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wicked gives a smooth connection, at the same time that the expressions are entirely appropriate to describe his career of lawless impunity. The 1 of ver. 32 moreover acquires by this application its proper emphasis (see on the verse). To the objection made above-that a moral reflection of the sort would be inappropriate in the mouth of travellers, it may be replied that it is not properly a reflection, but a statement of fact, the fact, namely, of the evildoer's exemption from responsibility and punishment. On the contrary, so far from being called to account, or properly punished, he escapes in the day of calamity (ver. 30), he defies the world (ver. 31), and is buried with honor (ver. 32). Carey thinks that Job here "makes evident allusion to a custom that prevailed among the ancient Egyptians, whose law allowed any one to bring an accusation against a deceased person previously to his interment (and even kings themselves were not exempted from this death judgment); if the accusation was fully proved, and the deceased was convicted of having led a bad life, he was obliged to be placed in his own house, and was debarred the customary rites of interment, even though the tomb had been prepared for him." Less simple and probable than the explanation given above. E.]

of Sidon." Renan]. This explanation is in striking barmony not only with well-known customs of the east, but also with the etymologically established signification of '=heap, tumulus, monumentum (comp. 2, Gen. xxxi. 46 seq.). It agrees not less with that which was previously spoken by Bildad to precisely the opposite effect in respect to the memory of the evil-doer after his death in ch. xviii. 17, where the latter presupposes the complete extinction of the name of the ungodly, whereas Job on the contrary makes the same not only not to sleep the sleep of death, but rather to watch, as though he continued to live. [And Noyes accordingly renders: "Yea, he still survives upon his tomb. He enjoys as it were a second life upon his tomb, in the honors paid to his memory, his splendid monument, and the fame he leaves behind

him."]. The more striking the above points of agreement, the less necessary is it to fatigue ourselves in company with the ancient versions and Böttcher (Proben, etc., p. 22) in finding how could be taken in the sense of "heaps of sheaves," and still obtain a sentiment suited to the context.* Equally unnecessary is it (with Böttcher de infer. p. 40, [Conant], Hahn, Rödiger, etc.) to take pimpersonally; "watch is held over his grave-mound, etc." a rendering with which the suffix-less (not ) would agree but indifferently. ["Moreover," says Delitzsch, "the placing of guards of honor by graves is an assumed, but not proved, custom of antiquity." The rendering of E. V. "and shall remain in the tomb," is feeble as well as

Vers. 32 seq. continue the report of those who had travelled much, not however (any more than in ver. 30) in their ipsissimis verbis strictly quoted, but in such a way that Job fully appropriates to himself that which they say (to wit, their vivid representation of the brilliant career of the wicked), so that accordingly even ver. 31 need not be regarded as properly an interrup-incorrect.]. tion of that report. And he (N! pointing back to the y ver. 30 [emphatic, according to the view which regards the yas also the subject of ver. 31. He-the same who lives that lawless, defiant, outwardly successful life, is the favorite of fortune to the very last. Feared in his life, he is again honored in his death. E.] is borne away to burial, in full honor, and with a great procession; comp. on ver. 30; also ch. x. 19; xvii. 1. ["Like

above,

2 is also an amplificative plural." Del. It would thus mean "a splendid tomb "]. And on a monument he (still) keeps watch: as one immortalized by a statue, or a stone monument. This is not to be specially understood in accordance with the Egyptian custom (in that case the reference here being to pyramids; comp. on ch. iii. 14), but in accordance with a custom, still prevalent in the East, specially among the Bedouin Arabs, of building large grave-mounds, or a domed structure towering above the grave (3) in memory of the honored dead. In such a lofty monument the dead man keeps watch, as it were, over his own restingplace, without its being necessary to suppose that he was particularly represented by a statue, or a picture on the wall (like those in Egyptian vaults, to which Schlottm. refers here by way of comparison). ["Possibly there is also here some allusion to inscriptions warning off those who would desecrate the tomb, similar to those found on the sarcophagus of Eschmunazar, king

