20 20 21 Ah, is it told to Him that I am speaking! Has one so said ? take care lest he be swallowed up. And now the lightning" they no longer see,- The wind has passed and made them clear. TT: scene. It is a real darkness perturbing his thoughts and disturbing his utterance. It may be a coming back of the nimbus as is the case sometimes in thunder-storms, or some strange darkening of the air from some unknown cause, and, therefore, more awing than though it came from clouds. Something still more fearful is anticipated. There are symptoms of the D, or whirlwind. And so he turns again from the reflective to the phenomenal style, like that of a man calling attention to some new and strange appearanres in the heavens, after the storm has partially passed by. Ver. 19. So dark it grows. Hebrew, literally, before the darkness, or by reason of the darkness. 34 Ver. 20. Ah, is it told to Him. An overawing sense of an actually approaching divine presence, making even the reverent Elihu fear lest he may have said something rash, as he charges Job to have done. From this his own confession, therefore, we may expect perturbation, confugion, and consequent obscurity in what immediately follows. He "cannot order his speech " or marshall (7) his words. He hardly knows what he says, as was the case with the disciples (Mark ix. 6) when they came down from the mount of transiguration; οὐ γὰρ ᾔδει τί λαλήσῃ ἦσαν γὰρ ἐκфозол. Ver. 20. Has one so said? It is not easy to get a clear meaning to this verse, unless we take elliptically with some word of caution, such as is sometimes to be supplied before the Greek ört, or μn öтι, μn öпws, take care lest; or as the Latin ut is used as a caution, with some such word T: understood as fieri potest, or the like: it may be that he will be swallowed up. Among other places a good example of this elliptical may be found, Deut. vii. 17: take care lest thou say in thy heart. It is an idiom which would be especially likely to occur in impassioned language, such as Elihu uses in his confessed perturbation. RENAN renders it very freely, and supposes that the reference is to Job's rash language in demanding that God would appear and speak to him. De grâce, que mes discours ne lui soient point rapportes! Jamais homme a-t-il désiré sa perte? 56 Ver. 21. The lightning. The question on which turns the whole interpretation of this and the following verse, is whether here means the sun, or the lightning. Most commentators say the former. There are, however, strong objections to it regarded in itself, and they become still stronger in the attempt to make any application of such a meaning. It certainly seems against it that whilst is used for the sun in but one clear place in the Bible, Job Xxx. 26 (two other places cited, Hab. iii. 4; Isai. xviii. 4, being better rendered by the general term light) there are no less than five passages in this very description (xxxvi. 27xxxvii. 24), and in close connection, where it is used for the lightning. They are xxxvi. 32; xxxvii. 3, 11, 15, about which there can be no doubt, and xxxvi. 30, where it makes the clearest sense. It is certainly the predominant meaning of It in these two chapters. The word ny, too, seem to be taken in its temporal sense: at the present time, now, in distinction from something past; as is also denoted by the demonstrative in the second clause, the splendor that was in the skies, or clouds. Such a definition would not have been appended had the sun been meant, or light generally. conyeys the impression of something peculiar that had been very lately seen. The same effect is produced on the mind by the third clause: "the wind has passed and cleared them ;" the storm is just over; an assertion which seems to have no meaning in connection with the mere general reflection supposed to be expressed by this verse. The strongest argument, however, is that the rendering controverted stands wholly isolated. It seems to refer to nothing that precedes, and has no application to any thing following, except what is wholly inferential, or is to be supplied by each interpreter's own critical imagination. The analogy is certainly not expressed or even hinted at. The very modes of applying the fact supposed to be stated only render such interpretations all the more unsatisfactory. The principal one is that cited by SCHLOTTMANN, from RABBI SIMEON BEN ZEMACH, and which is adopted by most of the Jewish interpreters: "As men cannot look upon the sun in the heavens without being blinded, so they cannot judge of the works of God." This demands a