his cutting statements. V. 4. As for me, is my complaint to man, that is, was it in regard to man, did it concern men, being directed against them? And if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled? It was an extraordinary, superhuman burden under which Job was groaning, bearing which he might well have become impatient. V. 5. Mark me and be astonished and lay your hand upon your mouth, being awed into silence by the intensity of Job's suffering. V. 6. Even when I remember, I am afraid, his own thinking of it made him stand confused and aghast with astonishment, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh, his body shaking with terror. "It is to be noted how by these strong expressions the friends are prepared to hear something grave, fearful, astounding, to wit, a proposition, founded on experience which seems to call in question the divine justice, and to the affirmation of which Job accordingly proceeds hesitatingly and with visible reluctance." (Lange.)

JOB POINTS OUT THE DIFFERENCE IN CALAMITIES BEFALLING MEN.-V. 7. Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? Whereas Zophar had maintained that they die early, chap. 20, 5, Job here states that they live on, that they reach a ripe old age, that they are mighty in possessions. V. 8. Their seed is established in their sight with them; their posterity, their children, endure, they remain, they surround the wicked, so that the latter have the benefit and the enjoyment of their companionship, and their offspring before their eyes, all this in contrast with Job's having been bereaved of all his children. V. 9. Their houses are safe from fear, literally, "peace from fear," peace lives in them, and they are far removed from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them, namely, for the purpose of punishing them. They suffer neither such terrors nor such scourges as had brought ruin upon Job. V. 10. Their bull gendereth and faileth not; their cow calveth and casteth not her calf, neither miscarriage nor any other accident hinders the increase of their herds. V. 11. They send forth their little ones like a flock, their large number in itself being a sign of blessing, and their children dance, skipping in joyous and healthful play, the possession of a flourishing troop of children being regarded as a piece of good fortune throughout the Bible. V. 12. They take the timbrel and harp, singing aloud in their festivities, and rejoice at the sound of the organ, a pipe or a set of pipes, the three instruments mentioned being the simplest and the most ancient species, the first representatives of instruments of percussion (tambourines), of string instruments (a small lute or lyre), and wind instruments. V. 13. They spend their days in wealth, in the full enjoyment of prosperity,

and in a moment go down to the grave; having had a care-free life, they enjoy also a quick death, without prolonged suffering. V. 14. Therefore, or "yet," they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways. Their prosperity, which should have constrained them to turn to God in appreciation and gratitude, rather makes them proud and conceited. V. 15. What is the Almighty that we should serve Him P And what profit should we have if we pray unto Him? Filled with haughty self-assurance, they account the service of God and prayer to Him as useless. V. 16. Lo, their god is not in their hand! Their prosperity, as Job contends, surely cannot be a matter of their own power; God must in some way be connected with it, a fact which makes the solution of the problem so difficult. The counsel of the wicked is far from me. Job refuses in any manner to take the part of the ungodly or to renounce God, even if he cannot understand this part of the Lord's government. V. 17. How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! that is, How rarely is their lamp, the light of their prosperity, extinguished! And how oft cometh their destruction upon them? The answer implied is: Seldom enough. God distributeth sorrows in His anger, rather, "How often does He distribute sorrows in His anger?" The answer is again implied: It happens only rarely that they suffer calamities; usually they are perfectly happy all their lives. V. 18. They are as stubble before the wind and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. Here again a question is intended: How often does this well-deserved punishment strike them? Cp. Ps. 73, 3-8. V. 19. God layeth up his iniquity for his children, that is, for the children of the wicked, this exclamation showing what hopes Job still held. He rewardeth him, and he shall know it, or, Let God recompense, repay it to the ungodly, that he may feel it. That is what Job expects from the justice of God. V. 20. His eyes, those of the wicked person, shall see his destruction, feeling the blow of the divine punishment, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty, quaffing it like a bitter draught. V. 21. For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, what does the wicked care about those whom he leaves behind, what interest has he in their welfare, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst? As long as he can enjoy the full term of his life and have the full benefit of its pleasures, the selfish evildoer is satisfied. What comes after him does not bother him. Job implies, of course, that the wicked should therefore be punished during his life, for this very reason, but that events seldom take this just turn. Not only is it impossible, however, to judge God correctly in

