A.—Eliphaz: God’s punitive justice is revealed only against evil-doers
Job 15
1. Recital in the way of rebuke of all in Job’s discourses that is perverted, and that bears testimony against his innocence:
Job_15:1-19
1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge,
and fill his belly with the East wind?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk?
or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
4 Yea, thou castest off fear,
and restrainest prayer before God.
5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity,
and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I:
yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
7 Art thou the first man that was born?
or wast thou made before the hills?
8 Hast thou heard the secret of God?
and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
9 What knowest thou that we know not?
what understandest thou, which is not in us?
10 With us are both the gray-headed and very aged men,
much elder than thy father.
11 Are the consolations of God small with thee?
is there any secret thing with thee?
12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away,
and what do thy eyes wink at,
13 that thou turnest thy spirit against God,
and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
14 What is man, that he should be clean?
and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15 Behold He putteth no trust in His saints;
yea, the heavens are not clean in His sight.
16 How much more abominable and filthy is man,
which drinketh iniquity like water?
17 I will show thee, hear me;
and that which I have seen I will declare;
18 which wise men have told—
from their fathers—and have not hid it:
19 unto whom alone the earth was given,
and no stranger passed among them.
2. A didactic admonition on the subject of the retributive justice of God in the destiny of the ungodly
Job_15:20-35
20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days,
and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
21 A dreadful sound is in his ears:
in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness,
and he is waited for of the sword.
23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it?
he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid;
they shall prevail against him as a king ready to the battle.
25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God,
and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty:
26 he runneth upon him, even on his neck,
upon the thick bosses of his bucklers;
27 because he covereth his face with his fatness,
and maketh collops of fat on his flanks:
28 and he dwelleth in desolate cities,
and in houses which no man inhabiteth,
which are ready to become heaps.
29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue,
neither, shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
30 He shall not depart out of darkness;
the flame shall dry up his branches,
and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity,
for vanity shall be his recompense.
32 It shall be accomplished before his time,
and his branch shall not be green.
33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine,
and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate,
and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity,
and their belly prepareth deceit.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
This second discourse of Eliphaz is again the longest of the attacks made on Job by his three opponents in this second series or act. Not only by its length, but also by its confident, impassioned tone, it gives evidence of being a deliverance of opinion by the oldest and most distinguished of the three, in short by their leader. Apart from certain indications of increased violence, however, it adds nothing at all that is new to that which had been previously maintained by Eliphaz against Job. Its first principal division (Job_15:2-19) subjects that which was erroneous in Job’s discourses to the same rigid criticism and censure, which culminates in a renewed and more emphatic application to Job of the doctrine advocated in the former discourse, of the impurity of all before God (Job_15:14-19; comp. Job_4:17 seq.). The second division (Job_15:20-35) is occupied with a prolonged dissertation on the destiny of the ungodly, as an example repeating itself in accordance with God’s righteous decree, and full of warning for Job. The first division comprises three strophes of five verses each, together with a shorter group of three verses (Job_15:17-19), which forms the transition to the following division. The latter consists of three strophes, of which the middle one numbers six verses, the first and last each five.
2. First Division: Censuring the perversity of Job in his discourses, and pointing out the evidences which they gave of his guilt; Job_15:2-19.
First Strophe: Introduction [Job’s discourses disprove his wisdom, injure religion, and testify against himself] Job_15:2-6.
Job_15:2. Doth a wise man utter [or, answer with] windy knowledge?—[Eliphaz begins each one of his three discourses with a question]. Job had clearly enough set himself forth as a Wise Man, Job_12:3; Job_13:2. Hence this ironical contrast between this self-praise and the “windy” nature (comp. Job_8:2; Job_16:3) of that which he really knew.—And fill his breast [sein Inneres, his inward parts] with the stormy East wind?—So Delitzsch, whose translation is to be preferred on the score of taste to the more common and literal version: “and fill his belly with the East wind?” even if we grant that
áֶּèֶï
is not, without further qualification, synonymous with
ìֵá
, and consequently not to be taken as a mere designation of the “thinking inner part” of man (although in favor of this application of it, as maintained by Delitzsch, we might cite, if not Job_15:35 of this chapter, at least Job_32:18 seq.). In any case
÷ָãִéí
, “East wind,” is here (as well as in Hos_12:2 [1] a stronger synonym of
øåּçַ
, “wind,” and so describes the violence, or the ceaseless noisy bluster and roar of Job’s discourses; and the “belly,” or the inward part, which must take into itself such discourses and labor for their refutation, appears as though it were a sail, or tent-canvas inflated by a heavy storm!
Job_15:3. An explanatory clause subordinate to the preceding interrogative clause:—Arguing with speech which availeth nought, and with words by which one can do no good.—The Inf. Absol.
