Annotations Upon the Books of Poetry

CHAP. XX.

Vers. 2. THen answered Zophar, &c.] This is the second, and indeed the last reply of Zophar, who now as before took his turn in the third place; for though Eliphaz and Bildad did afterward reply again the third time upon Job, yet Zophar after this spake no more. And observable it is that notwithstanding Job had in the foregoing chapter made such a sad relation of the woeful condition wherein at present he was, chap. 19.6. &c. and had so earnestly besought his friends, that they would take pity of him, verse. 21. and had made such a full and glorious confession of his faith, verse. 25, 26, 27. and had threatened them with the sword of divine vengeance, if they proceeded on still with such fury against him as they had done, yet all this moved not Zophar, but that he again fell upon Job with as much violence as ever.

Vers. 2. Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make hast. ] It seems Zophar did here interrupt Job before he had made an end of speaking, and so in these words he gives a reason why he could no longer keep silence; Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make hast, as if he should have said, Whereas I resolved to have replied no more, or whereas I was desirous to let you go on without interrupting you, till you had made an end of your own accord (as I know civility requires I should do) truly that which you have spoken hath stirred up those thoughts in me, that do even compel me to speak; do what I can I am not able still to bear what I hear, nor to forbear uttering what I have thought to say; being as one in travel, I must not stay any longer, but must however it be taken break in upon you. And so this word ( therefore ) may be either referred, 1. In general to all that Job had answered in the foregoing chapter, either by way of justifying himself, and professing his hope of beholding to his joy, his Redeemer, when his dead body should be raised from the grave, or by way of blaming his friends for their unfriendly and unmerciful dealing with him; as if he had said, Finding how erroneous thou still art in this great point of God's dealing with man, therefore I could not forbear but I must again answer thee. Or 2. More particularly to those severe censures which he had passed upon them for their dealing so harshly with him; which may seem the more probable, because in the following verse he seems to make these censures (which he terms reproaches) the ground of this his Reply, I have heard, saith he, the check of my reproach, and (therefore) the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer ; Or else 3. It may be referred yet more particularly (as many hold) to the very last words that Job had spoken, chap. 19.29. There Job had warned his friends to take heed least the sword of divine vengeance did not fall upon them for their fury and wrath against such a distressed afflicted man as he was; for, saith he, wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment : Now Zophar being exceedingly nettled with these words, breaks out presently as in relation thereto, Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make hast, as if he should have said, Whereas you think to stop our mouths by threatening us with the judgments of God, so far am I from being terrified herewith, that this above all forceth me to speak, so that now I am not able to hold my peace any longer: And three reasons may be conceived why Zophar should, upon those words above others, be so much stirred in his spirit, that he could no longer forbear. 1. Because he might judge this most insufferable, that he that lay under such judgments of God himself, should yet be so confident that he was in the right, as to threaten them with the judgments of God for speaking against him; perceiving how he wrongfully applied the judgments of God, it was time to make him s • his error herein. 2. Because he might apprehend, that he had now a notable advantage to convince him from his own words, since if wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword (as Job said) what cause had he to be afraid of this sword of divine vengeance, that had in so much fury and wrath uttered so many bitter speeches against God, and so scornfully despised the admonition of his friends? and 3. Because he might be eager to put him in mind, that if there were judgment and a sword of divine vengeance for wicked men, he might thence know what himself was, whom this sword of God had already so sorely wounded. However observable is the expression which Zophar here useth, My thoughts cause me to answer ; for hereby he would seem to imply, that though he should speak zealously, yet he should not speak rashly, because he had seriously be thought himself of what he meant to say.

Vers. 3. I have heard the check of my reproach, &c.] That is, the checks and taunts wherewith to my reproach thou hast upbraided me, and scorned the truth of God which hath been spoken to thee; for though some Expositors refer this particularly to that sharp expression of Job, chap. 19.23, why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh ? as if he should have said, What? Do you charge me with persecuting you, with eating up your flesh? Are you not ashamed to cast such base reproaches upon us? And others to that before mentioned verse. 29. where he had threatened them with the sword of divine vengeance; yet I should rather understand it generally, either of Job's stiffness in maintaining still the truth of his cause, and the innocence of his person, which Zophar esteemed a reproach to them; or of all those tart passages in Job's speeches, wherewith Zophar apprehended himself to be reproached, he still applying that to himself, which Job had spoken in common to them all. As for the following clause, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer, by the spirit of his understanding may be meant, either the spirit of God enlightening his mind, and causing him to understand, or his soul by which he was enabled to understand, or the force and strength of his understanding, or the highest, and chiefest, and most refined part of the understanding, that which is most free from the dregs of passion; But however doubtless the drift of Zophar in this expression was, either to imply that he meant to answer Job with reason, and understanding, and not in passion and anger, as Job had still replied upon them; or else rather to show that the reason why he could not forbear speaking any longer, was because he did clearly understand, that it was the truth which they maintained against Job, and was able by evident reason to convince him, of his folly in reproaching his friends as he had done for that which they had spoken, and of the wickedness which they had charged him with.

Vers. 4. Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, &c.] As if he should have said, I appeal to thine own conscience; ca • st thou be ignorant of that which the experience of all ages hath approved to be true, ever since God first made man and placed him upon the earth? to wit, (as it follows in the next verse) that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment ? And well it may be, that when Zophar spake this he had in his thoughts, how God punished Cain the son of Adam, and Ham and his cursed posterity immediately after the flood.

Vers. 6. Thaugh his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds. ] That is, though he overtop all men in riches, honors, authority, and high esteem, and be gotten up to the highest pitch of outward prosperity and glory, insomuch that hereupon he exalts himself in his pride as a little God upon earth, and think his condition as unchangeable as the heavens; we have the like expression Matth. 11.23. And thou Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought down to hell.

Vers. 7. Yet he shall perish forever like his own dung, &c.] This expression of Zophars may imply three things, to wit, 1. That God should slay him and so he should become a loath some stinking carcase, his body being turned wholly to rottenness and putrifaction. 2. That when God began to execute his judgments upon him, he should become loathsome, base, and abominable unto all men, so that none should vouchsafe to save him, but he should be cast out with the detestation and abhorring of all, and 3. That he should perish utterly both he and his, according to that which is said of Jeroboam, 1 Kings 14.10. I will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone (concerning which see the Note there)▪ And likely enough it is too, that Zophar might herein allude to the dunghill whereon Job now sat, chap. 2.8. and to the complaint he had made in the foregoing chapter, that God had stripped him of his glory, and taken away the crown from his head, and that all his nearest friends, &c. despised him and stood aloof from him, and so intimated to him that it was not strange at all that it was thus, since it was the usual portion of the wicked man thus to perish as his own dung, that is, man's dung, the most loathsome of all dung. And to the same purpose is the following clause, they which have seen him shall say, where is he ? for this implies 1. That he should be utterly cut off and not be seen anymore, and 2. That they that had seen him with admiration in his height of prosperity, should wonder to see afterward how on a sudden he was quite perished and gone, not so much as any memorial being left of him, and should speak of him in a way of scorn and contempt.

Vers. 8. He shall fly away as a dream, &c.] That is, he shall suddenly perish and come to nothing: for by the flying away of a dream is meant, either the utter forgetting of a dream, when a man dreams and waking on a sudden, it is gone and there is no remembrance at all left of it; or else the vanishing away of those appearances and visions, which the fancy presents to a man in his sleep; look as when a man dreams of great treasures, or dainty feasts, or other things, but on a sudden the dream vanisheth, and so when he wakes all comes to nothing, there is no such thing as he dreamt of (which is sweetly expressed by the Prophet Isaiah, chap. 29.8.) so shall it be with the wicked man, his prosperity shall suddenly vanish to nothing, and so he shall utterly perish. Job had wished chap. 19.23, 24. That his words were written, that they were printed in a book, that they were graven with an iron pen in the rock forever ; perhaps in allusion to this Zophar here tells him, that instead of being thus remembered in after times, he should so utterly perish, that there should be no memorial left of him, no more then there is of a dream when it is quite vanished and gone.

Vers. 9. Neither shall his place anymore behold him. ] This may be meant of those amongst whom he had formerly lived, to wit, that the men of his place should never see him or observe him anymore; or else of the place itself wherein he had lived, concerning which see the Notes chap. 7.10, and 8.18.

Vers. 10. His children shall seek to please the poor, &c.] If we read this clause as it is in the margin of our Bibles, The poor shall oppress his children, then the meaning is, either that the poor should by violence take from his children, what he had by fraud or oppression taken from them; or that his children should come to such extreme poverty & misery, that even the poorer sort of people should be able to oppress them. But if we read it as it is in our Bibles, His children shall please the poor, then the meaning must be, either that his children (forced thereto by the sentence and for fear of the sentence of the judges, or otherwise) should labor to appease the poor, by restoring to them what their father had unjustly taken from them; or else that they should fall into such lamentable beggary and want, that they should be glad to curry favor with poor men, that from them they might get some small succor. As for the second clause, And his hands shall restore their goods, that is added to show, that many times not the children of the wicked man, but the wicked man himself is forced to restore the goods he hath unjustly wrested from the poor: And yet it is not necessary that this should be limited, at least to the wicked man's restoring to the former owners what he had unjustly taken from them: for even first when he dies and so must part with, and deliver up all that he had so injuriously gotten, or 2. When others shall by force or oppression wrest from him what he had by the same evil means wrested from the poor, or 3. When by his own improvidence or folly he shall wast what he had with such greediness and cruelty raked out of the estates of the needy, in all these respects it may be figuratively said, that his hands restore their goods. And so this may be added as a reason of his children's poverty, mentioned in the foregoing clause, to wit, that he could not leave them the goods he had gotten so ill, being forced as is before said to restore them again.

Vers. 11. His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. ] Two several ways this may be understood; for 1. The meaning may be that in the sins of his youth, he perseveres even to his old age, the sins into which he fell in his youth being inwardly settled and rooted in him, as if they were soaked into his bones and marrow, shall be as strong in him, and bear as full sway over him in his old age, as they did in his youth; and so it shall lie down with him in the dust, whereby is meant, either that he shall die in his sin without repentance and without pardon, and so his sin, though nothing else, shall go with him to the grave, the guilt of sin lying still upon him, eating his flesh and damming his soul; or else that all his violence, and oppression, and other sins shall there have an end together with himself, there they shall as it were perish with him, and be buried in the grave. And 2. By the sin of his youth may be meant the punishments of his youthful sins; and then the sense of the words is this, that God should punish him in his old age for the sin of his youth; only this expression of his bones being full of the sin of his youth may also imply. 1. The grievousness of the plagues wherewith he is punished for the sins of his youth, whether we understand it of bodily punishments or of the pains of a tortured conscience, to wit, that they should seise upon the whole man, and as it were shake and break his very bones within him; for thus sore sufferings and torments are usually expressed in the Scripture, My bones are burnt as an hearth, saith the Psalmist, Psal. 102.3. and again Psal. 109.18. As he clotheth himself with cursing like as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water and like oil into his bones. 2. That they should be abundantly poured forth upon him, and 3. Perhaps also the quality of them, that his body yea even his very bones should be rotted with the luxury and intemperance of his youth; and accordingly then the meaning of the last clause which shall lie down with him in the dust is plain and easy, namely that these punishments should never leave him till they had brought him to the grave.

Vers. 12. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, &c.] This may be meant generally of any wickedness whatsoever, which the wicked man commits; or particularly of the wickedness of oppressing the poor, and wresting their estates unjustly from them; and so the full drift of this passage is this, that though wickedness yield much sweet delight to the corrupt nature of man for a time, yet afterward it will work him extreme pain and sorrow, and in the conclusion will certainly destroy him. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, that is, though a wicked man may take as much delight in his wickedness, as a sensual Epicure may take in some poisoned sweet meat, that at first may exceedingly please his taste, though he hide it under his tongue, and verse. 13. Though he spare it and forsake it not, but keep it still within his mouth, that is, though he be loath to confess, condemn, repent of and forsake his sins, but seeks by many deceitful ways and pretences to excuse them (and so may the more properly be said to hide them under his tongue ) that he may still continue to delight himself therein, even as a glutton will not be brought to spit out the sweet meat that he hath in his mouth, yea is loath presently to swallow it down, and therefore eats it sparingly, champing it and rolling it up and down in his mouth, and so lets it go down by little and little, that he may the longer please his palate with the sweet taste of it, yet, verse. 14. his meat in his bowels is turned, that is, it is turned to be quite another thing then it seemed to be in his mouth, it is the gall of asps within him, that is, his sin will at length prove bitter to him (as we see in nature, that those meats that are sweetest to the taste turn most to bitterness and choler in the stomach) yea it will bring miserable pains and torments upon him, both in regard of outward punishments which God shall inflict, and inward torture of conscience wherewith he shall be vexed, and so shall at length utterly destroy him, even as the sweet meat which did so please the glutton, when it is gotten down into the stomach, doth there cause most griping insufferable torments and at last kills him, to wit, as being mixed with the most violent incurable poison, the poison of asps, which is here called the gall of asps ; either because the gall of those serpents is their poison, or rather because his poison proves as bitter in the operation of it, as the meat wherewith it was mixed was sweet to the taste.

Vers. 15. He hath swallowed down riches and he shall vomit them up again, &c.] The riches which he hath gotten with so much greediness he shall with no little anguish and shame part with again, as men that have overladen their stomachs, or rather that have eaten some poison or other, are wont soon to vomit it up again, not only the poison itself, but all besides that is in their bellies: so shall it be with the wicked oppressor; either by the terrors of his own conscience, which shall make him even sick of what he hath so unjustly gotten, and restless till he rid himself of it, or by some other means, God shall forcibly bereave him, not only of his ill gotten goods, but of all his estate besides.

Vers. 16. He shall suck the poison of asps; the vipers tongue shall slay him. ] That is, it shall be with him as with a man that is poisoned with the most violent and incurable poison, the poison of asps or the tongue of the viper, to wit, in regard of his vomiting up the ill gotten goods he hath swallowed down, or in regard of the torment he shall endure, and that it shall at last bring him to a miserable end.

Vers. 17. He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. ] As if he had said, When the wicked man hath gotten a great estate by rapine and oppression, many flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, he is then ready to promise himself abundance of felicity and content, that he shall take in the enjoyment of these things, how he will feast himself, and how he will swim in all kind of pleasures and sweet delights; but all this shall prove but a dream, he shall not enjoy the least of this which he hath fancied to himself. Some, I know, understand this thus, that he shall not have the least share in that plenty of good blessings, which God promised to his people; as conceiving that Zophar herein alluded to that promise made to Abraham of the land of Canaan, as of a land flowing with milk and honey : yea some understand it of his never seeing those infinite joys, which God hath reserved in heaven for the portion of his people, according to that expression Psal. 36.8. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. But the first Exposition I take to be far the best.

Vers. 18. That which he labored for shall he restore, &c.] That is, That which he hath gotten with much ado, and a great deal of pains, in the ways of oppression and fraud, he shall be forced to restore, or shall part with it again, (see the Note verse. 10.) yet this may also comprehend what he hath gotten by his labor in an honest way, and so may be added purposely to imply, that in revenge of his rapine, he should be stripped not of his ill-gotten goods only, but also of that which he had gathered together by his lawful labors. As for the following clause, and shall not swallow it down, it is not contrary to what he had said before, verse. 15. He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again ; because the meaning here is only, that God should suddenly ease him of all that he had greedily gathered together; before he had well swallowed it down, he should be forced to vomit it up again; it should never be converted to his own personal benefit, or the benefit of his family. According to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein, that is, he shall be fully as poor, as before he was rich and great; or rather he shall, by way of God's forcing restitution from him, part with all that he hath even to a very farthing, and so as he hath beggar'd others, he shall be utterly beggar'd himself, and little joy he shall have of all that he hath scraped together.

Vers. 20. Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly. ] That is, he shall scarce at any time enjoy the least hearts-ease; to wit, either because of his insatiable thirst after riches, or his carking care to keep what he hath gotten, or rather because of the terrors of his conscience for his ill-gotten riches, or because of those continual vexations wherewith he shall be hourly pursued, for the daily loss of that which he had taken such pains to get.

Vers. 21. There shall none of his meat be left, &c.] Some read this, as it is in the margin, There shall be none left for his meat, &c. as if he had said, He shall have none of his posterity left to eat what he leaves behind him, and so there shall be none to look for his goods when he is gone. But it is better translated, as it is in our Bibles, There shall none of his meat be left, that is, he shall not have so much as a crust left to feed himself; therefore shall no man look for his goods, that is, his children or friends need not trouble themselves to gape after or strive for his goods when he is gone, because there shall be nothing left for them; Or, there shall no man seek to rob or spoil him, as formerly, because he shall have nothing left for himself.

Vers. 22. In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits, &c.] Two several ways this may be understood: to wit, 1. That in the fullness of his prosperity he shall be in as great straits as the poorest, either because of terrors of conscience, or because of his continual fears of loosing what he hath gotten, or because of the unquietness of his spirit, in regard of his greedy covetous desires, as not having yet what he would have. Or 2. That when he hath gotten such abundance, that, with the rich man in the Gospel, he begins now to say, Soul, thou hast goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry, then on a sudden the wrath of God shall fall upon him, and by means thereof he shall come into great straits and troubles: for thereto agrees also the following clause, every hand of the wicked shall be upon him ; that is, every ungodly, unconscionable man, even those haply that were before his friends or servants, shall oppress and spoil him; and so he shall be crushed as he before crushed others, and as his hand was almost against every man, so every man's hand shall be against him.

Vers. 23. When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, &c.] That is, when he thinks to sit down in quiet, and to satiate himself in the enjoying of what he hath gotten, before he can do it, God shall pour out his judgments upon him, the sad effects of his fierce fury and indignation; which is compared to a shower of rain in the following clause, and he shall rain it upon him, to wit, 1. because the judgments should come upon him from heaven; 2. because they should come upon him suddenly and with great violence, as showers of rain usually do in the midst of a fair day; 3. because they should seise upon him on every side in great abundance, as when a man is all over wet with a shower of rain; and 4. because they cannot be prevented or kept off, no more then the rain can be stopped that it shall not fall from the clouds. The expression is much like that, Psal. 11.6. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest. As for the last clause, wherein it is said these judgments of God should be poured upon him while he is eating, that is added as an aggravation of the misery of the wicked man, that these judgments should come upon him when he is or would be most free, and fearless, and pleasant; even as it is said of the Israelites, when they lusted for flesh, and God gave them quail, Psal. 78.30, 31. that while their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God came upon them. And it may well be that Zophar had respect therein also to the death of Job's children, by the falling of the house upon them, where they were eating together.

Vers. 24. He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. ] That is, God fighting against him as a man of war, he shall be so pursued with his judgments, that seeking to avoid one evil, he shall fall into another, or seeking to avoid a lesser evil, he shall fall into a greater; as when a man flees from the iron weapon, the sword or the spear, (against which a man well armed may more probably defend himself) and then an arrow from a bow of steel strikes him through, the stroke thereof being unresistable and deadly.

Vers. 25. It is drawn and cometh out of the body, &c.] This is meant, I conceive, of the sword of God's indignation, or of the arrow shot out of the bow of steel, mentioned in the foregoing verse; and the words may be understood two several ways: first thus, It is drawn, that is, it is drawn out of the sheath, or out of the quiver, and cometh out of the body, that is, being thrust or shot at the wicked man, it pierceth him through and through, and so cometh out of his body; and so the drift of these words must be to show, that when God begins to avenge himself upon the wicked man, he will be sure to strike home, he will soon make an end of him: or secondly thus, It is drawn and cometh out of the body, that is, after the wicked man is stricken through with it, being drawn it cometh forth out of his body: to which purpose also is the following clause, yea the glistering sword cometh out of his gall, that is, it pierceth through his very entrails; and the meaning is, that with terrible judgments (for that is intended in the glistering of the sword) God would irrecoverably destroy him. Neither can it well be questioned, but that in this expression Zophar did purposely aim at that complaint of Job's concerning God's dealing with him, chap. 16.13. He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground. As for the last words, terrors are upon him, thereby is meant, that when God shall thus begin to contend with him, partly by the affrightments of his own guilty conscience, and partly by the severity of God's proceeding against him, as apprehending that he means to slay him, or that he hath already given him his deaths wound, he shall be even overwhelmed with terrors and fears.

