the idea of dissimulation not belonging to the word at all. This rendering is the more strange, seeing that the cognate verb is always correctly rendered to be polluted, profane, corrupt, etc. -E.] Dillmann correctly calls attention to the fact that the figure of the reeds and grass of the marshes perishing by the sudden drying up of the water is intended to illustrate, not the judgment which will visit those who have always been ungodly, but only those who were at one time righteous, and therefore prosperous, but who afterwards fall away from God. In so far the description conveys a somewhat different thought from that in ch. v. 3.

A

Ver. 11. Does the rush grow up without the hope of the ungodly perisheth: comp. mire [or, except in the marsh] ?-Ni, ac- Prov. x. 28. as in ch. xiii. 16; xv. 34; xx. cording to the Hebr. etymology from 1, to 5, and often. [In all these passages, and whereswallow, absorb, fistula bibere (comp. ch. xxxix. ever the word occurs, the Eng. Ver. renders 24; Gen. xxiv. 17), but also at the same time "hypocrite," which is altogether incorrect, an Egyptian word (Copt. kam, cham, reed), denotes here, as in Ex. ii. 3; Is. xviii. 2; XXXV. 7, the Egyptian papyrus reed, which grows in the marshes of the Nile, but which, according to Theophrast, grows also in Palestine, the papyrus-shrub (Cyperus papyrus L.). The mention of this Egyptian product does not constitute a conclusive argument for the composition of the poem in Egypt, or by a poet of Egyptian origin, and all the less that Bildad is here only quoting the words of another and an older sage. Comp. Introd. 8 7, c. ["Bildad likens the deceitful ground on which the prosperity of the godless stands to the dry ground on which, only for a time, the papyrus or reed finds water, and grows up rapidly; shooting up quickly, it withers as quickly; as the papyrus plant, if it has no perpetual water, though the finest of grasses, withers off when most luxuriantly green, before it attains maturity." DELITZSCH; see also Smith's Bib. Dic., Art. Reed"]. Does the reedgrass thrive without water? reads in the Egyptian Greek of the LXX. (Is. xix. 7), and of the Book of Sirach (ch. xl. 16) axt, and, as Jerome learned from the Egyptians, signifies in their language omne quod in palude virens nascitur, hence the grass of the Nile-marshes, seedgrass, Nile-grass (Copt. ake, oke=calamus, juncus). Instead of of the first member, we have here, in the sense of "without;" for the former comp. ch. xxx. 28; for the latter ch. xxiv. 10; xxxi. 39; xxxiii. 9, etc. [ is properly constr. st. of noun, failure, lack.] Of the

T

Third and Fourth Strophes: vers. 14-19. further description of the judgment of God upon the wicked, founded on the proverbial wisdom of the ancients.

Ver. 14. He whose confidence is cut

asunder.- as in ch. v. 5, an independent rel. pron., connecting the verse with what goes before; not a causal particle: quippe, quoniam (Del.). Dip is hardly a substantive, either of the signification "gourd" (Reiske, Hahn) or "gossamer (Sandia, in Ewald-Dukes, Beiträge zur Gesch. der dit. Auslegung, I., 89). [Fürst and Hengstenberg prefer regarding it as a noun, meaning "that which is to be rejected."] Both as to the form and substance of the word, the only justifiable construction of it is as a Kal Imperf., deriving it either from opp, fastidire or with the Pesh., Chald., Kimchi, Rosenm., (Vulg. and many of the ancients, also Schultens), Gesen., and most of the moderns, from a verb "to cut off" (he, whose hope is

