22 Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears. the Persians, Ferideddin Attar, &c. Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, also, a considerable part of their divinations consisted in observing the flight of birds, as if they were endowed with intelligence, and indicated coming events by the course which they took. Comp. also, Eccles. x. 20, where wisdom or intelligence is ascribed to the birds of the air. "Curse not the king, no, not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter. used here to denote Sheol, or the 22. Destruction. This is a personification which is exceedingly sublime. Job had spoken of the wonderful discoveries made by science, but none of them had disclosed true wisdom. It had not been discovered in the shaft which the miner sank deep in the earth; in the hidden regions which he laid open to-day, nor by the birds that saw to the farthest distance, or that were regarded as the interpreters of the will of the gods. It was natural to ask whether it might not have been discovered in the vast profound of the nether world-the regions of death and of night; and whether by making a bold appeal to the king that reigned there, 23. God understandeth the way a response might not be heard that thereof. These These are doubtless the would be more satisfactory. In ver. words of Job. The meaning is, that 14, the appeal had been made to the the reason of the divine dispensations sea-with all its vast stores; here could be known only to God himself. the appeal is to far deeper regions-He had given no clew by which man to the nether world of darkness and could discover this. He might carry of death. On the word used here his investigations far into the regions (1177), destruction, see Notes on ch. of science; he could penetrate the xxvi. 6. It is employed here, as in earth, and look on the stars, but still that place, to denote the nether world all his investigations fell short of dis-the abode of departed spirits-the closing the reasons of the divine disworld where those are who have pensations. The secret was lodged been destroyed by death, and to which in his bosom, and he only could comthe destruction of the grave is the municate it where and when he entrance. ¶ And death. Death is pleased. It may be added here, that a 24 For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; b the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure. 26 When he made a decree 25 To make the weight for for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder; a Pr. 15. 3 b Ps. 135. 7. this is as true now as it was in the time of Job. Man has carried the investigations of science almost infinitely farther than he had then, but still by the investigations of science he has by no means superseded the necessity of revelation, or shed light on the great questions that have, in all ages, so much perplexed the race. It is only by direct communication, by his word and by his Spirit, that man can be made to understand the reason of the divine doings, and nothing is better established by the course of events than the truth on which Job here so much insists, that science cannot answer the questions of so much interest to man about the divine government. in this place (2) means either to 26. When he made a decree for the rain. A statute or law (P) by which the rain is regulated. It is not sent by chance or hap-hazard. It is under the operation of regular and settled laws. We cannot suppose 24. For he looketh to the ends of the that those laws were understood in earth. That is, God sees and knows the time of Job, but the fact might be understood that the rain was reguevery thing. He looks upon the whole universe. Man sees objects lated by laws, and that fact would dimly; he sees but a few, and he lit-show that God was qualified to imtle understands the bearing of one thing or another. 25. To make the weight for the winds. That is, to weigh the winds, and to measure the waters-things that it would seem most difficult to do. The idea here seems to be, that God had made all things by measure and by rule. Even the winds-so fleeting and imponderable―he had adjusted and balanced in the most exact manner, as if he had weighed them when he made them. The air has weight, but it is not probable that this fact was known in the time of Job, or that he adverted to it here. It is rather the idea suggested above, that the God who had formed every thing by exact rule, and who had power to govern the winds in the most exact manner, must be qualified to impart wisdom T And he weigheth the waters. Comp. Notes on Isa. xl. 12. The word rendered weigheth seq. part wisdom. His kingdom was a kingdom of settled law and not of chance or caprice, and if the rain was regulated by statute, it was fair to presume that he did not deal with his people by chance, and that afflictions were not sent without rule. Comp. Notes on ch. v. 6. ¶ And a way. A path through which the rapid lightning should pass-referring, perhaps, to the apparent opening in the clouds in which the lightning seems to move along. ¶ The lightning of the thunder. The word lightning here (-hhâziz) properly means an arrow, from 1, obsol., to pierce through, to transfix, to perforate; and hence the lightning-from the rapidity with which it passes—like' an arrow. The word 'thunder' (ip) means voices, and hence thunder, as being by way of eminence the voice of God. Comp. Ps. xxix. 3. 5. The whole expression here means 'the as consisting in profound veneration thunder-flash.' Coverdale renders of God, in a willingness to bow under this,' when he gave the mighty floods his dispensations, and to confide in a law;" but it undoubtedly refers to him. He prepared it. Made it a ↑ the thunder-storm, and the idea is, matter of thought and inquiry to find that he who controls the rapid light-out what was real wisdom, and comning, regulating its laws and directing its path through the heavens, is qualified to communicate truth to men, and can explain the great principles on which his government is administered. 