Matthew Poole and continuators on Job 27

1. MOreover, Job continued his parable , and said,

When he had waited a while to hear what his Friends would reply, and perceived them to be silent.

His grave and weighty, but withal dark and difficult discourse, such as are oft called Parables, as Numb. 23. 7. & 24. 3, 15. Psal. 49. 4. & 78. 2. Prov. 26. 7.

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

2. As God liveth , who hath taken away my judgment , and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul:

He confirms the truth and sincerity of his Expressions by an Oath, because he found them very hard to believe all his professions.

Or, my right, or my cause, i. e. who, though he knows my Integrity and Piety towards him, yet doth not plead my cause against my Friends, not will admit me to plead my cause with him before them, as I have so oft and earnestly desired, nor doth deal with me according to those terms of Grace and Mercy wherewith he treateth other men and Saints, but useth me with great rigour and by his soveraign Power punisheth me sorely without discovering to me what singular cause I have given him to do so.

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

3. All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;

Which is the constant Companion and certain sign of Life both coming in with it, Gen. 2. 7. and going out with it, 1 Kings 17. 17. Psal. 146. 4. Or, my Soul, or Life.

That Spirit or Soul which God breathed into me, Gen. 2. 7. and preserveth in me. Or rather, the breath of God, i. e. which God breathed into me, which eminently appears in a mans nostrils.

Marginal references: That is, [illegible: 1 word] breath [illegible: 1 word] God [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word]

4. My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit .

I will speak nothing but the truth with all plainness and impartiality, neither defending my self and cause by vain and false Professions of those Virtues or Graces which I know I have not; nor yet in compliance with your desire and design, falsly accusing my self of those crimes wherewith you charge me, whereof I know my self to be innocent.

5. God forbid that I should justifie you : till I die, I will not remove my integrity from me.

i. e. Your opinion and censure concerning me, as one convicted to be impious or hypocritical; by Gods unusual and severe dealing with me.

To wit, declaratively, as real words are frequentl[illegible: 1+ letters] understood, or by renouncing or denying my Integrity, of which God and my own Conscience bear me witness. I will not to gratifie you say that I am an hypocrite, which I know to be false.

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

6. My righteousness I hold fast , and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live .

Heb. I have held fast, i. e. I have not only begun well, but continued in well doing; which is a plain Evidence that I am no hypocrite. Or, the past tense is put for the future, as is usual, I will [illegible: 1 word] fast, declaratively, as before, I will maintain it, that howsoever you calumniate me, I am a righteous person.

i. e. My Conscience, as the [illegible: 1 word] is oft used, as 1 Sam 24. 5. & 25. 31, Ezek. 14. 5. 1 Iob. 3. 20, 21▪

Either 1. with betraying my own cause and innocency, and speaking what I know to be false, to wit, that I am an hypocrite. Or 2. for my former impiety or hypocrisie, wherewith you charge me.

Heb. From, or for, or concerning my days, i. e. the time of my Life, whether past or to come: Or the course of my Life, days, or times being put here, as it is elsewhere, for actions done in them by a Metonymy.

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

7. Let mine enemy be as the wicked , and he that riseth up against me , as the unrighteous.

I am so far from loving and practising wickedness, whereof you accuse me, that I abhor the thoughts o[illegible: 1+ letters] it, and if I might and would wish to be revenged of mine Enemy, I could wish him no greater mischief than to be a wicked man.

Either 1. You my Friends, who instead of comforting me, are risen up to torment me. Or rather, my worst enemies.

8. For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained , when God taketh away his soul?

There is no reason why I should envy or desire the portion of wicked men, for though they oft-times prosper in the World, as I have said, and seem to be great gainers, yet death, which hasteneth to all men, and to me especially, will shew that they are far greater losers, and die in a most wretched and desperate condition; having no hope either of continuing in this life, which they chiefly desire, or of enjoying a better Life, which they never regarded. But I have a firm and well grounded hope, not of that temporal restitution which you promised me, but of a blessed immortality after death, and therefore am none of these hopeless Hypocrites, as you account me.

Or exp[illegible: 1+ letters]lleth. Or plucketh up: which notes violence, and that he died unwillingly; Compare Luk. 12. 20. when good men are said freely and chearfully to give themselves or their Souls unto God.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 16. 26.

9. Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him ?

An hypocrite doth not pray to God with comfort, or any solid hope that God will hear him, as I know he will hear me, though not in the way which you think.

When his guilty Conscience will fly in his face, so as he dare not pray, and accuse him to God so as God will not hear him.

Marginal references: Psal. 18. 41. [illegible: 1+ letters] 109. [illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1 word]. 1. 28. [illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1+ letters]8. 9. [illegible: 1 word]. 1. 15. Ezek. 8. 18. [illegible: 1 word]. 3. 4. Joh. 9. 31. [illegible: 1 word]. 4. 3.

10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty ? will he always call upon God ?

Will he be able to delight and satisfie himself with God alone, and with his Love and favour, when he hath no other matter of delight? This I now do, and this an hypocrite cannot do, because his heart is chiefly set upon the World, and when that fails him, his heart sinks, and the thoughts of God are unfavoury and troublesom to him.

He may by his afflictions be driven to Prayer but if God doth not speedily answer him, he falls into despair and neglect of God and of Prayer, whereas I constantly continue in Prayer, notwithstanding the grievousness, and the long continuance of my Calamities.

11. I will teach you by the hand of God : that which is with the Almighty , will I not conceal.

i. e. By Gods help and inspiration; as God is said to speak to the Prophet with or by a strong hand, Isa. 8. 11. I will not teach you my own vain conceits, but what God himself hath taught me. Or, concerning (as the prefix Beth is oft used, as Exod. 12. 43, 44. Psal. 63. 6. & 87. 3. Prov. 4. 11.) the hand of God, i. e. his Counsel and Providence in governing the World, or the manner of his dealing with men, and especially with wicked men, of whose portion he discourseth v. 13, 14. &c. shewing how far the hand of God is either for them, or upon them, and against them.

i. e. What is in his Breast or Counsel, and how he executes his secret purposes concerning them; or, the truth of God, the Doctrine which he hath taught his Church about these matters.

Marginal references: Or, being in [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word], &c.

12. Behold, all ye your selves have seen it , why then are ye thus altogether vain ?

I speak no false or strange things, but what is known and confirmed by your own as well as others experiences.

In maintaining such a foolish and false opinion against your own knowledge and experience. Why do you obstinately defend your opinion, and not comply with mine, for the truth of which I appeal to your own Consciences?

13. This is the portion of a wicked man with God , and the heritage of Oppressors , which they shall receive of the Almighty.

That which is mentioned in the following Verses. In which Iob delivers either 1. the opinion of his Friends, in whose person he utters them, and afterwards declares his dissent from them. Or rather 2. his own opinion, and how far he agreeth with them; for his sense differs but little from what Zophar said. Ch. 20. 29.

Either laid up with God, or in his Counsel and appointment; or, which he shall have from God, as the next words explain it.

Who are mighty, and fierce, and terrible, and mischievous to mankind, as this word implies, whom therefore men cannot destroy, but God will.

14. If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword : and his off-spring shall not be satisfied with bread .

That they may be cut off by the Sword either of War, or of Justice.

Shall be starved or want necessaries. A Figure called Meiosis.

Marginal references: Deut. 28. 41. Hos. 9. 13.

15. Those that remain of him shall be buried in death : and his Widows shall not weep .

Who survive and escape that Sword and Famine.

Either 1. Shall die and so be buried. Or 2. Shall be buried as soon as ever they are dead, either because their Relations or dependents feared lest they should come to themselves again, and trouble them and others longer; or because they were not able to bestow any funeral Pomp upon them, or thought them unworthy of it. Or 3. Shall be in [illegible: 1+ letters] manner utterly extinct in or by death; all their hope, and glory, and name, and memory (which they designed to perpetuate to all ages) shall be buried with them, and they shall never rise again to a blessed Life, whereas a good man hath hope in his death, and leaves his good-name alive and flourishing in the World, and rests in his Grave in assurance of Redemption from it, and of a glorious Resarrection to an happy and eternal Life.

For they had many Wives, either to gratifie their Lust, or to encrease and strengthen their Family and Interest.

