Job

Chapter 1

Ver. 1. There was a man] A notable man, a man by an excellency, and with an accent (as it were), a man of high degree ( Animo virili praeditus), as the word Ish signifieth, #Ps 49:2 62:9 (where it is opposed to Adam, utpote quem ex meliore luto finxit Titan), a manly man, every way excellent and eximious: Magnus et admirabilis vir, &c. A great and marvellous man, if it be fit to call him by the name of a man, as Chrysostom speaketh of Babylas the martyr. Basil, in his sermon of the forty martyrs, calleth them the stars of the world, and the flowers of the Churches, αστερας της οικουμενης, ανθη των εκκλησιων. Chrysostom, speaking of those that were praying for Peter, #Ac 12:12, saith that Puriores caelo afflictione facti sunt, by their afflictions they were become clearer than the azured sky; and elsewhere, falling into speech of some religious men of his time, he doubteth not, for their holy and heavenly conversation, to style them Αγγελους, angels. That Job deserved this high title, as well as the best of them, we have here, and otherwise, God’s own testimony of him, and this whole Book, whereof he is the principal object, doth abundantly prove him a hero, Daemonium hominis et miraculum naturae, ut de Scaligero non nemo dixit, a supernatural man and of miraculous nature so that anyone said concerning Scaliger. τρισμακαρες τε κασιγνητοι τε, κασιγνηται τε (Hem. Odys.).

In the land of Uz] Which, what it was, and where situated, though our maps show us not, yet, by the consent of all, it was a country bordering upon Idumea in part, and part upon Arabia. See #La 4:21 Jer 25:20. Chrysostom testifieth that Job’s sepulchre hath been showed in Arabia; which might well have been called happy, if but for having such an inhabitant. Ptolemy placeth the Hussites in Arabia.

Whose name was Job] It is, then, a true and real history that we here have of him, and not a fiction or a moral parable, as some have believed. See a double testimony for this, the one prophetical, #Eze 14:14, the other apostolical, #Jas 5:11, and such a well twined cord is not easily broken. What if Josephus make no mention in his history of such a man? it was beside his purpose to write anything but what concerned the Jews. Aristeus in his History of the Jews maketh Job to be descended of Esau, and to dwell in Idumea. The Jewish doctors and some of the fathers of the Church make him to be that Jobab mentioned #Ge 36:33. True it is that the words differ much in the Hebrew writing; but for that, while he prospered, he might be called Jobab; when in distress (which lasted twelve months, say the Hebrews, seven years, saith Suidas) contracted into Job. See the like #Ru 1:20 Ge 17:5. Some make him to be much more ancient, viz. the same with that Jobab who was the son of Joktan, the nephew of Eber, #1Ch 1:25,26, and that himself was penman of this Book. He doth indeed wish that his words were written in a book; and haply he and his friends, laying their heads together, might write this history; and that in hexameters for most part, as Jerome thinketh. But that it was by inspiration of God is testified not only by the divine grandeur and majesty of the style, together with the intrinsical excellency and efficacy of the matter, but also by the concurrent testimony of not a few other Scriptures, sufficiently asserting the authenticity and authority of this Book. The common opinion is that it was written by Moses, while he abode as a stranger among the Midianites, for the comfort of his poor countrymen, groaning under the Egyptian servitude; or else, that this history, written at first by Job and his friends in prose, was afterwards by Moses put into verse, and embellished with the most rich ornaments, and the most glittering figures of poetry. Sure it is, saith Senault (Preface to his Paraphrase), that there is no book in the world where the manner of speaking is more noble, the conceits more generous, the descriptions more rich, and the comparisons more natural. Sometimes the author reasoneth like an excellent philosopher, oftentimes like a profound divine; but always like an orator, and his eloquence never leaveth him.

And that man was perfect] That is, upright (as it followeth next) and sincere, without guile or gall, a pattern of patience, a standing rule to all ages; and therefore (in God’s acceptation and account) "perfect and entire, wanting nothing," #Jas 1:4, because in him patience had her perfect work, as much as mortality would afford, Tamim de victimis perfectis et immaculatis dicitur. The upright, it is said concerning perfect and spotless victim. It was but an unsavoury speech of him, who when he was persuaded to be patient as Job was, replied, What tell you me of Job? Job never had any suits in Chancery. No, but he had far sharper trials; and if he had been judge in that court (as he was in his own country, #Job 29:12,17) he would have made as good despatch there as ever Sir Thomas More did, who calling once for the next cause, was answered, that there Was none.

And upright] More resembling Jacob, that plain hearted man, than Esau, his great grandfather. Of the word here used (Jesher) Israel was called Jeshurun, #De 32:15 33:5,26 Isa 44:2, because God requireth uprightness (which he calleth perfection, #De 18:13, and there is a great Tau in the word Tamim, {Hebrew Text Note} to show that an upright man keepeth the whole law from the first to the last letter thereof), and where he findeth it, reckoneth Jether, an Ishmaelite, #1Ch 7:38, to be a very good Israelite, #2Sa 17:25, and Job, the Idumean, a very good Christian; such a one as Apelles was, #Ro 16:10, approved in Christ (Buxtorf).

And one that feared God] With an amicable, not servile, fear, such as was that of those mongrels who feared him for his lions, and are therefore said not to have feared him, #2Ki 17:32-34. Job so lived with men as if God saw him, and so spake with God as if men overheard him Sic vive cum hominibus, tanquam Deus videat. Sic loquere cum Deo, &c. So live with men just as to see God. so to speak with God …( Sen.). Thence it was that seldom or never did any man see him doing or hear him speaking but what was good and godly, as Xenophon saith of Socrates; thence it was that be never did well that he might appear to do so, sed quia aliter facere non potuit (as Velleius saith of Cato), but because, acting by this principle of God’s fear, he could not do otherwise: for the fear of the Lord is pure, #Ps 19:9, and men do perfect holiness in the fear of God, #2Co 7:1.

And eschewed evil] He must needs do so that feareth God, the greatest good, since sin is the greatest evil, and stands in full opposition to him. Job, therefore, stands in awe, and sins not, he studiously declines evil, as he would do a serpent in his way, or poison in his food. And this he did, not in a land of uprightness, where the fear of God was in fashion; but among profane Esauites, in the midst of a crooked and corrupt generation, as Noah in the old world, Lot in Sodom, Joseph in Egypt, Elijah amidst the Baalites, or as an orient star shining with fulness of heavenly light, and fixed in the region of happiness, though seen sometimes in a well, in a puddle, in a stinking ditch.

Ver. 2. And there were born unto him seven sons] This was a main part of his prosperity, to have such a numerous issue to build up his house and to heir his estate, though it proved to be luctuosa fecunditas, mournful fertility, as Jerome said Laeta’s was, who lived to see her children buried before her. Job’s children are spoken of before his wealth, because better valued; and yet after this fearing God and eschewing evil, to show (saith Fetus) that he was not like the men of these times, who, if they have many children, will take any evil course to get something for them, and think it a sufficient plea against works of piety or charity that they have many children to provide for. But such should know that not getting, but giving, is the way to thrive; neither can men better lay up for their children than by laying it out upon the backs and bellies of God’s poor, to whom he that giveth shall not lack, #Pr 28:27, that is a bargain of God’s own making; this the righteous knowing, "is merciful, and lendeth, and his seed is blessed," #Ps 37:26, when the wicked wretch’s riches "perish by evil travail, and he begetteth a son, and there is nothing in his hand," #Ec 5:14. I read of a graceless son who, after his father’s death, finding his hoard of money and evil gotten wealth, cried out, O faithful drudge! and he soon made a hand of it.

And three daughters] Hopeful and towardly; not like those of Augustus Caesar, whom, for the evil courses they took, he was wont to term them three pussful abscesses and ulcerous sores, wishing that either he had lived a bachelor or died childless, Tres vomicas trio carcinomata (Sueton.); but rather like those of Charles the Great, who so pleased him, that he could not at any time be well without their company, nor find in his heart to part with them, though it were to be well married.

Ver. 3. His substance also] Heb. His possession or acquisition, that stock and store which he had gotten, and was rightly possessed of, consisting very much in cattle, great and small ( Possessio maxime pecuaria. Nomen dictum est ab acquirendo, Merc.), his possessions were mostly in sheep. His name was said from acquiring. for money in was not then in so great request as now, when it is become the monarch, and bears the mastery, Regina pecunia, Queen of money, as he saith; In precio precium nunc est, saith another. We read not of Job’s gold, silver, tapestry, rich furniture (saith Origen), and other accoutrements, now much used and valued, but not so of old. Heretofore in this island of ours (saith Hollingshed) in a good farmer’s house it was rare to find four pieces of pewter; and it was accounted a great matter that a farmer could show five shillings or a noble together in silver; and if the goodman of the house had a mattress or flock bed, and a sack of chaff to rest his head on, he thought himself as well lodged as the lord of the town, &c. Hollingshed further saith, that some old men he knew who told of such times in England, no longer ago.

Was seven thousand sheep] He had most of that most profitable creature, good both ad esum and ad usum; for eating and using; therefore also in sacrifices was no creature so frequently offered.

And three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen] sc. To carry his servants and his baggage, to export and import commodities; for

Nec vero terrae ferre omnes omnia possunt.

And truly, the lands are not able to bear all his possessions.

And five hundred she asses] To plough his ground with, for great men were anciently much addicted to husbandry (as Uzziah, #2Ch 26:10), which Socrates called Amaltheae cornu, the horn of plenty; and the Romans reckoned, that grain was with them never so cheap as when men were fetched from the plough tail to govern the Commonwealth, quasi gauderet terra laureato vomere, et aratro triumphali (Plin.). But now the case is otherwise, as Beza upon this text complaineth; that husbandry and shepherdy are left for the basest and simplest men, and for such as all others might prey upon. And this bringeth into my mind, saith he, that which once I saw painted in a table, where the nobleman had this posy, By my sword I defend you all; the clergyman, By my prayers I preserve you all; the countryman, I feed you all, lastly, the lawyer, I devour you all. Pellican noteth here, that Job had no horses, because he lived lovingly with his neighbours, not warring upon any: the horse is a warlike creature, prepared for the day of battle. But Beza noteth, that in that country they had little use of horses, as using camels to bear burdens, and asses to ride on. See #Jud 5:10 10:4.

And a very great household] Great store of servants he had about him, and himself was the greatest, according to that of the Greek poet (wherewith Luther was so taken, that he translated it in certain rhythms),

Εις εστι δουλος οικιας ο δεσποτης.

Some render it, He had very much husbandry; others, He had great doings in the world; the more was his trouble (it is not the great cage that maketh the bird sing; and abroad, she singeth not on the ground, but when got in the air, or on the top of trees; so is it with the saints), and the greater was his praise, that he could handle his thorns and not prick his fingers; have so much to do with the world, and yet not grow worldly-minded.

Difficile est opibus non tradere mores,

Et cum tot Croesos viceris, esse Numam.

It is difficult is not to surrender morals for wealth, and when so many Croesos’ excel, to be a Numa. (Second king of Rome who reformed their society and religion.)

So that this man was the greatest, &c.] A king; some say, the first king of Edom, but that’s uncertain; he might be a private man, and yet a very rich man; such as was Pythias, who was once able to entertain Xerxes and his two millions of men for three days, and yet died a beggar, and was famished. He was impoverished by his own folly and prodigality; but Job, by the immediate hand and good pleasure of God, for his trial, and for exercise of his patience. This commendeth unto us Job’s constancy and magnanimity, which is so much the more wonderful, by how much this change was not only not self acquired, but altogether unexpected; his sun went down suddenly, at high noon; and when he doubted least he was made a mirror of misfortune; as if God and men, heaven and earth, were set against him. In him it appeared that mortality was but the stage of mutability, and that,

Omnia sunt hominum tenui pendentia filo;

Et subito casu, quae valuere, ruunt.

All things of men are hanging down on a feeble string; and suddenly overthrown, which to value is their ruin.

Ver. 4. And his sons went and feasted in their houses] They were of ripe years; and although unmarried, yet had they their several houses to dwell in. This declareth not only the wealthiness of the family, but also the good order and government thereof, as Beza observeth. Their orderly intercourse of friendly feasting one another shows their mutual love, concord, and agreement, by this means testified and increased. For wine hath (as one long since observed) ελκυστικον τι προς φιλιαν, an attractive power in it to make and keep friendship; and from the drinking of wine the word here used for a feast hath its denomination ( החשׁמ.) We may not think that they did thus every day, as that glutton the Gospel; or that in their banquets they used any excess, as the manner is of riotous and intemperate persons; for they had been better bred, and they observed this order with great modesty and discretion. They went and feasted; that is, they did it readily and cheerfully, that brotherly love might continue; for— Fratrum quoque gratia rara est. Favour has been rare between bothers. The devil doth what he can to cast a bone between brethren, to make those that should love most dearly to hate one another most deadly. See this exemplified in Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, Joseph and his brethren, Joram and his, Romulus and Remus, Caracalla and Geta, Robert and Rufus, the two sons of William the Conqueror, Polynices and Eteocles, &c. And when such are once out, "A brother offended" (saith Solomon) "is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle," which, being strong, will neither bow nor yield, #Pr 18:19. All good means, therefore, must be used to prevent them, and to preserve that amity and unity which the psalmist doth so magnify, #Ps 133:1-3, and concludeth, that there God commandeth the blessing, and life for evermore; that is, constant happiness perpetuated in and by a blessed posterity. The number of two hath been accounted accursed, because it was the first that departed from unity.

And sent and called for their three sisters] That their number and amity might be complete. This was no small joy to Job, that his children were so kind one to another. It is reckoned as a piece of his happiness; that which was denied to Abraham and Isaac (though fathers only of two children), to Jacob also, and Samuel, and David, Constantine the Great, and many others; whose children, through ambition, pride, covetousness, envy, evil surmises, &c., have been at odds, nay, at deadly feud among themselves. Beza upon these words observeth, that the sisters kept not with their brethren, but had their dwelling apart from them; which was both more seemly and more safe, as also more agreeing with maidenly shamefacedness. Neither is it said, that Job’s sons sent for any other women; yea, the sisters came not over boldly to the banquets of their brethren, although they knew them to be men of a sober and honest disposition.

Ver. 5. And it was so, that when the days of their feasting were gone about] Such was his holy care of them, and jealousy over them, that he would defer the work no longer; as knowing that sin will rankle in the conscience, and harden the heart, like poison in the body, it must be quickly cast up, ere it get to the vitals.

That Job sent and sanctified them] Though they were grown up, yet he kept them in awe, as appears by his command to sanctify themselves against the sacrifice, Ut se parent et purgent. So he nourished and purified theme. So did not Eli, but honoured his untoward sons above God, even then when those lewd lowlies kicked at his sacrifice, and at his offering which he had commanded in his habitation, #1Sa 2:29. Job knew that he was bound as well to the preservation, as to the observation, of God’s commandments, to see that others (those especially of his familiarity and family) keep them as well as himself. When, therefore, the circle of days and feasting was finished, he waited not till the eighth day came, but at the end of the seventh he summoneth all his children to come before the Lord in holy duties, with the best preparations they could make; to wash their hands in innocence before they compassed God’s altar, #Ps 26:6; to repent of their immoderations in mirth, or whatsoever other guilt they had any way contracted; lest he cast back their services as dirt upon their faces. The heathens, by the light of nature, saw that God was not to be served slightly and slubberingly. The Pythagoreans would not have men worship by the by, but make it their business, and prepare for it aforehand. And Numa Pompilius, second king of Rome, commanded that men should not worship God for fashion, carelessly, and as doing somewhat else; but freed from all other cares and cumbers, ουκ ες παραδω προσκυνειν, αλλα οικοθεν παρασκευασαμενοι. ουκ εν παρεργω και αμελως, &c. (Plut.). The Jews had their preparation and their forepreparation to the passover (παρασκευη, προπαρασκευη): and as any man measureth to God in preparation, God will measure to him again in blessing.

And rose up early in the morning] Sanctificat, sanat, ditat quoque surgere mane. Sanctify, heal, enrich also to rise in the morning. The morning is the best time for holy duties. God should have the first of everything; then, also, men are freshest and freest from worldly businesses. The Philistines arose early to do sacrifice to their Dagon, or Tritan, as other heathens called him. They generally took the top of the morning ( utpote quod παν εργον οφελλει) to offer to their dung hill deities, as holding that then they sat in their temples, and took notice of morning salutations. Homer brings in Nestor sacrificing in the morning; so do the Roman historians their Potitii and Pinarii, offering to Hercules upon their greatest altar of all. Argonauts do the like in Apollonius; and the Persian magi were wont to worship the rising sun with their early hymns.

And offered burnt offerings] Whole burnt offerings, not sacrifice only (as the Greek interpreter hath it), nor peace offerings, whereof himself might have had part; but burnt offerings, that were offered in fire unto God, and that according to the number of his sons; not one general family sacrifice only, but for every one, one. It appeareth, then, that Job was no penny father, no niggard in God’s service, but lavished money out of the bag, and thought all too little that way. So did Solomon in that greatest sacrifice that ever we read of, #1Ki 8:63, and his father David, when, out of his poverty, as he calleth it, he had prepared for the house of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver, &c., which Sir Walter Raleigh casteth up to be more than any king in the world is worth; this is check to our tenacity and baseness (Hist. of the World, Part II., cap. 17, sect. 9).

For Job said] viz. In his heart, for God understandeth the language of the heart also, #Ps 139:1 Ge 20:11.

It may be that my sons have sinned] Or, lest haply. He well knew the corruption of man’s nature, wherein there is a πανσπερμια, seed place of all sins. He knew also how easily we overshoot ourselves at merry meetings, and give too much liberty to our tongues and appetites to run riot. He, therefore, seeks pardon for his children’s suspected sins; he knew, besides unavoidable and involuntary infirmities (such as none are free from), they might be called to an account by a just and jealous God for their other men’s sins, which they had not bewailed, #1Co 5:2, or not rebuked, at least by their countenance, as God doth, #Ps 80:16. Job was a man of a tender conscience, and therefore propounds to himself the worst; neither was it against charity in him to suspect ill of his children, while he intended their good, and turned his suspicion into a supplication. That his children were godly is put out of question, by his being at a question whether they had sinned. But how then doth it follow?

And cursed God in their hearts] And not blessed God, so Calvin rendereth it; not done him right, and therefore wrong, so Sanctius; they have not high and honourable conceptions of him, answerable to his excellent greatness; but, by base and bald thoughts, cast him, as it were, into a dishonourable mould, and not giving him the glory due to his name, that holy and reverend name, #Ps 111:9; great and dreadful among the heathen, #Mal 1:14. In the Hebrew it is, And blessed God, for cursed, by an euphemismus or antiphrasis; as when a harlot is called Kedesha, a holy woman, by contraries. So auri sacra (i.e. execranda) fames. sacrifice of gold (i.e. a curse) famine, The Hebrews so abhorred blasphemy against God, as they would not have the sound of it to be joined to the name of God, whom they commonly call Baruc-hu, the blessed one. So they would not take the name of leaven (that prohibited ware) into their mouths all the time of the feast of the passover (Elias Thisb.). So in their common talk they call a sow dabhar achar, another thing, because they were forbidden to eat swine’s flesh.

Thus did Job continually] Heb. all the days; that is, in the renewed seasons, he was not weary of well doing, but steadfast and unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, always renewing his repentance, and faith in Christ, figured by those sacrifices; for the ceremonial law was their gospel.

Ver. 6. Now there was a day] Haply that day wherein Job’s children were feasting their last. The Rabbis say the first day of the year, and some say the Sabbath day; but who told them so? This is to intrude into things which they have not seen, #Col 2:18, and whereof there is neither proof nor profit. Certain it is, that as God hath before all beginnings decreed all things, so he hath set and assigned the times or seasons which he hath put in his own power, #Ac 1:7, when everything shall come to pass as himself hath appointed. Now then, saith Beza, the time being come which he prefixed for the actual accomplishing of that he had decreed concerning Job, he revealed the same to Satan (being before altogether ignorant thereof), as whom he had appointed to be the chief instrument in executing his will and purpose.

The sons of God] i.e. The elect angels, called the sons of God here and elsewhere; not because they are so by eternal generation, as Christ alone; nor by adoption and regeneration, as the saints, #Joh 1:12; but by creation (as Adam is called the son of God, #Lu 3:38) and resemblance: for they are made in God’s image, and are like him as his children, both in their substance, which is incorporeal, and in their excellent properties, which are life and immortality, blessedness and glory; wherein we shall one day be their equals, #Lu 20:36.

Came to present themselves] This is spoken in a low language, for our better apprehension, by allusion to the custom of earthly princes, and their attendants and officers coming to give an account, or receive directions. The angels are never absent from God, #Lu 1:19, but yet employed by him in governing the world, #Eze 1., and guarding the saints, #Heb 1:14. This the heathens hammered at, for both Plutarch and Proculus, the Platonist, say, that the angels do πορθμευειν, travel between heaven and earth, carrying the commands of God to men, and the desires of men to God, Iussa divina ferentes ad homines, et hominum vota ad deos.

And Satan came also among them] That old man slayer (envying Job’s holiness and happiness, as much as the good angels rejoiced in it and promoted it; for he was seen of angels of both sorts) would needs make one among those sons of God, not without God’s overruling power; although he regarded not so much God’s authority as wanted an opportunity and licence to do mischief. In reference to this history, George Marsh, martyr, in a certain letter of his, writeth thus to his friend: The servants of God cannot at any time come and stand before God, that is, lead a godly life, and walk innocently, but Satan comes also among them; that is, he daily accuseth, findeth fault, vexeth, persecuteth, and troubleth the godly, &c. Yet unless God do permit him, he can do nothing at all, not so much as enter into a filthy hog. But we are more of price than many hogs before God (Acts and Mon. fol. 1423).

Before the Lord] Or by, or near, the Lord. But can Satan come into the presence of God? Surely no otherwise (saith Mr Caryl, a grave divine) than a blind man can come into the sun: he cometh into the sun, and the sun shineth upon him, but he sees not the sun. Satan comes so into the presence of God, that he is always seen of God; he is never so in the presence of God as to see God.

Ver. 7. And the Lord said unto Satan] Either by forming and creating a voice in the air, as #Mt 3:17 Job 12:25, or by an inward word, after an unspeakable manner; manifesting his will, as he willed, to Satan. The schoolmen have great disputes about the speech of spirits, but this they agree in, that the intention of one spirit is as plain an expression of his mind by another spirit (when he hath a will that the other should understand it) as the voice of one man is to another.

Whence comest thou?] This the Lord asketh not as if he were ignorant; for he knows all things, and that from eternity, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open before his eyes, #Heb 4:13; yea, in him all things subsist, #Col 1:17, so that there can be no motion of the creature without his privity: God, therefore, thus interrogateth Satan, that he might show himself to be his judge, and that he might exact a confession out of his own mouth.

Then Satan answered the Lord] The word signifieth to speak in witness bearing, #Ex 20:16.

From going to and fro in the earth] He saith not, from instigating men to all manner of wickedness, from ranging up and down as a roaring lion, to devour souls, from sinning that sin against the Holy Ghost every moment, &c. All this he cunningly dissembleth, and saith, in effect, as once Gehazi did, Thy servant was nowhere, or for no hurt to any, when as he is never but doing mischief; as Pliny saith of the scorpion, that there is not one minute wherein it doth not put forth the sting. Is not the hand of Joab in this business? So, is not Satan in all the sins of the wicked, and in most of the troubles of the godly? Heu quam furit Satan, et impellit securos homines ad horrenda flagitia! &c., saith Luther. Oh how doth Satan range and rage, that he may glut himself with the blood of souls! In prosperity he makes men lay their hearts too near it, in adversity to lay it too near their hearts. Upon Job he tried both these stratagems.

And from walking up and down in it] A great peripatetic he is, and he walks the rounds; for he is yet a prisoner at large, only he hath his fetters upon his heels, #Jude 6, and in them he frisketh up and down, and fetcheth a circuit to spy faults, and to take advantages. Mr Broughton rendereth it, from searching to and fro in the earth, &c. Non dormitat semper vigil ille synagogae suae Episcopus, saith one, he is vigilant and diligent, restless and unquiet, as Cain (whom Amama calleth the devil’s patriarch) could settle nowhere, but ran up and down as a fugitive and a vagabond, #Ge 4:12. It is said, #Mt 12:45, that this unclean spirit walketh in dry places seeking rest and finding none. Not but that dry and wet are all one with him, but it importeth his restlessness. See the like #Jer 17:5, to run to and fro is the condition and curse of those that are once departed from God. "Take heed, brethren," saith the apostle, "lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God," and wandering after worldly vanities, #Heb 3:12. Take heed of giving, way to wilful distractions in holy duties. Men’s hearts are oft so divided and dissipated, that if after any duty they should put this question that God doth here to Satan, Whence comest thou? the answer should be, From compassing the earth, &c.

Ver. 8. Hast thou considered my servant Job] Job then was in God’s account a considerable person, and such a one as whose praise was not of men, but of God. Such are all godly people, but especially those that are eminent tall Christians; full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, as those Romans, #Job 15:14, men of choice spirits as Caleb, that walk up and down the world as so many conquerors, i #Joh 5:4, that are clothed with the sun, and tread upon the moon, #Re 12:1. These are men of mark, et undique spectabiles, worthy looking after. A man would have gone as far to have seen Luther as he in the story did to see Livy; or as the queen of Sheba did to see Solomon. A man would fetch such golden sentences as those he uttered upon his knees from Rome or Jerusalem, saith Mr Sam. Clark, that writeth his Life. "The tongue of the just is as choice silver: but the heart of the wicked is little worth," #Pr 10:20. Hence Antiochus is called a vile person, #Da 11:21, though a great potentate. And the prophet tells Joram, that wicked king of Israel, that but for Jehoshaphat’s sake (a better man) he would not have looked toward him, nor have seen him, #2Ki 3:14. Job was a man of weight, and great worth, as were those precious sons of Zion, #La 4:2. Didst thou not therefore make a stand at his door, saith God? seest thou not how he stands as a standard bearer? shines as a great light? shows forth in his whole practice such a power of godliness, as is sufficient either to draw hearts, or to daunt them? hast thou met with such a man in all thy circuit, that can quit himself so well and wisely in all estates, like as gold is purged in the fire, shineth in the water? seest thou not how all his principles, practices, and aims, are supernal and supernatural?

That there is none like him in the earth] This was a high praise indeed; and yet no hyperbole; he was a giant to other good people, who were but dwarfs and zanies to him, for growth of grace and height of holiness. He was the paragon of his time; and of unparalleled piety. As Ahab was a very nonsuch for wickedness, #1Ki 21:25, so was Job for goodness. As Hezekiah outstripped all the kings of Judah for his trusting in the Lord, #2Ki 18:5, and Josiah for his integrity, #2Ki 23:25, and the centurion for his heroic faith, Matt. viii., and Paul for his plus ultra, more in addition, #Php 3, and Ambrose, that, in Theodosius’s account, he was the only bishop (Αμβροσιον οιδα μονον επισκοπον αξιως καλουμενον); so it was here, Job was above others, as Saul was above the people by the head and shoulders. As he was the greatest, so the best man of all the children of the East, not a man came near him, and yet they might be dear to God nevertheless. But it is with good people as with Jonathan’s signal arrows; two fell short, and but one beyond the mark, &c. God hath his servants of all sorts and sizes; and est aliquid prodire tenus, &c.

A perfect and an upright man, &c.] A tough piece thou findest him, I suppose, and not easily malleable. Thou hast been doing at him, I doubt not, but canst do no good on it. Thou hast set thine heart upon him, and tried thine utmost skill to overturn him, but hast met with thy match, and been sent away without thine errand; thou hast but beat upon cold iron; thou hast struck fire, but without tinder; thou hast knocked at the door, but there was none within to open to thee. Thus God speaketh, to sting Satan; and (as it were) triumphing over his and Job’s adversary.

Ver. 9. Then Satan answered and said] Satan and his imps will ever have somewhat to say against the clear truth; their wits will better serve them to elude or withstand it, than their pride and malice will suffer them once to yield and acknowledge it. But what said Austin of the heretics of his time? Garriant illi, nos credamus, Let them chatter, let us belive. Let them talk their fill, and think it a great matter to have the last word; let us hold to our principles, and count it enough, that, with Demetrius, we have good report of all men, (or if not so, yet) of the truth itself, #3Jo 12.

Doth Job fear God for nought?] q.d. No such matter. Is there not a cause? as they said once; hath he not wages of the best? and are not thy retributions more than bouutiful? He may serve thee well enough for such price and pay, as he daily receiveth; he may swim well enough, when so held up by the chin. But the truth is, Job is a mere mercenary, and serveth God for hire; he serveth not God, but himself upon God; in a word, he is an arrant hypocrite, and a self seeker, such a one as doth in parabola ovis capras suas quaerere, to seek among his comparative sheep his nanny-goat, pretend piety to his own worldly respects, and serves God merely out of interest. A hypocrite indeed doth so, being therein like the eagle, which soareth aloft, not for any love of heaven; her eye is all the while upon the prey, which by this means she spieth sooner, and seizeth upon better. But how will Satan prove that Job is a hypocrite, since he cannot possibly know his heart? and did not the searcher of hearts acquit Job of this foul sin in Satan’s hearing, when he pronounced him perfect and upright, &c.? How impudent then is this accuser of the brethren! The best is, that we have an advocate with the Father, who puts by and non-suits all Satan’s accusations in the court of heaven, #1Jo 2:2. Yea, though Satan sometimes stand at the right hand of Joshua, #Zec 3:1, and may seem to have the better of him; yet here is the comfort, Jesus Christ our Advocate is also a propitiation for our sins, as it is in the same text. Who then shall lay anything to the charge of God’s children? Or if any do, what need we care, when it is God that justifieth, and the saints as vanquishers shall come off as Job did, with great glory to themselves, and shame to the assailer.

Ver. 10. Hast not thou made an hedge about him?] Or, hast thou not trenched him in, and secured him with thine own bare hand, as in a town of war, or tower of brass? thou thyself either art the hedge, or makest it; and that not only about his person, but about his people, children, servants, &c., yea, about his whole estate, so that there is no coming at him: and this Satan seems to speak very angrily. {See Trapp on "Zec 2:5"}

On every side] Per circuitum, circumcirca. The devil could find never a gap, make never a breach. Oh the safety of a saint, that goes always under a double guard, the power of God without him, and the peace of God within him! The Lord himself is his keeper, the Lord his defence upon his right hand, #Ps 121:5 Ps 91; How miraculously hath Geneva been upheld, a small city environed with enemies, and barred out from help of other Churches! How well may we sit and sing, If the Lord had not been on our side, now may England say, if the Lord had not been on our side, when men (or rather devils in the shape of men) rose up against us, then had they swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us, #Ps 124:1,2. They were not our wooden walls that saved us, &c., but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto us, #Ps 44:3. This was a better wall than that about China or Babylon, or that which David so soon leaped over by the help of his God, #Ps 18, who is sic omnibus attentus ut non detentus a singulis, so helpful to the whole community of his people, as that he neglecteth not any one that pertaineth unto him.

Thou hast blessed the work of his hands] So that he hath good success in all his business, all things thrive well under his hand; this the devil stomached; and, because he could not come at Job’s heart, fed upon his own. Malice drinketh up the most part of its own venom. It pleaseth the Lord well that his people prosper, but the devil cannot endure it. Well might Austin say, Invidia est vitium diabolicum, envy is a devilish sin, for it transformeth men into so many breathing devils.

And his substance is increased in the land] Heb. Is broken forth; so that his house is too little to hold the precious and pleasant riches that are therein; his grounds cannot contain the increase of his cattle; ruperunt herrea messes. his barns overflow at harvest time. In fine, there is no end of his wealth.

Ver. 11. But put forth thy hand] Make Job feel the weight of it, as good people usually do more than others; yet not ad exitium, to destruction but ad exercitium, to their training, their crosses are not penal, but probational, and medicinal. The same holy hand of God that was put forth to protect and bless Job shall be put forth to afflict him. It must needs be therefore done in measure, and in mercy. If he smite Job, it shall be in the branches only, and not at the root, #Isa 27:8, for there is a blessing in it; his hand shall not be further put forth to smite than to save, #Isa 59:1 Ac 4:31 Ps 144:7. If Satan or his instruments over do, and offer to exceed their commission, he will never endure it, #Zec 1:15. This Satan knew very well, and therefore motioneth that God would put forth his hand and touch him; or, Put forth thy hand, I pray thee; or, Put forth thy hand a little (so some render it) and touch him; that is, lightly afflict him. Confer #Ge 26:11,19 Ps 105:15.

And touch all that he hath] Or, touch anything that he hath; so the word Col is used, #Job 8:12 Pr 1:17. And it is as if he should say, Lay but some light loss upon him, and he will show his unsoundness; as if but light weights be hanged on rotten boughs, they will soon break; and as if wooden or earthen vessels be set empty to the fire, they will quickly crack.

And he will curse thee to thy face] Heb. If he do not curse thee, q.d. then I shall much marvel; or then say, I have no skill in him, if he will not thereupon bluster and blaspheme thee, and that openly, impudently, boldly, to thy very face, avowedly, as Caligula did; when he dared his Jove to a duel, with that hemistich in Homer, η μ αναειρ η εγω σε; as Mahomet, the Grand Seignior, greatly grieved with the dishonour and loss he had at Scodra, most horribly brake out into blasphemous words not fit to be related; as that black mouthed pope with his al despito di Dio. They set their mouths against heaven, saith the psalmist, and let fly at God himself; they howl upwards with the wolf when hunger bit; they utter their own harsh voice, as the parrot when beaten; and like birds of prey that have been long kept in the dark, are out of measure fierce and furious when once they come abroad, so are ignorant and graceless persons: but Job was none such, whatever the devil deemed and averred of him. Pompey, when he had lost the field, might, for want of grace, say that there was a mist over the eye of Providence. Brutus, when overcome by his enemy, Antony, may say in a rage, that all things are carried by blind fortune, by hap hazard (Dio.). Atque deos, atque astra vocat crudelia. The gods as well as the starts he called crude. Those miscreants in Malachi may say, it is but lost labour to serve the Lord, #Mal 3:14; but Satan, suggesting that Job would do any such thing if crossed, did (as one speaketh) either lie knowingly, or at least guess ignorantly.

Ver. 12. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power] Here God in appearance condescendeth to the devil’s desires. But we must know, that God’s end in this large grant was not to gratify the devil, but to glorify himself, by making Satan an instrument of his own shame and infamy, when, by all that he could do, Job would not be drawn to think or speak amiss of God; though Satan left him his wife (who was within his commission) to tempt him to it; and afterwards left him his tongue untouched (when all his body besides was smitten with sore boils), as hoping haply he would have cursed God therewith.

only upon himself put not forth, thy hand] Meddle not with his outward or reward man. He would fain have been doing with both, and had done it now, but for this merciful restriction, which to the devil was (no doubt) a very great vexation. But how could he help it, otherwise than as horses digest their choler by biting on the bridle? The will of the Lord must stand; and Job, though he shall have his back burden of crosses of all kinds, yet they shall not be laid upon him all at once, but piece meal, and at several times. Fidelis est Deus, God is faithful, saith the apostle (and father Latimer died in the flames with those sweet words in his mouth), God is faithful, who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, &c., but will surely proportion the burden to the back, and the stroke to the strength of them that shall bear it. See his gracious dealings with the apostles at their first setting forth into the world; and how by degrees he inured them to bear the cross of Christ, #Ac 2:1-13 4:5-22 5:17-42 12:1-19.

So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord] As thinking every hour two till he had sped his commission; the devil descended like lightning upon the earth, to search occasions to ruin Job, aud to triumph over his patience, to touch all that he had, and to touch him to the very quick. This diligence of the devil in evil doing, how happy were it, saith Mr Beza, if we could imitate in doing well? But, behold, while Christ’s enemies watch, and in the night set themselves in readiness to take him, his chief disciples do not only snort and sleep, but cannot so much as be awaked in the garden.

Ver. 13. And there was a day] A dismal day it proved to Job, "a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness," as #Zep 1:15. That subtle serpent set upon mischief, purposely picketh out such a time to do it as wherein such a sad and sudden change was least of all looked for; and then lays on amain (as if he were wood) with the hail shot, hell shot of sharpest afflictions. He knows well, that as mercies and deliverances, the more unexpected they are the more welcome, as Abraham’s receiving his son Isaac after a sort from the dead; Israel’s eduction out of Egypt, when they were forsaken by their hopes; Jonah’s being drawn out of the belly of hell (as he phraseth it, #Jon 2:2); so crosses, the more suddenly they befall men the more they amate them; and finding weak minds secure, they make them miserable, leave them desperate.

When his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine] Wherewith, if their hearts were overcharged (and what more easy? the devil foiled our first parents by inordinate appetite, and finding it then so successful a weapon, he maketh use of it still), that day might come upon them unawares, #Lu 21:34. That was Satan’s drift surely, however it happened; and so to destroy body and soul together. But it is to be hoped that he was disappointed in his aim; and that death was sent in haste to Job’s children, as an invitant to a better feast; and that they might do as our Saviour did, who being at a feast at Bethany, fell into a meditation and discourse of his death and burial, #Joh 12:7,8. Sure it is, that although the wicked may die sinning, and shall die in their sins, #Joh 5:21, and so be killed with death, as Jezebel’s children were, #Re 2:23; yet God’s children shall not die before their time, #Ec 7:17, or till the best time, till their work is done, #Re 11:7. No malice of man or devil can antedate my end a minute (saith one), while my Master hath work for me to do. It is the happiness of a saint, that he is sure not to die till that time, when as, if he were but rightly informed, he would even desire to die. Happy is he, that after due preparation is passed through the gates of death ere he be aware, as Job’s children were.

Ver. 14. And there came a messenger] A sad relater, not a devil in the shape of a man, as the Rabbis would have it (let that pass for a Jewish fable), but one of Job’s own servants, or some other eye witness, to make Job believe, belike, that, as an evil man, he only sought rebellion, since such cruel messengers were sent against him, #Pr 17:11.

The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding, &c.] i.e. We were none of us either idle, or ill-occupied; but taking pains, and tending our cattle, when this disaster befell us. "Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted," #Ps 107:17; they create themselves crosses, such as must therefore needs come with a sting in them, see #Ge 42:21. But Job’s servants were honestly employed when plundered and assassinated; which showeth that his losses were not penal, but probational.

And the asses feeding beside them] Peter Martyr, upon the First of Samuel, wittily applieth this text to prelates and non-residents; who, when put in mind of their duty, would usually answer, that they had substitutes and curates to do their business for them, Ita labor aliorum est, et proventus ipsorum; so that others took the pains, and they the profit, saith he, and as it is in the Book of Job, The oxen plow, and the asses feed beside them.

Ver. 15. And the Sabeans fell upon them] i.e. The Arabians, a thievish people, that lived by rapine and robbery, Sabaei apud poetas molles vocantur; With the poets, the Sabeans were called effeminate, but Satan set them awork. They are at this day called Saracens, of Sarac, to rob; for they keep up their old trade, and are not all out so good as those Circassians, a kind of mongrel Christians who are said to divide their life between sin and devotion; dedicating their youth to rapine, and their old age to repentance.

Yea, they have slain the servants] Heb. The young men; for εργα νεων, &c., Iuniores ad labores, junior men to work. It was happy, howsoever, that they were taken away when in their lawful calling, and about their honest employments. Elijah chose to be taken in such a posture; for he knew the very time; and yet when the chariots of heaven came to fetch him up he was going and talking to his scholar Elisha. The busy attendance on our holy vocation is no less pleasing to God, or safe for us to die upon, than an immediate devotion. Happy is that servant whom the Master, when he cometh, shall find so doing.

And I only am escaped alone to tell thee] For no other cause escaped this one, this single one, but to add to Job’s affliction. There was no mercy in such a sparing; it was that Job might have the ill news brought him suddenly and certainly. That old manslayer had so contrived it for the greater mischief.

Ver. 16. Whiles he was yet speaking] See here, we may, that miseries many times stay not for a mannerly succession to each other, but, in a rude importunity, throng ill at once: Fluctus fluctum trudit, one deep calleth to another; and as one shower is unburdened, another is brewed, #Ec 12:2. It must not seem strange, but be joyous, to saints when they fall, or be precipitated, plunged, into divers temptations, #Jas 1:2. For crosses seldom come single, Aliud ex alio malum (Terent.), πονος πονω πονον φερει (Aristoph.).

Then came also another, and said] Before Job could recollect and recover himself, or take breath: this was a sore trial. It is a mercy that we have some lucida intervalla, bright periods, that the rod of the wicked doth not always rest on the lot of the righteous; that there are any interspiria, periods of life any halcyons; since here they must have it, or nowhere, #Re 21:4.

The fire of God] This was more terrible than the former; because God seemed to fight against Job with his own bare hand, by fire from heaven, as once he did against Sodom. Be not thou a terror unto me, O Lord, saith Jeremiah, #Jer 17:17, and then I care not though all the world set against me. If mariners in a tempest have sea room enough, there is no fear; so, if men in afflictions can see and say, Yet God is good to Israel. To the pure in heart, there is comfort; and, on the contrary, it is fearful to fall into the hands of the living God! #Heb 10:31.

And hath burned up thy sheep] Wherewith Job was wont to offer sacrifice. It was great joy to those in Joel, that God, after a sore and long famine, would yet leave a blessing behind him; "even a meat offering and a drink offering," &c., #Joe 2:14.

And thy servants] Those souls of men, as they, are called, #Re 18:13. This was a worse loss than that of his sheep.

And I only, &c.] {See Trapp on "Job 1:15"}

Ver. 17. While he was yet speaking] See on #Job 1:16.

The Chaldeans] A base and obscure people from the beginning, subject to the Assyrians, but yet more potent than the Sabeans, as appeareth by the three bands they made out. The Sabeans are noted by Strabo to be an idle and effeminate people. The Chaldeans are set forth in the Scripture to be a bitter and hasty nation, terrible and dreadful, fiercer than the evening wolves, &c., #Hab 1:6-8. Satan proceeds by degrees to afflict Job, that he may at length overturn him; but beyond expectation, he held out all assaults, Instar rupia quae in mari vadoso horridi Iovis, et irati, ut ita dicam, Neptuni fervidis assultibus undique verberata non cedit aut minuitur, sed obtendit assuetum fluctibus latus, et firma duritie tumentis undae impetum sustinet ac frangit (Joan. Wower Polymath).

Made out three bands] Which were marshalled and set in array by the devil, who was their commander-in-chief. Sic saepe loricatus incedit Satan, et cataphractus, as Luther speaketh; he hath his legions among men also, who (like those vulturine eagles, #Job 39:30) do glut-glut blood, as the Hebrew word there soundeth and signifieth.

And fell upon the camels] Heb. Spread themselves over them, rushed and ran violently, making an impression upon the camels.

And have carried them away] Heb. Have taken them to themselves, though Job had never dealt discourteously with these Chaldeans, nor had his camels trespassed them, but were carefully kept by the servants. Innocence is no target against injury; neither doth victory always argue a just cause.

Yea, and slain the servants, &c.] {See Trapp on "Job 1:15"}

Ver. 18. While he was yet speaking] See #Job 1:16.

Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine] This was the last, but not the least, of Satan’s assaults, reserved purposely to the last, to crush him quite, when he was now spent and spiritless, as he hoped. Let us look for like dealing, for a tough bout, at death howsoever; and be always ready prepared for another and a worse encounter. It is said of Caesar, that he sometimes put up, but seldom or never put off, his sword (Seneca). It is said of Queen Elizabeth, that, in the greatest calm, she provided for a storm. It is said of the bird onocrotalus, that she is so well practised to expect the hawk to grapple with her, that even when she shutteth her eyes she sleepeth with her beak exalted, as if she would contend with her adversary. Should not we stand constantly upon our guard, who have so restless and pitiless an enemy?

Thy sons and thy daughters, &c.] Men may die, then, with the meat in their mouths, and in the midst of their mirth and jollity; as did Amnon, Elah, Belshazzar. Whether, therefore, we eat or drink, &c., do all to the glory of God, #1Co 10:31. Let there be "holiness to the Lord" written upon our pots, #Zec 14:21. Let us eat, and drink, and sleep eternal life, as a reverend Scotch divine was said to do. Job’s good heart ached and quaked, likely, at the hearing of this sad news, of so sudden a death of his children, amidst their merriments; for he used to say, when there was no such danger, It may be my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Methinks I hear him saying, or rather sighing, out those sorrowful words of Cratisilea, in Plutarch, when she saw her dear children slain before her, Quo pueri estis profecti? Poor souls, what is become of you? {See Trapp on "Job 1:13"}

Ver. 19. And behold, there came a great wind] The devil, doubtless, was in this wind (as he is, by Divine permission, "the prince of the power of the air," #Eph 2:2, and can thereby do much mischief); what wonder, then, though it were a great wind, since spirited by him, and came ( ventus a veniendo), came on amain, and with a force, as being driven on by the devil. It was a wonderful wind (belike a whirlwind), and hath, therefore, a "behold" set upon it; such a wind as the relater had never known before; the Rabbis say, that he was so frightened with it, that no sooner had he made an end of his report of it to Job, but he fell down dead at his feet. Sure it is, that he relateth the matter punctually and graphically, with singular diligence, and without that moderation and making the best of things at first, as in such cases is usual, when parents are first made acquainted with the sudden death of their children, or other sad accidents that have befallen them. This messenger cluttereth out all at once, being thereunto set on and induced by Satan (as Lavater thinketh) to stir up Job’s stomach, and to make him break off that so well twisted thread of his patience.

From the wilderness] Of Idumea, or Arabia, called Deserta. The devil, who haunteth dry and desert places, was the Aeolus that sent it. Let us bless that God (the maker and master of these meteors, and of all things else) who bindeth up such an enemy and boundeth such a power.

And smote the four corners of the house] This was extraordinary, and, therefore, the more dreadful; God seeming to fulfil upon Job and his children what he threateneth in the law, #De 28:59, I will make their plagues wonderful. But what saith Solomon, and that after long debate with himself about occurrents of this nature? "For all this I considered in mine heart, even to declare all this, that the righteous and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them," #Ec 9:1,2 by externals we cannot judge aright of eternals. Let it be our care to "lay hold on eternal life"; and then sudden death can do us no hurt; no guest cometh unawares to him who keeps a constant table.

And it fell upon the young men, and they are dead] No doubt but they were miserably mauled and dismembered by the fall, so that they were pulled forth piece-meal, and it could hardly be known which was which, as we say. The like death befell Scopas, a rich and noble man of Thessaly, together with his guests, all crushed and killed together by the ruin of that room where they were feasting, and fearing no such danger, as Cicero telleth us: Simonides was at that feast, but was at that instant happily called out by two young men that came to speak with him (Cic. lib. 2, de Orator). Luther had the like deliverance, by a special providence, as Mr Fox relateth. But so had not those Londoners, in the reign of King William II, who perished by a terrible tempest, which blew down suddenly six hundred and six houses in that chief city (Acts and Mon. fol. 787. Stowe’s Chron.). No more had those that died by the fall of part of a house in Blackfriars, where and while Drury, a Popish priest, was preaching, who, together with a hundred more Papists, his hearers, had there their passport: this happened in the year 1623. And the like we had lately at Witney, in Oxfordshire, where a scurrilous, blasphemous comedy was, by the fall of the room wherein it was noted, Feb. 3, 1652, turned into a tragedy, as ending with the deaths of six, and injuries of about sixty, who were bruised and maimed, and some, as it were, half dead, carried away by their friends. The narrative whereof, together with what was preached there in three sermons on that occasion from #Ro 1:18, is set forth by Mr John Rowe, lecturer in that town, in his book called Tragicomedia.

Ver. 20. Then Job arose, and rent his mantle] He stirred not at the three first doleful tidings, but this fourth startleth him; for he was neither a Stoic nor a stock. His strength was not the strength of stones, nor his flesh of brass, #Job 6:12, that he should bear blows, and never feel pain, or make moan; that he should be silent in darkness, #1Sa 2:9, and not cry when God bound him, #Job 36:11. This Stoical apathy or indolency (condemning all affections in that their wise man, who, as Cicero very well saith, as yet was never found) Jeremiah justly complaineth of, #Jer 5:3, and the Peripatetics utterly disliked; teaching, that wisdom doth not remove affections, but only reduce them to a mediocrity. Job kept the mean between despising the chastening of the Lord, and fainting when rebuked by him, #Heb 12:5. See my Love Tokens, pp. 37, 38, &c.

And shaved his head] In token of his very great sorrow. See #Jer 7:29 Mic 1:16, "Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle." {See Trapp on "Mic 1:16"} When Germanicus died, divers foreign princes shaved their beards, to show their grief (Sueton.). Plutarch telleth us that Alexander the Great, at the funeral of Hephestion, his favourite, not only shaved himself, but clipped his horses’ and mules’ hair; yea, he plucked down also the battlements of the walls of the city, that they might seem to mourn too; but this savoured of too much sullenness. How much better his Macedonians, who, being once sensible of his displeasure, laid by their arms, put on their mourning attire, came trooping to his tent, where for almost three days they remained, with loud cries, and abundance of tears, testifying their remorse for offending him, beseeching his pardon, which at last they gained. God calleth to baldness for sin, #Isa 22:12, which, in other cases, was forbidden, #Le 19:27 21:5 De 14:1. This Job performed here; for he knew that although God afflicteth sometimes for his own glory, #Joh 9:3, sometimes for trial or exercise of his people’s graces, yet sin is ever at the bottom, as the meritorious cause of what they suffer; and if he did not duly consider it before, Zophar gave him to understand that God exacted of him less than his iniquity had deserved, #Job 11:6.

And fell down upon the ground] This shows that Job arose not before to this end, that, with a stout and stubborn gesture of the body, he might withstand God; but rather, that he might, with greater lowliness and humility, submit to his justice, and implore his mercy: he fell down upon the ground and worshipped, saith the text; that is, he fell upon the ground to worship. He fell not all along on the earth, as Saul did, out of despondency and despair, after that he had heard the devil preaching his funeral; he lay like an ox on the earth, in the fulness of his stature, as the original hath it, #1Sa 28:20; but, as humbling himself under the mighty hand of God, who would raise him up in due season, #1Pe 5:6, and as reverently and religiously submitting to his will. And it is probably observed, saith a late expositor, Mr Caryl, out of another, that the ancient prophets and holy men were called Nephalim procidentes, or prostrantes, that is, prostrates, or railers-down, because in their worship they usually fell down upon the earth, to humble themselves before the Lord.

Ver. 21. And said] He lay not on the ground dumb as a stone, as it is said of Nabal, #1Sa 25:37, and feigned of Niobe. He rageth not as Xerxes did, when he beat the sea, by way of revenge; neither vexeth himself without measure, as Achilles, at the death of his friend Patroclus. He curseth not God to his face (as Satan, that old liar, said he would do), nor so much as the Sabeans and Chaldees, or the devil, the chief engineer of his present sufferings; but, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer," #Ro 12:12, he said, in the words of truth and soberness,

Naked came I out of my mother’s womb] Hence the proverb, Nudus tanquam ex matre, not having a rag to my back, but stark naked, as ever I was born. Hither I came a pitiful, poor, destitute, shiftless, and forlorn creature, not having a cross to bless myself with, as they say; much less sheep and oxen, children and servants, &c.; howbeit God provided for me then; and as he took me out of the womb, so he made me to hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts, #Ps 22:9,10. I was cast upon him from the womb, &c. And shall I now cast away my confidence, which hath so great recompense of reward? No, though he hath stripped me stark naked, and left me with as little as he first found me, yet I will trust in him. It is he that maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up again, #1Sa 2:7. The will of the Lord be done. Here I am, let the Lord do with me that which is right in his own eyes, #2Sa 15:26. He is Lord paramount, the true proprietary and owner of all; I have been only his steward, his tenant at will.

Iamque meos dedo Domino tibi iure penates:

Tu mihi ius dederas, posse vocare Meos.

And naked shall I return thither] sc. To the womb of my Magna Parens, Great mother, the earth, Magna parens terra est The great mother is the earth, (Ovid.), fitly called a mother, because, as thence we came in Adam, so there hence shall we be born again, as it were, at the resurrection; called, therefore, the regeneration, #Mt 19:28, for so some read the words there, Ye which have followed me, shall in the regeneration (when the Son of man shall sit in his glory) sit upon twelve thrones, &c. See #Ps 2:7 Ac 13:33. This Plato hammered at in his παλιγγεννεσια, or great Revolution. To the grave, therefore, that womb of the earth, that congregation house of all living, as Job elsewhere calleth it, #Job 30:23, shall I return, saith he, implying that our life is nothing but a coming and a returning, Repatriasse erit hoc, saith Bernard, concerning death. It is but a coming and a going, saith a divine, it is but a flood and an ebb, and then we are carried into the ocean of eternity. I read of one who, being asked what life was? made an answer answerless; for he presently turned his back, and went his way. The truth is, we fetch here but a turn, and God saith, Return again, #Ps 90:3. To live is but to lie a dying; the earth receiveth us like a kind mother into her entrails; when we have a while trodden her underfoot, we haste to our long home, #Ec 12:5; Heb. to our old home, sc. to the dust, from whence at first we were taken. Tremellius rendereth it, in domum saeculi, to the house of our generation, where we and all our contemporaries shall meet. Cajetan, in domum mundi, the house which the world provided for us; and to this house (much in Job’s mind, and, therefore, he here saith, thither), this house of the grave, as the Chaldee paraphraseth, men must return naked. "As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came," saith Solomon, "and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand," #Ec 5:15. Death, as a porter, stands at the gate, and strips men of all their worldly wealth, leaving them ne obolum quidem unde naulum solvant.

Haud ullas portabis opes Acherontis ad undas,

Nudus ab inferna stulte vehere rate (Propert.).

Some have had great store of gold and silver buried with them, but to small purpose more than to proclaim their own folly. Some wiser than some: if I must leave all the rest, yet this I will take with me, said a silly fellow, when, giving up the ghost, he clapped a twenty shillings piece of gold into his mouth. Athenaeus telleth of one, that at the hour of his death devoured many pieces of gold, and sewed the rest in his coat, commanding that they should be all buried with him. Hermocrates being loth that any man should enjoy his goods after him, made himself, by will, heir of his own goods. These muck worms, like those ten men, #Jer 41:8, having treasures in the field, of wheat, barley, oil, &c., are full loth to part with them; and having much cattle, as those Reubenites and Gadites, #Nu 32:5, they would fain live still on this side Jordan; having made their gold their god, they cannot think of parting with it; they would, if possible, carry the world with them out of the world. But what saith the apostle? We brought nothing with us into this world, and it is certain (see how he assevereth and assureth it, as if some rich wretches made question of it) we can carry nothing out, nothing but a winding sheet, #1Ti 6:7; as Sultan Saladin’s shirt, which he commanded to be hung up at his burial; a bare priest going before the bier and proclaiming, Saladin, the mighty monarch of the East, is gone, and taketh no more with him than what you here see. And to the same sense the poet speaking of Hannibal, saith,

— modo quem fortuna fovendo

Congestis opibus donisque refersit opimis,

Nudum tartarca portarit navita cymba (Sil. Ital.).

The Lord gave] It is his blessing upon the diligent hand, that maketh rich, #Pr 10:22, as without that all pains and policies are but arena sine calce, sand without lime, they will not hold together. Not only every perfect (that is, spiritual blessings in heavenly things), but every good gift, that is, temporal blessings in creature comforts, come from above, from the Father of lights, #Jas 1:17, as pledges of his love to those that are his, and as an earnest of better things hereafter, #Ps 23:5,6 Ge 27:28 God give thee the dew of heaven, saith Isaac to Jacob. Esau likewise hath the like, but not with a God give thee; he profanely sacrificed to his own net, not having God in all his thoughts. He said with that Assyrian, #Isa 10:13, By the strength of my hand have I done this: my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me all this wealth, &c., #De 8:10,11. Is not this great Babel that I have built? &c. Job uttereth no such bubbles of words; he arrogateth nothing to himself, but ascribeth all to God, whom the heathens also acknowledge Δωπηρα εαων, The giver of all good (Hom.).

And the Lord hath fallen away] As well he might, for though I had the possession, yet he hath the property; neither can he possibly do me wrong, since he is Lord of all, and may dispose of me and mine as he pleaseth. Jerome teacheth his friend Julian to say, Tulisti liberos quos ipse dederas: non contristor quod recepisti, ago gratias quod dedisti, Thou hast taken away the children which thou hadst given me. I grieve not that thou hast taken them, but give thee thanks for giving them. Julian, that vile apostate, said at his death, I gladly render up my life to Nature requiring it; as a thankful and faithful debtor, Vitam reposcenti naturae tanquam debitor bonae fidei redditurus exulto (Ammian. 1. 25). This was, sure, but a copy of his countenance, and merely for a name. And what shall we think of Quintus Fabius Maximus? who, when he heard that his mother and wife, whom he loved dearly, were slain by the fall of a house, and that his younger son, a brave hopeful young man, died the same time in Umbria, he never changed his countenance (though his friends lamented the loss with many tears), but went on with the business of the commonwealth, as if no such calamity had befallen him: was this patience or stupidity, whether? Patience is a fruit of the Spirit, #Ga 5:22, so that Aquinas needed not to have questioned, whether a man can have patience sine auxilio gratiae, without the help of God’s grace. A natural man may, for sinister ends, bite in his pain, as Marius did, when his leg was cut off by the surgeon; he may conceal his grief, as Mithridates did for a time; but all the while he was in a kind of fever (Epialis the physicians call it) wherein men be cold without, but hot as fire within. And the like we may judge of Philip II, king of Spain, who is said to have borne the loss of his invincible Armada that had been three years a rigging, with much patience, giving, and commanding to be given all over Spain, thanks to God and the saints, that it was no more grievous. This was but a feigned and a forced patience; it was rather pertinacy than patience, it was an obstinate stiffness of mind, &c. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and what was the ground of it? he beheld God in all, the Lord hath taken away, saith he: not a word of the Chaldean and Sabean plunderers, not a tittle against the devil who had employed them; and why? Job easily discerned God’s arrows in Satan’s hand, and God’s hand on the arms of those that had robbed him, and wronged him; hence Taceo, Fero, Spero, I am silent, I endure, I hope. was his motto. It is the Lord, said Eli, when threatened with the loss of all. I was dumb, saith David, because it was thy doing, #1Sa 3:18 Ps 39:9. So was Jacob for the same reason, in the rape of Dinah, his only daughter, afterwards married to Job, say the Jewish doctors, #Ge 34:5. So was Aaron in the untimely end of his untowardly children, #Le 10:3. So was Mauricius, the good emperor, when he saw his wife and children slain before his eyes by the traitor Phocas. And so was, lastly, that noble lord of Plessis, who when he had lost his only son (a gentleman of marvellous great hope) in the Low Countries, and shortly after, his lady died of that grief, he took up those words of David, I was silent, and said no word, because thou, Lord, hadst done it.

Blessed be the name of the Lord] As well for taking away as for giving. This was a rare bird that would thus sing in winter. It is easy to swim in a warm bath, and every bird can sing in a warm sunshine; but to bless God heartily when afflicted most heavily, this, this is the breathing of an excellent spirit. In everything to give thanks, O quam hoc non est omnium! O then is this not all things! In this theme of blessing God for afflictions, also Basil spendeth all his sermon which he entitleth, Giving of thanks in all things. Christianorum propria virtus est, Courage is peculiar to Christians, saith Jerome, it is a virtue proper to true Christians, heartily, and not hollowly, to give God thanks for crosses, for it proceeds from the joy of faith, and some taste of God’s fatherly care of us in our corrections. If good things befall thee, bless God, and they shall be increased; if evil things, bless God, and they shall be removed, saith Austin; of whom also it is reported, that he had always in his mouth Deo gratias, Thanks be to God, for whatsoever befalleth us; Si bona dederit Deus, gratias agito, et augebuntur, &c. If God gives good things I will be thankful, and if he increases… &c The prophet, #Ps 89:38-52, lamentably complaineth of the Church’s miseries, and yet concludeth, Blessed be the Lord for evermore; and this he doth, not formally and slightly, but earnestly, and with much affection. Lo, this is the guise of those that be gracious. But how blank (think we) was the devil, when, hoping to hear Job blaspheme God, he heareth him blessing God’s name in this sort, The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord! The Greek and Latin translations insert here another sentence that is not found in the Hebrew verity; viz. even as it pleaseth the Lord, so come things to pass, ως τω κυριω εδοξεν, ουτω εγενετο (Sept.). Our late common prayer book also hath the same words in the form for burial of the dead.

Ver. 22. In all this Job sinned not] The Greek and Latin versions add here, with his lips; but I could rather be of Mercer’s judgment, who referreth the former part of this verse to the mind, and the latter to the mouth (Beza.); showing that Job neither thought in his heart, nor uttered with his mouth, anything unsuitable and unworthy of God, insomuch, that both within and without he carried away the victory and conquest over Satan, and so better deserved to be sainted than our Henry VI, of whom the chronicler writeth thus: The king in both estates so demeaned himself, that he modestly carried the one, and moderately underwent the other; yea, such was his deportment, that the inconstancy of his state could not alter the constancy of his mind; insomuch that one of his successors, King Henry VII, laboured for that only virtue, to have him canonized for a saint; and had obtained to have done it, had not the charges thereof so far exceeded mediocrity, as to cause him to leave it undone (Dan. Hist. contin. by Trussel). God himself hath here canonized, crowned, and chronicled holy Job, for his many good properties before, and here for his humility and patience. The trial of his faith, being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, is found to praise and honour and glory, #1Pe 1:7. It was a saying of Philostratus, that one Jupiter set out by Homer, the poet, was worth ten set out by Phydias, the carver; because the former flew abroad through all the world; whereas the other never stirred from his pedestal at Athens: so one Job, thus renowned by God’s own pen, is far beyond all that have been memorized in human histories for their equanimity and constancy. In all this that Job suffered, acted, and uttered, he sinned not, sc. sinningly; he was not transformed into sin’s image; he sinned not by cursing God, as Satan hoped, and would have had it; or charged God foolishly, or with folly; with anything insolent, insulse, unsavoury; he charged him not in the least, to have dealt unwisely or unworthily with him; and this is here mentioned, as grace, almost to a miracle, as patience having her perfect work, and proving Job to be perfect and entire, wanting nothing, #Jas 1:4.

Chapter 2

Ver. 1. Again there was a day] Whether the next day, or the next sabbath day, or the next first, day of the year (which is God’s day of general audit, as the Rabbis will have it), we have not to say. God, as he hath in his eternal counsel fore appointed everything that is done; so he hath set the times wherein, #Ec 3:1, such as the creature can neither alter nor order. This is a comfortable consideration.

When the sons of God, &c.] See #Job 1:6.

And Satan came also among them] Whether summoned to give an account, or of his own accord to sue out a new commission against Job, it skilleth not. Restless he is; and it behoveth us to be vigilant; not ignorant of his wiles, nor unmindful of his inveterate envy and enmity.

Ver. 2. And the Lord said unto Satan, &c.] See #Job 1:7.

From going to and fro in the earth] In heaven he comes not; into that earthly paradise he could screw himself, not so into the heavenly. No dirty dog ever trampled on that golden pavement; those that are there are extra iactum outside have been thrown out of Satan’s gun shot; but while here he will ever and anon have a bout with the best; he walks about for the nonce, spying advantages.

And from walking up and down in it] Doing his feats, and carrying news. It might very well be be who, when Domitian the emperor was slain by his own servants at Rome, informed Apollonius Tyaneus thereof at Ephesus, where he is said to have cried out the same time, To him, Stephen; strike him, kill him. But what a vain glorious vaunt of an impudent wretch was this, that though vanquished, as he had been by Job, and beaten on his own dunghill, he should take upon him still in this sort, that he had been walking up and down as a conqueror or emperor of this present world! Surely as Job still retained his integrity, so did Satan his vanity: boasting that he came now from visiting his estate; and that nothing rendered him more glorious than the great number of his subjects which depended upon his will (Senault).

Ver. 3. And the Lord said unto Satan] Before he would condemn him he thus interrogateth him (which he would not vouchsafe to do when he had deceived our first parents, #Ge 3:14), but with a very bitter taunt and sharp reprehension; as if God should have said, Art thou not ashamed, Satan, thus to answer me, as if I had forgotten what I granted thee in our last assembly, and thus in my presence to dissemble? &c. (Beza).

Hast thou considered my servant Job] See #Job 1:8.

One that feareth God, &c.] This he did not without God (according to that clause in the new covenant, I will put my fear into their hearts, #Jer 31:40. I, is emphatical and exclusive, q.d. I, and I alone), yet God giveth him the honour of it; as if he himself had been the sole doer. Certum est, nos facere quod facimus; sed ille tacit ut faciamus, saith Austin. Sure it is that we do what good we do; but as sure it is that God doth all our works in us and for us, #Isa 26:12.

And still he holdeth fast his integrity] Which thou hast driven quasi ficedula extorquere, as to tear a small bird, by wrench and wile to get from him; but he hath hitherto held it fast, as with tooth and nail. This was a singular commendation, and that is a rare faith, which, being long tried, doth not flag and hang the wing. By reason of the overflow of iniquity the love of many shall wax cold (saith our Saviour), but he that endureth to the end shall be saved, #Mt 24:12,13. Lo, it is but a he, a single man, that retaineth his integrity; when many lose their first love, and fall from their former stedfastness, as fast as leaves fall in autumn. Job would not part with his integrity to die for it; when all was taken away he laid fast hold on that, and resolved to let go his life sooner. Christ he saw standing over him (as once Stephen did), and saying, Hold fast that thou hast, that no one take thy crown from thee, #Re 3:11. Omnia perdidit qui fidem amisit, he destroys everthing who loses faith. saith Seneca. In a common combustion a mail will be sure to secure his jewels, whatever become of his lumber.

Although thou movedst me against him] That is, against his personal estate, and his children, which are called himself; against these Satan is said to have moved the Lord, to have incited and instigated him, stirring him up with reasons and arguments; as he is an excellent orator if he may but have audience. But that the Lord was hereby moved to do aught against Job must be wisely and rightly understood; for God is immutable and unmovable; neither can he be drawn to do anything but what he hath decreed to do from before all beginnings; but here he speaketh after the manner of men, as if he were prevailed with by Satan’s solicitations.

To destroy him] So Satan would have had it, when God meant to try him only. See the like #Re 2:10.

Without cause] Or for nothing (as the word signifieth, #Job 1:10, "Doth Job fear God for nought?") without any provocation or cause on his part procuring it. Not but that there is cause enough in the best why God should afflict them: but as there was no peccatum flagrans burning sin in Jacob, #Nu 23:21, no foul sin of that people, flaming at that time in the eyes of God, or stinking in his nostrils, and therefore Balaam (the devil’s spellman) could do nought against them by his enchantments, #Nu 23:23; so there was not in Job that gross hypocrisy, wherewith Satan had falsely charged him ( Iob non erat flagitiosus, Job was no disgraceful, Lavat.), he was not that mercenary that Satan would have made of him. In vain did that arch slanderer and accuser of the saints move the Lord against Job, Gratis, id est, Frustra, without payment it is, in vain, saith Lyra; in vain did he assault this stout champion, &c.

Ver. 4. And Satan answered the Lord] This impudent adversary had yet an answer in his mouth, and would not be so set down. Of him and his agents (those false teachers, as the apostle calleth them) it may be truly said,

— Nihil est audacius illis

Deprensis: iram atque animos ex crimine sumunt (Juvenal).

Nothing is more bold to those caught, they are angry but proud from their crime.

Skin for skin] Any skin for his own; cattle, servants, children may be easily parted with by him, to save himself in a whole skin, to keep himself whole: others read it, skin after skin, or skin upon skin; both the Cutis skin and the Pellis hide shall go so that life may be preserved; as a man will hold up his arm to save his head, or suffer the loss of a limb to save his life. Ut corpus redimas; ferrum patieris et ignes. So that the body mey be redeemed; endure the sword and the fire. Job is still integra cute, skin whole, saith Satan; and so long there is little trial of him: that man is rich enough who is well. I read of one, who being asked how old he was, answered that he was in health; and to another that asked how rich he was, answered that he was not in debt: q.d. he is young enough that is in health, and rich enough that is not in debt. Now all this Job was yet, and therefore Satan ill paid and unsatisfied.

And all that he hath will a man give for his life] Life is sweet, we say; and man is a life loving creature, saith the heathen, ζωον φιλοζωον (Aesop), fond of life, and afraid of death, which is Nature’s slaughterman, and therefore the most terrible of terribles, as Aristotle styleth it, των φοβερων φοβερωτατον. The Gibeonites refused not to be perpetual slaves, so they might but live. Those that are overcome in battle are content to be stripped of all, so they may have quarter for their lives. Mariners in a tempest cast their lading into the sea, though never so precious, in hope of life. If Job may escape with the skin of his teeth, it is some favour; he may not think much to sacrifice all that he hath to the service of his life, his conscience only excepted. Some good people have strained that too for love of life, as when Abraham denied his wife; David changed his behaviour; Peter denied his Master; Queen Elizabeth (though afterwards she could say, When I call to mind things past, behold things present, and expect things to come, I hold them happiest that go hence soonest, yet) in Queen Mary’s time, she sometimes heard divine service after the Romish religion, and was often confessed; yea, at the rigorous solicitation of Cardinal Pole, she professed herself a Romish Catholic; yet did not Queen Mary believe her (saith mine author), remembering that she herself, for fear of death, had by letters written with her own hand to her father, both renounced for ever the bishop of Rome’s authority, and with it acknowledged her father to be supreme head of the Church of England under Christ, and her mother’s marriage to have been incestuous and unjust. Those good souls did better that loved not their lives unto death, #Re 12:11, that by losing their lives saved them, #Mt 10:39, that held with that martyr (Julius Palmer), that life is sweet only to such as have their souls linked to their bodies as a thief’s foot is in a pair of fetters.

Ver 5. But put forth thine hand now] {See Trapp on "Job 1:11"} This God did at Satan’s motion, yet non ad exitium Iobi, sed ad exercitium; not for the destruction of Job but his training, Job’s temptation is of Satan, but his trial and invincible constancy is of God. God in a sense tempted Job. Satan also; even as the dog may be said to bait the beast, and the owner of the beast too, that suffered him to be baited.

And touch his bone and his flesh] Pinch him to the quick, that not his flesh only may feel it, but the marrow also in his bones, #Ps 6:2,32:3 51:8. The bone and flesh are the chief materials of man’s body, which is fitly compared to a fabric, wherein the bones are the timber work, the head the upper lodging, the eyes as windows, the eyelids as casements, the brows as pent-houses, the ears as watch towers, the mouth as a door, to take in that which shall uphold the building, and keep it in reparations, the stomach as a kitchen, to dress that which is conveyed into it, the guts and baser parts as sinks belonging to the house, &c., as one maketh the comparison. Now in all these and the rest of his parts of body Satan would have Job to be smitten; and then he made no question of a conquest. Pain is a piercing shaft in Satan’s quiver of temptations; hence he stirred up his agents to tympanize and torment the martyrs with as much cruelty as the wit of malice could devise; but all in vain, #Heb 11:35,36. Apollonia had all her teeth pulled out of her head (hence Papists make her the saint for toothaches). Blandina tired those that tortured her. Theodorus was cruelly whipped, racked, and scraped with sharp shells, by the command of Julian, but yielded not (Socrat. Theodor.). Rose Allen had her hand wrist burnt by Justice Tyrrell, who held a candle under it till the sinews brake that all the house heard them; and then thrusting her from him violently, said, Ah, strong whore, wilt thou not cry? thou shameless whore, thou beastly whore, &c. But she quietly suffered his rage for a time, at the last said, Sir, have you done what you will do? and he said, Yea; and if thou think it not well, then mend it. Mend it? said she; nay, the Lord mend you, and give you repentance, if it be his will. And now, if you think it fit, begin at the feet, and burn the head also; for he that set you awork shall pay your wages one day, I warrant you. As little got the devil by these worthies, as he did by Job’s boils and carbuncles. We are ashamed (said one of Julian’s nobles to him), we are ashamed, O Emperor, the Christians laugh at your cruelty, and grow the more resolute.

And he will curse thee to thy face] Heb. If he curse thee not to thy face, q.d. then damn me, send me to hell presently. This Satan holds in by an aposiopesis, {A rhetorical device, in which the speaker comes to a sudden halt, as if unable or unwilling to proceed.} being therein more modest than our desperate and detestable God-damnmes: let them see how they gratify the devil who curse and blaspheme, or protest openly what they know to be false. This the devil did not.

Ver. 6. And the Lord said unto Satan] Who hath his request: it is not always a mercy to have what we wish. Deus saepe dat iratus, quod negat propitius. God often gives wrath because he denies his favour. Be sure we bring lawful petitions, and true hearts, #Heb 10:22, and then we shall have good things, and for our greatest good.

Behold, he is in thine hand] Here God puts his child into his slave’s hand to correct, but not to destroy. And surely, if we give reverence to the fathers of our flesh, who correct us for their own pleasure, shall we not much more be in subjection unto the Father of spirits chastening us for our profit, and live? The Turks, though cruelly lashed, are yet compelled to return to him that commanded it, to kiss his hand, and give him thanks, to pay the officer that whipped them. This last we need not do, but the former we ought, taking God’s part against ourselves, and resting contented; though as Paul delivered up some to Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme, so God delivered us up to him and his agents (such as Satanically hate us, and are devilishly bent against us, #Ps 32:10 causing us to suffer more than any ever did out of hell), that we may learn not to be proud, secure, sensual, and may preach forth the virtues of him who hath brought us out of darkness into his marvellous light, #1Pe 2:9. Let us not say if God would take the rod into his own hand, I could better bear it; but the tender mercies of that wicked one and his imps are mere cruelties. For, 1. This is as if the child should say, If I might choose my rod, I would not care to be whipped; or the condemned nobleman, If I might choose mine executioner, I would not care to lose mine head. 2. It is but one hand and many instruments that God smiteth us with. Our enemies are but the men of God’s hand, #Ps 17:14, that can do no more than is given them from above, #Joh 19:11. God’s masons to hew us here in the mount, that we may be as the polished corners of the temple, #Ps 144:12. God’s scullions, to scour up the vessels of his household, that they may shine upon the celestial shelf, as that martyr said. 3. God ever reserveth to himself the royalty of setting them their task, limiting them their time, and letting out their tedder; hitherto ye shall go, and no further. 4. If they exceed their commission (as they are apt), God’s jealousy will smoke against them, #Zec 1:14.

But save his life] Heb. his soul; put oft for the life, the cause for the effect. Satan shook his chain at Job’s soul, and would have destroyed it, but that he might not do; scratch him he might with his paws, but not fasten his fangs in him. Job could say (for a season at least), as that dying saint did, my body is weak, my soul is well. His afflictions, as afterwards St Paul’s, reached but to his flesh, #Col 1:24. And see that thou save his life too, saith God (see how he chaineth up the devil who would fain have been sucking Job’s blood, and swallowing him down his wide gullet, #1Pe 5:8); save it, that is, spare it; see that the spirit fail not before me, and the soul that I have made, #Isa 57:16. I have yet some further use of him, though a lamentable lazar. You know how through infirmity of the flesh, that is, notwithstanding the infirmity and weakness of my body, I preached the gospel, saith Paul, and my temptation which was in my flesh you despised not, #Ga 4:13,14. Daniel, though sick, yet did the king s business; and Job, though scabbed all over, was yet of great use, and reserved to great honour; therefore saves his life, saith God; and the devil, say the Rabbis, was as much vexed and wounded with this restraint as Job was with all his wounds and ulcers. It is surely a vexation to malice not to do its utmost.

Ver. 7. So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord] The like is said of Cain, when he meditated the murder of his innocent brother, and went to put it in practice. Malefactors amongst us, we know, are indicted in this form: For that thou, not having God before thine eyes, but moved by the instigation of the devil, didst—

And smote Job] He pretended to touch him only, #Job 2:5, but let every good man bless himself out of Satan’s bloody fingers; his iron entered into Joseph’s soul, his stroke was very vehement upon Job’s body, making return pro vulnere corpus: for to wound his body, for he smote Job

With sore boils] Hot boiling boils, such as the sorcerers of Egypt were smitten with, #Ex 9:10, and afterwards the limbs of Antichrist, #Re 16:2. The Indian scab some say it was, or the French disease. A most filthy and odious ulcer it appeareth to have been, sore and mattory (why else should he so scrape himself with a potsherd, as #Job 2:8), such as whose sharp and pricking humour penetrated the very bone, and put him to exquisite pain, being worse to him than Augustus’s tres vomicae tria carcinomata, above mentioned, or Philip II of Spain’s loathsome and lousy disease, whereof he died A.D. 1598. Carolus Scribanius thus describeth it (Instit. Princip. cap. 20), This potent prince for a long time endured ulcerum magnitudinem, multitudinem, acerbitatem, faetorem, &c., i.e. many great, sharp, and stinking ulcers, which fastened him to his bed, as to a cross, for a whole year before his death; besides six years torture by the gout, a hectic fever, with a double tertian for two years feeding upon his bowels and the very marrow of his bones; besides a most grievous flux for twenty two days, a continual nauseousness of his stomach, an unsatisfiable thirst, a continual pain of his head and eyes, abundance of matter working out of his ulcers, quae binas in dies scutellas divite paedore impleret, which in two short days, he spent is wealth, besides a most loathsome stench that took away his sleep, &c, :thus he. Think the same and worse of Job, the object of Satan’s utmost malice, and that for a whole year, say the Hebrews; for seven whole years, saith Suidas. Chrysostom compareth him with Lazarus, and maketh him to be in a far worse condition. Pineda showeth that his sufferings were a great deal worse than those of the wicked Egyptians under all their ten plagues; this was a boil, an evil boil, saith the text, one of the worst sort, the most painful and malignant that might be, and this all over his body.

From the sole of his foot unto his crown] It was all but one continued sore, universal as the leprosy, and therefore incurable; threatened as an utmost plague, an evil, an only evil, #De 28:35. If any part were left untouched, it was his tongue and mouth, that it might be free to blaspheme God; and that herein he was not smitten by Satan, some have observed from #Job 19:20, I am escaped with the skin of my teeth, having no sores there, as I have all the rest of my body over.

Ver. 8. And he took him a potsherd] A piece of a broken pot, for want of better; ointments he had none, nor baths, to lenify his soreness. Physicians and friends were far from him. He looked on his right band, and beheld, but there was no man that would know him: refuge failed and perished from him; no man cared for his soul, #Ps 142:4. He had still a wife and servants, and (as some think) his household stuff left him. He should therefore by them have been helped; but they helped on his misery, jeering him, and jesting at him, as he afterwards complaineth. Himself, therefore, in this necessity, taketh a potsherd, a piece of earthen pot, thereby to mind himself, saith Gregory, that he was of the earth, earthy, For which cause also

He sat down among the ashes] Or dust, as repenting in dust and ashes, #Job 42:6. So #Jon 3:6 Mt 11:23. The Septuagint say that he sat upon the dirt or dung, for want of a better cushion, and that he was laid without the city, as if, for the stink and ill savour that came from him, he was not suffered to be in the city (επι της κοπριας εξω της πολεως), as Uzziah, afterwards, being a leper, dwelt in a house by himself alone, #2Ch 26:21. Disce hic, si aegrotas, saith Lavater, Learn here, if thou be sick, and have help about thee of friends, food, medicine, clean linen, and the like, to show thyself patient; poor Job had none of all this. Nay, the Lord Christ had not whereon to rest his head. Sin autem omni cura et solatio es destitutus, But if moreover all care and comfort is wanting, saith he: But say thou be destitute of all cure and comfort, forced to lie without doors, and upon the hard ground; say thou be in such a condition, that thou canst neither stand nor go, nor sit, nor lie, nor eat (either for want of food or want of stomach); comfort thyself with this and the like examples of the saints. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and what end the Lord made, #Jas 5:11. He raiseth the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory, #1Sa 2:8. Again, let no man trust to his present prosperity. Job, who heretofore spake not to his subjects but from his throne, was now seated upon a dunghill; and his hands, accustomed to bear the sceptre, were employed to wipe the matter which distilled from his sores, as the French paraphrast hath it.

Ver. 9. Then said his wife] Was this Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter? So the Jewish doctors say; and that Job had a fair daughter by her, whom Potipher married; and that of her came Asenaz, whom Joseph married. They tell us also (but who told them all this?) that she was hitherto spared, when all Job’s outward comforts were taken away, for Jacob her father’s sake. Moreover, the Septuagint here help her to scold, adding a whole verse of female passion: I must now, saith she, go wander, and have no place to rest in, &c. Job said nothing all this while; not because he was either insensible or sullen; but because it was God that did it, #Ps 39:2, and he had well deserved it, #Mic 7:9. I will bear (thinks he) the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him. Yet, my soul, be silent to Jehovah, &c., #Ps 12:1. Satan therefore (who waited for his cursing of God, as a dog waiteth for a bone, but was defeated) cunningly setteth his wife awork, by her venomous words, to make him speak at least, and by her unseemly and sinful counsel, to draw him to do wickedly. Some think, saith Chrysostom, that the devil, in the shape of Job’s wife, spake thus unto him; and surely their words agree: He will curse thee to thy face, saith he; Curse God, and die, saith she. Chrysostom himself thinketh that the devil (if he spake not in her, yet) spake by her, as he did once to Eve by the serpent, and that he borrowed her mouth, using her as a strong engine to a wall of adamant, as the choicest arrow in his quiver, to wound Job’s righteous soul; and as a scaling ladder, whereby to get up into this impregnable tower, as Gregory hath it. He had tried this course before with Adam, and had singular success, #Ge 3:6; he had by his rib (as by a ladder) gotten up to his heart, Per costam tanquam per scalam ad cor Adami asceudit, Just as through a rib he scales the ladder to the heart of Adam, yea, with his rib broken his head, as one phraseth it, darting in death at the windows of his ears. This he assayed upon Job, but without effect; his ears were waxed up, his heart fixed, &c., although he could not but be vexed that his wife should do it; especially since hereby his servants and friends would be encouraged to do the like. O wives, saith one; the sweetest poison, the most desired evil, &c. (Greg. Moral. 1. 3, c. 8). Sir Thomas Moore was wont to say, that men commit faults often, women only twice, that they neither speak well, nor do well. This may be true of bad wives, such as Jezebel, who stirred up Ahab (of himself forward enough) to do wickedly with both hands earnestly, #1Ki 21:25. This in Job’s wife might be a particular failing, though a foul one. Women are the weaker vessels, and naturally more passionate; they must have their allowance, as light gold hath. She in the text had no small trials, and he is a perfect man that offendeth not with his tongue.

Dost thou still retain thine integrity?] Cui bono, for what good, as he said; what gettest thou by it? Is not this thy fear, thy confidence; the uprightness of tby ways, and thy hope? Lo, Eliphaz (who should have had more grace and government of his tongue than Job’s wife) scoffeth religious Job, as some sense that text, #Job 4:6, rendering the words thus: Is not thy fear (or religion) become thy folly? Where is now thine uprightness, and hope of reward? It is an ancient and an ordinary slur and slander cast upon the ways of God, as if they were unprofitable, as if God were an austere man, a parsimonious Lord; as if there were no gain in godliness, nothing to be got by it but knocks, crosses, losses, &c., whereas God is a rewarder of all those that diligently seek him, #Heb 11:6. He recompenseth the losses of his people, as the king of Poland did his noble servant Zelislaus, to whom, having lost his hand in his wars, he sent a golden hand instead thereof. He rewardeth the sufferings of his saints, as Caligula the emperor did Agrippa, who had suffered imprisonment for wishing him emperor. The history saith, that when he came afterwards to the empire, the first thing he did was to prefer Agrippa, and gave him a chain of gold as heavy as the chain of iron that was upon him in prison. The devil could have told this peevish woman that Job did not serve God for nought, #Job 1:9. See #Mal 1:10 3:14. {See Trapp on "Mal 1:10"} {See Trapp on "Mal 3:14"}

Curse God, and die] What cursed counsel was this! and from her who should have administered conjugal help to him! How well might Job have turned her off with, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou art an offence unto me! These were the devil’s words, and not the woman’s, saith Chrysostom; it was her tongue, but the devil tuned it, saith Origen. Curse God, and die, for he will not endure thee to live, having once so set thy mouth against heaven, but will quickly set thee packing by a visible vengeance; or, Curse God, and then die by thine own hands, having first spit thy venom in his face for having handled thee so hardly, after so good service done him. Hacket did thus at the gallows, A.D. 1591, threatening to set fire on heaven, to pluck God out of his throne, if he would not show some miracle out of the clouds to convert those infidels that brought him to execution, and to deliver him from his enemies; having the rope about his neck, he lift up his eyes to heaven, and grinning, said, Dost thou repay me this for a kingdom bestowed? I come to revenge it, &c. O wretch! By the way observe, that Satan is a πεισοθανατος (as Hegesias the philosopher was called), a persuader of people, that death is an end, at least an ease, of outward troubles; when as to the wicked death is but a trap door to hell: we, silly fish, see one another jerked out of the pond of life; but we see not the fire and the frying pan whereunto those are cast that die in their sins, to whom all the sufferings of this life are but a typical hell, the beginning of those terrors and torments which they shall hereafter suffer, without any the least hope of ever either mending or ending.

Ver. 10. But he said unto her] He did not start up, and lay upon her with his unmanly fist (Chrysostom saith it is the greatest reproach in the world for a man to beat his wife), but he reproveth her, and that sharply, as she deserved; and so did Jacob his best beloved Rachel, when the offence was against God, #Ge 30:2. A wise husband, saith Marcus Aurelius, must often admonish, never smite, and but seldom reprove, and that with the spirit of meekness too, #Ga 6:1; meekness of wisdom, #Jas 3:13. That was wonderful patience that was exercised by Dr Cowper, bishop of Lincoln, who, when his wife had burnt all his notes, which he had been eight years in gathering, lest he should kill himself with overmuch study (for she had much ado to get him to his meals), showed not the least token of passion, but only replied, Indeed, wife, it was not well done; so, falling to work again, he was eight years in gathering the same notes, wherewith he composed his dictionary (Young’s Benef. of Afflict., 153). Job, though somewhat more tart, as reason required, the offence being of so high a nature, yet he breaks not out into fierce and furious language; he saith not, Go, go, thou art an arrant fool, a wicked woman, an abominable wretch, but,

Thou speakest like one of the foolish women] Like one of the women of Idumea, that have no sap of wisdom or goodness in them, but do whip their gods (as the Chinese are said to do at this day) when they cannot have what they would have of them, and revile them for neglecting their worshippers. Note here that Job’s wife might be a good woman for the main, though in this particular she did amiss; but it is a fault in God’s people when it shall be said unto them, Are ye not carnal, and walk as men? when it shall be said of God’s daughters, that they speak or act like one of the foolish women. David’s daughters were known by their party coloured garments; so should God’s, by the law of wisdom in their lips and lives, by their patient mind made known to all men, by their eximious and exemplary holiness. What, should Job’s wife, the governess of such a religious family, the yoke fellow of such a holy husband, be talking of cursing God! be speaking after the rate of profane Edomites! The heathen comedian can say, that she is a wise woman who can be well content to suffer hardship; and not repine that it is now worse with her than formerly it hath been; Quae aequae animo pati potest sibi esse peius quam fuit. Job would fain bring his wife to this, and therefore addeth,

What? shall we receive good? &c.] He seeketh to set her down, not with rage, but with reason; and that, indeed, is the right way of backing a reproof; wherein as there must be some warmth, so it may not be scalding hot. Words of reviling and disgrace, they scald, as it were; but words that tend to convince the judgment, and to stir up the conscience to a due consideration of the fault, they be duly warm, and tend to make the physic work the more kindly.

Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and not evil?] Shall we not eat the crust with the crumb? drink the sour with the sweet? bless God as well for taking away as for giving? accept of the chastisement of our iniquity? receive it patiently, thankfully, fruitfully? Shall we be all for comforts, and nothing at all for crosses? Is it not equal that we should share in both, since it is the Lord’s mercy that we are not consumed? #Ge 49:28, Jacob is said to have blessed all his sons. Now he seemeth rather to curse Reuben, Simeon, and Levi; for he speaks only of evil to them; but because they were not rejected from being among God’s people, because they were not cut out of the list (as Dan afterwards was, #1Ch 7:1,13,30 Re 7:7), though they were under great and sore afflictions, they are counted blessed. Doles quod amisisti? gaude quod evasisti, saith Seneca: Grievest thou at thy losses? be glad that thyself art escaped. Be ready at all hours to send God home again the blessings which he lent us with thankfulness. There is a complaint of some men, so ungrateful, that if you do them nineteen courtesies, and then deny them the twentieth, you lose all your thank with them; carry them on your back to the very suburbs of Rome, and not into the city itself, you do nothing for them (Auson.). God is not to be thus dealt with; especially since he altereth the property of those evils and crosses which he layeth upon us, turning them to our greatest good, #Ro 8:28, like as the skilful apothecary turneth a poisonous viper into a wholesome antdote. Good, therefore, and worthy of all acceptation is that counsel of the wise man, "In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider." Consider? What? This, that "God also hath set the one over against the other," and, therefore, thou must take the one as well as the other, #Ec 7:14; that is but reasonable and equitable. Plato saith, that God doth always γεωμετρειν, act the geometrician, do and dispose of all things in number, weight, and measure; such an order and vicissitude he hath set of good and evil in the life of man, that they are, as it were, interwoven. Accept them, therefore, and acquiesce in them both, as the Hebrew word here signifieth.

In all this Job sinned not with his lips] Hitherto he did not, though in a pitiful pickle, and much provoked by the wife of his bosom. He did not murmur against God, nor let flee at his wife; he did not threaten her, as Lamech, nor fall out with the whole sex, as he that said, Femina nulla bona est. There is no good woman. He doth not wish himself single again, as Augustus saith; or hold himself, therefore, only unhappy because married, as Sulla did, Sylla faelix, si non habuisset uxorem. Sulla the blessed, if he had had no wife. No such unsavoury speech falls from Job’s lips, as the devil wished and waited for it. Neither doth it follow (as some Rabbis would infer from this text) that Job sinned in his heart though not with his lips (Chaldaeus Paraphrastes et Talmudici); for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth would have spoken. Look what water is in the well, the like will be in the bucket; and what stuff is in the warehouse, the like will be in the shop. If his heart had been exulcerate he would not meekly and wisely have withstood his wife’s motion to blaspheme. Hitherto, certainly, God had helped him. It was the uncouth and unkind carriage of his friends concurring with the increase of his bodily pain, besides the eclipse of inward comforts, that drew from him those passionate expressions, #Job 3.

Ver. 11. And when Job’s three friends] His familiar friends, that did eat of his bread, as #Ps 41:9, that were as his own soul, #De 13:6, his bosom friends, and, therefore, precious jewels, such as could both keep counsel and give counsel. Of such there are but few to be found. Friends, there is no friend, said Socrates (φιλοι, ουδεις φιλος). Faithful friends, saith another, are in this age all for the most part gone in pilgrimage, and their return is uncertain. A friend is a changeable creature, saith a third; all in changeable colours, like the peacock, as often changed as moved. Job complaineth of these his chief and choice friends, that they were miserable comforters, physicians of no value, &c., #Job 16:2. Amicitia sit tantum inter binos, eosque bonos; Let such friendship be between two, there and good. such as were Jonathan and David, Corporibus geminis spiritus unus erat. The soul and the body were on one accord.

Heard of all this evil] Whether by the ministry of the good or bad angels, or of neither, it skilleth not. Ill news is swift of foot, saith the Greek proverb (αι βλαβαι ποδωκεις); and like ill weather, which comes ere it be sent for. The sins and miseries of good people are much talked of, and soon rumoured abroad. The Chaldee paraphrast here telleth of strange businesses, viz. that these three here mentioned (besides the report they heard of Job’s calamity) were moved to visit him by the wonders that happened with them at the same time; for their trees suddenly withered in their orchard, their bread at their table was turned into raw flesh, their wine into blood, &c. But this may well pass for a Jewish fable: the author of that paraphrase was R. Joseph Caecus, nothing so ancient or authentic as he who paraphraseth upon the historical books, but exceedingly full of mistakes, and seldom cometh he near the right meaning of the text, all along the Hagiographa.

They came every one from his own place] More than these came to such a sight, no doubt; but these out of a desire and design to condole with him, and comfort him. But it happened far otherwise; for they tormented Job well nigh as much as Satan himself; though it were by ignorance, and unwittingly, rather than by ill will, or premeditated malice. Their very silence and gesture, before ever they spake a word, did so torment his mind, that at last he cries out in that bitter manner, as #Job 3., like a frantic man, which, through some grievous sickness, hath lost his wits.

Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, &c.] Idumeans all, likely, and men of much estimation for wisdom {#Jer 49:7, "Is wisdom no more in Teman?"} and godliness, as descended all of Abraham, whose care was to catechise his whole family, and to teach them the ways of God, #Ge 18:19. Their following disputations show as much, wherein they admonish him to repent; assuring him that he could be no less than a gross sinner, and a hypocrite, because so grievously afflicted. Job answereth their various speeches, tormented in body, perplexed in mind, but stoutly defending his own innocence, and seeming to tax the Lord also; like as dogs in a chase bark at their own masters

To this his friends reply sharply from #Job 15:1-22:30, and he answereth them again with greater boldness and courage than before. Hereupon they begin a second reply, and here Eliphaz and Bildad only spake; the third man fainted and spake no more, for that Job was invincible, &c., till at length Elihu moderateth, censuring both parties; and God determineth, to Job’s conviction and final commendation.

For they had made an appointment together to come] Not by accident, or at adventure, as Origen will needs have it against the text; but by solemn agreement: it was a pitched meeting. Neither stayed they till they were sent for, but came, as friends, to do Job all friendly offices; like as, in a fright, the blood and spirits run to the heart to relieve it. "A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity," #Pr 17:17. {See Trapp on "Pr 17:17"}

To mourn with him] Heb. To shake the head, or other parts of the body, in token of commiseration; to bewail his condition, as Cyprian did the persecuted saints of his time, Cum singulis pectus meum copulo, I join with him with the singleness of my heart, saith he Moeroris pondera luctuosa participo, &c. With heaviness of heart I join weaping, "Who is offended, and I burn not?" #2Co 11:29.

And to comfort him] This they intended, but proved miserable comforters too, by reason of the deceitfulness of their hearts, fitly, therefore, compared to a broken or a deceitful bow, that carrieth the arrow a clean contrary way, #Ps 78:57. The word rendered to comfort, signifieth likewise to mourn with the mourning of repentance, to teach us here to begin our pity to others, to bewail their and our own sins. So Jonah prayed unto the Lord, #Jon 4:2. He thought to have prayed, but it proved that he brawled: {See Trapp on "Jon 4:2"} These men’s words were as a murdering weapon in Job’s bones; pious they were and divine all along, but much misapplied. It is said of them that they handled an ill matter well, and Job a good cause as ill, especially when once he came to be wet through.

Ver. 12. And when they lift up their eyes afar off] Hence some conclude that Job lay abroad, as lepers used.

And knew him not] For they had never seen him before but in a splendidious fashion; now then to see him in such a pickle, that he had lost all form and fashion, more like a dead beast than a living man; this amazed and amused them; they might also by this, so sad a spectacle, be admonished of their own mutable and miserable condition ( Aut sumus, aut fuimus, aut possumus esse quod hic est either we are, or will be or are able to be because this is), and have the same thoughts as the psalmist afterwards had, Man, being in honour, abideth not, #Ps 45:1,2; he is like the beasts that perish, pecoribus morticinis, dead hearts, saith Tremellius, the beasts that die of the murrain, and so become carrion, and are good for nothing. Job was now no otherwise to be seen than as a stinking carcase full of sores, more like than a living man, as he painteth out himself in most lively colours.

They lifted up their voice and wept] Good men are apt to do so, saith the poet, et faciles motus mens generosa capit; we are bound to weep with those that weep, and to be both pitiful and courteous, #1Pe 3:8. To him that is in misery pity should be showed from his friend (it was so to Job here at first), but he forsaketh the fear of the Lord, #Job 6:14. Job’s friends did so, when, amazed with the greatness of his calamity, they there hence concluded him an arrant hypocrite, unworthy of any one word of comfort.

And they rent every one his mantle] His stately mantle, his robe of state, such as men of great honour used to wear, Stolam regiam. royal garment. Some Hebrews and Jesuits will have these three friends of Job to have been kings; such I believe they were, as the three kings of Collen; so the Papists call those wise men, #Mt 2:1, be they what they will; they rent every man his mantle in token of greatest sorrow at their friend’s calamity, a ceremony not unusual among other nations than those of the East. Suetonius telleth us that Julius Caesar, when he had passed his army to river Rubicon, and was marching toward Rome, he made a speech to his soldiers, weeping and rending his garment, that thereby he might testify to them what a grief it was to him to fight against his country; which he would never have done had there not been a necessity.

And sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven] They so threw it up into the air that it might fall upon their heads; to import, 1. That all things were full of sorrowful confusion, as here earth and air were mingled. 2. That themselves and all mortals were but dust, #Ge 18:27, a little dirt neatly made up, and to dust they should return, #Ge 3:19, little deserving in the mean while to tread upon the earth, or to be above ground, #Jos 7:6. See #Job 1:16.

Ver. 13. So they sat down with him on the ground] Though his scent and loathsomeness were intolerable, yet they bare him company; this was love and sympathy, thus to sit by him on the ground, then, when every one loathed him, and would not lend him a hand to help to scrape him.

Seven days and seven nights] Not all this time, but the most part of it, without giving almost any regard to their ordinary rest and necessary sustenance. Origen saith, they were sustained and preserved all that while without sleep and meat, by a miracle; others, holding it a thing impossible, have, therefore, judged this whole book to be a parable only.

And none spake a word unto him] So great was their grief, Curae leves loquuntur, ingentes stupent. They speak of light care, they are astounded not natural. Calvin thinks they were to blame to be so long silent. Belike they were loth to be troublesome, and waited a fit opportunity; looking that he should speak first, and harbouring hard conceits of him.

For they saw that his grief was very great] His pain was extreme, and, therefore, no time to talk with him. Besides, though they came prepared, yet, altering their opinions of him, they doubted how and what to speak, till at length they became Satan’s advocates.

Chapter 3

Ver. 1. After this] After so long silence of his friends, and to provoke them to speak, who haply waited for some words from him first, as knowing him wise and well spoken. Or After this After that Job’s pains were somewhat allayed, so that he could breathe, recollect himself, and utter his mind; for some troubles are above speech, #Ps 77:4, they will hardly suffer a man to take breath, #Job 9:18, {See Trapp on "Es 4:14"} or to hear anything, though never so wholesome or comfortable, #Ex 6:9.

Job opened his mouth] But better he had kept it closed still: either be silent, saith the Greek proverb, or else say something that is better than silence. But it may befall the best, left to themselves, to speak unadvisedly with their lips, as meek Moses did at the waters of Meribah, for which sin of his, some Jews say that he was damned, because we read not of his repentance. And a like wretched censure they pass upon holy Job for his cursing his day here, saying, that although in words he cursed the creature only, yet interpretatively and indeed, he cursed the Creator; like as he that spitteth upon a king’s picture, or robe royal, doth the same to the king himself. But why do they not then say the same of Jeremiah, and pronounce him a reprobate for cursing his birthday too? #Jer 20:14. R. Levi answereth, because it appeareth to be otherwise by Jeremiah’s whole prophecy besides. And may we not say the like for Job, if we wisely weigh his words in their right sense, and the end which the Lord made, #Jas 5:11, propounding him for a pattern of patience, not of impatience, whereof nothing is said against him, though he had his outbursts, as here; and must have his allowance (as good gold hath when it comes to the scale) that so he may pass. If he had blasphemed God, or denied his providence, ascribing all events to the conjunction of the stars at a man’s birth (as the Talmudists falsely gather from this chapter), Satan had had his design upon him; and God would never have justified him, and preferred him before his friends, as he did, #Job 42:7,8 True it is, that, #Job 38:2, when he had spoken his mind overly freely, and indeed sinfully (as there is not a man upon earth that liveth, and sinneth not), as if the Lord had dealt unkindly, if not unequally, with him, God in the end steppeth forth, as it were, from behind the hangings, overhearing him, and taking him up, Who is this, saith he there, that talketh thus? how now? After which Job was not only hushed, #Job 40:4,5, but humbled, #Job 42:6. And truly it should be considered, say both Ambrose and Chrysostom, in Job’s defence, that, though patient in the two former chapters, yet now he begins to be wet to the skin; yea, the drops of God’s wrath began to soak into his soul; the devil also set upon him with all violence, as some conceive from the next verse, Job answered and said, sc. to some dispute with the devil. Now, therefore, that he thus falleth a roaring and a cursing his day, it is, saith Chrysostom, as a sick man, who, being under the physician’s hands, of whom he is well persuaded, useth all patience towards him; but, being in extremity of pain, lays about him, and strikes at the bystanders, &c. Exemplo Iobi liquet, it is evident from the example of Job saith another good writer; by this example of Job it appeareth, that in extreme trials of the best it oft happens that pain and grief speaketh rather than the man himself, and that in the sieve of temptations, upon a more violent sifting, the holes being worn or widened, not the offal only, but some grains of good wheat, that is, of faith, do slip through; which yet the right hand of a gracious God is wont to gather, and to lay up in the granary of his grace (Bucholc.). Job cannot altogether be excused, saith Fetus upon this chapter, neither is he said, as before, not to have sinned in these following expressions. Rather is it to be held, that the Lord, who before stood by him, now for a time left him, to try what is in man, even the best man living, if he be not strengthened by God continually. David was most courageous when he went against Goliath, but fearful when Saul pursued him. Elijah was most zealous for the Lord of hosts when he slew 450 of Baal’s priests: Tantus tamen fulminator ad Iezabelis minas trepidat, factus seipso imbecillior, saith one; and yet this valiant prophet flees at the threats of Jezebel, and heareth from heaven, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" So Jeremiah, Peter, Father Latimer, Pray for me, saith he, I say, pray for me; for I am sometimes so fearful that I would creep into a mouse hole; sometimes God doth visit me again with his comforts; so he cometh and goeth, to teach me to feel and know mine infirmity. Thus he writeth to Bishop Ridley, with whom he afterwards suffered at the same stake. His last words were, Fidelis est Deus, &c., God is faithful, who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, &c. This was also Job’s comfort, when himself, doubtless; for at this time it was Ego non sum Ego I am not I, with him, and God considered it; for he knoweth our mould, he remembereth we are but dust.

And cursed his day] Diem, non Deum; his day, and not his God, as the devil would have had it. It was too much howsoever of that; and Job should have opened his mouth to better purpose. In the Revelation, whensoever heaven opened, some memorable matter followed; when wisdom openeth her mouth, she speaketh excellent things, #Pr 8:6. When Asaph opened his mouth, he spake parables, #Ps 78:2. When our Saviour did so, he delivered that famous Sermon on the Mount, #Mt 5:2. But Job, alas, in the extreme pain of his body, and anguish of his soul, openeth his mouth, and curseth bitterly; curseth his day in a most emphatical manner, and in most exquisite terms, wishing all the evil to it that it was any way capable of. Now the day that he here curseth, is either the day wherein he suffered such a world of evils, as #Ob 12 Isa 2:12, or rather the day which gave occasion to his sufferings, his birthday, as #Job 3:3. Jeremiah did the like by a like infirmity, #Job 20:14, and some others; but never hath any yet been heard to curse the day of his new birth, nor ever shall as whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might be partakers of the Divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust: and besides an entrance ministered unto us further and further into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, #2Pe 1:4,11. There is a μυριομακαριοτης, a multiplied happiness in holiness.

Ver. 2. And Job spake, and said] Heb. Answered and said. Answered? Whom answered he? The Jewish doctors say, he answered his friends, who having hitherto said nothing to him, and heard as little from him, at length— rupere silentia voce, to destroy a silent voice, and asked him what he ailed? others more probably conceive that Job answered here to some dispute in his own mind, or rather with the devil. Some take this verse for a transition only. Others make it a preparation for Job’s future discourse, to move expectation, and win attention. The discourse indeed is all along, to #Job 42:7, poetical, and very accurate, made up in hexameters (as Jerome holdeth), not by Job and his friends at the first uttering, but afterwards by Job at better leisure; or, as some think, by Moses whilst a shepherd in Midian, for the comfort of his poor countrymen in Egypt, Sic et Ionas orationem suam in ventre balaenae habitam, et David plerosque Psalmos, &c. Mercer saith that his predecessor Vatablus (as he had heard) had found out a way of scanning these hexameters to others unknown, and to all the more obscure, because the verse causeth a cloud. The first hexameter that ever was made in Greek is said to be this,

Συμφερετε πτερατ οιωνοι κηρον τε μελισσαι.

Birds, bring your plumes, and bees, your wax at once.

Ver. 3. Let the day perish wherein I was born] He curseth his birthday, which the Greeks call γενεθλιον, quasi γενεσιν αθλιον: the beginning of a man’s nativity they call the begetting of his misery; because he is non prius natus quam damnatus (Aug.), no sooner born but damned to the mines of misery, #Job 14:1. Crying he comes into the world, and before he speaketh he prophesieth, and saith in effect, Τι βιος ει μη βια; σωμα μεν σημα, χρωμα πτωμα, δεμας δεσμος, γενεσις εις γην ωσος, &c.

Nasci poena, labor vita, necesse mori.

To be born is a penalty, to labour life, to die necessary. Oh that I had ne’er been born! Woe worth the day That brought me forth, and made me not away!

This whole life is overspread with sins and miseries as with a filthy morphew; {A leprous or scurfy eruption} or as Job was with his leprosy; the anguish whereof, together with his inward troubles, so grieved and galled him, that he not only crieth out (which is natural for a man to do), but giving the reins wholly to his grief, he roareth and rageth beyond all reason; and had not the Spirit held him back, he would surely have run headlong into blasphemy and desperation, which was Satan’s design. But in the saints, as the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and sometimes getting the upper ground (as it were), bears it down, as here in Job at this present; so the Spirit again lusteth against the flesh, and a great bustle there is in the good soul (as when two opposite things meet together, cold saltpetre and hot brimstone, there is a great noise; and as when Paul came to Ephesus, there was no small stir about that way, #Ac 19:28-41), so that ye cannot do the things that ye would, saith the apostle, #Ga 5:17. As Job cannot do and say the good that he would, because of the flesh, so neither could he do or say the evil that he would, because of the Spirit; he curseth indeed his day, but not his wife nor friends, much less his God, as those malcontents did, #Isa 8:21. Nay, so soon as God came into his mind, #Job 3:20, the flesh was thereby, though not altogether, quailed and quelled, yet so far daunted and damped, that it kept itself within the compass of weeping and wailing; and God himself, though he find fault with Job’s speeches for unadvised, and sometimes ranging beyond the precincts of godliness; yet acquitting him from all gross sin, he crowneth him with the garland of a famous victory, as Mr Beza here well observeth. Most wisely, therefore, and fitly doth St James warn us, that in thinking upon Job, we regard not so much what was done while the combat lasted, as what end the Lord made, #Jas 5:11. The saints do never more prevail and triumph than when it seemeth otherwise. See #Re 13:7 Job 12:11. They gather strength by opposition, and conquer in being conquered, #Ro 8:37. They repent of their outbursts, as Job did, #Job 42:5,6. And Quem poenitet peccasse, pene est innocens (Senec.), he is little less than innocent who is afterwards penitent. Yea, it is almost more to repent of a fault, saith a Father, than to have been free from the fault (Ambr. in Psal.).

And the night] He would be sure to hit the time, whether it were day or night. He that is once out of God’s way knows not where he shall stop, or when he shall step back. Take heed therefore to thy ways, that thou sin not with thy tongue, that unruly member, #Ps 39:1 Jas 3:8.

— Hanc fraenis, hanc tu compesce catenis.

For this bridle, this restrain you for chains. When God’s hand is on thy back, let thy hand be on thy mouth, keep it as with a bridle or muzzle, #Ps 39:1. Passionate speeches leniter volant, non leviter violant. The best that come of them is repentance; Job, when he was once out, could keep no mean; but what he had said against day and night, he amplifieth by the parts; and first for the day, #Job 3:4,5, and then for the night, #Job 3:6-8, &c.

Ver. 4. Let that day be darkness] Thick darkness, as that once was in Egypt, #Ex 10:28. A day of trouble and distress, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, #Zep 1:15. Let it be a dreadful and a dismal day, let sorrow and sadness overshadow it, let mourning and tears overwhelm it; let it be as when the sun hideth his head in a mantle of black, and is eclipsed; at which time all creatures here below flag and hang the head. In the gloomiest day there is light enough to make it day, and distinguish it from night, though the sun shine not. But Job would have no light to appear on his birthday. Thus he throweth out words without wisdom, and as hinds by calving, so he by talking casteth out his sorrows, #Job 39:3.

Let not God regard it] Or require it; let it pass as not worth looking after, let him not take care of it, or pour down any special blessing upon it, as he doth upon his people every day, but especially upon the Sabbath Day, God’s market day, called by the Jews desiderium dierum, the desire of days, and by the Primitive Christians Dies lucis, the day of light.

Neither let the light shine upon it] And what is the air without light, that first ornament of the visible world? so what are all creature comforts, unless God shine through them? What a woeful case is that poor soul in that walketh in darkness, and hath none of his light, #Isa 50:10; how lamentably is such a one deserted, benighted! how doth he find himself in the very suburbs of hell itself, where the pain of loss is greater than the pain of sense, #2Th 1:9. And to note thus much, Job here, after he had said, Let that day be darkness, added as a greater evil, Let not the light shine upon it.

Ver. 5. Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it] Let it be dies luctuosus et lethalis, such a deadly dark day, that each man may think it his last day, fatal and feral. Let there not be dimness only (such as appeareth through a painted glass, dyed with some obscure colour), but horrid and hideous darkness, such as was that at our Saviour’s passion, when the sun was totally eclipsed, and a great philosopher thereupon cried out, Either the God of Nature suffers, or the world is at an end. To darkness Job here emphatically addeth the shadow of death. The shadow is the dark part of the thing, so that the shadow of death is the darkest side of death, death in its blackest representation. Now let these stain it, saith he, or challenge it, or espouse it. In nocte funestatur mundi honor—Sordent, silent, stupent cuncta, saith Tertullian, elegantly.

Let a cloud dwell upon it] Crescit etiamnum per Auxesin oratio. Job heaps up words, like in sound, and not unlike in sense. Grief had made him eloquent; as hoping thereby to ease himself. "Let a cloud dwell upon it," a fixed cloud, not such a one as continually hangeth over the island of St Thomas, on the back side of Africa, wherewith the whole island is watered; nor such a cloud of grace as God promiseth to create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, that upon all his glory may be a defence, #Isa 4:5. But such as St Paul and his company were under before the shipwreck, #Ac 27:20, when neither sun nor star appeared for many days together, the heavens being wholly muffled, &c.

Let the blackness of the day terrify it] Or, Let the heat of the day terrify it; as it befalleth those that live under the torrid zone, where nothing prospereth. The Atlantes (a certain people) are said to curse the rising sun, it doth so torture them with extreme heat. When the dog star ariseth, those are in ill case who dwell in hot countries towards the east, they are troubled and terrified. Some take the word Chimrine, here rendered blackness, for those Chemarims mentioned by the prophets, those chimney chaplains of the heathen idols, and so render it thus, Let the priests of the day terrify it, Hinc forsan tenebrae Cimmeriae; that is, Let those who used to observe and distinguish days note it for a terrible day. Others understand it of the noon day devils, that should vex people on that day with hellish heats and fires: the Vulgate Latin hath it thus, Let, as it were, the bitternesses of the day terrify it: and to the same sense the Chaldee Paraphrast. Job still riseth in his discourse, making use of many poetical figures, and tragic phrases, picked out for the purpose.

Ver. 6. As for that night, let darkness seize upon it] Having spent his spleen upon the day, he now vents himself upon the night, according to that division, #Job 3:8. As for that night of mine unhappy conception, or birth, let tenebrosus turbo (as the Vulgate here hath it), a dark tempest, or a tempestuous darkness, grasp it, or invade it; let it be as dark as pitch, by a darkness superadded to its natural darkness, Caligo perpetua et inusitata (Mercer).

Let it not be joined unto the days of the year] Let nature quite disclaim it, and disjoint it from the day following; let it not be reckoned as any part of time, that measure of all our motions. Some render it, Ne gaudeat inter dies, Let it not rejoice itself among the days of the year, as one of them. The night hath glory by union with the day; this he wisheth taken from it. Disunion and division is a curse; and the number of two hath been accounted accursed, because it was the first that departed from unity.

And let it not come into the number of months] Deleatur e calendario, let it be razed out of the calendar, and not have any place in the computation of time. The Hebrews call the moon and a month by the same name; because the moon is renewed every month, So μην, month, and μηνη, moon.

Ver. 7. Lo, let that night be solitary] And so consequently sorrowful; for aloneness is comfortless, et optimum solatium sodalitium. There is a desirable solitariness, such as was that of Isaac, #Ge 24:63, of Jacob, #Ge 32:24, of Christ, #Mr 1:35, of Peter, #Ac 10:9, to talk with God and with themselves. But usually to sit solitary is a misery, #La 1:1 (for Satan is readiest to assault when none is by to assist), neither is there a greater tie to constancy than the society of saints. This the heathen persecutors perceived, and therefore banished and confined the Christian confessors to isles and mines; where they could not come together for mutual edification and comfort. There is a woe to him that is alone, and good reason showed for it by Solomon, #Ec 4:9-12. Let no man sty up himself, or affect solitariness; but make conscience of fellowship in the gospel, as the Philippiaus did from the first day of their conversion to Christ, #Php 1:5, accounting, that communion of saints is a point of practice, as well as an article of belief.

And no joyful voice come therein] That is, saith one, no pleasing stillness (as in other nights there is), to invite the melody of music. Or, let there be no merry meetings, feastings, and jollities, as was usual in the night season. Let not so much as the voice of the cock be heard that night (so the Chaldee here paraphraseth), but the doleful ditties of screech owls, and other inauspicate creatures. Let no traveller, that is then benighted, solace himself with sweet songs, or musicians play from house to house, as minstrels do.

Ver. 8. Let them curse it, that curse the day] As those atri et tetri Atlantes (before spoken of) curse the rising sun for scorching them, Non tam cute, quam corde Not so much skin as heart, (Aethiopici); as despairing persons, and malefactors led to execution, use to curse the time that ever they were born. The help of all such Job here calleth in against the harmless night he banneth with so much bitterness. Like as that desperate wretch mentioned by Mr Bolton, who being upon his death bed, albeit he swore as fast and as furiously as he could, yet desired he the bystandersy to help him with oaths, and to swear for him. Tremellius here thinks that Job calls to the stars and winds to help him curse, See his translation of the text, and his notes thereon.

Who are ready to raise up their mourning] Whether they be those mercenary mourners mentioned elsewhere, which, for hire, are wont at funerals with doleful execrations to lament the day of their benefactor’s death, #Jer 9:17,18,20; crying out, Oh the day! alas for the day! oh that ever such a day came! See #Eze 30:2 2Ch 35:25 Am 5:16. Or else those that really mourn for their deceased friends; and yearly, as oft as the day returneth, they renew their mourning. These are called upon by Job, totes saccos deplere, to pour out their utmost lamentations and execrations upon this his night. Concerning the word Leviathan, here rendered mourning, whether it be taken for the sea dragon, or the devil, and what it is to raise him up, and why they cursed him that are ready to do so, with a prepared and meditated active readiness, if I should go about to show the reader, with the several opinions of interpreters, I should not only tire him out, but also danger doing as that vicar of Augsburgh did, mentioned by Johannes Manlius. This doctor of divinity (for so he was) having read at Tubinga certain lectures upon Job, at the end of his last lecture said, that both Job and himself were very glad to be rid of one another; for as he understood little or nothing of Job’s meaning, so Job seemed to him to be more tormented with his narrations than ever he had been with all his own ulcers. Let them that have a mind consult the commentators here.

Ver. 9. Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark] If the stars of its twilight be dark, how great is that darkness! Job would not have this night to have light of stars, or hope of day’s dawn, hope of better, or place of worse. And this part of the curse he reserveth to the last place, as worse than any of the former. Semblably, that judgment of pining away in their iniquity is the last that God denounceth, #Le 26:39, after those other dismal ones there to befall the disobedient. And that, #Re 22:11, Let him that is filthy be filthy still, is the last, but not the least (of those that befall in this life), threatened in all the New Testament.

Let it look for light, but have none] Heb. But none. Loss of expectation is a great loss. Esau found it so, and the mother of Sisera, #Jud 5:28, and those shall once, that come knocking and bouncing at heaven’s gates, with "Lord, Lord, open unto us," and shall hear, "Depart ye." The hopes of the wicked fail them when at highest; whereas the saints find that comfort in extremity which they durst not expect: their light shall rise in obscurity, #Isa 58:10, it shall shine more and more unto the perfect day, #Pr 4:18.

Let it not see the dawning of the day] Heb. The eyelids of the morning; that is, the first breakings of light, the morning rays or beams peeping abroad. These this night must never see. Heaven is a nightless day (ανεσπερος ημερα), hell a dayless night. Fire there is, but without light; it burneth, but shineth not to those reprobates who are in tenebras ex tenebris infeliciter exclusi, infelicius excludendi; thrust into outer darkness, a darkness beyond a darkness, as the dungeon is beyond the prison, #Mt 8:12.

Ver. 10. Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb] Lest this curse should seem causeless, and he mad without reason, he telleth you here why he thus poureth out his passion; and complaineth so heavily against the day of his birth and night of his conception, which yet were harmless, and had not deserved to be thus charged, cursed. "Because it shut not up," &c. But how could the night do that? Is it not of God alone to shut or open the womb? #Ge 20:18 29:31. And was it not he that took David thence? #Ps 18:23. This Job could tell well enough at another time, but now he is quite out of all reason; beating himself with his passions, as the lion doth with his own tail; yea, like some sullen bird in a cage, he could almost find in his heart to beat himself to death. We use to say, — Res est ingeniosa dolor, Grief is an ingenious thing; yet it maketh a man foolish (the excess of it), as it did Job here; yea, it maketh a wise man mad, as Solomon saith of oppression, #Ec 7:7, and we see it exemplified in Job, especially if the words be thus read, as they may, Because he (that is, God) shut not up the doors, &c.

Nor hid sorrow from mine eyes] In Scripture, to see good or evil is to feel it, #Ps 34:12 Jer 17:6 Isa 65:16 Job 33:17. He meaneth, that he had missed those evils which now he met with since his coming into the world, if those doors, being shut, had shut him out of the world. Man is no sooner born than born to trouble, #Job 5:7, yea, man that is born (or conceived) of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble, #Job 14:1. Miserable he is even as soon as he is warm in the womb, as David phraseth it, #Ps 51:5. If he live to see the light, he comes crying into the world, and an untimely birth may be better than he, #Ec 5:3. The Hebrews call him Enosh, that is, sorry man; or doleful, miserable, and desperately diseased man, whose living is but to lie a dying. The Greeks, when they would set forth one extremely wretched, they call him πρισανθρωπον, thrice a man, that is, thrice miserable. And, What is man? saith Seneca (Ad Mar. cap. 11). He answereth, Morbidum, putre, cassum, a fletu vitam auspicatum; a diseased, rotten, empty thing, beginning his life with tears, as if he wept to think upon what a shore of trouble he is landed; or rather, into what a sea of sorrows he is launching; not unlike the Straits of Magellan, a sea of that nature, say geographers, that which way soever a man bend his course, he shall be sure to have the wind against him.

Ver. 11. Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost? &c.] Why was I not forthwith carried ab utero ad urnam? from the womb to the tomb, from the birth to the burial? True it is, that infants have the seed of death in them, and the principle of corruption, #Ro 5:14. Every one (say some chemists) hath his own balsam within him; his own bane it is sure that he hath. But why should Job be so weary of life, and so wish to be rid of it? Is not life a great mercy? Doth not the philosopher affirm, that a pismire excelleth the heavens in dignity, because it is a living creature? Saith not the Scripture, that a living dog is better than a dead lion? #Ec 9:4; and why is living man sorrowful, a man for the punishment of his sin? #La 3:39; q.d. Let him be never so much punished, it is for his sin; and if, amidst all, he be yet a living man, and have his life spared, he need not be so overly sorrowful, and to make such an outcry, and a wishing himself out of the world, as Job here doth. Life, alas! in its utmost extent is but a little spot of time between two eternities, before, and after; but it is a great consequence, and given us for this end, that glory may be begun in grace, and we have a further and further entrance here into the kingdom of heaven, as Peter saith, #2Pe 1:11. This, if Job had seriously and sedately considered (but now, alas! as in a hot lever, all the humours were on a hurry), he would rather have done, as they say Themistocles did; who though he lived till he was about 107 years of age; yet when he came to die, he was grieved upon this ground, Now I am to die, said he, when I begin to be wise.

Ver. 12. Why did the knees prevent me?] Why did the too officious midwife lay me on her lap, and not let me alone to perish by my fatal helplessness? Man is a poor shiftless creature; and Pliny rails at nature for producing him so forlorn, naked, and unable to help himself; but he knew not that this was a fruit of sin. Cicero indeed could say (whether he believed himself therein I know not), Cum primum nascimur, in omni continuo pravitate versamur, as soon as we are born we are head and ears all over in wickedness; but Pliny was not so persuaded, as I have elsewhere showed.

Or why the breasts that I should suck?] Why did not my mother turn tigress, and cast me out when newly born? Why was she not cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness, that refuse to give suck to their young ones? Rather we may ask, Why doth not Job, out of his deepest discontent, think much of such a mercy; and rather bless God, first, for filling two such bottles with milk for him, ready against he came into the world? and then, for giving his mother a heart to suckle him, which some nice or unnatural women will not, being therein worse than those sea monsters, #La 4:3, that help their young? The heathens called their Ceres (queen of plenty) Mammosam, as the nurse of all living creatures; and there are that derive God’s name Shaddai from shad, a dug; because, as he openeth the hand, so he draws out the breast to every living thing. And for his saints, they may suck and be satisfied with the full strutting breasts of his consolations, the two Testaments, #Isa 66:11. And whatever Job now (under a heavy temptation, which, like lead, sunk downward, and carried his soul with. it) may misjudge, they may sit and sing thankfully with David, Lord, thou (and not the midwife) art he that took me out of the womb; thou (and not my mother) keptest me in safety when I hung upon the breasts; neither then only, but afterwards, for puerilitas est periculorum pelagus, and the preserver of men keepeth us still from a thousand deaths and dangers. And is this matter of complaint, and not rather of thankfulness?

Ver. 13. For now should I have lain still and been quiet] Why, but is it not better to be preserved in salt than to putrefy in sugar? to be emptied from vessel to vessel, than to be at ease, and so to settle on the lees? #Jer 48:11; to be tumbled up and down, as fishes are in the streams of Jordan, than to perish in the Dead Sea? It is not always (if at all) a happiness to lie still and be quiet. Life consists in action; and in all these things is the life of my spirit, saith good Hezekiah, who had been in death’s hands (where Job so much desired to be), and could therefore make a better judgment, #Isa 38:16. What haste, then, was there of his lying still, and being quiet; say that he were assured of his salvation (for else death had been but a trap door to eternal torments), was there nothing more to be done, but taking present possession? nothing to be suffered with Christ, or ere we come to be glorified with him? #Ro 8:17. Ought not he himself first to have suffered and then to have entered into his glory? #Lu 24:26. And ought not we to be conformed to his image (in sufferings also) that he might be the firstborn among many brethren? #Ro 8:29. Let us run with patience (running is active, and patience passive) the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, &c., and looking off our present troubles (as the word αφορωντες, #Heb 1:12, importeth), which while Job beheld too wishtly, and was more sensible of than was meet, he brake out in this sort, and showed himself too much a man. Let us do up our work, and then God will send us to bed all in good time, #Isa 57:2 Re 16:13.

Ver. 14. With kings and counsellors of the earth] q.d. Those that here have been most negotious, and (as the nobles of the earth) have had greatest matters in hand, with those should I have been coupled in the grave, that congregation house of all living (πανηγυρις), as it is called, #Job 30:23. That long or old home, #Ec 12:5. Heaven is called the congregation house of God’s firstborn, #Heb 12:23, and their house not made with hands, #2Co 5:1. But not many kings or nobles meet here, #1Co 1:26, because strait is the gate and narrow the way that leadeth to it; there must be stripping and stopping, which great men cannot frame to. It was a poor comfort to Henry VIII to be told upon his death bed, that he should now go to the place of kings. And a small commendation to Henry II, that some few hours before he died, seeing a list of their names who had conspired against him, and finding therein two of his own sons, he fell into a grievous passion, both cursing his sons, and the day wherein himself was born; and in that distemperature departed the world, which himself had so often distempered. He went indeed to his grave, and slept with his fathers; yea, he was royally interred under a stately monument, meant here, haply, by building desolate places for themselves: Absalom had erected a pillar for this purpose; and the Egyptian kings their pyramids, to perpetuate their memories. The Spanish friar was wont to say, there were but few princes in hell; for why? because there were but few in all. Confer #Eze 26:20. With these Job, had he died prematurely, or never seen the light, might have been fellowed: for death is the only king against whom there is no rising up, #Pr 30:31, and the mortal since his master of the royal sceptre, mowing down the lilies of the crown as well as the grass of the field, Sceptra igonibus aequat. The unknown scepter makes equal.

Ver. 15. Or with princes that had gold] Great store of it. Petrarch reporteth of Pope John XXII, that his heirs found in his coffers no less than 250 tons of gold. Boniface VIII, taken prisoner and plundered by the command of Philip the Fair, king of France, had as much gold carried away out of his palace as all the kings of Europe received for one year’s revenue from their subjects, together with their crown land. What a mass of treasure had Cardinal Wolsey gotten here! and before him Cardinal Beaufort, who when he saw that he must needs die, and that his riches could not reprieve him till a further time, asked, Why should I die, being so rich? fie, will not death be hired? will money do nothing? The Cardinal Sylberperger took so great a pleasure in money, that when he was grievously tormented with the gout, his only remedy to ease the pain was to have a bason full of gold set before him, into which he would put his lame hands, turning the gold upside down. Of Nugas, the Scythian monarch, it is said, that when Michael Paleologus, the Greek emperor, sent him many rich ornaments for a present, he asked whether they could drive away calamities, diseases, and death? this because they could not do, he slighted them. These princes that had gold, and filled their houses with silver, what would not they have given to have bought off death? but riches avail not in the day of wrath; it is righteousness only that delivereth from death, #Pr 11:4. Thrice happy, then, are they who are rich to God, as our Saviour phraseth it, who have the Almighty to be their gold; and who have silver of strength, as Eliphaz speaketh, #Job 22:25.

Who filled their houses with silver] That is, their graves, say some; called the dead men’s houses, #Job 17:13. The Jews call the burying place Bethchajin, the house of the living; and they used not only to adorn their sepulchres richly; but also to put their wealth into the grave with them. Josephus saith that Hircanus found in David’s sepulchre three thousand talents and, #Jer 8:1, God threateneth that the Chaldeans shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and of his princes, out of their graves, as searching there for hid treasure; so some conceive. Sure it is, that in the siege of Jerusalem, under Vespasian, there was gold found in the entrails of a Jew that was slain, which caused over twenty thousand of them to be ripped up.

Ver. 16. Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been] As an abortive or miscarrying embryo that falleth from the mother, as untimely fruit falleth off from the tree. See #Re 6:13. Hidden it is called, because cast aside as an unsightly spectacle, that cometh in with vanity, and departeth in darkness, and his name is covered with darkness, #Ec 6:4. Job could have wished some way or other never to have been, rather than to have been in so calamitous a condition; and herein he sinned, no doubt: for that which is of the flesh is flesh, #Joh 3:6.

As infants which never saw light] But were still born, as we call them. The word rendered infants is taken from a word that signifieth to defile, see #Job 16:15, for children in the womb are compassed about with pollution; and the first sheet or blanket wherewith they are covered is woven of sin, shame, blood, and filth, #Eze 16:4,6.

Ver. 17. There the wicked cease from troubling] Here they are restless, as being acted and agitated by the devil, who being a discontented, turbulent creature, maketh ado in the world, and setteth his imps awork to do mischief, and to vex others, םיעשׁר The word here rendered wicked signifieth vexatious persons, that worry and weary out others, molestuous and mischievous. In the grave they shall cease from so doing. That was a strange mind of our Edward I, who adjured his son and nobles, that if he died in his journey into Scotland, they should carry his corpse with them about Scotland, and not suffer it to be interred till they had absolutely subdued the country (Daniel’s Hist. 201). This was a desire more martial than Christian, saith the chronicler, showing a mind so bent to the world, as he would not make an end when he had done with it, but designeth his travel beyond his life.

And there the weary be at rest] Hence some heathens also have counted mortality a mercy, and some of them appointed contrary ceremonies to those now in use; for they brought their friends into the world with mournful obsequies, but they carried them out of the world with joyful exequies, all sorts of sports and pastimes, because then they conceived they were at rest, and out of gunshot (Plotin. ap. Aug. de C. D. l. 9, c. 10; Quintil. Inst. lib. 5; Herod. l. 5; Val. Max.).

Ver. 18. There the prisoners rest together] Or alike, as do their cruel creditors and hard taskmasters. There, that is, in the state of the dead, whether by land or sea, the prisoners, or bound persons, the miserable captives, rest; such as were those poor Christians, shut up so close (by Barbarossa, the Turkish general, returning toward Constantinople) under hatches among the excrements of nature, that all the way as he went almost every hour, some of them were cast dead over board. Such were many of the martyrs, kept fast shut up in Lollard’s tower, in the bishop of London’s coal house, a dark and ugly prison, said Mr Philpot, as any is about London; but I thank the Lord, I am not alone, but have six other faithful companions, who in our darkness do lightsomely sing psalms and praises to God for his great goodness, but especially for this, that I am so near the apprehension of eternal bliss. God forgive me mine unthankfulness and unworthiness of so great glory (Acts and Mon. 1669, 1670). What pitiful hard usage God’s poor prisoners met with in the late troubles, at Oxford especially (from which death God graciously delivered me when I was in their hands) and in the western parts, see Mr Bonas’ Sermon called Job in the West, where he compareth the enemies’ cruelty to that of the American cannibals, who, when they take a prisoner, feed upon him alive, and by degrees, to the unutterable aggravation of his horror and torment.

They hear not the voice of the oppressor] Their harsh and hard speeches, #Jude 15, that were as a murdering weapon in the poor prisoner’s bones, #Ps 42:10. Send me back to my frogs and toads again, where I may pray for your conversion, said one of the martyrs to his railing adversaries. Art thou come, thou villain? how darest thou look me in the face for shame? said Stephen Gardiner to Dr Taylor the martyr, who told him his own freely, but fairly: for the spirit of grace is nec mendax, nec mordax. neither lying nor deceitful. Est autem Satanae pectus faecundissimum convitiis, Moreover, there is in the heart of Satan most fruitful vice, saith Luther; the devil and his agents are bitter railers, fetching their words as far as hell, to break the hearts of God’s prisoners, #Ps 69:20. But besides that they have their cordial of a good conscience by them, #2Co 1:12, in the grave they hear not the voice of the oppressor, nor the barkings of these dead dogs, any more.

Ver. 19. The small and the great are there] In Calvary are skulls of all sizes, say the Hebrews. Stat sua cuique dies (Virg. Aeneid, lib. 1 0). It is appointed for all once to die, be they great or small, low or high. Mors sceptra ligonibus aequat, death makes no difference; kings and captives, lords and lowlies come, then under an equal parity; death takes away all distinctions. William the Conqueror’s corpse lay unburied three days; his interment was hindered by one that claimed the ground to be his (Daniel). King Stephen was interred at Feversham monastery; but since his body, for the gain of the lead, wherein it was coffined, was cast into the river, where at length it rested; as did likewise the dead corpse of Edward V, and his brother, smothered in the Tower by Richard III, and cast into a place called the black deeps at the Thames’ mouth (Speed.).

The servant is free from his master] Servant is a name of office. He is not his own to dispose of, but the master’s instrument, saith Aristotle, and wholly his, till he please to free him: if he do not, yet death will; and by taking away his life, give him his liberty. His body resteth from all servile offices for a season howsoever: and if with good will he hath done service as to the Lord, and not to men, he shall receive of the Lord the reward of inheritance, even a child’s part, #Col 3:24.

Ver. 20. Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery] Job hath not done yet, though he had said more than enough of this matter; but for want of the oil of joy and gladness his doors move not without creaking, his lips (like rusty hinges) open not without murmuring and complaining: good, therefore, is that counsel given by David, Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; take up in time, before it hath wholly leavened and soured you: "Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil," #Ps 37:8. He shall not choose but do evil who is sick of the fret. David had the sad experience of this when he had carted the ark, and thereupon God had made a breach upon Uzzah: David was displeased, saith the text; and how untowardly spake he, as if the fault were more in God than in himself; though afterwards he came to a sight of his own error, #1Ch 13:11 15:2. And so did Job, no doubt, when come to himself; but here he proceeds to express his peevishness and impatience, yea, against God himself (though not by name, forsan sese cohibens—ob bonae mentis reliquias, saith Mercer, out of his good respect to God, which he still retained), and calls for a reason why the miserable should be condemned to live, since death would be much more welcome to them. How apt are men to think there is no reason for that for which they can see no reason!

Ver. 21. Which long for death, but it cometh not] The bitter in soul long for death, those that are in pain or penury are apt to desire to be dispatched upon any terms, and would freely pardon them, they say, that would give them their passport. But these, for the most part, consider not the unsupportableness of the wrath to come, that eternity of extremity in hell, that death usually baleth at the heels of it; so that by death, whereof they are so desirous, they would but leap out of the frying pan into the fire, as Judas did.. they do so, as the ass in the fable, who desired to die, that he might be no more beaten; at post mortem factus est tympanum, but when he was dead he was made a drum head of, and so was ten times more laid on than ever in his lifetime before.

And dig for it more than for hid treasures] Covetousness is παντολμος, all daring, saith an ancient; and men, for love of wealth, will dig to hell, light a candle at the devil, as they say: with such an eagerness of desire do some (that have little reason for it, all things reckoned) long and labour after death, not to be rid of sin, or to be with Christ, as #Php 1:23, but to be freed from misery incumbent or impendent. Thus Cato (having first read Plato’s book of the soul’s immortality) committed suicide, that he might not fall into the hands of the conqueror. Thus Adrian the emperor, having lain long sick (and could get no help by physicians, but was the worse for them, as he complained at his death, πολλοι ιατροι κατεκτειναν τον βοσιλεα), would gladly have slain himself, if those about him would have suffered it. It is said that Severianus, whom this emperor injuriously put to death, wished of God, ut Adrianus, quamvis mortem obire percupiat, tamen non possit, that Adrian might desire to die, and not be able, or find opportunity. There is an epistle of his extant, saith the historian, wherein is set forth what a misery it is to desire to die, and yet to be denied it (Dio Cass. in Adrian). This was the case of those popelings, #Re 9:6. And in particular of Roger, bishop of Salisbury in King Stephen’s time; who, through long and strait imprisonment, was brought to that evil pass, ut vivere noluerit, mori nescierit, live he would not, and yet die he could not. This is a very typical hell, and a foretaste of eternal torment.

Ver. 22. Which rejoice exceedingly] Joy till they skip again, so Broughton rendereth it. Strange that any should be so glad of death, that last enemy, that slaughterman of nature, and harbinger of hell to the ungodly; but this the devil hideth from them till he hath them where he would have, and whence there is no redemption. What was it else that moved Augustus at his death to call for a round of applause or that made Julian the apostate to die so confidently; and many today that have little reason for it to be so prodigal of their lives, and seemingly fond of death? Is it not because they are fearfully blinded by the god of this present world, #2Co 4:4, who holdeth his black hand before their eyes, lest they should see the evil consequents of death, and be saved? which because they do not, what do they else but rejoice exceedingly (or with exultation, as the word here signifieth) in their woeful bondage, and go dancing to hell in their bolts, not so much as desiring deliverance. A man that is to be hanged next day may dream overnight he shall be set free, nay, that he shall be a king, and rejoice therein accordingly; but the end of such joy is heaviness.

Ver. 23. Why is light given to a man whose way is hid?] i.e. Why is the light of life continued to him who is in a maze or labyrinth of miseries, whereof he can see no cause, and whereout he can descry no issue? no hope at all appeareth of ever either mending or ending. Therefore Vale lumen amicum, as he in St Jerome said, Sweet light, adieu; Quin morere ut merita es, as she in the poet, Be thine own death’s man. Seneca counts it a mercy to a man in misery that he may, by commiting suicide, let out his life when he will; and this he calls valour and manhood. But we have not so learned Christ, neither may we leave our station till called for by our Captain, but must stand to our arms, and, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, suffer hardship, #2Ti 2:4. His word to us is the same as the king’s was to his son, the Black Prince, Either vanquish or die (Speed.); and as she in the story said to her son when she gave him his target, See that thou either bring this back with thee, or else be thou brought back dead upon it out of the battle, ταν η επι ταν. It troubled Job that he could not see his way, and that God had hedged him in, viz. with a thorn hedge of afflictions, #La 3:7,9 Ho 2:6, so that he could find no way out. But what if he could not, nor any man alive? yet the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, #2Pe 2:9. He hath his way in the whirlwind, and his judgments are a great deep, #Ps 36:6. Sometimes secret they are, but ever just. Surely it had been more meet for Job to have said unto God, "That which I see not, teach thou me," #Job 34:32. "Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have I waited for thee; the desire of my soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee," #Isa 26:8.

Ver. 24. For my sighing cometh before I eat] It cometh unsent for, as evil weather useth to do, and most unseasonably surpriseth me at my repast. I mingle my meat with my tears, with every bit of bread I have a morsel of sorrows; and I mingle my drink with weeping, #Ps 102:9, though indeed Job’s was not so much a shower of tears as a storm of sighs, and a volley of roarings, betokening extremity of grief, such as was beyond tears, and vented itself as the noise of many waters; for my roarings, saith he, are poured out like water. I am as hungry as a lion roaring on his prey, and as violent as the torrents ranging the fields; and yet I neither have leisure nor list to eat my bread; as loth to prolong such a troublesome life, but that I must, or be guilty of self murder. Mr Fox reports of Mr John Glover, that not long after his conversion, upon a mistake of the sense of that text, #Heb 6:5,6, he was strongly concerned that he had fallen into the unpardonable sin, and must necessarily therefore be damned; and in that intolerable grief of mind, although he neither had nor could have any joy of his meat, yet was he compelled to eat against his appetite, to the end to defer the time of his damnation so long as he might (Acts & Mon. 1 552). Now who can tell how near Job’s case might come to this, since the devil was both author and actor in a great part of both these tragic comedies?

Ver. 25. For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me] Heb. I feared a fear, and it came upon me. Had Job been wicked, this had been no wonder, #Pr 10:24 Job 15:21. Or had his fear been sinful, it had been less pity, #Pr 29:25 Joh 11:48; for why should he, by a painful preconceit, suffer before he needed, and send for his crosses before they came? A good man should be careful (and so consequently fearful) in nothing, #Php 4:6, he should hope the best, and bear bravely οτι αν Θεος διδω, saith Demosthenes, whatever God sendeth. The Epicureans held, that a good man might be cheerful under whatsoever miseries: 1. In consideration of honesty and integrity. 2. In consideration of those pleasures and comforts that formerly he had enjoyed, and now cheered up himself with, Ex praeteritarum voluptatum recordatione (Cie. de Finib. lib. 2). Of neither of these was Job to seek; but whereas it might be said unto him, Is it fit for thee, who hast hitherto been so happy, now to take on so heavily, because thus and thus afflicted? Truly, saith he, I was never so happy as you took me for; because (considering how moveable and mutable all outward things are) I always feared lest I should outlive my prosperity; that which now also is unhappily befallen me. Sulla had been happy, si eundem et vincendi et vivendi finem fecisset, saith one; that is, if he had made an end of conquering and of living together; but that he did not. In him and many others it hath appeared that mortality is but the stage of mutability. This holy Job had oft forecasted with himself: and though in his passion he here allege it as a reason why he took no comfort in his meat, &c., yet in true account it could be no grief unto him, nor offence of heart (as she once said to David, #1Sa 25:31), since it was a fear of wisdom and caution; a fear of the head, and not of the heart; a fear of diligence, and not of diffidence.

Ver. 26. I was not in safety] i.e. I counted not myself simply the safer and happier man, because of creature comforts; but knowing their uncertainty, I held at a distance, and hung loose to them all.

Neither had I rest] I set not up my rest here, as did Nebuchadnezzar, #Da 4:4, and that rich fool, #Lu 12:20, and the purple whore, who sitteth and saith, I shall see no sorrow. Once indeed Job said (but not so well), "I shall die in my nest, and multiply my days as the sand," #Job 29:18. And so (by a like error, which was quickly confuted) David said in his prosperity, "I shall never be moved," #Ps 30:6,7. But for the main and the most part Job was otherwise minded. A godly man may be master of and busied about these paltrements of this present world, but not satisfied in them as adequate objects: he looks upon them all in their greatest lustre, as Hiram did on the cities Solomon had given him, which he called Chabul, that is, land of dirt. He minds the things above most of all.

Yet trouble came] Although I ever kept myself within the bounds of humility and modesty, and so took the safest and wisest course to secure that I had, and to gain a settled estate; yet all is gone, and I am left a mirror of misery. What can any one make of this? This is a riddle to me; here I am gravelled and benighted.

Chapter 4

Ver. 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite] Then, when Job had laid about him in this sort; and, giving his tongue too much liberty to lash out, had uttered words little better than blasphemous and contumelious against God; then Eliphaz, Temanites ille, the first born of Esau, #Ge 36:4 (saith R. Salomon), brought up in the bosom of Isaac, and so inured to revelations from on high. Others think he descended of Teman, nephew to Esau, &c. A man of great wisdom he was, and of great discourse; one that could speak his mind fitly, and did it freely. He seems to have been the chief of the three for age and authority, and therefore begins; pretending to be moved thereunto by zeal for God’s glory, not a little impaired by Job’s impatience savouring of hypocrisy, and arguing eum ficto fucatoque cordo fuisse, that he had been little better than a dissembler. A causeless and uncharitable charge; enough to have driven him into desperation. The Rabbis speak so well of Job’s three friends, that they used to say in a Proverb (Bava bathra Perech 1), Let a man either get him such friends as Job had, or else get him out of the world (like as Chrysippus was wont to say, Aut mentem, aut restim comparandam). But Gregory the Great saith, that these three, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, do fitly set forth heretics, who begin to speak smoothly at first, as if they meant no harm to him to whom they speak, but only good, to purchase his benevolous attention, but soon come to speak words which much hurt the hearer, and greatly trouble him, &c.

Ver. 2. If we assay to commune with thee] Or may we assay to commune with thee? Art thou in case to be counselled? and will not an essay to this purpose further trouble thy patience and distemper thee? The ear which tasteth words (as the mouth doth meat), if filled with choler, can relish no comfort; and the easiest medicines, or mildest waters, are troublesome to sore eyes (Basil. Orat. 12). Honey causeth pain to exulcerate parts, though in itself it be sweet and medicinal; children, though at other times they like it and lick it in, yet they will not endure to have it come near their lips when they have the cankers (Alex. Aphrod. problem.). Some patients are mad against their medicines; and some hearers rage at a reproof. Eliphaz knew not but that Job might do as much, and that having newly been in a fearful fit of passion, he might fall into another, as Jonah did; the orifice of his corruption being not yet closed up by repentance; hence this preamble by way of friendly insinuation. The like art useth Paul with Philemon, and with the Corinthians often.

But who can withhold himself from speaking?] Who that hath any piety toward God, or pity to his offending friend? We use to say, He that receiveth a courtesy selleth his liberty; but true love will not be tongue tied. Our Saviour’s mouth was not stopped with all the good cheer that Simon the leper made him, #Lu 7:36-50, neither entertained he the Pharisees with fewer menaces than they did him, eftsoons, with messes of meat. Job had been doubtless very friendly to his friends, who yet spare him not; and had they done it aright with the meekness of wisdom they had showed themselves friends indeed there being not a better office or evidence of love than this, #Le 19:17. Friends, as bees, are killed with the honey of flattery, but quickened with the vinegar of reproof, so it be well managed. The eagle, though she loveth her young ones dearly, yet she pricketh and beateth them out of the nest when they are ready for flight.

Ver. 3. Behold, thou hast instructed many] sc. To do each day’s duty with Christian diligence, and to bear each day’s crosses with Christian patience thou hast done it well. But how comes it now to pass, quod dicta factis erubescant, that thy present doings shame thy former sayings? (Tertul.); and that (as it was noted of Demosthenes the orator) thou art better at praising of virtue than at practising of it? Turpe est Doctori, &c. Should not the physician first heal himself? and ought not the preacher’s word be Spectemur agendo; let our profiting appear to all men, let our lives be a true transcript of our sermons? What a shame was it that Hilary should complain that the people’s ears were holier than the preachers’ hearts, Sanctiores sunt aures plebis quam corda sacerdotum (Hilar.), and that Erasmus, by a true jest, should be told that there was more goodness in his book of the Christian soldier than in his bosom! Eliphaz from this ground would here argue that Job was little better than a hypocrite; a censure overly rigid, it being the easiest thing in the world, as a philosopher observed, to give good counsel, and the hardest thing to take it. Dr Preston, upon his death bed, confessed, that now it came to his own turn, he found it somewhat to do to practise that which he had oft pressed upon others.

And thou hast strengthened the weak hands] Loose and lax, feeble and infirm, through many terrors and troubles: to these thou hast spoken words which have been as sinews to their hands, and as strength to their joints. Job had comforted the feeble minded, or the dispirited, the sick at heart, and sinking under the sense of sin and fear of wrath, #1Th 5:14. This is a harder work than to raise the dead to life, saith Luther; this not one of a thousand can skill of, #Job 33:23. He must have feeding lips and a healing tongue that shall do it. O quam hoc non est omnium! The Christian Romans were able to do it, #Ro 15:14. And holy Job was both able and apt, for he did it to many. True goodness is diffusive of itself, and is therefore compared to the most spreading things; as fire, water, sunlight, &c.

Ver. 4. Thy words have upholden him that was falling] So forcible are right words, well timed and fitted to the present necessity, they shore up the tottering, they catch him before be comes to ground, and prevent his fall. This made Latimer bless God that ever he came acquainted with that fellow prisoner of his, that angel of God (as he called him), John Bradford he and Ridley, so long as they lived, upheld Cranmer by their words and letters; who soon after fell, to the grief of the godly party, but rose again by repentance (Mr Clark in his Life). The story is told of Urbanus Regius, a famous Dutch divine, that meeting with Luther at Goburg, be spent a whole day in conference with him about matters of great moment, of which himself writeth, that he never had a more comfortable day in all his life. The earl of Derby’s accusation in the parliament house against Mr Bradford was, that he did more harm (so he called good, evil) by letters and conferences in prison than ever he did when he was abroad by preaching (Acts and Mon.).

Thou hast strengthened the feeble knees] That bend and buckle under a back burden of afflictions: this was to be like unto God, who doth not crush, but cherish the worm Jacob; he doth not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax; he despiseth not the day of small things, nor slighteth the well meant weaknesses of his upright hearted people. Now Job, as a partaker of the Divine nature, resembled God herein, and made it his work to comfort the abject, to strengthen and straighten those that were bowed down with pains and pressures, to be eyes to the blind and feet to the lame, #Job 29:15; to distribute spiritual alms, which is far the best in many respects, as were easy to instance.

Ver. 5. But now it is come upon thee] This is a galling. But hitherto Eliphaz had commended Job; now he dasheth all, and draweth a black line over that he had spoken once. To commend a man with a but is a wound instead of a commendation; it sounds like that which is said of Naaman, #2Ki 5:1, he was an honourable and a valiant man, but a leper; it sprinkleth black upon white, and so smutteth a man’s good name, which is slander in a high degree.

It is come upon thee] What is come? The evil thou fearedst, by thine own confession, #Job 3:25,26; or now it is come to thy turn to act what thou hast taught others.

And thou faintest] Thou art down on all four, most shamefully degenerating into a faithless pusillanimity and unbelieving impatience, to the scandal of the weak and scorn of the wicked. Nay, thou art not only in a maze, but in a rage, so that thy reason seems tired as much as thy strength; thou layest about thee like a Hercules furens, a man stark mad. See the word used in this sense, #Pr 26:18 Ge 47:13. {mad, fainted}

It toucheth thee, and thou art troubled] It toucheth thee, but so tender thou art, and delicate, that a light touch disquieteth thee; like as some men’s flesh, if but razed with a pin, rankleth straight. Invalidum omne natura querulum, saith Seneca, The weaker anything is the more full of complaint.

And thou art troubled] Pitifully put to it, as if utterly undone, because touched a little, Mira vero constantia! Truly amazingly constant! But is this you that were a great teacher, that were so forward and forth putting to press others to a patient and peaceable behaviour under God’s hand? Should not thy words be made visible by thine actions? and thy patient mind be made known to all men, since the Lord is at hand? Hypocrites can talk of duty, as if their tongues did run upon pattens; {The plate or shallow dish, usually circular and of silver, on which the bread is laid at the celebration of the Eucharist.} they talk by the talent, but act by the ounce, as did those Pharisees, #Mt 23:8 Ro 2:21, that shamed goodness by seeming good. Eliphaz here reproacheth Job for such a one, as both here and everywhere, he and his two companions are too hot and harsh in their censures passed upon him; which God also giveth them the telling of, #Job 42:7-9.

Ver. 6. ls not this thy fear, thy confidence, &c.] Or thy folly: q.d. Is not thy religion a mere foolery? and hath not thou rather acted religion, played devotion and the fear of God, than been serious therein? This was a most bitter scoff, a cruel shake, and came near his heart. Like as nothing vexed David more than when they laid his religion in his dish, asking, Where is now thy God? So he. By this alteration that affliction hath wrought in thee, thou mayest easily see what thou art, viz. a very painted hypocrite: hard weather shows what health; empty vessels set near the fire, crack quickly. At the parting way every dog followeth his own master. Afflictio virum arguit, &c. Affliction shows a man, it turns the inside outward, the bottom of the bag upward; bringing that which was at the bottom to the top; as that stick cast into the water made the iron swim, #2Ki 6:6. Doth it not appear (saith Eliphaz here) that thou hast been merely mercenary, serving God while he prospered thee; and now kicking against him, because he affiicteth thee? See how near this man cometh, saith Mercer, to that first instigation of Satan, #Job 1:9, in hoc Satanae factus minister, herein acting the devil’s part, though unwittingly, as Peter also did, #Mt 16:22,23.

The uprightness of thy ways and thy hope?] q.d. Thou hast taken to thyself many fair titles, and made a great flaunt, as if there were none such; but what is it all come to? Is it any better than a flask, a foppery, a name, and not a thing? Or if it be a reality, make proof of it. True grace is operative, and will not lie dormant.

Ver. 7. Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent?] Why? that hath many a one, as the world counteth and calleth perishing: "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart," #Isa 57:1. And it was given unto the beast, to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, #Re 13:7. So it seemed to be, though so it never was, #Re 12:11. The first man that died, died for religion, so early came martyrdom into the world; and John Baptist was put to death in prison without all show of law, right, or reason, as if God had been nothing aware of any such matter, as that martyr phrased it (Acts and Mon.). Indeed, if Eliphaz meant it of perishing eternally, neither Job nor any one else could produce an instance of a godly man so perishing; but for temporal miseries it is sure that never any out of hell have met with more than the most holy and harmless heirs of heaven. See #Heb 11, and you will say so. But the Scriptures, haply, were not written when Eliphaz uttered this speech; howbeit, he might have observed the contrary to what he here seemeth to affirm, appealing to Job’s own experience for proof. And the truth is, if men were so well read as they might in the story of their own lives, they might have a divinity of their own, by noting experiments; such as that ll9th Psalm is in a manner wholly made up of. Remember, saith he here; and the philosopher saith, that experience is nothing else but mulplex memoria, because of the memory of the same thing often done, ariseth experience. Eliphaz, therefore, after that he had given Job his turn to search his experiences, brings forth his own in the next verse.

Ver. 8. Even as I have seen] And therefore can boldly say: for what so sure as sight? See #Nu 11:23 Ge 34:1,2. Diligent inspection of a thing, and deep consideration upon it, makes confidence, which is the fruit of experience.

That they plow iniquity, and sow wickedness] Here is ploughing and sowing, a mystical husbandry. Sinners are sore labourers, great painstakers: they plot and plough, they sow and reap, they dig and delve, #Pr 16:27, they weave and spin, #Isa 59:5, they busy their heads, and beat their brains, as hard students in their black art; they labour even unto lassitude, #Jer 9:5. Hence they are called workers of iniquity (the Vulgate rendereth this text Qui operantur iniquitatem), and sin is called a work of the flesh. How can those but work hard in digging descents to hell, who have the devil for their task master, who continually spurs them on to a quick despatch of the deeds of darkness? Arant, serunt, occant scelera, as the devil’s hinds and horses, they drudge night and day, turning up all the corruption in their hearts and conveniences in the world, for the effecting of their wicked devices.

And sow wickedness] Nemo repente fit turpissimus. No one suddenly becomes wicked. Sin goeth on gradually (here is first ploughing, then sowing), wicked men and seducers grow worse and worse, till at length they are even Satanized, #2Ti 3:13; being transformed into sin’s image, and bereft of all passive power of awaking out of the snare of the devil, being taken alive by him at his pleasure, #2Ti 2:26.

Reap the same] Not the same day it may be, but too soon, to their sorrow, they receive the guerdon of their sin. Sooner or later, it is sure, he that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity, #Pr 22:8 Jer 4:18. As everybody hath its shadow, so hath every sin its punishment; and many times the one is so like the other, that a man may safely say, Such a punishment is the product of such a sin, #Ga 6:7. Men shall reap the same they sow, and good reason. Give them blood to drink, for they are worthy, #Re 16:6. God loves to make him a name among men by his art of justicing (as one calleth it) in that most exact way of counterpassion, or retaliation; and Adonibezek hath got him a fame of ingenuity, by acknowledging as much, #Jud 1:7.

Ver. 9. By the blast of God they perish] He puts himself to no great pain to punish them; but blows them away as so many dust heaps; he nods them to destruction, saith the psalmist, #Ps 80:16; he can as easily do it as bid it to be done. So Caesar Metellus. If the Lord do but arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and all that hate him fly before him, #Ps 64:1. If he but put his head out of the windows of heaven, as it were, and say, Who is on my side; who? all the creatures (who for fear of him had hid themselves, as worms wriggle into their holes in time of thunder) shall look out presently, and offer him their service; so that he cannot possibly want a weapon to tame his rebels, or a way to bring the wicked to condign punishment. He is Eloah, as he is here called; that is, The powerful One, the mighty strong God, as #Isa 9:6, before whom all nations are as the drop of a bucket, or as the dust of the balance, #Isa 40:15; no more able to stand against him than is the glass bottle against a cannon shot, or downny thistle before a whirlwind. Behold, I will send a blast upon him (saith God concerning Sennacherib, #2Ki 19:7), and so set him going. So, elsewhere, he threateneth to tread down his stoutest enemies as straw is trodden down to the dunghill. Neither shall he much trouble himself in doing this: for he shall only spread forth his hands in the midst of them, "as he that swimmeth, spreadeth forth his hands to swim," &c., #Isa 25:11,12, to signify that he shall do it with greatest facility. The motion in swimming is easy, not strong; for strong violent strokes in the water would rather sink than support. It is said, that by a look of his out of the pillar of fire and of the cloud he troubled the host of the Egyptians, #Ex 14:24, and as the rocks repelled the boisterous waves, — Conantia frangere frangunt, so did he the enemies of his people.

By the breath of his nostrils are they consumed] Heb. By the wind of his nostrils. This is the same with the former. Only it is conceived that Eliphaz here alludeth to the manner of the death of Job s children by a mighty wind, so strong as if God himself had breathed it out. By the breath of his mouth he made the world, #Ps 32:6, and by the same breath can he as soon and as easily unmake it again, as he did in the general deluge, whereunto the Chaldee paraphrast holdeth that Eliphaz here referreth; the remembrance of which standing monument of God’s wrath was fresh and well known when this was spoken.

Ver. 10. The roaring of the lion, &c.] Lest any should think, saith Mr Caryl, that the blast of God mentioned above carrieth away only straws and feathers, light and weak persons, into perdition, Eliphaz addeth the weightiest and the strongest, "The roaring of a lion," &c., q.d. God by his blast can take away or break the strongest, the mightiest lion like men, &c. Under the shadow of which allusions he closely strikes at Job, who was once a great man, a fierce spoiling lion in the apprehension of his friends, and yet God brought him down. Of tyrants and oppressors compared to lions, and why, see #Na 2:11,12 Pr 28:15. {See Trapp on "Na 2:11"} {See Trapp on "Na 2:12"} {See Trapp on "Pr 28:15"} The proverb is, The lion is not so fierce as he is painted. But no words can sufficiently set forth the atrocious savagery and cruelty of absurd and wicked men. See that of Nebuchadnezzar graphically described, #Jer 51:34, "He hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out."

The teeth of the young lions are broken] Or, pulled out, that they may no more devour the flesh and drink the blood of God’s poor afflicted, that fell into their strong ones. Thus David had prayed, #Ps 58:6, and this he had proved: #Ps 3:7, "Thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly." God with his hard and heavy hand had so boxed and buffeted them, that they spat forth some of their teeth; and for the rest, they might go seek them in their throat; as Dares, that bold champion in Virgil, whom (when he had been soundly beaten by old Entellus) his fellows led away.

Iaetantemque utroque caput, crassumque cruorem

Ore reiectantem, ipsosque in sanguine dentes.

A just hand of God upon such as, exercising regimen without righteousness, ravin and rend, as lions greedy for their prey, plucking off the skins of their poor subjects, and pulling out their teeth, #Mic 3:2: as Melancthon telleth of one tyrant, who, to get great sums of money out of his people, used to send for them; and if they refused to answer his demands, he would first knock out one of their teeth, and then another, threatening to leave them toothless.

Ver. 11. The old lion perishelh for lack of prey] As not being able to hunt and get it. The meaning is (saith one) that men who reign like lions, that their children who equalled them in cruelty, that their wives who surpassed them in insolence, do end their lives tragically, Quotidiana et domestica experimenta hoc docent; all this is true for the most part. Eliphaz speaks of what is usually done, saith another (Mercer), in #Ps 30. Or he speaks of what God can easily do at any time; and of what God may justly do at all times. If he suspend this justice, it is for weighty reasons, &c. Some wicked men God punisheth here, saith Augustine, lest his providence, but not all, lest his patience and promise of judgment, should be called into question.

Ver. 12. Now a thing was secretly brought to me] Heb. Was brought to me by stealth, closely and privily, so as others were not aware of it: see #Ac 22:9 9:7. Saul’s companions heard his voice, but not Christ’s. By this vision Eliphaz would convince Job that none are afflicted but those that have well deserved it; since the best are defective and blame worthy, though they should be puriores caelo afflictione facti, as Chrysostom saith, as those good souls were that prayed Peter out of prison, #Ac 12:5. Some are of the opinion, that this vision either came from his phantasy, and so was none; or else, by an illusion from Satan. But Mercer holds it to have been a true vision from God; although Eliphaz abused it in his misapplication thereof to Job, playing the sophister, after a sort, while he quite changeth the state of the question, which at this time was, Whether we ought to judge a man’s life and behaviour by the greatness of those troubles and miseries that he doth suffer? This vision he describeth verbis magnificis et ampullosis: As for me, a thing (or a word) was stolen upon me, or secretly brought to me, &c. But what so great a secret was this, saith Calvin, that God alone is perfectly righteous, and all men unrighteous in comparison to him? For answer, he calleth it a secret (though it be a plain and evident truth), because few consider it, and improve it to be a humble submission to God, and suffering his judgments. See a like expressmn, #Ps 78:2,3, &c., "I will open my mouth in a parable," which yet was nothing extraordinary, but poetically set out, so #Ps 49:4. The happy and secure estate of saints in trouble is described, and the contrary; which though an ordinary argument, and often treated, yet is called the great wisdom, the dark saying.

And mine ear received a little thereof] Nonnihil pauxillum, quippiam, not all that it might, but as much as it could, as being but a narrow mouthed vessel. Vide ut modeste loquatur, saith Mercer; See how modestly the man speaketh, not taking upon him any perfection of knowledge, though he were a man of great understanding; his ear caught somewhat of what was revealed, and but somewhat. The best men, while here, knows only in part; for what reason? We prophesy but in part, #1Co 13:9. Such is our weakness and narrow heartedness, that we cannot take in all of all; no, nor any part of all in the full latitude and extent of it. The greatest part of that we know is the least part of that we know not, saith a Father. Hence those modest expressions of some philosophers, and others: This only I know, that nothing I know, said Socrates. I know not so much as this, said another, that I yet know nothing. My greatest knowledge, said Chytreus, is to know that I know nothing. And albeit I am otherwise ignorant, saith another, yet of mine own ignorance I am not ignorant. Not only in most other things am I to seek, saith Austin (Epist. cxix. c. 21), but even in the Scriptures (my chief study, and trade of life) multo plura nescio quam scio, there are many more things hid from me than what I yet understand, #Joh 14:4,5. Thomas seems to contradict Christ. Austin thus reconcileth it: they did partly know whither Christ went, but dared not once believe that they had any such knowledge; they did not know their own knowledge. The best here can see but God’s back parts, and live, as Moses. Isaiah saw only his train in the temple, and the latter end of that too. Eliphaz’s ear caught only the latter end, as it were, of a sentence, only that which the echo resounded, a particle of the whole that was whispered secretly to him. Howbeit, that he received but a little was not from neglect of the rest, but from inability to receive more or to receive it more perfectly.

Ver. 13. In thoughts from the visions of the night, &c.] Or, in thoughts of the visions of the night. It appeareth by this and other circumstances that this vision was no fiction or holy fraud (as some have conceited) to bring Job to a sight of his sin. Let Papists praise their St Dominic for his holy hypocrisy which he taught his disciples to make use of, to bring people the better to a good esteem of the faith and love of virtue. Eliphaz was a better man than to deal in such depths of the devil, and with such deliberate gravity put a lie upon God. He was really plodding, he was in thoughts, the word properly signifieth branches, or boughs of trees, which are many, thick, intertwined, and crossing one another, In the multitude of my perplexed thoughts within me, saith David, thy comforts have refreshed my soul, #Ps 94:19. The same word is rendered vain thoughts, or wavering cogitations, #Ps 119:113, such as David’s soul hated. Carnal hearts are exchanges and shops of vain thoughts, stews of unclean thoughts, slaughter houses of cruel and bloody thoughts; a very forge and mint of false, politic, undermining thoughts: but Eliphaz’s thoughts were better busied; his top thoughts, those uppermost branches of his soul, were concerning God, and the things of his kingdom: when other men became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened, he had visions of God. In the night season, when dead sleep fell upon others, he slept, but his heart waked, and was free to receive revelations, and to contemplate them; or, perhaps, he was wide awake at that time of night, that he might the better converse with God and his own soul. Abraham had many such sweet visions: Isaac walked out into the fields for the purpose: Jacob met with God in this manner, both at Bethel and at Penuel. Daniel had visions both in the day and in the night: so had Paul, and other apostles. The monks make long relations of revelations and apparitions that they have had. So do the enthusiasts and high attainers; but we are not bound to believe them. Matthew Paris reporteth of Gilbert Foliot, bishop of London, A. D. 1161, that one night musing about the difference between the king and Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, he heard a terrible voice, saying, O Gilberte Foliot, dum revolvis tot et tot, Deus tuus est Ascarot. O Gibert Filiot, then you turn back to much and so much. Your God is Iscariot. He, taking it to be the devil, answered boldly, Mentiris, daemon: Deus meus est Deus Sabaoth. Lying devil my God is the God of Hosts. Aeneas, in Virgil, is said to have his visions and conferences with his deceased friends. Satan loves to imitate God in what he can, that he may deceive with better success; but we have a most sure word of prophecy, and yet a more glorious light of the gospel, #Heb 1:2, the promised daystar being risen in our hearts, #2Pe 1:19.

Ver. 14. Fear came on me, and trembling] Fear in the inward man, and trembling in the outward. And this is God’s method still: the more he draweth nigh to any man the more doth rottenness enter into his bones, and he is horribly afraid of God’s judgments, with David; he trembleth at his word, with Josiah, that it may be the more efficacious in his soul. "Let us have grace" (saith the apostle), "whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for even our God also" (and not the God of the Jews only) "is a consuming fire," #Heb 12:28,29. Αξιωματικωτατος μεν εστιν ο βασιλευς ημων, saith Basil. Our King will be served like himself, served in state; and although he alloweth us a humble familiarity, yet he expecteth our reverential fear; acquainted he will be with us in our walks of obedience; but yet he takes state upon him in his ordinances, and will be trembled at in the addresses we make unto his majesty; he looks we should bring with us a legal faith and a legal repentance, as well as an evangelical; and that we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling, #Php 2:12. Terrors and humiliations prepare and posture the heart for revelations; never is it right till a man lie low at God’s feet, putting his mouth in the dust, and crying out, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth: there shall be only fear to make them understand the hearing, #Isa 28:19; fear met Eliphaz, and made way for the heavenly vision.

Which made all my bones to shake] Heb. The multitude of my bones, or the number of my bones, how many soever they be, and they are as many (say the Hebrews) as there are affirmative precepts in the law. These pillars of my body shook sore, and threatened a downfall.

— Gelidusque per ima cucurrit

Ossa tremor. -(Aeneid ii.)

Ver. 15. Then a spirit passed before my face] Some render it a wind, as a messenger or forerunner of God near at hand, as #1Ki 19:11. But better, a good angel in some bodily shape, #Ps 104:4 Lu 24:37; for else how could he be seen of Eliphaz, gliding rather than going, as a ship upon the face of the waters?

The hair of my flesh stood up] Horripilatus sum. In a fright the heart falleth down, the hair standeth up; the blood hastening to the heart to relieve it, as soldiers do to the castle when all is likely to be lost.

Dirigui, steteruntque comae —

Ver. 16. It stood still] As now ready to speak. An ambulatory voice is hardly heard: the heavens, indeed, are walking preachers, but then they utter but these three words (Lib. ii. de Arca, cap. 3), saith Hugo, in all languages, Accipe, Redde, Fuge, that is, Receive mercies, Return duties, Flee offences, and their just punishments.

But I could not discern the form thereof] Heb. the aspect or countenance. He was so frighted, that his eye could not do its office distinctly, to discern the thing that was just before it. It is natural to a man to fear at the sight of an angel: what then will wicked men do at the last day, when the Son of man shall bring all his angels, not leaving one behind him in heaven? Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men: and oh that we could persuade them!

