retains it in his palate. The tenacity with which the evil-doer persists in the lustful enjoyment of his wickedness, is set forth by five parallel and essentially synonymous expressions accumulated together. T": place beholds him no more.— -nipp, which is doubtless the subject of b, is here construed as a feminine, as in Gen. xviii. 24; 2 Sam. xvii. 12. Ver. 10. His children must seek to please the poor.-, 3d plur. Piel from = to Ver. 14. (Nevertheless) his food is changed propitiate, appease, synonymous with in his bowels-into what is explained in the The poison of asps is '', an expression which is to be understood second member. in a sense altogether general, and not specifi- within him.—? (=, chap. xvi. 13), cally of asking alms [Barnes: "they would be lit. "gall," is used here for "poison,"--because beggars of beggars"] nor of appeasing by the the ancients used interchangeably terms repreuse of money, although the second member ap-senting the bitter and the poisonous; comp. proximates the latter meaning quite closely. Na bitter, poisonous plant and the poison The ancient versions read, or 37 (from of serpents, in ver. 16; Deut. xxxii. 33. The py), and thus obtained the meaning, which is word is naturally chosen here as antithetic to P'лn, verse 12. far less suitable, "His sons (object) the lowly smite down." [Ewald, adopting this definition -trans הָפְנָיו to בָּנָיו for the verb, and amending T: T lates: "his fists smote down the weak"].— And his hands (must) give back his wealth: to wit, by the hands of his children, who will have to appease the creditors of their father. ["The suffix in might refer back. in the way of individualization, to the plural in D' (so Noyes); but against this is the fact that also in the following verse the wicked man is the subject of the discourse." Schlott.]. The meaning would be much less simple if (with Carey; Dillmann) [Bernard, Renan, Lee], "his hands' were understood literally, and after the preceding mention of his death we were carried back here to the period of his life. 16.] .see below, ver פְּתָנִים On] Ver. 15. He hath swallowed down riches. -n, "possessions, riches, property," without the accompanying notion of forcible acquisition which rather first makes its appearance in God will cast them forth again out of his belly-i.e., his riches, or that which he has swallowed. The greedy devourer of wealth will be made to vomit it forth, as by pains of colic. The LXX., from motives of decorum, substituted ayyehoc here for eos; in Zophar's mouth, however, the latter word need not surprise us. Ver. 16 returns back to the figure of ver. 146 in order to describe more minutely the effect of the poison which he had been enjoying. [He Ver. 11. His bones were full of youthful sucked in the poison of asps], the tongue vigor (so correctly the LXX., Targ., Pesh.- of adders slays him-the tongue being rewhile the Vulg., Rosenm., Vaih., etc., understand it of "secret sins," and comp. Ps. xc. 8), garded as the seat or container of the poison [Jerome, however, followed, by E. V., Lee, and (Ps. cxl. 4 [3]), the original figure being at the Barnes, combining the two ideas of sin and same time changed, and the fatal bite taking the place of the deadly draught; comp. Prov. xxiii. youth, while Renan, Good, Wemyss, Carey, ren-82. [19, LXX. άoris; according to some, e.g., der "secret sins." Our other authorities, Ew., Dillmann, Schlott., Rodwell, Words., Con., Ber., Elz., with Ges. and Fürst agree with the LXX., etc.].-and it lies down with him in the dust; or "it is laid down," viz., his youthful vigor; for the use of referring back to 2, comp. ch. xiv. 19; Ps. ciii. 56. For "dust," meaning the "grave," comp. ch. xix. 25; xvii. 16. עֲלוּמָיו Second Strophe: Vers. 12-16. A description of the perishableness of the ungodly man's prosperity by a comparison with poison, sweet to the taste, but deadly in its results. KITTO, Pictorial Bible, the boeten of the Arabs, about a foot long, spotted black and white, the bite instantly fatal; according to others, the elHaje of the Arabs, from three to five feet long, dark green, with oblique bands of brown, resembling the cobra di capello in its power of swelling the neck and rising on its tail in striking its prey. They cannot be determined. See the Dictionaries and Cyclopædias, "Asp," "Viper," "Serpent," etc.] Third Strophe: Vers. 17-22. [The evil-doer cannot enjoy his prosperity-for he must restore his ill-gotten gains.] .... Vers. 12, 13 are the protasis dependent on D Ver. 17. He may not delight in the sight ver. 14 seq., the apodosis.