Vers. 26. All darkness shall be hid in his secret places. ] There may be several expositions given of these words, and all very probable: as 1. That by his secret places is meant the places where he hides and stores up his wealth; and so the meaning of these words should be this, that all sort of calamities should be stored up together with his treasures; as if he should have said, The wicked man shall never enjoy his wealth, because the wrath of God shall rest upon it. 2. That by his secret places is meant his heart or soul; and so the meaning of the words to be this, that all kind of dismal fears, and terrors, and despairing thoughts shall fill his heart and possess his soul, and 3. That by his secret places is meant whatever places he should go to, or means he should use to hide or secure himself from danger; and then the meaning of these words is this, All darkness shall be hid in his secret places, that is, where ever, or by what means soever the wicked man shall seek to hide or secure himself, the darkness of all kind of terrors and fears shall still go along with him, yea the darkness of all kind of grievous calamities shall even there seise upon him. But this last I take to be far the best Exposition.

A fire not blown shall consume him. ] That is, say some Expositors, a soft gentle fire, to wit, judgments that shall consume him secretly, by degrees, and as it were without any noise. But rather by a fire not blown is meant a fire not of man's kindling, and that needs not man's blowing, because it will be sure to burn fiercely enough without that: Or, sudden unexpected judgments, which come upon men in some strange manner, no man knows how; they are consumed thereby, but no account can be given by whom or by what the fire was kindled. Some understand it of the eternal unquenchable fire of hell, which indeed would agree well with the words; for there needs no bellows to kindle that fire, the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone shall kindle it, Isa. 30.33. But it appears not anywhere else, that Job's friends do ever speak of any other but temporal judgments. Again, others understand it metaphorically, of a burning fire of terrors kindled in the conscience; and others likewise of fire sent immediately from God, such as was that wherewith Sodom and Gomorrhah was consumed, and that which burnt up Job's sheep and servants, chap. 1.16. as we see that Job's friends are often wont closely to hint unto him the judgments, that had fallen upon him and his. But I conceive it may be understood more generally, either of the wrath of God itself, which is the kindler of all penal fires, or of any grievous judgments wherewith God in his wrath doth usually consume wicked men; for any sore calamities sent from God are oft in the Scripture compared to fire, as in Ezek. 20.47. Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree; the flaming flame shall not be quenched, &c. but especially, as is before said, of strange, sudden, and unexpected judgments.

Vers. 27. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity, &c.] That is, judgments coming from heaven upon him shall proclaim him to be a wicked man. And it may be Zophar did hereby intimate the strange fire and wind whereby Job's cattle and children had been consumed. And the earth shall rise up against him, to wit, as an enemy, or as a witness, when all earthly things shall be ready to execute God's vengeance upon him. Yea and because Job chap. 16.18, 19. had appealed to heaven and earth for the justifying of himself, O earth cover not thou my blood, and my witness is in heaven ; therefore in reference thereto it may well be conceived, that Zophar here tells him that both heaven and earth should testify against him, and should condemn him.

Vers. 28. The increase of his house shall depart, &c.] That is, both his posterity and estate shall be transmitted into other hands, or they shall suddenly perish and come to nothing, see 2 Kings 20.17: and his goods shall flow away ; of which the meaning may be, either that they should be suddenly gone, or that they should wast away by little and little, as some waters do insensibly ebb and sink by little and little.

Vers. 29. This is the portion of a wicked man from God, &c.] As Bildad before concluded his reply upon Job, chap. 18.21. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God ; so doth Zophar also here conclude his, This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God : as it were purposely to imply, that however angry Job had seemed to be that Bildad should so peremptorily conclude, that such misery was always the portion of wicked men, yet he both did and would maintain the truth of that which Bildad had said. This is the portion of a wicked man from God, &c. that is, this is the mess which God serves in to their table, these are the miseries which befall wicked men, and that not by chance, but by the just and unresistable appointment of God; men may bless them, but God will surely curse them: they may have great inheritances, and oppressing others may divide the spoil amongst themselves; but this is that which God hath allotted them for their portion, and which they shall be at last as sure of, as of their just inheritance.

CHAP. XXI.

Vers. 2. HEar diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations. ] As if he should have said, You pretend that you came to comfort me; but indeed you have added to my affliction. Well, yet if ye would but now at length give me the hearing with patience and meekness, and observe diligently what I shall say, not interrupting and slighting me as you have done, this should be to me instead of your intended consolations, or, I would take it as an evidence that you did indeed seriously desire to comfort me. And this he doubtless spake, because Zophar had immediately before interrupted him, and would not suffer him to go on to speak out his mind: and withal to imply how confident he was of his cause.

Vers. 3. Suffer me that I may speak, &c.] That is, Let it not be burdensome to you to hear me a while; yea though that which I shall say should prove irksome and troublesome to you, yet bear with me, and do but patiently suffer me to speak my mind. And this he might the rather press, because his friends had often taxed him for speaking too much, as we may see chap. 11.1. and 15.2. And after that I have spoken, mock on ; which last words are added, not as giving way that they should mock him in his misery, or deride those words of truth which he should speak; but to imply that he verily hoped, that if they would hear him speak, he might convince them so that they would soon give over mocking (for this his confidence in what he had to say was a good inducement to move his friends to hear him;) or at least, if that could not be, that he was then resolved to bear what he could not help, and as near as he could that he would not be troubled with their scoffs.

Vers. 4. As for me, is my complaint to man ? &c.] As if he should have said, No, I do not bemoan myself to man, but to God; though I speak to you, yet it is out of a desire to approve myself to God, that God may hear, and that God may help. And if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled ? that is, if my complaint were to man, I should then indeed have cause enough to be troubled: God is the searcher of the heart, and knows my innocence; men know it not, and therefore pass uncharitable censures upon me: In God there is much mercy and pity; man is merciless and cruel: God can help me and ease me of my troubles; man neither can help, nor will comfort me. Some, I know, understand this otherwise, to wit, as if he proved his hope in God by his enduring those insupportable miseries that lay upon him, If it were not so, why should not my spirit be troubled ? as if he should have said, Had I not hope in God, how could I have sustained myself all this time? Many deaths would have been easier to me then that which I have suffered; and therefore, that I have not been quite overwhelmed before this time, but do still cleave to God, and trust in him, it is surely an argument that I have a greater support to bear up my spirit, then anything in man could afford: and therefore, since you see that I plead my cause as before God, I beseech you hearken to me. But the first Exposition agrees best with the words.

Vers. 5. Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth. ] This may be understood, as if he had said, Mark me, and you will be astonished, and will lay your hand upon your mouth; or else plainly, as is expressed in the words, by way of counsel, Mark me, and be astonished, &c. Some refer those words Mark me to the miseries he suffered; others to the blamelesnesse of his conversation in former times; others to that which he meant immediately to say concerning the prosperity of many desperate ungodly men: But I conceive it is best to comprehend them all in those words, Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth ; that is, whereas you slight what I suffer, and make nothing of it, do but weigh well the insupportable grievousness of my miseries, and withal how innocently and uprightly I have formerly lived, and do but then also compare herewith that which I shall now say concerning the prosperity of many atheistical ungodly wretches, and then even with astonishment admire the wonderful proceedings of God in his Providence, to wit, that such vile wretches should live in such height of prosperity, and that one that hath lived as I have done should be so sorely plagued as I have been; and be silent, do not run on in judging so rashly as you have done, that all who are thus afflicted must needs be wicked men: for that by laying of the hand upon the mouth is meant a resolution of being silent, and a restraining of ourselves from speaking what we are otherwise inclinable to say, is evident in other places, where the same phrase is used, as chap. 29.9. The Princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth ; and Pro. 30.32. If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.

Vers. 6. Even when I remember, I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh. ] Some Expositors refer this likewise only to the remembrance of his grievous sufferings, and so conceive that the drift of Job herein was to imply, that if the remembrance thereof did so afflict him, it were a sign of too much inhumanity in them, if they could see their friend in so sad a condition, and not be moved with it. But I rather think that it must be referred to all for which he said in the former verse that they might be astonished; Even when I remember I am afraid, &c. that is, when I remember what I shall now tell you, to wit, how it fares many times with those that are most desperately wicked, and withal how I have endeavored to approve myself to God in all my ways, and what notwithstanding I have now suffered, I am afraid, and my very flesh doth tremble to think of it, nor know I what to say of these hidden ways of God's proceedings.

Vers. 7. Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea are mighty in power? ] Job propounds this by way of Question, Wherefore do the wicked live ? &c. either to imply how strange it seemed to him that God should so prosper wicked men, and that he could not conceive wherefore it should be; according to that of the Prophet, Ier. 12.1. Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? or else as by way of replying upon that, which his friends had so often objected concerning the judgments of God upon wicked men; If God doth so certainly punish all wicked men here in this world, and them only, that I must be judged a wicked man, because the hand of God is so heavy upon me; if when the wicked are in a prosperous condition, it never lasts long, (as Zophar had immediately before said, chap. 20.5. that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment, and verse. 8. that he shall fly away as a dream, &c.) why then, saith Job, wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea are mighty in power ? that is, wherefore is it that many times they live in health and pleasure even to old age, and are usually men of mighty estates, and of greatest dignity and authority in the places where they live?

Vers. 8. Their seed is established in their sight with them, &c.] This is in answer to that which Zophar had said to the contrary, chap. 20.10. His children shall seek to please the poor ; and Eliphaz, chap. 15.33. He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.

Vers. 11. They send forth their little ones like a flock, &c.] This may imply their being trained up under guardians and guides, & their unity amongst themselves: and their children dance, to wit, as young cattle, calves, and lambs, and kids are wont in a kind of wantonness to skip and leap; whence are those expressions, Psal. 29.6. He maketh them also to skip like a calf, and Psal. 114.4. The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.

Vers. 13. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. ] That is, they go away in a trice, they do not lie long in a wearisome languishing condition before they die, nor undergo any of those sore pains and conflicts in their death which most men suffer; and so as they lived, so they die, without any great trouble. It is the same, as many think, with that which the Psalmist saith, Psal. 73.4. there are no bands in their death.

Vers. 14. Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us, &c.] The meaning of this is, that because of their prosperity they despise God; they say unto God, Depart from us, &c. If they say not so much with their mouths, yet the horrible profaneness of their lives discovers that they think so in their hearts, or is in effect all one as if they thought so, since those that should harbor such thoughts in their hearts could not live more atheistically then they do: which agrees with that of the Apostle, Tit. 1.16. They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. And the drift of this is to show, that even the worst of wicked men do often live in such exceeding great prosperity, as is before described.

Vers. 16. Lo, their good is not in their hand, the counsel of the wicked is far from me. ] The judgment of Expositors is very different concerning the drift of these words. Some take the first clause as spoken ironically, Lo, their good is not in their hand ; as if he should have said, By this which I have said concerning the usual prosperity of ungodly men, you see how unsound that is which you have maintained, to wit, that their good is not in their hand, but that God doth always strip them of the goods they have unjustly gotten. And then for the second clause, that is added, they say, by way of preventing an objection, to wit, that if wicked men fared so well, then it would be his best course to walk in their ways: that his friends might not object this, he adds, the counsel of the wicked is far from me ; as if he should have said, I would be loath to have their prosperity upon those terms, I have always abhorred and do still abhor the thoughts and courses of such profane men, and far be it ever from me to desire a share in their pomp by treading in their steps. Again, others understand it thus, Lo, their good is not in their hand, that is, it was not their own hand, their own wisdom or industry that got them those goods they enjoy, or raised them to such a prosperous estate, but it was the hand of God that conferred these things upon them: and therefore we see that God doth many times exalt and prosper the worst of men: and then for the next clause, they say that is added, to show how foolish and wicked a thing therefore it is in such men as he had spoken of, to carry themselves so scornfully and insolently towards God; the counsel of the wicked is far from me, that is, I am therefore far from thinking as wicked men do, that ascribe all they have to themselves, according to that of the Assyrian, Isa. 10.13, 14. By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent, &c, & thereupon carry themselves so impiously towards God, as if they were not beholding to him for anything they had, nor did expect or look for any favor from him. But then lastly there is another Exposition, that is far more generally approved, to wit, that this is added, to discover the folly of wicked men in setting themselves in such defiance against God, as he had in the foregoing words described, in whose power it is to cast them down from their prosperous estate, even whensoever he pleaseth; Lo, their good is not in their hand, that is, though they carry themselves thus presumptuously, it is not in their power to keep what they have gotten, God can easily strip them of all, and cast them down from their lofty condition: and thereupon he infers the next clause, the counsel of the wicked is far from me, so far am I from envying their prosperity, that I would by no means be in their condition; I never did nor ever shall approve of their ways. And thus these words are as it were a transition to that which follows, concerning God's punishing of wicked men.

Vers. 17. How oft is the candle of the wicked put out? and how oft cometh their destruction upon them? ] Job seems clearly in these words to allude to that which Bildad had said, chap. 18.5, 6, The light of the wicked shall be put out, and the light of his fire shall not shine, &c. and again verse. 12. Destruction shall be ready at his side : but yet what his drift in these words was is not so clear. For some conceive this question must be resolved negatively, how oft is the candle of the wicked put out ? &c. that is, surely it is not often thus; though sometimes indeed it is thus, yet so far is it from being always thus, that truly it is not often thus; the candle of the wicked is not often put out, nor cometh their destruction often upon them, to wit, from heaven. And thus, they say, Job confutes what his friends had maintained, concerning the certain destruction of wicked men here in this world, as before by affirming that they lived usually in a most prosperous estate, so here also by denying that they were usually cut off and destroyed, as his friends had again and again affirmed. Again, some resolve it affirmatively, how oft is the candle of the wicked put out ? &c. that is, very often doth God put out the candle of the wicked. Having said in the foregoing verse, that it is not in their power to keep themselves in that prosperous condition which a while they have enjoyed, he makes that good now, by showing that God doth often eclipse their glory, and destroy them miserably: and so he yields, as far as truth would permit, to what his friends had affirmed, to wit, that God did often destroy wicked men; though withal he denies that it was continually and ordinarily so. So that Job doth not here contradict what he had said immediately before, concerning the prosperous estate of wicked men, nor doth he grant that which his friends had maintained: for by showing that wicked men do sometimes prosper exceedingly, and are at other times grievously punished, he doth sufficiently disprove what they had said, that wicked men are always punished here in this world, and clears it fully, that we cannot judge whether men be wicked or no by their outward condition. And indeed, according to our Translation, I see not how this clause can be otherwise understood, because in the following words he proceeds farther to set forth, how God pours forth his wrath upon wicked men.

God distributeth sorrows in his anger. ] That is, he gives unto every wicked man his portion of plagues and sorrows, out of those treasures of wrath, which he hath in store for the ungodly; and so in this Job might have respect to that wherewith Zophar had concluded his last reply, chap. 20.29. This is the portion of a wicked man from God, &c. But withal this word ( distributeth ) may likewise imply, 1. that God gives them their portion herein proportionably, according to their several deserts; 2. that often he punisheth them diversely, some by one judgment, and some by another; and 3. that he also punisheth the same persons diversely and at divers times, sometimes one way and sometimes another, partly with temporal punishments here in this world, and partly with the torments of hell in the world to come.

Vers. 18. They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff &c.] That is, they shall be destroyed and come to nothing, be they never so great, and strong, and mighty, easily, suddenly, unresistably and irrecoverably; yea and all their great wealth shall be scattered as it were into a thousand hands. But withal we may note, that by comparing the wicked to stubble and chaff, Job implies likewise how sapless and fruitless they are, as being void of all goodness; how light and unstable in all their ways, quickly carried away with any wind of doctrine, and with every blast of Satan's or the worlds temptations; and lastly, how base and worthless, and how little God esteems of them.

Vers. 19. God layeth up his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know it. ] This last clause, he rewardeth him, and he shall know it, may be understood, as the former, of the Lord's punishing the wicked man in his children, to wit, that by punishing them he rewardeth the wicked man according to his wickedness: and he shall know it, to wit, because it shall be done in his life-time; for his greater vexation he shall before he dies see the judgments of God fall upon his children, and his conscience shall tell him that it is for his wickedness that they are punished. Or else it may be meant of the punishments wherewith he shall be punished in his own person, thereby farther to aggravate the misery appointed pointed for the wicked man's portion, he rewardeth him, that is, he doth not only recompense his sin upon his children, as was expressed in the first clause, but also upon himself in his own person; and he shall know it, that is, he shall know that the evil which befalls him is the just vengeance of God upon him.

Vers. 20. His eyes shall see his destruction, &c.] This may be also meant, either of his own personal ruin, or of the joint-ruin both of him and his, even all that he hath. As for the following clause, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty, the meaning of that is, that God should pour out his wrath with many sore punishments in a full measure upon him; and the metaphorical expression he useth seems to imply, that the pains and terrors thereof should enter into his very bowels, and that he should become as a man that is drunk and mad with the sore calamities that God should bring upon him: yea purposely, I conceive, God is here expressed by this name ( Almighty ) to imply how grievous and insupportable those plagues must needs be, that were inflicted by the wrath of an Almighty God.

Vers. 21. For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst? ] This is added, either 1. as an aggravation of the wicked man's misery, when he himself is cut off by the revenging hand of God, especially if it be done in the flower of his age, to wit, that all the pleasure he took in thinking how great and honorable his house and family would be when he is gone, doth then come to nothing; or 2. as a reason why the wicked man shall surely be punished, not only in his children after his death, but also in his own person, as was said in the foregoing verse, to wit, because being dead himself, the misery of his children cannot then trouble him; or else 3. as a reason why God doth destroy the wicked man's children whilst himself yet lives, as was said before verse. 19. to wit, because being once dead, he neither takes any delight in the welfare of his posterity, nor consequently is at all troubled with any miseries that they then suffer; yea because wicked men do not usually take any thought, what shall become of others when they are dead, so it may go well with them in their own days, let their posterity after them shift for themselves.

Vers. 22. Shall any teach God knowledge? &c.] They carry themselves as if they meant to teach God wisdom and knowledge, that murmur against any of his proceedings, as when he prospers the wicked or afflicts the righteous, or that prescribe God the way of his judgments, to wit, whom, and when, and how he shall punish; which they do that limit God, by maintaining that he cannot punish the righteous or afflict the godly. Of this therefore it is that Job here complains, alleging it as a high degree of impudence, that man, who walks so much in the dark, and hath all the knowledge he hath from God, and whose wisdom at the best is mere folly in comparison of God's unsearchable wisdom, should yet dare to teach God what he should do: and so he covertly taxeth his friends of this arrogance, in that they did as it were set a law to God, by condemning him for a wicked man because of his grievous calamities, as concluding that God could not in justice either suffer the wicked to go unpunished, or afflict the righteous. Now the reason that he gives, why it is such arrogance for any man to carry himself so as if he would teach God knowledge, is in the last words, because God judgeth those that are high, shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high ; that is, seeing he is, as Solomon also faith, Eccles. 5.8. higher then the highest, the supreme judge of the whole world, who rules and governs those that are highest amongst men, and that exalt themselves most in their eminency, princes, and kings, and emperors, yea the very angels themselves in heaven. And indeed three things are implied herein, from whence it may be strongly inferred, that we ought to adore and admire the works of God we understand not, and not to judge them according to the rule of our reason; to wit, 1. that it must needs be a high degree of presumption, to question his wisdom who is so infinitely far above all the creatures; 2. that it cannot be reasonably thought that he should fail in the government of men, who rules and governs those glorious and holy spirits the angels in heaven; and 3. that being the supreme Governor of the world, the King of kings and Lord of lords, yea the Lord of the angels, he must needs be infinite in wisdom, yea the absolute rule of all wisdom and justice, and therefore unquestionable.

