XV.

Eliphaz returns to the argument with the repetition of what he and his friends have said before. He reproaches Job, professes a high idea of the majesty and righteousness of God, and reiterates the assertion that the wicked man, by the sure retribution of the Divine Providence, receives the reward of his iniquity in this world. In verse 16 he uses strong general language, which is probably meant to reflect on Job, and the inference is suggested that Job himself, because so sorely chastened, must be wicked.

(2) Should a wise man utter vain knowledge...-Job therefore is not wise, and his words have been vain and windy.

(3) Should he reason with unprofitable talk? -Nay, his arguments, though pretentious and apparently recondite, are unprofitable, and can do no good.

(4) Yea, thou castest off fear.-The tendency also of Job has been to encourage a kind of fatalism (e.g., chap. xii. 16-25), and therefore to check the offering of prayer to God, besides setting an example which, if followed, as from Job's position it was likely to be, would lead to murmuring and blasphemy.

(5) Thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity. These words may mean either "Thy mouth teacheth thine iniquity," or "Thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth," and the second clause must be taken adversatively or otherwise according as we understand the meaning, "Thy

mouth proclaimeth thine iniquity, though thou choosest the tongue of the crafty, and so contrivest in some degree to conceal it;" or, "Thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth its eloquence, and by consequence thou choosest the tongue of the crafty." We incline to the latter, though it is fair to say that the next verse seems rather to favour the other meaning.

(7) Art thou the first man that was born ?— This is a retort upon chap. xii. 2, 7, and 9, where Job had claimed equal knowledge for the inanimate creation.

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(11) Are the consolations of God small with thee ?-This is one of the obscure phrases of Job upon which it is very difficult to decide. The Authorised Version gives very good sense, which seems to suit the context in the following verse; but it is susceptible of other phases of meaning: e.g., or a word that dealeth gently with thee (2 Sam. iv. 5), such as ours have been (?)"; or "the word that he hath spoken softly with thee" (but see verse 8); or, again, “the consolations of God may mean strong consolations (Ps. lxxx. 11), such as ours have been, spoken in strong language," in which case the second clause would mean, "Was thine own speech gentle ?" "Small with thee " means, of course, too small for thee.

(12) What do thy eyes wink at ?-Or, Why do they wink? as though it was only thou who perceivedst it.

(14) What is man ?-This is the ceaseless burden. (See chaps. iv. 17, ix. 2, xxv. 4, &c.)

(15) Behold.-Comp. chaps. iv. 18, v. 5.

a ch. 4. 18.

(16) How much more abominable and filthy is man ..-This strong language, thus couched in general terms, is doubtless intended to reflect on Job, otherwise it would not need to have been so strong.

(18) Which wise men have told from their fathers. Here he adopts the language of Bildad (chap. viii. 8), appealing both to his own experience and that of universal tradition in an age prior to civil commotion and foreign disturbance.

(20) Travaileth with pain.-This and the following verses contain the result of this experience. Here, again, we have a highly-coloured and poetical description of the oppressor, true to the character of the speaker in chap. iv. 12, &c. We should read verse 20: The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor. It is not an independent statement, as in the Authorised Version. A sound of terror is for ever in his ears lest the spoiler should come upon him in his prosperityhe always seems to dread his war-swoop. And this condition of darkness within, which contrasts so painfully with his outward prosperity, he sees no escape from; he is ever in fear of a sword hanging over him, like Damocles.

(23) He wandereth abroad for bread.-This is one of the points in which the picture seems inconsistent, because overdrawn, except that forage as well as plunder may be the object of marauding raids.

(21) As a king ready to the battle.-Or, They prevail against him like a king: he is destined to be like a ball (comp. Isa. xxii. 18), the tennis-ball of calamity.

25) For he stretcheth out his hand.-It is instructive to note the difference in time indicated here.

of Wicked Men.

He knoweth that the day of darkness

is ready at his hand.

