Eliphaz exhorts
A. M. cir. 2484.

B. C. cir. 1520.
Ante I. Ol.
cir. 744.
Ante U.C. c.767.

a

JOB.

mouth, and lay up his words 27 Thou shalt make thy

in thine heart.

b

23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy

tabernacles.

prayer unto him, and he shall
hear thee, and thou shalt pay
thy vows.

Job to repent.

B. C. cir. 1520.

A. M. cir. 2484.

Ante I. Ol.

cir. 744. Ante U.C. c.767.

-c 2 Chron. Ps. 1. 14, 15. Isai. lviii. 9. k Prov. xxix. 23. James iv.
Heb. silver of 6. 1 Pet. v. 5.
1 Heb. him that hath low eyes.
In Or,
Ch. xi. 15. The innocent shall deliver the island, Gen. xviii. 26, &c.

given by Moses, say that this means the Noahic precepts; others, that the law of nature is intended! Stuff and vanity! The allusion is plainly to the law given by God to the children of Israel, called here, by way of emphasis, torah, the LAW, which contained vî amaraiv, his wORDS, the words or sayings of God himself; consequently, it is not the Noahic precepts, nor the law of nature, neither of which were ever written or registered as the words of God's mouth.

Verse 23. Thou shalt be built up] God will restore thee to thy wonted state of prosperity; and thou shalt again have a household, not only of servants, but of children also. So much may be implied in the words, Thou shalt be BUILT up. See my sermon on ver. 21-23.

high favourites: the poor and the distressed he holds for his enemies."

In the above verses there seems to be a reference to the mode of obtaining the precious metals: 1. Gold in dust; 2. Gold in streams from the hills and mountains; 3. Silver in mines; my pa keseph toaphoth, "silver of giddiness;" of mines so deep as to make one giddy by looking into them. See Mr. Good.

Verse 26. For then shalt thou have thy delight] Thou shalt know, from thy temporal prosperity, that God favours thee; and for his bounty thou shalt be grateful. How different is this doctrine from that of St. Paul and St. John! "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus." "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit Verse 24. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust] of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father!” The original is not fairly rendered in this translation, "The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirits by by nw veshith al aphar batser, which Mon- that we are the children of God." "We glory in tanus renders: Et pone super pulverem munitionem, tribulation also, knowing that tribulation worketh "And fix a tower upon the dust;"patience; and patience, experience; and experience, ubetsur nechalim Ophir, et in petra torrentes Ophir, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed, because the "and in the rock, the torrents of Ophir."

The Vulgate is widely different: Dabit pro terra silicem, et pro silice torrentes aureos, " He will give thee flint for earth; and torrents of gold for flint:" which Calmet thus paraphrases: "Instead of brick thou shalt build with solid stone; and for ornaments, instead of stone as formerly, thou shalt have massive gold!"

All the Versions are different. Mr. Good translates: "Then count thou treasure as dust: then shall he make fountains to gush forth amidst the rocks." Coverdale is different from all: He shal give the an harvest, which, in plenty and abundance, shal exceade the dust of the earthe, and the golde of Ophir like ryber stones.

Verse 25. Thou shalt have plenty of silver.] Here again the Versions and critics vary. The critics may disagree; but the doctrine of Eliphaz is sufficiently plain: "To those whom God loves best he gives the most carthly good. The rich and the great are his

love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." "We love him because he first loved us." Tribulation itself was often a mark of God's favour.

Verse 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him] yn tatir, thou shalt open or unbosom thyself. And when the heart prays, God hears; and the person, being blessed, vows fidelity, prays on, is supported, and enabled to pay his vows.

Verse 28. Thou shalt also decree a thing] Whatsoever thou purposest in his strength, thou shalt be enabled to accomplish.

Verse 29. When men are cast down] There is a great difficulty in this verse; the sense, however, is tolerably evident, and the following is nearly a literal version: When they shall humble themselves, thou shalt say, Be exalted, or, there is exaltation: for the downcast of eye he will save. The same sentiment as that of our Lord, "He that exalteth himself shall be abased; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

Job appeals to God

CHAP. XXIII.

for his innocence. Verse 30. He shall deliver the island of the innocent] | house of the innocent shall be delivered; and deliThe word wai, which we translate island, is most vered by the pureness of thy hands." The reader probably the Arabic particle whosoever, whatsoever, may adopt which he pleases; but the word island any, whosoever he may be, as și ai rajuli, must be given up, as it cannot make any consistent whatsoever man he may be. And it is most probable

any اي نقا or اي that both words are Arabic

sense.

