Job 24

Ver. J. AND when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel. Of which he had given him a double proof, chap. xxii. 5, &c. 1G, &c. He went not out as at other times.] See chap. xxii. 3. 15. To seek for enchantments.] This implies that he had hitherto, in the process of his business, used some wicked arts to effect his ends, ordesired to be directed to them;. but being not able to obtain anything, but commands cross to all his designs, he gave himself up wholly to the conduct of God’s Holy Spirit, and did not so much as offer to seek for enchantments. In the Hebrew the words are, to meet with enchantments; unto which he hoped to be directed, that he might be. able to. curse Israel: for though he addressed himself to the true God, (whom he calls the Lord, chap.xxiii. 26.) yet it was in a superstitious way; with such rites and ceremonies of worship, as were not of God’s appointment; but either devised by evil spirits, or very grateful to them; whereby he hoped to be shewn by what means he might disable Israel, and deliver them into the hand of Balak. For the ancient, magic derived from Zoroaster was nothing else, as Plato pretends, (in Alcibiade i.) but the knowledge of Divine things, and the right way. of worshipping God: and Apuleius saith the same of it, that it was." diis immortalibus accepta, colendi eos ac ve~ nerandi pergnara," &c. a science acceptable to the immortal gods, very skilful how to worship and honour them; being pious, and knowing in Divine things; which sufficiently betrays this Divine knowledge (as they call it) to be impious; for Zoroaster instructed his disciples in the worship of the. fire, as an emblem, at the best, of the sun; which they, looked upon as a visible image of this invisible God, and. upon that account worshipped it. After his time, it is manifest, this heavenly knowledge, as they esteem it; degenerated into more uncouth rites, and wicked arts, whereby they pretend to be able to make the gods do what they pleased. Pliny mentions an herb, (lib. xxiv. cap. 1’;.). which he saith the magicians used, quiim Deos velint.evocare, when they would call out the gods, and draw them totheir purpose. In which power they so. gloried, that the witch in Apuleius threatened the gods themselves with the greatest mischief; and boasted she’ could deprive the stars of their light; and by her charms control, not only the moon, but the sun himself, and the gods of all sorts., And. as for mankind, nothing is more known than those magical words, devovere, defigere,‘obligare; which are proper, tothe black art, as Salrriasifls observes, (upon Solinus, p. 1091.) which, by incantations, deprecations, direful exev crations, herbs, fascinations, so confounded the mind of him who was thus devoted (as they tenn it), that he could* remember nothing of what he was about, nor discharge any function of nature. The several species of it are mentioned by Maimonides, who saith the Zabii pretended to exercise this power, not only over particular persons, but over whole provinces, by certain words, and actions, and things, which nobody can understand to have any virtue-, in them, (More Nevochim, par.iii. cap. 37.) But he set his face towards the wilderness.] He stirred not from the place where the sacrifice was offered, as he h’ad^ been wont to do, but only lookedto wards the wilderness, where the Israelites lay encamped, (chap. xxii. 1.) Upon farther consideration, Job thought good again to confute their rash assertion, about the plagues which always befal the wicked, by an induction of particulars that prove the contrary. Among which the wild Arabs, he tells them, are a notorious instance; whose profession is rapine, and yet they thrive and prosper in it, (ver. 5, &c.) And so do the more civilized oppressors, of whom he says something before, and again ver. II, 12; where hfc seems to reflect upon hard landlords, and griping merchants and traffickers in cities;. to whom he adds’ murderers, adulterers, pirates, witli several other wicked villains (in the conclusion of the chapter)^ who notwithstanding die like other men^ and are not called to an account for their enormous crimes in this present world. places; where, becoming wild and savage, they live on rapine and spoil; in which they arc so diligent, that those wildernesses (where they neither plough nor sow) maintain their families. Vcr. 6. They reap every one his corn in the field; and they gather the vintage of the wicked.’] For they make inroads out of those woods into the neighbouring fields and vineyards, and thence wickedly carry away the corn and the grapes, never regarding who is the owner of them. Vcr. 7. They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering i?i the cold.] They spare not the poor reapers and vintagers; but, stripping them to their very skin, leave them never a rag to defend them from the cold, when they go to rest after their wearisome labours.

Job 24:1

rVllY, seeing times are not hidden from the. Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?. But to answer a little what you have so often asserted: if punishments from tho Almighty be so apparent and visibleupon the.wicked, why do not they who are truly pious see the public and open judgments?

