Job 15
PATIn this chapter Eliphaz renews the dispute with more eagerness and fierceness tlian before; being very angry that Job slighted them so much, and thought himself so wise (as he interpreted it), that he disdained their exhortations, and would not follow the counsel they had given him, of confessing his sius, and praying to God for forgiveness; (v. 8. viii. 4 — G.) but except this one argument (that he need not be ashamed to confess his guilt, when lie considered how prone all men are to sin), there is nothing new in his discourse; but he merely urges what he had asserted at first, from his own and the wisest men’s observations, that they, are not the good, but the wicked, whom God punishes with such calamities as now were fallen upon Job. - And with great ornaments of speech, he most admirably describes the vengeance which God is w r ont to take upon impious tyrants; having his eye, I suppose, upon Nimrod, or some such mighty oppressor, 4 s v i v THE BOOK OF JUDITH. report of the sadden death of its general, be affected with great surprise and consternation, and that it may be increased by the reflection on the manner of it, and especially by the discouraging sight of his head hung out to public view, yet, as there are always experienced commanders ready to supply the place of the deceased chief, and as they knew the condition of the besieged to be so desperate, for want of water, as to be obliged to surrender within a very few days, one would think, that such an accident happening to one man, though a principal person indeed, could not have affected the whole host in such a manner, as not only to break up the siege ingloriously, but to flee with the utmost precipitation. And it is yet more unaccountable to see so formidable an army pursued and cut to pieces, by a people famished and weakened for want of necessaries, whom just before they looked upon with the utmost contempt. It is therefore not improbable, supposing the truth of this history, that God cast upon them a supernatural panic, as he once confounded with a sudden fear the host of the Syrians; (2 Kings vii. 6.) and that, to humble their pride and presumption, he took from them the spirit both of counsel and of courage, for they seem not to have deliberated what to do, or what course to take, but,like sheep scattered and dispersed,they fled before the Hebrews.
Job 15:1
x HEN answered Eliphaz the Temanite, andsaid. Then Eliphaz, incensed with these reproaches, rose up again, and said; -.* n.
Job 15:2
Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?. Dost thou pretend to be wise, who answerest us with such empty discourses; and whose heart is swollen with such pernicious opinions, and vents them with so much vehemence? JXNDfear and trembling fell upon them, so that there was no man that dnrst abide in the sight of his neighbour; but rushing out all together, they fled into every way of the plain, and of the hill-country.] One can hardly look upon the fright which seized the Assyrians as merely natural; for allowing it possible, that an army may on tho
Job 15:3
Shotdd he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches whereivith he can do no good?. Is this thy wisdom, which teaches thee to wrangle to no purpose, and to pour out words. for which one is never the better?
Job 15:4
Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God. The better did I say? They destroy all religion, and discourage men from pouring out their complaint in prayer to God.. t…
Job 15:5
For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. Thou rather, teachest them to dispute with him; w T hereby thou hast proclaimed thine iniquity, while with fallacious words thou seekest to dissemble it. Ver. G. Thine oivn mouth condemneth thee, and not J; yea, thine own lips testify against thee.] I need produce no farther testimony against theo; for thy own mouth hath done the business, and condemned thee of impiety. Now when the children of Israel heard it, they all fell upon them with one consent, and slew them unto Chobai, &c] This overthrow of the Assyrian host may seem the more probable, as they fled without order, in different and unknown w’ays, and through an enemy’s country, who having notice of what had happened, lay in wait for their coming, and slew such as fell into their hands. The event reminds one of Gideon’s success in slaying a hundred thousand of the Midianites, by so small a company as three hundred only: and the description in theJbook of Judges, vii. 21 — 25. of their flight, the pursuit, the dispatching messengers throughout all Mount Ephraim to intercept them, and their final overthrow in consequence of it, very much resembles the account here. Messieurs of Port- Royal have a fine and pertinent reflection upon this defeat of the Assyrians: " Let none presumptuously assure himself of success, on account of the number of his foreds, when he considers that the proud Holoferncs, who had the vanity to tell Achior that he knew no other God but Nabuchodonosor, and that he would destroy all the Jews as one man, fell himself by the hands of a woman; and his great and very numerous army itself, fled like one man before the face of those very Jews whom he so cruelly threatened. Nor let the meanest at any time be discouraged, or fall into despair, at the sight of insulting enemies, how formidable soever they may appear, when he reflects upon the unexpected and miraculous deliverance which the weak hand of Judith, strengthened by the all-powerful one of God, procured for the children of her people." (Com. in loc.)
