wields the weapon, as in Hab. I. c. and Mic. ii. 1, are, however, so nearly identical as descriptive of the character here referred to, that either resolves itself into the other. Conant, who adopts the rendering of E. V.: "he into whose hand God bringeth" (E. V. adds "abundantly") i. e. whom God prospers, objects that by the other rendering "the thought is expressed very coarsely, as to form, when it might be done in the Hebrew with great felicity." It is difficult to see, however, how the sentence: "he who takes God in his hand" could be expressed more idiomatically or forcibly than in the words of the passage before us. Wordsworth somewhat differently: "who grasps God in his hand. The wicked, in his impious presumption, imagines that he can take God prisoner and lead Him as a captive by his power." But this is less natural than the above.-E.] Second Strophe: vers. 7-12. [Return to the thought of ver. 3-the shallowness of the friends' wisdom on the Divine. Such knowledge and deeper every one possessed who had eyes and ears. For (1) every creature in earth and sea and air proclaimed it (7-10); and (2) every man of thought and age uttered it in the general ear (11, 12)" DAV.] Ver. 7. But ask now even the beasts they can teach thee.—["DN, recovery from the crushing thought of vers. 4-6, and strong antithesis to the assumption of the friends." as also in the second member, voluntative [or, jussive], hence not literally future-they will teach it to thee"-as commonly rendered. Here the form of address is different from that adopted heretofore in this discourse, being now directed to one only of the friends, viz. to Zophar, to whose eulogy of the absolute wisdom of God (ch. xi. 7-9) reference is here made, with the accompanying purpose of presenting a still more copious and elaborate description of the same. Ver. 8. Or think thoughtfully on the earth: lit. "think on the earth," i. e. direct look the retrospective reference which is to be looked for to the various kinds of animals already cited. Neither with Ewald [Hengst., Noyes] is it to be taken in the sense of " among all these," as if the passage contained a reference to a knowledge possessed by all the crea tures of God as their Creator, or possibly to the groaning of the creature after the Godhead, as described in Rom. viii. 18 sq. This partitive rendering of (which Renan as well as Ewald adopts: "qui ne sait parmi tous ces êtres,” etc.) is at variance with the context, as well as the position of the words (TNo before ?-?). -That the hand of Jehovah hath made this.- refers essentially to the same object with 2-2, only that it embraces a still wider circle of contemplation than the latter expression, which refers only to the classes of animals afore-mentioned. It denotes "the totality of that which surrounds us," the visible universe, the whole world (rà ẞhɛñóμeva, Heb. xi. 3); comp. Is. lxvi. 2; Jer. xiv. 22; where is used in this comprehensive signification; so also above in ch. xi. 8 seq., to which description of the all-embracing greatness of God there is here a manifest reference. Ewald, Dillmann [Conant, Davidson] translate: "that the hand of Jehovah hath done this." By Ni, "this," Ewald understands the decreeing of suffering and pain" (of which also the groaning creation and wise administration of God among His creawould testify); Dillmann refers it to the mighty tures; both of which explanations are manifestly more remote than the one given above. ["The meaning of the whole strophe is perverted if is, with Ewald, referred to the destiny of severe suffering and pain.' . glance at what follows shows, Job further on praises God as the governor of the universe, it may be expected that the reference is here to God as the creator and preserver of the world. Since as & .. Bildad had appealed to the sayings of the ancients, which have the long experience of the past in their favor, to support the justice of the Divine government; Job here appeals to the absoluteness of the Divine rule over creation." DELITZSCH.]-Apart from the Prologue (ch. i. 21), the name occurs only here in the mouth of Job, for the reason doubtless that the whole expression here used, which recurs again word for word in Is. xli. 20 (ch. lxvi. 2) was one that was everywhere much used not unfrequently also among the extra-Israelitish monotheists (and the same is true of the expression instead of the genit.,, ch. xxviii. 