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3 So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed

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his grievous afflictions.

4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.

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5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.

h

6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

g Isai. xiv. 11.——— h Ch. ix. 25. xvi. 22. xvii. 14. Ps. xc. 6. cii. 11. ciii. 15. cxliv. 4. Isai. xxxviii. 12. xl. 6. James iv. 14.

relief to me; it is only a continuance of my anxiety and labour. I am like the hireling, I have my appointed labour for the day. I am like the soldier harassed by the enemy: I am obliged to be continually on the watch, always on the look out, with scarcely any rest.

Verse 4. When I lie down] I have so little rest, that when I do lie down I long for the return of the light, that I may rise. Nothing can better depict the state of a man under continual afflictions, which afford him no respite, his days and his nights being spent in constant anguish, utterly unable to be in any one posture, so that he is continually changing his position in his bed, finding case nowhere: thus, as himself expresses it, he is full of tossings.

NOTES ON CHAP. VII. Verse 1. Is there not an appointed time to man] The Hebrew, with its literal rendering, is as follows: 8 by won N halo tsaba leenosh aley arets, "Is there not a warfare to miserable man upon the earth?" And thus most of the Versions have understood the words. The SEPTUAGINT: HOTεpov ovxi πeipaτηριον εστι ὁ βιος ανθρωπου επι της γης; “ Is not the life of man a place of trial upon earth?" The VULGATE: Militia est vita hominis super terram, "The life of man is a warfare upon earth." The CHALDEE is the same. N'y a-t-il pas comme un train de guerre ordonné | aux mortels sur la terre? "Is there not a continual campaign ordained for mortals upon the earth?" FRENCH BIBLE. The GERMAN and DUTCH the same. COVERDALE: Is not the life off man upon earth a very Verse 5. My flesh is clothed with worms] This is batayle? CARMARDEN, Rouen, 1566: Hath man any perhaps no figure, but is literally true: the miserably certapne tyme upon earth? SYRIAC and ARABIC: “Now, | ulcerated state of his body, exposed to the open air, man has time upon the earth." Non è egli il tempo and in a state of great destitution, was favourable to determinato á l'huomo sopra la terra? "Is there not a those insects that sought such places in which to dedetermined time to man upon the earth?" BIB. ITAL.,posit their ova, which might have produced the ani1562. All these are nearer to the true sense than ours; and of a bad translation, worse use has been made by many theologians. I believe the simple sentiment which the writer wished to convey is this: Human life is a state of probation; and every day and place is a time and place of exercise, to train us up for eternal life. Here is the exercise, and here the warfare: we are enlisted in the bands of the church militant, and must accomplish our time of service, and be honourably dismissed from the warfare, having conquered through the blood of the Lamb; and then receive the reward of the heavenly inheritance.

Verse 2. Earnestly desireth the shadow] As a man who labours hard in the heat of the day earnestly desires to get under a shade, or wishes for the long evening shadows, that he may rest from his labour, get his day's wages, retire to his food, and then go to rest. Night is probably what is meant by the shadow; as in VIRGIL, Æn. iv., ver. 7: Humentemque Aurora polo dimoverat UMBRAM. "The morning had removed the humid shadow, i. e., night, from the world." | Where SERVIUS justly observes: Nihil interest, utrum UMBRAM an NOCTEM dicat: NOx enim UMBRA terræ est, "It makes no difference whether he says shadow or night; for night is the shadow of the earth."

mals in question. But the figure is too horrid to be farther illustrated.

Clods of dust] I believe all the commentators have here missed the sense. I suppose Job to allude to those incrustations of indurated or dried pus, which are formed on the tops of pustules in a state of decay: such as the scales which fall from the pustules of the small pox, when the patient becomes convalescent. Or, if Job's disease was the elephantiasis, it may refer to the furfuraceous scales which are continually falling off the body in that disorder. It is well known, that in this disease the skin becomes very rigid, so as to crack across, especially at the different joints, out of which fissures a loathsome ichor is continually exuding. To something like this the words may refer, My SKIN is BROKEN, and become LOATHSOME.

any

Verse 6. Swifter than a weaver's shuttle] The word areg signifies rather the weaver than his shuttle. And it has been doubted whether such instrument were in use in the days of Job. Dr. Russell, in his account of Aleppo, shows that though they wove many kinds of curious cloth, yet no shuttle was used, as they conducted every thread of the woof by their fingers. That some such instrument as the shuttle was in use from time immemorial, there can Verse 3. So am I male to possess] But night is no be no doubt: and it is certain that such an instru

Job complains of the

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7 O remember that

is wind: mine eye

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a

b

CHAP. VII.

my life

shall no

uncertainty and vanity of life.

