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النشر الإلكتروني

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consequently as passing out at the front." Del.], | usage of Ps. civ. 4; Jerem. xlviii. 45. Olswhich, moreover, has against it the following hausen's emendation toy (Jussive Niph.= member: and the gleaming steel (comes) it shall be devoured") is unnecessary. [E. V., out of his gall (comp. ch. xvi. 13; and above Bernard, Barnes, Carey, etc., render: "It shall on ver. 14 of this ch.). In regard to P, lit. fare ill with him that is left," etc., or "That "lightning," here "gleaming steel, metal head" which is left, etc., shall perish, or be destroyed" (not a "stream of blood," as Hahn explains it), (Lee, Wemyss, Elzas, etc.), some deriving the comp. Deut. xxxii. 41; Nah. iii. 3; Hab. iii. 11. form from 1, "to fare ill," others from y -Upon him (come) the terrors of death.— in the same sense (Mercier, Carey), others from The plur. D'p (from ', ch. ix. 34; xiii. yy, either Kal (Fürst) or Niph. (Dathe, Lee). 21) could indeed be connected as subject with The context favors the root .-E.] Ver. 27. The heavens reveal his iniquity construed ad sensum (Hahn, Delitzsch), ( also properly Jussive like the verbs in [Conant]; but the accents connect rather vers. 26, 28), and the earth riseth up against some such verb as "come, break upon," must Thus the two chief divisions of the creation, be supplied with D. Equally opposed to the accents, and altogether too difficult is the rendering of Rosenmüller and Hirzel [Schultens, Carey]: "he goes [departs, "he is going!" Carey terrors upon him," i. e., while terrors are upon him.

(מִתְקוֹמְמָה pausal form for מִתְקוֹמָמָה) with the second member of the verse, so that | him

which Job had previously (ch. xvi. 18 seq.) summoned as witnesses in behalf of his innocence, must rather testify the opposite, must thrust him out from themselves as one condemned by God, so that there remains for him as his abode only the gloomy Sheol, the third division of the creation besides heaven and earth; comp. ch. xi. 8, 9; Ps. cxxxv. 6; Sir. xxiv. 7-9.

Ver. 26. Further description of the divine decree of punishment, with special reference to the wicked man's possessions.-All darkness Ver. 28. The increase of his house must is hoarded up for his treasures, i. e., every kind of calamity, by divine appointment, awaits depart, flowing forth (lit. "things that flow, the treasures which he has gathered and laid or run away," diffluentia, in apposition to up ( as in Ps. xvii. 14; comp. Deut. xxxiii. in the day of His wrath, viz. the divine wrath. 19). To the agency of the earthly-minded evil- Ges., Olsh. [Gr., ¿ 140, 2], etc., explain ♫ as doer storing up treasures for himself corresponds the agency of God in opposition storing Part. Niph. from 771 with an Aram. formation, up the destruction which is destined to overtake defining it to mean opes corras, things which them. Comp. deσavpilew kavтw öрy, Rom. ii. have been scraped or gathered together; but less 5. [As Delitzsch suggests, there is somewhat satisfactorily, for the clause 1 D, at the of a play upon words in -A end of this member of the verse, hardly permits us to look for a second subject, synonymous with fire which is not blown consumes him, . Moreover we must have found that thought lit. "which was not blown" (n, a relative clause, Gesenius, 143, 1 ['121, 3], hence expressed rather by "opes ab eo corrasae. a "fire of God" burning down from hea-As it would seem that after ver. 27 a return to the wicked man's possessions and treasures could ven (comp. ch. i. 16; xviii. 15; Is. xxxiii. 11 not properly be looked for, some commentators seq.). is most simply explained (with have indulged in attempted emendations of the Ewald, Hupfeld, Dillmann) [Fürst, Conant], as passage, all of which touch upon in the first an alternate form of the Jussive Kal, instead of member (Jussive Kal from 71, "to depart, to the more common , comp. Ewald, 8 253, wander forth, comp. Prov. xxvii. 25). Thus [Gesenius takes it as Piel for 2, with Dathe, Stickel, etc., read “the flood rolls lengthened vowel in place of Daghesh-forte; away his house, etc.:" Ewald, "the_reve

a.

nue of his house must roll itself away (like a torrent;" comp. Amos v. 27): Dillmann finally , Jussive Niphal of the produce of his house must become apparent as that which flows away in the day of His wrath."