,(קצץ) קטט | in the first member יִנְאֶה,two synonymous verbs

signifies a shooting up on high," an expression cut off, cujus spes succiditur); or, which may be suitable to the size of the papyrus, which grows still more correct, from P, not elsewhere to be to the height of ten feet; ! (another form met with, and meaning "to cut, to be brittle, to of , ver. 7; comp. Gesen. 75, Rem. 21 break asunder," and so treating it as an intran[? 74, Rem. 22]), in the second member, a luxu-sitive verb, rather than as Kal Imperf. with a riant out-spreading growth, an expression suita- passive signification [comp. Ewald, 138, b].— ble to the nature of the marsh-grass. And his trust is a spider's house: i. e. that Ver. 12. While yet (it is) in its greenness in which he trusts (p, sensu obj., of the (Cant. vi. 11) is not cut down: lit. "is not object of the trust), proves itself to be as perishto be mowed down, not to be cut down," a cir-able as a spider's web, which the slightest touch, cumstantial clause ["a proper Imperf., in a or a mere puff of wind can destroy. For this state of not cut, un-cut." DAV.] comp. Ewald, 341, b.-Then, sooner than all grass must it dry up: because, namely, the condition of its existence, water, is all at once withdrawn, so that now it decays and withers sooner than common grass. As parallels in thought, comp.

ch. v. 3; Matth. vi. 30.

Ver. 13. So are the ways of all who forget God.-A closing application of the comparison precisely similar to that in Prov. i. 19, where also the expression "ways" is used of what happens to men, their fate (comp. also Ps. i. 6; Job xxiii. 10; Wisd. v. 7, and often). as a synonym of D'y, the ungodly, comp. e. g. Ps. ix. 18 (17); 1. 22. And

figure comp. Is. lix. 5, also the Koran, Sur. xxix. 40, and the Arabic proverb quoted by Schultens, Umbreit, etc.: Time destroys the wall of the skillfully built castle, even as the house of the spider is destroyed."

ler's Bell: 46

Ver. 15. More specific expansion of ver. 14 b. He leaneth on his house-as the object of his confidence, like the man spoken of in SchilFest wie der Erde Grund," etc. Comp. on Dan. iv. 26. [But it stands not; he holds fast to it, but it endures not. There is a certain gradation of thought in the verse. The ungodly first leans, stays himself on his house, but it gives way beneath him; finding this to be the case, feeling his trust giving way beneath him, he strengthens his

hold on it (pin), grasps it with all his might, as a sinking man seizes violently on anything within his reach; but in vain! He and his hope all tumble to ruin together.-E.]

is next compared to a shrub sprouting with fresh leaves, and shooting forth its luxuriant branches, mantling over the wall of the garden; and lastly he is likened to something still more Ver. 16 sq. After thus dwelling briefly (vers. robust, to a tree striking its roots downwards 14, 15) on the comparison of a falling house, into a cairn of stones, and looking down with the description now returns to the previous proud confidence on its house of rock, and seemfigure derived from the vegetable kingdom. ing to defy the storm" We scarcely seem jusFor the marsh-reed, however, there is substi-tified, however, in assuming a different plant or tuted the climbing plant, with its high and luxu-tree to be intended in ver. 17 from that described riant growth; and the comparison is so pre- in ver. 16.-Conant thinks that "the explanasented that between the figure and the thing tion long ago given by Olympiodorus is the true figured there is no sharp line of distinction observed, but each blends with the other. Ver. 16. Green is he (the of ver. 13, who is here conceived of as a climbing plant) in the sunshine: in the same heat which causes other plants to wither. And his sprouts run over his garden (["his suckers"] as in ch. xiv. 7; xv. 30): i. e. the whole garden in which he, this luxuriantly growing, creeping plant, is placed, is filled and over-run with his root-sprouts which cling to

all about them.

Ver. 17. His roots entwine themselves

(t. are entwined) over heaps of stone; he looks upon a house of stone: in the sense, that is, that having grown up on it, he eagerly clings to it, as to a firm support. ["On in Cocceius remarks: non timet locum lapidosum, sed imperterritus videt. He gazes on it boldly and confidently, with the purpose of making his home in it." HENGST.] By this is naturally to be understood a real stone house, its walls being of this material (comp. Gen. xlix. 22, according to the correct explanation of modern commentators), not anything figurative: e. g. the solid structure of his fortune, as Delitzsch explains it. Several modern commentators (Böttcher, Ewald, Stickel, Fürst, Dillmann) take 2-12 (as in Prov. viii. 2), hence in the sense of "between, in the midst of," and , according to its primary signification, in the sense of: "to pierce through, to split between;" hence: "to pierce through between the stones," viz. with its roots. Possible, but perhaps too artificial. [The LXX. translate: év éow xakikwv Choɛraι, taking n' in the sense of, and evidently reading or substituting for in. Gesenius regards in here as a bold metaphor, seeing the stones, for feeling them with the roots. Noyes and Renan regard the expression as describing the depth at which the plant takes root. The latter's rendering is: His roots are intertwined at the rock; he touches the region of the granite." Wordsworth's comment is interesting: "He surveyeth a house of stones; he is like a tree which seems firmly rooted in a heap of stones, and looks down, as it were, with a domineering aspect, and a proud consciousness of strength on a house of stone, in which he appears to be firmly built, as in a marble palace; and yet he will soon be withered and rooted up, and vanish from the face of the earth.-Observe the order of the comparison. The sinner had been first likened to a plant of papyrus or reed-grass, with its tall green stem and flowery tuft flourishing in the watery slime, but suddenly withered, when the soil in which it is set is dried up: he

