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Zophar accuses Job of

CHAP. XI.

attempts to justify himself.

Thou art

what is THIS? and where? Eternity! how can I in the compass of creation. Thou art infinity and form any conception of thee? In thee there is no incomprehensibility to all finite beings. order, no bounds, no substance, no progression, no what, living, I know not, and what I must die to change, no past, no present, no future! Thou art an know; and even then I shall apprehend no more of indescribable something, to which there is no analogy thee than merely that thou art E-T-E-R-N-I-T-Y!

CHAPTER XI.

Zophar answers Job, and reproves him severely for his attempts to justify himself; charges him with secret iniquity, and contends that God inflicts less punishment on him than his iniquities deserve, 1-6. Shows the knowledge and perfections of God to be unsearchable, and that none can resist his power, 7-11. Warns him against vanity of mind, and exhorts him to repentance on the ground that his acceptance with God is still a possible case, and that his latter days may yet become happy and prosperous, 12-20.

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_t Or,

devices.

Heb. a man of lips.
NOTES ON CHAP. XI.

Verse 1. Zophar the Naamathite] Of this man and his friends, see chap. ii. 11. He is the most inveterate of Job's accusers, and generally speaks without feeling or pity. In sour godliness he excelled all the rest. This chapter and the twentieth comprebends all that he said. He was too crooked to speak much in measured verse.

Verse 2. Should not the multitude of words be anred?] Some translate, "To multiply words profiteth nothing.”

And should a man full of talk be justified?] w Disk sephathayim, "a man of lips," a proper appellation for a great talker: he is "a man of lips," i.e., his lips are the only active parts of his system.

Verse 3. Should thy lies make men hold their peace?] This is a very severe reproof, and not justified by the

occasion.

And when thou mockest] As thou despisest others, shall no man put thee to scorn? Zophar could never think that the solemn and awful manner in which Job spoke could be called bubbling, as some would translate the term laag. He might consider Job's speech as sarcastic and severe, but he could not conader it as nonsense.

Verse 4. My doctrine is pure] p likchi, "my assumptions." What I assume or take as right, and et, and true, are so; the precepts which I have med, and the practice which I have founded on them, are all correct and perfect. Job had not exarty said, My doctrine and way of life are pure, and I andean in thine eyes; but he had vindicated himself from their charges of secret sins and hypocrisy, and appealed to God for his general uprightness and sin

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e Ch. vi. 10. x. 7.- -d Ezra ix. 13.

cerity but Zophar here begs the question, in order that he may have something to say, and room to give vent to his invective.

Verse 5. But oh that God would speak] How little feeling, humanity, and charity is there in this prayer!

Verse 6. The secrets of wisdom] All the depths of his own counsels; the heights, lengths, and breadths, of holiness. That they are double to that which is. ww tushiyah, which we translate that which is, is a word frequent in Job and in the Book of Proverbs, and is one of the evidences brought in favour of Solomon as the author of this book. It signifies substance or essence, and is translated by a great variety of terms; enterprise, completeness, substance, the whole constitution, wisdom, law, sound wisdom, solid complete happiness, solidity of reason and truth, the complete total sum, &c., &c. See Taylor's Hebrew and English Concord., under . In this place the Versions are various. Coverdale, following the Vulgate, translates: That he might shewe the (out of his secrite wissdome) how manyfolde his lawe is. The Septuagint, òri dinλovs eotal twv kara σe, that it is double to what it is with thee.. Mr. Good translates, "For

they are intricacies to INIQUITY." This is a meaning never before given to ne tushiyah, and a meaning which even his own learned note will not make generally prevalent. Perhaps Zophar is here, in mind, comparing the wisdom which has been revealed with the wisdom not revealed. The perfection and excellence of the divine nature, and the purity of his law, are, in substance and essence, double or manifold to the revelation already made.

Less than thine iniquity deserveth.] Mr. Good

None, by searching,

A. M. cir. 2484.
B. C. cir. 1520.
Ante I. Ol.
cir. 744.

Ante U.C. c.767.

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thee less than thine iniquity together, then who can hinder
deserveth.
him?