10 He shall return no more

g

to his house, neither shall his
place know him any more.

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11 Therefore I will not re8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are frain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish upon me, and I am not. of my spirit; I will complain in the bitter9 As the cloud is consumed and vanishethness of my soul. away; so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.

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ment must have been in the view of Job, without which the figure would lose its expression and force. In almost every nation the whole of human existence has been compared to a web; and the principle of life, through the continual succession of moments, hours, days, weeks, months, and years, to a thread woven through that web. Hence arose the fable of the Parca or Fates, called also the Destinies or Fatal Sisters. They were the daughters of Erebus and Nox, darkness and night; and were three in number, and named Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Clotho held the distaff; Lachesis spun off the thread; and Atropos cut it off with her scissors, when it was determined that life should end. Job represents the thread of his life as being spun out with great rapidity and tenuity, and about to be cut off.

And are spent without hope.] Expectation of future good was at an end; hope of the alleviation of his miseries no longer existed. The hope of future good is the balm of life: where that is not, there is despair; where despair is, there is hell. The fable above mentioned is referred to by Virgil, Ecl. iv., ver. 46, but is there applied to time:

Talia Secla, suis dixerunt, currite, fusis
Concordes stabili fatorum numine Parcæ.

"The FATES, when they this happy thread have spun,
Shall bless the sacred clue, and bid it smoothly run.
DRYDEN.

Imiah uses the same figure, chap. xxxviii. 12:—
My life is cut off, as by the weaver :
He will sever me from the loom.

In the course of the day thou wilt finish my web.
LOWTH.

Coverdale translates thus: My dayes passe over more spedely then a weaver can weave out his webbe, and are gone or I am awarre.

12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?

Ps. ciii. 16.- h Ps. xxxix. 1, 9. xl. 9.- -11 Sam. i. 10.
Ch. x. 1.

"O remember that, if my life pass away, mine eye shall turn no more to scenes of goodness;" which he paraphrases thus: "O remember that, if my life pass away, never more shall I witness those scenes of divine favour, never more adore thec for those proofs of unmerited mercy, which till now have been so perpetually bestowed on me." I think the common translation gives a very good sense.

Verse 8. Shall see me no more] If I die in my present state, with all this load of undeserved odium which is cast upon me by my friends, I shall never have an opportunity of vindicating my character, and regaining the good opinion of mankind.

Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.] Thou canst look me into nothing. Or, Let thine eye be upon me as judged to death, and I shall immediately cease to live among men.

Verse 9. As the cloud is consumed] As the cloud is dissipated, so is the breath of those that go down to the grave. As that cloud shall never return, so shall it be with the dead; they return no more to sojourn with the living. See on the following verses.

Verse 10. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.] He does not mean that he shall be annihilated, but that he shall never more become an inhabitant of the earth.

The word w, which we properly enough translate grave, here signifies also the state of the dead, hades, and sometimes any deep pit, or even hell itself.

Verse 11. Therefore I will not refrain] All is hopeless; I will therefore indulge myself in complaining. Verse 12. Am I a sea, or a whale] "Am I condemned as the Egyptians were who were drowned in the Red Sea? or am I as Pharaoh, who was drowned in it in his sins, that thou settest a keeper over me ?" Targum. Am I as dangerous as the sea, that I should be encompassed about with barriers, lest I should hurt mankind. Am I like an ungovernable wild beast or dragon, that I must be put under locks and bars? I think our own version less exceptionable than any other hitherto given of this verse. The meaning is sufficiently plain. Job was hedged about and shut in with insuperable difficulties of various kinds; he was entangled as a wild beast in a net; the more he struggled, the more he lost his strength, and the less probability there was of his being extricated from his present situation. The sea is shut in with barVerse 7. My life is wind] Mr. Good translates, riers, over which it cannot pass; for God has "placed

A fine example of this figure is found in the Teemour Nameh, which I shall give in Mr. Good's translation :

"Praise be to God, who hath woven the web of human affairs in the loom of his will and of his wisdem, and hath made waves of times and of seasons to fine from the fountain of his providence into the ocean of his power." The simile is fine, and elegantly ex

pressed.