28). thoughtfully thy observation to the earth (which comes under consideration here, as is evident from what follows, as the place where the lower order of animals is found, the 7, Gen. ix. 2; 1 Kings v. 13), and acquire the instruction which may be derived from her. The rendering of as a substantive, in the sense of "shrub" (comp. ch. xxx. 4; Gen. ii. 5), is on several grounds untenable; for ', "shrub" is, according to those passages, masculine; the use of the preposition or instead of hy or before 7, would be singular; and the mention of plants in the midst of the animals (beasts, birds, fishes), would be out of place (against Berleb. Bib., Böttcher, Umbreit, etc.). Ver. 10. In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all the bodies of men.-["Evidently these words are more naturally referred to the act of preservation than to that of creation." SCHLOTTM.] Ver. 9. Who would not know in all Observe the distinction between . the lower this, etc. So is 23 to be rendered, giving principle of life, which fills all animals, and to the instrumental sense, not with Hahn, the godlike personal spirit of man. Other"who knows not concerning all this," which wise in Eccles. iii. 19, 21, where, in a wider would yield too flat a sense, and lead us to over- sense, is ascribed even to the beasts. Vers. 11, 12. To the knowledge of God which | and here, where he is exposing the vulgarity of rests on the observation of the external cosmos the friends' much-boasted insight, it is quite in (notitia Dei naturalis externa s. acquisita), is here added the human wisdom and insight which springs from experience, especially that of the aged, as a second source from which Job might draw (which may be regarded as the equivalent of that which is sometimes called notitia Dei naturalis interna). Ver. 11. Does not the ear prove sayings, even as [ adæquationis, as in ch. v. 7] the palate tastes food for itself (1, Dat. commodi). Both comparisons illustrate the power of judicious discrimination possessed by the human spirit, by which it discerns the inner worth of things, especially as it exists in aged persons of large experience. So again later in Elibu's discourse, ch. xxxiv. 3. The opinion of Umbreit, Delitzsch, etc., that Job in this verse utters an admonition not to receive without proof the sayings of the ancients, to wit, those of which Bildad had previously spoken, ch. viii. 10("should not the ear prove the sayings?"), lacks proper support. A reference to that remote passage in the discourse of Bildad should have been more clearly indicated than by the accidental circumstance that there as here the word, "sayings, utterances," is used. Moreover the "aged” who are here mentioned (D, as in ch. xv. 10; xxix. 8) are by no means identical with the fathers of former generations, whom Bildad had mentioned there. place to refer to the facility any one had for coming in contact with such information; and in xiii. 2, where Job recapitulates xii. 13-25, these two sources of information, sight and hearsay are directly alluded to."-Besides Delitzsch and Hengstenberg, Schlottmann and Merx connect the verse with the preceding On the contrary Con., Dav., Dillm.. Ren., Good, Wemyss, etc., connect it with the following, and correctly so on account of the strict connection in thought, varying language in ver. 16.-In answer to the and especially the resumption of the thought in objection of abruptness in the transition if ver. 13 be detached from the preceding, Davidson says well that "it is quite in place; the whole chapter and speech is abrupt and passionate." —E.]. First Division: Second Section: An animated description of the exercise of God's wisdom and Power, by way of actual proof that he is by no means wanting in the knowledge of God, which Zophar had denied to him: vers. 18-25. [It is possible perhaps to exaggerate this idea that Job his opponents. Something there is of this no in the passage following is consciously emulating doubt, but it must not be forgotten that the description here given of the Divine wisdom and omnipotence is an important part of Job's argument, as tending to show that these attributes so far from being employed by the ends which they had described, are exercised to produce hopeless confusion and ruin in human affairs.-E.]. First double strophe: Vers. 13-18 (consisting two strophes of 3 verses each). a. Vers. 13-15. [The theme in its most general statement]. Ver. 13. With Him are wisdom and might, His are counsel and discernment. Ver. 12. Among the aged is wisdom, and a long life (works, gives) understand-of ing [or lit. length of days is understanding "]. The verse is related to the preceding as logical consequent to its antecedent: As the ear determines the value of words, or the palate the taste of food, so aged men have been able to acquire for themselves in the course of a long life a true insight into the nature of things, and a truly rational knowledge of the same,-and I have been to school with such men, I have also ventured to draw from this source! This is