that the tender branch thereof will not

cease.

8 Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground;

9 Yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. 10 But man dieth, and 'wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?

11 As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up:

12 So man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep.

13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! 14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

7 Heb. is weakened, or cut

15 Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.

16 For now thou numbercst my steps. dost thou not watch over my sin?

17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.

18 And surely the mountain falling 'cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.

19 The waters wear the stones: thou 10washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth; and thou destroyest the hope of man.

20 Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.

21 His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them.

22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn. 8 Psal. 139. 2, 3. 9 Heb. fadeth. 10 Heb, overflowest.

Verse 7. "There is hope of a tree," &c. to verse 10.-This very beautiful passage is a continuation of the comparison commenced in verse 2. A passage in the pathetic elegy on Bion, by Moschus, may be adduced as furnishing a very striking parallel. The translation is Gisborne's.

"The meanest herb we trample in the field,
Or in the garden nurture, when its leaf,
At Winter's touch, is blasted, and its place
Forgotten, soon its vernal bud renews,

And, from short slumber, wakes to life again.

Man wakes no more!-man, valiant, glorious, wise,

When death once chills him, sinks in sleep profound,

A long, unconscious, never-ending sleep."

In the last line there is indeed a difference between Job and the heathen poet. Job says, "Man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? Moschus says, he is in a "never-ending sleep." Job also compares death to a sleep in verse 12, which is the proper completion of the passage; but he only says, "till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake." It is indeed disputed whether he here means to define a time when the dead would arise, or to deny it by the strongest figure he could command. It would be interesting to ascertain whether the patriarchs possessed any intimation of that which the New Testament so distinctly announces; and it is indeed the peculiar value of the book of Job as a theological document, that it is the only existing source from which a systematic account can be derived of that old patriarchal religion which the law and the gospel successively superseded.

17. "My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.”—This perhaps refers to the Oriental custom of sewing and sealing up sums of money in bags. That is to say, when a sum is large it will be paid in sealed bags, each containing so many piastres; and while authenticated by a seal on which reliance can be placed, these bags will circulate for their assigned value without being opened for examination. It is usual for the bag to contain five hundred piastres, and hence such a sum is called "a purse" of money in common statements, and amounts are calculated by so many "purses," whether actually received or paid in sealed bags or not. It is in such sealed bags, under the denomination of purses, that large sums are paid into and received from the royal treasuries of Western Asia. We find in Colonel Capper's Observations on the Passage to India' (1783), a good anecdote bearing on this practice. He agreed to pay the sheikh who conducted him from Aleppo to Graine, near Bassora, five hundred dollars on the road, and eight hundred at the end of the journey. "The former sum I therefore kept ready to be paid to his order; but the latter I counted and sealed up in a bag to prevent any of them from being lost or mislaid. When this bag was brought (for the final payment, on arriving at Graine), as I was going to open it, the sheikh stopped me, asking if it had been counted and sealed up in my presence; and when I answered in the affirmative, he, with a careless unaffected air, bespeaking no merit in the action, threw it over his shoulder, and ordered his servant to put it into his trunk." From the sheikh this bag probably passed through many hands without being opened, unless it became necessary to break it in order to obtain part of the sum it contained. The passage we have marked in Italics appears to explain the present text, showing the purpose for which Job supposed, figuratively, his sins to be sealed up in a bag, like money.The custom we have mentioned may perhaps also explain 2 Kings v. 23, and xii. 10. In the Apocryphal book of Tobit, it is related how Tobias took a journey to receive from Gabael a sum of money which his father had left with him in trust. Gabael, when he received the order for the money to be delivered, “brought forth bags that were sealed up, and gave them to him."

VOL. II.

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489

5 Rom. 11. 34. 1 Kings 8. 46. 2 Chron. 6. 36. Chap. 14. 4. Psal. 14.3. Prov. 20. 9. 1 John 1.8. 7 Chap. 4. 18. 8 Heb. a sound of fears.

