The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 594

Cf\nst thou tell? IC not, why enter into vieed V ?rsion, tmd_ P"'eB~_ed. /<Yr it mu controversy with the Oree.tor? d«tree. The deoree 1tselr IB given in ver. u. Ver. 7.-When the morning 1tar1 Hng And set bars a.nd doors (see a.bove, var. s, togethe,r.. The etnrs generolly, or the ontue.l where the imagery of "doors" he.R been stare v1e1 hie on the morn of oree.tion a.re already introduced). As Professor Lee ob- probably meant. They, as it were, sa~g a serves," The term o:ri1r/ contains a metaphor song of loud acolo.im on witnessing the new tak~n from the le.rge folding-doors of e. city, mo.rvel. Their priority to the eo.rth ie wh1c~ are usually set np for the purpose of implied, since they witness its birth. Their etoppmg the progreBB of an invading enemy song is, of course, that silent eong of eym- e.nd e.re hence supplied with bolts and bars,; po.thy, whereof Bhakespeue epeo.ks when (' Book of_ Job,' p. 490). Representations of h_e eo.ys, "Ee.eh in its motion like cm o.ngel such foldmg-rloou e.re common in the A11- emg~" (' Merchant of Venice,' e.ct v. sc. 1). syrie.n sculptures ; and in one instance the And e.ll the sons of God shouted for joy. doors themselves, or, to speak more exactly, "The sons of God" here must necessarily their outer b~onze casing, he.a been recovered be the e.ngels (see eh. i. 6; ii. 1), since there (see a paper m the 'TraHse.ctions of the So- were no men e.s yet in existence. They ciety of _lliblic,i] Archaiology ,' on the Bronze too ~oin~d in the cho_ru~ of sympathy e.ud Gates discovered by Mr. Re.sse.m at Bale.wat, admuo.t1ou, perhaps hftrng up their voices vol. vii. pp. 85-118). These gates were (Re_v: v. 11, 12), perhe.ps their hearts only, twenty-two feet high and six feet brood ea.oh. pre.mug the Cree.tor, who had done such marvellous things. Ver. 11.-And said, Hitherto shslt thou Ver. 8.-0r who shut up the see. with come, but no further. The law is not quite doors 1 From the earth e. transition is made absolute. Wherever the sea we.shes a coast- to the see., as the second great wonder in line, there is u. continue.I erosive action. creation (comp. Gen. i. 9, 10; Exod. x.x. 11 • whereby the land is, little by little eaten Ps. oiv. 24, 25). God's might is especially awe.y, and the line of the coe.st thrust be.ck. shown in his power to control and confine B~t the action is ~o slow that millennia. pass the sea, which re.ges eo terribly and seems without any considerable effect being pro- so utterly uncontrollable. God has blocked duced, and encroe.chmeuts in some placea it in "with doors ''-i.e. with "bounds that are generally counterbalanced by retrench- it cannot pass, neither tum age.in to cover ment in others, so that the general contour the earth" (Ps. civ. 9). Sometimes the ofle.nd and water, with the proportion of the be.rrier is one ~f lofty and solid rock, which one to the other, remain probably very much seems well smted to confine and restrain • the same at the present day as when the earth but sometimes it is no more than a thi~ first became the habitation of man. Anli streak of silver sand or a be.nk of loose here shall thy proud waves be ste.yed. The shifting pebbles. Yet, in both cases alike' we.ves of the seo. "rage horribly,'' and every the restraint suffioes. " The sand ie pla<'.ed now e.nd then topple down a rock or under- for the bound of the seo. by a perpetual mine a cliff, and seem proud of their e.chieve- decree, the.t it cannot pe.ss it" (Jer. v. 22); !11-ents; but how little do they effect, even the beach of shifting pebbles remaine as m thousands of yea.re I The little islet of firm as the rock iteelf, and never recedes or Psyttaleia still blocks the eastern end of advances more the.a a few feet. When it the straits of Salamis. The Pharos island brake forth, ae if it had iesued out of the lies off the westernmost mouth of the Nile. womb ; i.e. e.t ite birth, when it we.e first Even the low, flat Are.due, on the Syrian formed, by the gathering together of the coast, has not been swept away. Every- waters into one pie.ea (see Gen. i. 9). where the waves are practically " stayed," Ver. 9.-When I made the oloud the and all the menaces of the sea against the garment thereof. The account of creation land come to nought. here given is certainly not dre.wn wholly Ver. 12.-Hast thou commanded the morn- from Genesis. It is to be viewed a.a e. ing since thy days l rather, l,y rea&on of thy second, independent, account of the occur- length of days-a similar irony to that ob- rences, in fuller date.ii, but vaguer, by reason servable in vers. 5, 21, etc. The third of the poetical phraseology. And thick dark- marvel of creation brought before us is the ness a swaddling-band for it. The infant dawn, or daybreak-that standin"' 0 miracle sea, juRt come from the womb (ver. 8), is of combined utility and beauty, Has Job represented as clothed with a cloud, 11nd authority to is8ne his orders to the dawn ewe.ddled in thiok darkneBB, to mark its and tell it when to make its appearance? oomplele subjeotion to its Orea.tor from the Has he oaused the de.yspring to know hia first. plaoe 1 Job oannot possibly pretend to any Yer. 10.-And brake up for it my decreed suoh power. place; rather, 11.s in the m1ugin, nnd estab- Ver. 13.-The.t it might take hold of the liBhed my deiTee upon it; or,as in the Re- endl of the earth, that the wicked might be JOB, 2B 610 THE BOOK OF JOB. [mr. nxvm.1-41.