potential sen e for 1, without any authority. The idea is indeed a good one, but wholly supplied from the commentator's own mind. Others, like DELITZSCH, refer it to the passing away of the storm as denoted in the 3d clause, and make the hidden doctrine to be that "as a breath of wind is enough to bring the sun to view, so God, hidden for a time, can suddenly unveil Himself to our surprise and confusion." This may be a true and striking thought, but it is wholly supplied. It has, moreover, no connection with ver. 22, where i, whatever it means, cannot be the sun coming from the North. Added to all this is the general objection that such a view represents Elihu as suddenly turning from the demonstrative optical, or phenomenal style, which he has used almost throughout, to a refined moralizing in which, after all, he leaves th point of his preceptive comparison, to say the least, very obscure. By referring, on the other hand, to the lightning, as it has been five times used in these phenomenal picturings, we get a clear sense, in closest harmony with what follows in ver. 22, and giving a consistent meaning to the 3d clause of ver. 21 which occasions so much difficulty in adapting it to the other interpretations; for if it means the sun appearing after a storm, then men do see it, and hail its appearance, and this is wholly at MANN cites. The key to the irregular language of both war with the application of RABBI SIMEON which SCHLOTTthese chapters is found when we regard Elihu not as moralizing, or drawing on his imagination, but as describing real appearances in the heavens, the skies, the clouds (for pri may have all these meanings) just as they occur. T EWALD, SCHLOTTMANN, DELITZSCH, all admit that the storm or 710, terminating in the 7 or whirlwind, out of which the Divine voice proceeds, is actually occurring during Elihu's speech. The latter draws this conclusion from xxxvii. 1, dass die Gewitter-schilderung Elihu's von einem den Himmel überziehenden Gewitter begleitet ist, from which he justly infers that y, ver. 21, must be understood in its temporal, instead of its mere conclusive sense: "Now, at this present time, they do not see the light, etc. So SCHLOTTMANN, remarking on the article in D, xxxviii. 1, puts it on the ground, dass das bestimmte Wetter gemeint ist dessen Heraufziehen schon Elihu geschildert hatte. He means the painting which commences xxxvi. 27, and was most probably suggested by the symptoms of the thunder at that time beginning to show themselves. This makes it all the more strange that these commentators should have made so little use, or rather no use at all, of this important circumstance in their interpretation of vers. 21 and 22. If ver. 21 presents an actual scene then present to the beholders, instead of a mere moralizing imagination, then every thing becomes easy, and a most obvions preparation is furnished for ver. 22. The 10 or thunder-storm has passed by; they see no longer the lightning in the clouds; they are broken up (xxxvii. 11); "the wind has passed and made them clear. But see! Something else is coming ( ver. 22, future of approach) from the opposite direction, and all eyes are intently fixed upon it. What this is we are told in the next verse. 37 Ver. 21. That splendor, § 7. The Arabic ז* has the primary sense of splendor, but it is almost lost in its numerous secondary applications. We get a better idea of the root from the Hebrew noun 3, which comes so frequently in the minute description of the leprosy, Lev. xiii. and xiv. It is the "inflamed " pustule of a "reddish color," which the LXX. constantly renders by words denoting brilliancy and burning, πυρρίζουσα-κατάκαυμα πυρὸς avyásov and similar words-VULGATE combustio-all leaving no doubt as to its appearance: a fiery red (Heb. ) or inflamed spot. In analogy with this, the adjective would mean a blazing, angry, radiating splendor, suggestive of the red lightning glow, though it might be applied to the sun if the context demanded. * Ver. 21. In the clouds. This word 'n may be used either for the clouds or the skies. If the sun were intended it would be more properly D', as the sun is בשחקים never elsewhere said to be 39 Ver. 22. From the North. The opposite direction to that from which comes the 10. TT 40 Ver. 22. A golden sheen. 