Vers. 23. One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet, &c.] To prove the unsearchableness of God's proceedings, and that it is not possible to judge what men are by that which God doth to them here in this world, Job here instanceth how differently God deals with two several men both in their life and death, and yet how after death they are both alike laid in the grave, and there seems to be there no difference at all. Of the first he saith here, One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet ; that is, he lives in a full estate, and in much quiet both of body and spirit, and so he dies also in abundance of all things, when he seemed to be as healthful and strong as ever, and had as much cause still to desire to live as ever: and then again, verse. 24. His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow ; that is, there is not the least decay in his body, only God is pleased suddenly to take him away by death; or, his milk-pails are full of milk (for so this clause may be read, as we see in the margin of our Bibles) and his bones are moistened with marrow, that is, he hath a full estate and a healthful body (for if we read it thus, by his milk-pails full of milk must be meant his plenty of all outward riches and pleasures.) Of the other man he saith, verse. 25. And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure ; that is, he lives and dies in great misery, under very bitter and woeful pressures both of mind and body, having scarce ever enjoyed one good hour in his life, or ever eaten one bit of meat with any pleasure or comfort. And then concerning both these jointly together he concludes, verse. 26. they shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them ; that is, however differently God dealt with them before, yet after death they are both alike laid in the grave; and therein there seems to be no difference, even the rich man that lived so prosperously, and that was formerly clad so richly and gorgeously, shall then have no other covering, but that of dust and worms, as hath also the poor man. This, I take it, is the meaning of these words. But now of what sort of men this instance is to be understood, and to what purpose it is alleged, is somewhat more questionable. Some say that Job meant, that one man being a wicked man lives and dies in a prosperous condition, an • another being a godly man lives and dies in extreme misery; and will have his drift in this instance, to show how unsearchable God's proceedings are, in that God should deal so well with the wicked, and so ill with the righteous. Others hold that the words must be understood of two wicked men; and that the aim therefore of this instance is to show, that there can be no judging whether men be wicked or no by that which outwardly befalls them, because God deals so differently with wicked men, sometimes blessing them, and sometimes punishing them. But I rather think, with others, that it is meant of any two men, equally good or bad; and that hereby he showeth God's absolute Sovereignty is in disposing of men as he pleaseth, and how unsearchable his proceedings are, in that two men, one whereof deserves no more good nor ill then the other, should be so differently dealt with both in life and death, and yet after death both should be alike laid in the grave.

Vers. 27. Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which you wrongfully imagine against me. ] That is, I know the injurious thoughts and imaginations which you harbor in your hearts concerning me, to wit, that in all that you have said concerning the destruction of wicked men, you have still aimed at me & my children, though you have not named us; and that you peremptorily conclude within yourselves, that I am a wicked man, because the hand of God is so heavy upon me.

Vers. 28. For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? &c.] Some understand this of Job's eldest son, whose house it was that was blown down upon him, his brethren and sisters, chap. 1.18, 19. and that Job chargeth his friends, that in relation hereto they did in their thoughts thus insult over him, where is the house of the prince ? that is, what is now become of the house of that young gallant, your son and heir? Did not that exemplary judgment plainly discover the wrath of God against you and yours? But I rather think it is meant of Job himself: where is the house of the prince ? that is, what is now become of the house of Job, that mighty man of estate, that lived formerly like a prince? As if they should have said, You see that after all the pomp wherein he hath lived, God hath at last utterly overthrown his house and family, and so hath justly given him the reward of his wickedness. And then for the following clause, and where are the dwelling-places of the wicked ? either it is meant of Job's children, as if he had said, Hath not God destroyed both him, and his wicked brood too, his children? or else of all wicked men in general, and is added to the former clause, to imply that this which had befallen Job, was indeed the constant portion of all wicked men.

Vers. 29. Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens? ] Some think that from the foregoing verse unto the end of the 33. verse, Job goes still on in setting out the injurious thoughts which his friends had concerning him; and accordingly therefore they understand these words as the thoughts of Jobs friends, arguing as it were with others concerning him, Have ye not asked them that go by the way ? &c. that is, It is certainly notorious to everyone that goes by the way, and if such were inquired of, they would readily answer, that the things which have befallen Job are the just vengeance of God upon him for his wickedness: nor can it be denied, these things being the clear marks and tokens of God's wrath. But I rather take these words, with that which follows, to be Jobs answer to those injurious thoughts concerning him, wherewith he had charged his friends in the foregoing verse; Have ye not asked them that go by the way? &c. By them that go by the way may be meant travellers, and then the drift of the words must be all one in effect as if he had said, You, my friends, insult over me, as a wicked hypocrite, because of the ruin of my house and family; but if you would ask those that by travelling through many places and countries have the more experience and knowledge, they would readily tell you, to wit, that which I have hitherto maintained, that the righteous are often afflicted, and the wicked are often in a prosperous estate, or (as follows in the next verse) that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction, &c. Or, by them that go by the way, may be meant the ordinary common sort of people, (as before Judge. 5.10. of which see the Note there) as if he had said, Do but ask any of the common sort of people that go up and down by the way, any that you shall first meet with, not any one of them but will tell you this which I now maintain, and will be able to make it good out of their own observation: to which purpose is that which follows, and do ye not know their tokens ? for by their tokens is meant the proofs and examples which they could allege to prove the truth of this, to wit, that the righteous do often suffer many grievous pressures, and that the wicked live oft in great pomp and prosperity: and that expression it seems Job purposely useth, as alluding to the marks and tokens which men are wont to observe as they travel, that they may be sure to go in the right way, thereby to imply that such men could as readily allege convincing evidences hereof, as they could tell the marks of ways that lead to such or such a place; do ye not know their tokens ? that is, can ye deny, or, can ye be ignorant of those things which every man can allege, to prove that which I say concerning the prosperity of wicked men? &c. I know some understand these words otherwise, and do ye not know their tokens? that is, do ye not understand that their present prosperity, riches and honors, are sure tokens that there is wrath that abides them hereafter? But I prefer the former Exposition.

Vers. 30. That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction, &c.] This is that which Job saith they might learn of them that go by the way, to wit, that wicked men are many times not punished, but even when judgments fall upon others they escape, as being reserved to the day of destruction, that shall yet at last come upon them.

Vers. 31. Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done? ] Some Expositors understand these words as spoken of God, Who shall declare the way of God to his face? &c. Because concerning that which was said in the foregoing verse, that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction, &c. some might argue in their minds, why this should be so, as judging it a strange thing in the way of God's proceedings, that God should so long spare wicked men, and let them flourish and prosper, when he meant to destroy them at last, and why he should not rather cut them off immediately without any such delays; therefore by way of preventing these secret cavils that might arise in men's minds, these words are added, who shall declare his way to his face ? that is, when God deals thus with wicked men, forbearing them for a while, who shall challenge God for this, and boldly argue the matter with him, demanding a reason of him why he doth so? who shall repay him what he hath done ? that is, who shall retort that upon God which he hath done? or, who shall reply upon him for this? where is the man that dares be so bold as to do this? And thus they would make these words to be parallel with those other passages, chap. 9.12. Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who shall say to him, what doest thou? and chap. 23.13. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? what his soul desireth, even that he doth : and verse. 22 of this chapter, Shall any teach God knowledge, seeing he judgeth those that are high? Thus, I say, some understand these words of God. But questionless they are rather spoken of the wicked man; who shall declare his way to his face? As if he should have said, So far a while doth the wicked man seem to be from bearing the just reward of his wickedness, that no man dares declare his way to his face, that is, no man dares to his face tell him of his faults, or no man dares show him whether his wicked courses will at length bring him; and much less dares any man appear as a witness to accuse him, or as a judge to condemn him, and so to repay him what he hath done, that is, punish him for his wickedness.

Vers. 32. Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and remain in the tomb. ] I find the opinion of Expositors very different concerning the dependence of these words upon that which went before. They that take these words to be a part of those injurious thoughts, which Job tells his friends they harboured in their hearts concerning him (as is noted before verse. 29.) understand them as inferred upon the foregoing verse, thus, Though no man dares meddle with him, yet God shall bring down his pride by his judgments, and so shall lay him in the grave; and then they say these words, and remain in the tomb, are added, to imply that then he is quite cut off from ever returning to that pomp & plenty wherein he had formerly lived in the world. But now they that take these words to be spoken by Job as in his own person, understand them otherwise, even as a farther declaration of the wicked man's prosperous condition, to wit, that though he exalts himself so in his pride, that no man dares tell him of anything he doth amiss, or though he be above the reach of man to control or punish him, (as was said in the foregoing verse;) yet doth not God take him in hand, but he shall be brought to the grave, that is, dying not a violent, but a natural death, he shall be carried to his grave with great magnificence, pomp and state, and so shall have an honorable and solemn burial, and shall remain in the tomb, to wit, free from all fear of any the miseries which here in this world others undergo. This last clause, and shall remain in the tomb, is translated by some according to the strict letter of the original Hebrew, which is put into the margin of our Bibles, and shall watch in the heap. And if we should so read it, we must know that this expression might be used, in reference either to the dead bodies of great men, which being set upright in vaults, and being so embalmed and spiced that they were kept from putrifaction, as it was the custom in those times, seemed as it were to be living men, and looked as if they stood to keep continual watch in that place; or else to those statues and Representations of the dead, which were placed upon their tombs, or set up in presses near to their tombs, (as we see the use is also in our times) which being as far as art could reach made to the life, had also the appearance of watchmen, that were set to watch in those heaps.

Vers. 33. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, &c.] They that take these words still to be a part of the injurious thoughts of Job's friends against him, do accordingly understand them thus, That the wrath of God should lie so heavy upon him, that death should be most welcome to him, or that he should then be glad to lie in a slimy pit, to wit, the grave, that was formerly scarce content with a princely palace: and the reason why he expresseth the grave by these words, the clods of the valley, is because their burying-places in those times were usually in the lowest dales and valleys. But I rather conceive that these words are still a continuation of Jobs reply to the injurious thoughts of his friends; and then this phrase, the clods of the valley are sweet to him, do only imply, either his continuance forever there, (for it is an argument that we take much sweet delight and content in a place, when we stay long in it) or else that there he sleeps quietly and sweetly, as it were, free from all cares and fears, and from all danger of worldly troubles and sorrows. And as for the following words, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him, they are added to imply, that his death cannot be reckoned as an effect of God's wrath upon him, since herein he goes the way of all flesh; all men living, the righteous as well as the wicked, either have gone, or shall go this way. And this expression, And every man shall draw after him, is grounded upon this truth, that every man living doth every moment, as his life wasteth away, draw nearer and nearer to the grave. We use to say of men lying at the point of death, that they are drawing on ; but it is true also of all that live, that they are still drawing on to their end, and hasting to the grave, there to overtake that innumerable multitude that is gone before them.

Vers. 34. How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood? ] That is, what a vain thing is it in you, to think to comfort me, by telling me that if I will repent me of my wickedness, God will certainly restore me to a prosperous condition, since, as you see, that which you have maintained concerning the misery of wicked men, and the flourishing estate of the righteous, is apparently false, and all your arguing is grounded upon errors and mistakes, both concerning God and concerning me. The same errors and falsehoods which Jobs friends had maintained in their first dispute with him, the same they had again maintained in the second; though they multiplied answers, yet they mended them not: and therefore it is that he said, that in their answers there remained falsehood.

CHAP. XXII.

Vers. 1. THen Eliphaz the Temanite answered. ] Thus taking his turn to speak, this was his third, and indeed his last Reply upon Job.

Vers. 2. Can a man be profitable to God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? ] Some understand this of profiting God by way of teaching him. Because Job had said (and his friends took it as spoken in a way of complaining) that wicked men did often live pleasantly, and die peaceably, and were buried gloriously, whereas the righteous were usually in a very distressed condition; therefore to this Eliphaz (say they) replies, Can a man be profitable to God ? &c. that is, Can you help God, by teaching him how he should better order things in the government of the world? A man by his wisdom may direct himself in his affairs; but can he profit God by directing him? No surely. But Job himself had immediately before condemned this boldness, chap. 21.22. Shall any (saith he there) teach God knowledge? and besides, it seems clear, I conceive, by the following words, that it is meant of man's profiting God by his righteousness; to wit, that though a man be never so righteous, his righteousness can bring no advantage to God. And this he alledgeth in the beginning of his reply, either to intimate that Job did not well, to carry himself so as if God were obliged to him for his righteousness, as if he thought there was reason that if he had offended God in some particulars, yet God should pass by that, and not punish him for it, and that because in other things he had deserved better at God's hands, then that he should so afflict him as he did; or else to imply, that if it should be granted that he were righteous, yet it was a vain thing to boast of his righteousness before God, since God could no way reap any benefit thereby: yea in the last clause, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself, Eliphaz seems to upbraid Job, that his righteousness was neither profitable to God, nor to himself neither, because it secured him not from the judgments of God; meaning hereby, that he was doubtless an hypocrite, and not righteous indeed.

Vers. 3. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous? &c.] As if he had said, It is no pleasure to him that thou art righteous, to wit, in regard of himself, or of adding anything to his happiness. As for the following clause, or is it gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect ? some by making his ways perfect understand, his pretending or pleading that his ways were perfect, and so make the meaning to be, that this was so far from being an advantage to God, that it was indeed a great dishonor to him, because it did plainly charge God with injustice, for laying his hand so severely upon a righteous innocent man: but I conceive that thereby is only meant his walking in an upright and perfect way, and so the second clause to be fully the same in effect with the first.

Vers. 4. Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment? ] That is, God doth not reprove thee, to prevent thee that thou shouldest not first reprove him; Or, God doth not so severely contend with thee and punish thee, because he is afraid of thee, as tyrants are wont to crush those whom they fear, as we see in Pharaoh, and Herod, and many others: as if he had said, As thy goodness cannot profit God, so neither can thy wickedness hurt him; and therefore it is in a way of justice to punish thee for thy wickedness, that God proceeds thus against thee, and not for fear of thee, to wit, least if he should let thee alone, thou shouldest become either so over-good that he could not reward thee or so over-great that he could not punish thee. And it is like that Eliphaz doth the rather use this expression, because Job had formerly said, that by the afflictions he had brought upon him, God did as it were set a watch over him, chap. 7.11.

Vers. 6. For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for naught, &c.] Though the words in this and the following verses seem expressly to charge Job with the particular gross enormities therein mentioned, yet doubtless the meaning of Eliphaz was only to conclude, that in some such way as these here mentioned, he had provoked God, or else he would never have laid such unusual calamities upon him. It is therefore as if he had said, Bethink thyself, Job; for of these wickednesses that I shall now mention, or of some such like, thou art certainly guilty: thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for naught. And here by taking a pledge from ones brother, may be meant the taking a pledge from a poor neighbor, yea it may be from ones nearest allies: yea by saying thou hast taken a pledge, he might imply that he had not only received such a pledge, as his brother did of his own accord tender to him, but had also gone into his house, and had taken there what he pleased, it may be by force; which is an over-rigorous proceeding with one that is in straits, even by the light of Nature, and was therefore forbidden by the law of Moses, Deut. 24.10, 11. for which see the Note there. And then by taking a pledge for naught, is meant the taking of a pledge without any just cause: which may be done, either when men take a pledge notwithstanding they are otherwise sufficiently secured for that they lend; or 2. when they will not restore the pledge, more worth then the debt, though the debt be paid, to wit, because they charge them that pawned the pledge with more then indeed they owe them, or allege that the pledge is forfeited, the money not being brought in time, or some such like pretence, which the prophet calls withholding the pledge, Ezek. 18.16; or 3. when men take a pledge from such poor wretches whom in charity they ought freely to relieve. And to the same purpose is the following clause, and stripped the naked of their clothing: which they may be said to do, that do not give raiment to those that want it, but especially they that 1. make men naked by taking their cloths from them, according to that expression, Hos. 2.3. lest I strip thee naked ; or 2. that are so greedy of a pledge, or so griping in any other way of oppression, that they take away the garments of those that have scarce a coat to put upon their backs; for such in the Scripture are termed naked, 1 Cor. 4.11. even to this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and Jam. 2.15. If a brother or sister be naked, &c. And this was also forbidden in Moses's law; see the Note, Exod. 22.26. yea under this one particular, of stripping the naked of their clothing, the taking away of all other necessaries from the poor may be comprehended; for by clothing in the Scripture is sometimes meant all necessaries useful for the poor, as we see Isai. 3.6. Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler.

Vers. 7. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. ] That is, thou hast not relieved the poor in their wants: yet herein lies the chief emphasis of this charge, that he had not given them so much as a draught of water, or a bit or crust of bread.

Vers. 8. But as for the mighty man, he had the earth, and the honorable man he dwelt in it. ] The meaning is, either that Job gave to the mighty and honorable the land which he had unjustly taken from the poor; though he despised the poor, yet great and mighty men might have anything of him; or that when the poor and the mighty man came before him in judgment, merely in favor to the mighty and honorable man, he passed sentence for him, and so he unjustly carried away the poor man's estate. Yet some understand these words as spoken of Job in a third person, as in a way of scorn, But as for the mighty man he had the earth ; as if he should have said, Great Job by his might and power had all under his command, and got all the country about him into his possession, and yet notwithstanding he could spare nothing to the poor, but did rather make use of his power to oppress them.

Vers. 9. Thou hast sent widows away empty, &c.] This also may comprehend many several ways of hard dealing with widows: as 1. that he unjustly seised upon their estates, and so turned them away empty; or 2. that when they came to him for aid against their oppressors, he did not right, but sent them away with hearts void of comfort, and disappointed of their hope; or 3. that when poverty made them seek relief from him, he turned them off with neglect and hard language, and would give them no succor. And to the same purpose is the following clause, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken : for thereby is meant his oppression of the fatherless, to wit, by bereaving them of the means they had for a livelihood, or by crushing those that were likely to defend and support them, or any other way; or at least his suffering them to be oppressed by others.

Vers. 10. Therefore snares are round about thee, &c.] Thus Eliphaz applies that to Job, which Bildad had said concerning wicked men in general, chap. 18.8, 9, 10, 11: concerning which see the Notes there.

Vers. 11. Or darkness, that thou canst not see, &c.] Some understand this thus, that besides his outward plagues, God had stricken him for his sins with such blindness and confusion of mind, that he understood not either why these judgments were come upon him, or what to do that he might be freed from them: and accordingly they also understand the following clause, and abundance of waters cover thee, to wit, that he was in these calamities as a man under water, so amazed and stupefied, that he knew not which way to turn himself. But it may as well be meant of the darkness of his outward calamities, so perplexing him, that he could not see which way to go to help himself; according to a like expression, chap. 19.8. concerning which see the Note there. And so also the last clause may be understood, to wit, that he was overwhelmed with a multitude of grievous miseries, that like waters came rushing in upon him with unresistable violence.

Vers. 12. Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars how high they are, &c.] Expositors do very much differ in their judgments, concerning the dependence of this and the following verses upon that which went before: for though all agree in this, that in the following verses, And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud ? &c. Eliphaz chargeth Job with nourishing impious and atheistical thoughts in his heart concerning God, to wit, that God doth not know, or doth not mind what is done by men here upon the earth, and that his ground of charging Job thus was, because he had maintained that wicked men do usually live and die in a prosperous condition, and godly men on the other side do as usually endure all kind of misery and sorrow; yet concerning these words that are prefixed in this 12 verse, the judgment of Expositors is, I say, very different. Some take these words to be a part of that mimeticall expression, wherein Eliphaz would set forth the impious thoughts of Job concerning God, Is not God in the height of heaven ? &c. as if he should have said, You, Job, think with yourself, Alas, God dwells above the stars in the highest heavens, and we see how exceeding high the stars are, and therefore doubtless God doth not govern the world here below. But it being so clear, that Eliphaz doth not begin to set forth the impious thoughts of Job concerning God, till the following verse, as is clear by the words, And thou sayest, How doth God know ? &c. I cannot see how this verse can be made a part thereof. First therefore, some conceive that these words are alleged by Eliphaz, as the ground of those impious thoughts concerning God, wherewith he chargeth Job in the following verse, Is not God in the height of heaven ? &c. as if he should have said, It is true that God dwells above in the highest heavens, and we see indeed that the stars are of a mighty height, and hereupon now thou sayest in thine heart, How doth God know ? &c. 2. Others hold, that in these words Eliphaz seeks to imply how incomprehensible God is, thereby covertly reproving Job for his rashness in judging of God's works, Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are ; as if he had said, If the stars be so high, that we cannot see how many, or of what bigness they are, how can we then comprehend the wisdom, power and justice of God, who is above the stars, even higher then the highest heavens? But instead of inferring this from God's being on high, you, Job, infer atheistical conclusions concerning God; thou sayest, How doth God know ? &c. 3. Others take these words to be prefixed as an expression of the omniscience of God, Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are: as if he had said, God is infinite, and from the throne of his majesty in the highest heavens he seeth and governeth all things that are here below: if the stars that are so high do from thence shine upon us, is it not easy thence to conclude that God from on high doth behold all things that are done upon the earth? and that hereupon, in the following verse, he upbraids Job with the impiety of his thoughts, And thou sayest, How doth God know ? &c. and 4. Others say, that Eliphaz, having in the foregoing verses charged Job with many grievous sins, adviseth him here to remember that there was a most high God, before whom he must expect to give an account for these things that he had done; and in expressing this he mentions the height of the heavens, above which God sits in the throne of his majesty and glory; because, though God may be seen in every creature that is here below, yet the height and glory of the heavens must needs above other things strike men with an apprehension of God's transcendent majesty. And then, in the following verses, they say that Eliphaz shows, how instead of being awed thus with the consideration of God's dwelling on high, he took occasion from thence to conclude, that surely God did neither see nor regard what was done upon the earth, And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?

