Job · Chapter 20

Verse 1. Then answered Zophar — Here Zophar, although he had nothing new to advance, hastily interrupts Job, being extremely provoked by his threatening them with the judgments of God, and in his speech appears to be hurried by his passion beyond all bounds. He tells him it is in vain to tax their suspicions with unkindness; for it was of public notoriety, agreeable to the universal experience of mankind, ever since the creation, that suffering was the portion of the wicked. He then, under colour of describing the wicked man, and his destiny, charges Job with the most enormous crimes, and marks him out as a person in whom God had given an example of the justice of his providence; and concludes with a plain intimation, that he was thoroughly persuaded that Job was that very wicked man, that oppressor of the poor, which they had from the beginning suspected him to be.

1. The strange composure of Job, his consciousness of innocency, and his faith in God, instead of winning the sympathy, have served only to cut to the quick the heart of his antagonist. None are more disposed to deal in denunciation than they who have been wounded in vanity by being worsted in argument. Exasperated by Job’s allusion, in his closing exhortation, to the sword and the judgment, Zophar wields the terrors of the law, and conceives that he is doing God service by such maintenance of His truth. In the vivid and masterly portraiture of the wicked rich man Zophar evidently has his eye on Job, and in describing the doom of wealth gotten by fraud and rapine, he more than insinuates, that this is the secret of Job’s trouble. Complete destruction has come upon him because there was no limit to his greed. Job’s fervent appeal to a future life, with all its resources of hope and deliverance, is offset by the fate of the godless wretch who, hurled from the summit of worldly prosperity, is consumed by a fire unkindled by human breath. The moral of Zophar’s address is, that Job, instead of talking piously, would much better give himself to repentance. The Introduction announces the theme of the following discourse. THE

V. 2. Therefore-For this thy severe sentence. Make haste-I speak sooner than I intended. And possibly interrupted Job, when he was proceeding in his discourse.

Verse 2. Therefore do my thoughts] It has already been observed that Zophar was the most inveterate of all Job’s enemies, for we really must cease to call them friends. He sets no bounds to his invective, and outrages every rule of charity. A man of such a bitter spirit must have been, in general, very unhappy. With him Job is, by insinuation, every thing that is base, vile, and hypocritical. Mr. Good translates this verse thus: “Whither would my tumult transport me? And how far my agitation within me?” This is all the modesty that appears in Zophar’s discourse. He acknowledges that he is pressed by the impetuosity of his spirit to reply to Job’s self-vindication. The original is variously translated, but the sense is as above.

For this I make haste.] yb חושי ובעבור ubaabur chushi bi, there is sensibility in me, and my feelings provoke me to reply.

Verse 2. Therefore — For this thy severe sentence; do my thoughts cause me to answer — I thought to have troubled myself and thee with no further discourses, but these words of thine make my former thoughts to return again, and so provoke me, that I am not able any longer to forbear speaking.

Verse 2. I make haste to answer, for thou reproachest both God and us. Zophar had felt the point of Job’s sword, in the preseding discourse; but the present chapter may well be considered as a most interesting specimen of patriarchal eloquence. It is admired among the Hebrews, many of the phrases being cited in the book of Psalms. The greater part is allegory, or a continuation of figures, illustrative of crime and punishment, of destruction to the wicked, and the most abject poverty to his house.

JUBILEE OF THE WICKED IS ONLY OF SHORT DURATION, 2-5.

2. Therefore — The threatened judgment with which Job closes rouses Zophar’s fiery indignation, and colours his entire reply; the judgment Job threatens, lies in wait for himself. For this, etc. — Literally, because of my fervour (also, haste) within me. The cognate word in the Arabic, “boil with heat,” furnishes the true meaning of vwj, fervour, heat.

V. 3. The check-Thy opprobrious reproofs of us. Understanding-I speak, not from passion, but certain knowledge.

Verse 3. I have heard the check of my reproach] Some suppose that Zophar quotes the words of Job, and that some words should be supplied to indicate this meaning; e.g., “I have heard (sayest thou) the check or charge of my reproach?” Or it may refer to what Job says of Zophar and his companions, Job 19:2, 3: How long will ye vex may soul-these ten times have ye reproached me. Zophar therefore assumes his old ground, and retracts nothing of what he had said. Like many of his own complexion in the present day, he was determined to believe that his judgment was infallible, and that he could not err.

Verse 3. I have heard — Or, Shall I hear? Namely, with patience, and without a reply? Who can endure it? The check of my reproach — That is, thy shameful and opprobrious reproofs of us, as if we, and all thy friends, were void of all humanity and natural affection toward thee, and were haters and persecutors of thee; and as if we were guilty of very heinous crimes, and might expect God’s vengeance upon us. And the spirit of my understanding — That is, my soul or mind, causeth me to answer — Constraineth me to speak. Or, the words ytnybm jwr, ruach mibbinathi, may be rendered, my spirit, or mind, because of my understanding, that is, out of, or because of, that certain knowledge which I have of this matter from consideration and experience. I speak not from passion, but from certain knowledge.

3. The check of my reproach — Literally, chiding of my shame, that is, the chiding which tends to his shame — a similar phrase to that of “the chastisement of our peace,” Isaiah 53:5 — the chastisement that produces our peace. My shameful rebuke must I hear. Of my understanding — From or out of. Zophar prides himself upon representing “the individual reason, as Bildad represents the collective traditional wisdom of the race.” — Evans.

V. 4. This-Which I am now about to say. Since-Since the world was made.

Verse 4. Knowest thou not this of old] This is a maxim as ancient as the world; it began with the first man: A wicked man shall triumph but a short time; God will destroy the proud doer.

Since man was placed upon earth] Literally, since ADAM was placed on the earth; that is, since the fall, wickedness and hypocrisy have existed; but they have never triumphed long. Thou hast lately been expressing confidence in reference to a general judgment; but such is thy character, that thou hast little reason to anticipate with any joy the decisions of that day.

Verses 4, 5. Knowest thou not this — Which I am now about to say; of old — From the experience of all former ages; since man was placed upon the earth — Since the world was made, and there were any men to observe God’s government of it; that the triumphing of the wicked is short — Hebrew, bwrqm, mikarob, is from near, that is, from, or for a little time; they have not long enjoyed it, and it will shortly vanish. And the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment — This he adds by way of reflection upon Job, who, though he cleared himself of gross wickedness, yet, he judged, was guilty of deep hypocrisy.

4. Knowest thou this — This gives the only sign of a reply that either he or his friends deign to make to the grand confession of faith, I know, etc. (Job 19:25-27.) Zophar regarded Job as a consummate hypocrite, and worthy of fiercest rebuke, rather than of “the communion of saints.” In this lies, probably, their profound silence with regard to Job’s proposed inscription on the rock. Or, if Zophar reply at all, it is to remind Job that the coming of the Goel shall be to take vengeance on the wicked, such as Job, (verse 26,) and hence the greater reason why he should repent. Job’s wisdom is not “from eternity,” nor does it date back to the creation of man, as is evident from his not knowing that the triumphing of the wicked is short. The question is intensely ironical. Job knows so much of what will take place after death, and yet knows nothing of this world. He knows that God cares for “the dust” of such hypocrites as he, and yet does not know that the triumphing of the wicked is for a moment. If with his “understanding” he grasp the eternity to come, he must have been from eternity himself.

