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and an army against me. The phrase ingested by ch. vii. 16, which passage is here imi3 is not to be understood as a hendiadys, as tated, although indeed only freely. [This use if it denoted "ever new hosts, alternating hosts" which undoubtedly is the correct reading, is a of the 3d person here, following the K'thibh ["with host succeeding host against me" Con., noticeable and masterly stroke, expressing the Dav., Ren., Words., Schlott., Ges., Noy., etc., helpless, exhausted prostration of Job's spirit at for this idea would be more simply expressed by the close of his discourse.-The vehement Tita(against Hirzel and most moderns). nie energy of his previous defiance has expended Rather does 3 denote the main body of the itself: he no more ventures to stand up face to face with God, and with head uplifted pour forth army, while in, lit, "exchanges" are fresh his bitter remonstrances: he now lies low in the advancing reserves, or reinforcements. With dust, panting with the weary strife, with no hope the former, the original main army, are compared but in death, and with averted, down-cast eye, Job's principal sufferings, while the latter the reexclaims of God-" Let Him cease for a little serve troops, denote the new species of pains and while!" Another indication of his mental extortures with which God continually afflicts and haustion is found in the fact that the remainder vexes him (Job being represented as a fortress, of his discourse is made to consist of a repetition the object of God's hostile attack; comp. ch. xix. of phrases from ch. vii.-He can only repeat, 12; xxx. 12). ['n stands first as being the mechanically almost, what he has said, although prominent element, Job's mind dwelling princi- even in this there is inimitable pathos.-E.]. pally, though not altogether, on the new tortures, to turn away the attention from any with which God assailed him, as is evident also from and just before.-E.]. More-one, like with 1, ch. vii. 19; Ps. xxxix. over it will be seen that every verse-member 14 [13]; to supply, or D, or (after from ver. 14 to ver. 18 inclusive ends in the ch. xiii. 21) is not really necessary.-That I vowel i, a fact already noted by Böttcher, which may be cheerful a little while, lit., look up can scarcely be accidental. The impression that brightly, as in ch. ix. 27; Ps. xxxix. 14 [13]. the Divine wrath has especial reference to the Ver. 21. Before I go hence and return single individuality (the one I) of the lamenting Job is strongly intensified by this continuous re- not: [second clause adverbial, = not petition of the rhyme from the pronominal inflection (Delitzsch).

Second Strophe: Vers. 18-22, consisting of two thoughts: a. Curse of his own existence-vers. 18, 19 (a condensed repetition of ch. iii. 11-16); b. Prayer for a short respite before going down into the dark realm of the dead (repeated out of ch. vii. 16-19).

Ver. 18. Why then didst Thou bring me forth out of the womb? I should have

T

to return]. Comp. ch. vii. 7-10. An л, comp. on ch. iii. 5.

Ver. 22. Into the land of darkness, like to midnight.-So Ewald, Dillmann, etc., in order to express the idea of an intensified degree of darkness, indicated by (lit., "covering": see ch. iii. 6; xxiii. 17; xxviii. 3; Ps. xci. 6). -Of the shadow of death, and of confu

died, etc. “The Imperfects N, 7, 2sion.-
have a hypothetic coloring, being strictly the
conclusion of a pre-supposition indicated by the
preceding question. They indicate what would
have happened, if God had not called him into
being out of his mother's womb, in his opinion,
which he, as a wise man, here puts in opposition
to the Divine treatment" (Dillmann). [The
Eng. Ver. "Oh that I had given up the ghost,
and no eye had seen me!" is feeble, and de-
stroys the unity of the passage formed by this
member, and the verse following, represented as
above indicated by the three conditional Imper-
fects.-E.].

Ver. 19. expresses the idea of being borne in slow solemn procession, as is customary

in burial; so also in ch. xxi. 32.

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Ver. 20. Are not my days few? Let Him cease then,-let Him let me alone. Thus are the words to be rendered according to the K'thibh and , not as a petition addressed to God, but as a request expressed concerning Him in the third person, as one who had withdrawn. The K'ri, in giving instead the Imperf. and "cease," and "let me alone" (so also most of the Ancient Versions), [E. V.], is a change of the original text, sug

(0770 a. λɛy. in the Old

Testament, but a common word in the later Hebrew, Del.]. lit., "no ranks," i. e., disorder, chaotic confusion (Tohuvabohu, Gen. i. 2). For this use of x, as a terse negation of the conception of a noun, like our prefix un-, or dis-, comp. ch. viii. 11; xxvi. 2, 3.—Where it is bright like midnight. yp, lit., "so that it shines forth, is bright (comp. ch. iii. 4; x. 3). The subj. of this verb is certainly (Hirzel, Delitzsch, etc.); the neuter use of the fem. yon is less probable. here again signifying the most intense darkness, the most sunless gloom, (ipsum medullitium umbræ mortis, ejusque intensissimum, Oetinger). "To be bright like midnight" (the direct opposite of Ps. cxxxix. 12) is a strong terribly vivid description of superlative darkness, as it rules in the under-world. Compare Milton's: "not light, but darkness visible," in his description of hell.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.