An image was before mine eyes] But I could not tell what to make of it. It is not the will of God that man should represent him by an image, #De 4:15,16. The Jews, after the captivity, were so far from idolatry, that they would not admit a carver or painter into their city. The Turks will not endure any image, no, not upon their coins, because of the second commandment. Varro saith, he that first brought in imagery (and that is thought to be Ninus, king of Babylon), superstitionem auxit, metum dempsit, increased superstition, and took away fear. The wiser heathens held that God was too subtle for sinew or sight to seize upon; and the Greek painters, when they would draw the image of their Jupiter in a table, they were still changing it, but never ending it, saying, that herein they showed him to be a god; for that they might begin to paint, but could not perfect him.

There was silence, and I heard a voice] It was fit there should be silence and sedateness of spirit when a Divine voice was to be heard. Let all the earth keep silence before God, #Hab 2:20. When the seventh seal was opened there was half an hour’s silence in heaven, #Re 8:1. What a noise is there in many men’s hearts even while they are hearing what the Lord God speaketh unto them! what bargaining, lawing, projecting, running into another world (as men in dreams do), so that they can tell no more what the preacher said than the man in the moon can! Silence is a good preparative to audience. Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. Let the woman (and so the man too) learn in silence. Let by thoughts, swarming and humming in our hearts, like the flies of Egypt, be barred out; let the devil, interrupting us with his suggestions, as the Pythoness did Paul and his companions, be haltered up. Let even good thoughts, if unseasonable and heterogeneal to the work in hand, be turned out of doors; let us say to them, as Hushai did to Ahithophel, Thy counsel is good, but not now. How shall we else hear with attention and affection? how shall we listen as for life, and hearken diligently with much heed? #Isa 21:7.

Ver. 17. Shall mortal man] Sorry sinful man, a very mixture and hodge podge of dirt and sin, Miser, aerumnis et peccatis obnoxius.

Be more just than God?] Or, be just rather than God? as #Lu 18:14. This is the matter of the vision; and it is (saith Diodati) a revelation of the doctrine of the free remission of sins, and of the sinner’s justification by grace, through his faith in the promised mediator. But Eliphaz turns it another way, and misapplying it to Job, would there hence evince, that all his present sufferings were the proceeds of his own sin, and so from the process of God’s justice. The truth is, Job had blurted out some words in the former chapter that reflected somewhat upon God: he had also bitterly cursed the day and services of his birth; this latter, if Eliphaz had sharply reproved Job for, he had done him a friendly good office: but he waives that part, et quae desperat nitescere posse, relinquit; the other, of clearing God’s justice, he takes up and presseth it too far, to prove this unsound position: that whosoever is greatly afflicted by God, and for a long time together, that man is to be numbered with the wicked, though no other evidence or witness, appear or speak a word against him; for if he be innocent, how shall God be just that punisheth him? But Eliphaz should have known that afflictions are of two sorts, penal and probational; these latter are not simply for punishment of men’s sins, but for trial and exercise of their graces, to humble them, to prove them, and to do them good at their latter end, #De 8:16. Wait till God have made an end of his work (and we must not judge God’s works, saith Peter Martyr, ante quintum actum, before the fifth act), and we shall see the effect both just and good. This Job had scarcely the patience to do, as appeareth by sundry passages of his; howbeit he ever preserved high and holy thoughts of God, neither at any time questioned his justice and purity, or complained of his dealings with him, and dispensations toward him, as unrighteous, though now and then, through the extremity of his pain, the anguish of his spirit, and the provocation of his friends, some unwary speeches slipped from him.

Shall man be more pure than his maker?] Take man in his prime and pride, in his best estate and utmost strength, when and wherein he is most a man, רבב Vir a viribus, a man of the first magnitude, of the highest elevation (as one fitly phraseth it), both in parts, gifts, and graces; shall he be more pure than his Maker? never think it. Man, compared with his Maker, hath no purity or righteousness at all, no, not so much as a show or shadow of it; just he may be, or pure, by participation from God (saith Austin), but neither just nor pure, in comparison to God: he surpasseth all notion, and surmounteth all creatures, he hath no parallel; so true he is, that all men are liars; so pure, that all men are filthy; so just, that all men are wicked; so incomparably great and glorious, that the angels make their addresses to him with greatest self abasement. For what reason?

Ver. 18. Lo, he put no trust in his servants, &c.] Those menial, domestic servants of his, the holy angels that wait upon him, and are at his hand to do his will. Servant is a name of office; and they delight rather to be called angels (that is, messengers) and ministering spirits, than principalities, thrones, dominions, &c. Now in these God put no trust, he found no such cause to confide in them, because not perfectly sure and loyal to him, further than upheld and assisted by himself. The Vulgate Latin hath it thus, They that serve him are not stable; that is, the good angels are not stable by their own strength, but by God’s stablishing of thereto stand when others fell. Hence, #Ps 68:17, the angels are called Shinan, as God’s seconds, say some; the nobles of that court, the very next unto him; but others say they are so called from their changeable state, now taken away by Christ, under whom they are as a head of government, of influence, of confirmation, but not of redemption, as we. Christ, as God, giveth them their being, and all their excellencies. As mediator, also, he maketh use of their ministry, for the safe guard and comfort of his people.

And his angels he charged with folly] That is, he spared not the angels that sinned, as St Peter expounds it, #2Pe 2:4. Their sin is said to be folly, that is, pride and self confidence. How this folly and madness of theirs (depravity, the Vulgate rendereth it) shows itself, whether in affecting a divinity, or in envy stirred up by the decree of exalting man’s nature above angels in and by Christ, and appointing them to be good men’s guardians, which office they scorned; or whether their pride appeared by transgressing some commandments in particular, not expressed, as Adam’s was, it is hard to say. Sure it is, that they abode not in the truth, that they kept not their station, &c.; and that the good angels stand, and are out of danger of ever falling, it is of divine grace. Hence, #Ex 25:19, the cherubims stand upon the mercy seat, and are made of the matter thereof.

Ver. 19. How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay] Or how much more (in reference to the latter part of the preceding verse) may God charge men with folly and depravity! And how much more ought he to acknowledge that he cannot subsist nor stand before God’s judgment, {as #Job 4:17} but only by his gracious pardon and absolution!

That dwell in houses of clay] Periphrasis est hominum, saith Mercer; this is a description of men, as opposed to angels, those inhabitants of heaven, called therefore the angels of heaven, #Mt 24:36 Ga 1:8, the courtiers of that heavenly Jerusalem, #Heb 12:22, in and with which, it may seem, they were created; as Christ’s soul was in and with his body in the virgin’s womb, the same moment. Hence they are also said to be in heaven, when as men and other things here below are said to be on earth, #Mt 6:10, on the surface only, as ready to be shaken off, and as having here no continuing city, #Heb 13:14, no mansions till they come to heaven, #Joh 14:2, no settled abode: some huts we have here, rather than houses; clay cottages, earthly tabernacles, το σκηνος, as Paul after Plato calleth men’s bodies, #2Co 5:1. And so the most interpreters understand these words of Eliphaz concerning the body of man (rather than of his house he dwells in here, made up of clay and dust a little refined and sublimated by art or nature), which is nothing else but a clod of clay neatly made up. What is man, saith Greg. Nazianzen out of #Ge 2:7, but Νους και χους, soul and soil, breath and body, a puff of wind the one, a pile of dust the other? no solidity in either, רפא רפע κονις, cinis, ashes #Ge 3:19 18:21. Pulvis et umbra sumus, Dust and shadows we are, saith the poet, Her. Od. iv. 7, 16; and Κεραμος ο ανθρωπος, saith the Greek proverb, Man is but an earthen pot. The first man, Adam, was of the earth earthy, #1Co 15:47. And no better are the best, quos ex meliore forsan lute finxit Titan, who are made of the finest common mould; but as the finer the metal, the purer the matter of any glass or earthen vessel, the more subject it is to break, so are they to die: for what reason?

Whose foundation is in the dust] The house is but weak, and yet the foundation weaker, terra friabilis, flying, light, unstable, unmoveable, dust that is soon wherried and whirled about with every puff of wind. Hence the apostle calleth man’s body not a house only (in respect of, 1. The comely and orderly workmanship thereof; 2. The soul which inhabiteth it), but a tabernacle, which hath no foundation, and is transportative, #2Co 5:1, opposing to it building, which is firm and stable. Hence David, Omnis Adam est totus Abel, saith he. Verily every man in his best estate (when he is best founded and settled on his best bottom, when he is underlaid on all sides, and seems set to live) is altogether vanity, #Ps 39:5,12. So #Ps 144:4. Adam is Abel’s equal, or man is like to vanity; what can he be better, when as

Which are crushed before the moth?] He saith not, before the lion, but before the moth. Now what a poor thing is man, that a moth may crush him; that a flee may choke him, as it did Pope Alexander; that a light bruise on his toe may kill him, as it did Aemilius Lepidus (Plin. lib. 7, cap. 53), that a poisoned torch may light him to his long home, as it did the Cardinal of Lorraine! I have known, saith one, death admitted in by a corn on the toe; and enough the hurt were so far off the heart, yet the man died upon it (Purchas). Another I knew, who seeming to have conquered the elements, the wide ocean, wild wilderness, wilder beasts, wildest men, hottest climates; after sixteen years’ absence, returned home, and died of a hurt in his thumb. Mr Terry, a great traveller, telleth of a nobleman in the Great Mogul’s court, who sitting in dalliance with one of his women, had a hair plucked by her from his breast; this little wound, made by that small and unexpected instrument of death, presently festered; and turning to an incurable cancer, killed him (Lawless Liberty, in a Serm. at Paul’s, by Edm. Terry, p. 21). God needs no bigger a lance than a hair to kill an atheist, as this dying man acknowledged. But besides all ill accidents and casualties from without; look how the garment breeds the moth, and then the moth eats the garment; so man’s own distempered body breeds ill burnouts, they diseases, and these breed death, as one well observeth upon this text. It is holden for certain, that in every two years there is such store of ill humours and excrements engendered in the body, that a vessel of one hundred ounces will scarce contain them. Ipsa suis augmentis vita ad detrimenta impellitur, saith Gregory, et inde deficit undo proficere creditur. Life weareth out by the very meat that maintaineth it; and every man hath his bane about him.

Ver. 20. They are destroyed from morning to evening] Heb. They are beaten to pieces, as in a mortar, with one sorrow upon another, till the very breath be beaten out of their bodies at length; and all this from morning to evening, all the day long, or all their life long, which is here set forth (for the brevity of it) by an artificial day, and such also as no man can be sure he shall have twelve hours to his day ( Per totum diem, through the entire day, Drus.), for how many are there whose sun hath set at high noon! in the prime and pride of their days have they been suddenly snatched away by the hand of death; yea, how many see we whose sun setteth in the very rising, so that they are carried from the birth to the burial! Every hour, surely, we all yield somewhat unto death, and a very short cut hath the longest liver of all, from the grave of the womb to the womb of the grave. Eliphaz here seemeth to compare us to those creatures called Ephemerobii, which are young in the morning, middle aged at noon, and dead ere night; they begin and end their lives in a day (Aristot.). Man’s life is a vapour, saith St James, a bubble, say the heathens, a blast, a dream, a shadow, a dream of a shadow, &c.

They perish for ever] That is, they die once for all. For "if a man die, shall he live again?" #Job 14:14. No such matter. In this war, as there is no discharge, #Ec 8:8, so neither is it granted to any man to err twice; therefore Austin said that he would not for the gain of a million worlds be an atheist for half an hour; because he knew not but God might in that time call for him, and cut him off from all time of repentance, acceptation, and grace for ever, since he could die but once only, and after death judgment: every man’s death’s day is his doom’s day, #Heb 9:27.

Without any regarding it] Heb. Putting, sc. his heart to it, or laying it upon his heart, as every man living should do, #Ec 7:2, but that few or none so do, see #Isa 57:1. David did, when hearing of his child’s decease, he said, "I shall go to him," #2Sa 12:23. And Moses, seeing the people’s carcases fall so fast in the wilderness, prayed for himself and the rest, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom," #Ps 90:12. Every dead corpse is a monitor, a dumb preacher, Etiam muta clamant cadavera. Abel, though dead, speaketh; but how few hearken to him! Dives thought that if one came from the dead to forewarn his brethren, great matters would be done. Petrus Sutorius telleth of one that, preaching a funeral sermon on a religious man, as he calleth him, and giving him large commendations, heard at the same time a voice in the church, Mortuus sum, iudicatus sum, damnatus sum, I am dead, I am judged, I am damned (Pet. Sutor. de Vita Carth.). This very much wrought upon the heart of Bruno, saith he, and occasioned him to found the Carthusian order. Waldus, a French merchant, was so affected with the death of one that died suddenly in his presence, that he thenceforth became a right godly man, and the father of the Waldenses, those ancient Protestants in France, called also, The poor men of Lyons. But oh, the dead lethargy, the spirit of fornication, that hath so besotted the minds of the most, that they can see death, and yet not think of it! They can look into the dark chamber of the grave, and never make the least preparation for it: if for present they be somewhat affected, and have some good impressions, yet they soon vanish; as the water, circled by a stone cast into it, soon returns to its former smoothness; as chickens run under the wings of the hen, while the kite is over them, or in a storm, but soon after get abroad again, and dust themselves in the sun. As Nebuchadnezzar had seen a vision, but it was gone from him; so here, if men at the house of mourning have some good motions, they improve them not to resolutions, or draw not forth their resolutions into executions, &c.

Ver. 21. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away?] Journeyeth not their excellency with them? so Broughton rendereth it. By their excellence here some understand the soul, called by David his glory. A philosopher said, there was nothing excellent in the world but man, nothing in man but his soul (Favorinus). The Stoics affirmed that the body was not a part of a man, but the instrument, or rather the servant, of the soul. Hence the Latins call the body Corpus, or Corpor (as of old they speak), quasi cordis puer sive famnlus. And Plato saith that that is not the man that is seen of him; but the mind of a man, that is the man (ουκ εστιν ανθρωπος το ορωμενον). And in the #Job 4:19 man is said to dwell in a house of clay; that is, the soul to inhabit the body. The soul goes away with the name of the whole person; the soul indeed is the man in a moral consideration, and is, therefore, elsewhere called the inward man, and the hidden man of the heart, #2Co 4:16 1Pe 3:4; the body, compared to it, is but as a clay wall encompassing a treasure, a coarse case to a rich instrument, a leathern sheath to an excellent blade, #Da 7:15, or as a mask to a beautiful face. Now at death this excellence of a man departeth, returneth to God that gave it, #Ec 12:7. "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, in that very day his thoughts perish," even the most excellent effects of his mind and spirit, as the word signifieth, #Ps 146:4. And as that, so all other excellencies go away at death, #Ps 39:11 49:13; even the whole goodliness of man, #Isa 40:6, whether it be the good things of the mind, as wisdom, science, conscience, judgment; or of the body, as beauty and health; or of fortune, as they call it, as favour and applause, together with plenty of prosperity. No man’s glory goeth down with him into the grave, #Ps 49:16. Where is now the flourishing beauty and gallantry of Caesar, saith one? his armies and honours, his triumphs and trophies? Where are the rich fool’s great barns? Nebuchadnezzar’s great Babel? Agrippa’s great pomp? &c. Have not all these made their bed in the dark, leaving their excellence behind them? Are they not, many of them, gone to their place, as a stone to the centre, or as a fool to the stocks?

They die, even without wisdom] Heb. They die, and not with wisdom; they die like so many beasts (but for their pillow and bolster), without any care to lay hold on eternal life; they die as a fool dieth, #2Sa 3:33. Not in wisdom; that is, in abundance of folly, saith Pineda. And this is most men’s case; their wit serves them not in this weighty work of preparing to die; they put far away the thoughts of it, and hence they die tempore non suo, #Ec 7:17, when it were better for them to do anything rather than to die. To live with dying thoughts is a high point of heavenly wisdom, #Ps 90:12 De 32:29. How might one such wise Christian chase a thousand foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men’s soul in perdition and destruction! #1Ti 6:4.

Chapter 5

Ver. 1. Call now, if there be any that will answer thee] The beginning of this chapter is hard, saith Mercer, till you come to the seventh or eighth verses, and then all is plain and easy. That which Eliphaz driveth at here is, to drive Job out of all good conceit of his own condition, and to persuade him that never any good man suffered such hard and heavy things as he, or, at least, suffered them so untowardly and impatiently. Call, I pray thee, saith he, call over the roll, look into the records of former saints, and see if thou canst find among them all such another knotty piece as thyself, that needed so much hewing, and made such a deal of complaining. Was there ever the like heard of? Call now, if there be any one answerable to thee. Broughton rendereth it, Call now, if there be any one that will defend thee, that is, be thy patron or advocate, in word, or in the example of their lives.

And to which of the saints wilt thou turn?] q.d. Thou art alone, neither mayest thou hope to meet with thy match in the matter or manner of thine afflictions, unless it be among hypocrites and graceless persons, as #Job 5:2. The Septuagint read it, To which of the angels wilt thou look? and the Popish commentators think they have here an unanswerable ground for their doctrine of invocation of saints and angels. But did not the buzzards take notice of an irony here, and that Eliphaz assureth Job that it would be in vain for him to call to any saint? &c. Is it not plain, or probable, at least, that he here meaneth the saints living in this world? or if not, yet is Gregory the Great of no authority with them, who acknowledgeth none other to be called upon, here meant, but God; and that the saints are mentioned to Job in derision, as if it were a ridiculous thing to call to them departed out of this life, who cannot hear us.

Ver. 2. For wrath killeth the foolish man] Such as thou art, Job; hot and hasty, pettish and passionate, fretting thyself to do evil, and so provoking God to fall foul upon thee as a just object of his wrath, to thine utter ruin, without repentance. Surely, with the froward God will show himself froward, #Ps 18:26. Neither hath ever any one hardened himself against the Lord and prospered, #Job 9:4. For what reason? he is wise in heart, and mighty in strength, as it is there, every way able to overly master an adversary: if he but turn his own passions loose upon him, such as are wrath and envy, they will soon dispatch him. How many are there who, like sullen birds in a cage, beat themselves to death! Did not Bajazet do so? and was Diodorus any wiser (Laert. lib. 2)? or Homer, who died for anger that they could not resolve certain questions put unto them? or Terence, who drowned himself for grief, that he had lost certain comedies that he had composed? We read of some, that, out of discontent, they turned atheists, as Diagoras, Lucian, Porphyry, &c.; and of others, that, missing of bishoprics, or other church preferments, they turned heretics in sui solatium: were not these great sinners against their own souls, like the angry bee, who, to be revenged, loseth her sting, and soon after her life? Died they not like fools indeed, that died of the sullens, and so were deeply guilty of suicide? especially if their wrath were bent against God, if they howl against heaven; such are at once twice slain; slain with the wrath of God, and with their own.

And envy slayeth the silly one] Him that is under the power of his passions, et minima afflictione ab officio abducitur, saith Mercer, and is turned off from duty by every light affliction; such a one doth envy at another man’s prosperity, Αγηνορια δε μιν εκτα (De Ajace, Homer). It is the same with wrath, nisi quod vehementius est, but that it is somewhat worse, saith the same author, as being a most quick sighted and sharp fanged malignity. Hence that of Solomon, Wrath is cruel, and anger outrageous; but who can stand before envy? #Pr 27:4. It is the rottenness of the bones, #Pr 14:30. And like the serpent porphyrius, it drinks the most part of its own venom. {See Trapp on "Pr 14:30"}

Ver. 3. I have seen the foolish taking root] q.d. I grant that wicked men are not always presently punished, sed Nemesis in tergo; et subito tollitur, qui diu toleratur. God’s wrath is such as no wicked man can avert or avoid. This had Eliphaz well observed, "I have seen"; he had set a memorandum on God’s just judgments, and marked his spits with his own stars, as one speaketh. Eliphaz was a man of much experience. See #Job 4:8. In him that was true which Elihu saith should be, that days spake, and multitude of years taught wisdom, #Job 32:7. Only herein he is mistaken, that he misapplieth all to Job, arguing from his outward condition to his inward; as if, therefore, he were wicked, because seemingly wretched. Thus the gloss he set was viperous, eating out the bowels of the text; it was a truth of God that he uttered, and the same in sense with that of David, #Ps 37:35; and that of Solomon, #Pr 23:18. But why should he thus writhe it and wrest it, to make the tune sound to his own key? St Peter speaketh of some that wrest the Scriptures, #2Pe 3:16, putting them upon the rack, and making them speak that which they never thought. And Tertullian saith of others, that they do murder the Scriptures for their own turns, and to serve their own purposes, Caedem scripturarum faciunt. The make a slaugter of the scriptures. But let us hear Eliphaz: "I have seen," saith he, and what more sure than sight? #Nu 16:14, "the foolish," the wilful fool, and perhaps he points at some one such rich fool as is mentioned #Lu 12:20, not unknown to Job, and, as Eliphaz deemeth, a fit parallel for him, "taking root," dwelling alone in the earth, confirmed and settled in a fair estate, in a prosperous condition, as Nebuchadnezzar, that goodly tree, thought himself, #Da 4:4,22, {see #Jer 12:2} and Dionysius, tyrant of Sicily, who conceited that his kingdom was bound fast unto him with chains of adamant; but he was soon after cast out, and thereby convinced of singular folly (Aelian. Var. Hist. lib. 2). A tempest, or, at least, an axe, of Divine vengeance, can easily fell these rooted fast and best fruited trees, and lay them low enough, as he did Nebuchadnezzar, that club of the nations and rod of God’s wrath, #Isa 14:4-8 Da 4:22, &c., and Attila, the conquering Hun, who called himself the wrath of God and scourge of the world, and arrogantly said, that the stars of heaven fell before him, and the earth trembled (Jovius), but was soon after rooted up by impartial death in the midst of his nuptial solemnities, Subita morte extinctus est, sanguine copiose in fauces exundante et ex ore erumpente. He died suddenly, much blood pouring from his throat and his mouth.

And suddenly I cursed his habitation] His house, which he held his castle, together with his family, #Job 5:4, and his family provisions, #Job 5:5. All these Eliphaz suddenly (even when he was in the ruff of all his jollity, in the height of his flourish) cursed, Heb. pierced, or bored through, not so much by a malediction as a prediction, Male ominatus sum iis, I foresaw and foretold that that happiness would not hold long; I ominously divined it; I both thought it and spake it. Pium non decent dirae; cursing men are cursed men; but a godly person may presage a curse, and foretell it, according to that, #Pr 3:33, "The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked," yea, the flying roll of curses, that is ten yards long and five yards broad, shall remain in the midst of it, and consume it, #Zec 5:4. Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation, and the fire of God shall kindle it; so that his roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off, &c., #Job 18:15,16.

Ver. 4. His children are far from safety] This is one principal root of wicked men, viz. their children, which have their very name in Hebrew from building, because by them the house is built up, and way made to greatest honours by friendships and affinities of other great families. These are far from safety, that is, they are in a great deal of danger (Lavater); or, by their intemperance, they run into many diseases and disasters; by their evil practices they come under the lash of the law, and without repentance under the danger of damnation too; salvation is far from them, #Ps 119:155 Isa 59:11.

They are crushed in the gate] That is, they are cast in judgment, all goes against them, and sentence pronounced upon them, as it befell Haman’s children, and David’s enemies, #Ps 109:7.

Neither is there any to deliver them] None to plead for them, or rescue them, #Pr 31:8,9; none to extend mercy to them, nor any to favour those fatherless children, #Ps 109:12, and that because their fathers were pitiless, #Job 5:13,14, Haman for instance.

Ver. 5. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up] This is another root of the wicked one, his estate, against which God raiseth up a rout of needy wretches to pillage him. These are as a sweeping rain, that leaveth no food, #Pr 28:1. These, as lean lice, bite hardest, and, as sparrow hawks, are extremly greedy: Malesuada fames putteth them upon it. These harpies seize upon his very harvest ad maiorem cruciatum et miseriam, to the more crude and wretched, pulling the meat out of his mouth, as it were, and not suffering him to roast that which he took in hunting, #Pr 12:27. He shall meet with greatest disappointment, and come to that poverty which he so studiously shunned, singing that doleful ditty,

— En queis consevimus agros?

Αλλοι μεν σπειρουσ´, αλλοι δ αυ αμησονται.

See this threatened #Le 26:19 De 28:33 Isa 1:6 Mic 6:15.

And taketh it even out of the thorns] Creeping through the midst of the thorns and bushes wherewith it is fenced and hedged in, to steal it away. Hunger, we say, breaks through stone walls: the Rabbis sense it thus, He that comes out of the thorns, that is, every base fellow, carrieth away the store of this rich oppressor (Scultatus). The armed man carrieth it away, so the Vulgate after the Septuagint. Mr Broughton reads it thus, The hungry shall eat up his harvest which he had gotten through the thorns, that is, not without a great deal of care, and much pains in stubbing up the thorns, that he might not sow amongst them.

And the robber swalloweth up their substance] Or, the thirsty shall drink up their substance, as gold thirsty Babel did Hezekiah’s treasure for his coming so near the garb and guise of the wicked in his ostentation. The thirsty shall swill up their wealth, so Broughton rendereth it: so that neither their esculenta food, nor poculenta drink shall escape the spoiler, but there shall be a clean riddance of all; the enemy shall play at sweepstake, he shall sup up all ( ףאשׁ) as the Hebrew hath it, and as Eliphaz would have Job consider that the Chaldeans and Sabeans had done his substance.

Ver. 6. Although addiction cometh not forth of the dust] It cometh not by fate or blind fortune, it haps not as it may that men suffer. Philistines indeed will say, haply, It is a chance, #1Sa 6:9, a common occurrence, that had a time to come in, and must have a time to go in; but every Naomi will in such case conclude, "The hand of the Lord is gone out against me," #Ru 1:13, and carry her sails accordingly, #Job 5:20,21; and every good soul will cry out, I will bear the indignatiou of the Lord (who is the efficient cause of all my miseries), because I have sinned against him, which is the meritorious cause. The word here rendered affliction signifieth also iniquity; and well it may, since they are tied together with chains of adamant, as that heathen said; Flagitium et flagellum sunt sicut acus et filum, saith another. Man weaves a spider’s web of sin out of his own bowels, saith a third; and then he is entangled in the same web; the troubles which ensnare and wrap about him are twisted with his own fingers. "Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him?" #Am 3:5. Turdus sibi malum cacat, Of the blackbird’s dung is made the bird lime whereby he is taken; so out of the dung of men’s sins are made the lime twigs of their punishment.

Ver. 7. Yet man is born unto trouble] Which is the natural fruit of his sin; and a piece of the curse. He hath in him a πανσπερμια, a common seminary of all sin, and this he brings into the world with him; what wonder, then, though troubles come trooping in upon him on every side, as if he were born for no other end but to suffer, and that as naturally as fire ascendeth? Sure it is, that sin doth as naturally and ordinarily draw and suck judgments to it as the loedestone doth iron, or turpentine fire. Some read the words thus, Man is born to sin, and so consequently to trouble; for sin usually ends tragicly and troublesomely. Hence the same word, both here and that in the former verse, signifies both sin and sorrow; and man, by reason of his birth blot, hath a birthright to them both, he is even born to them. The devil, when he speaketh lies, speaketh of his own, #Joh 8:44. And we, when either we do evil, we work de nostro et secundum hominem, of our own, and according to men, #1Co 3:3; or when we suffer evil, we suffer nothing but what is human and incident to men, #1Co 10:13. The very heathen could say as much; witness that of Xenophon, παν προσδοκαν δει ανθρωπον οντα, It behoveth him that is no more than a man to expect all sorts of troubles; and that of Demosthenes, It is fit for men to hope the best, but bravely to bear the worst, as that which is common to all mankind; and that of Isocrates, Ο μεμνημενος, &c., He that remembereth that he is a man will not be discontented at whatsoever trouble befalleth him; and that of Herodotus, πας εστιν ανθρωπος συμφορα, every man is miserable. For this it was likely that God, to keep Ezekiel lowly in the abundance of revelations, calleth him so oft son of man. And when the French king, being prisoner to Charles V, saw written upon the wall that emperor’s motto, plus ultra, more beyond, further yet, and underwrote, Hodie mihi, cras tibi, Today for me, tomorrow for you, I am now thy prisoner, thou mayest hereafter be mine; the emperor came after him, and subscribed, I confess I am a man, and may soon suffer anything incident to mankind, Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto (J. Manl. loc. com. 175).

As the sparks fly upward] Heb. The sons of the quick or live coal lift up to fly. The Vulgate hath it, As the birds fly upward; the Septuagint, As the young vultures fly upward. Sparks and birds fly upward naturally, and by a principle of their own, they need not be taught it; so here. Birds, though they have more of the earth than of the other three elements, #Ge 2:19, yet are light (which is a wonder), and delight in high flying, and this is innate to them; so is it to man, as man, to be in trouble, #Job 14:1. Some of the Hebrews by sparks, or sons of the quick coal, here understand the devils, and make this to be the sense; like as sin is connatural to men, so doth God stir up the devils, to whom it is as natural to flutter up and down here for the punishment of such as sin; Sed hoc friget, but this is cold, saith Mercer; but this is not likely to be the meaning.

Ver. 8. Surely I would seek unto God] Not let fly at him, as thou hast done, cursing thy birthday, and wishing thyself out of the world. Assure thyself, this that thou takest is not the way to get off with comfort, but rather to return by repentance unto him that smiteth thee, and to seek the Lord of hosts, #Isa 9:12, since else his anger will not turn away, but his hand will be stretched out still (as the prophet there hath it); for is it fit that he should lay down the bucklers first? or that we should stand upon terms, and capitulate with him, and not stoop unto him by a humble yieldance? especially since,

— Deus crudelius urit

Quos videt invitos succubuisse sibi (Tibul. Eleg. i. 8).

God burns more severely those he sees to have laid themselves down in envy. The way to disarm God’s heavy indignation, is to submit to his justice, and to implore his mercy, #Ho 5:14, to flee from his anger to his grace. Blood letting is a cure for bleeding, and a burn a cure against a burn; and running to God is the way to escape him; as to close and get in with him that would strike you doth avoid the blow: and this is the thing I would do, were I in thy case, saith Eliphaz here. He doth not vaunt (as Olympiodorus mistaketh his meaning), but advise Job to humble himself, and confess his sins, and sue for pardon of sin and release of punishment; to kiss the rod, and not to bite it; to drink from God’s cup willingly and at first, when it is full (as Mr Bradford, martyr, hath it), lest if he linger, he drink at length of the dregs with the wicked.

And unto God] The righteous judge, as the word importeth, who πασι δικαια νεμει, μηδε κρισιν ες χαριν ελκει (Phocyl.), neither hateth nor feareth any man (as it was said of Trajan the emperor, but more truly of God): he proceedeth according to truth, not according to opinion or appearance, and greatly scorneth to look at displeasure, revenge, or recompense.

Would I commit my cause] Put my case and condition, by self resignation, and humble supplication. This David did notably, #2Sa 15:25,26 Ps 142:2, and counsels all to do accordingly, #Ps 55:22. Cast thy burden (or thy request) upon the Lord by virtue of this writ or warrant.

Ver. 9. Which doth great things and unsearchable] The better to persuade Job to take his counsel, he entereth into a large description of God’s attributes, his power, wisdom, justice, mercy, &c., all which are clearly seen in his works of wonder as in a mirror, or as on a theatre. These he is ever in doing, as the word here signifieth; and showeth himself great in great things, and not little in the least, dum nemora culicis et pulicis disponit (Aug.), yea, he useth to be greater in smaller things than in bigger. The soul is more operative in ants than in elephants; in dwarfs than in giants. So he delights to help his people with a little help, #Da 11:34 (that through weaker means they may see his greatest strength), to magnify his power in pardoning their many and mighty sins, #Nu 14:17,18 Mic 7:18; to illustrate his power in their perseverance and wonderful preservation amidst a world of evils and enemies, #Joh 10:29 1Pe 1:5; to fulfil his promises, seem they never so improbable or impossible, #Jer 32:14,15; to answer prayers that look as if lost, and to do for his people exceeding abundantly above all that they can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in them, #Eph 3:20. All this Eliphaz would have Job to consider, that he might not cast away his confidence, but seek to God, and turn his talk to him, as Beza turneth the foregoing words.

And unsearchable] Heb. And no search, for they are fathomless, and past finding out, #Ro 11:33. This Eliphaz might say, to stop Job’s curiosity; and to humble him for his sin, in inquiring too much into the reason of God’s so severe dealing with him, #Job 3; in prying too far, or too boldly, into the secret workings of God. It should suffice us to know that the will of God is the rule of right, that his judgments are sometimes secret, always just; that it is extreme folly to reprehend what we cannot comprehend (we may as soon comprehend the sea in a cockleshell as the unsearchable things of God in our narrow and shallow understandings); that at the last day all things shall be cleared up, and every mouth stopped, when exquisite reasons of all God’s proceedings (which now seem not so well carried) shall be produced, and wisdom shall be justified of her children.

Marvellous things] Such as the wisest may well wonder at. God is the only Thaumaturgus, the great wonder worker; and these marvels are more ordinary than the most are, either at all either aware of, or affected with. To let pass those wonders of the creation (for which, see #Ps 136:4-7), Canst thou tell how the bones grow in her that is with child, saith Solomon? #Ec 11:5. Mirificatus sum mirabilibus operis tuis, so Montanus rendereth that of David, #Ps 139:14, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are thy works," &c. Galen, that great naturalist, was much amazed at the motion of the lungs in man’s body, and would needs offer sacrifices therefore to that God whom he knew not (Fernel. de abd. Rer. Caus.). Who can give a natural reason of the strength of the lower limbs, of the heat in the stomach, of the colours in the rainbow, of the ebbing and flowing of the sea, or but of this ordinary occurrence, that chaff is so cold, that it keeps snow hidden within it from melting, and in addition, so warm, that it hasteneth the ripening of apples? Well might Eliphaz say, that God doth marvellous things without number.

Ver. 10. Who giveth rain upon the earth] This is reckoned, and rightly, among the marvellous works of God. See #Job 28:26 Jer 10:13 Am 5:8 Ac 14:17. Rain is the flux of a moist cloud, which being dissolved by little and little by the heat of the sun, lets down rain by drops out of the middle region of the air: this is God’s gift. For he, 1. Decreeth it, #Job 28:26 2. .Prepareth it, #Ps 147:8 3. Withholdeth it at his pleasure, stopping those bottles that should yield it, #Am 4:7 4. Sendeth it for the behoof and benefit of man and beast, as also for the demonstration of his power, wisdom, justice, and goodness, whereof he hath not left himself hereby without witness, #Ac 14:17, while he weigheth these waters above the firmament by measure, so that not one drop falleth in vain, or in a wrong place. In those hot countries, where rivers were scant, rain was highly valued; they called it the husband of the earth, because the earth can no more bear fruit without it than a woman children without the company of a man. The Egyptians were wont in mockery to tell the Greeks that if their god (whom they called cloud gathering Jupiter, νεφεληγερετα Ζευς) should forget to give rain they might chance to starve for it. See the reason, #De 11:8-12. Egypt was watered with the foot as a garden, by sluices from the Nile: not so Canaan.

He sendeth waters upon the fields] Irrigat aquis universa, saith the Vulgate, He moisteneth all places with waters; by the showers which, falling upon the grouud, run hither and thither, he divideth the fields, as it were, into streets and highways, so Beza paraphraseth. Another thus, It is he himself who watereth it, as well by those waters which fall from heaven as by those which he hath hidden in its entrails, and whose secret drains produce in a thousand places sources and rivers. Some render it, upon the out places, and understand it as wilderness, to set forth God’s bounty. Others render it, upon the face of the streets, and will have it meant of navigable rivers, which, by the passage upon them, do, after a sort, make streets and highway ways through several countries, to the which also they convey many commodities.

Ver. 11. To set up on high those that be low] By those rich rains whereby he fatteneth the earth, and makes it fruitful, giving them a whole country of corn, as he did that vir divitiarum qui animam etiam habuit triticeam, a man of wealth who moreover a spirit of grain. #Lu 12:16. But God hath more ways than this to prefer men to riches, honour, and authority, as he did Joseph, David, Daniel, Mordecai, &c. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill, "that he may set him with princes," &c., #Ps 113:6,7. Let Job hear this, and know it for his good, as #Job 5:27.

That those which mourn] As those do commonly who are in a low condition; and it is much if they murmur not. The word signifieth, such as are pullati, clad in mourner’s weeds, or that having lain among the pots, are smutched and sullied like so many black scullions, #Ps 68:1 3. Lo, these shall the Lord not only make to be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold, but shall also make them to mount up with wings as eagles, #Isa 40:31. He shall exalt them to safety, saith Eliphaz here; yea, he shall safely exalt them to safety. Wicked men are oft exalted, #Ps 12:8, but then it is not to safety; — tolluntur in altum ut lapsu graviore ruant, they are lifted up, but for a mischief, that they may be brought down again with the greater poise, as Haman, and Pharaoh’s chief baker, whose head was lifted up, but to the gallows; the chief butler’s head was lifted up too, but after another manner. There is great difference between the advanced merit of the righteous and the wicked. Those God carrieth as the eagle doth her young on her wings, to exalt them to safety, to set them upon a rock that is higher than they; these he lifteth up as the eagle doth her prey in her talons, to dash them against some rock, and to destroy them.

Ver. 12. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty] He vacateth and rendereth ineffectual the curious contrivances of the world’s wizards, full of serpentine subtilty, and so setteth his people in safety by out plotting their enemies; served he not Pharaoh so (who dealt craftily with our fathers, κατασοφισαμενος, saith Stephen, #Ac 7:19)? and Saul, that subtle tyrant? and Herod, that crafty fox? #Lu 13:32; and all the primitive and modern persecutors, to whom the old dragon had lent his seven heads to plot, and his ten horns to push against the people of God, but all to no purpose? God disappointed the devices of those malignants: so the Vulgate rendereth this text, which the Chaldee appropriateth to Pharaoh and his counsellors, who said, Come, and let us deal wisely; when as (in laying hard tasks upon the Israelites to keep them from increasing) they never dealt more foolishly; for who knows not that your labouring men have the most and the lustiest children.

So that their hands cannot perform their enterprise] They could not give their plots an actual being or subsistence. Their hands bring nothing soundly to pass, so Broughton rendereth it. Others thus, Their hands cannot perform their wisdom; that is, execute what they had projected. Perceive ye how we prevail nothing? said the Pharisees, #Joh 12:19. Nomine Christianorum deleto qui Romp evertebant; the name of Christians being erased who Romp has destroyed. so those cruel crafties of the primitive times sounded the triumph beforehand, and engraved the victory upon the pillars of marble; but the Church may still sing as of old, "They are brought down and fallen; but we are risen, and stand upright." Charles V and the French king had covenanted the utter extirpation of the Lutheran faction throughout their dominions; but God found them other employment, and gave his Church a happy halcyon. And who knows not how God hath hitherto helped us of this nation against the power and policy of earth and of hell?

Ver. 13. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness] Those wise to do evil, worldly wise, mere Machiavellians; for though the Florentine secretary was not born of some thousands of years after Eliphaz spoke this, yet the devil was well nigh as great a master then as now, and had his crafty cubs, students, and great proficients in that wisdom which St James affirmeth to be from beneath, and not from above (like the wings of the ostrich, it may help a man to outrun others upon earth, but helps not at all towards heaven); and further describeth it to be earthly, sensual, devilish. Earthly, as managing the lusts of the eyes unto the ends of gain; sensual, as managing the lusts of the flesh unto ends of pleasure; and devilish, as managing the pride of life unto ends of power: these subtle sirs, these profound politicians, that dig deep to hide their counsels, not from men only, but (which is impossible) from the Lord, #Isa 29:15, that think they can work out anything (πανουργια), #1Co 3:19, and that none can prevent them (as the apostle’s word from this text importeth), God takes and makes fools of them; he frustrateth the tokens of these liars, and maketh the diviners mad; he turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish, #Isa 44:25. "Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish:—they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof: the Lord hath mingeled a spirit of perversities in the midst thereof; and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit," #Isa 19:11,13,14. Did ever any man deal so unwisely as Ahithophel, that oracle, #2Sa 17:23, curious to provide for his family after his death, and yet careless to preserve himself from eternal death? Was not this a madness even to a miracle? He should first (saith a reverend man) have set himself in order, and then he might have hanged his house with coverings of tapestry, #Pr 7:16, and with embroidered work of Egypt, #Eze 27:7. And if he had bridled his anger when he saddled his ass he would not have broken the lantern of his body, and quenched the light of his life, he would not have put his house in order, and himself into such a desperate and irrecoverable confusion. But what saith Solomon? "His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins," #Pr 5:22. "The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion, Selah." Mark and meditate, as one rendereth it, #Ps 9:16.

And the counsel of the froward is carried headlong] More haste it maketh than good speed, though it be the counsel that is the extract of reason, the result of serious and sad debates (as Cicero defineth it, Lib. 2, de Invent.), because it proceedeth from froward persons, obtorti, contortuplicati, such as have one crafty device twisted within another, like a rope; such as of whom we use to say in a proverb, there never wanteth a new knack in a knave’s cap.

Ver. 14. They meet with darkness in the daytime] They are infatuated and besotted; a spirit of giddiness seizeth them; ita ut in re clarissima destituantur prudentia, saith Vatablus, so that they cannot discern things that are evident and clear as the sun at noon day; they have light without, but want light within; they lack discretion and judgment to do for the best: this was threatened, #De 28:29, and accordingly fulfilled upon those blind Pharisees, as our Saviour often calleth them, and now upon that whole nation, #Ro 11:18 2Co 3:14. Since they crucified the Lord of glory, they never prospered in anything they uudertook, neither will they be driven out of that fool’s paradise of a sublime dotage whereinto they have long since wrought themselves: They had bribed our William Rufus to hear them and favour them in a disputation against the Christians; but they lost the day, and their money together. Rabbi Judah, surnamed The holy, was intimate with Antoninus Plus, the emperor, and thought to have proselyted him but it would not be. Rabbi David Reubenita and Rabbi Solomon Molchu set upon Charles V, in the year of grace 1530, to convert him to Judaism, but with ill success; for they were presently imprisoned, and shortly after executed, Rabbi Solomon at Mantua, and Rabbi David in Spain. How they are benighted in their expositions of Scripture, troubling those clear fountains with their ridiculous conceits and foolish fables, I need not relate. Neither are many of the Popish interpreters (as they will be accounted) much wiser, being judicially blinded, given over to an injudicious mind, #Ro 1:28, to the efficacy of error, #2Th 2:11, so that

They grope at noonday, as in the night] They have neither light nor sight left them, and this by a just hand of God upon them, because they closed up their eyes lest they should see, #Ac 28:27, they would not receive the love of the truth, #2Th 2:10. Therefore now it is hid from their eyes, and the light that is in them is darkness. Women and children see further into the mysteries of religion, than many of these learned doctors, these idol shepherds; God’s sword being upon their arm, and upon their right eye, #Zec 11:17, that is, both upon their power and policy, so that they are like owls, that can see better in the dark than in the light; and like moles, that dig dexterously underground, but are blind above ground, neither do they ever open their eyes till the pangs of death are upon them.

Ver. 15. But he saveth the poor from the sword] From the woe of war, from the hurt of it, not always from the smart of it; for all such promises as this of temporal deliverance are ever to be taken with exception of the cross, which yet shall be so sanctified, that the saints shall say, It was good for us to have been afflicted; provided that they may be poor in spirit (for God will save the humble person, #Job 22:29), and sue in forma pauperis, as spiritual beggars, such as get their living by begging; the word signifieth needy and desirous of relief, very indigent, and therefore humbly suppliant for supply of things necessary. "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him (meaning himself), and saved him out of all his troubles," #Ps 34:6. "Forget not the congregation of thy poor for ever," #Ps 74:19. He will not, he cannot, for they are written upon the palms of his hands, so that he cannot look beside them. Who hath not heard bow graciously poor Geneva hath been preserved? Rochel relieved, as it were, by a miracle? A. D. 1573; Leyden rescued from the duke of Alva’s sword: that very night that he thought to have stormed it, the winds turned, the tide swelled, and the waters came in, and forced him to raise the siege. How well might these poor saved ones sit and sing with David, #Ps 68:20, "He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death."

From their mouth] Which is a sword, so some sense it; God saveth his poor from the sword of their enemies’ mouth, or the sword that comes out of their mouth. A gladio oris eorum, saith the Vulgate. David felt the false tongues of his enemies as a murdering weapon in his bones, #Ps 42:10. The tongue is thin, broad, and long, like a sword, it is also red like a flaming sword; by calumnies and false testimonies many are those that fall down wounded, #Pr 12:6 18:8 26:22. Korah and his complices stick not to object to the meekest of men with one breath, pride, ambition, and usurpation of authority, but; God vindicated his reputation. Mary was accused three times; the Pharisees accused her of presumption, #Lu 7:39; Martha of carelessness, #Lu 10:40; Judas of wastefulness, #Joh 12:5; but Christ ever answered for her, and took her part. And was it not so with Job? #Job 42:12-17; is there not a promise to all saints? #Ps 37:6.

From the hand of the mighty] God sayeth his, not only from the virulent tongues, but from the violent hands also of the mighty, that might overcome not right, that the poor fall not by his strong ones, or into his strong paws and parts, #Ps 10:10, where oppressors are fitly compared to lions lying in wait for their prey. Now to be thus saved from the slaying sword, the slandering tongue, and the oppressing hand, is complete salvation.

Ver. 16. So the poor hath hope] How should it be otherwise? experience will breed confidence. Thou hast, thou wilt, is an ordinary Scriptural medium, #Ps 85:1-4 2Co 1:10. So, the poor, helpless, hopeless person, who is pined away, spent and utterly exhausted and wasted, both for health and wealth, he hath hope ( spem maiorum et meliorum, greater and better, as Alexander said when he had given away all); and this holds head above water, makes wants plenitudes, and beguiles calamity, as good company doth the way. Neither is hope ever more highly elevated than when our state in all men’s eyes is at its lowest. I was brought low (or drawn dry, the same word as here), and he helped me, #Ps 116:6. "So he will regard the prayer of the destitute," #Ps 102:17. The Hebrew word there signifies a poor shrub that is in the wilderness low and slender, trod upon by beasts, unregarded, worthless; such a one looketh unto God and is lightened, #Ps 34:5, conceiveth lively hope, hope unfailable through faith unfeigned, having earnest expectation (as the word signifieth) of strong consolation; so that he can truly say with St Paul, When I am weak, then am I strong, #2Co 12:10. Such prisoners of hope can turn them to the strong holds, #Zec 9:12.

And iniquity stoppeth her mouth] Iniquity, that is, the workers of iniquity, those worst sort of sinners (the word importeth men of manifold perverseness, Maligni et nocendi studiosi. Aquinas), amazed at godly men’s good successes, contrary to their expectations, shall stand speechless, as he did, #Mt 22:12, convicted of their wickedness, and confounded at God’s wonderful works. See the like #Isa 52:15 Ps 107:42 Mic 7:16 Jer 8:14. Thus Jannes and Jambres were silenced and convinced, but not converted. No more are many today, who yet have as little to say as they. The full accomplishment of this promise is not to be looked for till the last day.

Ver. 17. Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth] This behold holds forth a paradox, a strange sight, viz. an afflicted man, a blessed man. This the world wondereth at, and can as little conceive of, or consent to, as the Philistines could of Samson’s riddle of meat out of the eater, &c. How can these things be, say they? It will never be, saith sense; it can never be, saith reason; it both can be, and will be, saith faith: the property whereof is to gather one contrary out of another; life out of death, happiness out of misery, assurance of deliverance out of deepest distresses, and to believe God upon his bare word, and that against sense in things invisible, and against reason in things incredible. What if the afflicted man be Enosh (that is the word here), a sorry, sickly, miserable man, so the world esteemeth him? yet blessed is the man (there he is called Geber, the gallant man) "whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law," #Ps 94:12. Oh the happiness, the μυρισμακαριοτης, the present and future happiness of that man whom God correcteth, and withal instructeth, chastening him with pain upon his bed, and in addition opening his ears to counsel, and sealing his instructions, #Job 33:16,19, disputing him out of his evil practices, with a rod in his hand.

Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty] Fret not, faint not, be not so impatient as to think that either thy crosses come not from God, or not in mercy, or that he is not all sufficient to bear thee up under them, or to help thee out of them. Set not light by his love tokens (this is one of those two extremes Solomon warns us of, #Pr 3:11, neither despise afflictions, nor despond under them). See my Treatise called God’s Love Tokens, and the Afflicted Man’s Lessons, p. 37-39, &c. Loth we are to take up the cross, and when called to carry it, we shrink in the shoulder: no chastening seemeth joyous, but grievous; as averse the best may be to it, as a sick man is to those physical slibber sauces; he had as soon have died almost as take them down. How then, alas! will wicked men do to drink off that cup of God’s wrath that hath eternity to the bottom? #Ps 75:8. Let the saints be content, and say, Ferre minora volo, ne graviora feram, I wish to bear the lessor so I will not bear the greater. "It is the Lord’s mercy that we are not consumed," #La 3:22, that we are set safe from the wrath to come, whatever here betideth us. It is the chastening of the Almighty, who could as easily crush us as correct. See #Isa 13:6 Joe 1:15.

Ver. 18. For he maketh sore, and bindeth up] As a surgeon maketh an incision to let out the imposthumed matter, and then heals up the wound again. God hath a salve for every sore, a medicine for every malady; he is both a Father and a Physician, he lanceth us not unless need be, #1Pe 1:6. We are judged of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. Would we that God should let us alone to perish in our corruptions (as he did Ephraim, #Ho 4:14), and not meddle with us? or that he should scarf our bones before they are set, and lap up our sores before they are searched? this were a mercy more cruel than any cruelty, as a Father calls it. And yet most people are of that countryman’s mind, spoken of by Luther, who being on his sick-bed advised by his minister to take in good part his present pain, as a token of God’s love, answered, Ah quam velim alios amare, non me! If this be his love, I could wish he would love others, and not me (Luth. in Gen.).

He woundeth] This is more than to make sore or sick, like as #Heb 12:6. Scourging is worse than chastening. God sometimes makes bloody wales upon the backs of his best children; he wounds them with the wound of an enemy, #Ps 68:21 110:5, and leaves them all gore blood, as the word here used importeth, ץחמ cruentavit. stained with blood.

And his hands make whole] He hath, as a chirurgeon should have, a lady’s hand, soft and tender, a father’s heart, relenting over his pained Ephraims, #Ho 11:8. He afflicteth not willingly, or from the heart, #La 3:33; it goeth as much against the heart with him as against the hair with us; and evermore

Deiecit ut relevet, premit ut solatia praestet:

Enecat, ut possit vivificare Deus.

Ver. 19. He shall deliver thee] Heb. Snatch thee away, or pull thee out, as a brand out of the fire, or as a prey out of the teeth of a wild beast. Thus God snatched Lot out of Sodom, David out of many waters, Paul out of the mouth of the lion, Jonah out of the belly of hell, &c. As birds flying, so will I defend Jerusalem, #Isa 31:5. A metaphor from the eagle and other birds, which when they fly highest set a watchful eye upon the nest, to rescue their young ones in case of danger.

In six troubles] Or straits, such as enemies or other evils put men to. Israel at the Red Sea, for instance, where they were sorely distressed, encircled with troubles, neither was there any way of escape, unless they could have gone up to heaven, which because they could not, heaven came down to them and delivered them.

Yea, in seven] A certain number for an uncertain. Boundless deliverances will God grant to his people, even as oft as they shall need deliverance; enemies oft plough upon their backs, and God as often cuts their traces, #Ps 129:3,4. As Cato was two and thirty times accused, and two and thirty times cleared and absolved; so shall it be with the saints; and this not only at the end of the world, as Gregory and others interpret this text (as if by six and seven allusion were made to God’s creating the world in six days, and resting on the seventh; and so must his servants labour here under afflictions, and rest in heaven), but in this life present, where many are the troubles of the righteous (millions, some render it), but the Lord delivereth them out of all, #Ps 34:19; yea, in them all, as this text hath it, by his supporting grace, and those divine comforts, which, as blown bladders, bear them aloft all waters.

There shall no evil touch thee] sc. Tactu qualitativo, with a deadly touch. God chargeth afflictions as David did his captains concerning Absalom, Handle the young man gently for my sake. Touch not mine anointed, &c. Either touch them not at all, or not to hurt them. Troubles may touch the saints, but evils must not, #1Co 10:14.

Ver. 20. In famine he shall redeem thee from death] They that be slain with the sword are better than they that be slain with hunger, #La 4:9. Famine, therefore, is here set as the first and greatest of the six ensuing evils, the forest of God’s judgments, #Eze 6:11 Jer 24:10; the certain harbinger of death, as here. From this so great a death God delivered Abraham, #Ge 12:12-20; Isaac, #Ge 26:6-12; Jacob and his family, #Ge 47:11,12; the poor widow, #1Ki 17:9-16; the Israelites in the wilderness by quails; the Rochellers by a miraculous shoal of shellfish, cast up into their town in a strait siege, &c. There is a promise that the lions shall lack and suffer hunger, but so shall not any such as seek the Lord, #Ps 34:10. There shall be special provision made for such, and God shall redeem them from this evil by a wonderful separation, as he did in another case, #Ex 8:22: either he will send them in meat or take away their stomachs, as she once said. Fides famem non formidat, Faith feareth no famine; having trusted God for a crown, she will not distrust him for a crust.

And in war from the power of the sword] Here is the saints’ safety, or their writ of protection. True it is, that the sword devoureth one as well as another, #2Sa 11:25, and pale death cutteth its way oftentimes through a wood of men, out of the mouth of a murdering piece, without distinction. But though the saints, with Josiah, be slain in battle, yet they die in peace, #2Ki 23:29, with #Job 22:20, for their eyes see not the evil that God bringeth upon others that outlive them, as it followeth there. Besides, they are gathered to their fathers, who enjoyed peace. Redeemed they are from the power or hands of the sword, which may kill them, but cannot hurt them; take away their head, but not their crown, αποκτειναι δυναται, βχαφαι δε ου.

Ver. 21. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue] That is, from reproaches and slanders, which is a tongue smiting, #Jer 18:18, as smart as any hand smiting, and draws blood, #Eze 22:9. Backbiting is backbeating (Speed.). The devil is both a liar and a murderer, #Joh 8:44. Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, was by the people of England thought to be doubly murdered (saith the chronicler), viz. by detraction and deadly practice. Plato commendeth that law of the Lydians that punished detracters like as they did murderers; because their words are swords, and their breath, as fire, devoureth, #Isa 33:10. Now from such pests the Lord promiseth to hide his people, that either the traducer shall not find them, or not fasten upon them: Dabbar is the Hebrew for a word, Debher for a pest (Drus.). Some render the text thus, He shall be hid, cum vagabitur lingua, when the tongue wandereth or walketh about. Their tongue walketh through the earth, #Ps 73:9, it runs all the world over, and, like a mad dog, snaps at every one. Hence the Hebrew word Ragal, to defame or slander, #Ps 15:3, properly noteth a footing it up and down, a going to and fro to carry tales and rumours, #2Sa 19:27. Now from such a mischief, from the lash of such lewd tongues, God will hide his people under the hollow of his hand, because he knows that many a good heart is more afflicted with words than with blows, #Ps 42:3. St Paul reckoned that it were better for him to die than that any man should make his glorying void, that is, take away his good name, and so disable him from doing good by his ministry, #1Co 9:15.

Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh] Much less at the rumour of it, #Mt 24:6 Lu 24:6. Thou shalt walk about the world as a conqueror, being above fear, then when others are below hope. Noah like-thou shall be, — mediis tranquillus in undis, calm in the midst of the waves, and not as Magormissabib, a terror to thyself and all about thee, #Jer 20:3.

Ver. 22. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh] viz. By the force of thy faith, which (like perfect love) casteth out sinful fear; as grounding upon God’s infallible promises, and knowing that all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies, #Ps 25:10. All the passages of his providence are to such not only mercy, but truth; they come to them in a way of a promise, as bound to them by covenant; and hence their holy courage lifteth them up so far above dangers and fears, that they even laugh at them, as Leviathan laugheth at the shaking of the spear, #Job 41:29. They famish famine, and destroy destruction itself; like as Christ Jesus, the Captain of their salvation, swallowed up death in victory; and as many of the martyrs baffled it, deriding their tormentors.

Neither shall thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth] i.e. Wild beasts, that devour men and cattle, as lions, bears, boars, wolves, &c., whereunto we may add those cannibals, man-eating persecutors, who eat up God’s people as they eat bread, #Ps 14:4. Such lycanthropi, or beasts in the shape of men, Paul fought with at Ephesus, and God had delivered him out of the mouth of that lion Nero, #2Ti 4:17, who yet afterwards martyred him. But the viper at Malta did him no harm; no more did the lions Daniel; neither would they meddle with some of the primitive martyrs, cast before them to be devoured.

Ver. 23. For thou shall be in league with the stones of the field] Thou shall not dash thy foot against them (the Latins call a stone lapidem a laedendo pede, from hurting the foot that hitteth against them, #Ps 91:1,2.) They were wont of old to go barefoot (as Vatablus here noteth). And our chronicler telleth us of King Henry II, that, for a penance, going to Canterbury to the shrine of Thomas Becket, his bare feet with the hard stones were forced to yield bloody tokens of his devotion on the way. Or thus, the stones of the field shall not hinder thy harvest, as #Mt 13:6. Or being piled up for a mound, or wall, they shall not fall upon thee, and brain thee, as the stones of the wall of Aphek did the blasphemous Syrians, #1Ki 20:33; as the town house did the insulting Philistines, #Jud 16:30; as the house did Job’s children, &c.; or, the stones out of the wall shall not cry out against thee, as #Hab 2:11, but all creatures shall be thy confederates; not only not hurting, but helping thee, all that may be. For as they are all armed against the wicked as rebels and traitors to the Divine majesty; so God hath promised to make a covenant for his saints with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, &c., Rebellis facta est; quia homo numini, creatura homini (Aug.), #Ho 2:18. {See Trapp on "Ho 2:18"}

And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee] The tame beasts shall not only not mischieve thee (as some they have done: Euripides the poet was torn in pieces with dogs; horses have been the death of many, &c.), but shall be serviceable and profitable unto thee; some alive, not dead, as the dog, horse; some dead, not alive, as the hog; some both, as the ox, sheep, &c. Ambrose hath a very strange story of a man slain at Antioch by night, by a soldier, in hope of spoil; this man’s dog would not leave his master’s dead corpse, but lay howling by it till daylight; many came in the morning to see that sad sight, and the murderer among the rest came, that he might be the less suspected. The dog no sooner saw this soldier but he ran fiercely at him, and would never stop barking and baiting at him till he saw him apprehended and carried to prison, where he confessed the fact and was for the same deservedly executed (Amb. in Hexaem.).

Ver. 24. And thou shalt know] Thine own eyes shall see it, and thine experience seal to it; thou shalt be well assured of it. This is a sweet mercy: it is the sweetmeats of the feast of a good conscience, saith Latimer, to know that all shall go well with us here, and that our names are written in the book of life; to be able to conclude from temporal blessings to eternal, as David doth, #Ps 23:5,6; to have not only sustentation, but suavities spiritual sweets, as one speaketh.

That thy tabernacle shall be in peace] i.e. Thy house, household, and household stuff shall be in safety; and all shall be as well with thee as heart can wish. Or, thy tabernacle shall be peace. Thou shall be free from domestic dissensions. It is a sign of a Christian family, if the son of peace be there, and peace rest in it, #Lu 10:6. This turneth water to wine, and the contrary: where envying and strife is there is confusion (or unquietness) and every evil work, #Jas 3:16. Such a tabernacle is more like to a kennel of hounds than a family of Christians.

And thou shalt visit thy habitation] As a busy bishop, within thine own diocese, thou shall carefully inquire into the state of thy family, and take an account of all that are under thy roof; that God be sincerely served there, and all things well husbanded, #Pr 27:26,27.

And shalt not sin] viz. By too much indulgence to children and servants, Eli’s sin, who brought up his children to bring down his house; or, thou shall not be found guilty, sc. of thy family’s faults imputed unto thee; or, thou shalt not miss, sc. of thy desire and expectation, but all shall go as well within doors as heart can wish.

Ver. 25. Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great] Thou shalt live to see thy children (whereof thou art now bereft) not only restored, but increased. Children are the seed, parents are but the husk, as it were: to have these multiplied is no small mercy, #Ps 128:3, especially when the wife is as the vine, and the children like olive plants, two of the best fruits, the one for sweetness, the other for fatness, #Jud 9:13; when they prove to be as arrows of a strong man, such as whose natural knottiness is reformed and smoothed by grace, such as for the workmanship of grace and holiness in their hearts and lives are become like the graving of a king’s palace, #Ps 144:12. What can better preserve Jacob (Job) from confusion, or his face from waxing pale, than if he might see his children, the work of God’s hands, framed and fitted by the word in regeneration, and the duties of new obedience? this would make religious parents to sanctify God’s name, even to sanctify the Holy One, and with singular encouragement from the God of Israel, #Isa 29:22,23.

And thine offspring as the grass of the earth] Thy nephews shall be not only numerous, but innumerable, they shall also flourish, as grass in its prime.

Ver. 26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age] In a good old age, or (as the Hebrew hath it, #Ge 25:8) with a good hoar head, in an ευγηρια, when thou hast even a satiety of life, and art as willing to die as ever thou wast to dine, or to rise from table after a full meal. The Hebrews made a feast when they were past 60 years of age; and some of them observe that the numeral letters of Chelach (the word here used) make up sixty, but that is not a full old age; rather it is the beginning of it. Thou shalt die in lusty old age, so Broughton rendereth it, old, and yet healthy and comfortable, as was Moses, #De 34:7; and Mr Dod, that Moses of our times. Of Mr Samuel Crook likewise it is recorded (in his Life by W. G.), that when he saw no more ability for labours he desired to die in a satiety and fulness of life; not as a meat loathed (as many times natural men do), but as a dish, though well liked, that he had fed his full of; few men having ever run so long a race without cessation or cespitation, so constantly, so unweariably, so unblameably. Lo, such a hoary head was a crown of glory, as being found in the way of righteousness, #Pr 16:31. But so are not all that yet are long lived. A sinner may do evil a hundred times, and yet have his days prolonged, #Ec 8:12. Manasseh had the longest reign of any king of Judah. Pope John XXII held the mortality of the soul, and was otherwise erroneous and vicious, yet he lived longest of any pope, and died richest, A. D. 1335; howbeit he died tempore non sua, too soon for himself, #Ec 7:17; he went not to his grave in a good old age, ripe and ready.

As a shock of corn cometh in in his season] As grian when ripe is reaped, shocked up, and carried into the barn for the master’s use. Dei frumentum ego sum, I am God’s bread grain, said that ancient martyr.

Ver. 27. Lo this, we have searched it, so it is] We are sure that all this is true, and may be trusted to, for we have tried it; we have not it only by tradition, neither take we it up upon trust from others; but we believe and know, as Peter spake, #Joh 6:69; we believe, and therefore speak it, as Paul (after David), #2Co 4:13 Ps 116:10. Thou mayest write upon this whole chapter, as those ancients did upon their oracles, φεος, φεος, God, God; or as John the divine did upon his Revelation, "These sayings are faithful and true," #Re 22:6. Vera tanquam ex tripode, As true as gospel, as we say. Those that take upon them to teach others should go upon sure ground, and be masters of what they teach: how else will they teach with authority? Those also that come to hear must strive to find out that which St Luke calleth the certainty of things, #Lu 1:4, and not be led by conjectural suppositions, or the tenets of their teachers, but be fully persuaded, #Job 5:1.

Hear it] With utmost attention of body, intention of mind, retention of memory and practice: else all is lost.

And know thou it for thy good] Make thy best use of this our diligence and experience so freely and friendly communicated unto thee. Let not all this that hath been spoken be spilt upon thee, but prove every whit as profitable to thee as I conceive it seasonable for thee. Some knowing men are not a button the better for all they know. The devils are full of objective knowledge; but they get no good by it; no more do graceless men, that draw not their knowledge into practice, but detain the truth in unrighteousness: it swimmeth in their heads, but sinketh not into their hearts; it maketh them giddy, as wine fuming all up into the head, but never coming at the heart to cheer it. Such a man may cast out devils, and yet be cast to the devil; he may go to hell with all his unprofitable knowledge; like as a bull with a coronet aud garland goes to the slaughter. Unless a man hear and know for himself, he shall find no more comfort of it than a man doth of the sun when it shineth not in his own horizon; or than a traveller doth of the fatness of a far country which he only passeth through, and taketh a view of. If therefore thou be wise, be wise for thyself, #Pr 9:12. Let thy knowledge be not only apprehensive, but effective, illightening, but transforming, {#2Co 3:18} discursive, but experimental and practical. "For thereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments," #1Jo 2:3.

Chapter 6

Ver. 1. But Job answered and said] Eliphaz thought he had silenced him, and set him down with so much reason, that he should have had nothing to reply; yet Job, desirous to disasperse himself, and to clear up his reputation, answered, and said. For indeed Negligere quid de se quisque sentiat, non solum arrogantis est, sed et dissoluti, saith one, that is, altogether to neglect what others think or speak of a man’s self, and not to make apology, is the part not only of a proud, but of a dissolute, person; silence sometimes argueth guiltiness, or at least it strengtheneth suspicion.

Ver. 2. Oh that my grief were throughly weighed] Heb. Were weighed by weighing. The word rendered grief signifieth also anger, and is the same with that wherewith Eliphaz began his speech, #Job 5:2, where he saith, "Wrath killeth the foolish man," pointing at Job, as an angry man exalting folly. Here, therefore, Job beginneth his refutation, wishing that that anger or grief of his, so hardly censured, were duly weighed in an even balance; for then it would appear that there was some reason for his passion, that he had enough upon him to cry for, and that he had not complained without a cause. We read of a certain philosopher, who, hearing of his son’s death, brake out into a loud lamentation; for which being reproved, Permittite, inquit, ut homo sim, Suffer me, I pray you, said he, to show myself to be a man, that is, sensible of my sufferings.

And my calamity weighed in the balances together] That is, that my calamity were accurately set against my grief, my laments and my torments equally poised; it would then appear that I have not yet grieved or complained up to the height or weight of those calamities which are upon me. "Even to day is my complaint bitter" (saith he elsewhere in answer to Eliphaz too, interpreting his complaints to be rebellion against God): "my stroke is heavier than my groaning," #Job 23:2.

Ver. 3. For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea] How light soever thou, O Eliphaz, esteemest it, as being in a prosperous condition. It is easy to swim in a warm bath; and every bird can sing in a sunshine day. But grief lieth like a load of lead upon the soul, heavy and cold; afflicting it, as an unsupportable burden doth the body. It so oppressed the poor Israelites in Egypt, that they had no mind to hearken to Moses, #Ex 6:9. Solomon cries out, "A wounded spirit who can bear?" #Pr 18:14. My soul is very heavy, and exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, saith our blessed Saviour, #Mt 26:37,38, then when the Father made all our sins to meet upon him, and he bare our griefs and carried our sorrows, #Isa 53:4,12. Sure it is, that had he not been God as well as man, he had been utterly crushed by that inconceivable weight of sin and wrath that he then groaned under. Oh what will all Christless persons do in hell, where God shall lay upon them and not spare! they would fain fly out of his hand, #Job 27:22, but that cannot be.

Therefore my words are swallowed up] Vix loqui possum, vox faucibus haeret: I want words, which yet, if I had them at will, would be far too weak to utter the grief of my mind. Broughton rendereth it, Therefore my words fall short; they are semesa, saith Junius, half eaten before spoken; I am, as it were, gagged with grief; or, my words are even smothered up with sighs and sobs. Thus Job rhetoricates, and yet thinks himself greatly word bound.

Ver. 4. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me] What marvel, then, though his flesh had no rest, but he was troubled on every side, since without were fightings, within were fears? #2Co 7:5. The arrows, not of a mighty man, as #Ps 127:4, but of an Almighty God; troubles without and terrors within. David felt these arrows, and complaineth of them heavily, #Ps 38:1,2. "He shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded," saith he of his enemies who had bent their bow and shot their arrows at him, even bitter words, #Ps 64:3,7. God will make his arrows drunk with the blood of such persons, #De 32:42. But the arrows Job here complains of were poisoned or envenomed arrows.

The poison whereof drinketh up my spirits] Drieth them up, and corrupts the blood in which the spirits are, sprinkling in my veins a mortal poison, working greatest dolour and distemper. The Scythians and other nations used to dip their darts in the blood and gall of asps and vipers, the venomous heat of which, like a fire in their flesh, killed the wounded with torments, the likest hell of any other; and hereunto Job alludeth.

The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me] i.e. The terrible strokes of God, who seemeth to fight against me with his own hand, to rush upon me as the angel once did upon Balaam, with a drawn sword in his hand, threatening therewith to cut off my head, as David did Goliath’s, yea, to send me packing to hell, in the very suburbs whereof, methinks, I feel to be already; and shall not I be suffered to complain? A galled shoulder will shrink under a load, though it be but light; and a little water is heavy in a leaden vessel. But the word here used for terrors noteth the most terrible terrors, hellish terrors, and worse, for they are the terrors of God, surpassing great, #2Co 5:11, which made Jeremiah pray so hard, Be not thou a terror to me, O Lord, and then I care not greatly what befalleth me. "While I suffer thy terrors I am distracted," saith Heman, #Ps 88:15. Add hereunto that these terrors of God had set themselves in array, they were in a military manner marshalled and imbattled against him, as #Jer 50:9. God afflicted Job methodically and resolvedly; he led up his army, as a reverend man phraseth it, exactly formed to a pitched battle against him, and this was truly terrible; for who, saith Moses, knoweth the power of his wrath? since the apprehension and approach of it was so terrible to an upright-hearted Job, to a heroical Luther, upon whom God’s terrors were so heavy for a time, ut nec calor, nec sanguis, nec sensus, nec vox superesset (In epist. ad Melancth.), that neither heat, nor blood, nor sense, nor voice remained, but his body seemed dead, as Justus Jonas, an eye-witness, reporteth: agreeable whereunto is that memorable speech of Luther, Nihil est tentatio vel universi mundi, et totius inferni in unum conflata, &c., The temptation and terror of all the world, nay, of all hell put together, is nothing to that wherein God setteth himself in battle-array against a poor soul; in which case that in excellent counsel that one giveth in these words, When thy sins and God’s wrath meeting in thy conscience make thee deadly sick, as #Isa 33, then pour forth thy soul in confession; and as it will ease thee (as vomiting useth to do), so also it will move God to pity, and to give thee cordials and comforts to restore thee.

Ver. 5. Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass?] q.d. Sure they do not. As if these creatures, wild or tame, want necessary food, you give them leave to fill the air with their outcries; yea, you supply their wants; but for me ye will do neither, such is your tenderness and love toward me. Nay, ye condemn me for that which is naturally common to all creatures. Ye must needs think I am not without ailment that make such great lamentations, unless ye conceit that I am fallen below the stirrup of reason, nay, of sense. It is easy for you who want neither grass nor fodder, or mixed meat, as the word signifieth, who lie at rack and manger, as it were, and have all that heart can wish, or need require; it is easy, I say, for you to rest contented, and to forbear complaints. But why am I so severely censured for impatient, who am stripped of all, and have nothing left me, praeter caelum et caenum, as he said, but only air to breathe in and a dunghill to sit on; not to speak of my inward troubles.

Ver. 6. Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt?] Or, Can that which is unsavoury for want of salt be eaten? Hunger will down with unsavoury or unpleasant food, though salt or sauce be wanting; but when meat is putrefied for want of salt, and full of maggots, it will hardly be eaten, unless it be in extreme famine: it is as if he should say, a man doth with no good will feed upon unsavoury or loathsome meats; how, then, can I use such moderation as you desire I should, my evils being extreme, sweetened with no kind of comfort, nor seasoned with anything that is any way toothsome or wholesome? that I speak not of your tasteless and insulting speeches, which are no small vexation to me.

Ver. 7. The things that my soul refused to touch, &c.] I suffer such torments even in my very soul, as the very thought of them would heretofore have frightened me. Thus Mr Diodati. Others take soul here for the appetite, and so make this the sense: Those things which I exceedingly loathed, and would once have thought scorn to have touched, are now my sorrowful meat; I am forced with a heavy heart to feed upon them for want of better; and they go down the worse because you vex me with your hard words (who have little need of such choke pears), and will not allow me the liberty of a needful lamentation, which yet I must needs take (lest heart should break), and say, as before, #Job 3, though with some more respect to God, the object of my present prayer:

Ver. 8. Oh that I might have my request!] How heartily begs Job for death, as a medicine of all his maladies and miseries; as that which would bring him malorum ademptionem, bonorum adeptionem, freedom from all evil, fruition of all good; by the force of his faith he looks upon death as the best physician, that would cure him of all infirmities inward and outward, and of all at once, and for ever. Job might likely be of the same mind that Chaucer was, who took for his English motto, Farewell, medicine; and for his Latin one, Mors aerumnarum requies, death will be a sweet rest from all my labours. The same to a believer death is that Mount Ararat was to Noah, where his ark rested after long tossing; or as Michal was to David, a means to shift him out of the way when Saul sent to slay him; or as the fall of the house was to Samson, an end of all his sorrows and sufferings. Hence it is that he rejoiceth under hope, and with stretched out neck looks and longs for death’s coming, as dearly as ever Sisera’s mother did out of a window for the coming of her son laden with spoils from the battle. As when death is come indeed, he welcometh it, as Jael did the same Sisera (but much more heartily), with, "Turn in, my lord, turn in to me," #Jud 4:18; and further bespeaketh it, as Jacob did his brother Esau, at their interview, Surely I have seen thy face as the face of God, who hath made thee to meet me with kisses instead of frowns, and hath sent thee to guard me safe home to my father’s house.

And that God would grant me the thing that I long for] Or, have long looked for. Heb. My hope or my expectation, as that which will put a period to my miseries, and possess me of heaven’s happiness, as that which will be a postern to let out temporal life, but a street door to let in eternal.

Ver. 9. That it would please God to destroy me] That is, to despatch me out of this world, and send me to a better. A dissolution would be far more acceptable to Job than that restitution which Eliphaz seemed to promise him, #Job 5:24. It is as if Job should say, Take you the world among you, since you like it so well; I have more than enough of it; I am neither fond of life, nor afraid of death, but the clean contrary; I had rather die than dine, and crave no greater favour than to have more weight laid upon me that I may die out of hand. Feri, Domine, feri; nam a peccatis absolutus sum, as Luther once said, Strike, Lord, strike deep; for thou hast pardoned my sins, and wilt save my soul.

That he would let loose his hand] That now seemeth tied, or bound behind him. Manus ligari videtur quando parcit, saith Vatablus. God had chained up Satan, and strictly charged him not to take away Job’s life; but this is it that Job would fain have done. Mortality he would account no small mercy; he desired nothing more than to be dissolved, and to be with Christ; he might do it, because he knew that his Redeemer lived, &c. So might Simeon, because he had seen God’s salvation; and so might Paul, who had fought a good fight, and kept the faith. But how could Plato say, in the eighth of his laws, The communion of the soul with the body is not better than the dissolution, as I would say, if I were to speak in earnest? Κοινωνια ψυχη και αωματι διαλυσεως ουκ εστι κρειττων, ως εγω φαιην αν σπουδη λεγων. His master, Socrates, when to die, was nothing so confident; for he shut up his last speech with these words, as both Plato himself and Cicero tell us, Tempus est iam hinc abire, It is now high time for us to go hence; for me to die, and for you to live longer; and whether of these two is the better the gods immortal know; hominem quidem arbitror scire neminem, it is above the knowledge, I believe, of any man living. Thus he; but Job was better persuaded; otherwise he would have been better advised than thus earnestly to have desired death.

And cut me off!] Avide me absumat quasi ex morte mea ingens lucrum reportaturus (Pineda). Let him greedily cut me off (so the word signifieth), even as if he were to have some great gain, or get some rich booty by my blood.

Ver. 10. Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow, &c.] I would take hard on, and bear what befalleth me as well as I could, by head and shoulders, had I but hopes of an end by death; as having this for my comfort;

I have not concealed the words of the Holy One] I have boldly professed the true religion, #Ps 40:10 116:10 119:43, not spared to preach the truth sincerely to others for God’s glory, and their good, however you may judge of me. I never rejected the word of God, but have highly honoured it; so that my desire of death is not desperate, as you may conceive, but an effect of good assurance that by death heaven advanceth forward that happy term, when all my miseries shall end at once; and hence it is that I am so greedy after the grave.

Ver. 11. What is my strength, that I should hope?] q.d. Thou hast told me, O Eliphaz, that if I frame to a patient and peaceable behaviour under God’s chastisement, I shall go to my grave in a good old age, &c., but, alas, it is now past time of day with me for that matter: "my breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me," #Job 17:1. Were I as young and lusty as ever I have been, some such things as ye have promised me might be hoped for; but, alas, the map of age is figured on my forehead, the calendars of death appear in the furrows of my face, besides my many sores and sicknesses which, if they continue but a while, will certainly make an end of me.

And what is mine end] i.e. The later part of my life, what is that else but trouble and sorrow? See this elegantly set forth by Solomon, #Ec 12:2-4, &c.

That I should prolong my life?] That I should desire my life to be prolonged or eked out to that? Rather let it be my care, with Varro, ut sarcinas colligam antequam proficiscar e vita, to be ready for death, which seemeth so ready for me (De re Rust. lib. 1, cap. 1).

Ver. 12. Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass?] Is it made of marble, or of the hardest metal? as it is said of one in Homer, that he was χαλκεντερος, of brazen bowels, and of Julius Scaliger, that he had a golden soul in an iron body; he was a very iron sides: but so was not Job; he had neither a body of brass, nor sinews of iron, to stand out against so many storms, and bear so many batteries; he felt what he endured, and could not long endure what he felt. As for the damned in hell, they are by the power of God upheld for ever, that they may suffer his fierce wrath for ever; which else they could never do. And as for those desperate assassins, Baltasar Gerardus, the Burgundian, who slew the Prince of Orange, A. D. 1584, and Ravilliac ( Ferale illud prodigium, as one calleth him, that hideous hell hound), who slew Henry IV of France in the midst of his preparations, and endured thereupon most exquisite torments; this they did out of stupidity of sense, not solidity of faith; and from a reckless desperation, not a confident resolution.

Ver. 13. Is not my help in me?] Have I not something within wherewith to sustain me amidst all my sorrows, viz. the testimony of my conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity I have had my conversation in the world, #2Co 1:12. Lo, this is my rejoicing, this is my cordial, &c. Innuit innocentiam snare, ac vitro integritatem, saith Drusius: he meaneth the innocency and integrity of his heart; and this was the help Job knew he had in store, this was the wisdom or right reason he speaketh of in the following words: and is wisdom, or virtue, driven quite from me? no, no; that boldeth out and abideth when all things else in the world pass away and vanish, as the word Tushijah importeth. Job had a subsistence still; for his life consisted not in the abundance which he had possessed, but was now bereft of. The world calleth wealth substance, but God giveth that name to wisdom only. The world he setteth forth by a word that betokeneth change, for its mutability, #Pr 3:8, and the things thereof he called Nonentia, #Job 23:5. Wilt thou set thine eyes, saith he, upon that which is not? and which hath no price but what opinion setteth upon it? Grace, being a particle of the Divine nature, is unlosable, unperishable.— Virtus post funera venit.

Ver. 14. To him that is afflicted] Heb. melted, viz. in the furnace of affliction, which melteth men’s hearts, and maketh them malleable, as fire doth the hardest metals, #Ps 22:15 Jos 7:5.

Pity should be shewed from his friend] By a sweet tender melting frame of spirit, such as was that of the Church, #Ps 102:13, and that of Paul, #2Co 11:29, "Who is weak, and I am not weak?" sc. by way of sympathy; "who is offended, and I burn not?" when others are hurt, I feel twinges: as the tongue complaineth for the hurt of the toe, and as the heart condoleth with the heel, and there is a fellow feeling amongst all the members; so there is likewise in the mystical body.

From his friend] Who is made for the day of adversity, #Pr 17:17, and should show love at all times, and especially in evil times; but poor Job bewaileth the want of such faithful friends, Αφιλον το δυστυχες, Et cum fortuna statque caditque fides. David also complaineth to God, his only fast friend, of those that would be the causes, but not the companions, of his calamity, that would fawn upon him in his flourish, but forsake him in his misery. My lovers and friends stand aloof, &c., they looked on him, and so passed by him, as the priest and Levite did the wounded passenger, #Lu 10:32. But God takes it ill that any should once look upon his afflicted, unless it be to pity and relieve them, #Ob 12,13, and hath threatened an evil, an only evil, without the least mixture of mercy, to such as show no mercy to those in misery, #Jas 2:13.

But he hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty] Which wheresoever it is in the power of it, frameth a man to all the duties both of piety and charity. Obadiah feared God greatly, and it well appeared by his pity to the persecuted prophets. Cornelius feared God, and (as a fruit of it) gave much alms, #Ac 10:2. Not so Nabal, that sapless fellow, whose heart was hardened from God’s holy fear; nor Judas the traitor, who had no heart of compassion towards his innocent Master; and therefore he burst in the midst with a huge crack (ελακησε μεσος), and all his bowels gushed out by a singular judgment, #Ac 1:18. There are many other readings of this text, as that of the Tigurine translation, It were fit for friends to show kindness to their friend that is in misery: but the fear of the Almighty hath forsaken me, as you please to say. See what Eliphaz had said to this purpose. {See Trapp on "Job 4:6"} Others read it thus, to him that is afflicted should reproach be given, that he hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty? q.d. Must a man therefore be reviled as irreligious because he is calamitous? The Vulgate translation runs thus, He that taketh away pity from his friend hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty, &c.

Ver. 15. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook] Even you, whom I esteemed as my brethren (for to them he applieth this speech, #Job 6:21), prove hollow and helpless to me; like the river Araris, that moveth so slowly, that it can hardly be discerned, saith Caesar, whether it flow forward or backward (Caesar, de Bell Gal. l. 1); or rather, to a certain fish in that river Araris, called scolopidus; which at the waxing of the moon is as white as the driven snow, and at the waning thereof is as black as a burnt coal. Job here elegantly compareth them, not to a river which is fed by a spring, and hath a perennity of flowing; but to a brook arising from rain or melted snow, the property whereof is in a moisture, when there is least need of them, to swell; in a drought, when they should do good, to fail. It is reported of the river Novanus, in Lombardy, that at every midsummer solstice it swelleth and runneth over the banks, but in midwinter is quite dry (Plin. lib. 2, cap. 10. 3.) Such were Job’s deceitful brethren; good summer birds, &c. The same author telleth us, that in that part of Spain called Carrinensis there is a river that shows all the fish in it to be like gold; but take them into thine hand, and they soon appear in their natural kind and colour. Job found that all is not gold that glittereth.

And as the stream of brooks they pass away] i.e. As an impetuous land flood, they fail me; and now that I have most need of their refreshments, they yield me none, but the contrary rather; like as land floods by their sudden and violent overflow do much hurt many times to corn and cattle. I can go to these streams of brooks, saith Job, and show my friends the face of their hearts in those waters.

Ver. 16. Which are blackish by reason of the ice] Or frost, a black frost we call it, which deceiveth those that tread upon it. Or if, hard enough to bear up passengers, it promise to be a storehouse of preserving snow and water against the scorching time of summer, yet there is no trusting to it; for these waters, as they are in winter locked up with frosts, so they will be in summer exhaled and dried up by the sun.

Ver. 17. What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, &c.] Lo, such is the fruit of creature confidence, of making flesh our arm, of trusting in men or means; whereas Deo confisi nunquam confusi, they that trust in the Lord shall never be disappointed. This thou canst never do, unless (unbottomed of thyself and the creature) thou so lean upon the Lord, as that if he fail thee thou sinkest, and not otherwise.

Ver. 18. The paths of their way are turned aside] i.e. They being (as it were) cut into divers small rivers running here and there, by little and little, and being resolved into vapours, at length quite vanish away (Beza).

They go to nothing, and perish] Metaphora insignis et hieroglyphicum, saith an interpreter; this is an excellent metaphor, and a lively picture of the vanity of such as make a great show of piety and charity, which yet floweth not from the spring of true faith; and therefore cannot but, after a while, go to nothing and perish. A failing brook, saith another, is a clear emblem of a false heart, both to God and man. Lavater thus explaineth the comparison: 1. As brooks run with waters then when there is least need of them; so false friends are most officious when their courtesy might best be spared. 2. As the ice of such brooks is so condensed and hardened that it beareth men, horses, and other things of great weight; so counterfeit friends promise and pretend to be ready to do their utmost to suffer anything for our good and comfort. 3. But as those brooks are dried up in summer, and frozen up in winter, so that we can set no sight on them; in like sort these are not to be found when we are in distress and affliction. 4. As brooks in winter are covered with snow and ice; so these would seem to be whiter than snow when their affections towards us are colder than ice. 5. Lastly, as the ice that was hard and firm, upon a thaw breaketh and melteth; so false friends leave us many times upon very small or no dislikes; as being constant only in their unconstancy.

Ver. 19. The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them] The troops, that is, the travellers, the caravan or company of merchants from those parts, passing through dangerous and dry deserts, expected relief from those brooks which they had marked out for themselves against summer; but with what success?

Ver. 20. They were confounded because they had hoped, &c.] Heb. They blushed, or they were abashed, because disappointed and defeated of their hope and expectation. See #Jer 14:3,4 Joe 1:10,11. God’s people have a promise, that hoping in him they shall never be ashamed, #Joe 2:26 Ro 10:11. Their hope is infallible, #Ro 5:5, because founded upon faith unfeigned, #1Ti 1:5. Hence they are commanded to rejoice in hope, #Ro 12:12, and to conceive gaudium in re, gaudium in spe, gaudium de possessione, gaudium de promissione, &c., joy for what they have in hand, and in present possession; joy also for what they have in hope, and in reversion. Wicked men’s hopes may hope headless (as the proverb is, and as these troops of Tema experimented), they come to the world’s felicities as they do to a lottery, with heads full of hopes, but return with hearts full of blanks: not so the saints; God will be better to them than their hopes; and when at worst, they can confidently say, it is well for the present, and it will be better hereafter.

Ver. 21. For now ye are nothing] i.e. To me nothing worth; I have no more joy of you than if you were not at all; ye are not unlike him who said to his friend, I am all yours, except body and goods; ye are not so much as friends at a sneeze, who will come out with a God bless you; or as those great benefactors in St James, #Jas 2:15,16, that were free of their mouth mercy; ye are mere mutes and ciphers, nullities, as to me just nothing; that is, ye are no such thing as I expected. And here Job brings the foregoing similitude home to his friends by close application. And according to the Hebrew margin called keri, it may be rendered, Fuistis ei similes, sc. torrenti; ye are like to it, that is, to the brook before mentioned; ye fail me as much as it did the thirsty passengers (Drus.).

For ye see my casting down, and are afraid] There is an elegance in the original that cannot be Englished; your eyes see what you had before heard of only by the hearing of the ear, that I am at a great under, dejected and impovershed; you are therefore afraid of me, lest I should ask you something for the supply of my wants; or else you keep at a distance, as more afraid of catching mine evil than desirous of curing it; ye visit me, but are not moved with any compassion towards me, Horrore perculsi resiluistis a me veluti si quispiam viperam calcasset (Lay.). So the Septuagint.

Ver. 22. Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give, &c.] Did I ever charge you for my reparation or redemption? This interrogation is more emphatic than a simple negation: q.d. I never did it, and, therefore, unless you had been at more charge with me, you should have bestowed better words upon me; those would have cost you nothing certainly.

Ver. 23. Or, Deliver me from the enemy’s hand? &c.] Rescue me, ransom me from those that have robbed and wronged me; fetch back my lost goods by price or force. The word rendered mighty signifieth also formidable, terrible, breach makers. The word is opened by St Paul, #Php 1:28; where he useth a metaphor from horses snorting (πτυρομενοι) and starting when frighted.

Ver. 24. Teach me, and I will hold my tongue] If I be in an error, I am willing to be rectified. Hitherto you have mistook my case; and so your speech hath been to small purpose. But if you will come home to my case indeed, and weigh things in an even balance, I shall gladly submit to your more mature judgment and direction. Teach me, and you shall find that I am not indocible, that I am not as "horse and mule that have no understanding," #Ps 32:9, nor will learn any; much less than the creature called rhinoceros, untameable and untractable. It shall appear to you that I am not utterly uncounselable, as those of whom Basil complaineth, qui quid verum sit neque sciunt, neque sustinent discere, that neither know what truth and right is, nor will endure to be taught it (Epist. ad Euagr. 10). Job was not to be told that it was easier to deal with 20 men’s reasons than with one man’s will; he promiseth therefore not to stand out against his friends, because he will stand out. It is not my will, saith he, that opposeth what you have spoken, but my understanding. I am a slave to right reason; and if convinced thereby, I shall soon lay down the bucklers. Teach me, and I will hold my tongue, and not strive for the last word to lengthen out the contention; I am willing to reason, but not to wrangle. See #Pr 30:32.

Cause me to understand wherein I have erred] A humble man will never be a heretic; err he may (that is common to mankind, triste mortalitatis privilegium); but convince him by solid reasons and good arguments, and he will not long stand out: a little child shall lead him, #Isa 11:6. It is by pride that contention cometh, #Pr 13:10, for it maketh a man drunk with his own conceit, #Hab 2:5; and who so wilful, so quarrelsome, as he that is drunk? A heretic may be condemned of himself, #Tit 3:10, but he will not be convinced by another (such is his pertinacy, or rather obstinacy), no, though he be stoned with hardest arguments, holden out of that crystal book of the Holy Scriptures, he stands as a stake in the midst of a stream; and you may as soon move a rock as cause him to understand wherein he is out of his judgment of practice: Lapidandi sunt haeretici (Athan.).

Ver. 25. How forcible are right words] How sweet, saith the Chaldee, interpreting it by #Ps 119:103. It may be read Nimletsu for Nimretsu; but the word is well rendered forcible, potent, valid. It noteth also, saith Mr Caryl, acrimony, sharpness, or smartness, because right words have a pleasing acrimony upon the palate of the soul, and a power upon the judgment to sway and carry it. Ille regit dictis animos, &c. Audite senem iuvenes quem iuvenem senes audierunt: these few words from Augustus, falling right, quieted the rebels in his army; and the like is reported of Alexander the Great, of Menenius, Agrippa, &c. But we have better instances, as that of Abigail treating with David; the woman of Abel with Joab; Nicodemus, by a few seasonable words, dissolving the council gathered together against Christ, #Joh 7:50,53; Paphnutius stickling for the married clergy at the Nicene council, &c. One seasonable truth failing on a prepared heart hath often a strong and sweet operation. Luther having heard Staupicius say that that is kind repentance which begins from the love of God, ever after that time the practice of repentance was sweeter to him. This speech also of his took well with Luther, The doctrine of predestination beginneth at the wounds of Christ; but before any of this he was much wrought upon by conferrence with an old priest about justification by faith. So was that Italian marquis, Galecius Caracciolus, by a similitude used by Peter Martyr reading upon the First to the Corinthians. Nescio quid divinum in auscultatione est, saith one, there is a kind of divine force and efficacy in hearing more than in reading the word. We may say of it, as David once did of Goliath’s sword, There is none to that. And yet it cannot be denied that the word read also hath a mighty force and powerful influence upon the conscience Hence those many praises of it, #Ps 19:7,8, "The statutes of the Lord are right," &c. Right for every man’s state and purpose; so penned, that every man may think they speak de se in re sua, of himself in this particular case, as Athanasius hath it; so right the good word of God is and suitable; how then can it be but forcible. {see #Heb 4:12 2Co 10:4,5} And how forcible it is none can tell but those that have felt it; nor those neither; hence this expression by way of admiration, Oh how effectual are right words!

But what doth your arguing reprove?] Heb. What doth your disputation dispute? What force, what energy, is in your arguments? how flat and sinewless are they! what dull stuff appear they! and how little to the purpose! Tam facile diluuntur argumenta vestra, quam vulpes comest pyrum. I can blow them off as easily as I could a feather off my hand. Strong is the truth (I grant), and easily evinceth the things that are true; but to conclude truths from falsities (as that I am a hypocrite because afflicted), that ye can never do.

Ver. 26. Do ye imagine to reprove words?] Idle and hasty words, which have more sound than sense? Think you that I do only make a noise, or rave like a madman, and am accordingly to be dealt with? Ye have not hitherto had vain, windy words from me, but words full of weight and matter, words of truth and soberness; wherefore then do ye speak thus? Do ye imagine to reprove words.

And the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?] Do ye think I speak like one that is distracted, who knows not what he speaks? or that I have at once lost my hope and my wits? It is an easy and a compendious way of refuting all a man can say, to say he is mad, his words must needs be but wind without weight who is himself without reason. Mr Broughton readeth, Do ye hold the terms of the forlorn a wind? shall the poor man’s wisdom be despised (as Solomon asketh), and his words not be heard? #Ec 9:16. Some refer this also to Job’s friends, reading it thus, Ye frame speeches only to reprove (ye are good for little else but to find fault), and bring forth words against the wind; ye beat the empty air with your bubbles of words and senseless sayings.

Ver. 27. Yea, you overwhelm the fatherless] Heb. Ye throw yourselves upon the fatherless, that is, upon miserable me, who am helpless, friendless, comfortless: see #Ge 43:18, that he may roll himself upon us, say they there, as hunters and wild beasts fall upon their prey.

And you dig a pit for your friend] Who had better deserved of you, and expected better usage from you. Here he taxeth them for craft, as before for cruelty, and this to his friend, whom they sought to circumvent, and to drive into desperation. Some read the words thus, You make a feast upon your friend; you banquet upon your companion, and make great cheers, being glad of my calamity, which you make an argument of mine impiety. See #Job 41:6 2Ki 6:23.

Ver. 28. Now therefore be content, look upon me] Let it suffice you to have thus hardly handled me; cast now a more benign aspect upon me, and be not henceforth so hot and so harsh. Now therefore be content, regard me, so Mr Broughton translateth it, or look upon me, sc. with a critical eye: what guiltiness can you find in my face? do I look like a hypocrite, and can you read my conscience in my countenance?

It is evident to you if I lie] You may soon see mine integrity if you please, for my heart sitteth and showeth itself in my forehead, neither can I collude. I am one of those children that will not lie: so be God my Saviour, #Isa 63:8.

Ver. 29. Return, I pray you] Change your minds of me, and your language to me, Bona verba quaeso; I seek good words, what need all this heat of speech, and height of spirit? be better advised, I beseech you, #Job 17:10 19:28. Some think that Job’s friends were rising to be gone; and he hastily calleth them back again.

Let it not be iniquity] Judge charitably, and make not the worst of matters: I may be weak, but am not wicked. Or thus, take heed that God fault you not for usurping his right; taking upon you to judge secret things even against your neighbour, with calumniations and cruelty.

Yea, return again] See you do it at your peril: either you must do it, or do worse.

My righteousness is in it] I am surely in the right; and that will appear to you upon better consideration. I shall be recta in curia, and you utterly mistaken. Uprightness hath boldness, and dares put itself upon God’s examination, as David did, #Ps 139:23, yea, Abimelech, #Ge 20:5.

Ver. 30. Is there iniquity in my tongue?] Yea, or else you shall pass for a perfect man, and well able to bridle the whole body, #Jas 3:2. St Paul, #Ro 3:13, anatomizing a natural man, standeth more upon the organs of speech, his tongue, lips, mouth, throat, &c., than upon all the other members. But Job was a perfect and an upright man, #Job 1:1, he had said he would take heed to his ways, that he sinned not with his tongue, #Ps 39:1, he was also convinced of this, that if any man seem to be religious, and bridle not his tongue, that man’s religion was in vain, #Jas 1:26. He did not therefore prepensedly and willingly lash out in sinful or superfluous language.

Cannot my taste discern perverse things?] Cannot I distinguish between right and wrong, truth and falsehood? #Job 12:11 34:3. Is my mouth so far out of taste? &c. It is a heavy judgment to be given up to an injudicious mind, #Ro 1:28, a reprobate sense.

Chapter 7

Ver. 1. Is there not an appointed time to man upon the earth?] There is, certainly. Our bounds are prescribed us, and a pillar set by him who bears up the heavens, which we are not to transpass. Stat sua cuique dies, said the heathen poet (Virg. Aeneid 10), our last day stands, the rest run. It is said of the Turks, that they shun not the company of those that have the plague, but pointing upon their foreheads, say, it was written there at their birth when they should die. Now if there be an appointed time, &c., what mean the Lutherans to teach that God hath not determined the period of men’s days, but it is in man’s power to lengthen or shorten them, Humanae vitae terminus non est decreto simplici et absoluto constitutus (Homing). In this one verse we have two metaphors, both which do evince the contrary. The first is from soldiers, implied in the word אבצ translated an appointed time, or a warfare, because there was a set time for soldiers to fight, and a set time also for them to serve. The second is from a hireling.

Are not his days also like the days of an hireling?] Describit humanae vitro brevitatem, saith Vatablus. Here he describeth the shortness of man’s life, and with it that his days are determined; for with a hireling we agree to work with us for a certain time, and usually for a day, or by the day; and hence we call them day labourers. It importeth then that the time of man’s life is short and set; for hirelings are appointed to an hour. See #Job 14:14 Ec 2:3 Joh 7:30 Isa 38:5. Fifteen years just were added to Hezekiah’s life. Our hairs are numbered, much more our days. This Job allegeth to set forth his own extreme misery, as one condemned to perpetual torments without any respite or refreshing; and therefore in a worse case than any soldier or servant.

Ver. 2. As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, &c.] Heb. Gapeth after, or gaspeth for his shadow; that is, for some place of cool repose after his hard labour in the hot sunshine, as in harvest; or for the shadow, that is, for dark night, or for the evening.

Cum Sol crescentes discedens duplicet umbras (Virg. Eclog.).

And as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work] Heb. Expecteth his work, that is, his wages. God’s work is its own wages; and in doing thereof (not only for doing thereof) there is great reward, #Ps 19:11. Righteousness is its own recompense; but a poor hireling looketh for his wages, he sets his heart upon it, #De 24:15, and God provideth there that it be duly paid him; and those that detain it are sorely threatened. See #Jas 5:5: it is a crying sin. The whole verse may cohere with the former; and be thus rendered, Is not a man as a servant that earnestly desireth the shadow? and is he not as a hireling, that looketh for the reward of his work? but it is better to join it with that which followeth, according to our translation.

Ver. 3. So am I made to possess months of vanity] So, but a great deal worse than so is it with me. The labouring servant hath his shade; the painful hireling hath his hire at the set time; but I am made to possess, or have assigned to me for mine inheritance, not days, but whole months of vanity, that is, of molestation and misery, void of the least comfort or hope of amendment. The soldier, servant, hireling, suffer hardship in hope of better; but with me it is every day worse than other; and were it not for the hope of heaven, the life I lead here would be a little hell to me. From the months of vanity here mentioned (lying months some render them, because he hoped for ease, but found none) it may be gathered that Job’s calamities lasted a long time, twelve months, say the Hebrews, seven years, saith Suidas. If we hold out faith and patience but half so long in any sort, we think ourselves worthy to be crowned and chronicled. For mouths of vanity some read empty moons; as if Job’s moon were always in the wane, or ever in the eclipse.

And wearisome nights are appointed to me] sc. By God; and that so exactly as if he had numbered them to a night. See #Da 10:1. Pondere, mensura, numero Deus omnia fecit, It is he that cutteth us out our conditions, that prepareth for us troublesome days and tiresome nights, and purposely that he may take us off from the inordinate love of life: like as by strait binding (which mortifieth and deadeneth the flesh) men are made more able to bear the cutting off of a member; so shall we take our cutting off from this world the more gently, by how much the more painful, pinching days and nights we have endured.

Ver. 4. When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise? &c.] Here is a graphic description of a wearisome night. The night is most laborious and irksome to sick people: then they revolve their troubles, and being free from visits of friends, they visit their own afflictions, and study their own distempers freely; then they lie all night wishing for day, telling the clock, hearkening for the cock (that natural clock), tossing to and fro unto the dawning of the day, not able to get the least wink of sleep, that nurse of nature, and sweet parenthesis of men’s griefs and cares. Oh present the condition of a restless sick man to your thoughts (saith an interpreter here), praise God for quiet nights, and pity those to whom wearisome nights are appointed.

Ver. 5. My flesh is clothed with worms] Here Job showeth how and whence his nights were so wearisome and restless; he was in his grave clothes before he died (saith Mr Caryl), viz. a gown of worms set or embroidered with clods of dust. Covered he was with sores, and putrefied ulcers full of worms, which made him abhorring to himself.

And clods of dust] A fit dress for a dying man. The word signifieth the filings of any metal, or the scrapings of an unclean thing. He meaneth then the scurf, scraped off from him, or the dust contracted by his sitting upon the ground, #Job 2:8.

My skin is broken] Or, cleft and chapped (as the earth is in drought), in most loathsome and formidable manner.

And become loathsome] Or melted, as in that distemper which physicians call corruptionem totius substantiae; or as in the leprosy or gangrene, when the flesh falleth off from the bones. Hinc igitur disce patientiam in morbis, saith Lavater. Hence, then, learn to be patient under the most noisome and troublesome diseases. What though thou be in such a pickle all over, that thou canst neither stand, nor walk, nor sit, nor lie, nor live, nor die: was not this holy Job’s condition, and worse? Remember that there are not a few sick as heart can hold, sore all over, and want necessary food and physic which thou dost not; consider that God could, and justly might, lay more and heavier plagues upon thee, &c. When Dr Munster was sick, and some friends came to visit him, being very sorry for pains he was put to by the ulcers of his body; O my dear friends, said he, these boils and blains, gemmae sunt et pretiosa ornamenta Dei, are God’s gems and jewels wherewith he adorneth his friends, that he may draw them to himself; which ornaments let us esteem far more precious than all the gold and wealth of this whole world. Soon after which speech he piously and peaceably fell asleep in the Lord. Craterus also, when he saw his body begin to swell with a dropsy, and other distempers, Euge Dee sit laus et gloria, said he, Oh, blessed be God, that my deliverance is at hand, et horula gratissima, and that sweet hour that shall put an end to all my miseries (Melch. Adam).

Ver. 6. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle] Which is of a very swift and sudden motion. Nights and days pass the shuttle of man’s life forward and backward, to and again. The night casts it to the day, and the day to the night; between these two time quickly wears off the thread of life. I have cut off, like a weaver, my life, saith good Hezekiah, #Isa 38:12. And the heathens hammered at this in their fiction of the three sister destinies, whereof the poet saith,

Clotho colum baiulat, Lachesis trahit, Atropos occat.

You that are weavers, saith Lavater, or lookers on them at their work, think of this text, and learn to live holy.

And they are spent without hope] Heb. In not hope. I cannot conceive that I shall ever recover, or be recruited, whatever thou, O Eliphaz, hast gone about to put me in hope. All Job’s desire was death, which he looked upon as the readiest remedy of all.

Ver. 7. O remember that my life is wind] Before, swifter or lighter than a weaver’s shuttle (or than a sword or speech, as the Septuagint there render it, ελαφροτερος λαλιας), now my life is a wind, or as a wind (so the Chaldee paraphraseth), that speedily passeth away, and returneth not. So St James, "What is your life?" saith he; "it is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away," #Jas 4:14. One hath well observed, that the Holy Ghost giveth us very many items of this (and especially in this book), which shows that we are very apt to forget it. A point that is easy to be known, but very hard to be believed; every man assents to it, but few live it, and improve it to reformation.

Mine eyes shall no more see good] sc. In this world, for in the world to come he was confident of the beautiful vision, #Job 19:27. Hezekiah hath a like expression when sentenced to die: I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living (that is, in this life present, #Ps 27:13 52:5 142:5 Isa 53:8, called also the light of the living, #Joh 9:5 Ps 56:13); I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world, #Isa 38:11. And this both sick Job and sick Hezekiah tell the Lord, and both of them begin alike, O remember, #Isa 38:3. God forgetteth not his people and their condition; howbeit he requireth and expecteth that they should be his remembrancers for their own and others’ good, #Isa 62:6,7. See the margin.

Ver. 8. The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more] In death we shall neither see nor be seen, but be soon both out of sight and out of mind too. It is told of Richard III, that he caused the dead corpse of his two smothered nephews to be closed in lead, and so put in a coffin full of holes, and hooked at the ends with two hooks of iron, and so to be cast into a place called the black deeps, at the Thames’ mouth, whereby they should never rise up, nor be any more seen (Speed. 935). Such a place is the grave till the last day: for then the sea shall give up the dead which are in it, and death and the grave shall render up the dead which are in them, #Re 20:13, then shall Adam see all his nephews at once, &c.

Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not] Thou even lookest me to death; like as elsewhere God is said to frown men to destruction, #Ps 80:16 Ps 104:29; they are not able to endure his flaming eyes, sparkling out wrath against them. What mad men therefore are they that speak and act against him who can so easily do them to death! If God but set his eyes upon them for evil (as he oft threateneth to do, #Am 9:4 Job 16:9), they are undone.

Ver. 9. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away] A cloud is nothing else but a vapour thickened in the middle region of the air by the cold encompassing and driving it together, #Ps 18:11,12, vessels they are as thin as the liquor that is in them; but some are waterless: the former are soon emptied and dissolved; the latter as soon scattered by the wind, and vanish away. {See Trapp on "Job 7:7"}

So he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more] sc. To live and converse here with men, as #Job 7:10. Or, he shall come up no more, sc. without a miracle (as Lazarus and some others long since dead rose again) he cannot return to me, said David to his deceased child, #2Sa 12:23. God could send some from the dead to warn the living; but that is not now to be expected, as Abraham told the rich man, #Lu 16:27-31 Those spirits of dead men that so oft appeared in times of Popery (requiring their friends to sing masses and dirges for them; and that drew this verse from Theodorus Gaza, Sunt aliquid manes, lethum non omnia finit) were either delusions, or else devils in the shape of men. That Job doubted the resurrection, or denied it (as Rabbi Solomon, and some other, both Hebrew and Greek writers, conclude from this text) is a manifest injury done to this good man, and a force offered to the text, as appeareth by that which next followeth.

Ver. 10. He shall return no more to his house] Either to despatch business or to enjoy comforts; he hath utterly done with the affairs of this world. Melancthon telleth of an aunt of his who, having buried her husband, and sitting sorrowfully by the fireside, saw (as she thought) her husband coming into the room, and talking to her familiarly about the payment of certain debts, and other businesses belonging to the house; and when he had thus talked with her a long time, he bid her give him her hand; she at first refused, but was at length persuaded to do it; he taking her by the hand so burnt it, that it was as black as a coal, and so he departed. Was not this the devil?

Neither shall his place know him any more] His place of habitation, or his place of honour and ruledom; these shall no more acknowledge him, and welcome him back, as they used to do after a journey. Death is the conclusion of all worldly comforts and relations. Hence wicked people are so loth to depart, because there is struck by death an everlasting parting blow between them and their present comforts, without hope of better. Spes et fortuna valete, farewell hope and fortune, said one great man at his death. Cardinal Bourbon would not part with his part in Paris for his part in paradise. Fie, said another rich cardinal, Will not death be hired? will money do nothing? Never did Adam go more unwillingly out of Paradise, the Jebusites out of the stronghold of Zion, the unjust steward out of his office, or the devils out of the demoniac, than graceless people do out of their earthly tabernacles, because they know they shall return no more; and having hopes in this lifo only, they must needs look upon themselves as most miserable.

Ver. 11. Therefore I will not refrain my mouth] Heb. I will not prohibit my mouth, sc. from speaking, I will bite in my grief no longer; but since death, the certain end of all outward troubles, is not far from me; I will, by my further complaints, press the Lord to hasten it, and not suppress my sorrows, but give them a vent.

I will speak in the anguish of my spirit] Heb. In the straitness or distress of my spirit, which is almost suffocated with grief.

I will complain in the bitterness of my soul] His greatest troubles were inward; and if by godly sorrow for his sins he had poured forth his soul in a humble confession (as some understand him here), he had taken a right course; but thus boisterously to break out into complaints savoureth of human infirmity, and showeth quantae sint hominis vires sibi a Deo derelicti, what a poor creature man becomes when God leaves him to himself, and subjects him to his judgments (Mercer).

Ver. 12. Am I a sea, or a whale] Can I bear all troubles, as the sea receives all waters, and the whale bears all tempests? This (as is well observed) was too bold a speech to God from a creature, for when his hand is on our backs our hands should be upon our mouths; as #Ps 39:9, "I was dumb," or (as others read it) I should have been dumb…"because thou didst it." But it is a fair step to perfection and victory when one can kiss God’s rod and say, as #Ps 44:17, All this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten thee, nor declined from thy way. Job was not without his impatience; but being he was right for the main, and at length bewailed them, God looked not upon him as he doth upon those refractories, who to their impatience add impenitence; and to their passive disobedience, active.

That thou settest a watch over me?] That thou surroundest me with sorrows, and wilt not suffer me to die? Here Job should have set a better watch over his lips, #Ps 39:1 141:3, than thus boisterously to have blustered against God (who is ανυπευθυνος, not to be called to an account for his proceedings) like the raging sea or unruly whirlpool. He should have considered that the best men have somewhat of the sea in them, that must be bounded; and somewhat of the whale, that must be watched and kept under; and that God never lays more upon a man than there is need, though he may think otherwise.

Ver. 13. When I say, My bed shall comfort me] The bed was the most proper and probable means of refreshment; but it is not the bed that can give sleep, nor the couch ease. Creatures are not able of themselves to give out the comforts committed to them; their common nature must be assisted with a special word of blessing, or else they do us no good: man liveth not by bread only, &c. God maketh the merciful man’s bed, #Ps 41:3. So he giveth his beloved sleep, quiet sleep (Shena with an Aleph quiescent), #Ps 127:2 He is the God of all mercies, and the Father of all consolation, #2Co 1:3. It is he that shines through the creature, which else is but as the air, without light. Look how the air lights us not without the sun; and fuel heats us not without fire; so neither can any man or means comfort or content us without God.

My couch shall ease my complaint] Heb. Shall lift up, or take away, viz. the burden of my cares and grief; some part of my load at least; but it happened otherwise: for— {see next verse}

Ver. 14. Then thou scarest me with dreams] Extremam tentationem describit, saith Vatablus; and the devil doubtless had a great hand in this business (for it was within his commission, and he would not neglect any part of it); but Job taketh notice of none but God, the chief agent, and to him he applieth himself. His providence is exercised even about dreams, which, in melancholy people, happen (especially when they are sick) to be oftentimes very horrid and hideous; as that they fall down from some high place, commit some capital offence, are slain, torn in pieces by devils, &c. Bishop Foliot’s terrible night vision was before mentioned. Richard III, after the murder of his two innocent nephews, and Charles IX of France, after the Parisian Massacre, had such dreadful dreams, that they became a terror to themselves and to all about them. But to instance in better men: Calvin in the year of grace 1562, being sick of the gout, dreamed that he heard a great noise of drums beaten up most vehemently, as they use to be in warlike marches (Beza in Vita). Pareua also, A.D. 1618, saw in a dream the city of Heidelberg set on fire in many places, and the prince elector’s palace all on a light flame: this he set down the next morning in his dairy, and added these words, O Deus clementissime, averte sinistrum omen, &c., O most merciful God, turn aside this evil omen. (Philip Par. in Vita Patris). Such fearful dreams cause a sick sleep, and a worse waking. This Job complaineth of here; and yet more fully in the next words.

Ver. 15. So that my soul chooseth strangling] i.e. Quamvis durissimam sed praesentissimam mortem, any violent or ignominious death, as long as it were a speedy death. Hippocrates telleth us, that many have been so frightened with dreams and apparitions, that they have hanged themselves, leaped into deep pits, or otherwise committed suicide. Let those that either have not been so terrified, or so tempted, or so deserted of God, bless him for that mercy.

And death rather than life] Heb. Rather than my bones; that is, any kind of death rather than such a body, which is now nothing else but a bag of bones; or than such rotten bones full of sores and ulcers. He maketh mention of his bones, because his pain had pierced as far as his very bones; the putrefaction had sunk down into his marrow.

Ver. 16. I loathe it, I would not live alway] I loathe or abhor it, that is, my life, or I loathe them, that is, my bones, #Job 7:15. "I would not live alway," that is, long in this world, and in this condition. Plotinus, the philosopher, held it a special mercy of God to men that they were mortal; and did not always live to labour under the miseries of this wretched life (Aug. de Civitate Dei, l. ix. c. 10). Cato professed, that if he might have his age renewed as the eagle’s, so that he might be made young again, he would seriously refuse it (Cic. Cato Major). How much better might Job say thus, since the righteous hath hope in his death; and might well take up that of the poet,

Utque adeone mori miserum est?

The days of the best are so full of evil both of sin and pain, that it is good they are not fuller of days; if they should have length of life added to heaps of sorrows, and perpetuity with all their misery, how miserable were they! Christ promiseth it as a point of favour of his, that the days of trouble should be shortened, #Mt 24:22, and that he may put an end to the age, he dispatched away the generations with all the convenient speed that may be.

Therefore let me alone] Some read thus, I cannot live for ever, or very long, therefore let me alone, that is, stop afflicting me, and let me go quietly to my grave, #Ps 39:13. Here one well observeth that the world and time, while they continue, are always ceasing; and therefore have their denomination from this word, which signifieth to cease, Quod cito cessat et deficit (Mercer in Pagnin.).

For my days are vanity] Hebel, a puff of wind, or a bubble on the water. Man’s body is a bubble, his soul the wind that filleth it. The bubble riseth higher and higher, till at last it breaketh; so doth the body rise from infancy to youth, from youth to age, &c., till at length it cracketh and dissolveth. The life of a man is a vain life. This Job often beats upon, and why, see the note. {See Trapp on "Job 7:7"}

Ver. 17. What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him?] i.e. Make so much ado about him, or look upon him as a fit match for the great God to grapple with, #Ps 14:3, or to take care of his affairs? Debile argumentum, saith Vatablus here, a poor argument; but Job maketh use of all kinds of arguments to move God to make an end of him: Domine, fac finem, fac finem, God, make an end, make an end! said dying Erasmus; but what he meant by those words I know not, saith Melancthon, who reporteth it.

And that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?] So as to make any account of so mean and miserable a creature, #Ps 144:3, to magnify him whom thou mightest rather vilify, or indeed, nullify; or, that thou shouldest set thy heart against him, sc. to destroy him, as #Job 34:14. That is but an ignoble contest, ubi et vincere inglorium est, et atteri sordidum.

Ver. 18. That thou shouldest visit him every morning] Be at so much pains, as it were, with him, as to chasten him; and every morning to do it, that is, certainly and early; God took Job to task as soon as he was awake every morning, and this he thought much of, and would rather have been without; but that was his weakness, since the rod is as necessary as food.

And try him every moment] Proving by affliction both what corruption and what grace is in his heart; this David reckoneth upon the score of God’s favours, and prayeth for, #Ps 139:24. This God promiseth as a special blessing, #Jer 9:7, and with it assureth that he will try and refine his people, but not as silver, #Isa 48:10. He will not deal with them as in rigour of justice he might do, because if he should do so, they, having more dross in them than good ore, more corruption than grace, they would soon be consumed in this fiery trial; this God considered, and so should Job have done, and have quit his growling.

Ver. 19. How long wilt thou not depart from me] Here he seems desirous to be rid of God’s company, of his afflicting presence, #Ps 139:10; so true is that of the apostle, #Heb 12:11, "No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous," till patience come to have her perfect work, and men be brought to cry out, as one did under a great fit of the stone, The use, Lord, the use; not so much ease of my pain, as a good use of my suffering. This Job came to at length, no doubt; meanwhile, we have in him, as Mercer observeth, mirum ubique specimen, a wonderful instance of that conflict between flesh and spirit that is in the saints.

Yet let me alone, till I may swallow down my spittle?] That is, nor afford me the least intermission, no, not a spitting while. He will not suffer me to take my breath, #Job 9:18. Jerome thinks that Job was troubled with a quinsey, or sore throat, which hindered the swallowing of his spittle; neither had he power to spit out the corrupt matter that ran down his throat. Oh what a sweet mercy is health! and how ill able are the best without special support from heaven to bear sickness! The Stoics, who said, that he who lived honestly might live cheerfully though under many bodily weaknesses, senserunt ipsi in morbis se magnificentius locutos esse quam verius, saith Wolfius; that is, when it came to their own turn to be sick, they well perceived that they had spoken rather bravely than truly.

Ver. 20. I have sinned] Or, Have I sinned? Have I fallen into any foul offence, as these men charge me? Am I guilty of anything more than involuntary failings, unavoidable infirmities? although I know that these also are downright sins, fruits of the flesh properly so called, missings of the mark, as the word here signifieth, and for such I humbly confess them, I put myself into the hands of thy justice in hope of thy mercy; and what wilt thou more of thy poor creature?

What shall I do unto thee] No sooner had Job confessed his sin, but he is desirous to know a remedy. Reprobates can cry Peccavi, I have sinned; but then they proceed not to say, as here, What shall I do? They open their wound, but lay not on a plaster, and so the wounds made by sin are more putrefied, and grow more dangerous. Job would be directed what to do for remedy; he would have pardoning grace and prevailing grace upon any terms; and more than this, what can I do unto thee? δυνησομαι πραξαι, as the Septuagint render this text.

O thou preserver of men?] Of all men, but especially of them that believe, #1Ti 4:10. The Grecians called their Jupiter ελευθεριος, the deliverer or preserver of their persons; and again, ερκειος, from ερκος, a wall, as if he were the watch and defender of their houses. Some render it, O thou observer of men. But these are praises proper to the true God, the keeper of his Israel, #Ps 121:4. The preserver of the faithful, #Ps 31:23. Whom he keepeth as the apple of his eye, #Ps 17:8, that tenderest piece of the tenderest part, most diligently and strongly guarded by nature with tunicles. It is the wisdom of a Christian in his addresses unto God to make choice of fit and appropiate titles and attributes; for the strengthening of his faith, and increasing of his fervency.

Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee] As a bulwark, as an object, or as a rock of offence, against which thou mayest always dash; so Vatablus rendereth it; to the same sense Job asketh, #Job 19:11 13:24. Wherefore holdest thou me for thine enemy? So #La 3:12 Job 16:13. Job conceived that God dealt with him in no other way than the Turks did with the great crucifix of Constantinople, upon the head whereof they put a Turk’s cap, and so setting it up in derision, shot at it with their arrows, calling it the God of the Christians: or, as the same Turks at the taking of Tripoli, in Barbary, dealt with one John de Chabas, a Frenchman, who in the time of the siege had shot off the hand of the clerk general of the army. They brought him into the town, saith the story, and when they had cut off his hands and nose, they put him quick into the ground to the waist, and there for their pleasure shot at him with their arrows, and afterwards cut his throat.

So that I am a burden to myself?] How can he be otherwise who is a butt mark for Almighty God, who cleft his very reins asunder, and poured out his gall upon the ground, #Job 16:13. Job had once before complained that the poison of God’s arrows had drunk up his spirits, #Job 6:4 Neither did anything lie so heavy upon him, or was so burdensome to him, as this, that God seemed to frown upon him, and to fight against him with his own hand. The Septuagint and Talmudists read thus, So that I am a burden unto thee, viz. with my complaints and expostulations; this, say they, was the ancient reading.

Ver. 21. And why dost thou not pardon my transgression?] Heb. Lift up, or take away; for sin was Job’s greatest burden, which therefore he prayed to God to pardon; and that not in heaven only, but in his own conscience; and then no darkness can be so desolate, no cross so cutting, no burden so importable, but he shall, by God’s grace, be able to deal with it. Hence this vehement expostulation of his for remission and removal of sin first, and then of its evil consequents; for pardon of sin is a voluminous mercy; and being justified by faith, we can glory in tribulation, #Ro 5:1,3.

For now shall I sleep in the dust] In the dust of death, #Ps 22:1,5, and therefore must have help presently, or not at all; since a man once departed is no more to be found in this world, though never so diligently sought for. See #Job 7:7,8. One paraphraseth these words thus, For now I shall die, and then when thou lookest to receive thy morning sacrifice of praise as beforetime, I shall not be found to give it thee.

Chapter 8

Ver. 1. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said] Bildad (who was of the posterity of Shuah, Abraham’s son by Keturah, #Ge 24:1,2) interrupteth Job, and endeavours to maintain what Eliphaz had spoken; nevertheless, it appeareth by this chapter, #Job 8:5,6,20,21, that his opinion was not so rigid as that of Eliphaz: for he grants that a righteous man may be afflicted, but yet so, that if God restore him not speedily, he may be censured, cast, and condemned as unrighteous. He passeth (as they do all) some hard censures upon Job; and is paid in his own coin by him; who saith that he was, according to his name, a wicked kinsman; for לב is naught, and דור an uncle. With what judgment men judge they shall be judged. #Mt 7:2.

Ver. 2. How long wilt thou speak these things?] Quousque effaberis ista. q.d. Hast thou nothing better than this to utter? (Tremel.) Be silent for shame, or forbear at least to vent thy spleen against God, of whose proceedings with thee thou hast heavily complained; thy words have been stout against the Lord, and thou hast taken too much liberty of language in this tempest of talk.

And how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?] Big and boisterous, rude and robustuous, as if thou wouldst Dominum impetere, evertere, et deiecere, blow down God and his proceedings at a breath (Mercer). The Tigurine translation is, Quandiu verba oris sui sonabunt pertinaciam? How long shall the words of thy mouth sound out thine obstinacy? If evil thoughts be maioris reatus, of greater guilt, as the schools speak; yet evil words and works are maioris infamiae, of greater scandal, and do more corrupt others. This Bildad was sensible of, and conceiving that Job complained of God as dealing hardly with him, and unjustly afflicting him, he addeth,

Ver. 3. Doth God prevent judgment?] By not punishing the wicked; or doth the Almighty prevent justice? by not rewarding the righteous (so the Hebrews expound it). Why, no; neither did Job ever say such a thing; only he had pathetically set forth the greatness of his pain, and the unkindness of his friends, and wished to die rather than to endure it. Now this was construed for blasphemy, or little less; and Bildad is very hot in his invective against Job, as good reason he had, if he had not been so mistaken. Here he wresteth in a most true proposition ( commodam sane sed non accommodam), but yet such a one as very little concerned this present disputation; and he doth it with as small wisdom and discretion, saith Beza, as with great pride and confidence. For doth it either argue Job a hypocrite and wicked man, or charge God with injustice, if it be said, that Job for his sins was not so afflicted by God (whereas he in the mean time denieth himself to be a sinner, and to have deserved God’s heavy hand upon him), but rather proved and tried by him according to his good pleasure? yet Bildad goeth on as if he had done very well; and in the next verse in plain words boldly avoucheth that Job’s children were by God’s judgment destroyed with the fall of the house, whatever betide their souls.

Ver. 4. If thy children have sinned against him] As what man is he that liveth and sinneth not? But Bildad meant that Job’s children had heinously sinned, had been grievous sinners against their own souls (as afterwards were Korah and his accomplices), had not sinned common sins, and therefore died not common deaths; indeed, they died early and suddenly, and eating and drinking (wherein there might be some excess), and before sacrifice offered for them, as formerly; all this was sad, and moved Job more than anything else. But did it therefore follow that God had cast them away? &c.

And he have cast them away for their transgression] Or, and he have expelled or abandoned them into the hand (so the Hebrews hath it elegantly) of their transgressions or rebellions, as so many executioners. Some render it thus, He hath driven them out of the world for their transgression. The Chaldee paraphrast goeth further, interpreting hand here for place (Pagnin.). If God have sent them, saith he, into the place of their wickedness, that is, into hell prepared for the wicked. Now surely, saith Lavater, Inhumanissimus fuit Bildad, qui ista calamitosissimo obiecere non dubitabat, Bildad was a most unmerciful man, who doubted not to lay these things in the dish of him that was before so heavily afflicted, and to heap more load upon him who was ready to sink under his burden; but he did it, say some, of a good intent, to bring Job to a sense of his sin, and to put him in hope of appeasing God s wrath, who had yet spared his life that he might make his peace, and not suddenly slain him, as he had done them; and therefore he assureth him in the following verses, as Eliphaz had done before, that all things shall go well with him if he repent. Albeit thy children have sinned, &c., yet

Ver. 5. If thou wouldst seek unto God betimes] If warned by the evil end that befell thine unhappy children, thou wouldst early and earnestly seek unto God for mercy, for which purpose it may seem that thy life hast been graciously spared, when thy children have been destroyed, that thou might be made wise at their expense. Such counsel as that is Eliphaz hath given Job before, #Job 5:8.

And make thy supplication to the Almighty] Pray for mercy out of free grace alone, so the Hebrew word signifieth; plead for pity, speak supplications, as the poor man doth, #Pr 18:23. Be poor in spirit, a stark beggar and bankrupt, less than the least of all God’s mercies, #Ge 32:10, and in this mind address thyself to the all sufficient, the cornucopia, the God rich in mercy to all that call upon him, for pardon of thy great sin in standing out in contention with his majesty, and resisting his fatherly visitation.

Ver. 6. If thou wert pure and upright] If thou didst lift up pure hands to God in prayer, &c. Ος κε θεοις επιπειθηται μαλα τ εκλυον αυτου..

Pura Deus mens est, pura vult mente vocari:

Et puras iussit pondus habere preces.

The fountain of goodness will not be laden at with foul hearts and hands, #Jer 4:14 Jas 4:8 Isa 1:15,16 Joh 9:31 1Ti 2:8. Thus a heathen philosopher, being at sea in a great storm, and perceiving many wicked wretches with him in the ship calling upon the gods, Silete, inquit, ne Dii vos hic navigare sentiant, Hold your tongues, said he, pray not, lest the gods take notice that you are here, and we all perish for your sakes. There are that take these words for reformation, as the former verse for humiliation, those two parts of true repentance: if thou wert pure and upright, as a right penitentiary would be; if thou wouldst break off thy sins by repentance, and especially thine hypocrisy which hath brought this punishment upon thee from the Lord. If thou wouldst not only repent for thy sins, but also from thy sins, and frame to lead a new life, which is optima et aptissima paenitentia, saith Luther, the best and soundest repentance.

Surely now he would awake for thee] Thou shouldst undoubtedly find speedy and unmiscarrying returns of thy prayers, and all good acceptance of thy services. He will hear thee for deliverance, so the Septuagint render it; he will up and do it, he will arise and have mercy upon Zion, #Ps 102:13, for now that she prayeth and purgeth herself from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. I am come for thy words, saith the angel to Daniel, #Job 10:12.

And make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous] i.e. He will bless thy well ordered family, and whatsoever thou dost therein shall prosper, #Ps 1:3. Thy children and servants shall live together in peace, and all good agreement; thy stock, also, and thy store shall be increased. He shall restore it to, or repair it for, thee, as the Septuagint here render it, αποκαταστησει δι σοι (Sept.), peace, plenty, and prosperity shall be heaped upon thee; this is the import of the word םלשׁ. Some of the Hebrews by habitation of righteousness here understand the soul, in which dwelleth righteousness. Others of them take it for the body, the habitation of the soul, wherein righteousness is seated. But these senses are far fetched.

Ver. 7. Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase] Thy recent losses God will recompense with interest; and the felicity which he prepareth for thee shall be far greater than the loss whereof thou dost now regret; for he will enrich thee to admiration, thy latter end shall be ineffable (so the Septuagint have it), such as none shall be able to utter or describe, τα εσχατα σου αμυθητα. See #Job 40:10,12. The day of small things is not to be despised, #Zec 4:10. Every former mercy is a pledge of a future; and to him that hath shall be given. God delighteth to help his people with a little help at first, to crumble his mercies to us, as one phraseth it; to give us his blessings by retail, to maintain trading and communion between him and us. So the cloud emptieth not itself at a sudden burst, but dissolveth upon the earth drop after drop.

Ver. 8. For enquire, I pray thee] Bildad speaks fairly, as Eliphaz had done, whom he all along imitateth.

A bove maiori discit arare minor.

Of the former age] The generations who came before, the Kadmonim, as the Jews called their ancestors, and used this saying concerning them, Cor priscorum fuit sicut porta, &c., the heart of our progenitors was as the gate of the porch of the Temple, ample and beautiful; but the heart of their posterity is as the eye of the needle, narrow and of no receipt in comparison, Rara datur longo prudentia temporis usu (Talmud). Of witnesses Aristotle witnesseth, that the more ancient they are the more creditable, because less corrupt, Πιστοτατοι οι παλαιοι, αδιαφθοροι γαρ (Rheto. lib. i). Nihil mihi antiquius, say the Latins; Nothing is more ancient to me, that is, more highly reputed. And new things are nothing, say the Greeks, τα καινα κενα. Siculus maketh mention of an Egyptian priest, who said to Solon, one of the Greek Sages, You Greeks are very boys (ye are but of yesterday, as it is in the next verse), neither is there an old man (that is, a man versed in ancient histories, or acquainted with antiquities) to be found amongst you all, Seris venit usus ab annis, Γερων δε ελλην ουκ εστι (Diod. Sic.). Much of the ancient divinity was traditional till Moses set pen to paper; the mind of God was either immediately revealed, or handed down and transmitted from father to son, from generation to generation. Hence Bildad here bids Job inquire of the former ages; and thereto refers him for further information; so doth Moses the Israelites, #De 4:20 32:7. Antiquity, so it be right, is of no small authority; that is a received rule, Quod antiquissimum verissimum, That is truest which is most ancient; as we prefer the newest philosophy, so the ancientest divinity. The Papists boast much of antiquity (as the Gibeonites did of old shoes and mouldy bread); but when they come to prove it, they go no higher than to about a thousand years ago. They scornfully look upon us as novelers, and ask where our religion was before Luther? We answer them, that our religion was always in the Bible, where their religion never was. This is the old commandment, saith St John, which was from the beginning, #1Jo 2:7.

And prepare thyself to the search of their fathers] Or fit thyself, fix thy mind upon it, as #Ps 100:1. We must not think to find truth but upon a serious search, #Pr 2:3. Anaxagoras complained omnia esse circumfusa tenebris, that all things were full of darkness. Empedocles, that the inlets of the senses were very narrow. Democritus, that truth lay hid as it were in a deep pit that could hardly be fathomed. St Paul cries out, O the depth! How unsearchable are God’s judgments, and his ways past finding out! Prepare therefore to this search after God; and pray as that poor man did that cried after Christ; and when he was asked, What wouldst thou have? Lord, said he, that mine eyes might be opened.

Ver. 9. For we are but of yesterday] Heb. We are yesterday, that is, yesterday’s offspring, upstarts, mushrooms, novices of very small standing in the world. And yet they were old men, #Job 15:10. Eliphaz is esteemed to be a hundred and fifty, Bildad a hundred and forty, Zophar a hundred and twenty years old; and yet, in comparison to the fathers before the flood, they were but of yesterday, they had lived but a very little while, and were but of late time.

And know nothing] Neque experti sumus, saith Tremellius; the greatest part of our knowledge is but the least part of our ignorance: how can we know much, when our abode here is so short, our experience so little? Art longa, vita brevis, said Hippocrates, life is short, and art is long. Themistocles, though he lived a hundred and seven years, yet at his death complained, saying, Now I am to die when I begin to be wise. Solon said, that though old, yet he thought not himself too old to learn; and Julian the lawyer was wont to say, that when he had one foot in the grave, yet he would have the other in the school.

Because our days upon earth are a shadow] Fluxa, instabilis, et ipsa ultro abiens, saith Junius, unsubstantial, unsettled, uncertain, there is no hold nor tack in it, #Ps 102:11 1Ch 29:15, What is man but a dream of a shadow, saith Pindarus; a shadow of smoke, saith Sophocles; a shadow of a shadow, saith Aeschylus, σκιας ουαρ, καπνου σκια, ειδωλον σκιας. He is therefore not a man, but a shadow of man (as Lamech’s second wife’s name was Zillah, a shadow of a wife, Tsillah, umbra ipsius, and as Menander calleth a false friend φιλου σκιαν, the shadow of a friend); he hath not so much as shadow of reason or true understanding, who, by spending the span, by wasting the shadow of this short life, after the ways of his own heart, bereaveth himself of a room in that city of pearls, and loseth the comforts of that life which lasteth for ever.

Ver. 10. Shall they not teach thee, and tell thee] They, that is, the forefathers, #Job 8:8, these, though dead and gone, yet by their records and monuments, by their apopthegms and oracles (for the words of dying men are living oracles), do still teach us and tell us their minds, as if they were yet living, #Heb 11:4 Lu 16:29. Books are mute matters, silent voices. The way to be wise, said a heathen, is to converse with the dead, τοις νεκροις συγχρωτιζειν. Histories are faithful counsellors, and by the reading of them many young men have attained to more understanding than their elders; as Augustus, Theodosius, Macarius, who was surnamed παιδαριογερων, the old youth, for his wisdom and gravity above his years, gotten by reading and prayer, as saith Nicephorus.

And utter words out of their heart?] Discourses dug out of their own hearts, things new and old, thrown out of that good treasure, e cordibus, non e codicibus, they were egregie cordati homines, hearty good men, and their speeches were heart sprung, dipped in their hearts, and there recalled ad limam, priusquam ad linguam, weighed before uttered. They spake not as thou dost, Job, rashly and at random; judiciously, solidly, oraculously conduct them therefore, and as they speak from their own heart, so let them speak to thine. With the ancient is wisdom, and in length of days understanding, #Job 12:12.

Ver. 11. Can the rush grow up without mire?] Iam subiungit quod illi exploratum habuerant et perspectum, sed eleganti similitudine, saith Mercer; that is, here Bildad setteth forth what the fathers had observed, taught, and told them; and this he doth by three elegant similitudes, which was a way of teaching usual among the ancients, ut quod per simplex praeceptum teneri non possit, per similitudines teneretur, that that which could not be remembered by simple precepts, might be retained by similitudes drawn from natural things, which are as shadows to us of spiritual (Hieron. in cap. 19, Matth.). And first from the rush, which hath its name from drinking; because it lives in liquor, it loves and delights in a moorish soil. Can the rush (or bulrush, #Ex 2:3 Isa 18:2) grow up? Heb. perk and pride itself, bear the head aloft, shoot up amain, without mire or moisture, such as are the fens? #Job 40:21. The meaning hereof is, saith Ferus, look how the rush and flag grow not but in miry places; remove them to dry and firm ground, and they soon wither: so the wicked hypocrite in prosperity maketh a great show of piety; but in adversity he loseth that very show, and by his impatience maketh the hollowness of his heart appear to all men. And herein Bildad aimed at the making of Job’s case odious, whom he now held to be a hypocrite.

Can the flag] Or grass of the meadow? #Ge 41:2. It hath its name from brotherhood, because many piles of grass, or sedge, grow from one and the same root, but not without water. See #1Ki 18:5, Sic mala quaedam olitores Germanitatis recant.

Ver. 12. Whilst it is yet in his greenness, &c.] And so withereth not through age, as being but in its shooting up.

And not cut down] Or, cropped off, either by the hands of men or teeth of beasts.

It withereth] For want of water, without store whereof it cannot live. The hypocrite is a sensualist, #Jud 18:19 Job 21:11 Ho 4:11; he liveth in such miry places as cannot be healed by the waters of the sanctuary, #Eze 47:11. He saith, as the vine and the olive in Jotham’s parable, I cannot leave my wine, my fat and sweet sins; take away my liquor, you take away my life. He serveth not the Lord Jesus Christ (whatever he pretendeth), but his own belly, #Ro 16:17,18. He followeth Christ for the loaves only.

Before any other herb] That is, of less show, but better rooting. These retain their verdure, and look on, as it were, to see the rush wither: so David did by Doeg, #Ps 52:5,6,8.

Ver. 13. So are the paths of all that forget God] To remember God is as necessary as to draw breath, saith Chrysostom. This the wicked man doth not, #Ps 9:17. He will neither have God in his head, #Ps 10:4, nor heart, #Ps 14:1, nor words, #Ps 12:2, nor ways, #Tit 1:16. What wonder then though his paths wither, though his life, health, wealth, power, perish, since he is in such a posture of distance from, and defiance with, the fountain of living waters, the Father of all mercy and consolation; by whose favour such flourish for a time, sed exoriuntur, ut exurantur?

And the hypocrite’s hope shall perish] Every wicked man is a hypocrite; and if there were nothing else to evince it, yet his very hope and groundless confidence in the mercies of God without warrant of promise, would undoubtedly prove it. Praesumendo sperat, et sperando petit, saith an ancient; he presumptuously hopeth, and by hoping perisheth; he lays his own shadow for a bridge, and so must needs fall into the brook. Trust thou in the Lord and do good, saith David, #Ps 37:3. But this man, though he cannot tell of one tear for sin, nor one hour spent in the practice of mortification; yet he affirmeth deeply of going to heaven, and is ready to rap, yea, bounce at heaven’s gate with Lord, Lord, open unto us: but what saith the psalmist? "As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways" (though they do it never so slily, as if they would steal a passage to hell, and the world never the wiser), "the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity," with gross offenders, #Ps 125:5, as malefactors are led forth to execution; and when the filthy sinner (so the word here rendered hypocrite signifieth) goes damned to hell, what shall become of the zealous professor, with all his fair hopes and possibilities? Surely God rejecteth their confidences; they shall not prosper in them, #Jer 2:37.

Ver. 14. Whose hope (or whose folly, that is, whose foolish hope) shall be cut off] The Latin translation hath it, his folly shall not please him, sc. when once he seeth, by the disappointment of his high hopes, what a fool’s paradise he had wrought himself into, what pains he hath taken to go to hell, his hope shall be cut off; and that is the greatest cut in the world, Hypocritis nihil stupidius. This Bildad telleth the hypocrite twice over; because he will hardly be drawn to believe it. But that he telleth Job so, as if he were this hopeless hypocrite, he is quite beside the cushion, as we say.

And whose trust shall be a spider’s web] Wherein there is much artifice, but no strength. Trust is somewhat more than hope; it is a bearing a man’s self bold upon the assurance that all shall be well. Such was that of Babylon in their provision laid in to hold out a siege of twenty years’ length. Such also is that of mystical Babylon, who saith, "I shall see no sorrow," #Re 18:7. But this trust never triumpheth. It is (by a second comparison) here fitly set forth by a spider’s web, Heb. a spider’s house, #Isa 59:5, so called because therein the spider lodgeth herself, as if safe, and out of harm’s way, which is nothing so. A reverend man cleareth the comparison thus: first, the spider’s web is made out of her own bowels (her motto was mihi soli debeo I owe it to myself only), so is the hypocrite’s hope merely from his own brain and imagination. Secondly, though this web be curiously framed, yet it only catcheth flies; so do hypocrites look after ceremonies, and not substance. Thirdly, the spider is full of poison, and remaineth in a dusty nasty hole, though she work never so curiously; so doth the hypocrite abide in his unregeneracy, &c. Fourthly, she gets to the top of the window, as high as she can; and then when she falls, she falls to the bottom, for nothing stays her: so here. Fifthly, when the besom comes, she and her web are swept away, and she is trodden under foot; so are all presumptuous hypocrites. Becket’s friends advised him (for his security) to have a mass in honour of St Stephen, (to keep him from the hands of his enemies): he did so, but it saved him not. Contrarily, a poor persecuted Huguenot in the Massacre at Paris had crept into a hole, a spider comes and weaves a cobweb over it; the murderers therefore presumed him not there; and so he was preserved. What cannot the Lord do by the weakest means that may be?

Ver. 15. He shall lean upon his house] The spider shall, so Vatablus taketh it; but better, the hypocrite leaneth, or layeth his whole weight upon his house, that is, wealth, children, friends, clients, tenants, &c., as did Doeg, #Ps 52:7; Haman, #Es 3:9-11. That profane earl of Westmoreland, who said that he needed not at all to pray to God, for he had tenants enough to pray for him. Bildad probably glanceth here at Job, as if he had once trusted in his riches, relations, &c., which yet Job disavoweth, #Job 31:24,25

But it shall not stand] No more than the spider’s house doth, borne down sometimes by her very weight, and not only by the wind. Hypocrites ruin their own houses by their sins, and particularly by relying on them. Though thou build thy palace as high as heaven, said the oracle to Phocas, yet sin, that lieth at the bottom, will be the ruin of it.

He shall hold it fast] Mordicus tenebit, he shall hold it, not with his hands only, but with his teeth, as Cynegiras did the Persian ship; or as a drowning man doth the branch of a tree.

But it shall not endure] All will not do; riches avail not in the day of wrath, &c. A hypocrite runs in his trouble to former false refuges; he trusted to his legs, or repairs to his bushes, as the hunted hare goes to the places that she used when she lived in quiet, thither she flees when she knows not how else to escape; but all to no purpose.

Ver. 16. He is green before the sun] Succosus est, saith Tremellius, he is sappy and juicy, having a confluence of all kind of comforts and contentments, even more than heart could wish, as David expresseth it, #Ps 73:7. The hypocrite is all this; the height of whose happiness is here set forth by a third similitude, lest any should think that the two former did not reach home to the thing intended. Look how, saith Bildad, a great and tall tree, having many roots and branches, may be so cut up and thrown down, that no footstep, or sign of it, may any more appear; so may it fare with a wicked man: though he be as a tree green or juiceful before the sun, or when the sun shineth hottest upon him, the rush may then wither, but not the tree. See #Ps 37:35. A hypocrite may abound exceedingly in outward prosperity; yea, he may be green for a while before the sun of persecution, as was Alexander the coppersmith, #Ac 19:32 2Ti 4:14. The thorny ground stood out the heat of the sunbeams, and shrank not in the wetting.

And his branch shooteth forth in his garden] Mr Broughton translates, His suckers sprout out over his orchard, that is, he grows luxuriously eminent in the place where he liveth, which he hath made to become a kind of a paradise, or garden of delight. By garden here we are to understand, saith Mercer, all those ways and means whereby a wicked man fenceth and increaseth his own greatness. Some of the Jewish doctors, and others also after them, think that Bildad here beginneth to speak of the godly man’s happiness; and they read the text thus, But the perfect man (so they supply the text out of #Job 8:20) is green before the sun, and his branches, &c. His roots are wrapped near the fountain, and he windeth himself about the stony building (that is, it spreadeth and twisteth its boughs round about the fountain vault, being strongly built with stone); shall he be taken out of his place, which may deny, saying, I have not seen thee? No, that cannot be, Lo, this shall be that joy of his way, even out of his mould shall others grow, i.e. his very dust shall live and grow up after him. Thus Beza, and after him Diodati; he is like an exquisite tree set in a pleasant garden in sight of his master’s palace, sucking the sweet moistness of the quick springs, without ever fading or withering, #Ps 1:3 Jer 17:8. That is to say, he shall have a lively root of faith, continually nourished by God’s grace; under his safeguard and favour he shall be strong in all assays, abundant in good works, and all manner of blessings. Uterque sensus egregius est, saith Mercer; this also is a good sense, but the former I conceive to be the better, and more agreeable to the letter of the text.

Ver. 17. His roots are wrapped about the heap, &c.] i.e. They are deeply intrenched, and strongly incorporated into the ground, wreathed in with the heap, as thorns about a hedge. The hypocrite seemeth to be notably well rooted ( intricantur), not in the world only, but in the Church too, which we may compare (as Plato doth man, whom he calleth φυτον ουρανιον, a heavenly plant) to a tree inverted, with the root above, and the branches below. Our Saviour speaketh of branches in him (seemingly so) that bear not fruit, #Joh 15:2. These are hypocrites, who think themselves to be rooted in Christ, and others also think no less of them, but it proves otherwise, for they are fruitless; as a pole fixed in the earth, but not rooted there; as a rotten leg cleaves to the body, but is no part of it; or as wens and ulcers, which are taken away without any loss to it. How far a hypocrite may go, see the parable of the stony and thorny grounds, #Mt 13:20-23 See also #Heb 6:4,5 10:39 2Pe 2:20,21. He may come as far as Kadeshbarnea, within 11 days’ journey of the heavenly Canaan, and yet fall short of it; he may seem to be steadfast and unmoveable, as a tree whose roots are wrapped about a rock.

He seeth the place of stones] Mr Broughton rendereth it, He planteth about the house of stone: others, He looketh into the house of stone; he looks in at the windows, and so hindereth the light, annoying the master’s house both below and above, who therefore resolves to have him down; as it followeth.

Ver. 18. If he destroy him from his place] If he stub up this green tree, no better surely than the cyparit, of which Pliny writeth that it beareth fruit to no purpose, small berries, bitter leaves, that it yields an ill smell, and no pleasant shade; or as the boxtree, green indeed all the year about, but of an offensive smell, no fruit, and such a seed as all living creatures hate. Now if he, that is, Almighty God, destroy him, that is, the hypocrite, as he will do questionless (totally and speedily swallowing him up), what then?

Then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee] Heb. It shall tell a lie of him, &c., the place, as ashamed to own him, shall feign and say, We have not seen him, we know not what is become of him. So #Ps 37:35,36. As they have denied the Lord that bought them, #2Pe 2:1, so they shall one day be denied by the places they have bought or builded, by the people that once clawed them, and cried them up.

Ver. 19. Behold, this is the joy of his way] q.d. A goodly joy! sure the hypocrite’s joy is but the hypocrisy of joy, a little counterfeit complexion, like a slight dash of rain, a handful of brushwood, or sear thorn under the pot, #Ec 7:6, or as weeds that grow on the top of the water, floating aloft, but touch not the bottom. Though it be an exulting joy (as the word signifieth), a leaping joy (such as is that of dogs leaping upon their masters returning home after a journey, Ut canes solent quando peregre advenienti domino adulantur), yet it is not lasting: it goes out as a snuff, or as a blazing star, or at best as the fire of thorns, #Ps 118:12. Yea, though for the time it hath been so great that if it had continued but a while it would have overwhelmed them, so that their spirits would have expired, as some apostates have professed; they have thought themselves in heaven sometimes, and have rejoiced accordingly, ουδεν δε π ροσποιητον υονιμον (Naz.).

And out of the earth shall others grow] Alii qui alieni erunt ab eo (Drus.). Others who had no relation to him shall succeed him, enjoy his estate, and eat the sweet of all his labours, #Job 27:16,17 Ec 2:18 4:8 Pr 12:3, "A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved." See another sense of this, and the three foregoing verses, #Job 8:18.

Ver. 20. Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man] Epilogus sermonis Bildad. This is the epilogue or close of Bildad’s speech to Job; and it hath been the tartness of a threatening mixed with the sweetness of the promise: sour and sweet, we say, make the best sauce (Mercer). The strong God will not use, or rather abuse, his power, to the rejecting or reprobating (as the Septuagint render it) of an upright person; but will help him by taking him by the hand, as it followeth in the next clause, and taking it ill if others do not so too, #Isa 51:18. He will never leave them (or if sometimes he seem to leave them, yet), he will not forsake them, #Heb 13:5: forsake them he may in regard of vision, but not of union; desert them for a time (as he did Christ himself), but not disinherit them. "When they be in the land of their enemies" (and so may seem quite cast away) "I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God," #Le 26:44. Lo, this is the portion of a perfect man. As for hypocrites (who are semiperfectae virtutis homines, as Philo calleth them; cakes half-baked, #Ho 7:8; Christians almost, but not altogether, #Ac 26:29), my God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him, #Ho 9:15.

Neither will he help the evildoers] Heb. He will not lay hold upon the hand, viz. to help them; or he will not take by the hand the evil doers that make a trade of sin: Non porriget manum malignis (Vulg.).; he will have no communion or commerce with such, he will not strike hands or join hands with them, but wash his hands of them for ever, shake them off with a Discedite, Depart ye, be packing: so should we. See David’s practice, #Ps 26:4,5, and prayer, #Job 8:9, "Gather not my soul with sinners," &c. It was once the prayer of a good gentlewoman, when she was to die, being in much trouble of conscience, O Lord, let me not go to hell, where the wicked are; for, Lord, thou knowest I never loved their company here.

Ver. 21. Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, &c.] Here he applies the promise of the Divine help to Job, and that which is here spoken, debent et reliqui fideles ad se transferre, saith Lavater, every true believer must take home to himself. God will turn all their sadness into gladness, all their sighing into singing, all their tears into triumphs, their sorrowful outcries into joyful jubilees. In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare or a cord, viz. to strangle his joy with, to check and choke all his comforts: but the righteous sing and rejoice, #Pr 29:6. They may do so here amidst all their troubles, #2Co 7:4. As the lily looks fresh, and beautiful, and blithe, though among thorns; they shall do so hereafter, when they enter into the joy of their Master. See #Isa 65:13. A joy fitter to be believed than possible to be discoursed. See a shadow of it, #Ps 126:1,2.

Ver. 22. They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame] It shall cover their faces, #Ps 69:7, yea, cover over the whole man; when beyond all expectation they shall see thee restored to thy former prosperity. Where it is worth considering, saith one, how truly this happened touching Job, and these friends of his; he was restored, and they, by God’s reproving them, covered with shame, as it appeareth, #Job 42:7-10

And the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought] Heb. Shall not be. See #Job 8:18. Understand it not of his tabernacle only, or dwelling place, but of his whole estate, both temporal and spiritual, all shall come to rack and ruin. God shall utterly overturn them, as Zisca did those 300 monasteries, and among the rest that famous monastery called the king’s court, a mile from Prague; in the walls whereof the whole Bible was most exquisitely written in letters of gold (Mr Clark in his Life). "The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish," #Pr 14:11.

Chapter 9

Ver. 1. Then Job answered and said] He answered to his two friends who had formerly spoken; first, to Eliphaz’s speech, #Job 4:17, and next to that of Bildad, #Job 8:3. Bildad had interrupted him when he would have excused himself, that he did by no means deny the justice of God, as they mistook him. Now, therefore, that Bildad had spoken his utmost, Job beginneth to dispute and to declare his judgment concerning that subject; and this he doth longe magnificentius et augustius quam socii, saith Mercer, far more magnificently and majestically than his two friends had done, proving that God is just, even then when he affiicteth the innocent; neither have such any just cause to except against his proceedings in that behalf, since he fetcheth not the causes of his decrees and purposes from the things which he governeth; but his will, which is before all things, is the rule of all justice. St Paul also had respect unto this, #Ro 9:20 11:32, rising a great deal higher, namely, to the eternal decree of election and reprobation: after this, Job setteth forth what is the condition of men, and what poor things they are in comparison of God, thereby to bring himself and others to the true knowledge of God, and of themselves, which is the highest wisdom in the world.

Ver. 2. I know it is so of a truth] Bildad’s argument was, God, who hath punished thee, is just, therefore thou art unjust. Job grants the antecedent here, but denies and refutes the consequent, #Job 9:22,23, &c. To Eliphaz also Job grants, not only that man could not be more just than God, as he had said, #Job 4:3, but also that none could ever be found so just that he might any way be compared to God. Job is one of those candidates of immortality, who can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth, #2Co 13:8, every parcel whereof he accounted precious, and could not but be a friend to it, though brought by them who seemed his enemies; this spoke him ingenuous and humble, a well tempered champion for the truth. Athanasius is said to be such another, and so Mr Bucer. Helvidius is taxed by Jerome for the contrary, and Bishop Montague, by Dr Rivet.

But how should man be just with God?] Mr Broughton translateth, And how can man be just before the Omnipotent? Sorry, sickly, wretched man, how can he be just (sc. by an inherent righteousness; by an imputed he may) before the most Holy and Almighty God; or compared to him? Job afterwards, setting himself by God, and considering the infinite distance and disproportion, crieth out, "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes," #Job 42:5,6. I say likewise, "Woe is me, for I am undone," #Isa 6:5. He that hath looked a while intentively upon the body of the sun is so dazzled with the beams thereof, that he can see nothing.

Ver. 3. If he will contend with him] If any one would be so fool hardy, or adventurous, as to dispute with God about his judgments, he could not, though he were never so wise, or well skilled, answer him one objection of a thousand, but must needs yield and say, I am no fit match for God. The Jewish doctors (and after them Vatablus) set this sense upon the text, If he (that is, if man) should contend with him (that is, with God, as, through the Luciferian pride of his heart, he is apt enough to do), he would not answer him one of a thousand; God would not honour him so far as to answer so contemptible an adversary, and so slight and senseless arguments; if he vouchsafe an answer, it shall not be so much as the echo giveth the voice; it shall not be to one article or argument of a thousand. Egregius quidem sensus, saith Mercer; this is a good sense, but the other is better, and well agreeth with #Job 9:14.

Ver. 4. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength] And must therefore needs be a most just judge, since be neither wanteth wisdom to judge nor power to execute; what then should turn him out of the track of justice? Let God be just and true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome (or be clear) when thou judgest, or when thou art judged, #Ps 51:4 Ro 3:4; for at the same time that God doth judge, or execute judgment upon any, he may also be said to be judged; whilst men pass their censures, either as applauding or disliking his judgments; and then may he be said to overcome, when judged, when men acknowledge the justice of his judgments; when they conclude him wise in heart, that is, "the only wise God," #1Ti 1:17, and mighty in strength, that is, the mighty strong God, #Isa 9:6; who doth whatsoever he will in heaven and earth, #Ps 118 In speaking of these and others of his most glorious attributes, we speak non quantum debemus, sed quantum possumus, not so much as we ought, but so much as we are able. As for the wisdom of God, Nemo sapientiam Dei immensam in omnem aeternitatem exhauriet (saith Gratian, the emperor, in an epistle to Ambrose), no man shall ever be able to fathom or find it out. And as for his power, so infinite is the distance between God and the greatest noble, that it is an honour that they may be suffered to live in his sight, #Ex 24:10,11. And it is all one with God whether against a man or a nation, #Job 34:29.

Who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?] Instance but any one, whether tongue or hand smiter, that could ever boast of the last blow, or could cry, Victoria. Quis dura locutus est el? so some render it. Who ever uttered hard speeches, #Jude 15, stout words, #Mal 3:13, against God, and prospered, seaped scot free, as we say, and had not his full payment? Blasphemers set their mouths against heaven, witness Pharaoh, Sennacherib, Julian, &c., dealing with Almighty God, as if Augustus Caesar were dealing with some god Neptune; Caligula with his Jupiter, whom he dared to a duel, η μ αναειρ η εγω σε; or the three sons trying their archery at their father’s heart, to see who can shoot nighest. But shall they thus escape by iniquity? No: "In thine anger cast down the people, O God," #Ps 56:7. The wall of Aphek did execution upon the blasphemous Syrians; the angel of God upon the Assyrians; his visible vengeance fell upon Julian, Arius, and Olympius, an Arian bishop, who denying the Trinity, was struck with three thunderbolts, and killed in a bath. Others understand here the word Libbo, and read it thus, Who hath hardened his heart against him? &c. Surely if men harden their hearts, God will harden his hand, and hasten their destruction. See #Pr 29:1 Isa 6:10,11 Ro 2:5, and get thy flinty heart made fleshy, since a hard heart is in some respect worse than hell (which is the just hire of it), since one of the greatest sins is far greater in evil than any of the greatest punishments.

Ver. 5. Which removeth the mountains, and they know not] For further proof of God’s power first (and then afterwards of his wisdom) Job produceth divers particular acts of his upon the creatures, both unreasonable and reasonable. Eliphaz had said somewhat to this purpose, #Job 4, sed hic admirandus est Iob, saith Mercer, Job doth it admirably; his tongue, like a silver trumpet, sets forth the high praises of God far more plainly, plentifully, and magnificently than any of his friends, who yet have done it very well too. God, to show his power, removeth the mountains, saith Job, sc. by stupendous earthquakes, and otherwise, at his pleasure, #Na 1:5 Ps 97:4,5 Isa 40:15, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing, he can remove mountains with a wet finger, as we say, though so mighty in bulk, and strongly founded. Dionysius thinketh, that in thus speaking, Job aimeth at that which was done in the time of Noah’s flood, when the waters with their mighty force galled and bare down many great mountains, but that is uncertain. Great things God will do by the fire of the last day, when mountains shall melt, rocks rend, and the earth, with the works therein, shall be all burnt up, #2Pe 3:10. And what desolations he hath made in sundry parts of the earth by terrible earthquakes, as at Antioch often (which was therehence called Θεοπολις, because so visited by God), in divers places of Italy, Sicily, Burgundy, Helvetia, and here in Herefordshire, mention is made in Pliny, Stumpfius, Jovius, and other historians, all making good this of Job, and that of the psalmist, The mountains will skip like rams, and the little hills like lambs, when the Lord is displeased, #Ps 114:4.

And they know it not] Dicto citius, it is done with a trice, speedily and secretly, before the mountains (if they could at all know) could know what is done to them; or before the mountaineers or the neighbourhood could foresee and avoid the danger of being overwhelmed and buried alive.

Which overturneth them in his anger] Or, that he overturneth them in his anger. Men are not sensible of God’s anger for sin, no, not in the greatest commotions, such is their stupidity; but will needs swelter and pine away in their iniquities, as if nothing could awake them, #Le 26:39.

Ver. 6. Which shaketh the earth out of her place] By mighty earthquakes, dislocating the earth, some part of it; for the whole was never removed, though God can take up the whole globe as a man would do a ball, tossing the very centre itself whereon it is established, #2Sa 22:8, &c. There is a twofold power of God; 1. Absolute. 2. Actual. By the former he can do more than he doth: by the latter, whatsoever he willeth, that without impediment he effecteth. As for the earth, as God upholdeth it by the word of his power, #Heb 1:3, so he hath poised it merely by its own weight, that it should not be removed for ever, #Ps 104:5. For if you imagine that the earth could be removed out of its natural place, which way soever it be removed, it shall move towards heaven, and so shall naturally ascend; but to do so is utterly repugnant to the nature of the earth, which is to bear downward. All which, notwithstanding, the God of nature, as he is in the heaven, so he doth whatsoever he will in heaven and earth.

Ver. 7. Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not] God, in framing the world, began above, and wrought downward; but Job, in describing the great works of God here, began below; and now goes upward from earth to heaven. It is as natural to the heaven to move as to the earth to stand still. Copernicus’s opinion, that the earth turns round, and heaven stands still, is worthily exploded. Round the earth is, indeed, notwithstanding the hills and valleys (as an apple is round, notwithstanding some knots and bunches in it), and being round, it is naturally apt for motion (the Pythagoreans held that the earth was natura sua mobilis, as the heavens are), but God hath fixed and made it immoveable, while the heavenly bodies are restless in their courses. The sun (the glistering sun, as the word here signifieth) rejoiceth as a strong man to run his race, #Ps 19:5. Bellarmine saith, that in the eighth part of an hour the sun runneth 700 miles (De ascens. mentis in Deum, grad. 7); but God, the sovereign of the sun, can speak to it, and it riseth not. If he do but give the word of command to the sun not to rise, the morning shall be made darkness, #Am 4:13, and the day dark with night, #Am 5:8. Was it not so in that three days’ darkness in Egypt? #Ex 12:21, in that miraculous standing still of the sun in Joshua’s days, when the sun rose not with the antipodes one morning, and the stars were sealed up part of the night? #Jos 10:13, in that dismal darkness (mentioned by Lavater upon this text), March 12, 1585, lasting for a quarter of an hour, and being so like the night, that the fowls went to roost at noon, and many fell to their prayers for pardon of their sins, as thinking verily that the day of judgment was come. {There was no solar eclipse for this date.} St Paul in the tempest at sea saw neither sun nor stars for many days, #Ac 27:20. And I have read of a foreigner, who having been in these parts in the deep of winter, and returning home again, desired one that was then bound for England to commend him to the sun when he next saw him, for I have not seen him there, said he, of a whole fortnight together, #Eze 32:7. I will cover the sun with a cloud; and, in that sense, speak to it that it rise not.

And sealeth up the stars] Heb. Sets a seal upon the stars, making them hide their heads, and withdraw their influences: for stars are God’s storehouses, #De 28:12, which he openeth or shutteth at his pleasure. Every star is like a purse of gold; out of which God can, when he will, throw down riches and plenty into the earth; but many of them never appear to us, though visible to the antipodes, #Job 37:7.

Ver. 8. Which alone spreadeth out the heavens] Without the help or counsel of any other. As God was alone and by himself in making the world, #Isa 44:24, so he is in ordering it, #Job 37:18 Ps 104:1,2. The Hebrews, as they held with Pythagoras in the point of transanimation; so with Plato in that false opinion of his, that the angels were the movers of the heavens, and the governors of the whole world; whence grew that angel worship amongst them, #Col 2:18. As God made the heavens alone, even that whole expanse or firmament, #Ge 1:6, the whole region of the air; so he still spreadeth it out as a curtain, which he draweth before the sun and stars, masking and muffling them up with clouds, whensoever he pleaseth.

And treadeth upon the waves of the sea] Or, spurneth, exercising a regiment over the raging surges of the seas, though they seem to swell against him. Thus Job fetcheth evidences of God’s power from all places. See #Ps 89:9.

Ver. 9. Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades] Those glorious constellations, which do, after a sort, govern the four seasons of the year; but are governed by God, from whose power all their influence and virtue is borrowed, even that which they exercise upon the raging seas. The learned interpreters have not unfitly translated—Has Arcturus, Chesil Orion, Chimah Pleiades, or the seven stars, and the climates of the South, the summer signs; altogether neglecting the toys of the unlearned Rabbis; which stars or signs are answerable to autumn and winter, the spring time and summer. But I had rather (saith Rev. Mr Beza) retain still the Hebrew words than use the other; which have been so much abused with glosure and impure tales and devices of the wicked and profane poets. {See Trapp on "Job 38:31"}

And the chambers of the south] Interiora Austri, the most remote, hidden, and secret parts of the south; so called, because the stars which are under the southern pole are hidden from us, and are enclosed and lodged as in a chamber. Those stars (and so all the rest) God maketh, that is, he maketh them to appear and do their office for the use and good of man. It is he alone that telleth the number of the stars, he calleth them by their names; neither can they do anything but as they receive order and commission from him (Mr Caryl, #Ps 147:4). That was an idle brag of Aratus, the astrologer, that he had found out and set down the whole number of the stars (Aug. de Civ. Dei, lib. 16); and that is a strange arrogance of the kings of Mexico, who when they are consecrated, are reported to take this oath, I swear that the sun, during my life, shall hold on his course; and that the clouds shall send down rain, the rivers shall run, and the earth bring forth all manner of fruit, &c. (Lopez de Gomara).

Ver. 10. Which doth great things, &c.] {See Trapp on "Job 5:9"} whence this verse is taken verbatim. If Eliphaz say the truth of God’s wisdom and power, Job will soon seal to it; he can find in his heart to speak all good of a wounding God, of a killing God, and not wish, as Spira did, Oh that I were above God, and could overpower him! Or as Hacker here did, A.D. 1591, threaten God to fire the heaven about him, to pluck him out of his throne. (Camb. Eliz. fol. 408)

Ver. 11. Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not] As he is powerful in his deeds, so he is secret in his designs, passing, and not repassing daily, but yet unseen; he is everywhere present, and not so far from any one of us as the bark is from the tree; for in him we live, move, and have our being; and therefore we had need take heed what we say or think of him in any extremity or misery, for he overheareth us; yea, he knoweth our thoughts long before, #Ps 139:2. As a circumspect judge that goeth obscured under some disguise, to hear and see what is said and done by those that are to be judged by him. Or, as the Great Turk standing behind the arras, at the dangerous door, to hear all the debates and decrees of his senate, and to call them to a strict account of all afterwards: God, as he is invisible, too subtle for sinew or sight to seize upon; so he is ολοφθαλμος, All-eye, to survey and look all around us; yea, to see through us: "The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven"; howbeit, he is not so confined or shut up there (as the Epicures dreamed) but that "his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men," #Ps 11:4. The one points out his knowledge, the other his judgment, or his eritical descant; he pryeth into the very entrails of the soul, the heart of the heart; the reins, those seats of lust, and most abstruse parts of the body. No man needs a window in his breast (as the heathen Momus wished) for God to look in at; every man before God is all window, and he, like the optic virtue in the eye, seeth all, and is seen of none. Look to it, therefore, and walk exactly. Cave, spectat Care, Take heed, Care seeth you, was an ancient watchword among the Romans, and a great retentive from vice; how much more should this among all men, Take heed, the Lord looks on! What though he is invisible, and we see him not; he passeth on also, and we perceive him not; shall we, like the foolish bustard, thrust our heads in a hole, and then think that, because we see none, we are therefore seen of none? The whole world is to God as a sea of glass, clear and transparent, #Re 4:6, and his eyes are as a flaming fire, #Re 1:14, that need no outward light, but can see by sending out a ray. God, that fills and sees all (saith Nazianzen), though he lighten the mind, yet flies before the beams thereof, still leaving it as it is able in sight to follow him; and so draws it by degrees to higher things; yet interposeth between it and his incomprehensible essence, as many veils as were over the Tabernacle.

Ver. 12. Behold, he taketh away] Raptim aufert; He snatcheth away, or taketh by force, as a lion doth his prey, or a thief doth another man’s goods. Confer #Pr 23:28. Which if he do, who can repel or turn him back? Here Job plainly alludeth to the taking away of his children, servants, and cattle, the likelihood also of losing his life (according to the Chaldee paraphrast) by his present miseries; which, if it should befall him from God, it would not be safe for him to cavil, or once question God’s proceeding, to urge him to restitution, or charge him with oppression; since he is chief Lord of all, and may do with his own what he pleaseth. He is uncontrollable, as Nebuchadnezzar at length acknowledged, #Da 4:35, and his will is the true and only rule of justice itself, nec solum recta, sed et regula. Wherefore let all the earth keep silence before him, #Hab 2:20, and let none presume once to ask him what he hath done, either to question his right to do it, or to question his righteousness in the doing of it.

Ver. 13. If God will not withdraw his anger] That is, of his own free accord forbear to execute his judgments, the stoutest must stoop; for "he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth even that be doth," #Job 23:13, his power is altogether irresistible. Men, though never so puissant, may be withstood and out matched, as Asa was, #2Ch 14:8,9. Nature may be resisted, and her power suspended, as when the fire burned not the three worthies, the Red Sea drowned not the Israelites passing through it. In the creatures there is an essence, and a faculty whereby they work; between these God can separate, and so hinder their working. In the angels there is an essence, and an executive power; God comes between these sometimes, and hinders them from doing what they would. But God is most simple and entire, and, therefore, the strong helper, qui portant orbem, saith the Vulgate, that bear up the pillars of the world (which some understand to be angels, others to be saints, who stand in the gap, #Eze 22:30, and others, again, to be carnal combinations), shall not hinder him, but shall stoop and buckle under him, or under it, viz. his wrath, as not able to bear up; helpers shall prove no helpers against the mind and purpose of God; no, though they be as potent and as proud as Egypt (such an allusion there may be in the Hebrew text), or although they be helpers of latitude, as one rendereth it, that is, of the largest extent, either in power, or by an elate mind; and so the meaning is, None are so mighty, or so highly conceited with their own ability, but, if he be angry, he will make them to stoop under, as not being able to bear his wrath.

Ver. 14. How much less shall I answer him] If heaven, earth, and sea cannot stand before him; if strongest men, and strongly befriended and seconded, cannot make their party good with him, it is not for me to stout it out; but rather to stoop and strike sail, seeking to disarm his indignation by a humble yielding; especially since I am not able to hold discourse with him, to answer him one of a thousand; I not only have not arguments, but I lack fit words; not argumentative words only, but persuasive also.