(24) Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid;

They shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

(25) For he stretcheth out his hand against God,

And strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

(26) He runneth upon him, even on his neck,

Upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:

(27) Because he covereth his face with his fatness,

And maketh collops of fat on his flanks.

(28) And he dwelleth in desolate cities, And in houses which no man inhabiteth,

Which are ready to become heaps. (29) He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,

Neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.

(30) He shall not depart out of darkness; The flame shall dry up his branches,

"Because he hath stretched out his hand against God, and behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty. He runneth upon Him with haughty neck, with the thick bosses of his bucklers; " fully protected as he supposes against the vengeance of the Most High. (Comp. Ps. x. 6, 11, &c.) The English version, with less probability, represents the armour as being God's; on the contrary, it is the wicked man's prosperity which hath thus blinded and hardened him. (See Deut. xxxii. 15; Ps. xvii. 10.)

(28) Which are ready to become heaps.-This completes the description of the haughty tyrant. He dwelt in cities that are to be desolate, or that are desolate, which are ready to become heaps. This may point either to what they were in his intention, or to what he had made them, or to what, in the opinion of the speaker, they were likely to become, notwithstanding his having fortified and dwelt in them.

(29) He shall not be rich.-Now comes the destiny which awaits him in the judgment of the speaker. "Neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth." The word rendered "perfection thereof" occurs nowhere else, so that it is very doubtful what it means. Some render, "Neither shall their produce (that of the wicked) bend (luxuriantly) to the earth;' or, "their possessions or their achievements extend on the earth."

(31) Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity. Or, Let him not trust in vanity deceiving himself. (Comp. James i. 26; 1 Sam. xii. 21.)

(32) It shall be accomplished.-That is, paid in full before its time.

The remainder of this chapter calls for little explanation. In it the speaker only repeats the orthodox and familiar saw that the wicked are punished in life, and therefore, by implication, the good rewarded: a maxim which fails utterly in the face of afflictions like those of Job, unless, as his friends insinuated, he was one of the wicked. After stating the doom of the ungodly, Eliphaz, in the last verse, sums up the character of those he has been denouncing. Not only are they evil in themselves, but they hatch evil; but it is evil that recoils on themselves. (34) Desolate.-This was Job's own word (chap. iii. 7), and as it is an uncommon word, there may be some intentional reference to his use of it.

XVI.

(1) Then Job answered.-Job, in replying, ceases to continue the argument, which he finds useless; but, after complaining of the way his friends have conducted it, and contrasting the way in which they have treated him with that in which he would treat them were they in his case, he proceeds again to enlarge upon his condition, and makes a touching appeal to Heaven, which prepares us for the more complete confession in chap. xix. He ends by declaring that his case is desperate.

(2) I have heard many such things.-Trite rather than true, or at least the whole truth.

"Common is the common-place,

And vacant chaff well meant for grain."

his Friend's Unmercifulness.

I could heap up words against you,
And shake mine head at you.

(5) But I would strengthen you with my mouth,

And the moving of my lips should asswage your grief.

(6) Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged:

And though I forbear, what am I eased?

(7) But now he hath made me weary:

Thou hast made desolate all my company.

(8) And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against

me:

And my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face.

(9) He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth

me:

He gnasheth upon me with his teeth; Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon

me.

(10) They have gaped upon me with their mouth;

They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully;

They have gathered themselves together against me.

(3) Shall vain words have an end ?-The English idiom rather requires, "Shall not vain words have an end? for if not, what emboldeneth or provoketh thee that thou answerest ?" Eliphaz had contributed nothing to the discussion in his last reply; he had simply reiterated what had been said before.

(4) If your soul.-i. e., person="If you were in my place, I could heap up words," &c. It is doubtful whether this is in contrast to what comes afterwards in the fifth verse, as in the Authorised Version, or whether it may not be in parallelism with it; thus: "I would make myself a companion to you-condole and sympathise with you in words, and shake my head at you as a mark of sympathy." The phrase differs somewhat from that in Ps. xxii. 7; Isa. xxxvii. 22, where to shake the head expresses contempt and derision. (6) Though I speak "I cannot but reply,

though to reply gives me no relief.”

