CHAPTER XXIII. ANALYSIS OF CHAPTERS XXIII. AND XXIV THESE WO chapters contain the answer of Job to the last speech of Eliphaz. The address is that of a mind agitated by deep and conflicting emotions. It consists in part in the expression of those emotions, and in part in an endeavor once more to convince his friends of the falsehood of their positions. The address comprises the following topics. He expresses the depth of his sorrows, and says that his complaint is more bitter than he had yst expressed, ch. xxiii. 2. He then repeats his earnest desire to carry his cause before God, since he could obtain no justice from men, but he knows not where to find him. He is assured that if he could get his cause before him, justice would be done him, vs. 3-9. In this perplexity. however, he consoles himself with the reflection that though he had not the opportunity of pleading his cause as he wished before God, yet that he knew that he was sincere, and would yet appear for his vindication, and bring him forth as gold, vs. 10-12. Yet, he says, he is troubled at the dealings of God with him, notwithstanding his consciousness of integrity. He trembles at the contemplation of a Being who thus carries forward his eternal and unchangeable purpose; who has 'all power to execute his designs; and whose judgments are so fearful, vs. 13-17. Having thus given vent to his feelings, he returns to the argument, ch. xxiv. He attempts by one more effort to convince his adversaries that it was not a matter of fact that God dealt with the wicked in this life as they deserved, and that in fact many of them lived in prosperity. He denies that judgments come universally upon wicked men, and maintains that they do not even frequently come; and he produces a catalogue of enormous crimes, and shows that they who committed them actually lived and were prospered. He specifies those who remove the landmarks; those who plunder flocks and herds; those who oppress the fatherless and the widow; those who are cruel; those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor; he mentions the murderer, the adulterer, the thief, and says that all these in fact live and flourish. Yet he maintains that, notwithstanding their present prosperity, they shall be brought down, and meet the rewards of their wickedness hereafter. As all this was indisputable, it ended the controversy. Eliphaz and Zophar made no further reply, and Bildad only made (ch xxv.) a feeble effort, without attempting to meet the facts, and uttered some vague generalities which showed that he in fact had no more to say. THEN Job answered and said, 2 Even to-day is my com 2. Even to-day. At the present time. I am not relieved. You afford me no consolation. All that you say only aggravates my woes. My complaint. See Notes on ch. xxi. 3. ¶ Bitter. Sad, melancaoly, distressing. The meaning is, not that he made bitter complaints in the sense which those words would naturally convey, or that he meant to find fault with God, but that his case was a hard one. His friends furnished him no relief, and he had in vain endeavored to bring his cause before God. This is now, as he proceeds to state, the principal cause of his difficulty. He knows not where to find God; he cannot get his cause before him. ¶ My stroke. Marg. as in Heb. hand; that is, the hand that is upon plaint bitter : my 'stroke is heavier than my groaning. 1 hand, me, or the calamity that is inflicted upon me. The hand is represented as the instrument of inflicting punishment, or causing affliction. See Notes on ch. xix. 21. T Heavier than my groaning. My sighs bear no propor-tion to my sufferings. They are no adequate expression of my woes. If you think I complain; if I am heard to groan, yet the sufferings which I endure are far beyond what these would seem to indicate. Sighs and groans are not improper. They are prompted by nature, and they furnish some relief to a sufferer. But they should not be (1,) with a spirit o. murmuring or complaining; (2,) they should not be beyond what our sufferings demand, or the proper expression of our sufferings. They should appeal to the divine tribunal, and to feel that whatever injustice our fellow-men may be disposed to do us, there is One who will never do a wrong. T That I might come even to his seat. To his throne, or tribunal. Job wished to carry the cause directly before him. Probably he desired some manifestation of God-such as he was afterwards favored with-when God would declare his judgment on the whole matter of the controversy. show that I am not guilty in the sense charged by my friends, and that notwithstanding my calamities, I am the real friend of God. ¶ And fill my mouth with arguments. Probably he means that he would appeal to the evidence furnished by a life of benevolence and justice, that he was not a hypocrite or a man of distinguished wickedness, as his friends maintained. 3. O that I knew where I might find him. Where I might find God. He had often expressed a wish to bring his cause directly before God, and to be permitted to plead his cause there. See Notes on ch. xiii. 3, 20, seq. But this he had not yet been able to do. The argument had been with 4. I would order my cause before his three friends, and he saw that him. Comp. Notes on Isa. xliii. 