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of order, the wasting away of all vital energy classics, such as Lucretius II., 600 seq., Ovid, and beauty. Hence as Si describes the un-mention of the " Fast. II., 269 seq.) does not conflict with the pillars of the earth" in ch. ix. derworld as the insatiable receptacle of the de- 6, for the reason that the "pillars" are conparted, demanding and drawing men into itself, ceived of as the inner roots or bones, the skeleorcus rapax, gives us a glimpse yet deeper ton as it were of the body of the earth. It is into its abysmal horrors, its destructive, wast- only quite indirectly that the passage before us ing potencies. Hence the fearful significance can be used to prove the creation of the world with which in Rev. (ix. 11) it is applied, as the out of nothing. We may suggest as worthy of Hebrew equivalent to the Greek Apollyon, to the note the descriptions, which remind us of the angel of the bottomless pit.-E.]. one before us, in the more recent oriental poets,

mer, Geschichte der schönen Redekünste Persiens,
p. 141, 143):

"Pillarless be spreads ont the heavens
A canopy above the earth

What bears the atmosphere? 'Tis nothing,
Nothing on nothing, and only nothing;"
also the Arabian Audeddin Alnasaph (de reli-
gione Sonnitar., princ. v. 2):

"Out of a breath He made the heavens ;" and already in the Koran, in its Sur. 13, v. 2, it is said: "It is Allah, who has built the heavens on high, without founding it on visible pillars.' Comp. Umbreit on the ver.

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Ver. 7. Who stretcheth out the north-as e. g. the Persian Ferideddin Attar (in v. Hamern heavens over empty space.-The Participles in this and the two following verses attach themselves to God, the logical subject of the ver. preceding [and are used to describe the divine activity herein specified as continuous]. Our rendering of D in the sense of the northern heavens, the northern half of the heavenly vault, has decisively in its favor the verb 03, which is never used of the stretching out or expansion of the earth, or a part of it, but always of the out-stretching of the heavenly vault, which is conceived of as a tent; comp. chap. ix. 8; Is. xl. 22; xliv. 24; Zech. xii. 1; Ps. civ. 2, Third Strophe: vers. 8-10. Who bindeth etc. It would be singular, moreover, if Job had up (or "shuts in," comp. Prov. xxx. 4, c) the first mentioned only a part of the earth, the waters in His clouds: which accordingly northern, and not until afterwards had men- are regarded as vessels [bags, bottles, etc.] or tioned it as a whole, however true it might be transparent enclosures for the waters of the that the popular notion of oriental antiquity, heavens above: without the clouds burstwhich represented the north of the earth as a ing under them (the waters); i. e. so that the part of it which abounded most in mountains, weight of these masses of water does not cause and was highest and heaviest, would seem to fa- them to pour themselves forth in torrents of vor this view (against Hirzel, Ewald, Heiligst., rain out of their cloud-vessels, implying that Schlottmann, Dillmann). [Ewald calls atten- this is as God expressly wills and orders it; tion to the corresponding Hindu notion concern- comp. Gen. vii. 11; viii. 2. ["By which nothing the north. Schlottmann thinks such a re-ing more or less is meant than that the physical ference to the north as the heaviest part of the earth best suited to the connection. Dillmann argues that it could not properly be affirmed of the heavens, that they are stretched out over the

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and meteorological laws of rain are of God's appointment." Del.].

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Ver. 9 ["describes the dark and thickly clouded sky that showers down the rain in the shroudeth the outside of His throne-lit. appointed rainy season." Del.] Who "of the throne," for D, as in 1 Kings x. 19 is for ND, scarcely, as Hirzel thinks, by an error of transcription for D. But unquestionably "the throne" is simply "His throne," God's throne in heaven (comp. Is. lxvi. 1; Matt. v. 34). It is said of the face or outside (!?) of this throne, i. e., that side of it which is turned towards this earth, that God “ encloses" or "enshrouds" it by causing the clouds to come between it and the earth. ND, Piel from 8,

