the "extremity" of the Almighty, the dimensions with which we seek to measure His infinitude. Hence the question, vividly annexed to this exclamation-what canst thou do?-emphasizing the helplessness and powerlessness of man over against that which is immeasurable. To this corresponds the second member:deeper than the underworld (are the hidden depths, the grounds of the Godhead, or of the Divine Wisdom)-what knowest thou? what can thy knowledge do in view of such depths? In so far as the phrase "heights of heaven" points back to the idea of the ', while the phrase "deeper than the underworld" points to that of the pn, the position of the two members of this verse seems to be inverted as regards those of the ver. preceding. It is to be observed that the ruling idea here, as well as in the following verse, is throughout that of the Divine wisdom (omniscience), or the Divine nature on the side of wisdom and intellectual perfection, as the connection of the passage with ver. 6 clearly shows. Ver. 9. Longer than the earth is its measure, and broader is it than the sea: viz. the Divine wisdom, the immeasurableness of which is here described according to all the four dimensions, according to the height and depth, and also according to the length and breadth, as in Eph. iii. 18 these same four dimensions are used in describing the absoluteness of the Our translation: "longer than the earth is its [lit. her] measure," rests on the reading with He mappiq, which is to be regarded as an abbreviated feminine form love of God in Christ. ז: Ver. 11. For He [emphatic, N; whether others know it, or not] knows evil men (p, lit. "men of vanity, of falsehood," people who hypocritically disguise their moral nothingness." DEL.], as in Ps. xxvi. 4; comp. also Job xxii. 15), and sees wickedness without considering it: i e. without watching it with strenuous and anxious strictness (comp. ch. xxxiv. 23), the moral qualities of His creatures being at every moment unveiled Divine Insight, which is omniscient, and is so to His omniscience. ["Finely magnifying the without effort." DAV.] This is the only rendering of which accords with the context (comp. already Aben Ezra; non opus habet, ut diu consideret; among moderns Hirzel, Dillm., Del., etc.). Far less natural are the explana"without his (the wicked) tions of Ewald: observing it;" of Umbreit, Stickel, Hahn: of Schlottman: "and (sees) him who observes "without his (the wicked) being observed;" not, who is without understanding." Ver. 12. So must (even) a witless man acquire wisdom, and a wild ass's foal be born over a man.—This interpretation, which is the one substantially adopted by Piscator, Dillmann [Renan, Hengst., Wordsworth], and Umbreit, Ewald, Schlottm., Vaih., Heiligst., generally by most moderns, is the most suitable among the numerous interpretations of this difficult verse. The connection by the with the verse preceding, shows that this verse should indicate what effect the judicial intervention of the Omniscient God ought to have on man, even though he be a stubborn sinner and devoid of | :עֶרְמָתָם for עֶרְמָם ,13 .comp. ch. v) מִדָּתָה for TTT also Zech. iv. 2, etc.). The Masorah, indeed, understanding.—, lit. a Second Strophe: vers. 10-12. [The judicial intervention of God supposed.] man bored : T through, i. e. a hollow man, hence one void of understanding, a man without intellectual and moral substance; comp. the phrase No nAgain, 7 (of which is in apposition, not in the genitive), signifies lit. "a foal, a wild ass, i. e., a wild-ass-foal (comp. the phrase be, used in almost the same sense of untamed wildness in Gen. xvi. 12).-Both these expressions, as well as those of the preceding verse, are chosen not without reference to the conduct of Job, who seems to Zophar to be an obstinate fool (comp. ch. ii. 10); although not pointed directly at him, they inflict on him a sensible cut [see ch. xii. 3, where with evident reference to the of this passage, Job with indignant scorn says--E.], and they at the same time facilitate the transition to the followObserve also the intentional ing admonitions. and witty paronomasia [both of sound and sense] between 1 and 2: the empty man is to be made a man of substance [der Hohlkopf soll beherzt gemacht], the void in his head is to be filled up as it were by a new heart. [Observe in addition the assonance of the closing words of each member, and T-Davidson adopts essentially the same construction of terms and clauses as that given here, but gives to the verse a different tone. Instead of regarding it as a Ver. 10. If He passes by [, as in ch. ix. 11; E. V. incorrectly "cut off"], and arrests, and calls to judgment (lit. summons an assembly, implying that the process of a trial was public, and the verdict rendered and executed by the assembled people: comp. Ezek. xvi. 40; xxiii. 