26. there was no use in attempting fur- That is, I would arrange my arguther to convince them. If he could ments, or plead my cause, as one does get the cause before God, and be al- in a court of justice. I would suglowed to plead it there, he felt as-gest the considerations which would sured that justice would be done him. But he had not been able to do this. God had not come forth in any visible and public manner as he wished, so that the cause could be fairly tried before such a tribunal, and he was in darkness. The language here used will express the condition of a pious man in the times of spiritual darkness. He cannot find God. He has no near access as he once had to him. In such a state he anxiously seeks to find God, but he cannot. There is no light and no comfort to his soul. This language may further describe the state of one who is conscious of uprightness, and who is exposed to the suspicion or the unkind remarks of the world. His character is attacked; his motives are impugned; his designs are suspected, and no one is disposed to do him justice. In such a state, he feels that God alone will do him justice. He knows the sincerity of his heart, and he can 'There is no information so valuable safely commit his cause to him. It It to us as that would be; for on his esis always the privilege of the calum-timate hangs our eternal doom, and niated and the slandered to make an | yet there is nothing which men more 5. I would know the words which he would answer me. That is, I wish to understand what would be his decision in the case-and what would be his judgment in regard to me. That was of infinitely more importance than any opinion which man could form, and Job was anxious to have the matter decided by a tribunal which could not err. Why should we not desire to know exactly what God thinks of us, and what estimate he has formed of our character? nstinctively dread than to know m than to know what God thinks of their character. It would be well for each one to ask himself, Why is it so? • Will he make 6. Will he plead against me with his great power? use of his mere power to overwhelm me and confound me? Will he take advantage of omnipotence to triumph over me, instead of argument and justice? No: he will not do it. The discussion would be fair. He would hear what I have to say, and would decide according to truth. Though he is Almighty, yet he would not take advantage of that to prostrate and confound me.' When Job (ch. xiii. 3) wished to carry the cause directly before God, he asked of Him two conditions only. One was, that he would take off his hand from him, or remove his afflictions for a time, that he might be able to manage his own cause; and the other was, that He would not take advantage of his power to overwhelm him in the debate, and prevent his making a fair statement of his case. See Notes on ch. xiii. 20, 21. He here expresses He here expresses his firm conviction that his wish in this respect would be granted. He would listen, says he, to what I have to say in my defence as if I were an equal. ¶ No: but he would put strength in me. The word strength is not improperly supplied by our translators. It means that he would enable him to make a fair presentation of his cause. So far from taking advantage of his mere power to crush him, and thus obtain an ascendency in the argument, he would rather strengthen him, that he might be able to make his case as strong as possible. He would rather aid him, though presenting his own cause in the controversy, than seek to weaken his arguments, or so to awe him by his dread majesty as to prevent his 7. There the righteous might dispute with him. One who is conscious of his integrity might carry his cause there, with the assurance that he would be heard, and that justice would be done him. There can be no doubt that Job here refers to him self, though he speaks in the third person, and advances this as a general proposition. ¶ So shall I be delivered for ever from my judge. From him who would judge or condemn me (2). He does not here refer to God, as if he would be delivered from him, but to any one who would attempt to judge and condemn him, as his friends had done. The meaning is, that having, as he confidently expected he would, obtained the verdict of God in his favor, he would be ever after free from condemnation. The decision would be final. There was no higher tribunal, and no one would dare to condemn him afterwards. This shows his consciousness of integrity. It may be applied to ourselves to all. If we can obtain, at the last day, when our cause shall be brought before God, the divine verdict in our favor, it will settle the matter for ever. No one, after that, will condemn us; never again shall our character or conduct be put on trial. The divine decision of that day will settle the question to all eternity. How momentous, then, is it that we should so live as to be acquitted in that day, and to have an eternal sentence IN OUR FAVOR! 8. Behold, I go forward. The meaning of these verses is, I go in all directions, but I cannot find God. I am excluded from the trial which I seek, and I cannot bring my cause to his throne. Job expresses his earnest desire to see some visible manifesta 8 Behold, I go forward, but | but I cannot perceive him ; he is not there; and backward, tion of the Deity, and to be permitted to argue his cause in his presence. But he says he sought this in vain. He looked to all points of the compass where he might rationally expect to find God, but all in vain. The terms here used refer to the points of the compass, and should have been so rendered. The Oriental geographers considered themselves as facing the East, instead of the North, as we do. Of course, the West was behind them, the South on the right hand, and on the left the North. This was a more natural position than ours, as, day begins in the East, and it is natural to turn the face in that direction. There is no reason why our maps should be made so as to require us to face the North, except that such is the custom. The Hebrew custom, in this respect, is found also in the notices of geography in other nations. The same thing prevails among the Hindoos. Among them, Para, or Purra, signifying "before," denotes the East; Apara and Paschima, meaning "behind," the West; Dacshina, or "the right hand," the South; and Bama, or "the left hand," the North. See Wilford's Inquiry respecting the Holy Isles in the West, Asiatic Researches, vol. viii. p. 275. The same thing occurred among the ancient Irish. See an Essay on the Antiquity of the Irish language, by an unknown author, Dublin, 1772. Comp. on this subJect, Rosenmüller's Alterthumskünde i. s. 136-144. The same custom prevailed among the Mongols. senius. On the notices of the science of geography exhibited in the book of