-Ver. 12. Though of (as in chap. iii. 9) brooks streams, evil tastes sweet in his mouth (P' lit., rivers of honey and cream.—[The negative "makes sweet," Ewald, 122, c [Green, 79, and the apocopated express the concur2]); he hides it under his tongue, i. e., he rence of the speaker's moral judgment and feeldoes not swallow it down, in order to enjoy the sweet taste of it so much the longer ["the evil- ing with the affirmation of the fact. They are a mental Amen to the prediction.-E.] After doer likened to an epicure," Delitzsch.-Renan: Comme un bonbon qu'on laisse fondre dans la in the absol. state there follow in apposibouche]. Ver. 13. He is sparing of it (on to indulge. to spare, here with y, the preposition commonly used with verbs of covering, protecting, guarding) and does not let it go, and נַהֲרֵי נַהֲלֵי ,tion two nouns in the construct state which form an assonance, and are co-ordinate. See Gesen. 255, 3 a.] "Honey and milk" (or here, by way of gradation, "cream," comp. Isa. vii. 15, 22) are a familiar figurative expression denoting luxurious prosperity, as in Ex. iii. 8, 17, and often; found also in the ancient classical poets, in their descriptions of the golden age; e. g.. Theocritus, Idyll. V. 124 seq.; Ovid, Metam. I 111 seq.: Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant; comp. Virgil, Ecl. IV. 30; Horace, Epod. 16, 47. Ver. 18. Giving back that which he has labored for, subst. synonymous with y [the participial clause y coming first, and assigning the reason for what follows] he enjoys it not-lit. he swallows it not, he will not be happy. According to the property of his exchange (as in chap. xv. 31) he rejoices not-i. e., in accordance with the fact that he employed sinful, unjust means of exchange, in order to gain temporal possessions and enjoyments, he has no pleasure in the latter, he must lack the joy which he had promised himself in them. So correctly Ewald, Delitzsch, Dillmann, etc.; while Hirzel and others [E. V. Lee, Bernard, Renan, Rodwell], following the Targum, translate as though instead of | of '2, are (a) That of the E. V.: "Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor: because he hath violently taken away a house which he builded not; surely he shall not," etc.; which cannot be justified in rendering differently in Rodwell, who introduce the apodosis in 20b. ver. 19 and in ver. 20. (b) That of Noyes and (c) That of Good, Lee, Wemyss, Carey,-which assumes the apodosis to be introduced by 12-y in ver. 21 b.-E. ]. Ver. 20. For (co-ordinate to that at the beginning of the preceding verse) he knew no rest in his belly: the seat of his gluttony or avarice. here a substantive (differently from chap. xvi. 12, where it is an adjective), synonymous with , Prov. xvii. 1. For the sentiment comp. Isa. lix. 8. [E. V.: "he shall not feel quietness," etc., overlooks the distinction of tenses in the verse: Imperf. Whether we translate "for" or "because," there is a relation of antecedent and consequent between a and b. This has been the shall be his doom-to be stripped of every thing. evil-doer's character-insatiable voracity; this Perfect, E.] (Therefore) he shall not escape with his dearest treasure.- without an object to escape, like hp, chap. xxiii. 7; also, comp. Amos ii. 15. The or in , the passage read (“as his possessions, so his exchange,' i. e., his restitution). Gesenius, Schlottmann [Conant, Elzas] render: "as his property that is to be exchanged, i. e., to be restored" (similarly Hupfeld: sicut opes permutando comparatas), which, however, yields a strained sense [and is also "contrary to is the of accompaniment or of possesthe relative independence of the separate lines sion, as in chap. xix. 20. [Not, therefore, inof the verse, which our poet almost always pre- strumental (Schlottmann-the object conceived serves, and is also opposed by the interposing of as the instrument), nor partitive: "of all his delights he shall save nothing" (Conant). The of ." DEL. Carey explains: "to the rendering of Carey, Elzas, etc.: "in his appetite full amount of its value," taking in the sense he let (or lets) nothing escape," is inadmissible of "power," or "fullness”. -a doubtful signifi- on account of the passive form of on, which cation when used in connection with property. signifies not the act, but the object, of desire. -E.] To be noted is hy in our Book for thy or .