Job 5 commentary

Eliphaz here calls upon Job to answer his arguments. Were any of the saints or servants of God visited with such Divine judgments as Job, or did they ever behave like him under their sufferings? The term, “saints,” holy, or more strictly, consecrated ones, seems in all ages to have been applied to the people of God, through the Sacrifice slain in the covenant of their reconciliation. Eliphaz doubts not that the sin of sinners directly tends to their ruin. They kill themselves by some lust or other; therefore, no doubt, Job has done some foolish thing, by which he has brought himself into this condition. The allusion was plain to Job's former prosperity; but there was no evidence of Job's wickedness, and the application to him was unfair and severe.

Eliphaz reminds Job, that no affliction comes by chance, nor is to be placed to second causes. The difference between prosperity and adversity is not so exactly observed, as that between day and night, summer and winter; but it is according to the will and counsel of God. We must not attribute our afflictions to fortune, for they are from God; nor our sins to fate, for they are from ourselves. Man is born in sin, and therefore born to trouble. There is nothing in this world we are born to, and can truly call our own, but sin and trouble. Actual transgressions are sparks that fly out of the furnace of original corruption. Such is the frailty of our bodies, and the vanity of all our enjoyments, that our troubles arise thence as the sparks fly upward; so many are they, and so fast does one follow another. Eliphaz reproves Job for not seeking God, instead of quarrelling with him. Is any afflicted? let him pray. It is heart's ease, a salve for every sore. Eliphaz speaks of rain, which we are apt to look upon as a little thing; but if we consider how it is produced, and what is produced by it, we shall see it to be a great work of power and goodness. Too often the great Author of all our comforts, and the manner in which they are conveyed to us, are not noticed, because they are received as things of course. In the ways of Providence, the experiences of some are encouragements to others, to hope the best in the worst of times; for it is the glory of God to send help to the helpless, and hope to the hopeless. And daring sinners are confounded, and forced to acknowledge the justice of God's proceedings.

Eliphaz gives to Job a word of caution and exhortation: Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Call it a chastening, which comes from the Father's love, and is for the child's good; and notice it as a messenger from Heaven. Eliphaz also encourages Job to submit to his condition. A good man is happy though he be afflicted, for he has not lost his enjoyment of God, nor his title to heaven; nay, he is happy because he is afflicted. Correction mortifies his corruptions, weans his heart from the world, draws him nearer to God, brings him to his Bible, brings him to his knees. Though God wounds, yet he supports his people under afflictions, and in due time delivers them. Making a wound is sometimes part of a cure. Eliphaz gives Job precious promises of what God would do for him, if he humbled himself. Whatever troubles good men may be in, they shall do them no real harm. Being kept from sin, they are kept from the evil of trouble. And if the servants of Christ are not delivered from outward troubles, they are delivered by them, and while overcome by one trouble, they conquer all. Whatever is maliciously said against them shall not hurt them. They shall have wisdom and grace to manage their concerns. The greatest blessing, both in our employments and in our enjoyments, is to be kept from sin. They shall finish their course with joy and honour. That man lives long enough who has done his work, and is fit for another world. It is a mercy to die seasonably, as the corn is cut and housed when fully ripe; not till then, but then not suffered to stand any longer. Our times are in God's hands; it is well they are so. Believers are not to expect great wealth, long life, or to be free from trials. But all will be ordered for the best. And remark from Job's history, that steadiness of mind and heart under trial, is one of the highest attainments of faith. There is little exercise for faith when all things go well. But if God raises a storm, permits the enemy to send wave after wave, and seemingly stands aloof from our prayers, then, still to hang on and trust God, when we cannot trace him, this is the patience of the saints. Blessed Saviour! how sweet it is to look unto thee, the Author and Finisher of faith, in such moments!

CHAPTER 5

Job 5:1-27. Eliphaz' Conclusion from the Vision.

1. if there be any, &c.--Rather, "will He (God) reply to thee?" Job, after the revelation just given, cannot be so presumptuous as to think God or any of the holy ones (Da 4:17, "angels") round His throne, will vouchsafe a reply (a judicial expression) to his rebellious complaint.

2. wrath ... envy--fretful and passionate complaints, such as Eliphaz charged Job with (Job 4:5; so Pr 14:30). Not, the wrath of God killeth the foolish, and His envy, &c.

3. the foolish--the wicked. I have seen the sinner spread his "root" wide in prosperity, yet circumstances "suddenly" occurred which gave occasion for his once prosperous dwelling being "cursed" as desolate (Psa 37:35, 36; Jr 17:8).

4. His children ... crushed in the gate--A judicial formula. The gate was the place of judgment and of other public proceedings (Psa 127:5; Pr 22:22; Ge 23:10; De 21:19). Such propylæa have been found in the Assyrian remains. Eliphaz obliquely alludes to the calamity which cut off Job's children.

5. even out of the thorns--Even when part of the grain remains hanging on the thorn bushes (or, "is growing among thorns," Mt 13:7), the hungry gleaner does not grudge the trouble of even taking it away, so clean swept away is the harvest of the wicked.

the robber--as the Sabeans, who robbed Job. Rather, translate "the thirsty," as the antithesis in the parallelism, "the hungry," proves.

6. Although--rather, "for truly" [Umbreit].

affliction cometh not forth of the dust--like a weed, of its own accord. Eliphaz hints that the cause of it lay with Job himself.

7. Yet--rather, "Truly," or, But affliction does not come from chance, but is the appointment of God for sin; that is, the original birth-sin of man. Eliphaz passes from the particular sin and consequent suffering of Job to the universal sin and suffering of mankind. Troubles spring from man's common sin by as necessary a law of natural consequences as sparks (Hebrew, "sons of coal") fly upward. Troubles are many and fiery, as sparks (1Pe 4:12; Is 43:2). Umbreit for "sparks" has "birds of prey;" literally, "sons of lightning," not so well.

8. Therefore (as affliction is ordered by God, on account of sin), "I would" have you to "seek unto God" (Is 8:19; Am 5:8; Jr 5:24).

11. Connected with Job 5:9. His "unsearchable" dealings are with a view to raise the humble and abase the proud (Lu 1:52). Therefore Job ought to turn humbly to Him.

12. enterprise--literally, "realization." The Hebrew combines in the one word the two ideas, wisdom and happiness, "enduring existence" being the etymological and philosophical root of the combined notion [Umbreit].

13. Paul (1Co 3:19) quoted this clause with the formula establishing its inspiration, "it is written." He cites the exact Hebrew words, not as he usually does the Septuagint, Greek version (Psa 9:15). Haman was hanged on the gallows he prepared for Mordecai (Es 5:14; 7:10).

the wise--that is, "the cunning."

is carried headlong--Their scheme is precipitated before it is ripe.

14. Judicial blindness often is sent upon keen men of the world (De 28:29; Is 59:10; Joh 9:39).

15. "From the sword" which proceedeth "from their mouth" (Psa 59:7; 57:4).

16. the poor hath hope--of the interposition of God.

iniquity stoppeth her mouth--(Psa 107:42; Mi 7:9, 10; Is 52:15). Especially at the last day, through shame (Jude 15; Mt 22:12). The "mouth" was the offender (Job 5:15), and the mouth shall then be stopped (Is 25:8) at the end.

17. happy--not that the actual suffering is joyous; but the consideration of the righteousness of Him who sends it, and the end for which it is sent, make it a cause for thankfulness, not for complaints, such as Job had uttered (He 12:11). Eliphaz implies that the end in this case is to call back Job from the particular sin of which he takes for granted that Job is guilty. Paul seems to allude to this passage in He 12:5; so Jas 1:12; Pr 3:12. Eliphaz does not give due prominence to this truth, but rather to Job's sin. It is Elihu alone (Job 32:1-37:24) who fully dwells upon the truth, that affliction is mercy and justice in disguise, for the good of the sufferer.

18. he maketh sore, and bindeth up--(De 32:39; Ho 6:1; 1Sa 2:6). An image from binding up a wound. The healing art consisted much at that time in external applications.

19. in six ... yea, in seven--(Pr 6:16; Am 1:3). The Hebrew idiom fixes on a certain number (here "six"), in order to call attention as to a thing of importance; then increases the force by adding, with a "yea, nay seven," the next higher number; here "seven," the sacred and perfect number. In all possible troubles; not merely in the precise number "seven."

20. power--(Jr 5:12). Hebrew, "hands."

of the sword--(Eze 35:5, Margin). Hands are given to the sword personified as a living agent.

21. (Psa 31:20; Jr 18:18). Smite (Psalm 73. 9).

22. famine thou shalt laugh--Not, in spite of destruction and famine, which is true (Ha 3:17, 18), though not the truth meant by Eliphaz, but because those calamities shall not come upon thee. A different Hebrew word from that in Job 5:20; there, famine in general; here, the languid state of those wanting proper nutriment [Barnes].

23. in league with the stones of the field--They shall not hurt the fertility of thy soil; nor the wild beasts thy fruits; spoken in Arabia-Deserta, where stones abounded. Arabia, derived from Arabah--a desert plain. The first clause of this verse answers to the first clause of Job 5:22; and the last of this verse to the last of that verse. The full realization of this is yet future (Is 65:23, 25; Ho 2:18).

24. know--"Thou shalt rest in the assurance, that thine habitation is the abode of peace; and (if) thou numberest thine herd, thine expectations prove not fallacious" [Umbreit]. "Sin" does not agree with the context. The Hebrew word--"to miss" a mark, said of archers (Jud 20:16). The Hebrew for "habitation" primarily means "the fold for cattle"; and for "visit," often to "take an account of, to number." "Peace" is the common Eastern salutation; including inward and outward prosperity.

25. as the grass--(Psa 72:16). Properly, "herb-bearing seed" (Ge 1:11, 12).

26. in a full age--So "full of days" (Job 42:17; Ge 35:29). Not mere length of years, but ripeness for death, one's inward and outward full development not being prematurely cut short, is denoted (Is 65:22).

Thou shalt come--not literally, but expressing willingness to die. Eliphaz speaks from the Old Testament point of view, which made full years a reward of the righteous (Psa 91:16; Ex 20:12), and premature death the lot of the wicked (Psa 55:23). The righteous are immortal till their work is done. To keep them longer would be to render them less fit to die. God takes them at their best (Is 57:1). The good are compared to wheat (Mt 13:30).

cometh in--literally, "ascends." The corn is lifted up off the earth and carried home; so the good man "is raised into the heap of sheaves" [Umbreit].

27. searched it ... for thy good--literally, "for thyself" (Psa 111:2; Pr 2:4; 9:12).

Call now, if there be any - This appears to be a strong irony. From whom among those whose foundations are in the dust, and who are crushed before the moth, canst thou expect succor?

To which of the saints wilt thou turn? - To whom among the holy ones, (קדשים kedoshim), or among those who are equally dependent on Divine support with thyself, and can do no good but as influenced and directed by God, canst thou turn for help? Neither angel nor saint can help any man unless sent especially from God; and all prayers to them must be foolish and absurd, not to say impious. Can the channel afford me water, if the fountain cease to emit it?

For wrath killeth the foolish man - Foolish, silly, and simple, are epithets given by Solomon to sinners and transgressors of all kinds. Such parallelisms have afforded a presumptive argument that Solomon was the author of this book. See the preface. The words of Eliphaz may be considered as a sort of maxim, which the wisdom and experience of ages had served to establish; viz., The wrath of God is manifested only against the wicked and impious; and if thou wert not such, God would not thus contend with thee.

I have seen the foolish taking root - I have seen wicked men for a time in prosperity, and becoming established in the earth; but I well knew, from God's manner of dealing with men, that they must soon be blasted. I even ventured to pronounce their doom; for I knew that, in the order of God's providence, that was inevitable. I cursed his habitation.

His children are far from safety - His posterity shall not continue in prosperity. Ill gotten, ill spent; whatever is got by wrong must have God's curse on it.

They are crushed in the gate - The Targum says, They shall be bruised in the gate of hell, in the day of the great judgment. There is reference here to a custom which I have often had occasion to notice: viz., that in the Eastern countries the court-house, or tribunal of justice, was at the Gate of the city; here the magistrates attended, and hither the plaintiff and defendant came for justice.

Whose harvest - Their possessions, because acquired by unjust means, shall not be under the protection of God's providence; he shall abandon them to be pillaged and destroyed by the wandering half-starved hordes of the desert banditti. They shall carry it suddenly off; even the thorns - grain, weeds, thistles, and all, shall they carry off in their rapacious hurry.

The robber swalloweth us - Or, more properly, the thirsty, צמים tsammim, as is plain from their swallowing up or gulping down; opposed to the hungry or half-starved, mentioned in the preceding clause. The hungry shall eat up their grain, and the thirsty shall drink down their wine and oil, here termed חילם cheylam, their strength or power, for the most obvious reasons.

There seem to be two allusions in this verse: 1. To the hordes of wandering predatory banditti, or half-starved Arabs of the desert, who have their scanty maintenance by the plunder of others. These descendants of Ishmael have ever had their hands against all men, and live to this day in the same predatory manner in which they have lived for several thousands of years. M. Volney's account of them is striking: "These men are smaller, leaner, and blacker, than any of the Bedouins yet discovered. Their wasted legs had only tendons without calves. Their belly was shrunk to their back. They are in general small, lean, and swarthy, and more so in the bosom of the desert than on the borders of the more cultivated country. They are ordinarily about five feet or five feet two inches high; they seldom have more than about six ounces of food for the whole day. Six or seven dates, soaked in melted butter, a little milk, or curd, serve a man for twenty-four hours; and he seems happy when he can add a small portion of coarse flour, or a little ball of rice. Their camels also, which are their only support, are remarkably meagre, living on the meanest and most scanty provision. Nature has given it a small head without ears, at the end of a long neck without flesh. She has taken from its legs and thighs every muscle not immediately requisite for motion; and in short has bestowed on its withered body only the vessels and tendons necessary to connect its frame together. She has furnished it with a strong jaw, that it may grind the hardest aliments; and, lest it should consume too much, she has straitened its stomach, and obliged it to chew the cud." Such is the description given of the Bedouin and his camel, by M. Volney, who, while he denies the true God, finds out a deity which he calls Nature, whose works evince the highest providence, wisdom, and design! And where does this most wonderful and intelligent goddess dwell? Nowhere but in the creed of the infidel; while the genuine believer knows that nature is only the agent created and employed by the great and wise God to accomplish, under his direction, the greatest and most stupendous beneficial effects. The second allusion in the verse I suppose to be to the loss Job had sustained of his cattle by the predatory Sabeans; and all this Eliphaz introduces for the support of his grand argument, to convict Job of hidden crimes, on which account his enemies were permitted to destroy his property; that property, because of this wickedness, being placed out of the protection of God's providence.

Affliction cometh not forth of the dust - If there were not an adequate cause, thou couldst not be so grievously afflicted.

Spring out of the ground - It is not from mere natural causes that affliction and trouble come; God's justice inflicts them upon offending man.

Yet man is born unto trouble - לעמל leamal, to labor. He must toil and be careful; and if in the course of his labor he meet with trials and difficulties, he should rise superior to them, and not sink as thou dost.

As the sparks By upward - ובני רשף יגביהי עוף ubeney resheph yagbihu uph; And the sons of the coal lift up their flight, or dart upwards. And who are the sons of the coal? Are they not bold, intrepid, ardent, fearless men, who rise superior to all their trials; combat what are termed chance and occurrence; succumb under no difficulties; and rise superior to time, tide, fate, and fortune? I prefer this to all the various meanings of the place with which I have met. Coverdale translates, It is man that is borne unto mysery, like as the byrde for to fle. Most of the ancient versions give a similar sense.

I would seek unto God - Were I in your place, instead of wasting my time, and irritating my soul with useless complaints, I would apply to my Maker, and, if conscious of my innocence, would confidently commit my cause to him.

Which doeth great things - No work, however complicated, is too deep for his counsel to plan; none, however stupendous, is too great for his power to execute. He who is upright is always safe in referring his cause to God, and trusting in him.

Who giveth rain upon the earth - The Chaldee gives this verse a fine turn: "Who gives rain on the face of the land of Israel, and sends waters on the face of the provinces of the people." Similar to our Lord's saying, which is expressed in the half of the compass: Your Father which is in heaven - Sendeth Rain on the Just and on the Unjust; Mat 5:45.

Sendeth waters upon the fields - The term חצות chutsoth, which we translate fields, and generally signifies streets, may here mean those plantations which are laid out in ridges or plats, in an orderly, regular manner. God does not only send rain upon the earth in a general manner, but, by an especial providence, waters the cultivated ground, so that not one ridge is destitute of its due proportion of fructifying moisture.

To set up on high those that be low - He so distributes his providential blessings without partiality, that the land of the poor man is as well sunned and watered as that of the rich; so that he is thus set upon a level with the lords of the soil.

He disappointeth the devices of the crafty - All these sayings refer to God's particular providence, by which he is ever working for the good, and counterworking the plots of the wicked. And as various as are the contingent, capricious, and malevolent acts of men, so varied are his providential interferences; disappointing the devices, snares, and plots of the crafty, so that their plans being confounded, and their machinery broken in pieces, their hands cannot perform their enterprises.

He taketh the wise in their own craftiness - So counterworks them as to cause their feet to be taken in their own snares, and their evil dealings to fall on their own pate. Such frequent proofs has God given of his especial interference in behalf of the innocent, who have been the objects of the plots and evil designs of the wicked, by turning those evil devices against their framers, that he who digs a pit for his neighbor shall fall into it himself has become a universal adage, and has passed, either in so many words or in sense, into all the languages of all the people of the earth. Lucretius expresses it strongly:

Circumretit enim vis atque injuria quemque,

Atque, unde exorta est, ad eum plerumque revortit.

Lucret. lib. v., ver. 1151. "For force and wrong entangle the man that uses them;

And, for the most part, recoil on the head of the contriver."

They meet with darkness in the daytime - God confounds them and their measures; and, with all their cunning and dexterity, they are outwitted, and often act on their own projects, planned with care and skill, as if they had been the crudest conceptions of the most disordered minds. They act in noonday as if the sun were extinct, and their eyes put out. Thus does God "abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices."

He saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth - This is rather a harsh construction. To avoid this, some have proposed to render מחרב mechereb, which we translate from the sword, the persecuted, but, I am afraid, on very slender authority. Instead of מחרב מפיהם mechereb mippihem, "from the sword, from their mouth," eleven of Kennicott and De Rossi's MSS. read מחרב פיהם mechereb pihem, from the sword of their mouth; and with these MSS. the Chaldee, Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic agree. The verse, therefore, may be translated thus: -

He saveth from the sword of their mouth;

The poor from the hand of the mighty.

Or thus: -

He saveth from the sword of their mouth;

And with a strong hand the impoverished.

So the poor - דל dal, he who is made thin, who is wasted, extenuated; hath hope - he sees what God is accustomed to do, and he expects a repetition of gracious dealings in his own behalf; and because God deals thus with those who trust in him, therefore the mouth of impiety is stopped. Religion is kept alive in the earth, because of God's signal interventions in behalf of the bodies and souls of his followers.

Behold, happy is the man - הנח hinneh, behold, is wanting in five of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., and also in the Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic. We have had fathers of our flesh, who corrected us for their pleasure, or according to their caprices, and we were subject to them: how much more should we be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? for he corrects that we may be partakers of his holiness, in order that we may be rendered fit for his glory. See Heb 12:5; Jam 1:12; and Pro 3:12.

For he maketh sore, and bindeth up - Thus nervously rendered by Coverdale, For though he make a wounde, he giveth a medicyne agayne; though he smyte, his honde maketh whole agayne.

He shall deliver thee in six troubles - The numbers six and seven are put here for many. Though a number of troubles should come upon thee all at once, and there should be no hope, humanly speaking, yet God would rid thee out of them all; for he saves as well from many as from few. We may also understand the words, He who hath been thy deliverer in past troubles, will not deny his help in those which are to come.

In famine he shall redeem thee - The Chaldee, which understands this chapter as speaking of the troubles and deliverances of the Israelites in Egypt and the wilderness, renders this verse as follows: "In the famine of Egypt he redeemed thee from death; and in the war of Amalek, from the slaying of the sword."

Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue - The Targum refers this to the incantations of Balaam: "From injury by the tongue of Balaam thou shalt be hidden in the clouds; and thou shalt not fear from the blasting of the Midianites, when it shall come." Perhaps no evil is more dreadful than the scourge of the tongue: evil-speaking, detraction, backbiting, calumny, slander, tale-bearing, whispering, and scandalizing, are some of the terms which we use when endeavoring to express the baleful influence and effects of that member, which is a world of fire, kindled from the nethermost hell. The Scripture abounds with invectives and execrations against it. See Psa 31:20; Psa 52:2-4; Pro 12:18; Pro 14:3; Jam 3:1-8.