Thus ends Eliphaz the Temanite, who began with innocent, chaste, pure, or holy person; for the word a tissue of the bitterest charges, continued with the has the same meaning both in Hebrew and Arabic. most cruel insinuations, and ended with commonThe text may therefore be translated, He shall deliver place exhortations to repentance, and promises of every innocent person: He, the innocent person, secular blessings in consequence: and from his whole shall be delivered by the pureness of thy hands; i. e., speech scarcely can one new or important maxim be as thou lovest justice, so thou wilt do justice. In- derived. Blessed be God for Moses and the prostead of TM cappeyca, thy hands, the Vulgate, Syriac, phets! for Jesus, the evangelis's, and the apostles! and Arabic have read rɔɔ cappaiv, his or their hands. Their trumpet gives no uncertain sound: but by that Mr. Good thinks that ai significs house, ass and of Job's friends who can prepare himself for the s in Arabic signify to reside, to have a home, &c. ; | battle? and therefore translates the passage thus: "The

CHAPTER XXIII.

Job answers; apologizes for his complaining; wishes to plead his cause in the presence of his Maker, from whom he knows he should receive justice; but regrets that he cannot find him, 1-9. He, however, gives himself and his cause up to God, with the conviction of his own innocence, and God's justice and goodness, 10-14. He is, nevertheless, afraid when he considers the majesty of his Maker, 15—17.

6 Will he plead against me with his great

3 'Oh that I knew where I might find him! power? No; but he would put strength in me. that I might come even to his seat!

7 There the righteous might dispute with

4 I would order my cause before him, and him; so should I be delivered for ever from

fill my mouth with arguments.

'Heb. my hand. b Ch. xiii. 3. xvi. 21.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII.

Verse 2. Even to day is my complaint bitter] Job goes on to maintain his own innocence, and shows that he has derived neither conviction nor consolation from the discourses of his friends. He grants that his complaint is bitter; but states that, loud as it may be, the affliction which he endures is heavier than his complaints are loud.

Mr. Good translates: "And still is my complaint rebellion?" Do ye construe my lamentations over my unparalleled sufferings as rebellion against God? This, in fact, they had done from the beginning: and the original will justify the version of Mr. Good; for meri, which we translate bitter, may be derived from 77 marah, “he rebelled.”

Verse 3. Oh, that I knew where I might find him !] This and the following verse may be read thus: "Who will give me the knowledge of God, that I may find him out? I would come to his establishment (the place or way in which he has promised to communicate himself); I would exhibit, in detail,

my judge.

c Isai. xxvii. 4, 8. lvii. 16.

my judgment (the cause I wish to be tried) before his face; and my mouth would I fill with convincing or decisive arguments;" arguments drawn from his common method of saving sinners, which I should prove applied fully to my case. Hence the confidence with which he speaks, ver. 6.

Verse 5. I would know the words which he would answer me] He would speak nothing but what was true, decree nothing that was not righteous, nor utter any thing that I could not comprehend.

Verse 6. Will he plead against me] He would not exhibit his majesty and his sovereign authority to strike me dumb, or so overawe me that I could not speak in my own vindication.

No; but he would put strength in me.] On the contrary, he would treat me with tenderness, he would rectify my mistakes, he would show me what was in my favour, and would temper the rigid demands of justice by the mild interpretations of equity; and where law could not clear me, mercy would conduct all to the most favourable issue.

Verse 7. There the righteous might dispute with him] nochach, might argue or plead. To dispute with God sounds very harsh.

So should I be delivered for ever] Mr. Good translates: "And triumphantly should I escape from my condemnation." The Hebrew word my lanet sach may as well be translated to victory as for ever: and in this sense the Vulgate understood the words Proponat æquitatem contra me; et perveniat ad victoriam judicium meum. "He would set up equity against me; and would lead on my cause to victory." Coverdale renders thus:-But let hym give me like power to go to lawe, then am E sure to wynne my matter. Nothing less than the fullest conviction of his own innocence could have led Job to express himself thus to the Judge of quick and dead! Verse 8. Behold, I go forward] These two verses paint in vivid colours the distress and anxiety of a soul in search of the favour of God. No means are left untried, no place unexplored, in order to find the object of his research. This is a true description of the conduct of a genuine penitent.