1. The fundamental thought, around which all the discussions of this new discourse of Job resolve, is that of absolute power in God, and of

God; how it seemeth to him that God is not God, but a mere judge and an angry tyrant, who exerciseth His power, and careth for no man's well-being. This is the most extreme part of this book. Only those can understand it, who also feel and know what it is to endure God's wrath and judgment, and to have His mercy hid from them."

...

that power acting in a merciless arbitrary man- | ner, entirely regardless of all human right and innocence. "He destroys the innocent as well as the guilty;"—such is the harsh utterance against God as a tyrant, raging in anger, trampling down all right under His feet (ch. ix. 22), to which Job advances from the concession which he has previously made to both his opponents, that God's action is always and uniformly just 2. Under the rough shell of this abstract pre(comp. Exeget. and Crit. Rem's., No. 1). He destinatianist way of thinking, the discourse conconcedes to them, especially to Bildad, without ceals a rich store of glorious religious truths, further question: "what God does must be right, and powerful testimonies in behalf of a living just because God, the Righteous One, does it." saving faith, which show to us that Job has been But with bitter sarcasm he resolves this into the sorely afflicted indeed, but not rejected; nay, proposition: "God does just what He pleases, more, that bright beams of Divine light pierce whether it is really righteous or not!" Thus, the thick darkness, and line with glory the edges instead of the God of absolute justice, whom the of the black clouds of doubt which have come befriends had held up before him and defended (in tween him and the gracious face of his Heavenly a way that was one-sided and narrow enough, to Father. As Brentius beautifully says: "Here be sure), he forms for himself a gloomy, horrible you have the blasphemies of hell, into which representation of a God of absolute power, who those are tempted who are for any time judirules and directs not according to objective cially forsaken by the Lord; ... but Job arstandards of right, but according to the prompt- gues his cause according to his feelings: for in ings of an arbitrary will, subject to no restraint. such dread of the judgment as possesses him he It is the veç dikatoç of Marcion, who is abso- feels God to be not a Father, but an executioner. lutely and in essence disjoined from all kindness But mark, at this point the faith of Job and love; nay, more, it is the God of the pre-lifts up its head even in the midst of judgment! destinatianists and extreme (supra-lapsarian) | For as Christ, our Lord, when cast into the midst Calvinists, disposing of the destinies of men in of hell, cries out that He is forsaken, yet at the accordance with an unconditional, arbitrary de- same time acknowledges God to be His God-for cree (decretum absolutum), irrespective of all mo- He says: My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? ral worthiness or unworthiness-such is the Be- so Job, overwhelmed with all evils, wondering ing whom Job here delineates, and before whose how God, who was before so generous, can now hostile assaults on his person, guiltless as he be so cruel a Judge, recounts in the spirit of knows himself to be, he recoils in shuddering faith the mercies of the past from the time beanguish. Instead of dwelling as he had formerly fore his birth until his growth to manhood; for done (ch. ii. 10) on the remembrance of the ma- unless a spark of faith had been left in him, he nifold goodness which he had experienced from would not have been able to recognize the merGod, and bowing in patience beneath His hand, cies which he enumerates (ch. x. 8-12)." Among and confidently awaiting the explanation in the these testimonies to the fact that in the midst of near or remote future of the dark destiny which all the darkness and judicial terrors which according to an inscrutable decree overshadowed assailed him he still maintained his faith, may him, he here thrusts away from himself all such be mentioned: comfort, writhes like a worm under the crushing pressure of that horrible spectre into which his perverted imagination had transformed the only just and holy God, imputes to Him the severe treatment which although innocent he had endured as a long-cherished and well-contrived plan (ch. x. 13-17), and finally relapses into that tone of deepest despair and most disconsolate woe which he had heretofore struck upon, by cursing his existence (ch. x. 18 seq.) and beseeching God for just one thing-that before he should depart hence into the eternally dark and joyless Hereafter, He would once again let him alone, that he might have one short last respite in this life. In short it is the sorely tried suf--This, too, like the former, is one of the noblest ferer, who is not indeed really forsaken by God, but who has nevertheless given himself up, who here pours out his grief without restraint in a lamentation which is at the same time throughout an arraignment of God. Comp. Luther in his Preface to our book: "For before that Job cometh into the pangs of death, he praiseth God concerning the spoiling of his goods, and the death of his children. But when death is before his eyes, and God withdraweth Himself, then do his words show what manner of thoughts a man, however holy he be, may have against

