f 1 wiſh the Sun had never riſen upon charDay to make it Day, or,which is all one ,that it had never been;and whenſoever tharDay returns, 7 wiſh it may be black, and gloomy, and uncomfortable, and therefore execrable and odiousto all Men. g 7. e. From Hea- ven.either, 1. By cauſing the Light of the Sun which is in Heaven to ſhine upon ir. So ir agrees both with the foregoing and following Branches of this Verſe. Or, 2. By bleſſing and favouring it, or by giving his Bleſſings ro Men upon it.Let it beeſteemed by all an un- lucky and comfortleſs Day Or,Let not God require 1t, 3. e. bring 1t a»
# gain in its courſe,as ocher Days return. In this Senſe God 1s ſaid to require that which is paſt, Eccleſ. 3.15. Compare v.3, 6. _
105,44. 5 Let darkneſs and the ſhadow. of death b|] ftain it,
ky: # let a cloud dwell upon it,* let the blackneſs of theday
"0:14 terrific it &. |
imttrris þ 5. e A black and dark ſhadow like that of the place of the dead
fits which is a Land of Darkneſs,and where the Light is Darkneſs, as Job
thſe who explains this very Phraſe, Ch, 10» 21, 22. Or, ſo groſs and
bare abjre palpable Darkneſs, that by it horrors and damps may take away
4). Mens Spirits and Lives # 7.e. Take away its beauty and glory, and make it ab»minable as a filthy thing. Or, c4a/lenge :t, 2. ee take and keep the entire poſſcſſion of it.ſo as the Light may not have the leaſt ſhare in it. k To wit, the Day,i. e. Meo init« Let it be always obſerved as a frightful and diſmal Day. :
6 As for thac aignr, let darkneſs ] ſeize upon it; let i0;, 1+ it not be joined unto the days of the year ms; let it not #ntrz- COMS into the number of themoneths ». jyreoomy I i.e. Conſtant and extraordinary Darkneſs, without the leaſt tres. glimmering of Light from the Moon or Stars. m7. e. Reckoned as
One, or a pari of one of them. The night is diſti»guifhed from che artificial day, bur it isa part of the naturil day, which conſiſts of 24 hours. Or, rather, let it not rejoyce among the days, &c. Joy here, and terrour, v. 5. are poetical'y and figuratively aſcrib-d to the day or night,with reſpe& to Men, who either rejoyce or are affrighted in it. Let it bea ſad, and as it were a funeral Day. » 7. e To beone of thoſeNights which go to the making up of the Moneths
7 Lo, let that night be ſolitary o; let no joyful voice p come therein :
0 z« e, Deſtitute of all ſociety of Men meeting and feaſting toge- ther, which commonly was done at night, Suppers being the moſt folemn Meals among divers ancient Narions See Mark 6. 21. Luke I4. 16. John 12. 2. Rev. 19. 9,17. p Neither of the Bride and Bridegroom, nor any that celebrate their Nuptials, or any other merry Solemnity.
8. Let them curſe it that curſe the day q, who are
[0r,41;. Teady to raife up || their mourning r.
Viethen, q i.e. Their Day, to wit, their Birth-day : For the Pronoun is here omitted for the Meeters ſake; For this and the following Chapters are written in Verſe, asall grant. So the Senſe is, when their Afligions move them to curſe their own Birth-day, ler them remember mine alſo, and beſtow ſome Curſes upon it. Or, the Day of their diſtreſs and trouble, which ſomerime 1s called fimply the day, as Obad. 12. Or, the Day of the Birthor Death of thar perſon Whoſe Funerals are celebrated by the hired Mourners, who in their ſolemn Lamentations ufed ro curfe the Day thar gave them ſuch a Perſon, whom they ſhould ſo ſuddenly leſe, and therefore it had berter never to have .enjoyed him, and to curſe the Day in which he died as an unlucky and execrable Day. Or, the day,i«e. the Dayelight: which to ſome perſons is an hateful thing, and rhe
bje& of their Curſes, namely, to lewd Perſons and Thieves, to whom: the morning light is even as the ſhadow of death. Ch. 24. 17. as alſo to _ oppreſſed with. deep Melancholly,as it is nereimplied v. 20. So the Senſe is this; They who uſe to curie the day only, bur generally love and bleſs the night, - yer let this night be as abo- minable and execrable to them as the day-time gener:1ly is: » Who
7 O B.
who afterwards is reproved by God, and ſeverely accuſeth himſelf
and Tears, and Complaints,and with them Curſes, as Men 11 great paſſions frequently do.Or,ſuch Mourning-Men, or Mourning-Wo- men, whoſe common Employment ir was, and who were hired to mourn,and therefore were always ready to do Jo upon Funeral oc- caſions; of which ſee 2 Chron. 35. 25. Jer. g: 17, 18, 20. Etek. 30+ 2. Joel. x. 15+ Ames 5: 16. Matth. 9. 23. And this Senſe ſuits with the uſe of the laſt word in Hebrew W riters,ofwhich a plain and pertinent Inſtanee is given by the learned Mercer. Bur becauſe that word is commonly uſed in another Senſe for the Leviarhan,both in thisBook and eJſewhere in Scripture,as P/al.74:14-and 10426. Iſs. 27.1: And. becauſe this very Phraſe of raiſing the Leviathan is uſed afcerward,Ch: 41. 26. others render the words thus, Who are prepared, or ready to raiſe the Leviathan, Ir is evident that the Leviathan was a great and dreadful] Fiſh or Sea-Monſter, though there be ſome diſagreement abour irs kind cr quality, and that the raiſing of, or endeavouring to catch the Leviathan was a dangerous and terrible work,as is plain from Job 41, And therefore thoſe Sez-Men, who have been general- ly noted for great Swearers and Curſers, eſpecially when their paf- ſions of Rage or Fear are raiſed. being now labouring to catch this Sea-Monſter, and finding themſelves and their Veſſel in great dan- ger from him, they fall ro their old trade of Swearing and Curling, and curſe the day wherein they were born, and the day in which they ventured upon this moſt hazardous and terrible work- Others underſtand this Leviathan myſtically, as it is uſed, Iſa: 27: -1. for the great Enemy of Gods Church and People, called there alſo the Dragon, to wit, the Devil, whom the Magicians both now do, and formerly did uſeto raiſe with fearful Curſes and Imprecations.Not as if 70b did juſtifie this praftice, bur only ir is a raſh and paſſionate wiſh, that they who pour out ſo many Curſes undeſervedly,would beſtow their deſerved Curſes upon this Day- 9 Let the ſtars of the twilight thereof be dark s, let
dawning of the day #.