_JOB REPROVES THE BOASTING OF HIS FRIENDS: HE SHEWS THAT IN THIS LIFE IT IS FREQUENTLY WELL EVEN WITH THOSE MEN WHO OFFEND THE LORD; YET ALLOWS THAT NOBODY COULD DENY THEIR GENERAL DOCTRINE, THAT ALL THINGS WERE GOVERNED BY AN ALMIGHTY GOD._ _Before Christ 1645._ _JOB 12:1. AND JOB ANSWERED_— In t... [ Continue Reading ]
NO DOUBT BUT YE ARE THE PEOPLE— _No doubt knowledge is yours; perfect wisdom dwells with you!_... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM AS ONE MOCKED OF HIS NEIGHBOUR— _I am a mocking-stock to my neighbour._ "He hath appealed to God, to be sure he will answer him! The integrity of the righteous man is become a scoff." _He hath appealed to God,_ was the mock which had been thrown out to him, and alludes to what he had said, chap... [ Continue Reading ]
IS READY, &C.— This is much more beautiful in the original. It is a metaphor taken from the archer, whose arrow is fitted to the string, and ready to be discharged. The word שׁאנן _shaanan,_ here rendered _at ease,_ doth not make so complete a sense as could be wished: its root, שׁאן _shaan,_ partic... [ Continue Reading ]
INTO WHOSE HAND GOD BRINGETH ABUNDANTLY— _Those who provoke God, enjoy in security whatever God pleases to bestow upon them._... [ Continue Reading ]
OR, SPEAK TO THE EARTH— _Or, survey the earth._... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO KNOWETH NOT, &C.?— _Who knoweth not among all these, that it is the hand of Jehovah which hath made them all?_ From the word _Jehovah's_ being used in this place, some would infer that the book of Job must be at least posterior to the time of Moses, and written by a Jew: a very weak argument! as... [ Continue Reading ]
DOTH NOT THE EAR TRY WORDS? &C.— _Doth not the ear try words, as the palate tasteth food?_ Job, being about to speak of the supreme and absolute dominion of God over his creatures, begins with two proverbial expressions, in which he seems to insinuate that he wished for other judges of what he had t... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH HIM IS WISDOM AND STRENGTH— _With him dwell,_ &c. _Counsel and understanding are peculiar to him._ Thus Houbigant; who supposes the expression of _dwelling_ to be in immediate opposition to the foregoing verse, where wisdom is said _to BE with old men,_ but here _to DWELL with GOD,_ as in its p... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WITHHOLDETH THE WATERS— This seems to refer to the universal deluge; as the latter part of the next verse probably alludes to the fall.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE LEADETH PRINCES AWAY SPOILED— _He depriveth the priests of their understanding._ Schultens.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE REMOVETH AWAY THE SPEECH OF THE TRUSTY— _He bereaveth orators of their eloquence._ Heath. On the latter clause Peters observes, that when Job would set out the uncontroulable power of God to defeat all the counsels and purposes of men, one of the strongest phrases that he could find to express it... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WEAKENETH THE STRENGTH OF THE MIGHTY— The girdle being an ornament, the loosing it implies disgrace.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TAKETH AWAY THE HEART, &C.— Bishop Warburton thinks that these words allude to the wandering of the Israelites forty years in the wilderness. But whoever will be at the pains to consult the Hebrew, will find that there is no mention of any wilderness or desart in the passage. The word תהו _tohu,_... [ Continue Reading ]