect. After my attendants had provided themselves with Job’s worms, we left the Sachra. These worms form a substantial part of the Hauranitish tradition of Job, and they are known and revered generally in the country. Our Christian attendant from Shemiskîn bound them carefully in the broad sleeve of his shirt, and recited to us a few verses from a kasîde, in which they are mentioned. The poem, which a member of our company, the dervish Regeb, wrote down, is by a Hauranite Christian, who in it describes his unhappy love in colours as strong as the bad taste it displays. The lines that are appropriate here are as follows: -Min ‛azma nârı̂ nâra jôm el - qijâma , Tûfâna Nûha 'dmû‛ a 'ênı̂ ‛anuh zôd . Ja‛ qûba min hoznı̂ hizânuh qisâma Min belwetı̂ Ejûba jerta‛ bihe ‛d - dûd.The metre forms two spondeo-iambics and trochaeo-spondaics.

The fire of hell at the last day will kindle itself from the glow of my pain,

And stronger than the flood of Noah are the tear-streams of mine eyes.

The grief of Jacob for his son was but a small part of my grief;

And, visited with my misery, Job was once the prey of worms.Comp. p. 576 of the foregoing Commentary.

The village, which the peasants call Shêch Sa'd, and the nomads Sa'dîje, is, as the name implies, of later origin, and perhaps was founded by people who fled hither when oppressed elsewhere, for the sake of being able to live more peacefully under the protection of the two tombs. That the place is not called Êjûbîje, is perhaps in order to distinguish it from the Monastery of Job.

In less than a quarter of an hour we rode up to the Dêr Êjûb, a square building, standing entirely alone, and not surrounded by ruins. When the Arabian geographers call it a village, they reckon to it the neighbouring Sa'dîje with the Makâm. It is very extensive, and built of fine square blocks of dolerite. While my fellow-traveller, M. Dörgens, was engaged in making a ground-plan of the shattered building, which seemed to us on the whole to have had a very simple construction, I took some measurements of its sides and angles, and then searched for inscriptions. Although the ground-floor is now in part hidden in a mezbele ,On the word and subject, vid., p. 573 of the foregoing Commentary. which has been heaped up directly against the walls, on the east side, upon the architrave, not of the chief doorway, which is on the south, but of a door of the church, is found a large Greek inscription in a remarkable state of preservation. The architrave consists of a single carefully-worked block of dolerite, and at present rests almost upon the ground, since the rubbish has filled the whole doorway. The writing and sculpture are hollowed out.

In the center is a circle, and the characters inscribed at each side of this circle are still undeciphered; the rest of the inscription is easy to be read: αὕτη ἡ πύλη κ(υρίο)υ δίκαιοι εἰσελεύσοντε ἐν αὐτῇ· τοῦτο τὸ ὑπέρθυρον ἐτέθη ἐν χρόνοις Ἠελίου εὐλαβεστ(άτου) ἡγουμ(ένου) μ(ηνί) Ἰουλίῳ κε ἰνδ(ι)κ(τίωνος) ιε τοῦ ἔτους πηντακοσιοστοῦ τρικοστοῦ ἕκτου κ(υρί)ου Ἰ(ης)οῦ Χ(ριστ)οῦ Βασιλεύοντος. The passage of Scripture, Psa 118:20, with which this inscription beings, is frequently found in these districts in the inscriptions on church portals.

This inscription was an interesting discovery; for, so far as I know, it is the oldest that we possess which reckons according to the Christian era, and in the Roman indiction (indictio)Vid., Gibbon, ed. Smith, ii. 333. - Tr. we have an important authority for determining its date. Now, since there might be a difference of opinion as to the beginning of the “kingdom of Christ,” I was anxious to have the judgment of an authority in chronology on the point; and I referred to Prof. Piper of Berlin, who kindly furnished me with the following communication: - “...The inscription therefore furnishes the following data: July 25, indict. xv., year 536, κυρίου Ιοῦ Χοῦ βασιλεύοντος. To begin with the last, the Dionysian era, which was only just introduced into the West, is certainly not to be assumed here. But it is also by no means the birth of Christ that is intended. Everything turns upon the expression βασιλεύοντος. The same expression occurs once in an inscription from Syria, Corp. Inscr. Graec. 8651: βασιλεύοντος Ιουστινιανοῦ τῷ ια ἔτει. The following expression, however, occurs later concerning Christ on Byzantine coins: Rex regnantium and βασιλεὺς βασιλέων (after Rev 17:14; Rev 19:16), the latter under John Zimiszes (died 975), in De Saulcy, Pl. xxii. 4. But if the βασιλεία of Christ is employed as the era, we manifestly cannot refer to the epoch of the birth of Christ, but must take the epoch of His ascension as our basis: for with this His βασιλεία first began; just as in the West we sometimes find the calculation begins a passione. Now the fathers of the Western Church indeed place the death (and therefore also the ascension) of Christ in the consulate of the two Gemini, 29 a.d. Not so with the Greek fathers. Eusebius takes the year of His death, according to one supposition, to be the 18th year of Tiberius, i.e., 785 a.u.c. = 32 a.d. Supposing we take this as the first year regnante Jesu Christo, then the year 536, of the inscription of the Monastery of Job, is reduced to our era, after the birth of Christ, by adding 31. Thus we have the number of the year 567, to which the accompanying xv. indictio corresponds, for 567 + 3 = 570; and 570/15 has no remainder. XV is therefore the indiction of the year 567, which more accurately belongs to the year from 1st Sept. 566 to 31st Aug. 567. And since the day of the month is mentioned in the inscription, it is the 25th July 567 that is indicated. For it appears to me undoubted that the indictions, according to the usual mode of computation among the Greeks, begin with the 1st Sept. 312. Thus a Sidonian inscription of dec. 642 a.d. has the I indiction (Corp. Inscr. Gr. 9153)....”

Thus far Prof. Piper’s communication. According to this satisfactory explanation of its date, this inscription is perhaps not unqualified to furnish a contribution worth notice, even for the chronology of the life of Jesus, since the Ghassinides, under whom not only the inscription, but the Monastery itself 300 years earlier, had its origin, dwelt in Palestine, the land of Christ; and their kings were perhaps the first who professed Christianity.

The “festival of the Monastery of Job,” which, according to Kazwînî's Syrian Calendar,Calendarium Syriacum Cazwinii, ed. Guil. Volck, Lips. 1859, p. 15. the Christians of the country celebrated annually on the 23rd April, favours the pre-Muhammedan importance of the Monastery. This festival in Kazwînî’s time, appearing only by name inf the calendar, had undoubtedly ceased with the early decline of Christianity in the plain of Hauran, for the historically remarkable Exodus of a large portion of the Ghassinides out of the cities of Hauran to the north of Georgia had taken place even under the chalifate of Omar. The Syrian Christians of the present day celebrate the festival of Mâr Gorgius (St. George), who slew the dragon (tennîn) near Beirût, on the 23rd April. A week later (the 1st May, oriental era) the Jews of Damascus have the sôm Êjûb (the fast of Job), which lasts twenty-four hours. In Kazwînî’s calendar it is erroneously set down to the 3rd May.

Moreover, with reference to the Monastery, it must be mentioned that, according to the history of Ibn Kethîr,Comp. A. v. Kremer, Mittelsyrien, etc., Vienna 1853, S. 10. the great Greco-Ghassinide army, which, under the leadership of Theodoric, a brother of the Emperor Heraclius, was to have repulsed the attack of the Mussulmans on Syria, revolted in its neighbourhood in the 13th year of the Hegira (Higra), while the enemy was encamped on the south bank of the Meddân, and was drawn up near Edre'ât. After several months had passed came the battle known as the “battle of the Jarmûk,” the issue of which cost the Byzantines Syria. The volcanic hollows of the ground, which for miles form a complex network of gorges, for the most part inaccessible, offer great advantages in defensive warfare; and here the battle near Edre'î, in which 'Og king of Bashan lost his kingdom, was probably fought.

According to the present division of the country, the Monastery of Job and the Makâm are in the southern part of Gêdûr, an administrative district, which is bounded on the north by the Wâdî Bêrût, on the east by the W. el-Horêr and the high road, on the south by the Jarmûk, and on the west by the W. Hit and by a range of volcanic mounds, which stretch to the south-east corner of the Snow-mountain (el-Hermôn); this district, however, has only a nominal existence, for it has no administration of its own. Either it is added to Haurân, or its revenues, together with those of Gôlân, are let out to the highest bidder for a number of years. Gêdûr is the natural north-western continuation of the plain of Haurân; and the flat bed of the Horêr, which does not form a gorge until it comes to the bridge of Sîra, forms no boundary proper. Moreover, the word is not found in ancient geography; and the Arabian geographers, even the later ones, who recognised the idea of Gêdûr, always so define the position of a locality situated in Gêdûr, that they say it is situated in the Haurân. Thus Jâkût describes the town of el-Gâbia, situated in western Gêdûr, and in like manner, as we have seen above, Nawâ and the Monastery of Job, etc.Jâkût says under Gêdûr, “It is a Damascene district, it has villages, and lies in the north of Haurân; according to others, it is reckoned together with Haurân as one district.” The last words do not signify that Gêdûr and Haurân are words to be used without any distinction; on the contrary, that Gêdûr is a district belonging to Haurân, and comprehended in it.

There is no doubt that, as the Gêdûr of the present day is reckoned in the Nukra, so this country also in ancient days, at least as far as its northern watershed, has belonged to the tetrarchy of Batanaea.

The Monastery of Job is at present inhabited. A certain sheikh, Ahmed el-Kâdirî, has settled down here since the autumn of 1859, as partner of the senior of the Damascene 'Omarîje (the successors of the Chalif 'Omar), to whose family endowments (waqf) the Monastery belongs, and with his family he inhabits a number of rooms in the inner court, which have escaped destruction. He showed us the decree of his partner appointing him to his position, in which he is styled Sheikh of the Dêr Êjûb, Dêr el-Lebwe, and 'Ashtarâ. Dêr el-Lebwe, “the monastery of the lion,”The name of this monastery, which is about a mile and a half north-east of the Dêr Ejûb, is erroneously called D. el-lebû in Burckhardt’s Travels in Syria (ed. Gesenius, S. 449). The same may be said of D. en-nubuwwe in Annales Hamzae, ed. Gottwaldt, p. 118. was built by the Gefnide Eihem ibn el-Hârith; and we shall have occasion to refer to 'Ashtarâ, in which Newbold,C. Ritter, Geogr. v. Syr. u. Pal. ii. 821 [Erdk. xv. Pt. 2, p. 821]. in the year 1846, believed he had found the ancient capital of Basan, 'Ashtarôt, further on. But the possessor of all these grand things was a very unhappy man. While we were drinking coffee with him, he related to us how the inhabitants of Nawâ had left him only two yoke (feddân) of arable land from the territory assigned to him, and taken all the rest to themselves. The harvest of that year, after the deduction of the bedhâr (the new seed-corn), would hardly suffice to meet the demands of his family, and of hospitality; and for his partner, how had advanced money to him, there would be nothing left. In Damascus he found no redress; and the Sheikh of Nawâ, Dhiâb el-Medhjeb, had answered his last representation with the words, “He who desires Job’s inheritance must look for trials.” Here also, as in Arabia generally, I found that intelligence and energy was on the side of the wife. During our conversation, his wife, with one of her children, had drawn near; and while the child kissed my hand, according to custom, she said: “To-morrow thou wilt arrive at Muzêrîb; Dhiâb will also be going thither with contributions for the pilgrims. We put our cause in thy hands, arrange it as seems thee best; this old man will accompany thee.” And as we were riding, the Sheikh Ahmed was also obliged to mount, and his knowledge of the places did us good service on Tell Ashtarâ and Tell el-Ash'arî. In Muzêrîb, where the pilgrim fair and the arriving caravans for Mekka occupied our attention for five days, we met Dhiâb and the Ichtiârîje (elders of the community) of Nawâ; and, after some opposition, the sheikh of the Monastery of Job obtained four feddân of land under letter and seal, and returned home satisfied.

The case of this man is no standard of the state of the Hauranites, for there are so many desolated villages that there is no lack of land; only round about Nawâ it is insufficient, since this place is obliged to take possession of far outlying fields, by reason of its exceedingly numerous agricultural population.That the Sheikh Ahmed was permitted to take up his abode in the Monastery, was owing to a religious dread of his ancestor (gidd), 'Abdel-Kâdir el-Gîlâni, and out of courteousness towards his partner.

The more desolate a land exposed to plunder becomes, the more populous must its separate towns become, since the inhabitants of the smaller defenceless villages crowd into them. Thus the inhabitants of the large town of Kenâkir at the present time till the fields of twelve neighbouring deserted villages; and Salt, the only inhabited place in the Belkâ, has its corn-fields even at a distance of fifteen miles away. The poet may also have conceived of Job’s domain similarly, for there were five hundred ploughmen employed on it; so that it could not come under the category of ordinary villages, which in Syria rarely have above, mostly under, fifty yoke of oxen. According to the tradition, which speaks of “Job’s villages” (diâ' Êjûb), these ploughmen would be distributed over several districts; but the poet, who makes them to be overwhelmed by one ghazwe, therefore as ploughing in one district, will have conceived of them only as dwelling in one locality.

It might not be out of place here to give some illustration of the picture which the poet draws of Job’s circumstances and position as a wealthy husbandman. Haurân, the scene of the drama (as we here assume), must at that period, as at present, have been without protection from the government of the country, and therefore exposed to the marauding attacks of the tribes of the desert. In such a country there is no private possession; but each person is at liberty to take up his abode in it, and to cultivate the land and rear cattle at his own risk, where and to what extent he may choose. Whoever intends doing so much first of all have a family, or as the Arabs say, “men” (rigâl), i.e., grown-up sons, cousins, nephews, sons-in-law; for one who stands alone, “the cut off one” (maktû‛), as he is called, can attain no position of eminence among the Semites, nor undertake any important enterprise.In the present day the household is called ‛ashı̂ra, and all families of important in Haurân are and call themselves ‛ashâir (Arab. ‛šâ'r); but the ancient word batn does also occur, and among the Semitic tribes that have migrated to Mauritania it is still in use instead of the Syrian ‛ashı̂ra . Batn, collect. butûn, is the fellowship of all those who are traced back to the בּטן of one ancestral mother. Thus even in Damascus they say: nahn ferd batn, we belong to one family; in like manner in the whole of Syria: this foal is the batn of that mare, i.e., its young one; or: I sold my mare without batn, or with one, two, three-fourths of her batn, i.e., without her descendants, or so that the buyer has only 6 or 12 or 18 kı̂rât right of possession in the foals she will bear. In all these applications, batn is the progenies uteri, not the uterus itself; and, according to this, בני בטני, Job 19:17, ought to be explained by “all my relations by blood.”

Then he has to make treaties with all the nomad tribes from which he has reason to fear any attack, i.e., to pledge himself to pay a yearly tribute, which is given in native produce (in corn and garments). Thus the community of el-Hîgâne, ten years since, had compacts with 101 tribes; and that Job also did this, seems evident from the fact that the poet represents him as surprised not by neighbouring, but by far distant tribes (Chaldaeans and Sabaeans), with whom he could have no compact.These sudden attacks, at any rate, do not say anything in favour of the more southernly position of Ausitis. If the Beduin is but once on his horse or delûl, it is all the same to him whether a journey is ten days longer or shorter, if he can only find water for himself and his beast. This, however, both bands of marauders found, since the poet distinctly represents the attacks as having been made in the winter. The general ploughing of the fallow-lying wâgiha of a community (it is called shiqâq el - wâgiha), ready for the sowing in the following autumn, always takes place during January and February, because at this time of the year the earth is softened by the winter rains, and easy to plough. While engaged in this work, the poet represents Job’s ploughmen as being surprised and slain. Hence, for the destruction of 500 armed ploughmen - and they were armed, because they could only have been slain with their weapons in their hands in consequence of their resistance - at least 2000 horsemen were necessary. So large a ghazwe is, however, not possible in the summer, but only in the winter, because they could not water at a draw-well, only at the pools (ghudrân) formed by the winter rains. For one of these raids of the Chaldaeans, Haurân, whither marauding bands come even now during the winter from the neighbourhood of Babylon in six or seven days, lay far more convenient than the country around Ma'ân and 'Akaba, which is only reached from the Euphrates, even in winter, by going a long way round, since the Nufûd (sandy plains) in the east, and their western continuation the Hâlât, suck in the rain without forming any pools. On the other hand, however, this southern region lay nearer and more convenient for the incursions of the Sabaeans, viz., the Keturaean (Gen 25:3), i.e., Petraean tribe of this name. The greater or less distance, however, is of little consequence here. Thus, as the Shemmar of Negd from time to time make raids into the neighbourhood of Damascus, so even the tribes of Wâdi el-Korâ might also do the same. Moreover, as we observed above, the poet represents the sudden attacks as perpetrated by the Sabaeans and Chaldaeans, probably because they only, as being foreign and distant races which never had anything to do with Job and his men, and therefore were without any consideration, could practise such unwonted barbarities as the robbery of ploughing heifers, which a ghazwe rarely takes, and the murder of the ploughmen.

