truth easily and delightfully into their minds Which hath moved me to attempt the explaining of the most ancient Book in the whole Bible by way of a short Paraphrase In which if I have not always tyed my self to our English Translation which ever gives an excellent sence of the Original words it was because I thought another meaning sometimes more agreeable to the whole discourse which I have endeavoured to carry on coherently from first to last But if the matter would bear it I have when I met with a word of two senses expressed them both And where I found any difficulty I consulted with such Interpreters as are of best note in the Church being unwilling to do any thing without the warrant of some or other of them I was forced indeed here and there to follow only my own judgement but not without the appearance of very urgent reasons of which if I should give an account by adding notes to those places it would make this which I intend for common use swell into too big a Volumn I have only therefore in the Argument presixed to each Chapter pointed to such Histories in the Bible as may help to illustrate some passages and shewn how the dispute is menaged till God himself determine it But there are two things of which I think my self bound to give a larger accompt to avoid the imputation of such novelty as may be justly censured The One is That I have interpreted those three known verses in the XIX Chapter 25 26 27. not of Job's resurrection from the dead at the last day but of his restauration to an happy estate in this world after he had been so sorely afflicted There are many of no mean esteem Mr. Calvin amongst the rest who have done so before me in following whom I do not forsake the sense of the ancient Doctours For though I take that to be the literal sense of the words yet I doubt not there is another more secret and hidden which lies covered under them and that we ought to look upon Job's Restauration and so I have always explained it as a notable type of the future Resurrection of our Bodies out of the Grave And accordingly our Church hath very fitly applied the words as many of the Fathers do to this purpose in the Office of the Burial of the Dead St. Hierome or the Author of the Commentaries upon Job under his name is my Guide in this business who saith no more then this that Job in these words resurrectionem futuram prophetat in Spiritu prophecieth in the Spirit the future Resurrection Now the words of the Prophets had commonly an immediate respect to some thing which was then doing or shortly to be done besides that sense which the holy-Holy-Ghost directed them to signify in the latter dayes And so had these words of Job of which that Father indeed gives us only the Mystical sense but he doth so in many other places of that Book where it is certain and acknowledged the holy man had another meaning in which he was more nearly concerned I shall refer the Reader only to one place in the First Chapter where he saith that Job did ferre typum Christi * And so he saith in his Praeface Figuram Christi portavit And in his Conclusion XLII 14. Figuram manifestè habuit Salvatoris and therefore expounds those words v. 20 21. in this manner He fell on the ground when he emptied himself of the form of God to take on him the form of a Servant and came naked out of his Mothers Womb being not aspersed with the least spot of Original Sin He that will may read what follows and see how he only sets down a mystical sense when it is certain another upon which that is built is first intended And so we are to take his exposition upon these words which secundum mysticos intellectus as he speaks XXXVIII 16. according to the hidden interpretations are to be understood of the Resurrection of the dead at the second coming of Christ but relate in the first place to Job's resurrection out of that miserable condition wherein he lay which was a figure of the other They therefore who interpret these words otherways to speak with that Father in his Commentaries upon Ezek. XXXVII 1. c. ought not to make me ill thought of as if by expounding them in the literal sense only I took away a proof of the Resurrection from the dead For I know there are far stronger testimonies of which there can be no doubt nor dispute to be found for the confirmation of that truth On those let us rely on the plain words of Him who is the Truth and of whom Job was but a Figure which are abundantly sufficient to support our faith and let none imagine that we Give occasion to Hereticks as he speaks presently after if we deny these words to be meant of the general Resurrection The Second thing of which I am to give an account is that I have not expounded Behemoth to signify the Elephant nor Leviathan to signify the Whale because many of their Characters do not agree to them but every one of them to the description which the writers of Natural History have given of two other Creatures And therefore I have herein followed the guidance of that excellent Critick Bochartus who takes the former for the River-horse and the later for the Crocodile as I have expressed it in the Margin but put neither of them in the Text. For I leave every one as our Translatours have done to apply the words to any other Creatures if they can find any besides those now mentioned which have all the qualities that are here ascribed to them I have adventured also in the beginning to add a few words as the manner of Paraphrasts is to give an account of the time when Job lived which seemes to have been before the Children of Israel came out of Egypt For though there be plain mention of the drowning of the Old World and the burning of Sodom in this Book yet there is no allusion to the drowning of Pharaoh and other miraculous works which attended their deliverance Nor is there any notice taken of that Revelation of Gods will to Moses when Elihu reckons up those ways whereby God was wont to discover himself to men Such like reasons moved Origen * Lib. 1. contra Celsum p. 305. to say that Job was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more ancient than even Moses himself and Eusebius * Lib. 1. Demonstr Evang Cap. 6. to pronounce that he was before Moses two whole ages Which is conformable to the opinion of many of the Hebrew Writers who as Mr. Selden observes * Lib. VII De Jure Nat. c. Cap. 11. think Job lived in the dayes of Isaac and Jacob. The judgment of other Eastern people is not much different from this as may be seen in Hottinger's Smegma Orientale * Pag. 381
