CONTRIBUTORS TO THE EXPOSITOR. THE VERY REV. THE DEAN OF CANTERBURY. REV. CANON FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S. REV. CANON PEROWNE, D.D. REV. PROFESSOR PLUMPTRE, M.A., D.D. REV. J. RAWSON LUMBY, B.D. REV. RAYNER WINTER BOTHAM, M.A., B.SC. REV. PRINCIPAL TULLOCH, D.D. REV. PROFESSOR ALEX. RCBERTS, D.D. REV. JAMES MORISON, D.D. REV. J. OSWALD DYKES, D.D. REV. PROFESSOR A. B. DAVIDSON, M.A., D.D. REV. PROFESSOR W. MILLIGAN, D.D. REV. PROFESSOR W. ROBERTSON SMITH, M.A. REV. PROFESSOR A. M. FAIRBAIRN, D.D. REV. PROFESSOR D. W. SIMON, M.A. REV. PROFESSOR H. R. REYNOLDS, D.D. REV. HENRY BURTON, M.A. REV. R. W. Dale, M.A. REV. A. MACLAREN, D.D. REV. HENRY ALLON, D.D. REV. ALEX. RALEIGH, D.D. THE EXPOSITOR. THE BOOK OF JOB. IV. THE SECOND COLLOQUY' (CHAPTERS XV.-XXI.) IN the First Colloquy, as we have seen, the Friends of Job had contended that the Judge of all the earth must do right, that his Providence both must, and did, even In resuming my exposition of the Book of Job I wish, first of all, to thank many readers of this Magazine who have shewn their interest in that work by remonstrating with me on suspending its publication for a time, or by requesting me to resume it at the earliest convenient moment; and to explain to them that it was impossible for me to reply to the letters which, for some weeks, poured in upon me daily. And then I have to acknowledge, with natural pleasure and gratitude, an act of generous kindness such as was, I think, more common among the scholars of a by-gone generation than it is at the present day. It so happened that in writing some months since to Professor Davidson of Edinburgh University, I chanced to lament that, as he had not carried his valuable commentary on Job beyond Chapter xiv., I should henceforth have to travel on my way without the advantage and solace of his company. In his reply he at once offered me, in the frankest and most generous way, the use of any "notes" he had by him on the subsequent Chapters of the Poem,-notes of lectures delivered in his Hebrew class; and begged me to make any use of them I could, provided that I spared his modesty any public acknowledgment of my debt to him. The deed speaks for itself, and needs no praise of mine; indeed, I dare not praise it, lest I should offend. Of course I gratefully accepted his offer, though I could not accede to the condition which qualified it. And so, at the risk of having his left hand know what his right hand had done, he sent me the only note-book he could find, the contents of which covered nearly the whole of the Second Colloquy. I believe I shall make him the most acceptable return for his kindness by using freely the help he so freely offered me. Unhappily the materials he placed at my disposal are not such as I can indicate by marks of citation. Nor must he be held responsible for the interpretation I put on any passage-my interpretation of many difficult passages having been formed before I had the pleasure and advantage of consulting his notes. But, none the less, in my exposition of Chapters xv.-xxi., I have derived much valuable assistance from him; and if my readers find anything in it specially to their minds, I shall be quite content if they give the credit of it to him rather than to myself. JANUARY, 1878. I VOL. VII. 253665 |