Next he proceeds to erect a chirbe, i.e., a village that has been forsaken (for a longer or shorter period), in connection with which, excepting the relations, slaves, and servants of the master, all those whom interest, their calling, and confidence in the good fortune of the master, have drawn thither, set about the work. Perhaps Job 15:28 has reference to Job’s settlement.Verbally, Job 3:14, which we, however, have interpreted differently, accords with this. - Del.

With reference to the relation of the lord of a village (ustâd beled , or sâhib dê‛a) to his work-people, there are among the dependents two classes. The one is called zurrâ‛, “sowers,” also fellâhin kism, “participating husbandmen,” because they share the produce of the harvest with the ustâd thus: he receives a fourth while they retain three-fourths, from which they live, take the seed for the following season, give their quota towards the demands of the Arabs, the village shepherds, the field watchmen, and the scribe of the community (chatı̂b); they have also to provide the farming implements and the yoke-oxen. On the other hand, the ustâd has to provide for the dwellings of the people, to pay the land-tax to the government, and, in the event of a failure of the crops, murrain, etc., to make the necessary advances, either in money or in kind at the market price, and without any compensation. This relation, which guarantees the maintenance of the family, and is according to the practice of a patriarchal equity, is greatly esteemed in the country; and one might unhesitatingly consider it therefore to be that which existed between Job and his ploughmen, because it may with ease exist between a single ustâd and hundreds, indeed thousands, of country people, if Job 1:3 did not necessitate our thinking of another class of country people, viz., the murâbi‛ı̂n, the “quarterers.” They take their name from their receiving a fourth part of the harvest for their labour, while they have to give up the other three-fourths to the ustâd, who must provide for their shelter and board, and in like manner everything that is required in agriculture. As Job, according to Job 1:3 (comp. on Job 42:12), provided the yoke-oxen and means of transport (asses and camels), so he also provided the farming implements, and the seed for sowing. We must not here think of the paid day-labourer of the Syrian towns, or the servants of our landed proprietors; they are unknown on the borders of the desert. The hand that toils has there a direct share in the gain; the workers belong to the aulâd, “children of the house,” and are so called; in the hour of danger they will risk their life for their lord.

This rustic labour is always undertaken simultaneously by all the murâbi‛ı̂n (it is so also in the villages of the zurrâ‛) for the sake of order, since the ustâd, or in his absence the village sheikh, has the general work of the following day announced from the roof of his house every evening. Thus it is explained how the 500 ploughmen could be together in one and the same district, and be slain all together.

The ustâd is the sole judge, or, by deputy, the sheikh. An appeal to the government of the country would be useless, because it has no influence in Hauran; but the servant who has been treated unjustly by his master, very frequently turns as dachı̂l fi 'l - haqq (a suppliant concerning his right) to his powerful neighbour, who is bound, according to the customs of the country, to obtain redress for him (comp. Job 29:12-17). If he does not obtain this by persuasion, he cries for force, and such a demand lies at the root of many a bloody feud.

Powerful and respected also as the position, described in Job 29:1, of such a man is, it must, according to the nature of its basis, fall in under strokes of misfortune, like those mentioned in Job 1:14-19, and change to the very opposite, as the poet describes it in Job 30:1.

After these observations concerning the agricultural relations of Hauran, we return to the tradition of Job. As we pursue the track of this tradition further, we first find it again in some of the Christina writers of the middle ages, viz., in Eugesippus (De distanc. loc. terr. sanct.), in William of Tyre (Histor. rerum a Francis gest.), and in Marino Sanuto (De secretis fid. cruc.). The passages that bear upon the point are brought together in Reland (Palest. pp. 265f.); and we would simply refer to them, if it were possible for the reader to find his way among the fabulous confusion of the localities in Eugesippus and Sanuto.

The oldest of these citations is from Eugesippus, and is as follows: One part of the country is the land of Hus, out of which Job was; it is also called Sueta, after which Bildad the Suhite was named. Sanuto tells us where this locality is to be sought. “Sueta is the home of Baldad the Suite, Below this city (civitas), in the direction of the Kedar-tribes, the Saracens are accustomed to assemble out of Aram, Mesopotamia, Ammon, Moab, and the whole Orient, around the fountain of Fiale; and, on account of the charms of the place, to hold a fair there during the whole summer, and to pitch their coloured tents.” In another place he says: fontem Fialen Medan, i.e., aquas Dan, a Saracenis nuncupari.

Now, since according to an erroneous, but previously prevalent etymology, “the water of Dan” (מי דן = יאר דּן) denoted the Jordan, and since we further know from Josephus (Bell. iii. 10, 7) that the Phiala is the small lake of Râm, whose subterranean outflow the tetrarch Philip is said to have shown to be the spring of the Jordan, which comes to light deeper below, we should have thought the country round about the lake of Râm, at the south foot of Hermôn, to be the home of Job and Bildad. This discovery would be confirmed by the following statement of Eugesippus (in Reland, loc. cit.): “The river Dan flows under ground from its spring as far as the plain of Meldan, where it comes to light. This plain is named after the fair, which is held there, for the Saracens call such an one Meldan. At the beginning of the summer a large number of men, with wares to sell, congregate there, and several Parthian and Arabian soldiers also, in order to guard the people and their herds, which have a rich pasture there in the summer. The word Meldan is composed of mel and dan.” It is indeed readily seen that the writer has ignorantly jumbled several words together in the expression meldan, as mê Dan, “water of Dan,” and Mêdân or mı̂dân, “market-place;” perhaps even also leddân, the name of the great fountain of the Jordan in the crater of the Tell el-Kâdi. In like manner, the statement that the neighbourhood of Phiala, or that of the large fountain of the Jordan, might formerly have been a fair of the tribes, is false, for the former is broken up into innumerable craters, and the latter is poisoned by the swamp-fevers of the Hûle; but as to the rest, both Eugesippus and Sanuto seem really to speak of a tradition which places Job’s or Bildad’s home in that region. And yet it is not so: their tradition is no other than the Hauranitish; but ignorance of the language and geography of the country, and some accidental circumstances, so confused their representations, that it is difficult to find out what is right. The first clue is given us by the history of William of Tyre, in which (l. xxii. c. 21) it is said that the crusaders, on their return from a marauding expedition in the Nukra, wished to reconquer a strong position, the Cavea Roob, which they had lost a short time before. “This place,” says the historian, “lies in the province of Suite, a district distinguished by its pleasantness, etc.; and that Baldad, Job’s friend, who is on that account called the Suite, is said to have come from it.” This passage removes us at once into the neighbourhood of Muzêrîb and the Monastery of Job, for the province of Suete is nothing but the district of Suwêt (Arab. ṣwı̂t),Reisebericht, S. 46; comp. Ritter, Syr. u. Pal. ii. 1019 [Erdk. xv. Pt. 2, p. 1019]. the north-western boundary of which is formed by the gorge of the Wâdî Rahûb. The Cavea Roob, which was first of all again found out by me on my journey in 1862, lies in the middle of the steep bank of that wadi, and is at present called maghâret Rahûb, “the cave of R.,” or more commonly mu'allakat Rahûb, “the swinging cave of R.,” and at the time of the Crusades commanded the dangerous pass which the traveller, on ascending from the south end of the Lake of Galilee to Edre'ât by the nearest way, has to climb on hands and feet. In another passage (xvi. 9), where the unhealthy march to Bosrâ is spoken of, Will. of Tyre says: “After we had come through the gorge of Roob, we reached the plain which is called Medan, and where every year the Arabs and other oriental tribes are accustomed to hold a large fair.” This plain is in the vicinity of Muzêrîb, in which the great pilgrim-fair is held annually. We find something similar in xiii. 18: “After having passed DecapolisHere in the more contracted sense, the district of Gadara, Kefârât, and Irbid. we came to the pass of Roob, and further on into the plain of Medan, which stretches far and wide in every direction, and is intersected by the river Dan, which falls into the Jordan between (Tiberias and Scythopolis (Bîsân).” This river, the same as that which Sanuto means by his aquae Dan (Mê Dân), is none other than the Wâdi el-Meddân, called “the overflowing one,” because in the month of March it overflows its banks eastward of the Gezzâr-bridge. It is extremely strange that the name of this river appears corrupted not only in all three writers mentioned above, but also in Burckhardt; for, deceived by the ear, he calls it Wâdî Om el-Dhan.Burckhardt, Travels in Syr. and Pal. (ed. Gesenius, S. 392).

The Meddân is the boundary river between the Suwêt and Nukra plains; it loses its name where it runs into the Makran; and where it falls into the valley of the Jordan, below the lake of Tiberias, it is called el-Muchêbî.

We have little to add to what has been already said. The Fiale of Sanuto is not the Lake Râm, but the round begge, the lake of springs of Muzêrîb, the rapid outflow of which, over a depth of sixty to eighty feet, forms a magnificent waterfall, the only one in Syria, as it falls into the Meddân near the village of Tell Shihâb.

The unfortunate confusion of the localities was occasioned by two accidental circumstances: first, that both the springs of the Jordan below Bâniâs and the lake of Muzêrîb, have a village called Rahûb (רחוב) in their vicinity, of which one is mentioned in Jdg 18:28., and the other, about a mile below the Cavea Roob, is situated by a fountain of the same name, from which village, cavern, and wadi derive their names; secondly, that there, as here, there is a village Abil (אבל): that near Dan is situated in the “meadow-district of 'Ijôn” (Merg. 'Ijûn); and that in the Suwêt lies between Rahûb and the Makran, and was visited by Seetzen as well as by myself. Perhaps the circumstance that, just as the environs of Muzêrîb have their Mîdân,The word el - mı̂dân and el - mêdân signifies originally the hippodrome, then the arena of the sham-fight, then the place of contest, the battle-field, and finally a wide level place where a large concourse of men are accustomed to meet. In this sense the Damascenes have their el - mı̂dân, the Spanish cities their almeidân, and the Italians their corso. so the environs of Bâniâs have their Ard el-Mejâdîn, “region of battle-fields,” may also have contributed to the confusion; thus, for example, the country sloping to the west from the Phiala towards the Hûle, between Gubbâtâ ez-zêt and Za'ûra, is called, perhaps on account of the murderous encounters which took place there, both in the time of the Crusades and also in more ancient times. It is certainly the ground on which the battle narrated in the book of Joshua, Jos 11:1, took place, and also the battle in which Antiochus the Great slew the Egyptian army about 200 b.c.)

What we have gained for our special purpose from this information (by which not a few statements of Ritter, K. v. Raumer, and others, are substantiated), is not merely the fact that the tradition which places Job’s home in the region of Muzêrîb existed even in the middle ages (which the quotation given above from Makdeshî, who lived before the time of the Crusades, also confirms), and even came to the ears of the foreigners who settled in the country as they then passed through the land, but also the certainty that this tradition was then, as now, common to the Christians and the Mussulmans, for the three writers previously mentioned would hardly have recorded it on the testimony of the latter only.Estôri ha-Parchi, the most renowned Jewish topographer of Palestine, in his work Caftor wa-ferach, completed in 1322 (newly edited by Edelmann, published by Asher, Berlin, 1852, S. 49), says דאר איוב lies one hour south of נבו, since he identifies Nawâ with the Reubenitish Nebô, Num 32:38, as Zora'' with יעזר, Num 32:35; so that he explains ארץ עוץ by ארץ יעזר, although he at the same time considers the name, according to Saadia, as one with אלגוטה (el Ghuta). His statements moreover are exact, as one might expect from a man who had travelled for seven years in all directions in Palestine; and his conclusion, ארץ עוץ היא ארץ קדם לארץ ישׂראל כנגד טבריא, perfectly accords with the above treatise. - Del.

There can be no doubt as to which of these two religions must be regarded as the original mother of this tradition. The Hauranite Christians, who, from their costume, manners, language, and traditions, undoubtedly inherited the country from the pre-Muhammedan age, venerate the Makâm perhaps even more than the Muhammedans; which would be altogether impossible in connection with the hostile position of the two religious sects towards one another, and in connection with the zealous scorn with which the Syrian Christians regard the religion of Islam, if the Hauranitish tradition of Job and the Makâm were of later, Muhammedan origin. It is also possible that, on a closer examination of the Makâm and the buildings about the Sachra, one might find, besides crosses, Greek inscriptions (since they are nowhere wanting in the Nukra), which could only have their origin in the time before the occupation of Islam (635 a.d.); for after this the Hauranite Christians, who only prolong their existence by wandering from chirbe to chirbe, have not even built a single dwelling-house, much less a building for religious worship, which was forbidden under pain of death in the treaty of Omar. But in connection with the pre-Islam Monastery of Job, which owed its origin only to the sacred tradition that held its ground in that place, are monumental witnesses that this tradition is pre-Islamic, and has been transferred from the Christians to the Mussulmans, required? We may go even further, and assert that Muhammed, in the Sur. xxxviii. 41ff. of the Korân, had the Hauranitish tradition of Job and the localities near Sa'dîje definitely before his mind.

We must regard the merchandise caravans which the inhabitants of Tehâma sent continuously into the “north country,” esh - shâm,In Jemen the Higâz, Syria may have been called Shâm in the earliest times. The name was taken into Syria itself by the immigration of the Jemanic tribes of Kudâ'a, and others, because they brought with them the name of Syria that was commonly used in their native land. and the return freight of which consisted chiefly of Hauranitish corn, as proof of a regular intercourse between the east Jordanic country and the west of the Arabian peninsula in the period between Christ and Muhammed. Hundreds of men from Mekka and Medina came every year to Bosrâ; indeed, when it has happened that the wandering tribes of Syria, which were, then also as now, bound for Hauran with the kêl, i.e., their want of corn, got before them, and had emptied the granaries of Bosrâ, or when the harvests of the south of Hauran had been destroyed by the locusts, which is not unfrequently the case, they will have come into the NukraThe remarkable fair at Muzêrîb can be traced back to the earliest antiquity, although Bosrâ at times injured it; but this latter city, from its more exposed position, has been frequently laid in ruins. It is probable that the merchants of Damascus pitched their tents for their Kasaba, i.e., their moveable fair, twice a year (in spring and in autumn) by the picturesque lake of Muzêrîb. If, with the tradition, we take the Nukra to be the home of Job, of the different ways of interpreting Job 6:19 there is nothing to hinder our deciding upon that which considers it as the greater caravan which acme periodically out of southern Arabia to Hauran (Bosrâ or Muzêrib). Têmâ with its well, Heddâg (comp. Isa 21:14), celebrated by the poets of the steppe, from which ninety camels (sâniât) by turns raise a constantly flowing stream of clear and cool water for irrigating the palms and the seed, was in ancient times, perhaps, the crossing point of the merchant caravans going from south to north, and from east to west. Even under the Omajad Cahlifs the Mekka pilgrim-route went exclusively by way of Têmâ, just as during the Crusades so long as the Franks kept possession of Kerak and Shôbak. An attempt made in my Reisebericht (S. 93-95) to substitute the Hauranitish Têmâ in the two previously mentioned passages of Scripture, I have there (S. 131) given up as being scarcely probable. as far as Nawâ, sometimes even as far as Damascus, in order to obtain their full cargo.

If commerce often has the difficult task of bringing together the most heterogeneous peoples, and of effecting a reciprocal interchange of ideas, it here had the easy work of sustaining the intercourse among tribes that were originally one people, spoke one idiom, and regarded themselves as all related; for the second great Sabaean migration, under 'Amr and his son Ta'labe, had taken possession of Mekka, and left one of their number, Rabî'a ibn Hâritha, with his attendants (the Chuzâ'ites), behind as lord of the city. In the same manner they had become possessed of Jathrib (el-Medîna), and left this city to their tribes Aus and Chazreg: the remainder of the people passed on to Peraea and took possession of the country, at that time devastated, as far as Damascus, according to Ibn Sa'îd, even including this city. By the reception of Christianity, the Syrian Sabaeans appear to have become but slightly or not at all estranged from their relatives in the Higâz, for Christianity spread even here, so that the Caesars once ventured to appoint a Christian governor even to the city of Mekka. This was during the lifetime of the Gefnite king 'Amr ibn Gebele. At the time of Muhammed there were many Christians in Mekka, who will for the most part have brought their Christianity with the Syrian caravans, so that at the commencement of Islâm the Hauranitish tradition of Job might have been very well known in Mekka, since many men from Mekka may have even visited the Makâm and the Sachra, and there have heard many a legend of Job like that intimated in the Korân xxxviii. 43. Yea, whoever will give himself the trouble to investigate minute commentaries on the Koran, especially such as interpret the Koran from the tradition (hadı̂th), e.g., the Kitâb ed-durr el-muchtâr, may easily find that not merely Kazwînî, Ibn el-Wardî, and Jâkût, whose observations concerning the Monastery of Job have been given above, but also much older authorities, identify the Koranish fountain of Job with the Hauranitish.