And choose out my words to reason with him?] Heb. Shall I choose out words with him? Broughton renders it, Shall I choose to word it with God? Surely my best eloquence in this case will be a submissive silence. It can be neither wisdom nor duty in me to deal with and undertake God, either with an open or a closed hand, either with logical subtilties or rhetorical flourishes. If I should either be respondent or opponent, I should come off with loss.

Ver. 15. Whom though I were righteous] Legally righteous, as none ever were, but the first and second Adam.

Yet would I not answer] viz. By pleading mine own righteousness, since no created righteousness can answer God. Some render it, non attollam vocem, ne hiscere quidem audebo, I will not lift up my voice, nor dare to mute against him. {see #1Co 4:4} No, though I were never so innocent, and did suffer this misery undeservedly.

But I would make supplication to my judge] As he doth, though it were a good while first, in the end of the next chapter. It is likely that he intended to do it sooner, but was put by by his passions; which, when they fume up into the head, gather oft into so thick a cloud, that we lose the sight of ourselves, and what is best to be done. Jonah thought to have prayed, #Jon 4:1,2, but it proved a brawl; and when as by prayer he thought to overcome his anger, anger overcame him and his prayer too.

Ver. 16. If l had called and he had answered] If, in confidence of mine own righteousness, I had sought some good thing at his hands, and he had therein condescended to me, yet would I not believe that he had, in mercy, hearkened to my voice; but rather, for a further mischief, that he might roll himself upon me, as Joseph upon his brethren, and as God did upon the Israelites after their quails; that he might tear them with his tempest, &c. Some think that Job speaketh these words, as despairing of audience, or denying God’s particular providence; but neither of these is likely. Rather it seemeth, saith Pineda, to be the speech of a mind marvellously cast down, and meanly conceited of himself, and of his prayer; and trusting to the goodness of God alone; so Drusius. Job speaketh not this, saith he, out of diffidence, but out of fear of God’s judgments, and sense of his own imperfections.

Yet I would not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice] Namely, for any worth that he findeth in it: what am I, poor creature, that I should think I had carried the matter with God?

Ver. 17. For he breaketh me with a tempest] q.d. This is one thing also that maketh me think I am not heard, because I am not helped; but after my prayer I am in as bad a case as before and seem to have a repulse from God. Afflictions continued are no evidence that prayer is not heard; yet usually it is very inevident to an afflicted person that his prayer is heard. The Hebrew (and so the Vulgate) hath it, He will break me, that is, saith one, If I should plead before him as pure, although I might temporally, or for a time, be delivered, yet I should not finally escape destruction, although I should give him none other cause. Whereby we may see upon what danger of being torn in pieces by God’s judgments our justiciaries put themselves that will needs go to God in their own righteousness, as the proud Pharisee, #Lu 18:11,12 The calamity of these merit mongers shall rise suddenly. Behold, a whirlwind, or a tempest of the Lord, goeth forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind; it shall fall grievously upon th e head of these wicked ones, #Jer 23:19. This St Paul knew, and, therefore, did his utmost that he might be found in Christ (sc. when sought for by the justice of God), not having his "own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith," #Php 3:9.

And multiplieth my wounds without cause] i.e. Without any other cause than to try me, and prove my patience, which now Job began to perceive, as Philip gathereth; or, without any manifest cause, and perceivable by an afflicted man, so Aquinas senseth it. God hath not told me the reason of his chastenings; but, to increase my grief, he concealeth from me the cause of them; and yet he multiplieth still my sores and my sorrows. Or, without cause, that is, without any such cause as his friends alleged against him, viz. that he was a rank hypocrite.

Ver. 18. He will not suffer me to take my breath] I am so far from a period, that I have no pause of my troubles. I cannot get any interspirias, or free breathing space. See #Job 7:19. And in the former verse he had complained that God had stormed him. Interim per Pathos, saith Mercer; here he returns to his old practice of expostulating about the greatness of his grief, and spares not to hyperbolize. Beda and others understand this text to be a bodily distemper upon Job, which had made him short winded. And Lavater hath this good note here, Hoc cogitandum nobis est, &c. Let this text be thought upon when our spirits begin to sink; as also when by reason of the phthisic, {A wasting disease of the lungs; pulmonary consumption} or any other like disease, we feel a difficulty of breathing, and a straitening of our pectorals, or be otherwise compassed about with great sorrows.

But filleth me with bitterness] Heb. He satiateth me with bitternesses, i.e. with sore and sharp afflictions, which are in no way joyous, but grievous to the flesh, #Heb 12:11. Job had his belly full of gall and wormwood; he had not only a draught or two, but a diet drink made for him of most bitter ingredients. Of this he complaineth heavily; what then will the wicked do, that must suck up the dregs of God’s cup, #Ps 78:8, which hath eternity to the bottom?

Ver. 19. If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong] Neither by might nor right can I deal with him. Broughton renders it, As for force, he is valiant. The Lord is a man of war, saith Moses, #Ex 15:3. Yea, he is the Lord of arms, saith David, #Ps 84 Yea, he alone is a whole army of men, van and rear both, saith Isaiah, #Isa 52:12, there is no doubt, then, but he will carry the day, since no creature is able to grapple with him. The weakness of God (if any such thing there were) is stronger than men, #1Co 1:25, and by the weakest means he can effect the greatest matters, as once he did in Egypt.

And if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?] Who shall appoint the time and place for our meeting? If I shall go about to sue him at law, I shall have but a cold suit, an ill pull of it; for who shall make him appear, or bring him to his answer? and where shall I find an advocate, a patron, to plead my cause? yea, where shall I get a witness? for so the Vulgar reads it, Nemo audet pro me testimonium dicere; no man shall be so bold as to give an evidence for me, or be a witness on my side.

Ver. 20. If I justify myself] If, in default of other pleaders, I should undertake to manage my cause myself, I should be never the nearer.

Mine own mouth shall condemn me] i.e. God out of mine own mouth, as finding mine arguments weak and worthless; he knows us better than we know ourselves; and when he comes to turn the bottom of the bag upwards (as once Joseph’s steward did theirs) all our secret thefts will be revealed, and those will appear to be faults that we little thought of. A Dutch divine, when dying, was full of fears and doubts; said some to him, You have been so employed, and so faithful, why should you fear? Oh, said he, the judgment of man and the judgment of God are different. Vae hominum vitae quantumvis laudabili, si remota misericordia iudicetur; Woe to the most praise worthy man alive, if he meet with judgment without mercy. The best lamb should abide the slaughter, except the ram were sacrificed, that Isaac might be saved.

lf I say I am perfect] What if God had said so, #Job 1:1, yet Job might not, #Pr 27:2 2Co 10:18. Or if he do at any time justify himself, as #Job 29:1-30:31 he doth, it is in his own necessary and just defence, against the charge of his friends. Real apologies we must ever make for ourselves when wronged; verbal, if any, must be managed with meekness of wisdom.

Ver. 21. Though I were perfect] That is, of an unblameable conversation, yet could not I know mine own soul, that is, those secret sins, #Ps 19:12, those litters of lusts that lurk therein; therefore I despise my life, I have no joy at all of it, but could wish to be out of the world to be rid of these evil inmates, that will not out of doors till the house fall upon the heads of them, till the earthly tabernacle that harboureth them be at once dissolved. Others read and sense the words thus: I am perfect or upright, neither do I know mine own soul, i.e. quicquam perversi anima mea, they allowed sin in my soul; yet I am so afflicted, that I despise my life, as being but a continued death. Aben Ezra reads the verse with an admiration, thus, Perfect I am; and think you that I know not mine own soul! that I am so great a stranger to myself! or that I have so little care of mine own good, as that I despise my life, and walk at all adventures! Tremellius thus, I am upright, whatever you my friends may make of me, neither value I my life or soul in comparison of mine integrity; my life is but a trifle to my conscience, &c.

Ver. 22. This is one thing, therefore I say it] And will stand to it, though I stand alone; this being the one thing wherein I differ in opinion from you; and because it is the hinge upon which the whole dispute between us is turned, therefore I will abide by it, and be Doctor resolutus, resolute in the maintenance of it, viz.

He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked] A harsh doctrine, yet a good one, saith an interpreter. Grace is no shield against the greatest affliction. See #Ec 9:1-3 Mal 3:14 Eze 21:3 Heb 11:36-38 shows that none out of hell have ever suffered more than God’s dearest children; and #Heb 12:6, He not only chasteneth, but scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. God will not cast away a righteous man, said Bildad, #Job 8:20; that is, totally destroy him in temporals, but restore him again. No such matter, saith Job, for it may, and many times doth happen, that a godly man may, as to this life present, perish, as well as a wicked man; he may be totally and finally bereft of outward comforts, the righteous perisheth, #Isa 57:1; only with this difference, as hath been before noted, God’s judgments on the wicked are penal and typical of eternal torment; whereas upon the godly they are no more than medicinal or probational, &c.

Ver. 23. If the scourge slay suddenly] By scourge here is meant a common calamity, such as rides circuit, compassing a country as a scourge doth a man’s body round about. Any sweeping judgment is a swinging scourge in God’s hands; such as is the sword, #Isa 10:26, which when it rides circuit (as a judge) it is in commission, #Eze 14:17 Jer 47:6 7, devouring flesh and drinking blood. Thus Attila, the Hun, styled himself God’s scourge. Tamerlane was commonly called the wrath of God, the terror of the world. Think the same of famine, pestilence, wild beasts, #Eze 14:1 2, &c., these oft slay suddenly, #Isa 30:13 Jer 18:22, as did the sweating sickness here in England, the massacre of France, and that later of Ireland, that scourge, if ever any, slew suddenly the perfect and the wicked. When an overflowing storm sweeps away the wicked, the tail of it may dash their best neighbours.

He laugheth at the trial of the innocent] The Vulgate readeth, He will not laugh at the trial of the innocent; but it is not there in the original. Others thus, will he laugh at the trial of the innocent? q.d. no, he will not. God may seem to slight his own in affliction, as #Ps 77:2,3. The lion lets her whelps roar sometimes, till they do almost kill themselves with roaring. The truth is (and I think the true sense of this Scripture), God scorneth the allegation of innocence, or the justification and plea of the most upright man breathing, in the way of exemption or prevention of his just and wise dispensations, when he pleaseth to inflict them, involving good and bad in the same common calamity (Mr Abbot).

Ver. 24. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked] God many times suffereth the wicked most licentiously to reign in the world, #Jer 27:6 Da 5:18,19. And it is thought by some that Job, speaking here in the singular number, aims at some famous tyrant in those parts, known both to himself and to his friends; such as was Phocas the emperor, who, when he had slain his master Mauritius, and was set up in his stead, there was an honest poor man (saith Cedrenus) who was wonderfully importunate at the throne of grace to know a reason why that wicked man prospered so in his design? he was answered again by a voice, that there could not be a worse man found; and that the sins of Christians and of the city of Constantinople did require it.

He covereth the faces of the judges thereof] i.e. That tyrant, above mentioned, subverteth all order of justice, condemneth and putteth to death even the judges themselves, if they will not pervert justice, as Bassianus did Papinian (Spartian). The covering of the face was the mark of a condemned man, #Es 7:8 Job 40:8 Isa 8:17 Mr 14:65. Or thus, God blindeth the judges by giving them over to error, or permitting them to take bribes, so that they cannot discern right from wrong, &c. Some by judges here understand the saints who shall one day judge the world, but are in the mean while grievously afflicted by the wicked.

If not, where, and who is he?] Which things, if we say they are done, besides the will and foreknowledge of God, we shall thrust God out of the world, and set up fate and blind fortune; or thus, it is even so; or if not, where is he, and who is he {see #Es 7:5 Mal 2:17} that can disprove what I have asserted? prodeat, siquis me potest falsi arguere, I would fain see the man that can convince me of error (Mercer, Pagnin., Vatab.).

Ver. 25. Now my days are swifter than a post, &c.] Not my prosperous days only (as Broughton glosseth), but the whole course of my life; the vanity whereof Job expresseth by many similitudes; and here search is made into three of the four elements, earth, water, and air, to find out a fit one. What is swifter upon earth than a post, who rides without stop or stay, and spares for no horse flesh? indeed, he taketh some time to rest in; but so doth not man’s life; it is ever in motion, and every moment we yield somewhat to death. Animantis cuiusque vita est fuga, saith the philosopher, our last day stands, the rest run. Cum crescit vita, decrescit, to live is but to lie a-dying (Seneca).

They flee away] As David fled from the face of Absalom, #Ps 3:1; as Brentius was advised by that senator of Hala to flee for his life, cito, citius, citissime, with all possible speed, since they were at hand that sought it. See #1Sa 19:11,18.

They see no good] But are few, and with all evil, #Ge 47:9 Job 14:1. {See Trapp on "Ge 47:9"} {See Trapp on "Job 14:1"} Some good days Job had had, but they were so soon over (and his present pressure so great) that he was scarce aware of them, nor could take the comfort of them now; the Epicurians indeed held that a man might be cheerful amidst the most exquisite torments, ex praeteritarum voluptatum recordatione, by the remembrance of those pleasures and delights that formerly he had enjoyed (Cic. de Fin. I. 2; Sen. de Benef. 1. 4. c. 22). Job held this but a slight comfort; his care was in prosperity how to make the best use of it; his thoughts ran upon the uncertainty of all creature comforts, that he might hang loose to them, and hold them no otherwise than a child doth a bird in his hand.

Ver. 26. They are passed away as the swift ships] Heb. They are changed (gliding away insensibly) as the ships of desire (so called, because they seem willing to be at the haven as soon as may be), or as the ships of Ebeh, a very swift river in Arabia, saith Rabbi Solomon; or as the pirate’s ships, so Broughton, such as are your nimble frigates, fly-boats, {A fast sailing vessel used chiefly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: a. for rapid transport of goods, etc., esp. in the coasting trade} and catches, &c. Labitur uncta vadis abies (Virg.). Let our souls be like a ship which is made little and narrow downward; but more wide and broad upward. Let them be ships of desire, hastening heavenward; and then let our days pass away as they can, we shall but be the sooner at home; mortality shall appear to be no small mercy.

As the eagle that hasteth to the prey] When hunger addeth swiftness to her wings, and maketh her pour or souse down upon the prey like a thunderbolt; so transitory is our time: redeem it, therefore. It is reported of Ignatius, that when he heard a clock strike, he would say, Here is one hour more now past that I have to answer for.

Ver. 27. If I say, I will forget my complaint] And suffer in silence, as thou, Bildad, hast advised me, #Job 8:2. Sorrows are not so easily forgotten; #La 3:19, "Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall." The Stoics boasting of their indolence, or ability to bear afflictions without making moan or complaining, when it came to their own turn, found by experience that they had spoken more trimly than truly; and therefore one Dionysius, surnamed Μεταθεμενος, or the Flincher, left for this reason from the Stoics to the Peripatetics.

I will leave off my heaviness] Heb. My face, viz. the sourness that used to sit upon it, as #1Sa 1:18. The Pharisees were vultuosi tetrici inamaeni, #Mt 6:16, of a sad and sour countenance, grim and ghastly; they affected to look like Sycthians, as the word signifieth, that they might seem great tasters, when as inwardly they were merry and pleasant. Job’s case was far different; his heart was heavy as lead; nevertheless, to give content to his friends, he would endeavour to look lightsomely, but found a very hard task of it.

And comfort myself] Heb. Strengthen, viz. so as not to make moan, but bite in my pain. Invalidum omne natura querulum, the weaker anything is the more apt it is to complain; and, on the contrary, some men’s flesh will presently rankle and fester, if but razed with a pin only: so some men’s spirits, they are ever whining.

Ver. 28. I am afraid of all my sorrows] That come thronging thick about me, and terrify me; they will surely be doubled and trebled upon me; hence my sorrow is incurable; if I should resolve never so much against it, I should break my resolution, and fall to fresh complaints, #Ps 39:1,3. Hic vides, saith Lavater. Here we may see how little is to be ascribed to man’s freewill in the things of God, since it is not in our power to comfort and cheer up ourselves under afflictions, though we would never so fain.

I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent] But wilt hold me guilty, and accordingly punish me. This was the language of Job’s fear; had his faith been in heart, it would have quelled and killed such distrustful fears, and have gathered one contrary out of another, life out of death, assurance of deliverance out of deepest distresses, #De 32:36 2Ki 14:26, going into captivity was a sign of Israel’s returning out of captivity.

Ver. 29. If I be wicked] Heb. I am wicked, sc. in your thoughts, and you have so earnestly and effectually affirmed it, and confirmed it, that I am almost ready to say as you say, I am wicked. Plato brings in Socrates in his apology to the judges, thus bespeaking them, My lords, I know not how you have been affected with mine accusers’ eloquence while you heard them speak; for mine own part, I assure you that I, whom it toucheth most, was almost drawn to believe that all they said, though against myself, was true, when they scarcely uttered one word of truth. The Chaldee paraphrase reads it, I shall be culpable, or, I shall be condemned.

Why then labour I in vain?] Or, for nothing, as the Chaldee hath it. See the like #Ps 73:13,14. Why put I myself to so much fruitless pains, either in praying to God, or apologizing to you, my friends, since by God I am still afflicted, and by you reputed a wicked person? Job’s hope was low, his endeavour was therefore little. Si nihil sperarem, nihil orarem, saith one. Let us pray on. God sometimes defers to come till men have even left looking for him, till he scarce findeth faith upon earth, #Lu 18:8.

Ver. 30. If I wash myself with snow water] Some take the former words, I am wicked, to be Job’s confession of his own sinfulness in comparison of God’s surpassing holiness. And then this followeth very fitly, Though I wash myself with snow water, i.e. with water as clear as snow is white. Some read it aquis vivis for aquis nivis, spring water for snow water.

And make my hands never so clean] Though I wash my hands with soap (so some read it), as #Jer 2:22 Mal 3:2; or, though I wash mine hands in a well (where there is no want of water), both inside and outside, as #Jas 4:8.

Ver. 31. Thou shalt plunge me in the ditch] Thou shalt declare me to be no less loathsome than he that, having fallen into a foul guzzle, or nasty jakes, abhorreth himself and his own clothes, being ready to lay up his gorge at the sight and smell of them. The Vulgar hath it, Sordibus intinges me, thou shalt dip me in the dirt over head and ears, and stain me all over, as dyers do the cloth they colour. By the ditch, Beza and others understand the grave; and by clothes, grave clothes, q.d. My very winding sheet shall abhor my filthiness. Take the proud Pharisee for instance, and Popish merit mongers, whom the Lord abhorreth.

Ver. 32. For he is not a man as I am] He is not such a one, nor can be, as I am, and must be; he hath other eyes and thoughts and ways than creatures have. He who is just before men is unjust before God; therefore he is no fit match for me to contend in addition: have I an arm like God? or can I thunder with a voice like him? #Job 40:9. Is it safe to contend with him that is mightier than I? #Ec 6:10. Surely if I should be so mad as to justify myself, yet I should soon be given to know that "that which is highly esteemed amongst men is an abomination in the sight of God," #Lu 16:15.

And we should come together in judgment] How can that possibly be, when as God is the supreme judge, neither is there any appealing from or repealing of his sentence?

Ver. 33. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us] Heb. Any arguer or reprover, as #Ge 31:24. We call him an umpire or referee who hath power to reprove and to lay the blame where he findeth it, and finally to compromise the business. The late judge Dyer amongst us, if there came any controversies of poor men to be tried before him, would usually say, that either the parties are wilful or their neighbours without charity, because their suits were not quietly ended at home. Now, saith Job, as there is no judge, so there is no daysman between me and God. If one man sin against another, saith good old Eli, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who can mediate? #1Sa 2:25.

That may lay his hand] To moderate and keep us both in compass, and to compose the difference.

Ver. 34. Let him take his rod away from me] Having sufficiently set forth that he will not once offer to contend with God, he here humbly begs of God no further to contend with him, but to grant a truce, at least during the treaty; and either to take away or (however) to mitigate his sorrows and sores. See the like #Job 13:20,21.

And let not his fear terrify me] i.e. His formidableness, {see #Job 7:14} let it not scare me, or put me, as it were, beside my wits, #Ps 88:15, Ne me transversum agat (Sept.).

Ver. 35. Then would I speak, and not fear him] I would come boldly to the throne of grace, and freely pour out my soul into his bosom. If he meant that he would maintain his own cause against God’s proceedings (as some understand it, grounding upon #Job 33:6,7), he was questionless in a very great error, and the flesh had got the hill of the spirit.

But it is not so with me] So, how? so as you imagine, Non sum talis, qualem me esse putatis (Vatablus). I am no such one as you take me for, viz. a hypocrite; I am not so self-guilty, say the Septuagint: or thus, It is not so with me; that is, I do not find God answering my suit; for I am still scourged and frightened, so that I scarce know what I say.

Chapter 10

Ver. 1. My soul is weary of my life] Because it is a lifeless life. Mortis habet vires, a death more like. Life is sweet, and every creature maketh much of it, from the highest angel in heaven to the lowest worm on earth. The Scripture setteth it forth as a sweet mercy, #Ge 45:28 La 3:39 Es 7:3 Jer 39:18 51:5. But God can so embitter it with outward and inward troubles, that it shall become a burden. "I am weary of my life" (saith good Rebekah, #Ge 27:46), and "What good shall my life do me?" David, forced to be in bad company, cries, Oh that I had the wings of a dove, &c. Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshech, &c. Elijah, fleeing from Jezebel, requested for himself that he might die, saying, "It is enough, Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers," #1Ki 19:4. No: but God had provided some better thing for him (as the apostle speaketh in another case, #Heb 11:40), for he was shortly after translated and taken out of the reach both of Jezebel, whom he feared, and of death, which he desired. Sed multi magni viri sub Eliae iunipero sedent, saith one, many good men sit under Elijah’ juniper, wishing to be out of the world, if God were so pleased, that they might rest from their labours, and be rid of their many burdens and bondages; as, in the mean while, they rather endure life than desire it, as holding it little better than hell, were it not for the hopes they have of heaven hereafter.

I will leave my complaint upon myself] Liberty I will take to complain, whatever come of it. I will lay the reins in the neck, and let my passions have their full swing at my peril. See the like #Job 13:3. Verum Iob hac in re nimius, saith Mercer, but Job was to blame in doing and saying thus; and it is to be attributed to the infirmity of the flesh, wherewith, although the spirit do notably combat, yet the flesh seemeth sometimes and in some sort to get the better. Nimis augusta res est, nuspiam errare, saith one; Triste mortalitatis privilegium est, licere aliquando peccare, saith another. The snow like swan hath black legs; and in many things we offend all: gold is not to be refused because it wanteth some grains, and hath a crack, &c.

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul] And so seek to ease my grief by giving a vent unto it. But it is evident that such outbursts and overflowings of the gall and spleen come from a fulness of bad humours.

Ver. 2. I will say unto God, do not condemn me] You may say so as a humble suppliant, but not as holding yourself innocent, and therefore harshly dealt with. The Hebrew is, Do not make me wicked; rather do good, O Lord, to those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts; but lead me not forth with the workers of iniquity, as a malefactor is led forth to execution, #Ps 125:5.

Show me wherefore thou contendest with me] i.e. Quare sic me affigas, saith Vatablus, why thou thus afflictest me, whether for sin or for trial; and this Job desired to know, not to satisfy his curiosity, but his conscience, as one well observeth; and that the world might be satisfied, the rash judgment of his friends confuted, and answered by a determination from heaven.

Ver. 3. Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress?] It is the guise of wicked judges to take this counsel, to follow this course; whom thou, being a most just and righteous judge, canst not confirm or encourage by thine own example, as it were by a light shining from above. Thus Job rhetoricateth; his complaints are high, yet ever with an alloy or mixture of modesty (Beza).

That thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands] i.e. Me, thy poor creature, wilt thou do and undo? make a man, and unmake him again for thy mind’s sake? Builders use not to ruin what they have built; artificers love and plead for their own handiwork; fathers foster their children with all tenderness. Some authors dote upon their own doings, as Laurentius Valla did upon his logic, as if there had been none such, calling it, in a bravado, Logicam Laurentinam; and as Campian the Jesuit did upon his ten leaden reasons, which he deemed and boasted to be unanswerable, Heliodorus would rather be unbishoped than yield that his Ethiopic history (a toilsome toy, but the brat of his brain) should be abolished. The saints are "God’s building," #1Co 3:9; handy work, #Eph 2:10; "children," #Ro 9:26; "epistles known and read of all men," #2Co 3:2,3. This if we plead, when sorely afflicted (as the Church did, #Isa 64:8, and David, #Ps 138:8, and Job here), we may have anything. See that notable text, #Isa 45:11, and that other, #Isa 59:16.

And shine upon the counsel of the wicked?] That is, favour and further their designs. God makes his sun to shine upon such, but himself never shineth upon them. He may be angry enough with men, though they outwardly prosper; yea, to prosper in sin is a most heavy judgment. See #Zec 1:15. {See Trapp on "Zec 1:15"}

Ver. 4. Hast thou eyes of flesh?] Which see but the surface of things, and not that neither in the dark. Hast thou not fiery eyes, #Re 1:14, that need no outward light, but see by sending out a ray, and pierce the inward parts also? Hast thou not made the eye? yea, the optic virtue in the eye, which seeth all and is seen of none? If the sun be the eye of the world, God is much more. The Greeks give him his name from seeing, because he seeth through and through; eyes he hath, but not of flesh; he seeth, but not as man.

Or seest thou as man seeth?] Art thou subject to error, ignorance, partiality, popularity, &c.? Proceedest thou not according to truth (yea, truth in the inward parts), and not according to opinion or appearance? Of a judge it is said, that he doth neque suspicere, nec despicere, nec respicere, nec circumspicere, neither look up nor down, nor this way nor that, but straight forward to the cause, and not to the person. Of a just law it is said, that it is a heart without affection, an eye without lust, a mind without passion, a treasurer which keepeth for every man what he hath, and distributeth to every man what he ought to have; so and much more than so is God, whatever thoughts might arise sometimes in Job’s heart to the contrary.

Ver. 5. Are thy days as the days of man?] Art thou mortal and short lived, as sorry man is, that thou proceedest in this sudden and severe manner, as if thou shouldest not have time enough to try me, and to take an order with me? Art not thou eternal, and dost thou not know in the indivisible moment of thine eternity, all what hath been, is, and shall be? "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world," #Ac 15:18; yea, long before. The truth is, neither foreknowledge nor remembrance are properly in God, since all things, both past and future, are present with him, #Ro 4:17 2Pe 3:8 Jer 1:5-7 Ps 139:2; and all things without him are but as a point or ball, which with as much ease he discerneth as we turn our eyes.

Are thy years as man’s days] It is well observed that God’s time is set out by years, man’s by days; his time is so short, that it is reckoned by the shortest complete time, a day. The days of our years are threescore and ten, #Ps 90:10. As for God, he is not only the Ancient of days, #Da 7:9, but the day’s Ancient, for he made the day.

Ver. 6. That thou inquirest after mine iniquity, &c.] viz. By strong pains and mighty terrors, as judges sometimes make inquisition by torture, to find out treason or other heinous offences. What, wouldest thou that I should confess myself a wicked person?

Ver. 7. Thou knowest that I am not wicked] A lewd liver, and a rank hypocrite, as these men would make of me. A sinner I am, but I allow not, wallow not in any known sin; there is no way of wickedness found in me; hypocrisy reigns not in my heart: Haeret in regenitis peccatum, saith one, sin abideth in the best; yet they may not, they must not be called wicked. Julian, the apostate, affirmed that Peter’s halting at Antioch was so taxed by Paul that Peter must needs be a hypocrite (Cyril, lib. 9, in Julian); but this cavil and calumny can never be proved from Paul’s words, for not every one that through infirmity dissembleth sometimes is presently a hypocrite. It is upon thy knowledge, saith Job, that however I am weak, yet wicked I am not; my great scum is not in me, #Eze 24:11,12. The good heart admits not the mixture of any sin; like right wine or honey, as the scum ariseth, it ever casteth it out; as spring water worketh itself clean; as the sea will endure no poisonous thing, but casts it up upon the shore; so a Christian cleareth himself of sin. Well, it may cleave to it for a while, as dross doth to silver, but it entereth not into the frame and constitution; Job is confident of that, and will venture all upon it.

And there is none (or nothing) that can deliver out of thine hand] q.d. Thus thou, Lord, knowest it to be with me, that I have no wicked heart; but for this I expect not to be delivered, for thou canst still find matter in me for which to lay thine hand upon me: but the more I submit myself the more mild shouldest thou surely be in thy dealings toward me; as a lion to a man crouching to him. As Paul said, "I know nothing by myself; yet am I not thereby justified," #1Co 4:4; so Job saith, Lord, thou knowest nothing by me, yet hereby I cannot be delivered (Junius).

Ver. 8. Thine hands have made me] Or, throughly and accurately wrought me, as it were, with much pains and labour; thou hast exactly fashioned all my members: not that God either hath hands, or putteth himself to pains; for he doth his work without either tool or toil, #Isa 40:28. But this is attributed to him after the manner of men, to show the curious workmanship showed in man’s creation, the masterpiece of all his works of wonder. This David sweetly singeth of, #Ps 139, and Galen admireth in that excellent book of his, De usu partium humani corporis, setting forth the praises of that God whom he knew not, and singing a hymn unto him. Man, saith one, is cura divini ingenii, he is God’s escutcheon, wherein he hath portrayed all the titles of the most excellent beauties of the world. The sun, moon, and stars are but the works of God’s fingers, #Ps 8:3, but man is the work of his hands, #Ps 139:14. He is the most beautiful building of a most wise architect, saith Euripides; the bold attempt of daring nature, saith another heathen; the greatest of all miracles, saith a third. David, speaking of him, and of God’s goodness to him, begins to wonder before he speaketh, and stops speaking, but not to wonder, #Ps 8:1,9.

And fashioned me together round about] A metaphor from potters, who make their work by turning it around till it be all finished, #Jer 18:3. Thou hast fashioned me, and made me in every point, so Broughton rendereth it. Totum me, non dimidium, Thou hast made the whole, and every part of me, from top to toe, not my nails excepted (as Mercer hath it), with extraordinary care and cunning, bestowing upon me mercies enough between head and foot to till a volume. Who is there, saith Galen, which, looking but upon the skin only of man’s body, wondereth not at the artifice of the Creator? but especially he was amazed at the manner of the motion of the lungs by systole and diastole, and would needs offer hecatombs to that God, whosoever he were, that was author of so admirable and excellent a piece of work.

Yet thou dost destroy me] And this seemeth strange to me. Dost thou yet destroy me? so some read this text; wilt thou swallow me up quick and devour me, as the greater fishes do the lesser? See the note on #Job 10:3. Carest thou not that I am tby workmanship, created unto good works? #Eph 2:10; one in whom thou hast erected the fair fabric of the new man? for this also Job may here very likely refer to.

Ver. 9. Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay] Remembrance and foreknowledge are not properly in God. {See Trapp on "Job 10:4"} But he is said to remember us when he relieveth us, #Ps 136:23 9:18 1Sa 1:19. "That thou hast made me," &c., viz. in those protoplasts, my first parents, formed out of the ground, #Ge 2:7, whence the heathen philosopher could say, that man is nothing else but a piece of clay weakly made up: or thou hast wrought me like clay, sc. in the womb, where thou hast framed and formed my body, as the potter worketh his clay, well tempered, into an earthen vessel, πηλος κομφως πεφυραμενος (Arrian. in Epict.). Here, then, Job inminds the Lord (by the matter whereof he was made) of the frailty, vility, and impurity of his nature ( Lutum enim conspureat omnia, sic et. caro), to move him to a mitigating of his misery. See #Ps 103:14 78:39.

Wilt thou bring me into the dust again?] viz. By those grievous torments; or, And that thou wilt bring me into dust again; for so thou hast said, To dust shalt thou return, #Ge 3:19. And it is appointed for all men once to die, #Heb 9:27. Oh, therefore, that I might have some small rest and respite before I go hence, and be no more seen, #Ps 39:12,13.

Ver. 10. Hast thou not poured me out as milk] Or, melted me, that is, made me of some such thing as liquid and white milk. Generationem hominis describit (Vatab.). Man is a very mean thing in his first conception, modestly here set forth by the making of cheeses.

Unde superbit homo, cuius conceptio turpis,

Nasci poena, labor vita, necesse mort?

Where comes man’s pride, I am conceived in sorrow, I am born as a penalty, I work for life, and needs die.

Concerning man’s formation in the womb see the Naturalists, and Lactantius de Opifieio Dei, cap. 12, but especially #Ps 139:13-16, where, and in this text, there is enough spoken to satisfy us about this great natural mystery, saith Mercer. That is a good moral that one maketh of it; God strains out the motes of corruption from a godly man, while his heart is poured out like milk with grief and fear, whereby the iniquity of Jacob is purged, and this is all the fruit to take away his sin, #Isa 27:9.

And curdled me like cheese?] Sic castissimo ore, et elegantibus metaphoris, saith an interpreter; i.e. Thus, in a most modest manner, and with elegant metaphors, doth Job, as a great philosopher, set out man’s conception in the womb. Aristotle (whose manner is obscurioribus obscura implicare, as Bodin observeth) hath some such expression as this, but nothing so clear and full (Bodin. Theat. Natur., 434. Arist. de Gen. Anim. cap. 20).

Ver. 11. Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh] Out of that soft and liquid substance (the slime of my parents’ loins), grossed first into a rude fleshy mass, and consolidated, thou hast made not only a thin skin and firm flesh, but also hard bones and knitting nerves; and all this for a garment or guardment to those more noble inward parts, the brain, heart, liver, &c., which Job here accounts to be the man, when he saith, "Thou hast clothed me," that is, my vital parts, with the upper garment of skin, and with the under garment of flesh, all which, and the rest of the parts, both similar and organical, are in their origin but the same matter which God hath thus diversified, and all by the book, #Ps 139:16. Had he left out any member in his common place book, thou hadst wanted it, saith one.

And hast fenced me with bones and sinews] Bones are the pillars of the body, giving it stability, straightness, and form. The Rabbis say, there are as many of them in man’s body as there are affirmative precepts in the law, that all his bones may say, Lord, who is like unto thee? &c., #Ps 35:10. By the sinews are the bones knit together, that upon them man may move from place to place as he pleaseth. Sense also and motion is by these, in their wonderful and inexplicable conjugations, conveyed to the rest of the parts. It is God alone that knoweth how the bones (think the same of the sinews, arteries, veins, gristles, flesh, and blood, &c.) do grow in the womb of her that is with child, #Ec 11:5. The anatomists find out every day almost new wonders; and an ancient styles man the miracle of miracles. Besides what is seen, God hath packed many rarities, mysteries, yea, miracles together in man’s chest. And surely, saith Mr Caryl, if all the angels in heaven had studied to this day, they could not have cast man into a more curious mould, or have given a fairer or more correct edition of him.

Ver. 12. Thou hast granted me life] i.e. Into my body, thus formed and organized, thou hast infused a soul; that principle of life quickened me in the womb, and brought me alive out of it; which, because it is a miracle of mercy, therefore Job addeth favour, "thou hast granted me" (Heb. thou hast wrought with me) "life and favour." Thou hast dealt life and goodness unto me; that is, thou hast given me life accompanied with thy goodness and blessings: so Beza senseth it. Some understand it to be the reasonable soul; others to be the beauty of the body, according to #Isa 40:6.

And thy visitation hath preserved my spirit] i.e. Thy good providence hath safe guarded me from innumerable deaths and dangers. Puerilitas est periculorum pelagus. Children are apt to run into mischief; and those of riper years are subject to a thousand disasters and evil occurrences. God’s special care is exercised over his, as is sweetly expressed, #Ps 121 Ps 23 Davids pastorial psalm, #Ps 3 where David doubteth not of safety, though asleep, and in the midst of enemies, because God sustained him; when as Samson and Ishboshetb, asleep in the midst of friends, were circumvented, because deserted by him. Oh pray, pray, that the Lord Jesus Christ would be ever with our spirits; visit him in duty, that he may visit us in mercy.

Ver. 13. And those things hast thou hid in thine heart] Legendum hoc cum stomacho, saith Mercer: And hast thou indeed hid these things in thine heart? What things meaneth Job? his afflictions, which God was long before preparing for him, and now took his time to lay load upon him, to be revenged on him at unawares, and at greatest advantage. If this be the sense of Job’s words (as some would conclude from the next verses), he was mightily mistaken; and this was atrox querimonia, a grievous complaint, and unworthy of God, who lieth not at the catch, nor pretendeth fair when he intendeth otherwise. A Cain may do so to Abel, Esau to Jacob, Absalom to Amnon, Joab to Amasa, &c. The Creator needs not daub or prevaricate thus with his creatures; if Job thought he did with him, Job was utterly out, though for confirmation he add, I know that this is with thee; I am sure that thou hast dealt thus closely and covertly with me, and that thy plagues have surprised me. Oh these still revenges! Merlin and others understand by those things hid in God’s heart, and which he was well assured could not have befallen him without God’s will and decree, the mercies which in the former verses Job had recounted and reckoned up, viz, his conception, quickening, preservation; all which he looked upon as love tokens coming out of the heart of God, and from the spring of special love. Here, then, we see whence we may fetch comfort when most hardly bestead; namely, from those effects whereby God sealed up his love to us in forming us in the womb; but especially in his covenant of grace, that beehive of heavenly honey, whereby he hath engaged to be our God even from the womb to the tomb; yea, to all perpetuity. Hereunto Job had respect, and so had David, #Ps 22:10,11 25:10.

Ver. 14. If I sin, then thou markest me] Though through human frailty only I offend ( et nimis dedignatur mortalitatem qui peccasse erubescit), thou soon notest it, thou followest me up and down, as it were, with pen, ink, and paper, to set down my faults (Euphorm.). How, then say some, that God sees not sin in his children? Job thought the Lord was overstrict with him (which yet could not be), and that he put no difference between him and those that were notoriously wicked, as the next words import.

And thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity] That is, from the punishment of mine iniquity. Verba diffidentis, saith Mercer; words spoken according to the judgment of the flesh, saith Diodati, which holdeth God’s visitations to be punishments and vengeances.

Ver. 15. If I be wicked, woe unto me] Here he bringeth a dilemma, whereby he declareth himself every way miserable, saith Mercer; whether he be bad or good, suffer he must without remedy. "If I be wicked, woe unto me"; woe is the wicked man’s portion; tell him so from me, saith God, #Isa 3:10,11. Though he love not to hear on that ear, but can bless himself in his heart, when God curseth him with his mouth, #De 29:19. And a godly man setteth the terror of sin’s woes before his flesh, that slave, that must be frighted at least with the sight of the whip. Woe be to me, saith Paul, if I preach not the gospel, #1Co 9:16. Or if, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway, #1Co 9:27; which to prevent, he kept under his body (his corruption), and gave it a blue eye; for we are not debtors to the flesh, saith he, #Ro 8:10. We owe nothing but stripes and menaces, cursing it in every respect, &c.

And if l be righteous, yet I will not llft up my head] indeed I cannot, because I am so bowed down with changes of sorrows, armies of afflictions: my pains are continued, and I shall surely sink under them; much ado I have now to keep head above water. Others make this a description of Job’s humility: "I will not lift up my head," viz. in pride, but humble myself to walk with my God, as that poor publican did who stood afar off, and would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, #Lu 18:13.

I am full of confusion] Cast upon me by my friends, who reproach me for a hypocrite, and make my cheeks glow. The fulness of an aspersion may possibly put an innocent person to the blush; and it is the property of defamations to leave a kind of lower estimation many times, even where they are not believed. This was the confusion that Job complained of, the stomach of his mind was full of it, even to satiety and surfeit.

Therefore see thou mine affliction] My pressing and piercing affliction, see it and remedy it, as #Ps 119:153. Let not all my trouble seem little unto thee, as #Ne 9:32. See, Lord, see, behold, it is high time for thee to set in.

Ver. 16. For it increaseth] Heb. For it lifteth up itself; it even boileth up to the height, or it waxeth proud, as the proud surges of the sea. Broughton rendered it, Oh how it fleeth up! Why how? Surely, as a fierce lion, so it hunteth me; it riseth upon me, as a lion rampant doth upon his prey, or as a lion, when he is pursued, gives not place, hides not his head, but comes into the open fields as holding it a disgrace to withdraw; so some sense it: or,

Thou huntest me as a fierce lion] Tanquam leo. God, when he afflicteth men, is oft compared to a lion, #Isa 38:13 Ho 5:14 13:7. Or, tanquam leonem, as if I were a ravening lion; so thou huntest me, setting thy nets and toils, making thy snares and pits ut capiar ad occisionem (so the Septuagint), that I may be taken and destroyed, as #2Pe 2:12.

And again thou showest thyself marvellous upon me] Heb. And thou returnest. Here Job showeth, saith an interpreter, what a confidence he had, that God, returning to him in mercy, would do wonderfully for him in the end; the word turning here, and the turning his captivity, #Job 42:10, so aptly answering the one to the other to approve this exposition. But others understand it to be the continued or repeated acts of Job’s affliction, una vice post aliam; as if he should say, thou clappest one affliction upon another; my pains know not only no period, but no pause; thou layest upon me extraordinary sorrows, as if thou wouldest declare in me alone, quam mirus sis artifex, what an excellent artisan thou art when thou pleasest, and what thou canst do against a poor creature; surely thou hast made my plagues wonderful, #De 28:59. So the apostles were made a gazing stock, a theatre, a spectacle of human misery, #1Co 4:9.

Ver. 17. Thou renewest thy witnesses against me] These fresh witnesses were devils, say some; Job’s friends, say others; his dolorous sufferings rather, saith Austin; those open witnesses of some secret wickedness in Job, as the world would esteem them. See #Job 16:8 Ru 1:21. Thus the Jews censured our Saviour, #Isa 53:3,4; the barbarians Paul, #Ac 28:4; and those in the Gospel them that perished by the fall of the tower of Siloam. And how many precious men as well as Job have been cast upon this evidence for traitors and rebels against the highest majesty? Junius thinks that when Job uttered the words of this text he felt some new pains growing upon him and increasing.

Thou increasest thine indignation upon me] Or within me, as #Job 6:4, and this was it that put a sting into his sufferings; God’s heavy displeasure seemed to be kindled against him. Be not thou a terror unto me, O Lord, said Jeremiah, and then I shall do well enough with the rest.

Changes and war (or armies) are upon me, or against me] Variety of troubles come trooping aud treading, as it were, on the heels of one another: fluctus fluctum trudit, there is a continual succession of my sorrows, fresh forces sent against me, &c. We see, then, that Job complained not without cause, though he kept not always within compass, as appeareth by that which followeth.

Ver. 18. Wherefore hast thou brought me forth out of the womb?] Why? but was not that a mercy? David esteemed it so, and gives God the glory, #Ps 22:9. But discontent is an utter enemy to thankfulness. The bird sings not till she have taken up her stand to her mind. Some men’s eyes are so bleared and glazed with tears for what they want, that they cannot see what good they have, cannot see mercies for blessings. Job here, in a distemper, wisheth himself (as he had done before, #Job 3. "Who can understand his errors?" #Ps 19:12) either unborn, or presently dead, without the distance of one day between his birth and his burial. In quo errorem erravit non levem, vir alioqui pientissimus; this was a worse wish than if he had desired that his life might be presently taken away from him, for herein he showeth himseff unthankful to God for all his former benefits; and not so only, but angry with God for the good he had done him: thus we have seen dogs in a chase fly at their masters, and children in a pelt strike at their parents. But these were the voices of the flesh lusting against the spirit, which afterwards (being justly reprehended for them, first by Elihu, and then also by God himself) he repressed and repented of in dust and ashes, #Job 42:6.

Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!] sc. With delight: for what pleasure is there in seeing a dead corpse, especially a stillborn child? See #Ge 23:4, with the note. This text teacheth us, saith an interpreter, what sad effects extreme grief and pain worketh in the very best: it distempereth their spirits, and so disturbeth them, that their complaints look like the blasphemies of the wicked, and they sometimes wish absurd things, dishonourable to God, and prejudicial to themselves.

Ver. 19. I should have been as though I had not been] Here he sings the same song as #Job 3 Job 4. It is hard to say how oft a child of God may discover the same infirmity. Our lives are fuller of sins than the firmament is of stars or the furnace of sparks.

I should have been carried from the womb to the grave] He makes mention of the grave as a desirable place, which yet in the two last verses he describeth as a place of darkness and disorder. Thus Job himself was in the dark, and in his passion he throweth out words without wisdom. Itaque solicite orandus est Deus, saith one here, God is therefore to be earnestly entreated, that when we are hard put to it with pain and misery, we may not give way to unruly passion, nor suffer our tongues to outlash, as they will be apt to do. See #Ps 39:1; confer #Ps 22 Ps 77 Ps 88 Ps 89., and we shall see David well nigh as far out as Job in his complaints and wishes; but God can put a difference between the godly and sin in them, as between poison and the box that holdeth it. He can also pity them, as we do poison in a man, which yet we hate in a toad, &c.

Ver. 20. Are not my days few?] And oh that they might not be also evil! since I shall not much trouble the world, oh that I might not find much trouble in the world! What man is he that would fain see good days? saith David, #Ps 34:12. What man is he that would not? saith Austin in answer to him. Job and David join in one and the same suit for a truce from trouble, since their time here was so very short, #Ps 39:13 89:47.

Cease then, and let me alone] After he had vented his passions he falls again to his prayers. Ye have done all this wickedness (saith Samuel to the people who had been over importunate for a king), yet turn not aside from following the Lord, &c., #1Sa 12:20. Whilst prayer stands still, the whole trade of godliness stands still. Saints, though they have sinned, yet must not restrain prayer, but go home to God again with shame in their faces and tears in their eyes, and he will speak peace; only they must be sensible that their Father hath spit in their faces, &c.

That I may take comfort a little] A modest request. The poor man speaks supplications, begs a farthing. They who are lowly make low demands. Oh that I were but a door keeper! Oh that Ishmael might live in thy sight! &c.

Ver. 21. Before I go whence I shall not return] Before I go out of this world, never more to return hither to enjoy the comforts that are here to be had. Death is a departure hence, #1Pe 1:15 Lu 9:31. And so the ancients (Irenaeus, Clement, and others) used to call it. I shall change my place, but not my company, said that dying saint who had here walked with God in uprightness, and was now to bid adieu to all worldly interests (Tertul.). The old Romans were wont to say of a dead friend, Abiit, et reversurus est, He is gone, and will come again. It seems hereby that they had some dark notions of a resurrection; whence also their poets called a dead body a soul; — animamque sepulchro condimus (Virg. Æneid). The Hebrews did the like, #Nu 5:2 9:10 19:11 Hag 2:13,14, as having a more sure word of prophecy; and Job was clear in this point, firmly believing in the resurrection of his body, #Job 19:26,27. It must needs be therefore that he speaks here of not returning into this world. See the like, #Job 16:22 Ps 39:13 2Sa 12:23.

Even to the land of darkness, &c.] {See Trapp on "Job 10:22"}

Ver. 22. A land of darkness, &c.] This is not a description of hell, and of the state of the damned (as some would have it), for Job never meant to come there, no more than Jacob did, #Ge 37:35 42:38; but it is such an elegant description of the grave, as exceedeth the phantasy of poet, and the rhetoric of all heathen orators. There is something like it in David’s Psalms, especially #Ps 88:11,12, where the grave is called a place of perdition, a land of forgetfulness, and of darkness, whereinto they who descend praise not God, #Ps 115:17. In respect of their bodies they do not, they cannot, #Isa 38:18. Hell, indeed, is much more a land of darkness as darkness itself; it is that outer darkness, a darkness beyond a darkness, as the dungeon is beyond the prison; and the pains of hell are the chains of darkness. Now death is hell’s harbinger to the wicked, and hence it is so dreadful in the apprehension and approach of it, that men’s hearts do even die within them, as Nabal’s did, through fear of death; and they tremble thereat as the trees of the wood, or leaves of the forest, with Ahaz, #Isa 7:2. Darkness, we know, is full of terror: the Egyptians were sorely frightened by their three days’ thick darkness, insomuch as that none stirred off his stool all that while, #Ex 10:23, and it was the more terrible, doubtless, because they had no warning of it, as they had of other plagues. How oft do men chop into the chambers of death (their long home, the grave) all on the sudden, as he that travelleth in the snow may do over head and ears into a clay pit! Death of any sort is unwelcome to nature, as being its slaughterman: but when sudden, it is so much the more ghastly; and those that desperately dare death to a duel cannot look it in the face with blood in their cheeks: only to those that are in Christ the bitterness of death is past, the sting of it pulled out, the property altered, as hath been already noted. Christ, the Sun of righteousness, saith a learned expositor here (Mr Caryl), lay in the grave, and hath left perpetual beams of light there for his purchased people. The way to the grave is very dark, but Christ hath set up lights for us, &c.

And of the shadow of death] The shadow is the dark part of the thing, so that the shadow of death is the darkest side of death, death in its most hideous and horrid representations; the shadow of death is the substance of death, or death with addition of greatest deadliness.

Without any order] Heb. And not orders. What then? confusion surely, without keeping to rules or ranks: men’s bones are mingled in the grave; whether they have been princes or peasants it cannot be discerned; Omnia mors aequat: as chessmen are put up all together in the bag when the game is ended, without distinction of king, duke, bishop, &c., so here. Junius rendereth it, expertem vicissitudinum, without any interchanges, distinctions, vicissitudes, or varieties (as of day, night, summer, winter, heat, cold, &c.) of which things consisteth the greatest part of the brevity of this world.

And where the light is as darkness] How great then must needs be that darkness? as our Saviour speaketh in another case, #Mt 6:23. Surely when, by the return of the sun, there is light in the land of the living, in the grave all is abyssed and sunk into eternal night; as the bodies of those two smothered princes were by their cruel uncle, Richard III, in the black deeps, a place so called at the Thames’ mouth. In the grave light and darkness are both alike; and as the images in Popish temples see nothing, though great wax candles be lighted up before them; so the clearest light of the sun shining in his strength would be nothing to those that are dead and buried. Let this be much and often thought on; mors tua, mors Christi, &c. thine deathe, the death of Christ &c. Cyrus, that great conqueror, lying on his death bed, praised God, saith Xenophon, that his prosperity had not puffed him up; for he ever considered that he was but mortal, and must bid adieu to the world. Charles V, emperor of Germany, caused his sepulchre and grave clothes to be made five years before his death, and carried them closely with him whithersoever he went. Samuel sent Saul newly anointed to Rachel’s sepulchre, #1Sa 10:2-4, that he might not become proud of his new honours, &c.

Chapter 11

Ver. 1. Then answered Zophar the Naamathite] With a most bitter invective, savouring more of passion than charity. Zophar rejoineth, or rather revileth innocent Job, misinterpreting his meaning, #Job 11:4, and laying to his charge, 1. Loquacity, or talkativeness; 2. Lying; 3. Scoffing at God’s good providence, and men’s good counsel; 4. Self-conceitedness and arrogance, besides rashness, boldness, &c. For want of better arguments against him, he falls foul upon him in this sort. And if the adversaries of the truth do the like by us (as our Saviour saith they will, #Mt 5:11, and as himself, after Job and many other of his members, had the experience of it), we must not be overly troubled. Zophar signifieth a watcher, he watched for Job’s halting, and took him up before he was down; he is styled the Naamathite from Naamah (a city in the land of Uz, eighteen miles from Job’s Pyramis, saith Adricomius), which signifieth fair. But he dealeth not so fair with his friend as had been fit, for he giveth him no honour or respect at all, but treateth him with singular sharpness and violence, or rather virulence, of speech: hear him else.

Ver. 2. Should not the multitude of words be answered?] Should not he who speaketh what he will, hear what he would not? Nunquid qui multa loquitur, non et audiet? (Vulg.) Yes, Job shall now, or you will want of your will; but if Job have talked more than his part came to (the truth is, his speeches are longer than any of those of his three friends, which are all, except that first made by Eliphaz, #Job 4 Job 5, comprehended in one chapter, whereas his take up by two, three, or more), he may well be excused, considering the sharpness of his disease, the ungentleness of his friends, and the sense of God’s displeasure, which his soul laboured under. Zophar and the rest looked upon him as a wretched hypocrite, and were angry that he would not yield himself so; they accused his former conversation as wicked; what way he had therefore to defend and assert his own integrity, but by words? And must he yet pass for a prattling fellow, a man of lips, a very wordy man, one that loveth to hear himself talk, because he will not be by them outtalked, and overly borne by their false charges? Most sure it is, that profane and profuse babblings are to be avoided, and to bring fulness of matter in fewness of words it is very commendable. Quam multa quam paucis! said Cicero of Brutus’s laconical epistle; how much is here in a little! but, 1. Every man cannot be a short spoken Spartan. It is reported that in Luther’s house was found written, Melancthon hath both matter and words; Luther hath matter, but wants words; Erasmus hath words at will, but wants matter. Every one hath his own share: all are not alike gifted. 2. He is to be accounted talkative who uttereth unprofitable words, and far from the purpose, beside the point; and so Zophar himself was to be blamed in this whole discourse of his, wherein he talketh much, but speaketh little. Concerning the infinite and unsearchable wisdom of God, he argueth truly and gravely, but yet nothing fitly to convince Job, who himself had said as much and more of the same subject. The counsel also that therehence he giveth Job doth little or nothing concern him; it being the same in effect that Eliphaz and Bildad had said before him: Zophar therefore was the locutuleius, the talkative man here mentioned, rather than Job, the lips man, adversus sua ipsius vitia facundus satis; and as Bion was wont to say, that the grammarians of his time could discourse well about the errors of Ulysses, but not at all see their own; so it befell Zophar.

And should a man full of talk be justified?] Heb. A man of lips, so called, as if he were made all of lips, and had no other members. Shall such a one be ever a whit the better thought of? Not among wise men surely, whatever he may amongst his fellow fools; for in multiloquio stultiloquium: in much speaking is much foolishness, some gravel and mud passeth away with much water; some vanity with much talk; it is no wisdom for a man to lay on more words than the matter will well bear. A good orator, saith Plutarch, will see that his words and his matter be matches. And Hesiod saith, that words, as a precious treasure, should be thriftily husbanded and warily wasted: especially since an account is to be rendered, as our Saviour assureth us, #Mt 12:36; yea, by thy words (he saith not, for thy words) thou shalt be justified, and by thy words (if superfluous and sinful, waste and wicked) thou shalt be condemned, #Mt 12:37.

Ver. 3. Should thy lies make men hold their peace?] Or, thy toys, toilsome toys, hammered in thine own head, hatched in thine own heart, which is deceitful above all things, and so a fit shop to frame lies in; but should we be silent at the hearing of them, and so become guilty of thy sin by a tacit consent? Can any mortal wight hear what thou hast said in behalf of thine own imaginary innocence, #Job 6:29,30, and how bold an appeal thou hast made to God as a witness thereof, #Job 10:7, and not reply upon thee, and reprove thee? The truth is, had Job been a liar, as Zophar would make of him (even mendaciorum loquacissimum, as Tertullian saith of Tacitus, one that fearing his many words would not carry his cause, had intermixed various untruths, the better to grace the business), he ought not to have been forborne by Zophar or any else that wished well to his soul: but it was far from good Job to be guilty of this foul sin, so hated of God, so like the devil, so inconsistent with religion. Christianus est, non mentietur, he is a Christian, you may be sure he will not lie, was the old argument; he will rather die than lie. David indeed, in a distress, roundly told two or three lies together to Abimelech the high priest, who suspected that he fled as a proscribed person, #1Sa 21:2,8 27:10. But that he allowed not this sin in himself it appeareth in that, 1. He had chosen the way of truth, his election was truth, #Ps 119:30. And, 2. He prayed against the contrary evil, "remove from me the way of lying," #Ps 119:29. He was not one of those that took fast hold of deceit, as Jeremiah phraseth it, #Job 8:5. Much less was Job; however, Zophar was mistaken in him, as he was much more in his next charge, wherein he maketh him a scoffer of God and good people.

And when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?] Job is made a mocker here; yea, a scorner, and derider, as the word signifieth, such as David describeth, #Ps 22:6, and the author to the Hebrews, #Heb 11:36, where he speaks of cruel mockings, such as the Scripture everywhere (but especially in the Proverbs) brandeth for the worst sort of sinners. See #Ps 1:1, where the Septuagint translate for scorners, pests; as elsewhere incorrigible, #Pr 21:1; naught, #Pr 9:12; λοιμοι, ακολαστος, κακος, proud, #Pr 3:34; workers of iniquity, υπερηφανοι παρηνομουν, #Ps 119:51. But where did Job mock in Zophar’s judgment? First, he spoke contemptuously (as he thought) of God, as #Job 10:3, "Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress?" &c. And whereas he spake better sometimes of God’s wisdom and righteousness, Zophar thought it was but from the teeth outward; but poor Job had little list or leisure to mock and jeer. Next, he mocked his friends for saving that he was justly afflicted, saying that they were cold comforters, void of God s fear, merciless men, &c. This they took in very ill part, and Zophar thinks to make him ashamed of it; for saith he,

Shall no man make thee ashamed?] sc. By refuting thee, and by bringing thee to a due sight of thine error. This good office he that shall undertake to do for another, must be sure that he be able to do it effectually, else better not to attempt it. When Carolostadius opposed Luther’s consubstantiation only weakly and insufficiently, Zuinglius said, he was sorry that so good a cause lacked shoulders, Non satis humerorum haberet.

Ver. 4. For thou hast said] Thou hast confidently affirmed; and this he makes to be a loud lie, and not an idle word only. But where and when had Job said it? Did not Zophar openly play the sophister, so interpreting what Job had spoken, #Job 6:10 9:22 10:7, in defence of his innocence, as if Job had maintained that he was free from all sin; whereas, notwithstanding, he had very often witnessed and confessed himself to be a sinner, insomuch as that albeit he were without sin, yet he could not be accounted clear and pure in the sight of God? But Zophar took these for good words only, and was therefore so sharply set against him. So Cyril and Theodoret mistook one another, and objected heresy mutually; when afterwards it appeared that they were both of one judgment. Charity would have taught Zophar to have taken Job in a better sense, and to have said of him, as Cruciger did of Luther, eum commodius sentire quam loquitur dum effervescit, that he held right, though in his heat he spake not so fitly as might be wished. Good men’s words are reverenter glossanda (as one said of the laws), to have a reverent gloss put upon them, and not, by a spiritual unmannerliness, to be taken with the left hand, when they might and ought to be taken with the right.

My doctrine is pure] Clear as crystal, transparent as a crystal glass with a light in the midst; you may see through it, and find no flaw or filth in it. Job was no professed preacher, yet he had "not concealed the words of the Holy One," #Job 6:10. As he had received the knowledge of the truth from parents and teachers (the word here rendered doctrine comes from a root that signifieth to receive), so he had freely and purely imparted it to others, commending it unto them as sound and sincere, and therefore well worthy of all acceptation. But that which troubled Zophar and his two fellows was, that Job should affirm that God did afflict good men in this world as heavily as bad men, which yet was an irrefragable truth, such as Job resolved to live and die in.

And I am clean in thine eyes] i.e. I am not sinless, but sincere and upright, no hypocrite (as you have charged me), no worker of iniquity, but one that would be cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and do, by the daily practice of mortification, purify myself as God is pure. More than this Job said not, though Zophar thought he did, and therefore wisheth in the next words that God himself would convince him of his error.

Ver. 5. But oh that God would speak, &c.] For we do but lose our sweet words upon thee, since thou art set, and so wedded and wedged to thine own will and way, that thou canst not be removed and rectified, but by an extraordinary touch from the hand of heaven: oh therefore that God would speak and open his lips against thee, and for us; for so Zophar doubts not but he would do; but if it proved otherwise, #Job 42:7-10, Job was justified, and these three condemned, because they had not spoken of God (or to God, as in this text), the thing that was right, #Job 11:7, but had been Satan’s instruments to discourage Job, and to drive that good man to many passionate speeches. Some men (and women too, as Sarah, #Ge 16:5) are overly hasty to send for God, as it were, by a post, to decide their controversies; who, if he should come at their call, would certainly pronounce against them. Fret not thyself therefore to do evil, #Ps 37:1; be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything in this way before God, #Ec 5:2, or to interest him in thy quarrels and controversies, for he will surely pass an impartial sentence; neither is there any iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respecting of persons, nor receiving of gifts, #1Ch 19:7. One interpreter from this wish of Zophar noteth, that it is an ordinary practice of heretics (Satan’s factors) to mention God, as approving of their errors, if by speaking he would from heaven declare himseff plainly, and that therefore we should take heed of those that labour to work upon us this way, when by right reason they are able to evince nothing that they say.

Ver. 6. And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom] This may be understood as God’s law (saith Diodati), or as the hidden ways of his providence; which if God would show Job, he should at once see that he mistook much, and knew little of those many mysteries that are both in the word and works of God, in all divine dispensations, which are such as none can unriddle but God himself; neither can we see them till he show them. It is well observed, that the word here rendered show signifieth to interpret and expound that which is dark, mysterious, and enigmatical; and till God show us in this sort we remain ignorant both in the book of the creatures and in the book of the Scriptures. Oh, pray that ye may be all taught of God, that he would show you great and mighty things which you know not, #Jer 33:3, that he would so open your eyes, that ye may behold wondrous things out of his law, #Ps 119:18.

That they are double to that which is] Sunt enim Deo iudiciorum duo genera, so the Tigurines translate the words, for God hath judgments of two several sorts, viz. open and secret, such as thou with all thy skill canst not dive into. The Hebrew is, doubles to the being; that is, saith one, manifold more than is by thee apprehended; and although God hath afflicted thee according to what he hath revealed, yet he might afflict thee more if he should proceed according to the height of his secret wisdom; thy plagues should be double to that which is, if God should deal rigorously with thee; there is reason therefore thou shouldest be patient, since thy sins are far more than thy sufferings.

Know, then, that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth] This is a meditation that may be of special use, as to humble us, so to stanch murmuring, and to strengthen patience under present pressures. See #Ezr 9:13, with the note. Junius rendereth it, acknowledge at least that God exacteth somewhat of thee for thine iniquity; somewhat it is, and but somewhat, since hell is the just hire of the least sin, and it is the Lord’s mercy that we are not consumed, #La 3:22.

Ver. 7. Canst thou by searching find out God?] i.e. The nature of God, or the course of his providence, and the reason of his proceedings? thou canst never do it. Neither did Job ever take upon him to do it, but had excellently and accurately set out the same things, #Job 9:4, &c., that Zophar here doth; so that he might well have spared his pains in this discourse as to Job; but that being too pertinacious in his evil opinion of him, he chose rather to thwart him than to close with him, as contentious people use to do.

Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection?] No, nor the brightest angel in heaven, the highest graduate in glory. Find him we may possibly, but not find him out, much less find him out to perfection. Tantum recedit, quantum capitur, so much slips away and how much is retained, saith Nazianzen. The nearer you draw unto God the farther off he is from you, and you are as much to seek as ever; he is indeed like the pool Polycritus writeth of (cited by Aristotle), which in compass at the first scarce seemed to exceed the breadth of a shield, but if any went in to wash, it extended itself more and more. A country fellow thinks, if he were upon such a mountain he could touch heaven, and take a star in his hand; but when he comes thither heaven is as far off as it was, &c. So it is here, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard," &c., #1Co 2:9. Chrysostom, speaking of God’s love in Christ, saith, I am like a man digging in a deep spring; I stand here, and the water riseth up upon me, and I stand there, and still the water riseth upon me. What the apostle saith of this infinite love of God, that it passeth knowledge, as having all the dimensions, #Eph 3:18,19, the same is true of the wisdom of God, as Zophar setteth forth in the following verses.

Ver. 8. It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do?] And much higher; it is as the highnesses of heaven (so the Hebrew hath it), which is so high that one would wonder we should be able to behold the starry sky (which yet is but as the marble wall round about the palace), and the very eye not be tired in the way. {See Trapp on "Pr 25:3"} How high that second heaven is may hereby be gathered, in that the stars (whereof those of the first magnitude are said to be every one above 107 times as large again as the whole earth) do yet seem to us but as so many small sparks or spangles; but how high the third heaven is above them cannot be conjectured, #Eph 4:10. And yet the wisdom of the Almighty is far above that. But what meaneth Zophar by these cutted questions of his, What canst thou do? and what canst thou know? He thought, belike, that either Job considered not what he had said when he so set forth God’s wisdom, and his own shallowness; or else that he contradicted himself when he nevertheless stood so much upon his own integrity, and complained so greatly of his misery, as of an injury.

Deeper than hell] Which, wherever it is, appeareth, by this and other texts of Scripture, as #Re 14:11 De 32:22 Ps 55:15 Pr 15:24, &c., to be below, Ubi sit, sentient, qui curiosius quaerunt, saith one; where it is they shall find one day who too curiously inquire. The word here rendered hell signifieth the lower and more remote parts of the earth; and David telleth us that the wicked shall be turned into hell, into the lowest part of it, as the He locale there implieth, #Ps 9:17.

Ver. 9. The measure thereof is longer than the earth] Wherein some kingdoms are of a very great length, as those of the Turks and of the Tartars at this day. How long, then, is the earth itself? Some have undertaken to tell in how many days a nimble footman might measure it, but that is but a conjecture. It must be remembered that these things are spoken after the manner of men; for the wisdom of God can neither be measured nor numbered: of his understanding there is no number, saith the prophet, #Ps 147:5. Archimedes, the mathematician, vaunted that he, by his skill in arithmetic, could number up all the sand or dust that is in the whole world, habitable and inhabitable. But who can cast up the extent of the Divine wisdom?

And broader than the sea] Which yet David calleth the "great and wide sea," #Ps 104:25. Breadth is ascribed to the sea, because of its huge extension: mariners for many days together, while they sail upon the main, see no land, but only sky and water. God’s wisdom goes beyond all these; neither must we think to lade this ocean with our cockle shell. We may sooner drain the sea with a spoon than the perfections of God with our largest understandings.

Ver. 10. If he cut off, and shut up] Heb. If he change, viz. his course or way of proceedings toward men, either to shut them up close prisoners, or otherwise to put them to such straits that (Job-like) they know not what to do, or which way to turn themselves.

Or gather together] viz. His witnesses, say some, against an offender; his armies and military forces, saith the Chaldee paraphrast, to ruin his enemies; his outcasts, say some interpreters, according to that, #Ps 147:2, "The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel." If he do any or all of these to show his sovereignty, as well he may,

Then who can hinder him?] Heb. Turn him away, or put a stop to him? If God should do and undo, confound all things, turn the world upside down, who shall contradict him or question him? May he not do with his own as he pleaseth? And might not Zophar have spared thus to have spoken to Job, since Job had said the same to him in effect before? Atqui non erat necesse haec a Zophar dici, quum de his iam et eadem dixisset Iob (Merc.). But Zophar’s design was to prove hereby that he who is by God brought into straits is a wicked liver. He therefore in the two following verses glanceth at him as vain, wicked, brutish, and not unlike to a wild ass’s colt, such as God would surely tame and tutor to better things by afflictions, and so bring him to hand.

Ver. 11. He knoweth vain man, he seeth wickedness also] Doubtless he beholdeth faithless men, mortals of vanity, headlong and headstrong wights; homines falsitatis (so Cajetan renderetb it), men of falsehood; homines mendaces (so Pagnine), lying persons, such as thou Job art presumed to be by thy impious words and grievous punishments: He seeth wickedness, inanitatem et iniquitatem, vanity and villany. God seeth all, how closely and cleanly soever hypocrites think to carry the matter; first hiding God from themselves, and then vainly hoping to hide themselves also from God; but "his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men," #Ps 11:4. He seeth their wickedness or unreasonableness (as the word properly signifieth), for wicked men are absurd men, #2Th 3:2, they are compact of mere incongruities, solecizing in opinion, speeches, actions, all.

Will he not then consider it?] sc. To judge and punish it? Man maketh no great matter of sin, but God doth. He will "bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil," #Ec 12:14; he will see that every transgression and disobedience shall receive a just recompense of reward, #Heb 2:2. This Zophar doth not only affirm, but puts it home strongly by a question (wherein he closely taxeth Job of hypocrisy), Will he not consider it? Some read it without a question, thus, But he (that is, man) considereth not, is without understanding of God’s wisdom and justice, being dull and stupid like a wild ass’s colt, as it followeth.

Ver. 12. For vain man would be wise] Heb. Hollow man, that is, as void of grace as a hollow tree is of heart of oak.

Would be wise] Heb. Would be hearty, egregie cordatus homo, there is an elegance in the original that cannot be translated into English. "Wilt thou know, O vain man," saith St James, #Jas 2:20. The Greek is, thou empty man, κενε, thou that hast nothing in thee, and yet art highly conceited; thou that art (Ephraim like) a silly dove without a heart, #Ho 7:11, and yet in superbiam erectus (as the Vulgate here hath it), raised up to pride: that little knowledge he hath puffeth him up, #1Co 8:1. So bellows like is the natural soul, or rather so bladder like, that, filled with earthly vanities, it grows great, and swelleth in pride; but pricked with the least pin of piercing grief, it shrivelleth to nothing. The prophet Isaiah fitly compareth it to a bulrush, #Isa 58:5, the colour whereof is fresh, the skin smooth; but if you peel it, what is under but a kind of spongeous, unsubstantial substance, of no use in the world worth the speaking of? Formalists and pretenders to holiness are flat nothing, worse than nothing, iniquity, #Mt 23:28.

Though man be born as a wild ass’s colt] Take him in his pure naturals, he is no wiser; created he was in God’s image, which consisted in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness; knowledge in his understanding, rightness or straightness in his will, and holiness in his affections, #Eph 4:24. But since the fall all this is lost and gone quite; he hath principium laesum, neither can he know the things of God, no, though he be φυχικος, a souly man, one that doth excolere animam, develops the soul, such as Cicero and Aristotle; yet is he in spirituals as blind as a beetle, a mere ass’s colt. A colt is not among the wisest of creatures, much less an ass’s colt, least of all a wild ass’s colt; and yet such is man, sensual man, #Jud 19:22, sapless man, #Ps 14:1, he is as an ass’s foal for rudeness, a wild ass for unruliness, untamed, and untractable. Surely as a wild ass’s colt (saith Gregory upon this text), not used to the yoke, runneth up and down the large fields and woods at his pleasure, and when he is weary lieth down, and thus doth from day to day: so man by nature is licentious, running as his lusts carry him, to all manner of sin, and giveth not overrunning till he is weary; he will not be held in by any reins, or kept to do the work he should by any yoke which the Lord by teaching seeks to put upon him. Surely, saith Marbury, God is fain to deal with such as men do with frisking jades {A contemptuous name for a horse; a horse of inferior breed} in a pasture, that cannot take them up till they get them to a gate; so till the hour of death, &c. Thomas Blaverus, chief counsellor sometime to the king of Scots, believed not that there was God or devil, heaven or hell, till he came to die, and then cried out he was damned (Theatr. Hist. p. 127, 128). So also died one Arthur Miller, and before him, a desperate dean of St Paul’s (Sword against Swearers, p. 34). When death comes, saith Sir Walter Raleigh, which hates and destroys men, that is believed. But God, that loveth and maketh men, he is not regarded. Oh eloquent death! Oh mighty death! whom none could advise, thou art able to persuade, &c.

Ver. 13. If thou prepare thine heart] viz. To meet God, #Am 4:12, humbly submitting to his justice, and heartily imploring his mercy. The sum of what Zophar saith in the following verses is this: If thou truly repent, thou shall prosper; as if not, thou shall perish. This he might have said more fitly to most of us, who are deeply guilty, saith Lavater, than to Job, who was nothing so sinful as we are, and yet much more penitent. But Zophar calls upon him to quarrel with his faults, and not with his friends, and to break off his sins by repentance, without which, if he should have peace, it would be but like those short interims between the Egyptian plagues.

And stretch out thine hands toward him] Heb. And spread thy palms to him: so in prayer for pardon of sin and power against sin; for this stretching out, or spreading of the hands, is a prayer gesture, wherein God’s people come forma pauperis, holding out the hand to receive mercy, as beggars do an alms; or as men beg quarter for their lives with hands held up; or, lastly, as he that is fallen into a ditch, or deep pit, and cannot get out, lifteth up his hands, and crieth out for help. See #Ex 17:11,12 Le 9:22 1Ki 8:22 Ps 141:2. It appeareth that the ancients prayed not with their hands joined together or a little way lifted up, but with their arms stretched abroad, and the palms of their hands turned up towards heaven.

Ver. 14. If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away] Cast away all thy transgressions, and throw thy lusts out of service, hands lifted up in prayer must be pure, #1Ti 2:8, for the fountain of goodness will not be laden at with foul hands, #Isa 1:15,16. Good therefore is the counsel of Jeremiah, #Jer 4:14, and of St James, #Jas 4:8. The priests had their laver to wash in before they sacrificed, and their brazen altar to offer on before they burnt incense. He that comes to pray, having not first purged himself of all filthiness of flesh and spirit, doth (say the Jewish doctors) as he that cometh to offer a clean beast, but holds an unclean one in his hand. By iniquity in the hand here Beza and others understand wrong dealing, either by fraud or force, by strength or sleight of hand; and their Zophar presseth Job to restitution: Away with it, saith he, send it home to the right owner; else you will cough in hell, and the devils will laugh at you, saith Latimer.

And let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles] i.e. In thy family, and wherever else thou hast to do. I and my house will serve the Lord, saith Joshua; I and my maids, saith Esther, #Jos 24:15 Es 4:16. David’s care for the reforming and well ordering of his household, and of his whole kingdom. #Ps 101 Such a man is really as he is relatively. Those governors of families and countries show themselves perfect strangers to the practice of repentance, who make no other use of their servants and subjects than they do of their beasts; while they may have their bodies to do their service, they care not if their souls serve the devil. This will lay heavy one day.

Ver. 15. For then shall thou lift up thy face without spot, &c.] Repentance must be performed in faith, or else it will prove to be poenitentia Iscariotica, a Judas like repentance. Lord (said that dying saint), cast me down as low as hell in repentance, and lift me up by faith into the highest heavens in confidence of thy salvation. Zophar, that he may move Job kindly and rightly to repent, promiseth him thereupon malorum ademptionem, bonorum adeptionem, freedom from evil and fruition of good. And, first, "Thou shalt lift up thy face without spot," i.e. Thou shalt be full of comfort and of confidence, not casting down thy countenance, as guilty Cain, but looking up boldly and cheerfully, as St Stephen did, #Ac 7:55,56, they saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.

Ibat ovans animis et spe sua damna levabat.

Yea, thou shall be stedfast] Or durable and compact as a molten pillar. Thy heart shall be established with grace, thy mind with peace, thine outward estate with a lasting felicity.

And shalt not fear] sc. The loss of those enjoyments. To be freed from the fear of evil is better than to be freed from evil; and a great part of the saints’ portion both on earth and in heaven lies in their deliverance from fear, #Lu 1:74 Ps 112:7 Zep 3:13 Isa 17:2. Repent, and thou shall fear no more a revolution of any thy troubles.

Ver. 16. Because thou shalt forget thy misery] There being no fear left, or footstep thereof remaining to renew thy grief, #Ge 41:30. Remember thy former trouble thou shall, with thankfulness for a better condition now, but not otherwise; all the marks of former affliction shall be worn out. See #Isa 65:13,16, so that thou shalt discount all the evil thou hast endured.

And remember it as waters that pass away] As a land flood soon gone, as a light cloud quickly over; or as Noah’s flood, which that good man thought upon, when it was past, with thankfulness to God, offering sacrifice for his safety. So shalt thou, Job; and as a man seldom thinketh how much water passeth by his habitation by day and by night, or if he do, yet it is no trouble to his mind, no more shall the remembrance of former miseries be to thine.

Ver. 17. And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday] The rest of thy life which thou givest for lost, shall be the very prime part of thy time for glory. Solid glory springeth out of innocence of life, beneficence toward all men, acts done valiantly and successfully with justice and moderation of mind; whereunto is added the constant applause of good men, proceeding from an admiration of so great virtue. This Zophar promiseth Job upon his true repentance, with a daily increase thereof, as the sun shineth more and more unto the perfect day. Fame followeth virtue, as the shadow doth the body at the very heels. "If there be any virtue, if any praise," saith the apostle, #Php 4:8. Where the one is the other will be. Abel for his faith and righteousness is yet spoken of (as some render #Heb 11:4), though dead long ago. "The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance," #Ps 112:6.

Thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning] #Isa 58:8. Or, if thou dost wax obscure, yet thou shalt match the morning, which disperseth darkness, and conquers it by the approaching light. Look how the moon wadeth out of a cloud, so shall thine overcast righteousness "break forth as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday," #Ps 37:6.

Ver. 18. And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope] It is a spiritual security that is here promised, which is a fruit of faith, quelling and killing distracting and distrustful fears; faith, I say, unfeigned, #1Ti 1:5, which produceth hope unfailable, #Ro 5:5. Hope is the daughter of faith, but such as is a staff to her aged mother.

Yea, thou shalt dig about thee] That is (saith one interpreter) by searching to find out how to do all things for the best, thou shalt prosper in all. Others sense it thus, Thou shalt be secure as they that lie in trenches (Eugub. Tigur.). Rabbi David, Thou shalt dig only about thy city, and not need to make any walls about it for thy security. Others, Thou shalt labour hard, and sleep soundly thereupon (Lavater). Or thus, God shall so encompass thee with his safe protection, as if thou dost but dig a place to pitch thy tent in, thou shalt enjoy thyself more safely therein than otherwise thou wouldest do in a walled city.

And thou shalt take thy rest] God will keep off those gnats of cares and fears, that might disquiet thee. We read of some great princes that could not sleep, as Ahasuerus, #Es 6:1, Richard III of England, and Charles IX of France, after that barbarous massacre at Paris (Daniel Thulin.); but David could, #Ps 3 Ps 4, because God was his keeper. No marvel that Philip sleepeth soundly when Antipater, his fast friend, watched by him the while. Job and all God’s beloved ones shall sleep on both ears, #Ps 127:2, rest securely and comfortably ( In utramvis aurem). What should hinder, when the keeper of Israel, who neither slumbereth nor sleepeth, shall watch over them for good?

Ver. 19. Thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid] Thou shalt walk about the world like a conqueror, being ever under a double guard, the peace of God within thee, #Php 4:7, and the power of God without thee, #1Pe 1:5, neither shall any enemy come upon thee in the night to fright and to disturb thee, which is a great mercy. It is not long since we of this nation did eat the bread of our souls in peril of our lives, neither could we rest in our beds for the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction was cried, &c., #Jer 4:19,20. Should this ever be forgotten?

Yea, many shall make suit unto thee] Heb. Shall entreat thy face; yea, they shall tire thee out with their entreaties. Many seek the ruler’s favour, #Pr 29:26, he is even thronged with suitors, so that he cannot be without a master of requests. Hence the poet Orpheus feigneth that Litae , or supplications and petitions, are Jove’s daughters; and that they are ever attending at his throne, ου γαρ ατιμοι ικεσιου Ζηνος κουραι λιται (Orph. in Arg.). Here then Zophar promiseth Job, that upon his return to God he shall be as great a man as ever; and that many, yea, that his very enemies, shall not only not molest him, but fear his power, and beg his favour, #Jer 30:17. And whereas once it was, This is Job whom no man seeketh after, then the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour, #Ps 45:12, and all that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, #Isa 60:14 45:14 Re 3:9 Pr 19:6. Lo, this is the honour God putteth upon holiness: "Holy and reverend is his name"; and therefore reverend because holy, #Ps 111:9: so also is ours, #Isa 43:4. Howbeit we have cause to complain, that in these last and worst times, as the Turks count all fools to be saints, so men with us account all saints to be fools; and not a few turn to unholiness, lest they should be despised, Omnes quodammodo mali esse coguntur, ne viles habeantur (Sal.).

Ver. 20. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail] Contraries illustrate one another; and Zophar, willing his words should stick and work, thinks to leave a sting in Job’s mind by telling him what he must trust to if he persist in his sin. And first, his eyes shall fail. The eye is a principal part of the body; and the failing of the eyes followeth either upon some sudden fright or upon much weeping, #La 1:2 Ps 38 Ps 88. (we read of one Faustus, son of Vortigem, king of Britain, who wept out his eyes), or too long looking after the same thing, or on the same object. Ut vehementius vellicet et fodiat inopinatum, ut putabat Iobi, animum (Merl., Speed.). The wicked, saith Zophar, shall never lach frights and griefs; they shall also look many a long look after help, but none shall appear, #La 4:17; their hopes shall be fruitless, their projects successless.

And they shall not escape] Heb. Refuge or flight shall perish from them; miseries and mischiefs they shall never be able to avert or avoid. "Many sorrows shall be to the wicked," #Ps 32:10; and although they may think to get off or outrun them, yet it will not be, #Am 2:14 Ps 142:4. Saul for instance: God hath forsaken me, saith he, and the Philistines are upon me, #1Sa 28:15.

Their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost] Broughton rendereth it, Their hope is nought but pangs of the soul. Of that which yieldeth but cold comfort we use to say, It comforteth a man like the pangs of death. The Vulgate hath it, Their hope shall be the abomination of their soul; the Tigurine, Their hope shall be most vain, even as a puff of breath, which presently passeth away, and cometh to nothing. Some Rabbis make this the sense, Their hope shall be as the snuffing of the breath; that is, they shall be so angry at their disappointments, that they shall vex and snuff at it. According to our translation, the wicked man’s hope is set forth as utterly forlorn, and at an end for any good ever to befall him. The godly man’s hope is lively, #1Pe 1:8, and the righteous hath hope in his death, #Pr 14:32 Cum expiro spero, when I die I have hope, is his motto; whereas the wicked’s word when he dieth is, or may be, Spes et fortuna valete, Farewell hope and fortune, My life and hope endeth together. Spes eorum expiratione animae, so Tremellius rendereth the text. Death causeth in the wicked a total despair, and a most dreadful screek giveth the guilty soul, when it seeth itself launching into an infinite ocean of scalding lead, and considereth that therein it must swim naked for ever.

Chapter 12

Ver. 1. And Job answered and said] Being nipped and nettled with his friends’ hard usage of him, and harsh language to him, but especially with Zophar’s arrogant and lofty preface in the former chapter, he begins now to wax warm, and more roughly and roundly to shape them an answer.

Ver. 2. No doubt but ye are the people] The select peculiar people, the only ones, as a man is put for a good man, #Jer 5:1, a wife for a good wife, #Pr 18:22, a name for a good name, #Ec 7:1. As Athens was said to be the Greece of Greece, and as one promising to show his friend all Athens at once, showed him Solon; or as the Latin poet, saying of Fabius Maximus,

Hic patria est, murique urbis stant pectore in uno (Silius).

So saith Job by a holy jeer (not to disgrace his friends, but to bring them to more modesty and moderation, if it might be), Certes, ye are not one or two men, but specimen totius orbis, an epitome of the world, or at least the representative of some whole people (Vatablus); ye have got away all the wit from myself and others, whom ye look upon as so many wild ass’s colts in comparison of yourselves. Thus the pope (Simon Magus like) pretends to be some great thing, #Ac 8:9, even the Church virtual; and that in his breast, as in Noah’s ark, is comprehended all wisdom and worth. Ye know nothing at all, saith he (Caiaphas-like), to all others, #Joh 11:49. So do his janizaries, the Jesuits, who will needs be taken for the only scholars, politicians, and orators of the world. The Church, say they, is the soul of the world; the clergy, of the Church; and we, of the clergy; the empire of learning is ours, &c.

And wisdom shall die with you] As being locked up in your bosoms. Suetonius telleth us of Palaemon, the grammarian, that he was heard to say that learning was born with him, and would die with him. The Gnostics would needs be held the only knowing men; Illuminates, in Spain, the only spiritual men; Swenkfeldians, in Germany, styled themselves the confessors of the glory of Christ; our Antinomians, the hearers of the gospel, and of free grace. But what saith Solomon? "Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth," #Pr 27:2. And that which had been much to a man’s commendation if from another, soundeth very slenderly from himself, saith Pliny. Aben Ezra and Rabbi Levi set another sense upon this verse, as if it were no irony, but a plain assertion to this effect: Questionless you are to be counted among the common sort of people. See #Joh 7:49. Neither is there in you anything excellent or extraordinary, that ye should be looked upon as drained from the dregs or sifted from the brans of the very vulgar; your wisdom, if ever you had any, is even dead and decayed with you, and you have outlived your prime, &c.

Ver. 3. But I have understanding as well as you] Think not that you have engrossed all the knowledge, and that you have the monopoly of wisdom in your breasts; for surely I may come into the balance with you, and claim as great a share in understanding as yourselves. Zophar was pleased to call me hollow and heartless, #Job 11:12; but I have a heart (so the Hebrew here hath it), that seat of understanding; and that shall appear in the ensuing discourse: where Job proveth that by solid arguments concerning which Zophar had but barely propounded. And whereas this patient man was not without his impatience, yet he discovereth more grace, even in his distempers, than his friends did in their seeming wise carnages. Breaking out in the body shows strength of nature. Some infirmities discover more good than some seeming beautiful actions.

I am not inferior to you] Heb. I fall not lower than you. See #Ne 6:16 Es 6:13 Job 13:2. He meaneth that he was much their superior, and did better understand the doctrine of God’s providence than they. This he speaketh not out of any vain glory, or ambitious boasting, but as David, and Paul, and others after them did, commending themselves, either in defence of their own wronged innocence, or when it appeared unto them that the concealing of their good parts and practices might turn to the hindrance of the truth, or to the harm of the Church, or to the impairing and impeaching of God’s glory. In these cases self-commendation is not unseemly; but a Job may lawfully stand upon, not his comparisons only, but his disparisons also.

Yea, who knoweth not eueh things as these?] viz. That God rewardeth the righteous, and punisheth the ungodly. The heathen saw this by the rush candle of nature’s dim light. "Doth not nature itself teach you?" saith Paul, #1Co 11:14. And again, "This ye know, that no whoremonger, &c., hath any inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ," #Eph 5:5.

Ver. 4. Iam as one mocked of his neighbour] Those that should countenance and comfort me contemn and scorn me. I am their laughter and pastime; so he took it, since they sat so heavily upon the skirts of his conscience, and would not weigh his reasons brought in his own defence.

Who calleth upon God, and he answereth him] i.e. I, Job, do make God my refuge when these jeering neighbours of mine do shame my counsel, #Ps 14:6, and would mock me out of my religion; but God favoureth me though men frown; and where human help faileth Divine appeareth. Or thus rather: I am derided by those who profess to call upon God, and to hear often from heaven. They are hard hearted to me, though themselves have liberally tasted of God’s tenderness; and they pull up the bridge of mercy before me, which themselves have oft gone over.

The just upright man is laughed to scorn] "Shame shall be the promotion of fools," #Pr 3:35, and such a dissembler as Doeg may well be derided, #Ps 52:6,7. But what hath the righteous done? And why should just, upright Job be laughed to scorn? But this is no news. Christ and his people have ever been for signs and for wonders in this mad world, always beside itself in point of salvation. "He that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey," or is accounted mad, #Isa 59:15. If he will needs be a just upright man, if he will live godly in Christ Jesus (if he be so set upon it, that none shall hinder him), he shall suffer persecution, this of the tongue howsoever, #2Ti 3:12. A wolf flieth not upon a painted sheep. We can look upon a painted toad with delight; it is the reality of godliness that is hated.

Ver. 5. He that is ready to slip with his feet] He who is in a declining, tottering condition, ready to fall and perish under the burden of his afflictions, though formerly he was looked upon and made use of as a lamp or torch, yet when he is at an under, and brought low, is shamefully slighted by such as have the world at will; like as a torch when wasted and waxen short is cast out of the hands, and trodden on with the feet of him that held it. The holiest men, if afflicted, do but smother instead of shining. When Christ himself was a man of sorrows, he was therefore despised and rejected of men, who hid, as it were, their faces from him, and esteemed him not, #Isa 53:3. The prodigal’s elder brother speaks scornfully of him, because poor, #Lu 15:30, "This thy son." He saith not, This my brother, &c. Gregory saith, that the poor just man is here compared to a lamp extinct, because he shineth inwardly by the virtue of an upright heart; but outwardly is as it were extinct, because there is nothing outward to commend him; no glorious apparel, no goodly houses, &c.; whence they are slighted by the rich wretches of this world. But such a lamp (saith he, following the Vulgate translation) is set for an appointed time; that is, the day of judgment, when he shall shine most brightly, even as the sun, &c., when the world’s favourites shall be thrust into utter darkness.

Ver. 6. The tabernacles of robbers prosper] By robbers here understand all such as sin against the second table, but especially oppressors and wrong dealers, whether by force or fraud. As by those that provoke God ( qui res Dei interturbant, so the Tigurines translate), that irritate and disquiet him, attempting to put him out of temper, are meant sinners against the first table. See the like #1Ti 1:13: I was against God a blasphemer, against man a persecutor, against both injurious; but I obtained mercy, special mercy. So do not these robbers and God-provokers in the text: thrive they may, and be in a peaceable condition; yea, they may be secure and confident of the continuance of their prosperity. Confidences are to them, saith the Hebrew, verity; for they trust in uncertain riches, while God bringeth into their hands, viz. whatsoever they wish, yet not as love tokens, but as wrath tokens; these fatting beasts are but fitting for the slaughter. God oft giveth in wrath to some which he withholdeth from others in great mercy. Meanwhile Zophar’s twofold assertion in the former chapter, #Job 12:17,20, that good men prosper here, and bad men suffer, falls to the ground, while Job disproves it, 1. By experience in this verse and the former. 2. By the testimony of the creatures, those catholic preachers, #Job 12:7-10 3. By the testimony of the senses, and of ancient men, #Job 12:11,12.

Ver. 7. But ask now the beasts of the earth, and they shall teach thee] Even the wildest of them that abide in the wilderness. There is not one of these, or else of the fowls of the air, but can both teach thee, and tell thee that the world is ordered by a providence, that God is powerful, wise, just, &c., and must therefore be loved and served. That he suffereth the bad to oppress the good, as the beasts do devour the little ones; as the hurtful fowls destroy the harmless; as the great fishes eat up the smaller: man, who was once the captain of God’s school, is now, for his truantcy, turned down into the lowest form, as it were, to learn his A B C’s again; yea, to learn it from the meanest creatures. See #Pr 6:6 Jer 8:7 Mt 6:26; where it appeareth, that in the ant, stork, swallow, &c., God hath set before us, as in a picture, the lively resemblance of many excellent virtues, which we ought to pursue and practise. These are the right laymen’s books, the images that may truly teach people the knowledge of God, and of his will, of themselves, and of their duties; which we should the rather learn, because God hath given us wisdom beyond them, #Job 37:11, and yet by sending us to them, shameth our dulness and disobedience.

Ver. 8. Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee] Teach thee? what? Surely many good lessons; as that of humility and modesty, considering our origin, Terra quam terimus docet terram quam gerimus; that of fruitfulness, while she liberally yields her riches and strength, and brings forth food for the maintenance of those innumerable armies of creatures that live upon her; but especially, and for the purpose, this the earth teacheth, that the tabernacles of robbers prosper, that oppressors swallow down most of her delicates, eat the fat and drink the sweet, ruffle in her silks, and rifle in her hidden treasures of gold and silver.

And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee] These muti magistri silent teachers, have somewhat also to say to thee, and by a dumb kind of eloquence read thee a divinity lecture, while they are able to produce many such particular examples of violence in the seas; and will further declare (or cipher up unto thee) how oft they are served up to great men’s tables, and do fill the fat paunches of oppressors. It is not unlikely that Job, in this frequent sending Zophar to school to the unreasonable and inanimate creatures, closely twitteth him with those quicker questions of his, #Job 11:8, "What canst thou do? what canst thou know?" &c., giving him also to know that he need not travel as far as heaven or hell for instances of God’s infinite power and wisdom, since we may contemplate the footsteps of God in each creature; and since he is so near unto us that he may be almost felt with our hands, as Paul speaketh (ψηλαφησειαν), #Ac 17:27.

Ver. 9. Who knoweth not in all these, &c.] Or, by all these before mentioned creatures, &c., and therefore, Zophar, you have showen no more wisdom in your lofty discourse than the birds, beasts, and fishes have taught and told us. It is a silly vanity to pretend mysteriousness about vulgar truths; to dig deep for that which lieth above ground, Theologia cryptica; to talk of new truths, and never before heard of, when as the hearer may well say, as here, Who knows not such things as these? Of some in these days it is observed, that they call upon their hearers to mark, it may be they shall hear that which they have not heard before; when the thing is either false, or if true, no more than ordinarily is taught by others.

That the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?] That he alone made all without tool or toil, and that he alone manageth and ordereth all according to the good pleasure of his will; neither need he subscribe his name to his work; for the very things that he hath made proclaim that he made them. Meanwhile, hereby we may see how much we are beholden to Aristotle, Aelian, Gesner, and other learned men, who have written books concerning the nature of living creatures.

Ver. 10. In whose hand is the soul of every living thing] That is, the life of every beast, flowing from a sensitive soul, #Le 17:10,11. This, God both giveth to the creature and conserveth it; he suffereth it not to be taken away from little sparrows, or the like, without order from him; much less befalleth any such thing to man without his singular providence, since our very hairs also are numbered, #Mt 9:30 Lu 12:7. The Jewish doctors do therefore offer manifest injury to Job when they say, that he held indeed that God created, and doth preserve, the several kinds of things, but permitteth the particulars and individuals to be hap hazard; whereas here he delivereth his judgment plainly to the contrary, when he saith,

And the breath of all mankind] Heb. The spirit of all man’s flesh (and so Broughton readeth it), that is, of every man’s body: hence God is called the God of the spirits of all flesh, #Nu 16:22, and the Father of spirits, #Heb 12:9, and the former of the spirit of man within him, #Zec 12:1. "My times are in thy hand," saith David, #Ps 31:15. God preserves our lives as a light in a lantern, and we may be glad it is in so safe a hand; we should therefore honour him, as Daniel telleth Belshazzar, #Da 5:23; yea, "let everything that hath breath praise the Lord," #Ps 150:6; or, as the Hebrew hath it, Let every breath praise the Lord: as oft as we breathe we are to breathe out the praise of God, and to make our breath like the smoke of the tabernacle; this we should do the rather because our breath is in our nostrils, #Isa 2:22, every moment ready to puff out, and the grave cannot praise God, death cannot celebrate him, #Isa 38:18.

Ver. 11. Doth not the ear try words? &c.] The mind may as easily conceive of these truths as the ear judgeth certainly of the variety of sounds, and the tongue of the diversity of tastes; neither may you think that I will, without any examination or distinction, allow your discourses; or that I can take it well that you reject, as void of reason, whatsoever I have said, without once weighing it. The ear is one of the two learned senses, it is an instrument of discipline; only it should be kept clean and free from prejudice or passion, which will be as gall in the ear. See #Ex 6:9. Demosthenes called oft upon his Athenians to get their ears purged of choler, Quaedam animalia fel in aure gestant, and Alexander, when he heard a cause, was wont always to keep ους αδιαβλητον, one ear free from the other party: he would not be prepossessed, Mercer observeth, that the Hebrew word for an ear doth in the dual number signify a pair of balances (Ozen, oznajin), to note that a judicious Christian taketh not up truth upon trust, but considereth first, and afterwards believeth. He trieth all things, and then holdeth fast that which is good, but abstaineth from all appearance of evil, #1Th 5:21,22. The ear and the mind are in the Greek tongue very like in sound, ους νους: the mind judgeth of the truth of words by the ears, as the beam in a pair of balances determineth the just weight of things by the two scales. He that is spiritual discerneth all things, #1Co 2:15, he hath spiritual senses, #Php 1:9, senses exercised, habitually exercised, to discern good and evil, #Heb 5:14; his service is a rational service, #Ro 12:1, his obedience the obedience of faith, #Ro 16:26. Whereas the natural man is carried away as he is led, #2Co 12:2, pulled away with the error of the wicked, #2Pe 3:17, taken prisoner by seducers, #2Ti 3:6, and by them made prize of, #Col 2:8, as having either no skill or no will to examine what is doctrinally propounded to him.

And the mouth taste his meat?] Heb. The palate, sensorium, which is the proper instrument of tasting. Now the order of nature requireth, saith Merlin, that seeing our bodily senses are so nimble and able to discern what is sour, what sweet, &c., our understandings also should do the same by right reason; and the contrary is very absurd and unbecoming a man; neither can there be any good excuse made for our dulness, if we bend not our minds to the search of the truth, forasmuch as there is so much ado made to please the palate, eyes, ears, and other senses. Catullus wished all his body were nose, that he might spend all his time in sweet smells. Philoxenus, that his neck were as long as a crane’s, that he might take more delight in meats and drinks (it seems that he placed tasting not in the mouth, but in the throat). Boccacio, the Italian poet, said, that he was born al’amore delle donne, for the love of women; and of a prodigal pleasure monger in London, we read, that to please all his five senses at once, he allowed to the delight of every different sense a several hundred pounds (Theatre of God’s Judgments). {See Trapp on "Am 6:6"} There is a sancta crapula, a holy gluttony, as Luther calleth a hearty feeding on divine viands, a finding fatness and sweetness beyond that of the honey and honeycomb in God’s ordinances, #Ps 63:5,6; crying to Jesus Christ as the spouse doth, #So 8:13, Cause me to hearken to thy voice; and obeying him, thus bespeaking us, Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved, till you are even inebriated with loves, #So 5:1.

Ver. 12. With the ancient is wisdom] Heb. With the decrepit, who have a long, long being upon earth, and are now become wondrous old, even fourscore and upward; with such is wisdom, or else it is a shame for them. See #1Jo 2:12 Heb 5:12. True it is, that wisdom doth not always lean upon a staff nor look through spectacles. Age is no just measure of wisdom. There are beardless sages (as was Solomon) and grey headed children, as Rehoboam. Macarius was called μειρακιογερων, the old youth (Samuel, Daniel, Timothy, were such). When Arsacius, who succeeded Chrysostom, was an old dotrel of fourscore years, adorandm rubiginis, rust to be worshipped, as one saith of some ancient authors; and Nectarius, who succeeded Nazianzen, was a mere novice, and preferred to that place only because he was of a venerable aspect, and of a bishop like presence and deportment, Veneranda canitie, et vultu sacerdote digno (Baron.). Of the Brabants Erasmus testifieth, that the older they are the more foolish. And Job here seemeth to tax his friends, that though old, yet they were not overly wise, not worthy of their years, since they understood not what he spake concerning God’s providence. Is wisdom with the ancient? saith he, and understanding in length of days? so some read it as a question, q.d. it ill appeareth.

And in length of days understanding] By reason of their much observation and frequent experience, together with their ability to draw other things out of those they have observed, and from former events to presage future. This is to be understood as such old men are like flowers which have their roots perfect when they themselves are withering; as, with roses, keep a sweet savour though they lose their colour; as, like the sun, they shine most amiably at their going down. But lest we should attribute too much to such sages, Job shows, in the next verse, that all their wisdom is but derivative, and that all their understanding is but a spark of God’s flame, a drop of his ocean.

Ver. 13. With him is wisdom and strength, &c.] Wisdom, strength, counsel, and understanding, are all concentred in the Ancient of days; complete he is in all excellence and perfection, all which meet in him, and continue always in the highest degree. The mighty God "fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding," #Isa 40:28. He is also no less good than great and wise; good, original, universal, all sufficient, and satisfactory, proportionate, and fitting for our soul; which, as it was made by him, and for him, so it is never at quiet till it resteth in him. See #Job 9:4.

He hath counsel and understanding] Counsel he hath, but without consultation; wisdom, but without experience; knowledge, but without discourse; decree, but without deliberation: Loquimur de Deo, &c., We speak of God, saith one, not as we ought, but as we are able. And these things we speak of God, saith Augustine, because we find not what better to speak of him. But Job hath a mind to say the utmost that may be said.

Ver. 14. Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again] As he did the old world, Sodom and Gomorrah, many monarchies and empires, the tower of Babel, and other castles and houses which now live by fame only, if at all. If God have a mind to ruin these, who shall raise or repair them? Julian, the apostate, in spite of the Christians, set the Jews to work to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem, but they could never effect it by reason of a terrible earthquake, that slew the workmen and marred the materials (Am. Marcel., Socrat. 3, Theod., Ruffin.). The Arian bishops held a second council at Nice, with the purpose of having abolished the memory of the first together with the Nicene Creed, and to have established Arianism (Func.); but God disappointed them, and sent them packing thence by a huge earthquake, which overturned a great part of that city, and killed a number of people. Constans, nephew to Heraclius, the Greek emperor, and (three hundred years after him) Otho, emperor of Germany, endeavoured, but in vain, to make Rome the seat of their empires, as anciently it had been (Theophanes, Zonares, Cedrenus). God would not allow it so to be, saith Genebrard, because the kingdom of the Church, foretold by Daniel, was to have its seat there. If he had said, the kingdom of Antichrist, foretold by Paul and John the divine, he had hit the nail on the very head.

He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening] He clappeth him up close prisoner, as Manasseh, Zedekiah, Bajazet, Boniface VIII, &c., or fasteneth him to his bed by some chronic disease (as he did Abimelech, Ahaziah, Asa, Aeneas, #Ac 9:33), or otherwise straiteneth him, that he knows not how to help himself, as he did Pharaoh, Saul (when the Philistines were upon him on every side), those refractories in Isaiah, #Isa 9:2, and shall do the whore of Babylon, #Re 18:9-19, when her lovers shall bewail her, but not be able to help her, #Job 12:9,10. For when God shutteth up any in this sort, they must lie by it till he please to release them and extricate them, as he did Joseph, Jehoshaphat, David, Peter, Valentinian, and many others, when they were even forsaken by their hopes.

Ver. 15. Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up] He not only, when he pleaseth, imprisoneth men, but waters also, that they cannot get out of the clouds, those bottles of rain, those airy sponges, vessels as thin as the liquor that is contained in them; it is from the power of God that they dissolve not upon us at once, and overwhelm us. Bartholinus reports that in the year of grace 1551 a great number of men and cattle were drowned by the sudden breaking of a cloud; various vineyards, stone walls, strong houses, were destroyed and ruined. At sea, sometimes, ships are by the same means sunk; seamen call it a water spout. Again, it is by the anger and judgments of God that the clouds are sometimes so closed up, that they yield no more water than iron or adamant. "If I shut up heaven," saith he, "that there be no rain," #2Ch 7:13 De 28:23,24. God threateneth, as a punishment of men’s sins, that the heavens over their heads shall be brass, and the earth under them shall be iron; that the rain of their land shall be made powder and dust; from heaven shall it come down upon them, &c., by exceeding great drought, grains of dust shall ascend into the air with the wind, and come down as the drops of rain in a shower when it is kindly weather. Thus it was in Ahab’s days, #1Ki 18:1; {See Trapp on "Joe 1:20"}

And they dry up] The rivers, fruits of the earth, roots of trees, all dry up, languish, and perish; fevers also, and other acute diseases, abound.

Also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth] They did so with an accent in the general deluge, and in Deucalion’s flood in Thessaly, besides many other great tracts and parts of the earth overturned by water. Pliny and Seneca give us sundry instances of towns and countries laid waste by water (Plin. Nat. Hist., lib. ii. cap. 90, 92; Sen. Nat. Quaest., lib. vi. cap. 23). What great damage was lately done about Amsterdam by water, and what breaking down of bridges, mills, and other houses, by excessive rain and floods thereupon, besides marring of grounds and rotting of cattle in many places among us, needeth not here to be related.

Ver. 16. With him is strength and wisdom] i.e. Such strength as he exerciseth most wisely, mightily, and righteously. Sic volo, sic iubeo, I wish so, so I command, saith the tyrant, Right or wrong, thus it shall be. Volumus et iubemus, saith that man of sin, We will and command, &c., neither must any one mute or say so much as What dost thou? upon pain of damnation. When Constantius would have Paulinus, Lucifer, and other bishops subscribe against Athanasius, and communicate with the Arians, he yielded to no other reason but this, Quod ego volo, pro canone sit, Do as I bid, or get you into banishment. But God, though he hath all power in his hand, and may do whatsoever he pleaseth, yet with him is strength and equity (so Vatablus rendereth the word Tushijah here used), or the being, substance, and permanence of all creatures (so Munster), which subsist merely by his manutention; or, the rule and certain law of wisdom and judgment, by which wisdom acteth, saith Mercer. So then the Lord, though he make his will a law, yet he cannot do otherwise than well, because nothing but wisdom and equity is in it.

The deceived and the deceiver are his] This Job produceth as a proof of God’s insuperable strength and unsearchable wisdom, that he hath an over ruling hand in the artifices and sleights of men, even the "cunning craftiness" (as the apostle speaketh), #Eph 4:14, "whereby they lie in wait to deceive." These he not only and barely permitteth in his just judgment upon the deceived (whether through ignorance or idleness), but disposeth, also, and ordereth both the deceiver and the deceived (whether in spiritual things or civil) to his own righteous ends and holy purposes. See #Eze 14:9 1Ki 22:19,20 2Th 2:11 Isa 19:14, and then conclude, with Job, that wisdom and strength are his, who can thus draw light out of darkness, and powerfully order the disorders of the world to his own glory, and the good of his people: "For there must be heresies, that they which are approved may be made manifest," #1Co 11:19. Meanwhile, here is the comfort of every good soul, that none can take them out of the Father’s hands, #Joh 10:29, and it is impossible that the elect should be totally and finally deceived, because both the deceived and the deceiver are God’s; by him, and from him, and for him are deceivers and deceived (so Broughton translateth this text). By him, for he suffereth and ordereth them; from him, for he sendeth them; and for him, for they promote his glory and serve his ends. He many times suffereth the tree of the Church to be shaken, that rotten fruit may drop off. There are those who set this sense upon the words; they are both in God’s hands, the deceiver, to have revenge taken upon him, and the deceived, who revengeth not himself, to have his cause righted, as #1Th 4:6; an argument both of God’s wisdom, to find out the deceiver, however subtle; and likewise of his power, in punishing them, however potent.

Ver. 17. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled] viz. Of wit, wealth, and honour. This should be a warning to them, not to take ill causes in hand, not to call evil good and good evil, not to justify the wicked for a reward, and to take away the righteousness of the righteous from him; not to bolster out a bad cause, and to outface a good, lest if they improve their wits and parts to so evil an end, God make them as despicable as before they were honourable. They may see what the Lord did to Ahithophel, that oracle of his time; to Pharaoh’s counsellors, #Isa 9:11,12; to Pharaoh himself, #Ex 1:10 with #Pr 28:15.

And he maketh the judges fools] Broughton rendereth the verse thus, He brings counsellors to badness, and judges to stark madness. He infatuateth them, not by infusing folly into them, anymore than the sun, when he shineth not in our horizon, causeth darkness in the air, which of itself and of its own nature is dark. But when God withholdeth that light of wisdom which he had imparted to a man, his inbred darkness must needs show itself. More than this, it sometimes cometh to pass, that when God delivereth a man up for his sins to a reprobate and injudicious mind, he is thenceforth deprived sometimes of natural wisdom and common sense, that the divine revenge may be the more apparent.

Ver. 18. He looseth the bonds of kings] He degradeth them, taking away all command and authority from them, which is the bond that bindeth the people to obedience and subjection, #Job 30:11 Isa 45:1,5; as our Henry III, who was called Regni dilapidator, unloved by his people, and far a less king, saith Daniel, by striving to be more than he was; the just reward of violations.

And girdeth their loins with a girdle] With a rope, say the Vulgate; he brings them from the throne to the prison (Val. Max. Christ.); he layeth affliction upon their loins, as #Ps 66:11. An instance hereof (beside the late king, and Corradinus, king of Germany, likewise beheaded at Naples) we had here in Richard II, brought forth in a royal robe to be deposed, and then hunger starved in prison; as also in Henry VI, who having been the most potent monarch for dominions that ever England had, was afterwards (when deposed) not the master of a mole hill, nor owner of his own liberty, but baffled and beaten by every base fellow. Some interpreters make the sense this way: God sometimes looseth the bonds into which princes are brought, and advanceth them again to kingly dignity, the ensign whereof was of old a precious girdle. So it befell Manasseh, Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiakim, restored and honoured again as a king, by Evilmerodaeh, #2Ki 25:28. Historians write, that Nebuchadnezzar was so offended with his son and successor, Evilmerodach, as he cast him into prison, and that in prison he and Jehoiakim became acquainted together, which resulted in his advancement afterwards.

Ver. 19. He leadeth away princes spoiled] Or priests. Ducit sacerdotes inglorios, so the Vulgate translateth, He leadeth away the priests without glory, dishonoured. Priests were generally much esteemed and privileged in all ages. Alexander the Great gave greatest respect to Jaddus, the Jewish high priest. When the Gauls had burnt Rome, and were besieging the capitol, Gaius Fabius Dorso, attired as a priest, with his sacrifice and other necessaries in his hand, marched through the midst of the enemies, astonished at his resolution, offered his sacrifice on the hill Quirinalis, and returned in safety. The Bardi, a kind of priests, were here in Albion of such esteem among the greatest commanders, that if two armies were even at push of pike, and a bard had stepped in between them, they would have held their hands, hearkened to his advice, and not have offered to strike till he were out of danger: Magna fuit quondam capitis reverentia sacri. Howbeit, such also have been carried captive, and slain by the enemy, as was Seraiah, the high priest, by Nebuchadnezzar; and before him the two sons of Eli (whose white ephod covered foul sins), slain by the Philistines. "The Lord hath despised, in the indignation of his anger, both the king and the priest," #La 2:6. "Both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not," #Jer 14:18. The word Cohen is used indifferently to signify a priest or prince, an ecclesiastical or secular governor. Broughton rendereth it here dukes; others, presidents or praefects of provinces. Honour is no shelter against the wrath of God.

And overthroweth the mighty] Such as might seem immoveable as a rock, or tree firmly rooted, these God shaketh and shattereth to pieces; he rooteth them up, and ruineth them. Let no man think to prevail by strength, #1Sa 2:9, since the weakness of God (if any such thing there were) is stronger than men, #1Co 1:25. He will smite his enemies (as so many puny boys) in the hinder parts, and so put them to a perpetual reproach, #Ps 78:66. Yea, he will not only smite them on the loins, but through the loins, #De 32:11, that they never rise again. Let them, therefore, learn to meddle with their match, #Ec 6:10, and take heed how they fall into the punishing hands of the living God.

Ver. 20. He removeth away the speech of the trusty] Or, of the eloquent, as Demosthenes, the most eloquent of the Greeks, being by them frequently sent as an ambassador to Philip, king of Macedonia, thrice stood speechless before him, and on thirty different occasions forgot those things which he had thought to have spoken, as Tzetzes testifieth (Chiliad 7). So Latomus, of Lovain, that apostate and persecutor of the truth, having prepared an elegant oration to make to Charles V, emperor, was so confounded, that he could hardly speak a word of sense, the grief whereof broke his heart. The counsellor and the eloquent orator, the prudent and the ancient, are reckoned up as the stay and the staff, the beauty and bulwark, of a nation, #Isa 3:2,3. These God removes at his pleasure, and, for a general judgment, causing either them to die or their abilities to die and decay, or crossing their attempts, that they shall speak persuasively, but not persuade people, but beslighted and exploded of all. Yea, though they be truth speakers ( veracium), so the Vulgate hath it, or trusty, as our translation, confiding men, as they are called, worthy to be trusted; such faithful counsellors as Polybius was to Scipio, who never miscarried in anything wherein he followed his advice, as the historian testifieth; yet God can remove or change the speech of such, by leaving them to their own unfaithfulness and inconstancy, as we have plentifully experimented in these late discriminating and shedding times.

And taketh away the understanding of the aged] Heb. And taketh the sense, or savour, or taste of the elders or senators, that they shall be no more able to discern and determine what is true or false, right or wrong, than old Barzillai could skill of the court meals and music. See this threatened #Isa 29:14. Such old men, as either were bred scholars, or have had much experience in the management of great affairs, are presumed to be of great understanding; but God can either take such away, as he threateneth to do, #Isa 3:3,4, or take away their wisdom, to render them useless to the public; as it is reported of Theodorus Gaza and of Albertus Magnus, those great scholars, that for certain years before they died they did so dote, and were so childish, that they could not write their own names, or read a letter on the book. Let, therefore, the eloquent and the aged take heed they abuse not their abilities, lest they forget and lose them.

Ver. 21. He poureth contempt upon princes] Or nobles, or gentlemen, which are, or should be, free, bounteous, munificent benefactors (ευεργεται): if they be not Nedibim, but Nebalim, liberal, but churlish (see these opposed, #Isa 32:5), it is just in God to pour contempt, to lay abundance of shame and scorn upon them, as sordid penny fathers, ignoble Euelios, poor-spirited men, the base brood, or rather blot, of their better forefathers. Of our Edward II it is chronicled, that never was prince received with greater love and opinion of all than he, or never any that sooner lost it: for his very first action in recalling his minion, Pierce Gaveston, discovered a headstrong wilfulness, that was uncounsellable; hence he was slighted by his subjects, pursued by his wife and son, and at length cruelly murdered (Daniel). Mercer observeth that David hath the selfsame words, #Ps 107:40, that are found here and #Job 12:24. Neither need we wonder, since they both spoke by the same spirit.

And weakeneth the strength of the mighty] Heb. He slackeneth the girdle of the impetuous, that, like strong streams in narrow straits, bear down all before them. So do soldiers in war. See #2Sa 22:36 Job 6:11. But God can loose their girdles (or belts, which bind their garments, and buckle their armour close to them), he can dispirit them, and make them feeble and faint hearted, as he did Samson, and those Assyrians, #Ps 76:5,6. By this whole discourse of Job it appeareth that he had very diligently observed God’s providence, and way of administration in the several ranks of men, and alterations of commonwealths; whereby he had learned secretly to admire and adore God’s judgments, which thing we ought also similarily to do.

Ver. 22. He discovereth deep things out of darkness] As he did to Joseph and Pharaoh by dreams, to the prophets by visions and revelations, and still doth to his people by his Spirit: "for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God," #1Co 2:10. He bringeth to light also the hidden things of darkness, hellish conspiracies, as in the gunpowder plot; the deep reaches of kings to maintain their authority and compass their designs, resolving to suffer never a rub to lie in their way that might hinder the true running of their bowl Philip de Comines dived so deep and wrote so plainly of the stately affairs (those arcana imperii), that Katharine de Medicis (queen-mother of France) was wont to say that he had made as many heretics in policy as Luther had done in religion. She saw not that God had set Comines to work, and that he will yet further bring out to light (that all men may see) the shadow of death; that is, the things that are most obtruse, and most unlikely ever to have been discovered. See #Mt 16:26, with the note, and say, "Woe to them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord," #Isa 29:15. The gunpowder plot was a deep thing of darkness, it was underground, they were so long digging in their vault of villany; and a long time it was kept secret under oaths and strongest concealments; but a bird of the air revealed it, and that which had wing told the matter, #Ec 10:20. It was a quill, a piece of a wing, brought all to light by a blind letter put (by a providence) into a wrong hand; the danger was at the very ακμη, within eight hours of being acted, when, from a match ready fired, we received a matchless deliverance. Say then,

Σοι χαριν οιδα θεω ευσπλαγχνω ος μ εφυλαξας.

Ver. 23. He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them] It is all one with God whether against a single man or a whole nation, #Job 34:29, when he once taketh them to do. "The wicked shall be turned into hell," and (that they may not hope to escape because a multitude) "all the nations that forget God," #Ps 9:17. Soon after the flood the Babel builders were scattered; Sodom and her sisters were not only consumed with fire from heaven, #Ge 19:23-29, but thrown forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, #Jude 7. Some nations were ejected, and others substituted, #De 2:10,12,20. Some utterly wasted and rooted out, such as the Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, &c., that live by fame only; others not so much as by fame, their very names being blotted out from under heaven. "The cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land is utterly desolate," #Isa 6:11. Now all this is the Lord’s own doing, and should be marvellous in our eyes. He plants, and plucks up; he builds, and breaks down, #Jer 31:28.

He enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them again] Or, that he may straiten them again: so in the former clause, that he may destroy them. This if he may justly do to whole nations, why should it seem so strange that he suffereth particular persons, though wicked, to prosper for a season; and though righteous, for a while to suffer hardship?

Ver. 24. He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people] That is, of the greatest part of the people of the world (say some). These God suffereth to walk in their own ways, #Ac 14:16; to become vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart is darkened; professing themselves to be wise, they become fools, #Ro 1:21,22. As the philosophers of old, and the Chinese at this day, who are known to be ingenious, and used to say of themselves, that all other nations of the world see but with one eye, they only with two (Description of the World, of China and Cataia), yet continue they gross idolaters, mere heathens, having no less than a hundred thousand gods, which they worship one while and whip another, if they come not at a call. But the most interpreters, by chief or heads of the people, here understand their governors, of whom, though Job had said as much in effect before, {#Job 12:17} viz. that God dispiriteth and besotteth them for a plague to the people who follow their rulers (and fall with them), as the body of a beast followeth the head; yet because few observe and improve this truth, therefore he repeateth and illustrateth it by three elegant similes. And first,

He causeth them to wander in a wilderness, &c.] Not knowing which way to extricate themselves. They beat their brains about it, but to no purpose; they are so bewildered and puzzled, as if they were treading a maze; and this God causeth, he is active in it, while he withdraws his light, and delivereth them up to their own foolish hearts, and to the prince of darkness, to be further benighted, #2Co 4:4.

Ver. 25. They grope in the dark without light] This is the second simile, setting forth this judiciary act of God in taking away the heart of the heads of the earth; grope they do, and would fain find out a way by feeling, but they feel darkness, and not light (so the Hebrew); they try to help themselves and their people out of misery, as the last Greek emperor did notably; but it would not be (Turk. Hist. 345).

And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man] Who, having lost the use of reason, knoweth neither where he is nor what he was, but reeleth and falleth oft, and cannot rise again, much less go forward. So fareth it with evil rulers when God smiteth them with a spirit of giddiness and of slumber. See #Isa 19:24 40:20.

Chapter 13

Ver. 1. Lo, mine eye hath seen all this] sc. All those effects of God’s providence, declared in the former chapter. I have not discoursed about God’s powerful and wise dispensation by rote, or without book; I have not blurted out what I believe not, or am not able to prove, as you have accused me; I have spoken both that which I have seen (and what is more sure than sight?) and that which I have heard and received from our ancestors and doctors (to whom you have frequently referred me, for better information). Mine ear, that sense of discipline, by which not learning only, but life also, entereth, #Isa 55:3, hath heard it, and understood it too; which he addeth for further assurance. Job was a weighing hearer, as Mr Bradshaw was called the weighing divine (Mr Clark, in his Life). Let us learn by his example heedfully to observe God’s works, laying up experiences, and diligently to listen and learn the things that are taught us, or written for us by others, that we may grow to a right and ripe understanding of divine truths, and be able confidently to commend the same to others, as being upon sure grounds. See #Mt 13:51,52.

Ver. 2. What ye know, the same do I know also] Heb. According to your knowledge I also know. This may seem an unseemly boast; which, if his friends had taxed him for, he might have answered, as Paul did in a like case, Ye have compelled me, #2Co 11:5. The rule is, "Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves," #Php 2:3. Non est tamen prodenda Dei veritas, aut integritas nostra, &c., Nevertheless, no man ought to betray the truth, or his own integrity, lest he should be counted contentious (Merlin in loc.). See #Job 12:3, where we have the same in effect as here; whence some do gather that Job’s friends had a very high opinion of their own knowledge, and a very low one of Job’s. He that is thus proud of his knowledge, the devil careth not how much he knoweth.

Ver. 3. Surely I would speak to the Almighty] It were far better for me to speak to God than to you, and much fairer dealing from him I might expect. "A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he," #De 32:4; but ye are forgers of lies, and ye load me with false accusations, depraving my speeches, as thou, Zophar, especially hast done, wishing withal that God himself would speak with me face to face; which, if it should come to pass, thou saidst my misery and affliction would be redoubled. But oh that I might commune with the Almighty! surely and seriously I would rather do it than with you, my friends; and should hope so to defend mine innocence against your slanderous accusations; yea, to maintain God’s justice against you, in the presence and judgment of God himself. Oh the confidence of a good conscience! see it in Abimelech, #Ge 20:5, but much more in David, #Ps 7:8,4 139:23,24 Jer 12:1; in every strong believer, #1Pe 3:21; those that walk uprightly, and speak uprightly, #Isa 33:15. Not so every ungirt Christian or profligate professor, #Job 13:14. The sinners in Sion are afraid, fearfulness surpriseth the hypocrites, &c., but good Job was none such; and God knew it to be so; what if to the wicked he be a devouring fire? yet to those that fear his name he is a reviving sun, #Mal 4:1,2. And upright Job feareth not to reason with him. Upon the same ground John Huss, and other martyrs, cited their persecutors to answer them by such a time before God’s tribunal.

And I desire to reason with God] If he please ( Si voluerit). So the Septuagint adds, and makes out Job’s meaning; as if he had used the like modesty and humility as Nehemiah, and after him Esther, did in their suits unto the king of Persia, when they said, If it seem good to the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, #Ne 2:5 Es 5:4. Others think that Job here desireth to plead with God as with a party that had dealt too hardly with him, &c.; that he challengeth God into the schools, as it were, there to crack an argument with him, and by reason to reduce him to milder dealing. And, indeed, the Hebrew word here used signifieth to dispute or argue, and from it the Rabbis call logic the art of arguing. This boldness is that, say our large annotations, which both Elihu and God blame Job for in the end of the Book, though neither of them condemn him for a hypocrite; and that shows that Job did speak amiss of God in his passion, and is not altogether to be excused; much less in everything to be commended.

Ver. 4. But ye are forgers of lies] i.e. Ye create false maxims to judge me by; ye gather up without any order, and to no purpose, whatsoever cometh in your way to strengthen and maintain your false accusation against me. You are not only cencinnatores, forgers, but compactors, botchers, such as, by sewing one lie to another, do patch up a false and frivolous discourse, Mendacia mendaciis assuitis. So David, #Ps 119:69, The proud have forged (or pieced together, made it up as of many shreds) a lie against me. David saith of hypocrites, that their tongue frameth deceit, #Ps 50:19; and of Doeg, that his tongue devised mischief, like a sharp razor, doing deceit, #Ps 52:2. Jeremiah saith of his countrymen, that they had taught their tongues to speak lies, and were grown artists at it, #Jer 9:5; yea, that they had taken fast hold of deceit, and could not be got off without striving, #Jer 8:5. But these countrymen of Job were none such, for God said, "Surely they are my people, children that will not lie," #Isa 63:8. And although every man be a liar, either by imposture or by impotence; yet it must be understood that these good men aimed at truth, and intended not to deceive Job, but to undeceive him rather. They maintained errors, but unwittingly; they charged him also (but unjustly) with hypocrisy. Hence this so severe a high charge, Ye are forgers of lies, such as our ruffians would revenge with a stab. But we must know, saith Merlin, that in those better times it was not so harsh a business in a serious disputation to call that a lie which was safely alleged by an adversary as today it is in this corrupt age of ours, wherein the greatest liars, though taken in the manner, yet take it extremely ill to be told of their fault. Besides, in the defence of God’s cause, and the labouring truth, plain-dealing, even with our best friends, is best; so that the apostle’s rule, #Eph 4:31, be observed, "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice."

Ye are all physicians of no value] Because you go to work upon wrong principles, and mistakenly ministered. Physicians he acknowledgeth them, and that they came with a good intent to comfort him; but, for lack of skill, instead of curing, they had well nigh killed him, because they judged amiss of his disease, and used corrosives instead of cordials. By the way, observe that God’s word is not only the food, but the medicine of the soul, and may far more fitly be so called than the library of Alexandria was of old: for as the diseases of the body are healed by medicine seasonably and rightly used, so are the distempers of the soul by Scriptural consolations; neither shall we ever have cause to complain of them, as Cicero did of philosophical comforts, Nescio quomodo, &c., I know not how it cometh to pass, but this I find, that the disease is too hard for the medicine; or as the Romans did of Sulla’s bloody government, that the remedy was worse than the malady. "How forcible are right words!" said Job, #Job 6:25. And fair words, as physicians, cure the mind distempered with passion, saith the poet, Οργης νοσουσης εισιν ιατροι λογοι (Aeschyl.). Once, when Luther was in a great heat about something that had crossed him, Melancthon pacified him by repeating this verse,

Vince animos, iramque tuam, qui caetera vincis.

But Job’s friends, as they were botchers of lies, so they were bunglers at healing him; they did, saith Lavater, as a surgeon who applieth a plaister to the hand of him whose grief is in his foot; or as that country mountebank in France, who was wont to give in writing to his patients for curing all diseases (Becan. sum. Theol., part 1, cap. 16),

Si vis curari de morbo nescio quali,

Accipias herbam, sed qualem nescio, nec quam:

Ponas neseio quo, curabere nescio quando.

These verses are rendered in English by one in the following way:

Your sore I know not what, do not foreslow

To cure with herbs, which whence I do not know:

Place them (well pounced) I know not where, and then

You shall be perfect whole, I know not when.

Such ουτιδανοι, nullities in the world, such no physicians, such idols, such extreme nothingnesses, good for nothing (as that rotten girdle in Jeremiah, #Jer 13:7, those vine branches in #Eze 15:6,7, that idol in St Paul, #1Co 8:4), were Job’s friends to him, miserable comforters, #Job 16:2, adding to his affliction instead of easing it, and pushing at him as the whole herd of deer doth at that one that is wounded.

Ver. 5. O that you would altogether hold your peace] Heb. In being silent, would be silent: q.d. I thought much of your seven days’ silence, #Job 2:13, and now I am no less troubled at your speeches. Oh that you had either continued your silence, or else would frame to say something better than silence: for hitherto ye have spoken much, but said little. I could heartily wish, therefore, that you would now stop your mouths, and open your ears, as #Job 13:6, that you would be as mute as fishes, since I can hear nothing from you but what speaks you to be mere mutes, ciphers, nullities’ as #Job 13:4.

And it should be your wisdom] For "even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise; and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding," #Pr 17:28.

Πας τις απαιδευτος φρονιμωτατος εστι σιωπων.

As when the door is shut it cannot be seen what is within the house; so the mouth, being shut by silence, the folly that is within lieth undiscovered; and as in glasses and vessels, so in men, the sound which they make showeth whether they be cracked or sound. An ass is known by his ears (saith the Dutch proverb), and so is a fool by his talk. As a bird is known by his note, and a bell by his clapper, so is a man by his discourse. Plutarch tells us, that Megabysus, a nobleman of Persia, coming into Apelles’, the painter’s, workshop, took upon him to speak something there concerning the art of painting and limning, but he did it so absurdly, that the apprentices jeered him, and the master could not bear with him (Plut. de Tranq.).

Ver. 6. Hear now my reasoning, &c.] Or, hear, I pray you. Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; suffer the word of exhortation and of reprehension; sharp though it be, and to the flesh irksome, yet suffer it, since it is for your good. Quintilian testifieth of Vespasian, that he was patientissimus veri, one that could well endure to be told the truth; but there are few Vespasians. Many people are like the nettle: touch it never so gently, it will sting you.

And hearken to the pleadings of my lips] Heb. The contention of my lips. See that you not only hear, but hearken to it with attention of body, intention of mind, and retention of memory: neither God nor man can bear it, to speak, and not be heard. "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh," &c., #Heb 12:25. See that ye slight not, shift not off Christ speaking to you in his ministers and messengers; for if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven.

Ver. 7. Will ye speak wickedly for God?] Ought ye to defend God’s justice by unjustly accusing me? Or must ye needs so free him from injustice, that ye must charge me with hypocrisy? Job had before called them physicians of no value; here he compareth them to lawyers of no conscience, that care not what they plead, so they may carry the cause of their client. But the Lord needeth no such advocates; he so loveth truth, that he will not borrow patronage to his cause from falsehood; he so hateth flattery (though it be of himself) that he hath threatened to cut off all flattering lips, #Ps 12:3; and would one day say as much to Job’s friends, notwithstanding their pretended zeal for his glory, as once Alexander the Great did to Aristobulus the historian, who presented him with a flattering piece concerning his own worthy acts, which he extolled above measure; he cast the book into the river Hydaspes, and told the author he could find in his heart to cast him after it.

And talk deceitfully for him?] To talk for God is our duty; it is to make our tongue our glory; but to talk deceitfully for him, to seek to hold his truth by our lie (the Vulgate here hath it, needeth God your lie?), that is altogether unlawful; for shall we do evil that good may come thereof? God forbid, #Ro 3:8. And yet the Papists do so familiarly, and think they therein do God good service; as when they deny his provident hand in ordering the disorders of the world to his own glory, lest they should make him the author of sin; so they think to defend his justice by teaching predestination according to foreseen works, by ascribing to man free will, righteousness of works, merit, &c. So their doctrine of equivocation for the relief of persecuted Catholics, their piae fraudes (as they call them), their holy hypocrisy to draw infidels to the embracing of the faith, and to the love of virtue; their lying legends, made, say they, for good intention, that the common people might with greater zeal serve God and his saints; and especially, to draw the women to good order, being by nature facile and credulous, addicted to novelties and miracles (Spec. Hist. lib. 29).

Ver. 8. Will ye accept his person?] While you think to gratify him, and to ingratiate with him by oppressing me? Can you find no other way of justifying God’s proceedings than by condemning me for wicked, because by him so afflicted? The truth is, these friends of Job, out of a perverse zeal of advancing God’s righteousness, unrighteously suspected poor Job of wickedness, and so rejected his person to accept God’s. See the like done #Isa 66:5 Jer 50:7 Joh 16:2. O sancta simplicitas! said John Huss, when, at the stake, he observed a plain country fellow busier than the rest in fetching faggots to burn the heretics.

Will ye contend for God?] Why not? Good blood will not belie itself; the love of God constraineth his people to stand to him and to stickle for him; Non amat, qui non zelat, saith a Father. But then it must be a zeal according to knowledge; for else it will appear to be but base and reprobate metal, such as though it seemeth to be all for God, yet it never received the image and impress of God’s Holy Spirit, and therefore is not current in heaven. But that I believe and know (said that fiery friar, Brusierd, in a conference with Bilney) that God and all his saints, whom thou hast so greatly dishonoured, will take revenge everlastingly on thee, I would surely with these nails of mine be thy death (Acts and Mon. 914). Another friar, preaching at Antwerp, wished that Luther were there, that he might bite out his throat with his teeth, and with the same teeth receive the Eucharist by Luther so dishonoured (Erasm. Epist. lib. 16).

Ver. 9. Is it good that he should search you out &c.] q.d. Could you have any joy from such a search? Will not all your warpings and partialities, your colloguing and sinisterity, be laid open to your loss and shame? Will not God reprove instead of approving you in that which ye have said for him, but all against me? The time will come when God will surely search out all controversies, that they all may be ashamed who, under a pretext of religion and right, have spoken false things, and subverted the faith of some. See #1Co 3:17.

Or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him?] Be not deceived; God is not mocked, deluded, beguiled, as clients are by their corrupt lawyers; as patients are by their cogging quack healers. Sorry man may be mocked, and made to believe lies, as #2Sa 15:11 Ac 8:9,10 Re 13:3: all the world wondered after the beast. Judges, and other wise men, are shamefully out in other ways deceiving, and being deceived. Not so the all wise God. They that would mock him, imposturam faciunt et patiuntur, as the emperor said of him that sold glass for pearls, they deceive not God, but themselves. Neither may their conceit that their good intentions will bear them out (as Merlin here noteth) any more than it did these contenders for God, who little thought of mocking him. A bad aim maketh a good action bad, as we see in Jehu; but a good aim maketh not a bad action good, as we see in Uzzah, and here.

Ver. 10. He will surely reprove you] That is all the thank you are like to have from God; your work in pleading for him so stoutly, though it be materially good, yet it will never prove so formally and eventually, because you so confidently determine things you do not understand, but only by a light conjecture. You do secretly, that is, cunningly and deceitfully, accept persons, that is, God’s own person, while ye wrong me for his sake, and under a pretence of doing him right, condemn me for a wicked hypocrite, whom till thus afflicted, you ever counted honest and upright. This the righteous judge, who loveth judgment, and hateth robbery for a burnt offering, #Isa 61:8, will at no hand endure. No, but he will certainly reprove you, arguendo arguet, he will surely and severely blame and punish you. Carry it never so cleanly, cover it so closely, God, who seeth in secret, will reprove you openly; that is, he will chide you, smite you, curse you for it (if repentance interpose not to take up the matter), he will so set it on, as no creature shall be able to take it off. Men reprove offenders sometimes slightly and overtly, deest ignis, as Latimer said, whereby they do more harm than good; for their reproofs are rather soothings than reprovings, Personatae reprehensione sfrigent (Junius). Such was that of Eli to his sons, #1Sa 2:23. Such also was that of Jehoshaphat to wicked Ahab, "Let not the king say so," #1Ki 22:8. But when God took those same men to do, he handled them after another manner: he gives it them both by words and blows, till both their ears tingled, till their hearts ached, and quaked within them; so fearful a thing it is to fall into the punishing hands of the living God. Let all those look to it, especially that are in place of judicature, #Ps 82:1-3. Let them hear causes without prejudicate impiety, judiciously examine them without sinister obliquity, and sincerely judge them without unjust partiality, remembering that Acceptatio personarum est iudiciorum pestis, partiality is the pest of justice.

Ver. 11. Shall not his excellency make you afraid?] Heb. His highness, his majesty, his surpassing sublimity and transcendent glory; shall not this frighten you, and rein you in from wrongly dealing and warping? "Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain," #Jer 10:7. And, "Fear ye not me? saith the Lord: will ye not tremble at my presence?" #Jer 5:22. If an earthly king be so dread a sovereign; if the glory of angels hath so terrified the best saints on earth, that they could hardly outlive such an apparition; what shall we think of the great and terrible God, as he is called, #Ne 1:5, the first motion of whose anger shall put men into disorder, and the brightness of his offended majesty strike your spirits with astonishment? It is reported of Augustus, the emperor, and likewise of Tamerlane, that warlike Scythian, that in their eyes sate such a rare majesty, as a man could hardly endure to behold them without closing his own; and many in talking with them, and often beholding them, have become dumb (Turk. Hist. 236, 415). Now the Lord of glory as far outshineth any mortal wight as the sun in his strength doth a clod of clay; and this made Job cry out, #Job 9:34, "Let not his fear terrify me." Be not thou a terror to me, O Lord, saith holy Jeremiah, #Jer 17:17; and, The Lord most high is terrible, saith David, #Ps 47:2. Most high he is, and therefore terrible.

And his dread fall upon you?] Some read the whole verse thus: Shall not this acceptation of him make you afraid, seeing his dread will fall upon you? q.d. Let the sense of your sin and the fear of his wrath, ready to seize upon you, deter you from passing an unrighteous sentence, and from harbouring such low conceits of God.

Ver. 12. Your remembrances are like unto ashes, &c.] Mr Beza readeth the whole verse thus: Your speeches are the words of ashes, and your stately bulwarks are but bulwarks of clay. And thus he paraphraseth: For these things which you allege as matters gathered by long observations, and which you thunder out against me as if they were most certain and grounded axioms, are indeed no more sound and substantial than ashes; and those your high forts, as it were, and turrets, out of which you assail me, are made but of dirt and mire. Others, by "your remembrances," understand with Mercer, quicquid in vobis memorabile est, whatsoever it is for the which you are so often remembered and mentioned by others, as your wealth, dignity, power, splendour, name, and fame, yea, your very life, is nothing else but ashes, and all shall return to ashes, and come to nought, according to that of Abraham, I am but dust and ashes, #Ge 18:27; such an infinite distance there is between God’s unconceiveable highness and your extreme meanness, or rather, utter nothingness.

Your bodies to bodies of clay] i.e. To images made of clay or earth; or, that which is highest in you, even your best enjoyments, your chiefest eminences, or greatest elevations, are like to a lump of clay, terrae quam terimus, terrae quam gerimus. See #Job 4:19. {See Trapp on "Job 4:19"}

Ver. 13. Hold your peace, let me alone, &c.] This he had requested of them before, #Job 13:5, and now having nipped them on the crown by these rebating arguments, he calls upon them again for silence and audience; which he now requesteth not, but requireth; and the rather, haply, because they began to take him off, as fearing lest by his unadvised expressions he should provoke the Lord to lay yet more load upon him. Wherefore he addeth,

And let come on me what will] That is, at my peril be it, take you no thought; let all the trouble that may ensue be on my score, I will be accountable for it to God, who, I hope, will be more favourable to me than you: Interim non sine stomacho hoc dicit, saith Mercer; This Job speaketh not without some heat, yet not as one desperate; but rather resolute; for he feared no hurt from God.

Ver. 14. Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth?] q.d. Do ye think, O my friends, that I am in a fit of spiritual frenzy, and so far out of my wits, that tearing, as it were, my flesh with mine own hands, I mean to sue any cruelty towards myself, and willingly to betray mine own life? (Vatab.) Non sum ira crudelis, ut totus perdi velim, I am not yet so cruel to myself (whatever you may gather by my complaints and outcries) as utterly to cast away my confidence and all care of my life and soul. See #1Sa 19:5. To despair in part and for a time may befall a godly man. See Mr Perkins’s discourse of Spiritual Desertion, where he remembereth that Luther lay (after his conversion) three days in desperation. And the like is recorded of Mr Robert Bolton. Aliqui suspicantur Iobum respondentem, &c. (Pineda). But of any good man that destroyed himself we read not. David’s life was in his hand continually (and he in daily danger of losing it), yet have I not forgotten thy law, saith he, #Ps 119:109, which flatly forbiddeth all the degrees of suicide, as the worst sort. That Satan tempted Job to this sin some do probably collect from this text. A man is to expect, if he live but his days, saith a reverend casuist, {A theologian (or other person) who studies and resolves cases of conscience or doubtful questions regarding duty and conduct} to be urged to all sins, to the breach of every branch of the ten commandments, and to be put to it in respect of every article of our creed.

Ver. 15. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him] Though he should multiply my miseries, and lay stroke after stroke upon me, till he had dashed the very breath out of my body, yet he shall not be so rid of me, for I will hang on still; and if I must needs die, I will die at his feet, and in the midst of death expect a better life from him. Dam expiro spero, shall be my motto. "The righteous hath hope in his death," #Pr 14:32; yea, his hope is most lively when himself lieth a dying, superest sperare salutem. "My flesh and my heart faileth," saith he; "but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever," #Ps 73:26. True faith in a danger (as the blood) gets to the heart, #Joh 14:1, and if itself be in good heart it will believe in an angry God, as #Isa 63:1 5,16 (the Church there thought she should know him amidst all his austerities); yea, in a killing God, as here; yea (as a man may say with reverence), whether God will or no, as that woman of Canaan, Matt. xv., who would not be damped or discouraged with Christ’s either silence or sad answers; and therefore had what she came for, besides a high commendation of her heroic faith.

But (or nevertheless) I will maintain mine own ways before him] We have had the triumph of Job’s trust, here we have the grounds for it, viz. his uprightness, the testimony of his conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity he had his conversation in the world, #2Co 2:12. This was his cordial, without which grief would have broken his heart, #Ps 69:20; this was his confidence, even the clearness of his conscience, #1Jo 3:21. Uprightness hath boldness; and that man who walks uprightly before God may trust perfectly in God. Job was either innocent or penitent; he would therefore either maintain his ways before God, and come to the light, that his deeds might be manifest, that they were wrought in God, #Joh 3:21, Quem poenitet peccasse pene est innocens (Sen. Again.), or else he would reprove and correct his ways (so the Hebrew word signifieth also), that is, he would confess and forsake his sins, and so be sure to have mercy, according to that soul satisfying promise, #Pr 28:13.

Ver. 16. He also shall be my salvation] So long as I judge myself God will not judge me, #1Co 11:32; nay, he will surely save me: for God will save the humble person, #Job 22:29. What is humiliation but humility exercised? (Merlin in loc.) Non est igitur inanis electorum fides res evanida nec infirma, saith an interpreter here; Therefore the faith of God’s elect is no empty or vain thing, but a light shining from the Spirit of God, and such as overcometh the very darkness of death. It is a sure testimony of God’s good will toward us, and an infallible persuasion of our salvation, such as slighteth the world’s false censures, overcometh temptations of all sorts, laugheth at death, and through the thickest darkness of affliction beholdeth the pleased face of God in Christ, through whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him, #Eph 2:12.

For an hypocrite shall not come before him] No, that is a privilege proper to the communion of saints; therefore I am no hypocrite, as you have charged me to be, #Job 4:6 8:13; for I dare both offer to maintain my ways before him to be upright for the main, and I doubt not but he will be my salvation, and that I shall appear before him in heaven: this no hypocrite shall ever do. Coram Deo dolus non ingreditur. How should he (say), when as he is an unclean wretch, as the Hebrew word signifieth; flagitious (so Vatablus rendereth it); a flagitious, impious person, a very juggle (so the Septuagint); a fair professor indeed, but a foul sinner, moiled all over, and even buried in a bog of wickedness. He is a wicked man in a godly man’s clothes, saith one. He doth but assume religion, saith another, as the devils do dead bodies without a soul to animate them. He is like the painted grapes that deceived the living birds; or the golden apples with this motto, No further than colours; touch them, and they vanish. He knows that he is naught, and that God knows it too; how then should he approach him, or appear before his throne? No, he dare not, for the very show of his face doth testify against him, as the prophet speaks in another case; or if he do, he shall not be able to subsist there, #Ps 5:5; he shall not stand in judgment, #Ps 1:5, but shall run away with these or the like words in his mouth, "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" #Isa 33:14. "Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hands of this mighty God?" #1Sa 4:8. None, for he shall surely assign you a part with the devil and hypocrites, #Mt 24:51; when as the righteous shall give thanks unto God’s name, and the upright only shall dwell in his presence, #Ps 140:13.

Ver. 17. Hear diligently my speech] Heb. Hearing hear, that is, incline your ears and hear, as #Isa 55:3. Mark and attend; hear me not only, but heed me too; interrupt me not, neither give me the slip, as it may seem they were ready to do, when they heard him profess such a deal of faith and hope under so many and heavy afflictions; wherein they thought that either he was beside himself, or, at least, beside the cushion, as we say, and utterly out. See #Job 13:6, and observe, that it is but needful often to stir up our auditors to attention. Job makes more prefaces than one to be heard; so do the prophets often. Hear the word of the Lord, hear and give ear, be not proud, for the Lord hath spoken it. So doth the arch prophet more than once, #Re 2:7,11,17,29 3:6,13,22 Mt 13:9, "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." All Christ’s hearers had not ears; or if they had, yet they were stopped; or if open, yet the bore was not large enough. Oh pray that God would say unto us, Ephphatha, be opened, for a heavy ear is a singular judgment.

Ver. 18. Behold now, I have ordered my cause] Heb. My judgment. He had spoken before of his declaration, which is conceived to be a term of law; for in law suits, the plaintiff putteth in a declaration of his grievance. Job had his declaration ready drawn, and craved audience; he asketh afterwards, Who will plead with me? and here in the like language he telleth us that he had ordered his cause, he had marshalled and methodized his arguments, he had set and stated the controversy. Lo, here I stand ready prepared to plead, and am confident I shall prevail.

I know that I shall be justified] That is, I am persuaded, or, I am sure, as #Ro 8:38, I believe and I know, as #Joh 6:69, sc. with a fiducial knowledge, that I shall be justified, sc. from my sins, by Christ’s righteousness imputed (yea, that I am so already, and that for ever; for peccata non redeunt, discharges in justification are not repealed or called in again), and that I shall depart from God’s bar acquitted in this particular controversy. And so he did; for God justified Job, and reproved his three friends, #Job 42:7,8

Ver. 19. Who is he that will plead with me?] Of my justification in both respects I am so confident, that I dare encounter any that shall deny it. Who is he, and where is he, that shall lay anything to my charge, since it is God that justifieth? #Ro 8:33. Having ordered my cause, and cleared my conscience by confession and judging myself, and now being justified by faith, I can cast down the gauntlet to all comers, and, Goliath like, call for an opposite to grapple with; in the name of the Lord of hosts I will undertake him, and am sure to come off more than a conqueror, even a triumph, #2Co 2:14, there being not any one "condemnation" (neither from God, nor the devil, from the law, sin, or death) "to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit," as Job did, #Ro 8:1,33. Here he challengeth all the world, saith Gregory, if they could, to accuse him for anything outwardly done amiss by him. And herein if none could tax him, there, was nothing but evil cogitations in his heart, of which he could be guilty; but for these, from which none can be free, he held not his peace, but spake and complained internally hereof to God by reproving his own ways; and if he should have been silent, and not speak hereof, and bewail them, he should die and perish; for so he readeth the following words, according to the Vulgate translation.

For now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost] Vulgate Wherefore being silent, I am consumed. Broughton, If now I speak not, I should starve. The Hebrew is, For now I shall be silent and die, q.d. My passion must have a vent, or else it will make an end of me, as #Job 7:11; so tormented I am with these aspersions of my friends, that I know not how to live unless I may wipe them off; or, at least, unless I pour out my soul into God’s blessed bosom.

Ver. 20. Only do not two things unto me] Accord me only two conditions, and then I will not fly the combat. He knew he might have anything from God that was fit and lawful to be asked. When poor men make requests to princes they usually answer them as the echo doth the voice, the answer cuts off half the petition; and if they beg two boons at once, they may be glad that they get one. But God dealeth by his servants and suppliants not only as the prophet did by the Shunammite (when he bade her ask what she needed, and promised her a son, which she most desired, and yet through modesty asked not, #2Ki 4:16), but also as Naaman did by Gehazi, when, asking one talent, he forced him to take two. This Job well knew, and, therefore, he beggeth two things at once; but better he had begged that one thing necessary, patience; or, if two, the best use of his present sufferings. As we read of one good man, that, lying under great torments of a gall stone, he would often cry out while his friends melted with compassion towards him, The use, Lord, the use; and of Mr William Perkins, that, when he lay in his last and killing torment of the gall stone, hearing the bystanders pray for a mitigation of his pain, he willed them not to pray for an ease of his complaint, but for an increase of his patience (Mr Leigh’s Saints’ Encouragement, &c., p. 164; Dr Hall’s Rem. of Profaneness, p. 143): thus if Job had done, he had done better; but by what he doth here we may easily gather that he expected no freedom from his misery but from God alone; and that he was wont familiarly to impart to God all the thoughts and actings of his heart; and, lastly, that he acknowledged him to be a most righteous Judge, who would not deal with his people upon unequal conditions, but give them a fair trial.

Then will I not hide myself from thee] i.e. I shall have no cause, either through fear or shame, to hide myself. It is not safe for a man to indent with God, and make a bargain with him; for so one may have the thing he would have, but better be without it; as those workmen, #Mt 20:9-14, who bargained for a penny a day, and yet when they had it, were no whit contented. Socrates thought it was not fit to ask of God any more than this, that he would bestow good things upon us; but what, and how much, to leave that to him, not being overly earnest, or presuming to prescribe aught. Sir Thomas Moore’s wife was mightily desirous of a boy (that was her word), and she had one that proved a fool; and, saith her husband, you were never quiet till you had a boy, and now you have one that will be all his life a boy. But what were those two things that Job was so earnest for?

Ver. 21. Withdraw thy hand from me, and let not, &c.] Neither afflict me nor frighten me. See the same request, #Job 9:34, and granted by God, #Job 38:3 40:7. They must be very sorry prayers indeed that God will not hear, if they come from honest hearts: #Ps 31:22, "I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee." For the sense of this whole verse— {See Trapp on "Job 9:34"}

And let not thy dread make me afraid] Appear not unto me in thy majesty, but in thy mercy; come not upon me in such a terrific manner, as through astonishment at thy surpassing glory to kill me, for who can see thy face and live? Surely, as the sight of the eye is dazzled with the sun, or a crystal glass broken with the fire, so there is so much dread in the face of God that the best cannot behold it. Destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure, #Job 31:23.

Ver. 22. Then call thou, and I will answer, &c.] Here Job gives God his choice, offering to be either defendant or plaintiff, respondent or opponent: Hoc multum erat, saith Lavater. This was much, and indeed too much; for if God should enter into judgment with his best servants, no man living should be justified in his sight, #Ps 143:2. The best may bear a part in that song of mercy, Asperge me, Domine, " Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me," &c., #Ps 51:7. Job is confident of his innocence, and he might be for that particular wherewith his friends charged him, viz. that he was a hypocrite, but yet in defending himself, and charging God so highly, as he doth in this and the next chapter, he cannot be excused: what though he knew himself justified by Christ’s righteousness, imputed according to the covenant of grace; Omnino tamen semper est Iob immodicus, Yet altogether always Job is excessive, saith Mercer here; yet surely he passeth the bounds of moderation, and is overly bold in this offer of his, laying the reins in the neck of his passions, Fertur equis auriga, &c. Cajetan saith these words are arrogant and scandalous; and Eliphaz is supposed for this passage to tax Job as he did, #Job 15:4, "Yea, thou castest off fear."

Or let me speak, and answer thou me] i.e. I will be plaintiff or opponent, I will be bold to say, it is not seemly to handle him as an enemy, who knows nothing by himself. If there be anything more than involuntary and unavoidable infirmity in me, show me what, and how many my sins are, that require so many and great punishments.

Ver. 23. How many are mine iniquities and sins?] How many? too many to be reckoned: sin imputed to thee, sins inherent in thee, sins issuing from thee; commissions, omissions, failings in the manner of performance (for a good work may be marred in the doing, as many a garment is in the making, and many a tale in the telling); thy life is fuller of sins than the firmament is of stars or the furnace of sparks, besides thy birthblot and inward evils which might justly cause thy destruction, as a man may die of inward bleeding. When the house is well swept, and all rooms seem very clean, if the sun do but shine into it through the windows, the beams thereof discover an infinite number of motes in all places; so will it be with the best, if narrowly examined. Lesser sins, secret faults, are of daily, and almost hourly, incursion; yet we must be cleansed from them, #Ps 19:12, or else vae hominum vitro quantumvis laudabili, saith one, Woe to the life of men, though praiseworthy, as the world judgeth. A pardon there is of course for such sins, and they do not usually distract and plunge the conscience; but yet that pardon must be sued out, and these sins must be disliked and bewailed.

Make me to know my transgression and my sin] That particular sin that thou chiefly strikest at for every affliction hath a voice in it, #Mic 6:9, and saith to the sufferer, as those mariners did to Jonah, #Jon 1:8, What evil hast thou committed, or admitted? what good hast thou omitted, or intermitted? Up and search. Israel hath sinned: why liest thou upon thy face? as the Lord once said to Joshua, #Jos 7:10,11: something surely there is amiss that God would have amended; it is, therefore, meet to be said unto him, "Make me to know my transgression and my sin," yea, the iniquity of my sin, the filthiness of my lewdness, all my transgressions in all my sins, as the phrase is, #Le 16:21, that is, how many transgressions are wrapped up in my several sins and their circumstances. This either Job meant here, or else he was afterwards by Elihu tutored to it, #Job 34:31,32, "Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more: That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more."

Ver. 24. Wherefore hidest thou thy face] Who wast wont to shine upon me, #Job 29:2,3. He that hideth his face showeth that he neither pitieth nor purposeth to relieve. God seemed to look upon Job no otherwise than as under Satan’s cloak, said that martyr. But he hideth his love sometimes out of increasement of love, as Joseph did to his brethren; and is never so near us as when, with Mary Magdalene, we are so bleared with tears for his absence, that we cannot see him, though at hand. A child of light may walk in darkness, #Isa 50:10, which, when he doth, he must resolve, as #Isa 8:17, I will wait upon the Lord, who hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look tbr him: he must also in that dark condition cast anchor, as they did in the shipwreck, #Ac 27:29,30, and pray still for day, waiting till the day star arise in their hearts, and all clear up.

And holdest me for thine enemy?] Which if God should have doue indeed, it would have been wide with Job, and far worse than ever yet it had been; for if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? #1Sa 24:19. I think not, unless it be for a greater mischief at another time. But Job was out when he judged himself hated of God, because afflicted, since he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, #Heb 12:5. See my Love tokens, pp. 23, 54.

Ver. 25. Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? &c.] q.d. Egregiam vero laudem, Thinkest thou to get any honour by encountering and overturning me, who was at my best but as a leaf, or as stubble, weak and worthless; and am now, by reason of mine afflictions, but as a leaf blown off, and whirled up and down, Indignum est maiestate tua, ut misellum homuncionem, &c. (Jan.); or as stubble fully dried, which is soon scattered by the wind, #Ps 1:4, or quickly burnt by the fire, #Na 1:10. David reasoneth in this manner with Saul, #1Sa 24:14, "After whom is the king of Israel come forth? after whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea." A great purchase surely! a great victory!

— An gloria tanta est

Insidias homini supposuisse Deum? (Tibul.)

The truth is, God doth not afflict any man (whom he knows to be a thing of nothing) on purpose to try his strength, or to show his power; but either to exercise his justice upon the wicked, or to prove the faith of his people, and to promote their salvation.

Ver. 26. For thou writest bitter things against me] As it were by a judicial rescript thou decreest my doom; and accordingly thou inflictest hard and heavy things upon me, as is most elegantly described in the following verses by metaphor fetched from the course of courts, Humanitus dictum ex usu forensi (Jun.). Sin is an evil and a bitter thing, #Jer 2:19 Heb 12:15 Ac 8:23; and hath bitter effects, #Ru 1:20 Ex 1:14. This made that holy man, Mr Paul Baine, say, The sweet ways of my youth did breed such worms in my soul, as that my heavenly Father will have me yet a little while continue my bitter worm seed, because they cannot otherwise be throughly killed. I thank God, saith he in another place, sustentation I have, but sweet spirituals I taste not any (Mr Clark in his Life). It is reported of this good man that, when he came first to Cambridge, his conversation was so irregular, that his father, being grieved at it, before his death left with a friend forty pounds by the year, desiring that his son might have it if he amended his manners, else not: he afterwards had it, as he well deserved, as proving a notable instrument of much good to many, and particularly to that Reverend Dr Sibbs, whom he converted; howbeit, in his last sickness he had many fears and doubts, and God letting Satan loose upon him, he went out of this world with far less comfort than many weaker Christians enjoy; his case being not unlike his who saith in the next words,

And makest me to possess (or to inherit) the iniquities of my youth] Which I took for pardoned long since (and so no doubt but they were); but Job’s affliction renewed the remembrance of them to his conscience, as it is the best art of memory. Satan also made him believe that now he was punished for the new and the old, as we say, and that God meant to make him answer for all the sins of his life at once, having watched a time to be revenged on him for all together. Youth is a slippery age, and soon slips into sin. There is great cause that a young man should cleanse his ways, #Ps 119:9, where the word Nagnar, signifying a lad, or stripling, comes from a root signifying to shake off, or to be tossed to and fro. And the other word, rendered cleanse, signifieth to be clean as glass, which will soon gather a new dustiness. Such must cleanse their ways, by cleaving to the word; or otherwise, they may one day groan as much under the sins then committed as many do under the blows and bruises then received. See the former note.

Ver. 27. Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks] Mercer here observeth an elegant gradation in God’s proceeding with Job, as himself describeth it, rising higher and higher in his discourse. 1. God hid his face, and denied him his favour. 2. He counted him as his enemy. 3. He broke him like a leaf or stubble. 4. He wrote bitter things against him. 5. He made him possess the sins of his youth. 6. For his young sins he claps him up close prisoner now in his old age, and there keeps him as with a strict guard following him close at heels if he but stir a foot. Was there ever sorrow like unto Job’s sorrow? was ever greater severity and rigour showed upon any godly person? Where, then, shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? &c. God’s wrath is like Elijah’s cloud, little at first, as a man’s hand, but soon after very dismal and dreadful; or as thunder, of which we hear at first a little noise afar off, but soon after a terrible crack. Well might Moses say, "Who knoweth the power of thine anger?" #Ps 90:11, Cavebis autem, si pavebis. You will beware if you will be frightened.

And lookest narrowly into all my paths] He saith not ways, but paths. Gregory maketh this difference: ways are larger, paths narrower. God then is said to look into all men’s paths, when he looketh not only at the evil done by them, but at the intention of their mind, which is not so easily discerned but by him, the searcher of all hearts. And for that which followeth,

Thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet] Gregory here observeth, that God looketh at the hurt done to others by examples given by men’s evil doings unto them, leaving a print upon the ground, as it were, whereby others follow them, and so their sin is in this regard made the greater; to which purpose some sense those words, #Ps 49:5, "When the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about." Others make Job’s meaning here to be, Thou followest me with continual pursuit, as a prisoner that is dogged at heels by his keeper from place to place, lest he should escape. Thou followest me close, and upon the track, like a hunter, #Job 10:16. The footsteps of thy wrath (saith an interpreter) are seen upon the soles of my feet (so that from top to toe I have no free part), like as prisoners’ feet are oft swelled with the weight of their fetters.

Ver. 28. And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth] Heb. Waxeth old. He, that is, this poor man, this silly wretch, as David speaketh of himself, #Ps 34:6. Or this body of mine, as #Job 19:26; Job pointing to it, as it is like he did there; and Paul, #1Co 15:53,54. "As a rotten thing" (Heb. as rottenness), "consumeth." When a thing once rotteth, as an apple, flesh, &c., it soon perisheth. Such is man, under pressing afflictions especially.

And as a garment that is moth eaten] The beauty whereof is defaced, and the usefulness departed.

Chapter 14

Ver. 1. Man that is born of a woman, &c.] Or, that is borne about by a woman in her womb. Job’s design is here to set forth the misery of man (whom in the last verse of the former chapter he had compared, 1. To a rotten thing; 2. To a moth eaten garment), ab exordio ad exodium, from his conception to his dissolution. Man, earthly man, that is born of a woman, or mannesse, that weaker vessel, who both breedeth, beareth, and bringeth forth in sorrow a weak sorry man, #Ge 3:16, and is (as Gregory expresseth it) ante partum onerosa, in partu dolorosa, post partum laboriosa, every way calamitous; neither is her babe in a better condition, but born with a cross on his back (as the story is told of Frederick, the Elector of Saxony), and having his whole life overspread with sins and miseries, as with a filthy leprous eruption. (Joh. Manl. loc. com.)

Is of few days] Heb. Short of days. Short indeed, everything reckoned; for, 1. Childhood and youth are vanity. 2. Sleep, as a publican, takes off a third part of our time. 3. All the days of the afflicted are evil, and Mortis habet vices quae trahitur vita gemitibus (Aug. de Civ. Dei, lib. ix. c. 10); it is not a life, but a death rather that is spent in sorrow; in which regard Plotinus, the philosopher, held mortality a mercy, that we may not always be held uuder the miseries of this life present. 4. Scarce one of a thousand live that little time that they are here, but woefully waste the flower of their age, the strength of their bodies, the vigour of their spirits, in sinful pleasures and sensual delights, and then either sit and sing all too late, and in vain,

O mihi praeteritos referat si Iupiter annos!

or else complain with old Themistocles, that now they must die when they do but begin only to be wise. The life of a wicked man runneth out as the sand in an hour glass, that doth little good; he considereth not that upon this little point of time hangs the crown of eternity; and that the very next moment he may be cut off from all possibility of repentance, acceptation, and grace for ever. Hence his many troubles here; all which are but typical of those hereafter; besides the fear of death, which maketh him all his lifetime subject to bondage, #Heb 2:15. It were much to be wished that men would consider their time is short, their task long, and that, therefore, they should use all speed and diligence; lest (so as children have usually torn their books) they have ended their lives before they have learned their lessons.

And full of trouble] Or, of indignation, commotion, perturbation. Those three vultures, fear, anger, grief, are frequently feeding upon his heart while he is in this world; and, like a ship in a storm, he is tossed much, but faileth little or nothing. Few and evil are the days of my pilgrimage, saith good old Jacob, #Ge 47:9. And she in the poet could say as much of her son Achilles:

Νυν θ αμα ωκυμορος, και υιζυρος περι παντων Επλεο—(Thetis ap. Hom. lliad).

Ver. 2. He cometh forth like a flower] What he had asserted concerning the shortness of man’s life is here illustrated by two elegant similitudes, frequently used, not in Scripture only, but in heathen authors, as were easy to instance, #Isa 28:1 40:6 Jas 1:10,11 1Pe 1:24. A flower hath a spring and a fall; so have men their times and their turns; their rise and their ruin. Why and how man in his flourish is like to a flower; see #Ps 103:15,16, where he is compared to a flower of the field (which lies open to all inconvenience), not of the garden, which is much sheltered from sharp winds, fenced from the teeth and feet of beasts, from the hands of children, strangers, &c.

And is cut down] Heb. Cut around, or circumcised, sc. by some nipping or blasting wind, such as that east wind, #Ge 41:23, or some cropping hand, or its own fading nature; and then it is not, saith David, #Ps 103:16, that is, it neither continues any longer in being, nor returns any more into being; no more doth man, though in his time never so flourishing.

He fleeth also] With post haste, as one that fleeth for life; so doth he from life, every moment yielding somewhat unto death: Orimur, morimur, finisque ab origine pendet; life, as fast as it increaseth, decreaseth. It is improper, saith one, to ask when we shall die, but rather when we shall make an end of dying?

As a shadow] As the shadow of a dial, our lives are continually hasting to their period, and never make stop. By these, and many the like comparisons (common in this Book and other Scriptures), we see how much God desireth that we should mind our mortality; to blame, then, are those who have one leg in the grave and the other in hell, and yet do put far away thoughts of death, and under gray hairs nourish green hopes and desires; neither may young men be excused who bind upon long life, and boast of tomorrow, #Pr 27:1, since they know not what a great bellied day may bring forth. Vitae summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam (Hor. i.). The Jews have a proverb, that many times old camels carry young camels’ skins to the market. And how often see we elder folk carry men’s and children’s bodies to the grave?

And continueth not] Heb. Standeth not, as a pillar, but vanisheth as a shadow, yea, as a dream of a shadow, as the Greek poet hath it, τιδε τις; τιδ ουτις; σκιας οναρ ανθρωπος (Pindar). The Vulgate translateth, He continueth not in the same state. To have no shadow of turning, noteth the perfection of God, #Jas 1:17.

Ver. 3. And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one?] sc. To observe his faults strictly, and to punish him for the same severely? doth this become so great a Majesty? This Job speaketh, non citra stomacbum, not without stomach, as forgetting himself through impatience, saith Mercer, and seeking to ease himself any way of the pains and dolors he sustained, being carried out of himself by his unruly passions. By this question Job doth non tam admirari quam arguere, saith Brentius; not so much wonder as warble with God, that he should care for so poor a creature, whom it might seem to him rather to contemn. But Job should have remembered, that God openeth his eyes upon man, not to punish him only, but to help and relieve him, #Ps 34:15. And at another time Job could set it upon the score of God’s favours to man, that he visiteth him every morning (viz. by his fatherly chastisements) and trieth him every moment #Job 7:17,18.

And bringest me into judgment with thee?] Poor me, who am τρισανθρωπος, thrice a man; that is most miserable, even me thou questionest in the rigour of thy righteous judgment, Me gravissimis tuis iudiciis extra ordinem divexas (Mera.). See a like expostulation #Ps 89:46-51, and all to move God to compassion. Our frailty is a good pleadable argument to this purpose.

Ver. 4. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one] q. d. I confess I am unclean; but what can I do withal? or how can I do otherwise, since I do but my kind? But was this a sufficient plea? David was of another mind when he alleged this as a great aggravation of his bloodguiltiness, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me," #Ps 51:5: q.d. I have not only fallen into these foul sins, but I have done it out of the venomousness and vitiosity of my nature, commonly called original, and by the apostle inhabiting sin, #Ro 7:17, as by the schools peccatum peccans, the sinning sin, as that which is the source and seminary of all actual disobedience. And because this uncleanness is natural to us, therefore it maketh us as loathsome to God as a toad is to us, because poison is in the nature of it. Papists say (but not truly) that original sin is the smallest of all sins, not deserving any more of God’s wrath than only a want of his blessed presence; and that too without any pain or sorrow of mind from the apprehension of so great a loss. They hold also those motions of the heart not consented to be no sins, but necessary conditions, arising from our constitution, and such as Adam had in his innocence. Contrariwise, Job here grants a birthblot upon all, and lays his hand upon it as the cause of the length of men’s troubles and shortness of their lives; only he forgetteth himself (saith Mercer here) when he pleadeth that he should rather be pitied than thus sharply punished, because he was naturally inclined to sin, and cannot avoid it. For as Aristotle saith of drunkards, that they deserve double punishments, διπλα τα τπιτιμια (Ethic. lib. 3, cap. 5); first, for their drunkenness, and then for the sin committed in and by their drunkenness: so do all men deserve double damnation; first, for the corruption of nature (signified by those legal pollutions, by bodily issues), and then for the cursed effects of it, #Ge 6:5 Ro 7:8. But it may be Job here had an eye to that promise made to Noah after the flood, #Ge 8:21, where the Lord moveth himself to mercy by consideration of man’s native corruption, even from his childhood, for he knoweth our frame, &c., #Ps 103:14, that is (as the Chaldee paraphrast explaineth it), he knoweth our evil figment or thought which impelleth to sin; he knoweth it, and weigheth it. See the like #Isa 48:8,9. We may beseech the Lord to spare us when we act in sin, because our natures are sinful; but let not any go about either to palliate or extenuate their acts of sin by the sinfulness of their natures; as those do, who, being told of their evil pranks and practices, plead for them, saying, We are flesh and blood, &c.

Not one] Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis; but no mere man can bring forth a clean child out of unclean seed. Adam begat a son after his own image, #Ge 5:3. Corruptus corruptum, that which is of the flesh, #Joh 3:3-8. Sin is propagated, and proceedeth from the union of body and soul into one man. That phrase, warmed in sin, #Ps 51:5, is meant of the preparation of the body, as an instrument of evil, which is not so actually till the soul come. But we should not be so inquisitive how sin came in, as how to be rid of it; like as when a fire is kindled in a city, all men are more careful to quench it than to question where and how it began. Now there is one only way of ridding our hearts of sin, viz. to run to Christ, and to believe in him; "For if the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed"; and hereunto, both the Chaldee paraphrast had respect, likely, when he rendered this text, Cannot one? that is, cannot God? as also the Vulgate Latin, Nonne tu qui solus es? Canst not thou alone? sc. by thy merit and Spirit, according to that of the apostle, #1Co 6:11.

Ver. 5. Seeing his days are determined, &c.] God hath set every man both his time (whether shorter, called here his days, or longer, the number of his months, they have both their bounds which none can pass) and also his task, #Ac 13:25. John fulfilled his course, et in brevi vitae spatio tempora virtutum multa replevit, and he lived long in a little time; he wrought hard, as not willing to be taken with his task undone (Hieron.). So #Ac 13:36. David, after he had served his own generation, and had done all the will of God, fell on sleep. See more of this on #Job 7:1.

Thou hast appointed his bounds] Heb. His statutes. It is appointed for all men once to die, #Heb 9:27, once for all, and for ever it is appointed, and this statute is irrepealable. Here then we see the cause why some, likely to live long, die soon, and others more infirm live longer. God hath set the bounds of each one’s life to a very day. The bounds may be passed which our natural complexion setteth; the bounds cannot be passed which the providence and will of God setteth. Stat sua cuique dies -(Virg.).