He deplores his agitated

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13 When I say, My bed morning, and try him every shall comfort me, my couch moment?

shall ease my complaint;

14 Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:

15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.

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19 How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

20 I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why "hast

16 I loathe it; I would not live alway: let thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I me alone; for my days are vanity.

f

17 What is man, that thou shouldest mag-` nify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?

am a burden to myself?

21 And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt

18 And that thou shouldest visit him every seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

a Ch. ix. 27.- b Heb. than my bones.

Ch. x. 1.

d Ch. x. 20. xiv. 6. Ps. xxxix. 13. the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it;" Jer. v. 22. "For thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth;" Ps. civ. 9. "Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb? When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it, and brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors and said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther and here shall thy proud waves be stayed;" chap. xxxviii. 8.

Here then is Job's allusion: the bounds, doors, garment, swaddling bands, decreed place, and bars, are the watchers or keepers which God has set to prevent the sea from overflowing the earth; so Job's afflictions and distresses were the bounds and bars which God

had apparently set to prevent him from injuring his fellow-creatures. At least Job, in his complaint, so takes it. Am I like the sea, which thou hast imprisoned within bounds, ready to overwhelm and destroy the country? or am I like a dragon, which must be cooped up in the same way, that it may not have the power to kill and destroy? Surely in my prosperity I gave no evidence of such a disposition; therefore should not be treated as a man dangerous to society. In this Job shows that he will not refrain his

mouth.

Verse 14. Thou scarest me with dreams] There is no doubt that Satan was permitted to haunt his imagination with dreadful dreams and terrific appearances; so that, as soon as he fell asleep, he was suddenly roused and alarmed by those appalling images. He needed rest by sleep, but was afraid to close his eyes because of the horrid images which were presented to his imagination. Could there be a state more deplorable than this?

Verse 15. Chooseth strangling] It is very likely that he felt, in those interrupted and dismal slumbers, an oppression and difficulty of breathing something like the incubus or nightmare; and, distressing as this

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was, he would prefer death by this means to any longer life in such miseries.

Verse 16. I loath it; I would not live alway] Life, in such circumstances, is hateful to me; and though I wish for long life, yet if length of days were offered to me with the sufferings which I now undergo. I would despise the offer, and spurn the boon.

Mr. Good is not satisfied with our common version, and has adopted the following, which in his notes he endeavours to illustrate and defend :Verse 15. So that my soul coveteth suffocation,

And death in comparison with my suffering.

16. No longer would I live! Oh, release me! How are my days vanity!

Verse 17. What is man that thou shouldest magnify Two different ideas have been drawn from these words: him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?] 1. Man is not worth thy notice; why therefore dost thou contend with him?

2. How astonishing is thy kindness that thou shouldest fix thy heart-thy strongest affections, on such a poor, base, vile, impotent creature as man

enosh), that thou shouldest so highly exalt him beyond all other creatures, and mark him with the most particular notice of thy providence and grace!

The paraphrase of Calmet is as follows: "Does man, such as he at present is, merit thy attention! What is man that God should make it his business to examine, try, prove, and afflict him? Is it not doing him? O Lord! I am not worthy that thou shouldest him too much honour to think thus seriously about concern thyself about me!"

Verse 19. Till I swallow down my spittle?] This is a proverbial expression, and exists among the Arabs the same. to the present day; the very language being nearly breath; give me a moment's space; let me have even It signifies the same as Let me draw my the twinkling of an eye. I am urged by my sufferings to continue my complaint; but my strength is exhausted, my mouth dry with speaking. Suspend my sufferings even for so short a space as is necessary to swallow my spittle, that my parched tongue may be moistened, so that I may renew my complaint.