Vers. 14. Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not, and he walketh in the circuit of heaven. ] This phrase of God's walking in the circuit of heaven is used to imply, either that God there delights himself in the glorious works which his own hands have there made, (as when a man walks about in his grounds and gardens, or as when a prince walks about in some goodly palace that he hath built) and so minds not those things that are done below; or that he is taken up with the care of governing and ordering the heavens, (as when a man walks about in his own possessions, or in some other place whereof he hath the charge, to search and see what is fit to be done) and so being busied in those things, he cannot mind these things that are beneath: for the mention that is made here of the circuit of heaven seems purposely to imply, that in so vast a circuit as that of the heavens God had enough to do, though he troubled not himself with those things that are done here in this world.

Vers. 15. Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? ] By the old way which wicked men have trodden is meant, either the miserable end which of old, even from the first, hath ever at last befallen wicked men, (as death is called the way of all the earth, Josh. 23.14.) the course which God hath at last taken with them; or else the way of profaneness, wherein wicked men have of old in all ages walked, to wit, that not minding God they have taken liberty to do what they list themselves, as if God regarded not what men do here below: yea particularly it may be meant of the way of the old world, whom God destroyed, as will be more evident in the following verse. And then by asking whether he had marked the old way which wicked men have trodden, he demanded whether observing their ways, he had not taken notice, that the wrath of God hath always at last fallen upon them.

Vers. 16. Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood. ] If we understand this, (as most probably we may) of the destruction of the old world, there is nothing difficult in it; for we know that their foundation, that is, the earth whereon they lived, was overflown with a flood of waters. But it may also be meant of wicked men in general, to wit, that in all Ages they have been cut down out of time, that is, suddenly, even in an instant; or by an untimely death, namely, when by the ordinary course of nature they might have lived longer; or, before they could accomplish their hopes and aims. And then for the second clause, whose foundation was overflown with a flood, the meaning may be▪ that the wrath or judgments of God coming upon them with sudden and unresistable violence, as an overflowing flood, did utterly wash and sweep away their foundation, that is, those riches and honors which they had already attained, and which they had laid as a foundation or ground-work of a greater eminency which they aimed at; or, it carried away them and all that they had, even to the very foundation, all their children, their riches, their friends, their plots and designs, whatever was the support of their lives and estates, or whereon they rested, as their foundation and refuge.

Vers. 17. Which said unto God, Depart from us. ] Thus in a way of derision he repeats the very words of Job, chap. 21.14. (of which see the Note there) but in a contrary sense; as if he had said, These whose foundation is overflown with a flood, are those that said unto God, Depart from us, and not those that God prospers, as you affirmed.

Vers. 18. Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. ] That is, as some say, yet thou affirmest, that instead of overflowing their foundation with a flood, God filled their houses with good things, and withal boastest, that notwithstanding the counsel of the wicked is far from thee. Thus, I say, some Expositors take these words to be only a scornful rehearsal of what Job had said. But I rather think that Eliphaz here expresseth his own thoughts; and that the first clause, yet he filled their houses with good things, is added, either as only to yield that a while God did greatly prosper those whom yet afterwards he destroyed, or rather as an aggravation of their wickedness, both in that they could so unthankfully despise God, who had given them outward blessings in so great abundance, and in that they could so boldly deny the Providence of God, and slight him, as if he could do nothing for them, when God had with so open a hand conferred many good things upon them. And then for the following clause, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me, therein he doth again indeed reply upon Job in a way of scorn, with the very same words which Job before had used, chap. 21.18. (concerning which see the Note there) to wit, either as upbraiding him for saying that the counsel of the wicked was far from him, when his thoughts of God were the same with theirs, namely, that God minded not what was done here in this world (which Eliphaz charged him with, because he held that God prospered the wicked, and afflicted the righteous) and withal he was now a sharer with them in their plagues; or else to intimate, that he had better cause to say, that the counsel of the wicked was far from him, then Job had; he might say it cordially, because he held that utter ruin would be their end, but Job, though he professed so with his mouth, could not think so in his heart, holding that they lived in greater prosperity then the godly did.

Vers. 19. The righteous see it, and are glad, &c.] That is, They evidently see that at last accomplished in the destruction of wicked men, which they long expected, and rejoice in it. For though it be unlawful to rejoice simply in the destruction of the worst of men, especially if that joy ariseth from a private grudge and desire of revenge, or from any secret hope that men may have of any advantage that will thereby redound to themselves, according to that Prov. 24.17. Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, &c. yet certainly it is not only lawful, but commendable to rejoice and triumph at the destruction of wicked men, out of zeal for the glory of God, because thereby his power, justice, truth, and holiness is manifested, and his tender care over his servants, in taking their part against their wicked adversaries; and with respect to the peace and welfare which may redound to the people of God by their destruction.

And the innocent laugh them to scorn. ] That is, They look upon them as such, who justly deserve to be laughed to scorn, to wit, because their ways have been so foolish and ridiculous, and because they are taken, through the over-ruling providence of God, in their own craft, and are quite disappointed of their designs and hopes.

Vers. 20. Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth. ] That is, Whereas the estates of the righteous, which are gotten in a just way, are not ruined (for they are the righteous with whom Eliphaz here joins himself and his friends) Or, more generally, whilst our life, and that whereby our life is maintained, and by which we and our families do subsist, is not cut down, the fire of God's wrath utterly consumes the wicked, even all that is left of their families and estates, so that there is no remnant nor memorial left of them, as it was in the destruction of Sodom and her neighbouring cities, whereto it is very probable that Eliphaz might in these words have special respect. And indeed with the like phrase the prophet Isaiah expresseth the utter destruction of Babylon, Isa. 14.22. I will rise up against them, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, &c. Now this Eliphaz inserts here, either as a reason why the righteous rejoice and triumph when the wicked are destroyed, as he had said in the foregoing verse, to wit, because God therein puts a difference betwixt the wicked and them; or else, as an introduction to the following exhortation, wherein he persuades Job to repent and turn unto God, whereas God spares the righteous, and the fire of his wrath consumes the wicked, Acquaint now thyself with him, &c.

Vers. 21. Acquaint now thyself with him, &c.] That is, whereas thou hast despised God, and estranged thyself from him, and lived as if thou hadst nothing to do with him; now address thyself to know him and his will distinctly, to seek his favor, to walk with him, to be much in enjoying a holy communion with him in meditation, prayer, and other holy duties, to serve him as a master or father, and so to conform thy will to his in all things whatsoever. As for the following words, either they are added as a part of the advice which he gives Job, and be at peace, that is, pacify thy troubled mind, and do not murmur against God as thou hast done, but labor to make thy peace with him; or else as a promise, Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace, that is, then God will be at peace with thee, and thou shalt live in all prosperity.

Vers. 22. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. ] See the Note, Deut. 6.6. Some would gather from hence, that God had given his Law to Moses a little before this was written. But there is no sure ground here for this inference; for by the Law may be meant any divine declaration of God's word and will, by what means soever it was done: It is therefore all one as if he had said, As we would not have thee run on in a way that is not good, trusting to thine own wisdom; so neither do we desire that thou shouldest depend upon our judgment, but that thou shouldest follow the counsel that God himself hath given us.

Vers. 23. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, &c.] That is, God will every day more and more make up all the breaches in thy estate, thy glory, thy body, and thy children, till he hath raised thee to a great height of prosperity: see the Note, Exod. 1.21. As for the following clause, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle, that is inserted as a conditional clause, to wit, that the truth of his repentance must be manifested, by his abandoning all his former evil ways, and not suffering any wickedness in any of his family (wherein he doth also covertly tax Job, that not only he himself, but his children also and family had lived lewdly and wickedly; whence it was that both his children and servants were so strangely destroyed:) Or else, it is added as a farther branch of the promises here made to Job, upon condition of his repentance, to wit, that he should forsake all his former sins, and reform his family (and indeed when men sincerely humble themselves before God, and turn to him, he is wont thus by way of a blessing to carry on the work of grace in such men;) and withal that he should remove far from him all those plagues and punishments which hitherto had lain upon them. For by iniquity in the Scripture is usually meant the punishment of iniquity: see the Note, Gen. 4.7.

Vers. 24. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, &c.] That is, in mighty abundance. It may indeed also be read, as it is in the margin, Then shalt thou lay up gold on the dust, and so the meaning may be, that he should have gold in such abundance, that he should make no reckoning of it, it should be piled up or shovel'd up in heaps on the ground, or it should lie thrown up and down on the ground as if it were nothing worth; yea, say some, he should have such an infinite plenty of gold, that he should build his house, yea the very foundations of his house with gold instead of stone, (an hyperbolical expression) or at least that he should make his pavements with gold.

Vers. 25. Yea the Almighty shall be thy defense, &c.] That is, he shall protect thee and thy estate; his providence shall once again be as a hedge about thee. This also may be otherwise read, as in the margin, yea the Almighty shall be thy gold, that is, thou shalt have that which is better and more precious then the most precious gold; God's love and favor shall be to thee instead of gold, and shall make thee richer and happier then all the gold and silver in the world can make thee And then for the following clause, And thou shalt have plenty of silver, that is in the original, and thou shalt have silver of strength ; but the meaning is only this, that he should have store of silver, and that it should be a strength to him.

Vers. 26. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, &c.] This word ( for ) may be taken with reference to the foregoing promises made to Job concerning temporal blessings; and then the drift of these words is all one as if he had said, Surely God will not withhold from thee these outward blessings, seeing he intends to give thee that which is infinitely better, even delight in himself. But I rather think that this is added as a farther encouragement to win him to that duty of repenting and returning to the Almighty, to which he had before advised him, namely, that whereas now he was continually vexed with inward troubles of mind, then he should have sweet delight in the Almighty ; to wit, in the assurance of his love and favor, whereof all the outward blessings he should bestow upon him should be comfortable pledges, and so likewise in walking with him, & in doing him service. As for the following words, and shalt lift up thy face unto God, see the Note on chap. 11.15.

Vers. 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. ] This last clause, and thou shalt pay thy vows, may be added to imply, 1. that God's hearing his prayers should be manifested, by his doing that for him which he had begged of God, and thereby giving him occasion to pay the vows that he made when he put up his prayers: 2. that he should have continual cause of rejoicing and praising God: 3. that God should bless him so that he should be able to pay his vows: and it may be also 4. that it should be of God's grace that he should be willing to pay his vows, when God had satisfied his desires.

Vers. 28. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee, &c.] That is, Thou shalt but say the word, and it shall be done; what thou shalt determine to do, through God's blessing thou shalt accomplish; or, what thou shalt determine to desire of God, resolving through faith that it will be done, it shall be made good to thee according to thy faith: (which may seem the more probable, because in the foregoing words he had spoken of God's readiness to hear his prayer.) And then for the following clause, and the light shall shine upon thy ways, the meaning of that must be, that by the counsel of God's spirit, and by the blessing of God's providence, he should be directed and prospered in all his undertakings, and should take great delight and contentment in what he did or had done. And very likely it is, that Eliphaz opposed this to that complaint of Jobs, chap. 19.8. He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

Vers. 29. When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up, &c.] This some Expositors understand thus; when men are cast down or destroyed by the judgments of God, then thou shalt say, there is, or there was a lifting up of the spirit, a proud heart that was the cause of this destruction, according to that of Solomon, Prov. 16.18. Pride goeth before destruction. Others again understand it thus; When men are overthrown with God's judgments, yet thou shalt be preserved or lifted up, or thou shalt say, Yet I am lifted up; behold, God hath spared me in this common destruction, and instead of casting me down, he hath exalted and lifted me up: Or, thou shalt comfort thyself with assurance, that God will again lift thee up. Again, others give this sense of the words; When men are humbled under the mighty hand of God, and cast down with grief and sorrow for their sins, then thou shalt assure them that God will raise them up again? Last of all, others give this as the meaning of the words; When men are cast down under grievous calamities, as now thou art, thou shalt from thine own experience assure them, that if they repent and turn to the Lord, he will lift them up again; yea and, in the confidence hereof, thou shalt pray unto God that he would raise them up from their low condition: and hereto agrees the following clause, and he shall save the humble person, that is, God, moved with thy prayer, shall save the man that is brought to so low and poor a condition, or the man that is humbled under his miseries.

Vers. 30. He shall deliver the island of the innocent, &c.] That is, God will remove his judgments from a whole country, for the sake of a few righteous ones that are in it: which Eliphaz in the next words applies to Job, and it is delivered by the pureness of thy hands ; that is, if thou purgest thyself from thy sins by repentance, so shall it be with thee, thou shalt deliver the whole country where thou livest from calamities that otherwise would come upon it, because God will spare it for thy sake; Or, by the pureness of thy hands lifted up in prayer unto God, it shall be delivered. And indeed God doth often spare whole kingdoms for his poor servants sake: but yet Eliphaz was deceived, if he intended to say that it is always thus, as is evident by that which God saith concerning the land of Israel, Ezek. 14.14. (where there seems to be an allusion to this very place) Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls.

CHAP. XXIII.

Vers. 2. EVen today is my complaint bitter, &c.] That is, still and still I do and must complain bitterly: and no wonder, my stroke is heavier then my groaning, that which I suffer exceeds my complaint; concerning which see the Note, chap. 6.2. And thus doth Job covertly imply, that hitherto neither Eliphaz that replied last upon him, nor any of the rest, had spoken anything that did in the least satisfy his mind, or allay his sorrow, but rather they had much imbittered his spirit. And therefore indeed, if we mark it, in this Reply of Jobs he doth not vouchsafe, as it were, to speak anymore to his friends, as concluding there was no hope of convincing them, but addresseth himself either to speak to God, or to bemoan himself to himself.

Vers. 3. O that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! ] That is, the seat of God. For, either because he had heard Eliphaz lay such foul things to his charge, as he had done in the former chapter, after all that he had formerly said to clear himself, therefore he now again wisheth that he might plead his cause before God, before him who knew what he suffered, and would compassionate him because of his sufferings; or else, because Eliphaz had advised him, to acquaint himself with the Almighty, and to make his peace with him, telling him what great things God would do for him, if he would thus repent and turn to him, therefore he professeth here how glad he would be that he might appear before God, as knowing that he should find God at peace with him, whatever they thought, & should be able to justify himself against them before his tribunal. O that I knew where I might find him! &c. He speaks here of God after the manner of earthly princes & judges, who sit in judgment sometimes in one place and sometimes in another; and the drift of his words is only to show, that were it a thing to be hoped, that God would appear in a visible manner, and so he might plead his cause before God, as men do before an earthly magistrate, he could be very glad of it, and would willingly present himself before his Judgment-seat, to answer for himself, against the false accusations of his friends. So that this is no more then what he had often wished before, as chap. 9.34, 35. chap, 16.21. and 17.3. concerning which see the No • es there.

Vers. 5. I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. ] That is, Being confident of the justice of my cause, and therefore not fearing anything; having in order opened the cause before God, which hath been pleaded betwixt me and my accusers, and having with store of arguments maintained mine integrity before him; I would see what God would answer to the arguments that I should bring for myself, and what he would at last determine in the cause: I would study to understand what he should say, whether by way of approbation or reproof, and would quietly submit thereto. And thus he implies, that he doubted not but God would acquit him, and would make known why he had brought so great calamities upon him. Yet because of those words, and understand what he would say to me, some would have this implied also, that God would clearly and perspicuously make known his mind to him, whereas he scarce knew what to make of all that his friends had said to him.

Vers. 6. Will he plead against me with his great power? No, but he would put strength in me. ] By his great power may be meant, either that absolute power whereby God may do with his creatures whatever he pleaseth, and that justly too; or that infinite power, before the consuming terror whereof such a poor creature as he was could never stand, especially if God should proceed in extremity with him, and deal with him according to the rigor of his justice: and accordingly the meaning of these words must be, that he was confident, either that God would not proceed with him according to his absolute power over his creatures, making his own will and pleasure the only reason why he laid such heavy judgments upon him, or else that God would not overwhelm him with the terror of his Majesty and glory; which was the condition that Job formerly propounded, where he desired he might have liberty to plead his cause before God, chap. 13.20, 21. (concerning which see the Note there.) And hereto indeed the last clause seems best to agree, No, but he would put strength into me ; that is, instead of crushing and overwhelming me by his glorious power, he will rather sustain me, that I may be able to stand and plead my cause before a God of such Majesty.

Vers. 7. There the righteous might dispute with him, &c.] That is, The righteous may boldly plead their cause before God in such a way of judgment, where God will not stand upon his absolute power for the punishing of men, but will only deal with them according to the revealed rule of his justice, in regard of the Covenant of mercy he hath made with them, and where God will as it were lay by his Majesty and glory, and admit a poor man to plead his cause before him, as if he were pleading before a man as himself. And this he applies to himself in the following words, so should I be delivered forever from my judge : the meaning whereof is, that if God, his judge, before whose tribunal he had desired to plead his cause, would hear him with such gentleness, and proceed with him in that manner he had now expressed, by him he should be forever acquitted, and should not fear to be condemned by him; and consequently also, he should be delivered from the false accusations of those that now did most unjustly both judge and censure him.

Vers. 8. Behold, I go forward, and he is not there, &c.] That is, whether I go forward or backward, neither way can I make that discovery of God that I desire. And so it follows, verse. 9. I go on the left hand, where he doth work ; as if he should have said, Seeking him out by taking notice of his works: but I cannot behold him ; that is, even there I cannot discern him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him ; that is, if I look for him on the right hand, there also he is hidden from me. I know that many learned Expositors do hold, that by forward here is meant Eastward, (because, say they, man is considered here as setting his face toward the rising Sun) and by backward, Westward; and so by the left hand, the North, and by the right hand, the South. And accordingly they also hold that God's working is particularly mentioned, where Job speaks of the left hand, that is, the North, I go on the left hand where he doth work, because the Northern parts of the world are more inhabited and better peopled then the Southern are, and the people there are also more civilized, more understanding, ingenious, and active for all things then the other are. But methinks this is somewhat nice and curious. That which is said before to be the ground of this expression, is I think sufficient. But however, questionless, that which is here said in both these verses, is added in relation to that he had said before, verse. 3. O that I knew where I might find him ! &c. and may be understood first of the invisibility of God; and so the scope may be, to show, that though he had wished he might appear before God's tribunal, yet he did not think that God was visibly to be seen, as earthly Judges are, but knew that God was everywhere present, though nowhere to be seen as man is: and 2. of the incomprehensiblenesse of God's ways and judgments, to wit, that which way soever he turned himself, he was not able to comprehend any of God's judgments, or to find out God by any of his works; (concerning which see a former Note upon a like place, chap. 9.11.) or 3. of God's refusing to answer his desire by manifesting himself to him in any outward apparition, as a judge offering to hear and determine his cause; and so it is all one as if he had said, I may wish thus to appear before God, that I may plead my cause before him; but, alas, I do not find that God intends me any such favor; he hides himself from me in this regard, and which way soever I look, I find not the least likelihood, that God will vouchsafe to give me such a hearing!

Vers. 10. But he knoweth the way that I take, &c.] The inference of these words upon that which went before is very questionable: but two opinions concerning this I find most probable. The first is, that these words are here added to clear himself from a false conceit, that upon his former words his friends might entertain in their thoughts concerning him; and so that the meaning of these words is, as if he had said, Though I say that I can nowhere find God, that I may plead my cause before him, yet I am far from the atheistical thoughts of those profane wretches that say, God knoweth not what is done here in this world: for, sure I am, that though I cannot find him, yet he knoweth me and all my ways; which makes me also confident, that, knowing mine innocence, he only intends to try me by these calamities he hath laid upon me. The second is, that this is added here, to show the reason why he desired to plead his cause before God, or to show, that though there was no hope of appearing before the invisible God in a visible manner, after the way of pleading before the tribunal of an earthly judge; yet he might safely appeal to God to pass judgment in his cause, and that because he was sure that God knew him exactly; and therefore though earthly Judges, not knowing men, may upon false information err in judgment, yet so it could not be with God: whereupon he also adds, when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold ; where by God's trying him may be meant, either a judicial trial, by hearing him plead his cause, or a trying him by the afflictions wherewith he had exercised him; and so the drift of these words may be, to show how confident he was, that after trial he should not be found such dross as his friends would make him, but pure gold, and that God meant no more to destroy him by these calamities he had brought upon him, then the gold-smith means to burn up the gold that he puts into the fire, for the trying and purging of it.