till that happy Change come 15. Thou shalt call and I will answer thee thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands 15. Do Thou speak the word and it shall be done shew Thou hast some love to thy own workmanship 16. For now thou numbrest my steps dost thou not watch over my sin 16. Though now Thou seemest to number every step I have trod in all my life and dost not spare to punish every Fault 17. My transgression is sealed up in a bag and thou sowest up mine iniquity 17. Having taken as great care the memory of them should not be lost as if they had been sealed up in a bag and added one Punishment to another 18. And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought and the rock is removed out of his place 18. Yet notwithstanding the highest Mountains may fall like a leaf and the Rock be removed from its place 19. The waters wear the stones thou washest away the things which grow out of the dust of the earth and thou destroyest the hope of man 19. The Waters though soft wear away the hard Stones and the very Dust or Sand sometimes overflows the fruitfull Fields Why therefore since such strange and unexpected things come to pass may there not be some hope for miserable Man 20. Thou prevailest for ever against him and he passeth thou changest his countenance and sendest him away 20. Who is not able to stand before Thee but must yield and be gone for ever when Thou requirest Thou spoilest his beauty and sendest him away into another World 21. His sons come to honour and he knoweth it not and they are brought low but he perceiveth it not of them 21. And then whether his Children whom he leaves behind be rich or whether they be poor it is indifferent to him for he knows not what passes here 22. But his flesh upon him shall have pain and his soul within him shall mourn 22. But while he is in flesh he cannot but be in pain for them and his Soul is inwardly grieved to see their misery CHAP. XV. ARGUMENT In this Chapter Eliphaz renews the Dispute with more eagerness and fierceness then before being very angry that Job slighted them so much and thought himself so wise as he interpreted it that he disdained their Exhortations and would not follow the Counsel they had given him of Confessing his Sins and praying to God for Forgiveness V. 8. VIII 4 5 6. But except this one Argument that he need not be ashamed to confess his Guilt when he considered how prone all men are to sin there is nothing new in his Discourse but he merely urges what he had asserted at first from his own and the wisest mens observations That they are not the Good but the Wicked whom God punishes with such Calamities as now were faln upon Job And with great ornaments of speech he most admirably describes the Vengeance which God is wont to take upon impious Tyrants having his Eye I suppose upon Nimrod or some such mighty Oppressour 1. THEN answered Eliphaz the Temanite and said 1. THEN Eliphaz incensed with these Reproaches rose up again and said 2. Should a wise man utter vain knowledge and fill his belly with the east-wind 2. Dost thou pretend to be wise who answerest us with such empty Discourses and whose heart is swoln with such pernicious Opinions and vents them with so much vehemence 3. Should he reason with unprofitable talk or with speeches wherewith he can doe no good 3. Is this thy Wisedom which teaches thee to wrangle to no purpose and to pour out words for which one is never the better 4. Yea thou castest off fear and restrainest prayer before God 4. The better did I say they distroy all Religion and discourage men from pouring out their Complaint in prayer to God 5. For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity and thou chusest the tongue of the crafty 5. Thou rather teachest them to dispute with Him whereby thou hast proclaimed thine Iniquity while with fallacious words thou seekest how to dissemble it 6. Thine own mouth condemneth thee and not I yea thine own lips testify against thee 6. I need produce no farther testimony against thee for thy own mouth hath done the buisiness and condemned thee of Impiety 7. Art thou the first man that was born or wast thou made before the hills 7. Thou art but a Man why dost thou talk as if thou wert God or at least wert made before the World 8. Hast thou heard the secret of God and dost thou restrain wisedom to thy self 8. Wast thou admitted into God's secret Counsels and thereby ingrossedst all Wisedom to thy self 9. What knowest thou that we know not what understandest thou which is not in us 9. Wherein to retort thy own words upon thee doth thy Knowledge exceed ours Let us hear what Secret thou hast learnt which we do not understand 10. With us are both the gray-headed and very aged men much elder then thy father 10. If by age and long experience men acquire Wisedom there are some of us who are much elder then thy Father 11. Are the consolations of God small with thee is there any secret thing with thee 11. Why dost thou slight then those Divine Consolations which we have given thee Hast thou some secret ones which no-body else knows of 12. Why doth thine heart carry thee away and what do thine eyes wink at 12. What makes thee have such an high opinion of thy self and in this manner contemn us 13. That thou turnest thy spirit against God and lettest such words go out of thy mouth 13. Nay oppose thy self to God and take the boldness to argue with Him 14. What is man that he should be clean and he which is born of a woman that he should be righteous 14. Thou wilt maintain thy Innocence thou sayest but thou forget test sure what thou art and whence thou comest else thou wouldst not stand upon thy Justification nor complain that thou art wronged 15. Behold he putteth no trust in his saints yea the heavens are not clean in his sight 15. Remember what I told thee before IV. 18. that the Angels are not immutably good the Heavenly inhabitants I say are not without their spots 16. How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water 16. What a loathsom and filthy creature then is Man who is as prone to sin as he is to drink when he is dry 17. I will shew thee hear me and that which I have seen I will declare 17. Do not stop thine ears whilst I shew thee thine errour and I will say nothing but what mine own eyes have seen 18. Which wise men have told from their fathers and have not bid it 18. And which wise men have observed and their Fathers before them who
