To make1 man put away his deed, That from the pit He may keep back his soul, With anguish is he chastened on his bed- So that his very life" abhorreth bread, His bones laid bare, before concealed" from view. And is there then an angel" on his side,- Greek Saplávw. Sleep, however, thus regarded, is not favo- | rable to the clear undisturbed dreaming or vision here demanded. Better take as primary the sense which the Niphal has, Dan. viii. 18; x. 9; Psalm Ixxvi. 7, of awe, astonishment (VULG. consternatus) denoting a trance-like state. See the note on this word iv. 13, and the reference there to the Introduction. Here it may be less clairvoyant, but it clearly denotes something different from ordinary slumber, and that ordinary dreaming which comes from a semi-consciousness of something affecting us from the outer world around us. On the other hand, the dreams here spoken of are supposed to come from within the soul itself, as from its deeper being, or as the voice of God in it, or from some plane above, when the sleep is of such a nature that the outer world is wholly excluded. 18 Ver. 17. To make man put away. The syntactical harmony of this verse is preserved, without any change of subject, by giving to the Hiphil 107 a double, or an intensive causal force, such as it will bear, and which the context seems to demand. It may thus be regarded as מעשה and אדם,having a double object T' 19 Ver. 18. To hide from man. The hero or mighty man (in distinction from DT). Some ellipsis seems demanded with 11, such as look, way, or deed of pride. It seems to resemble the Greek üßpis, denoting haughty, reckless action, rather than mere feeling. So y in the 1st clause would denote a bad deed. See Note 12, ver. 11, chap. xxxi., on Heb. I, Lat. facinus, Greek epyov. SCHLOTTMANN gives scheiden, to divide, separate, as the rendering of , but that seems to destroy the metaphor-covering, hiding, veiling, putting it away from his sight, or giving it a different appearance. יז 20 Ver. 19. His every bone. The Holem vowel in shows the true rendering, making it exactly like iv. 14. The other (7) demands a rendering (strife) too metaphorical for the simplicity of Elihu's language. It is, too, of an artificial sentimental kind, supported by no use of, if that be the true reading, in any other place in the Hebrew Bible. It always means a judicial strife, which would make a very far-fetched metaphor here, is applied to a pain in the bones. The other reading, moreover, is made very clear by comparison with iv. 14-the multitude of his bones: an expressive mode of saying, every bone of the many bones in his body, great and small. Anatomy reveals how numerous they are, and, before precise anatomical knowledge, the number seemed, perhaps, still greater. It should be remembered, too, how abrupt the style is. Elihu seems moved by his own description, and his language becomes passionate, leaving out the verbal copula: His every bone-pain unceasing. 21 Ver. 20. His very life. This use of 'n, life for soul, is unusual, but the parallelism with 5 makes it clear. It is meant to be intensive: the very life which the food would sustain rejects it. Ver. 20. Appetite. So VD) is used Prov. vi. 30; x. 3, 27; xxvii. 7; Isai. Iv. 2. 23 Ver. 20. Once-loved food. Literally, food of desire,-choice, favorite food. 24 Ver. 21. Before concealed from sight. So the VULG. renders as a relative or descriptive clause (which are not seen). In like manner JUNIUS and TREMELLIUS, and most of the old commentators. DELITZSCH, SCHLOTTMANN, EWALD, take N directly: they are not seen. They either connect it with 15, making two distinct assertions: his bones are bare, they are not seen; which seems a contradiction, unless by bare is meant wasted away, and so disappearing, which is not an easy view; or they take the Ketib here, DV, as the noun subject: seine verstörten glieder, DELITZSCH; seine dürres Gebein, SCHLOTTMANN; ses os dénudés s'évanouissent, RENAN. The old way of taking it as a relative clause is much easier than in some other places where that method of interpretation is freely adopted, but the strong argument for it is the harmony it makes in the parallelism: His flesh once seen, so