Ver. 33. Soft lie upon him the clods [or sods] of the valley (ch. xxxviii. 38). Lit., "sweet are to him the clods of the valley," those, namely, beneath which he rests. Valleys are particularly desired in the East as places of burial; witness the valleys around Jerusalem, The favorite abounding as they do in graves. custom of the Arabs of burying their distinguished dead on eminences, is accordingly not referred to here (comp. Del. on ver. 32). ["These words also seem to suppose that the person who is buried may partake, in some respects, of the prosperous state of the tomb which contains him. Such an idea seems to have been indulged by Sultan Amurath the Great, who died in 1450, [and who in the suburbs of Prusa] now lieth in a chappell without any roofe, his grave nothing differing from the manner of the common Turks; which, they say, he commanded to be done, in his last will, that the mercie and blessing of God (as he termed it) might come unto him by the shining of the sunne and moone, and falling of the raine and dew of heaven upon his grave.' KNOLLES' Hist. of the Turks, p. 332." Noyes]. And after him draws (intransitive as in Judg. iv. 6) all the world: viz. by imitating his ex

nored] as when he watched over his corn-shocks. Just as in his * Witness the following curious effort of Bernard: "[Holife-time people were obliged (through their fear of him) to salute him humbly, when they passed before him as he stood watching over his shocks of corn, that no poor man might glean an ear, so must they testify their respect to his body when carried to the rave."

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ample, by entering on the same path of a life | trine concerning the horrible end of the wicked; spent in earthly enjoyment and luxury, which and in what he had said he had exhibited so lithe, and an unnumbered multitude of others be- tle prudence that he had appeared as one who fore him (as the third member says) had already presumptuously challenged the divine righteoustrod. Thus rendered the sentence undoubtedly ness, and had thus only confirmed the friends' expresses an exaggeration; in the DT- there 22-24; x. 3; xii. 6). Now, however, he proevil opinion of his moral character (see ch. ix. lies an unjust accusation of misanthropic bit- ceeds to discuss the question in controversy terness against the great mass of men. [For a calmly and thoroughly, opposing to their proposomewhat similar misanthropic, or at least cyni-sition, that the life of the ungodly must infallical bitterness, comp. what Bildad says in ch. bly end in misery, the fact, which experience viii. 19.] This same characteristic however establishes that it is quite commonly the case corresponds perfectly to the exasperated and that the prosperity of the wicked lasts until their embittered temper of Job; whereas on the con- death, while on the contrary the pious are purtrary to interpret "all the world draws after sued with all sorts of calamities to the grave. him" of a large funeral procession (Vaih., In respect to the reflection of an apparent injus[Wemyss, Carey] etc.), yields when compared tice which this experience seems to cast on God, with 32 a an inappropriate tautology, and to re- the author of so unequal a distribution of hufer it to those who follow after him through man destinies, Job this time expresses himself sharing the same fate of death and burial (De- with discreet awe and reserve. Instead of aslitzsch [Noyes]) seems altogether too vapid in suming the tone of a presumptuous blasphemer, the present connection. and accusing God of injustice, or tyrannical severity, he treats the contradiction between prosperity and virtue, as it so often exhibits itself in this earthly life, as a dark enigma, not to be solved by human wisdom. And instead of holdwith frivolous satisfaction or exulting arrogance, ing up this antagonism before his opponents he exhibits whenever he approaches the subject deep perplexity and painful agitation (vers. 5,

Ver. 34. Conclusion: with a reference to ver. 27. How then (!, quomodo ergo, stronger than the simple ) can you comfort me so vainly (comp. ch. ix. 29)? Of your replies there remains (over nothing but) falsehood! Lit. "and as for your replies (absolute case, Ewald, 309, b)-there remaineth over falsehood.", scil. 2, "a perfidious dispo-6), and in the latter part of the description he sition towards God" (comp. Josh. xxii. 22), and for that same reason also towards one's neighbor. By this is intended the same intriguing, malicious, deceitful eagerness to suspect and to slander, with which in ver. 27 he had reproached his opponents.