this respect; His present dealings with men are, in general, beyond the knowledge and teaching of men. V. 22. Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing He judgeth those that are high, the heavenly dignitaries, the angels themselves. How, then, can a mere mortal presume to be the teacher of God? V. 23. One dieth in his full strength, in the full possession of the highest prosperity, being wholly at ease and quiet, lacking nothing in human happiness. V. 24. His breasts, rather, his troughs, milk-pails, skins for carrying liquids, are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow, literally, "the marrow of his bones is well watered," like rich, irrigated meadow-land. V. 25. And another, in contrast with this person, dieth in the bitterness of his soul and never eateth with pleasure, not even having tasted of prosperity. V. 26. They, the fortunate with the unfortunate, shall lie down alike in the dust, in the grave, and the worms shall cover them. In death all men are equal, becoming a prey to the worms. No mere man, then, has the right to draw conclusions or to judge the righteousness of God from the evidence of his eyes alone.

JOB REBUKES HIS FRIENDS FOR THEIR ONESIDEDNESS. - V. 27. Behold, I know your thoughts, Job knows the plans of their hearts, and the devices, the careful reasonings, the schemes, which ye wrongfully imagine against me, doing violence to him by trying to force him into a confession of guilt. V. 28. For ye say, Where is the house of the prince, of the mighty and influential nobleman? And where are the dwelling-places of the wicked, literally, "the tent of the dwellings of the wicked"? The text emphasizes the splendor and the spaciousness of the wicked person's dwelling. Such taunts as this were directed at Job in fastening the blame of wickedness upon him. Upon this sneering

question Job answers. V. 29. Have ye not asked them that go by the way, inquiring of travelers well acquainted with history and human destinies? And do ye not know their tokens, they should not fail to note and to know what such experienced people would be able to tell them of the different fate of men, v. 30. that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction, held back, spared in the day of ruin? They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath, led away from the overflowing wrath, taken beyond its reach. Job's argument is that the wicked must indeed die like every other person, but that he is spared all the misfortune of life, that he is happy to the day of his death. V. 31. Who shall declare his way to His face? namely, that of God, in questioning His judgments. And who shall repay Him what He hath done? No man will successfully challenge the divine conduct, for God renders to no man an account of His actions. V. 32. Yet shall he be brought to the grave, Job here brings out the opinion and experience of travelers, and shall remain in the tomb, even after the burial of the wicked his monument or burial mound keeps watch at his tomb and keeps his memory alive. V. 33. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, the very earth under which he rests being like a soft couch to him, and every man shall draw after him, imitating his example of a happy life and an easy death, as there are innumerable before him. V. 34. How, then, comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood, and nothing else? Since they cast unfounded suspicions upon the character of Job, they were guilty of a perfidious transgression against God, namely, on account of the lack of charity and by reason of the injustice which they exhibited. Note the warning contained in this verse, which bids all men desist from judging and condemning.

The Third Speech of Eliphaz. ELIPHAZ CHARGES JOB WITH WICKEDNESS. V. 1. Then Eliphaz, the Temanite, answered and said, ignoring Job's argument concerning the prosperity of the ungodly, v. 2. Can a man be profitable unto God, no matter how good or how great he may be in this world, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? This is really the answer to the first part of the verse: God, being absolutely wise, is not influenced by the wisdom of any man. V. 3. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, a gain or advantage to Him, who Himself is perfection, that thou art righteous? The most blameless life of men cannot add to His bliss; He is never actuated by selfish motives. Or is it gain to Him that

thou makest thy ways perfect, striving to be absolutely righteous in his manner of living? God does not reward the pious because they bring Him any benefit by their piety, nor does He punish sinners because their transgressions diminish His blessedness. V. 4. Will He reprove thee for fear of thee? Will He enter with thee into judgment? It must not enter one's mind that God was sending this punishment upon Job on account of his godliness, since God never acts from selfish motives, and because the cause of Job's calamity must lie in himself, as Eliphaz supposed. V. 5. Is not thy wickedness great and thine iniquities infinite? Eliphaz here boldly draws the conclusion to which his first statements entitled him, as he thought: Because

