terity. [Job's view is that retribution can be such only when it falls on the offender himself. It may affect others—although Job does not say that himself-it must reach him. E.] Ver. 20 continues the refutation of that false theory of substitution or satisfaction, and illustrates at the same time how the evil doer is to yor "feel" the divine punishment.—T? "de- .חפצו with T Ver. 21 gives a reason for that which he has just said against that perverted theory by calling attention to the stolid insensibility of the evil-doer, as a consummate egoist, in respect to the interests of his posterity. For what careth he for his house after him: lit. "for what is his concern, his interest ( here, as in ch. xxii. 3; comp. Is. lviii. 3) in his house after him" (i.e., after his death)? 1 is in close union with (comp. e. g. Gen. xvii. 19) not If the number of his months is apportioned to him; or "while [or when] the number, etc." The whole of this circumstantial clause, which is a partial echo of ch. xv. 20 (comp. ch. xiv. 5), expresses the thought, that the selfish pleasure-seeking evil-doer is satisfied if only his appointed term of life remains to him unabridged. This general meaning may be maintained whether, in accordance with Prov. xxx. 27, we explain to mean: "to allot, to appoint," thus rendering it as a synonym of TT 66 tue of an attraction similar to that in ch. xv. 20 (Gesen. 148 [3 145], 1) [Green, 277]. Fifth Strophe: vers. 22-26: [The theory of the friends involves a presumptuous dictation to God of what He should do, seeing that His present dealings with men, and their participation of the common destiny of the grave, furnish no indication of moral character]. ledge. ? Ver. 22. Shall one teach God knowas containing the principal notion is put emphatically first. In respect to the dative construction of verbs of teaching (as in Greek didáσkeiv Tivi Ti) comp. Ewald, 283, c.: Seeing He judgeth those that are in heaven: lit: "and He nevertheless judges (NIT), circumstantial clause) the high" [Carey: "dignities." The LXX read D', póvovç]. The "high" are simply the heavenly spirits, the angels as inhabiting the heights of heaven (Dip, comp. ch. xvi. 19; xxv. 2; xxxi. 2), not the celestial heights themselves, as Gesenius explains, with a reference to Ps. lxxviii. 69, a reStill less does it mean "the proud" (Hahn, Olference, however, which is probably unsuitable. shausen), a signification which D by itself, and without qualification never has. Tuis proposition, that God exercises judicial power over the exalted spirits of heaven, Job advances here all the more readily, that the friends had already appealed twice in similar words to the same fact of the absolute holiness and justice of God (ch. iv. 18, and xv. 15). They had indeed done this with the intent of supporting their narrowminded doctrine of retribution, while on the contrary Job, by the same proposition would put their short-sighted theory to the rout, and direct attention to the unfathomable depth and secresy of God's counsels, and of the principles of His government. T Vers. 23-26 demonstrate this unfathomableness and incomprehensibleness of the divine judgments (Rom. xi. 33) by two examples, which are contrasted each with the other (ver. 23, ver. 25: "the one-the other"), of one man dying in the fulness of his prosperity, of another who is continually unfortunate, but whom the like death unites with the former, notwithstanding that their moral desert during their life was altogether different, or directly opposite in character. The assumption of many ancient and some modern commentators, as e. g. Hahn, that by the prosperous man described in ver. 23 seq. a wicked man, and by the unfortunate man described in ver. 25 a pious man is intended, without qualification, is arbitrary, and hardly corresponds with exactness to the poet's idea. The tendency of the parallel presented is rather in accordance with ver. 22, to show, in proof of the mysteriousness of the divine dealings and judgment, that what happens outwardly to men in this life is not necessarily determined by their moral conduct, but that this latter might be, and often enough is directly at variance with the external prosperity. (ch. xl. 30 [xli. 6]; so Targ., Gesen., Ewald, Dillm.); or, which is less probable, we take it as a denominative from P, "arrow," in the sense of "casting lots, disposing of by lot" [from the custom of shaking up arrows for lots-a doubtful sense for the Hebrew] (so Cocceius, Rosenm., Umb eit, Hirzel, etc.); or whether, finally, we assign to the word the meaning of cutting off, completing" (Gesenius in Thes., Stickel, Delitzsch [E. V. Good, Ber., Noy., Schlott., Con., Rod., Ren., Fürst] etc.)