äåֹëֵçַ
can be taken neither as an interrogative finite verb (Hirzel, Renan: se defend il-par des vaines paroles? [“for though the Inf. Absol. is so used in a historical clause (Job_15:35) it is not in interrogative.” Del.]), nor as the subject (Ewald: “to reprove with words profiteth not,” etc.—as if this useless striving with words were opposed to a more efficient contention by the use of facts) [which yields indeed, as Dillmann remarks, a good meaning, to wit, that mere words availed nothing for self-justification, when opposed by facts, as e. g. the fact of his suffering, which was presumptive evidence against him. But such a contrast is not expressed. The
àַó
of Job_15:4 does not at all express it]. Rather is it joined to the preceding finite verbs in the sense of an ablative gerund (redarguendo s. disputando); comp. Ewald, § 280, a.
Job_15:4. Yea more, thou [thyself] dost make void the fear of God.
àַó
, a strong copula, adding a new and more serious charge, like the phrase “over and above;” comp. Job_14:3. [
àַúָּä
, emphatic—“even thou,” who dost fancy thyself to be called on to remind us of the fear of God, Job_13:9 seq.]
éִøְàָä
, absolute, as in Job_4:6;
äֵôֵø
, “to remove, make void,” as in Job_5:12 [lit. to break, destroy; Rodwell: “thou dost break down piety”].—And diminishest (devout) meditation before God—
ùִׂéçָä ìִôְðֵéÎàֵì
, according to Psa_102:1; Psa_119:97; Psa_119:99, the same with “devotion, pious prayerful reflection” [should not therefore be rendered “prayer,” although prayer is a prominent element in it. It includes the whole meditative side of piety, that over which a sanctified sentiment rules, as
éøàä
includes the practical side, over which conscience rules. Eliphaz charges therefore that the tendency of Job’s speech and conduct is to undermine piety in its most important strongholds, to injure it in its most vital points.—E.]. In regard to the form
ùִׂéçָä
[with feminine ending] see Job_3:4.—
âָּøַò
, detrahere, to derogate from, to prejudice [Fürst: to weaken, to lessen]; comp. below Job_15:8, where it conveys more the sense of “drawing to one’s-self” [reserving, attrahere], and Job_36:7, where it means “withdrawing.”
Job_15:5. For thy transgression teaches thy mouth: i. e., thou allowest thyself to be wholly influenced in what thou sayest by thy sin, thou showest thyself, even in thy words, to be entirely ruled by it. So correctly the Vulg., Raschi, Luther, Dillm. [Ewald, Schlottm.], for the probability is in favor of
òֲåֹðְêָ
, which stands first, being the subject of the sentence. Moreover, the rendering which has latterly become current (since Rosenm., Umbreit, Hirzel, etc.): “thy mouth teaches, i. e., exposes [E. V. ‘uttereth’] thine iniquity,” is at variance with the usual sense of
àִìֵּó
, which signifies “to teach, to instruct,” not “to show, to declare.” [To which Schlottmann adds that this rendering secures a better connection between the first and second members of the verse. It exhibits to us “in a manner alike original and suitable, the internal motive from which Job’s presumptuous and still crafty discourses proceed”].—And thou choosest the speech [lit. the tongue] of the crafty: (
òֲøåּîִéí
essentially as in Job_5:12) i. e., thou doest as crafty offenders do, who, when accused, hypocritically set themselves forth as innocent, and indeed even take the offensive against their accusers, (as Job did in Job_13:4 seq.). [“The perverse heart teaches the guilty man presumptuously to assail God, and at the same time so to arrange his words that in appearance he is filled with the greatest zeal for the piety which he really undermines.” Schlott.] The rendering of Rosenm., Hirzel [Noyes, Conant, Carey], etc.” “while thou (although thou) choosest, etc.” is less satisfactory, and goes with the rendering of the first member, which is controverted above.
Job_15:6. Thy mouth condemns thee (see Job_9:20) and not I, and thy lips testify against thee.—The mouth is here personified as a judge pronouncing an unfavorable decision, declaring one guilty, while at the same time the lips figure as witnesses, or accusers (
òָðָä áְּ
, a vox forensis; for the masc.
éַòֲðåּ áָêְ
after the fem.
ùְׂôָúֶéּêָ
comp. Pro_5:2; Pro_26:23). Comp. still further the New Testament parallel passage, Mat_12:37. [“These words, according to Eliphaz’s meaning, place Job’s guilt not merely in his words, but rather set forth these as confirming the sinful actions, which he is assumed to have committed on account of the sufferings which have been appointed for him.” Schlott.].
Second Strophe: Job_15:7-11. [Ironical questioning in regard to the extraordinary superiority which Job’s conduct implied that he arrogated to himself].