7 a 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.

d

10 If he cut off, and shut up, or gather

a Eccles. iii. 11. Rom. xi. 33.- b Heb. the heights of heaven. - Ch. ix. 12. xii. 14. Rev. iii. 7.- d Or, make a change. e Heb. who can turn him away? Ch. ix. 12. (Ps. x. 11, 14. xxxv. 22. xciv. 11.- - Heb. empty. Ps.

translates, And the knowledge hath withdrawn from thee because of thy sins; and represents Zophar as praying that God would reveal to him the secrets of wisdom, and the knowledge which he had withdrawn from him because of his transgressions. That Zophar intends to insinuate that God afflicted Job because of his iniquities, is evident; and that he thought that God had inflicted less chastisement upon him than his sins deserved, is not less so; and that, therefore, Job's complaining of harsh treatment was not at all well founded.

Verse 7. Canst thou by searching find out God?] What is God? A Being self-existent, eternal, infinite, immense, without bounds, incomprehensible either by mind, or time, or space. Who then can find this Being out? Who can fathom his depths, ascend to his heights, extend to his breadths, and comprehend the infinitude of his perfections?

Verse 8. It is as high as heaven] High as the heavens, what canst thou work? Deep below sheol (the invisible world), what canst thou know? Long beyond the earth, and broad beyond the sca, is its measure. These are instances in the immensity of created things, and all out of the reach of human power and knowledge; and if these things are so, how incomprehensible must he be, who designed, created, preserves, and governs the whole!

We find the same thought in Milton:"These are thy glorious works, Parent of good! Almighty! Thine this universal frame: How wondrous fair! Thyself how wondrous then!" Verse 10. If he cut off] As he is unlimited and almighty, he cannot be controlled. He will do whatsoever he pleases; and he is pleased with nothing but what is right. Who then will dare to find fault? Perhaps Zophar may refer to Job's former state, his losses and afflictions. If he cut off, as he has done, thy children; if he shut up, as he has done, thyself by this sore disease; or gather together hostile bands to invade thy territories and carry away thy property; who can hinder him? He is sovereign, and has a right to dispose of his own property as he pleases.

Verse 11. He knoweth vain men] x methey shav, men of falsehood."

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A. M. cir. 2484. B. C. cir. 1520. Ante I. Ol. cir. 744.

11 For f he knoweth vain Ante U.C.c.767. men: he seeth wickedness also; will he not then consider it?

h

12 For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt.

13 If thou k prepare thine heart, and I stretch out thine hands toward him; 14 If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far

Ixxiii. 22. xcii. 6. Eccles. iii. 18. Rom. i. 22.
xxii. 21.- k1 Sam. vii. 3. Ps. lxxviii. 8.
9. cxliii. 6.

iCh. v. 8. Ps. lxxxviii.

man, as what man does; and of his actions and propensities he cannot be an indifferent spectator.

veish

Verse 12. For vain man would be wise] The original is difficult and uncertain, nabub yillabeb, "And shall the hollow man assume courage," or "pride himself?” Or, as Mr. Good rather paraphrases it, Will he then accept the hollowhearted person? The Chaldee gives two renderings: An eloquent man shall become wiser in his heart, and the colt of the wild ass is born as the son of man. Or, The wise man shall ponder it; and the refractory youth, who at last becomes prudent, shall make a great man. Coverdale:- bayne body exalteth him self; and the son of man is like a wylde asse's foale. Houbigant translates thus:—A man who hath understanding will become prudent; but he who is as the wild ass hath no heart, i. e., sense. According to this critic, the meaning is this:-A man of sense, should he at any time transgress, will learn wisdom from it; but a man of a brutish mind, uncultivated and unreflecting, will plunge yet deeper into iniquity.

Though man be born like a wild ass's colt] Is translated by Mr. Good, Or shall the wild ass coll assume the man? This is making a sense, but such as I fear the original will never allow. There is no end to the translations of this verse, and conjectures relative to its meaning. I shall conclude with the Vulgate :-Vir vanus in superbiam erigitur, et tanquam pullum onagri se liberum natum putat, "Vain man is puffed up with pride; and he supposes himself to be born free like the wild ass's colt." Man is full of self-conceit; and imagines hiuself born to ac as he pleases, to roam at large, to be under no con trol, and to be accountable to none for his actions.