7. Lit., gold. From the context there cannot be a doubt that by this word Elihu means an appearance of a peculiar kind in the heavens, and approaching them from the North. It is something that combines the beautiful, as we may judge from the name he gives it, with the terrible. That there was something of this fearful fascination about it is evident from the sudden cry which it calls out: with God is dreadful majesty; or as RENAN most expressively renders it: O admirable splendeur de Dieu! It would have been out of place had he been calmly moralizing, and drawing refined analogies, as the other interpretations represent him. He saw something. It was this which made him cry out. Nothing but some wonderful glory before his eyes, something that filled him at the same time with admiration and alarm, conld have called out such an exclamation. here cannot represent the sun, (though aureus or golden would be a good descriptive epithet of it) since it comes from the North. The Future, too, would be out of place, from its so evidently denoting approach. There is no ground for rendering it fair weather, as E. V. and others have done. Why should Elihu make a general reflection here about the weather, and what was there In such an idea to bring out that sudden cry of wonder and alarm? The literal rendering gold is the most preposterous of all. That he should stop in the midst of such a splendid storm painting (Gewitterschilderung) to express an opinion in metallurgy is more incredible than his supposed meteorological ideas about the weather; or that under such circumstances he should interrupt his speech in order to tell his hearers that gold comes from the North. All the learning about the "Arimaspian mountains" with their fabled treasures, and Indian stories of guarding griffins, a kind of lore that UMBREIT and MERX are so fond of displaying, cannot redeem it from absurdity. Such a mode of interpretation is specially unsatisfactory when an attempt is made to find a contrast, or a comparison, in the two members of ver. 22: The gold buried in the North and God's unsearchableness; or, as DELITZSCH says, "man lays bare the hidden treasures of the earth, but the wisdom of God still transcends him." How it ignores, too, the pictorial style so evident in the of the first clause, and the strong emotional aspect of the second! The reference to chap. xxviii. is wholly out of place; since there the contrast between the Divine and human wisdom is evident throughout to every reader; but here all is optical, with no intimation of any such reflexive ideas as are drawn from it. Every thing goes to show that here must be used to denote a peculiar celestial phenomenon, which no other word could so well describe; a steady, untwinkling brilliancy, having a fascinating yet fearful beauty, not dazzling like the sun, or irritating like the in Alamed splendor denoted by 7. The Hebrew use, in this way, of 2 for color, is not frequent, though there is a very good example of it, Zech. xiv. 12, where denotes the clear shining oil, but the classical usage is most abundant. It shows how easy and natural is the analogy in such applications of the words xpvoòs, aurum, with their derivative adjectives, such as xpvoavyns, gold gleaming (see PIND. Olymp. I. 1, Xpvoòs ailóμerov up). Compare too the epithets most usually applied to gold by the Greek poets, such τις καθαρός, αίγλήεις, φαεινός, διαυγής, στίλβων as Lucian styles it. So in the Latin, aurora the morning light, from aurum (not from aupios wpn as some absurdly make it), the clear calm light, in distinction from the blinding light of the meridian sun. Hence our word for the aurora borealis, So the Latins used aureolus (aureole) to denote the halo round the heads of gods or saints. For this idea of gold as representing the calm and beautiful in distinction from the fierce and inflamed light, see Rev. xxi. 18: "And the city was pure gold, Xpvoiov xalapov, like to pure jasper." The rendering of the LXX. véon xpvσavyoûvra, gold-gleaming clouds, has been contemned; but it gives an idea most suitable to the context, as it immediately calls 10 mind the remarkable appearance described Ezek. i. 4, which of all others, is most suggestive of this. It is a wonder that the resemblance should have been so little noticed by commentators. That, too, comes from the North: "And I beheld, and lo, a whirlwind (y), came from the North, and a great not diffusing itself מִתְלַקַחַת) cloud of inter-circling flame but making a globe of light), and a brightness (or halo) round about it, and in the midst of it, like the color of amber (quasi species ELECTRI) from the midst of the cloud." It was God's cherubic chariot, as in Ps. xviii. 