earth upon nothing 7. Who by his wonderfull Power and Wisedom stretches out the whole World from the one Pole to the other which He alone sustains as He doth this globe of Earth hanging in the Air without any thing to support it 8. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds and the cloud is not rent under them 8. It is He who binds up the fluid Waters as it were in bags and keeps them a long time hanging in the Clouds through which they do not burst all at once but distill by drops to moisten the earth in due season 9. He holdeth back the face of his throne and spreadeth his cloud upon it 9. These Clouds He spreads before the glorious face of Heaven to restrain the beams of the Sun from scorching the earth 10. He hath compassed the waters with bounds untill the day and night come to an end 10. He hath inclosed the waters of the Sea in shores and so exactly compassed them about that as long as the world lasts they shall not be able be they never so furious to exceed those bounds but shall break all their rage against them into froth 11. The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof 11. And yet the highest Mountains which look as if they were the pillars and supporters of the Heavens quake and tremble when He thunders and lightens upon them 12. He divideth the sea with his power and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud 12. By his Power He raises a Tempest which makes great furrows in the Sea and divideth as it were one part of it from another and such is his Wisedom He knows how to appease it again and depress its proud waves into the deadest calm 13. By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens his hand hath formed the crooked serpent 13. Finally by his wise contrivance the Heavens were adorned and made thus beautifull as we behold them His Power made the Milky way and other celestial Signs whose windings are so admirable 14. Lo these are parts of his ways but how little a portion is heard of him but the thunder of his power who can understand 14. And yet these are but very small parcells of his Works For alas it is very little that such as we can comprehend of Him but the utmost force of his Power is past all understanding CHAP. XXVII ARGUMENT As Bildad began to decline the Dispute so Zophar quite gives it over either looking upon Job as incurably obstinate or as we might more charitably conceive were it not for what we reade XXXII 1. being convinced he had more reason on his side Whose silence so raised the spirit of Job that he now triumphs over his Opponents as the word MASCHAL which we render PARABLE may denote For it signifies among the Hebrews an elegant ingenious kind of speech excelling and as it were dominearing over all other in its pithiness or neatness or some other rare quality Such is the following Discourse of Job which begins in this Chapter with a vehement Protestation that he would never desert his Plea nor yield to their Doctrine that a remarkable Vengeance always attends upon Wickedness in this world though he grants and largely here asserts that sometimes there doth 1. MOreover Job continued his parable and said 1. AFTER Job had made some pause and Zophar whose turn it was now to speak had nothing at all to reply He proceeded with greater eloquence then ever to assert his Innocence saying 2. As God liveth who hath taken away my judgment and the Almighty who hath vexed my soul 2. I protest by the Eternal God who for the present will not judge my Cause by the Omnipotent Lord of the world who hath loaded me with so many Afflictions that they have taken away all the pleasure of Life from me 3. All the while my breath is in me and the spirit of God is in my nostrils 3. I protest I say that as long as I have breath in my body and He shall enable me to speak a word 4. My lips shall not speak wickedness nor my tongue utter deceit 4. My tongue shall be the faithfull interpreter of mine heart and I will never speak otherways then I think 5. God forbid that I should justifie you till I die I will not remove my integrity from me 5. Therefore never hope I will yield to your Opinion which I know to be false no I abhor the thought of it and will sooner die then confess the Guilt which you charge me withall 6. My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live 6. You shall never extort that from me but I will resolutely maintain my Righteousness and not be persuaded by any reasons to desert its defence my Conscience doth not hitherto accuse me and it shall never upbraid me hereafter for betraying mine Innocence 7. Let mine enemy be as the wicked and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous 7. And let me tell you he that sets himself against me and would have me thought wicked shall be found so himself in the end I say again he shall prove himself unrighteous sooner then me 8. For what is the hope of the hypocrite though he hath gained when God taketh away his soul 8. Who know very well it is madness for a man to counterfeit Piety when he hath none for though he may get Riches by that pretence while he lives yet what hope hath he when he dies 9. Will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him 9. Nay before that when any Calamity comes upon him will God give any regard to the cries of one who regarded Him so little 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty will he always call upon God 10. Or will he himself have the confidence to go to God and expect any comfort from Him will he not rather despond in such a case and cease to call upon Him 11. I will teach you by the hand of God that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal 11. Do not disdain to learn of me and I will make you understand what God doeth with the Wicked and discover to you some of the secrets of his Almighty Providence 12. Behold all ye your selves have seen it why then are ye thus altogether vain 12. Behold there is not one of you but hath by his own experience found what I am about to say to be certainly true and yet such is your vanity you will defend an ungrounded opinion 13. This is the portion of a wicked man with God and the heritage of oppressours which they shall receive of the Almighty 13. I grant that a Wicked man but not all Wicked men as you maintain doth sometimes receive such Punishment from God as he deserves which might make other