Neither shalt thou be afraid - "Thou shouldst have such strong confidence in God, that even in the presence of destruction thou shouldst not fear death," the God of life and power being with thee.

At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh - This most forcibly expresses the strongest security, and confidence in that security. "In the desolation of Sihon, and in the famine of the desert, thou shalt laugh; and of the camps of Og, who is compared to a wild beast of the earth, thou shalt not be afraid." - Targum.

Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field - Instead of אבני abney, stones, Mr. Good reads בני beney, sons, or produce; but this reading is not supported by any ancient version, nor, as far as I know, by any MS. yet collated. We must, therefore, take up the text as we find it, and make the best we can of the present reading. The Chaldee gives a plausible sense: Thou needest not to fear, "because thy covenant is on tables of stone, which are publicly erected in the field; and the Canaanites, which are compared to the beasts of the field, have made peace with thee." Perhaps the reference is to those rocks or strong holds, where banditti secured themselves and their prey, or where the emirs or neighboring chiefs had their ordinary residence. Eliphaz may be understood as saying: Instead, then, of taking advantage of thee, as the Sabeans have done, the circumjacent chieftains will be confederate with thee; and the very beasts of the field will not be permitted to harm thy flocks.

Coverdale seems to have had an idea of this kind, as we find he translates the verse thus: -

But the castels in the londe shall be confederate with the,

And the beastes of the felde shall give the peace.

I believe the above to be the meaning of the place. See the next verse, Job 5:24 (note).

Thou shalt know - Thou shalt be so fully satisfied of the friendly disposition of all thy neighbors, that thou shalt rest secure in thy bed, and not be afraid of any danger, though sleeping in thy tent in the field; and when thou returnest from thy country excursions, thou shalt find that thy habitation has been preserved in peace and prosperity, and that thou hast made no mistake in thy trust, in thy confidence, or in thy confederates. The word אהלך oholecha, "thy tabernacle," means simply a tent, or moveable dwelling, composed of poles, pins, and cloth, or skin, to be pitched any where in a few moments, and struck again with the same ease. The word נוך navecha, which we properly translate thy habitation, signifies a solid, permanent dwelling-place. See Jos 22:4, Jos 22:6-8; 2Sam 18:17; 2Sam 19:8; 1Kgs 12:16; Psa 52:7; Psa 91:10; Psa 132:3; Lam 2:4; Mal 2:12; and with these passages compare the place in the text. As to תחטא techeta, which we translate thou shalt not Sin, it comes from חטא chata, to err, to mistake, to miss the mark: hence to sin, transgress God's laws, seeking for happiness in forbidden and unlawful things, and therefore missing the mark, because in them happiness is not to be found: and it is very likely, from the connection above, that to mistake or err is its meaning in this place. I need not add, that the Arab chiefs, who had their castles or strong holds, frequently in their country excursions lodged in tents in the open fields; and that on such occasions a hostile neighbor sometimes took advantage of their absence, attacked and pillaged their houses, and carried off their families and household. See at the end of this chapter, Job 5:27 (note).

Thine offspring as the grass - Thou shalt have a numerous and permanent issue.

Thou shalt come to thy grave - Thou shalt not die before thy time; thou shalt depart from life like a full-fed guest; happy in what thou hast known, and in what thou hast enjoyed.

Like as a shock of corn - Thou shalt completely run through the round of the spring, summer, autumn, and winter of life; and thou shalt be buried like a wholesome seed in the earth; from which thou shalt again rise up into an eternal spring!

Lo this, we have searched it - What I have told thee is the sum of our wisdom and experience on these important points. These are established maxims, which universal experience supports.

Know - understand, and reduce them to practice for thy good. Thus ends Eliphaz, the Temanite, "full of wise saws and ancient instances;" but he miserably perverted them in his application of them to Job's case and character. They contain, however, many wholesome truths, of which the wise in heart may make a very advantageous practical use.

The predatory excursions referred to in Job 5:23 were not unfrequent among our own barbarous ancestors. An affecting picture of this kind is drawn by Shakespeare, from Holinshed's Chronicles, of the case of Macduff, whose castle was attacked in his absence by Macbeth and his wife and all his children murdered. A similar incident was the ground of the old heroic ballad of Hardicanute. When the veteran heard that a host of Norwegians had landed to pillage the country, he armed, and posted to the field to meet the invading foe. He slew the chief in battle, and routed his pillaging banditti. While this was taking place, another party took the advantage of his absence, attacked his castle, and carried off or murdered his lovely wife and family; which, being perceived on his return by the war and age-worn chief, is thus affectingly described by the unknown poet: -

Loud and chill blew the westlin wind,Sair beat the heavy shower,

Mirk grew the nicht eir HardyknuteWan neir his stately tower:

His tower that us'd with torches bleiseTo shine sae far at night,

Seim'd now as black as mourning weid,Nae marvel, sair he sich'd. "Thair's nae light in my lady's bowir,Thair's nae light in my hall;

Nae blink shynes round my Fairly fair,Nor ward stands on my wall. "What bodes it, Thomas! Robert! say?"Nae answer - speaks their dreid; "Stand back, my sons, I'll be your gyde;"But bye they pass'd with speid. "As fast I haif sped owr Scotland's foes"There ceis'd his brag of weir.

Sair schamt to mind ocht but his dame,And maiden Fairly fair.

Black feir he felt; but what to feirHe wist not yet with dreid;

Sair schook his body, sair his limbs,And all the warrior fled.

The ending of this poem is lost; but we here see that the castle of Hardicanute was surprised, and his family destroyed, or carried off, while he and his sons had been employed in defeating the invading Norwegians. Thank God! civilization, the offspring of the spread of Christianity, has put an end to these barbarous practices among us; but in the East, where Christianity is not, they flourish still. Britons! send out your Bible and your missionaries to tame these barbarians; for whom heathenism has done nothing, and the Koran next to nothing. Civilization itself, without the Bible, will do as little; for the civilized Greeks and Romans were barbarians, fell and murderous; living in envy and malice, hateful, hating one another, and offering hundreds at a time of human victims to their ruthless deities. Nothing but Christianity ever did, or even can, cure these evils.

Call - Call them all as it were by their names: will not every good man confirm what I say? If - Try if there be any one saint that will defend thee in these bold expostulations with God. Thou mayst find fools or wicked men, to do it: but not one of the children of God.

Killeth - A man's wrath, and impatience, preys upon his spirit, and so hastens his death; and provokes God to cut him off. The foolish - The rash and inconsiderate man, who does not weigh things impartially. Envy, &c. - I perceive thou art full of envy at wicked men, who seem to be in a happier condition than thou, and of wrath against God; and this shews thee to be a foolish and weak man. For those men, notwithstanding their present prosperity, are doomed to great and certain misery. I have myself seen the proof of this.

Foolish - The wicked man. Root - Not only prosperous for the present, but, as it seemed, firm and secure for the future. Suddenly - In a moment, beyond mine, and his own, and all other mens expectation. Cursed - l saw by the event which followed his prosperity, that he was a man accursed of God.

Children - Whose greatness he designed in all his enterprizes, supposing his family would be established for ever. Safely - Are exposed to dangers and calamities, and can neither preserve themselves, nor the inheritance which their fathers left them. There is no question but he glances here, at the death of Job's children.

Harvest - Which they confidently expect to reap after all their cost and labour, but are sadly and suddenly disappointed. The hungry - The hungry Sabeans eat it up. Thorns - Out of the fields: in spite of all dangers or difficulties in their way.

The dust - It springs not up by merely natural causes, as herbs grow out of the earth: but from God. Eliphaz here begins to change his voice, as if he would atone for the hard words he had spoken.

Is born - He is so commonly exposed to various troubles, as if he were born to no other end: affliction is become natural to man, and is transmitted from parents, to children, as their constant inheritance; God having allotted this portion to mankind for their sins. And therefore thou takest a wrong course in complaining so bitterly of that which thou shouldest patiently bear, as the common lot of mankind. As - As naturally, and as generally, as the sparks of fire fly upward. Why then should we be surprized at our afflictions as strange, or quarrel with them, as hard?

I would - If I were in thy condition. Seek - By prayer, and humiliation, and submission, imploring his pardon, and favour.

Who, &c. - Here Eliphaz enters upon a discourse of the infinite perfection of God's nature and works; which he doth as an argument to enforce the exhortation to seek and commit his cause to God, ver.8, because God was infinitely able either to punish him yet far worse, if he continued to provoke him; or to raise him from the dust, if he humbly addressed himself to him: and that by a representation of God's excellency and glory, and of that vast disproportion which was between God and Job, he might convince Job of his great sin in speaking so boldly and irreverently of him. Marvellous - Which (though common, and therefore neglected and despised, yet) are matter of wonder to the wisest men. The works of nature are mysteries: the most curious searches come far short of full discoveries: and the works of Providence are still more deep and unaccountable.

Rain - He begins with this ordinary work of God, in which he implies that there is something wonderful, as indeed there is in the rise of it from the earth, in the strange hanging of that heavy body in the air, and in the distribution of it as God sees fit; and how much more in the hidden paths of Divine Providence?

To set up - That is, he setteth up. Another example of God's great and wonderful works. He gives this instance to comfort and encourage Job to seek to God, because he can raise him out of his greatest depths.

The wise - Men wise to do evil, and wise in the opinion of the world, he not only deceives in their hopes and counsels, but turns them against themselves. Froward - Or, wrestlers: such as wind and turn every way, as wrestlers do, and will leave no means untried to accomplish their counsels. Is carried - Is tumbled down and broken, and that by their own precipitation.

Meet - In plain things they run into gross mistakes, and chuse those courses which are worst for themselves. Darkness often notes misery, but here ignorance or error. Grope - Like blind men to find their way, not knowing what to do.

Mouth - Which was ready to swallow them up.

So - So he obtains what he hoped for from God, to whom he committed his cause. Iniquity - Wicked men. Stoppeth - They are silenced and confounded, finding that not only the poor are got out of their snares, but the oppressors themselves are ensnared in them.

Behold - Eliphaz concludes his discourse, with giving Job a comfortable hope, if he humbled himself before God. Happy - Heb. Blessednesses (various and great happiness) belong to that man whom God rebukes. The reason is plain, because afflictions are pledges of God's love, which no man can buy too dear; and are necessary to purge out sin, and thereby to prevent infinite and eternal miseries. Without respect to this, the proposition could not be true. And therefore it plainly shews, that good men in those ancient times, had the belief, and hope of everlasting blessedness. Despise not - Do not abhor it as a thing pernicious, refuse it as a thing useless, or slight it as an unnecessary thing. But more is designed than is exprest. Reverence the chastening of the Lord: have an humble, aweful regard to his correcting hand, and study to answer the design of it. The Almighty - Who is able to support and comfort thee in thy troubles, and deliver thee out of them: and also to add more calamities to them, if thou art obstinate and incorrigible.

For he, &c. - God's usual method is, first to humble, and then to exalt. And he never makes a wound too great, too deep for his own cure.

Deliver - If thou seekest to him by prayer and repentance. Here he applies himself to Job directly. Six - Manifold and repeated. Touch - So as to destroy thee. Thou shalt have a good issue out of all thy troubles, though they are both great and many.

He shall - These things he utters with more confidence, because the rewards or punishments of this life, were more constantly distributed to men in the Old Testament according to their good or bad behaviour, than they are now: and because it was his opinion, that great afflictions were the certain evidences of wickedness; and consequently, that great deliverances would infallibly follow upon true repentance.

Laugh - With a laughter of joy and triumph, arising from a just security and confidence in God's watchful and gracious providence.

League - Thou shalt be free from annoyance thereby, as if they had made an inviolable league with thee. This is a bold metaphor, but such as are frequent both in scripture and other authors. This is an addition to the former privilege; they shall not hurt thee, ver.22, nay, they shall befriend thee, as being at peace with thee. Our covenant with God is a covenant with all the creatures, that they shall do us no hurt, but serve and be ready to do us good.

Know - By certain experience.

Know - By assurance from God's promises, and the impressions of his Spirit; and by experience in due time.

Full age - In a mature and old, but vigorous age, as the word implies. It is a great blessing, to live to a full age, and not to have the number of our years cut short. Much more, to be willing to die, to come chearfully to the grave: and to die seasonably, just in the bed - time, when our souls are ripe for God.

Searched - This is no rash or hasty conceit, but what both I and my brethren have learned by deep consideration, long experience, and diligent observation. Know thou - Know it for thyself; (So the word is) with application to thy own case. That which we thus hear and know for ourselves, we hear and know for our good.

1. CALL now , if there be any that will answer thee , and to which of the Saints wilt thou turn ?

i. e. Invite, or make proclamation; as this word is oft used, as Deut. 20. 10. Iudg. 12. 1. Ier. 2. 2. & 3. 12. & 7. 2. Call them all as it were by their names: consult the whole Catalogue of them, all which thou didst ever know or hear of.

To wit, of the Saints, as i[illegible: 1+ letters] follows.

i. e. Comply with thee, answer thy desires or expectations: Try if there be any one Saint that will defend or allow thee in these bold expostulations with God. Or, as it is in the Hebrew, If there be any that doth answer thee, i. e. whose opinion or disposition and carriage is answerable, or like to thine. So answering is sometimes used, as Prov. 27. 19. Eccles. 10. 19. Thou wilt find many fools or wicked men, as it follows v. 2. to answer or imitate thee in their speeches and carriages, but not one of the Saints like thee; which deserves thy serious consideration, and gives thee just cause to question thine integrity.

Either 1. the Angels, who are sometimes called Saints, as Iob 15. 15. Dan. 8. 13. Zech. 14. 5. because they are eminently and perfectly holy: or rather 2. holy men; as appears both from the Word, which most commonly is so used; and from the opposition of the foolish man to these, v. 2. and because the example of men was more proper and effectual for Iob's conviction than of Angels.

Or, book; look about thee, view them all, and see if thou canst find one like thee.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1+ letters] the [illegible: 1 word].; [illegible: 1 word].

2. For wrath killeth the foolish man , and envy slayeth the silly one .

Either 1. the wrath of God; or rather 2. a man's own wrath, fretting, and impatience, and indignation; which kills men partly naturally, as it preys upon a man's spirit and wasteth him inwardly, and so hastens his death; of which see Prov. 14. 30. & 17. 22. partly morally, as it prompts him to those rash, and furious, and wicked actions which may procure his death: and partly meritoriously as it provoketh God to cut him off, and to bring upon him those further and severe strokes, which he mentions in the following words.

Either 1. the rash and inconsiderate man, who doth not ponder things impartially; but like a mad man rageth against God, and torments himself and all that hear him. Or, 2. the ungodly man, who is frequently called a fool in Scripture-language, and who is here opposed to the Saints, v. 1.

He taxeth Iob, who spoke with great envy at those that were never born, or were in their graves, Ch. 3. 10, 12, &c.

Properly, the man, who for want of true wisdom, is soon deceived with false opinions and appearances, and present things; which is thy case, O Iob! The sense of the verse may be this, I perceive, O Iob! that thou art full of envy at wicked men, who at present are, or seem to be in an happier condition than thou, and of wrath against God, who denies thee that mercy, and loads thee with afflictions; and this shews thee to be a foolish and weak man. For those men, notwithstanding their present prosperity, are doomed to great and certain misery, as it here follows. And so this verse coheres with the following, as well as the foregoing verses.

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

3. I have seen the foolish taking root ; but suddenly I cursed his habitation .

I have oft observed it in my experience. Having severely rebuked Iob for his transports of passion, and intemperate speeches against God, he now returns to his former Argument, and proves that such dreadful and destructive Judgments of God do not befal the righteous, but the wicked, as he observed, Ch. 4. 7, 8. Withal he answers an Objection concerning the present and seeming prosperity of the wicked, which he confesseth that he himself had sometimes observed.

i. e. The wicked man, who is quite destitute of true, i. e. of spiritual and heavenly, wisdom.

Not only prosperous for the present, but, as it seemed, firm and secure for the future, being strongly fortified with power and riches, and children too, so as there was no appearance nor danger of a change.

In a moment besides and before mine, and his own, and all other mens expectation.

Either 1. I judged that he was a cursed creature notwithstanding all his prosperity, and I foresaw and foretold it, by the Rules of Scripture, or the Direction of God's Spirit, that he would certainly sooner or later be stript of all his blessings, & have God's curse fall heavily upon him▪ Or rather 2 I saw & perceived by the event which followed his prosperity, that he was a man accursed of God For he speaks not in these words of what his estate constantly was even in the midst of his happiness, though even then he was really accursed; but of what it was by a sudden change.

Or, as the Hebrew word signifies, his pleasant or commodious habitation, persons or things in it, or belonging to it, being comprehended in that word by an usual Metonymy.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 37. 35.

4. His Children are far from safety , and they are crushed in the gate ; neither is there any to deliver them .

Whose greatness and happiness he designed in all his enterprises, supposing that his family was and would be established for ever

i. e. Are exposed to great dangers and calamities in this life, and can neither preserve themselves nor the great inheritance which their Fathers got and left for them Thus to be far from peace, Lam. 3. 17. Is to be involved in desperate troubles.

i. e. In the place of judicature; To which they are brought for their offences, and where they will find severe judges and few or no friends; partly because being wickedly educated and trusting to their own greatness they were insolent and injurious to all their neighbours: and partly because those many persons whom their powerful fathers defrauded or oppressed to seek for justice and the recovery of their rights, which they easily obtain against such persons as plainly declared by their Actions that they neither feared God, nor reverenced man, & therefore were hated by all sorts of men.

They can find no advocates nor assistants who are either able or willing to help them: But like Ishmael, as their hand was formerly against every man, so now every mans hand is against them.

Marginal references: Psal 19. 155.

5. Whose harvest the hungry cateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns , and the robbers swalloweth up their substance.

Which they now justly and confidently expect to reap after all their cost and labour for that end, but are sadly and suddenly disappointed; Which is a great aggravation of their mistry.

i. e. The poor, whose necessities make the[illegible: 1+ letters] greedy and rev[illegible: 1+ letters] nous to eat it all up; And from whom he can never recover i[illegible: 1+ letters], nor any thing in recompence of it.

i. e. Out of the fields notwithstanding the strong thorn-hedges wherewith it is inclosed and sortified, and all other dangers or difficulties which may be in their way; They will take it, though they be scratched and wounded by the thorns about it.

So called from their long hair, which such persons nourished, either because of their wild & savage kind of life, which made them neglect the trimming of their hair and body: Or that they might look more terribly, and so assright all those who should indeavour to oppose them: Or, the thirsty, as the word may signify, from another root. And so it answers well to the hungry in the former branch

Greedily, and so as there is no Hope of Recovering it.

Marginal references: Chap. 18. 9.

6. Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;

Or, For, or rather, Because. So the following words may contain a reason why he should seek unto God, as he exhorts him. v. 8. Or, Surely, as that particle is oft used. And so it is a note of his proceeding to another argument.

Or, iniquity; As this word oft signifies, and of this the following sentence is true. And so this first branch speaks of sin, and the next branch of trouble, which is the fruit or sin: And both sin and trouble are said to come from the same spring. But this word signifies, also affliction or misery or trouble, as Psal. 90, 10 Prov. 12. 21. Which seems most proper here both because it is so explained by the following words trouble; and again trouble v. 7. the same thing being repeated in several words, as is usual in holy Scripture and because the great thing which troubled Iob, and the chief matter of these discourses was Iobs afflictions, not his sins

It springs not up by choice, as herbs which grow of their own accord out of the earth: Or, it comes not from men or creatures here below, but it comes from a certain and an higher cause, even from God, and that for mans sins, and therefore thou shouldest seek to him for redress, as it follows v. 8.

Marginal references: Or, iniquity.

7. Yet man is born unto trouble , as the sparks fly upward .

i. e. He is so commonly exposed to many and various troubles, as if he were born to no other end: Affliction is become in some sort natural and proper to man, and it is together with sin transmitted from parents to Children, as their most certain, and constant inheritance; God having allotted this portion to mankind for their sins. And therefore thou takest a wrong course in complaining so bitterly of that which thou shouldest patiently bear as the common lot of mankind, and thy right method is to seek unto God who inflicts it, and who onely can remove it.

i. e. As naturally, and as generally, as the sparks of fire fly upward, which do so universally and conssantly. Heb. and the sparks &c. But the particle and is oft used comparatively for as, as Ch. 12. 11. & 14. 12. & 34. 3. Prov. 25. 24. Mark. 9. 49.

Marginal references: Or, labour.; Heb. the sons of the burning coals lift up to fly.

