26. That I looked for good, but evil came;

And expected light, but there came thick darkness ? This he suggests; admitting, that the absence of tender pity for the sufferings of others might be a sufficient cause to have induced God to cast down the unfeeling man, too secure in his prosperity. So thought the brethren of Joseph, when their conscience told them that God had visited upon them their iniquity: "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us." Job had not only no accusing conscience in this respect, but could boast an exemplary conduct through life, testifying a very opposite disposition. Prosperity had not hardened his heart, he had ever been full of compassion and tender feeling towards the afflicted.

27. My bowels boiled, and rested not,

'When' before me was the day of affliction. 28. I went mourning without a covering;

I arose in the assembly, and cried aloud!

But

That is, I have been so moved at the sight of another's distress, that I could not suppress my feelings, or conceal my griefs, or restrain myself in the presence of the public assembly-as it follows -so much did I take it to heart.

29. A brother was I to the Tanim",

And a companion to the daughters of the dirge.

non, from the Chaldee' to hide,'' shelter.'

b Dan canis ferus, medium tenens inter canem et vulpem, vel lupum et vulpem.

clamor, aby clamare, canere, [in specie cecinit cer

Tanim is sometimes applied to the monstrous productions of the deep, and to some species of serpents; but, most probably, it is used in this place as a term for the jackalls, or some other animals of that kind. By the daughters of the dirge,' or of the responsive song,' some suppose the female

ostrich' to be meant; others, with more probability, the owls.' The reference to these animals, in the passage before us, is evidently on account of their doleful cry, from which peculiarity they afforded emblems of the piteous mourner. Such, Job would intimate, was he wont to be, when he witnessed the distresses of others. And he means, in the two next lines, to describe the strongest effects which could be produced by pity and sensibility on the human frame.

30. My skin was black upon me,

And my bones were burnt up with heat:

31. And my harp was exchanged' for lamentation, And my pipe for the cry of them that weep.

This is certainly a most striking picture of a keen sensibility to the affliction of others. Job could say, that he had wept with them that weep,' and had ever most feelingly interested himself on behalf of others in their distress. His conscience, therefore, tells him, it is not for want of having exercised pity and compassion, that these sad reverses have overtaken him.

Again, he suggests other delinquencies, which

tatim et per responsoria-clamare ita ut alter alteri respondit,] daughter of the doleful song,' or 'responsive chant,' used at funeral solemnities, may well apply to the owl.

might be supposed to have brought on him these judgments; but he declares his innocence of them: so that they are not the reason.

Chap. xxxi. Ver. 1. I made a covenant with mine eyes; And in what manner would I suffer myself to think on a virgin a.

To make a covenant with,' implies a solemn engagement, religiously entered into with another, to do or not to do something, and the engagement was called a covenant, because it was sanctioned by the sacred rites of the institution of revealed religion, which went by that name. It may be compared, as has been observed, to the oath on the sacrament of later ages. It means here, that Job made a firm resolution, a solemn engagement, as it were, with himself, that he would not indulge an adulterous gaze. The second line, I think, expresses more: how often would he check his imagination, and not suffer the thoughts of his heart to dwell upon the consideration of a proposed object of temptation! Whether or no Job had apprehended the spiritual meaning of the seventh commandment, as explained by our Lord,-for the matter of the law was written upon his heart,-he evidently knew that commandment to extend to every species of fornication, and that the only security of his purity was to withdraw his eyes from temptation, and to restrain the imagination of his

Se intelligentem exhibuit.' I can find no proof that n may be rendered ' ut ne,' as Noldius and Mr. Good have supposed.

heart. This course had Job pursued, and he had been preserved from falling. Yet what had his chastity availed him; he now endured the punishment of the seducer or corrupter?

2. Yet what is the allotment of Eloah from above, And the inheritance of Shaddai from on high? 3. Is it not the heavy affliction of the wicked,

a

And the dire calamity of the workers of iniquity?

I have not been guilty of this crime, yet what is the portion which God has allotted me?-According to your hypothesis, it is the very judgment with which God is wont to punish the wicked; and hence you have pronounced me to be a wicked man!

Job next proceeds, with solemn appeal to God, to clear himself of every charge of hypocrisy, deceit, dishonesty, and corruption.

4. Can he not see my path,

And survey all my steps?

5. If I have walked with falsehood,

And my feet have hasted after deceit ;

6. Let him weigh me on the balance of justice, And Eloah will know my integrity.

7. If my step should have turned from this path, And my heart have gone after my eyes,

Or a blot had cleaved to my hands;

8. I might have sowed, and another have eaten, And my offspring have been rooted up.

If the fact were, that I had deviated from this path of justice and equity; if I had indulged my

amalum, durum infortunium, ex significatione rad. Arab.

, difficile, durus fuit,' it. infelix fuit.-SIM. LEX.

Mr. Good translates, "Yea, a fate unknown to the workers of iniquities."

own wishes, to the violation of this right between man and man; or if to my dealings had attached the stain of bribery, or of extortion; then, indeed, according to your scheme of providence, what has happened to me, the loss of all my labours, and the destruction of my children, might have happened as a just retribution. But God knows my innocency. 9. If my heart had been enticed after a woman,

And I had lain wait at the door of my neighbour; 10. Had my wife been debased to another, And had others lain with her;

11. This, truly, had been wicked lewdness";

Ay, this had been a crime demanding justice.

12. This, truly, had been a fire that might have consumed to destruction,

And might have rooted up all my increase.

Supposing, as you assert, inflictions to be the punishments for sin; if I had been guilty of these abominable crimes, then, indeed, I might well have expected, in the way of justice, punishments like those which I now endure. But, though I suffer these afflictions, I have not been such a wretch. 13. If I had despised the right of my servant,

Or of my maid, when they contended with me, 14. Then, what could I do, when El should arise?

And when he should visit, what could I answer? 15. Did not he, who made me in the womb, make him? Did not the same fashion us in the birth"?

.כרע and טהן See Simon on •

For the particular force of 1, compare Levit. xviii. 17. with Judges xx. 6.

by, literally, an iniquity of judges,' iniquitas judicialis, i. e. dignam, in quam a judice inquiratur et animadver

tatur.

d Or, "cherish us in the matrix."