1

Ver. 29. Closing verse, lying outside of the strophic arrangement, like ch. v. 27, etc.—This is the portion of the wicked man from

Delitzsch as Poel with Hholem shortened to Kamets-Khatuph; Hirzel, Olsh., Green (2 93, a; ¿ 111, 2, e) as Pual for , with the rendering: "a fire not blown shall be made to consume them." In the gender of N is disregarded, the adoption of the masc. in both the verbs and making the personification of the supernatural fire more vivid. See on ch. i. 19.-E.]-It must devour that which survives (that which has escaped for- Elohim; the lot or "portion" (p?n, comp. ch. mer judgments; as in ver. 21) in his xxvii. 13; xxxi. 2) assigned to him by Elohim, tent.—y is Jussive Kal [to be explained like, "a rare application of DIN, comp. the preceding Jussives, vers. 17, 23] from ny, Prov. vi. 12 instead of which is more "to graze, to feed upon," the subject here being usual," Del.].—And the heritage appointed used in the masc.; comp. for this rare masc. to him by God.—, lit. «his heri

TT

THE BOOK OF JOB.

tage of the word," i. e., his heritage as appointed | out, it has already inflicted on him a deservedly to him by a word, by a command, a judicial sen- mortal wound! The fire of God which has altence (in this sense only here; but used ready begun to consume his possessions, does similarly nevertheless in Ps. lxxvii. 9; Heb. iii. not rest until even the last remnant in his tent 9. It is possible moreover to take the suffix in is consumed. The heavens, when in his self

,delusion he seeks the defender of his innocence ,[אמר or] אֹמֶר as genitive of the object to אִמְרוֹ

in which case the sense would be: "the heri- reveal his guilt, and the earth which he hopes tage of the command concerning him." In this to have as a witness in his favor, rises up as his

case however the construction would be a much harsher one. ["pn and ♫ taken in connection with the of the preceding verse form a striking oxymoron: that his heritage be taken away from him, that is the heritage adjudged to him by God." Schlottmann].

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.

accuser. Thus mercilessly does Zophar seek to stifle the new trust which Job conceives towards God, and to extinguish the faith which bursts upward from beneath the ashes of the conflict. His method is soul-destroying; he seeks to slay the life which germinates from the feeling of death, instead of strengthening it." (Delitzsch). Comp. what Brentius says in his straightforward striking way: "Zophar to the end of the chapis at fault in that he falsely distorts them against ter puts forth the most correct opinions; but he Job, just as though Job were afflicted for impiety, and asserted his innocence out of hypocrisy, and not out of the faith of the Gospel."

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL.

the pure enjoyment of the discourse, and compel
us to regard the picture, skilful as it is in itself,
with critical caution.

Particular Passages.

Ver. 8. BRENTIUS: The state of the ungodly is compared to the most unsubstantial things, to wit, to a dream, and to visions of the night, which, while they are seen, seem to be something, but when the dreamer awakens, there is nothing remaining, as is set forth in Is. xxix.