God sends such afflictions only as punishment for transgressions, and because He is never influenced and guided by any selfish motives and arbitrary notions, therefore it follows that Job is guilty. This accusation he now tries to back up by an enumeration of sins of which he supposed Job had become guilty. V. 6. For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for naught, there being no need for Job, who had been wealthy, to be so exacting in collecting moneys due him from his relatives, and stripped the naked of their clothing, taking even the last piece of garment which they possessed, Ex. 22, 25. 26; Deut. 24, 6. 10. 11, against every sentiment of humanity. V. 7. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, as they fainted in their thirst, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry, thus setting aside the fundamental demands of charity. V. 8. But as for the mighty man, literally, "the man of the arm or fist," he had the earth, and the honorable man dwelt in it, that is, the honored, influential one. Thus Eliphaz accused Job of selfishness and greed, of taking the whole land for himself and letting the poor suffer. V. 9. Thou hast sent widows away empty, when they appealed to him for help, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken, they were treated with the most inhuman cruelty, deprived of all their rights and powers. V. 10. Therefore, as a punishment of such sins, snares are round about thee, various forms of destruction besieged him, and sudden fear troubleth thee, a sudden deadly anguish overpowered him time and again, v. 11. or darkness, that thou canst not see, the night of suffering admitting no ray of consoling light; and abundance of waters cover thee, bursting upon him with overwhelming misery. It was a bitter and unjust accusation which Eliphaz heaped upon Job.

WARNING TO AVOID FURTHER PUNISHMENTS. V. 12. Is not God in the height of heaven, the infinitely Exalted One, ruling the world and punishing evil? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are! God is immensely exalted over puny man with his feeble criticism of divine justice and every suspicion of God's wisdom. V. 13. And thou sayest, How doth God know? His wisdom cannot extend to the every-day affairs of men. Can He judge through the dark cloud? The idea is that God is wholly separated and shut off from the business of men, so that He does not concern Himself about them. V. 14. Thick clouds are a covering to Him that He seeth not; and He walketh in the circuit of heaven, on its immense vault, so engrossed in His own exaltation that He overlooks and neglects the affairs of the insignificant world of men. V. 15. Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? Did Job intend to observe and follow the way of the wicked children of the world? V. 16. Which were cut down

out of time, being swept away by a calamity before they had reached the normal span of life, whose foundation was overflown with a flood, the place where they and their dwellings stood became fluid as quicksand, causing them to sink down; v. 17. which said unto God, Depart from us! and what could the Almighty do for them? Both speeches are attributed to the ungodly, with whom Eliphaz here classes Job, in allusion to chap. 21, 14. 15. V. 18. Yet He filled their houses with good things, it was God who had granted to these very scoffers the prosperity which they enjoyed; but the counsel of the wicked is far from me! Eliphaz here echoes the declaration of Job, chap. 21, 16, but includes Job in the number of the wicked. V. 19. The righteous see it and are glad, namely, over the destruction which would surely come upon the wicked; and the innocent laugh them to scorn, mocking at those whose insolence has such a shameful end. V. 20. Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth. That is the sum of the mocking speeches which the righteous heap upon the ungodly: Verily, destroyed is our adversary, and what is left of their prosperity the fire has devoured! this sneering manner Eliphaz attempted to apply the doctrine of divine retribution to the case of Job.

In

AN ADMONITION TO REPENT. V. 21. Acquaint now thyself with Him, make friends with the Lord while there is yet time, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee, Job would again receive the blessing of the Lord if he would but repent of his wickedness. V. 22. Receive, I pray thee, the law from His mouth, the instruction from the mouth of God should guide him on the right way, and lay up His words in thy heart, he should keep them like a precious treasure from which he might draw at all times. V. 23. If thou return to the Almighty, coming close to Him once more by real sorrow and penitence, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles, for that must ever be the result of the true godly sorrow over sins. V. 24. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, casting down the gold ore as it comes from the mines as so much worthless trash, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks, dropping it among the pebbles of the streams as possessing no lasting value. V. 25. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defense, literally, "and shall become the Almighty thy pieces of gold," Job's one rich treasure, and thou shalt have plenty of silver, silver in bars or heaps, the greatest riches in the possession of God's mercy. V. 26. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, since in Him is the greatest joy of the righteous, and shalt lift up thy face unto God, with the confidence of a favorite son. V. 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto Him, with a firm trust in God's

