Job 9 commentary

In this answer Job declared that he did not doubt the justice of God, when he denied himself to be a hypocrite; for how should man be just with God? Before him he pleaded guilty of sins more than could be counted; and if God should contend with him in judgment, he could not justify one out of a thousand, of all the thoughts, words, and actions of his life; therefore he deserved worse than all his present sufferings. When Job mentions the wisdom and power of God, he forgets his complaints. We are unfit to judge of God's proceedings, because we know not what he does, or what he designs. God acts with power which no creature can resist. Those who think they have strength enough to help others, will not be able to help themselves against it.

Job is still righteous in his own eyes, ch. 32:1, and this answer, though it sets forth the power and majesty of God, implies that the question between the afflicted and the Lord of providence, is a question of might, and not of right; and we begin to discover the evil fruits of pride and of a self-righteous spirit. Job begins to manifest a disposition to condemn God, that he may justify himself, for which he is afterwards reproved. Still Job knew so much of himself, that he durst not stand a trial. If we say, We have no sin, we not only deceive ourselves, but we affront God; for we sin in saying so, and give the lie to the Scripture. But Job reflected on God's goodness and justice in saying his affliction was without cause.

Job touches briefly upon the main point now in dispute. His friends maintained that those who are righteous and good, always prosper in this world, and that none but the wicked are in misery and distress: he said, on the contrary, that it is a common thing for the wicked to prosper, and the righteous to be greatly afflicted. Yet there is too much passion in what Job here says, for God doth not afflict willingly. When the spirit is heated with dispute or with discontent, we have need to set a watch before our lips.

What little need have we of pastimes, and what great need to redeem time, when it runs on so fast towards eternity! How vain the enjoyments of time, which we may quite lose while yet time continues! The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards; so will not the remembrance of having got worldly wealth, when it is all lost and gone. Job's complaint of God, as one that could not be appeased and would not relent, was the language of his corruption. There is a Mediator, a Daysman, or Umpire, for us, even God's own beloved Son, who has purchased peace for us with the blood of his cross, who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through him. If we trust in his name, our sins will be buried in the depths of the sea, we shall be washed from all our filthiness, and made whiter than snow, so that none can lay any thing to our charge. We shall be clothed with the robes of righteousness and salvation, adorned with the graces of the Holy Spirit, and presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. May we learn the difference between justifying ourselves, and being thus justified by God himself. Let the tempest-tossed soul consider Job, and notice that others have passed this dreadful gulf; and though they found it hard to believe that God would hear or deliver them, yet he rebuked the storm, and brought them to the desired haven. Resist the devil; give not place to hard thoughts of God, or desperate conclusions about thyself. Come to Him who invites the weary and heavy laden; who promises in nowise to cast them out.

CHAPTER 9

FIRST SERIES.

Job 9:1-35. Reply of Job to Bildad.

2. I know it is so of a truth--that God does not "pervert justice" (Job 8:3). But (even though I be sure of being in the right) how can a mere man assert his right--(be just) with God. The Gospel answers (Ro 3:26).

3. If he--God

will contend with him--literally, "deign to enter into judgment."

he cannot answer, &c.--He (man) would not dare, even if he had a thousand answers in readiness to one question of God's, to utter one of them, from awe of His Majesty.

4. wise in heart--in understanding!--and mighty in power! God confounds the ablest arguer by His wisdom, and the mightiest by His power.

hardened himself--or his neck (Pr 29:1); that is, defied God. To prosper, one must fall in with God's arrangements of providence and grace.

5. and they know not--Hebrew for "suddenly, unexpectedly, before they are aware of it" (Psa 35:8); "at unawares"; Hebrew, which "he knoweth not of" (Joe 2:14; Pr 5:6).

6. The earth is regarded, poetically, as resting on pillars, which tremble in an earthquake (Psa 75:3; Is 24:20). The literal truth as to the earth is given (Job 26:7).

7. The sun, at His command, does not rise; namely, in an eclipse, or the darkness that accompanies earthquakes (Job 9:6).

sealeth up the stars--that is, totally covers as one would seal up a room, that its contents may not be seen.

8. spreadeth out--(Is 40:22; Psa 104:2). But throughout it is not so much God's creating, as His governing, power over nature that is set forth. A storm seems a struggle between Nature and her Lord! Better, therefore, "Who boweth the heavens alone," without help of any other. God descends from the bowed-down heaven to the earth (Psa 18:9). The storm, wherein the clouds descend, suggests this image. In the descent of the vault of heaven, God has come down from His high throne and walks majestically over the mountain waves (Hebrew, "heights"), as a conqueror taming their violence. So "tread upon" (De 33:29; Am 4:13; Mt 14:26). The Egyptian hieroglyphic for impossibility is a man walking on waves.

9. maketh--rather, from the Arabic, "covereth up." This accords better with the context, which describes His boundless power as controller rather than as creator [Umbreit].

Arcturus--the great bear, which always revolves about the pole, and never sets. The Chaldeans and Arabs, early named the stars and grouped them in constellations; often travelling and tending flocks by night, they would naturally do so, especially as the rise and setting of some stars mark the distinction of seasons. Brinkley, presuming the stars here mentioned to be those of Taurus and Scorpio, and that these were the cardinal constellations of spring and autumn in Job's time, calculates, by the precession of equinoxes, the time of Job to be eight hundred eighteen years after the deluge, and one hundred eighty-four before Abraham.

Orion--Hebrew, "the fool"; in Job 38:31 he appears fettered with "bands." The old legend represented this star as a hero, who presumptuously rebelled against God, and was therefore a fool, and was chained in the sky as a punishment; for its rising is at the stormy period of the year. He is Nimrod (the exceedingly impious rebel) among the Assyrians; Orion among the Greeks. Sabaism (worship of the heavenly hosts) and hero-worship were blended in his person. He first subverted the patriarchal order of society by substituting a chieftainship based on conquest (Ge 10:9, 10).

Pleiades--literally, "the heap of stars"; Arabic, "knot of stars." The various names of this constellation in the East express the close union of the stars in it (Am 5:8).

chambers of the south--the unseen regions of the southern hemisphere, with its own set of stars, as distinguished from those just mentioned of the northern. The true structure of the earth is here implied.

10. Repeated from Eliphaz (Job 5:9).

11. I see him not: he passeth on--The image is that of a howling wind (Is 21:1). Like it when it bursts invisibly upon man, so God is felt in the awful effects of His wrath, but is not seen (Joh 3:8). Therefore, reasons Job, it is impossible to contend with Him.

12. If "He taketh away," as in my case all that was dear to me, still a mortal cannot call Him to account. He only takes His own. He is an absolute King (Ec 8:4; Da 4:35).

13. If God--rather, "God will not withdraw His anger," that is, so long as a mortal obstinately resists [Umbreit].

the proud helpers--The arrogant, who would help one contending with the Almighty, are of no avail against Him.

14. How much less shall I? &c.--who am weak, seeing that the mighty have to stoop before Him. Choose words (use a well-chosen speech, in order to reason) with Him.

15. (Job 10:15). Though I were conscious of no sin, yet I would not dare to say so, but leave it to His judgment and mercy to justify me (1Co 4:4).

16-17. would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice--who breaketh me (as a tree stripped of its leaves) with a tempest.

19. Umbreit takes these as the words of God, translating, "What availeth the might of the strong?" "Here (saith he) behold! what availeth justice? Who will appoint me a time to plead?" (So Jr 49:19). The last words certainly apply better to God than to Job. The sense is substantially the same if we make "me" apply to Job. The "lo!" expresses God's swift readiness for battle when challenged.

20. it--(Job 15:6; Lu 19:22); or "He," God.

21. Literally, here (and in Job 9:20), "I perfect! I should not know my soul! I would despise," [that is], "disown my life"; that is, Though conscious of innocence, I should be compelled, in contending with the infinite God, to ignore my own soul and despise my past life as if it were guilty [Rosenmuller].

22. one thing--"It is all one; whether perfect or wicked--He destroyeth." This was the point Job maintained against his friends, that the righteous and wicked alike are afflicted, and that great sufferings here do not prove great guilt (Lu 13:1-5; Ec 9:2).

23. If--Rather, "While (His) scourge slays suddenly (the wicked, Job 9:22), He laughs at (disregards; not derides) the pining away of the innocent." The only difference, says Job, between the innocent and guilty is, the latter are slain by a sudden stroke, the former pine away gradually. The translation, "trial," does not express the antithesis to "slay suddenly," as "pining away" does [Umbreit].

24. Referring to righteous "judges," in antithesis to "the wicked" in the parallel first clause, whereas the wicked oppressor often has the earth given into his hand, the righteous judges are led to execution--culprits had their faces covered preparatory to execution (Es 7:8). Thus the contrast of the wicked and righteous here answers to that in Job 9:23.

if not, where and who?--If God be not the cause of these anomalies, where is the cause to be found, and who is he?

25. a post--a courier. In the wide Persian empire such couriers, on dromedaries or on foot, were employed to carry the royal commands to the distant provinces (Es 3:13, 15; 8:14). "My days" are not like the slow caravan, but the fleet post. The "days" are themselves poetically said to "see no good," instead of Job in them (1Pe 3:10).

26. swift ships--rather, canoes of reeds or papyrus skiffs, used on the Nile, swift from their lightness (Is 18:2).

28. The apodosis to Job 9:27--"If I say, &c." "I still am afraid of all my sorrows (returning), for I know that thou wilt (dost) (by removing my sufferings) not hold or declare me innocent. How then can I leave off my heaviness?"

29. The "if" is better omitted; I (am treated by God as) wicked; why then labor I in vain (to disprove His charge)? Job submits, not so much because he is convinced that God is right, as because God is powerful and he weak [Barnes].

30. snow water--thought to be more cleansing than common water, owing to the whiteness of snow (Psa 51:7; Is 1:18).

never so clean--Better, to answer to the parallelism of the first clause which expresses the cleansing material, "lye:" the Arabs used alkali mixed with oil, as soap (Psa 73:13; Jr 2:22).

32. (Ec 6:10; Is 45:9).

33. daysman--"mediator," or "umpire"; the imposition of whose hand expresses power to adjudicate between the persons. There might be one on a level with Job, the one party; but Job knew of none on a level with the Almighty, the other party (1Sa 2:25). We Christians know of such a Mediator (not, however, in the sense of umpire) on a level with both--the God-man, Christ Jesus (1Ti 2:5).

34. rod--not here the symbol of punishment, but of power. Job cannot meet God on fair terms so long as God deals with him on the footing of His almighty power.

35. it is not so with me--As it now is, God not taking His rod away, I am not on such a footing of equality as to be able to vindicate myself.

I know it is so of a truth - I acknowledge the general truth of the maxims you have advanced. God will not ultimately punish a righteous person, nor shall the wicked finally triumph; and though righteous before man, and truly sincere in my piety, yet I know, when compared with the immaculate holiness of God, all my righteousness is nothing.

If he will contend with him - God is so holy, and his law so strict, that if he will enter into judgment with his creatures, the most upright of them cannot be justified in his sight.

One of a thousand - Of a thousand offenses of which he may be accused he cannot vindicate himself even in one. How little that any man does, even in the way of righteousness, truth, and mercy, can stand the penetrating eye of a just and holy God, when all motives, feelings, and objects, come to be scrutinized in his sight, on this ground, no man living can be justified. O, how necessary to fallen, weak, miserable, imperfect and sinful man, is the doctrine of justification by faith, and sanctification through the Divine Spirit, by the sacrificial death and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ!

He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength - By his infinite knowledge he searches out and sees all things, and by his almighty power he can punish all delinquencies. He that rebels against him must be destroyed.

Removeth the mountains, and they know not - This seems to refer to earthquakes. By those strong convulsions, mountains, valleys, hills, even whole islands, are removed in an instant; and to this latter circumstance the words, they know not, most probably refer. The work is done in the twinkling of an eye; no warning is given; the mountain, that seemed to be as firm as the earth on which it rested, was in the same moment both visible and invisible; so suddenly was it swallowed up.

The pillars thereof tremble - This also refers to an earthquake, and to that tremulous motion which sometimes gives warning of the approaching catastrophe, and from which this violent convulsion of nature has received its name. Earthquakes, in Scripture language, signify also violent commotions and disturbances in states; mountains often signify rulers; sun, empires; stars, petty states. But it is most likely that the expressions here are to be understood literally.

Which commandeth the sun - Obscures it either with clouds, with thick darkness, or with an eclipse.

Sealeth up the stars - Like the contents of a letter, wrapped up and sealed, so that it cannot be read. Sometimes the heavens become as black as ebony, and no star, figure, or character, in this great book of God can be read.

And treadeth upon the waves - This is a very majestic image. God not only walks upon the waters, but when the sea runs mountains high, he steps from billow to billow in his almighty and essential majesty. There is a similar sentiment in David, Psa 29:10 : "The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever." But both are far outdone by the Psalmist, Psa 18:9-15, and especially in these words, Psa 18:10, He did fly on the wings of the wind. Job is great, but in every respect David is greater.

Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south - For this translation the original words are עשה עש כסיל וכימה והדרי תמן oseh ash, kesil, vechimah vehadrey theman, which are thus rendered by the Septuagint: Ὁ ποιων Πλειαδα, και Ἑσπερον, και Αρκτουρον, και ταμεια νοτου; "Who makes the Pleiades, and Hesperus, and Arcturus, and Orion, and the chambers of the south."

The Vulgate, Qui facit Arcturum, et Oriona, et Hyadas, et interiora Austri; "Who maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and the Hyades, and the innermost chambers of the south."

The Targum follows the Hebrew, but paraphrases the latter clause thus: "and the chambers or houses of the planetary domination in the southern hemisphere."

The Syrian and Arabic, "Who maketh the Pleiades, and Arcturus, and the giant, (Orion or Hercules), and the boundaries of the south."

Coverdale has, He maketh the waynes of heaven, the Orions, the vii starres and the secrete places of the south. And on the vii starres he has this marginal note: some call these seven starres, the clock henne with hir chickens. See below.

Edmund Becke, in his edition, 1549, follows Coverdale, but puts Vaynes of heaven for waynes, which Carmarden, in his Bible, Rouen, 1566, mistaking, changes into Waves of heaven.

Barker's Bible, 1615, reads, "He maketh the starres Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the climates of the south." On which he has this note, "These are the names of certain starres, whereby he meaneth that all starres, both knowen and unknowen, are at His appointment."

Our early translators seem to agree much with the German and Dutch: Er machet, den wagen am himmel, und Orion, und die Gluken, und die Sterne gegen mittag; "He maketh the wagon of heaven, (Charles's wain), and Orion, and the clucking hen, (the Pleiades), and the stars of the mid-day region." See above, under Coverdale.

The Dutch version is not much unlike the German, from which it is taken: Die den wagen maecht, den Orion, ende het sevengesternte, end de binnenkameren ban't Zuyden.

The European versions, in general, copy one or other of the above, or make a compound translation from the whole; but all are derived ultimately from the Septuagint and Vulgate.

As to the Hebrew words, they might as well have been applied to any of the other constellations of heaven: indeed, it does not appear that constellations are at all meant. Parkhurst and Bate have given, perhaps, the best interpretation of the words, which is as follows: - "כימה kimah, from כמה camah, to be hot or warm, denotes genial heat or warmth, as opposed to עש ash, a parching, biting air, on the one side; and כסיל kesil, the rigid, contracting cold, on the other; and the chambers (thick clouds) of the south." See more in Parkhurst, under כמה.

I need scarcely add that these words have been variously translated by critics and commentators. Dr. Hales translates kimah and kesil by Taurus and Scorpio; and, if this translation were indubitably correct, we might follow him to his conclusions, viz., that Job lived 2337 years before Christ! See at the end of this chapter, Job 9:35 (note).

Great things past finding out - Great things without end; wonders without number - Targum.

Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not - He is incomprehensible in all his ways, and in all his works; and he must be so it he be God, and work as God; for his own nature and his operations are past finding out.

He taketh away - He never gives, but he is ever lending: and while the gift is useful or is improved, he permits it to remain; but when it becomes useless or is misused, he recalls it.

Who can hinder him? - Literally, Who can cause him to restore it?

What doest thou? - He is supreme, and will give account of none of his matters. He is infinitely wise, and cannot mistake. He is infinitely kind, and can do nothing cruel. He is infinitely good, and can do nothing wrong. No one, therefore, should question either his motives or his operations.

If God will not withdraw his anger - It is of no use to contend with God; he cannot be successfully resisted; all his opposers must perish.

How much less shall I answer - I cannot contend with my Maker. He is the Lawgiver and the Judge. How shall I stand in judgment before him?

Though I were righteous - Though clear of all the crimes, public and secret, of which you accuse me, yet I would not dare to stand before his immaculate holiness. Man's holiness may profit man, but in the sight of the infinite purity of God it is nothing. Thus sung an eminent poet: - "I loathe myself when God I see,And into nothing fall;

Content that thou exalted be,And Christ be all in all."

I would make supplication to my Judge - Though not conscious of any sin, I should not think myself thereby justified; but would, from a conviction of the exceeding breadth of the commandment, and the limited nature of my own perfection, cry out, "Cleanse thou me from secret faults!"

If I had called, and he had answered - I could scarcely suppose, such is his majesty and such his holiness, that he could condescend to notice a being so mean, and in every respect so infinitely beneath his notice. These sentiments sufficiently confuted that slander of his friends, who said he was presumptuous, had not becoming notions of the majesty of God, and used blasphemous expressions against his sovereign authority.

He breaketh me with a tempest - The Targum, Syriac, and Arabic have this sense: He powerfully smites even every hair of my head and multiplies my wounds without cause. That is, There is no reason known to myself, or to any man, why I should be thus most oppressively afflicted. It is, therefore, cruel, and inconsequent to assert that I suffer for my crimes.

He will not suffer me to take my breath - I have no respite in my afflictions; I suffer continually in my body, and my mind is incessantly harassed.

If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong - Human wisdom, power, and influence avail nothing before him.

Who shall set me a time - מי יועידני mi yoideni, "Who would be a witness for me?" or, Who would dare to appear in my behalf? Almost all the terms in this part of the speech of Job, Job 9:11-24, are forensic or juridical, and are taken from legal processes and pleadings in their gates or courts of justice.

If I justify myself - God must have some reason for his conduct towards me; I therefore do not pretend to justify myself; the attempt to do it would be an insult to his majesty and justice. Though I am conscious of none of the crimes of which you accuse me; and know not why he contends with me; yet he must have some reason, and that reason he does not choose to explain.

Though I were perfect - Had I the fullest conviction that, in every thought, word, and deed, I were blameless before him, yet I would not plead this; nor would I think it any security for a life of ease and prosperity, or any proof that my days should be prolonged.

This is one thing - My own observation shows, that in the course of providence the righteous and the wicked have an equal lot; for when any sudden calamity comes, the innocent and the guilty fall alike. There may be a few exceptions, but they are very extraordinary, and very rare.

The earth is given into the hand of the wicked - Is it not most evident that the worst men possess most of this world's goods, and that the righteous are scarcely ever in power or affluence? This was the case in Job's time; it is the case still. Therefore prosperity and adversity in this life are no marks either of God's approbation or disapprobation.

He covereth the faces of the judges thereon - Or, The faces of its decisions he shall cover. God is often stated in Scripture as doing a thing which he only permits to be done. So he permits the eyes of judgment to be blinded; and hence false decisions. Mr. Good translates the verse thus: - "The earth is given over to the hand of Injustice;

She hoodwinketh the faces of its judges.

Where every one liveth is it not so?"

And vindicates the translation in his learned notes: but I think the Hebrew will not bear this rendering; especially that in the third line.

