wmnl," t.o mean "hi.a own mother." The him live on, 11n.fe 11.nd 11e0ure, and the tnan - u..U hell IWMtly on him (oomp. eh. himself ]'('Btll on the 1ec1irlly thus e.tTordod :nii. H). He ehall ~ no more remembered. him, quite !lontcnted with il Yet hil IIY" Obli'l"inn 11h11.11 flt.II upon him Bnd hi!doingio. a'N! upon their wa:,a. God'a eyea are still And wi.okednen llhall be broken a■ • tree. npon the we.ye of the wioked : they are, or As" et""ng wind 1m,Menly enBpB off "tl't"ll seem to be, the objects of a 11p8aial provlden- at the l'O(lt, "° wiokednPAB, in the person of tiRI Nl.re. the wfokNI man-the abetrRot for the con• Ver. 24.-They are enltecl for a little <'n>te-ehR.11 be ovPrtaken by <knth, ond while, but are gone and brought low; rnth01, J>eri•h in e moment (eomp. TI\r. 2-l). they a,-e t:M.ltM : trf/M a little ,ohi~ they are Yrr. 21.-He evil entreateth the barren 17on~, fA'i! a,-e l,rought lOtD. Job he.I! to admit th11t beareth not. Opprolll!Or11 of another thRt death oomes upon wioked men at le.et; clea; er.- y,erhape here epoken of, or perhape but he minimizes the terrors of their denth, there ie a mere rehlrn to the idea with and exaggeratee it.a allevi11tions. First, it which ,Tob's ennmeration opened (ver. 3), oornes on them when they he.ve risen to which wu the oppnll!Sion of the weaker and eminence, have gained themselves a reputa- more' defenoo!Ellll! o\llll8('8. As h11rrenn~s in tion, and "are exalted." Next, it is sudden women - considered the great.est possible and painless, preoeded by no long, lingering misfortune (1 Sam. i. 5-8; iii. 1-10), so illnMB, but just a sinking into non-existenoe; oppressing one that will! barren indicated a tranquil passing away, Thirdly, it is at a extreme cruelty. And doeth not good to the ripe Rge. when they have reached the fuJ.l widow; ,_,_ negloots to ,-indicate her oall8e t.erm of human life, and are as oon of corn -an admitted part of man's dnty (see eh. ripe for the harvest. Further, it is the nii. 9; :a:ix. 13; mi. 16). common fate : They are taken out of the Yer. 22.-Re clraweth alao the mighty way a.s all other (comp. <'h. ix. 22; xxi. 13), with his power ; i.e. he draws to his side, and out off' as the top■ of the ears of oom. and m~ his helpers, those who ere mighty, We may gather from this expression. that attracting them or compelling them to join the reaping in the l1md of Uz was conrlucted him by the power which he already has. in Job's time much in the same way as it He riseth up, and uo man is snre of life. was in Egypt under the early Phal'e.ohs, viz. This is also the translation of the Rensed by cutting the stalk with a sharp siokle Version. Some commentators, however, pre- almost immediately below the ear, and ~1- fer to render, " He riseth np, when he has lecting the ean in baskets (see the author"& despaired of life; " i.e. the wicked me.n, when •Hist.of Ancient Egypt,' vol. i. p. 162; e.~d he has been brought into trouble, either his • Herodotus,' vol. ii. p. 59, 3rd edit;). · sickness or danger of death at the hands of Ver. 25.-And if it be not so now; i.e. "if jnsi.ice, to men's surprise, "riseth up "-is these things be not as· I say." Who will delivered from the danger, e.nd recovers his make me a liar t Which of you will stand prosperity. forth and disprove them, and so " make me Ver. 23.-Thongb it lie givsn him. to be a liar" ? And make my speech nothiJlg in aa.fety, whereon he rellteth; rather, °M (ie. worth! Show, i.e., my whole discourse to God) grante/.h him to be fo security, and be valneless. This bold challenge no one theram °M rendh; i.e. God allows the escape attempts to take up. of the wicked man from his vouble, and le1B
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-12.-Job to EUphaz: 4. .An amwer wanted to a great question,. I. AN IllPOBTANT PllOPOSITIO;r, STATED. That the Almighty does not call wicked men before hi,; tribunal on earth. "Why are not times," i.e. of reckoning or punishment, "reserved," or kept in store, "by the Almighty, and why do they who know him see not his days'!" i.e. his doomsdays, or days of judicial visitation on the wicked (ver. 1). 1. A eautwn. The language docs not imply either that there should not be, or that there do not exist, au.eh times of reckoning with the ungodly, and indeed with a.II men. On the contrary, it tacitly assumes that God both ought to have, and in point of fact does have, days of retribution which are appropriately dc:scribed as "his." That men ought to lie judged for their characters e.nd lives, the moral instincts of humnnity proclaim'; that men will be arraigned before Shaddai's impartial tribunal, is explicitly asserted in Script1m (eh. x.xi. 30; :u:xi v. 11; Eccles. xii. 14; Ps. xcviii. 9; Dan. vii. 10; Matt. x~v. 32; 2 Cor. v. 10; 2 Tim. iv. I; Heh. ix. 27). 2. An ezplanation, What the I¥iguage as~erts is that such court-days are not kept by the Almighty on earth, or at least that Li..o l"'ople do not i;ce them; in other words, tbat the godlessness of men is permitted to l_t1tE BOOK OF Jo:B. 411