Lev. iv. 1—35, v. 15-19, and particularly Numb. xv. 24-29. I think it may fairly be presumed that the offerings which Job made for his children were in reference to these laws.

The worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as being the most prevalent and most seductive idolatry, was very expressly forbidden by the law, Deut. iv. 19: "Take heed, lest thou lift up thine eyes to heaven; and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldst be driven to worship them, and serve them." Job purges himself from this species of idolatry, chap. xxxi. ver. 26-28: "If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge; for I should have denied the God that is above."

He clears himself also from adultery in reference to the law enacted against that sin, Job. xxxi. 9—12: "If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door; then let my wife grind to another: for this is a heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges." See

accuses Job.

the law against this sin, Exod. xx. 14, 17: “Thou shalt not commit adultery: thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife." Lev. xx. 10: "The man that committeth adultery with another man's wife shall surely be put to death;" see Deut. xxii. 22. And for the judge's office in such cases, see Deut. xvii. 9-12: "Thou shalt come unto the priests and Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment." 1 Sam. ii. 25: "If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him."

The following will, I think, be considered an evident allusion to the passage of the Red Sea, and the destruction of the proud Egyptian king: Job xxvi. 11, 12: "The pillars of heaven tremble, and are astonished at his reproof. He divideth the sea with his power; and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud." These, with several others that might be adduced, are presumptive proofs that the writer of this book lived after the giving and establishment of the law, if not much later, let Job himself live when he might. See other proofs in the notes.

to visit and mourn with him.

A. M. cir. 2484.

Ante I. Ol.

cir. 744. Ante U.C. c.767.

B. C. cir. 1520. AGAIN there was a GAIN there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.

2 And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. 3 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou

a Ch. i. 6. Ch. i. 7.,- e Ch. i. 1,8.- d Ch. xxvii. 5,6.

NOTES ON CHAP. II.

Verse 1. Again there was a day] How long this was after the former trial, we know not: probably, one whole year, when, as the Targum intimates, it was the time of the annual atonement; which, if so, must have been at least one whole year after the former; and during which period the patience and resignation of Job had sufficient scope to show themselves. This appearance of the sons of God and Satan is to be understood metaphorically-there could be nothing real in it—but it is intended to instruct us in the doctrine of the existence of good and evil spirits; that Satan pursues man with implacable enmity, and that

Ch. i. 11.

5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch e Heb. to swallow him up.- f Ch. ix. 17.he can do no man hurt, either in his person or property, but by the especial permission of God; and that God gives him permission only when he purposes to overrule it for the greater manifestation of his own glory, and the greater good of his tempted followers.

Verse 3. To destroy him without cause.] Thou wishedst me to permit thee to destroy a man whose sins have not called for so heavy a judgment. This seems to be the meaning of this saying. The original word, was leballeo, signifies to swallow down or devour; and this word St. Peter had no doubt in view in the place quoted on verse 7 of the preceding chapter: Your adversary the devil goeth about as a roaring lion,

seeking whom he may DEVOUR; (ŋtwv, tiva Kataπig, sking whom he may SWALLOW or GULP DOWN. See the note on 1 Pet. v. 8.

Verse 4. Skin for skin] That is, A man will part with all he has in the world to save his life; and he will part with all by piecemeal, till he has nothing left on earth, and even be thankful, provided his life be spared. Thou hast only destroyed his property; thou hast left him his life and his health. Thou hast not touched his flesh nor his bone; therefore he is patient and resigned. Man, through the love of life, will go much farther: he will give up one member to save the rest; yea, limb after limb, as long as there is hope that, by such sacrifices, life may be spared or prolonged. This is the meaning given to the passage by the Targum; and, I believe, the true one: hence, ver. 7, the Lord says, Save his life.

Verse 5. He will curse thee to thy face.] Literally, If he will not bless thee to thy face or appearances. His piety to thee will be always regulated by thy bounty to him. See the note on chap. i. 11.

Verse 6. But save his life.] His body thou shalt have permission to afflict, but against his life thou shalt have no power; therefore take care of his life. The original, naphsho shemor, may be translated, keep his soul: but the word also signifies life; yet in the hands of the destroyer the life of this holy man is placed! How astonishing is the economy of salvation! It is so managed, by the unlimited power and skill of God, that the grand adversary of souls becomes himself, by the order of God, the preserver of that which the evil of his nature incessantly prompts him to destroy!

Verse 7. Sore boils] w bishchin ra, "with an evil inflammation." What this diabolical disorder was, interpreters are not agreed. Some think it was the leprosy; and this is the reason why he dwelt by himself, and had his habitation in an unclean place, without the city, (Septuagint, εĘw τŋs πoλews,) or in the open air: and the reason why his friends beheld him afar off, ver. 12, was because they knew that the disorder was infectious.

disease

His scraping himself with a potsherd indicates a accompanied with intolerable itching, one of the characteristics of the small pox. Query, Was it Bot this disorder? And in order to save his life (for that he had in especial command) did not Satan himself direct him to the cool regimen, without which, humanly speaking, the disease must have proved fatal In the elephantiasis and leprosy there is, pro

8 And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the

e

ashes.

with sores. A. M. cir. 2484. B C. cir. 1529. Ante I. Ol.

cir. 744. Ante U.C. c.767.