Ver. 6. Turn from him, that he may rest] Heb. Look away from him, i.e. from me; look not so narrowly, and with such a critical eye, upon mine out strays, thus to hold me still on the rack; look not so angerly, afflict me not so heavily, but let me rest or cease from my present pressures and doleful complaints, and spend the span of this transitory life with some comfort, and then let the time of my departure come when thou pleasest.

Till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day] That is, saith the gloss, till I am as willing to die as a labouring man is to go to supper and to bed. The word rendered accomplish signifieth properly to acquiesce, and rest in a thing, and vehemently to desire it. The saints, when they die, shall rest in their beds, #Isa 57:2, they rest from their labours, #Re 14:13, and that απαρτι, presently, straight upon the stroke of death; no sooner have they passed under the flaming sword of that punishing angel but they are forthwith in paradise. Here they are seldom quiet, but tossed up and down as the ball upon the racket, or ship upon the waves; and hence it is that they sometimes fret or faint, as Job, and speak unadvisedly with their lips; these firm mountains are moved with earthquakes, these calm seas are stirred with tempests; and truly, whosoever hath set himself to do every day’s work with Christian diligence, to bear every day’s crosses with Christian patience, and is sensible of his failings in both; libenter ex vitae, et quasi pleno passu egredietur, saith one, he will be full glad to be gone hence, and be as weary of his life as ever any hireling was of his work. {See Trapp on "Job 7:1"} {See Trapp on "Job 7:2"}

Ver. 7. For there is hope of a tree, &c.] Here Job setteth on his request, #Job 14:6, with a reason; God loveth a reasonable service, and liketh well that we reverently reason it out with him. And for the literal sense, all things, saith Gregory, are so plain, that there is no need to say anything to that, it being no more than this; either I shall have comfort in this world before I die, or never here; therefore grant me rest now. This argument Job illustrateth, 1. By a dissimilitude, here. 2. By a similitude, #Job 14:11,12. The dissimilitude between a tree and a man is this: a tree may be hewed and felled, yet feel no pain. Again, succisa repullalat, imbribus irrigata, a tree cut down, if well watered, -will spring and sprout up again (Merlin). But now man, as he is very sensible of every stroke of God’s hand, neither can he suffer sickness or other affliction without smart, so when once cut down by death, he can by no means be recovered; he cannot revive without a miracle.

Ver. 8. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth] And so the more unlikely to shoot forth again. Trees also have their old age wherein they decay.

And the stock thereof die in the ground] Heb. In the dust, as it needs must, when, cut off from the root, it lieth along on the earth. It was by a miracle that Aaron’s rod flourished: not only all the plants of God’s setting, but the very boughs cut off from the body of them, shall flourish and be fruitful.

Ver. 9. Yet through the scent of water it will bud] Heb. From the smell of waters. A sweet metaphor, saith Merlin, sense being attributed to things senseless, as smelling to the fire, #Jud 16:9, and here to trees, which are said to turn themselves and their roots after a sort, to take in the smell of the water, and thereby refreshed to bud and bring forth boughs, like a plant. This is check to those that live under the droppings of the ordinances, and yet are like the cypress tree, which, the more it is watered, proves the less fruitful, and being once cut down, it never springs again; whence the Romans, who did not believe in a resurrection, were wont to place a cypress tree at the threshold of the house of death, as Pliny and Servius tell us. (Serv. in Virg. 1. 4; Plin. lib. 16, cap. 32.)

Ver. 10. But man dieth, and wasteth away] Heb. Strong and lusty man, Homo quantum vis robustus (Vat.), dieth and wasteth away, or is cut off, sc. worse than a tree, for he grows no more; or is discomfited, vanquished, as #Ex 17:13 32:18, sc. by death, and so carried clean out of this world.

Yea, man giveth up the ghost] Homo vulgaris et plebeius. All of all sorts must die, whether noble or ignoble, as Rabbi Abraham here observeth. Job is very much in this discourse about death; and surely, as Nazianzen wisheth of hell, so could I of death, Utinam ubique de morte dissereretur! Oh that it were more in men’s minds and mouths than it is!

And where is he?] q.d. Nowhere above ground; or if he be, putrefit et teterrime olet, he putrefies and stinks filthily; and as his life is taken away, so is his glory; yea, being once out of sight, he grows by little and little out of mind too, little thought of, less spoken of, many times not so much as his name mentioned or remembered in the next generation, #Ec 1:11. There is no remembrance of former things, or men, neither shall there be any remembrance, &c. So #Ec 2:16 8:10 9:5. Hence the state of the dead is called "the land of forgetfulness," #Ps 88:12 31:12, "I am forgotten, as a dead man out of mind." Heathens also say the same (Hor. lib. 4, Carm. 7):

Cum semel occideris, et de te splendida Minos

Fecerit arbitria,

Non, Torquate, genus, non te facundia, non te

Restituet pietas.

Ver. 11. As the waters fail from the sea] He sets forth the same truth by an elegant similitude drawn from drying up of waters. Look how these, after some exundation of the sea, or some great river, are separated and left (upon the reflux thereof) behind the rest upon the land, which cannot return (for then they must ascend, which is impossible to nature) nor continue, but do utterly dry up, and evaporate; sc, & c., #Job 14:11. Others read it thus, As when the waters from the sea fail, the flood decayeth, and drieth up; so when man’s life is taken away, it returns no more while this world lasteth. God hath made in the bowels of the earth certain secret ways, passages, and veins through which water conveyeth itself from the sea to all parts, and hath its saltness taken away in the passage. Thence are our springs, and from them our rivers; but in hot countries and dry seasons springs are dry, and rivers lack water exceedingly; as at this time they do, March 7th, 1653. So when natural moisture decayeth in man, he faileth and dieth; the radical humour, that supplement and oil of life, is dried up, and can be no more renewed till the last day, when yet it shall not be restored to the same state and moisture, but, instead of natural, rise spiritual, #1Co 15:44.

Ver. 12. So man lieth down] sc. In the dust of death, or in the bed of the grave; his dormitory, till the last day.

Ut somnus morris, sic lectus imago sepulchri.

And riseth not] sc. To live again among men. So, #Ps 78:39, man is compared to a wind, which, when it is past, returneth not again. If it be objected, that we read of three in the Old Testament, and five in the New, raised from death to life; besides those many that arose and came out of the graves after Christ’s resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many, #Mt 27:52,53; it is answered, 1. These few raised by God’s extraordinary power do not infringe the truth of what the Scripture here and elsewhere affirmeth of all mankind according to the ordinary course of nature. 2. Even those men also afterwards died again, and vanished, no more to return or appear again in this world.

Till the heavens be no more] i.e. Never (say some interpreters), to wit, vi sua, by his own strength, and to a better condition in the land of the living; so the word "until" is used, #2Sa 6:13 Mt 5:26 1:25, ut pie credimus. How sound and clear Job was in the point of the resurrection we shall see, #Job 19:26, and because he falls upon it in the words next following here, some understand these words thus: They shall not rise till the general resurrections, when these heavens shall be changed and renewed, #Ps 102:25,26 Isa 65:17 2Pe 3:7,10,11 Re 21:1.

They shall not awake] Out of the sleep of death;

nor be raised] viz. By the sound of the last trump, till the last day. But raised they shall be, and sleep no more, viz. when the heavens shall be no more. And till that time the bodies of the saints are laid in the grave, as in a bed of down, or of spices, to mellow and ripen. This is matter of joy and triumph, #Isa 26:19 Da 12:2, when they were to lose all: so #Heb 11:35. The wicked also sleep in the grave, #Da 12:2, but shall awake to everlasting shame and contempt, ib.; their sick sleep shall have a woeful waking, for they shall be raised by virtue of Christ’s judiciary power, and by the curse of the law, to look upon him whom they have pierced, and to hear from him that dreadful Discedite, "Depart, ye cursed," &c.

Ver. 13. O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave] As in a sweet and safe repository ( Sepulchrum est quasi scrinium vel capsa in quam reponitur corpus), sanctuary! my soul meanwhile living and reigning with thee in heaven, expecting a glorious resurrection, and saying, How long, Lord, holy and true? The fable or fancy of Psychopannychia hath been long since hissed out, though lately revived by some libertines, that last brood of Beelzebub; our mortalists especially, who say, that the body and soul die together. But what saith the apostle, #Ro 8:10? "If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." Now that Job thus woos death, and petitions for the grave, it is manifest that he saw some good in it, and that he promised himself by it malorum ademptionem, bonorum adeptionem, freedom from evil, and fulness of good. We should learn to familiarize death to ourselves, and put the grave under the fairest and easiest apprehensions, that we hear God speaking to us, as once he did Jacob, Fear not to go down to Egypt (so down to the grave), for I will go with thee, and will surely bring thee up again, #Ge 46:3,4. Or as he did his labouring Church, #Isa 26:20, "Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast."

That thou wouldest keep me secret] In limbo Patrum, say the Papists, in parabola ovis capras suas quaerentes.

Until thy wrath be past] For it is such as I can of myself neither avoid nor abide. Turn it away, therefore, or turn it into gentleness and kindness, #Ps 6:4, and be friends again, #Jer 2:35. Or, secrete and secure me till the resurrection, when all thy wrath will be gone from me.

That thou wouldest appoint me a set time] Heb. Set me a statute; set down even what time thou pleasest, either to send me to bed, or to call me up again, so that thou wilt but be sure at last to remember me.

And remember me] Job is willing to die out of the world, but not to die out of God’s memory; to be out of sight, but not out of mind; that God should bury him in the grave, but not bury his thoughts of him; he could be content to be free among the dead, free of that company, but not as the slain that lie in the grave, whom God remembereth no more, #Ps 88:5. Job would be remembered for good, as Nehemiah prayeth, and be dealt with as Moses was, whose body, once hid in the valley of Moab, did afterwards appear glorious in mount Tabor at the transfiguration.

Ver. 14. If a man die, shall he live again?] This he speaketh in way of admiration at that glorious work of the resurrection. See the like question #Job 15:11 Ge 3:1 17:17. So the apostle, #Ro 8:30,31, having spoken of those glorious things, predestination, vocation, justification, glorification, concludeth in these words, "What shall we say then?" We cannot tell what to say to these things, so much are we amazed at the greatness of God’s goodness in them. Surely, as they have a lovely scarlet blush of Christ’s blood upon them, so they are rayed upon with a beam of divine love, to them that are in Christ. We read of that godly and learned Scotch divine, Mr John Knox, that a little before his death he got up out of his bed, and being asked by his friends, why, being so sick, he would offer to rise, and not rather take his rest? he answered, that he had all the last night been taken up in the meditation of the resurrection, and that he would now go up into the pulpit, that he might impart to others the comforts which thereby himself had received. And surely if he had been able to have done as he desired, I know not what text fitter for his purpose he could have taken, than these words of Job, "If a man die, shall he live again?" He shall without question; and those that deny it or doubt it (as the Sadducees of old, and some brain sick people of late), they err, not knowing the Scriptures (this among the rest), which are express for it, and the power of God, #Mt 22:29, being herein worse than devils, which believe it and tremble, worse than some heathens, who held there would be a resurrection, as Zoroastes, Theopompus, Plato, &c., worse than Turks, who at this day confess and wait for a resurrection of the body at such a time as the fearful trumpet (which they call Soor) shall be sounded by Mahomet, say they, at the command of the great God of the judgment.

All the days of mine appointed time (or warfare) will I wait, till my change come] i.e. Till my death, (#Pr 31:8, men appointed to die are called in the original children of change) or till the resurrection come, when we shall all be changed, #1Co 15:51, our vile bodies shall be changed and conformed to Christ’s most glorious body (the standard), #Php 3:21, in beauty, agility, impassibility, and other angelical perfections. When I awake, saith David, sc. at that general resurrection, I shall be full of thine image, #Ps 17:15. I shall be brought from the jaws of death to the joys of eternal life, where are riches without rust, pleasures without pain, &c. Three glimpses of this glorious change were seen: 1. In Moses’ face. 2. In Christ’s transfiguration. 3. In Stephen’s countenance when he stood before the council. Such change as this is well worth waiting for: what would not a man do? what would he not suffer, with those noble professors, #Heb 11:33-40, to obtain a better resurrection? I would swim through a sea of brimstone, saith one, that I might come to heaven at last. The stone will fall down to come to its own place, though it break itself in twenty pieces: so we, that we may get to our centre, which is upwards, &c. Sursum cursum nostrum dirigamus; et minantem, imminentem, et exterminantem mortem attendamus: ne simul, cum corporis fractura, animae iacturam faciamus. Let us wait and wish every one for himself, as he once did:

Mi sine nocte diem, vitam sine morte, quietem

Det sine fine, dies, vita, quiesque Deus.

Ver. 15. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee] At the resurrection of the just thou shalt call me out of the grave by thine all powerful voice, uttered by that archangel, with the trump of God, #1Th 4:16 1Co 15:52 Ps 50:3,4, and thou shalt not need to call twice; for as I shall not need then to fear (as the hypocrites will) to show my face, so I will readily answer, Here I am; yea (as that dying saint did so), I will say, I come, I come, I come. I will even leap out of the grave to obey thine orders; and I doubt not but, to draw me out of that dark prison, thou wilt lend me that hand of thine whereof I have the honour to be the workmanship.

Thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands] I know that thou thyself (for the love thou bearest me, of thy goodness, who am thy creature, and on whom thou hast shown favour, and reprinted thine image) wilt long after the consummation of my happiness; for then I shall be like unto thee (more like than ever), for I shall see thee as thou art, and appear with thee in glory, #Col 3:4, being next unto thee, #Lu 22:30; yea, one with thee, #Joh 17:21, and so above the most glorious angels, #Heb 1:14. The King shall greatly desire my beauty, #Ps 45:11, and rejoice over me, as the bridegroom doth over his bride, #Isa 62:5 10:3. The word here rendered thou wilt have a desire signifieth thou wilt desire as men do after silver. The Lord seemed to deal by Job as men do by dross, to put him away as wicked, #Ps 119:119; nevertheless, he believed that he would look upon him as silver: and although he now crushed him together, and brake him to pieces, as the silversmith doth an old piece of plate which he means to melt; yet that he would in the grave, as in a furnace, refine him, and at the resurrection bring him out of a new fashion. Lo, this is the right logic of faith, to make conclusions of life in death, and of light in darkness, to gather one contrary out of another.

Ver. 16. For now thou numberest my steps] Or, But now thou numberest, &c., thou keepest an exact account of every sin of mine, of every step that I have trod awry; yea, though it be but some wry motion of my mind (as the Septuagint here translate), so curious art thou and critical in thine observations of mine outstrays, επιτηδευματα. See #Job 10:14. But is this Job that speaketh, or some other? How confident was he erewhile, and comfortable in the hope of a glorious resurrection! but now down again upon all four, as we say; and like an aguish man in a great fit of impatience, which holdeth him to the end of the chapter. But for this, who knoweth not that every new man is two men? that in the saints the flesh is ever lusting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh? that in the Shulamite is, as it were, the company of two armies maintaining a continual contest? #So 6:13. "I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple," #Jon 2:4. {See Trapp on "Jon 2:4"}

Dost thou not watch over my sin?] This is the same with the former, but without a figure. The Rabbins have a saying, that there is not any doubt in the law but may be resolved by the context: the Scripture is its own interpreter.

Ver. 17. My transgression is sealed up in a bag] As the writings or informations of a process which is ready to be sentenced, #De 32:34 Ho 13:12. Thou hast, as it were, sealed up and made sure work with all my sins, saith Job, to have them forthcoming for the increase of my punishment. Look how the clerk of assizes (saith one) seals up the indictments of men, and at the assizes brings his bag, and takes them out to read the same against them; so God dealt with Job, in his conceit at least. The truth is, God had not sealed his transgressions in a bag, but had cast them behind his back. A bag God hath for men’s sins, and a bottle he hath for their tears, #Ps 56:8. Now Job was one of those penitents that helped to fill God’s bottle, and therefore he saw at length (though now he was benighted) all his sins, bag and all, thrown in the sea, and sinking as a weighty millstone in those mighty waters of free grace and undeserved mercy.

And thou sewest up mine iniquity] Adsuesne aliquid iniquitati meae? so the Tigurines translate, i.e. Wilt thou sow or add anything to mine iniquity? wilt thou tie to it that tag (as a martyr phraseth it) of the law’s malediction, conjoining the punishment to the sin? Adsuere ad iniquitatem, est poenas poenis continenter adiungere (Merl.). Some make this an explication of the former; q.d. the bag is not only sealed, but, for more surety, sewed too, and that purposely for a purchase of punishment, as some sense it.

Ver. 18. And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought] q.d. If thou, Lord, proceed to deal thus rigidly with me, viz. to number or cipher up my steps, to watch over my sins, to seal them up in a bag, &c., and all this in fierce wrath, that thou mayest lay load upon me; what mountain, what rock, what other creature is ever able to abide it? Job had said before, "Is my strength the strength of stones?" #Job 6:12; "Am I a sea, or a whale?" #Job 7:12: were I these, or any the like robust creatures, yet could not I expect to stand before the displeased Omnipotency, who taketh the hills like tennis balls, and cracketh the rocks like a nut shell. See #Hab 1:4-6. {See Trapp on "Hab 1:4"} {See Trapp on "Hab 1:5"} {See Trapp on "Hab 1:6"}

And the rock is removed out of his place] As in earthquakes it sometimes happens. See #Job 19:5. Or by reason of the sea underlaking, it decayeth in time, and waxeth old, as the Hebrew word signifieth.

Ver. 19. The waters wear the stones] Gutta cavat lapidem, &c. The weakest things wear out the hardest by often falling upon them, or continual running over them; so doth God’s wrath, though let out minimally, secretly, but surely consume. #Ho 5:12, "I will be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness," or that little worm ( teredo) that eats into the heart of wood, and rots it. Thus he plagued the Egyptians by lice and flies. There may be much poison in little drops.

Thou washest away the things that grow out of the earth] Or, Thou overflowest, as once in the general deluge (when the face of the earth was grown so foul, that God was forced to wash it with a flood), and frequently since, we see that after great rains there are huge floods that mar whole meadows and grain fields, not only discolouring, but drowning all their beauty and plenty. This is the fourth comparison used in this and the former verse; where a man would wonder, saith an interpreter, audire Iobum in mediis aerumnis philosophantem, to hear Job, in the midst of his miseries, making use of his philosophy, and travelling thus in his thoughts, for illustrations of his own case, over mountains and rocks, &c.

Thou destroyest the hopes of man] viz. In destroying the things above mentioned; or, so thou destroyest, &c.; though some reserve the reddition to the next verse, so thou prevailest against him, &c., i.e. So thou never ceasest with thy might to cast down sorry men, till such time as they, changing countenance, and departing with a heavy and sorrowful heart, thou violently throwest them out, their lives and hope ending together, if they have been wicked; as if godly, yet their vain and groundless hopes of prosperity and plenty, &c., come to nothing: though over the Red Sea, yet God’s people may be made to tack about two and forty times in the wilderness.

Ver. 20. Thou prevailest for ever against him] This, and the rest of the words to the end of the chapter, some make to be the application of the similitudes; others an amplification only of what he had said, Thou destroyest the hope of man. Thou must needs, when thou over match and over master him, and art never worsted. #Ex 15:3, the Lord is called, "A man of war"; the Chaldee there hath it, The Lord and Victor of wars. And the word here rendered "ever" cometh from a root that signifieth to finish, conquer, and triumph.

And he passeth] sc. Out of the world by a violent or untimely death, Violenta morte aut certe immatura (Merlin), with as ill a will many times as the unjust steward did out of his office, as the Jebusites did out of the fort of Zion, or as the devil out of the demoniac. Sed voluntas Dei necessitas rei; he passeth, because he can neither will nor choose, as they say.

Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away] Eleganter vero mors notatur, immutandi verbo, saith one, Elegantly is death set forth by changing the countenance: for death taketh away the fair and fresh colour of a man, and makes him look wan and withered, pale and ghastly. It is easy to see death, many times, before it come, in the sick man’s face, Facies Hippocratica, in his sharp nostrils, thin cheeks, hollow eyes, &c., those harbingers of death, whereby God sendeth for him, and so sendeth him away, extrudit et amandat, as once he did Adam out of Paradise. Lavater’s note here is, Propone tibi semper horribilem speciem morris, ut eo minus pecces, Set before thyself always the horrid face of death, to restrain thee from sin.

Ver. 21. His sons come to honour, and he knoweth it not] While he lieth sick, he regardeth no earthly thing, no, not what becometh of his children (formerly his greatest care), whether they be advanced or impaired in their outward condition, Omnis hi Ascanio churi stat cura parentis (Vir.). As when he is dead he can take no knowledge of anything done in this world, #Isa 63:16 Ec 2:19 9:6, be his children or friends rich or poor, high or low, he is both ignorant and insensible. It was a base slander, published by a Jesuit, some years after Queen Elizabeth’s death, That as she died without sense or feeling of God’s mercies, so that she wished she might after her death hang a while in the air, to see what striving would be for her kingdom. As for that opinion of some Papists, That the dead do sometimes return into the land of the living, that they know how things go here, and make report thereof to those in heaven, it is contrary to the whole Scripture.

Ver. 22. But his flesh upon him shall have pain] That is, say some, but as long as he is living his body is afflicted with a thousand evils; and though his soul, by the condition of her creation, be exempt from them, yet she bears a part in them, and becomes miserable with it. A dying man hath sorrow without and sorrow within; the whole man is in misery, as Job here felt himself. Others hold that this poetic representation hath no other meaning, but that the dead have no manner of communication with the living (Aben Ezra, Mercer, Diodati). Broughton rendereth it, His flesh is grieved for itself, and his soul will mourn for itself; q.d. he takes no thought or care for his children or nearest relations.

Chapter 15

Ver. 1. Then answered Eliphaz, the Temanite, and said] Lapides locutus est. In this second encounter Eliphaz falls upon Job, not so much with stronger arguments as with harder words; reproving him sharply, or rather reproaching him bitterly, Facundia quadam canina, with more eloquence than charity. So hard a thing is it, saith Beza, especially in disputing and reasoning, to avoid self-love, as even in these times experience daily teacheth us. He hinteth, I suppose, at the public conference between himself and Jacobus Andreas at Mompelgard, whereby the strife was rather stirred than stinted, as Thuanus complaineth (Lib. 35, Hist.); or else at the disputation at Possiacum, wherein Beza, speaker for the Protestant party (before the queen mother of France, the young King Charles, and many princes of the blood), entering into the matter of the Eucharist, spake with such heat (unless the historian wrongs him), that he gave but ill satisfaction to those of his own side, so that he was commanded to conclude. Such meetings are seldom successful, saith Luther, because men come with confidence and wit for victory rather than verity. In this reply of Eliphaz to Job we may see what an evil thing it is to be carried away with prejudice and pertinance, which make a man forget all modesty, and fall foul upon his best friends. Here is enough said to have driven this sorrowfull man into utter despair, had not God upheld his spirit, while he is fiercely charged for a wicked man, and hated of God; neither doth any of his friends henceforth afford him one exhortation to repentance, or one comfortable promise, as Lavater well observeth, Non affert ullam consolationem, non invitat eum ad poenitentiam; sed potius ad desperationem compellat.

Ver. 2. Should a wise man utter vain knowledge] Heb. Knowledge of the wind; light, frothy, empty discourses, that have no tack or substance in them, but only words that are no better than wind, a mere flash or airy nothing. Solomon thinks a wise man should beware of falling into this fault, lest he forfeit his reputation: #Ec 10:1, "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour"; as spots are soonest observed in the whitest and finest garments; and envy, like worms and moths, doth usually feed on the purest cloth. A great many dead flies may be found in a tar box, and no harm done, but one of them fallen into a pot of sweet odours, or precious perfumes, may soon taint and corrupt them.

And fill his belly with the east wind?] Per ventrem, mentem intellige, et per ventum Orientalem, vanam opinionem, saith Vatablus. By belly understand the mind, and by the east wind a vain conceit, or frothy knowledge, blown forth out of a swelling breast, to the hurt of others; for the east wind is destructive to herbs and fruits, #Ho 12:1 Ge 41:6. But doth not Eliphaz here by these bubble of words and blustering questions, betraying much choler and confidence, fall into the very same fault which he findeth with Job; doth not he also fill his belly with heat (so the Vulgate rendereth this text), which, kindling in his bosom, blazeth out at his lips? Doth not this angry man exalt folly, and show himself none of the wisest, though he were the oldest in all the company.

Ver. 3. Should he reason with unprofitable talk?] Why? But if he do, should he, therefore, be thus rippled up, and roughly hewen? And not rather reduced and rectified with hard arguments and soft words? Man is a cross crabbed creature: Duci vult, trahi non vult, Persuade him you may; compel him you cannot. A fit time also must be taken to persuade him to better, for else you may lose your sweet words upon him. The husbandman soweth not in a storm; the mariner hoisteth not sail in every wind; good physicians evacuate not the body in extremity of heat and cold. "A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city," #Pr 18:19. This Eliphaz should have considered, and not so rashly censured Job for a fool, and his talk for trash, but rather handled him tenderly, considering his condition, and desired him to explain such of his speeches as he thought not so well and wisely uttered.

Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?] This is but the same with the former; and indeed this whole verse is but a saying of that plainly which in the foregoing verse he had said figuratively.

Ver. 4. Yea, thou casiest off fear] Heb. Thou makest void fear; that is, religion, whereof the fear of God is both the beginning, #Pr 1:7, and the end, #Ec 12:1. This is a heavy charge indeed; as if Job, by saying the extreme miseries of this life are common to the godly and the wicked, had by consequence taught men to cast off all religion as unprofitable, which none but such a shameless man as thyself, saith Eliphaz, would ever have averred. It cannot be denied but that Job, through the bitterness of his grief and the unreasonableness of his adversaries, was sometimes carried beyond the bounds of that reverence which is due unto God, and reasoneth the matter somewhat hotly with God; but that thereby he betrayed his manifest contempt of his majesty, casting off all awful regard and recourse thereto by prayer, as the wicked, who call not upon God, #Ps 14:4, this was a mere conjecture, or rather an unsufferable injury done to the good man, who gave sufficient testimony of his fearing God, and soon poured out his prayer in his presence. All which, notwithstanding, he heareth in the next words,

And restrainest prayer before God] Thou forbearest to pray thyself, and thou discouragest others. If this had been true it had been a foul fault indeed, for while prayer standeth still, the whole trade of godliness standeth still likewise; and to cast off prayer is to cast off God, #Jer 10:25. We must take heed of falling from the affections of prayer, though we continue doing the duty. As vessels of wine, when first tapped, are very smart and quick, but at last grow exceedingly flat; so do many Christians, through unbelief, and worldly cares and businesses, or domestic discords, or some other distempers, whereby prayers are hindered, #1Pe 3:7; either they pray not frequently, or not fervently, but in a customary, formal, dull way. And this Eliphaz might suspect Job of, and assign it as the cause of all his miscarriages in word and deed. Sure it is that, as sleep composeth drunkenness, so doth prayer the affections; a man may pray himself sober again, as a reverend man (Dr Preston) gathereth out of this text.

Ver. 5. For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity] Heb. Thy crooked, wry disposition, that standeth across to God and goodness, #Ps 51:5, Homo est inversus decalogus. Solomon speaketh of perverse lips, as if the upper lip stood where the nether should, #Pr 4:24. And St Jude speaketh of hard speeches, uttered by ungodly sinners, #Jude 15, such as Job was none, whatever Eliphaz, by misinterpreting, made of him, wresting his words to a wrong sense, as #Ps 54:5, and, by a spiritual unmannerliness, making the worst of what he spake; there being not anything that may not be taken with the left hand. Now, if this befell Job from his friends and those godly persons, what wonder though the like, and worse, be done to us by wicked enemies?

Qui id quod boni est excerpunt, dicunt quod mali est.

Nihil est quin male narrando possit depravarier. -(Terent. Phorm.)

And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty] Than the which nothing is a greater enemy to piety, saith an interpreter. Politicians formalize and enervate the power of truth, till at length they leave us a heartless and sapless religion, saith another. Such a one Eliphaz makes Job to be: q.d. Thou wast wont to speak prayer, but now thou speakest policy, yea, Thou choosest to do it, thou lovest evil more than good, and lying rather than to speak right, #Ps 52:3. Thou hast as many turnings and windings in thy mind as the serpent hath in his body (so the Hebrew word seemeth to signify, #Ge 3:1). Thus he heighteneth his charge, and layeth on yet more load.

Ver. 6. Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I] Yes, you, and none but you. Job’s heart condemneth him not (and thence his confidence toward God, #1Jo 3:21), much less his mouth, had not his words been misconstrued. But as charity maketh a good sense of doubtful speeches and passages, so prejudice and displeasure takes all things (though well meant) at the worst, and as logicians do, Sequitur partem deteriorem. Eliphaz diggeth up evil, #Pr 16:27, and is like Achilles, of whom Homer saith, that he was a great fault finder (Iliad, xi. 653).

Δεινος ανηρ, ταχα κεν και αναιτιον αιτιοωτο.

Yea, thine own lips testify against thee] Heb. Answer against thee. For witnesses ordinarily answer to interrogatories. So the pride of Israel (breaking forth as a great master pockmark in his forehead) testified to his face, #Ho 5:5, and the heretic is contemned of himself, #Tit 3:11. Virtually he doth so, though not formally. But Job did neither, good Eliphaz.

Ver. 7. Art thou the first man that was born?] Or, Wast thou made before Adam? Ut vox Rishon non significet primus, sed prius (Lavat., Bucholc.). Out of the mouth of Adam, as from a fountain, flowed whatsoever profitable learning, skill, or wisdom, is found in the world, saith the divine chronologer. Job had taxed Zophar for a young puny and a novice. #Job 12:9-12 This Eliphaz kindleth at, and taketh upon him to answer in Zophar’s behalf. As indeed these three speakers, Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad, stood to one another, as much as any one of them did for himself, as if they had all entered bond, and given security for reciprocal assistance. Here then Eliphaz asketh, Art thou the first man born? that is, Art thou the wisest man alive? and must we all be taught by thee, as Adam’s nephews were by him, in things divine and human.

Or wast thou made before the hills?] i.e. Before the angels, as some sense it. But take it literally for the mountains, called, for their antiquity, the everlasting hills, #Ge 49:26 Hab 3:6, because they were from the beginning, and shall continue to the end. These appeared first at the separation of the waters, #Ge 1:9,10. And Christ, to set forth his eternity, saith, #Pr 8:25, "Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, was I brought forth." So #Ps 90:2.

Ver. 8. Hast thou heard the secret of God?] Thus he goes on to jeer Job, and to accuse him of insolent arrogance, as if he had taken himself to be of God’s cabinet council, and so to have known more of his mind than any other. Now this never came into Job’s heart; but these hot spirited people, Biliosi et bellicosi, when their choler is once up, will not stick to say anything against another whom they desire to gall, and to make the worst of his words, when as themselves cannot take a reproof, though never so just.

And dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?] Hast thou engrossed all the wisdom in the world? and must it needs live and die with thee? Is every man a fool presently, who is not of thy mind and make? An solus sapis, ita ut te pereunte sit ipsa sapientia peritura? (Vatabl.) Epicurus indeed had such a conceit; and Pulaemen, in Suetonius, and Laurentius Valla, with some others of late: but Job was far from it, as appeareth by his many self-abasing expressions; and it had been well for him if his three friends had taken out that lesson in Wisdom’s school; viz. to judge those certain good things found in another better than they are; and certain evils, less; doubtful good things, certain; and doubtful evil things, none.

Ver. 9. What knowest thou, that we know not?] Here Eliphaz inveigheth against Job’s pride, sed maiori cam fastu, but with greater pride, else what meaneth this arrogant comparison? Did not a deceived heart turn him aside, as the prophet speaketh in another case? and might it not be said of him, as it was once of Antony, That he hated a tyrant, but not tyranny. {See Trapp on "Job 12:3"} {See Trapp on "Job 13:2"}

Ver. 10. With us are the grayheaded, &c.] Job had said, #Job 12:12, "With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days is understanding." This, though modestly spoken, yet was very ill taken; and is here replied unto with a great deal of heat. Sed ita solent importuni homines, &c., saith Mercer here; but such is the course and custom of unreasonable men, to take everything in the worst way, and to deal rather by reproaches than by reasons; as Eccius, Sanderus, Genebrardus, the whole generation of Jesuits, of whom Aurelius, the Sorbonist, saith, and truly, that they are a sort of men, qui nihil magis habent quam arrogantiam Theologicam: nihil minus possident quam Theologicam sclentiam; Arrogant and yet ignorant; for, while they think they know all things, they know nothing at all as they ought to know, #1Co 8:2. As for antiquity, here so stifity pleaded, it must have no more authority than what it can maintain. Papists boast much of it, as once the Gibeonites did of old shoes and mouldy bread. But antiquity, severed from verity, is of no value; for, as Cyprian saith well, Consuetudo mala, vetustas erroris est. And our Saviour saith not, I am custom, but, "I am the way, the truth," &c. And God saith, by the prophet Ezekiel, "Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments," &c., but, "walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them," #Eze 20:18,19. {See Trapp on "Job 8:8"} {See Trapp on "Job 8:9"} {See Trapp on "Job 8:10"} {See Trapp on "Job 12:12"}

Ver. 11. Are the consolations of God] Sic fastuose suas consolationes appellat et sociorum, saith Mercer; so Eliphaz, with state enough, calleth the comforts that he and his fellows had ministered to Job, promising him mercy from God upon his sound repentance; but telling him withal, that unless he Would yield himself a hypocrite, those promises would profit him nothing at all. Had Job slighted the precious promises, those conduits of comfort, he had been much to blame, as he was, doubtless, who said, My soul refused comforts, #Ps 77:2; like some sullen child, that will not eat his milk because he hath it not in the golden dish. The soul is ready to turn the back of the hand, and not the palm, to the staff of divine consolations, saying, Oh my stubbornness, &c., and rather to shift and shirk in every by corner for comfort, than to suck it out of those breasts of consolation, and be satisfied, #Isa 66:11. The apostle taxeth his Hebrews, that they had forgotten the consolation (so the words may be read) which spake unto them as unto children, saying, My son, &c., #Heb 12:5-11 Wrangling with God by cavilling objections, when they should rather have wrestled with him by earnest supplications, putting the promises in suit, and drawing waters with joy out of those wells of consolation, #Isa 12:3. Job was not altogether clear of this fault. He was so poor and sore without, and within so full of horror and terror, that he was ready, with Rachel, to refuse to be comforted. Mercies were offered unto him, but he was scarce in case to receive them. The ear, which tasteth words as the mouth doth meat, was so filled with choler, that he could hardly relish any comfort. The easiest medicines of waters are troublesome to sore eyes. The flesh with her roarings and repinings maketh such a din, that the voice of the comforter cannot well be heard in the best heart sometimes. The Spirit knocks, but there is none to open; hence he goes away grieving, and that should not be.

Is there any secret thing with thee?] Hast thou food to eat that we know not of? Are there with thee consolations of thine own better than those of God, which we have ministered unto thee? Some render it, and lieth there any hidden thing within thee? that is, either some greater and more profound wisdom than every man knoweth; or else some secret sin which must be cast out ere comforts can fasten. For as the wound cannot close and heal as long as any part of the iron weapon remaineth in it; so here in the Cordiaea passio, or passion of heart, the heart is so oppressed and overly covered, that the most refreshing cordials cannot come at it, so that it is even suffocated with sorrow. In allusion whereunto, the Church prays, #La 3:65, "Give them sorrow of heart." This was Spira’s case; and for the time might be Job’s. Possibly some sin or sorrow might lie at the fouutain head, and stop the course of his comforts. This Eliphaz fisheth after, and would have found out, and remedied.

Ver. 12. Why doth thine heart carry thee away?] Violently transport thee; sc. beyond all bounds of reason and modesty, Quis te furor cordis exagitat? (Pineda.) There is another charge, and higher than the former, as if he had been emotae mentis, not well in his wits, but wild and wood, as they call it; or, at least, that his passions were so far too hard for his reason, as they did

Rectam de cardine tollere mentem,

We are in no small danger of our naughty hearts. It was no ill prayer of one, Lord, keep me from that naughty man myself, Domine, libera me a malo homine, meipso. Nor was it any ill counsel of another, who said, So take heed to thyself, that thou beware of thyself, Ita cave tibi ut caveas teipsum. Though there were no devil, yet our corrupt nature would act Satan’s part against itself; it would have a supply of wickedness (as a serpent hath of poison) from itself, it hath a spring to feed it. Keep thy heart therefore with all custody, #Pr 4:24; it will get away else, and carry thee away with it.

And what do thy eyes wink at?] Nictant, celeriter scilicet, et subtiliter. Possibly Job, through pain and anguish, might be made to wink while he was speaking to them, or they to him; and this they miscontrue as done in contempt. See #Ps 35:19. Or that he was plotting some mischief, #Pr 10:10 16:30, or pretending to some extraordinary devotion, and therefore shutting his eyes, that he might be the more reserved to God. The Vulgate hath it, Why doth thine heart lift thee up? and as if thou wert thinking of some great things, why are thine eyes so set? it is for no goodness, sure.

Ver. 13. That thou turnest thy spirit against God] A foul fault surely, but merely for want of a fair interpretation. It is as if Eliphaz should have said, Thy spirit was right when thou bravely barest up under the afflicting hand of God, #Job 1:13-22, but because patience hath not had her perfect work, as appeareth by thine angry expostulations, thy contesting with God, and chatting against him and his proceedings, therefore I conclude that thou art not perfect and entire, all is not right. Why doth thy spirit swell against God (so the Vulgate rendereth it)? "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him," that is certain, #Hab 2:4, Quid tumet contra Deum Spiritus tuus.

And lettest such words go out of thy mouth?] Contumelious and blasphemous words, not fit to be named. Bona verba, quaeso Eliphaz. True it is, Job had spoken some things more freely than was fitting, and not without a tincture of bitterness. But charity would have made the best of those speeches which you thus odiously aggravate against him; and have taught you to use the same equity toward others that you would have others use toward yourself. That faith (and so that love) is easily wrought which teacheth men to believe and think well of themselves, and worse of others. We will make a good exposition if we have but a good disposition.

Ver. 14. What is man, that he should be clean?] Eliphaz hath now done chiding (it is but time he should), and falls to reasoning; wherein nevertheless he showeth himself an empty and troublesome disputer, urging again the same arguments as before, #Job 14:17-19, and not resting satisfied in a sufficient answer. Did Job ever assert himself clean? Said he not the clean contrary in many places? See #Job 14:4. Only as washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of his God, #1Co 6:11, he discoursed of his integrity and righteousness; not denying himself otherwise tainted with original sin, and guilty of actual; which he begged pardon for; according to the tenour of the covenant of grace. And therefore Eliphaz might have spared these words, and better bestowed his pains in comforting Job, and exhorting him to patience. The Jesuits have at this day a device in handling texts of Scripture by their nice distinctions to perplex and obscure the clearest places; and for those that are doubtful, not at all to distinguish or illustrate them. Again, in points of controversy they make a great putter about that which we deny not, but say little or nothing to the main business.

Haec quae desperant renitescere posse relinquunt.

Ver. 15. Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints] Here he proceedeth to prove that which Job never denied; and Bildad also hath the same, #Job 25 Lege eius verba, nam non male huc quadrant, saith Lavater; lay his words to these, and they will lend light to each other. {See Trapp on "Job 4:18"} There they are called his servants, here his saints or holy ones; these were the old patriarchs, say the Septuagint, with whom God at some times was angry; and although he was a God that forgave them, yet took he vengeance of their inventions, #Ps 99:8. Others understand it to be the saints in heaven, or the holy angels.

And the heavens are not clean in his sight] Nor they of heaven be clean in his eyes, so Broughton rendereth it. The angels are called angels of heaven, #Mt 24:36 Ga 1:8; because made with and in the highest heavens, and appointed there to inhabit. Howbeit in the apostate angels, and in heaven, God’s holy and pure eyes found uncleanness, and delivered them therefore into chains of darkness, #2Pe 2:4. Again, to be clean in God’s sight is another manner of matter than to be simply clean; like as to be just is one thing, and to be just before God another, #Lu 1:6. Sordet in conspectu iudicis quod fulget in conceptu operantis. Some understand the text to be the visible heavens, the purest of all inanimate creatures; and therefore Chrysostom, speaking of those praying saints that prayed Peter out of prison, #Ac 12:12-17, saith, that they were ipso coelo puriores afflictione facti, more pure than the heavens, yet are they not pure in the sight of God, but have their spots, which we count their beauty spots.

Ver. 16. How much more abominable and filthy is man?] And therefore abominable because filthy, or stinking and noisome, as putrefied meat is to the nose and palate. Now this is every man’s case by nature, #Ps 14:3, there being never a barrel of better herring, but all in a pickle, though few believe it. Κακοι κεν θριπες κακοι δε και ιπες. Prov. Circumcision of old taught them, that that which was begotten by that part deserved, in like sort, as abominable and accursed, to be cut off and thrown away by God. And what else doth baptism still teach us? See #Col 2:11-13 1Pe 3:21. David compareth man to the beasts that perish, pecoribus morticinis, to beasts that die of the murrain, and so become carrion, and are good for nothing, #Ps 49:20 (Tremel.). He lieth rotting in the graves of sin, wrapt up in the winding sheet of hardness of heart, and (as the carcass crawleth with worms) swarming with noisome lusts, such as God’s soul abhorreth. This is his nature; and for his life,

He drinketh iniquity like water] He is as it were altogether steeped and soaked in sin; he sucks it in with delight, as an ox doth water, or a drunkard wine, who prefer that you take away his life as his liquor, and could find in his heart to be drowned in a butt of Malmsey; as George, duke of Clarence, was in the Tower of London, and, as some say, by his own election. Sure it is that a draught of sin is the only merry-go-down to a carnal man; he drinks it frequently and abundantly, even till he swelleth therewith. One observeth here, that Eliphaz saith not, Man eateth, but, drinketh iniquity; because to eat a man must chew, and this taketh up some time, and leaveth a liberty to spit out what he liketh not; but drink goeth down without delay, and we usually drink oftener than we eat; so here.

Ver. 17. I will show thee, hear me] Here Eliphaz useth a short but a lofty preface, calling hard for attention, and raising in Job an expectation of no mean matters. But

Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu -(Horat.)

This is his argument:

This is to be held to be true which experience evinceth, and wise men teach us, just as they have learned it from their religious ancestors.

But, both continued experience and consent of men teach us, that wicked men have terrors within and troubles without.

Therefore this is to be taken for a truth. Therefore also, by consequence, that is false which thou hast spoken concerning the prosperity of wicked men, #Job 12:6. Neither canst thou avoid the charge of wickedness who dost suffer the punishments of the wicked. Now what is all this more than Eliphaz had said in a former discourse (so that Job might have cried out, Apage coccysmum?) only there he grounded his argument upon a night vision; here upon the testimony and consent of certain wise men, commended by their power and justice. Some think he meaneth Noah and his pious posterity.

That which I have seen I will declare] Wilt thou not believe an eyewitness? What can be more sure than sight? #Joh 1:1. Surely, if we were well read in the story of our own lives, and had laid up our experiences, we might have a divinity of our own. The ll9th Psalm is made up of experiments; and David oft telleth us what he had seen and observed.

Ver. 18. Which wise men have told from their fathers] Who have carefully and faithfully transmitted it as a doctrinal truth to us, their posterity, from hand to hand. For in Job’s time it is likely that the Scriptures were not yet written. Which, or, which things wise men Who did, in their generations, Deum recte cognoscere et colere, rightly know and worship God, which is the highest wisdom, saith Lactantius.

Have told] Have spoken it so plainly and plentifully, as if they had showed us the things acted before our eyes.

From their fathers] Who were careful to instil good instructions and heavenly truths into the minds of their children, their familiars, and families, as did Abraham, #Ge 18:17-19, and others according to God’s own appointment, #De 6:1,2

And have not hid it] But communicated it for the good of many. Light is diffusive of itself. Knowledge is perfected while it is communicated. The more you teach and impart to others, eo ditior ac doctior fias, saith one, the richer and more skilfull you become (Bodin. Theat. Nat. p. 9). It is not the pouring out which drieth up the streams of grace, like that oil, #2Ki 4:6. See #Pr 11:24,25 Ps 78:2-4.

Ver. 19. To whom alone the earth was given] Noah and his pious posterity (as was above noted), whom Methodius and other ancients call, Mundi chiliarchos, the lords of the whole world, given them by the possessor of heaven and earth, as Melchisedek first called God, #Ge 14:19, and from him Abraham, another prince of God, #Ge 22:3, as those heathens acknowledged him, and heir of the whole world, #Ro 4:13 As for Melchisedek (commonly taken to be Shem), he was king in Salem, and no stranger, that is, no enemy, molested him; no, not those great spoilers, Chedorlaomer and his accomplices; these never meddled with Melchisedek and his subjects (probably out of respect to his wisdom and holiness, for which he was famous), no, not when, marching against the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, they wasted and smote all the neighbour countries. So true of his subjects and territories was that which followeth here,

And no stranger passed among them] viz. In a hostile way, in a warlike manner, #Ne 4:15 Some read, No strange thing passeth among them; as not the devouring sword, so neither the pestilence that walketh in darkness nor the destruction that wasteth at noonday, #Ps 91:6. Such as was the reign of Ferdinando III, king of Spain, for five and thirty years’ time. In quibus nec fames nec pestes fuit ni regno, saith Lopez, wherein there happened neither famine nor pestilence (Gloss. in Prolog. par. 1).

Ver. 20. The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days] He tormenteth himself, or thrusteth himself through (so some read it), #1Ti 6:10. He takes no more rest than one upon a rack; he hath his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, #Jer 30:6; he smiteth upon his thigh; sicut mulierculae in puerperio facere solent, saith Luther in his marginal note on #Jer 31:19. And if he would do so for his sin, as he doth for his misery, pia esset illa tristitia, et, si disci potest, beata miseria, as Austin hath it (Aug. Epist. 545), his grief would be godly, and his misery a blessing, God would pity him, as he did his moan making Ephraim, and earnestly remember him still, #Job 15:23. But, alas, that wicked are strong, the hypocrite in heart, as he heaps up wrath, so he crieth not when God bindeth him, #Job 36:16. Or if he do cry, it is peril, and not peccavi, I am undone, and not, I have done amiss. Hence God many times turneth loose upon him those three vultures, care, fear, and grief, to feed upon his heart. It is seldom seen that God alloweth unto the greatest darlings of the world a perfect contentment. In the very pursuit of these outward vanities is much anguish, many grievances, fears, jealousies, disgraces, interruptions, discontentments. In the unsanctified enjoyment of them, something the wicked shall have to complain of, that shall give an unsavoury verdue to their sweetest morsels, and make their very felicity miserable; witness Ahab, Haman, &c. But then followeth the sting of conscience, that maketh a Cain, a Pashur, a Richard III, to be a terror to himself. And with this pain some wicked men travail all their days here, but hereafter it shall infallibly and inexpressibly torment the souls of them all, through all eternity. And this, with the following illustrations, is that oracle or divine sentence which Eliphaz received from those famous men above mentioned, and which he not obscurely applieth and wresteth against Job, whom herehence he would prove a wicked man by his own confessions, #Job 3:25,26 7:13,14, compared with #Le 26:36 De 28:65, for that which Eliphaz had heard from his ancestors was but the same law, for substance, that was afterwards written by Moses.

And the number of years is hidden to the oppressor] Heb. To the terrible tyrant, who, as he hath not a more cruel executioner than his own conscience, so not a more sensible displeasure than to know that he is mortal, and yet to be ignorant when his tyranny must end. The number of the years of his tyranny is uncertain, saith the Vulgate translation. And from this uncertainty, which he knoweth not how to remedy (though he run to light a candle at the devil sometimes, viz. by consulting with soothsayers and sorcerers, to know of them how long he shall live, and who shall succeed him, as Tiberius and other tyrants did), followeth suspicion and fear, saith Aquinas upon this text.

Ver. 21. A dreadfid sound is in his ears] Heb. A sound of fear and terror. Not one, but many at once, so that he is a Magormissabib, factus a corde sua fugitivus (Tertul.), as Cain, that wretch, and those Hivites, with their hornets of a clamorous conscience, worse to them than if their bodies had been tormented with stings or torn with stripes, #Ex 23:28. What a sound of terror in their ears frighted those Syrians! #2Ki 7:6; and those Persians and Saracens overcome by Theodosius! Panico terrore incusso, saith the historian, afraid of their own shadows, they desperately cast themselves into the river Euphrates, and there perished above a hundred thousand of them, A.D. 394. The wicked flee when none pursueth, #Pr 28:1; the sound of a shaken leaf chaseth him, #Le 26:36, when the righteous is bold as a lion, and not dismayed at evil tidings, #Ps 112:7. His heart is balanced with the fear of God; and thence it is that he floateth steadily; blow what wind it will, he sails to the port; storms and tempests do but beat him into it.

In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him] Heb. In peace, when he shall say, Peace and safety, #1Th 5:3. When he is at the highest he shall be destroyed, #Da 4:30,31. In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits, #Job 20:22. His short spring shall have an eternal winter, #Ps 92:7. Ultimus sanitatis gradus est morbo proximus, say physicians, The utmost degree of health is nearest to sickness; so the wicked when nearest misery have greatest prosperity.

Ver. 22. He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness] He despondeth and despaireth of a better condition, sighing out that doleful ditty, Spes et fortuna valete; Farewell hope and fortune, he looks for no further light and delight of former comforts; he knows that they that go down into the dark pit cannot hope for God’s truth, #Isa 38:18; there being left them neither hope of better nor place of worse. Desperat qui summus est diffidentiae gradus (Jun.).

And he is waited for of the sword] Or, looked upon by the sword, which waiteth, as it were, an opportunity to slay him. Circumspectans undique gladium, so the Vulgate; he looketh this way and that way, as fearing the murderer; his guilt representing to him on all sides nothing but naked swords; he believeth that they will assassinate him in his bed. This was the case of Saul, who suspected his best servants; of Dionysius the tyrant, who durst not trust his own daughter with his throat; of Alexander Pheraeus, who would not go to bed to his wife Thebe, whom he loved, till he had first searched the room and her pocket for edge-tools (Cicero. Offic. lib. 2); of Richard III, who, after the death of his two innocent nephews, had fearful dreams and apprehensions, insomuch that he did often leap out of his bed in the dark, and catching his sword (which, always naked, stuck by his side), he did go distractedly about the chamber, everywhere seeking to find out the cause of his own occasioned disquiet, saith the chronologer (Dan. Hist. 249). Tiberius felt the remorse of conscience so violently, that he protested to the Senate that he suffered death daily through fear of death; whereupon the historian maketh this profitable observation, Tandem facinora et flagitia in supplicium vertuntur, Heinous sins will at length have heavy punishments (Tacit.).

Ver. 23. He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it?] He is hard put to it for necessaries, and would be glad of a piece of bread, as #1Sa 2:5,36. This was the case of Pythias, once so rich, that he entertained a million men (even Xerxes’ whole huge host) for three days’ time at his own proper charge; but afterwards so poor, that he died through hunger (Herodot.). And the like befell Gillimer, king of Vandals, of whom the story is told, that being overcome and beleaguered by Belisarius, he sent to him for a sponge to dry his tears, a cittern to ease his grief, and a piece of bread to save his life. Belisarius himself was afterwards glad to beg for his bread. And Henry IV, emperor of Germany, after ten years’ reign, was deposed and driven to the like exigent; whereupon he is said to have made use of those words of Job, #Job 19:21, "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God hath touched me." And there is no doubt but Eliphaz glanceth at Job in all these expressions, as if he were the man whom he here describeth with much eloquence, but small charity.

He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand] His conscience telleth him that he is not yet at worst; he knows in himself, say the Septuagint, that further evil shall be upon him, that his misery is inevitable, and next door; and this knowledge being full of fear, is also full of torment; it is even hell aforehand, and above ground.

Ver. 24. Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid] Or scare him, not only out of his comforts, but out of his wits and senses too, as it did Charles the Great, Cardinal of Lorrain (Meutis inops moritur). See #De 28:34. Tullus Hostilius, the third king of Romans, deriding the religion of his predecessor Numa, as that which did emasculate men’s minds, was afterwards so terrified, that he set up and worshipped two new gods, viz. Pavorem et Pallorem, trouble and anguish, which he had perpetually present with him, as Lactantius reporteth. What a pitiful agony Vitellius the emperor was in when Vespasian’s army marched toward Rome, is notably set forth by Dio in his Life (Εμπλεκτως ανω και κατω εφερετο ωσπερ εν κλυδωνι). Not long after that, at the sack of Jerusalem, some Jews killed themselves, lest they should fall into the hands of Vespasian’s soldiers.

Hic rogo; non furor est, ne moriare, mori?

They shall prevail against him] Or, begirt him, as a king is surrounded, in peace by his guard, in war by his army. Or, they shall destroy him, as a king ready to the battle doth his enemies’ forces, which he routeth and ruineth. Fear hath a deadly force upon feeble spirits; neither is it any wonder that they ring their bells backward when things begin once to be on fire.

Ver. 25. For he stretcheth out his hand against God] Worthy therefore to have a dead palsy transfused into it, or dried up, as Jeroboam’s was, when but stretched out against a prophet; and as Valens the emperor’s hand was made unable to hold a pen, when he would have subscribed a warrant for the banishing of Basil. Such a giant-like generation there are to this day among men, as face the heavens, cast down the gauntlet against God, Erecto collo valido impetu, arrogantia incurva cervice, saith Brentius upon the text, with stiff necks, full force, and insufferable insolence, as it were on purpose to cross the Almighty, and to wrestle a fall with him; they sin with a high hand, #Le 26:21 Nu 15:30, and do as wickedly as they can, #Jer 3:5, yea, with both hands earnestly, #Mic 7:3; persecuting his people who are unto him as the apple of his eye, and resisting the Holy Ghost always, #Ac 7:51. Surely he would even destroy God if he could, for he hateth him, #Ro 1:30, with a hellish hatred, as the word θεοστυγεις there signifieth, such as striketh at God’s very essence, #Ps 18:40; confer #1Jo 3:15.

And strengtheneth himself against the Almighty] Sed vanae sine viribus irae. To his sinews of iron he hath added brows of brass, #Isa 48:4. To his natural crossness habitual hardness and hardiness; so that now, like a stout warrior, he bends all his strength against the Almighty, but with no better success than to be broken in pieces, #Isa 8:9, with his iron mace, #Ps 2:9, Sennacherib for instance. {See Trapp on "Job 9:4"}

Ver. 26. He runneth upon him, even on his neck] Vulgate, He runneth upon him (God) with an erected neck; such is his audaciousness and impudence, daring to do any heinous wickedness, and not fearing to run against the strongest part of God’s armour, though able to grind him to powder. Sin hath etched such an impudency in his face, that he dare with a full forehead encounter God, even upon the points of his justice and righteous judgments, wherein he is the ablest to give us the shock, &c. Thus some sense the text. Others (of good note also) refer the word runneth to God, and render it thus, God runneth upon him, even upon the neck, &c. He breaking his shields, how many and how thick soever they be, drags him by the neck, as a miserable vanquished wretch, and lays upon him exquisite and high punishments, according to that, #Job 31:3, "Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?"

Upon the thick bosses of his bucklers] Wherewith the Belialist, this champion for hell, thinks himself best armed and secured against the dint of the divine displeasure. Bucklers, besides other bosses for ornament, had one great boss in the middle, with a sharp spike in it for use, to pierce and wound the adversary. Now God runs upon this also, and is no whit hindered thereby from punishing the refractories, these high attempters, these monstrous men of condition, that so fiercely and so fearlessly lift up their hands against heaven, as if they would pull God out of his throne, and throw the house, yea, the world, out at the windows. Surely as pride resisteth God in a special manner, so doth God in a special manner resist it, #1Pe 5:5. The reason whereof is given by Boetius: All other vices, saith he, fly from God, only pride flies at him, stands out, and makes head against him.

Ver. 27. Because he covereth his face with his fatness] This is given in as one chief cause of his insolence; he is a belly god, he maketh plaits upon the paunch, so Broughton rendereth it; he hath fattened his guts, so Calvin; he maketh it his business to pamper his body; his heart also is as fat as grease, #Ps 119:70. Bene curavit cutem suam in hoc mundo He takes good care of his skin in this world. (Vat.). He is waxen fat, that is, prosperity proud, and kicketh, #De 32:15. Pride and fulness of bread were Sodom’s twin sins, #Eze 16:49. When people are provender pricked, as we call it, they easily turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, #Jude 4, and that fulness breeds forgetfulness; as the fed hawk soon forgets his master, and the moon at fullest gets farthest off the sun. Sensualists who love feasts, #Jud 5:10, are void of the Spirit, #Jude 19. A full belly maketh a foul heart. The rankest weeds grow out of the fattest soil; and those that make their gut a gulf, well, they may have collops in their flanks, but they have leanness in their souls; indeed, they have (as swine) their souls for salt only, to keep their bodies from putrefying.

And maketh collops of fat on his flanks] Heb. And maketh mouths, that is, wrinkles, upon his flanks. He is active about it, and makes it his business to make provision for the flesh, #Ro 13:14. He labours "for the meat that perisheth," #Joh 6:27. He lives to eat, and laughs himself fat, till his heart, now hardened for the deceitfulness of his sin, becomes as insensible as Dionysius’, the Heracleot, who felt not when men thrust needles into his fat belly; or those bears in Pliny, that could not be stirred with the sharpest prickles.

Ver. 28. And he dwelleth in desolate cities] Such as had been before desolated, but are now by him edified again, to get him a name and a renown amongst men, and to make himself formidable, as those do who build themselves strongholds upon high rocks, as if they would wage war against heaven, Ad numinis contemptum et hominum terrorem (Merlin). Peradventure, saith Diodati here, he meaneth those kings of violent empires, who repaired or built great cities after the deluge, as Nimrod, Ashur, and others, #Ge 10:8 Job 3:14 Isa 23:13, and raised themselves upon other men’s ruins. Eliphaz’s scope is to show that a man that hath great power amongst men begins to think himself strong enough for God also.

And in houses where no man inhabiteth] For he hath driven away the inhabitants through his oppressions. This is that crying sin of depopulators, who build themselves desolate places, #Job 3:14; and enclosers, who betray towns, as Rome did Carthage, with a distinction, We will save the city, but destroy the town. This hath been noted as a great fault in our nation, and therefore Goropius thinks the English were called Angli, because they were good anglers, and had skill to lay various baits when they fished for other men’s livings. But that is his mistake, though perhaps wilful, for we were so called from the old Angli who came in with the Saxons, and were subdued by the Normans, whose duke, William the Conqueror, paid dearly for his depopulations at New Forest, wherein six and thirty parish churches had been demolished, and the inhabitants removed, to make room for beasts’ or dogs’ game. Various of his sons and nephews came there to untimely ends, so dangerous it is for men to prove Abaddons or destroyers.

Which are ready to become heaps] Heaps of stones: the strongest structures in the world are subject to ruin. Make sure of heaven, which the philosopher fondly dreamed to be made of stone (arch-work), and would one day come to ruin. But whatever becometh of the visible heavens, which shall be purified by the fire of the last day, upon the invisible we may well write, as Hippocrates telleth us it was engraven on the gates of a certain city, Intacta manet, it remaineth untouched. And as the Venetians boast of their city, that she is still a virgin, because from the first founding thereof (which is 1200 years since or near upon) it never came into the hands of a foreign enemy.

Ver. 29. He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance, &c.] If he be rich, it is for a mischief, neither is it likely long to continue with him, for God will blow upon and blast his substance, which is the fort and strength, #Isa 10:14. He resolves he will be rich, #1Ti 6:9, and is set upon it. God, to cross him, saith here, He shall not be rich, but I will make a poor fool of him, according to that #Jer 17:11, "As the partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool." There is a curse upon unlawful practices, though men be industrious, as in Jehoiakim, #Jer 22:19 It is God that giveth power to get wealth, #De 8:18. Our care can no more add a penny to our estate than it can a cubit to our stature, #Mt 6:27.

He shall not prolong the perfection thereof] Vulgate, He shall not send forth his root in the earth. "A man shall not be established by wickedness," saith Solomon: "but the root of the righteous shall continue," #Pr 12:3; {See Trapp on "Pr 12:3"}

Ver. 30. He shall not depart out of darkness] But be held under remediless misery, being ever blasted and benighted, till God at last breathe forth upon him his final displeasure. When God hath brought wicked men into straits, there he holdeth them; not so the godly, #Ps 34:19, they are sure of deliverance in due season. And as before the morning light is the thickest darkness, so before help hardest trials. Post tenebras lux, After the darkness, light, is the Christian’s motto; not so the ungodly, they are ex tenebris in tenebras, infelieiter exclusi, infelicius excludendi, as Austin hath it, to pass out of one darkness into another, till they be cast into utter darkness (Hom. 16).

The flame shall dry up his branches] That ventus urens et exsiccans of God’s wrath shall blast and consume, not his offspring only, but all his beauty and bravery; he shall be as a tree that is thunder struck, #Zec 11:16.

And by the breath of his mouth shall he go away] God will blow him to destruction, his very breath shall leave him breathless, #Isa 11:4 Ps 18:15 Job 4:9; {See Trapp on "Isa 11:4"} {See Trapp on "Ps 18:15"} {See Trapp on "Job 4:9"} Others understand it to be the wicked man’s mouth, and take this to be the sense, He shall be so choleric and impatient in his trouble, that he shall send out his last breath suddenly in a passionate fit. So did Nerva, the emperor, likewise Valentinian, Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia, and our Henry II.

Ver. 31. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity] Let it suffice him that he hath been once already deceived by the uncertainty of riches, which were never true to those which trusted them, nor ever will be, #1Ti 6:17. As Charondas was wont to say of going to sea, and another of going to law, That he wondered not at those that go once, but at those who go a second time. So may we at those that having found the deceitfulness of sin, and the instability of creature comforts, that they should again be drawn in and deceived. This folly Eliphaz here forewarneth Job of, and would not have him twice stumble at the same stone, but deliver his soul, if ever God should restore him again, and say, "Is there not a lie in my right hand?" Why feed I upon ashes? &c., #Isa 44:20.

For vanity shall be his recompense] i.e. Poverty and misery shall be his portion, as shame shall be the portion of fools, #Pr 3:35. As he hath sowed the wind, so he shall reap the whirlwind, whereof he is likely to have a great catch, #Ho 8:7; {See Trapp on "Ho 8:7"}

Ver. 32. It shall be accomplished before his time] Heb. In not his day. That recompense before mentioned of calamity and death shall be hastened, so that they shall not live out half their days, #Ps 55:22, but die tempore non suo, #Ec 7:15, then when it were better for them to do anything rather than to die, since they perish in their corruptions, they are killed with death, #Re 2:23; see #Pr 7:27. Death ever taketh a wicked man unprovided, Haec enim vena nobis ab Adam agnata est, ut nullam arborem ad suspendium aptam invenire possimus: neque unquam caro mortem eligit, nisi pressa iudicio (Brent. in loc.). We naturally dream of an immortality here, neither yield we to die till there be a necessity, Miserandum est autem, saith Lavater; but it is a pitiful thing, that, being all so desirous of life, we should so little care for those things that would lengthen our lives, such as are piety, justice, temperance, &c.; we forget that short way to long life, #Ps 34:12.

His branch shall not be green] Heb. His crooked or bowed down branch; this is his full estate or numerous issue, those boughs of his, laden and bowed down with fruit, shall not be green, but blasted and dried up; ramificans eius non virescet. It is a misery to be the branch of a wicked stock, for such, as they leave the rest of their substance to their little ones, #Ps 17:14, so they leave them God’s curse, as Joab’s legacy, #2Sa 3:29, or as Gehazi’s leprosy, #2Ki 5:27, a wretched bequeath.

Ver. 33. He shall shake off his unripe grapes as the vine] Filios intelligit per batra, et pueros per florem, saith Vatablus: i.e. By unripe grapes he meaneth the wicked man’s sons grown up; and by flowers of the olive, his little ones: and so it is the same with the former, only flourished over with two similitudes, He (that is, God) will snap off his sour grapes as the vines; so Broughton rendered it: Luctuosa foecunditas (such as was that of Laeta, in Jerome, Epist. 7, who buried many children) is a sore affliction. If the bud or flower decay, what hope can there be of fruit? Others understand it to be the untimely death, as before, or of the decay of his wealth and possessions.

Ver. 34. For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate] Heb. Of the hypocrite; where he seemeth to point at Job, as by the unripe grapes, and blasted flowers of the olive, he had understood Job’s children and possessions, #Job 15:33. Now the whole congregation or train and retinue of the hypocrite God will unnest and ruin, saith Eliphaz; they shall all be as one desolated, so the original hath it.

And fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery] Heb. The tabernacles of a bribe. Under these two heads, saith one, we may reduce all sorts of sinners; sinners against God under the notion of hypocrites; and sinners against men under the notion of bribe takers; δωροδεκτον, say the Septuagint, that is, receivers of gifts; and the Hebrew word signifieth, a gift in general; it is taken also for a bribe, because very many gifts are bribes, Munera sunt honoraria vel corruptoria (Lavat. in loc.). Now houses built by bribes or very many gifts shall be consumed and come to nothing, #Jer 22:13-17 Hab 2:9-12; see the note there. This Eliphaz casteth in Job’s teeth, but herein he dealt with him as injuriously as Bouner did with Philpot, the martyr, when he said to him, Also I lay to thy charge, that thou killedst thy father, and wast accursed of thy mother on her death bed (Acts & Mon. fol. 1650).

Ver. 35. They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity] Here Elipbaz for a close, by an elegant and usual metaphor taken from child bearing, showeth that all such as conceive with guile or wrong to others, by that time they have reckoned their months aright, though they grow never so big, shall bring forth nothing but wind and vanity. Like as a woman that thinks she hath conceived and is deceived, pleaseth herself with the thoughts of a child, but brings forth nothing but wind, water, or some dead mass. Brentius exemplifieth this by the Papists, devising tot modos et formas confitendi et missandi, so many ways and forms of confessing and massing. Poor souls, when stung by the friars’ sermons, or otherwise troubled in mind, run to those practices for help, but all in vain; for though stilled for a while, yet conscience recoileth upon them, and, making them miserable, leaveth them desperate, as Popery is a doctrine of desperation. Meanwhile, till they are confuted by the event, wicked men please themselves not a little in their sinful conceptions; they have a kind of a sensus veneris (which Scaliger will have to be the sixth sense, besides those five commonly counted of), a sensual delight in their sinful projects, In male agendo voluptatem quaesierunt (Merlin). As one, speaking of the Council of Trent, saith, That it was carried on by the pope with such infinite guile and craft, as that themselves will even smile in the triumphs of their own wits, when they hear it but mentioned, as at a master stratagem (Spec. Europ.). These heathens (so they are called, #Re 6:2) consider not, that while they thus tumultuate they do but imagine a vain thing, #Ps 2:1, and that the child’s name is vanity, as here.

And their belly prepareth deceit] Not their head, but their belly, prepareth (accurately and strongly prepareth, so the word signifieth) deceit, self deceit (so some sense it), or rather to deceive and undo others whom they cannot overcome by might, to overcome by sleight. And in these guileful projects they delight and take a contemplative kind of pleasure, as the voluptuous person doth in his lust, #Ps 52:1,2.

Chapter 16

Ver. 1. Then Job answered and said] Although he had little or nothing to answer unto but what he had answered before, yet that he might not say nothing, he replieth to Eliphaz’s painted speech, and giveth him to know, that prudentibus viris non placent phalerata sed fortia (as Bishop Jewel was wont to say), that is, that wise men look for matter, and not for words only, from those that accost them.

Ver. 2. I have heard many such things] Heard them over and over, till I am even sated and nauseated, Vexatus toties rauci; q.d. Your sayings are superfluous, your proofs insufficient; you produce nothing new, nothing but what is trivial, and of very common observation. Haec sex centies audivi, Mine ears are grated and grieved with these unnecessary repetitions, only reinforced with greater bitterness; which, as it addeth nothing at all to the weight of your words, so it causeth me to add this,

Miserable comforters are ye all] Heb. Comforters of misery, or of molestation, onerous and burdensome (so the Vulgate rendereth it), and in that sense, weighty if you will, laying more load upon me who was before in a sinking condition. You charge me for slighting the consolations of God, and pretend to come on purpose to comfort me; but such cold comforters I have seldom met with; for instead of abating and allaying my sorrows, you do all you can to increase and heighten them. Is this your kindness to your friend? Calvin noteth upon this text, That some comforters have but one song to sing, and they have no regard to whom they sing it. But St Jude’s rule is, Of some have compassion, making a difference; others save with fear, #Jude 22,23; which while Job’s friends observed not, they were justly styled, "Miserable comforters."

Ver. 3. Shall vain words have an end?] Heb. Shall there be an end to words of wind? Ampullatur in arcto. Bubbles of words, big swollen speeches, full of pride, void of reason; when shall we once have an end of them? They that would comfort another indeed must not multiply vain repetition (for these are very burdensome to a serious ear, much more to a sad heart), much less bitter speeches, least of all taunts and buffooneries, as #Job 16:4. For, like as, if the eye be inflamed, the mildest medicine troubleth it, so is it here: how much more when harsh and uncouth!

Or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?] That thou rejoinest, having been so fully answered before? Some men will never be said or set down; such is their pertinace, they will not lay down the bucklers, though beaten to their heads. Sed praestat herbam dare, quam turpiter pugnare, Better yield than stand out with dishonour.

Ver. 4. I also could speak as you do, &c.] Every whit as curiously, as furiously. I could scold and scoff as freely as you do, but I know no warrant so to retort and retaliate; "being reviled, we bless; being defamed, we entreat," #1Co 4:12,13. To render railing for railing is to think to wash off dirt with dirt.

If your soul were in my soul’s stead] Some read it optatively, as #Isa 64:1, Would to God your soul were in my soul’s stead; for then I would heap up words against you, and act your part upon you; but Job was not so malicious or vindictive as to think that tallying of injuries is but justice. Hypocritis nihil est crudelius, impatientius, et vindictae cupidius, saith Luther. Hypocrites are cruel, spiteful, and revengeful; but Job was none such. He, therefore, telleth his friends that if they were in his condition he would deal much more mildly with them.

I could heap up words against you] I could, but would not. Posse et nolle, nobile est (Sen.). Or thus, Would I heap up, &c., and handle you thus discourteously, by speeches and gestures, as you do me? It were easy to wag a wicked tongue, and to shake my head at you in despite and mockery; but were this religion? Doth not moral philosophy say, If a wise man speak evil of thee, endure him; if a fool, pardon him? Vincit qui patitar, as David did Saul, overcoming evil with good, though, when he marched against Nabal, how rough and rash was he in a resolution of revenge! #1Sa 25:32.

Ver. 5. But I would strengthen you with my mouth] I would speak to your hearts, and raise up your drooping spirits. True it is, that consolatiunculae creaturulae (as Luther calleth them), creature comforts are poor businesses; nevertheless God conveyeth comfort many times by one man to another, as the air conveyeth light, or water heat. His comforts are either rational, fetched from grounds which faith ministereth; or real, from the presence of anything that comforteth, as the sight and discourse of a friend. And herein, "how forcible are right words!" #Job 6:25. They are of force, we see here, both to strengthen the feeble minded, and to abate the strength of their sorrows, to assuage the most swelling floods thereof. And thus one man may be an angel, nay, a God, to another, Now whereas some might say, You that are so good at comforting others, and promise so fair, why are you not comfortable? Job answereth, in the next verse, that this was their fault who had unkindly kept him apart from receiving any comfort.

Ver. 6. Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged] Heb. If I speak; sc. to bewail my misery, or to maintain mine innocence, ye say it is good enough for me, and how can I be but wicked who am so punished? As,

If I forbear, what am I eased?] Heb. What goeth from me? q.d. Ye conclude me guilty, because silent; as if I had nothing to say for myself. Some make the words to refer to God; as if Job had said, Whether I speak, or whether I forbear, God doth not come in to my help, I find no comfort from him, &c., and by the next verse it should seem that this is the right sense.

Ver. 7. But now he hath made me weary] i.e. God, whom he acknowledgeth the author of his afflictions; but he should better have borne up under them than to faint and fret even unto madness, as the Septuagint here translates, Quis eum fatigavit? Dolor, vel Deus ipse? (Lavat.). Job was now not only wet to the skin, but his soul came into iron, as Joseph’s once, #Ps 105:18. Like Ezekiel’s book, #Eze 2:10, he was written quite through with woes and lamentations. And he might say, with Heman, #Ps 88:15, "While I suffer thy terrors I am distracted." The grief which he here describeth, Maior erat quam ut verbis comprehendi, gravior quam ut ferri, molestior quam ut credi possit, saith Brentius; i.e. was greater than could be uttered, heavier than could be borne, more troublesome than can be believed. He, therefore, sets it out as well as he can, and amplifies it by figures and hyperbole, to move God and his friends to pity him, and to show that he complained not without cause.

Thou hast made desolate all my company] Heb. Thou hast wonderfully desolated, or wasted, all my company; that is, all my joints and members (so. the Vulgate translateth it, In nihilum redact; sunt omnes artus mei); but they do better that understand it of Job’s family and familiar friends, who were either destroyed, or stood amazed at his so great affliction, and yielded him little comfort. Ne te autem turbet enallage personae, saith Mercer here; the change of person need not trouble us; only the troubled and uneven speech of Job showeth that his spirit was troubled and unsettled. We meet with the like oft in the Psalms.

Ver. 8. Thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me] viz. That I am an afflicted man, but yet not a wicked man, such as Elipbaz had described by his pinguis aqualiculus (Persius), those collops in his flank, #Job 15:27. Thou hast made me all wrinkled (so Brougbton rendereth it); or, Thou hast wrinkled me. The Hebrew word is found in Job only; but in the Rabbis more frequently. Grief had made furrows in Job’s face, and his tears had often filled them.

And my leanness rising up in me] sc. By the continuance of my sores and sorrows, which have made my body a very bag of bones, and cause me to cry out, "My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!" #Isa 24:16. My flesh, through my grievous anguish, being fallen from my bones, which rise up in a ghastly manner.

Beareth witness to my face] sc. That I am one of God’s Plagipatidae, poor afflicted: but what of that? Scourgeth he not every son whom he receiveth? #Heb 12:6. Others render it, In my face; where my leanness sitteth, and is most conspicuous; like as it is said of our Saviour, That with fasting and painstaking he had so wanzed and macerated himself, that, at little past thirty he was looked upon as one toward fifty, #Joh 8:57. And as Mr John Fox, the martyrologue, by his excessive pains in compiling the Acts and Monuments of the Church, in eleven years, grew thereby so lean and withered, that his friends hardly knew him to be the same man (Mr Clark in his Life).

Ver. 9. He teareth me in his wrath, &c.] Who did all this to Job? The devil, say some; his disease, say others that was a most uncharitable censure passed by Luther upon Oecolampadius, that he died suddenly, ignitis Satanae telis confossus, slain by Satan’s fiery darts, because he died of a carbuncle (Lib. de Missa. prin., A.D. 1533). But Job surely meaneth it of God, upon whom his heart was still, though he speak here somewhat unhappily of him, out of the sense of the flesh, and greatness of his grief.

Who hateth me] Heb. He Satanically hateth me. What strange language is this from him who elsewhere calleth God his salvation, his redeemer, #Job 13:15,16,18 19:25, and will eventually call him his witness in heaven, to whom his eye poureth out tears! #Job 16:19,20. How shall we reconcile these so contrary passions and passages, otherwise than by saying, that every good man is two men? &c.; neither can it possibly be expressed how deeply sensible the saints are of God’s displeasure when they are more than ordinarily afflicted by him, and especially when he seemeth to fight against them with his own hand. Hereby, saith Ferus, we may easily see in what a perplexed estate wicked reprobates shall be at the last day, when God shall declare himself to be such an enemy to them indeed; for so much as one of his elect, and a most rare man, but, conceiving him to be against him, because he had no present sense of his favour, was thus extremely troubled.

He gnasheth upon me with his teeth] As extremely angry, #Ac 7:54, and by sharpening his teeth threatening destruction, #Ps 37:12.

Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me] Which cast forth, as it were, sparkles of fire. An elegant hypotyposis, or description of his sad condition to the life, Ut non tam gesta res quam nunc geri videatur, saith Brentius, as if we saw it even acted before our faces.

Ver. 10. They have gaped upon me with their mouth] They? who? Non solum Deus, nec solum amici mei, sed tota rerum machina mihi adversatur, Not God only, nor these friends of mine, but all the creatures are up in arms against me, and threateneth to devour me at one morsel.

They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully] i.e. They have done me all the disgrace that may be. See #La 3:30 2Co 11:20,21 Mic 5:1 Ac 23:1,2 Joh 18:22. Our Saviour was so served according to the letter; they gaped upon him, mowed at him, buffeted him on the face, gathered themselves together against him, as here. Hence some of the ancients call Job a figure and type of Christ, who was thus dealt with both literally and also figuratively.

They have gathered themselves together against me] Or, They have filled themselves upon me, as #Ex 15:7. They have taken their fill of pleasure at my miseries, as Tigurius rendereth it; or, They come upon me by full troops, so Broughton. Men are apt to agree for mischief #Ps 35:15 83:5-7.

Ver. 11. God hath delivered me to the ungodly] i.e. To the devil and his instruments, those Chaldean and Sabean robbers, #Job 1:15,17, together with his hard hearted friends, who, for want of the true fear of God, added to his afflictions, #Job 6:14. {See Trapp on "Job 6:14"}

And turned me over, &c.] As a magistrate doth a malefactor to the executioner. It is a sore affliction to be under the rule of wicked men; much more to be under the rage, which yet was the case of that noble army of martyrs, ancient and modern. The comfort is, that although the Lord turn his servants over into the hands of the wicked, whose tender mercies are mere cruelties, yet he never turns them out of his own hand, neither will he suffer the rod of the wicked to rest upon the lot of the righteous, #Ps 125:3. His constant care is, that the choice spirits of his afflicted people fail not before him, and, therefore, he numbereth out their strokes, and if their enemies over do and go beyond their commission, so as to help forward the before appointed affliction, he is sore displeased, and jealous with a great jealousy against them, #Zec 1:15.

Ver. 12. I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder] It is no small misery to have been happy. Fuimus Troes et fortis Milesis. Euripides bringeth in Hecuba as ashamed to look Polymnestor in the face, because having been a queen she was now a captive; her former felicity was no small aggravation compared to her present misery: so was Job’s. Prosper eram, sed disrupit me, saith he. I was wealthy, but he hath undone me; so Broughton rendereth it. The same Hebrew word signifieth both to be rich and to be at ease; for such commonly sing requiems to their souls, as he did #Lu 12:19, and say, "I shall never be moved," #Ps 30:6; "I shall see no sorrow," #Re 18:7. But God can quickly confute them. Job’s worldly prosperity was quickly dashed and lost. He once hoped to have died in his nest, but God not only unnested him, but broke him to shivers, yea, beat him to dust and atoms, as the word here signifies. Nay, more,

He hath also taken me by my neck] As a strong man doth his enemy, dashing him to the ground, and giving him his passport, as we say.

And hath shaken me to pieces] Heb. He hath scattered and scattered me, as a stone crumbled to crattle, or a pitcher beaten to powder. Sunt illustres figurae et elegantes hyperbolae, saith Mercer. Here is brave rhetoric.

And set me up for his mark] Heb. For a mark to him; that I may feel all the arrows of his judgments. See #Job 7:20, with the notes there. God shot showers of shafts at him, and seemed to take pleasure in so doing, as a man doth in his shooting at a mark.

Ver. 13. His archers compass me round about] i.e. His instruments of my woe, whether persons or things, but especially my grievous sores putting me through intolerable pain; these are God’s arrows or archers, and do make my poor body not unlike that shield of Sceva, at the siege of Dyrrachium, which had two hundred and twenty darts sticking in it, when Caesar came to his rescue, Densamque ferens in pectore silvam (Luc.).

He cleaveth my reins asunder] As a skilful archer, he hits the white, he cleaves the pin, as they call it, he shooteth exactly (to the very chilling and dissecting of my backbone), and so putteth me to most exquisite pain and torment, #La 3:13.

He poureth out my gall upon the ground] My bowels, saith the Vulgate. The gall is affixed to the liver, and when that is poured out; the man cannot live, because his wound is mortal and incurable. Job held himself so, but it proved better; the Lord chastened him sore, but he gave him not over to death, #Ps 118:18.

Ver. 14. He breaketh me with breach upon breach] So that I have hardly any breathing while, Quis tot et tantis ferendis simul par sit? Let no man henceforth say, Never did any one suffer such hard and heavy things as I do. What! did not Job? This story of his is a case book to answer such an objection, since never any before nor since his time was so handled; witness the lamentable moan he maketh here, Non habet in nobis iam nova plaga locum. And yet to show his equanimity under the hand of God, Buxtorf and Amama have observed, that the Hebrew word, Perets, in this text rendered breath, hath a letter lesser than ordinary in the best copies, to signify that Job’s great calamities seemed to him to be but little, because he hoped that God would turn them all to the best unto his soul.

He runneth upon me like a giant] With speed, strength, and courage, fiercely and fearlessly. But now what doth Job? doth he stand stouting and sturdying it out with God? No, but in the next words he telleth us how be was affected with these afflictions; sc. that as God’s hand was heavy upon him, so he held out all the demonstrations and emblems of a heavy heart; and as God had laid him low, so be carried his soul accordingly. God reined him with a rough bit, and he repented.

Ver. 15. I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin] Not silks, but sackcloth, is now mine immediate clothing, next to my very skin, which must needs be troublesome to a man so full of sores and other sorrows. So far was poor ulcerous Job from that height and haughtiness of spirit, wherewith Eliphaz had charged him, #Job 15:12,13,25, as if Job had been low indeed, but not lowly; humbled, but not humble, Here was a real apology, I have sowed sackcloth, &c.; here was an ocular demonstration, and should have moved his friends to more moderation; for why should any deal harshly with him, who dealt so coarsely with himself?

And defiled my horn in the dust] My horn, that is, my head, say some. My splendour, saith the Chaldee. Omnia quondam msgnifica, all that I formerly made any reckoning of, saith Brentius; who also hath this good note upon the text. The sense of God’s wrath and judgments due for sin changeth all our gaiety, maketh all our costly garments to be laid aside, putteth us into the habit of penitent suppliants, causeth us to abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes, which were anciently the signs and symbols of true contrition. And now since Christians ought to repent all their life long, and to grieve for their sins, let them be always clothed with sackcloth, not without, but within; and let them put dust on their heads, by remembering that they are but dust; and that they cannot be raised out of the dust, and instead of sackcloth be clothed with the robes of glory, but by the mercy of God, through the merits of Christ, &c.

Ver. 16. My face is foul with weeping] Is swelled, saith the Vulgate. Is shrivelled up, say the Jewish doctors. Is doublely dirtied, so one rendereth it. So far was Job from stretching out his hand against God, and strengthening himself against the Almighty, as Elipbaz had charged him, #Job 15:25, that he lay at God’s feet as a suppliant, with blubbered and beslubbered cheeks; having furrows in his face, and icicles from his lips with continual weeping; yea, he had wept himself blind almost, for so it followeth,

And on mine eyelids is the shadow of death] i.e. Mine eyes do fail with tears, as #La 2:11. Larga lacbrymarum copia aciem oculorum obstruente; they are even wasted away and sunk into my head, as in a dying man (Mercer). Much weeping spendeth the spirits, weakeneth the visive power, and sometimes blindeth, as it did Faustus (the son of Vortigern, king of this island, by his own daughter), who is said to have wept himself blind for the abominations of his parents. See David’s tears and the effects thereof, #Ps 6:7 38:10.

Ver. 17. Not for any injustice (Heb. Violence or wrong doing) in my hands] Job could wash his hands of that rapine and bribery wherewith they had injuriously charged him, #Job 15:34, and safely say of it, as afterwards Father Latimer did of sedition (3 Serm. before K. Edw.), As for that sin, for aught that I know, methinks I should not need Christ, if I might so say. Some failings there might be in him in doing justice, but no intentions of doing injustice.

Also my prayer is pure] As proceeding from a heart washed from wickedness, #Jer 4:14, and presented with holy hands, lifted up without wrath or doubting, #1Ti 2:8. That he regarded not iniquity in his heart he was well assured, #Ps 66:17. Prayer is the pouring out of the heart; if iniquity be harboured there, prayer will have the scent and savour, and that incense will strike off the hand which offereth it. God requireth that in every place incense be offered unto his name, and a pure offering, #Mal 1:11. It standeth a man in hand to see that though his work be but mean, yet it be clean; though not fine, yet not foul, soiled, and slubbered with the slur of a rotten heart. An upright man in afflictions is not without his cordial, as is to be seen in Job here, and St Paul, #2Co 1:12.

Ver. 18. O earth, cover not thou my blood] Job had made a high profession of his innocence and integrity. This he further confirmeth, 1. By an imprecation against himself. 2. By an appeal to God, #Job 16:19. In this imprecation or wish of his (which Mr Broughton taketh to be meant by the foregoing words, Also my prayer is pure, rendered by him thus, But my wish is clean, saying, O earth, cover not, &c.) he hath an eye, no doubt, to the history of Abel’s blood, shed by Cain, #Ge 4:1-15, and it is as if he should say, If I have committed murder or any the like wickedness, cover it not, O earth, but do thy office by crying out against me; yea, cry so loud to God for vengeance, as to drown the voice of my supplication.

And let my cry have no place] A most pathetic speech, able to move the heart of his friends to relent to hear it, and straightway to alter their opinion of him, while he thus bespeaketh the earth, and maketh res mutas mortuasque, the dumb and lifeless creatures his hearers.

Ver. 19. Also now behold my witness is in heaven] Here is his appeal to God. So great is the confidence of a good conscience. We also may do the like, if there be no other way left for clearing our innocence; provided that we do it with a clear conscience, and in a matter of consequence; not in jest, but in judgment. Some of the martyrs appealed thus, and cited their persecutors to answer at God’s tribunal. Yea, to help the truth in necessity, a private oath between two or more may be lawfully taken, so it be done sparingly and warily; for in serious affairs and matters of great importance, if it be lawful in private to admit God as a judge, why should he not as well be called to witness? Again, the examples of holy men show the practice of private oaths as not unlawful. Jacob and Laban confirmed their covenant by a private oath, so did Jonathan and David, &c.

Ver. 20. My friends scorn me] Or, play the rhetoricians against me. David likewise complaineth of his rhetorical mockers at feasts, that made as it were set speeches against him. One rendereth it, My friends are interpreters, or rather misinterpreters, of my speeches. "For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer," #Ps 109:4.

But mine eye poureth out tears unto God] Expletur lachrymis egeriturque dolor. The Hebrew hath it, Mine eye droppeth or distilleth to God. Prayers and tears are the weapons of the saints, whose eyes, glazed with tears, are fitly compared to the fishpools of Heshbon, #So 7:4. These tears have a voice, {#Ps 39:12, "Hold not thy peace at my tears"} they are most powerful orators. Christ, going to suffer on the cross, could not but turn back and comfort those weeping women. God will pour out comforts into their bosoms who can pour out tears into his; they can never be at any loss who find out God to weep to.

Ver. 21. O that one might plead for a man with God] Heb. And he will plead for a man with God, and the Son of man for his friend; that is (say our late learned annotators, to whom we are greatly bound for this most sweet and spiritual exposition of the words), Christ, who is God and man, will plead my cause with his Father; he can prevail, because he is God equal to the Father; he will undertake it, because he will be man like to me. This interpretation agreeth best with the coherence and the words following. And it seemeth that Job knew the mystery of Christ’s incarnation, #Job 19:25-27, where he speaketh of him both as God, and as a visible Redeemer. Christ is frequently called the Son of man in the New Testament, and believers are called his friends, #Joh 15:13-15. By this text thus expounded we see that the doctrine of a mediator between God and man was known and believed in the world long before Christ came into the world. He is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, #Re 13:8, and to the Jews the ceremonial law was instead of a gospel.

Ver. 22. When a few years are come, &c.] Heb. Years of number; that is, years that may easily be counted and cast up. The years of the longest liver are but few, they may be quickly numbered. This ran much in Job’s mind, and made him very desirous to be cleared before he died, that he might not go out of the world in a snuff.

Then shall I go the way] That way of all flesh, #1Ki 2:2, which Job feareth not to do, as knowing whom he had trusted, and that death should be unto him the daybreak of eternal brightness.

Whence I shall not return] See #Job 7:9,10 10:21, with the notes.

Chapter 17

Ver. 1. My breath is corrupt] Which argueth that my inwards are imposthumated and rotten, so that I cannot in likelihood have long to live; Oh therefore that I might have a day of hearing and clearing before I die! But Job should have remembered that there will be at the last day a resurrection of names as well as of bodies; which he that believeth maketh not haste. Howsoever, it was not amiss for Job, so grievously diseased, and now well in years, to have thought himself to be dying and to discourse about these three particulars, that speak of him as a dying man. In the old the palm tree is full of blooms, the map of age is figured on his forehead, the calendars of death appear in the furrows of his face, the mourners are ready to go about the streets, and he is going to his long home, according to that elegant description, #Ec 12:1-7 He should therefore say with Varro, Annus octogesimus me admonet, ut farcinas colligam, &c., It is high time for me to pack up, and to be gone out of this life; or rather, as Simeon, Lord, now let thou thy servant depart in peace, &c.

My days are extinct] As a candle, #Pr 13:9. Or cut off, as a web, so some read it. The original word is found only here.

The graves are ready for me] Heb. The graves for me; q.d. I bid adieu to all things else, and as the grave gapes for me, so do I gape for the grave, Ειθε μοι τουτο γενοιτο. I would it were even so, as Basil said, when Valens, the Arian emperor, threatened him with death. But why doth Job speak of graves in the plural? Surely, to show that he was besieged with many deaths; or else, because the dead are buried (as it were) first in their grave clothes, and then in the coffin, and then in the bier or hearse, and lastly in the sepulchre, which every place did, as it were, proffer to Job, and threaten him with death, in regard to his many pains and pressures, by the scoffs and taunts of his friends. For,

Ver. 2. Are there no mockers with me?] Heb. If there be not mockers with me, q.d. despeream, let me be punished, or let me be blamed for wishing to argue it out with God; so some Jewish doctors sense it. Job had before complained about his friends’ jeering and girding at him, #Job 16:20. To be mocked in misery is no small aggravation. See what is threatened, #Pr 1:26. The proverb is, Oculus, fides, et fama non patiuntur iocos, There is no jesting with a man’s eye, faith, and fame. Junius rendereth the text thus, Forasmuch as there are no mockings with me, I mean honestly, and deal plainly, and yet mine eye continueth in their provocations, neither can I be set right in their opinions, so prejudiced they are against me.

And doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?] Heb. Lodge or tarry all night in their provocations, or bitternesses? Broughton readeth, In these men’s vexing lodgeth mine eye; that is, I lodge not so much in my bed as in the thoughts of my friends’ unkindness. And indeed, saith one, a man may sleep better upon bare boards than upon hard words. Some refer it to the eye of his mind lifted up to God in prayer; but yet no sweetness coming from him either internally or externally. The former is rather to be followed.

Ver. 3. Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee] This Job speaketh not to Eliphaz (as R. Moses, Beza, and some others would have it), but to God himself, as #Job 16:7, whom be desireth to lay down or appoint, as #Ex 1:11, and put in Christ as a surety to plead for him; see #Heb 7:22; and so Brentius expoundeth it: There is one only surety, saith he, one only intercessor, the Lord Jesus Christ, who if he appear not in the eyes of our faith, we have none else that can undertake for us to God; neither is there any creature which can stand in the judgment of God, though he would never so fain be surety for us: thus he. And accordingly our late learned annotators, reading the words thus: Appoint, I pray thee, my surety with thee; who is he then that will strike upon my hand? that is, Appoint Christ, who is with thee in heaven, and hath undertaken to be my surety; appoint him, I say, to plead my cause and to stand up for me, and then no man will dare to contend with me. And so it is suitable to the notes on {See Trapp on "Job 16:21"} {See Trapp on "Ro 8:33"} The Vulgate Latin (not altogether from the purpose, saith Brentius) translates the whole verse thus, Put me near thyself, and then let whoso will contend with me.

Ver. 4. Thou hast hid their heart from understanding] That is, thou hast hidden understanding from their heart, thou hast left them in the dark, destitute of a right judgment, while they condemn me to be a wicked person, because I am grievously afflicted; and thence it is that I do so confidently appeal to thee in Jesus Christ, since my friends are so far mistaken in this controversy. If God give not both light and sight, if he vouchsafe not to irradiate both organ and object, the best will be bemisted. Every good gift and perfect cometh from above, even from the Father of lights, #Jas 1:17. It was he that made Reverend Doctor Sibbs (as one saith of him) spiritually rational and rationally spiritual; one that seemed to see the insides of nature and grace, and the world and heaven, by those perfect anatomies he had made of them all.

Therefore shalt thou not exalt them] Therefore thou shalt not give them honour, so Broughton rendereth it. But that is not all. Litotes est, saith Mercer; it is a figure, wherein less is said, and more is meant; thou shalt not only not exalt them, but thou shalt also abase and humble them; this contestation shall be nothing at all to their commendation in the end. It is sound knowledge of the truth according to godliness, that exalteth a man, and makes him to be accounted of; and the contrary. Howbeit many great and good men have been greatly mistaken in very great controversies and transactions, as was Luther, Doctor resolutus, sed non in omnibus illuminatus. And yet how many learned able men hath his name misled in the point of consubstantiation! Ursin was carried away with it awhile, till he read his arguments, which he found to be little better than an illogical argument. Holy Greenham, when pressed to conformity to the ceremonies, by the bishop of Ely, who urged Luther’s approbation of them; and are you wiser than Luther? his sober and gracious answer was, I reverence more the revealed will of God in teaching Luther so many necessary things to salvation than I search into his secret will, why he hid his heart from understanding in things less necessary.

Ver. 5. He that speaketh flattery to his friends] As you, my friends, do to and for God, in seeming to assert his justice in punishing me for my wickedness, so soothing and smoothing up the Almighty ( quod ipsum nihil aliud est quam falso Deo blandiri, saith Merlin), and seeking to make the world believe, by your great words, that you are his great champions, while you go about to clear up his righteousness by concluding that I am unrighteous. See #Job 13:7,8. {See Trapp on "Job 13:7"} {See Trapp on "Job 13:8"}

The eyes of his children shall fail] Not himself only shall smart (while the Lord cutteth off flattering lips and the deceitful tongue, #Ps 12:3), but his poor children shall repent for it. They shall lie languishing at hope’s hospital, and after all be disappointed; or their eyes shall fail with long looking after good; but nothing comes. They shall look for peace, and there is no good; and for a time of healing, but behold trouble, #Jer 14:19. God will destroy flatterers, head and tail, branch and rush, like as the Thessalians once utterly destroyed the city called Κολακεια, or Flattery (Hen. Steph. Apol. pro Herod.).

Ver. 6. He hath made me also a byword of the people] Here Job returns to his old task of setting forth his own misery; for what men are most sensible of that their tongues do most of all run upon. Job is a byword, or a proverb, to this day, for we say, As poor as Job; as of old they said, Iro pauperior, &c. He was become a common proverb, a public mocking stock, yea, he was pro cantione ad tympanum trita, as some sense the next words. And before time (or, to men’s faces) I was (or I am) a tabret; they sing my miseries to the tabret, as a matter of mirth; they compose comedies out of my tragedies; and this greateneth my grief. I am openly a tabret; so Broughton reads it. The Vulgate hath it, I am an example before them. The Chaldea paraphrast, I am as hell before them. The Hebrew word is Tophet, taken afterwards indeed for hell, but not so in Job’s time. The Septuagint, I became a sport, γελως, to them. David met with the like measure, #Ps 69:10,11, and the Church, #La 2:15. And Christ on the cross was matter of mirth to the malicious Jews. God had made Job all this. He (that is, God) hath made me, &c.: his name he spares in reverence; but everywhere he acknowledgeth God the author of his troubles, as Mercer here noteth. The whole verse may be read thus; He hath made me also a byword of the people, whereas beforetime I was as a tabret; that is, I am now a scorn to them who delighted in me in my prosperity.

Ver. 7. Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow] Not only is my good name blasted, but my body also is wasted; the nerves of mine eyes are contracted, the visual faculty decayed, #Ps 6:7. "Mine eye is consumed because of grief; yea, my soul and my belly," #Ps 31:9. Not the visual only, but the vital powers are wasted; {see #Job 16:16} yea, the intellectual part as well as the sensitive, understood by the formations in the next clause, that is, the cogitations, say they, according to #Ge 6:5. But I rather take it according to our translation, for the members of the body.

And all my members are as a shadow] My membra members are but umbra, shadows, they look more like a skeleton, an anatomy, an apparition, than a true body, nothing being left but skin and bone, so much meagred are all my members. This is hyperbolica malorum suorum amplificatio, saith Merlin.

Ver. 8. Upright men shall be astonied at this] They shall silently admire and adore the fathomless depth of the divine administration when they see a man so upright to suffer such heavy pressures; yet shall they not censure me as you do, nor condemn me for complaining, since there is a cause. They cannot indeed see far into God’s secret intentions, they do therefore mirari marvel, rather than rimari, examine, like as the old Romans dedicated unto Victory a certain lake, the depth whereof they could not fathom.

And the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite] He shall learn of me not to be baffled out of his sincerity, to be mocked out of his integrity, but to maintain and take comfort therein against all his false accusers. Opposition doth not weaken, but waken, heroic spirits, #2Sa 6:21,22. They proceed so much the more vigorously in the ways of holiness; like as lime burns the more for the cold water cast upon it, and as the palm tree, which, although it have many weights at the top, and many snakes at the bottom, yet it stirreth up itself, and flourisheth, taking for its posy, Nec premor, nec perimor. Nothing hurteth or hindereth me.

Ver. 9. The righteous also shall hold on his way] Stumble he may for a time at his own calamity, and worse, men’s felicity; but as he that stumbleth, and yet falleth not, gets ground, so fareth it with the righteous in this case. Once David said, "Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence; for all the day long have I been plagued," when bad men have been prospered. Hence he began to repent of his repentance, and to miscensure the generation of God’s children as thrice miserable, #Ps 73:13-15; but after a while, and upon better consideration, he said, "This is mine infirmity"; yea, he fooled and beasted himself, #Ps 73:22, for so saying. And the like will all those at length do that belong to God; though for the present offended at God’s proceedings, and by their passions miscarried to their cost, yet they return to their right minds; forwards they may fall sometimes, but not backwards, for that were far more dangerous. "Lord, to whom should we go," saith Peter, since "thou alone hast the words of eternal life?" #Joh 6:68. Neither know we where to mend ourselves, by gadding about, to change our way, #Jer 2:36. The righteous shall hold on his way, mordicus tenebit, he shall hold it toughly, hold it as with tooth and nail, not going aside a nail’s breadth; ανθεξεται, he shall stick to it, as the Greek hath it.

And he that hath clean hands] Upright, innocent, righteous, clean handed, these all are the good man’s adjuncts and titles of honour, far beyond those of the world’s greatest magnificent.

Shall be stronger and stronger] Heb. Shall add strength. Not only shall he hold his own, but get more grace; not only persevere, but proceed and make progress. He shall take boldness, Sumet audaciam, say the Septuagint, and (by a holy antiperistasis) {Opposition or contrast of circumstances; the force of contrast or contrariness; resistance or reaction roused against any action.} get heart of grace, as they call it, from the evil attempts of others against him; the more outrageous they the more courageous he; like as by St Paul’s bonds many waxed confident, #Php 1:14, and as the primitive Christians, the more they were killed up the more numerous they became. Plures efficimur quoties metimur (Tertul.). True zeal is of a most masculine and courageous nature; it is enkindled by quench coals, quickened by rubs and remoras. Baruch repaired earnestly, bursting out into heat, #Ne 3:20. Shall such a man as I flee? said that heavenly spark, #Job 6:11. Shall I change my opinion, because hoc Ithacus velit? Remit my diligence, because of a frown or a trump? because such a persecutor threateneth me? Oh that I might enjoy those wild beasts prepared for my death! said Ignatius. Oh that I might have the maidenhead of that kind of suffering for Christ, said that martyr to Bonner, threatening to whip him, &c.

Ver. 10. But as for you all, do you return, &c.] Change your minds, as #Mal 3:18, and close with me, lay aside your prejudiced opinions, deliver up yourselves to my discipline, who am ready to teach you things both weighty and necessary, Siquis culturae patientum accommodet aurem.

For I cannot find one wise man amongst you] Nihil hic ex odio dicit, saith an interpreter. This Job speaketh not out of hatred to their persons, but freely uttereth that which he was persuaded to be the truth, and wisheth them a better understanding of the thing controverted between himself and them at this time. Now it is no fault to speak of men as we find them. See #1Co 6:5, "I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you?" and yet, #Job 10:15, "I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say."

Ουδεις ανθρωπων αυτος απαντα σοφος (Theog.).

Ver. 11. My days are past] q.d. It is past time of day for me to hope for a return of a prosperous condition, since I am irrecoverably diseased, and cannot be long of life.

My purposes are broken off] Or, My thoughts are plucked up by the roots, even the possessions of mine heart, that is, those thoughts that should wholly possess me, and take me up entirely, seizing upon my spirit; q.d. I am not now in case to think settledly and seriously of any good, my sorrows are so many, and my sores so grievous. The Chaldee hath it, The tables of my heart are broken. How foolish then are they who put off their repentance till they are cast upon their sick beds, when they may soon find enough to do to attend the pain and infirmity of their bodies! To suffer and be sick (saith one) is work enough for any man at one time; he had not need to have his greatest work to do when he hath such work to do.

Ver. 12. They change the night into day] i.e. My troubled thoughts render my nights restless, filling me with confusion. When the mind is unsettled the man cannot rest.

The light is short because of darkness] i.e. Comfort is long ere it cometh, and soon it expireth; Rara hora, brevis mora Rare the hour, short the delay (Bern.). The Vulgar, Post tenebras spero lucem, here, After darkness I hope for light (the ancient motto of the town of Geneva), is far fetched.

Ver. 13. If I wait, the grave is mine house] In that congregation house of all living (as it is called, #Job 30:23) both I and my hopes must be suddenly lodged. Some render it thus, If I build, the grave is my house. Solomon calleth it, The house of eternity, #Ec 12:5. And the Egyptians accordingly call graves everlasting houses, as Siculus saith, lib. i.

I have made my bed in darkness] The grave was Job’s house, and therein he had made his bed to rest from his labours. There men follow their works no more, because followed by their works, #Re 14:13.

Ver. 14. I have said to corruption, Thou art my father] See how he speaks of corruption and the worms, Ac si iam iuris illorum, et domesticus esset, as if he were of family with them, and nearest of kin to them; so doth he court them, as it were, that they might be willing to receive him; showing by it how willing he was to die; for whither do men in a strange country, and in misery, desire rather to go than to the house of their parents? Here also Job declareth what will be the end of all men, and what shall be their kindred in the grave. From corruption we came (for what else is the seed and blood of generation), to corruption also we go, as sons thereof; and Pulvis et Putredo, we salute for sisters, what shall be most tender to us, and attendant upon us. Why then should any boast of high kindred? To the pit I cry, O father, O sister; O mother, to the worm: so Broughton rendereth it. Why should any boast of bodily beauty, since corruption will shortly seize upon the fairest face, which is now but putrefaction and worms once removed, and to the same must suddenly move back again. Mihi experto credite, saith Austin, Believe me, who have made trial of it: Open a grave, and upon the dead man’s head you shall find toads leaping, begotten of his brains; upon his loins serpents crawling, begotten of his reins; in his belly worms abounding, arising out of his entrails. Behold what now we are, and what we shortly shall be; behold the origin and filthiness of sin (Serm. 48, ad Frat. in Erem.).

Ver. 15. And where is now my hope? &c.] Heb. And where is my hope? sc. of restoration to my pristine prosperity, which you have so often promised me, who am now ready set upon the confines of death? Job was past the Cape of Good Hope in his own apprehension; but God turned again his captivity, #Job 42:10 Qui nihil sperare potest desperet nihil. Who is able to hope for nothing, despairs for nothing. Job did well to propound death to himself, and prepare for it by such a before mentioned familiarity; but yet he should have better thought of the infinite power and goodness of God, who raiseth the dead, and delighteth to help such as are forsaken of their hopes. "Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver," #2Co 1:10. The Hebrew word that signifieth hope signifieth also a line, because by hope the heart should be stretched out as a line to the thing it hopeth for; and because it signifieth also a congregation, therefore some render this verse thus, And where now is my congregation? And as for my congregation, who shall see it? q.d. I have no other family or familiars but what are to be found in the grave, #Jer 3:17 Ge 3:19.

Ver. 16. They shall go down to the bars of the pit] That is, I and my things, or I and my hopes of prosperity, #Job 17:15, and they that will see the good I hope for must pass through the gates of death to behold it, and lie down in the grave with me, and then it shall appear. Cajetan thinks that this is spoken ironically to his friends, and by way of derrision, Per irrisionem haec dicta sunt; q.d. It seems like you think I shall be rich in the grave (who promise so much to me, and make me such overtures of a happiness here), for I have no hope to be rich in this world. And the Septuagint seem to favour this sense, rendering it, Shall my goods go into the grave with me? See #1Ti 6:7. {See Trapp on "1Ti 6:7"}

When our rest together is in the dust] Or, When I shall rest alone in the dust, as #Job 34:29; and then (De Annibal. Sil. Ital.),

— Modo quem fortuna fovendo,

Congestis opibus donisque refersit opimis,

Nudum tartarea portabit navita cymba

Chapter 18

Ver. 1. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said] Not so much disputing as inveighing against Job in a sharp and angry oration, wherein he elegantly describeth the woe of a wicked man, but wrongfully wresteth the same against good Job, who might well say with him in Tacitus, Tu linguae, ego aurium dominus, If I cannot command thy tongue, yet I can command mine own ears; or with another, Didicit ille maledicere, et ego contemnere, This man hath learned to reproach, and I to slight his contempts and contumelies; unless I should yield, that wicked men only are grievously afflicted in this life present; that they are not to be reckoned wicked who prosper in their way, but those only who suffer extremely.

Ver. 2. How long will it be ere you make an end of words?] First he taxeth Job with being talkative, when he himself talked much, but said little, save only what he had spoken before, #Job 8, though Job had sufficiently refuted him. But as nothing in the world is more unreasonable than an ignorant person, who thinketh nothing well done but that which he doth himself; so those that bear themselves overly bold upon their own knowledge, and overween their own abilities, account it a great injury if any dissent from them in opinion and judgment, Λαλειν αριστος λεγειν δε αδυνατωτατος (De Alcibiade, Plutarch). And such a one here Bildad showeth himself to be by his exordium ex abrupto, as Junius phraseth it, his abrupt beginning, as if he could bear no longer with Job’s prittle prattle; who, if he were more prolix than his friends, he had greater reason, as being heavily afflicted and falsely accused, Quando tandem finem loquendi seu nugandi potius facies? (Lay.) Among the Romans the plaintiff was allowed only three hours, the defendant six. But why doth Bildad speak of Job here in the plural number? Was it for honour’s sake (as Cajetan holdeth)? I scarcely can agree. Was it because he thought Job to be possessed by an evil spirit (as Philip after Bede)? No. But this he seemeth to do, either by bending his speech to the bystanders, who seemed to favour Job, and sometimes to put in a word for him; whom therefore Bildad looked upon as his fellow hypocrites; or else, by an irony, he speaks unto Job as unto many (Vos, o Calliope, precor. Virg.), because he seemed to set up his opinion above all others, and would needs have his counter to stand for a thousand pounds.

Mark, and afterwards we will speak] Let thy words be henceforth dipped and dyed in thy heart before they be uttered; let our words also be duly weighed, that some end may be put to these altercations and disputes.

Ver. 3. Wherefore are we counted as beasts, &c.] Here he taxeth Job with pride and arrogance; grounding upon those words of his taken at the worst, #Job 12:7 17:4,10, and not considering his case, that he was full of pain, which maketh wise men touchy (as oppression maketh them mad, #Ec 7:7), and that they had sorely provoked him by their bitter taunts and scurrilous invectives, which called for so sharp a currycomb. Pessime autem habet hypocrisin, si contemnatur, Hypocrisy loves not to be sighted, saith Brentius here. And Gregory upon this text saith, that in Bildad heretics are set forth, who stomach it much that the faithful take upon them to reprove them, as carried away by error; as if the knowledge of the truth resided in themselves only, and all others had no more understanding than beasts. "This people which know not the law are cursed," say those Pharisees, #Joh 7:49. "Ye know nothing at all," saith Caiaphas to his assessors, #Joh 11:49. The Gnostics and Illuminates referred to themselves as being the only knowing men. But if Bildad had been right, he would neither have so far misconstrued Job’s words nor yet have been behind to fool himself, as Asaph in a similar case did, #Ps 73:22, where he useth the plural of the words here used in the singular, calling himself, Behemoth, id est, magnam et crassam bestiam, a great and a gross beast.

And reputed vile in your sight?] Heb. Polluted or unclean; that is, as beasts unfit for food, much less fit for sacrifice. The same Hebrew word signifieth polluted and vile. Every wicked man is a vile man, be he never so high and honourable in the world’s account, as Antiochus, #Da 11:21; is called a vile person, and yet he was the great king of Syria, surnamed Epiphanes, or illustrious, and by the flattering Samaritans he was styled, Antiochus, the mighty God. See #Ps 15:4.

Ver. 4. He teareth himself in his anger] Here he chargeth Job with desperate madness, as if through extreme impatience he fell foul upon his own flesh, as did that demoniac in the Gospel, Bajazet, the Great Turk, in his iron cage, Pope Boniface VIII, when clapped up close prisoner in St Angelo; and as they say the tiger doth, when he heareth a drum struck up, he teareth his own flesh with his teeth; or as all ravenous beasts tear in pieces the prey which they have taken. Many read the text thus, O the man which teareth his soul in his anger; or, O thou which tearest thyself, &c. The moralist describeth an angry man forcibly held by his friends, biting his own lips, rending his clothes, and dashing himself against the pillars, Labia mordet, caput quassat, vestimenta scindit, et se in columnas impingit (Senec.). Such a one Bildad maketh Job to be, horn-mad, or mankind, as we say; and he takes occasion, likely, from those words of his, #Job 13:14. But love would have thought no evil. Bildad herein sinned against the law of love, as likewise he doth much more in the following vehement interrogation, charging Job with insolent boldness against God.

Shall the earth be forsaken for thee?] Shall God cast off the care of his earthly kingdom to gratify thee, and to make good thine assertion, that good men may suffer, and bad men go unpunished? Never think it; thou mayest sooner expect him to overturn the whole world for thy sake, and put everything out of that order he hath decreed and made it in, than cease to be just in punishing the wicked. The course of justice is as firmly settled as the course of nature is. Fiat iustitia, pereat mundus. Of Fabricius it was said, that the sun might as easily be turned out of his track as he out of his path of justice; much more may it be so said of Almighty God, the rock that cannot be removed, though he varieth the manner, the means, the times and seasons of executing justice, as seemeth best unto his heavenly wisdom.

Ver. 5. Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out] The ensuing description of a wicked man’s unhappiness in like, at death, and after death, is very true, and daintily set forth, but falsely and wrongfully wrested against Job. Yea, or of a surety, the light of the wicked shall be put out, though thou wilt not hear of it; but the truth shall be spoken, however it be taken, and thou shalt hereby see thyself to be a wicked man, because thy light is extinct, that is, thy outward prosperity, fitly compared to light, because, 1. It cheereth our minds; 2. Directeth our hands to every business; 3. Lesseneth our frights; 4. Rendereth us conspicuous. The light of the wicked shall put out itself (so some render it); he is commonly the cause of his own ruin (Merlin).

And the spark of his fire shall not shine] He is quenched as the fire of the thorns, #Ps 118:12. Whereof, after a while, neither spark nor spunk remaineth.

Ver. 6. The light shall be dark in his tabernacle] The glory of his family shall be obscured; he and his shall come to utter and unexpected ruin, as Haman’s did.

And his candle shall be put out with him] He and his prosperity shall die together; he shall go out in a snuff, and leave nothing behind him but a detestable name. Sicut felis fugiens pedit, sic ille moriens hunc crepitum cecinit, saith Melancthon concerning Eckius’ last piece, De coniugio sacerdotum. Or, his candle shall be put out above him, so the Vulgate interpreter; the lamps which glittered overhead, during the pride and pomp of his feasts, shall give no more light; or if they give any, it shall be but to shine upon his tomb.

Ver. 7. The steps of his strength shall be straitened] That is, saith Vatablus, he shall not do what he would and was wont. He shall lose his courage in the midst of his enterprises, and not be able to effect his attempts.

And his own counsel shall cast him down] His cunning shall fail him, his counsel, whereby once he rose, shall serve but to advance his overthrow, and to precipitate him into misery. We use to say of a cunning pated fellow, that he never lacked a trick wherewith to help himself; but there is neither power nor policy against the Lord and his judgments. Of the Athenians it is said, that Minerva turned all their evil counsel into good unto them. God’s enemies have no such friend to help them at a dead lift. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands shall bring down the golden image with a powder, and make it like the chaff of the summer floor, #Da 2:35.

Ver. 8. For he is cast into a net by his own feet] Wicked men are even ambitious for destruction; judgments need not go to find them out; they run to meet their bane. Divine justice and their own indiscretion undo them. He hath sent his feet into the net, so the Vulgate rendereth it. He is sent into a net by his own feet, so Mr Broughton. "His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins," #Pr 5:22; these shall cast him into inextricable straits.

And he walketh upon a snare] Upon a platted gin, saith Broughton; whereupon the more he strives to get, the more he entangleth himself. Sic laqueas fera dum iactat astringit. Sic aves viscum dum trepidantes excutiunt, plumis omnibus illinunt (Sen. de Ira, lib. iii. cap. 6): So the beast, while he tosseth the snares wherein he is taken, straiteneth them. So the birds, while they think to shake off the birdlime, besmear all their feathers with it.

Ver. 9. The gin shall take him by the heel] Or, he shall lay hold on the trap with his heel, so Mercer readeth it; that is, he foolishly runs upon his own ruin, he perisheth by his own oversight.

And the robber shall prevail against him] Horridi sitibundi, the shag-haired ruffians, that have wasted their own estates, and now thirst after other men’s. Broughton readeth it, The savage shall lay hold on him. So that either by secret contrivance or open violence he shall be undone.

Ver. 10. The snare is laid for him in the ground, &c.] This heap of words, net, snare, gin, trap, cords, showeth that God hath many ways to catch the wicked with, and that nusquam et nunquam non eis impendeat exitium, destruction is ready to meet them at every turning. God cannot lack a weapon to beat a rebel.

And a trap for him in the way] He walks as it were upon a mine of gunpowder. The Hebrew hath it, His trap; such as most of the Caesars, till Constantine the Great, met with; and among the rest Maximinus, that inastive tyrant, eight feet high, who daily devoured forty pounds of flesh, and drank thereto six gallons of wine. This foul beast, after he had raised the sixth persecution against the Christians, especially against the pastors of the Church, and exercised many other great cruelties, was told to his teeth ( Mimus in Theatre),

Eleptias grandis est, et occiditur;

Leo fortis est, et occiditur:

Cave multos, si singulos non times.

And it befell him accordingly, for at the siege of Aquileia, in Italy, he was slain as he slept at noon in his tent by his own soldiers (Euseb.). Ezekiel foretelleth the degenerate sons of Josiah, that they shall be taken by the king of Babylon as beasts in a toil. So Pharaoh, that natural brute beast, was "made to be taken and destroyed," #2Pe 2:12 Ex 9:16. So Saul complaineth that God had forsaken him, and the Philistines, those savage creatures, were upon him, #1Sa 28:15 "Behold, I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them," &c., #Jer 16:16.

Ver. 11. Terrors shall make him afraid on every side] These terrors are, as it were, the cruel sergeants and merciless officers of that king of terrors, #Job 18:14, arresting him, as it were, in the devil’s name, and bringing him to justice, Apparitores et lictores (Jun.). How can it be but a terrible time with him, when death comes with a writ of Habeas corpus, Let you keep the body, and the devil with a writ of Habeas animam? Let you keep the spirit, when the cold earth must have his body, and hot hell hold his soul, according to that of the psalmist, "Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them," #Ps 55:15. The sad forethought hereof causeth many unutterable griefs and grapings, perplexities of spirit and convulsions of soul, a very hell above ground, and a foretaste of eternal torments. The word here rendered terror signifieth utmost frights, such as put a man well nigh out of his wits and distract him. R. Solomon understandeth it to be devils; others to be furies, such as the poets feign. Most certain it is, that a body is not so tormented with stings or torn with stripes as a mind with remembrance of wicked actions and fear of future evils (Cic. Orat. pro Rose. Amer.).

And shall drive him to his feet] As they did Cain, that wretch, Qui factus est a corde sua fugitivus (Tertul.), who would fain have fled from his own conscience (if he could have known whither), and become a fugitive and a vagabond upon the earth, #Ge 4:12, seeking to outrun his terrors, which yet dogged him hard at the heels. They shall press him at his feet, so Broughton readeth this text.

Ver. 12. His strength shall be hunger bitten] Heb. His strength (or wealth) shall be famine, Fit famelicum robur eius. Or, Famine shall be his strength. He, who while, having health and wealth at will, fared deliciously and gathered strength, shall be hunger starved, and hardly have prisoner’s pittance; so much only as will neither keep him alive nor suffer him to die. See #1Sa 2:5,36. It is as much, saith Brentius, as we use to say of an extreme poor or feeble person, his wealth is poverty, his strength weakness.

And destruction shall be ready at his side] i.e. Shall suddenly and inevitably seize upon him, there will be no running away from it, for can a man run from his side? The word signifieth not an ordinary calamity, but a dreadful and direful destruction. Some understand it to be the pleurisy, or ulcers in the side of a man. Others of rib rest, as they call it, tortures inflicted on condemned persons, as #Heb 11:34, who are beaten with bats.

Ver. 13. It shall devour the strength of his skin] i.e. His bones, which support his skin; these destruction shall devour or swallow up at a bite, as a hungry monster.

The firstborn of death shall devour his strength] i.e. The devil, say some, that destroyer, #Re 9:11, that old manslayer, #Joh 8:44, Prince of death, #Heb 2:14, as Christ is called Prince of life, #Ac 3:15, and firstborn of death, as Christ is the firstborn of the resurrection, #Col 1:18. Others understand it, De cruentissima ac funestissima morte, to be the most tragic and cruel kind of death, see #Isa 14:30. Broughton readeth it, A strange death shall eat the branches of his body, judgments shall come upon thee in their perfection, saith God to Babylon, #Isa 47:9.

Ver. 14. And his confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle] Whatsoever he trusteth in about his house shall be pulled up by the roots, or grubbed up. Thus it befell Doeg, #Ps 52:7. And this disappointment, this broken confidence of his, shall bring him, or make him go, to the king of terrors; i.e. to death, that most terrible of terribles, as the philosopher calleth it (Aristot.). Or the devil (as R. Solomon interpreteth it), that black prince, #Eph 6:12, to whom wicked men are brought by death, which to them is not only nature’s slaughterman, but God’s curse, and hell’s purveyor. Hence #Re 6:8, death haleth hell at the heels of it.

Ver. 15. It shall dwell in his tabernacles, because it is none of his] Heb. Not his; Why? the king of terrors hath turned him out of it, and taken it up for a habitation for himself. Some render it thus, nothing, or have nothing (that is, want) shall dwell in his tabernacle, his house shall be replenished with emptiness, scarcity shall be the furniture of his habitation.

Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation] As is also threatened, #Ps 11:6. And as was executed upon Sodom and her sisters; as also upon Dioclesian, the tyrant, who, giving over his empire, decreed to lead the rest of his life quietly. But he escaped not so, for after that his house was wholly consumed with lightning, and a flame of fire that fell from heaven, not without a sulphurous smell, he hiding himself for fear of the lightning, died a short time later. (Euseb. de Vita Const. lib. v.)

Ver. 16. His roots shall be dried up beneath, &c.] The meaning is, saith Diodati, he shall be deprived of God’s grace, which is the root of all happiness, and of his blessing, which is the top of it.

Ver. 17. His remembrance shall perish from the earth] As a tree, when root and branch is gone, is clean forgotten, and no man remembereth where it grew; so shall it be with the wicked, Non celebrabitur eius nomen et fama, nisi in malum, #Ec 8:10 (Mercer). It is reckoned as a great benefit to a wicked man to have his memory die with him, which, if it be preserved, stinks in keeping, and remains as a curse and perpetual disgrace.

And he shall have no name] i.e. No honourable name, no renown. A good name only is a name, #Ec 7:1, as a good wife only is a wife, #Pr 18:22. Every married woman is not a wife. Zillah, Lamech’s wife, was but the shadow of a wife, as her name also signifieth. In like sort, those only have a name in the streets or public places who are talked about for good; like the martyrs, who have left their names for a blessing, #Isa 65:15, when as their wretched persecutors have left a vile snuff behind, their lamps being put out in obscurity.

Ver. 18. He shall be driven out of light into darkness] Heb. They shall drive him; sc. the devils shall drive him out of the light of life into outer darkness, as they did that rich wretch, #Lu 12:20; confer #Mt 8:12 25:30. The Dutch translation readeth it, Men shall drive him. Others understand it to be his troubles and sorrows.

And chased out of the world] As Tarquin was by Collatine, as Phocas was by Heraclius; kicked off the stage of the world, as one phraseth it; or, as Job saith of some wicked, buried before half dead, #Job 27:15. "Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place," #Job 27:23.

Ver. 19. He shall neither have son nor nephew, &c.] A sore affliction to be written childless, which yet is the portion of some good people, as Abel; many prophets and apostles, for whose comfort that is written, #Isa 56:4,5. God, as he will be to his childless children better than ten sons; so he will give them in his house, and within his walls, a place and a name, better than of sons and of daughters, he will give them an everlasting name that shall never be cut off, #1Sa 1:8 Isa 56:5. Not so the ungodly, those men of God’s hand, for though, full of children, they leave the rest of their substance to their babes, #Ps 17:14, yet it will prove to be but luctuosa faecunditas, as Jerome speaketh, they shall weep for their lost children, and not be comforted, because they are not. Or if they survive, they prove singular cuts and crosses to their wretched parents, who have cause enough to cry out, as Moses sometime did, Let me die out of hand, and not see my wretchedness, #Nu 11:15. They are filled with unmedicinable sorrows, in the loss either of their children, or of their estates by their wasteful children, so that they praise the dead above the living, and wish they had never been born, #Ec 4:2,3.

Nor any remaining in his dwellings] When the soldiers slew the tyrant Maximinus and his son, at the siege of Aquileia, they cried out, Ex pessimo genere ne catulum quidem habendum, Of so ill a kind let not a whelp be kept alive.

Ver. 20. They that come after him shall be astonied at his day] Future ages, hearing the relation of his dismal destruction, shall stand aghast, as if they beheld the dirty ruins of some once beautiful city. Happy they, if in good earnest they could make that good use of it which Herodotus, the historian, saith men should make of the overthrow of Troy; viz. to take notice thereby that great sinners must look for great punishments from God, Των μεγαλων αδικηματων μεγαλιε εισι και αι τιμωριαι παρα του Θεου (Herod.). But Ham and his posterity were little the better for the deluge in their days, nor the adjacent countries for Sodom’s downhill.

As they that went before were affrighted] sc. His contemporaries and eyewitnesses of his calamity apprehended horror, so the Hebrew hath it, they took a fright; which yet was little to the purpose without faith and repentance; and unless their hearts fell down when their hairs stood upright.

Ver. 21. Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked] As sure as death it is so; and this is oft inculcated, because hardly believed. Bildad hints at Job in all this, and therefore speaks of the wicked here in the singular number; as who should say, Thou art the man. But Job’s innocence served him for a Heptaboean buckler.

And this is the place] That is, the state.

Of him that knoweth not God] Periphrasis impii, saith Drusius; this is the character of a graceless man. "Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge?" #Ps 14:4. No, none that they were a button the better for.

Chapter 19

Ver. 1. Then Job answered and said] He replied as followeth to Bildad’s bitter and taunting invective. His miseries he here setteth forth graphically and tragically, granting to Bildad that he was dealt with no otherwise than if he were that wicked man described in the foregoing chapter, and yet denying himself to be any such one, by his lively hope of a joyful resurrection, such as would make a plentiful amends for all, #Job 19:26-28. For though Mercer make question of it yet I am out of doubt, saith Beza, that this is the true meaning of this place. And surely the whole Scripture doth not yield us a more notable or a more clear and manifest testimony, to confirm unto us the resurrection of our bodies, than this. This confession of his faith, saith Lavater, is the chief thing in this chapter, and therefore challengeth our best attention.

Ver. 2. How long will ye vex my soul?] viz. With your furious and reproachful charges and criminations? Have I not misery enough already, but you must lay more load of scorn and contempt upon me; and so go on to trouble me by adding to my saddest sorrows, such as pierce to the very soul? Call you this comforting an afflicted friend? Hoccine est maestum consolari?

How long will ye break me in pieces with words?] Words also have their weight, and if hard and harsh, Leniter volant, non leniter violant. Like mauls, they break the heart in pieces; like a rack, they torment it, #Ps 42:10. As with a murdering weapon in my bones, mine enemies reproached me. You shall find some, saith Erasmus, that if death be threatened can despise it; but to be belied, reproached, slandered, they cannot brook, nor from revenge contain themselves. Job was a strong man both in faith and patience, yet put hard to it by the hard words given him by Bildad and the rest, who did rather hurt his ear, by the loudness of their voices, than helped his heart, by the force of their reproofs. God’s servants "must not strive, but be gentle," #2Ti 2:23,24, "showing all meekness to all men," #Tit 3:2 Jas 3:17. Gentle showers comfort the earth, when dashing storms drown the seed. There is a twofold inconvenience followeth upon bitter and boisterous proceedings with a supposed offender. First, the party looketh not so much to his own failing as to their passion. Secondly, as he is unconvinced, so they are not esteemed; but though they have the right on their side, yet they lose the due regard of their cause and reverence of their persons.

Ver. 3. These ten times have ye reproached me] i.e. Oftentimes. Herein Job endured a great fight of affliction, as the apostle styleth it, #Heb 10:32,33; a manifold fight, as the word there signifieth. Cato was two and thirty times accused publicly, and as oft cleared and absolved. Basil was counted and called a heretic, even by those who, as it appeared afterwards, were of the same judgment with him, and whom he honoured as brethren. Dogs in a chase bark sometimes at their best friends, &c.

Ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me] Or, Are you not ashamed that ye harden yourselves against me? or, that ye jeer and jest at my misery? or, that ye make merchandise of me, and take your penny worths out of me? Significat etiam emere, vel cauponari. Beza (agreeable to our translation) paraphraseth it thus, Ye take me up so short, as if ye dealt with a stranger and foreigner, and not with a friend. And so the word is taken, #Ge 42:7.

Ver. 4. And be it indeed that I have erred] Of human frailty; for that there is any way of wickedness in me (as you would have it) I shall never yield. But nimis angusta res est, nuspiam errare. Involuntary failings I am not free from; who knoweth the errors of his life? #Ps 19:12. What man is he that liveth and sinneth not? It is the sad privilege of mortality, saith one, Licere aliquando peccare, to have licence sometimes to sin (Euphorm.).

Mine error remaineth with myself] q.d. It is little that you have done toward convincing me of any error in all this time, and talk, which until ye have done, I must still remain of the same mind. Or thus, You shall neither answer nor suffer for mine error; what need, then, all this heat and harshness? Not that every man must be left to himself, and let alone to live as he wishes. Admonition is a Christian duty, and the word of exhortation must be suffered, sharp though it be, and to the flesh irksome; better it is that the vine should bleed than die. Had Job been guilty, he would or should have been, as Vespasian is reported, patientissimus veri, patient of a reproof. But his friends falsely accused him for a hypocrite, and fell foul upon another man’s servant, whom they had nothing to do to condemn, #Ro 14:10. And hence this expression of his discontent.

Ver. 5. If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me] Or, Will you indeed magnify yourselves against me? sc. because of mine error, as #Job 19:4, which yet ye have not convinced me of? Will ye insult me, therefore, and throw dirt upon me? Of Bonassus, a certain beast as big as an ox, Aristotle reporteth, that having horns bending inward and unfit for fight, after that he is wounded by the hunters, he fleeth for his life, and often letteth fly his dung for four yards or more, upon the dogs or men that pursue him, to their great annoyance (Hist Animal., lib. ix. cap. 4, 5). In like sort deal many disputers of this world; when they cannot make good their matter by strength of argument, they cast upon their adversaries the dung of calumnies, so seeking to magnify themselves against him, and pleading against him his reproach.

And plead against me my reproach] Affliction exposeth a man to reproach. Where the hedge is low the beast will be breaking over. See #Zep 3:12. {See Trapp on "Zep 3:12"}

Ver. 6. Know that God hath overthrown me] Do not you therefore add affliction to the afflicted, which is so odious a thing to God, #Ps 41:2 69:26; but regard the greatness of mine evils, which draw these complaints from me that seem so immoderate to you. See #Job 6:2 (Diodati).

And hath compassed me with his net] Hath encompassed me round with affliction, that I can get out no way. A hunting term, #Job 10:16 La 1:13 Eze 12:13 Ho 7:12. Bildad had made much mention of nets and gins, wherein God ensnareth and ensnarleth the wicked, #Job 18:8,9. Job granteth that God’s net had encompassed him; but withal denieth himself to be wicked, or that his friends should therefore reproach him, but rather pity him.

Ver. 7. Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard] Nothing is more natural and usual than for men in misery to cry out for help. Job’s great grief was, that neither God nor man would regard his moans or deliver him out of the net. God did not rescue him, men did not right him or relieve him. His outcry seemeth to be the same in effect with that of Habakkuk the prophet, #Hab 1:2,3, "O Lord, how long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear? even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save? Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are those who raise up strife and contention." "Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously," &c., #Job 19:13. Thus Job, but without an answer; as the lion letteth his whelps roar themselves hoarse for hunger, yea, till they are almost dead, before he supplieth them. Sure it is, that God always heareth his Jobs, though he doth not always answer in our time, and in our way. Yea, it is a hearing and an answer of prayer (saith one) that we can pray, though unheard and unanswered.

I cry aloud] Heb. I set up my note, cam gemitu et ululatu, with groaning and howling. Men never pray so earnestly as in greatest afflictions, #Heb 5:7 Ho 12:4; then their prayers, like strong streams in narrow straits, bear down all that stands before them.

Ver. 8. He hath fenced up my way, &c.] Here Job, carried away, as it were, with a torrent of grief, amplifieth his miseries by many other comparisons. And first of a traveller, whom nothing so much troubleth in his journey as hedges and darkness. God, saith Job, hath every way hedged me out of content and comfort, so that, though I seek it never so, I cannot find it. God’s people are oft brought into greatest straits, as David, #Ps 31 and #Ps 142, Israel at the Red Sea, Jehoshaphat, #2Ch 20:1-29, that they may learn to depend upon the Divine providence, &c.

And he hath set darkness in my paths] I am benighted, and know not whither to go or how to get out. Darkness is full of error and terror. A child of light may walk in darkness, #Isa 50:10; yea, in the valley of the shadow of death, #Ps 23:4; yet he is never without some spark of faith, which guideth him in the deepest darkness, until he behold the Sun of righteousness. Light is sown for the righteous, &c.; heaviness may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning, #Ps 30:5. And as before the day breaks the darkness is greatest; so here.

Ver. 9. He hath stripped me of my glory] This is the second comparison, ab externo corporis cultu et habitu, saith Merlin; from the outward habiliments and habits of the body, #Ge 37:23. Our King Richard II, when he was to be deposed, was brought forth gorgeously attired in his royal robes, with a crown upon his head, a sceptre in his hand, &c., but soon after despoiled of all, and unkinged. So it fared with poor Job, stripped and bereft of all that he formerly gloried in, and was respected for, as a man robbed hath all his clothes taken off, and is left naked. In him it appeared that mortality was but the stage of mutability, as one saith of our Henry VI, who of a most potent monarch was, when deposed, not the master of a molehill, nor owner of his own liberty (Daniel’s Hist.).

And hath taken the crown from off my head] Hence some infer that Job was a king, the same with Jobab, king of Edom, mentioned #Ge 36:34. But this is uncertain, since crown is often in Scripture taken allegorically, for riches, authority, dignity, and other ornaments. These were taken from Job, yea, from off his head. See #La 5:16. But he had a better crown, quae nec eripi nec surripi potuit, which could not be taken away; viz. that crown of twelve stars, or celestial graces, #Re 12:1, together with that crown of glory (the fruit of the former) that is "incorruptible and fadeth not away," #1Pe 1:4. Happy Job in such a crown; and that he was in the number of those few heads destined to such a diadem. David had (whatever Job had) a crown of pure gold set upon his head, Psal. xxi. 1; this was a great mercy to so mean a man, since beyond a crown the wishes of mortal man extend not. But David blesseth God for a better crown, #Ps 103:4, "Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies." And how was this set on his head? "Who forgiveth all thy iniquities," &c., #Ps 103:3. Neither can any take away this crown, because we are kept (Greek, φρουρουμενοι, guarded or garrisoned as in a tower of brass, or town of war, that is well fenced with walls and works, and so it is made impregnable) by the power of God through faith unto salvation, #1Pe 1:5.

Ver. 10. He hath destroyed me on every side] Heb. He hath demolished me, he hath pulled me down piece meal, as an old house is taken down part by part. See #Le 14:45 Jud 8:17. God had made and fashioned Job’s body together round about, #Job 10:8, and now he destroyeth it round about. The body of a man is a wonderful fabric, wherein the bones are the timber work, the head the upper lodging, the eyes as windows, the eyelids as casements, the brows as pent houses, the ears as watch towers, the mouth as a door to take in that which shall uphold the building, and keep it in repair; the stomach as a kitchen to dress that which is conveyed into it; the guts and baser parts as sinks belonging to the house, &c. All these were decaying apace in Job as he thought.

And I am gone] That is, I am as good as gone already; every day I yield somewhat unto death, I am free among the dead, free of that company.

And my hope hath he removed like a tree] He hath not left me so much as hope (which is the last comfort of the afflicted) of ever recovering here my health, wealth, and former enjoyments; but hath left me as a tree that is plucked up by the roots, and so can never grow again. A saint may be at that pass here in regard to his outward estate, that there may be to him neither hope for the better nor place for worse (Melch. Adam). This was Cranmer’s case.

Ver. 11. He hath also kindled his wrath against me] Now if his wrath was kindled, yea, but a little, woe be to all those against whom it is bent. He will surely heap mischiefs upon them, he will spend his arrows upon them, #De 32:22,23 Ps 2:12. Job felt them striking in the sides of his soul, even the envenomed arrows of the Almighty; and yet this was only a refiner’s fire, #Mal 3:2, or, if a consuming fire, as #Heb 12:29, yet it was to waste his corruptions only, to sever the sin which he hated from the Son whom he loved; to try and exercise his patience, &c., all which notwithstanding, he complaineth heavily about these spunks and sparks of divine displeasure.

And counteth me unto him as one of his enemies] Heb. As his enemies; not as a single enemy, but a rabble of rebels, an army of enemies, such as shall one day meet at Armageddon, their rendezvous. See #Job 13:24.

Ver. 12. His troops come together] i.e. Troops of tribulations and temptations, of pirates and robbers, σπειρατηρια (as the Seventy have it). Sickness and other sorrows are God’s soldiers, #Mt 8:8,9, and they seldom come single, #Jas 1:2, but trooping and treading on the heels of one another, Concateuata piorum crux; a company comes.

And raise up their way against me] As soldiers besieging a place cast up their trenches and fortifications. Vatablus rendereth it, And have beaten their way upon me; that is, saith he, tribulations have so often passed over me, that they have made a pathway upon me, more transeuntium, as passengers use to do.

And encamp round about my tabernacle] Afflictions hem me in on every side; the troops of troubles besiege me so straitly, that I can no way in all the world find relief or comfort; which, now as by a strong hand, yea, as by a strong host, are withheld from my soul; and so are like to be for a long season, as sieges are many times. Heman was afflicted and ready to die from his youth up, suffering those terrors, #Ps 88:15. Job was a man of sorrows.

Ver. 13. He hath put my brethren far from me] In their affections at least. Some stuck to him, but for a mischief, for they proved miserable comforters, as did likewise Peter to our Saviour, who fled not with the rest of the disciples, but better he had for any good he did him. "A brother is born for adversity," saith Solomon, #Pr 17:17; and although at other times there may be some unkindness, fratrum concordia rara est, Harmonious amoung brothers is rare. yet in affliction and extremity good nature will work, and good blood will not belie itself. But Job’s brethren proved unkind, and grew out of kind; they got farthest from him when his enemies had besieged him. And all this befell him, not without the Lord. He hath put my brethren far from me; this was no small aggravation of the affliction, that God withdrew or withheld that assistance and influence that should have enlarged and united the hearts of his brethren unto him. See #Ps 105:25.

And mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me] Those that formerly knew me thoroughly, and were as well known of me, mine intimate friends, who knew all my heart, are now truly as strange to me, as if there had never been any such matter of acquaintance, Noti mei (Vulgate). Necessarii mei (Tigur.). R. Solomon readeth it, They are cruel to me, Quasi esset scriptum aczaru. "All the brethren of the poor man hate him," saith Solomon, #Pr 19:7, "how much more do his friends go far from him?" He pursueth them with words; yet they are lacking to him. This the heathen (as Ovid and others) heavily complain of. Αφιλον το δυστυχες (Thue.). Et cum fortuna statque caditque fides (Ovid.). Tempera si fuerint nubila, solus eris (Ibid.). In the river Araris there is reported to be a fish called Scolopidus, which at the waxing of the moon is as white as the driven snow, and at the waning thereof is as black as a burnt coal. A fit emblem of a false friend. "Wealth maketh many friends but the poor is separated from his neighbour," #Pr 19:4, who therefore turneth from him as a stranger, if not against him as an enemy.

Ver. 14. My kinsfolk have failed] scil. In courtesy, as Ruth’s kinsman did. Job had many kinsfolk, but few friends; and this was a great grief to him, as it was afterwards also to David, #Ps 31:11 38:11 69:8; to Heman, #Ps 88:8; and to Paul, #2Ti 4:16.

And my familiar friends] They whom I favoured, saith Broughton, according to #Ps 11:7.

Have forgotten me] Out of sight out of mind. A thing forgotten is as if it had never been. All Job’s courtesies were cast away upon these summer birds, who had well nigh forgotten there was ever such a man in the world as Job.

Ver. 15. They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, &c.] My tenants, or my guests, or my sojourners, those widows and orphans haply, whom he kept at his own charge, #Job 31:32. More than this, my maidens, those housekeepers, intrusted with the keys of the family, and that are no drudges to wash the feet of other servants, as #1Sa 25:41. And for his servants of the other sex, he was as coarsely used by them too.

Ver. 16. I called my servant, and he gave me no answer] Though I lay under greatest sores and sorrows, and called them to help me, yet such was their impudence and inhumanity, that they would not vouchsafe an answer. Considera hic quanta crux sit, saith Brentius, a sua propria familia despici et rideri; Consider with me, here, what an affliction it is for a man to be despised and derided by his own family. A servant’s eye should look to the hands of his master, and the eye of a maiden to the hand of her mistress, to observe the motion thereof, and to pick out the meaning, #Ps 123:2. Accounting their governors worthy of all honour, #1Ti 6:1, as the centurion’s obsequious servants did, #Mt 8:9. Sed sic fere sunt servorum ingenia, But so wild are the servants of nature, saith Merlin here. But such is the condition of many servants today, that they will do no more than needs must. Job’s would neither say nor do.

I intreated him with my mouth] As a suppliant to my servant, who lived upon me, but would do nothing for me, though I humbly besought him. Here we may see, saith Vatablus, that when God is angry with a man all doeth cross with him; it is good for us in this case to reflect and see whether we have not served God in this sort. Alphonsus, that renowned king, in a speech to the pope’s ambassador, professed that he did not so much wonder at his servants’ unthankfulness and undutifulness to him as at his own to God.

Ver. 17. My breath is strange to my wife] The corruption of his inwards (besides the noisomeness of his outward ulcers) made his breath strong and unwholesome. This his wife (as did that Roman lady, who said she thought all men’s breath as unsavoury as her husband’s was), should have borne with, in a time of sickness especially, when she should have shown herself a help, and not a heartbreak, to her husband. Famous in our chronicles is the Lady Eleanor, wife to Prince Edward (afterwards Edward I), who extracted the poison out of her husband’s wounds with her tongue, licking daily, while he slept, his rankling wounds, whereby they perfectly closed (Cambd. in Middlesex, Speed. 630). And no less famous is the wife of Valdaurus, celebrated by Ludov. Vires, lib. 2, de Christiana Femina, p. 360. A young and beautiful maid, saith he, was matched to a man stricken in years, whom after she found to have a very fulsome breath and a diseased body, yet (out of conscience, being by God’s providence become his wife) she most worthily digested, with incredible patience and contentment, the languishing and loathsomeness of a husband, continually visited with variety of most irksome and infectious diseases; and though friends and physicians advised her by no means to come near him, for fear of danger and infection, yet she, passing by with a loving disdain and contempt these unkind dissuasions, plied him night and day with extraordinary tenderness and care, and services of all sorts above her strength and ability; she was to him friends, physician, wife, nurse; yea, she was father, mother, brother, sister, daughter, everything, anything to do him good in any manner or way, &c.

Though I intreated for the children’s sake, &c.] i.e. By the holy right of wedlock, and the fruit thereof, those dear pledges of our matrimonial good affection; children, as they are dear to their parents (Charos, Plautus somewhere calleth them), so they are an endearing to their parents, whose seed they are called, as if there were nothing left to the parents but the husks. This therefore was a melting argument; but it moved not Job’s wife. Men may speak persuasively, but God only persuadeth.

Ver. 18. Yea, young children despised me] Fools, saith the Vulgate, who are never more pleasant than when they play the buffoons at my expense. Ungodly men, some render it, as #Job 16:11. Others, the baser sort of people. And surely none so base as they that deride virtue, especially because forsaken of fortune, as one phraseth it. What a bitter jeer was that of Tobiah, the servant, or slave, the Ammonite! #Ne 4:3. The basest can mock, as the abjects did David, #Ps 44:15,16, and the alestakes also, #Ps 69:12. But it is a happiness to do well, and yet hear ill. All God’s people must be ready to pass through good report and evil report, #2Co 6:8. And every Job must reckon, that as the reproacher is homine peior, a more worse man, not so much as a man (saith Chrysostom); so the reproached, that bears it well, is Angelis par, equal to the angels.

I arose, and they spake against me] I arose, sc. to rebuke them, or to pacify them, or to pass away from them, and my back is no sooner turned, but they reviled me. Some render it, Sto coram illis, I stand before them; that is, they stay not till I am gone past, but reproach me to my face, such is their boldness and baseness. See #Isa 3:5.

Ver. 19. All my inward friends abhorred me] Heb. All the mortals of my counsel, q.d. My most intimate acquaintance and associates, my highest confidants, to whom I was wont to open my bosom, and with whom I maintained closest correspondence; lo, these now abhor me, and keep aloof off from me; yea, they apostatize from their professed friendship; and renouncing the laws of love, they deal despitefully with me, and are turned against me. Such a one was Ahithophel to David, #Ps 55:14,15, Judas to Christ, #Mt 26:23, and Bildad to Job (as some conceive that he conceited by the latter clause of this verse).

And they whom I loved, &c.] Heb. And this man whom I loved, this bitter Bildad, that in his last speech hath so grievously galled me, who have hitherto so highly prized him. What? thou, my son Bildad? Και συ τεκνον Βσουτε; This went to the very heart of him, as afterwards it did of David, when for his love they were his adversaries, when they rewarded him evil for good, and hatred for his good will, #Ps 109:4,5. Precious therefore and worthy of all acceptation is that advice of the prophet Micah, #Mic 7:5-7, "Trust not in a friend, put not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom," Ευμεταβλητον ζωον ο φιλος. "For the son dishonoureth the father…a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. Look therefore unto the Lord," &c. All that trust in him shall triumph; but for others we may be compelled to complain, with Queen Elizabeth, In trust I have found treason, &c.

Ver. 20. My bone cleaveth to my skin] My skin is a bag of bones. I am become a mere skeleton, and may well cry out, O my leanness, my leanness! So bare I am grown, that little appeareth in me but skin and bones, #Isa 24:16. My bone cleaveth to my skin as to my flesh (so it may be read), that is, as once it did in my flesh, when I was well lined within. Now, alas! I lie under a miserable marasmus; and should therefore be pitied, as being a just object of your commiseration, Ossa sub incurvis apparent arida lumbis.

And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth] Escaped I am, and come off (as out of a hot skirmish) with my life, and very little else. All I have left me whole is the skin of my teeth; that is, of my gums, into which my teeth are engrafted; the rest of my body is all over a scab. The Vulgate rendereth it, My lips only about my teeth are left me untouched. And Junius gives this gloss, Job had nothing left him but the instrument of speech. These, say some, the devil purposely meddled not with, as hoping that therewith he would curse God. Curse him he might with his heart only; but this would have pleased the devil nothing so well as to hear him do it with his tongue, Hoc fecisse Satanam volunt, ut voluntatem caperet (Merc.). This is the conceit of some of the Jewish doctors. But it is better to ascribe this escape to the good providence of God than to the malice of the devil.

Ver. 21. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, &c.] To him that is afflicted pity should be showed from his friends; and to do otherwise is to forsake the fear of the Almighty, #Job 6:14; {See Trapp on "Job 6:14"} There was little either fear of God or mercy to men in that barbarous bishop of Spire, who denied to Henry IV, emperor of Germany (deposed after ten years’ reign, and hardly bestead), a poor clerkship there in a monastery of his own foundation; which caused the miserable emperor to break out into these words of Job, "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me." The Papists tell us that the souls in purgatory cry out to their friends on earth for help on this manner, and in these terms. But this is as much a fiction as purgatory itself is the pope’s invention; who must needs be extremely pitiless to suffer so many souls to lie in such great torments, when he hath power to fetch them out at his pleasure.

Ver. 22. Why do ye persecute me as God?] Is this that pitying of me thus to press me with reproaches, and therein to think you gratify God, and do him good service? Know ye not, that to persecute him whom he hath smitten is greatest cruelty? and to talk to the grief of those whom he hath wounded is to heap up guilt, and thereby wrath? #Ps 69:26,27. When a deer is shot the rest of the herd push him out of the company. When a tree falleth every passenger is ready to be pulling at it, Δρυος πεσουσης ανηρ πας ξυλευεται. But God’s people should love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, #1Pe 3:8; and of some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, #Jude 22,23. Thus it should be; but as of old, in Egypt, one Hebrew smote another; blows enough were not dealt by the common adversary, but their own must add to the violence. Still Satan is thus busy, and Christians are thus malicious; that, as if they wanted persecutors, they persecute one another; and if (as here) they can but do as God, that is, for God, as they mispersuade themselves (to vindicate his justice, and to promote his glory), then they rage and are confident, as these friends of Job; in whom nevertheless it was rather error amoris than amor erroris, an error of love than any love of error.

And are not satisfied with my flesh?] Which is pined away with pain and grief; this contents you not, but you must break my bones also, and suck my blood by your contumelies and calumnies. Brentius and others apply this text to slanderers and backbiters, whom they compare to cannibals, Est detractoris periphrasis (Mercer). Non minus enim calumniatores homines devorant quam Scythae (Brent. in loc.). It is reported of wolves, that when they have once fed upon man’s flesh they desist not, but desire more of it. Job looketh upon his friends as such man eaters, wherein his sorrow transported him too far; and while he was moving them to compassion he shows himself overly passionate.

Ver. 23. Oh that my words were now written!] This reiterated wish Job setteth as a preamble to that ensuing memorable testimony of the resurrection, as a matter most weighty and worthy the consideration of all ages; which therefore he wisheth recorded in some public instrument to all eternity; and God said Amen to it. For not only this precious passage, but the whole Book of Job, so full of divine instruction preparatory to the last day, was committed to writing (either by Moses, or some other prophet of that age, or else by Job himself after his restoration), and put among the canonical books of Scripture; concerning which David saith, "For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven," #Ps 119:89. And Christ, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one jot or tittle," &c., #Mt 5:18. Not one hair of that sacred head can fall to the earth. Thus God hath answered Job, ad cardinem desiderii, as a Father speaketh, letting it be to him even as he would (Aug. Confess. 1. 5, c. 8).

Oh that they were printed] Or drawn out, that is, written (saith one) in great and capital letters, that every man might read them, #Hab 2:2, for there was no printing in those days that we know of. The Chinese indeed tell us that they had the art of printing long before. But in Europe it was not heard of till the year 1440. It begun to be practised at Haarlem, in the Low Countries (by Lawrence Jans, say some, by John Guttenberg, say others), and was perfected at Mentz, where Cicero’s Offices, the first book that ever was printed, is still kept for a monument.

In a book!] That it might be preserved and laid up for the use of posterity, in some Kiriahsepher, or city of books. Let them that are able, be apt and active in setting forth books for the benefit of others, since Paulum sepultae distat inertiae celata virtus -(Horat.), he that buried his talents gave a heavy account to the master, and was therefore called evil, because an idle servant, #Mt 25:26

Ver. 24. That they were graven with an iron pen, &c.] That my words were not only scripta sed sculpta, written, but graven in a rock, as the laws of various nations were cut in brass or marble; and as monuments and epitaphs are graven on tombs for remembrance of those that are dead.

And lead] Plumbo per sulcos infuso, saith Junius, the cuts of the letters in marble being filled with lead, that they might be the more legible and durable.

In the rock] In marble cut out of the rock. Golden words they are indeed that here follow, and well worthy to be written in letters of gold. In the Life of Zisca (that warlike Bohemian) it is recorded, that in the famous monastery called the king’s court, a mile from Prague, in the walls thereof the whole Bible was most exquisitely engraven in letters of gold (Clarke’s Lives).

For ever!] To last longer than the world lasteth. Those bloody tyrants of the primitive times made account they had made sure work in rooting out true religion, when they sounded the triumph beforehand, and engraved the victory upon pillars of marble in these bubbles of words: Nomine Christianorum deleto qui Remp. evertebant, &c. The name of the Christians I have erased who… But Christ shall reign, and the Church shall stand upon his right hand as a queen in gold of Ophir, #Ps 45:9, when all earthly greatness shall lie in the dust. "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever," #Ps 45:6; and there shall be a new sucession of saints to all perpetuity. #Ps 72:17, "His name shall endure for ever; his name shall be continued (Heb. childed) as long as the sun," as long as the world, as long as the word of our God, which, according to Job’s wish here, shall stand for ever, #Isa 40:8. But what meaneth the Vulgate translation here by this insignificant word Celte? Celte vox est nihili (Merc.). And why should Hugo seek to solve the matter, by telling us that celtis is a tool wherewith letters or pictures are cut in the flint? Whereupon, Vide, quaeso, mi Lector, saith Brentius, See, I pray thee, good reader, how oddly they interpret Scripture that lack learning; for neither is celte such a tool, nor can it be celte for certe, since the Hebrew word lagnad doth not signify surely, but for ever.

Ver. 25. For I know that my Redeemer liveth] Clarissima fidei confessio, saith Brentius, A most famous confession of his faith. Brevis et longa, totaque aurea, est haec apologia, saith another, This is Job’s short and yet long apology, but golden all over, and such as hath fulness of matter in fewness of words. Calvin and Mercer ( viri alioqui iudiciosissimi) are mistaken here, when, following the Rabbis, they interpret this text as a temporal restoration of Job to such an estate of honour and riches as he had enjoyed in the former part of his life; this they call Job’s resurrection and redemption, &c. But his thoughts soared higher than so. "I know," saith he; it is as if he should say, You take yourselves to be the only knowing men, and as for me, Bildad hath set me among such as know not God, #Job 18:21. But hereby I know that I know him, #1Jo 2:3, because I know him whom he hath sent, Jesus Christ, #Joh 17:3, not only as a redeemer, but as "my redeemer," by a particular application of him to myself, which is the very pith and form of faith. This great mystery of godliness I know, whatever else I am ignorant of; and I know it savingly, because I am secure in my interest in Christ, my kinsman and redeemer; and, therefore, I am no hypocrite or wicked man, as you would make me. Were it not for this word of possession (mine), the worst man alive, nay, the devil, might say as Job here doth; yea, repeat all the Articles of the Creed to as good purpose as he; but that which tormenteth the devil is, he can say "my" to never a one of them. I know, said Job, when condemned for a hypocrite, that Christ is my redeemer, and that this my redeemer liveth for ever, and is for ever mine. So Dr Taylor, martyr, when condemned for a heretic, subscribed his last will and testament in these words, Rowland Taylor, departing hence in a sure hope, without all doubting of a glorious resurrection, I thank God, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, my certain Saviour (Acts and Mon.).

And that he shall stand] As keeping the field when all his foes shall be his footstool, #Ps 110:1. So he standeth, #Re 10:2, setting his right foot upon the sea and his left foot upon the earth (opposing all heretics and antichrists that there hence arise), as Lord paramount of both.

At the latter day] Or last of all. Theodosius rendereth it, Novissime. A general judgment of quick and dead at the last day, was in Job’s time, and afterwards by Zoroaster, and other heathens (as Lucretius, Theopompus, Plato, Cicero, Ovid, &c.), believed and foretold. But, in process of time, this true and pure doctrine was darkened among them; and when once it was extinct, superstitions and other vain fopperies overgrew the greatest part of the world. The ancient tradition was that the latter age of the world should be so filthy all over, that, as it could not be washed with water, as once, so it should be wasted with fire, #2Pe 3:10.

Upon the earth] Or, Over the earth; to wit, in the air. For there it is probable Christ will sit in the clouds of the air near unto the earth, whither the elect shall be caught up to meet the Lord, and so shall they ever be with the Lord, #1Th 4:17. There the devils shall be subdued and sentenced, where they have ruled and played Rex, #Eph 2:2; see #Mt 24:30. Some read it, And this (pointing to his body) shall stand up at the last day upon the earth.

Ver 26. And though after my skin worms destroy this body] Here he pointeth again, as doth likewise David, when in #Ps 34:6, he saith, "This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him," &c. So the ancient believers, when they came to that Article in the Creed, I believe the resurrection of the flesh, were wont to add, Etiam huius carnis, even of this flesh, pointing to some naked part of their body; or else alluding to that of the apostle, "This mortal must put on," &c.

Worms destroy this body] Heb. They destroy this. He saith not this body, quod ob deformitatem summam, non liceret corpus dicere, saith Vatablus, So worn it was, and wasted with sores and sicknesses, that it could scarcely be called a body. And yet it was not at the worst either, for in the grave it should be worm eaten, and something more. Mihi experto credite, saith Austin, Believe me, who have tried it, open dead men’s sepulchrcs, and upon their heads ye shall find toads crawling, begotten of their brains; on their loins serpents, begotten of their reins; in their bellies worms, begotten of their bowels, &c. (Serm. 48, ad Frat. in Erem.).

Yet in my flesh] Heb. Out of my flesh, as out of a casement.

I shall see God] I shall see Christ, Christum in corpore (Austin’s wish), the human and glorified body of Christ, who is God blessed for ever, as also the mystical body of his Church perfectly united unto him, #1Jo 3:2. To this sense some render the text thus, I shall see God in my flesh, that is, I shall see Christ sitting in glory, clothed with flesh, or in the likeness of man. And here do but think with thyself, though it far pass the reach of any mortal thought, saith one, what an infinite inexplicable happiness it will be to look for ever upon the glorious body of Jesus Christ, shining with incomprehensible beauty, and to consider that even every vein of that blessed body bled to bring thee to heaven; and that it being with such excess of glory hypostatically united to the second person in Trinity, hath honoured and advanced thy nature, in that respect, far above the brightest cherub. The whole verse may be read thus, And after I shall awake, though this body shall be destroyed, yet out of my flesh shall I see God. And being thus read, it is a plainer and fuller confession of the resurrection, saith an interpreter. It is common in Scripture to compare death to sleep and resurrection to awaking, #Da 12:2 Ps 17:15. The bodies of the saints are laid in the grave, as in a bed of roses, to ripen and mellow against the resurrection, and they write upon their graves, as one did once, Resurgam, I shall surely rise again (Dr King). Moses’s body, hid in the valley of Moab, appeared afterwards glorious in Mount Tabor. This is matter of joy and triumph, as it was here to Job, and to those good souls who were to lose all, #Da 12:2, and those, #Heb 11:35, considering that God, by rotting, would refine their bodies, and in due time raise them conformably to Christ’s most glorious body, the standard. The forethought of this cheered up David’s good heart, #Ps 16:9, and those in Isaiah, #Isa 26:19, and the good people in our Saviour’s time, #Joh 11:24. I know, saith Martha, concerning her brother Lazarus, that he shall rise again at the resurrection; at the consolation, saith the Syriac interpreter (Benuchama). Resurrection and consolation then were terms equivalent. Hence that great apostle, #2Co 4:16: "For this cause we faint not," saith he. For what cause? Because we believe "that he which raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise us up also by Jesus, and shall present us with you." And the same apostle maketh this doctrine of the resurrection the canon of consolation, #1Th 4:13,14, &c., to the end.

Ver. 27. Whom I shall see for myself] He speaketh confidently, as one fully assured of a resurrection; which, if it should not be, how should there be a remuneration of the body? Say not, we cannot see how it is possible. See we not a yearly resurrection of grass, grain, herbs, flowers, fruits, every spring time? Know we not that men can of ashes make glasses? that a chemist can of several metals, mixed together, extract the one from the other, and reduce every metal to its own species or kind? Etiam animalculae quaedam typi Resurrectionis sunt, saith Lavater: Some little living creatures are types of the resurrection. He instanceth in dormancey, which sleep all winter, and revive in the spring; in silkworms, which, dying, leave nothing behind them but a certain excrement, which, being borne about in the bosoms of women, takes heat and reviveth. Wherefore, if nature do such things, shall it be held hard for the God of nature to raise the dead? The keeping green of Noah’s olive tree in the time of the flood; the blossoming of Aaron’s dry rod; the flesh and sinews coming to Ezekiel’s dry bones; what were these but living emblems of the resurrection?

And mine eyes shall behold, and not another] Here he maintaineth the identity of his flesh and body in the resurrection; an identity, I say, not specific only, but numeric or individual. The self-same particular body which fell shall rise. This was denied of old by the Marcionists, Basilidians, and Valentinians (those semi-Sadducees, as Tertullian termeth them); and after them Eutychius, bishop of Constantinople, who, as Gregory saith, taught that men, rising again, should have airy bodies, and not fleshly, yea, more subtile than the air, abusing that place of the apostle, "It is sown a natural body; it is raised again a spiritual body," &c.: but his book was burnt as heretical. A spiritual body it is called, for its great strength and activity wherewith it shall be endowed, and whereby it is enabled to bear a weight of glory; as also, for that it shall have no need of food, sleep, or other natural helps, but we shall be as the angels of God, #Mt 22:30, yet still the same men that now we are. Let no man say, with Nicodemus, How can this be? There is no difficulty to Omnipotence, #Php 3:21. Besides, there is a substance still preserved, even when the body is turned to dust, and this shall be raised, clarified, and reunited to the soul. He that made man at first of nothing, can easily remake him of something. And what though his dust be scattered hither and thither, and mixed with that of others? The skilful gardener, having various sorts of seeds mixed together, can soon separate them; and shall not he, who hath the whole earth in his fist, discern the dust of his saints one from another? Little balls or pickles of quicksilver, being scattered on the ground, mix not themselves with any of another kind; but if any man gather them, they run together into one of their own accord; so it is here, saith Greg. Nyssen.

Though my reins be consumed within me] Though, from my skin outward to my reins inward, all be wasted, yet all shall be raised and restored. The Vulgate rendereth these words thus, This hope is laid up in my bosom; and is by Burgensis expounded thus, This is the only thing that I do most earnestly wish and wait for; viz. to see Christ in the flesh at the last day: the reins are the seat of strong desires.

Ver. 28. But ye should say, Why persecute we him?] Nam olim dicitis cur eum persequebamur? (Tigur.) This ye shall one day surely say, "Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked," &c., #Mal 3:18. Then shall it repent you (it should do so now) that ye have rated and reviled me for a hypocrite; viz. when God hath cleared mine integrity (as he did, #Job 42:10), or at the last day howsoever, what time there shall be a resurrection of names as well as of bodies. Would ye but say so now it would be some satisfaction. Quem poenitet peccasse poene est innocens. You have heard, by the confession I have made, I am no miscreant, no misbeliever; but that I do hold fast the faithful word.

The root of the matter is in me] Or, tbe root of the word, the engrafted word of God, that is able to save my soul, hath taken deep root in me, #Jas 1:21. I hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience, #1Ti 3:9, this is the cabinet, that the jewel kept therein. And with what face can ye censure such a one for a castaway, who am sorely afflicted indeed, so that my very reins are consumed within me; nay graces also haply are somewhat deflourished, and it is little better with me than with a tree in winter; and as a tall tree, whose sap is in the root, #Isa 6:13. But so long as "the root of the matter is in me," that radical grace of faith; and since I do utter, as ye have heard, the words of truth and soberness (as some fruits of a sound faith), sure you should handle me with more tenderness, as one that hath some sap and substance in him.

Ver. 29. Be ye afraid of the sword] Heb. Be ye afraid for yourselves, from the face of the sword; God’s sore, and great, and strong sword, #Isa 27:1, that hangeth over your heads, as it were, by a twined thread. Oh tremble at God’s judgments, while they hang in the threatenings. He that trembleth not in hearing shall be cut to pieces in feeling, as that martyr said: God’s sword contemneth the rod, #Eze 21:13. If Job be under his rod, they that persecute him, under what pretence soever, shall feel the dint of his sword, or of his deep displeasure. Now it is a fearful thing to fall into the punishing hands of the living God. And cruelty toward others, toward his own especially, he will be sure to punish, for he is gracious, #Ex 22:27. Fugite ergo a facie gladii, Flee, therefore, from the face of the sword, so the Vulgate rendereth this text. The sword is an instrument of death; it hath its name in Hebrew from laying waste; and the face or faces of the sword, show that Divine vengeance is near at hand. It is a mercy to men that God whets his sword before he smites, and first takes hold on judgment before his judgments take hold on us, #De 32:41 (Aug. in Psal. XXX.).

For wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword] It is from displeased love that God chastiseth his children; but from fierce wrath that he plagueth his enemies: some of these God punisheth here, lest his provideuce, but not all, lest his patience and promise of judgment, should be called into question.

That we may know that there is judgment] Wherein they that rashly judge others shall be judged by God, #Mt 7:1. And this Job’s friends knew well enough, but well weighed not, to scare themselves from rash censurings. He reminds them, therefore, of their danger, and labours to prevent their sorrow, who had so much caused his. See the like in #Jer 26:15, in our Saviour, in St Stephen, &c., and learn to be similarly charitable; though your success be no better than Job’s was, upon whom, in lieu of this love, they fell more foul than before, as will appear by their following discourses.

Chapter 20

Ver. 1. Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said] "If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest," #Pr 29:9. Christ piped to that crooked generation, John mourned to them, but all to no purpose; absurd and unreasonable people will never be satisfied or set down, say what yon can to them, such is their pertinacy and peevishness. Job had uttered himself in such passionate expressions as might have moved stony hearts, Sed surdo fabulam. He had set forth his own misery, begged their pity, made an excellent confession of his faith, every word whereof had its weight, each syllable its substance, Ubi habent fere singulae voces aliquid ponderis (Merl.); he had lastly terrified them with the threats of God’s sword; but nothing would do. Zophar here, though he had little to say more than what he had said, #Job 11, yet he takes occasion from Job’s last words, though full of love, to roughly hew at him again, and makes as if he were necessitated thereunto for his own and his fellows’ necessary defence. Vatablus thinks that Zophar here maketh answer, not to the preceding words, but to those in the 12th chapter, where Job had complained that wicked oppressors live commonly in greatest peace and prosperity. Whatever it is, Zophar henceforth will say no more; either he had said what he could, or was satisfied with Job’s reply in the next chapter; or, lastly, quia lusurum se operam credebat, as Mercer observeth; because he thought he should lose his labour, which no wise man would do.

Ver. 2. Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer] q.d. Whereas I had thought, O Job, to have spoke no more to thee (for I see I do but lose my sweet words), thy last comminatory expressions have altered my resolution. So nettled I am that I must needs interrupt thee. And yet think not that I shall speak whatsoever lieth uppermost; for I have dipped and dyed my words in my thoughts, which do now prompt me what to answer, and bid me make haste.

And for this I make haste] Lest I should forget the particulars of thy speech, whereto I am to answer. Munster rendereth it thus, Et ob id promptitudo mea est intra me, as if Zophar had boasted of his ready elocution, as in the next verse of his ripe understanding. Some render it, For this I delight in answering (Lavat.).

Ver. 3. I have heard the check of my reproach] Zophar conceived himself disgraced as well as menaced by Job; and this kindled him. Some are of so testy a nature, saith one, so skittish and unquiet humour, that a little offensive breath, a disgraceful word, blows them up into a rage that will not be laid down, without revenge, or reparation of their credits. Job’s reproofs were by this man construed for reproaches; and what was spoken to them all he applied to himself. It appeareth that he was sick of a Noli me tangere, when being touched so gently, nettle like, he stingeth him who handled him.

And the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer] This I shall do with reason and understanding, not with passion and recrimination. Spiritus Dei nec mendax, nec mordax; meekness of wisdom is a fruit of God’s Spirit; by the which, and not by his reasonable soul only, Zophar seemeth to himself to be carried on. And surely they are holy truths all along that he uttereth, but wrested and misapplied as to Job, whom he will needs have to be wicked. Interim observemus, saith Lavater, Meanwhile let us observe that these things, sc. the state and portion of the wicked, the greatness and suddenness of their punishments, is therefore by God’s appointment so oft propounded and pressed in this whole book (whereof this is almost the sole argument), that we might be right in that point; fear to offend, and not fret at the wicked man’s prosperity, which is but momentary. The Tigurines translate this clause thus, Tametsi me conscientia hic consolabitur, Albeit herein my conscience shall comfort me.

Ver. 4. Knowest thou not this of old] Whether Zophar intended his own conscience or not before, he here appealeth to Job’s; and secretly taxeth him of going against it, or, at least, of gross ignorance; knowest thou not this, which every one knoweth that is not a mere novice, and which is proved by the examples and experiences of all ages? to wit, Malis male esse, that it shall be ill with the wicked. This is a generally received maxim, and the histories of all ages do plainly and plentifully confirm it. Hinc collige, diligenter observanda esse, &c. (Merlin). Hence we may well gather, that God’s judgments against wicked persons are to be diligently observed out of the histories of all ages, both divine and human.