Verses 4, 5. Knowest thou not this — Which I am now about to say; of old — From the experience of all former ages; since man was placed upon the earth — Since the world was made, and there were any men to observe God’s government of it; that the triumphing of the wicked is short — Hebrew, bwrqm, mikarob, is from near, that is, from, or for a little time; they have not long enjoyed it, and it will shortly vanish. And the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment — This he adds by way of reflection upon Job, who, though he cleared himself of gross wickedness, yet, he judged, was guilty of deep hypocrisy.

5. Hypocrite — Ungodly. Job’s triumphant faith is but “the triumphing of the wicked,” and “the joy of the ungodly.” These are the rough, spiteful stones which Zophar hurls at the exultant confession chiseled upon the everlasting rock. Moment — Literally, the twinkling of an eye. Compare 1 Corinthians 15:52. The Hebrew rega’h corresponds to our word moment. A moment, philologically, is simply a movement.

First strophe expands the aphorism just announced, (4, 5,) — Like a lofty tree, he may mount up to heaven, yet with ignominy, and, suddenly, shall he perish, and his wealth be swept away with him, (6-11.)

V. 6. Though-Though he be advanced to great dignity and authority.

Verse 6. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens] Probably referring to the original state of Adam, of whose fall he appears to have spoken, Job 20:4. He was created in the image of God; but by his sin against his Maker he fell into wretchedness, misery, death, and destruction.

Verses 6-9. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens — Though he be advanced to great dignity and authority in the world. He shall perish like his own dung — Which men cast away with contempt and abhorrence. They who have seen him — With admiration at his felicity; shall say, Where is he? — He is nowhere to be found; he is utterly gone and lost. He shall fly away as a dream — Which, for the present, affects the fancy, but hath nothing solid or permanent in it, for as soon as a man awakes all vanishes, and the remembrance of it is quickly lost. Neither shall his place any more behold him — That is, it shall not acknowledge or contain him. A figure called prosopopœia, as Job 7:10. Or, neither shall it (that is, the eye, last mentioned) behold him any more in his place.

6. Excellency — In the sense of height or exaltation.

Verse 7. He shall perish for ever] He is dust, and shall return to the dust from which he was taken. Zophar here hints his disbelief in that doctrine, the resurrection of the body, which Job had so solemnly asserted in the preceding chapter. Or he might have been like some in the present day, who believe that the wicked shall be annihilated, and the bodies of the righteous only be raised from the dead; but I know of no scripture by which such a doctrine is confirmed.

Like his own dung] His reputation shall be abominable, and his putrid carcass shall resemble his own excrement. A speech that partakes as much of the malevolence as of the asperity of Zophar’s spirit.

Verses 6-9. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens — Though he be advanced to great dignity and authority in the world. He shall perish like his own dung — Which men cast away with contempt and abhorrence. They who have seen him — With admiration at his felicity; shall say, Where is he? — He is nowhere to be found; he is utterly gone and lost. He shall fly away as a dream — Which, for the present, affects the fancy, but hath nothing solid or permanent in it, for as soon as a man awakes all vanishes, and the remembrance of it is quickly lost. Neither shall his place any more behold him — That is, it shall not acknowledge or contain him. A figure called prosopopœia, as Job 7:10. Or, neither shall it (that is, the eye, last mentioned) behold him any more in his place.

Ver. 7. He shall perish—like his own dung. A figure of speech denoting contempt and infamy.

7. Like his own dung — Hirtzel renders the first clause: “According to his greatness so shall he perish forever.” So that “his destruction is the greater even as he himself is greater,” (Ewald,) which is properly discarded by Dillmann as inconsistent with the Hebrew use of words. In order to relieve the harshness of the figure, Wetzstein tells as that in the Hauran and Arabia the dung of cows is gathered by women and children for fuel. It is mixed with water and chopped straw, pressed into the shape of cakes, which are piled up in a circular form, and used as a kind of storehouse until needed for the fire. The flame is without odour, and the ashes pure as our own wood ashes. Delitzsch and Umbreit read as in the Authorized Version. The figure expresses the utmost contempt for Job, his immortality, and his future vision of God, and, in itself, would not be exceptionable to Oriental ears. 2 Kings 9:37; Ezekiel 4:12; Zephaniah 1:17.

Verse 8. He shall fly away as a dream] Instead of rising again from corruption, as thou hast asserted, (Job 19:26,) with a new body, his flesh shall rot in the earth, and his spirit be dissipated like a vapour; and, like a vision of the night, nothing shall remain but the bare impression that such a creature had once existed, but shall appear no more for ever.

Verses 6-9. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens — Though he be advanced to great dignity and authority in the world. He shall perish like his own dung — Which men cast away with contempt and abhorrence. They who have seen him — With admiration at his felicity; shall say, Where is he? — He is nowhere to be found; he is utterly gone and lost. He shall fly away as a dream — Which, for the present, affects the fancy, but hath nothing solid or permanent in it, for as soon as a man awakes all vanishes, and the remembrance of it is quickly lost. Neither shall his place any more behold him — That is, it shall not acknowledge or contain him. A figure called prosopopœia, as Job 7:10. Or, neither shall it (that is, the eye, last mentioned) behold him any more in his place.

Verses 6-9. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens — Though he be advanced to great dignity and authority in the world. He shall perish like his own dung — Which men cast away with contempt and abhorrence. They who have seen him — With admiration at his felicity; shall say, Where is he? — He is nowhere to be found; he is utterly gone and lost. He shall fly away as a dream — Which, for the present, affects the fancy, but hath nothing solid or permanent in it, for as soon as a man awakes all vanishes, and the remembrance of it is quickly lost. Neither shall his place any more behold him — That is, it shall not acknowledge or contain him. A figure called prosopopœia, as Job 7:10. Or, neither shall it (that is, the eye, last mentioned) behold him any more in his place.

9. The eye — Literally, An eye has looked upon him; it does it not again. The elevation of the wicked made him the object of a brief but earnest gaze. The same Hebrew verb reappears in Job 28:7 and in Song of Solomon 1:6 — “the sun hath scanned me.” This verse furnishes a striking paraphrase of verse 5 — “for a moment” — the pith of the aphorism. His place — See note on Job 7:10.

Verse 10. His children shall seek to please the poor] They shall be reduced to the lowest degree of poverty and want, so as to be obliged to become servants to the poor. Cursed be Ham, a servant of servants shall he be. There are cases where the poor actually serve the poor; and this is the lowest or most abject state of poverty.

His hands shall restore their goods.] He shall be obliged to restore the goods that he has taken by violence.

Mr. Good translates: His branches shall be involved in his iniquity; i.e., his children shall suffer on his account. “His own hands shall render to himself the evil that he has done to others.”—Calmet. The clause is variously translated.

Verse 10. His children shall seek to please the poor — Either, 1st, To get some small relief from them in their extreme necessity. Or, rather, 2d, Lest they should revenge themselves on them for the great and many injuries which their father did them, or should seek to the magistrate for reparation. His hands shall restore their goods — By the sentence of the judge, to whom the oppressed poor will appeal, notwithstanding all the endeavours of their oppressors to dissuade them from so doing.

Ver. 10. His children shall seek to please the poor, a profligate father having left them without either a fortune or trade.