]. The reference of to the northern hemisphere of the heavens (Umbreit, Vaih., Hahn., Olsh., Del., etc.) is favored also by this considetion in addition to those already mentioned, that all the more important constellations which our book mentions (the Bear, Pleiades, etc.) belong to this northern hemisphere, and that moreover among other people of the ancient world, the "pole" (i. e. the north pole), and heaven," are used as synonyms; so especially among the Romans (Varro, de L. L. vii. 2, ¿ 14; Ovid, Fast. 6, 278; Horace, and other poets). The correct view was substantially given by Brentius: Sy-used here of the artificial veiling, or unclosing, necdoche, a part for the whole; for Aquino, draping it as it were) ["IN signifies to take which is Septentrio [North] is used for the hold of, in architecture to hold together by whole heaven or firmament. Hangeth the means of beams, or to fasten together. . . then earth upon nothing: , not anything also as usually in Chald. and Syr. to shut (by [lit. "not-what"]=nothing, here substantially means of cross-bars, Neh. vii. 3), here to shut off by surrounding with clouds." Del. Hence synonymous with "the empty space," (comp. not exactly to hold back," E. V. but to "fasten Gen. i. 2), hence denoting the endless empty up." Merx understands the verb of bearing, space in which the earth (which according to holding up, and the verse to set forth the miraver. 10 is conceived of as a flat disk, rather than cle that God bears up the throne on which He as a ball), together with the overarching northsits But in that case ' would be superfluous. ern heavens, hangs freely. The cosmological E.]. Spreading over it His clouds-this conception of the suspension of the earth in the member of the verse explaining the former. empty space of the universe (with which may be compared parallel representations from the "

refers to N 1, and the quadril. verb

19 is Inf. Absol. and may thus be rendered in Latin by expendendo, in our language by the Pres. Active Participle (comp. Ew. 141, c; and Del. on the ver.) [According to others, e. g., Dillmann, Green, 189 a, the vb. is preterite. Gesenius (Lex) regards the quadriliteral as a mixed form, Delitzsch argues forcibly against this, and regards it as an intensive form of 5, formed by prosthesis, and an Arabic change of Sin into Shin.]

פרן and פרש from

the phenomenon of an earthquake, or that of a tremendous thunderstorm (comp. Ps. xxix.; also Rev. vi. 12 seq.; xx. 11).

Ver. 12. By His power He frightens up the sea.- here not intransitive as in ch. vii. 5; but transitive in the sense of "frightening up, arousing," rapáσσε (comp. Is. li. 15; Jer. xxxi. 35); hardly in the sense of intimidating, or putting at rest, as some expositors (Umbreit, Dillm. [Conant, Carey, Rod.], etc.) render the verb after the LXX. (KaTÉπAVOEV). [E. V. “divideth" (and so Bernard) here, and in all the passages cited: but unsupported and less suitably. ]-And by His understanding He smites Rahab in pieces.-Comp. on ch. ix. 13, where already it was shown to be neces

colossal demon-monster of legendary antiquity (not of Egypt, nor of the raging fury of the sea, to which pn, "to shatter, to dash in pieces" would not be suitable).

Ver. 10 [passes from the waters above to the waters below]. He hath rounded off (encircled, n, comp. the ¿yvpwoɛv of the LXX.) a bound (pr as in ch. xiv. 5) for the face of the water, to the ending of the light beside the darkness: or "to the extremity"sary to understand 2 (LXX.: Tò KηTOс) of a (the confines, the boundary line) of the light with the darkness, ad lucis usque tenebrarumque confinia (Pareau). So correct.y Del. and Dill. [E. V. Con., Words., Carey, Renan., Rod. Merx], while most moderns (Rosenm., Ewald, Hirz., Schlottm., Hahn, etc.) taken by itself in an adverbial sense, "most perfectly, most accurately," (comp. ch. xxviii. 3), take either as a remoter accus. of (so Hirz.), or as Genit. to pn, standing at the head of the clause in the construct state (so Ewald). In either case, however, we get a construction which is much too harsh. As proving that