a. The glorious description which he gives in ch. ix. 5-12 of the Omnipotence and greatness of God, as the same is manifested in the works of His creation, both on earth and in heaven-one of the most elevated descriptions which the poetic literature of the Old Testament has anywhere produced on this topic.

b. The strikingly beautiful description which he gives of the special care and the infinite skill and wisdom exercised by the providence of God in its influence on man's generation, on the earliest development of the individual human life in the womb, and on every subsequent stage of that development up to mature manhood: ch. x. 8-12.

contributions of this book to physico-theology, and to the Bible doctrine of the creation of the individual human life, and of the origin of the soul. Like the parallel passage in Ps. cxxxix. 13-16, this description seems decidedly to favor the theory of creationism, according to which the generation of each individual man presupposes a concurrent act of immediate creation on the part of the Divine omnipotence (comp. Lactantius, De opif Dei, c. 19). At the same time it is evident, especially from ver. 10, with the strong emphasis which it lays on the participation of

the parents in the origination of the human organism, that the fundamental idea of traducianism, or generationism, is not foreign to the writer's thought, but is to be included in it as a presupposition which is not to be ignored. So then these two methods of representation, that of creationism and that of generationism, must always and every where go hand in hand, mutually supplementing and rectifying one another, (comp. Nitzsch, Syst. of Christ. Doct. 107, Rem. 2: Rothe, Eth. 124, Rem. 1; Frohschammer, Ueber Ursprung der menschlichen Seele, 1854).

c. Again, the absolute superiority of the Divine intelligence to the human, and hence the infinite knowledge and unapproachable wisdom of God, are described in ch. ix. 3, 4 (comp. ver. 14 seq.; ch. x. 4) with an impressive power and beauty, rivalling the most important of those Old Testament passages (e. g. Ps. cxxxix.) where this

theme is unfolded.

d. When in contrast with all this Job comes to speak of the weakness, vanity, and transitoriness of human existence, his words are not less impressive and eloquent. They resemble (especially ch. ix. 25 seq. "For my days are swifter than a runner, etc.", comp. ch. x. 20. "Are not my days few," etc.) those passages in Job's earlier lament, at the beginning of ch. vii., where he describes the transiency and vanity of man's life on earth; but they also resemble similar passages in the preceding discourses of Eliphaz and Bildad. Thus it is that this complaint over the hasty flight and the misery of human life, presents itself as a constant theme with all the speakers of this book, and is indeed a characteristic property of all the Chokmah poets and teachers of the Old Testament generally.

e. With this repeated emphasizing of human weakness is closely connected the prominence given to the consciousness, characteristic of the Old Testament stand-point of faith and life, of such superiority in God over man as makes it absolutely impossible for the latter to contend, or to come into comparison with Him, there being no arbiter or judicial mediator between both (ch. ix. 32 seq.). The recognition of this both indirectly postulates such a mediator and prompts to an expression of the yearning felt for him; comp. above on ch. ix. 33.

such a doom in passing, but every time springs shuddering back with hope, or at least with longing to God, and (like a child, severely chastised, which nevertheless knows no other refuge and no other comfort than may be found with its father) does not stop clinging to the Heavenly Author of his being, ever renewing his complaints and petitions to Him for help. "It is true that Job, so long as he regards his sufferings as a dispensation of divine judgment, is as unjust towards God as he believes God to be unjust towards him; but if we bear in mind that this state of conflict and temptation does not preclude the idea of a temporal withdrawal of faith, and that, as Baumgarten (Pentat. i. 209) aptly expresses it, the profound secret of prayer is this, that man can prevail with the Divine Being, then we shall understand that this dark cloud need only be removed, and Job again stands before the God of love as His saint" (Del.).

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.