Job 24:2

And Balaam lifted vp his eyes.’) To look round about him. And he saw Israel abiding in his tents, &c. In the order God had appointed in the second chapter of this book, ver. 52. where he commands them to pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and by Ids own standard, throughout their hosts* And the Sphit of God came upon him.’] From whence Mairaonides concludes, he was a prophet of the second rank, who spake by the Holy Ghost, (More Nevoch. par. ii. cap. 45.) * Some removethe land-marks; they violently take* away flocks, and feed thereof] Especially when the wickedness of some of them is so notorious, that they violate all known rights; seizing on the lands of their neighbours, taking away their cattle, and (not content with that) owning it when they have done, by putting them openly into their pastures?

Job 24:3

And he took tip his parable, and said. He pronounced what follows with a loud voice, that all might hear. For so the Hebrew words may be interpreted, he lifted vp his parable. (See chap.xxiii. 7.) Balaam the son of Beor Ixath said.] Though the Spirit ef God came upon him, which suggested the words mentioned, ver. 5 — 7, &c. yet it did not alter the temper and disposition of his mind; which wasno less vain and ambitious than it was covetous, and possessed with a hatred of the Israelites; as appears by the counsel which he gave, at last, how to ruin them: this vanity seems to be expressed in these, and in the following words, wherein he magnifies himself more than the Spirit of God. * And the man whose eyes were open, hath said.] Who when he was awake received revelations from God, which was an extraordinary favour; For commonly he appeared to men in a dream. Others translate it, whose eyes were shut, i. e. who was in a trance or ecstasy, so that he saw nothing with his bodily eyes, but only with his mind. The Jerusalem Targum thus paraphrases these words (which Shews he looked upon them as a boasting of himself), “The man said, who was honoured above his brethren; to whom that was revealed, which was hidden from all the prophets.” They drive away the ass of the fatherless; they take the widoufs ox for a pledge.] If a poor fatherless child havean ass left him to carry his burdens, they drive it away on some pretence or other; and have no more mercy than to take of the widow, for the security of her debt, the only ox she hath wherewith to plough her ground.

Job 24:4

He hath said, who heard the words of God. Mark what he saith, who delivers the words which he received fr<5m God. Wliich saw the vision of the Almighty.] With whom he was so familiar, that he himsfclf, at last, appeared to him in a vision, (chap, xxiii. 16.) as at first he appeared to him by an angel, (chap. xxii. 35.) Falling into a trance.] There being in the Hebrew only the word nophel, which signifies falling, we supply* the sense by adding into a trance; lest any one should think he fell to the ground, or fell asleep; which seems not to he the meaning; but that he was in a rapture, perceiving nothing by his outward senses. Yet the forementioned Targum takes it as if he had fallen flat on his face; and the LXX. translate it, he saw the vision of Godin sleep; according to that, Gen. xv. 12. a deep sleep fell upon Abraham; where the wotd naphela is thought by some to give a good explication ofnopliel in this place. But having his eyes open.] His mind being then possessed with a clear apprehension of things, which God revealed to him, when his senses were all locked up, and could discern nothing. They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.] They offer abuses to* helpless people upon the highway,. so that the meaner sort daro not appear for fear of their insolence or their violence. Ver. 5:‘Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work, rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.] And you shall see others of them, who (making, pillage their tradfe) leave the cities and towns, and go to skulk in forests and desert

Job 24:5

How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob! and thy tabernacles, O Israel J. The same thing expressed in different words; which was an usual elegancy in those countries: wherein he declares his admiration of the beautiful order in which he saw them pitched in the plaius oi’Moab. Ver. G. As the valleys are they spread forth.] This refers cither to the tabernacles, which extended themselves on each side of a wide space, which, like a valley, lay between; or rather to the Israelites themselves, whom he compares to those fruitful valleys which abound with water: for the Hebrew w r ord signifies cither valleys or brooks. As gardens by the rivers side] Which were far more green and flourishing, cool and pleasant, than those that lay in dry places. As the trees of the lign-aloes.] Growing in those gardens, or by the river’s side; which perfumed the air by’their sweet odours. For there are two sorts of aloes observed by the ancients; the one a tree which was very odoriferous, called KoAa/toc’IvSik&c, and J Epv%pa?og, growing in India and Arabia; and the other a plant or herb, out of which was pressed a purging juice: the former is often joined with myrrh in the.Holy Scripture, and was burnt as a perfume, and called by the ancients!Sv\a\6t]g, (as Salmasius observes in his Exercit. Plin. upon Solinus, p. 1053,1054, &c.) which is the lign orwood-aloes here spoken of. And Plutarch, in his Symposiacs,(lib. vi. cap. 7.)^aith, some were wont to colour their wine, y aXoatc, v Kivvafiufioie, either with aloes, or with cinnamons (which is meant of this wood-aloes), which gave the wine a pleasant taste, IVJnchtlie Lord hath planted.] Which grew naturally of themselves (solo Dei nutu, as Bochartus glosses), without any labour, care, or art of man used about them. And as cedar-trees beside the waters.] The cedar was one of the most goodly trees in those countries, upon many accounts, particularly for its fragrancy, the Greeks being wont to burn the wood of it upon their altars, as the same Salmasius there observes, (p. 951, 952.) By all these metaphors, Balaam sets forth the present and future prosperity of the Israelites, and their fame, which spread itself into all nations round about; and seems to be represented by the sweet odours here mentioned.