the meaning of the passage as clearly appears from the context, and it makes it unnecessary to assume: a. with Starke, etc., that Job reckons himself among the aged, and as such sets himself in the fullness of his self-consciousness against the three friends as being younger than himself (which is distinctly refuted by what we find in ch. v. 26; xxix. 8, 18; xv. 10); b. with Ewald, to conjecture the loss of a passage after ver. 12, which would furnish the transition from that verse to ver. 23; c. with Dillmann, that originally ver. 12 stood before vers. 9, 10, thus immediately following ver. 8; d. with Delitzsch, Hengstenberg. etc., that ver. 23 is to be connected closely and immediately with ver. 12, so that thus the following order of thought would be expressed: assuredly wisdom is to be found among the aged, but in reality and in full measure it is to be found only with God, etc. [i.e. with Conant, that the verse is to be rendered interrogatively, on the ground that Job would not appeal to tradition in support of his positions; to which Davidson replies that "Job assails tradition only where he has found it false; The suffixes in and point back to Jehovah, vers. 9, 10, to whom the whole following description to ver. 25 in general relates. ["With Him, py, him, doubly emphatic (a) in opposition to the just mentioned wisdom of men, ver. 12; (b) with awe-ful omission of Divine name, and significant allusion and intonation in the pronoun." Dav.]. The verse before us forms as it were the theme of this description, which presents Job's own personal confession of faith in respect to the nature and wisdom of God. It is therefore neither an expression of the doctrinal views of a hoary antiquity," or of the aged sages of ver. 12 (Umbreit) [Ewald, Schlottm.], nor a statement of that which is alone to be esteemed as genuine Divine wisdom, in antithesis to the more imperfect "wisdom of the aged' (Delitzsch, Hengstenberg). There is to be sure a certain progression of thought from ver. 11 on the adaptation to their uses of the organs of hearing and of taste, the wisdom of men of age and experience, and the wisdom of God, transcending all else, and united with the highest power, are related to each other as positive, comparative. and superlative. But there is not the slightest intimation of the thought that the absolute wisdom of God casts into the shade those rudiments of itself which are to be found in the sphere of the creature, or would hold them up as utterly worthless. here are to שנה and שָׁגַג "] Rather is what is said | their good, are in His hand, and constrained to of the same in our verse in some measure the Ver. 17. He leads counsellors away stripped: or "who leads counsellors, etc."—for from this point on to the end of the description (ver. 24) Job speaking of God uses the present participle. The circumstantial accus. Si, which here and in ver. 19 is used in connection with .ch ,עָרוֹם and that in the singular, like) מוֹלִיךְ xxiv. 7, 10), is rendered by the ancient versions "captive," or " 'chained" (LXX., Targ on ver. 19: aixuaλúrovç; Targ. on ver. 17: catenis vinctos), whereas etymologically the signification "made naked (exutus), violently stripped" is the only one that is authenticated. The word there עָרוֹם וְיָחֵף fore is equivalent to the expression Ver. 14. Lo, He tears down, and it is not built up (again). This is the first example of the irresistible exercise of this absolute might "naked and barefoot," Is. xx. 4, not to "bareand wisdom of God. Job describes it as directed foot " alone, as Oehler, Hitzig, Dillmann, etc., above all else to the work of tearing down and suppose from comparison with the LXX. in Mic. destroying, because in his recent mournful exi. 8. Naturally we are to understand the deperiences he had been led to know it on this side of its activity; comp. ch. ix. 5 seq., where inscription here to be of counsellors led away like manner the mention of the destructive acti-stripped as captives taken in war: comp. Is. l. c. vities of the Divine omnipotence precedes that and 2 Chron. xxviii. 15, as also what pertains to of its creative and constructive operation. Whe-D, "counsellors" in ch. iii. 14. And ther there is a reference to Zophar's expression (ch. xi. 10; so Dillmann) is doubtful. He shuts up a man (lit. "He shuts over a man"), and it cannot be opened. The expression ,על "to shut over any one," is to be explained from the fact that use was frequently made of pits, perhaps of cisterns, as prisons. or dungeons: comp. Gen. xxxvii. 24; Jer. xxxviii. 6; Lam. iii. 53. Where this species of incarceration is not intended, 1 is used either with the accus. or with (comp. ch. iii. 10; and 1 Sam. i. 6). Ver. 15. Lo, He restrains the waters, and they dry up (Is. 1. 