The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 563

perieh by the sword. Not, necessarily, by 11 Roaonmiiller, is stil~ upheld by many scholrtr5, m11terial sworrl, but hT the sword of God's o.nd has been retame<l by our Revisers. If vengeanoo, whiohslo.ysmo thousand different we ndopt it, we must nnderstand Elihu as mo.nnere, piercing through o.11 obstacles, and assuring Job that he too would 110.ve been reaching to the henrt and spirit. And they delivered and restored to his proHperity, ir shall die without knowledge. Either with- he had accepted his nfHictions in a proper out !mowing thnt they are about to die, or spirit, and learnt the lesson they were in- in their wilful ignoro.uce of God's intentions t<-ndecl to teach him (see vers. 9, J0). in chastising them. Ver. 17.-But thou hast fuliilled the judg- Ver. 13.-But the hypocrites in heart heap ment of the wicked ; i.e. but, as thou hast up wrath. In hie vindication of God's justice, not so acted, the result he.a been different. Elihu here po.sees from the case of the right- Thy hardness and impenitence have brought eous (ver. 7) to that of the "hypocri tee," or upon thee the judgments reserved by God rather the ungodly. They, he says, "heap for the wicked-judgment and justice take up wrath," i.e. "treo.@ure up to themselves hold on thee-thou art suffering the just wrath ago.inst the doy of wrath" (Ilom. ii. 5), penalty of thy obstinacy. continually intensify God's anger ngainst Ver. 18.-Because there ia wrath, beware them, o.nd, as it were, lay in a store of it, lest he take thee away with his stroke. The which will one day he outpoured upon them. original is exceedingly obscure, and three or They cry not when he bindeth them. 'fhey four quite distinct renderings have been pro- do not ory to him, they do not deprecate his posed ; but one of the latest critics (Pro- o.nger, when they first find themselves bound fessor Stonley Lee.thee) prefers to all the with th11 "cords of affliction" (ver. 8), but other translations that of the Authorized allow bis wmth to increase o.nd accumulate. Version. Job is threatened by Elihu with Ver. 14.-They die in youth; literally, e. coming judgment which shall remove him their ,oul dieth in youth. The result is that, from the earth altogether. Then a great while they a.re still young, the vital strength ransom cannot deliver thee. Once let de- of their soul is sapped; they "come to o. struction fall, o.nd there is no longer any premature end, like youths who have de- place for ransom. Nothing ca.n then deliver stroyed the spring of life by licentiousness n thee from thy just punishment. (Cook). And their life is among the un- Ver. 19.-Will he esteem thy riches l clean. (On the particular" uncleanness" in- rather, Will thy riches suffice f (Revised Ver- tended, see Dent. xxiii. 17.) sion) ; or Will they s!and the shoek of battle 1 Ver. 15.-Re delivereth the poor in his (Schnltens). Will they be a. sufficient a.111.iction; rather, he delivereth the affeicted strength to thee in the time of trouble? No, by his affeiction (see the Revised Version). not gold. This rendering is now genera.lly Elihu recurs to what he had so.id in ver. 10 given up, and the words, lo betsar (~:i 1t1,). with respect to the discipline of affliction. a.re taken in connection with the preceding The bulk of the afflictions sent by God are, sentence, tbns : Will thy riches suffice, that according to him, intended to act medicine.Uy. thou be not in distre88 1 or, in other words, If the afflicted man receives them a.right, Will they keep thee out of trouble t If not. they a.re the very means of his deliverance will all the foroes of thy strength snflice to (comp. Ps. oxix. 67, 71; Heh. xii. 11). And do so? Aarored.ly, nothing will ave.ii against openeth their ears in oppression; rather, the "stroke" of God (ver. 18). by auffering. Their sufferings lead them to Ver. 20.-Desire not the night, when God, cause them to pay more attention to his people (rather, peoples) are cut off in their Word, lead them to open their ears to his place, This is a.n allusion to Job's repeatedly inward voice. expressed desire to be cut off at once, and Ver. 16.-Even so would he have removed la.id in the grave (oh. vi. 9; vii. 15; xiv. 13, thee out of the strait in to a broad plaoe, etc.). Elihu holds that such a. desire is where there is no straitness; and that whioh wrongful. It oerta.inly implies o. want of 1hould be set on thy table should be full of complete resignation to the Divine will. fatness. Another quite different interpre- Ver. 21.-Ta.ke heed, regard not iniquity; tation has been proposed by Ewald, and i.e. be on thy guard. Whilst thou a.rt care- adopted by Dillmann and Co.non Cook, who ful to preserve thy integrity o.nd faith in suppose Elihu to speak, not of what would God, do not fall into sin in other respecte- have happened to Job under certnin cirouw- a.s by impatient desires, or proud thoughts, or stanoes, but of what had notua.lly happened rash accusations oi God. For this hast thou to him, and render, "Thee moreover hath ohosen rather tho.n affliotion. Ruther tha.n thy unbounded p1·osperity seduced from a.oquiesoe in thy afflictions a.n<l bear them listening to tho voioe of o.fBiction, and the patiently, thou hast elected to murmur, to. ee.ae of thy table which was full of fatness." oomplain, to question the justice of God, and' But the rendering of the Authorized Version, speak overboldly concerning him. There which is substantially that of Schultens and Is some ground for Elihu'a conuemnution; .IOB. 2 p  ois 'l'HE BOOK OF JOB. [on. XXXVI, 1--88.