46; 1 Kings xxi. 9). ["One might almost imagine that Zophar looks upon himself and the other two friends as forming such an 'assembly:' they cannot justify him in opposition to God, since He accounts him guilty." DEL.]-Who will oppose Him? present a protest in behalf of the accused as though he were not guilty. Comp. in general ch. ix. 11, 12, which description of Job's Zophar here reproduces in part word for word, but with quite another purpose, viz. to defend, not to condemn or assail God's justice [“ vav apod. with fine effect-who, as you say (ix. 12) would?" DAV.]. י man again a man, suggests that the verse is most grave declaration of what should be the result | of becoming a man, being born, here being born of the judicial intervention of God, he regards it as a sarcastic denial of wisdom to man:"But a witless man would be wise, and a wild ass colt be a born man! a man who is a fool would arrogate wisdom to himself, and though a wild ass colt, he would claim humanity." This, however, would be a tone of remark entirely out of harmony with what precedes, and with what follows. Dav dson characterizes the interpretation adopted above as "excessively artificial and unhebraistic in construction:" a strange charge surely to come from one who adopts the very same construct on, except that he gives it a different coloring. Equally wide of the mark is the objection that Job himself did not exhibit the result which Zophar here says ought or might be expected to follow.-Hengstenberg remarks on the contents of the verse according to our interpretation: "We have here the first passage of Scripture which speaks of a regeneration."E.] The following varying explanations are to be rejected as being in part against the connection, in part too harsh, or grammatically inadmissible. 1. "An empty man is without heart,” i. e. without understanding, etc. (Gesenius, Olshausen), [Conant, Noyes, Merx, Rodwell. – Against this it may be argued that such a privative use of Niphal is unexampled in Hebrew, and especially as Dillmann urges, that the sentiment thus expressed is self-evident and trite, and takes away the whole force of the paronomasia].-2. "But man, like a hollow pate, has he understanding," etc. (Hirzel). [ Violates the accentuation, and produces an affected witticism." DEL.]-3. "Man is-at his birth-as one empty furnished with a heart." i. e. he receives an empty undiscerning heart (Hupfeld). [Opposed to the future verbs, and to the correlation of 1 and 2.-4. "Ignorant man flares up, or becomes insolent, etc." (Vulgate, Stickel, Welte [Carey], etc. [Does not bring ילבן and בוב out the proper antithesis between Why should the man of whom it is affirmed that he has a bold defiant heart be described as ? This meaning is, moreover, less suitable to the connection. See remarks below at the end of the verse. The same objections apply to] 5. "An empty man becomes stubborn" (Böttcher).-6. "Before an empty head gains a heart (understanding), a wild ass's foal will be born again a man (Rosenm., Hahn, Del., Kamphausen, etc.) [In determining the meaning of this difficult expression the following considerations should have controlling weight. (1) The evident antithesis of 1 and 2. Now as 212 can be referred only to man in his sinful hollowness, emptiness, must describe the opposite, or as endowed with a heart to understand, appreciate, and profit by God's dealings. (2) The assonance of 1 and 74, as well as the striking homogeneousness of thought between the two terms, the one describing the process of endowing man with, the distinguishing characteristic of manhood, the other the process man 4. Third Division: An admonition to repentance and conversion as the only means by which Job can recover his former prosperity, and escape the terrible doom of the wicked: vers. 13-20. First Strophe: Vers. 13-15. A period, consisting of ver. 13 as hypothetical antecedent, constructed parenthesis. ver. 15 as consequent, and ver. 14 as a regularly Ver. 13. (But) if thou direct thy heart (prepare it, bring it into a proper condition, not: "give it the right direction towards God," Del. and others; nor again: establish it," Hirzel ["not pertinent, because Zophar has not in his mind so much perseverance in godliness as a return to it," Dav.]), and spread forth thy hands unto Him, viz., in prayer and penitent supplication for mercy; comp. ch. viii. 5, and for the same phrase ' . manus supinas (palmas) extendere, comp. Ex. ix. 29, 33; 1 Kings viii. 22; Isa. i. 15. Ver. 14. If iniquity is in thy hand, put it far away, and let not evil dwell in thy tents (comp. ch. v. 24); this being the antecedent condition of the success of Job's prayer according to Zophar's mode of thinking, which indeed is not in itself a theory of legality or work-righteousness (comp. Ps. xxxiv. 