38); He letteth them forth (again), and they overturn the earth. A remarkable parallel in thought to this description of the operation of the Divine omnipotence in the visible creation, now withdrawing and now giving life, but ever mighty in its agency, may be found in Ps. civ. 29, 30. A reference to Zophar's comparison of past calamity with vanished waters (ch. xi. 16) is scarcely to be recognized. b. Vers. 16-18. [Resumption of the theme specially of the Divine wisdom bringing confusion and humiliation on earth's mightiest]. Ver. 16. With Him are strength and true knowledge (, precisely as in ch. xi. 6). His are the deceived and the deceiver [the erring one, and the one who causes to err]: i. e., His intelligence is so far superior to that of man that alike he who abuses his wisdom in leading others astray, and he who uses it for as in Isa. Such judges He makes fools.in, Ver. 18. He looses the bond of kings; ¿ latter be pointed, and be construed as stat. constr. Comp. (ND, from D, to bind). Of less authority, etymologically, is the interpretation required by the Masoretic punetuation regarded as st. constr. of pi, "diseipline, castigatio," although it gives a sense quite nearly related to the preceding, it being presupposed that " 'discipline" is to be understood in the sense of "rule, authority" (so among the moderns, Rosenm., Arnh., Vaih., Hahn, Delitzsch [Ges., Carey], etc.). But "discipline" is a dif ferent conception from "authority," and " b. Vers. 22-25. [The Divine energy as especially operative among nations]. Ver. 22. [This verse must naturally form the prelude to the deeper exercise of power and insight among nations, and its highest generalization, comp. 16 b." Dav.].-He discovere th deep things out of the darkness, and brings forth to light the shadow of death; i. e., not: "He puts into execution His hidden purposes in the destiny of nations" (Schlottm.), ["for who would call the hidden ground of all appearances in God, "Dilllm.], but: plans and wickedness of men which are hidden "He brings forth into the light all the dark KOVITÀ TOV σKÓTOVÇ K. T. 2., and the proverb: in darkness;" comp. 1 Cor. iv. 5: pwriσεL Tà There is nothing spun so fine but all comes to the light;" see also ch. xxiv. 13 seq.; Is. xxix. a. Vers. 19-21. [Special classes of leaders 15; Rom. xiii. 12; 1 Thes. v. 5, etc. [" Deep brought to shame described]. Second Double Strophe: Vers. 19-25 (divided into one strophe of three, and one of four verses): [The description continued: the agency of the Divine wisdom in confounding the great of earth]. 66 things out of the darkness, nippy, must mean hid- brings joy to the good, but terror to all the chil- Ver. 19. He leads priests away spoiled *(see on ver. r. 17), and those firmly established He overthrows. [ "priests," not "princes" (E. V.) "In many of the States of antiquity the priests were personages no less important, were indeed even more important and honored than the secular authorities." Dillm. "The juxtaposition of priests and kings here points to the ancient form of priestly rule, as we encounter the same in the person of Jethro. and in part also in Melchizedek." Schlott.].-All objects are called D'', "firmly-enduring" [perpetual], which survive the changes of time. Hence the term is applied, e. g.. to water which does not become dry (aquæ perennes), or firmly Ver. 23. He makes nations great, and— founded rocks (Jer. xlix. 19; 1. 44), or mighty, destroys them; He spreads nations abroad invincible nations (Jer. v. 15), or, as here, dis-and-causes them to be carried away (or: tinguished and influential persons (Vulg., opti- "carries them away captive," comp. 7, symates). [40, “slip, in Piel, overthrow, aptly nonymous with an, abducere in servitutem ; also antithetic [to N." Dav.]. 2 Kings xviii. 11). [Rodwell: "then straitens them leads them, i. e., back into their former borders"]. Instead of the LXX. (^avv) as well as some of the Rabbis read HD, "who infatuates, makes fools." But the first Ver. 20. He takes away the speech of the most eloquent: lit. of "the trusted," of those who have been tried as a people's orators and counsellors; for they are the D' (from 18, to make firm, trustworthy, not from DN to speak, as D. Kimchi thinks, who would explain the word diserti, as though it were punctuated D). On b comp. Hos. iv. 11; and as regards D, "taste, judgment, tact," see 1 Sam. xxv. 33. Ver. 21. He pours contempt on nobles (exactly the same expression as in Ps. cvii. 40), and looses the girdle of the strong, (D'P' lit. "containing of great capacity" [Delitzsch: "to hold together, especially to concentrate strength on anything"] only here and ch. xli. 7 ; i. e., He disables them for the contest (by causing the under-garments to hang down loosely, thus proving a hindrance for conflict; comp. Is. v. 27; also below ch. xxxviii. 