The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 90

of individual members of the angelic host, lot with those whom Misfortune has marked auoh as Miohael, Gabriel, Raphael, etc., as her own. &hough we have no mention of any names Ver. 5.-WhoH harvest the hungry eateth of angels in Boripture until the time of up. Covetone men rush in and "eat up" Daniel (viil. 16; ix. 21). That invocation e.11 that the family possesses, thus bringing of angels we.a an actual prnctico in Job's it to the extreme of poverty and want. A.Dd age is, however, scarcely proved by this te.keth it even out of the thorns. Va.in is p11asa.ge. any protection tho.t may be devised. As Ver. 2.-J'or wrath killeth the foolish hedges, even of the prickly pear, do not keep man, and envy sleyeth the silly one, For out a band of plunderers, so there is no "wrath" ancl "envy "others suggest "vexn- obstacle which those bent on robbing them ation" and "impatience" (Lee), or "vexa- will not overcome. And the robber swal- tion " and "jealousy " (Revised Version). loweth up their snbstance; or, the thirsty; The connection of thought seems to be, i,e. those who thirst after it. "For thou art quite foolish enough to let Ver. 6.-Although affliction cometh not thy vexation and impl\tience prompt thee to forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring such a course, which could only lead to thy out of the ground. There is a tacit reference rlestruction." Eliphaz is quite sure that to what was 81\id in eh. iv. 8. Affliction trust in any other beside.God, and appeal to and trouble a.re not chance products of any other against God, is utter folly, sinful spontaneoUB growth. They only spring up infatuation, and must lead to the ruin of when men have prepared the ground for whoever indulges in it. Thus the invoca- them, and planted in it an evil sea,!. tion of angels receives no countenance from Ver. 7.-Yet man is born unto trouble. him, but the contrary. Yet still, in point of fact, man is born to Ver. 3.-1 have seen the foolish ta.king trouble. He has a corrupt nature, and root. The "I" is emphatic. "I myself a.lwe.ys sins more or less. Each sin brings have seen," etc. What Eliphaz had seen him into trouble, since it entails on him a we.a that folly, i.e. sinful infatuation, was punishment. As the sparks 1iy upward ; lite always punished. It might seem to prosper: rally, the sonB of flame. Some suppose" me- the foolish man might seem to be taking teoric flashes" to be meant: others suJgest, root; but Eliphaz we.a not deceived by "ignited arrows." Bntmany good Hebraists • appearances-he saw through them, he maiutain the rendering of the Authorized knew that there was a Clll'Se upon the ml\n's Vero.ion (see Bnxtorf, 'Lexicon,' p. 757; house, and so pronounced it occursed. And Rosenmiiller,'Scholie.,' vol. v. p. 165; Canon the ruin which he had foreseen, it is im- Cook,' Speaker's Commentary,' vol. iv. p. plied, followed. :But suddenly; rather, im- 34). mediately, witlwut hesitation. I cursed his Ver. 8.-1 would seek unto God; rather, habitation; i.e. "pronounced it accursed, as in the Revised Version ; but as for me, I declared that the curse of God rested upon would seek, etc. ; i.e. if the case were mine, it." if I were afflicted as thou art, I would not Ver. 4.-His children are far from safety. betake myself to any of th11 angels (see The sins of the fathers are visited upon the ver. 1), but would cast myself wholly upon children. Eliphaz makes covert allusion to God. It is necessarily implied that Job the death of Job's children(ch. i. 19). Feel- had not done so. And unto God would I ing, however, that he is on delicate ground, oomm.itmy co.use (oomp. Ps. ::uxvii. 5; Prov. he goes on into details which in no way fit xvi. 3). their case. And (he says) they are crushed Ver. 9.-Which doeth great things and . in thl! gate; i.e. they o.re oppressed, crushed, unsearchable. These are reasons why Job by litigations. The house once smitten of should "seek unto God." "Great things God, huma.n beasts of prey enter in; claims are those which he has clone." There is n,1ne are made age.inst the children; lawsuits like unto him. His ways are " unseo.rch- commenced; e.11 the arts of chicauery set iu nble;" no one may thiuk fully to se,.rch motion; every effort wade to strip them of them 11ud seek them out (comp. eh. ix. 10; their last penuy. (For the sense here xxxvii. 5; Ps. cxlv. 3; Hom. xi. 33). It assigned to " the gate," see eh. xxix. 7 and may be that, if Job will apptal to him, a xxxi. 21.) Neither is there any to deliver result will follow that at present seems them. No one intercedes on their behalf, impossible. For he doeth marvellous things undertakes their defence in the oourts, or without number (comp. Ps. xl. 5; lxxii. 18; mll.kes any effort to avert their ruin. This lxxvii. H; cxxxvi. 4). Eliphaz p~oceeds to picture of legal oppression o.ccords very mention some of them. closely with wha.t we know of the East in Ver. 10.-Who giveth rain upon the earth. all ages (oomp. Iso.. i. 17, 23; iii. H, 15; To tho dweller in the parchecl regions of v. 23; x. 2, etc.). Oriental cow1mlico South-Western Ashi ro.in i~ the greatest or ea.uses men to shrink from ea.sting in their all blessings, and seems the greatest of a.II  THE BOOK OF JOB.