8. I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause .

If I were in thy condition; And therefore I would advise thee to the same course.

To wit, by prayer and humiliation and submission, imploring his pardon, and favour, and help, and not repine at him and accuse his providence, as thou doest.

i. e. Commend my afflicted condition to him by fervent prayer, and resign my self & all my concerns to him, and humbly hope for relief from him. Or, propound my matters, i. e. Make known my afflictions and requests to him, Or, put or dispose my words, i. e. Pray to him and pour out my complaints before him.

9. Which doth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number.

Here Eliphaz enters upon a discourse of the infinite perfection and greatness of God's nature and works; which he doth partly as an Argument to enforce the Exhortation to seek and commit his cause to God, v. 8. because God was infinitely able either to punish him yet far worse, if he continued to provoke him, or to raise him from the dust, if he humbly addressed himself to him: and partly that by a true representation of God's Excellency and Glory, & of that vast disproportion which was between God & Iob, he might both convince Iob of his great sin in speaking so boldly and irreverently of him, and prevent his relapse into the same miscarriage.

Either such things as we may not boldly and curiously search into, Deut. 29. 29. Rom. 11. 33. Col. 2. 18. or such as by searching we cannot find out, Iob 11. 7. such as we cannot thoroughly understand either the works themselves, or God's way and manner of doing them, or God's designs or ends in doing them. And therefore, O Iob! thou art guilty of great impiety and folly to censure the waies and works of God as unreasonable, Ch. 3. v. 11. 20. because thou dost not fully understand the nature and use of them.

Which (though common, as the following works are, and therefore neglected and despised, yet) are just matter of wonder even to the wisest men.

Marginal references: Ch. 9, 10. Psal. 72. 18. & 40. 5. & 145. 3. Rom. 11. 33.; Heb▪ and there is no search.; Heb. till there be no number.

10. Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields .

He beginneth with this ordinary and obvious work of God, in which he implies that there is something unsearchable and wonderful, as indeed there is in the rise of it from the Earth, in the strange hanging of that heavy body in the Air, and in the distribution of it as God sees fit, Amos 4. 7. and how much more in the secret Counsels, and hidden paths of Divine Providence, which Iob took the liberty to censure.

Either Fountains and Rivers, which is another great and wonderful work of God: Or rather Rainwater, as the following words imply: the same thing being repeated in other words after the manner.

Or, upon all places abroad, i. e. which have no covering to keep out the Rain.

Marginal references: Heb. outplaces.

11. To set up on high those that be low ; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety .

These words contain either 1. a declaration of God's end in giving Rain, which is to enrich those who were poor, or mourning for the drought, by sending Rain, and making their Lands fruitful: Or rather 2. another example of God's great and wonderful works. And the Infinitive Verb is here put for the Indicative; He setteth up, &c. which is very frequent in the Hebrew, as Psal. 56. 13. Zech. 3. 4. & 12. 10. He giveth this instance to comfort and encourage Iob to seek to God, because he can raise him out of his greatest depths, and useth to raise others in the like condition.

Notwithstanding all the craft and power of their enemies.

Marginal references: 1 Sam. 2. 7. Psal. 113. 7.

12. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty , so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise .

Such as are cunning to work evil, and to cover it with fair pretences, as Hypocrites use to do, and as Iob's friends charged him with doing; God breaks the hopes and designs of such men; as he hath now blasted thy expectation, and taken away thy outward happiness, which was the thing thou didst design in taking up the Profession of Religion.

Or, anything: or, what is solid or substantial: or, wisdom, i. e. their wise counsel, or crafty design. They cannot execute their cunning contrivances.

Marginal references: Neh. 4. 15. Psal. 33. 10. Isa. 8. 10.; Or, cannot perform any thing.

13. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness ; and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong .

Wicked men who are wise to do evil, and wise in the opinion of the world, he not deceiveth in their hopes and counsels, but turns them against themselves; as we see in Achitophel, Haman, &c.

Or perverse, or wrestlers: such as wind and turn every way, as Wrestlers do, and will leave no means untried to accomplish their counsels.

i. e. Is tumbled down and broken, and that by their own precipitation and hast. Their malice cannot have the patience to proceed wisely and leisurely against God's Church and People, but makes them eager and venturous, and so to make more haste than good speed in their wicked designs.

Marginal references: 1 Cor. 3. 19.

14. They meet with darkness in the day time. , and grope in the noon day as in the night.

i. e. In plain things they run into gross mistakes and errours, and commonly chuse those counsels and courses which are worst for themselves. Darkness oft notes misery, but here ignorance or errour, as it is also used, Ch. 12. 25. & 37. 19. and elsewhere.

Like blind men to find their way, not knowing what to do.

Marginal references: Deut. [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 9. chap. 12. 25. Amos 8. 9.; Or, run into.

15. But he saveth the poor from the Sword, from their mouth , and from the hand of the mighty.

Or helpless; who therefore flee to God for refuge.

Or from the Sword, which cometh out of their mouth, i. e. from all their censures, slanders, threatnings, deceitful insinuations, false swearings of witnesses, unrighteous sentences of corrupt Judges; whereby their good names, or estates, or lives may be exposed to the utmost hazards. And this is fitly opposed to the Sword of the hand, implied in the next branch of the verse. Or, from the Sword by their mouths, i. e. by those wicked mens own words against the godly, which God wonderfully over-ruleth to the working out of their deliverance.

16. So the poor hath hope , and iniquity stopeth her mouth .

So this poor man obtaineth what he in some measure hoped or expected from God, to whom he committed his cause; and other poor men will be encouraged by his example to place their hope in God;

i. e. wicked men. The abstract for the concrete, as pride, deceit, injustice, are put for proud, deceitful and unrighteous men, Ier. 13. 9. 2 Pet. 3. 13.

i. e. They are silenced and confounded, being convicted of their own wickedness & folly, & finding that not the poor are got out of their nets and snares, in which they thought that they had them fast, but also the oppressours themselves are insnared in them; and all this by sudden and unexpected means.

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

17. Behold , happy is the man whom God correcteth ; therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty .

For what I am saying, though most true, will not be believed without serious consideration.

Heb. Blessednesses (i. e. various and great happiness, as the plural number implies) belong to that man whom God rebukes, to wit, with strokes, Ch. 33. 16, 19. Those afflictions are so far from making thee miserable, as thou complainest, that they are and will be, if thou dost thy duty, the means of thy happiness: Which though a paradox to the world, is frequently affirmed in holy Scripture; and the reason of it is plain, because they are pledges of God's love, which no man can buy too dear; and though bitter, yet necessary physick to purge out that sin which is deeply fixed in all mens natures, and thereby to prevent far greater, even infinite and eternal miseries. Without respect to which this Proposition could not be true or tolerable. And therefore it plainly shews, that good men in those antient times of the Old Testament, had the prospect, and belief, and hope of everlasting blessedness in Heaven after this life.

i. e. Do not abhor it as a thing pernicious and intolerable, nor refuse it as a thing useless and unprofitable, nor slight it as a mean and unnecessary thing; but on the contrary, prize it highly as a favour and vouchsasement of God: for such negative expressions oft imply the contrary, as 1 Thes. 5. 20. 1 Tim. 4. 12. See Prov. 10. 2. & 17. 21.

Or, of the alsufficient God, who is able to support and comfort thee in thy troubles, and to deliver thee out of them, and to add more calamities to them, if thou art obstinate and incorrigible.

Marginal references: Prov. 3. 12▪ Heb. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. 5. James 1. 12▪ Rev. 3. 19.

18. For he maketh sore, and bindeth up : he woundeth, and his hands make whole.

To wit, the wounds, as good Surgeons use to do when they have dressed them in order to their healing. Comp. Psal. 147. 3. Ezek. 34. 4. The sense is, Though he hath seen it fit to wound thee, yet he will not alwaies grieve thee, but will in due time release thee from all thy miseries. Therefore despair not.

Marginal references: Deut. 32. 3[illegible: 1+ letters]. 1 Sam. 26. Isa. 30. 26. Hos. 6▪ 1.

19. He shall deliver thee in six troubles: Yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee .

To wit, if thou seekest to him by prayer and repentance

i. e. Manifold or repeated; as six is used for many, Prov. 6. 16.

To wit, so as to undo or destroy thee, as touching is used, Ios. 9. 19. Heb. 11. 28. 1 Iohn 5. 18. See also Gen. 26. 11. 29. 2 Sam. 14. 10. Psal. 105. 15. Zech. 2. 8. Thou shalt have a good issue out of all thy troubles, though they are both great and many.

Marginal references: Psal. [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1+ letters] Prov. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

20. In famin he shall redeem thee from death , and in war from the power of the Sword .

Which Iob might be thought to fear, as being so poor that he needed his friends contributions for his relief.

From that terrible kind of death.

These things he utters with more confidence, partly because the rewards or punishments of this life were more constantly distributed to men in the old Testament according to their good or bad behaviour than now they are: And partly because it was his particular opinion, that great afflictions were the constant fruits and certain evidences of a mans wickedness; And consequently that great mercies and deliverances should infallibly follow upon true repentance and godliness.

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

21. Thou shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh .

i. e. Protected as in some secret and safe place.

i. e. From false accusations and virulent slanders and reproaches, either by diverting their tongues to other persons or things; Or by clearing thy integrity.

To wit, upon others near thee or round about thee.

Thou shalt have no cause to fear it, because God will secure thee in it and from it.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span].

22. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh : neither shalt thou be afraid of the Beasts of the Earth.

Thou shalt not onely be redeemed from famine, v. 20. and not fear destruction, v. 21. But thou shalt laugh at them, not with a laughter of scorn and contempt, as this word is used Ch. 39. 18. Psal. 2. 4. & 37. 13. (for Gods judgments are to be entertained with reverence and godly fear) but with a laughter of joy and triumph arising from his just security and confidence in God's watchful and gracious providence which will either keep him from it, or in it, or do him much good by it.

i. e. The wild beasts which were numerous and mischievous in those parts. See Deut. 28. 26. 1. Sam. 17. 34. Ier. 7. 33.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 11. 9. & [illegible: 1 word]. & 65. 25. [illegible: 1 word]. 34. 25. [illegible: 1 word] 2. 18.

23. For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field : And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

Thou shalt be free from any annoyance by stones either in thy walking or other postures, or in thy plowing, as if they had made an inviolable leaguewith thee. Stones may be, and in these stony Countries were, hurtful to men many ways; either by bruising or hurting their feet when the, walked barefoot, as the manner then was; Or by giving them occasion of stumbling or slipping and falling: Or by falling upon a man from a rock or higher ground, as sometimes it hath happened: Or filling his grounds, so as to hinder his plowing and make his lands unfruitful Nay the stones shall not only cease to be hurtful▪ but they shall be useful, and beneficial to thee, they shall as it were present themselves to thee when thou hast occasion either to sling them at thine enemies, as then was usual, Iudg. 20. 16. 2 Chron. 26. 14. or to make fences to thy ground: Or to build an house. This is a bold Metaphor, but such are frequent, as in other Authours, so also in Scripture, as Isa. 28. 15. Hos. 2. 18.

Either 1. the wild beasts; and then this is an addition to the former priviledge; they shall not hurt thee, v. 22. nay, they shall befriend thee as being at peace with thee, here v. 23. Or, 2. the tame Beasts, who otherwise may be refractory and hurtful to a man, many having been killed by them.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 91. 13.

24. And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace , and thou shalt visit thy habitation , and shalt not sin .

By certain and constant experience,

i. e. Thy habitation, as it follows, including also the Inhabitants, Children, or Friends and Servants.

Shall enjoy great safety from all their Enemies, and concord among themselves, and prosperity in all their concerns: all which are comprehended under the sweet name of Peace.

i. e. Manage and order thy Family and all thy domestick affairs and worldly concerns with care and diligence. Visiting is oft used for regarding or taking care of, as Gen. 21. 1. Ruth 1. 6. Psal. 8. 4. & 80. 14.

Either by unrighteousness in thy dealings with thy Family or others; or by neglecting God and his service in thy Family; or by winking at any sin in thy domesticks which thou canst hinder. But because he speaks not here of Iob's duty, but of his priviledge, and that in outward and worldly things, it seems better rendred by others, and thou shalt not erre, or miscarry, or miss thy way or mark, as this very word is used below, Ch. 24. 19. & 14. 16. & Iudg. 20. 16. Thou shalt not be disappointed of thy hopes, or blasted in thy endeavours, but shalt succeed in them. Or, and thou shalt not wander, or be a wanderer, having no house in which to put his head, which Iob might have some ground to fear: but thou shalt have an habitation of thy own, which thou shalt visit, and manage as thou didst before.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span].; [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1 word].

25. Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great , and thine off-spring as the grass of the earth .

Partly by assurance from Gods promises and the impressions of his Spirit; And partly by experience in due time.

Thy posterity, which God will give thee instead of those which thou hast lost, shall be high and honourable and powerful. Or, shall be many.

Which shall come out of thy own loins as branches out of a tree, as the word signifies. And this word seems added to the former to restrain and explain it by shewing that he did not speak of his Spiritual seed, as Abrahams seed is in part understood, but of the fruit of his own body.

Both for its plentiful increase, and for its flourishing greenness.

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

26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season .

In a mature and old, but vigorous, age, as the word implies. Thou shalt not be cut off by an hand of violence before thy time, as thy sons and other wicked men have been, but shalt die in a good old age, as did Abraham, Gen. 25. 8. and Moses, Deut. 34. 7.

As an heap o[illegible: 1+ letters] stack of corn is brought in, to wit▪ to the barn: Heb. ascendeth or riseth: which word is very proper and usual in this case: for a stack of Corn is said to rise when by the addition of new heaps and handfuls it is raised to an higher pitch: Or, is cut off, as this same word is used Psal. 102. 25. Cut me not off, &c. Heb. Make me not to ascend: And thus it is fitly used both of the Corn, which, when it is cut up, ascends, or is lifted up from the Earth on which it lay, and is advanced into stacks, and high heaps, either in the Barn, or in the Field; and of man, who when he dies, his spirit goeth upward to Heaven, as is implied even there where in the person of an Epicure it is questioned, Eccles. 3. 21.

In harvest when the Corn is ripe.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. ascend [illegible: 1+ letters] ▪

27. Lo this, we have searched it , so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good .

It is not my single opinion, but my Brethren concur with me, as thou wilt hear from their own mouths.

This is no rash or hasty conceit, but what we have learned by deep consideration and hard study, long experience, and diligent observation both of God's word, so far as he hath been pleased to reveal himself, and of the course and methods of his providence and dealing with men in the world.

For to us thou seemest by thy words and carriage to be wholly, or in a great part ignorant of these things.

Let thy advantage which will come unto it by following this counsel, remove thy prejudice against it.

Marginal references: Heb. for thy self.

Job 5:1-5   1  Call now, - is there any one who will answer thee?

And to whom of the holy ones wilt thou turn?   2  For he is a fool who is destroyed by complaining,

And envy slays the simple one.   3  I, even I, have seen a fool taking root:

Then I had to curse his habitation suddenly.   4  His children were far from help,

And were crushed in the gate, without a rescuer;   5  While the hungry ate his harvest,

And even from among thorns they took it away,

And the intriguer snatched after his wealth.

The chief thought of the oracle was that God is the absolutely just One, and infinitely exalted above men and angels. Resuming his speech from this point, Eliphaz tells Job that no cry for help can avail him unless he submits to the all-just One as being himself unrighteous; nor can any cry addressed to the angels avail. This thought, although it is rejected, certainly shows that the writer of the book, as of the prologue, is impressed with the fundamental intuition, that good, like evil, spirits are implicated in the affairs of men; for the “holy ones,” as in Ps 89, are the angels. כּי supports the negation implied in Job 5:1 : If God does not help thee, no creature can help thee; for he who complains and chafes at his lot brings down upon himself the extremest destruction, since he excites the anger of God still more. Such a surly murmurer against God is here called אויל. ל is the Aramaic sign of the object, having the force of quod attinet ad, quoad (Ew. §310, a).

Eliphaz justifies what he has said (Job 5:2) by an example. He had seen such a complainer in increasing prosperity; then he cursed his habitation suddenly, i.e., not: he uttered forthwith a prophetic curse over it, which, though פּתאם might have this meaning (not subito, but illico; cf. Num 12:4), the following futt., equivalent to imperff., do not allow, but: I had then, since his discontent had brought on his destruction, suddenly to mark and abhor his habitation as one overtaken by a curse: the cursing is a recognition of the divine curse, as the echo of which it is intended. This curse of God manifests itself also on his children and his property (Job 5:4.). שׁער is the gate of the city as a court of justice: the phrase, to oppress in the gate, is like Pro 22:22; and the form Hithpa. is according to the rule given in Ges. §54, 2, b. The relative אשׁר, Job 5:5, is here conj. relativa, according to Ges. §155, 1, c. In the connection אל־מצּנּים, אל is equivalent to עד, adeo e spinis, the hungry fall so eagerly upon what the father of those now orphans has reaped, that even the thorny fence does not hold them back. צנּים, as Pro 22:5 : the double praepos. אל־מן is also found elsewhere, but with another meaning. עמּים has only the appearance of being plur.: it is sing. after the form צדּיק, from the verb צמם, nectere, and signifies, Job 18:9, a snare; here, however, not judicii laqueus (Böttch.), but what, besides the form, comes still nearer - the snaremaker, intriguer. The Targ. translates לסטיסין, i.e., λησταί. Most modern critics (Rosenm. to Ebr.) translate: the thirsty (needy), as do all the old translations, except the Targ.; this, however, is not possible without changing the form. The meaning is, that intriguing persons catch up (שׁאף, as Amo 2:7) their wealth.

Eliphaz now tells why it thus befell this fool in his own person and his children.

Job 5:6-11   6  For evil cometh not forth from the dust,

And sorrow sprouteth not from the earth;   7  For man is born to sorrow,

As the sparks fly upward.   8  On the contrary, I would earnestly approach unto God,

And commit my cause to the Godhead;   9  To Him who doeth great things and unsearchable;

Marvellous things till there is no number: 10  Who giveth rain over the earth,

And causeth water to flow over the fields: 11  To set the low in high places;

And those that mourn are exalted to prosperity.

As the oracle above, so Eliphaz says here, that a sorrowful life is allotted to man,Fries explains יוּלּד as part., and refers to Geiger’s Lehrb. zur Sprache der Mischna, S. 41f., according to which מקטּל signifies killed, and קטּל (= Rabb. מתקטּל) being killed (which, however, rests purely on imagination): not the matter from which mankind originates brings evil with it, but it is man who inclines towards the evil. Böttch. would read יולד: man is the parent of misery, though he may rise high in anger. so that his wisdom consequently consists in accommodating himself to his lot: if he does not do that, he is an אויל, and thereby perishes. Misfortune does not grow out of the ground like weeds; it is rather established in the divine order of the world, as it is established in the order of nature that sparks of fire should ascend. The old critics understood by רשׁף בני birds of prey, as being swift as lightning (with which the appellation of beasts of prey may be compared, Job 28:8; Job 41:26); but רשׁף signifies also a flame or blaze (Sol 8:6). Children of the flame is an appropriate name for sparks, and flying upwards is naturally peculiar to sparks as to birds of prey; wherefore among modern expositors, Hirz., Ew., Hahn, von Gerl., Ebr., rightly decide in favour of sparks. Schlottmann understands “angels” by children of flame; but the wings, which are given to angels in Scripture, are only a symbol of their freedom of motion. This remarkable interpretation is altogether opposed to the sententious character of Job 5:7, which symbolizes a moral truth by an ordinary thing. The waw in וּבני, which we have translated ”as,” is the so-called waw adaequationis proper to the Proverbs, and also to emblems, e.g., Pro 25:25.

Eliphaz now says what he would do in Job’s place. Ew. and Ebr. translate incorrectly, or at least unnecessarily: Nevertheless I will. We translate, according to Ges. §127, 5: Nevertheless I would; and indeed with an emphatic I: Nevertheless I for my part. דּרשׁ with אל is constr. praegnans, like Deu 12:5, sedulo adire. דּברה is not speech, like אמרה but cause, causa, in a judicial sense. אל is God as the Mighty One; אלהים is God in the totality of His variously manifested nature. The fecundity of the earth by rain, and of the fields (חוּצות = rura) by water-springs (cf. Psa 104:10), as the works of God, are intentionally made prominent. He who makes the barren places fruitful, can also change suffering into joy. To His power in nature corresponds His power among men (Job 5:11). לשׂוּם is here only as a variation for השּׂם, as Heiligst. rightly observes: it is equivalent to collacaturus, or qui in eo est ut collocet, according to the mode of expression discussed in Ges. §132, rem. 1, and more fully on Hab 1:17. The construction of Hab 1:11 is still bolder. שׂגב signifies to be high and steep, inaccessible. It is here construed with the acc. of motion: those who go in dirty, black clothes because they mourn, shall be high in prosperity, i.e., come to stand on an unapproachable height of prosperity.

