Job 36

Elihu, though at first he apologised tency for the conflict in which he was engaged; but, on the ‘ afflicted, and had he suitably humbled himself under the erity and comfort.- But since he had “ fulfilled,” or rather, e was “ filled with the judgment,” contention, or strivings y of the wicked, he is warned lest he should be made a partaker of the like judgments. t Elihu now adverts to, the power and majesty of God, as majesty of the storm, issuing his decrees in the voice of thun-

Notes on the verses

Ver. 3. “If Lbe cleansed."’—These supplementary words are injudiciously supplied. The margin is literal. le. é Vor. 5. Clouds.—[Shechakim, the ethers, or conflicting air; the strong agitation of which produces both light and heat: so Vulgate, ethera.|—Bagster. Ver. 9. They make the oppressed to cry.—Or, “‘the oppressed are made to ery.”’ Scott (the poet.) Ver. 12. None giveth answer.—Rather, “ He (God) answereth not;” and why? because of their pride—the cade yy of evil men. That is, the oppressed as well asthe oppressors being wic ed, God interfereth not. 4 Ver. 14. Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him.—Perhaps Elihu aljudes to Job’s language, (Job 9:11). Ver. 15. But novo, &c.—This is another obscure passage, and such are not to be wondered at ina poem between three and four thousand years ol 1; the wonder is, that it can be at alldecyphered.

Dr. Boothroyd’s translation of this verse, which we prefer, is as follows:— she oe “ But none, because he hath not visited in his anges, Nor noticed great arrogance— Therefore,” &c. it CHaPp. XXXVL Vor. 3. Knowledge from afar.—The original may refer a8 well to time as place. Isa. xxxvii, 26. Perhaps he means to ground his doctrine upon authorities of high antiquity. Scott (the poet) thinks he means to refer back only to his preceding discourse.; ee, Ver. 13. They ery not when he bindeth them.—That is, in their affliction they call not upon God. See (Job 35:10). r ¥ Ver. 14. Their life is amonsS the unclean.—Margin, “* Sodomites.” As Barak signifies both to bless and to curse; (see note on (Job 1:11).) 80 Kadesh is both to consecrate and desecrate; ‘and as a name is used both for saints and Sodomite. See (Deuteronomy 23:17); the purest and the vilest of human beings, and in the latter sense is here to be understood; the general meaning 18, that the lives of such were cut short by debauchery. P Ver. 17. Thou hast fulfilled.—Scott (the poet.) ‘Thou art full of the judgment (or striving) of the wicked.” Compare Chap. Xxxiv- 36, and note.—— Judgment and justice take hold on thee; namely, on that account:—See matgin. Boothroyd, “ Shall be upheld.” ¢: Ver, 19. Will he esteem ?—That is, will justice, or his executioner, death, be bribed by gold?: Ver. 20. Desire not the night.—The time of assassinations, and perhaps of eriminal excutions.

“* Behold, he be me his lightning upon it,” (i. e. his tabernacle) “ And covereth (therewith) the bottom of the sea; With clouds he covereth the light, And controlleth it by (the cloud) that interposeth. He announceth over him (man) his voice (And over) cattle, and over whatsoever riseth up.” This seems to be part of a grand description of the Deity’s sensible approach, manifested by thunder; first h eard at a distance, then rolling awfully nearer and nearer. 0 ¥ This speech of Elihu, continued in the next chapter, is well calculated to prepare the mind for the introduction of Jehovah himself, Ver. 22. Who teacheth like him ?—That is with such authority. Scott (the poet) renders it, ‘‘ Who is a laoziver like him?

Ver. 24. Which men behold.—Or celebrate.—See note on (Job 33:27). See (Psalms 18:11), &c. Ver. 30. Spreadeth his light (i. e. lightning) upon it j3—Rather, “‘ around him.” Heath, Scott, &c. Ver. 31. By them judgeth—That is, by fruitful showers and desolating storms—he administers his judgments. Ver. 32, 33. With clouds, &c.—| Perhaps these difficult verses should be rendered, ‘‘ He covereth the concave with lightning; and chargeth it what it shall strike. Its noise declareth concerning him; a magazine o wrath against iniquity.”"]—Bag’ster. These verses have much puzzled the translators, and some have rendered them in a way totally dissimil ar. The version given in our exposition (which is partly communicated by a learned friend) adheres much closer to the popular translation, and to the original text, as it has been generally understood; and we are unwilling to depurt unnecessarily from either.

