_JOB MAKES A SOLEMN PROTESTATION OF HIS INTEGRITY, AND CONCLUDES WITH
A PRAYER THAT HIS DEFENCE MIGHT BE HEARD AND RECORDED._
_Before Christ 1645._
_JOB 31:1. WHY THEN SHOULD I THINK UPON A MAID?_— This has been
generally understood to mean the great care and circumspection which
Job had used to a... [ Continue Reading ]
IF I HAVE WALKED WITH VANITY— _If I have followed after a lie, or my
foot hath hastened to fraud._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MINE HEART WALKED AFTER MINE EYES— The expression is strong and
beautiful. The meaning of this latter clause is, "If my eyes have
seduced my heart, or any corruption have defiled my hands.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN LET MY WIFE GRIND UNTO ANOTHER— _May my wife be defiled by
another._... [ Continue Reading ]
IF I DID DESPISE, &C.— See on chap. Job 19:25. The 14th verse should
be rendered in the future, agreeably to the Hebrew; _what shall I do,
when God shall arise; and when he shall visit, what shall I answer
him?_ Job here plainly speaks of something which he was infallibly to
expect, had he behaved u... [ Continue Reading ]
OR HAVE EATEN MY MORSEL MYSELF ALONE— This is agreeable to the early
ideas of hospitality, and is as strong an expression of benevolence as
can be conceived. The Arabs practise it to this very day in its
greatest extent. On a journey, after they have prepared their food,
they go to the highest groun... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR FROM MY YOUTH, &C.— Houbigant renders this most beautifully: how
far it may be agreeable to the Hebrew, I take not upon me to
determine. _For compassion educated me from a child; she brought me
up, even from my mother's womb._ Heath reads the passage thus; _If
from his youth I brought him not up... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN I SAW MY HELP IN THE GATE— _When I saw myself superior in the
gate._ Houbigant. That is, superior in authority, sufficient to
influence those judges, whose usual place of hearing causes was in the
gates of cities, as we have often had occasion to observe.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN LET MINE ARM FALL FROM MY SHOULDER-BLADE— _May my
shoulder-blade fall from my shoulder, and my arm be broken from my
elbow._ Heath and Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS ALSO WERE AN INIQUITY TO BE PUNISHED BY THE JUDGE— The Hebrew
of this passage is only two words, פלילי עון _avon pelili,_
which Schultens renders _iniquitas arbitratoria;_ meaning, as he
explains it, such an iniquity as any one must judge to be so; and he
confirms his interpretation by the use... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THE MEN OF MY TABERNACLE SAID NOT— _If the men of my dwelling had
not said, Who can shew the man who hath not filled himself with his
victuals?_ Heath and Schultens.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF I COVERED MY TRANSGRESSIONS AS ADAM— This passage contains an
allusion to one circumstance in the history of the fall. Among the
particulars wherein Job vindicates his integrity, one is, that he was
ever ready to acknowledge his errors. The allusion to Adam's hiding
himself is proper and apposite... [ Continue Reading ]
DID I FEAR A GREAT MULTITUDE— _Then may I be afraid of the great
multitude, and may the contempt of kindred terrify me. May I even be
silent, and not go out of my door._ Heath.... [ Continue Reading ]
OH THAT ONE WOULD HEAR ME, &C.— The clause, _behold, my desire is,_
&c. might be better rendered, _Lo, here my sign or pledge, let the
Almighty question me:_ for the Hebrew word signifies, equally, _let
him answer me,_ or _let him make me to answer._ Job here, as in other
places, shews a great earne... [ Continue Reading ]