*H Hear, I beseech you, my words, and do penance.
Ver. 2. Do. "Alter your opinion." M. — Sym. "hear." Sept. "may this be for your consolation," (Heb.) which I shall receive from you, or which you may make use of, if you should be afflicted (C.) as I am. H. — Job undertakes to show that the wicked are sometimes suffered to enjoy a long prosperity.
*H Is my debate against man, that I should not have just reason to be troubled?
Ver. 4. Troubled. Heb. "Why is not my spirit shortened" by death, if your assertion be true? (H.) or why may I not be "troubled," since I have to deal, not with an enlightened judge, but with men who are under the greatest prejudices? C. — I seem to you to dispute against God. Have I not then reason to tremble? v. 6. H. — Though he disputed with men, it was concerning Providence and eternal things. W.
*H Hearken to me and be astonished, and lay your finger on your mouth.
Ver. 5. Hearken to. Lit. "look steadfastly on me." H. — Compare my present with my former condition, and do not pretend to fathom God's judgments; which fill me also with astonishment, when I consider why the virtuous are distressed, and the wicked prosper, v. 7. — Mouth be silent. Harpocrates, the god of silence, was represented in this posture; and Virgil says, Intentique ora tenebant. Æneid ii. — Sept. "upon the cheek," like men in deep consideration. C.
*H Why then do the wicked live, are they advanced, and strengthened with riches?
Ver. 7. Riches. This is what fills me with great anxiety. Yet it quite destroys the force of your argument, (C.) since you pretend that the prosperity of the wicked is never of long duration. We see them, however, live to an advanced old age, (H.) continually offending God, and annoying their neighbours. C. — Sept. "yea, they grow old in riches."
* Footnote * Jeremias 12 : 1
Thou indeed, O Lord, art just, if I plead with thee, but yet I will speak what is just to thee: Why doth the way of the wicked prosper: why is it well with all them that transgress, and do wickedly?* Footnote * Habacuc 1 : 13
Thy eyes are too pure to behold evil, and thou canst not look on iniquity. Why lookest thou upon them that do unjust things, and holdest thy peace when the wicked devoureth the man that is more just than himself?*H Their seed continueth before them, a multitude of kinsmen, and of children's children in their sight.
Ver. 8. Sight. The Jews esteemed this as the greatest blessing and mark of God's favour. Yet it was also equivocal, as it was often possessed by the wicked. C.
*H Their houses are secure and peaceable, and the rod of God is not upon them.
Ver. 9. Rod. Divine judgments. M. Ps. lxxii. 5.
*H Their cattle have conceived, and failed not: their cow has calved, and is not deprived of her fruit.
Ver. 10. Cattle. Lit. "ox," bos. Prot. "their bull gendereth, and faileth not." H. — But Bochart explains it of the cows' bringing forth every year. C. — Ox is used in the same sense, both by sacred and profane authors. H. — A great part of the riches of these nations consisted in cattle. Ps. cxliii. 14. Zac. viii. 5.
*H Their little ones go out like a flock, and their children dance and play.
Ver. 11. Their. Sept. "They continue like eternal sheep, as if they and their flocks would never die. C. — And play, is to shew the nature of the dance. It is not in Heb. H. — The children are healthy and sportive. M. — Sept. "they play before them." H.
*H They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment they go down to hell.
Ver. 13. Moment. Sept. "in the rest of the lower region, αδου, they shall be laid," (H.) in the grave. M. — A sudden death, without agony or sickness, (H.) was the choice of Julius Cæsar, the night before he was slain. Repentinum inopinatumque prætulerat. Sueton. — But the enlightened servant of God would rather desire time to do penance, and to prepare for death. For who shall presume that he has that charity which banisheth fear? C. — Hell. The same term is used for the place where the damned are tormented, as for that where the souls of the just waited (C. vii. and xvii.) for their Redeemer's coming. But here Job is speaking of the apparent happiness of the wicked; (H.) and only alludes to the grave, (C. M.) or comfortable death and burial of the reprobate: though, at the same time, he may declare that their souls are buried in hell. H.