Job_15:7. Wast thou born as the first man? (
øִàùׁåֹï
[
øְéִùׁåֹï××
is the original form, which appears again in Jos_21:10, and is retained by the Samaritans;
øִàùׁåֹï
, instead of which we have in Job_8:8
øִéùׁåֹï
, which has passed into general use, and is hence chosen by the K’ri.” Dillm.] in the constr. st. followed by the collective
àָãָí
; hence lit. “as first of men.—Delitzsch takes
àָãָí
as predicate nominative: “wast thou as the first one born as a man?” a rendering which is altogether too artificial. The question presupposes that the first-created man, by virtue of his having proceeded immediately from God’s hand, possessed the deepest insight into the mysteries of the Divine process of creation. Comp. the Adam Kadmon of the Kabbalists, the Kajomorts of the Avesta (
ðñῶôïò ἄíèñùðïò
of the Manicheans), the Manu (i. e., “the thinking one”) of the Brahmanic legends of creation as well as the ironical proverb of the Hindûs: “Aye, aye, he is the first man, no wonder he is so wise!” (Roberts, Oriental Illustrations, p. 276). [“Eliphaz evidently gives in these two verses the conception of a First Man, (like the Manu of the Hindûs), possessed as such of the highest wisdom, a being who before the foundations of the earth were laid, was present, a listener, as it were, to the deliberations concerning creation in the council of God, and thus a partaker at least of creative wisdom (Job_28:23 seq.), without being identified with the Divine
çëîä
.” Dillm. “Many erroneously understand this expression as signifying simply the greatest antiquity, so that the sense would be: dost thou combine in thyself the wisdom of all the centuries, from the creation of the world on? This conception would be unsuitable for the reason that it would have no reality corresponding to it, the first man being conceived of as dead long since.” Schlott.].—And wast thou brought forth before the hills?—
çåֹìַì
, passive of
çåֹìֵì
“to whirl” [hence to writhe, be in pain, travail], Psa_90:2.—Precisely the same expression occurs in Pro_8:25 b, an utterance of God’s Eternal Wisdom, which is doubtless an intentional allusion to this passage. [So also Delitzsch.—Schlottmann, on the contrary, thinks it indisputable that this passage contains an allusion, if not to the passage in Proverbs, then to an original source common to both, so that the sense would be: “art thou the essential Divine Wisdom itself, through which God created the world?” The verse thus furnishes a pregnant and energetic progression of thought and expression. “Being born before the hills,” and “sitting in God’s council,” could not be taken as accidentia sine subjecto, which without having a real substratum, are sarcastically predicated of Job, but they must be regarded as inhering in a definite subject, with which Job is now compared, as immediately before he was compared with the first man; and this makes it necessary that we should think of the ante-mundane Wisdom described in Proverbs 8, which from an early period was brought into special relation to the first man. Ewald accordingly paraphrases Job_15:7-8 : “Thou, who wouldest be wiser than all other men, dost thou stand perchance at the head of humanity, like the Logos, the first alike in age, and in worth and nearness to God?”]
Job_15:8. Didst thou listen in the council of Eloah?—
ñåֹø
, as in Jer_23:18; comp. Psa_89:8 [7]. [“Here God is represented in Oriental language as seated in a divan, or council of state, … and El. asks of Job whether he had been admitted to that council” Barnes.]—And dost thou keep back wisdom to thyself?
çָëְîָä
without the article, denoting the absolute divine wisdom; comp. Job_11:6; Job_12:2; Pro_8:1 seq. In regard to
âøò
, see above on Job_15:4. [Gesenius: “Dost thou reserve all wisdom to thyself?” like the Arabic, to absorb, drink up. Fürst: “to snatch away: hast thou purloined wisdom to thyself? i. e. captured it as a booty.”] The representation of the First Man, endowed with the highest wisdom, a witness of God’s activity in creating and ordering the world, still lies at the bottom of these questions. Comp. God’s questions at a later period to Job: Job_38:3 seq. [“Having obtained the secret of that council, art thou now keeping it wholly to thyself—as a prime minister might be supposed to keep the purposes resolved on in the divan?” Barnes.]
On Job_15:9 comp. Job_12:3; Job_13:2, to which self-conscious utterances of Job Eliphaz here replies.
Job_15:10. Both the gray-headed and the aged [hoary] are among us; or: “also among us are the gray-headed, are the aged;” for the
âַּí
is inverted, as in Job_2:10, and as in the parallel passages there cited.
áָּðåּ
is equivalent to: “in our generation, in our race.” We are to think, on the one side, of Job’s appeal to the aged men, to whom he owed his wisdom, Job_12:12; on the other side, of the proverbial wisdom of the “sons of the East,” to whom the three friends as well as Job belonged (1Ki_4:30), especially that of the Temanites; see above on Job_2:11. The supposition of Ewald, Hirzel, Dillmann, etc., that Eliphaz, “in modestly concealed language,” referred to himself, as the most aged of the three, has but little probability, for the statement: “there is also among us (three) a gray-headed, an aged man,” would in the mouth of El. himself have in it something exceedingly forced, if he had thereby meant himself; and the collective use of the sing.