Job 24:7

He shall pour the water out of his buckets. I take this to be meant of God’s pouring down rain abundantly, out of the clouds, upon the valleys, gardens, and trees, unto which the Israelites are compared; signifying that they should be exceedingly blessed by him: for they stood in need of nothing more than rain in those countries. And his seed shall be in many waters.] Or, by many waters; i.e. be sown in a ground well watered, and consequently bring forth a plentiful crop, (Isa. xxxii. 20.) There are those who refer both these to their numerous posterity; procreation of children being sometimes ex pressed in Scripture by the metaphors of waters, and fountains,‘and cisterns, as every one knows. And both the LXX. and Onkelos interpret this of one particular person that should arise of their seed. For thus the former of them renders this part of the verse; “There shall come a Man out of his seed, who shall rule over many nations.” And the,lattcr of them paraphrases in this manner; “There shallbe a great King, who shall be anointed of his children, and shall have dominion over many people;” which the Jerusalem Targum saith expressly is Christ: for thus this verse begins in that paraphrase; “A king shall arise out of his sons, and their Redeemer from among them,” &c. and thus concludes; “and the kingdom of the king Mcssias shall be magnificently exalted.” And his kingsliallbe higher than Agag.] This seems to uigiiizea oy iviicroson <® CHAP. XXIV."] UPON NUMBERS, have been the name of all the kings of the Amalekites, (for we read of one called Agag long after this time, 1 Sara. xv. 8, 9.) as Abimelech was the name of the Philistine kings, and Pharaoh of the -Egyptian. And at this time, no nation thereabouts was in greater reputation than the Amalekites, (ver. 20.) who thought themselves able to obstruct the Israclites’passage into Canaan; and gave a very early proof of the high opinion of their own power and prowess, by attacking the Israelites as soon as they came out of Egypt. Balaam therefore foretells the king of Israel should be the greatest of all other (for he was acquainted with none higher than Agag); which some think hath a peculiar respect to their first king Saul, who subdued the Amalekites, and took Agag captive. But his successor was far greater than he; and the Jews themselves think this hath its full completion in the Lord Christ. And his kingdom shall be exalted.’] They shall increase and multiply, till their kingdom be greatly enlarged; as it was in the days of David and Solomon, who were but shadows of the great king Messiah.

Job 24:8

God brought him out of Egypt; he hath as it were Hue strength of an unicorn. All the power of Egypt could not detain them in slavery; but they came out from thence with a strong and high hand, (Exod. xiii. 9. xiv. 8.) and are grown a mighty people. See the foregoing chapter, (ver. 22.) where this hath been explained. He shall eat up the nations his enemies.] Utterly destroy the soven nations of Canaan. And shall break their bones.] So that they shall never recover their strength. * And pierce them through with his arrows.] Having given them their deadly wound: or, as some translate the Hebrew words, break their arrows in pieces; i. e. quite disarm them.. They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a slielter.] They are exposed (poor wretches!) to the injury of the weather, as they lie asleep at the foot of mountains: they have no whither to run, but into caves and holes of rocks; where they endeavour to shroud themselves, when they see a tempest coming.