-to which latter interpretation, however, the expression"the number of his months"-is not so well suited, for a number is not properly cut off. [In any case the addition of E. V., when the number of his months is cut off in the midst," is erroneous; for even if we assign to the verb the signification-cut off"-the meaning of the clause is cutting off at the end, not in the midst. What is the evil-doer's concern in his house, when he himself is no more? The other meaning given above however-"to apportion gives a more vivid representation of his brutal selfishness, his unconcern even for his own flesh and blood, provided he himself have his full share of life and its enjoyments. What careth he for his house after him, if the full number of Ver. 23. The one dies in the fulness of his his own months be meted out to him? E.] The prosperity; lit. "in bodily prosperity, in ipsa number of is determined by the subordi- sua integritate. In respect to Dy "self" [esnate [but nearest] term of the subject, by vir-sence, the very thing] comp. Gesen. & 124 T A "un [? 122], 2, Rem. 3; and in respect to D, "integrity in the physical sense, bodily, in general external well being," comp. the word D generally used elsewhere in this sense, Ps. xxxviii. 4 [8], 8 [7], and also D'' Prov. i. 12.in the second member, which is not found elsewhere is an alternate form of N concerned," enlarged by the introduction of a liquid [comp. from, æstuare, and Doha, Báλoaμov, from D; Del.]. According to Rödiger, Olsh., it is possibly just an error in writing for, the form given above in ch. xii. 5. 1 stands here for the more frequent defective form 1, ch. xx. 20; comp. Jer. xlix. 31. Ver. 24. His troughs are full of milk. Most moderns, following the lead of the Talmudic "olive-trough," as well as the author ity of the Targ. and many Rabbis, take D'by correctly in the sense of "vessels, troughs' ["milk-pails," Luther, Wolfsohn, Elzas; "bottles," Lee; "skins," Carey (i. e. undressed skins, the abundance of milk making it necessary to use these) ], to the rejection of interpretations which are in part singularly at variance, such as "cattle-pastures" (Aben-Ezra, Schult. [Renan, Weymss] etc., "veins" (Fürst), jugular veins" (Saad.), "sides" (Pesh.) [Noyes, Con.],"bowels" (LXX., Vulg. ["breasts," Targ., E. V.; "loins," Rodwell; "sleek skin," Good. "The assumption that by must be a part of the body is without satisfactory ground (comp. against it e. g. ch. xx. 17, and for it xx. 11); and Schlottm. very correctly observes that in the contrast in connection with the represen tation of the well-watered marrow one expects a reference to a rich, nutritious drink." Delitzsch]. The meaning of this member of the verse accordingly reminds us in general of ch. xx. 17, which description of Zophar's Job here purposely recalls, in like manner as in "the marrow of the bones," in b he recalls ver. 11 of the same discourse. [And the marrow of his bones is well-watered]. In respect to "well-watered," an agricultural or horticultural metaphor, comp. Is. lviii. 11. Ver. 25. The other dies with a bitter soul (comp. ch. iii. 20; vii. 11; x. 1), and has not enjoyed good; lit. "and has not eaten of the good" (or "prosperity," nas in ch. ix. 25) with partitive, as in Ps. cxli. 4; comp. above ch. vii. 13 [ perhaps like conveying the idea of enjoyment, as Schlottmann suggests. Not, however, of full enjoyment, but rather tasting of it.-Not as in E. V. and never eateth with pleasure;" against which lies (1) The customary usage of partitive after verbs of eating and drinking; (2) The objective meaning of 20, which cannot be taken of subjective pleasure.-E.]. TT 481 decay, worms, as above in ch. xvii. 14. Comp. our proverbial expressions in regard to the equality of the grave, the impartiality of death, 5. Third Division: A rebuke of the friends on account of their one-sided judgment touching a judgment the external prosperity of men, which was only unfavorable as regards Job: vers. 27-34. Sixth Strophe: vers. 27-30.-Behold I know your thoughts [, counsels, plans], and the plots (♫ĺžiņ, sensu malo, as in Prov. xii. 2; xiv. 17; xxiv. 8) ["is the name he gives to the delicately developed reasoning with which they attack him": Delitzsch; the schemes which they invent to wound him, the painful dilemmas into which they would entrap him: E.] with which ye do violence to me: with the intent namely of presenting me at any cost as a sinner. ["By the construction of Don with the notion of falling upon and overpowering is indicated." Schlottm.]