Thoy spring up in npp11rent Btrength nnd this case we have to regard tho rnpirlly luely foroo; they flourish for a brief epnce; growing pl&nt e.e having its roots wmppe,1! thon, untouched by m1m's hnnd, they sud- about the perenni&l spring, which w"s " denly fatlo, fall, aml dieappee.r, before the not uncommon, a.nd •lwaye a much-rfosired, mnss of their contempore.ries. Job is, of fcatnro of e.n Eastern gMden. Thus nonr- course, glo.nced e.t in tho expression, "e.11 ished, it nrLturally incree.eed and sprr•rLrl tho.t forget God.'' thoup;h it is the last thing itself, anrl "was green before tbe sun." thot ho had done. And tho hypocrite's hopa May we supp0se that it "Bf\W the h0u.-c of aha.11 perish; or, the hope of the unaorlly stones," because the spring which no11risherl man shatl perish (comp. eh. xiii. 16; xv. 34; it gusher! forth from the native rock so the.t xvii. 8, where the LXX. transle.tes by lLu•.B¾i• its roots were in con tact with both? or 7rapd.Po J'O •). Ver. 18.-If he destroy him from his Ver. H.-Whose hope sha.11 be cuto:ff; or, place; or, i/ he be deatroyed. The verb break in sunder (Revised Version). Here seems to be best ta.ken a.s impersonal. If the second metaphor begins to come in. The he be destroyed in e.ny way, surldenly or ungodly who ho.a bum up around him a. gradually, by a. Divine stroke, or by human house, e.~d e. body of dependo.nte and ~riende, a.gooey, or by the con:.paratively slow is like a spider which has spun itself n. process of nature, in any ca.ee the result mo.goificent web, and thinks to find a defence is one, the flourishing pla.nt is clean swept in it. The moment it is put to the proof H away, and the place of it knows it no more. "bree.ks in sunder;" its delicate tracery is Bildad's words a.re very dramatic and ex- shattered; its fabric goes to nought. Job's pressive. Then it sha.11 deny him, saying, house had gone to nought before his person I ha.ve not seen thee. The place shall be we.a ernitten, and, though it had once been ashamed of he.ving ever nurtured rLnytl,ing so strong, in the holll' of trial ha.cl lent him so vile, and shall decla.re that it never held no support at all. And whose trust ehe.ll be such a growth. a spider's web; literally, a SJ_Jider's house. Ver. 19.-Behold, this is the joy of his All the trust of the ungodly, ID whatever it wa.y. Bitterly ironical-This is what his consists, she.11 be e.s fragile, as frail, a.a un- rapicl 11,nrl rampant greenery comes to; this substantial, a.e the filmy structure that a. is how his triumphant career ends ! Utter spider spins with such care nnd skill, but destruction, disappearance, obliteration! which 11, wind, or 11, w11,sp, or an inconsiderate And out of the ea.rth sha.11 others g:::Jw. movement of its own me.y shatter to bits. The destruction leaves room for something Ver. 15.-He she.11 lean upon his ho11Be, better to follow-a sounder, healthier, and but it shall not stand: he sha.11 hold it fast, Ieee short-lived growth. but it sha.11 not endure. A spider's web, Ver. 20.-Behold, God will not ea.at a.way once da.ma.ged, rapidly goes to pieces. It a perfect man. Bildad winds up with cannot be patched up. 'l'o "lean upon it" words of a.ppareut trust io, aorl good will is to put its structure to a. test which it is towards, Job. God is absolutely just, a.nd unable to bea.r. It cannot "eta.nd " or " en- will neither forsake th,; righteous man nor dure." The ca.ee is the same with a.11 the uphold the wicked one. If Job iB, a, he supports of the ungodly. says, true to God, upright, 11,nd (humanly Ver. 16.-He is green before the sun. speRking) "perfect," then he has only to go Bildad here introduces e. third a.nd more on trusting God; God will not leave him elaborate simile. The hypomite, or ungodly "till he fill his month with laughing, rLn<l ma.n (ver. 13), is ne II gourd (Jonah iv. ti), or his lips with rejoicing" (ver. 21); then other rapidly growing plant, which shoots "they tha.t ha.te him shall be clothed with forth at sunrise with a. wealth of greenery, shame, and their dwelling-place shall come tprea.ding itself over a whole garden, and to nought" (ver. 22); but if, as we feel even sending forth its sprays and tendrils instinctively that Bildad believes, Job is beyond it (comp. Gen. xlix. 22)-lovely to not "perfect," but "an evil-doer," then ho look at, nnd full, apparently, of life and must expect no relief, no lull in his suffer- vigour. And his branoh shooteth forth in ing,;; he is obnoxious to 11,ll the threatenings his garden; ro.ther, over his garden, or be- which have forrned the bulk of Dildacl's 11011d his garde11. discourse (vers. 8-2O)-he me.y look to Ver. 17.-Hia roots are wrapped about being out off. like the rush a.ud the llng ( vers. the hea.p, a.nd seeth (rather, he seeth) the 11, 1:!), crushed like the spider's web (vcr. pla.oe (litere.lly, house) of etonee. This 14), ,lestroyed, and forgotten, like tbe p11,ese.ge is very obeoure. The word gal, rapidly growing gourd (vers. 16-Ul); ho tra.nsle.ted "heo.p," means somJtimes a mu~t look for no help from God (ver. 20); spring or streo.m of water (Cant iv. 12); but must be contente,l to pa.ss awo.y and and many of the beet Hebr&iete rega.rd it m11,ke room for men of a better sta.mp (ver. as having tha.t meo.niog here (Bu1torf, Lee, 19). Neither will he help the evil-doers ; Stanley Leathes, Revised Version). .w litemlly, neither will he grasp tha hancl of 142 THE BOOK OF JOB. [on. vm.1-22,
et111-doere ; i.e. tb011gh he may auppon Ver. 22.-The:, ihat hate thee 1hall be them for a while, he will not maintain olothed with shame (oomp. Ps. uxv. 26) 1 them finnly and oonsbmtly. and the dwellintr-plaoe (lit.erally, tent, or Ver. 21.-Till he fill thy mouth with labt""""1.e) of the wiokeci lhall oome to laughing, and thy lips with rejoioing. Thie nought (literally, ahaU not bi,). The words 111 very elliptic-al. The foll phrase would are involved and obsoure, beoouee Bildad be, "God will not oaet away a perfect does not wish to make his meaning plain. man ; therefore, if thou be such, he will Ho has to invent phrases which may out not <'3st II way thee, till he fill thy mouth both ways, and, while they eeem directed with laughter, and thy lips with rejoicing," against Job'e enemies, ma.y pa.in and wound or •· with shouting for joy." Job himself.