10. Seek to please the poor — Some adopt the marginal reading, but the text is preferable. So low are they reduced that they fawn upon the poor, lest the latter take revenge for the mis-doings of the parents of the former. Their goods — His substance, that is, extorted wealth.

V. 11. Bones-His whole body, even the strongest parts of it. The sin-Of the punishment of it.

Verse 11. His bones are full of the sin of his youth] Our translators have followed the VULGATE, Ossa ejus implebuntur vitiis adolescentiæ ejus; “his bones shall be filled with the sins of his youth.” The SYRIAC and ARABIC have, his bones are full of marrow; and the TARGUM is to the same sense. At first view it might appear that Zophar refers to those infirmities in old age, which are the consequences of youthful vices and irregularities. wmwl[ alumau, which we translate his youth, may be rendered his hidden things; as if he had said, his secret vices bring down his strength to the dust. For this rendering Rosenmuller contends, and several other German critics. Mr. Good contends for the same.

Verse 11. His bones — That is, his whole body, even the strongest parts of it; are full of the sin of his youth — Of the punishment of it. He shall feel the sad effects of his youthful sins in his riper years, as riotous sinners commonly do. Which shall lie down with him in the dust — He shall carry his diseases and pains, brought upon him by his sins, to the grave: or, rather, they will carry him thither, and prove the causes of his immature death; and the very putrefying of his body in the grave is to him the effect of sin, so that his iniquity is upon his bones even there.

Ver. 11. His bones are full of the sins of his youth. wmwl[ elomav, secret sins. This is true of our prodigals, who frequent the haunts of infamy; but surely in no sense but that of passion, and passion devoid of reason, could Zophar apply this to Job.

11. The sin of his youth — Literally, secret things. Hitzig and many moderns render wmwl[, secret sins, (see Psalm 90:8,) though others prefer youth, in the sense of “youthful vigour.” The latter sense, then, would give the idea that prematurely the wicked man descends to the grave. The root of the word ‘halam, (from which is ‘holam, eternity, “the hidden,”) means both to hide and to be young. Even if the latter meaning be accepted, it may as properly mean youthful sin as youthful vigour. Job had spoken of hope descending with him to the bars of sheol, and of rest in the dust, (Job 17:16.) “No!” says Zophar, “your secret sins shall lie down with you in the dust — the grave shall be no place of rest.” It were bad enough if, like a wound in the body, sin left simply a scar upon the soul. But sin is a poison, as Zophar proceeds to show. It enters into man’s entire being, until he may be said to be “full” of it. So subtle is the virus that it penetrates every tissue. The sins of youth make themselves felt in subsequent years through premature old age, the ruin of health, manifold regret ripening into remorse, and the general wreck of our moral being. Youth is strangely a period of weakness, and pre-eminently one of temptation; but nature utters aloud her notes of warning, and the voice of the Lord God walking also in this paradise, may be heard affectionately cautioning the soul against eating of forbidden fruit.

Second strophe — The epicure in wickedness awakes in agony to find the secret tidbits of sin changed into most deadly poison, and his sweetest delights proved to be germs of a signal destruction, 12-16.

V. 12. Mouth-To his taste; though it greatly please him for the present. Hide-As an epicure doth a sweet morsel, which he keeps and rolls about his mouth, that he may longer enjoy the pleasure of it.

Verse 12. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth] This seems to refer to the secret sins mentioned above.

Hide it under his tongue] This and the four following verses contain an allegory; and the reference is to a man who, instead of taking wholesome food, takes what is poisonous, and is so delighted with it because it is sweet, that he rolls it under his tongue, and will scarcely let it down into his stomach, he is so delighted with the taste; “he spares it, and forsakes it not, but keeps it still within his mouth,” Job 20:13. “But when he swallows it, it is turned to the gall of asps within him,” Job 20:14, which shall corrode and torture his bowels.

Verses 12-14. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth — Though it greatly please him while he is committing it; though he hide it under his tongue — As an epicure doth a sweet morsel, which he keeps and rolls about his mouth, that he may longer enjoy the pleasure of it. Though he be highly pleased with the gratification of his lusts, and cleave to his sinful pleasures in hearty love, resolving to hold them fast, and improve them to the greatest delight and advantage; though he spare it — Will not part with his sin, but gratifies and obeys his sinful inclinations, instead of subduing and mortifying them; but keeps it still within his mouth — That he may enjoy all the sweetness of it. Yet his meat in his bowels is turned — From sweet to bitter; it is the gall of asps within him — Exceeding bitter and pernicious. Gall is most bitter; the gall of serpents is full of poison; and the poison of asps is most dangerous, and, within a few hours, kills without remedy.

Verses 12-14. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth — Though it greatly please him while he is committing it; though he hide it under his tongue — As an epicure doth a sweet morsel, which he keeps and rolls about his mouth, that he may longer enjoy the pleasure of it. Though he be highly pleased with the gratification of his lusts, and cleave to his sinful pleasures in hearty love, resolving to hold them fast, and improve them to the greatest delight and advantage; though he spare it — Will not part with his sin, but gratifies and obeys his sinful inclinations, instead of subduing and mortifying them; but keeps it still within his mouth — That he may enjoy all the sweetness of it. Yet his meat in his bowels is turned — From sweet to bitter; it is the gall of asps within him — Exceeding bitter and pernicious. Gall is most bitter; the gall of serpents is full of poison; and the poison of asps is most dangerous, and, within a few hours, kills without remedy.

13. Forsake it not — Will not let it go. Like a bonbon which one dissolves in his mouth. (Renan.) So sweet is the poisonous mouthful that he is “sparing of it,” and retains it long “in the midst of his palate.” The reader will recall the gormand (Philoxenus) who wished he had a neck as long as that of a crane, that he might prolong the taste of his food. Through five variations Zophar rings the one thought, the deliciousness of sin. The terrible sequel is thus made the more striking.

V. 14. Turned-From sweet to bitter. Gall of asps-Exceeding bitter and pernicious. Gall is most bitter; the gall of serpents is full of poison; and the poison of asps is most dangerous and within a few hours kills without remedy.

Verses 12-14. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth — Though it greatly please him while he is committing it; though he hide it under his tongue — As an epicure doth a sweet morsel, which he keeps and rolls about his mouth, that he may longer enjoy the pleasure of it. Though he be highly pleased with the gratification of his lusts, and cleave to his sinful pleasures in hearty love, resolving to hold them fast, and improve them to the greatest delight and advantage; though he spare it — Will not part with his sin, but gratifies and obeys his sinful inclinations, instead of subduing and mortifying them; but keeps it still within his mouth — That he may enjoy all the sweetness of it. Yet his meat in his bowels is turned — From sweet to bitter; it is the gall of asps within him — Exceeding bitter and pernicious. Gall is most bitter; the gall of serpents is full of poison; and the poison of asps is most dangerous, and, within a few hours, kills without remedy.

14. His meat — His food, that is, the wickedness he had eaten. Turned — Changed into poison. Canon Cook cites from an Arab poet, “crime may be enjoyed, but not digested.” The gall of asps — It was the opinion of the ancients that “the gall constituted the venom of serpents.” — PLINY, Natural History, 11:75. The asp (pethen) is supposed by some to have been the boeten of the Arab, which is thus described by Forskal: “Spotted all over with black and white; a foot long, and about twice as thick as one’s thumb; oviparous; the bite is instantly fatal, and causes the body to swell.”