Since man was placed upon the earth] Heb. Since he placed man upon the earth, viz. in that earthly paradise, the garden of Eden, planted for purpose of man’s pleasure; where, nevertheless, he stayed not one night, as some gather from #Ps 49:12, but soon by his sin became like the beasts that perish ( pecoribus morticinis), that die of the murrain, saith Junius, and so are good for nothing. Cain for like cause was cast out, the old world drowned, Sodom and her sisters consumed with fire, &c. There cannot be one instance given to the contrary of that which is here affirmed, viz.

Ver. 5. That the triumphing of the wicked is short] Heb. That the shouting of the wicked is from near, it is of no long standing, but like a blaze of thorns, that is quickly extinct, or as a bubble in the water, that is soon down; the pleasure of sin is but for a season. Huius sententiae exemptum habes in Goliath, saith Brentius here. An example of this sentence we have in Goliath, #1Sa 17:42-44; and another in his countrymen, the Philistines, who had twice beaten the Israelites, and taken the ark, #1Sa 5, but this triumph was soon at an end; and so was that of the Jews when they had crucified Christ, and now danced upon his grave, as the proverb is; but he arose in despite of them, and set up his trophies. Say that the triumph of the wicked should last as long as life, what is that to the Infinite? Punctum est quod vivimus, et puncto minus. But wicked men commonly die before their time, as Solomon phraseth it, #Ec 7:17; that is, by an untimely death, they live not half their days, #Ps 55:23. God cuts them off, that others may live more quietly; and while they live, their comforts are not sincere, but mixed with many molestations. Little knoweth the world where their new shoes pinch them, as that Roman said. One little drop of an evil conscience can trouble a whole sea of the wicked man’s triumphs.

The joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?] Zophar had a strong conceit that Job was but a hypocrite, one that was wicked before God in heart, notwithstanding his fair pretences and professions of piety, and should therefore be led forth with the workers of iniquity, #Ps 125:5, as cattle led to the slaughter, or as bulls led to the altar, with garlands on their horns, and music by their sides, #Ac 14:13, but suddenly they feel and fall under the murdering axe. Such is the hypocrite’s joy, and Zophar would he should know so much, being sensible of this that himself was the party in speech; since his prosperity had ended in misery, and God had dashed all his comforts.

Ver. 6. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens] Though he conceit himself, and would have others hold him to be, more than a man, and to accord him divine honour. If his pride ascend even up to heaven, so the Vulgate rendereth it. If his gifts ascend up to heaven, so the Septuagint: and indeed hypocrites are ever lifted up with their gifts, as some Corinthians were with their waxen wings, #1Co 8:1, being enriched in all utterance and knowledge, and coming behind others in no gift, #1Co 1:7, yet were they babes at best, and carnal, walking as men, #1Co 3:2,3; their religion was more in notion than in motion; they had the spiritual rickets, which, having grown big in the head, &c.; as the moon, they increased in light, but not in heat. In which respect, also, and for her external privileges, Capernaum is said to be lifted up to heaven, #Mt 11:23; and the temporary, to taste of the heavenly gift, to partake of the powers of the world to come, #Heb 6:4,5.

And his head reach unto the clouds] Aequalis astris gradior, saith he in the poet (Sen. in Thyest.), and Bibulus in Coelo est, saith the orator (Cic. ad Attic.). The heathen rhetoric is but dull stuff to that in this Book; and indeed in this one chapter. A hypocrite’s head is oft above the clouds of heaven when his heart is beneath the clods of earth; like the eagle, which, when he soareth highest of all, even out of sight almost, hath his eye all the while upon his prey below. Or like the apricot tree, which shoots up and leans upon the wall, but is fast rooted in the earth. This whole allusion may be unto a tree, like that of Nebuchadnezzar, whose height was great, and reached unto heaven, #Da 4:10,11,22. Or that of the Amorite, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks, #Am 2:9.

Ver. 7. Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung] Than the which nothing is more filthy and detestable. See this exemplified in Herod, Haman, Boniface VIII, bloody Bonner buried in a muck hill, &c. The word rendered dung hath its denomination from rolling, because it is rolled out of doors, and swept out of sight. Many instances hereof might be given in the pristine and modern persecutors, punished with ignominious and disgraceful ends. Sisera and Jabin perished at Endor, and became as dung for the earth, #Ps 83:10. Jehoram died undesired, Julian the apostate abhorred. God hath for such a besom of destruction, #Isa 14:23.

They which have seen him shall say, Where is he?] They which have seen him with wonder shall now see him with horror, when they see him at such an under, such an ebb, such a dead low water. See this exemplified in that proud Chaldean, #Isa 14:4,12,16.

Tam subito casu, quae valuere, ruunt.

Ver. 8. He shall fly away as a dream, &c.] As a delightful dream is soon forgotten, so shall it be with the hypocrite. His felicity is merely imaginary, his joy is but as the commotion of the affections in a dream, which comes to nothing, #Isa 29:7,8. A man that is to be hanged next day may dream over night he shall be a king. A man that sleepeth upon a steep rock may dream of great possessions befallen him, and, starting for joy, may fall to the bottom, and mischieve himself. #Ps 73:20, "As a dream when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when thou wakest, thou shalt despise their image"; that is, their painted pageant of outward pomp. Surely such of all men, walk in a vain show or in an image, #Ps 39:6; their seeming prosperity hath no tack or consistence in it, themselves and their money perish together, #Ac 8:20.

Yea, he shall be chased away] By the displeasure of Almighty God, he shall be driven or rather kicked out of the world.

As a vision of the night] Phasma, sire Phantasma, which passes sooner out of memory, and is more transient than a day vision.

Ver. 9. The eye also which saw him shall see him no more] He shall be utterly out of sight, out of mind; unkent, unkist, as the northern proverb hath it. See #Job 7:8,10, where Job speaketh as much of himself, and Zophar here twits him with it, as if Sorex suo periisset indicio, Job were a hypocrite by his own confession; so ingenious is evil will.

Ver. 10. His children shall seek to please the poor] Tenuiores sunt ipsis tenuibus, saith Junius; shall be poorer than the poorest, and full glad to comply with them, and humour them, to beg with them, if not to beg of them. A just hand of God upon oppressors, whose work it hath been to make many poor; and now their posterity are brought to extreme poverty. Such shame consult these men to their houses, besides their sin against their own souls, #Hab 2:10. {See Trapp on "Hab 2:10"} Some read it thus, The poor shall oppress his children; and how grievous that is, see #Pr 28:3. {See Trapp on "Pr 28:3"} A heathen historian observed that Dionysius, after his death, paid dear for his sacrilege, in the disasters that befell his children (Val. lib. 1, cap. 2).

And his hands shall restore their goods] Or, For his hands shall, &c. They should indeed restore their ill gotten goods, though to the impoverishing of their posterity, though they left their children no more but a wallet, to beg from door to door. But such are rare birds; most men will rather venture it than be drawn, Zacchaeus like, to make restitution. God must give them a vomit, as #Job 20:20, or they will lay up nothing; part they will not with those murdering morsels, that riches of iniquity {#Lu 16:9} they have devoured, but what they can nor will nor choose, as being compelled to do it either by law or force, either by justice or violence. The right owners do not always receive what was by wrench or wile gotten from them; but these oppressors or their imps are many times rooked or robbed by others as bad as themselves (as the usurious Jews are in this day by the injurious Papists, who use them as spunges, which they may squeeze at their pleasure); God so disposing and ordering the disorders of men to his own glory.

Ver. 11. His bones are full of the sin of his youth] Foul practices have so grown up together with some sinful people, that they may say of them as the strumpet Quartilla did of her virginity, that she could not remember that ever she had been a maid, Iunonem meam iratam habeam si unquam me meminerim Virginem (Petron.). "This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst not my voice," #Jer 22:21. Then thou hadst no mind to it, but now thou hast less, thy heart being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, #Heb 3:17. Now in the froth of these youthful vanities unrepented of breedeth that worm of an evil conscience that never dieth. In the best, they procure much ruth {grief}, though not utter ruin. The sweet ways of my youth (saith a man afterwards eminent for holiness) did breed such worms in my soul as that my heavenly Father will have me yet a little while continue my bitter wormseed, because they cannot otherwise be killed. Thus he. Holy David prayeth hard, #Ps 25:7, "Remember not against me the sins of my youth." Austin was much in the same suit. That age of man’s life is very subject to, and usually very full of, sin, yea, reproachful evils, #Jer 31:19, fleshly lusts that war against the soul, #1Pe 2:11, and like so many noisome diseases, soak into the bones, and suck out the marrow, to the consumption and destruction of the whole man.

Which shall lie down with him in the dust] That is, saith Vatablus, God will so forsake him, that he shall never repent, but shall die in his sins, which is worse than to die in prison or to die in a ditch; for they that die in sin shall rise in sin, and stand before Christ in sin; and how shall they be able to stand before him?

Ver. 12. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth] As poison swallowed in some pleasing meat or drink. Agrippina, in poisoning her husband, Claudius the emperor, tempered it in meat he most delighted in. Poison given in wine works more furiously, as did that wassail {The liquor in which healths were drunk; esp. the spiced ale used in Twelfth-night and Christmas-eve celebrations.} the monk drank to King John of England. That wickedness with a witness here meant is oppression, and is said to be held in the mouth, and hid under the tongue, as some think, because it is oft covered with godly speeches, whereby he seeketh to circumvent and deceive his neighbour. Others by these expressions will have understood continuance in sin and complacency therein, rolling it under his tongue, as a child doth a piece of sugar, which he is loth to part with, and retaining it a long time in his mouth, that he may taste it with more pleasure. Philoxenus wished his neck were as long as a crane’s, that he might the longer keep the taste of his sweetmeats and dainty morsels. Such is the wicked man’s wish, and his practice is answerable; for under his tongue is mischief and vanity, #Ps 10:7. He licks his lips with the remembrance of his former sins, and so recommitteth them in his desires, at least, while he recalleth former acts with delight. Thus the rebellious Israelites called to mind the flesh-pots of Egypt, and were moved; and thus afterwards they multiplied their whoredoms by calling to remembrance the days of their youth, wherein they had gone a whoring in the land of Egypt, #Eze 23:21.

Ver. 13. Though he spare it, and forsake it not] This is the same in sense with the former verse, and the second time repeated, that Job might know that he was the man here meant; Ut qui in malis artibus sibi placuisset, saith Merlin, as one who took pleasure in raising himself upon another’s ruins. And another good note the same author giveth here, viz. That as anything is more sweet and delectable to the sensual appetite, so much the more should we suspect it, as fearing a snare laid for us therein, by that old manslayer. Vipera later in veprecula. Diabolus capite blanditur, ventre oblectat, cauda ligat. Divorce the flesh from the devil, and then there is no great danger.

But keep it still within his mouth] And will not be drawn to spit it out by confession, and to carry it through the dung port of his mouth into the brook Kidron, which was the town ditch. Satan knows there is no way to purge the sick soul but upwards. He therefore laboureth to hold his lips close, that the soul may not unburden itself, and God come in with his cordials of comfort. {See Trapp on "Job 20:12"}

Ver. 14. Yet his meat in his bowels is turned] Sour sauce be hath at length to his sweet meats, viz. gripes and throbs of conscience, terrors and tortures inexpressible; a greedy vulture feeding upon his entrails (as the poets feigned of Prometheus), those furies or hell hags (so much mentioned by them), as haunting evildoers. In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare, #Pr 29:6. There is a cord to strangle his joys with, to mar his mirth. Did not Joseph’s brethren experiment with this? and Ahab, in his house of ivory? and Belshazzar, amidst his sensualities?

Principium dulce est, sed finis amoris amarus:

Laeta venire Venus, tristis abire solet.

The sinner’s cup of honey ends in the dregs of gall, even the gall of asps. Volupia and Angerona went yoked together among the Romans. If men would forecast the sad issues of sin, they would only strive to be innocent.

It is the gall of asps within him] Gall of any sort is bitter, but that of asps is most poisonous and mortal. Pliny saith, that the poison of asps is nothing else but their gall. An asp is a kind of serpent, not known in these parts of the world. Aelian writeth, that the biting of an asp is incurable; and others say, that it killeth without remedy within four hours’ time. Unto this kind of poison is sin fitly compared; for when an asp stingeth a man, it doth first tickle him so as it maketh him laugh, then it casteth him into a sleep, till the poison gradually gets to the heart, after which it paineth him more than ever before it delighted him. So doth wickedness. It is a bitter sweet, γλυκυπικρον. Bernard compareth it to the itch, which first yieldeth pleasure, and afterwards smart. Austin saith, many devour that on earth which they must digest in hell, where they shall have punishment without pity, misery without mercy, sorrow without succour, mischief without measure, torments without end, and past imagination. When therefore thou art making a covenant with sin, say to thy soul, as Boaz said to his kinsman, #Ru 4:5, What time thou buyest it, thou must have Ruth with it. So if thou wilt have the sweet of sin, thou must have the curse with it; and let thy soul answer, as he there doth, No, I may not do it, I shall mar and spoil a better inheritance.

Ver. 15. He hath swallowed down riches] As wild beasts do their prey, as the greater fishes do the lesser, greedily, easily, suddenly, irrecoverably, as the fire swalloweth up the fuel, as the lean kine devoured the fat, and as the Pamphagus glutton doth his tidbits, his sweet morsels. This word, hath swallowed, showeth his infinite and insatiable desire of getting and gathering riches; and that by continual gaping after more, he loseth the pleasure of what he hath already, like as a dog at his master’s table swalloweth the whole meat he casteth him without any pleasure, gaping still for the next morsel. He knoweth no other language but that of the horse leech’s daughter, Give, give; or that of greedy Esau, returning from the field, as hungry as a hunter, #Ge 25:30, Feed me, I pray thee, or let me swallow at once (like as camels are fed by casting gobbets into their mouth) that red, red, &c. Gold is no better than red earth, and cannot terminate man’s appetite, #Ec 5:10.

And he shall vomit them up again] Either by remorse and restitution in the mean time, or by despair and impenitent horror hereafter; he shall vomit them up, and together with them his vital blood and spirits; he shall bring up his very heart withal, as Judas did, together with those thirty pieces of silver, #Mt 27:4, all his bowels gushing out, #Ac 1:18. He thought to have digested his ill gotten goods, as the ostrich doth iron; but, pelican-like, he is forced to cast them up again, תאק Pelicanus a vomitu. (See Plin. l. 10, c. 30.) The large fish that swallowed Jonah found him hard meat, and, for his own ease, was forced to regurgitate. Think the same of this wretched mammonist. The Septuagint interpret the text when they thus render it, Wealth unjustly gathered shall be vomited up again, and an angel shall hale it out of his mouth. ( Graeci eleganter tropo explicato.) An evil angel, say their interpreters; but the Hebrew verity referreth it to God, as an act of divine justice.

God shall cast them out of his belly] As by a writ of ejectment, or rather, as by a violent purgation, that shall work both ways. #Jer 51:44, "I will punish Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth what he hath swallowed up"; viz. the wealth of the nations round about him. This God will rake out of his belly, so that a piece of his heart shall go with it. In the last destruction of Jerusalem some of the Jews had swallowed their gold, that the Roman soldiers might not have it; this was found out, and thereupon thousands of them were killed and ripped up for the gold that might be found in their stomachs and bowels. In like sort shall God deal with those covetous wretches, that have devoured the riches of iniquity; that have sucked in pestilential air, as #Ho 8:7. {See Trapp on "Ho 8:7"}

Ver. 16. He shall suck the poison of asps] That lieth in his head, whence also it hath its name in the original. {See Trapp on "Job 20:14"} Caput aspidis suger, saith the Vulgate. It is said of the toad that he hath in his head a stone of great virtue, called Bufonites. But the asp hath nothing in his head but strong poison. This the rich wretch shall suck, like as he was wont to suck the blood of the poor oppressed, to eat their flesh, #Ps 14:4, and to eviscerate them.

The viper’s tongue shall slay him] Perinde cedet ei maleficium, saith Junius; his wickedness shall prove his bane, unless he presently take the antidote of repentance, whereby to expel the poison ere it get to the vitals. Repentance is the soul’s best vomit, the hardest, but wholesomest medicine. It is repentance unto life; whereas the sins of the impenitent are mortal, saith St John #1Jo 5:17, or rather immortal, as saith St Paul, #Ro 2:5. The hand that is here and elsewhere lifted up in threatening, #Isa 26:11, will fall down in punishing. "The wages of sin is death." When the barbarians saw the viper hanging on St Paul’s hand, they looked when he would fall down dead, #Ac 28:4,6. The devil’s design was there to have slain Paul, but he was defeated. And Brentius holdeth that the metaphor here used is taken not so much from serpents, whose venom lieth in their tongues, as from Satan, who, by the serpent in Paradise, cast our first parents into all kind of evils. Another there is who thus explains this text, Caput viperis suget. When vipers engender, the female sucketh the head of the male, and biteth it off with great delight; then she conceiveth her young ones, which eat out her belly. So the oppressor, getting the poor man’s goods, they seem sweet unto him, but at the last his sin findeth him out, for it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder, as Solomon saith of drunkenness (which Austin calleth dulce venenum, a sweet poison), #Pr 23:32.

Ver. 17. He shall not see the rivers, the floods] That is, that plenty and abundance of all good things that cometh in to the righteous, Velut confertim, certatim, et affatim, a confluence of all manner of comforts and contentments (Mercer). These the oppressor shall have none of; for being insatiable and vexed with the furies of an evil conscience, they enjoy not anything, though they abound with all things, being worse than tantalized; and if after his fall he seek to recruit himself, he shall never be able to effect it. He shall not see the rivers, &c. The Seventy, and others after them, render it by an elegant apostrophe, Ne, specter rivos, Let him never look after the rivers, &c., for it will never be. He may please himself in hope and expectation of a better condition, but God will surely cross him. For his hoped for riches he shall have poverty, for pleasure pain, for health sickness, for nourishment poison, for dignity disgrace, for the favour of God his wrath and hatred, for life destruction. A further account of the wicked man’s non-enjoyment of what he hath wrongfully wrested from others Zophar giveth us in the next verse.

Ver. 18. That which he laboured for shall he restore] (Great pains he hath taken to small purpose) in hope to make himself happy, the result whereof is, Reddet laborem, he shall restore his labour, either by regret and remorse of conscience, or by law, or by force, he shall be made to restore his ill gotten goods, which he had laboured for, even to lassitude; for wicked men are sore worksmen, and oppressors are great pains takers, κερδαινοντες ου κοπιωσι, in getting wealth unweariable (Nazian.).

And shall not swallow it down] Or if he do, as #Job 20:15, it shall be but as the fish swalloweth the hook, or as the whale swallowed Jonah, ill at ease till he had laid up again.

According to his substance shall the restitution be] Heb. According to the substance of his exchange. Opes compensationis, the riches of his recompense, so the word is rendered, #Job 15:31. The oppressor is so infatuated, that he looks upon his cursed hoards as the reward of his labour, and rejoiceth in that whereof he hath more reason to repent, as Leah said at the birth of her son Issachar (but not well), "God hath given me my hire, because I have given my maiden to my husband," #Ge 30:18. Felix scelus virtus vocatur. Dionysius gloried that the gods disliked not his sacrilege, because they punished him not presently. But what saith Zophar here?

He shall not rejoice therein] Or if he do for a while, yet the triumphing of the wicked is short, #Job 20:5, as a blaze of thorns under a pot, or as a flash of lightning, which is followed by rending and roaring; he shall be filled with unmedicinable sorrows, when his gold (his god) is taken from him; when he parteth with that whereon he had set his heart and built his felicity.

Ver. 19. Because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor]. Heb. Because he hath crushed or broken in pieces. The original word importeth (as one well observeth) tyrannical oppression without mercy or moderation, without ho or hold; some give full scope to their rage and wrath, they put neither bond nor bridle upon their covetousness and cruelty: such are characterized by this word.

And forsaken the poor] Or, Left men poor; viz. by leaving them without a livelihood, and so as good as without life. A poor man in his house is like a snail in his shell; crush that, and you kill him. They which read it, And forsaken the poor, give us this good note, that as it is sinful to forsake the poor, though we have never oppressed them, #Mt 25:35,36 (not to do justice is injustice, not to show mercy is cruelty, #Mr 3:4), so to oppress, and then forsake them, is far more sinful.

Because he hath violently taken away] Violently and in open view, in an impudent manner. He pulleth down men’s houses, but never thinketh of repairing them; so some read this text. Let our depopulators look to it, who build themselves desolate places, and desire to live alone in the earth. This hath been noted as a great fault in our nation. And therefore Goropius thinketh that the English were called Angli because they were so good anglers, having skill to lay various baits when they fished for other men’s livings.

Ver. 20. Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly] i.e. Peace in his conscience, satisfaction in his soul; but as he is still coveting more, being sick of a dropsy or bulimy, as it were; so he hath many inward gripings and grabbings, worse than any belly ache or sickness of the stomach; he never eateth to the satisfying of his soul, as the righteous man doth, but the belly of the wicked shall want, #Pr 13:25. His meat is so sauced, and his drink so spiced, with the wrath of God, that he hath no joy of it. His belly is pained, his mind is in perpetual turmoil, while, like a ship laden, but not filled up, he hath enough to sink him, but not enough to satisfy him.

He shall not save of that which he desired] Which he coveted with strong desire, and had as soon have been knocked on the head as parted with, as his plate, wardrobe, jewels, &c., neither can he save them nor they him. Broughton rendereth, By that which he desired he shall not be safe; and to like purpose the Septuagint,

Ver. 21. There shall none of his meat be left] Zophar still pursueth the allegory of the belly; and in all striketh at poor Job, who had scarce a bit of bread to eat, but yet was not without the hidden manna, the feast of a good conscience, which made him say with Luther, Manducato pane hic vivamus, &c., Let us take up with coarse fare here, since we have better within, and better yet we shall have in heaven; in our Father’s house is bread enough, &c.

Therefore no man shall look for his goods] Heb. His goods, or goodness. It was well said, that he that first called riches Bona, goods, was a better husband than divine. But it may be thought that the most are such husbands. The common cry is, "Who will show us any good?" The Lord answereth, #Ex 33:19, "I will make all my good pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee." The prophet answereth, #Mic 6:8, "He hath showed thee, O man, what is good," viz. to do justly; and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. But most men are of his mind who said, He that will not venture his body will never be valiant, and he that will not venture his soul will never be rich (Nevessan). But what saith the prophet? He that getteth riches, and not by right, shall die a poor fool, #Jer 17:11. And what saith Zophar here? He shall die a plain beggar, and leave no estate worth the looking after or suing for; this does not always happen, but ως επι το πολυ, many times it doth, as is easily to be observed.

Ver. 22. In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits] The covetous man never hath a sufficiency (but is as greedily gasping still after more, as if he were not worth a halfpenny), much less a fulness of sufficiency, a superfluity, a superabundance. Whatsoever Esau pretended in his, "I have enough, my brother," #Ge 33:9, Jacob could indeed say truly, I have enough, #Ge 33:11, for godliness only hath an autarchy, #1Ti 6:6. True piety hath true plenty, and is never without a well contenting sufficiency, wherein the good man is, when in the fulness of straits. See it in David, #1Sa 30:6, in Habakkuk, #Hab 3:16,17, in Paul, #2Co 6:10 Php 4:11, he had nothing, and yet possessed all things. But that which Zophar here drives at, is to show that the oppressor shall be ruined when at highest, and when he least looketh for it; as was Nebuchadnezzar, Haman, Belshazzar, Babylon the Great, #Re 18:7,8. How was Alexander the Great surprised at a feast! Caesar in the senate house! many of the emperors in their own palaces! &c.

Every hand of the wicked shall come upon him] Or, of the labourer, whose wages he hath detained. Or, of the poor oppressed, whom he hath forced to labour hard for a poor living. Broughton rendereth it, Each hand of the injured and grieved shall come upon him; and so he shall have many fists about his ears, many ready to rifle him and to pull a fleece from him.

Ver. 23. When he is about to fill his belly] It appeareth, by this expression, that it was belly timber wherein the wicked man placed his sufficiency, #Job 20:22, his felicity, Si ventri bene sit, si lateri, saith the Epicure in Horace. If the belly may be filled, the body fitted, that is all that these Lurcones, these profligates, look after. Polyphemus knew no other god but his belly. There were belly gods in St Paul’s time, such as of whom he could not speak with dry eyes, #Php 3:18,19. Such are compared by Clement of Alexandria to the sea ass, that hath his heart in his belly. By others to the locust, the belly whereof is said to be joined to his mouth, and to end at his tail; to the fish called Blax, that is altogether unprofitable; and to rats and mice, good for nothing but to devour victuals. When therefore such a pamphagus is about to fill his belly and to pamper his paunch, or otherwise to gorge himself with the full messes of sin’s dainties (as the viper lives on venomous things, the spider on aconite, the sow on swill, as Tartarians on carrion, holding them as dainty as other men do venison), then, saith Zophar,

God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him] Heb. He shall send forth, &c. He will no longer keep in his judgments in the chains of mercy, but give them their full forth upon this wicked oppressor; and that even very then, when he bids his heart make merry, and assures himself of unchangeable happiness. For,

He shall rain it upon him (that is, reveal it from heaven against him, #Ro 1:18) while he is eating] #Mt 24:38. As it befell those cormorants, #Nu 11:33, and the old world, #Lu 17:26,27 Sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; Vel ut pluvia quae sereno coelo inopinantes opprimit. Or as foul weather that comes unsent for, and oft unlooked for. The Vulgate rendereth it, And he shall rain his war upon him. But this Zophar setteth forth in the next verse, where he denounceth war and weapons.

Ver. 24. He shall flee from the iron weapon] i.e. While he seeks to shun one mischief he shall fall into another; and when he thinks to run from death he runs to it. God, who can do what be will with his own bare hand, is here brought in, after the manner of men with sword and bow, to show that both at home and afar off he can tame his rebels. Neither boots it any man to stand out with God, or to seek to save himself by fight or flight; since he is that "King, against whom there is no rising up," #Pr 30:31, and if he be angry, no other helps can relieve us. Brass and iron can fence me against an arrow or a sword, but if I were to be cast into a furnace of fire, it would help to torment me, if into a pit of water, to sink me. Now our God is a consuming fire, and his breath a stream of brimstone, #Isa 30:33. "Submit yourselves therefore to God," #Jas 4:7. Humble yourselves therefore under his mighty hand, and ho shall lift you up in due season, #1Pe 5:6. To run in to God is the way to escape him; as to close and get in with him that would strike you doth avoid the blow.

And the bow of steel shall strike him through] Or, shall change him; that is, kill him. Death is our great change, and to the wicked a dismal change; for they shall be killed with death, #Re 2:23. Then Balaam and his bribes, Balthasar and his bowls, Dives and his dishes, Herod and his harlots, the usurer and his bills, the merchant and his measures, &c., shall part asunder for ever. But that is not the worst of it. The word here used signifieth excision, or cutting off, and hence that of Bathsheba, #Pr 31:8, Beni chaloph, children of destruction, answerable to that of our Saviour, #Joh 17:12. A son or child of perdition, that is, a man devoted to utter destruction.

Ver. 25. It is drawn, and cometh out of the body] That is, the arrow out of the quiver, or the sword out of the sheath, as the Vulgate translateth it. By a like metaphor the body is called the soul’s sheath, #Da 7:15. But I rather take it properly: It cometh out of his body that is, out of the wicked man’s body, who is under such a deep and deadly wound as Jehoram was, whom Jehu shot through the heart; and as William Rufus was by Walter Tyrrel, who in hunting mistook him for a deer.

Yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall] And so the wound must needs be mortal, since none can come at the gall to cure it. The wicked shall be double slain (first with God’s bow, and then with his sword), rather than he shall escape. How much better were it to fall down as Paul did, #Ro 7:11, slain with the sword of the Spirit! Bernard told his brother, a soldier, that because he would not listen to the word of exhortation, God would shortly open a way to his hard heart by his glistering sword; which accordingly befell him.

Terrors are upon him] Heb. The terrible upon him; which some interpret of devils or hell hags. The Vulgate rendereth it, Then horrible ones shall come upon him. The word is used for giants, #De 2:10. The Emims shall fall upon him, that is, men of fierce and cruel spirits. But better take it for terrors, as we render it; and so the sense is, That the wicked, when he sees he must needs die, is surprised with greatest anxieties and perplexities of spirit, as beholding that threefold dreadful spectacle, death, judgment, hell, and all to be passed through by his poor soul.

Ver. 26. All darkness shall be hid in his secret places] That is, saith Diodati, wheresoever he shall think to find a place of safeguard there shall he meet with some horrible mischance. Men that are proscribed, and sought for to death, usually hide themselves, as various Jews did in privies at the last destruction of Jerusalem, and were thence drawn out to the slaughter. The duke of Buckingham, in Richard III’s time, was betrayed by his servant Bannister. Appian telleth of a Roman hid by his wife, and then exposed by his wife to the murderer, to whom she soon after also was married (De Bell. Civ. Rom.). Others render and sense the words thus, The wicked shall come into darkness, propter abscondita, for his secret sins. And others thus, All darkness is laid up for his hid treasures; that is, God or men have taken order that he shall lose his riches as well as his life, though he hide them never so secretly.

A fire not blown shall consume him] i.e. say some, calamities whose causes shall be unknown, and shall proceed immediately from God. See #Isa 30:33. Many of the Greeks interpret this text of hell, with its unquenchable fire, #Mt 3:12, which being created by God, and kindled by his breath, that is, by his word, it burneth everlastingly. Albeit God many times punisheth wicked men here with fire from heaven, as he did Sodom, Nadab and Abihu, those captains of fifties with their companies, #2Ki 1:9-12 Tremellius rendereth it thus, A fire consumeth him, non accensum flatis, I say him, not kindled by blowing, but burning of his own accord, as stubble fully dried, or hurds, or sear wood, Ut stipulae aut stupae. Ut cremium aut arefactum lignum. See #Na 1:10. {See Trapp on "Na 1:10"}

It shall go ill with him that is left] His posterity shall never prosper, but be rooted out. Eliphaz and Bildad had said the same thing; and all to pay poor Job, whose family was now ruined. It shall surely go ill with him, or, He shall be wringed, saith Broughton; alluding to the likeness of the sound as well as the sense of the Hebrew word.

Ver. 27. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity] Job had called heaven and earth to record his innocence, #Job 16:19. This is not to do now, saith Zophar, for all creatures have conspired thy ruin, and contributed thereunto, wind, fire, Sabeans, &c., so that he that hath but half an eye may see thee to be a wicked person. Such as are wicked indeed, not only secundum dici, as Job, but secundum esse, as Ahab, cannot look to heaven above, or to earth beneath, without horror to think even these, if other witnesses fail, shall bring to light their secret sins, and come to give testimony against them before the great Judge at the last day.

And the earth shall arise up against him] Night will convert itself into noon against the evildoers; and silence prove a speaking evidence. Earth cried Cain guilty, the stars in their courses fought against Sisera as a traitor and rebel to the highest majesty; yea, Servi ut taceant iumenta loquentur, the ass hath a verdict to pass upon Balaam. A bird of the air shall carry the voice that but whispereth treason, #Ec 10:20. Yea, if nothing else will reveal iniquity, it will reveal itself. It will prove like the ointment of the right hand, of which Solomon saith, that it bewrayeth itself, #Pr 27:16.

Ver. 28. The increase of his house shall depart] All his posterity shall be destroyed, and so shall his prosperity to, even all at once, with a sudden ebb, in the day that God visiteth him with his wrath and righteous judgments. All the wicked man’s wealth and revenue shall be wretchedly wasted and embezzled by one means or other.

And his goods shall flow away] As waters. The apostle saith, The fashion of this world passeth away; viz. as a hasty headlong torrent; or as a picture drawn upon the ice: "Thou carriest them away" (both persons and things) "as with a flood," #Ps 90:5.

Ver. 29. This is the portion of a wicked man from God] A portion God alloweth the wicked in this life, #Ps 17:14; as a king, when he reprieveth a traitor, alloweth him a subsistence, prisoner’s pittance at least. Yea, the worst of men divide the wealth and honours of the world between them for a time. Nebuchadnezzar had Tyre as pay for his pains in Egypt. And the whole Turkish empire is nothing else but a crust cast to his dogs by the great housekeeper of the world, saith Luther. But besides this, God hath provided a far other portion for them (saitb one), and that by way of inheritance, never to be parted from them; viz. all the forementioned miseries, and many more, all torments here, and tortures in hell. This is the inheritance, Quam nunquam deserere, non magis quam seipsos, poterunt, which will stick to them as close as the skin to the fesh or the flesh to the bones; it falls to them as the inheritance doth to the heir, #Job 27:13 31:2, or as the mess of meat doth to the invited guest. Misery is the heritage of the wicked, as they are children of disobedience; and their wages, as they are workers of iniquity; their present prosperity also is a piece of their punishment, #Isa 1:5 Pr 1:32. The words of Zophar are ended. Let others reply as they please, but he hath done. Praestat herbam dare, quam turpiter pugnare. No surer sign of an evil cause than a powerless pertinace.

Chapter 21

Ver. 1. But Job answered and said] Disproving and refuting that proposition of theirs concerning the infelicity of the ungodly by reason, by experience, and by divine authority; all which evince and evidence that neither is prosperity a proof of men’s innocence, nor adversity a mark of their wickedness, as Zophar and his fellows would have it. And that they might not any more interrupt him, nor think him too rough, he useth a gentle preface, craving attention, and pressing them thereunto by many arguments in the first six verses.

Ver. 2. Hear diligently my speech] Heb. In hearing hear. The Greek hath it, Hear, hear; that is, hear me out, have so much patience with me as not to interrupt me any more; yea, hear with understanding; let your ους and νους meet; draw up your inward ears to your outward, that one sound may pierce both. Lay aside passion and prejudice, suffer a word of information, for it is but one word that I have to say, &c, The Hebrew is singular, and promiseth brevity. Only this one word Job would that they should hear double; sc. by an after deliberate meditation, as David did, #Ps 62:11, "God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this," &c. Gravis rationis humanae morbus est, quod plerunque soleat ea damnare quae aut non intelligat, aut non placuerint (Brent.).

And let this be your consolations] Comfort me this way at least, that you will give me the hearing. Hither you came as comforters, but by your galling speeches you have grieved and vexed me above measure. Now make me some amends, and remembering your office as friends, and your design, which was to condole with me and to comfort me, hear me intently, and this I shall take as kindly as if in tenderest compassion you had drunk to me in a bowl of nepenthes, {A drug of Egyptian origin mentioned in the Odyssey as capable of banishing grief or trouble from the mind; hence, any drug or potion having, or conceived as having, the same power; also, occas. the plant or herb supposed to yield the drug.} or had given me a cup of consolation, as #Jer 16:7. The Vulgate Latin rendereth it (but not well), Hear, I pray you, my speech, and repent. The Hebrew root signifieth first to repent, and then to comfort, #1Sa 15:35 Isa 40:1, because the penitent only get sound comfort.

Ver. 3. Suffer me that I may speak] Say that it be suffering to you to hear me (for now I see you have, as they write of some creatures, fel in aure), yet put yourselves to the pain of hearing me, and bear me, though I am burdensome to you, though my speeches cross the grain of your spirits. See #2Co 11:1. I will promise you to speak nothing worthy of a scoff, such as was that of Theophrastus, Let him shun the talkative man who would not be put into a fit of a fever (Theoph. Charact. cap. de garrul.). Or that of Aristotle, before whom when one, having made a long and idle discourse, concluded it thus, I doubt I have been too tedious unto you, sir philosopher, with my many words: In good sooth, said Aristotle, you have not been tedious to me, for I gave no heed to anything you said (Plut. de Garrulit.).

And after I have spoken, mock on] Heb. Mock thou on, thou Zophar (to whom he turned his speech, and very likely his eye also), if thou canst find in thy heart to mock at so much reason as I shall allege in mine own defence; I gainstand thee not. He lacked no wit who said, If a wise man speak evil of thee or to thee, endure him; if a fool, slight him. Sile, et funestam dedisti plagam, trouble not thyself at his taunts, and thou punishest him sufficiently (Chrysost.).

Ver. 4. As for me, is my complaint to man?] Vult dicere, saith Lavater, Job’s meaning is, that he complained not to man, but to God himself, who well knew his heart and his innocence, though men misjudged him. And this being so, how could he be otherwise than anxious and solicitous, since if a man be but to speak to an earthly prince, he will be afraid? It is said of Charles V, emperor, that he spake more to God than to men. Job did so, it seemeth; and this he allegeth to the shame of his hard hearted friends, who put him to it in this way.

Ver. 5. Mark me, and be astonied] Heb. Look upon me. He had said before, Hear and hear, now, Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. Mark it, I say, and stand amazed at it. Did you ever find any on this side hell so sore afflicted as I am? Is it not because you are not duly affected with my miseries, that ye are so regardless of my discourse? Strange that my sorrows should be great enough to work astonishment, and yet not great enough to deserve attention. O mark first what I suffer, and then what I speak.

And (this once done) lay your hand upon your mouth] Be swift to hear, but slow to speak; yea, spare to speak at all in this case. The Greek proverb admonisheth men either to be silent or to speak something that is better than silence. Harpocrates, the heathenish god of silence, was pictured with his finger laid upon his lips.

Ver. 6. Even when I remember I am afraid] Surprised I am with a most formidable amazement, when I call to mind and consider how ill (by the divine providence) it fareth with me, how well with many wicked; and how little you pity me, or seek by sound reason to settle my mind; I am ready to cry out, Oh the depth of God’s stupendous dispensations! Confer #Ps 73, where David delivereth himself to like purpose.

And trembling taketh hold on my flesh] Heb. My flesh hath taken hold on trembling. Totus horreo, horror hath taken hold on me, #Ps 119:53, such as makes my body to shake and shudder. So #Hab 3:16 1:3,13. Job had called upon his friends to mark and be astonished; here he propoundeth himself to them for an example. Quod iussit, et gessit, as Bernard saith of another. See #Job 18:20.

Ver. 7. Wherefore do the wicked live, become old] Vivunt, veteraseunt, they are lively and longlived, so that they outlast many better than themselves; being as sound as roaches and as vivacious as the snail, the property whereof is to live a long while even after the head is off and the heart out. Of some creatures we use to say, that they have nine lives; of some wicked men it may be thought so, they do evil a hundred times, and yet their days are prolonged, #Ec 9:12. Manasseh reigned longest of any king in Judah. Pope John XXII. (that monster and mortalist) lived longest of any pope, and died richest. God gives wealth, health, and long life to many wicked, Non aliter ac siquis crumenam ingentem aure plenam latrinae inieciat, saith one; No otherwise than as when a man casts a great purse filled with gold into an outhouse (Gasp. Ens.). Now if any shall ask, with Job, Why all this? the apostle answereth one question by another: #Ro 9:22, "What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endure with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction?" What hath anyman to say to that? And again, Who knows not that the Lord hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, even that day of the revelation of the righteous judgment, #Ac 17:31 Ro 2:5. The Judge of the earth keepeth his petty sessions now, letting the law pass upon some few, reserving the rest till the great assizes, #1Ti 5:24.

Yea, are mighty in power?] Or, prevail in wealth, which maketh them mighty; for money is the monarch of this present world, and carrieth all before it.

Ver. 8. Their seed is established in their sight with them] Some understand it of their seed sown in the fields, nor blasted nor wasted, but timely gathered into their barns and granaries; and so by offspring, Germina, they, taking it literally, conceive to be meant their plants, trees, flowers, fruits, all which come kindly, and grow to their minds. But better interpret it of their children and nephews, whom they have many, healthy, lusty, and lively, Multos, sanos, vegetos, et viraces, and not unfitly compared to seed; as if the parents were but only the husks; and to branches or sprigs, because they may be, and must be, bent betime to the best things, before they be aged and crooked in their evil practices, refusing to be rectified.

And their offspring before their eyes] This is the same with that before, and is repeated, because a singular happiness, to see their children prosper as much as themselves. This is a third time instanced, #Job 21:11.

Ver. 9. Their houses are safe from fear] Seculi laetitia est impunita nequitia. No domestic discords, no foreign disturbances, but peaceable possession and enjoyment of what they have; as much welfare as David wished to Nabal, #1Sa 25:5: Thus shall ye say to him that lives (that is, that lives prosperously, for that is the only life), Peace be to thee, and to thine house, and to all that thou hast.

Neither is the rod of God upon them] So that they seem to themselves and others to be out of the reach of God’s rod. "They are not in trouble, as other men, neither are they plagued like other men; therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain," &c., #Ps 73:5,6. Vermis divitiarum est superbia, It is hard for the rich not be high minded, #1Ti 6:17 (August.).

Ver. 10. Their bull gendereth, and faileth not, &c.] All things hit, and nothing misseth to make them happy and wealthy; they have profit and pleasure at will, the world comes tumbling in upon them, as towns were said to come in to Timotheus’ toils while he slept (Plut. in Sulla), and so they seem to be the only heirs of those promises, #Ex 23:26, "There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren in the land"; so #De 7:14; whereunto notwithstanding they are perfect strangers: Laban and Nabal for instance.

Ver. 11. They send forth their little ones like a flock] Sunt qui de eorum vitulis intelligunt recens natis, saith Mercer. Some understand it to be young calves, but better of young children, which have here their name from a root which signifieth wickedness, naughtiness, to show what little ones are, not innocents, as we call them, not pueri quasi puri; νηπιος, is both a fool and a child. The first blanket wherein a child is wrapped, is woven of sin, shame, blood, and filth, #Eze 16:4,6. Hence infants were circumcised, and their foreskin cast away, to show that they themselves had deserved to be so served. Parents therefore should strive to mend that by education which they have marred by propagation. Wicked parents think not on this, though they send out their little ones like a flock, but tend them not, keep them not from the wolf of hell, who seeketh to devour them.

And their children dance] Exiliunt, vitulantur, choreas ducunt, they skip and leap up and down, as young cattle, and are taught to dance artificially, which no sober man will do, saith Cicero, Nemo sobrius saltat. And, the better dancer the worse man, said Diogenes.

Ver. 12. They take the timbrel and the harp] They take them, and are taken with them, being melted in sensual delights, which wise men slight. The philosopher told the fiddlers that he could be merry without music. Aristotle said, Jupiter is happy, and yet no musician. One in Plutarch saith of the Scythians, that though they had no music nor vines among them, yet they had God. It is here alleged, as a piece of their lasciviousness and luxury, that they took or touched the timbrel, &c. Not but that music is lawful, for this is the gift of God, and a noble art; but the abuse of it is here noted, as likewise #Isa 5:12 Am 6:5. {See Trapp on "Isa 5:12"} {See Trapp on "Am 6:5"} These wicked and their children lived in pleasure upon earth (which is not a place for such a purpose; God did not cast man out of one paradise that he might make himself another), #Jas 5:5, and were like the people of Tombutum, in Africa, who are said to spend their whole time in singing and dancing. It is not good for men to take pleasure in pleasure, to spend too much time in it, as Solomon did, and afterwards Cleopatra. It was not simply a sin in Esau to go a hunting; but yet the more he used it the more profane he waxed, and came at length to contemn his birthright.

They rejoice at the sound of the organ] Their mirth was merely carnal; they did rather revel than rejoice. Their cheerfulness did not end in thankfulness; their music made them not more heavenly minded, as it did that late learned and holy Mr Esty, who when he sat and heard a sweet concert of music, seemed upon this occasion carried up for the time beforehand to the place of his rest, saying very passionately, What music may we think there is in heaven! (Dr Hall, Art of Div. Medit.) The instrument here mentioned hath its name (as Mercer noteth) Ab amore, oblectatione, et lusu, from love, delight, and sport. Amabit sapiens, cupient caeteri, saith Seneca.

Ver. 13. They spend their days in wealth] Or, in mirth. Heb. In good. They wallow in wealth, and have the world at their will, even more than heart could wish, as David phraseth it in #Ps 73:2-12, which may well serve for a comment upon this text; and the rich glutton for an instance. He in his lifetime received good things, and in a moment went down to the grave, #Lu 16:25. True it is, that this is not every wicked man’s case; for some of them live wretchedly and die lamentably, being held long upon the rack of a torturing disease (as Jehoram), all which is to them none other than a type and foretaste of hell, whither they are hastening.

And in a moment they go down to the grave] Ad inferna, to hell, saith the Vulgate; they spend their days in wealth, and end their days in woe; their merry dance determineth in a miserable downfall. Thus that "rich man died, and was buried; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment," &c., #Lu 16:22,23. But though the same Hebrew word signifieth hell and the grave (both which have their names from their unsatiableness, #Pr 30:15,16), yet here, in a suitableness to what went before, the grave is to be understood; and the sense is, Dicto citius moriuntur, they die easily, suddenly, sweetly, without much pain of body or trouble of mind; "there are no bands in their death," saith David, #Ps 73:4. They die without much ado, like a lamb, or like a lamp, that goeth out of itself when the oil faileth; they go quickly and quietly to the grave. Some wicked persons indeed die piecemeal by a complicated disease, and a long lingering death, as did Antiochus, Herod, Philip II of Spain, &c. Dionysius the tyrant is said to have envied a beast, whose throat he saw cut, because he died so soon. Julius Caesar wished he might die speedily, saith Suetonius. Pliny commendeth sudden death as the chief felicity of life. That is a good death to nature which is neither feared nor expected; yet that is the best death which hath been longest expected and prepared for. Mors iucunda cuius nulla praecessit expectatio aut metus. Happy is he that, after due preparation, is passed through the gates of death ere he be aware. Happy is he that, by the holy use of long sickness, is taught to see the gates of death afar off, and addresseth for a resolute passage. The one dieth like Elijah, the other like Elisha, both blessedly.

Ver. 14. Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us] Lest any should think, saith Merlin here, that Job speaks of such wicked as used a moderation in sinning, and (as the historian said of the emperor) rather lacked vice than were virtuous. Magis extra vitia, quam cum virtutibus (Tacit.). He describeth their great impiety by a rhetorical imitation, expressing the language of their heart, which is most base and blasphemous. For first they speak of God as if he were some lowly prized scoundrel; Apage, be packing; thus they reject his acquaintance, and would be rid of his company. Porro reieciunt Deum quotquot verbum eius contemnunt, saith Brentius here; now they reject God who slight his word and cast his commands behind them, #Ps 50:17. Hence it follows by way of explanation,

For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways] Lo, they profess themselves to be of the number of those, qui ut liberius peccent, libenter ignorant, who are wilfully ignorant, and like not to retain God in their knowledge, #Ro 1:28; or, if they profess to know him, yet "in works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and to every good work reprobate," #Tit 1:16. Wicked men cannot abide God; such is their evil heart of unbelief, #Heb 3:12, they get as far from him as they can, with Cain, and not only desire him to depart out of their coasts, with those swinish Gergesites, but churlishly say unto him, as here, Avaunt! room for us. They will neither have God in their heads, #Ps 10:4, nor hearts, #Ps 14:1, nor words, #Ps 12:4, nor works, #Tit 1:16. See this exemplified in those perverse Jews, lying children, children that would not hear the law of the Lord; which said to the seers, See not, -Get ye out of the way, turn aside out of the path; i.e. out of this tract of truth in dealing so plainly, and reproving us so roundly. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease before us, let us henceforth hear no more of him, #Isa 30:10,11. Now for such miscreants as these, who can say it is otherwise than righteous that God should regest one day upon them, Depart from me, ye wicked? (He loves to retaliate.) And that they who now say unto him, We desire not the knowledge of thy ways, shall hear from him, "I tell you, I know you not," #Lu 13:27.

Ver. 15. What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?] Here the rottenness of their hearts blistereth out at the lips of these rich wretches, these fat bulls of Bashan, such as was Pharaoh, that sturdy rebel, who asked this very question in the text, What, or who, is the Almighty? &c., #Ex 5:2; and hath a large reply made him by one plague upon another, till he was compelled to answer himself, The Lord is righteous. (He seemeth to rehearse the very words of Pharaoh. Diod.) Forced he was to speak fair while held upon the rack, if nothing else, yet that he might get off. Such queryings as this carry greatest contempt in them, and would lay the Almighty quite below the required duty; as if Almighty were but an empty title, and that he could do neither good nor evil, #Zep 1:12, that it was to no purpose or profit to serve him, that the gains would not pay for the pains, &c.

And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?] Heb. If we meet him, viz. by our prayers, #Jer 7:16 Am 4:12 Mal 3:14, {See Trapp on "Mal 3:14"} Children will not say their prayers unless they may have their breakfast; nor hypocrites pray but for some profit. They pretend sometimes to meet God, but they draw not near with that true heart, mentioned #Heb 10:20; in seeking God they merely seek themselves, as Spira said he did. In Parabola ovis capras suas quaerunt. No penny, no Pater Noster our Father. And as the wolf in the fable having spelled Pater, and being bid put together, said Agnus; so when these pray, their hearts are upon their half penny, #Eze 33:31 They follow Christ for the loaves, and serve him no longer than he serves their turns.

— Rarae fumant faelicibus arae.

Ver. 16. Lo, their good is not in their hand] That is, they are not enriched by their own industry, prudence, piety, &c., but God hath exalted them thus, that he may bring them down again with the greater poise; so some sense the text. Others thus, Their good is not in their hand; that is, they are no masters of them, but are mastered by them; they are servants to their wealth, as the Persian kings were to their wives or concubines, Captivarum suarum captivi (Plut.). And as those stall fed beasts in the Gospel, the recusant guests, I mean, that had bought farms, oxen, &c., or rather were bought of them.— Difficile est opibus non tradere mores. Others make this the sense, and I concur with them, These wicked rich men, buried in a bog of security, condemn God, as if they had their happiness in their own hands, and were petty gods within themselves. But they are deceived. All is in God’s hand, who can take away their wealth when he pleaseth. These men may fall sooner than they rose, since they subsist merely by God’s manutension, and he may do with his own as he wishes.

The counsel of the wicked is far from me] I am so far from envying their prosperity, that I cannot approve of their course of life, for all their wealth. I am not of their judgment, I like not of their way. O my soul, come not thou into their secret. Let their money perish with them (said that noble Italian convert, Caracciolus, to a Jesuit who tempted him with a great sum), who esteem all the gold in the world worth one day’s society with Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit; and cursed be that religion for ever and ever.

Ver. 17. How oft is the candle of the wicked put out!] q.d. I confess that which you say concerning God’s judgments upon the wicked to be sometimes true in this world (Diod.); yet it is not so continually nor ordinarily, but very oft their lamp is extinguished, their comforts damped, and hopes of better dashed; they are all on the sudden left in the dark, cast into straits inextricable, plunged into sorrows inexplicable, and yet all these are but the "beginning of sorrows." For

How oft cometh destruction upon them!] Utmost destruction, irresistible ruin, that comes on in manner of a black cloud or fierce storm, undoing calamity, overflowing scourge, a tempest from which there is no covert. The Vulgate renders it thus, How oft is there an inundation upon the wicked!

God distributeth sorrows in his anger] Gives them their lot of greatest sorrows, as by a line, #Lu 12:46, such sorrows as a travailing woman suffereth; or such as were those of Monsieur Mylius, an old minister at Heidelberg, when taken by the Spaniard; first they abused his daughter before his eyes, and then they tied a small cord about his head, which with truncheons they wreathed about till they squeezed out his brains (Spec. bell. fac.). The text implieth that though in this world many sorrows are to the wicked, yet these do not supersede their sufferings in hell, #Ps 32:10; but now they receive only a small portion or part of their punishments, there they shall be paid to the full; here they sip of the top only of God’s cup, there they shall suck up the dregs thereof, though they have eternity to the bottom. This shall be the portion of their cup, and but a portion, #Ps 11:6.

Ver. 18. They are as stubble before the wind] Lest any man should say, How can these things befall those that are so strongly set and firmly built? Well enough, saith Job, since when they are best bottomed or underlaid, they are but as stubble before the wind, &c. Haec consideranda, saith Mercer, these things would be laid to heart, for hereby it appeareth that the wicked shall be destroyed suddenly, and certainly, certo, cito, penitus, #Isa 17:13. That they can no more stand before a punishing God than thistle down before a whirlwind, or a glass bottle before a cannon shot.

Ver. 19. God layeth up his iniquity for his children] That is, the punishment of his iniquity, while he visiteth the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate him, #Ex 20:5. Neither doth this contradict that of the prophet Ezekiel, "The son, shall not die for the iniquity of his father," #Eze 18:17; nor that of the apostle, "Every man shall bear his own burden," #Ga 6:5; for the meaning of those words is, that no man be damned for the sin of his father, nor one man for the sin of another, unless by commission, or approbation, or some way or other he make it his own. But for temporal punishments there is none but (by occasion of others’ sin) may have their portion in them; and wicked parents leave Job’s legacy to their children; {#2Sa 3:29} yea, though they prove to be good children, #1Ki 14:12,13, for whom God layeth up their parents’ iniquity in the treasures of his justice to be produced in due tine.

He rewardeth him] For every transgression and disobedience; that is, every commission and omission "receiveth a just recompense of reward," #Heb 2:2. God will abate him nothing.

And he shall know it] Know it to his cost. Vexation shall give understanding; he that, before this judgment came, would know nothing of the bitter effect of sin upon him and his, now hath his eyes forced open (as the blind mole is said to have by the pangs of death), and cry out with the lion in the snare, Si praescivissem, Oh! if I had foreknown the mischief, &c. The wicked are wise too late; the fool passeth on and is punished; he knows not the evil of sin till he feels it.

Ver. 20. His eyes shall see his destruction] His slaughter, saith the Greek; his breaking to pieces, saith the Chaldee; this he shall see with his eyes, the destruction of his person, and ruin of his family. The sight of evil is a grief to see as well as the feeling of it is a pain; and that is complete destruction which is not only felt but seen. Zedekiah first saw all his children slain, and then had his eyes put out. Maurichus had the like woeful sight, and then was stewed in his own broth by the traitor Phocas.

And he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty] Heb. The scalding hot wrath, worse than that cup of boiling lead turned down the throat of a certain drunken man, by the command of the Turkish bashaw. Jerusalem drank wrath to drunkenness, and had none to guide her; as a drunken man had need to have, #Isa 51:17. The nations were to drink it to madness, #Jer 25:10. Babylon’s brats shall drink of the wine of God’s wrath, #Re 14:10 (poison in wine works more furiously than in water); their irreparable ruin is set forth to the eye, as it were, when, #Re 18:21, an angel, a mighty angel, taketh a stone, a great stone, even a millstone, which he casteth and with impetuous force thrusteth into the bottom of the sea, whence it cannot be buoyed up. Now what is a mighty angel to the Almighty God, who hath his name, Shaddai, from destroying, as some are of opinion?

Ver. 21. For what pleasure hath he in his house after him?] Hoc est, Omnia impiorum, etiam post mortem eorum, maledicta erunt, saith Brentius; All that belongs to the wicked shall be accursed, even after death, though some are so desperately set upon wickedness that they will have their swing, whatsoever come of it, either to themselves or their children after them. Sic fere αστοργοι sunt improbi, so unnatural they are, many of them, that, so they may satisfy their own sinful and sensual desires, let their posterity sink or swim, let them shift as they can, they care not, εμου θανοντος γαια μιχθητω πυρι (Sueton. de Tiberio). Dives in hell seemed somewhat careful for his brethren; but self’love moved him to it; for he knew well that if they were damned he should be double damned, because they had sinned by his example and encouragement.

When the number of his months shall be cut off in the midst] Mortis periphrasis; that is, when he shall die, saith one. But that is not all. Impius moritur importune, the wicked dieth in an ill time for himself; then when it were better for him to do anything than to die. Many of them live not out half their days, #Ps 55:23 Ec 7:17. God cut off Eli’s two sons in one day; and further threatened their father that there should not be an old man left in his house for ever, #1Sa 2:32. Hezekiah, when he thought he should die, complained that he had cut off his life like a weaver, #Isa 38:12, who cuts off the web from the thrum. But the saints (such as he was) die not till the best time, not till that time when, if they were rightly informed, they would even desire to die.

Ver. 22. Shall any teach God knowledge?] None but a presumptuous fool will take upon him to do that. Such as was Alphonso the wise (the fool rather), who feared not to say openly, that if he had been of God’s counsel at the creation, some things should have been better made and marshalled (Roderic, Sanct. Hist. Hispan, p. 4, ch. 5). The wisest men are benighted in many things; and whatever light they have it is from the Father of lights, whose judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out. What a madness were it therefore for any mortal to prescribe to the Almighty, or to define whom, when, by what means, and in what measure he must punish offenders! Herein Job’s friends took too much upon them; and he gives them the telling of it, wishing them to be wise to sobriety, and not to give laws to God, who well knoweth what he hath to do, and how to order his earthly kingdom. To disallow of his dealings is to teach him knowledge; which is greatest sauciness.

Seeing he judgeth those that are high] Excelsos in excelsis, the angels, who are so far above us in all manner of excellencies, and yet are ignorant of the wisdom of God’s ways, which they know but in part; for how little a portion is heard of him? #Job 26:14. His judgments therefore are rather to be adored than pryed into: Mirari oportet. Non rimari, it is proper to be amazed, not to explore. Let us rest contented with a learned ignorance.

Ver. 23. One dieth in his full strength] Iste moritur, There is one dieth in his very perfections; or, in the strength of his perfection, when he is in the zenith, in the highest degree, of earthly felicity; and he seemeth to point at some one eminent wicked person, well known to them all. Confer #Ec 9:2. God is pleased to do wonderful contradictory things in man’s reason; so that we must needs confess an unsearchableness in his ways. In hoc opere, ratio humana talpa magis caeca est, saith Brentius; In this work of his, human reason is blinder than a mole. Averroes turned atheist upon it, and Aristotle was little better, as being accused at Athens and banished into Chalcis, quod de divinitate male sentiret. because he was thinking poorly about the gods.

Being wholly at ease and quiet] At ease in body and quiet in mind. The common sort ask, What should ail such a man? The Irish, What such a one meaneth to die?

Ver. 24. His breasts are full of milk, and his bones, &c.] He is well lined within, as we say, having abundance of good blood and fresh spirits in his body; fat and plump, and well liking. He is enclosed in his own fat, #Ps 17:10. His back is well larded, and his bones are moistened with marrow; which, Plato saith, is not only the source and seminary of generation, but the very seat of life (Plat. in Timaeo). Now such a state of body as is here described is no defence at all against death, saith Job; nay, it is a presage and a forerunner of it many times. For ultimus sanitaria gradus est morbo proximus, say physicians; the highest degree of health is nearest to sickness; we many times chop into the earth before we are aware; like a man, walking in a field covered with snow, who falleth into a pit suddenly.

Ver. 25. And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul] Heb. And this dieth with a bitter soul; in a sad and sorrowful condition; having suffered many a little death all his life long (as godly men especially use to do, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, #Heb 11:37, seldom without a cross on their backs), and then dieth not only in the sorrows of death, but in the sorrows of life which to him hath been a lifeless life, because a joyless life.

And never eateth with pleasure] Either because he hath but prisoners’ pittance, which will neither keep him alive nor suffer him to die; or, if he sit at a full table, yet his body is so ill affected by sickness, or his mind with sorrow, that he finds no good relish in what he eateth. That it is better with any of us, see a mercy and be thankful.

Ver. 26. They shall lie down alike in the dust, and worms, &c.] Death and afflictions are common to them both, as #Ec 9:2,3 How then do ye pronounce me wicked, because afflicted, and free among the dead, free of that company? &c.

And the worms shall cover them] Who haply were once covered with costliest clothing. The best are but worm’s meat; why then should we pamper and trick up these carcases?

Ver. 27. Behold, I know your thoughts] sc. By your words; as it is no hard matter for a wise man to do, #Pr 20:5; for otherwise, God only knoweth the heart, #1Pe 1:24 Ps 139:3, it is his royalty. But when men discover their thoughts by their discourses, looks, gestures, &c., we may say, as Job doth here, "I know your thoughts"; and that by the wicked wretch described by you myself is intended; this I am well aware of, though you hover in generals, and speak in a third person. Bartolus writeth of Dr Gabriel Nele, that by the only motion of the lips, without any utterance, he understood any man’s thoughts. The like some say they can do by looks. The Italians have a proverb, That a man with his words close, and his countenance loose, may travel undiscovered all the world over.

And the devices which you wonderfully imagine against me] viz. To take away, as it were by violence, my credit and comfort; this is the foulest theft; avoid it.

Ver. 28. For ye say, Where is the house of the prince?] Ye say though not in so many words, yet upon the matter, Where is this man’s (Job’s) princely pomp and port, that but even now was so splendid? A prince they called Job in a jeer, and by contraries, Per ironiam et antiphrasin, saith Vatablus, because he had been rich, and should have been liberal and munificent, but had not been so. The apostle calleth the Pharisees and philosophers, in like sort, "princes of this world," #1Co 2:8.

And where are the dwelling places] The palaces, large and lofty, ut sunt praetoria et principum aedes, as the houses of princes use to be (Junius). Lavater rendereth it, The tabernacle of tabernacles, as gentlemen’s houses among us are called, places, halls, courts, &c., Tahernaculum habitaculorum.

Of the wicked?] viz. Of Job and his children, the eldest son’s especially, which was blown down, #Job 1:18. As if it might not befall a good man also to have his house plundered, burnt, his children brained, &c. They had often in their discourses jerked at Job’s children.

Ver. 29. Have ye not asked them that go by the way?] The cause of their rash judgment, Job showeth here to be their ignorance of things known to every ordinary passenger, and such as whereof there are many pregnant proofs and examples everywhere. Some, by them that go by the way, understand men by experience, such as have gone many voyages, &c., made many observations in their travels of things remarkable; their notes are here called their tokens. By those that go by the way, others understand Abraham, the Hebrew (so he is called, #Ge 14:13 that is, that Trans-Euphratean, or, he that passed over the river Euphrates, when he passed by the way from Chaldea to Canaan), and his progeny, Isaac and Jacob, who were passengers and pilgrims, and could tell, by experience, that men greatly afflicted may be yet favoured of God, and in due time delivered. Abraham had ten sore trials, and yet was the friend of God. Isaac, besides many other sharp afflictions all along his pilgrimage, was blind for over twenty years before his death. Few and evil were the days of the years of Jacob, his whole life almost one continuous affliction, and yet it was, Jacob have I loved. Of all this Job likely was not ignorant, and why should his friends?

And do ye not know their tokens?] Or, Their tokens you shall not be estranged from. Broughton thus, So ye would not make their signs strange. There will be so much evidence of truth in what they say, that you will not be able to gainsay it.

Ver. 30. That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction?] Here is the passenger’s verdict; viz. that wicked men escape scot free, and flourish for a season; nevertheless their preservation is but a reservation (as Pharaoh, Sennacherib, and others have found it), and if they flourish for the present, it is that they may be destroyed for ever, #Ps 92:7. Others read this verse more suitably to the next, thus, That at the day of destruction the wicked is kept back, and they are carried out in the day of wrath; that is, they are oft spared when the testimonies of God’s wrath are rife against others.

Ver. 31. Who shall declare his way to his face? &c.] Who shall be so bold as to deal plainly with this rich wretch, and tell him his own? Divitibus ideo deest amicus, quia nihil deest. Great men have many flatterers, and not a few mutterers against them, but very few that will faithfully show them their sin, and forewarn them of their danger, lest they meet with the same hard measure that the hares in the fable did, who, taking upon them to reprove the lion, were torn in pieces by him for the same. Truth breedeth hatred; and although she be a good mistress, yet they that follow her too close at the heels may hap to have their teeth struck out. But truth, downright truth, must be spoken, however it be taken. Elias dealt roundly and impartially with wicked Ahab, Jeremiah with Josiah’s sons and successors, the Baptist with Herod, Christ with the elders and Pharisees, that noble General Trajan with Valens, the Arian emperor, telling him, That by his persecuting the orthodox he had lost the day, abandoning the victory, and sending it away to the enemy.

And who shall repay him what he hath done?] q.d. Men dare not, for who will take a lion by the beard or a bear by the tooth? God will not punish him here, therefore he must needs escape unpunished, This is by Gregory fitly referred to Antichrist, who may not be admonished, and will not be punished; but thinks to bear out his most malapert misdemeanour, because it is— facinus maioris abollae, the fact of a great one.

Ver. 32. Yet shall he be brought to the grave] He that was erst so stern and terrible shall shortly be laid low enough, and then leoni mortuo vel mus insultabit. the corpse of a lion or a leaping mouse. Though he were such a son of Belial that none could speak to him (as Nabal was, #1Sa 25:17), yet death will speak with him, and confute this proud haughty scorner, that dealeth in proud wrath. When death comes, saith Sir Walter Raleigh, which hates and destroys men, that is believed and obeyed; but God, that loveth and maketh men, he is not regarded. Oh mighty death! Oh eloquent death! whom none could advise, thou art able to prevail with.

And shall remain in the tomb] Heb. He shall watch over the heap, super tumulum cumulo frugum in area constructo similem (Lavat.); as a watchman, there he is fixed and keeps this place. Or, He shall be watched in the tomb.

Ver. 33. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him] Here he saith the same as before, but more poetically, and is variously rendered. The Vulgate, alluding to an old poetical fable, readeth it thus, He shall be sweet to the sand of Cocytus, which is feigned to be one of the rivers of hell, or an infernal lake, so called from the moan there made by damned ghosts, who should be glad of his arrival there. Hell from beneath is moved for him to meet him at his coming, as it is said of the Assyrian tyrant, #Isa 14:9. Others better expound it thus, He shall taste so much bitterness while he treads upon the clods of the earth, that the clods under the earth shall be reckoned sweet unto him. And oh, how well pleased would he be if he might for ever lie hidden there, and never rise up again to come to judgment! And as it is with one wicked man departed, so it is with all ether, whether they died before, or shall die after (Caten. Graec.).

Ver. 34. How then comfort ye me in vain] Since ye apply nothing rightly to me, nor affirm nothing rightly of me, but, instead of comforting me, which you came for, ye trouble me. And such are all those consolatiunculae, creaturulae (as Luther finely phraseth it), petty creature comforts, waterish and empty businesses; an unsubstantial substance, as one saith of the bulrush.

Seeing in your answers remaineth falsehood?] Or prevarication, or double dealing; foul mistakes, and little less than malice.

Chapter 22

Ver. 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said] Abruptly, without any preface, he sets upon Job (as doth likewise Bildad, #Job 25), acting the part of a spiteful caviller rather than of an ingenuous accuser; reckoning and ranking just Job among the wicked, not covertly, as before, but overtly and expressly; and then thinking to salve all by an exhortation to repentance, backed with a fair promise of a full restoration. Pulcherrima parsenesis, sed quid ad Iobum? saith Brentius, A very good exhortation, but ill applied. We shall do well to take notice what a dangerous thing it is to give way to unruly passions, which, like heavy bodies down steep hills, once in motion, move themselves, and know no ground but the bottom.

Ver. 2. Can a man be profitable unto God] No, neither doth Job say he can, but the contrary, #Job 21:22. Howbeit the God of glory, as he is called, #Ac 7:2, although his glory is as himself, infinite and eternal, and, therefore, not capable of our addition or detraction (the sun would shine though all the world were blind), yet, to try how we prize his glory, and what we will do for him, he hath declared that he accounteth himself made glorious by us when we get so far as to conceive of him above all creatures.

As he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?] Or, But he that is wise, &c. See #Pr 9:12, which Solomon seemeth to have taken hence. Natural reason taught Plautus to bring in a countryman animating his son cheerfully to follow his business thus, Thou ploughest, harrowest, sowest, and reapest for thyself; to thee shall this labour bring in joy. The word here rendered wise sometimes signifieth prosperous, quod prudentibus omnia feliciter cedant, because prudent persons do usually prosper. Prudentiam felicitas fere sequitur, #Isa 52:13.

Ver. 3. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous?] Num volupe est Omnipotenti? &c. Is anything added to his joy? Or needeth he thy manners and virtues to the making up of his perfection? Nothing less, surely. True it is, that he soliciteth suitors, #Joh 4:23, and is well pleased with our performances, #Ps 51:6. But it is for our sakes, and to our benefit, and not his own. Like as the sun, when he casteth abroad his beams in the world, seemeth to receive light from some other creatures, whereas in truth they all receive light from him, and not he from them; so it is here: and as the same sun draws up vapours from the earth, not for itself, but to render them again to the earth, to moisten and fatten it; so God, the true Sun of our souls, draweth from us our sighs and services, not for his own profit, but to rain them down again upon us in so many blessings.

Ver. 4. Will he reprove thee for fear of thee?] Doth he plague and punish thee thus, for fear that in time thou mayest grow so overly good, that he cannot reward thee, or so overly great, that he cannot command thee? No such matter. Others read it thus: Would he reprove thee for thy religion? Vox timoris sire religionis active sumitur, &c. (Merlin), Would he come into judgment with thee? q.d. Surely God would not deal thus harshly with thee if thou didst truly fear him; but thou art a wicked wretch, as #Job 22:5. Either God punisheth thee for thy piety or thy sinfulness. Not for the former, doubtless (for piety is profitable to all things, &c.), therefore for the latter. This is Eliphaz’s argument here. But Austin makes answer (besides what Job doth in the two following chapters), Tract. in Joan. 124, God chastiseth his best children sometimes for his own glory, as #Joh 9:3, sometimes for their good; as, namely, for prevention, probation, purgation, preparation, either to the performance of some special service or to the receipt of some special blessing, &c., Vel ad demonstrationem debitae miseriae, vel ad emendationem labilis vitae, vel ad exercitationem necessariae patientiae.

Will he enter with thee into judgment?] This seemeth to be the same in sense with the former hemistich; {The half or section of a line of verse, as divided by the cæsura or the like; also, a line of less than the usual length. spec. Such a half-line or line in Old English verse.} and then it shows Eliphaz’s confidence, though he were in an error.

Ver. 5. Is not thy wickedness great?] Why, no; God of his grace had kept Job innocent of the great transgression, #Ps 19:13, and that wicked one had not touched him, #1Jo 5:18, sc. with a deadly touch, Tactu qualitativo (Cajetan); had not thrust his sting into him, or transformed him into sin’s image. Had Eliphaz ever found Job to be such a one as here he maketh him? Or doth he not, by these interrogatories, cunningly come over him (in kindness, as we say), to make him confess it? Had all been true that is alleged, Job’s wickedness must needs have been great, and his iniquity infinite. But to be accused is not enough to render a man guilty; for then who should be innocent? Novit sapiens se ad hoc scamma productum, ut depugnet cum iis qui maledictis aluntur, ut venems capreae. Cato was thirty-two times accused, and as often absolved.

And thine iniquities infinite?] Heb. There is no end of thine iniquities; and hence it is that thy miseries are so many and so long lasting; commeruisti tanta tuis sceleribus. The wicked indeed are eternally tormented: 1. Because, being worthless, they cannot satisfy God’s justice in any time; 2. Because they have an infinite desire for sinning against God. But neither of these could be truly affirmed in Job. That so grave a man as Eliphaz (whom the Jewish doctors account a prophet) should fall so foul upon his innocent friend, and taking occasion by his great afflictions only, conjecture and conclude him so heinous an offender, cannot possibly be excused, Coniectura duntaxat, non rei veritate nititur.

Ver. 6. For thou hast taken a pledge, &c.] Bona verba, quaeso, I seek good words, Eliphaz. How well might Job have cried out, as David afterwards did, #Ps 35:11, "False witnesses rose up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not." Here he stands accused, 1. Of inhumanity and cruelty; 2. Of irreligion and impiety. But he fully cleareth himself of both, #Job 30:1-31:40 Athanasius in like sort was falsely accused of adultery in the Council of Tyre, A. D. 343; Eustathius, bishop of Antioch, was injuriously deprived for the same cause, about the latter end of Constantine the Great; adultery, heresy, and treason were objected to Archbishop Cranmer; parricide to Mr Philpot; sedition to father Latimer; to which he answereth, As for sedition, for aught that I know, methinks I should not need Christ, if I might so say.

For nought] Or unconscionably, as one rendereth it; and herein lay the fault. See #De 24:6,10.

And stripped the naked of their clothing] If naked, how could he strip them, skin them, as the word signifieth? Chrysostom useth this proverb, Nudus nec a centum viris spoliatur, He that is naked cannot be stripped by a hundred men. We also have a proverb, Where nothing can be had the king must lose his right. And again,

He is like to get little

Who robbeth a spital.

In the late German wars, the Crabats, at Altroff, a university, plundered the scholars, and put poor genus and species to their ransom (Life of the King of Sweden). Micah inveigheth against such cannibal princes, as plucked the skin from the flesh, and the flesh from the bones of the poor oppressed, #Mic 3:2,3. {See Trapp on "Mic 3:2"}{see Trapp on "Mic 3:3"} That which Eliphaz here chargeth Job with, but without truth, is, that he stripped off the clothing of the naked; that is, that, finding them poor enough, he left them yet poorer, hardly having a rag to hang on their backs, through his extortion.

Ver. 7. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink] But hast slain him with thirst, when thou mightest have saved him with a cup of cold water. Qui non, cum potest, servat, occidit: Who when able did not serve, and died. Not to do good (when it is in the power of a man’s hand) is to do evil; and not to save a life is to destroy it, #Mr 3:4. Not robbing only, but not relieving the beggar, was the rich man’s ruin, #Lu 16:24, who, for a cup of cold water, duly given, might have had heaven, #Mt 10:42. But what meant Eliphaz to charge innocent and munificent Job with such a cruelty? 1. The man was angry; and,

Impedit ira animum ne possit cernere verum (Horat.).

Anger hinders the soul so that it is not able to know the truth. 2. He seems not directly to charge him with these crimes, but to urge him to consider and confess, that he could not be but a grievous sinner who was so great a sufferer. Surely God would never handle thee so hardly unless thou wert deeply guilty of these or the like enormities, Necesse est, ut fatearis te aut hoc, aut illud, aut omnia commisisse, &c. (Junius).

Thou hast withholden bread from the hungry] Bread thou hadst enough and to spare; but, like a greedy-gut Pamplagus, thou wouldst part with none, though it were to save the life, not of thine enemy (which yet thou shouldest have done, #Pr 25:21; Elisha feasted his persecutors, #2Ki 6:22,23; Isaac his wrong doers, #Ge 26:30,31, by a noble revenge), but of thy fellow friend and brother by race, place, and grace. Thou hast hidden thine eyes from thine own flesh, when thou shouldest have dealt thy bread to the hungry, #Isa 58:7; yea, drawn out thy soul (and not thy sheaf only), famelico to the hunger starved, and satisfied the afflicted soul, #Job 22:10.

Ver. 8. But as for the mighty man, he had the earth] Heb. But as for the man of arm, he had the land. This the Vulgate applieth to Job; as if by his power he had wrought all others out, and seated himself alone in the land; suffering none to dwell by him but those that he could not overly match. Others by the mighty man understand the strong and wealthy, who are said to be gracious with Job, sharing with him in his possessions, and partaking of his privileges, when the poor were slighted and could not have justice, much less mercy, Pauperes non dignaris pane: at potentibus possessiones tuas offers, &c. (Vatab.). Here then Eliphaz accuseth Job of pride and partiality.

And the honourable man dwelt in it] Heb. Eminent, or accepted for countenance; that is, he who came commended by his wealth, friends, great alliances, honours, &c., was in great request with Job, and might easily carry any cause with him. Haec sunt peccata gravissima, quae non reputant homines, saith Vatablus, These are very great sins, though men little think of it.

Ver. 9. Thou hast sent widows away empty] A widow is a calamitous name: #2Sa 14:5, "I am indeed a widow woman, and my husband is dead." As a tree whose root is uncovered thriveth not, so it fareth with a widow. R. Jona observeth, That in Hebrew she hath her name from dumbness, quod marito mortuo respondere non possit adversariis, et se adversus eos tueri, because now that her husband is dead, she cannot answer her adversaries, or defend herself against them. Vidua desolata et derelieta nihil est humiliatius: et proinde peculiariter viduarum iudex et vindex est Deus (Bain. in #Pr 15:25). God, therefore, hath taken them and their orphans into his tuition, owning them as his clients, and commanding all men to be good to them. These, if Job had indeed sent away empty, not only not relieving their necessities, but ravishing their estates, adding the misery of poverty to that of their condition, he had surely subjected himself to the fierce wrath of God, their patron, by a specialty.

And the arms of the fatherless have been broken] Immanis iniuria, si ita res haberet, sed calumnia erat, saith Mercer. This had been a crying crime if it could have been proven against Job; but he was not the man. Some from these words conclude him a judge; others a king. Doubtless he was a potent person, and by his greatness could have borne out his foulest outrages, breaking through the lattice of the laws, as the larger flies do through a spider’s web. Sed alia de se infra profitebitur, saith Mercer here; but Job shall clear himself in the following chapters; where we shall find him described and characterised to have been the oracle of wisdom, the guardian of justice, the refuge of innocence, the comet of the guilty, the patron of peace, and pattern of piety, to magistrates especially, in the wise managing of all public affairs, both of judgment and mercy.

Ver. 10. Therefore snares are round about thee] Flagitium et flagellum sunt sicut acus et filum, Sin and punishment are tied together with chains of adamant. Eliphaz having with more earnestness than truth set forth Job’s sins, now discourseth about his snares. Four punishments he assureth him of, and every one worse than the other. 1. He shall be ensnared; 2. Frightened; 3. Benighted; 4. Overwhelmed, if repentance step not in and take up the matter, as #Job 22:22. And it is as if he should say, Seek not after any other cause of thy calamities than thy before mentioned wickedness; neither seek any other way to get off than by confessing and forsaking them, that thou mayest have mercy.

And sudden fear troubleth thee] Fear is a troublesome passion; and sudden evils are very terrible, because they expectorate a man’s abilities, and render him helpless, shiftless, comfortless. See this in Saul, who, surprised with sudden horror at his destiny read him by the devil, fell straightway all along on the earth like an ox, and was sore afraid, and there was no strength in him, #1Sa 28:20. Job also had his fears, but then he had his cordials too, that kept him from falling under them.

Ver. 11. Or darkness, that thou canst not see] Sunt tenebrae supplicia, et damnatorum desperationes, saith Brentius here. By darkness are meant punishments, temporal and eternal. Others understand the text of blindness and confusion of mind, that can neither see the cause of trouble nor find an issue.

And abundance of waters cover thee] So that although thou shouldest escape, the snares, outlive the fears, run away in the dark, yet how wilt thou avoid the deluge of destruction, the overflowing scourge that carrieth all before it?

Ver. 12. Is not God in the height of heaven?] Some add out of the next verse these words, Sayest thou; making Job’s atheistic speeches (here mimetically fathered upon him by Eliphaz) an argument of his great wickedness; as if Job should say, and so discover himself ("for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," #Mt 12:34) to be of Protagoras’s opinion, who doubted Deity, De Diis, utrum sint non ausim affirmare ( Prot.); or of Diagoras’s, who flatly denied it; or, at least, of Aristotle’s, who pent up God in heaven, and taught that he took little or no care of things done on earth. But what saith the psalmist (and Job was of the same mind whatever the Jewish doctors affirm of him to the contrary)? "Our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he pleased" in heaven and in earth. "The Lord is high above all nations; and his glory above the heavens. Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth! He raiseth up the poor out of the dust," &c., #Ps 115:3 113:4-7. "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth to show himself strong," &c., #2Ch 16:9. His wrath "is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men," #Ro 1:18. Job had frequently acknowledged and celebrated the power and providence of God, his judgments upon the wicked, his fatherly chastisements upon himself; deeply detesting all such thoughts and speeches as he is here wrongfully made the author of.

And behold the height of the stars] Heb. The head of the stars; those that are the very highest, and at the top of the visible heaven, the eighth heaven, beyond which some of the ancients acknowledged not any other. Aristotle saith, That beyond the aspect and movement in the heavens, there is neither body, nor time, nor place, nor vacuum. But the Scripture teacheth us that there is beyond the stars, how high set soever, a third heaven, a heaven of heavens, the throne of God, and habitation of the blessed; the starry sky is but as the brick wall encompassing this lofty palace, the glorious and glittering rough cast thereof.

How high they are!] Ut vix eo noster possit aspectus pertingere, so high that our eyes can hardly reach them (Mercer). It is a wonder that we can look up to so admirable a height, and that the very eye is not tired in the way. Now God is far, far above the stars, omnium supremus, altissimorum altissimus. "The high and lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity," #Isa 57:15, dwelleth in light inaccessible, #1Ti 6:16, such as whereof no natural knowledge can be had, nor any help by human arts, geometry, optics, &c. How, then, can he see from such a distance what is here done on earth? saith the atheist; who thinks to hide himself from God, because he hath hidden God from himself. Propterea quod tantum Chaos sit inter nos et Deum (Vat.). Hear him else in the next verse. See also #Eze 8:12 9:9.

Ver. 13. And thou sayest, How doth God know?] A brutish question, #Ps 94:7,8, and never of Job’s making. There are a sort of such miscreants as believe nothing but what they see with their bodily eyes; and indeed, for a finite creature to believe the infinite attributes of God, he is not able to do it thoroughly, without supernatural grace; which therefore must be begged of God, #Jas 1:5, that he would give us "the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; the eyes of our understanding being enlightened," &c., #Eph 1:17,18. For want whereof, the wicked, blinded with sin, ask such senseless and blasphemous questions as this in the text, and those like this, #Ps 10:11 Zep 1:12; {See Trapp on "Ps 10:11"} {See Trapp on "Zep 1:12"} It is a ridiculous thing, saith Pliny, to think that the highest Majesty taketh care of human affairs; a service, doubtless, far below him, and unworthy of his greatness.

Can he judge through the dark cloud?] Can he discern through such a dark medium? Men cannot see God; and therefore some fools are apt to think that neither can he see them, Sicut pueri vultum obvelant, putantes sese tum non conspici (Lavat.). But that Job was far from any such thought, see #Job 21:16,22. To blame therefore was Eliphaz to charge him with such a wickedness; and all because he had said that in this life bad men oft prosper and better men suffer; which yet is verum tanquam ex tripode, very true, and not at all derogatory to the Divine providence.

Ver. 14. Thick clouds are a covering to him] He lieth close hid among the clouds, and seeth nothing. But be the clouds never so thick, Christ’s eyes are a flaming fire, #Re 1:14. And the school of nature teacheth, that the fiery eye needeth no outward light, but seeth extra mittendo, by sending out a ray, &c. He will freely blot out the sins of his people as a cloud, and their transgressions as a thick cloud, #Isa 44:22 43:25; but the clouds cannot hinder him from sight of their sins; for he is all eye, ολοφθαλμος, and darkness and light are both alike to him, #Ps 139:12. A cloud may come between the body of the sun and us, and the whole hemisphere may be masked and overcast, as we call it, but nothing can keep God from eyeing and ordering all things.

And he walketh in the circuit of heaven] Where it seemeth thou thinkest he only manageth matters and beareth rule, and not below. So indeed the Peripatetics thought, and taught. Agreeably whereunto Lysippus made Alexander’s picture looking up to heaven, with this posy,

Iuppiter, asserni terram mihi, tu assere caelum.

With which picture Alexander was so delighted that he proclaimed that none should take his picture but Lysippus, Plin. l. 6, c. 16.

Augustus also heard with delight,

Divisum imperium cum Iove Caesar habet (Virgil. Vita).

Caesar has with Jupiter divided the empire. And the Great Turk, vexed at his great loss in the last assault of Scodra, most horribly blasphemed against God, saying, That it were enough for him to have care of heavenly things, and not to cross him in his worldly actions. The atheist here taketh it for granted that God hath enough to do to walk from place to place in heaven (as princes do in their progress), and to order those heavenly bodies how they shall affect these lower bodies, by their light, heat, and influence, &c. Fain they would confine him to that circuit or circle (the heavens are supposed to be spherical and circular), that he might meddle no further. Fain they would persuade themselves and others that God hath cast off the care of earthly business, and committed all to fate and fortune; that many might live far more comfortably if they were less conscientious; that it nothing concerneth God, whether men do or not do this or that, &c. Such dust heaps as these may be easily found in every corner; for all places are full of them, and so is hell too. As for Job, the counsel of these wicked ones was far from him, #Job 21:16, he was the worse to think of them, whatever Eliphaz (by mistake of his meaning, at the least) thought of him.

Ver. 15. Hast thou, marked the old way] Heb. The way of old. Broughton rendereth it, the way of the old world; of those ungodly ones before the flood. Hereby it appeareth, say our learned annotators, that Job lived before the deliverance out of Egypt, because he mentioneth the creation and the flood, but not the deliverance; which, had he known, it would have afforded him an excellent argument to prove that godly men might be in great affliction, as the Israelites were in Egypt; and his friends a plausible argument that God useth to destroy wicked men for their sin, as he did the Egyptians in the Red Sea.

Which wicked men have trodden?] Heb. Mortals of iniquity or vanity. Viri nequam et nequaquam, vel nihili, Men of wickedness with a witness. The face of the old world was grown so foul, that God was fain to wash it with a flood. All was out of order in family, State, and Church. In the family was found luxury and unlawful marriages. In the State tyranny, violence, rapacity, and injustice. In the Church contempt of God’s word, and a fond opinion that God did not order all by his providence, but that a man might do well enough without him. Now that this was the opinion of those antediluvian Belialists, some have gathered from this text, which they read thus, Wilt thou follow the old way; that is, the tenet of those old sinners against their own souls, whom God, for their damnable security and licentiousness (the products of such a portentous opinion), buried all together in one universal grave of waters?

Ver. 16. Which were cut down out of time] Or, Which grew full of wrinkles (as those that have long lain in the water are apt to do), and not time; that is, before that time of life that they had promised themselves on earth; or before they had fulfilled the days of their forefathers, who, though wicked above measure many of them, yet the flood could not come till Methuselah (the last alive of the ten patriarchs) were laid up. God cuts off some notoriously wicked sometimes, Intempeata morte abrepti (Jun.), when in the course of nature they might have lived longer, that they may do no more hurt, as the gardener destroyeth young henbane, and the countryman young vermins.

Whose foundation was overflown with a flood] Heb. A river was poured upon their foundation. This some understand of that river of brimstone and fire poured from heaven upon Sodom and her sisters; but better take it of those in Noah’s days, whose foundation (that is, the earth, that foundation of mankind; or their wealth and prosperity, whereon they thought themselves firmly founded, or their lives, &c.), were overflown with a flood; which came rushing in upon them with mighty force, and drowned the universe. And here the Hebrews make to be the middle of this book of Job, wherein they reckon in all one thousand and seventy verses.

Ver. 17. Which said unto God, Depart from us] Atheists those antediluvians were; if not dogmatic, yet practical, such as Job had described, speaking the like language of hell, #Job 21:14. Et malitiose eum Eliphazus talium atheorum numero accenset, saith Mercer: And maliciously doth Eliphaz reckon Job among those odious atheists, so thinking to cut his throat with his own sword, and confute him with his own words. Malice cares not how truly things are set forth, so it may gall or kill.

And what can the Almighty do for them?] That is, they asked, What can the Almighty do for them? As if God neither could nor would reward their services; as if he would do them neither good nor evil. The Seventy render it, τι επαξεται ημιν, What will he bring upon us? q.d. He threateneth us with a flood, but when, where, and how? Let the day of the Lord come! #Isa 5:19. "Where is the promise of his coming?" &c., #2Pe 3:4. Thus they jeered when it was fitter they should have feared: but what was the issue?

Ver. 18. Yet he filled their houses with good things] Heb. With good; that is, with all precious and pleasant riches, whereof he gave them both plenty and propriety, but no otherwise than as Joseph caused his cup to be conveyed into Benjamin’s sack, the better to furnish out an indictment against him. And as Benjamin’s pretended theft was held more heinous, by how much his welcome was the greater, for he had a five fold portion; so shall it one day fare with such rich wretches, as whose bellies God filleth with his hidden treasure, and whose houses he filleth top-full with good things.

— Eutrapelus cuicunque nocere volebat.

Vestimenta dabat pretiosa -(Horat.)

Well might Eliphaz add, all things reckoned.

But (or yet) the counsel of the wicked is (or be) far from me] See these words expounded #Job 20:16, where Job hath the very same. Sed ea vult illi eripere Eliphaz, saith a learned interpreter. But Eliphaz will needs take them away from him, and it is as if be should say, Thou, O Job, seemest by thy words and with thy mouth to detest the counsel of the wicked; but thy doings declare the contrary, while thou so many ways celebrate the prosperity of the ungodly. To me, therefore, and to all righteous men, who do heartily hate the wicked, and do seriously set forth God’s just judgments against them, doth this speech better agree and more truly appertain, &c. And as for these righteous men, let me tell thee further,

Ver. 19. The righteous see it, and are glad] And as or myself, the counsel of the wicked is far from me: I do therefore abominate their present prosperity, because they shall shortly be for a laughing stock to all good men; the upright shall see it and be glad, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth, as self condemned, and therefore by the saints (swallowed up with a zeal of God’s glory) rightly derided, #Ps 52:9 58:11.

And the innocent laugh them to scorn] Not out of ill will, or envy, or other corrupt affection; but, 1. For the glory of God, whose power, justice, and goodness is hereby evinced and evidenced. 2. For the good of others, who stumble at the prosperity of the ungodly, or else are eased of their cruelty. 3. Add hereunto, that it is never the worse for the wicked themselves that God taketh them off. For if they be elect, they repent ere they die; as if reprobates, they are kept hereby from adding to their sin and so to their torments, which shall be proportioned thereunto. Those who understand this verse of Noah and his sons, rejoicing when they saw the rest drowned and themselves preserved, render the words thus, The righteous saw it and were glad, and the innocent laughed them to scorn. A late reverend man of God among us, in a discourse of his about the benefit of a good conscience in times of common calamity, brings in Noah and those with him in the ark, insulting over the perishing old world thus (Mr Jeremy Dyke, p. 1 83):

“Now, Jubal, let us hear one of your merry songs; pipe now, and make yourself merry, as you were wont in jibing at Noah’s folly in making a ship to sail on dry land. What ailest thou, Jubal, to howl and wring thine hands thus? Where is thy harp and organs now? Now the flood is come, now Noah is in his cabin, and the water begins to be chin deep, tell me, O Jubal, whether building of tents or building of an ark be the wiser work? Would you not give all the shoes in your shop, all the tools in your tents, all the cattle in your flocks, to be but where Noah’s dog lies? And now, sirs, you that were such men of renown, #Ge 6:4, you that were the brave gallants of the earth, now tell me who is the fool and who is the wise man now.”

Piscator takes the next verse, "Whereas" (or, though) "our substance is not cut down, but" (or yet) "the remnant of them the fire consumeth," to be spoken in the person of Noah, whom he makes the innocent man here mentioned; and adds, saying in the beginning of the next verse: as if Noah coining out of the ark should wash his feet in the blood of those wicked; and say, God hath preserved me and mine (our sincerity hath prevailed for our safety), and in his wrath destroyed the ungodly. But I rather concur with Tremellius, and Merlin, and others, who make this verse coherent with, and preparatory to, the following famous exhortation to repentance, #Job 22:21-23, &c. Acquaint thyself now with him, and be at peace, &c. But be sure thou do it now, that is, speedily and timously.

Ver. 20. Whereas our substance is not cut down] That is, while life lasteth, and while it is called today; before death cometh: and after death, judgment; when the remnant of the wicked fire shall consume. Where we have a forcible motive to repent, because we must either turn or burn, Aut poenitendum, aut pereundum. See #Ac 17:31 2Co 5:10,11 Heb 12:28,29. Eliphaz seemeth here on purpose to have mentioned that fire wherewith wicked men shall be tormented at the last day (and before, for every man’s death day is his doomsday), and to have changed the person.

The remnant (or excellence) of them the fire consumeth] That it might the more effectually move men to repent, that they might be delivered from the wrath to come. And here I could willingly take up Chrysostom’s wish, Utinam ubique de Gehenna dissereretur! Oh that men would talk more everywhere of hell fire unquenchable, intolerable, and the fuel thereof made of the most tormenting temper, #Isa 30:33. It was a speech of Gregory Nyssen, He that does but hear of hell is, without any further labour or study, taken off from sin filled pleasures, and set upon the practice of mortification. But men’s hearts are grown harder today, and he that shall observe their impiety and impenitence may well say to them, as Cato once did to Caesar, Credo quae de inferis dicuntur falsa existimas, I believe thou thinkest all but a fable that is said concerning hell (Juven. Sat. 2.).

Esse aliquos Manes, &c.

Nec pueri credunt nisi qui nondum aere lavantur.

Ver. 21. Acquaint now thyself with him] Accommoda te nunc illi, assuesce cum illo. Converse with God in a humble familiarity; set him at the right hand, #Ps 16:8, be ever at his hand, ut famulus seu accensus, as attendant upon his person. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and let him direct thy paths, #Pr 3:6. Ask counsel at his mouth, aim at his glory, be thou in his fear all the day long, #Pr 23:17. Account it thine happiness to be in communion with him, and conformity to him in all parts and points of duty. The Lord is with you if you be with him, #2Ch 15:3.

And be at peace] Return to him by repentance from whom thou hast so deeply revolted, and against whom thou hast so shamefully rebelled. For Eliphaz here takes it for granted that Job had estranged himself from God; and therefore could not possibly be at peace till better acquainted with him, and acquiescing in him, as the Vulgate here hath it. Acquiesce ei. No creature is more fearful than a fish, fleeing at the shadow of a man; yet it feareth not the roaring ocean (which yet lions and other fierce creatures fear), because it is of its own nature and acquaintance. A sheep feareth not his shepherd; nor shall we God, if once acquainted with him. Peace shall be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy tabernacles.

Thereby good shall come unto thee] Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee, #Ps 128:2. A cornucopia, a confluence of all manner of comforts and contentments, shall betide thee; but then thou must humble thyself to walk with thy God, #Mic 6:8. By faith walk with God, and by reflection walk with thyself, Compone et emenda vias tuas coram Domino, and then thou needest not say, with the worldling, "Who will show us any good?" #Ps 4:6; for God himself will say to thee, as once he did to Moses, when he gave him but a glimpse of himself and his glory, Ostendam tibi omne bonum, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee," #Ex 33:19.

Ver. 22. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth] Now he speaks Job fair whom before he had sufficiently ripped up, and roughly hewen without mercy, or so much as truth. That which he here persuadeth him to is to depend upon God for direction and success in all his enterprises; to consult with him upon all occasions, and not to do aught without his warranty and approbation. God’s testimonies were David’s delight and his counsellors, #Ps 119:24. All that advise not with these must needs be without understanding, a nation void of counsel, #De 32:28.

And lay up his words in thine heart] Heb. Put his word, as the tables were put in the ark; mingle God’s word with faith in thine heart, as in a vessel. Cor autem sit carneum fide, the flinty heart is made fleshy by faith, and capable of divine impressions.

Ver. 23. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up] By sin men run from God, by repentance they return to him. Break off thy sins by repentance, and put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle (for iniquity and repentance cannot cohabit, and he is no true penitentiary that reformeth not his family, that setteth not up God wherever he hath to do), so shalt thou be built up; that is, thou shalt be restored, and all thy losses in wealth and children shall be made up again; prorsus erigeris qui iam collapsus es; thou, who art now down on all fours, shalt be new set up, and made to stand in thy former strength. Only thou must return usque ad Omnipotentem, all out as far as to the Almighty, thou must not give the half turn only, as hypocrites do, but with thy whole heart; and as #Joe 2:12. {See Trapp on "Joe 2:12"} Thus Eliphaz discourseth very well and handsomely of the business in hand; only he was out in this, that he looked upon Job as an impenitent person, and upon his family as ill ordered. As, also, in that he conceived that true repentance is ever rewarded with outward and inward prosperity; whereas a penitent person may continue under crosses, though God will surely save the humble, as he saith afterwards, #Job 22:29, and repentance can turn crosses into comforts; and, like the philosopher’s stone, make golden afflictions, #1Pe 1:7. As scarlet pulls out the teeth of a serpent, so this takes away the sting of a judgment. As wine draweth a nourishing virtue from the flesh of vipers, &c.

Ver. 24. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust] Which is as much as to say, saith one, Thou shalt make pavements of gold. See #2Ch 1:15 Ps 68:30. Then shalt thou have thy desire; for thou shalt be rich with content, which is worth a million, as another paraphraseth it. Beza rendereth it thus: Cast thy gold on the ground (even that worldly wealth, whereto thou hast been wholly addicted), and let the gold of Ophir be unto thee as the pebble stones of the brooks (make no more account of it than of those small stones), and let the Almighty be thy tower, let him be unto thee as plenty of silver. The Spaniards are said to have found in the mines of America more gold than earth. Perhaps Eliphaz here promiseth Job, that upon his return to God his land should have many rich veins of gold. And so Senault paraphraseth this text thus, Then shall you acquit yourself of all your losses, and you shall recover with usury what was taken from you; for, for barren lands, which could bring forth nothing, you shall have such as in their entrails shall produce porphyry; and instead of those unprofitable rocks which made a part of your estate, you shall have fertile mines, from whence shall issue rivers of gold. Agreeable whereunto is that exposition of Brentius, Reponetur pro pulvere aurum, pro vili preciosure, pro fluviis arenam trahentibus torrentes aureis lapillis impleti, Thou shalt have for dust gold, for vile things those that are precious, for sandy rivers golden torrents. A hyperbolic expression.

And the gold of Ophir] Where the best gold grew. Possibly the same with Peru, the letters only transposed. Ophir, #Ge 10:29, was one of the sons of Joktan, who came from Shem, from whom, saith Josephus, a country in India, abounding with gold, had its name. Hine aurum obrizum dictum, quasi Ophirizum. Ophir is here put for the gold of Ophir; for the word gold is not in the original.

Ver. 25. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence] Or, thy gold, for the same word signifieth both, #Job 36:19, because gold is the worldly man’s defence, #Pr 18:11, though but a sorry one, #Zep 1:18 Pr 11:4 Eze 7:19. It is as if he should say, Either thou shalt have gold gods plenty; or else, thou shalt have that which is better than gold, viz. God the maker and master of all the world, saith Junius, who rendereth the text thus, And the Almighty shall be thy choicest gold, and silver, and strength to thee. He shall be all that heart can wish or need require. A friend of Cyrus, in Xenophon, being asked where his treasure was? answered, οπου Κυρος φιλος, Where Cyrus is my friend. Let us answer, οπου Κυριος φιλος, Where God is my friend. When David had said, "The Lord is my portion," he subjoined in the next verse, "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage," #Ps 16:5,6. When God had said to Abraham, I am thy shield, he easily slighted the king of Sodom’s rich offers.

And thou shalt have plenty of silver] Heb. Silver of strengths or of heights; that is, as the Vulgate interpreteth it, argentum coacervabitur tibi, thou shalt have high heaps of silver, store of money. Godliness hath the promise of both lives; and if godly men are not always rich men, it is that godliness may be admired for itself. And they must know, that what they lack in temporals shall be made up in spirituals, according to that which followeth.

Ver. 26. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty] As in thine only portion. Thou shalt enjoy him, which is the peak of human happiness; solace thyself in the fruition of him, taste and see how good the Lord is, and thereupon love him dearly, #Ps 18:1; not only with a love of desire, as #Ps 42:1,2, but of complacence, as #Ps 73:25,26, affecting not only a union, but a unity, with him; and conversing with him, as we may, in the mean while, in a fruitful and cheerful use of his holy ordinances.

And shall lift up thy face unto God] Wrapping thyself in Christ’s righteousness, thou shalt draw nigh to God with a humble boldness in duty, and not doubt but he will draw nigh to thee in mercy. It is said of Luther, that he prayed with so great reverence, as unto God; and yet with so great confidence, as to his friend (Melch. Ad. in Vita).

Ver. 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee] Yea, though thou multiply prayers, Multiplicabis verba tua (Mer.), and intercessions for thyself and others (as the word signifieth, and as afterwards Job did for Eliphaz and his fellows, or else it had gone worse with them), yet he shall hear thee in all. Thou shalt, as his favourite, have the royalty of his ear, and he shall say unto thee seriously, as Zedekiah did once to his courtiers soothingly, The king can deny you nothing. Iste vir potuit apud Deum quod voluit, said one concerning Luther, That man could have of God whatsoever he wanted. This David took (as well he might) for a singular mercy, #Ps 13:6 66:20.

And thou shalt pay thy vows] i.e. Thou shalt return thy thanks, and so shalt drive a holy trade, as it were, between heaven and earth. Nulla tibi a Duo nisi gratias agendi occasio dabifur. Thou shalt have unmiscarrying returns of thy suits; so that thou must be ready with thy praises after their prayers; for that is all thou shalt have to do. "Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion; and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou that hearest prayers, unto thee shall all flesh come," with their thanks in their hands as it were, #Ps 65:1,2.

Ver. 28. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee] God will be better to thee than thy prayers; and prosper all thy counsels, effect thy designs. The ungodly are not so, as is to be seen in those revolted Israelites, #Jud 2:1-3, in King Saul, and in our King John. Or if they have their designs, it is for a further mischief to them. As, if the godly be crossed, it is in mercy; like as the story is told of our Queen Isabel, that being to repass from Zealand into England with an army, they had all been utterly cast away had she come unto the port intended, being there expected by her enemies. But Providence, against her will, brought her to another place, where she safely landed. The like is reported of Bishop Jewel, that being sought for by the Popish persecutors, he had been caught, but that, going to London, he lost his way (Mr Clark in his Life, p. 262).

And the light shall shine upon thy ways] That is to say, God will inspire thee with good counsel and direction in all thine affairs (Diod.), and turn thine ill-counsels into good unto thee (as the heathens thought Minerva did to her Athenians, and as the Romans fancied of their goddess Vibilia, that she set them in their right way when they were wandering), or will shine over them with his blessing, contrary to thy complaint, #Job 19:8.

Ver. 29. When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up] And that by the force of thy faith, the nature whereof is to gather one contrary out of another (as life out of death, assurance of deliverance out of deepest distresses, #De 32:36), and to believe God upon his bare word, and that against sense in things invisible, and against reason in things incredible. Because they are humbled, thou shalt say, Exaltation: and saving of him that boweth his eyes down; whereof some make this to be the sense: Job, attaining to such a blessed change, shall be able out of his own experience to comfort others in misery, who likewise humble themselves. Junius rendereth it and the following verse thus: When men shall have cast down any one, and thou shalt think of his lifting up; then will God save the low of eyes, or him that is low in his own eyes: he will deliver that guilty person, and he shall be delivered by the purity of thy hands; that is, saith he, So great shall his love be to thee, and his blessing upon thee, that for thy sake he shall show mercy to others, though they be none of the best, according to the promise made to Abraham, #Ge 12:3 18:24. And hence Job’s intercession is joined with that of Noah and Daniel, #Eze 14:14.

And he shall save the humble person] Heb. Him that is low of eyes, as was Job at this time; and the publican, #Lu 18:13. "A high look and a proud heart" go together, #Ps 101:5. And as God resisteth such, #Jas 4:4 1Pe 5:5, so he giveth grace to the humble; and not grace only, but glory too, as here; safety here, and salvation hereafter.

Ver. 30. He shall deliver the island of the innocent] Or, He shall deliver the not innocent; him that is not guiltless; and even such shall be delivered for the purity of thine hands. Thus God gave Zoar to Lot, and all the souls in the ship to Paul, and the guilty Israelites to Moses. See #Jer 5:1. Or, The innocent shall deliver the island; or, Liberabitur vita innocentis, the innocent shall be freed from affliction: so Brentius.

And it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands] i.e. Of thy works, or by thy pure hands lifted up in prayer. Semen sanctum statumen terrae, the saints bear up the state, #Isa 6:13, they uphold the pillars of the earth by their piety and prayers; and therefore when God is unchangeably resolved to ruin a people he silenceth his saints, as #Jer 7:16, or removeth them out of the world, as he did Methuselah the year before the flood. And as one sinner may destroy much good, #Ec 9:18; so one praying saint may save an island, a whole country; it is delivered by the pureness of thy hands. It may be the work sticks at thee; why then is not thy shoulder at the wheel when the cart is stalled?

Chapter 23

Ver. 1. Then Job answered and said] viz. In defence of his own integrity, against Eliphaz’s calumnies in the foregoing chapter. To make apology to every one that shall traduce us, Plato holdeth to be both base and bootless, Πασιν απολογεισθαι θεραπευτικον (Plat.). But when such a weighty man as Eliphaz shall lay load upon so innocent a man as Job, Quis tulerit? something would be said in way of answer.

Ver. 2. Even today is my complaint bitter] q.d. After all mine endeavour to satisfy you, I am still misinterpreted, and accounted by you, my friends, no better than a malcontent and a murmurer against God; albeit my laments do no way equal my torments. True it is that Eliphaz had given him excellent counsel, #Job 22:21,22, &c., but it was to flatter him into the same error that he himself held; viz. that bodily and temporal sufferings are a sure sign of a notorious hypocrite. Hence Job never taketh notice of it in this reply; but begins his apology pathetically and abruptly; and soon falls into an appeal to God, the righteous Judge, who well knew (though his friends would take no notice of it) that he complained not without cause; but the contrary.

My stroke is heavier than my groaning] Most men’s groaning is greater than their strokes or sufferings. Invalidum omne natura querulum est (Senec.). Some are ever whining and growling; their lips, like rusty hinges, move not without murmuring and mutining, yea, they not only creak, but break, as rotten boughs do, if but a little weight be hung upon them; or as some men’s flesh, which if never so little razed with a pin, it presently rankleth and festereth. Job was none of these; if he groaned, as he did (and will they deny him that ease of his dolour? Expletur lachrymis egeriturque dolor. Ovid), there was very great cause for it, since his pressures were greater than could be expressed by any sighs or words.

Ver. 3. Oh that I knew where I might find him!] That is, God, so oft in his mind and mouth, that his acquaintance might easily know whom he meant. Aph-Hu, even he, #2Ki 2:4, as held by some to be one of God’s attributes (Weems). And Μα τον, without mention of Δια, was an ordinary oath in Plato’s mouth, as Suidas recordeth.

That I might come even to his seat!] His tribunal prepared for him. Venirem usque ad stationem eius (Mercer). Great is the confidence of a good conscience. See #Ge 20:5 1Pe 3:21. But yet haec certe omnia audacius dicuntur a misero homuncione, this was too bold a speech for a mortal creature, as God himself (who gave him his wish) will afterwards tell him, #Job 38:2 40:2, and contrary to that which he had before resolved on, #Job 9:3. See the like failing in David, #Ps 39:1,3 2Sa 6:8,9. In these examples of so good men we may see how natural it is to us in affliction to rise up against God, as the horse that casteth his rider, and riseth up against him. Hoc a pietate alienum est, quod adversus Deum praefractius, et contumeliosius loquatur quam humilitas fidei ferat (Brent.). This the poets shadowed out in their fiction of the giants conspiring to pull Jove out of heaven. That which may be said in favour of Job herein, is, 1. That #Job 23:6, he professeth to plead with God in God’s strength. 2. That being accused by his friends of such foul offences, he had no other way of clearing himself than by appealing unto God whose most just judgment he acknowledged. 3. That he dared not have spoken thus boldly, but in confidence of his mercy. 4. That he would have his controversy with his friends (and not his whole life) to be exactly examined and judged by God.

Ver. 4. I would order my cause before him] I would not stick to approach to his tribunal, there to plead my cause (not against him, as being the supreme Judge, and not either plaintiff or defendant, but) against your false and wrongful accusations, which undoubtedly I would disprove and confute by many forcible and strong arguments (Beza).

And fill my mouth with arguments] Heb. Redargutions (ελεγχος,) increpations, reprehensions. A good orator will first rightly lay down his cause, state the question, as we call it. 2. Confirm it with reasons. 3. Observe what is said to the contrary, and confute it. Job would do all this if he might have audience; but if to God all this, Job was much mistaken. And so at another time, when in a better mind, he could say, "Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge. If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me," &c., #Job 9:1 5,20.

Ver. 5. I would know the words that he would answer me] q.d. I cannot know your minds, O my friends, nor understand your words, which yet I believe are little to the purpose; but God (I know) will utter his mind plainly, and approve my cause, which you so rashly condemn. Thus John Huss and other martyrs, when they could not have a fair hearing from men, appealed and applied themselves to God, committing their cause to him who judgeth righteously.

Ver. 6. Will he plead against me with his great power?] No; for then you were in a woe-case. For if God’s breath blow us to destruction, as so many dust heaps, #Job 4:9, if he frown us to death, and nod us to destruction, #Ps 80:16, what shall we think of his Almighty power, which none can abide or avoid? Dittleile est contra eum scribere, qui potest proseribere. It is dangerous dealing with him who hath at his command thirty legions, saith the philosopher to the emperor, who would needs crack an argument with him. And should Job dare to do it with the Lord of hosts, as if stronger than he? The thunder of his power, who can bear? The stoutest men quake before him; and as the worms, when it thundereth, wriggle into the corners of the earth, ready to run, as Caligula did, under any bed or any bench hole.

No; but he would put strength in me] Sic enim ex fidei πληροφορια persuasus, saith Merlin. Thus was Job persuaded, out of the full assurance of his faith, that God would deal with him as a loving Father, and not as a severe Judge: for who can stand before his wrath, or withstand his will? No man surely can contend with God unless he put strength in him, as he did into Jacob, #Ge 32:24, whom he upheld with the one hand, as he strove against him with the other. This foregoing wish, therefore, of Job hath an excellent commendation in it of his faith and integrity, yet so as that in some things it is blameworthy. For who can come to God’s seat, since he dwelleth in light unapproachable? neither can any one see God and live, #Ex 34:5-8. For this boldness, therefore, of his he shall be hereafter sharply reproved; first by Elihu, and then also by God himself, stepping forth as it were from behind the hangings, overhearing him, and saying, Who is this that talks thus? how now? #Job 38:2,3.

Ver. 7. There the righteous might dispute with him] There for then; sc. when God shall put strength into him; the upright or honest man (who draweth near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having his heart sprinkled from an evil conscience by the blood of Jesus Christ, #Heb 10:22) might dispute with God, but not unless he have that advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just one, to appear in the presence of God for him, #Heb 9:24, as the lawyer appeareth for his client, to put by and non suit all accusations, to plead his cause, and to justify him by the only merit of his righteousness and obedience. All St Paul’s care was to be found in Christ when sought for by the justice of God; not having his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, #Php 3:9; for sordet in conspectu iudicis, quod fulget in conspectu operantis (Aug.), "that which is highly esteemed among men, is abomination in the sight of God," #Lu 16:15. They only may dispute with God, that is, in a humble and laudable manner plead with him, as did Jacob, #Ge 32:24, and Jeremiah, #Jer 12:1, who partake of Christ’s righteousness imputed and imparted; opposing to the appearances of God’s wrath the firm persuasion of his grace, by the seal of his Spirit, Et O quam hoc non est omnium! This is few men’s happiness.

So should I be delivered for ever from my judge] Who would quit me by proclamation; and then I should the less care to be condemned by you, my fellow prisoners. I care not for man’s day, since he that judgeth me is the Lord, #1Co 4:3,4; where note what boldness and confidence the upright have in God; neither shall they be herein deceived, as Job was not.

Ver. 8. Behold, I go forward] Heb. Eastward, which is reckoned the forepart of the world; because that eye of the world, the sun, riseth there; and every man looketh to the rising sun.

But he is not there] sc. In that sort, as I desired to find him, #Job 23:3, he is not visible to me; he is too subtile for sinew or sight to seize upon; his judgments also are unsearchable, and his paths past finding out. True it is, that the whole world is nothing else but Deus explicatus, God expounded, a mirror or theatre wherein God may he seen; yea, felt and found out by those who are blind, #Ac 17:27. If a man hear a sermon by night, and in the dark, though he see not the preacher, yet he knows he is there. So Job questioned not God’s omnipresence; but complaineth that himself was benighted, and forsaken of his hopes to be eased of his troubles, outwardly in body, or inwardly in mind; this is the judgment of the flesh, when under affliction.

And backward, but I cannot perceive him] For indeed he is imperceptible by bodily eyes, neither sitteth he anywhere in this world to decide controversies, as he shall do in the clouds at the last day, when the righteous shall look up, for their redemption draweth nigh, #Lu 21:28, and the wicked shall look on and wail because of him, οψονται κοψονται, #Re 1:7, they shall look and lament, yea, be mad for the sight of their eyes which they shall see, as #De 28:34.

Ver. 9. On the left hand, where he doth work] i.e. Northward; where God is said to work; either because that in the north part of heaven are more signs, and of more remarkable influence, than in the south; or else because the northern parts of the world are more inhabited than the southern, because more temperate; and so there is more of God to be seen there in his works, as letters refracted in a glass. Seculum est speculum, quo Deum intueamur.

But I cannot behold him] {See Trapp on "Job 23:8"}

He hideth hlmself on the right hand, &c.] He worketh not so much in the southern parts of the world; the torrid zone is uninhabitable, &c. Yet the Ethiopian judges were wont to keep the chief seat for him empty when they sat in judgment. And besides, the Habassines, that large region of Nubia, had from the apostles’ time, as it is thought, professed the Christian faith though now it hath again, over one hundred years since, forsaken it, and embraced Mahometanism and idolatry (Alvarez).

That I cannot see him] {See Trapp on "Job 23:8"}

Ver. 10. But he knoweth the way that I take] Heb. That is with me. He perfectly understandeth that there is no way of wickedness in me, #Ps 139:24, no sin that I do favour, allow, and wallow in; but that the way that is called Holy is my delight and endeavour; that I am upright for the main, that my heart is not turned back, neither have my steps declined from his way, #Ps 44:18. I cannot see him, but he seeth me, and mine uprightness.

When he hath tried me] sc. With favour, and not with rigour (for then who should abide it? #Ps 143:2). God promiseth to refine his people, but not as silver, #Isa 48:10, that is, not exactly, lest they should be consumed in that fiery trial. This David knew, and therefore prayed, "Examine me, O Lord, and prove me, try my reins and my heart," #Ps 26:2 139:23.

I shall come forth as gold] Which is purged in the fire, shines in the water; as on the other side, clay is scorched in the fire, dissolved in the water.

Ver. 11. My foot hath held his steps] I have followed God step by step, walking as I had him for an example, and pressing his footsteps. This Job speaketh of himself, not as vaunting, but as vindicating and defending his own innocence; and as giving Eliphaz to know, that he had already done, and still continued to do, as he had in the former chapter exhorted him, #Job 22:21,22. Acquaint now thyself with God, &c. That is not now to do, saith Job; for my foot hath held his steps. Be at peace. I am so, saith he, for his way have I kept and not declined. Now, can two walk together, and they not be agreed? Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth. What else have I done, saith Job, when as I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips? Lay up his words in thine heart. This I have done ex instituto, saith he; vel prae demenso, more than my necessary food, have I esteemed the words of his mouth. So exact a pattern of the rule was Job; so consonant to Eliphaz’s good counsel. Plain things will join in every point one with another; not so round and rugged things: so do plain spirits close with holy counsels: not so such as are proud and unmortified. Let these be touched never so gently, nettle like, they will sting you. Deal with them roughly and roundly, they swagger, as that Hebrew did with Moses, saying, Who made thee a man of authority? &c., #Ex 2:14. Good Job was of another spirit with God, as it is said of Caleb, #Nu 14:24, and followed him fully; ornavit doctrinam coelestem piis officiis, adorned the heavenly doctrine with his pious office, heavenly doctrine was as the mould, and he as the metal, which takes impression from it in one part as well as another. His constant endeavour was to express God to the world, and to preach forth his virtues or praises by a suitable practice, #1Pe 2:9. Gressum eius retinuit pes meus.

His way have I kept, and not declined] sc. In excess or defect, and therefore I am no such flagitious person as thou, Eliphaz, wouldst make of me.

Ver. 12. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips] i.e. Ab ipsissimo Dei verbo, from the very word of God, that sure cynosura, which he that holdeth straitly to may truly say, Lord, if I be deceived, thou and thy word hath deceived me. But of that there is no danger, since the Scripture is the invariable canon or rule of truth, saith Irenaeus, the cubit of the sanctuary, the touchstone of error, the divine beam, and most exact balance, as Austin and Chrysostom style it, Κανων της αληθειας ακλινης, yea, the very heart and soul of God, as Gregory. And if Job lived before the word was written, yet not before the law of nature and the traditions of the patriarchs; which while they remained uncorrupted, were the commandment also of God’s lips, as having been received from his very mouth; and might far better be called ipsissimum Dei verbum the very word of God itself, than the pope’s pronunciata, which Cardinal Hosius profanely and blasphemously pronounceth to be the very word of God.

I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food] I have preferred Heb. I have hid, or laid up, as men do precious things, as housekeepers do provision for their family them before my bodily food, my daily bread; and we see what pains men take, what shift they make, Ut bene sit ventri, ut lateri, for food and raiment, and other things requisite to the preservation of this present life. Now Job knew that God’s holy word is ψυχης προφη, as Athanasius calleth it, the soul’s nourishment; and that the promises are pabulum fidei, the food of faith, as another calleth them; that we may better lack bread than that bread of life. Hence he esteemed it more, not only than his dainties or superfluities, but than his substantial food, without which he could not live and subsist; more than his appointed portion (so some render it) set out for him by the Divine providence, which cutteth out to every man his allowance. I would rather be without meat, drink, light, anything, everything, saith one, than that sweet text, "Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden," &c. (Selneccer). I would not for all the world, saith another, than that one verse, #Joh 17:24 ("Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world"), had been left out of the Bible (Mr Baxter’s Saints’ Everlasting Rest, p. 24). And again, There is more worth (saith the same author) in those four chapters, #Joh 14:1-17:26, than in all the books in the world besides. Luther said, He would not live in Paradise without the Word; as with the Word it were no hard matter to live even in hell itself (Tom. 4, Oper. Lat. p. 424). Of old they were wont to say, It were better for the Church that the sun should not shine than that Chrysostom should not preach to the people. The Jews in this day will not omit prayers for their food or labour. They divide the day, even the working day, in three parts, the first ad Tephilla, for prayer; the second ad Torn, for the reading of God’s law; and the third ad Malacca, for the works of their calling (Weemsc.). And when they have read one section they begin another, lest they should seem to be weary of their task. Whereas if we read but a chapter (not a quarter so long as one of their sections or paragraphs), Oh what a weariness is it! neither begin we till we have looked over the leaf to see how long it is; so soon sated are we with this heavenly manna.

Ver. 13. But he is in one mind, and who can turn him?] He is ever like himself, not mutable, inconstant, or various, as men who are (as Tertullian saith of the peacock) all in changeable colours, as often changed as moved. God’s name is, "I am," #Ex 3:14. And if Pilate could say, What I have written I have written, nothing shall be altered; how much more may the Lord, who is the same yesterday, today, and for ever! His decrees are immutable, his power irresistible. Some think that Job complaineth here of God’s absolute power, and little less than tyrannical, exercised against him, an innocent person. If so, Job was surely much to blame, sith God’s absolute power is never sundered from his justice; and it must be taken for an undoubted truth that his judgments are sometimes secret, but always just.

And what his soul desireth, even that he doeth] Id est, Cupit ac facit statim; eius voluntas est executio; that is, he desireth and doth it forthwith; his will is present execution. It is his pleasure to lay load of afflictions upon me, but wherefore it is I know not. But Job should have known that as God is a most free agent, so his will is not only recta, ( right) but regula; ( the law) neither may any man here presume to reprehend what he cannot comprehend.

Ver. 14. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me] He hath performed all my necessaries; so Vatablus rendereth it. It is the word that was used for appointed or necessary food, #Job 23:12. Voluntas Dei, necessitas rei, God hath decreed thus to deal with me, and therein I must rest satisfied.

And many such things are with me] I know not but that there may be many more sufferings yet decreed to come upon me in his secret counsel. Fiat voluntas Domini. Godly people, though they know not many times what the Lord will do and how he will deal with them; yet they always know that he is a merciful Father to them, and will order all for the best. This should content them, and keep them from chatting against God; and from nourishing hard conceits of him, or heavy conceits of themselves, as if wicked because afflicted.

Ver. 15. Therefore am I troubled at his presence] At the consideration of his formidable power and majesty, I am troubled and terrified; troubled at my present calamities, and afraid of fiercer. This verse then seemeth to be a correction of that wish of his above, #Job 23:3, and not unlike that, #Job 13:21, "Withdraw thine hand far from me, and let not thy dread make me afraid. Then call thou, and I will answer," &c.

When I consider, I am afraid of him] I have always imagined that, as it were weakness to fear a man, so it were madness not to be afraid of God. Let me be accounted timorous rather than temerarious.

Ver. 16. For God maketh my heart soft] Methinks I feel it fall asunder in my bosom like drops of water, and dissolved with manifold afflictions, so that I am hardly able to bear up any longer; I am almost done, as we use to speak, and my heart faileth me. How should it do otherwise when God withdraweth from his own the supplies of his Spirit, #Php 1:19, that Spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind, #2Ti 1:7 Ac 20:22, saith that great apostle, "And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit up to Jerusalem," &c. Whereupon Dr Preston gives this good note, The Spirit hemmeth us about, comprehendeth and keepeth us. When a man’s own strength would fall loose, this supernatural strength stayeth and strengtheneth it. Hence that of David, #Ps 138:3, "In the day when I cried unto thee thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul." So #Ps 27:14, "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart," which else will melt (as did the hearts of the men of Jericho, #Jos 2:11), like metal melted with fire, or like ice thawed into water and spilt upon the ground, which cannot be taken up again. And this is the soft heart Job here complaineth of. God had dispirited him, and

The Almighty troubleth me] sc. With the thoughts of his Almightiness; see #Ps 39:11; and with so many miseries growing upon him, Tot malis ingruentibus (Jun.). Now it is not amiss for God’s people thus to be melted and troubled otherwise; for by this means shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit, to take away his sin, #Isa 37:9-14.

Ver. 17. Because I was not cut off before the darkness] i.e. The afflictions that now are upon me. It is a mercy to some to die sometimes, as Josiah, and those righteous ones, #Isa 57:1, who were taken away from the evil to come. When God’s glory was to pass by, he put Moses into the hole of the rock; so he sometimes doth his servants, till the glory of his justice hath passed upon others.

Neither hath he covered the darkness from my face] i.e. He hath neither prevented my troubles by death, as I wished he would have done, #Job 3:3,11-13, nor yet will he put an end to them by the same means; for, Mors aerumnarum requies (Chaucer’s motto), Death is a rest from trouble. To the tossed soul it is as Mount Ararat was to Noah, where the ark rested; as Michel was to David, a means to shift him out of the way, when Saul sent to slay him; or as the fall of the house was to Samson, an end of all his sorrows and servitude.

Chapter 24

Ver. 1. Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty] Heb. Why are not times hidden from the Almighty? q.d. Who could think any otherwise, that had not been at the sanctuary, #Ps 73:17, and there heard, Woe to the wicked! it shall go ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be (sooner or later) given unto him? #Isa 3:11. The Jewish doctors conclude, but falsely, from this text, that Job denied the Divine providence. And the Vulgate Latin, to solve the matter and save Job from the imputation of epicurism, takes the boldness to leave out the interrogative why, and rendereth it thus, The times are not hidden from the Almighty; lest, by making it a question, Job should affirm that times and events are hidden from God, or at least should wish and desire that they were so. Vatablus thinketh that Job here putteth on the person of one that denieth God’s providence, or at least doubteth it; as if he should say, Ye, my friends, say that nothing is hidden from God, and I now demand of you how the times, and those things which are done in time, can be otherwise than hid from him, when as we see wicked men so to take their swing in sin, and yet, for aught we see, to escape unpunished? It should seem, by his winking at wicked practices, that he takes no care how things are carried in this present world; as certainly he would do were he diligens mundi oeconomus, aut rerum humanarum conscius (Brent.). This indeed might stagger a David or a Jeremiah in a passion, as #Ps 73:2-17 Jer 12:1, and make a Diagoras or an Averroes turn atheist; but Job was better instructed in this point, as appeareth by many passages in this Book. See #Job 21:16,22. Neither can any such thing be concluded from this text, if we take in the latter part of the verse.

Do they that know him not see his days?] The whole verse should be read thus, Why are not times hidden from the Almighty, seeing that they that know him do not see his days? that is, since his most knowing servants could never observe the times and the seasons (of punishing graceless persons here) which he hath put in his own power, #Ac 1:7. Abraham indeed (by special favour) was told that Sodom should be suddenly destroyed. And Moses could say, Wrath is gone out from the Lord, take a censer, &c., #Nu 16:46. As any one is more faithful and familiar with God, so much better and earlier doth he discern his judgments on the wicked, and is affected therewith. See #Hab 3:16. {See Trapp on "Hab 3:16"} But there is no certain rule given us by what punishment to conclude a man wicked; neither can we safely say at what time or what manner and measure God will punish the ungodly in this present life. That of Austin is very right. Some wicked God punisheth here, lest his providence, and but some, lest his patience and promise of judgment, should be called into question.

Ver. 2. Some remove the landmarks] Here he instanceth in all sorts of wicked persons, with their seculi laetitia, impunita nequitia; they go pointblank against God’s commandments; they please not him, and are contrary to all men; and yet who but they, so long as it will last? Some remove (or touch) the landmarks, which the very heathens held to be sacred, and not once to be touched. Numa, king of the Romans, made a law, that if any hid or removed a landmark he should be slain, by the next that met him, as a sacriligious person, or public pest, Inter ethnicos Terminus numinis loco habitus est. God’s law curseth such an offender, #De 27:15-26, and the civil laws pass sentence of death upon him. The Chaldee paraphrast and old Rabbis understand this and the following offences, of the old world, full of rapacity and impiety. But are there not the like and worse evils found also among us, upon whom the ends of the world are come, in these last and worst times, as Bernard fitly yoketh them? In his ultimis et pessimis temporibus. Read the catalogue and compare. Reckon, also, that you then read or hear this chapter aright, when, applying each passage to yourselves, you learn to wash your hands in innocence, or at least in tears for these abominations; as also, if ye be not offended at the prosperity of those who fall into all or but some of these wickednesses, since the time is at hand when account must be given of all things done in the body, whether good or evil.

They violently take away flocks, and feed thereof] Though they eat that on earth which they shall digest in hell. Or, and feed them; viz. openly and impudently, with as much insolence as injustice; and as if they had got them by right, and not by rapine and robbery. Lavater upon the text maketh mention of a certain Helvetian tyrant, who violently took away the oxen from the plough of an honest countryman, and told him that it was fit that clowns should draw the plough themselves, without the help of oxen.

Ver. 3. They drive away the ass of the fatherless] The only ass of orphans, those helpless, shiftless creatures, so merciless are these abigei, which is no small aggravation of their injustice. {see #2Sa 12:3} For all sins are not equal, as the Stoics once held, but lighter or heavier according to their circumstances. To rob the rich is a great offence, but to pillage the poor is far greater.

They take the widow’s ox for a pledge] Without which she cannot plough; or, her cow, as some render it, without which she and her children cannot live. A poor body’s livelihood is his life (as that poor widow’s was ολον τον βιον, #Mr 12:44, and the like is said of the haemorrhoisse, #Lu 8:43), crush this snail in his shell, and you kill him. Now therefore albeit it be not unlawful to take a pledge for security in some cases; yet courtesy must be used, and mercy must be shown to orphans, widows, strangers, and such like, because they are God’s clients, and he hath taken them into his special care and tuition.

Ver. 4. They turn the needy out of the way] Either to make room for themselves, as the only men. Stand back, say the Sodomites to Lot, #Ge 19:9. Stand further off, say those in Isaiah. See #Pr 30:14 Am 8:4. Or else, because when these spoilers are abroad, they beset the ways, and no travellers, be they never so poor and needy, can pass freely by them (Beza); insomuch that they are constrained to leave the broad beaten way, and everywhere to seek out by ways and unknown passages, to escape their hands.

And the poor of the earth hide themselves together] Lest after their cattle driven away, as before, themselves, ut mancipia nexa, as slaves linked together (Junius), should be taken and carried away by them to such base offices, as are mentioned in the next verses. Tyrants are looked upon as so many comets or tempests. Attilas styleth himself, Dei flagellum, et orbis vastitatem, The scourge in God’s hand, and the world’s waste good; he arrogantly said, that the stars fell before him, the earth shook under him, and that he would make the inhabitants thereof wriggle into corners, as worms do into their holes when once it thundereth. We know who they were (even those worthies of whom the world was not worthy) who, hunted as partridges by their cruel persecutors, and driven out from house and home, wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth, #Heb 11:38, where they found the wild beasts were more mild and merciful to them than those hard hearted tyrants.

Ver. 5. Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work] These barbarous and brutish oppressors, skilful to destroy, do live in this world as the wild ass doth in the wilderness, roving and rambling up and down for booty, Onagri inter feras sunt efferatissimi, neque unquam mansuescunt (Merc.), whereunto early in the morning they prepare and harness themselves, as if this were their trade and occupation whereby they must needs get their living. Hic labor, hoc opus, vel artificium eorum est, saith Lavater. As "man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening," #Ps 104:23, so do these greedy cormorants, these evening wolves (as Micah calleth them), these spoilers "that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds: when the morning is light they practise it, because it is in the power of their hands. And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away," &c., #Mic 2:1,2. Job had suffered much by the Arabian spoilers, those wild asses, who continue their old trade to this day, catching and snatching, vivitur ex rapto; neither can they be repelled or restrained by reason of their multitudes and their incredible swiftness (Fabric. in descrip. peregr. Hierosol.).

The wilderness yieldeth food, &c.] Their pillage is their tillage, their rapine their revenue, whereby they maintain themselves and theirs; as the wild ass picks out a living in the desert. But shall they thus escape by iniquity? Have they no other ways to work? no better mediums? Never think it. "In thine anger cast down the people, O God," #Ps 56:7. He will do it; for the words are prophetic as well as optative. "Treasures of wickedness profit nothing," #Pr 10:2. Mammon of iniquity is the next odious name to the devil; and to the devil it will bring a man, #1Ti 6:9. English Hubertus, a covetous oppressor, is said to have made this will: I yield my goods to the king, my body to the grave, my soul to the devil. Pope Sylvester II is said to have given his soul to the devil for seven years’ enjoyment of the popedom.

And for their children] We have a profane and false proverb, Happy is that child whose father goeth to the devil. O faithful drudge! said a graceless son once of such a father, who died and left him great store of ill gotten goods.

Ver. 6. They reap every one his corn in the field] The poor oppressed are made by them to harvest their crops, and tread their vintages in the end of the year ( sero colligunt), as the Hebrew importeth, without either food or wages, or so much as a cup to drink, as the eleventh verse sets forth; which is extreme cruelty, and flatly forbidden, #De 24:14,15, and order taken that the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn should not be muzzled, #De 25:4. Quantum igitur iudicium, saith Brentius, How great judgments of God then will light upon those who do that to men of the same flesh, of the same faith, of the same country, with themselves, which they ought not to do to the brute creatures they make use of! Quod malum in Germania frequentissimum est; Vae igitur Germaniae: This, saith he, is a common sin in Germany; woe, therefore, to Germany. Think the same of England, and take notice that this is one of those crying sins that entereth into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, #Jas 5:4, and he will hear, for he is gracious, #Ex 22:27. The words are otherwise sensed by some; but this to me seemeth most suitable to the subsequent verses.

Ver. 7. They cause the naked to lodge without clothing] viz. By denying and detaining from them what they have earned, wherewith they should provide them garments, which are so called, quasi gardments: because they serve to guard men’s bodies from the injury of the weather. They cause them to lodge naked, because they have no clothing, so some read the text; they lay them open to the pinching cold of the night. And what a misery it is to lie cold and wet, and not to have wherewith to keep us warm and dry, in winter season especially, who knows not? Hic disce Deo gratus esse, saith Lavater. Here then learn thankfulness to God, thou that hast not only a warm and wholesome lodging room, but also good store of bedclothes; and those of the better sort too. Abuse not these blessings to pride and luxury, lest God turn in upon the spoilers and plunderers, who may leave thee little enough; leave thee nudum tanquam ex mari, as they did many in these late shredding and stripping times, #Eze 25:4. God threateneth to send the men of the East to dwell (as so many Lord Danes) in their palaces, and to eat their milk, &c. When the children play with their meat, and cast it to the dogs, what can the father do less than bid take away?

Ver. 8. They are wet with the showers of the mountains] Wet they are, but not at all refreshed, as this word (here only found in the Bible) signifieth sometimes among the Rabbis. Cold comfort they find abroad; and at home they dare not abide, lest rich men should oppress them and draw them before the judgment seats, #Jas 2:6, or drag them to prison for refusing their drudgery. Hence they are forced to live in the mountains and desert places, in extreme misery.

And embrace the rock for want of a shelter] Like conies or wild beasts, glad of any lurking place that may keep them out of the hands of unreasonable and wicked men. What hardship have many worthy men in all ages suffered from persecutors and oppressors (in Dioclesian’s days especially), driven out of house and harbour, and glad to take up in any hole, there to lie on the cold stone instead of a warm bed (as that good duchess of Suffolk, with that noble gentleman her husband, did in the Low Countries, whither they fled from the Marian persecution), till, as Elijah once under the juniper, they wish themselves out of the world? Iterum hic disce gratias Deo agere, saith Lavater. Here again learn to give thanks to God for this great benefit, if thou mayest stay at home, and not be forced to flee for thy life, or for conscience’ sake; for home is home, as we say, and very desirable; and the apostle reckons it for a piece of his sufferings that he was ανεστιος, and had no settled station, no certain dwelling place, αστατουμεν, #1Co 4:11.

Ver. 9. They pluck the fatherless from the breast] What can be more to be pitied than a fatherless suckling? Who less to be molested or violenced than the mother doing that office to her babe? In the Parisian Massacre one of the murderers took a little one in his arms, who smiled upon him and played with his beard; yet this barbarous wretch was so far from compassion, that he wounded it with his dagger, and so cast it all gore blood into the river (Acts and Mon.). The story of the infant of the isle of Guernsey, thrown back into the fire, out of which it had sprawled, is well known. So is the savage inhumanity of that merciless Minerius, the pope’s champion, who at Merindola, in France, cut off the paps of many which gave suck to their children; which, looking for suck at their mother’s breasts, being dead before, died also for hunger. Well, therefore, might our Saviour say, "Beware of men," #Mt 10:17. It had been better the Indies had been given to the devils of hell, said those poor natives, than to those bloody Spaniards, who dashed the mothers in pieces upon their children, as once at Betharbel, #Ho 10:14.

And take a pledge from the poor] Misery, which should beget pity in them, begetteth but audacity, and inviteth them to ruin the poor, and fill their houses with their spoils. Some render it thus, They take the poor for a pledge; sc. putting them to their ransom, and meanwhile enslaving them.

Ver. 10. They cause him to go naked without clothing] Naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to their shame and danger, as #Isa 20:4. So dealt the Popish bishops with the poor Protestant Albigenses, at the rendition of Carcasson, in France; they let them have their lives upon the condition that both men and women should go thence stark naked; those parts that cannot well be named being laid open to the view of those pope-holy cruciates (Rivet. Jesuit).

And they take away the sheaf from the hungry] Or, the handful; that little that they had leazed; snatching the ears of corn out of their hands, and condemning them, thus denuded and despoiled, to a death which is so much the more cruel as it is tedious and languishing. Some read it thus, And those that carried their sheaves they made to go away hungry; either not feeding or not paying their harvest labourers and other servants. It is noted in history as a cruelty in the Athenians, that they put an engine about their servants’ necks called παυσικοπη, and it reached down to their hands, that they might not so much as lick of the meal when they were sifting it.

Ver. 11. Which make oil within their walls, &c.] {See Trapp on "Job 24:6"} {See Trapp on "Job 24:10"}

Ver. 12. Men groan from out of the city] viz. Under the pressures of their oppressors. Thus did Jerusalem, that faithful city, when once become a harlot; it was full of judgment, righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers, #Isa 1:21. The like did the city of Rome, when, under the government of Marius set up against Sulla, she cried out that the remedy was worse than the disease; and under Pompey, Calamitas nostra magnus est; Our calamity is great, and under the Caesars, that the names of their good emperors might all be set down in the compass of a signet ring; and again under the popes, that for many years together she had not had the happiness to be ruled by any but reprobates; Heu, heu, Domine Deus, saith Fasciculus temporum, bitterly bewailing Rome’s misery under her turbulent tyrants, Hildebrand, Urban II (whom Cardinal Benno worthily calleth Turban), Boniface VIII, and many other such like monsters. Of most great cities it may be said, as of that strange vineyard in Palestine, #Isa 5:7, God "looked for judgment, but behold oppression" (Heb. a scab); "for righteousness, but behold a cry."

And the soul of the wounded (of the deadly wounded) crieth out] Anima confossorum voci feratur, sc. For grief; and in prayer to God for ease.

Yet God layeth not folly to them] Deus non ponit prohibitionem, so one of the Rabbis renereth it. God putteth not a stop to the proceedings, he punisheth not those tyrants who do oppress whole cities, making their lust a law, and overbearing all right with their Volumus et iubemus; we will and we judge, nothing at all moved with the groans of the oppressed city, or with the outcries of the wounded. Word for word it is, Deus non interponit insulsum quid, God interposeth not anything senseless or unsavoury; that is, he suffereth not any cross meanwhile to befall them; yea, he so carrieth the matter as if he favoured them; yea, approved and prospered their crafty and cruel practices: for they live happy, obtain victories, are magnified among men, they flatter themselves in their own eyes, until their iniquity be found to be hateful, #Ps 36:2. Meanwhile, felix scelus virtus vocatur, as the orator speaketh, their prosperous villany is called virtue (Cicero, de Divin. lib. 2); and if any man mutter against them, yea, if he cry them not up, he is looked upon as a traitor, as Thraseas, that noble Roman, was by Nero (Dio in Ner.).

Ver. 13. They are of those that rebel against the light] Against the common light of the sun, say some, which they are ready to curse (as the Atlantes, a people of Ethiopia, are said to do), and could wish extinct, that they might sin unseen (Herodot.). Others more fitly understand it of the light of nature and Scripture; against which wicked atheists rise up and rebel; as malcontents and mutineers do against lawful authority. In the poor blind Ethnics it is to be seen that some few principles and notions of good and evil, right and wrong, truth and falsehood, are yet to be found in corrupt nature; like as when cities and great buildings are overthrown by war, some towers, some pinnacles, survive the violence. Now some desperate sinners against their own souls take the boldness to tear out these principles, that might any way disturb their course in sin; and to take an order with their natural consciences, clapping up those prophets from God, close prisoners, #Ro 1:18, till at length all that little light is lost, that rush candle quite extinct. When wine is poured out of a cup the sides are yet moist. But when it is rinsed and wiped, then remaineth not the least taste. Even so that glimmering of divine light left in the natural man is so defaced by obstinace in sin, that not the least spark thereof remaineth. These bats have flown so long against that light, that at length they have put it out. And whereas to those that live under the ordinances there is another light risen, viz. that of God’s word and works, graceless wretches shut their windows, lest this light should come in upon them, as the Pharisees did, #Joh 3:18. They hate it because their deeds are evil, saith our Saviour; they spurn and scorn at it, saith Solomon, #Pr 1:7.; they are willingly ignorant, saith Peter; they wink wilfully, saith Austin, martyr; Ut liberius peccent, libenter ignorant, saith Bernard, they rebel against the light, as Balaam did when he set his face toward the wilderness, and would needs curse howsoever. Or as Pharaoh, who sat not down under the miracle Moses wrought, but sent for the magicians. How many are there in this day, who, after conviction, get the bit between their teeth, like unruly horses, and run away!

They know not the ways thereof] A carnal heart is not willing to know what it should do, lest it should do what it would not do. Of such Bernard saith, that they seek straws to put out their own eyes with, Festucam quaerunt ut oculos eruant. If they seek after God’s ways, it is but as a coward seeketh after his enemy, with a hope he shall not find him. So he is loth to find, and fears to know, therefore be searcheth no further than will serve his turn, and the little light he hath he putteth not under a bushel, but under a dunghill. Woe be to these rebels, these solifugae that refuse, or abuse, gospel light! Turks and Pagans shall have an easier judgment. It had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, saith Peter, than after they have known it, &c., #2Pe 2:21. Gravis est lux conscientiae, Serious is the light of conscience, saith Seneca; but gravior est lux Evangelii, more serious is the light of the gospel, say we; if this light be hated by any, it is merely because it stands in the light of their wicked ways, as the angel did in Balaam’s way to his sin.

Nor abide in the paths thereof] They have no stability nor settledness in well doing. They follow not on to know, #Ho 6:3, but soon give over the pursuit and practice of holiness; not caring to "add to faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge," &c., #2Pe 1:5.

Ver. 14. The murderer rising with the light] Sometimes, while it is yet darkish; for here Job showeth how those that do evil hate the light, and take the fittest opportunities for a dispatch of the deeds of darkness, daily digging descents down to hell, and hastening thereto, as if they feared it would be full before they came thither. They spend, therefore, the whole day in wicked pranks and practices, prout videtur commodum, as shall seem best for their purposes, interdiu latrones, nocte fures agunt. By day they do what mischief they may in woods and deserts; at night they return into the city, and there play the thieves, hoping to do it unobserved. Thus every such one may better say than that ancient did, Totum tempus perdidi, quia perdite vixi, I have lost all my time, by spending it loosely and basely (Bernard). I have been too faithful a drudge to the devil, whom Christ calleth a murderer, #Joh 8:44, and Tertullian calleth Furem veritatis, a thief of the truth. Two notable thieves of Naples (whereof one was called Paternoster, and the other Ave Maria) had murdered a hundred and sixteen different people, at different times and in various places (Rain. de Idol. Rom. praefat.). These were worthily put to a cruel death by the magistrate; who possibly might, by his connivance and slackness in doing his office, be himself guilty of some of those murders; since, to restrain justice is to support sin, and not to correct is to consent to the crime. Hemingius maketh mention of a felon, who was indicted from seven murders; while the judge was studying what grievous punishment should be inflicted upon such a bloody villain, an advocate steps to the bar, and pleading for him, proved, That the judge was guilty of six of the murders; for the felon was not put to death for the first offence.

Killeth the poor and needy] Without authority (such as magistrates have to kill malefactors, and soldiers in a lawful battle to kill their enemies. Sum Talbotti pro occidere inimicos meos; I am Talbot’s for to kill my enemies, this blunt boisterous sentence was written upon the renowned L. Talbot’s sword, while he warred in France), and without any present necessity for his own lawful defence, as #Ex 2:22, when he must either kill or be killed; provided that he endeavour first to save himself by flight, if possibly he can (Speed.). For that tenet of Soto, a Popish casuist, is the most false, That it is lawful for a man in his own defence to kill another, because it is a shame to flee, Quia fuga est ignominiosa. And that also of Navarrus, that for a box on the ear it is not unlawful to kill another, for the recovering of his honour, Ad honorem recuperandum.

And in the night is as a thief] That is, is a very thief; for this as is magis expressivum veritatis, as Mercer speaketh, he would not seem to be, but yet is an arrant thief, ending the day with theft which he began with murder. How these two sins go commonly coupled, see #Ho 4:2 Isa 13:16.

Ver. 15. The eye also of the adulterer waiteth] Observeth, expecteth, and longeth till it cometh. Ut videas illum non peccare infirmitate sed malitin, saith Vatablus. This showeth that he sinneth not of infirmity, but of forethought, malice, and wickedness; which he plotteth and plougheth, as the Scripture phraseth it, purveying for the flesh, #Ro 13:14, putrefying alive, under a tabes of impure lusts, and daily perishing therein, as Tiberius, at Capreae, by his own confession, Quotidie perire me sentio (Suet.). This beast was not ashamed of his detestable filthiness; as being a most impure and impudent defiler of other men’s beds. But the adulterer here spoken of seeks the covert of the twilight, and another of a disguise. He putteth his face in a secret place, so the Hebrew hath it, wrapping it in his cloak, or getting on a vizard, which, saith he, shall render me unknown, and no eye shall see me. For as for God’s eye, either he conceits him blind or presumes him indulgent, not doubting an easy and speedy pardon. This is charged upon David, #2Sa 12:10, "because thou hast despised me," &c., viz. in thinking to sin secretly, not considering mine all seeing eye, not caring though I looked on, &c., therefore shall all come to light, #Job 24:12. Sin secretly committed shall be strangely discovered; yea, perhaps the sinner himself shall confess his sins, as Judas. So, sooner or later, "God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing," #Ec 12:14; see also #/Apc Sir 33:13-17

Ver. 16. In the dark they dig through the earth, &c.] Heb. He digs through houses; i.e. the adulterer doth, to come at his strumpet, with whom he had agreed upon a place of meeting for that evil purpose, and in whose bosom by night (the dark and black night, as Solomon calleth it, #Pr 7:9) he spareth not to bury his name, substance, soul, and carcass, while they glut their unclean desires by the favour of the darkness. This is a bitterness beyond that of death, #Ec 7:26. But the devil presenteth his butter in so lordly a dish, that the soul spies not the hammer and nail in his hand till he have driven it into the temples. Roger Mortimer, who dug that hole at Nottingham castle, and was afterwards hanged at Tyburn (a just reward of his ambition and uncleanness), had the experience of this.

They know not the light] i.e. They brook it not, but run full butt against it, because it discovereth and disquieteth them. See #Job 24:13.

Ver. 17. For the morning is unto them as the shadow of death] i.e. They are in deadly fear lest the light should bewray them, and expose them to condign punishment. How fearful was Judah of being shamed after he had thus sinned! #Ge 38:23; and how forward to save his credit by sending his kid by the hand of that hang by Hiram! That young man in Terence (in Eun.) was sore ashamed to be seen in the eunuch’s garment, a token of his uncleanness; whereas to have done the deed did nothing so much trouble him. But the children of light hate and shun sin more for the filth that is in it than for the fire that is in it; the blackness of that coal offendeth them more than the heat of it. Plato condemneth the poets for setting forth Jupiter’s adulteries, whereby the people were drawn to the like wantonness; and for saying, it were no matter though men did commit sin, so they could hide it, Ως λυσιτελει το αδικειν εαν λανθανη. Si non caste, saltem caute, say the Popish shavelings, who are sometimes taken in the manner, as was that carnal Cardinal Cremonensis, the Pope’s legate here, in Henry VlII’s days, and Dr Weston, dean of Windsor, in the reign of Queen Mary, apprehended in adultery, and for the same deprived of all his spiritual livings by Cardinal Pole. Pope John XII being taken to bed with another man’s wife, was killed immediately by her husband. In Germany, a gentleman of note and his harlot were served in like sort, as Luther relateth. So was Rodoaldus VIII, king of Lombardy, and Sergus, a king of Scotland (P. Mel. Chron. Lang. Chron.). Of all these, and many more eiusdem furfuris, it may well be said, as here, that being noted and notified, they were in the terrors of the shadow of death. Which death to escape,

Ver. 18. He is swift as the waters] He stays not long in a place, but flees away swiftly (like the river Tigris, swift as an arrow out of a bow), to avoid punishment. Heb. He is light upon the face of the waters. The meaning is, saith one, they are as a light thing upon the streams of water running swiftly, and carrying it away with speed. Some, that it is spoken in respect to their swift passing on from one wickedness to another, or their never being settled after such wickedness committed, but always ready to be overturned, as a ship that is unballasted, and so to be drowned in the sea.

Their portion is cursed in the earth] Cain like, they wander up and down, a corde suo facti fugitivi, but their sin will surely find them out; neither can they run out of the reach of God’s rod, &c. This Job saith, lest any should gather, from what he had said before, that it should be always well with the wicked and ill with the godly. Some take it as a curse, Let their portion on earth be accursed, neither let them turn themselves to the vineyards; sc. either to dress them or to taste of the fruits of them.

He beholdeth not the way of the vineyards] That is, say some, to run away by them, which were common ways to cities, but by some other obscure byway, that he may not be found. In vineyards something is to be done at all times, that way therefore they take not, lest they should be discovered and punished. Beza rendereth it, He turneth not into the way (that is, the nature) of the vines, which, by cutting and pruning, sprouteth out, and becometh more profitable. Others sense it far otherwise. The concise brevity and ambiguity of the words, together with the change of number, hath caused a cloud upon them.

Ver. 19. Drought and heat consume the snow waters] Here also brevity hath bred obscurity. Snow waters, as they are more subtile, so they sooner sink into the dry earth; so die the wicked, quickly and easily. See #Job 21:13,31. There are that read the whole verse thus, In the drought and heat they rob, and in the snow waters; they sin to the grave; that is, they rob (and run into other flagitious practices) in all weather, summer and winter, and never stop till they die. They persist in their sins (saith Calvin) wherein they have been muzzled up, even to their grave. This is a good sense. Luther tells of one filthy adulterer, so set upon that sin that he was heard to utter these abominable words, If I were sure to live here for ever, and that I might still be carried from one brothel house to another, I would never desire any other heaven than that. Vae dementiae, et impietati. This beastly man breathed out his wretched soul between two harlots. Once I knew a most odious adulterer of seventy years old (saith another great divine, Mr Dan. Roger) who having wasted his flesh and state with harlots, and lying near death, was requested thus, Potter, call upon God; he replied, with his ordinary oaths, Pox (boils) and wounds, is this a time to pray? I knew (saith a third reverend man, Mr Bolton), a great swearer, who coming to his death bed, Satan so filled his heart with a maddened and enraged greediness after sin, that though himself swore as fast and as furiously as he could, yet (as though he had been already among the bannings and blasphemies of hell) he desperately desired the bystanders to help him with oaths, and to swear for him. Athenaeus reporteth of one covetous mammonist, that at the hour of his death he devoured many pieces of gold, and sewed the rest in his coat, commanding that they should be all buried with him. And our chroniclers write of King Edward I that he adjured his son and nobles, that if he died in his expedition against Bruce, king of Scots, they should not inter his corpse, but carry it about Scotland, till they had avenged him on that usurper (Dan. Hist. 201).

Ver. 20. The womb shall forget him] Some read it, The merciful man forgetteth him; sc. because he himself was merciless. Or because he was a trouble to the world, and a common pest, therefore good men are glad to be so rid of him; and instead of sighing over him, say, Let the worm feed sweetly on him, it is well he is gone; as he lived wickedly so he died wickedly; let him be no more remembered or honourably mentioned, but moulder away, and fall as a rotten tree. Others interpret the words of the sudden and easy death of the wicked, thus, The womb shall forget him; that is, saith Beza, being once dead, neither his mother nor his wife do bewail and lament his death, because without that pain and torment that many suffer when they depart the world.

The worm shall feed sweetly on him] Morifur impunitus, be maketh the worms a feast with his fat corpse (as Dr Taylor, martyr, made account to have done, if buried in Hadleigh churchyard), and feels no pain.

He shall be no more remembered] And this is reckoned up as a piece of his happiness. See #Ec 8:10. {See Trapp on "Ec 8:10"}

And wickedness] That is, the wicked person, that crooked piece, that can hardly ever be set straight again.

Shall be broken as a tree] As a rotten tree blown down by the wind.

Ver. 21. He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not] Who had more need to be comforted than further afflicted. But homo homini daemon. Jacob and Elkanah loved and comforted their wives under this cross. The Vulgate rendereth it, He hath fed the barren, whereupon some expound it of wicked men’s feeding whores, and maintaining them for their pleasure; keeping them barren, that they may keep their beauty.

And doeth not good to the widow] i.e. Doth her much hurt; for not to do good is to do evil, #Mr 3:4. He hath afflicted his barren wife, and evilly intreated the poor desolate widow, his mother. What marvel than if the womb forget him, &c., if his wife bewail not so unkind a husband, nor his mother so unnatural a son, as #Mr 3:30: thus Beza here.

Ver. 22. He draweth also the mighty with his power] i.e. He hath brought them by force under his girdle, and compelled them to do him homage and service.

He riseth up] In the fuluess of his might, as "a king, against whom there is no rising up," #Pr 30:31.

And no man is sure of life] Which the tyrant taketh away at his pleasure. Or thus, the tyrant himself, after he hath made all cock sure, as he may think, is not yet sure of his own life, dare not confide in his best friends. Dionysius, for instance, and our Richard III. The Hebrew is, And he is not sure of life.

Ver. 23. Though it be given him to be in safety] Heb. It is given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth. His safety and prosperity was given him for a better purpose; but (as if God had hired him to be wicked) he abuseth it to creature confidence, leaning too hard upon the arm of flesh.

Yet his eyes are upon their ways] Nevertheless God prospereth them (according to #Ps 34:11). Or, as others sense it, God eyeth their wicked ways, and designeth them to destruction. And the next verse seemeth to make for this interpretation.

Ver. 24. They are exalted for a little while] Or, they are exalted, but within a little while they are not. This former part of the verse needeth no exposition, saith an expositor. And as for the latter,

They are taken away as all others, they are cut off as the tops of the ears of corn] It may be understood that the like violence wherewith tyrants shall be cut off, by which they have cut off other mighty and great men; Velut farrisspicae succiduntur (Trem. ex Varr.), as Thrasibulus, king of the Milesians, by striking off with his staff certain ears of corn, and Tarquin, king of the Romans, by doing the like to certain poppies in his garden, signified their minds to have various chief men beheaded; which was accordingly accomplished. So Mithridates, king of Pontus, by one letter caused the death of eighty thousand Romans, trading throughout Asia (Val. Max.). Now God loveth to retaliate, as hath been said before. See it exemplified in Adonibezek, Agag, Haman, and others.

Ver. 25. And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar?] Quis ementietur me? Who shall disprove or confute what I have affirmed? viz. That God doth many things, the depth whereof we cannot fathom, and that he let wicked men many times spend their days in pleasure, and end them without pain. This I will abide by, and I would fain see the man, qui ausit et possit, who can and will maintain the contrary.

Chapter 25

Ver. 1. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said] A pithy and ponderous speech he here maketh, though little to the purpose, for he quite digresseth from the question in hand concerning the wicked’s flourishing, and saints’ sufferings, he chooseth to sing the same song with his fellows, concerning the power and purity of God above all creatures. See #Job 4:18 15:15. Some men are of that mind, that they will never be said or set down, but strive to have the last word. This was Peter’s vanity and the rest of the disciples, #Mt 26:35, which our Saviour winked at till time should confute them, as it also did soon after.

Ver. 2. Dominion and fear are with him] God is therefore to be feared, because Lord over all. If an earthly king be so dread a sovereign, if an apparition of angels hath so amazed the best men, who would net fear that King of nations, since to him doth it appertain? #Jer 10:7. "God is greatly to be feared in the assemblies of his saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him," #Ps 89:7. Power and terror are with him, so the Vulgate hath it here. He that is able to destroy both body and soul in hell, is surely to be feared; yea, therefore to be feared, #Mt 10:28. If servants should fear their masters because they have power over the flesh, #Col 3:23, what should we do, since he can sooner undo us than bid it be done?

He maketh peace in his high places] Or, Among his high persons, those heavenly courtiers, the angels and saints. By an unchangeable decree, God keepeth all persons and things in the heavens, both visible and invisible, in a most firm and quiet condition, so that there is no clashing, but a happy harmony among them. He appeaseth, saith Senault, the differences of the elements, and obligeth them to force their own inclinations, to preserve the quiet of the world. He shakes all the heavens with so much evenness, that in the contrariety of their motions they never disorder themselves. Finally, He maintains peace among the angels, and tempering his justice with his goodness, he makes himself equally loved and feared of those blessed spirits. Therefore Job did ill, saith Mayer, to offer to make a disturbance there (as Bildad at least conceited he did), where there was all peace, #Job 23:4.

Ver. 3. Is there any number of his armies?] God is Lord of hosts; and, as the Rabbis well observe, he hath his upper forces and his lower forces, as his horse and foot, ready pressed. The upper are here chiefly meant, viz. the angels and stars, as appeareth by the context. An est numerus expeditorum? so Brentius rendereth it; Tremellius, turmariorum, of his troopers? they are innumerable, and yet no variance among them; this is admirable. The army of Nineveh was quiet, no failing out nor complaining in their hosts, therefore did their king march on, pass through, #Na 1:12. The Turks’ military discipline at this day is beyond that of all other nations in the world besides; yea, beyond that of the old Greeks or Romans. There is no quarrelling heard at any time among their many soldiers, no, nor any words at all. Perpetuum silentium tenent ut muti, saith Cuspinianus. There is perpetual silence kept, and most ready obedience yielded to the dumb signs and noddings of their officers. But all this is nothing to that in heaven. Of God’s hosts, together with their number, order, and obedience, see my treatise called The Righteous Man’s Recompense.

And upon whom doth not his light arise?] That is, his sun, that prince of planets, but servant of the saints (as his name importeth), whose "going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof," #Ps 19:6. It is called, His light, because, as he made it, so he gathered into it, as into a vessel, that first light, which before was scattered here and there in the heavens. Some there are that understand this text of the light of God’s omniscience; others, of his beneficence. Quis est quem non superet luce bonitate sum? (Merlin) Who is it whom he overcometh not with the light of his goodness? Surely all the good that is in the creature is but a spark of his flame, a drop of his ocean.

Ver. 4. How then can man be justified with God?] Homo frivolus, so the Tygurines translate. How can frivolous man, sorry man, morbis mortique obnoxius, man subject to diseases and death; how can such a man, so mortal and miserable, a mass of mortalities, a map of miseries, a very mixture and compound of dirt and sin, be justified with God? How can he be perfect within himself without the gift of grace, without an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Just One, who alone is the propitiation for our sins, #1Jo 2:2 Ro 3:25, who is made unto us of God, wisdom, righteousness, &c.? #1Co 1:30.

Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?] And therefore born in sin and under a curse, the sign whereof appears in the woman’s bearing and bringing forth, #Ge 3:6. Our whole nativity is impure. Hence in the law it is commanded, that the woman should be unclean seven days, that the child should be circumcised on the eighth day; and that the mother should remain three and thirty days in the blood of her purification, #Le 12:4. For by nature we are all children of wrath; and that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Neither can any one bring a clean thing out of an unclean, #Job 14:4. {See Trapp on "Job 14:4"} Surely as a slave begetteth a slave, so doth a sinner beget a sinner. Hence we are loathsome to God, as a toad is to us, because poison is in the nature of it. Infantes ergo non sunt insontes, Infants are not innocents, though we commonly call them so, because free from actual sin, they having not yet "sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression," as the apostle expresseth it, #Ro 5:14. But. the first sheet or blanket wherein they are covered is woven of sin, shame, blood, and filth, as may be seen #Eze 16:4,6. This should teach us modesty and lowly mindedness.

Unde superbit homo cuius conceptio turpis?

Whence with the man overcome whose conception is shameful.

Ver. 5. Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not] i.e. Either descend in thy thoughts, from the highest orbs as low as the moon; or else ascend from gold, gems, jewels, and other orient resplendent creatures, as high as the moon and stars, and comparing them with the surpassing majesty of God, thou shalt find no more beauty or brightness in them than is in a lump of earth or clod of clay; those heavenly lights will appear to be as so many snuffs. Or if thou canst discover no spots and blemishes in them, yet God can, without the help of any such perspective glasses as Galileo got him to explore the mountains on the moon. Some think it was by moonlight that this speech was uttered, and therefore the moon is mentioned. But as the moon is confounded, so the sun also is ashamed when the Lord of hosts will display the beams of his glory, #Isa 24:23 60:19. There is a learned interpreter (Mr Abbot) who thus paraphraseth the test: Consider, that by reason of the fall of man, the very creatures that in themselves are sinless, yea, the very moon and stars (that are so far from earth, and so near to heaven), have contracted defilement, and are blemished; so that with God, for man’s sake, and by man’s sin, even they are not accounted free from pollution in his sight: thus he. The visible heavens are defiled by our sins, and must therefore be purged by the fire of the last day; as of old the vessel that held the sin offering was to be broken if earthen, or to pass the fire if of better metal.

Yea, the stars are not pure in his sight] Whatever they are in ours. A thing that I see in the night may shine, and that shining proceed from nothing but rottenness. There is a comparative imperfection and impurity in the stars and angels, #Job 4:18.

Ver. 6. How much less man, that is a worm?] He saith not, as a worm, but a worm itself, so #Ps 22:6, "I am a worm, and no man"; nullificamen hominis, as Tertullian somewhere phraseth it. David in the Arabic signifieth a worm, saith one, to which he may seem in that psalm to allude. The word here rendered a worm, signifieth a small worm bred in cheese or flesh, a mite, a maggot, Vermis parvus in carne aut caseo nascens, #Ex 16:24. Others say, it signifieth rottenness, which hath no strength. Hereby man, convinced of his infirmity, vanity, and impurity, should learn Virium suarum ουδενειαν agnoscere, to give glory to God, and to take shame to himself.

And the son of man, which is a worm?] Lumbricus, quo vix quidquam contemptius nominari potest, So vile and abject a creature is man. The greater is God’s mercy to look upon such a walking dunghill: learn hereby to know God and thyself, which is the highest point of heavenly wisdom.

Chapter 26

Ver. 1. But Job answered and said] Bildad had vexed him with his impertinence and superfluous discourses of God’s attributes, as if Job had denied them or doubted of them, which was far from him, witness this chapter. He therefore rippleth up Bildad with a continued smart irony in the three next following verses, letting loose the reins to his justly conceived grief and indignation, and invading his adversary with these sharp questions by way of wonderment.

Ver. 2. How hast thou helped him that is without power?] q.d. Full well hast thou done it, surely. (See a like irony #Mr 7:9 1Co 4:8,10) Thou art a very goodly comforter, and with a great deal of wisdom thou hast framed thy discourse to my present necessity. Thou lookest upon me as a poor, forlorn, strengthless, fruitless creature. Thou shouldest therefore have set thyself to support me and shore me up, by uttering not only commoda, sed et accommoda, things true and profitable, but things fit and suitable to my distressed condition. Thou hast spoken much of the majesty and purity of Almighty God (wherein I well accord thee), but these are words of terror, such as I can hardly bear. Of strong medicine we say, Quod nec puero, nec seni, nec imbecillo, sed robusto conveniat, that it is not for children, or old folks, or weak ones, but for the stronger sort; it is not for every complexion and state. So neither is every discourse for all sort of people. It is a singular skill to be able to time a word, #Isa 50:4, and to set it upon its wheels, #Pr 25:10, to declare unto a man his righteousness, which not one of a thousand can tell how to do it like him, #Job 33:23, to seek to find out pleasant words, such as have both goads and nails in them, #Ec 12:10,11 (to prick them on to duty, and to fasten them to the right, as pales to their rails), to divide the word of God aright, #2Ti 2:15, and to give every one his portion in the due season, #Mt 24:45. Not as he in the emblem, who gave straw to the dog, and a bone to the ass. The good word of God, if well applied, is profitable to all things, as is here hinted; sc. to help the powerless, to save the strengthless, to counsel the ignorant, and to set forth things as they are, that there may be no manner of mistake; but then it must be wisely handled, and the help of God’s Holy Spirit must be implored, #Job 26:4, that it may be a word of reconciliation, a savour of life unto life, #2Co 2:16 5:19, and whatsoever else is said in commendation of it, #Ps 19:7-10. Mercer interpreting this verse and the two following, Hoc de Deo accipio, saith he, These things I understand concerning God; and it is as if Job had said to Bildad, Oh, how bravely helpest thou him that is weak, and pleadest for him that is forlorn, as if God wanted thy patronage and defence! No question but thou art a man fit to advise him, and to set him in a course that he cannot otherwise hit on: this is a good sense also. But what meant Brentius to bring in Job blaspheming here, as thus, Quem iuvas? impotentem? salvas brachium invalidi? Cui consulis? insipienti? &c. Whom helpest thou, O God? the impotent? savest thou the arm of the strengthless? Whom counsellest thou? the ignorant? &c.: q.d. Surely thou shouldest do so by promise, and it would well become thee to do so by me; but (alas) thou dost nothing less; and hence it is that I skill stick in the briars, &c. Upon this gloss we may write, as the canonists do sometimes, Palea, or, Hoc non credo.

Ver. 3. How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom?] q.d. Thou lookest upon me as a fool and an atheist; but this thou dost with far greater folly; for I am not the man thou takest me for, but can say as much for God as thyself, and more too; and if I were such as thou wouldest make of me, I might so continue, for any help I should have by thy counsel. The like hereunto we may say to the Papists and other seducers, who pretend to tender our good, to counsel us for the best, and to wish our salvation.

And how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?] Heb. The essence, or the reason, or the naked truth: q.d. What ado hast thou kept to tell me no more than I knew before? wherein thou hast fairly lost thy labour and missed of thy design, if ever thou intendedst to counsel and comfort me. Very wisely hast thou done it, I must needs say for thee.

Ver. 4. To whom hast thou uttered words?] And, as thou thinkest, words weighty, and worthy of all acceptation, when in truth there is no such matters; bubbles of words they are, and big swollen fancies, sed cui bono? What tack is there in them? and to what good purpose are they? Melancthon makes mention of a certain good man, who reading Aristotle’s discourse concerning the rainbow, conceited thereupon many strange speculations, and wrote to a friend that he had far outdone Aristotle in that matter (Manl. loc. com. 536). But coming afterwards to the university, and disputing there upon that subject, he was found to be utterly out in those fancies of his, which indeed were no better than a sublime dotage.

And whose spirit came from thee?] Or, came out of thee? Was it by God’s Spirit that thou spakest, or thine own rather? For "there is a spirit in man, but the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding," #Job 32:8. Job would not have Bildad think and term his discourses to be divine inspirations, or such admirable pieces, rare sayings, being but vulgar and ordinary businesses (Scult. Ann. p. 238). Muncer, the arch Anabaptist, wrote a book against Luther, wherein he boasteth much of the spirit, and of prophetical light, accusing Luther for unspiritual, and one that savoured nothing but carnal things. The Antinomians use to call upon their hearers to mark; it may be they shall hear that which they have not heard before, whenas the thing they deliver after so promising a preface, is either false, or what is taught ordinarily by others. Some read the words thus, Whose spirit admired thee? for the spirit goeth as it were out of itself after those things it admireth. The Hebrews expound it thus, Whose spirit hast thou quickened, or confirmed, by these thy words? Who is the wiser or the better for them? Quam animam per haec fecisti? What soul hast thou gained to God by thy doctrine? confer #Ge 12:5, the souls which they had made, that is, brought to the true fear and service of God.

Ver. 5. Dead things are formed from under the waters] Here Job’s tongue, like a silver bell, begins to sound out the great things of God far better than Bildad had done, beginning at the bottom, and declaring that nothing is bred or brought forth, whether animate or inanimate, fish or other things in all the vast and deep ocean, but it is by his decree and power (Abbots). The Septuagint or Vulgate, for dead and lifeless things render giants, and understand thereby whales, those huge sea monsters formed under the waters.

And the inhabitants thereof] That is, saith one, other fishes in general, which are in the seas where those whales are; for there is that Leviathan, and there are creeping things (that is, smaller fishes) innumerable. And in particular certain little fishes that are noted always to swim with the whales, as guides of their way, that they may not unawares, coming into muddy places, be mired there. Aristotle calleth them muscles; Pliny, musticets.