Job 5:12-16 12  Who bringeth to nought the devices of the crafty,

So that their hands cannot accomplish anything; 13  Who catcheth the wise in their craftiness;

And the counsel of the cunning is thrown down. 14  By day they run into darkness,

And grope in the noon-day as in the night. 15  He rescueth from the sword, that from their mouth,

And from the hand of the strong, the needy. 16  Hope ariseth for the weak,

And folly shall close its mouth.

All these attributes are chosen designedly: God brings down all haughtiness, and takes compassion on those who need it. The noun תּוּשׁיּה, coined by the Chokma, and out of Job and Proverbs found only in Mic 6:9; Isa 28:29, and even there in gnomical connection, is formed from ישׁ, essentia, and signifies as it were essentialitas, realitas: it denotes, in relation to all visible things, the truly existing, the real, the objective; true wisdom (i.e., knowledge resting on an objective actual basis), true prosperity, real profiting and accomplishing. It is meant that they accomplish nothing that has actual duration and advantage. Job 5:13 cannot be better translated than by Paul, 1Co 3:19, who here deviates from the lxx. With נמהרה, God’s seizure, which prevents the contemplated achievement, is to be thought of. He pours forth over the worldly wise what the prophets call the spirit of deep sleep (תּרדּמה) and of dizziness (עועים). On the other hand, He helps the poor. In מפיהם מחרב the second מן is local: from the sword which proceeds from their mouth (comp. Psa 64:4; Psa 57:5, and other passages). Böttch. translates: without sword, i.e., instrument of power (comp. Job 9:15; Job 21:9); but מן with חרב leads one to expect that that from which one is rescued is to be described (comp. Job 5:20). Ewald corrects מחרב, which Olsh. thinks acute: it is, however, unhebraic, according to our present knowledge of the usage of the language; for the passives of חרב are used of cities, countries, and peoples, but not of individual men. Olsh., in his hesitancy, arrives at no opinion. But the text is sound and beautiful. עלתה with pathetic unaccented ah (Ges. §80, rem. 2, f), from עולה = עולה, as Ps. 92:16 Chethib.

Job 5:17-21 17  Behold, happy is the man whom Eloah correcteth;

So despise not the chastening of the Almighty! 18  For He woundeth, and He also bindeth up;

He bruiseth, and His hands make whole. 19  In six troubles He will rescue thee,

And in seven no evil shall touch thee. 20  In famine He will redeem thee from death,

And in war from the stroke of the sword. 21  When the tongue scourgeth, thou shalt be hidden;

And thou shalt not fear destruction when it cometh.

The speech of Eliphaz now becomes persuasive as it turns towards the conclusion. Since God humbles him who exalts himself, and since He humbles in order to exalt, it is a happy thing when He corrects (הוכיח) us by afflictive dispensations; and His chastisement (מוּסר) is to be received not with a turbulent spirit, but resignedly, yea joyously: the same thought as Pro 3:11-13; Psa 94:12, in both passages borrowed from this; whereas Job 5:18 here, like Hos 6:1; Lam 3:31., refers to Deu 32:39. רפא, to heal, is here conjugated like a הל verb (Ges. §75, rem. 21). Job 5:19 is formed after the manner of the so-called number-proverbs (Pro 6:16; Pro 30:15, Pro 30:18), as also the roll of the judgment of the nations in Amos 1-2: in six troubles, yea in still more than six. רע is the extremity that is perhaps to be feared. In Job 5:20, the praet. is a kind of prophetic praet. The scourge of the tongue recalls the similar promise, Psa 31:21, where, instead of scourge, it is: the disputes of the tongue. שׁוד, from שׁדד violence, disaster, is allied in sound with שׁוט. Isaiah has this passage of the book of Job in his memory when he writes Job 28:15. The promises of Eliphaz now continue to rise higher, and sound more delightful and more glorious.

Job 5:22-27 22  At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh,

And from the beasts of the earth thou hast nothing to fear. 23  For thou art in league with the stones of the field,

And the beasts of the field are at peace with thee. 24  And thou knowest that peace is thy pavilion;

And thou searchest thy household, and findest nothing wanting. 25  Thou knowest also that thy seed shall be numerous,

And thy offspring as the herb of the ground. 26  Thou shalt come to thy grave in a ripe age,

As shocks of corn are brought in in their season. 27  Lo! this we have searched out, so it is:

Hear it, and give thou heed to it.

The verb שׂחק is construed (Job 5:22) with ל of that which is despised, as Job 39:7, Job 39:18; Job 41:21 [Hebr.]. על־תּירא is the form of subjective negation [vid. Ges. §152, 1: Tr.]: only fear thou not = thou hast no occasion. In Job 5:23, בּריתך is the shortest substantive form for לך בּרית. The whole of nature will be at peace with thee: the stones of the field, that they do not injure the fertility of thy fields; the wild beasts of the field, that they do not hurt thee and thy herds. The same promise that Hosea (Hos 2:20) utters in reference to the last days is here used individually. From this we see how deeply the Chokma had searched into the history of Paradise and the Fall. Since man, the appointed lord of the earth, has been tempted by a reptile, and has fallen by a tree, his relation to nature, and its relation to him, has been reversed: it is an incongruity, which is again as a whole put right (שׁלום), as the false relation of man to God is put right. In Job 5:24, שׁלום (which might also be adj.) is predicate: thou wilt learn (וידעתּ, praet. consec. with accented ultima, as e.g., Deu 4:39, here with Tiphcha initiale s. anterius, which does not indicate the grammatical tone-syllable) that thy tent is peace, i.e., in a condition of contentment and peace on all sides. Job 5:24 is to be arranged: And when thou examinest thy household, then thou lackest nothing, goest not astray, i.e., thou findest everything, without missing anything, in the place where thou seekest it.

Job 5:25 reminds one of the Salomonic Psa 72:16. צאצאים in the Old Testament is found only in Isaiah and the book of Job. The meaning of the noun כּלח, which occurs only here and Job 30:2, is clear. Referring to the verb כּלח, Arabic qahila (qalhama), to be shrivelled up, very aged, it signifies the maturity of old age, - an idea which may be gained more easily if we connect כּלח with כּלה (to be completed), like קשׁח with קשׁה (to be hard).We may also compare the Arabic khl (from which comes cuhulije, mature manhood, opp. tufulije, tender childhood).

In the parallel there is the time of the sheaves, when they are brought up to the high threshing-floor, the latest period of harvest. עלה, of the raising of the sheaves to the threshing-floor, as elsewhere of the raising, i.e., the bringing up of the animals to the altar. גּדישׁ is here a heap of sheaves, Arab. kuds, as Job 21:32 a sepulchral heap, Arab. jadat, distinct from אלמּה, a bundle, a single sheaf.

The speech of Eliphaz, which we have broken up into nine strophes, is now ended. Eliphaz concludes it by an epimythionic distich, Job 5:27, with an emphatic nota bene. He speaks at the same time in the name of his companions. These are principles well proved by experience with which he confronts Job. Job needs to lay them to heart: tu scito tibi.

All that Eliphaz says, considered in itself, is blameless. He censures Job’s vehemence, which was certainly not to be approved. He says that the destroying judgment of God never touches the innocent, but certainly the wicked; and at the same time expresses the same truth as that placed as a motto to the Psalter in Psa 1:1-6, and which is even brilliantly confirmed in the issue of the history of Job. When we find Isa 57:1, comp. Psa 12:2, in apparent opposition to this, אבד הצּדּיק, it is not meant that the judgment of destruction comes upon the righteous, but that his generation experiences the judgment of his loss (aetati suae perit). And these are eternal truths, that between the Creator and creature, even an angel, there remains an infinite distance, and that no creature possesses a righteousness which it can maintain before God. Not less true is it, that with God murmuring is death, and that it is appointed to sinful man to pass through sorrow. Moreover, the counsel of Eliphaz is the right counsel: I would turn to God, etc. His beautiful concluding exhortation, so rich in promises, crowns his speech.

It has been observed (e.g., by Löwenthal), that if it is allowed that Eliphaz (Job 5:17.) expresses a salutary spiritual design of affliction, all coherence in the book is from the first destroyed. But in reality it is an effect producing not only outward happiness, but also an inward holiness, which Eliphaz ascribes to sorrow. It is therefore to be asked, how it consists with the plan of the book. There is no doctrinal error to be discovered in the speech of Eliphaz, and yet he cannot be considered as a representative of the complete truth of Scripture. Job ought to humble himself under this; but since he does not, we must side with Eliphaz.

He does not represent the complete truth of Scripture: for there are, according to Scripture, three kinds of sufferings, which must be carefully distinguished.Our old dogmatists (vid., e.g., Baier, Compendium Theologiae positivae, ii. 1, §15) and pastoral theologians (e.g., Danhauer) consider them as separate. Among the oldest expositors of the book of Job with which I am acquainted, Olympiodorus is comparatively the best.

The godless one, who has fallen away from God, is visited with suffering from God; for sin and the punishment of sin (comprehended even in the language in עון and חטּאת) are necessarily connected as cause and effect. This suffering of the godless is the effect of the divine justice in punishment; it is chastisement (מוּסר) under the disposition of wrath (Psa 6:2; Psa 38:2; Jer 10:24.), though not yet final wrath; it is punitive suffering (נקם, נגע, τιμωρία, poena). On the other hand, the sufferings of the righteous flow from the divine love, to which even all that has the appearance of wrath in this suffering must be subservient, as the means only by which it operates: for although the righteous man is not excepted from the weakness and sinfulness of the human race, he can never become an object of the divine wrath, so long as his inner life is directed towards God, and his outward life is governed by the most earnest striving after sanctification. According to the Old and New Testaments, he stands towards God in the relation of a child to his father (only the New Testament idea includes the mystery of the new birth not revealed in the Old Testament); and consequently all sufferings are fatherly chastisements, Deu 8:5; Pro 3:12; Heb 12:6, Rev 3:19, comp. Tob. 12:13 (Vulg.). But this general distinction between the sufferings of the righteous and of the ungodly is not sufficient for the book of Job. The sufferings of the righteous even are themselves manifold. God sends affliction to them more and more to purge away the sin which still has power over them, and rouse them up from the danger of carnal security; to maintain in them the consciousness of sin as well as of grace, and with it the lowliness of penitence; to render the world and its pleasures bitter as gall to them; to draw them from the creature, and bind them to himself by prayer and devotion. This suffering, which has the sin of the godly as its cause, has, however, not God’s wrath, but God’s love directed towards the preservation and advancement of the godly, as its motive: it is the proper disciplinary suffering (מוּסר or תּוכחת, Pro 3:11; παιδεία, Heb 12). It is this of which Paul speaks, 1Co 11:32. This disciplinary suffering may attain such a high degree as entirely to overwhelm the consciousness of the relation to God by grace; and the sufferer, as frequently in the Psalms, considers himself as one rejected of God, over whom the wrath of God is passing. The deeper the sufferer’s consciousness of sin, the more dejected is his mood of sorrow; and still God’s thoughts concerning him are thoughts of peace, and not of evil (Jer 29:11). He chastens, not however in wrath, but בּמשׁפּט, with moderation (Jer 10:24).

Nearly allied to this suffering, but yet, as to its cause and purpose, distinct, is another kind of the suffering of the godly. God ordains suffering for them, in order to prove their fidelity to himself, and their earnestness after sanctification, especially their trust in God, and their patience. He also permits Satan, who impeaches them, to tempt them, to sift them as wheat, in order that he may be confounded, and the divine choice justified, - in order that it may be manifest that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, are able to separate them from the love of God, and to tear away their faith (אמונה) from God, which has remained stedfast on Him, notwithstanding every apparent manifestation of wrath. The godly will recognise his affliction as such suffering when it comes upon him in the very midst of his fellowship with God, his prayer and watching, and his struggling after sanctification. For this kind of suffering - trial - Scripture employs the expressions נסּה (Deu 8:2, Deu 8:16) and בּחן (Pro 17:3), πειρασμός (Jam 1:12; 1Pe 1:6., Job 4:19; comp. Sir. 2:1ff.). Such suffering, according to a common figure, is for the godly what the smelting-furnace or the fining-pot is to precious metals. A rich reward awaits him who is found proof against the trial, temptation, and conflict, and comes forth from it as pure, refined gold. Suffering for trial is nearly allied to that for chastisement, in so far as the chastisement is at the same time trial; but distinct from it, in so far as every trial is not also chastisement (i.e., having as its purpose the purging away of still existing sin).

A third kind of the suffering of the righteous is testimony borne by suffering, - reproach, persecution, and perhaps even martyrdom, which are endured for the sake of fidelity to God and His word. While he is blessed who is found proof against trial, he is blessed in himself who endures this suffering (Mat 5:11., and other passages); for every other suffering comes upon man for his own sake, this for God's. In this case there is not even the remotest connection between the suffering and the sinfulness of the sufferer. Ps 44 is a prayer of Israel in the midst of this form of suffering. Σταυρός is the name expressly used for it in the New Testament - suffering for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.

Without a knowledge of these different kinds of human suffering, the book of Job cannot be understood. “Whoever sees with spiritual eyes,” says Brentius, “does not judge the moral character of a man by his suffering, but his suffering by his moral character.” Just the want of this spiritual discernment and inability to distinguish the different kinds of suffering is the mistake of the friends, and likewise, from the very first, the mistake of Eliphaz. Convinced of the sincere piety of his friend, he came to Job believing that his suffering was a salutary chastisement of God, which would at last turn out for his good. Proceeding upon this assumption, he blames Job for his murmuring, and bids him receive his affliction with a recognition of human sinfulness and the divine purpose for good. Thus the controversy begins. The causal connection with sin, in which Eliphaz places Job’s suffering, is after all the mildest. He does not go further than to remind Job that he is a sinner, because he is a man.

But even this causal connection, in which Eliphaz connects Job’s sufferings, though in the most moderate way, with previous sin deserving of punishment, is his πρώτον ψεῦδος. In the next place, Job’s suffering is indeed not chastisement, but trial. Jehovah has decreed it for His servant, not to chasten him, but to prove him. This it is that Eliphaz mistakes; and we also should not know it but for the prologue and the corresponding epilogue. Accordingly, the prologue and epilogue are organic parts of the form of the book. If these are removed, its spirit is destroyed.

But the speech of Eliphaz, moreover, beautiful and true as it is, when considered in itself, is nevertheless heartless, haughty, stiff, and cold. For (1.) it does not contain a word of sympathy, and yet the suffering which he beholds is so terribly great: his first word to his friend after the seven days of painful silence is not one of comfort, but of moralizing. (2.) He must know that Job’s disease is not the first and only suffering which has come upon him, and that he has endured his previous afflictions with heroic submission; but he ignores this, and acts as though sorrow were now first come upon Job. (3.) Instead of recognising therein the reason of Job’s despondency, that he thinks that he has fallen from the love of God, and become an object of wrath, he treats him as self-righteous;Oetinger: “Eliphaz mentioned the oracle to affect seriously the hidden hypocrisy of Job’s heart.” and to excite his feelings, presents an oracle to him, which contains nothing but what Job might sincerely admit as true. (4.) Instead of considering that Job’s despair and murmuring against God is really of a different kind from that of the godless, he classes them together, and instead of gently correcting him, present to Job the accursed end of the fool, who also murmurs against God, as he has himself seen it. Thus, in consequence of the false application which Eliphaz makes of it, the truth contained in his speech is totally reversed. Thus delicately and profoundly commences the dramatical entanglement. The skill of the poet is proved by the difficulty which the expositor has in detecting that which is false in the speech of Eliphaz. The idea of the book does not float on the surface. It is clothed with flesh and blood. It is submerged in the very action and history.

The Address of Eliphaz. (b. c. 1520.)

1 Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn? 2 For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one. 3 I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation. 4 His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them. 5 Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.

A very warm dispute being begun between Job and his friends, Eliphaz here makes a fair motion to put the matter to a reference. In all debates perhaps the sooner this is done the better if the contenders cannot end it between themselves. So well assured is Eliphaz of the goodness of his own cause that he moves Job himself to choose the arbitrators (v. 1): Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; that is, 1. "If there be any that suffer as thou sufferest. Canst thou produce an instance of any one that was really a saint that was reduced to such an extremity as thou art now reduced to? God never dealt with any that love his name as he deals with thee, and therefore surely thou art none of them." 2. "If there be any that say as thou sayest. Did ever any good man curse his day as thou dost? Or will any of the saints justify thee in these heats or passions, or say that these are the spots of God's children? Thou wilt find none of the saints that will be either thy advocates or my antagonists. To which of the saints wilt thou turn? Turn to which thou wilt, and thou wilt find they are all of my mind. I have the communis sensus fidelium—the unanimous vote of the faithful on my side; they will all subscribe to what I am going to say." Observe, (1.) Good people are called saints even in the Old Testament; and therefore I know not why we should, in common speaking (unless because we must loqui cum vulgo—speak as our neighbours), appropriate the title to those of the New Testament, and not say St. Abraham, St. Moses, and St. Isaiah, as well as St. Matthew and St. Mark; and St. David the psalmist, as well as St. David the British bishop. Aaron is expressly called the saint of the Lord. (2.) All that are themselves saints will turn to those that are so, will choose them for their friends and converse with them, will choose them for their judges and consult them. See Ps. cxix. 79. The saints shall judge the world, 1 Cor. vi. 1, 2. Walk in the way of good men (Prov. ii. 20), the old way, the footsteps of the flock. Every one chooses some sort of people or other to whom he studies to recommend himself, and whose sentiments are to him the test of honour and dishonour. Now all true saints endeavour to recommend themselves to those that are such, and to stand right in their opinion. (3.) There are some truths so plain, and so universally known and believed, that one may venture to appeal to any of the saints concerning them. However there are some things about which they unhappily differ, there are many more, and more considerable, in which they are agreed; as the evil of sin, the vanity of the world, the worth of the soul, the necessity of a holy life, and the like. Though they do not all live up, as they should, to their belief of these truths, yet they are all ready to bear their testimony to them.

Now there are two things which Eliphaz here maintains, and in which he doubts not but all the saints concur with him:—

I. That the sin of sinners directly tends to their own ruin (v. 2): Wrath kills the foolish man, his own wrath, and therefore he is foolish for indulging it; it is a fire in his bones, in his blood, enough to put him into a fever. Envy is the rottenness of the bones, and so slays the silly one that frets himself with it. "So it is with thee," says Eliphaz, "while thou quarrellest with God thou doest thyself the greatest mischief; thy anger at thy own troubles, and thy envy at our prosperity, do but add to thy pain and misery: turn to the saints, and thou wilt find they understand their interest better." Job had told his wife she spoke as the foolish women; now Eliphaz tells him he acted as the foolish men, the silly ones. Or it may be meant thus: "If men are ruined and undone, it is always their own folly that ruins and undoes them. They kill themselves by some lust or other; therefore, no doubt, Job, thou hast done some foolish thing, by which thou hast brought thyself into this calamitous condition." Many understand it of God's wrath and jealousy. Job needed not be uneasy at the prosperity of the wicked, for the world's smiles can never shelter them from God's frowns; they are foolish and silly if they think they will. God's anger will be the death, the eternal death, of those on whom it fastens. What is hell but God's anger without mixture or period?