- is by no means necessarily used ad. verbially, comp. above ch. xi. 7. The meaning of the verse will be rightly apprehended only by referring it not to the limit in time between light and darkness, i. e. to the regular succession of day and night (Schlottm.), but to the limit in space, the line separating between the light and dark regions of the heavenly circle, which runs along the surface of the waters of the ocean, encircling the earth. "That is to say this description, like that in Prov. viii. 27, has for its basis the conception, prevalent also among the classic nations, and down into the middle ages, that the earth is encompassed all around by water, or a sea, that upon this earth-encircling ocean is marked out the circle of the celestial hemisphere, along which the sun and stars run their course (so that a part of the water lies within this circle) that the region of the stars, of the light, lies inside of this circle, and that the region of darkness begins outside of it; comp. Voss on Virg. Georg. I., 240 seq." Dillm.

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Ver. 13. By His breath the heavens become bright: lit. "are brightness,” 9, does not denote a permanent quality of the heaa substantive found only here, which, however, vens (Rosenm.), but one that is transiently [occasionally] produced by God [by His breath He scatters the clouds, and brightens the face of heaven]; His hand hath pierced the fleeing serpent.-nn, Po. from П, Is. li. 9, hence perforavit, trucidavit; not Pil. from

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or n, so that it would express the idea of forming, creating as the Targ., Jer., Rosenm., Arnh., Vaih., Welte, Renan [E. V., Con., Noy., Ber., Rod.], explain. For here again the discourse treats not of a creative energy of God, but of one that is exercised as a part of the established order of nature, and in all probability it discusses the same theme as that to which ch. iii. 8 refers, to wit, the production of eclipses of the sun and moon. For the popular superstition prevalent at the time of the composition of our book conceived of this phenomenon as consisting in the attempt of a dragon-like dark monster to swallow up these luminaries, accompanied by an intervention of God, who slays or strangles this monster ["so that it was customary to say, when the sun or moon was eclipsed: The Dragon, or the Flying Serpent, bas wound around it; and on the other hand when it was released from the obscuration: God has killed the Dragon.' Dillm.] It is to this exercise of God's power, bringing deliverance, that the

the) נָחָשׁ בָּרִיחַ refers, while חלְלָה יָדוֹ clause

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Fourth Strophe: vers. 11-13. The pillars of heaven are made to tremble, and are astonished at His rebuke.-"Pillars of heaven" is the name which the poet gives to the same expression also in Is. xxvii. 1) denotes the mountains towering upon high, which seem as monster referred to, which is represented as it were to bear up the arch of heaven; comp. seized upon in the act of fleeing (before God), the ancient classic legend of Atlas, and see above hence as "a fugitive, fleeing serpent." In that on ch. ix. 6. In speaking of these pillars as parallel passage in Isaiah, the LXX. rightly "moved to trembling" (1, Piel. from in the passage before us, pákovτa áτоσтáτη, translate by όφιν φεύγοντα, while their rendering Tváσσɛ) [“the signification of violent and quick whether we regard the language or the thought, motion backwards and forwards is secured to is equally inadmissible with the coluber tortuosus the verb" by forms in the Targ., Talm. and of the Vulg. [followed by E. V. "crooked serArabic.-Del.], and as fleeing in astonishment pent"], or the serpentem vectem of the same verbefore God's rebuking thunder (comp. Ps. civ. sion in Is. xxvii. 1 (comp. the oo ovɣkheiovтa, 7; Is. 1. 2; Nah. i. 4), the poet describes here"the barring serpent," of Symmachus).