This second discourse of Zophar's, which is at the same time the last of the utterances directed by him against Job-for in the third act of the colloquy he does not speak—as respects the passionate obstinacy with which it urges the one ever repeated dogma and fundamental axiom of the friends is related to the second discourse of Eliphaz in chapter xv., as superlative to po- course, the same may be said in general as of As regards the homiletic treatment of this dissitive, and to the second discourse of Bildad, the discourses, related as to their contents, in as superlative to comparative. In it the nar- chapters 15 and 18. The description given of row-minded, legal, as well as unfriendly and the perishableness of the prosperity of the ununjust opposition of the friends to the misunder- godly, and of their just punishment at the last stood sufferer appears at its height, as was the through the judgment of God, has its objective case with the former discourse of Zophar in its truth and value for the practical life; but the relation to its two predecessors.-Neither does vehement tone of the representation, and the it present any new thoughts in opposition to Job, many unmistakable allusions to Job as the obany more than the immediately preceding dis-ject of the speaker's unfriendly suspicion, destroy courses of Eliphaz and Bildad. The terrible picture of the judgment of wrath upon the sinner, with the delineation of which, true to the pattern presented by those two discourses, it is principally, and indeed almost exclusively occupied, exhibits scarcely anything that is materially new or original. Only as regards its formal execution does this picture of horror surpass its two predecessors. It excels in its adroit presentation, and in its skilful, and to some extent original treatment of the familiar figures and phraseology of the Chokmah. This descrip- Ver. 10. IDEM: From this verse we learn tive power, which in the effects produced by it whence the poverty, and whence the wealth of proves itself to be not inconsiderable, seems in- children proceeds, viz., from the piety of parents deed to be wholly subservient to the speaker's (Ps. xxxvii. 25).-WEIMAR BIBLE: The reason spirit and purpose, which are characterized by why many children suffer great misfortune, and hateful suspicion and vehement accusation. This especially poverty, lies often in their own sin, materially weakens the impression which it is but it also proceeds oftentimes from the wickcalculated to produce. "It is not possible to edness of their parents (Ex. xx. 5). He thereillustrate the principle that the covetous, unmer-fore who would see his children prosperous, let ciful rich man is torn away from his prosperity him beware of sin. by the punishment God decrees for him, more fearfully and more graphically than Zophar does it; and this terrible description is not overdrawn, but true and appropriate-but in opposition to Job it is the extreme of uncharitableness which outdoes itself: applied to him the fearful truth becomes a fearful lie. For in Zophar's mind Job is the godless man, whose rejoicing does not last long, who indeed raises himself towards heaven, but as his own dung, (comp. on ver. 7) must he perish, and to whom the sin of his unjust gain is become as the poison of the viper in his belly. The arrow of God's wrath sticks fast in him; and though he draw it

Ver. 12 seq. STARKE: Sinful pleasure is commonly transformed into pain. When sin is first tasted it is sweet like sugar, but afterwards it bites like an adder (Prov. xx. 17; xxiii. 32; Sir. xxi. 2 seq.).

Ver. 20 seq. BRENTIUS: As water can never satisfy the dropsical, but the more it is drank, the more it is thirsted for; so riches never satisfy the mind's lust, for the human mind can be satisfied with no good, save God (Eccl. i. 8). Hence it comes to pass by God's righteous décree, that as the avaricious man is discontented with what he has, as well as what he has not, so the ungodly man never has enough, however

much property he may possess, because he is without God, in whom all good things are stored. You have an example of this in Alexander the Great, who, not content with the sovereignty of one world, groaned on learning that there were more worlds.

Ver. 27. IDEM: Creatures, when they see the impieties and crimes of the ungodly, are silent until God pronounces judgment; but when His judgment is revealed, then all creatures betray

the crimes which the ungodly have committed in their presence. In Christ however the sins of all the godly are covered, nay, are absorbed.WOHLFARTH: Nature is leagued against sin! It is an incontrovertible truth which we find here, written thousands of years ago-he who departs from God's ways contends against heaven and earth, which from the beginning of the ages have been arrayed against sin, as a revolt against God's sacred ordinances.

B.-JOB: That which experience teaches concerning the prosperity of the ungodly during their life on earth argues not against but for his innocence:

1. Introductory appeal to the friends:

1 But Job answered and said:

2 Hear diligently my speech,

and let this be your consolations.

3 Suffer me that I may speak ;

CHAPTER XXI.

VERSES 1-6.

and after that I have spoken, mock on.

4 As for me, is my complaint to man?

and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?

5 Mark me, and be astonished,

and lay your hand upon your mouth.

6 Even when I remember I am afraid,

and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.

2. Along with the fact of the prosperity of the wicked, taught by experience (vers. 7-16), stands the other fact of earthly calamity befalling the pious and the righteous:

7 Wherefore do the wicked live,

VERSES 7-26.

become old, yea, are mighty in power?