The survey given above (No. 2 a-f) of those portions of the preceding section having the greatest doctrinal and ethical value will show where the most fruitful themes for homiletic discussion may be found. In any case the separate treatment of these themes commends itself in proportion to the richness of their contents and their high significance, in preference

to the homiletic treatment of the whole discourse

through all its length as a unit. If a comprehensive text is sought for, either one of the three sections, into which the whole discourse is divided, may be chosen. Or combining the first two sections into one of greater length, the division by chapters may be followed. In this case the theme of a homily on ch. ix. might run : "The saint of the Old Testament groaning under the pressure of the Divine omnipotence, not having as yet the consciousness of an atonement." The theme for ch. x. might be stated: "The pious sufferer of the Old Testament on the brink of despair," or "wavering between a child-like, thankful, trustful recognition of the Father-love of God (vers. 8-12) and disconsolate complaint because of His apparent merciless severity."As shorter texts the following present themf. Finally, it is a noticeable trait of Job's selves: ch. ix. 2-12-God's Omnipotence; ch. profound piety that repeatedly, in the midst of ix. 13-24-The apparent injustice of the Divine his sorrowful complaint, he addresses himself government of the world; ch. ix. 25-35-The directly to God. Indeed, from ch. ix. 28 on, he cheerless and helpless condition of the suffering no longer speaks in the third person of God, but righteous under the Old Dispensation, who as in the second person to Him. This tone of yet knew no mediator between God and men; entreaty, which the sorely afflicted sufferer main-ch. x. 1-7-The contradiction which shows itself tains, even where he utters the bitterest combetween the fact of God's omniscience, and that plaints and accusations against God, is instruc- of the innocent suffering of the godly; ch. x. tive in regard to that which should be regarded 8-12.-God's fatherly love, and His merciful allas in general the fundamental frame of his soul including care as exhibited in the creation and (comp. on ch. ix. 28, and on ch. x. 2). Accord-preservation of human life; ch. x. 13-22.-God ing to this, he appears as one whom God had as the hostile persecutor of the sufferer, who in truth not forsaken, but only afflicted for the fancies himself to be forsaken by Him, and who sake of proving him. Indeed, far from being is deprived of all earthly comfort. objectively forsaken of God, he is not once guilty of forsaking God in the subjective sense (i. e. in a spirit of self-will, through doubt, disobedience or open apostasy). In the inmost depths of his praying heart, he does not once believe that he is forsaken or rejected by God; he only fears

Particular Passages.

Ch. ix. 5 sq. OECOLAMPADIUS: The levelling of mountains, the shakings of the earth, eclipses of the sun and of the stars, and in short the movements of the universe are testimonies to

the power of God. It must needs be that He is I mighty who hurls mountains into the sea with such ease, that it is scarcely noticed. . . . Hence believers derive the hope that nothing is so terrible or so grievous but God can alleviate it, especially when He says: "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove" (Matt. xvii. 20). By which saying it is testified that the highest power belongs to those who believe.-STARKE: If God has the power to remove mountains, He certainly has the power to deliver out of all troubles (Ps. 1. 25). The heavens are a mirror of the infinite and incomprehensible Wisdom, Goodness and Omnipotence of God. Even the heathen have learned from their reflections, that there must be a supreme intelligent Being, who rules over Every star is our schoolmaster, and testifies to us that there is a God.

all.

Ch. ix. 10 sq. BRENTIUS: God's judgments are hidden: at first sight they seem to men either unjust or foolish, but in the end His counsel is understood, and His back is seen, though not His face (Jer. xviii. 17). . . . Hence if God should pass before thee, i. e. if He should carry on some wondrous work before thine eyes, although at first thou shouldst be ignorant what it is, or what He wills by His wonderful work, nevertheless thou canst not doubt in the least that He is good and wise and just.-TUEBING. BIBLE: God as omnipresent is continually around us and with us, although we see Him not.-OSIANDER: Although God is without the least varying disposed towards us as a Father, it may nevertheless seem to us in trouble as though He had changed towards us (Ps. lxvii. 10; Is. Ixiv. 16).

Ch. ix. 21 sq. ZEYSS: Although it seems to pious believers when in deep affliction and trial, as though God observed no measure and no discrimination in the infliction of punishment, it is nevertheless not so with Him; but such thoughts proceed from flesh and blood, yea, they are temptations of Satan (comp. Brentius above, Doctrinal and Ethical Remarks, No. 2).-HENGSTENBERG: To this result (viz. of regarding God as the author of evil and as absolutely unjust) we must come in our investigation of evil, if we look at the subject with carnal eyes. The matter looks differently, however, to him who is capable of spiritual discernment, which is true only of him who can bring his own processes and experiences into accord with God's justice. He sees that the triumph of evil is always only apparent and transient, only the means of preparing the way for the triumph of the good. He sees that the righteous need suffering for temptation and purification, that so long as sin dwells in them, they cannot yet be exalted to glory, but that, as the Apostle says of himself, they must be troubled on every side, yet not distressed" (2 Cor. iv. 8); otherwise they would soon be a dead reed. "The staff of affliction beats our loins down to the grave," etc., etc.

