Job 34:18

Job 34:18 [Is it fit] to say to a king, [Thou art] wicked? [and] to princes, [Ye are] ungodly?

Ver. 18. Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked?] Heb. Belial; that is, Thou yokeless, lawless, masterless monster. Kings are not wont to be so accosted and aviled, nor is it lawful, Exodus 22:28. It is blasphemy in the second table to speak evil of dignities, Judges 1:8, Qui dicit regi Apostata (Vulg.). It was some disadvantage to St Paul that, although provoked and unjustly smitten, he called the high priest whited wall, Acts 23:3; he was glad to excuse it by his ignorance. And Luther cried our Henry VIII mercy, for his uncivil language to him, such as was that, Audi, Domine Rex, edocebo te, in a jeer. Henry VI indeed was coarsely handled in a tumult, and wounded, but then he was at in bad times; and being restored, he freely pardoned the offender, saying, Alas, poor soul, he struck me more to win favour with others than of any ill will he bare me: but this was a rare example of patience in a king (Dan. Hist.). Alexander the Great dealt more harshly with his friends, Clitus and Callisthenes, for their plain dealing. Tiberius put to death a poet for uttering some free words against him, though under the person of Agamemnon, quem in tragoedia probris lacessisset (Sen.). Savonarola suffered deeply for telling the pope his own. And Bajazet II took great revenge upon his janizaries, a who, for his casting Achmetes Bassa into prison, they in an uproar insolently cried out that they would by and by teach him, as a drunkard, a beast, and a rascal, to use his great place and calling with more sobriety and discretion. Kings must be spoken to with soft and silken words, as she said, η ηκιστα, η ηδιστα (Plut.). If Elijah, or Elisha, or Isaiah, or the Baptist do otherwise, that is not a copy for every man to write after. Is it safe to take a lion by the beard, or a bear by the tooth? Naboth suffered, though falsely accused to curse the king; and Shimei had at length his payment for reviling David. If Ezekiel called the king of Judah, Thou wicked and profane prince, Ezekiel 21:25, that was by an extraordinary spirit, and by a special command of God.

And to princes, Ye are ungodly?] Ingenuis. These, as they must not be flattered, so neither may they be unmannerly advertised of their duty or danger. It is probable that Joseph used some kind of preface to Pharaoh's chief baker in reading him that hard destiny, Genesis 40:19, such haply as was that of Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar, Job 4:19, "My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee," &c.; or as Philo brings him in with a Utinam tale somnium non vidisses, I wish I had no such dream to interpret unto you. But for the matter he giveth him a sound, though a sharp interpretation.

a One of a former body of Turkish infantry, constituting the Sultan's guard and the main part of the standing army. The body was first organized in the 14th century, and was composed mainly of tributary children of Christians; after a large number of them had been massacred in 1826, the organization was finally abolished.