Where, and who is he? - If this be not the case, who is he that acts in this way, and where is he to be found? If God does not permit these things, who is it that orders them? Coverdale translates, As for the worlde, he geveth it over into the power of the wicked, such as the rulers be wherof all londes are full. Is it not so? Where is there eny, but he is soch one? This sense is clear enough, if the original will bear it. The last clause is thus rendered by the Syriac and Arabic, Who can bear his indignation?

Swifter than a post - מני רץ minni rats, than a runner. The light-footed messenger or courier who carries messages from place to place. They flee away - The Chaldee says, My days are swifter than the shadow of a flying bird. So swiftly do they flee away that I cannot discern them; and when past they cannot be recalled. There is a sentiment like this in Virgil, Geor. lib. iii., ver. 284: -

Sed Fugit interea, Cubit Irreparabile tempus! - "But in the meanwhile time flies! irreparable time flies away!"

As the swift ships - אניות אבה oniyoth ebeh. Ships of desire, or ships of Ebeh, says our margin; perhaps more correctly, inflated ships, the sails bellying out with a fair brisk wind, tide favorable, and the vessels themselves lightly freighted. The Vulgate has, Like ships freighted with apples. Ships laden with the best fruits - Targum. Ships well adapted for sailing - Arabic. Shipes that be good under sale - Coverdale. Probably this relates to the light fast-sailing ships on the Nile, which were made of reeds or papyrus. Perhaps the idea to be seized is not so much the swiftness of the passage, as their leaving no trace or track behind them. But instead of אבה ebeh, איבה eybah, hostile ships or the ships of enemies, is the reading of forty-seven of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., and of the Syriac version. If this be the true reading what is its sense? My days are gone off like the light vessels of the pirates, having stripped me of my property, and carried all irrecoverably away, under the strongest press of sail, that they may effect their escape, and secure their booty. The next words, As the eagle that hasteth to the prey, seem at least to countenance, if not confirm, the above reading: the idea of robbery and spoil, prompt attack and sudden retreat, is preserved in both images.

I will forget my complaint - I will forsake or forego my complaining. I will leave off my heaviness. Vulgate, I will change my countenance - force myself to smile, and endeavor to assume the appearance of comfort.

I am afraid of all my sorrows - Coverdale translates, after the Vulgate, Then am I afrayed of all my workes. Even were I to cease from complaining, I fear lest not one of my works, however well intentioned, would stand thy scrutiny, or meet with thy approbation.

Thou wilt not hold me innocent - Coverdale, after the Vulgate, For I knowe thou favourest not an evil doer; but this is not the sense of the original: Thou wilt not acquit me so as to take away my afflictions from me.

If I be wicked - If I am the sinner you suppose me to be, in vain should I labor to counterfeit joy, and cease to complain of my sufferings.

If I wash myself with snow water - Supposed to have a more detergent quality than common water; and it was certainly preferred to common water by the ancients. Of this we find an example in an elegant but licentious author: Tandem ergo discubuimus, pueris Alexandrinis Aquam in manus Nivatam infundentibus, aliisque insequentibus ad pedes - Petr. Satyr., cap. xxxi. "At length we sat down, and had snow water poured on our hands by lads of Alexandria," etc. Mr. Good supposes that there is an allusion here to the ancient rite of washing the hands in token of innocence. See Psa 26:6 : I will Wash my hands in Innocency; and Psa 73:13 : Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and Washed my Hands in Innocency. And by this ceremony Pilate declared himself innocent of the blood of Christ, Mat 27:24.

And mine own clothes shall abhor me - Such is thine infinite purity, when put in opposition to the purity of man, that it will bear no comparison. Searched and tried by the eye of God, I should be found as a leper, so that my own clothes would dread to touch me, for fear of being infected by my corruption. This is a strong and bold figure; and is derived from the corrupted state of his body, which his clothes dreaded to touch, because of the contagious nature of his disorder.

For he is not a man as I am - I cannot contend with him as with one of my fellows in a court of justice.

Neither is there any day's-man - בינינו מוכיח beyneynu mochiach, a reprover, arguer, or umpire between us. Day's - Man, in our law, means an arbitrator, or umpire between party and party; as it were bestowing a day, or certain time on a certain day, to decree, judge, or decide a matter - Minshieu. Day is used in law for the day of appearance in court, either originally or upon assignation, for hearing a matter for trial - Idem. But arbitrator is the proper meaning of the term here: one who is, by the consent of both parties, to judge between them, and settle their differences. Instead of לא יש lo yesh, there is not, fifteen of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., with the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic, read לו יש lu vesh, I wish there were: or, O that there were! Ειθε ην ὁ μεσιτης ἡμων, και ελεγχων και διακουων αναμεσον αμφοτερων; O that we had a mediator, an advocate, and judge between us both! - Sept. Poor Job! He did not yet know the Mediator between God and man: the only means by which God and man can be brought together and reconciled. Had St. Paul this in his eye when he wrote 1Tim 2:5, 1Tim 2:6? For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all. Without this Mediator, and the ransom price which he has laid down, God and man can never be united: and that this union might be made possible, Jesus took the human into conjunction with his Divine nature; and thus God was manifest in the flesh.

Let him take his rod away - In the Masoretic Bibles, the word שבטו shibto, his rod, is written with a large ט teth, as above; and as the letter in numerals stands for 9, the Masora says the word was thus written to show the nine calamities under which Job had suffered, and which he wished God to remove. As שבט shebet signifies, not only rod, but also scepter or the ensign of royalty, Job might here refer to God sitting in his majesty upon the judgment-seat; and this sight so appalled him, that, filled with terror, he was unable to speak. When a sinful soul sees God in his majesty, terror seizes upon it, and prayer is impossible. We have a beautiful illustration of this, Isa 6:1-5 : "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Then said I, Wo is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."

But it is not so with me - I am not in such circumstances as to plead with my Judge. I believe the sense of these words is nearly as Coverdale has expressed it: - For as longe as I am in soch fearfulnesse, I can make no answere. A natural picture of the state of a penitent soul, which needs no additional coloring.

On the names of the constellations mentioned Job 9:9, and again Job 38:31, etc., much has been written, and to little effect. I have already, in the notes, expressed my doubts whether any constellation be intended. Dr. Hales, however, finds in these names, as he thinks, astronomical data, by which he ascertains the time of Job. I shall give his words: - "The cardinal constellations of spring and autumn, in Job's time, were Chimah, and Chesil or Taurus, and Scorpio; noticed Job 9:9, and again, Job 38:31, Job 38:32; of which the principal stars are, Aldebaran, the bull's eye, and Antares, the scorpion's heart. Knowing, therefore, the longitudes of these stars, at present, the interval of time from thence to the assumed date of Job's trial will give the difference of the longitudes; and ascertain their positions then, with respect to the vernal and autumnal points of intersection of the equinoctial and ecliptic; according to the usual rate of the precession of the equinoxes, one degree in 71 years. See that article, vol. i. p. 185. "The following calculations I owe to the kindness and skill of the respectable Dr. Brinkley, Andrew's Professor of Astronomy in the University of Dublin. "In a.d. 1800 Aldebaran was in 2 signs, 7 degrees, east longitude. But since the date of Job's trial, b.c. 2338, i.e., 4138 years, the precession of the equinoxes amounted to 1 sign, 27 degrees, 53 minutes; which, being subtracted from the former quantity, left Aldebaran in only 9 degrees, 7 minutes longitude, or distance from the vernal intersection; which, falling within the constellation Taurus, consequently rendered it the cardinal constellation of spring, as Pisces is at present. "In a.d. 1800 Antares was in 8 signs, 6 degrees, 58 minutes, east longitude; or 2 signs, 6 degrees, 58 minutes, east of the autumnal intersection: from which subtracting as before the amount of the precession, Antares was left only 9 degrees, 5 minutes east. Since then, the autumnal equinox was found within Scorpio, this was the cardinal constellation of autumn, as Virgo is at present. "Such a combination and coincidence of various rays of evidence, derived from widely different sources, history, sacred and profane, chronology, and astronomy, and all converging to the same focus, tend strongly to establish the time of Job's trial, as rightly assigned to the year b.c. 2337, or 818 years after the deluge, 184 years before the birth of Abram; 474 years before the settlement of Jacob's family in Egypt; and 689 years before their exode or departure from thence." New Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii., p. 57.

Now all this is specious; and, were the foundation sound, we might rely on the permanence of the building, though the rains should descend, the floods come, and the winds blow and beat on that house. But all these deductions and conclusions are founded on the assumption that Chimah and Chesil mean Taurus and Scorpio: but this is the very point that is to be proved; for proof of this is not offered, nor, indeed, can be offered; and such assumptions are palpably nugatory. That עש ash has been generally understood to signify the Great Bear; כסיל Kesil, Orion; and כימה Kimah, the Pleiades; may be seen everywhere: but that they do signify these constellations is perfectly uncertain. We have only conjectures concerning their meaning; and on such conjectures no system can be built. Genuine data, in Dr. Hales's hands, are sure to be conducted to legitimate conclusions: but neither he nor any one else can construct an astronomical fabric in the limbus of conjecture. When Job lived is perfectly uncertain: but that this book was written 818 years after the deluge; 184 years before the birth of Abram, and 689 years before the exodus; and that all this is demonstrable from Chimah and Chesil signifying Taurus and Scorpio, whence the positions of the equinoxes at the time of Job's trial can be ascertained; can never be proved, and should never be credited. In what many learned men have written on this subject, I find as much solidity and satisfaction as from what is piously and gravely stated in the Glossa Ordinaria: -

Qui facit Arcturum. Diversae sunt constellationes, varios status ecclesiae signantes. Per Arcturum, qui semper super orizontem nostrum apparet, significatur status apostolorum qui in episcopis remanet. Per Oriona, qui est tempestatis signum, significatur status martyrum. Per Hyadas, quae significant pluvios, status doctorum doctrinae pluvium effundentium. Per interiora austri, quae sunt nobis occulta, status Anachoretarum, hominum aspectus declinantium. "These different constellations signify various states of the Church. By Arcturus, which always appears above our horizon, is signified the apostolic state, which still remains in episcopacy. By Orion, which is a tempestuous sign, is signified the state of the martyrs. By the Hyades, (kids), which indicate rain, the state of the doctors, pouring out the rain of doctrine, is signified. And by the inner chambers of the south, which are hidden from us, the state of the Anchorets (hermits) is signified, who always shun the sight of men."

Much more of the same allegorical matter may be found in the same place, the Glossa Ordinaria of Strabus of Fulda, on the ninth chapter of Job. But how unreal and empty are all these things! What an uncertain sound do such trumpets give!

I know - That God is just in all his ways, that he doth ordinarily bless the righteous, and punish the wicked. Before God - And I know that no man is absolutely just, if God be severe to mark what is amiss in him.

One - One accusation among a thousand which God shall produce against him.

Who - He proceeds to give evidence of the Divine power and wisdom. Removeth - Suddenly and unexpectedly. They - The mountains, to which he ascribes sense and knowledge figuratively. In anger - In token of his displeasure with the men that live upon them.

The earth - Great portions of it, by earthquakes, or by removing islands. Pillars - The deep and inward parts of it, which like pillars supported those parts that appear to our view.

Who. &c. - A farther description of a black and tempestuous season, wherein the heavens seem to be brought down nearer to the earth. Treadeth - Represseth and ruleth them when they rage and are tempestuous: for treading upon any thing, signifies in scripture using power and dominion over it.

Ordereth - Disposeth them, governeth their rising and setting, and all their influences. These he names as constellations of greatest eminency; but under them he seems to comprehend all the stars, which as they were created by God, so are under his government. Arcturus is a northern constellation, near that called the Bear. Orion is a more southerly constellation, that rises to us in December. The Pleiades is a constellation not far from Orion, which we call the seven stars: by the chambers, (or inmost chambers, as the word signifies) of the south, he seems to understand those stars and constellations which are toward the southern pole, which are called inward chambers, because they are for the most part hid and shut up from these parts of the world.

Doth great things, &c. - Job here says the same that Eliphaz had said, chap.5:9, and in the original, in the very same words, with design to shew his full agreement with him, touching the Divine perfections.

Goeth - He works by his providence in ways of mercy or judgment. Passeth - He goeth from place to place: from one action to another: he speaks of God after the manner of men.

Taketh - If he determines to take away from any man his children or servants, or estate, who is able to restrain him from doing it? Or who dare presume to reprove him for it? And therefore far be it from me to quarrel with God, whereof you untruly accuse me.

Helpers - Those who undertake to uphold and defend one another against him. Stoop - Fall and are crushed by him.

How shall I - Since no creature can resist his power, and no man can comprehend his counsels and ways; how can I contend with him? Answer his allegations and arguments, produced against me.

Tho' - Though I were not conscious to myself of any sin. Would not - I durst not undertake to plead my cause against him; or maintain my integrity before him, because he knows me better than I know myself. Supplication - That he would judge favourably of me and my cause, and not according to the rigour of his justice.

Yet - I could not believe that God had indeed granted my desire, because I am still full of the tokens of his displeasure; and therefore should conclude that it was but a pleasant dream, and not a real thing.

Breaketh - Unexpectedly, violently, and irrecoverably. Cause - Not simply without any desert of his, but without any special cause of such singular afflictions; and peculiar and extraordinary guilt, such as his friends charged him with.

Breath - My pains are continual, and I have not so much as a breathing time free from them.

If - If my cause were to be decided by power. Is Strong - Stronger than I. Judgment - If I would contend with him in a way of right. Who - There is no superior judge that can summon him and me together.

Justify - If I plead against God mine own righteousness and innocency.

Perfect - If I should think myself perfect, yet I would not know, not acknowledge, my soul; I could not own nor plead before God the integrity of my soul, but would only make supplication to my judge, I would abhor, or condemn my life, I would not trust to the integrity either of my soul and heart, or of my life, so as to justify myself before the pure and piercing eyes of the all - seeing God.

This - In the other things which you have spoken of God's greatness, and justice, I do not contend with you, but this one thing I do, and must affirm against you. He - God sends afflictions promiscuously upon good and bad men.

Suddenly - If some common judgment come upon a people. Laugh - God will be well pleased, to see how the same scourge, which is the perdition of the wicked, is the trial of the innocent, and of their faith, which will be found unto praise and honour and glory.

The earth - The dominion over it. Into - Into their power. As good men are frequently scourged, so the wicked are advanced. Faces - Meantime he covers the faces of wise and good men, fit to be judges, and buries them alive in obscurity, perhaps suffers them to be condemned, and their faces covered as criminals, by those to whom the earth is given. This is daily done: if it be not God that doth it, where and who is he that doth?

Now - What he had said of the calamities which God frequently inflicts upon good men, he now exemplifies in himself. My days - The days of my life. Post - Who rides upon swift horses. See - I enjoy no good in them. Seeing is often put for experiencing either good or evil.

Eagle - Which flies swiftly, especially when in the sight of his prey. See here how swift the motion of time is! It is always upon the wing, hastening to its period. What little need have we of past - times! What great need to redeem time, which runs out, runs on so fast toward eternity! And how vain are the enjoyments of time, which we may be deprived of, even while time continues! Our day may be longer than our sunshine: and when that is gone, it is as if it had never been.

Afraid - I find all such endeavours vain; for if my griefs be suspended for a time, yet my fears continue. Will not - I plainly perceive thou, O God, (to whom he makes a sudden address, as he doth also, ver.31,) wilt not clear my innocency by removing those afflictions which make them judge me guilty of some great crime. Words proceeding from despair and impatience.

I shall - I shall be used like a wicked man still. Why - Why then should I comfort myself with vain hopes of deliverance, as thou advisest me.

If - If I clear myself from all imputations, and fully prove my innocency before men.

Yet - God would prove him to be a most guilty creature, notwithstanding all his purity before men. Abhor - I shall be so filthy, that my own clothes, if they had any sense in them, would abhor to touch me.

A man - But one infinitely superior to me in majesty, and power, and wisdom, and justice. That - That I should presume to debate my cause with him. Come - Face to face, to plead upon equal terms.

Days - man - Or, umpire. Lay his hand - Order and govern us in pleading; and oblige us to stand to his decision. Our Lord Jesus is now the blessed days - man, who has mediated between heaven and earth, has laid his hand upon us both: to him the father hath committed all judgment. But this was not made so clear then, as it is now by the gospel, which leaves no room for such a complaint as this.

Fear - The fear and dread of his majesty and justice. Let him not deal with me according to his perfect justice, but according to his grace and clemency.

Then - I would speak freely for myself, being freed from that dread, which takes away my spirit and courage. It is not - I am not free from his terror, and therefore cannot plead my cause with him.

2. I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God ?

To wit, as you say, that God is just in all his waies, that he doth ordinarily bless the Righteous, and punish the Wicked.

Heb. and how, &c. i. e. And I know that no man is absolutely just, or can defend his righteousness, if God be severe to mark what is amiss in him.

Either 1. being compared with God: Or, 2. before God as the same Phrase is taken, 1 Sam. 2. 26. Psalm 130. 3 if he be brought before God's Tribunal to debate the matter with him.

Marginal references: Psal. 143. 2.; Or, b[illegible: 1+ letters]fore God.

3. If he will contend with him , he cannot answer him one of a thousand .

If God be pleased to contend, (to wit, in judgment, debate, or plead; for so this word is oft used, as Hos. 2. 2. & 4. 1. Mich. 6. 1. Comp. Isa. 45. 9.) with man.

Either to one Accusation or Argument among a thousand which God shall produce against him: Or, one time of a thousand. So far will he be from being able to maintain his own innocency against God, if God set himself against him as his Adversary.

4. He is wise in heart , and mighty in strength : who hath hardned himself against him , and hath prospered ?

Either 1. really and profoundly wi[illegible: 1+ letters]; or, 2. wise in his mind or understanding, which in Hebrew is oft called the heart; as Prov. 2 10. & 6. 32. Hos. 4. 11. because the Hebrews make the heart the seat of the Understanding, or of the reasonable Soul. The sense is, He is infinitely wise, and so knows all things, and searcheth all mens hearts and waies, and discovers a multitude of sins which mens short-sighted eyes cannot see; and therefore can charge them with innumerable evils, where they thought themselves innocent, and [illegible: 1+ letters]es far more malignity than men could discern in their sins: and men cannot conceal any of their sins from him, nor cheat him, as they may other men, with crafty devices and evasions: So that there is no contending with him.

i. e. Omnipotent, and therefore if men contumaciously persist in contending with him after they are convicted and condemned, he can easily crush them. So that whether men contend with God by wisdom or by strength (which are the two waies of one mans contending with another) God will be Conquerour.

i. e. Obstinately contended with him. Or, spoken hard things towards him, quarrelling with him, opposing and reproaching God's Providence towards him as hard and unjust. Compare Iude, v. 15.

Heb. Hath been at peace; i. e. hath not provoked God to his own destruction. A common Figure called Meiosis, whereby more is understood than is expressed.

Marginal references: Chap. 36. 5.

5. Which removeth the Mountains , and they know not : which overturneth them in his anger :

He proceedeth to give particular Evidences of the Divine Power and Wisdom, which he mentioned vers▪ 4.

i. e. Suddenly and unexpectedly, ere they were aware of it. They, i. e. the Mountains, to which he ascribes Sense and Knowledge figuratively, as hath been oft noted.

In token of his displeasure with men that lived upon them, or near them.

6. Which shaketh the earth , out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.

i. e. Great portions of it, by Earthquakes, or by removing Islands, which sometimes hath been done.

i. e. The strength or the strongest parts of it, the Mountains, yea the deep and inward parts of it, which like Pillars supported those parts which appear to our view, and yet have been discovered and overturned by Earthquakes.