(7) But now he hath made me weary.-He turns again, in his passionate plaint, to God, whom he alternately speaks of in the third person and addresses in the second. Thou hast made desolate all my company," by destroying all his children and alienating the hearts of his friends.

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(8) Witness against me.-As in chap. x. 17. The wrinkles in his body, caused by the disease, were a witness against him; and certainly, in the eyes of his friends, they furnished unquestionable proof of his guilt.

(9) He teareth me in his wrath.-Terrible as the language is that Job has used against God, he seems here almost to exceed it, for he calls Him his adversary. It is hardly possible not to understand the expression of

God, for though he immediately speaks of his friends, yet just afterwards he openly mentions God.

(11) The ungodly and the wicked are the terms he retorts upon his friends, and they have certainly earned them. Now follows

(12) I was at ease.-A highly poetical passage, in which Job becomes, as it were, a St. Sebastian for the arrows of God. It is hardly possible to conceive a more vivid picture of his desolate condition under the persecuting hand of the Almighty.

(15) I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin. -Referring, probably, to the state of his skin, which had become hard and rugged as sackcloth. As the second half of the verse must be figurative, there seems to be no reason to understand the first half otherwise. (16) Foul.-Rather, perhaps, red, as with wine. (17) Not for any injustice.-Literally, for no injustice, just as in Isa. liii. 9: "because he had done no violence," should be "not because he had done any violence, or because deceit was in his mouth."

(18) Let my cry have no place. That is, “Let there be no place in the wide earth where my cry shall not reach: let it have no resting place: let it fill the whole wide earth."

(19) My witness is in heaven.-It is very important to note passages such as these, because they help us to understand, and serve to illustrate, the famous confession in chap. xix. This is surely a wonderful declaration for a man in the position of Job. What can the believer, in the full light of the Gospel revelation, say more, with the knowledge of One in heaven ever making intercession for him? And yet Job's faith had risen to such a height as this, and had grasped such a hope as this. In no other book of the Bible is there such a picture of faith clinging to the all-just God for justification as in the Book of Job.

(20) My friends scorn me.-Or, as an apostrophe, "Ye my scorners who profess and ought to be my friends: mine eye poureth out tears unto God that

(18) O earth, cover not thou my blood, And let my cry have no place.

(19) Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven,

And my record is on high.

(20) My friends scorn me:

But mine eye poureth out tears unto God.

(21) O that one might plead for a man with God,

As a man pleadeth for his neighbour! (22) When a few years are come,

Then I shall go the way whence I shall

not return.

CHAPTER XVII.-(1) My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, The graves are ready for me.

(2) Are there not mockers with me?

And doth not mine eye 7continue in their provocation?

(3) Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee;

He would maintain the right of man with God, and of the son of man with his neighbour;" or, "that one might plead for man with God as the son of man pleadeth for his neighbour"-this is what he has already longed for in chap. ix. 33.

(22) When a few years are come.-Literally, years of number, which means either "years than can be easily numbered," as men of number (Gen. xxxiv. 20) is used to express few men; or "years that are numbered," that is, allotted, determined. It is strange to find Job speaking, in his condition, of years, but so, for that matter, is it to find a man so sorely tormented as he was indulging in so long an argument. Perhaps this shows us that the narrative of Job is intended to be an ideal only, setting forth the low estate of sin-stricken humanity: this is only thrown out as a suggestion, no weight is assigned to it more than it may chance to claim. Perhaps, however, these words are spoken by Job in contemplation of his condition as a dying man, even had he not been so afflicted.

XVII.

(1) My breath is corrupt.-As it is said to be în Elephantiasis. Some understand it, "My spirit is consumed." (See margin.)

The graves.-i.e., the grave is mine-my portion. The plural is frequently used for the singular in Hebrew, as, e.g., in the case of the word blood, which is commonly plural, though with us it is never so used.