. Ver. 28, hypothetical antecedent with ?, is related to ver. 29 as its consequent, precisely like ch. xix. 28 to ver. 29. [So Ewald. Del., Dillm. But such a construction seems neither natural nor forcible. The causal rendering: "For ye say, etc.," is simpler and stronger. It was from just such taunts as the following that Job knew their spirit, and detected their insidious plots against his reputation and his peace. The causal rendering is adopted by E. V. Good, Wem., Noy., Words., Schlott., Con., Rod., Carey, Elzas, etc. E.]. If, [or, when] ye say: "Where is the house of the tyrant? (T), sensu malo, as in Is. xiii. 2, not in the neutral sense, as above in ch. xii. 21) [a title of honor, similar in use to our nobleman, generosus, for which, in its personal application to Job here, "tyrant" seems too strong a rendering. nor in Is. 1. c., is such a rendering called for. In this member the prominent idea is station, Neither here, rank: the moral character of the '7 is indi cated in the following member. E.], and where the tent inhabited by the wicked? lit., "the tent of the habitations of the wicked," by which possibly a spacious palatial tent is intended, with several large compartments within it (such as the tents of the Bedouin sheikhs are to this day), which can be recognized from afar by their size. [ "is not an externally, but internally multiplying plur.; perhaps the poet by intends a palace in the city, and by a tent among the wandering tribes, rendered prominent by its spaciousness, and the splendor of the establishment" Del.]. It is to be noted moreover how distinct an allusion there is in the question to the repeated descriptions of the destruction of the tent of the wicked by Eliphaz and Bildad (ch. xv. 34; xviii. 15, 21). Ver. 29. Have ye not inquired then D for DA; see Green, 119, 2] of those who travel: lit. "the wanderers, passers-by, of the way;" comp. Lam. i. 12; Ps. Ver. 26. Together [or: beside one ano- lxxx. 13, etc. ["People who have travelled ther] they lie down in the dust (of the much, and therefore are well acquainted with And grave), and worms cover them. the stories of human destinies." Del.]. their tokens ye will at least not fail to know; i. e. that which they have to te 1 of examples of prosperous evil-doers and righteous ones in adversity (they, who have travelled much, who know about other lands and nations!) that you surely will not disregard, controvert, or reject, Piel of, expresses here, as in Deut. xxxii. 27: 1 Sam. xxiii. 7; Jer. xix 4, the negative sense of ignoring, denying," while occasionally, e. g. in Elibu's use of it, ch xxxiv. 19, it signifies also to acknowledge" (a meaning elsewhere found in the Hiphil). [So here E. V. Lee, Conant, Ewald, Schlott.-according to which rendering the second member is a continuation of the question begun in the first ]. Л, "tokens," means here "things worthy of note, remarkable incidents, memorabilia, anecdotes of travel. ' עֲבָרוֹת) 46 it in his discussions. (3) It is inconsistent with the connection. (a) Why should he produce this view here as a foreign importation? Why should he rest it on experience? Observe that the proposition-the wicked are spared in times of calamity is a deduction from experience, for the truth of which Job might well appeal to the testimony of those who by much observation and experience could testify to the fact. But surely the doctrine of a future retribution must rest on other authority-the witness of conscience, the testimony of a divine revelation, the consensus of the wise and holy (not merely of the 7) in all ages and lands. (b) It is inconceivable that Job having carried his hearers forward to the retribution of the Hereafter as the solution of the mystery of the present should proceed to speak (as he does in the verses immediately following) of the present prosperity and pomp of the wicked, and of the continuance of the same to and upon the grave, in the same sion reached in ver. 33 seem strange and unsuitstrain as b fore. Especially does the conclu retribution to be declared in ver. 30.-E.] Ver. 30 gives in brief compass the substance and contents of these lessons of travel: That in the day of destruction (TN, as in ver. 17) the wicked is spared (i. e. is held back from ruin; as in ch. xvi. 6; xxxiii. 