CHAP. XXVII. 9 Will God hear his cry b when trouble cometh upon him? 10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always 11 I will teach you by the hand of God: Ch. xxxv. 12. Ps. xviii. 41. cix. 7. Prov. i. 28. xxviii. 9. Isai. i. 15. Jer. xiv. 12. Ezek. viii. 18. Mic. iii. 4. by any kind of acknowledgment of wickedness or hypocrisy, justify your harsh judgments. You say that God afflicts me for my crimes; I say, and God knows it is truth, that I have not sinned so as to draw down any such judgment upon me. Your judgment, therefore, is pronounced at your own risk. Verse 6. My righteousness I hold fast] I stand firmly on this ground; I have endeavoured to live an upright life, and my afflictions are not the consequence of my sins. My heart shall not reproach me] I shall take care so to live that I shall have a conscience void of offence before God and man. "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God;" 1 John iii. 21. This seems to be Job's meaning. Verse 7. Let mine enemy be as the wicked] Let ny accuser be proved a lying and perjured man, because he has laid to my charge things which he cannot prove, and which are utterly false. Verse 8. What is the hope of the hypocrite] The word on chaneph, which we translate, most improperly, hypocrite, means a wicked fellow, a defiled, polluted wretch, a rascal, a knave, a man who sticks at nothing in order to gain his ends. In this verse it theans a dishonest man, a rogue, who by overreaching, cheating, &c., has amassed a fortune. When God taketh away his soul?] Could he have had any well-grounded hope of eternal blessedness when he was acquiring earthly property by guilt and deceit? And of what avail will this property be when his soul is summoned before the judgment-seat? A righteous man yields up his soul to God; the wicked does not, because he is afraid of God, of death, and of eternity. God therefore takes the soul away-forces it out of the body. Mr. Blair gives us an affecting picture of the death of a wicked man. Though well known, I shall insert it as a striking comment on this passage : How shocking must thy summons be, O death! To him that is at ease in his possessions ; Who, counting on long years of pleasures here, Is quite unfurnished for that world to come! In that dread moment how the frantic soul Raves round the walls of her clay tenement; Runs to each avenue, and shrieks for help, But shrieks in vain! How wishfully she looks On all she's leaving, now no longer hers! A little longer, yet a little longer, Oh, might she stay, to wash away her stains, And fit her for her passage! Mournful sight! Her very eyes weep blood; and every groan 1829 that which is with the Almighty. will I not conceal. of the wicked. A. M. cir. 2484. cir. 744. 12 Behold, all ye yourselves Ante U.C.c.767. have seen it; why then are ye thus altogether vain? 13 This is the portion of a wicked man. John ix. 31. James iv. 3.- b See ch. xxii. 26, 27.-- Or, being in the hand, &c.- d Ch. xx. 29. She heaves is big with horror. But the foe, THE GRAVE. "Yet what is the hope of the wicked that he should prosper, That God should keep his soul in quiet?" I believe our Version gives as true a sense as any; and the words appear to have been in the eye of our Lord, when he said, "For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matt. xvi. 26. Verse 11. I will teach you by the hand of God] Relying on divine assistance, and not speaking out of my own head, or quoting what others have said, I will teach you what the mind of the Almighty is, and I will conceal nothing. Job felt that the good hand of his God was upon him, and that therefore he should make no mistake in his doctrines. In this way the Chaldee understood the words, 7 beyad El, by the hand of God, which it translates & binbuath Elaha, by the prophecy of God. Those who reject the literal meaning, which conveys a very good has much to recommend it: "I will teach you consense, may adopt the translation of Mr. Good, which cerning the dealings of God." Verse 12. Ye yourselves have seen it] Your own experience and observation have shown you that the righteous are frequently in affliction, and the wicked in affluence. The grievous end of A. M. cir. 2484. B. C. cir. 1520. cir. 744. Ante U.C.c.767. JOB. d maketh. the wicked man. A. M. cir. Ante I. Ol. with God, and the heritage of as a booth that the keeper cir: 2524. 14 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. 15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death and his widows shall not weep. 16 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay; 17 He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver. cir. 744. Ante U.C. c.767. 19 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not. 20 Terrors take hold on him as waters, a tempest stealeth him away in the night. e 21 The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place. 