Job, comp. Intro. § viii. 2, 3. The phrase, therefore, " Behold, I go forward," means, 'I go to the East. look toward the rising of the sun. see there the most wonderful of the Ge I I works of the Creator in the glories of the sun, and I go towards it in hopes of finding there some manifestation of God. But I find him not, and, disappointed, I turn to other direc 9 On the left hand, where he tions.' Most of the ancient versions render this the East. Thus the Vulgate, Si ad Orientem iero. The Chaldee, to the sun-rising. ¶ But he is not there. There is no forth to meet me, and to hear my manifestation of God, no coming the West-for this was behind the cause. ¶ And backward (). To individual when he stood looking to the East. Sometimes the West is denoted by this term behind (y), and sometimes by the sea (), because the Mediterranean was at the West of Palestine and Arabia. See Notes on Isa. ix. 12. Comp. Ex. x. 19, xxvii. 13, xxxviii. 12. Gen. xxviii. 14. ¶ But I cannot perceive him. The meaning is, 'Disappointed in the East, the region of the rising sun, I turn with longing to the West, the region of his setting, and hope, as his last beams fade from the view, that I shall be permitted to behold some ray that shall reveal God to my soul. Before the night settles down upon the world, emblem of the darkness in my soul, I would look upon the last lingering ray, and hope that in that I may see God. In that vast region of the West, illuminated by the setting sun, I would hope somewhere to find him; but I am disappointed there. The sun withdraws his beams, and darkness steals on, and the world, like my soul, is enveloped in gloom. I can see no indications of the presence of God coming forth to give me an opportunity to argue my cause be fore him.' בְּצְפוּנָא,the Chaldee 9. On the left hand. That is, in the North-at the left hand when the face was turned to the East. So -on the North. The other versions, the Vulgate, the Luther, &c. render it on the left hand. Septuagint, the Syriac, the Syriac, Castellio, The common term among the Hebrews for the North is D --tzaphon (from 2 to hide, or conceal) 12 meaning the hidden, concealed, or dark region, since the ancients regarded the North as the seat of gloom and darkness (Hom. Od. ix. 25, seq.), while they supposed the South to be illuminated by the sun. Gesenius. Frequently, however, as here, the word "left," or "left hand," is used. The region of the North is intended. ¶ Where he doth work. Where there are such wonderful manifestations of his majesty and glory. May Job here not refer to the Aurora Borealis, the remarkable display of the power of God which is seen in those regions? May he not have felt that there was some special reason why he might hope to meet with God in that quarter, or to see him manifest himself amidst the brilliant lights that play along the sky, as if to precede or accompany him? And when he had looked to the splendor of the rising sun, and the glory of his setting, in vain, was it not natural to turn his eye to the next remarkable manifestation, as he supposed, of God, in the glories of the Northern lights, and to expect to find him there? There is reason to think that the ancient Chaldeans, and other heathens, regarded the regions of the North, illuminated with these celestial splendors, as the peculiar residence of the gods (see Notes on Isa. xiv. 13), and it seems probable that Job may have had allusion to some such prevailing opinion. ¶ But I cannot behold him. I can see the exhibition of remarkable splendor, but still God is unseen. He does not come amidst those glories to give me an opportunity to carry my cause before him. The meaning, then, of this is, Disappointed in the East and the West, I turn to the North. There I have been accustomed to witness extraordinary manifestations of his magnificence and glory. There beautiful constellations circle the pole. There the Aurora plays, and seems to be the manifestation of the glory of God. Next to the glory of the rising and setting sun, I turn to those brilliant lights, to see if there I may not find my God, but in vain. Those lights are cold and chilly, and reveal no God to my soul. Disappointed, then I turn to the last point, the South, to see if I can find him there.' He hideth himself on the right hand. On the South. The South was to the ancients an unknown region. The deserts of Arabia, indeed, stretched away in that region, and they were partially known, and they had some knowledge that the sea was beyond. But they regarded the regions farther to the South, if there was land there, as wholly impassable and uninhabitable on account of the heat. The knowledge of geography was slowly acquired, and, of course, it is impossible to tell what were the views which prevailed on the subject in the time of Job. That there was little accuracy of information about remote countries must be regarded as an indisputable fact; and, probably, they had little conception of distant parts of the earth, except that formed by conjecture. Interesting details of the views of the ancients, on this subject, may be found in the Encyclopedia of Geography, vol. i. pp. 10-68. Com. pare particularly the Notes on ch. xxvi. 10. The earth was regarded as encompassed with waters, and the distant southern regions, on account of the impossibility of passing through the heat of the torrid zone, were supposed to be inaccessible. To those hidden and unknown realms, Job says he now turned, when he had in vain looked to each other quarter of the heavens, to see if he could find some manifestation of God. Yet he looked to that quarter equally in vain. God hid or concealed himself in those inaccessible regions, so that he could not approach him. The meaning is, 'I am also disappointed here. He hides himself in that distant land In the burning and impassable wastes which stretch themselves to an un known extent there, I cannot find him. The feet of mortals cannot traverse those burning plains, and there I cannot approach him. To whatever point of the compass I turn, |