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Ver. 14. A recapitulating closing verse, stand- | relatively friendly-in a way in which the final ing outside of the schema of strophes.-Lo, peaceful termination of the conflict (ch. xlii. these ( pointing backwards, as in ch. xviii. 7-9) is remotely intimated. That which Bildad 21) are the ends of His ways; or, "of His actually brings forward is a truth which does not at all touch the real point at issue, which way," according to the K'thibh; the same waJob himself has on former occasions expressly vering between 1977 and 1377 to be seen also conceded (see ch. ix. 2; xiv. 4), the same truth in Prov. viii. 22. The "ends" or borders" which Eliphaz had in his first two discourses (Delitzsch) [Conant, Words., etc.,] of God's ways prominently emphasized, and in the renewed are the extreme outlines of what He is doing in statement of which, at this time, Bildad closely governing the world, those intimations of His copies even the expressions of his older associate. heavenly activity which are lowest, and nearest, He only reminds Job of the universal sinfulness of the human race and most immediately accessible to our power once again, without of apprehension.—And what a faintly whis- direct accusation, in order that Job may himself pering word (it is) that we hear!-- derive from it the admonition to humble himself; and this admonition Job really needs, for his speeches are in many ways contrary to that humility which is still the duty of sinful man, even in connection with the best justified consciousness of right thoughts and actions towards the holy God" (Del.).

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But

, lit. "and what a whisper of a word.' For this combination of with a substantive in apposition, comp. Ps. xxx. 10; Is. xl. 18; and for you with of the attentive hearing of anything, see above ch. xxi. 2; also ch. xxxvii. 2. Of the fact that Job is still wanting in pro2; Gen. xxvii. 5; Ps. xcii. 12. Against the per humility, and in a profound perception of partitive rendering of 13, advocated by Schlott. sin, he at once proceeds to give evidence in his and Delitzsch, may be urged the plur. form rejoinder in ch. xxvi. In this he appears as 27, preferred by the Masoretes, as well as decisively victorious over his opponents, who the probability that to express this meaning the have shown themselves totally unequal to the preposition would rather have been used. problem to be solved, while he, by his emphatic reference to the incomprehensibleness and un[Here again, as in ch. iv. 12, the incorrect rendering of E. V.: "How little a portion is heard searchableness of God's ways, had made at least of Him," mars the poetic beauty and graphic and had shown his appreciation of the mysan important advance towards its solution, contrast of the passage. On pp Wordsworth tery as such in its entire significance. remarks: "We feel as it were a zephyr of God's he makes his vanquished opponents duly Presence walking in the garden of this world in sensible of this superiority which he had the cool of the day."]-But the thunder of over them, when in replying to Bildad, the His omnipotence (according to the K'ri last speaker of the number, he wields the , "his energies") who can under- weapon of sarcasm in a way that is altogether stand? i. e. the full, unmodified manifestation merciless, and seeks to humiliate him by a euof His energies, the unsmothered "thunder-logy of the divine omnipotence and exaltation course" of His heavenly spheres (comp. what Raphael says in the Prologue to Faust) would be unbearable by us, frail, sinful children of earth. [Job could not have uttered in nobler language his deep feeling of the degree in which the divine glory surpasses all human knowledge. There resounds in it in truth an echo of the faroff divine thunder itself, and before this the poet has the friends now become entirely dumb." Schlottm.]

DOCTRINAL, ETHICAL AND HOMILETICAL.

1. That which Bildad brings forward against Job in ch. xxv. is so meagre, and possesses so little novelty, that it may be said, that in his discourse the opposition of the friends dies the death of exhaustion, and that the bitter irony of Job's rejoinder to it seems fully justified. For the real problem which underlies the whole controversy the great mystery touching the frequency with which the innocent suffer, which Job had again set forth so eloquently just before -that problem Bildad certainly does not consi

der.