V. 15. Vomit-Be forced to restore them. God, &c.-If no man’s hand can reach him, God shall find him out.

Verse 15. He shall vomit them up again] This is also an allusion to an effect of most ordinary poisons; they occasion a nausea, and often excruciating vomiting; nature striving to eject what it knows, if retained, will be its bane.

Verses 15, 16. He hath swallowed down riches — He hath got possession of them, and thought them to be as much his own as the meat he had eaten. But he is deceived. He shall vomit them up again — Shall be compelled to restore them: his own conscience perhaps may make him so uneasy in the keeping of what he has gotten, that, for the quiet of his own mind, he shall make restitution, and that not with the pleasure of a virtue, but with the utmost reluctancy, like the pain produced by an emetic. God shall cast them out of his belly — If he do not himself voluntarily refund what he has violently taken away, God, by his providence, shall force him to do it, and bring it about, one way or other, that his ill-gotten goods shall return to their right owners. If man’s hand cannot reach him, God shall find him out. He shall suck the poison of asps — What he sucked so sweetly, and with so much pleasure, shall, in the issue, prove most ungrateful and destructive, as the poison, or head (for the Hebrew var, rosh, signifies both, and the poison lies in the head) of asps would be to one that sucked it. Such is sin; such especially will all unlawful gains be. The fawning tongue will prove the viper’s tongue. All the charming graces that are thought to be in sin will turn, when the conscience is awakened, into so many raging furies.

15. Riches — One of the “Forty-two Points of Instruction,” a small Tibetan work, delivered by Buddha, is, “The man who seeks riches is like a child that, with the sharp point of a knife, attempts to eat honey; ere he has time to relish the sweetness that has but touched his lips, nothing remains to him but the poignant pain of a cut in the tongue.”

Verse 16. He shall suck the poison of asps] That delicious morsel, that secret, easily-besetting sin, so palatable, and so pleasurable, shall act on the life of his soul, as the poison of asps would do on the life of his body. The poison is called the gall of asps, it being anciently supposed that the poison of serpents consists in their gall, which is thought to be copiously exuded when those animals are enraged; as it has been often seen that their bite is not poisonous when they are not angry. Pliny, in speaking of the various parts of animals, Hist. Nat. lib. xi., c. 37, states, from this circumstance, that in the gall, the poison of serpents consists; ne quis miretur id (fel) venenum esse serpentum. And in lib. xxviii., c. 9, he ranks the gall of horses among the poisons: Damnatur (fel) equinum tantum inter venena. We see, therefore, that the gall was considered to be the source whence the poison of serpents was generated, not only in Arabia, but also in Italy.

Verses 15, 16. He hath swallowed down riches — He hath got possession of them, and thought them to be as much his own as the meat he had eaten. But he is deceived. He shall vomit them up again — Shall be compelled to restore them: his own conscience perhaps may make him so uneasy in the keeping of what he has gotten, that, for the quiet of his own mind, he shall make restitution, and that not with the pleasure of a virtue, but with the utmost reluctancy, like the pain produced by an emetic. God shall cast them out of his belly — If he do not himself voluntarily refund what he has violently taken away, God, by his providence, shall force him to do it, and bring it about, one way or other, that his ill-gotten goods shall return to their right owners. If man’s hand cannot reach him, God shall find him out. He shall suck the poison of asps — What he sucked so sweetly, and with so much pleasure, shall, in the issue, prove most ungrateful and destructive, as the poison, or head (for the Hebrew var, rosh, signifies both, and the poison lies in the head) of asps would be to one that sucked it. Such is sin; such especially will all unlawful gains be. The fawning tongue will prove the viper’s tongue. All the charming graces that are thought to be in sin will turn, when the conscience is awakened, into so many raging furies.

16. The viper — Eph’ha. Tristram (Nat. Hist.) identifies it with the sand-viper, a species of small size, about a foot long, varying in colour and common in Arabia and Syria. He frequently found it in winter under stones by the shores of the Dead Sea. It is very rapid and active in its movements. Though highly poisonous, it is not so much dreaded as the fatal cobra or cerastes. The viper’s tongue — “Though biting with his teeth the viper appears to bite with the tongue, for it bites with tongue extended.” — Hengstenberg. Not unlike the bite of the serpent, sin brings at once suffering and incipient death. Thus Plato corrects the saying of Hesiod, “that punishment closely follows sin;” it being, as he says, born at the same time with it. Whoever expects punishment already suffers it. Whoever has deserved it, expects it. (SENECA, Epis., 105.)

Third strophe — The wicked had counted upon perennial resources of bliss — “rivers of honey and butter” — only to find himself stripped of all his ill-gotten good, and himself the defenceless prey of the victims of his own insatiable greed, 17-22.

V. 17. See-Not enjoy that abundant satisfaction and comfort, which good men through God’s blessings enjoy.

Verse 17. He shall not see the rivers] Mr. Good has the following judicious note on this passage: “Honey and butter are the common results of a rich, well-watered pasturage, offering a perpetual banquet of grass to kine, and of nectar to bees; and thus loading the possessor with the most luscious luxuries of pastoral life, peculiarly so before the discovery of the means of obtaining sugar. The expression appears to have been proverbial; and is certainly used here to denote a very high degree of temporal prosperity.” See also Job 29:6. To the Hebrews such expressions were quite familiar. See Exodus 3:8; 13:5; 33:3; 2 Kings 18:32; Deuteronomy 31:20, and elsewhere. The Greek and Roman writers abound in such images. Milk and honey were such delicacies with the ancients, that Pindar compares his song to them for its smoothness and sweetness:— Caire

Filov. Egw tode toi

Pempw memigmenon meli leukw

Sun galakti, kirnamena dJ eersJ

amfepei pomJ aoidimon,

Aiolisin en pnoaisin aulwn.

PIND. Nem. iii., ver. 133.

“Hail, friend! to thee I tune my song;

For thee its mingled sweets prepare;

Mellifluous accents pour along;

Verse, pure as milk, to thee I bear;

On all thy actions falls the dew of praise; Pierian draughts thy thirst of fame assuage, And breathing flutes thy songs of triumph raise.” J. B. C.

Qui te, Pollio, amat, veniat, quo te quoque gaudet; Mella fluant illi, ferat et rubus asper amomum. VIRG. Ecl. iii., ver. 88.

“Who Pollio loves, and who his muse admires; Let Pollio’s fortune crown his full desires Let myrrh, instead of thorn, his fences fill; And showers of honey from his oaks distil!” DRYDEN.

OVID, describing the golden age, employs the same image:— Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant; Flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella. Metam. lib. i., ver. 3.

“Floods were with milk, and floods with nectar, fill’d; And honey from the sweating oak distill’d.” DRYDEN.

HORACE employs a similar image in nearly the same words:— Mella cava manant ex ilice, montibus altis; Levis crepante lympha desilit pede.

Epod. xvi., ver. 46.

“From hollow oaks, where honey’d streams distil, And bounds with noisy foot the pebbled rill.” FRANCIS.