Job 15:7
Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?. Thou art but a man, why dost thou talk as if thou wert God, or at least wert made before the w r orld?;
Job 15:8
Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain ivisdom to thyself?. -Wast thou admitted into God’s secret counsels, and thereby engrossedst all wisdom to thyself? Then Joacim the high-priest, and the ancients of the children qf Israel, that dwelt in Jerusalem, came to behold the good things that God had shewed to Israel.] Our version here, with the Vulgate, follows the Roman edition, which has, rov StdcacS’cu to. ayaOd. The Complut. Aid. and some others have, tov Stfitkiuaat ra ayaOa. Grotius prefers the latter; and his exposition of the place is, that the ancients of Jerusalem came to be certified of the truth of the good hews: but were they not before assured of this by messengers dispatched thither on purpose, or by the men that told • them what things were done in the camp of their enemies, ver.5.? Nor is the sense of the Geneva version, which follows the same reading, sufficiently clear; viz. that the ancients of the children of Israel that dwelt in Jerusalem came to confirm the benefits that God had shewed to Israel. The meaning seems rather to be, and the passage would thereby be more intelligible, that the ancients of the people, or judges at Jerusalem (for the Sanhedrin, of which some expound it, possibly might not’ be in being at this time, as its institution is generally thought to be after the return from the captivity), sent a solemn deputation of the principal persons in authority, to compliment Judith upon the success of an enterprise so wonderful, to testify in her presence the grateful sense which they had of the extraordinary service done to all Israel, and to Jerusalem in particular, by destroying the common enemy, and putting the Assyrian army to flight; and their public acknowledgment of God’s loving-kindness and mercy to their whole nation, and to improve withal the advantage gained by Judith, and settle upon a sure and lasting foundation the quiet and safety she had procured for them. And from the account in the last verse of this history, that there was none that made Israel any more afraid in the days of Judith, nor a long time after, it appears, that they fixed the public repose upon a firm basis.
Job 15:9
What knowest thou, that we knoiv not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?. Wherein (to retort thy own words upon thee) doth thy knowledge exceed ours? Let us hear what secret thou hast learnt, which we do not understand.
Job 15:10
With us are both the gray-headed and very aged men, tnuch elder than thy father. If by age and long experience men acquire wisdom, there are some of us who are much elder than thy father. Blessed art thou of the Almighty Lord for evermore] In like manner Deborah the prophetess called Jael blessed among women, for the like fact committed on Sisera, Judg. v. 24.
Job 15:11
Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?. Why dost thou slight then those Divine consolations which we have given thee? Hast thou some secret* ones which nobody else knows of?‘Ver. 12. Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what doth thine eyes tcink at.]. What makes thee have such a high opinion of thyself, and in this manner contemn us? And the people spoiled the camp the space of thirty days.] The Syriac has only three days instead of thirty, as the Greek and Vulgate have it. It may be alleged in defence of this reading, that the camp of the Assyrians was doubtless very large, of great circuit and extent, detachments of it being differently distributed on the mountains, or distant parts of the plain, for the greater convenience of subsisting so great an army, and therefore must require no little time to go through and plunder it. The camp itself indeed might be plundered in less time than a month, but it may be supposed that the people continued for the whole thirty days to ransack, and constantly to find some things which escaped former searchers; it is probable the first that went out in quest of the spoil did it in a hurry and with precipitation. On such occasions, where variety offers, people are wont to take only what strikes them most, and to leave many things, which afterward are gathered with more exactness and care when the plenty is not so great and the hurry not so pressing. Or the meaning perhaps may be, that a whole month passed before a division and distribution was made of the whole spoil; it might take up the greater part of that time before all the plunder could.be brought into Bethulia, to be faithfully and equally distributed among the people, according to the rules of war,. and prescription of the law, mentioned Numb. xxxi. 27. ISam. xxx. 24, 25. And they gave unto Judith Holofernes’s tent, and all his plate, and beds, and vessels, and all his stuff.] The Syriac has, Tabernaculum et tectum ejus, jumenta, et universim instrumentum ejus. In dividing the spoils taken from an enemy, the person who chiefly conducted the enterprise had’ 4S2
Job 15:13
That thou tumest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?. Nay, oppose thyself to God, and take the boldness to argue with him? •
Job 15:14
What is man, that he should be clean? he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?. Thou wilt maintain thy innocence, thou sayest; but thou forgettest sure what thou art and whence thou comest; else thou wouldest not stand upon thy justification, nor complain that thou art wronged… r.