He avoids indeed those bitter personalities and odious accusations against Job with which Eliphaz had made his exit just before in a manner that was altogether unworthy, and takes his leave of the sufferer, whom he himself also had heretofore violently assailed, in a way that is

which is visibly intended to surpass and eclipse
that which had been said by him. It is true
indeed that this very description in its incom-
parable grandeur gives us to understand clearly
enough how entirely filled and carried away Job
is by its infinitely elevated theme, and how by
virtue of his flight to this height of an inspired
contemplation of God. every thought respecting
the unrelenting, or even vindictive persecution
of his opponents disappears, so that the closing
reference to the unattainable height and glory
of the divine nature and activity (ver. 14) is un-
accompanied by any expression whatever of tri-
umphant pride, or bitter enjoyment of their
discomfiture (comp. V. Gerlach below, Homi-
letic Remarks on ch. xxvi. 2 seq.). The pure
and undivided enthusiasm with which he sur-
renders himself to the contemplation of the Di-
vine has manifestly an ennobling, purifying, and
elevating influence on his spirit. It shows that
he is not far removed at length from the goal of
a perfectly correct and true solution of the dark
mystery which occupies him
It makes it ap-
parent that essentially one thing is lacking to
him that he may press upward through the dark
scenes of his conflict to the light of pure truth
and peace with God, and that is a humble sub-
mission beneath the dealings of the only wise
and true God, dealings which are righteous even
towards him, sincere repentance and confession

of the errors and failures of which he had been | of heaven, so is their brightness a type of the guilty even during the hot conflict of suffering through which he had passed, that "repenting in dust and ashes" to which God's treatment brought him at last, as one who had been afflicted by his Heavenly Father, not indeed in accordance with the ordinary standard of retribution, but nevertheless not unjustly, not without a remedial and loving purpose.

holiness of the inhabitants of heaven, just as immediately after (in ver. 6) the mortality and wretchedness of man is a type of his sinfulness. In this contra-position there lies a profound truth: Holiness and shining brightness, and sin and death's corruption correspond to each other. In his frailty and mortality man has an incessant reminder of his sin and corruption; in seeing his outward lot he should humble himself inwardly before God.

Ch. xxvi. 2-4. WOHLFARTH: After that Job has ironically shown to his friend the irrelevancy of his reply, he takes a nobler revenge upon him, by delivering a much worthier eulogy on God s exalted greatness, of which notwithstanding and during his suffering he has a most vivid and penetrating conviction.-V. GERLACH: Job's frame of mind bordering on pride, which causes him altogether to misunderstand that which is glorious and exalted in Bildad's last discourse, belongs to the earthly folly which clings to him, which is to be stripped away from him by the sufferings and conflicts of his inner man, and which does at last really fall away from him. The splendid description which follows, and especially its humble conclusion (ver. 14), proves in the meanwhile that the fundamental disposition of Job's heart was different from that which the particular expressions uttered by him in his more despondent moods would seem to indicate.

3. That which is of greatest interest in the two short sections preceding not only to the scientific, but also to the practical and homiletic expositor, are those elements of poetic cosmology and physical theology, which in Bildad's discourse are presented more briefly and more in the way of suggestion, but which in that of Job are exhibited in a more developed and comprehensive form. It is that material which at an earlier day was treated by Baur in his Systema Mundi Jobæum (Hal. 1707), Scheuchzer in his Jobi Physica Sacra, etc., and which to this day is a theme of no small interest in its theological aspects as well as in those related to cosmology and the history of civilization. The fact that certain mythological representations, and in particular a few traces of astronomical myths, are scattered over this magnificent picture of creation, and that the teachings of modern science concerning the mechanism of the heavens cannot be derived from it, cannot injure the peculiarly high value of the description, nor destroy its utility for practical purposes. It is in any case a view of the universe of incontrovertible grandeur, which in all that is described in ch. xxvi. 5-13 beholds only the "fringes" of God's glory as they hang over on earth (comp. Is. vi. 1), only a few meagre lineaments of the entire divine manifestation, only a muffled murmur echoing from afar off as a poor substitute for the thunder of His omnipotence. And in respect to the purity and correctness of its representations in detail, this physical theology of Job ranks sufficiently high, as is shown by that which is said of "hanging the earth upon noth-sible light, we can nevertheless feel His nearing" (ver. 7), a description of the fact no less surprising than the following descriptions of meteorological and geological processes are poetically bold and elevated.

Particular Passages.