7. Which commandeth the Sun, and it riseth not , and sealeth up the stars .

He speaks either 1. of that which God can do; or rather (as he doth in the foregoing and following Instances.) 2. Of what God actually doth, and that either 1. ordinarily; and so he gives Laws to the Sun that it shall not rise, but at such times, and to such places, and in such manner as he hath appointed; as that it shall rise constantly at its set time and never disorderly; that it shall not rise for divers Months together in some parts of the World, &c. Or rather 2. Extraordinarily, (for of such Works of God he discourseth in this place) and so it may note either some stop given to the Sun for a small season, like that in Ioshua's time; which might have been, though it be not recorded, or some extraordinary tempest or dark season, wherein the morning is made darkness, as the phrase is, Amos 4. 13. Compare 5. 8. wherein the Sun doth not at all appear (as it was for many [illegible: 1+ letters]ays together, Act. 27. 20.) and consequently is to those places and persons, as if he were not risen. For things in Scripture are oft said to be, or not to be, when they appear, or disappear; of which some Instances have been formerly given, and more we shall have hereafter, in their proper places.

i. e. As it were covereth and shutteth them up that they may not shine, as in dark and dismal Tempests, like that now mentioned, Act. 27. 20. when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days.

8. Which alone spreadeth out the Heavens , and treadeth upon the waves of the sea :

i. e. By his own single power, without any other help.

He spread them out like a curtain, Ps. 104. 1, 2▪ and he in a manner spreads them again every day; i. e. keeps them spread for the comfort and benefit of this lower World, and doth not roll and fold them up, as he will do in due time: See Isa. 34. 4. 2 Pet. 3. 10. Revel. 6. 14. Or, boweth down the heavens, as the same Hebrew Verb is rendred, Psalm 18. 9. So it is a further description of a black and tempestuous season, wherein the heavens seem to be brought down and nearer to the earth.

i. e. Represseth and ruleth them when they rage and are tempestuous: for treading upon any thing, signifies in Scripture u[illegible: 1+ letters]e Power and Dominion over it; as Deut. 33. 29. Iob 40. 12. Psalm 60. 12. & 91. 13. Luke 10. 19.

Marginal references: Gen. 1. 6.; Heb. heights.

9. Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south .

Either 1. created them; or rather 2. ordereth and disposeth them, as the word making is sometimes used in Scripture, governeth their rising and setting, and all their Influences.

These he names as Stars or Constellations of greatest note and eminency; for so they are both in Scripture and other Authors, and such as have▪ or are thought to have a special influence in railing Storms and Tempests; but under them he seems to comprehend all the Stars, which as they were created by God, so are under his Government. Arcturus is a Northern Constellation, near that called the Bear, which riseth to us about the beginning of September, and by its rising produceth (as Pliny affirm[illegible: 1+ letters]) [illegible: 1 word] Storms and Tempests. Orion is a [illegible: 1+ letters]re Southernly Constellation, that ariseth to us in December, and is noted by Astronomers for raising fearful Winds and Tempests both by Sea and Land. The Pleiades is a Constellation not far from Orion, and near that called the Bull, which we call the Seven Stars: To us it riseth at the beginning of the Spring, and by its rising causeth Rains and Tempests, and therefore is unwelcom to Mariners at Sea. By the chambers, (or inmost and secret chambers, as the word signifies) of the South, he seems to understand those Stars and Constellations which are towards the Southern Pole which are fitly called inward chambers, because they are for the most part hid and shut up (as Chambers commonly are) from these parts of the World, and do not rise or appear to us till the beginning of Summer, when they also raise Southerly Winds and Tempests, as Astronomers observe.

Marginal references: Chap. 38. 31. &c. Amos 5. 8.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word], Cesil, & Cri [illegible: 1+ letters]ah.

10. Which doth great things past finding out, yea, and wonders without number .

Which words were produced by Eliphaz, Chap. 5. 9. (where they are explained) and are here repeated by Iob to shew his agreement with him therein.

11. Lo, he goeth by me , and I see him not : he passeth on also , but I perceive him not.

i. e. He worketh by his Providence in waies of Mercy or Judgment.

Or besides, or before me, in my presence.

I see the Effects, but I cannot understand the Causes or Grounds of his Actions, for they are incomprehensible by me, or by any other men▪ for though he speaks onely in his own person, yet he means it of all men; that such is the weakness of mens Understandings, that they cannot search out God's Counsels and ways: See Acts 17. 27. Rom. 11. 33.

He goeth from place to place, from one action to another: He speaks of God after the manner of men.

12. Behold, he taketh away , who can hinder him: who will say unto him, what doest thou ?

If he determine to take away from any man his Children or Servants, or Estate, as he hath done from me,

who is able to restrain him from doing it? Or who dare presume to reprove him for it? And therefore far be it from me to quarrel with God, whereof you untruly accuse me.

Marginal references: Isa. 45. 9. Jer. 18. 6. Rom. 9. 20.; Heb. who can turn him away? Ch. 11. 10.

13. If God will not withdraw his anger , the proud helpers , do stoop under him .

i. e. If God resolve not to withdraw his Rod and stroak, the Effect of his Anger. Or, without if, which is not in the Hebrew, God will not withdraw his anger, i. e. not forbear to punish, neither because any man can over-power and restrain him; nor for fear lest he should rebuke him for proceeding to punish, as is implied by comparing this Verse with the former.

i. e. Those men who shall undertake to uphold and defend him whom God intends to punish and destroy; who are fitly called proud helpers, because this is a most proud, and insolent, and presumptuous act to oppose themselves to the Lord God Almighty, and to his Coun[illegible: 1+ letters]el▪ and Courses; or (as it is in the Hebrew) Helpers of pride, because they give assistance to that man who carries himself proudly and stoutly towards God, under his correcting-hand: Or (as some translate it) the helpers of Egypt, or the Egyptian helpers; i. e. the most poten[illegible: 1+ letters] helpers: for Egypt was in Iob's time a powerful and flourishing Kingdom, and not far from Iob's Country. And the word Rahab here rendred pride, is elsewhere put for Egypt, as Psalm 87. 4. Isa. 51. 9. And (as some take it) Iob 26. 12.

i. e. Shall fall and be crushed by him; and consequently they who are helped by him must fall with them.

Marginal references: Heb. helpers of pride or strength.

14. How much less shall I answer him , and choose out my words to reason with him ?

Since no Creature whatsoever can resist his Power, and no man living can search out or comprehend his Counsels and Ways; how can I, who am a poor, contemptible, dispirited Creature; contend with him?

i. e. Answer his Allegations and Arguments, produced against me.

Heb. Choose my words with (or before, or against, as this Particle is used, Deut. 9. 7. Psalm 94. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. Prov. 30. 3[illegible: 1+ letters].) him. i. e. Shall I try whether God or I can choose fitter Words, or stronger Arguments? Or shall I contend with him and expect to get the better of him by using choice, and forcible, and elegant words, as one man doth with another?

15. Whom, though I were righteous , yet would I not answer, : but I would make supplication to my judge .

Though I had a most just cause and were not conscious to my self of any s[illegible: 1+ letters]n.

i. e. I durst not undertake to plead my Cause against him; or maintain my Integrity before him, because he knows me better than I know my self, and because I am wholly in his hands and at his mercy.

To wit, that he would hear me meekly, and judge favourably of me and my Cause, and not according to the rigours of his justice.

16. If I had called , and he had answered me, yet would I not believe, that he had hearkned unto my voice :

i. e. Prayed, as this word is commonly used; to wit, unto my Judge, for a favourable sentence, as he now said, and therefore it was neeedless here to mention the Object of his Calling or Prayer.

I could not believe that God had indeed granted my Desire, though he had done it; because I am so infinitely below him, and obnoxious to him and still full of the tokens of his displeasure▪ and therefore should conclude that it was but a pleasant Dream or Fancy, and not a real thing; Compare Psalm 126. 1.

17. For he breaketh me with a tempest , and multiplieth my wounds without cause .

This is the Reason of his foregoing Diffidence, that even when God seemed to answer him in words, yet the course of his actions towards him was of a quite contrary nature and tendency.

As with a Tempest; i. [illegible: 1+ letters]. unexpectedly, violently, and irrecoverably:

Not simply without any desert of his, or as if he had no sin in him; for he oft declares the contrary, but without any evident or special cause of such singular Afflictions; i. e. any peculiar and extraordinary guilt, such as my Friends charge me with.

18. He will not suffer me to take my breath , but [illegible: 1 word] me with bitterness .

My pains and miseries are continual, and I have not so much as a breathing-time free from them.

My Afflictions are not only long and uninterrupted, but also exceeding sharp and violent, contrary to the common course of God's Providence.

19. If I speak of strength , lo, he is strong : and if of judgment , who shall set me a time to plead ?

If my Cause were to be decided by power,

i. e. stronger than I.

If I would contend with him in a way of right.

There is no superiour Judge that can summon him and me together, and appoint us a time of pleading before him, and oblige us both to stand to his Sentence; and therefore I must be contented to sit down with the loss.

20. If I justifie my self , mine own mouth shall condemn me : if I say, I am perfect , it shall also prove me perverse.

If I plead against God mine own Righteousness and Innocency.

God is so infinitely wise and just, that he will find sufficient matter of condemnation from my own words, though spoken with all possible care and circumspection; or he will discover so much wickedness in me of which I was not aware, that I shall be forced to joyn with him in condemning my self.

If I were perfect in my own opinion; If I thought my self compleatly righteous and faultless.

i. e. My own mouth, as he now said. Or, he, i. e. God, who is easily understood by comparing this with the former Verses, where the same he is oft mentioned.

21. Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life .

i. e. Though God should acquit me in Judgment, and pronounce me perfect or righteous, yet would I not know, i. e. regard or value (as that word is oft used) my soul, i. e. my life; as the soul frequently signifies, as Gen. 19. 17. Iob 2. 6. Iohn 10. 15, 17. and as it is explained in the following branch, where life is put for soul, and despising for not knowing: and so the same thing is repeated in differing words, and the latter clause explains the former, which was more dark and doubtful; according to the usage of sacred Scripture. So the sense is, Though God should give sentence for me, yet I should be so overwhelmed with the dread and terrour of the Divine Majesty, that I should be weary of my life. And therefore I abhor the thoughts of contending with my Maker, whereof you accuse me; and yet I have reason to be weary of my life, and to desire death. Or thus, If I say, I am perfect, as the very same Hebrew words are rendred, v. 20. i. e. If I should think my self perfect, yet I would not know, i. e. not acknowledge, my soul, I could not own nor plead before God the perfection and integrity of my soul, but would onely make supplication to my Judge, as he said, v. 16. and flee to his grace and mercy: I would abhor, or reject, or condemn my life. i. e. my conversation: So the sense is, I would not insist upon, nor trust to the integrity either of my soul and heart, or of my life, so as to justifie my self before the pure and piercing Eyes of the all-seeing God.

22. This is one thing , therefore I said it , he de stroyeth the perfect and the wicked .

In the other things which you have spoken of God's greatness, justice, &c. I do not contend with you, but thi one thing I do▪ and must affirm against you.

I did not utter it rashly, but upon deep consideration.

God sends afflictions promiscuously upon good and bad men. Compare Psal. 73. 2, &c. Eccles. 9. 2. Ier. 12. 1, &c.

23. If the scourge slay suddenly , he will laugh at the trial of the innocent .

Either 1. If some common and deadly Judgment come upon a people, which destroys both good and bad. Or 2. If God inflicts some grievous and unexpected stroke upon an innocent person, as it follows.

As he doth at the destruction of the wicked, Psal. 2. 4. His outward carriage is the same to both; he neglects the innocent, and seems not to answer their prayers, and suflers them to perish with others, as if he took pleasure in their r[illegible: 1+ letters]ne also. But withal, he intimates the matter and cause of this laughter or complacency which God takes in their afflictions, because to them they are but trials of their saith, and patience, and perseverance, which tends to God's honour, and their own eternal advantage.

24. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked ; he covereth the faces of the Judges thereof ; if not , where, and who is he ?

i. e. The possession and dominion of men and things on earth.

To wit, by God the great Lord and disposer of it by his providence.

Into their power. As good men are scourged, v. 23. so the wicked are advanced, and prospered in this world.

i. e. He blinds their eyes that they cannot discern between truth and falshood, justice and unrighteousness: He. Who? Either 1. the wicked last mentioned, who either by power or by gifts corrupts the Officers of justice. Or rather 2. God, whom the pronoun, he, designed all along this Chapter: Who is oft said to blind the minds of men, which he doth not positively by making them blind, but privatively by withdrawing his own light, and leaving them to their own mistakes and lusts. Or by Iudges he may here mean those who are worthy of that name, and duly administer that Office; Whose faces God may be said to cover, because he removeth them from their high places into obscurity, and covers them with contempt, and in a manner passeth a sentence of condemnation and destruction upon them; Covering of the face being the usual posture of condemned persons and of men in great misery: Of which see Esth. 7. 8. Psal. 44. 22. Isa. 15. 17. Ier. 14. 4. So the sense of this verse is, God commonly advanceth wicked men into power and honour, and casteth down men of true worth and vertue from their Seats.

If it be not as I say, If God do not these things.

Either 1. Who will con[illegible: 1+ letters]ute me by solid arguments? Or 2. Who doth these things? Who but God doth dispose of the world in this manner?

25. Now my days are swifter than a Post : they flee away, they see no good .

What he had said of the calamities which God usually inflicted upon good men, he now exemplifieth in himself.

The days either of my prosperity: For the time of affliction is commonly described by the night or rather 2. Of my life, as the last clause sheweth; For it were an absurd and contradictious speech to say that his prosperous days saw no good.

Who runs or rides upon swift horses.

I enjoy no good in them. Seeing is oft put for experiencing either good or evil▪ Iob 7. 7. Psal. 34. 12. Ioh. 3. 36. & 8. 51.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 7. 6.

26. They are passed away as the swift ships : as the Eagle that hasteth to the prey.

Heb. ships of desire, which make great hast, as if they longed for their desired Haven as it is called, Psal. 107. 30. Or, ships of pleasure; Which sail more swiftly than ships of great burden.

Which geneally flies most swiftly, Deut. 28. 40. Ier. 4. 13. Lam. 4. 19. especially when its own hunger and the sight of its prey quickens his motion.

Marginal references: Heb. Ships [illegible: 1 word] ▪; Or, Ships of [illegible: 1 word] ▪; [illegible: 1 word] 1. 8.

27 If I say, I will forget my complaints , I will leave off my heaviness , and comfort my self .

If I resolve within my self.

I will cease complaining.

Heb. mine anger; wherewith Iob was charged by his friends, Ch. 18 4. my angry expressions.

I will endeavour to take comfort.

Marginal references: Chap. 7. 13.; Heb. face.

28. I am afraid of all my sorrows , I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent .

Or, my pains and griefs: I find all such endeavours vain; for if my griefs be suspended for a little time, yet my fears continue.

I plainly perceive that my changing my note is to no purpose; for thou, O God (to whom he makes a sudden Apostrophe, as he doth also v. 31.) wiltst not clear my innocency by removing those afflictions which make them judge me guilty of some great crime; words proceeding from great impatience and despair of relief.

29. If I be wicked , why then labour I in vain ?

Heb. I shall be wicked, or guilty, to wit, before thee. Whether I be holy or wicked, if I dispute with thee, I shall be found guilty. Or thus, I shall be used like a wicked man, and punished as such. So this is opposed to his not being held innocent, v. 28. i. e. not being acquitted or exempt from punishment.

Why then should I not indulge my griefs, but restrain them? why should I comfort my self with vain hopes of deliverance, as thou advisest me, Ch. 8. 6. or seek to God, as I was directed, Ch. 5. 8▪ for that ease which I see he is resolved not to give me? why should I trouble my self with clearing mine innocency, seeing God will still hold me guilty?

30. If I wash my self with Snow-water , and make my hands never so clean;

Either 1. really, by sanctification, cleansing my heart and life from all filthiness; or rather 2. declaratively or judicially; i. e. [illegible: 1+ letters]f I clear my self from all imputations, and fully prove my innocency before men:

i. e. As men cleanse their bodies, and as under the Law they purified themselves with water, which he here calls water of Snow, either because by its purity and brightness it resembled Snow; or because in those dry Countries, where fresh and pure water was scarce, Snow-water was much in use, or because that water might be much used among them in some of their ritual purifications, as coming down from Heaven.

Marginal references: Jer. 2. 22.

31. Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch , and mine own cloths shall abhor me .

i. e. In miry and puddle water, whereby I shall become most filthy. But as Iob's washing, so God's plunging him, &c. is not understood really, as if God would make him filthy, but onely judicially, that God would prove him to be a most guilty and filthy creature notwithstanding all the professions and evidences of his purity before men.

i. e. I shall be so altogether filthy, that my own cloths, if they had any sense in them, would abhor to touch me. A figure called Prosopopoeia.

Marginal references: Or, make me to be abhorred.

32. For he is not a man as I am , that I should answer him , and that we should come together in Judgment.

But one infinitely superiour to me in Majesty, and Power, and Wisdom, and Justice.

That I should presume to debate my cause with him, or answer his allegations against me.

Face to face, to plead upon equal terms before a superiour and indifferent Judge.

33. Neither is there any days▪man betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both .

Or, a Reprover; or a Judge or Umpire, whose office was to reprove the guilty person.

i. e. Use his power and authority to appoint the time and place of our meeting; to order and govern us in pleading; and to oblige us to stand to his decision. The hand is oft put for power, and laying on the hand upon another was oft-times an act and sign of superiority and dominion.

Marginal references: 1 Sam. 2. 25. ver. 19.; Heb. one that shall argue.; Or, Umpire.

34. Let him take his Rod away from me, and let not his fear terrifie me.

Objectively so called, i. e. The fear and dread of him, of his Majesty and justice. Let him not deal with me rigorously according to his soveraign dominion and perfect justice, but according to his wonted grace and clemency.

Marginal references: Chap. 13. 21. & 33. 7.

35. Then would I speak, and not fear him, but it is not so with me .

i. e. I would speak freely for my self, being freed from the dread of his Majesty, which takes away my spirit and courage, and stoppeth my mouth.

i. e. I am not free from his terrour, and therefore cannot and dare not plead my cause boldly with him; and so have nothing else to do but to ease my self by receiving my complaints, as he doth in the next words. Oth. thus, But I am not so with my self, i. e. I am in a manner besides my self, distracted with the terrours of God upon me. Or rather thus, For I am not s[illegible: 1+ letters] with my self, or in my own Conscience, as I perceive I am in your eyes; to wit, an Hypocrite and ungodly man. So this is a reason why he could speak to God without slavish fear, because he was conscious to himself of his own Integrity: I have a good Conscience within my self, and therefore could use boldness in speaking to God, provided he would not deal with me in strict justice, but upon the terms of grace and mercy which he hath proposed to sinners, and with allowance to humane Infirmities.

Marginal references: Heb. But I am not so with my self.

Job 9:1-4   1  Then Job began, and said:   2  Yea, indeed, I know it is thus,

And how should a man be just with God!   3  Should he wish to contend with God,

He could not answer Him one of a thousand.   4  The wise in heart and mighty in strength,

Who hath defied Him and remained unhurt?