Ch. ix. 30 seq. ECOLAMPADIUS: The most potent kind of comfort is that which comes from a pure conscience, which is as it were a perpetual outcry. But neither from that do we derive any benefit, if we look back at our works. For we

shall never thus be purified, who in the strict judgment of God would be pronounced abominable, and defiled with filth.-ZEYSS: The guilt of sin can be washed away by no snow-water, lye, or soap, i. e., by no outward works, or selfelected service of God, or papistic holy water. It is quite another washing that serves for that, to wit, the blood of Jesus Christ; 1 John i. 7.

Ch. ix. 33. ECOLAMPADIUS: Without Christ we are such creatures as Job has described above. If however Christ is our arbiter and mediator (1 Tim. ii. 5) He Himself will remove the rod.

Ch. x. 2 seq. HENGSTENBERG: The needless and aimless cruelty towards an innocent person, of which Job accuses God, seems all the more inexcusable if this innocent one is at the same time wholly helpless. It would be revolting to see omnipotence sporting with impotence.-To such cheerless results are we driven, when, like Job, we look into ourselves as into a golden cup. If in severe suffering we fail to recognize our own darkness, the Father of Lights must change into darkness.

Ch. x. 8 seq. CRAMER: In affliction there is no better comfort than to remember that we are sprung from God (Ps. xxii. 10).-CHR. SCRIVER (in the hymn: "Jesu, meiner Seele Leben "):

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HENGSTENBERG: It is worthy of note, what a fund of knowledge of God Job still possesses, even when he seems to have completely forsaken God. With one who is penetrated, as he is, by the consciousness that every whiff of breath belongs to God, faith must, sooner or later, fight its way through all temptations and dark clouds.

Ch. x. 13 seq. CRAMER: God does not afflict and trouble men willingly (Lam. iii. 33), and although in affliction He seems to frown, He yet smiles on us in His heart. He stands behind the wall, and looks through the lattice; Cant. ii. 9. -HENGSTENBERG: Nothing tends more strongly to lead human nature astray, than the discovery that one whom you have been accustomed to love and to honor as your benefactor, has used his beneficence only as means to gratify the deepest malignity. Job thinks that his experience in relation to God is of this character. How under such circumstances must the Fountain of all consolation be changed into a poisonous spring!

Ch. x. 18 seq. OSIANDER: It is great ingratitude if we do not thank God for the use of light in this life; and it is a heathenish speech to say

it were best never to have been born, or to have died immediately after birth.-ZEYSS (on ver. 20 seq.): Terrible as are death and the grave to natural eyes, they are no less sweet and comforting to the eyes of faith (Luke ii. 29;

Phil. i. 21).-STARKE: Those who are tried are wont to long greatly that God, if He will not altogether remove their suffering, would yet send some relief (Isa. xxxviii. 14).-VICT. ANDREAE:

Do we not see in these two chapters (ix. and x.) how the human heart in truth wavers to and fro between the proudest presumption and the most pusillanimous despair?

III. Zophar and Job: Chaps. XI—XIV.

A.—Zophar's violent arraignment of Job, as one who needs in penitence to submit himself to the all-seeing and righteous God:

CHAPTER XI.

1. Expression of the desire that the Omniscient One would appear to convince Job of his guilt. VERS. 2-6.

1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said:

2 Should not the multitude of words be answered?

and should a man full of talk be justified?

3 Should thy lies make men hold their peace?

and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?

4 For thou hast said, My doctrine is pure,

and I am clean in Thine eyes.

5 But oh that God would speak,

and open His lips against thee;

6 and that He would show thee the secrets of wisdom,

that they are double to that which is !

Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.

2. Admonitory description of the impossibility of contending against God's omniscience, which charges every man with sin:

VERSES 7-12.

7 Canst thou by searching find out God?

canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? 8 It is as high as heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than hell, what canst thou know?

9 The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

10 If He cut off, and shut up,

or gather together, then who can hinder Him?

11 For He knoweth vain men;

He seeth wickedness also; will He not then consider it?

12 For vain man would be wise,

though man be born like a wild ass's colt.

3. The truly penitent has in prospect the restoration of his prosperity; for the wicked, however, there remains no hope:

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