II. That their prosperity is short and their destruction certain, v. 3-5. He seems here to parallel Job's case with that which is commonly the case of wicked people. 1. Job had prospered for a time, seemed confirmed, and was secure in his prosperity; and it is common for foolish wicked men to do so: I have seen them taking root—planted, and, in their own and others' apprehension, fixed, and likely to continue. See Jer. xii. 2; Ps. xxxvii. 35, 36. We see worldly men taking root in the earth; on earthly things they fix the standing of their hopes, and from them they draw the sap of their comforts. The outward estate may be flourishing, but the soul cannot prosper that takes root in the earth. 2. Job's prosperity was now at an end, and so has the prosperity of other wicked people quickly been. (1.) Eliphaz foresaw their ruin with an eye of faith. Those who looked only at present things blessed their habitation, and thought them happy, blessed it long, and wished themselves in their condition. But Eliphaz cursed it, suddenly cursed it, as soon as he saw them begin to take root, that is, he plainly foresaw and foretold their ruin; not that he prayed for it (I have not desired the woeful day), but he prognosticated it. He went into the sanctuary, and there understood their end and heard their doom read (Ps. lxxiii. 17, 18), that the prosperity of fools will destroy them, Prov. i. 32. Those who believe the word of God can see a curse in the house of the wicked (Prov. iii. 33), though it be ever so finely and firmly built, and ever so full of all good things; and they can foresee that the curse will, in time, infallibly consume it with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof, Zech. v. 4. (2.) He saw, at length, what he had foreseen. He was not disappointed in his expectation concerning him; the event answered it; his family was undone, and his estate ruined. In these particulars he plainly and very invidiously reflects on Job's calamities. [1.] His children were crushed, v. 4. They thought themselves safe in their eldest brother's house, but were far from safety, for they were crushed in the gate. Perhaps the door or gate of the house was highest built, and fell heaviest upon them, and there was none to deliver them from perishing in the ruins. This is commonly understood of the destruction of the families of wicked men, by the execution of justice upon them, to oblige them to restore what they have ill-gotten. They leave it to their children; but the descent shall not bar the entry of the rightful owners, who will crush their children, and cast them by due course of law (and there shall be none to help them), or perhaps by oppression, Ps. cix. 9, &c. [2.] His estate was plundered, v. 5. Job's was so. The hungry robbers, the Sabeans and Chaldeans, ran away with it, and swallowed it; and this, says he, I have often observed in others. What has been got by spoil and rapine has been lost in the same way. The careful owner hedged it about with thorns, and then thought it safe; but the fence proved insignificant against the greediness of the spoilers (if hunger will break through the stone walls, much more through thorn hedges), and against the divine curse, which will go through the thorns and briers, and burn them together, Isa. xxvii. 4.

6 Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; 7 Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. 8 I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: 9 Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number: 10 Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields: 11 To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. 12 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. 13 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. 14 They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night. 15 But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. 16 So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.

Eliphaz, having touched Job in a very tender part, in mentioning both the loss of his estate and the death of his children as the just punishment of his sin, that he might not drive him to despair, here begins to encourage him, and puts him in a way to make himself easy. Now he very much changes his voice (Gal. iv. 20), and speaks in the accents of kindness, as if he would atone for the hard words he had given him.

I. He reminds him that no affliction comes by chance, nor is to be attributed to second causes: It doth not come forth of the dust, nor spring out of the ground, as the grass doth, v. 6. It doth not come of course, at certain seasons of the year, as natural productions do, by a chain of second causes. The proportion between prosperity and adversity is not so exactly observed by Providence as that between day and night, summer and winter, but according to the will and counsel of God, when and as he thinks fit. Some read it, Sin comes not forth out of the dust, nor iniquity of the ground. If men be bad, they must not lay the blame upon the soil, the climate, or the stars, but on themselves. If thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. We must not attribute our afflictions to fortune, for they are from God, nor our sins to fate, for they are from ourselves; so that, whatever trouble we are in, we must own that God sends it upon us and we procure it to ourselves: the former is a reason why we should be very patient, the latter why we should be very penitent, when we are afflicted.

II. He reminds him that trouble and affliction are what we have all reason to expect in this world: Man is brought to trouble (v. 7), not as man (had he kept his innocency he would have been born to pleasure), but as sinful man, as born of a woman (ch. xiv. 1), who was in the transgression. Man is born in sin, and therefore born to trouble. Even those that are born to honour and estate are yet born to trouble in the flesh. In our fallen state it has become natural to us to sin, and the natural consequence of that is affliction, Rom. v. 12. There is nothing in this world we are born to, and can truly call our own, but sin and trouble; both are as the sparks that fly upwards. Actual transgressions are the sparks that fly out of the furnace of original corruption; and, being called transgressors from the womb, no wonder that we deal very treacherously, Isa. xlviii. 8. Such too is the frailty of our bodies, and the vanity of all our enjoyments, that our troubles also thence arise as naturally as the sparks fly upwards—so many are they, so thick and so fast does one follow another. Why then should we be surprised at our afflictions as strange, or quarrel with them as hard, when they are but what we are born to? Man is born to labour (so it is in the margin), is sentenced to eat his bread in the sweat of his face, which should inure him to hardness, and make him bear his afflictions the better.

III. He directs him how to behave himself under his affliction (v. 8): I would seek unto God; surely I would: so it is in the original. Here is, 1. A tacit reproof to Job for not seeking to God, but quarrelling with him: "Job, if I had been in thy case, I would not have been so peevish and passionate as thou art. I would have acquiesced in the will of God." It is easy to say what we would do if we were in such a one's case; but when it comes to the trial, perhaps it will be found not so easy to do as we say. 2. Very good and seasonable advice to him, which Eliphaz transfers to himself in a figure: "For my part, the best way I should think I could take, if I were in thy condition, would be to apply to God." Note, We should give our friends no other counsel than what we would take ourselves if we were in their case, that we may be easy under our afflictions, may get good by them, and may see a good issue of them. (1.) We must by prayer fetch in mercy and grace from God, seek to him as a Father and friend, though he contend with us, as one who is alone able to support and succour us. His favour we must seek when we have lost all we have in the world; to him we must address ourselves as the fountain and Father of all good, all consolation. Is any afflicted? let him pray. It is heart's-ease, a salve for every sore. (2.) We must by patience refer ourselves and our cause to him: To God would I commit my cause; having spread it before him, I would leave it with him; having laid it at his feet, I would lodge it in his hand. "Here I am, let the Lord do with me as seemeth him good." If our cause be indeed a good cause, we need not fear committing it to God, for he is both just and kind. Those that would seek so as to speed must refer themselves to God.

IV. He encourages him thus to seek to God, and commit his cause to him. It will not be in vain to do so, for he is one in whom we shall find effectual help.

1. He recommends to his consideration God's almighty power and sovereign dominion. In general, he doeth great things (v. 9), great indeed, for he can do any thing, he doth do every thing, and all according to the counsel of his own will—great indeed, for the operations of his power are, (1.) Unsearchable, and such as can never be fathomed, can never be found out from the beginning to the end, Eccl. iii. 11. The works of nature are mysterious; the most curious searches come far short of full discoveries and the wisest philosophers have owned themselves at a loss. The designs of Providence are much more deep and unaccountable, Rom. xi. 33. (2.) Numerous, and such as can never be reckoned up. He doeth great things without number; his power is never exhausted, nor will all his purposes ever be fulfilled till the end of time. (3.) They are marvellous, and such as never can be sufficiently admired; eternity itself will be short enough to be spent in the admiration of them. Now, by the consideration of this, Eliphaz intends, [1.] To convince Job of his fault and folly in quarrelling with God. We must not pretend to pass a judgment upon his works, for they are unsearchable and above our enquiries; nor must we strive with our Maker, for he will certainly be too hard for us, and is able to crush us in a moment. [2.] To encourage Job to seek unto God, and to refer his cause to him. What more encouraging than to see that he is one to whom power belongs? He can do great things and marvellous for our relief, when we are brought ever so low.

2. He gives some instances of God's dominion and power.

(1.) God doeth great things in the kingdom of nature: He gives rain upon the earth (v. 10), put here for all the gifts of common providence, all the fruitful seasons by which he filleth our hearts with food and gladness, Acts xiv. 17. Observe, When he would show what great things God does he speaks of his giving rain, which, because it is a common thing, we are apt to look upon as a little thing, but, if we duly consider both how it is produced and what is produced by it, we shall see it to be a great work both of power and goodness.

(2.) He doeth great things in the affairs of the children of men, not only enriches the poor and comforts the needy, by the rain he sends (v. 10), but, in order to the advancing of those that are low, he disappoints the devices of the crafty; for v. 11 is to be joined to v. 12. Compare with Luke i. 51-53. He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, and so hath exalted those of low degree, and filled the heart with good things. See,

[1.] How he frustrates the counsels of the proud and politic, v. 12-14. There is a supreme power that manages and overrules men who think themselves free and absolute, and fulfils its own purposes in spite of their projects. Observe, First, The froward, that walk contrary to God and the interests of his kingdom, are often very crafty; for they are the seed of the old serpent that was noted for his subtlety. They think themselves wise, but, at the end, will be fools. Secondly, The Froward enemies of God's kingdom have their devices, their enterprises, and their counsels, against it, and against the loyal faithful subjects of it. They are restless and unwearied in their designs, close in their consultations, high in their hopes, deep in their politics, and fast-linked in their confederacies, Ps. ii. 1, 2. Thirdly, God easily can, and (as far as is for his glory) certainly will, blast and defeat all the designs of his and his people's enemies. How were the plots of Ahithophel, Sanballat, and Haman baffled! How were the confederacies of Syria and Ephraim against Judah, of Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, against God's Israel, the kings of the earth and the princes against the Lord and against his anointed, broken! The hands that have been stretched out against God and his church have not performed their enterprise, nor have the weapons formed against Sion prospered. Fourthly, That which enemies have designed for the ruin of the church has often turned to their own ruin (v. 13): He takes the wise in their own craftiness, and snares them in the work of their own hands, Ps. vii. 15, 16; ix. 15, 16. This is quoted by the apostle (1 Cor. iii. 19) to show how the learned men of the heathen were befooled by their own vain philosophy. Fifthly, When God infatuates men they are perplexed, and at a loss, even in those things that seem most plain and easy (v. 14): They meet with darkness even in the day-time: nay (as in the margin), They run themselves into darkness by the violence and precipitation of their own counsels. See ch. xii. 20, 24, 25.

[2.] How he favours the cause of the poor and humble, and espouses that. First, He exalts the humble, v. 11. Those whom proud men contrive to crush he raises from under their feet, and sets them in safety, Ps. xii. 5. The lowly in heart, and those that mourn, he advances, comforts, and makes to dwell on high, in the munitions of rocks, Isa. xxxiii. 16. Sion's mourners are the sealed ones, marked for safety, Ezek. ix. 4. Secondly, He delivers the oppressed, v. 15. The designs of the crafty are to ruin the poor. Tongue, and hand, and sword, and all, are at work in order to this; but God takes under his special protection those who, being poor and unable to help themselves, being his poor and devoted to his praise, have committed themselves to him. He saves them from the mouth that speaks hard things against them and the hand that does hard things against them; for he can, when he pleases, tie the tongue and wither the hand. The effect of this is (v. 16), 1. That weak and timorous saints are comforted: So the poor, who began to despair, has hope. The experiences of some are encouragement to others to hope the best in the worst of times; for it is the glory of God to send help to the helpless and hope to the hopeless. 2. That daring threatening sinners are confounded: Iniquity stops her mouth, being surprised at the strangeness of the deliverance, ashamed of its enmity against those who appear to be the favourites of Heaven, mortified at the disappointment, and compelled to acknowledge the justice of God's proceedings, having nothing to object against them. Those that domineered over God's poor, that frightened them, menaced them, and falsely accused them, will not have a word to say against them when God appears for them. See Ps. lxxvi. 8, 9; Isa. xxvi. 11; Mic. vii. 16.

17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: 18 For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole. 19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. 20 In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword. 21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. 22 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. 23 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. 24 And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin. 25 Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth. 26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. 27 Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.

Eliphaz, in this concluding paragraph of his discourse, gives Job (what he himself knew not how to take) a comfortable prospect of the issue of his afflictions, if he did but recover his temper and accommodate himself to them. Observe,

I. The seasonable word of caution and exhortation that he gives him (v. 17): "Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Call it a chastening, which comes from the father's love and is designed for the child's good. Call it the chastening of the Almighty, with whom it is madness to contend, to whom it is wisdom and duty to submit, and who will be a God all-sufficient (for so the word signifies) to all those that trust in him. Do not despise it;" it is a copious word in the original. 1. "Be not averse to it. Let grace conquer the antipathy which nature has to suffering, and reconcile thyself to the will of God in it." We need the rod and we deserve it; and therefore we ought not to think it either strange or hard if we feel the smart of it. Let not the heart rise against a bitter pill or potion, when it is prescribed for our good. 2. "Do not think ill of it; do not put it from thee (as that which is either hurtful or at least not useful, which there is not occasion for nor advantage by) only because for the present it is not joyous, but grievous." We must never scorn to stoop to God, nor think it a thing below us to come under his discipline, but reckon, on the contrary, that God really magnifies man when he thus visits and tries him, ch. vii. 17, 18. 3. "Do not overlook and disregard it, as if it were only a chance, and the production of second causes, but take great notice of it as the voice of God and a messenger from heaven." More is implied than is expressed: "Reverence the chastening of the Lord; have a humble awful regard to this correcting hand, and tremble when the lion roars, Amos iii. 8. Submit to the chastening, and study to answer the call, to answer the end of it, and then you reverence it." When God by an affliction draws upon us for some of the effects he has entrusted us with we must honour his bill by accepting it, and subscribing it, resigning him his own when he calls for it.

II. The comfortable words of encouragement which he gives him thus to accommodate himself to his condition, and (as he himself had expressed it) to receive evil at the hand of God, and not despise it as a gift not worth the accepting.

1. If his affliction was thus borne, (1.) The nature and property of it would be altered. Though it looked like a man's misery, it would really be his bliss: Happy is the man whom God correcteth if he make but a due improvement of the correction. A good man is happy though he be afflicted, for, whatever he has lost, he has not lost his enjoyment of God nor his title to heaven. Nay, he is happy because he is afflicted; correction is an evidence of his sonship and a means of his sanctification; it mortifies his corruptions, weans his heart from the world, draws him nearer to God, brings him to his Bible, brings him to his knees, works him for, and so is working for him, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Happy therefore is the man whom God correcteth, Jam. i. 12. (2.) The issue and consequence of it would be very good, v. 18. [1.] Though he makes sore the body with sore boils, the mind with sad thoughts, yet he binds up at the same time, as the skilful tender surgeon binds up the wounds he had occasion to make with his incision-knife. When God makes sores by the rebukes of his providence he binds up by the consolations of his Spirit, which oftentimes abound most as afflictions do abound, and counterbalance them, to the unspeakable satisfaction of the patient sufferers. [2.] Though he wounds, yet his hands make whole in due time; as he supports his people, and makes them easy under their afflictions, so in due time he delivers them, and makes a way for them to escape. All is well again; and he comforts them according to the time wherein he afflicted them. God's usual method is first to wound and then to heal, first to convince and then to comfort, first to humble and then to exalt; and (as Mr. Caryl observes) he never makes a wound too great, too deep, for his own cure. Una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit—The hand that inflicts the wound applies the cure. God tears the wicked and goes away; let those heal that will, if they can (Hos. v. 14); but the humble and penitent may say, He has torn and he will heal us, Hos. vi. 1. This is general, but,

2. In the following verses Eliphaz addresses himself directly to Job, and gives him many precious promises of great and kind things which God would do for him if he did but humble himself under his hand. Though then they had no Bibles that we know of, yet Eliphaz had sufficient warrant to give Job these assurances, from the general discoveries God had made of his good will to his people. And, though in every thing which Job's friends said they were not directed by the Spirit of God (for they spoke both of God and Job some things that were not right), yet the general doctrines they laid down expressed the pious sense of the patriarchal age, and as St. Paul quoted v. 13 for canonical scripture, and as the command v. 17 is no doubt binding on us, so these promises here may be, and must be, received and applied as divine promises, and we may through patience and comfort of this part of scripture have hope. Let us therefore give diligence to make sure our interest in these promises, and then view the particulars of them and take the comfort of them.

(1.) It is here promised that as afflictions and troubles recur supports and deliverances shall be graciously repeated, be it ever so often: In six troubles he shall be ready to deliver thee; yea, and in seven, v. 19. This intimates that, as long as we are here in this world, we must expect a succession of troubles, that the clouds will return after the rain. After six troubles may come a seventh; after many, look for more; but out of them all will God deliver those that are his, 2 Tim. iii. 11; Ps. xxxiv. 19. Former deliverances are not, as among men, excuses from further deliverances, but earnests of them, Prov. xix. 19.

(2.) That, whatever troubles good men may be in, there shall no evil touch them; they shall do them no real harm; the malignity of them, the sting, shall be taken out; they may hiss, but they cannot hurt, Ps. xci. 10. The evil one toucheth not God's children, 1 John v. 18. Being kept from sin, they are kept from the evil of every trouble.

(3.) That, when desolating judgments are abroad, they shall be taken under special protection, v. 20. Do many perish about them for want of the necessary supports of life? They shall be supplied. "In famine he shall redeem thee from death; whatever becomes of others, thou shalt be kept alive, Ps. xxxiii. 19. Verily, thou shalt be fed, nay, even in the days of famine thou shalt be satisfied, Ps. xxxvii. 3, 19. In time of war, when thousands fall on the right and left hand, he shall redeem thee from the power of the sword. If God please, it shall not touch thee; or if it wound thee, if it kill thee, it shall not hurt thee; it can but kill the body, nor has it power to do that unless it be given from above."

(4.) That, whatever is maliciously said against them, it shall not affect them to do them any hurt, v. 21. "Thou shalt not only be protected from the killing sword of war, but shalt be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, which, like a scourge, is vexing and painful, though not mortal." The best men, and the most inoffensive, cannot, even in their innocency, secure themselves from calumny, reproach, and false accusation. From these a man cannot hide himself, but God can hide him, so that the most malicious slanders shall be so little heeded by him as not to disturb his peace, and so little heeded by others as not to blemish his reputation: and the remainder of wrath God can and does restrain, for it is owing to the hold he has of the consciences of bad men that the scourge of the tongue is not the ruin of all the comforts of good men in this world.

(5.) That they shall have a holy security and serenity of mind, arising from their hope and confidence in God, even in the worst of times. When dangers are most threatening they shall be easy, believing themselves safe; and they shall not be afraid of destruction, no, not when they see it coming (v. 21), nor of the beasts of the field when they set upon them, nor of men as cruel as beasts; nay, at destruction and famine thou shalt laugh (v. 22), not so as to despise any of God's chastenings or make a jest of his judgments, but so as to triumph in God, in his power and goodness, and therein to triumph over the world and all its grievances, to be not only easy, but cheerful and joyful, in tribulation. Blessed Paul laughed at destruction when he said, O death! where is thy sting? when, in the name of all the saints, he defied all the calamities of this present time to separate us from the love of God, concluding that in all these things we are more than conquerors, Rom. viii. 35, &c. See Isa. xxxvii. 22.

(6.) That, being at peace with God, there shall be a covenant of friendship between them and the whole creation, v. 23. "When thou walkest over thy grounds thou shalt not need to fear stumbling, for thou shalt be at league with the stones of the field, not to dash thy foot against any of them, nor shalt thou be in danger from the beasts of the field, for they shall all be at peace with thee;" compare Hos. ii. 18, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field. This implies that while man is at enmity with his Maker the inferior creatures are at war with him; but tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia—a reconciled God reconciles all things. Our covenant with God is a covenant with all the creatures that they shall do us no hurt but be ready to serve us and do us good.

(7.) That their houses and families shall be comfortable to them, v. 24. Peace and piety in the family will make it so. "Thou shalt know and be assured that thy tabernacle is and shall be in peace; thou mayest be confident both of its present and its future prosperity." That peace is thy tabernacle (so the word is); peace is the house in which those dwell who dwell in God, and are at home in him. "Thou shalt visit" (that is, enquire into the affairs of) "thy habitation, and take a review of them, and shalt not sin." [1.] God will provide a settlement for his people, mean perhaps and movable, a cottage, a tabernacle, but a fixed and quiet habitation. "Thou shalt not sin," or wander; that is, as some understand it, "thou shalt not be a fugitive and a vagabond" (Cain's curse), "but shalt dwell in the land, and verily, not uncertainly as vagrants, shalt thou be fed." [2.] Their families shall be taken under the special protection of the divine Providence, and shall prosper as far as is for their good. [3.] They shall be assured of peace, and of the continuance and entail of it. "Thou shalt know, to thy unspeakable satisfaction, that peace is sure to thee and thine, having the word of God for it." Providence may change, but the promise cannot. [4.] They shall have wisdom to govern their families aright, to order their affairs with discretion, and to look well to the ways of their household, which is here called visiting their habitation. Masters of families must not be strangers at home, but must have a watchful eye over what they have and what their servants do. [5.] They shall have grace to manage the concerns of their families after a godly sort, and not to sin in the management of them. They shall call their servants to account without passion, pride, covetousness, worldliness, or the like; they shall look into their affairs without discontent at what is or distrust of what shall be. Family piety crowns family peace and prosperity. The greatest blessing, both in our employments and in our enjoyments, is to be kept from sin in them. When we are abroad it is comfortable to hear that our tabernacle is in peace; and when we return home it is comfortable to visit our habitation with satisfaction in our success, that we have not failed in our business, and with a good conscience, that we have not offended God.