Job does not (Job 9:1) refer to what Eliphaz said (Job 4:17), which is similar, though still not exactly the same; but “indeed I know it is so” must be supposed to be an assert to that which Bildad had said immediately before. The chief thought of Bildad’s speech was, that God does not pervert what is right. Certainly (אמנם, scilicet, nimirum, like Job 12:2), - says Job, as he ironically confirms this maxim of Bildad’s, - it is so: what God does is always right, because God does it; how could man maintain that he is in the right in opposition to God! If God should be willing to enter into controversy with man, he would not be able to give Him information on one of a thousand subjects that might be brought into discussion; he would be so confounded, so disarmed, by reason of the infinite distance of the feeble creature from his Creator. The attributes (Job 9:4) belong not to man (Olshausen), but to God, as Job 36:5. God is wise of heart (לב = νοῦς) in putting one question after another, and mighty in strength in bringing to nought every attempt man may make to maintain his own right; to defy Him (הקשׁה, to harden, i.e., ערף, the neck), therefore, always tends to the discomfiture of him who dares to bid Him defiance.

Job 9:5-7   5  Who removeth mountains without their knowing,

That He hath overturned them in His wrath;   6  Who causeth the earth to shake out of its place,

And its pillars to tremble;   7  Who commandeth the sun, and it riseth not,

And sealeth up the stars. ידעוּ ולא (Job 9:5) may also be translated: without one’s perceiving it or knowing why; but it is more natural to take the mountains as the subject. אשׁר, quod, that (not “as,” Ewald, §333, a), after ידע, as Eze 20:26; Ecc 8:12. Even the lofty mountains are quite unconscious of the change which He effects on them in a moment. Before they are aware that it is being done, it is over, as the praet. implies; the destructive power of His anger is irresistible, and effects its purpose suddenly. He causes the earth to start up from its place (comp. Isa 13:13) which it occupies in space (Job 26:7); and by being thus set in motion by Him, its pillars tremble, i.e., its internal foundations (Psa 104:5), which are removed from human perception (Job 38:6). It is not the highest mountains, which are rather called the pillars, as it were the supports, of heaven (Job 26:11), that are meant. By the same almighty will He disposes of the sun and stars. The sun is here called חרס (as in Jdg 14:18 חרסה with unaccented ah, and as Isa 19:18 ‛Ir ha - Heres is a play upon החרס עיר, Ἡλιούπολις), perhaps from the same root as חרוּץ, one of the poetical names of gold. At His command the sun rises not, and He seals up the stars, i.e., conceals them behind thick clouds, so that the day becomes dark, and the night is not made bright. One may with Schultens think of the Flood, or with Warburton of the Egyptian darkness, and the standing still of the sun at the word of Joshua; but these are only single historical instances of a fact here affirmed as a universal experience of the divine power.

Job 9:8-10   8  Who alone spreadeth out the heavens,

And walketh upon the heights of the sea;   9  Who made the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,

And the chambers of the south; 10  Who doeth great things past finding out,

And wondrous things without number.

Ewald, Hirzel, and others, understand נטה (Job 9:8) according to Psa 18:10 : He letteth down the clouds of heaven, and walketh on the heights of the sea of clouds, i.e., high above the towering thunder-clouds. But parallel passages, such as Isa 40:22; Psa 104:2, and especially Isa 44:24, show that Job 9:8 is to be understood as referring to the creation of the firmament of heaven; and consequently נטה is to be taken in the sense of expandere, and is a form of expression naturally occurring in connection with the mention of the waters which are separated by means of the רקיע. The question arises, whether ים here means the sea of waters above the firmament or upon the earth. According to the idea of the ancients, the waters which descend as rain have their habitation far away in the infinite expanse of the sky; the ocean of the sky (Egyptian Nun-pa), through which the sun-god Ra sails every day, is there. It is possible that ”the heights of the sea” here, and perhaps also “the roots of the sea” (Job 36:30), may mean this ocean of the sky, as Hahn and Schlottmann suppose. But it is not necessary to adopt such an explanation, and it is moreover hazardous, since this conception of the celestial θάλασσα is not found elsewhere (apart from Rev 4:6; Rev 15:2; Rev 22:1). Why may not בּמתי, which is used of the heights of the clouds (Isa 14:14), be used also of the waves of the sea which mount up towards heaven (Psa 107:26)? God walks over them as man walks on level ground (lxx περιπατῶν ἐπὶ θαλάσσης ὡς ἐπ ̓ ἐδάφους); they rise or lie calmly beneath His feel according to His almighty will (comp. Hab 3:15).

Job next describes God as the Creator of the stars, by introducing a constellation of the northern (the Bear), one of the southern (Orion), and one of the eastern sky (the Pleiades). עשׁ, contracted from נעשׁ, Arabic na‛š, a bier, is the constellation of seven stars (septentrio orseptentriones) in the northern sky. The Greater and the Lesser Bear form a square, which the Arabs regarded as a bier; the three other stars, benâth n‛asch , i.e., daughters of the bier (comp. Job 38:32), seem to be the mourners. כּסיל is Orion chained to the sky, which the ancients regarded as a powerful giant, and also as an insolent, foolish fellowThe Arabic jâhil is similar, which combines the significations, an ignorant, foolhardy, and passionate man (vid., Fleischer, Ali’s hundert Sprûche, S. 115f.). (K. O. Müller, Kleine deutsche Schriften, ii. 125). כּימה is the Pleiades, a constellation consisting of seven large and other smaller stars, Arabic turayyâ, which, like the Hebrew (comp. Arab. kûmat , cumulus), signifies the heap, cluster (vid., Job 38:31), and is compared by the Persian poets to a bouquet formed of jewels. It is the constellation of seven stars, whose rising and setting determined the commencement and end of their voyages (πλειάς, probably = constellation of navigation), and is to be distinguished from the northern septentriones. תּימן חדרי are, according to the Targ., the chambers of the constellations on the south side of the heavens, as also most expositors explain them (Mercier: sidera quae sunt in altero hemisphaerio versus alterum polum antarcticum), according to which תּימן, or written defectively תּמן, would therefore be equivalent to תמן כוכבי; or perhaps, in a more general meaning, the regions of the southern sky (penetralia), which are veiled, or altogether lost to view (Hirzel). In v. 10, Job says, almost verbatim, what Eliphaz had said (Job 5:10). Job agrees with the friends in the recognition of the power of God, and intentionally describes those phases of it which display its terrible majesty. But while the friends deduce from this doctrine the duty of a humble deportment on the part of the sufferer, Job uses it to support the cheerless truth that human right can never be maintained in opposition to the absolute God.

Job 9:11-15 11  Behold, He goeth by me and I see not,

And passeth by and I perceive Him not. 12  Behold, He taketh away, who will hold Him back?

Who will say to Him: What doest Thou? 13  Eloah restraineth not His anger,

The helpers of Rahab stoop under Him - 14  How much less that I should address Him,

That I should choose the right words in answer to Him; 15  Because, though I were right, I could not answer, -

To Him as my Judge I must make supplication.

God works among men, as He works in nature, with a supreme control over all, invisibly, irresistibly, and is not responsible to any being (Isa 45:9). He does not turn or restrain His anger without having accomplished His purpose. This is a proposition which, thus broadly expressed, is only partially true, as is evident from Psa 78:38. The helpers of Rahab must bow themselves under Him. It is not feasible to understand this in a general sense, as meaning those who are ready with boastful arrogance to yield succour to any against God. The form of expression which follows in Job 9:14, “much less I,” supports the assumption that רהב עזרי refers to some well-known extraordinary example of wicked enterprise which had been frustrated, notwithstanding the gigantic strength by which it was supported; and שׁחהוּ may be translated by the present tense, since a familiar fact is used as synonymous with the expression of an universal truth. Elsewhere Rahab as a proper name denotes Egypt (Psa 87:4), but it cannot be so understood here, because direct references to events in the history of Israel are contrary to the character of the book, which, with remarkable consistency, avoids everything that is at all Israelitish. But how has Egypt obtained the name of Rahab? It is evident from Isa 30:7 that it bears this name with reference to its deeds of prowess; but from Psa 89:11; Isa 51:9, it is evident that Rahab properly denotes a sea-monster, which has become the symbol of Egypt, like tannîn and leviathan elsewhere. This signification of the word is also supported by Job 26:12, where the lxx actually translate κητος, as here with remarkable freedom, ὑπ ̓ ἀυτοῦ ἐκάμφθησαν κήτη τὰ ὑπ ̓ οὐρανόν. It is not clear whether these ”sea-monsters” denote rebels cast down into the sea beneath the sky, or chained upon the sky; but at any rate the consciousness of a distinct mythological meaning in רהב עזרי is expressed by this translation (as also in the still freer translation of Jerome, et sub quo curvantur qui portant orbem); probably a myth connected with such names of the constellations as Κῆτος and Πρίστις (Ewald, Hirz., Schlottm.). The poesy of the book of Job even in other places does not spurn mythological allusions; and the phrase before us reminds one of the Hindu myth of Indras' victory over the dark demon Vritras, who tries to delay the descent of rain, and over his helpers. In Vritras, as in רהב, there is the idea of hostile resistance.

Job compares himself, the feeble one, to these mythical titanic powers in Job 9:14. כּי אף (properly: even that), or even אף alone (Job 4:19), signifies, according as the connection introduces a climax or anti-climax, either quanto magis or quanto minus, as here: how much less can I, the feeble one, dispute with Him! אשׁר, Job 9:15, is best taken, as in Job 5:5, in the signification quoniam. The part. Poel משׁפטי we should more correctly translate “my disputant” than “my judge;” it is Poel which Ewald appropriately styles the conjugation of attack: שׁופט, judicando vel litigando aliquem petere; comp. Ges. §55, 1. The part. Kal denotes a judge, the part. Poel one who is accuser and judge at the same time. On such Poel-forms from strong roots, vid., on Psa 109:10, where wedorschu is to be read, and therefore it is written ודרשׁוּ in correct Codices.

Job 9:16-20 16  If when I called He really answered,

I could not believe that He would hearken to me; 17  He would rather crush me in a tempest,

And only multiply my wounds without cause; 18  He would not suffer me to take my breath,

But would fill me with bitter things. 19  If it is a question of the strength of the strong - : “Behold here!”

And if of right - : “Who will challenge me?” 20  Where I in the right, my mouth must condemn me;

Were I innocent, He would declare me guilty.

The answer of God when called upon, i.e., summoned, is represented in Job 9:16 as an actual result (praet. followed by fut. consec.), therefore Job 9:16 cannot be intended to express: I could not believe that He answers me, but: I could not believe that He, the answerer, would hearken to me; His infinite exaltation would not permit such condescension. The אשׁר which follows, Job 9:17, signifies either quippe qui or quoniam; both shades of meaning are after all blended, as in Job 9:15. The question arises here whether שׁוף signifies conterere, or as cognate form with שׁאף, inhiare, - a question also of importance in the exposition of the Protevangelium. There are in all only three passages in which it occurs: here, Gen 3:15, and Psa 139:11. In Psa 139:11 the meaning conterere is unsuitable, but even the signification inhiare can only be adopted for want of a better: perhaps it may be explained by comparison with צעף, in the sense of obvelare, or as a denominative from נשׁף (the verb of which, נשׁף, is kindred to נשׁב, נשׁם, flare) in the signification obtenebrare. In Gen 3:15, if regarded superficially, the meaning inhiare and conterere are alike suitable, but the meaning inhiare deprives that utterance of God of its prophetic character, which has been recognised from the beginning; and the meaning conterere, contundere, is strongly supported by the translations. We decide in favour of this meaning also in the present passage, with the ancient translations (lxx ἐκτρίψῃ, Targ. מדקדּק, comminuens). Moreover, it is the meaning most generally supported by a comparison with the dialects, whereas the signification inhiare can only be sustained by comparison with שׁאף and the Arabic sâfa (to sniff, track by scent, to smell); besides, “to assail angrily” (Hirz., Ewald) is an inadmissible contortion of inhiare, which signifies in a hostile sense “to seize abruptly” (Schlottm.), properly to snatch, to desire to seize.

Translate therefore: He would crush me in a tempest and multiply (multiplicaret), etc., would not let me take breath (respirare), but (כּי, Ges. §155, 1, e. a.) fill me (ישׂבּיענּי, with Pathach with Rebia mugrasch) with bitter things (ממּררים, with Dag. dirimens, which gives the word a more pathetic expression). The meaning of Job 9:19 is that God stifles the attempt to maintain one’s right in the very beginning by His being superior to the creature in strength, and not entering into a dispute with him concerning the right. הנּה (for הנּני as איּה, Job 15:23, for איּו): see, here I am, ready for the contest, is the word of God, similar to quis citare possit me (in Jer 49:19; Jer 50:44), which sounds as an echo of this passage. The creature must always be in the wrong, - a thought true in itself, in connection with which Job forgets that God’s right in opposition to the creature is also always the true objective right. פּי, with suffix, accented to indicate its logical connection, as Job 15:6 : my own mouth.Olshausen’s conjecture, פּיו, lessens the difficulty in Isa 34:16, but here it destroys the strong expression of the violence done to the moral consciousness.

In ויּעקשׁני the Chirek of the Hiphil is shortened to a Sheva, as 1Sa 17:25; vid., Ges. §53, rem. 4. The subject is God, not “my mouth” (Schlottm.): supposing that I were innocent, He would put me down as one morally wrong and to be rejected.

Job 9:21-24 21  Whether I am innocent, I know not myself,

My life is offensive to me. 22  There is one thing-therefore I maintain - :

The innocent and wicked He destroyeth. 23  If the scourge slay suddenly,

He laugheth at the melting away of the innocent. 24  Countries are given into the hand of the wicked;

The countenance of its rulers He veileth -

Is it not so, who else doeth it?

Job 9:21 is usually considered to be an affirmation of innocence on the part of Job, though without effect, and even at the peril of his own destruction: ”I am innocent, I boldly say it even with scorn of my life” (Schnurr., Hirz., Ewald, Schlottm.). But although נפשׁי אדע לא may mean: I care nothing for my soul, i.e., my life (comp. Gen 39:6), its first meaning would be: I know not my soul, i.e., myself; and this sense is also quite in accordance with the context. He is innocent, but the contradiction between his lot and his innocence seems to show that his self-consciousness is deceptive, and makes him a mystery to himself, leads him astray respecting himself; and having thus become a stranger to himself, he abhors this life of seeming contradictions, for which he desires nothing less than its long continuance (vid., Job 7:16). The היא אחת which follows we do not explain: “it is all the same to me whether I live or not,” but: it is all one whether man is innocent or not. He himself is a proof of this; therefore he maintains, etc. It is, however, also possible that this expression, which is similar in meaning to Ecc 9:2 (there is one event, אחד מקרה, to the righteous and to the wicked), and is well translated in the Targ. by היא מכילא חדא (there is one measure of retribution, מכילא = מדּה, μέτρον, Mat 7:2), refers to what follows, and that “therefore I maintain” is parenthetical (like אמרתי, Psa 119:57; אמר לי, Isa 45:24), and we have translated it accordingly. There is certainly a kind of suspense, and על־כן d introduces an assertion of Job, which is founded upon the fact of the continuance of his own misfortune, - an assertion which he advances in direct contradiction to the friends, and which is expressly censured by Elihu.

In Job 9:23., by some striking examples, he completes the description of that which seems to be supported by the conflict he is called to endure. שׁוט, a scourge, signifies a judgment which passes over a nation (Isa 28:15). It swept off the guiltless as well, and therefore Job concludes that God delights in מסּה, πειρασμός, trial, or perhaps more correctly the melting away (from מסס, as Job 6:14) of the guiltless, i.e., their dissolution in anguish and dismay, their wearing away and despondency. Jerome rightly remarks that in the whole book Job says nihil asperius than what he says in Job 9:23. Another example in favour of his disconsolate היא אחת is that whole lands are given into the hand of the wicked: the monarch is an evil man, and the countenance of their judges He (God) covers, so that they do not distinguish between right and wrong, nor decide in favour of the former rather than of the latter. God himself is the final cause of the whole: if not, i.e., if it is not so, who can it then be that causes it? אפו (four times in the book of Job instead of the usual form אפוא) is, according to the current opinion, placed per hyperbaton in the conditional instead of the interrogative clause; and מי אפו are certainly not, with Hirzel, to be taken together. There is, however, not a proper hyperbaton, but אפו here gives intensity to the question; though not directly as Job 17:15 (Ges. §153, 2), but only indirectly, by giving intensity to that which introduces the question, as Job 24:25 and Gen 27:37; translate therefore: if it really is not so (comp. the Homeric expression ει ̓ δ ̓ ἄγε). It is indisputable that God, and no one else, is the final cause of this misery, apparently so full of contradiction, which meets us in the history of mankind, and which Job now experiences for himself.

Job 9:25-28 25  My days were swifter than a runner,

They fled away without seeing prosperity, 26  They shot by as ships of reeds,

As an eagle which dasheth upon its prey. 27  If my thought is: I will forget my complaint,

I will give up my dark looks and look cheerful; 28  I shudder at all my pains,

I feel that Thou dost not pronounce me innocent.

Such, as described in the preceding strophe, is the lot of the innocent in general, and such (this is the connection) is also Job’s lot: his swiftly passing life comes to an end amidst suffering, as that of an evil-doer whom God cuts off in judgment. In the midst of his present sufferings he has entirely forgotten his former prosperity; it is no happiness to him, because the very enjoyment of it makes the loss of it more grievous to bear. The days of prosperity are gone, have passed swiftly away without טובה, i.e., without lasting prosperity. They have been swifter רץ מנּי. By reference to Job 7:6, this might be considered as a figure borrowed from the weaver’s loom, since in the Coptic the threads of the weft (fila subteminis) which are wound round the shuttle are called ”runners” (vid., Ges. Thesaurus); but Rosenmüller has correctly observed that, in order to describe the fleetness of his life, Job brings together that which is swiftest on land (the runners or couriers), in water (fast-sailing ships), and in the air (the swooping eagle). עם, Job 9:26, signifies, in comparison with, aeque ac. But we possess only a rather uncertain tradition as to the kind of vessels meant by אבה אניות. Jerome translates, after the Targ.: naves poma portantes, by which one may understand the small vessels, according to Edrisi, common on the Dead Sea, in which corn and different kinds of fruits were carried from Zoar to Jericho and to other regions of the Jordan (Stickel, S. 267); but if אבה were connected with אב, we might rather expect אבּה, after the form אשּׁה (from אשׁ), instead of אבה. Others derive the word from אבה, avere: ships of desire, i.e., full-rigged and ready for sea (Gecatilia in Ges. Thes. suppl. p. 62), or struggling towards the goal (Kimchi), or steering towards (Zamora), and consequently hastening to (Symmachuc, σπευδούσαις), the harbour; but independently of the explanation not being suited to the description, it should then be accented êbeh, after the form נדה, קצה, instead of êbéh. The explanation, ships of hostility (Syr.),Luther also perhaps understood pirate ships, when he translated, “wie die starcken Schiff.” i.e., ships belonging to pirates or freebooters, privateers, which would suit the subject well, is still less admissible with the present pointing of the text, as it must then be אבה (איבה), with which the Egyptian uba, against, and adverse (contrarius), may be compared. According to Abulwalid (Parchon, Raschi), אבה is the name of a large river near the scene of the book of Job; which may be understood as either the Babylonian name for river Arab. 'bby, or the Abyssinian name of the Nile, abâï; and אבה may be compared with לבנה in relation to the Arabic, lubna. But a far more satisfactory explanation is the one now generally received, according to the comparison with the Arabic abâ'un, a reed (whence abaa - t - un, a reed, a so-called n. unitatis): ships made from reeds, like גּמא כּלי, Isa 18:2, vessels of papyrus, βαρίδες παπύριναι. In such small ships, with Egyptian tackling, they used to travel as far as Taprobane. These canoes were made to fold together, plicatiles, so that they could be carried past the cataracts; Heliodorus describes them as ὀξυδρομώτατα.There is no Egyptian word which can be compared to אבה, whereas han (hani) or an (ana) in Egyptian, like the Hebrew אניה, means a ship (vid., Chabas, Le Papyrus magique Harris, p. 246, No. 826, cf. pp. 33, 47); it is written with the sign for set = downwards, since they fastened a stone at the front of the vessel, as was even known to Herodotus, in order to accelerate its speed in descending the river. From this one might conjecture for the passage before us אבן אניות = swift sailers.