11. Some such strange appearance, represented in the distance mainly by its golden color, appears to Elihu as coming from the same direction. Ezekiel calls it (i. 28) “the likeness of the glory of God," and "falls upon his face." Elihu cries out, "O awful glory of Eloah;" and this is followed by no mere sententious wisdom, but by one of those doxologies which appear to have been common to the ancient as well as to the later Arabians: Allah akbar, God is very great, incomprehensible, vast in strength and righteousness; He will not oppress. It Deity. is an emotional cry called out by a sense of approaching 41 Ver. 23. He'll not oppress. In the INT. THEISM, page 27 (note), the translator was disposed to regard in Kal as the better reading. A more careful study, however, confirms the common text. 42 Ver. 24. Regardeth not the wise of heart. That, is, those who are "wise in their own eyes," or vain of their own wisdom. "No flesh shall glory in His presence." It is a fitting conclusion to such a scene, as it was a most fitting prelude to the voice which soon breaks from the electric splendor of this whirling, inter-circling, cloud of gold. CHAPTER XXXVIII. Then Jehovah answered Job out of the whirlwind;' and He said: 1 2 Who is it thus, by words makes counsel' dark? Not knowing what he says? 1 Ver. 1. The whirlwind. See Addenda, Exc. XII., p. 213. 2 Ver. 2. Makes counsel dark. On the question: to whom is this addressed, or of whom spoken. See Exc. XII., p. 213. 3 Ver. 2. Not knowing what he says. The accents separate from nya. The general sense, however, is the same. See Exc. XII., p. 213. 4 Ver. 3. Now like a strong man. A turning from Elihu to Job. For reasons for this view, see Exc. XII, p. 213. 8 Ver. 9. The dark araphel. This word expresses a peculiar conception generally translated "thick darkness." It is something denser than they, and darker than There is in it the idea of dropping or distillation from, as though it were a kind of flowing or floating darkness, having some degree of black visibility. See Exod. xx. 18; Deut. iv. 11: 2 Kings viii. 2. Ps. xviii. 10: And the araphel was under His feet. As the word is well understood to mean intensive darkness, and is itself quite euphonic, it was thought best to leave it untranslated. 9 Ver. 10. Broke over it my law. The most literal rendering is the best. Much is lost when we attempt to substitute for it a more general expression. In this word 5 Ver. 4. If thy science goes so far. This may seem a free rendering, but it comes nearer to the meaning of the intensive formy, than the rendering of E. V.: "if thou hast understanding." DELITZSCH's Urtheils-, there is the idea of something very powerful which fähigkeit seems to give a very tame sense. Literally it is know understanding, that is, with understanding, or understandingly, with discernment, or as we would say, scientifically-the reason as well as the fact. EWALD: Verstehst du klug zu sein, which seems to have hardly any meaning at all. 6 Ver. 5. That thou should'st know. Some regard this as irony. So RENAN : Qui a réglé les mesures de la terre (tu le sais sans doute). There is irony in the Bible, but the idea here is revolting. To say nothing of the theological aspect, it is inconsistent with the frank and encouraging spirit in which Job is invited to the conference (ver. 3d, 2d clause). The rendering above is the most literal, and gives a very satisfactory idea: Who fixed them so that they should fall within the measure of thy science? It is simply a mode of saying, without irony or contempt, that they are far beyond his knowledge. The measures of the earth are not known yet. The North pole is not yet reached, and even should that be accomplished, there is still "the Great Deep," the vast interior all unexplored and likely to remain so for ages we cannot estimate. 7 Ver. 7. In chorus. ', all together-in unison. the law had to deal with,-something very ungovernable, as UM 10 Ver. 11. Stops. Some take passively, or impersonally. Its active transitive sense, however, may be preserved by regarding p (ver. 10), the imposed law, as its 12 Since thou wast born, hast thou the morn commanded, 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 To reach the utmost limits" of the earth, When from its face the wicked flee1 dismayed? To the fountains of the sea hast thou gone down? The gates of death, have they been shown1 to thee? The way, where is it, to light's dwelling place? subject. The preposition in 11 may, in that case, T 23 Ver. 19. Light's dwelling-place. Well rendered by UMBREIT: Wo geht der Weg hin zu des Lichtes Wohnung. 