The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 74

prooedeni wiokoon01!11, If he doee ·not Admit rather, by tM breath of God, as in oh. uxvii thie, be ie oballcnged to bring fo1·ward ex- 10. The word used (i"l~'V'~) means alwa11, amples, or even a eingle example, of suffer- as Professor Lee observes," a slight or gentlo ing innocence. If he does admit it, he ie b!'9athing.". The slightest breath of God's left t.o apply the axiom to himself. Or d1spleaaure 1s enough t.o dcstroy those ago.inst where were the righteou■ cut off T Was whom it is directed. And by the breath the exnmple of "righteone Abel" (Matt. of hill no■tril■ are they 00111Umed. Here xxiii. 35) unknown to Rliphar;? And had ••blast" would be better than "brel\th " for he really never eoon thnt noblPst of all ni, is a stronger word than :,cldi. Bimiiarly, ~i~hts. the good man struggling with adver- 1',::,, is a stronger word than 1,::,11'. The sity? One would imagine it impossible breath kills, the blast utterly oonsumos, to attain old age, in the world wherein we transgressors. live, without becoming convinoed by our own observation that good and evil, pros- Ver. 10.-The roarlntr of the lion, and the perity and adversity, are not distributed in voioe of the fterce lion, and the teeth of the this life according to moro.l desert; but a young lion.a, are broken. Wicked men, preoonc.cived notion of what ought to have especially oppressors, are often compared to been seems here, ns elsewhere so often in lions in Soripture ( see Ps. vii,. 2 ; :x. 9 ; :xvii. the field of speculation, to have blinded men 12, etc.; Ezek. xi.x. 3, 5; Nnb. ii. 12; Zeph. to the actual facts of the case, and driven iii. S, etc.). The meaning of Eliphaz is them to inrnnt explanations of the fe.ct.s, 'that, within his experience, all· classes of which militated against their theories, of wicked men, young, or old, or middle-aged, ihe most absurdly artificie.l character. To weak or strong, have received in this life account for the sufferings of the righteous, the reward of their iniquity. Howeve,r the explanation of '' secret sins '' was intro- fiercely they might roar, howe'l'er greedily d ucec l, a11d it was argued that, where they might devour, their roaring has died affliction seemed to fall on the good man, away, their teeth have been broken in their I, is goodness was not rool goodness-it was mouths, vengeance bas lighted on them in a counterfeit, a sham-the fabric of more.I some shape or other; they have po.id the ('Xcellence, so fair to \'iew, was honey- penalty of their transgressions. Five classes rornbed by secret vices, to which the seem- of lions seem to be spoken of in thil! and ingly good man was a prey. Of course, if the followiug verses: (I) the whelp (ver. the afflictions were abnormal, extraordinary, 11); (2) the half-grown lion, just able to then the secret sins must be of a most make its voice heard ; (3) the young full- heinous and horrible kind to deserve euch grown lion (cephir); (4) the liou in full a terrible retribution. This is what Elipbaz maturity (ariyeh); and (5) the old lion which hints to be the solution w Job's case. God is growing decrepit (laish). To these fa has seen his secret sins-he has " set them joined (ver. 11) labi, "the lioness." Lions in the light of his countenance " (Ps. :xc. 8) are still frequent in the Mesopotamian -nnd is punishing them ,penly. Job's region (' Ancient Monarobies,' vol. i. pp. 39, duty is to humble himself before God, to 221), though no longer found in Palestine, confess, repent, and amend. Then, and nor in Arabia. ihen only, may he hope that God will Ver. 11.-The old lion periaheth for laok remove his hand, and put an end t.o his of prey. The human counterpart of the ■offerings. " old lion " is the oppressor whose strength Ver. 8.-Bven u I have ■een; rather, and cunning begin to fail him, who oan no occording a.B I haTlll aeen-so far, that is, as longer carry things with a high hand, enforce my observation goeB (see the Revised Ver- his will on men by bluster and threats, or sion, which is supported by Professor Lee even set traps for them so skilfully that and Canon Cook). They that plough iniquity, they blindly walk into them. Political and BOW wiokedne&&, reap the BB,111e (comp. charlatans whose role is played out, bullies Prov. x:xii. 8; Hos. viii. 7; L 13; Gal. vi whose nene is beginning to fail, card- 7, 8). The words translated "iniquity" and sharpers whose manual dexterity bas de- "wickedness" express in the original both 110rted them, come under this category. And moral and physical evil Men sow the one the &tout lion's whelps; mther, the whelps and reap the other. Eliphe.z extends this of the lwness (see the Revised Version). Are general rule into a univerlllil law, or, at any BCattered abroad. Even the seed of ill-doers rate, declareii that he has Ilti\·er known an suffer. They are involved in their parents' exception. He has not, therefore, been punishment (see E:xod. xx. 5). Eliphaz grieved and perplex,ed, like David, by darkly hints that Job may have been among "seeing the ungodly in such prosperity" the class of oppreBBOrs, or (at any rate) of (Ps. luili. S). He would seem not to have transgressors, and that the untimely fate of been a man of very keen obeenation. his children may have been the cousequenoe Ver. 9.-By the blaal. of Goel they pemh; of his evil-doings. , Otl. It, 1-21.] THE BOOK OF JOB. fl9