(2) Mine eye continue in their provocation ?— "It sees, and can see nothing else; has nothing else to look upon": a bitter reproach against his friends.

(3) Lay down now -i.e.. Give now a pledge; be surety for me with Thyself. He has declared that he has a witness in the heavens, but he desires some present token of the vindication to come of which he is confident, and so he asks God to give him such a pledge. This is virtually the same prayer that we find Hezekiah using (Isa. xxxviii. 14): “O Lord, I am oppressed: under

take for me," that is, "Be surety for me." (See also Ps. exix. 122: "Be surety for thy servant for good.") There is that in man which demands exact and rigorous fulfilment or expiation of non-fulfilment. Job felt that his only hope of this fulfilment or expiation of non-fulfilment lay with God Himself: that same God who had put this sense of obligation within him; therefore he says, "Be surety for me with Thyself." He longed for the daysman who should lay his hand upon both him and God; he now longs for that surety with God that God alone can give. The surety must be Divine if his witness is in the heavens; it must be the witness of God to God himself. In this wonderful way does the language of Job fit in with all that we have since and elsewhere learnt of the persons in the Godhead.

:

Who is he that will strike hands with me?— This was the method of becoming surety; but he knows that there is no one among his friends who will do this, or that could do it if he would. (Comp. Ps. xlix. 7.) (4) Their heart.-i.e., the heart of his friends. (5) He that speaketh flattery to his friends.— The three words thus rendered are, from their very brevity, most obscure. Literally, they run for a portion he will tell friends. But what is the meaning of this? Some render, "He denounceth his friends for a prey," i.e., such is the conduct of Job's friends towards Job. Others understand it, "He would say, friends should take their part," i.e., any one who would undertake to be surety for me would naturally expect my friends to share the responsibility; but so far from this, the eyes of his sons would fail in looking for it; they would never see it.

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(6) He (ie., God) hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.-Or, I am become as a tabret, or drum openly, i.e., a signal of warning. My case will be fraught with warning for others." But some render it, "I am become an open abhorrence, or one in whose face they spit." The general meaning is perfectly clear, though the way it may be expressed varies.

(8) Upright men shall be astonied.-"As a result of the warning my case would give, upright men would be astonished at it, innocent men would be 105

33

To the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

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

(16) They shall go down to the bars of the

pit,

When our rest together is in the dust.

encouraged, and the righteous would persevere and wax bold.

(10) But as for you all, do ye return.-This is probably said with irony. "Come again and renew the argument between us; but I shall not be able to find a wise man among you. I am willing to listen to your argument, but I am confident as to the result of it."

For I cannot find.-Rather, and I shall not find: i.e., if ye renew the argument.

(12) They change the night into day.-Comp. chap. xi. 17. So little did his friends enter into his case that they wanted him to believe that his night of trial was the reverse of darkness, and that there was light at hand. This was to him only the more painful mockery, because of its contrast to his felt condition. He, on the contrary, says that his only hope is in the grave. The light," say they, "is near unto the darkness; that it is near before the darkness cometh; they try to persuade me that prosperity is close at hand."

(16) They shall go down to the bars of the pit. -The last verse of this chapter, which is itself one of the most difficult, is the most difficult of all. The difficulty consists in this: the bars of the grave aro masculine, and the verb, they shall go down, is feminine plural; it seems improbable that the bars of the grave should be the subject of the verb (though perhaps not absolutely impossible); but if the bars of the grave are the place to which the going down is, as in the Authorised Version, then what is the subject to the verb, go down, seeing that hope, the apparent subject, is a feminine singular? Some render "it shall go down," but this is in defiance of the grammar, though, probably, the meaning it conveys is not far from the truth. The words clearly express a condition of utter despair, and that Job's only hope of rest is in the grave. It is a rule in Hebrew grammar that when the verb precedes its subject it need not agree with it in gender or number; but here the verb must, at all events, come after its subject, and consequently, it is very difficult to determine what that subject is. The only apparent subject is to be found in the corruption of the worm of verse 14; but they, instead of going down to the grave, are already there.