A statement of Eusebius, of value in connection with this investigation, brings us at one stride about three hundred years further on. It is in the Onomastikon, under Καρναείμ, and is as follows: “Astaroth Karnaim is at present (about 310 a.d.) a very large village (κώμη μεγίστη) beyond the Jordan, in the province of Arabia, which is also called Batanaea. Here, according to tradition (ἐκ παραδόσεως), they fix the dwelling (οἶκος) of Job.” On the small map which accompanies these pages, the reader will find in the vicinity of the Makâm the low and somewhat precipitous mound, not above forty feet in height, of Tell 'Ashtarâ, the plateau of which forms an almost round surface, which is 425 paces in diameter, and shows the unartistic foundations of buildings, and traces of a ring-wall. Here we have to imagine that 'Astarot Karnaim. Euseb. here makes no mention whatever of the city of Astaroth, the ancient capital of Basan, for this he does under Astaroo'th; the hypothesis of its being the residence of king 'Og, which NewboldC. Ritter, Geogr. v. Syr. u. Pal. ii. 819ff. [Erdk. xv. 2, p. 819ff.] The information of Newbold, which is printed in the Zeitschr. d. Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesellschaft, i. 215f., is unfortunately little to be relied on, and is to be corrected according to the topography of the mound given above. set up here, consequently falls to the ground. The κώμη μεγίστη of Eusebius must, in connection with the limited character of the ground, certainly be somewhat contracted; but the identity of the localities is not to be doubted in connection with the great nearness of the οἶκος (the Makâm).A small, desolated stone village, situated a quarter of an hour’s journey from the mound of 'Ashtarâ, which however has not a single house of any importance, has two names among the inhabitants of that region, either Chirbêt 'Ijûn en-Nîle (the ruins near the Nila-springs) or Chirbêt 'Ashtarâ, which can signify the ruins of 'Ashtarâ and the ruins near 'Ashtarâ. Since it is, however, quite insignificant, it will not be the village that has given the name to the mound, but the mound with its buildings, which in ancient days were perhaps a temple to Astarte, surrounded by a wall, has given the name to the village.

Let us compare another statement that belongs here; it stands under Ἀσταρὼθ Καρναείμ, and is as follows: “There are at the present time two villages of this name in Batanaea, which lie nine miles distant from one another, μεταξὺ ΑΔΑΡΩΝ καὶ ΑΒΙΛΗΞ.” Jerome has duo castella instead of two villages, by which at least the κώμη μεγίστη is somewhat reduced; for that it is one of these two castlesThe meaning of “castle,” as defined by Burckhardt, Travels in Syr. etc. p. 657, should be borne in mind here. “The name of Kal'at or castle is given on the Hadj route, and over the greater part of the desert, to any building walled in and covered, and having, like a Khan, a large courtyard in its enclosure. The walls are sometimes of stone, but more commonly of earth, though even the latter are sufficient to withstand an attack of Arabs.” - Tr. can be the less doubtful, since they also regulate the determining of the respective localities. If the reading ΑΒΙΛΗΞ is correct, only Abil (אבל) in the north of Suwêt can (since, without doubt, the Arabian names of the places in Hauran existed in Eusebius’ day) be intended; and ΑΔΑΡΩΝ ought then to be changed into ΑΛΑΡΩΝ, in order to denote the large village of El-hârâ, on the lofty peak of the same name in the plain of Gêdûr. El-hârâ lies to the north, and Abil to the south of 'Ashtarâ. If, however, as is most highly probable, instead of ΑΒΙΛΗΞ (which form Euseb. does not use elsewhere, for he calls the town of Abil Ἀβέλ, and the inscription in Turra has the form πόλεως Ἀβέλις), ΑΒΙΔΗΞ is to be read, which corresponds to the Ἀβιδᾶ of Ptolemy (ed. Wilberg, p. 369) and the modern /Abidîn near Bêtirrâ, thus the name of the other village is to be changed from ΑΔΑΡΩΝ to ΑΡΑΡΩΝ (for which the Cod. Vat. erroneously has ΔΡΑΡΩΝ), the modern 'Arâr.Some, in connection with this word, have erroneously thought of the city of Edre'ât, which Eusebius calls Ἀδρά in the immediately preceding article Ἀδραά, and in the art. Edraei'.'Abîdîn, however, lies nine miles west, and 'Arâr nine miles east of 'Ashtarâ.

Now, as to the second village, and its respective castle, which is mentioned in the second citation from the Onomastikon, I believe that both Euseb. and Jerome intend to say there are two villages, of which the one has the byname of the other; consequently the one is called Astarôt (Karnaim), and the other Karnaim (Astarôt). Twelve miles west of 'Ashtarâ lies the Golanite village of Kornîje (קרניּה), which in old Kanêtra I have taken up in my trigonometrical measurements.

We find also a third passage in the Onomast. which belongs here; it is under Ἰαβώκ in Cod. Vat., under Ἰδουμαία in Cod. Leid. and Vellarsi, and runs: “According to the view of a certain one (κατά τινος), this region is the land of Asitis (Ausitis), the home of Job, while according to others it is Arabia (ἡ Ἀραβία); and again, according to others, it is the Land of Sîhôn.” Whether genuine or not, this passage possesses a certain value. If it is genuine, Jerome would have left it accordingly untranslated, because he would not be responsible for its whole contents, for he not unfrequently passes over or alters statements of Eusebius where he believes himself to be better informed; but, taken exactly, he could only have rejected the views of those who seek Job’s native country on the Jabbok (if the passage belongs to the art. Ἰαβώκ) or in Edom (if it belongs to Ἰδουμαία), or in the Belkâ, the land of Sîhôn; but not the view of those who make Arabia (Batanaea) to be Ausitis, for the statement of Eusebius with reference to this point under Carnaei'm he translates faithfully. If the passage is not genuine, it at any rate gives the very early testimony of an authority distinct from Eusebius and Jerome in favour of the age of the Hauranitish tradition concerning Job, while it has only a single (κατά τινος) authority for the view of those who make Edom to be Ausitis, and even this only when the passage belongs to Ἰδουμαία.

By means of these quotations from the Onomastikon, that passage of Chrysostom (Homil. V. de Stud. §1, tom. ii. p. 59), in which it is said that many pilgrims from the end of the earth come to Arabia, in order to seek for the dunghill on which Job lay, and with rapture to kiss the ground where he suffered ( -  - ἀπὸ περάτων τῆς γῆς εἰς τῆν Ἀραβίαν τρέχοντες, ἵνα τῆν κοπρίαν ἴδωσι, καὶ θεασάμενοι καταφιλήσωσι τῆν γῆν), appears also to obtain its right local reference. This Arabia is certainly none other than that which Eusebius explains by ἣ καὶ Βαταναία, and that κοπρία or mezbele to be sought nowhere except near the Makâm Êjûb. And should there by any doubts upon the subject, ought they not to be removed by the consideration that the proud structure of the Monastery of Job, with its spring festivals mentioned above, standing like a Pharos casting its light far and wide in that age, did not allow either the Syrian Christians or the pilgrims from foreign parts to mistake the place, which tradition had rendered sacred, as the place of Job’s sufferings?

There is no monastery whose origin, according to an unimpeachable testimony, belongs to such an early date as that of the Monastery of Job. According to the chronicles of the peoples (ta'rı̂ch el - umem), or the annals of Hamze el-Isfahâni (died about 360 of the Hegira), it was built by 'Amr I, the second Gefnide. Now, since the first Ghassanitish king (Gefne I) reigned forty-five years and three months, and 'Amr five years, the Monastery would have been in existence about 200 a.d., if we place the beginning of the Gefnide dynasty in the time 150 a.d. Objections are raised against such an early date, because one is accustomed on good authority to assign the origin of monasteries to about the year 300 a.d. In the face of more certain historical dates, these objections must remain unheeded, for hermit and monastery life (rahbanı̂ja) existed in the country east of Jordan among the Essenes and other societies and forms of worship, even before Christianity; so that the latter, on its appearance in that part, which took place long before 200 a.d., received the monasteries as an inheritance: but certainly the chronology of the Gefnide dynasty is not reliable. Hamze fixes the duration of the dynasty at 616 years; Ibn Sa'îd,Wetzstein, Catal. Arab. MSS collected in Damascus, No. 1, p. 89. in his history of the pre-Islamic Arabs, at 601 years; and to the same period extends the statement of Mejânishi,Wetzst. Catal. Arab. MSS collected in Damascus, No. 24, p. 16. who, in his topography of the Ka'be, says that between the conquest of Mekka by Ta'lebe and the rule of the Kosî in this city was 500 years. On the contrary, however, Ibn JusefHamzae Isfahan. Annales, ed. Gottwald, Vorrede, p. xi. informs us that this dynasty began “earlier” than 400 years before Islamism. With this statement accord all those numerous accounts, according to which the “rupture of the dyke” (sêl el - ‛arim), the supposed cause of the Jemanic emigration, took place rather more than 400 years before Islamism. If therefore, to content ourselves with an approximate calculation, we make Islamism to begin about 615 (the year of the “Mission” was 612 a.d.), and the Gefnide dynasty, with the addition of the “earlier,” 415 years previous, then the commencement of the reign of Gefne I would have been 200 a.d., and the erection of the Monastery shortly before 250.

When the tribe whose king later on built the Monastery migrated from Jemen into Syria, the Trachonitis was in the hands of a powerful race of the Kudâ'ides, which had settled there in the first century of our era, having likewise come out of Jemen, and become tributary to the Romans. This race had embraced Christianity from the natives; and some historians maintain that it permitted the Gefnides to settle and share in the possession of the country, only on the condition that they likewise should embrace Christianity. In those early times, these tribes, of course, with the new religion received the tradition of Job also from the first hand, from the Jews and the Jewish Christians, who, since the battle of the Jewish people with the Romans, will have found refuge and safety to a large extent in Petraea, and especially in the hardly accessible Trachonitis. The Nukra also, as the most favoured region of Syria and Palestina, will have had its native population, among which, in spite of the frequent massacres of Syrians and Jews, there will have been many Jews. Perhaps, moreover, the protection of the new Jemanic population of Hauran again attracted Jewish settlers thither: NawâIf Nawâ is not also of Jewish origin, its name is nevertheless the old Semitic נוה, “a dwelling” (Job 5:3, Job 5:24; Job 8:6; Job 18:15), and not, as Jâkût supposes, the collective form of nawât, “the kernel of a date.” at least is a place well known in the Talmud and Midrash, which is mentioned, as a city inhabited by the Jews among those who are not Jews, and as the birth-place of several eminent teachers.No less than three renowned teachers from Nawâ appear in the Talmud and Midrash: ר שׁילא דנוה, Schila of Nawa (jer. Sabbath cap. ii., Wajikra rabba cap. xxxiv., Midrasch Ruth on ii. 19 a), ר פלטיא דנוה (Midr. Koheleth on i. 4 b) and ר שׁאול דנוה (ib. on xii. 9 a). נוה is mentioned as an enemy of the neighbouring town of חלמיש in Wajikra rabba c. xxiii., Midr. Echa on i. 17 a, and Midr. Schir on ii. 1. - Del.

Moreover, in Syria the veneration of a spot consecrated by religious tradition is independent of its being at the time inhabited or desolate. The supposed tombs of Aaron near Petra, of Hud near Gerash, of Jethro (Su'êb) in the valley of Nimrîn, of Ezekiel in Melîhat Hiskîn, of Elisha on the el-Jesha' mountains, and many other mezâre (tombs of the holy, to which pilgrims resort), are frequently one or more days’ journey distant from inhabited places, and yet they are carefully tended. They are preserved from decay and neglect by vows, by the spring processions, and especially by the piety of the Beduins, who frequently deposit articles of value near the mezâre, as property entrusted to the care of the saint. The Makâm of Job may also have been such a consecrated spot many centuries before the erection of the Monastery, and perhaps not merely to the Jews, but also to the Aramaean and Arab population. The superstitious veneration of such places is not confined among the Semites to a particular religious sect, but is the common heritage of the whole race; and the tradition of Job in particular was, originally, certainly not Israelitish, but Aramaean.

Job is not mentioned in the writings of Josephus, but we do find there a remarkable passage concerning Job’s native country, the land of the Usites, viz., Ant. i. 6: “Aram, from whom come the Aramaeans, called by the Greeks Syrians, had four sons, of whom the first was named Οὔσης, and possessed Trachonitis and Damascus.” The first of these two, Trachonitis, has usually been overlooked here, and attention has been fixed only on Damascus. The word el-Ghûta (Arab. 'l - gûṭt), the proper name of the garden and orchard district around Damascus, has been thought to be connected in sound with 'Us, and they have been treated as identical: this is, however, impossible even in philological grounds. Ghûta would certainly be written עוּטה in Hebrew, because this language has no sign for the sound Gh (Arab. g); but Josephus, who wrote in Greek, ought then to have said Γούσης, not Οὔσης, just as he, and the lxx before him and Eusebius after him, render the city עזה by Γάζα, the mountain עיבל by Γαιβάλ, the village עי by Γαΐ́, etc. In the same manner the lxx ought to have spoken of a Γαυσῖτις, not Αὐσῖτις, if this were the case. Proper names, also, always receive too definite and lasting an impress for their consonants, as ץ and ט, to be easily interchanged, although this is possible with the roots of verbs. Moreover, if the word עוץ had had the consonant ץ (Arab. ḍ), Josephus must have reproduced it with τ or θ, not with s, in accordance with the pronunciation (especially if he had intended to identify עוץ and Ghûta). And we see from Ptolemy and Strabo, and likewise from the Greek mode of transcribing the Semitic proper names in the Haurânite inscriptions of the Roman period, e.g., Μάθιος and Νάταρος for Arab. mâḍâ and nḍr, that in the time of Josephus the sound of ץ had already been divided into Arab. ṣ and ḍ; comp. Abhandl. der Berlin. Acad. d. Wissenschaft, 1863, S. 356f. Hence it is that Josephus manifestly speaks only of one progenitor Οὔσης, therefore of one tribe; while the word Ghûta, often as a synonym of buq'a (בקעה), denotes a low well-watered country enclosed by mountains, and in this appellative signification occurs as the proper name of several localities in the most widely separated parts of Arabia (comp. Jâkût, sub voce), which could not be the case if it had been = ארץ עוץ.On the name 'Us, as the name of men and people, may be compared the proper names 'As and 'Aus, together with the diminutive 'Owês, taken from the genealogies of the Arabs, since the Old Testament is wanting in words formed from the root עוץ, and none of those so named was a Hebrew. In Hebr. they might be sounded עוץ, and signify the “strong one,” for the verbal stems Arab. ‛ṣṣ , ‛wṣ , ‛ṣy (comp. Arab. ‛ṣb , ‛ṣr , ‛ṣm , and others) have the signif. “to be compressed, firm, to resist.”

The word Ausitis used by the lxx also has no formation corresponding to the word Ghûta, but shows its connection with עוּץ ארץ by the termination; while the word Ghûta rendered in Greek is Gouthata' (in Theophanes Byzant. Gouthatha'), in analogy e.g., with the form Cheblatha' for Ribla (Jos. Ant. x. 11).On this word-formation comp. Reisebericht, S. 76.

But why are we obliged to think only of Damascus, since Josephus makes Trachonitis also to belong to the land of the Usites? If we take this word in its most limited signification, it is (apart from the eastern Trachon) that lava plateau, about forty miles long and about twenty-eight broad, which is called the Legâ in the present day. This is so certain, that one is not obliged first of all to recall the well-known inscription of the temple of Mismia, which calls this city situated in the Legâ, Μητροκώμη τοῦ Τράχωνος. From the western border of this Trachon, however, the Monastery of Job is not ten miles distant, therefore by no means outside the radius that was at all times tributary to the Trachonites (Arab el-wa'r), a people unassailable in their habitations in the clefts of the rocks.Comp. Jos. Ant. xv. 10, 3; Zeitschr. für allg. Erdkunde, New Series, xiii. 213.

According to this, the statement of Josephus would at least not stand in open contradiction to the Hauranitish tradition of Job. But we go further and maintain that the Monastery of Job lies exactly in the centre of Trachonitis. This word has, viz., in Josephus and others, a double signification - a more limited and a wider one. It has the more limited where, together with Auranitis, Batanaea, Gamalitica, and Gaulonitis, it denotes the separate provinces of the ancient kingdom of Basan. Then it signifies the Trachonitis kat' exochee'n, i.e., the wildest portion of the volcanic district, viz., the Legâ, the Haurân mountain range, the Safâ and Harra of the Râgil. On the other hand, it has the wider signification when it stands alone; then it embraces the whole volcanic region of Middle Syria, therefore with the more limited Trachonitis the remaining provinces of Basan, but with the exception, as it seems, of the no longer volcanic Galadine (North Gilead). In this sense, therefore, as a geographical notion, Trachonitis is almost synonymous with Basan.