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DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.

1. The significance of this discourse of Job's in respect to the progress of the colloquy lies in the fact that it marks the transition from the predominantly personal treatment of the problem, which has thus far obtained on the part both of the friends and of Job to a discussion dealing more immediately with the subject-matter, and for that reason more calm, less passionate in its tone, and more directly preparing the way for the solution. The venomous accusations of the friends, (which in the immediately preceding discourse of Zophar had reached the climax of bluntness and odiousness), do not indeed cease from this point

on.

Just as little does the tone of bitterness disappear from Job's replies, which on the contrary at the beginning and close of the present discourse exhibits itself in a manner decidedly marked (in vers. 2-3; which contain sarcastic allusions to the empty "consolations of the friends"; in ver. 34, with its reproach of falsehood and unfaithfulness). From this point on however we find, along with these personalities, a tendency, characterized by an ever increasing objectivity, to consider calmly the question of fact involved in the matter in controversy; the result indeed being that Job's superiority over his opponents as regards their respective points of view becomes more and more obvious. In his former discourse he had discussed only occasionally and incidentally their favorite doc

even points out the mystery which surrounds the phenomenon under consideration as a disciplinary trial for human knowledge, constraining to reverential submission beneath the inscruta ble ways of God (vers. 22 and 31, according to the more correct explanation: see above on the passages). In short, he discourses concerning this mystery as an earnest thinker, resolutely maintaining his religious integrity, and putting the counsel of the ungodly far from him (ver. 16); and this calm, earnest, dignified treatment accounts for his victory over his opponents, who as may be seen from the following, which is the last stage of the colloquy, are constrained to acknowledge his affirmations in respect to the disproportion between prosperity and moral worthiness in this life as being in great part true, and thus to make a beginning toward a complete surrender.

2. Notwithstanding this undeniable superiority over his opponents, which Job here already exhibits, his argument presents certain vulnerable points, which expose him to further attacks from them. For in so far as, with manifest onesidedness, it completely ignores the instances, which occur frequently enough, of a righteous apportionment of men's destinies, and exhibits the instances of the opposite fact, by a process of abstract generalization, as alone of actual occurrence, it does injustice on the one side to the friends, who are thereby indirectly classified with the wicked who are unworthy of their prosperity; while on the other side it becomes an arraignment of God, who is described as though he gave no proof of a really righteous retribution, but rather decreed continually examples of the contrary. Indeed in one instance, (vers. 19-21) the speaker seems to be guilty even of formally teaching God, in that he here maintains

(in opposition to a familiar application of the theory of retribution set forth in the Law, Ex. xx. 5; Deut. xxiv. 16, an application controverted also by Jeremiah and Ezekiel), that God punishes with justice only where He exacts expiation of the evil-doer himself, and not of his children after him. The consequence that God does not punish where He ought to punish, is but a short remove from this proposition, which is accordingly easily liable to the reproach of speaking unbecomingly of God. The judgment of Job accordingly in the present discourse concerning God and His dealings with men's destinies is the less pure and correct in so far as it in no wise distinguishes between the God of the present, and the God of the future, as we find him doing in ch. xix. 25 seq. For this reason, and because the sufferer begins anew to yield to the pressure of his outward and inward sufferings, the hope of a blessed future in the life beyond, which had previously irradiated his misery, is completely obscured.

that Job is nearer to the truth than Zophar" (Delitzsch i. p. 425).

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. Ver. 6. ZEYSS: Because reason cannot comprehend the mystery of affliction, and why God often deals so severely with His children, it comes to pass that even in pious hearts mournful thoughts frequently spring up, and they tremble in their great sorrow; Ps. xxxvii. 1; lxxiii. 12; Jer. xii. 1, etc.—v. GERLACH: Doubts touching the rectitude of God's government of the world, have in them that which makes our inmost feelings quiver; the thought makes all the foundations of human existence quake.