Job employs the same metaphor, Job 29:6:— When I washed my steps with butter,

And the rock poured out to me rivers of oil. Isaiah, also, Isaiah 7:22, uses the same when describing the produce of a heifer and two ewes:—

From the plenty of milk that they shall produce, He shall eat butter: butter and honey shall he eat, Whosoever is left in the midst of the land. And Joel, Joel 3:18:—

And it shall come to pass in that day,

The mountains shall drop down new wine,

And the hills shall flow with milk;

And all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters. These expressions denote fertility and abundance; and are often employed to point out the excellence of the promised land, which is frequently denominated a land flowing with milk and honey: and even the superior blessings of the Gospel are thus characterized, Isaiah 51:1.

Verse 17. He shall not see the rivers, the floods, &c. — “He shall not see them with any pleasure. The most delightful things of this world, and the greatest affluence and plenty of them, shall afford him no enjoyment.” — Dodd. Or, rather, he speaks metaphorically, and means, he shall not enjoy that abundant satisfaction and comfort, which he promised himself from his great riches, or which good men, through God’s blessing, commonly enjoy.

Ver. 17. The brooks of honey; a fine allusion to the affluence of rural life.

17. Not see the rivers — See note Job 29:6. har with b implies joy in beholding. To the Oriental a river has ever been an emblem of felicity. In the paradise of Mohammed “are rivers of incorruptible water, and rivers of milk, the taste whereof changeth not; and rivers of wine, pleasant unto those who drink; and rivers of clarified honey.” — KORAN, Sura 47. The butter was either cream, or simply curdled milk in a semi-liquid state.

V. 18. Swallow-So as to hold it. He shall not possess it long, nor to any considerable purpose. Yea, he shall be forced to part with his estate to make compensations for his wrongs. So that he shall not enjoy what he had gotten, because it shall be taken from him.

Verse 18. That which he laboureth for shall he restore] I prefer here the reading of the Arabic, which is also supported by the Syriac, and is much nearer to the Hebrew text than the common version. He shall return to labour, but he shall not eat; he shall toil, and not be permitted to enjoy the fruit of his labour. The whole of this verse Mr. Good thus translates:— “To labour shall he return, but he shall not eat.

A dearth his recompense: yea, nothing shall he taste.”

It may be inquired how Mr. Good arrives at this meaning. It is by considering the word sl[y yaalos, which we translate he shall rejoice, as the Arabic [Arabic] alasa, “he ate, drank, tasted;” and the word lyhk kehil, which we make a compound word, keeheyl, “according to substance,” to be the pure Arabic word [Arabic] kahala, “it was fruitless,” applied to a year of dearth: hence kahlan, “a barren year.” Conceiving these two to be pure Arabic words, for which he seems to have sufficient authority, he renders wtrwmt temuratho, his recompense, as in Job 15:31, and not restitution, as here.

The general meaning is, He shall labour and toil, but shall not reap, for God shall send on his land blasting and mildew. Houbigant translates the verse thus: Reddet labore partum; neque id absumet; copiosæ fuerunt mercaturæ ejus, sed illis non fruetur. “He shall restore what he gained by labour, nor shall he consume it; his merchandises were abundant, but he shall not enjoy them.” O, how doctors disagree! Old Coverdale gives a good sense, which is no unfrequent thing with this venerable translator:— But laboure shal he, and yet have nothinge to eate; great travayle shal he make for riches, but he shal not enjoye them.

Verse 18. That which he laboured for shall he restore — Expressed in Hebrew by only two words, [gy byvm, meshib jagang, literally, restituens laborem, restoring labor: that is, the goods which were gotten with labour, that of others, or his own. It may refer either to the goods of others, of which he had obtained possession, not without pains and difficulty; or to his own goods, honestly gotten by the sweat of his brow. And this may be intended as an aggravation of his misery, that he is compelled, not only to restore other men’s goods, which were in his hands, but to part with his own also, to make reparation for damages. And shall not swallow it down — So as to hold it: he shall not possess it long, nor to any important purpose. According to his substance shall the restitution be — That is, he shall be forced to part with all his property to make compensation for his wrongs. And he shall not rejoice therein — He shall not enjoy what he had gotten, because it shall be taken from him. Houbigant’s translation of this verse is, He shall restore what he gained by his labour, and shall not consume it. His merchandise was abundant, but he shall not enjoy it.

Ver. 18. That which he laboured for shall he restore. Nearly all crimes, in the laws of our Saxon king Ina, were punished by a scale of fines.

18. Laboured for — The fruit of labour; but not necessarily his labour. According to his substance, etc. — Delitzsch and Zockler render this difficult passage: “According to the riches he hath gotten (literally, “of his exchange,”) shall he not rejoice?” Hirtzel, Welte, etc., agree with the Authorized Version. Thus Renan: “His restitutions shall equal his riches;” which is but a feeble enlargement of the first clause of the verse. The word hrwmt will be better rendered recompense, as in Job 15:31, According to his riches shall his recompense be, and he shall not rejoice. “Zophar enters now more particularly into the cause of the fate of the ungodly; and placing guilt and punishment together, seeks to bring into view the divine jus talionis,” [law of retribution.] — Hengstenberg.

Verse 19. He hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor] Literally, He hath broken in pieces the forsaken of the poor; דלים bz[ xxr yk ki ritstsats azab dallim. The poor have fled from famine, and left their children behind them; and this hard-hearted wretch, meaning Job all the while, has suffered them to perish, when he might have saved them alive. He hath violently taken away a house which he builded not] Or rather, He hath thrown down a house, and hath not rebuilt it. By neglecting or destroying the forsaken orphans of the poor, mentioned above, he has destroyed a house, (a family,) while he might, by helping the wretched, have preserved the family from becoming extinct.

Verse 19. Because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor — By his oppression he brought men to utter poverty, and then forsook them in that destitute state, affording them no mercy nor help. Or, the meaning is, He made some poor by his oppressions, and others, that were poor, he suffered to perish for want of that relief which he might have afforded them. He hath violently taken away a house, &c. — Namely, for his own use; which he builded not — Which was none of his.

Ver. 19. He hath violently taken away a house, from the poor man under some plea of debt, till in the issue he hath no house for himself to live in.

19. A house which he builded not — Literally, A house hath he plundered, but he shall not build it up. “House” is used collectively for houses. The prerogative of the wicked is, that they destroy; (Ecclesiastes 9:18;) for them there is no counterpart, such as of “building up.” He finally fails in all his desires and efforts, for they are founded in wrong.

V. 20. Belly-He shall have no peace in his mind. Desired-Any part of his desirable things, but shall forfeit and lose them all.

Verse 20. Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly] I have already remarked that the word ˆcb beten, which we translate belly, often means in the sacred Scriptures the whole of the human trunk; the regions of the thorax and abdomen, with their contents; the heart, lungs, liver, &c., and consequently all the thoughts, purposes, and inclinations of the mind, of which those viscera were supposed to be the functionaries. The meaning seems to be, “He shall never be satisfied; he shall have an endless desire after secular good, and shall never be able to obtain what he covets.”

Verse 20. Surely he shall not feel quietness, &c. — He shall have no peace nor satisfaction in his mind, in all his gains, partly because of his perpetual fears and expectations of the wrath of God and man, which his guilty conscience assures him he deserves, and partly because they shall be speedily taken away from him. He shall not save of that which he desired — That is, any part of his good and desirable things, but he shall forfeit and lose them all.