Since it is to the interest of this investigation to make the assertion advanced sure against every objection, we will not withhold the passages in support of it. Josephus says, Ant. xv. 10, 3, the district of Hûle (Οὐλαθά) lies between Galilee and Trachonitis. He might have said more accurately, “between Galilee and Gaulonitis,” but he wished to express that the great basaltic region begins on the eastern boundary of the Hûle. The word Trachonitis has therefore the wider signification. In like manner, in Bell. iii. 10 it is said the lake of Phiala lies 120 stadia east of Paneion (Bâniâs) on the way to the Trachonitis. True, the Phiala is a crater, and therefore itself belongs to Trachonitis, but between it and Bâniâs the lava alternates with the chalk formation of the Hermôn, whereas to the south and east of the Phiala it is everywhere exclusively volcanic; Trachonitis has therefore here also the wider signification. Ant. xvii. 2, it is said Herod had the castle of Βαθύρα built in Batanaea (here, as often in Josephus, in the signification of Basan), in order to protect the Jews who travel from Babylon (viâ Damascus) to Jerusalem against the Trachonite robbers. Now, since this castle and village (the Bêtirrâ mentioned already), which is situated in the district of Gamalitica on an important ford of the Muchêbi gorge between 'Abidin and Sebbûte, could not be any protection against the robbers of Trachonitis in the more limited sense, but only against those of Golan, it is manifest that by the Trachonites are meant the robbers of Trachonitis in the wider sense. Aurelius Victor (De Hist. Caes. xxvii.) calls the Emperor M. Julius Philippus, born in Bosrâ, the metropolis of Auranitis, quite correctly Arabs Trachonites; because the plain of Hauran, in which Bosra is situated, is also of a basaltic formation, and therefore is a part of the Trachonitis.

The passage of Luke’s Gospel, Luk 3:1, where it says Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, also belongs here. That Philip possessed not perhaps merely the Trachonitis (similar to a province assigned to a man as banishment rather than for administration, producing little or no revenue) in the more limited sense, but the whole Basanitis, is shown by Josephus, who informs us, Ant. xvii. 11, 4 and freq., that he possessed Batanaea (in the more restricted sense, therefore the fruitful, densely populated, profitable Nukra), with Auranitis, Trachonitis, etc. We must therefore suppose that in the words τῆς Ἰτουραίας καὶ Τραχωνίτιδος χώρας in Luke, one district is meant, which by Ἰτουραίας is mentioned according to the marauding portion of its population, and by Trachooni'tidos more generally, according to its trachonitic formation.Eusebius in his Onomast. also correctly identifies the two words, at one time under Ἰτουραία, and the other time under Τραχωνῖτις. After what we have said elsewhere (Reisebericht, S. 91ff.) on the subject, surely no one will again maintain that the peaceful villages of the plain of Gêdûr were the abodes of the Ituraeans, the wildest of all people (Cic. Phil. ii. 11; Strabo, xvi. 2). Their principal hiding-places will have been the Trachonitis in the more restricted sense, but one may seek them also on the wooded mountains of Gôlân and in the gorges of the Makran. That Ptolemy and Josephus speak only of the Trachonites and never of the Ituraeans (in the passage Ant. xiii. 11, 3, Ἰδουμαία is to be read instead of Ἰτουραία), and Strabo, on the other hand, speaks only of the latter, favours the identity of the two; of like import is the circumstance, that Pliny (H. N. v. 23) makes the inhabitants of the region of Baetarra (Bêtirrâ) Ituraeans, and Josephus (Ant. xvii. 2) Trachonites. But in spite of the identity of the words Trachonitis and Ituraea, one must not at the same time overlook the following distinction. If the Trachonites are called after the country, it must be the description of all the inhabitants of the country, whereas the Ituraeans, if they gave the name to the country, are not necessarily its exclusive population. The whole of the district of which we speak has a twofold population in keeping with its double character (rugged rock and fruitful plain), viz., cattle-rearing freebooters in the clefts of the rocks, and peaceful husbandmen in the plain; the former dwelling in hair tents (of old also in caves), the latter in stone houses; the former forming the large majority, the latter the minority of the population of the district. If writers speak of the Ituraeans, they mean exclusively that marauding race that hates husbandry; but if they speak of the Trachonites, the connection must determine, whether they speak of both classes of the population, or only of the marauding Trachonites (the Ituraeans), or of the husbandmen of the plain (of the provinces of Batanaea and Auranitis). The latter are rarely intended, since the peaceful peasant rarely furnishes material for the historian.

Ioannes Malalas (Chronogr. ed. Dindorf, p. 236), who, as a Syrian born, ought to be well acquainted with the native usage of the language, hence calls Antipas, as a perfectly adequate term, only toparch of Trachonitis; and if, according to his statement (p. 237), the official title of this Herod was the following: Σεβαστὸς Ἡρώδης τοπάρχης καὶ θεσμοδότης Ἰουδαίων τε καὶ Ἑλλήνων, Βασιλεὺς τῆς Τραχωνίτιδος, it is self-evident that “king of Trachonitis” here is synonymous with king of Basan. In perfect harmony with this, Pliny says (H. N. v. 18) that the ten cities of Decapolis lay within the extensive tetrarchies of Trachonitis, which are divided into separate kingdoms. Undoubtedly Pliny adds to these tetrarchies of Trachonitis in the wider sense, which are already known to us, Galadine also, which indeed belonged also the pre-Mosaic Basan, but at the time of Josephus is mostly reckoned to Peraea (in the more limited sense).

On the ground of this evidence, therefore, the land of the Usites of Josephus, with the exception of the Damascene portion, was Trachonitis in the wider sense; and since the Makâm Êjûb is in the central point of this country, this statement accords most exactly with the Syrian tradition. It is clear that the latter remains untouched by the extension of the geographical notion in Josephus, for without knowing anything more of a “land of the Usites,” it describes only a portion of the same as the “native country of Job;” and again, Josephus had no occasion to speak of Job in his commentary on the genealogies, therefore also none to speak of his special home within the land of the Usites. Eusebius, on the other hand, in his De Originibus (ix. 2, 4), refers to this home, and says, therefore limiting Josephus’ definition: Hus, Traconitidis conditor, inter Palaestinam et Coelesyriam tenuit imperium; unde fuit Iob.

With this evidence of agreement between two totally independent witnesses, viz., the Syrian tradition and Josephus, the testimony of the latter in particular has an enhanced value; for, although connected with the Bible, it nevertheless avails as extra-biblical testimony concerning the Usites, it comes from an age when one might still have the historical fact from the seat of the race, and from an authority of the highest order. True, Josephus is not free from disfigurements, where he has the opportunity of magnifying his people, himself, or his Roman patrons, and of depreciating an enemy; but here he had to do with nothing more than the statement of the residence of a people; and since the word Ou'sees also has no similarity in sound with the words Damascus and Trachonitis, that might make a combination with them plausible, we may surely have before us a reliable historical notice here, or at least a tradition which was then general (and therefore also for us important), while we may doubt this in connection with other parts of the genealogies, where Josephus seems only to catch at that which is similar in sound as furnishing an explanation.

But that which might injure the authority of Josephus is the contradiction in which it seems to stand to a far older statement concerning Ausitis, viz., the recognised postscript of the lxx to the book of Job, which makes Job to be the Edomitish king Jobab. The identification, it may be said, can however only have been possible because Ausitis was in or near Edom. But the necessity of this inference must be disputed. It is indeed unmistakeable that that postscript is nothing more than a combination of the Jews beyond Palestine (probably Egytpio-Hellenistic), formed, perhaps, long before the lxx, - such a vagary as many similar ones in the Talmud and Midrash. From the similarity in sound of Ἰωβάβ with Ἰώβ, and the similarity in name of Ζαρά, the father of Jobab, with a son of Re'ûël and grandson of Esau (Gen 36:13), Job’s descent from Esau has been inferred. That Esau’s first-born was called Elîphaz and his son Temân, seemed to confirm this combination, since (in accordance with the customFrom this custom, which is called the grandfather’s “living again,” the habit, singular to us, of a father calling his son jâ abı̂, “my father!” or jâ bêjı̂, “my little father,” as an endearing form of address, is explained. of naming the grandson as a rule after his grandfather) Elîphaz the Temanite might be regarded as grandson of that Elîphaz, therefore like Job as great-grandson of Esau and πέμπτος ἀπὸ Ἀβραάμ. The apparent and certainly designed advantages of this combination were: that Job, who had no pedigree, and therefore was to be thought of as a non-Israelite, was brought into the nearest possible blood-relationship to the people of God, and that, by laying the scene in the time of the patriarchs, all questions which the want of a Mosaic colouring to the book of Job might excite would be met. Now, even if the abode of Job were transferred from the land of 'Us to Edom, it would be only the consequence of his combination with Jobab, and, just as worthless as this latter itself, might lead no one astray. But it does not seem to have gone so far; it is even worthy of observation, that מבצרה (from Bosra, the Edomite city),It need hardly be mentioned that one is not to think of the Hauranitish Bosrâ (Arab. bṣrâ), since this name of a city only came into use some centuries after Christ. being attached to the misunderstood υἱὸς Ζαρά ἐκ Βοσόῤῥας, Gen 36:33, is reproduced in the lxx by μητρὸς Βοσόῤῥας, as also that Job’s wife is not called an Edomitess, but a γυνὴ Ἀράβισσα. And it appears still far more important, that Ausitis lies ἐν τοῖς ὁρίοις τῆς Ἰδουμαίας καὶ Ἀραβίας, so far as the central point of Ἰδουμαία is removed by the addition καὶ τῆς Ἀραβίας, and Job’s abode is certainly removed from the heart of Idumaea. The Cod. Alex. exchanges that statement of the place, even in a special additional clause, for ἐπὶ τῶν ὁρίων τοῦ Εὐφράτου, therefore transfers Ausitis to the vicinity of the Euphrates, and calls the father of Jobab (= Job) Ζαρὲθ ἐξ ἀνατολῶν ἡλίου (מבני קדם). Nevertheless we attach no importance to this variation of the text, but rather offer the suggestion that the postscript gives prominence to the observation: οὗτος (viz., Ἰώβ) ἑρμεενεύεται ἐκ τῆς Συριακῆς βίβλου.It is indeed possible that the Hebrew text is meant here, for Philo usually calls the Hebrew Χαλδαΐστί, and the Talmud describes the Jewish country-dialect as סורסי; it is possible, and even more probable, that it is a Syrian, i.e., Aramaean Targum - but not less possible that it is a Syrian original document. According to Malalas (ed. Dindorf, p. 12), Origen understands ἐκ τῆς Συριακῆς βίβλου elsewhere of a Hebrew original, but in c. Celsum iii. 6 he describes the Hebrew language in relation to the Syriac and Phoenician as ἑτέρα παρ ̓ ἀμθοτέρας, and the Homilies on Job in Opp. Origenis, ed. Delaure, ii. 851, say: Beati Iob scriptura primum quidem in Arabia Syriace scripta, ubi et habitabat. - Del.

If we compare the postscript of the lxx with the legend of Islam, we find in both the Esauitish genealogy of Job; the genealogy of the legend is: Êjûb ibn Zârih (זרח) ibn Reû'îl ibn el-'Ais ibn Ishâk ibn Ibrâhîm; and we may suppose that it is borrowed directly from the lxx, and that it reached Arabia and Mekka even in the pre-Islamic times by means of the (Arabian) Christians east of Jordan, who had the Old Testament only in the Greek translation. Even the Arabic orthography of the biblical proper names, which can be explained only on the supposition of their transfer from the Greek, is in favour of this mode of the transmission of the Christian religion and its legends to the people of the Higaz. Certainly there can be no doubt as to an historical connection between the postscript and the legend, and therefore it would be strange if they did not accord respecting the home of Job. The progenitor el-'Ais (עיץ), in the genealogy of the legend, is also a remarkable counterpart to the Ausitis ἐν τοῖς ὁρίοις τῆς Ἰδουμ. καὶ Ἀρ., for it is a blending of עשׂו and עוּץ, and it has to solve the difficult problem, as to how Job can be at the same time an Usite and an Esauite; for that Job as an Aisite no longer belongs to Idumaea, but to the district of the more northern Aramaeans, is shown e.g., from the following passage in Mugîr ed-dîn's History of Jerusalem: “Job belonged to the people of the Romans (i.e., the Aisites),We will spare ourselves the ungrateful task of an inquiry into the origin of this 'Ais and his Protean nature. Biblical passages like Lam 4:21, or those in which the readings ארם and אדום are doubtful, or the erroneous supposition (Jos. Ant. viii. 7) that the Ben-Hadad dynasty in Damascus is of Edomitish origin, may have contributed to his rise. Moreover, he is altogether one and the same with the Edom of the Jerish tradition: he is called the father of Rûm, Asfar, Sôfar, Sîfûn (מלך חצפון), and Nidr (Hamz. Isfah. Ann. p. 79, l. 18, read Arab. ndr for ntsr, and Zeitschr. d. d. m. Gesellsch. ii. 239, 3, 6, read ennidr for ennefer), i.e., of the Messiah of the Christians (according to Isa 11:1) for he sprang from el-'Ais, and the Damascene province of Batanaea was his property.”

The κοπρία of the lxx, at Job 2:8, leads to the same result; that it is also found again as mezbele in the later legend, is a further proof how thoroughly this accords with the lxx, and how it has understood its statement of the position of Ausitis. It may also be maintained here, that it was only possible to translate the words בתוך־חאפר by ἐπὶ τῆς κοπρίας ἔξω τῆς πόλεως when “heap of ashes” and “dunghill” were synonymous notions. This, however, is the case only in Hauran, where the dung, as being useless for agricultural purposes, is burnt from time to time in an appointed place before the town (vid., p. 573),Comp. p. 576, note, of the foregoing Commentary. The Arabic version of Walton’s Polyglot translates after the Peschito in accordance with the Hebr. text: “on the ashes (er - remâd),” whereas the Arabic translation, of which Tischendorf brought back fifteen leaves with him from the East, and which Fleischer, in the Deutsch. Morgenl. Zeitschr. 1864, S. 288ff., has first described as an important memorial in reference to the history of MSS, translates after the Hexapla in accordance with the lxx: “on the dunghill (mezbele) outside the city.”-Del. while in every other part of Syria it is as valuable and as much stored up as among us. If the lxx accordingly placed the kopri'a of Job in Hauran, it could hardly represent Ausitis as Edom.

But how has the Ausitis of the lxx been transferred hither? Certainly not as the “land of 'Us” (in the sense of the land of Basan, land of Haurân), for without wasting a word about it, there has never been such an one in the country east of the Jordan: but as “the land of the Usites” in the sense of the Arabic diâr 'Us (dwelling-place of the Usites) or ard benî 'Us. A land receives designations of this kind with the settlement of a people in it; they run parallel with the proper name of the country, and in the rule vanish again with that people. These designations belong, indeed, to the geography of the whole earth, but nowhere have they preserved their natural character of transitoriness more faithfully than in the lands where the Semitic tongue is spoken. It is this that makes the geographical knowledge of these countries so extremely difficult to us, because we frequently take them to be the names of the countries, which they are not, and which - so far as they always involve a geological definition of the regions named - can never be displaced and competently substituted by them. In this sense the land of the Usites might, at the time of the decay of both Israelitish kingdoms, when the ארם דמשׂק possessed the whole of Peraea, very easily extend from the borders of Edom to the gates of Damascus, and even further northwards, if the Aramaean race of 'Us numbered many or populous tribes (as it appears to be indicated in כל מלכי ארץ העוץ, Jer 25:20), in perfect analogy with the tribe of Ghassân, which during five hundred years occupied the country from the Aelanitic Gulf to the region of Tedmor, at one time settling down, at another leading a nomadic life, and Hauran was the centre of its power. By such a rendering the Ἀραβία of the postscript would not be different from the later provincia Arabiae, of which the capital was the Trachonitish Bostra, while is was bounded on the south end of the Dead Sea by Edom (Palaestine tertia).

But should any one feel a difficulty in freeing himself from the idea that Ausitis is to be sought only in the Ard el-Hâlât east of Ma'ân, he must consider that the author of the book of Job could not, like that legend which places the miraculous city of Iram in the country of quicksands, transfer the cornfields of his hero to the desert; for there, with the exception of smaller patches of land capable of culture, which we may not bring into account, there is by no means to be found that husbandman’s Eldorado, where a single husbandman might find tillage for five hundred (Job 1:3), yea, for a thousand (Job 42:12) yoke of oxen. Such numbers as these are not to be depreciated; for in connection with the primitive agriculture in Syria and Palestine, - which renders a four years’ alternation of crops necessary, so that the fields must be divided into so many portions (called in Hauran wâgihât, and around Damascus auguh, Arab. 'wjh), from which only one portion is used annually, and the rest left fallow (bûr), - Job required several square miles of tillage for the employment of his oxen. It is all the same in this respect whether the book of Job is a history or poem: in no case could the Ausitis be a country, the notorious sterility of which would make the statement of the poet ridiculous.