24 Ver. 19. And darkness. It is not the same question. Darkness is spoken of as a positive quality having a source and place of its own. So Isaiah xlv. 7, 18131 12 Ver. 13. Flee dismayed. y is passive, and would be rendered, literally, are shaken. But (referring to the earth) can hardly mean out of it. From it is more literal, that is, from its face, or from open appearance in it. 121. When God speaks to men He must address The rendering given corresponds well with the usual primary sense of agitation. Scared out of it, that is driven away to their lurking places when the light comes winging its way to the ends of the earth. 13 Ver. 14. Transformed. See notes on 1, xxxvii. 12, and the references thereto. Notes on xxviii. 5, and on xxx. 15. 14 Ver. 14. Beneath the seal. "Its dark and apparently formless surface is changed to a world of varied beauty and magnificence; just as the shapeless clay takes the beautiful device from the seal; CONANT. See HERDER's idea that, in some sense, "every morning is a new creation." 16 Ver. 14. A fair embroidered robe. To make the comparison good, by w must evidently be meant a robe with figures worked upon it. CONANT, gay apparel; SCHLOTTMANN, Festgewand; DILLMANN, in mannigfaltigen Umrissen und Farben; RENAN, un riche vetement. 16 Ver. 15. Their light. According to xxiv. 17," says DELITZSCH, "the light of evil doers is the darkness of the night, which is to them, as an aid to their work, what the light of day is for other men," Compare John iii. 19: "Loved darkness more than light." 66 17 Ver. 15. Broken the uplifted arm. Our word frustrated has the same figure. The picture is a very vivid one: the arm just raised to do evil arrested by the light. 18 Ver. 16. Abysmal depths. Dir. Lit., the secret of the tehom, or "great deep" mentioned Gen. i. 2; vii. 11. It is sometimes used for the sea or ocean. 19 Ver. 17. Been shown. The sense of here is not that of opening (the gate opened) but of revealing. T: 20 Ver. 17. The realm of shades. My may be used figuratively of a state of sorrow, or of approach to death, as it seems to be taken Ps. xxiii. 4, but here by the usual law of parallelism, Tzalmareth would mean something more remote and profound than Mareth (death), or farther removed from this present earthly being. In both, the imagery of gates is from the same feeling of returnlessness that gave rise to the similar language in Homer: 'Aidao múλai, the gates of Hades, II. V. 646, IX. 312. 21 Ver. 18. Or even the breadth of earth. CoNANT, even to (y), which is, perhaps, to be preferred; since Ty, here, as in some other places, denotes degree. 22 Ver. 18. Knowest it all. It refers to all the questions asked, and not merely the breadth of the earth. them in their own language, and that must be according to their thinking, or the conceptions on which their words are founded. Again, if according to their conceptions, it must also be in accordance with the science to which those con voice." ceptions owe their birth. This must be done, or the lan- 20 That thou should'st take it to its25 bounds, 26 Or know the way that leadeth to its house? The treasures of the snow hast thou" approached? Which for the time of trouble I reserve," The day when hosts draw near0 in battle strife. Where is the way by which the lightning" parts ?** To irrigate the regions wild and waste, ence is shown by the testimony of no less a scientist than Alexander Humboldt himself. Thus he says, Kosmos, Vol. II., p. 48, in respect "to the meteorological processes which take place in the atmosphere, the formation and solution of vapor, the generation of hail, and of the rolling thunder, there are questions propounded in this portion of the book of Job which we, in the present state of our physical knowledge, may indeed be able to express in more scientific language, but scarcely to answer more satisfactorily." the outgoings of Paradise, peradventure thou would'st say, I never went down into the Deep, neither did I ever climb up into Heaven; but now have I asked thee only of the fire, and the wind, and of the day through which thou hast passed, and of things from which thou canst not be separated, and yet thou canst give me no answer. Things grown up with thee thou canst not know; how then should'st thou comprehend the way of the Highest!" TT-: 28 Ver. 22. Approached., most literal, gone or come to, visited, entered into, as may be rendered without the preposition, as, 17 y 8, Gen. xxiii. 18. 