20. That which he desired — Because he knew no rest in his craving, (literally, belly,) he shall not escape with his dearest; meaning, perhaps, the children of Job. Hitzig strains the Hebrew when he translates it, “what he desires, escapes him not.” In this and the preceding verses Zophar insinuates that Job was extortionate and grasping; this accounted for the completeness of the destruction.

V. 21. Therefore-It being publickly known that he was totally ruined, none of his kindred shall trouble themselves about any relicks of his estate.

Verse 21. There shall none of his meat be left] Coverdale translates thus: He devoured so gredily, that he left nothinge behynde, therefore his goodes shal not prospere. He shall be stripped of every thing.

Verses 21, 22. There shall none of his meat be left, &c. — For his future use; but he shall be stripped of all, which being publicly known, none of his kindred or friends shall trouble themselves to seek for any relics of his estate. But the Hebrew, wlkal dyrv ˆya, een shorid leachlo, rather means, There shall none be left for his meat, that is, he shall leave no heir who shall possess or enjoy his goods. In the fulness of his sufficiency, &c. — In the height of his prosperity he shall be distressed. Every hand of the wicked shall be upon him — So his wickedness shall be punished by those as wicked as himself.

21. His goods — Nothing escaped his devouring. Therefore his good, bwc, shall not endure. “By the word good is intended his summum bonum, or what seemed such to the bad man. It sounds like a sentence of judgment after the arraignment in the previous items.” — Tayler Lewis. Kindred is the expression of Milton’s fallen angel: —

“Evil, be thou my good.”

V. 22. In, &c.-In the height of prosperity he shall be distressed. Hand, &c.-So his wickedness shall be punished by those as wicked as himself.

Verse 22. In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits] This is a fine saying, and few of the menders of Job’s text have been able to improve the version. It is literally true of every great, rich, wicked man; he has no God, and anxieties and perplexities torment him, notwithstanding he has his portion in this life.

Every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.] All kinds of misery shall be his portion. Coverdale translates: Though he had plenteousnesse of every thinge, yet was he poore; and, therefore, he is but a wretch on every syde.

Verses 21, 22. There shall none of his meat be left, &c. — For his future use; but he shall be stripped of all, which being publicly known, none of his kindred or friends shall trouble themselves to seek for any relics of his estate. But the Hebrew, wlkal dyrv ˆya, een shorid leachlo, rather means, There shall none be left for his meat, that is, he shall leave no heir who shall possess or enjoy his goods. In the fulness of his sufficiency, &c. — In the height of his prosperity he shall be distressed. Every hand of the wicked shall be upon him — So his wickedness shall be punished by those as wicked as himself.

22. The wicked — lm[, wretched. Covetousness, which is the idolatry of wealth, shrivels the soul, and converts the imagination into an engine of terror. The fear of want comes upon the soul like “a strong man armed.” A guilty conscience sees in every man an enemy, “an officer in every bush,” every hand of the wretched comes upon him.

Fourth strophe — Heaven and earth conspire to make the doom of the wicked complete and inevitable, 23-28.

V. 23. Rain-This phrase denotes both the author of his plagues, God, and the nature and quality of them, that they shall come upon him like rain; with great vehemency, so that he cannot prevent or avoid it. Eating-As it fell upon thy sons.

Verse 23. When he is about to fill his belly] Here seems a plain allusion to the lustings of the children of Israel in the desert. God showered down quails upon them, and showered down his wrath while the flesh was in their mouth. The allusion is too plain to be mistaken; and this gives some countenance to the bishop of Killala’s version of the 20th verse, {Job 20:20}:—

“Because he acknowledged not the quail in his stomach, In the midst of his delight he shall not escape.”

That wlc, which we translate quietness, means a quail, also the history of the Hebrews’ lustings, Exodus 16:2-11, and Numbers 11:31-35, sufficiently proves. Let the reader mark all the expressions here, Job 20:20-23, and compare them with Numbers 11:31-35, and he will probably be of opinion that Zophar has that history immediately in view, which speaks of the Hebrews’ murmurings for bread and flesh, and the miraculous showers of manna and quails, and the judgments that fell on them for their murmurings. Let us compare a few passages:— Ver. 20. He shall not feel quietness] wlc selav, the quail. “He shall not save of that which he desired.”

Ver. 21: There shall none of his meat be left.] Exodus 16:19: “Let no man leave of it till the morning.”

Ver. 22. In the fulness of his sufficiency, he shall be in straits.] Exodus 16:20: “But some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms and stank.”

Ver. 23. When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.] Numbers 11:33: “And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague.” Psalm 78:26-30: “He rained flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: so they did eat and were filled-but, while the meat was in their mouth, the wrath of God came upon them,” &c. These show to what Zophar refers.

Verse 23. When he is about to fill his belly — That is, when he has enough to satisfy all his appetites, and shall design to indulge them in the pleasurable enjoyment of all his gains, and to spend his days in sensuality; God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him — Some dreadful and destructive judgment. And shall rain it upon him — This phrase denotes both the author of his plagues, God, and the nature and quality of them, that they shall come upon him like rain, with great vehemence, so that he cannot prevent or avoid them; while he is eating — As it fell upon thy sons, Job 1:18, 19.

23. About to fill his belly — Literally, It shall be to fill his belly. God shall cast — Rather, he casts on him the fury of his wrath, and causes (it) to rain upon him with his food. While he is eating — Literally, in his food. µwjl, bowels, (Hitzig,) flesh, (Delitzsch.) The employment of unusual words leads Delitzsch to remark, “the morally indignant speech, which threatens punishment, intentionally seeks after rare solemn words and darksome tones.” But a little while ago the wicked hid dainty morsels of wickedness under his tongue, which were too delicious to swallow, (verses 12, 13;) now his food is mixed with the wrath of God, which he, perforce, must swallow. “As he could never be satisfied with sensuous goods, (verse 20) God will satisfy him — with his punishments.” — Hirtzel. The Parthians poured melted gold down the throat of the greedy Roman general Crassus, whom they had defeated and slain. — RAWLINSON, Sixth Monarchy, p. 175. The first word, yhy, is jussive, like the expressions “casts” and “causes to rain,” and indicates the speaker’s acquiescence in the retributions of God. They are a kind of amen to the divine will.

V. 24. Flee-From the sword or spear; and so shall think him self out of danger.

Verse 24. He shall flee from the iron weapon] Or, “Though he should flee from the iron armour, the brazen bow should strike him through.” So that yf he fle the yron weapens, he shal be shott with the stele bow.—Coverdale. That is, he shall most certainly perish: all kinds of deaths await him.

Verses 24, 25. He shall flee from the iron weapon — That is, from the sword or spear; and so shall think himself out of danger. The bow of steel — Which is of great strength, and therefore sendeth forth the arrow with greater force; shall strike him through — Shall mortally wound him. He shall flee from one danger, but another, still greater, shall overtake him. It is drawn — Namely, the arrow which had entered into his body, and now is drawn out of it, either by himself or some other person. Yea, the glittering sword — Hebrew, qrbw, ubarak, literally, the lightning, and thence a glittering weapon, the bright sword, or spear; as Deuteronomy 32:41. By this it is implied he was doubly wounded, first with the arrow, and then with the sword or spear: cometh out of his gall — Into which it had entered, and wherewith it was coloured. This shows that the wound was both deep and deadly, as wounds are in that part. It is probable he mentions this in reference to a similar expression of Job 16:13. Terrors are upon him — Namely, the terrors of death; because he perceives, by the tincture of his gall upon the weapon, that his wound is incurable. Or horrors of conscience, because he cannot live, and dare not die.