Our limited space does not admit of our proving the worth which we must acknowledge to the tradition, by illustrating those passages of the Old Testament scriptures which have reference to עוץ and ארץ עוץ. But to any one, who, following the hints they give, wishes again to pursue the investigations, elsewhere useless, concerning the position of the land of the Usites, we might indicate: (1) that עוץ the first-born of Aram (Gen 10:23) is the tribe sought, while two others of this name - a Nahorite, Job 22:21, and a Horite, Job 36:28 - may be left out of consideration; the former because the twelve sons of Nahor need not be progenitors of tribes, and the latter because he belongs to a tribe exterminated by the Edomites in accordance with Deu 2:12, Deu 2:22 : (2) that ארץ העוץ, Jer 25:20, is expressly distinguished from אדום in the Jer 25:21, and - if one compares the round of the cup of punishment, Jer. 25, with the detailed prophecies which follow in Jer 46:1, to which it is a prooemium that has been removed from its place - corresponds to דמשׂק (with Hamât and Arpad), Jer 49:23 : (3) that therefore Lam 4:21, where יושׁבת בארץ עוץ would be devoid of purpose if it described the proper habitable land of Edom, must describe a district extending over that, in which the Edomites had established themselves in consequence of Assyria having led away captive the Israelitish and Aramaean population of the East Jordanic country and Coele-Syria. In connection with Jer 25:20 one must not avoid the question whether עוץ is the name of the ארם דמשׂק that has been missed. Here the migration of the Damascene Aramaeans from Kîr (Amo 9:7) ought to be considered, the value of the Armenian accounts concerning the original abode of the Usites tested, what is erroneous in the combination of קיר with the river Kur shown and well considered, and in what relations both as to time and events that migration might have stood to the overrunning of Middle Syria by the Aramaean Sôbaean tribes (from Mesopotamia) under Hadad-ezer, and to the seizure and possession of the city of Damascus by Rezon the Sôbaean? Finally, one more tradition might be compared, to which some value may perhaps be attached, because it is favoured by the stone monuments, whose testimony we are not accustomed otherwise to despise in Palestine and Syria. The eastern portal of the mosque of Benî Umêja in Damascus, probably of the very temple, the altar of which king Ahaz caused to be copied (2Ki 16:10), is called Gêrûn or the Gerun gate: the portal in its present form belongs to the Byzantine or Roman period. And before this gate is the Gêrûnîje, a spacious, vaulted structure, mostly very old, which has been used since the Mussulman occupation of the city as a mêda'a, i.e., a place for religious ablutions. The topographical writings on Damascus trace these two names back to a Gêrûn ibn Sa'd ibn 'Ad ibn 'Aus (עוץ) ibn Iram (ארם) ibn Sâm (שׁם) ibn Nûh (נוח), who settled in Damascus in the time of Solomon (one version of the tradition identifies him with Hadad, Jos. Ant. viii. 7), and built in the middle of the city a castle named after him, in which a temple to the planet (kôkeb) Mushteri, the guardian-god of the city, has been erected. That this temple, which, as is well known, under Theodosius, at the same time with the temple of the sun at Ba'lbek, passed over to the Christians, was actually surrounded with a strong, fortified wall, is capable of proof even in the present day. In this tradition, which has assumed various forms, a more genuine counterpart of the biblical עוץ appears than that 'Ais which we have characterized above as an invention of the schools, viz., an 'Aus (Arab. ‛wṣ), father of the Adite-tribe which is said to have settled in the Damascene district under that Gêrûn, and also ancestor of the prophet Hûd, lost to the tradition, whose makâm on the mountains of Suêt rises far above Gerash a city of pillars, this true Iram dhât el-'imâd, the valley of the Jabbok and the Sawâd of Gilead.

It is with good reason that we have hitherto omitted to mention the Αἰσῖται of Ptolemy v. 18 (19). The Codd have both Αἰσεῖται and Αἰσῖται; different Semitic forms (e.g., the name of the Arab. bny hays, which, according to Jâkût, once dwelt in the Harra of the Ragil) may lie at the basis of this name, only not the form עוּץ, which ought to be Οὐσῖται, or at least Αὐσῖται (which no Cod. reads). As to the abodes of the Αἰσῖται, Ptolemy distributes them under nine greater races or groups of races, which in his time inhabited the Syrian steppe. Three of these had their settlements in the eastern half of the Syrian steppe towards the Euphrates of on its western banks: the Καυχαβηνοί in the north, the Αἰσῖται in the middle, and the Ὀρχηνοί in the south. According to this the Αἰσῖται would have been about between Hît and Kûfa, or in that district which is called by the natives Ard el-Wudjan, and in which just that race of the Chaldaeans might have dwelt that plundered Job’s camels. There we are certainly not to seek the scene of the drama of Job; and if the Edomites were dispersed there (Lam 4:21), they were not to be envied on account of their fortune. But if the Aisi'tai are to be sought there, we may not connect the Καυχαβηνοί with the village of Cochabe (Arab. kawkabâ) on the Hermon (Epiphan. Haer. x. 18), in order then to remove the Aisi'tai, dwelling “below them,” to Batanaea.

And now, in concluding here, I have still to explain, that in writing these pages I was not actuated by an invincible desire of increasing the dull literature respecting the ארץ עוץ by another tractate, but exclusively by the wish of my honoured friend that I should furnish him with a contribution on my visit to the Makâm Êjûb, and concerning the tradition that prevails there, for his commentary on the book of Job.

As to the accompanying map, it is intended to represent the hitherto unknown position of the Makâm, the Monastery, and the country immediately around the, by comparing it with two localities marked on most maps, Nawâ and the castle of Muzêrîb. The latter, the position of which we determined in 1860 as 32 44' north lat. and 35 51' 45” east long. (from Greenwich), lies three hours’ journey on horseback south of the Monastery. The Wâdi Jarmûk and Wâdi Hît have the gorge formation in common with all other wadis that unite in the neighbourhood of Zêzûn and from the Makran, which is remarkable from a geological point of view: a phenomenon which is connected with the extreme depression of the valley of the Jordan. For the majority of the geographical names mentioned in this essay I refer the reader to Carl Ritter’s Geographic von Syrien und Palästina;Translated by W. L. Gage, and published by T. and T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1866, 4 vols. others will be explained in my Itinerarien, which will be published shortly.

Job's Humble Confession. (b. c. 1520.)

1 Then Job answered the Lord , and said, 2 I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. 3 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. 4 Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. 5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. 6 Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

The words of Job justifying himself were ended, ch. xxxi. 40. After that he said no more to that purport. The words of Job judging and condemning himself began, ch. xl. 4, 5. Here he goes on with words to the same purport. Though his patience had not its perfect work, his repentance for his impatience had. He is here thoroughly humbled for his folly and unadvised speaking, and it was forgiven him. Good men will see and own their faults at last, though it may be some difficulty to bring them to do this. Then, when God had said all that to him concerning his own greatness and power appearing in the creatures, then Job answered the Lord (v. 1), not by way of contradiction (he had promised not so to answer again, ch. xl. 5), but by way of submission; and thus we must all answer the calls of God.

I. He subscribes to the truth of God's unlimited power, knowledge, and dominion, to prove which was the scope of God's discourse out of the whirlwind, v. 2. Corrupt passions and practices arise either from some corrupt principles or from the neglect and disbelief of the principles of truth; and therefore true repentance begins in the acknowledgement of the truth, 2 Tim. ii. 25. Job here owns his judgment convinced of the greatness, glory, and perfection of God, from which would follow the conviction of his conscience concerning his own folly in speaking irreverently to him. 1. He owns that God can do every thing. What can be too hard for him that made behemoth and leviathan, and manages both as he pleases? He knew this before, and had himself discoursed very well upon the subject, but now he knew it with application. God had spoken it once, and then he heard it twice, that power belongs to God; and therefore it is the greatest madness and presumption imaginable to contend with him. "Thou canst do every thing, and therefore canst raise me out of this low condition, which I have so often foolishly despaired of as impossible: I now believe thou art able to do this." 2. That no thought can be withholden from him, that is, (1.) There is no thought of ours that he can be hindered from the knowledge of. Not a fretful, discontented, unbelieving thought is in our minds at any time but God is a witness to it. It is in vain to contest with him; for we cannot hide our counsels and projects from him, and, if he discover them, he can defeat them. (2.) There is no thought of his that he can be hindered from the execution of. Whatever the Lord pleased, that did he. Job had said this passionately, complaining of it (ch. xxiii. 13), What his soul desireth even that he doeth; now he says, with pleasure and satisfaction, that God's counsels shall stand. If God's thoughts concerning us be thoughts of good, to give us an unexpected end, he cannot be withheld from accomplishing his gracious purposes, whatever difficulties may seem to lie in the way.

II. He owns himself to be guilty of that which God had charged him with in the beginning of his discourse, v. 3. "Lord, the first word thou saidst was, Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? There needed no more; that word convinced me. I own I am the man that has been so foolish. That word reached my conscience, and set my sin in order before me. It is too plain to be denied, too bad to be excused. I have hidden counsel without knowledge. I have ignorantly overlooked the counsels and designs of God in afflicting me, and therefore have quarrelled with God, and insisted too much upon my own justification: Therefore I uttered that which I understood not," that is, "I have passed a judgment upon the dispensations of Providence, though I was utterly a stranger to the reasons of them." Here, 1. He owns himself ignorant of the divine counsels; and so we are all. God's judgments are a great deep, which we cannot fathom, much less find out the springs of. We see what God does, but we neither know why he does it, what he is aiming at, nor what he will bring it to. These are things too wonderful for us, out of our sight to discover, out of our reach to alter, and out of our jurisdiction to judge of. They are things which we know not; it is quite above our capacity to pass a verdict upon them. The reason why we quarrel with Providence is because we do not understand it; and we must be content to be in the dark about it, until the mystery of God shall be finished. 2. He owns himself imprudent and presumptuous in undertaking to discourse of that which he did not understand and to arraign that which he could not judge of. He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame to him. We wrong ourselves, as well as the cause which we undertake to determine, while we are no competent judges of it.

III. He will not answer, but he will make supplication to his Judge, as he had said, ch. ix. 15. "Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak (v. 4), not speak either as plaintiff or defendant (ch. xiii. 22), but as a humble petitioner, not as one that will undertake to teach and prescribe, but as one that desires to learn and is willing to be prescribed to. Lord, put no more hard questions to me, for I am not able to answer thee one of a thousand of those which thou hast put; but give me leave to ask instruction from thee, and do not deny it me, do not upbraid me with my folly and self-sufficiency," Jam. i. 5. Now he is brought to the prayer Elihu taught him, That which I see not teach thou me.

IV. He puts himself into the posture of a penitent, and therein goes upon a right principle. In true repentance there must be not only conviction of sin, but contrition and godly sorrow for it, sorrow according to God, 2 Cor. vii. 9. Such was Job's sorrow for his sins.

1. Job had an eye to God in his repentance, thought highly of him, and went upon that as the principle of it (v. 5): "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear many a time from my teachers when I was young, from my friends now of late. I have known something of thy greatness, and power, and sovereign dominion; and yet was not brought, by what I heard, to submit myself to thee as I ought. The notions I had of these things served me only to talk of, and had not a due influence upon my mind. But now thou hast by immediate revelation discovered thyself to me in thy glorious majesty; now my eyes see thee; now I feel the power of those truths which before I had only the notion of, and therefore now I repent, and unsay what I have foolishly said." Note, (1.) It is a great mercy to have a good education, and to know the things of God by the instructions of his word and ministers. Faith comes by hearing, and then it is most likely to come when we hear attentively and with the hearing of the ear. (2.) When the understanding is enlightened by the Spirit of grace our knowledge of divine things as far exceeds what we had before as that by ocular demonstration exceeds that by report and common fame. By the teachings of men God reveals his Son to us; but by the teachings of his Spirit he reveals his Son in us (Gal. i. 16), and so changes us into the same image, 2 Cor. iii. 18. (3.) God is pleased sometimes to manifest himself most fully to his people by the rebukes of his word and providence. "Now that I have been afflicted, now that I have been told of my faults, now my eye sees thee." The rod and reproof give wisdom. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest and teachest.

2. Job had an eye to himself in his repentance, thought hardly of himself, and thereby expressed his sorrow for his sins (v. 6): Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Observe, (1.) It concerns us to be deeply humbled for the sins we are convinced of, and not to rest in a slight superficial displeasure against ourselves for them. Even good people, that have no gross enormities to repent of, must be greatly afflicted in soul for the workings and breakings out of pride, passion, peevishness, and discontent, and all their hasty unadvised speeches; for these we must be pricked to the heart and be in bitterness. Till the enemy be effectually humbled, the peace will be insecure. (2.) Outward expressions of godly sorrow well become penitents; Job repented in dust and ashes. These, without an inward change, do but mock God; but, where they come from sincere contrition of soul, the sinner by them gives glory to God, takes shame to himself, and may be instrumental to bring others to repentance. Job's afflictions had brought him to the ashes (ch. ii. 8, he sat down among the ashes), but now his sins brought him thither. True penitents mourn for their sins as heartily as ever they did for any outward afflictions, and are in bitterness as for an only son of a first-born, for they are brought to see more evils in their sins than in their troubles. (3.) Self-loathing is evermore the companion of true repentance. Ezek. vi. 9, They shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed. We must not only be angry at ourselves for the wrong and damage we have by sin done to our own souls, but must abhor ourselves, as having by sin made ourselves odious to the pure and holy God, who cannot endure to look upon iniquity. If sin be truly an abomination to us, sin in ourselves will especially be so; the nearer it is to us the more loathsome it will be. (4.) The more we see of the glory and majesty of God, and the more we see of the vileness and odiousness of sin and of ourselves because of sin, the more we shall abase and abhor ourselves for it. "Now my eye sees what a God he is whom I have offended, the brightness of that majesty which by wilful sin I have spit in the face of, the tenderness of that mercy which I have spurned at the bowels of; now I see what a just and holy God he is whose wrath I have incurred; wherefore I abhor myself. Woe is me, for I am undone," Isa. vi. 5. God had challenged Job to look upon proud men and abase them. "I cannot," says Job, "pretend to do it; I have enough to do to get my own proud heart humbled, to abase that and bring that low." Let us leave it to God to govern the world, and make it our care, in the strength of his grace, to govern ourselves and our own hearts well.

God's Vindication of Job. (b. c. 1520.)

7 And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. 8 Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the Lord commanded them: the Lord also accepted Job.

Job, in his discourses, had complained very much of the censures of his friends and their hard usage of him, and had appealed to God as Judge between him and them, and thought it hard that judgment was not immediately given upon the appeal. While God was catechising Job out of the whirlwind one would have thought that he only was in the wrong, and that the cause would certainly go against him; but here, to our great surprise, we find it quite otherwise, and the definitive sentence given in Job's favour. Wherefore judge nothing before the time. Those who are truly righteous before God may have their righteousness clouded and eclipsed by great and uncommon afflictions, by the severe censures of men, by their own frailties and foolish passions, by the sharp reproofs of the word and conscience, and the deep humiliation of their own spirits under the sense of God's terrors; and yet, in due time, these clouds shall all blow over, and God will bring forth their righteousness as the light and their judgment as the noon-day, Ps. xxxvii. 6. He cleared Job's righteousness here, because he, like an honest man, held it fast and would not let it go. We have here,

I. Judgment given against Job's three friends, upon the controversy between them and Job. Elihu is not censured here, for he distinguished himself from the rest in the management of the dispute, and acted, not as a party, but as a moderator; and moderation will have its praise with God, whether it have with men or no. In the judgment here given Job is magnified and his three friends are mortified. While we were examining the discourses on both sides we could not discern, and therefore durst not determine, who was in the right; something of truth we thought they both had on their side, but we could not cleave the hair between them; nor would we, for all the world, have had to give the decisive sentence upon the case, lest we should have determined wrong. But it is well that the judgment is the Lord's, and we are sure that his judgment is according to truth; to it we will refer ourselves, and by it we will abide. Now, in the judgment here given,