13 (12) seq.; 1 Pet. iii. 10; Isa. i. 15 seq.), but which in the present case does nevertheless proceed from a narrow judgment, and is excessively offensive to Job. Ver. 15. Surely, then thou shalt lift up thy face (comp. on ch. x. 15) without spot: i. e., "without consciousness of guilt, and without any outward sign of the same cleaving to tithesis between this verse and ch. x. 22.-E. V.: "thou shalt shine forth" seems to be a paraphrase of this last rendering, suggested perhaps by the frequent comparison of the beams of light to the wings of a bird.-E.] thee," (Dillm.) lit. "away from," here equi- | prosperity; a rendering which destroys the anvalent to "without," comp. ch. xix. 26; xxi. 9; 2 Sam. i. 22; Prov. xx. 3; and shalt be steadfast without fearing; shalt be firmly fixed in thy new prosperity, without having to fear any further judgments of God.-p, Part. Hoph. of py, lit. fused into solidity, quasi ex ære fusus (comp. 1 Kings vii. 16. ["We must not lose the fine idea of one state arising out of another, a state of fluidity D ch. vi. 14) passing over into solidity; playing on Job's past and future." Dav.]. Second Strophe: Vers. 16, 17. Continuation of the promise of well being to the penitent. Ver. 16. For thou shalt forget trouble, shalt remember it as waters that have passed away: as something therefore that is never to come back, that has disappeared forever. ["When we think of water that has flowed away, we think of it as something which does not return, or rather we think no more about it at all, for with its disappearance even the remembrance of it is gone." Dillmann]. The pronoun here is emphatic: for thou thyself wilt forget trouble, thou and none other, no stranger (comp. ch. xix. 27) [or, as Davidson: "thou, unlike others, who escape calamity, but are haunted by its memory;" or, as Hengst: "thou, who just now canst think no other thought than of thy suffering"]: giving "an emphasis to the personal application of this peroration," which would be lost if, with the Pesh. and Hirzel, Third Strophe: Vers. 18-20 Conclusion of the promise of prosperity, with an admonitory reference to the joyless end of the wicked. .." Ver. 18. And thou hast (thou shalt have, Perf. consec.) confidence, because there is [, with the force of a real and lasting existence," Del.] hope (for thee, comp. ch. xiv. 7, also the opposite of this hopeful condition. described above in ch. vii. 6); and thou shalt search about (to ascertain, viz., whether all that pertains to thy household is in a state of order and security; comp. ch. v. 24 b), shalt lie down securely, viz., for sleep; comp. Ps. iv. 9 (8) 2 here certainly "to spy out," as in ch. xxxix. 21, 29; not "to blush (57), to be ashamed," as though were a concessive antecedent clause: "and even shouldest thou be lie down in peace," Rosenm., Hirzel, [Carey], put to shame (in thy confidence), thou canst still an unsuitable weakening of the sense, which is at variance with the remainder of the bright promises contained in these verses. ["Against this conditional sense is the affirmative use of the corresponding form in the parallel member." Con. 66 It is inadmissible, since it introduces a sadness into the promise." Del.]. The rendering of Hengstenberg is altogether too artificial: "and thou hast dug." i. e., dug a trench for protection around thy house [and so E. V. thou shalt dig about thee"], a sense which the reference to ch. iii. 21; xxxix. 21 is scarcely sufficient to justify. Ver. 19. Thou liest down without any one making thee afraid; as peacefully and securely, that is, as the beast, or the cattle, which no foe terrifies; comp. Gen. xlix. 9; Isa. xvii. 2.—Yea, many shall seek thy favor, lit stroke, or caress thy face (Del. "thy cheeks") flatter thee; comp. Prov. xix. 6; Ps. xlv. 13 (12). Instead of being despised, and covered with ignominy, (ch. x. 15) thou shalt be highly , to glide) hence time in general, either in the sense of the world, that which is temporal, aióv (Ps. xvii. 14; comp. Hupfeld on the passage, Ps. xlix. 2; or in the sense of life, lifetime, future, as here and in Ps. xxxix. 6 (5); lxxxix. 48 (47), etc. [DP an exquisite image, lift itself up, disentangle itself from the accumulated, crushing darkness of the present, increasing in brilliancy ever as it disengages itself." Dav.]