Vers. 11. My foot hath held his steps, &c.] This Job adds, as by way of protesting against those wicked practices wherewith Eliphaz had charged him, chap. 22.5. and by this, my foot hath held his steps, is meant, either that he had endeavored to imitate God in his holiness, justice, mercy, &c. according to that of the Apostle, Ephes. 5.1. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children ; or else his strict treading in those steps which God in his law had prescribed him: so that the next words are a mere explanation of these, his way have I kept, and not declined.

Vers. 12. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips, &c.] That is, I have not upon any pretence fallen off from doing what he hath commanded me, to the utmost of my power, but rather have fully and constantly cleaved thereto. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more then my necessary food ; that is, I have more earnestly desired them, more diligently sought them, more heartily delighted in them, more highly prized them, more carefully stored them up in my heart, then my necessary food which I cannot be without, or my appointed portion, as it is in the margin, that is, my daily food appointed for me, and consequently then anything that is most requisite for me. And thus Job expressly answers that advice which Eliphaz had given him, ch. 22.22. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart, (of which see the Note there:) affirming that he had always done this, whatever he might judge of him because of his afflictions.

Vers. 13. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? &c.] That is, Who can make him go back from what he hath resolved upon? Some understand this of the immutable perseverance of God in his love to Job; as if he had said, Though at present I can discern no token of his love and favor towards me, yet he is, I know, the same towards me that he always was, a gracious and loving father, and there is no turning him from those thoughts of love that he hath always born me. But more generally and better it is, by others, understood of the unchangeableness of God in all his counsels, and that it is here inserted, to show that it was no wonder that God dealt so severely with him, notwithstanding he had endeavored to yield obedience to God in all things, But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? as if he should have said▪ But, alas, be I never so righteous, or let me say what I will and can for myself, when he hath determined to do anything, he is constant in his purposes, and will do, as he justly may, whatever he pleaseth. For Job doth not charge God that he dealt with him as tyrants use to do, that will do what they list, without regarding what is just or unjust; but only acknowledgeth God's absolute Sovereignty over men, whereby he may do whatever he pleaseth in the world, and yet doth always what is just, though men cannot comprehend the reason of his proceedings.

Vers. 14. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me, &c.] Here Job applies that to himself, which in the foregoing words he had delivered more generally: and accordingly some understand it of God's performing the good he had intended him; which cannot well agree with that which is added in the following verses, concerning his fears and terrors. It is better therefore, by the most, expounded of God's unchangeable proceeding to do to him whatever he had determined: For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me ; that is, what according to his just Prerogative he hath determined to do unto me in this way of afflicting me, that he doth and will perform. And hereto agreeth the following clause, and many such things are with him, that is, with him with whom I have to do. And the meaning may be, either that God had many such like calamities and miseries, as those were which he had already suffered, which he might farther bring upon him, and wherewith it was like he meant yet farther to exercise his graces, and to purge-out his corruptions; as if he had said, I do not perceive that God hath yet done with me; it may be there are yet other sorrows appointed for me: or, that be doth many such things to others as well as to him, the cause whereof is hidden from us; as if he should have said, It is not my case alone, many such things he both decrees and executes, he usually deals thus with men in an unsearchable way according to his absolute Sovereignty, proceeding oftentimes with great severity against men, when yet he loves them, and means them good.

Vers. 15. Therefore am I troubled at his presence; when I consider, I am afraid of him. ] In the foregoing chapter, when Eliphaz had charged Job with many gross sins, he added verse. 10. Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee : Job therefore, say some Expositors, as in answer hereto, professeth here that his terrors did arise, not from any guiltiness of conscience, but merely from the consideration of the majesty of God's presence, his absolute power in doing what he pleaseth to men, and the unsearchableness of his judgments. But however, clear it is that he ascribes his fears to that absolute and unresistable power and Sovereignty whereby God doth to men whatever he pleaseth, whereof he had spoken in the two foregoing verses; to wit, because, observing that God proceeded with him after this manner, he might well fear how far God would go on in laying his hand so sorely upon him. And withal herein he might also intimate, how far he was from holding that God could not see and consider what was done here in the world, as Eliphaz had seemed to charge him, chap. 22.13. and that when he desired that he might plead his cause before God, it was in hope that God would not overwhelm him with the terrors of his Majesty, as he had before expressed, chap. 13.21.

Vers. 16. For God maketh my heart soft, &c.] That is, By these heavy calamities brought upon me, he hath made my heart weak and faint; it melteth away like wax before the fire: which makes me the readier to fear that still more miseries are coming upon me.

Vers. 17. Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face. ] That is, Because he did not cut me off before these calamities came upon me, nor by these calamities which he hath brought upon me, nor hath yet afforded me any release from my miseries: and hereby he intimates his fears, that he was hitherto preserved from utter destruction, that he might be reserved to farther miseries, which was that which did so exceedingly perplex him; for that by darkness he means his grievous calamities, see 1 Sam. 2.9.

CHAP. XXIV.

Vers. 1. WHy, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him, not see his days? ] 1. By this, that times are not hidden from the Almighty, is meant, that God knoweth all times, and all things that are or shall be done in time. 2. By they that know him are meant the godly, that love and fear God, according to that, Psal. 36.10, O continue thy loving-kindness to them that know thee ! and 3. By this, that they see not his days, is meant, that they see not the noted and memorable days wherein God doth his great and famous works, either of mercy or judgment; or more particularly, the days of his executing vengeance upon wicked men here in this life, which indeed are usually by way of eminency called in the Scripture God's days, as Isa. 2.12. The day of the lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, &c. and so in many other places. The drift of these words is, to show that God doth not always punish wicked men here in this world, as Jobs friends had maintained he did. For the proving whereof, as he mentions many sorts of lewd men that live in peace and prosperity, and are never punished here in this world, so before this enumeration of such profane ones as go unpunished, he prefixeth the words of this verse by way of introduction; the meaning whereof may be thus set forth: Seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, that is, seeing God knoweth all times, and consequently both the times how long men are to live in the world, and when is the fittest time and opportunity to punish wicked men, so that no wicked man can slip out of the world unknown to God, or before the time that God intended to punish him, why do they that know him, not see his days? that is, why do the righteous servants of God, that walk with him, and observe his dealings, and to whom God is most ready to reveal himself, as to his bosom friends, not see the days of God's punishing wicked men here in this life? The sum of this introduction is therefore briefly this; that if God did constantly determine to punish all profane ungodly men in this world, since he knows the times how long they are to continue here, and so cannot be disappointed by their unexpected dying, he would certainly take the fittest time to do it: and so the godly should observe the time when, and the manner how God always punisheth wicked men, and so should infallibly know by God's dealing with those upon whom God lays his hand, whether they are wicked men or no.

Vers. 2. Some remove the land-marks, &c.] Here Job begins to reckon up the foul enormities of those that yet often go unpunished here in this world; and mentions in the first place the removing of land-marks, this being in all ages, and amongst all nations, even by the light of nature, esteemed an execrable wickedness, and therefore also forbidden in Moses law, Deut. 19.14: under which also all other unjust encroachings upon other men's estates may be comprised, according to that, Prov. 23.10. Remove not the old land-mark, and enter not into the fields of the fatherless. And to this he adds, they violently take away flocks and feed thereof : and if we read the last clause as it is in the margin of our Bibles, and feed them, it is doubtless added to show the impudency of such men, that when they have driven away other men's cattle, do not kill them, or sell them away, to conceal their rapine thereby, or to supply their necessities, but putting them into their own pastures do openly there feed them, as if they were their own: and withal their impunity; God never calls them to a reckoning, but they quietly enjoy what they have so unjustly gotten.

Vers. 3. They drive away the asse of the fatherless, &c.] Ass here may be put for asses; or, this may be intended as an aggravation of the wicked man's oppression, that though the fatherless have but one asse, yet he sticks not to spoil him of it. And the like may be said of the following clause, They take the widows ox for a pledge. Ox here may be put for oxen: but however it is to the same effect. For because the widows oxen are so necessary for the ploughing of her ground, and other such like employments, and of a yoke of oxen if one be taken away, the other becomes useless, it being a most unmerciful act to take that for a pledge without which the poor man cannot live, and therefore forbidden in God's law, Exod. 22.26. (concerning which see the Note there;) hence it is that this is mentioned here as such a high degree of wickedness.

Vers. 4. They turn the needy out of the way, &c.] Expositors find it hard to determine what is meant here by turning the needy out of the way. Some understand it of causing the needy, by their oppressions, to take lewd and unwarrantable courses to help themselves; so turning them out of the way of righteousness, which God hath prescribed them. 2. Some understand it of turning the needy out of the way of justice, to wit, either by overawing them, so that they dare not appear in judgment against them; or else by obstructing the ways of justice so by their great power, that the needy are thrust from their right, and can find no way of righting themselves: and so they make this place parallel with that, Amos 2.7. they turn aside the way of the meek. 3. Others conceive it is meant of those that by their robberies do so infest the high-ways, that the very poorest, because of their cruelty, are afraid to travel in the ordinary way, and therefore seek out secret by-ways whereby they may safely pass. 4. Others apply it to those that by their oppressions and hard dealing with the poor, do turn them out of the way of their livelihood, the way of exercising their trade and profession, and force them to hide themselves; as when by taking those things as pawns from them, which are absolutely necessary for the exercise of their callings, or by any other way of cruel usage, they are disabled from going forth to their work, and from following their ordinary employments. And 5. others hold, that by turning the needy out of the way is only meant, that they are by the unjust dealing of their oppressing neighbors put to such shifts, that they scarce know which way to turn themselves, and cannot in a manner be suffered to live by them. And indeed with these two last Expositions the following clause doth best agree, the poor of the earth hide themselves together : the meaning whereof doubtless is, that by the oppressors enlarging of their estates and other unmerciful dealings, the needy are many times forced to run together into holes and corners to hide themselves, and to crowd together in any corner like bees in a hive, and scarce dare show their heads abroad amongst others. See 1 Sam. 14.11. and Heb. 11.37.

Vers. 5. As wild asses in the desert go they forth to their work, rising betimes for a prey, &c.] Some understand this of the needy, mentioned in the foregoing verse, that are turned out of the way by their great oppressors; to wit, that being forced to fly into the desert, they do there live more like beasts, even like wild asses, then like men, going forth to their work, to wit, to that toiling and moiling labor wherein they are made to drudge for others, or to seek a poor livelihood for themselves, rising betimes for a prey, that is, to gather here and there, or any way to seise upon somewhat wherewith to satisfy their hunger: and accordingly also they understand the following clause, the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children ; that is, all the food they have, is what they can get in the wilderness. But now the most of Expositors understand this of those that oppress the poor and needy, or of the mighty robbers that were in those times, to wit, that they were like wild asses in the desert, in that they were a company of fierce, savage, untamed men, sons of Belial, that would be in no subjection to any laws or government, but exercised all kind of violence and rapine upon those that were near them, and lived like beasts in that regard; they go forth to their work, rising betimes for a prey, that is, every day they ramble up and down diligently, to rob and make a prey of all that come near them, which is their only work and employment: and so also they understand the following clause, the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children ; that is, they and theirs live by rapine, as others by their grounds which they till and dress; or, in the wilderness, by their robberies and murders, they provide for them, their children and servants, not caring what becomes of others.

Vers. 6. They reap everyone his corn in the field, and they gather the vintage of the wicked. ] Even this likewise some understand of the poor, to wit, either that they are glad to work for their mighty task-masters, in reaping their corn and gathering their vintage; (for in this sense it may be said, that they reap everyone his corn, either because they reap everyone that parcel of corn which is allotted them for their task, or because they are forced to reap their own corn, not for themselves, but for the oppressor that hath taken their fields by force from them) or else that by way of forraging for themselves, here one cuts down the corn in one field, and another the corn in another field, and gather the vintage of their wicked oppressors, which they thought to have had for themselves. But this too the most Expositors understand of those great oppressors and robbers, of whom Job had spoken in the foregoing verses, to wit, that they reap the corn, and gather the vintage, of the fields and vineyards which they had wrung by unjust violence from the right owners, or that they pretend some title or other to any man's corn and vintage which they have a mind to, and take it away by force from them; which is expressed in the last clause by those words, and they gather the vintage of the wicked ; either 1. because it was gotten wickedly: or 2. because they condemn those for wicked men whom they so oppress, and under that notion take their inheritance from them, as Ahab did the vineyard of Naboth: or 3. because in their oppressions they spare not the vineyards of those that are as wicked as themselves; and so one wolf makes a prey of another.

Vers. 7. They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, &c.] See the Note, chap. 22.6.

Vers. 8. They are wet with the showers of the mountains, &c.] That is, the poor, mentioned in the foregoing verse, that are stripped of their clothing, are exposed to wet, whilst they work abroad in the fields for their great lords, or whilst they wander up and down in the desert to provide for themselves; and embrace the rock for want of shelter, that is, hide themselves in the holes of rocks for want of other shelter, and are glad and joyful of such a refuge, which this phrase of embracing the rock may seem to imply. We have the like phrase, Lam. 4.5. they that were brought up in scarlet, embrace dunghills, that is, are forced to sit or lie upon dunghills.

Vers. 9. They pluck the fatherless from the breast. ] And this not only they might be said to have done, that took them from the breast to sell them for bond-slaves; but they likewise that took away their mothers or nurses, to make slaves of them, or that forced them to leave their sucklings to go and work in their fields or vineyards, and it may be to wean them before they would have done it, that they might be fitter to toil and labor for them; and those also that by starving their mothers or nurses, disabled them that they could not give their little ones suck. For the following clause, and take a pledge of the poor, see the Note chap. 22.6.

Vers. 10. They cause him to go naked without clothing, &c.] That is, the poor man mentioned in the foregoing verse, whom they had taken for a pledge, they would force him to work for them, and yet not afford him necessary raiment. And then it follows, They take away the sheaf from the hungry ; that is, from the hungry poor they take away that little corn which they had gotten for the nourishment of them and theirs, haply that one sheaf of gleanings which with much pains they had gathered: Or else the meaning may be, that they would not suffer their poor hungry harvest-men to taste the least of the corn which they reaped and gathered in for them; an act of great inhumanity, though it were to a beast, as is evident by that law, Deut. 25.4. Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.

Vers. 11. Which make oil within their walls, and tread their wine-presses, and suffer thirst. ] Some understand this of griping oppressors; who will scarce taste of the blessings they enjoy in greatest plenty. But the words seem clearly to hold forth the contrary, to wit, that it is spoken of the poor that are oppressed. And it may be understood either of those that make wine and oil in their own houses, and yet afterwards have not wherewith to quench their thirst, namely, because they are presently forced to sell all away to pay their debts, or else because spoilers come straightwaies upon them and carry it all away; Or else of the poor laborers, that make wine and oil in great men's houses, and yet are ready to perish for thirst, to wit, not only because their wages are not paid them, at least not in time, or because they allow them wages whereon they cannot live; but also because they are not allowed to quench their thirst with that they provide for their great Masters. And well may this be mentioned as a high degree of wickedness, as is noted above verse. 10. that they should suffer them to be hungry and thirsty, at the very time when they toiled and moiled to prepare for them such choice dainties, and should be hard-hearted to the poor, when they receive so liberally from God.

Vers. 12. Men groan from out of the city, &c.] As if he should have said, These things are thus not only in the country, in desert and solitary places, but also in cities, the places where seats of justice are usually erected; they are not only done in secret, but openly: the groans and cries of the oppressed are openly heard in the cities, and the soul of the wounded crieth out ; that is, the men that are wounded in their very souls because of the oppressions of the wicked, and the wrong that is daily done them, or, the men that are wounded and slain by the overbearing power of tyrants and oppressors, do in their grief, or whilst they are dying, complain bitterly of what they suffer, and cry unto God for vengeance; Or it may be meant, that the blood, or the souls of those that are wounded and slain do cry for vengeance, as is said concerning the blood of Abel, Gen. 4.10. (of which see the Note there) and the souls of the Martyrs slain by their cruel persecutors, Revel. 6.9, 10. Some understand the first clause particularly of those that grieve and groan in the city, because of those grievous oppressions which they hear the poor endure in the country; and some apply both clauses to the groans of such as inhabit cities, when they are straightened and damnified, and sometime, if they stir forth a little, wounded and slain by those field-robbers, whereof Job had spoken in the foregoing verses. But I conceive it must be taken generally of the groans and complaints of all that are oppressed in cities, whatever their sufferings and oppressions be. As for the last clause, yet God layeth not folly to them, it is that for which Job had alleged all that he hath hitherto spoken of profane wicked men; to wit, that though their wickedness be so great, and the oppressed cry to God against them, yet many times God doth not in the least punish them for the evil they commit, and so stop them in their foolish and wicked ways, but suffers them to run on in their lewd and sinful courses.

Vers. 13. They are of those that rebel against the light, &c.] This I conceive is primarily meant of that natural light, whereof Job speaks also in the following verses; for against this light it may be said that they rebel, because they hate and abhor it: they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof ; that is, they are birds of darkness, they spend their days most in the dark, and take little or no pleasure to be in the light. Having spoken before of open oppressors, now he comes to speak of those that sin more secretly and closely. But yet secondarily it must questionless be understood of spiritual light, to wit, that they rebel against God the father of lights, against the light of nature, and against the light of God's word and spirit: and that 1. Because men's seeking darkness and secrecy when they sin, is an argument that they rebel against the light of their own consciences; and 2. Because this their sinning so willfully and desperately, not of ignorance, is mentioned here as a great aggravation of their wickedness, and that which makes it far more strange that God should spare them. And indeed even in regard of this light it might be well said, that they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof ; because they do not approve of, nor delight in, nor will walk in those ways to which by this spiritual light they are directed: at least if they sometimes do something that the light directs them, yet to be sure they will not make it their constant course, they will not abide in those ways.

Vers. 14. The murderer rising with the light, killeth the poor and needy, &c.] This is meant either directly of those that do purposely go forth to kill such as they have conceived malice against; and then the next clause, and in the night is as a thief, must be understood thus, that in the night he seeks to slay those he hates secretly, as in the day he seeks to do it by open assault; or, that having shed the blood of men in the day, in the night he seeks to hide his head, as thieves are wont to do: or else of robbers and high-way men, as we use to call them; and that both because robbers are frequently also murderers, and likewise because by robbing and spoiling them of their estates, they do in a manner shorten their days; and then the meaning of the last clause is this, and in the night is as a thief, that is, as he robs openly by day, so he is a close pilfering thief by night: for this word ( as ) doth not always import a likeness only, as we see Joh. 1.14. and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the father.

Vers. 16. In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime, &c.] That is, those wicked ones of whom he spake verse. 13. that rebel against the light. It cannot be so properly meant of adulterers, of whom he had spoken in the words immediately foregoing (they are usually let in by agreement, or have some closer way of getting in to satisfy their lust, and are seldom wont to dig through houses, or break in by force;) and therefore it must be understood of another knot of wicked wretches, to wit, of thieves, who are wont indeed to view the houses by day which they purpose to rob, to observe the strength of the house, and which way they may get in with most ease and advantage, and then accordingly break into them by night. As for the last clause, they know not the light, see the Note verse. 13.

Vers. 17. For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death, &c.] That is, most hateful and terrible: to wit, both because coming suddenly upon them, before they have fully accomplished their wickedness, they are vexed to be so crossed in their intended evil; as also because they are afraid they shall be discovered, surprised, and taken: which the following words do more clearly hold forth, if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.