ùָׂá
and
éָùִׂéùׂ
presents not the slightest grammatical difficulty. Still further, if El. had (according to b) declared himself “more abundant in days than Job’s father,” he would have said of himself that which would have been simply monstrous. The correct explanation is given among the moderns by Rosenm., Arnheim, Umbreit, Delitzsch. [“It will be seen (infra xviii. 3) that in the discussion carried on between Job and his friends, he is not always regarded as a single individual, but rather as the representative of the party whose views he holds, that of the philosophers, namely, who wish to understand and account for everything; while his friends, as the contrary, represent the orthodox party, whose principle it is to declare everything that comes from God good and right, whether it be comprehensible or incomprehensible to the human intellect. Hence the plural
áְּòֵéðֵéëֶí
, in your eyes, used by Bildad (though speaking to Job alone), in the chapter alluded to, i. e. in the eyes of you philosophers. In like manner, in the verse before us El. says: Both gray-headed and very aged men are amongst us. Amongst us orthodox people.” Bernard.]
Job_15:11. Are the consolations of God (comp. Job_21:2) too little for thee (lit. are they less than thee—comp. Num_16:9; Isa_7:13)? [The irony of the question is severe: Too little for thee are the consolations of God? The words reveal at the same time the narrow self-complacency of the speaker, the consolations of God being such as he and the friends had sought to administer, for which El., however, claims a Divine value and efficacy.—E.], and a word so gentle with thee?i. e. a word which, like my former discourse, dealt with thee so tenderly and gently. On
ìָàַè
, elsewhere
ìְàַè
, lit. “for softness,” i. e. softly, gently [e. g.Isa_8:6 of the soft murmur and gentle flow of Siloah], comp. Ew. § 217, d; § 243, c. Eliphaz here identifies his former address to Job with a consolation and admonition proceeding from God himself; as in fact in delivering the same (see Job_4:12 seq.), he ascribed the principal contents of it to a Divine communication. In regard to the gentleness which he here claims for that former discourse, comp. especially Job_4:2; Job_5:8; Job_5:17 seq.
Third Strophe: Job_15:12-16. [Severe rebuke of Job’s presumptuous discontent, founded on man’s extreme sinfulness.]
Job_15:12. Why does thy heart carry thee away?
ìָ÷ַç
, auferre, abripere. [
ìֵá
here for deep inward agitation, excitement of feeling (Delitzsch: “wounded pride”). Why dost thou allow the stormy discontent of thy bosom to transport thee beyond thyself?—E.]—And why twinkle thine eyes?
øæí
,
ἅð
.
ëåã
. = Aram. and Arab.
øîæ
, “to wink, to blink,” said here of the angry, excited snapping, or rolling of the eyes [referring, according to Renan, to such a manifestation of angry impatience with the hypocrisy of El. at this point of his discourse; and similarly Noyes: “why this winking of thine eyes?”]. Comp. Son_6:5 (according to the correct interpretation, see my remarks on the passage).
Job_15:13. Depending on the preceding verse: That thou turnest against God thy snorting.
øåּçַ
here meaning angry breathing,
èõìüò
[“thus expressed because it manifests itself in
ðíÝåéí
(Act_9:1), and has its rise in the
ðíåῦìá
(Ecc_7:9).” Delitzsch], as in Jdg_8:3; Pro_16:32; Isa_25:4; comp. above Job_4:9.—And sendest forth words out of thy mouth?
îִìִּéï
(comp. Job_4:2) as parallel with
øåּçַ
can mean here only vehement, intemperate speaking, passionate words, not empty speaking, as Kamphn. explains it.
Job_15:14 repeats the principal proposition of Eliphaz in his former discourse (Job_4:17-20), with an accompanying reminder of Job’s confession in Job_14:4, which was in substantial harmony therewith. On
éְìåּø àִùָּׁä
comp Job_14:1.
Job_15:15. Behold, in His holy ones He puts no trust.
÷ְøùִׁéí
, the same as
òáãéí
, Job_4:18, and hence used of the angels [see on Job_5:1].—And the heavens are not pure in His eyes.
ùָׁîַéִí
is neither here, nor in Isa_49:13 (comp. Luk_15:18; Luk_15:21; Mat_21:25), to be taken as a synonym of
îìàëéí
, or of
àַðְâְìֵé îְøåֹîָà
(Targ.), as many commentators explain from the Targumists down to Hirzel, Heiligst., Welte [Schlott., Carey, Ren.], etc. Rather, as the parallel passage in Job_25:5 incontestably shows, it designates the starry heavens, which are here contemplated in respect of their pure brilliancy, and their physical elevation above the impure earthly sphere. So correctly Umbreit, Delitzsch, Dillmann. [“In comparison with the all-transcending holiness and purity of God, the creatures which ethically and physically are the purest, are impure. How in the representations of antiquity ethical and physical purity and impurity are throughout used interchangeably is well enough known.” Dillmann.] The angels are indeed regarded as inhabiting the heavenly spheres, as is indisputably proved by the phrase
òáà äùîéí
(1Ki_22:19; Isa_24:21; Psa_148:2; comp. Gen_2:1), and the fact that the Holy Scriptures everywhere speak of angels and the starry heavens together. Comp. Del. on this passage and on Gen_2:1; Hengstenberg; Ewald, K.—Ztg., 1869; Preface, No. 3, 4; Zöckler: Die Urgeschichte der Erde und des Menschen (1868), p. 12 seq.; also below, on Job_38:7.