Job 24:9

He couched, he lay down. . He prophesies that the Israelites, having conquered the Canaanites, should settle in their land> and take their rest; and live securely: which he speaks of with such confidence, as if it were already done. As a lion, and as a great lion.] See chap, xxiii. 24: the signification of««W and labu Who shall stir him up?] Give them any disturbance. It is observed of lions, that they do not betake themselves to remote or secret places, when they go to sleep; but lie down any where; (as Oppianus describes them, lib. iii.) as if they understood, that, let them sleep where they pleased, nobody durst meddle with them: (sec Bochartus in his Hierozoicon, par. i. lib. iii. cap. 2.) and therefore being applied to the Israelites, signifies such an absolute and securo possession of the land of Canaan, that none should have the boldness to assault, or give them any disquiet: which came to pass chiefly in the days of David and Solomon. Blessed be he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.] These are the very words wherewith Isaac concluded his blessing of his son Jacob, (Gen. xxvii. 29.) which God now confirmed from the mouth of one of their enemies, who spake, at this time, by his Spirit. They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.] Nay, the persons of men are not safe from the violence of these outlaws; but they snatch away young children from their mothers* breasts, and carry away the poor (pretending they owe them something) to make them their slaves.

Job 24:10

AndBalak’s anger was kindled against Balaam. He could no longer forbear to express his indignation, to be thus treated by Balaam (whom he had sent for a great way, and entertained for some time), and therefore stopped him from proceeding, for the present, any further in his prophecy. And smote his hands together^] A token of vehement anger, (Ezek. xxi. 17.) And Balak said unto Balaam.] It is likely he was so full of wrath, that he could not speak presently, but expressed it only in his looks and actions. I called thee to curse mine enemies, and thou hast altogether blessed them.] Thou hast not said one word to my purpose, but all quite contrary.* These three times.] Though I have been at great expense, and built altars, and offered many sacrifices, in three several places: but at what distance of time, one from another, doth not appear. Tliey cause them to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry.] Whom when they have stolen, they will not allow so much as clothes to cover their nakedness, nor let him that is ready to starve eat of the sheaf which he hath gleaned.

Job 24:11

Therefore now flee thou unto thy place. Get thee home immediately, and stay not a moment longer here; for that is imported in the word flee, which indicates that he could not endure the sight of him, while he remained thus angry: and, as he banished him his presence, so he commanded him to make all possible haste out of his country, J thought to promote thee to great honour.] And to bestow as much wealth upon him as he desired; which is included in the word ho?iour § (chap, xxiii. 17.) But, lo, the Lord.] Whom thou pretendest to obey. Hath kept thee back from honour.] By not permitting thee to comply with my desire. It is uncertain, whether these words were spoke in anger and scorn, or seriously and in good earnest; believing he, was hindered by the Lord’s will and pleasurefrom cursing Israel; which he had more reason to believe, than he had to hope he might obtain liberty to curse them, (chap, xxiii. 27.) and therefore was, without all reason, in this passion against Balaam. Which make oil within their walls, and tread their wine-presses, and suffer thirst.] They cause these miserable creatures to press out their oil and their wine in their cellars; but let them not taste a drop, though they be ready to die with thirst.

Job 24:12

And Balaam spake unto Balak. Prayed Balak to hear him patiently a few words before he departed. Spake I not also to thy messengers, which thou sentest unto me, saying.] Did not I, before I saw thee, tell those that came to invite me to thee, the very same which I told thee afterward.. Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out; yet, God layeth not folly to them.] Whole cities groan under the oppression of some or other of these wicked men, and cry out like those that are dying of their wounds: and yet God, who knows all this, doth not make them examples of his displeasure, nor can we tell when he will punish them for their injustice and cruelty.

Job 24:13

If Balak would give me his house full of gold and silver^ I cannot go beyond the commandment of the- Lord, to do more or less. So he told his messengers, (chap. xxiL 18.) Of my mind."] According as 1 please. But what the Lord saith, that will I speak.] So he told Balak himself, (chap. xxii. 38.) All which he recalls to his mind, to shew him that there was no cause for his anger, he having performed as much as he undertook; which Was to follow God’s directions, as he had done. strictly.’ And* it is likely, that by this just representation of what had passed between them, he brought Balak to a cooler temper, so that he suffered him to go on, to deliver what follows. They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof] The world would be very empty, if he should destroy all such persons; for besides these open there are more secret sinners, who look upon the light as their enemy: they dare not be seen in the day-time; or if they be espied, they presently seek to hide themselves, that they may not be discovered.