22 For God shall cast upon him, and not spare: 'he would fain flee out of his hand. 23 Men shall clap their hands at him, and 18 He buildeth his house as a moth, and shall hiss him out of his place. ration shall they have with God in general, though the hand of man be not laid upon them. Though he does not at all times show his displeasure against the wicked, by reducing them to a state of poverty and affliction, yet he often does it so that men may see it; and at other times he seems to pass them by, reserving their judgment for another world, that men may not forget that there is a day of judgment and perdition for ungodly men, and a future recompence for the righteous. Verse 14. If his children be multiplied] As numerous families were supposed to be a proof of the benediction of the Almighty, Job shows that this is not always the case; for the offspring of the wicked shall be partly cut off by violent deaths, and partly reduced to great poverty. amass riches in the greatest abundance, he shall not enjoy them. Unsanctified wealth is a curse to its possessor. Money, of all earthly possessions, is the most dangerous, as it is the readiest agent to do good or evil. He that perverts it is doubly cursed, because it affords him the most immediate means of sinful gratification; and he can sin more in an hour through this, than he can in a day or week by any other kind of property. On the other hand, they who use it aright have it in their power to do the most prompt and immediate good. Almost every kind of want may be speedily relieved by it. Hence, he who uses it as he ought is doubly blessed; while he who abuses it is doubly cursed. Verse 17. The just shall put it on] Money is God's property. "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord;" and though it may be abused for a Verse 15. Those that remain of him] seridaiv, his remains, whether meaning himself per- time by unrighteous hands, God, in the course of his sonally, or his family. Shall be buried in death] Shall come to utter and remediless destruction. Death shall have his full conquest over them, and the grave its complete victory. These are no common dead. All the sting, all the wound, and all the poison of sin, remains: and so evident are God's judgments in his and their removal, that even widows shall not weep for them; the public shall not bewail them; for when the wicked perish there is shouting. Mr. Good, following the Chaldee, translates: Entombed in corruption, or in the pestilence. But I see no reason why we should desert the literal reading. Entombed in corruption gives no nervous sense in my judgment; for in corruption are the high and the low, the wicked and the good, entombed: but buried in death is at once nervous and expressive. Death itself is the place where he shall lie; he shall have no redemption, no resurrection to life; death shall ever have dominion over him. The expression is very similar to that in Luke xvi. 22, as found in several Versions and MSS.: The rich man died, and was buried in hell; and, lifting up his eyes, being in torment, he saw, &c. See my note there. Verse 16. Though he heap up silver] Though he providence, brings it back to its proper use; and often the righteous possess the inheritance of the wicked. Verse 18. He buildeth his house as a moth] With great skill, great pains, and great industry; but the structure, however skilful, shall be dissolved; and the materials, however costly, shall be brought to corruption. To its owner it shall be only a temporary habitation, like that which the moth makes in its larve or caterpillar state, during its change from a chrysalis to a winged insect. As a booth that the keeper maketh.] A shed which the watchman or keeper of a vineyard erects to cover him from the scorching sun, while watching the ripening grapes, that they may be preserved from depredation. Travellers in the East have observed that such booths or sheds are made of the lightest and most worthless materials; and after the harvest or vintage is in, they are quite neglected, and by the winter rains, &c., are soon dissolved and destroyed. Verse 19. The rich man shall lie down] In the grave. But he shall not be gathered] Neither have a respectable burial among men, nor be gathered with the righteous in the kingdom of God. It may be that Job alludes here to an opinion relative to the state of certain persons after death, prevalent in all nations in ancient times, viz., that those whose funeral rites had not been duly performed, wander about as ghosts, and find no rest. and minerals. nothinge with him: he is gone in the twincklinge of an eye. Verse 20. Terrors take hold on him as waters] They come upon him as an irresistible flood; and he is overwhelmed as by a tempest in the night, when He openeth his eyes] In