Job_15:16. Much less then (
àַó ëִּé
, quanto minus, like
àַó
above in Job_4:19) the abominable and corrupt (
ðֶàֱìָç
, lit. soured, one corrupted by the
æýìç êáêßáò
, 1. Cor. Job_5:8, one “thoroughly corrupted,” Del.), the man who drinks iniquity like water, i. e. who is as eager to do iniquity, shows as much avidity for sin, as a thirsty man pants for water; comp. the repetition of this same figure by Elihu, also Psa_73:10; Pro_26:6; Sir_24:21. The whole description relates to the moral corruption of mankind generally, of which Eliphaz intentionally holds up before Job “a more hideous picture” (according to Oetinger) than the latter himself had given in Job_14:4, because he has in view the impurity, ill-desert, and need of repentance of Job himself. Comp. still further what he says Job_5:7 on the spark-like proneness of man to sin and its penalty.
Fourth Strophe: Job_15:17-19. Transition to the didactic discourse which follows in the form of a captatio benevolentiæ.
Job_15:17. I will inform thee (comp. Job_13:17), listen to me, and that which I have seen will I relate.—
æֶä
is neuter, as in Gen_6:15, or like
äåּà
above in Job_13:16, and
æֶäÎäָæִéúִé
is a relative clause; comp. Ges. § 122 [§ 120], 2—
çָæָä
needs not (with Schlottm.) be understood in the sense of an ecstatic vision, of the prophetic sort, seeing that in Job_8:17; Job_23:9; Job_24:1; Job_27:12, etc., it denotes also the knowledge or experience of sensible things. Moreover, as Job_15:18 shows, Eliphaz makes a very definite distinction between that which is now to be communicated and a Divine revelation of whatever sort. [As Dillmann observes, that which is communicated by a direct revelation from God does not need to be supported by the wisdom of antiquity].
Job_15:18. That which wise men declare without concealment from their fathers.—This verse, which is an expression of the object of
åַàֲñַôְּøָä
, coördinate with
æֶäÎäָæִéúִé
, is added without
å
, because it is substantially identical with that which Eliphaz “had seen.”
îֵàֲáåֹúָí
belongs not to
åְìֹà ëִçֲøåּ
(so the ancient versions, and Luther) but to the logically dominant verb
éַâִּéãåּ
, which the
åְìֹà ë×
is subjoined as an adverbial qualification. “To declare and not to hide” is equivalent to a single notion, “to declare without deception,” precisely like Joh_1:20,
ὁìïëïãåῖí êáὶ ïὐê ἀãíå
͂
éóèáé
.
Job_15:19. A more circumstantial description of
àֲáåֹúָí
:—To whom alone the land was given (to inhabit), and through the midst of whom no stranger had forced his way.—[Zöckler takes the verb
òáø
here not in the sense of a chance sojourning in a land, or traveling through it, but in the sense of a forcible intrusion, war gedrungen; a national amalgamation resulting from invasion. The language will include a foreign admixture from whatever source.—E.]. Seeing that
äָàָøֶõ
denotes here with much more probability “the land” rather than “the earth” (and so again in Job_22:8; Job_30:8), and that what is expressly spoken of is the non-intrusion of strangers (
æָøִéí
), Sohlottmann’s view that the passage refers to the first patriarchs, “the nobler primitive generations of mankind,” who as yet inhabited the earth alone, is to be rejected. The reason why Eliphaz puts forward the purity of the generation of his forefathers as a guarantee of the soundness and credibility of their teachings is that “among ‘the sons of the East’ purity of race was from the earliest times considered as the sign of highest nobility” (Del.) [“The meaning is, ‘I will give you the result of the observations of the golden age of the world, when our fathers dwelt alone, and it could not be pretended that they had been corrupted by foreign philosophy; and when in morals and in sentiment they were pure.” Barnes. “Eliph.,” says Umbr., “speaks here like a genuine Arab.” The exclusiveness and dogmatic superciliousness which are to this day characteristic of Oriental nationalities are doubtless closely associated with the race-instinct which here finds expression. In proportion as a people, either from lack of courage, or from an effeminate love of luxury, or from a sordid love of gain prostrates itself to foreign influences, and carries the witness of its degradation in the impurity of its blood, it cannot, in the judgment of an oriental sage, produce, or transmit, pure and sound doctrine.—E.]. It is unnecessary herewith to assume that the age of Eliphaz, in contrast with the boasted age of the fathers, was a period of foreign domination, like the Assyrian-Chaldean period in the history of Israel (Ewald, Hirzell, Dillmann). Or granting that such a period is referred to—although we are under no necessity of understanding either
æָø
or
òָáַø áְּúåֹëָí
of warlike invasions—still nothing could be deduced from the passage in favor of the post-solomonic origin of our book: comp. on Job_12:24.