Job 24:14

And now, behold, I go to my. people. And now I will obey thee, as well as God, and be gone to my own country. Come therefore, and I will advertise thee, &c] But before’ I go, permit me to give thee some advice. So the Hebrew word jaatz constantly signifies, to give counsel. And so the Vulgar here translates it; but took it for the wicked advice, which wc read, in the next chapter, was executed after Balaam’s departure, and of which he was certainly" the author, (chap. xxxi. 16.) and therefore thus translates the next words, What thy people shall do unto this people. But the Hebrew text and the LXX. arc directly contrary unto this; being, as we translate the words, What this people ed by Microsoft ® [chap. XXIV* shall do to thy people. Therefore Onkclos, to tako in the foregoing sense, without altering the latter part of the verse, puts in one word, and makes the whole run thus: I will give thee counsel what to do, and (will shew thee J what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. And the Jerusalem Targum more largely and plainly, I will advise thee what thou shalt do to this people; make them to sin: otherwise thou shalt not have dominion over them; but this people shall domineer over thy people in the latter end of days’. In the latter days.] In future ages. This shews the foregoing words do not speak of what Moab should do to Israel by his advice; for that was done as soon as he was gone. The murderer, rising with the light, killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief] The murderer, for instance, rises before the sun, to kill those whose poverty calls them up to early labour; and then, lurking all day in the close thickets and woods, he turns robber, and rifles rich men’s houses in the night.

Job 24:15

Arid he took up his parable and said, Balaam the son of Beor hath said, &c. This was the preface to his foregoing prophecy: (see ver. 3.) Ver. J 6. He hath said, who heard the xvords of God, &c] This verse also is the same with the fourth, only a few words added, Arid knew tlie knowledge of the Most High; which he adds, to shew his intimate acquaintance with the supreme Lord of the world. For he speaks of God in the very same style which Moses doth, calling him both El, and Schaddai, and Elijon, and Jehovah; which demonstrates that he was not a stranger to the true God, though corrupted with bad affections, and addicted also to foul superstitions. Tlie eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the • twilight, saying, No eye shallsee me; and disguiseth his face.] The adulterer also, whose eye hath let an unlawful love into his heart, waits for the dusk of the evening to favour • his Icw T d desire: then he hopes nobody he meets withal will know him; but lest they should, he wraps his face in his cloak to prevent discovery. Ver. 1G. In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the day-time: they know not the light.] And when all are at rest, he will dig through the walls of houses, if there be no other way to come at tho adulteress: the assignment was made between them in the day-time, and the place then marked out, at which he may most easily enter; but it is the night which brings them together to act the works of darkness. Vcr. 17. For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one knetv them, they are in the terrors of th shadow of death.] These arc their delight, and if they chance to sleep too long together, and the morning surprise them, they are ready to die with fear; if any one know them, they are in the very agonies of death.