18), inable, if we suppose the sublime truth of a full the day of overflowing wrath they are led away: i. e. beyond the reach of the devasSeventh Strophe: vers. 31 34. Who to His tating effect of these outbursts of divine wrath face will declare His way? and hath He as in chap. xl. 11), so that these can do done aught-who will requite it to Him? them no harm. The Hoph. 2, which is used This inquiry evidently proceeds not from the travellers, whose utterance has already come to below in ver. 32 of being escorted in honor to an end in ver. 30, but from Job himself. Morethe grave, expresses here accordingly, in like over it concerns not the sinner, but GOD, the unmanner as in Is. lv. 12, being led away with a searchably wise and mighty disposer of men's protecting escort (as, for example, Lot was con- destinies, whose name is not mentioned from reducted out of Sodom). [Noyes gives to the verb verential awe. So correctly Aben-Ezra, Ewald, here the same application as in ver. 32, and ex- Hirzel, Heiligst., Dillm. Regarded as the conplains: He is borne to his grave in the day of tinuation of the discourse of the travellers (as wrath; i. e. he dies a natural, peaceful death]. it is taken by the majority of commentators) [so The only unusual feature of this construction, Del., Schlott., Renan, Scott, Good, Lee, Bernard, which in any case is much to be preferred as a Rod., Words., Elzas, Merx], the verse must natuwhole to that of Ewald [Rodwell] "on the day ra ly be referred to the wicked man, characteriwhen the overflowings of wrath come on is the zing his unscrupulous arbitrary conduct, which D, instead of which we might rather look for no one ventures to hinder or punish. But for this D, “in the day." It is nevertheless unadvi- view the expression -,"who will requite sable, in view of the context, to translate the it to him?" would be much too strong. Moresecond member-as e. g. with Dillman [E. V., over a sentiment of such a reflective cast would Con., Carey]"they are brought on to the day be strange in the mouth of the travellers from of wrath;" for such a proposition could not pos- whom we should expect directly only a statesibly be attributed to the travellers, but at most ment of fact (inis ver. 29). [Referred to God to the friends; it would thus of necessity follow the meaning would be: Who will challenge the He renders no account of His a very abruptly [and unnaturally]; neither divine conduct? would any essential relief be obtained from a actions. His reasons are inscrutable; and howtransposition of ver. 30 and ver. 29 as suggested ever much His dealings with men seem to conby Delitzsch. [Zöckler overlooks, however, the tradict our notions of justice, our only recourse explanation of those (such as Scott, Carey, Co- is silence and submission. But against this innant, Wordsworth, Barnes, etc.) who regard the terpretation it may be urged: (1) It requires whole of this verse as expressing, through the too many abrupt changes of subject. Thus we travellers of ver. 29, Job's own conviction that should have for subject in ver. 30 the wicked the wicked are reserved for future retribution, man, in ver. 31 God, in ver. 32 the wicked again, that they are led forth to a day of wrath here- and this while in ver. 31 and ver. 32 the subject after; that accordingly present exemption from is indicated only by personal pronouns. It is the penalty of sin proves nothing as to a man's highly improbable that in ver. 31 b, and real character. Such an explanation, however, in ver. 32 a are used of different subjects. is to be rejected for the following reasons: (1) (2) The expressions are unsuitable to the It is at variance with the drift of the book's ar- thought attributed to them, especially the clause gument. (2) It is inconceivable, if Job held so clearly and firmly to the doctrine of future retri--D, which, as Delitzsch argues, used of bution, as this view of the passage before us man in relation to God, has no suitable meanwould imply, that he did not make more use of ing. On the other hand the application to the of Sidon." Renan]. This explanation is in striking harmony not only with well-known customs of the east, but also with the etymologically established signification of '=heap, tumulus, monumentum (comp., 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 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 p impersonally; "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 incorrect.]. wicked gives a smooth connection, at the same time that the expressions are entirely appropriate to describe his career of lawless impunity. The N 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 pun-of the name of the ungodly, whereas Job on the ishment. 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.] Vers. 32 seq. continue the report of those who had travelled much, not however (auy 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 interruption of that report. And he ( pointing back to the y ver. 30 [emphatic, according to the view which regards they as 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 EJ is borne away to burial, in full honor, aud with a great procession; comp. on ver. 30; also ch. x. 19; xvii. 1. "Like above, 1 is also an amplificative plural." Del. would thus mean "a splendid tomb "]. And on a monument he (still) keeps watch: as one immortalized by a statue, or a stone monu ment. It 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, Valleys are namely, beneath which he rests. 