Verse 13. If thou prepare thine heart] Make us of the powers which God has given thee, and b determined to seek him with all thy soul.

And stretch out thine hands toward him] Makin fervent prayer and supplication, putting away iniqui out of thy hand, and not permitting wickedness i dwell in thy tabernacle; then thou shalt lift up th face without a blush, thou wilt become establishe and have nothing to fear, ver. 14, 15.

There is a sentiment in Prov. xvi. 1 very simi! to that in the 13th verse, which we translate very in

He seeth wickedness] He sees as well what is in properly:-

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.leadam maarchen leb לאדם מערכי לב

.umeyehovah maaneh lashon ומהוה מענה לשון

To man are the preparations of the heart:

But from Jehovah is the answer to the tongue.

Gerar contending with Isaac's servants about the wells which the latter had digged; so that they were obliged to abandon two of the chief of them, and remove to a distance in order to dig and find quiet possession. See Gen. xxxi. 17-22. Zophar, in reIt is man's duty to pray; it is God's prerogative to ference to all these sorts of contentions and petty answer. Zophar, like all the rest, is true to his prin-wars about wells and springs, tells Job that in the state ciple. Job must be a wicked man, else he had not of prosperity to which he shall be brought by the been afflicted. There must be some iniquity in his good providence of God, he shall dig-find wells of hand; and some wickedness tolerated in his family. living water; none shall contend with him; and he So they all supposed. shall rest in safety, all the neighbouring chieftains cultivating friendship with him; sec on chap. v. 23, 24; and that this is the meaning of the passage the following verse shows: Thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; yea, many shall make suit unto thee. Thou shalt be in perfect security; no enemy shall molest thee, and many shall seek thy friendship.

Verse 16. Because thou shalt forget thy misery] Thou shalt have such long and complete rest, that thou shalt scarcely remember thy labour.

As waters that pass away] Like as the mountain floods, which sweep every thing before them, houses, tents, cattle, and the produce of the field, and are speedily absorbed by the sandy plains over which they run; so shalt thou remember thy sufferings: they were wasting and ruinous for the time, but were soon over and gone.

Verse 17. Thine age shall be clearer than the noonday] The rest of thy life shall be unclouded prosperity. Thou shalt shine forth] Thou shalt be in this unclouded state, as the sun in the firmament of heaven, giving light and heat to all around thee.

Thou shalt be as the morning.] Thus the sun of thy prosperity shall arise, and shine more and more to the perfect day. This is the image which the sacred writer employs, and it is correct and elegant. Verse 18. And thou shalt be secure] Thou shalt not fear any farther evils to disturb thy prosperity, for thou shalt have a well-grounded hope and confidence that thou shalt no more be visited by adversity. Yea, thou shalt dig] I believe this neither refers to digging his grave, nor to curiously investigating surrounding circumstances; but to the custom of digging for water in the places where they pitched their nts. It was a matter of high importance in Asiatic ountries to find good wells of wholesome water; and they were frequently causes of contention among eighbouring chiefs, who sometimes stopped them and at other times seized them as their own. Through envy of Isaac's prosperity the Philistines stopped up all the wells which Abraham had digged, Gen. xxvi. 12—16. And we find the herdsmen of

Verse 20. The eyes of the wicked shall fail] They shall be continually looking out for help and deliverance; but their expectation shall be cut off.

And they shall not escape] They shall receive the punishment due to their deserts; for God has his

umanos ומנוס אבר מנהם .eye continually upon them

abad minnehem, literally, "And escape perishes from them." Flight from impending destruction is impossible.

And their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost.] waɔ nan Dnipmi vethikvatlam mappach naphesh, “ And their hope an exhalation of breath," or a mere wish of the mind. They retain their hope to the last; and the last breath they breathe is the final and eternal termination of their hope. They give up their hope and their ghost together; for a vain hope cannot enter into that place where shadow and representation exist not; all being substance and reality. And thus endeth Zophar the Naamathite; whose premises were in general good, his conclusions legitimate, but his application of them to Job's case totally erroneous; because he still proceeded on the ground that Job was a wicked man, if not ostensibly, yet secretly; and that the sufferings he was undergoing were the means by which God was unmasking him to the view of men.