Job 24:17

I shall see him. Or, I do see him (for the future tense is often used for the present); that is, he saw the person of w r hom he was going to speak, represented to him in a vision. But not now.] He saw him not as in being, now at present, but to come in future times. I shall behold him, but not nigh.] The same thing in other words; but more plainly telling them, they must not expect this person in their time, nor in the next generation, but in remoter ages.’ There shall come a Star out of Jacob.] A star denotes a great person; and being understood to be spoken of Christ, it denotes his celestial original. And both Onkelos, and Jonathan, and the Jerusalem Targum, take the Messiah to be here meant; and so doth It. Moses Haddarsan, and Bcreschith Rabbath, and a great many Christian interpreters, (as Huetius observes, in his Demonstr. Evang. propos. vii. sect. 9.) particularly Eusebius and Cyril of Alexandria: who, in his eighth book against Julian, confutes his exposition of these words, which is this: TouS’ on t<$ Aa- /3t8 irpdm’iKtt, Kal rolq an licttvov, irpo$r)\6v tori 7rov* That this belongs to David, and to his successors, is sufficiently manifest. To which St. Cyril replies, that if Balaam had spoken of David, and the kings of Israel, he would have said, There shall arise stars out of Jacob, &c. whereas he speaks of one alone, oTov lv aarpotg k-7rpe7r?/, as very illustrious among the stars; which, it is evident, can be none but Christ. Unto which I shall add the words of a later writer ofthe Jewish nation, R. Isaac, in his Illumin. Fidci, set forth not long ago by the. learned TTagcnscil: where he argues, this cannot be understood of David, or any other king of Israel, because none of them ever reigned all over the earth (t. e. over all the children of Sheth, whom none of them destroyed), but it is meant, he concludes, of the Messiah; who is compared to a star, because of the pcrennity of his kingdom, and the splendour “of his dominion, and his great acts throughout the world, p. 72 and 80. where he makes this a prophecy of one kingdom alone to be in the world, viz. that of the Israelites, who arc called " the people of the saints of the Most High,” Dan. vii. 87. which is true enough, if he had understood the right meaning of Israelites; who arc those, not after the flesh, but after the spirit. It is not fit to conclude this without one observation more: that so long ago as the time of the Emperor Adrian, this w r as understood by the generality of the Jews to be a prophecy of the Messiah. For they followed one whoso name was Chocab (i.e. a star), to whom the famous R. Akiba(a doctor, who, they say, had four-and-twenty thousand scholars) applied these words of Balaam, and calling him Barchocab, i. c. the son of a star, anointed him their king, and carried a sword before him, crying, Behold the very king Messiah! This is reported by the Jews themselves in Tzenach David, and several other books: all which, I think, doth not hinder, but that king David may be hereby signified in the first sense; though as a type of the. Mcs-, siah, the great Son of David, in whom it was completed* And a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel.] This some think, may first have a respect to David, and then to the Messiah, the king of Israel. But the Chaldee paraphrast refers the whole to Christ, whose words are these, A King shall arise out of the house of Jacob, and the Messiah shall be anointed of the house of Israel. Nor is it any w r onder that Balaam should prophesy of him so many years before he was born; and so plainly, that Moses himself doth not speak in plainer terms: tut it is to be looked upon as the effect of God’s infinite goodness, who would not have those, that were not of the seed of Abraham, to be wholly ignorant of what he intended to do for all mankind. And this was necessary to be plainly told them, because otherwise they would not have understood it. And shall smite the corners of Moab.] The latter part of this prophecy, Huetius^ thinks, belongs to David, as, the former part to Christ: which was the opinion of Mai-, monides, who divided the prophecy between them. And this was indeed literally fulfilled in David, who subdued the Moabites entirely, as we read 2 Sam. viii. 8.‘Psal. lx. 8. cviii. 9. Some translate these words, he shall smite j through the princes of Moab. So the LXX. roue apxnyovc Moa/3; which doth not alter the sense. And it is no un-> usual thing with the prophets, when they intend to speak of something nearer to them, to be transported by the Spirit, of God, to speak of things a great deal more Tcmote. As Balaam, here foretelling a great Ruler should come out of Jacob, first speaks of the greatest of all, above fourteen hundred years after this^ime; and then of David,, who, reigned about four hundred years after this. And destroy all the children ofSheth.] They who interpret this of David, take Shcth to have been some great per-, son in that country, ot some place of great note, the inhabitants of which are here threatened to be destroyed. But these arc mere conjectures, which have no foundation in. history; whereas, if we understand it of Christ* and translate the first word, not he shall destroy, but (as Castalio and others do) he shall rule over, the sense is very remarkable;, it being a prophecy, that, in the times of the Messiah, there shall be no longer such a distinction as God now made between the Israelites and other nations (by the peculiar laws

Job 24:18

He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards. To this wicked crew you may add the pirate, who robs upon the sea, and runs from one little creek to another in swift ships: which bring him in so much riches, that he despises the employment of those who till the earth and plant vineyards, as poor and unprofitable.

Job 24:19

Drought and heat consume the snow-waters; so doth the grave those which have sinned. And yet all these, after they have spent their life in such horrid villanies, do not die of lingering and tormenting diseases; but go down to the grave as easily as snow-water sinks into the dry ground when it is melted by the sun.

Job 24:20

The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him: he shall be no more remembered; and ivickedness shall be broken as a tree. God sets no such mark of his displeasure upon him, but that his mother may soon forget him: the hand of justice doth not hang him on a gibbet for the birds to feed on; but he is carried to his grave like other men, to be the sweet food of worms. There he lies quietly, and neither he nor his wickedness arc anymore remembered than a tree which is broken all to shivers.

Job 24:21

He evil-entreateth the barren that beareth not, and doeth not good to the widow. This is true even of him who, to hide his villany, kills the child in the womb of her whom he hath deflowered; and when he hath abused a poor widow, makes her no satisfaction.

Job 24:22

He drawethalso the mighty xvith his power; he riseth tip, and no man is sure of life. The greatest persons are not able to stand before him: when he rises up to assassinate, there is no man, be he never so strong, is sure of his life.

Job 24:23

Though it be given him to be in safety wherein he resteth, yet his eyes are upon their ways. Though he give you his hand, and promise you security so solemnly, that you think you may rely upon him, yet he watches all occasions, and lies in w r ait secretly to do you mischief. *

Job 24:24

They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low;’ they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. Thus these impious men flourish, and arc lifted up above all other; and then they depart the world without any punishment: they arc laid down and shut up in their graves like all other men; nay, they die aseasily (without those tedious pains