1. Job is greatly magnified and comes off with honour. He was but one against three, a beggar now against three princes, and yet, having God on his side, he needed not fear the result, though thousands set themselves against him. Observe here, (1.) When God appeared for him: After the Lord had spoken these words unto Job, v. 7. After he had convinced and humbled him, and brought him to repentance for what he had said amiss, then he owned him in what he had said well, comforted him, and put honour upon him; not till then: for we are not ready for God's approbation till we judge and condemn ourselves; but then he thus pleaded his cause, for he that has torn will heal us, he that has smitten will bind us. The Comforter shall convince, John xvi. 8. See in what method we are to expect divine acceptance; we must first be humbled under divine rebukes. After God, by speaking these words, had caused grief, he returned and had compassion, according to the multitude of his mercies; for he will not contend for ever, but will debate in measure, and stay his rough wind in the day of his east wind. Now that Job had humbled himself God exalted him. True penitents shall find favour with God, and what they have said and done amiss shall no more be mentioned against them. Then God is well pleased with us when we are brought to abhor ourselves. (2.) How he appeared for him. It is taken for granted that all his offences are forgiven; for if he be dignified, as we find he is here, no doubt he is justified. Job had sometimes intimated, with great assurance, that God would clear him at last, and he was not made ashamed of the hope. [1.] God calls him again and again his servant Job, four times in two verses, and he seems to take a pleasure in calling him so, as before his troubles (ch. i. 8), "Hast thou considered my servant Job? Though he is poor and despised, he is my servant notwithstanding, and as dear to me as when he was in prosperity. Though he has his faults, and has appeared to be a man subject to like passions as others, though he has contended with me, has gone about to disannul my judgment, and has darkened counsel by words without knowledge, yet he sees his error and retracts it, and therefore he is my servant Job still." If we still hold fast the integrity and fidelity of servants to God, as Job did, though we may for a time be deprived of the credit and comfort of the relation, we shall be restored to it at last, as he was. The devil had undertaken to prove Job a hypocrite, and his three friends had condemned him as a wicked man; but God will acknowledge those whom he accepts, and will not suffer them to be run down by the malice of hell or earth. If God says, Well done, good and faithful servant, it is of little consequence who says otherwise. [2.] He owns that he had spoken of him the thing that was right, beyond what his antagonists had done. He had given a much better and truer account of the divine Providence than they had done. They had wronged God by making prosperity a mark of the true church and affliction a certain indication of God's wrath; but Job had done him right by maintaining that God's love and hatred are to be judged of by what is in men, not by what is before them, Eccl. ix. 1. Observe, First, Those do the most justice to God and his providence who have an eye to the rewards and punishments of another world more than to those of this, and with the prospect of those solve the difficulties of the present administration. Job had referred things to the future judgment, and the future state, more than his friends had done, and therefore he spoke of God that which was right, better than his friends had done. Secondly, Though Job had spoken some things amiss, even concerning God, whom he made too bold with, yet he is commended for what he spoke that was right. We must not only not reject that which is true and good, but must not deny it its due praise, though there appear in it a mixture of human frailty and infirmity. Thirdly, Job was in the right, and his friends were in the wrong, and yet he was in pain and they were at ease—a plain evidence that we cannot judge of men and their sentiments by looking in their faces or purses. He only can do it infallibly who sees men's hearts. [3.] He will pass his word for Job that, notwithstanding all the wrong his friends had done him, he is so good a man, and of such a humble, tender, forgiving spirit, that he will very readily pray for them, and use his interest in heaven on their behalf: "My servant Job will pray for you. I know he will. I have pardoned him, and he has the comfort of pardon, and therefore he will pardon you." [4.] He appoints him to be the priest of this congregation, and promises to accept him and his mediation for his friends. "Take your sacrifices to my servant Job, for him will I accept." Those whom God washes from their sins he makes to himself kings and priests. True penitents shall not only find favour as petitioners for themselves, but be accepted as intercessors for others also. It was a great honour that God hereby put upon Job, in appointing him to offer sacrifice for his friends, as formerly he used to do for his own children, ch. i. 5. And a happy presage it was of his restoration to his prosperity again, and indeed a good step towards it, that he was thus restored to the priesthood. Thus he became a type of Christ, through whom alone we and our spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God; see 1 Pet. ii. 5. "Go to my servant Job, to my servant Jesus" (from whom for a time he hid his face), "put your sacrifices into his hand, make use of him as your Advocate, for him will I accept, but, out of him, you must expect to be dealt with according to your folly." And, as Job prayed and offered sacrifice for those that had grieved and wounded his spirit, so Christ prayed and died for his persecutors, and ever lives making intercession for the transgressors.

2. Job's friends are greatly mortified, and come off with disgrace. They were good men and belonged to God, and therefore he would not let them lie still in their mistake any more than Job, but, having humbled him by a discourse out of the whirlwind, he takes another course to humble them. Job, who was dearest to him, was first chidden, but the rest in their turn. When they heard Job talked to, it is probable, they flattered themselves with a conceit that they were in the right and Job was in all the fault, but God soon took them to task, and made them know the contrary. In most disputes and controversies there is something amiss on both sides, either in the merits of the cause or in the management, if not in both; and it is fit that both sides should be told of it, and made to see their errors. God addresses this to Eliphaz, not only as the senior, but as the ringleader in the attack made upon Job. Now, (1.) God tells them plainly that they had not spoken of him the thing that was right, like Job, that is, they had censured and condemned Job upon a false hypothesis, had represented God fighting against Job as an enemy when really he was only trying him as a friend, and this was not right. Those do not say well of God who represent his fatherly chastisements of his own children as judicial punishments and who cut them off from his favour upon the account of them. Note, It is a dangerous thing to judge uncharitably of the spiritual and eternal state of others, for in so doing we may perhaps condemn those whom God has accepted, which is a great provocation to him; it is offending his little ones, and he takes himself to be wronged in all the wrongs that are done to them. (2.) He assures them he was angry with them: My wrath is kindled against thee and thy two friends. God is very angry with those who despise and reproach their brethren, who triumph over them, and judge hardly of them, either for their calamities or for their infirmities. Though they were wise and good men, yet, when they spoke amiss, God was angry with them and let them know that he was. (3.) He requires from them a sacrifice, to make atonement for what they had said amiss. They must bring each of them seven bullocks, and each of them seven rams, to be offered up to God for a burnt-offering; for it should seem that, before the law of Moses, all sacrifices, even those of atonement, were wholly burnt, and therefore were so called. They thought they had spoken wonderfully well, and that God was beholden to them for pleading his cause and owed them a good reward for it; but they are told that, on the contrary, he is displeased with them, requires from them a sacrifice, and threatens that, otherwise, he will deal with them after their folly. God is often angry at that in us which we are ourselves proud of and sees much amiss in that which we think was done well. (4.) He orders them to go to Job, and beg of him to offer their sacrifices, and pray for them, otherwise they should not be accepted. By this God designed, [1.] To humble them and lay them low. They thought that they only were the favourites of Heaven, and that Job had no interest there; but God gives them to understand that he had a better interest there than they had, and stood fairer for God's acceptance than they did. The day may come when those who despise and censure God's people will court their favour, and be made to know that God has loved them, Rev. iii. 9. The foolish virgins will beg oil of the wise. [2.] To oblige them to make their peace with Job, as the condition of their making their peace with God. If thy brother has aught against thee (as Job had a great deal against them), first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift. Satisfaction must first be made for wrong done, according as the nature of the thing requires, before we can hope to obtain from God the forgiveness of sin. See how thoroughly God espoused the cause of his servant Job and engaged in it. God will not be reconciled to those that have offended Job till they have first begged his pardon and he be reconciled to them. Job and his friends had differed in their opinion about many things, and had been too keen in their reflections one upon another, but now they were to be made friends; in order to that, they are not to argue the matter over again and try to give it a new turn (that might be endless), but they must agree in a sacrifice and a prayer, and that must reconcile them: they must unite in affection and devotion when they could not concur in the same sentiments. Those who differ in judgments about minor things are yet one in Christ the great sacrifice, and meet at the same throne of grace, and therefore ought to love and bear with one another. Once more, observe, When God was angry with Job's friends, he did himself put them in a way to make their peace with him. Our quarrels with God always begin on our part, but the reconciliation begins on his.

II. The acquiescence of Job's friends in this judgment given, v. 9. They were good men, and, as soon as they understood what the mind of the Lord was, they did as he commanded them, and that speedily and without gainsaying, though it was against the grain to flesh and blood to court him thus whom they had condemned. Note, Those who would be reconciled to God must carefully use the prescribed means and methods of reconciliation. Peace with God is to be had only in his own way and upon his own terms, and they will never seem hard to those who know how to value the privilege, but they will be glad of it upon any terms, though ever so humbling. Job's friends had all joined in accusing Job, and now they join in begging his pardon. Those that have sinned together should repent together. Those that appeal to God, as both Job and his friends had often done, must resolve to stand by his award, whether pleasing or unpleasing to their own mind. And those that conscientiously observe God's commands need not doubt of his favour: The Lord also accepted Job, and his friends in answer to his prayer. It is not said, He accepted them (though that is implied), but, He accepted Job for them; so he has made us accepted in the beloved, Eph. i. 6; Matt. iii. 17. Job did not insult over his friends upon the testimony God had given concerning him, and the submission they were obliged to make to him; but, God being graciously reconciled to him, he was easily reconciled to them, and then God accepted him. This is that which we should aim at in all our prayers and services, to be accepted of the Lord; this must be the summit of our ambition, not to have praise of men, but to please God.

Job's Renewed Prosperity; The Death of Job. (b. c. 1520.)

10 And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. 12 So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch. 15 And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. 16 After this lived Job a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, even four generations. 17 So Job died, being old and full of days.

You have heard of the patience of Job (says the apostle, Jam. v. 11) and have seen the end of the Lord, that is, what end the Lord, at length, put to his troubles. In the beginning of this book we had Job's patience under his troubles, for an example; here, in the close, for our encouragement to follow that example, we have the happy issue of his troubles and the prosperous condition to which he was restored after them, which confirms us in counting those happy which endure. Perhaps, too, the extraordinary prosperity which Job was crowned with after his afflictions was intended to be to us Christians a type and figure of the glory and happiness of heaven, which the afflictions of this present time are working for us, and in which they will issue at last; this will be more than double to all the delights and satisfactions we now enjoy, as Job's after-prosperity was to his former, though then he was the greatest of all the men of the east. He that rightly endures temptation, when he is tried, shall receive a crown of life (Jam. i. 12), as Job, when he was tried, received all the wealth, and honour, and comfort, which here we have an account of.

I. God returned in ways of mercy to him; and his thoughts concerning him were thoughts of good and not of evil, to give the expected (nay, the unexpected) end, Jer. xxix. 11. His troubles began in Satan's malice, which God restrained; his restoration began in God's mercy, which Satan could not oppose. Job's sorest complaint, and indeed the sorrowful accent of all his complaints, on which he laid the greatest emphasis, was that God appeared against him. But now God plainly appeared for him, and watched over him to build and to plant, like as he had (at least in his apprehension) watched over him to pluck up and to throw down, Jer. xxxi. 28. This put a new face upon his affairs immediately, and every thing now looked as pleasing and promising as before it had looked gloomy and frightful. 1. God turned his captivity, that is, he redressed his grievances and took away all the causes of his complaints; he loosed him from the bond with which Satan had now, for a great while, bound him, and delivered him out of those cruel hands into which he had delivered him. We may suppose that now all his bodily pains and distempers were healed so suddenly and so thoroughly that the cure was next to miraculous: His flesh became fresher than a child's, and he returned to the days of his youth; and, what was more, he felt a very great alteration in his mind; it was calm and easy, and the tumult was all over, his disquieting thoughts had all vanished, his fears were silenced, and the consolations of God were now as much the delight of his soul as his terrors had been its burden. The tide thus turned, his troubles began to ebb as fast as they had flowed, just then when he was praying for his friends, praying over his sacrifice which he offered for them. Mercy did not return when he was disputing with his friends, no, not though he had right on his side, but when he was praying for them; for God is better served and pleased with our warm devotions than with our warm disputations. When Job completed his repentance by this instance of his forgiving men their trespasses, then God completed his remission by turning his captivity. Note, We are really doing our business when we are praying for our friends, if we pray in a right manner, for in those prayers there is not only faith, but love. Christ has taught us to pray with and for others in teaching us to say, Our Father; and, in seeking mercy for others, we may find mercy ourselves. Our Lord Jesus has his exaltation and dominion there, where he ever lives making intercession. Some, by the turning of Job's captivity, understand the restitution which the Sabeans and Chaldeans made of the cattle which they had taken from him, God wonderfully inclining them to do it; and with these he began the world again. Probably it was so; those spoilers had swallowed down his riches, but they were forced to vomit them up again, ch. xx. 15. But I rather understand this more generally of the turn now given. 2. God doubled his possessions: Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. It is probable that he did at first, in some way or other, intimate to him that it was his gracious purpose, by degrees, in due time to bring him to such a height of prosperity that he should have twice as much as ever he had, for the encouraging of his hope and the quickening of his industry, and that it might appear that this wonderful increase was a special token of God's favour. And it may be considered as intended, (1.) To balance his losses. He suffered for the glory of God, and therefore God made it up to him with advantage, and allowed him more than interest upon interest. God will take care that none shall lose by him. (2.) To recompense his patience and his confidence in God, which (notwithstanding the workings of corruption) he did not cast away, but still held fast, and that is it which has a great recompence of reward, Heb. x. 35. Job's friends had often put their severe censure of Job upon this issue, If thou wert pure and upright, surely now he would awake for thee, ch. viii. 6. But he does not awake for thee; therefore thou art not upright. "Well," says God, "though your argument be not conclusive, I will even by that demonstrate the integrity of my servant Job; his latter end shall greatly increase, and by that it shall appear, since you will have it so, that it was not for any injustice in his hands that he suffered the loss of all things." Now it appeared that Job had reason to bless God for taking away (as he did, ch. i. 21), since it made so good a return.

II. His old acquaintance, neighbours, and relations, were very kind to him, v. 11. They had been estranged from him, and this was not the least of the grievances of his afflicted state; he bitterly complained of their unkindness, ch. xix. 13, &c. But now they visited him with all possible expressions of affection and respect. 1. They put honour upon him, in coming to dine with him as formerly, but (we may suppose) privately bringing their entertainment along with them, so that he had the reputation of feasting them without the expense. 2. They sympathized with him, and showed a tender concern for him, such as becomes brethren. They bemoaned him when they talked over all the calamities of his afflicted state, and comforted him when they took notice of God's gracious returns to him. They wept for his griefs, and rejoiced in his joys, and proved not such miserable comforters as his three friends, that, at first, were so forward and officious to attend him. These were not such great men nor such learned and eloquent men as those, but they proved much more skilful and kind in comforting Job. God sometimes chooses the foolish and weak things of the world, as for conviction, so for comfort. 3. They made a collection among them for the repair of his losses and the setting of him up again. They did not think it enough to say, Be warmed, Be filled, but gave him such things as would be of use to him, Jam. ii. 16. Every one gave him a piece of money (some more, it is likely, and some less, according to their ability) and every one an ear-ring of gold (an ornament much used by the children of the east), which would be as good as money to him: this was a superfluity which they could well spare, and the rule is, That our abundance must be a supply to our brethren's necessity. But why did Job's relations now, at length, show this kindness to him? (1.) God put it in their hearts to do so; and every creature is that to us which he makes it to be. Job had acknowledged God in their estrangement from him, for which he now rewarded him in turning them to him again. (2.) Perhaps some of them withdrew from him because they thought him a hypocrite, but, now that his integrity was made manifest, they returned to him and to communion with him again. When God was friendly to him they were all willing to be friendly too, Ps. cxix. 74, 79. Others of them, it may be, withdrew because he was poor, and sore, and a rueful spectacle, but now that he began to recover they were willing to renew their acquaintance with him. Swallow-friends, that are gone in winter, will return in the spring, though their friendship is of little value. (3.) Perhaps the rebuke which God had given to Eliphaz and the other two for their unkindness to Job awakened the rest of his friends to return to their duty. Reproofs to others we should thus take as admonitions and instructions to us. 4. Job prayed for his friends, and then they flocked about him, overcome by his kindness, and every one desiring an interest in his prayers. The more we pray for our friends and relations the more comfort we may expect in them.

III. His estate strangely increased, by the blessing of God upon the little that his friends gave him. He thankfully received their courtesy, and did not think it below him to have his estate repaired by contributions. He did not, on the one hand, urge his friends to raise money for him; he acquits himself from that (ch. vi. 22), Did I say, Bring unto me or give me a reward of your substance? Yet what they brought he thankfully accepted, and did not upbraid them with their former unkindnesses, nor ask them why they did not do this sooner. He was neither so covetous and griping as to ask their charity, nor so proud and ill-natured as to refuse it when they offered it; and, being in so good a temper, God gave him that which was far better than their money and ear-rings, and that was his blessing, v. 12. The Lord comforted him now according to the days wherein he had afflicted him, and blessed his latter end more than his beginning. Observe, 1. The blessing of the Lord makes rich; it is he that gives us power to get wealth and gives success in honest endeavours. Those therefore that would thrive must have an eye to God's blessing, and never go out of it, no, not into the warm sun; and those that have thriven must not sacrifice to their own net, but acknowledge their obligations to God for his blessing. 2. That blessing can make very rich and sometimes makes good people so. Those that become rich by getting think they can easily make themselves very rich by saving; but, as those that have little must depend upon God to make it much, so those that have much must depend upon God to make it more and to double it; else you have sown much and bring in little, Hag. i. 6. 3. The last days of a good man sometimes prove his best days, his last works his best works, his last comforts his best comforts; for his path, like that of the morning-light, shines more and more to the perfect day. Of a wicked man it is said, His last state is worse than his first (Luke xi. 26), but of the upright man, His end is peace; and sometimes the nearer it is the clearer are the views of it. In respect of outward prosperity God is pleased sometimes to make the latter end of a good man's life more comfortable than the former part of it has been, and strangely to outdo the expectations of his afflicted people, who thought they should never live to see better days, that we may not despair even in the depths of adversity. We know not what good times we may yet be reserved for in our latter end. Non, si male nunc, et olim sic erit—It may yet be well with us, though now it is otherwise. Job, in his affliction, had wished to be as in months past, as rich as he had been before, and quite despaired of that; but God is often better to us than our own fears, nay, than our own wishes, for Job's possessions were doubled to him; the number of his cattle, his sheep and camels, his oxen and she-asses, is just double here to what it was, ch. i. 3. This is a remarkable instance of the extent of the divine providence to things that seem minute, as this of the exact number of a man's cattle, as also of the harmony of providence, and the reference of one event to another; for known unto God are all his works, from the beginning to the end. Job's other possessions, no doubt, were increased in proportion to his cattle, lands, money, servants, &c. So that if, before, he was the greatest of all the men of the east, what was he now?

