_JOB SHEWETH THAT HIS COMPLAINTS ARE NOT CAUSELESS: HE WISHETH FOR DEATH, WHEREIN HE IS ASSURED OF COMFORT: HE REPROVES HIS FRIENDS FOR THEIR UNKINDNESS._ _Before Christ 1645._ _JOB 6:1. BUT JOB ANSWERED AND SAID_— Job begins his defence with a modest apology for venting his grief in a manner some... [ Continue Reading ]
OH THAT MY GRIEF WERE THROUGHLY WEIGHED— Heath, after Schultens, renders this verse, _Would to God my impatience were thoroughly weighed, and that they would in like manner poise my calamities in the balances!_ And the next verse he renders thus: _For now are they more in number than the sand of the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TERRORS OF GOD, &C.— _The terrors of the Lord confound me._ Houbigant. "This," says one, "is uttered by the patient man, when he would excuse his passion by the terror and agony that he was in. He had patience enough for the oppression and rapine of his enemies, for the unkindness and reproach o... [ Continue Reading ]
DOTH THE WILD ASS BRAY WHEN HE HATH GRASS, &C.— _Grass_ and _fodder_ here are a figure of abundance and tranquillity, such as the friends of Job enjoyed. To _bray_ and _low_ refer to expressions of grief and uneasiness. Job, therefore, with some smartness, compares his friends to a _wild ass_ exulti... [ Continue Reading ]
OR IS THERE ANY TASTE IN THE WHITE OF AN EGG— Job's indignation being raised, he expresses in metaphor how absurd and how nauseous to him the discourse of Eliphaz had been. Our version of the latter clause seems to be void of all connection with what goes before. Mr. Mudge supposes Job to allude, in... [ Continue Reading ]
THE THINGS THAT MY SOUL REFUSETH, &C.— Job, persisting in his allegory, goes on to shew how disagreeable to his stomach the speech of Eliphaz had been, says Schultens, who translates the verse thus: _My soul refuseth to touch such things; they are to me as corrupted food._... [ Continue Reading ]
OH THAT I MIGHT HAVE MY REQUEST, &C.— These two verses, as well as the 11th, with many more that might be quoted to the same purpose, are, as Mr. Peters observes, utterly inconsistent with Job's believing that God would restore him to his former happy state.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SHOULD I YET HAVE COMFORT, &C.— _So should my cry still be; nay, I would raise it louder in proportion to my sufferings: let him not spare, for I dispute not the will_ (or _words_) _of the Holy One._ See Heath.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHAT IS MINE END, &C.?— Or, _what is mine end, that I should wish it to be deferred?_ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
IS NOT MY HELP IN ME? &C.— Or, _because my help is not at hand, is wisdom therefore departed far from me?_ Houbigant. Heath renders it, _Do not I find that I cannot in the least help myself, and that strength is quite driven out of me?_... [ Continue Reading ]
TO HIM THAT IS AFFLICTED— _Should a man who is utterly undone be insulted by his friend? and should he tempt him to forsake the fear of the Almighty?_ Heath; who observes, that this clause plainly refers to chap. Job 5:1. The words of Eliphaz seem to have sunk very deep into Job's mind, and he resen... [ Continue Reading ]
MY BRETHREN HAVE DEALT DECEITFULLY— Bishop Lowth observes, that though the metaphor from overflowing waters is very frequent in other sacred writers, yet the author of the book of Job never touches upon it but once or twice throughout the whole poem, and that very slightly, though the subject afford... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH ARE BLACKISH— Houbigant reads it, _Which, after they have been congealed by the frost, and after,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PATHS OF THEIR WAY ARE TURNED ASIDE— Here is a noble climax, a most poetical description of the torrents in hot climates. By extraordinary cold they are frozen over; but the sun no sooner exerts its power than they melt; and they are exhaled by the heat, till the stream, for smallness, is divert... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TROOPS OF TEMA LOOKED— Mr. Heath so translates this verse, as to introduce the speaker using an animated prosopopoeia, or addressing himself to the travellers: _Look for them ye troops of Tema, ye travellers of Sheba, expect them earnestly._ This gives great life to the poetry, and sets a very b... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW FORCIBLE ARE RIGHT WORDS!— _How persuasive are the words of an impartial man! But how shall a man defend himself, whom you have already condemned?_ The reason is, they had condemned him unheard. Heath.... [ Continue Reading ]
DO YE IMAGINE TO REPROVE WORDS— _Do you devise speeches to insult me; and the words of him who is desperate, are they as the wind?_ Heath.... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA, YE OVERWHELM, &C.— _Yes, ye overwhelm the destitute, and make a mock at your friend._ Heath and Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
RETURN, I PRAY YOU; LET IT NOT BE INIQUITY— _Recollect yourselves, I beseech you; call it not wickedness: nay, consider it yet again; righteousness may be in me._ Chappelow.... [ Continue Reading ]
IS THERE INIQUITY IN MY TONGUE, &C.— _Must there needs be perversity in my tongue, because my palate cannot relish misery?_ Heath. REFLECTIONS.—1st, Having heard with patient attention the discourse of Eliphaz, however piercing some of the reflections must appear, Job, far from being convinced by h... [ Continue Reading ]