24. Bow of steel — Not steel, but brass or copper. As bronze tools were used for engraving or sculpturing the rocks, and even in working the quarries, the ancient Egyptian must have possessed some lost art for tempering copper. Wilkinson found a chisel at Thebes with very little alloy; of 100 parts, 94.0 being copper, 5.9 tin, 0.1 iron, the point of which was intact, while the top was turned over by the blows it had received from the mallet. — Anc. Egypt, P.A., 2:158. The verse evidently contains a proverb similar to the classic Scylla and Charybdis. Compare Amos 5:19; Isaiah 24:18. The German would say, “He escapes from the smoke, but falls into the fire.” Nothing could escape him, and he can not escape his fate.

V. 25. It-The arrow, which had entered into his body, and now was drawn out of it either by himself or some other person; having in general said, that it came out of his body, he determines also the part of the body, the gall; which shews that the wound was both deep and deadly. Terrors-The terrors of death; because he perceived his wound was incurable.

Verse 25. It is drawn, and cometh out] This refers to archery: The arrow is drawn out of the sheaf or quiver, and discharged from the bow against its mark, and pierces the vitals, and passes through the body. So Coverdale.—The arowe shal be taken forth, and go out at his backe.

Verses 24, 25. He shall flee from the iron weapon — That is, from the sword or spear; and so shall think himself out of danger. The bow of steel — Which is of great strength, and therefore sendeth forth the arrow with greater force; shall strike him through — Shall mortally wound him. He shall flee from one danger, but another, still greater, shall overtake him. It is drawn — Namely, the arrow which had entered into his body, and now is drawn out of it, either by himself or some other person. Yea, the glittering sword — Hebrew, qrbw, ubarak, literally, the lightning, and thence a glittering weapon, the bright sword, or spear; as Deuteronomy 32:41. By this it is implied he was doubly wounded, first with the arrow, and then with the sword or spear: cometh out of his gall — Into which it had entered, and wherewith it was coloured. This shows that the wound was both deep and deadly, as wounds are in that part. It is probable he mentions this in reference to a similar expression of Job 16:13. Terrors are upon him — Namely, the terrors of death; because he perceives, by the tincture of his gall upon the weapon, that his wound is incurable. Or horrors of conscience, because he cannot live, and dare not die.

25. It is drawn, etc. — Literally, He draweth it, (the arrow.) The glittering sword cometh… gall — Better, It cometh forth from the body, (some read back;) even the glittering blade from out his gall. Terrors upon him — Rather, He goeth, terrors upon him. The drawing of the glittering sword (literally, lightning) from the gall must have been fatal. Thus he goeth — dies; the Arab would say, “Departs to his own place.” Acts 1:25. Schultens says, “The word ‘goeth,’ standing by itself, adds new weight.”

V. 26. Darkness-All sorts of miseries. Hid-Or, laid up; by God for him. It is reserved and treasured up for him, and shall infallibly overtake him. Secret-In those places where he confidently hopes to hide himself from all evil: even there God shall find him out. Not blown-By man, but kindled by God himself. He thinks by his might and violence to secure himself from men, but God will find him out. With him-With his family, who shall inherit his curse as well as his estate.

Verse 26. A fire not blown shall consume him] As Zophar is here showing that the wicked cannot escape from the Divine judgments; so he points out the different instruments which God employs for their destruction. The wrath of God—any secret or supernatural curse. The iron weapon—the spear or such like. The bow, and its swift-flying arrow. Darkness—deep horror and perplexity. A fire not blown—a supernatural fire; lightning: such as fell on Korah, and his company, to whose destruction there is probably here an allusion: hence the words, It shall go ill with him who is left in his tabernacle. “And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. Get ye up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Depart from the tents of these wicked men. There came out a fire from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense;” Numbers 16:20, &c.

Verse 26. All darkness — All sorts of miseries, of soul, and body, and estate; shall be hid — Or laid up by God for him. They are reserved and treasured up for him, and kept as in a sure place, and shall infallibly overtake him: in his secret places — In those places where he confidently hoped to hide and secure himself from all evils and enemies; yet even there God shall find him out. A fire not blown — By man, but kindled by God himself; shall consume or destroy him — He thinks, by his might and violence, to secure himself from men; but God, by his own immediate hand, or in some unknown and unexpected manner, will find him out. It may be understood of the fire of hell; see Isaiah 30:33. It shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle — With his family, or posterity, who shall inherit his curse, as well as his estate. Heath translates this verse, All manner of calamity is laid up in store for him: an unquenchable fire shall consume him: it shall devour all that remaineth in his stead.

Ver. 26. A fire not blown, of war, as in ver. 25; or perhaps in allusion to that which consumed Sodom. The Chaldaic reads, the fire of Gehenna, as in Mark 9:45; consequently those rabbins understood it of hell fire, which cannot be quenched: the portion of men who forget God.

26. His secret places — All darkness shall be hid in his treasures. Darkness is used for dark fate, calamity. He bides (tsaphan) his treasures; God hides (taman) with them his darkness. The fate of each sinner embodies the “divine irony in the Nemesis of history.” Compare Proverbs 1:24-31; Psalm 2:2-4. “Each time the wicked lays his unjust goods by, God lays something by till at last the time of exchange comes, treasure for treasure.” — Hengstenberg. A fire not blown — The Septuagint has, “fire that burns not out,” pur akauston. A fire that God has kindled, and not man, therefore said to be, not blown. Deuteronomy 32:22. “Wickedness is a self-igniting fire,” it carries within itself the elements of destruction. The punishment of sin is in part the letting loose of its own destructive nature. It shall go ill — It shall destroy that which survives in his tent. Others read as in the text, (A.V.)

V. 27. Heaven-God shall be a swift witness against him by extraordinary judgments; still he reflects upon Job’s case, and the fire from heaven. Earth-All creatures upon earth shall conspire to destroy him. If the God of heaven and earth be his enemy, neither heaven nor earth will shew him any kindness, but all the host of both are, and will he at war with him.

Verse 27. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.] Another allusion, if I mistake not, to the destruction of Korah and his company. The heaven revealed their iniquity; God declared out of heaven his judgment of their rebellion. “And the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation;” Numbers 16:20, &c. And then the earth rose up against them. “The ground clave asunder that was under them, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up; and they went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them;” Numbers 16:31-33.

Verses 27, 28. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity — God shall be a swift witness against him by extraordinary judgments; still he reflects upon Job’s case, and the fire from heaven. And the earth shall rise up against him — All creatures upon earth shall conspire to destroy him. If the God of heaven and earth be his enemy, neither heaven nor earth will show him any kindness, but all the hosts of both are, and will be, at war with him. The increase of his house — lwby, jebul, proventus, his income, revenue, or his estate got by the labour, and employed for the use of his family; shall depart — Shall be lost or taken away from him: shall flow away — Like waters, swiftly and strongly, and so as to return no more: in the day of his wrath — That is, of God’s wrath; when God shall come to execute judgment upon him. The abundance of his house, Heath renders it, shall roll away like the torrents in the day of his fury.