willingness to hear, and He shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows, fulfilling the pledges which he had made in the event of his prayer's being heard. V. 28. Thou shalt also decree a thing, planning the doing of it, and it shall be established unto thee, it will surely come to pass; and the light shall shine upon thy ways, his labors would surely be crowned with success. V. 29. When men are cast down, or "when his ways led downwards," into trouble of any kind, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up, that is, Upward, arise! a call of encouragement; and he shall save the humble person, bringing salvation or deliverance to the man of downcast

eyes. Job would, in turn, be able to comfort and inspire all men who might find themselves in trouble. V. 30. He shall deliver the island of the innocent, rather, "God will rescue him that is not guiltless"; and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands, God, on account of His high regard for Job, would be gracious even to others who were in need of atonement for their sins. In his zeal Eliphaz overshoots the mark, attributing to Job's conversion a power which it could never possess. It is the way of professional exhorters to make extravagant statements and to ascribe to men what God alone can perform, and that out of pure grace.

Job's Answer to Eliphaz.

JOB DESIRES A JUDICIAL DECISION OF GOD. V. 1. Then Job answered and said, v. 2. Even to-day is my complaint bitter, full of defiance, maintaining its attitude of opposition against the admonitions of Eliphaz; my stroke is heavier than my groaning, his hand was weighing down heavily upon his groaning, he was constrained once more to break forth in moaning. V. 3. Oh, that I knew where I might find Him! that I might come even to His seat, come before God's judgment-seat and present his plea, make his defense. V. 4. I would order my cause before Him, stating in order the reasons for his plea, and fill my mouth with arguments, with objections, with proofs for the justice of his cause. V. 5. I would know the words which He would answer me, and understand what He would say unto me, this knowledge enabling him to make his defense successfully. V. 6. Will He plead against me with His great power, making use of His omnipotence to overthrow the contention of Job? No; but He would put strength in me, regard Job favorably. feels confident that, if he could only find God and cause Him to take up his case, He would give him a hearing, not letting His omnipotent majesty stand in the way. V. 7. There the righteous might dispute with Him, he who pleads would be shown to be a righteous man; so should I be delivered forever from my Judge, he would escape condemnation on the part of the Judge by virtue of his uprightness. With all evidences of weakness Job still clung to his trust in the Lord-a type for all those in affliction.

He

JOB DESPAIRS OF FINDING VINDICATION IN THIS LIFE.-V. 8. Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive Him; whether he goes to the east or to the west, he cannot find the judgment-seat of God, and so the joyful prospect Popular Commentary, Old Test., II.

which just opened hopefully before him is again swept away; v. 9. on the left hand, that is, to the North, where He doth work, where His activity is evident, but I cannot behold Him; He hideth Himself on the right hand, turning to the south, that I cannot see Him. No matter in which quarter of the world he seeks the omnipresent God, he is disappointed in his hope of finding God's visible presence, the throne of His judgment. V. 10. But He, while concealing Himself and thus escaping the necessity of acknowledging the innocence of the sufferer, knoweth the way that I take, He knows Job's accustomed way, that which he always took, that which his conscience approved. When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold, like the purest precious metal out of the crucible of the assayer, innocent of any specific great crime. V. 11. My foot hath held His steps, clinging firmly and unwaveringly to the path pointed out by God; His way have I kept, observing it most carefully, and not declined. V. 12. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips, he has in no way departed from the Law of God; I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food, literally, "more than that appointed to me have I kept the sayings of His mouth"; Job regarded them more highly than anything which he may have considered his due portion. V. 13. But He is in one mind, He is unchangeable, constant in all His work, and who can turn Him, causing Him to swerve from His fixed purpose? And what His soul desireth, even that He doeth, the reference being to the determination of God, as Job sees it, to cause him suffering. V. 14. For He performeth the thing that is appointed for me, accomplishing the destiny which He had ordained for Job; and many such things are with Him, this inIcluding all similar decrees affecting mankind in general. V. 15. Therefore am I troubled at His presence, trembling before the face of 3

