possible, the darJ..--ness of the tomb mll&t therefore be ascribed to the writer, and e. desire at once to oheer men by the glorious hope of e. future life, e.nd to clear God of any suspicion of unjust rule by pointing to a. time when justice will be done, and the inequalities of the existing condition of things redressed by the permanent establishment of conditions entirely new. Can m&n be just before God P This is another question raised ; and it is answered by a disti:ng'UO. Absolutely just he cannot be. Sine of infirmity must attach to him, sins of hie youth ( eh. xiii. 26), sins of temper, sins of rash speech (eh. vi. 3, 26; xxxiii. 8-10), and the like. But just, in the sense of "honest," "sinoere," "bent on serving God," he ma.y be and he must be, unless he is to be a hypocrite and a castaway (eh. ix. 21; x. 7; rii. 4,, etc.). Job holds fast by his innocency, and is pronounced by God himself to be " perfect and upright, one that fee.red God and eschewed evil" (eh. i. 1; ii. 3). He is ultimately approved by God, and accepted (eh. xiii. 7, 8), while those who have tried their best to make him confess himself a sinner are condemned, and only pardoned on his intercession (eh. :tlii. 3, 4). Men are thus taught by this book, not certainly without the express intention of the writer, that they can do right if they try, that they can purify themselves, and live noble and worthy lives, and that they are bound to do so. Lastly, there is the question of man's power to know God, which occupies a. considerable space, and is answered, like the preceding question, by drawing a distinction. That man has a knowledge of God to a large extent, knows him to be just, wise, and good, eternal, almighty, omniscient, is assumed throughout the book, and written on almost every page of it. But that ma.n can fully comprehend God is denied, and disproved by very cogent and valid reasonings ( eh. :xxviii 12-28 ; xxxvi. 26-33 ; xxxvii. 1-23; xxxviii. 4-41; :xxxix.; :xl.; xli.). Ma.n, therefore, must not presume to sit in judgment upon God, who "doeth great things, which man cannot comprehend" (eh. xxxvii. 5), and "whose ways are past finding out." His attitude must be one of submission, reserve, and reverence. He must continually bear in mind that he hllll no faculties to grasp the whole range of actual facts and consider their relations one to another, no. power to comprehend the scheme of the universe, much less to sound the depths of the being of him who made it. As Bishop Butler points out, in two chapt.ers of his 'Analogy,' 1 that the ignorance of ma.n is a sufficient answer to most of the objections which men a.re in the habit of urging against the wisdom, equity, a.nd goodness of the Divine government, whether as made known t.o us by re&Bon or by revelation, so the author of 'Job' is evidently bent on impressing strongiy upon us, as one of the main lessons to be learnt from reflection and experience, and one of the ma.in teachings whioh he would enforce upon us by his treatise, that we are quite incompetent 1 Pt. i. eh. vii. and pt. ii. eh. iv. Compare his sermon, 11 On the Ignorance of Man" (' Sermons preached at the Rolle Chapel,' sermon :u. pp, 150-160). THE BOOK OF JOB. xix
to understand the geneml echeme of things, and thereforo quite unfit to criticize and judge God's doings. He has revealetl himself to us, not for speculative, but for practical purposes, and it is our true wisdom to know that we only know him sufficiently for our practical guidance ( eh. x.xviii. 12-28).
§ 6. LITERATURE OF JOB.
. The earliest commentary on Job is that by Ephrem Syrus, Presbyter of Edessa, who lived in the fourth century after Christ. This work was translated from the Syriac into :J:,atin by Petrus Benedictus, and will be found in his 'Opera Syriaca,' vol. ii. pp. 1-20 (Rome, 1740). It is scanty, and of little value. J erome's translation, which forms a part of the V nlgate, is, on. the contrary, of the highest importance, and should be ~onsnlted by all students, as, practically, a most valuable commentary. The work called Jerome's 'Commentary on Job ' 1 appears not to be genui~e, and may safely be neglected. Some ' Annotations ' by Augustine, Bishop of Hippo about A.D. 390-410, are interesting, and will be found in most editions of that author, The most important, however, of the patristic comm~ntaries is that by Gregory the Great, entitled, 'Expositiones in Job, sive Moralium Libri xxxv.,' published separately at Rome in 1475, and at Paris in 1495. This exposition throws little light on the text, but is valued for moral and spiritual purposes. It belongs to the end of the sixth century. • • : Among Jewish comments the_ most valuable are those of Aben Ezra 1 (A.D. 1168), ~achm_anides 9• (A.D.1250), and Levi Ben Gershon' (A.D. 1326). An Arabic para_ph.r;i,se by Saadia, and an Arabic commentary by Tanchum, are praised by Ewald. 5 The commentary by Cardinal Caietan 8 (A.D.1535), the paraphrase of Titelmann 7 (A,D. 1547), the commentary of Stench s (.LD. i567), the partial commentary of De Huerga 9 (.u. 1582), and the complete one of Zuniga 10 (A.D. 1584), evince the industry, and in some respects the learning, of scholars belonging to the unreformed Church during the course of the sixteenth century, but are unsatisfactory, since their writers were wholly unacquainte!l, with Hebrew. The best work of this period, written at the very close of_ the century, and displaying con-
1 'In Historiam Jobi Qommentariornm Libri iii.,' Ba.sle, 1527.
. ~ '.Oommentarius in Jobum,' published in tha 'Biblia Rabbin.ioa Bombergiawa,' Venice, 1525--6. • 'Commentarius in Jobwn,' published in the same. • 'Commentarius in Jobum,' Naples, 1487. •, ',·D!MI Buoh Ijob,' Vorrede,. p. xi. • 'Commente.rii in Librum Jobi,' Rome, 1535. ' • Eluoidatio Paraphl'C1stica in Jobum,' Antwerp, 1547. • 'Enarmtiones in Librum Jobi,' Venioe, 1567. 1 'Oommentaria in xviii. Priore. Capita Jobi,' Compluti, 1581 11 • Oommentaria in Librum Job.' Toledo, 1S84. ll INTRODUOTION TO