[עלץ Ver. 19. For he crushed, abandoned the poor-i. e., maltreated with persistent injustice the unprotected and defenceless. He has taken houses (lit. "a house." collective) for his plunder, and builded them not-i. e., has not re-builded them, has not reached the point of reconstructing and fitting them up according to his own taste, because he was not allowed to retain permanent possession of them. Against the rendering of the Targ., Vulg., etc., also of Hupfeld [and E. V.]: "he has plundered a house which he builded not," it may be urged that in that case it must have read . The Ver. 21. Nothing escaped his greediness [or gluttony]: lit. "there is nought of a remainder [or of that which has escaped] to his food-comp. ch. xviii. 19. from, not (E. V. "meat"); hence, more literally still than above: "there is nothing that has escaped his eating"]. Therefore his wealth shall not endure.-'', as in Ps. x. 5. means "to be solid, powerful, enduring.' ,"wealth," or also "prosperity," as in ch. xxi. 16. [E. V.: "no man shall look for his goods," which can only mean (with), no one shall wait for his property as his heir, a meaning both less simple and less suitable than the above.] - Ver. 22. In the fullness of his superfluity it is strait with him-i. e., distress overtakes him, meaning external poverty (not internal anguish, etc.), as b shows. The Inf. constr. causal relation in which the first member is placed to the second by Delitzsch: "because he cast down, let the destitute lie helpless, he shall not, in case he has seized a house, build it up" [Conant: "the houses he has plundered he shall not build up" is indicated with too little clearness by the at the beginning of the verse, and, after the analogy of, verbs; comp. yields a meaning entirely too artificial. [Other Gesen 275 [274], Rems. 20 and 21 [Green, constructions, according to the causal rendering | 166, 2]. with retracted tone for " ["on Judg. viii. 1), from ,קראות written like) מְלֹאות account of the following monosyllable." DEL.]; | him what can satisfy him."-Schlottm.: "Such comp. Gen. xxxii. 8; Ewald, 232 6.-Every hand of a wretched one (comp. chap. iii. 20) comes upon him (comp. chap. xv. 21)-viz.: to inflict retribution on him for the violence suffered at his hands, or in order to demand of him plundered property. [The primary reference is doubtless to the victims of his own rapacity, although we may give it, with Delitzsch, a more general application: "the rich uncompassionate man becomes a defenceless prey of the proletaries."] So according to the reading, comp. chap. iii. 20. If, following the LXX. and the Vulg. (with Eichhorn, De Wette, etc.), we read we obtain the meaning-in itself indeed admissible, but less in harmony with vers. 19– 21: "the whole power of misery comes upon him." [So Rodwell. Bernard, Noyes and Renan take as in chap. xxxiii. 2, for "wound" or "blow; and translate: "every blow of misfor. tune" (Ren.), or "every blow of the wretched," i. e., every blow which cometh upon the wretched (Noyes), or every blow, every plague that can render a man miserable (Bernard).] Fourth Strophe: vers. 23-28. The end of the wicked according to the divine judgment. Ver. 23. That it may serve to the filling of his belly, He casts the glow of His wrath upon him. The subject is God, although He is not expressly named; as in ch. xvi. 7. The Jussive, at the head of the verse, is rendered by most as a simple future: "it shall come to pass," viz. that which follows. But to express this we should rather expect (as frequently with the prophets), or '" (as frequently in prose). For this reason the construction of the Jussive as dependent on n is to be preferred to any other (so Stickel, Hahn [Ewald], Dillmann, etc.). [It is certainly simpler, and in the spirit and style of Zophar in this discourse to take as an independent verb, forming the first of the series of jussives in this verse, each of which expresses the strong sympathy of his feelings with the result which he predicts. See above on -, ver. 17; and Dillmann's remark below.