v. 13, "Fulfil your works, fulfil your daily grave." In euoh thoughts as those to whioll_. taBks." In the grnve these hated sounds Job ~ere gives expression Ulere is somethint would not be lit>ard. morbid and unreal. , Ver. 19.-The ame.11 e.nd gree.t a.re there; Ver. 23.-Why is light give11 to a man i.e. "11ll &rt'there, the small and great alike;" whose way i1 hid 1 " Obscured," thnt is, for- "dRrkened," "placed undor n cloud" ( comp. " Omues eodem cogimur, omnium ver. 20, where the sentiment is nearly the Versatur urne. serius ooius Mmo). And whom God hath hedged in. Sors exitura, c>t nos in mternum Not in the way of protection, ns in eh. i. 10, Exilium impositura cymbm." but of obstruction and confinement ( comp. (Hor., • Od.') oh. xix. 8 and Hos. ii. 6). Job feels himself confined, imprisoned, blocked in. He can And the servant is free from his master; neither see the path which he ought to pur- rather, the gza.,e (,:iv..). sue nor take steps In a.ny direction. Ver. 20.-Where"rore is light given to him Ver. 24.-For my sighing cometh before I that is in misery t Why, Job asks, is the eat· literally, before my meat; i.e. "more miserable man forced to continue on the early and more oonstautly tha.n my food'' earth and see the light to-day? Why is he (Professor Lee). And my roarings a.re poured not sent down at once to the darkness of the out. The word translated "roaring" is used grave? Surely this would have been better. primarily of the roar of e. lion (Zech. xi. 3: Man often speaks 11B if he were wiser than comp. Amos iii. 8); secondarily, of the loud his Maker, and could ho.ve much improved cries uttered by men who suffer pa.in (see the system of the uni 1•eree, if he had had Ps. xxii. 1; xxxii. 4). (On the loud cries of the arranging of it; but he scarcely;.means Orientals when suffering from grief or pa.in, what he B&ys commonly. Such talk is, how- see the comment on eh. ii. 12.) Like the ever, foolish, as is ell captious questioning waters; i.e. freely e.nd copiously, without let zoncerning the ways of God. 'l'he proper or stint. Perhaps the loud sound of rushing answer to all such questioning is well given water is also alluded to. by Zophar in eh. xi. 7, 8, "Canst thou by Ver. 25.-For the thing whioh I greatly searcl1in~ find out God? canst thou find feared is come upon me; literally,/or lfear out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as a fear, and it comes upon me. The meaning high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper is not thnt the offliction which has come than hell (Sli.eol); what canst thou know?" upon him is a thing whioh Job had feared And life unto the bitter in soul (see the when he was prosperous; but that now that comment on ver. 11, ad fin.). he is in adversity, he is beset with fears, and Ver. 21.-Wh.ich long for death, but it that all hie presentimen Is of evil are almost cometh not ; liternlly, which tDait for death, immediately accomplished. The second anxiously and longingly (comp. Ps. x.x.xiii clause, And that which I was (rather, am) 20 ). A.n.d dig for it more than for hid trea- afraid of is come .unto me, merely repeats sures; i.e. "seek it more ee.rnestly than e.nd emphasizes the first (see the 1comment even they seek who dig for hid treasures." on ver. 11). .As Professor Lee remarks, "From the great Ver. 26.-I was not in safety, neither he.II inste.bility of all Eastern governments, trea.- I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble oame. 1Butes were in Eastern countries often hid Some Hebre.ists give quite e. different tum away" (' Book of Job,' pp. 200,201). And to this passage, rendering it as follows: "I hence treaaure-seeking became a profession, am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither which was purb'Ued with avidity by a large have I rest; but trouble cometh" (see the number of persons. Even at the present Revised Version, and compare Canon Cook's day Orientals are so possessed with the idea, rendering in the ' Speaker's Commentary,' that they imagine every European, who is vol. iv. p. 29, "I have no peace, nor quiet, eaµ:er to uneorth antiquities, must be seeking nor rest; but trouble cometh"). Professor for buried treasure. Lee, however, certainly one ·of the most Ver. 22.-Whioh rejoioe eDeedingly; lite- eminent of modern Hebraists, maintains that rally, to ezultation, or "to dancing;" i.e. so the far more pregnant meaning of the Autho- that they almost danoe with joy. And are rized Version gives the true sense. "If I glad, when they oan :find the grave. Job rightly apprehend," he says, "the drift of speaks as if he knew of suoh cases ; and, no the context here, Job means to have it under- doubt, the fact of llUicide proves that among stood that he is conscious of no instance in men there are eome wLo prefer to die rather which he has relaxed from his religious than live. But suicides are seldom alto- obligations; of no see.son in whioh his fear gether in possession of their senses. Of sane 'and love of God have waxed weak; and, on men it may be doubted whether one in e. this account, it was the more perplexing tbal tholl8&Dd, however miserable, really wishes suoh a complication of miseries had befallen to die, or is "glad when he cau find the him" (' The :Book of Job,' pp. 201, 202) I ctr. nt. 1-26.J THE BOOK OF JOB.
and he tre.nelntee the paeeoge (Ibid., p. 121), "I elookened not, neither wne I c1uiet, neither I plaint ie thns far more pointedly terminated than by a mere otiose ete.tement tha.t," with- took I rest; yet trouble came." Job's com- out rest or pause, trouble oame upon trouble."