God; when I consider, I am afraid of Him, aghast at His unfathomable decree, which laid such suffering upon him. V. 16. For God maketh my heart soft, causing it to be faint, to lose all courage, and the Almighty troubleth me, plunging him into confusion, anguish, and terror, v. 17. because I was not cut off before the darkness, his calamity alone did not strike him with dumb terror,

neither hath He covered the darkness from my face, he did not shrink back from his own face, though it showed the evidence of the deepest misery. Job indeed realized the depth of his suffering, but that was not the real reason for his destruction. This was due rather to the condemning attitude of God which took all hope and comfort from him and plunged him into the deepest despair.

Job's Complaint Continued. THE HIDDEN WAYS OF GOD WITH REGARD TO THE WICKED. — V. 1. Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, judicial terms, at which He might condemn the wicked as they deserve, do they that know Him not see His days? Why do His friends not see such days of judgment, have evidence that God does punish the ungodly? The underlying thought is that there is no just retribution for the wicked, that God does not seem to care how men sin or suffer. Job now mentions some such hideous transgressions which apparently go unpunished. V. 2. Some remove the landmarks, change the boundaries in their own favor; they violently take away flocks and feed thereof, becoming guilty of plunder and robbery, brazenly pasturing the stolen flocks. V. 3. They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge, in either case taking the most valued possession of the defenseless, the animal upon which their livelihood depended. V. 4. They turn the needy out of the way, disdainfully thrusting them out of the way into roadless regions; the poor of the earth hide themselves together, being obliged to hide before the insolence of their oppressors. V. 5. Behold, as wild asses in the desert, in untamed fierceness and absolute disregard of other people's rights, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey, eager for plunder; the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children, "the steppe, with its scant supply of roots and herbs, is to him food for the children" (Delitzsch), and what the desert does not furnish him he obtains by a life of robbery and plunder. The wild asses of the waste regions, untractable in their love of freedom, are represented as a type of gregarious vagrants, of freebooters, who live by plunder. V. 6. They reap every one his corn in the field, they are always lucky in getting enough fodder for their cattle; and they gather the vintage of the wicked, gleaning the late-ripe fruit, boldly stealing it whenever it suits their purpose. V. 7. They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, the poor, oppressed by the wicked robbers, are deprived even of their one garment which served for their covering by night, that they have no covering in the cold. V. 8. They

are wet with the showers of the mountains, where the poor try to find refuge, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter, clinging closely to it, crouching beneath it in the vain attempt to find a covering. The description of the tyrants themselves is now resumed. V. 9. They pluck the fatherless from the breast, snatching orphans from the arms of their mothers in order to bring them up as slaves, and take a pledge of the poor, what little is left to the miserable one they appropriate with a show of right. V. 10. They cause him to go naked without clothing, literally, "Naked they [the poor] slink about, without clothing," and they take away the sheaf from the hungry, rather, "and hungry they [the poor] bear the sheaves," namely, for the rich, who press them into their service without even giving them sufficient food for their needs, v. 11. which make oil within their walls, under strict supervision they are obliged to press out the oil from the olives, and tread their wine-presses, stamping out the grapes in the wine-vats, and suffer thirst, not even permitted to quench their thirst while engaged in working for the rich oppressors. V. 12. Men groan from out of the city, strong men moan with the torture to which they are put, which threatens their very lives, and the soul of the wounded crieth out, as the wicked attack them with weapons of blood; yet God layeth not folly to them, He does not seem to regard the violence of the godless while they are engaged in this manner. It is a source of great surprise to Job, he cannot understand it, that God should not heed this mockery of the divine order. V. 13. They are of those that rebel against the light, enemies of the light, of that which is good and noble, children of darkness and night, Rom. 13, 12; 1 Thess. 5, 8; they know not the ways thereof nor abide in the paths thereof, they will not know the ways of the light, where their deeds may be seen by all men, John 3, 20. 21. V. 14. The murderer rising with the light, at the dawn, before it is yet broad daylight, killeth the poor and needy, slaying the defenseless to satisfy his bloodthirstiness, and in the night is as a thief, when there are no unsuspecting wanderers to strike down, he plies his trade as burglar. V. 15. The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, the approach