Vers. 18. He is swift as the waters, &c.] A most knotty place this is, insomuch that we can hardly find any two Expositors that are in every regard of the same mind in giving the sense of the words: and yet all agree, that Job speaks here still of those wicked wretches that rebel against the light, of whom he had been speaking hitherto, though he speaks of them sometimes indefinitely in the singular number, He is swift as the waters, and so verse. 20, 21, &c. and sometimes in the plural number, their portion is cursed in the earth, and so verse. 24, &c. It is not to be wholly slighted which some say, that Job having before spoken of the thief at land, digging through houses, he now speaks also of the Pirate, that robbeth by sea; he is swift as the waters, to wit, when he is in chase of any ship that he seeks to make a prey of; their portion is cursed in the earth, that is, they that live at land curse them, because they are ever and anon so exceedingly damnifyed by them; he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards, that is, having once tasted the sweetness of sea-robbing, he will no more live at land, to toil and moil in dressing vineyards. But there are three other Expositions which seem to me the most probable. First, some conceive that these words do farther set forth the wickedness of these desperate wretches: He is swift as the waters, that is, they pursue their wicked designs with full sail, they are as prone and forward to do evil as water is to run downward, and as speedy and swift in doing evil, as the waters are in gliding away from one place to another; which agrees with that which Solomon saith of such kind of men, that their feet are swift in running to mischief, Prov. 6.18. their portion is cursed in the earth, that is, the places where they choose to live, as fittest for them that intend to live by robbery and spoil, are forests and deserts, that are cursed with barrenness, Heb. 6.18. he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards, that is, they love not to live by honest labor, as by ploughing and dressing the vineyards, but by thieving and robbery, and therefore the way of the vineyards is no place for them. Again 2. some understand these words of the fears of wicked men, and their seeking to hide themselves: having said in the foregoing verse, if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death, he adds here, He is swift as the waters ; that is, when they are in danger to be discovered and apprehended, they slip away, as nimbly as the water glides away in a river, nor can stay long in any place, but fly all company, by reason of the terrors that are continually upon them: their portion is cursed in the earth, that is, they seek to hide themselves in woods, and rocks, and deserts, as before is noted; Or, they live a most miserable base life, not only in regard of the desolatenesse and the solitariness of the places where they live, but also because of the terrors wherewith Cain-like they are continually perplexed. He beholdeth not the way of the vineyards, that is, they fly so speedily away, that they have not so much time as to visit their houses, or to see their vineyards; Or, they live a solitary sad life in deserts and mountains, and enjoy not the pleasure of gardens and vineyards as other men do; Or rather, they flee not to the vineyards, that are places always frequented, as being usually planted near to cities, and where all the year long there is still some company, either working, or • ending them, or walking for their pleasure; in such places as these they dare not be seen. And then 3. many understand them of God's punishing such wicked men; He is swift as the waters, that is, they pass away, to wit, by death, suddenly and irrecoverably, as waters in rivers run swiftly away, and come back no more; see the Note, Gen. 49.4. their portion is cursed in the earth, that is, their habitations shall be destroyed by the magistrate when they come to apprehend them, or when they are cut off by sentence passed upon them; Or, their inheritance in the land is barren, covered over with weeds and briars; Or, they are cursed even here while they are upon earth, where they seem to live in a very happy condition; because the curse of God shall be at last upon all their earthly concernments, (and perhaps their posterity too) either by wasting and consuming it, or by causing all that they have to tend to their hurt. He beholdeth not the way of the vineyards, that is, they fly not so far as the vineyards, though usually in the suburbs of the cities, before they be apprehended and taken; Or, even their vineyards are so cursed with barrenness, that they take no pleasure to visit them and to look upon them. And if it be objected, that if we understand these words thus, that which Job saith here should contradict what he had said before, concerning wicked men's running on unpunished, and living in a prosperous condition; see the answer to this in the Note, chap. 21.17.

Vers. 19. Drought and heat consume the snow waters; so doth the grave those which have sinned. ] That is, As the earth, when it is dry by the heat of the weather, doth soon drink up the waters of the melted snow that lay unmelted all the winter; so doth the grave at last swallow up the wicked, when they had run on in sin to that very time. And I conceive that doubtless the drift of the words is, to show, that after those wicked wretches had lived such an abominable and damnable life, as he had now described, yet they died at length an ordinary natural death, as other men die, without the least visible sign of the vengeance of God upon them, more then there is in the death of other men. Job had in a manner said the same before, chap. 21.13. concerning which see the Note there. For whether by their passing away as the snow-waters, is meant their dying suddenly, or their wasting away by degrees, the aim of the words is certainly to show, that they are gathered to the grave at last as other men are. We have the like expressions, Psal. 58.8. As a snail which melteth, let everyone of them pass away ; and Psal. 68.2. As the wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish. And this Exposition is indeed most suitable to the scope of Job in this place, which is to show, that God doth not manifest his wrath against all wicked men, neither whilst they live nor when they die. But yet some learned Expositors do rather take the words to be a description of the sad conclusion and miserable end of sinners, wicked and ungodly men, to wit, that they are for their sins cut off in a way of wrath; and whilst the righteous in death triumph over death, and cannot be cut off from their spiritual bliss, death doth absolutely triumph over the wicked, and doth wholly consume and swallow up them and all their happiness.

Vers. 20. The womb shall forget him, &c.] That is, His wife, or rather his mother, and so consequently all his dearest and nearest friends, shall utterly forget him; Or, He shall perish and be forgotten, as if he had never been conceived and born into the world. Some conceive that this, as that did in the foregoing verse, refers to the easiness of the wicked man's death, as the cause why his friends the sooner forget his death; they shall not be grieved or troubled at his death, because he died so easy a death: to which purpose is that also which follows, the worm shall feed sweetly on him, that is, (say some) It shall be sweet and delightful to him that the worms feed on him, (an expression like that, chap. 21.33. the clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, concerning which see the Note there) Or rather, the worms shall make a sweet banquet of him; he that had wont to feed on sin, and to make a prey of others, shall then become a prey to the worms, to whom his flesh shall be sweet-meat. The sum of all is, that he shall fare no worse in the grave then others fare. He shall be no more remembered, that is, there shall be no remarkable stroke of judgment in his death to make him be talked of, when he is gone; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree, that is, as an old rotten tree doth wast and molder away piece-meals and by degrees, till it be at last quite gone, so shall the wicked man wast and consume away by degrees. But then again others understand this also of the misery and wretchedness of wicked men in their death; The womb shall forget him, that is, his nearest relations, as they were weary of him whilst he lived, so being dead they shall scarce ever mind him, or think of him more: he shall be no more remembered, that is, he shall never be mentioned with honor, but his name shall rot amongst men, or he shall be forgotten as a man not worthy to be thought of; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree, as a barren & unfruitful tree is cut down or grubbed up by the roots, or as any other tree is violently shiver'd in pieces & thrown down by a tempest, or as a rotten and worm-eaten tree is easily broken or blown down by the wind, and then never sprouts up again; so wickedness, that is, wicked men (according as we find the like expression Psal. 107.42. and all iniquity shall stop her mouth ) after they have flourished a while in their wickedness, shall be suddenly taken away by death, and be cut off from amongst the living.

Vers. 21. He evil entreateth the barren, that beareth not; and doth not good to the widow. ] But rather hurt. Under these two particulars, of evil entreating the barren, and doing no good to the widow, all oppression of the needy and helpless is comprehended: and evil entreating the barren is made one of the great oppressions of the wicked, because therein they did afflict those that were in a sad afflicted condition before, and that had no children to rise up in their defense: and if it be meant of the hard usage of their own wives when they were barren, whom they should have comforted, and who dare not mutter against them, this must needs imply the greater cruelty. Some conceive that this is added, to show why the wicked, when they are dead, are no more minded nor remembered, as is said in the foregoing verse, to wit, because they were such merciless wretches whilst they lived, evil entreating the barren, &c. But I rather conceive that Job here returns to set forth the wickedness of those wretches, whom notwithstanding God suffers to live in prosperity, till they come at length to die in an ordinary way, as other men do.

Vers. 22. He draweth also the mighty with his power, &c.] Some understand this of God's punishing wicked men, to wit, that when he begins to contend with the wicked, he subdues or brings under the mightiest of them as well as the meanest; and so also they understand the following clause, he riseth up, that is, God riseth up to contend with wicked men; and no man is sure of life, no man can secure himself against the killing stroke of God's indignation, or the discovery of God's indignation makes every man afraid of his life. But the tenor of the words showeth clearly that Job still proceeds to describe the wickedness of wretched men, whom God notwithstanding prospers. He draweth also the mighty with his power : the meaning is, either that by his power he procures the mighty to side with him, judges, and magistrates, and great men, and so this makes him terrible to others, he riseth up, and no man is sure of life ; or else, that he draweth the mighty, to wit into his net, according to that, Psal. 10.9. he doth catch the poor when he draweth him into his net ; when he hath crushed the poor by his oppressions, then, encouraged hereby, he layeth wait also for the mighty, and subdues them, and brings them into subjection to him, even magistrates also and judges, whereby likewise he subverts all public order and government: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life ; that is, if any man rise up to oppose this oppressor, he shall but ruin and destroy himself thereby; or, Though the oppressor riseth up to make a Covenant of peace with men, yet they are all of them for all that afraid of their lives; there is no assurance in any vow or oath, whereby he engageth himself: Or rather, he riseth up to contend with the mighty, and the terrors of death presently seise upon them all. But if we read this last clause, as it is in the margin of our Bibles, He riseth up, and he trusteth not his own life, either it is meant of the oppressed, to wit, that he riseth up, namely, to sue for favor to the oppressor, or to fly from him, but do what he will, he trusteth not his own life, but gives himself for a dead man, because of the over-bearing power of his adversary; or else of the oppressor, to wit, that when he riseth to contend with the mighty, or every day he riseth, he is afraid of his own life, being still jealous, as tyrants are wont to be, that somebody or other will kill him.

Vers. 23. Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth, yet his eyes are upon their ways. ] Some Expositors understand this thus; that though the oppressed give gifts to the oppressor, that he may thereby purchase his peace, or, though the oppressor grants this to the oppressed, that he shall live in peace and safety by him, and thereupon he rests upon this his covenant and promise, that he will surely be as good as his word; yet the oppressor keeps his eyes upon these to whom he hath thus engaged himself, and watcheth all their ways, and if he can but get the least advantage against them, will be sure to crush them. But there are several other Expositions given of the words that seem far better then this; to wit, 1. that though God gives to the oppressor that which may well in outward appearance secure him in peace, and he rest hereon, yet it is not because God is ignorant of his wicked courses, seeing God's eyes behold all his ways: or 2. that though God lets him live in safety, and he rests hereon with great security, yet God's eyes are upon his ways to favor him and to bless him: or rather 3. that though it be given of God to wicked wretches that they live in peace and prosperity, and they resting hereupon are confident they shall never be moved, yet God takes strict notice of all their wicked ways, that he may be sure at last to charge them all upon them, and that he may take the fittest time to destroy them.

Vers. 24. They are exalted for a little while, &c.] to wit, both in estate and mind; but are gone and brought low, they are taken out of the way as all other ; that is, for all their greatness, on a sudden God pulls them down, and they are gone and laid in the grave, as other men, and often after the same manner as others are, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn ; that is, as high as they bear their heads, they are cut down as the corn in harvest, to wit, easily and in a trice, or not by any notorious judgment, but by an ordinary natural death, when they come to ripeness of years, as the corn is ripe in harvest. The drift of the verse may be to show, either that God cuts off the greatest of wicked men many times by a sudden stroke of judgment; or else rather, that after all their horrid wickedness, they are cut off by death in an ordinary way as all other men are.

Vers. 25. And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth? ] That is, If it be not as I have said, that God many times prospers the wicked, and afflicts the righteous, let any man that will, undertake to confute what I have spoken.

CHAP. XXV.

Vers. 1. THen answered Bildad, &c.] Eliphaz having replied the third time upon Job, chap. 22. it was now Bildads turn, who still spake next after Eliphaz, to reply again upon him; which therefore he doth in this Chapter, but very briefly: either as finding Job too strong for them; or as not having anything in a manner to say, but what he and his friends had said before; or rather, as concluding that, because of Jobs obstinacy, it was in vain indeed to talk any farther to him, there having been abundantly enough already said to him, but that nothing would convince him; which may be the cause also why Zophar, who should have replied in the third place upon Job, spake no more at all.

Vers. 2. Dominion and fear are with him, &c.] Because of these words with him, some limit this to the Lord's exercising of his Sovereigntie, and the manifestation of his dreadful Majesty in the heavens, his dwelling-place, to wit, that he rules the Angels in heaven, and that his presence there is so full of Majesty, that those holy spirits out of reverence and fear do cover their faces before him. But I conceive the words must be understood more generally; Dominion and fear are with him, that is, God is the Sovereign Lord over all, he it is that governs all things, and hath absolute power over all things in heaven and in earth; yea & in regard of this his Majesty and power a terrible God he is, and justly to be feared of all. But why doth Bildad speak of this here? I answer: Some conceive, that because Job had affirmed, that many wicked men run on in their lewd courses even to their dying day, and are never punished, therefore Bildad, as apprehending this to be in effect a denial of the power, justice, and providence of God, doth here set forth with what unresistable authority and power God doth rule and govern the whole world; thereby to intimate, that it is not therefore possible that he should suffer such wicked wretches to pass always unpunished. But I conceive there are two other ways, wherein Expositors do better set forth the aim of Bildad in these words: to wit, first, that he doth here set forth the infinite power, and Majesty, and goodness of God, that having afterward therewith compared the baseness and weakness of man, he might thence infer, how impossible it was that so poor a wretch should be found just before such a glorious God, and thereby condemns Job for justifying himself: or 2. that Bildad doth here speak of God's supreme Sovereigntie, and dreadful power and Majesty, thereby to discover the folly and arrogance of Job, in desiring so earnestly that he might plead his cause before God. Job had indeed in the beginning of his last answer protested, with a little too much confidence and boldness, that there was nothing he desired more, then that he might answer for himself before God's Tribunal, chap. 23.3, 4, 5. O that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his Seat: I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments; I would know the words which he would answer me, &c. Now though after this Job said much also, to prove that the wicked many times live and die in a flourishing condition, whilst the righteous are sorely oppressed and distressed; yet when Bildad came now to reply upon him, not being able to answer what he had said concerning the prosperity of the wicked, and the afflictions of the righteous, he gives not the least touch upon that, but as flying upon him for his confidence in desiring to plead his cause before God, as not doubting but that there he should be able to justify himself, he tells him here of the Sovereigntie and dreadful Majesty of God, and seeks thereby as it were to strike Job with the fear of his glorious Majesty and absolute power; and to intimate how strange it was, that he should dare so fearlessly to challenge God, as it were, to answer him, or that he should hope that God would lay by his Majesty and glory, that he might come and plead his cause before him, alluding to that which Job had said chap. 23.6. Will he plead against me with his great power? No, but he would put strength in me. As for the next clause, he maketh peace in his high places, either first, it must be meant of the heavens, and those that inhabit those heavenly places, as opposed to the world here below, to wit, that whereas here, by reason all things are corruptible and subject to change, and by reason of the wickedness of the devils and men, the elements and those things that are made thereof seem to be opposite one to another, and to fight one against another, and there is continually much rebellion against God; in the heavens it is quite otherwise, there is nothing but quietness and peace. And this too may be spoken, first, with respect to the Angels; of whom though there be a numberless number, and though they have differing ministries and employments, yet they are by the mighty power of God so established and ordered, that they all sweetly agree amongst themselves, and do all unanimously the will of their creator; they neither contend one with another, nor much less dare any of them contend with God: and hereby Bildad might imply, what an arrogancy it was in Job to think of contesting with God, which the Angels themselves dare not do. 2. It may be spoken with respect to the stars and heavenly Orbs: though the heavens be of such an incomprehensible vast bigness, and are whirled about daily with such a strange swift violence, though the stars be infinite in number, and though the orbs have their different and contrary motions, some moving far faster then others, some going one way and some another; yet they all observe the order, both for time and place, that God hath set them, in so much that there is not the least jarring amongst them, they do not in the least cross or hinder one another, but move all with one sweet consent according to the course that the Almighty hath prescribed them. Or 2. it may be meant of the upper regions of the air, to wit, that when all things are there tempestuous and stormy, God, when he pleaseth, doth presently quiet them, & make all calm. Or 3. it may be meant of the constant accomplishment of God's will by all the creatures in the world: he maketh peace in his high places, that is, God in his dwelling-place doth rule all things in a steadfast order; yea even here below, where there seems to be most confusion and rebellion against God by reason of sin, yet all things are so overruled by him, that nothing is done but according to his determinate counsel and will, and all is carried on for his glory. And this is added to make good the former clause, that Dominion and fear are with him, that is, to show that God ruleth all things, and that this all-wise and almighty God is therefore to be reverenced and feared of all.

Vers. 3. Is there any number of his armies? &c.] Whether we understand this particularly of the Angels, or of the stars (which are both sometimes styled God's armies or host, as Gen. 32.2. and Deut. 4.19. and are indeed innumerable) or else of all the creatures in general, which are all God's host (of which see the Note Gen. 2.1.) doubtless it is alleged to set forth the glorious Majesty of God's Dominion, who is thus magnificently attended with such numberless armies, and likewise his incomprehensible wisdom in the governing of them; and withal to discover the desperate boldness of those that dare contend with him, who hath such innumerable armies at his command, to fight against them, and destroy them.

And upon whom doth not his light arise? ] The meaning of this may be, that 1. God causeth the Sun to shine upon all, according to that, Matth. 5.45. He maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good ; or 2. that he doth behold and know all things, that nothing is covered in darkness in regard of God, but all things are light and manifest before him; or 3. that the light of his wisdom shines upon all, in that the ways of Angels and men, yea the operations of all the creatures are admirably directed and ordered thereby; or 4. that God is good unto all, in that all the good the creatures enjoy doth proceed from God's favorable goodness shining down upon them: Angels and men have the light of their reason and understanding from God, and both they and other creatures have their life (which is their light Joh. 1.4.) and their being from him; neither have they anything from themselves, but all is derived unto them from him, who is the father of lights, Jam. 1.17. This last I conceive is chiefly here intended. But however this is doubtless added, to set forth God's dominion over all things, how wonderful, dreadful, and unquestionable it is, and consequently how desperate a thing it must needs be for any man to contend with him.

Vers. 4. How then can man be justified with God? &c.] That is, Seeing God is so dreadful in all these regards, how can man hope to justify himself before God, by pleading with him, or to maintain that his sins deserve not so heavy punishments as God hath inflicted on him? Thus Bildad it seems understood Jobs words, chap. 23.10, 11, 12. and thence he presseth him with this absurdity. See the Note, chap. 9.20. How can he be clean that is born of a woman? See the Notes chap. 14.14. and 15.1, 4.

Vers. 5. Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea the stars are not pure in his sight. ] Some understand these words thus: that if God give a charge to the moon and the stars that they should not shine, they shall be straight quite void of light; and therefore much more is the Lord able easily to crush man, whatever he is, if he should offer to contend with him, man having no power but what he hath from God. But I rather conceive it is meant of the transcendent purity, and brightness, and glory of God above that of the moon and stars, and so is parallel with that, chap. 15.15. yea the heavens are not clean in his sight, of which see the Note there: And then this expression, Behold even to the moon, &c. must be understood as if he had said, Look up to the moon, and you shall see it shineth not, to wit, in comparison of God: or thus, Pitch your thoughts upon any of the creatures that have any shining brightness in them, beginning with those things that are below, gold, and silver, and precious stones, &c. and so ascending up even to the moon (which is particularly mentioned, and not the Sun, either because it is the lowest of the planets, and surpassing man in glory, or because we can better behold her brightness, and was therefore for her brightness usually called the Queen of heaven, Ier. 7.18.) and so from thence upward to the stars, which are in an orbe above all the planets (and so even the Sun is comprehended too) and, alas, the brightness of all these is infinitely short of the purity and resplendency of God: Or lastly thus, Behold, take all the bright shining lamps of heaven, descending from the highest even to the moon, the last and lowest of all the planets, (and so also the Sun is included too) and their brightness and purity is nothing to that of God's; they shine not, but are unclean, if compared with God. Some indeed add that the stars may be said to be unclean, because by the fall of man even they have contracted defilement, and so are blemished, and not wholly free from pollution in God's sight. However the drift of these words is, to show how foolish a thing it was in Job, in the confidence of the brightness of his conversation, to contend with God, before whom the heavenly lights are no other then as clouds and darkness.

Vers. 6. How much less man, that is a worm? &c.] That is, How much less can man be compared with God, who is so far inferior to those heavenly lights for purity and brightness? even no better then a worm, especially if compared with God, a weak, base, unclean thing, made of corruption, and sure at last to become worms meat, subject continually to dangers, as worms, whom every foot may crush, and of themselves utterly unable to defend themselves. See the Note, chap. 4.19.

CHAP. XXVI.