one; viz. that the wicked is here likened to a plant springing up in a stony soil, and perishing for lack of depth of earth:" to which Davidson the growth of this kind of plants, and ver. 17 is justly replies that "the stones assist, not impede still occupied with the detail of the luxuriance of the plant."-We are thus led back to the view of Zöckler, Schlottm., Hengst., etc., as on the whole the simplest and best; that both verses describe the same plant, ver. 16 as overrunning the garden with its creepers, ver. 17 as clinging stoutly to its house of stone.-E.]

Ver. 18. If He destroys it from its place. -The subj. in (comp. the same verb in ch. ii. 3) is either to be left indefinite: "if one destroys him from his place [as if he is destroyed]," Umbreit, etc.; or, which is better suited to the poet's whole style and mode of thought, God is to be understood as the subject. On the contrary, in the second member: It shall deny him: I have never seen thee], the subject to be supplied with the verb is un. questionably: "his place" (Dipp). It is a highly poetical conception which is here presented: the native ground, or the place of growth of an uprooted tree, i. e. of a transgressor cast down from the height of his prosperity, and refusing to know anything more of him. being, as it were, ashamed of him, denying him

Ver. 19. Behold this is the joy [ironically said] of his way: i. e. so does it end, his pretended joyful way of living (comp. on ver. 13); so sudden, calamitous is the end of his course. And out of the dust shall others sprout up."Others" (collect., comp. Ewald,

319, a), i. e. other men blessed with external prosperity, whose happiness will either prove more enduring, or, in case they too fall away from God, will as surely crumble away as his.

Third Division and Fifth Strophe: Application of the wisdom of the ancients, as just cited, to the case of Job: vers. 20-22. [The picture just given suggested a solemn warning to Job to beware of incurring such a fate. Bildad, however, instead of giving to the application this minatory turn, uses a milder and more conciliatory tone, encouraging Job to repentance, by promises of the divine favor.-E.]

Ver. 20. Behold, God despiseth nct the pious man, and grasps not the hand of evil-doers: i. e. in order to help and support them: comp Is. xli. 13; xlii. 6; Ps. lxxiii. 23; as also the figurative expansion of this truth just given ver. 12 sq.

Ver. 21. [Expanding, with personal application, the thought of ver. 20 a].-While He

will fill thy mouth with laughter, and | revelation brought to him mysteriously by night, thy lips with rejoicing.—Delitzsch (referring to ch. i. 18; Ps. cxli. 10) rightly interprets Tat the beginning of this verse in the sense of "while," and takes the whole verse as the protasis of which ver. 22 is the apodosis. Others take in the less suitable sense of

"yea even" (Umbreit), or amend to y, "yet," comparing the passage with Ps. xlii. 6 (Cocceius, Houbigant, Böttcher, Ewald, Stickel, Dillmann). For the expression: "to fill any one's mouth with laughter," comp. Ps. cxxvi. 2; for the text

, instead of (the case being accordingly the reverse of that in ver. 11, b), comp. Gesenius, 75 [3 74], 21, b.

cxxxii. 18.