Ch. xxv. 4 seq. CoccEIUS: Although in our eyes the stars may seem κavaрóv Ti orihße (to shine with some degree of purity), nevertheless even they are outside of God's habitation, being esteemed unworthy to adorn His dwelling-place.

How therefore can miserable man, who is mortal and diseased and liable to death, who is a son of Adam, who is no worthier than a worm, or a grub, who is made of earth, who crawls on the earth, who lives by the earth, who is at once foul and defiled, who in a word is as far below the stars, as the worm is below himself how shall he dare or be able to face God in His court, and on equal terms to argue with Him? Let him, along with the moon and the stars, keep himself in his own station, and he will enjoy God's favors; but let him attempt to exalt himself, and he will be crushed by the weight of the divine majesty.-V. GERLACH: As the hosts of heaven are types of the pure spirits

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Ch. xxvi. 7 seq. BRENTIUS: The fact that God stretches out the heavens, and supports the earth, without the aid of pillars, is a great argument in proof of His power (Ps. cii. 26). The poets relate that Atlas supports heaven on his shoulders; but we acknowledge the true Atlas, the Lord our God, who by Hiз word supports both heaven and earth.-WOHLFARTH: The look to heaven which Job here requires us to take, does not indeed reach upwards to the throne of the Eternal (ver. 7 seq.). But although we cannot now behold Him, who dwells in His inacces

ness, recognize His existence, experience His influence, see His greatness and majesty, when we pray to Him as the Being who stretches out the heavens above the earth like a tent, at whose beckoning the clouds open and water the thirsty earth, who has given to the water its bounds, etc. As the work bears witness to its master, so does the universe to its Creator, Preserver, and Ruler (Ps. xix. 5); and no despairing one bas ever beheld the eternal order which stands before him, and its mysterious, but ever beneficent movements, no sinner desiring salvation has ever tarried in the courts of this great temple of God, without being richly dowered with heavenly blessings

Ch. xxvi. 14. OECOLAMPADIUS: These tokens of divine power however great will nevertheless rightly be esteemed small, as being hardly a slight whisper in comparison with the mighty thunder. There is nothing therefore so frightful, but faith will be able to endure it, when it thus exercises itself in the works of God's power, especially with the word of promise added.WOHLFARTH: We can survey only the smallest portion of God's immeasurable realm! the knowledge of the greatest sages but the

What is

short-sighted vision of a worm ! Our earth is a grain of sand in the All, the "drop of a bucket," as the prophet says; and how little

do we know of Him; how great is the sum of that which is hidden from us! (1 Cor. xiii. 9 seq.).

III. Job alone: His closing address to the vanquished friends. Chap. XXVII—XXVIII.

a. Renewed asseveration of his innocence, accompanied by a reference to his joy in God, which had not forsaken him even in the midst of his deepest misery. Chap. xxvii. 1-10.

1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said:

2

As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment;

and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;

3 all the while my breath is in me,

and the spirit of God is in my nostrils ;

4 my lips shall not speak wickedness nor my tongue utter deceit.

5 God forbid that I should justify you:

till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me. 6 My righteousness I hold fast, I will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

7 Let mine enemy be as the wicked,

and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained,

when God taketh away his soul?

9 Will God hear his cry

when trouble cometh upon him?

10 Will he delight himself in the Almighty?

will he always call upon God?

b. Statement of his belief that the prosperity of the ungodly cannot endure, but that they must infallibly come to a terrible end. Vers. 11-23.

11 I will teach you by the hand of God;

that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal.

12 Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it;

why then are ye thus altogether vain?

13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God,

and the heritage of oppressors, which they shall receive of the Almighty.

14 If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword;

and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

15 Those that remain of him shall be buried in death; and his widows shall not weep.

16 Though he heap up silver as the dust,

and prepare raiment as the clay;

17 he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on,

and the innocent shall divide the silver.

18 He buildeth his house as a moth,

and as a booth that the keeper maketh.

19 The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered; he openeth his eyes, and he is not!

20 Terrors take hold on him as waters,

a tempest stealeth him away in the night.

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