Ver. 7 seq. SEB. SCHMIDT: The happiness of the ungodly is described; and it is shown that they are happy (1) in themselves-ver. 7; (2) in their children-ver. 8; (3) in their housesver. 9; (4) in their cattle-ver. 10; (5) in their flocks-ver. 11; (6) in a life which is joyous and merry-ver. 12; (7) in a death which at the last 3. Notwithstanding this partial obscuration is not sad-ver. 13. WOHLFARTH: What must of his spiritual horizon, Job in the discourse be- we bear in mind, in order that we may not err as fore us utters much that is beautiful, profoundly to God and virtue, when we see the ungodly true, and heart-stirring. The first discourse prosperous, the godly afflicted? If Job recoiled pronounced by Job after the inspired pæan of from such a sight, who can blame him, a sufferer hope in ch. xix. 25 seq., there may be discerned sorely tried, and with but imperfect knowledge in it a certain hallowing influence thence pro- of God? But a Christian can and will guard ceeding, which justifies in a measure the remark himself against such doubts; for he knows that of Sanctius on that passage: "From this point according to God's sovereign decree outward on to the end of the book Job is not the same prosperity has often no relation to a man's as he has been heretofore." His description of moral worth; that the good things of this world the success and abounding prosperity of the un- will not long make man happy, and that without godly, by its many points of contact with simi- a peaceful conscience happiness in this earth is lar moral pictures, such as Ps. xxxvii.; Ps. impossible; that frequently the earthly prosperlxxiii.; Jer. xii. 1seq.; Hab. i. 13 seq.; Eccles. ity which the wicked enjoy is the means of their vii., etc., commends itself as being perfectly true, punishment; that the place of retribution is not and derived from life. Especially does the cir- yet in this world; and that God, whose counsels cumstance that in his observation of the pros- we cannot penetrate, will notwithstanding asperity of the wicked he shows himself continu-suredly compensate pious sufferers for their ally inclined to restrain himself within the earthly losses. bounds of modesty, and the limitations pre- Ver. 22 seq. STARKE: In holy fear we should scribed by the contemplation of the unsearcha- wonder at God's judgments; but we should by ble operations of God, give him an indisputable no means sit in judgment upon them, nor inadvantage over the description of his opponents quire after the reason of His conduct; Is. xlv. 9. (and especially of his immediate predecessor Zo- v. GERLACH: The righteous and the ungodly phar), which is one-sided in the opposite direc- have both their various destinies, but these have tion, and for that very reason less true. The nothing to do with their position before God; speeches of Zophar and of Job are both true and there lies another mystery behind which our false,-both one-sided, and therefore mutually short-sighted speeches and thoughts cannot unsupplementary. If, however, we consider fur- veil. ther, that Job is not able to deny the occurrence of such examples of punishment, such revelations of the retributive justice of God, as those which Zophar represents as occurring regularly and without exception; that, however, on the other hand, exceptional instances undeniably do exist, and the friends are obliged to be blind to them, because otherwise the whole structure of their opposition would fall in,—it is manifest

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Ver. 27 seq. STARKE (after Osiander and the Tübingen Bible): The ungodly are often highly exalted in order that afterwards their fall may be so much the greater. Although in this world, occupying high places, they do evil without terror, and are punished by nobody, there will come nevertheless a day of judgment, when their wickedness will be brought to view, and before all the world they will be put to shame.

THIRD SERIES OF CONTROVERSIAL DISCOURSES.

THE ENTANGLEMENT REACHING ITS EXTREME POINT.
CHAPTERS XXII—XXVIII.

I. Eliphaz and Job: Chapter XXII-XXIV.

A.-Eliphaz: Reiterated accusation of Job, from whose severe sufferings it must of necessity be inferred that he had sinned grievously, and

needed to repent:

CHAP. XXII. 1–20.

1. The charge made openly that Job is a great sinner:

VERS. 1-10.