8 Their seed is established in their sight with them,

and their offspring before their eyes.

9 Their houses are safe from fear,

neither is the rod of God upon them.

10 Their bull gendereth and faileth not;

their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.

11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.

12 They take the timbrel and harp,

and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

13 They spend their days in wealth,

and in a moment go down to the grave.

14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us,
for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways.

15 What is the Almighty that we should serve Him?
and what profit should we have, if we pray unto Him?

16 Lo, their good is not in their hand!

the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out?

and how oft cometh their destruction upon them? God distributeth sorrows in His anger.

18 They are as stubble before the wind,

and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. 19 God layeth up His iniquity for His children: He rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

20 His eyes shall see his destruction,

and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?

22 Shall any teach God knowledge?

seeing He judgeth those that are high.

23 One dieth in his full strength,

being wholly at ease, and quiet.

24 His breasts are full of milk,

and his bones are moistened with marrow.

25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul,

and never eateth with pleasure.

26 They shall lie down alike in the dust.

and the worras shall cover them.

3. Rebuke of the friends because they set forth only one side of that experience, and use it to his prejudice.

27 Behold, I know your thoughts,

VERSES 27-34.

and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince?

and where are the dwelling-places of the wicked?

29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens ?

30 that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

31 Who shall declare his way to his face?

and who shall repay him what he hath done? 32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave,

and shall remain in the tomb.

33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him,
and every man shall draw after him,
as there are innumerable before him.

34 How then comfort ye me in vain,
seeing in your answers there remaineth

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.

1. The obstinacy of the friends, who show neither the desire nor the inclination to solve the mystery of Job's sufferings in a friendly spirit, and in such a way as would not wound his feel ings, drives Job to come out in theoretic opposition to the narrow and external interpretation of the doctrine of retribution advocated by them, and to change his reply from the essentially personal character which it had previously borne into a strict criticism of their doctrine. Having first calmly but bitterly challenged their attention to that which he had to communicate to them (vers. 2-6), he urges against them the mysterious fact that often the ungodly revel in superfluity of prosperity to the end of their life, while on the contrary the pious are often

falsehood?

throughout their earthly life pursued by misfortune (vers. 7-26). In view of a distribution of prosperity and adversity so unequal, and so much at variance with the moral desert of men, it was decidedly unjust, nay malicious and false on the part of the friends to undertake to brand him as a wicked man on account of his misfortune (vers. 27-84). The whole discussion which brilliantly demonstrates Job's superiority over the friends in respect to the stand-point of ethical perception and experience, and which serves to introduce the last turn which the colloquy takes, and which is decisive of his complete victory, is divided into five strophes, of five verses each, the first strophe covering the exordium (vers. 2-6), the remaining four constituting the Second Division [the former two of these strophes again being occupied with the fact, the latter two with the argument showing the fact to

be irreconcilable with their theory of retribu- | viz.: as being dumb with astonishment, comp. tion; Dillm.]; followed by two strophes of four ch. xxix. 9; xl. 4— Imper. cons. Hiph. verses each [rebuking the one-sidedness of the friends] constituting the Third Division (vers. from DD (comp. ch. xvii. 8; xviii. 20) [with 27-34.) Pattach for Tsere in pause], obstupescite. According to the reading (Imper. Hoph. of the same verb) [as some regard it even with the punctuation hoshammu] the meaning is not essentially different.

2. First Division (and strophe): Exordium:

vers. 2-6. Job announces that he is about to speak of a mysterious and indeed an astounding phenomenon, which demands the entire attention of the friends.

Ver. 6. Verily if I think on it I am conapodosis; comp. ch. vii. 14)

Ver. 2. Hear, I pray, hear my speech! and let this be instead of your consola-founded ( tions-or: "in order that this may supply the place of your consolations, may prove to me a comfort instead of them, seeing that they so poorly accomplish their purpose" (comp. ch. xv. 11; xvi. 2). [A fine touch of irony: attentive silence would be a much more real comfort than all their ineffectual talk!]