the morning of the resur- darkness partly hides his danger, and deprives him rection. And he is not.] He is utterly lost and undone for ever. This seems to be the plain sense of the passage; and so all the Versions appear to have understood it; but Reiske and some others, by making yeaseph an Arabic word, signifying, not the idea of gathering, but care, anxiety, &c., have quite altered this sense of the passage; and Mr. | Good, who copies them, translates thus: Let the rich man lie down, and care not. I see no manner of occasion to resort to this interpretation, which, in my judgment, gives a sense inferior to that given above, or to the following: The rich man shall lie down-go to his rest, fully persuaded that his property is in perfect safety; but he shall not be gathered, or he shall not gather-make any farther addition to his | stores: he openeth his eyes in the morning, when he is not—marauders in the night have stripped him of all his property, as in the case of Job himself; a case quite probable, and not unfrequent in Arabia, when a hostile tribe makes a sudden incursion, and carries off an immense booty. But I prefer the first meaning, as it is obtained without crucifying the text. Coverdale translates: When the rich man dyeth, he carieth | of discerning the way to escape. Verse 21. The east wind carrieth him away] Such as is called by Mr. Good a levanter, the euroclydon, the eastern storm of Acts xxvii. 14. Verse 22. God shall cast upon him] Or, rather, the storm mentioned above shall incessantly pelt him, and give him no respite; nor can he by any means escape from its fury. Verse 23. Men shall clap their hands at him] These two verses refer to the storm, which is to sweep away the ungodly; therefore the word God in ver. 22, and men in this verse, should be omitted. Ver. 22. "For it shall fall upon him, and not spare: flying from its power, he shall continue to fly. Verse 23. It shall clap its hands against him, and hiss, p¬wn veyishrok, shriek, him out of his place." Here the storm is personified, and the wicked actor is hissed and driven by it from off the stage. It seems it was an ancient method to clap the hands against and hiss a man from any public office, who had acted improperly in it. The populace, in European countries, express their disapprobation of public characters who have not pleased them in the same manner to the present day, by hisses, groans, and the like. CHAPTER XXVIII. Job, in showing the vanity of human pursuits in reference to genuine wisdom, mentions mining for and refining gold and silver, 1; iron and other minerals, 2; the difficulties of mining, 3, 4; produce of grain for bread from the earth, and stones of fire from under 5. He speaks of precious stones and gold dust, 6; of the instinct of fowls and wild beasts in finding their way, 7, 8; and of the industry and successful attempts of men in mining and other operations, 9-11: but shows that with all their industry, skill, and perseverance, they cannot find out true wisdom, 12; of which he gives the most exalted character, 13-22; and shows that God alone, the fountain of wisdom, knows and can teach it, 23-27; and in what this true wisdom consists, 28. NOTES ON CHAP. XXVIII. Verse 1. Surely there is a vein for the silver] This chapter is the oldest and finest piece of natural history in the world, and gives us very important information on several curious subjects; and could we ascertain the precise meaning of all the original words, we might, most probably, find out allusions to several useful arts which we are apt to think are of modern, or comparatively modern, invention. The word motsa, which we here translate vein, signifies literally a going out, i. e., a mine, or place dug in the earth, whence the silver ore is extracted. And this ore lies generally in veins or loads, running in certain directions. A place for gold where they fine it.] This should rather be translated, A place for gold which they refine. Gold ore has also its peculiar mine, and requires to be refined from earthy impurities. Verse 2. Iron is taken out of the earth] This most useful metal is hidden under the earth, and men have found out the method of separating it from its ore. Brass is molten out of the stone.] As brass is a factitious metal, copper must be the meaning of the Description of mines A. M. cir. 2484. B. C. cir. 1520. Ante I. Ol. cir. 744. Ante U.C.c.767. b JOB. 3 He setteth an end to dark- 5 As for the earth, out of it ness, and searcheth out all per-cometh bread: and under it is fection: the stones of dark- turned up as it were fire. ness, and the shadow of death. 4 The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men. a Ver. 5.- b Ps. xxiii. 