while Bildad seeks to accomplish the same result by introducing the ancient teachers of wisdom as speaking, in place of himself (comp. ver. 8 seq. with chap. iv. 12 seq.). In this citation from the traditional Chokmah he gives a free reproduction of the same, in like manner as Eliphaz in his account of the vision had furnished an ideal, poetic picture. ["It was a hard stroke on Job to see not only his friends of the present, but all good and wise men of the past, marshalled against him; and tremendous must have been his force of conscience to resist and drive from the field such outnumbering odds." DAVIDSON. "It is a very important point which Bildad here makes. There is no surer way of falling into Ver. 22. [Expansion of 20 b, with personal error than for one individual or one age wilfully application to Job's enemies.]-They that and proudly to cut loose from its connection with hate thee shall be clothed in shame: the the whole, and to resolve to be wise indepenThat is historical rationalsame comparison in Ps. xxxv. 26; cix. 29; dently and alone. ism, of which that which is commonly called raObserve how persuasive and conciliatory is this conclusion of Bildad's discourse, tionalism is but one species. The witness of in that he wishes for the "haters" of Job tradition indeed is to be received cum grano sathe worst fate, the portion of the ungodly; thus lis-and at this point the friends are at fault. unmistakably separating himself and his friends Something more is required than a correct unfron that class, and placing himself decidedly derstanding; the truth transmitted by historic on the side of Job. And the tent of the tradition always has aspects which have not yet wicked-it is no more. For the use of the been completely developed; it is not enough to term "tent" as a concrete expression for the bring forward the whole-we must also, when totality of well-being, comp. v. 24. Altogether new problems present themselves, be prepared too artificial is the explanation of Dillmann and to build up the New on the basis of the Old. others, denying the identity of the "wicked" That was the point where Elihu had the advanG.] with the "haters" in the first member, thus tage over the friends." HENGSTENBERG. It rendering the 1 at the beginning of this member seems accordingly as though the poet had puradversatively: "but the tent of the wicked is no posed to put Bildad forward as simply an imitamore," as though Ps. i. 6 were a parallel pastor of Eliphaz, destitute of independence, and to sage, and the whole discourse of Bildad, not-present his continuation of the discussion of the withstanding the milder tone assumed in the last strophe, should still close with a warning or a threat. That this is in truth the case, only indirectly (i. e. in so far as the whole of ver. 22 dwells on the miserable lot of the wicked, without recurring to the description of Job's prosperity, and closing with that), see in the Doc

trinal and Ethical Remarks, No. 3.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL.

latter as a weaker reproduction of the same, his object being thus to cast into the shade and to subordinate the spiritual significance of the friends and their position as compared with that of Job.

2. At the same time, however, this discourse

is not wanting in new thoughts, which show

that it aims to attack Job from another side than that chosen by his former critic. Eliphaz had argued against Job from the doctrine, derived from experience, of the absolute universality of The similarity of this first discourse of Bildad to human sinfulness. Bildad strenuously maintains that of Eliphaz is so marked that it can almost against him the inexorable justice of God, who does be termed an abbreviated repetition, differing not let the sinner go unpunished, nor the rightconsiderably in the application of several parti-eous unrewarded. His fundamental thought is culars, of that with which Eliphaz had already presented in ver. 3: "Will God pervert the charged Job. The same censorious introduction right, or the Almighty pervert justice?" or, as and the same mitigating and conciliatory close! it is somewhat differently conceived, and with a And in the body of the discourse the same ex-particular application to Job's case in ver. 20: hortation to betake himself to God in penitence and in prayer for help, with the accompanying promise of salvation (comp. ver. 5 seq. with chap v. 8 seq.); the same figurative vesture frequently for one and the same truth, as, in particular, the description, twice occurring (ver. 12 and ver. 18), of the sudden withering and perishing of a plant of luxuriant growth, an unmistakable copy of the description first given by Eliphaz in chap. v. 3 seq. Another noteworthy point of similarity between the two discourses is that Eliphaz, in order more vividly to set forth and more forcibly to emphasize the central thought which he inculcates, presents the same in the form of a divine