-E.]—The Jussives and however, are to be explained on the ground that the passage is intended to set forth the necessity for God's punitive agency as established in the divine order of the world ["and at the same time to indicate his own agreement therewith." Dillm.]. In regard to the descent of the divine wrath in the form of a rain of fire, comp above on ch. xviii. 15.-As to the phrase: "to fill the belly of any one,' comp above ver. 20; Luke xv. 16. -And causes to rain upon him with his food.-( serving to introduce the object; comp. ch. xvi. 4, 10). The subject here again is God. The food which He causes to rain upon the wicked, to wit, his just punishment (comp. ch. ix. 18; Jer. ix. 14 [15]) is called "his food" (i), viz. that of the wicked, that which he is appointed to feed upon. [Ewald: "rain upon a rain of fire, figuratively speaking, is to be the food of the ungodly, instead of the former dainty morsel of wickedness (comp. vers. 12, 18).”— Wordsworth: "He surfeited himself with rapine, and God will make him surfeit with His revenge.' -Carey: "Just as in Ps. xi. 6, the wicked are said to drink snares, fire and brimstone, so here the glutton shall have them for food."] It is possible also to refer the suffix to God. Much too artificial is the rendering of the Targ., AbenEzra, Gerson, Delitzsch: 'He causeth it to rain upon him into his flesh,”—although to be sure on might in accordance with Zeph. i. 17 mean "flesh." [In Zeph., however, the parallelism: "and their blood is poured forth as dust, and their flesh as dung," makes the appli(opp) cation clear; whereas here the whole context points to the usual literal application.-E.]— i, poetic, full-toned form for as in ch. xxii. 2: xxvii. 23. [The morally indignant speech which threatens punishment, intentionally seeks after rare solemn words, and darksome tones." Delitzsch. The partial assonance -may also have had some indu עלימו בלתומו of ence in determining this form, which in this instance at least can scarcely be regarded as plur., on account of the pointed individual application to Job. The rendering of E. V., Good, Lee, Wem., Rod., Elz.: "and shall rain it upon him while he is eating." is at variance with the form, and misses the striking force of the figure as given above.-E.] Vers. 24 seq. describe how the divine decree of wrath is historically realized by the introduction of several illustrations the first being that of a warlike pursuit and wounding ["a highly picturesque description." Ewald].-If he flee from the iron armor (comp. ch. xxxix. 21), a bow of brass (Ps. xviii. 35) pierces him through (comp. Judg. v. 26). [If he escapes one danger, it is only to fall into another, and from the same source]. The two members of the verse, which are put together asyndetically. are related to each other as antecedent and consequent, as in ch. xix. 4. Ver. 25. He draws it out (viz. the arrow, in order to save his life, comp. Judg. iii. 22). [The Targ. reads : he (the enemy, or God) draws, and it (the sword) comes out of its sheath; against which Delitzsch objects that cannot signify vagina. Carey also translates "it is drawn," i. e. the sword of the pursuing enemy, who plunges it into him, and then draws it out again; but this is much less natural, and mars the terrible vividness of the description given of his unavailing struggle with his doom.-E.]-Then it comes forth out of the body; or also "out of the back," in case, after the analogy of 77773, ch. iii. 4, should be identified with 1. But the difficulty of accomplishing such a manipulation of the weapon scarcely permits this assumption (adopted among the moderns by Dillmann), [The evildoer is imagined as hit in the back, the arrow consequently as passing out at the front." Del.], which, moreover, has against it the following member: and the gleaming steel (comes) out of his gall (comp. ch. xvi. 13; and above on ver. 14 of this ch.). In regard to p3, lit. "lightning," here "gleaming steel, metal head" (not a "stream of blood," as Hahn explains it), comp. Deut. xxxii. 41; Nah. iii. 3; Hab. iii. 11. -Upon him (come) the terrors of death.