Chap. XXXVI. Ver. 3. Like ‘ oF sex, and used sometimes for a strong man In faerie to Enosh, a frail and weak man.— Answer thow me.—i.. ‘Teach thy Maker ! intended as an tronical reproof to Job’s presumption. Ver. 5. Who laid the foundations, &e.— «Who fixed the proportions of it? for surely thou knowest 5 Or, who stretched out the line upon it.” Lowth. oundations thereof fastened 2—Rather, piles, founded upon Ver. 6. Whereupon are the j or pillars “* thereo’! sunk?’ The Hebrews consider the earth as (Psalms 24:2).; civ. 5.) the floods, in the manner of arches. or a bridge, (see truth, considering the earth as a globe, with an abyss which isnot far from the corner stone of a buildof 2—The within.

— Who laid the corner stone there: i as looking two ways; ing, is the angle of the foundation which, it is probable, was first laid; and it -stone of an arch. seems to reccive its name from the human profile, 3.; i note, where the When it brake forth, &c.—* When it burst forth, as an infant that Ver. 8. rT b from which cometh all the seas. cometh from the womb.” Bishop Lowth. See Gen, i. 2, and great abyss may be considered as the wom a Ver. 11. Hitherto, & —({Thus far shall thy flux and reflux extend. art of the tides are marvellously limited and regulated, not only by the /unar and solar from under the immediate atattraction, but by the quantum of time required to remove any Pp eurth’s surface, by its rotation round its axis, Hence the attraction of the sun and which prevent too tractive influence of the sun and moon., on the other, are some 0 the gravitation of the sea to its own centre, and prevented great a fl hand, and too great reflux those bars and doors by which its proud waves are stayed, from coming farther.

}—Bagster. of the ends (“ the wings’’) Ver. 13. That it (the morning) might take hold of the earth.—That is, its extremities, or cardinal points. See chapter XXXVil. 3. Ver. 14. As clay to the seal.—A species of clayis still used for sealing doors, &c. in the East particularly at Grand Cairo. Harmer.—Stand as garment.—Scott (the poet,) ‘* Present themselves as in magnificent attire.” ‘The word is applied to royal apparel. Esther vi. 8, 10, 11. fF Ver. 15. From the wicked their light. is withholden.—That is, they are imprisoned, or shut up in darkness. See (Job 18:5-6).——And thehigh arm shall be broken —Meaning, the arm of the oppressor, as in (Psalms 10:15). Ver. 16. In the search of the depth.—That is, to sound the vast abyss.

Ver. 20. That thou shouldest take it (rather, © take a survey of it’) 10 the bound thereof.—Or, its boundary, the horizon.—See ver. 18. Ver. 21. Knowest thowit, &c.—Rather, “ Knowest thou? for thou wast then born! And the number of thy days is great!” Good, Boothroyd. ) parted 2— “This is lofty irony,” says Scott (the poet.) So Heath, d ne tempest, see Ver. 24. By (or in) what way is the ight (i. e. the lightnin Which—Rather, * when,” or“ whence,” the east wind (i. e. f rain descends; though in fact they all take place at the same time. The lightning traverses all space in no perceivable succession of time. Sound is propagated at the rate of 1142 feet ina second. Rain travels still more slowly, vind will be seen sooner or later, according to the weight of the drops, and the distance of the cloud.

Now, as 1water 18 composed gases, called oxygen ‘and hydrogen, in the proportion of 88 1-4 of the former, ‘and 11 3-4 of the latter in 100 parts, rhe electric spark, or matter of lightning, passing through the atmosphere, ignites and decomposes, those gases, W: c) explode; and the water falls down in the form of rain. This explosion, as we as the rushing in of the circumambient air to restore the equilibrium, will account for the clap and peal; and thus by the lightning of thunder God causes it to rain on the earth. J\—Bagsier. Ver. 28. Hath the rain a father ?—Rather, Scott, &c. Ver. 30. Is frozen.— Taken,” or seized, surface were covered with a mass of stone. Ver. 32. Mazaroth.—Dr. Good quotes Chrysostom as saying, ‘‘ Mazarocth are those clusters of stars, the Zodiac;”

though others assert that Mazaroth is Syrius, or the Dog-star. Our margin adopts the former. So Scott, &c.