29 Ver. 23. I reserve. ɲon, see Note xxi. 30; "the wicked reserved to the day of doom." Ver. 20. To its bounds. This shows that ultimate causal knowledge is intended,-or that finishing knowledge (τὸ τέλειον as distinguished from the τὸ ἐκ μέρους, 1 Cor. xiii. 10) beyond which nothing more is to be known about it. Ver. 20. The way that leadeth to its house. Another mode of expressing the same idea. "Its house" where dwells the apxn, or first principle that makes it what it is, and of which all subsequent phenomena are but differ- 30 Ver. 23. When hosts draw near. This gives ent degrees of manifestation; the phenomenon last reached the etymological idea of p: closeness and battle, literally, by scientific discovery being only called an apxn till something beyond it is revealed and takes the name. These for battle closely joined. See Deut. xx. 2, 3, questions, as Humboldt intimates, may yet be asked, each, when ye draw nigh to battle, or join battle. one of them, and no mere names like "gravity," "force," "correlation of forces," can evade their point, or conceal our inability to answer perfectly. אל בקרבכם 31 Ver. 24. Lightning. So SCHLOTTMANN 1: Das Licht ist der Blitz, as in xxxvi. 32, and he might also have Ver. 21. Thou know! Many take this as irony. said, as in xxxvii. 3, 11, 15. He finds an argument for it This is the way RENAN gives it: Tu le sais sans doute! car tu étais né avant elles; The idea is insupportable. The voice of Jehovah is sounding tric amber cloud; Job and all the rest most probably lying prostrate, with their faces in the dust! What a time for sarcasm, especially on such a theme, the fewness of the human years! But the translation above given, it may, perhaps, be said, comes nearly to the same thing, It is not so. The peculiar style, combined of the exclamatory and the interrogative, is to bring vividly before the mind the change that ensues in the illustrative phenomena to be now mentioned. The personal knowledge of the first mentioned great creative acts could only be claimed on the score of experience or cotemporeity, which are out of the question. Those now to be mentioned are familiar every-day phenomena, and observation, it might be thought, is sufficient for their discovery. But in these, too, there is an unfathomable loud above the roar of the tornado that bursts from the elec דרך from its agreement with the second clause: the lightning and the storm coming with the snow and the hail. The word here may refer to the direction of the lightning flash so difficult to trace (see Note on xxxvii. 4) or to the method or law of the fact, as P (see xxviii. 26) refers to the dynamical principle. If referred to light it may be the law of its existence or origin. is the cloven 32 Ver. 24. Parts. Lit., is parted; but the Niphal may be rendered deponently or intransitively. If lightning, it presents the idea of the heavens by it in all directions, or its being cloven from the cloud. P. xxix. 7 may be regarded as parallel to it: "the voice of the Lord (the thunder) cutteth out (heweth out) the flashes of fire," RABBI LEVI BEN GERSON renders: "how it (the lightning) breaks from the cloud." * Ver. 24. How drives—or spreads. ' is taken intransitively, as in Exod. v. 12; 1 Sam. xiii. 8. 34 Ver. 24. The rushing tempest. The East wind depth of mystery. As no length of human days could give, the classical Eurus is thus used for a tempest. See the one, so no keenness of observation, or of inductive analysis, could reach the other, though lying right beneath our eyes. So here Л, spoken abruptly and forcibly, but not with irony or contempt, is exclamatory and at the same time carries a hypothetical force: Thou knowest! that is, as if thou knewest, or could'st know! The second clause is only a varied and forcible mode of presenting the same thought. There is much here that reminds us of a passage in that strangely impressive apocryphal book of II. Esdras (sometimes styled the IV.): "Then said the angel unto me: go thy way; weigh me the weight of the fire, or measure me the blast of the wind, or call me again the day that is past. If I should ask thee of the springs of the Deep, or where are Ps. xlviii. 8, the wind "that breaks the ships of Tarshish, Job xxvii. 21:" The East wind (or the storm) carries him away. See Jer. xxiii. 17; Isai. xxvii. 8; Ezek. xxvii. 26. 35 Ver. 25. A way appointed. This is exactly like the second clause of xxviii. 26. There 777 is parallel to P, law, decree, which requires something like it in the 2d clause. The way is not here merely space direction, but method of action. 36 Ver. 27. To irrigate. To satisfy, does not seem to suit the context. The regions mentioned in the 1st clause, NUDI NY, wild and waste, are without any elements of vegetation, and rain can only water them. |