— The plur. D' (from 7', ch. ix. 34; xiii. 21) could indeed be connected as subject with construed ad sensum (Hahn, Delitzsch), [Conant]; but the accents connect rather with the second member of the verse, so that some such verb as "come, break upon," must be supplied with DON 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. "T: usage of W Ps. civ. 4; Jerem. xlviii. 45. Ols- Ver. 27. The heavens reveal his iniquity also properly Jussive like the verbs in vers. 26, 28), and the earth riseth up against him (pipe pausal form for pip). Thus the two chief divisions of the creation, 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. 28. The increase of his house must Part. Niph. from 771 with an Aram. formation, defining it to mean opes corrasæ, things which have been scraped or gathered together; but less satisfactorily, for the clause 1 D2, at the end of this member of the verse, hardly permits us to look for a second subject, synonymous with . Moreover we must have found that thought expressed rather by "=opes ab eo corrasae. As it would seem that after ver. 27 a return to the wicked man`s possessions and treasures could not properly be looked for, some commentators have indulged in attempted emendations of the passage, all of which touch upon in the first member (Jussive Kal from wander forth, comp. Prov. Ver. 26. Further description of the divine decree of punishment, with special reference to the wicked man's possessions.-All darkness 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 (D' 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 up the destruction which is destined to overtake them. Comp. Deoavpišew kavтw opуhv, Rom. ii. 5. [As Delitzsch suggests, there is somewhat of a play upon words in -A fire which is not blown consumes him, lit. "which was not blown" (n, a relative clause, Gesenius, 148, 1 [ 121, 3], hence a "fire of God" burning down from heaven (comp. ch. i. 16; xviii. 15; Is. xxxiii. 11 seq.). A is most simply explained (with Ewald, Hupfeld, Dillmann) [Fürst, Conant], as an alternate form of the Jussive Kal, instead of the more common , comp. Ewald, 253, [Gesenius takes it as Piel for 4, with lengthened vowel in place of Daghesh-forte; Delitzsch as Poel with Hholem shortened to Kamets-Khatuph; Hirzel, Olsh., Green ( 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 Ver. 29. Closing verse, lying outside of the verbs and making the personification strophic arrangement, like ch. v. 27, etc.-This of the supernatural fire more vivid. See on is the portion of the wicked man from ch. i. 19.-E.]-It must devour that which survives (that which has escaped for- Elohim; the lot or "portion" (pn, 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 DT, 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 to him by God.-in, lit. "his heri a. used in the masc.; comp. for this rare masc. 1, "to depart, to xxvii. 25). Thus Dathe, Stickel, etc., read the flood rolls away his house, etc.:" Ewald, "the revenue 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." זז TT TT 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 this tage of the command concerning him." in which case the sense would be: "the heri- reveal his guilt, and the earth which he hopes to have as a witness in his favor, rises up as his 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 chapter puts forth the most correct opinions; but he is at fault in that he falsely distorts them against 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." DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL. the pure enjoyment of the discourse, and compel 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 As regards the homiletic treatment of this disEliphaz in chapter xv., as superlative to po- course, the same may be said in general as of sitive, and to the second discourse of Bildad, the discourses, related as to their contents, in The description given of as superlative to comparative. In it the nar- chapters 15 and 18. 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 Ver. 10. IDEM: From this verse we learn and phraseology of the Chokmah. This descriptive 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 uncharitable-xxi. 2 seq.). ness 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. 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 decree, 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 |