must still maintain that this deadly Wound is given me for no Crime of mine 7. What man is like Job who drinketh up scorning like water 7. Did you ever know such a man as Job who in stead of adoring the Almighty as becomes his Wisedom and Piety takes the liberty to pour out abundance of contemptuous language concerning his Judgments 8. Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity and walketh with wicked men 8. He associates himself with Evil-doers and talks after the same rate that the Wicked are wont to do 9. For he hath said It profiteth a man nothing that he shall delight himself with God 9. For he seems to me to be of this opinion that though a man study to please God he shall get nothing by it IX 22. 10. Therefore hearken unto me ye men of understanding far be it from God that he should do wickedness and from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity 10. What think you of this ye men of wisedom Do you not abhor such a thought as much as I that He who is Almighty should wrong any man and He who is All-sufficient should swerve from the rule of Righteousness 11. For the work of a man shall he render unto him and cause every man to find according to his ways 11. He will never be charged with such Weakness but always deals with men according as they deserve For he that doeth well never fails to find a Reward and he that doeth ill meets with a just Punishment 12. Yea surely God will not do wickedly neither will the Almighty pervert judgment 12. Surely I need not fear to affirm this with the greatest confidence that the Supreme Judge of the World will never condemn an Innocent person nor will He that possesses all things be corrupted to pronounce an unrighteous Sentence 13. Who hath given him a charge over the earth or who hath disposed the whole world 13. For He did not receive the Government of the world from any above himself nor is there any higher Being whose Authority He may be thought to dread and for fear of whom He may be tempted to doe unjustly 14. If he set his heart upon man if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath 14. No He made and He sustains all creatures so that if he should contain his Goodness within Himself and recall that Spirit and Life which He hath infused into them 15. All flesh shall perish together and man shall turn again unto dust 15. Nothing could subsist one moment but all Mankind would expire together and return unto their dust 16. If now thou hast understanding hear this hearken to the voice of my words 16. If thou art wise mind what I say and consider also what follows 17. Shall even he that hateth right govern and wilt thou condemn him that is most just 17. Can he be an enemy to Justice Himself who binds us so fast to the practice of it and wilt thou condemn His Actions who is most powerfull as well as just and therefore need not serve himself by any wrongfull dealing 18. Is it fit to say to a king Thou art wicked and to princes Ye are ungodly 18. There is no King on Earth but looks upon it as a great and unsufferable reproach to be called a Tyrant nor will inferiour Rulers endure you should say that they have no regard to Equity 19. How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes nor regardeth the rich more then the poor for they all are the work of his hands 19. Shall we impute then any such thing to Him before whom a Prince or a Rich man is no more then the meanest and poorest persons who shall have the same Justice from Him with the greatest because they are all alike the work of his Hands 20. In a moment shall they die and the people shall be troubled at midnight and pass away and the mighty shall be taken away without hand 20. How should He stand in awe of the Power of Kings or be bribed with the Gifts of the rich who can strike them all dead in a moment Whole Nations tremble before Him and in their deepest security are destroyed He needs not the help of any force on earth to put down a mighty Tyrant but invisible powers carry him away 21. For his eyes are upon the ways of man and he seeth all his goings 21. For there is no one passage of man's Life but He is acquainted with it and therefore cannot be suspected through Ignorance of their actions no more then through fear of their persons to overlook their Crimes or to doe them any Injustice 22. There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves 22. They may seek to hide their Wickedness when they have committed it and may make Excuses and subtle Pretences But they cannot cast a mist before His eyes who sees into the thickest Darkness and the deepest Secrets 23. For he will not lay upon man more then right that he should enter into judgment with God 23. And therefore as He will never charge man with that of which he is not guilty so when He calls him to an account He will not delay nor put off his Judgment to hear what man can say for himself 24. He shall break in pieces mighty men without number and set others in their stead 24. For He needs not be informed how matters stand and therefore breaks in pieces Mighty men without inquiry or examination of witnesses against them and confers their Dignity upon others 25. Therefore he knoweth their works and he overturneth them in the night so that they are destroyed 25. And by this means shews that He knows their works when He so suddenly overturns them that they are crushed in pieces 26. He striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of others 26. He punishes them as men that in his eyes are apparently wicked and therefore makes them publick Examples for the terrour of their neighbours 27. Because they turned back from him and would not consider any of his ways 27. Because they would not follow his Counsels nor regard any of his Commands 28. So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him and he heareth the cry of the afflicted 28. But went on in their Oppression of the Poor till they cried to Heaven for Vengeance upon them and the Cry of such afflicted people God never fails to answer 29. When he giveth quietness who then can make trouble and when he hideth his face who then can behold him whether it be done against a nation or against a man onely 29. And if He will grant such poor wretches rest and ease who can disturb them or if He be angry with their Oppressour who can shew him favour which is as true