10 Psal. 7. 14. Isa. 59. 4.

Verse 2. "The east wind.”—This wind is particularly stormy and boisterous in the Levant, and is even accounted noxious in Arabia. It is what our mariners call a Levanter; and is the same, called in the Acts of the Apostles Euroclydon, by which St. Paul and his companions were wrecked on the island of Melita.

10. "Grayheaded...very aged...much elder than thy father.”—One of the Targums makes these three discriminations apply respectively to Job's three friends; paraphrasing thus-"But Eliphaz who is grey, and Bildad who is aged, are with us; and Zophar who is greater in days than thy father."

33. "Shall cast off his flower as the olive."-There is one fortnight, when the olive-tree is in blossom, during which great anxiety is felt by olive cultivators, as any disaster, which then injures the flower, destroys the hopes of the

season. This is well described by Dr. Chandler, when speaking of Athens, which has always been famous for its olive cultivation. He observes that, "The crops had failed for five years successively, when we arrived. The cause assigned was, a northerly wind, said Greco-Tramontane, which destroyed the flower. The fruit is set in about a fortnight, when the apprehension from this unpropitious quarter ceases. The bloom in the following year was unhurt, and we had the pleasure of leaving the Athenians happy in the prospect of a plentiful harvest." Travels in Greece,' p. 126.

3 Heb. words of wind.
7 Heb. are my scorners.

Verse 4. "Shake mine head at you.”—This is one of the actions which, from the universality of their use, seem almost natural. It is often mentioned in Scripture; where, as everywhere else, it expresses sorrow, dissatisfaction, or scorn.

9. "He gnasheth upon me with his teeth... sharpeneth his eyes upon me."-These also are general signs of natural passion. Homer in like manner uses both together when he describes Achilles as panting to avenge the death of

"He gnash'd his teeth, fire glimmer'd in his eyes,

Anguish intolerable wrung his heart

And fury against Troy, while he put on
His glorious arms."-Iliad, xix. 365. CowPER.

The reference to the eyes, however," sharpeneth his eyes," has a peculiar force which some translators have injudiciously relinquished. It is quite an Oriental expression, and is still used in the East.

10. They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully.”—This seems a very abrupt change of figure, all the rest in this and the preceding verse being drawn from the assaults of wild beasts. The figure is sustained in Dr. Good's version of this clause, which he supports by weighty critical reasons:-"They rend my cheek to tatters."

13. "His archers compass me."-This series of figures appears to be taken from the proceedings of huntsmen. First they surround the beast. then shoot him with their arrows, his entrails are then taken out, and his body broken up, limb from limb.

CHAPTER XVII.

1 Job appealeth from men to God. 6 The unmerciful dealing of men with the afflicted may astonish, but not discourage the righteous. 11 His hope is not in life, but in death.

8 Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite

9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands 'shall be

My 'breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, stronger and stronger. the graves are ready for me.

2 Art there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye 'continue in their pro

vocation?

3 Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?

4 For thou hast hid their heart from understanding therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

:

5 He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.

6 He hath made me also a byword of the people; and 'aforetime I was as a tabret.

10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.

11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. 12 They change the night into day: the light is 'short because of darkness.

13 If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

14 I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

15 And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?

16 They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust. Or, before them. 4 Or, my thoughts. 5 Heb. shall add strength. • Heb. the possessions,

7 Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow. 1 Or, spirit is spent. 2 Heb. lodge.

7 Heb. near.

8 Heb. cried, or called.

Verse 6. "Aforetime I was as a tabret.”—The word here rendered "tabret” is non, tophet, which translators have very differently understood. Our version derives it from , "a tabret," which is perhaps the least tenable alternative. Others look for its root in the Chaldee word, "to spit out" (as in abhorrence); whence Gesenius renders, "I was an abhorrence before them." But the large majority draw its meaning from, pathah, or from Nɔ", japhat, in which case it will signify a simpleton or dotard, or one who is an object of astonishment or wonder. The Vulgate sanctions this view, which has been taken in English versions before and since the present. Tyndal's version of the whole verse is, "He hath made me as it were a bye-worde of the common people; I am his gestyinge-stocke among them." Heath has "prodigy;" Boothroyd, "gazing-stock;" Good, "dotard." After this, we need not add that the retrospective reference, "aforetime," is erroneous, the clause being applied to the then present condition of Job. 10. "Return, and come now."-This is not very intelligible. The original certainly allows, and the sense requires, the "Get ye hence, and begone” of Good, or the " Depart, and begone now" of Boothroyd.