The third figure is the eagle, which swoops down upon its prey; טוּשׂ, like Chaldee טוּס, by which the Targ. translates השׁ, Hab 1:8; Grätz' conjecture of ישׁוּט (which is intended to mean flutters) is superfluous. Just as unnecessary is it, with Olshausen, to change אמרי אם into אמרתי אם: “if my saying (thinking)” is equivalent to, “as often as I say (think).” פנים is here (as in the German phrase, ein Gesicht machen) an ill-humoured, distorted, wry face. When Job desires to give up this look of suffering and be cheerful (הבליג, like Job 10:20, hilaritatem prae se ferre, vultum hilarem induere), the certainty that he is not favoured of God, and consequently that he cannot be delivered from his sufferings, all his anguish in spite of his struggles against it comes ever afresh before his mind. It is scarcely necessary to remark that תנקני is addressed to God, not to Bildad. It is important to notice that Job does not speak of God without at the same time looking up to Him as in prayer. Although he feels rejected of God, he still remains true to God. In the following strophe he continues to complain of God, but without denying Him.

Job 9:29-33 29  If I am wicked, why do I exert myself in vain? 30  If I should wash myself with snow water,

And make my hands clean with lye, 31  Then thou wouldst plunge me into the pit,

And my clothes would abhor me. 32  For He is not a man as I, that I should answer Him,

That we should go together to judgment. 33  There is not an arbitrator between us

Who should lay his hand upon us both.

The clause with strongly accented “I” affirms that in relation to God is from the first, and unchangeably, a wicked, i.e., guilty, man (Psa 109:7) (רשׁע, to be a wicked man, means either to act as such Job 10:15, or to appear as such, be accounted as such, as here and Job 10:7; Hiph., Job 9:20, to condemn). Why, therefore, should he vainly (הבל, acc. adv., like breath, useless) exert himself by crying for help, and basing his plaint on his innocence? In Job 9:30 the Chethib is במו, the Keri במי, as the reverse in Isa 25:10; mo itself appears in the signification water (Egyptian muau), in the proper names Moab and Moshe (according to Jablonsky, ex aqua servatus); in במו, however, the mo may be understood according to Ges. §103, 2. This is the meaning - no cleansing, even though he should use snow and בּר (a vegetable alkali), i.e., not even the best-grounded self-justification can avail him, for God would still bring it to pass, that his clearly proved innocence should change to the most horrible impurity. Ewald, Rödiger, and others translate incorrectly: my clothes would make me disgusting. The idea is tame. The Piel תּעב signifies elsewhere in the book (Job 19:19; Job 30:10) to abhor, not to make abhorrent; and the causative meaning is indeed questionable, for מתעב (Isa 49:7) signifies loathing, as מכסּה (Job 23:17) covering, and Eze 16:25 certainly borders on the signification “to make detestable,” but תעב may also be in the primary meaning, abominari, the strongest expression for that contempt of the beauty bestowed by God which manifests itself by prostitution. Translate: My clothes would abhor me; which does not mean: I should be disgusted with myself (Hirzel); Job is rather represented as naked; him, the naked one, God would - says he - so plunge into the pit that his clothes would conceive a horror of him, i.e., start back in terror at the idea of being put on and defiled by such a horrible creature (Schlottm., Oehler). For God is not his equal, standing on the same level with him: He, the Absolute Being, is accuser and judge in one person; there is between them no arbitrator who (or that he) should lay, etc. Mercier correctly explains: impositio manus est potestatis signum; the meaning therefore is: qui utrumque nostrum velut manu imposita coerceat.

Job 9:34-35 34  Let Him take away His rod from me,

And let His terrors not stupify me. 35  Then I would speak and not fear Him,

For not thus do I stand with myself.

The two Optatives, Job 9:34., as is frequently the case with the Imper., are followed by the Cohortative as the conclusion (אדבּרה, therefore will I speak; whereas ואדברה might be equivalent to, in order that I may speak) of a conditional antecedent clause. שׁבט is here the rod with which God smites Job; comp. Job 13:21. If God would only remove his pain from him for a brief space, so that he might recover himself for self-defence, and if He would not stifle his words as they come freely forth from his lips by confronting him with His overwhelming majesty, then he would fearlessly express himself; for “not thus am I in myself,” i.e., I am not conscious of such a moral condition as compels me to remain dumb before Him. However, we must inquire whether, according to the context, this special reference and shade of meaning is to be given to לא־כן. There is a use of כן = nothing, when accompanied by a gesture expressive of contemptuous rejection, Num 13:33 (כמו־כן, Isa 51:6, as nothing);In both these passages (to which Böttcher adds Psa 127:2, “so = without anything further”), כּן has been considered to be the sing. of כּנּים, gnats; but this sing. is an error, as בּיץ, formerly considered to be the sing. of בּיצים. The respective sing. are כּנּה, בּיצה. and a use of לא־כן = not only so = not so small, so useless, 2Sa 23:5, accompanied by a gesture expressive of the denial of such contempt, according to which the present passage may probably be explained: I am in myself, i.e., according to the testimony of my conscience, not so, i.e., not so morally worthless and devoid of right.

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

1 Then Job answered and said, 2 I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God? 3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. 4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered? 5 Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger. 6 Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble. 7 Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars. 8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. 9 Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. 10 Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number. 11 Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not. 12 Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou? 13 If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.

Bildad began with a rebuke to Job for talking so much, ch. viii. 2. Job makes no answer to that, though it would have been easy enough to retort it upon himself; but in what he next lays down as his principle, that God never perverts judgment, Job agrees with him: I know it is so of a truth, v. 2. Note, We should be ready to own how far we agree with those with whom we dispute, and should not slight, much less resist, a truth, though produced by an adversary and urged against us, but receive it in the light and love of it, though it may have been misapplied. "It is so of a truth, that wickedness brings men to ruin and the godly are taken under God's special protection. These are truths which I subscribe to; but how can any man make good his part with God?" In his sight shall no flesh living be justified, Ps. cxliii. 2. How should man be just with God? Some understand this as a passionate complaint of God's strictness and severity, that he is a God whom there is no dealing with; and it cannot be denied that there are, in this chapter, some peevish expressions, which seem to speak such language as this. But I take this rather as a pious confession of man's sinfulness, and his own in particular, that, if God should deal with any of us according to the desert of our iniquities, we should certainly be undone.

I. He lays this down for a truth, that man is an unequal match for his Maker, either in dispute or combat.

1. In dispute (v. 3): If he will contend with him, either at law or at an argument, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. (1.) God can ask a thousand puzzling questions which those that quarrel with him, and arraign his proceedings, cannot give an answer to. When God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind he asked him a great many questions (Dost thou know this? Canst thou do that?) to none of which Job could give an answer, ch. xxxviii., xxxix. God can easily manifest the folly of the greatest pretenders to wisdom. (2.) God can lay to our charge a thousand offences, can draw up against us a thousand articles of impeachment, and we cannot answer him so as to acquit ourselves from the imputation of any of them, but must, by silence, give consent that they are all true. We cannot set aside one as foreign, another as frivolous, and another as false. We cannot, as to one, deny the fact, and plead not guilty, and, as to another, deny the fault, confess and justify. No, we are not able to answer him, but must lay our hand upon our mouth, as Job did (ch. xl. 4, 5), and cry, Guilty, guilty.

2. In combat (v. 4): "Who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered?" The answer is very easy. You cannot produce any instance, from the beginning of the world to this day, of any daring sinner who has hardened himself against God, has obstinately persisted in rebellion against him, who did not find God too hard for him and pay dearly for his folly. Such transgressors have not prospered or had peace; they have had no comfort in their way nor any success. What did ever man get by trials of skill, or trials of titles, with his Maker? All the opposition given to God is but setting briers and thorns before a consuming fire; so foolish, so fruitless, so destructive, is the attempt, Isa. xxvii. 4; Ezek. xxviii. 24; 1 Cor. x. 22. Apostate angels hardened themselves against God, but did not prosper, 2 Pet. ii. 4. The dragon fights, but is cast out, Rev. xii. 9. Wicked men harden themselves against God, dispute his wisdom, disobey his laws, are impenitent for their sins and incorrigible under their afflictions; they reject the offers of his grace, and resist the strivings of his Spirit; they make nothing of his threatenings, and make head against his interest in the world. But have they prospered? Can they prosper? No; they are but treasuring up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath. Those that roll this will find it return upon them.

II. He proves it by showing what a God he is with whom we have to do: He is wise in heart, and therefore we cannot answer him at law; he is mighty in strength, and therefore we cannot fight it out with him. It is the greatest madness that can be to think to contend with a God of infinite wisdom and power, who knows every thing and can do every thing, who can be neither outwitted nor overpowered. The devil promised himself that Job, in the day of his affliction, would curse God and speak ill of him, but, instead of that, he sets himself to honour God and to speak highly of him. As much pained as he is, and as much taken up with his own miseries, when he has occasion to mention the wisdom and power of God he forgets his complaints, dwells with delight, and expatiates with a flood of eloquence, upon that noble useful subject. Evidences of the wisdom and power of God he fetches,

1. From the kingdom of nature, in which the God of nature acts with an uncontrollable power and does what he pleases; for all the orders and all the powers of nature are derived from him and depend upon him.

(1.) When he pleases he alters the course of nature, and turns back its streams, v. 5-7. By the common law of nature the mountains are settled and are therefore called everlasting mountains, the earth is established and cannot be removed (Ps. xciii. 1) and the pillars there of are immovably fixed, the sun rises in its season, and the stars shed their influences on this lower world; but when God pleases he can not only drive out of the common track, but invert the order and change the law of nature. [1.] Nothing more firm than the mountains. When we speak of removing mountains we mean that which is impossible; yet the divine power can make them change their seat: He removes them and they know not, removes them whether they will or no; he can make them lower their heads; he can level them, and overturn them in his anger; he can spread the mountains as easily as the husbandman spreads the molehills, be they ever so high, and large, and rocky. Men have much ado to pass over them, but God, when he pleases, can make them pass away. He made Sinai shake, Ps. lxviii. 8. The hills skipped, Ps. cxiv. 4. The everlasting mountains were scattered, Hab. iii. 6. [2.] Nothing more fixed than the earth on its axletree; yet God can, when he pleases, shake the earth out of its place, heave it off its centre, and make even its pillars to tremble; what seemed to support it will itself need support when God gives it a shock. See how much we are indebted to God's patience. God has power enough to shake the earth from under that guilty race of mankind which makes it groan under the burden of sin, and so to shake the wicked out of it (Job xxxviii. 13); yet he continues the earth, and man upon it, and does not make it, as once, to swallow up the rebels. [3.] Nothing more constant than the rising sun, it never misses its appointed time; yet God, when he pleases, can suspend it. He that at first commanded it to rise can countermand it. Once the sun was told to stand, and another time to retreat, to show that it is still under the check of its great Creator. Thus great is God's power; and how great then is his goodness, which causes his sun to shine even upon the evil and unthankful, though he could withhold it! He that made the stars also, can, if he pleases, seal them up, and hide them from our eyes. By earthquakes and subterraneous fires mountains have sometimes been removed and the earth shaken: in very dark and cloudy days and nights it seems to us as if the sun were forbidden to rise and the stars were sealed up, Acts xxvii. 20. It is sufficient to say that Job here speaks of what God can do; but, if we must understand it of what he has done in fact, all these verses may perhaps be applied to Noah's flood, when the mountains of the earth were shaken, and the sun and stars were darkened; and the world that now is we believe to be reserved for that fire which will consume the mountains, and melt the earth, with its fervent heat, and which will turn the sun into darkness.

(2.) As long as he pleases he preserves the settled course and order of nature; and this is a continued creation. He himself alone, by his own power, and without the assistance of any other, [1.] Spreads out the heaven (v. 8), not only did spread them out at first, but still spreads them out (that is, keeps them spread out), for otherwise they would of themselves roll together like a scroll of parchment. [2.] He treads upon the waves of the sea; that is, he suppresses them and keeps them under, that they return not to deluge the earth (Ps. civ. 9), which is given as a reason why we should all fear God and stand in awe of him, Jer. v. 22. He is mightier than the proud waves Ps. xciii. 4; lxv. 7. [3.] He makes the constellations; three are named for all the rest (v. 9), Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and in general the chambers of the south. The stars of which these are composed he made at first, and put into that order, and he still makes them, preserves them in being, and guides their motions; he makes them to be what they are to man, and inclines the hearts of man to observe them, which the beasts are not capable of doing. Not only those stars which we see and give names to, but those also in the other hemisphere, about the antarctic pole, which never come in our sight, called here the chambers of the south, are under the divine direction and dominion. How wise is he then, and how mighty!

2. From the kingdom of Providence, that special Providence which is conversant about the affairs of the children of men. Consider what God does in the government of the world, and you will say, He is wise in heart and mighty in strength. (1.) He does many things and great, many and great to admiration, v. 10. Job here says the same that Eliphaz had said (ch. v. 9), and in the original in the very same words, not declining to speak after him, though now his antagonist. God is a great God, and doeth great things, a wonder-working God; his works of wonder are so many that we cannot number them and so mysterious that we cannot find them out. O the depth of his counsels! (2.) He acts invisibly and undiscerned, v. 11. "He goes by me in his operations, and I see him not, I perceive him not. His way is in the sea," Ps. lxxvii. 19. The operations of second causes are commonly obvious to sense, but God does all about us and yet we see him not, Acts xvii. 23. Our finite understandings cannot fathom his counsels, apprehend his motions, or comprehend the measures he takes; we are therefore incompetent judges of God's proceedings, because we know not what he does or what he designs. The arcana imperii—secrets of government, are things above us, which therefore we must not pretend to expound or comment upon. (3.) He acts with an incontestable sovereignty, v. 12. He takes away our creature-comforts and confidences when and as he pleases, takes away health, estate, relations, friends, takes away life itself; whatever goes, it is he that takes it; by what hand so ever it is removed, his hand must be acknowledged in its removal. The Lord takes away, and who can hinder him? Who can turn him away? (Margin, Who shall make him restore?) Who can dissuade him or alter his counsels? Who can resist him or oppose his operations? Who can control him or call him to an account? What action can be brought against him? Or who will say unto him, What doest thou? Or, Why doest thou so? Dan. iv. 35. God is not obliged to give us a reason of what he does. The meanings of his proceedings we know not now; it will be time enough to know hereafter, when it will appear that what seemed now to be done by prerogative was done in infinite wisdom and for the best. (4.) He acts with an irresistible power, which no creature can resist, v. 13. If God will not withdraw his anger (which he can do when he pleases, for he is Lord of his anger, lets it out or calls it in according to his will), the proud helpers do stoop under him; that is, He certainly breaks and crushes those that proudly help one another against him. Proud men set themselves against God and his proceedings. In this opposition they join hand in hand. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, to throw off his yoke, to run down his truths, and to persecute his people. Men of Israel, help, Acts xxi. 28; Ps. lxxxiii. 8. If one enemy of God's kingdom fall under his judgment, the rest come proudly to help that, and think to deliver that out of his hand: but in vain; unless he pleases to withdraw his anger (which he often does, for it is the day of his patience) the proud helpers stoop under him, and fall with those whom they designed to help. Who knows the power of God's anger? Those who think they have strength enough to help others will not be able to help themselves against it.

14 How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him? 15 Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge. 16 If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice. 17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause. 18 He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness. 19 If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead? 20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. 21 Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

What Job had said of man's utter inability to contend with God he here applies to himself, and in effect despairs of gaining his favour, which (some think) arises from the hard thoughts he had of God, as one who, having set himself against him, right or wrong, would be too hard for him. I rather think it arises from the sense he had of the imperfection of his own righteousness, and the dark and cloudy apprehensions which at present he had of God's displeasure against him.

I. He durst not dispute with God (v. 14): "If the proud helpers do stoop under him, how much less shall I (a poor weak creature, so far from being a helper that I am very helpless) answer him? What can I say against that which God does? If I go about to reason with him, he will certainly be too hard for me." If the potter make the clay into a vessel of dishonour, or break in pieces the vessel he has made, shall the clay or the broken vessel reason with him? So absurd is the man who replies against God, or thinks to talk the matter out with him. No, let all flesh be silent before him.

II. He durst not insist upon his own justification before God. Though he vindicated his own integrity to his friends, and would not yield that he was a hypocrite and a wicked man, as they suggested, yet he would never plead it as his righteousness before God. "I will never venture upon the covenant of innocency, nor think to come off by virtue of that." Job knew so much of God, and knew so much of himself, that he durst not insist upon his own justification before God.

1. He knew so much of God that he durst not stand a trial with him, v. 15-19. He knew how to make his part good with his friends, and thought himself able to deal with them; but, though his cause had been better than it was, he knew it was to no purpose to debate it with God. (1.) God knew him better than he knew himself and therefore (v. 15), "Though I were righteous in my own apprehension, and my own heart did not condemn me, yet God is greater than my heart, and knows those secret faults and errors of mine which I do not and cannot understand, and is able to charge me with them, and therefore I would not answer." St. Paul speaks to the same purport: I know nothing by myself, am not conscious to myself of any reigning wickedness, and yet I am not hereby justified, 1 Cor. iv. 4. "I dare not put myself upon that issue, lest God should charge that upon me which I did not discover in myself." Job will therefore wave that plea, and make supplication to his Judge, that is, will cast himself upon God's mercy, and not think come off by his own merit. (2.) He had no reason to think that there was anything in his prayers to recommend them to the divine acceptance, or to fetch in an answer of peace, no worth or worthiness at all to which to ascribe their success, but it must be attributed purely to the grace and compassion of God, who answers before we call and not because we call, and gives gracious answers to our prayers, but not for our prayers (v. 16): "If I had called, and he had answered, had given the thing I called to him for, yet, so weak and defective are my best prayers, that I would not believe he had therein hearkened to my voice; I could not say that he had saved with his right hand and answered me" (Ps. lx. 5), "but that he did it purely for his own name's sake." Bishop Patrick expounds it thus: "If I had made supplication, and he had granted my desire, I would not think my prayer had done the business." Not for your sakes, be it known to you. (3.) His present miseries, which God had brought him into notwithstanding his integrity, gave him too sensible a conviction that, in the ordering and disposing of men's outward condition in this world, God acts by sovereignty, and, though he never does wrong to any, yet he does not ever give full right to all (that is, the best do not always fare best, nor the worst fare worst) in this life, because he reserves the full and exact distribution of rewards and punishments for the future state. Job was not conscious to himself of any extraordinary guilt, and yet fell under extraordinary afflictions, v. 17, 18. Every man must expect the wind to blow upon him and ruffle him, but Job was broken with a tempest. Every man, in the midst of these thorns and briers, must expect to be scratched; but Job was wounded, and his wounds were multiplied. Every man must expect a cross daily, and to taste sometimes of the bitter cup; but poor Job's troubles came so thickly upon him that he had no breathing time, and he was filled with bitterness. And he presumes to say that all this was without cause, without any great provocation given. We have made the best of what Job said hitherto, though contrary to the judgment of many good interpreters; but here, no doubt, he spoke unadvisedly with his lips; he reflected on God's goodness in saying that he was not suffered to take his breath (while yet he had such good use of his reason and speech as to be able to talk thus) and on his justice in saying that it was without cause. Yet it is true that as, on the one hand, there are many who are chargeable with more sin than the common infirmities of human nature, and yet feel no more sorrow than that of the common calamities of human life, so, on the other hand, there are many who feel more than the common calamities of human life and yet are conscious to themselves of no more than the common infirmities of human nature. (4.) He was in no capacity at all to make his part good with God, v. 19. [1.] Not by force of arms. "I dare not enter the lists with the Almighty; for if I speak of strength, and think to come off by that, lo, he is strong, stronger than I, and will certainly overpower me." There is no disputing (said one once to Cæsar) with him that commands legions. Much less is there any with him that has legions of angels at command. Can thy heart endure (thy courage and presence of mind) or can thy hands be strong to defend thyself, in the days that I shall deal with thee? Ezek. xxii. 14. [2.] Not by force of arguments. "I dare not try the merits of the cause. If I speak of judgment, and insist upon my right, who will set me a time to plead? There is no higher power to which I may appeal, no superior court to appoint a hearing of the cause; for he is supreme and from him proceeds every man's judgment, which he must abide by."