of whole Nations as of one single person 30. That the hypocrite reign not lest the people be ensnared 30. He will not let the wicked Tyrant reign alway though he pretend Piety and the publick Good never so much lest the people should be ensnared into sin by his Example 31. Surely it is meet to be said unto God I have born chastisement I will not offend any more 31. Wherefore it is best for an afflicted person not to complain but to suspect himself though he be never so good and presently to say to God I confess this Suffering is just I will not offend by pleading my Innocence 32. That which I see not teach thou me If I have done iniquity I will do no more 32. If I have overlook'd any thing that I should have observed do thou shew it me if I have committed any Fault I will take care to doe so no more 33. Should it be according to thy mind he will recompense it whether thou refuse or whether thou chuse and not I therefore speak what thou knowest 33. Hast thou addressed thy self to God in this manner Answer that question for God will recompense it if thou dost despise such good Counsel which perhaps thou wilt chuse to doe but so would not I. Speak therefore what thy opinion is 34. Let men of understanding tell me and let a wise man hearken unto me 34. Or let any understanding person tell us what is their opinion for such as I said before would I have to judge between us 35. Job hath spoken without knowledge and his words were without wisedom 35. Job seems to me to be very much mistaken and his Discourses to be inconsiderate and without reason 36. My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because of his answers for wicked men 36. And therefore I am so far from wishing he may be presently released from his Afflictions that I take it to be more desirable he should be still tried and proved by them till he recant the Answers in which he hath complained of Divine Providence after the manner of wicked men 37. For he addeth rebellion unto his sin he clappeth his hands amongst us and multiplieth his words against God 37. For otherwise he will adde greater Offences to those lesser he hath already committed he will defend what he hath inconsiderately spoken nay triumph as if he had gotten the better of us and in stead of making the Confession to which I have exhorted him continue to multiply his Complaints against God CHAP. XXXV ARGUMENT Job still keeps silence notwithstanding that Elihu had made the harshest construction of his words because he was sensible he meant him well and had now in the conclusion of his Discourse given him very wholsom Counsell and allowing his Integrity had onely charg'd him with some unhappy Expressions which had faln from him when he was in great anguish of spirit Which I suppose was the reason he doth not contradict him though he continue here in this Chapter to fasten the very same harsh sense upon his words v. 2 3. Which he refutes from the consideration of the infinite disproportion there is between Man and God who is never the worse indeed for any Evil nor at all the better for any Good that we doe and yet hath such a Love to Mankind that it is certain He would not have them miserable but takes care for their relief when they are oppressed if they address themselves as they ought to Him 1. ELIHV spake moreover and said 1. TO this Job making no Answer Elihu pressed him again and said 2. Thinkest thou this to be right that thou saidst My righteousness is more then Gods 2. Let me appeal to thy own Conscience Dost thou think this to be right that thou said'st God is not so righteous as I am 3. For thou saidst What advantage will it be unto thee and What profit shall I have if I be cleansed from my sin 3. What else could be thy meaning when thou utteredst such words as these What doth God care whether I be innocent or no or what benefit shall I have by it if I be 4. I will answer thee and thy companions with thee 4. I will answer thee and such as thou art in a few words 5. Look unto the heavens and see and behold the clouds which are higher then thou 5. Cast up thine eyes to the Heavens look upon the Clouds and the Sky and consider that as high as they are they are not so much above thee as God is above them 6. If thou sinnest what doest thou against him or if thy transgressions be multiplied what doest thou unto him 6. And therefore it is true that He is never the worse for the Sins which thou hast committed nor will be the worse though thou shouldst proceed to commit more and greater 7. If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand 7. And that He is never the better for thy being Righteous which can conferr nothing upon Him which He hath not already nor adde any thing to his Greatness 8. Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art and thy righteousness may profit the son of man 8. But thou shouldst not conclude from thence that it is all one whether a man be good or bad For thy Wickedness will prove hurtfull to thy self and to the rest of mankind and thy Righteousness will doe thee and them great service 9. By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty 9. The cries of the Oppressed tell us what mischief Injustice doeth and how miserable it makes them The tyranny of the mighty forces them to cry aloud to God for Vengeance who though He be not hurt himself by it is touched with a sense of their Affliction 10. But none saith Where is God my maker who giveth songs in the night 10. The greatest mischief is that not one of these miserable Wretches inquires seriously after God who gave him his being and is able therefore not onely to relieve him but to comfort yea to fill him with Joy in the midst of the saddest Affliction 11. Who teacheth us more then the beasts of the earth and maketh us wiser then the fowls of heaven 11. Having indued us with Reason and Wisedom to consider that He who takes care of the Beasts and the Birds will not neglect us if we do not merely cry and groan under our Oppressions as those brute Creatures do but with hearty Repentance and a thankfull sense of his Benefits and humble Confidence in his Goodness piously address our selves unto Him 12. There they cry but none giveth answer because of the pride of evil men 12. This is the reason that God doth not deliver them because they lie crying indeed under their Affliction