Ver. 3. Suffer me (NY, with Kamets before the tone, comp. Jon. i. 12; 1 Kings xx. 33; Gesenius 8 60 [ 59] Rem. 1)—and then will હૈ I speak (1, 2, in contrast with the "you" of the Imper., although without a particularly strong accent); and after that I have spoken, thou mayest mock (yn, concessive, Ewald 136, e). The demand for a patient hearing of his rebuke, which reminds us somewhat of the saying of Themistocles-"Strike, but hear me!" (Plutarch, Themist. c. 11), is specifically addressed in the second half to Zophar, whose last discourse must have grieved him particularly, and who in fact after the rejoinder which Job now makes had nothing more to say, and could only leave the mocking assaults on Job to be resumed by his older companions. [So in xvi. 3 Job had singled out Eliphaz in his reply, and again in ch. xxvi. 2-4, he singles out Bildad].

Ver. 4. Does my complaint go forth from me in regard to man? i. e. as for me

TT:

and my flesh seizes on horror. In Heb. is subject; comp. the similar phraseology in ch. xviii. 20.

T:

he, from the chap. ix. 6,

means convulsive quaking, terror, as in the New Testament εκθαμβεῖσθαι καὶ ἀδημονεῖν (Mark xiv. 33). It is to be noted how by these strong expressions the friends are prepared to hear something grave, fearful, astounding, to wit a proposition, founded on experience, which seems to call in question the divine justice, and to the affirmation of which Job accordingly proceeds hesitatingly, and with visible reluctance.

3. Second Division: First Half: The testimony of experience to the fact that the wicked are often, and indeed ordinarily prosperous :

vers. 7-16.

Second Strophe: vers. 7-11. Why do the wicked live on-instead of dying early, as Zophar had maintained, chap. xx. 5. The same question is propounded by Jeremiah, ch. xii. 1 old, yea, strong in power, or: seq.; comp. Ps. lxxiii. Mal. iii. 13 seq. Become "are become old (lit. advanced in years, comp. P'y) and mighty in possessions." In regard to (with accus. of specification) comp. the equivalent phrase, Ps. Ixxiii. 12; and in regard to see above ch. xv. 29; xx. 15, 18.

Ver. 8. Their posterity is established i here not "standing in readiness," as in ch. xii. 5; xv. 23, but "enduring, firmly established, as in (Ps. xciii. 2) before them round about them, surrounding them in the closest proximity; this is the meaning of Day, not: "like themselves" (Rosenm., Umbreit, Schlottm., Vaih., [Fürst, Noyes] etc.), in behalf of which latter signification to be sure ch. ix. 26 might be cited; but the parallel expression -"before their eyes "-in the second member, favors rather the former sense. [And their offspring before their eyes. D'NYNY, as in

i emphatically prefixed, and then resumed again in ', Gesen. 2 145 [142], 2), is my complaint directed against men ? is my complaint (ŋ as in ch. vii. 13; ix.27; x. 1), concerning men, or is it not rather concerning something that has a superhuman cause, something that is decreed by God? That in this last thought lies the tacit antithesis to DNS is evident from the second member: or why should I not be impatient? lit. "why should my spirit not become short," comp. ch. vi. 11; Mic. ii. 7; Zech. xi. 8; Prov. xiv. 29. That which follows gives us to understand more distinctly that itch. v. 25-" is exactly expressed by our issue, was something quite extraordinary, superhuman, under the burden of which Job groans, and concerning which he has to complain. [The rendering of the last clause found in E. V. Lee, Wemyss, etc.: "And if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?" is both less natural, in view of the antecedent probability that DN is cor-related to the interrogative, less simple, and less satisfactory in the meaning which it yields. E.].

Ver. 5. Turn ye to me and be astonished, and lay the hand on the mouth,

though perhaps the reduplication rather implies issue's issue." Carey]. Job, having been himself so ruthlessly stripped of his children, makes prominent above all else this aspect of the external prosperity of the wicked, that namely which is exhibited in a flourishing posterity, a fine trait of profound psychological truth! [To be noted moreover is the pathetic repetition of the thought in both members of the verse, and its no less pathetic resumption in ver. 11. This picture of a complete and peaceful household, with its circle of joyous youth fascinates the be

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