42:6. The Lord answers Job out of the Storm We are now to witness the last act of the drama. And to understand it we have to go back to the starting-point and recall the idea of the Poem. This idea is expressed in the question, _Doth Job serve God for nought_? Or, as otherwise put, the idea is, _Th... [ Continue Reading ]
_answered Job_ That is, took up anew His words and directly appealed to Job.... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 40:1-5. Effect of the Divine Speech on Job As if the purpose of the preceding survey of Creation might be lost in the brilliancy of the individual parts of it, the Divine Speaker gathers up its general effect and brings it to bear on Job directly, demanding whether he will persevere in his cont... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse means, Will the reprover contend with the Almighty? He that disputeth with God let him answer it. The "reprover" or blamer is of course Job; and so is "he that disputeth," or, "he that would dispute." The word _it_refers to the foregoing display of God's glory in creation, which Jehovah... [ Continue Reading ]
Job's answer: he will no more contend; he is silent before God.... [ Continue Reading ]
_behold, I am vile_ The word _vile_here is not a moral term, it signifies, _mean_, small. The verse may be read, Behold I am too mean; what shall I answer thee? I lay mine hand upon my mouth. Job is abased before Jehovah; he feels his meanness and is silent, comp. ch. Job 21:5; Job 29:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will proceed no further_ Or, BUT I WILL NOT AGAIN. The words "once", "twice", that is, sundry times, refer to what Job had often said in his speeches concerning the Almighty. The purpose of making these wonders of creation pass before Job's eyes was to display God before him, and to heal the pre... [ Continue Reading ]
_the whirlwind_ As before, THE STORM.... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 40:6 to Job 42:6. The Lord's Second Answer to Job out of the Storm Shall Man charge God with unrighteousness in His Rule of the World? All that the first speech of the Lord touched upon was the presumption of a mortal man desiring to contend with the Almighty. The display from Creation of that... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse reads, Wilt thou even disannul my right? Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be righteous? To disannul Jehovah's "right" does not seem to mean, to depose Him from His place as Supreme, but rather to _break_, or _make void_, that is, _deny_His rectitude as Ruler of the world. The secon... [ Continue Reading ]
As Job questions the manner of the Almighty's rule of the world, God invites him to deck himself with the thunder and majesty of the supreme ruler, and himself undertake the government of the world; and in the execution of this government to bring low all that is proud (comp. Isaiah 2:12 _seq_.), to... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse reads literally, Deck thyself now with excellency and loftiness; And array thyself with honour and majesty. The two words in the second clause are so translated, Psalms 21:5; Psalms 96:6; Psalms 104:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
_cast abroad the rage of thy wrath_ Or, SEND FORTH THE FLOODS OF THY WRATH; the figure is that of a raging, overflowing stream.... [ Continue Reading ]
_in their place_ That is, where they stand; suddenly and on the spot, comp. ch. Job 34:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
_bind their faces in secret_ lit. _bind up their faces in the hidden place_, that is, shut them up in the darkness of the prison-house of Death.... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse reads, Then will I also praise thee, That thine own right hand can save thee. If Job will shew himself worthy of that place to which he aspires when he reproves the rule of God in the universe, then even Jehovah Himself, who elsewhere says, "Is there a God beside me? yea there is no God... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold now behemoth_ The word, _behemoth_, may be a Heb. _plur_. of intensity, signifying _the beast_or _ox, par excellence_; but probably it is an Egyptian name Hebraized. It has been supposed to be the Egyptian _p-ehe-mout_, i. e. _the water_, or _river ox_. At all events the animal referred to a... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses read, 16. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, And his force in the sinews of his belly. 17. He bendeth his tail like a cedar; The muscles of his thighs are knit together. 18. His bones are pipes of brass; His limbs are like bars of iron.... [ Continue Reading ]
The "tail" of the hippopotamus is short, naked and muscular, resembling that of the hog. The great strength of the animal may be inferred from the muscular stiffness of the tail, which bends like the branch or young stem of a cedar.... [ Continue Reading ]
_strong pieces of brass_ Rather literally, ARE PIPES OF BRASS.... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses are connected, 19. He is the chief of the ways of God; He that made him provideth him with his sword; 20. For the mountains, &c. By "chief," lit. _beginning_, is meant the first in magnitude and power, in whom the full, fresh creative force has embodied itself. The meaning of the se... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse seems to mean that in order to satisfy his hunger the animal depastures whole mountains, tracts where all the beasts of the field play. The hippopotamus is said to wander to the higher grounds, at a distance from the river, when food cannot be found in its vicinity.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the shady trees_ Rather, THE LOTUS TREES. And so in Job 40:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse means, Behold the stream swelleth, he trembleth not; He is careless, though Jordan break forth upon his mouth. The word "swelleth" means lit. _oppresses_, that is, rushes violently against him. The term "Jordan," or "a Jordan," is used by way of example, meaning a violent outbreak of wa... [ Continue Reading ]
The meaning probably is, Shall they take him before his eyes? Or pierce through his nose with a snare? "Before his eyes" or "in his sight" (Proverbs 1:17), that is, openly, when the animal is aware. The words might be taken ironically: _Let them take him before his eyes_! &c. (comp. Proverbs 1:32... [ Continue Reading ]