Job 29

X XIX. Ver. 1—25. Job bemoaneth himself in the recollection of his former prosperity.—Job looks back on the days of his prosperity, when the secret counsel of God, or the divine influences of his Holy Spirit, were as the suspended lamp which illumined his tent, or his blue elevated fires which by night guided him in his journeyings. Thus, at home or abroad, by night or by day, the divine direction, and the smiles of providence, he was surrounded with his children and through the city to the gate, where he was in the habit of administering justice; when he prepared his seat in the street, or open air, as was probably the custom, as an indication that he was about to administer justice, the young themselves, abashed at his presence, or perhaps men hid trembling at his expected reproofs.

The aged before him, and princes and nobles waited silently his decree. Then the ear that heard, blessed the wisdom with which he spake, and the eye that saw him, witnessed his face. He was a father to the poor, and delivered him (James 1. v.) he thought himself from the jaws of the oppressor. Then secure as the eagle in her nest at the top of a rock, and prolike the tree whose roots spread out by the waters, and whose leaves are ever fresh and verdant. Such was Job in his prosperity, when he mised himself long life and prosperity; and as the house, and as the portasat chief among his people, like a king amidst his army, or as a mourning family, a father comforting he was under “Their guide in council, and in war their chief; At home, In want their father, and their hope in grief.”

domestics; and when his melancholy Crap. XXX. Ver. 1—31._ Job complains 9 circumstances. ‘This chapter affords a striking conreverse 0 1 It is an affecting picture of his present contrast to the preceding. r situation, as full of contempt and te which he now en-: ) s former happiness dured, and which is set in opposition to hi and honour.; It begins, according to Scott, (the poet,) with “a 1 od rose and stood strong and spirited description of those villanous Arabs who, when Job was in his prosperity, had felt the severity of his justice; and fled into the lurking-places of the desert. Upon the loss of his authority, these miscreants came out of their dens to revenge themselves by the most scurrilous abuse.”

The latter assertion is a mere assumption; but the patriarch’s language warrants us to believe, that he had received from them some marks of contempt and ridicule, in his present situation very aggravating. It should seem, however, that Job’s heart was not free from pride, and that his sufferings were much increased, from the want of that humility and meekness that actuated another illustrious sufferer, in a set far more elevated, far more grievously insulted—but who, ‘when he was reviled, reviled not again, and when he suffered, threatened not.” ((1 Peter 2:2-3).) n! if he had thus enumerated his sorrows—if he had amplified his griefs as Job did.—But he had not “an evil heart of unbelief:” Satan came to tempt, but found ‘nothing in him,”

on which he could fasten his temptations. (See (John 14:30).) Job, among his other troubles, was deprived, as we may say, of house and home; he looked, therefore, with the more composure to the tomb, which he justly describes as the general home of man, “‘ the house appointed for all.” The heathen used to regard it as their “eternal home:” but not so Job: he considered it as a resting-place, where he should have to wait, but not for ever: ‘thou shalt call, and I will answer thee; for thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine own hands.” ((Job 14:15).) “I know that a Redeemer liveth;…. and in my flesh shall I see God.” ((Job 19:25-26).)

Notes on the verses

Ver. 22. Destruction and death say.—That is, death and a future state will teach us much, but God only is omniscient, as in the next verse. Ver. 25. Weight for the winds.—{God has given an atmosphere to the earth, free of gravity perfectly suited to the necessities of all animals, vegetables, and fluids, which, possessing a certain density, should be the cause in his hands of preserving animal and vegetable life; for by it the blood circulates in the veins of animals, and the juices in the tubes of vegetables. Without this atmospheric pressure there could be no respiration; and the elasticity of the particles of air in animal and vegetable bodies, would rupture the vessels in which they are contained, and destroy both kinds of life.|—Bagster.

Job continued his parable.—‘This word mashal,” Chap. XXIX. Ver. 1.. (i.e. parable,) oe Lowth, “I take to be the word properly expressive of the poetic style.” Ver. 3. When his candle.—An allusion, (says Lowth,) to lamps which hung from the ceiling of the banqueting rooms of the wealthy Arabs.” —— When by his light I walked through darkness.—This, the same writer takes to be an allusion to lights (or fires) carried on poles before the caravans, in their night travels through the deserts. In the days of my youth.—Hebrew, “Of my autumn.” The original (Horpi) is literally “the stripping season,” the fall of the leaf, which applies properly to his early life, because originally the year began about the time of vintage, the great time of festivity and rejoicing.——} God was upon my tabernacle, (or tent.)—This seems an allusion to the lamp in the preceding verse.

Is it not most probable that, if Job had lived subsequent to the passage through the wilderness, the allusion would have been to the pillar of cloud and fire which guided them? Ver. 6. I washed my steps with butter.—That is, with ‘‘butter-milk;” intimating a great number of kine, (he had five hundred yoke of cattle, ch. i. 3.) and great plenty of milk.——The rock poured me out rivers of oil.— The best olives grow upon the rocky mountains,” says Scott, (the poet.) Ver. 16. The cause which I knew not.—It might with equal critical exactness be rendered: ‘The cause of him whom I knew not;” thus declaring the patriarch’s impartiality and activity in the administration of justice. Ver. 17. I brake the jaws.—The oppressor is here compared to a voracious savage beast.