4. Hebrew word nechusah: literally, the stone is poured out for brass. If we retain the common translation, perhaps the process of making brass may be that to which Job refers; for this metal is formed from copper melted with the stone calamine; and thus the stone is poured out to make brass. Verse 3. He setteth an end to darkness] As it is likely Job still refers to mining, the words above may be understood as pointing out the persevering industry of man in penetrating into the bowels of the earth, in order to seek for metals and precious stones. Even the stones that lay hidden in the bowels of the earth he has digged for and brought to light, and has penetrated in directions in which the solar light could not be transmitted; so that he appears to have gone to the regions of the shadow of death. Mr. Good translates: "Man delveth into the region of darkness; and examineth, to the uttermost limit, the stones of darkness and death-shade." Verse 4. The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant] This passage is very difficult. Some think it refers to mining; others, to navigation. If it refer to the former, it may be intended to point out the waters that spring up when the miners have sunk down to a considerable depth, so that the mine is drowned, and they are obliged to give it up. Previously to the invention of the steam-engine, this was generally the case: hence ancient mines may be re-opened, and worked to great advantage, because we have the means now to take off the water which the ancient workers had not. When, therefore, floods break out in those shafts, they are abandoned; and thus they are, Forgotten of the foot] No man treads there any more. The waters increase, dallu, they are elevated, they rise up to a level with the spring, or till they meet with some fissure by which they can escape; and then we meenosh nau, they are moved or carried away from men; the stream is lost in the bowels of the earth. Mr. Peters thinks that both this verse, and ver. 26 of chap. ix., refer to navigation, then in a state of infancy; for the sea is not so much as mentioned; but nachal, a torrent or flood, some river or arm of the sea perhaps of a few leagues over, which, dividing the several nations, must interrupt their hospitality and commerce with each other, unless by the help of navigation. According to this opinion the verse may be translated and paraphrased thus: The flood-rivers and arms of the sea, separateth from the stranger, yn meim gar, divides different nations and peoples: they are forgotten of the foot-they 6 The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath 7 There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen: Or, gold ore. с cannot walk over these waters, they must embark in vessels; then they dwindle away, 15 dallu, from the size of men, that is, in proportion to their departure from the land they lessen on the sight; nau, they are tossed up and down, namely, by the action of the waves. This receives some countenance from the psalmist's fine description, Ps. cvii. 26, 27, of a ship in rough sea: They mount up to heaven; they g down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, w yanuu (the same word as above), they stagger like a drunken Mr. Good's translation is singular :— man. He breaketh up the veins from the matrice, Which, though thought nothing of under the foot, Are drawn forth, are brandished among mankind. This learned man thinks that it applies solely to mining, of which I cannot doubt; and therefore I adopt the first interpretation: but as to agreement among translators, it will be sought in vain. I shall just add Coverdale : With the ryver of water parteth he a sunder the straunge prople, that knoweth no good neighbourhrade; such as are rude, unmannerly, and boysterous. Verse 5. The earth, out of it cometh bread] Or the earth, mimmennah, from itself, by its own vegetative power, it sends out bread, or the corn of which bread is made. And under it is turned up as it were fire.] It seems as if this referred to some combustible fossil, similar to our stone coal, which was dug up out of the earth in some places of Arabia. The Chaldee gives a translation, conformable to a very ancient opinion, which supposed the centre of the earth to be a vast fire, and the place called hell. "The earth from which food proceeds, and under which is gehenna, whose cold snow is converted into the likeness of fire; and the garden of Eden, which is the place whose stones are sapphires," &c. The Vulgate has, "The land from which bread has been produced has been destroyed by fire." If this be the meaning of the original, there is probably an allusion to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; and the seventh and eighth verses may be supposed to refer to that catastrophe, there being no place left tangible or visible where those cities once stood: neither fowl nor beast could discern a path there, the whole land being covered with the lake Asphaltites. Verse 