plump and fair, now wasted out of view; his bones once closely covered by the flesh, now projecting, thrusting themselves out to view, as it UM"looking and staring at him," as in Ps. xxii. 18 BREIT very concisely and clearly: und kahl wird sein Gebein das man vorher nicht sehen konnte. For see, in Niphal, Isai. xiii. 2-used of a mountain bare and projecting. The corresponding Syriac and Arabic words have the same meaning. wer', Ver. 22. Perdition. ♫ means more than the grave here, or corruption. The idea is not distinct, but it is that of some great loss,-something terrible connected with the thought of the going out of the life. 26, 27, 28, 29 Vers. 22, 23, 24; see EXCURSUS XI. in the Addenda, pp. 208, 209. is not 30 Ver. 25. In childhood. here in comparative but causal. DELITZSCH. 31 32 383 To let him see His face with joy, And thus give back to man his righteousness." It is his song to men, and thus it says: "I sinned, I made my way perverse, And it was not requited me; 83 My soul hath He redeemed from passing to the grave, Behold! in all these ways, so dealeth God, His soul to rescue from the grave, That it may joy in light,-the light of those who live. Attend, O Job, give ear to me; Be still that I may speak. If thou hast words, then answer me; Be still, if I may wisely counsel thee. Ver. 26. His righteousness. Man's righteousness objectively; but the righteousness of God, to whom the pronoun may be referred in the sense of God's dealings with man in return (1) for man's dealings towards him,-or righteousness and mercy for unrighteousness. See remarks on 1 Ver. 23, in Excursus XI., p. 210. ז: 34 Ver. 27. Requited. : make like or equal, hence the sense of retribution. TT 35 Ver. 29. Time after time. The dual DD. Lit., two strokes, blow after blow, thus coming to be used for changes, turns (vices) vicissitudes two times, -three times-repeatedly. 86 Ver. 30. That it may joy in light. DELITZSCH: Und mein Leben labt sich am Lichte. Compare the expres sions Ecclesiastes and elsewhere, in which seeing the light is equivalent to life. See INT. THEISM., p. 5. N, Inf. Niphal-be made light. for לֵאוֹר 87 Ver. 31. Be still. The language would seem to intimate some impatience,-a look or gesture of dissent or apthe idea of a real life scene. See INT. THEISM, pа. 39. Ver. 27. Make my way perverse. Lit., per- peal. There is much in this speech of Elihu that suggests vert, or make crooked the straight. 17 18 And on it built the world? Should He think only of Himself,'— His breath and spirit (from the world) withdraw,- And man go back to dust. O could'st thou see it!" list to this, Give ear unto my words. A hater of the right; does he (the world) restrain ?12 8 ver. 7. Mighty man. 2. Elihu seems to have some admiration of Job's bold, heroic bearing, though censuring him. may refer to his haughty repelling of the charges made against him, or to his mode of speaking of God. 4 Ver. 8. Who joins, etc. Elihu does not charge this literally, but only as the tendency of Job's language. 5 Ver. 10. To this. is more special than by. (poréxei voûv Tivi), that is in the way of judgment. The interpretation given above is that of GROTIUS, and has since been generally followed. See SCHLOTTMANN, DELITZSCH, et al. The statement is in proof of the Divine benevolence. His continuation of the universe is an evidence of it. 10 Ver. 15. Would expire. See Ps. civ. 29: "When thou takest away their breath (principle of life) they expire, (Jay gasp) and return to their dust." The source of life must be the fountain of all goodness. T: 11 Ver. 16. O could'st thou see it! DELITZSCH regards as the Imperative verb instead of a noun; but thinks the joining with it of the DN. makes it equivalent to It is a reply to something just said, and prompting an answer that cannot be suppressed. See the example, chap. xx. 2, where it denotes Zophar's haste to reply to Job's bold D. E. V., and others, took it as a noun; but thus speech at the close of the preceding chapter: 1, for so—to such a speech as that, I make haste to answer. This is implied in : hear what I have to say to this-propter-ea. 6 Ver. 10. Away the thought. This is the answer he is impatient to given, o profanum: a vehement protest. The best translation is that which gives it most strongly and clearly without attempting to imitate the almost untranslatable Hebrew construction. The thought of a God of wickedness is not to be tolerated for a moment. The idea of Omnipotence connected with that of injustice is still more horrible. It is to be protested against, not argued about. 