*H Who have said to God: Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
Ver. 14. Ways. The too common effect of riches. Prov. xxx. 8. Eccli. v. 2.
* Footnote * Malachias 3 : 14
And you have said: What have we spoken against thee? You have said: He laboureth in vain that serveth God, and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked sorrowful before the Lord of hosts?*H Yet because their good things are not in their hand, may the counsel of the wicked be far from me.
Ver. 16. Because, is not in Heb. "Lo, their good is not." They are not possessed of true riches, or of good sense. Alex. Sept. "For good things were in their hands: but the works of the impious are not pure." No: the more they possess, the greater is their perversity. Grabe substitutes ουκαθορα, φορ καθαρα; God "does not behold" the works, &c. which is more conformable to the other editions; and thus the blasphemies of the impious are continued. H. — When we are not sensible of our wants and dependance, we think less on God. C. — Hand, or power, they are only the gifts of God; far be then such sentiments from me. C.
*H How often shall the lamp of the wicked be put out, and a deluge come upon them, and he shall distribute the sorrows of his wrath?
Ver. 17. How often. When do we witness the downfall of the wicked? Mercer. — Or, in a contrary sense, how often are they miserable as well as the just? Such things are, therefore, a very equivocal argument, to prove either side of the question. Those who are afflicted, and cling closer to God, must be accounted virtuous and happy; while that prosperity is fatal which is an occasion of our neglecting his service. C. — Job answers his own questions, v. 7. If the wicked be happy for a time, their future state is deplorable, and often they forfeit even their temporal advantages. M.
*H God shall lay up the sorrow of the father for his children: and when he shall repay, then shall he know.
Ver. 19. The sorrow. Prot. "his iniquity." Marg. "that is the punishment." H. — The children shall share in his punishment, (C.) when they have been partakers, or imitators of his injustice. H. — Know his offence, and whether there be a God (C.) and Providence. M.
*H For what is it to him what befalleth his house after him: and if the number of his months be diminished by one half?
Ver. 21. And if. Heb. "when" he is cut off in the midst of his days: he does not regard the happiness or misery of those whom he leaves behind. H. — The children are rather taken away for his punishment, while he is living, as their misery would not touch him in the grave. M.
*H One man dieth strong, and hale, rich and happy.
Ver. 23. Hale, or healthy. Heb. "in perfect strength." H. — Sept. "simplicity, or folly." S. Aug. reads with the old Vulg. "in the strength of his simplicity, (C.) or innocence. H. — These outward appearances prove nothing for interior piety or wickedness. C.
*H His bowels are full of fat, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
Ver. 24. Bowels. Prot. "breasts" (Marg. "milk-pails") are full of milk. But the Sept. Bochart, &c. agree with the Vulgate. Job describes a corpulent man (C.) living in luxury, like the glutton. H.
*H But another dieth in bitterness of soul without any riches:
Ver. 25. Any. Heb. "ever having eaten with pleasure." H.
*H Surely I know your thoughts, and your unjust judgments against me.
Ver. 27. Me. I perceive you are not convinced; and what you say respecting the wicked, is pointed at me. M.
*H For you say: Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?
Ver. 28. Prince. Job, (M.) or rather the tyrant, whose lot we know is miserable, as he falls a victim of God's justice. C. xx. 7.
*H Ask any one of them that go by the way, and you shall perceive that he knoweth these same things.
Ver. 29. Way. Travellers, who have seen foreign countries, (Vatab.) or any one that may be passing, (Sanchez) will answer this objection (H.) in my favour. M. — They will all agree in testifying that the wicked prosper, even for a long time. C.
*H Because the wicked man is reserved to the day of destruction, and he shall be brought to the day of wrath.
