The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 485

hi~ enemy (comp. Buxtorf, • Lexicon Hc- xxviii. 33, 51, etc.), Tbe exprel!Sion la hr11ic11m c-t. Oh11ldaicum,' who explllins i:,i proverbial. Yea, let m, ollipting be rooted by "11lien11tio;" 11nd thr comment of Sohul- out; 111ther, mr, J)l'Oduoe, or the p1-oduae of tene on c.h. xxxi. 3, "Neoer, a Deo alien- my field (see the Revised Vel'l!iou). atio "). Ver. 9.-U mine heart have been deoelved Ver. 4.-Doth not he see my waya, and by a woman; rather, enticed, or allured unt.o oount all my steps l (see above, oh. vii. 18- a woman. If, that ie, I hsve suffered my- 20; nnd b,,low, c-h. xxxiv. 21. Oomp. also self at any time to be enticed by the wiles Ps. cxxxix. 3: Prov. v. 21 ; xv. 3, eto.). of a "stro.uge woman" (Prov. v. 3; vi. 24, Yer. 5.-If I have walked with vanity, or eto.), 110d have so far yielded o.e t.o go after if my foot bath huted to deoeit. "If I have her ; and if I have laid wait at my neigh• h<wn II living lie, i.e. if, under II foir show of bonr's door-watching for an opportunity to pic-ty and rightcommess of life, I have, 11s enter unseen, while the goodmnn is away yC1u my friends Buppose, been all along a (Prov. vii. 19). Job is not speaking of what de~eivc-r ,md II hypocrit€. clonldng my SC'Cret he ha~ donr, but of what men may euspeot sins under II mere pretenC'll of well-doing, him of having done. • . then the rooncr I IUD. exposed the better. Ver. 10.-Then let my wife grind unto Let me be weighed," etc. The painful another; i.e. " Id the wife of my bosom be suggestion of hypocrisy he.a been made by brought so low e.e to he compelled to _do the Joi.i's friends rcpcawdly during the colloquy servile work of grinding the corn .in the (cli. i1·. ,-9; Yiii. 6, 12; xi.4--6, 11-14; household of another woman." The con- x.. 30-35; niii. 5-21 ; xx. 5-29, etc.), dition of the fem11le elnves who ground the nud has deeply afflicted the patriarch. It is corn wns regnrded as the lowest point in " charge su easily me.de, 11nd so impossible domestic slllvery (see Exod. xi 5; Isa. to refute. All tho.t the righteons man, thus xlvii 2). And let others bow down upon falsely nccw;ed, can do is to appeal to God : her. Let them, i.e., claim the master's .. Thou, ·God, knowest. Thou, God, wilt right, nnd reduce her t.o the extremest oue day show forth the truth." degradation. There would be a just nemesis Ver. 6.-Let me be weighed in an aven in thls punishment of an adulterer (see 2 balance; literally, l.et him (Le. God) weigh Sam. xii 11). me in t},e bala1u:es of justice. The llSe of Ver. 11.-For this is an heinous crime. this imagery by the Egyptians has been The crime of ndultery subverts the family already noted (see the comment on eh. vi relation, on which it has pleased God to 2). It is an essential part of every Egyptian erect the entire fabric of hnmlln society. representation of the final judgment of souls Henre, in the Jewish Law, adultery woe by OsirIB. Each man's merits are formally me.den capital offence (Lev. xx:. 10; Dent. weighed in a be.lance, which is carefully xxii 22), both in the woman nnd in the depicted, and he is judged accordingly. man. .Among other nations the adulteress Job asks that this may be done in his case, was commonly punished with death, but either immediately or at any rate nltimawly. the adulterer escaped scot-free. In modem He would have the act performed, that God communities adultery is mostly regarded, may know his integrity; or rather, may not as a crime, but as a civil wrong, on ,,-ecognize it. (So Professor Lee.) Job has eccount of which an action lie-s against the no doubt that a thorough investigation of adulterer. It is an iniquity to be punished his co.se will lead to au acknowledgment by the judges; literally, it is an· iniquity of and proclamstion of bis innocence. judgu; i.e. one of which judges. te.ko cogni~ Ver. 7.-I! my Btep hath turned out of zance. the way. If, i.e., I have at any time know- Ver. 12.-For it ie a fire that coJ1.aumeth ingly and voluntarily departed from the to destruction; i.e. it is a 'thing which way of tliy commsndments, as made known brings down the wrath of God upon a man, to we either by go(lly men or by thy law so that "a fire is kindled in his anger, whioh wriLt.en in my heart, then let the con.se- shall burn unt.o the lowest hel_l" (Deut. q uencee follow that a.re mentioned in the xxxii 22). Compare the sentence on David 1wxt verse. Or if mine heart hath walked for his great transgression (2 Sam. xii. 9- after mine eyes, and if consequently any 12). And would root out all mine inoreaae; blot hath cleaved to mine hand.a ; t.e. if I i.e. " would destroy all my estate ; " either have been guilty of any plllin act of sin. It by lee.ding me t.o waste my substance 11pou is t.o be remembared that Job hu the testi- my companion in sin, or by bringing c!own mony of God himseU to the fact that he God's judgments upon me _to my temporal was "a perfect 1md an upright man, one ruin. . that fee.rt:d. God, e.nd eschewed evil " ( eh. Ver. 13.-If I did despise the oauae of my ii.3)- manservant or of my maidservant. Job now Ver. 8.-Th.en let me sow, a.nd let another disclaims a fourth sin-the oppression of his eat (comp. eh. v. 5; Lev. u:ri. 16; Deut. dependant&. Elipbaz be.d t.air;@d him gene- os. xxu, 1-40.J 'l'HE, BOOK OF JOB. 601