. For p in 3, (with "bright-honored, and greatly courted. er" to be supplied) comp. Mic. vii. 4 -Should Ver. 20. But the eyes of the wicked it be dark, it will be as the morning; i. e., waste away, in vainly looking for help, in if any darkness should come, if dark_adversity unsatisfied yearning for good (comp. ch. xvii. 5) should befall thee (9, 3d Pers. Fem., with and every refuge vanishes from them; lit. neut. signification: not. 2d Pers., shouldest away from them," D poet. for D; and thou become dark," as Schlottm. would explain) their hope is the breathing out of the soul; it will then ever be as bright as on a clear morning: evidently an intentional reversal of the i. e., all that they have still to hope for is the gloomy picture of his future in ch. x. 22, which breathing out of their soul (comp. ch. Job had himself drawn. ["His climax there xxxi. 39; Jer xv. 9), hence the giving up of the was that his daylight should be as darkness; ghost, death (not a state where their desires will Zophar's promise is that his darkness shall be remain eternally unfulfilled, as Delitzsch exdaylight." Dav.-Gesenius (in Thes) Ewald, plains.) ["Zophar here makes use of the choicest Conant, etc., prefer taking as a noun, expressions of the style of the prophetic Psalms," "darkness," written, or, as found Delitzsch. 46 If we compare with each other the in a few MSS., and as read by the Syr. and closing words of the three friends, ch. v. 26 sq.; Chald.-Bernard, Hengstenberg, and others ren- viii. 22 b; xi. 20, the advance, which each makes der the verb "thou shalt fly up," i. e., soar out beyond his predecessor, is unmistakable." Dillof the depths of thy misery to the heights of mann.] DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. This first discourse of Zophar's resembles that of Eliphaz, and still more that of Bildad, both in respect of the rebuke with which it begins ("who can hear such words in silence ?" etc.) and in respect of the union of promise and warning at the close. It proceeds from the same theological and ethical premises as those of the two previous speakers, in so far as it puts God's absolute perfection and exaltation (here more particularly on the intellectual side, the illimitability of His knowledge and His wisdom) in 80lemn and emphatic contrast with the short-sighted limitation of man, and thence derives man's obligation in all circumstances to draw nigh to God as a penitent, and to confess himself before Him as guilty and deserving of punishment. Not less does it rese nble those two preceding arraignments of Job in respect of form, in the strength of its expressions, in the poetic loftiness and figurative richness of its descriptions, qualities which shine forth with especial brilliancy in the passage where the Divine wisdom is described as being high as heaven, deep as hell, long as the earth, and broad as the sea (vers. 7-9). Moreover the comparatively correct orthodoxy of its positions and arguments, the absence of everything that would decidedly contradict the doctrinal and ethical tradition of pious Old Testament worshippers of Jehovah (worshippers of Eloah), the circumstance that nowhere is there even any excessive work-righteousness and legal harshness visible (particularly not in ver. 14)-all this exhibits Zophar to us as a kindred soul with Eliphaz and Bildad. and his stand-point as most intimately related to theirs. unqualified way in which Zophar in ver. 6 reproaches Job with his guilt, and suggests that there must be not a little of it that is overlooked by God, as well as the not less personal and humiliating demand that he should repent and renounce all unrighteousness as a conditio sine qua non of his restoration to divine favor (ver. 13 seq.) exhibit a certain advance on the part of this speaker beyond the stand-point of the two former. Instead of reckoning himself as belonging to those who need repentance and purification, as Eliphaz does very distinctly, and Bildad also, at least to some extent, Zophar, when he reminds Job of the duty of acknowledging his sins and repenting of them, speaks only in the second person. He thus sets himself up before him as a rigid censor and accuser, and assumes the character of an advocate of God, who himself needs no correction. As a consequence all that he says in the way of positive instruction, or produces out of the store of his monotheistic Chokmah-tradition, loses for Job its proper moral value and its determining power. Even the description of the abysmal vastness and unsearchableness of the Divine nature and intelligence in ver. 7 seq, grand as it is in itself, must seem cold to Job, and pass away without leaving any impression on him; for no softening ray of heartfelt brotherly love, and of a humble realization of grace falls on this magnificent picture of the Divine omniscience and wisdom. That picture can and should in truth produce only terror and trembling; for in whichever of the four directions we turn, whether toward the heights of heaven, or the depths of hell, or the lengths of the earth, or the breadths of the