which in all make two hundred and ten But it is not worth our while to trouble our selves with such uncertainties much less is it safe to rely upon any thing which is supported by no stronger Authority then the Hebrew Tradition The vanity of which appears most notoriously in this that Manasseh Ben Israel saith * Lib. 1. de Resurrect Cap. ult it is evidently certain by Tradition that the Mahometans at this day pay a great reverence to this holy man's Sepulchre and honour it at Constantinople with much religion and devotion when all men that have any considerable acquaintance with other Authours besides those of their own Nation upon which the Hebrews dote may easily know that the Job whom the Turks honour was a Captain of the Saracens who was slain when they besieged that City in the year of Christ 675. It will be to better purpose if I take notice of an observation of theirs which hath more certainty in it because clearly founded upon the Holy Scriptures Which is that Job was a Prophet among the Gentiles and a Prophet of very eminent quality and degree Who deserved to have been at least mentioned by Josephus in his Book of Antiquities where he hath not vouchsafed to Name him nay to have been praised by the Son of Sirach in his Catalogue of famous men XLIV Ecclus c. who were honoured in their Generations and were the glory of their Times But according to the humour of the Jews he magnifies onely those of their own Country or such from whom they were directly descended not considering how much it was for their honour that by the care of their noble Ancestours the History of Job and his excellent Vertues had been preserved Which he ought not therefore to have omitted but to have celebrated him among the chief of those Worthy persons by whom God wrought great glory such as did bear rule in their Kingdoms men renowned for their power giving counsel by their understanding and declaring prophecies c. XLIV Ecclus 2 3. Nay his Friends deserved a short remembrance who seem nothing inferiour to the Wise men among the Jews though they mistook in the application of many excellent Truths but are acknowledged by themselves to have been Prophets among the Gentiles And not without reason for Eliphaz we reade IV. 13 c. had Night-visions an Apparition of an Angel and secret Whispers like the still small Voice which Elijah heard 1 Kings XIX 12. which made R. Sol. Jarchi not fear to say that the Shechinah was upon him And Elihu it is easy to discern felt a Divine Power working in him mightily XXXII 8 18 19. which was not altogether a stranger he shews XXXIII 15 16. to other men whom God in those days instructed by Dreams among other ways that he had of communicating his mind to them But there was none equal to that wherein He made Himself known to Job who in three things seems to have had the preeminence above all the Gentile Prophets First In that God was pleased to speak to him aloud by a Voice from Heaven XXXVIII 1. which the Jews call the Bath Col and not merely in such silent Whispers as He did to Eliphaz Secondly That this Voice was attended with a notable token of a Divine Presence from whence it came viz. a Whirlwind which I take to have been something like that sound as of a rushing mighty wind wherein the Holy Ghost came upon the day of Pentecost And Lastly He saw likewise in all probability the appearance of some Visible Majesty XLII 5. suppose in a glorious Cloud as the LXX seem to understand it XXXVIII 1. or something like that which Moses beheld in the Bush when God first called unto him out of the midst of it III. Ex. 4. Which need not at all puzzle our belief when we consider that the Church in those days was Catholique and not as yet confined to any one Family or Nation God was pleased indeed to shew an extraordinary grace to Abraham in calling him out of his own Country and Father's House where Idolatry had taken a deep root and had been long growing without any hope of amendment For if we may give any credit to Kessaeus a Mahometan writer or to Elmacinus a Christian they were infected with it in the days of Heber who stoutly opposed it but with so little effect that though God sent a whirlwind which threw down all their Idols and broke them in pieces that false worship still prevailed But this doth not warrant us to imagine that God utterly rejected and neglected all other people to whom He revealed Himself in a very familiar manner and gave many demonstrations of his Divine Presence among them till they corrupted their ways by such abominable Idolatries that they became altogether unprofitable and unfit for the society of that Holy Spirit which oft times moved them Even among the Canaanites into whose Country God led Abraham we find Melchisedeck was then a Priest of the most high God a greater person then that Prophet and the Minister of that Oracle some fancy which Rebekah went to consult when she felt the Twins struggling in her Womb XXV Gen. 22. To whom I might adde several others if I had a mind to prolong this discourse And though the Book before mentioned Sedar Olam Rabba Chap. 21. is pleased to say that the Holy Ghost ceased to inspire men of any other Nation after the giving of the Law yet it is easy to shew that therein it contradicts even their own affirmation elsewhere which is grounded on good reason that Balaam was a Prophet divinely moved among the Syrians in Mesopotamia He was a man indeed of naughty affections and inclined to Superstition but still had many illuminations and motions from the most High as appears not onely by his predictions but by the express words of Moses who says the Spirit of God came upon him XXIV Num. 2. To which if I should adde his own testimony concerning himself that he heard the words of God and saw the vision of the Almighty and that in an extraordinary manner having his eyes open in his ecstasy I see no reason why it should be rejected especially since he declared at the first when the Princes of Midian importuned him to goe with them that he would be wholly guided by the LORD in the buisiness and when he was come to Balack constantly went to meet the LORD to ask Him what he should say and professed his care to speak what the LORD had put in his mouth XXII 8. XXIII 3 12 15 c. These considerations to which many more might be added are sufficient to shew that there is little if any ground for the opinion of Theodoret who resolves * Quaest 39. in Num. that Balaam did not enquire of the True God though the answer was given by him of whom he was ignorant not by him whom he invoked and that the conclusion of S. Basil