Ver. 18. I shall die in my nest.—Comparing himself to the eagle, the king of birds. Ver. 19, 20. My root was spread.—Schultens and Scott continue this still in the future, as the Hebrew equally admits.—‘I shall spread; my glory shall be fresh, (or new,)” &c. So also Dr. Good. The ancient Arabs Ver. 20. My bow was renewed.—Or “continued fresh.” Scott, the poet,) to the with their bow and quiver.—Good used to travel Good. — ! Ver. 24. If I laughed on them, they believed it not.—That is, they had no suspicion that I intended ridicule or scorn. XXX. Ver. 2. Yea, whereto, &c.—This verse is very perplexing; we Chap. é propose the following version: ** Moreover, of what (use) was the strength of their hands to me, Whose mature age failed.”

The word (calach) is in (Job 5:26). rendered “full age”—and the verb (abad) means “failed” ‘corrupted;’’ the sense appears to be, that their common strength failed prematurely through corruption of manners—through early vice and profligacy. See Scott, who renders the second line, “profligate.” Ver. 3.. Solitary.—See Margin. We prefer the text.—In former time.—In the English idiom, “the other day.” Ver. 4. Who cut up mallows by (or among) the bushes.—The particular species of herbage here mentioned is doubtful; but Harmer quotes authority to show that the very poor in the East boil mallow leaves for food.— Juniper. —(Hebrew rothem, in Arabic ratim, and in Spanish retama, most probably signifies the genista or broom, which is very abundant in the deserts of Arabia.

]—Bagster. Ver. 7. They brayed.—This compares them to the wild asses braying for hunger. See (Job 6:5). (Hebrew, charul, probably denotes some kind of briar or bramble; so the Vulgate renders it by spina or sentis. Celsius and Scheuchzer are inclined to think it the paliurus, a shrub, growing sometimes to a considerable height in desert places. ‘‘One of the inconveniences of the vegetable thickets of Egypt is,” says Denon, “that it is difficult to remain in them, as nine tenths of the trees and plants are armed with inexorable thorns, which suffer only an unquiet enjoyment of the shadow which is so constantly desirable.’’ ]|—Bagster. Ver. 8. Children of fools.—Not idiots, but men of impious and abandoned characters.

See (Psalms 14:1). xlix. 10, &c. Ver. 9. I their song —The most ancient method of libelling seems to have been in songs and proverbs. See (Job 17:6), (Psalms 69:12). But the original word here used means strictly a stringed instrument, or a psalm sung to one. See titles to (Psalms 4)and vi.; also (Lamentations 3:14, 63). “The LXX. here render it “their harp.” Compare ch. xvii. 6. Ver. 10. And spare not to spit in my face.— Withhold not spittle from my face,” or ‘‘in my presence.” See note on (Numbers 12:14), Ver. 11. He hath loosed my cord.—Either this refers to the girdle, and then means strength and authority, as in (Job 12:18). Or to his bow-string, and then means he has disarmed me.——They have let loose the bridle before me—That is, they have thrown off all restraint; they are not curbed by my Ver.

12. Upon my right (hand) rise the youth.—Good, “the younglings;” but Schultens says, that the word in Arabic signifies “a bastard.” Upon my right hand may mean to slander or accuse. Compare (Psalms 109:6)——The ways of their destruction—Or, ‘destructive ways.” Ver. 13. They mar my path.—This sentence, taken in connexion with the preceding, means, ‘‘They impede my way, and raise up impediments to my progress,—They are “They rejoice,” or triumph, &c. So “In whom old age is death,” Scott, Good, &c.——They have no helper.—Rather, ‘‘There is no helper against them.” Scott and Boothroyd. Ver. 14. They came upon me.—As an inundation. See (2 Samuel 5:20). Ver. 15. They pursue my soul.—My lordship, my dignity.

See ch. xx. 28. xxxiv. 18. Their object was to degrade as well as distress him. Ver. 16. Upon me.—Rather “in me,” as in (Psalms 42:4). In the English idiom we should say, ‘My soul is dissolved in tears.’ Ver. 17, Pierced.—That is, pained as if by piercing. Ver. 18. My garment changed.—That is, in appearance, it became loathsome and adhered to his skin like the collar of his tunic. Ver. 19. Cast me into the mire.—Made me filthy with disease, or with conscious guilt. See ch. ix. 31. Ver. 20. I stand up.—As if to show the misery of his situation. Ver. 21. Thou art become cruel._—Heb. “Turned to be cruel.” In this he charged God foolishly. Ver. 22. Thou liftest me.—The allusion is here to a whirlwind which will raise a person or an animal into the air, and then casting him down, perhaps dash him to pieces.

See note on ch. i. 19. Ver. 24, His hand to the grave.—‘Heap;” i.e. of stones, which often marked a grave. (2 Samuel 18:17).—Though they cry.—This line is very difficult. Dr. Good seems to give the best sense, “Surely, in its ruins there is Ver. 25. Him that was in trouble.—Hebrew, “That was hard of day;” or “whose day (whose lot) was hard.” Ver. 27. My bowels boiled.—That is, were agitated and inflamed. Ver. 29. To dragons.—He was brother to these, because he mourned and wailed. See Micah. 8.——Owls.—[Or, ostriches. Hebrew, benoth laanah, in Arabic bintu naamatin, not owls, but ostriches, so called from their doleful and hideous noises. “I have often,” says Dr. Shaw, ‘‘heard them groan as if they were in the greatest agonies.]—Bagster.