Ver. 27. The heavens shall reveal his iniquity. Bishop Reynolds has left us a small folio, chiefly recording Italian cases of God’s revenge against murder and adultery. But his book is small compared with the volume which providence unfolds, in bringing secret crimes to light, and culprits to judgment. Yea, the earth responding to the voice of God, rises up against the wicked. Happy is the offender who exonerates his conscience from the burden of crimes, by timely and unfeigned repentance, and repairing to the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness.

27. The heaven… and the earth — Zophar may have had in mind Job’s appeal to the heaven and earth, (Job 16:18, 19.) With the good man, Eliphaz had said, (Job 5:22, 23,) all nature stands in loving concord: against the bad man, adds Zophar, the heavens and the earth (as in Job’s case, chaps. i, ii) rise in dread conspiracy. The catastrophe of the wicked serves to bring to light their secret sins, a truth he bends into a boomerang to hurl at Job. Nature has no burial place for sin. God’s word is pledged that all sin shall finally be brought forth to the light. The earth, unwilling to tolerate the sinner any longer, is represented as rising up against him. The new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 21:1) cannot be inaugurated until the last sinner has been cast forth from his grave.

V. 28. Increase of his house-His estate. Depart-Shall be lost. Flow-Like waters, swiftly and strongly, and so as to return no more. His-Of God’s wrath.

Verse 28. The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.] A farther allusion to the punishment of the rebellious company of Korah, who not only perished themselves, but their houses also, and their goods. Numbers 16:32. These examples were all in point, on the ground assumed by Zophar; and such well-attested facts would not be passed over by him, had he known the record of them; and that he did know it, alludes to it, and quotes the very circumstances, is more than probable.

Verses 27, 28. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity — God shall be a swift witness against him by extraordinary judgments; still he reflects upon Job’s case, and the fire from heaven. And the earth shall rise up against him — All creatures upon earth shall conspire to destroy him. If the God of heaven and earth be his enemy, neither heaven nor earth will show him any kindness, but all the hosts of both are, and will be, at war with him. The increase of his house — lwby, jebul, proventus, his income, revenue, or his estate got by the labour, and employed for the use of his family; shall depart — Shall be lost or taken away from him: shall flow away — Like waters, swiftly and strongly, and so as to return no more: in the day of his wrath — That is, of God’s wrath; when God shall come to execute judgment upon him. The abundance of his house, Heath renders it, shall roll away like the torrents in the day of his fury.

28. Omit “and his goods.” The subject of twrgn, flowing away, is not expressed. “Like waters poured forth, his all flows away.” — Cocceius. The figure of the text is rugged and grand, perhaps taking its rise in vivid traditions of the deluge, in which the wealth of the world in like manner dissolved and flowed away. The gain of the ungodly is equally unsubstantial, and liable to be irrecoverably destroyed. See Job 4:19; 22:16; comp. Proverbs 23:5.

V. 29. Heritage-Heb. the heritage; so called, to denote the stability and assurance of it, that it is as firm as an inheritance to the right heir; and in opposition to that inheritance which he had gotten by fraud and violence.

Verse 29. This is the portion] As God has dealt with the murmuring Israelites, and with the rebellious sons of Korah, so will he deal with those who murmur against the dispensations of his providence, and rebel against his authority. Instead of an earthly portion, and an ecclesiastical heritage, such as Korah, Dathan, and Abiram sought; they shall have fire from God to scorch them, and the earth to swallow them up.

Dr. Stock, bishop of Killala, who has noticed the allusion to the quails, and for which he has been most unmeritedly ridiculed, gives us the following note on the passage:—

“Here I apprehend is a fresh example of the known usage of Hebrew poets, in adorning their compositions by allusions to facts in the history of their own people. It has escaped all the interpreters; and it is the more important, because it fixes the date of this poem, so far as to prove its having been composed subsequently to the transgression of Israel, at Kibroth Hattaavah, recorded in Numbers 11:33, 34. Because the wicked acknowledges not the quail, that is, the meat with which God has filled his stomach; but, like the ungrateful Israelites, crammed, and blasphemed his feeder, as Milton finely expresses it, he shall experience the same punishment with them, and be cut off in the midst of his enjoyment, as Moses tells us the people were who lusted.”

If I mistake not, I have added considerable strength to the prelate’s reasoning, by showing that there is a reference also to the history of the manna, and to that which details the rebellion of Korah and his company; and if so, (and they may dispute who please,) it is a proof that the Book of Job is not so old as, much less older than, the Pentateuch, as some have endeavoured to prove, but with no evidence of success, at least to my mind: a point which never has been, and I am certain never can be, proved; which has multitudes of presumptions against it, and not one clear incontestable fact for it. Mr. Good has done more in this case than any of his predecessors, and yet Mr. Good has failed; no wonder then that others, unmerciful criticisers of the bishop of Killala, have failed also, who had not a tenth part of Mr. Good’s learning, nor one-hundredth part of his critical acumen.

It is, however, strange that men cannot suffer others to differ from them on a subject of confessed difficulty and comparatively little importance, without raising up the cry of heresy against them, and treating them with superciliousness and contempt! These should know, if they are clergymen, whether dignified or not, that such conduct ill becomes the sacerdotal character; and that ante barbam docet senes cannot be always spoken to the teacher’s advantage.

As a good story is not the worse for being twice told, the following lines from a clergyman, who, for his humility and piety, was as much an honour to his vocation as he was to human nature, may not be amiss, in point of advice to all Warburtonian spirits:—

“Be calm in arguing, for fierceness makes

Error a fault, and truth discourtesy.

Why should I feel another man’s mistakes

More than his sickness or his poverty?

In love I should: but anger is not love

Nor wisdom neither; therefore, gently move.

Calmness is great advantage: he that lets

Another chafe, may warm him at his fire,

Mark all his wanderings, and enjoy his frets;

As cunning fencers suffer heat to tire.

Truth dwells not in the clouds: the bow that’s there

Doth often aim at, never hit, the sphere.”

HERBERT.

Dr. Stock’s work on the Book of Job will stand honourably on the same shelf with the best on this difficult subject.

JOB

Verse 29. This is the portion of the wicked man from God — Allotted to him, designed for him, as his portion: and he will have it for a perpetuity; it is what he must abide by. And the heritage appointed unto him by God — Hebrew, wrma tljn, nachalath imro, the heritage of his word; that is, appointed by the word or sentence of God; and termed a heritage, to signify the stability and assurance of it; that it is as firm and certain to him as an inheritance to the right heir; and in opposition to that inheritance which he had gotten by fraud and violence. Though impenitent sinners do not always fall under such temporal judgments as are here described, and in that Zophar was mistaken; yet the wrath of God abides upon them: and they are made miserable by spiritual judgments, which are much worse; their consciences being either, on the one hand, a terror to them, and then they are in continual amazement; or, on the other hand, seared and silenced, and then they are given up to a reprobate mind, and bound over to eternal ruin. “Never was any doctrine better explained,” says Henry, “nor worse applied, than this here by Zophar: who intended by all this to prove Job to be a hypocrite. Let us receive the good explication, and make a better application, for warning to ourselves to stand in awe and not to sin.”

29. The closing verse, for the greater emphasis, lies outside of the strophic arrangement as in Job 5:27. Appointed unto him — Literally, And the heritage of his word from God. Word, in the sense of appointment. Such a doom brought upon the wicked by his own sins is spoken from God. For he is the author of the scheme that entails such results.