sea, nowhere do we discover any bridge hospitably inviting and facilitating our advance. We find no experience, not even 2. That, however, which marks the difference a presentiment of the love-power of Christ's cross, between this discourse, as to its contents and which fills and pervades the abysmal depths tendency, and those of the two former speakers of the divine nature. There is to be found as -a difference, too. which is not to the advan- yet no trace of that knowledge of God, which tage of the speaker-is its tone, which is immea-Paul in Eph. iii. 18 describes as a "compresurably more violent. Its attack on the sorely hending... what is the breadth and the length tried sufferer, who so greatly needed a merciful and the depth and the height: a comprehenand tender treatment, is harsher, more pointed sion which indeed belongs only to the "saints" and personal. At the very beginning (vers. 2-3) of the New Dispensation, which is produced the bitter charge is hurled at his bead that his only by the cross of the Redeemer as the soluspeech was "a torrent of words" and "empty tion of all contradictions (comp. also Eph. iv. talk." To the expression "an empty pate," 8-10), and which can be acquired and appropriwhich is here applied to him, is added in vers. ated only at the feet of the Crucified One.* The 11-12 a description of vain, hollow-pated, stubborn people (who are like the wild ass), which points with unmistakable significance to Job, And in the closing passage (ver. 20), which points out the hopeless destruction of the wicked, there is no trace of the delicacy and urbanity of his two predecessors, at the close of whose discourses, the tone of promise altogether predominates over that of threats and warnings. The discourse at this very point shows a decidedly perceptible advance beyond the two which precede towards inconsiderate harshness. "Elitin. Görres, J. F. v. Mover. Comp, especially the last named's phoz barely appended a slight warning; Bildad briefly blends it with his promise by way of contrast; Zophar adds a verse which already looks like the advanced picket of an army of similar harsh menaces in chs. xv., xviii., xx.' (Ewald). Again, the exceedingly personal and *It is a favorite thought of many of the Church Fathers that the Cross of Christ is a power which mediates and reconciles the discords and oppositions between all parts of the universe (as though accordingly it sent its roots down into the under-world, its head up into heaven, wile with both arms it loving y embraced the broad expanse of earth and ai). This thought is elaborated for te most part in connection with Eph. iii. 18 (ch. iv. 8-10), but ceasi nally also with reference to Job xi. 8, 9. So by B sil the Great (comm. on Isai. ii.); by Gregory of Nyssa ( Catech. Magna, c. 3): by Rufinus Expositio Symb. Apostolici); by Coel. Sedulin (Mirabilia Dir. V. 297, 54); by John of Damascus (De fide orthod. iv. 12), etc. The same may be said of m ny mod rn mystics and the sophists, such as raader, St. Mar"Blätter f. hohere Wahrheit," Vol. VII., page 145 seq.: “The Cross points upward and downward, to the right and to the left; this tourfold direction designates the All, on which and from which its influce acts. Its head uplifts itself to the throne of God, and its root renches down to hell. Its arms stretch out from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, from pole to pole. In i heaven and earth are united, in it appeased; in it things which are most strongly opposed are these. For the heaven of the heavens cannot contain Thee, says Solomon in his prayer (1 Ki. viii. 27).-COCCEIUS: It is no longer necessary that we should wish for one who might either ascend to heaven, or descend to hell. or depart beyond the sea. In Christ we have One who came from heaven, who returned from hell, who measures the earth and the sea with a span. In Him all things are open and clear to us.STARKE: If man is not capable of searching out so many things in nature, how much less can he with his narrow understanding comprehend God's nature, and His wise government (Wisd. ix. 16)!