The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 327

to the heave1111. "Though he reaob " i.e. in hill month; i.e. though tha ·wiokcd man "the highest pitch of prosperity" ( comp'. delight in his wiokedneSB, aud gloat over it, Pa. lxxiii. 9). And hia head re&oh unto the and keep the thought of it in his mind, as olouda (oomp. Dan. iv. 22, "Thou, 0 king, 11, gourme.nd keeps, eo long as he oan, a art !1:TOWn end become strong: and thy great- ?elioious 1:8-500 in his mouth; though he, u ness is grown. and r-e11cheth tJnto heat1en "). 1t were, hide it under hill tongue, in order Ver. 'i.-Yet he ah&l.l periBh for ever like not to let it eacape him; though he ■pare his own d1111g. Some understand " bis own it,_ a!'-d ~oraa'te it not; but keep it ■till dunir-heap," regarding the "ashes" of eh. Wlthin bia mouth, yet, notwithste.uding all ii. 8 ns, in J'eBlity, a heap of refuse of this, disgust e.nd nausea arrive in course of all kinds ; but it is simpler to suppose a time (see the next two verses). It ill, perho.ps, plainer and more vulgar taant (comp. 2 the most 111rprisiug among the phenomena Kings xviii. 27). They whioh have seen of wickedness tbat men can gloat over it, him shall say, Where is he 1 i.e. "Whither voluntarily recur to it, make a boast of it, re- bath he gone? What is become of him?" count signal inetancee of it to their friends, (oomp. P,;. uxvii. 86). and seem to find a satisfaction in the recollec• Ver. 8.-B:e shall fly away u a dream, tion'. One would have expected thatsho.me and Bhall not be found ; i.e. "as a dream and 1!elf-disapproval and fear of retribution flies. when one awaketh" (eee Pe. h:xiii. would have led them to diemiss their wioked 20; Isa. x:ir:ix. 7, 8). Yea, he llhall be ohased acts from their thoughts as soon as possible. away as a vision of the night. A " vision But certainly the fa.et is otherwise. . of the night" is perhaps something more Ver. H.-Yet hill meat in his bowels is than a " dream ; " but it is equally fugitive, turned. Still, a time comes when the self-· equally unstable-with morning it wholly complacency of the wioked man is shaken. vanishes awav. He experiences a failure of health or spirits.- Ver. 9.-The eye also which eaw him Then, suddenly, it is ae if the m~t thl',t.he, &hall see him no more; or, the eye which has swallowed had been turned to poison in acanned him. The verb used (~) is a rare his bowels, ae if the gall of asps were within one, occurring only here, in eh. :xxviii. 7, him. Compare what Bishop Butler sil.ys of and in Cant. i. 6. In the former passage the sudden waking up of a :man's conscience it is used of a falcon, in the latter of the (' .Analogy,' pt. i. oh. ii. p. 52). The amiients sun. Iieither shall hill place any more • seem to have known that the poison of_ bah.old him (comp. Ps. ciii. 16, "The place serpents was a strong acid, and therefore thereof shall know it no more "). supposed that it was secreted by the go.11." Ver. 10.-E:is children shall seek to please bladder (see Pliny, 'Hist. Nat.,' x:i. 87). the poor. Another rendering iB, "The poor Ver.15.-B:e hath swallowed down riches, shall oppreBE; his children," since the mean- and he shall vomit them up again. The- ing of the verb ~~ is doubtful. But the wicked man shall be .made to disgorge his translation of the Authorized Version eeeme ill-gotten gains. Either fear, or remorse, ·or preferable. His children will curry favour a judicial sentence will force him to make with the poor, either by me.king restitution restitution (see ver. 10). God shall oaet them io them on account of their father's injuries, out of hill belly. Whatever is the immediate or simply because they are friendless, and motive of the restitution, it will really be desire to ingratiate themselves willi some God's doing. He will cause the fear, or one. And hi.a he.nds shall restore their goods the remorse, or bring about the judicial (comp. vcrs. 15 and 18). He himself will sentence. . . be so crushed and broken in spirit that he Ver. 16.-lle shall suok the poillon. of asps. will give back with his own hands the Probably Zopbar does not affix any very goods whereof he has deprived the· poor. distinct meaning to hie threats.. He is con- TLc reatitntion, i.e., will be made, in many tent to utter a series of tierce-sonnding but cases, not by the oppreseor's children, but by vague menaces, which he knows that Job the oppressor himself. will regard as lo.unched against himself, and Ver. l 1.-Jlis bon.1111 are full of the sin of does not care whether they aro taken meta~. hie youth; literally, his bona ar-e ffll.l of his phorically or literally. Job will be equally yoolli.; i.e. lusty and strong, full of youthful distressed in either. case. The viper's tongue vigour. TLert is no sign of weakness or shall slay him. It is really the viper's tooth, dbcay about them. Yet they shall lie down and not bis tongue, that slays; bat Zopho.r. with him in the dut. A little while, and is not, any more than Job (eh, uvii. 18), an. these vigorous bones, this entire body, eo accomplished naturalist. full of life and youth, shall be lying with Ver. 17.-He shall not see the rivers, tha the man himself, with e.ll that constitutes iloods, the broolu. The wicked man shall his personality, in the dndt of dea.th (comp. S11ffer, not only P!)Sitive pains, but what Vt:rB. 2A, 25). C&BUiijts call the pama damni, or "peW1lty Vt:rs 12, 18.-Tliough ~ - b • weet of lojjl "-4epriva~jqn, ip otll,ef wofdij1 of tltt. x'.x. 1-20,] THE BOOK OF JOB. 341