(8.) That their posterity shall be numerous and prosperous. Job had lost all his children; "but," says Eliphaz, "if thou return to God, he will again build up thy family, and thy seed shall be many and as great as ever, and thy offspring increasing and flourishing as the grass of the earth (v. 25), and thou shalt know it." God has blessings in store for the seed of the faithful, which they shall have if they do not stand in their own light and forfeit them by their folly. It is a comfort to parents to see the prosperity, especially the spiritual prosperity, of their children; if they are truly good, they are truly great, how small a figure soever they may make in the world.

(9.) That their death shall be seasonable, and they shall finish their course, at length, with joy and honour, v. 26. It is a great mercy, [1.] To live to a full age, and not to have the number of our months cut off in the midst. If the providence of God do not give us long life, yet, if the grace of God give us to be satisfied with the time allotted us, we may be said to come to a full age. That man lives long enough that has done his work and is fit for another world. [2.] To be willing to die, to come cheerfully to the grave, and not to be forced thither, as he whose soul was required of him. [3.] To die seasonably, as the corn is cut and housed when it is fully ripe; not till then, but then not suffered to stand a day longer, lest it shed. Our times are in God's hand; it is well they are so, for he will take care that those who are his shall die in the best time: however their death may seem to us untimely, it will be found not unseasonable.

3. In the last verse he recommends these promises to Job, (1.) As faithful sayings, which he might be confident of the truth of: "Lo, this we have searched, and so it is. We have indeed received these things by tradition from our fathers, but we have not taken them upon trust; we have carefully searched them, have compared spiritual things with spiritual, have diligently studied them, and been confirmed in our belief of them from our own observation and experience; and we are all of a mind that so it is." Truth is a treasure that is well worth digging for, diving for; and then we shall know both how to value it ourselves and how to communicate it to others when we have taken pains in searching for it. (2.) As well worthy of all acceptation, which he might improve to his great advantage: Hear it, and know thou it for thy good. It is not enough to hear and know the truth, but we must improve it, and be made wiser and better by it, receive the impressions of it, and submit to the commanding power of it. Know it for thyself (so the word is), with application to thyself, and thy own case; not only "This is true," but "this is true concerning me." That which we thus hear and know for ourselves we hear and know for our good, as we are nourished by the meat which we digest. That is indeed a good sermon to us which does us good.

CHAP. V. Verſe 1. Call now, if there be any that will anſwer thee]

THe beginning of this chapter is hard, ſaith Mercer, till you come to the ſeventh or eighth verſes, and then all is plain and eaſie. That which Eliphaz driveth at here, is, to drive Job out of all good conceit of his own condition, and to perſwade him, that never any good man ſuffered ſuch hard and heavy things as he, or at leaſt ſuffered them ſo untowardly and impatiently. Call, I pray thee, ſaith he, call over the roll, look into the records of former Saints, and ſee if thou canſt find among them all ſuch another knotty piece as thy ſelf, that needed ſo much hewing, and made ſuch a deale of complaining. Was there ever the like heard of? Call now, if there be any one anſwerable to thee. Broughton rendreth it, Call now, if there be any one that will defend thee; that is, be thy Patron or advocate in word, or in the example of their lives.

And to which of the S[illegible: 2 letters]nts wilt thou turn? q. d. Thou art alone, neither maiſt thou hope to meet with thy match in the matter or manner of thine afflictions, unleſſe it be among hypocrites and graceleſſe perſons, as verſe 2. The Septuagint read it, To which of the Angels wilt thou look? And the Popiſh Commentators think they have here an unanſwerable ground for their Doctrine of invocation of Saints and Angels. But did not the buzzards take notice of an Irony here, and that Eliphaz aſſureth Job that it would be in vain for him to call to any Saint &c? Is it not plain, or probable at leaſt, that he here meaneth the Saints living in this world? or if not, yet is Gregory the great of no authority with them, who acknowledgeth none other to be called upon, here meant, but God; and that the Saints are mentioned to Job in deriſion, as if it were a ridiculous thing to call to them departed out of this life; who cannot hear us?

Verſe 2. For wrath killeth the fooliſh man] Such as thou art, Job; hot and haſty, pettiſh and paſſionate, fretting thy ſelf to do evil, and ſo provoking God to fall ſoule upon thee as a juſt object of his wrath, to thine utter ruine without repentance. Surely, with the froward, God will ſhow himſelf froward, Pſal. 18.26. Neither hath ever any one hardened himſelf againſt the Lord and proſpered, Job 9.4. For why? he is wiſe in heart, and mighty in ſtrength, as it is there, every way able to over-maſter an adverſary, if he but turn his own paſſions looſe upon him, ſuch as are wrath and envy, they will ſoon diſpatch him: How many are there, who like ſullen birds in a cage, beat themſelves to death? did not Bajazet do ſo? and was Diodorus any wiſer? or Homer, [illegible: 1 letter]ert. lib. 2. who died for anger that they could not reſolve certaine queſtions put unto them? or Terence who drowned himſelf for grief, that he had loſt certaine Comedies that he had compoſed? We read of ſome, that out of diſcontent they turned Atheiſts, as Dia[illegible: 1 letter]oras, Lucian, Porphyry &c. and of others,Diod. Sic. that miſſing of Biſhopricks, or other Church-preferments, they turned hereticks in Jui ſolatium; were not theſe great ſinners againſt their owne ſoules, like the angry Bee, who to be revenged, loſeth her ſting, and ſoon after her life? Died they not like fooles indeed, that died of the ſullens, and ſo were deeply guilty of ſelf-murther? eſpecially if their wrath were bent againſt God,Ard[illegible: 1 letter]l[illegible: 1 letter]onem. if they howle againſt heaven: ſuch are at once twice ſlain; ſlain with the wrath of God, and with their owne.

And envy ſlayeth the ſilly one] Him that is under the power of his paſſions, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. De A[illegible: 2 letters]ce Homer. & minima afflictione ab officio abducitur, ſaith Mercer, and is turned off from duty by every light affliction: ſuch an one doth envy at another mans proſperity. It is the ſame with wrath, niſi quòd vehementius eſt, but that it is ſomewhat worſe, ſaith the ſame Author, as being a moſt quick-ſighted, and ſharp-fanged malignity. Hence that of Solomon, Wrath is cruel, and anger outragious; but who can ſtand before envy? Prov. 27.4. It is the rottenneſſe of the bones, Prov. 14.30. And like the ſerpent Porphyrius, it drinks the moſt part of its own venome. See the Note on Prov. 14.30.

Verſe 3. I have ſeen the fooliſh taking roote] q. d. I grant, that wicked men are not alwaies preſently puniſhed, ſed Nemeſis in tergo; & ſubitò tollitur, qui diu toleratur. Gods wrath is ſuch, as no wicked man can avert or avoid. This had Eliphaz well obſerved, I have ſeen: he had ſet a Memorandum on Gods juſt judgments, and marked his spits with his own ſtarres, as one ſpeaketh. Eliphaz was a man of much experience, ſee chap. 4.8. In him, that was true which Elihu ſaith, ſhould be, that dayes ſpake, and multitude of yeeres taught wiſedome, chap. 32.7. Only herein he is miſtaken, that he miſ-applieth all to Job, arguing from his outward condition, to his inward; as if therefore he were wicked, becauſe ſeemingly wretched. Thus the gloſſe he ſet was viperous, eating out the bowels of the text: It was a truth of God that he uttered, and the ſame in ſenſe with that of David, Pſal. 37.35. And that of Solomon, Pro. 23.18. But why ſhould he thus writhe it and wreſt it to make the tune ſound to his own key? St Peter ſpeaketh of ſome that wreſt the Scriptures, 2 Pet. 3.16. putting them upon the rack,Caedem ſcripturarum faciunt. and making them ſpeak that which they never thought. And Tertullian ſaith of others, that they do murther the Scriptures for their own turnes, and to ſerye their own purpoſes; But let us hear Eliphaz, I have ſeene, ſaith he, and what more ſure then ſight Numb. 16.14? The fooliſh, the wilfull fool, and perhaps he points at ſome one ſuch rich fool as is mentioned, Luke 12.20. not unknown to Job, and as Eliphaz deemeth a fit parallel for him, taking root, dwelling alone in the earth, confirmed and ſetled in a fair eſtate, in a proſperous condition, as Nebuchadnezzar that goodly tree thought himſelf, Dan. 4.4, 22. (See Jer. 12.2.) and Dionyſius tyrant of Sicily, Aelian. var. hiſt. lib. 2. who conceited that his Kingdome was bound faſt unto him with chaines of adamant; But he was ſoone after caſt out, and thereby convinced of ſingular folly. A tempeſt, or at leaſt an axe of divine vengeance, can eaſily fell theſe faſt rooted, and beſt-fruited trees, and lay them low enough, as he did Nebuchadnezzar that maule of the Nations, and rod of Gods wrath, Iſa. 14.4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Dan. 4.22. &c. and Attilas the Conquering Hunne, who called himſelf the Wrath of God, and Scourge of the world; P. Jovius. and arrogantly ſaid, that the ſtarres of heaven fell before him, and the earth trembled, but was ſoone after rooted up by impartiall death in the midſt of his nuptial ſolemnities.

And ſuddenly I curſed his habitation] His houſe, which he held his caſtle,Subita morte extinctus eſt, ſanguine copioſe in fauces exundante & ex ore crump. together with his family, verſe 4. and his family-proviſions, verſe 5. All theſe Eliphaz ſuddenly (even when he was in the ruffe of all his jollity, in the height of his flouriſh) curſed, Heb. pierced, or bored through, not ſo much by a malediction, as a prediction, Male ominatus ſum iis, I fore-ſaw and foretold that that happineſſe would not hold long. I ominouſly divined it; I both thought it, and ſpake it. Pi[illegible: 2 letters] non decent di[illegible: 1 letter]ae; curſing men are curſed men: but a godly perſon may preſage a curſe, and foretell it, according to that Prov. 3.33. The curſe of the Lord is in the houſe of the wicked, yea, the flying [illegible: 3 letters]le of curſes that is ten yards long, and five yards broad ſhall remain in the midſt of it, and conſume it. Zech. 5.4. Brimſtone ſhall be ſcattered upon his habitation, and the fire of God ſhall kindle it; ſo that his rootes ſhall be dried up beneath, and above ſhall his branch be cut off &c. Job 18.15, 16.

Verſe 4. His children are farre from ſafety] This is one principall root of wicked men, viz. their children, which have their very name in Hebrew from building, becauſe by them the houſe is built up, and way made to greateſt honours by friendſhips and affinities of other great families. Theſe are farre from ſafety, that is, they are in a great deal of danger; or by their intemperance they run into many diſeaſes and diſaſters,Lavat. by their evil practiſes they come under the laſh of the Law, and without repentance under the danger of damnation too; ſalvation is farre from them, Pſal. 119.155. Iſa. 59.11.

They are cruſhed in the gate] That is, they are caſt in judgement, all goes againſt them, and ſentence pronounced upon them, as it befell Hamans children, and Davids enemies, Pſal. 109.7.

Neither is there any to deliver them] None to plead for them, or reſcue them, Prov. 31.8, 9. none to extend mercy to them, nor any to favour thoſe fatherleſſe children, Pſal. 109.12. and that becauſe their fathers were pitileſſe, verſe 13, 14. Haman for inſtance.

Verſe 15. Whoſe harveſt the hungry eateth up] This is another root of the wicked One, his eſtate, againſt which, God raiſeth up a rout of needy wretches to pillage him. Theſe are as a ſweeping raine that leaveth no food, Prov. 28.3. Theſe, as leane lice, bite hardeſt, and as ſparrow-hawkes, are extreme greedy: Maleſuada fames putteth them upon it. Theſe Harpies ſeize upon his very harveſt ad majorem cruciatum & miſeriam, pulling the meat out of his mouth, as it were, and not ſuffering him to roaſt that which he took in hunting, Prov. 12, 27. Hee ſhall meete with greateſt diſappointment, and come to that poverty which he ſo ſtudiouſly ſhunned, ſinging that doleful ditty — En queis conſevimus agros? [non-Latin text not transcribed]. See this threatned, Lev. 26.16. Deut. 28.33. Iſa. 1.6. Micah 6.15.

And taketh it even out of the thornes] Creeping through the midſt of the thornes and buſhes wherewith it is fenced and hedged in, to ſteale it away. Hunger wee ſay, breakes through ſtone walls: the Rabbines ſenſe it thus, Hee that comes out of the thornes,Scutatus. that is, every baſe fellow carrieth away the ſtore of this rich oppreſſor. The armed man carrieth it away, ſo the Vulgar after the Septuagint. Mr. Broughton reades it thus, The hungry ſhall eat up his harveſt which he had gotten through the thornes, that is, not without a great deal of care, and much pains in ſtubbing up the thornes, that he might not ſow amongſt them.

And the robber ſwalloweth up their ſubstance] Or the thirsty ſhall drink up their ſubstance, as gold-thirſty Babel did Hezekiahs treaſure for his coming ſo neare the garb and guiſe of the wicked in his oſtentation. The thirsty ſhall ſwill up their wealth, ſo Broughton rendreth it [illegible: 2 letters]ſo that neither their eſculenta nor poculenta ſhall eſcape the ſpoiler, but there ſhall be a clean riddance of all; the enemy ſhall play at ſweep-ſtake, [non-Latin text not transcribed] he ſhall ſoop up all, as the Hebrew hath it, and as Eliphaz would have Job conſider, that the Chaldees and Sabees had done his ſubſtance.

Verſe 6. Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust] It cometh not by fate or blind fortune, it haps not as it may, that men ſuffer. Philistines indeed, wil ſay haply, It is a chance, 1 Sam 6.9. a common occurrence, that had a time to come in, and muſt have a time to go in: but every Naomi will in ſuch caſe conclude, The hand of the Lord is gone out againſt mee, Ruth 1.13. and carry her ſailes accordingly, verſe 20, 21. and every good ſoule will cry out, I will bear the indignation of the Lord (who is the efficient cauſe of all my miſeries) becauſe I have ſinned againſt him, which is the meritorious cauſe. The word here rendred affliction, ſignifieth alſo iniquity; and well it may, ſith they are tyed together with chaines of adamant, as that Heathen ſaid, Flugitism & [illegible: 1 word] ſunt ſicut [illegible: 1 word] & ſilum, ſaith another. Man weaves a ſpiders web of ſin out of his own bow[illegible: 3 letters], ſaith a Third; and then he is intangled in the ſame web: the troubles which enſnare and wrap about him, are twiſted with his own fingers: Can a bird fall in a ſnare upon the earth, where no ginne is for him, Am. 3.6[illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 1 span], Of the black-birds dung is made the bird-lime whereby he [illegible: 1 word]: ſo out of the dung of mens ſins are made the lime-twigs of their puniſhments.

Verſe 7. Yet man is borne unto trouble] Which is the naturall fruit of his ſinne; and a piece of the curſe; hee hath in him a [non-Latin text not transcribed], a common ſeminary of all ſinne, and this hee brings into the world with him; what wonder then though troubles come trouping in upon him on every ſide, as if he were born for no other end but to ſuffer, and that as naturally as fire aſcendeth? Sure it is, that ſinne doth as naturally and ordinarily draw and ſuck judgements to it, as the loadſtone doth iron, or Turpentine fire. Some read the words thus, Man is borne to ſin, and ſo conſequently to trouble: for ſinne uſually endeth tragically, and troubleſomely. Hence the ſame word both here, and that in the former verſe, ſignifie both ſinne and ſorrow; and man by reaſon of his birth-blot, hath a birth-right to them both, he is even born to them. The divel, when he ſpeaketh lies, ſpeaketh of his owne, Joh. 8.44. And we, when either we do evil, we work de noſtro & ſicundum hominem, of our own, and according to men, 1 Cor. 3.3. Or when we ſuffer evill, wee ſuffer nothing but what is humane and incident to men, 1 Cor. 10.13. Thy very heathen could ſay as much; witneſſe that of Xenophon, [non-Latin text not transcribed], It behooveth him that is no more then a man, to expect all ſorts of troubles: and that of Demosthenes, it is fit for men to hope the beſt, but bravely to beare the worſt, as that which is common to all mankind: and that of Iſocrates, O [non-Latin text not transcribed] &c. Hee that remembreth that he is a man, will not be diſcontented at whatſoever trouble befalleth him: and that of Herodotus, [non-Latin text not transcribed], Every man is miſerable. For this it was likely, that God, to keep Ezekiel lowly in the abundance of revelations, calleth him ſo oft Son of man. And when the French King,Joh. Manl. loc. com. 175. Homo ſum, humanum nihil à me alicnum puto. being priſoner to Charles the fifth ſaw written upon the wall that Emperours motto, plus ultra, further yet, and underwrote, Hodie mihi, cras tibi, I am now thy priſoner thou mayſt hereafter be mine; the Emperour came after him, and ſubſcribed; I confeſſe I am a man, and may ſoon ſuffer any thing incident to mankind.

As the ſparkes fly upward] Heb. The ſonnes of the quick or live coale lift up to fly: The vulgar hath it, as the birds fly upward; the Septuagint, As the young vultures fly upwards. Sparkes and birds fly upward naturally, and by a principle of their owne they need not be taught it ſo here. Birds, though they have more of the earth then of the other three elements, Gen. 2.19. yet are light (which is a wonder) and delight in high-flying, and this is innate to them; ſo is it to man, as man, to be in trouble, Job 14.1. Some of the Hebrews by ſparkes, or ſons of the quick coale, here underſtand the divels, and make this to be the ſenſe; like as ſin is connatural to men, ſo doth God ſtirre up the divels, to whom it is as natural to flutter up and down here for the puniſhment of ſuch as ſinne: Sed hoc friget, ſaith Mercer; but this is not likely to be the meaning.

Verſe 8. Surely I would ſeek unto God] Not let flie at him, as thou haſt done, curſing thy birth-day, and wiſhing thy ſelf out of the world. Aſſure thy ſelf, this that thou takeſt, is not the way to get off with comfort, but rather to return (by repentance) unto him, that ſmiteth thee, and to ſeeke the Lord of Hoſtes, Iſa. 9.12. ſith elſe; his anger will not turn away, but his hand will be ſtretched out ſtill (as the Prophet there hath it) for is it fit that he ſhould lay downe the bucklers firſt? or that we ſhould ſtand upon termes, and capitulate with him, and not ſtoop unto him by an humble yieldance? eſpecially ſithence — Deus crudelius urit Quos videt invitos ſuccubuiſſe ſibi.Tibul. Eleg 1.8

The way to diſarme Gods heavy indignation, is to ſubmit to his juſtice, and to implore his mercy, Hoſ. 5.14. to fly from his Anger to his Grace, Blood-letting is a cure of bleeding, and a burne a cure againſt a burne; and running to God is the way to eſcape him; as to cloſe and get in with him that would ſtrike you, doth avoid the blow: and this is that that I would do, were I in thy caſe, ſaith Eliphaz here. Hee doth not vaunt (as Olympiodorus miſtaketh his meaning) but adviſe Job, to humble himſelf, and confeſſe his ſinnes, and ſue for pardon of ſin, and releaſe of puniſhment, to kiſſe the rod, and not to bite it; to drink of Gods cup willingly and at firſt, when it is full (as Mr. Bradford Martyr hath it), leſt if he linger, he drink at length of the dregs with the wicked.

And unto God] the righteous Judge, as the word importeth,Phocyl. who [non-Latin text not transcribed], neither [illegible: 1 letter]areth nor feareth any man (as it was ſaid of Trajan the Emperour, but more truly of God:) he proceedeth, according to truth, not according to opinion or appearance, and greatly ſcorneth to look at diſpleaſure, revenge or recompence.

Would I commit my cauſe] Put my caſe and condition by ſelf-reſignation, and humble ſupplication. This David did notably, 2 Sam. 15.25, 26. Pſal. 142.2. and counſels all to do accordingly, Pſal. 55.22. Caſt thy burden (or thy requeſt) upon the Lord by vertue of this writ or warrant.

Verſe 9. Which doth great things and unſearchable] The better to perſwade Job to take his counſel, he entreth into a large deſcription of Gods attributes, his Power, Wiſedome,Aug. Juſtice, Mercy &c. all which are clearly ſeene in his workes of wonder as in a mirrour, or as on a theatre. Theſe he is ever in doing, as the word here ſignifieth; and ſheweth himſelf great in great things, and not little in the leaſt, dum memora culicis & pulicis disponit; yea, he uſeth to be greater in ſmaller things, then in bigger. The ſoul is more operative in Ants, then in Elephants; in Dwarfes, then in Giants. So he delights to help his people with a little help, Dan. 11.34 (that through weaker meanes they may ſee his greater ſtrength) to magnifie his power in pardoning their many and mighty ſinnes, Numb. 14.17, 18. Micah 7.18. to illuſtrate his power in their perſeverance and wonderfull preſervation amidſt a world of evils and enemies, John 10.29. 1 Pet. 1.5. to fulfill his promiſes, ſeeme they never ſo improbable or impoſſible, Jer. 32.14, 15. to anſwer prayers that look as if loſt, and to do for his people exceeding abundantly above all that they can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in them, Eph. 3.20. All this Eliphaz would have Job to conſider, that he might not caſt away his confidence, but ſeek to God, and turn his talk to him, as Beza turneth the fore-going words.