3. Second Division: An admonitory didactic discourse on the retributive justice of God as exhibited in the fate of the ungodly: Job_15:20-35. [“Now follows the doctrine of the wise men, which springs from a venerable primitive age, an age as yet undisturbed by any strange way of thinking (modern enlightenment and free thinking, as we should say), and is supported by Eliphaz’s own experience.” Delitzsch. “It is not so much the fact that the evil-doer receives his punishment, in favor of which Eliphaz appeals to the teaching handed down from the fathers, as rather the belief in it, consequently in a certain degree the dogma of a moral order in the world.” Wetzstein in Delitzsch].
First Strophe:Job_15:20-24. Description of the inward discontent and the restless pain of an earthly-minded and wicked man who defies God, and cares not for Him.
Job_15:20. So long as the wicked liveth, (lit., all the days of the wicked) he suffereth torment (
îִúְçåֹìֵì
, lit. he is writhing and twisting, viz., from pain), and so many years as are reserved for the oppressor [“which according to Job_15:32, are not very many,” Dillm.] (
òָøִéõ
, tyrant, one who commits outrageous violence, as in Job_27:13; Job_6:23; Psa_37:35; Isa_13:11, etc.). The second member, in which
îִñְôַּø ùָׁðִéí
is an [adverbial] accusative clause, and
ðִöְôְּðåּ ìֶòָøִéõ
a relative clause depending upon it, resumes the temporal clause, “all the days of the wicked,” which for the sake of emphasis stands at the beginning of the entire sentence. The LXX. renders differently:
ἕôç äὲ ἀñéèìçôὰ äåäïìÝíá äõíÜóôῃ
; and similarly Delitzsch: “and a fixed number of years is reserved for the oppressor,” a rendering however which gives a much flatter thought than our exposition. Against the rendering of the Targ., Pesh., and Vulg. [also E. V.] “and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor,” it may be urged that in that case the reading must have been
îִï äֶòָøִéõ
. [Not necessarily.—
ìְ
is often used as a sign of the dativus commodi. or incommodi, where we should expect
îִï
.—E. g., Mic_2:4
àֵéêְ éָîִéùׁ ìִé
, where the removal of the nation’s portion from it, is represented by the preposition
ìְ
, because of the injurious consequences to it. So here the hiding of the number of the oppressor’s years from him is represented by
ìְ
, because of the misery this causes to him. On the other hand it may be said in favor of this construction that it is much simpler and stronger, that it introduces an additional thought, such as the change of
òøéõ
for
øùׁò
might lead us to expect (Del.), and that it is in entire harmony with the context. The central thought of the passage, the essential element of the oppressor’s misery is apprehension, anxiety, the premonition of his doom. How the darkness of this feature of the picture is deepened by this stroke—“the number of his years is laid up in darkness,” so that he knows not when, or whence, or how the blow will fall.—Furthermore the rendering “hidden” seems more suitable for
ðִöְôַּï
than “reserved,” in the sense of “determined,” being more vivid, and more closely connected with the subjective character of the description. Even if we render it by “reserved,” the idea of “hidden” should be included.—E.].
Job_15:21 seq., describe more in detail the restless pain of soul, or the continual
äִúְçåֹìֵì
of the wicked. [It is doubtful whether the following description is to be limited to the evil-doer’s anxiety of spirit, or whether it includes the realization of his fears in the events of his life. On the whole Delitzsch decides, and apparently with reason, that as the real crisis is not introduced until further on, and is then fully described, the language in Job_15:21-24 is to be understood subjectively.—E.].
Job_15:21. Terrors (the plural
ôäãéí
only here) sound [lit.: the sound of terrors] in his ears; in (the midst of) peace the destroyers fall upon him; or, if we regard
ùׁåֹãֵø
not as a collective, but as singular (comp. Job_12:6): “the destroyer falls upon him.” As to
áּåֹà
with the accus. in the sense of “coming upon any one,” comp. Job_20:22; Pro_28:22.
Job_15:22. He despairs (lit., he trusts not, he dares not) of returning out of the darkness (viz., of his misfortune, see Job_15:25; Job_15:30), and he is marked out for the sword.
öָôåּ
, the same with
öָôåּé
(which form is given by the K’ri and many MSS.) Part. pass, of
öôä
, signifies literally, “watched, spied out,” which yields a perfectly good sense, and makes both the middle rendering of the Participle, (“anxiously looking out for the sword”—so the Pesh. and Vulg.) and Ewald’s emendation to
öָôåּï
, seem superfluous.
Job_15:23. He wanders about for bread: “Ah where?” [i. e., shall I find it]? The meaning is obvious: in the midst of super-abundance he, the greedy miser, is tortured by anxieties concerning his food—a thought which the LXX. [also Wemyss and Merx], misunderstanding the short emphatic interrogative
àַéֵä
, “where” [for which they read
àַéָּä
, “vulture”], have obscured, or rather entirely perverted by their singular translation:
êáôáôÝôáêôáé äὲ åἰò óῖôá ãõøéí
: [“he wanders about for a prey for vultures,” Wem.]. With
àַéֵּä
comp. the similarly brief
äִðֵּä
in Job_9:19.—He knows that close by him [lit. as in E. V., “ready at his hand”], (
áְּéָãåֹ
, like
òַìÎéְãֵé
Job_1:14
ìְéַã
, “near, close by,” Psa_140:6 (5); 1Sa_19:3) a dark day (lit. day of darkness; comp. Job_15:22) stands ready—to seize upon him and to punish him (
ðָëåֹï
, as in Job_18:12).
