5 Psal. 41. 9, and 55. 13, 14, 20.

Heb. the men of my secret. Or, after I shall awake though this body be destroyed, yet out of my flesh shall I see God. 11 Heb. in my bosom. 12 Or, and what root o fmatter is found in me?

Verse 6. "God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net."-It admits of a conjecture that this may allude to a very ancient mode of combat, which was preserved by the Romans in their public shows in which men fought with each other. In this mode of combat, a gladiator, called a retiarius, was matched with another, called a sector. The latter was armed with a helmet, buckler, and sword; while the retiarius wore only a short coat or tunic, and went barcheaded. He carried in his left hand a three-pointed lance or trident, and in his right a net. He pursued his ad

versary, endeavouring to entangle his head in the net, that he might the more easily dispatch him with his trident. But if he missed his aim, by either throwing his net short of his mark or beyond it, he turned round and fled, till he should be able to get his net ready for a second throw, but was meanwhile pursued by his opponent (thence called secutor, or follower), who endeavoured to overtake and slay him before he could be ready for his next attempt. Similar methods of entangling an adversary were long before and often used in actual warfare, either as a regular practice or as a stratagem. There is an instance in history, about six hundred years before Christ, in a single combat between the commanders of the Athenian and Mitylenean forces. The latter (Pittacus, one of the famous seven sages), concealed behind his shield a net, which throwing suddenly, he entangled the Athenian general, and easily slew him.

20. "I am escaped with the skin of my teeth."-" There is scarcely," says Good, "any verse in the whole poem that has more puzzled commentators, and excited a greater variety of renderings than this." This is true, and we fear that his own rendering only extends the range of uncertainty. It is, "In the skin of my teeth I am dissolved." It is undoubtedly a proverbial expression; and we must confess that we cannot understand it, unless it refers to the gums, which might, in the Oriental style, not improperly be called "the skin of the teeth," since they do enclose and cover the lower part of the teeth. And as it is one form of Oriental oppression to knock out the teeth, and since the teeth are lost through disease or age, the loss might well be referred to proverbially, as expressing a last stage of bodily desolation and decay, from whatever cause proceeding. Under this view the text would signify, "I am escaped with my gums only," forming a degree in the kind of comparison used by ourselves when we say that such a person escaped only with life. And further, as so many comparisons in this book are derived from the various conditions of animal life, may there not be here a sort of reference to the helpless, hopeless condition of a beast of prey when deprived of its teeth by accident or age?

23. "Oh that my words...were printed in a book."-This is an interpretation well adapted to mislead the uninstructed reader, printing being but a recent invention. It means inscribed in a register-written in some permanent record

24. "Graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever."-This and the preceding verse have been most unfortunately rendered in our own and many other versions, so as not only to confound the sense, but to destroy the force and beauty with which the ideas rise over each other to the marked climax with which they close. To avoid critical details, we shall quote Dr. Good's translation of both verses, as it preserves the meaning and force of the original better than any other we have consulted, though the Vulgate approaches it.

"O! that my words were even now written down;

O! that they were engraven upon a table;
With a pen of iron upon lead!-

That they were sculptured in a rock for ever!"

Of writing upon lead, we have already spoken in the general note, under Deut. xxxi. In the same note we have also mentioned the pens of iron and other metals which were used for inscribing the characters on lead, wax, and other substances, of which the ancient writing-tablets were formed. Some of the forms which they bore are represented in

the cut we now give; and which also represents the mode in which they were employed, according to the substances on which they operated.

Concerning the ancient custom of inscribing memorials intended to be permanent on rocks and stones, we have also spoken rather fully in the note to Exod. xxxii. 15. The present occasion, therefore, only requires us to notice the inscribed mountains, in the peninsula of Sinai, which our wood-cut exhibits.