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2 Can a man be profitable unto God,

as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?

3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous? or is it gain to Him that thou makest thy ways perfect?

4 Will He reprove thee for fear of thee?

will He enter with thee unto judgment?

5 Is not thy wickedness great?

and thine iniquities infinite?

6 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.

7 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth :

and the honorable man dwelt in it.

9 Thou hast sent widows away empty,

and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. 10 Therefore snares are round about thee,

and sudden fear troubleth thee.

2. Earnest warning not to incur yet severer punishments:

VERSES 11-20.

11 Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.

12 Is not God in the height of heaven?

and behold the height of the stars, how high they are! 13 And thou sayest, How doth God know?

can He judge through the dark cloud?

14 Thick clouds are a covering to Him, that He seeth not; and He walketh in the circuit of heaven.

15 Hast thou marked the old way,

which wicked men have trodden?

16 Which were cut down out of time,

whose foundation was overflown with a flood;

17 which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?

18 Yet He filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me

19 The righteous see it, and are glad

and the innocent laugh them to scorn:

20" Whereas our substance is not cut down,

but the remnant of them the fire consumeth."

3. Admonition to repent, accompanied by the announcement of the certain restoration of his prosperity to him when penitent :

VERSES 21-30.

21 Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.

22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from His mouth,

and lay up His words in thine heart.

23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.

24 Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust,

and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.

25 Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence,

and thou shalt have plenty of silver.

26 For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty,

and shalt lift up thy face unto God.

27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto Him, and He shall hear thee,

and thou shalt pay thy vows.

28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.

29 When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up;
and He shall save the humble person.

30 He shall deliver the island of the innocent;
and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL.

1. Without controverting Job's position in ch. xxi., that the present life furnishes numerous examples of the prosperity of the ungodly, and of calamity to the pious, but at the same time without abandoning in the slightest degree his former argument in favor of an external doctrine of retribution, Eliphaz adheres to his assumption that the cause of Job's calamities and misery could lie only in sins of a grievous character (vers. 2-10), with which he now reproaches him particularly and in detail (vers. 6-9), sins of arrogance, of cruelty, and of injustice towards his neighbor. Then follows an earnest warning against pursuing any further his unholy thoughts and speeches, as otherwise his final doom, like that of all the wicked from the earliest times must be a terrible one (vers. 11-20)-a position indeed which Job also might urge to prove the alleged injustice of God's treatment of him. To this sharp warning succeeds a conciliatory invitation to repent and to return to God, and to enter into possession of the blessings promised by God to the penitent, the whole discourse having a conclusion similar to that of the first discourse of Eliphaz (vers. 21-30). This third and last discourse of Eliphaz falls into three divisions, exactly equal in length, and each of these embraces two strophes substan

tially equal in length, consisting of five verses each (the first, however, only of four).

2. First Division, or Double Strophe: the accusation: vers. 2-10.

First Strophe: vers. 2-5: Four interrogative sentences, which taken together exhibit a wellconstructed syllogism, of which the first two questions (vers. 2, 3) constitute the major premise, the third (ver. 4) the minor, the fourth (ver. 5) the conclusion. The major premise expresses the thought: The cause of Job's misery cannot lie in God, the All-sufficient One, to whom the conduct of men, whether good or evil, (wise or unwise) matters nothing. The minor premise affirms that the penalty which Job was enduring could not have been brought upon him by his piety. From this he draws a conclusion unfavorable to Job's moral character. man [, "a great man, a hero, etc.; man in short considered in his best estate;" Carey] profitable unto God? Nay, the intelligent man is profitable unto himself. The question, with its negative force, and the negative follow each other immediately, the latter introduced by in the sense of "nay, rather" [Conant: "for;" E. V. Wemyss, Elzas, less suitably; "as," regarding the second clause as a part of the question]. The meaning is: God, the absolutely Blessed One, who has everything and needs nothing, receives no advantage from

Is a

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