more All the flaw in his Discourse is this which was common to him with the rest that he imagined God never varied from this method and therefore Job without doubt was a very bad man though it did not appear he was any other way but by his Infelicity fol. 114 115 CHAP. XXI ARGUMENT To bring the Dispute to a speedier issue Job after a short preface reproving their Incivility comes close to the buisiness and doth not content himself merely with denying what they had said but shews them where the fallacy in their Discourse lay viz. in concluding an Vniversal from some Particulars For he maintains from as good History and Observations as they could produce that though God do make some Wicked men such examples of his Vengeance as they had said yet He lets others and they of the vilest sort Atheists and Deriders of Divine Providence live prosperously and die peaceably and have stately Monuments built to perpetuate their Memory In brief he shews there is great variety in God's proceedings about the Punishment of the Wicked which makes them so bold as they are in their Impiety And seems to have respect to the History of Ishmael who was a wild or barbarous man grasping at all he could lay his hands on and persecuting Isaac and yet had XII Princes descended from him settled in their several Fortresses as we reade XVI Gen. 12. XVII 20. XXV 16. And it is possible to the History of Eliphaz his own Country Esau his Ancestour being very rich XXXVI Gen. 6 7. and having many Dukes whose posterity afterward advanced themselves to the title of Kings that sprang from him before there was any King over the Children of Israel XXXVI Gen. 15 31. fol. 122 123 CHAP. XXII ARGUMENT Though Job had clearly stated the Controversy in the foregoing Chapter yet Eliphaz would not yield but begins the Combate a third time without any ground at all but a pure mistake as I have expressed it in the first verse And to avoid the Reproof which had been given him of repeating merely the same things he now brings in a catalogue though without any proof so much was his anger and bitterness increased of the particular Sins both against God and against his Neighbour of which he supposes Job to have been guilty Else he still boldly concludes God would not have punished him with such severity that there was not a greater instance of his Indignation to be found any-where unless it was in the Old World and in Sodom Yet he hath so much Moderation that be invites him at last to Repentance and promises him the happy fruit of it as he had done in his first Speech but not in his second Nay he tells him in conclusion for his incouragement that he should be able to doe as much for a Nation as Ten righteous men could they have been found there might have done for Sodom fol. 131 132 CHAP. XXIII ARGUMENT To the foregoing Discourse of Eliphaz Job thought at first to make no Answer but onely by complaints of their Injustice and fresh Appeals to God by whom he desires more earnestly then ever to be tried being assured that He would acquit him And though for the present God was not pleased to give him andience of which he complains with too much passion yet he maintains that hope which began to appear in his Soul in his last Discourse with Bildad Chap. XIX that God would at last clear him from all the Aspersions which were cast upon him fol. 140 CHAP. XXIV ARGUMENT Vpon farther consideration Job thought good again to confute their rash Assertion about the Plagues which always befall the Wicked by an Induction of particulars that prove the contrary Among which the wild Arabs he tells them are a notorious instance whose profession is Rapine and yet they thrive and prosper in it v. 5 c. And so do the more civiliz'd Oppressours of whom he says something before and again v. 11 12. Where he seems to reflect upon hard Landlords and griping Merchants and Traffiquers in cities To whom he adds Murtherers Adulterers Pirates with several other wicked Villains in the conclusion of the Chapter who notwithstanding die like other men and are not called to an account for their enormous Crimes in this present World fol. 144 CHAP. XXV ARGUMENT The foregoing Discourse of Job in the XXIV Chapter was so undeniable that Bildad begins to break off the Dispute For he says not a word to it but onely advises him to speak more reverently of the Majesty of God then he imagined he had done in his appeal to him Chap. XXIII fol. 152 CHAP. XXVI ARGUMENT Job hearing Bildad wander so far from the buisiness derides his grave affectation of Wisedom and tells him that though he talk'd as if he thought himself fit to be a Coadjutour to God Almighty yet as his Discourse was impertinent so it was but mean and flat in comparison with what he was able to speak himself concerning the Omnipotent Wisedom of God which he sets forth in a far more lively manner fol. 154 CHAP. XXVII ARGUMENT As Bildad began to decline the Dispute so Zophar quite gives it over either looking upon Job as incurably obstinate or as we might more charitably conceive were it not for what we reade XXXII 1. being convinced he had more reason on his side Whose silence so raised the spirit of Job that he now triumphs over his Opponents as the word MASHAL which we render PARABLE may denote For it signifies among the Hebrews an elegant ingenious kind of speech excelling and as it were domineering over all other in its pithiness or neatness or some other rare quality Such is the following Discourse of Job which begins in this Chapter with a vehement Protestation that he would never desert his Plea nor yield to their Doctrine that a remarkable Vengeance always attends upon Wickedness in this world though he grants and largely here asserts that sometimes there doth fol. 158 159 CHAP. XXVIII ARGUMENT The Connexion of this Chapter with the foregoing I hope I have truly expressed in the first verse And that being found it is not difficult to see at what it drives viz. to stop the buisy Enquirie of mankind who are very wise he shews in other things but have not wit enough to comprehend the reasons why God doth not inflict those Punishments upon all Wicked men which fall upon some It is not needfull to set down here how this Argument is managed with such admirable elegance of words and such weightiness of matter as make it deserve the name of Mashal Parable or Proverb because it will sufficiently appear in the Paraphrase fol. 165 CHAP. XXIX ARGUMENT To such Discourses as these Job presumes his Friends would have given greater attention then it seems they did had not the Vileness of his present condition made his Speeches also contemptible And therefore he puts them in mind with what reverence all his Orations were formerly received