Wady Mokatteb, the cliffs of which bear these inscriptions, is a valley entering Wady Sheikh, and bordering on the upper regions of the Sinai Mountains. It extends for about three hours' march, and in most places its rocks present abrupt cliffs, twenty or thirty feet high. From these cliffs large masses have separated and lie at the bottom in the valley. The cliffs and rocks are thickly covered with inscriptions, which are continued, at intervals of a few hundred paces only, for at least the distance of two hours and a half. Burckhardt says, that to copy all of them would occupy a skilful draughtsman six or eight days. The inscriptions are very rudely executed, sometimes with large letters, at others with small, and seldom with straight lines. The characters appear to be written from right to left; and although not cut deep, an instrument of metal must have been required, as the rock is of considerable hardness. Some of them are on rocks at a height of twelve or fifteen feet, and must have required a ladder to ascen to them. The characters are not known. The superior of the Franciscans, who visited the place in 1722, observes, "Although we had among us men who understood the Arabian, Greek, Hebrew, Syriac, Coptic, Latin, Armenian, Turkish, English, Illyrian, German, and Bohemian languages, there was not one of us who had the slightest knowledge of the characters engraved in these hard rocks with great labour, in a country where there is nothing to be had either to eat or drink. Hence it is probable that these characters contained some profound secrets, which, long before the birth of Jesus Christ, were sculptured in these rocks by the Chaldeans or some other persons." This account excited profound attention in Europe: and it was thought by many that the inscriptions might have been formed by the Israelites during their stay in this region, and probably contained irrefragable evidence for the truth of the Mosaic history. Hence copies of them have been anxiously sought and secured. But with the exception of a few in Greek, the character and language remain unknown. "Before they can be all deciphered," says Laborde, "greater progress than has yet been attained must be made in the paleography and ancient languages of the East. The most general opinion is that they were the work of pilgrims who visited Sinai about the sixth century." This seems to us very doubtful. The Greek inscriptions and the crosses, on which this conclusion chiefly rests, may indeed have been of that or a later age; but it does not follow that those in the unknown characters necessarily were so too. However, this is of no consequence, for our purpose, which is merely to illustrate by example the practice of charging the living rock with inscriptions; and that example is the more interesting from being taken from a region of sa much Scriptural interest, and not far from the land of Uz. Although these inscriptions should prove not to be of high antiquity, and, only to record the names and prayers of Jewish and Christian pilgrims to Sinai; the rude manner in which they are exhibited, may well be supposed to be such as belonged to the time when men first began to in scribe on rocks their abiding memorials. It only remains to add that among the inscriptions, appear sometimes extremely rude figures of men and animals (camels, goats, &c.), some of which seem to be of the same date as the original characters, while others seem to belong to a more recent period.

CHAPTER XX.

Zophar sheweth the state and portion of the wicked. THEN answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,

2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this 'I make haste.

3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth

me to answer.

4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,

5 That the triumphing of the wicked is 'short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?

6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; 7. Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.

9 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.

1 Heb. my haste is in me. Heb. in the midst of his palate.

10 'His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.

11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.

12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue; 13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:

14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.

15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.

17 He shall not see the rivers, "the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down; according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.

19 Because he hath 'oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;

Psal. 37. 33, 36. 3 Heb. from near. 4 Heb. cloud. Or, the poor shall oppress his children.
7 Or, streaming brooks. 8eb according to the substance of his exchange. • Heb, crushed

20 10 Surely he shall not "feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.

21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods. 22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.

23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.

24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.

29 This is the portion of the wicked man. from God, and the heritage "appointed unto him by God.

10 Eccles. 5. 13, 14. 11 Heb. know. 12 Or, there shall be none left for his meat. 13 Or, troublesome. 14 Heb. of his decree from God.

Verse 14. "Asps."-The word is (pethen), and very probably denotes the famous aspic of antiquity. The ancient writers however make mention of it in so loose and indefinite a manner, that it is perhaps not easy to determine the species with precision. We know something better of the effect of its bite, which has been particularly described by Dioscorides and others. The sight became dim immediately after the bite; a swelling took place, and pain was felt in the stomach, followed by stupor, convulsions, and death. The bite was generally allowed to be incurable, or at least to admit of no other cure than the immediate excision of the wounded part. In name and description, the snake that seems best to agree with the pethen of the Hebrews, and the aspic of profane antiquity, is the bætan of the Arabians. It is briefly noticed by Forskal. It is about a foot in length, and two inches in circumference; its colour being black and white. It is poisonous in the highest degree: the body of the sufferer swells, and death almost immediately ensues. The literati of Cyprus regarded it as the ancient aspic; and whether so or not, the probability of its being the Hebrew pethen will be very considerable. Besides the similarity of name, and other circumstances, it is observable that the common people at Cyprus call this snake hufi (won), deaf; and in Ps. lviii. 4, we actually find that deafness is ascribed to the pethen. This is rather a strong circumstance. We are not aware that any pictorial representation of this serpent is extant. That which we have introduced is the Vipère Haje, which is very common in Egypt, and is noted for the venom of its poison. It was one of the sacred animals of ancient Egypt, and its figure occurs continually in the hieroglyphic and other sculptures of the country. It is supposed by M. Geoffroy Saint Hilaire to be the same as the ancient aspic: and it may therefore be taken as an alternative, although, as it is not certain that it was the aspic, and as, if this were certain, we should not be sure that the aspic was the same as the Hebrew pethen, we have assigned the first place to the claims which the Arabian bætan offers.