Ver. 6. Hell and destruction are before him] Here beginneth a magnificent and stately description of the majesty of God; and, 1. From his omniscience; 2. From his omnipotence. For the first, "Hell and destruction are before him." Not the grave only, but the nethermost hell, that most abstruse part of the universe, and most remote from heaven, God’s court. Of hell we know nothing save only what the Scripture saith of it in general, that there is a hell, and that the pains of it are endless, easeless, and remediless, &c., but God only knoweth who are in hell, and who is yet to be hereafter hurled into it. It is the saints’ happiness that to them there is no such condemnation, #Ro 8:1, that over them this second death hath no power, #Re 20:6. That if hell had already swallowed them up (as they sometimes when deserted feel themselves to be in the very suburbs of it), it could no better hold them than the whale’s stomach could do Jonah. #Lu 22:31, "Satan hath desired to have thee"; sc. to hell, but that he shall never have; for they are the redeemed of the Lord, saved from the wrath to come, and may triumphingly sing, Death, where is thy sting? Hell, where is thy victory? &c.

And destruction hath no covering] That is, hell, the place of destruction, the palace of King Abaddon (so the devil is called, #Re 9:11), and so hell is called in this text, because thereinto are thrust all that are destined to destruction, all the brats of fathomless perdition, such as was Judas the traitor, who went to his place, and all wicked ones, who shall surely be turned into hell, with all those that forget God, #Ps 9:17. This place is not covered, saith Ferus here, but open to God, for whomsoever he will cast thereinto.

Ver. 7. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place] Heb. Over Tohu. Aristotle saith, that beyond the movable heavens there is neither body, nor time, nor place, nor vacuum. But on this side of the heaven there are bodies, time, place, and, as it may seem to some, an empty place; for so the air is here called, over which, and not over any solid matter, for a foundation, God hath spread and stretched forth the heavens which are here called the north, because they are moved about the north pole; and besides, the north is held the upper part of the world, according to that of Virgil,

Mundus ut ad Scythiam Riphaeasque arduus arces

Cousurgit; premitur Libyae devexus ad austros.

Hence it is here put for the whole heaven which, held up by the word of God’s power, without any other props, leaneth upon the liquid air, the air upon the earth, and the earth upon nothing.

And hangeth the earth upon nothing]

Terra pilae similis, nullo fulcimine nixa,

Aero sublato tam grave pendet onus (Ovid. 6, Fasti).

The earth hangs in the midst of heaven, like Architas’ or Archimedes’ pigeon, equally poised with his own weight. Of this great wonder the philosophers, after much study, can give no good reason, because ignorant of this, that God hath appointed it so to be, even from the first creation, #Ps 104:5 Heb 1:2. The poets fable that Atlas beareth up heaven with his shoulders; but we confess the true Atlas, viz. the Lord our God, who by his word alone beareth up heaven and earth (This is the very finger of God, Aristotle himself admireth it, De Cael. 1. 2, c. 13); and it is here fitly alleged as an argument of his Almightiness. The greatness of this work of God appeareth hereby, saith Merlin, that men cannot spread aloft the thinnest curtain, absque fulcris, without some solid thing to uphold it.

Ver. 8. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds] Heb. Clouds, which yet have their name from thickness, because they arise from air condensed. In these God bottleth up the rain, and there keepeth it in by main strength (as the word signifieth), though those vessels are as thin and thinner than the liquor that is contained in them. This, duly weighed, were enough to convince an atheist, especially if he consider how.

The cloud is not rent under them] And so causeth a cataclism to drown the earth; as sometimes at sea, especially, great harm is done this way among the ships, by a water spout, as mariners call it, the Greek εξυδρια, and the Dutch Ein Wolckenbruch, or a breach of heaven; viz. when clouds cleave asunder, and discharge themselves all at once, for a great mischief to mankind. Now that God thus binds up these heavy vapours, and keeps them in the clouds, as a strong man in a cobweb, till brought by the winds whithersoever he pleaseth to appoint them, they drop upon the earth by little and little, to make it fruitful; this is a wonderful work of God, and should bring us to the knowledge of his power, wisdom, and goodness, #Ro 1:19,20 Job 38:37 Jer 5:22.

Ver. 9. He holdeth back the face of his throne] i.e. Of heaven, #Isa 66:1, which he soon overcloudeth and muffleth up, or masketh, with a veil. Mystically, by the face of his throne, we may understand the knowledge of his glory; for this is held from us so in this world, that we cannot perfectly know him as he is, but must content ourselves with a learned ignorance, #1Jo 3:3. Here darkness is, and will be, under his feet, #Ps 18:9.

And spreadeth his cloud upon it] It is fitly called his cloud, because, 1. It is his handiwork, #Ps 18:11 Ge 9:14 Job 28:26,27 37:15,16 38:9 Ps 104:5. His sun draweth up those vapours, which, being thickened in the middle region of the air by the cold encompassing and driving them together, become a cloud. 2. He used it of old as a sign of his glorious power and gracious presence with his people, #Ex 13:21 16:10 2Ch 5:13,14; and as a figure of Christ’s guiding and protecting his Church through the wilderness of this world, #Isa 4:5,6 3. He still rideth in state upon the clouds, #Isa 19:1. Christ was by a cloud coached up to heaven, #Ac 1:9, and shall come in like manner, #Re 1:7 10:1. We also shall then be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, #1Th 4:17.— O mora! Christe, veni.

Ver. 10. He hath compassed the waters with bounds] Decreto circinavit superficiem aquarum (Tremel.). He hath as it were with a pair of compasses drawn a circle about the sea, that it may not pass to drown the earth. Confer #Job 38:8,10,11 Ps 33:7 89:10 104:9 Pr 8:29. So he drew a circle round about the earth, #Pr 8:27, doing all with infinite wisdom, Pondere, mensura, numero, &c. He foundeth the earth not upon solid rocks, but fluid waters. And that it floateth not upon them, nor is shaken with them (as oft as there is a tempest in the ocean that begirteth it), neither yet is overflowed by them, this is the wonderful work of God. Aristotle in his book De Mirabilibus admireth it, and acknowledgeth God’s providence, which elsewhere he denieth. Terminum aquis prescripsit, saith Job here. And this either he had from Moses, #Ge 1:10, or, if he lived before Moses, as it is most likely he did, he had it, as he had many other things, by tradition from the fathers. Sailors tell us, that as they draw nigh to the shore, when they enter into a haven, they run as it were downhill. And yet men are said to go down (not up) to the sea in ships, #Ps 107:23. See a reason hereof in this text and #Ps 104:26. An vero non stupendum est? saith Lavater. But is it not a wonderful thing that so fierce an element, so huge a mass of waters, tossed by the winds, should be bounded and bridled by sands, confined and kept within their prescribed place and shore? Especially if the water be (as some affirm) ten times larger than the earth, the air than the water, the fire than the air.

Until the day and night come to an end] Heb. Until the consummation of light with darkness; that is, till time shall be no more, till the end of the world, when all things shall be let loose to devastation, and the sea shall overflow the land again, as that then it shall, some would gather from this text.

Ver. 11. The pillars of heaven tremble] i.e. The angels, say some, who tremble out of conscience of their own comparative imperfections. The best of saints on earth, say others (according to #Ga 2:9 Re 3:12 Pr 9:1,2), who tremble at God’s word, #Isa 66:2, and have many concussions by afflictions. But better understand the firmament of heaven, #Hag 2:6,7 Mt 24:29. The powers of heaven shall be shaken, they shall quake with the loud check of his thunderclaps. Or the high and mighty mountains, whereon the heavens seem to rest, as on so many pillars, shaken by earth, quakes, and sometimes with great astonishment removed out of their places.

And are astonished at his reproof] As all the beasts of the field are at the roaring of the lion; Ut quis a gravi et magnae potestatis vire, obiurgatus, tremit et vehementer solicitus est, as a slave chided by a prince trembleth, and is aghast.

Ver. 12. He divideth the sea with his power] i.e. With his strong winds causing tempests: see the like #Isa 51:15: so that it lieth as it were in ridges, the top of one wave far from another, #Jer 31:35. That was a strange thing that is reported to have fallen out at London the last week. On Monday, Aug. 14, 1654, by reason of the great winds the tide was so low in the Thames, that boys waded over it from one side to the other, the old watermen affirming they never saw it so before.

And by his understanding he smiteth through the proud] Heb. Pride, or Rahab, which is oft put for Egypt, as #Ps 87:4 89:10 Isa 51:9, whence some would have Pharaoh meant; others, the devil; others, the whale dashing against a rock, or driven to shore where he is taken; others, the proud waves of the sea, as #Job 38:11, disabled by God to stir more, as a man mortally wounded is to fight longer. An instance hereof we have in the history of Jonah, and another in the Gospel, #Mt 8:14. As God is powerful enough to raise storms, so he is wise enough to lay them again, #Ps 107:25,29. He hath the sea in as great awe as a giant hath a pigmy.

Ver. 13. By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens] Spiritu eius caeli sunt ipsa pulchritudo, By his Spirit the heavens are beauty itself, so Vatablus rendereth it, Adoravit, decoravit, pulchrefecit. Hinc κοσμος. That Three in One, and One in Three, wrought in the creation: see #Ps 33:6, "By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." Here Jehovah, his Word, and his Spirit, are noted to be the Maker of the world; so #Ge 1. The heathens had some blind notions hereof, as appeareth by Plutarch, who reporteth that in Thebe, a town of Egypt, they worshipped a God whom they acknowledged to be immortal; but how painted they him? In the likeness of a man blowing an egg out of his mouth; to signify that he made the round world by the spirit of his mouth. Upon the heavens especially God hath bestowed a great deal of skill and workmanship, as appeareth, #Heb 11:10 Ps 8:3, where heaven is called, The work of God’s fingers; a curious Divine work; a metaphor from them that make tapestry. Garnished it is with stars, as a palace is with stately pictures, besides the inward beauty, which is unconceivable. There is something of a Saphir in the Hebrew word here rendered garnished, and #Re 21:19 search is made through all the bowels of the earth to find out all the precious treasures that could be had, gold, pearls, and precious stones of all sorts; and what can these serve to? only to shadow out the glory of the walls of the New Jerusalem, and the gates, and to pave the streets of the city. See also #Isa 54:11,12.

His hand hath formed the crooked serpent] Enixa est, peperit, hath brought forth as by birth, hath formed the most deformed and dreadful creature in the earth; or those flaming dragons flying in the air (meteors I mean); or the constellation in heaven called the Dragon, between the two Bears, and not far from the north pole ( Est hoc sane maximum, et maxime conspicuum in caelo sidus, &c.); or, lastly, those sea dragons, the whales, which Mercer thinketh most likely to be here meant, and compareth #Isa 27:1 Ps 104:26 Job 40:20. Neither need we wonder, saith he, that the beginning of the verse is of heaven and the end of the sea; for Job would show and set forth two admirable works of God in two extremes of the world; viz. in heaven above, and in the waters under the earth; his power and wisdom shineth everywhere in the creatures, neither can a man easily look beside a miracle. Job, therefore, insisteth not long upon particulars, but, as one lost in the labyrinth of admiration at so great things, he thus shuts up:

Ver. 14. Lo, these are parts of his ways] Or rather, particles of his works. Extrema sunt viarum eius, so the Tigurines translate it; these are the ends, extremities, or utmost parts of them, the το γνωστον, as St Paul calleth it, that which may be known of God, per species creaturarum, #Ro 1:19,20, as the sun may be seen in the water after a sort; but in rota, circle, as the schools speak, in the circle wherein it runs, we are not able to behold him; so something of God may be seen in his works, in his word; his back parts we may see and live, as Moses, #Ex 33:18-20; his train in the temple, as Isaiah, #Isa 6:1

But how little a portion is heard of him?] Heb. What a littleness, or shred of a word or thing, is heard of him, Quam exiguitatem (Pis. cat.). Parvam stillam (Vulg.). ικμαδα (Sept.). Paucum de pauco, pusillum et parum admodum (Merc.). As when one heareth the latter end only of a sentence, that which the echo resoundeth, and no more; it is but a modicum, the main we cannot know, we are as narrow mouthed vessels: Ye are not able to bear what I have to say to you, saith Christ to his apostles, #Joh 16:12. And to the people he spake as they were able to hear, #Mr 4:33, and not as he was able to have spoken. Loquimur de Deo non quantum debemus, sed quantum possumus, saith Gratian the emperor, We speak of God, not so much as we should, but so much as we can (In Epist. ad Ambrose). We prophesy but in part, and what wonder, since we know but in part, #1Co 13:9. In human things the wisest men have professed that the greatest part of what they knew was the least of that they knew not; how much more in things divine? By no expressions do we so fully set forth God, saith Scaliger, as by those which set forth our ignorance. Our safest eloquence concerning God is our silence, saith learned Hooker.

But the thunder of his power, who can understand?] Heb. Of his powers; that is, his powerful thunder; which, while Alladius, king of the Latins, would by certain engines that he had made him imitate, he justly perished by a thunderbolt from heaven; his house also, wherein he had attempted so to do, was consumed with fire from heaven, as Dionysius Halicarnassus and Orosius testify. Some by thunder here understand God’s astonishing presence and utterance of himself. Others, his force and grandeur, his notable and thundering exploits, which shine all the world over, and to which, if all that have been instanced shall be compared, they will appear to be but as a few heat drops to a great shower of rain. He that shall go about to declare them shall be forced to say with the poet (Lucret.),

Claudicat ingenium, delirat linguaque, mensque.

Chapter 27

Ver. 1. Moreover Job continued his parable, and said] It was Zophar’s turn, and Job waited a while, as it was fitting, to see whether he or any other of them would take up the bucklers again against him; which, when they did not (having heard his high expressions concerning God’s power and providence, and haply having now a better opinion of him than before), he assuageth his grief by defending his innocence and maintaining his opinion, in the five following chapters. Here he is said, after some respite, to recount again his parable; which hath its name in Hebrew from lording it, and bearing sway, because allegories and figurative speeches bear away the bell, as they say, from plainer discourses; are more gladly heard, or read, sooner understood, and better remembered, לשׁמ Sermo figuratus prineipatum tenet, ac velar dominatur. The word rendered continued is, in the original, added to lift up; importing either that he spake now with courage, as we say, and with a greater emphasis, since having silenced his adversaries; or that he uttered himself in a higher style, and his matter were master sentences, maxims, axioms, speeches of special precellency and predominance; such as might well challenge a throne in the minds of all men.

Ver. 2. As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment] Job well knew the nature and end of an oath, which is to put an end to all strife and controversy among men, #Heb 6:16. For more authority’s sake, therefore, to his ensuing discourse, by taking God as witness in a matter of so great moment, and that his friends might the better believe him, he doubteth not to begin his speech with a private oath (for a public is that which is taken before a magistrate, who upon just cause may exact it), which, so it be sparingly and warily used, is not unlawful, as appeareth by the example of Jacob and Laban, Boaz and Ruth, Jonathan and David, sc. to help the truth in necessity, and when the other party will not otherwise be satisfied. But what meaneth Job to say that the God, whom he so solemnly taketh to witness, had taken away his judgment? Can the righteous Judge do otherwise than right? Or doth not the plaintiff know that he is punished less than his iniquities deserved? #Ezr 9:13. For answer Job was at present under a sore temptation, and being pressed out of measure above strength, he spake unadvisedly with his lips, and is afterwards barely told of it by Elihu, #Job 34:5. The best faith, if long tried, may flag and hang the wing. Moses at Meribah, David at Gath, Elijah under the juniper, sufficiently show that every new man is two men; that the flesh soon lusteth against the spirit, and that the best may have their outbursts; yet so as that the seed of grace still abideth in them, and some way shows itself; Job here, for instance. He complaineth of God’s severity, but stormeth not against him. He blustereth, but he blasphemeth not. He holdeth himself hardly dealt with by God; and yet while he so solemnly sweareth by him, he thereby acknowledgeth him a witness of his conscience, a patron of truth, a lover of right, an avenger of perjury, and, lastly, the author and arbiter of his life, which he resolveth rather to let go than his innocence: he can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth, #2Co 13:8.

And the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul] Heb. Hath embittered. Job should have remembered that bitter portions bring sweet health, and that το πικρον μικρον, the bitterness would soon be past; but he remembered only at present the affliction and the misery, the wormwood and the gall, #La 3:19. "Now no affliction (but especially soul affliction) for the present seemeth joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby," #Heb 12:11. But patient Job wanted patience to wait for that. Adeo nihil est in nobis magni, quod non queat minui; such failings are found in the very best.

Ver. 3. All the while my breath is in me] Periphrasis vitae, -Dum spiritus hos regat artas, While I have an hour to breathe, I will hold to this oath of mine; neither may you ever hope to dispute me out of mine integrity. Life is described by breath, which, when it faileth, the man dieth, #1Ki 17:17 Ps 146:4 Isa 2:22. Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, every moment ready to puff out. What is man, saith Nazianzen, but soul and soil, breath and body, a puff of wind the one, a pile of dust the other, no solidity in either? Jovinian, the emperor, was choked with the smoke of charcoal (Eutrop. Oros.); Pope Adrian with a fly, getting into his throat as he gaped; the cardinal of Lorrain was lighted to his lodging and to his long home both at once by a poisoned torch. Defer not, saith one, since at the next puff of breath thou mayest blow away thy life.

And the Spirit of God is in my nostrils] He seems to allude to #Ge 2:7, or some tradition of the fathers to like purpose; #Ac 17:25, God giveth to all life, and breath, and all things. And again, #Ac 17:28, "In him we live, and move, and have our being." Wherefore "let everything that hath breath praise the Lord," #Ps 150:6; yea, let every breath (as some read it) praise the Lord. Let it be as the smoke of the tabernacle, as pillars of incense ascending up to heaven. Tam Dei meminisse opus est, quam respirare (Chrysost.).

Ver. 4. My lips shall not speak wickedness] Which I should do, should I, contrary to that which the Spirit of God witnesseth to my conscience, through a feigned humility, confess that I have been wicked. Let God’s dejected servants take heed, lest by the temptation of Satan, and the misgivings of their own evil hearts of unbelief, they be drawn to belie the work of God’s Spirit in them, and to hold themselves utterly void of grace, because not endued with such and such measures of grace. Learn to distinguish between imbecility and nullity; show yourselves faithful in weakness, though but weak in faith. There is an allowance to gold, with which it may pass; neither is it to be cast aside because it wanteth some grains, and hath a crack. Nec vinum reiecimus et si faecem habeat, saith Spinaeus (de Instit. Christ.). God seeth nothing amiss in that man whose heart is upright, #2Ch 15:17. He lays the finger of mercy on the scars of his people’s sins, as that limner in the story. He will not crush, but cherish, that worm Jacob.

Nor my tongue utter deceit] No, for that were to speak wickedness, yea, to speak yourself wicked. For the remnant of Israel shall not, by betraying the truth, do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, #Zep 3:13. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie; so he was their Saviour, #Isa 63:8.

Ver. 5. God forbid that I should justify you] sc. By saying as you say; viz. that I am a hypocrite, and secretly guilty of some foul practices, for which I thus grievously suffer. I know nothing of this nature by myself, God forbid, Absit, res profana sit mihi. The Hebrew word signifies a profanation, or profane thing. It was the same they used when they rent their clothes at blasphemy.

Till I die, I will not remove mine integrity] My perfection, some render it; and so God accounteth it, when the bent, frame, and tendencies of the heart are for him; though the man’s wants be many and great. This Job knew, and would hold to. Let not the devil baffle us out of our integrity.

Ver. 6. My righteousness I hold fast] As with tooth and nail, yea, though it be to the loss of my teeth, Mordicus tenebo, as it befell that valiant Sir Thomas Challoner, who served, when he was young, under Charles V, in the expedition of Algiers, where, being shipwrecked, after be had swam till his strength and his arms failed him, at the length, catching hold of a cable with his teeth, he escaped, not without the loss of some of his teeth.

And will not let it go] sc. Upon your persuasions or suspicions, so long as the bird in my bosom continueth singing.

My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live] His heart must needs reproach him who habitually doth evil, what good show soever he doth make before men; and though he hide his wickedness with no less subtle sleights than once Rachel did the idols, Rahab the spies. Conscience is God’s spy, and man’s overseer. It is Index, Iudex, Vindex: neither is a body so torn with stripes as a mind with remembrance of evil actions. This Job knew, and would therefore keep his conscience clear. This was also St Paul’s greatest, both care, #Ac 24:16, and comfort, #2Co 1:12.

Ver. 7. Let mine enemy be as the wicked] q.d. I need wish my greatest enemy no greater harm than to be as the wicked, for then he is sure to be wretched. So far am I from saying that God favoureth the wicked, or that he always suffereth them to escape unpunished.

And he that riseth up against me, as the unrighteous] Or, froward and perverse. This is the same again in other words; and it is well noted to be a popular manner of speaking, wherein when men express an abomination of a thing, they wish it to their enemies; taking it for granted that the power of malice is so great that no man can express it in the wish of any particular evil. See the like phrase #2Sa 8:2,3 1Sa 25:26 Da 4:27.

Ver. 8. For what is the hope of the hypocrite, &c.] Here Job proveth himself to be no hypocrite, by his and their different character and carriage, especially under affliction. Though God kill Job, yet he will trust in him; but "what is the hope of the hypocrite?" &c. He that maketh a bridge of his own shadow must needs fall into the brook. The common hope thinks it takes hold of God; but it is but as a child that catcheth at the shadow on the wall, which he thinks he holdeth fast in his hand, but soon finds it otherwise; so shall the hypocrite at death, his hope shall be then as the giving up of the ghost, and that is but cold comfort. While he was in health, and had all well about him, he nourished strong hopes of God’s favour, and the rather because he gained and gathered wealth apace. So bladder like is the soul that is filled with earthly vanities, though but wind, it grows great, and swells in high conceitedness; but if pricked with the least pin of piercing grief (how much more when struck with death’s dart!) it shriveleth to nothing, and is ready to say, as one rich wretch did on his death bed, Spes et fortuna valete, Life and hope, adieu to you both at once.

Though he hath gained] Or, When he hath been covetous; raking together Rem, rem, quocunque modo rem. See this notably exemplified in that rich fool, #Lu 12:20, whose life and hopes ended together.

When God taketh away his soul?] Extrahet, Shall pull it out by violence, as a sword out of his sheath; when God shall make a breach upon their citadel, come upon them by forcible entry, turn them out of their cottages of clay, by a firmae eiectione, cut them in twain, as he did that evil servant, #Mt 24:50,51, tear their bodies and souls asunder, as a man teareth the bark from the tree, or the shell from the fish, leaving it naked. Where, then, shall be the high hopes of the hypocrite? And oh what a dreadful shriek giveth his guilty soul then, to see itself launching into an infinite ocean of scalding lead, and to consider that it must swim naked in it for ever!

Ver. 9. Will God hear his cry] Here is another distinctive note between a hypocrite and an honest man. As many are said in Daniel to cleave to the better side by flattery, so many false signs will come in, and flatter a man (when he is in health and prosperity), and give their testimony, speak the same thing that true evidences do; but this will not always hold.

When trouble cometh upon him?] Then the hypocrite will cry, and make pitiful moans; as a prisoner at the bar begs for his life. Then Joab and Adonijah will run to the horns of the altar, who till then little cared to come there. But with as ill success they cry to God as Saul did, #1Sa 28:15, and as other of David’s enemies did, #Ps 18:41; for either God answereth them not at all, #Eze 21:2,3, or else he answereth them according to the idols of their hearts, #Eze 14:3, gives them bitter answers, as #Jud 10:13,14. Or if better, it is for the good of others, and for a further mischief to themselves, that he may snatch away his own and be gone, #Ho 2:9, and that he may consume them after he hath done them good, #Jos 24:20: their preservation proverb but a reservation.

Ver. 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty?] viz. When trouble cometh upon him, as in the former verse. No, this is Christianorum propria virtus, a practice that none can skill of but God’s people, saith Jerome, to rejoice in tribulation, and then to continue instant in prayer, #Ro 12:12, for deliverance, with some confidence grounded upon former experience. Crux enim iis inuncta est, saith Bernard. Together with the cross, they have an unction from the Father; anointed they are with that oil of gladness, the Spirit of glory and of God, which resteth upon them, #1Pe 2:14, and refresheth them amidst all their sorrows and sufferings; and hence their delight in the Almighty, yea, though he frown and lay upon them, as he did upon Job, with his own bare hand. Not so the hypocrite; for what reason? he hateth God in his heart, as doth every evildoer, #Joh 3:20. Est enim talium poena Deus, utpote qui lux est: et quid talibus tam invisum? (Bernard.) God is light, and therefore hated as a punishment to such inauspicate night birds. He is holiness, but the hypocrite filthiness, as his name also importeth. How then can he delight himself in the Almighty? What complacence can there be, where is such an utter contrariety? They that love the Lord hate evil, #Ps 31:23, but so doth not any hypocrite; leave it he may, but not loathe it. Part with it he may (as Jacob did with Benjamin, lest otherwise he should starve; or as Phaltiel with Michal, lest he should lose his head), but his heart is glued to it still; he hath a month’s mind to be doing, if he dare. Finally, he is without faith, and therefore without joy and peace of conscience. And as for his spider web of hope, a little wind bloweth it down. The world hath his heart, and so the love of the Father cannot be in him, #1Jo 2:15. He leaneth upon the Lord, and saith, Is not the Lord among us? #Mic 3:11, yet is he rooted in the delights of life. Like as the apricot tree leaneth against the wall, but is fast rooted in the earth.

Will he always call upon God?] Heb. In every time? No, nor scarce at any time. Indeed, as beggars have learned to cant, so have some hypocrites to pray; #Isa 26:16, "They have poured forth a charm when thy chastening was upon them." "When he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and inquired after God," #Ps 78:34. But this was only a prayer of the flesh for ease, and not of the Spirit for grace. They spoke God fair (as the devil did Christ) only to be rid of him. Thus Pharaoh, when on the rack, roared out a confession, and called for a prayer. Joab, in danger of death, hangs on the horns of the altar. The captivated Jews fasted and prayed for seventy years, to get off their chains rather than their sins, #Zec 7:5, which Daniel therefore reckoned lost labour, #Job 9:13. But many wicked men, though in prosperity they have some short winded wishes (such as was that of Balaam, #Nu 23:10, wherewith compare that of David, #Ps 26:9, and see a difference), or perhaps are able by strength of wit and memory to pray handsomely; yet in adversity they set their mouths against heaven, as hunger bitten wolves, and howl upward; they curse their king and their God, and look upward, saith Isaiah, #Isa 8:21; they murmur and mutiny, as the Israelites in the wilderness; they ban and blaspheme, as did that Israelitish woman’s son, #Le 14:11, and Micah’s mother, #Jud 17:2. A parrot may be taught to talk like a man (histories tell us of one at Rome that could repeat the whole creed), but let him be but beaten, and he returns to his own natural harsh voice. So a hypocrite, while all goes well with him, may seem very devout at his orisons, but lay thy hand upon him (saith Satan to God concerning Job, presuming thereby to prove him a hypocrite), and he will curse thee to thy face, #Job 2:5. But say he be somewhat better conditioned, as they call it, and for a while pray to God for ease and help; yet he will not pray always, he will not persevere in prayer, follow on to pray, wait upon God for an answer, and be content to want it, if God see good to deny it. He cannot draw nigh to God "with a true heart" (such a heart as is well satisfied, if God may be glorified, though himself be not gratified) "in full assurance of faith," #Heb 10:22; which is, saith Brentius, Orationis medulla, the marrow of prayer. Hence St James calleth it "the prayer of faith," #Job 5:15. Afflictions cause a saint to seek out God’s promise, the promise to seek faith, faith to seek prayer, and prayer to find God; to find him at length, for he is a God that hideth himself, #Isa 45:15. But what saith faith? "I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him," #Isa 8:17. See this exemplified in the woman of Canaan, who fetched Christ out of his retiring room by the force of her faith, #Mr 7:24, and prayed on, though denied. She would not be said nay, or set down either with silence or sad answers, but showed herself a woman of a well knit resolution, such as could credere invisibilia, sperare dilata, et amare Deum se ostendentem contrarinm, as Luther speaketh: Believe things invisible, hope for things deferred, and love God when he shows himself most angry and opposite. Now this the hypocrite (who is an infidel) cannot skill of. He is short spirited, and cannot hold out in prayer, cannot, as our Saviour taught by that parable, #Lu 18:1, always pray, and not faint, εκκακειν, shrink back, as sluggards do in work, or cowards in war. Oratio est res ardua, et magni laboris, saith Luther. Prayer is a hard work, and a man must tug at it and stick to it, as Jacob did, who wrestled and raised dust, as the Hebrew word signifieth; he held fast, and hung on, yea, he held with his hands when his thigh was lamed. Let me go, saith God, bespeaking his own liberty. No, thou shalt not, saith Jacob, until thou bless me. Lo, such is the generation of them that seek God in sincerity, of them that seek thy face; this is Jacob, #Ps 24:6. "One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that I will seek after," saith David, #Ps 27:4. If his suit had not been honest, he would never have begun it; but being so, he will never give it over till he hath prevailed; he will pray till he faint, and then to it again, #Ps 119:81,82. "Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer," #Ro 12:12. So doth not the hypocrite, for want of an inward principle. If God come not at a call, he is out of patience, and ready to say, with that profane prince, #2Ki 6:33, "Behold, this evil is of the Lord; and what should I wait for the Lord any longer?" Away to the witch of Endor, to the god of Ekron. Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo. This Job would not do, and therefore no hypocrite.

Ver. 11. I will teach you by the hand of God] That is, by the help of God, συν Θεω, or concerning the hand of God, what is in the hand of the Lord (so the Septuagint), what things he is wont to do by his power, and what are his usual proceedings, his actual and efficacious providence, #Ac 4:28. Deo iuvante et subministrante facultates (Vat.).

That which is with the Almighty I will not conceal] Neque celabo, ut res divinae comparatae sint, so the Tigurines translate. Envious masters use to hide from their scholars the best and chiefest part of their skill. It is reported of that spotted beast, the lynx, that knowing that his urine will congeal into a precious stone, and so stand man in stead, of pure envy, when he pisseth he maketh a hole in the ground to cover it. Cardan, speaking of one that had a receipt that would suddenly and certainly dissolve a stone in the bladder, and died, not imparting his skill to any one, I doubt not, saith he, but that man went to hell, quod moriens, artem suam mortalibus inviserit, because he envied his skill to those that survived him. Job was none such: but what he knew of God’s mind and manner of dealing (which hath no certain law, nor invariable rule, but dependeth upon his mere pleasure) he was ready to impart to his friends, who measured God’s actions by a wrong rule.

Ver. 12. Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it] And can say as much to it as I can in these sc. that God afflicteth good men as well as bad, &c. Ecce autem cum vos omnes speculationibus (theologicis) operam dederitis, quare tam vanas opiniones habetis? So the Tigurine translation hath it; that is, But behold, whereas all ye have spent your time in theological speculations, how is it that ye have taken up such vain opinions? The Hebrew runs thus, Behold, you all have seen, or are seers (and he that is now called a prophet was before time called a seer, #1Sa 9:9), ye are knowing men, and of great experience, why then do ye go against your own knowledge, by speaking vainly and vilely notwithstanding?

Why then are ye thus altogether vain?] Heb. And why is this that ye are vain in vanity? sc while ye assert that God’s love may be known by prosperity, and his hatred by adversity; and while ye conclude me a hypocrite because afflicted? for so they had all done with one consent. Bildad, #Job 8:13; Eliphaz, #Job 15:34; and Zophar, #Job 20:5. When as yet Job had given sufficient proof to the contrary; the matter was clear enough; but they did, data opera, for the nonce, obscure it: this was a vanity of vanities, and Job tells them as much.

Ver. 13. This is the portion of a wicked man with God] q.d. So ye say, and so I say too; for herein I will not deny to comply and to chime in with you. Zophar had said the same in effect, and used the selfsame expressions that Job here doth, #Job 20:29. See the notes there. But must Job therefore be a hypocrite, though he continue to hope, and pray, and delight in God amidst all his miseries? #Job 27:8-10. Negatur. He had spoken much before of the wicked man’s prosperity; now, to prevent mistakes, he discourseth largely of his punishment, and how ill he beareth it.

And the heritage of oppressors, &c.] Of fierce and formidable tyrants, that are a terror to others. These are the rewards they shall receive from the God of recompences, the Almighty, who can well enough deal with them, and delights to get him a name in their just destruction.

Ver. 14. If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword] As were Ahab’s seventy sons, for instance, #2Ki 10:1, whom he had begotten after God had threatened to root out his posterity. He, therefore, as it were to cross the Almighty, gives himself so much the more strenuously to the work of generation; but this was (like Ephraim) to bring forth children to the murderer, #Ho 4:13. See the like of Ahaziah and his forty-two brethren slain at the shearing house. {#2Ki 10:14}

And his offspring] Heb. His issues, or egressions, his shoots or branches, his pledges: so Mercer rendereth it.

Shall not be satisfied with bread] i.e. Shall be pined and famished, which their wicked parents, by heaping and hoarding, sought to prevent, but it could not be. And this shall be a more cruel kind of death than the former, #La 4:9. Drusus, the son of Tiberius Nero, was put to this death; so was our Richard II, at Pomfret Castle; Sanders, that traitor in Ireland; and many others.

Ver. 15. Those that remain of him shall be buried in death] That is, shall be presently and privately buried (as some sense it), without any noise or notice. Or, they shall be so hated, that no man shall speak well of them when they are dead; but their name shall be buried, and shall rot with them: so others understand it. Or, they shall be buried alive; as was Zeno the emperor in a fit of an apoplexy. Sepelientur adhuc vivi moribundi (Vatab.). And when as he recovered of that fit in his sepulchre, and cried for help, his wife, Ariadne, was so kind as to deny it him. The like is recorded of Scotus, the great school man. Diodati saith, that by this being buried in death is meant that the wicked dying are plunged into everlasting death, which only is the true death, εν θανατω τελευτησουσι (Sept.). Agreeable whereunto is that phrase, #Re 2:23, "I will kill her children with death." It is one thing to die, and another thing to be killed with death; this last is the time when death proves a harbinger to hell, when it haleth hell at the heels of it. This is a woeful death indeed.

And his widows shall not weep] Mors mea ne careat lacrimis, saith one. Tears are one of the dews of the dead; but some men, as they have lived undesired (their friends and whole neighbourhood being sick of them, and even longing for a vomit), so they die unlamented by their own widows (for in those days men took many wives, as now the Turks do so many as they are able to maintain, and very coarsely they use them), who are glad that they are thus rid of them, who were wont to lay upon them with their unmanly fists, or otherwise to abuse them. Of King Edwin it is said, that he lived wickedly, died wishedly. And of Henry II, that hearing that his son and successor, John, had conspired against him, he fell into a grievous passion, both cursing his sons and the day wherein himself was born, and in that distemper departed the world which so often he himself had distempered, and had now every man’s good word to be gone hence. See #Jer 22:18.

Cum mors crudelem rapuisset saeva Neronem,

Credibile est multos Romanam agitasse iocos.

Ver. 16. Though he heap up silver as the dust] Silver and gold, what are they else but white and red earth, the guts and garbage of the earth, as one saith? Yet how greedy of them and gripple after them are many muck worms, heaping up riches, and not knowing who shall gather them, #Ps 39:6; laying up, as if their lives were riveted upon eternity; or were sure to leave it to their children, who yet shall never enjoy it. This is a great vanity, saith Solomon; and yet such dust heaps as these are to be found in every corner.

And prepare raiment as the clay] Tantum vestium quantum est luti, saith Vatablus, that he have as great store of suits in his wardrobe as he hath dirt in his ditches.

Ver. 17. He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on.] Well may he prepare it, so Broughton. Let the wicked man toil and take pains for it; God hath prepared for him an executor never mentioned in his will. God gave the Egyptians’ and Canaanites’ goods to Israel; Nabal’s to David; Haman’s to Mordecai. See #Pr 28:8 Ec 2:26. This plague among the rest God threateneth the disobedient with, #De 28:30. Sed haec non semper, saith Mercer, although we see not this always so to be, but the contrary; yet it is easy to observe that many spend their strength and waste their wits in congerendo et converrendo, in getting and gathering these outward things; and then, when to possess them might seem a happiness, they die and leave them to uncertain heirs, as did Absalom and Alexander the Great, who left his ring to Perdiceas, but his dominions, τω κρατιστω, to him that should best deserve them (Plut.).

And the innocent shall divide the silver] Shall share it among them, as their child’s portions. Soles enim Deus dividere aliis dona, aliis donorum usum et lucrum, saith Brentius here. God gives gifts unto men, even to the rebellious, but the use and enjoyment of those gifts he bestoweth upon the righteous. The former have "great treasure and trouble therewith," #Pr 15:16. Misera est magni custodia census (Juvenal). The latter have, howsoever, contented godliness; and though they gather less of this manna here below, yet they have no want.

Ver. 18. He buildeth his house as a moth] Which lodgeth itself in some stately garment, and thinks there to die in his nest, which he hath feathered (as the silkworm endeth his life in his long wrought clew), but is soon bruised or brushed out; so shall the oppressor be cast out of his sumptuous buildings, which he hath with much cost and care erected, rather for a moth than a man to dwell in. It is not unlawful to build houses; only men must not build them, as the moth doth, with loss and hurt to others. Tremellius reads the text thus, He shall build his house at Arcturus (so this word is translated, #Job 9:9), that is, a heavenly house, and as it were a second paradise. But God did not cast man out of one paradise that he should build him another. Haec sunt quae nos invitos faciunt mori, said Charles V to the duke of Venice (who had showed him his palace, which was very magnificent and majestic), These be the things that make us loth to die. The Turks’ private houses in Constantinople are for the most part low and base; they, after their homely manner (by long custom received), never build anything sumptuously for their own private use; but content themselves with their simple cottages, how mean soever; commonly saying, that they are good enough for the short time of their pilgrimage.

And as a booth that the keeper maketh] i.e. The keeper of the field, orchard, or vineyard, who setteth him up a booth, cabin, or cottage, to defend him from the parching heat of the sun, which lasteth only for one summer at utmost; so here, the experience whereof we have had abundantly in these late desolating wars; for how many gallant houses have been utterly ruined,

Ut praeter nomen solum, nihil amplius extet?

Ver. 19. The rich man shall lie down] That is, the wicked rich man, as #Jas 5:1. Magna cognatio ut rei sic nominis, divitiis, et vitiis. He shall lie down, viz. in the streets, as being left homeless.

But he shall not be gathered] i.e. Taken into house or harbour by any man; but abhorred by all for his former cruelty.

He openeth his eyes, and he is not] He looketh about him on every side, but findeth no succour. There are that understand it of death: The rich man shall lie down, sc. in the dust of death; but shall not be gathered, that is, nec honorifice funerabitur; he shall not have the honour of a comely burial (Tigur.). Besides, he openeth his eyes, and he is not; upon his death bed he looks about for comfort (the mole, they say, never openeth her eyes till the pangs of death are upon her); but instead thereof shall see that threefold terrible spectacle, death, judgment, hell, and all to be passed through by his poor soul; hence, and no wonder.

Ver. 20. Terrors take hold on him as waters] Abundantly, suddenly, irresistibly; he is even swallowed up by them and overwhelmed; as he that is plunged into a deep pit full of water, or that hath the proud surges going over his soul, #Ps 124:5. The misery of it is, that these waters are fiery, and hell is a lake; but a burning lake, and such also as hath eternity to the bottom.

A tempest stealeth him away in the night] i.e. Furtim, et repente et horribiliter. Night is itself full of terror; but much more when a tempest is up, and thieves are abroad, &c. Oh! it must needs be a terrible time indeed, when death shall come with a writ of Habeas corpus, and the devil with another of Habeas animam upon a man at once. Petrus Suetorius speaketh of one that preaching a funeral sermon on a certain canon at Paris, and giving him large commendations, heard at the same time a voice in the church, Mortuus sum, iudicatus sum, damnatus sum, I am dead, judged, and damned (Pet. Suetor. de Vit. Carth). Oh! let us but think with ourselves, though it pass all thought, what a screech the poor soul giveth when hurled into hell; there to suffer such tortures and torments as it shall never be able to avoid or abide!

Ver. 21. The east wind carrieth him away] Deus subito et severo suo iudicio (Lavat.). God, by his sudden and severe judgment, hurrieth him hence to the place of torment, without the least hope of ever either mending or ending.

And he departeth] But with as ill a will as ever did Lot out of Sodom; Adam out of Paradise; the Jebusites out of Jerusalem; the unjust steward out of his office; the devil out of the demoniac.

And as a storm hurleth him] Turbinat eum, tosseth him like a ball into a far country, as if he were wherried away by a fierce whirlwind, or served as pastime for tempests.

Ver. 22. For God shall cast upon him, and not spare] But set himself to inflict upon this cursed caitiff all the plagues written and unwritten in his book, full vials of vengeance; an evil, an only evil, even punishment without pity, misery without mercy, sorrow without succour, crying without comfort, mischief without measure, torments without end, and past imagination.

He would fain flee out of his hand] But that will not be; like a wretched caitiff, he runs without resting, but God’s hand pursueth him till he perisheth. He may shuffle from side to side, as Balaam’s ass did; he may skip up and down, as the wounded deer; Sed haeret lateri lethalis arundo, the deadly dart sticks in his side, &c.

Ver 23. Men shall clap their hands at him, &c.] Heb. He shall clap, &c. Every he shall, or God shall, as some read it. God shall kick him off this stage of the world, and then men shall clap and hiss at him in sign of detestation; as they did once at Sejanus, Phocas, Richard III, whose miseries were a part of other men’s happiness, who looked upon them as wolves and public pests.

Chapter 28

Ver. 1. Surely there is a vein for the silver] For there is a vein, &c., so Tremellius readeth it. But here is no reason rendered of God’s heavy judgments on the wicked, last discoursed of; but the unsearchableness of God’s wisdom, and the righteousness of his proceedings asserted, while some bad men prosper, and some good men suffer. The reason whereof lieth hid (as a river that runneth underground) from the natural man (and in part, from the spiritual also), be he never so perspicacious or industrious in prying into Nature’s secrets. The silver vein lieth very low, and far out of sight; yet is found out and known; as also is the art of fining it. This art was soon learned in the world; and mortals were quickly become metallaries. Effodiuntur opes, &c. (Ovid). A great part of their skill they might have from Adam, according to that of the Divine chronologer, Ex Adami sapientissimi Doctoris ore promanavit, tanquam ex fonte, quicquid in mundo est utilium doctrinarum, disciplinarum, scientiae et sapientiae. He that knew so much before his fall (far more than ever Solomon did) of Nature’s most hidden mysteries, who can doubt that afterwards also he retained and imparted to his nephews a great deal of abstruse and rich skill? such as was this here instanced, and afterwards by Cicero, among others, celebrated in his second book, De Nat. Deor., where, discoursing about men’s witty inventions, he saith among other things, Nos aeris, argenti, auri venas penitus abditas invenimus, &c., We have found out the veins of brass, silver, gold, and other metals, though deeply hidden in the bowels of the earth. Some of the ancients have wished that we had never found out these metals, because of the great abuse of them. Josephus saith that Cain heaped up great store of them. Strabo saith, that Phaletius feared lest, in digging for gold and silver, men would dig themselves a new way to hell, Et Plutonem brevi ad superos adducturos, and bring up the devil among them (Geog. l. 5). Some say that he haunteth the richest mines, and will not suffer them to be searched. Sure it is, that, by the inordinate love of these metals, he drowneth many a soul in perdition and destruction, #1Ti 6:9,10 Auri sacra fames, &c. So subject they are to sin, as that God made a law to have them purified before he would have them used by his people, #Nu 31:22,23, &c., who should herein have the mind of those Persians, #Isa 13:12,17, which regarded not silver, nor were desirous of gold. If Satan offered them these outward things in a temptation, they should answer him, as Abraham did the king of Sodom, with a "God forbid that I should," &c., #Ge 14:23, and send them away from whence they came; as Pellican sent back the silver bowl sent him by the bishop for a token with this answer, Astricti sunt quotquot Tiguri cives, &c., All the inhabitants of our city are sworn not to take any gift from a foreign prince (Melch. Adam). Or as that noble marquis Caracciolus answered the Jesuit, who tempted him with money to revolt from the reformed religion, and to return to Italy, Let their money perish with them, who esteem all the gold in the world worth one day’s society with Jesus Christ, &c. Let it be remembered, that gold is that which the basest element yields, the most savage Indians get, servile apprentices work, Midianitish camels carry, miserable muckworms admire, covetous Jews swallow, unthrifty ruffians spend. Gold makes many men run quick to the devil on an errand; yea, sell their souls to him, as Pope Sixtus V did, for seven years’ enjoyment of the popedom. "But thou, O man of God, flee these things," &c., #1Ti 6:11, and while others lay fast hold on these base and bootless businesses, lay thou hold on eternal life, #Job 28:12. But this by way of passing only.

And a place for the gold where they fine it] Or, From whence they fine it; or, Which they refine. The Spaniards are said to have found in the mines of America more gold than earth. It is accounted of metals the most precious; but it is opinion that sets the price upon it. The only material of money among us is gold and silver; but among the Roman provinces it was most times brass, sometimes leather, Corium forma publica impressum (Seneca). The like is said to have been used here in England in the time of the barons’ wars. And why not? since, A.D. 1574, the Hollanders then being in their extremities, made money of paste board. Who the first man was that made money of gold, Pliny saith is uncertain. But Herodotus writeth, that the Lydians were the first coiners of gold and silver for that use. And Pliny, that Cadmus, the Phoenician, was the first that found gold; viz. at the hill Pangaeus, in Thracia; a place that aboundeth with gold and silver, as Herodotus testifieth. But so did Havilah (afterwards called Susiana, in East India) long before Cadmus was born, #Ge 2:11. Near unto this land of Havilah, Solinus saith, were two islands, called Chryse and Argyre, that is, the golden and silver islands, because they were so full of those richest metals, Ut plerique eas aurea sola prodiderint et argentea habere, that many have affirmed the soil thereof to be of gold and silver. Junius thinketh that Solinus and Pliny called this land of Havilah (by mistake of letters) Babytace, the inhabitants whereof, saith Solinus, through hatred of gold, for the hurt it doth mankind, buy up and bury very deep in the earth all the gold they can get. Like as Crates, the Theban philosopher, is said to have cast his gold into the sea for a similar reason, as he pretended when he said, at the same time, Abite malae cupiditates: ego vos mergam, ne ipse mergar a vobis, but indeed, for a name, as Jerome rightly judgeth; calling him therefore, Gloriae animal, popularis aurae vile mancipium, a vain glorious fool (Hier. ep. ad Julian consolat.). There is no hurt in having these metals, so we love them not; so they do not get within us, as #Lu 11:41; so we make not our gold our god, nor say to the fine gold, "Thou art my confidence," #Job 31:25, Divites magis aurum suspiciunt quam caelum (Minut. Octav.).

Ver. 2. Iron is taken out of the earth] That is, out of the irony vein, which is said to be a drossy kind of earth, not sufficiently digested and hardened to make a stone. Of the generation of these inferior metals, see Pliny and the chemists; who yet are not to be hearkened unto when they tell us, that by their art they can turn these baser metals into gold, since they are here distinguished by their place, matter, form, &c. Neither is gold the end of other metals, every one of which is perfect in its kind; and, besides, the essence of everything is indivisible, and the use diverse. Iron can do that which gold and silver cannot. Historians tell us, that Alexander’s old soldiers, armed with shields of iron, conquered a great part of the world. But when, as growing rich, they made them shields of silver, and were there hence called Argyraspides, they were basely beaten by those whom they had formerly subdued. The first inventors of iron and brass Pliny will have to be the Chalybes, or Cyclopes. Diodorus, the Idaei, Dactyli, or Vulcan. Vulcanum, inquit, ferri, aeris, argenti, auri, omniumque quae igne fabricantur, artem invenisse, ferunt (Diod. Sic. 1. 6). And surely if Vulcan were the same as Tubalcain (as various commentators will have it), Diodorus was not far from the truth; for he taught men to work in brass and iron, #Ge 4:22. Iron they had before, and the art of using it; how else could they have ploughed the accursed earth? But this man added to their skill by his invention, he sharply and wittily taught smith’s craft, and is therefore by the heathens feigned to be the god of smiths.

And brass is molten out of the stone] That is, out of the ore, which is like a stone, and is called cadmia, as Junius here noteth, perhaps from Cadmus, whom Pliny maketh the first that invented the use of these metals, which Aristotle ascribeth to Lydus, the Scythian, Theophrastus to Delas, the Phrygian. It is probable that these were the first that showed their countrymen the use of these metals, and so were by them accounted the first authors of what was elsewhere found out long before. Some render the text thus, And the stone is melted into brass; that is, by melting, is turned into brass. Many are of the opinion that there was anciently an art of melting stones, which is now lost. Brass is, as it were, incorporated into stone or harder matter; but forced forth by the heat of fire: Aes in mediis lapidibus latet: sed ignis vehementia lapides aeris usque adeo torquentur ut veluti flumen aes effundant (Bren.). Hence the Vulgate Latin thus rendereth this hemistich, Lapis solutus calore, in aes vertitur, The stone, dissolved by heat, is turned into brass. So excellently doth Job here set forth the nature of these chief metals, as Mercer would have us to take notice.

Ver. 3. He setteth an end to darkness] i.e. He (viz. the miner) brings light down into the dark entrails of the earth, and fetches out those metals that had long lain hid there, and that else would never have been beheld. Though Nature hath taken pleasure, as one speaketh, to hide all these metals, yet industry provideth man of certain marks for to discover them, and infallible conjectures to know the time when they must be drawn out of their darkness. Habent metallici suas virgas metallicas, Metal workers have their metal rods, whereby they search into and distinguish between metals and minerals.

Quasque recondiderat, Stygiisque admoverat undis,

Effodiuntur opes irritamenta malorum (Ovid. Metam.).

And searcheth out all perfection] sc. That is to be found in those subterraneous cells, in that bosom and bottom of the earth; the utmost that is there to be had he thoroughly eviscerateth, digging many yards underground, where nothing is to be seen but a deadly shade; Ex cuius horrore mori quis posset; enough to frighten one to death; beside the deadly damps, which suddenly breaking out of the veins of the earth, do sometimes choke the workmen.

The stones of darkness, &c.] That is, the darkest stones that lie lowest of all in the earth’s bowels, whither one would wonder how any man should ever come; and especially how the sun and stars should come by their influences to make those metals, and the precious stones, that are engendered and bred in the darksome and deadly vaults of the earth.

Ver. 4. The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant] Broughton rendereth it, from the spring. Others, Erumpit fluvius iuxta accolam, A river breaketh out near to the inhabitant; that is, to the miner, who is forced to leave the place, till by buckets, wheels, and other fit devices, the pits be cleared, so that they may start working again. Illae ergo utribus praegrandibus ex multis bovum coriis consutis indefesso labore exhauriuntur, adhibitis ad eam rem rotis et machinis idoneis (Merl.).

Even the waters forgotten of the foot] Broughton, Unkenned of any foot. Brentius, Quas nemo pedibus vadare possit. Unfordable waters, deep and dangerous. To which purpose also the Tigurines translate the following words (They are dried up, &c.) thus, Superant etiam hominis staturam, et qui poterant vadari? They are above the height of a man, and how could they be waded through? But better,

They are dried up, &c.] Heb. They are drawn up, or diminished.

They are gone away from men] Mortalis opera (Trem.); by such means as men use, and are unweariable. Κερδαινοντες ου κοπιωμεν, saith a Greek father, What pains will not men take for gain and emolument?

Per mare pauperiem fugiunt, per saxa, per ignes (Horat.).

Ver. 5. As for the earth, out of it cometh bread] That is, grain. Alma Tellus, plentifully yieldeth those precious fruits of hers, as they are called, #Jas 5:11, Fertilis et ferax (Vatab.). These fruits lie hidden in the seed for a season; and so doth likewise fire in the flint (whereof some understand the following words), yet are they brought at length into the light.

And under it is turned up as it were fire] That is, materials of fire, as coals of, &c., or brimstone, which hath fire in it, and doth sometimes take fire in the mines; or gold, which is to be tried in the furnace, and various sparkling stones created from a sulphureous matter, such as is that which Pliny and Isidore call pyrites persicus, and tell us, that if it be held hard in a man’s hand it burneth. As also that which Hiarchas in Philostratus calleth pantarbe which burneth with a kind of sweet brightness, saith that author, that dazzleth the eyes of the beholder, and hath a strange attractive virtue. Thus it sometimes happens that the upper part of a ground is fruitful, and brings forth grain and grass, and underneath are precious stones and metals. But commonly where there is gold below there is the barrenest soil above. God and nature thereby teaching us, that where the love of money (that root of all evil) groweth there is no good to be found. A harvest may as well be looked for in a hedge as true grace in a gold thirsty heart.

Ver. 6. The stones of it are the place of sapphires] Which are excellent stones, and, therefore, here joined with gold, Quod punctis aureis collucant, because they shine with golden sparklings. #Ex 24:10, the Sanhedrim "saw the God of Israel, and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone," &c. To show, saith one, that God had now changed their condition, their bricks made in their bondage to sapphire. So, #Isa 54:11, God graciously promiseth unto his afflicted Church, that had been tossed with tempests, and not comforted, to lay her stones with fair colours and her foundation with sapphires; to make her windows of agates, and her gates of carbuncles, and all her borders of pleasant stones; to render her all glorious within, by the curious enamel and embroidery of holy graces, and to beautify also and bespangle her with outward plenty and prosperity, that she might glitter in the eyes of God and men.

And it hath dust of gold] Or, ore of gold; better than that which our Frobisher, in his voyage to discover the strait, brought back with him; from which, when there could be drawn neither gold nor silver, nor any other metal, we have seen it cast forth to repair the highways, saith Mr Cambden.

Ver. 7. There is a path which no fowl knoweth] That is, say some, those places where this gold lieth are so barren, as they bring forth nothing else but gold, nothing for fowls to feed upon, no, not discernible by the eye of the vulture, which excelleth in seeing afar off, and smelleth out his prey at a very great distance (Albert. Dionys. Aquin.). But men make their ways even here, to dig and find out gold, being herein more perspicacious and sagacious than the very vultures. The covetous would do well to consider, saith a good author, that for the most part those countries that are furnished with gold are destitute of better provision, both temporal and spiritual; that it lieth furthest from heaven, and the best of it in India, furthest from the Church; that though Adam had it in the first paradise, #Ge 2:11,12, yet in the second we shall not need it; but God shall be our gold, and we shall have plenty of that which is better than silver, #Job 22:25. That wise men have esteemed it as the stones of the streets, #2Ch 9:27, and that the children of wisdom might not possess it in their purses, #Mt 10:9; that wicked men have the most of it as their portion, #Ps 17:14, and that the devil danceth in rich and pleasant palaces, #Isa 13:21,22, &c.

And which the vulture’s eye hath not seen] Or, the kite’s eye, or the pie’s, or the chough’s, which yet is said to be sitiens auri, desirous of gold, and to hide it when she hath gotten it, though she can make no use of it. Some good interpreters by this path in the text understand the mines themselves, those underground places, as far underground as the fowls fly above ground; and that are by them and the most prey seeking beasts unknown and untrod; yet thither goeth the miners, by his skill and industry, letting in both light and vital air, Quem follibus arte mirifica e sublimi deducit, ut respirent artifices, et alantur lucernae, which with wonderful art he by bellows bringeth from above into those low holes, that the workmen may breathe, and the lights may be kept burning.

Ver. 8. The lion’s whelps have not trodden it] Heb. The children of pride, {see #Job 41:34} that is, saith Vatablus, belluae truces et immanes, fierce and cruel creatures, which yet pass through mountains and valleys and vast forests, but come not under ground, where these metals are; that is no part of their walk. Where the Vulgate had, his filii institorum here, Sons of the hucksters, Mercer cannot imagine, and his best patrons are hard put to it to defend him.

Nor the fierce lion passed by it] Heb. The huge lion. There are seven names of lions observed in Scripture, whereof here are two in this verse, of like sound the one to the other. The Tigurines render it here, the leopard; the Vulgate Latin, the lioness; and his paraphrast hath the whole verse thus, Those wild beasts, whose savage humour searcheth out the most solitary places, could never yet find them; and the lionesses, which run everywhere when they have lost their little ones, have never approached them.

Ver. 9. He putteth forth his hand upon the rock] "He," that is, mortal man, the miner, #Job 28:4 (not God, as Mercer would have it), "putteth forth his hand"; sc. to dig down these rocks, that he may come at that treasure, and make himself master of that spoil that is hidden in their entrails.

Nil tam difficile est, quod non sollertia vincit.

Alexander the Great being asked, How he so soon overran the universe? answered, I never held anything impossible to be achieved. When he had heard of anything dangerous to be done, or unlikely, he would the rather set upon it, and say, Iam periculum par animo Alexandri, This is an enterprise fit for an Alexander. So of Julius Caesar (who had in his time taken a thousand towns, conquered three hundred nations, taken prisoners a million of men, and slain as many) sings the poet (Lucan),

— Caesar in omnia praeceps,

Nil actum credens, dum quid superesset agendum,

Fertur atrox. —

Difficulty doth but whet on heroic spirits; it wakeneth, but not any way weakeneth, the courageous and industrious. Hannibal made his way through the Alps by breaking down a huge rock putrefied with fire, and vinegar poured thereon. Hence Juvenal,

Opposuit natura Alpemque nivemque

Deduxit scopulos, et montem rupit aceto.

He overturneth the mountains by the roots] Or, he turneth it up at the roots of the mountains; sc. which he mineth, by the obstinace of his labour.

— Labor improbus omnia vincit.

Δεινος και παντολμος της φιλοχρηματιας ερως, saith Isidore, the love of money is daring and desperate.

Ver. 10. He cutteth out rivers among the rocks] i.e. By cleaving hardest rocks, he draws in store of water to wash the inward parts of the earth, that he may see what gold lieth hidden there; as also, to wash and purge his metals, which require much washing. This is the work of his hands. And then for his eye, and as a reward of his labour (for the diligent hand maketh rich, #Pr 10:4, and in all labour there is profit, #Pr 14:23).

His eye seeth every precious thing] Heb. Every price; or, All preciousness. Whatsoever is rare, so Tremellius rendereth it. His house is filled with all precious and pleasant riches, #Pr 24:4. Dii laboribus omnia vendunt, said the heathens, God sells all good things to men for their pains taking.

Ver. 11. He bindeth the floods from overflowing] Heb. From weeping; that is (by an elegant metaphor), from distilling and dropping, as those underground waters use to do; but the miner bindeth them; that is, he dammeth them up, and diverteth them, that they may not fall into his pit and mar his work. Thus he removes all blocks, and devours all difficulties, and all for a little pelf, which perisheth in the use, and will rather hinder from than help men to heaven. How much more should we labour for the true treasure, the pearl of price, the one thing necessary? &c. Si tanti vitreum, quanti veram margaritam? (Tertul.). All those outward things are nec vera, nee vestra, as Austin elegantly; they are neither true riches, nor ours, but another’s, as our Saviour telleth us, #Lu 16:12. Aristotle also teacheth us, That wise men may get riches, but not make it their business, Αλλ´ ου τουτ εστι περι ου σπουδαζουσι (Polit. lib. 1). Brentius reads this text, Perplexa fluminum gyrat, He turneth about the crooked rivers, putting them into a new channel, that he may get the gold and precious stones that lie in the bottom; for there are some gold flowing rivers; such as are Ganges in India, Pactolus in Asia, Tagus in Spain, the Rhine in Germany, &c.

And the thing that is hid he bringeth to light] Contrary to the design of nature, he revealeth her secrets, and discovereth all that she hideth by this raking out of her riches, and making those things that lie couchant in her bowels as common as if they grew above ground.

Ver. 12. But where shall wisdom be found?] Here is now the other part of the antithesis, and the second part of the chapter, which is not as hard as the former was. Wisdom is either natural or spiritual, #1Co 2:11-15, earthly or heavenly, #Jas 3:15 The wisdom here inquired after is supernal and supernatural; such as can neither be found upon the earth or dug out of it; such as cannot be fathomed or found out by human abilities or by natural reason. "But God revealeth it unto his by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God," #1Co 2:10. And with this heifer must all those plough that will find out his riddles. Lucisci et qui hebeti sunt visu, saith Vives, Those that are weak sighted and sand blind, if at any time they look wishly upon anything with desire to see it the better, they see it so much the worse, and not as well as they did before (Lud. Viv. in Aug. de C. D., l. 22, c. 6). Think the same of the most acute and perspicacious naturalist; when he comes to look into the things of God, he is not only sand blind, but stark blind, #1Co 2:14, he will not see (and, therefore, who so blind?), he hath an antipathy to Divine truths; he loveth the law better than the gospel, and any truth better than the law. And as for this high point of heavenly wisdom (called here ills sapientia, with an emphasis), whereby is understood that God’s judgments are all just, even then when he afflicteth the godly and prospereth the wicked, he cannot comprehend it, or yield to it; but is ready to turn flat atheist upon it, as Averroes did; denying the Divine providence, and conceiting that all things were carried on by fate and fortune. Job’s enemy like friends herein were no wiser than they should be, when they thus rashly censured him for wicked, because afflicted; and presumptuously took upon them to give a reason of God’s proceedings in his various dispensations with as much confidence as if they had been of God’s privy council, whereas they should have considered, that God’s judgments are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out; and that he who herein is scholar to his own reason is sure to have a fool to his master.

And where is the place of understanding] As there is no vein to be found of the Divine wisdom, so neither any known place (like there is for gold, silver, precious stones) where it ought to be sought, save only of God by prayer, #Jas 1:5. Man, whatsoever good success he hath in the before mentioned searches, he is not as happy nor dextrous in that of Divine understanding. Epiphanius resembleth him to the mole, which doth all his work underground; but if once he be brought above ground, as he is stark blind, so is he every way a weak and contemptible creature. The best that are seen but in part, and are sometimes at a loss about the reason of God’s most righteous proceedings, which men must mirari, et non rimari, silently adore, and not overly curiously search into. There is a learned ignorance, saith Calvin, of those things, quae scire nec datur, nec fas est, which it is neither granted us nor fit for us to know; and in this the very desire of knowledge is a kind of madness. Let that saying of Xenophanes be remembered: There is no great difference whether a man set his feet or his eyes in another man’s house without his permission. Arcana Dei sunt arca Dei, God’s secrets are God’s ark; pry not, lest ye come halting home for so doing (Plut. de Curiositat.).

Ver. 13. Man kaoweth not the price thereof] Or, the order thereof, in what manner and method God proceedeth; no, though in other things he knew as much as Homer did, of whom one saith that he was πανσοφος, και παντα τα ανθρωπεια επισταμενος, a man that knew all human affairs; or as Aristotle did, whom some have called an eagle fallen from the clouds; or as Jerome, quem nullum scibile latuit, who knew all that was knowable; or as Bishop Andrew, whom one calleth (but how truly I inquire not) a gulf of learning. Sure it is that man, sorry man, knoweth neither the price of Divine wisdom, for it is invaluable; nor the place of it, for it is investigable; nor the order of it, for that is unattainable till we come to heaven; there being a wheel within a wheel, #Eze 1:16, and providence shall one day be unriddled.

Neither is it found in the land of the living] That is, here upon earth, by any human wit or industry. In other texts of Scripture the time while we live in this world is called, the day, #Joh 9:4, and the light of the living, #Ps 56:13, in opposition to death, which is called, a land of darkness, as darkness itself, #Job 10:22, where they that inhabit are said to be free among the dead, #Ps 88:5, free of that company. See #Isa 38:11. None but those that live spiritually, and have senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil, #Heb 5:14, can see anything of the worth of this wisdom so as to seek after it as silver, and prize it above gem; for ignoti nulla cupido, men covet not what they value not. Now the cock on the dunghill knows not the price or place of this inestimable jewel, and, therefore, slights it. Those epicures especially, qui suaviter vivunt, as the Vulgate here translateth, who live in pleasure upon earth, and are wanton, #Jas 5:5.

Ver. 14. The depth saith, It is not in me] It is not to be had above ground, may some say; but what, underground? Not there either, saith Job; for the abyss saith, that is, if it could speak, it would surely say, "It is not in me"; and the sea gives us the same verdict: dig to the centre of the earth, dive to the bottom of the sea, you shall hear no tale or tidings of her; she neither groweth with gold and precious stones in the earth, nor with pearls and coral in the sea; we must be taught by God, and the Holy Spirit must join himself to our chariot, as Philip did to the eunuch’s, #Ac 8:29; he must teach us this wisdom from above, or we can never learn it, #Isa 54:13. A man may read the figure on the dial, but he cannot tell how the day goes unless the sun shine upon the dial; we may read over the book of the creature, and the book of the Scripture, but we cannot learn to purpose till the Spirit of God shine into our hearts, #2Co 4:6. The gospel is full of jewels; but they are locked up from sense and reason, #1Co 2:10. The angels in heaven are searching into these sacred depths, #1Pe 1:12, and know not as much but they would fain know more of this manifold wisdom of God, πολυποικιλος, #Eph 3:10, that hath such an abundance of curious variety in it, as the word there signifieth, even such as is seen in the best pictures or textures.

Ver. 15. It cannot be gotten for gold] Non emitur, nec aestimatur, it is not purchased or procured with money, as other learning may ( en precium et praestantiam sapientiae). "With a great sum obtained I this freedom," said that colonel, #Ac 22:28. So may many say of their learning, they have sufficiently paid for it. Cleanthes parted with all he had for learning; Plato gave thirty thousand florins for three books; Reuchlin gave the Jew that taught him Hebrew a crown for every hour’s pains; Jerome got his skill in that language with the hazard of his life, and held it a good bargain. But here is no such trading. See #Ac 8:18-20. Fie (quoth that rich and wretched cardinal, when he saw he must die), will money do nothing? will not death be hired? may not heaven be purchased? No, no, God is no money merchant; his kingdom is not partum, wealthy, but paratum, the prepared, #Mt 25:34, his grace is gratuitous; #Mt 13:11, To you it is given (and what more free than gift?) to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God. And to you it is given, freely given, on behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, &c., #Php 1:29. That proud merit monger that said, Gratis non accipiam, I will not have grace or glory of free cost, could not but go without both (Vega).

Ver. 16. It cannot be valued] Heb. Thrown on the ground, as wares were wont to be, and are yet, when they are set to sale, and to be prized or valued.

With the gold of Ophir] The word here rendered gold is not the same as that in the former or those in the following verses. Five different times gold is here mentioned (because so highly prized among men), and in four different words. Jerome on #Jer 10 observeth that the Hebrew have seven different words for gold; and five different sorts are here instanced. That here mentioned is a special name for the most resplendent and glistering gold, #Ps 45:9 Da 10:5 So 5:11. Of it comes Michtam of David, or David’s golden psalm, #Ps 16:1, his ingot of gold. Broughton thinks it to be no Hebrew word, but the name of gold in Ophir; Obrizium dictum volunt, quasi Ophirizium. Ophir is Peru, say some; others, an island in the Indies, where the most precious gold was to be had, called also gold of Parvaim, #2Ch 3:6. This is supposed to be in Havilah, #Ge 2:11. It is called perfections of gold, #2Ch 4:21.

With the precious onyx, or the sapphire] The onyx is a stone said to be found in the river Ganges, and to be of a white colour, like the white of a man’s nail, whence it hath its name. See of it, Plin. lib. 37, cap. 4; Boet. Hist. Gem. lib. 2, cap. 90. The sapphire is a stone of a sky coloured blue, or of a light coloured purple.

Ver. 17. The gold and the crystal cannot equal it] For crystal some read diamond, others adamant. It hath its name from its purity and transparency. Junius rendereth it therefore nitidissima gemma. It seems to be, saith one, the last attempt of nature, and makes us find heaven on earth.

And the exchange of it shall not be for jewels (or vessels) of fine gold] Of phez gold, so Broughton renders it, Vas auri puri puti, and would have it come from Fesse, in Barbary. The Arabians now call gold phes. Of this solid fast gold were made many precious jewels or vessels, like that French coin in the historian, in qua plus formae quam ponderis, in which was not so much weight as workmanship: #Pr 25:11, "Apples of gold in lattices of silver"; or put in a case of silver cut work.

Ver. 18. No mention shall be made of coral] No talk of coral or carbuncle, of pearl, or any other the rarest and richest jewels in all the world. We read of Cleopatra, that vying with Antony in luxury, she drunk up a pearl of incredible price dissolved in vinegar; and of Charles, duke of Burgundy, that in the fight at Nansey, he lost a diamond of that worth, ut eo tota aliqua regio emi posset, that therewith a man might have bought a whole country (Macrob. Sat. lib. 5, cap. 17; Alsted. Chronol.). It was afterwards set in the pope’s triple crown; but no way worthy to be mentioned in the same day with wisdom.

For the price of wisdom is above rubies] Which are so called from their lovely redness. See #La 4:7. Pearls some render it; of which Pliny saith, Principium culmenque rerum ommum pretii margaritae tenent, Pearls are the principal of all precious things. They were so of old; but they are not so today. What huge sums were once given for saints’ relics (as they called them) and popes’ pardons! but now the world is grown wiser. England is no more a babe; there is no man here, but now he knows that they do foolishly that give gold for lead, more weight of that than they receive of this. This and much more to the same purpose speaketh Henry VIII (in his protestation against the pope), who yet, as a faint chapman, went not to the price of this true wisdom; as appeareth by that public speech of his in parliament, There are many that are too busy with their new sumpsimus, and others that dote too much upon their old mumpsimus. The new religion, though true, he envied; the old, though his own, he despised; being as a speckled bird, or a cake half baked, &c.

Ver. 19. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it] Of the Topaz, see Plin. lib. 86, cap. 8. It seemeth to have the lustre of gold and purity of crystal, and those agreeable mixtures of colours which make the purple of kings. The operations of this stone are many and rare, as Rueus sets them forth, lib. 2, cap. 3.

Neither shall it be valued with pure gold] Plato saith as much of moral wisdom, Ουτε χρυσυς, ουτε αδαμας, ουτως αστραπτει, No gold or gem so glistereth. And elsewhere he saith, that if moral virtue could be beheld with mortal eyes, mirificos sui amores excitaret, it would wonderfully enamour men. Aurelius the emperor would say, that he would not leave the knowledge he might learn in one hour for all the gold that he possessed. Alphonsus, king of Arragon, professed that he would rather choose to lose his jewels than his books, his kingdoms (whereof he had many), quam litteras, quas permodicas scire dicebat, than that little learning he had attained unto (Val. Max. Christian. 118,237). Many have been so taken with the study of the mathematics, that they could have lived and died in it. Vae igitur stupori nostro, woe then to the world because of wisdom! this incomparable wisdom of God in a mystery, as the apostle calleth it.

Haec quia pro vili, sub pedibusque iacet (Ovid).

Money is most men’s study, not without a horrible neglect of piety, which yet is the principal thing, #Pr 4:7, and profitable to all things, #1Ti 4:8, as that which hath the promise of both lives, Ibid. Now the promises are exceeding great and precious things, #2Pe 1:4, even the unsearchable riches of Christ, #Eph 3:8. Such gold as cannot be too dearly bought, #Mt 13:44,46, nor too far set, no, though so far as the queen of Sheba came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and could have been content to have changed her throne for his footstool. Sure it is she was no niggard, but parted with abundance of precious things and sweet odours for that wisdom which she held, and worthily, far more sweet and precious than all her annual revenue. Sure it is, that if the mountains were pearl, the huge rock rubies, and the whole globe a shining chrysolyte, yet all this were nothing to the worth of the wisdom here commended. How greatly bound then are God’s people to bless his name for communicating unto us this invaluable treasure by his word and Spirit, #1Co 2:13 Hath he not written for us excellent things in counsels and knowledge? #Pr 22:20; hath he not made his Son, that essential wisdom of his, to become unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption? #1Co 1:30. Should some earthly prince give us a rich ring off his finger, wherein there were a chrysolyte, a sapphire, a topaz, or some other precious stone, how highly would we honour him, and what would we not be ready to do or suffer for him? And shall we not much more do so for God, rich in mercy, plenteous in goodness, abundant in kindness and in truth, who giveth us all things richly to enjoy? O pray for that blessed sight, #Eph 1:18 3:18, and reckon one grain of grace more worth than all the gold of Ophir, one remnant of faith beyond all the gorgeous and gay attire in the world.

Ver. 20. Whence then cometh wisdom? &c.] {See Trapp on "Job 28:12"} q.d. Nowhere surely is she to be found but with God, the fountain of wisdom, #Job 28:23. To seek her elsewhere is but laborious loss of time; witness the philosophers’ anxious, but bootless, disquisitions after the summum bonum, the true blessedness or chief good; about which there were eight various opinions, and yet all out.

Ver. 21. Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living] As hath been before set forth, #Job 28:13. They that see most into it see but in part, and must needs say, that the greatest part of their knowledge is the least part of their ignorance, Maxima pars eorum quae scimus est minima pars eorum quae nescimus. Something they know of his revealed will, but nothing at all of his secret. Whereunto we may add, that there are many occult qualities in nature, the reason whereof the wisest men understand not.

And kept close from the fowls of the air] Which yet fly very high, and seem to touch the clouds of heaven; as the eagle, which delighteth in high flying. Some will have the angels (elsewhere set forth as winged creatures) to be here meant; who, although they stand always in God’s presence, and see much of his majesty, yet not at all nothing near, #Isa 6:2,3, they cover their faces with their wings, as with a double scarf (as not able to behold his glory), and make their addresses unto him with greatest self-abasements.

Ver. 22. Destruction and death say, &c.] That is, the dead in the grave, and damned in hell, as some gloss it. Others, man in his corrupt estate, though a child of death, yet capable of salvation; and the wisdom of God hath found out a way to save him by his Son, letting in life by the ear, according to that, "Hear, and your souls shall live," #Isa 55:3. The dead in sins and trespasses shall hear the voice of the Son of God (in the preaching of the word), and shall live, the life of grace here, and of glory hereafter, #Joh 5:25. These have heard of God’s wisdom in his various dealings with the sons of men, and that with their ears; both with the gristles that grow on their heads, and with the inward ears of their minds, so that one sound hath pierced both, but yet the one half hath not been told them; they can truly say, as the queen of Sheba said to Solomon, Thou hast added wisdom and goodness to the fame, #1Ki 10:7. And as David in the person of Christ, #Ps 16:11, "Thou wilt show me the path of life"; whereby is hinted that Christ himself, as man, did not so fully understand in the days of his flesh the unconceivable joys of heaven, as he did afterwards, when his whole person was glorified with the glory which, as God, he had with the Father before the world was, #Joh 17:5.

Ver. 23. God understandeth the way thereof] The only wise God, who alone knows her price, knows her retreat. Haec sunt inferni et morris verba, saith Brentius; those are the words of hell and of death. But we may better take them, as spoken by Job himself; which yet are to be understood, not as if Job thought that there was any place, apart from God, where his wisdom might be sought; or any way, out of himself, to go to it. But these things are spoken after the manner of men, saith Merlin; for wisdom is in God, yea, God is wisdom itself. For the wisdom of God is nothing else but the most wise God; since whatsoever is in God is God. Therefore seeing he is well known to himself, how can his wisdom be but as well known unto him? His infinite knowledge and understanding is in some sort shadowed out unto us in the words following.

Ver. 24. For he looketh to the ends of the earth] He is ολοφθαλμος, all eye (Basil); so that together and at once he beholdeth all things in the whole course of nature, and under the whole of heaven. "His eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men," #Ps 11:4. Where the former pointeth out God’s knowledge, the latter his judgments, his critical descant, saith one. And surely this all seeing eye of God, saith another interpreter, should keep us within the compass of obedience as much as anything; since he who is our judge is a constant eye witness of our cogitations, communication, and whole conversation. Cave, spectat Cato, Take heed, Cato seeth you, was an old watchword among the Romans, and a retentive from vice. How much more should this be among Christians! Ne pecces, Deus ipse videt, Be advised, God beholdeth you. Think not that he who is invisible cannot see, or that because he is the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, therefore he cannot see so far as earth; for he looketh to the ends and extremities of the earth, his eyes run to and fro, they are in every place beholding the evil and the good, #Pr 15:3. The world is to him as a sea of glass, #Re 4:6. He seeth through it, and every man before him is all window; he seeth the very entrails of the soul, the heart of the heart, "All things are naked and open before him," saith the apostle, #Heb 4:13. Naked for the outside, and open for the inside of them; the word signifieth dissected, quartered, and, as it were, cleft through the back bone. He searcheth the reins, those seats of lust and most abstruse parts of the body, so wrapped up in fat and flesh, as if no eye should come at them.

And seeth under the whole heaven] His providence, like a well drawn picture, looketh every way, and extendeth to every the least and lightest occurrence; governing all things wisely and powerfully, and ordering the disorders of the world to his own glory. Epicures and atheists would shut him up in heaven, as hath been before noted, as if he did neither know nor do anything here below; but they will find it otherwise.

Ver. 25. To make the weight for the winds] He ordereth wind and water, rain and thunder, Pondere, mensura, numero, tacit omnia, - therefore wisdom is with him. The winds he weigheth in a balance; then when they seem to blow where they list, piercing through the air with their violent blasts, God sets them their bounds, and appoints them their proportion. He sends them out as his posts, and makes them pace orderly.

And he weigheth the waters by measure] Both the rain (not a drop falls in vain in a wrong place, or at random, but by a divine decree, as a witness of his wisdom and goodness, #Ac 17:14) and the sea and rivers; neither do the winds blow nor the waters flow without the Lord, who is the great moderator, who measureth the waters in the hollow of his hand, &c., #Isa 40:12.

Ver. 26. When he made a decree for the rain] And hence it is that it raineth upon one city, and not upon another, #Am 4:7. {See Trapp on "Am 4:7"} The rise of rain out of vapours drawn up from the earth by the heat of the sun, and the generation of it in the clouds, is no less wonderful than the use of it is necessary for the refreshing and fattening of the earth; allaying the heat, and nourishing the herb and tree, &c. These showers may seem to arise and be carried up and down at random, and without a law; but Job assureth us that God maketh a decree, a statute, or a bound for them, and that he gives or withholds rain at his pleasure.

And a way for the lightning of the thunder] Or, for the lightning and the thunder. In both which there is much of God to be seen and heard; these being the harbingers, as it were, and officers to make room for him, and to manifest his power, which the greatest must acknowledge, #Ps 29:1,2, and the saints must take comfort in, #Job 28:11. As for those impious wretches, that slight these wonderful works of Almighty God, and speak basely of them (as he of whom Mr Perkins somewhere writeth, that hearing it thunder, said it was nothing but Tom Tumbrel a hooping his tubs, and was thereupon killed with a thunder bolt; and those old Italians that used, in time of thunder, to ring their greatest bells, and shoot off their greatest ordinance, &c., on purpose to drown the noise of the heavens); as they are worse than Pharaoh and Caligula, and other heathens, who styled their chief god Altitonans, the high thunderer; so they shall one day see the Lord Christ suddenly coming upon them as lightning, and dreadfully thundering out that dismal Discedite , Go, ye cursed.

Ver. 27. Then did he see it, and declare it, &c.] Or, Then doth he see it, and number it, &c., sc. When he ordereth winds, waters, and other creatures, he hath wisdom ready et in numerate, as we say; as well known and as familiar as men have those things they daily deal in. Illa vero verborum congeries, saith Merlin. This heap of words, God saw it, numbered it, prepared it, searched it out, serveth but to show how intimate wisdom is with God, and how proper to him. And lest any should say, Hath God then communicated no heavenly wisdom to his creature? Yes, saith Job, but such as is thus circumscribed.

Ver. 28. But unto man he said, &c.] q.d. Let him not curiously pry into God’s secrets, nor rashly censure others (as you have done me), but, out of a reverential fear of God, eschew evil and do good, for this shall be his wisdom, #De 4:6, and the contrary, #Jer 8:9, Insignis est hic locus (Mercer). See like texts, #De 29:29 Ec 12:13 Ps 111:10 Pr 1:7 9:10. {See Trapp on "De 29:29"} {See Trapp on "Ec 12:13"} {See Trapp on "Ps 111:10"} {See Trapp on "Pr 1:7"} {See Trapp on "Pr 9:10"}

Chapter 29

Ver. 1. Moreover Job continued his parable] Or, his sentence, as Tremellius rendereth it, his sententious and elegant oration, his aureum flumen orationis, golden flood of grave discourse, as we may better call it, than Cicero did Aristotle’s politics, Tota oratio gravissimis sententiis, et verborum luminibus illustris est (Merlin). Here Job describeth graphically his former felicity; as in the next chapter his present misery. The promise of prosperity to God’s people is to be understood with exception of the cross, wherewith, if need be, #1Pe 1:6, they are sure to be exercised; and they shall take it for a favour too, #Heb 12:6. "By the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report," &c., #2Co 6:7,8, they must learn "to be abased, and to abound, to be full and to be hungry," &c., #Php 4:12, though this be a hard lesson, Perquam durum est? sed ira lex scripta est, saith the civilian (Ulpian). Hard or not hard, we must frame to it, and hope for better. The Epicures held that a man might be cheerful amidst the most exquisite torments: 1. In consideration of his honesty and integrity: this indeed was Job’s great comfort, as we see, #Job 31:6. And, 2. In consideration of those pleasures and delights that formerly he had enjoyed, and now cheered up himself with the remembrance of, Ex praeteritarum voluptatum recordatione (Cicer. de Finib. l. 2; Sen. de Benef. l. 4, c. 22). But how slight and slender a comfort this was Job setteth forth in this chapter. And who knoweth not that as it is a sweet thing in prosperity to relate what hazards and hardships we have passed through; so in adversity it is grievous to call to mind what better days we have had?— Olim haec meminisse iuvabit (Virg.). Minerum est fuisse faelicem (Sen.). And yet it is but reason that we should eat the crust and crumb together; receive, I mean, evil at the hand of God as well as good, #Job 2:10. {See Trapp on "Job 27:1"}

Ver. 2. Oh that I were as in months past] O mihi praeteritos, &c. Though Job desireth not so much to be young again (which to be Chiron and Cato are said seriously to have refused, Secundum menses antiquitatis vel anteaetatis) as to prosper again; for this is what we all covet; but we shrink in the shoulder when called to carry the cross. To show his earnest desire, he redoubled his wish, as in the days, &c., and God answered him to the full, by redoubling upon him his former prosperity; not for days and months, but for various years together; and by giving him again all things richly to enjoy. So liberal is the Lord to his, that he many times giveth them more than heart can wish.

When God preserved me] That he acknowledged God to be the author of his earthly felicity was well done; but not so well to think that God preserved him not, because he prospered him not. See the like #Job 29:5. God oft wraps himself up in a cloud, and will not be seen till afterwards; but his hand is ever upon all them for good that seek him, #Eze 18:21,22, he knoweth their souls in adversity, #Ps 31:7.

Ver. 3. When his candle shined upon my head] When I was apparently blessed by him, and all went hail well with me. The sun smote me not by day nor the moon by night, #Ps 121:6, but both seemed to be made and to make for me. Nay, more; the sweet sunshine of God’s loving countenance was displayed upon me, which is not like the winter sun, that casts a goodly countenance when it shines, but gives little comfort and heat. Job had both counsel and comfort from God; and that when other men were to seek of both: for,

By his light I walked through darkness] Without the least fear of those evils and miseries that put others into very great distemper. So Noah was— Mediis tranquillus in undis. Abraham stands upon the hill, and seeth the cities of the plain burning. David can walk (not step) through (not cross) the valley (not a dark entry) of the shadow of death (the darkest side of death), and not fear (though he should go back again in the same way). And why? "for thou art with me," saith he, "thy rod and thy staff they comfort me," #Ps 23:4.

Ver. 4. As I was in the days of my youth] Hybernorum meorum, so Junius; as I was in the days of my winter quarters, when I lay and did little more than gather up mine assignations. Others render it, As I was in the days of mine autumn; that is, when, being a great man, I refreshed the poor, as autumn doth the passenger and others with its fruits. But they do best that render it days of my youth, which hath the same name in Hebrew with winter and with reproach ףרח because (say some) young people are prone to reproachful practices, and that age is commonly frozen in vice, no virtue then springing or showing itself. So #Ec 11:10, the word used to signify youth signifieth darkness or blackness; to note that youth is the dark age, many times sooted with sin; and therefore young men should cleanse their ways by cleaving to the word, #Ps 119:9.

When the secret of God was upon my tabernacle] i.e. When God did so friendly and familiarly intermeddle with mine affairs, making them to prosper (Annotat. Diod.). When his most wise conduct did govern my house, and did provide for it; stopping those secret leaks, and that hole in the bottom of the bag, by which other men’s estates do usually run out; and supplying me and mine, tanquam virgula divina, with all things necessary for life and godliness. The Greek hath it, When God gave my house a visit. And some taking the secret of God here, for his law and covenant, say, that Job was good early; and when but a young housekeeper, had a church in his house, and much resort thither of godly people.

Ver. 5. When the Almighty was yet with me] To prosper me, and give me all that heart could wish or need require. But if that be not done, God’s people are apt to think him absent. "Is the Lord among us?" say they in the wilderness; as if that could not be, and they athirst, #Ex 17:7. So Gideon in the invasion of the Midianites; "The Lord," saith the angel, "is with thee, thou valiant man. But Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?" #Jud 6:12,13. "If it be so, why am I thus?" as she said, #Ge 25:22. Si amatur, quomodo infirmatur? If Lazarus be Christ’s friend, why is he sick? (Aug.). But these two may very well stand together; and God is never nearer to his children than when they, for crying, cannot see him. Moses speaks of the good will of him that dwelt in the bush, the burning bush, #Ex 3:2 De 33:2,3, but not consumed. God is with his in the fiery trial, #Isa 43:2, as he was with the three children, and with the martyrs.

When my children were about me] Round about my table, #Ps 128:3, morigerous and obsequious unto me; when my children and servants (for the word signifieth both) were about me; as circles about a point or centre, all looking at and observing me, to do as I directed them.

Ver. 6. When I washed my steps with butter] When I had of everything God’s plenty, as they call it. Butter enough to have washed my feet in, had I been so proud and profuse. And oil great store, insomuch as that rivers thereof seemed to flow for me from those rocks and craggy mountains in Arabia Petraea, where some say Job dwelt. Lavater, upon the text, tells us of rocks that yield oil, and of petroleum or petrelaeum , a sovereign ointment (very good against various diseases) that issueth out of rocks, whence also it hath its name (not unlike that berry which the French call, Uva de Spine, the grape of a thorn); but this whole verse seemeth to be a hyperbole (not unlike that of Zophar, #Job 20:17, and that of Moses, #De 32:13; confer #Ge 49:11 Ps 80:15), importing the very great abundance of all outward comforts and contentments that Job once enjoyed. He had the reward of humility and the fear of the Lord, even riches, and honour, and life, #Pr 22:4. Riches he had quantas optare nullus auderet (as Austin saith of Constantine the Great), more than heart could wish (De Civ. Dei, 1.5, c. 25). What honour he had with his wealth (and that is to be chosen before riches, #Pr 22:1) he setteth forth at large in the following verses. And what long life he promised himself, not without the continuance of both the former, see #Job 29:18-20 42:12,16,17.

Ver. 7. When I went out to the gate] i.e. To the place of judicature, called by Solomon the holy place, #Ec 8:11, because God sitteth in the midst of those gods, #Ps 82:1. The Ethiopian judges were wont to keep the chief seat empty for him. It appeareth by this text that Job was a judge: or chief magistrate, not like those whom Isaiah calleth scabs or wounds, #Isa 3:7, vid. Pisc. in loc.; but those whom the same prophet calleth healers, or binders up of wounds, #Isa 3:7, Here αναξ from ακος, Medela; and Hosea, shields, as Junius translateth, #Ho 4:8; and another prophet, heirs or possessors of restraint, #Jud 18:7. It appeareth also that he did justice in his own person; so did David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Augustus Caesar, more vigorously than any young man, and more prudent than any old man, as the historian saith of him, Παντος μεν ανδρος νεανικωπερον, παντος δε γεροντος φρονιμωτερον (Dio). Which while Aurelian the emperor neglected to do, he was even bought and sold by his deputies.

When I prepared my seat in the street/] i.e. My judgment seat, where he sat Sub dio, non attollens inane supercilium, sed exhibens utile ministerium, Not priding himself, but profiting others, while justice, justice, as Moses speaketh, that is, pure justice, was duly administered, #De 10:20. Over this tribunal might well have been set that distich at Zant,

Hic locus odit, amat, punit, conservat, honorat,

Nequitiam, pacem, crimina, iura, bonos.

Ver. 8. The young men saw me, and hid themselves] As awed with my presence, and fearing the censure of my gravity. Valerius Maximus reporteth the like of Marcus Cato among the Romans (lib. 5, cap. 2), as being Vir rigidae innocentiae, saith Livy; Et virtuti quam simillimus, as Velleius hath it; that is, a most strict and very virtuous magistrate. Hence at their Floralia, those wanton sports, the youths could not play their pranks till he departed; they all crying unto him, Aut vultum deponas, aut discedas, Either lay down your grave looks or leave the place.

And the aged arose, and stood up] Performing that respect to me which was due to them, #Le 19:32, and saluting me as the Athenians did their Phocion, by the title of Bonus Good; or as the Romans did their Trajan, by the style of Optimus the best ruler that ever they had; and all both young and old crying out, as once they did at Rome to Severus, the emperor, All men do the better in all respects for thy good government, Παντες παντα καλως ποιουσιν επειδαν συ καλως αρχεις (Dio). These acclamations and public honours, though Job sought not, yet it could not but be a comfort to him, as it was to David, that whatsoever he did pleased the people.

Ver. 9. The princes refrained talking] Not only as acknowledging his authority, but as admiring his great eloquence, and hanging upon his lips, as the babe doth upon the breast, the bee upon the flower, or the little bird upon her dam’s bill.

And laid their hand on their mouth] Kissing their hands and adoring me ( adorare est applicare manum ad os), or rather, as stopping their mouths, being ashamed to speak in his presence, whom they knew to be far beyond them in wisdom and elocution. Now of this honour done Job by all sorts of people, Brentius hath this note, Parum est ingentes camelos possidere, &c. It is a small matter, that Job had many camels and flocks of sheep; this was a greater blessing of God upon him, that he was honoured and observed by all sorts. This followeth virtue (as the shadow doth the body) at the heels. To do worthily in Ephrata, is the way to be famous in Bethlehem, #Ru 4:11.

Ver. 10. The nobles held their peace] The Hebrew word for nobles signifieth such as stand in the presence of great princes; or, such as the people eyeth and referreth all things to them, Conticuere omnes, intentique ora tenebant (Virg.). These (after the example of those forementioned princes, #Job 29:9) held their peace Heb. hid their voice, as ashamed to hear themselves speak before such a master of speech as Job was; of whom it might well be said, as once of Dr Whitaker, That never any man saw him without reverence, nor heard him without wonder (Dr Hall).

And their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth] Ex metu loquendi, as being afraid before me, though themselves were antecessores vocis (as some render the former words), eloquent men and able speakers. Demosthenes, that great orator, being to speak before King Philip, three several times stood speechless, and thirty different times forgot what he had prepared to speak unto him: Τρις αφωνος εγενετο. Τρισακις διελαθετο των α λαλειν εσκοπει (Tzetzes, Chiliad 7). An awful respect to Job’s dignity and worth caused this extreme silence in these grandees. And besides, it may be they were of Pliny’s mind, who said, Non minus interdum oratoris est tacere quam dicere. There is a time to keep silence and a time to speak, #Ec 3:7.

Ver. 11. When the ear heard me, then it blessed me] That is, it praised me, and praised God for me, as for a common blessing; so weighty were my words, and so just my sentence, not unlike that of the Areopagites, in Athens, which was so upright, that none could ever say that he was unjustly condemned by them; but both parties, as well those that were cast as they that cast them, were alike contented, Ηττωμενοι στεργουσι ομοιως τοις κεκρατηκασι.

And when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me] Job (though he neither sought it, nor was puffed up with it) had that Pulchrum monstrari, et dicier, Hic est. The like happiness befell Demosthenes at Athens and Pliny at Rome, ουτος εστιν ο Δημοσθενης.

Ver. 12. Because I delivered the poor that cried] Here are set forth the true causes of that great respect that was generally given Job; he was a good justicer, such as Jethro describeth, #Ex 18:21. He hated, much more than did Mithridates, such as maliciously persecuted virtue forsaken of fortune. And as James V of Scotland was called the poor man’s king, so might Job well have been; for no sooner could a poor body cry to him for help but he relieved him, and rescued him out of the hands of his oppressor (Cassiodor.). Theodoric of old, and Gustavus, king of Swedes, of late, are famous for so doing (Mr Clark).

And the fatherless, and him that had none, &c.] The fatherless and friendless, from whom he could not expect any reward. He was not of those who follow the administration of justice as a trade only, with an unquenchable and unconscionable desire of gain, but held out a constant course of integrity, and righted those whom others would have slighted.

Ver. 13. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me] Such poor creatures as were destined to destruction, and seasonably delivered by my means, gave me their good words and wishes; yea, they cried me up for their gracious deliverer, with a courage, as the Grecians did Flaminius, the Roman general, as the Christian captives did Hunniades, who had set them at liberty from Turkish slavery; as the drowning man pulled out of the water by King Alphonsus, cried, Arragon, Arragon; and as the Italian prisoners in ‘88, released and sent home by Queen Elizabeth, sainted her, and said, That although they were Papists, yet they would worship no saint but her.

And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy] sc. By ready righting her upon her adversary; and this out of conscience of duty, and not for her importunity, as that unjust judge, #Lu 18:5, or because she conjured him to it, as that widow did Adrian the emperor, to whom, when he had answered, That he was not at leisure to hear her cause, she boldly replied, Και μη Βασιλευε, Then lay down the empire. Whereupon he turned again, and did her right, and sent her away a joyful woman (Dio in Adrian).

Ver. 14. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me] It was not ambition, popularity, or self-interest that put Job upon these and the following good practices and proceedings, but the care he had of discharging his trust, and the pure love he bare to justice and upright dealing, Fontem horum officiorum aperit (Merlin). For although he desired more to be loved than honoured (as it is said of Trajan the emperor), yet he would not do anything of popularity or partiality, by writhing or warping, but retained the gravity of the law; which is a heart without affection, an eye without lust, a mind without passion, a treasurer which keepeth for every man what he hath, and distributeth to every man what he ought to have, Φιλουμενος μαλλον η πιμωμενος εχαιρε (Dio). Job did put on righteousness, and it put on him; so the Hebrew hath it. By which similitude he declareth that he could as little be drawn from doing justice as he could go abroad without his clothes, or suffer them to be pulled off him, Declinatione et detorsione iudicii (Merlin).

My judgment was as a robe and a diadem] Righteousness is that whereby the innocent is delivered, judgment is that whereby the guilty person is punished, saith Brentius. With these was Job arrayed and adorned far better than was Alcisthenes the Sybarite with his cloak, sold by Dionysius to the Carthaginians for a hundred and twenty talents (Athenaeus); or Hanun with his solid gold diadem, "the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones," #2Sa 12:30. Some judges have nothing more to commend them than their robes, which are oft lined with rapine and robbery. So were not Job’s; he made the like use of them that old Eleazar did of his hoariness, he would not do anything that might seem to be evil, because he would not spot his white head; no more would Job, lest he should stain his purple, disgrace his diadem. He knew that dignitas in indigno est ornamentum in luto, Ruledom without righteousness is but eminent dishonour (Salvian).

Ver. 15. I was eyes to the blind] Here he saith the same in effect as before, #Job 29:12,13, only he setteth it forth Pulcherrimis allegoriis per synathroismum velut conglobatis, by a heap of most elegant allegories (Mercer). He meaneth here, I gave advice to the simple, and support to the weak and impotent. But how many great men are there, qui etiam videntes, circumveniunt et fallunt, who put out the eyes of men, as Korah falsely accused Moses, #Nu 16:14. And cut off their legs (as that tyrant in the story served his guests that were too long for his bed) by disabling or discouraging them to follow their just causes, so that they are ready to say, with Themistocles, that if two ways were showed him, whereof the one led to hell and the other to those corrupt courses of justice, he would seriously choose the former rather than the latter (Plut.).

Ver. 16. I was a father to the poor] Ab laebionim, an elegant agnomination, as Mercer here noteth. Job was not only a friend to the poor, as said before, but a father, providing for their necessities, and protecting them from injuries. So Augustus Caesar delighted to be called Pater Patriae, the father of his country (Suet.). And our Queen Elizabeth would many times say that she could believe nothing of her people that parents would not believe of their children (Cambden, Eliz.).

And the cause which I knew not I sought out] Sifting it to the bran, and not pronouncing sentence till I had fully understood each circumstance of the controversy. Judge not according to the appearance, but judge a righteous judgment, #Joh 7:24. Thucydides well saith, That there are two things most opposite to right proceedings, ταχος τε και οργην, haste and anger; a justificer must do nothing rashly, but with greatest deliberation and industry, to come to a right understanding of matters, in capital causes especially, lest he repent it too late; as that Sir James Pawlet did, who, out of humour and for revenge, laid by the heels Thomas Wolsey, then a country minister (afterwards a cardinal, and Lord Chancellor of England), for the which he suffered long imprisonment (Negotiat. of Card. Wolsey). And as that judge mentioned by Fortescue, who, having condemned a gentle woman to death for the murder of her husband, upon the bare accusation of her man, which afterwards was found false, saepius ipse mihi falsus est; he afterwards confessed unto me, saith the author, that he should never during his life be able to clear his conscience of that fact. We know what pains Solomon took in the case of the two harlots that strove before him. And we have read of a judge, who, to find out a murder, caused those that were accused to open their bosoms, and felt the beating of their hearts. And when he found one of their hearts to beat extraordinarily, Tu, inquit, fecisti, Thou art the murderer certainly, said he. The man presently confessed the fact, and was executed for it (John Manl. loc. com. p. 290).

Ver. 17. And I brake the laws of the wicked] It is a mercy to have judges, saith one, modo audeant quae sentiunt, as the orator hath it ( Cic. pro Milone); so they dare do as their consciences tell them they should do. Job was such a judge, he feared not to encounter and keep under those unruly beasts and Belialists, who oppressed the poor, and then doubted not to oppose with crest and breast whatsoever stood in the way of their humours and lusts. Hic forti magnoque animo opus fuit, saith one. Here Job’s courage was put to the proof, if ever. Is it nothing to break the jaw bones of the wicked, to take the prey out of the lion’s mouth, and to rescue the oppressed from the man that is too mighty for him? Is it nothing to encounter the Hydra of sin, to oppose the current of times and torrent of vice, to turn the wheel over the wicked, and to leave them as powerless as old Entellus in Virgil did Dares; whom his fellows led away well beaten, and well nigh broken,

Iactantemque utroque caput, crassumque cruorem

Ore reiectantem, mistosque in sanguine dentes? -(Virg. Aeneid.)

And plucked the spoil out of his teeth] i.e. I made him make restitution of his ill gotten goods, whether by fraud or force. So that Job’s court, we see, was not vitiorum sentina, sed virtutum officina; his course was, Parcere subiectis, et debellare superbos, to help the afflicted and to punish the proud. Augustus, the emperor, was wont to say, That such a one only was fit to be a magistrate that was free from foul offence himself, and could withstand the corruptions of the times, keep a constant countermotion to the evil manners of the multitude; "Ος μητε τι αυτος αμαρτανειν και ταις του δημου σπουδαις ανθιστοσθαι δυνηται (Dio); as Cato was ever inveighing against covetousness and riot in the Roman State. Here also we have in Job the lively picture of a good magistrate, much better than that of Caesar Borgia, that villain, whom Machiavel proposeth as the only pattern for princes to imitate (De Principe, p. 185).

Ver. 18. Then I said, I shall die in my nest] Heb. I shall expire and breathe out my last, by a natural death, in my house, and amidst my people; as a bird dieth in his nest when he hath lived his utmost. Pollicebar mihi securitatem, I promised myself a prosperous and long life, all health and happiness (Brent.). This some make to be a fault in Job, as it was likewise in David, when in his prosperity he said, "I shall never be moved," #Ps 30:6. And indeed the holiest hearts are apt in such a strait to grow proud and secure; like as worms and wasps eat the sweetest apples and fruits. But others are of judgment, that this was a commendable confidence in Job, grounded upon God’s promises, and the conscience of his own uprightness; an ευθυμια, a spiritual security, a blessed calm and composedness, a sabbath of spirit, flowing from faith, and causing joy. This was all well, only that of Bernard must be carefully heeded and held to, Laeti simus non securi, gaudentes in Spiritu Sancto, sed tamen caventes a recidivo: Be merry we may, but not carnally secure; rejoicing in the Holy Ghost, but yet beware that we backslide not. David by misreckoning of a point, missed the haven, and ran upon the rocks, #Ps 30 And Job here seemeth to have been mistaken, by taking the promises of outward happiness without exception of the cross; for the which he is afterwards reproved by Elihu, and also by God himself.

And shall multiply my days as the sand] i.e. Very long, by a Scripture hyperbole, #Ge 22:17 32:12 41:49. The Septuagint read, As the Phoenix: the Vulgate Latin, As the palm tree, which is reckoned among the long lived trees, as is likewise the Phoenix among the longest lived creatures. R. Solomon saith it lives a thousand years, others five hundred, and then dieth in his nest, made of frankincense and myrrh, and other sweet odours, which being kindled by the heat of the sun, he is burnt to ashes, they say; out of which ashes, a long time after, cometh another Phoenix. How true all this of the Phoenix is, I have not to say. Let them that will read more in Gesner’s History of Birds; or let them look upon Lactantius’s poem called the Phoenix, with Betuleius’s comment.

Ver. 19. My root was spread out by the waters] Heb. Opened to the waters; which therefore had free recourse to it, and much refreshed it. Hereby he describeth his flourishing condition when time was, through the perpetual inflowings of God’s free grace and favour.

And the dew lay all might upon my branch] Pernoctabat; because in the night the dew falleth. Beza thus paraphraseth this whole verse: For, downward, the root of my good and upright conscience was spread out by the ever flowing waters of God’s bountifulness, with which it was daily watered; and upward, the boughs growing out of this root, to wit, my children, my servants, nay flocks of sheep, and in a word, my substance, were washed with the celestial dew which from heaven fell down upon them; so that by this blessing of God they were marvellously increased.

Ver. 20. My glory was fresh in me] i.e. I had daily new accessions to mine honours; and I was herein like a bay tree, that is always green. This was also Joseph’s happiness in Egypt; David’s in the court of Saul; Mordecai’s and Daniel’s in the court of Persia; and Queen Elizabeth’s; concerning whom (besides that famous epitaph set upon her tomb by command of King James) Thuanus, a French historian, testifieth, that the Lady Anna Atestina, mother to the Guises and Nemours, pronounced her to be Gloriosissimam et omnium quae unquam sceptrum gestarunt felicissimam foeminam, The most glorious and happiest woman that ever swayed sceptre. Among her subjects she got a continual increase of honour and respects, by coupling mildness with majesty, and stooping, yet in a stately manner, to the lowest sort; but especially by setting up God and his sincere service wherever she had to do, trusting God with her precious life (so much sought for by Popish assassinates); which while her contemporary, Henry IV of France, dared not do, he lost his life, and much of his honour; witness that known anagram, Borbonius, once Bonus orbi, the good of the bereft now Orbus boni. bereft of good.

And my bow was renewed in my hand] That is, I had fresh and new supplies of strength, by friends and otherwise, outwardly and inwardly, according to that above, #Job 17:9, "The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger." Robur meum instaurabitur maiusque reddetur (Vatab.). See #Ge 49:24 1Sa 2:4.

Ver. 21. Unto me men gave ear, and waited] i.e. Such a gift I had in flexanimous oratory, that my auditors were held, as it were, by the ears in great attention to my speeches; as Lucian saith of Alcibiades, and Cicero of Crassus; and as the poets fable of their Hercules, that he had the ears of his hearers chained to his tongue, as being,

Αμφοτερος ρητηρ τ αγαθος, κρατερος τ αιχημτης.

And kept silence at my counsel] Received it as an oracle from heaven with all humble submission and plenary satisfaction; so great was the force of his wisdom, the weight of his counsel, and the authority of his person, tanquam ex tripode dictum. Erant κυριαι και αμυμονες δοξαι (Lavat.). In some men’s discourses a man shall have satis eloquentiae, sapientiae parum, much eloquence, little enough wisdom. But where there is a concurrence of these two, as was in Job, much may be done. This great men are not ignorant of, and do therefore greatly covet eloquence, Non phaleratam illam sed fortem; non effeminatum sed virilem, not a pedantic style or phrase, but majestic; such as was that of Phocion, a great orator, but one that could speak much in few, as Plutarch reporteth, πλειστον εν ελαχιστη λεξει νουν ειχε; or that of Julius Caesar, who wrote as he fought; and whom a man might know to be a soldier by his words, had he never heard of his noble achievements.

Ver. 22. After my words they spake not again] They replied not, but rested in my words, as if I had been some Doctor Resolutus or rather Irrefragabilis. The Vulgate rendereth it, Verbis meis addere nihil audebant, They dared not add anything to my words, as holding them current and sufficient.

And my speech dropped upon them] viz. As dew drops, #De 32:2, or, as some, prophecy, saith R. Levi here. Confer #Mic 2:6 Am 7:17. Surely as the dew refresheth and cherisheth the dry and fading fields; so do fit words the hearts of the hearers. And as the dew allayeth great heats, and moisteneth the earth, that it may fructify; so it is here. Ills regit dictis animos, et pectora mulcet (Virg.). And lastly, as the dew lies in a little compass; so in fewness of words there is oft a fulness of matter, &c.

Ver. 23. And they waited for me as for the rain] Which in those hot countries was highly prized, and dearly longed for.

And they opened their mouth wide] Stupebant, me loquente, et ore hiabant; they gaped, as if they would have eaten my words; they listened as for life.

As for the latter rain] A rain which came very seldom in that country, saith Diodati; but was much desired for the refreshing and nourishing of the grain and other fruits and benefits of the earth, #Pr 26:1 Zec 10:1. Merlin collecteth from this text that Job came not into the public assemblies there to speak, and give counsel, but upon deliberate premeditation. Demosthenes would not be drawn to speak extemporarily to an audience. Aristides being by the emperor put upon such a task, answered, Propound today, and I will answer tomorrow; for I am not of those that spit or vomit out my conceptions; but of those that weigh things before I utter them, and polish before I publish them, ου γαρ εσμεν των εμουντων αλλα των ακριβουντων. Mr Bradshaw was called the weighing divine; and Melancthon took time to answer Eckius’s cavils, though by him and his Popish party he was jeered for so doing. It must be an elaborate speech that shall persuade or prevail much. Among the Romans the prince was not to be treated with otherwise than by writing. Caesar brought in this custom, that he might have time to consider that which was demanded, and what answer to return. Augustus sermones libello habuit, ne plus minusve loqueretur, Augustus had his speeches set down in a book, lest he should say more or less than what he thought of (Sueton.).

Ver. 24. If I laughed on them, they believed it not] They took it for a great favour, and could hardly think that I would grace them so far as to smile upon them, or jest with them; which if I did at any time, they were over joyed, #Ec 10:19. Ingenii fructus tenuissimus eat risus, saith Cicero (de Orat. lib. 2). To break a jest is no such witty thing as men conceit it. Howbeit, a harmless jest (that hath nothing in it which may justly grieve or offend another) may very well consistent with piety and Christian gravity; whatever some sour Anabaptists have held to the contrary. Jocularity indeed and scurrility are strictly forbidden, and reckoned among those τα ανηκοντα, things that conduce not to the main end of our lives, #Eph 5:4. But Socrates would be very merry when he liked his company; yet so as that his mirth should be some way profitable, saith Xenophon, lib. 4, de Dict. et Fact. (Socr.) And Erasmus did the Papists more prejudice by his jesting, saith a grave author, than Luther did by his stomaching and storming. Good men’s jests should have something in them of seriousness and usefulness. All their speeches should be seasoned with salt of grace; and in the midst of their recreations they should show that their best affections are upon better things. Great care must be taken, that too much familiarity with those below us breed not contempt; which some think is means by the next clause, "And the light of my countenance they cast not down"; or, Yet the light, &c., that is, they did not slight me because of this familiar carriage; they did not therefore count me ridiculous and vain as men did that Rodulphus, the 35th archbishop of Canterbury, that succeeded Anselm; whom, for his jesting and merry toys, unbeseeming the gravity of his age and place, they surnamed or rather nicknamed, Nugax, the trifler. Sed authoritatem meam non spernebant, nihilomin, us me reverebantur, They despised not mine authority, they reverenced me no whit the less (Vatablus); but rather they took care that nothing might be done whereby of merry I might be made sad; they cherished this sign of complacency in me as a rare thing, and so much the more accepted as less expected and unusual; neither would they be so bold and so bob with me as to return me jest for jest, as if I had been their compeer and hail fellow well met. One paraphrast, Mr Abbot, senseth the whole verse thus: If I by my smiles gave any intimation of my suspicion of any report or business, it was presently distrusted and dissented from of all the rest. And on the other hand; my least countenance or show of approbation to any cause was observed of others, as a rule to go by. He goes on to give the meaning of the next words thus:

Ver. 25. I chose out their way, and sat chief] In those days I was the only man in all matters, chosen by consent of all, to be the prolocutor and advanced to the first place in all assemblies and places of judicature, &c. Tremellius and others read it thus, If I chose their way (that is, if of mine own accord I came unto them at any time), I sat chief, and was chairman; in a word, I dwelt as a king amidst his troopers, when he comforteth them being cast down; that is, when, after some defeat or disappointment, he cheereth up their spirits by his speeches, and cries, Courage, my hearts:

Flebile principium, melior fortuna sequatur:

Victorem a victo superari saepe videmus.

The Tigurines render the former part of the verse thus, Accommodavi me illorum moribus cum iudicio, I fitted myself to their fashions, yet with discretion. R. Solomon and others thus, they asked me, What way shall we go? What course take? And I chose out their way, and set them down a course; as a counsellor doth to his clients, a king to his soldiers, or a casuist those that resort to him for comfort.

And dwelt as a king in the army] Where he is continually surrounded by his soldiers, and highly honoured. The bees, in their commonwealth, have a king, whose palace they frame as fair in show, as strong in substance; if they find him fall, they establish him again in his throne with all duty, with all devotion; they guard him continually, for fear he should miscarry, for love he should not. Job had so tempered and mixed gravity and lenity, he had so furbished the sword of justice with the oil of mercy, that he was at once both feared as a king, and loved as a comforter.

As one that comforteth the mourners] That mourn for the loss of some dear thing or person, as the word signifieth, and especially for the loss of God’s favour, as #Zec 12:10, groaning under the sense of sin and fear of wrath. Now to comfort such mourners in Zion is as difficult a work as to raise the dead, saith Lather; and scarce one of a thousand can skill of it, #Job 33:23. Every Christian should have feeding lips and a healing tongue, to comfort the feeble minded, to drink to them in a cup of Nepenthes, that cup of consolation, #Jer 16:7, taking them down into Christ’s wine cellar, #So 2:4, and there stay them with flagons and comfort them with apples, #Job 29:5, those apples of the garden of Eden (as the Chaldee there hath it), the sweet and precious promises, which are pabulum fidei, the food of faith, and do give the joy of faith; even that peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that have been in a low and lost condition. But this few can do to purpose; because they are either unskilful in the word of truth or unexperienced; they dig not their discourses out of their own breasts, they utter them more from their brains than from their bowels, from their own experience, I mean; which made even Christ himself a more compassionate high priest, #Heb 5:1,2. And that eminent servant of his, St Paul, had by this means got an excellent faculty in comforting the disconsolate, #2Co 1:4. So had Luther, as having himself from his tender years been much beaten and exercised with spiritual conflicts (Melancthon). Conceive we may the like of Job, who was therefore flocked unto from far and near, as known to be able to time a word and to speak to the hearts of drooping and dejected persons. "But now," &c.

Chapter 30

Ver. 1. But now they that are younger than I have me in derision] Id quod ei morbo suo longe gravius fuerit, sicut et Hebraei testantur, saith Mercer. This troubled him much more than all his sores and sicknesses; that every young shackrag slighted him, and laughed him to scorn. In this case especially,

— Faciles motus mens generosa capit (Ovid).

You shall find some, saith Erasmus, that if death be threatened, can despise it; but to be despised or belied they cannot brook; but least of all by base persons: Quilibet ab aquila quam corvo discerpi mavult. Job was now grown ancient, and had been honourable, as he had set forth, #Job 29. Old age and honour, in the Greek tongue, are near akin, Cognata sunt, γηρας et γερας, ut ηθος et εθος; and,

Summa fuit quondam capitis reverentia cani:

Inque sue precio ruga senilis erat.

But it is a sign of gasping devotion, and that things are far out of order, when the child behaveth himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable, #Isa 3:5, as at Bethel, where those poorly bred children derided the old prophet, and petulantly cried after him, "Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head," #2Ki 2:23. If the like unworthy usage befall us, let it suffice us that our betters, Job, David, Christ himself, have sped no better. Art not thou glad to fare as Phocion? said he to a lowly man that was to die with him.

Whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock] i.e. To have made my dog keepers, that they might feed with them, as the prodigal son did with the swine. Dogs are commonly looked upon as paltry carrion creatures; only some, for their mind’s sake, and others, for certain necessary uses, as shepherds and hunters, make some reckoning of them. It was not permitted to a dog to enter into the Acropolis, or tower of Athens, for his libidinousness and ill savour, δια του ακολαστου και δυσωδους (Plut.). At Rome they crucified a dog yearly, in detestation of those dogs in the capitol that gave not warning of the approach of an enemy. Job, it seems, had his dog feeders, men of meanest account. Now these men’s sons, a beggarly breed, and very rascals, insulted and trampled upon this precious man, dealt as basely and coarsely with him, haply, as those factious fellows in Geneva did with reverend Calvin; whom they not only in contempt called Cain (as Athanasius was sometimes by his enemies called Sathanasius; and Cyprian, Coprian, that is, a dunghill fellow), but also named their dogs Calvin, as Beza, in his Life, reporteth.

Ver. 2. Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me] For, to say the truth (thus Beza here paraphraseth), the strength of those young striplings could not have stood me in any stead at all; and as for the old age of their fathers, it were such, that, having spent the greatest and best part of their life partly in idleness, and partly in divers wicked and lewd pranks, they might worthily seem to have lived in vain all that while. Thus he. The Greeks say, Εργα νεων, and the Latins, Iuniores ad labores, young men are fit for hard labour, because strong and lusty. But these Sanuiones in the text were, through idleness, mere nullities in the world, superfluities in the earth, Jeremiah’s rotten girdle, good for nothing but to devour victuals; vermin, apes, monkeys, their whole life was to eat and drink (when they could come by it), and sleep, and sport, and fleer, jeer at God’s afflicted, with words as full of scorn as profane wit or rancoured malice can make them. These are excrements in human society; pests, the Scripture styleth them, #Ps 1:1 (λοιμοι. Septuag.).

In whom old age was perished?] Their fathers also were old dottrels, in ipsa senectute, senectute carentes, old, but not wise (Moriae Encore.); like the Brabanti, who are said to be the older the foolisher. Some men live long, but are good for little. Non ille diu vixit, sed diu fuit, saith Seneca of somebody, He hath not lived long, but only been long; as a ship in a storm, he hath been tossed much, but sailed nothing. Those old men who have not gotten wisdom by long experience are not worthy of their years; their old age is perished, and their honour forfeited. The Vulgate rendereth it, They were reckoned unworthy of life itself: Depontani.

Ver. 3. For want and famine they were solitary] Miserably poor they were, and nittily needy; scarce having a rag to their backs, and, therefore, ashamed to show themselves in company of others, propter penuriam, et propter esuriem, they lurked in bycorners, and seldom came abroad, unless when hard hunger drove the wolf out of the wood. Slow bellies they had ever been, and evil beasts, fitter, therefore, to live in the wilderness, in former time desolate and waste, than in a civil society; or, if in any place, at Poneropolis, a city built by Philip, king of Macedonia, for varlets and vagrants, and with such kind of persons peopled; that they might not pester other places. Job would have none such about him; and was, therefore, haply, now in this low condition, so much hated and affronted by them.

In former time desolate and waste] And so perhaps haunted by the devil, as #Isa 13:20,21. Brentius rendereth it, Hesternam pressuram et consternationem, yesterday’s pressures and fright; that is, saith he, The creditor’s eagerness to be satisfied, which frighteth these wretches, and putteth them to their work.

Ver. 4. Who cut up mallows by the bushes] Pitiful poor fare they are glad of; not so good as that of the Baptist, locusts and wild honey, #Mt 3:4, but mallows, which, together with asphodelus, Hesiod mentioneth as poor folk’s fare. Tremellius rendereth it, Herbas e salsilagine cum stirpibus, salt, and bitter herbs and stalks; Brentius rendereth it, nettles; some take it for samphire, which is a kind of sea mallows, or sea purslain. The Hebrew word comes from another that signifieth salt; and sounds like the Latin malva, and the English mallows. Coarse and homely provision the wretches were glad to make use of, to appease the cruel hunger that devoured them, Ut famem quoquomodo sedarent (Merc.). And this hath been sometimes the case of better men; as of those worthies, who wandered in deserts, and in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth, #Heb 11:38. The Duke of Lorrain had proscribed some thousands of his Protestant subjects, who were thereby forced to feed upon leaves of trees and grass of the fields, till the senate of Strasborough, overcome by the importunity of their divines, took them in, and relieved them, till they could be otherwise provided for (Scultet. Annal.). In the late wars of Germany people were found dead in the highways with grass in their mouths, perishing for want of better food.

And juniper roots for their meat] These, though they surpass all other in bitterness, were their ordinary food. Our forefathers, as they coloured their bodies with woad {A blue dye-stuff prepared from the leaves of Isatis tinctoria powdered and fermented: now generally superseded by indigo, in the preparation of which it is still sometimes used.} (and were, therefore, called Picts), this was their fine clothes; so their food was barks of trees, and roots, say our chroniclers. Is not the matter well amended with us? and should we not serve the Lord with joyfulness in the abundance of all things, #De 28:47. Lavater thinks that these poor people for a living dug up juniper roots, and sold them to others for the use of making perfume.

Ver. 5. They were driven forth from among men] E corpore, saith Tremellius, out of the body; that is, out of the community, as not fit to live in a commonwealth. The Jews are, for their inexpiable guilt, banished out of the world, as it were, by a common consent of nations. Out of England they were exiled for ever by King Edward I, A.D. 1290; out of France, 1307; out of Spain, 1492; Portugal, 1597; Naples and Sicily, 1539. In Turkey they pay for the very heads they wear; but in Cyprus, if a Jew be taken (though driven thither by tempest), he is put to death immediately. Country they have none, nor resting place anywhere. In Jerusalem they are not to be found, at this time, a hundred households of them; indeed, in Constantinople and Thessalonica there are esteemed to be about 160,000 Jews; who yet are exceedingly condemned and hated there (Breerwood’s Inquiries); and at every Easter in danger of being stoned by the Christians, because at that time they crucified our Saviour, derided, and buffeted him (Biddulph). All this, and more, they suffer; and yet they continue, by a just judgment of God upon them, woefully hard hearted, blood thirsty, thievish, treacherous, flagitious. Howbeit there is a remnant according to the election of grace, #Ro 11:5. A.D. 1556, at Weissensten, in Germany, a Jew, for theft (they had cried after him with hue and cry, as after a thief), was in this cruel manner to be executed: he was hanged by the feet, with his head downward, between two dogs, which constantly snatched and bit at him. The strangeness of the torment moved Jacob Andreas, a grave divine, to go to behold it; coming thither, he found the poor wretch, as he hung, repeating verses out of the Hebrew psalms, wherein he cried out to God for mercy. Andreas hereupon took occasion to counsel him to trust in Jesus Christ, the true Saviour of mankind. The Jew, embracing the Christian faith, requested but this one thing, that he might be taken down, and be baptized, though presently after he were hanged again (but by the neck, as Christian malefactors suffered), which was accordingly granted him (Melch. Adam in Vit.).

They cried after them as after a thief] Presuming that, by doing nothing, they had learned to do naughtily; and that, having nothing of their own, and not willing to work, they lived by rapine and robbery. Such, therefore, as these they served as Philip of Macedonia did a couple of his idle, and therefore evil, subjects; he made the one of them run out of the country, and the other drive him. Solon made a law at Athens, that every man once a year should show the magistrates by what art or trade he maintained his family. This if he could not do to their good liking, he was presently expelled from the city. At Corinth, also, Periander ordained, That if any man spent freely, and could not make it appear that he got it honestly, he should, without further process of law, be trussed up for a thief.

Ver. 6. To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys] Like wild beasts and serpents; which these idle persons will rather choose to do, and suffer any hardship, than labour for their livings, and do good in their places; earning it before they eat, and contributing something to the public welfare, as bees bring their honey to the common hive; this, those that will not do, are worthily cast out, and made to dwell in the cliffs, &c. In the time of Cato Censorius, when any one would be a citizen of Rome, they took his hand between theirs; and if it felt smooth and soft, they presently, as an idle vagabond, gave him his dimissal; but if hard and knotty, they forthwith admitted him to dwell in their city. And if a malefactor were apprehended whose hands were labouring hands, his punishment should be mitigated, though his crime were grievous; as if otherwise, a severe punishment was inflicted for a light offence.

Ver. 7. Among the bushes they brayed] Through grief and discontent at their low condition and many miseries; which yet they would rather bootlessly bewail than take a right course to remedy. They lust, and have not; they kill (themselves through idleness), and desire to have (if it would come without labour), but cannot obtain, #Jas 4:2. And hence they bray like the wild ass when empty, and roar as the lion when bitten with hunger.

Under the nettles they were gathered together] Or they were pricked, whealed, as we call it. Urtica ab urendo, they were nettle stung, while they got under those weeds for shelter and warmth. All this Job relateth of those that derided him; not to be even with them, or out of a desire to disparage them, but to aggravate the indignity of his misusage, and to comfort himself, as Seneca in like case did: Male de me loquuntur, sed mali, They speak evil of me, but who are they? base persons, and wicked above measure; and oh how easy a thing it is to wag a wicked tongue! especially when the devil hath the doing of it, as he hath in this kind of men qui revera os aperiunt, et diabolum loqui sinunt, whose mouth the devil borroweth to vent the language of hell by (Lavater).

Ver. 8. They were children of fools, yea, children of base men] Homines flagitiosissimi, etiam homines ignominiosissimi afflictissimi erant, extorres, so Tremellius translateth; Naught all over they were, and nought esteemed; what wonder, therefore, if heavily afflicted and relegated? Their poverty was self-procured, and, therefore, unpitied; they had brought themselves into the briars, and also in their fathers’ iniquities they were pining away with them, #Le 26:39. Evil eggs they were of evil birds, nihili homunciones et inglorii, as the Tigurines translate, fellows of no fashion, and as little account, terrae filii, earth sprung mushrooms, men in whom all true wisdom was faded and decayed, sapless persons, Nabals, Nebulones.

They were viler than the earth] Terra quam ferimus, terra etiam quam terimus; or, They were smitten out of the earth, driven out of the land, sc. by me when I was in power; but now these vile varlets show themselves again, and trample upon me with the feet of pride and petulancy, Leoni mortuo vel mus insultat.

Ver. 9. And now am I their song] They compose comedies out of my tragedies, and make themselves merry in my misery; they not only make ballads and sonnets of my sufferings, but also play them upon their instruments, as the Hebrew word importeth.

Yea, I am their byword] Sermonis argumentum , the matter of their discourse; I am all their talk; neither have they anything else whereof to chat and babble, but only of me; yea, to make my disgraces to pass into a proverb, they call all miserable men by my name, De me confabulantur et contemptim loquuntur (Disc.). The ale stakes served David in like sort; the drunkards upon their ale bench tossed his name as dogs do carrion, making him their ballad and their byword, #Ps 69:12. The whole Church complaineth of the like contempt, #Ps 79:4 La 3:14,63 Eze 33:32. Thus when the invincible Armada, as they called it, was coming for England, Don Bernardino Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador in France, solaced himself with a vain and false poem or song of England’s miseries; which, as a triumph before the victory, he absurdly printed (Cambd. Eliz.). The gunpowder traitors also did the like in their sevenfold psalmody, as they called it; that devilish ditty, which secretly the Papists passed from hand to hand with tunes set to be sung or played. The matter consisted of railing upon King Edward VI, Queen Elizabeth, King James, and others; of petition, imprecation, prophecy, and praise (Spec. Bell. Sacr.).

Ver. 10. They abhor me, they flee far from me] As if I were a leper or a bugbear, or that my breath were infectious; like that maid spoken of by Avicen, who, feeding upon poison, was herself healthy, yet infected others with her venomous breath. Job was wont to be honoured; now he is as much abhorred. People were used to hanging upon his lips for learned counsel, but they stand aloof, and keep at a distance. They looked upon that face of his as the face of an angel, which now, with utmost despite and detestation, they spit upon and spare not. At virtutes evertere non possunt, as Demetrius Phalereus said, when the Athenians threw down the many statues they had once erected in honour of him, But they cannot throw down my virtues and valiant acts, whereby I deserved those statues. Job was not without his cordial in this sad and sudden change of his condition. For, first, the bird in his own bosom sang sweetly still, as birds in the spring tune most melodiously when it rains most sadly. And, secondly, what if these miscreants prate against Job with malicious words, as Diotrephes did against Demetrius, #3Jo 9-13, yet it is enough for Job or Demetrius that they have a good report of all men; that is, of all good men, who indeed are the only men (because a good name only is a name, #Ec 7:1, and a good wife only a wife, #Pr 18:22) to be reckoned on; and of the truth itself, that is more, #Job 30:12.

And spare not to spit in my face] In signum videlicet maximi contemptus et indignationis (Junius), In token of greatest contempt and indignation, as #Nu 12:14 Isa 50:6 De 25:9. The face is the table of beauty or comeliness; and when it is spit upon it is made the seat of shame. Their words were, likely, such as the English barons here said of the popes that excommunicated them, Fie on such rascal ribalds, &c., Marcidi ribauldi (Mat. Paris,). Our Lord Christ also was spit upon in like manner, that he might cleanse our faces from the filth of sin, and make them shine with his beams, #1Jo 3:2.

Ver. 11. Because he hath loosed my cord] i.e. God hath taken away mine authority, whereby I heretofore kept them in order, and made them more obsequious, so that now, like headstrong horses, having gotten the bit between their teeth, they run whithersoever they list, and rise up against their rider. It is God who casteth contempt upon princes, #Ps 107:40 Job 12:21, as he did upon Solomon in his old age, upon his son Rehoboam, upon Ephraim, #Ho 13:1, {See Trapp on "Ho 13:1"} upon our Edward II, and Henry VI. Some render it, He hath loosed my bow string, in reference to #Job 29:20, so that I cannot now shoot at those that slight me. Job was disarmed and disabled to do as he desired, as Philip, king of France, was in the battle between him and Edward III, king of England, at the instant whereof there fell such a piercing shower of rain as dissolved the strings of his archers, and made their bows usefuless (Dan. Hist. f. 237).

And afflicted me] When a tree is felled each man pulleth off a branch, saith the Greek proverb. When a dog is worried, every cur will fall on him, and have a fling at him; when a deer is wounded, the whole herd will set against him, and thrust him out of their company: so, when God hath afflicted Job, every base beggarly fellow sat heavy upon his skirts. This was an addition to his affliction.

Theft have also let loose the bridle upon me] Those insolents, having pulled their heads out of the halter, lay the reins in the neck, and run riot; yea, they run at tilt against me, as it were, beyond all reason and measure, without fear, shame, or manners, Effraenate in me invecti sunt (Jan.). For, upon me, some read, before me; q.d. Now they dare do anything, even in my presence, who formerly stood in awe of me.

Ver. 12. Upon the right hand rise the youth] Broughton readeth, The springals. The Hebrew hath it, The blossom, or the young birds, Vix puberes, such as are scarcely out of the shell. The youngsters, the boys, scoffed and abused Job. The lawless rout, riding without reins, took a licentious boldness to despise and despite him, because he was ever most severe against their unruly practices.

They push away my feet] They trip up my heels, as we phrase it, and lay me along. Vide admirandam humanae sortis varietatem, saith Brentius here; i.e. See the strange turns of human condition. Job was wont to have the chief seats in the temple, and salutations in the market place; now he cannot have a room anywhere to stand in, but every paltry boy is pushing him down. May it not be said of Job, as it was of that emperor, that he was fortunae pila et lusus? But he saw God in all.

And they raise up against me the ways of their destruction] Allegoria castrensis. Job borroweth this expression from the camp, as he doth many more from other things, whensoever he speaketh of his great afflictions, and the contempt that was cast upon him. Upon me they tread the paths of their unhappiness, so Beza; that is, they make a path in which they may practise that their malapert boldness in doing mischief. They beat their paths by running up and down therein, to undo me, so Vatablus; they cast upon me the causes of their woe, so Broughton.

Ver. 13. They mar my paths] That is, all my studies and endeavours; they obstruct all passages whereby I might hope for help, as if they were resolved upon my ruin.

They set forward my calamity] See #Zec 1:15. {See Trapp on "Zec 1:15"} Or they count it profitable to them to vex me, so great is their malice against me. And though it do them no good, yet if they may do me hurt, they have enough.

They have no helper] Neither need they any to animate them or egg them on to mischief, who of themselves are overly forward, though but small and young, as Vajezatha, Haman’s youngest son, was. {See Trapp on "Es 9:9"}

Ver. 14. They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters] Quasi irruptione lata invadunt me. As soldiers when they have made a breach in a wall, come tumbling in upon the town, and sack and ransack it, yea, raze it, and harass it; so have these dealt with me.

They rolled themselves upon me] Labouring wholly to suppress me, #Ge 43:18. Taking occasion by this my downfall, which they ought rather to have lamented and pitied, they unmercifully fell upon me, as if they themselves had lived out of the reach of God’s rod.

Ver. 15. Terrors are turned upon me] I am horribly afraid of thy judgments, as David expresseth it; and this was it that pointed and put a sting into all other sufferings; for a wounded conscience who can bear? If the shoulder be galled, the burden will be very tedious and irksome. Be not thou a terror unto me, Lord, saith Jeremiah, and then I care not much what else soever befalleth me. But why were these terrors so troublesome?

They pursue my soul as the wind] Brentius rendereth it, They pursue my liberality, or, They take away from me all the cheerfulness and readiness of my mind; whereby heretofore I suffered so many calamities, and shrank not; for the joy of the Lord was my strength, and then nothing came amiss to me. Thou hast strengthened me with strength in my soul, #Ps 138:3, and upheld me with thy noble spirit, #Ps 51:12. The Chaldee hath it, kingly spirit, and it is the same word in the original that is here rendered, my soul; it is, my princess, or, my nobility, for so the soul is the more noble part, Animam meam nobilem et inclytam (Vat.). David calleth it his glory, #Ps 16:9, and his darling, #Ps 22:20. Some of the Jewish doctors make it the same with welfare, in the words following; but that is not likely.

And my welfare passeth away as a cloud] i.e. Totally, as before; irresistible like the wind. Job aboundeth with similitudes, which do notably illustrate. Terrorum vim simili a vento illustrat, et salutem a se abeuntem similitudine nubis (Merl.). He would say, I am utterly deprived of all means of avoiding this misery.

Ver. 16. And now my soul is poured out upon me] Now that I am under these inward terrors, I am become strengthless, even weak as water, my soul doth melt away for grief, as in #Ps 42:4, and I am as a hollow tree, wherein there is not any heart of oak; I am utterly dispirited.

The days of affliction have taken hold upon me] And so hard hold, that I despair of ever getting loose while I am alive.

Ver. 17. My bones are pierced in me in the night season] Sleep is the nurse of nature, and the sweet parenthesis of men’s griefs and cares. But Job had so many aches and ailments in his body (over and above the terrors and troubles of his mind), that rest he could take none at all in the night season, when all creatures are wont to be at quiet. For for what reason? the very marrow of his bones raged through intolerable pain; as if it had been run through with a tuck. Nay more,

And my sinews (or, my pulses) take no rest] Heb. Sleep not; my sinews or arteries are racked with the cramp; and my pulses, by the force of fever, beat excessively, and pant without intermission; Qui tamen minui deberent, quia calor retrahitur in partem interiorem; which yet should move more slowly by night, because then the heat is drawn into the internal parts (Vatablus).

Ver. 18. By the great force of my disease is my garment changed] sc. Sudore, cruore, sanie, sanguine, By the matter that my disease forceth outward in boils and botches, is my garment (which once was decoris et magistratus insigne, the ensign of my authority) utterly stained and spoiled, loathsome to myself, and noisome to others, Totum cruentum et sordidatum (Merc.). Every one (say some chemists) hath his own balsam within him; his own bane it is sure he hath. Physicians hold that in every two years there is such store of ill humours and excrements engendered in the body, that a vessel of one hundred ounces will scarce contain them. Now if these, by God’s appointment (for he is the great centurion, #Mt 8:9, who hath all diseases at his beck and call), break outward, what an ulcerous leper and lazar must that man needs be! This was Job’s case, and Munster’s, who called his sores Gemmas, et preciosa Dei ornamenta, God’s gems and jewels, wherewith he decketh those whom he loveth; and King Philip’s, of Spain, who, besides many other diseases, had ingentem puris ex ulceribus redundantiam, quae binas indies scutellas divite paedore impleret, abundance of filthy matter issuing out of his sores, insomuch as that no change of clothes, or art of physicians, could keep him from being devoured by lice and vermin thereby engendered (Carol. Scriban. Instit. Princip. cap. 20).

It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat] It is become so stiff and starky, that it wrings me and hurts me, as an uneasy collar girds and gripes a man’s neck; as the edge of my coat it girds me, so Broughton readeth it. Beza rendereth this latter part of the verse thus: He (God) compasseth me about as the collar of my coat. Piscator, the whole thus: By the greatness of his (God’s) strength (which he putteth forth in scourging me with diseases), my garment changeth itself (putteth upon, as it were, another garment of scabs and scurf), as the mouth of my coat, he (God) girdeth me; i.e. Morbo premit corpus meum, he pincheth my body with diseases. But the former reading is better.

Ver. 19. He hath cast me into the mire] My disease hath, so Vatablus senseth it. Others, God hath as it were trampled me to dirt, thrown me into the kennel, and so done me the greatest disgrace that can be.

And I am become like dust and ashes] Like a dust head behind the door, cadaverosus et semimortuus, saith Mercer; being covered all over (saith Beza) with the scales and scrapings that fall from my scabs; I am become more like unto the unprofitable dust and ashes, than unto a living man. Dust and ashes are not more like one another than their names are in the original; sic κονις, cinis. See #Ge 3:19 18:27.

Ver. 20. I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me] This was a sore trial, that God should cast him into straits, and there leave him. His enemies indeed he usually dealeth so by, #Eze 22:20 29:5, but not by his servants, #Heb 13:5. Or if he do leave them, yet he will not forsake them. The mother leaves her child sometimes, but when he setteth up his note and crieth lustily, she hasteneth to help him. So doth God: but now Job cried unto him, and was not heard or answered, to his thinking at least, and that was a great cut to him, as #Ps 22:2.

I stand up] sc. To make supplication to my judge, as Haman stood up to make request for his life, #Es 7:7, as the publican stood and prayed, #Lu 18:13, and as Moses and Samuel are supposed to stand before God in prayer for their people, #Jer 15:1. Hence that proverb among the Jews, Absque stationibus, non staret mundus, Did not the saints stand in prayer, the world could not stand.

And thou regardest me not] This was but a mistake in Job, for the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers. Only God answereth our prayer, non secundum voluntatem, tamen ad utilitatem. Not always or as soon as we would, but doth that which is better for us, and takes it ill to be misconstrued, as he was by Job; witness the next words, bloody words indeed, and not far from blasphemy. Accusat ergo Iob Dominum mendacii (Brent.). Contumeliosus videri potest (Merl.).

Ver. 21. Thou art become cruel to me] Mutatus es mihi in tyrannum, thou art turned tyrant towards me, so Brentius rendereth it; and the like he had said before, #Job 16:13 19:8-10, out of the vehemency of his pain, and the sense of his flesh, which should have been silenced, and faith exalted; the property whereof is to pick one contrary out of another (as life out of death, assurance of deliverance out of deepest distresses, #De 32:36), and to persuade the heart that God concealeth his love, out of increased love, and in very faithfulness afflicteth his darlings, that he may be true to their souls, #Ps 119:75.

With thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me] Thou hatest me, Satanically hatest me; Intestinum odium exerces adversum me (Tremell.); and accordingly thou dost practise all thy might upon me. Thus Job in his heat; and that he may not seem to rage without reason, he subjoineth.

Ver. 22. Thou liftest me up to the wind] Thou whifflest and wherriest me about as chaff or thistle down. Pro libidine tractas me thou usest me at thy pleasure (Brent.).

Thou causest me to ride upon it] Upon the wings of the wind, lifting me up aloft, that I may fall with the greater poise, as the eagle is said to do the tortoise; Ut lapsu graviore ruam. —

Thou dissolvest my substance] Or, Thou meltest my wisdom. I have neither flesh nor reason remaining. The issue that he expecteth of all these his forementioned miseries, followeth:

Ver. 23. For I know that thou wilt bring me to death] Such hard thoughts had Job of God, and such heavy thoughts of himself. Nam experior, mors avocat me so Tremellius: For I feel it, death calleth me away. Sic ludis mecum, ut facile conieciam mibi moriendum esse saith Brentius: Thou so dalliest with me, that I plainly perceive I must shortly die, there is no avoiding of it. Thus good Job was pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch as he despaired even of life; and had the sentence (or denunciation) of death in himself, &c., #2Co 1:8-10. But God was better to him than his fears, and delivered him from so great a death: this is usual.

Qui nil sperare potest, desperet nihil.

And to the house appointed for all living] That is, the grave, #Ps 49:14 89:48, that congregation house of all living; as heaven is called Πανηγυρις, the congregation house of the firstborn, #Heb 12:23, the public or common meeting place, as #Isa 14:13, the house of constitution or assignation to all living, as the Hebrew here hath it, that is, to all men, who are by an excellence called, "every creature," #Mr 16:15, as being the best living creatures upon earth.

Ver. 24. Howbeit he will outstretch not his hand to the grave] He will not dig up the dead, as the Papists dealt by Bucer and others, to afflict them any more. Quid facere poterunt? Occident? Nunquid, resuscitabunt ut iterum occidant? What can they do? said Luther concerning his enemies who threatened him. Will they kill me? but what then? Will they raise me up to life again, that they may kill me again? No: Charles V, emperor, when he might have done that, and was moved to do it, would not. Mors requies aerumnarum. Dead men are at rest, was Chaucer’s motto. There, in the grave, the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest, #Job 3:17. Thus Job speaketh, going no further than the afflictions of the body, as being for his own part fearless of eternal punishment. But as for the wicked, when they die out of bodily misery, it is but as the man’s flying from a lion, and a more savage bear meeteth him; or going from it into the house (this house mentioned in #Job 30:23), and that more venomous serpent (the devil, who hath the power of death, #Heb 2:14) there biteth him, #Am 5:19.

Though they cry in his destruction] i.e. While God is crushing or killing of them. Or, Is there any cry in his destruction? It was never yet known that dead men made moan; whatever the Popish legenders tell us of one that cried out, I am dead, I am judged, I am damned; which gave occasion to Bruno to found the Carthusian order.

Ver. 25. Did I not weep for him that was in trouble?] Rursum, per pathos, excandescit (Mercer). Here Job wondereth and is much moved again at his unpitied condition, since he was so full of pity for the afflicted. He could safely say with Cyprian, Cum singulis pectus meum copulo, maeroris et funeris pondera luctuosa participo, cum plangentibus plango, cum deflentibus defico. He had tears ready for the afflicted, and wept with those that weep; not for a compliment, as the Brazilians, who

Ut flerent, oculos erudiere suos (Ovid),

nor out of tender heartedness, as Gordian the emperor, who would weep for the beating of a boy at school; but out of hearty compassion and commiseration, as good Nehemiah, #Ne 2:2, and those Christian Hebrews, #Heb 10:33,34. Now forasmuch as the merciful have the promises of mercy made unto them, #Mt 5:7 Jas 2:13, and all men say, Ab alio expectes alteri quod feceris, Job marvelleth at others’ hard heartedness toward him, and expostulateth the unkindness.

Was not my soul grieved for the poor?] Into whose case good Job put himself, and so became mendicorum maximus, as Salvian saith of Christ, because he shareth with his saints in all their necessities; he drew out not only his sheaf, but his soul to the hungry, #Isa 58:7,10, and satisfied the afflicted soul; this was right. Contrisrata est anima mea super egenum. Some render it, Restagnavit lachrymis anima mea, My soul stood with tears, like a standing pool. Others, ustulatur, πυρουται, My soul burneth: which is agreeable to that of the apostle, #2Co 11:29, "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?"

Ver. 26. When I looked for good] According to that general rule, and the common course of God’s proceedings, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again," #Mt 7:2. "With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful," #Ps 18:25. Middah cenegedh middah, say the Hebrews, Men shall have measure for measure, like for like. Hence Job expected to have all things at will, but it happened somewhat otherwise; and this puzzled him, he could not understand these cross occurrences. He could almost find in his heart to think that he was therefore so little pitied by others, because he had been so full of pity toward others.

When I waited for light, then came darkness] Things grew every day worse and worse with me, mending like sour ale in summer, as we say. Thus it fares many times with God’s best servants, these children of light walk in darkness, nevertheless let them trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon their God, in the fail of all outward comforts, #Isa 50:10 Hab 3:17,18. This is the triumph of faith, which tells the soul that things must go backward before they can come forward, and when matters are at worst they will mend.

Ver. 27. My bowels boiled, and rested not] Being tossed and tumbled with continual boiling and bubbling, rumbling and making a rattle (as the word signifieth), whether through passion or compassion, Ollae more insonueruut (Merc.). With most compassionate sympathy (saith one learned paraphrast) did my bowels yearn over the afflicted, so that I could have no quiet in myself for grieving and taking thought for them; I was seldom or never without sorrow for some one or other’s affliction.

The days of affliction prevented me] Prevision should have hindered this prevention. Evils foreseen come no whit the sooner, but far the easier. It is a labour well lost if they befall us not; well spent if they do; whereas coming suddenly, they find weak minds secure, make them miserable, leave them desperate. Expect them therefore and prepare for them; darts foreseen are dintless.

Ver. 28. I went mourning without the sun] Ater ambulo, sed non ob solem; I am not sun burnt, but heart burnt; black and discoloured without, because parched and dried up within by the force of my disease and my grief, wherewith I am pained, pined, and even perished.

I stood up and cried in the congregation] Which was not very handsome, but I could not hold. Rise I did, and roar I must amidst the press of people, whatever they should think of me. So Mordecai went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; and came even before the king’s gate, &c., #Es 4:1,2. In extreme heaviness men care not to keep decorums.

Ver. 29. I am a brother to dragons, &c.] i.e. I utter a very lamentable voice, or rather noise, like dragons, which sucking the elephant’s blood till he fall down dead upon them, and quell them with his huge bulk, make a horrible howling; so horrible and hideous, say some, that they amaze, yea, kill those that hear it (Plin. Solin.).

And a companion to owls] I give forth rude and confused cries, as if I howled with owls, or grunted with ostriches. We use to say of such, that they roar like bears and bellow like bulls, filling the air with their outcries. Young ostriches cast off by their dams, #Job 39:14 La 4:3, make a pitiful moan; so do the young ravens for like cause, #Ps 147:9. Job cried out more like a beast than a man, in his pain and misery. This the Stoics censured as effeminate, and would not allow a wise or valiant man to sigh, or cry, or show any token of grief, whatever befell him. But this was to destroy nature, and to transform men into stocks and stones void of sense. The patriarchs bewailed their deceased friends. David, likely, was not ignorant of the Gentile’s proverb, Weeping becometh not a king; yet he wept abundantly, yea, he out wept Jonathan. Because the better anyone is, the more inclined to weeping and lamentation, which yet must be duly moderated (Eurip.—-Αγαθοι δ αριδακρυες ανδρες).

Ver. 30. My skin is black upon me] Through the violence of the fever, and a dust matter, his skin was as black and mud coloured as the waters of the river Nile, which hath its name Sihor, in the Hebrew, from this root, #Jer 2:18. The Ethiopians’ skin is black, but that is natural to them, and they think it best so, and therefore paint the devil white, &c.

And my bones are burnt with heat] In the fever they call Epialis, the heat is all inward, and drieth up the radical moisture. Job complaineth of such a distemper, and so doth David, #Ps 32:3,4, and Solomon tells us, that a heavy heart drieth up the bones. Beza expoundeth it of the jawbone, dried and pined away for want of moisture.

Ver. 31. My harp also is turned to mourning] All the days of the afflicted are evil, #Pr 15:15, his harps are hanged up, his lute no longer fit but for melancholy airs; his song nothing but lachrymae, doleful ditties; his organs, all those instruments that were wont to divert him, are condemned either to sigh or to be silent. Intempestiva est in luctu Musica #/RAPC Sir 22:6, ου ναβλα κωκυτοισιν ου λυρα φιλα (Sophocl.). Gillimer, overcome and besieged by Belisarius, sent to request of him three things: 1. A loaf, to ease his hunger. 2. A harp, to ease his grief. 3. A sponge, to dry up his tears. Such mournful music was Job’s, if any at all.

Chapter 31

Ver. 1. I made a covenant with mine eyes] This chapter, since it is one of the largest in all the book, so it is elegant, various, and very full of matter; for it shows us, as in a mirror, both what we should do and what we should not do. Good Melancthon, about the beginning of the Reformation, mournfully complained, Quos fugiamus habemus; quos sequamur non intelligimus, We have whom to flee from (meaning the Papists), but whom to follow, we yet understand not (by reason of the many divisions among Protestants). But here we may be at a better certainty; by treading in Job’s footsteps, and striving to express him to the world; who against all the cavils and calumnies of his foe friends, makes it out here, that he is no hypocrite or flagitious person as they falsely charged him, but a man fearing God and eschewing evil, #Job 1:1. Let therefore as many as would be perfect be thus minded and thus mannered; propounding to themselves the highest pitch and the best patterns; resolving to resemble them as much as may be. Here we have Job’s holy care to flee fornication as a deadly evil; by avoiding the occasion, by taking bonds of his senses, and by doing all be could to be out of the way when the temptation came. Austin thanks God that the temptation and his heart met not. Job would prevent that mischief by laying laws upon his eyes, those windows of wickedness and loop holes of lust, the very door and bait of all evil concupiscence, #Mt 5:29 1Jo 2:16, that flesh pleaslng lust, that nest egg of the devil (as one wittily calleth it), that eldest child of old Adam’s strength, bearing name of the mother, which is called in general, lust, or concupiscence. Now that Job might not lust, he would not look on a forbidden object; for he knew that wanton glances cause contemplative wickedness; such as will soon break out into foul practices; as ill humours in the body do into sores and blotches, εκ του οραν γινεταιτο εραν, Ut vidi, ut perii!—oculi sunt in amore duces.

Why then should I think upon a maid?] Contemplarer in virginem, Lustfully consider her beauty, till my heart be hot as an oven with lawless lusts, and my body wollows in the mire of that abominable filth. For unbridled lust, like the wild fig, will soon mount over the wall; and those base, vain, wanton, capering thoughts will break out, if not timely suppressed; if we handle them not roughly at the door (as Elisha said), their master’s feet will not be far behind them. Quell them therefore and crush them in the egg; it is not safe being at Satan’s meal, though our spoon be never so long; remember, that of looking comes thinking; and of thinking, worse. Look upon the woeful chain of David’s lust, and remember how many have died of the wound in the eye. The basilisk slayeth with his sight. Circe {In Greek and Latin mythology the name of an enchantress who dwelt in the island of Aea, and transformed all who drank of her cup into swine; often used allusively.} will enchant all that behold her. Irregular glancing, or inordinate gazing, is that which metamorphoseth a man into a beast, and makes him a prey to his own brutish affections. Hence David prayeth, "Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity," #Ps 119:37. Job here steppeth one degree further, from a prayer to a vow; yea, from a vow to an imprecation, #Job 31:7. That his eyes should be eyes of adamant, that will turn only to one point; that he would not look but where he might lawfully like. Saints have a single eye (and contrariwise the wicked, #Ho 3:1), like that Persian lady, who being at the marriage of Cyrus, and afterwards asked how she liked the bridegroom? How? said she, I know not; I saw no one but my husband. Charles V used to clap to his casement; and the young Lord Harrington to pull his hat over his eyes when fair ladies passed along.

Ver. 2. For what portion of God is there from above?] What but a portion with the devil and hypocrites? The unjust are reserved unto the day of judgment to be punished, saith Peter; but chiefly, they that walk after the flesh, in the lust of uncleanness, #2Pe 2:9,10. Such shall have a specialty of punishment, even the hottest fire in hell; and hereby Job frighted his conscience from this foul sin; and well he might: did men but consider what sin would cost them, they durst not but be innocent; but the hope of impunity hardeneth them, and so hasteneth their destruction. Hac, tanquam lena, semper usus est antiquus ille serpens, this hope, as a bawd, that old manslayer hath ever made use of to allure men into wickedness (Merlin). But set the threats of God’s word (such as are #1Co 6:9 Heb 13:3 Eph 5:3) against this sin, and the sin is laid. Satan can no more abide by it than an owl by the shining of the sun. A man will be loth to fetch gold out of a fiery crucible.

Or, What inheritance of the Almighty from on high?] God, and Almighty, and from above, and from on high. By all these expressions Job affecteth himself with the due apprehension of the Divine majesty, that he may be wise, and beware how he fall into the punishing hands of this living God. "The Lord your God," saith Moses to the people, "is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible," &c., #De 10:16,17. "Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your hearts"; cut off and cast away that filthy foreskin; shave your eyebrows (as the leper was to do), pull out your right eyes, &c. So Joshua; God, saith he, "is an holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins," sc. unless you will part with them, though never so dear or delicious, #Jos 24:19.

Ver. 3. Is not destruction to the wicked?] Yes, that is their portion, their inheritance; and so Job makes answer to his own question proposed in the preceding verse. The ruin of impure souls is infallible, unsupportable, unavoidable; if God hath aversion from all other sinners, he hath hatred and horror for the unchaste; such stinking goats shall be set on the left hand, and sent to hell; where they shall have so much the more of punishment as they had here of sensual and sinful pleasure, as sour sauce to their sweet meats, #Re 18:7. Not to speak of the miseries they meet with here, which are not a few: in their souls, hardness of heart, or horror of conscience: in their bodies, foul and loathsome diseases, such as will stick to them when their best friends forsake them: in their names, indelible reproach and infamy; like an iron mole, which nothing can fetch out; like the leprosy, which could never be scraped out of the walls: in their estates, poverty, even to a piece of bread, #Pr 6:26. Harlots are poscinummia, crumenimulgae, suck purses, #Lu 15:14. In their posterity, as Jericho was built, so is uncleanness plagued, both in the eldest and youngest; it goes through the race, till it have wasted all.

Corpus, opes, animam, famam, vim, lumina, Scortum

Debilitat, perdit, necat, aufert, eripit, orbat.

And a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?] Even such as is unusual and extraordinary; as upon the Sodomites, who, going after strange flesh, were thrown forth for an example, as Jude hath it, #Jude 7. So those Benjamites, #Jud 20:12-15,43-48; the Trojans; the Lacedemonians at Leuctra; Zimri and Cozbi; Zedekiah and Ahab, #Jer 29:22; Eli’s two sons; Heraclius, the emperor; Muleasses, king of Tunis, in Barbary, bereft by his own son Amida (another Absalom), not of his kingdom only, but of his eyes too, put out with a burning hot iron; those eyes of his that had been full of adultery, and could not cease to sin. In Hebrew the same word signifieth both an eye and a fountain; to show, saith one, that from the eye, as a fountain, floweth both sin and misery.

Ver. 4. Doth he not see my ways, and count, &c.] Yea, sure he doth so; and the conscience of God’s omniscience, who would soon take him tripping, kept him from this great wickedness. So it did Joseph, but so it did not David; who is, therefore, said to despise God and his commandment, {#2Sa 12:9,10} to do evil in his sight; and this was no small aggravation of his offence. Ne pecces, Deus ipse videt. "I have seen the lewdness of thy whoredom," #Jer 13:27. "Even I know, and am a witness, saith the Lord," #Jer 29:23. That should be a powerful retentive from vice, #Pr 5:21.

And count all my steps?] Doth not he cipher them up? Habens omnia in numerato; not my ways only, my counsels and cogitations, but my steps also, that is, all mine outward attempts and actions. A most needful and useful consideration surely, to keep men within the compass of obedience. See this doctrine of God’s singular providence plainly and plentifully set forth, #Ps 139:1-4.

Ver. 5. If I have walked with vanity] As they do who disquiet themselves in vain, in heaping up riches by evil arts, by deceits and covin in bargaining; by getting other men’s means fraudulently, &c. "The getting of treasures by a lying tongue" (or any the like indirect course) "is a vanity tossed to and fro for them who seek death," #Pr 21:6. Eventually such do seek death, though not intentionally; they spin a fair thread to strangle themselves, both temporally and eternally. Such vain and vile ways, therefore, Job carefully declined; for he knew them to be both base and bootless, Furtum a Virg. vocatur inane (Aeneid 6). Ephraim fed upon the wind, the balances of deceit were in his hand; if, thereby, he filled his purse with coin, yet he had emptiness in his soul; Lucrum in arca, damnum in conscientia: filled he was with air, and that air was pestilential too; his breath and death he drew in together. Job would have none of that.

Or if my foot hath hasted to deceit] If I have been nimble and active to go beyond and defraud another in any matter, #1Th 4:6, which, what is it else but crimea stellionatus, the very sin of deception? and this not only acted, but arted, after long trading in it, as the words of walking and hasting seem to import.

Ver. 6. Let me be weighed in an even balance] Heb. Let him weigh me; Examine me, saith Tremellius. David, with the like confidence, Search me, O God, saith he, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, any course of sin that is grievous to God or man, wherein I have walked, or my foot hath hasted, #Ps 139:23,24. Job would not rest in his own heart’s applause; neither would he be borne down by his friends’ false charges; but puts himself into God’s hands to be weighed, and then makes no question but his present sufferings will be found heavier than his former miscarriages, in his interdealings with men for matter of gain; and that there is some other cause (though what he knoweth not) for which God doth so grievously afflict him. See David doing the like, #Ps 7:4 26:2.

That God may know mine integrity] i.e. That he may make known mine innocence and upright heartedness in this particular of commerce with others; that I have not dealt deceitfully. Otherwise, if God should weigh the best that are in a balance, they would be found too light; if he mark iniquities no man living can be justified, #Ps 130:3 143:2. If he turn up the bottom of the bag all our secret thefts will out, and come to reckoning. It is an idle conceit of some ignorant folk, that God will weigh their good deeds against their bad; and they shall well enough set off with him by the one for the other. This they have drawn (as they have not a few other fopperies) from that practice of Popish priests; to persuade people that when men are at point of death, St Michael, the archangel, bringeth a pair of balances, and putteth in one scale their good works, and in the other their sins; and that if those weigh down these, they are saved, as if otherwise, they are damned. But what saith an ancient, Vae hominum vitae etiamsi laudabili, &c., Woe to the best man alive if God should weigh him in a balance of justice; since his sins would be found heavier than the sands of the sea, #Job 9:15 10:15.

Ver. 7. If my step hath turned out of the way] sc. Of justice and equity, in trading and trafficking to get the mammon of unrighteousness. No; the sun might sooner be turned out of his course (as it was once said of Fabricius) than Job out of the track of truth and honesty; he had laid laws upon his feet, his eyes, and his hands too; binding them all to the good behaviour: witness the next words.

And mine heart walked after mine eyes] As it doth too often, to coveting other men’s goods; which St John calleth the lust of the eyes, #1Jo 2:16. Alexander the Great called the Persian maids Dolores oculorum, the griefs of the eyes. The wedge of gold and Babylonish garment proved to be so to covetous Achan, #Jos 7:21, and Naboth’s vineyard to that no good Ahab, #1Ki 21:2. He was even sick of it, and could not be cured but by a salad out of it. Hence the law flatly forbiddeth men to go after the sight of their eyes and the lust of their hearts; for these are seldom sundered, #Nu 15:39 Ec 11:9. Unruly eyes, like Jacob’s sheep, too firmly fixed on unlawful objects, make the affections bring forth spotted fruit. Job would, therefore, set a guard upon them, lest they should prove brokers of wickedness to the heart; as that hang by Hiram, the Adullamite, was to Judah, #Ge 38:20. There is an easy passage for evil through the eyes into the heart, saith Quintilian, Oculus et cor sunt proxenetae peccati (Hebr. Proverb).

And if any blot hath cleaved to my hands] If I have been fingering that which was not fit for me to meddle with; viz. evil gotten goods, whether by bribery, usury, deceit, or the like; the very touching whereof will blot aud benumb the hands, as Pliny writeth of the fish torpedo; and as scholars know that Demosthenes, a great lawyer, by poising Harpalus’s goblet, was tempted and swayed to favour his cause, to the great danger of his country, and his own indelible infamy.

Ver. 8. Then let me sow, and another eat] God loves to retaliate; and let him do so to me, according to that he hath threatened, #De 28:30, &c., and as he executed upon Laban, Nabal, Saul, Haman, others. The Greeks have a proverb,

Αλλοι μεν σπειρουσ´ αλλοι δ αν αμησονται.

Some sow that which others reap. This Job wisheth may befall, if he had been oppressive and injurious, as Eliphaz had wrongfully accused him, #Job 22:6.

Yea, let my offspring be rooted out] Or, Let that which I have planted be plucked up by the roots. It is commonly seen that oppressors and unconscionable persons procure their own ruth and ruin; and he that gathereth the fruits of another man’s tree pulleth his own up by the roots.

Οι αυτω κακα τευχει ανηρ, αλλω κακα τευχων.

Those who spoil houses which they builded not, #Job 20:19, shall, when they cease to spoil, be made a spoil; and when they have made an end of dealing treacherously, be treacherously dealt with themselves, #Isa 13:1.

Ver. 9. If my heart hath been deceived by a woman] By a female sinner, as they call such, a strange woman (as the Scripture), whose lips are snares, whose hands are bands, whose words are cords to draw a man in, as an ox to the slaughter, #Pr 7:21, whose face is as a glass, wherein while larks gaze they are taken in a day net ( החפ, Hinc πειθω, persuadeo). Here Job disavoweth and disclaimeth the sin of adultery, purging himself, as it were, by oath, as before he had done of fornication, and of wrong dealing. These sins he reckoneth up, either as they came to mind, or else in such order as men are many times tempted to them. Young people are prone to fornication; Job, when young, had kept himself clear from that iniquity. When men have got some years over their heads, and are entered into the world, as they call it, they usually grow greedy and gripple; they are set upon it, and will be rich, however they come by it. Job was none such either, #Job 31:5,7. Afterwards, when married, they are sick of a pleurisy; and as the devil, who sets them to work, they long to be sowing another man’s ground, #Mt 13:25. The temptation to fornication is strong, but to adultery stronger, Adulterium quasi ad alterius torum. God doth often punish fornication, unrepented of, with strong and vexing honings and hankerings after strange flesh. But Job either was never troubled in this way; or else, when the temptation came, he was sure to be ever out of the way. The devil’s fire fell upon wet tinder; and if he knocked at Job’s door, there was no one at home to look out at the window and let him in; for he considered the punishment both human, #Job 31:11, and divine, #Job 31:12, due to this great wickedness.

Or if I have laid wait at my neighbour’s door] Either as waiting the opportunity of his absence, as #Pr 7:19, or as insinuating myself into her familiarity, while she was standing in her door. Of the Italian women one giveth this character, That though witty in speech, and modest in outward appearance, yet they are magpies at the door, goats in the garden, devils in the house, angels in the streets, and syrens in the windows. Job’s heart was not deceived by any such; neither sought he to defraud his brother in any such matter, #1Th 4:5,6. {See Trapp on "Joh 8:4"}

Ver. 10. Then let my wife grind unto another] i.e. Let her be his slave, as #La 5:13 Ex 11:5 Mt 24:41; or rather, let her be his whore; and may my sin, which hath served her for example, serve her also for excuse. Not that Job would hereby license his wife to commit filthiness (as those Lituanians, who have their connubii adiutores, co-helpers in wedlock, and prize them far above all their acquaintance, as Maginus relateth, Alienas permolere uxores (Horat.). Sic μυλλειν, i.e. molere, apud Theocrit. est coire; and as some wits among us, panders to their own beds, who, either for gain or for a quiet life, wink at their wives’ disloyalty; and, as woodculvers or silly hedge sparrows, hatch and bring up that which cuckoos lay in their nests), but to set forth by this horrible imprecation how extremely he abhorred the sin of adultery.

And let others bow down upon her] A clean expression of an unclean act. Some Borborologi podicem ex ore faciunt, being like ducks, that ever have their noses puddling in puddles: sic hi spurcitias Veneris eliminant, delight in ribaldry and obscene language; as did Proculus, the emperor, and before him, that beast Tiberius. These are to be avoided as pests and botches of human society. So also are stage plays for that very cause, as the brothels of bawdry, the corrupters of youth, the canker of the commonwealth, as Plato, a heathen, complained. Filthiness and fornication should not be once named among Christians, #Eph 5:3. Groves were flatly forbidden by God to be planted near the places of his worship; in detestation of that heathenish custom of Priapus’s worshippers, promiscuously satisfying their lusts in a thicket after they had sacrificed; thereby, as they conceived, best pleasing their god.

Ver. 11. For this is an heinous crime] Hoc enim grande flagitium est, so the Tigurines translate; for this is a wickedness with a witness, though counted by some a light offence, a peccadillo. The Popish priests, deeply guilty of it themselves, seldom cried out against it in their sermons; this the great ones, and others, observed; and, therefore, ran into it, as if it had been a venial sin, if any sin at all. But we have not so learned Christ; and there was once found an English bishop (Adelm, elect bishop of Sherborn, A.D. 705) who boldly and sharply reproved Pope Sergius to his face for this foul sin (Godwin. Catal. p. 333). Joseph calleth it a great wickedness, #Ge 39:9, because a breach of the bond of loyalty, which cannot but be treachery; as also because it destroys society and the purity of posterity, stealing sometimes an heir into the estate.

Yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges] Since it is a theft of that which is most precious and most peculiar to the owner; as Joseph told his mistress, #Ge 39:9; the suspicion or jealousy of it raiseth the rage of a man to such a height that it will not be allayed without revenge, #Pr 6:34,35. Some render it, iniquitas iudicata, an iniquity already adjudged capital. The Hebrew hath it, an iniquity of the judges; that is, that which judges should severely punish. Before the law Tamar was to have been burnt for it, #Ge 38:24, as under the law the high priest’s daughter, #Le 21:9. Ahab and Zedekiah were roasted in the fire for this offence by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, #Jer 29:22,23. Some think that these two were the elders that assaulted Susanna. The Egyptians cut off the harlot’s nose, and the adulterer’s members. Ezekiel, #Eze 23:25, alludeth to this custom. The Locrians pulled out their eyes. The Julian law, among the Romans, adjudged them to die; and Jerome saith this law was yet in force in his time; but the poet complaineth that, for want of due execution, it lay dormant, Lex Iulia dormit; as many other good laws do by the baseness and partiality of the judges, such as were those Athenian judges, who, having before them Phryne, that notable strumpet, were about to pass sentence of death upon her; but when her advocate, Hyperides, had opened her bosom, and showed them her beautiful breasts to move them to mercy, they acquitted her, and let her go (Plutarch, Vit. 10; Rhetor. in Hyper.). In like sort also they dealt with the dame of Smyrna, whom they appointed to appear some hundred years after. How much better the old Saxons, who, while they were yet heathens, made a law, and saw it well executed, that the adulteress should be first strangled, and then burnt in a bonfire, over which the adulterer was to be hanged in chains, and burnt to death by degrees? And of another heathen people we read, that they put the adulterers’ and adulteresses’ heads into the paunch of a beast, where all the filth lieth, and so stifled them to death.

Ver. 12. For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction] Ad Gehennam usque, to the place of destruction. Heb. to Abaddon, that burneth as low as hell itself. In case men should be slack to punish this heinous crime, yet whoremongers and adulterers God will judge, #Heb 13:3, shutting them out of heaven, #Re 22:15 (for what should any such dirty dog do trampling on that golden pavement?), and thrusting them into hell, as he did the filthy Sodomites, #Jude 7, beside that hell above ground which he rained from heaven upon them, hot fire for their burning lusts, and stinking brimstone for their stinking brutishness. How God signally punished this sin in Charles II, king of Navarre, roasting him to death. {See Trapp on "Ge 19:24"} Joan of Naples also, and Mary of Arragon, wife to the Emperor Otho III, burnt at a stake, are set upon record as instances of the Divine displeasure against adultery, a fire which burns hearts and consumes houses.

And would root out all mine increase] Leaving me nothing. As a devouring fire burns up men, cattle, houses, corn, trees, &c.; so doth this sin all a man’s income, baring him to the very bones, and exhausting him to the utmost: so that, like Tiberius at Capreae, he doth indies perire, which is a bitterness beyond that of death, #Ec 7:26. Or like Samson, befooled and bereft of all by Delilah, who had not her name for nought, for it comes from Dalal, to exhaust and impoverish. And indeed such kind of creatures do ordinarily drain the strength, exhaust the purses, dry up the credit, waste and consume the all of the mightiest Samsons, besides the loss of their immortal souls, and perpetual shame at the last day (when all their faults shall be written in their foreheads), unless the matter be taken up in the judge’s privy chamber of mercy; and unless, by timely repentance, course be taken to stop his open judicial proceeding in court.

Ver. 13. If I did despise the cause of my many, errant, &c.] Servants of old (among the heathen especially) were mere slaves to their masters according to the flesh, who had power to use them at their pleasure, as they did their cattle. A servant (saith Aristotle) is the master’s instrument, and wholly his ολων εκεινου. He might do what he would to them, saith Seneca, even to the taking away of their lives, without danger of law. But Job held with the same Seneca, that posse et nolle nobile est; and that in some cases, Nimis angusta innocentia est, ad legem bonum esse; that utmost right is utmost wrong; and that there will come a reckoning afterwards, the forethought whereof awed him, and swayed him to do his servants right, when he might have oppressed them and tyrannized over them; as now the Turks do over their galley slaves. Of Archbishop Cranmer it is recorded, that he never raged so far with any of his household servants as once to call the meanest of them varlet or knave in anger. Tremellius, who was for a time entertained in his house, saith of it, that it was schola vel palaestra pietatis et literarum, A school or nursery of piety and learning. And therefore what wonder that there was so good accord between him and his family, when there was so careful a performance of domestic duties, and he was not a better man than a master? Think the same of Job, discontents might occur in his house, and complaints might be made, which he heard with patience, and then set all to rights again, taking course that he might be both loved and feared by all about him.

Ver. 14. What then shall I do when God riseth up, &c.] Job considered that he had a Master in heaven, #Col 4:1; that there is one higher than the highest, #Ec 5:8, with whom there is no respect of persons, but whereever any deal proudly, God is above them, #Ex 18:11. These and the like humbling considerations, and not any placability or natural courteousness, made him deal thus fairly and kindly with his servants; how much more, then, with his wife and children!