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 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 (P) in memory of the honored dead. In such a lofty monument the dead man keeps watch, as it were, over his own resting place, without its being necessary to suppose that he was particularly represented by a statue, or a picture on the wall (like those in Egyptian *Witness the following curious effort of Bernard: "[Hovaults, to which Schlottm. refers here by waynored] as when he watched over his corn-shocks. Just as in his of comparison). ["Possibly there is also here life-time people were obliged (through their fear of him) to some allusion to inscriptions warning off those salute him humbly, when they passed before him as he sto d watching over his shocks of corn, that no poor man who would desecrate the tomb, similar to those might gl an an ear, so must they testify their respect to his found on the sarcophagus of Eschmunazar, king body when carried to the rave." TT ample, by entering on the same path of a life spent in earthly enjoyment and luxury, which he, and an unnumbered multitude of others before him (as the third member says) had already trod. Thus rendered the sentence undoubtedly expresses an exaggeration; in the DT- there lies an unjust accusation of misanthropic bitterness against the great mass of men. [For a somewhat similar misanthropic, or at least cynical bitterness, comp. what Bildad says in ch. viii. 19.] This same characteristic however corresponds perfectly to the exasperated and embittered temper of Job; whereas on the contrary to interpret "all the world draws after him of a large funeral procession (Vaih., | [Wemyss, Carey] etc.), yields when compared with 32 a an inappropriate tautology, and to refer it to those who follow after him through sharing the same fate of death and burial (De litzsch [Noyes]) seems altogether too vapid in the present connection. trine concerning the horrible end of the wicked; and in what he had said he had exhibited so little prudence that he had appeared as one who presumptuously challenged the divine righteousness, and had thus only confirmed the friends' 22-24; x. 3; xii. 6). Now, however, he proevil opinion of his moral character (see ch. ix. ceeds to discuss the question in controversy calmly and thoroughly, opposing to their proposition, that the life of the ungodly must infallibly end in misery, the fact, which experience establishes that it is quite commonly the case that the prosperity of the wicked las's until their death, while on the contrary the pious are pursued with all sorts of calamities to the grave. In respect to the reflection of an apparent injustice which this experience seems to cast on God, the author of so unequal a distribution of human destinies, Job this time expresses himself with discreet awe and reserve. Instead of assuming the tone of a presumptuous blasphemer, and accusing God of injustice, or tyrannical seVer. 34. Conclusion: with a reference to ver. verity, he treats the contradiction between pros27. How then (!, quomodo ergo, stronger perity and virtue, as it so often exhibits itself than the simple ) can you comfort me so in this earthly life, as a dark enigma, not to be vainly (comp ch. ix. 29)? Of your replies ing up this antagonism before his opponents solved by human wisdom. And instead of holdthere remains (over nothing but) falsehood! with frivolous satisfaction or exulting arrogance, Lit. "and as for your replies (absolute case, Ewald, 309, b)-there remaineth over false- deep perplexity and painful agitation (vers. 5, he exhibits whenever he approaches the subject hood."y, scil. D', “a perfidious dispo- 6), and in the latter part of the description he sition towards God" (comp. Josh. xxii. 22), and even points out the mystery which surrounds the for that same reason also towards one's neighbor. phenomenon under consideration as a discipliBy this is intended the same intriguing, mali-nary trial for human knowledge, constraining cious, deceitful eagerness to suspect and to slan- to reverential submission beneath the inscruta der, with which in ver. 27 he had reproached ble ways of God (vers. 22 and 31, according to his opponents. 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. 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 aliu-ions 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 oc casionally and incidentally their favorite doc 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 |