27. Then did he see it. That is, then did he see wisdom. When in the work of creation he gave laws to the rain and the thunder-storm; when he weighed out the winds and measured out the waters, then he saw and understood the principles of true wisdom. There is a remarkable similarity between the expression here and Prov. viii. 27-30, "When he prepared the heavens, I [wisdom] was there; when he set a compass upon the face of the depth; when he established the clouds above; when he strengthened the foundations of the deep; when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment; when he appointed the foundations of the earth; then I was by him as one brought up with him; I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him." ¶ And declare it. Marg. number. The word (0) means, however, rather to declare, or to narrate; and the idea is, that even then he made known to intelligent beings the true principles of wisdom, as consisting in the fear of the Lord, and in suitable veneration for the Most High. In what way this was made known, Job does not say; but there can be no doubt of the fact to which he adverts, that even in his time the great principles of all real wisdom were made known to created intelligences, municated it in a proper way to his creatures. The idea is, that it was not the result of chance, nor did it spring up of its own accord, but it was a matter of intelligent investiga. tion on the part of God to know what constituted true wisdom. Probably, also, Job here means to refer to the attempts of man to investigate it, and to say that its value was enhanced from the fact that it had even required the search of God to find it out. Beautiful eulogiums of Wisdom may be seen in the Apocryphal book Ecclesiasticus, of which the following is a specimen : Wisdom shall praise herself, And shall glory in the midst of her people. In the congregation of the Most High shall she open her mouth, And triumph before his power. I came out of the mouth of the Most High, And my throne is in a cloudy pillar. He created me from the beginning, before the At 28. And unto man he said. what time, or how, Job does not say. Prof. Lee supposes that this refers to the instruction which God gave in Paradise to our first parents; but it may rather be supposed to refer to the universal tenor of the divine communications to man, and to all that God had said about the way of true wisdom. The meaning is, that the substance of all that God had said tɔ man was, that true wisdom was to be found in profound veneration of him To for ¶ The fear of the LORD, that is wisdom. | his perplexities, comes, and here his The word 'Lord'. here is improperly mind finds rest. ¶ And to depart printed in small capitals, as if the from evil is understanding. sake every word were -JEHOVAH. The original word is, however, וָה evil way must be wise. In doing that, man knows that he cannot err. He walks safely who abandons sin, and in forsaking every but be right. He may be in error when speculating about God, and the reasons of his government; he may be led astray when endeavoring to Adonai; and the fact is worthy of notice, because one point of the argu-evil way he knows that he cannot ment respecting the date of the book turns on the question whether the word JEHOVAH occurs in it. See Notes on ch. xii. 9. The fear of the Lord is often represented as true wis-comprehend his dealings; but there dom. Prov. i. 7, xiv. 27, xv. 33, xix. 23. Ps. cxi. 10, et al. The meaning here is, that real wisdom is connected with a proper veneration for God, and with submission to him. We cannot understand his ways. Science cannot conduct us up to a full explanation of his government, nor can the most profound investigations disclose all that we would wish to know about God. In these circumstances, true wisdom is found in humble piety; in reverence for the name and perfections of God; in that veneration which leads us to adore him, and to believe that he is right, though clouds and darkness are round about him. To this conclusion Job, in all can be no such perplexity in departing from evil. There he knows he is right. There his feet are on a rock. | It is better to walk surely there than to involve ourselves in perplexity about profound and inscrutable operations of the divine character and government. It may be added here, also, that he who aims to lead a holy life, who has a virtuous heart, and who seeks to do always what is right, will have a clearer view of the government and truth of God, than the most profound intellect can obtain without a heart of piety; and that without that, all the investigations of the most splendid talents will be practically in vain. CHAPTER XXIX. ANALYSIS OF THE CHAPTER. THIS chapter is closely connected with the two following, and they together constitute a continuous argument. Job returns to his own case, and probably designs to show that this is a striking illustration of the mysteriousness of the divine dealings to which he had adverted in the ast chapter. His general aim is to vindicate his own integrity against the charges of his friends, and to show that all that he had said about the unprecedented nature of his afflictions was well fended. In ch. xxix. he beautifully descants on his former prosperity; in ch. xxx. he exhibits the striking contrast between that and his present condition; and in ch. xxxi. in answer to the accusations of his friends, he relates the principal transactions of his past life, asserts his integrity as displayed in the discharge of all the duties which he owed to God and man, and again appeals to the omniscience and justice of God in proof of his sincerity. Lowth. This chapter is occupied with a description of his former prosperity. He refers particularly to the times when God smiled upon and blessed him; when he lifted the light of his countenance upon him, and his children were round about him, vs. 1-6; he speaks of the respect which was shown him when he went into the place of public concourse-when y ing men retires efore him, when princes and nobles were silent in his presence, and when the ears and eye of all blessed him for the good that he had done to the fatherless and to him that was ready to perish, vs. 7-13; he speaks of the time when he put on righteousness as a robe and a diadem, and when he was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame, vs. 14-17; and he refers to the fact that he then supposed that his prosperity would be permanent, and to the universal respect in which he was held by all classes of men, vs. 18-25. The whole picture in the chapter is one of uncommon beauty, and describes a state of the highest happiness and prosperity. It is the image of a venerable patriarch, a wise counsellor, a universal benefactor, a composer of difficulties, a man enjoying universal confidence and affection. It is an image of what was aimed at as constituting the highest state of earthly blessedness in the estimation of those who lived in patriarchal times, and is a beautiful portraiture of what would be regarded as the most honorable distinction in the hospitality and piety of the East. At the same time it is a beautiful description of piety and its effects every where; and of the respect shown to wisdom, virtue, and benevolence, in all ages. 1. Moreover, Job continued his parable. See Notes on ch. xxvii. 1. It is probable that Job had paused to see if any one would attempt a reply. As his friends were silent, he resumed his remarks and went into a more full statement of his sufferings. The fact that Job more than once paused in his addresses to give his friends an opportunity to speak, and that they were silent when they seemed called upon to vindicate their former sentiments, was what particularly roused the wrath of Elihu and induced him to answer. Ch. xxxii. 2-5. 3 When 2 his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through dark ness; 1 added to take up. 2 or, lamp. a Ps. 23. 4 this extended description of his former Stravi, scutorumque incendi victor acervos. Such as I was beneath Praeneste's wall ; 2. Oh that I were. Heb, "Who 3. When his candle shined upon my Dependent lychni laquearibus aureis DRYDEN. Indeed |