6. The stones-the place of sapphires] In the language of mineralogists, the gangue, matrix, or bed in which the sapphire is found. For a description of this stone, see on ver. 16. Dust of gold] Or rather, gold dust. Verse 7. There is a path which no fowl knoweth] The instinct of birds is most surprising. They traverse vast forests, &c., in search of food, at a great distance from the place which they have chosen for their general residence; and return in all weathers, ever missing their track: they also find their own best without ever mistaking another of the same kind for it. Birds of passage also, after tarrying in a reign clime for six or seven months, return to their ginal abode over kingdoms and oceans, without Lissing their way, or deviating in the least from the proper direction; not having a single object of sglt to direct their peregrinations. In such cases even the keen scent of the vulture, and the quick, percing sight of the eagle, would be of no use. It is possible that Job may here refer to undiscovered mines and minerals; that notwithstanding man had already discovered much, yet much remained undiscovered, especially in the internal structure and contents of the earth. Since his time innumerable discoveries have been made; and yet how little do we know! Our various conflicting and contradictory tries of the earth are full proofs of our ignorance, and strong evidences of our folly. The present dogel systems of geology itself are almost the ne petra of brain-sick visionaries, and system-mad arak. They talk as confidently of the structure of the ge, and the manner and time in which all was formed as if they had examined every part from the centre to the circumference; though not a soul of man has ever penetrated two miles in perpendicular depth into the bowels of the earth. these And with this scanty, defective knowledge, they pretend to build systems of the universe, and blaspleme the revelation of God! Poor souls! All things are to them a path which no fowl knoweth, which the vulture's eye hath not seen, on which the 's whelps have not trodden, and by which the ferce lion hath not passed. The wisdom necessary to sch investigations is out of their reach; and they are not simplicity of heart to seek it where it may be found. One of the Chaldee Targums gives a strange turn to this verse:The path of the tree of life Sammael Satan), though flying like a bird, hath not known; hath the eye of Eve beheld it. The children of Ben have not walked in it; nor hath the serpent turned towards it." Verse 9. He putteth forth his hand upon the rock] Sell there appears to be a reference to mining. Man puts his hand upon the rock, he breaks that to 1833 and minerals. A. M. cir. 2484. B. . cir. 1520. Ante I. Ol. cir. 744. Ante U.C.c.767. 10 He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing. 11 He bindeth the floods "from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light. Heb. from weeping. pieces, in order to extract the metals which it contains. He overturneth the mountains] He excavates, undermines, or digs them away, when in search of the metals contained in them: this is not only poetically, but literally, the case in many instances. Verse 10. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks] He cuts canals, adits, &c., in the rocks, and drives levels under ground, in order to discover loads or These are often continued a great way veins of ore. under ground; and may be poetically compared to rivers, channels, or canals. His eye seeth every precious thing.] He sinks those shafts, and drives those levels, in order to discover where the precious minerals lie, of which he is in pursuit. Verse 11. He bindeth the floods] Prevents the risings of springs from drowning the mines; and conducts rivers and streams from their wonted course, in order to bring forth to light what was hidden under their beds. The binding or restraining the water, which, at different depths, annoys the miner, is both difficult and expensive: in some cases it may be drawn off by pipes or canals into neighbouring watercourses; in others, it is conducted to one receptacle or reservoir, and thence drawn off. In Europe it is generally done by means of steam-engines. What method the ancients had in mining countries, we cannot tell; but they dug deep in order to find out the riches of the earth. PLINY says nervously, Imus in viscera terræ ; et in sede manium opes quærimus. We descend into the bowels of the earth; and seek for wealth even in the abodes of departed spirits." The manes or ghosts of the dead, or spirits presiding over the dead, were supposed to have their habitation in the centre of the earth; or in the deepest pits and caves. OVID, speaking of the degeneracy of men in the iron age, Met. lib. i., ver. 137, says :— Nec tantum segetes alimentaque debita dives |