And unſearchable] Heb. And no ſearch, for they are fathomleſſe, and paſt finding out, Rom. 11.33. This, Eliphaz might ſay, to ſtop Jobs curioſity, and to humble him for his ſinne, in enquiring too much into the reaſon of Gods ſo ſevere dealing with him, chap. 3. In prying too farre, or too boldly into the ſecret workings of God. It ſhould ſuffice us to know that the will of Gods is the rule of right, that his judgements are ſometimes ſecret, alwaies juſt; that it is extreme folly to reprehend what we cannot comprehend (wee may as ſoone comprehend the ſea is a cockleſhell, as the unſearchable things of God in our narrow and ſhallow underſtandings) that at the laſt day all things ſhall be cleared up, and every mouth ſtopped, when exquiſite reaſons of all Gods proceedings (which now ſeem not ſo well carried) ſhall be produced, and wiſedome ſhall be juſtified of her children.

Marvellous things] Such as the wiſeſt may well wonder at. God is the onely Thaumaturgus, the great wonder-worker; and theſe marvels are more ordinary then the moſt are, either at all either aware of, or affected with. To let paſſe thoſe wonders of the Creation (for which, ſee Pſal. 136.4, 5, 6, 7.) Canſt thou tell how the bones grow in her that is with child, ſaith Solomons Eccl. 11.5. Mirificatus ſum mirabilibus operis tuis, ſo Montanus rendreth that of David, Pſal. 139.14. I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy workes &c. Galen, that great Naturalliſt,Fernel. de abd. rer. cauſ. was much amazed at the motion of the lungs in mans body, and would needs offer ſacrifices therefore to that God whom he knew not. Who can give a naturall reaſon of the ſtrength of the neather-chap, of the heat in the ſtomack, of the colours in the rain-bow, of the ebbing and flowing of the Sea, or but of this ordinary occurrence, that chaffe is ſo cold, that it keepes ſnow hidden within it from melting, and withall, ſo warme, that it haſteneth the ripening of Apples? Well might Eliphaz ſay, that God doth marvellous things, without number.

Verſe 10. Who giveth vain upon the earth] This is reckoned, and rightly, among the marvellous workes of God. See chap. 28.26. Jer. 10.13. Amos 5.8. Acts 14.17. Raine is the flux of a moiſt cloud, which being diſſolved by little and little by the heat of the Sun, lets down [illegible: 1 word] by drops out of the middle region of the aire: this is Gods gift. For he 1. [illegible: 1 word] it▪ Job. 28.26. 2. Prepareth it, Pſal. 147.8. 3. With-holdeth it at his pleaſure, [illegible: 2 letters]opping thoſe bottles that ſhould yeild it, Amos 4.7. 4. Sendeth [illegible: 1 span] the behoof and benefit of man and [illegible: 1 word], as alſo for the demonſtration of his Power, Wiſedome, Juſtice, and Goodneſſe, whereof hee hath not left himſelf [illegible: 1 word] by without witneſſe, Acts 14.17. whiles he weigheth theſe waters above the firmament by meaſure, ſo that not one drop falleth in vain, or in a wrong place. In thoſe hot countries, where Rivers were ſcant, raine was highly valued: they called it the huſband of the earth, becauſe the earth can no more hear fruit without it then a woman children without the company of a man. The Egyptians were wont in mockery to tell the Grecians, that if their God (whom they called cloud-gathering Jupiter) ſhould forget to give raine, [non-Latin text not transcribed] they might chance to ſterve for it: ſee the reaſon, Deut. 11.8. — 11, 12. Egypt was watered with the ſoot as a garden, by ſluces from Nilus: not ſo Canaan.

He ſendeth waters upon the fields] irrigat aquis univerſa ſaith the vulgar, Hee moiſteneth all places with waters; by the ſhowres which falling upon the ground, run hither and thither, he divideth the fields as it were, into ſtreets and high wayes; ſo Beza paraphraſeth. Another thus, 'Tis he himſelfe who watereth it, as well by thoſe waters which fall from heaven, as by thoſe which he hath hidden in its entrailes, and whoſe ſecret draines produce in a thouſand places ſources and rivers. Some render it, upon the out-places, and underſtand it of wilderneſſes, to ſet forth Gods bounty. Others render it, upon the face of the ſtreets, and will have it meant of Navigable rivers, which by the paſſage upon them, do after a ſort, make ſtreetes and high-way wayes through ſeveral Countries, to the which alſo they convey many commodities.

Verſe 11. To ſet up on high thoſe that be low] By thoſe rich raines whereby hee fatteneth the earth, and makes it fruitfull, giving them a whole country of corne,Aben-Ezra. as hee did that vir divitiarum qui animam etiam habuit tririceam. Luke 12.16. But God hath more wayes then this, to preferre men to riches, honour, and authority, as he did Joſeph, David, Daniel, Mordecai &c. He raiſeth up the poore out of the duſt, and lifteth the needy out of the dung-hill, that he may ſet him with Princes, &c. Pſal. 113.6, 7. Let Job heare this, and know it for his good, as ver. 27.

That thoſe which mourn] As thoſe do commonly who are in a low condition, and 'tis much if they murmur not. The word ſignifieth, ſuch as are pullato. [illegible: 1 word] in mourners weedes, or that having layn among the pots, are ſmutched and ſullied like ſo many black ſcullions, Pſal. 68.13.10, Lo, theſe ſhall the Lo[illegible: 1 letter]d not only make to he as the wings of a dove covered with ſilver, and her feathers with yellow gold, but ſhall alſo make them to mount up with wings as Eagles, Iſa. 40, 31. He ſhall exalt them to ſafety, ſaith Eliphaz here: yea, he ſhall ſafely exalt them to ſafety. Wicked men are oft exalted, Pſal. 12. ult. but then it is not to ſafety, — toümutur in aelium ut lapſu graviore ruant, they are liſted up, but for a miſchief, that they may he brought downe againe with the greater poiſe, as Haman and Pharaohs chiefe Baken, whoſe head was liſted up, but to the gallows: the chiefe Butlers head was lifted up too, but aſter another manner. There is great difference betwixt the advancement of the righteous and the wicked. Thoſe God carrieth as the Eagle doth her young on her wings, to exalt them to ſafety, to ſet them upon a rock that is higher then they, theſe he lifteth up as the Eagle doth her prey in her talons, to daſh them againſt ſome rock, and to deſtroy them.

Verſe 12. He diſappointeth the devices of the crafty] Hee vacateth and endreth ineffectual the curious contrivances of the worlds wiſards, full of [illegible: 1 word] ſubtilty, and ſo ſetteth his people in ſafety, by out-plotting their enemies; ſerved he not Pharaoh ſo (who dealt craftily with our fathers, ſaith [illegible: 1 word], Acts 7[illegible: 1 letter].19.) [non-Latin text not transcribed]. and Saul that ſubtile tyrant? and Herod that crofty-fox, Luke. 13.32? and all the primitive and modern perſecutors to whom the old Dragon had lent his ſeven head to plot, and his ten hornes to puſh again[illegible: 2 letters] the people of God, but all [illegible: 1 span] purpoſe? God diſappointed the deviſes of thoſe [illegible: 1 word] ſo the Vulgar [illegible: 1 span] which the Chaldee appropriateth to Pharaoh and his Counſell[illegible: 2 letters]s, who ſaid, Comes and let us deale wiſely; when-as (in laying hand taskes upon the Iſraelite to keep them from increaſing) they never dealt, [illegible: 1 span] your labouring men have the moſt and the [illegible: 1 span].

So that their hands [illegible: 1 span] an actuall being or ſuch [illegible: 1 span] Broughton rendreth it: Otherr thus, [illegible: 1 span] that is, [illegible: 1 word] what they had [illegible: 1 span] the [illegible: 1 span] cruel-crafties of the primitive times, ſounded the triumph before-hand, and engraved the victory upon the pillars of marble: but the Church may ſtill ſing as of old,Pſal. 20.8. They are brought down and fallen, but we are riſen and ſtand upright. Charles the fifth and the French King had covenanted the utter extirpation of the Lutheran faction throughout their dominions; but God found them other employment, and gave his Church an happy Haleyon. And who knowes not how God hath hitherto helped us of this Nation againſt the power and policy of earth, and of hell?

Verſe 13. He taketh the wiſe in their own craſtineſſe] Thoſe wiſe to do evil, worldly wiſe, meere machiavellians; for though the Florentine Secretary was not born of ſome thouſands of yeeres after Eliphaz ſpeke this, yet the divel was well nigh as great a maſter then as how, and had his crafty cubs, ſtudents, and great proficients in that wiſedome which St. James affirmeth to be from beneath, and not from above (like the wings of the Oſtrich, it may help a man to out-run others upon earth, but helpes not at all towards heaven) and further deſcribeth it to be earthly, ſenſuall, diveliſh. Earthly, as managing the luſts of the eyes unto the ends of gaine; Senſual, as managing the luſts of the fleſh unto ends of pleaſure: and Divelliſh, as managing the pride of life unto ends of power: theſe ſubtile Sirs, theſe profound politicians, that dig deepe to hide their counſels, not from men only, but (which is impoſſible) from the Lord, [non-Latin text not transcribed] 1 Cor. 3.19. Iſa. 29.15. that think they can work out any thing, and that none can prevent them (as the Apoſtles word from this text importeth) God takes and makes fooles of them; he fruſtrateth the tokens of theſe lyars, and maketh the diviners mad: he turneth wiſe men backward, and maketh their knowledg fooliſh, Iſa. 44.25. Surely the Princes of Zoan are fools, the counſel of the wiſe counſellors of Pharaoh is become bruitiſh — they have alſo ſeduced Egypt, even they that are the ſtay of the tribes thereof: the Lord hath mingled a ſpirit of perverſities in the midſt thereof; and they have cauſed Egypt to erre in every worke thereof, as a drunken man ſtaggereth in his vomit, Ifai. 19.11, 13, 14. Did ever any man deal ſo unwiſely as Ahitophel that Oracle, 2 Sam. 17.23. Curious to provide for his family after his death, and yet careleſſe to preſerve himſelf from eternall death? Was not this a madneſſe even to a miracle? He ſhould firſt (ſaith a Reverend man) have ſet himſelf in order, and then he might have hanged his houſe with coverings of tapeſtry, Pro. 7.26. and with broidered work of Egypt. Ezek. 27.7. And if he had bridled his anger when he ſaddled his Aſſe, he would not have broken the lanthorn of his body, and quenched the light of his life, he would not have put his houſe in order, and himſelf into ſuch a deſperate and irrecoverable confuſion. But what ſaith Solomon? His own iniquities ſhall take the wicked himſelf, and hee ſhall be holden with the cords of his ſinnes, Prov. 5.22. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth, the wicked is ſnared in the worke of his own hands. Higguion, Selah. Mark [illegible: 1 span] ate, as one rendreth it, Pſal. 9.16.

And the counſel of the froward is carried head-long] More haſte it maketh then good ſpeech,Lib. 2. de Invent. though it be the counſel that is the extract of reaſon, the reſult of ſerious and [illegible: 1 span] (as Cicero defineth it) becauſe it proceedeth from froward perſons, obtorti, contortuplicati, ſuch as have one crafty device twiſted within another, like a nope, ſuch as of whom we uſe to ſay in a proverb, there never wanteth a new [illegible: 1 span] cap.

Verſe [illegible: 1 word] They meet with darkneſſe in the day-time] They are infatuated and beſotted; a ſpirit of giddineſſe ſeizeth them: ita ut in re clariſſimâ destituantur [illegible: 1 word], ſaith Vatablus, ſo that they cannot diſcerne things that are evident and cleare [illegible: 1 word] the [illegible: 1 word] at [illegible: 1 word] day, they have light without, but want light within, they [illegible: 1 span] this was threatned, Deut. 28.29. and [illegible: 1 span] Saviour often calleth them, and now [illegible: 1 span] Cor. 3.14. Since they crucified the Lord of [illegible: 1 span] in any thing they undertooke; neither will [illegible: 1 span] dotage whereinto they have long ſince wrought [illegible: 1 span] William Rufus to hear them, [illegible: 1 span] but they loſt the day, and [illegible: 1 span] he holy, was [illegible: 1 word] with Antoninus [illegible: 1 span], but it would not beeAlſted. Chron. 428. [illegible: 1 span] in the [illegible: 1 span] for they were preſently impriſoned, and ſhortly after executed; Rabbi Solomon at Mantus, and Rabbi David in Spain[illegible: 1 letter]. How they are benighted in their expoſitions of Scripture, troubling thoſe cleare fountaines with their ridiculous conceits and fooliſh fables, I need not relate. Neither are many of the Popiſh Interpreters (as they will be accounted) much wiſer, being judicially blinded, given over to [illegible: 1 span] Rom. 1.28. to the efficacy of error, 2 Theſ. [illegible: 1 letter]1 ſo that

They grape [illegible: 1 letter]ont day [illegible: 1 word] in the night] They have neither light [illegible: 1 word] ſight left them, and this by a juſt hand of God upon them, becauſe they cloſed up their eyes le[illegible: 1 letter]f they ſhould ſee, Act. 28.27 they would not receive the love of [illegible: 1 span] 2. Theſ 2.10. Therefore now it is hid from their eyes, and the light that is [illegible: 1 word] is darkneſſe. Women and children ſee further into the myſteries of religion, them [illegible: 1 word] theſe learned Doctors, theſe Idol-ſhepherds; Gods ſword being upon their armed and upon their right eye, Zach. 11.17. that is, both upon their power and policy, ſo that they are like Owles, that can ſee better in the dark then in the light and like Moles, that dig dexterouſly under ground, but are blind above ground neither do they ever open their eyes till the pangs of death are upon them.

Verſe 15. But he ſaveth the poor from the ſword] From the [illegible: 1 word] of warre, from the hurt of it, not alwayes from the ſmart of it; for all ſuch promiſes as this of temporall deliverance, are ever to be taken with exception of the croſſe; which yet ſhall be ſo ſanctified, that the Saints ſhall ſay, It was good for us to have beene afflicted. Provided, that they be poore in ſpirit (for God will ſave the humble perſon, Job 22.29.) and ſue in form a pauperis, as ſpirituall beggars, ſuch is get their living by begging; the word ſignifieth needy and deſirous of reliefs, very indigent, and therefore humbly ſuppliant for ſupply of things neceſſary: This poore man cryed, and the Lord heard him (meaning himſelf) and ſaved him out of all his troubles, Pſal. 34.6. Forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever, Pſal. 74.19. Hee will not, he cannot, for they are written upon the palmes of his hands, ſo that hee cannot look beſide them. Who hath not heard how graciouſly [illegible: 1 word] Geneva hath beene preſerved? Rochel relieved, as it were, by a miracle? Leyden [illegible: 1 word] from the Duke of Alva's ſword; that very night that he thought to have ſtormed it, Anno 1573. the winds turned, the tide ſwelled, and the waters came in, and forced him to raiſe the ſiege: how well might theſe poor ſaved ones ſit and ſing with David, Pſalm 68.20. He that is our God is the God of ſalvation; and unto God the Lard belong the iſſues from death?

From their mouth] Which is a ſword, ſo ſome ſenſe is: God ſaveth his poore from the ſword of their enemies mouth, or the ſword that comes out of their mouth. A gladio or is coram, ſaith the Vulgar: David felt the falſe tongues of his enemies, as a murthering weapon in his bones, Pſal. 42.10. The tongue is thin, broad, and long, like a ſword, it is alſo red line a flaming ſword: by [illegible: 1 word] and falſe teſtimonies many are thoſe that fall down wounded, Prov. 12.6. and 18.8. and 26.22. Core and his compli[illegible: 1 letter]ts ſtick not to object to the meekeſt of men with one breath, pride, ambition, and uſurpation of authority, but God vindicated his reputation. Mary was accuſed three ſeveral times: the Phariſees accuſed her of preſumption, Luke 7.39. Martha of careleſſeneſſe, Luke 10.[illegible: 1 letter]0. Judas of waſtefulneſſe, John 12.5. but Chriſt ever anſwered for her, and tooke her part. And was it not ſo with Job chap. 42? Is there not a promiſe to all Saints Pſalm 37.6[illegible: 1 letter].

From the band of the mighty] God ſaveth his, not only from the virulent tongues, but from the violent hands alſo of the mighty, that might overcome not right, that the poore fall not by his ſtrong ones, or into his ſtrong pawes and parts, Pſal. 10.10. where oppreſſors are fitly compared to lions lying in wait for their prey. Now to be thus ſaved from the ſlaying ſword, the [illegible: 1 word] tongue; and the oppreſſing [illegible: 1 word] is complete ſalvation.

Verſe 16. So the poore hath hops] How ſhould it be otherwiſe? will breed confidence Thou haſt, that wilt it an ordinary Scripture [illegible: 1 word], Pſalm 8[illegible: 1 letter], 1, 2, 3, 4. and 2 Cor. 1.10. So, the poor helpneſſe, hopeleſſe perſon, who is pined away, ſpent and utterly exhauſted and [illegible: 1 span] and wealth, he hath hope [illegible: 1 span] had given away all) and this holds head above water, [illegible: 1 span] beguiled calamity; as good company doth the way. Neither is [illegible: 1 span] ſtate in all mens eyes, is at loweſt. I was brought low (or drawn dry, the ſame word as here) and he helped me, Pſal. 110.6[illegible: 1 letter] So He will regard the prayer of the destitute, Pſal. 102.17. The Hebrew word there ſignifies a pair ſhrub that is in the wilderneſſe low and ſlender [illegible: 1 word] upon by [illegible: 1 word], unregarded, worthleſſe, ſuch an one [illegible: 1 word] God and is lightened, [illegible: 1 word] 4.5. conceiveth lively hope, hope unfailable through faith unfained, having earneſt expectation (as the word ſignifieth) of ſtrong [illegible: 1 word] ſo that he can truly ſay with Saint Paul, when I am weake, then [illegible: 1 word] ſtrong, 2 Cor. 12.10. Such priſoners of hope can turn them to the ſtrong holds, Zech.[illegible: 1 letter]9.12.

And inequity ſtopped her mouth] Iniquity, that is, the workers of iniquity, thoſe worſt ſor[illegible: 1 letter] of ſinners (the word importeth men of manifold perverſeneſſe) amazed at god [illegible: 1 word] good ſueceſſes, contrary to there expectation; ſhall ſtand ſpeechleſſe,Maligni & nocendi ſtudioſi. Aquinas. [illegible: 1 word] did, Matth. 22.12. convicted of their wickedneſſe, and confounded at Gods wonderfull workes. See the like Iſa. 52.15. Pſalm 107, 42. Mic. 7.16. Jor 8.4. Thus Jannes and Jambres were ſilenced and convinced, but not converted. No more are many now a-dayes, who yet have as little to ſay as they. The full accompliſhment of this promiſe is not to be looked for till the laſt day.

Verſe 17. Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth] This Behold holds forth a paradox, a ſtrange ſight, viz. An afflicted man, a bleſſed man: this the world wondreth at, and can as little conceive of, or conſent to, as the Philiſtines could of Sampſons riddle of meat out of the cater &c. How can theſe things be, ſay they? It will never be, ſaith Senſe: it can never be, ſaith Reaſon; it both can bee; and will bee, ſaith Faith; the property whereof, is to gather one contrary out of another; life out of death, happineſſe out of miſery, aſſurance of deliverance out of deepeſt diſtreſſes, and to believe God upon his bare word, and that againſt ſenſe in things inviſible, and againſt reaſon in things incredible. What if the afflicted man be Enoſh (that's the word here) a ſorry, ſickly, miſerable man, ſo the world eſteemeth him yet Bleſſed is the man. (there he is called Geber the gallant man) whom thou [illegible: 1 span], O Lord, and teacheſt him out of thy Law. Pſal. 94.12. Oh the happineſſes, the [non-Latin text not transcribed], the preſent and future happineſſe of the man whom God correcteth, and withall inſtructeth, chaſtening him with pain upon his bed, and withall opening his cares to counſel, and ſealing his inſtructions, Job 33.16, 19 diſputing him out of his evil practiſes, with a rod in his hand.