Ver. 30. To the. He will be requited indeed, at last; or rather, when others are in the utmost danger, he will be protected as it were by God. Sept. (C.) or Theodotion, "the wicked is kept on high," χουφιζεται. All from v. 28 to 33 inclusively, is marked as an addition to the Sept. by Grabe, who has supplied many similar omissions, of which Origen and S. Jerom complained. H.
*H Who shall reprove his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?
Ver. 31. Done. Man is afraid, and God defers to take cognizance. C.
*H He shall be brought to the graves, and shall watch in the heap of the dead.
Ver. 32. Dead. Heb. "the sheaves," being quite ripe for harvest, and even in the tomb, the tyrant retains some sore of pre-eminence, as he is buried with honour, an set like a more elevated sheaf, to inspect the rest. C. — Godiss, is rendered by Prot. "tomb," (margin) "heap." But (C. v. 26.) where only the word occurs again, we find "a shock of corn," and this comparison seems very suitable here. The damned shall watch, alas, when it will be to no purpose, among the heap of fellow-sufferers, who would not think while they had time to repent. After millions of night spent thus without sleep or ease, we may imagine we hear their mournful lamentations from the depth of the abyss. Always misery! and never any hope of ease! H. — "Eternity," says Bridayne, (ser. in Maury's Eloq.) "is a pendulum, the vibration of which sounds continually, Always! Never! In the mean while, a reprobate cries out: What o'clock is it? And the same voice answers, Eternity!" Thus at last the wicked shal awake from the sleep in which they have spent their days; (H.) and their watching, restless, and immortal souls (S. Thom.) will bitterly lament their past folly. What profit will they derive from the honours paid to their corpse by surviving friends, (H.) even though they be embalmed, and seem to live in marble statues? Pineda.
*H He hath been acceptable to the gravel of Cocytus, and he shall draw every man after him, and there are innumerable before him.
Ver. 33. Acceptable to the gravel of Cocytus. The Hebrew word, which S. Jerom has here rendered by the name Cocytus, (which the poets represent as a river in hell) signifies a valley or a torrent: and in this place, is taken for the low region of death, and hell: which willingly, as it were, receives the wicked at their death: who are ushered in by innumerable others that have gone before them; and are followed by multitudes above number. Ch. — Isaias (xiv. 9.) and Ezechiel (xxxii. 21.) describe the splendid reception in hell of the kings of Babylon and of Egypt, nearly in the same manner as Job does that of any sinner who has lived in prosperity. C. xxxviii. 17. He gives life to the whole creation, in the true spirit of poetry. C. — The rich man is represented as tenderly embraced by his mother earth; (C. i. 21. H.) the very stones and turf press lightly upon him; as the ancients prayed, Sit tibi terra levis. Heb. "the stones or clods of the torrent (C.) shall be sweet to him, and he," &c. H. — S. Jerom has chosen to mention a particular river, instead of the general term nel, "a torrent or vale," to intimate that Job is speaking of the state after death. — Cocytus is a branch of the Styx, a river of Arcadia, of a noxious quality, which the poets have place in hell. Pineda. — Sept. "The pebbles of the torrent became sweet to him, and in his train every man shall come, and unnumbered men before him." Alex. MS. has "men of number;" the two first letters of αναριθμητοι being omitted. H. — The Church reads in her office for S. Stephen, Lapides torrentis illi dulces fuerunt: ipsum sequuntur omnes animæ justæ. Many explain this passage of Job as a menace. The wicked have carried their insolence so far as to (C.) give orders to (H.) be buried with the utmost pomp: but in the other world, they shall be thrown ignominiously among the other dead. S. Greg. &c. C. — They were little moved with the thought of death, as it was common to all. But what will they think of eternal misery? H.
*H How then do ye comfort me in vain, whereas your answer is shewn to be repugnant to truth?
Ver. 34. Vain. These arguments shew that your assertions are destitute of proof, and afford me no comfort. C.