11. "The pillars of the heavens tremble, "And are stounded at his rebuke".

12. " By his might he moveth the sea",

66

13. "

By his skill he breaketh down the disturbed

By his spirit the heavens beam' brightness, "His hand hath bent the darting serpent.

deep.'

14. "Lo, these are the remote extremities of his ways! "And how mere a whisper do we hear from him? "Ay, the thunder of his power, who perceiveth?" That is to say, all that the heavens declare of God, and all that the firmament showeth of his handywork, can discover to us but a very small

Or, at his coercive call.' The meaning is plain from the Psalmist," at thy rebuke they flee: at the voice of thy thunder they are afraid."

Commovit.' SIM. LEX. According to others, 'he stilleth,' or, 'causeth to return to rest.'

• Perhaps, stampeth down, " percussit pede terram, vel rem aliquam percussit, percutiendo fregit."

cœli dicuntur pulchritudo, posito abstracto pro concreto, i. e. pulcherrimi, vel, ex significatione radicis Arab.: nitissimi. SIM. LEX.

Or, the fleeing serpent,' the serpent who would shoot straight forward and escape, but is bent into a circle, his tail put into his mouth, so that he cannot flee. This is supposed to denote the sun's path, or zodiac, painted on the ancient spheres, as the serpent above described. Mr. Good renders these two verses, supposing the waters in the heavens still to be meant:

By his might he maketh the waters flash,
And by his skill he cleaveth the tempest ;
By his spirit hath he garnished the heavens,
His hand incurvated the flying serpent.

"i. e. By his might he kindleth up the thunder-storm, the electric flash darteth from quarter to quarter, the tempest is cloven in every direction, the clouds are disburdened of their waters, the garnished heavens appear in all their brilliancy, the glorious sun is beheld traversing the serpentine ecliptic."

portion of the ways and proceedings of God. They are, as it were, the most distant' and 'detached parts' of the immense whole. All we have heard of him is but a mere whisper;' or, perhaps, the comparison is, to the scarcely-heard muttering of the very distant storm, contrasted with the mighty thunderings heard by those who are near the spot where the tempest is suspended.

SECTION XVI.

Job continues his discourse, recapitulating the Arguments of his Friends respecting a present retributive Providence. He compares their Statement to the Mirage or Watery Delusion of the Desert.

Chap. xxvii. Ver. 1. AND Job continued to carry on his parable, and said:

2. As El liveth, he hath turned aside my right!

a

And Shaddai hath made me to be at variance with it!

THE impiety of this bold and unqualified assertion is afterwards reproved. Job, provoked by the accusations of his friends, is not only not content with utterly denying their position, that there is just retribution of good and evil to be discerned in this present life; but asserts, upon his solemn oath, that, in his own case, there has been a complete reversion of this rule, whatever his friends may think, in the proceedings of Providence. God had turned aside from him his right, upon their scheme; so that he did not possess it: that is, what had

• Vide Simon in, fluctuavit, variavit, mutavit, commutavit, permutavit.'

been his right, according to a righteous judgment pronounced upon his character; nay, he was placed in a situation at direct variance with it, by the calamitous judgments which had befallen him. What, upon his friend's principles, should have been his just recompense, was exchanged' for one totally different. He had lived a pious and virtuous life, and he now sustained the punishment of a criminal. As the original expresses it, the Almighty had exchanged him,' and placed him in other handsalienating him from his just inheritance.

3. For, so long as my breath is in me,

And the breath of Eloah is in my nostrils, 4. My lips shall not speak what is wrong, Nor shall my tongue utter deceit.

This is still in the form of an oath-" God do so to me, and more also;" or, God hold me to the curse pronounced, if my lips shall, &c.

5. God forbid, that I should pronounce you in the right! Till I expire, I will not give up my integrity.

Very far be it from me; I abhor it as most untrue, that I should justify, or pronounce you to be right in your assertions, that for my crimes I justly suffer these things. Though I were on my deathbed, I would not cease to maintain, that I have ever preserved a virtuous and religious character entire and uncontaminated.

6. I have held fast my righteousness, and I will not give it up;

My heart shall not be stripped of it while I live.

7. My opponent shall be as the condemned,

And he that standeth up against me as the offender.

The terms here used are all in relation to a judicial proceeding, Job supposing himself to be maintaining his integrity before a competent tribunal. He insists that he shall be justified, his accuser will be condemned, and lose his cause.

8. For, what is the expectation of the profane, that he shall be cut off?

-That Eloah will take away his soul?

The argument is, you insist upon a visibly retributive justice in the affairs of men; and, on the certainty of this position, have, without hesitation, concluded my guilt from my afflictions. But, in point of fact, where shall we find the practical conviction that mankind have of the truth and certainty of this position? What 'expectation,'' impression,' or abiding thought' upon his mind, has the wicked, irreligious man, that God will cut him. off for his sins, and suddenly demand his soul of him? Little or none. But how could this be the case, if such a retribution, as you suppose, were known to be universal or common? So, on the other hand :

9. Is El wont to hear his

cry,

When affliction shall come upon him,

10. If he will ingratiate himself with Shaddai, Will call upon Eloah continually?

Is it a matter of fact, that when a man, or this wicked man, repenting him of his sins, supplicates God, in the time of his affliction, with all the humi

See in Simon, "abscindet instar fili, (Coll. Jes. 38, 12.) scil. Deus animam ejus (quod sequitur).

liation and perseverance which you have prescribed to me, that God doth actually hear, and visibly answer, his prayer? This, according to your principles, should be the case; but is it so?

Alas! how little do you, my severe criminators, know, how little can you inform me, respecting the proceedings of the Almighty! From what I have got to relate, you may correct your error, and attain to a more just conception of the mystery of God's providence.

11. I will instruct you concerning the hand of El;

What is with Shaddai I will not conceal.

In order, therefore, to refute the wrong notions which his friends entertained of the dealings of God, Job, still referring to facts which they could not but have known, appeals to themselves, whether their principles, which he summarily relates, were not practically proved to be altogether a false theory respecting Providence?

12. Lo, you have yourselves all of you been eye-witnesses! Why, therefore, would you vainly raise a vapoury

delusion?

You know, from your own experience in life, that the scheme of Providence is not as you state it. It is a vain and false imagination of your own, which you have, with deceit and falsehood, stated against me, in order to condemn me. As the ori

Or, hann ban, "vainly imagine this unreality."

Vaporize a vapour,' or 'delusively swell out the mirage,' or vision of water in the desert. Vapor ille, aquæ non absimilis, super arenâ deserti apparens, quo peregrinatores, aquam sitientes, sæpe cum vitæ suæ periculo falluntur. SIM, Lex, Heb.