7 Ver. 11. Yea verily. DN 7. The strongest particle of asseveration N. T., áμnν àμýv. T: T 8 Ver. 13. Who gave. "A mere viceroy might do wrong, but the Supreme Ruler is in a different position." So DELITZSCH and others. The argument, however, seems to be a higher one. It is simply the a priori idea of the moral sense. We cannot reason about it. No Abraham, Gen. xviii. 25: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right, far be it from Thee, Lord. Ver. 14. Of himself. E. V. and others regarded as referring to man. D, put his mind upon him, viewed it comes to about the same thing either way. It does not imply a reflection on Job as the E. V. rendering seems to do, but only an earnest wish that he could see things rightly. Elihu is very zealous and, at the same time, tender. This gives interest to his seeming repetitions, as it divests them of that tautological, prattling character, which some are fond of ascribing to him. It is a sufficient answer to all this jaunty criticism, that nowhere in the book, except in the address of the Almighty, are there to be found grander ethical and theological ideas: God cannot do wrong; it cannot be a despiser of right that binds the world in harmony; His very continuance of man and the world show this; O that Job's sufferings would allow him to see it. Nothing in the speeches of Eliphaz and Zophar comes up to this. 12 Ver. 17. Restrain. win is not the usual word for governing, but such a sense here would be analogous to the use of the similar word, 3 to restrain, 1 Sam. x. 17, and ON, to bind, Ps. cv. 22. In the usual sense of binding, which it has both in Hebrew and in Arabic, it would be very appropriate here. Elihu has reference to God's government in the most general sense, as the binding power of the universe. Injustice here would be anarchy and dissolution in the moral, as it would ultimately be in the physical world. 13 Ver. 17. Condemn. y', pronounce wicked. 14 Ver. 18. Belial. y. The idea is best expressed by keeping the well understood epithet-worthlessness. 15 Ver. 20. To (earthly) powers, O wickedness? And take away the strong; 'tis by no (human) hand. He seeth all their steps. No darkness is there, yea, no shade of death, When man to God in judgment comes. He breaks the strong, in ways we cannot trace;1o To this end knoweth He their works; He overturns them in the night-they're crushed. It is for this, because they turned aside, And disregarded all His ways; TT : ז' is Rush they on. 17, and pass on ; the rapid motion of a transported mob. It has also the sense of attack, as Nah. iii. 19; Ps. cxxiv. 4; Job xiii. 13, etc., in which cases, however, it is generally followed by y here unnecessary because the object is so clearly implied in the other verbs. Some take 1'D' passively with N for its passive subject. The other way is the easier, as well as the more vivid. The sudden and stormy rising of the people, (y, VULGATE: in media nocte turbabuntur populi, et pertransibunt, et auferent violentem) is the cause of the tyrant's de thronement. And yet, although it is the popular commotion which makes the visible and immediate cause, it is truly the hand of God which we may regard as the remote and unseen agency. Comp. Ps. xvii. 14, 15: 77, from men, thy hand, y, from the wicked thy sword. The truth has often had its illustration in modern as well as in ancient times. That Elihu means to represent it as God's doing, notwithstanding His seeming neglect, or His forbearance, ap-ground beneath their feet. Or may mean their sup 19 Ver. 25. In the night. The same imagery as in ver. 20, suddenness and darkness; the hand unseen. 