2. He knew so much of himself the he durst not stand a trial, v. 20, 21. "If I go about to justify myself, and to plead a righteousness of my own, my defence will be my offence, and my own mouth shall condemn me even when it goes about to acquit me." A good man, who knows the deceitfulness of his own heart, and is jealous over it with a godly jealousy, and has often discovered that amiss there which had long lain undiscovered, is suspicious of more evil in himself than he is really conscious of, and therefore will by no means think of justifying himself before God. If we say we have no sin, we not only deceive ourselves, but we affront God; for we sin in saying so, and give the lie to the scripture, which has concluded all under sin. "If I say, I am perfect, I am sinless, God has nothing to lay to my charge, my very saying so shall prove me perverse, proud, ignorant, and presumptuous. Nay, though I were perfect, though God should pronounce me just, yet would I not know my soul, I would not be in care about the prolonging of my life while it is loaded with all these miseries." Or, "Though I were free from gross sin, though my conscience should not charge me with any enormous crime, yet would I not believe my own heart so far as to insist upon my innocency nor think my life worth striving for with God." In short, it is folly to contend with God, and our wisdom, as well as duty, to submit to him and throw ourselves at his feet.

22 This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. 23 If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent. 24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?

Here Job touches briefly upon the main point now in dispute between him and his friends. They maintained that those who are righteous and good always prosper in this world, and none but the wicked are in misery and distress; he asserted, on the contrary, that it is a common thing for the wicked to prosper and the righteous to be greatly afflicted. This is the one thing, the chief thing, wherein he and his friends differed; and they had not proved their assertion, therefore he abides by his: "I said it, and say it again, that all things come alike to all." Now, 1. It must be owned that there is very much truth in what Job here means, that temporal judgments, when they are sent abroad, fall both upon good and bad, and the destroying angel seldom distinguishes (though once he did) between the houses of Israelites and the houses of Egyptians. In the judgment of Sodom indeed, which is called the vengeance of eternal fire (Jude 7), far be it from God to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked (Gen. xviii. 25); but, in judgments merely temporal, the righteous have their share, and sometimes the greatest share. The sword devours one as well as another, Josiah as well as Ahab. Thus God destroys the perfect and the wicked, involves them both in the same common ruin; good and bad were sent together into Babylon, Jer. xxiv. 5, 9. If the scourge slay suddenly, and sweep down all before it, God will be well pleased to see how the same scourge which is the perdition of the wicked is the trial of the innocent and of their faith, which will be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, 1 Pet. i. 7; Ps. lxvi. 10. Against the just th' Almighty's arrows fly, For he delights the innocent to try, To show their constant and their Godlike mind, Not by afflictions broken, but refined. Sir R. Blackmore . Let this reconcile God's children to their troubles; they are but trials, designed for their honour and benefit, and, if God be pleased with them, let not them be displeased; if he laugh at the trial of the innocent, knowing how glorious the issue of it will be, at destruction and famine let them also laugh (ch. v. 22), and triumph over them, saying, O death! where is thy sting? On the other hand, the wicked are so far from being made the marks of God's judgments that the earth is given into their hand, v. 24 (they enjoy large possessions and great power, have what they will and do what they will), into the hand of the wicked one (in the original, the word is singular); the devil, that wicked one, is called the god of this world, and boasts that into his hands it is delivered, Luke iv. 6. Or into the hand of a wicked man, meaning (as bishop Patrick and the Assembly's Annotations conjecture) some noted tyrant then living in those parts, whose great wickedness and great prosperity were well known both to Job and his friends. The wicked have the earth given them, but the righteous have heaven given them, and which is better—heaven without earth or earth without heaven? God, in his providence, advances wicked men, while he covers the faces of those who are fit to be judges, who are wise and good, and qualified for government, and buries them alive in obscurity, perhaps suffers them to be run down and condemned, and to have their faces covered as criminals by those wicked ones into whose hand the earth is given. We daily see that this is done; if it be not God that does it, where and who is he that does it? To whom can it be ascribed but to him that rules in the kingdoms of men, and gives them to whom he will? Dan. iv. 32. Yet, 2. It must be owned that there is too much passion in what Job here says. The manner of expression is peevish. When he meant that God afflicts he ought not to have said, He destroys both the perfect and the wicked; when he meant that God pleases himself with the trial of the innocent he ought not to have said, He laughs at it, for he doth not afflict willingly. When the spirit is heated, either with dispute or with discontent, we have need to set a watch before the door of our lips, that we may observe a due decorum in speaking of divine things.

25 Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good. 26 They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey. 27 If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself: 28 I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. 29 If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain? 30 If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; 31 Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. 32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. 33 Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both. 34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me: 35 Then would I speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.

Job here grows more and more querulous, and does not conclude this chapter with such reverent expressions of God's wisdom and justice as he began with. Those that indulge a complaining humour know not to what indecencies, nay, to what impieties, it will hurry them. The beginning of that strife with God is as the letting forth of water; therefore leave it off before it be meddled with. When we are in trouble we are allowed to complain to God, as the Psalmist often, but must by no means complain of God, as Job here.

I. His complaint here of the passing away of the days of his prosperity is proper enough (v. 25, 26): "My days (that is, all my good days) are gone, never to return, gone of a sudden, gone ere I was aware. Never did any courier that went express" (like Cushi and Ahimaaz) "with good tidings make such haste as all my comforts did from me. Never did ship sail to its port, never did eagle fly upon its prey, with such incredible swiftness; nor does there remain any trace of my prosperity, any more than there does of an eagle in the air or a ship in the sea," Prov. xxx. 19. See here, 1. How swift the motion of time is. It is always upon the wing, hastening to its period; it stays for no man. What little need have we of pastimes, and what great need to redeem time, when time runs out, runs on so fast towards eternity, which comes as time goes! 2. How vain the enjoyments of time are, which we may be quite deprived of while yet time continues. Our day may be longer than the sun-shine of our prosperity; and, when that is gone, it is as if it had not been. The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards; so will not the remembrance of our having got a great deal of worldly wealth when it is all lost and gone. "They flee away, past recall; they see no good, and leave none behind them."

II. His complaint of his present uneasiness is excusable, v. 27, 28. 1. It should seem, he did his endeavour to quiet and compose himself as his friends advised him. That was the good he would do: he would fain forget his complaints and praise God, would leave off his heaviness and comfort himself, that he might be fit for converse both with God and man; but, 2. He found he could not do it: "I am afraid of all my sorrows. When I strive most against my trouble it prevails most over me and proves too hard for me!" It is easier, in such a case, to know what we should do than to do it, to know what temper we should be in than to get into that temper and keep in it. It is easy to preach patience to those that are in trouble, and to tell them they must forget their complaints and comfort themselves; but it is not so soon done as said. Fear and sorrow are tyrannizing things, not easily brought into the subjection they ought to be kept in to religion and right reason. But,

III. His complaint of God as implacable and inexorable was by no means to be excused. It was the language of his corruption. He knew better, and, at another time, would have been far from harbouring any such hard thoughts of God as now broke in upon his spirit and broke out in these passionate complaints. Good men do not always speak like themselves; but God, who considers their frame and the strength of their temptations, gives them leave afterwards to unsay what was amiss by repentance and will not lay it to their charge.

1. Job seems to speak here, (1.) As if he despaired of obtaining from God any relief or redress of his grievances, though he should produce ever so good proofs of his integrity: "I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. My afflictions have continued so long upon me, and increased so fast, that I do not expect thou wilt ever clear up my innocency by delivering me out of them and restoring me to a prosperous condition. Right or wrong, I must be treated as a wicked man; my friends will continue to think so of me, and God will continue upon me the afflictions which give them occasion to think so. Why then do I labour in vain to clear myself and maintain my own integrity?" v. 29. It is to no purpose to speak in a cause that is already prejudged. With men it is often labour in vain for the most innocent to go about to clear themselves; they must be adjudged guilty, though the evidence be ever so plain for them. But it is not so in our dealings with God, who is the patron of oppressed innocency and to whom it was never in vain to commit a righteous cause. Nay, he not only despairs of relief, but expects that his endeavour to clear himself will render him yet more obnoxious (v. 30, 31): "If I wash myself with snow-water, and make my integrity ever so evident, it will be all to no purpose; judgment must go against me. Thou shalt plunge me in the ditch" (the pit of destruction, so some, or rather the filthy kennel, or sewer), "which will make me so offensive in the nostrils of all about me that my own clothes shall abhor me and I shall even loathe to touch myself." He saw his afflictions coming from God. Those were the things that blackened him in the eye of his friends; and, upon that score, he complained of them, and of the continuance of them, as the ruin, not only of his comfort, but of his reputation. Yet these words are capable of a good construction. If we be ever so industrious to justify ourselves before men, and to preserve our credit with them,—if we keep our hands ever so clean from the pollutions of gross sin, which fall under the eye of the world,—yet God, who knows our hearts, can charge us with so much secret sin as will for ever take off all our pretensions to purity and innocency, and make us see ourselves odious in the sight of the holy God. Paul, while a Pharisee, made his hands very clean; but when the commandment came and discovered to him his heart-sins, made him know lust, that plunged him in the ditch. (2.) As if he despaired to have a fair hearing with God, and that were hard indeed. [1.] He complains that he was not upon even terms with God (v. 32): "He is not a man, as I am. I could venture to dispute with a man like myself (the potsherds may strive with the potsherds of the earth), but he is infinitely above me, and therefore I dare not enter the lists with him; I shall certainly be cast if I contend with him." Note, First, God is not a man as we are. Of the greatest princes we may say, "They are men as we are," but not of the great God. His thoughts and ways are infinitely above ours, and we must not measure him by ourselves. Man is foolish and weak, frail and fickle, but God is not. We are depending dying creatures; he is the independent an immortal Creator. Secondly, The consideration of this should keep us very humble and very silent before God. Let us not make ourselves equal with God, but always eye him as infinitely above us. [2.] That there was no arbitrator or umpire to adjust the differences between him and God and to determine the controversy (v. 33): Neither is there any days-man between us. This complaint that there was not is in effect a wish that there were, and so the LXX. reads it: O that there were a mediator between us! Job would gladly refer the matter, but no creature was capable of being a referee, and therefore he must even refer it still to God himself and resolve to acquiesce in his judgment. Our Lord Jesus is the blessed days-man, who has mediated between heaven and earth, has laid his hand upon us both; to him the Father has committed all judgment, and we must. But this matter was not then brought to so clear a light as it is now by the gospel, which leaves no room for such a complaint as this. [3.] That the terrors of God, which set themselves in array against him, put him into such confusion that he knew not how to address God with the confidence with which he was formerly wont to approach him, v. 34, 35. "Besides the distance which I am kept at by his infinite transcendency, his present dealings with me are very discouraging: Let him take his rod away from me." He means not so much his outward afflictions as the load which lay upon his spirit from the apprehensions of God's wrath; that was his fear which terrified him. "Let that be removed; let me recover the sight of his mercy, and not be amazed with the sight of nothing but his terrors, and then I would speak and order my cause before him. But it is not so with me; the cloud is not at all dissipated; the wrath of God still fastens upon me, and preys on my spirits, as much as ever; and what to do I know not."

2. From all this let us take occasion, (1.) To stand in awe of God, and to fear the power of his wrath. If good men have been put into such consternation by it, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? (2.) To pity those that are wounded in spirit, and pray earnestly for them, because in that condition they know not how to pray for themselves. (3.) Carefully to keep up good thoughts of God in our minds, for hard thoughts of him are the inlets of much mischief. (4.) To bless God that we are not in such a disconsolate condition as poor Job was here in, but that we walk in the light of the Lord; let us rejoice therein, but rejoice with trembling.

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

HE anſwered to his two friends who had formerly ſpoken: firſt, to that of Eliphaz, chap. 4.17. and next to that of Bildad, chap. 8.3. Bildad had interrupted him when he would have excuſed himſelf, that he did by no means deny the juſtice of God, as they miſtook him. Now therefore, that Bildad had ſpoke his utmoſt, Job beginneth to diſpute and to declare his judgment concerning that ſubject: and this he doth longè magnificentiùs & auguſtiùs quàm ſocii, ſaith Mercer, far more magnificently and majeſtically then his two friends had done; proving that God is juſt, even then when he afflicteth the innocent: neither have ſuch any juſt cauſe to except againſt his proceedings in that behalf, ſith he fetcheth not the cauſes of his decrees and purpoſes from the things which he governeth; but his will, which is before all things, is the rule of all juſtice. St. Paul alſo had reſpect unto this, Rom. 9.20. & 11.32. riſing a great deal higher, namely, to the eternal decree of Election and Reprobation: after this, Job ſetteth forth what is the condition of men, and what poor things they are in compariſon of God, thereby to bring himſelf and others to the true knowledg of God, and of themſelves, which is the higheſt wiſedome in the world.

Verſe 2. I know it is ſo of a truth] Bildads argument was, God who hath puniſhed thee is juſt, therefore thou art unjuſt. Job grants the Antecedent here, but denies and refutes the conſequent, verſe 22, 23. &c. To Eliphaz alſo Job grants, not only that man could not be more juſt then God, as he had ſaid, chap. 4.3. but alſo that none could ever be found ſo juſt, that he might any way be compared to God: Job is one of thoſe Candidates of Immortality, who can do nothing againſt the truth; but for the truth, 2 Cor. 13.8. every parcel whereof he accounted precious, and could not but be a friend to it, though brought by them who ſeemed his enemies; this ſpoke him ingenuous and humble, a well-tempered champion for the truth: Athanaſius is ſaid to be ſuch another, and ſo Mr. Bucer. Helvidius is taxed by Hierome, for the contrary, and B. Mountague, by D. Rivet.

But how ſhould man be juſt with God?] Mr. Broughton tranſlateth, And how can man be juſt before the Omnipotent? Sorry, ſickly, wretched man, how can he be juſt (ſc. by an inherent righteouſneſſe; by an imputed he may) before the moſt Holy and Almighty God; or compared to him? Job afterwards ſetting himſelf by God, and conſidering the infinite diſtance and diſproportion, crieth out, I abhor my ſelf; and repent in duſt and aſhes, chap. 42.5, 6. I ſay likewiſe, Woe is me, for I am undone, chap. 6.5. He that hath looked a while intentively upon the body of the Sun, is ſo dazeled with the beams thereof, that he can ſee nothing.

Verſe 3. If he will contend with him] If any one would be ſo fool-hardy, or adventurous, as to diſpute with God about his judgments, he could not, though hee were never ſo wiſe, or well-skilled, anſwer him one objection of a thouſand, but muſt needs yeild any ſay, I am no fit match for God. The Jew-Doctors (and after them Vatablus) ſet this ſenſe upon the text, If he (that is, if man) ſhould contend with him, (that is, with God, as through the Luciferian pride of his heart, he is apt enough to do) he would not anſwer him one of a thouſand: God would not honour him ſo far as to anſwer ſo contemptible an adverſary, and ſo ſlight and ſenſeleſſe arguments; if he vouchſafe an anſwer, it ſhall not be ſo much as the Eccho giveth the voice: it ſhall not be to one article or argument of a thouſand. Egregius quidem ſenſus, ſaith Mercer: this is a good ſenſe, but the other is better, and well agreeth with verſe 14.

Verſe 4. He is wiſe in heart, and mighty in ſtrength] And muſt therefore needs be a moſt juſt judg, ſith he neither wanteth wiſedome to judge, nor power to execute: what then ſhould turn him out of the track of Juſtice? Let God be juſt and true; but every man a liar: as it is written, That thou mighteſt be juſtified in thy ſayings, Pſalm 55.4. Rom. 3.4. and mighteſt overcome (or be clear) when thou judgeſt, or when thou art judged: for at the ſame time that God doth judg, or execute judgment upon any, he may alſo be ſaid to be judged: whilſt men paſſe their cenſures, either as applauding or diſliking his judgments: and then may he be ſaid to overcome, when judged, when men acknowledge the juſtice of his judgments; when they conclude him wiſe in heart, that is, the only wiſe God, 1 Tim. 1.17. and mighty in ſtrength, that is, the mighty ſtrong God, Iſai. 9.6. Who doth whatſoever he will in heaven and earth, Pſal 1 [illegible: 1 letter]8. In ſpeaking of theſe and other his moſt glorious attributes, we ſpeak non quantum debemus, ſed quentum poſſumus, not ſo much as we ought, but ſo much as we are able. As for the wiſedome of God, Nemo ſapientiam Dei immenſam in omnem aeternitatem exhauriet, (ſaith Gra[illegible: 1 letter]ian the Emperour in an Epiſtle to Ambroſe) no man ſhall ever be able to fathome or find it out. And as for his power, ſo infinite, is the diſtance betwixt God, and the greateſt Noble, that it is an honour that they may be ſuffered to live in his ſight, Exod. 24.10, 11. And it is all one with God whether againſt a man, or a nation, Job 34.29.

Who hath hardened himſelf againſt him, and hath proſpered?] Inſtance but any one, whether tongue-ſmitter, or hand-ſmiter, that could ever boaſt of the laſt blow, or could cry, Victoria; Quis dura locutus eſt [illegible: 1 letter]i? ſo ſome render it. Who ever uttered hard ſpeeches (Jude 15) ſtout words, Mal. 3.13. againſt God, and proſpered, ſcaped ſcot-free, as we ſay, and had not his full payment? Blaſphemers ſet their mouths againſt heaven, witneſſe Pharaoh, Sennacherib, Julian, &c. dealing with Almighty God, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Lonicer. theat. hiſtor. as if Augustus Caeſar were dealing with ſome god Neptune; Caligula with his Jupiter, whom he dared to a duel: or the three ſons trying their archery at their fathers heart, to ſee who can ſhoot nigheſt. But ſhall they thus eſcape by iniquity? No; In thine anger caſt down the people, O God. Pſalm 56.7. The wall of Aphek did execution upon the blaſphemous Syrians; the Angel of God upon the Aſſyrians: his viſible vengeance fell upon Julian, Arius. and Olympius an Arian biſhop, who denying the Trinity, was ſtruck with three thunderbolts, and killed in a bath. Others underſtand here the word Libbo, and read it thus, who hath hardened his heart againſt him? &c. Surely if men harden their hearts, God will harden his hand, and haſten their deſtruction. See Prov. 29.1. Iſai. 6.10, 11. Rom. 2, 5. and get thy flinty heart made fleſhy, ſith an hard heart is in ſome reſpect worſe then hell (which is the juſt hire of it) ſith one of the greateſt ſins is far greater in evil, then any of the greateſt puniſhments.

