EXPOSITION, OHAPTER XXVIII. conclnsion that God is inoomprehenaible by man and illllcrutable ; and that it is only Vere. 1-28.-The connection of this given to man to know him sufficiently for ohapter with the preceding is somewhat his praotice.l guidanoe. To impress this on obsoure. Probably we are to regard Job as his heMers is his main object(vers, 12-28); led to see, even wbile he is justifying God's and, to impress it the more, he introduces ways with sinners (ob. xxvii. 8-23), how it by a sharp oontre.st. Wonderful as is me.ny and how great are the difficultiea in man's cleverness 8Ild ingenuity in respect the way of forming a single oonsistent theory of earthly things and physical phenomena of tlrn Divine action, whioh shall be appli- (vers. 1-11), with respect to heavenly cable to all cases. Henoe he comes to the things and the spiritual world-wherewith 4.56 THE BOOK OF JOB. [olt. xnm. 1-28,
true willdom ls ooncerned-be knowe nen the earth, notwith1tandlng its feari'ul gloom to nothing. All that he knows is just and obeonrity. enough tti guide hie oonduot aright(ver. 28). Ver. 4.-The 8.ood breaketh out from the inhabitant. This pa.ese.ge la very obscure • Ver. 1.-Burely there i& a vein for the but reoont critics suggest, a.e its probabl~ llilftr; llt<'l"Rlly, an Ulllle Jo.- .;lf!er I i.e. a meaning, "He (i.e. the miner) l,reaketh plaoe or pl1Ml88 whence it is <l~awn forth open e. shaft, away from where men inhabit" from the earth. The silver-mines of Spain (see thA Revised Version). The miner docs were very e,nly worked by the Phmnicians, not wish to be interfered with, and therefore and produced the metal in gnmt abundanoe sinks hi_s s~at\ in some wild spot, far from (see tbc author's 'History of Phmnioia,' p. tho h1tb1tat10ns of men. Even the waters 814). But Asia itself waa probably the forgotten of the foot; rather, theg are for- souroe whence silver was obtained in primi- gotten of the foot; i&. no one :visits them : tive timea. And a pl&oe for gold where they are left alone; they are " forgotten of they fine it; or, jtUe it. Gold is very widely the foot., of the p&BBer-by. They are dried spread over the earth's surfaoo, and in up, they are gone away from men; rather, a.n~ient times was especiBlly abunde.nt in they hang swinging to and fro, far from Arabia (niod. Sic., ii. I ; iii. 42 : Strabo, xvi. men. The descent of the she.ft is me.de by 4. § 18; l'liny, 'Hist. Nat.,' 'ri. 82, et.c.); so a rope, to which they "hang swinging " all that Job might easily have been acquainted the time that they descend. As they have with the proceues of fusing and refining it. sought secrecy, all this takes place far from Two pl"OOBll888 of refining are mentionerl by the haunts of men. • Diodorue III practised by the Egyptian■ Ver. 5.-As for the earth, out of it oometh (iii. 11). bread. Man's cleverness is snch that he Ver. 2.-Iron ill taken out of the earth turns the earth to ve.rious uses. By tillage (see the comment on oh. XL 24). Iron waa of its surface he causes it to produce the found in the hills of Palestine (Deut. viii. 9), ■taff' of life, bread ; e.ud by his mining opera- in the trans-Jordanic region (Josephus,• Bell. tions the Ullder part of it is turned up as lire, Jnd.,' i¥. 8. § 2), in the sandstone of the or rather, as by fire. Fire was used in some Lebanon (' Hist. of Phmnicia,' p. 47), and in of the processes whereby masses of material Egypt ('Hist.of Ancient Egypt,' ¥ol. i. p. were detached and foroed to yield their 93), probably also in many other ple.ces. treasures (see Pliny, 'Hist. Nat.,' xxxiii. 4. It is scarcely ever found except in the shape § 78). of iron ore, and so he.s to be "taken out of Ver. 6.-The stones of it are the ple.oe of the earth." And hrus is molten out of the sapphires. Among the rocks e.nd stones stone. By " brass " we must understand whereof the interior•of the earth is me.inly eopper, since the amalgam brass is never composed a.re found gems of inestimable foUlld in a nature.I et.ate. Oopper was yielded value, for instance, sapphires. It is doubtful abundantly in very early times by the mine■ whether the Hebrew sapphire (,'EiC) was which the Egyptians worked in the Sine.itio the gem which bee.re that name among our- peninsula (• Hist. of A.noient Egypt,' voL i. eel ves, or the lapis lazuli. In either case pp. 93. 94). It was alao obtainable from it wes highly esteemed, and appeared in Palestine (Deni. viii 9), Oypras (' Hist. of kings' crowns (Ezek. :u:viii. 13), and in the Phmnicia,' p. 811 ), and Armenia (Ezek. high priest's breastplate (Exod: uviii. 18). :u.vil. 18). Sometimes it is fo1llld pure, but Job notes its high value in ver. 16. And it generally in the shape of oopper ore, which ( l.e. the earth) h.e.th duet of gold ; literally, has to be " molten " for the pure mete.I to dU,Bt, ; ie. a multitude of. small specks or run off. atoms. In the anriferons rocks gold is com- Ver. 8.-:e:e setteth an end to darkness. monly scattered in such specks. Mao, in his desire to obtain these metals, Ver. 7.-'fhere is a path whioh no fowl "setteth an end to <lnrkne8s," i.e. letteth in lmoweth; or, hiB i, a path which no bird the light of dBy, or the a.rtificial light which of prey kn01Deth (see the Revised Version). he carries with him, upon the nature.I abode The miner's path through the bowels of the of darkness, the inner parts of th41 earth. earth is intended. And which the vulture's The miner's first G.peration is to piuce the eye ha.th not seen. The vulture is probably ground with a shaft, perpendicular, hori- the most keen-sighted of birds, but it cannot zontal, or obliq 11e, &B suit.a his purpose. even get a glimpse of the BUbterraneous Through this tl.ie light enters into what was path whieh the miner treads. previou.sly pitch darkness. And searoheth Ver. 8.-The lion's whelps have not trod• ant all perfection: the ■ton81 of darlmeas, and den it; literally, the sons of the fierce-the the ah.ad.ow of death; rather, and aearcke.tl1 whelps of lions, tigers, or leopards may out In t},e JV/f'JJ;ut bound t]i,e Wne8 of thick be intended. These beasts would haunt Mr1'11U1l and of the ,I.ad.ow of deatlt; e1:- the mountains and penetrate into natural 11loree, i.e., the entire murky regioa within caverns, but would never a.dventure them- CU, XXVIII, 1-28,] THE BOOK OF JOB. 457