3; xl. 7). The translation of Delitzsch is altogether too forced, and by consequence insipid: "He pours contempt on the rulers of the state, and makes loose the belt of the mighty." T: member of the verse corresponds strictly in sense to the second, on which account the Masoretic translated "nations," Dy people, for "in, Inf. absol. as obj. of the verb; comp. ch. is the mass held together by the ties of a com- Ver. 4. But ye are (only) forgers of lies.— puts another antithetic sentence וְאוּלָם אַתֶּם alongside of the first which was introduced by T (ver. 8), without however laying any special stress on D; hence: "and however, but again," etc.; not: "ye however" (Hirzel).— Ver. 25. They grope in darkness without light and He makes them to wander like a drunken man. Comp. Is. xix. 14, and especially above in ch. v. 13, 14, a similar de- (from 450, "to plaster, to smear, scription by Eliphaz, which Job here seems desirous of surpassing, in order to prove that he is in no wise inferior to Eliphaz in experimental knowledge of the righteous judgments of God, the infinitely Wise and Mighty One. 4. Second Division: First Section: Resolution to appeal to the judicial decision of God, before which the harsh, unloving disposition of the friends will assuredly not be able to maintain itself, but will be put to shame: ch. xiii. 1-12. to paste together;" comp. 5, "plaster” Ez. xiii. 10 seq., and Talmudic grease) are lit. "daubers of lies," i. e., inventors of lies, concinnatores 8. inventores mendacii; not: "imputers, fasteners of falsehood," assutores mendacii, as Stickel, Hirzel, Schlottmann, Delitzsch, etc., explain both against philology and the context (neither ch. xiv. 17 nor Ps. cxix. 69 support this definition); nor again: "deceitful patchers," First Strophe: Vers. 1-6. [Impatience with sarcinatores falsi, i. e., inanes, idutilis, as Hupfeld the friends, and the purpose to appeal to God]. explains.-Physicians of no value are ye Ver. 1. Behold, mine eye hath seen all (that), mine ear hath heard and perceived all. are not "patchers" [Con. "botchers"] of vanity," i. e., such as patch tofor itself. here equivalent to 2-3, "all gether empty unfounded assertions (Vulg., Ew., that has been here set forth," all that has been Olsh., Dillm.), [Good, Con., Dav.], but in acstated (from ch. xii. 13 on) in respect to the evi-cordance with the universal usage of 7: dences of the Divine power and wisdom in the life of nature and men. [, dativus commodi, or perhaps only dat. ethicus: and has made it intelligible to itself (sibi); ' of the apprehension accompanying perception." Del.].-On ver. 2 comp. ch. xii. 3, the second member of which is here repeated word for word. ,אולם Ver. 3. But I will speak to the Almighty. "but nevertheless," puts that which now follows in emphatic antithesis to the preceding: "notwithstanding that I know all this, I will still," etc. ["Three feelings lie at the back of this antithesis: (1) The folly of longer speaking to the friends. (2) The irrelevancy of all such knowledge as they paraded, and which Job had in abundance. (3) Antagonism to the prayer of Zophar that God would appear-Job desires nothing more nor better-but I, to the Almighty will I speak." Dav.]. Observe also the significantly accented 'N, I (¿yù μèv), which puts the speaker in definite antithesis to those addressed (DAN, ver. 4, vueiç de), as one who will not follow their advice to make penitent confession of his guilt towards God; who will rather plead against God.-I desire to plead with God. 66 worthless, useless physicians," medici nihili, miserable quacks, who are incapable of applying to Job's wounds the right medicine to soothe and heal. ["Job calls their false presuppositions regarding his guilt, their vain attempts at a Theodicy and 'Theory of Providence'.” Dav.]. Ver. 5. Oh that ye would be altogether silent-that would be reckoned to you for wisdom.-Comp. Prov. xvii. 28; the Latin proverb: Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses; also the honorable title, bos mutus," the mute ox. given to Thomas Aquinas during his student life at Paris, by his fellow-students, as well as by his teacher, Albertus Magnus. The jussive, in, is used in a consecutive sense: "then would it be, prove, pass for;" comp. Ewald, 347, a, Gesen., 128, 2. Ver. 6. Hear now my reproof, and give heed to the charges of my lips. So correctly Hirzel, Dillm, Del., etc., while several other moderns explain: "Hear my defense [Con., E. V., "reasoning"], and attend to the arguments of my lips." As if i could signify anything else than theyyos, correptio (so cor |