CHAPTER XVIII.

66

1 Bildad reproveth Job of presumption and impatience. 5 The calamities of the wicked.

THEN answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

2 How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.

3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?

4 He teareth 'himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?

5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his 'candle shall be put out with him.

7 The steps of his strength shall be

straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.

8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.

9 The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.

10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.

11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall 'drive him to his feet.

12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.

13 It shall devour the 'strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.

14 'His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.

15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

5 Heb, bars. 6 Chap. 8. 14, and 11. 20. Psal. 112. 10. Prov. 10.

16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, | among his people, nor any remaining in his and above shall his branch be cut off.

dwellings.

20 They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that 'went before were affrighted.

10.

21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.

Or, lived with him. 10 Heb, laid hold on horror.

Verse 8. "He is cast into a net."-In this and the two following verses there seems to be a distinct reference to the modes in which wild beasts were taken by stratagem in the time of Job, and which, so far as they can be distinguished, are much the same as those which are now and ever have been practised in the East. But as there are other passages of Scripture in which these usages seem to be mentioned with greater distinctness, we withhold for the present those statements which may furnish the illustration they require.

13. "The firstborn of death.”—This bold expression has been variously understood. It seems clear that Death is described as the parent of the calamities or diseases which destroy life; and the most grievous and awful is distinguished as the "firstborn." To what calamity or disease this pre-eminence is assigned is not known. Some think the famine; others the pestilence, which was emphatically called "Death" by the Hebrews. Examples of this strong figure might be cited from eastern poetry. "Death, the mother of vultures," occurs in an Arabian poem-the last of

the Moallakat.

15. "Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation."-In the prefatory note to this book, we intimated that the supposed absence of any mention of the destruction of "the cities of the plain" had been used as an argument to prove that the time of Job was prior to that event. We do not believe that it was; and therefore do not by any means suppose it impossible that this passage may allude to that awful judgment. The word "brimstone" is the same as that used in Gen. xix. ; and the word rendered "scattered" might as well be "rained." Other explanations may however be given. "Some think," says Gill, "respect is had to the lustration of houses with sulphur to drive away dæmons, and remove impurity, to make them fit to dwell in: and others think it refers to the burning of sulphur in houses at funerals, to testify and exaggerate mourning." These customs existed among the Greeks and Romans. The first is mentioned by Homer (Od. xxii. 481). Brimstone was employed in all sorts of purifications, even for the persons of the culpable and impure.

17. "He shall have no name in the street.”—A very good illustration of this text is furnished by Mr. Roberts ( Oriental Illustrations') from the proverbial expressions of the Hindoos. "What kind of man is Ramar?"-"I will tell you: his name is in every street;" which means, he is a person of great fame. "Oh, my lord, only grant me this favour, and your name shall be in every street." "Who does not wish his name to be in the streets ?" "Wretch, where is thy name, what dog of the street will acknowledge thee?" "From generation to generation shall his name be in the streets.'

CHAPTER XIX.

1 Job, complaining of his friends' cruelty, sheweth there is misery enough in him to feed their cruelty. 21, 28 He craveth pity. 23 He believeth the resurrection.

THEN Job answered and said,

2 How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?

3 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye 'make yourselves strange to me.

4 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.

5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:

6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.

7 Behold, I cry out of 'wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judg

ment.

not pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.

11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

12 His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.

13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.

14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.

16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with

8 He hath fenced up my way that I can-
1 Or, harden yourselves against me. ■ Or, violence.

my mouth.