-HENGSTENBERG (on ver. 10 seq): It is here that we first see quite clearly in what respect Zophar asserts the claims of the Divine wisdom against Job, as being that, namely, by virtue of which God penetrates the depths of the human heart and life, which to man himself are utterly inaccessible and hidden. He in rendering His judgment has all facts and data at His control, whereas to man only a small part is accessible. deficiency in this knowledge of God, which Zo- | for its greatness is not included within all of phar here exhibits is indeed on his part essentially not criminal, resting as it does on the fact that neither to him, nor to his associates, nor to Job himself, had the mystery of justification by faith been openly revealed as yet (comp. Brentius: "Zophar and the other friends of Job seem to be entirely ignorant of what the Gospel and faith in God's promise can effect; they argue against Job as though no one could ever be justified before God by faith"), and that as to his general position he belonged to that immature and imperfect stage of development in the education of the human race, when it was impossible as yet to advance beyond a rigid contra-position of the Godhead and the creature. He must, however, be to the last charged with criminal and guilty conduct in this, that he uses his insight into that heavenly immeasurable superiority of the Divine knowledge over the human (or, which is the same thing: his doctrine that the divine wisdom represents all men as sinful and foolish) with merciless severity against Job, deeply wounding him with it as with a sword, without making even a single attempt to soften the application, or to use this two-edged weapon in a considerate and conciliatory spirit. 3. It is easy to see accordingly what in Zophar's discourse must be censured as one-sided and unfriendly, and what on the other hand remains as really beautiful and valuable religious and moral truth. The latter is limited essentially to the inspired eulogy of the Divine wisdom and omniscience in ver. 7 seq.,-a description which in power and beauty is not, indeed, equal to that presented in the introductory part of Ps. cxxxix., but which furnishes nevertheless one of the most note-worthy Old Testament parallels of that passage. It is in the more detailed exhibition of the individual beauties and profound truths of this eulogy of Divine wisdom that we are principally to find the HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL Suggestions of this Discourse.-It is neither necessary nor advisable to subdivide it in thus treating it. For as vers. 2-5 are simply introductory to the main theme, so vers. 13-20 show how the wisdom of the Most High, incomprehensible in itself, and His omniscience, can alone become comprehensible to man, thus furnishing the basis for the practical and hortatory part, in which every homily on such a theme as the present one must find its issue. The whole is to be left in its organic connection. The following hints however may serve for the treatment of particular passages. Ver. 7. ECOLAMPADIUS: By the four greatest dimensions of the greatest things the idea of supreme perfection is conveyed. . . . Wisdom is higher than the heaven, deeper than hell, broader than the sea, and longer than the earth, ... reconciled and made one." Comp. also the remarks of Ecolampadius, Cocceius, etc., cited below [Homiletical aud Practical]. Ver. 13 seq. COCCEIUS: As there was impudence in the Pharisee's lifting up of his hands (Luke xviii. 11 seq.), so there is deception in the hypocrite's beating of the breast. These gestures easily degenerate. The best prayers are those which make the least noise, and which are poured out in the secret recesses of the heart to Him who seeth in secret, and rewardeth openly, who is the "Hearer of the heart, not of the voice," as Cyprian says.-STARKE: True penitence and believing prayer are the means by which calamity is warded off, and prosperity and blessing procured (Judith viii. 12 seq.) With true repentance, however, there must be associated (as in the case of Zacchæus, Luke xix. 8) an earnest purpose to reform the life. Ver. 15 seq. BRENTIUS: What therefore shall be to the man who directs his own heart, who stretches out his hands toward God, and who purges his works of sin? He dares to lift up his face before God, without spot, without crime; for if conscience, sin, or Satan should accuse us it is God who justifies; it is Christ who died and rose again, and the Christian shall rise together with Him. . . . All these promises are fulfilled in the Church, in which by faith tears are wiped away, and mourning disappears (Rev. xxi. 4); the body indeed suffers pain, but the inward man is renewed day by day (2 Cor. iv. 16). Ver. 20. STARKE: The Divine threatenings are to be applied to the soul that rests in careless security, but not to the soul that is tried with temptation and anguish (2 Thess. v 14).— HENGSTENBERG; Job had spoken of death as his only hope. Very true, says Zophar, it is the only hope, if thou remainest as thou art! Zophar is quite right in making all Job's hope, and all his salvation depend on his knowing himself as a sinner. His error begins only when he comes to determine more particularly the way and mode of recognizing sin, when-that is-be treats sinners and transgressors as convertible terms. In his sense Job could not acknowledge himself a sinner. |