Therefore deſpiſe not than the chastening of the Almighty.] Fret not, faint not, be not ſo impatient as to think that either thy croſſes come not from God, or not in mercy, or that he is not All-ſufficient to beare thee up under them, or to help thee out of them. Set not light by his love-tokens (this is one of thoſe two extremes Solomon warnes us of Prov. 3.11. neither deſpiſe afflictions, nor deſpond under them) See my Treatiſe called Gods love-tokens, and the afflicted mans leſſons, page 37, 38, 39. &c. Loath we are to take up the croſſe, and when called to carry it, we ſhrink in the ſhoulder: no chaſtening ſeemeth joyous but grievous; as averſe the beſt may be to it,Pſal. 75.8. as a ſick man is to thoſe phyſicall ſlibber-ſawees; he had as lieve die almoſt as take them down; How then, alaſs, will wicked men doe to drink off that cup of Gods wrath that hath eternity to the bottome? Let the ſaints be content, and ſay, Ferre minora voto, ne gravior a feram, It is the Lords mercy that we are not conſumed, L[illegible: 1 letter]in. 3.22. that wee are ſet ſafe from the wrath to come, what-ever here betideth us: It is the chaſtening of the Almighty, who could as eaſily cruſh us as correct us. See Iſai 13.6. Jeal 1.15.

Verſe 18. For he maketh fore, and bindeth up] As a Surgeon maketh an inciſion, to let out the impoſt humed matter, and then heals up the wound againe: God hath a ſalve for every ſore, a medicine for every malady; he is both a Father and a phyſician, hee [illegible: 1 word] us not unleſſe a[illegible: 1 letter]ed be, 1 Pes. 1.6. Wee are judged of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. Would wee that God ſhould let us alone to periſh in our [illegible: 1 span] Ephraim, Hoſ. 4.14.) and not meddle with us? [illegible: 1 span] they are ſet? [illegible: 1 word] up our fores before they [illegible: 1 span] mercy more cruel then any cruelty, as a Father calls it. And yea moſt [illegible: 1 span] of by Luther, who being in his [illegible: 1 span] to take in good part his preſent pain, as a token of Gods love anſwered, Ah quam velim alios amare, non me! If this be his love, I could wiſh he would love others, and not me.Luth. in Gen.

He woundeth] This is more then to make ſore or ſick, like as Heb. 12.6. Scourging is worſe then Chaſtening. God ſometimes makes bloody wales upon the backs of his beſt children, he wounds them with the wound of an enemy, Pſal. 68.21. & 110.5. [non-Latin text not transcribed] cruentavit. and leaves them all gore blood, as the word here uſed importeth.

And his hands make whole] He hath, as a Chirurgion ſhould have, a Ladies hand, ſoft and tender, a fathers heart relenting over his pained Ephraims. Hoſ. Lam. 3.33 11.8. Hee afflicteth not willingly, or from the heart; it goeth as much againſt the heart with him, as againſt the hair with us; and evermore Dejicit us relevet, promit ut ſolatia praſtet Enecat, ut poſſit vivificare Deus.

Verſe 19. He ſhall de liver thee] Heb. Snatch thee away, or pull thee out, as a brand out of the fire, or as a prey out of the teeth of a wilde beaſt. Thus God ſnatcht Lot out of Sodom, David out of many waters, Paul out of the mouth of the Lion, Jonah out of the belly of hell &c. As birds flying, ſo will I defend Jeruſalem, Iſa. 31.5 A metaphor from the Eagle and other birds, which when they flie higheſt, ſet a watchfull eye upon the neſt to reſcue their young ones in caſe of danger.

In ſix troubles] Or ſtraits, ſuch as enemies or other evils put men to; Iſrael at the red ſea, for inſtance, where they were ſorely diſtreſſed, encircled with troubles, neither was there any way of eſcape, unleſſe they could have gone up to heaven, which becauſe they could not, heaven came down to them and delivered them.

Yea in ſeven] A certaine number for an uncertain; boundleſſe deliverances will God grant to his people, even as oft as they ſhall need deliverance, enemies oft plow upon their backs, and God as often cuts their traces, Pſal. 129.3, 4. As Cat[illegible: 1 letter] was two and thirty times accuſed, and two and thirty times cleared and abſolved; ſo ſhall it be with the Saints; and this not only at the end of the world, as Gregory and others interpret this text (as if by ſix and ſeven, alluſion were made to Gods creating the world in ſix dayes, and reſting on the ſeventh; and ſo muſt his ſervants labour here under afflictions, and reſt in heaven) but in this life preſent, where many are the troubles of the righteous, (millions ſome render it) but the Lord delivereth them out of all, Pſal. 34.19. Yea, in them all, as this text hath it, by his ſupporting grace, and thoſe divine comforts, which as blown bladders, beare them aloft all waters.

There ſhall no evill touch thee] ſo tactu qualitativo, with a deadly touch. God chargeth afflictions as David did his Captaines concerning Abſolom, Handle the young man gently for my ſake. Touch not mine annointed &c. Either touch them not at all, or not to hurt them. Troubles may touch the Saints, but evils muſt not, 1 Cor. 10.14.

Verſe 20. In famine be ſhall redeeme thee from death] They that be ſlaine with the ſword, are better then they that be ſlaine with hunger, Lamen. 4.9. Famine therefore is here ſet as the firſt and greateſt of the ſix enſuing evils, the ſoreſt of Gods judgments, Ezek. 6.11. Jer. 24.10. The certaine harbinger of death, as here From this ſo great a death God delivered Abraham, Gen 12. Iſaak, Gen. 26. Jacob and his family, Gen. 47. The poor widow, 1 Kings 17. The Iſraelites in the wilderneſſe by quailes; the Rochellers by a miraculous ſhoale of ſhel-fiſh, caſt up into their town in a ſtrait ſiege &c. There is a promiſe that the Lions ſhall lack and ſuffer hunger, but ſo ſhall not any ſuch as ſeeke the Lord, Pſalm 34.10. There ſhall bee ſpeciall proviſion made for ſuch, and God ſhall redeeme them from this evil by a wonderfull ſeparation, as he did in another caſe, Exod. [illegible: 1 letter].22. either he will ſend them in meat, or take away their ſtomacks, as ſhee once ſaid. Fides famem non formidat, Faith feareth no famine: having truſted God for a crowne, ſhe will not diſtruſt him for a cruſt.

And in warre from the power of the ſword] Here is the Saints ſafety, or their writ of protection. True it is, that the ſword devoured one, as well as another, 2 Sam. 11.25. and pale death cutteth its way oftentimes through a wood of men, out of the mouth of a murdering piece, without diſtinction. But though the Saints, with Joſiah, bee [illegible: 1 word] in battel, yet they dye in peace, 2 Kings 23.29. with chap. 22.20. for their eyes ſee not the evil that God bringeth upon others that out live them, as it followeth there. Beſides, they are gathered to their fathers, who enjoyed peace. Redeemed they are from the power or hands of the ſword, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. which may kill them, but cannot hurt them; take away their head, but not their crown.

Verſe 21. Thon ſhalt be hid from the ſcourge of the tongue] That is, from reproaches and ſlanders, which is a tongue ſmitting, Jer. 18.18. as ſmart as any hand-ſmiting, and drawes blood, Ezek 22.9. The divel is both a liar, and a murtherer, John 8.44.Back-biting is back-beating. Speed. Humphrey Duke of Glocester, was by the people of England thought to be doubly murthered (ſaith the Chronicler) viz. by detraction and deadly practiſe. Plato commendeth that law of the Lydians, that puniſhed detracters like as they did murtherers; becauſe their words are ſwords, and their breath as fire divoureth, Iſai. 33.10. Now from ſuch peſts the Lord promiſeth to hide his people, that either the Traducer ſhall not find them, Dabhar is the Hebrew for a word, Dabher for a Peſt. Druſ. or not faſten upon them: their names ſhall bee ſo oyled, that ſlanderous aſperſions ſhall not ſtick to them. Some render the text thus, Hee ſhall hee hid, cum vagabitur lingua, when the tongue wandereth or walketh about. Their tongue walketh through the earth, Pſal. 73.9. it runs all the world over, and like a mad dog, ſnaps at every one. Hence the Hebrew word Ragal to defame or ſlander, Pſal. 15.3. properly noteth a fooling it up and down, a going to and fro to carry tales and rumours, 2 Sam. 19.27. Now from ſuch a miſchiefe, from the laſh of ſuch lewd tongues, God will hide his people under the hollow of his hand, becauſe hee knowes that many a good heart is more afflicted with words then with blowes, Pſal. 42.3. Saint Paul reckoned, that it were better for him to die, then that nay man ſhould make his glorying void that is, take away his good name, and ſo diſable him from doing good by his Miniſtery, 1 Cor. 9.15.

Neither ſhalt thou be afraid of deſtruction when it cometh.] Much leſſe at the rumour of it, Matth. 24.6. Luke 24.9. Thou ſhalt walk about the world as a conquerour, being above fear, then when others are below hope. Noah-like thou ſhalt be, — modiis stanqillus in undis, and not as Magor-miſſabib, a terrour to thy ſelf and all about thee, Jer. 20.3.

Verſe 22. As deſtruction and famine thou ſhalt laugh] viz. by the force of thy faith, which (like perfect love) caſteth out ſinſull feare; as grounding upon Gods infallible promiſes, and knowing that all the pathes of the Lord are mercy and truth unto ſuch as keepe his covenant and his teſtimonies, Pſalm 25.10. All the paſſages of his providence [illegible: 1 word] are to ſuch not only mercy, but truth; they come to them in a way of a promiſe, as bound to them by covenant: and hence their holy courage lifteth them up ſo farre above dangers and ſeares, that they even laugh at them, as Leviathan laugheth at the ſhaking of the ſpeare, Job 41.29. They famiſh famine, and deſtroy deſtruction it ſelf; like as Chriſt Jeſus the Captaine of their ſalvation, ſwallowed up death in victory: and as many of the Martyrs baffled it, deriding their tormentors.

Neither ſhalt thou be afraid of the beſts of the earth.] i.e. wilde beaſts, that devour men and cattel, as Lions, Beares, Bores, Wolves, &c. whereunto we may adde thoſe Cannibals, man-eating perſecutors, who eat up Gods people as they eat bread, Pſalm 14.4. Such Lycanthrope, or beaſts in the ſhape of men, Paul fought with at Epheſus, and God had delivered him out of the mouth of that Lion Nero, 2 Tim. 4.17. Who yet afterwards martyred him. But the viper at Malta did him no hurt: no more did the Lions Daniel neither would they meddle with ſome of the primitive Martyrs, caſt before them to be devoured.

Verſe 23. For thou ſhalt be in league with the ſtones of the field] Thou ſhalt not daſ[illegible: 2 letters]thy [illegible: 1 letter]oa[illegible: 1 letter] againſt them (the Latines eaſt a ſtone lapidem à laedendo pede. from hurting the ſoot that hi[illegible: 1 letter]teth againſt them) Pſal. 91.12. They were wont of old to go barefoot (as Vatablus here noteth.) And our Chronicler telleth us of King Henry the ſecond, that for a per[illegible: 1 letter]dnee, going to Canterbury to the ſhrine of Thomas Becket, his bare feet with the hard ſtones were forced to yeild bloody tokens of his devotion on the way, or thus, The ſtones of the field ſhall not hinder thy harveſt, as Marth. 13.6. Or being picked up for a mound or wall, they ſhall not fall upon thee, and braine thee,1 King. 20.30. as the [illegible: 1 word] of the wall of Aphek did the blaſphemous Syrians: as the towne-houſe did the inſiſting, Philiſtines Judg. 10.30. as the houſe did Jobs children &c. or the Homes out of the wall ſhall not cry out againſt thee, as Hab, 2.11. but all creatures ſhall be thy confederates: not only not hurting, but helping thee, all that may be. For as they are all armed againſt the wicked as rebels and traitors to the divine Majeſty: ſo God hath promiſed to make a covenant for his Saints with the beaſts of the field, and with the foules of heaven &c. Hoſ. 2.18.Rebellis facta eſt; quiz home numini, creatura homini. Aug. See the Note there.

And the beaſts of the field ſhall be at peace with thee] The tame beaſts ſhall not only not miſchieve thee (as ſome they have done: Euripides the Poet was torn in pieces with dogs; horſes have been the death of many &c.) but ſhall be ſerviceable and profitable unto thee; ſome alive, not dead, as the dog, horſe: ſome dead, not alive, as the hog: ſome both, as the oxe, ſheep, &c. Ambroſe hath a very ſtrange ſtory of a man ſlain at Antioch by night, by a ſouldier, in hope of ſpoile: this mans dog would not away from his maſters dead corps, but lay howling by it till day-light, many came in the morning to ſee that ſad ſight, and the murtherer among the reſt came, that he might be the leſſe ſuſpected. The dog no ſooner ſaw this ſouldier,Amb. in Hex[illegible: 1 letter]em. but he ran fiercely at him, and would never give over barking and baiting at him till he ſaw him apprehended and carried to priſon, where he confeſſed the fact, and was for the ſome deſervedly executed.

Verſe 24. And thou ſhalt know] Thine owne eyes ſhall ſee it, and thine experience ſeale to it: thou ſhalt be well aſſured of it: this is a ſweete mercy: it is the ſweet-meates of the feaſt of a good conſcience, ſaith Latimer, to know, that all ſhall go well with us here, and that our names are written in the book of life; to be able to conclude from temporal bleſſings to eternal, as David doth, Pſal. 23.5, 6. to have not only ſustentation, but ſuavities ſpiritual, as one ſpeaketh.

That thy Tabernacle ſhall be in peace] i.e. thy houſe, houſhold, and houſhold-ſtuffe ſhall be in ſafety; and all ſhall be as well with thee as heart can wiſh. Or, thy Tabernacle ſhall be peace. Thou ſhalt bee free from domeſtical diſſenſions. It is a ſign of a Chriſtian-family, if the ſon of peace be there, and peace reſt in it, Luke 10.6. This turneth water to wine, and the contrary: where envying and ſtrife is, there is confuſion (or unquietneſſe) and every evil work, Jam. 3.16. ſuch a tabernacle is more like to a kennel of hounds, then a family of Chriſtians.

And thou ſhalt visit thy habitation] As a buſie biſhop within thine own dioceſſe, thou ſhalt carefully enquire into the ſtate of thy family, and take an account of all that are under thy roofe; that God be ſincerely ſerved there, and all things well husbanded, Prov. 27.26, 27.

And ſhalt not ſinne] viz. by too much indulgence to children and ſervants, Elies ſin, who brought up his children to bring down his houſe: Or, thou ſhalt not bee found guilty, ſc. of thy families faults imputed unto thee: or, thou ſhalt not miſs, ſo. of thy deſire and expectation; but all ſhall go as well within doores, as heart can wiſh.

Verſe 25. Thou ſhalt know alſo that thy ſeed ſhall be great] Thou ſhalt live to ſee thy children (whereof thou art now bereft) not only reſtored, but increaſed. Children are the ſeed, parents are but the husk, as it were: to have theſe multiplied, is no ſmall mercy, Pſalm 128.3. eſpecially when the wife is as the vine, and the children like olive-plants, two of the beſt fruits; the on for ſweetneſſe, the other for fatneſſe, Judg. 9.13. when they prove to be as arrowes of a ſtrong man, ſuch as whoſe naturall knottineſſe is reformed and ſmoothed by grace, ſuch as for the workmanſhip of grace and holineſſe in their hearts and lives, are become like the graving of a Kings palace, Pſalm 144.12. What can better preſerve Jacob (Job) from confuſion, or his face from waxing pale, than if he might ſee his children, the work of Gods hands, framed and fitted by the word in regeneration, and the duties of new obedience? this would make religious parents of ſanctifie Gods name, even to ſanctifie the Holy One, and with ſingular encouragement from the God of Iſrael. Iſa. 29.22, 23.

And thine off-ſpring as the graſſe of the earth] Thy Nephewes ſhall be not onely numerous, but innumerable, they ſhall alſo flouriſh, as graſſe in its prime.

Verſe 26. Thou ſhalt come to thy grave in a full age] In a good old age, or (as the Hebrew hath it, Gen. 25.8.) with a good hoare head, in an [non-Latin text not transcribed], when thou haſt even a ſatiety of life, and art as willing to die as ever thou waſt to dine, or to riſe from table after a full meale. The Hebrewes made a feaſt when they were paſt 60 yeares of age: and ſome of them obſerve, that the numerall letters of Chela[illegible: 1 letter]h (th[illegible: 1 letter] word here uſed) make up threeſcore, but that's not a full old-age; rather it is, the [illegible: 1 page] [illegible: 1 page] beginning of it. Thou ſhalt aye in luſty old age, ſo Broughton rendreth it, old, and yet healthy and comfortable, as was Moſes, Deut, 34.7. And Mr. Dod that Moſes of our times? Of Mr. Samuel Crook likewiſe it is recorded, that when he ſaw no more ability for labours,In his life by W.G. he deſired to die in a ſatiety and fulneſſe of life: not as a meat loathed (as many times naturall men do) but as a diſh though well liked, that he had fed, his full of; ſew men having ever run ſo long a race without ceſſation or aespitat[illegible: 3 letters], ſo conſtantly, ſo unweariably, ſo unblameably. Lo ſuch an hoary head, was a crown of glory, as being found in the way of righteouſneſſe, Prov. 16.31. But ſo are not all that yet are long-lived. A ſinner may do evill an hundred times, and yet have his dayes prolonged, Bccleſ 8.12. Manaſſeh had the longeſt reigne of any King of Judah, [illegible: 1 word] Jo[illegible: 1 letter]. 22 held the mortality of the ſoule, and was otherwiſe erroneous and vitious, yet he lived longeſt of any Pope, and died richeſt, Anno Dom. 13.35. howbeit he died tempore non ſuo too ſoone for himſelf, Eccleſ. 7.17. He went not to his grave in a good old age, ripe and ready.

As a ſhock of corn cometh in, in his ſeaſon] As corn when ripe is reaped, ſhockt up, and carried into the barn for the maſters uſe. Dei frumentum ego ſum; I am Gods bread-corn, ſaid that ancient Martyr.

Verſe 27. Lo this we have ſearched it, ſo it is] Wee are ſure that all this is true, and may be truſted to, for we have tryed it: wee have it not by tradition, neither take we it up upon truſt from others: but we believe and know, as Peter ſpake Job. 6 69 we believe, and therefore ſpeak it, as Paul (after David) 2 Cor. 4.13. Pſal. 116.10. Thou majeſt write upon this whole chapter, as thoſe Ancients did upon their Oracles [non-Latin text not transcribed] God, God, or as John the Divine did upon his Revelation, Theſe ſayings are faithful and true, Rev. 22.6. Vera tanquam [illegible: 1 letter]x tripode, as true as Goſpel, as we ſay. Thoſe that take upon them to teach others, ſhould goe upon ſure ground, and be maſters of what they teach; how elſe will they teach with authority? thoſe alſo that come to heare, muſt ſtrive to find out that which St. Luke calleth the certainty of things, Luke 1.4. and not be led by conjectural ſuppoſitions, or the Tenents of their teachers, but be fully perſwaded: verſe 1.

Heare it] With utmoſt attention of body, intention of mind, retention of memory, and practice, alſo all is loſt.

And know thou it for thy good] Make thy beſt uſe of this our diligence and experience ſo freely and friendly communicated unto thee. Let not all this that hath beene ſpoken be ſpilt upon thee, but prove every whit as profitable to thee, as I conceive it ſeaſonable for thee. Some knowing men are not a button the better for all they know. The divels are full of objective knowledge, but they get no good by it: no more do graceleſſe men, that draw not their knowledge into practice, but detaine the truth in unrighteouſneſſe, it ſwimmeth in their heads, but ſinketh not into their hearts; it maketh them giddy, as wine fuming all up into the head, but never coming at the heart to cheare it. Such a man may caſt out divels, and yet be caſt to the divel; he may go to hell with all his unprofitable knowledge; like as a Bull with a coronet and garland goes to the ſlaughter. Unleſſe a man heare and know for himſelfe, he ſhall find no more comfort of it, then a man doth of the Sun when it ſhineth not in his own Horizon; or then a traveller doth of the fatneſſe of a farre Country, which he only paſſeth through, and taketh a light view of. If therefore thou bee wiſe, be wiſe for thy ſelf, Prov. 9.12. Let thy knowledge be not only apprehenſive, but affective, [illegible: 1 letter]illightning, but transforming (2 Cor. 3 ult.) diſcurſive, but experimental, and practical. For hereby we know that we know him, if we keepe his commanaments, 1 John 2.3.