Vers. 2. HOw hast thou helped him that is without power? &c.] Job here answers Bildad, and that somewhat tartly, because he had spoken so impertinently, pressing still those truths concerning the infinite Majesty, power, and justice of God, which he did never deny, and that not for the comfort of Job, but rather to drive him to despair. The words must be understood as spoken ironically; and that either as spoken by way of upbraiding Bildad, for undertaking to plead God's cause for him, (according to that he had said before, chap. 13.7, 8.) and doing it withal so sillily, How hast thou helped him that is without power ? &c. as if he had said, If God be of such infinite Majesty and power as you have spoken, why do you think so highly of yourself, as to undertake to plead for him? sure you think that God hath no power to help himself, and is not able to plead his own cause, and therefore you step in to his aid: and how effectually have you done it! if you mark it, you have done it to great purpose, God is much the better for this help that you have afforded him: Or else as in relation to Job himself, How hast thou helped him that is without power ? &c. as if he had said, You have come a long journey purposely, as you pretended, to comfort a poor, fainting, helpless man; and have you not done it, think you, to the purpose? you make account you have done great wonders; but, alas, what am I the better for all that you have spoken? The truth is, it had been better for me if you had never come near me. And indeed this I take to be the true meaning of the words. As for that phrase in the last clause, of saving the arm that hath no strength, see the Note, chap. 4.3.

Vers. 3. How hast thou counseled him that hath no wisdom? &c.] This also is spoken ironically. And because they that speak that in defense of God and his works, which God never intended, do thereby as it were counsel and advise God what he should say or do, therefore many Expositors do also understand these words, as if Job did herein upbraid Bildad for undertaking to teach God, How hast thou counseled him that hath no wisdom? as if he should have said, You think that God is not wise enough to order his affairs in the government of the world without your advice; and oh what admirable wise and solid counsel have you given him! and accordingly also do they understand the following clause, and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is ? as if he had said, by way of scorn, you have now fully informed God how he ought to sway the affairs of his kingdom. But I rather think that Job speaks this also as in reference to himself, How hast thou counseled him that hath no wisdom? as if he had said, Sure you take me to be a man void of all wisdom and understanding, and so in pity to me have given me counsel: But, alas, if I be so, surely I am not like to be much the wiser for this counsel that you have given me: and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is ? as if he had said, You have now indeed hit the nail on the head, you have fully and convincingly opened the cause between God and me; and how? by speaking that which is nothing to the purpose, and by taking a great deal of pains to inform me of that which I knew before as well as yourself.

Vers. 4. To whom hast thou uttered words? &c.] This also was spoken either (as some think) as in relation to God, To whom hast thou uttered words ? that is, Is it to God you have addressed your words in this which you have spoken? and if so, have you considered who he is to whom you have spoken? what? will you undertake to teach the omniscient and all-wise God? which is the same in effect with that he had said before, chap. 21.22. of which see the Note there: Or else, as in relation to Job himself, To whom hast thou uttered words? as if he had said, Do you consider who I am, and in what condition I am? have you uttered words suitable to and fit for a man in such a sad distressed condition as I am? or, To whom hast thou uttered words ? is it not to one that knoweth these things as well as yourself? what do you take me to be? think you that I am so silly and ignorant, that I know not these things that you have uttered? It is the same he had said before, chap. 12.3. of which see the Note there. As for the following clause, and whose spirit came from thee ? it is expounded by Commentatours many several ways; of which three are most probable. First, some understand it thus, whose spirit came from thee ? that is, Did not God give thee that life and breath whereby thou hast spoken? and wilt thou teach him who gives thee life and breath, and who is the father of the spirits of all flesh? 2. Some make this to be the sense of the words; whose spirit came from thee ? that is, who is it that hath taught you these high mysteries? Did you speak them of yourself, and had you them from anybody else? or do you think that the spirit of God did dictate them to you? No, doubtless, such impertinencies were never of God's spirit, but of your own. And 3. others give this to be the meaning; whose spirit came from thee ? as if he had said, whose spirit hast thou revived by this which thou hast spoken? Surely not mine. Because when men's fainting spirits are revived by the consolations of a friend, they seem to receive a new life, as it were, and spirit from those that have thus cheered them up; therefore instead of saying, whom hast thou revived or comforted with thy words? he expresseth himself thus, whose spirit came from thee ?

Vers. 5. Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. ] or, with the inhabitants thereof. Here Job begins to show, that he could say as much or more of the infinite power and the all-ruling Providence of God, as Bildad had said; and to that end at first he instanceth in this, that God's Providence extends itself to the very bottom of the sea, where he forms not only the fishes that are to live there, but also divers dead things, as all kind of minerals, corall, pearls, amber, together with divers plants and herbs that grow there.

Vers. 6. Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering. ] As if he had said, You, Bildad, told me, that God maketh peace in his high places; but I can add hereto, that God's providence extends not only to the high places in heaven, but also to the low places and depths in hell. By destruction here almost all Expositors understand the place of destruction, to wit, the place of the damned; and then if by Hell in the first clause the same be meant, then the second clause is but only a repetition of what was said in the first. But by Hell others understand the grave, and consequently also all the hidden lower parts of the earth; and then the meaning is this, that God beholdeth all things, even the grave and hell, and all the lowest parts of the earth, he sees all that the grave hath devoured, and beholdeth what becomes of every part of man when the grave hath consumed him, and what the damned in Hell both do and suffer. And thus he confirms what Bildad had said chap. 25.3. (understanding it, as many do, of God's omniscience) upon whom doth not his light arise ? yea probable it is that Job the rather mentioned this, to imply to his friends that in regard of this omniscience of God, it would be a joy to him to appear before God, who knew him better then they did: and withal to wipe off that aspersion Eliphaz had cast upon him, chap. 22.13. And thou sayest, How doth God know? can be judge through the dark cloud?

Vers. 7. He stretcheth forth the North over the empty place, &c.] The meaning of this is, either that God stretcheth out the heavens from one Pole to another over the region of the air, (for the North, that is, the Northern part of heaven, the Hemisphere of the Arctick or Northern Pole, is here figuratively put for the whole heaven, because that part was nearest the climate where he dwelt; and the region of the air is called the empty place, because the air is as nothing, and what hath nothing but air in it we count empty, at least it is as nothing in regard of bearing up and supporting the heavens;) or else, that God stretcheth out the heavens even to the Northern pole, where the earth under it is uninhabited, and is therefore called here the empty place, meaning that God's providence orders all things that are done there, according to that, chap. 38.26. where God is said to cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man. And then in the next place, the earth is said to hang upon nothing, either in relation to the center of the earth, which is said to be through God's appointment the cause of the stability of the earth in its place, in regard all heavy things round about press thither, and yet is but an imaginary thing, indeed nothing; or else in relation to the earths hanging in the midst of the air, having nothing to support it, but God's almighty power.

Vers. 8. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds, &c.] That is, By a divine force he keeps them within the clouds, which himself hath made to be as it were the bottles of heaven, as they are called chap. 38.37. and the cloud is not rent under them ; that is, the waters do not break through with their weight, and fall down all together, but are let out by degrees, as through a strainer or watering-pot, when and how God is pleased.

Vers. 9. He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it. ] The highest Heaven is the throne of God, Esa. 66.1. and is so called, because there he manifests himself, as princes do upon their thrones, in greatest majesty and glory: and then the full discovery of that infinite light and glory wherein God dwells, is the face of his throne, which in this life is hidden from the best of his servants. Or else the clear and bright outside of heaven, which appears to the eye of man that looks up thither, is the face of his throne: and then therefore God holdeth back the face of his throne, when, as it is in the next clause, he spreadeth his cloud upon it, that is, when he withdraws it from the sight of man by overspreading it with clouds. See the Note, 2 Sam. 22.12.

Vers. 10. He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end. ] That is, as long as this world shall last: and it is said that God hath compassed the waters with bounds, both because he did at first dispose of the waters in those hollow places and channels of the earth, wherein they are now held, (of which see the Note, Gen. 1.9.) and also because by his Providence he doth still keep in the unruly waves, not suffering them to break out beyond the bounds whereto God hath confined them.

Vers. 11. The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his reproof. ] That is, When God shows himself in his indignation, in thundering and tempestuous storms or earthquakes, the very heavens seem as affrighted, to tremble as if the foundations thereof were shaken, yea the whole Universe seems to be moved, as a house built upon pillars totters when the pillars thereof are shaken, so that one would think that heaven and earth would come together. Some by the pillars of heaven here understand the angels; others the strength and powers of heaven; others those high mountains and hills which stand up in the air, as pillars supporting the heavens, and whereon the heavens to the eye of man seem to lean and rest, and are therefore called the foundations of heaven, 2 Sam. 22.8. of which see the Note there: but the first Exposition is most generally approved.

Vers. 12. He divideth the sea with his power, &c.] Some Expositors understand this of God's dividing the Red sea before the Israelites when he carried them out of Egypt; and accordingly also they understand the following clause, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud, to wit, that God by his wisdom drawing their enemies into the Red sea, as into a net, did there destroy that insolent tyrant Pharaoh, and with him those proud Egyptians that followed him. But I cannot conceive that Job intended any such thing, because first, it is generally held that Job lived long before Moses time; and 2. he seems all the way here to speak of the ordinary continual works of God's providence, and not of any such unusual and extraordinary work: and therefore it is not said that he divided, but he divideth the sea with his power. Nor is it much more probable that others say, that by these words, he divideth the sea with his power, is meant, that God causeth the waters of the sea through the earth to rise up in several fountains and springs, and so divideth it into several seas, and rivers, and brooks. The true meaning of these words I conceive is this, that God divideth the sea, that is, he breaks the waves thereof, and causeth them to cleave in sunder, and so to fight and dash one against another, to wit, when in tempestuous weather he maketh such gulfs in the sea, the waves standing up like mountains on each side of them, that the very foundations of the earth seem to be discovered, as is expressed 2 Sam. 22.16. of which see the Note there: and accordingly we must understand the following clause, of God's stilling the sea again when it is thus tempestuous, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. For though some by the proud here understand the whale, and that the rather, because the whale is elsewhere called a king over all the children of pride, chap. 41.34. and is many times cast up in great tempests, and left dead upon the land, yet I rather think that by the proud is meant the proud sea, according to a like expression, chap. 38.11. where God saith of the sea, here shall thy proud waves be stayed; and so the meaning is, that when the sea swells and rageth, and lifts up his proud waves as it were unto the clouds, God presently subdues and stills the proud sea, and makes it lie down as still as a dead man doth when he falls down, being smitten through by the sword or arrow of his enemy.

Vers. 13. By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens, &c.] Because in the foregoing verse Job had spoken of stilling the tempestuous sea, therefore some conceive here he shows how this is done, to wit, by a sudden clearing of the heavens: By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens, that is, By a fair gale of wind he drives away the clouds, and then the garnishing of the heavens with innumerable lights is evidently seen. But because our Translatours have rendered the words, not, he doth garnish, but, he hath garnished, therefore I rather understand it of God's creating the Sun, Moon, and stars at the first; By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens, that is, by his own essential power, or, by his holy spirit, he hath adorned the heavens with many glorious lights. As for the following clause, his hand hath formed the crooked serpent, some by the crooked serpent understand that meteor sometimes seen in the air, which naturalists call the flying serpent ; and others, those celestial circles or spheres, which are involved one within another, as a serpent wrappeth up himself in many folds, or else some of the Constellations of heaven; as some understand it of the Zodiac, which goes athwart the heavens; others of that which is called via lactea, the milky way; and others of that Constellation near the Northern Pole, which from its fashion or figure is called the Dragon or Serpent, that divides the two Bears with its tail; which may seem, I confess, the more probable, because of the joining of this with that foregoing clause of God's garnishing the heavens. But yet, because it may well be questioned, whether those figures of the heavenly Constellations which Astronomers have fancied, and the names which thereupon have been given them, were so ancient as the days of Job; I think it far more probable, which others say, that by the crooked serpent is meant all kind of serpents that crawl upon the earth, or all kind of sea-monsters that are in the Ocean; or, more particularly, the Whale, which is indeed elsewhere also called Leviathan, the piercing serpent, or, the Bar-like crooked serpent, Isa. 27.1; who thereupon do make the general drift of these words to be this, that as God made the beauteous lights of the heavens above, so he also made the most deformed and harmful creatures that are on the earth, or in the sea below, and that in both God hath manifested his almighty power.

Vers. 14. Lo these are parts of his ways, &c.] That is, his works, wherein he comes forth, as it were, and manifests himself unto men: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand ? Some understand this last clause thus, It is very little or nothing to speak of that we can hear from man concerning these wonders of God's works, but if God should speak of them himself, who could endure or understand him, when he should thunder out these things in his mighty power and Majesty? Others understand it properly of the thunder, which is indeed very terrible to all the creatures here below, to wit, that none can understand whence it is, or how it is done. But the best Exposition of the words I conceive is this, that by the thunder of his power is meant figuratively, either the might, and excellency, and terror of God's power, to wit, that it is incomprehensible, or else (which is much to the same effect) the declaration or sounding forth of God's power by the voice of all his works of Creation, according to that, Psal. 19.1. The heavens declare the glory of God, &c. which, because of its glorious excellency, and force, and terror, is called the thunder of his power; and because none can sufficiently understand so much of the mighty power of God as is taught us by the Creatures, therefore it is said, the thunder of his power who can understand? And indeed, in our ordinary speech, we use to say a man thunders it, when he speaks with mighty eloquence, vehemence and power; and chap. 39.25. the tumultuous noise of an army ready to the battle is called the thunder of the Captains. And thus hath Job shewn that he could say as much of the terrible might and Majesty of God as Bildad had said.

CHAP. XXVII.

Vers. 1. MOreover Job continued his parable. ] What is meant by a parable, see in the Note, Numb. 23.7. It was now Zophars turn to reply upon Job the third time, as Eliphaz and Bildad had done; and it seems that Job was silent a while, expecting his reply: but when he saw that neither he nor any of the other two offered to reply again upon him, (which was either because they had nothing farther to object against Jobs defense, or because they saw him so stiff, that they judged it in vain to talk any farther to him) then Job began again to plead his cause, much after the same manner as before; addressing his speech to them all jointly together, and that with some more courage then formerly, and as one that did in a manner triumph over them, as is expressed in the five following chapters.

Vers. 2. As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment, and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul, &c.] To assure his friends that he would speak nothing but the truth, that so they might the more regard what he said, and that by this solemn calling▪ God to witness of the truth of what he spake, he might win them to credit what he should say concerning his integrity, which by no other arguments he could hitherto bring them to believe, Job here swears solemnly by the living God, that (as it follows in the two next verses) as long as he breathed, his lips should not speak wickedness, nor his tongue utter deceit. As for that clause which he adds, concerning God's taking away his judgment, and the Almighty's vexing his soul, As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment, &c. some hold that he adds that as in relation to their opinion, As the Lord liveth, who, as you think, hath taken away my judgment, &c. but then others say, that by God's taking away his judgment he meant, either that God had not judged him according to his righteousness and integrity, or that God had bereaved him as it were of his righteousness, in that he had not cleared his innocence, to the stopping of the mouths of those that falsely accused him, but rather, by the severity of his proceedings against him, did seem to judge him to be a wicked wretch and an hypocrite, as they had censured him to be; as where God's people are charged with saying, Isa. 40.27. My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God, because they thought that God did not regard them as his people, in taking their part against their enemies: or else (as some conceive) that the Lord had abridged him of his right, in that he was not admitted to plead his cause before God, as he had often desired he might do. So that he doth not expressly accuse God of dealing unjustly with him, but only complains that God had not dealt with him according to the ordinary way of his proceedings with men, whereby his integrity was hidden and overclouded; neither could he perceive what the cause should be why God's hand was so heavy upon him. And in the oath he takes here, this he interposeth, who hath taken away my judgment, and hath vexed my soul, either to imply how safely they might believe, that he would do what he now engaged himself, seeing he durst, appeal to that God as a witness, who had hitherto dealt so severely with him; or else to intimate, that though God seemed to condemn him by the heavy pressures he had brought upon him, yet that should not make him cast off his confidence in God, or yield himself to be an hypocrite.

Vers. 4. My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit. ] This Protestation of Jobs, Expositors understand diversely. For first, some take it generally thus, that he would speak nothing falsely or dissemblingly, but would speak the truth from his heart: Secondly, others understand it as if he had said, that no severity of God's proceedings with him, nor no unjust censures of theirs, should make him utter a word whereby he might discover himself to be either a profane wicked wretch, or a dissembling hypocrite: and 3ly. (which I like best) others give this to be the meaning, that he would not wickedly, either for fear or flattery, betray the truth, or lie against his own conscience, by yielding to those false accusations which they had passed upon him, which he knew to be false.

Vers. 5. God forbid that I should justify you, &c.] To wit, by speaking or doing any wicked thing, which may seem to justify or make good those unjust censures of wickedness or hypocrisy, which you have passed upon me; or rather by yielding to that which you have said, that God for my wickedness and hypocrisy hath brought these miseries upon me.

Vers. 6. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go, &c.] That is, I have hitherto constantly persevered in a way of righteousness, and so I will still; or rather, I have hitherto resolutely maintained my integrity, and still I will maintain it: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live ; that is, my conscience shall not upbraid me for that which, were I guilty of it, would indeed be a shame and reproach to me, to wit, either for speaking or doing wickedly, or else rather for denying mine integrity.

Vers. 7. Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous. ] This is also divers ways understood by Expositors. Some say that Job here speaks ironically, and by the wicked unrighteous man means himself; as if he should have said, You judge me a wicked ungodly man, because of the extreme afflictions that lie upon me; but as sad as my condition is, so much good I wish my enemies that rise up against me, that I could be glad that they were in no worse a condition, then that poor wretch whom you so harshly condemn as a wicked man. Others again hold, that those that had robbed him of his estate, and other ways wronged him, are the enemies he here speaks of, and so make the sense of the words to be this, Let those that robbed me and wronged me be looked upon as wicked ungodly men: I for my part am no such man. Others again conceive, that by his enemies and those that rose up against him, Job meant these his friends, and so give this to be the sense of the words, Let those that condemn me for a wicked man, because of mine afflictions, bear the brand of wicked men, and not I that am innocent of those things they charge me with: as if he should have said, They that oppose the truth which I have maintained, that causelessly condemn me for a wicked wretch, they deserve to be judged wicked men better then I do: only some, to allay the sharpness of such a censure, say that Job doth not absolutely condemn them for wicked men, but only affirms that there was more of wickedness in that which they did, then there was in anything they could fasten upon him, Let mine enemy be as the wicked and as the unrighteous ; according to a like expression, chap. 2.10. Thou speakest as one of the foolish women. And lastly, others, most probably, conceive that in these words Job gives a farther proof of his integrity, Let mine enemy be as the wicked, &c. as if he had said, Though the wicked may live I know in a very prosperous condition, yet so far am I from liking their ways, that I could wish mine enemy no greater mischief, then that he should be a wicked man, or that God should deal with him as he will certainly deal with the wicked. And indeed the like expressions we often meet with, as 2 Sam. 25, 26. Let thine enemies and they that seek evil to my Lord be as Nabal : and so also 2 Sam. 18.32. and Dan. 4.19.

Vers. 8. For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul ?] The scope of these words, together with the following verses, is, either to show how far he was from being a wicked hypocrite, as they had judged him to be, by declaring what thoughts he had of the wretched condition of such men, to wit, that when God comes to seise upon them by the harbingers of death, and to take or pluck away their souls, though they had gained never so much before, and so thereby God seemed to prosper them, they must needs be then in a hopeless and comfortless condition, because all that they placed their hopes in, their wealth, and friends, and other things shall fail them; and whereas they promised themselves long life, and much pleasure in their estates, they shall find their hopes herein disappointed, and in God, who then shows himself an enemy, they can have no confidence: Or else, to prove that his friends might have discerned a difference betwixt him and hypocrites, even in these sad calamities that had befallen him, and therefore had no cause to censure him so harshly; to wit, because though outwardly it fares alike with the righteous and the hypocrite, yet their carriage of themselves in the hour of adversity is very different, the hypocrite not having then any hope in God, when God summons him by death, which the righteous have: from whence he intimates, that since he in his lowest estate did still hope in God, and pray to God, and desired to plead his cause before God, they might hereby plainly perceive that he was not an hypocrite. And to the same purpose is that which follows.