Verse 9. On the left hand, where he doth work] In these two verses Job mentions the four cardinal points of the heavens: the EAST, by the word op kedem, which signifies before; the WEST, by achor, which signifies after, or the back part; the NORTH, by w semol, which significs the left; and the SOUTH by ryamin, which signifies the right. Such is the situation of the world to a man who faces the east; see Gen. xiii. 9, 11, and xxviii. 14. And from this it appears that the Hebrews, Idumeans, and Arabs had the same ideas of these points of the heavens. It is worthy of remark that Job says, He hideth himself on the right hand (the south), that I cannot see him: for in fact, the southern point of heaven is not visible in Idumea, where Job was. Hence it comes that when

he spake before, chap. ix. 9, of the constellations of the antarctic pole, he terms them the hidden chambers of the south; i. e, those compartments of the celestial concave that never appeared above the horizon in that place.-Sce Calmet.

Mr. Good translates these verses as follows:

Behold! I go forward, and he is not there;
And backward, but I cannot perceive him.
On the left hand I feel for him, but trace him not:

He enshroudeth the right hand, and I cannot see him.
The simple rendering of Coverdale is nervous and

correct:

1816

10 But he knoweth
way that I take: when dhe
hath tried me, I shall come
forth as gold.

e

A. M. cir. 2484. B. C. cir. 1520. Ante I. Ol. cir. 744.

Ante U.C.c.767.

11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.

12 Neither have I gone back from the com

d Ps. xvii. 3. lxvi. 10. James i. 12.-e Ps. xliv. 18.

For though E go before, I fynde hym not:
Yf I come behynde, I can get no knowledge of him :
Yf I go on the left syde to pondre his workes,
I cannot atteyne unto them:

Agayne, yf E go on the right syde, he hydeth himself,
That I cannot se him.

Verse 9. But he knoweth the way that I take] He approves of my conduct; my ways please him. He tries me: but, like gold, I shall lose nothing in the fire; I shall come forth more pure and luminous. If that which is reputed to be gold is exposed to the action of a strong fire, if it be genuine, it will lose nothing of its quality, nor of its weight. If it went into the fire gold, it will come out gold; the strongest fire will neither alter nor destroy it. So Job: he went into this furnace of affliction an innocent, righteous man; he came out the same. His character lost nothing of its value, nothing of its lustre.

Verse 11. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept] I have carefully marked his providential ligion, have I walked. I have not only been genedealings; and in his way-his pure and undefiled recarefully to the weightier matters of the law, and have rally but particularly religious: I have attended not forgotten its slightest injunctions.

path, his hye strete have I holden, and not gone out of
Coverdale is curious :—Lebertheles my fete kepe his
it. The hye strete is highway, the causeway, or raised
road; formed, as they anciently were, by stones in
the manner of pavement.
Latin strata, paved, via being understood: via lapi-
It has its name from the
dibus strata, "a way paved with stones:" hence
street, a raised road or pavement, either in town or
country. And hence the four grand Roman or Bri-
ling street, Icknild or Ricknild street, Ermin street,
tish roads which intersected this kingdom: viz. Wat-
and Fosse street. Some say these streets or roads
were made by Bellinus, a British king.

Devonshire, Somersetshire, and along by Titbury
Fosse street began in Cornwall, passed through
upon Totes would, beside Coventry, unto Leicester;
and thence by the wide plains to Newark and to
Lincoln, where it ends.

Watling street begins at Dover, passes through the middle of Kent, over the Thames by London, running near Westminster, and thence to St. Albans, Dunstable, Stratford, Towcester, Weden, Lilbourn, Atherthrough Wales unto Cardigan, and on to the Irish sea. ston, Wreaken by Severn, Worcester, Stratton,

Ermin, or Erminage street, running from St. David's in Wales, to Southampton.

JOB.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Job asserts that there are various transgressors whose wickedness is not visited on them in this life; and particularizes the unjust and oppressive, 1-6; those who are cruel to the poor, 7-13; the murderer, 14; the adulterer, 15; thieves and plunderers, 16, 17. Nevertheless they have an accursed portion, and shall die, and their memory perish, 18-20. He speaks of the abuse of power, and of the punishment of oppressors, 21-24; and asserts that what he has said on these subjects cannot be contradicted, 25. WHY, seeing times are not they take the widow's ox for A. hidden from the Almighty,