But, allowing that Job had been a bad man, the exhortations of Zophar were well calculated to enforce repentance and excite confidence in the divine

Job vindicates himself from

JOB.

the charges of Zophar. mercy. Zophar seems to have had a full conviction | life, and does not refer, at least very evidently, to a of the all-governing providence of God; and that future state. Probably his information on subjects of those who served him with an honest and upright divinity did not extend much beyond the grave; and heart would be ever distinguished in the distribution we have much cause to thank God for a clearer disof temporal good. He seems however to think that pensation. Deus nobis hæc otia fecit. God grant rewards and punishments were distributed in this that we may make a good use of it!

CHAPTER XII.

Job reproves the boasting of his friends, and shows their uncharitableness towards himself, 1-5; asserts that even the tabernacles of robbers prosper; and that, notwithstanding, God is the Governor of the world; a truth which is proclaimed by all parts of the creation whether animate or inanimate, and by the revolutions which take place in states, 6—25.

A. M. cir. 2484.

B. C. cir. 1520.

Ante I. Ol. cir. 744. Ante U. C. c. 767.

AND Job answered and said,
2 No doubt but ye are
the people, and wisdom shall
die with you.

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NOTES ON CHAP. XII.

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Thus he that calleth upon God, and whom God Verse 2. No doubt but ye are the people] Doubt-heareth, is mocked of his neighboure: the godly and less ye are the wisest men in the world; all wisdom | is concentrated in you; and when ye die, there will no more be found on the face of the earth! This is a strong irony.

Verse 3. I am not inferior to you] I do not fall short of any of you in understanding, wisdom, learning, and experience.

Who knoweth not such things as these?] All your boasted wisdom consists only in strings of proverbs which are in every person's mouth, and are no proof of wisdom and experience in them that use them.

Verse 4. I am as one mocked of his neighbour] Though I am invoking God for help and salvation, yet my friends mock me in this most solemn and sacred work. But God answereth me.

The just upright man is laughed to scorn] This is a very difficult verse, on which no two critics seem to be agreed. Mr. Good translates the fourth and fifth verses thus:

"Thus brother is become a laughing-stock to his companions,

While calling upon God that he would succour him.
The just, the perfect man, is a laughing-stock to the
proud,

A derision amidst the sunshine of the prosperous,
While ready to slip with his foot."

For a vindication of this version, I must refer to
Coverdale gives at least a good sense.

his notes.

innocent man is laughed to scorne. Godlynesse is a light despysed in the hertes of the rich; and is set for them to stomble upon. The fifth verse is thus rendered by Mr. Parkhurst: “A torch of contempt, or contemptible link (see Isai. vii. 4, xl. 2, 3), mu leashtoth, to the splendours of the prosperous (is he who is) ready (nachon, Job xv. 23; xviii. 12; Ps. xxxviii. 17) to slip with his foot." The general sense is tolerably plain; but to emendations and conjectures there is no end.

Verse 6. The tabernacles of robbers prosper.] Those who live by the plunder of their neighbours are often found in great secular prosperity; and they that provoke God by impiety and blasphemy live in a state of security and affluence. These are administrations of Providence which cannot be accounted for; yet the Judge of all the earth does right. Therefore prosperity and adversity are no evidences of a man's spiritual state, nor of the place he holds in the approbation or disapprobation of God.

Verse 7. But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee] Mr. Good's paraphrase here is very just: "Why tell ye me that the Almighty hath brought this calamity upon me? Every thing in nature, the beasts of the field, the fowls of the heaven, every inhabitant of earth and sea, and every thing that befalls them, are the work of his hands; and every thing feels and acknowledges him to be the universal Creator and Controller. It is the common doctrine of all nature;

The perfections of God are

A. M. cir. 2484.
B. C. cir. 1520.
Ante I. Ol.
cir. 744.
Ante U.C. c. 767.

CHAP. XI.

demonstrated in his works. A. M. cir. 2484.