And when he visiteth, what shall I answer?] Job looked to be visited, and called to an account of his household government. It is a good saying of a heathen, Ita vivamus, &c., Let us so live as those that must render an account of all we do (Cic. 4 in Verr.). And that which the ruffian in Seneca scoffeth at in the sober young man is true of the godly in a sense more divine, Ita laborat, ita ludit, ita coenat, ita potat, ita loquitur, ita vivit, ut qui Ephemeridas patri est approbaturus; that is, he so laboureth, so sporteth, so eateth, so drinketh, so speaketh, so liveth, as he that must approve his day books to his father. Job was not to learn that there is a way of upright walking in our houses, so as God will come to us, if our houses be rightly ordered, #Ps 101:2, and we shall look him in the face with comfort; for it is called there a perfect way, in opposition to hypocrisy. Now uprightness hath boldness.

Ver. 15. Did not he that made me in the womb, make him?] In which regard have not we all one Father, and hath not one God created us? #Mal 2:10. Is it not he who formeth and shapeth us, and all by the book, #Ps 139:16. We are all of all sorts in this respect (whether kings or captives, lords or lowlies), made of the same mould, hewn out of the same rock, digged out of the same pit, cut out of the same piece, the shears only going between, as they say. Thus for our bodies, and for our better part, is not the meanest made in God’s image, and as capable of heaven, if God please, as the greatest? In the law the servant paid the half shekel as well as the master; and in Christ Jesus, as there is neither Jew nor Greek, so neither bond nor free, #Ga 3:28. Truth it is, God hath made these distinctions and degrees among men, but himself is no respecter of persons. He acknowledgeth no faces (so the Hebrew expresseth it). He taketh no notice of any man’s outward condition, as country, sex, wisdom, wealth, dignity, &c. These neither please God nor displease him, but as they are in a good or bad man; as a cipher by itself is nothing without a figure before it. This reason wrought with Job, and should do, doubtless, with all superiors, to bring them to a moderation. Why should a poor man be slighted or brow beaten? Is he not God’s handiwork also? Was he not made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth? #Ps 139:15, that is, in his mother’s womb, as it followeth.

And did not one (that is God) fashion (Heb. apt or fit) us in the womb?] Quum fortuna, non natura eos fecerit servos, cur, propter fortunam, eos contemptiores habuissem? Forasmuch as not Nature, but Providence, hath made them my servants, why should I for that cause deal hardly with them; and not rather favour them the more, for our common condition of birth, and death, and coming to judgment? Apte et concinne elaboravit (Brent.). Servus αυναδελφος vei ομοδελφος domini sui est.

Ver. 16. If I have withheld the poor from their desire] The poor man speaketh supplications, he comes to the rich with his God help me, as Lazarus did, #Lu 16:20,21, his very name speaks as much, but the rich answereth him roughly, #Pr 18:23 Either the answer cutteth off half the petition, as the echo doth the voice; or else he is commanded ad quercum dicere, to tell his tale to the statues and images, as Diogenes used to do; for of living men he could get no hearing. But Job’s suitors sped better. Pennyless they were, but not friendless; drawn dry (as the Hebrew word importeth) and such as whose wealth was utterly wasted; but Job shored them up and supplied them. And this he did readily, and at the first asking; they no sooner desired relief but they had it. Job was a cheerful giver, he neither denied nor delayed those that came to him for relief or refuge. Multi contra studiose causas inquirunt quibus se a benefaciendo cohibeant (Merlin). Many seek occasion to put off poor people, and to rid their hands of them.

Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail] Viduae saepe sunt verecundae (Mercer). Widows many times are modest; their eyes are weakened with much weeping, while they remember their former comforts and present crosses. This good Job considered, and therefore soon condescended to their requests. He held it enough that their hearts ached, and would not suffer their eyes to ache with expecting his help, but speedily sped them.

Η χαρις η βραδυπους αχαρις εστι χαρις.

Ver. 17. Or have eaten my morsel myself alone] As that churl Nabal did, and therefore merited the title of Pamphagus. Many rich wretches are like little children, who, though they have their mouths full of food and both their hands full, yet will part with none to another, but rather mar it. The richer they are the harder, as Dives; whom, to upbraid, Lazarus was laid in the bosom of liberal Abraham, of whom it is recorded, that he sat in the door of his tent in the heat of the day (the usual time of repose and repast) purposely to invite passengers, #Ge 18:1. He pursued hospitality, as the apostle’s expression is, #Ro 12:13, and a very hearty householder he was. Think the same of Job, whose cup overflowed into other men’s lesser vessels, as #Ps 23:5, neither did anything he eat do him good without some good company to take part with him. Charity is no churl. Of a certan bishop of Lincoln the story is told, that he never thought he had that thing which he did not give, Quod nondum dederit, nondum se credit habere. Hoc habeo quodcunque dedi, saith Seneca; and another (Martial),

Quas dederis solas, semper habebis, opes.

And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof] These were his fellow commoners; and the like is reported of Charles the Great, and of Bishop Hooper, who had his board of beggars, widows, and orphans sent for to his palace in Worcester, and served every day with whole and wholesome meats ere himself sat down to dinner. Neither were these any losers by their liberality. The flowers hurt not their own fruit, though they yield honey to the painful bee. The sun loseth not light, though it lend it to the moon. But as the moon, the fuller she is of light the farther she gets from the sun, and as the sun moveth slowest when he is highest in the zodiac; so are those farthest off from bounty, for the most part, who abound most in plenty. Your fattest men have the least blood, and your richest men do the least good. Whereas those that are rich in this world should be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate to widows and fatherless especially, sith those are God’s own clients, #1Ti 6:17.

Ver. 18. For from my youth he was brought up with me, &c.] i.e. Ever since I could do anything it hath been my delight to be doing good to the poor orphans, whom I have tenderly bred, as a father useth to breed his children. Non est vulgare Dei donum, saith Mercer, This is no ordinary mercy for men to be of a merciful disposition and melting hearted toward the poor and necessitous, as some are naturally, and from the womb. Such are said to have been Artaxerxes Longimanus, Titus the emperor, Otho III, Stephen king of Hungary, Oswald king of England, &c.

And I have guided her from my mother’s womb] Ductavi illam, meaning the widow, or the orphan, to whom I have been a manly guide, and that of a child little. See the previous note. Sutton’s hospitals and many more monuments of charity in this kind are worthily alleged by some of our divines, to prove that, for their time and ability, Protestants have equalled and exceeded Papists in this way of good works. Job’s desire of doing good appeared early, as if it had been born with him; like as Plutarch writeth of Coriolanus, that he was so natural and expert a soldier, that he might seem to have been born with his arms upon his back and his weapons in his hands, εγγενη και εμφυτα..

Ver. 19. If I have seen any perish for want of clothing] Job was ad omnem humanitatem effectus atque assuefactus. This liberal man devised liberal things; and as he dealt his bread to the hungry, so when he saw the naked he covered him; he hid not himself from his own flesh, #Isa 58:7. Giles, of Brussels, and Mr Wiseheart, the Scot, are famous among the martyrs for their charity in this kind. And so is Mr Fox, the martyrologer, of whom it is reported, that as he gave away his horse at one time to a poor man when he had no money to give him; so at another, having bestowed his wife’s money in a petticoat, and meeting by the way home with a poor woman that wanted clothing, he freely gave it to her; telling his wife that he had sent it to heaven before her. The poor man’s belly is surely the best cupboard, and his back the best wardrobe; Ubi non pereunt, sed parturiunt, where they rot not, as those moth eaten ones in St James, #Jas 5:2, but remain for ever. Great Alexander believed this far better than most among us, for when he had given away all almost, and his friends asked him, where it was? he pointed to the poor and said, In scriniis, in my chests. And when he was further asked, what he kept for himself.; he answered, Spem maiorum et meliorum, The hope of greater and better things. And another of his name, viz. Pope Alexander V, was so liberal to the poor, that he left nothing to himself; so that he would merrily say, that he was a rich bishop, a poor cardinal, and a beggarly pope, Ωποποι. It was wont to be said,

Pauperibus sun dat gratis, nec munera curat

Curia Papalis; quod modo percipimus.

But this distich must be read backwards, saith mine author (Heidfeld.), thus, Percipimus modo quod Papalis, &c. This Pope Alexander then was a rare bird at Rome.

Or any poor without covering] Whether he craved it of me or not, if I did but see it, the poor creature was sure of it. The liberal man helps the poor and needy, #Ps 41:1. Praeoccupat vocem petituri, so Augustine expounds that text in #Ps 103 He stays not till he is asked a good turn, but ministereth to the uses, not only to the necessities, of the saints, as the apostle’s word is in the original, #Ro 12:13, ταις χρειαις. So did Dr Taylor, martyr, when he visited the almshouse in his parish once a fortnight to see what they lacked, and to supply them. And so did Mr Fox, when, unasked, he gave the poor woman the petticoat, as above said.

Ver. 20. If his loins have not blessed me] As being warm clothed by me; not with a suit of words, as those great benefactors, #Jas 2:15,16, who were much in mouth mercy, which indeed is good cheap; but a little handful of Job’s wool is much better than a mouthful of such airy courtesies, and would open more mouths to bless men who, today, for the most part, will be but as friends at a sneeze, the most you can get of them is, God bless you. These have as many flouts and curses as Job had well wishes, and God thereby had praises, according to that of our Saviour, #Mt 5:16.

And if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep] His sheep were his own, else his charity had been unwarrantable. "Honour the Lord with thy substance," #Pr 3:9, but see it be thine, and not another’s. "He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor," #Pr 22:9; specially if he have spared it out of his own belly to give to the hungry; if it were the bread of his own demense, or allowance, as some interpret it.

Ver. 21. If I have lift up my hand against the fatherless] That is, against any that are destitute of human helps and defences. Such to ill treat and oppress is easy for great ones. See #Ge 50:15-21, &c. But where the true fear of God is no such thing will be done. The Tigurines render, Si minitatus sum Orphano, &c., If I have lifted up my hand in threatening first, and then let it fall in striking and punishing, the fatherless or friendless.

When I saw my help in the gate] i.e. When, by my greatness and grace with the people, I might have borne out my worst miscarriages; when I might have had more than enough that would have defended, yea, applauded me, as the Senate of Rome did Nero even for his most malapert misdemeanors and most horrid outrages.

Ver. 22. Then let mine arm fall from the shoulder blade] That unworthy arm of mine (as Cranmer cried out of that unworthy right hand of his, which he therefore burnt first), so injuriously lifted up against the fatherless, #Job 31:21, let it never be useful to me any more, but let me be punished with that wherewith I have sinned. God sometimes takes notice of the offending member; as in Jeroboam’s withered hand, Abimelech’s head, which had stolen the crown, Samson’s eyes, the rich man’s tongue, the adulteress’s thigh, #Nu 5:27. This Job knew, and therefore subjoineth this imprecation, Diris se devovens, thereby to clear himself from Eliphaz’s false imputations, #Job 22:6,7. The like may be done by us, but sparingly, and not without great necessity, for the helping of the truth in necessity, lest if we do it falsely or rashly, God say, Amen, and set his fiat to it; as he had done in sundry instances in several ages; witness Alexander, the cruel keeper of Newgate, and his son-in-law, John Peter, who rotted above ground, according to their wish. So Anne Averies, in Queen Elizabeth’s days; Sir Gervaise Elloways, in King James’s, hanged on the Tower hill, which he confessed was just upon him, for that in carding and dicing he had often wished himself hanged, if it were not so and so.

And mine arm be broken from the bone] Broken to shivers, as the word signifieth, and by the infamous hands of the hangman, for a terror to all false judges, as some do sense it; Rumpar medius, saith Brentius, as Judas burst in the midst with a huge crack, #Ac 1:18, his guts gushing out; as did likewise Foxford’s, a great persecutor in Henry VIII’s time. Some men’s sins go before to judgment, God hanging them up, as it were, in gibbets, that others may hear and fear, and do no more so.

Ver. 23. For destruction from God was a terror to me] Such an eminent and exemplary calamity or misery, as is mentioned in the former verse, frightened me from wrong dealing. I foresaw the evil event of such practices, and therefore dared not venture. We may not fear the punishment only, and not the offence (for that is a servile fear, and hath torment); neither may we fear the punishment more than the offence. But to fear the punishment with the offence, the offence being feared in the first place, and most, this is incident to saints, and commanded, #Mt 10:28.

And by reason of his highness (or excellency) I could not endure] Non praevaluissem, saith Tremellius. The Hebrew is, I could not; sc. Prevail or subsist. If there be no standing before a lion, or bearing up sail before a tempest; why should any one think to contest with omnipotence, to strive with his Maker, whom nothing can disarm or pacify, but a humble yielding to his justice in hope of mercy, with a resolution to fear before him continually, as the Scripture phraseth it?

Ver. 24. If I have made gold my hope] The Seventy read, Si posui aurum in coniugmm meum; signifying the covetous man’s great love (Minut. Octav.). If I have trusted in uncertain riches, and been high minded, as Paul expounds it, #1Ti 6:17, holding myself simply the better or the safer for the wealth I have gotten; this is creature confidence, this is fiat idolatry, worse than that of the belly god, who sacrificeth to his gut, but trusteth not to it. An ancient complaineth (and not without cause), Divites facultatibus suis alligatos magis aurum consuevisse suspicere quam caelum, That rich men mind gold more than God, and money more than mercy. If wealth be wanting, they sit down in a faithless sullen discontent and despair; as, if they have it, they rise up in a corky, frothy confidence that all shall go well with them. This St Paul calls idolatry, #Col 3:5; St James, adultery, #Jas 4:4, and enmity with God, in a sense both active and passive; for it maketh a man both to hate God and to be hated by God. Now who would buy gold at so dear a rate?

Or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence] This the mammonist speaketh, as if he were bowing before his golden god, whereunto, though he bow not the knee, yet with his heart he serveth it (and obedience is better than sacrifice), and with his tongue he talketh of it, saying, Thou art my confidence; if thou fail me, I must needs sink: and with all his might he makes after it, as if his life lay upon it, which yet, our Saviour saith, doth not consist in the abundance of those things a man hath, #Lu 12:15, since (as a ship) he may have enough to sink him, but not enough to satisfy him.

Ver. 25. If l rejoiced because my wealth was great] Those that trust in it cannot but rejoice in the increase of it; though, in truth, they do rather revel than rejoice; for true joy is a severe thing, saith the philosopher, and must have a better bottom than these bona scabelli, than corn, and wine, and outward substance, #Ps 4:7. Job rejoiced not, though the world came tumbling in upon him, as we say. For he knew he was but a wether sheep, upon whom the shepherd had bestowed a bell more than upon the rest of the flock; and therefore he would not cast his noise into the wind, and carry his crest the higher, for outward prosperity. If God should take what he had so graciously given, he would bear it not only patiently, but thankfully and fruitfully, as he did, #Job 1:21, suffering, with joy the spoiling of his goods, as having in heaven a more enduring substance, #Heb 10:34.

And because mine hand had gotten much] Heb. Had found very much. This he speaketh in the worldling’s language, who ascribe all they have to their own industry and good fortune. God is not in all their thoughts, Per mimesim, verba avarorum imitatur (Lavat.). But Job is of another spirit; and as for this sinful self ascribing, he utterly detesteth and disavoweth it.

Ver. 26. If I beheld the sun when it shined] viz. To adore it, as the Persians did, and other heathens. The Egyptians had their Heliopolis, or city of the sun; and the Canaanites their Timnath heres, #Jud 2:9 Jos 24:30, that is, the figure of the sun; so called from the idolatry there committed, in worshipping the sun (though I know there is another reason given). The Persians consecrated a horse to the sun, as the swiftest to the swiftest; and the idolatrous Israelites had their horses of the sun, which Josiah took away. It is not amiss to behold the sun, moon, and stars in their pomp and lustre. It is sweet, saith Solomon, #Ec 11:7. Comfortable, saith David, #Ps 97:11, and useful in many respects; to mind us of our present beauty and safety, #Re 12:1 Ps 84:11, and of our future felicity and glory, #Mt 13:46 Da 12:3; but above all, of Christ, that Sun of righteousness, Star of Jacob, &c. But this we must do, not to worship them, as they of old did the queen of heaven (and this is thought to be the ancientest idolatry in the world), nor to swear by them, as #Mt 5:34, but to see and worship the Maker of them; which because the blind Ethnics did not, they were damned, #Ro 1:19. Oh, then, what will become of us, who see much more of God by so clear a light in that molten looking glass, #Job 37:18.

Or the moon walking in brightness] Heb. Bright or precious; that is, enlightened with the precious light of the sun, as when she is at full, and shineth like the finest gold; and was therefore idolized by the heathens, under the names of Phebe, Diana, &c. Of this idolatry Job here purgeth himself; as he had done before of that other of covetousness.

Ver. 27. And my heart hath been secretly enticed] sc. By the devil, who is ειδωλοχαρης, as, saith Synesius, a great promoter of idolatry; and probably had tempted good Job to this sin also; but was bravely repulsed. If I have done this secretly, saith he, that is, contrary to my open profession of sincere religion. See #De 27:10.

Or, my mouth hath kissed my hand] An action of idolaters, who kissed their idols that were present, #1Ki 19:18 Ho 13:2 (as the Papists now do their idols, even to the wearing of hardest marble), and to those which were further from them, they held out their hand, and afterwards did put it to their mouth; as an acknowledgment that they had their life and breath from them, saith Diodati, as a sign of subjection, saith Piscator, from #Ge 41:40 Ps 2:12, "Kiss the Son," sc. with a kiss of homage, such as wherewith Samuel kissed Saul, #1Sa 10:1. And Plutarch saith (in Caton. Uticens.), that not to all, but to some special chief commanders, and generals, it was granted among the Romans, That the hand should be kissed before them by way of honour; and this was called adorare, quasi applicare manum ad os. That saying of Bernard (In Cantic. serm. iv.) is worthy of inserting, Qui in se, non in Domino gloriatur, manum suam osculatur; He that glories in himself, and not in the Lord, kisseth his own hand, and is, interpretative, an idolater.

Ver. 28. This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge] No less than adultery, but rather more. This also is iniquitas iudiciaria, a God provoking, land desolating sin, a wickedness with a witness, a capital crime. See #Job 31:11, and take notice how these foul sins swell in Job’s eyes as so many toads; and how full in the mouth he is in speaking of them.

For I should have denied the God that is above] Far above any of these deastri gentium, even the most high God, #Ge 14:18,22. I should rob the master to give to the servant; ascribe that to the creature which is due only to the Creator; this he will by no means endure. For, be the gods of the heathens good fellows, saith one; the true God is a jealous God, and will not share his glory with another.

Ver. 29. If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me] If I rejoiced at his ruin or fed my thoughts with his fall. Flesh and blood would have taught him so to do; there being nothing more natural to us than revenge; as we see in little ones. Heathens commended it for manhood (Arist. Rhet. c. i. lib. 9), and held it out as sweeter than life itself.

At vindicta bonum vita iucundius ipsa.

Howbeit some heathens professed against it, as Seneca, Immane verbum est ultio, saith he; Revenge is unmanly, both word and thing. And, Qui ulciscitur excusatius peccat He that avengeth himself sinneth, though he hath some colour for his sin. Socrates is famous for forgiving of injuries; and Julius Caesar, when he had Pompey’s head presented to him, wept, and said, I sought not revenge, but victory, Non mihi placet vindicta, sed victoria. Both law and gospel forbids revenge; and Job, who lived before both, obeyed both; as here appeareth. Enemies he had, but he hated them not. That of Solomon was his practice, "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth," &c., #Pr 24:17,18. {See Trapp on "Pr 24:17"} {See Trapp on "Pr 24:18"}

Or lifted up myself when evil found him] Sin will find men out, sooner or later; Nemesis semper a tergo; and they called her Αδραστεια, because unavoidable. Men may shuffle from side to side, as Balaam’s ass did; but there is no escaping this punishing angel. God will pursue wicked men to destroy them, till such time as they throw the traitor’s head over the wall. Now, good Job had put over his enemies to God, that he might order them (which also he did), and therein did himself no disservice. But how did Job deport himself toward them in this case? Did he lift up himself and insult? Did he bestir himself, as Broughton here elegantly translateth, and was he well paid? Nothing less.

Ver. 30. Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin] Heb. my palate; which is one of the nine instruments of speech. I have not so much as broken out into any passionate word against him; but when I was raging ripe I refrained, and forbore boisterous and blustering expressions, whereby some would have vented their choler in such a case. Nothing is more easy and ordinary than to curse an enemy; by prayer at least to turn him over to God to be punished; as David did Nabal, and it was soon done. But Job, out of private revenge, dared not do this, whatever David did out of a zeal of God’s glory, which wicked men sought to deface.

By wishing a curse to his soul] Heb. by asking his life by a curse. Job knew that cursing men are cursed men, #Ps 109:18. If the prophets cursed their enemies at any time, as Elisha did the children at Bethel, and David oft in the Psalms, it was not livore vindictae, sed zelo iustitae, not out of a vindictive spirit, but by the instinct of God’s Holy Spirit, and out of zeal for God’s glory (Gorran.). Our rule is, "Bless them that persecute you: bless, and curse not," #Ro 12:14. Render not evil for evil, or railing for railing; but contrariwise bless, knowing that we are thereunto called, that we should inherit a blessing, #1Pe 3:9. Epiphanius and Chrysostom falling out about Origen’s writings, wished a curse to one another; and it ocurred accordingly; the one died ere he came home, and the other was unbishoped.

Ver. 31. If the men of my tabernacle said not] Contubernales, sive domestici; those of my family and familiarity. A man is to take heed of the iniquity of his heels, that is, of his followers and attendants at the heels, as some sense that text, #Ps 49:5, for these will be apt enough to put a man upon courses of revenge, as they dealt by David, #1Sa 24:4 26:8 2Sa 16:9, and by the Son of David, #Lu 9:54. And thus Isidore, Cajetan, and others, interpret these words, as if they were added to the former, #Job 31:29,30, further to commend Job’s love to those that hated him. For although he were put on by his domestics, who seeing their master despitefully used, would have torn those of his enemies in pieces; yet he was not moved thereby, but contained and kept them in from such violence. Beza thus paraphraseth this text: And yet I protest that I wanted not besetters on, even among mine own household servants, who still persuaded me to requite those injuries which I received with most bitter revenge: nay, their minds were so incensed, that they cried out, That they should never be satisfied on them, no, not though they had eaten them up quickly.

Oh that we had of his flesh!] So barbarous and brutish is revenge. See #Ps 27:2. Erasmus telleth of a friar, Augustine of Antwerp, that he openly in the pulpit wished that Luther were there, that he might bite out his throat with his teeth (Epist. lib. 16, ad obtrectat.). I can hardly forbear with these nails of mine to be thy death, said Friar Brusierd to Bilney the martyr. At the town of Barr, in France, the Italians, in hatred of Lutheranism, broke forth into such fury, that they ripped up a living child, took out his liver, being as yet red hot, and ate it as meat. Christian, king of Denmark, pulled the dead body of his enemy Stevon, the Swedish general, out of the grave, inusitataque rabie dentibus adpetiit, and, like a mad dog, tore it with his teeth (Val. Max. Christian. 138). The Jews, in Trajan’s time, having one Andrew for their captain, cut in pieces, about Cyrene, many Greeks and Romans, eating their flesh, besmearing themselves with their blood, and clothing themselves with their skins. The like they did also about Cyprus, and in Egypt, to the slaughtering of over four hundred thousand people. Tacitus noteth of the Jews in general, that they are very kind among themselves, but contra omnes alios hostile odium, against all others they bear hostile hatred. Homo homini daemon.

We cannot be satisfied] But with his heart blood. It is as easy to quench the fire of Etna as the thoughts fired by revenge, Plane inexplebile est viudictae desiderium (Mercer). See #Ps 124:3 1:4.

Ver. 32. The stranger did not lodge in the street] Job was so far from liking and commending those enraged stomachs of his servants, that be would not suffer strangers to lodge abroad in the night season. Gregory noteth here, that he speaketh first of his pacific disposition toward his enemies, and then of his hospitality; because, saith he, the heart must first be freed from malice and wrath, and then charity is to be exercised, that we might be accepted. Abraham neither set up an altar to God nor showed himself forward to entertain strangers, till Lot and he were reconciled. Hospitality is commended to our practice, both by the prophet Isaiah, #Isa 58:7, by St Paul, #Ro 12:13 Heb 13:2, and by St Peter, #1Pe 4:9. Of Cranmer, Tremellius testifietb, that he was homo Φιλοξενος nec minus φιλολογος, humane and hospitable, after the example of Abraham and Lot, whom Synesius therefore calleth Θεου εστιατορας, God entertainers. Julian the apostate reckoneth the hospitality of the primitive Christians among those three things that caused their religion to be so generally embraced. Of the Waldenses also, those ancient Protestants in Germany, it is reported that they could travel from Colen to Milan in Italy, and every night lodge with hosts of their own profession, who would bid them heartily welcome (Chrys. in Joan. της περι τους ξενους φιλανθρωπιας. Hinc tot olim Xenodochia).

But I opened my doors to the traveller] I bid the weary wayfaring man welcome to my house, and kept a good table for such. Mensa res sacra est, per quam Deus honoratur praeses amicitiae et hospitii. Job was known to be a good housekeeper, and was much resorted to; he set open his gate in the highway; so Beza, after Mercer, rendereth this text. It was his will, that that part of his house which bounded upon the highway side should always lie open, to harbour passengers, Jupiter φιλιος, τε και ξενιος dicebatur. Ad viam, vel versus viam.

Ver. 33. If I covered my transgression as Adam] A transgressor then Job yieldeth himself; the lives of the best alive are fuller of sins than the firmament is of stars, or the furnace of sparks. But he did not act like Adam, or after the manner of men, cover or conceal them, extenuate or excuse them, denying them, as Cain did, #Ge 4:9, and Gehazi, #2Ki 5:25, and Ananias, #Ac 5:8, or at least, dealing with them as the unjust steward did, who for a hundred set down fifty. Adam went about to hide his sin, alleging, non causam pro causa, that for the cause of his flight that was not the true cause thereof, viz. the voice of God, his fear thereupon, his nakedness, &c.: thus sin and shifting came into the world together. Secondly, when that would not do, but that he was driven from that κρησφυγετον, then he seeks to excuse it, by accusing God, and transferring the blame upon him, for giving him a woman to tempt him, #Ge 3:12. The like thereunto do they that plead predestination, or constellations, or natural inclination, &c., that put God to his proofs, as they did, #Jer 2:35. Job was none such; but made it his daily practice to acknowledge his iniquities against himself, #Ps 32:5, and with utmost aggravation from all the circumstances; laying open how many transgressions were wrapped up in each sin, as it is #Le 16:21, lest, as Samuel once said to Jesse, Are here all thy sons? so God should say to Job, Are these all thy sins? and, there being but one only uncovered, that one should prove destructive to his soul, as that bastard Abimelech did to all his brethren. But now that he freely and fully confesseth his offences, he is sure to find mercy, #Pr 28:18. No man was ever kept out of heaven for his confessed badness; many are for their supposed goodness.

By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom] As silly men think to do, 1. From God, who is all eye, and every man before God is all window, so that he needs not a window in his bosom (as the heathen Momus wished) for God to look in at, #Job 34:22 2. From the world; which yet they cannot always do; for God, that descrieth, will also discover all, sooner or later; else how should that be fulfilled, The name of the wicked shall rot? Broughton rendereth it, By hiding mine iniquity of self love. So Kimchi also readeth it. Tremellius to the same sense, Ex dilectione mei. And surely it is this sinful self love that closeth up men’s lips, and keepeth them from poaring out their souls as water before the Lord. Some deal with their souls as others do with their bodies; when their beauty is decayed, they desire to hide it from themselves by false glosses, and from others by painting; so their sins from themselves by false glosses, and from others by excuses. But this was not Job’s practice; for though he were a great man, and able enough to have crushed those that should accuse him of any miscarriage, yet he was far from it; as he sets forth in the next verse.

Ver. 34. Did I fear a great multitude] Or, Though I should have terrified a great multitude, yet the most contemptible of the families frayed me (or humbled me), so that I held my peace, and went not out of doors; q.d. I could by my greatness have borne out my misdemeanors, and who dared have once questioned me, or quacked before me? But this I did not, I dared not; as being reined in by the reverential fear of God; yea, rather, if any one, though but of the meanest rank, had come to me, and admonished me friendly of my faults, or else, more sharply reproved me, I took it well aworth from him, not once opening my mouth to contend with him for my sins, not at all stirring out of doors to do him hurt. Let us fight with our faults, and not with our friends that tell us of them, said that German emperor. And when a poor hermit came to our Richard I, A.D. 1195, and preaching to him the words of eternal life, bade him be mindful of the subversion of Sodom, and abstain from things unlawful; otherwise (said he) the deserved vengeance of God will come upon thee; the king laid these things to heart, and became more devout and charitable to the poor.

That I kept silence, and went not out of the door] I replied, not in defence of what evil I had done; I cried not, as they used to do in courts of justice, Non feci, Not guilty; but Me, me, ego qui feci, I am verily guilty, and for this cause I went not out of doors, but kept me at home as much as I might, through shame and grief for what I had done amiss. I held my tongue, and hid my head. This was right; and this seems to me to be the right interpretation of the text among those many others that are brought by expositors.

Ver. 35. Oh that one would hear me] Quis det mihi auscultantem mihi? Oh that after all this purging and praising of myself (wherein I take no pleasure, but that I must do it, unless I will betray mine innocence, and lie under heavy imputations), some one would help me to a fair trial! that God, who is best able, would undertake the business, and effectually vindicate me from these calumnies and contumelies that are cast upon me.

That the Almighty would answer me] i.e. That he would give a reason why he dealt so harshly with me. This was Job’s desire, or mark he aimed at, with confidence enough, Hac in re petenda nimis importunus est (Merl.); but sure he should have carried this matter with more modesty and lowly mindedness, with more reverence and godly fear, since our God is a consuming fire; since he is greater than our consciences; neither may we ever forget the infinite distance and disproportion that is between him and ourselves.

And that mine adversary had written a book] Heb. The man of my contention; mine antagonist, that he had made his declaration, and set down his charge. By these and the following expressions, Job denoteth his innocence and plerophory of faith, wherewith he was well acquainted, and whereby he was exceedingly supported. Oh that we could as bravely bear all contumelies and contempts for our consciences; wearing them as crowns and confirmations of our conformity to Christ.

Ver. 36. Surely I would take it on my shoulder] As a father doth his darling, or as a standard bearer doth his ensign, or as a man carrieth his most desirable things out of a common combustion.

And bind it as a crown to me] Heb. Crowns. I should be very proud of it, as we use to speak, and take it for a great glory, as not doubting with much ease and in a trice to confute it; or at least to slight it. The lash of lewd tongues it is as impossible to avoid as necessary to contemn. The best apology to such is that of Isaac to his brother Ishmael, patience and silence. If any reply be made, it should be like that of the faithful steward to his passionate lord, who called him knave and worse, Your honour may speak as you please, but I believe not a word that you say, for I know myself an honest man. Do well and hear ill is written upon heaven’s gates, said that holy martyr. A bad report is the ordinary reward of very well doing, which made Luther wax proud even of his reproach, as he said himself, Indies magis mihi placeo, superbus fio, quod video nomen pessimum mihi crescere, I please myself herein every day more and more; I grow even proud of this, that I hear every day worse and worse for well doing; surely should such curs wag their tails and not their tongues, I should suspect mine own innocence; as Phocion did, when the Athenians liked his oration. And in another place he saith, Maior est mihi timor in laudibus; gaudium vero in maledictis et blasphemiis, When I am praised I am afraid all is not well; but when I am reproached and railed on it is a joy to me; for this will be accounted to my reckoning at the last day; this will add weight to my crown of glory. Reproaches, as they make graces more splendent, so they will make glory more radiant, as the more dirty feet tread and rub the more lustre they give the figure graven in gold. Hence Austin, whatsoever (saith he) willingly reproacheth me, the same doth, though against his will, add to my reward in heaven. And this I take for a great glory (saith Jerome), all the heretics rail at me.

Ver. 37. I would declare unto him the number of my steps] I would tell him all that ever I know by myself, and turn him the inside outward, deal ingeniously with him, and make him my confessor; and so help him make up his book. Elice igitur hine, Therefore entice this, saith Lavater. Hence we may learn so to demean ourselves in all companies and conditions of life, that we may neither be ashamed to live nor afraid to die; and that we need not care though our greatest enemies knew of our worst practices, though our faults were written in our foreheads, as they say. Of Socrates Pliny saith, that his name was not the name of a man, but of integrity itself (Nat. Hist. 1. 7, c. 31). Of Cato Major Paterculus saith, that he was free from all human vices, and as like to virtue itself as might be. Cicero saith, that he was one of those few that lived and died with glory. How much more truly and boldly may we affirm the like of Joseph, Moses, Samuel, Daniel, Nehemiah, Paul, who knew nothing by himself, Melancthon, George, prince of Anhalt, John Bradford, and many others famous in their generations, whom, for their piety and patience, as their enemies could not but admire, so their friends could never sufficiently extol them. This is no small help to the cause, said Erasmus concerning Luther, that his enemies could find no fault or flaw in his life.

As a prince would I go near unto him] Id est, Animo heroico et imperterrito, quippe bene sibi conscio (Piscat.); that is, with a heroic spirit, and an undaunted courage: I would not shrink back, or flinch him a jot, as having a clearing, cheering conscience that feareth no colours, that would not budge or yield a hair for an angel’s authority, #Ga 1:8. Quasi Princeps, hoc est, animo liberrimo et expositissimo, &c., saith Brentius, As a prince against whom there is no rising up. I would speak my mind, and lay open the whole matter of my deportment very freely and fully, that both present and future ages might judge it. Of Trajan the emperor it is recorded, that he neither hated nor feared any man living. And of Trajan, general to Valens, the Arian emperor, that as he could speak his mind fitly, so he dared speak it freely. Think the same of Job.

Ver. 38. If my land cry against me] As unjustly gotten; where we have an elegant personification not unlike that of the prophet, #Hab 2:11,12, where the stone out of the wall cries out against the oppressor, and the tignum e ligno, the beam out of the timber, answereth it by a woeful antiphony. It hath been noted before, that Goropius will have the English to be called Angli, because they were good anglers, and had skill to lay various baits when they fished for other men’s livings. May it be our care to disprove him, and to show ourselves angels rather (as Gregory the Great derived us), and our land to be Regnum Dei, the kingdom of God, as it was anciently counted and called, by the holiness and righteousness exercised among us (Polydore Virgil). These two make up one perfect pair of compasses, which can take the true latitude of an upright heart (such as Job’s was, witness this whole chapter). The first, like the top of Jacob’s ladder, reacheth up to heaven; the second, like the foot of the ladder, resteth on the earth, or rather walketh about in a perfect circle of all such duties as one man oweth to another. Job was famous for both, whatever his friends surmised or suggested to the contrary. He was righteously religious and religiously righteous; exercising the first table of the law in the second, and caring to keep always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men, #Ac 24:16.

Or that the furrows thereof likewise complain] Si plorant porcae. Heb. Weep, sc. As it were, out of a desire after their own right owner, from whom they are detained, as was Naboth’s vineyard.

Ver. 39. If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money] i.e. Not paying the labourers their wages, which is a bony sin, #Am 5:12,13, crying cruelty, #Jas 5:4, such as hath a woe hanging on the heels of it, #Jer 22:17. See what sins it is set among, and what punishment is awarded to it, #Mal 3:5. Let Laban be guilty of it, #Ge 31:7, but Job protesteth against it here with an imprecation.

Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life] That is, the occupiers thereof, the poor rent holders (by racking their rents), to miss subsistence, so that they could not make a living of it with all their labour. Owners of the land he calleth them improperly; since the land was his, as in the former verse; but if he had the propriety, they had the pains, and theretbro should have a livelihood, as Solomon’s vinedressers had, #So 8:12; but so had not Pharaoh’s labourers, the oppressed Israelites, who toiled like horses, and yet were held to so hard allowance, that they were weary of their lives, and their souls were ready to expire, as the Hebrew here hath it. Prisoners’ pittance many poor tenants have, such as will neither keep them alive nor suffer them to die.

Ver. 40. Let thistles grow instead of wheat] This was a piece of that first curse, #Ge 3:8, under which the earth hath lain bedridden, as it were, ever since, waiting for the coming of the Son of God, that it may he delivered from the bondage of corruption, #Ro 8:20; and Job wished it as due to him, Ex lege Talionis, if he should be guilty of the forementioned cruelty, #Jas 2:13, αρουρα et Arvum ab Heb. Arur, accursed.

And cockle instead of barley] Lolium et lappae, stinking stuff the word signifieth; as those were stinking grapes, #Isa 5:2,4, rotten, corrupted, vitiated; and as that was blasted corn, yielding nothing better than dust and chaff, #Mt 13:25, ζιζανιον, Frumentum adustum. Whereas wheat and barley are the precious fruits of the earth, #Jas 5:7, whereof when the Metapontines had one year a great crop, they dedicated to their god Delphos, in token of thankfulness, a harvest graven in gold, Χρυσουν θερος (Strabo).

The words of Job are ended] i.e. His conference with his three friends, whom having before silenced, and now for himself sufficiently apologized, he putteth a period to that discourse; having (as Octavius once said to Decius) to the understanding spoken sufficient, and to the ignorant or obstinate too much, had he said less.

Chapter 32

Ver. 1. So these three men ceased to answer Job] They were as quiet as men are on a Sabbath, so the word importeth; they had tired themselves with talking, and now they were resolved to rest them, and the rather, because they judged there was little good to be done by aught that they should say; for Job was set.

Because he was righteous in his own eyes] And so there was no more hope of a fool than of him. Pertinacious they held him and contentious, self-conceited and opinionated; which, indeed, was a right character of themselves, if they could have seen it. He was only constant to himself, and to the truth; whereof he showed himself a stout and resolute champion. Only, as every pomegranate hath some rotten kernels in it; so Job had his frailties, his outbursts, caused by extremity of pain and excess of passion; for the which these three did him wrong to give him up for deplored and desperate.

Ver. 2. Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu] Or, Then burnt the nose of Elihu; a periphrasis of anger, which appeareth in the nose, eyes, and other parts of the body. Quis enim celaverit ignem? Who can hide fire? The Rabbis have a saying, that a man shows what he is becos, bechis, becagnas, by his purse, his cups, and his anger; which, if it be rash and unadvised, is a mortal sin, and not venial (as the Papists falsely infer from #Mt 5:22), dispossessing a man of his wit and reason, and disfiguring his body with fieriness of the face, swelling of the veins, stammering of the tongue, gnashing of the teeth, and many other impotent and unmanly behaviours. Hence angry men were counselled, in the heat of their fit, to look themselves in a glass, where they may see themselves swollen like a toad, glowing like a devil, &c. But Elihu’s anger was not of this kind. A fire it was, but the flame of God, as holy zeal is called, #So 8:6, a most vehement flame (as it is there rendered) kindled upon the hearth of his heart by the spirit of judgment and of burning, #Isa 4:4, and such as many waters could not quench, for the zeal is the extreme heat of all the affections; and the coals thereof are coals of fire, #So 8:6, only we must see that it burns clear and quick, without all smoke of sin; wherein, though Elihu somewhat faulted, yet, because he was right for the main, all was well taken. We are apt to mingle sin with our best actions, and so to plough with an ox and an ass. But God considers whereof we are made, and graciously lays the finger of mercy on the scars of our sins, as that painter in the story.

Of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite] Descended he was of good parents ( Fortes creantur fortibus, et bonis) who gave him a good name, signifying, He is my God, or, My God is Jehovah; to remind him of his duty, whereunto we have need of all helps that may be. His father’s name, Barachel, signifieth, One whom God hath blessed; he hath blessed him indeed in so good a son, as could not but make him a glad father, #Pr 10:1. The Buzite he is called, either from his progenitor Buz, the son of Nahor, who was the brother of Abraham, and had by Milcah, Huz, his firstborn (of whom some think Job came), and Buz, his brother, #Ge 22:21; or else from his country, the city of Buz, a city of Idumea, #Jer 25:23. Jerome will have this Elihu to be the same with Balaam, who, while young, was a prophet of God, and dealt thus divinely with Job, but afterwards, being corrupted by Balak, he became the devil’s boggyman. This I look upon as a Jewish tradition, not much to be credited. His pedigree is here more fully described, Ut certitudo historiae ostenderetur, saith Mercer, that we might not doubt the truth and certainty of the history so circumstanced; as also, because Elihu did better than the rest of Job’s friends, who proved no better than Satan’s instruments. How he came to make one among them we know not. It is conceived, that hearing about the going of the other three by consent to visit Job, he also went to hear their conferences, not doubting that he should thereby derive much benefit to his understanding. But failing in his expectation, and finding both parties incorrect in their discourses, he steps forth, and takes the boldness to interpose as an arbiter, or moderator, blaming both sides, and beginning, in the six following chapters, that determination of the difference between them, which God himself will afterwards finish. Meanwhile it is well observed by the learned Beza, that Elihu in blaming Job (as there was cause), doth for the most part interpret Job’s words far otherwise than he meant them; and moreover, that even in finding fault with those things that were justly to be found fault withal he kept not always that moderation that was meet; which is evident to godly men, and especially such as are of a more earnest nature and disposition; so hard a thing is it, even when we do well, not to offend on the one side or on the other. But if we consider how far Job, being thereto driven by the importunity of his accusers, and his most intolerable calamity, did range out of the right way, and how we are all given, even to the uttermost, to defend and maintain our credit and estimation, especially when we are therein touched by those men who ought, least of all others, to have done the same; we shall confess that it was very requisite and necessary for Job rather to be censured in this sharp manner, as he was, than after any milder sort; to the end he might the better acknowledge and humble himself before God; as always he had done, till, through the slanderous speeches of his friends, be was drawn into these altercations.

Of the kindred of Ram] E familia Syra, so Tremellius; as if Ram were put for Aram. The Chaldee saith, it is put for Abraham, who was first called Ram, secondly Abram, thirdly Abraham. But Elihu was of the family of Nahor rather than of Abraham; and Ram seemeth to have been some famous man of that family.

Because he justified himself rather than God] This he did not directly, et totidem verbis; but by consequence; and Elihu was kindled at it. It is a blessed thing to have a stomach for God, and to be blown up in his cause, as was Moses, #Ex 32:19,20, Elijah with his Zelando zelavi, Phinehas, David, Christ, #Joh 3:17, the angel of Ephesus, #Re 2:2; to be all on a light fire with love to God, and indignation against all that do him any dishonour by word or deed. Job had uttered some discontented speeches against God; which reflected upon his justice and goodness; he had also despaired of a restoration, and most earnestly wished for death, &c., and thereby seemed to justify himself rather than God; this good Elihu could not brook.

Ver. 3. Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled] True zeal is of a most masculine, disengaged, courageous nature; like fire, it catcheth on every side, and is impartial. Elihu was a man made all of fire, walking among stubble, as Chrysostom saith of Peter. And, surely, he that is not angry against sin, whether in himself or others, it is because either he knows it not or hates it not as he ought. He also kept within the bounds of modesty and moderation, and expressed himself without bitterness. We read of Idacius, that he would needs be doing with Salvianus and Instantius, both Priscillianists. But by his passionate and intemperate language he not only did not convert them, but made them worse (Sulp. Sever. l. ii., p. 171).

Because they had found no answer] They were gravelled and nonplussed, as the Popish doctors were oft by the martyrs, Philpot, Ridley, &c., yea, by those of the weaker sort, as Anne Askew, Alice Driver, &c. The prolocutor in convocation, A. D. 1553, confessed that those dejected ministers (afterwards martyrs) had the word on their side, but the prelates in place the possession of the sword, and that was their best answer to the others’ arguments.

And yet had condemned Job] Condemned him for a wicked man, as the word signifieth. So the Popish doctors did innocent Cranmer of adultery, heresy, and treason; Philpot, of parricide, heresy, &c. To accuse was easy, but how shamefully failed they in the proof! These three, after they had also interested God himself in their rash accusation of Job, were forced to give him over.

Ver. 4. Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken] Yea, though his speech was very long, yet he heard him out, though himself were with child to speak. Broughton rendereth it, waited to speak with Job; he would not thrust in till they had all done their discourses. This was his modesty, though a man of singular abilities. Raram facit virtus cum scientia mixturam. To blame then surely was Gregory, for thinking so ill and writing so harshly of this good young man, as if he had been proud and arrogant; descanting to that purpose upon his name, country, and kindred.

Because they were elder than he] And therefore ought of right to have the precedence of speech; though it appeareth, by all that followeth, that in this controversy he saw further into it, judged righter, and rebuked Job with more gravity and wisdom, than any of them; so that Job was fully convinced, and made no reply at all; no more than Jonah did when God set him down, #Job 4:11: so forcible are right words.

Ver. 5. When Elihu saw that there was no answer] And therefore Job looked upon himself as one that had won the day. St Austin professeth this was it that heartened him, and made him to triumph in his former Manichecism, that he met with feeble opponents, and such as his nimble wit was easily able to overturn. And when Carolostadius opposed Luther’s consubstantiation but weakly and insufficiently, Zuinglius said he was sorry that so good a cause, non satis humerorum haberet, lacked shoulders.

then his wrath was kindled] viz. From their coldness, like as #Ne 3:20. Baruch repaired earnestly ( se accendit, he burst out into heat, angry with his own and others’ sloth); so Elihu here, when he saw that Job’s eloquence triumphed over their wisdom, and that their silence was a loud acknowledgment of their defeat, he grew more angry than before; and, transported with zeal, be saith to them very briskly,

Ver. 6. I am young, and ye are very old] Yet was he nothing inferior to any of them in wit, piety, and learning; he had lived long in a little time, and was (as one saith of Macarius) μειρακιογερων, an "old" young man (Niceph.); as if he had been an Alban born, qui albo crine nascuntur, who come into the world hoar headed, as did Seneca; and thence had his name, as Cassiodorus thinketh, quod canus, quasi senior natus sit, Canitiem habent auspicium capillarum (Solin). Some young men are ripe early, and more ready headed than their ancients; as David was, #Ps 119:100, and as Solomon was, a child king, but very wise; contrarily, his son and successor Rehoboam entered into the kingdom at a ripe age, yet Solomon was the man and Rehoboam the child. Age is no just measure of wisdom. There are beardless sages and greyheaded children. Not the ancient are wise, but the wise is ancient as Elihu will tell us in the next verses.

Wherefore I was afraid, and durst not show you mine opinion] Heb. my knowledge; that is, the truth, so far as I understand it, siquid ego aut capio, aut sapio, if I have any judgment. Thus he delivers himself in modest terms, using many prefaces. And if hereafter he seem to boast, and set up himself above the rest, as he doth, it is out of his zeal for God, whose honour he seeketh, and not his own. The words here rendered, I was afraid and to show, are both Syriac. Elihu, by his family of Ram or Aram may seem to be that countryman, and to have a touch of that dialect, as Livy had of his Patavinity.

Ver. 7. I said, Days should speak] This seems to have been a proverb in those days; and it ran much in Elihu’s mind. We use to say, that at meetings young men should be mutes, and old men vowels. Of Arsatius, who succeeded Chrysostom in the see of Constantinople, it is recorded (but nothing to his commendation) that at eighty years of age he was as eloquent as a fish and as nimble as a frog.

And multitude of years should teach wisdom] Heb. Should make known wisdom; sc. such as consisteth in the knowledge of God and of his will, of ourselves and of our duties. This is far beyond all that of the heathen sages, of the seven wise men of Greece, of Archimedes of Syracuse, who had a name in fame, saith Plutarch, not of human, but of a kind of divine wisdom. So had Socrates, so had Apollonius, of whom Philostratus saith, that he was non doctus, sed natus sapiens, not taught, but born a wise man, ουκ ανθρωπινης αλλα δαιμονιου τινος συνεσεως (Plut.). These all were the world’s wizards; and what they came, to see #Ro 1:21-23 1Co 1:11 Lactantius truly telleth us (Instit. 1. 3, c. 30), in the name of the whole community of Christians, that all the wisdom of a man consisteth in this, to know God and worship him aright. And that these seniors should have taught and notified such wisdom Elihu had well hoped: but it proved otherwise.

Ver. 8. But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty] Or, Surely there is a spirit in man, but the inspiration, &c. Man hath a reasonable soul and a natural judgment, whereby he differeth from brute beasts; and not only so, but some there are that do animam excolere, as Cicero and Aristotle; they improve their natural abilities by art, and so go far beyond others in worth; differing from the unlearned as much almost as a man doth from a beast. Lo, such a spirit there is in some men; which yet amounteth not to wisdom without the concurrence of God’s good Spirit to sanctify all, as the altar sanctifieth the gold of the altar. If this be not attained unto, the wiser any man is the vainer he proveth, #Ro 1:22. The Lord knoweth the thoughts of those wise (even of the choicest and most picked men among them) that they are vain, #1Co 3:20. And to such we may say, as Austin once wrote to a man of great parts, Ornari abs te diabotus quaerit, the devil desireth to be tricked up by thee.

And the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding] He is the wise man, when all is done, whom, whether old or young, the Spirit of God, who acteth most freely, is pleased to imbreathe. And although arts and age be good helps to knowledge, yet they must be all taught of God that shall be wise unto salvation; and such as these, the older they grow the wiser they are, for the most part; and if young saints, they become old angels. True it is, that God is debtor to none; neither doth a longer life of itself deserve anything at God’s hands; because the longer they live the more sins they commit. But yet the promise is, that to him that hath shall be given, and he shall abound. "The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean bands shall be stronger and stronger," #Job 17:9. Howbeit, some good men’s first days have been their best days; and they have suffered no small decays in their spiritual intellect; as did Solomon, Asa, Joash, and perhaps these three friends of Job, to whom this speech is directed. Certain it is that he is a rare and a happy man of whom it may be said, in a spiritual sense (as it was said of Moses), that, after long profession of religion, his sight is not waxed dim, nor his holy heat abated. The heathen sages have cause to admonish us to take heed of old age; as that which cometh not alone, but is itself a disease, and ever accompanied with many maladies, both of body and mind. Elihu seemeth to take this here for granted (experience sealing to it), that true wisdom dependeth not upon any man’s authority, power, learning, experience, or old age; but upon the inspiration of the Almighty, #2Pe 1:21 2Ti 3:16. And, therefore, the Holy Scriptures must needs be the storehouse of wisdom, the statute book of heaven, as being θεοπνευστος, imbreathed by God, as Paul speaketh, the very heart and soul of God, as Gregory.

Ver. 9. Great men are not always wise] Rabbis are not the grandees of the earth; they who seem to be somewhat, #Ga 2:6, and take it ill if they be not so accounted, these are not always wise, or these are none of the wisest. Non sunt sapientes magistri, so Brentius reads it. Our masters ( ut sunt magistri nostri Parisienses) have not engrossed all the wisdom. And why? Spiritus non est alligatus Rabbinorum authoritati, et magistrorum nostrorum capitiis, &c.: the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord, is in nowise bound to such, nor are his gifts held captive by any, but freely distributed according to the good pleasure of his will, who worketh all, and in all. Paphnutius was wiser than the whole council; John Wickliffe, than the University of Oxford; Daniel, than all the magicians of Babylon, Patres legendi cum venia. Fathers of reading with favour. Augustine, being oppressed with the authority of the Fathers, saith, he regardeth not Quis, but Quid; who speaketh a thing, but what he speaketh.

Neither do the aged understand judgment] Prudence is not proper to old age; and though knowledge be the daughter of time, it doth not always happen that the most aged are the most learned. Wisdom doth not ever lean upon a staff nor look through spectacles. Experience giveth us to see both old fools and young wise men, some of each sort. When the State of Venice once sent two young men ambassadors to the Emperor Frederick IV, and he, being offended at their age, refused to admit them; they bid him to know, That if the Venetians had valued men by their gravity and well grown beards as the only wise men, they would, doubtless, have sent on their embassy a pair of well bearded goats: for,

Si prolixa facit sapientem barba, quid obstat

Barbatus possit quin caper esse Plato?

Ver. 10. Therefore I said, Heaken to me] This he speaks by way of apostrophe to Job, with whom he would fain ingratiate, that he might the better prevail to convince him of his coarse dealing with God, whose cause he wholly pleadeth. Elihu had hoped to have learned much by this conference held by such heads, Nunquam a te nisi doctior redeo; but, finding it otherwise, he grows to a Semper ego auditor tantum? Hearken to me another while, that God may hearken to you. Hearken, I say, all of you; but thou, Job, especially; for with thee lieth my main business, Tu nominatim et notanter.

I also will show mine opinion] He saith not my judgment (that might savour of arrogance in so young a man), but mine opinion, or knowledge; I will offer my thoughts, judge you of them as you please. See #Job 32:6. Elihu was far from the spirit of Bacon, the Carmelite, who would endure no guessing or doubting; and was, therefore, called Doctor Resolutissimus, as requiring that every one should think as he thought: this was too magisterial.

Ver. 11. Behold, I waited for your words] While you had anything to say I was silent, and no way troublesome or obstreperous. This he speaketh to Job’s friends, who had free liberty to speak while they would without interruption; and should, therefore, now be content to hear (though perhaps what they would not) if God thereby might be glorified, and Job better convinced.

I gave ear to your reasons] Heb. To your understandings. Usque ad intelligentias vestras, to the utmost of your best arguments and most elaborated demonstrations, Ut cum dicitur, Redite usque ad me, #Joe 2:12; for the which you has eviscerated your brains, and well nigh cracked your sconces, but all to no purpose; since you hover in generals; and, declining that which was the main matter in question (like lapwings, that cry farthest off from the nest), you brought only such reasons as were not cogent, and used such discourses as did nec coelum, nec terram attingere, to touch neither heave nor earth, never come at the business; which was no better than laborious loss of time.

Ver. 12. Yea, I attended unto you] Et usque ad yes perpendebam, I throughly weighed your words, and rightly considered them (as our Mr Bradshaw was wont to do at the ministers’ meetings, and was therehence called the weighing divine), that you may not think I answer the matter before I understand it, as fools do, to their shame, #2Pe 2:12, daring to reprehend what I do not comprehend, as did that Popish expositor, who calleth Ezekiel’s description of the temple insulsam descriptionem, an absurd description (Sanctius in cap. 40, Ezek. in argum.).

And, behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words] And yet they thought they had done both effectually; and that it was merely his stubbornness to stand out against them. Ready they were to give him up for uncounsellable; and to turn him over to God with a non convertetur, he is past our cure, we can do no good on him; none but God can put him out of his good conceit of himself, &c. Out of all this a good interpreter maketh these following conclusions: 1. That we must diligently hear and weigh what things are spoken by others before we proceed to censure them. 2. That we must not pass a censure upon any one part of a speech, but take it all together, ere we make judgment of it. 3. That when we have weighed everything well and wisely, we must not countenance any error, but freely utter what we do truly and rightly think of it. 4. That we may think things sufficiently refuted by the learned which yet had need to be further inquired into. 5. That one younger man may see further sometimes into a matter than many others of longer standing and experience. 6. That men may be esteemed obstinate and opinionated who are nothing less. 7. That multitude and antiquity are but ciphers in divinity, &c.

Ver. 13. Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom] Or, See that ye say not, We need not search out words, as #Job 32:11. For, we have found out wisdom, rem acu pertigimus, we have hit the nail on the head, and said sufficient to convince him, if any reason would do it, while we affirm that

God thrusteth him down (as it were, with a thump on the back), and not man] Who might do amiss, but so cannot God; who, forasmuch as he fighteth against Job, tossing him as a tennis ball, or as the wind doth a withered leaf, from one affliction to another, who can doubt but that he holdeth him a wicked man? This, saith Elihu, is a very weak way of reasoning; therefore never please yourselves in it as convincing, Hoc argumentum tam facile diluitur quam vulpes comest pyrum, as one merrily phrased it. There is no judgment to be made of a person or cause by the good or evil success of things, since none out of hell ever suffered more than God’s dearest children: witness that little book of martyrs, #Heb 11 Neither have any sped better here than those worst of men, Turks, Papists, persecutors, &c.

Ver. 14. Now he hath not directed his speech against me] And so I have no particular edge or grudge against him, he hath no reason to think that I come prejudicated or exasperated. This Elihu speaketh purposely, to get within Job; that he might the better persuade with him. We must endeavour to preserve in the party with whom we would prevail an opinion of our love and good affection to him; for else we shall lose all our sweet words, since man is a cross and crabbed creature; duci vult, trahi non vult, lead him you may, drag him you must not.

Neither will I answer him with your speeches] But with better; he shall have from me soft words and hard arguments; I will come over him in a milder manner, and to better purpose; while, moved merely by a zeal for God’s glory, I shall show him his miscarriages, not in mine own words, but in God’s. That is a true saying of learned Junius, Personatae reprehensiones frigent; plurimumque interest ex animo omnia, ut conscientia fert animusque, facias; an de industria.

Ver. 15. They were amazed] As if they had seen Medusa’s head, {Gr. Myth. One of the three Gorgons whose head, with snakes for hair, turned him who looked upon it into stone; she was slain by Perseus, and her head fixed on the ægis or shield of Athene.} or some such terrible spectacle, that had rendered them dumb. Talkative enough they have been when there was no such necessity; but now that they might speak to some purpose they stand like stocks, and are mute as fishes, whereby they bewray their ignorance and folly. Silence in some cases is sepes sapientiae, as the Rabbis speak (Pirkeaboth), the fruit and sense of wisdom, #Am 5:13; {See Trapp on "Am 5:13"} But in addition there is a sinful silence, which Luther wished never to be found guilty of, Modo impii silentii non arguar. And it is the devil, doubtless, that gaggeth people when being called to speak of, or for, God, as these friends of Job were at this time, they answer no more.

They leave speaking] They desert a good cause, or betray it by a cowardly silence. It may be feared the spirit of faith is no indweller, where the door of the lips move not right, #2Co 4:13. He speaks thus of those three seniors in a third person, by way of irony and contempt, turning his talk to the bystanders, whereof it is likely there were many; or (as Tremellius thinketh) to Job, with whom he seeketh to ingratiate.

Ver. 16. When I had waited, for they spake not, but stood still] Or, Seeing I have waited, but they have not spoken, &c. Nothing appears but a dumb show, a deep silence, such as Elihu much marvelled at, and therefore setteth it forth in many words, all to one purpose. See #Job 32:15.

Ver. 17. I said, I will answer also my part] It is a virtue to be forward and forth putting in that which is good; and a vice to be shy and shame faced. A Christian should catch at opportunities of doing and receiving good, he should be ready to every good work; as the busy bee, so soon as ever the sun breaks forth, gets abroad to gather honey and wax.

I also will show my opinion] Heb. my knowledge, as #Job 32:6, and so the Vulgate readeth it. Hereupon Gregory taking Elihu (but not well) for an arrogant person, showeth that such love to vaunt themselves, and out of ostentation to set forth their good parts to public view; and are therein like unto a vessel without a cover, touching which the law saith that it shall be counted unclean. Thus he. But to utter a man’s knowledge for the benefit of others, as good Elihu did, is not pride, but zeal, however the world censure it. And they have, doubtless, a heavy account to make who hide their talents; and, having a great treasure of rare abilities, will not be drawn to impart them; the canker of these men’s great skill shall be a swift witness against them. Vile latens virtus… worthless hidden virtue.

Ver. 18. For I am full of matter] Heb. Of words; such as are weighty and stuffy, steeped in mine understanding (as Plutarch saith Phocion’s words were), and very well digested. I am ειπειν δεινοτατος, in very good case to speak; as full of solid arguments as the moon is of light. Whether Elihu speaketh this arrogantly and from the flesh, or from the spirit, I determine not, saith Brentius here. But sure it is, that such words as these, howsoever they may seem arrogant and carnal, possunt tamen esse spiritualissima, yet they may be very spiritual, as #Jer 4 Jer 20. And as sure it is, that we should be in company like full clouds or paps, that pain themselves with fulness till eased of their milk.

The spirit within me constraineth me] Heb. The spirit of my belly; that is, God’s Holy Spirit inhabiting mine heart, and exciting me to so good a work. "The love of Christ constraineth us," #2Co 5:14. It hath not only an impulsive, but a compulsive, faculty. Rumperer medius, si non erumperet sermo intra me conceptus, as Brentius here paraphraseth; I should even burst if I did not vent my conceptions, which, like a child in the womb at full time, or as wind in the bowels, want room, and press to come out, #Ps 39:3 Jer 20:9. Sicut flatus in ventre conclusus magno impetu exitum quaerit: sic zelus mentis quaerit exitum per sermonem (Pisc.).

Ver. 19. Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent] By this elegant similitude Elihu illustrateth what he had said before; wherein (as Merlin well observeth) he compareth words shut up in the mind of him that would fain utter them to new wine, not yet throughly purged, the soul to bottles, silence to the stopple, which keeps in the wine, grief hereupon to the breaking of those bottles, speech to the opening of them, by taking away the stopple of silence. And although in this discourse Elihu may seem to lay on more words than the matter requireth, yet he doth not; for he saith no more than the psalmist doth, #Ps 45:1, and Jeremiah, #Jer 6:11, and the apostles, #Ac 4:20, "We cannot but speak," &c. And whereas Gregory saith that all this came from pride in Elihu, Chrysostom praiseth him rather (and therein he is in the right) for his zeal, which will have a vent, or the heart will cleave; as the waters undermine when they cannot overflow. As for that which is urged against Elihu, that God saith of him, as of a reprobate and one whom he knew not, "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" #Job 38:2, it is plain that God speaketh there, not of Elihu, but of Job, and so Job understood and applied it, #Job 42:2; and that God speaketh not of Job’s sacrificing for him, as for the other three, makes more for his praise than else; and shows that he had spoken of God the thing that was right, which they had not done, #Job 42:7.

Ver. 20. I will speak, that I may be refreshed] Heb. that I may breathe: this many martyrs did, though to the loss of their precious lives; as those that came to the tribunals, and cried out, Christiani sumus, We are Christians, hang us, burn us, stone us, &c., Modo Iesum nostrum nanciscamur, so that we may get our Jesus. And when they were told that they were put to death, Non pro fide, sed pro obstinatione, not for their religion, but for their obstinace, Tertullian answered, Pro hac obstinatione fidei morimur, For this religious obstinace we gladly die. As for those that made not a good confession, but either denied or dissembled their religion, for political respects, what a deal of unrest found they in their consciences, till they had better declared themselves, or revoked their recantations; as Bilney, Bainham, Benbridge, Abbes, Sharp, besides Origen, and all those of old? Let a man speak boldly and freely in a good cause when called to it, and he shall be refreshed; for as every flower hath its sweet smell, so hath every good word and work its comfort.

I will open my lips and answer] viz. Freely and fully, as #Eph 6:19, with great alacrity of spirit and vehemence of speech. Some kind of answer a man may make, though he open not his lips; as he did, who, being asked what man’s life was? presently turned his back, and went his way. Theodoret also, upon #Mt 5:2, observeth that our Saviour taught sometimes when yet he opened not his mouth; viz. by holy life and wondrous works.

Ver. 21. Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person] q.d. This leave you must give me, or at least wise I must take it, since my life lieth upon it to be impartial and plain dealing, laying the blame where it lights, and sparing the pains of pleasing and parasitical poems of oratorical and rhetorical insinuations. Nihil loquar ad gratiam, &c. I shall know no man after the flesh in this business, nor look on any face. If Job found this fault with his other three friends, #Job 13:7, he shall have no cause so to do with me; but, as a right moderator, I will hear arguments speak, and not persons; I will shut out my friend, or my senior, and speak the truth in love. Diem hominis non desideravi, saith Jeremiah, #Jer 17:16. And, if I yet please men, I am no more the servant of Christ, #Ga 1:10; {See Trapp on "Ga 1:10"}

Neither let me give flattering titles] Praenomen aut cognomen, those that seem to be somewhat, whatsoever they be, it shall make no matter to me; God accepteth no man’s person, #Ga 2:6. I shall call a spade a spade, tell every one their own without circumlocution, and not soothe or smooth up any man (though never so great) in his sinful practices. Semper Augustus is a title still given to the German emperors. But Sigismund, once emperor, when a fellow flattered him above measure, and extolled him to the skies, gave the flatterer a good box on the ear, and when he asked, Why smite you me? he answered, Why clawest thou me?

Ver. 22. For I know not to give, &c.] I have as little art in it (it is out of my road) as heart to it. For,

In so doing my maker should take me away] i.e. Kill me and send me packing to hell. He would soon snatch me away; he would burn me, as some render it; so dangerous is the sin of flattery. A preacher called Constantine the Great, Blessed, to his face, but he went away with a check. What will God say to such, think we? (Euseb. de Vita Const. l. iv. c. 4.)

Chapter 33

Ver. 1. Wherefore Job, I pray thee, hear my speeches] Plain Job, for flattering titles Elihu would give none, #Job 32:22; only in prefacing to his discourses he is very large, witness the whole former chapter, which may well stand for a common exordium to all the five following; and the seven first verses of this, wherein he both calleth upon Job for audience, and useth arguments for that purpose. An orator he showeth himself all along; for in his introduction he hath τα ηθη, milder affections, which suit best to insinuate; and toward the conclusion he hath τα παθη, pathetic expressions, that may leave an impression on his hearers.

And hearken to all my words] And not to some of them only, picking and choosing what pleaseth you, and turning a deaf ear to the rest, as he in Tacitus did, who said, Tu linguae, ego aurium dominus, You may say what you please, but I will hear no more than I like and list. This is an evil ear, and must be healed (as the orator told his countrymen) ere any good can be done. The good soul lieth low at God’s feet and saith, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." All that the Lord our God shall speak unto us, that will we hear and do, #De 5:27. Now, therefore, we are all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God, #Ac 10:33. It is a sign of an honest heart to take the precepts together with the promises, and to tremble at the threatenings as well as to reach after the comforts, of God’s Holy Word; which last every hypocrite will be catching at, as children do at deserts, passing by the better provision.

Ver. 2. Behold, now I have opened my mouth] I have taken upon me to be a speaker, an arbitrator in this controversy, which is usually a thankless office; for he who interposeth in business of this nature, if he had two friends before, is likely enough to lose one of them. I must of necessity blame both parties, however I come off with them. Thy three friends have had their share in the former chapter, and now comes thine, which shall be sound, though sharp, of matters weighty and important, as #Ps 78:2 Habebis sermonem serium, et de re gravi; for so much the Hebrews intend by this expression of opening the mouth. In the Revelation, wherever we read that heaven opened, some great matter followed; so when such open their mouths as have the law of God in their hearts, #Ps 37:31 Pr 31:26. Fools indeed have their mouths ever open, blustering out whatsoever lies uppermost, rashly and without consideration, Κεχηνοτες, a Luciano et Aristophane dicuntur. But a wise man weigheth his words before he uttereth them; and speaketh not but for some good purpose.

My tongue hath spoken in my mouth] Heb. In my palate, or under my palate, which are two chief of those mine instruments of speech, none of which can well be wanting. Let God be glorified for and with that peculiar faculty; and let our praises proceed, not from the palate only, or roof of the mouth, but from the root of the heart. The voice which is made in the mouth is nothing so sweet as that which cometh from the bottom of the breast. One interpreter saith, that by these words, My tongue hath spoken in my mouth, Elihu meaneth, that he would not speak clamorously, but, as it were, whisperingly, to his ear, in secret.

Ver. 3. My words shall be of the uprightness of my heart] i.e. Out of the uprightness of my heart I will deal fairly and faithfully with thee; I will carve thee a piece of my heart, without doubling or dissembling; and why should not downright truth please thee better than a smooth supparasitation {flattery}? Bees pass by roses and violets, and sit upon thyme; so should men rather heed sound rebukes, though hot and biting, than flattering discourses, which Solomon fitly calleth, "The song of fools," #Ec 7:5, a syren’s song. And another calleth a flatterer a courteous murderer, Ευνους σφακτης, that killeth in kindness, kisseth and killeth. Cavete vobis ab osculo hoc Iscariotico, Beware of this sweet poison, and covet rather those faithful wounds of a friend, #Pr 27:6, as David did, #Ps 141:5. And as Vespasian, who carrieth this commendation, that he was Patientissimus veri; verp patient of truth, and as Alphonsus, king of Arragon, who complained of this, that whereas of everything else he had enough, of truth he was very much scanted, there being few about him that would deal candidly and faithfully without flattery or partiality.

And my lips shall utter knowledge clearly] i.e. Simply and sincerely, plainly and perspicaciously, I will show my meaning, without either gall or guile. My discourse shall be clear and pure from all dross of deceit, as the original word signifieth. This is a praise proper to God’s Holy Word, #Ps 9:9-11 Pr 30:5. And they that handle it (Tophshe Torah, #Jer 2:8) may here learn not to obtrude their own conceits or conjectures for doctrinal truths; but to utter demonstrative things: not to huckster the Word of God, or corrupt it with their own mixtures, as vintners do their wines; "but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God," &c., #2Co 2:17. Let them not preach one thing and practise another, sed animentur moribus praecepta; lest some Hilary complain as once, That there were many heavenly doctrines in the people’s ears that never yet had been in the preacher’s heart.

Ver. 4. The Spirit of God hath made me] That is, I am God’s creature no less than thou art, made and maintained by the word of his power, by the breath of his mouth; why then may I not utter pure and holy doctrine? since I also am a rational creature; and if the Holy Spirit please to blow upon me, I can turn about like the mill; if to tune and touch me, I can move to make music; if to infuse good notions, I can utter them. Hear me therefore.

And the breath of the Almighty hath given me life] This some will have to be a metaphor taken from the blowing of glasses into this or that shape. It hath been before noted, that the Egyptians worshipped a god whom they knew not, under the shape of a man blowing an egg out of his mouth, to signify that he made the round world by his word (Plut. de Isid. et Osirid.). "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth," #Ps 33:6. Where some well note the mystery of the Trinity; as others do, not so well, out of this text; by God, understanding the first person; by Almighty, the second; and by the breath of the Almighty, the third. Sed hoc subtilius, saith Mercer.

Ver. 5. If thou canst answer me] Or, If thou canst, do thou answer me. This bold challenge, and the like confident expressions, not unlike in appearance to that of Campian, with his ten unanswerable reasons (as he accounted them), or that of Sanders, with his forty not probable reasons, but most solid demonstrations (if men would believe him) to prove, that the pope is not Antichrist, hath caused one interpreter, following Gregory, to censure Elihu, for a palpable braggadocian, full of pride and vain-glory (De visib. Monarch. libri 8). This is a hard saying, and at the best reverenter glossanda, as he said of the Pontifician laws. I think this good man is hereby no less mistaken and wronged than John Baptist was by Tertullian, who falls foul upon him in three different places, for that harmless question of his sent to our Saviour by two of his disciples (whom he sought to settle), "Art thou he that should come?" &c., #Mt 11:3, as if he himself had doubted who the person of the Messiah was.

Set thy words in order before me, stand up] A metaphor from military matters; muster up and marshal thine arguments in good array, and then stand to it; make good thy ground like a valiant soldier, who will rather die for it than stir an inch. An expression not unlike this is that of David, #Ps 5:3. In the morning will I direct (or marshal up) my prayers, and then look up; be as a spy upon a watch tower, to see what speed, and whether I get the day: military terms they are both.

Ver. 6. Behold, I am according to thy wish] Heb. According to thy mouth. If the saints do but open their mouths wide God will fill them; he will give them not only the desires of their hearts, but the request of their lips, #Ps 21:2, fulfil all their counsel, #Ps 20:4, in that very way, by that very means, they wished it: he fitteth his mercy ad cardinem desiderii; and lets it be to his even as they will. Was it not so with Job here?

In God’s stead] Heb. For God, to act and plead for him, and to show how thou hast dealt with him. So ministers are said to be in Christ’s stead, #2Co 5:20. A great mercy, that he will treat with us by men like ourselves.

I also am formed out of the clay] Et non ex meliore luto effictus, of the same make and matter with thyself, cut out of the same lump, digged out of the same pit. He alludeth to #Ge 2:7, the wonderful formation of those protoplasts, as a potter mouldeth his pots, cutting them out of the lump. And the like God doth for men still, by that, viz. πλαστικη, that is in the seed, making it prolific, and generative.

Ver. 7. Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid] This Job had earnestly desired of God, #Job 9:24 13:21, and Elihu, as a cunning disputant, presseth him with his own words: I will not, saith he, neither is it fit any mortal man should by his terror and power ravish another of his right religion, as some Zamzummims do the meaner sort of people by their belluine {brutal} greatness; as the pope and his janissaries {One of a former body of Turkish infantry, constituting the Sultan’s guard and the main part of the standing army. The body was first organized in the 14th century, and was composed mainly of tributary children of Christians; after a large number of them had been massacred in 1826, the organization was finally abolished.} do the heretics, as they call those of the reformed religion, that will not renounce it; not once hearing what they can say for themselves. Either you must turn or burn, say they. This is monstrous immanity. Giants are called Emim, formidable, and Nephilim, because men fall before them through fear.

Neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee] Brentius rendereth this verse thus: Ecce frons mea non terreat te, et inclinatio mea super te non gravet, Behold, my forehead cannot fright thee; neither can my bowing down upon thee surcharge thee. I shall neither brow beat thee nor quell thee with my weight, that thou shouldest refuse to reason the case with me. Periculosum est contra eum scribere, qui potest proscribere; et illi contradicere, qui potest aqua et qui interdicere. It is ill meddling with those that are armed with great power, and can as easily undo a man as bid it be done. I must needs acknowledge you the better scholar (said Phavorinus the philosopher to Adrian the emperor) qui triginta habes legiones, who hast thirty legions at command (Aelius Spart.). But here was no such disparity or cause of fear in Job, from his compeer, Elihu.

Ver. 8. Surely thou hast spoken in my hearing] Here beginneth the charge, and it is for words; Quae leviter volant, non leviter violant. Nihil tam volucre quam maledictum, nihil facilius emittitur saith Cicero, pro Plancio, Nothing is so swift as an evil word, nothing is more easily uttered. But should a man set his mouth against heaven and utter error against the Lord? #Isa 32:6. Should he toss that reverend name of God to and fro, with such impiety and profaneness, as if his speech could have no grace, but his disgrace? as if Augustus Caesar were dealing with some god Neptune, or the three sons trying their archery at their father’s heart, to see who can shoot the nearest? Surely, as God is the avenger of all such; so Elihu cannot hear it, and not be kindled. Good blood will not belie itself. #Ps 139:20,21, "They speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred," &c. The very Turks have the Christian’s blaspheming of Christ in execration; and punish it in their prisoners, when through impatience or desperateness they break out in this kind, What a shame is it, then, that our ranters (that last brood of Beelzebub) should, till of late, be suffered to affirm that Christ is a carnal or fleshly thing; and to contemn him by the notion of the man dying at Jerusalem? &c. Can we hear these hellish blasphemies without ears tingling, hearts trembling? &c. When Servetus condemned Zuinglius for his harshness, he answereth, In aliis mansuetus ero, in blasphemiis in Christum, non ita, In other things I can bear as much as another, but when I hear Christ blasphemed I am altogether impatient; for what reason? in this case patience would be blockishness, moderation mopishness, toleration cowardice. Madness here is better than meekness.

Ver. 9. I am clean without transgression] Clear as the picked glass, without defection.

I am innocent] Heb. Neat and compt, not a hair out of order; as it was objected to Pompey the Great, Nitidus ego, פה a Syriaca voce פפח pectere.

Neither is there iniquity in me] Nothing crooked or dishonest. But had Elihu ever heard Job saying thus? Or did not he rather misinterpret his words? Some proud monk hath been heard to say, Non habeo, Domino, quod mihi ignoscas, I have not done anything, Lord, that needeth thy pardon. The reporter of Bellarmine’s life and death telleth us, that when the priest came to absolve him, he could not remember any particular sin he had to confess; till he went back in his thoughts as far as his youth. But good Job had no such conceit of himself, as may appear by many passages of his, as #Job 9:2,20,21 14:4, &c. Only out of the greatness of his grief, and the unkind usage of his friends (who spared not without all reason to revile him as a most wicked and ungodly liver), he did soon cast out some rash and harsh words against God, {see #Job 10:7 16:17 23:10,11 27:5} and hence this accusation here laid against him as a perfectist, or self-justiciary.

Ver. 10. Behold, he findeth occasions against me] Or, breaches; he picks quarrels with me, and would fain find out somewhat in my carriage wherefore to break friendship with me, and to break me in pieces. But did Job ever say in this sort? Not expressly so; but by consequence, and to the same purpose, #Job 9:17 13:24 14:17 16:9 19:11.

He counteth me for his enemy] This indeed he had said, and somewhat more, #Job 13:24 16:9 30:21, as if God, of his mere pleasure, had made cruel wars upon him, and exercised all kind of hostility against him, as a vanquished enemy. {See Trapp on "Job 13:24"} {See Trapp on "Job 19:11"}

Ver. 11. He putteth my feet in the stocks, &c.] See #Job 13:27 14:16, {See Trapp on "Job 13:27"} {See Trapp on "Job 14:16"}

Ver. 12. Behold, in this thou art not just] In this thy expostulation with God, as if he had dealt unjustly with thee (think the same of thy postulation, or unreasonable request, that God should give thee a reason why he so grievously afflicteth thee, #Job 33:13), thou art nothing less than what thou holdest thyself to be, viz. just, pure, innocent. Sorex suo perit indicio, the mole betrays himself by casting up the mould; and so dost thou, good Job, by throwing forth words without wisdom, as God himself will once tell thee, #Job 38:2. Canst thou be just, whose words are thus unjust? Never think of it. Thus Elihu is as nimble with Job (but far more ingenuous) as that Jesuit was with Drusius; whom when he had called heretic, and Drusius in his own defence alleged that heresy must be in fundamentis fidei; the fundamentals of the faith, the Jesuit replied, that even that assertion of his was heresy.

I will answer thee, that God is greater than man] Longe superat frivolum hominem, say the Tigurines, is far above sorry man; the distance and disproportion is infinite. But how is this an answer to Job’s justifying himself, and complaining of God as overly rigid? God’s greatness here is not to be understood to be his power only (which yet should overawe us when ready to rise up against him), but also of his truth, wisdom, justice, goodness, &c., all of which Job, by his complaints, seemed to question and quarrel with; and is therefore fitly minded of this attribute of Almighty God, who is "glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders," #Ex 15:11. Great he is, without quantity; good, without quality; everlasting, without time; omnipresent, without place; containing all things, without extent. He is not only great, #Ps 77:13, but greater, as here; greatest, #Ps 95:3; greatness itself, #Ps 145:3. So he is not only good, #Ps 106:1, but better, #Ps 108:9; best of all, #Php 1:23; goodness itself, #Mt 19:17. The least glimpse of this knowledge is worth all the gleams of human wisdom. And albeit this is a truth commonly known and acknowledged, yet very few are affected with it aright, as appears by their cross carriages toward this great God, and persumptuous misdemeanors, as if he were such another as themselves, #Ps 50:21. Certainly, if we were thoroughly persuaded of God’s infinite greatness, so as it is set forth, #De 10:17 and elsewhere, we would much more fear to offend him and care to please him than we do. The truth is, all the exorbitances in men’s lives proceed from the weakness of this spring; and were they but well assured that God is Almighty they would walk before him, and be upright, #Ge 17:1. But to this none can attain but by the help of supernatural grace.

Ver. 13. Why dost thou strive against him?] Why dost thou wrangle and reason it thus irreverently with God, whose will alone is the supreme reason, nec recta solum, sed et ipsa regula; and not only right, but the very rule of right? He may better say, than any Constantine, that Arian emperor, Quod ego volo, pro Canone sit, Let my will be your sovereign rule; since things are therefore right because I will them; I will them not, because they are right. Who then art thou, O man, that repliest against God? saith St Paul; that chattest and wordest it with him, that answereth again, and thinkest to hold him to it, and be hard enough for him? #Ro 9:20. "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth," #Isa 45:9. Let men learn to meddle with their match, and not to contend with God, who is much mightier than they, #Ec 6:10, and hath assured them that with the froward he will wrestle, #Ps 18:26. Jeremiah, who in his distemper would needs reason the cause with God concerning his judgments (which are sometimes secret, but always just), did well and wisely to preface thus: "Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee," #Jer 12:1.

For he giveth not account of any of his matters] Heb. of all his matters; for he is ανυπευθυνος, the most highest; and therefore not to be reckoned with by any for aught he doth. If he so far abase himself as to give account of any of his proceedings for our satisfaction, it is dignatio stupenda, a wonderful condescension. Vatablus rendereth the text thus, Non enim omnia verba sua loquitur; for he uttereth not all his words; that is, he revealeth not all his secrets, q.d. he doth all for our good, though we for present understand it not. He oft answereth us as the echo doth the voice, cutting off the one half of it; but stand a while and see the salvation of the Lord, he is usually better to his people than their conceits, and delighteth to help those that are forsaken in their hopes.

Ver. 14. For God speaketh once, yea twice] He loveth to foresignify; and although not bound to it, yet he usually gives warning; as "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance," #2Pe 3:9. For which purpose God saith Elihu here useth two ways to nurture his children; the one more mild, to keep them from falling into sin, #Job 33:15-18, the other more rigorous, when they have committed wickedness, to bring them to ammendment of life, #Job 33:19-21, &c.

Yet man perceiveth it not] Prae crassitie, et supinitate (ut ita dicam) sua; through his forlorn dullness and heedlessness, his singular inattention and inadvertence. Though God say, as once, "O generation, see ye the word of the Lord," #Jer 2:31, "Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it," #Mic 6:9, yet man is not only naturally averse, but adverse, to listen, or lay to heart anything, till it light on his hide, to believe till he feeleth; yea, to his natural dullness he soon addeth a habitual hardness; to his sinews of iron brows of brass, #Isa 48:4. This is fearful, #Ac 28:27, and yet common to all, whose hard hearts God is not pleased to soften with the oil of his grace and to soak in the blood of his Son, that they may be supple and soluble.

Ver. 15. In a dream, in a vision of the night] At sundry times and in various manners. God delivered his mind to men of old by dreams in the night, by visions in the day time, imprinting upon their minds what by them he would have understood, or uttered to others. This he did, especially before the law written, whereof therefore here is made no mention. See #Nu 12:6. Indeed with Moses, by a specialty of his favour, he spake mouth to mouth; even apparently (as a man doth to his friend), and not in dark speeches; the similitude of the Lord did he bebold, sed non absque aliquo Maiestatis eius involucro, but not without some overshadowing of his Majesty, which none can see and live, #Ex 33:20, he must needs be oppressed and swallowed up of it, as the sight of the eye is dazzled with the sun, or a crystal glass broken with the fire.

When deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed] When men, plunged in sleep, are neither in the number of the living nor the dead. Then many times the reasonable soul cometh into the shop of phantasy, and there doth strange works, which are vented in our dreams. And sometimes God, by an angel, or otherwise, causeth men to dream, and thereby admonisheth them with weighty matters; as he did Abimelech, #Ge 20:3-7; Jacob, #Ge 28:12-15; Joseph, #Ge 40:5-11; the other Joseph, #Mt 1:20-24; the wise men, #Mt 2:12; Pilate’s wife, #Mt 27:19, which, though some think it came from the devil, to hinder man’s redemption, yet others think it came from God, for the clearing of Christ’s innocence, and, as Theophylaet holdeth, for the salvation of this woman’s soul. ´ Επεχω. Of the several sorts of dreams, natural, divine, and diabolical. {See Trapp on "Ge 20:3"}

Ver. 16. Then he openeth the ears of men] He maketh the bore bigger, as it were, that good counsel may enter; he calleth up the ears of the soul to the ears of the body, that one sound may pierce both; he saith, as to him in the Gospel Ephphatha; and together with his word there goeth forth a power, as #Lu 4:32. See #Job 36:10,15.

And sealeth their instruction] Or, their correction, for they go together, #Ps 94:12 Pr 3:12,13 6:14, and God sealeth, or setteth on, the one by the other; as when a schoolmaster would have a lesson learned indeed, he set it on with a whipping. Luther saith, that many of St Paul’s Epistles could not be understood but by the cross, Vexatio dat intellectum. Another grave divine giveth this good advice to find out the sin that God afflicteth for, consider what truths have been pressed upon your hearts before the affliction; for afflictions used to come as seals to instruction; before they did not come with power to your hearts, now God seals them: thus he. Bernard saith concerning his brother, when he gave him many good instructions, and he, being a soldier, minded them not; he put his finger to his sides, and said, One day a spear shall make way to this heart of thine for instructions and admonitions to enter. The Tigurine translation is full and elegant, Tunc aurem hominibus vellit, et disciplinam eorum velut impresso sigillo consignat: Then he pulleth men by the ear, and consigneth their instruction, as with a seal set unto it.

Ver. 17. That he may withdraw man from his purpose] Or, rather, practice. Heb. work, that is, evil work, called a man’s own work, #Heb 4:10; for when we do evil we work de nostro, et secundum hominem, #1Co 3:3, as when the devil speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own, #Joh 8:44. Now from such bad work God taketb men off, by dreams sometimes, as he did Abimelech, #Ge 20:3, and Laban, #Ge 31:24 but more frequently by corrections of instruction, which are the way of life, #Pr 6:23: Christianornm Theologia, as Luther calleth it; Virtutum officina, as Ambrose; Bonorum omnium thesaurus, as Brentius upon this text.

And hide pride from man] Which else, as a master pock, will break out in his forehead and testify to his face. By pride we may understand all other sins, which God both covereth and cureth in his penitent people; but pride is fitly instanced, because it was one of the first sins, and is still the root and source of all other sins. God therefore humbleth all under his mighty hand, and preserveth them from the perilous pinnacle of self exaltation; as he dealt with Paul, both when he met him on the way to Damascus, and unhorsed him, as also when by that thorn in the flesh he let out the swollen matter of pride out of his heart, which might else have broken forth into odious and loathsome practices.

Ver. 18. He keepeth back his soul from the pit] Or, That he may keep back his soul, that is, his body, as #Ps 16:10 Le 21:1, from the pit; i.e. from the grave, or from the pit falls made for him by his enemies. A penitent person redeemeth his own sorrows, and provideth for his own safety, #Ps 91, and accordingly some read it, He shall keep back his own soul, &c.

And his life from perishing by the sword] Whether by the sword of God or man, he shall be extra iactum, out of the gunshot or danger of any death, whether corporal or eternal. The universal antidote for all the judgments of God is our humble repentance. Aaron escaped by it, when Miriam was smitten with leprosy.

Per miserere met, tollitur ira Dei.

This is the rainbow, which if God see shining in our hearts, he will never drown our souls. Jehoshaphat by this escaped the edge of the sword; David and his poor sheep the stroke of the punishing angel; all the crowned saints now in heaven the damnation of hell, &c.

Ver. 19. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed] He is chastened or chidden, Coarguitur dolore; for all diseases are vocal; they are real reprehensions. As God is said to hold his peace when he punisheth not, #Ps 50:21 Isa 42:14, so to preach and reprove when he doth, #Isa 26:9 28:19. Thus God, by chastening David, instructed him every morning, #Ps 73:14. His reins also taught him in the night season. Sickness, saith one, is the shop of virtue. It is morum disciplina, felicitatis meditatorium, voluntatis Dei schola, saith another. King Alfred found it so, and therefore besought God to send him ever and anon some fit of sickness; for that, saith he, I ever find myself best when worst, best in soul when worst in body, the sickness of this is a medicine to that.

And the multitude of his bones with strong pain] Some read it, Et lis est ossium eius vehemens, his bones rattle in his skin, as we say. Confer #Ps 38:4. He is all over so ill at ease, that live he would not, die he cannot; his pain piercing even to his very bones, and drinking up his marrow, as Job’s did; all this discourse being exemplified in him, save that we find not that he kept his bed.

Ver. 20. So that his life abhorreth bread] Which is the staff of man’s life, and by the Latins called panis, of the Greek παν, as if it were all in all. This the sick man velut sordidum abominatur, abhorreth as some filthy thing, so the original word here signifieth; he nauseateth and cannot away with it, though made of the kidneys of wheat, as Moses phraseth it; he brooks it no better than if it were made of sawdust, or mixed with gravel, or made with man’s dung, as that in Ezekiel.

And his soul dainty meat] Heb. Meats of desire. Those dainties which he once sought so passionately, and fed upon so eagerly, he finds no more relish in than in the white of an egg or a dry chip; yea, they are no less horrid to him than rank poison. See a like description of a sick person, #Ps 107:18, which seemeth to be taken from hence.

Ver. 21. His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen] He that was habilior paulo, corpulent and well lined within, as we say, is so pined with long sickness, that you can hardly know him for the same man, and he may well cry out with the prophet, My leanness, my leanness! Of Christ it is said (though not through sickness), that he had "no form nor comeliness" (and yet he was the fairest among men, #Ps 45:2), through grief and sufferances, "neither was there any beauty left that we should desire him," for his outside, #Isa 53:2. And of Mr Fox, the martyrologue, it is reported, that having with infinite pains finished that elaborate work of his, the Acts and Monuments of the Church, in eleven years’ time, never using the help of any other man, he grew thereupon so lean and withered, that his friends knew him not (Mr Clark in his Life). Now if sorrow and hard study will so macerate a man, what marvel if long and sharp sickness, and thereby extreme stomachlessness, cause leanness and deformity?

And his bones that were not seen] But could hardly be felt for flesh and fat; now they stick out as in an anatomy, so that you may count them, as also the veins and sinews; his body is become a very bag of bones, a skin bottle in the smoke, as David hath it.

Ver. 22. Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave] His soul, that is, his body, as #Job 33:18, for Elihu was no mortalist, neither dreamed he of a psychopannychia. {All-night sleep of the soul; a state in which (according to some) the soul sleeps between death and the day of judgement.} He is in the very confines of death, and no ways likely to recover; he is free among the dead, as the psalmist hath it.

And his life to the destroyers] Lethalibus malis, to deadly evils, saith Tremellius. Mortiferis, i.e. Morbis, to those messengers of death, deadly diseases, saith Vatablus, Gentiles multa de Parcis fabulati sunt. To those that kill; viz. to the angels, by whom God sometimes destroyeth men, as #2Sa 24:16,17, saith Piscator. To enemies, say other. Pollinctoribus, to the bier carriers, say the Tigurines, and so Beza paraphraseth; so that he stands not in need of any remedy or help of anything more than of those who should carry his carcass unto the grave.

Ver. 23. If there be a messenger with him] An angel, say some; but one man may be an angel to another, as Bradford was to Dr Taylor, martyr, who usually called him, That angel of God, John Bradford. If some prophet or teacher sent of God {see #Jud 2:1 Mal 3:1 Re 1:20} to the sick man, who seeth his face as the face of an angel, and receiveth him as an angel, yea, as Christ himself, #Ga 4:14, in whose stead he is, #2Co 5:20, bringing the embassy of reconciliation, #2Co 5:20, than which what can be more acceptable?

An interpreter] sc. Of God’s holy will, who may assure the sick party that it is God who visiteth him in very faithfulness, that he may be true to his soul; that he doth it in mercy and in measure, not to ruin him, but to reduce him by repentance from dead works, and by faith in Christ Jesus, &c., who may also set him in a course, and pray for him, as #Jas 5:16. Dr Ussher tells us (Serm. on #Eph 4:13), that even in the times of Popery, among our forefathers, the ordinary instruction appointed to be given to men upon their death beds was, that they should look to come to glory, not by their own merits, but by the virtue and merit of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ; that they should place their whole confidence in his death only, and in no other thing; and that they should interpose his death between God and their sins, between them and God’s anger. This was right, and, considering the times, admirable. This was better than that blasphemous direction they give elsewhere to dying men to say, Coniunge Domine, &c., Conjoin, O Lord, mine obedience to all those things which Christ suffered for me.

One among a thousand] Unus e millibus, not Unus e similibus, as the Vulgate Latin hath it by a gross mistake, such as that translation hath many. One among a thousand he is said to be, for the scarcity of such as can time a word, comfort the afflicted conscience, and speak to the heart of a poor distressed creature, who laboureth under the sense of sin and fear of wrath. O quam hoc non est omnium, This very few can skill of. Luther, who was excellent at it himself, telleth us, that it is a work every whit as hard as to raise the dead to life again. Go ye rather to them that sell, said the wise to the foolish virgins, and those are rare; sc. such faithful and wise distributers of God’s grace, as having the tongue of the learned, #Isa 50:4, and being instructed for that purpose to the kingdom of heaven, can comfort the feeble minded, shore up and support the weak, &c. Such a choice man is worth his weight in gold; and oh, how beautiful are his feet, angelic his face!

To declare unto man his uprightness] Or, his righteousness, that is, either the righteousness of Christ, who is his peace; or his, that is, the righteousness of his own experience, how he hath been raised and received to mercy. Or, his, to clear up to him his spiritual estate, and show his evangelical righteousness, consisting more in purpose than in practice; in confession of our imperfection, than in any perfection we can attain unto. It is not so much our inherent righteousness, in regard of the worth, dignity, and excellence of it, much less purity and perfection in it, but as it is a fruit of God’s love and token of his favour, a sign of our adoption and justification, and a pledge of our glorification, that yieldeth comfort. And this it will do when skilfully made out to a poor soul by a godly minister, and set on by the hand of that Holy Spirit, whereby the saints are sealed to the day of redemption, #Eph 4:30 1:13.

Ver. 24. Then is he gracious unto him, and saith] If the sick man, thus counselled and comforted, repent and believe the gospel, delivering himself up to God, and to that his messenger by the will of God, mercy and truth shall be with him, he shall be cured on both sides, as that palsy man was, #Mt 9:2, the Lord shall raise him up, if it may stand with his eternal welfare. But howsoever, if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him, #Jas 5:15. Both the guilt and filth of them shall be taken away, so that he shall be able to look death in the face with everlasting comfort, as being made to him ianua vitae, porta coeli; a postern, to let out temporal, but a street door, to let in eternal, life.

Deliver him from going down to the pit] Tell him from me, that he shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord, as #Ps 118:17. Nay, say to this righteous man, tell him so from me, that it shall be well with him, and very well, #Isa 3:10. Redeem him from going down to the infernal pit; that is, declare that redemption to him wrought for him by Christ, and apply it to his conscience, pour the oil of grace into his broken vessel, and assure him in my name, and by mine authority, that I am his salvation. Whose sins soever ye, my faithful ministers, remit, they are remitted unto them; and whatsoever ye loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven, #Mt 18:18 Job 20:23. But all this ministerially and declaratively, not absolutely and out of a full liberty and power, as Popish priests arrogate. I have known one (saith a very grave divine, Mr Ley, in his Pattern of Piety) who neither by education nor affection was disposed to Popery, who having the ill hap when his conscience was perplexed to fall into the hands of a Popish priest, for this reason (because, as the priest suggested, that religion afforded more comfort, because it had, and exercised, a power to pardon sin, which our ministers neither did, nor dared assume unto themselves) he became a Papist. But it is honour enough to ministers, and may be comfort enough to their hearers, that God gives them commission to deliver a penitent man from hell; not as the means (for that is Christ alone), but as instruments: 1. To apply Christ crucified, or rather risen again, unto him. 2. To pronounce his safety and salvation, upon the due use of that means. And this is the greatest honour that ever was done to any mere creature. Angels never had such a commission. They indeed are ministers for the good of those that shall be heirs of salvation, #Heb 1:14; but ministers are called Saviours, #Ob 21 1Ti 4:16 Jas 5:20.

I have found a ransom] Or, an atonement; a cover for his sin; as a thing is covered with plaster; or as, under the law, the ark covered the decalogue, the mercy seat upon it, and over them two cherubims covering one another; all which showed Christ covering the curses of the law, and expiating the sins of his people: which things the angels desire to pry into, as into the patterns of God’s deep wisdom, who hath found out such a ransom, which he now professeth to accept for this penitent man, #1Ti 2:6 Ps 32:1.

Ver. 25. His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s] Tender and smooth, full of good blood and fresh spirits, he shall be battle and blithe like a suckling. See a like hyperbole concerning Naaman the Syrian restored to health, #2Ki 5:14, implying that his disease was thoroughly cured, and his flesh in better case than ever. There is a memorable story in the Acts and Monuments of the Church, which here may not unfitly be inserted, to show the sweet fruits of remission of sins by the free mercy of God. In the dungeon with Petrus Bergerius at Lyons, in France, was a certain thief and malefactor, who had lain in the dungeon for seven or eight months. This thief, for pain and torment, cried out for God, and cursed his parents that begat him, being almost eaten up with lice, miserably handled, and fed with such bread as dogs and horses had refused to eat. So it pleased the goodness of the Almighty, that through the teaching and prayer of this Bergerius, he was brought to repentance and the knowledge of God, learning much comfort and patience by the word of the gospel preached unto him. Touching his conversion, himself wrote a sweet letter to some friends, declaring therein that the next day after he had taken hold of the gospel, and framed himself to patience according to the same, his lice (which he could pluck out before by twenty at once between his fingers) now were so gone from him, that he had not one; his rotten flesh (the Vulgate translateth this text thus, Consumpta est eius caro a suppliciis) was recruited, and the alms of good people so extended toward him, that he was fed with white bread, and that which was very good. His name was John Chambone.

He shall return to the days of his youth] Reiuvenescet, He shall grow young again, and renew his youth, like the eagle’s, #Ps 103:5. He shall be vigorous and active, as #Isa 40:31.

Ver. 26. He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him] All former unkindnesses notwithstanding. God will cast his sins into the bottom of the sea, and be as propitious to the poor sinner now reconciled, recovered, and making request, as if he had never been offended by him. Amongst men, Reconciliationes sunt vulpinae amicitiae, Reconciliations are for the most part fox like friendships; and there is little trust to them. Not so between God and men; witness Peter, of whom Christ thought no whit the worse for his threefold denial of him, when once he wept bitterly, and prayed for pardon. Go, tell the disciples and Peter, that I am risen, #Mr 16:7. If any man want wisdom, or any other good thing else, let him ask it of God, who giveth unto all men liberally, and hitteth no man in the teeth, either with his present weaknesses or by past wickednesses, #Jas 2:5. Imo plus est propemodum a vitiis se revocasse, quam vitia ipsa nescivisse, saith a Father. Penitence is in a manner as good as innocence (Ambros. in Psa.).

He shall see his face with joy] Or, God shall make him to see his face with joy, Ostendet ei faciem suam in iubilo, even with joyful acclamation, when he shall find himself possessed of God’s kingdom, which consisteth in righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; which Chrysostom rightly calleth ουρανον προ ουρανου, heaven beforehand.

For he will render unto man his righteousness] Which he had lost by falling into sin, as #Eze 18:24. Understand it of degrees and measures for true grace cannot wholly be lost. Or, he will render unto him now in Christ that righteousness he lost in Adam, he will fully and freely justify him, and sweetly seal him up to the day of redemption, Rursus eum in album iustorum et plorum referet (Lav.); the former falling out shall be but a renewing of love; as it was between Christ and his spouse, #So 5:1-6:13

Ver. 27. He looketh upon men] He looketh to see when any will repent and return unto him. Now Christ’s looks are often operative, and cause that which he looks after. A stroke from guilt broke Judas’s heart into despair; but a look from Christ broke Peter’s heart into tears.

And if any say, I have sinned] So he say it penitently, as David and the prodigal; and not feignedly, as Saul; or forcedly, as Pharaoh; or desperately, as Judas. In men’s courts, saith Quintilian, it is best to say Non feci, to plead not guilty; but in God’s court it is better to say Ego feci, Guilty, Lord; mercy, Lord; and not to put God to his proofs, as they did, #Jer 2:35; since he that hideth his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy, #Pr 28:13.

And perverted that which was right] Thus the true penitentiary layeth load upon himself, and aggravates his sins, whereof (saith Merlin) we have here a definition answerable to that of St John, #1Jo 3:4, "Sin is the transgression of the law." I have writhed from the right, saith he in the text. I have turned aside to crooked ways, and so have deserved to he led forth with the workers of iniquity, #Ps 125:5; as cattle are to the slaughter, or malefactors to execution.

And it profited me not] Sin is an ill pay master, and sends home all her servants by weeping cross. The best that can come of it is shame, #Ro 6:21, and godly sorrow, working repentance, #2Co 7:10, but usually the end of those things is death; this is the just hire of the least sin, #Ro 6:23. It not only profiteth not (whatever it promiseth), but prejudiceth and proves pernicious. This penitent man thanks his sin for his late sickness, and yet thinks he hath escaped fair too; for so some render the text, Nec poenas condignas dedi, My punishment hath been less than my offence, Non aequale fuit. See #Ezr 9:13, {See Trapp on "Ezr 9:13"}

Ver. 28. He will deliver his soul from going, &c.] God will heal him, and lengthen out his life. Or, the sick man will, by his unfeigned repentance, procure his own reprieve and deliverance from deadly danger. Some make these words to be the sick man’s thankful confession, He hath redeemed my soul, &c., not unlike that of David, #Ps 116:8, and that of Hezekiah, #Isa 38:17.

And his life shall see the light] He shall not only live, but live happily and comfortably: a joyless life is no life.

Ver. 29. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes] Heb. twice, thrice; such is his patience, that he trieth all conclusions, as it were, and beareth long with men’s evil manners; one while casting them down, and making them believe he will pitch them into hell; and another while raising them up again, and restoring them, that if nothing will do he may pay them all at once for the new and the old, as he did Ahab, and Pharaoh, and Nineveh, because they despised "the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing," or not weighing, "that the goodness of God should have led them to repentance," #Ro 2:4,5. Woe be to him that will not be warned at the first, second, or third time! See #Am 1:3 2:1, &c., {See Trapp on "Am 1:3"} {See Trapp on "Am 2:1"} R. Solomon would thence infer, That God pardoneth a man only thrice; and then if he take not warning, to hell he must; and this he thinketh to be Elihu’s meaning here. But this is to limit the Holy One of Israel, who multiplieth pardon, as we multiply sin, #Isa 55:7, and further addeth, for our comfort, #Job 33:8, that his thoughts are not our thoughts, nor his ways our ways; but as the heavens are higher than the earth, &c. We are apt to measure God by our models, to cast him into a dishonourable mould, and to think him like ourselves in mercy, power, and other of his attributes. Xenophanes was wont to say, that if the creatures were put to paint the Creator, they would surely conceit him to be like themselves, because a creature cannot think of anything higher than a creature. So deal we for the most part with Almighty God. But he is God and not man; he is Jehovah that changeth not, neither is there any God like unto him for pardoning iniquity, not once, but often, #Mic 7:18,19; see the note there. He who commandeth us to forgive an offending brother seventy times seven times in a day, if he say, It repenteth me, what will not himself do in such a case?

Ver. 30. To bring back his soul from the pit] i.e. That he may save him from temporal and eternal destruction, which is the most excellent fruit of affliction sanctified. We are judged by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. So that a saint may say, Periissem nisi periissem, I had been undone had I not been undone.

Ferre minora vole, ne graviora feram.

To be enlightened with the light of the living] To live comfortably, and to be famous among the saints, Conspicuus sit inter heroines (Mercer), who, had they not been reduced by affliction, would have perished infamous and obscure wrapped up in the sheet of shame, and going out in a snuff.

Ver. 31. Mark well, O Job, hearken unto me] For I speak from God, and for God. It was a good speech of Austin to Manicheus, contesting with him for audience. Hear me, hear me, said Manicheus. Nay, saith Austin, Nec ego to, nec tu me, sed ambo audiamus Apostolum, dicentem, Peccatum non cognovi, &c., Neither will I hear thee nor do thou hear me, but let us both hear the apostle, saying, "I had not known lust," &c.

Ver. 32. If thou hast anything to say, answer me] Heb. If thou hast words, yet not empty words, but such as may bear weight, and make for thy defence. Some men’s discourses are nothing else but words. Hermodorus of old was said to sell words for want of better commodities. Δογους εμπορευεται Εσυοδωπος. Erasmus was noted for a very wordy man, Verba habet sine rebus Erasmus. Turrian for a great trifler, Cornicutas citius in Africa, quam res rationesque solidas in eius scriptis reperias, saith one. Elihu would have no such words, nor any wise man else; for they are very irksome, yea, vexatious.

Speak, for I desire to justify thee] Not to condemn thee, as these three have done; but to hear thee and clear thee as much as may be. This was fair dealing. Some are so eristical and testy, that they will not hear the adverse party, or bear with any that dissent; as the Jesuits, many fierce Lutherans, yea, Luther himself, as appeareth by his bitter invectives against Carolostadius, Zuinglius, all the Helvetian Churches, that would not receive the doctrine of consubstantiation. Tantaene animis coelestibus irae? He would not once hear the contrary party, nor read their books, but called them arch devils, and all that ever was naught, as he doth in his Epistle to the Senate of Frankfort.

Ver. 33. If not, hearken unto me] Elihu is much in calling for attention; so are all the prophets, and Christ the arch prophet, as #Mt 13:9, where, although it might seem superfluous to stir up such to hear, as had come from all parts for that purpose, and now hung upon his holy lips, as the babe doth on the breast, #Lu 19:48, yet he, well knowing our heedlessness and fickleness, doth it once and again, leaving all ministers an example to do likewise.

Hold thy peace] viz. While I am speaking interrupt me not, but have patience. Some men, as they have fel in aure, gall in their ears (as some creatures are said to have), so they have fire in their tongues, which they presently spit at all that offend them in the least.

And I shall teach thee wisdom] A good inducement to thee to hear. I will not trouble thee with trifles, nor detain thee with endless and needless discourses; but set before thee God’s wise precedings, and bring thee to such a sight of thine own folly as shall render thee restless till set right for heaven.

Chapter 34

Ver. 1. Furthermore Elihu answered and said] i.e. He prosecuted his former discourse, he thus pronounced (as the Vulgate hath it) in answer to some of Job’s former speeches, which he here reciteth, but not so candidly; and refelleth, but not so mildly as was meet. Pronuncians itaque Eliu, Elihu going on still in his anger and speech. True it is, that Job in his heat had let fall very many lavish and inconsiderate speeches, as is to be seen almost throughout the tenth chapter; but yet it was far from him ever to say either that himself was without sin or that God was unjust, as Elihu would bear him down; very odiously taking up certain sayings of his that way sounding, and very gravely calling forth the rest there present to give sentence with him against Job. Yet is not Elihu to be censured for a proud, arrogant person (as some make him), but to be esteemed, Sapiens et egregius vir, as Lavater here styleth him, a wise and excellent man; though he should have considered that the Spirit of God is neque mendax, neque mordax, a spirit of truth and of meekness.

Ver. 2. Hear my words, O ye wise men] And those are not many, #Ho 14:9. He excludeth poor Job, whom yet he had promised to teach wisdom, #Job 33:33. And that he spoke not to the many it is probable, for they have not those auras perpargatas, that he calleth for in the next verse. Βοιωτες fere sunt, they are heavily eared for the most part, and of dull apprehension;

Boeotum in patria, crassoque sub acre nati.

To the other three then of Job’s friends he applieth himself; whom because he had sharply reproved before, and that they may not think that he held himself the only wise man among them, he thus bespeaketh to get audience, and makes them judges of his discourse. Men may be wise in some things that have carried the matter foolishly enough in other, ουδεις ανθρωπων αυπος απαντα σοφος (Theog.).

And give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge] It is a happiness to have such hearers. "I speak as to wise men, judge ye what I say," #1Co 10:15. Jovianus the emperor was wont to wish, That he might govern wise men, and that wise men might govern him. But as it was once said, That there was never less wisdom in Greece than in the days of the seven wise men; so may we now well complain, that there is a very great want of sound and saving knowledge in this great abundance of helps thereunto; so that we may cry out, with the prophet Isaiah, Whom shall we teach knowledge, and whom shall we make to understand the hearing? Them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts; q.d. We have to do with very babes, children in understanding, but not in malice.

Ver. 3. For the ear trieth words] And for that end we have that excellent sense of hearing given us, that we may hear with judgment, and trying all things, hold fast that which is good, #1Th 5:21, taking heed what we hear, #Mr 4:24, as by the taste we may take heed what we let down; for else a man may easily eat his own bane, drink his poison: so here, for the soul hath her senses also, #Php 1:9, and these habitually exercised to discern good and evil, #Heb 5:14. Which while carnal people want, they are carried away as they are led, #1Co 12:2; plucked away with the error of the wicked, #2Pe 3:17; wherried about with every wind of doctrine, #Heb 13:9, &c. {See Trapp on "Job 12:1"}

Ver. 4. Let us choose to us judgment] Let us summon the sobriety of our senses before our judgments; laying aside all prejudice; for, Omne iudicium a se aufert qui praeiudicium affert, He can never judge aright who comes to a cause forestalled or prepossessed.

Let us know among ourselves what is good] Let us go knowingly to work, according to apparent truth; and not use cunningly devised arguments, as many ( mataeologi rather than theologi) do today in the greatest controversies of religion; and hereunto let us all contribute our best help, for the finding out of truth, and convincing of Job.

Ver. 5. For Job hath said, I am righteous] So he was with a twofold righteousness: imputed, or the righteousness of justification; and imparted, or the righteousness of sanctification. But Elihu understood him as if he had said, I am sinless. This Job never said; only he cleared himself of foul offences wherewith his friends falsely charged him; and asserted his own integrity, whereof he seemed to be more solicitous than of giving God the glory of his justice; and therein he was to be blamed, as here he is to some purpose.

And God hath taken away my judgment] sc. By handling me like a wicked man, and not showing me why. See #Job 27:3, where Job had used these very words; but not in the sense that Elihu urgeth them against him.

Ver. 6. Should I lie against my right?] Ut meam causam prodam, so as to betray my cause, and yield myself guilty when I know myself innocent (R. Levi). This I will never do, said Job; no more would that peerless Lady Elizabeth, when as a traitor she was laid up in the Tower, and pressed to appeach herself. Better die than lie.

My wound is incurable without transgression] These last words, "without transgression," Elihu spitefully thrusteth in, saith Beza. Others think they may be gathered out of #Job 9:17 16:17. Without presumptuous sin (which David calleth the great transgression, the wickedness with a witness) Job might truly say, it may be; for all men are sinners, yet not all alike; though all have a discrasy, yet every man hath not a fever; and though none are without ill humours, yet some have not a leprosy upon them.

Ver. 7. What man is like Job?] This Elihu speaketh by way of angry admiration, as if he would make Job a very nonsuch, a matchless offender; and that he much wondered with what face he could speak in that sort, Exclamatio admirativa (Pisc.). What, such a man as Job do thus? Oh, shameful! what? upbraid and reproach Almighty God? who would ever have expected such words from such a mouth? Is the man in his right mind, wot you, that he thus maketh himself a common laughing stock and by word, and yet maketh nothing of anything, but doth with as great facility and readiness swallow up men’s scoffs and taunts, as if he were drinking cold water, and no more is he troubled at them? Why, but is this Job? and is it possible that he should have so far lost all fear of God, and shame of the world, that he should set his mouth against heaven, as if he would spit in God’s face, and not care though he drink up scorning and affronts like water, quasi maledictis aleretur, ut venenis capreae, as if he were much taken and tickled with them? True it is, that Nemo pluris aestimavit virtutem, as Seneca saith, No man setteth a better price upon virtue than he who will rather part with his good name than part with his honesty. But it is also as true, that to neglect altogether what others think and say of us, non solum arrogantis est, sed et dissoluti, is the part not of a proud only, but of a forlorn person, saith the orator.

Ver. 8. Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity] Strange if he should; for the wicked is abomination to the righteous, #Pr 29:27. "Lord, gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men," saith David, #Ps 26:9. Lord, send me not to hell among the wicked (said a certain good woman upon her death bed), for thou knowest I never liked their company here on earth. But how proveth Elihu this charge against Job, who was ever a terror to graceless Belialists? Forsooth he gathereth it from a certain speech of his, if he could tell what, or when it was uttered.

Ver. 9. For he hath said, It profiteth a man not] Did Job ever say so or think so? where? and when? He said indeed, and truly, that in this life it is oft seen, that bad men prosper and good men suffer. But must it needs follow, therefore, that it is a course of no profit to walk with God? Knoweth not Elihu that there is nothing that may not be taken with either hand? and that it is a spiritual unmannerliness to take it with the left? Indeed, it is not amiss to admonish good men, what absurdities may be gathered out of their words; and it is fit that they should prevent it as much as may be. Elihu also was the more to be borne with (and that made Job let him go on, likely, without a reply) because he pleaded for God and the glory of his justice, which Job had somewhat wronged, as cannot be denied, while he gave too much way to his grief and other passions, and now beginneth to be sensible of his outbursts. But, truly, if he should have said as here he is taxed (and yet David and Jeremiah said little less), he would have gone in company with those workers of iniquity, #Isa 58:3 Mal 3:14,15, and have lifted at the very foundation of all true religion, #Heb 11:6, and thence it was that Elihu was so hot. But men must take heed of drawing odious consequences out of other men’s speeches; and of forcing them to go two miles when they would go but one. "Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood," &c., #Pr 30:33.

That he should delight himself with God] Or, When he runneth with God. Tremellius, When he shall be willing to walk with God, as #Ge 5:22; see #Eze 1:14. The Tigurines render the whole verse thus, Dixit enim, vir non faciet paria, si cum Deo cursu contendat. Sure it is nec volentis, nec volantis (as a nobleman gave it for his motto), it is not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth; no, though he could run as fast as a bird can fly; but in God that showeth mercy.

Ver. 10. Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding] Heb. Ye men of heart, Cor est sedes sapientiae. Egregie cordati viri.

Mentemque habere queis bonam

Et esse corculis datum est.

Having recited Job’s evil speeches, he turneth away from him as it were in great displeasure, and directeth his speech to others. See the like done by Jacob, #Ge 49:4. We should abhor that which is evil, and show our detestation thereof.

Far be it from God that he should do wickedness, &c.] sc. By punishing any without a cause; and this he double denieth for better assurance. Cause enough there may be found in the very best, as well by reason of their actual abominations (their omissions, commissions, and failings in the manner) as of their birth blot, which ever abideth with them while they are here, and is a seed plot of all sin. How then can God wrong any one? Surely it is inconsistent with God’s, 1. Nature, here; 2. Actions, #Job 34:11 3. Will, #Job 34:12. And although he might, to show his sovereignty, punish men for his pleasure, #Ro 9:20, yet far be it from us to imagine that he will abuse his might and power to do anything unjust or unbeseeming his goodness.

Ver. 11. For the work of a man shall he render unto him] This is both his covenant and his custom; so far is he from doing wrong to any, that every man shall be sure to reap as he sows, to drink as he brews, to receive according to that he hath done in the flesh, whether good or evil, #2Co 5:10. And albeit this is not done forthwith, yet we may write upon it, and reckon that nondum onmium dierum soles occiderunt; as sure as the night followeth the day, a day of account will come, and God will render unto each man reward or punishment according to his works.

And cause every man to find according to his ways] According to the course of his life, and not according to this or that particular action. A Doeg may set his foot as far within the sanctuary as a David; and a David may in some particular out sin a firebrand of hell. But "the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all his goings," #Pr 5:21. He considereth the bent, frame, and tendency of the heart, and proceeds accordingly.

Ver. 12. Yea, surely God will not do wickedly] This must be laid down for a certain truth, and is, therefore, so reiterated. Job had said as much to this purpose as Elihu could do; but then he had seemingly dashed all again with his inconsiderate complaints and murmurings. This Elihu could not bear, but again and again celebrateth the righteousness of God; and when he hath said his utmost, seemeth to say, as Cicero once did of Crassus and Antony, the Roman orators, That if any man think he had said too much in commendation of them, he must needs be such a one as either knew them not or was not able to judge their worth. As for Job, whom he here confuteth, he seems to say of him as Calvin somewhere doth of Luther, That as he excelled with great virtues, so he was not without his great failings. Atque utinam recognoscendis suis vitiis plus operae dedisset; And I spent less time in declaiming against others, and more in recognizing his own faults (Calv. ep. Bulling.).

Neither will the Almighty pervert judgment] For shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? {See Trapp on "Job 7:3"}

Ver. 13. Who hath given him a charge over all the earth?] sc. To govern it. Is not he the Maker and Monarch of all men? Who is his superior? and to whom shall he give account? and who shall expostulate with him about injustice? Or, for fear of whom should he warp or writhe? The emperor cannot do right, saith one, because he hath none to overly awe him or question him (Theophil. Inst.). It is said of Trajan, that he neither feared nor hated any man living. What, then, shall we think of him, who is Moderator et Dominator supremus ac solus (Mercer).

Or who hath disposed the whole world?] The habitable world; and especially that habitable part of God’s earth, as man is called, #Pr 8:31.

Ver. 14. If he set his heart upon man] viz. For evil, and not for good, and have a purpose to unmake him again, which he can as easily do as will it to be done.

If he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath] If he take away his life, which what is it else but a puff of wind, a vapour, &c., who can say he is unjust? May not the potter do with his pot as he pleaseth? We subsist merely by his manutension; and if he but pull back his hand only we are gone immediately. This is to be seen in those that swoon suddenly away. See #Ps 104:29, and consider how little this is considered by the most. Elihu thought that Job was wanting herein; for he had heard him, #Job 12:13-25, disputing concerning the sovereign and absolute power of God almost in the very same words which himself here useth, from #Job 34:13-31.

Ver. 15. All flesh shall perish together] i.e. All men, called here "All flesh," as, #Mr 16:16, they are called every creature, a little world. If God command it to be so they shall all breathe out together.

And man shall turn to his dust again] The body to the dust, whence it was taken, but the spirit to God, who gave it. #Ec 12:7

Ver. 16. If now thou hast understanding, hear this] Hear it, and know it for thy good, as #Job 4:2-7, if at least thou hast any wit for thyself or care of thine own well doing. This is a stinging apostrophe to Job. Si vel mica est in te bonae mentis; unless thou hast buried thy brains and lost thy senses, listen as for life.

Ver. 17. Shall even he that hateth right govern?] Heb. Bind; sc. malefactors, whom magistrates use to hamper? Others take it to be binding up the wounded after the manner of chirurgeons. An qui odit iudicium, chirurgos imitaretur? so the Tigurines translate: Would he who hateth right do as surgeons use to do? Would God, if he were unrighteous, bind up the broken hearted, or receive into favour, as he doth, a sinner that repenteth, doing him good again, as if there never had been a breach between them? It hath been noted, that a king hath his name in the Greek tongue from healing, Αναξ from ακος Medela; and that, #Isa 3:7, a governor is called a healer, or binder up; the same word there as here in the text. But how unfit for such an office must he needs be who not only doth not right, but hateth it, as did Nero, Caligula, Commodus, &c.?

And wilt thou condemn him that is most just?] Or, that is strong and just; illumne impietatis sugillabis? (Tigur.) None in his right wits would ever do so; for what else were this but to exalt a man’s self above the Divine Majesty? And yet what do they less than this who grudge at God’s proceedings, and are ready to think that if they had the ordering of things in their hands they could dispose of them a fair deal better? How absurd and unseemly this is in any one is aptly set forth in the next verse, "Is it fit?" &c.

Ver. 18. Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked?] Heb. Belial; that is, Thou yokeless, lawless, masterless monster. Kings are not wont to be so accosted and aviled, nor is it lawful, #Ex 22:28. It is blasphemy in the second table to speak evil of dignities, #Jude 8, Qui dicit regi Apostata (Vulg.). It was some disadvantage to St Paul that, although provoked and unjustly smitten, he called the high priest whited wall, #Ac 23:3; he was glad to excuse it by his ignorance. And Luther cried our Henry VIII mercy, for his uncivil language to him, such as was that, Audi, Domine Rex, edocebo te, in a jeer. Henry VI indeed was coarsely handled in a tumult, and wounded, but then he was at in bad times; and being restored, he freely pardoned the offender, saying, Alas, poor soul, he struck me more to win favour with others than of any ill will he bare me: but this was a rare example of patience in a king (Dan. Hist.). Alexander the Great dealt more harshly with his friends, Clitus and Callisthenes, for their plain dealing. Tiberius put to death a poet for uttering some free words against him, though under the person of Agamemnon, quem in tragoedia probris lacessisset (Sen.). Savonarola suffered deeply for telling the pope his own. And Bajazet II took great revenge upon his janizaries, {a} who, for his casting Achmetes Bassa into prison, they in an uproar insolently cried out that they would by and by teach him, as a drunkard, a beast, and a rascal, to use his great place and calling with more sobriety and discretion. Kings must be spoken to with soft and silken words, as she said, η ηκιστα, η ηδιστα (Plut.). If Elijah, or Elisha, or Isaiah, or the Baptist do otherwise, that is not a copy for every man to write after. Is it safe to take a lion by the beard, or a bear by the tooth? Naboth suffered, though falsely accused to curse the king; and Shimei had at length his payment for reviling David. If Ezekiel called the king of Judah, Thou wicked and profane prince, #Eze 21:25, that was by an extraordinary spirit, and by a special command of God.

And to princes, Ye are ungodly?] Ingenuis. These, as they must not be flattered, so neither may they be unmannerly advertised of their duty or danger. It is probable that Joseph used some kind of preface to Pharaoh’s chief baker in reading him that hard destiny, #Ge 40:19, such haply as was that of Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, #Job 4:19, "My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee," &c.; or as Philo brings him in with a Utinam tale somnium non vidisses, I wish I had no such dream to interpret unto you. But for the matter he giveth him a sound, though a sharp interpretation.

{a} One of a former body of Turkish infantry, constituting the Sultan’s guard and the main part of the standing army. The body was first organized in the 14th century, and was composed mainly of tributary children of Christians; after a large number of them had been massacred in 1826, the organization was finally abolished.

Ver. 19. How much less to him that accepteth not the person of princes] How much more both dangerous and indecent must it needs be wrongfully to accuse God of injustice and partiality, which is far below him; since he neither doth nor needeth prefer great ones before meaner men in judgment! See on #Job 13:7 32:21.

Nor regardeth the rich more than the poor?] The word rendered rich, opulent, or potent, comes either from a root, עשׁי that signifieth to save, because it is in the power of such to save others from hurt and damage; or else from another root, עושׁ that signifieth to cry aloud; because such men use to speak their minds more freely and boldly, as having that which can bear them out. But God acknowledgeth them not as such; only of them to whom much is given much shall be required.

For they are all the work of his hands] Both for their persons, for they are all equally his creatures; and for their conditions, which God also hath cut them out and apportioned. Thus he is said to have made Moses and Aaron, that is, to have advanced them, #1Sa 12:6; and Christ is said to have made the twelve when he ordained them to the apostleship, #Mr 3:14.

Ver. 20. In a moment shall they die] Be they mean or mighty, they are, when God pleaseth, suddenly swept away by the hand of death; as chess men are into the bag, without distinction of kings, dukes, bishops, or common people.

And the people shall be troubled at midnight] As were the Egyptians, when their firstborn were slain in their dead sleep, #Ex 12:29, not without much terror and tumult; and as were the army of Sennacherib, #2Ki 19:35, and Belshazzar with his Babylon, #Da 5:30,31. "The people shall be troubled," they shall be shaken as leaves in a great wind, or be carried away as by a mighty torrent; when they were most secure, and dreamed of no such danger. Neither in all these alterations and various occurrences is God unrighteous, since he is debtor to none, neither doth he anything without reason and right.

And pass away] Praeteribunt, id est, peribunt; they shall pass into the grave, as #Ec 1:4, "One generation passeth, and another cometh"; or they shall perish, as when it is said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away." The Vulgate hath it, Pertransibunt. It is not transibunt, they shall pass, saith Gregory; but pertransibunt, they shall pass through, because the wicked are always passing on to perdition throughout all their lives.

And the mighty shall be taken away without hand] That is, without seeing the hand that smiteth them; which is, saith one, a Divine force, invisibly cutting asunder the thread of their lives in a moment: #Ps 76:12, The Lord cutteth off the spirit of princes. The Hebrew importeth, that he slips them off, as ono should slip off a flower between his finger; or as one should slip off a bunch of grapes, &c. The original here is, They shall take away the mighty, that is, the angels shall {as #Lu 12:20} hurry them out of the world without hand, that is, without man’s help, without human violence.

Ver. 21. For his eyes are upon the ways of man] God’s providence (like a well drawn picture, that eyeth each one in the room) observeth all things; he seeth cause enough thus to proceed in judgment against a person or people, though we see it not. And although one man knoweth not another, nor doth any man well know himself; yet God, following, as it were, all men hard at the heels, doth with his eyes narrowly observe and mark what way every one walketh in, he seeth all his goings: let not men, therefore, please themselves in their sinful practices, as if God saw them not, because for a time they escape unpunished; Saeculi laetitia est impunita nequitia; but sin and punishment are tied together with chains of adamant, and cannot long be asunder.

Ver. 22. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, &c.] Sinners would fain shroud and secrete themselves from God’s all seeing eye; for which end they search all corners, with Adam, and hope that their evil pranks and practices shall never come to light; but that cannot be, for not only darkness and the shadow of death, but hell also, is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering, #Job 26:6; {See Trapp on "Job 26:6"} See also #Ps 139:12 Am 9:2,3 Heb 4:13. {See Trapp on "Ps 139:12"} {See Trapp on "Am 9:2"} {See Trapp on "Am 9:3"} {See Trapp on "Heb 4:13"}

Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves] Either from God’s all seeing eye, or punishing hand. Adam is pulled out of the thicket; Manasseh from among the thorns; Zedekiah and his family from between the two walls; many Jews out of the privies and other lurking holes where they lay hidden, at the last destruction of Jerusalem.

Ver. 23. For he will not lay upon men more than right] Plus quam par est. He cannot over do likely, Nam non super virum ponet ultra; no, though he should inflict upon him all the torments here, and tortures in hell, since death, in the utmost extent of it, is the just hire of the least sin, #Ro 6:23. See #Ezr 9:13. {See Trapp on "Ezr 9:13"}

That he should enter into judgment with God] Commence a suit against him, or challenge him into the schools to argue it out with him, as thou Job hast offered to do, but unadvisedly; since God hath justice on his side; as the very heathens also saw, when they set Themis, their goddess of justice, τω διι παρεδρον, next of all to Jupiter, their chief god.

Ver. 24. He shall break in pieces mighty men, &c.] Infinite conterit validos, so Tremellius rendereth it. He infinitely mauleth the mighty; and breaketh them in pieces like a potter’s vessel, #Ps 2:9.

Without number] Or, Without inquisition; as knowing all things beforehand, and not needing any evidences or examination of witnesses; or, without end, because their ruin is endless, Ruina maiorum sit cautela minorum.

And set others in their stead] As is to be seen in the rise, reign, and ruin of the four mighty monarchies, and others not a few, that had their times and their turns; as the kingdom of the ten tribes, which in a few years fell into nine different families; and few of those kings died a natural death. No more did the emperors of Rome, till Constantine. See #Da 2:21 Ps 113:7,8.

Ver. 25. Therefore he knoweth their works] It appeareth by their punishment that God took notice of their wicked works, though they thought otherwise; yea, when they know not, or are not aware of it, he overthroweth them therefore. This he doth in the night, i.e. suddenly and unexpectedly. Others render it, As soon as he hath changed the night they are crushed; that is, as soon as he hath brought forth the light which revealeth all things, #Eph 5:19, and layeth them open to public view, who before were taken for better men, they are destroyed, as public pests.

Ver. 26. He striketh them as wicked men, &c.] Complodit cos, saith Junius, scilicet ut inflatas vesicas in sun ipsorum sede, he striketh upon them, as blown bladders, in their own seat. This is an elegant similitude, setting forth the sudden overthrow of graceless great ones, as with a kind of noise, and not without public notice; for it followeth,

In the open sight of others] Heb. In the place of beholders, in proscenio, as upon a stage or scaffold, Discant iustitiam moniti; et non temnere numen, others may hear and fear, and do no more so. God is pleased for this purpose to bang up some notorious offenders as it were in gibbets; as Pharaoh, Sennacherib, Antiochus, Herod, Julian. See those writs of execution, #1Co 10:5-7, and be wise by others’ woes; enjoy their follies, and gather, with the bee, sweet honey out of those bitter weeds, Poena ad paucos, metus ad omnes. Punishment to the poor, fear at all.

Ver. 27. Because they have turned back from him] To pursue after lying vanities, broken cisterns; which whosoever do, as they fall into two foul sins at once (such as heaven and earth have cause to be astonished at and afraid of), #Jer 2:12,13, so they are miserable by their own election, #Jon 2:8.

And would not consider any of his ways] Wisely consider them, as David did, #Ps 119:168. All God’s laws were in his sight; and all his ways in God’s sight. This was the general cause of their destruction. The special followeth.

Ver. 28. So that they cause the cry of the poor, &c.] These they compel, by their oppressions, to wash the earth with their tears, and to importune heaven with their complaints, as Senault phraseth it. The wicked do, as it were, bring up to God the cries of the poor oppressed, and so pull upon themselves inevitable destruction, for he is the poor man’s patron, and heareth the cry of the afflicted. The Grand Signior would have the world take notice, that such as lament unto him shall be sure to have redress and succour from him. Wherefore also he calleth himself, Awlem Penawh, The world’s refuge, a title far more fit for the God of heaven than for any earthly monarch, were he far more gracious than the Great Turk, from whose courtesy, freely offered him, Luther blessed himself with a Deus me tueatur a tali benefice Domino, God defend me from such a gracious Lord (Joh. Maul. loc. com.).

Ver. 29. When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?] Ipse tranquillabit, et quis inquietabit? This is like that of the apostle, saith Brentius, #Ro 8:31-39, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?" &c. It is he alone who giveth peace, both of country and of conscience; Peace, peace, #Isa 26:3, Pacem omnimodam; external, internal, eternal; and then, who can disturb or unsettle? Surely as Isaac once said to Esau, concerning Jacob, He is blessed, and he shall be blessed; so may it be said of such as have made their peace with God; peace shall be upon them and mercy, contra gentes, whosoever saith nay to it; yea, though it be the devil himself, that ο πονηρος, as he is oft called, the troublesome one; who, even since he was cast out of heaven, keeps ado on earth, and seeks to disquiet all such as, by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, and honour, and immortality, #Ro 2:7.

And when he hideth his face, who then can behold him?] Him? whom? God; who dare look upon him, or toward him for help, when he is thoroughly displeased and looketh irefully? Or, the party frowned on by God; who will smile upon him, or show him any favour and furtherance? Here Aben Ezra giveth a good note, Aversio vultus Dei, &c., The turning away of God’s pleased countenance is the cause of all wars and other disasters. The physiologer in Epiphanius telleth of the bird charadius, that being brought into the room where a man lieth sick, if he look with a steady and fixed eye upon the sick man, he recovereth; but if he turn away from him, and look another way, the disease is to death. Apply this to God, and it fitteth.

Whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only] All is a case (as they say) to God, he stands not upon multitudes, as men use to do in case of mutinies or the like, to punish the tenth man or so, in terrorem, for a terror to the rest. This is not God’s way of punishing; but as a thousand years are to him but as a day, and one day as a thousand years; so when he proceeds to execution of justice, whether it be done against a nation, &c. All nations to him are but as a drop of a bucket or dust of a balance, #Isa 40:15 And hence he buried a world full of people in one universal grave of waters. And the wicked (be they never so many) shall be turned into hell, with whole nations that forget God, #Ps 9:17. God seemeth to say, Fiat iustitia, ruat orbis.

Ver. 30. That the hypocrite reign not] That he reign no longer. Almighty God taketh order, by putting these mighties from their seat, and exalting them of low degree, #Lu 1:52. And why? 1. Lest the hypocrite, or the impure and impious man, reign; such as was Jehu, Herod, Julian, our Richard III, Pope Sixtus Quintus, of whom one saith, that he was the most crouching humble cardinal that ever was lodged in an oven, and the most stout proud pope that ever wore crown (Spec. Europ.). What pride equal to his, making kings kiss his pantofles? {a} What humility (pretended) greater than his, shriving himself daily on his knees to an ordinary priest? He calleth himself the servant of God’s servants; and yet stamps in his coin, That nation and country that will not serve thee shall be rooted out; he also suffereth his parasites to style him, Our Lord God the pope. Is not this a notorious hypocrite? and when such a one reigneth and taketh upon him to be Lord of all, both in spirituals and temporals, may not we conclude that God hideth his face (as in the former verse) from his people? May we not cry out, as Basil once did (Epist. 17), Num ecclesias suas dereliquit Dominus? Hath the Lord utterly forsaken his Churches? It is, doubtless, a very great judgment upon a people, when a hypocrite or a profane person is set over them, who pretends the public good to his own designs and self interests, and by his crafty inventions undoes his subjects, robbing them of their lawful liberties, and enslaving them. Some read the words thus, He causeth that the hypocrite reigneth for the sins of the people. It is threatened as a heavy curse, #Le 26:17. If you still trespass against me, I will set princes over you that shall hate you; mischievous, odious princes, odious to God, malignant to the people; such as was Phocas, that bloody tyrant, who, when he had slain his master, Mauritius, and reigned in his stead, there was an honest poor man, saith Cedrenus, who was earnest with God to know a reason why such a thing was suffered? to whom it was answered, That a worse man could not be found; and that the sins of Christians required it. We read of Attilus, king of Swethland, that he made a dog king of the Danes, in revenge of a great many injuries received by them. Gunno, likewise, king of the Danes, made a dog king of Norway; and appointed counsellors to do all things under his title and name. That which these men did spitefully God sometimes doth righteously; setting up tyrants for a punishment to those that were unthankful for better government, and would not have him to reign over them.

Lest the people be ensnared] Heb. For the snares of the people; that is, for the injuries and vexations wherewith that hypocrite oppressed the people; to put an end to those, by taking away the tyrant, who, for his cruel craft and crafty cruelty, is here fitly compared to a hunter or fowler laying snares. Sunt autem leges iniquae et exactiones iniustae principum hypocritarum, laquei et decipulae quibus populum sibi subiectum venantur et capiunt, saith Brentius here; i.e. Bad laws and unjust exactions of hypocritical princes are the snares and traps wherewith they hunt after and catch their subjects.

{a} A slipper; formerly applied very variously, app., at one time or another, to every sort of in-door slippers or loose shoes; esp. to the high-heeled cork-soled chopins; also to out-door overshoes or goloshes; and to all manner of Oriental and non-European slippers, sandals, and the like.

Ver. 31. Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement] To convince a man of a fault, and not to advise him how to do better, is to snuff a lamp and not pour more oil into it. Elihu therefore now sets himself to counsel Job, whom he conceiveth he had sufficiently convinced of injury done to God. Surely it is meet, &c. Par est; this is supplied by the translators to make sense; for the original is very concise and dark, and therefore diversely interpreted; as is also all this latter part of the chapter. Some render it thus, But to God who saith, I pardon, I will not destroy, it should be said, That which I see not, teach thou me, &c. Some thus, Therefore we ought thus to speak unto God, I suffer patiently, I will not break asunder; viz. these bonds wherewith thou hast fast bound me. Others thus: Hath Job said to God, I have borne, &c. q.d. Nothing less, as ye all are witnesses. Others again thus: Hath he (that is, the tyrant dethroned, as in the verse aforegoing) said to God, I have been, &c.? Hath he confessed his wickedness, and promised amendment? No such matter, surely; therefore is he justly punished. This is a very good sense, saith Mercer. But to stick to our last and best translation, Surely it is meet, &c., for is it fit that God should cast down the bucklers first, and not have the better of us? Should we not rather disarm his just indignation by a humble yieldance?

I have borne chastisement] Heb. I have borne and will bear, being active in suffering and taking up my cross.

I will not offend any more] Heb. I will not corrupt; to wit, my ways, and so undo myself.

Ver. 32. That which I see not, teach thou me] For I am yet in the dark, and know not the right cause wherefore thou afflictest me. Herein men are very apt to mistake themselves, and when God calls one way to run another, as young Samuel did, i Sam. iii. 5. The devil also dealeth by the afflicted as the Jews did by Christ, blindfolds them, and then bids them prophesy who smote them, and for what? Hence in afflictions we many times grope as blind men, guessing at this cause and at that, but seldom fasten on the right. Here, then, God must be sought unto for direction, and besought that he would graciously point us to the sin he strikes at. This Job had done once and again, #Job 10:2 13:23. But Elihu would have him to do it yet better.

If I have done iniquity, I will do no more] Thus men must both vow and perform to the Lord their God, #Ps 76:11, and not promise amendment, as children do when taken up to be whipped; or as men in danger at sea, or on their sick beds, use to do largely; but then Sciaputo il morbo, fiaudato il santo, as the Italian proverb hath it, When the disease is removed the saint is defrauded. Pharaoh promised fair while upon the rack; but got off once, he hardened his heart, and would do nothing. So those slippery votaries, #Jer 34:11.

Ver. 33. Should it be according to thy mind] Heb. From with thee; q.d. Must things be as thou wilt? And is it fit for thee to prescribe to the Almighty? {#Ho 8:4} to set the sun by thy dial?

He will recompense it, whether thou refuse, &c.] He will have his pennyworths of thee, whether thou be pleased or displeased.

And not I] Though I foretell thee this, yet it is God that will effect it; therefore think not the worse of me, no more than a people should of a herald or the trumpet as the cause of their war.

Therefore speak what thou knowest] viz. In thine one behalf, but speak the word of truth and soberness, he was no fool who said, It hath often repented me to have spoken, but seldom to have held my peace. There are many other readings and expositions of the words. Let every man (for me) take his choice, and abound in his own sense, so it dissent not from the analogy of faith.

Ver. 34. Let men of understanding tell me] Or, say with me; say as I say; viz. That Job hath spoken without knowledge, as #Job 34:35, and that I have spoken the thing that is right in vindicating the divine justice from thy causeless criminations.

And let a wise man hearken unto me] I presume there is not one wise man alive but will be of my mind; and for fools, the wen of this world, ever beside themselves in point of salvation, I regard not their censures.— Equitem mihi plaudere curo.

Ver. 35. Job hath spoken without knowledge] Inscienter et inscite, He hath outlashed and overshot himself in some words against God; yea, amidst his complaints, he hath let slip not a few lavish and loose speeches; which thing also, being reproved by God, he doth ingenuously acknowledge, #Job 40:3-5 42:1-6.

And his words were without wisdom] Heb. Not in wisdom; and this he here heareth of on both ears, being barely told of it again and again, and not without some bitterness, in the close of this chapter. Some warmth there must be in a reproof (the physic will work the better), but scalding hot it must not be.

Ver. 36. My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end] Or, unto victory, till he be vanquished and set down, Usque ad victoriam (Trem). It is conceived that Job, by clapping his hands, as #Job 34:37, or by the set of his countenance, or some other way, had discovered his dislike of and discontent at that which Elihu had spoken. He therefore begs of God to continue afflicting him, till he be in a better mind, Crux sancta est et salubris. This he doth by a special instinct for Job’s good, and not out of any desire for revenge. So Farel pronounced a curse upon young Calvin’s studies, in case he should refuse to join with him in the Lord’s work at Geneva, where a Church had been newly planted; this so thunderstruck him, that he dared not stir from there to his dying day, At ego tibi studia tua praetexenti denuncio Omnipotentis Dei nomine, &c. (Calv. Vit.). Some read it, My Father, let Job be tried. It is not to be doubted but those ancients also called God by this sweet name of Father. See #Joh 8:41. Beza makes Elihu thus bespeaking Job, for honour’s sake, O my Father, Job shall be yet still tried. The Tigurines read, Haec autem in medium affero, These things I produce, that Job’s things may be most exactly discussed, and wicked men’s mouths stopped.

Because of his answers for wicked men] Who will take liberty by him to excuse their iniquity, and speak dishonourably of God, as he hath done.

Ver. 37. For he addeth rebellion unto his sin] Or, he will add, viz. unless he be exercised and subdued by more and longer load of afflictions; there will else be no hoe with him, no ground will hold him. The cross is of singular use to tame that rebel flesh; and is theretbre prayed for by Jeremiah for himself, #Jer 10:24, and here by Elihu for Job, who had before advisedly chosen affliction rather than sin, and reckoned it as a mercy to be visited every morning, and tried every moment, #Job 7:18.

He clappeth his hands among us] By way of derision, and as insulting over us. This it may seem Job had done in a disdainful way against all that had been spoken, which maketh Elihu thus fiercely to charge him.

And multiplieth his words against God] By a strange pertinace. He delivereth him therefore unto God to be further afflicted; as St Paul did Hymenaeus and Alexander unto Satan to be inwardly buffeted and bodily tormented, as #Ac 13:11 19:16 ut castigati discerent, that they might learn not to blaspheme, #1Ti 1:20.

Chapter 35

Ver. 1. Elihu spake moreover, and said] His speech was for God, as before; and therefore he spake moreover. For, as Austin saith of the feast of Pentecost, Gaudet produci haec solennitas; so we may say of a discourse of this nature, Gaudet produci haec sermocinatio; the longer it is the better; since of God and his righteous dealing, Non saris unquam dici potest, as Lavater here hath it, never can enough be spoken. For although we all yield that God is just, yet if any cross befall us we are apt to question it, and to think ourselves hardly dealt with.

Ver. 2. Thinkest thou this to be right?] Heb. Reckonest thou this to be right? q.d. I appeal to thine own conscience. This is a sign of great confidence in the appealer, yet may it be done by men of corrupt minds, destitute of the truth. Witness that bold Anabaptist, that in a solemn disputation at Tigure, appealed to Zuinglius, as if convinced in his own conscience he had inwardly favoured Anabaptism (Scult. Annal.). And those impudent Papists, that report themselves to our consciences, to tell them, Whether our condemnation be not so expressly set down in our own Bibles, and so clear to all the world, that nothing more needs thereto than that they know to read, and to have their eyes in their heads at the opening of our Bible; to tell them, moreover, whether England hath not brought forth within these few years past, to the number of twenty several sorts of Bibles, far different one from another (Gagge of the New Gospel, Preface).

That thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s] Heb. My righteousness is before God’s. Diodati rendereth it, My righteousness is from God; that is, I am sure God will justify me, though men condemn me. But it is better to render it, Prae Deo, more than God’s. See a like expression, #Heb 12:24, understanding it to be the justice of his cause, and not of his person. But taking it so too, when and where did Job ever say that his righteousness was more than God’s? Nowhere surely in so many words, for then doubtless Satan, and not Job, would have carried away the victory in this conflict. Neither surely could this be rightly gathered out of Job’s words, but distorted and misconstrued. Elihu therefore reproved him with too great austerity, neither can anything be pleaded for him but this, that he pleaded for God; of whose glory he was so very tender, that he could not brook or bear with any syllable of a word that seemed to detract from it.

Ver. 3. For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee?] Here he endeavours to prove the charge, grounding upon some words of Job’s, as #Job 9:22 10:15, which seem to hold out thus much, that no good was to be gotten by leaving evil ways, since good men and bad suffer and perish together. But we must know, that Job herein reasoned not of those things that happen after death, but only of the prosperous or unhappy estate of this life present; denying, and that rightly, that we are hereby to judge God’s love or hatred, or of any man’s honest or dishonest conversation. Neither yet did he stand in defence of his own righteousness against God, but only appealed to God as a most wise and just judge, against the false accusations of his foe-like friends, who, by pouring oil into the fire, as it were, very much vexed and disquieted him all along.

Or what profit shall I have if I be cleansed from my sin?] Or, What profit shall I have be it more than by my sin? This, if Elihu could have proved that Job had said, he might very well have justified what he had wished to him, and affirmed of him in the two last verses of the preceding chapter.

Ver. 4. I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee] Thy three friends (who have not so well quit themselves in this controversy, as having answered little or nothing to this unsavoury saying of thine), and to the rest of the bystanders which approve of thine opinion, as people are apt to favour the weaker side, as it is reputed, and to encourage them. Thus it befell Luther, when he began first to reform.

Ver. 5. Look unto the heavens and see] Yea, look into them, if thou couldst, as did Stephen the proto-martyr, #Ac 7:56, and as our Saviour Christ, as man, could do (say some) with his bodily eyes; and as a believer by the eye of his faith, through the perspective glass of the promises, may do, doubtless. The further we can look unto heaven (or into it) the better shall we conceive of that infinite distance that is between God in heaven and men on earth. God is far above the highest heavens, therefore higher than any mortal can attain to him, much less contribute anything unto him by his righteousness, or assault him by his wickedness. Herodotus writeth, That the Thracians once were so mad against their god Jupiter, for raining down upon them when ready to join battle with the enemy, that they threw up their darts against heaven, which shortly returned upon their own heads. And of Caligula, the emperor, the story is told, that he thundered and lightened with certain engines he had; and if at any time a thunderbolt fell from heaven, ipse contra iaeiebat lapidem, he on the other side threw up a stone, and used that hemistich {a} in Horner, η μ αναειρ ηεγω σε, Either do thou kill me, or I will kill thee if I can, (Dio in Vit. Calig.). And what less than this upon the matter do those monsters and miscreants among us, who set their mouths against heaven when things go cross with them especially; and their "tongues walk through the earth?" #Ps 73:9. As Hacker did, who lifting up his eyes to heaven, and grinning against God, blasphemed him, and threatened him, even when he had the rope about his neck, A. D. 1591. Now, as in the water face answereth to face, so doth the face of a man to a man. And as there were many Marii in one Caesar, so there are many Caligulas and Hackets in the best of us all, if God restrain us not from such horrid outrages. But Elihu would have us here to know, that God is far above our reach, neither can we throw this high and lofty one out of his throne, utcunque fremamus et ferociamus; for how should anything that we silly creatures can do reach to God, when as we cannot reach up to the visible heavens?

And behold the clouds which are higher than thou] Eminent prae te. The clouds are God’s chariot whereon he rideth, and wherein he manifesteth much of his majesty. These Elihu would have Job to contemplate in their height, even superiores nubes, as Tremellius rendereth it, the upper clouds; or, as others, the starry heaven, Heb. The thin of heavens. So Bildad before had called upon him to behold the moon and the stars, #Job 25:5. And surely the very sight of heaven over us (to the which all that we are or can can bring no help or hurt at all), should admonish us of our meanness, and make us think most modestly of God, whom we are so infinitely below; and not dare either to complain of him or to boast us before him, &c. For this cause it is that Elihu so presseth Job here with this heap of words, that he may henceforth know and keep his distance; and not so presumptuously call God, as it were, to reckoning, touching expenses and receipts.

{a} The half or section of a line of verse, as divided by the Caesura or the like; also, a line of less than the usual length. spec. Such a half-line or line in Old English verse.

Ver. 6. If thou sinnest, what dost thou against him?] What more than show thy teeth? or shoot at a rock, where the arrow rebounds upon thee? In the sack of Constantinople the image of the crucifix was taken down by the Turks, and a Turk’s cap put upon the head thereof, and so set up, and shot at with their arrows; and afterwards, in great derision, carried about in the camp, as it were in procession, with drums playing before it, railing and spitting at it, and calling it the God of the Christians. But what was all this to Christ? He that sitteth in the heavens ( extra iactum) laughed at them, the Lord had them in derision, #Ps 2:4. Do wicked sinners, when they work hardest against God, as the word here signifieth, and take greatest pains to go to hell; do they, I say, provoke the Lord to anger? Etsi naviter peccas. "Do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?" #Jer 7:19. And, nay we not well say to such, as Ulysses’s companions said to him, when he would needs provoke Polydamas,

Σχετλιε τιπτ εθελεις ερεθιζεμεν αγριον ανδρα (Hom. Odys.).

God can easily get him a name in the utter overthrow of a rabble of rebels conspiring against him, as at the flood, tower of Babel, Sodom, Egypt, Moab, &c., who were trodden down under him, as straw is trodden down for the dunghill, #Isa 25:10. And in the next verse, "The Lord shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim" (that is, with greatest facility; for violent strokes rather sink than support a swimmer): "and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands. And the fortress of the high fort of their walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust," #Isa 25:11,12.

Ver. 7. If thou be righteous, what givest thou him?] Nothing, since he is self sufficient, and independent. He needeth us not, neither doth our righteousness reach him, #Ps 16:2. The Pharisees dreamed of an over-doing of the law, and making God beholden to them. The Papists also, those modern Pharisees, talk of works of supererogation, and of merit of congruity, and merit of condignity. But these are mere fictions, chimaeras, absurd doctrines, such as Elihu never heard of. "He that doeth righteousness is righteous," #1Jo 3:7, but he addeth nothing thereby to God, let him do his utmost. Indeed who so offereth praise glorifieth God, #Ps 50:23, so he is pleased to account it, and call it; but his glory is, as himself is, eternal, infinite, immense. The sun would shine in its own brightness though all the world were blind, and should wilfully wink: so here. God accepts not our presents, but to return them us back with interest, as the rain ascends in thin vapours, but comes down again in thick showers.

Or what receiveth he of thine hand?] If anything, it is of his own, as David thankfully acknowledgeth, #1Ch 29:14, and besides that, our sweetest incense smelleth strong of the hand that offereth it.

Ver. 8. Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art] Wicked men are many ways mischievous to others; and have much to answer for their other men’s sins. How many are undone by their murders, adulteries, robberies, false testimonies, blasphemies, and other rotten speeches, to the corrupting of good manners! &c. What hurt is done daily by the devil’s factors, to men’s souls, bodies, names, estates! Besides that they betray the land wherein they live into the hands of divine justice, while they do wickedly with both hands earnestly, #Mic 7:3; that I speak not of the manifold miseries they pull upon themselves.

And thy righteousness may profit the son of man] Thyself and others; for the just liveth by his own faith; he maketh a living of it, and a good one too. And as for his charity, it is the mother of all manner of good works, whereof others have the benefit. Papists, and some as silly, have shrunk up charity to a hand’s breadth, to giving of alms. But besides that, a good man draweth out, not only his sheaf, but his soul to the hungry. He also warneth the unruly, comforteth the feeble-minded, supporteth the weak, and tradeth all his talents for the good of others, #1Th 5:14. He is a common blessing to all that are about him. As Plutarch said of the neighbouring villages of Rome, in Numa’s time, That sucking in the air of that city, they breathed δικαιοσυνην, righteousness; so may it be said of the city of God, and her citizens.

Ver. 9. By reason of the multitude (or magnitude) of oppressions, &c.] Or, of the oppressed, whom they (that is, whom the oppressors, not worthy to be named, as neither is that rich glutton, #Lu 16:19-31) make to cry. Job had said, #Job 24:12, "Men groan out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them." He punisheth not the wrong dealers according to their deserts, as Elihu interprets Job; and here refuteth him, as one that accused God of injustice, because he heareth not the cries of the oppressed. But this is merely their own fault, saith Elihu; because they cry not to God with truth and devotion. They ask and miss, because they ask amiss. For God never faileth to be with his afflicted, #Ps 91, to preserve the simple, as David found by experience, &c., #Ps 116, to hear those that call upon him in truth, #Ps 145; he requireth nothing of them but lawful petitions aud honest hearts, and then they are sure to have out their prayers, either in money or money’s worth; either the same thing they ask or a better.

They cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty] Magnatum. Such as was Pompey, of whom the Romans cried out, Nostra miseria tu es Magnus, We rue by thy greatness, and are ruined. The greater any man is, unless gracious also, the more he thinks he may oppress the meaner sort. They "eat up my people as they eat bread," #Ps 14:4, as so many cannibals, and as the bigger fishes devour the lesser; they lay load upon them without mercy or measure; they beat them with a strong arm, and make them cry aloud, filling the air with their complaints, as nature teacheth even brute beasts to do when they are hurt: Videri possunt magnates non alio loco habere tenues quam minutos pisciculos, quos confertim et pleno ore pro deliciis esitent (Merl.). It was not patience, but pertinace, an obstinate stiffness of mind, that made some heathens, as Mithridates, Marius, Epicurus, &c., forbear crying when grievously tormented.

Ver. 10. But none saith, Where is God my maker] Heb. my makers; to note the Trinity, {Hebrew Text Note} say some; others think that he speaks of God in the plural number only for honour’s sake. They call not upon God as their Creator, they praise him not as their preserver and benefactor, saith Elihu in this and the next verse; but express a great deal of pride and vanity, #Job 35:12,13; and thence it is that their prayers are unanswered and themselves unrelieved. The oppressed should not only make moan and fill the air, vagis clamoribus, with brutish outcries (the fruit of the flesh for ease, rather than of the spirit for grace), but beg help of God by faithful prayer, and say, "Where is God my maker?" as Elisha once said, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" Did he not make me, and will he not maintain me? built he not the earthly house of this tottering tabernacle, and is not he bound to repairs? will he cast off the care of his own handiwork? Qui nos fecit, idem ille est qui nos fovet, conservat ac sustentat, &c. (Brent.). Is he not my master as well as my maker? and shall other lords beside him have dominion over me, and do with me at their pleasure? Lord, look upon the wounds of thy hands (said Queen Elizabeth while she was a prisoner at Woodstock, and had like to have been burnt in her bed one night), and despise not the work of thine hands. Thou hast written me down in thy book of preservation with thine own hand; oh read thine own handwriting, and save me, &c.

Who giveth songs in the night] As the oppressed pray not, and therefore are not eased (they are deservedly miserable, that might, but will not, make themselves happy by asking), so they praise not, God for former deliverances by day and night conferred upon them. Thou hast compassed me about, saith David, with songs of deliverance, #Ps 32:7, that is, Thou hast given me plentiful matter of praising thy name. So here, Qui dat Psalmormn argumentum de nocte, as Tremellius translateth it; who giveth cause to praise him with psalms by night, as David did, #Ps 119:62, and as Paul and Silas, #Ac 16:25; and as Mr Philpot and his fellows did in the Bishop of London’s coal house. In the night season it is that God giveth his beloved sleep, and keepeth them and theirs then in safety. Or, if he hold them waking, he filleth them with many sweet meditations (their reins, at that time especially, instructing them, #Ps 16:7), shineth upon them by his moon and stars (which praise God in their courses, and twinkle as it were at us to do the like), and remindeth them by the melody made by the nightingale, which singeth for fifteen nights and days together without intermission, if Pliny may be believed, putting a thorn to her breast to keep her waking for that purpose, Plin. 1. x. c. 29. Luscinia dicitur quia ante lucem canit. Nec quantum lnsciniae dormiunt. Hereupon Epictetus hath this savoury saying, Si luscinia essem, facerem quod luseinia; Cure autem homo rationulls sire, quid faciam? Laudabo Denm, nee cessabo unquam; Vos vero ut idem faciatis hortor: that is, If I were a nightingale, I would do as the nightingale doth; but since I am a man endued with reason (since God hath taught me more than the fowls of heaven, as Elihu hath it in the next verse), what shall I do? I will incessantly praise God; and I exhort you to do the like. But this is not done, saith Elihu here, or very slenderly; and hence it is that men complain of their many and mighty oppressions without remedy from God, who seeth that his favours and benefits would be even lost and spilt upon them; according to that of the philosopher, Ingrato quicquid donatur deperditur, All is cast away that is conferred upon an ungrateful person.

Ver. 11. Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth] This many wretched people never consider; and are therefore heavily, but worthily, vexed by oppressors, ut vexatio det intellectum, that smart may make wit; and that they may not bellow as beasts do when they feel pain; but flee to God by well prepared prayer, not so much for ease as for the use of what they suffer. Now, blessed is the man whom God chasteneth, and withal teacheth him out of his law; that he may give him rest from the days of adversity, #Ps 94:12,13. Hereunto, not only reason is required (the mercy here mentioned, and celebrated), but religion also; which is the true philosopher’s stone that makes golden afflictions, #1Pe 1:7, and, as Moses’s hand, turneth a serpent into a rod. The truth is, religion is the highest reason (neither is anything more irrational than irreligion, #2Th 3:2), and this also God alone teacheth. For, Cathedram habet in coelo qui corda docet, saith Austin. And again, Quando Christus Magister, quam cito discitur quod docetur? It is God above who teacheth the heart; and this, if he once undertake, it is soon despatched. All this, if sinful men would well weigh, and be thankful for, as they ought, God would surely help them, and not suffer them so to be held under.

And maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?] Sapientificat. Some birds are very silly, as the struthiocamelus, that having thrust his head into a thicket, and seeing nobody, thinketh that therefore none seeth him, and so maketh himself a prey (Plin. l. x. c. 1). Doves sit in their dovecotes and see their nests destroyed, their young ones taken away and killed before their eyes; neither ever do they offer to rescue or revenge. Mention is made by writers of a certain nameless little bird, which, for fear lest the heavens should fall upon her, puts always, when she sleepeth, one foot upon her head (Cael. Rhod.). How much better the bird onocrotalus; of whom it is reported, that out of expectation of the hawk to grapple with her, she sleepeth with her beak exalted, as if she would contend with her adversary. Something there is that the wisest may learn from the fowls of the air, to whom, therefore, they are sent and set to school, #Mt 6:26 Jer 8:7; yet generally God hath put more understanding into men; so that as he should not do like them by preying upon others, so he should not cry unto God only in distress, as the young ravens do when hunger bitten; but pray always, and in everything give thanks; for which purpose it is that God hath given us reason, speech, and much matter and means, far above the unreasonable creatures. Vae igitur stupiditati hominum in calamitatibus torpentium.

Ver. 12. There they cry, but none giveth answer] Cry they do, but not to the true God, #Jon 1:5. The Papists have their he saints and she saints, for several uses. Or, if to the true God, yet not in a due manner; not in faith, and with remorse for their misdoings. And hence it is that either they are not heard and helped; or not in mercy, but for a further mischief, and to furnish out their indictment at the last day; and on their death beds God will not come to them, or be entreated by them, #Pr 1:28 Ps 18:42.

Because of the pride of evil men] i.e. Because these oppressed ones that thus cry are not so poor as proud; humbled they are, but not humble; low, but not lowly. Plectuntur, sed non flectuntur; they have lost the fruit of their afflictions, and are not a button the better for all that they have suffered.

Ver. 13. Surely God will not hear vanity] Prayer without faith is but an empty ring, a tinkling cymbal. Neque enim omnes qui citharam habent, sunt citharaedi, Every sound is not music, neither is every complaint and outcry of men in extremity an effectual prayer. Those in Hosea, when pined almost, howled as dogs, growled as swine, bellowed as bulls, screeched horribly as the ravens of Arabia, #Ho 7:14, but because they cried not to God with their hearts he heard them not. It is not the labour of the lips or the loudness of the voice, but the travail of the heart, and truth in the inward parts, that he regardeth, #Ps 51:6. Wilt thou not know, O vain (or empty) man, that faith without works is dead? saith St James, #Jas 2:20; so that prayer without faith is to no purpose. Men may cry aloud in distress, and make their voices to be heard on high; they may chatter out a charm when God’s chastening is upon them, yea, be with child, as it were, of a prayer, yet bring forth nothing better than wind, work no deliverance at all in the earth, #Isa 26:16-18. God may turn them off, and justly, with, Depart, ye workers of iniquity; get you to the gods whom ye have chosen, let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation; for I will deliver you no more, #Jud 10:13,14.

Neither will the Almighty regard it] Heb. Look intently into it. It is other and better fruit of affliction that he looketh for. Whereof missing, he looketh another way, as it were, and taketh no notice of their prayers or pressures. Hence they deny, or at least doubt, the Divine providence; and are ready to let fly at God, as the Chinese whip their gods if they help them not at a call.

Ver. 14. Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, &c.] This is that tertium Iobi pronuntiatum, Job’s third speech, which Elihu taketh upon him to reprehend and refute. It is taken out of #Job 23:8,9, and the sense is, that God would never appear to do him right. But although thou sayest such a thing, and so seemest to chime in with those wicked ones who deny God’s providence; yet thou oughtest to be better persuaded of his presence with thee and providence over thee; for judgment is before him, and he will certainly do right; only thou must give glory to God and wait his time.

Yet judgment is before him] Or, Judge thyself in his sight; give glory to God, and confess thy sin; and then, stepping from the bar to the bench, judge thyself worthy to be destroyed, #1Co 11:31. This do, and then

Trust thou in me] For safety here and salvation hereafter; acting thy faith upon the precious promises, and hopefully expecting the performance thereof in due time. This was excellent counsel indeed, and worthy of all acceptation, Pia et salubris adhortatio (Mercer).

Ver 15. But now, because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger] Because thou hast not yet done as I have prescribed, God is forced thus to treat thee, and to increase his plagues upon thee in great displeasure at thine incorrigibleness. Thus is good Job miscensured, whom God suffered so to be afflicted for his trial, and not for his punishment; though there wanted not in him cause enough if God should have taken advantages. But know now that his anger hath visited thee but a little (this is Beza’s translation of the whole verse); neither hath he made any great inquisition. Piscator readeth this and the next verse thus: But now, because his anger hath not visited, neither hath he taken notice of the multitude of his sins very much; therefore doth Job open his mouth with vanity, and heap up words without knowledge. Tremellius thus, For now, because there is nothing of these, doth his anger visit thee: viz. because thou neither rightly judgest thyself nor waitest upon God; but lookest upon thyself as utterly undone, casting away all hope of better, therefore art thou yet held under.

Yet he knoweth it not in great extremity] Job perceiveth not (so blind he is) though he have his back burdened with afflictions, and knows not how to be rid of them. This Elihu speaketh to the company, by an angry apostrophe.

Ver. 16. Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain] Dilatat, divaricat, rictum diducit ut bellua. An open mouth is oft a purgatory to the master; digito compesce labellum.

He multiplieth words without knowledge] Eliphaz had charged Job with malice and blasphemy, #Job 22 Elihu, only with vanity and ignorance. We may not make the worst of things, but give a favourable interpretation.

Chapter 36

Ver. 1. Elihu also proceeded and said] Heb. And Elihu added, viz. this his fourth oration, not unlike the former, made in behalf and for defence of God’s justice, which he here further asserteth against Job (who had seemed to cast some slur upon it) by arguments drawn from his wondrous works, the meteors especially; and all to prevail with Job to submit to God’s justice and to implore his mercy, Ex abundanti quae sequuntur adiecit.

Ver. 2. Suffer me a little, and I will show thee] He promiseth brevity and thereby wooeth attention: brevity and perspicuity are two great graces of speech, and do very much win upon intelligent hearers, who love to hear much in few, and cannot away with tedious prolixities. When a great trifler had made an empty discourse in the presence of Aristotle, and then cried him mercy for troubling him so long: You have not troubled me at all, said he, for I scarce hearkened to any one word you said all this while.

That I have yet to speak on God’s behalf] Heb. That there are yet words for God. His zeal for God’s glory drew from him this following speech, wherein insignis est Elihu et magnificus. Elihu excelleth himself, and appeareth to be no worse an orator than was M. Crassus among the Romans, who had this commendation given him, Quod cum aliquid accuratius dixisset, semper fere contigit ut nunquam dixisse melius putaretur, That whenever he spoke it was judged to be the very best that ever he spake. (Cir. de Orat. 1. 1).

Ver. 3. I will fetch my knowledge from afar] Even from heaven, as one taught of God; I will discourse of ancient things (for τα καινα κενα), and fetch my reasons from the wonderful and sublime works of God, De arduis atque admirandis Dei operibus, those real demonstrations of his Deity. Est autem plane hic Elihu mirus et egregius, saith Mercer. And he is not a little wronged by that French Paraphrast, who saith of him, That he knew well how to begin a discourse, but knew not how to end it; and that seeing well that his tediousness might make him troublesome, he awakened his languishing auditors by this artificial preface.

And will ascribe righteousness to my Maker] This is both the main proposition of the ensuing oration and the main end of man’s creation, viz. to glorify his Maker, #Ro 11:36 Re 4:11.

Ver. 4. For truly my words shall not be false] I shall deal truly and plainly with thee; my discourse shall be simple and solid, having no better ornament but that of truth; which is like our first parents, most beautiful when naked: it was sin covered them, it is treachery hides this. Aperta veritas clausos etiam oculos ferit, saith one.

He that is perfect in knowledge is with thee] Integer sententiis (Vatab.); meaning himself, who fully understood the business between them, and would faithfully deliver it. There are that hold God to be hereby meant. A pious sense, but not so proper.

Ver. 5. Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any] Much less oppresseth he any one in a good cause, or tyrannically abuseth his power to the crushing of an innocent. He is equally good as great; neither was Job well advised in seeming to sunder these two excellencies in God, the one from the other; since whatsoever is in God is God; neither ought we to think of him otherwise than of one not to be thought of; as of one whose wisdom is his justice, whose justice is his power, whose power is his mercy, and all himself.

He is mighty in strength and wisdom] Or, He is mighty, the strength of the heart, Validus est, virtus animi (Tram.). He was so to David: #Ps 138:3, "In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenest me with strength in my soul." At the sack of Ziklag, in the fail of all outward comforts, David encouraged himself in the Lord his God, #1Sa 30:6. A Christian is never without his cordial.

Una est in trepida mihi re medicina, Iehovae

Cor patrium, os verax, omnipotensque manus.

Ver. 6. He preserveth not the life of the wicked] He is no such friend to them; though he be good to the godly, be greatly careth not what becomes of them. Their life they hold of him, and many good things besides; for he is the Saviour, or preserver, of all men, but especially of them that believe. But he suffereth not the wicked to live, as the Hebrew here hath it, he withdraweth them not from the hand of justice, he bindeth not them up in the bundle of life, he reckoneth them not among the living in Jerusalem, among the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven; he many times slayeth them with his own hand, and cutteth them short in righteousness. Or if not so, yet their preservation is but reservation, &c.

But giveth right to the poor] Or, to the afflicted. For poverty is an affliction, and subjecteth a man to many injuries: #Zep 3:12, they are an afflicted and poor people, but trusting in the name of the Lord, they shall be relieved and righted, not so soon perhaps as themselves would, nor yet so long hence as their oppressors would. In the mount will the Lord be seen, who, as he seldom comes at our times, so he never fails his own time. Meanwhile this comfort they have:

Ver. 7. He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous] He is so lost in love, as I may say, toward such that he cannot like to look beside them; he beholdeth them when afflicted with singular care and complacency. Then, if ever, the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears open to their cry, #Ps 34:15; then they may have anything of God, there being no time like that for heariug of prayers, #Zec 13:9. Times of affliction are times of supplication, #Ps 50:15 91:15. They are mollissima fandi tempora, #Jer 51:19-21. Then our hearts are largest, then God’s ears are most open. Neither his ears only, but his eyes too, are busied about his suffering servants, as the goldsmiths are about the gold cast into the furnace, that no grain thereof be lost. He sits down by the fire, saith Malachi, and tends it, as a refiner and purifier of silver, #Job 3:3. He refines them, but not as silver, #Isa 48:10, that is, not exactly, and to the utmost, lest they should be consumed in that fiery trial: he seeth to it that the choice spirits of his people fail not before him, #Isa 57:16, as they would do if he should bring upon them an evil, an only evil, #Eze 7:5, and not in the midst of judgment remember mercy.

But with kings are they on the throne] i.e. He raiseth them to highest honours, as he did Joseph; whose fetters God in one hour changed into a chain of gold, his stocks into a chariot, his jail into a palace, his rags into fine linen, &c.; yea, as Jeremiah’s rags helped to draw him out of the dungeon, so do afflictions work out to God’s people an exceeding, eternal weight of glory. Here, perhaps, they may be held under, but to him that overcometh will the Lord Christ grant to sit with him in his throne, #Re 3:21. The deluge of calamities may assault them, but it shall certainly exalt them. They shall have crowns on their heads, and palms in their hands, and walk arm in arm with angels. Some of the Hebrews by "kings" here understand angels, as if it were written םיבאלמ, not Melachim, but Maleochim.

Yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted] Or, when they are exalted. This no earthly prince can promise himself. Dionysius, who thought his kingdom had been tied to him with cords of adamant, was at length driven out of it. But Christ’s kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and he will not reign alone; if we suffer with him we shall also reign together, #Ro 8:37.

Ver. 8. And if they be bound in fetters] If it so happens, that through abuse of their prosperity and preferment, they wander, as they are men, out of the right way, and God sends out afflictions as his pursuivants to attack them, and lay them in cold irons for their correction, and to prevent judgment, #Ps 107:10.

And be holden in cords of affliction] Or poverty; so that irretiti funibus misere vixerint (as the Tigurines here translate), they have only prisoners’ pittances, which will neither keep them alive nor suffer them to die.

Ver. 9. Then he showeth them their work] By these sharp waters he cleareth up their eyesight, and gives them to see their sin, the mother of their misery. Vexatio dat intellectum, Smart makes wit. Manasseh, for instance, and the prodigal, and King Croesus, with his Nocumenta documenta, and Tullus Hostilius, with his excess of devotion, when once he had paid for his learning (Herodot. lib. 1. Liv. decad. 1, l. 5).

And their transgressions that they have exceeded] Heb. when they prevail; that before they grow too potent they may cast them away: Ne illi victi in Gehennam descendant, lest they hale them into hell (Mercer).

Ver. 10. He openeth also their ear to discipline] See on #Job 33:16.

And commandeth that they return from iniquity] Unless they will have it to be their ruin; whereof obstinate sinners, who refuse to return, seem to be ambitious. Affliction sanctified is Lex practica, a practical law, saith one; it is Verus Scripturae commentarius, an excellent comment upon the Scripture, saith another. David could not learn God’s statutes till taught by this free schoolmaster; cursed enough and crabbed, but such as whereby God openeth men’s ears to discipline, and speaketh to them to return from iniquity, which is a piece of learning that people cannot pay too dearly for.

Ver. 11. If they obey and serve him, they shall, &c.] Heb. they shall finish, they shall spend and end their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasure, as Joseph, Job, and some others have done, who lived and died with glory. Howbeit this promise is to be understood with exception of the cross, which yet God both can, and to his will, make profitable and pleasant; as he did to that godly prince who, being asked, How he could so well endure so long and hard imprisonment? answered, That he had therein felt the divine consolations of the martyrs. But,

Haud facile invenies multis e millibus unum,

Virtutem pretium qui putet esse sui.

Ver. 12. But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword] In gladium transibunt, they shall pass away by the sword; that is, some evil end shall befall them, and worthily, because they would not be warned, which is both a presage and desert of utter ruin. Lesser and lighter judgments (where they work not) are foretokens of greater and heavier at the heels of them; as the black horse in the Revelation followeth the red. And as clouds cluster against a storm, one following in the neck of the other, unless the sun break forth and scatter them; so do God’s judgments usher in one another and every less a greater, unless repentance and better obedience take up the matter.

And they shall die without knowledge] Heb. because they were without knowledge; and wilfully so. It was not a bare nescience, but an affected ignorance, that undid them. Some render it, Non praesentientes, they shall die suddenly, and before they have bethought themselves. It should be our care that death do not suddenly surprise us. No guest comes unawares to him who keeps a constant table. Every sharp affliction is a warning piece, and let us so conceive of it, Stillicidia praecedunt ruinam.

Ver. 13. But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath] Or, Yet; or, Howbeit: q.d. These foul sinners, that have turned repentance into a form, and converted conversion itself into sin, though they see bad men made good and good men made better by their afflictions, and incorrigible persons destroyed before their eyes, yet they amend not by God’s hand upon them, but are the worse for it; as iron grows more cold after a heat, and as naughty boys are more stupid and more stubborn after a whipping. Hypocritis nihit stupidius. These hollow hearted ones heap up wrath against the day of wrath, as St Paul makes up this saying, #Ro 2:5, which shall fall upon the Jew first, because of his pretence to religion, and then upon the Gentile. Nemo enim magis iram meretur, quam amicum simulans inimicus, saith Bernard, No man more deserveth wrath upon wrath than a feigned friend but true enemy. Such are all hypocrites, whether gross or close. And hence our Saviour’s severity against such in the Gospel, but especially #Mt 23 Neither let any such goat in sheep skin think to steal on Christ’s right hand at the last day; he shall uncase such and cashier them, yea, cast them into the hottest fire of hell, whereof hypocrites are as the freeholders, and other sinners but as tenants to them, for they shall have their portion with the devil and hypocrites. Some render it, Ponunt iram, and expound it incandescunt in Deum: When they are afflicted they wax hot against God, they gather wrath, as a toad swelleth when handled, as a serpent gathereth poison to spue out at those who meddle with him.

They cry not when God binds them] Cry they do after a sort, as hogs do when to be stuck; or dogs, when tied up from their meat. Murmur they do, and expostulate a wrong with God, as those #Isa 58:2,3. Non ita Deos coluimus, as that heathen hypocrite said, We have not served God so well that he should serve us no better; but pray they do not, unless it be as those hypocrites in #Zec 7, who fasted to themselves, and prayed for their own ends, more to get off their chains than their sins. They bear fruit to themselves, as Ephraim, and see what comes of it.

Ver. 14. They die in youth] They die before their time, as Solomon expresseth it; then, when it were better for them to do anything than to die, for they are killed with death, as Jezebel’s children were, #Re 2:20-23. Their soul dieth, as the Hebrew here hath it. Their soul perisheth among the boys, their life among the Sodomites, as Beza translateth this text, and thus paraphraseth. Therefore as accursed before God they die, and are reckoned among those impure young men whose youth, being spent in all filthiness and uncleanness, was subject to that most abominable lust which is not to be named. The sum of all is, saith Brentius, Hypocrita peribit turpiter, The hypocrite shall once come to a shameful end. And when the foul sinner shall be damned, what shall become of the fair professor? God will lead such forth with the workers of iniquity, yea, with the worst kind of sinners, Sodomites, for instance, shall he punish them.

Ver. 15. He delivereth the poor in his affliction] Oft in this life, as he did David signally, #Ps 34:6, "This poor man" (meaning himself) "cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles." So he pulled Paul out of the mouth of the lion; yea, and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, "and preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom," #2Ti 4:18, where the saints shall be sure of full deliverance, and shall say of their afflictions, as that adulteress said of her accusers, #Joh 8:10, They are all gone.

He openeth their ears in oppression] Or, by oppression, as by a key; be openeth the ears of their hearts to holy and wholesome counsel. This Elihu had said before; but he saith it again for that end and purpose, that Job might rouse up and raise up himself to the hope of a comfortable restoration; for as much as God afflicteth not his to destroy them, but to make them partakers of his holiness; and that once done, to deliver them.

Ver. 16. Even so would he have removed thee, &c.] Thesin revocat ad hypothesin. Here Elihu applieth to Job that which he had more generally discoursed concerning godly men’s afflictions turned to their greatest good, if they be careful to improve the same. Heb. He would have persuaded, or gently removed thee.

Out of the strait, &c.] Heb. out of the mouth of the strait. A metaphor from wild beasts, that hold some prey in the mouth, saith Piscator. Or from a pit, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, as R. Solomon, and some others, who understand it of hell. Brentius to the same sense rendereth the text thus, Eripiet te ab ore angustiae lato, sub quo nullum est fundamentum, He shall deliver thee from the broad mouth of straitness, under which there is no bottom.

And that which should be set on the table, &c.] Thou shouldest eat of the fat and drink of the sweet, thou sbouldest have known no want of anything, if thou hadst not been wanting to thyself, in making the best use of thy troubles. See #Ps 23:5.

Ver. 17. But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked] But thou contrariwise blusterest against God, and blurtest out such words, that thou seemest to be as bad as the worst, and to have little or no goodness in thee. See #Job 34:8. It is a shame to God’s holy people to symbolize with the wicked, to be carnal in their speeches or carriages, and to walk as men, #2Co 3:3. They should so speak and so do as those that shall be judged by the law of liberty, #Jas 2:12.

Judgment and justice take hold of thee] Thou art worthily attached by the Divine justice, which thou hast quarrelled.

Ver. 18. Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke] Beza readeth it thus, Surely it is wrath, take heed lest with strokes it take thee away; i.e. Certainly the wrath of God doth in this thy calamity most manifestly show itself. Oh beware lest he double his strokes, and beat thee to pieces for thy disobedience and stubbornness. With the froward God will wrestle, #Ps 18:26, and add to their miseries seven times more, and seven times and seven to that, #Le 26:18,21,24,28.

Then a great ransom cannot deliver thee] Heb. turn thee aside, or help thee to decline; that is, to escape, no, though thou shouldest offer thousands of rams, or ten thousand rivers of oil, as #Mic 6:7.

Ver. 19. Will he esteem thy riches?] Tremellius rendereth it, thy nobility. Others read it thus, Will he regard thy crying in thine adversity? Or, That thou shouldest not abide in adversity? See #Pr 10:2 11:4, {See Trapp on "Pr 10:2"} {See Trapp on "Pr 11:4"}

No, not gold] Which yet can do much with men. The Hebrew word signifieth finest gold, #Job 22:24, and hath its name from defending, because gold is a man’s defence: with men it may be so, but not with God, #Zep 1:18; see the note there. Others read it, No, not in affliction.

Nor all the forces of strength] Which are poor things in comparison to God, whose weakness is stronger than men, #1Co 1:25. He need but to arise, and his enemies shall be scattered; yea, all that hate him shall fly before him, #Ps 68:1. As the rocks repel the greatest waves, so doth God his enemies, Conantia frangere franguut.

Ver. 20. Desire not the night, &c.] That is, as some sense it, do not thou peevishly desire death, {see #Job 7:15} lest it come too soon, and it do by thee as it doth by many a one, whom it cuts off in judgment. For surely in the state thou art now in thou oughtest to fear an extraordinary kind of death, an inlet to eternal destruction, as in the deluge, Sodom, and Egypt. Others render it thus, Neither let it disquiet thee in the night, how people are destroyed out of their place; that is, in the night season, when thy mind is void of cares, puzzle not thyself how and why some nations perish, and not others, but rather rest thyself upon God’s providence and unsearchable wisdom, and trouble not thy head in searching out the cause of this so sudden misfortune. Brentius makes this the sense, Noli impie agere, Desire not the night; that is, deal not wickedly by complaining against God, and impatiently bearing his hand; as thieves and adulterers desire the night for despatch of their deeds of darkness. Think not thou to hide thyself in the dark from the dint of God’s displeasure.

When people are cut off in their place] Heb. ascend under them; i.e. rise, that they may fall, #Ps 102:10; as the light of a candle, when it is ready to go out, flieth up, and then vanisheth away; or as the corn is first taken up by the hand of the reaper, and then cut off, and laid flat on the ground.

Ver. 21. Take heed, regard not iniquity] This especially of blaming God’s judgments, as if they were unequal. No more of that, saith Elihu. Cave tibi, ne coniecias oculos ad vanitatem, Beware thou cast not an eye towards such a vanity or iniquity as that is. This was very good counsel; and it is very well observed that this whole following treatise to the end of the thirty-seventh chapter is, as it were, a gentle lenitive of that foregoing sharp rebuke which otherwise was likely to drive Job beside all patience.

For this thou hast chosen rather than affliction] That is, this forementioned iniquity of speaking rashly and wickedly against God’s proceedings with thee; this thou hast chosen rather than to bear thine affliction, or thy poverty, patiently. Now this was an ill choice; for, quas non oportet mortes praeeligere, saith Zuinglius (Epist. 3), What deaths ought not a man rather to make choice of, what torments not rather undergo, yea, into what deepest gulf of hell itself not rather enter, than wittingly and willingly to sin against God! The ancient martyrs would not be delivered upon base terms, #Heb 11:35. Daniel chose rather to be thrown to the lions than to violate his conscience, and so to have a lion roaring in his own bosom. The primitive Christians cried out, Ad leonem magis quam lenonem (Tertul.). I would rather enter into hell, being clear from sin and innocent, quam peccati sorde pollutus, coelorum regna tenere, than go to heaven, if I might, besmeared with the filth of sin, saith Anselm. I would rather leap into a bonfire and be burnt, said another of the ancients, than commit any sin against God (Pintus in Daniel). Some write, that there is a certain little beast, called the mouse of Armenia, which will rather die than be defiled with any filth; insomuch that if her hole be besmeared with dirt she will rather choose to be taken than polluted. Such ought the servants of God to be.

Ver. 22. Behold, God exalteth by his power] Vulgate—God is high in his strength. He both exalteth himself and others whensoever he pleaseth. Beza reads it, Behold, God in his strength is above all; q.d. It is he that must restore thee, if ever thou beest restored.

Who teacheth like him?] Vulgate—None among the law givers is like unto him. But the word Moreh signifieth a doctor or a teacher; as Moreh Nebuchim, a teacher of perplexed things, an unriddler of riddles. He knows all things exactly, and does all things with singular skill and understanding. He hath many ways of teaching people, and making them to profit, #Isa 48:17, and one is by afflictions, which Luther therefore fitly calleth Theologium Christianorum, the Christian system of divinity, as hath been before noted. Mr Ascham was a good school master, saith one, to Queen Elizabeth, but affliction was a better.

Ver. 23. Who hath enjoined him his way?] q.d. Wilt thou take upon thee to teach this great Teacher how to govern the world? This were a strange kind of arrogance.

Or who can say, Thou hast wrought iniquity?] God’s judgments are sometimes secret, but always just. Let not men reprehend what they do not yet comprehend, but content themselves with a learned ignorance, till God shall further discover himself, saying of God’s works, as Socrates did of a certain book that he had read, What I understand therein is very good, and so I think is that I understand not. When we come into a craftsman’s shop, we may see many tools, the use whereof we know not, and yet we conclude they are of some use. Why then should men rashly censure God’s proceedings, which are many times in mediis contrariis, as Luther was wont to say, brought about by contrary means; that he may be the more admired, as Nazianzen giveth the reason, ´ Ινα και μαλλον θαυμαζηται (Naz. in Cypr.). The craftsman with a crooked tool makes straight work. The apothecary maketh of a poisonous viper a wholesome antidote; so here. Far be it from us therefore to charge God with iniquity, for this were, with those mad Manichees, to affirm, that till he had created light he dwelt in darkness, as if God were not an eternal light, #1Jo 1:5 1Ti 6:16, Manichaeorum diabolicus sarcasmus (Paraeus).

Ver. 24. Remember that thou magnify his work] His work of creation; wherein the wisdom, power, and goodness of God is clearly manifested, #Ro 1:19, in that glorious structure of the heavens especially, which men behold. Or his work of administration and gubernation, whereof David saith, All thy works praise thee, O Lord; that is, they yield matter of magnifying thee; and thy saints shall bless thee, #Ps 145:10. Remember that this be done, saith Elihu. Junius, by God’s works here, understandeth Noah’s flood.

Which men behold] Or, Whereof men do sing, saying, as in the next verse,

Ver. 25. Every man may see it] sc. In quo est vel mica bonae mentis; for a brutish man knoweth it not, #Ps 92:6,7. But stupidus est, et dignus cui oculi eruantur, saith Plato, He is a very blockhead, and worthy to have his eyes pulled out of his head, who looketh not above him and about him, that he may magnify and admire the wisdom of the creator of all, and preserver of mankind, Id quod et prudentes viri olim veluti gnoma quadam et communi sententia iactarunt, dicentes, Omnis homo aspicit, &c. (Brent.).

Man may behold it afar off] For heaven is far above earth, and it is a wonder that we can look to so admirable a height, and that the very eye is not tired in the way. And for things that are nearer to us, we see them but as through a glass obscurely; our knowledge of them is very imperfect, #1Co 11:13, the reason of many things is above our reach. We read of one who had spent over forty years in finding out the nature and property of bees, and yet was not fully satisfied with many things therein.

Ver. 26. Behold, God is great] Yea, he is maximus in minimis, greatest and most of all seen in the meanest creatures; as in ants more than in elephants, &c. God showeth in his works of all sorts, se aliquantum esse; sed quantus sit rursus operibus involvit; that he is very great, but how great he is that appears not (Brent.).

Neither can the number of his years be searched out] How should they say, when as his countenance is beyond all count, #Ps 102:24,27. Years are here ascribed unto him, and he is elsewhere called "Ancient of days," #Da 7:9, and the hairs of his head are said to be white like snow, #Re 1:14; but all this is spoken of God after the manner of men; and should teach us, neither curiously to inquire into his counsels, nor discontentedly to complain of his doings.

Ver. 27. For he maketh small the drops of water] Here Elihu beginneth to instance the greatness of God in his works, and particularly in the meteors; many of which Aristotle confesseth he understood not. And this I dare say, saith a learned interpreter here, that there is not extant any poem, either of the Greeks or Latins, which may be compared with this stately eloquence of Elihu in describing those natural effects which are caused in the air; and for the same cause are of the philosophers called meteors, or airy impressions; as namely, clouds, rain, hail, snow, thunder, lightning, and such like; whereof he here discourseth very gravely and learnedly; and first of rain, which he describeth, 1. By the form or manner of producing it, #Job 36:27,28 2. By the largeness of the clouds, and their noise, #Job 36:29 3. By the sudden succession of fair weather and foul, #Job 36:30. And lastly, by the different use thereof in the three last verses of this chapter: God maketh small the drops of water; that is, he raineth by dividing the drops in the cloud, causing them to come down guttatim, piece-meal; and not by whole spouts, or pail fulls. Others read it, Subtrahit Deus, God draweth up drops of water, viz. out of the sea, the rivers, and other moist places, whence those vapours do ascend, of which are generated those drops of rain: #Ps 147:8, "He covereth the heaven with clouds, he prepareth rain for the earth," &c.

They pour down rain according to the vapours thereof] As the vapours are greater or lesser, so is the rain. The rain ascendeth in thin vapours, but descendeth oft in thick showers; so do our poor prayers come down in greatest blessings; and we are sure of as much mercy as we bring faith to carry it away.

Ver. 28. Which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly] Hence the Dutch call it raegen, and we rained, a rigando, from watering the earth all over, at times. This is God’s work, and it ought to be marvellous in our eyes; it would be so were it not so ordinary. Non sanctis id ascribamus, multo minus sagis, the heathens gave their gods the glory of it. The Holy Ghost here and elsewhere setteth before us these common things, that when we see them, and yet know not the reason of them, we may gather, that we ought not overly curiously to pry into the profound judgments of God, which are far above the clouds, those receptacles of rain; yea, far above the highest heavens.

Ver. 29. Also can any understand the spreading of the clouds] That is, the skill that God showeth in spreading forth the clouds to that large extent, and muffling the whole heavens with them, so that nature finds herself buried in darkness? Some render it, the divisions or differences of the clouds; illic enim fiunt miracula magna (Vatab.); for some clouds are empty, and answer not expectation (worthless and vain boasters are compared to such, #Pr 25:14 Jude 12), some yield rain and drop fatness. Some, again, send forth hail, snow, frost, storm, thunder, lightnings, &c. (R. Levi). These are wonders in nature, far beyond human apprehension. The clouds God maketh one while as some airy seas, to hold water; another while as some airy furnaces, whence he scattereth the sudden fires into all parts of the earth, astonishing the world with the fearful noise of that eruption. Out of the midst of water he fetcheth fire, and hard stones out of the midst of thin vapours. Haec sunt sane admiranda et tremenda, saith Mercer. These are wonderful things, and no less dreadful. Is it not strange that of one and the same equal matter, viz. the vapours exhaled from the earth or water, various and different meteors should he engendered?

Or the noise of his tabernacle?] i.e. The swinging showers, or rustling winds, or rattling thunder claps, one in the neck of another, out of the clouds, called here God’s tabernacle; in quo velut abditus, tot rerum miracula creat, wherein he sits in secret and unseen, creating many strange meteors to send down upon the earth; whereof the profoundest philosopher of them all can give no certain and undoubted reason.

Ver. 30. Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it] That is, his fair weather, clearing up the cloudy sky, as some expound it; or, as others, his lightning shot forth every way, #Ps 18:13,15 144:6. Or the sunbeams spread upon the sea, and drawing up vapours; unde mare hoc loco nubium radix dicitur, saith Brentius, whence the sea is here called the root of the clouds; or the surface of the sea is called the root of it, in regard to the wandering waves which are cut in asunder, after the manner of roots; so saith Vatablus. Those that by light here understand lightnings, say, that God maketh them dart so abundantly through the waters of the sea, that they do, as it were, cover all the bottom of it.

Ver. 31. For by them judgeth he the people] i.e. By rain and drought in excess or defect, he punisheth people at his pleasure; whom oh how easily could he affamish by denying them a harvest or two! in granting whereof he giveth testimony of his bounty, #Job 14:17.

He giveth meat in abundance] sc. By sending moderate showers fattening the earth; whereunto also the preaching of the Word is fitly compared, #Isa 55:10,11, which those that drink not in and fructify, #De 32:2, are accursed, #Heb 6:8.

Ver. 32. With clouds he covereth the light] Heb. With the palms of his hands (so the clouds are called, see #1Ki 18:44) he hideth light; that is, the sunbeams, viz. when he sendeth rain, the heavens are masked.

And commandeth it not to shine] Heb. And forbiddeth it (those words, not to shine, are not in the original), propter intercedentem, for the sake of those that intercede. He giveth rain or fair weather upon the prayers of his faithful people; who can thereby open and shut heaven, as did Elijah and the thundering legion. R. Levi interpreteth this and the following verse concerning thunder.

Ver. 33. The noise thereof sheweth concerning it] The hurrying noise made in the air before a shower of rain foreshoweth it to be at hand.

The cattle also concerning the vapour] Heb. concerning that which goeth up. Hogs, sheep, oxen, &c., have a better scence of smell than men; and can perceive the vapours going up to cause rain before men can see or feel them. Hence shepherds and herdsmen gather prognostics of rain, and are so weather wise, as we call it. Aben-Ezra noteth, that sheep lying on the right side foresignify foul weather, Ad dextram cubantes oves pluviam portendunt (Merlin). See Virgil, Georg. l. i., and Pliny Nat. Hist. l. xviii. c. 35. Some render this verse (than which there is not a harder in all the book, saith Mercer), thus, Declaring toward him (who intercedeth) his good will toward the cattle, and also toward the increase of the earth.

Chapter 37

Ver. 1. At this also my heart trembleth] At this? At what? at the thunder, whereof he had spoken before, and more meant to speak; and which he heard at that instant (as it may seem by the next verse), and therefore no wonder that his heart trembled, and was moved out of its place by an extraordinary palpitation, or, as the Tigurines have it, luxation. Thunder is so terrible, that it hath forced from the greatest atheist an acknowledgment of a deity. Suetonius telleth us of Caligula (that monster, who dared his Jove to a duel), that if it thundered and lightened but a little, he would hoodwink himself; but if much, he would creep under a bed, and be ready to run into a mouse hole, as we say. Augustus Caesar also was so afraid of thunder and lightning, that always and everywhere he carried about him the skin of a sea calf, which those heathens fondly held to be a preservative in such cases, and if at any time there arose a great storm he ran into a dark vault. The Romans held it unlawful to keep court, Iove tonante, fulgurante, in a time of thunder and lightning, as Cicero telleth us (De Divin. l. 2). And Isidore deriveth tonitru a terrendo, thunder from its terror; and others from its tone, or rushing, crashing noise, frightening all creatures. At the voice of thy thunder they are afraid, #Ps 104:7, which one, not unfitly, calls David’s medicine.

Ver. 2. Hear attentively the noise of his voice] Coniunctam commotione vocem eius, the great thunder crack that now is; that angry noise, as the word signifieth. Hear in hearing; you cannot but hear it with the ears of your bodies, hear it also with the ears of your minds; tremble and sin not; contrary to the course of most men, who sin and tremble not, drowning the noise of their consciences, as the old Italians did the thunder, by ringing their greatest bells, discharging their Roaring Megs, {a huge piece of ordnance.} &c. But what saith Elihu here to his hearers? Audite, audite, audite etiam atque etiam, contremiscetis et vos, vos testes adhibeo, as Mercer paraphraseth it out of Kimchi: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye again and again, and then ye also will tremble. I take you to witness; whether ye consider his greater thunder claps ringing and roaring in your ears, see #Ps 29:4 87:7, or the lesser rumblings, called here Murmur vel mussitationem, vel habitum, citra quem sermo non profertur; the sound, or breath, that goeth out of his mouth. All is ascribed to God; though naturalists tell us, and truly, that there are second causes of thunder and lightning (Aristot. Pliny); wherein, nevertheless, we must not stick, but give God the glory of his majesty, as David teacheth, #Ps 29:1-3, and as blind heathens did, when they called their Iove Altitonantem, the high thunderer. The best philosophy in this point is to hear God Almighty by his thunder speaking to us from heaven as if he were present; and to see him in his lightnings, as if he cast his eyes upon us to see what we had been doing. His eyes are as a flaming fire, #Re 1:14, and the school of nature teacheth, that the fiery eye seeth extra mittendo, by sending out a ray.

Ver. 3. He directeth it under the whole heaven] Heb. He maketh it to go right forward, meaning the thunder, the vehement noise or sound whereof (not altogether unlike that of cloth violently torn, or of air thrust out of bellows, or of a chestnut burst in the fire, but far louder) is brought through the air to our ears with such a mighty force, that it drowns all noises, clappings, clatterings, roarings even of many waters; making the earth to shake again, and all things tremble, non secus quam siquis currum onustum per plateam lapidibus stratum ducat (Lavat.). And this dreadful noise is by God directed to this or that place under the heavens, at his pleasure. The word rendered directeth signifieth also beholdeth; whence some interpret this text of God’s seeing all things under heaven. But the former sense is better.

And his lightning unto the ends of the earth] God commands the lightning to cleave the clouds, and to scatter its flames through the world. Lightning is the brightness of a shining flame, running through the whole air in a moment, rising of a small and thin exhalation kindled in a cloud. See #Ps 18:13. The natural end and effect of thunder and lightning is to clear the air, by wasting poisonous vapours. The supernatural is, to show God’s excellent majesty and might, which the mightiest must acknowledge, #Ps 29:1,2; to be his officers about him to make room for him, #Ps 97:1,4, to execute his wrath upon his enemies, #Ex 9:23,27 Ps 77:18,19 1Sa 2:10 Isa 29:6, and his mercy toward his people for the humbling of them, #1Sa 12:18-20, &c., raising them again to an assured confidence, #Ps 29:11, &c. But that God can shoot these arrows of his so far, #Mt 24:27 Ps 77:18 97:3,4, and here; yea, and that at the same time when it rains, when one would think that the one should quench the other, #Ps 135:7; this is a just wonder, and Jeremiah urgeth it twice as such, #Jer 10:13 51:16.

Ver. 4. After it a voice roareth] After it, that is, after the lightning, it thundereth; indeed, before, or at least together with it; but the lightning is seen before the thunder is heard, because the sense of hearing is slower than the sense of seeing, thus fire is first seen in a gun ere the report is heard; the axe of the wood cutter is up for a second blow ere we hear the first, if any way distant, Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures (Horat.). And besides, as R. Levi well observeth here, that the sight of the lightning may come from heaven to us, there needeth no time; because our eyes reach up thither in an instant; but that a sound may come there hence to us (in regard to the distance, and because the air must be beaten and many times impressed as into so many circles) there must be some space of time; neither can it be done so suddenly.

He thundereth with the voice of his excellency] Or, of his height, or of his pride. Proud persons think themselves high, and use to speak big swollen words of vanity, bubbles of words, as St Peter calls them. If they be crossed never so little, verbis bacchantur, et cum quodam vocis impetu loquuntur, oh the tragedies, the blusters, the terrible thunderous cracks of fierce and furious language that follow thereupon. Some have been threatened to death, as Cornelius Gallus was by Augustus Caesar; and Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Chancellor, by Queen Elizabeth. How much more should men quake and even expire before the thunder of the Most High, or wriggle as worms do into their holes, the corners of the earth!

And he will not stay them when his voice is heard] Them, that is, new flashes of lightning; or rain and hail, which usually break out either while it thundereth, or presently after, in a most vehement and impetuous manner.

Ver. 5. God thundereth marvellousIy with his voice] Or, God thundereth out marvellous things with his voice. Marvellous indeed, if we consider the effects of thunder, lightning, and lightnig bolts, which differ from lightning in form only, and not in matter; and for the effects thereof naturalists tell us strange things; as that by them the money hath been melted without hurting the purse; the sword hath been broken within the scabbard, the wine hath been exhausted within the barrel, the bones broke within the flesh, &c. How various and marvellous the nature, generation, matter, form, effects of the thunder and thunderbolt are, not only Seneca, Pliny, and other meteorologists testify, but daily experience sealeth to the truth of it.

Great things doth he, which we cannot comprehend] As being above the reach of our shallow capacity; or, which we will not know; so the Hebrew hath it; such is our oscitance, or obstinace, that we will not take knowledge of God’s works of wonder, though they do even run into our senses. This he construeth for a high contempt; as a skilful artificer would do when he hath set forth a curious piece to public view, and none will take notice of it. God seemeth to have made the meteors in such great variety, that therein he might show his own skill, and their imperfection.

Ver. 6. For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth] He commandeth it, and it is done; for together with his word there goeth forth a power. Dixisse Dei, est fecisse. #Ps 147, God giveth snow like wool. Many wonders there are in snow; as that it should be made in the lowest part of the air, and not above where it is coldest; that it should snow upon the earth, but never upon the sea, as Pliny saith; that snow should lie continually, not only upon the Alps, but upon Mount Aetna, where fire flames out; that no snow falleth in Egypt; but in Tartary, a hot country, sometimes it snoweth in the heat of summer; that it serves for a cover to preserve the earth’s heat, though itself be cold; that being white, it should sometimes bring forth red worms, &c.

Likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength] Not a drop of rain, whether it come leisurely or hastily, but falleth by a divine decree, #Job 28:26, {See Trapp on "Job 28:26"} The Chaldee paraphrast understandeth here the summer and winter rains. God showeth his strength in a thing so weak and diffluent of itself, that thereby he may overturn and break in pieces the proudest of men’s spirits; for whom also, if they repent not, he hath a more terrible rain, #Ps 11:6, overflowing with fire and brimstone, #Eze 38:22

Ver. 7. He sealeth up the hand of every man] i.e. He, by his great showers, sendeth men home for shelter, glad to intermit their work till better weather. See #Ex 9:19. The Hebrews call rain Sagrir, #Pr 27:15, from shutting up; because it keeps men at home, from travelling or working abroad. Chiromancy {palmistry} finds here no footing, whatever some have doted; as if God had set certain signs and notes in men’s hands of what should hereafter befall them, and this text is alleged for proof; but absurdly (Vide Joan de Indeg.).

That all men may know his work] i.e. That they may take notice of God’s handiwork in ordering the seasons; and have time to think on their domestic affairs.

Ver. 8. Then the beasts go into dens] In rainy and snowy weather, the very wild beasts (as lively and lusty as they are, whence also they have their name in the original) are glad to take harbour, and there to hold them till the storm be over.

Ver. 9. Out of the south cometh the whirlwind] Which is a wonderful wind indeed; τυφων the Greeks call it (as they do a like wind at sea ευροκλυδων, the mariner’s mischief), the Latins, vortex, because it turns up trees by the roots, houses by the foundation, #Job 1:19, and turbo, as breeding great trouble; for which cause also Pope Urban was called Turban. It suddenly ariseth and as suddenly ceaseth, but doth much mischief, and especially in strait and narrow places. In allusion whereunto the apostle would not have people to be wherried and whirled about with every wind of doctrine, #Eph 4:14, as unstable souls use to be. Illebius, for instance; who, as a Protestant, first turned Antinomian, and afterwards a Papist. So the old Illuminati, boasting at first of a certain angelic purity, fell suddenly to the very counterpoint of justifying beastiality (Spec. Europ.). For prevention of this pernicious lightness, "It is good" (saith the apostle) "that the heart be established with grace," #Heb 13:9. That men be sound in the faith, well principled, bottomed and ballasted.

And cold out of the north] Heb. out of the scattered winds. North winds scatter the clouds, clear the sky, and so bring on fair cold weather, Και Βορεης αιθρηγενετης (Hom. Odyss.). By mezerim here some understand certain stars toward the north pole; Arcturus, the Vulgate Latin rendereth it.

Ver. 10. By the breath of God frost is given] Frost is the excess of cold by the blowing of the coldest winds, which are here called, "The breath of God"; these congeal the waters, and turn them into ice, contracting them into a narrower room. Hence it is, that as any country is more northerly, so it is colder; the sea also is frozen and impassable.

And the breadth of the waters is straitened] This the same again in other words, though some understand it to be hail; when the broad flowing water in the clouds by the force of the cold is narrowed up into hail. All this is of the Lord. Fides non in ordinem operis, sed in authorem oculos suos dirigit, saith Brentius upon the text; faith seeth God in all.

Ver. 11. Also by watering he wearieth the thick clouds] That is, by showering down of much rain he disburdeneth and dissipateth them, seem they never so thick and large. These seem to be troubled and tired out when, as they are watering the earth, they are wasted and drawn dry by the heat of the sun.

He scattereth his bright cloud] Heb. the cloud of his light; that is, the cloud by dissolving whereof he restoreth light and fair weather, or the cloud which was covered over with lightning before, #Job 36:30.

Ver. 12. And it is turned round about by his counsels] Vertit Dominus et revertit, The Lord turneth and returneth; letteth out, and bringeth back the clouds, as it were by a rope, at his own pleasure; a metaphor from mariners, who skilfully manage the ropes of the ship to best advantage. In like sort the clouds are by God’s cunning turned about in a circuit (as Beza rendereth it), that is, in a round compass or circle; they are not carried up and down the air by any wandering and inconstant motion; but they are, as it were, by certain engines (so he maketh the metaphor) of Almighty God, turned about at his own pleasure, when and where he thinketh good to use them; for he best knoweth where is most need of rain, snow, &c., and therefore he by his wisdom driveth them hither and thither, for the fulfilling of his purpose. Some refer this text to the revolution of the heavenly orbs, which is also done by God.

That they may do whatsoever he commandeth them] A metaphor like that, #Le 25:21, where God saith that he will command his blessing upon the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. Now if the senseless creature so readily obey God, how much more should we! And if he be Lord of tempests, he is also of diseases and disasters. Cheer up, therefore, and ply the throne of grace. He will see that all shall go well with his supplicants.

Ver. 13. He causeth it to come, whether for correction] Heb. For a rod, εις παιδειαν (Sept.). God hath his rods sticking up in every corner of his house for chastisement of his children, and they shall take it for a favour too, #Heb 12:7 1Co 11:32. Sinite virgam corripientem, ne sentiatis malleum conterentem, saith Bernard. Be content with the rod of correction, that ye feel not the maul of confusion. Better suffer immoderate rains and lightnings, than that terrible tempest, #Job 27:21, and the black flashes of hell fire, that πυριφλεγεθων, as Plato calleth it; the fiery lake, as the Scripture.

Or of his land] i.e. His Church, #Ho 9:3. A land that he watereth and watcheth over from one end of the year to the other, #De 28:12. His vineyard cared for, and kept to himself night and day, #Isa 27:3. Or, the earth at large, which is God’s great field, #Ps 24:1 (as the Church is his fold, #Ps 100:3), and especially that part of it which is desert and uninhabited. There also God causeth his sun to shine, and his rain to fall, #Mt 5:45 Job 38:26,27, that the wild beasts also may have food.

Or for mercy] Some singular and extraordinary mercy, as #2Sa 21:10 1Ki 18:45. Sive ad faciendum beneflcentiam; or to bestow his bounty, and to bestow a largess; as princes sometimes make a scatter of monies among the multitude. Clouds are God’s storehouses, which he soon opens to our profit, #De 28:12; by them he maketh them a scatter of riches upon the earth, which good men gather, and bad men scramble for.

Ver. 14. Hearken unto this, O Job] Here Elihu by little and little draweth to a most wise conclusion, bringing Job to this point, that as the wisdom of God in these daily and ordinary works of nature doth far exceed the reach and capacity of man, so he should much more consider the same in this grievous calamity, which was now befallen him. And forasmuch as he could not come to the knowledge of any other secondary and middle causes, he should rather adore and reverence the secret counsel and purpose of God herein than labour in vain, and without any profit at all to torment himself in searching out that which is not possible for any man to understand. Which argument God himself doth at large most truly and divinely prosecute in the four following chapters.

Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God] Consiste, considera, and that thou mayest see into these divine secrets, Non arrigendae sunt aures carnis, sed fidei, Prick up the ears of thy faith, which alone can skill of these mysteries; whereinto if thou hast yet no insight, and canst not yet feel the justice, wisdom, and goodness of God in thy present sufferings, it is for want of judgment (as I shall evince in that which follows), it is because thou hast not mine eyes, senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil, #Heb 5:14. Nicostratus in Elian, himself being a skilled artist, finding a curious piece of work, and being wondered at by one, and asked, What pleasure he could take to stand gazing as he did on the picture? answered, Hadst thou mine eyes thou wouldst not wonder, but rather be ravished, as I am, at the inimitable art of this rare piece. Elihu seemeth here to say as much to Job.

Ver. 15. Dost thou know when God disposed them] viz. Those wondrous works of God in the air especially; those varieties of meteors, the generation and motions whereof the greatest philosophers cannot perfectly find out by their natural causes, neither do they well agree among themselves concerning those causes. For Anaximander holdeth one thing, Metrodorus another, Anaxagoras a third, Aristotle a fourth; let those that have a mind to it read their janglings and disputes in Plutarch, De placitis philosophorum. Now if no man (though never so wise) can understand the wondrous works of God in these common things of nature, how can he comprehend his hidden works, hoc est, crucem? saith Brentius.

And caused the light of his cloud to shine?] Or, That he may cause the light of his cloud to shine. Hereby he meaneth lightnings, issuing out of the moist and cold cloud, say some; the rainbow, say others, that wonderful work of God (feigned therefore by the heathens to be the daughter of Thaumantias, or of wonderment), which is full of wonders, witness the beautiful shape thereof and various colours, with their several significations, as some conceive (Plato); the several prognostics; viz. of rain in the morning, of fair weather in the evening, as Scaliger concludeth; the form of it, a bow, which yet never shooteth any man unless it be with astonishment and love, &c. God puts his bow in his hand (saith Ambrose on #Ge 9:13), not his arrow, but his bow, and the string of the bow is to us ward. The Jews conceit that the name Jehovah is written on the rainbow, and therefore they no sooner see it, but they hide their eyes, confess their sins, that deserve a second deluge, celebrate God’s great goodness to mankind, &c. Some by the light of God’s cloud here understand the sunshine through the clouds, causing it to clear up. Now who can certainly foretell rain or fair weather? Some learned men have spent much time and pains in astronomy to get skill in prognosticating, but could do little good of it; when they foretell a fair day it commonly raineth, and the contrary. The countryman’s prognostics, the shepherd’s calendar, hold better, for the most part, than the predictions of these artisans.

Ver. 16. Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds?] i.e. How they are hung up even in the air, like Architas’ or Archimedes’ pigeon, equally poised with their own weight. But how they are upheld, and why they fall here, and now, we know not, and wonder. Some naturalists tell us that the clouds are upheld by the heat of the sun but that is more than they can tell, and there is much to be said against it. Wherefore it is better for men to confess their ignorance than so peremptorily to pronounce things they know not. Let it be proper to God to be perfect in knowledge. It was too much that some ascribed to Tertullian, to Jerome, to Tostatus, and some others, that they knew all that was knowable.

Ver. 17. How thy garments are warm, when he, &c.] Canst thou give a reason of the extreme heat that is about the summer solstice, when the warm south winds blow so gently, that they are scarce felt at all, and thy clothes heated by thy body are a burden to thee, so that thou art ready to cast them off, and, but for common honesty, thou couldst go naked? Brentius thinks, that although one of the winds only is here instanced, yet the disposing of them all is intended; wherein much of God may be seen; for it is he alone who holdeth them in his fist, hideth them in his treasures, sendeth them out as his posts, rideth upon them, as his chariot, #2Sa 22:10 Ps 104:3, checks them at his pleasure (whence they concluded Christ’s Deity, #Mt 8:27), makes them pace orderly, appointing them their motion, &c., #Job 28:24-27 Nos motum sentimus, modum nescimus. #Joh 3:8, Thou hearest the sound of the wind, but knowest not whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth. Now if in these common matters men are so blind, how much more in the deep judgments of the Most High.

Ver. 18. Hast thou with him spread out the sky] He had convinced Job of his ignorance, and now he will of his impotence and imbecility; and this by an irony; q.d. Tune ille gigas es? Art thou indeed that giant, or demi-god, that helped the Almighty when he spread the heavens, when he laid the foundation of the earth? &c. Age itaque si tantus vires, quantum te ostentas, &c., Go to, then, if thou be indeed such a one as thou wouldst seem to be, while thou takest upon thee to be, viz. to contend with God, and to complain of his hard dealing with thee. "Teach us what we shall say unto him," &c., as #Job 37:19, for we dare not, as thou hast done, dare him to come into the lists with us, as hoping to have the better of him.

Which is strong] Not by reason of any hard massy elemental thickness, but by reason of their airy, incorruptible, indissoluble nature, composed of very thin and even parts (Diodati). Hence the Greeks call it στερεωμα, and the Latins firmamentum. {See Trapp on "Ge 1:7"}

And as a molten looking glass?] Perspicuum et sapphirinum, dear and transparent as a mirror wherein God maketh himself visible, as it were; who of himself is too subtile for sight or sinew to seize upon (R. Levi). The Hebrew hath it, which is strong as a molten looking glass; i.e. as a polished brazen looking glass, being more solid than brass, more transparent than crystal.

Ver. 19. Teach us what we shall say unto him] A notable scoff, a sharp sarcasm. Verba sunt urgentis et insultantis; q.d. Velim ut e tot argumentis, #Job 23:4, aliqua nunc proferas, I would that thou wouldst bring out some of those many arguments thou didst brag of; for we are at a fault; neither can we (such is our ignorance) find what to say in thy just defence, had we never so good a mind to it.

For we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness] We are benighted and word bound; forced to acknowledge our ignorance, our infancy, and to complain (as Anaxagoras afterwards did), omnia esse circumfusa tenebris; and (as Empedocles) angustas esse sensuum semitas, that we are far to seek of what to say in this case, and ready to think that silence would be our safest eloquence.

Ver. 20. Shall it be told him that I speak?] An in acta referetur ei, si loquar? Shall it be recorded before him? &c. q.d. Then woe be to me, for I am sure to rue it; yea, and (without mercy) to be ruined for it. Did not Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesy long since, saying, "Behold, the Lord cometh to execute judgment upon all, and to convince them of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him," #Jude 14,15.

If a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up] If he speak in thy behalf, or after thine example, presuming to control God’s works, and to quarrel his proceedings, as thou hast done, he is sure to be undone. Some read the words thus, For if he speak man shall be devoured; that is, if God speak, man (who, before he cometh to speak, thinks that he shall be able to reason with him) shall be quite confounded, and his words, as it were, swallowed up by his profound wisdom; and be made unable to speak one word for himself. Wherefore let all flesh be silent before the Lord; for if any presume to chat against his judgments, he shall have his words driven down his throat again by a divine vengeance. Cave ne lingua feriat collum, Take heed thy tongue cut not thy throat, say the Arabian’s wise proverb.

Ver. 21. And now men see not the bright light that is in the clouds] It seemeth, saith an expositor, that at that very instant the cloudy weather did begin to clear up, and that thereupon Elihu took occasion to speak these words: q.d. Thou art not able to look into the body of the shining sun, quia nimium sensibile laedit sensum; how much less canst thou behold God in his glory, in comparison to whom the sun in his strength is but as a clod of clay! The sun is called light by an excellency; the Egyptians call him Orus, from the Hebrew, Or. Hereafter we shall see God as he is, see him face to face, #1Jo 3:1,2; see as we are seen, &c.; but here we can see his back parts only and live, #Ex 33:20-23 Surely out of what Elihu had hitherto said Job should have reasoned thus with himself, I cannot bear the force of a flash of lightning, of a clap of thunder, of a violent shower, of an overturning whirlwind, of an extreme frost of the outshining sun, &c., how much less of God in his majesty!

Ver. 22. Fair weather cometh out of the north] Heb. Gold cometh, &c., that is, the golden beams of the sun, as golden oil, #Zec 4:12, Serenitas aura similis (Tit.). The north wind also cleanseth the clouds, and shows us the pleasant face of the sun, that gold maker; all whose rays come tipped and gilt with a glistering glory upon them.

With God is terrible majesty] Far beyond that of the sun or of the most dread sovereign upon earth; be it an Augustus Caesar, or a terrible Tamerlane, in whose eyes sate such a rare and reverend majesty as a man could hardly endure to behold them without closing his own. The Tigurines render it, Ad Deum reverendissimum pertinet confessio, To the most reverend God belongeth praise. Others, by way of doxology, Unto God be reverend majesty; a fit perclose of Elihu’s excellent discourse. It was the last speech of dying Chrysostom, Glory be to God from all creatures. Let it be the badge of the beast, Laus Deo, et beatae Virgini. Cry we, Deus terribilis landetur, as Brentius rendereth this text, Let God alone be praised.

Ver. 23. Touching the Almighty we cannot find him out] Heb. The Almighty. The nominative case put absolute; q.d. in short, as for the Almighty (that nomen Maiestativum, majestic name, as Tertullian phraseth it), we cannot comprehend him, any more than we can the main ocean in a cockle shell. And whereas we can say, as here, that he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice, Ista de Deo dicimus, quia non invenimus melius quod dicamus (August.); We say these things of God, because we have nothing better to say of him, and must owe the rest unto our thoughts, although, indeed, he is above all name and above all notion. In searching after God, saith Chrysostom, I am like a man digging in a deep spring, I stand here, and the water riseth upon me, and I stand there, and still the water riseth upon me. To Thomas Aquinas, busy in this search, was showed (they say) a deep pit in the edge of the sea (which empty it, and carry away the water as oft as they will), it is still filled with other. It is a knowledge that passeth knowledge, #Eph 3:19. That which in measure is pleasant and profitable, being too much inquired into, proves unsavoury and unsafe.

He will not afflict] viz. Willingly, #La 3:33, or causelessly, #1Pe 1:6; or, He will not answer; viz. every one that questioneth the justice of his proceedings, as Job, in his heat, had done. The Seventy render the question, Will he not answer? sc. those that call upon him in truth, since he is excellent in power and in judgment? &c. Sure he will.

Ver. 24. Men do therefore fear him] They do, or should do, for his excellent greatness and goodness, #Ps 130:4 Mt 10:28. But in case they do not,

He respecteth not any that are wise of heart] That out of a conceit of their own wisdom stand it out against him, and think to reason it out with him, as thou hast done. Or, But he seeth not all wise in heart; he findeth not all wise, whom he beholdeth here upon earth. Stultorum plena sunt omnia, and thou also hast dealt very foolishly, as God hath seen, and wilt shortly show thee better than I can do.

Chapter 38

Ver. 1. Then the Lord answered Job] God himself, taking the word out of Elihu’s mouth (who bad spoken well, but lacked majesty to set it forth), became his own patron, et huius disputationis sequester, and decider of this long controversy, vindicating his own authority, and teaching that truth in the four following chapters, which St Paul briefly compriseth in these words, #Ro 11:33,34, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?" Why then should any one require an account of his proceedings, or question his justice? Job had often desired that God would take knowledge of his cause. His friends also had desired the same, #Job 11:5. Here therefore he appeareth in person, not as out of an engine devised for that purpose, after the manner of some partial tragedy, for the whole narration testifieth that this is a true story of things done indeed, and afterwards faithfully recorded (Beza). Which history is highly to be esteemed as an incomparable treasure, if it were for nothing else, yet for the right knowledge of natural philosophy here laid open, in these four following chapters, together with the chief and principal end thereof, which is, that in these visible creatures we may behold the invisible things of God.

Out of the whirlwind] That is, out of a cloud whence issued a whirlwind or a storm, as a testimony of his heavenly majesty, and to procure attention. See the like #De 4:12 1Ki 19:11 Eze 1:4 Na 1:9 Heb 12:18. God loves to be acquainted with men in the walks of their obedience, yet he takes state upon him in his ordinances, and will be trembled at in his word and judgments.

And said] With much more mildness and moderation than Elihu or any of them had used in reprehending Job, and yet with such plenty and efficacy of words and arguments, Ut facillime omnes omnium orationes superet, that no such oration can anywhere else be read. Well might Lavater say, Hoc postremum colloquium est admodum suave et utile, This conference of God with Job is very sweet and profitable; for it teacheth us, among other things, how gently God dealeth with his offending servants, and how hardly the best are brought to confess their sins, and truly to repent of them.

Ver. 2. Who is this that darkeneth counsel] Who is this that talketh thus? saith God, stepping forth, as it were, from behind the hangings; how now? What is to do here? Some ancients think it meant of Elihu; but Job is the man. See #Job 42:3, where he takes it to himself; and it may be God here pointed to him with a Quis est iste Iob?

That darkeneth counsel] My counsel, by misconstructions; his own, by rash and unskilful expressions; for which Elihu also rightly blamed him, and his other friends took great offence at him; who should rather have said, as Cruciger did of Luther, Eum commodius sentire quam loquitur, dum effervescit, that he thought not so ill as he spoke in his heat.

By words without knowledge] This is the worst that God chargeth Job with; words of folly and ignorance: not with malice, falsehood, blasphemy, &c. Counsel also he attributeth to him, though not wisely managed. If there be any good in us, he noteth and noticeth it; passing by our defects and failings; as when Sarah called her husband lord, she is much commended for it; though there was never another good word in all that sentence, #Ge 18:12 1Pe 3:6 Job 35:16.

Ver. 3. Gird up now thy loins like a man] As men did use to do when they went to fight, #1Ki 20:11. Stand to thy ward, and see to thyself; for I mean to assail thee and to try thy manhood. Plato hath observed, that the best fencers are the worst soldiers. Many can brave it beforehand, as that Thrasonical Gaal did, #Jud 9:29, who yet cannot look their enemy in the face with blood in their cheeks.

For I will demand of thee, and answer thou me] I will be thy opponent, since thou hast challenged me into the schools, as it were, and given me my choice, and prove thee with hard questions; whereunto if thou canst give no good answer, see thine own folly, and be satisfied.

Ver. 4. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?] q.d. Thou wast nowhere, a mere nonens; thou wast no companion or counsellor of mine; nay, not so much as an onlooker, for thou art but of yesterday. Thou understandest not the reason of this fair fabric; much less of my dark and deep counsels.

Declare, if thou hast understanding] Heb. if thou kuowest understanding. An irony, but friendly, and free from all bitterness; the better to convince Job of his folly and faultiness; for which end, also, multis eum interrogationibus onerat, God loadeth him with many deep questions, the least whereof he could not answer. (Mercer).

Ver. 5. Who hath laid the measures thereof] In that circumference and diameter that it holdeth?

If thou knowest] Or, For thou knowest; quandoquidem scitus es, a tart irony. Geometricians take upon them to know the various dimensions of the earth; and Archimedes boasted, that if he had but where to set his foot from off the earth he could shake the whole body of it. As also, that he could number all the sands that were in the whole world, habitable and inhabitable. But these were vain boasts.

Or who hath stretched the line upon it?] A metaphor from masons and other master builders, who work by line and by rule. Vitruvius in his 7th book saith thus, Longitudines ad regulam et lineam, altitudines ad perpendiculum, anguli ad normam respondentes exigantur.

Ver. 6. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fasttened?] Surely, upon nothing, but the word of God’s power. The philosophers dispute many things concerning the foundations of the earth but without any sound foundation of good reason. Some Jewish doctors make the mountains to be them; but these bear not up the earth, but the contrary. The Psalmist saith, that God hath founded the solid earth upon the liquid waters, #Ps 24:2, wherein appeareth the infinite wisdom and power of God the founder. Vitruvius saith, In solido extruendum, foundations must be laid in solid places. But God is not tied to rules; his works are in oppositis mediis, as was above noted.

Or who laid the corner-stone thereof] i.e. The centre, say some Jewish doctors, whither all heavy things are carried, and about which the whole world hangeth; the elements and heavenly orbs surrounding it in their motions. Others fetch this corner stone out of the middle of the sea. But all this discourse is metaphorical, to show the firmness of the work, wherein none had any hand but only the essential wisdom of God, #Pr 8:1, who did it with more ease than men can build a house.

Ver. 7. When the morning stars sang together] There is but one morning star properly so called, viz. Phosphorus, Lucifer, or Venus, the sun’s forerunner. But for their brightness, they are all called here stars of the morning, and said to sing together, as birds use to do at break of day; so did these in the morning of the creation, when first those heavenly torches began to shine, and joyfully to dance, as it were, in number and measure. This they do still in their kind, #Ps 19:1, beckoning also, as it were, to us to do the like, #Ps 145:3.

And all the sons of God shouted for joy?] i.e. All the angels, as #Job 1:6, meant also by those morning stars, as Piscator and others will have it. These being created, together with the highest heavens, on the first day (as it is probable, like as Christ’s soul was created in and with his body in the Virgin’s womb the same moment), were present at a great part of the creation, if not at all; and were rapt with admiration at the great wisdom and power of their Creator, singing, "Holy, holy, holy," &c. Shall the stars sing, the angels shout, and shall we be so dull? This was all they did at the creation. Note this against those who held that God made the superior creatures himself, but the inferior by his angels. A great hand they have, as God’s instruments, in governing the world, #Eze 1:5-7, &c., whence also they are called watchmen and keepers, #Da 4:13, but not any had they in making the world; for in that work God was alone, and by himself, #Isa 44:24.

Ver. 8. Or who shut up the sea with doors] i.e. With bounds and banks. The sea God shut up in the hollow parts of the earth, as in a great house, that the dry land, naturally overwhelmed thereby, might appear, and become fit, both to bear grain, grass, plants, &c., and to yield a habitation for men and beasts. Piscator thinks it is a metaphor from flood gates at mill ponds.

When it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb?] The sea is here set forth in lively colours, as an imcomprehensible work of God’s wisdom. Out of nothing God produced it at first, as an infant out of the mother’s womb. How great is God, then, to whom the great sea is but as a little infant? It brake out of the womb, when it was severed from the abyss; which lay covered with darkness, till the waters below were separated from those above, #Ge 1:10.

Ver. 9. When I made the cloud the garment thereof] When I clothed this new born child with a cloud, Elegans allegoria (Jun.); commanding the vapours which environ it to serve it for garments. Clouds are begotten of the waters, of the sea especially, and appear daily upon it.

And thick darkness a swaddling-band for it] This thick darkness is well interpreted to be those fogs and mists which arise upon the sea, and are between the clouds and the sea; as the swaddling bands between the upper garment and the child. Interim significat, saith Mercer here. Meanwhile here is signified, that God can as easily rule and repress the sea as the mother, or nurse, can her suckling when it is swathed up.

Ver. 10. And brake up for it my decreed place] That great house in the hollows of the earth, #Job 38:8, gathering it together by a perpetual and powerful decree, into that place and pit. Tremellius renderetb it, Quum diffregi pro eo terram decreto meo, When I brake up for it the earth by my decree. Others, And laid upon it nay statute; for shabhar signifieth also statuere, decernere, say they; but that is more than I know.

And set bars and doors] Vectes et valvas. See #Job 38:8. This is a work of God’s great power; and is therefore much instanced and insisted upon in Scripture, #Ps 109 Jer 5:22, &c. God could have put many other hard questions to Job about the sea; as, why it swelleth not by the inflowing of so many great rivers? why the waters of it are so salt? whence it is that it so ebbeth and floweth? &c. Aristotle showeth himself no very wise man in answering these questions; whom yet Averroes so madly admireth, that he saith there is no error at all to be found in him; and that his doctrine is the chiefest truth.

Ver. 11. And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further] This God commanded, and it is done. If the sea at any time break its bounds, and overflow countries (as in Holland, Zealand, and other parts it hath done), that is to declare the power of God, and his just anger against sin.

And here shall thy proud waves be stayed?] Canute commanded such a thing, but the sea regarded him not. Xerxes beat the sea, and cast a pair of fetters into it to make it his prisoner, but to no purpose. God here chides it by an elegant ellipsis or aposiopesis, Illic ponet (sc. ventus) elationem fluctuum tuorum, and it is quieted immediately, as #Jon 1:15 Mt 8:26 Think the same of the waters of afflictions.

Ver. 12. Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days] It may be thou wilt say, These are ancient things, done long before I was born; but ask me of things within my reach and remembrance. Well, then, what sayest thou to the sunrising? Hast thou either lengthened or hastened it at any time since thou wert born, causing it to rise at such or such an hour, in such or such a point of heaven, according to the various degrees and situations of the zodiac? No; this is more than ever any man could do. "The day is thine, the night also is thine," saith David: "thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter," #Ps 74:16,17. If all the emperors and potentates of the earth should conjoin their threes to hinder or hasten the rising of the sun, they could never do it. Joshua did indeed stop the course of the sun; but that was by the power of God set awork by his faithful prayer; whence one crieth out, O admirabilem piarum precum vim ac poteutiam, quibus etiam coelestia cedunt! Oh the admirable power of prayer, force of faith, which is such as the visible heavens are sensible of, and giveth way to! how then should earth or hell stand before it?

And caused the dayspring to know his place] The word dayspriug comes from blackness; for it is not ηως ηνοδακτυλος, clear light at first; but κροκοπεπλος, rather dark than light, Aurora sic a nigrore dicta qui eam comitatur.

Ver. 13. That it might take hold of the ends of the earth] That is, suddenly illighten the whole horizon; for which cause also David ascribeth wings to the morning, #Ps 139:9, so that the light is not a body, nor, as some will have it, a substance, but an accident. The truth is, no man can tell what it is of any certainty; an admirable creature it is, surely a divine and heavenly thing, than which nothing is more desirable, nothing more profitable. Two excellent uses of it are here set forth: 1. To refresh men by the sight of the earth, and the things thereon. 2. To set us upon serious employment, such as is the punishment of evil doers, for so some interpret those next words.

That the wicked might be shaken out of it?] sc. By banishment, or rather by death, inflicted upon them in the light, for their deeds of darkness. Or, at least, that those Lucifugae, tenebriones, those inauspicate night birds, who hate the light, because their works are evil, might be shamed and shunned. Their motto is, Iam lux inimica propinquat (Virg.). See #Job 24:13,17.

Ver. 14. It is turned as clay to the seal] That is, the earth, now discerned, by reason of the air enlightened. The sense is this, Like as clay in the lump, that hath no figure stamped upon it, is changed by a seal impressed, and receiveth the figure of the seal upon itself (Piscator); so the earth, which by night was without form by reason of darkness, when once the sun is up, is figured as it were; that is, it shows the several figures stamped upon it.

And they stand as a garment] All the several fruits, flowers, and various workmanship of God in her produced creatures that grow thereupon, appear as a stately garment or ornament on a man, #Mt 6:28,29, the sunbeams shining upon it as lace (Abbot).

Ver. 15. And from the wicked their light is withholden] They have no such joy of those comforts which the light afforded; but as it discovereth their dark practices, #Eph 5:13, so it bringeth them forth to condign punishment, Utpote indignos, qui hac luce fruantur.

And the high arm shall be broken] i.e. His strength, tyranny, and power, whereby he oppressed others as with an outstretched arm, lifted up to strike with violence, this shall be broken, as Moab’s was, #Jer 48, and as all the wicked’s shall be; but the Lord upholdeth the righteous, #Ps 37:17. It is well noted that this verse is an exposition of the latter part of #Job 38:13, as the former verse was of the former part. And well might Mercer say of this and the three following chapters, Sunt haec alta et insignia, et nonnulla difficilia, these are things high, and excellent, and something dark and difficult

Ver. 16. Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?] Heb. into the tears of the sea, Usque ad plorata maris, #Job 28:11; for springs pour out water as eyes do tears; and the same Hebrew word signifieth an eye and a spring; because, saith one, the eye is of a watery constitution; or to show that from it, as from a spring or fountain, did flow both sin itself, the cause of sin, and misery, the punishment of both: and because by it came the greatest hurt, therefore God hath placed in it the greatest tokens of sorrow: iisdem quibus videmus oculis flemus. Now, if Job cannot fathom the sea, much less can he the deep counsels of God.

Or hast thou walked in the search of the depth?] Et in vado voraginis ambulasti? No; that is God’s walk alone, #Ps 77:19, whatever the Papists’ legend of their St Christopher.

Ver. 17. Have the gates of death been opened unto thee] sc. That thou shouldest know when, how, and of what disease every man shall die; together with the state and condition of the dead.

Or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?] No, nor any man living hath ever seen those dark and dismal receptacles of the dead, called here the shadow of death; that is, so dreadful, that they were enough to strike a man dead.

Ver. 18. Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?] Heb. the breadths, i.e. the length also and circumference thereof. Geographers define the length of the earth from east to west, the breadth from north to south; and they have their suppurations and conjectures, Frigidae sunt et leves coniecturae (Mercer). Peucer and others tell us, that if there were a path made round the earth, an able footman might easily go it in 900 days. Which if he could, yet what mortal man, though he should live 900 years, could ever visit and view the whole face, nature, and dimension of the earth, wherein are so many deserts and bogs impassable? Or, what Job can give a reason why God made the earth of such a length and breadth, and no more, when he could so easily have done it? How much less can he of God’s secret and unsearchable judgments? and why should he so desire to know the cause wherefore he is afflicted?

Declare if thou knowest it all] Since a great part of it is uninhabited; and the sea surroundeth it as a girdle.

Ver. 19. Where is the way where light dwelleth?] These are poetic terms likewise; which signify, or mean nothing else, but that God alone, without any help or work of any man, appointed the various points of sunrising and sunsetting.

And as for darkness, where is the place thereof?] i.e. Little canst thou tell what is become of it, or where the sun setteth; by the absence whereof cometh darkness. The truth is, our reason is by original sin so darkened that we understand not these lesser and common matters. Those that are more high and hard we learn not but with much labour and long experience. As for the mysteries of God, and things pertaining to salvation, we cannot at all attain unto them by human reason, as is to be seen in Nicodemus, #Joh 3:9,10 1Co 2:14

Ver. 20. That thou shouldest take it to the bound thereof] That thou shouldest take light and darkness by the hand, as it were, and lead them to the place of their abode.

And that thou shouldest know the paths, &c.] That is, which way to go to bring them out of their retiring rooms; and to reduce them into our hemisphere.

Ver. 21. Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born?] Beza readeth it thus, These things, forsooth, thou knowest, because thou wast then born (viz. when I made them, and appointed what order and course they should keep), and the number of thy days is great, thou art very far grown in years, as having lived ever since the creation, Es annosissimus et antiquissimus, &c. Ironice omnia.

Ver. 22. Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow?] i.e. Into the clouds, where these meteors (whereof before, #Job 37) are engendered; and from whence God, when he pleases, bringeth such great store as if he had them treasured up by him for a long season. See the like said of the winds, #Ps 135:7, Quasi parata haberet horum penuaria. Gregory, allegorizing these words, showeth that earthly treasures are treasures of snow. We see little children what pains they take to rake and scrape together snow to make a snowball: right so they that scrape together the treasure of this world have but a snowball of it; as soon as the sun shineth, and God breatheth upon it, and so entereth into it, soon it cometh to nothing.

Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail?] Another metaphor from officers of the exchequer or public treasury; q.d. Hast thou the inspection or administration of these meteors?

Ver. 23. Which I have reserved against the time of trouble] Or, against the time of the enemy to punish him, as #Ex 9:24 Jos 10:11 Isa 30:30. By deep snows men are sometimes withered and destroyed; by violent hail stones and coals of fire. {as #Ps 18:13-15} What an overthrow was procured against the Quades by the prayers of the thundering legion, as they were afterwards called in the days of Aurelius the emperor! Ingens grando compluraque fulmina in hostes ceciderunt, Huge hail stones and many lightning bolts fell upon the enemy, saith the heathen historian (Dio in Vit. Ant. Phil.).

Against the day of battle and war?] When God is pleased to bring forth his upper and lower troops ready pressed, as the Rabbis phrase it.

Ver. 24. By what way is the light parted] sc. From the clouds by lightning, or from darkness by the sunrising? Knowest thou that? Or the cause of it? Nothing less. Something philosophers have to say here, but upon no great certainty.

Which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?] Eurus est ventus urens, exsiccans; the east wind hath its name in Hebrew from the sunrising; the Latins call it, Venture subsolanum, as that which usually followeth the rising sun; but whence it cometh, and whither it goeth, is more than Job or any other can tell.

Ver. 25. Who hath divided (or derived) a watercourse for the overflowing of waters] That is, the waterclouds, for the pouring out of rain, velut per canales et tubulos, as by pipes and conveyances, wheresoever God pleaseth, men being amazed at those miracles of nature; is it not the Lord alone? He it is who divideth the deluge of waters; as it were, draining them into certain furrows which would otherwise fall down from heaven all at once, and make great spoil here below.

Or a way for the lightning of thunder] Nimbo sonoro, saith Tremellius. See #Job 28:6. {See Trapp on "Job 28:6"}

Ver. 26. To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is] But wild beasts only. These also are God’s creatures, and he provideth food for them. How much more will he do so for us, though small faiths.

In the wilderness, wherein there is no man] Repetitio ad varietatem et elegantiam, as also to show the certainty of the thing.

Ver. 27. To satisfy the desolate and waste ground] The waste and waste ground, saith Broughton elegantly; and the Hebrew sounds alike.

And to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth] For the use of wild creatures, whereof there are great store in the desert of Arabia, not far from Job; for the which, and the rest of his living creatures, this great housekeeper of the world provideth food suitable to their several appetites.

Ver. 28. Hath the rain a father?] Subaudi, praeter me? saith Vatablus. Hath it any father but me? Can any of the heathen deities give rain? Or can the heavens give showers? "Art not thou he, O Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things," #Jer 14:22.

Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?] Those round orient pearls, that, falling from heaven in a clear night, do sweetly refresh whatsoever groweth in fields and meadows. The natural causes hereof and of rain are known, but we must rise higher to God, the first Author and Father of these and other things, before and after mentioned, who bringeth them out of his treasuries, and doth wonderfully both make and manage them. It is remarkable that Christ saith, #Ho 14:5, "I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily," &c. {See Trapp on "Ho 14:5"} Christ is unto them as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest, #Isa 18:4 making their hearts to be as so many watered gardens, #Jer 31:12.

Ver. 29. Out of whose womb came the ice] Indeed of ice and water is said in a sense,

Mater me genuit: eadem mox gignitur ex me.

But these creatures are not produced by causes which are constant and invariable in nature, as human generation is, but they proceed from God’s pure and simple free will.

And the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it?] Out of the heaven, that is, out of the lower region of the air, cometh the matter of it, but God maketh it. Naturalists say that the hoar frost is a vapour congealed by a cold wind in cold places of the lower region of the air; as in winter we see the breath that cometh out of the mouth to congeal and hang upon the beard and hairs. This hoar frost is answerable in the counter point to the dew, but lasteth much longer.

Ver. 30. The waters are hid as with a stone] This is a further description of ice, which is hard as a stone and clear as crystal; so great is the force of frost; how much more, then, of God to do whatsoever he pleaseth.

And the face of the deep is frozen] Some deep rivers are ice to the bottom, so that loaden carts are driven over, fires made upon them, meat dressed, &c., as was here upon the Thames in the great frost, some forty-five years since, Quae aquae magno et diuturno frigore congelescunt, velut per 10 vel 20 annos continuos appellantur crystallus, velut in Alpibus. Yea, some seas are frozen over (Juvenal speaks of the icy ocean, et glacialem Oceanum) in the northern part of the world, the ice thereof, when once thawed, floateth in the waters like huge mountains, as in Greenland.

Ver. 31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades] That is, restrain the pleasantness of the spring, or assuage the sharpness of winter, that cold and comfortless quarter? There is none beside God who can either forbid flowers to break forth in the springtime or else cause them to flourish in winter. The Pleiades (otherwise called Virgiliae and the hens, a verni temporis significatione) are the seven stars in the end of Aries. They are in Hebrew called Chimah, or Chamah, to love ardently, because of the fellowship and working together that appeareth in them. They have all one name, because they all help one another in the work, which is to bring the spring; and like seven sisters or lovers, so are they joined together in one constellation, and in one company. We see, saith one, that God will have the sweetest works in nature to be perfected by mutual help. The best time of the year cometh with these Pleiades, and the best time of our life cometh when we enter into true love and fellowship.

Or loose the bands of Orion?] Which is a constellation which arises in the beginning of winter, and draweth foul weather after him as with bands; these can no man loose, for winter never rotteth in the air (as the proverb hath it), nor is it fit it should, for it is of very great use for mellowing of the earth, killing of worms and weeds, &c. Neither can the spring come kindly till Orion have prepared the way, Nimbosus Orion (Virg.), παρα το ορινειν, turbare et concitare. God will have us suffer before we reign. The word Chesil here used signifieth in the Chaldee to perfect; because, saith one, by suffering and offering violence to ourselves we enter into perfection, #Lu 13:32. If we would have a pleasant spring of grace in our hearts we must first have a nipping winter. The spirit of mortification must be like the cold constellation of Orion, to nip our quick motions in the head, and to bind all our unclean desires and burning lusts, that they stir not in us; and unless we do thus the delights of Pleiades, or the seven stars of comfort, shall never appear to us.

Ver. 32. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth?] Or, the twelve signs; or the southern stars that bring in summer. Lucifer, some render it; others, the Hyades, and others again every one of the stars or signs. It is like it was some one star very well known in those days, as were likewise the rest here mentioned, and put for the four seasons of the year.

Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?] Or, Bootes with his wain (those northern stars), or, Autumn with the yearly fruits, the gift and work of God alone. Of Arcturus, Jerome observeth, that semper versatur, nunquam mergitur; this is most true of Christ’s Church, much tossed, never drowned.

Ver. 33. Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?] Either how to order them, as master over them, or to comprehend what they are certainly and perfectly.

Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?] As well in regard to the motion of the heavens, which varieth the seasons of the year, as of the influences and virtue which cometh from thence. For they who think that the superior bodies have no power at all upon these inferior do go against common sense and experience, yea, this and many other texts of Scriptures; which yet make nothing at all for that judiciary astrology so much cried up in these last and worst days of the world, by some who would have the manners, studies, and events of every man to depend upon the stars, yea, the rise and ruin of kingdoms, arts, religion, &c.

Ver. 34. Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds?] Thy commanding voice, as #Nu 9:23. Some render it, Thy thunder. Will the clouds obey thee, and rain upon thee at thy pleasure? Something thou mayest get by thy prayers, as Elias did, #Jas 5:17, and the thundering legion in the ecclesiastical history, but nothing by command or compulsion. The monarch of Mexico is a mad man to take an oath at his coronation, that it shall be what weather soever he pleaseth all the time of his reign (Lopez de Gomara).

Ver. 35. Canst thou send lightnings?] Nunquid emittes. Canst thou send forth lightnings and thunder bolts, as hurtful creatures, out of the cave wherein they are kept? or as so many soldiers or servants, to do as thou commandest them? The poets feign that Mercury had once a mind to steal Jupiter’s thunder bolts, but durst not, lest they should burn his fingers. Histories tell us of a king of Egypt, and of Caligula, the Roman emperor, that they attempted to thunder and lighten, but with very ill success. Job is here told that that is too hard a work for any creature to do, Admirari duntaxat potest, efficere non potest (Brent.).

Ver. 36. Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts?] Hitherto God hath set forth his own admirable power, wisdom, and providence in making and governing the lifeless creatures, the meteors especially. Now he comes to declare the same in things endued with life; and first with man, his masterpiece: Who hath given him wisdom (saith God) in the inward parts, or reins? where the reasonable soul sitteth and sovereigneth. The Hebrews say, That the heart understandeth, and the reins deliberate. They have their name here from plastering over, or covering, because they are overly covered with fat and flesh; howbeit the Lord trieth them, #Jer 17:10; and hath given wisdom to man to moderate his affections and concupiscences which are here seated, and to get truth into these inward parts, #Ps 51:6, that this hidden man of the heart may be highly accepted in heaven, #1Pe 3:4.

Or who hath given understanding to the heart?] To the cock, saith the Vulgate Latin, after the Talmudists and Jewish doctors; who teach their disciples whensoever they hear the cock crow by night to say this benediction, The Lord be praised, who giveth understanding to the cock; sc. to awaken men, and to announce day. The Septuagint render it, Who hath given to women skill to weave and art to embroider? But they do best that take the word (though found only in this place) for the heart, as that wherein are painted and imprinted the imaginations and representations of things, as the word seemeth to import, Mens quasi imaginatrix et figuratrix dicta quod omnia pervideat et cognoscat.

Ver. 37. Who can number the clouds in wisdom?] Quis sapphirinas efficit nubes? Who can make the clouds like sapphire, that is bright and clear? so some read it. Others, Who can declare the clouds? sc. their number, nature, and uses?

Or who can stay the bottles of heaven?] i.e. The clouds, fitly compared to bottles, as those vessels that hold the rain, and pour it out on the earth, when God pleaseth to turn the mouths of those bottles downward. This is a great miracle, saith Lavater, that whereas water is fluid, and beareth downward, yet it abideth in the lofty and soft air, nor can fall but where and when God appointeth.

Ver. 38. When the dust groweth into hardness, &c.] When the ground hath had its fill, so that the light dust is turned into lumps of earth, and that which was tossed with every wind is clodded and glued together by water into a heavy substance, Hic enim simplex est et nativus huius loci sensus, saith Merlin. Danaeus in discoursing about stones, how they are made of earth, saith that this text is a compendium of all the large discourses of the natural philosophers concerning that subject.

Ver. 39. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion?] Heb. For the old lion, as #Ne 2:9, that cannot hunt for himself. Prey he must have, as being a very ravenous creature; but wilt thou provide it for him? With what great charge do princes maintain a few lions! But God maintaineth all, and all other creatures, #Ps 104:27,28 145:15, putting it into the young lions to provide prey for the old; and causing these creatures to keep for most parts in the deserts, where they feed upon camels, and such as they can light upon. Plin. et Aristot. scribunt, Leones multa solida sine dissectu devorare. Ammianus Marcellinus writeth, that in Chaldea there are a huge number of lions, which were like enough to devour up both men and beasts throughout the country. But in addition he saith, that by reason of the store of water and mud thereof there breed yearly an innumerable company of gnats, whose property is to fly into the eye of the lion, as being a bright and orient thing, where, biting and stinging the lion, he teareth so fiercely with his claws, that he puts out his own eyes; and by that means many are drowned in the rivers, others starve for want of prey, and many the more easily killed by the inhabitants.

Or fill the appetite of the young lions] Which is very greedy and insatiate. Some render it, Catervam, the troop or company of young lions. But God in mercy to mankind hath so disposed it, that as devouring creatures are more rare (the lioness seldom brings forth more than one in all her life), so they go not often by troops, but range alone seeking their prey.

Ver. 40. When they couch in their dens, &c.] When both by might and sleight they provide for themselves. Hunters with all their pains and means cannot catch a beast as soon as the lion can. An ape he hateth in a special manner, as being too crafty for him; and yet he feareth man (although as the poet Ennius saith),

Simia quam similis furpissima bestia nobis,

whereof no other probable reason can be given, but the small remnant of God’s image left as yet in man, who once had dominion over all the creatures, and is still feared by the fiercest of them.

And abide in the covert to lie in wait?] Where they crouch, counterfeit themselves asleep, lie quiet and close, as cats that would catch mice, or foxes birds. But if this way they speed not, Basil saith they set up a loud roar, whereby the beasts are so amazed, that they have no power to stir out of the place they stand in, till the lions have taken them.

Ver. 41. Who provideth for the raven his food?] Though the raven be a most vile creature, and hated almost of all: in some places there is a reward appointed for those that shall kill them up. Though an unclean creature, and therefore abominable, #Le 11:13,15. Though unmerciful to her own, and pitiless to other birds, though an inauspicate creature, a sign both of man’s punishment and God’s curse, #Isa 34:11. Though he crieth with a hoarse and harsh voice (whence also he hath derived the origin of his name), and so unfit to move pity; yet God provideth food for him. What then will he do for his faithful servants? #Mt 6:26, where our Saviour fetcheth not an example from the Israelites miraculously fed in the wilderness, or Elijah in the desert, but from fowls of the air; and among them, not from eagles, hawks, nightingales, but ravens, &c. "Consider the ravens," #Lu 12:24, Corvus incubat 20 diebus, et pullos nido expellit (Plin. Arist.).

When his young ones cry to God] Though by implication only they cry, and not directly: being forsaken by the old ones, and left bare, they are fed by God with flies and worms bred in the nest out of their excrements; till, able to fly, and leave the nest, they wander for lack of meat to take it wherever they can meet with it.

Chapter 39

Ver. 1. Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?] The history of the living creatures is of singular use we see to set forth the goodness, power, wisdom, and other of God’s attributes clearly shining in them. And therefore they have very well deserved all sorts who have put forth such histories and discourses; as Aristotle, Aelian, Pliny, Gesner, Aldobrandinus, &c., of whom I may say, as once Eneas Sylvius (afterwards Pope Plus II.) did of learning in general, that popular men should esteem them as silver, noblemen as gold, princes as pearls; and not so slenderly reward them as Pope Sixtus did Theodorus Gaza (who translated and dedicated unto him Aristotle, De Natura Animalium), paying him only for the rich binding and bossing forty crowns; but bountifully encourage them, as Great Alexander did his master Aristotle for that same work; he gave him, saith the history, eight hundred talents, which is four hundred and fourscore thousand crowns (Job. Manl. loc. com. 572). The pleasure of reading such authors is not so great as the profit; for thereby we may attain to the knowledge of God, and of ourselves; of his will, and our duties. Hence we are sent to school to the unreasonable creatures, even the most contemptible, as the pismire, #Pr 6:6. And Basil, writing to one that was proud of his knowledge, propoundeth unto him divers questions concerning this same pismire, as, namely, how many feet he hath? whether he hath entrails, such as kidneys, liver, heart, veins, nerves, as other living creatures do? &c. Similarly, God here, to humble Job, and to convince him of his meanness, asketh him whether he knoweth the wild goats and hinds, with the time of their bringing forth young, the means and the manner? &c. And whether these things were done by his ordination and vigilance? Many admirable things are written of these wild goats; as what cold places they live in, what inaccessible rocks, how strangely there they hang, what huge leaps they fetch; but especially about their bringing forth, how by a natural sagacity they help themselves, both before and after, by biting upon certain herbs that are helpful to them in that case,

Pendentem summa capream de rupe videbis

Casuram speres, decipit illa canes (Mart.).

These things and many more such may be read about in Pliny’s Natural History; of which book Erasmus well saith, that it is a store house, or rather a world full of things most worthy to be read. So are not the Jewish expositors, who tell us many strange things here concerning these creatures, quae commentitia esse puto, which I take to be mere fictions, saith learned Mercer; and I to be trifles and old wives’ fables, saith Lavater, to the belief whereof they are justly given up by God for their rejection of Christ, the light of the world. We grant that the whole world is full of miracles, though for the commonness of them they are little noted, or noticed. But should these men think to help the truth by their lies? Should they speak wickedly for God, and talk deceitfully for him?

Or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?] Which they do not without a great deal of pain (as the Hebrew word importeth), no creature the like, unless it be woman. God sometimes frighteth them by his thunder, and so furthereth their delivery, #Ps 29:9, while they struggle with many griefs, and to give life to their calves, are in danger of losing their own. Now, if God help the hinds in this case, will he be wanting to his labouring daughters? Let them send for Lady Faith to be their midwife; and all shall go well. She hath delivered graves of their dead, #Heb 11:35. How much more then will she them of their quick births, yea, though they carry death in their bowels!

Ver. 2. Canst thou number the months they fulfil?] Eight months, Aristotle saith (the elephant is said to go above eight years), but who can tell the instant when, or why not sooner or later? Dost thou exactly observe and count those months, as I do, to a moment? Sola hic Deo providentia elucet.

Ver. 3. They bow themselves] sc. By an instinct of nature, whether it be the pain they suffer, which compelleth them to it, or the fear of hurting their calves, which obligeth them to it.

They bring forth their young] Diffindunt: fissa sc. et aperta tandem matrice; they bring forth with a great deal of difficulty, to the crushing of their young, which yet escape and grow up. Let good women learn, sperare a Deo faciles et faelices partus, to trust in God for a happy delivery, though it go hard with them, sometimes to the making of some Medea say, Millies in acie mori mallem quam semel parere, I had rather a thousand times die in battle than bring forth one child (Eurip.).

They cast out their sorrows] Tormina, their throes, and therewith their young, by the benefit of the herbs Arus and Seselis, which they feed upon, for the better bringing away of their gleanings, as they call the involucrum, that wrappeth the young in the matrix (Arist. Hist. Anim. lib. 8, cap. 5; Plin. lib. 8, cap. 31). The Vulgate hath it, They utter roarings; they cast forth cries which are as terrible as the roarings of lionesses. Stato partus tempore valvae dehiscunt quae a partu mox occluduntur; id quod fieri videmus, inquit Galenus, sed quomodo fiat, admirari tantum possumus. Avicenna vocat opus supra mirabilia omnia, mirabile. Sed miracula assiduitate vilescunt. If a man should be born but once in a hundred years, all the world would stand amazed at such a miracle.

Ver. 4. Their young ones are in good liking] Or, they recover; revalescent {begin to grow well}, as #Isa 58:14, notwithstanding the hardness of their birth, by reason of their dam’s exceeding dry temperature, #Ps 42:1. As the hind brayeth after the water brooks, as being naturally hot and dry, when in pain especially; and this the young are sensible of in their coming into the world, which yet they soon recover and grow sleek and fat, η ελαφος (Sept.). Let God be trusted for the welfare of our children, though weak and wearish when newly born, and hard put to it in the birth.

They grow up with corn] Or, in the field; after that they have been nourished a while with their dam’s milk, they forage for themselves; being calved about autumn, as Aristotle noteth, that is, in seed time; others say, about harvest, when grain is in the field, and God’s great barn door open, as the proverb is. This is here brought as an argument for the Divine providence.

They go forth, and return not unto them] That is, to their dams; as finding food enough abroad. Thus other creatures, as soon as they are born almost, can shift for themselves; only poor shiftless man is long ere he can do anything, or comes to any proof, to be able to provide for himself.

Ver. 5. Who hath sent out the wild ass free?] ארפ Phere, ferum animal (so Tremellius rendereth it), the wild creature. And it is not unlikely that the Latin word fera comes from this Hebrew word for a wild ass; which is a most untameable and untractable creature, Eo quod onager feritate antecellit (Piscat.). "Every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed by mankind," #Jas 3:7. We read of Augustus Caesar that he had a tame tiger, but who ever heard of a wild ass tamed? Africa is said to have whole herds of them; and it is reported, that when they see a man they stand stock still, and kick with their hinder feet, braying aloud. And when the hunter comes so near to them that he could touch them almost, they snuff up the wind, kick up their heels, and run quite away; so nimble they are, that they can hardly be taken, much less tamed? To the colt of this wild creature is a natural man compared by Zophar, #Job 11:12, for his extreme rudeness and unruliness. The prophet Jeremiah hath the like of the idolaters of his time, #Jer 2:24, who were lawless and lewd losels, obstinate, and refractory; such as multo facilius fregeris quam flexeris, will sooner break than bend: with these froward God will wrestle, #Ps 18:26; with these antipodes God will walk contrary, #Le 26:41, and be as cross as they are for the hearts of them. His law hath four teeth to taw and tame these masterless monsters: viz. 1. Irritation, #Ro 7:7 2. Induration, #Isa 6:10 3. Obsignation, #Ge 4:7

4. Execration, #De 28:16,17, &c. Obeyed he will be of them, either actively or passively; and sanctified he will be, either by them or upon them, #Le 10:3. Wild asses are free from men; but so are not wild Ishmaelites from God. Who hath ever loosed the bands of the wild ass? but God will hamper his rebels, and certainly subdue them; all his foes shall become his footstool. Be instructed therefore, O Jerusalem, #Jer 6:8. Be not as horse and mule that have no understanding, &c., for many sorrows shall be to such wicked, #Ps 32:9,10, and it is too hard for them to kick against the pricks, #Ac 9:5, to push back upon the goad, as untamed heifers use to do, but to their further sorrow and sufferance.

Ver. 6. Whose house I have made the wilderness] That of Arabia especially near unto Job, where were whole droves of these wild asses. There are a sort of them also in Plara, one of the islands of the Aegean Sea. Hermits and anchorites seem to affect the same liberty; but where did God ever grant it them? Man is Ζωον πολιτικον, saith Aristotle, Nature’s good fellow, as one Englisheth him; and no sooner had the Philippians received the gospel but they were in fellowship to a day, #Php 1:5. The communion of saints is as well a point of Christian practice as an article of Christian belief; and they have much to answer for who sty up themselves, and forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; these are in the ready way to utter apostasy, #Heb 10:25,39. He is not like to walk long who affecteth to walk alone. Two are better than one; and why, see #Ec 4:9,11,12, with the notes.

And the barren land his dwellings] Heb. The salt place, that is, barren as if it had been sowen with salt, #Jud 9:45 Ps 107:33,34. Salt is taken in Scripture to be both a cause and sign of barrenness, #De 29:23 Zep 2:9, though among us there are some kind of soils, they say, that are manured with salt, and thereby made fruitful; but in those hot and dry countries it was otherwise. In these barren places God provideth for the wild ass; and although he hath there but little food, yet he is lusty and nimble, and sayeth himself both from the hunter and from the ravage of other fierce and savage creatures, by his strength and swiftness. Xenophon telleth us, That Cyrus passing through the wilderness of Arabia, with his horsemen, there were many of these wild asses (Cyropaed. l. 3); who, being stirred, ran so swiftly away, that some horsemen following could not come near them; then standing still; but when the horsemen approached they fell again running as before, thus deluding them. Haec igitur bestia non mediocre mirabilis Dei potentiae vestigium est, saith Brentius. In this beast, therefore, there is much of God’s great power and providence to be seen. And from hence also we may gather, saith another interpreter, that a little is enough to sustain men in the wilderness of this world. As the children of Israel also were here sustained, having nothing to eat but what God sent them down from heaven from day to day, forty years together. Nature is content with a little, grace with less.

Ver. 7. He scorneth the multitude of the city] Heb. He laugheth. Insignis metaphora. He would scorn to be set to work, as the tame ass is. Asinum oneramus et non curat, quia asinus est, saith Bernard, We load the ass, and he taketh it well for worth, because he is an ass. But the wild ass will not take so; he is not a beast born to bear burdens as the other. He is not tardum et pigrum animal as the other, a dull and slow creature; for which cause also, saith Bellarmine, God would none of him, #Ex 13:13 34:20. Christ so far hateth dulness, that he bade Judas the traitor what he did do quickly. The wild ass is very swift, and fed by God’s providence in the wilderness; scorning the multitude, or the hurrying noises of the city.

Neither regardeth he the crying of the driver] Heb. of the exactor, who rateth and rageth against the tame ass with words and blows, to hasten him to his work, and to bring him this way and that way. Oppressive princes do the like to their poor subjects (the king of France is called, Rex asinorum), which sometimes maketh them turn wild, and shake off subjection; as the Jews did that to the Romans, choosing rather to suffer the most exquisite torments than to be enslaved (Joseph. l. xviii. c. 2). But what a mad conceit was that of Martin Stembach, a Dutch sectary, A. D. 1566, who would needs correct the Lord’s Prayer, Stultam et inefficacem asserens orationem in qua interiectione o uteremur; non secus enim hac exclamandi formula divinam gratiam impediri, quam asinarii, asinorum impetum hoc adverbio? (Lonicer. ex Theatre Vitro).

Ver. 8. The range of the mountains is his pasture] There he keeps, probably, for fear of lions and other fierce creatures; and there he finds food and forage, such as doth not only appease his hunger, but excite his appetite; as if he were in some fat pasture.

And he searcheth out every green thing] Speeding better in his search than those asses of Hetruria, which, feeding upon green hemlock, are thereby laid for dead for three days; till half hileded by the countrymen, who take them for dead, they start up, and with a horrible noise run away in that pickle.

Ver. 9. Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee?] The rhinoceros, saith the Vulgate: but that is another kind of beast, so called from the growing of his horn from his nose ( Naricornis). This is the monoceros or unicorn, which cannot be taken alive ( interimi potest, capi non potest), as the rhinoceros may. A very fierce and strong creature it is; and today very rare, but anciently more common. He hath one horn only (and not many, as R. Levi by a mistake would infer from #De 33:17), that greweth in the middle of his forehead; and that he lifted up on high; whence also be hath his name in the Hebrew. He is described in Scripture, 1. By this high lifting up of his horn, #Ps 92:10 2. By his strength, #Nu 23:22

3. From his untameable fierceness here. Pliny calleth him a Licorn. Vertomannus saith he saw two of them. Scaliger saith he had seen the horn of a unicorn, a special antidote against poison. But some deny that there is any such creature; because if he had a horn so placed, and of such a length as is affirmed, he could not graze; and besides, it appeareth not certainly that ever any man saw such a creature. Aelian saith that there are a sort of wild asses in India of the size of a horse, that have one horn in the midst of their foreheads in length a cubit and a half; and so sharp, that therewith he pierceth through the hardest things. Some conceive that by the beast here mentioned is meant the wild bull, here opposed to the tame ox, and elsewhere joined to oxen, #De 33:17 Isa 34:6. Whatever it is, it will not be brought to do man service, though fitted by stature and strength to do much; but lives at liberty, and is provided for by God.

Or abide by the crib?] Heb. lie all night there, as oxen do, ready for service next morning? I think not.

Ver. 10. Canst thou bind the unicorn? &c.] To keep him in order, and to hold him hard to his work, that he may lay the furrows even? Canst thou tether or gear him, like a horse? Or wilt he be brought to drive or lead a plough or harrow? No such matter. Before the Fall all creatures would gladly have served man. Sed rebellis facta est, quia homo numini, creatura homini (August.).

Ver. 11. Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great?] Of the unicorn’s strength Balaam speaketh, #Nu 23:22. The Hebrew word signifieth such lustiness, courage, and prowess, as whereby one endureth labour without weariness or fainting. Such strength is required in ploughmen, whose work is never at an end; and hard fallow must have a strong team. But the unicorn will never fadge nor frame to such an employment. Free God hath made him; and rather than part with his freedom he will part with his life. Let men learn to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free, #Ga 5:1, and not be again entangled (as oxen tied to the yoke) with the yoke of spiritual bondage, worse than the Egyptian servitude.

Ver. 12. Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed] That is, the crop that comes of thy seed; as in the former verse, thy labour, that is, the fruit of thy labour, as #Ps 128:2. There is no trusting to this wild and fierce creature to do any such thing. Vertoman saith, that he saw two unicorns, and that they were not of so fierce a nature but that they might be brought to somewhat. But then they were not true unicorns, say we; such as God here describeth.

And gather it into thy barn?] No trusting to the unicorn’s gentleness for any such matter, unless we desire to be deceived.

Ver. 13. Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks?] Alam exultandam, the wings and tail to the peacock, wherein he so prideth himself and taketh such pleasure, being all in changeable colours. So are some great promises (the peacock here hath his name from his loud and shrill voice), as often changed as moved. A beautiful bird it is, and preciously clothed by God. They were wont to say here, that peacocks, hops, and heresy came first into England in one and the same ship. They say, he most of all spreads his fair tail when he is most beheld by men, and praised. His feathers are good for little else but only to please children. But that he pulleth down his fair plumes, and setteth up his harsh note, when he looketh down upon his ill favoured feet, is an old wive’s tale; let those who wish to believe it.

Or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?] And so by a synecdoche, to all other fowls of the air; in the admirable variety of whose colours, tunes, and tastes, #1Co 15:39, much of God’s power and wisdom, yea, of his goodness also, may be seen; and therefore the loss of these creatures (good for food, for physique, and for delight, as the companions of our lives) is threatened as a judgment, #Jer 4:25 9:10. Some for the ostrich render the stork, and some a night bird of an ill note; but the following description agreeth best with the bustard or ostrich, which is between a beast and a fowl, having so thin feathers and so heavy a body that be cannot fly, but only lifteth up his wings, and runneth very swiftly. Aelian saith, that he is almost as big as a camel, being, therefore, called Struthio-camelus. Pliny saith that he is higher than a horseman on horseback, and can outrun him; but is so foolish, that being pursued, if he can hide his head only in some hole or thicket, and can see nobody, he thinks himself safe, and that nobody seeth him; though his great bulk be all in sight, Cum interim tota corporis mole promineat. Other effects of his folly follow in the next words.

Ver. 14. Which leaveth her eggs in the earth] Some say that she layeth 80 eggs, and having a faculty of discerning which of them will prove ostriches, and which will come to nothing; she leaveth some of them upon the sand, and upon other some sitteth and hatcheth them. But this appeareth to be a fiction, because another and a better reason of her leaving her eggs is here alleged; and the power and providence of God giving them life by the heat of the sun, evidenced and evinced.

And warmeth them in the dust] Julius Scaliger reporteth the like of a certain crested bird of the size of a hen, found in Catigan, an island in the sea Sur; which sitteth not upon her eggs, but burieth them two feet deep in the sand; whence they are hatched by the sun and hot sands; and this, say some, in very hot countries is not unusual.

Ver. 15. And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them] This brutish and blockish bird forgetteth, that is, she never considereth, what may befall her eggs, left so carelessly. Other fowl set their nests aloft and out of harm’s way; not so this foolish and careless creature, who hath neither affection to preserve them nor fear to lose them.

Ver. 16. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers] Heb. her sons. So are those peremptores potius quam parentes, as Bernard calleth them, rather parricides than parents, who look not to the precious souls of their poor children; who labour not to mend that by education which they have marred by propagation. These are worse than those daughters of Jerusalem, who, slain almost with grief and hunger, became cruel to their sucklings, like the ostriches of the wilderness, #La 4:3. What a cruel mother was Medea! and the mother of King Edward, the martyr, whom she basely murdered; and when his brother Egelred (who succeeded him in the kingdom), being then but ten years old, mourned thereat, his mother was so enraged, that taking wax candles, which were readiest at hand, she therewith scourged him so sore, that he could never after endure wax candles to be burnt before him (Mr Clark’s Martyrol. fol. 31). But this cruelty was nothing to that of soul murder, whereof many parents, by their negligence at least, are deeply guilty; they bring forth children to that old manslayer, and so their labour (in bearing and breeding children) is in vain, and worse, without fear, for they will not be better advised nor affected.

Ver. 17. Because God hath deprived her of wisdom] That is, of such forecast to provide for her young ones by a natural instinct, as other fowls and beasts have, Struthionis astorgia declaratur e causis duabus, vacuitate metus et vacuitate intellectus. God’s mercy to men appeareth, 1. In giving us wisdom beyond them, #Job 35:11 2. In giving us power over them, #Ps 8:6-8; and 3. In learning us so much by them in those many Scripture comparisons, #Pr 7:23 26:2 27:8 Mt 8:26. That is a sweet place, #Isa 31:5, "As birds flying" (sc. to save their young), "so will the Lord defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it." The fowls of the air are and may be unto us examples and monitors of many virtues to be embraced and vices to be eschewed. In the ostrich, for instance, we may see that strength and size of body is not always accompanied with wisdom and understanding; that it is God who either giveth or denieth wisdom to his creatures; that natural affection is of him; that he gives not all things to one man, but diversely distributeth his gifts. The ostrich hath wings, but not to fly with.

Ουτως ου παντεσσι θεοι χαριεντα διδουσιν

‘Ανδρασι.— Non omnia possumus omnes.

Ver. 18. What time she lifteth up herself on high, &c.] That is, when she runneth away from the hunter (which she doth with singular swiftness), she lifteth up herself on high, not from the earth, as other birds (for that she cannot do), but on the earth, with wings stretched out like sails, and her whole body bolt upright, scarce touching the earth at all with her feet, but quickening her own pace with sharp spurs, which they say she hath in the pinion of each wing, so pricking herself on, that she may run the faster; to teach us what we should do in the race of religion, and when pursued by Satan, how to hasten to Christ.

She scorneth the horse and his rider] That is, she easily outrnns them, being as swift as a bird that flieth. They say the Arabians are wont to try their horses’ swiftness by trying to overtake them.

Ver. 19. Hast thou given the horse strength?] Having mentioned the horse, he comes next to show his nature; and here we have a most elegant description of a generous horse, such as Dubartas maketh Cain to manage, and as the Greeks call φρυσγματιαν, fremebundum.

-Quod siqua sonum procul arms dedere

Stare loco nescit, micat auribus, et tremit artus;

Collectumque premens volvit sub naribus ignem

(Virg. Georg.).

In this creature therefore we have a clear instance of the wonderful power and wisdom of God. If the horse be so strong and warlike, what is the Almighty, that man of war? #Ex 15:3, and victor in battle, as the Chaldee there calleth him? This is one way whereby we may conceive of God, sc. per viam eminentiae, for if there be such and such excellence in the creature, what is there in the Creator, since all that is in us is but a spark of his fame, a drop of his ocean? How then wilt thou, O Job, dare to contend with him, who art not able to stand before this creature of his? Wonderful things are reported concerning Bucephalus, and the horse of Julius Caesar, of Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, of the Sybarites’ war horses, Qui ad symphoniae cantum saltatione quadam movebantur (Pausan.). The Persians dedicated a horse to the sun, so did the idolatrous Israelites, #2Ki 23:11, as the swiftest creature to the swiftest God. Very serviceable he is for drawing and carrying, but especially in battle, whereof only here, De equis militaribus et cataphractis; of war horses, the use whereof appeareth to be very ancient, even in Job’s days. The Israelites made little or no use of them in the conquest of Canaan; but their enemies there did, and Pharaoh before them, #Ex 14:6-10 Let it be held that "a horse is a vain thing for safety, neither shall he deliver any by his great strength," #Ps 33:17. The Jews are sharply reproved and heavily threatened for trusting to the horses of Egypt, #Isa 31:1; Θεος ουκ εστι φιλιππος (Plut. in Numa).

Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?] That is, with neighing and snorting, answerable to his strength, and which soundeth terribly from within his neck, till his very eyes sparkle, as if he did both thunder and lighten. The apostles and other ministers of God are called Christ’s white horses, #Re 6:1,2, upon which he rideth about the world, conquering and to conquer; horses, for their courage and constance, and white, for their purity of doctrine, discipline, and conversion: they thunder in their doctrine and lighten in their lives (as Nazianzen, saith Basil, did), to the subduing of souls to the obedience of faith.

Ver. 20. Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper?] Which soon flincheth and flieth with the least noise. But the horse is more like that formidable army of locusts described #Joe 2, that bare down all before them, and shook all places wherever they came.

The glory of his nostrils is terrible] Heb. Terrors; his snorting and sneezing strikes terror into people. The more wonderful is God’s goodness in subduing to weak man so lusty a creature, to be ridden and ruled at his pleasure. He trains him to the great saddle, and teacheth him to obey his hand and spur, to bound in the air, to observe his measures, to show that docility, dexterity, and vigour, which none but God hath given him, and be every way so serviceable and useful, both in war and peace. Joannes Bodin hath observed (Theat. Nat. 405), That whereas lions, wolves, and other ravenous creatures have a gall and choler, whereby they are easily stirred up to anger and revenge; not so horses, asses, camels, elephants, and other creatures made for man’s help; these have neither gall nor horns, wherein appeareth summa Opifieis sapientia, the great wisdom and goodness of the Creator.

Ver. 21. He paweth in the valley]

—— Cavatque

Tellurem, et solido graviter sonat ungula cornu.

Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum (Virg.).

Such is the impatience of his spirit, that he champs his bit and stamps with his feet; he pricks up his ears, and grows white with foam, and can hardly be held in till the enemy come, and would fain be in the battle; whither, when he comes, he runs upon the pikes, and undauntedly casts himself and his rider among the enemies’ squadrons. Quod summa mirum est, saith Mercer, which is a wonderful thing indeed; and it is no less wonderfully set forth by a most lively and lightsome hypotyposis, giving us to see, as it were, the horse rushing into the battle, and to hear him shearing and snorting with disdain and despite, bringing everywhere horror and disorder.

Ver. 22. He mocketh at fear, &c.] Heb. He laugheth, by an elegant prosopopoeia, {a} such as this Book is full of. Non vanes horret strepitus. He feareth no colours when once engaged in fight, but counts that a sport and play whereof others are afraid.

Neither turneth he back from the sword] Or any other offensive weapons; these cannot make him turn tail or recoil. He is never more furious than when he sees himself covered with blood.— Vires animosque a vulnere sumit; being wounded, he biteth and kicketh, and fighteth no less stoutly than the rider himself doth.

{a} A rhetorical figure by which an inanimate or abstract thing is represented as a person, or with personal characteristics: = personification

Ver. 23. The quiver rattleth against him] The arrow; those messengers of death come whisking and singing about his ears (so the bullets now in so much use), but he is unappalled by this.

The glittering spear] Heb. The flaming spear, as #Ge 3:24, that is, bright and clear, shining like a flame of fire, which must needs be terrible; but not at all to the war horse.

And the shield] Or rather javelin, lance, or the like; he feareth not a wood of pikeman set in array against him.

Ver. 24. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness] He runs over it as fast as if he did swallow it up at a draught, Terrain prae cursus celeritate, ebibare, et epotare videtur (Merc.). A hyperbolic metaphor.

With fierceness and rage] Or, With commotion or unquietness, In fremitu et commotione. There is an elegance in the original that cannot be interpreted in English.

Neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet] He is so overjoyed, when that sign is given, to begin the battle. Others, he cannot stand still when he hath once heard the sound of the trumpet.

Ver. 25. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha] Or, Euge. A note of rejoicing, which he seemeth to utter in his language: these are poetic terms.

He smelleth out the battle afar off] He knows that the onset is about to be given. Pliny writeth, That horses will perceive beforehand the very time of the fight, if it be but

By the thunder of the captains, and the shouting] The captains’ adhortations and the soldiers’ acclamations, &c. The Hebrew word signifieth the noise either of joy or sorrow: both are commonly heard in battles. "For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood," #Isa 9:5. The glory of all this that is said of the horse the Lord assumeth to himself; and yet the horse is not so courageous, but that he is as much afraid of and troubled at the sight of the stone Taraxippe (which therehence also hath its name) as the elephant is at the sight of a hog, and a lion of a cock, wherewith they have a natural antipathy, as naturalists tell us (Bodin. Theat. Nat. p. 407).

Ver. 26. Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom?] Or, Doth the hawk ( plumescere) get her feathers by thy wisdom? The word cometh from a root which signifieth strong, because the strength of fowls is in their wings, their delight in high flying. Hath the hawk her wings from thee? and doth she recruit and use them, artificio et auspicio, by thy art or industry? Tame them indeed men may, and bring them to hand, as falconers do, for pleasure more than for profit; but neither can they give them their wings nor repair them when broken.

And stretch her wings toward the south] Thereby to furnish herself with a second plumage, while she flieth into those hotter countries, where (as they say) her old feathers by the sun’s heat fall off, and new come in their room (Pennabit).

Ver. 27. Doth the eagle mount up at thy command?] Mount plumb up (which no bird else can do) to an infinite height, even out of sight; not without an eye still on her prey, which by this means she spies sooner, and seizeth upon better, #Mt 24:28. A fit emblem of a hypocrite, who seems to soar aloft, but it is for some self and sinister respect: he seeketh not the Lord Jesus Christ (as the sincere hearted do), but his own belly, #Ro 16:18.

And make her nest on high] Not in plains, but on lofty tops and inaccessible rocks, for the safety of her young ones. Of the nature of eagles, read Aristotle, De Nat. Animal. lib. 9, cap. 32, and Pliny, lib. 3, cap. 10. They tell us, that there is an enmity between the eagle and the serpent; and because the serpent seeketh to destroy the young eagles, she setteth her nest on high, to safeguard them. And if any man seek to rob her nest, she doubteth not to assault him with her wings and talons. Formidable she is to all birds save only the hawk, who is able to deal with her if he can but avoid the first shock.

Ver. 28. She dwelleth and abideth upon the rock, &c.] Which are counterscarfed and encompassed with precipices; there she makes her nest in the clefts and crags. The reason whereof see in the note on the verse before.

Upon the crag of the rock] She nestleth not upon the sand, as the ostrich doth, #Job 39:14. And in this so great difference of birds and other creatures is seen the wonderful power and providence of God.

Ver. 29. From thence she seeketh her prey] Besides fowls (whereof she is called the queen) she preyeth upon hares, hinds, foxes, and such other beasts as she can master. Hence that complaint of the hare,

In me omnis terraeque marisque aviumque ruina est (Martial).

And her eyes behold afar off] To a very great distance. She has sharp sight, and first sees her prey, and then seeks it. Her sight is so strong, that she can look intently into the body of the sun without being dazzled; and by that property makes proof of her young ones whether they be right or not. Those that cannot so behold the sun she drives out of the nest as spurious. Those that can she owneth, and beareth abroad with her open wings (as Munster noteth out of R. Solomon, Schol. in #De 32:11), that none can shoot them but through her body; and thereto Moses alludeth, #Ex 19:4.

Ver. 30. Her young ones also suck up blood] Heb. They are glutonous for blood. The Hebrew word, jegnalegna dam, seems to be made from the sound in sucking. The young eagles, not yet able to tear the prey brought unto them by the old one with their talons, suck the blood with their beak, and so are fleshed in blood betimes.

And where the slain are, there is she] This is true of all the kinds of eagles, but especially of the vulturine eagle, which is of a very sharp smell as well as sight, and, by a strange sagacity of nature, resorteth with her young ones to places of slaughter and bloodshed; she followeth armies and feedeth on carcases, which they can smell, say some naturalists, before the battle is fought. And can this be of any one but the Lord. Our Saviour alludeth to this text, #Mt 24:28, Where the carcase is, there will the eagles be also. {See Trapp on "Mt 24:28"}

Chapter 40

Ver. 1. Moreover the Lord answered Job, and said] Hic verisimile est aliquantisper Deum tacuisse, saith Mercer. Here it is likely that God held his peace awhile, and seeing that Job replied not, he added the following words, the more fully to convince and affect him. There is somewhat to do to reduce a sinner from the error of his way; yea, though he be in part regenerate, the flesh will play its part against the spirit. This must be considered, and all gentleness used to those that offend of infirmity, after God’s example here.

Ver. 2. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?] Or, Is it wisdom to contend with the Almighty? An disputare cum Omnipotente est eruditio? No, but the greatest folly and sottishness. Job might think otherwise, so long as he compared himself with others; but being once set by God in his super excellencies considered, he shall see his own nothingness, and sit down in silence and patience, though severely tried and sharply afflicted.

He that reproveth God, let him answer it] Answer it if he can, or else yield the cause. Praestat herbam dare quam turpiter pugnare. But if Job have yet further a mind to question and quarrel God in any his ways and works, let it be heard what answer he can return to what hath been already spoken.

Ver. 3. Then Job answered the Lord, and said] It was time for him, if ever, to stoop to the Most High, so far condescending to his meanness, and to answer his expectation by acknowledging a fault, and promising amendment. Lo, this is the guise of a godly person: he may be out, but he will not usually be obstinate. A humble man will never be a heretic; convince him once, and he will yield: not so the obstinate and uncounselable person; he runs away with conviction, as the unruly horse doth with the bit between his teeth; and his wit will better serve to devise a thousand shifts to elude the truth than his pride will suffer him once to yield to it, and acknowledge his error.

Ver. 4. Behold, I am vile] Light and little worth; and therefore deserve to be slighted and laid by, as a broken vessel. The humble man vilifies, yea, nullifies, himself before God, as Abraham, #Ge 18:27; as Agur, #Pr 30:3; as Paul, #Eph 3:8; as that martyr who cried out, Gehenna sum Domine, Lord, Thou art heaven, but I am hell, &c. Tantillitas nostra, saith Ignatius of himself and his colleagues. Behold, I am an abject, saith Job here, contemptible and inconsiderable. This was well, but not all; an excellent confession, but not full enough: his meanness he acknowledgeth, and that he was no fit match for God; but not his sinfulness, with desire of pardon and deprecation of punishment; God therefore gives him not over so, but sets upon him a second time, #Job 40:6, and brings him to it, #Job 42:1. There must be some proportion between a man’s sin and his repentance, #Ezr 9, and this God will bring all his Jobs to ere he leave them.

What shall I answer thee?] I am silenced, and set down; I see there is no reasoning against thee; I acknowledge thy greatness so plainly and plentifully demonstrated in the foregoing discourse; and am well pleased that thou shouldest be justified when thou speakest and overcome when thou judgest, #Ps 51:4 Ro 3:4.

I will lay my hand upon my mouth] I that have spoken more freely and boldly than I ought, Et ore patulo multa sine iudicio effutivi, and have opened my mouth more wide than was meet, will henceforth be better advised, and keep my mouth with a bridle, or muzzle, as #Ps 31:1. {See Trapp on "Job 21:5"}

Ver. 5. Once have I spoken, but I will not answer] It is enough of that once: the saints, running out, and meeting with a bargain of sin, come back by weeping cross, and cry, What have I to do any more with wickedness? #Ho 14:8. Judah knew his daughter Tamar no more, #Ge 38:26. "If I have done iniquity, I will do no more," #Job 34:31,32. That was Elihu’s counsel; and now it is Job’s practice.

Yea, twice] That is, often; so eager was I set upon a dispute. This was an aggravation of Job’s sin, the committing of it again and again. Numbers added to numbers are first ten times more; then a hundred; then a thousand, &c. "This hath been thy manner from thy youth," #Jer 22:21; that was an ill business.

But I will proceed no further] sc. In this controversy. I will not come into the lists to contend with thee. I see there is no safety in such a contest. In many things we offend all, saith St James; and he is a perfect man who sinneth not with his tongue. But as he who hath drunk poison maketh haste to cast it up again, ere it get to the vitals; so should we deal by our daily misdoings. It is not falling into the water that drowns a man, but lying long under it. Bewail thy sin and hasten to get out of it.

Ver. 6. Then answered the Lord unto Job out of a whirlwind] As before, #Job 38:1, notwithstanding Job’s submission. See the reason on #Job 40:4. God took his outbursts against him so very ill, that he is not easily pacified; but the better to abase Job, and quite to break the neck of his pride, he answereth him again angrily, not by a soft and still voice, as be dealt by Elijah, but out of the whirlwind, though with some abatement of terror, as Rainban conceiveth from the leaving out here the notificative article set before segnarah, the whirlwind, in #Job 38:1. Peter was not overly forward to comfort those that were pricked at heart with sense of sin and fear of wrath; but presseth them yet further to repent, #Ac 2:38. Men are apt to slight and slubber over the work, doing it to the halves; and must therefore be held hard to it, lest it should not be done to purpose.

Ver. 7. Gird up thy loins now like a man] Resume new strength, and prepare yourself for a second encounter; for I have not yet done with you. If, therefore, you think yourself able to stand in contention with me, show your valour. {See Trapp on "Job 38:3"}

Ver. 8. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment?] Dost thou think to ruin my justice to establish thine own innocence? and wilt thou needs be a superior judge over me? Wilt thou not revoke thy former expostulations and complaints against me, and with open mouth give me my due glory? Here God showeth his dissatisfaction with Job’s former confession.

Wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?] Job had bolted out some words that either tended to this purpose, or seemed so to do, to the just grief and offence of his friends. For this, therefore, he must be better humbled, and henceforth learn to abstain not only from things simply evil, but seemingly so; quicquid fuerit male coloratum (as Bernard hath it), whatsoever looks but ill favouredly.

Ver. 9. Hast thou an arm like God?] That thou shouldest wrestle a fall with him, and hope to overmatch him? "Thou hast a mighty arm," saith David: "strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand," #Ps 89:13. It spans the heavens, and holds the earth in the hollow of it. The weight of it broke the angels’ backs; and the terror of it may be seen in all those writs of execution recorded in the Scriptures. Oh, it is a fearful thing, saith the apostle, to fall into the (punishing) hands of the living God! #Heb 10:31

Or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?] Of Pericles, the orator, it is said, that when he declaimed, Intonabat., fulgurabat, totam Graeciam commiscebat, &c., he thundered, he lightened, he mingled all Greece together (Cicero). And Livy, speaking of a certain Roman commander, saith, Haec cum intonuisset iracundus, &c., These things, when he had thundered out angrily, and with a courage, the people departed of their own accord. Alexander the Great, being once vexed at his soldiers for mutining and tumultuating, thunder-struck them with these words, Facessite hine ocyus, neminem teneo; liberate occulos meos ingratissimi milites, Get you quickly out of my presence, and be packing hence, ye ungrateful soldiers. And Severus, the emperor, in like sort dealt with his unruly army, Discedite Quirites, said he, et incertum an Quirites. These were terrible hard words, and very resolutely uttered: but what is any or all of this to the voice of God’s thunder, whereof see before? Knowest thou not, O Job, that thine arm is an arm of flesh? and thy voice so small and low that a fly would not be frighted at it?

Ver. 10. Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency] Or, with magnificence and sublimity, &c., i.e. Deum age, show thyself as God; for he thus decks himself, #Ps 93:1 96:6 104:1,2 Job 29:14.

And array thyself with glory and beauty] That thou mayest appear, Os humerosque Deo similis; as Herod afterwards in his cloth of silver, which being beaten upon by the sunbeams, saith Josephus, dazzled the people’s eyes, and drew from them that fond acclamation, "It is the voice of a god," #Ac 12:22.

Ver. 11. Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath] In this glorious equipage; make thy just indignation felt by all the rebels of the world, Nemo te impune lacesset.

And behold every one that is proud] Look upon him oculo minaci, with a flaming eye; look through him, let him see thy displeasure. Upon some God looketh to convert them, as Christ did upon Peter, #Lu 22:61. Upon others, to confound them, ——εχει Θεος εκδικον ομμα..

And abase him] Abate his pride, and abase his pomp and greatness; this is God like, #Ps 147:6. Aesop, being asked by Chilo (one of the seven wise men of Greece), What God was doing? answered, He abaseth the proud, and exalteth the lowly minded. Tamerlane, to manifest that he knew how to punish the haughty, made Bajazet, the Great Turk, to be shackled, and shut up in an iron cage, and so carried up and down as he passed through Asia, to be scorned and derided by his own people. And when one of his favourites requested him to remit some part of his severity against the person of so great a prince, Tamerlane answered, That he did not use that rigour against him out of hatred to the man, but to manifest the just judgment of God against the arrogant folly of so proud a tyrant (Turk. Hist. f. 220).

Ver. 12. Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low] This God doeth, #Isa 2:11,12,17 5:15. The builders of Babel, Pharaoh, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, Dioclesian, Attilas, and others, for instances. Amurath III, king of Turks, in the pride of his heart, styled himself, God of the earth, governor of the whole world, the messenger of God, and faithful servant of the great prophet. This proud prince was slain by a half dead Christian soldier, who, coming to crave his life of him after a battle, stabbed him in the bottom of his belly with a short dagger, of which wound that king and conqueror presently died. {See Trapp on "Job 40:11"} (Turk. Hist.).

And tread down the wicked in their place] Heb. under them; lay them as low as may be. God putteth away all the wicked of the earth as dross, he treads them, as vile things, under his feet, #Ps 110:1, till they bethink themselves, and humble their souls at his feet for mercy; for then he will make the place of his feet glorious, as he promiseth, #Isa 60:13; and as, #Ex 24:10, they saw uuder God’s feet, as it were, a paved work of sapphire stone; to show that he had now changed their condition, the bricks made in their bondage into sapphire. See #Isa 54:11.

Ver. 13. Hide them in the dust together] Make a hand of them all at once, as God can do his enemies, by raking them all into the grave; yea, turning into hell whole nations that forget God, a whole rabble of rebels that fight against heaven; he can soon lay them low enough, even in that slimy valley, where are many already like them, and more shall come after them, #Job 21:31,32. Now when God biddeth Job do all this, who was himself lying in the dust, full of sores and sorrows, how could he but be greatly ashamed and affected with grief for his former follies?

And bind their faces in secret] As Haman’s face was covered when the king had sentenced him, #Es 7:8; {See Trapp on "Es 7:8"} Or rather, as dead men’s faces use to be bound up and covered; for we like not to look on death’s face. Abraham was desirous to bury his dead out of his sight, #Ge 23:4, though she had once been the desire of his eyes, #Eze 24:16. Lazarus came out of his grave with his face bound about with a napkin, #Joh 11:44. See the like done to our Saviour, #Joh 20:6,7, though there was as little need to have done it as was of those sweet spices brought by the good women to anoint his body, which could not see corruption, #Mr 16:1.

Ver. 14. Then will I also confess unto thee, &c.] Or, I will give praise unto thee, as thou by right shouldest do to me; not for my goodness only, but for my greatness and majesty also, in destroying the wicked. See David doing it, #Ps 18:27, and Moses, #Ex 15:1, and the whole choir of heaven, #Re 19:1,2.

And that thine own right hand can save thee] That thou art self sufficient, and my peer; strong enough to maintain thine own cause, and that thou hast some show of reason to withstand me, Et ego quoque praedicabo te heroa (Tig.). This is that which we all naturally, but foolishly, fancy, viz. that we are petty gods within ourselves; we would be absolute and independent, when in truth all that we have is derivative: the Church’s beauty is borrowed, #Eze 16:3-14, and we may say of all that we are, as he did with his hatchet, Alas! master, I borrowed it, #2Ki 6:5.

Ver. 15. Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee] i.e. The elephant, called behemoth, that is, beasts, in the plural, for his size; as if he were made up of many beasts, Vocatur Bellua per antonomasiam, et θηρ Graec. So David, aggravating his own brutishness, saith, "So foolish was I and ignorant: I was as a beast" (Heb. Behemoth, beasts in the plural) "before thee," #Ps 73:22, that is, as a great beast; his sin swelled in his eyes, as a toad; he befools and bebeasts himself, as reason required; for nothing is more irrational than irreligion.

Which I made with thee] Thy fellow creature, made to serve thee. He is in the Chaldee called ליפ Pil; that is, wonderful; because the wonders of God’s glory do so marvellously appear in him. Made he was the same day with man, and hath a kind of familiarity and love to him, if brought up with him, doing him great good service in peace and war, and may be taught to adore kings.

He eateth grass like an ox] He is not ravenous nor carnivorous; neither eateth he daily the grass upon a thousand hills, as the Hebrews foolishly fable, and that he is to be killed at the resurrection to feast the saints, as being a creature of a monstrous size (Lyra). As the ox licketh up grass, #Nu 22:4, so doth the elephant; yet not with his tongue (which for so great a beast is but little, neither read we here anything at all of his voice, to teach great men, saith one, not to speak big swollen words), but with his trunk or great snout, called his tail, #Job 40:17, as Beza thinketh, because it bears the resemblance of a tail, and is of most marvellous and necessary use to him (Arist. de Nat. Anim. l. 2, c. 4,6). With this he grazeth, and with this he overthroweth trees, and then feedeth upon them. But he doth not proudly abuse the mightiness of his limbs to the hurt of other cattle. Yet he will not be wronged, and is of so great strength that no one man dare assault him.

Ver. 16. Lo, now, his strength is in his loins] Wherein he is so strong that he can bear a wooden tower upon his back, and upon that thirty two men standing to fight therefrom. In India, where the largest elephants are, they ride upon the larger, plough with the lesser, and carry great loads and burdens with both. For which and the like purposes, totus robustissimus est superne et inferne (Junius). Howbeit God hath chiefly placed his strength, not in any offensive part (his head hath no horns, and his feet no claws, to do mischief with), but in his loins, and about his belly.

And his force is in the navel of his belly] Which must needs be very hard undergirded, when so great weight is made fast to his back. Naturalists observe, that the softest part of the elephant is his belly; and, therefore, the rhinoceros, his deadly enemy, setteth upon him there with his crooked horn whetted against a rock, and overcometh him; yet is he stronger in his belly than other creatures are in the back; and, therefore, his navel is here called navels in the plural. His skin is exceeding hard and rough, so that an arrow can hardly pierce it. Yet Eleazar, #/RAPC 1Ma 6:46, rushing into the enemy’s army, got under an elephant’s belly (upon which he thought King Antiochus rode), and killed him, being himself crushed to death with the weight of the beast falling upon him.

Ver. 17. He moveth his tail like a cedar] The elephant hath but a small and short tail for his bulk; Beza, therefore, rendereth it his prominent part, which is as the cedar, and interpreteth it to be his proboscis, or large snout, which truly, saith he, as being proper to the elephant, and of very great use, might not in any wise be pretermitted in this description. See #Job 40:15.

The sinews of his stones are wrapped together] This is also another of the elephant’s properties, whose testicles are hidden and stick to his belly, fastened there by certain sinews and ligaments, and do not hang, as other beasts’ testicles do. As his genital members are but small, considering his size; so his lust to the female is not great, never coupling with her but in secret, and when she is once filled, forbearing her company.

Ver. 18. His bones are as strony pieces of brass] Or, as conduit pipes of brass, whereby may be understood his hollow bones, as by bars of iron the solid ones, and by both (together with his trunk, composed of gristles, and his teeth and tusks, eight feet long, some of them) we may conjecture to be the size of his whole body; the size of all earthly creatures, saith Pliny; nine cubits high, saith Aelian, of some. Now can Job look upon such a monstrous creature, or hear his noise, or stand before him, without great horror? and will he not submit to the great God, and give him all his glory.

Ver. 19. He is the chief of the ways of God] i.e. The masterpiece among all the beasts (and perhaps first made), as man is among all earthly creatures, being divini ingenii cura, as one calls him. Of all earthly irrational creatures the elephant is the largest and strongest and of most understanding.

He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him] i.e. God alone can deal with him, and kill him, for no man dare undertake him unless it be by art and cunning; and that in Job’s days, likely, was not yet known or practised. And if God had not given a horn to the rhinoceros, and poison to the dragon (who are the elephant’s most mortal enemies), there were no beasts to be found that could have the better of him. He is of himself long lived, saith Aristotle, but God can and doth cut him off at his pleasure; and so he will those masterless monsters that persecute his people, though they may seem to be out of the reach of his rod. Some read the words thus, He that made him made his sword to be near him; and interpret it as his proboscis or snout, wherewith, as with a sword, he fights, and does many feats. Curtius saith, That when Porus, the Indian king, being wounded in battle, fell down armed to the ground, his elephant with his trunk gently took him up, and set him upon his back again. Some in their wars have fastened sharp swords to the snouts of the elephants, and done much mischief therewith to the enemy.

Ver. 20. Surely the mountains briny him forth food] And food enough, though he be of a huge body. Learn we to trust unto God’s providence for our necessary provision: the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof. See #Job 40:15.

Where all the beasts of the field play] And play they may securely for him; for he is so far from using his sword to destroy them, that when he is to pass through the herds of other beasts or cattle, he maketh way, saith Pliny, with his snout, that he may not hurt any of them, and beckoneth to them therewith, as it were with his hand, that he will only pass by them, and do them no harm.

Ver. 21. He lieth under the shady trees] Vatablus readeth the words questioning thus, Lieth he under the shady trees, in the covert of the reeds and fens? No such matter, he is too big to be shaded by trees; neither can reeds and fens cover him (So R. Levi, and Kimchi). But Aristotle tells us, That he loves to lie by the banks of rivers beset with trees, as being naturally hot, and bred in hot countries; and yet he is impatient with cold and winter (De Hist. Anim. l. 9, c. 46). And therefore when Hannibal brought many elephants out of Africa into italy, they all perished in the cold Alps, except only that one whereupon Hannibal himself rode (Pliny lib. 8, c. 10).

In the covert of the reed, and fens] Hence Cardinus saith, That the elephant is of a swinish nature, delighted with mud and mire, Ad calorem frangendum crasso coeno perfunduntur (Plin.). And Gulielmus Parisiensis applieth Behemoth in the fens, to the devil in sensual hearts. He sleepeth in moist places, saith he; that is, in those that lie melting in sinful pleasures and delights; therefore, #Lu 11:24, it is said that he walketh in dry places, seeking rest, but finding none; and, #Eze 47:11, when the waters of the sanctuary overflowed, the miry places could not be healed.

Ver. 22. The shady trees cover him with their shadow, &c.] He leaneth against those trees and sleepeth, for lie down and rise again he cannot, for want of joints in his limbs. And why may not we conceive the trees in those parts big enough to overshade the elephant, when, as in America, but especially in Brazil, the trees are so huge that it is reported of them that several families have lived in several arms of one tree, to such a number as are in some petty village or parish among us? (Abbot’s Geog., p. 271.)

The willows of the brook compass him about] To shelter him from the wind and cold. And although they cannot swim, they are so big, yet they love to be about pools and brooks for shade, and to ease their thirst; for the elephant drinketh off fourteen firkins of water in a morning, saith Aristotle, and eight at night, as it followeth,

Ver. 23. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not] viz. Through fear, tanquam canis ad Nilum, as the dogs that drink at Nile fear the crocodile; or as they of this land anciently drank in fear of their lives the while, and were, therefore, wont to have some friend to undertake for their safety: whence that expression of him who is drunk to, I’ll pledge for you. The elephant, as he drinks huge draughts (beyond that of the camel, who drinketh, saith Pliny, lib. 8, cap. 18, Et in praeteritum, et in futurum, for both the time past and the time to come), so he drinks without disturbance, for who dare deal with him? Other cattle, through the frightfulness of their disposition, break their draughts to stare about them. Not so the elephant, who drinks as if he would exhaust and drain dry the river, and steps into it with such a big body as if he would stop the course of it; therefore some read the words thus, He hindereth the river, that it hasteth not. Some by he hasteth not understand that custom of the elephant, not to drink till he have first, by going into and stirring the water, made it puddly, for he loveth not clear waters, as Aelian writeth. Neither yet doth he at any time enter higher into a river than he can breathe through his large snout, for swim he cannot by reason of the weightiness of his body, saith Aristotle (Hist. Anim. l. 9, cap. 46).

He trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth] In the vast imagination of his fancy he conceits that he can devour and drink up the whole Jordan at once. Jordan is the greatest river of Canaan, running along the land, and falling into the Dead Sea, which yet grows no bigger by swallowing it. Hereunto some think that this text alludeth. But better by Jordan here (which ariseth from the root of Libanus, and, as some say, from a double fountain, the one on the right side, called Dan, and the other on the left, called Jor) we may understand, by a synecdoche, {a} any river; and so these words are nothing else but a hyperbolic repetition of the former.

{a} A figure by which a more comprehensive term is used for a less comprehensive or vice versa; as whole for part or part for whole, genus for species or species for genus, etc.

Ver. 24. He taketh it with his eyes] It, that is, Jordan, which he thinks, when he seeth it, to drink up at a draught; but it is better filling his belly than his eye, as we say. Others, He thrusteth his head in up to the eyes through extreme greediness. Brentius readeth it, Oculis suis capitur ipse, decipulis perforatur nasus; and saith, That this creature is taken only by his eyes and nose; for otherwise he is as sleek and slippery as an eel: so is Satan, saith he, neither can we shun his wiles but by the spirit of faith. But Nonne hoc spumosum? Luther in one place calleth allegories, Spumam Scripturae, the froth of the Scriptures (in Gen. iii. p. 67); and in another, the allegorical sense is a beauteous harlot that enticeth idle men, who think themselves in paradise, and in God’s bosom, when they fall upon such speculations. Gregory and others (who have wholly allegorized this and the former chapter, applying all to the devil and Antichrist), observed not what was the state and scope of this disputation. Some read the text thus, Will any take him in his sight, will any pierce his nose with snares? q.d. That is not the way to take him, or hold him when taken. He must be caught by wiles, and not by main force or open strength (see Pliny to this purpose), although when he is once caught he is soon tamed and made tractable to many uses. See Aristotle’s history of living creatures (lib. viii. cap. 8, 9). Pliny saith he had seen elephants dance on the rope, and write Greek letters with their feet (lib. ix. cap. 46).

His nose pierceth through snares] Or, Will any bore his nose to put in snares? Though he be apt enough to be tamed and taught, yet he will not endure halter, bridle, bit, or ring in his nose; as neither will leviathan, of whom the like is spoken, #Job 41:1,2.

Chapter 41

Ver. 1. Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?] As men use to do the lesser fishes in angling? No, as little as thou canst bore behemoth’s nose with a snare, #Job 40:24. Leviathan is a common name for all great sea monsters, #Ps 104:26. Beza and Diodati understand it to be the crocodile; others, of the sea dragon; others, of the whirlpool: but most, of the whale; in creating whereof, Creavit Deus vastitates et stupores, saith one. Pliny writeth about them, when they swim and show themselves, annare insulas putes, you would think them to be so many islands (lib. ix. cap. 2). Another saith, they appear like huge mountains; and that when they grow old they are so fat and corpulent that they keep long together in a place, so that upon their backs (by the dust and filth gathered and condensed) grass and shrubs grow, as if there were some islands there; whereat seamen attempting to land, have cast themselves into no small dangers (Heidfeld). Some tell us of a whale that would have covered four acres of ground, his mouth so wide, that he could have swallowed a whole ship (Plin. lib. 9). Virgil calleth whales monsters; the Greeks call them θηρας and θηρια, wild beasts. The majesty and power of the Creator is much seen in these vast creatures. #Ps 77:14, "Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness." Hereupon the Jewish doctors have fabled, that God at first made two leviathans only; the one whereof he gave to the Israelites in the wilderness to feast with, the other he hath salted up for a feast to be made for the Jews, to be gathered together by the Messiah at the end of the world. Others have turned all this, and a great part of the former chapter, into allegories; whereof see #Job 40:24. Let us by the ensuing description take notice of, l. God’s omnipotence, who hath made such great wonders, whereof the sea hath more store than the earth, as they know well who are conversant therein. 2. His justice, who by these creatures oft punisheth offenders. Procopius telleth us, That in his time a great whale much infested the coasts of Constantinople, and did great mischief for fifty years together, till at length being taken and brought to land, he was found to be thirty cubits long, and ten broad. 3. His wisdom in making the whale so complete in all its parts, which all have their various uses; all which are here noted and numbered; how much more are our members, yea, our very hairs! 4. His goodness in creating such sea monsters for man’s use and benefit in many particulars; as his flesh for meat, his fat for oil, his hide for thongs, his teeth for combs, his bones for building, mounding, bodice making, &c. In Africa the whales’ bones serve commonly for rafters of houses. Leviathan he is called because of the fast joining together of his scales and members, wherein consisteth his strength; and so doth ours in unity.

Ver. 2. Canst thou put a hook into his nose?] Canst thou ring him like a swine, or rule him like a bear? God can, and did Sennacherib that crooked leviathan, #Isa 27:1 37:29; and doth still the Great Turk, who desireth to devour Christendom.

Or bore his jaw through with a thorn?] Or twig, as men do lesser fishes, taken with an angle, or herrings from the fish market. These are facetious and ironic questions that are put to Job in these five first verses; hinting to him, that although he could not do any of these things, yet God could with ease.

Ver. 3. Will he make many supplications unto thee?] As conquered captives use to do; witness Benhadad, #1Ki 20:32, and Teridates, king of Parthians, who being brought prisoner to Nero, thus bespake him: I come unto thee as unto my god, and will henceforth worship thee as I do the sun in heaven; I will be whatsoever thou shalt appoint me; for thou art my fate and fortune, Συ γαρ μοι, και μοιρα ει και τυχη (Dio in Neron.).

Will he speak soft words unto thee?] Verba byssina; as unto his lord and master. An elegant and pleasant prosopopoeia (personification). No, his stomach is too great to stoop so low.

Ver. 4. Will he make a covenant with thee?] And compound, where he cannot conquer.

Wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?] To be at thy disposal, and to do thy drudgery? q.d. He scorns the motion. Before the fall this and all other creatures were at man’s service, #Ge 1:28 2:19,20; but now, alas! it is otherwise. Howbeit to those that are in Christ this part of God’s lost image is in part restored, #Heb 2:6, with #Ps 8:4,5, and shall be perfectly, #Re 2:26. What singular service the whale did Jonas in shipping him to land who knows not?

Ver. 5. Wilt thou play with him as with a bird?] Shall he make thee sport, as those poor birds that serve as pastime for little children? Or as the foolish Emperor Honorius delighted in his bird Roma (so he called it), at the loss whereof, when the city was taken by the Vandals, he grieved more than at all the rest? Indignum sane, regem aves praeferre viribus, saith the divine chronologer.

Wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?] Shall your daughters tie him with a thread, which, lengthening or strengthening at their discretion, shall make his prison either larger or straiter?

Ver. 6. Shall the companions make a banquet of him?] The Cetarii, whale fishers, who usually go out in companies. It was anciently held impossible, and is still perilous, to take the whale and make a banquet of him; as the tongue and some other parts of the whale are good meat. Or, Make a banquet for him; shall they feast those merchants they mean to sell him to, that they may get the better price for him?

Shall they part him among the merchants?] Who might sell him out for sundry uses. See #Job 41:1.

Ver. 7. Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons?] Harpagonibus. Heb. With thorns; sc. to pull him to the shore? Opianus, Albertus Magnus, Gesner, and others now write, how whales are to be taken; and experience proves it to be seizable. They are sometimes cast upon the land by the surging rage or violence of the sea, or, by the ebbing thereof, left in a ford, where they cannot swim, and so they become a prey to the fishermen with their guns, darts, &c.

Ver. 8. Lay thy hand upon him] Stroke him, clap him on the back, and see if that way thou canst win upon him, since by force thou canst not catch and kill him. Or draw near and offer but the least violence to him if thou darest, and he will quickly make thee repent it; so that thou wilt have little joy either to flatter him or to fight it out with him, for he will be the death of thee.

Ver. 9. Behold, the hope of him is in vain] Heb. is lying. A man may promise himseff or others to take the whale, but how or when will he effect it? It is a misery to lie languishing at Hope’s Hospital, and after all to be disappointed; to labour all night, and take nothing, &c.

Shall not one be cast down at the sight of him?] Surely there is cause enough to be cast down, if he be so big and dreadful to behold as is reported. {{See Trapp on "Job 41:1"}

Ver. 10. None is so fierce that dare stir him up] Unless he be ambitious of his own destruction; cruel (so the word here signifieth) to his own life, which hereby he desperately casteth away. Aristotle telleth us that fishes do sleep: and perhaps these greater fishes take more sleep. Now who dare awake them sleeping, or encounter them waking, and rolling in the waters? None surely but a mad man.

Who then is able to stand before me?] Et est qui coram me stet? No more surely than a man before a whale, or a glass bottle before a cannon shot. Here then we have the accommodation and application of the former discourse, which we must not look upon as cunningly devised fables, #2Pe 1:6, or read as we do the old stories of foreign businesses, but as that wherein ourselves are nearly interested and concerned, that we may give God the glory of his power (as here, far beyond that of the whale or any other creature) and of his justice, as #Job 41:11,12.

Ver. 11. Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him?] Who can tax me wath injustice, who am bound to no man, but owner of all things? If any one can say I am beholden to him, let him prove it, and I shall readily requite it, he shall have no cause at all to complain about me as ungrateful, #Ro 11:34,35.

Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine] The devil told our Saviour that all was his, and to whomsoever he would he gave it, #Lu 4:6. The pope also (that firstborn of the devil) takes upon him, as lord of all, to dispose of spirituals or temporals in all countries, as Boniface VIII wrote to Philip, king of France, who answered him with a Sciat fatuitas tua, &c.; and as the pope that then was gave our Henry VIII’s kingdom, primo oecupaturo, to him that should first take it; but he slighted him with Os Papae et oculus Diaboli in eodem sunt praedicamento. It is for God alone to say, as #Da 4:32, I rule in the kingdom of men, and give it to whomsoever I will. How then can I do any man wrong who am obliged to none, but all are engaged to me for all they have?

Ver. 12. I will not conceal his parts, nor his power] That therein, as in a picture of the most principal piece of my workmanship, thou mayest behold how great and how glorious a God I am. In the year of grace 1577, July 2nd, the shipmen took a whale not far from Antwerp, the picture whereof was printed and published to this effect: His hide was without scales, and of a leaden colour. He was eighty-five feet long and sixteen feet high. From his mouth to his eyes was fifteen feet; from his eyes to his fins four feet and three fingers, &c. Such a kind of picture or character of this sea monster we have here, from the most skilful hand of heaven. Pliny observeth that pictures of things, exact and excellent, are seldom drawn but with great disadvantage. Not so this in the text, as will appear in the sequel.

Nor his comely proportion] Heb. Nor the grace of his disposition, i.e. Dicam quam egregio et concinne membra eius composita sint, I will declare how finely and fitly all his parts are proportioned and put together (Vatab.). In the most deformed creatures (as we count them) there is no part superfluous, useless, or uncomely. Deus est magnus in minimis, nec parvus in maximis. God is great in the smallest things and not small in the greatest things.

Ver. 13. Who can discover the face of his garment?] That is, saith Piscator, who can pull him out of the sea, wherewith he is covered as with a garment? Who can slip off his skin while he is alive, as men do the eel’s skin, say others? Who (as men use to do when horses are to be saddled) will take off his cloth, and set the saddle upon his back? This last is Beza’s paraphrase; and it suits best with that which followeth.

Or who can come to him with his double bridle?] Let it be never so large or strong, his mouth is too wide, his jaws too strong, to be held in with bit and bridle, lest he come near unto thee.

Ver. 14. Who can open the doors of his face?] The two leaved doors of his jaws, to let in a bridle? Samson dared to venture upon a roaring lion and rend him, as a man would rend a kid. But never dared any such thing be done to a whale.

His teeth are terrible round about] The whale’s teeth are said to be 120, each tooth four cubits long.

Ver. 15. His scales are his pride] They are like so many glistering shields, wherein he puts his confidence and takes his pride; as thinking them impenetrable.

Shut up together as with a close seal] So closed and put together, like paper sealed with wax, as that nothing can part them. The Jews use to write upon the back of their sealed letters, Nun, Cheth, Shin; that is, Niddui, Cherem, and Shemmatha; all sorts of excommunication to those that open them.

Ver. 16. One is so near to another, that no air, &c.] One scale or flake is. This is more proper, say some, to the crocodile than to the whale; but who can tell the different kinds of whales, some whereof are said to have great and thick scales close compacted, as here? Quod si squammae Leviathan ita cohaereant, ut earum opere textili densato, &c. (Vide Cocceium in locum). Let the saints strengthen themselves by close sticking the one to the other, as the primitive Christians did; so that the very heathens acknowledged that no people under heaven did so hold together and love one another as they, being like that Sacra cohors, holy band of soldiers in the Theban army, which consisted εξ εραστων και ερωμενων, of such only who were joined together in the bonds of love; and these they esteemed the prime of all their strength in battle (Athenaeus, lib. 3).

Ver. 17. They are joined one to another, &c.] They are lapped over one another, like tiles on a house. {See Trapp on "Job 41:16"}

Ver. 18. By his neesings a light doth shine] When this dreadful monster sneezeth, or snorteth, fire breaketh out at his eyes and nose. By this neesing of the whale is meant the abundance of white frothy water which he casteth forth at his nostrils, In sublime nimbos efflat (Plin. lib. 9, c. 6).

And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning] Bright and beamy. Olaus writeth of the Norway whales, that their eyes shine in a dark night like a fire; so that mariners have oft thought, when they have seen them, that they saw a great fire.

Ver. 19. Out of his mouth go burning lamps] This and those that follow are all hyperbolic expressions. Here he is brought in as a spit fire, as the devil was wont to be in plays and pageants. And by this passage some conjecture, that not the whale, but the sea dragon, is here described. Let it be what it will, it must needs be a great heat within this great fish, that sendeth forth, as it were, burning lamps and sparks of fire; and a strong sulphurous breath he must have, like the outbursts of Aetna, by this description. Aristotle saith the whale is of a hot fiery nature; and that he hath lungs, and breatheth; a pipe or passage also he hath in his forehead, whereat he throweth out the water he hath taken in, either by his breathing or eating (lib. 4, Depart. Anim. cap. 12). This transparent water, thus with a force thrown up against the sunbeams, may bear a show of lightning, or burning lamps.

Ver. 20. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, &c.] While his meat heateth in his stomach for concoction; as if fire were put under some great reeking pot or caldron boiling; Heb. blown ( sufflati); for from blowing comes boiling.

Ver. 21. His breath kindleth coals] Or, would kindle coals (as a smith’s bellows), if there were any to kindle. Such a kindling of coal was Arius and Hildebrand of old, the Jesuits of this day, and not a few others, #Pr 26:21 Isa 33:11, "your breath, as fire, shall devour you." Some men’s tongues are like gunpowder, which, touched with the least spark, will instantly be in the face. A flame goeth out of their mouths enough to set the whole course of nature on fire, #Jas 3:6.

Ver. 22. In his neck remaineth strength] Aristotle saith, that among fishes the dolphin, whale, and such as breathe, have necks proportionate to their bodies. The word rendered remaineth is in the Hebrew lodgeth, or abideth all night; so spoken, saith one, because the whale, as also the dolphin, sleepeth with his head erected above water.

And sorrow is turned into joy before him] i.e. He knows no sorrows, he fears no hurt, but always rejoiceth, bearing himself bold upon his strength, God having made him to sport in the sea, #Ps 104:26. Others read it, And before him danceth fear ( Pavor et Pallor, Tullus Hostilius’s two gods); men dance, or start for fear.

Ver. 23. The flakes of his flesh are joined together] Heb. The failings, or the refuse and vilest parts, as the word is rendered, #Am 8:6. Now if God be so punctual in the description of these also, can any one think that he hath let pass anything in the Holy Scriptures that belong to our salvation? What need is there then of human traditions?

They are firm in themselves] Heb. molten. Firm they must be, because so joined together. Vis unita fortior; but dissension is the mother of dissolution. England is a mighty animal (saith a great politician) which can never die, except it kill itself.

They cannot be moved] Or, he cannot be moved. He may say, as Terminus of old, Nulli cedo, I give place to none unless I please.

Ver. 24. His heart is as firm as a stone] He is corpore et corde validissimus. Of the sword fish, Plutarch saith, that he hath a sword, but not a heart to use it, μαχαιραν μεν εχει, εχει, καρδιαν δε μη εχει. But the whale hath courage to his bulk: his heart is as firm as a stone, as his head (saith Scaliger) is as hard as a flint. In the hearts of some creatures, saith Aristotle, is found a bony or grisly hardness; but the whale’s heart is all as it were a bone; and this bone as a stone.

As a piece of the nether millstone] Metae, upon which the whole weight lieth. The Greek call it ονος μυλικος, #Mt 18:6, the mill ass; because it is the bigger and harder of the two. The Vulgate here for the nether millstone hath the smith’s anvil, which, by hammering, is made harder.

Ver. 25. When he raiselh up himself, the mighty are afraid] When he shows himself like some moving mountain upon the surface of the water, the most assured pilots or passengers are seized with fear of death, and seek to make peace with God, as those mariners did, #Jon 1:5,6, &c.

By reason of breakings] Broughton reads, of shiverings.

They purify themselves] Expiant se, they beg pardon of sin, and prepare to die. Others render it aberrant, they are dispirited; and know not what course to take. Others again, they purge downwards; their retentive faculty being weakened with fear, they let go their excrements; as Loper the traitor did, when he was upon his trial before the lords of the council; and as God somewhere in Ezekiel threateneth his rebels, that for fear of his displeasure they shall not be able to hold their water.

Ver. 26. The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold] So close are his scales, so thick his skin, that there is no wounding of him. There was not of old, it seemeth. But now there is a way found of shooting and piercing him, so that he dieth with a horrible noise and outcry.

Nor the habergeon] A defensive weapon will be as useless as those other offensive; for the whale will soon swallow up the armed as well as the unarmed.

Ver. 27. He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood] He makes nothing of anything that shall be done against him. Bears and lions may be wounded with hunting weapons; other fishes with eel spears, and the like: not so the whale, or not so easily.

Ver. 28. The arrow cannot make him flee] Heb. Sons of the bow; as, #Job 5:7, sparks are called Boas of the coal. Arrows were then as much in use as bullets are now.

Slingstones are turned with him into stubble] Those stones which the sling casts with so much force make as little impression upon his body as a straw would, which the hand of a child should push.

Ver. 29. Darts are counted as stubble] When any thing in the decrees or decretals likes not the pope, he sets pales, that is, stubble, upon it; or Hoc non credo: so doth this leviathan upon all kinds of weapons; he slights them. The word here rendered darts is as strange as the weapon it signifieth is to us unknown, lapides ballistic, an engine whereby great stones were thrown against walls or towers (as now cannon balls), to make a breach in them. Catapulta, aries vel simile aliquod tormentum. Be they what they will, the whale fears them not, no, though they were as terrible to others as those two great pieces of ordinance cast by Alphonsus, duke of Ferrara; the one whereof he called the earthquake, the other grandiabolo, the great devil.

Ver. 30. Sharp stones are under him] Heb. Sharp pieces of the potsherd, Acumina testacea, which prick him no more than if he lay upon the softest couch, so hard is his belly.

He spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire] When he might lie softer, he scorns it; as our hardy forefathers some two or three hundred years ago, who ordinarily lay upon straw pallets covered with canvas, and a round log under their heads instead of a bolster. As for pillows, they said they were fit only for women in childbed, &c. (Hollinshed).

Ver. 31. He maketh the deep to boil like a pot] He troubleth the whole ocean, he maketh a mighty commotion in the sea, when he rolls himself therein upward and downward, and casts up water on high through a certain conveyance that he hath in his head (Plin. lib. ix. c. 3, 6).

He maketh the sea like a pot of ointment] Turning it into a team, like the scum of a boiling pot. Beza rendereth it thus, He maketh the sea like a mortar, wherein colours are beaten; that is, the whirling of the water is like unto a quern, that is turned round of the painter, to temper his colours.

Ver. 32. He maketh a path to shine after him] A ship doth so, much more a whale.

One would think the deep to be hoary] By reason of the white shining foam left behind him.

Ver. 33. Upon earth there is not his like] Heb. There is no comparison of him. Much was said before of behemoth, but leviathan is far beyond him for size and strength; which yet Mercer noteth to be the work of God, and not of nature, quod humor solvat et infirmet; and therefore in reason earthly creatures would be harder and stronger than those in the sea.

Who is made without fear] He seems not to come into the world but to fear nothing, and to defy all things. No creature carrieth itself so stately or stoutly as the whale.

Ver. 34. He beholdeth all high things] As far below him (be they never so excellent) both for bulk of body and stoutness of mind.

He is a king over all the children of pride] Or, over all the wild creatures (so Tremellius and Buxtorf interpret it), which are proud, and do domineer over the tame ones, no less than leviathan, if he were among them, would do over them.

Chapter 42

Ver. 1. Then Job answered the Lord, and said] After that he had been so plainly and plentifully convinced by Almighty God, 1. That he was far short of him in eternity, wisdom, power, providence, &c.; 2. That he could not stand before behemoth and leviathan, the works of his hands; Job yieldeth, submitting to God’s justice, and imploring his mercy: so effectual is the word of God’s grace in the hearts of his elect. It had need to be an elaborate speech that shall work upon the conscience, such as was this before going. Vide etiam quid afflictio faciat, saith Mercer. See here also the happy fruit of an affliction sanctified. "By this shall the iniquity of Jacob" (of Job) "be purged; and this is all the fruit, to take away his sin," #Isa 27:9. To make his works full, #Re 3:2. Job had repented before, #Job 40:4,5, but not so completely. Dico hic narrari poenitentiam Iobi plenam, saith Piscator. Here he doth it thoroughly, by a deep and downright repentance, such as was never to be repented of.

Ver. 2. I know that thou canst do everything] God’s power is either absolute or actual. By the former he can do everything, make a world, and unmake it in an instant; of stones raise up children to Abraham, &c. By the latter, whatsoever he willeth, that he doth both in heaven and in earth, and none can withstand him. This Job knew before, but now better, because by experience and unquestionable evidence given in by God’s own mouth. And although this be but a short acknowledgment of God’s power and justice, yet is it well accepted, as proceeding from a true sense of faith. Neque exigit Deus a nobis multa verba, sed multam fidem (Merlin).

And that no thought can be withholden from thee] Te non solum omnia posse, sed et omnia nosse, That thou art not only omnipotent, but omniscient, and that not so much as a thought of any man’s heart (which also is of thy making) can be hid from thee; since which way soever he turneth him, he shall find thee both potent and present. The words may be read thus, And that no thought of thine can be cut off or hindered. Having spoken of God’s power, he speaketh of his thoughts; to teach, saith Calvin, That God’s power and his will are things inseparable, his mind and hand agree together; the one to determine, the other to effect, Parem in eo esse voluntatem et facultatem (Mercer). ‘Αδυνατει δε σοι ουδεν (Sept.).

Ver. 3. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge?] Quis iste est, inquis. Who is he, saith thou, #Job 38:2, that hideth counsel, &c., so Tremellius rendereth it. Is ego ipse sum, I am the very man that have done it, nempe ego (Tigurin.), and now would as gladly undo it again, by a humble confessing and disclaiming mine own folly therein, and by applying those words of thine to myself, with a holy indignation; for therein thou hast fully met with me, απογενομενοι, #1Pe 2:24.

Therefore have I uttered that I understood not] I have rashly and imprudently, yea, gracelessly and impudently, spoken of thy judgments, and desired to dispute with thee; daring to reprehend that which I did not comprehend, and to pass my verdict on things which I was not versed in, things too wouderful for me, which I knew not. Broughton reads thus, Therefore I tell that I had not understanding; that is, I confess I have sinned, but I did it ignorantly, Idcirco indico me non intellexisse (Merc.). And so he makes way to the ensuing petition, That God would hear him, and teach him better things.

Ver. 4. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak] We have had his confession; follow now his petition here, his humiliation and reformation, #Job 42:6. These are the parts and properties of true repentance, that fair daughter of a foul mother, sin. But had not Job promised to speak no more, to proceed no farther? #Job 40:4,5. How then doth he say here, I beseech, and I will speak? The answer is easy; he would speak no more so rashly and unadvisedly as he had done, to God’s dishonour, and the offence of his best friends. But he would not spare to speak supplications, as here, and to set forth his humble docility, to give glory to God, and to take shame to himself, &c.; such a silence he knew would be sinful, and savour of a dumb devil. He therefore addresseth himself to God, 1. For audience and acceptance; 2. For advice and direction. In all which he renounceth his own wisdom, and delivereth himself up wholly to God, to be taught and led into all truth and holiness. The matter, we see, is well amended with Job, since, challenging God into the schools, he once said, "Then call thou me, and I will answer; or let me speak, and answer thou me," #Job 13:22. So afterwards Peter, when penitent, turned his crowing into crying; and Paul, his breathing out threatenings against the saints, into "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" #Ac 9:1,6.

I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me] As a dutiful and docible scholar, who should be Ζητητικος, I will ask thee questions, and hang upon thy holy lips for an answer.

Ver. 5. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear] God hath ordained, that as death entered into the world at first by the ear, poisoned by that old man slayer, #Ge 3:14-19, so life shall enter into the soul by the same door: for it is, "Hear, and your soul shall live," #Isa 55:3. And, The dead (in sins and trespasses) shall hear the voice of the Son of God (sounding in his ordinances); and shall live the life of grace here and of glory hereafter, #Joh 5:25. This great mercy Job had received, and he thankfully acknowledgeth it. But behold a greater.

But now mine eye hath seen thee] Not only in the tempest and whirlwind, those clear testimonies of thy presence, but by some other special glorious apparition (so some think), and by a spirit of prophecy (as the Hebrews would have it), by the inward teaching of thy Spirit howsoever, as Vatablus senseth it. Et quando Christus Magister, quam cito discitur quod docetur, saith Austin. When God by his Spirit taketh in hand to teach a man, he soon becometh a skilful scholar. Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia, saith Ambrose. The Spirit is not long in teaching those that commit themselves to his tuition. The hypocrite knows God but by hearsay, as a blind man knoweth colours: such may say as those in the Psalm, Audivimus famam, something we have heard, and some confused notions we have got concerning God and his will; but they are merely disciplinary, but not intuitive, id est, Per speciem propriam, &c., such as transform the soul into the same image; it is not that claritas in intellectu quae parit ardorem in affectu, that light in the understanding that kindleth the affections. Job was such, witness his next words.

Ver. 6. Wherefore I abhor myself] Aspernor illa, so Tremellius. I utterly dislike those my former base and bald conceits of thee, my hard and unsavoury speeches, mine impatient and imprudent carriages. Horreo quicquid de meo est, ut meus sim, as Bernard expresseth it. Reprobo meipsum, so Brentius; I do utterly reject myself, I condemn mine own folly: I eat those words of discontent at thy righteous proceedings. Digna sane quae per iugulum redeant. Abiecio vitam meam, so Mercer and Lavater render it. I cast away my life, and look upon it as lost, if thou shouldest take the forfeiture: I humbly put myself into the hands of justice, yet in hope of mercy, Displiceo mihimetipsi, ac pervelim ut aliter dixissem ae fecissem (Lavat.).

I repent in dust and ashes] As in an express and public penance. I throw myself here upon the ground, I put my mouth in the dust, #La 3:24 Jer 6:26 25:34. Canitiem immundo perfusam pulvere turpi (Virg. Aeneid, l. 12), I sprinkle dust and ashes upon mine head, in token that I have deserved to be as far underground as now I am above ground; I repent my presumptuous misbehaviour with as lowly a spirit as ever I sinned with a high. Lo, this was poenitentiam agere, quod est pro malo bonum reponere, saith Brentius. This was true repentance, to change evil for good; as piety for blasphemy, chastity for fornication, charity for envy, humility for pride, Christ for Satan. And reformation is the best repentance, saith Luther. Such as so repent are sure of comfort. The word here rendered I repent, signifieth also to take comfort, as #Eze 32:31. It is repentance unto life, #Ac 11:18, and such as accompanieth salvation, #Heb 6:9. Neither is it wrought in any man but by a saving sight of Almighty God in his greatness and goodness; such as may make him at once to tremble and trust, as Job did here, as Isaiah, #Isa 6:1,5.

Ver. 7. And it was so, that after the Lord had spoken these words to Job] And Job those other again to God, it soon repented the Lord concerning his servant. Pro magno delicto parum supplicii saris est patri, A little punishment is enough to a loving father for a great fault (Terent.). "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord, … for (alas) they have received of my hand double for all their sins," #Isa 40:1,2. So it seemed to him who is all heart, and who in all their afflictions is equally afflicted. God weeps on his people’s necks tears of compassion; they weep at God’s feet tears of compunction. Oh beautiful contention!

The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite] Because he was the oldest man, of greatest authority, and he that passed the heaviest censures upon Job, doing enough to have driven him into desperation.

My wrath is kindled ayainst thee] Thus God passeth not sentence on Job’s side till he had first angrily repressed and reprehended those three friends of his, who had assailed him without all right and reason. Let God’s servants hold out faith and patience; sooner or later they shall be righted.

And against thy two friends] Bildad and Zophar who stuck so close to thee, and chimed in with thee, against a better man than any of you all. As for Elihu, he is neither commended here nor condemned. He spake well for the main, but many times took Job at the worst, and misconstrued his speeches. He is therefore punished (as ambassadors are used to be when they commit indecencies) with silence, which is the way royal to correct a wrong. The other three had great cause to be much troubled and terrified at that short, but sharpest speech, of God, My wrath is kindled against you; for, Who knoweth the power of God’s wrath? saith David, #Ps 90:11. It is as the messenger of death and harbinger of hell. God never said so much to Job in all those long and large speeches he made unto him, for he knew that milder words would do, and he loveth not to over do.

Ille dolet quoties cogitur esse ferox.

By the way observe, that although these three had offended more than Job, yet he was afflicted, and they escaped free. Judgment beginneth at God’s house; neither have any out of hell ever suffered more than those worthies of whom the world was not worthy, #Heb 11:38

For ye have not spoken the thing that is right] And yet they seemed to be all for God; and to plead his cause against Job throughout. But as in some things they were much mistaken, so they had their self respect, and were much biassed in their discourses. Hypocrites and heretics (saith Gregory here) seem unto men more righteous; but God accepteth them not for all their plausible pleas and specious pretences. #Lu 16:15, "Ye are they," said our Saviour to the Pharisees, "which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."

As my servant Job hath] They also were God’s servants, but because they had lent Satan their service against Job, and drawn from him many passionate speeches, they are for a punishment set by after a sort; as David was also when he had numbered the people, #2Sa 24:12, "Go and say unto David." Now it is plain David, who was wont to be my servant David, #2Sa 7:5. That Job is called God’s servant (and that emphatically and exclusively) is a very great honour done him upon his repentance; and the like was done to David and Peter.

Ver. 9. So Eliphaz the Temanite, &c.] Here was resipiscentia ex fide constans, saith Brentius, the repentance of faith, the obedience also of faith readily yielded. Had not these been good and godly men they would have stuck at the cost of so great a sacrifice, they would also have scorned to have sought to Job, whom they had so much slighted, and to beg his prayers, of whom they had so ill deserved. But they had not so learned Christ. God, they saw well, was greatly offended and Job highly accepted; glad therefore were they by any good means to ingratiate, each of them saying to God for himself, as he did once to Caesar,

Iussa sequi tam velle mihi quam posse necesse est (Lucan) (Lucan).

Omne trahit secum Numinis ira malum (Ovid).

The Lord also accepted Job] Whether he testified his good acceptance by consuming his sacrifice with fire from heaven is uncertain. It is enough for us to know that he showed himself reconciled unto them, and well pleased with Job’s prayer for them, and their own prayers joined no doubt with his, and proceeding from faith in the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ. And hitherto God’s decisive sentence, whereby all the strife was graciously ended, and all parties happily and heartily reconciled. What became of Satan, a chief actor in this tragedy, we read not; Victus enim abiit. And as God would not once call him to account, when he had beguiled our first parents, #Ge 3:1-7, because he meant him no mercy; so here he never mentioned him, as being judged already, and by Job bravely worsted and defeated. All that we find of him is, that his commisslon to vex Job any further was now taken away, for so it followeth,

Ver. 10. And the Lord turned again the captivity of Job] He took him out of Satan’s clutches, who had hitherto held him prisoner, as it were, in the bands of poverty, sickness, sorrow, contempt, distress, &c. Whether all at once or by degrees God did all this for him, it skills not. Upon his prayers for his friends (which was no small evidence and effect of his piety and charity) it appears that God did all this that followeth for him. So true is that of Solomon, The reward of humility, and of the fear of the Lord is riches, and honour, and life, #Pr 22:4.

When he prayed for his friends] According to that of the apostle Paul, Being defamed we pray. This is a high degree of Christian perfection, which but few attain unto, as Merlin here bewaileth it; O raram et singularem virtutem, &c. And another well observeth, That God gives and forgives, according as man forgives his neighbour.

Also the Lord gave Job twice as much, &c.] Understand it both of goods and graces; which though he never parted with, yet by trial and experience he found them much increased. As for outward things, it is nothing unusual for men to recover and recruit as far as God seeth fit.

Multa dies variusque labor mutabilis aevi

Retulit in melius; multos alterna revisens

Lusit, et in solido rursus fortuna locavit

(Virg. Aen. l. 11).

The best way is to hang loose to these things below, not trusting in uncertain riches, but in the living God, #1Ti 6:17, who will be our exceeding great reward, and give to his sufferers a hundred fold here, and eternal life hereafter, #Mt 19:29. Optanda nimirum est iactura quae lucro maiore pensatur, saith Agricola. It is doubtless a lovely loss that is made up with so much gain. Well might St Paul say, Godliness is profitable to all things, as having the promise of both lives, #1Ti 4:8. Well might St Peter call it the divine nature, #2Pe 1:2. For as God brings light out of darkness, comfort out of sorrow, riches out of poverty, &c., so doth godliness. Let a man, with Job, bear his losses patiently, and pray for his enemies that wrong and rob him, and he shall be sure to have his own again, and more, either in money or money’s worth; either in the same or a better thing: contented godliness shall be great gain to him, #1Ti 4:6, besides heaven’s happiness, which shall make a plentiful amends for all, The Rabbis would persuade us that God miraculously brought back again to Job the selfsame cattle that the Sabeans and others had taken from him, and doubled them. Indeed, his children (say they), therefore, were not doubled unto him, because they perished by their own fault and folly, as one of his friends also told him. But of all this nothing certainly can be affirmed; and they do better who say, That his children being dead in God’s favour, perished not, but went to heaven; they were not lost, but laid up; so that before God Job had the number of his children doubled; for they are ours still whom we have sent to heaven before us; and Christ at his coming shall restore them unto us, #1Th 4:14. In confidence whereof faithful Abraham calleth his deceased Sarah his dead: "That I may bury my dead out of my sight," #Ge 23:4; and so she is called eight different times in that one chapter, as Paraeus hath observed.

Ver. 11. Then came there unto him all his brethren] Then, when God had begun to restore him. As his adversity had scattered his friends, so his prosperity brought them together again. This is the world’s usage.

Dum fueris faelix multos numerabis amicos;

Tempera si fuerint nubila, solus eris.

Summer birds there are not a few; Samaritans who would own the Jews while they flourished but otherwise disavow them; as they did to Antiochus Epiphanes: rich Job had many friends, #Pr 14:20. Qui tamen persistebant amicitia sicut lepus iuxta tympanum, as the proverb is. All this good Job passeth by, and forgetting all unkindnesses, magnificently treateth them; as Isaac in like case had done Abimelech and his train, #Ge 26:30.

And did eat bread with him in his house] It is likely they came with their cost to make Job a feast of comfort, such as were usual in those days, #Jer 16:7 Eze 24:17. But whether they did or not, they were welcome to Job; who now never upbraids them with their forsaking him in his distress (which yet was then a great grief to him), but friendly again embraceth them, and courteously entertaineth them. This is contrary to the practice of many fierce and implacable spirits in these days, whose wrath, like that of the Athenians, is αειμνηστος, long lasting; and although they themselves are mortal, yet their hearts are immortal.

And they bemoaned him] They condoled with him, and shook their heads, as the word signifieth; not by way of deriding him, as once they had done, #Job 16, but of sorrow for their former deserting him, and assurance that they would henceforth better stick to him in what estate soever.

And comforted him over all the evil, &c.] So they should have done long before. A friend is made for the day of adversity; but better late than never. Nunquam sane sero si serio. See here, saith Brentius, the change of affairs, and the right hand of the Most High, and learn the fear of God; for as he frowneth or favoureth any man, so will the world do.

Every man also gave him apiece of money] Or, a lamb, to stock him again. Beza rendereth it, Some one of his cattle, and paraphraseth thus: Yea, every one of them gave him either a sheep, or an ox, or a camel, and also an earring of gold; partly as a pledge of their good will and friendship renewed toward him, and partly in consideration and recompense of that loss which he had before, by the will and previous appointment of God, sustained. Honoraria obtulerunt, saith Junius, they brought him these presents as pledges of their love and observance; for so were great men wont to be saluted with some gift, #1Sa 10:27 2Ch 17:5. And the same custom was among the Persians and Parthians, whose kings might not be met without some token of congratulation and symbol of honour (Sen. Epist. 17).

And every one an earring of gold] Inaurem auream, an earring or pendant of gold, at the receipt whereof Job might well say, as the poet did (Theog.),

Σοι μεν τουτο φιλε σμικρον, εμοι δε μεγα.

To thee this is a small matter, but to me a great.

Ver. 12. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job] According to Bildad’s prophecy, #Job 8:7, and St James’s useful observation, #Jas 5:11, "Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy." If he afflict any of his, it is in very faithfulness, that he may be true to their souls; it is also in great mercy, that he may do them good in the latter end, #De 8:16; and this they themselves also shall both see and say by that time he hath brought both ends together, #Ps 119:71. Be ye therefore patient, stablish your hearts, #Jas 5:8. Patient Job had all doubled to him. Joseph as a slave became his master’s master. Valentinian lost his tribuneship for Christ, but was afterwards made emperor. Queen Elizabeth from a prisoner became a great princess. But if God deny his suffering servants temporals, and give them in spirituals, they have no cause to complain; one way or other they shall be sure to have it. Great is the gain of godliness.

For he had fourteen thousand sheep, &c.] Cattle only are instanced, because therein especially consisted the wealth of that country: Pecunia a pecude. Μηλα pecudes et postea opes significant (Melancth.). But other good things also doubtless were doubled unto him, as his family, possessions, grounds, houses, and especially wisdom, to make a good use of all; for commonly Stultitiam patiuntur opes: and what is more contemptible than a rich fool, a golden beast, as Caligula called his father-in-law, Syllanus.

Ver. 15. And in all the land there were no women found so fair, &c.] Beauty, though but a bonum fragile, and one of the gifts of God’s left hand, #Pr 3:16, yet is it the flower of virtue, as Chrysippus called it; one of the greatest excellencies of nature, and singular degree of God’s image in man, as another (Plato). And although virtue is Proprio contenta theatro, yet to others

Gratior est pulchro veniens in corpore virtus.

That virtue hath a better grace

That shineth from a beauteous face.

Such probably were Job’s daughters, not fair and foolish, as those daughters of Jerusalem, #Isa 3:16, but adorned with all variety of moral virtues, as a clear sky is with stars, as a princely diadem with jewels. Hence their good father so affected them, that he

Gave them inheritance among their brethren] Making them heiresses with them in his estate; which, as it was an extraordinary expression of his love to his daughters, so it importeth, as some think, a desire in him to have his daughters live still with him among the rest of his family; either for that he was loth to part with them (the like whereof is reported of Charles the Great, who, being asked why he did not bestow his daughters in marriage, answered, That he could not be at all without their company, Val. Max. Christian. p. 308), or else as fearing lest they should be defiled with idolaters, which, peradventure, out of Job’s family, were ordinary in that country.

Ver. 16. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, &c.] And this was not the least part of his happiness. Length of days is a piece of Wisdom’s wages, #Pr 3:16. Pliny tells of one Xenophilus, who lived 105 years without sickness (lib. vii. cap. 5). And what a mercy ευγηρια, or a good old age, is, hath been before noted. See #Job 5:26. For a short braid of adversity Job had a hundred and forty years’ health and prosperity; like as Joseph for his thirteen years of slavery and imprisonment, had fourscore years’ liberty, prosperity, and preferment. Who would not serve thee, O King of nations?

And saw his sons] Who doubtless were good and towardly (though nothing is said of them) agreeable to their education, and answerable to Job’s former children, #Job 1:2.

And his sons’ sons] To his great joy’s increase.

Even four generations] Joseph saw but three, #Ge 50:23. If God deny this happiness to any of his, yet he hath promised them a name in his house better than of sons and nephews, #Isa 56:5.

Ver. 17. So Job died, being old and full of days] How long he lived we know not. The Rabbis say, about two hundred years, which was longer than either Abraham or Isaac lived; of both whom it is likewise said, that they were saturi dierum, sated with this earthly life, and desirous of life eternal. To those old men that would yet live longer, we may say,

Cur non ut satur vitae conviva recedis? (Lucret.)

It is enough, Lord, said Elijah. I desire to be dissolved, said Paul. Go forth, my soul, go forth to God, said Hilarion. What make I here? said Monica. Job is now as willing to die as ever he was to dine; he is satisfied with days, saith the text, not as a meat loathed, but as a dish, though well liked, that he had fed his full of.

Laus Deo in Aeternum.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42