Bildad reproves Job

CHAP. VIII.

for justifying himself. Verse 20. I have sinned; what shall I do] Dr. | bring all these calamities upon me, thou knowest, who Kennicott contends that these words are spoken to searchest the hearts of men. Eliphaz, and not to God, and would paraphrase them thus: "You say I must have been a sinner. What then? I have not sinned against thee, O thou spy upon mankind! Why hast thou set up me as a butt or mark to shoot at? Why am I become a burden unto thee? Why not rather overlook my transgression, and pass by mine iniquity? I am now sinking to the dust! To-morrow, perhaps, I shall be sought in vain!" See his vindication of Job at the end of these notes on this book. Others consider the address as made to God. Taken in this light, the sense is plain enough.

Those who suppose that the address is made to Gop, translate the 20th verse thus: "Be it that I have sinned, what injury can I do unto thee, O thou Observer of man? Why hast thou set me up as a mark for thee, and why am I made a burden to thee?" | The Septuagint is thus: Et yw papтov, тi dvvпσoμa zpažni, ò eñiotaμevos тov vovv twv avρшπшv; If I hare sinned, what can I do, O thou who knowest the mind of men? Thou knowest that it is impossible for me to make any restitution. I cannot blot out my offences; but whether I have sinned so as to

Verse 21. And why dost thou not pardon] These words are spoken after the manner of men. If thou have any design to save me, if I have sinned, why dost thou not pardon my transgression, as thou seest that I am a dying man; and to-morrow morning thou mayest seek me to do me good, but in all probability I shall then be no more, and all thy kind thoughts towards me shall be unavailing? If I have sinned, then why should not I have a part in that mercy that flows so freely to all mankind?

That Job does not criminate himself here, as our text intimates, is evident enough from his own repeated assertions of his innocence. And it is most certain that Bildad, who immediately answers, did not consider him as criminating but as justifying himself; and this is the very ground on which he takes up the subject. Were we to admit the contrary, we should find strange inconsistencies, if not contradictions, in Job's speeches: on such a ground the controversy must have immediately terminated, as he would then have acknowledged that of which his friends accused him; and here the Book of Job would have ended.

CHAPTER VIII.

Bildad answers, and reproves Job for his justifying himself, 1, 2. Shows that God is just, and never punishes but for iniquity; and intimates that it was on account of their sins that his children were cut off, 3, 4. States that, if Job would humble himself to the Almighty, provided he were innocent, his captivity would soon be turned, and his latter end be abundantly prosperous, 5-7. Appeals to the ancients for the truth of what he says; and draws examples from the vegetable world, to show how soon the wicked may be cut off, and the hope of the hypocrite perish, 8-19. Asserts that God never did cast off a perfect man, nor help the wicked; and that, if Job be innocent, his end shall be crowned with prosperity, 20-22.

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THEN answered Bildad the the Almighty pervert justice?
Shuhite, and said,

2 How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?

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4 If thy children have sinned against him, and he have. cast them away for their transgression;

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5 If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes,

3 Doth God pervert judgment? or doth and make thy supplication to the Almighty;

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b Ch. i. 5, 18.- - Heb. in the hand of their transgression. d Ch. v. 8. xi. 13. xxii. 23, &c.

the spirit of pride. Wilt thou continue to breathe forth a tempest of words? This is more literal.

NOTES ON CHAP. VIII. Verse 1. Bildad the Shuhite] Supposed to be a descendant of Shuah, one of the sons of Abraham, by Verse 3. Doth God pervert judgment?] God afflicts Keturah, who dwelt in Arabia Deserta, called in thee; can he afflict thee for nought? As he is just, Scripture the east country. See Gen. xxv. 1, 2, 6. his judgment is just; and he could not inflict punishVerse 2. How long wilt thou speak these things?]ment unless there be a cause. Wilt thou still go on to charge God foolishly? Thy Leavy affliction proves that thou art under his wrath; and his wrath, thus manifested, proves that it is for dy sins that he punisheth thee.

Be like a strong wind?] The Arabic, with which the Syriac agrees, is bi ruch-olazamati,

روح

Verse 4. If thy children have sinned] I know thy children have been cut off by a terrible judgment; but was it not because by transgression they had filled up the measure of their iniquity?

And he have cast them away] Has sent them off,

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7 Though thy beginning was small, yet thy 10 Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, latter end shall greatly increase.

8 For inquire, I pray thee, of the former

a Deut. iv. 32. xxxii. 7. Ch. xv. 18.

and utter words out of their heart?