by great and small wishing God would restore to him those happy days and inserting all along some remarkable instances of his Integrity especially as a Judge in the height of his Princely Prosperity When he had an uncontrollable Power to doe as he pleased and yet never abused it but imployed it constantly for the defence and comfort of the meanest people in his Province fol. 173 CHAP. XXX ARGUMENT From the foregoing account of his ancient Splendour he takes occasion to annex a no-less elegant description of the Vileness of his present condition Hoping that the consideration of such a prodigious Change which he represents in several particulars and not without some touches still upon his Integrity might at last move his hard-hearted Friends to some compassion towards him especially when they saw how near he was to his Grave notwithstanding all his Prayers to God for relief fol. 180 CHAP. XXXI ARGUMENT It was possible his Friends might make quite another use then Job intended of the relation he had made of his miserable Condition in the Chapter foregoing and therefore lest it should harden them in their old Errour and they should take what he had said to be an argument of his Guilt He gives in this Chapter a large and particular account of his Integrity which in general he had so often asserted laying his very soul and the most secret Inclinations of it open before them together with the Actions of his whole life in his pripate capacity for of his vublick he had spoken before Chap. XXIX both in respect of his Neighbours of all sorts and in respect of God To whom he again most solemnly appeals in the conclusion of his Discourse that he did not boast of more Vertues then he had but would most gladly be tried before him by some impartial Judge I need not here enumerate his Vertues because they are plainly and distincily expressed in the Paraphrase and I do not pretend to give the intire contents but the design onely of each Chapter fol. 188 CHAP. XXXII ARGUMENT It appears by the 15. verse of this Chapter that there were several other persons present besides those that are named when this Dispute was held between Job and his three Friends Among whom there was a young man named Elihu who was either a Syrian in which language this Book was first written and translated by Moses into Hebrew says the Authour of the Commentaries under Origen's name descended from the second Son of Nahor Abraham's Brother XXII Gen. 21. or an Idumaean of the same Country with Eliphaz the Temanite XXV Jer. 23. I have made him a Syrian in my Paraphrase because he is said to be of the kindred of Ram by whom we are to understand either Aram or as the Hebrews think Abraham by whom such Wisedom and Piety might be promoted in his Brother's Family as is apparent in Elihu Who though much inferiour to the rest in years for which reason he had held his peace thus long yet was much superiour to them in Knowledge Which he discovers in the judicious Censures he here passes not onely upon the three Friends but upon Job himself whom he hath nothing to charge with all relating to any Crime committed before this Affliction befell him but thinks be had not managed the Dispute about it with so much Calmness and Submission to God as became his Piety In this he differs from those that spake before him For I do not find that he blames him for any Miscarriages but those onely which he observed in the heat of his Disputation and he spends his time rather in justifying God then in carping at Job as the other had done fol. 198 199 CHAP. XXXIII ARGUMENT Here Elihu addresses his Speech to Job alone for he rejected all that the three Friends had said as sufficiently confuted by Job in his Dispute with them and tells him first that he was the man who would now plead with him in God's behalf as he had oft desired and that he was no unequal match for him And then begins to reprehend those passages which he thought were blameable in Job's Speeches particularly his insisting so much upon his Integrity which though true should not have been mentioned without due acknowledgment that the Sovereign of the World had done him no wrong in thus afflicting him and that it was not fit for him to question the Wisedom and Justice of God's Providence because he did not understand it For the care of God over Man and his kindness to him he shews is so apparent upon so many scores that it ought not to be denied because of the unaccountable Afflictions that may befall us which we ought rather to think are one of the ways whereby He doth Man good fol. 205 CHAP. XXXIV ARGUMENT Here Job shews himself a far more humble and teachable person then his three Friends for though Elihu had invited him to make what exceptions he pleased to his Discourse in the former Chapter he would not open his mouth because he plainly saw that Elihu had hit upon the thing wherein he was defective And so this young man proceeds to carry the Charge a little higher and tells him with more sharpness then before that there were some words in his Discourses which sounded in his ears as if he accused God's Justice and Goodness For what else did he mean when he complained that God did not doe him right and that he destroyed alike both good and bad Which rash Assertions he overthrows from the consideration of the Sovereign Dominion Power Righteousness and Wisedom of God and represents to him what behaviour and discourse would have better become him then that which he had used fo 214 CHAP. XXXV ARGUMENT Job still keeps silence notwithstanding that Elihu had made the harshest construction of his words because he was sensible he meant him well and had now in the conclusion of his Discourse given him very wholsom Counsel and allowing his Integrity had onely charg'd him with some unhappy Expressions which had faln from him when he was in great anguish of spirit Which I suppose was the reason he doth not contradict him though he continue here in this Chapter to fasten the very same harsh sense upon his words v. 2 3. Which he refutes from the consideration of the infinite disproportion there is between Man and God who is never the worse indeed for any Evil nor at all the better for any good that we doe and yet hath such a Love to Mankind that it is certain He would not have them miserable but takes care for their relief when they are oppressed if they address themselves as they ought to Him fol. 224. CHAP. XXXVI ARGUMENT Having reprehended some of the unwarrantable Expressions in Job's Discourses which he himself would not justify Elihu comes closer to the buisiness and speaks to the very Cause it self Shewing from the Nature of God and the Methods of his Providence that if Job had in stead