The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 254

water1 rnther, HO'UI muoh les, 11116 that '8 escape being miserable, but- that the p11nieh- abominab~ and impure, a man that drinketh me11t whioh they have so richly dese:rved in iniquity, eto. ? It cannot be doubted the.t A.Beuredly awaits them, and is to be inflicted Job Is iudividue.lly pointed e.t. Not man- on them, as an example and terror to others, kind generally, bnt e. particular man, is in- tended: e.nd the pe.rtionlor man can be none by a holy and jnst God, because, jnet as be other than Job, Thus we see how the loves virtne, so he pursues vice with a progress of the controvorey hnA tended to fierce and deadly hatred " (' Li her J obi,' exasperate the disputants, and change the p. 104-, edit. B. Grey). "comforters" from smooth-tongued friends into open enemies and accnsers. Ver. 20.-The wioked man travaileth with Ver. 17.-1 will show thee, hear me; ana pain all hie d&ys. Certn.inly an over-state- that which I have ■een I will decle.re. me11t of the truth. With a much nearer ap- Eliphaz here introduces, wHh an elabore.te proach to the facts of the case, the P9lllmist pref1Lce (vers. 17-19), whe.t is either a _cita- remarked, "I was grieved at the wicked : tion from a book, as Professor Lee thmke, I do also see the ungodly in ench prosperity. or a studied description by himself of the For they are in no peril of death, but are proceedings and consequent sufferings of loety and strong. They come in no mis- the wicked. Thie deeoripUon extends from fortune like other folk; neither are they ver. 20 to the end of the chapter, and is plagued like other men" (Ps lxxiii. 3-5). pie.inly levelled at Job, though it may And the number of years is hidden to tha originally hllve been intended to apply to oppressor ; rather, in,en the number of years some other person or persons. that i, laid up for the oypressar. So Men: Ver. 18.-Whioh wise men have told from and the Revised Version. Another possible their fathe:cs, and have not hid it (comp. eh. meaning is, •• And a [small] number of viii. 8-10). Whether the words are hie years is laid up,'' etc. U we take the former own or not, the sentiments, e.t any rate, view, we must regard the clause as exegetical Eliphaz declares to have come down to him of " all his days." from remote times. The " wise men " to Ver. 21.-A dreadful soUD.d is in his ears; whom he refers may have been men of the literally, a sound of te1'T'ar8. Fen.re of aJl Beni Kedem (eh. i. 3), who were noted for kinds beset him, lest he should lose bis their wisdom (1 Kings iv. 30), or possibly prosperity. Sometimes they seem actually Egyptians or Babylonians. Books contain- to sound in his ears. Prosper as he may, ing moral aphorisms and instructions were he feels that in prosperity the destroyer shall certainly composed both in Egypt and in one day come upon him. "The destroyer" Babylonia at a very ancient date · (see may be either the destroying angel, or the 'Records of the Past,' vol. ii. pp. 11-16; avenger of blood, or a robber-chief at the head vol. iii. p. 135; vol. vii. pp. 119-122). of a band of marauders. Ver, 19.-Unto whom alone the earth we.a Ver. 22.-He believeth not that he shall given. The reference is clearly to e. very return out of darkness. He has no hope of !"emote time, when men were comparatively recovering his prosperity, when calamity few, and lived in quiet possession of their has once stricken him clown, since he kuoWB own lands, undisturbed by invasions, wars, that his calamity is deserved, e.nd feels that or struggles for territory. Professor Lee it is God's judgment upon him for his sins. thinks that the times immediately o.fter, and And he is waited for of the sword. He feels even those before, the Flood are glanced at: as if an enemy WW! lying in wait for him e.t while Sohulteus regards Eliphaz as allud- every turn, with his sword drawn, reacly to ing to the first settlements of the J oktanidre slay him. Professor Lee compares the in Arabia. In either case, the pe.ssage tells words of Cain, " It shall come to pass, that in favour of, and not against, the antiquity every one that fui.Lleth me shall slay me " of the Book of Job, since it marka the com- (Gen. iv. 14). poser as "Ii ving at a time when the memory Ver. 23.-He wandereth abroad for bread, of an age of patl'iarchul simplicity was yet saying, Where is it? Thh!, again, might fresh in men's minds" (Canon Cook). And appropriately have been said of Cain, who no stranger passed among them. Races wo.s "a fugitive and " va,,,cre.bon_d ID the were not mixed up one with another, and so earth" (Gen. iv. 14), and way at times have the purity of primitive dootrine remained had difficulty in procuring bis daily bre1,d. undisturbed. At anv mte, it is the frequent exp"'-'ience of the wickecl who lose their ill-gotten gains, and are brought down to abject poverty, and Vere. 20-35.-Schultens oalls this "a Mtual want of the uecessaries of life. " He magnificontly elaborate orntiou, crowded wanders abroad to be the food of =ltures" is with illustrntione and metaphors, in whioh a. translation of the passage suggested by it is shown that the wicked oannot possibly some moderns (as l\Ierx), and has the  THE BOOK OF JOB. [oli, xt. 1----36,