Verſe 5. Which removeth the mountains, and they know not] For further proof of Gods power firſt (and then afterwards of his wiſedome). Job produceth divers particular acts of his upon the creatures, both unreaſonable and reaſonable. El[illegible: 1 letter]phaz had ſaid ſomewhat to this purpoſe chap. 4. ſe hîc admirandus eſt Job, ſaith Merceri, Job doth it admirably: his tongue like a ſilver trumpet, ſets forth the high praiſes of God far more plainly, plentifully and magnificently then any of his friends, who yet have done it very well too. God to ſhew his power, removeth the mountains, ſaith Job, ſc. by ſtupendious earthquakes, and otherwiſe, at his pleaſure, Nahum 1.5. Pſalm 97.4, 5. Iſa. 40.15. he taketh up the Iſles as a very little thing; he can remove mountains with a wet finger, as we ſay, though ſo mighty in bulk, and ſtrongly founded. Dionyſius thinketh, that in thus ſpeaking, Job aimeth at that which was done in the time of Noahs flood, when the waters with their mighty force, galled and bare down many great mountains, but that's uncertaine. Great things God will do by the fire of the laſt day, when mountains ſhall melt, rocks rent, and the earth with the works therein, ſhall be all burnt up, 2 Pet. 2.10. And what deſolations he hath made in ſundry parts of the earth by terrible earth-quakes, as at Antioch often (which was there-hence called [non-Latin text not transcribed], becauſe ſo viſited by God) in divers places of Italy, Sicily, Burgundy, Helvetia, Joſeph. Cedren. Plin l. 2. cap. 83. Camb Lritan. and here in Hereford-ſhire, mention is made in Pliny, Stumpſius, Jovius, and other hiſtorians, all making good this of Job, and that of the Pſalmiſt, The mountains will skip like rammes, and the little hills like lambs, when the Lord is diſpleaſed, Pſalm 114.4.

And they know it not] Dicto citiùs, it is done with a trice, ſpeedily and ſecretly, before the mountains (if they could at all know) could know what is done to them▪ or before the mountaineers or the neighbourhood could foreſee and avoid the danger of being overwhelmed and buried alive.

Which overturneth them in his anger] Or, that he overturneth them in his anger. Men are not ſenſible of Gods anger for ſin, no not in the greateſt commotions, ſuch is their ſtupidity; but will needs ſwelter and pine away in their iniquities, as if nothing could awake them, Lev. 26 39.

Verſe 6. Which ſhaketh the earth out of her place] By mighty earthquakes, diſlocating the earth; ſome part of it; for the whole was never removed, though God can take up the whole Globe as a man would do a hall, toſſing the very center it ſelf whereon it is eſtabliſhed, 2 Sam. 22.8. &c. There is a twofold power of God, 1. Abſolute. 2. Actual. By the former he can do more then he doth: By the latter, whatſoever he willeth, that without impediment he effecteth. As for the earth, as God upholdeth it by the word of his power, Heb. 1.3. ſo he hath poiſed it me[illegible: 2 letters]ly by its own weight, that it ſhould not be removed for ever, Pſalm 104.5. For if you imagine that the earth could be removed out of its natural place, which way ſo ever it be removed, it ſhall move towards heaven, and ſo ſhall naturally aſcend: but to do ſo is utterly repugnant to the nature of the earth, which is, to bear downward. All which notwithſtanding, the God of nature, as he is in the heaven, ſo he doth whatſoever he will in heaven and earth.

Verſe 7. Which commandeth the Sun, and it riſeth not] God in framing the world, began above, and wrought downward: but Job in deſcribing the great works of God here, began below: and now goes upward from earth to heaven. It is as natural to the heaven to move, as to the earth to ſtand ſtill. Copernicus his opinion, that the earth turns round, and heaven ſtands ſtill, is worthily exploded: round the earth is indeed, notwithſtanding the hills and vallies (as an apple is round, notwithſtanding ſome knots and bunches in it:) and being round, it is naturally apt for motion (the Pythagoreans held, that the earth was naturâ ſuâ mobilis, as the heavens are) but God hath fixed and made it unmoveable, whiles the heavenly bodies are reſtleſſe in their courſes. The Sun (the glistering Sun, as the word here ſignifieth) rejoyceth as a ſtrong man to run his race, Pſalm 19.5.De aſcenſ[illegible: 1 letter]nent. in Deum. grad. 7 Bellarmine ſaith, that in the eighth part of an hour the Sun runneth 700 miles. But God the Soveraign of the Sun can ſpeak to it, and it riſeth not. If he do but give the word of command to the Sun not to riſe, the morning ſhall be made darkneſſe, Amos 4.13. and the day dark with night Amos 5.8. Was it not ſo in that three dayes darkneſſe in Egypt? in that miraculous ſtanding ſtill of the Sun in Joſhua's dayes,Exod. 12.21. Joſh. 10.13. when the Sun roſe not with the Antipodes one morning, and the ſtars were ſealed up part of the night? in that diſmal darkneſſe (mentioned by Lavater upon this text) March 12. 1585, laſting for a quarter of an houre, and being ſo like the night, that the fouls went to rooſt at noon, and many fell to their prayers for pardon of their ſins, as thinking verily that the day of judgment was come. St. Paul in the tempeſt at ſea ſaw neither Sun nor ſtars for many dayes, Acts 27.20. And I have read of a forraigner, who having been in theſe parts in the deep of winter, and returning home again, deſired one that was then bound for England to commend him to the Sun when he next ſaw him, for I have not ſeen him there, ſaid he, of a whole fortnight together. Ezek. 32.7. I will cover the Sun with a cloud; and, in that ſenſe, ſpeak to it that it riſe not.

And ſealeth up the ſtars] Heb. Sets a ſeal upon the ſtars, making them hide their heads, and with-draw their influences: for ſtars are Gods ſtore-houſes, Deut. 28.12. which he openeth or ſhutteth at his pleaſure. Every ſtar is like a purſe of gold: out of which God can, when he will, throw down riches and plenty into the earth: but many of them never appear to us, though viſible to the Antipodes, Job 37.7.

Verſe 8. Which alone ſpreadeth out the heavens] Without the help or counſel of any other. As God was alone and by himſelf in making the world, Iſa. 44.24. ſo lie is in ordering it, Job 37.18. Pſalm 104.1, 2. The Hebrews, as they held with Pythagoras in the point of tranſanimation; ſo with Plato in that falſe opinion of his, that the Angels were the movers of the heavens, and the governours of the whole world; whence grew that Angel-worſhip amongſt them, Col. 2.18. As God made the heavens alone, even that whole Expanſe or Firmament, Gen. 1.6. the whole region of the Ayre; ſo he ſtill ſpreadeth it out as a curtaine, which he draweth before the Sun and ſtarres, masking and muffling them up with clouds, whenſoever he pleaſeth.

And treadeth upon the waves of the ſea] Or, ſpurneth, exerciſing a regiment over the raging ſurges of the ſeas, though they ſeem to ſwell againſt him. Thus Job fetcheth evidences of Gods power from all places. See Pſalm 89.9.

Verſe 9. Which maketh Arcturus, Orion and Pleiades] Thoſe glorious conſtellations, which do after a ſort, govern the four ſeaſons of the year: but are governed by God, from whoſe power all their influence and vertue is borrowed, even that which they exerciſe upon the raging ſeas. The Learned interpreters have not unfitly tranſlated Has Acturus, Cheſil Orion, Chimah Pleiades, or the ſeven ſtars, and the Climates of the South,Beza. the Summer ſignes; altogether neglecting the toyes of the unlearned Rabbines: which ſtars or ſigns are anſwerable to Autumn and Winter, the Spring time, and Summer. But I had rather (ſaith Reverend Mr. Beza) retain ſtill the Hebrew words, then uſe the other: which have been ſo much abuſed with gloſure and impure tales and devices of the wicked and profane Poets. See the Note on Job 38.31.

And the Chambers of the South] Interiora Austri, the moſt remote, hidden and ſecret parts of the South; ſo called, becauſe the ſtars which are under the Southern pole are hidden from us, and are encloſed and lodged as in a chamber. Thoſe ſtars (and ſo all the reſt) God maketh,Mr. Car[illegible: 1 letter]l. Pſalm 147.4. that is, he maketh them to appear and do their office for the uſe and good of man. It is He alone that telleth the number of the ſtars, he calleth them by their names: neither can they do any thing but as they receive order and commiſſion from him.Aug de civ. Dei lib. 16. That was an idle brag of Aratus the Aſtrologer, that he had found out and ſet down the whole number of the ſtars: and that is a ſtrange arrogancy of the Kings of Mexico, who when they are conſecrated, are reported to take this oath,Lopez de Gomara. I ſwear that the Sun, during my life, ſhall hold on his courſe: and that the clouds ſhall ſend down rain, the rivers ſhall run, and the earth bring forth all manner of fruit &c.

Verſe 10 Which doth great things &c.] See the Note on chap. 5.9. whence this verſe is taken verbatim. If Eliphaz ſay the truth of Gods wiſedome and power, Job will ſoon ſeal to it: he can find in his heart to ſpeak all good of a wounding God, of a killing God, and not wiſh as Spira did, O that I were above God, and could over-power him! Camd. Eliz. fol. 403. Or as Hacket here did, Anno 1591. threaten God to fire the heaven about him, to pluck him out of his throne &c.

Verſe 11. Lo he goeth by me. and I ſee him not] As he is powerful in his deeds, ſo he is ſecret in his deſingns, paſſing, and not repaſſing daily, but yet unſeen: he is every where preſent, and not ſo farre from any one of us, as the bark is from the tree; for in him we live, move, and have our being; and therefore we had need take heed what we ſay or think of him in any extremity or miſery, for he over-heareth us; yea he knoweth our thoughts long before, Pſalm 139.2. As a circumſpect judg that goeth obſcured under ſome diſguiſe, to hear and ſee what is ſaid and done by thoſe that are to be judged by him. Or as the Great Turk ſtanding behind the Arras, at the dangerous door, to hear all the debates and decrees of his Senate, and to call them to a ſtrict account of all afterwards: God, as he is inviſible, too ſubtile for ſinew or ſight to ſeize upon; ſo he is [non-Latin text not transcribed], All-eye, to ſurvey and look round about us; yea, to ſee through us: The Lord is in his holy-Temple, the Lords throne is in heaven: Howbeit, he is not ſo confined or ſhut up there (as the Epicures dreamt) but that his eyes behold, his eye-lids try the children of men, Pſalm 11.4. The one points out his knowledge, the other his judgment; or his critical deſcant: he prieth into the very entrals of the ſoul, the heart of the heart; the reins, thoſe ſeats of luſt, and moſt abſtruſe parts of the body. No man needs a window in his breſt (as the Heathen Momus wiſht) for God to look in at: every man before God is all window, and he like the Optike vertue in the eye, ſeeth all, and is ſeen of none. Look to it therefore, and walk exactly. Cave, ſpectat Cato, Take heed, Cato ſeeth you, was an ancient watchword among the Romans, and a great retentive from vice: how much more ſhould this amongſt all men, Take heed, the Lord looks on? What though he be inviſible, and we ſee him not; he paſſeth on alſo, and we perceive him not; ſhall we, like the fooliſh Buſtard, thruſt our heads in an hole, and then think that becauſe we ſee none, we are therefore ſeen of none? The whole world is to God as a ſea of glaſſe, clear and tranſparent, Rev. 4.6. and his eyes are as a flaming fire, Rev. 1.14. that need no outward light, but can ſee by ſending out a ray. God, that fills and ſees all (ſaith Nazianzen) though he lighten the mind, yet flies before the beams thereof,In carm. ſtill leaving it as it is able in ſight to follow him; and ſo draws it by degrees to higher things: yet interpoſeth betwixt it and his incomprehenſible Eſſence, as many vails as were over the Tabernacle.

Verſe 12. Behold he taketh away] Raptim aufert; He ſnatcheth away, or taketh by force, as a Lion doth his prey, or a thief doth another mans goods: Confer Prov. 23.28. Which if he do, who can repel or turn him back? Here Job plainly alludeth to the taking away of his children, ſervants, and cattle, the likelihood alſo of loſing his life (according to the Chaldee paraphraſt) by his preſent miſeries, which if it ſhould befall him from God, it would not be ſafe for him to cavil, or once queſtion Gods proceeding, to urge him to reſtitution, or charge him with oppreſſion; ſith he is chief Lord of all, and may do with his own what he pleaſeth. He is uncontrollable as Nebuchadnezzar at length acknowledged, Dan. 4.35. and his will is the true and only rule of juſtice it ſelf, nec ſolum recta, ſed & regula. Wherefore let all the earth keep ſilence before him, Hab. 2.20. and let none preſume once to ask him what he hath done, either to queſtion his right to do it, or to queſtion his righteouſneſſe in doing of it.

Verſe 13. If God will not with-draw his anger] That is, of his own free accord forbear to execute his judgments, the ſtouteſt muſt ſtoop; for he is in one mind, and who can turn him! and what his ſoul deſireth even that he doth, Job 23.13. his power is altogether irreſiſtible. Men, though never ſo puiſſant, may be withſtood and over-matched, as Aſa was, 2 Chron 14.8, 9. Nature may be reſiſted, and her power ſuſpended, as when the fire burned not the three worthies, the red Sea drowned not the Iſraelites paſſing through it. In the creatures there is an eſſence, and a faculty whereby they work; between theſe God can ſeparate, and ſo hinder their working. In the Angels there is an eſſence, and an executive power: God comes between theſe ſometimes, and hinders them from doing what they would. But God is moſt ſimple and entire, and therefore the ſtrong helper: Qui portant orbem, ſaith the Vulgar, that bear up the pillars of the world (which ſome underſtand of the Angels, others of the Saints, who ſtand in the gap, Ezek. 22.30. and others again of carnal Combinations) ſhall not hinder him, but ſhall ſtoop and buckle under him, or under it, viz. his wrath, as not able to bear up: helpers ſhall prove no helpers againſt the mind and purpoſe of God: no, though they be as potent and as proud as Egypt (ſuch an alluſion there may be in the Hebrew text) or although they be helpers of latitude, as one rendreth it, that is, of the largeſt extent, either in power, or by an elate mind, and ſo the meaning is. None are ſo mighty, or ſo high-conceited of their own ability, but if he be angry, he wil make them to ſtoop under, as not being able to bear his wrath.

Verſe 14. How much leſſe ſhall I anſwer him] If heaven, earth, ſea, cannot ſtand before him, if ſtrongeſt men, and ſtrongly befriended, and ſeconded, cannot make their party good with him, it is not for me to ſtout it out: but rather to ſtoop and ſtrike ſail, ſeeking to diſarm his indignation by an humble yeildance; eſpecially ſince I am not able to hold diſcourſe with him, to anſwer him one of a thouſand; I not only have not arguments, but I want fit words; not argumentative words only, but perſwaſive alſo.

And chuſe out my words to reaſon with him?] Heb. Shall I chuſe out words with him? Broughton renders it, Shall I chuſe to word it with God? Surely my beſt eloquence in this caſe will be a ſubmiſſive ſilence. It can be neither wiſedome nor duty in me to deal with, and undertake God, either with an open or a cloſed hand; either with Logical ſubtilties, or rhetorical flouriſhes. If I ſhould either be Reſpondent or Opponent, I ſhould come off with loſſe.

Verſe 15. Whom though I were righteous] Legally righteous, as none ever were, but the firſt and ſecond Adam.

Yet would I not anſwer] viz. by pleading mine own righteouſneſſe, ſith no created righteouſneſſe can anſwer God. Some render it, non attollam vocem, ne hiſcere quidem audebo, I will not lift up my voice, nor dare to mute againſt him. (See 1 Cor. 4.4.) No though I were never ſo innocent, and did ſuffer this miſery undeſervedly.

But I would make ſupplication to my Judge] As he doth, though it were a good while firſt, in the end of the next chapter. It is likely that he intended to do it ſooner, but was put by by his paſſions; which when they fume up into the head, gather oft into ſo thick a cloud, that we loſe the ſight of our ſelves, and what is beſt to be done. Jonas thought to have prayed chap. 4.1, 2. but it proved a brawle; and when as by prayer he thought to overcome his anger, anger overcame him and his prayer too.

Verſe 16. If I had called and he had anſwered] If in confidence of mine own righteouſneſſe I had ſought ſome, good thing at his hands, and he had therein condeſcended to me; yet would I not believe that he had (in mercy) hearkned to my voice; but rather, for a further miſchief, that he might roll himſelf upon me, as Joſeph upon his brethren, and as God did upon the Iſraelites after their quails; that he might tear them with his tempeſt &c. Some think that Job ſpeaketh theſe words, as deſpairing of audience, or denying Gods particular providence: but neither of theſe is likely. Rather it ſeemeth (ſaith Pineda) to be the ſpeech of a mind marvellouſly caſt down, and meanly conceited of himſelf, and of his prayer: and truſting to the goodneſſe of God alone; ſo Druſius. Job ſpeaketh not this, ſaith he, out of diffidence, but out of fear of Gods judgments, and ſenſe of his own imperfections.

Yet I would not believe that he had hearkned unto my voice] Namely, for any worth that he findeth in it: what am I poor creature, that I ſhould think I had carried the matter with God?

Verſe 17. For he breaketh me with a tempeſt] q. d. This is one thing alſo that maketh me think I am not heard, becauſe I am not helped; but after my prayer I am in as bad a caſe as before, and ſeem to have a repulſe from God. Afflictions continued are no evidence that prayer is not heard; yet uſually it is very inevident to an afflicted perſon, that his prayer is heard. The Hebrew (and ſo the Vulgar) hath it, He will break me, that is, ſaith one, If I ſhould plead before him as pure, although I might temporally, or for a time be delivered, yet I ſhould not finally eſcape deſtruction, although I ſhould give him none other cauſe. Whereby we may ſee upon what danger of being torn in pieces by Gods judgments, our juſticiaries put themſelves, that will needs go to God in their own righteouſneſſe, as the proud Phariſee, Luke 18. The calamity of theſe merit-mongers ſhall riſe ſuddenly. Behold a whirle-wind, or a tempeſt of the Lord goeth forth in fury, even a grievous whirle-wind; it ſhall fall grievouſly upon the head of theſe wicked ones, Jer. 23.19. This Saint Paul knew, and therefore did his utmoſt that he might be found in Chriſt (ſc. when ſought for by the juſtice of God) not having his own righteouſneſſe, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Chriſt, the righteouſneſſe which is of God by faith. Philip. 3 9.

And multiplieth my wounds without cauſe] i. e. Without any other cauſe then to try me, and prove my patience, which now Job began to perceive, as Philip gathereth, or without any manifeſt cauſe, and perceivable by an afflicted man, ſo Aquinas ſenſeth it. God hath not told me the reaſon of his chaſtenings; but to increaſe my grief, he concealeth from me the cauſe of them; and yet he multiplieth ſtill my ſores and my ſorrows. Or without cauſe, that is, without any ſuch cauſe as his friends alledged againſt him, viz. that he was a rank hypocrite.

Verſe 18. He will not ſuffer me to take my breath] I am ſo far from a period, that I have no pauſe of my troubles. I cannot get any interspiria's, or free breathing-whiles. See chap. 7.19. And in the former verſe he had complained, that God had ſtormed him. Interim per Pathos, ſaith Mercer; here he returns to his old practice of expoſtulating about the greatneſſe of his grief, and ſpares not to hyperbolize. Beda, and others underſtand this text of a bodily diſtemper upon Job, which had made him ſhort-winded. And Lavater hath this good note here, Hoc cogitandum nobis eſt &c. Let this text be thought upon when our ſpirits begin to ſink; as alſo when by reaſon of the Ptiſick, or any other like diſeaſe, we feel a difficulty of breathing, and a ſtraitening of our pectorals, or be otherwiſe compaſſed about with great ſorrows.