Behold, God does not spurn the godly, nor take fast hold of (lend support to) the hand of evil-doers." The entire discourse is devoted to the discussion of this proposition, that the immutability of God's justice (His justitia judicialis, tam remuneratoria quam punitiva) is demonstrated alike in its treatment of the evil and of the godly. Every part of the discourse aims to establish this-the admonitory reference to the punishment inflicted on Job's children (ver. 4), the exhortation to him to beseech God for help and reconciliation (ver. 5 seq.), the striking illustrations given of the perishableness of the prosperity of him who forgets God (ver. 11 seq.), and the con

cluding promise of happiness to him, if (as Bil- | conditioned and ruled by God's holiness, or holy dad hopefully assumes he will do) he will repent and return to God (ver. 21 seq.). Like Eliphaz, or indeed in still higher measure than he, Bildad seems, in all that he says on these points, to establish himself entirely on the truth. There seems to be scarcely any thing in his words unscriptural, partial, or at all censurable. On the objective side, that which relates to the righteousness of God's treatment, his words seem as little liable to the charge of a one-sided narrowness, as on the subjective side, or that which sums up the case for Job, they are liable to that of inconsiderateness or unloving harsh

|

sages.

is founded not on God, but only on that which is tempóral and perishable (Ps. xxxvii. 35 seq.; xlix. 12; 1 Cor. vii. 31; 1 John ii. 17).-WOHLFARTH: The prosperity of the ungodly is only apparent: so teaches the wisdom of the ancients, so preaches the Holy Scripture, so testifies experience, so proves the nature of things. For the happiness of sin is neither real, nor satisfactory, nor enduring. The peace which makes us truly happy is not dependent on external possessions.-VICT. ANDREAE: The wise proverbs of antiquity, to which Bildad (with affected humility) refers there are no reeds without a marsh, so also Job`s Job, are intended to teach the latter that as calamity in strict propriety could proceed only

Vers. 3, 4. BRENTIUS: Such as do not understand the glory of God's Gospel, but are unwisely carried away by zeal for the Law, say: the way out of his great wickedness; wherefore Job of the Lord is not just, because He forgets the wickedness of him who repents, and the good-his good conscience would be a treacherous must not wonder at it; nay, his confidence in ness of him who relapses into sin-whereas, according to what is decreed in the Law, evil is to be punished and good rewarded. But they hear it said again: I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, saith the Lord God; return ye, and live, and all your sins shall be forgotten. -ZELTNER: Nothing is easier or more common with the world than by a precipitate judgment to sin against one's neighbor in respect to his misfortunes, especially when believers are concerned. of fathers on their children, the calamities which Although God visits the iniquity befall pious children are nevertheless no proof that they or their parents have sinned (John

ix. 3).

Ver. 8 seq. CoCCEIUS: There is no doubt but that fathers ought to transmit the revelations which they have received from God to their children and to other men; and that, moreover, through God's blessing, the truth has been preserved for a time among some through such tradition; although the conjecture is not improbable that our fathers (from the time of Moses on) delivered much to writing.-BRENTIUS: Our life, as its origin was most recent, so is its end most swift; so that some one has well said: Man is a bubble, which having suddenly arisen on the face of the water, soon perishes. Seeing then that our life is most short, prudence in the management of affairs should be learned from those who are older, and from our ancestors; for the authority of the aged is sacred and vene

rable.

support, as he will soon enough find to his cost. Ver. 20 seq. BRENTIUS: Although the ungodly may seem to flourish and to be blessed in this world, they are nevertheless exposed to the curse, which in its own time is revealed. And as the ungodly now behold the afflictions of the godly in this world with the greatest rejoicing of soul, so again in God's judgment day they will be the laughing-stock of all creatures, and that it happens to the ungodly as to the papyrus will be confounded before them: Is. lxvi.—CocCEIUS (on ver. 20): From hence it is apparent and sedge; to the godly as to an herb that is transplanted. The justice of God cannot there

each one according to his way of living. For fore be accused, as though it would not reward although the papyrus and the grass are attached although a good herb may be dug out, it is to the water, they do nevertheless dry up. And nevertheless planted anew elsewhere with a great increase of fertility and utility. A measure of happiness for the ungodly does not dishonor God's justice; trusting in their happiness they are brought to shame and confusion; neither is it dishonored by the affliction of the righteous, which is for their good.-ZELTNER: Just as the suffering of the godly is no proof that they have been rejected by God, so also the brilliant prosperity of the ungodly is no proof that they are in God's favor. But God permits such things to happen in order to test His people's patience, faith and hope, and, at the right time, to save them and make them happy forever. Therefore, my Christian brother, conti'nue pious, and keep in the right (Ps. xxxvii. 37).