Either, because they durst not lament their death, which was entertained with publick joy: or, because they were overwhelmed and astonished with the greatness and strangeness of the Calamity, and therefore could not weep: or, because they also, as well as other persons, groaned under their Tyranny and cruelty, and rejoiced in their deliverance from it.

Marginal references: Psal. 78. 64.

16. Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay :

i. e. In great abundance.

17. He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on , and the innocent shall divide the silver.

Either because it shall be given to him by the Judge to recompence those Injuries which he received from that Tyrant: Or because the right of it is otherwise transferred upon him by divine Providence.

Either 1. To the poor: he shall distribute that which the oppressors hoarded up and kept as wickedly as he got it. So this suits with Prov. 28. 8. Eccles. 2. 26. Or 2. With others or to himself. He shall have a share of it, when by the Judges sentence those ill-gotten goods shall be restored to the right owners.

18. He buildeth his house as a moth , and as a booth that the keeper maketh .

Which settleth itself in a Garment, but is quickly, and unexpectedly brushed off, and dispossessed of its dwelling, and crushed to death.

Which the Keeper of a Garden or Vineyard suddenly rears up in Fruit-time, and as quickly and easily pulls it down again. See Isa. 1. 8. Lam. 2. 6.

Marginal references: Chap. 8. 15▪

19. The rich man shall lie down , but he shall not be gathered : he openeth his Eyes , and he is not .

Either 1. to sleep; as this word is used, Gen. 19. 35. Deut. 6. 7, &c. Or 2. in death, of which it is used 2 Sam. 7. 12.

To wit, in burial, of which this word is used 2 Kings 22. 20. Ier. 8. 2. & 25. 33. Instead of that honourable Interment and Burial with his Fathers, which he expected, he shall be buried with the burial▪ of an Ass, his Carkass shall lie like dung upon the Earth.

So the sense is either 1. he awaketh in the morning, promising to himself an happy day. Or 2. he looks about him for help and relief in his extremity. But the words are and may be rendred thus: One openeth his Eyes, i. e. whilest a man can open his Eyes, in a moment, or in the twinkling of an Eye.

He is as if he had never been, dead and gone, and his Family and name extinct with him.

Marginal references: 2 King. 2[illegible: 1+ letters]. 20.

20. Terrours take hold on him as Waters , a Tempest stealeth him away in the night .

From the sense of his approaching death or Judgment.

Either 1. in abundance, one terror after another. Or 2. violently and irresistibly, as a River breaking its Banks, or a Deluge of Waters bears down and overwhelms all that is before it.

Gods Wrath and judgment cometh upon him forcibly like a Tempest, and withal secretly and unexpectedly like a Thief in the night.

Marginal references: Ch. 18. 11.

21. The East-wind , carrieth him away , and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.

i. e. Some violent and terrible judgment, fitly compared to the East-wind, which in those parts was most vehement and furious, and withal pestilent and pernicions; of which see Exod. 10. 13. & 14. 21. Psal. 48. 7. & 78. 26. Hos. 13. 15. Iona. 4. 8.

Out of his place, as it follows, out of his stately Palace wherein he expected to dwell for ever; whence he shall be carried either by an enemy that shall take him and carry him into captivity, or by death.

22. For God shall cast upon him , and not spare : he would fain flee out of his hand ▪

His darts or plagues, one after another.

i. e. Shall shew no pity nor Mercy to him, when he crieth to God for it.

He earnestly desires and endeavours by all ways possible to escape the judgments of God, but all in va[illegible: 1+ letters].

Marginal references: In fleeing [illegible: 1 word] would flee.

23. Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place .

Who shall see and observe these things.

Partly in token of their joy at the removal of such a publick Pest and Tyrant: and partly by way of astonishment: and partly in contempt, and scorn, or derision; all which this gesture signifies in Scripture use, of which see Lam 2. 15. Ezek. 25. 6. Na[illegible: 1+ letters]. 3. 19.

In token of their amazement. detestation and derision. See 1 King. 9. 8. 2 Chron. 29. 8. Ier. 25. 9. Mich. 6. 16.

Now thathe is out of his place and power, which they durst not do whilest he was in his place. Or, the men of his place that livedwith him or near him, and daily felt the effects of his Tyranny.