But filleth me with bitterneſſe] Heb. He ſatiateth me with bitterneſſes, i. e. with ſore and ſharp afflictions, which are no way joyous, but grievous to the fleſh, Heb. 12.11. Job had his belly-full of gall and worm-wood: he had not only a draught or two, but a diet-drink made him of moſt bitter ingredients. Of this he complaineth heavily: what then will the wicked do that muſt ſuck up the dregs of Gods cup, Pſalm 78.8. which hath eternity to the bottom?

Verſe 19. If I ſpeak of ſtrength, lo he is ſtrong] Neither by might nor right can I deal with him: Broughton renders it, As for force, he is valiant; the Lord is a man of warre, ſaith Moſes, Exod. 15.3. Yea, he is the Lord of arms. ſaith David, Pſal. 84. Yea, He alone is a whole army of men, Van & Rere both, ſaith Iſaiah cap. 52.12. there is no doubt then, but he will carry the day, ſith no creature is able to grapple with him. The weakneſſe of God (if any ſuch thing there were) is ſtronger then men, 1 Cor. 1.25. and by weakeſt means, he can effect greateſt matters, as once he did in Egypt.

And if of judgment, who ſhall ſet me a time to plead?] Who ſhall appoint the time and place of our meeting? If I ſhall go about to ſue him at law, I ſhall have but a cold ſuit, an ill pull of it: for who ſhall make him appear, or bring him to his anſwer? and where ſhall I find an advocate, a patron to plead my cauſe? yea, where ſhall I get a witneſſe? for ſo the vulgar reades it, Nemo audet pro me restimonium dicere: No man will be ſo bold as to give an evidence for me, or be a witneſſe on my ſide.

Verſe 20. If I justifie my ſelf] If, in default of other pleaders, I ſhould undertake to manage my cauſe my ſelf, I ſhould be never the neer.

Mine own mouth ſhall condemn me] i. e. God out of mine own mouth, as finding mine arguments weak and worthleſſe: He knowes us better then we know our ſelves; and when he comes to turn the bottom of the bag upwards (as once Joſephs ſteward did theirs) all our ſecret thefts will out, and thoſe will appear to be faults that we little thought of. A Dutch Divine, when to die, was full of fears and doubts; ſaid ſome to him, you have been ſo employed, and ſo faithful, why ſhould you fear? Oh, ſaid he, the judgment of man, and the judgment of God are different. Vae hominum vitae quantumvis laudabili, ſi remotâ miſericordiâ judicetur; Wo to the moſt praiſe-worthy man alive, if he meet with judgment without mercy. The beſt lamb ſhould abide the ſlaughter, except the ramme were ſacrificed, that Iſaak might be ſaved.

If I ſay, I am perfect] What if God had ſaid ſo, chap. 1.1. yet. Job might not, Prov. 27.2. 2 Cor. 10.18. Or if he do at any time juſtifie himſelf, as chap. 29. & 30 he doth, it is in his own neceſſary and juſt defence, againſt the charge of his friends. Real apologies we muſt ever make for our ſelves when wronged: verbal, if any, muſt be managed with meekneſſe of wiſedome.

Verſe 21. Though I were perfect] That is, of an unblameable converſation, yet could not I know mine own ſoul, that is, thoſe ſecret ſins Pſalm 19.12. thoſe litters of luſts that lurk therein, therefore I despiſe my life, I have no joy at all of it, but could wiſh to be out of the world, to be rid of theſe evil inmates, that will not out of doors till the houſe fall upon the heads of them, till the earthly Tabernacle that harboureth them be once diſſolved. Others read and ſenſe the words thus, I am perfect or upright, neither do I know mine own ſoul, i. e. quicquam perverſi in anima mea, any allowed ſin in my ſoul; yet I am ſo afflicted, that I deſpiſe my life, as being but a continued death. Aben-Ezra reads the verſe with an admiration, thus, Perfect I am; and think you that I know not mine own ſoul▪ that I am ſo great a ſtranger to my ſelf! or, that I have ſo little care of mine own good, as that I deſpiſe my life, and walk at all adventures! Tremellius thus, I am upright, whatever you my friends would make of me, neither value I my life or ſoul in compariſon of mine integrity: my life is but a trifle to my conſcience &c.

Verſe 22. This is one thing, therefore I ſay it] And will ſtand to it, though I ſtand alone; this being the one thing wherein I differ in opinion from you; and becauſe it is the hinge upon which the whole diſpute betwixt us is turned, therefore I will abide by it, and be Doctor reſolutus, reſolute in the maintenance of it, viz.

He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked] A harſh doctrine, yet a good one, ſaith an Interpreter: Grace is no target againſt the greateſt affliction. See Eccleſ. 9.1, 2, 3. Mal. 3.14. Ezek. 21.3. Heb. 11. ſhewes that none out of hell have ever ſuffered more then Gods deareſt children: and Heb. 12.6. He not only chaſteneth, but ſcourgeth every ſon whom he receiveth. God will not caſt away a righteous man ſaid Bildad, chap. 8.20. That is, totally deſtroy him in temporals, but reſtore him again: no ſuch matter, ſaith Job, for it may, and many times doth fall out, that a godly man may as to this life preſent, periſh, as well as a wicked man: he may be totally and finally bereft of outward comforts, The righteous periſheth, Iſa. 57.1. Only with this difference, as hath been before noted, Gods judgments on the wicked are penal and typical of eternal torment; whereas upon the godly they are no more then medicinal or probational &c.

Verſe 23. If the ſcourge ſlay ſuddenly] By ſcourge here is meant a common calamity, ſuch as rides circuit, compaſſing a country as a ſcourge doth a mans body round about. Any ſweeping judgment is a ſwinging ſcourge in Gods hand; ſuch as is the ſword, Iſai. 10.26. which when it rides circuit (as a judge) it is in commiſſion,Turk. hiſt. 211 Ezek 14.17. Jer. 47.6, 7. devouring fleſh, and drinking blood. Thus Attila the H[illegible: 1 letter]nne ſtiled himſelf Gods ſcourge. Tamerlane was commonly called The wrath of God, and terrour of the world; Think the ſame of famine, peſtilence, wilde beaſts, Ezek. 14.12. &c. theſe oft ſlay ſuddenly Iſai. 30.13. Jer. 18.22. as did the ſweating ſickneſſe here in England, the Maſſacre of France, and that later of Ireland, that ſcourge, if ever any, ſlew ſuddenly the perfect and the wicked. When an over-flowing ſtorm ſweeps away the wicked, the tail of it may daſh their beſt neighbours.

He laugheth at the trial of the innocent] The Vulgar readeth, He will not laugh at the trial of the innocent: but there is no Not in the Original: others thus, Will he laugh at the trial of the innocent? q. d. No, he will not. God may ſeem to ſlight his own in affliction, as Pſalm 77.2, 3. The Lion lets her whelps roare ſometimes, till they do almoſt kill themſelves with roaring. The truth is, (and I think the true ſenſe of this Scripture) God ſcorneth the allegation of innocency, or the juſtification and plea of the moſt upright man breathing,Mr. Abbot. in the way of exemption or prevention of his juſt and wiſe diſpenſations, when he pleaſeth to inflict them, involving good and bad in the ſame common calamity.

Verſe 24. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked] God many times ſuffereth the wicked moſt licentiouſly to raign in the world, Jer. 27.6. Dan. 5.18, 19. And it is thought by ſome, that Job ſpeaking here in the ſingular number, aims at ſome famous tyrant in thoſe parts, known both to himſelf and to his friends: ſuch as was Phocas the Emperour, who when he had ſlain his Maſter Mauritius, and was ſet up in his ſtead; there was an honeſt poor man (ſaith Ce[illegible: 1 letter]renus) who was wonderful importunate at the throne of grace to know a reaſon why that wicked man proſpered ſo in his deſign? he was anſwered again by a voice, that there could not be a worſe man found; and that the ſins of Chriſtians, and of the City of Constantinople did require it.

He covereth the faces of the Judges thereof] i. e. That Tyrant above-mentioned, ſubverteth all order of juſtice, condemneth and putteth to death even the Judges themſelves,Spartian. if they will not pervert juſtice, as Baſſia[illegible: 1 letter]us did Papinian. The covering of the face was the mark of a condemned man, Esth. 7.8. Job. 40.8. Iſai. 12.17. Mar. 14.65. Or thus, God blindeth the Judges by giving them over to error, or permitting them to take bribes; ſo that they cannot diſcern right from wrong &c. Some by judges here underſtand the Saints, who ſhall one day judg the world, but are in the mean-while grievouſly afflicted by the wicked.

If not, where, and who is he?] Which things, if we ſay they are done, beſides the will and foreknowledg of God, we ſhall thruſt God out of the world, and ſet up fate and blind fortune: or thus, It is even ſo; or if not where is he, and who is he (ſee Esth. 7.5. Mal. 2.17) that can diſprove what I have aſſerted?Mercer. pagnin. Vatab. prodeat, ſiqui[illegible: 1 letter] me poteſt falſi arguere, I would fain ſee the man that can convince me of errour.

Verſe 25. Now my dayes are ſwifter then a p[illegible: 1 letter]ſt &c.] Not my proſperous dayes only (as Broughton gloſſeth) but the whole courſe of my life; the vanity whereof Job expreſſeth by many ſimilitudes; and here ſearch is made into three of the four Elements, earth, water, and ayr, to find out a fit one. What is ſwifter upon earth then a poſt, who rides without ſtop o[illegible: 1 letter] ſtay, and ſpares for no horſe-fleſh: indeed he taketh ſome time to reſt in; but ſo doth not mans liſe; it is ever in motion, and every moment we yeild ſomewhat to death. Animantis cujuſque vita eſt f[illegible: 2 letters]a. ſaith the Philoſopher, our laſt day ſtands, the reſt run. Cum creſcit vita, decreſcit, to live is but to lie a dying.Sen.

They flee away] As David fled from the face of Abſolom, Pſalm 3.1. as Brentius was adviſed by that Senator of Hala to flee for his life citò, citiùs, citiſſimè, with all poſſible ſpeed, ſith they were at hand that ſought it. See 1 Sam. 19.11, 18.

They ſee no good] But are few, and withall evil, Gen. 47.9. Job 14.1. See the notes there. Some good dayes Job had had, but they were ſo ſoon over (and his preſent preſſures ſo great) that he was ſcarce aware of them, nor could take the comfort of them now: the Epicures indeed held that a man might be cheerful amidſt the moſt exquiſite torments ex praeteritarum voluptatum recordatione, Cic. de Fin. l. 2. Sen. de benef. l. 4. c. 22. by the remembrance of thoſe pleaſures and delights that formerly he had enjoyed. Job held this but a ſlight comfort: his care was in proſperity how to make the beſt uſe of it: his thoughts ran upon the uncertainty of all creature-comforts, that he might hang looſe to them, and hold them no otherwiſe then a child doth a bird in his hand, open &c.

Verſe 26. They are paſſed away as the ſwift ſhips] Heb. They are changed (gliding away inſenſibly) as the ſhips of deſire (ſo called,Labitur uncta vadis abies. Virg. becauſe they ſeem willing to beat the haven as ſoon as may be) or as the ſhips of Ebeh, a very ſwift river in Arabia, ſaith Rabbi Solomon; or as the Pirates ſhips, ſo Broughton, ſuch as are your nimble Frigots, fly-boats, and catches &c. Let our ſouls be like a ſhip which is made little and narrow down-ward; but more wide and broad upward. Let them be ſhips of deſire, haſtning heaven-ward; and then let our dayes paſſe away as they can, we ſhall but be the ſooner at home: Mortality ſhall appear to be no ſmall mercy.

As the Eagle that hasteth to the prey] When hunger addeth ſwiftneſſe to her wings, and maketh her pour, or ſowce down upon the prey like a thunderbolt; ſo tranſitory is our time: redeem it therefore. It is reported of Ignatius, that when he heard a clock ſtrike, he would ſay, Here is one houre more now paſt, that I have to anſwer for.

Verſe 27. If I ſay, I will forget my complaint,] And ſuffer in ſilence, as thou Bildad haſt adviſed me, chap. 8.2. Sorrows are not ſo eaſily forgotten, Lam. 3.19. remembring mine affliction and my miſery, the wormwood and the gall. The Stoicks boaſting of their indolency, or ability to bear afflictions, without making moane, or complaining, when it came to their own turn, found by experience that they had ſpoken more trimly then truely; and therefore one Dionyſius, ſirnamed [non-Latin text not transcribed], or the Flincher, fell off (for this reaſon) from the Stoicks to the Peripateticks.

I will leave off my heavineſſe] Heb. my face, viz. the ſowrneſſe that uſed to ſit upon it, as 1 Sam. 1.18. The Phariſees were vultuoſi tetrici inamoeni, Matth 6.16. of a ſad and ſowre countenance, grim, and ghaſtly: they affected to look like Scythians, as the word ſignifieth, that they might ſeem great faſters, when as inwardly they were merry and pleaſant. Jobs caſe was far different: his heart was heavy as lead; nevertheleſſe, to give content to his friends, he would endeavour to look lightſomely, but found a very hard task of it.

And comfort my ſelf] Heb. ſtrengthen, viz. ſo as not to make moane, but bite in my pain. Invalidumomne naturâ querulum, the weaker any thing is, the more apt it is to complaine; and on the contrary, ſome mens fleſh will preſently rankle and feſter, if but razed with a pin onely: ſo ſome mens ſpirits, they are ever whining.

Verſe 28. I am afraid of all my ſorrows] That come thronging thick about me, and terrifie me; they will ſurely be doubled and trebled upon me; hence my ſorrow is uncurable; if I ſhould reſolve never ſo much againſt it, I ſhould break my reſolution, and fall to freſh complaints, Pſalm 39.1, 3. Hîc vides, ſaith Lavater. Here we may ſee how little is to be aſcribed to mans free-will in the things of God, ſith it is not in our power to comfort and chear up our ſelves under afflictions, though we would never ſo fain.

I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent] But wilt hold me guilty, and accordingly puniſh me. This was the language of Johs fear: had his faith been in heart, it would have quelled and killed ſuch diſtruſtful fears, and have gathered one contrary out of another, life out of death, aſſurance of deliverance out of deepeſt diſtreſſes, Deut. 32.36. So 2 Kings 14.26. going into captivity was a ſigne of Iſraels returning out of captivity.

Verſe 29. If I be wicked] Heb. I am wicked, ſc. in your thoughts, and you have ſo earneſtly and effectually affirmed it, and confirmed it, that I am almoſt ready to ſay as you ſay, I am wicked. Plato brings in Socrates in his apology to the Judges, thus beſpeaking them, My Lords, I know not how you have been affected with mine accuſers eloquence whiles you heard them ſpeak: for mine own part, I aſſure you that I whom it toucheth moſt, was almoſt drawn to believe that all they ſaid, though againſt my ſelf, was true, when they ſcarcely uttered one word of truth. The Chaldee paraphraſe reads it, I ſhall be culpable, or, I ſhall be condemned.

Why then labour I in vain?] Or, for nothing, as the Chaldee hath it. See the like Pſalm 73.13, 14. Why put I my ſelf to ſo much fruitleſſe pains, either in praying to God, or apologiſing to you my friends, ſith by God I am ſtill afflicted, and by you reputed a wicked perſon? Jobs hope was low, his endeavour was therefore little. Si nihil ſperarem, nihil orarem, ſaith one. Let us pray on: God ſometimes defers to come, till men have even left looking for him, till he ſcarce findeth ſaith upon earth, Luke 18.8.

Verſe 30. If I waſh my ſelf with ſnow-water] Some take the former words I am wicked, to be Jobs confeſſion of his own ſinfulneſſe in compariſon of Gods ſurpaſſing holineſſe. And then this followeth very fitly, Though I waſh my ſelf with ſnow water, i. e. with water as clear as ſhow is white. Some read it aquis vivis for aquis nivis, ſpring-water for ſnow-water.

And make my hands never ſo clean] Though I waſh my hands with ſoap, (ſo ſome read it) as Jer. 2.22. Mal. 3.2. Or, Though I waſh mine hands in a well (where there is no want of water) both in-ſide and out-ſide, as Jam. 4.8.

Verſe 31. Thou ſhalt plunge me in the ditch] Thou ſhalt declare me to be no leſſe loathſome, then he that having fallen into a foul guzzle, or naſty jakes, abhorreth himſelf and his own clothes, being ready to lay up his gorge at the ſight and ſmell of them. The Vulgar hath it, Sor[illegible: 1 letter]ibus intinges me, thou ſhalt dip me in the dirt over head and ears, and ſtain me all over, as Diers doe the cloth they colour. By the ditch, Beza and others underſtand the grave; and by cloaths, grave-cloaths, q. d. My very winding-ſheet ſhall abhor my filthineſſe. Take the proud Phariſee for inſtance, and Popiſh merit-mongers, whom the Lord abhorreth.

Verſe 32. For he is not a man as I am] He is not ſuch an one, nor can be, as I am, and muſt be: he hath other eyes, and thoughts, and wayes then creatures have. He who is juſt before men, is unjuſt before God; therefore he is no fit match for me to contend withal: Have I an arm like God? or can I thunder with a voice like him? chap. 40.9? Is it ſafe to contend with him that is mightier then I, Eccleſ. 6.10? Surely if I ſhould be ſo mad as to juſtifie my ſelf, yet I ſhould ſoon be given to know, that that which is highly eſteemed amongſt men, is an abomination in the ſight of God, Luke 16.15.

And we ſhould come together in judgment] How can that poſſibly be, when as God is the ſupreme Judge; neither is there any appealing from, or repealing of his ſentence?

Verſe 33. Neither is there any Dayes-man betwixt us] Heb. Any Arguer or Reprover, as Gen. 31.24. We call him an Umpire or Referree, who hath power to reprove and to lay the blame where he findeth it, and finally to compromiſe the buſineſſe. The late Judg Dyer amongſt us, if there came any controverſies of poor men to be tried afore him, would uſually ſay, that either the parties are wilful, or their neighbours without charity, becauſe their ſuits were not quietly ended at home. Now, ſaith Job, as there is no Judg, ſo there is no dayes-man betwixt me and God. If one man ſin againſt another, ſaith good old Eli. the Judg ſhall judg him; but if a man ſin againſt the Lord, who can mediate? 1 Sam. 2.24.

That may lay his hand] To moderate and keep us both in compaſſe, and to compoſe the difference.

Verſe 34. Let him take his rod away from me] Having ſufficiently ſet forth that he will not once offer to contend with God, he here humbly begs of God, no further to contend with him, but to grant a truce at leaſt-wiſe during the treaty; and either to take away or (howſoever) to mitigate his ſorrows and ſores. See the like chap. 15.20, 21.

And let not his fear terrifie me] i. e. His formidableneſſe (ſee chap. 7.14.) let it not ſcare me, or put me, as it were, beſide my wits. Pſalm 88.15.Ne me tranſverſum aga[illegible: 1 letter]. Sept.

Verſe 35. Then would I ſpeak and not fear him] I would come boldly to the throne of grace, and freely pour out my ſoul into his boſome. If he meant that he would maintain his own cauſe againſt Gods proceedings (as ſome underſtand it, grounding upon chap. 33.6, 7.) he was queſtionleſs in a very great error, and the fleſh had got the hill of the Spirit.

But it is not ſo with me] So, how? ſo as you imagine:Vatab. Non ſum talis, qualem me eſſe putatis, I am no ſuch one as you take me for, viz. an hypocrite: I am not ſo ſelf-guilty, ſay the Septuagint: or thus, It is not ſo with me: that is, I do not find God anſwering my ſuit: for I am ſtill ſcourged and frighted, ſo that I ſcarce know what I ſay.