11 Can the rush grow up without mire?

b Gen. xlvii. 9. 1 Chron. xxix. 15. Ch. vii. 6. Ps. xxxix, 5. cii. 11. cxliv. 14. c Heb. not.

says the Targum, to the place of their transgression-projected by the gnomon of a dial, during the time to that punishment due to their sins. the sun is above the horizon. As is a single solar

Verse 5. If thou wouldest seek unto God] Though | day, so is our life. The following beautiful motto I God has so severely afflicted thee, and removed thy children by a terrible judgment; yet if thou wilt now humble thyself before him, and implore his mercy, thou shalt be saved. He cut them off in their sins, but he spares thee; and this is a proof that he waits to be gracious to thee.

Verse 6. If thou wert pure and upright] Concerning thy guilt there can be no doubt; for if thou hadst been a holy man, and these calamities had occurred through accident, or merely by the malice of thy enemies, would not God, long ere this, have manifested his power and justice in thy behalf, punished thy enemies, and restored thee to affluence? The habitation of thy righteousness] Strongly ironical. If thy house had been as a temple of God, in which his worship had been performed, and his commandments obeyed, would it now be in a state of ruin and desolation?

Verse 7. Though thy beginning was small] Thy former state, compared to that into which God would have brought thee, would be small; for to show his respect for thy piety, because thou hadst, through thy faithful attachment to him, suffered the loss of all things, he would have greatly multiplied thy former prosperity, so that thou shouldest now have vastly more than thou didst ever before possess.

Verse 8. Inquire of the former age] ledor rishon, of the first age; of the patriarchs; the first generation of men that dwelt upon the earth: not of the age that was just past, as Mr. Peters and | several others have imagined, in order to keep up the presumption of Job's high antiquity. Bildad most evidently refers to an antiquity exceedingly remote.

Verse 9. For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing] It is evident that Bildad refers to those times in which human life was protracted to a much longer date than that in which Job lived; when men, from the long period of eight or nine hundred years, had the opportunity of making many observations, and treasuring up a vast fund of knowledge and experience. In comparison with them, he considers that age as nothing, and that generation as being only of yesterday, not having had opportunity of laying up knowledge: nor could they expect it, as their days upon earth would be but a shadow, compared with that substantial time in which the fathers had lived. Perhaps there may be an allusion here to the shadow

have seen on a sun-dial: UMBRÆ SUMUS! "We are shadows!" referring to the different shadows by which the gnomon marked the hours, during the course of the day; and all intended to convey this moral lesson to the passengers: Your life is composed of time, marked out by such shadows as these. Such as time is, such are you; as fleeting, as transitory, as unsubstantial. These shadows lost, time is lost; time lost, soul lost! Reader, take heed!

The writer of this book probably had before his eyes these words of David, in his last prayer, 1 Chron. xxix. 15: "For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were; our days upon earth are as a SHADOW, and there is no expectation." There is no reason to hope that they shall be prolonged; for our lives are limited down to threescore years and ten, as the average of the life even of old

men.

Verse 10. Shall not they teach thee] Wilt thou not treat their maxims with the utmost deference and respect? They utter words from their heart-what they say is the fruit of long and careful experience.

Verse 11. Can the rush grow] The word gome, which we translate rush, is, without doubt, the Egyptian flag papyrus, on which the ancients wrote, and from which our paper derives its name. The Septuagint, who made their Greek translation in Egypt (if this book made a part of it), and knew well the import of each word in both languages, render ɔ gome by πarvρoç papyrus, thus: Mŋ @aλ\u аnνроç avev vdaros; Can the PAPYRUS flourish without water? Their translation leaves no doubt concerning the meaning of the original. They were probably writing on the very substance in question, while making their translation. The technical language of no science is so thoroughly barbarous as that of botany: the description of this plant, by Linnæus, shall be a proof. The plant he calls " Cyperus Papyrus; CLASS Triandria; ORDER Monogynia; Culm three-sided, naked; umbel longer than the involucres; involucels three-leaved, setaceous, longer spikelets in threes.-Egypt, &c. Involucre eightleaved; general umbel copious, the rays sheathing at the base; partial on very short peduncles; spikelet alternate, sessile; culm leafy at the base; leave hollow, ensiform."

Hear our plain countryman John Gerarde, who

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