Ante I. Ol. cir. 744. Ante U.C.c.767.

thee: and the fishes of the sea | hath counsel and understanding. B. C. cir. 1520.
shall declare unto thee.
14 Behold, 'he breaketh down,
and it cannot be built again:
he shutteth 'up a man, and
there can be no opening.

9 Who knoweth not in all ⚫ these that the hand of the LORD

hath wrought this?

b

10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. 11 Doth not the ear try words? and the *mouth taste his meat?

k

15 Behold, he "withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he "sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.

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16 With him is strength and wisdom: the

12 With the ancient is wisdom; and in deceived and the deceiver are his. length of days understanding.

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17 He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and

13 With him is wisdom and strength, he P maketh the judges fools.

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but to apply it as ye would apply it to me, and to
assert that I am suffering from being guilty of hypo-
crisy, is equally impertinent and impious. He ordains
every thing in wisdom as well as in power; but why
events happen as they happen, why good and evil
are promiscuously scattered throughout nature or
human life, ye are as ignorant of as myself."
Verse 10. In whose hand is the soul of every living
thing] way nephesh col chai, "the soul of all
life."

And the breath of all mankind.] wa by mu veruach col besar, “and the spirit or breath of all flesh." Does not the first refer to the immortal soul, the principle of all intellectual life; and the latter to the breath, respiration, the grand means by which animal existence is continued? See chap. x. 1.

Verse 11. Doth not the ear try words?] All these are common-place sayings. Ye have advanced nothing new; ye have cast no light upon the dispensations of Providence.

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in the total political destruction of Nineveh, Babylon, Persepolis, Tyre, and other cities, which have been broken down never to be rebuilt; as well as the Assyrian, Babylonian, Grecian, and Roman empires, which have been dismembered and almost annihilated, never more to be regenerated.

He shutteth up a man] He often frustrates the best laid purposes, so that they can never be brought to good effect.

Verse 15. He withholdeth the waters] This is, I think, an allusion to the third day's work of the creation, Gen. i. 9: And God said, Let the waters be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear. Thus the earth was drained, and the waters collected into seas, and bound to their particular places. Also he sendeth them out] Here is also an allusion to the flood, for when he broke up the fountains of the great deep, then the earth was overturned.

Verse 16. With him is strength and wisdom] " ww oz vethushiyah, strength and sufficiency. Strength Verse 12. With the ancient is wisdom] Men who or power, springing from an exhaustless and infinite have lived in those primitive times, when the great source of potency. In the thirteenth verse it is said, facts of nature were recent, such as the creation, fall, With him is wisdom and strength; but the expresflood, confusion of tongues, migration of families, sions are not the same, na chochmah ugeburah, and consequent settlement of nations, had much intelligence and fortitude, or strength in action, the knowledge from those facts; and their length of days—wisdom ever guiding the exertions of power; but the many hundreds of years to which they lived, gave here is strength or power in essence, and an eternal them such an opportunity of accumulating wisdom potentiality. With him is every excellence, in by experience, that they are deservedly considered as potentia and in esse. He borrows nothing, he derives oracles. nothing. As he is self-existent, so is he self-sufficient. We have had the word tushiyah before. See the note on chap. xi. 6.

Verse 13. With him is wisdom and strength] But all these things come from God; he is the Fountain of wisdom, and the Source of power. He alone can give us unerring counsel, and understanding to comprehend and act profitably by it. See on ver, 16.

Verse 14. He breaketh down] He alone can create, and he alone can destroy. Nothing can be annihilated but by the same Power that created it. This is a most remarkable fact. No power, skill, or cunning of man can annihilate the smallest particle of matter. Man, by chemical agency, may change its form; but to reduce it to nothing belongs to God alone. In the course of his providence God breaks down, so that it cannot be built up again. See proofs of this

The deceived and the deceiver are his.] Some think this refers to the fall; even Satan the deceiver or beguiler, and Adam and Eve, the deceived or beguiled, are his. Satan, as this book shows, cannot act without especial permission; and man, whom the seducer thought to make his own property for ever, is claimed as the peculium or especial property of God, for the seed of the woman was then appointed to bruise the head of the serpent; and Jesus Christ has assumed the nature of man, and thus brought human nature into a state of fellowship with himself. Thus he who sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are

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