16. "Viper."-The Hebrew word is VEN (ephah); and there is little reason to question that it denotes the same pent which the Arabians at the present day call by the same name. There have been several descriptions of it which ry in some details, but agree on the whole. Our cut is taken from that which is given in Jackson's 'Marocco' 110), the substantial accuracy of which is attested by Riley, as well as by its conformity to written descriptions. is one of the most common and venomous of the serpent tribe in northern Africa and south-western Asia. It is thus VOL. II. 3 s 497

described by Jackson:-" El Effah is the name of the other serpent remarkable for its quick and penetrating poison. It is about two feet long" (sometimes much less or much more, according to others) "and as thick as a man's arm, beautifully spotted with yellow and brown, and sprinkled over with blackish specks. They have a wide mouth, by which they inhale a great quantity of air, and when inflated therewith they eject it with such force as to be heard to a considerable distance." These mortal enemies to mankind are described by him as abounding in the desert of Suse. where their holes are so numerous that it is difficult for a horse to pass without stumbling.

Captain Riley, in his Authentic Narrative' (New York, 1817), confirms this account in substance. He describes the colours as "the most beautiful in nature ;" and observes, that he had seen Jackson's engraving, which was " a very correct resemblance." He adds, that these serpents often attack and destroy both men and beasts, and that the poison is so subtile as to occasion death in fifteen minutes.

17. "The rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter."-Moses uses similar expressions in describing the ferti lity and abundance of Canaan. and Bishop Warburton thinks it is here a proverbial speech taken from these descriptions. This would be proving the book of Job later than the Pentateuch; and it is enough to observe that such expressions are in the true spirit of Oriental description in intimating the abundance of the things specified, and is still common in Arabia, where honey, butter, and milk, are as much esteemed as they were by the patriarchs of Seripture. Mohammed describes his paradise, after the same style:-"Therein are rivers of incorruptible water; and rivers of milk, the taste whereof changeth not; and rivers of wine, pleasant to those who drink; and rivers of clarified honey:" and although this description is taken by many Mohammedans to be real; others, acquainted with the de scriptive hyperboles of the Arabians, believe it to be figurative only.-" Rivers of butter," seeming to imply its fluidity is rather a perplexing expression; and as butter is only thus described in the poetical Scriptures, perhaps the word (IND chemah) in its poetical use acquires the meaning of chalab, "milk;" whence the Arabic version has in this place, " milk," not "butter." But it is also true that the word not only signifies butter, but thick milk, or cream: and may very well be so understood in the present text.

21. "There shall none of his meat be left," &c.-This is reckoned among the difficult passages of the book of Job: and, accordingly, very different renderings and interpretations have been given. We think all the apparent difficulty has arisen from the want of adequate reference to the customs of the East. It is there usual for persons of coas deration, and certainly those who make any pretensions to liberality, to maintain a table much beyond the wants of their own household, and the superfluity of which goes to feed a number of poor people and hungry expectants. May not, therefore, this text mean, that the person described was of so mean a disposition that he provided only for his own needs, so that nothing was left for others? This character would in the highest degree be disgraceful and ignominious in Arabia.

24. "The bow of steel."-It is difficult to understand how the word "steel" came here. It is certainly the common Hebrew word for "brass" nechushah), or rather " copper." We have on former occasions noticed the extent to which the metal was anciently employed in the fabrication of arms.

3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.

4 As for me, is my complaint to man' and if it were so, why should not my spirit be 'troubled?

5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.

6 Even when I remember I am afraid,

2 Hear diligently my speecn, and let this and trembling taketh hold on my be your consolations.

flesh.