iii devoid of any expectation of recovery. he- had hopes that hia prayera wmJld be Deo.th tnust como upon him, he thinks, ere o.nswered, e.nd e. rest or pause, &n interval long; o.nd then God will bring him to the of repose, be granter! him (eh. ix. 34; x. 20), house "'ppointed tor o.11 living. 'fhis, &she but when his hopes were disnppointe<l, &nd has &lreo.dy oxplo.ined (eh. x. 21, 22), is the darkness closed in upon him thicker o.nd "the land of darkness o.nd the shadow of murkier than ever. donth, o. lo.ud of do.rkness, as do.rknesa itself; Ver. 27.-'III.y bowels boiled, and. rested ail.cl of tho bhh.dow of <lea.th, without any not; rather, boi'l and re,t rwt (sec the Revisetl o~dor, and where the light is ns do.rkness." Version). It is hie present con,lition of It is a melcmcboly prospect; but we must which Job Rpeo.ks from ver. 27 to ver. 31. rega.r<l it as cheered by the hope of an nlti- His "entro.ils," i.e. his whole innermost mo.te resurrection, such as seems indic&ted, • no.tore, is disturbed, tormented, thrown into if: not absolutely proclni.rned, in ob. xix. confusion. The days of a.flliction prevented 25-2-7 (see the comment on tho.t passage). me; rather, a1'ecome upon me (comp. ver. 16). Ver. 2¾.-Xowbeit he will not stretch Vera. 28, 29.-I went mourning without out hie hand to the grave, though they cry the sun; rather, 1 go about b/,ackened, b'Ut in bis .destruction. This is one of the most not by the ,un. Grief and suffering, a.ccord- obscure passages in the entire Book of Job, ing to Oriental notions, blo.ckened the face ·and scarcely o.ny • two independent com- (see Lam, iv. 8; v. 10; Ps. cxix. 83; and mentators understo.nd it alike. To give all below, ver. 30), I stood up, and I cried in the different renderings, o.nd discuss them, the congregation; rather, I stand up in t1ui would be 'an almost endless task, and one assembly, and ery fo-r help (see the Revised over-wearisome to the reader. It will, per- Version). Job feels this as the most pitiable haps, suffice to select the one which to the fe&ture in bis case. He is broken down ; present writer.appears the most satisfactory. he can no longer endure. At first he could Thi~ is the reuderi1;1g of Professor Stanley sit in silence for seven days (eh. ii. 13); now Lee1thes, who suggests the following: "How- he is reduced to uttering complaints and beit God will not put forth bis hand to lamentations. He. is a brother, not to bring & man to death and the grave, when dragons, but to jac1rol,,. His lament, a.re tl1ere is earnest prayer for them, not even like the long melancholy cries that those when lie bini'self bath ea.used the calamity:" . animals emit during the silence of the night, The ea.me writer further explains the passage so well knowil to Eastem travellers. He as-follows: "I know that thou wilt dissolve adds further that he is a. oompa.nion, not and.destroy me, nnd bring me to'the grave to owls, but to ostriches; which, like jackals, (ver. 23); though thou wilt not do so when ho.ve a mehncboly cry (see Micah i. 8; and I pray to thee to release me by death from comp. Dr. Hooker's article in Smith's' Diet. my sulle1ings. •Thou wilt surely do so [some of the Bible,' vol. ii. p. 650). time o~ other), but not in my time, or Ver. 30.-My skin is bla.ok upon me (see nccor_ding- to my will, but only in thine own the comment on vers. 28, 29, ad init.), and ·appointed time, e.nd a.s thou seest fit." my bones a.re burned with heat. The Ver. 25.-Did not I weep for him that "burning pains" in the bones, which was in· trouble 1 i:e. do I claim a sympathy characterize o.t least one form of elephan- which I do not deserve? When men wept' tiasis, ho.ve been already mentioned (see the and entreated me, did not I do my best to comment on ver. 17). In ordinary elephan- give them the a.iu which they requested? tiasis there is often "intense pain in the Did not I weep for them, o.nd intercede lumbar region and groin," which the patient with Gou for them? Was not my sonl might think to be in his bones. grieved for the poor 1 (comp. eh. xx.ix. 12- Ver. ,H.-'JII.y harp also is tnroed to 17; xxxi. 16-22). mourning. The result of a.II is that Job's Ver. 26.'-When J looked for good, then he.rp is laid aside, either literally or figura- evil oa.me unto me. _. Job was " looking for tively. Its music fa replaced by the sound good," expecting fuUy the oontinua.noe of of mourning (see vers. 28, 29). And my his great wealth and prosperity, when the organ ( or m Lher, my pife) into the voice of au<ldeu slfock of calamity fell upon him. It them that weep. The pipe also is no longer we., wholly unexpecteu, nnd therefore the sounded in his presence ; he hears only the harder to bear. And when I waited for voice of weeping nnd lamentation. Thus light, there oa.me darkness. This mo.y refer appropriately ends the long dirge in which to periods, after his calamities bogan, when he has bewailed his miserable fate.
HOMILETIOS. Vers. 1-16.-Job's. sec.oncl f'<WO,ble:. 2. .A. lamentation over falle-n gi·eatness. I. THB Ou+BAO'J!EB l)P Jo»'a DBBIDlllRS. 1. JUAWTS _in t-especl of <J96, (Yer. 1.) 'rhese we!'8 1188 THE BG0K OF JOB. [cnt ux. 1--31,