20 Ver. 26. As they stand Lit.: Beneath the wicked He smites them, or if we take P as a noun-beneath the wicked their blow. This expression Dyn, has been very variously rendered. nn has been taken to mean, "as though they were wicked," or as wicked, or in place of wicked, or after the manner (DELITZSCH), nach Missethäter Art, or mit den Ruchlosen (SCHLOTTMANN); or Dy made the plural of y, on account of, or as the price of their transgressions. These are all secondary senses of coming from its primary sense of under, very much as Üπо is used in Greek. But may not the difficulty here have arisen, as in other places, from overlooking the simple idea that comes from the exact literality? It is a second example, as s sought to be expressed by the word in brackets. The first was an unseen blow; this is an open one. Beneath the wicked smiles he them-right where they stand-the very port, that which is under them-thus meaning their very limbs. This latter idea is strengthened by a comparison of Habakkuk iii, 16, 11, Itrembled beneath me, in my underneathing, my limbs or supports. Just so Homer 16 Ver. 22. No darkness. (Compare SOPHOCLES' dip. uses vnó; in Iliad VII. 6 unò yuia deλuvrai-his limbs reCol. 280: laxed beneath-not beneath his limbs; vò used adverbially. Thus regarded as two varying examples, in verse 25, and the words in the 26th, are in direct contrast. Such a sudden and open blow at the very foundations, suggests the 7 or upturning of Sodom and Gomorrah, which is RASCHT's idea. “זז T: pears from the words 7, which can hardly have any other meaning, and is confirmed by the language of the verse following. φυγὴν δὲ τοῦ μήπω γενέσθαι φωτὸς ἀνοσίου βροτῶν. 17 Ver. 23. He needeth not, etc. This is the substantial meaning of the verse as given by EWALD, and as it is well explained by RENAN: Dieu n'a pas besoin de regarder l'homme deux fois, ' T: 21 Ver. 28. Before his face. The pronoun in may perhaps refer to the sinner. In that case it should be rendered to bring upon him, the cry, the pýva, vengeance or retribution, of the poor. See Homer, Iliad XXII. 358; Odyss. XI. 73: un Toi Ti beŵr μýviμa yerwμai. 22 Ver. 29. Disturb. Primary sense of , whence that of wickedness. It is in evident contrast here with נישקיט "As thou dost spurn or choose [so be it], not as" I?” 35 36 37 Or any strong and wise who hears me now. Job speaks in ignorance, And without understanding are his words. O would that Job were proved to the extreme, And still at God doth multiply his words. * Ver. 30. Against. Negative sense of ¡D. 24 Ver. 30. Make a prey. Lit., from snares of the people. 25 Ver. 31. For, had he said. An elliptical expression of a wish, or of what Job ought to have done: Ah, had he said. The adversative sense of the denotes that he should have so said. It is, however, very difficult to preserve both in English, namely the chiding and the reason in the, and, at the same time, the regret and surprise expressed in the particle which is exclamatory as well as interrogative. N is not the infinitive Niphal, as some take it, but the Kal preterite and the exclamatory interrogative with Segol before a guttural with Quamets. Elihu; but it makes a sudden change of person, which, wise man. is not used superfluously here, or tautologi- cally. I may be taken as referring to those pre sent who claimed the reputation of wisdom from age, positending with Job. Elihu appeals to such, or to any other tion, or otherwise, such as the friends who had been conone in the audience who might be a man of note, or strength, 26 Ver. 33. On thine own terms. Lit., that which(), though not professedly a D or Sage. He appeals is from thee. 27 Ver. 33. Not as I. This can only refer to God, not to to all men of character and intelligence. I answer thee; 5 And thy companions who take part with thee: Behold the skies so high above thy head. 1 Ver. 1. And Elihu answered. This chapter follows on so closely and directly in the spirit of the preceding, and especially of its concluding verses, that it may well raise a question as to the genuineness, or antiquity, of this intervening statement. Ver. 3. Yes-thou dost say it. is here the particle of proof, as though Job had intimated some dissent by look or gesture. Such is the fair import of thy words; it cannot be denied. 3 Ver. 4. Thy companions. This cannot mean the three friends. As unlikely is the opinion of DELITZSCH that |