Vers. 9. Will God hear his cry, when trouble cometh upon him ?] That is, when either trouble and terrors of conscience, or any outward distress do seise upon him.

Vers. 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty ? &c.] That is, when he sees that he is likely to be taken away from all the comforts he enjoyed here, will he then comfort himself in God alone, as acknowledging him to be alone an all-sufficient ground of joy and comfort? or, though God's hand be never so heavy upon him, will he notwithstanding still cleave to God, and delight himself in him, as knowing that God is well pleased with him? will he always call upon God ? that is, not only in adversity, but in his prosperity too? and so also not only in prosperity, but in times of distress too? yea though his afflictions be never so sore, and of never so long continuance?

Vers. 11. I will teach you by the hand of God, &c.] Some translate this, as it is in the margin of our Bibles, I will teach you being in the hand of God, and so take the sense of the words to be this, that whereas hypocrites in distress have no hope in God, it was not so with him; for though he were at the present under the afflicting hand of God, he would teach them better. But taking the words as they are in our Bible, the meaning must be either thus, I will teach you by the hand of God, that is, God assisting me, or by God's special inspiration, I will teach you; as where the prophet saith, Isa. 8.11. the Lord spake to me with a strong hand, and instructed me : or else thus rather, I will teach you by the hand of God, that is, I will teach you by showing you the mighty power of God, and the glorious works of his hand, to wit, what are the usual dispensations of his Providence both toward the righteous and toward the wicked. And hereto agreeth the following clause, that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal; that is, I will not conceal the decrees and judgments which God daily executes in the world, sometimes prospering, and sometimes punishing both the wicked and the righteous. And indeed of all these he speaks in his following discourse; and this he premiseth beforehand, either that he might quicken their attention, by showing what great and high things they were, of which he meant to speak; or else thereby to give them to understand, that he should plainly discover by the usual ways of God's proceedings, that there is no judging of men by their outward condition.

Vers. 12. Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it, &c.] As if he should have said, You are learned wise men, men that observe the ways and works of God, at least such you boast yourselves to be; and therefore herein I dare appeal to yourselves, concerning the truth of that which I have said, and that which I shall now farther say; you yourselves have known it, and have seen it so in your own experience. But what was it they had seen? Some refer it to that which he had said concerning his innocence; some to that foregoing observation of his, that he had not carried himself in his distress as hypocrites used to do: But I conceive it is best referred to that which he meant now to teach them, as he had said in the foregoing verse, concerning God's dispensing the same, both blessings and afflictions, to the wicked and to the righteous; This, saith he, ye yourselves have seen; and then he adds, why then are ye thus altogether vain? that is, why do you so vainly conclude that God always punisheth wicked men, and prospers the righteous, and thereupon condemn me for an hypocrite? why do you multiply words nothing to the purpose, not giving any one solid answer to that which I have objected, and yet persevere in condemning me upon grounds so palpably false?

Vers. 13. This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, &c.] Zophar had said the very same in effect, chap. 20.29. of which see the Note there; and therefore some think that Job, in this and the following verses, doth only allege what his friends had said, and that to show why he had charged them in the foregoing verse, that they were altogether vain, to wit, that they had said, This is the portion of a wicked man with God, &c.] But I doubt not but Job delivers this as his own judgment. And yet he doth not hereby recant what he had formerly said concerning the prosperity of the wicked, nor yield to that which his friends had hitherto maintained, to wit, that God doth always manifest his indignation against wicked men by punishing them here in this world; only to clear his meaning in that he had said concerning the prosperous condition of the wicked, to show that he was willing to yield to all that was truth in that which his friends had said, and that so much he was able to say as well as they, he grants them here thus much, that indeed many times the prosperity of the wicked did end in extreme misery; though they might long live free from punishment, yet often that befell them at last, even here in this world, which God, who is Almighty, had appointed them for their portion and inheritance, and therefore the mightiest of these oppressors are not able to resist it: and then afterwards he adds, what it was wherein he opposed his friends, to wit, that it was not always thus, but that many times on the other side in his secret wisdom, whereof he speaks much in the following chapter, the righteous were afflicted sorely, whilst the wicked lived in great prosperity.

Vers. 14. If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword, &c.] Against which, though they be never so many, they shall not be able to defend themselves: and so that which might seem to the wicked man at first a pledge of God's favor, shall be found at last to have been given merely for the increase of his future misery, that he might have many children to be devoured by the sword, to wit, the sword of God's vengeance, or rather the sword of an enemy; for the following clause makes this later Exposition the more probable, and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread, that is, they shall not only live in penury and want, but shall even perish by famine.

Vers. 15. Those that remain of him shall be buried in death, &c.] That is, those of his children and children's children that remain, and are not cut off by sword or famine, shall die yet of some other disease, and so shall be buried; though they lived as if they should never die, yet they shall be buried in death, that is, they shall die, and being dead shall be buried. I know there are divers other Expositions given of these words: as thus, they shall be buried in death, that is, they shall die, and rot when they die, and that shall be all their burial, according to that Jer. 16.4. Or, they shall be buried in death, that is, whilst they are yet dying, before the breath be well out of their bodies, at least so soon as ever they are dead, they shall be presently clapped into the grave, without any funeral rites and solemnities; Or, they shall be buried in death, that is, so soon as they are dead, they shall be buried in oblivion, their name and memory shall be buried with them; Or, they shall be buried in death, that is, in the grave, which is called the chambers of death, Prov. 7.27. But the first Exposition is, I conceive, as the plainest, so the best. And as for the following clause, And his widows shall not weep, it is expressed in the plural number, his widows, either because they had in those times many wives, or else because it comprehends the widows of the wicked man's whole family: and by not weeping is meant, either that through extreme penury they should not be able to make any funeral for him; or else that indeed they should not mourn for his death: and that either because their miseries should be so many and so exceeding great, that being as it were stupefied thereby they should not be able to weep; or else rather because they should be indeed glad that they were rid of him.

Vers. 18. He buildeth his house as a moth, &c.] It may be said that the wicked man buildeth his house as a moth, 1. because he builds it with much pains and skill, as the moth makes her nest: 2. because he doth even wast himself in the doing of it, even as a moth makes her bag or silken woolly nest out of her own bowels: 3. because he builds his house with the spoil and ruin of others, as the moth eats the garment where she builds her nest: But 4. that which I conceive is chiefly intended is, because though he buildeth his house, as if he hoped to dwell there forever, yet both he and it shall suddenly be destroyed, as when the moth is quickly brushed or shaken out of the garment, where she had made her nest. For upon the like ground, Bildad had before compared the wicked man's house to the house of a spider, chap. 8.14. of which see the Note there. And to the same purpose in the next clause it is said, that it shall be as a booth that the keeper maketh: For if it be meant of those that are set to keep a vineyard or a garden of fruits, they use only to make some slight booth of the boughs of trees, and perhaps stolen out of the neighbors hedges or woods, which, so soon as the fruits are fully ripe and gathered, and the keeper gone, are quickly broken down and burnt up by the poor, or fall down of themselves: and if it be meant of those that keep cattle, their booths or tents seldom stand so long, because they so often remove to seek for fresh pasture.

Vers. 19. The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered, &c.] That is, He shall die as others, but he shall not be buried as others, at least not with the solemnity of friends attending him to his grave. For that by being gathered is meant buried, we may see in many other places; as where it is said of Aaron, Numb. 20.26. he shall be gathered and shall die there, and of Josiah, 2 Kings 22.20. I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave, and of the Jews, Jer. 8.2. they shall not be gathered neither buried, they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth. And hereto agrees also the following clause, he openeth his eyes, and he is not : for though, because this is mentioned after his death and burial, therefore some Expositors understand it of the wicked man's soul after it is parted from his body, to wit, that he then sees with the eyes of his mind, that he is cut off from the land of the living; yet I think we may better take it as a farther amplification of that which was said already in the foregoing clause, he openeth his eyes, and he is not, that is, whilst he is looking about him, and beholding with much joy the riches he hath stored up for many years, in an instant he is gone; or thus, He openeth his eyes lying on his death-bed, looking about for help, ease or comfort, but instead thereof he perceives himself a dead man, ready to be taken from all his comforts; or thus, Being yet in his former condition, in the twinkling of an eye he is taken away.

Vers. 20. Terrors take hold on him as waters, &c.] That is, when God brings his judgments upon him, and especially when he sees death approaching, the terrors of an evil conscience, yea many and manifold affrightments besides shall suddenly, unexpectedly and unresistably surprise and overwhelm him, as when an unexpected flood of waters breaks forth upon men, and overwhelms them. We have had formerly expressions much like to this, concerning which see the Notes chap. 18.11. and 20.25. and 22.11. And doubtless of this affrighting evil must the following clause be understood, a tempest stealeth him away in the night ; that is, the wrath of God, or some grievous judgment from God comes upon him with unresistable violence, when he least thinks of it, (as it were in the night) and carrieth him away, to wit, out of the world, or out of that pompous condition wherein he lived.

Vers. 21. The East wind carrieth him away, &c.] This is also meant, as the foregoing clause, of the wrath or Judgments of God; which are compared to the East wind, because that wind in those Eastern countries used to be most violent, and is therefore called the wind of the Lord, Hos. 13.15.

Vers. 22. For God shall cast upon him, and not spare; he would fain flee out of his hand. ] That is, God, in this tempest of his wrath, shall shower down Judgments upon him as thick as hail-stones, without showing him anymore pity, then he hath formerly shewn to others; so that though he would fain flee from his vengeance, yet he shall not be able.

Vers. 23. Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place. ] To wit, by way of wonder, derision and scorn; but especially by way of rejoicing, that the world is rid of such an oppressing miscreant, and that the just judgments of God are at last executed upon him: for in these regards men are said to hiss and clap their hands, in other places of Scripture, as Lam. 2.15. All that pass by clap their hands at thee, they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call the perfection of beauty? &c. and so also Ezek. 25.6. and 1 Kings 9.8.

CHAP. XXVIII.

Vers. 1. SVrely, there is a vein for the silver, and a place for the gold, where they fine it. ] To wit, which men, by the natural wisdom which God hath given them, do search and find out for their use, though they lie deep in the earth, many times under hills and mountains; and being so far out of sight, and so hard to be discerned where they are, one would wonder how they should be discovered. The greatest difficulty is to know, what it is that Job aims at in those words of his set down in this chapter, and what dependence they have with that which went before. Some conceive that Jobs drift here is to show, that though worldly men do gather all variety of earthly treasures, yet the godly have a treasure above all these, which is true wisdom, consisting in the knowledge and fear of God, verse. 28. Others hold that Job labors to make out this, that if God disposeth of all things with great wisdom, and there is nothing done to any of the creatures without just reason, much less can we think that God would punish man causelessly. Others again say, that having set down in the foregoing chapter the miserable end of those foolish men, that sought by wickedness to make themselves great, here now he shows the reason, why such men did not seek after true wisdom, to wit, because they knew not where it was to be had, namely with God, and so set their hearts merely upon earthly things. But that which I find both most commonly, and most probably held by Expositors concerning the scope of this chapter, and the connection thereof with that which went before, is this, that having in the foregoing chapter yielded, that God doth often bring ruin upon wicked men here in this world in the conclusion, in this chapter now he undertakes to show, that yet notwithstanding the wisdom of God in many other strange dispensations of his Providence is altogether unsearchable, (as namely when he doth sometimes on the other side prosper the wicked and afflict the righteous) thereby to prove that his friends were altogether vain, as he had said, chap. 27.12. in judging so peremptorily that he was wicked, because of his afflictions; as if there could not be in these proceedings of God with him a secret depth of wisdom, which they were not able to dive into. Only for the farther illustration of the unsearchableness of God's wisdom, first he shows here, in the beginning of the chapter, what deep secrets of Nature man by his wisdom hath searched out, instancing in the finding out, the melting and fining the several minerals, that lie deep and hidden in the bowels of the earth; and then afterwards adds verse. 12. that though the most hidden secrets of nature are thus found out by the wisdom of man, yet the wisdom of God they cannot search out, But where, saith he, shall wisdom be found ? &c. where by wisdom is meant the wisdom of God in his unsearchable ways, as when he prospers the wicked, and afflicts the righteous, &c.

Vers. 2. Iron is taken out of the earth (or dust) and brass is molten out of the stone. ] That is, Iron is taken out of a brittle kind of earth, wherewith it is mixed; and brass out of the stone wherewith it is, as it were, incorporated: it is commonly called the Cadmian stone, as being a hard mass like a stone, and mingled with stone.

Vers. 3. He setteth an end to darkness, &c.] Some understand this of God's putting an end to the darkness of the night, by causing the light of the day to succeed in the room thereof: and others understand it generally thus, that man, by the natural wisdom that God hath given him, discovers and finds out the most hidden and unknown things. But the most Expositors hold, that Job still proceeds to speak of that choice art of discovering and drawing forth the minerals that are in the bowels of the earth, yea and perhaps in the sea also. He setteth an end to darkness. It is spoken either of man, to wit, that men by going into those mines which they have digged deep in the earth, with candles or torches in their hands, do there discover those minerals, which had from the creation lain hid there in darkness; or that by fetching them out thence, they bring those treasures to light, which had been always before hidden in darkness (for though there be no express mention made of man in the foregoing verses; yet because in that which he had said before concerning the taking of gold, silver, iron and brass out of the earth, his meaning was, that those things were done by man, therefore as in relation still to man, by whom those things were done, he adds these words also, He setteth an end to darkness :) Or else it is spoken of God, to wit, that He, namely by man as his instrument, and by the art and skill that he hath given to man, putteth an end to darkness, that is, as is before said, by discovering to man, and bringing forth to open view by the skill and industry of man, those precious minerals, that lay so low in the dark bowels of the earth, that one would have thought it impossible they should ever have been discovered. He putteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: that is, by searching he finds out and brings to light all the perfection of nature; or, those things which are most precious and hardliest found, man discovers perfectly. The phrase may imply both the preciousness of those things that are found out, and likewise the bringing of them to their full perfection; and the drift of all is still to show, that all finite things man is able to comprehend, only the wisdom of God is incomprehensible. As for the following clause, the stones of darkness and the shadow of death, thereby is meant either those gems and precious stones, which are indeed of all other things most highly prized, and therefore may be mentioned here as the perfection of nature, or else any mineral stones, yea and even those flints and rocky stones which they dignity through, that they may come at the mineralls: all which may be called stones of darkness and the shadow of death, because they lie hid in the dark bowels of the earth, where never light was seen; and perhaps because those that descend into those dark and deadly vaults of the earth, are exposed there to manifold dangers of death. But what is meant by the darkness of the shadow of death, see more fully in the Note, chap. 3.5.

Vers. 4. The flood breaketh forth from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot, &c.] A very hard place this is, and therefore Expositors differ much concerning the meaning of it. But because the drift of the Chapter is clearly to show, that however man, by the wisdom that God hath given him, is able to find out many secret things, and to effect matters of great wonder, yet he is no way able to comprehend the unsearchable wisdom of God; therefore there are only two Expositions which to me seem probable, as being agreeable to the general drift of Job in this place. The first is, that it is meant of men's finding out the way to turn the waters of rivers into other channels, or of draining lands that are overflown and drowned with waters: for by the flood that breaketh forth from the inhabitant is meant, either the streams that break through or over the banks of the Sea or rivers, and so overflow those grounds which were dry land, good pasture or arable before, and are said to break forth from the inhabitant, because they break forth from the inhabitants that dwell on the banks of those rivers, or notwithstanding all that the inhabitants can do to damme them or keep them up, and drown some adjoining grounds, where the foot of man never trod on water, or where never man remember'd any such flood of waters before, and are therefore termed waters forgotten of the foot ; and then the draining of these grounds, by carrying these waters away in channels digged for that purpose, is expressed in the following words, they are dried up, they are gone away from men : Or by the flood that breaketh forth from the inhabitant is meant that torrent of waters, which breaketh forth from rivers, or overfloweth grounds in those new channels, which are made by the inhabitants thereabouts for the diverting of those rivers some other way, or for the draining of those fenny grounds; which waters are therefore called the waters forgotten of the foot, because when they are thus carried some other way, men walk dry-foot over those old channels, where the rivers did formerly run, or over those grounds that had been long drowned under water, as if they had forgotten that ever there had been waters there, and so the grounds are then made habitable, dry, and useful for seed or pastorage, from whence they had no benefit before: which is intimated in the last words, as a matter of wonder, they are dried up, they are gone away from men. The second Exposition is, that here an instance is given of a wonderful difficulty, which those that work in mines underground do sometimes meet with, which yet the wisdom of man finds a way to overcome, to wit, that when men are digging in those mines many fathom under ground, a flood of waters sometimes breaks out upon those poor wretches that dwell there in those dark caves of the earth, though they do what they are able to prevent it, even a flood of waters which the foot of man never waded nor came near, and whereof they had not the least knowledge, The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant, even the waters forgotten of the foot ; but yet, by the art and industry of man, laboring day and night by engines made with wheels, these waters are drawn up in huge leather vessels made of Ox hides, and there above ground are poured forth and carried away, they are dried up, they are gone away from men.

Vers. 5. As for the earth, out of it cometh bread, and under it is turned up as it were fire. ] As if he should have said, And thus man, by the wisdom and skill which God hath given him, gets bread out of the upper part of the earth, (and it may be spoken with reference particularly to that land spoken of in the foregoing verse, which by his art he hath drained from the waters) and then out of the bowels of it he gets other precious things. For by as it were fire in the last clause must needs be meant either the materials of fire, as coals, brimstone, &c. or metals that are to be melted and fined in the fire, or rather glittering gold, and sparkling precious stones, which for their splendor, when they are digged up, seem to have the appearance of fire. I know that there are some Expositors that do far otherwise understand this place, holding that Job speaks here of the strange and wonderful works of God, to wit, that in the same place he hath made the upper part of the earth fat and fruitful for the yielding of corn, and the under part of it nothing but veins of sulphur and such like: or that the Lord makes that land sulphureous, hot and fiery, and therefore barren, which yielded before exceeding good corn. But the first Exposition is clearly the best.

Vers. 6. The stones of it are the place of Sapphires, and it hath dust of gold. ] That is, out of the stone-quarries therein they get Sapphires, and out of the mold thereof they gather gold, dust of gold or gold ore.

Vers. 7. There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vultures eye hath not seen, &c.] Though some conceive the meaning of these words to be this, that men search for precious minerals in those desolate places, which neither bird nor beast will come near, because of the sulphureous smell that is there; yet I rather think that they are a poetical expression of the inaccessiblenesse of those ways, which men by digging and mining pass through, to find out those minerals and precious stones which they seek after, to wit, that they are paths which never creature found out before: fowls that will be flying into any place, yea even those that are most quick-sighted, as vultures and others, could never discover these secret paths; and those savage beasts, lions and such like, that use to find out the secretest and deepest caves and dens of the earth to hide themselves in, did never set foot there: for that also is added in the following verse, the lions whelps have not trodden, nor the fierce lion passed by it.

Vers. 9. He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots. ] As before verse. 3. so here also, in these three following verses, some Expositors hold that Job speaks of several great and wonderful works of God; as first here, that God sometimes by terrible earthquakes rendeth rocks in sunder and overturneth mountains; secondly verse. 10. that he causeth rivers many times to break forth out of flinty rocks, and that there is nothing hid from him; and thirdly verse. 11. that oft times he drieth up rivers, and so discovers what before lay hid there under deep waters. But, as is before noted, it is far more agreeable to the scope of Job, to understand all these passages of those things which are done by the wisdom and skill which God gives to man: as first, that he putteth forth his hand upon the rock, &c. that is, man in searching for minerals and precious stones cutteth his way oft times through the flint or rock, and overturneth mountains by the root, to wit, either by digging them down to the very bottom, and carrying them away, or rather by mining under them, whereby the foundations indeed of mountains are removed, and sometimes at length the mountains themselves do sink down into them: secondly, verse. 10. that he cutteth out rivers among the rocks ; whereby may be meant, either that when rivers have rocks on each side of them, there being no other way to drain them, man cutteth channels through the very rocks, that so the waters may be carried away thereby, and so the precious things that lie in the bottom of the old channels may be discovered; or else, that when men are working in mines underground, they cut passages through hard rocks many times, to wit, either to convey away those floods and torrents of waters that there break in upon them, and hinder their work, or else to convey some streams of waters thither from other places, to set their water-mils on work, whereby they wash the ore wherein the gold & other minerals are found, &c. and so his eye seeth every precious thing,