My brethren have dealt deceitfully— Bishop Lowth observes, that though the metaphor from overflowing waters is very frequent in other sacred writers, yet the author of the book of Job never touches upon it but once or twice throughout the whole poem, and that very slightly, though the subject afforded him frequent opportunities to do so. Indeed, says he, a different face of nature presented itself to him, whoever he was, if, according to the opinion of several learned men, the book was written in some part of Arabia; an opinion rendered more probable by that remarkable comparison in which Job likens his three friends to a deceitful torrent, which is manifestly taken from the dry and sandy places of Arabia, and adorned with many images peculiar to that country.

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