IV. His family was built up again, and he had great comfort in his children, v. 13-15. The last of his afflictions that are recorded (ch. i.), and the most grievous, was the death of all his children at once. His friends upbraided him with it (ch. viii. 4), but God repaired even that breach in process of time, either by the same wife, or, she being dead, by another. 1. The number of his children was the same as before, seven sons and three daughters. Some give this reason why they were not doubled as his cattle were, because his children that were dead were not lost, but gone before to a better world; and therefore, if he have but the same number of them, they may be reckoned doubled, for he has two fleeces of children (as I may say) mahanaim—two hosts, one in heaven, the other on earth, and in both he is rich. 2. The names of his daughters are here registered (v. 14), because, in the significations of them, they seemed designed to perpetuate the remembrance of God's great goodness to him in the surprising change of his condition. He called the first Jemima—The day (whence perhaps Diana had her name), because of the shining forth of his prosperity after a dark night of affliction. The next Kezia, a spice of a very fragrant smell, because (says bishop Patrick) God had healed his ulcers, the smell of which was offensive. The third Keren-happuch (that is Plenty restored, or A horn of paint), because (says he) God had wiped away the tears which fouled his face, ch. xvi. 16. Concerning these daughters we are here told, (1.) That God adorned them with great beauty, no women so fair as the daughters of Job, v. 15. In the Old Testament we often find women praised for their beauty, as Sarah, Rebekah, and many others; but we never find any women in the New Testament whose beauty is in the least taken notice of, no, not the virgin Mary herself, because the beauty of holiness is that which is brought to a much clearer light by the gospel. (2.) That their father (God enabling him to do it) supplied them with great fortunes: He gave them inheritance among their brethren, and did not turn them off with small portions, as most did. It is probable that they had some extraordinary personal merit, which Job had an eye to in the extraordinary favour he showed them. Perhaps they excelled their brethren in wisdom and piety; and therefore, that they might continue in his family, to be a stay and blessing to it, he made them co-heirs with their brethren.

V. His life was long. What age he was when his troubles came we are nowhere told, but here we are told he lived 140 years, whence some conjecture that he was 70 when he was in his troubles, and that so his age was doubled, as his other possessions. 1. He lived to have much of the comfort of this life, for he saw his posterity to the fourth generation, v. 16. Though his children were not doubled to him, yet in his children's children (and those are the crown of old men) they were more than doubled. As God appointed to Adam another seed instead of that which was slain (Gen. iv. 25), so he did to Job with advantage. God has ways to repair the losses and balance the griefs of those who are written childless, as Job was when he had buried all his children. 2. He lived till he was satisfied, for he died full of days, satisfied with living in this world, and willing to leave it; not peevishly so, as in the days of his affliction, but piously so, and thus, as Eliphaz had encouraged him to hope, he came to his grave like a shock of corn in his season.

CHAP. XLII. Verſe 1. Then Job anſwered the Lord, and ſaid.]

AFter that he had been ſo plainly and plentifully convinced by Almighty God; 1. That he was far ſhort of him in eternity, Wiſdome, Power, Providence, &c. 2. That he could not ſtand before Behemoth and Leviathan the works of his hands; Job yeeldeth, ſubmitting to Gods Juſtice, and imploring his Mercy; ſo effectual is the word of Gods grace in the hearts of his Elect. It had need to be an elaborate ſpeech that ſhall work upon the conſcience, ſuch as was this afore-going. Vide etiam quid afflictio faciat, ſaith Mercer. See here alſo the happy fruit of an affliction ſanctified. By this ſhall the iniquity of Jacob (of Job) be purged; and this is all the fruit, to take away his ſin, Iſai. 27.9. To make his works full, Rev. 3.2. Job had repented before, chap. 40.4, 5. but not ſo completely. Dice his narrari paenitentiam Jobi plenam, ſaith Piſcator: Here he doth it throughly by a deep and downe-right repentance, ſuch as was never to be repented of.

Verſe 2. I know that thou canſt do every thing] Gods power is either Abſolute or Actual. By the former he can do every thing, make a world, and unmake it in an inſtant; of ſtones raiſe up children to Abraham, &c. By the latter. whatſoever he willeth, that he doth both in heaven and in earth, and none can withſtand him. This Job knew before, but now better, becauſe by experience, and unqueſtionable evidence given in by Gods own mouth. And although this be but a ſhort acknowledgment of Gods Power and Juſtice, yet is it well accepted,Merlin. as proceeding from a true ſenſe of faith. Neque exigis Deus à nobis multa verba, ſed multam fidem.

And that no thought can be with holden from thee] Te non ſolùm omnia poſſe, ſed & omnia noſſe; That thou art not only Omnipotent, but Omniſcient, and that not ſo much as a thought of any mans heart (which alſo is of thy making) can be hid from thee; ſith which way ſoever he turneth him, he ſhall find thee both potent and preſent. The words may be read thus, And that no thought of thine can be cut off or hindred. Having ſpoken of Gods power,Parem in eo eſſe voluntatem [illegible: 1 word] facultatem. Mercer. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Sep[illegible: 1 letter]. Nempe ego. Tigurin. [non-Latin text not transcribed] 1 Pet. 2.24 he ſpeaketh of his thoughts; to teach, ſaith Calvin, That Gods Power and his Will are things inſeparable, his mind and hand agree together; the one to determine, the other to effect.

Verſe 3. Who is he that hideth counſel without knowledge?] Quis iſte eſt, inquis Who is he, ſaiſt thou (chap. 38.2.) that hideth counſel, &c. ſo Tremellius rendreth it. Is ego ipſe ſum, I am the very man that have done it, and now would as gladly undo it again, by an humble confeſſing and diſclaiming mine own folly therein, and by applying thoſe words of thine to my ſelf, with an holy indignation; for therein thou haſt fully met with me.

Therefore have I uttered that I underſtood not] I have raſhly and imprudently, yea, graceleſly and impudently ſpoken of thy judgements, and deſired to diſpute with thee; daring to reprehend that which I did not comprehend, and to paſſe my verdict on things which I was not verſed in,Idcirt[illegible: 1 letter] indico me non in[illegible: 1 letter]elleniſſe. Merc. Things too wonderful for me which I knew not. Broughton reads thus, Therefore I tell, that I had not underſtanding; that is, I confeſſe I have ſinned, but I did it ignorantly. And ſo he makes way to the enſuing Petition, That God would heare him, and teach him better things.

Verſe 4. Hear I beſeech thee, and I will ſpeak] We have had his confeſſion follow now his Petition here. his Humiliation and Reformation, verſe 6. Theſe are the parts and properties of true repentance, that fair daughter of a foule mother, Sin, But had not Job promiſed to ſpeak no more, to proceed no farther, chap. 40.4, 5. How then doth he ſay here, I beſeech, and I will ſpeak; The anſwer is eaſie; he would ſpeak no more ſo raſhly, and unadviſedly as he had done, to Gods diſhonour, and the offence of his beſt friends. But he would not ſpare to ſpeak Supplications, as here, and to ſet forth his humble docility to give glory to God, and to take ſhame to himſelf, &c. ſuch a ſilence he knew would be ſinful and ſavour of a dumb divel. He therefore addreſſeth himſelf to God, 1. For audience and acceptance: 2. For advice and direction: In all which, he renounceth his owne wiſdome, and delivereth himſelf up wholy to God, to be taught and led into all truth and holineſſe. The matter we ſee, is well amended with Job, ſince challenging God into the Schooles, he once ſaid, Then call shou me, and I will anſwer; or let me ſpeak, and anſwer thou me, chap. 13.22. So afterwards Peter, when penitent, turned his crowing into crying: and Paul, his breathing out threatnings againſt the Saints, into, Lord, what wilt thou have me do? Act. 9.1, 6.

I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me] As a dutiful and docible Scholar, (who ſhould be [non-Latin text not transcribed]) I will ask thee queſtions, and hang upon thy holy lips for an anſwer.

Verſe 5. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear] God hath ordained, that as death entred into the world at firſt by the ear, poiſoned by that old Man-ſlayer, Geneſ. 3. ſo life ſhall enter into the ſoul by the ſame door: for it is, Hear and your ſoul ſhall live, Iſai. 55.3. And, The dead (in ſins and treſpaſſes) ſhall hear the voice of the Son of God (ſounding in his Ordinances) and ſhall live the life of grace here, and of glory hereafter, John 5.25. This great mercy Job had received, and he thankfully acknowledgeth it: But behold a greater,

But now mine eyes hath ſeen thee] Not only in the temple and whirl-wind, thoſe clear teſtimonies of thy preſence, but by ſome other ſpecial, glorious apparition (ſo ſome think) and by a Spirit of Prophecy (as the Hebrewes would have it) by the inward teaching of thy Spirit howſoever, as Vatablus ſenſeth it, Et quando Chriſtus Magiſter, quàm citò diſcitur quod docetur; ſaith Auſtin. When God by his Spirit taketh in hand to teach a man, he ſoon becometh a skilful Scholer. Neſcit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia, ſaith Ambroſe. The Spirit is not long in teaching thoſe that commit themſelves to his tuition. The hypocrite knowes God but by hear-ſay, as a blind man knoweth colours; ſuch may ſay as thoſe in the Pſalm, Audivimus famam, ſomething we have heard, and ſome confuſed notions we have got concerning God and his will; but they are meerly diſciplinary, but not intuitive, id eſt, Per ſpeciem Propriam, &c. Such as transformes the ſoul into the ſame Image; it is not that claritas in intellectu quae parit ardorem in affectu, That light in the underſtanding that kindleth the affections. Job was ſuch, witneſſe his next words.

Verſe 6. Wherefore I abhor my ſelf] Aſpernor illa; ſo Tremellius: I utterly diſlike thoſe my former baſe and bald conceits of thee, my hard and unſauoury ſpeeches, mine impatient and imprudent carriages. Horreo quicquid de meo eſt, ut meus ſins, as Bernard expreſſeth it. Reprobo meipſum, ſo Brentius; I do utterly reject my ſelfe, I condemn mine own folly: I eat thoſe words of diſcontent at thy righteous proceedings, Dignaſanè quae per jugulum redeant. Abiicio vitam meam, ſo Mercer and Lavater render it.Diſpliceo mihimetipſi, ac pervelim ut aliter dixiſſem ac feciſſem. Lavat. Jerem. 6.26. and 25.34. Virg. Aeneid. lib. 12. I caſt away my life, and look upon it as loſt, if thou ſhouldſt take the forfeiture: I humbly put my ſelf into the hands of juſtice, yet in hope of mercy.

I repent in duſt and aſhes] As in an expreſſe and publick pennance. I throw my ſelf here upon the ground, I put my mouth in the duſt, Lam. 3.24. Canitiem i[illegible: 2 letters]mundo perfuſam pulvere turpo, I ſprinkle duſt and aſhes upon mine head, in token, that I have deſerved to be as far under ground, as now I am above ground; I repent my preſumptuous misbehaviour with as lowly a ſpirit, as ever I ſinned with an high. Lo this was paenitentiam agere, quod eſt pro malo bonum reponere, ſaith Brentius; This was true repentance to change evil for good; as piety for blaſphemy, chaſtity for fornication, charity for envy, humility for pride, Chriſt for Satan, And Reformation is the beſt Repentance, ſaith Luther: Such as ſo repent, are ſure of comfort. The word here rendred, I repent, ſignifieth alſo to take comfort, as Ezek. 32.31. It is repentance unto life. Acts 11.18. and ſuch as accompanieth ſalvation, Hebr. 6.9. Neither is it wrought in any man but by a ſaving ſight of Almighty God in his Greatneſs and Goodneſs; ſuch as may make him at once to tremble and truſt, as Job did here, and Iſaiah chap. 6.1, 5.

Verſe 7. And it was ſo, that after the Lord had ſpoken theſe words to Job] And Job thoſe other again to God, it ſoon repented the Lord concerning his ſervant. Pro magno delicto parum ſupplicii ſat is eſt patri. A little puniſhment is enough to a loving father for a great fault. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, ſaith the Lord — for (alaſs) they have received of my hand double for all their ſins. Terent. Iſai. 40.1, 2. So it ſeemed to him who is all bowels, and who in all their afflictions is equally afflicted. God weeps on his peoples necks tears of compaſſion; they weep at Gods feet tears of compunction. Oh beautiful contention!

The Lord ſaid to Eliphaz the Temanite] Becauſe he was the ancienter man of greateſt Authority, and he that paſſed the heavieſt cenſures upon Job, doing enough to have driven him into deſperation.

My wrath is kindled againſt thee] Thus God paſſeth not ſentence on Jobs ſide, till he had firſt angerly repreſſed and reprehended thoſe three friends of his, who had aſſailed him without all right and reaſon. Let Gods ſervants hold out faith and patience: ſooner or later they ſhall be righted.

And againſt thy two friends Bildad and Zophar] Who ſtuck ſo cloſe to thee and chimed in with thee, againſt a better man then any of you all. As for Elihu, he is neither commended here, nor condemned. He ſpake well for the main, but many times took Job at the worſt, and miſconſtrued his ſpeeches. He is therefore puniſhed (as Ambaſſadors are uſed to be when they commit undecencies) with ſilence, which is the way royal to correct a wrong. The other three had great cauſe to be much troubled and terrified at that ſhort, but ſharpeſt ſpeech of God, My wrath is kindled againſt you: for, Who knoweth the power of Gods wrath, ſaith David: It is as the Meſſenger of death,Pſalm 90.11 and Harbinger of hell. God never ſaid ſo much to Job, in all thoſe long and large ſpeeches he made unto him, for he knew that milder words would do, and he loveth not to overdo. Ille dolet quoties cogitur eſſe ferox. By the way obſerve, That although theſe three had offended more then Job, yet he was afflicted, and they eſcaped free. Judgement beginneth at Gods houſe; neither have any out of hell ever ſuffered more then thoſe Worthies, of whom the world was not worthy, Heb. 11. For ye have not ſpoken the thing that was right] And yet they ſeemed to be all for God: and to plead his Cauſe againſt Job throughout. But as in ſome things they were much miſtaken, ſo they had their ſelf-reſpects, and were much byaſſed in their diſcourſes. Hypocrites and Heretikes (ſaith Gregory here) ſeem unto men more righteous; but God accepteth them not for all their plauſible pleas, and ſpecious pretences. Luke 16.15. Ye are they (ſaid our Saviour to the Phariſees) who juſtifie your ſelves before men, but God knoweth your hearts; for that which is highly eſteemed amongſt men is abomination in the ſight of God.

As my ſervant Job hath] They alſo were Gods ſervants, but becauſe they had lent Satan their ſervice againſt Job, and drawne from him many paſſionate ſpeeches, they are for a puniſhment ſet by after a ſort; as David alſo was when he had numbred the people, 2 Sam. 24.12. Go and ſay unto David. Now 'tis plaine David, who was wont to be my ſervant David, 2 Sam. 7.5. That Job is called Gods ſervant, (and that emphatically and excluſively) is a very great honour done him upon his repentance, and the like was done to David and Peter.

Verſe 8. Therefore take unto you now ſeven bullocks] God reproveth not his for any other end, but that he may reduce them, and be reconciled unto them. The Sun of righteouſneſs loveth not to ſet in a cloud.

Dejicit ut relevet: premit ut ſolatia praeſtet. Enecat, ut poſſit vivificare Deus.

Seven Bullocks, and ſeven Rams] A great Sacrifice, whether we look to the greatneſſe of the Cattle, or the number; (eſpecially if each of them were to bring ſeven of each ſort as ſome underſtand it) to ſhew the greatneſſe of their ſin, in not ſpeaking right things of God and Job, though of a good intention, and with a very faire pretence. Seven of each they were to bring, which is noted for a number of perfection; and this pointed them of old (for the Ceremonial Law was their Goſpel) to the complete perfect Sacrifice of Jeſus Chriſt, the Lamb ſlain from the beginning of the world, every way ſufficient to expiate their ſinnes, and to ſave them from the wrath to come. Its aſſured them alſo, that God was through Chriſt perfectly ſatisfied, and pacified toward his faithful people.