Job_15:24. Trouble and anguish terrify him.
öַø åּîְöåּ÷ָä
here not of external, but of internal need and distress, hence equivalent to anguish and alarm; comp. Job_7:11.—It overpowereth him (the subj. of
úִּúְ÷ְôֵäåּ
is either
îְöåּ÷ָּä
or, with a neuter construction, the unknown something, the mysterious Power [which suggests the comparison that follows]) as a king ready for the onset.—
ëְּîֶìֶêְ
cannot belong to the object of the verb, as rendered by the LXX. [“like a leader falling in the first line of the battle”] and the Targ. [“to serve the conqueror as a foot-stool”], but only to the subject. The deadly anguish, which suddenly seizes on the wicked, is compared to a king, armed for battle, who falls upon a city; comp. Pro_6:11.—The meaning of the Hapaxleg.
ëִּéãåֹø
(=
ëִּãּåֹø
, Ew., § 156, b) is correctly given on the whole by the Pesh. and Vulg., although not quite exactly by proelium. The Rabbis, Böttch., Del., etc., render it better by “the round of conflict, the circling of an army” [“the conflict which moves round about, like tumult of battle,” Del.]; but Dillmann best of all, after the Arabic
ëãø
by “onset, storming, rush of battle;” for this is the only meaning that is well suited to
òúéã ìְ
, paratus ad, as well as to the principal subject
îֶìֶêְ
.
Second Strophe:Job_15:25-30. The cause of the irretrievable destruction of the wicked is his presumptuous opposition to God, and his immoderate greed after earthly possessions and enjoyments. The whole strophe forms a long period, consisting of a doubled antecedent (marked by the double use of
ëִּé
, Job_15:25 and Job_15:27), and a consequent, Job_15:29-30.
Job_15:25. Because he has stretched out his hand against God (in order to contend with Him), and boasted himself against the Almighty. [As indicated in the introductory remark above,
ëִּé
at the beginning is not “for” (E. V.), introducing a reason for what precedes, but “because,” the consequent of which is not given until Job_15:29 seq.]
éִúְâַּáֵּø
, lit. “to show oneself a hero, a strongman;” i. e., to be proud, insolent; comp. Job_36:9; Isa_42:13.
Job_15:26 continues the first of the two antecedents, so that
éָøåּõ
is still under the regimen of
ëּé
in Job_15:25 … has run against Him with (erect) neck (comp. Job_16:14) with the thick bosses (lit. with the thickness of the bosses, comp. Ewald, § 293, c) of his shields. In a the proud sinner is represented as a single antagonist of God, who
áְּöַåָּàø
, i. e., erecto colle, (comp. Psa_75:6 [5]) rushes upon Him; in b he is become a whole army with weapons of offense and defense, by virtue of his being the leader of such an army.
Job_15:27. Introducing the second reason [for Job_15:29 seq.]. consisting in the insatiable greed of the wicked—Because he has covered his face with his fatness (comp. Psa_73:4-7), and gathered (
òָùָׂä
here in the sense of a natural production or putting forth, as in Job_14:9) fat upon his loins.
Job_15:28. And abode in desolated cities, houses which ought not to be inhabited,
ìֹà éֵùְׁáåּ ìָîåֹ
, lit. “which they ought not to inhabit for themselves;” the passive rendering of
éùׁá
[Gesen., Del.] is unnecessary, the meaning of the expression in any case being, (domus nonhabitandæ) which are destined for ruins.—We are to think of an insolent, sacrilegious, mocking, avaricious tyrant, who fixes his residence—whether it be his pleasure-house, or his fortified castle—in what is and should remain according to popular superstition, an accursed and solitary place, among the ruins, it may be, of an accursed city; Deu_13:13-18; comp. Jos_6:26; 1Ki_16:34; also what is reported by Wetzstein (in Delitzsch I. 267 n.) concerning such doomed cities among modern orientals. Hirzel altogether too exclusively takes the reference to be to a city cursed in accordance with the law in Deut. (l. c.)—against which Löwenthal and Delitzsch observe quite correctly that what is spoken of here is not the rebuilding forbidden in that law, but only the inhabiting of such ruins. Possibly the poet may have had in mind certain particular occurrences, views, or customs, of which we have no further knowledge. Perhaps we may even suppose some such widely-spread superstition as that of the Romans in relation to the bidentalia to be intended. [Noyes, Barnes, Renan, Rod well, etc., introduce Job_15:28 with “therefore,” making it the consequence of what goes before.—Because of his pride and self-indulgence, the sinner will be driven out to dwell among ruins and desolations. To this view there are the following objections. (1) It deprives the language of the terrible force which belongs to it according to the interpretation given above. (2) It leaves the description of the sin referred to in Job_15:27 singularly incomplete and weak. This would be especially noticeable after the climactic energy of the description of the sin previously referred to in Job_15:25-26. Having seen the thought in Job_15:25 carried to such a striking climax in Job_15:26, we naturally expect to find the thought suggested rather than expressed in Job_15:27 carried to a similar climax in Job_15:28. (3) After dooming the sinner to dwell an exile among “stone-heaps,” (
âַּìּéí
), it seems a little flat to add, “he shall not be rich,” if the former circumstance, like the latter, is a part of the penalty.—E.].