9 Then said his wife unto him, 'Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die. 10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What?

e 2 Sam. xiii. 19. Ch. xlii. 6. Ezek. xxvii. 30. Matt. xi. 21. f Ch. xxi. 15.- - Ver. 3.

perly speaking, no boil or detached inflammation, or swelling, but one uniform disordered state of the whole surface, so that the whole body is covered with loathsome scales, and the skin appears like that of the elephant, thick and wrinkled, from which appearance the disorder has its name. In the small pox it is different: each pock or pustule is a separate inflammation, tending to suppuration; and during this process, the fever is in general very high; and the anguish and distress of the patient intolerable. When the suppuration is pretty far advanced, the itching is extreme; and the hands are often obliged to be confined to prevent the patient from literally tearing his own flesh.

Verse 9. Then said his wife] To this verse the Septuagint add the following words: "Much time having elapsed, his wife said unto him, How long dost thou stand stedfast, saying, 'Behold, I wait yet a little longer looking for the hope of my salvation?' Behold thy memorial is already blotted out from the earth, together with thy sons and thy daughters, the fruits of my pains and labours, for whom with anxiety I have laboured in vain. Thyself also sittest in the rottenness of worms night and day, while I am a wanderer from place to place, and from house to house, waiting for the setting of the sun, that I may rest from my labours, and from the griefs which oppress me. Speak therefore some word against God, and die." We translate barech Elohim vamuth, Curse God, and die. barach is supposed to include in it the ideas of cursing and blessing; but it is not clear that it has the former meaning in any part of the sacred writings, though we sometimes translate it so.

ברך The verb

Here it seems to be a strong irony. Job was exceedingly afflicted, and apparently dying through sore disease; yet his soul was filled with gratitude to God. His wife, destitute of the salvation which her husband possessed, gave him this ironical reproof. Bless God, and die-What! bless him for his goodness, while he is destroying all that thou hast bless him for his support, while he is casting thee down and destroying thee! Bless on, and die.

The Targum says that Job's wife's name was Dinah, and that the words which she spake to him on this occasion were 7 berich meymera dayai umith. Bless the word of the Lord, and die.

Ovid has such an irony as I suppose this to have been: Quid vos sacra juvant? quid nunc Ægyptia prosunt Sistra ?

Job laments the

seven days] They were astonished at the unprecedented change which had taken place in the circumstances of this most eminent man: they could not reconcile his present situation with any thing they had met with in the history of divine providence. The seven days mentioned here were the period appointed for mourning. The Israelites mourned for Jacob seven days, Gen. 1. 10. And the men of Jabesh mourned so long for the death of Saul, 1 Sam. xxxi. 13. 1 Chron. x. 12. And Ezekiel sat on the ground with the captives at Chebar, and mourned with and for them seven days, Ezek. iii. 15. The wise son of

day of his birth. Sirach says, "Seven days do men mourn for him that is dead;" Ecclus. xxii. 12. So calamitous was the state of Job, that they considered him as a dead man ; and went through the prescribed period of mourning for him.

They saw that his grief was very great.] This is the reason why they did not speak to him: they believed him to be suffering for heavy crimes; and, seeing him suffer so much, they were not willing to add to his distresses by invectives or reproach. Job himself first broke silence.

1 Heb. answered.

b

b Ch. x. 18, 19. Jer. xv. 10. xx. 14.

Ch. x. 21, 22. xvi. 16. xxviii. 3. Ps. xxiii. 4. xliv. 19. cv. 10, 14. Jer. xiii, 16. Amos v. 8.- d Or, challenge it.

NOTES ON CHAP. III.

Verse 1. After this opened Job his mouth] After the seven days' mourning was over, there being no prospect of relief, Job is represented as thus cursing the day of his birth. Here the poetic part of the book begins; for most certainly there is nothing in the preceding chapters either in the form or spirit of Hebrew poetry. It is easy indeed to break the sentences into hemistichs; but this does not constitute them poetry: for, although Hebrew poetry is in general in hemistichs, yet it does not follow that the division of narratire into hemistichs must necessarily constitute it poetry. In many cases the Asiatic poets introduce their compositions with prose narrative; and having in this way prepared the reader for what he is to expect, begin their deevans, cassidehs, gazels, &c. This appears to be the plan followed by the author of this book. Those who still think, after examining the structure of those chapters, and comparing them with the undoubted poetic parts of the book, that they also, and the ten concluding verses, are poetry, have my consent, while I take the liberty to believe most decidedly the opposite.

Cursed his day.] That is, the day of his birth; and thus he gave vent to the agonies of his soul, and the distractions of his mind. His execrations have Smething in them awfully solemn, tremendously ep, and strikingly sublime. But let us not excuse the things which he said in his haste, and in the tterness of his soul, because of his former well estaEdhed character of patience. He bore all his privation with becoming resignation to the divine will and

Amos viii. 10.

providence: but now, feeling himself the subject of continual sufferings, being in heaviness through manifold temptation, and probably having the light of God withdrawn from his mind, as his consolations most undoubtedly were, he regrets that ever he was born; and in a very high strain of impassioned poetry curses his day. We find a similar execration to this in Jeremiah, chap. xx. 14-18, and in other places; which, by the way, are no proofs that the one borrowed from the other; but that this was the common mode of Asiatic thinking, speaking, and feeling, on such occasions.

The

Verse 3. There is a man child conceived.] word harah signifies to conceive; yet here, it seems, it should be taken in the sense of being born, as it is perfectly unlikely that the night of conception should be either distinctly known or published.

Verse 4. Let that day be darkness] The meaning is exactly the same with our expression, "Let it be blotted out of the calendar." However distinguished it may have been, as the birth-day of a man once celebrated for his possessions, liberality, and piety, let it no longer be thus noted; as he who was thus celebrated is now the sport of adversity, the most impoverished, most afflicted, and most wretched of human beings.