The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 17

Still, it c-annot be Paid that suob a etorm is to tell thee (Qompe.re the comment on ver. impol!Bi.blc; 1md perhaps the dam11.go c'loue l!i). ' wns not great.er than that which followed 'Ver. 18,-While he wee yet apealdnf, on the seventh Eg:,-ptian plngoc (Bee EJ:l'.ld. there came alao anothe~Land said (eeo the ix. 1~-2G). And he.th burned up the sheep, comment on ve:r. 16), Thy aons and thy ~d the Eerve.nts; lit.erally, the yo,ing men; daughters wel'll eating and drinking wine in 1.e. the ~lwphcrds who were in attcndnnco tho~r eldest brother's house (comp. ver. 13). upon t.hc sheep. And consumed them; It 1s a common proverb that "misfortunes Jiter:ill,, de1'<l11red them. Fire is often said never come singly." Shnkespea.re says ther, to .. dc,our" whnt it <lestroYS. 0 "The "come uot single foes, but in batt1Llions. ' EQ·ptians," says Herodotus, " believo fire Still, so overwhelming a series of oe.le.mities to bP n live animal, which cats whe.ternr it falling upou n single individunl a.11 in one cnn seize, and then. glu I tc<l with the food, de.y could not but stt"ike those who heard dies with tbl' mntter which it feeds upon" of them as abnormal, and almost certainly (Herod., iii. 16). And I only am escaped supernatural. So Job's friends ooticluded alone to tell thee (see the comment on (oh. v. 17). . vcr. 15). Ver. 19.-A.nd, behold, there came a great Yer. 17.-While he was yet speaking, wind from the wildemess; rather, from there came also another (sec the comment across the wilderness-a wind which bege.n on "\"CJ". lG). The cxe.ct re1Jetition of a in the region lying on the other aide of tl;le clause, without the nlteration of a word or wilderness, e.nd sweeping across it, came n letter, is very archaic (comp. Gen. i. 4, S, with full force upon the inhabited tract 13, 19, 23, 31 ; and for another repetition, where Job and his sons were dwelling. Gen. i. JO, 12, 18, 21, 25). And said, The The desert winds w;e often very violent. Chaldeans; literally, the Casdim (o•:i·~·;,), Generally they are laden with heavy clouds "1\-hich is the word uniformly used in ·the of fine sand, which cause intoleru.ble disc Hebrew where the Authorized Version has oomfort and thirst; but when they sweep "Chaldcans" or "Chaldees." The native over e. rocky and gravelly region, they a.re name seems to have been Kaldi or Kaldai, simply of extreme violence, without othei whence the Greek Xa.A~11i'o,, and the Latin distressing featnre. They then resemble Chaldan. It is very difficult to acconn t for ihe hurricanes or tornadoes of •the West the Hebrews hanug substituted a sibila.ut Indies. We may reasonably connect tl1~ for the liquid; but it was certainly done hnrricane with the thunderstorm of ver. 16. from the eu.rliest period of their literature And smote the four comers of the house, (Geu. xi. 31) to the latest (see Targums, and it fell. The " houses " of the East a.re passim). Some derive the Hebrew GasJim uot the solid structures of heavy timber, from "Chcscd," one of the sons of KaLor brick, a.nd atone to which we of the Wes~ (Gen. :xxiL 22); but Abraha.m left Ur of are e.ccUBtomed, but light fabrics of planks tLE CLalJees before Chesed was born (Gen. and palisades, thatched mostly with reeds: xxii. 20). And there is no evidence of a.ny Houses of this kind, when the rain descends, connection between Chesed, who was bom and the winds blow and beat against them at Harau, and the Babylonian Chaldeans. (ll'Iatt. vii. 6), readily fall. trpon the young Tile C11aldeans were probably early settlers men; rather, the young persons. Na'ar (1Jll) iu Babylonia; by degrees they were pressed is of both genders in early Hebrew (see Gen, to the south. and gave the na.me of Chaldea :uiv. 14, etc.). And they a.re dead i and I to Lower Babylonia, or the tract nearest to only am escaped alone to ten thee. .Age.in~ the Persian Gulf (Strab., xvL 1, § 66; the calamity bas a completeness which Ptolerny, 'Geographia,' v. 20). From a marks it ae supernatural. The fall of a remote date they were a settled and civilized hoUBe does not usually •destroy e.11 the people ; but no doubt originally they had inmates. ' the same predatory instincts BB their neigh- Ver. 20.-Then Job arose. Not till the bours. Made out three bands. Professor last calamity waa announced did Job stir'. Lee translates, "appointed three captains,'' The lose of hie wealth Ii ttle moved him, whicl, is a possible meaning of the words; But when be heard that hie children were but the weight of authority supports the destroyed, all of them " a.t one fell swoop," rt:1,deri.ng of the .Authorized Version. And then he could_ endure no ·1onger, i;>ut rose fell upon the camels. Perhaps the most from the seat on which he was ·sitting, and valuable part of J ob'e possessions. Three showed forth hie grief, first h~ • rent his tboUBe.nd camelB would be regarded as a. mantle, "the outer robe 'worii by 'men of splendid capture by any body of Oriental rank" (Cook)-a cus~me.ry sf~ pf grief _iii marauders. All.d ha:ve carried them away, 7ea, and &lain the aarva.nta (literally, the JIOUft{l tn£'11, as in v,er. II i) with the ea,e the ancient world (Gen. :xxxvn. 29, 34; x.hv. 13; 1 Ki.n.&°s xxJ. 27; 2 K,inP.~ xix. I;_ Eat~. I; Joel 11. 13; Herod., vm. 99; L1vy, 1. l ~i ,it the .awoal i ~- I ~nlf am e1oap'4 aloJLe e_t,f); ~hell . he ahaved his hea4Ta!i,~fli OH. I, 1-22,] THE BOOK OF JOB. 7