Job_15:29-30. The apodosis: (Therefore) he does not become rich (Hos_12:9 [8]), and his wealth endures not (has no stability, comp. 1Sa_13:14), and their possessions (i. e., the possessions of such people) how not down to the earth.—This rendering is in accordance with the interpretation now prevalent of
îִðְìֶä = îִðְìָí
, (with the suffix
Îָí
) from a root (which is not to be met with)
ðìä
, = Arab, nal, “to attain, to acquire,” and so used in the sense of quæstum, lucrum (comp. the post-biblical
îָîåֹï
,
ìáìùíᾶò
). A possession “bowing down to the earth” is e. g. a full-eared field of grain, a fruit-laden tree, a load of grain weighing down that in which it is borne, etc. In view of the fact that all the ancient versions present other readings than
îִðְìָí
—e. g., LXX.:
öִìָּí
[adopted by Merx]; Vulg.
àöìí
, radicem suam: Pesh.
îִìִּéí
, words; Targ.
îִðְּäåֹï
, etc.—the attempts of several moderns to amend the text may to some extent be justified. Not one of these however, yields a result that is altogether satisfactory, neither Hupfeld’s
îִëְìָä
(non extendet in terra caulam), nor Olshausen’s
îַâָּìָí
(“their sickle does not sink to the earth”), nor Böttcher’s
îִîְìָí
(“their fullness”), nor Dillmann’s
åְìֹà éִèֶּä ìָàָøֶõ ùִׁáֳּìִéí
, “and he does not bow down ears of corn to the earth.” [Carey suggests that there may be a transposition here, and that instead of
îðìí
we should read
ðîìí
from root
ðîì
“to out;” the translation then being: “neither shall the cutting (or offset) of such extend in the earth.” The verbal root
ðìä
found only in Isa_33:1 (
ëַּðְּìֹúְêָ
, Hiph. Inf. with Dagh. dirimens for
ëְּäַðְìֹúְêָ
) seems to signify perficere, to finish; hence E. V. here renders the noun “perfection.” Bernard likewise “accomplishment, achievements.” For
ðèä
the meaning “to spread, extend,” is preferred by Good, Lee, Noyes, Umbreit, Renan, Con., Rod-well, etc. (E. V., “prolong”). The preposition
ì
however suits better the definition “to bow down,” which on the whole is to be preferred.—E.]
Job_15:30. He does not escape out of the darkness (of calamity, ver 22); a fiery heat [lit. a flame] withereth his shoots, and be passes away (
åֳéñåּø
forming a paronomasia with the
ìֹà éָñåּø
of the first member) by the blast of His [God’s] mouth; comp. Job_4:9. In the second member the figure of a plant, so frequent throughout our book, previously used also by Eliphaz (comp. Job_5:3; Job_5:25 seq.) [and already suggested here according to the above interpretation of 29b], again makes its appearance, being used in a way very similar to Job_8:16 seq.; comp. also oh. Job_14:7. The parching heat here spoken of may be either that of the sun, or of a hot wind (as in Gen_41:6; Psa_11:6).
Third Strophe: Job_15:31-35. Describing more in detail the end of the wicked, showing that his prosperity is fleeting, and only in appearance, and that its destruction is inevitable.
Job_15:31. Let him not trust in vanity—he is deceived (
ðִúְòַú
, Niph. Perf. with reflexive sense: lit. he has deceived himself) [Renan: Insensé!] for vanity shall be his possession [
úîåøä
; Ges., Fürst., Con., etc., like E. V. “recompense:” Delitzsch: “not compensatio,” but permutatio, acquisitio; and so Ewald and Zöckler—Eintausch, exchange].
ùָׁåְà
, written the first time
ùָׁå
, is used here essentially in the same sense as in Job_7:3, and hence = delusion, vanity, evil. In the first instance the sense of emptiness, deception predominates, in the second that of calamity (the evil consequences of trusting in vanity). For the sentiment comp. Job_4:8; Hos_8:8; and the New Testament passages which speak of sowing and reaping; Gal_6:7 seq.; 2Co_9:6.
Job_15:32. While his day is not yet (lit. “in his not-day,” i.e., before his appointed time has yet run its course; comp. Job_10:22; Job_12:24), it is fulfilled, viz., the evil that is to be exchanged, it passes to its fulfillment; or als
