The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 471

Job eeema to paes here from bis human not forsake hitn nor cease to ce.11 upon httn pe!"llecut.nl'!! to his internal sufferings of (vers. 20-23). And I am b86ome like du•t mind an<l body. " Terrore" take hold upon and a1he1; i.~. unclean, itnpure 01fe11sive him. lie experiences in his sleep horrible t.o my fullow-tnen, an objeot of dislike and dmims and visions (see c>h. vii. 14), and e'Ven diedain. in bis w,.i.;ng hour" he i• haunted by fe&rs. Ver. 20.-I Orf unto thee, and thou dotl The "terrors of God do set themselves in &Tray not hear me. It is the worst or all calamities against him" (eh. vi. 4). Go<l seems to him to be God.foreaken, as Job believed himself as One that watchea, &nd "t.-ies him every to be, because he had no immediat,e answer moment" (eh. vii. IS), seeldng oocasion to his prayers. The bitterest cry upon the agninst him, &nd never leaving him an cross wu •• Eli, Eli, le.ma. se.bachthe.ni?" instant'• peace (eh. -vii. 19). These t.errors, But no good man is everree.lly God-forsaken, he says, pursne my 1onl u the wind; literally, and no rightful and earnest prayers 11re ever 1mrwe mine honour, or my dignity. They really unheard. Job" had ueed of patience" f\utler the calm compornre that befits a (Heh. x. 86), patient as he wu (Jas. v. 11). god(~- man, distlll"b it, shake it, and fora time Be should have trusted God more, and at any rate, cause terrors and shrinkings of oomplained less. I stand ·up,. and thou soul. Under these circumstances, my wel- reg&rdellt me not; rather, I sf,and up, 118 the fare pasaeth away as a cloud. It is not manner of the Jews usually was in_ prayer only my happinc>as, but my real welfare, (Luke xviii. 11), and thou lookeat at me (see that is gone. Body and soul arc equally in the Revised Version). Job's complaint is suffei-ing-the one shaken with fears and that, when he etands up and stretches out disturbed with doubts and apprehensions; his hands t.o God in prayer, God simply the other smitten with a sore disease, so thd looks on; does nothing, gives him no ·help. there is uo soundness in it. Ver. 21.-Thou art beoo:aie' ernel to me; Ver. 16.-And now my sonl is poured out literally, thou art turned to be cruel to me. upon me (comp. Ps. xlii. 4). My very soul In other words, "Thou e.rt. changed to me, seems to be gone out of me. •• l faint and 8.Ild art become cruel to me." Job never swoon e.we.y, beoanse of my fears" (Lee). forgets that for long years God was gre.oious The days of afllicticn have taken hold upon and kind to him, " me.de him and fashioned me. All my prosperity is gone, and I am him together rouu,I about,'' "olothed him come to " the days of affliction." These with skin and flesh, e.nd fenced him with " take hold on me, n and, e.s it were, possess bones and sinews,'' ·" granted him life and me. favour, and by hie visitation preserved his Yer. 17.-llrfy boJIBI a.re pierced in me :in spirit" (eh. x. 9-12); but the recollection the night aeuon. In Elephantiasis a1UeSthe- brings, perhaps, as mnch of pain as of tica, says Dr. Erasmus Wilson, "when the pleasure with it. One of our poets says- integument is insensible, there e.re deep- " Joy's recollection is no longer joy; eeated burning pains, sometimes of a bone But sorrow's memory is a sorrow still.'_' or joint, e.nd sometimes of the vertebral column. Thae painB are greatest at nigh.t; At any rate, the contrast between past joy they prevent sleep, and give rise to rest- and present suffering adds a p&ng t.o :the lessness and frightful dreams" (Qnain's _latter. With thy strong hand thou oppo■eat • Dictionary of Medicine,' vol i p. 817). thyself against me; literally, with the might And my sinews take no rest; rather, my of thy hand dost thou persecute me ( see the gnatoi,ngs, or my gnawing pains (see the Revised Version). "Haic noster irreve- Revised Version; and comp. ver. 3, where rentius" (Schultens); comp. eh. xix. 6-18. the same word is properly rendered by Ver. 22.-Thou liftest me up to the wind; "gnawing [the wilderness]"). . thou oe.11Sest me to ride upon it ; i.e. thou Yer. 18.-lly the great foroe ofmy duiease makest me to be storm-tossed. I am as it ill my garment changed; or, dufigured. The were a straw caught up by a whirlwind, purulent discharge from his ulcers disfigured and borne hither and thither in the wide and made filthy hiBgarment, which stiffened regions of space, unknowing whither I go. e.s the d iscLe.rgc dried, and cl nng to his I am treated as I have described the wioked frame. It bindeth me e.b011t as the collar man to be treated (eh. :u:vii. 20, 21). And of my ooat. The whole garment clung to dillaolvest my sub■tanoe. "Diesolvest me his body as clos~ly e.s it is nsua'l fc,r a man's entirely" (Professor Lee); di8sol1JtJ11t me en collar, or "neck-hole., (Profeaaor Lee), to the BU>r'IBII ( Revised Veriion ). ' cli"g about hie throat. Ver. 23.-l'or I know that thou wilt brblg Ver. 19.-:S:e (i.e. God) hath out me into me t.o death. Job has aH along expressed the mire. •• The mire" here is the lowest his oonTiction that he has nothing t.o look c\eptb of miBery ·e.nd degradation (comp. for but death. He feels within himself the Ps. xl. 2; lxix. 2, 14). Job feels himllelf seeds of a mortal malady; for slilih, practi- caet into it by God, but nevertheless does cally, was eleph&11tiasia in Job's time. Be di, xtx, 1-81.J THE BOOK OF lOB. 487