The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 470

la reo.dily eaten by sheep, nnd the roots Scythio.n slaves rebelled and took up e.rme would, no donbt, yield some nourishment the Scythie.ns scourged them into rnbjectio~ (see Dr. OunninghBm Geikie's work, • The (Herod., iv. 3, 4). Holy Lo.nd and the Dible,' vol. i. p. 258). Ver. 9.-And now am I their aonJ, yea, I Ver. 5.-They were driven forth from am their byword (see above, eh. xvi1. 6; lllld among men. Weo.k rnceR retreo.t before comp. Ps. lxix. 12). strong ones, who ocoupy their lo.rnls, o.nd Ver. 10.-They abhor me, they ftee far hom whose will they do not dnro to dispute. me; rather, they abhr,r me, they stand aloof Thoy 0.1·0 not intentiono.lly "dri:ven out," frmn me (see the Revised Version). And tor the strong re.oos would glBdl7 make them ape.re not to spit in my face. This ho.a their drudges ; but they retire mto the most generally been to.ken literally, as it seems Inaccessible regions, as the prim iii ve popula- to have been by the LXX. But it, perhaps, tion ho.a done in India. and elsewhere, They means no more than tbot they dld not oried after them as after a thief. Outcast refrain from spitting in Job's presence (see tribes no.turo.lly, e.nd o.lrnost necesso.rily, be- Professor Lee's' Book of Job,' p. 422). come robber-tribes. Deprived of their pro- Ver. 11.-Because he he.th loosed my cord. ductive Ie.11ds, e.nd driven into rocky deserts, "He," in this pe.ssa.ge, can only be God; want makes them thieves e.nd me.re.mlers. e.nd thus Job turns hero to some extent from Then those who he.ve ma.de them what they his humon persecutors to his great Alli icter, are vilify e.nd decry them. the Almighty. God has '' loosened his Ver. 6.-To dwell in the ollil's of the cord," i.e. has rcla.xed his vita.I fibre, taken valleys; or, in the clefts (Revised Version). a.way his strength, reduced him to helpless- W estem Asio. is full of rooky regions, ness. Hence, a.nd hence only, do the perse- seamed with deep gorges and clefts, the cutors dare to crowd a.round him and insult wl!,lls of wl;iich rise abruptly or in terraces, him. And a.fllicted me. God has afflicted e.nd a.re themselves pierced with caves e.nd him with blow a.fterblow-with impoverish- . ere.eke. The tract o.bont Petre. is, perhaps, ment (eh. i. 14-17), with bereavement (eh. - the most reme.rka.ble of these regions ; but i. 18, 19), with e. sore malady ( eh. ii. 7). -there.are me.ny others which closely resemble They he.ve e.leo let loose the bridle before me. it. .•These places afford refuges to wee.k e.nd This he.s given his persecutors the courage outce.et tribes, wl;io bide in them, either in to cast aside a.11 restraint, and load him with -caves of the earth, or in the rooks, The insult 0,fter insult (vers. 1, 9, 10). ; Greeks culled these unfortunotes " Troglo- Ver. 12.-Upon my right ha.nd rise the dytes'.' (Herod., iv. 183; Stre.bo,xvi. p.1102; youth; literally, the brood; i.e. the rabble- Diod. Sic., iii. 14, etc.), the Hebrews "Horim," e. crowd of he.lf-grown youths e.nd boys, such from 1111, " e. hole." e.s collects in almost ony town to hoot and Ver. 7.-Among the bmhes they brayed. insult a.respectable peraon who is in tronble The sounds which co.me from their mouths and helpless. In the East such gatherings eounded to Job less like e.rticnle.te speech a.re very common and exceedingly 11.nnoying. the.n like the braying of e.sses. Compare They push a.way my feet; i.e. they try to whe.t Herodotus so.ye of his Troglodytes: throw me down e.s I walk. They raise up "Their language is unlike the.t of e.ny other against me the ways of their destruction. people ; it sounds like the screeching of They place obstacles in my way, impede my bo.ts." Under the nettles (or, wild 'I/etches) steps, thwart me in every woy that they find theywere gathered.together; re.ther,hudd!ed possible. together. Ver. 13.-They mar my path; i.e. interfere Ver. 8.-They were ohildren of fools, The with and frustrate whatever I e.m bent on physical degeneracy whereof Job has been doing. They set forwa.rc!. my oale.mity. Pro- spoe.king is e.ccomponied in most instances fessor Lee translates, "They profit by my by c.dreme_mente.l incapacity. Some of the ruin." They have no helper. If the text .degraded races cannot count beyond four or is sound, we must understand, " They do flve; others he.ve not more the.n two or three all this, they de.re a.II tliis, even though they hundred words in their vocabulary. They a.re ho.ve no powerful men to a.id them." But it all of low intellect, though occe.sionC11ly is suspected that there is some corruption in extremely artful nnd cunning. Yea, ohildren the passage, Bnd that the original gave the of base men; literally, children of 110 name. sense which is found in the Vulge.te," There Their raoe had never me.de for itself e.ny is none to help me." nnme, but we.a unknown and insignifico.nt. Ver. 14.-They oe.me upon me a, e. wide They wan viler than the earth; rather, they breaking in of waters ; i.e. with e. force like tlltJf'IJ ,oourged out of the land. This must that of water when it he.s burst through a. not be understood liternlly. It is e. rh~torice.l bank or dam. In the desolation they rolled repetition of whot he.d been nlready snid in themselves upon me. Like the waves of the ver. 5. The expression may be compared see., which follow one after another. with the tale in Herodotus,_that when the Ver. 15.-Terrors a.re tu1-ned upon ma.  406 TBE BOOK t>F Jb'B.