And go to my ſervant Job] Who was to do the honourable Office of a Prieſt for them (as before the Law Abraham did, and Melchiſedech and others) and is thrice in this verſe called, Gods ſervant, for honours ſake; to the end that his friends might the more reſpect him; whom before they had vilipended, and be reconciled unto him, whom before they had wronged.

And offer up for your ſelves a burnt offering] Holocauſtabit is holocauſtum; a whole burnt Offering: Where we muſt not imagine, that God took delight in the ſmell or rather ſtench of the burnt beaſts hides and all, but in the faith of thoſe that offered them, who alſo were hereby inminded of their ſins (for which they had deſerved to be burnt in hell) and of their duties, to mortifie their earthly members and to preſent their bodies a living Sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, Rom. 12.1.

And my ſervant Job ſhall pray for you] Which as he could do very well, Ezek. 14.14. ſo he ſhould now do, to ſhew his hearty reconciliation; but ſhould have little availed for them, had not they repented, and believed, and prayed for themſelves. For the Juſt ſhall live by his faith; and it is a great vanity in ſome great Papiſts, who preſume to live looſely and baſely, becauſe they have hired ſome hedg-Prieſt to ſay a certain number of prayers for them daily.

For him will I accept] ſcil. Through the Office and perſon of my Son, which herein he reſembleth. The High-Prieſts Office was, 1. To expiate the ſins of the people. 2. To intercede and make requeſt for them. Chriſt is the High-Prieſt of the New-Teſtament; in whom the Father is well pleaſed, and through whom he will deny nothing to his humble Suppliants, for themſelves or others.

Leſt I deal with you after your folly] Heb. Leſt I work fooliſhneſſe with you; that is, (ſaith Beza) leſt I ſo behave my ſelf toward you, as your fooliſhneſs doth deſerve. Or, leſt I ſo handle you, that you may think me no wiſer then I ſhould be ſith you have ſeemed ſo to rough-hew Job out of zeal to me. Thus to the froward God ſeemeth to deal frowardly, Pſal. 18.27. Tremellius rendreth it not folly but hainous offence; others, diſgrace. Mercer.

In that ye have not ſpoken, &c.] And if for hard words and ill language, good men may ſuffer,Flagitium, ignominia. what ſhall become of ſuch, as both with virulent tongues, and violent hands, ſet againſt ſuch as fear God?

Verſe 9. So Eliphaz the Temanite, &c.] Here was reſipiſcentia ex fide conſtans ſaith Brentius, the repentance of faith, the obedience alſo of ſaith readily y[illegible: 1 letter]ilded. Had not theſe been good and godly men, they would have ſtuck at the coſt of ſo great a Sacrifice, they would alſo have ſcorned to have ſought to Job, whom they had ſo much ſlighted, and to beg his prayers of whom they had ſo ill deſerved. But hey had not ſo learned Chriſt. God they ſaw well was greatly offended, and Job highly accepted; glad therefore were they by any good means to ingratiate, each of them ſaying to God for himſelf, as he did onceto C[illegible: 1 letter]ſar, Juſſa ſequi tam velle mihi quam poſſe neceſſe eſt. Omne trahit ſecum Numinis ira malum.Lucan. Ovid.

The Lord alſo accepted Job] Whether he teſtifieth his good acceptance by conſuming his Sacrifice with fire from heaven, is uncertain. 'Tis enough for us to know that he ſhewed himſelf reconciled unto them, and well pleaſed with Jobs prayer for them, and their own prayers joyned no doubt with his, and proceeding from faith in the Merits and Mediation of Jeſus Chriſt. And hitherto Gods de[illegible: 1 letter]iſive ſentence, whereby all the ſtrife was graciouſly ended, and all parties happily and heartily reconciled. What became of Satan a chief Actor in this Tragedy, we read not; Victus enim abiit. And as God would not once call him to account, when he had beguiled our firſt parents, Gen. 3. becauſe he meant him no mercy: ſo here he never mentioneth him, as being judged already, and by Job bravely worſted and defeated. All that we find of him is, that his commiſſion to vex Job any farther, was now taken away, for ſo it followeth

Verſe 10. And the Lord turned again the Captivity of Job] He took him out of Satans clutches, who had hitherto held him priſoner, as it were in the bands of poverty, ſickneſs, ſorrow, contempt, diſtreſs, &c. Whether all at once, or by degrees, God did all this for him, it skills not. Upon his prayers for his friends (which was no ſmall evidence and effect of his Piety and Charity) it appears; that God did all this that followeth for him. So true is that of Solomon, The reward of humility, and of the fear of the Lord, is riches, and honour, and life, Prov. 22.4.

When he prayed for his friends] According to that of the Apoſtle Paul, Being defamed we pray. This is an high degree of Chriſtian perfection, which but few attain unto, as Merlin here bewaileth it; O raram & ſingularem virtutem, &c. And another well obſerveth, That God gives and forgives, according as man forgives his neighbour.

Alſo the Lord gave Job twice as much, &c.] Underſtand it both of Goods and Graces; which though he never parted with, yet by tryal and experience he found them much increaſed. As for outward things it is nothing unuſual for men to recover and recruit as far as God ſeeth fit. Multadies vari[illegible: 1 letter]ſquo Labor mutabilis avi Rettulit in melius: multos alterna reviſens Luſit, & in ſolido rurſus fortuna locavit.Virg. Aen. l. 11 The beſt way is to hang looſe to theſe things below, not truſting in uncertain riches, but in the living God, 1 Tim. 6.17. who will be our exceeding great reward, and give to his Sufferers an hundred fold here, and eternal life hereafter, Mat. 19.29. Optand[illegible: 1 letter] nimirùm eſt jactura quae lucro majore penſatur, ſaith Agricola. It is doubtleſſe a lovely loſſe that is made up with ſo much gaine. Well might Saint Paul ſay. Godlineſſe is profitable to all things, as having the Promiſe of both lives, 1 Tim. 4 6 Well might Saint Peter call it, The Divine Nature, 2 Pet. 1.2 For as God brings light out of darkneſſe, comfort out of ſorrow, riches out of poverty, &c. ſo doth Godlineſſe. Let a man, with Job, bear his loſſes patiently and pray for his enemies that wrong and rob him, and he ſhall be ſure to have his own againe, and more, either in money or moneys worth, either in the ſame or a better thing: contented Godlineſſe ſhall be great gaine to him, 1 Tim. 6.6. Beſides heavens happineſſe, which ſhall make a plentiful amends for all. The Rabbins would perſwade us, That God miraculouſly brought back again to Job the ſelf-ſame cattle, that the Sabaeans and others had taken from him, and doubled them. Indeed his children, (ſay they) therefore were not doubled unto him, becauſe they periſhed by their ow[illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 1 letter]ault and folly, as one of his friends alſo told him. But of all this nothing certain can be affirmed: and they do better who ſay, That his children being dead in Gods favour, periſhed not, but went to heaven; they were not loſt but laid up; ſo that, before God, Job had the number of his children doubled: for they are ours ſtill, whom we have ſent to heaven before us; and Chriſt at his coming ſhall reſtore them unto us, 1 Theſſal. 4.14. In confidence whereof faithful Abraham calleth his deceaſed Sarah, his dead; That I may bury my dead out of my ſight Gen. 23.4. and ſo ſhe is called eight ſeveral times in that one Chapter, as Paraeus hath obſerved.

Verſe 11 Then came there unto him all his brethren] Then; when God had begun to reſtore him. As his adverſity had ſcattered his friends, ſo his proſperity brought them together again. This is the worlds uſage. Dum fueris foelix multos numerabis amicos: Tempora ſi fuerint nubila, ſolus eris. Summer-birds there are not a few: Samaritans, who would own the Jewes whiles they flouriſhed; but otherwiſe diſavow them; as they did to Antiochus Epiphanes: Rich Job had many friends, Prov. 14.20. Qui tamen perſiſtebant amicitia ſicut lepus juxta tympanum, as the Proverb is. All this good Job paſſeth by, and forgetting all unkindneſſes, magnificently treateth them; as Iſaac in like caſe, had done Abimelech and his train, Gen. 26.30.

And did eat bread with him in his houſe] It's likely they came with their coſt to make Job a Feaſt of comfort, ſuch as were uſual in thoſe dayes, Jer. 16.7. Ezek 24.17. But whether they did or not, they were welcome to Job; who now never upbraids them with their forſaking of him in his diſtreſſe (which yet was then a great grief to him) but friendly re-embraceth them, and courteouſly entertaineth them. This is contrary to the practice of many fierce and implacable ſpirits in theſe dayes, whoſe wrath, like that of the Athenians, is [non-Latin text not transcribed], long-laſting; and although themſelves are mortal, yet their hearts are immortal.

And they bimoaned him] They condoled with him, and shook their heads, as the word ſignifieth; not by way of deriding him, as once they had done, chap. 16. but of ſorrow for their former deſerting him, and aſſurance that they would henceforth better ſtick to him in what eſtate ſoever.

And comforted him over all the evil &c.] So they ſhould have done long before: A friend is made for the day of adverſity; but better late then never. Nunquam ſane ſerò ſi ſeriò. See here. ſaith Brentius, the change of affaires, and the right hand of the Moſt High, and learn the fear of God; for as he frowneth or favoureth any man, ſo will the world do.

Every man alſo gave him a piece of money] Or, a Lamb to ſtock him againe. Beza rendreth it, Some one of his Cattle, and paraphraſeth thus: Yea, every one of them gave him either a ſheep or an Ox, or a Camel, and alſo an Ear-ring of gold; partly as a pledge of their good will and friendſhip renewed toward him, and partly in conſideration and recompence of that loſſe, which he had before by the will and fore-appointment of God ſuſtained. Honoraria obtulerunt, ſaith Junius, they brought him theſe preſents as Pledges of their love and obſervance; for ſo were great men wont to be ſaluted with ſome gift,Sen. Epiſt. 17. 1 Sam. 10.27. 2 Chron. 17.5. And the ſame cuſtome was among the Perſians and Parthians, whoſe Kings might not be met without ſome token of congratulation, and Symbol of Honour.

And every one an Ear-ring of gold] Inaurem auream, an Ear-pendant of gold, at the Receipt whereof, Job might well ſay as the Poet did,Theog. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. To thee this is a ſmall matter, but to me a great.

Verſe 12. So the Lord bleſſed the latter end of Job] According to Bildads Prophecy, chap. 8.7. And S. James his uſeful obſervation, Chap. 5.11. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have ſeen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. If he afflict any of his, it is in very faithfulneſſe, that he may be true to their ſouls, it is alſo in great mercy,Deut. 8.16. that he may do them good in the latter end; and this they themſelves alſo ſhall both ſee and ſay, by that time he hath brought both ends together, Pſal. 119.71. Be ye therefore patient, ſtabliſh your hearts, James 5.7. Patient Job had all doubled to him. Joſeph of a Slave became his Maſters Maſter. Valentinian loſt his Tribuneſhip for Chriſt, but was afterwards made Emperor. Queen Elizabeth of a priſoner, became a great Princeſſe. But if God deny his ſuffering ſervants Temporals, and give them in Spirituals, they have no Cauſe to complaine: One way or other they ſhall be ſure to have it. Great is the gain of Godlineſſe.

For he had fourteen thouſand ſheep, &c] Cattle only are inſtanced;Pecuma à pec[illegible: 1 letter] de. [non-Latin text not transcribed] pecudes. & poſteà opes ſignificant. Melancth. Dios becauſe therein eſpecially conſiſted the wealth of that Countrey; but other good things alſo doubtleſſe were doubled unto him, as his family, poſſeſſions, grounds, houſes, and eſpecially Wiſdom to make a good uſe of all: for commonly Stultitiam patiuntur opes; and what's more contemptible then a rich fool, a golden beaſt, as Caligula called his father in Law Syllanus.

Verſe 13. He had alſo ſeven ſons, and three daughters] Whoſe perfections ſweetned the ſorrow which the loſſe of the other had cauſed him. —Sic uno avulſo non deficit alter Aureus.Virg. Ten children he had in heaven, and ten on earth. See the Note above on verſ. 10. The Lord well knew that wealth would be nothing ſo comfortable to Job. unleſſe he had children to leave it to, Gen. 15.2. His wife therefore returning to her duty from which ſhe had ſwerved, became fruitful at an age well advanced; for we read not of any other that he had.

Ver. 14. And he called the name of the firſt, Jemimah] That is, Day-bright, from her orient and gliſtering beauty; q.d. fair as they day: Cant. 6.10. the Church is ſaid,Diurn[illegible: 1 letter]. to look forth as the Morning, fair as the Moon.

And the name of the ſecond, Kezia] That is, Caſſia; a kind of Spice, whereof there are three ſorts, ſaith Dioſcorides but all very ſweet, and ſend forth a moſt pleaſant ſmell, like that of the Roſe. This ſecond daughter therefore ſeemes to be ſo named from the ſweetneſſe of her breath, or perhaps of her whole body, proceeding from the goodneſſe of her conſtitution, as it is reported of Alexander the Great. So ſweet ſmelling Smyrna, the beſt of all the ſeven Churches of Aſia, Revel. 3.

And the name of the third, Keren-happuch] That is, the Horn of beauty, (better then that which is borrowed) and of abundance; as whoſe cheeks Nature had painted with a moſt pleaſing Vermillion, far beyond any artificial tincture, which ſhe had no need of, Ʋtpote omnes aliarum fucos & veneres ſuperans. Some intepret it, the horn of converſion; and think, That Job herein would expreſſe and memorize the ſtrange turn and alteration of his condition, as Joſeph did, Gen. 41.51, 52.Vatab. But the Chaldee Paraphraſt, the Jew-Doctors, and moſt of our Expoſitors, are for the former Interpretation, favoured alſo by the words following:

Verſe 15. And in all the Land there were no women found ſo [illegible: 1 word], &c.] [illegible: 1 word] though but a [illegible: 1 word] fragile, and one of the gifts of Gods left hand, Prov. 3.16, [illegible: 1 word] is it the Flower of vertue, as Chryſippus called it; one of the greateſt excellencies of Nature, and ſingular degree of Gods Image in man, as Another.Plat[illegible: 1 letter]. And although vertue is — Proprio contenta theatro, yet to others Gratior eſt pulchro veniens in corpore virtus. That Vertue hath a better grace. That ſhineth from a beauteous face. Such probably were Jobs Daughters, not fair and fooliſh, as thoſe Daughters of Jeruſalem, Iſai. 3. but adorned with all variety of Moral vertues, as a clear Skye is with Stars, as a Princely Diadem with Jewels. Hence their good father ſo affected them, that he

Gave them inherit[illegible: 4 letters]s among their brethren] Making them coheires with them in his eſtate, which as it was an extraordinary expreſſion of his love to his daughters; ſo it importeth, as ſome think, a deſire in him to have his daughters live ſtill with him amongſt the reſt of his family: either for that he was loath to part with them,Val. Max. Chriſtian pag. 308 (the like whereof is reported of Charles the Great, who being asked, Why he did not beſtow his daughters in marriage, anſwered, That he could not be at all without their company) or elſe as fearing leſt they ſhould be defiled with Idolaters, which peradventure, out of Jobs family, were ordinary in that Countrey.

Verſe 16. Fliny tels of one Xenophilus, who lived 10[illegible: 1 letter] years without ſickneſs Lib. 7 cap 5. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years. &c.] And this was not the leaſt part of his happineſſe. Length of dayes is a piece of Wiſdoms wages. Prov. 3.16. And what a mercy, [non-Latin text not transcribed], or a good old age is, hath been before noted; See chap. 5.26. For a ſhort braid of adverſity, Job had an hundred and forty years health and proſperity: Like as Joſeph for his thirteen years of ſlavery and impriſonment, had fourſcore years liberty, proſperity and preferment. Who would not ſerve thee, O King of Nations?

And ſaw his ſons] Who doubtleſs were good and towardly (though nothing is ſaid of them) agreeable to their education, and anſwerable to Jobs former children, chap. 1.

And his ſons ſons] To his great joyes increaſe.

Even four generations] Joſeph ſaw but three, Gen. 50.23. If God deny this happineſs to any of his, yet he hath promiſed them a Name in his houſe better then of Sons and Nephews, Iſai. 56.5.

Verſe 17 So Job died, being old and full of dayes] How long he lived, we know not. The Rabbins ſay, above two hundred years, which was longer then either Abraham or Iſaac lived: of both whom it is likewiſe ſaid, that they were ſaturi dierum, ſated with this earthly life, and deſirous of life eternal. To thoſe old men that would yet live longer, we may ſay, Cur non [illegible: 1 letter]t ſatur vitae conviva recedis?Lucret. It is enough, Lord, ſaid Elias; I deſire to be diſſolved, ſaid Paul: Go forth, my ſoul, go forth to God, ſaid Hilarion: What make I here, ſaid Monica. Job is now as willing to dye as ever he was to dine: he is ſatisfied with dayes, ſaith the text, not as a meat loathed, but as a diſh, though well liked, that he had fed his full of.