Job 15:15
Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens, are not clean in his sight. Remember what I told thee before, (iv. 18.) that the angels are not immutably good; the heavenly inhabitants, I say, are not without their spots. *.,..,.-., Ver. 1G. How much more abominable and filthy is man, whicli drinketh iniquity like water?] What a loathsome and filthy creature then is man, who is as prone to sin, as he is to drink when he is dry.:
Job 15:17
I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have sien I will declare. Do not stop thine ears whilst I shew, thee thine error, and I will say nothing but what mine own eyes have seen, „ t,r
Job 15:18
WJiich wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it J. And which wise men have observed, arid their fathers before them, who have reported it to their children: j ^ -
Job 15:19
Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. And they no mean persons neither, but such as were alone thought worthy to be entrusted with the government of whole countries, which no foreign power could, enter (as they have done thine) while they ruled.
Job 15:20
The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. The wicked tyrant (this is their and my observation) is never free from inward torment; all his life long be is* in dread of some greater oppressor than himself.
Job 15:21
A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. His guilt so pursues him, that it makes him fear some mischief or other is still falling on him; and in the most peaceable time he doth not think himself in safdty.
Job 15:22
He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. When he lies down he is afraid he shall be killed before the morning; and he fancies nothing but naked swords round about him.
Job 15:23
Hewandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. He shall wander to get a morsel of bread where he can find it; and when he hath it, he shall imagine it will prove his poison.
Job 15:24
Trouble and angnish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. The distress and anguish wherein he sees himself shall affright him; they shall press upon him and overcome him, as a king doth his enemies whom he hath surrounded with his forces.
Job 15:25
For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengthened himself against the Almighty. Which will be a just punishment of his audacious impiety; because he defied God, and resolutely set himself in opposition to the Abnighty: Ver. 2G. He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers.] Who will suddenly lay fast hold on him and kill him, though he be never so well armed:
Job 15:27
Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collopsoffat on his flanks. Because he minds nothing but his belly; and, casting away all fear of God, nourishes up himself in luxury, pride, and haughtiness…
Job 15:28
And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in hoitses which no man inhabiteth, which, are ready to become heaps. Possessing cities which he hath laid desolate;. and houses out of, vvhich he hath driven the owners, and which are running to ruin.. ro,. ro f
Job 15:29
He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. But the riches he hath gotten by such violence and oppression shall come to nothing: he may design great things, but shall leave them imperfect.
Job 15:30
He shall depart out of darkness: the flame shall dry up his branches; and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. When his troubles begin, they shall not end till they have destroyed both him and his children,: one word of God’s mouth (so mad a thing it is to set himself against Heaven) will utterly consume him.
Job 15:31
Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity; for vanity shall beMs recompence. Let such examples teach him that is seduced into evil ways, not to trust to such uncertain greatness; for vexatious disappointments shall be all that he will get by it.
Job 15:32
It shall be accomplished before Ms time, and his branch shall not be green.~. He shall meet with them when he little thinks of it; and see his children wither away as well as himself..,
Job 15:33
He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. . They shall die before their time, as the unripe grape, or the blossom of the vine or olive, are struck with hail, or bitten off by the frost.
Job 15:34
For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. The most numerous families of such ungodly men shall have none in them left: the Divine vengeance shall destroy the house which was built.with ill-gotten goods.
Job 15:35
They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepared deceit. And they justly deserve to be thus punished, because all they design and do is nothing but the oppression and ruin of their subjects: against whom when one design miscarries, they conceive new arts to undo them.